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Image via WikipediaWould it be great if somehow my attention profile would provide me with inspirational pieces or feedback?. Like it would know what I most likely would find interesting even before I would? That would be totally possible.

I started using Zemanta and I can see the possibilities with this type of system.  A large part of writing blog posts is about collecting assets to go with it. Those assets in turn could provide inspiration as well.

Because I am working in a team that is researching semantic web consumer products I have found Zemanta to be quite interesting.  It does work as advertised  but still needs alot of information to ‘get going’ which is only to be expected…Look at the image on the right, Zemanta suggested this one. Zemanta also suggested Betty Boop…

But in all it’s a fantastic product that I will be using all the time from now on. And to get me to use something for over a week is actually doing something right.

ReadWriteWeb has an interesting article regarding noise and in this particulaire case- the one that FriendFeed generates. By aggregating your social network chatter, and everyone elses it can provide a good overview over all the discussions going on- but it is also littered with noise, noise about cats-dogs-rain-going to bed ,presidential campaign- gadgets I don’t care about, news I don’t care about etc etc etc. I call this Self Inflicted Social Spam or SISS. SISS is the byproduct of livestreams. I used to have that same problem on twitter when I was just following everyone- now I just follow the people I find interesting- however, i don’t limit myself to Twitter, I also use Pownce and Jaiku, and Facebook, Linkedin , Google Reader and Flickr. And I don’t remember how many more. And although the information is incredibly valuable to me, there is no way I can keep up anymore- and the noise is drowning out the signals.

What to do about this? I don’t know, but I am going to start working on something that will address this issue this year. Bold statement? Maybe- I consider this my personal mission for 2008. I have a feeling that Semantic web technology can play a large part in solving this problem , thinking about APML and SIOC right now.

Anyone interested in tagging (no pun) along?

Amazing never released footage of a Well party dating back to 1989 (gasp) , so way before the web- social media- twitter etc.

So I can finally start coding for realz now. I can’t wait to see the performance- or lack of of App Engine. In case you don’t know what App Engine is.

Google App Engine lets you run your web applications on Google’s infrastructure. App Engine applications are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as your traffic and data storage needs grow. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: You just upload your application, and it’s ready to serve your users.

So stay tuned for App Engine apps coming your way.

I have got some iGoogle Gadgets up for grabs

Check IP ,Random Feelings across the web. And a Pownce Public Feed Gadget

Yes….Company X. Y and Z. Your app really looks like that…

Bryant Hayward pointed me to a search engine called searchme.com . At first I would honestly expect to see yet another  searchengine that has some cool algorithm to index the pages by. But searchme.com really blew me away. What it does different and actually does very good is the way it presents the results. It categorizes the results first and presents them as small icons. So a general search for book first categorizes the results in the types of books (fiction, non fiction etc). If you search for something specific like Ruby you get of course computers and services, but also jewelery and music (and more)

 The results after selecting the category is presented in a cover flow type of manner- what is shown are actual screenshots of the websites so you can scan quickly what the sites are all about. If you don’t like it, you can click on the bottom arrow and get a listing of the results…

 I really was taken by the ease of use and the way the information was presented- well thought out and an absolute joy to use. The site is still in beta- but you can get instant invites by signing up with your e-mail adres.

Well, the results are in…Didn’t do to well. One big surprise. I never guessed Hyves would be voted top european company. Kudos for them- but I really don’t believe it. Hyves is one of those things that just doesn’t feel right- but you have to use it, cuz everyone does (like myspace was I suppose) It’s slow, messy, complicated to look at (actually hurts to look at).  They have critical mass- but I don’t think you will survive with just critical mass alone.  It needs to feel right…Right now, there is not just one things for me that ‘feels right’ it’s a combination of many.

anyway- the results

Entertainment: Last.fm - got this
European Company: Hyves - didn’t get this- I called for Dailymotion
Social: StudiVZ - Damn didn’t get this.
Webceleb: Loic le Meur - Yep, called this also.
Weblog: Dutchcowboys - I don’t even  have them in my reader- whaddayaknow
Rookie of the Year: Glubble -hm, I called fring
On Stage Start-up: Wakoopa - That was a complete guess offcourse- I called Twingly

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

Awesome and gripping TED Talk. Too floaty and Woodstocky on some parts, but as a whole- deeply captivating talk.

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