Comscore, in its recent press release has stated that 6.5 million American users watched videos on their mobiles. On-demand video was the most popular amongst these users, accounting for nearly 3.6 million users. These videos consists of, in decreasing order of popularity - Amateur videos like You Tube, Music videos and Comedy videos.
Amongst programmed mobile broadcast, music videos were a top choice for the users, with full length movies coming a close second.
Nov 3, 2008
Oct 21, 2008
Factors in realizing value of Enterprise apps
Take a look at this finding from Sandhill.com and NeoChange
It tells you that THE most important factor in realizing the value of investments in Enterprise apps is Effective User Adoption. If you go all out and foster Effective User Adoption for your apps, its more than half the battle won. Also note how Software Functioanlity accounts for just 1% of the pie. And its ironical that most of our endeavours in the IT industry is invariably focussed on providing more and better functionlity. We may build the greatest tools, but if we dont enthuse the user to reap the benefits of using it, the companys investments in Enterprise apps is bound to have negative returns.
Perhaps what this also suggests is that within an organization, within a defined time span, we reach a plateau of functionalities we REALLY require. And then, its time to rethink on how to effectively deliver these in a way that fosters better user adoption, aligned to any organizational change programs.
It tells you that THE most important factor in realizing the value of investments in Enterprise apps is Effective User Adoption. If you go all out and foster Effective User Adoption for your apps, its more than half the battle won. Also note how Software Functioanlity accounts for just 1% of the pie. And its ironical that most of our endeavours in the IT industry is invariably focussed on providing more and better functionlity. We may build the greatest tools, but if we dont enthuse the user to reap the benefits of using it, the companys investments in Enterprise apps is bound to have negative returns.
Perhaps what this also suggests is that within an organization, within a defined time span, we reach a plateau of functionalities we REALLY require. And then, its time to rethink on how to effectively deliver these in a way that fosters better user adoption, aligned to any organizational change programs.
Oct 14, 2008
Enterprise 2.0 apps are getting cheaper!
A recent report from Forrester predicts enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technologies to increase dramatically over the next five years, the end result being a gloabl enterprise market of $4.6 billion by the year 2013.
Read this in conjunction with the another report on the prices of Ent 2.0 apps,which suggests that "...the price drops (of Enterprise 2.0 apps) will be due to cutthroat competition, commoditization, bundling, and subsumption, with many startups and established big companies competing for the enterprise dollar..."
Among the popular tools, maximum price drops will happen in blog, wikis, social networking and widgets. But the only one that could command a higher price is mashups, which will see a steady rise over the next five years.
It is to be noted that new innovations in the blogging tools arena may not happen, as it is a saturated space, where the feature differences between the players is not of much significance. On the other hand, Wikis that are intuitive and easy to use are not available aplenty, and hence new players like SocailText will continue to have an edge.
Mashups have not gained as wide an accepatability within the enterprise as the other 2.0 tools and given its potential, it will rise in prices and features, while the other mature tools will bow down to price cuts and commoditization.
Read this in conjunction with the another report on the prices of Ent 2.0 apps,which suggests that "...the price drops (of Enterprise 2.0 apps) will be due to cutthroat competition, commoditization, bundling, and subsumption, with many startups and established big companies competing for the enterprise dollar..."
Among the popular tools, maximum price drops will happen in blog, wikis, social networking and widgets. But the only one that could command a higher price is mashups, which will see a steady rise over the next five years.
It is to be noted that new innovations in the blogging tools arena may not happen, as it is a saturated space, where the feature differences between the players is not of much significance. On the other hand, Wikis that are intuitive and easy to use are not available aplenty, and hence new players like SocailText will continue to have an edge.
Mashups have not gained as wide an accepatability within the enterprise as the other 2.0 tools and given its potential, it will rise in prices and features, while the other mature tools will bow down to price cuts and commoditization.
Oct 6, 2008
On reCaptcha
My interest in CAPTCHAS never seems to vane. And now theres reCAPTCHA!! And its very interesting to understand how its put to use.
