Singpolyma

From the ultra-creative minds of Stephen Paul Weber (that's me!) and Trevor Creech comes a service you may never have expected.

Pranketh is designed with but one purpose in mind — to send prank emails.  Fill in the form with who you want the email to go to… and who you want it to come from!  Pranketh will send you message and when the recipient opens it, it will appear to be from whomever you specified!  Then, when they reply, it will go to that person and watch the confusion!

Have fun, but don't hurt anyone

© 2006-2008 Stephen Paul Weber. Some Rights Reserved.

Whoever first came up with the idea of WebOS was a genius. Somehow I doubt it started with Google OS, but my own interest certainly started there.

Soon there was YubNub, the command line for the web. A flexible, open command-line system for the Internet that is practical as well as cool. A backbone kind of application while also being immediately useful to users.

Webtops started popping up, such as those provided by 30boxes and Goowy. They allow you to integrate the major services you use into one convenient location, sort of like an extension of the idea behind Google IG, BoxtheWeb, and others.

Now we have at least two genuine WebOS: YouOS and EyeOS. Both provide their own 'standard' way to code apps, with APIs etc to help in GUI and back end building. YouOS allows developers to code and share apps on the public server, as well as allowing users to install these apps. EyeOS requires you set up your own server to install apps, but allows apps to be distributed in an offline format. There are distinct pros and cons to both, and to the APIs provided by both.

WebOS is where it's at, with YubNub, YouOS, and EyeOS. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, if we want to see true Web 2.0 here we must not repeat the mistake that was made with offline OS. WebOS communities/developers must work together for standards and interoperability, etc. Each will be so much better if it works with the strength of the others.

© 2006-2008 Stephen Paul Weber. Some Rights Reserved.

Google has launched a new service, dubbed 'Google Analytics'. It seems to be sort of like Mint, an elaborate Javascript-powered hitcounter and traffic measuring service. Unlike Mint, it is not hosted off of your webspace, but is rather managed on the Google servers. Also unlike Mint, it is free. Having never used Mint, I am not really qualified to do a comparison otherwise, but I may try out Google Analytics eventually.

Tags: Google Google Analytics Web Webstats

© 2006-2008 Stephen Paul Weber. Some Rights Reserved.

With all of the efforts nowadays to bring about the 'Syndicated Web' it is getting easier and easier to subscibe to the content you want, if only you can find it…

The major search engines list multiple pages from one site and rate things by hits, meaning that once something is at the top it tends to stay there, and multiple copies of it. This makes finding what you want next to impossible, isn't there some way to list each site only once or something? And how about having the community rate content instead of rating based on hits? I, for one, have often clicked a link in a search engine that looked interesting and later wished I could takes the hits back from the site!

Tags: Web Syndication Search

© 2006-2008 Stephen Paul Weber. Some Rights Reserved.

As AOL kills Netscape, Firefox emerges as the new standard…

Back when Netscape started out, the purpose what to create a free browser that was smaller, faster, and generally better than IE. Not quite so, IE didn't exist yet, the idea was to be the best, but as time went on that meant to be better than IE. Then, as they gained popularity, they began to attract the attention of AOL. AOL bought the company, phased it out, and now the people who code Netscape are the people who code the rest of the atrocious AOL interface.

Fortunately for us, Netscape started Mozilla before AOL destroyed them. Mozilla holds the 'rights' to the Netscape rendering engine and they immidiately built it into a browser. Firefox, the result of these efforts, is now the browser that holds to the original purpose of Netscape. To be smaller, faster, and better, and oh yes, free. As AOL destroys Netscape and turns it into something that isn't worth looking at (and I mean looking at, the interface is the worst part), Firefox is emerging as the browser. Holding true to the standards-compatability that Netscape practically started (being based on the original Mosaic browser, they almost invented the graphical web) Firefox, for all real purposes, is Netscape, and Netscape is no more. Firefox is what Netscape was, and Netscape is just another AOL product.

Tags: Web Browsers

© 2006-2008 Stephen Paul Weber. Some Rights Reserved.