Spiders – OMG!

Technorati Tags: spiders, lots

Links 28-02-2008

50 Content Management Systems – For the Web Developers
The Art of Negotiation – 15 Easy Steps – Some Personal Development…
Top10 DIY Car hacks - For Car Enthusiasts…
12 Practical Steps for Learning to Go with The Flow – For the Strung out.
Free! why $0.00 is the Future of Business – for New Age Economists.

Firefox 3 on the Horizon

Firefox 3 will be launched soon, but is currently in its 3rd stage of beta testing. (BBC) New features include better searching and a toolbar incorporating bookmarking and search.

“It will be faster, sleeker, and even easier to use,” she (Mitchell Baker, Chairman, Mozilla foundation) said.

“In terms of features, we’ve tried very hard not to bloat the interface but to keep it simple, the way people like it, and to have new things appear when you need them.”

The other substantial change will be the ability to do much more offline, with the browser “remembering” key data that is usually lost when an internet connection goes down.

This is designed to allow the user to continue to work when travelling or in remote areas where wireless access is patchy.

Firefox is currently the second most popular browser, although its 12% share is dwarfed by that of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Technorati Tags: Firefox 3, beta, faster, sleeker

Facebook Traffic Declines, But Time Spent Increases.

Perhaps it’s application fatigue. Perhaps it’s incessant friend request. Perhaps it’s social media overload but according to Hitwise, traffic to Facebook is down 27 percent for the week ending February 23 from a high during the holidays.

Hitwise acknowledges this could be a seasonal trend citing traffic increases during both the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks due to a significant portion of Facebook’s users (40 percent 18-24) being out of school and having more time to use the site.

Even with some decline, the average time spent on Face book has steadily increased from just under five seconds in February 2006 to 21 seconds in February 2008. Noting recent peaks in traffic coincide with less time spent on the site, Hitwise hypothesizes the traffic increases are coming from less active users. Link

Decline of Empires… I saw this coming, I guess the novelty has finally worn off and the people who were hard-core “facebookers” are still on it, addicted, but most people are realising that maybe, just maybe, this Facebook thing is taking up way too much time and besides, shouldn’t I actually be talking to the people I’m close too instead of just poking them and sending arb messages?

However, nobody can deny the power of Facebook in terms of joining people together, especially people you haven’t seen in Aaaages. But then again, after a certain amount of time you end up ignoring them on Facebook again anyway. Same social tendencies, different social platform, go figure.

You make wishes come true.

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true.”
Richard Bach
Writer

Brand Wars: Battle of the Eco-Claims…

This is an interesting brand discussion on the ecological claim one-up-manship which seems to be overtaking brands nowadays…

I first got to this topic through Brand Architect, the blog by Patrick Collings, where he sort of covers the same ground as Tom Fishburne from where the above cartoon originated.

Brands are now using the environmental-friendliness tag in order to promote their brands on top of one another, with some claims being ridiculous and misleading e.g. from Tom “So many products were suddenly trumpeting one eco claim or another, and much of seemed ridiculous, confusing, or disingenuous. Like personal care products that are “92.4% Organic”, even when most of the product making up that percentage is water.”

My concern is more on the state of the idea of environmentally friendly, for example, of course everyone would prefer to consume products which preserved our environment, but what if the marketers used the new claims as a substantiation for price increases? In our price sensitive market, would South Africans really take the hit on their wallets in order to maintain their principles? With all the prices going up anyway, I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that brands are focusing on being environmentally friendly is a very good thing, I’m just looking for a more holistic understanding of this issue. We don’t want to be ripped off, and we don’t want to be duped.

Another perspective which came to mind was that of Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo”, where she shows how the activist and environmental causes which were initially rallied by activist and environmental groups, were now adopted and co-opted into the marketing campaigns of the brands themselves. Just like how Che Guevara, John Lennon and other symbols of resistance and war, etc. have been fervently overused in marketing campaigns the world over, are the environmental claims on the brands products being used for just the same effect? To increase sales, no matter what? And will the consumers be savvy enough to really care if they’re so bombarded by marketing material?

Once again, more questions than answers but I think its a discussion worth having.

Technorati Tags: Ecological, Claims, Brands

Proven: We’re all from Africa…

A new genetic analysis of people from around the world adds further confirmation to the African origin of humans.

The study of genetic details from 938 individuals from 51 populations provides evidence of how people are related and different, researchers led by Richard M. Myers of Stanford University report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

The team looked at variations in 650,000 sections of each of the DNA samples, providing a view of the similarities and differences between people in greater detail than had been available previously.

Scientists have long believed that modern humans first developed in Africa and spread from there to populate the rest of the world, a theory strongly supported by the new analysis, the researchers said.

In addition, they noted that residents of the Middle East can trace their ancestry to both Africa and Europe, which they said is logical since the region formed a bridge for movement back and forth between the areas.

Also, they noted, they found a close a relationship between the Yakut population of Siberia and native Americans, who are believed to have migrated from Siberia via a land bridge at a time of lower sea levels.

So genetically, we are all from Africa… what implications does this have in terms of viewing the colonial heritage of the West? They colonised their original homeland and raped, tortured and killed in the birthplace of humanity. And now they’re sucking all its resources dry. *sigh*
I’m suddenly thinking of analogies here between rebellious kids and their parents.

Technorati Tags: Africa, DNA, Origin

How to start each Work Day Positively…

1. Open a new file in your computer.
2. Name it “Robert Mugabe”.
3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin.
5. Your PC will ask you. “Do you really want to get rid of “Robert Mugabe ?”
6. Firmly Click “Yes.”
7. Feel better?

Tomorrow we’ll do Jacob Zuma, maybe George Bush,… pick a villain :)

Dead Athiest.

UbYou: New South African Social Networking Platform

Dave Duarte covers a new initiative by Glocell Wireless Service Provider.

“Load shedding, congested highways and limited bandwidth will no longer thwart South Africa’s growing social networking community. The launch of wap.ubyou.co.za by wireless service provider, Glocell Wireless Service Provider, will give cell phone users access to an entertainment based social networking platform rich with local flavour.”

Link

Technorati Tags: South Africa, ubYou, Social Networking

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