An Interlude from Rhino

'Productive Procrastination' is a label I give to the activity more commonly known as 'blog-reading'. As you may have noticed, on the sidebar is a list of blog entries that I find particularly meaningful.

I read most frequently Architecture, Economics and Techie blogs, a list I'm too lazy to include in the template, but have my fingers crossed that a future feature will allow seamless integration of that information from Google Reader to Blogger.

If you're interested, here's a (non-comprehensive) list:

• A Daily Dose of Architecture
• anArchitecture
• BLDGBLOG
• Inhabitat
• Interactive Architecture
• Life Without Buildings
• Magical Urbanism

(The image is generated in Rhino.)

Face The Music, Book Your Future

A few days ago, I was added as a Facebook friend by someone in HKU. First I was surprised, since I had no idea when facebook.com made its way to the Far East (only HKU for now). I've been expecting it to happen, and even jokingly suggested to a friend to be its Asian division programmer. Could've made a fortune. Or not.

Hong Kong has a large population, but as my sister points out, one always seems to bump into the same people now and then. Social circles overlap either majorly or not at all. Between university and secondary school circles, facebook is bound to be a hit, given as well the amount of time an average HK student spends in front of the computer. One hindering factor, on the other hand, could be the absence of facebook's hype and a holy history of the actual (paper) facebook.


Regardless of the site's success in my hometown, its popularity in the US has caused problems for students. Friends posting photos of underage drinking and hazing have led campus officers to break down parties and discipline students. Embarassing pictures are visible to people you've never met. Stalking cases have occurred from information posted online. Facebook is a fun site to waste time on, but many people are not aware of the perils of thoughtlessly sharing information. It takes only 5 minutes to set privacy levels appropriately to prevent trouble.

A word to the wise on this page a friend sends me:

Some potential employers — for example, many of those you meet at Career Services events — will be alumni, and are likely to look you up on Facebook. Count on this: Your chances of being hired by a company will be affected by your Facebook profile.

Another thing to keep in mind is this: information posted online stays there. Google, like many other search engines, caches webpages. Contact information, photos, profanity, groupings.

Use of profane, derogatory or offensive language does not reflect well on you. Think about it this way: If you wouldn’t use a word in a job interview or in a meeting with a faculty member, don’t put it on the web.

Advice on webposting doesn't get more concise than this:

Use common sense when publishing anything on the internet or visiting other web sites, and don’t assume that everyone you will meet on the web is a rational, law-abiding citizen who has your best interests at heart.

Unfortunately, people don't listen.

Googlopoly

The question of whether Google will become the 'next Microsoft' is interesting. Bill Gates stepped down from his Microsoft post, conceding defeat to the combined efforts of Apple, Mozilla, and Google. Despite still having the majority market share in the OS and Browser business, Macs and Firefox are gaining bit by bit on a slippery slope, while it goes without saying that Google is winning the search engine race by a mile.

Microsoft is viewed as an evil monopoly and even accused of anti-competitive practices mainly because it bundled IE with its operating system, kicking Netscape out of the game. All services that Google provides is optional; alternatives exist if you choose so. On top of that, all the tools are free. Most of Google's revenue is fuelled by advertising, and to a smaller extent corporate search and Pro versions of software.


The fundamental line dividing monopolist Microsoft and Google is the company nature. Google's motto is "Don't be evil", and with their brilliant minds and philanthropic mission, the track they are on is unlikely to lead to a monopoly. The way they maximize revenue is just like any other Internet company, only much better. Provide the best products for free, attract the most internet customers, which guarantees an immense amount of advertising revenue.

Competition (if perfect) will solve problems of monopoly, eliminating inefficiencies. Google competes with many different companies on many levels: as a web portal with Yahoo, in video with YouTube, in online transactions with PayPal, in VoIP with Skype, and countless others. From the start Google has been involved in providing a smooth user experience, focusing their visionary efforts on what people really need.


By contrast, Microsoft devoted itself to maximizing sales revenue, capitivating on its dominating market share with lacklustre products. Vulnerable releases and lack of foresight signed their death contract. Justice is doing its work, and the invisible hand is pushing them out of the game unless they give the masses what they want. Otherwise, people will depend increasingly more on Google and its web services, or choose to get a Mac for its smooth, synthetic usability and quick out-of-the-box experience.

Googol means 10 to the power of 100. With Google, there is hope for a Googlopoly, tending towards what economists would call 'Perfect Competition'. Thank you Invisible Hand. Life just got better.

Ooooogling at Gooooogle

I love Google.

Google is the one and only reason why I would, had I not switched to a Mac, still be using a PC today. It has made the Windows experience much more bearable amidst the ubiquitous viruses, security flaws, and general unamicable user experience.

Before I switched a little bit more than a year ago, Google's search engine was a knowledge haven, Gmail was just gathering momentum, and Google Desktop's beta was so much faster to look for things in your computer. Image search and Froogle (shopping search) were both available and useful, but so many Google products have come out of Beta since then that it's absolutely mind-boggling.

Do you know them all?

In terms of search and the web experience, most people know about the Maps, Books, and Video, but few (academics and students) know about Scholar. You can search Blogs for personal takes on issues or an independent stance, or News for professional op-eds. Or if you just want to see the world, flying across the globe is now much easier (and cheaper) than crossing the duck pond for 17 hours.

