Bing Zhu

3 big problems using Flex.

2007-06-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

After playing Flex 2 for a while, there are 3 parts I don't like the product.

1. Unable to load animated gif file, the only place I saw the possibility is paying money. (though it is not expensive.)

"There is an updated product page with full information. This is a commercial component for sale for $50.
I’ve updated the API a bit, released the ASDoc documentation, and put together a small Apollo application that will let you test the component to see if it will work with the animated gifs you want to load."

I just can not understand why Adobe can't make it as a part of their product. SWFloader is fine, but comparing with normal AJAX application, animated gif now is easy to produce.

2. Memory leading by using Flex. After running Flex for 1 - 2 hours, memory would go up to 1-1.5 Gb. Even after killing flex, memory is not destroyed.

3. Why not introducing Table in Interface design?

Using Flex 2 to Build RSS Feed.

2007-06-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

Recently, I spent a few days working on a Flex application for RSS feed. Well, I must admit it is a hard job.

If using HttpServies, Flex can consume the result easily and a few lines a code can do the job well. But it has a major problem, it can not read our all feeds provided by various provider.

So, I decided to go through a hard way, by consuming web services, and Asp.net to read website and provide web services. xmlTextReader class is quick reading xml from other webpages. Again, it comes to the quesetion, how to write a generic code catering for various node format.

Looking at Google Reader or Google AJAX Blog Feed, it is so powerful to translate the different language well and display it well. -- To make it practically useful, it is really taking lots of efforts.

Security Setting can turn your AJAX off.

2007-06-04T03:31:00.000-07:00

Today, I spent my whole day figuring out how MS AJAX toolkit work. Well, it was a such easy process as specified in its video tutorial. Having a video showing how to do it step by step, I thought it is just invisible, would be super fast.

1. After installing toolkit, I found it is not working though AJAX partially worked. OK, let me reading its release notes thoroughly.
2. After reading release notes, it is recommended to install service pack for Visual Studio.
3. Downloading the service pack is 450Mb, thank you Microsoft.
4. Installing the SP1, take me around 4 hours. Why it is just that sloooow. In the middle, C drive run out of space. Then I rushed to move some stuff to D.
5. Thank you, SP1 installation eventually finished. Try it again, not working...
6. Figure crossed, what can runs wrong, Oh, need to un-install AJAX entension, then reinstall.
7. Oops, after the step, not working.
8. Try the copy in Microsoft site, why it works, mine not worked.
9. Try the copy in another server, which I know it worked before. Bingo, today, it was not working!!! But nobody touched it recently.
10. Try Firefox, it worked locally and for the server copy. Well, I know what is wrong, the damn browser.
11. OK, my Explorer was corrupted, reinstall it Explorer 7. Not working.
12. OK. It must be security setting, after some changes, it worked fine.

Because MS site is trusted site, same code worked there but not for me locally or my company server. Took me a day.

Google Developer Day Sydney 2007 - Australia

2007-05-31T05:19:00.001-07:00

Virtual sex in Second life

2007-05-29T05:19:00.000-07:00

"And sometimes when people are talking across a table, that leads to sex. In real life and in Second Life, too. " This is the conclusion from review "Sex in Second life".

30% of second life economy is related to sex. Haha, why so, in real life, how much economy is relate to sex. In virtual life, avatar does not need to eat, does not need to sleep, so can always have have energy to have sex. Maybe this is one of the primary reason second life is so popular. Unlike World of Warcraft, its great animation and violence attracts people. In second life, its freedom, different lifestyle which you can not achieve attracts people. Well, people will get what you want, sometimes including people's dark side.

Not only individual, many big well-known companies took part in, hopefully 'not in sex'. Playboy will enter 'second life' in early of June, for sure, this would attract some new comers. Just wondering, how many more first-life jobs will be outsourced to second life.

Google Developer Day 2007

2007-05-28T20:17:00.001-07:00

I had a few trainings recently, Asp.net, MS SQL, IBM Domino 7.0. Also I attended a few sessions for Macromedia in recent years. I likes MS ones. Well, the most exciting one, is Google developer Day, so many people are eager to go. In Sydney, its initial seminar was fully booked 1 month before the events. I was pleased knowing the room was changed to hold more audience and my late booking was accepted.

