MyVibe in Gallery Contest – Go Vote!

Vibe Technology’s MyVibe Media Gallery is now listed as a sample site at Menalto’s Gallery2 website.

Gallery2 is the underlying technology that powers MyVibe. There are over 140 sites listed so far – we’d love to see you vote MyVibe as the BEST example implementation!

Most importantly, please take some time to view other implementations, vote and gather ideas to make MyVibe more useful for you.

» Go to Menalto’s Gallery2 Demo Sites
» Learn more about Gallery2

EDIT: You must register a user at Menalto to vote!

» Register at Menalto

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Blog Spammers – What the @#!#$!?

What is up with blog spammers? I have deleted over 300 spam comments from this site in the past two weeks. I don’t understand it. It’s not like anybody wants to see this stuff!

I’d be willing to bet that is a small fraction of what goes on at a busy site, too.

Most of the comments are pure gibberish with a link to an adult or xanax website. The most recent are for an online university. I can’t imagine this will encourage real customers; it’s not like you couldn’t EASILY find these things on purpose.

Can anybody tell me what these people hope to gain?

GRRRR.

New Themes Added

You may or may not have noticed the quiet slipstreaming of additional themes into VibeTalk. Subtle improvements have been made, and the default theme is now Blue Shadow.

In case you’re wondering, themes are one of the strengths of the new world of web design. Cascading Style Sheets and and “generalized” platforms like WordPress make it possible to instantly and completely switch the look-and-feel of a website.

You must login to see these options; registered users can now select from a total of five themes (beta users will see considerably more – let us know if you are interested in participating).

Using VibeTalk Themes

If you have previously selected a theme and are having display problems, be sure to clear your cache and cookie files (in FireFox press CTRL+SHIFT+Del; in IE 6 go to Tools\Internet Options\Delete Cookies).

	Blue Shadow based on Bosco by Solostream Global Media This is the default VibeTalk theme – a compact, professional layout with built-in links for DIGG and email.
	Black Shadow based on vSlider2 by iRui This theme has collapsible posts and a good “breadcrumb” nav link at the top, similar to the breadcrumb in the MyVibe Gallery. The header is also randomly switched between two VibeTalk logos. This is a highly customized theme and the original look for the site.
	White Shadow based on Tarski by Ben Eastaugh and Chris Johnson This theme has no borders on the left and right and includes a list of recent posts with summaries in the footer. The authors spent considerable time modularizing this theme so that it “degrades gracefully” (meaning, it will upgrade well or keep its usefulness should no upgrades occur). This was the previous default theme.
	Simple White 1 based on Simpla by Phu Ly This theme is the smallest and downloads the fastest. Headers on posts stand out a bit more nicely than other themes. Like Black Shadow, this one was modified significantly from the original as well.
	Simple White 3 based on Slimple by Matt Mueller This theme has excellent contrast and nicely designed icons for sidebar sections. It’s worth mentioning that Matt is the most responsive theme designer with which I’ve had the pleasure of working. I recommend enlisting his help on custom work (that is if you can pry him away from his studies! )

AjaxWP Added To VibeTalk

Gianni Milanesi has put together a slick WordPress enhancement called AjaxWP that adds animation and AJAX lookup behavior as users switch between pages.

While we test this new plugin, you will only see cosmetic changes (a spinning graphic is displayed while the new page is loaded in the background).

If the testing is successful, we will tune the plugin for performance and begin to investigate more interesting page layouts. This may or may not replace BloxPress, but they can likely work together.

For a great example of what is possible, I encourage you to visit Gianni’s website and experiment with the controls at the top.

Many thanks to Gianni and the developers who created the underlying technologies!

FeedBurner Service Added to VibeTalk

VibeTalk RSS Feed

VibeTalk feeds are now being channeled through the FeedBurner service at http://feeds.feedburner.com/vibe.

This remarkable service allows users to easily subscribe to nearly all of the pages on VibeTalk with one link. If you like, you can also view the feed content on the FeedBurner site above without a feed reader – the pages are formatted quite nicely.

MyVibe RSS Feeds Coming Soon!

You can already subscribe to RSS feeds on MyVibe, but we’ll also be adding FeedBurner feeds each user’s MyVibe page. The format will be

How to Subscribe to “Feeds”

They are everywhere. “Subscribe to feed”. “RSS Feed”. If you look closely, you’ll see them all over the Internet. They are at the top and bottom of most of the VibeTalk pages.

You may even have clicked one, expecting to see a handy list of information. Instead, you get gibberish.

What are they???

“RSS” stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a web page formatted in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). It allows you to combine multiple sources into a single page for easy reading. With the help of feed reader application software, you can list and arrange this information in all sorts of ways.

The good news is that they truly are simple to use. If you want to get started quickly, you don’t even need to install an application.

How to Make RSS Work

There are dozens of well-known feed readers, but the easiest way to get started is to use an extension of a service you may already use. If you use Google or Yahoo, you can add feeds without doing anything special.

To add VibeTalk to your Google or Yahoo account, simply click either of the following “chicklets”

Here is what the Google reader looks like

11595

(click thumbnail above to see larger image)

FeedBurner Service

To simplify the process of adding VibeTalk to your list of feeds, we’ve subscribed to FeedBurner, a feed aggregator. It’s a one-stop shop that allows users to combine multiple web pages into a single link. Look for more information on using FeedBurner in the next few days.

What are RSS2 and ATOM?
As it turns out, RSS is actually an older data format that is slowly being replaced by the newer RSS2 and ATOM formats. The new formats work essentially the same, tho. FeedBurner will take care of these differences for you, so don’t worry!

