why $0.00 or FREE is the Future of Business

Interesting video by Chris Anderson on why $0.00 is the Future of Business where he talks about Google, Yahoo and other companies and how things tend to Free.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

The concept of Free economics is an interesting one, as is explained by this blogpost at Longtail, see http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/11/the_rise_of_fre.html

"Made you look" tag and Starting out on ECT 456 at DePaul

Starting out on a Knowledge management course at DePaul this month. You will see more frequent entries here as I plan on using this is as the required class blog, which is worth 30% of the grade. I am supposed to write 500 to a 1000 words a week, far cry from the 1000 words a day for a PhD student. But I digress.

I would like to continue on my quest to "flush out the Goons" using Knowledge management and Data mining and other tools possibly of the collaborative kind. Nothing is free in the perspective of energy and matter as we all know, yet then why do we (Including myself) fall for these SCAMS of larger this and longer that and more of this?

It appears we as humans, in doing business, NEED to force others to buy our product. To COERCE them into buying our product, we "make them look", then bait them with "EXAGGERATED" qualifications for the product. In short we SCAM. Since most of us are greedy and do not read the fine print, we fall for the scam.

If we catalog all the scams on the Internet, have it grow through collaboration, then generate an adsense/adword type of tag based on the "Collaborated SCAM Catalog" to generate flags on such false advertising, the users will hopefully grow wiser. Through Data mining, I believe it is possible to identify a TAG CLOUD that can help us achieve this automated Flagging. So the premise is simple, bring TRANSPARENCY to claims of a products, be it a political campaign, campaign finance, free computers, free homes and a whole slew of similar products that target the greed of the havenot's or shall I say those who don't have as much but would like more, particularly if it is free.

The most powerful "Made you look" in advertisements is the word "FREE", free computer, free ipod, free desktop, ofcourse of late free home. One approach here would be to identify similar words or phrases and words connected to the primary "Made you Look" subset to an "n" hierarchy. Profiling words and pharses in other words.

Next week, I plan on focussing on the "Made you Look Subset" in a little detail, giving it a structure perhaps.

Man on a Mission - Flush out the Goons

They say you have to write a 1000 words a day if you are on a PhD track. I am going to try something different. One blog entry a day all geared toward my mission: "Flush out the Con's on the internet".

Eventually tie this into data mining, semantic web and let it autogenerate. So what is this all about:

The other day I was on ebay looking for an iTouch and came accross multiple entries for 0.99 cents. good deal, I said, how can I get one. This ended up being a pyramid scheme where you have to order one product offering and then you have to get 13 referrals. If the referrals all make an order, then you get your iTouch. It got me thinking how many more of these CON's are out there and is it possible to identify them so others benefit?.

So.......

The Flushing Internet CON's was born:

Here is the first one:

http://www.desktopcomputer4free.com/:

They require you to make a purchase, once you do they require you to have 13 referrals and each of the 13 have to purchase an offer!!.

Watch out for advertisments on ebay that tell you how easy this is.

Tomorrow's post: member incentive programs.

Google Maps API

Truly love Google MAPS API. For many reasons. The most important being, I am able to catalog as shown in this example of QUITLSHOPS IN THE US using LAMP. I am still cleaning up the code, will post the datbase schema and a few tips once done. Most of the work was done by "just plain reading the manual".

Google Maps API

Truly love Google MAPS API. For many reasons. The most important being, I am able to do this: http://quiltingbok.com/findquiltshops/work/ using LAMP. I am still cleaning up the code, will post the datbase schema and a few tips once done. Most of the work was done by "just plain reading the manual".

Knoppix

This article shows how to access a non-booting Linux system with a Knoppix CD, get read-write permissions on configuration files, create and manage partitions and filesystems, and copy files to various storage media and over the network. You can use Knoppix for hardware and system configuration detection and for creating and managing partitions and filesystems. You can do it all from Knoppix's excellent graphical utilities, or from the command line.
Knoppix, which is a complete bootable Linux on a CD, has become my rescue disk of choice. An excellent introduction to Knoppix appeared in developerWorks a few months ago ("Knoppix gives bootable, one-disk Linux" by Cameron Laird).
My old mainstays were Tom's Root Boot, "The most GNU/Linux on one floppy disk," and Peter Anvin's SuperRescue CD, "An overfeatured rescue CD." Both are first-rate Linux rescue disks. One of my favorite show-off tricks is to do a complete bare-metal system rebuild, using only a Tom's Root Boot disk and an Internet connection.
As CD-ROMs became standard on PCs, I wore out several SuperRescue CDs. However, it is based on Red Hat 7.2, which is a great Red Hat but is also an old Red Hat. So, 7.2 does not have the hardware support, such as USB or wireless, found in later distributions.
A star is bornKnoppix, the hot new kid on the block, offers some great features:

