Posted by Ian Holsman
The chaos computer club has announced the ‘freedom stick’, a USB-drive image that has all the bits to run tor on it. just plug it in, click the icon and away you go. It sounds like a really easy way of getting a machine in an internet cafe up and running quickly and painlessly.
my only concern is the source of the stick. I still think some people would get a kick out getting a couple thousand machine zombie network set up… so buyer beware.
Posted by Ian Holsman
over at ajaxian they mentioned that google has announced a new Feed API which lets you do client side mashups I think.
Great idea. if it catches on, then GooG has another method of figuring out what is popular/relevant as it tracks even more of your actions
Posted by Ian Holsman
I was just reading how Torsten started a new job at a ‘Sekret’ Company.
so I was interested, and did a bit of sleuthing to find out about it.
Thanks to linked in, I can see 15 people who are working there, from their CTO down to their PA.
The problem being, most of the people are well know for their work in certain fields. so I can determine with a degree of certainty what space their ‘Sekret’ company is in by the people working there.
So .. if you want to keep your company sekret, you need to be careful of social networks, especially when your staff are well known in their fields.
now while most of these people are my friends and linked in directly, others are not.. so the people at Torsten’s company at viewable by all the people I have considered to be my friends… these people may be in direct competition to Torsten’s company..
Posted by Ian Holsman
I just read the recent blog post of Jen Sense which explains how google pays different amounts to it’s advertisers depending on if you actually purchase goods or not. ie.. if the ad is successful google charges more from the advertiser and rewards the publisher. Fantastic idea.. I’m all for better measures on how effective ads and publishers are for showing those ads.
But I’m just wondering if it is being used on the flip side? by that I mean if you the viewer click and spend money on digital cameras. Will google show you more camera ads when you surf? or display higher value ads because you actually spend money on the net? or even perhaps google will share the information with the publisher, and allow ‘high-value’ viewers access to premium areas of the site.. it definatly does open some doors not currently available.
What if it determines your a lousy mark^h^h^h not a person prone to actually purchasing goods. Will it select against you (and the publishers you visit) by showing you low-value ads, meaning your publisher suffers?
I actually think this is a good thing. publishers get more money if they are more effective for their customers (The advertisers are the ones paying.. they are the customers.. not you the viewer)
I just wonder is this data all sitting in some data warehouse somewhere tracking all the purchases I’ve made in the last year? I wonder what the legal rights of them collecting this (or not collecting it) are.. I don’t remember signing a usage agreement when I viewed the ads. (I’m sure the publishers and advertisers have, but not me. the one they are tracking)
Posted by Ian Holsman
Google’s Gmail will be using a innovative method to confirm a person’s details, by requiring a person receive a SMS on their mobile phone.
Normally web sites require a confirmation key (double-opt-in), which is sent to you via an existing email address to confirm you are a person, or use a captcha-encoded image that you need to type in.
This way google has a way to directly connect a ‘virtual’ person with a ‘real’ one.
It will be interesting to see if other companies go down this route, especially since Captcha isn’t as effective as one would have hoped.
Personally I liked paypal’s method of depositing a couple of cents into your account and you telling them how much it was the best.
Anyone know of any other ways web sites are using to proove that it really is a person on the other end of the connection?