It is estimated that around 60 million captchas are solved every day, each involving around 10 seconds. That roughly translates into 170,000 hours of work! Those are some astounding figures. The essential idea behind ReCaptcha is to constructively channelise this huge amount of work.
reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA. This is possible because most OCR programs alert you when a word cannot be read correctly.
But if a computer can't read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here's how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct.
This cool feature can be added to your website/blog, as also in the form of MailHide to mask your email id, thus helping the cause of digitizing valuable knowledge.
It is estimated that around 60 million captchas are solved every day, each involving around 10 seconds. That roughly translates into 170,000 hours of work! Those are some astounding figures. The essential idea behind ReCaptcha is to constructively channelise this huge amount of work.
reCAPTCHA improves the process of digitizing books by sending words that cannot be read by computers to the Web in the form of CAPTCHAs for humans to decipher. More specifically, each word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is placed on an image and used as a CAPTCHA. This is possible because most OCR programs alert you when a word cannot be read correctly.
But if a computer can't read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here's how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct.
This cool feature can be added to your website/blog, as also in the form of MailHide to mask your email id, thus helping the cause of digitizing valuable knowledge.
Sep 8, 2008
Of Ambient Awareness and Digital intimacy
This is a wonderful article from New York Times.
Among other things, it helped me understand why Twitter makes sense to all the people who use it. Analyses if the internet has actually raised the Dunbar number of 150. Maintains that even if one has 200 facebook friends, the circle with whom you maintain close connections amongst them will always be a much smaller number.
Among other things, it helped me understand why Twitter makes sense to all the people who use it. Analyses if the internet has actually raised the Dunbar number of 150. Maintains that even if one has 200 facebook friends, the circle with whom you maintain close connections amongst them will always be a much smaller number.
Aug 22, 2008
Lifesaver: Resetting MySQl root password
If you are one of those who tends to forget passwords, this link is for your MySQL root password. It was so useful.
Jul 2, 2008
Inkless Printers
So, what is an inkless printer? It uses Zero Ink. And so its called ZINK! Before you turn skeptical - it also uses zero ribbons and zero toner.
The heart of Zink is the Zink Paper™. It is more than normal paper (though it looks like regular white paper); it is an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside and a protective polymer overcoat layer outside, enabling true ink-free prints. A ZINK-enabled device uses heat to activate and colorize these dye crystals. These crystals, named Amorphochromic™ crystals, represent an entirely new class of molecules, were invented by former Polaroid employees. The properties of each dye crystal were finely tuned to achieve the color palette and image stability required for beautiful, full-color digital prints.
The first product to use ZINK technology, Polaroid PoGo, is a pocket-sized, mobile photo printer, which is baterry operated! You can beam your images via Bluetooth and Viola! you get 2" x 3" photos! The printer is likely to cost $150 and the paper will work out to 40 cents a sheet.
Just how much market share Zink products will garner, remains to be seen! But it is a very innovative product.
The heart of Zink is the Zink Paper™. It is more than normal paper (though it looks like regular white paper); it is an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside and a protective polymer overcoat layer outside, enabling true ink-free prints. A ZINK-enabled device uses heat to activate and colorize these dye crystals. These crystals, named Amorphochromic™ crystals, represent an entirely new class of molecules, were invented by former Polaroid employees. The properties of each dye crystal were finely tuned to achieve the color palette and image stability required for beautiful, full-color digital prints.
The first product to use ZINK technology, Polaroid PoGo, is a pocket-sized, mobile photo printer, which is baterry operated! You can beam your images via Bluetooth and Viola! you get 2" x 3" photos! The printer is likely to cost $150 and the paper will work out to 40 cents a sheet.
Just how much market share Zink products will garner, remains to be seen! But it is a very innovative product.
Jun 30, 2008
New 'real estate' up for grabs in Cyberworld
ICANN has now adopted a new set of Web site naming rules. This would allow folks to buy NEW top-level domain names ending in WHATEVER they like.