1. First-rate hardware detection and support, including PCMCIA, USB, and wireless


2. Latest and greatest Debian and KDE


3. Fast booting, usually around two minutes


4. Commercially produced disks that can be purchased for a minimal price

That last bit didn't become important to me until I moved to an area with no high-speed Internet. Dial-up only, which made 700 MB downloads rather impractical.
Knoppix incorporates the best of Debian, KDE, and its own system utilities. In this article, we'll look at how to do things both from the command line and using graphical utilities. Be sure to use values appropriate for your systems, such as partition numbers, filenames, and network hosts.
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knopx.html?ca=dgr-lnxw01-obg-SysRecover
Fabric Bowls

Joy Of Fabrics

Joy Of Fabrics Opened its doors for business in July. Created out of non traditional materials from cyberspace and with the help of opensource modules from ecommerce this site is officially open for business.

Recovering using Knoppix

This article shows how to access a non-booting Linux system with a Knoppix CD, get read-write permissions on configuration files, create and manage partitions and filesystems, and copy files to various storage media and over the network. You can use Knoppix for hardware and system configuration detection and for creating and managing partitions and filesystems. You can do it all from Knoppix's excellent graphical utilities, or from the command line.

Knoppix, which is a complete bootable Linux on a CD, has become my rescue disk of choice. An excellent introduction to Knoppix appeared in developerWorks a few months ago ("Knoppix gives bootable, one-disk Linux" by Cameron Laird).

My old mainstays were Tom's Root Boot, "The most GNU/Linux on one floppy disk," and Peter Anvin's SuperRescue CD, "An overfeatured rescue CD." Both are first-rate Linux rescue disks. One of my favorite show-off tricks is to do a complete bare-metal system rebuild, using only a Tom's Root Boot disk and an Internet connection.

As CD-ROMs became standard on PCs, I wore out several SuperRescue CDs. However, it is based on Red Hat 7.2, which is a great Red Hat but is also an old Red Hat. So, 7.2 does not have the hardware support, such as USB or wireless, found in later distributions.

A star is born
Knoppix, the hot new kid on the block, offers some great features:

• First-rate hardware detection and support, including PCMCIA, USB, and wireless
• Latest and greatest Debian and KDE
• Fast booting, usually around two minutes
• Commercially produced disks that can be purchased for a minimal price

That last bit didn't become important to me until I moved to an area with no high-speed Internet. Dial-up only, which made 700 MB downloads rather impractical.

Knoppix incorporates the best of Debian, KDE, and its own system utilities. In this article, we'll look at how to do things both from the command line and using graphical utilities. Be sure to use values appropriate for your systems, such as partition numbers, filenames, and network hosts.

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-knopx.html?ca=dgr-lnxw01-obg-SysRecover

<a href="http://joyoffabrics.com/">Joy Of Fabricsa>

USB adaptors & DIY antenna = "Poor Man's WiFi" ?

Make 2.4GHz parabolic mesh dishes from cheap but sturdy Chinese cookware scoops & a USB WiFi adaptor !
The largest (300mm diam)shows 15-18dB gain (enough for a LOS range extension to 3-5km), costs ~US$5 &
comes with a user friendly bamboo handle that suits WLAN fieldwork- if you can handle the curious stares!

Note -the phrase "Poor Man" is not usually considered insulting, but indicates (possibly with a degree of DIY pride) a desire to "make it do, use it up, wear it out" while laterally solving a problem. New Zealand Kiwi's are champions of such #8 wire ingenuity,with electric fences a typical appropriate technology example. Guess our project even has East meets West cross cultural aspects- in the style of Kiwi Fruit evolving from Chinese Gooseberries !? Lab note jottings below pix rather blog style,but arose during an educational WiFi workout & are intended to stimulate others into similar DIY investigation. The author- who first wrangled antenna as a radio ham in the 1960s- is a career educator with a flair for innovation,& has had extensive hands on DIY WiFi experiences - www.manuka.orcon.net.nz has insights into "his" Sardine Can Biquad antenna.

Read more at: http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/

<a href="http://joyoffabrics.com/">Fabric Bowlsa>