Rather calling it Google day, it is better calling it AJAX day. Back in 2005, after knowing Google map & Google suggest, I tried to use 'suggest' for my enterprise staff lookup. It worked great, I was so amazed to see how fast and powerful it can be used, but it took me very long time to configure it.

Since after, enabling AJAX is much simpler, for example PowerWeb is a nice tool allows developer to develop much quickly. Microsoft's Atlas now (AJAX) is also easy to use. Microsoft's samples make life easy, though not all of them are AJAX.

MS and Google, good work.... Great innovation and make developer's life better.

Google AJAX Search API - Access Google search results from JavaScript apps.
Google AJAX Feed API - Download and mashup public feeds in JavaScript.
Google Data APIs - Read and write data to Google services including Google Calendar and Blogger.
Google Gadgets - Write simple mini-apps for the Google homepage and Google Desktop.
Google Maps API - Embed Google Maps in your own web pages.
Google Web Toolkit - Write AJAX apps in the Java language

Today 100 million Chinese are trading Share

2007-05-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

China stock accounts has exceeded 99 million weeks ago. It is reported, every day new accounts openned are more than 300,000 people, according to the cumulative rate, today it breaks 100 million mark. Thanks to the benign environment, people are becoming richer.

Stock market skyrocketed, the people involved in the stock market this year are also enthusiastic with a sustained manner. Since January this year alone, the new accounts as high as 20 million, that is, the market is as high as 20% of total people involved in the trend.

How many more people can pull into the bubble, and how high index can it go. Shanghai index now is 4,300, not long ago it was 1,000. Some expert claims reaching 6000 is not a dream in 2008. But in reality, it is very unlikely more capital can be invested into the market.

Actually, 1.3 billion people play with 1,300 shares. Sounds not a surprise why share index can rise that fast.

Comments on 50 ways to promote traffic

2007-05-24T23:52:00.000-07:00

1. Write and submit articles to the article directories.

Well, not easy. Top article forum only accept top and unique articles. I had around 6 articles in GoArticles. To be honest, not many people read them at all. Because there are so many good articles there. I don't see a direct impact on my links increase in my Google crawl.

2. Leave comments on other people��s blogs with a backlink to your site.
3. Answer people��s questions on www.answers.yahoo.com.

Cross. Time consuming... I would prefer the second option, because at least you are learning.

4. Post in forums and have a link to your site in your signature.
5. Write a press release and submit it to www.PRWeb.com.
6. Advertise your website in the appropriate category on www.CraigsList.com.
7. Give an unbiased testimonial on a product/service that you have used in exchange for a backlink to your site.
8. Start a blog and submit it to the 100's of free blog directories.
9. Manually submit your website to the major search engines.
10. Optimize each page of your website for a particular keyword or search phrase.

11. Add a link in your email signature to your website. It��s a free and easy way to get a little more traffic.

12. Make a custom 404 error page for your website redirecting people to your home page.
13. Use PPC search engine advertising.
14. Add a ��bookmark this site�� link to your webpages.
15. Have a tell-a-friend form on your site.
16. Send articles to ezine publishers that includes a link to your website.
17. Hold a crazy content and make it go viral.
18. Give away a freebie (ebook, report, e-course) to keep people coming back to your site.
19. Add an RSS feed to your blog.
20. Submit your site to any related niche directories on the net.
21. Participate in a banner or link exchange program.
22. Create a software program and give it away for free.
23. Purchase the misspellings or variations of your domain name, or those of your competitors.
24. Buy a domain name related to your niche that is already receiving traffic and forward it to your site.
25. Pass out business cards with your domain on them everywhere you go.
26. Start and affiliate program and let your affiliates send you visitors.
27. Start a page on social bookmarking sites such as www.MySpace.com.
28. Submit a viral video to www.YouTube.com
29. Conduct and publish surveys to your website.
30. Find joint venture partners that will send you traffic.
31. Start your own newsletter or ezine.
32. Use a autoresponder or email campaign to keep people coming back to your site.
33. Purchase ads on other sites.
34. Send a free copy of your product to other site owners in exchange for a product review.
35. Sell or place classified ads on www.eBay.com with a link to your site.
36. Post free classified ads on any of the sites that allow them with a link to your site.
37. Exchange reciprocal links with other related websites.
38. Network with other people at seminars or other live events.
39. Purchase advertising in popular newsletters or ezines.
40. Advertise on other product��s ��thank you�� pages.
41. Create a free ebook and list in on the ��free ebook�� sites.
42. Buy and use a memorable domain name.
43. Do something controversial.
44. Create an Amazon profile and submit reviews for books and other products that you have read.
45. Start a lens on www.Squidoo.com.
46. Use a traffic exchange (low quality traffic, but can sometimes be worthwhile).
47. Get referrals form similar but non-competing sites.
48. Create and sell a product with resell or giveaway rights and include a link to your site in it o others pass it around for you.
49. Email your list. If you don��t have one, get one.
50. Buy a pair of sandals; get your website engraved on the bottom and walk on the beach, stomp in the mud or play in the snow.
51. Print your Blog URL on your T-Shirt, might be better than 50th.