Sounds like a liberal policy. But internet as we knew and recognized may change. Its not going to be all .com or .org, or .in or .uk etc. It could be zany things like http://MY.SITE.ETC. If I were to buy my.site.etc, could someone else buy site.etc.my? What chaos that would be. My gut feel is that internet sans its naming conventions/rules is going to be a very difficult entity to govern.
If its any consolation, there is an attempt to dissuade cyber-squatters by hiking the fees for buying domain names.
Sounds like a liberal policy. But internet as we knew and recognized may change. Its not going to be all .com or .org, or .in or .uk etc. It could be zany things like http://MY.SITE.ETC. If I were to buy my.site.etc, could someone else buy site.etc.my? What chaos that would be. My gut feel is that internet sans its naming conventions/rules is going to be a very difficult entity to govern.
If its any consolation, there is an attempt to dissuade cyber-squatters by hiking the fees for buying domain names.
Jun 27, 2008
A new search engine: Evri
This semantic search engine is the outcome of the founders aim to connect 'content to content' in a way that social networks connect 'people to people'. Thats why the tag line for Evri is 'Search less Understand more'.
Often times we get lost in the ocean of search results, moving from one site to another and more often than not, moving from one topic to another eventually losing the purpose of our search and very importantly losing time and energy. Its a lifestyle change that we need to make in order to get more out of our searches and products like Evri strive to make this change happen.
Check it out..its still in private beta, you will need to register to receive an email with access details.
Jun 5, 2008
Mobile VAS:Turning off Caller Tunes
Have you ever called someone (lets say for purely business purpose) and it turns out that they have an annoying Caller Tune? Maybe its a song in a language you dont understand. Maybe its a song that features an actor that you detest. May its a song you find disgusting. And it gets worse when the person doesnt pick up in the first few rings and you have to listen to the full song?
Shouldnt you, as the call initiator, have the right to turn off the cacophony and listen to a plain and simple 20th century "Trrrring-Trring........" instead?
Is there a chance that somebody making the VAS stuff is listening?
Shouldnt you, as the call initiator, have the right to turn off the cacophony and listen to a plain and simple 20th century "Trrrring-Trring........" instead?
Is there a chance that somebody making the VAS stuff is listening?
Jun 2, 2008
SearchMe
Tired of Google's plain search interfaces? SearchMe is a great answer! On a dull and dreary day I tried fishing out the latest on Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Voila! The search results are snapshots of the individual web pages presented as a set of revolving panes. And you can magnify them to get a better view. You wont have page numbers for search results (do you really care whether you are in page 7 or page 8 of serach results when you are scanning through the search results?), instead you have a scroll bar!
I dont think the site can match Google as yet on speed or accuracy, but its fun and pretty cool. Check it out!
May 19, 2008
Apr 14, 2008
Agile Readings
Use the Whiteboard:
Found this nice article on using the Whiteboard to capture stuff like the task cards etc. This way its easier for the team members to update their tasks, instead of being bogged down by electronic appplications. Of course it is the duty of the Scrum Master to update the electronic version and produce updated print-outs of the burn-down chart, 'days to go' etc.
Agile Test:
A test devised by Nokia to fgure out if you are really using Scrum or just a way of Cowboy Coding. Obviously proclaiming that this test can be used in places other than Nokia is to violate Scrum principles - each team and project will have to tailor its own adaptation of Scrums principles to be truly agile.
How to start an Agile Project:
This is a must-read if you have read all that is to be read on Agile and yet looking for practical guidelines on how to kick off your project.
Found this nice article on using the Whiteboard to capture stuff like the task cards etc. This way its easier for the team members to update their tasks, instead of being bogged down by electronic appplications. Of course it is the duty of the Scrum Master to update the electronic version and produce updated print-outs of the burn-down chart, 'days to go' etc.
Agile Test:
A test devised by Nokia to fgure out if you are really using Scrum or just a way of Cowboy Coding. Obviously proclaiming that this test can be used in places other than Nokia is to violate Scrum principles - each team and project will have to tailor its own adaptation of Scrums principles to be truly agile.
How to start an Agile Project:
This is a must-read if you have read all that is to be read on Agile and yet looking for practical guidelines on how to kick off your project.