But what really made the PC user experience phenomenal is all the software made available to the masses, by none other than the legendary "Don't be evil" Google.

For email, there is virtually unlimited storage at Gmail. For photos, I'm enviously drooling at Picasa's new webhosting feature as well as its old sharing program, even though iPhoto is bundled with the iLife suite. For communication, you can talk, talk and talk (or type) with Google Talk. For organizing your life, use the virtual Calendar, and as for bullshitting, they have this.

Their labs churn out amazing products, if you like procrastinating, being cliquey or are an SMS addict, Google is your best bud. But their smartest decision was to acquire other smaller companies. Keyhole, Picasa, Hello, and best of all, Sketchup, the completely free 3D modelling software for poor idealistic architecture students.

The purchase is only one of many. This other one is the first step towards taking over Microsoft Office's monopoly.

For word processing there's Writely, for spreadsheets there's Google Spreadsheets. Makes it so much easier to collaborate online, lifting Outsourcing to another level. Want to publish webpages in 2 clicks? Check out Google pages. It's the PC version of iWeb.

As for upcoming products (developing in the refinery) I personally adore Google Trends for comparing the most mundane things. I haven't tried the online Notebook yet, mainly because I believe it's only available through Firefox, like many Google products. And there are dozens more that I opted not to mention. Just think that all of that came about in one short year (or two if you will). And there's more and more coming up. Watch out for Gbuy, the Paypal nemesis. As for Google's not-so-secret weapon: data centers, warehouses of processors and disks are popping up like mushrooms as Microsoft and Yahoo try desperately to keep up.

"Google has constructed the biggest computer in the world, and it's a hidden asset,"

Today, it's Google Earth's 1st birthday, Shakespeare just joined Google, and the Internet will be run by Google WiFi.

A Changing World: Good or Bad?

Ever felt that when browsing through Wikipedia looking up one thing, you end up learning about something completely different? Or am I the only person random enough to surf aimlessly for information?

Thanks to Web 2.0, I get this uneasy feeling that advances in Internet technology is only contributing to increased amounts of internet procrastination, affecting especially those budding minds of young college students. Under the broad umbrella term of interactive websites, those that above all focus their free time on forming links and relationships among youngsters or students, have become increasingly a magnet for procrastinating teenagers (e.g. Me) and a source of unproductivity.

(See this list for some of the culprits.)

It is undeniable that not all of these sites do only harm. LJ, Xanga and other blogging sites provide a completely novel way for young people to vent, to express, or to opine, not that many of them do more than rant randomly about how life sucks (again, e.g. Me). However, it isn't the first time that I'm complaining about how some people profile themselves so freely on the no-longer-neutral Internet.

"...telecommunications and cable companies will be able to create toll lanes on the information superhighway... This strikes at the heart of the free and equal nature of the internet."

Not only that, but has anyone any idea what others do with their profiles? Perhaps this would scare you off. Or maybe you'd be indifferent. I opt to proceed with caution. No unrestrained advertising of personal information when the NSA is snooping around for my every move.

By adding online social networking data to its phone analyses, the NSA could connect people at deeper levels, through shared activities, such as taking flying lessons. - New Scientist

Maybe an American is willing to give up some privacy in the name of National Security, but to me, they're just masking a non-stop slippery slope all the way back to 1984. Perhaps it's my panicky self after watching 24, but I'm not surprised if the PRC equivalent isn't worming its way into HK networks. Not even if they've already established the foundations for a Great Firewall - HK.

Are you reading this?

I read many things that interest me that would otherwise seem like a waste of time to many others. This is one of them.

News nowadays is transferred through both traditional and modern media. People still read newspapers & magazines, listen to the radio, and watch news reports. But other people, usually those half the age of the first category, receive their news from elsewhere. 'Internet' is only an umbrella term. There are websites from Reuters, CNN, BBC, or NYT. There's Google News, a portal (*cough* computer program) consolidating content from across the web. There's Wikinews, self-published and community-monitored news from anywhere, anytime if you think it's important. There are Blogs if you feel self-righteous or protective about what you write.

New forms of news have popped up across the world (at least the wired part, that is). I didn't come across News.com until today! And it's great in that it not only writes great editorials but also has a 'Big Picture' function informing you of how all the news is related, like this particular piece.

You know how Google News ranks news according to relevance? Well, there's this new site digg.com that doesn't rely (*cough* trust) a computer algorithm tuned by Google's computer engineers. It allows users to submit relevant stories and also to vote on which ones they think should be the headlines, rather than let some authoritative editor to do the job. Remember how Wikipedia lets YOU edit whatever content you feel is incorrect? Guess what? You can do that even to websites! Check out Wetpaint.com and what they can do.

It's fascinating and wonderful how in the world now we are no longer limited to news that people feed into our mouths (though some still opt for that option), but can pick from an assortment of Social, Wiki, and Personal media. But don't forget, when you're browsing happily, that there are people who do not have the same rights that you do, however close they may be.

Friends, in China, you can't even use Gmail. In China, you can't access Wikipedia. In China, any politically sensitive blogs even remotely related is filtered, censored, or blocked. Reflect on that. Cherish the freedom that you possess.