Vertical Slideshow

2007-05-22T19:01:00.000-07:00

Science picture, it looks like AJAX enabled. There is no page refreshing.

Code is named "js/image-slideshow-vertical.js" which can be found in www.dhtmlgoodies.com.

There are a number of ways of displaying picture on web as slide. Some of them are really advanced.

In reality, AJAX is still the weapon dominating the market. Flex looks good, just like mission few are really using it.

China has cash $1.2 trillion

2007-05-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

China has cash $1.2 trillion, it can buy Microsoft at $300 billion, Exxon at $470 billion, GE at $380 billion.

Then what is the most valuable company to buy. Technology or resource, I would reckon resource. If I am the person to make the decision, I will buy BHP.

Try Javascript in Blog

2007-05-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

Below code is testing how to use JavaScript in a blog document.

Normal JS code copied is not working straight away, need to code the (/p) tag in front and reopen it (p) for the next article. There should be no new line break between codes. Else, it would automatically insert (br) tag beween lines.

What do people say on affiliate

2007-05-17T20:42:00.001-07:00

This article is worth a read, possibly highlights all people's questions and concerns with the new trend.

It needs patience and lots of effort to build the engine, it is not one night's success. Just like share investment, to make money successfully, the process is boring, dreadful. Need courage, tenacity, hard work to explore in the darkness.

There is a possibility to make money, there are so many other ways as well. People may tell you much adsense he has made, but he doesn't tell you how much is the profit after deducting adword cost. SEO, is the king, otherwise if relying on adwords and adsense the margins, it depends on massive volume to make some decent money.

I would think this is a one of the hardest way to make a living in the world. Just like making money from share market, everyone can participate, it does not need any skills, and experience, because it is easy to 'make money', the question is what is the chance.

Build a business in 3 months.

2007-05-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Sounds a good idea, "How to grow your business by taking three months off". I had 3 months parental leave last year, what I was doing was researching on CFD, possibly calling gambling in share.

What I will do,
1. Reading, studying, for example, eBay, affiliate, amazon, AdSense, auto blogging or shares, property.
2. Build my own business plan, elect you as the project manager, find resources required for the project, budget, labor. Create development plan, mile stones, review it periodically.
3. Find tools I will need to improve my productivity.

A few tools worth a look, ActiveWords, Text Expander, FeedDemon, etc.

From cubicle slave to business owner

2007-05-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

From cubicle slave to business owner. If you have the dream, what to do from here,

1. Turn your leap into a small step
2. Go back to school to learn skills
3. Start talking about it to share ideas.
4. Learn all you can from your cubicle job, use your current experience.
5. Brace yourself for the downshift, prepare for bad, hope for good.
6. Consider starting your business part-time, step by step, less risk.
7. Don't wait forever, you would need a business plan and follow each milestone.

Working from home is the people's desire and market trend, eShopping or eAdvertising is replacing traditional ways of doing business. The hard part is entering to the business is not that easy as claimed in many website. How many new website created in a day, that is 120,000 according technorati. The virtual world is just expanding so rapidly. Letting people recognise you from ground zero in this massive virtual world is not easy. The same process applies to home business, producing, marketing, selling and supporting. The first 2 parts are hardest, what to produce, eBay, adword, eBook, how to advertise and how to make your site rank high in major search engines. In the first months or years, home business is not working 9-5, possibly, 8-10 everyday. As I said, worth a try, as far as you can get pleasure doing this.

Google Analytics

2007-05-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Google Analytics v.2 is just Astounding.

Google Analytics is cool to analyse visitor of your website. It knows what is your customer live and what is the most popular customer area. Who are your visitors, and what is their behavior while visiting your site, such as average time spent on your site, how many new visitors.