Apr 2, 2008
Structural vs Software Engineering
Dr. Pierfranco Ferronato, in a newsletter says
Perhaps the architects of our homes and office spaces can learn something from software engineering in incorporating the 'ilities'?
He goes on to say that developing software is not simply creating products - it's more about creating flexible solutions and supporting dynamic features that incorporate the "ilities" (configurability, durability, maintainability, portability). The core consideration here is the fact that software is all about dynamics - the development process, the final product, as well as the cost of construction versus changes. Structural engineering practices are built on paradigms that optimize elements related to the concreteness of the goals, often "cast in stone." Software practices are a different matter, and pushing for adopting structural engineering methods for software engineering limits the possibilities. In software engineering, the costs of modification are far less than the actual construction. Consequently, we should adopt a development process that leverages this unique capability.
"Software engineering dares more (than Structural Engineering) in some sense. We are asked to provide features not found in current civil projects. If we were to build a bridge as we build a software product, we should be able to provide all of the following - without an impact on the performance of the bridge:
Reusability: moving the bridge
Extensibility: extending its length (at runtime)
Scalability: adding a new level (hot pluggable)
The ability to replace the technology: from a concrete-based structure to steel (24/7)
Incremental development: first the pedestrians, then cars, then buses, then trains
Perhaps the architects of our homes and office spaces can learn something from software engineering in incorporating the 'ilities'?
Apr 1, 2008
Beam.tv
"We are an online preview and archiving tool built for the advertising industry," says Ben Smith, head of encoding and technology at Beam.tv, "Our aim is to make it easy to view work in progress and speed up creative decision-making, which saves people time and money."
The idea is that companies can upload and download image files stored on beam.tv's servers; the system can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world as long as you have a password. An agency that once would have sent tapes of the cut of a commercial to the client via the post production house will now transfer the images via the Internet. Footage can also be sent to a number of post companies who work in partnership with the service. Ninety-eight per cent of London ad agencies use this system.
Of course, net users all over the world are sending images using Internet technology, but the difference here is in the quality of the image and the software that beam.tv has written to make tasks such as archiving, online approval and creating showreels easy. For any high quality film or video format to be transferred quickly via broadband it has to be compressed, which is where codecs such as Windows Media® Audio and Video 9 come into play.
Another part of the system to use this advance is the beambox, a set top box which allows beam.tv users to view the contents of the archive, or any other content sent to them via the beam system, on a television or larger screen (rather than a PC). There are around 200 beamboxes world-wide and each can store up to seven hours of DVD-quality film or HD in Windows Media 9 Series. The beambox is built on a Windows® XP Embedded platform, with the .NET system developed by Root6 Technology for beam.tv.
"Beam.tv has worked because it has been designed by the people that use it. The user interface is very relevant to the way people work and the business model is also perfectly suited to the market," says Debra Peake, global marketing director for ad agency Publicis Worldwide. "There are three parameters in production jobs: speed, quality and cost - and these are interconnected. Beam.tv allows you to improve the quality and speed and potentially reduce cost too. It's a win-win situation. The ability to access work instantly and address concerns has made a difference."
--excerpted in parts from microsoft.com
The idea is that companies can upload and download image files stored on beam.tv's servers; the system can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world as long as you have a password. An agency that once would have sent tapes of the cut of a commercial to the client via the post production house will now transfer the images via the Internet. Footage can also be sent to a number of post companies who work in partnership with the service. Ninety-eight per cent of London ad agencies use this system.
Of course, net users all over the world are sending images using Internet technology, but the difference here is in the quality of the image and the software that beam.tv has written to make tasks such as archiving, online approval and creating showreels easy. For any high quality film or video format to be transferred quickly via broadband it has to be compressed, which is where codecs such as Windows Media® Audio and Video 9 come into play.
Another part of the system to use this advance is the beambox, a set top box which allows beam.tv users to view the contents of the archive, or any other content sent to them via the beam system, on a television or larger screen (rather than a PC). There are around 200 beamboxes world-wide and each can store up to seven hours of DVD-quality film or HD in Windows Media 9 Series. The beambox is built on a Windows® XP Embedded platform, with the .NET system developed by Root6 Technology for beam.tv.