Book Review: On Intelligence

Science and Technology

On Intelligence

by Jeff Hawkins

I almost fell out of my seat when I learned about this book. Someone gets it!

The book is very readable; the author uses a pop-culture style to explain brain neuroscience and the creation of what he calls intelligent machines.

Hawkins starts by debunking existing Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks as un-intelligent in not first properly defining “intelligence”.

Rather than defining intelligence by the Turing Test and behavioral outputs, he proposes that machines more closely model actual brain biology. Immitating cerebral cortex cell function, intelligent machines would then include 1.) enhanced feedback, 2.) simple, but massively repeated process hierarchies and 3.) some sense of time as fundamental design elements.

I was surprised to discover that he had personally written the prototype for Graffiti, the handwriting recognition engine used on most handheld devices!

Author Background

I found the history leading to the writing of the book as interesting as the main subject. He outlines his early interest in brain biology, work at Intel, return to college and founding of Palm Computing.

Pursuing his passion in college and into his early career, Hawkins failed attempts to garner interest in brain-based projects. As eventual creator of the hugely successful Palm Pilot and Treo products, he espoused simplicity in design and cautioned his own engineers that complex usually means confused.

I was surprised to discover that he had personally written the prototype for Graffiti, the handwriting recognition engine used on most handheld devices!

Conclusion

Because of the similarity to my own thinking with MoodSense™, I couldn’t help but like this book. He’s a far more influential and experienced engineer, so I admit it was a shot in the arm to hear that someone of his caliber agrees with me on some level.

My only complaint is that this book is obviously too short to properly cover the subject – even at a layman level. Consequently, he makes more than a few leaps of logic to support his conclusions. To paraphrase, “we should consider technology potentially superior to nature in the way planes are superior to birds” -> i.e. evolution is a biological “kludge” we may surpass with fresh thinking (ironic, considering his premise).

If you’re not too bent on the details, and view it as a starting point, this is an excellent read.

I recommend this book.

-Joe

Buy On Intelligence at Amazon.com | View Other Book Recommendations

BloxPress Selected for VibeTalk Site

BloxPress is the an extensible WordPress theme that will allow VibeTalk users to fully customize their experience.

So What?

This is much more than just changing themes, guys – in addition to the ability to switch a whole theme, you will be able to drag-and-drop “modules” anywhere on the page!

Movies, Weather and Driving Directions on Your Cell Phone

Did you know Google provides a free SMS (text messaging) interface for most major cellular service providers? Yep.

By sending a message to 46645 (‘GOOGL’ on your phone pad), you can get movie listings, weather forecasts, driving directions and more. Since many service plans include free text messaging, you probably won’t have to pay anything for it!

Plans that do not include free SMS functions typically charge from 5-10¢ per message, which is still cheaper and faster than trying to surf the web over a phone.

How It Works

Let’s say you’re out and about when suddenly you think you’d like to go to the movies. Not wanting to navigate 777.FILM or find a local paper, you can get a quick list of movies near you by sending the following message to 46645 (substitute your zip code for 95008)

Movies 95008

In a few seconds you should get something like this (NOTE: This will most likely arrive in 2 or 3 messages due to size limitations of the system)

Movies:
* An Inconvenient Truth
1hr 40min,PG,Documentary,4.2/5

* A Prairie Home Companion
1hr 40min,PG-13,Comedy,3.8/5

* Cars
1hr 57min,G,Animation/Action/Adventure/Family,3.8/5

New: send ‘wc’ or [country] to get World Cup scores!

If you know the name of the movie you’d like to see, try this:

Movies cars 95008

For a 5-day weather forecast, try this:

Weather 95008

Pretty handy, eh?

More Information

What else can you do? Here’s the list from Google

Local Business Listings	Reverse Phonebook Lookup
Driving Directions	Stock Quotes
Word Dictionary	Word Language Translation
Froogle Product Price Search	City Lookup by Zip or Area Code
Calculator with Unit Conversion	Currency Conversion
Sports News

Google has a nifty simulator on their website that will let you try real searches to get practice before you begin. For details on the simulator and instructions for the other functions, please visit the following links.

Phone Simulator
SMS Tutorial

Book Review: Blink

Business and Marketing

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

by Malcom Gladwell

In this sequel to The Tipping Point, the author continues on the concept of intuitive thinking and analyzes the often overlooked, but pivotal factors in good decision making. He looks from the outside-in and systematically examines the method in which people observe, evaluate and act.

Again defying popular beliefs, Gladwell illustrates that it is possible to make informed decisions in a matter of seconds – once we learn to observe the right clues. With interesting anecdotes and careful research citations, he shows that experienced practioners can build skills allowing them to make snap judgements that are surprisingly accurate and well-founded.

Gladwell lures you in with seemingly-unscientific examples only to surprise you with study after study supporting his thinking

In one story, a well-known museum was duped into buying a $10 million fake statue after painstakingly validating its authenticity for 14 months. Several world-renowned artists were consulted to participate in the process.

The artists were later interviewed and said to have immediately expressed concerns; they couldn’t quite put their finger on what was wrong, but they had a ‘feeling’. Following documented methods, they ignored their instincts and confirmed the item’s worth. The artists had told the procurement team something was amiss – they just didn’t piece it together until it was too late.

This is a great book with the same practical application as the first. Gladwell lures you in with seemingly-unscientific examples only to surprise you with study after study supporting his thinking. He cautions against overreacting in a prejudiced way, encouraging traditional scientific method, but then does an excellent job showing that, with practice, snap-decisions are no less scientific.

I recommend this book.

-Joe

Oh, and if you’re curious what the wizard behind the curtain looks like, check out these pictures of him. I bet you’ll be as surprised as I was.

Buy Blink at Amazon.com | View Other Book Recommendations