"Beam.tv has worked because it has been designed by the people that use it. The user interface is very relevant to the way people work and the business model is also perfectly suited to the market," says Debra Peake, global marketing director for ad agency Publicis Worldwide. "There are three parameters in production jobs: speed, quality and cost - and these are interconnected. Beam.tv allows you to improve the quality and speed and potentially reduce cost too. It's a win-win situation. The ability to access work instantly and address concerns has made a difference."
--excerpted in parts from microsoft.com
Mar 28, 2008
Commoditized IT
In the Spring 2005 issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review, Nicholas Carr suggested in his article “The End of Corporate Computing” that the commoditization of information technology would signal the end of corporation owned and operated IT in favor of a centralized set of utility-style providers. In other words - outsourcing will be the way forward for greater profitability and efiiciency.
But somewhere between then and now, things started to change slowly in unexpected ways. Yes, IT has indeed become a commodity. Absorbing the following definiton of Commoditization, we can see how well it applies to IT.
But, companies are far from letting go of their hold on IT, and are giving charge of formerly outsourced activities to their own in-house IT departments.
IT, like many other commodities, is governed by the resource dependency theory: When a resource becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes essential to survival, the risks imposed by its absence outweigh the burdens of maintaining its availability. IT processes are fully integrated in nearly all business practices, from simple e-mails and data storage to more complicated core practices such as forecasting and audit procedures. IT has become so ubiquitous, in fact, that it is taking on another common attribute of commodities — the need for government oversight and regulation.
For example, U.S. government regulations require 911 emergency service across broadband and digital phone providers. Information technology controls that specifically address financial risks may be within the scope of a SOX 404 assessment. IT control objectives relate to the confidentiality, integrity, and reliability of data and the overall management of the IT function of the business enterprise. Thus companies now feel less secure outsourcing these controls, especially because the penalty for failing to meet these standards does not fall on the outsourcing partner but on the reporting company.
A key finding was that outsourcing generates new risks and made compliance regulation complex. Upon canceling the deal with IBM global Services , Austin Adams, JPMorgan CIO, said: “The decision to cancel the outsourcing deal wasn’t driven entirely by cost savings. It was about our belief that we wanted to be more involved in every aspect of our business, and technology is a significant part.” Kurt Potter, research director at Gartner Inc.,says "....Declining asset lifecycles, constant business changes, cost, innovation, and cultural/business fit are affecting the contract length in the life of an outsourcing relationship.”
One way companies are avoiding/mitigating external dependencies is by shifting dependency to another resource. Executives can choose to create internal dependencies over which they do have control to counterbalance external dependencies, and this action can result in a competitive advantage.
And this brings into focus the need for better IT-Business alignment. IT should be separated into discrete tasks based on process instead of technology, and each task must have a specific purpose in the strategic framework.
But somewhere between then and now, things started to change slowly in unexpected ways. Yes, IT has indeed become a commodity. Absorbing the following definiton of Commoditization, we can see how well it applies to IT.
"Commoditization occurs as a goods or services market loses differentiation across its supply base, often by the diffusion of the intellectual capital necessary to acquire or produce it efficiently. As such, goods that formerly carried premium margins for market participants have become commodities....."
But, companies are far from letting go of their hold on IT, and are giving charge of formerly outsourced activities to their own in-house IT departments.
IT, like many other commodities, is governed by the resource dependency theory: When a resource becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes essential to survival, the risks imposed by its absence outweigh the burdens of maintaining its availability. IT processes are fully integrated in nearly all business practices, from simple e-mails and data storage to more complicated core practices such as forecasting and audit procedures. IT has become so ubiquitous, in fact, that it is taking on another common attribute of commodities — the need for government oversight and regulation.
For example, U.S. government regulations require 911 emergency service across broadband and digital phone providers. Information technology controls that specifically address financial risks may be within the scope of a SOX 404 assessment. IT control objectives relate to the confidentiality, integrity, and reliability of data and the overall management of the IT function of the business enterprise. Thus companies now feel less secure outsourcing these controls, especially because the penalty for failing to meet these standards does not fall on the outsourcing partner but on the reporting company.
A key finding was that outsourcing generates new risks and made compliance regulation complex. Upon canceling the deal with IBM global Services , Austin Adams, JPMorgan CIO, said: “The decision to cancel the outsourcing deal wasn’t driven entirely by cost savings. It was about our belief that we wanted to be more involved in every aspect of our business, and technology is a significant part.” Kurt Potter, research director at Gartner Inc.,says "....Declining asset lifecycles, constant business changes, cost, innovation, and cultural/business fit are affecting the contract length in the life of an outsourcing relationship.”
One way companies are avoiding/mitigating external dependencies is by shifting dependency to another resource. Executives can choose to create internal dependencies over which they do have control to counterbalance external dependencies, and this action can result in a competitive advantage.
And this brings into focus the need for better IT-Business alignment. IT should be separated into discrete tasks based on process instead of technology, and each task must have a specific purpose in the strategic framework.
Mar 17, 2008
iPaper
This is an amazing Web2.0 document format that gives a PDF look and feel at desktop speed. To view large documents on websites, visitors have a choice of viewing online or downloading to their desktop. Viewing online can be a tedious affair depending on your connection speed and the document size. Downloading may be an avoidable second step, and the user has to delete it from his machine, if the relevance of the document is debatable.
To help you out of this scenario comes iPaper - a document format built for the Web. Virtually any document format is convertable to iPaper, which is embeddable into any website or blog. Unlike traditional document formats, iPaper is viewed inside a Web browser and doesn't require additional software to view it. iPaper's security system protects content without clumsy DRM solutions. iPaper also builds on the rich features of PDF, including full text search, copy/paste functionality, view modes, and zoom. iPaper is built with Adobe Flash, so if you can watch videos on YouTube, you won't have any problems with iPaper. You must also have JavaScript enabled on your browser.
Check it out!
To help you out of this scenario comes iPaper - a document format built for the Web. Virtually any document format is convertable to iPaper, which is embeddable into any website or blog. Unlike traditional document formats, iPaper is viewed inside a Web browser and doesn't require additional software to view it. iPaper's security system protects content without clumsy DRM solutions. iPaper also builds on the rich features of PDF, including full text search, copy/paste functionality, view modes, and zoom. iPaper is built with Adobe Flash, so if you can watch videos on YouTube, you won't have any problems with iPaper. You must also have JavaScript enabled on your browser.
Check it out!
Mar 7, 2008
ASSIRA - from Microsoft Research
I failed yet another test today. I tried creating a user account on LifeRay and the CAPTCHA got me. I incorrectly deciphered a 'Z' to be a '2'. Some of the blogs I visit have these annoying tests to pass before I can leave a comment.
Microsoft Research's latest offering - ASSIRA ((Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access)- seems to be a fun test to take. You just need to say if the image displayed is a cat or a dog. And the images are cute. And the database is huge - over 3 milllion images.
Microsoft admits that it is not the first time that image recognition tests have been devised, citing past effort like PIX CAPTCHA and KittenAuth suggesting that their limitations was essentially the number of images in the database. Interestingly Microsoft also admits to be partly 'inspired' by HotCaptcha (I leave it to you to visit their website to figure out how HotCaptcha is supposed to work :-)).
To quote technicals from the Microsoft page:
"It's easy to add an Asirra HIP to your web site. Microsoft Research is providing it as a free web service. Be warned that Asirra is still in beta-testing; the service and its API may both be unstable.
Asirra consists of two components:
1. A JavaScript client component that you add to your web page inside a form. Our code will add an Asirra challenge to your web page. If the challenge is solved correctly, the client code gets an Asirra Ticket from our server, and adds it to your form as a hidden input field.
2. A web service at Microsoft Research that your form processor should call each time a user form is submitted, to check that the ticket provided is valid. "
Microsoft Research's latest offering - ASSIRA ((Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access)- seems to be a fun test to take. You just need to say if the image displayed is a cat or a dog. And the images are cute. And the database is huge - over 3 milllion images.
Microsoft admits that it is not the first time that image recognition tests have been devised, citing past effort like PIX CAPTCHA and KittenAuth suggesting that their limitations was essentially the number of images in the database. Interestingly Microsoft also admits to be partly 'inspired' by HotCaptcha (I leave it to you to visit their website to figure out how HotCaptcha is supposed to work :-)).
To quote technicals from the Microsoft page:
"It's easy to add an Asirra HIP to your web site. Microsoft Research is providing it as a free web service. Be warned that Asirra is still in beta-testing; the service and its API may both be unstable.
Asirra consists of two components:
1. A JavaScript client component that you add to your web page inside a form. Our code will add an Asirra challenge to your web page. If the challenge is solved correctly, the client code gets an Asirra Ticket from our server, and adds it to your form as a hidden input field.
2. A web service at Microsoft Research that your form processor should call each time a user form is submitted, to check that the ticket provided is valid. "
The Mobile Platform
Yesterday I caught Aamir Khan (the Bollywood star) on TV, exhorting young film makers to produce movies of short length where the mobile will be the delivery/viewing platform! We have heard our CTO, IT evangelists rave and rant, but coming from AK, it seemed that its time we drastically altered our perception of software apps and architecture while constantly trying to improve their versatility.
Mar 6, 2008
Saas and India
Points to ponder: Heres an interesting view and links to counterviews (on Forbes.com) on the potential impact of SaaS on Indian Outsourcing.
Does SaaS Threaten Indian Outsourcing?
Does SaaS Threaten Indian Outsourcing?
Mar 3, 2008
Feb 26, 2008
LifeStraw®
LifeStraw is the winner of this years World Changing Ideas Awards held by Saatchi and Saatchi. This award has been celebrating the ultimate in Innovation over the years. And this year it has honoured Simplicity in Innovation.
LifeStraw is a water filter built into a straw. It is mainly targetted for use in developing nations where an estimated 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. It is highly portable, just 25 cm, (less than 10 inches) long – reducing the need to travel long distances to central water wells. It requires no power or spare parts and can filter up to 700 litres of water - around one year’s supply. It turns even the dirtiest water into safe drinking water.
Imagine its utility when there is an emergency health situation post floods, quakes and other natural disasters!
LifeStraw is a water filter built into a straw. It is mainly targetted for use in developing nations where an estimated 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. It is highly portable, just 25 cm, (less than 10 inches) long – reducing the need to travel long distances to central water wells. It requires no power or spare parts and can filter up to 700 litres of water - around one year’s supply. It turns even the dirtiest water into safe drinking water.
Imagine its utility when there is an emergency health situation post floods, quakes and other natural disasters!
Feb 25, 2008
Key Predictions for IT Organisations
Gartner recently published its report on Key Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2008 and beyond. The ones that affect my life are ordered below by decreasing importance:
· By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. I wonder why Gartner is sounding so cautious about the 33%. As my CTO says it makes huge financial and technological sense for the customer (no bulk payments, no obsolete lines of code hanging about the warehouse) and the vendor (recurring income, better ways to innovate). For service providers like us, this just shows that we are in the right direction.
· By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. This prediction affects me two ways – as a laptop lugger it saves my shoulders, but as a business architect it adds an additional facet - One needs to necessarily gear all applications for greater portability across devices: mobile, laptop, blackberry, treo, and ‘Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level’.
· Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels. This is a VOW idea. It sounds sci-fi and the 3-D printer Gartner is speaking about is more like a manufacturing unit “ …a device that will carve the design out of a block of resin.” I haven’t seen a single one yet of a thing that’s going to grow 100 fold in three years time. Was 2006 figure 10 units…available in NASA labs etc?
· By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Even the Vatican does a tree penance. How long will the Enterprise be left behind?
· By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. This implies that from here on, there need not be a greater outlay towards MS office each year, and the TCO is actually set to some down.
· By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in Computers. Doubling the market share means capturing around 15% market. Impressive. But that shouldn’t bother me much as I don’t report to Bill Gates.
· By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. I wonder why Gartner is sounding so cautious about the 33%. As my CTO says it makes huge financial and technological sense for the customer (no bulk payments, no obsolete lines of code hanging about the warehouse) and the vendor (recurring income, better ways to innovate). For service providers like us, this just shows that we are in the right direction.
· By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. This prediction affects me two ways – as a laptop lugger it saves my shoulders, but as a business architect it adds an additional facet - One needs to necessarily gear all applications for greater portability across devices: mobile, laptop, blackberry, treo, and ‘Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level’.
· Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels. This is a VOW idea. It sounds sci-fi and the 3-D printer Gartner is speaking about is more like a manufacturing unit “ …a device that will carve the design out of a block of resin.” I haven’t seen a single one yet of a thing that’s going to grow 100 fold in three years time. Was 2006 figure 10 units…available in NASA labs etc?
· By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Even the Vatican does a tree penance. How long will the Enterprise be left behind?
· By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. This implies that from here on, there need not be a greater outlay towards MS office each year, and the TCO is actually set to some down.
· By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in Computers. Doubling the market share means capturing around 15% market. Impressive. But that shouldn’t bother me much as I don’t report to Bill Gates.
Feb 22, 2008
Scribus
Downloaded this Open Source Desktop Publishing software, Scribus, for making a few neat pdf files. This is a wonderful product though on first use it didnt seem intuitive at all. To quote from its help manual..."First time users of page layout applications like Scribus can find starting out quite frustrating. The interface seems approachable and familiar enough, but when you make your beginning steps things often do not quite work as expected. Do not make the mistake of launching Scribus, opening a new document and expect to start typing. Making the most of an application like Scribus, requires a bit of understanding of the concepts of "workflow" in the page layout world. It might seem a bit arcane at first, but will pay off in the end."
It is a great tool for people to get acquainted wiht Desktop Publishing. This lead me to thinking about PDF and what was the need that spurred its evolution. It turns out that John Warncock had outlied it in his papaer "The Camelot Project"
To know more about whats happening with the PDF, these blogs are great Jim King's Blog, Adobe Developer Connection
It is a great tool for people to get acquainted wiht Desktop Publishing. This lead me to thinking about PDF and what was the need that spurred its evolution. It turns out that John Warncock had outlied it in his papaer "The Camelot Project"
To know more about whats happening with the PDF, these blogs are great Jim King's Blog, Adobe Developer Connection
Feb 19, 2008
Mahalo
Mahalo (Hawaiian for 'Thank You') is "...is a human-powered search engine that creates organized, comprehensive, and spam free search results for the most popular search terms. Our search results only include great links".
It could be seen as a confluence of Digg, Wiki and Google, far out-doing what each of those three do individually. Of course it has its drawbacks, considering that it is human-powered, still in Beta, and a lot remains to be seen as to how the search results keep pace with constant changes.
While Jason Hiner heralds it as the future of Search, I tend to disagree. Even for the purpose of research oriented information gathering, Mahalo has a huge amount of drawbacks. I tried the term 'Prince', with the intention of finding more information about the program that converts XML to PDF. Heres what Mahalo came up with...all results related to the singer Prince.
Google got to princexml.com at least as the ninth in its list.
So, I think it will be quite some time before this human powered mechanism can arrive at a dependable database of search results. Till then it is Google for me.
It could be seen as a confluence of Digg, Wiki and Google, far out-doing what each of those three do individually. Of course it has its drawbacks, considering that it is human-powered, still in Beta, and a lot remains to be seen as to how the search results keep pace with constant changes.
While Jason Hiner heralds it as the future of Search, I tend to disagree. Even for the purpose of research oriented information gathering, Mahalo has a huge amount of drawbacks. I tried the term 'Prince', with the intention of finding more information about the program that converts XML to PDF. Heres what Mahalo came up with...all results related to the singer Prince.
Google got to princexml.com at least as the ninth in its list.
So, I think it will be quite some time before this human powered mechanism can arrive at a dependable database of search results. Till then it is Google for me.
Feb 18, 2008
Feb 15, 2008
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