If you have a merchandise website, the tool will be so useful in terms of analysing markets, trend and profitability.

Fractal

2007-05-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Unreal landscape

2007-05-16T06:39:00.001-07:00

Sound with Google Earth

2007-05-15T17:09:00.000-07:00

Google earth will have sound soon from this month. One of the prediction last year. How about more, building the environment as second life, having real Avatar (teleport and I can fly), real animals around, real fishing experience, real wave...

Well, if I am 60, Google earth will be really nice, plug into a big TV (possibly at the Time it is 3-D image), no need to travel.

Second Life Interviews

2007-05-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

The program interviews people on virtual life, it was recorded by Australian ABC.

The article tells story of the First Millionaire in second life.

OK, virtual, what can be virtual, land, life, travel, money. I would die, but my life in the virtual world not perish. I can live together with my grandson, grand-grand-son.

Create Picture Slide - Picasa

2007-05-13T17:07:00.000-07:00

What is behind this, AJAX, similar Google map. Here are the steps to embed a slide into a page.
1. Create an account in Picasa, sign in, create folders and building images.
2. Get URL for the slide page.
3. Code uses iFrame to display the web page.

Sydney Opera House

2007-05-13T05:46:00.001-07:00

Personalization

2007-05-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

Search is always returning same results, particularly if searching customised websites , how about just searching document I have not read before. That would be nice, if the link has been opened before, the document would not come out and save my time. Optionally, user can choose searching all docs including read. So how and where to store which document or URL is read. IBM's domino application does this feature years before, and actually the tool is very well designed. I can go to a notes database, turn on show 'unread only' or all'. This is stored in people's desktop. Similarly, this can be done in user's computer. It can satisfy most of cases. If user is browsing web office, home and pub, such information has to be installed somewhere else and browsing has to be user-name driven. This can be done, if Google can provide such tool, log in once, store opened URLs centrally.

The other question is for all pages it does not tell you when it was created or last modified. If it is modified, then the document should be searched out. How to find out when the doc is modified has to rely on search index. I am sure by using Google's index and webmaster, and providing another place storing user's history (actually Google does provide such tool), this feature is not hard to implement.

Personalization is a large area to explore.

Flowers

2007-05-12T06:52:00.001-07:00

Resolving Sudoku by IBM's Domino

2007-05-11T17:19:00.000-07:00

The document is related to some discoveries I had resolving Sudoku puzzle. I did this in a IBM Domino application, or call it notes database years ago. Writting code is much more enjoyable than thinking by hand, the bad thing is after I wrote the application, I had never used my brain to do it.

Normally I would need 10-20 minutes to resolve a puzzle, the quickest I did is less than 6 minutes. I am not sure whether there is a world record for human brain. for programming, it takes less than 3 seconds.

There is something I can't understand, IBM's Deep Blue can beat chess champion (though I don't know how it was possible), but for another game, computer seems useless. This is "Go Chess" or "Wei Qi" which is popular in Japan, China or South Korea. I played with a number of computer before, all of them I can beat them easily.

It have a number of ways doing it according to wiki. Below is the logic I coded, it uses same logic if I do it by hand.

1. Eliminating number for a cell.
1 to 9 can be possibly assigned to a cell. A number of figures can be eliminated if same row, same column or the 3-3-cell group has the figure. If after elimination, only one number is left for the cell, it must be right.

I tried this first, tested a few it works fine. It can not resolve all puzzles. I found I overlooked figure constraint in the 3x3 group. So I wrote the 2nd part.

2. Allocating missing number in 3x3 cell, or eliminating cell for a number.
If a number is missing in 3x3 cell, normally it can be put into a few remaining empty cells. The question is how to eliminate cells for the figure. For example, if there are 3 cells left to put fiure 1 in a 3*3 group, but 2 of them are impossible because parallel cells in same column or row has got it, the last spot is must be right.

After this, it can resolve 80% puzzles in seconds, just by one click. 20% are really hard ones. It needs to take a guess to see whether all cells can be filled for the possibility, if it fails, try a different one until it works. I use this way to resolve the rest 20%, for most difficult puzzle, I took around 2-3 mins. I reckon, the step is extremely difficult for human, this needs a great member and fast analytical skill, if doing by paper, it would mess up quickly before the person is lost.

Computer is so powerful, so great, but it is not as good as human.

What is predicated for web RIA 2007.

2007-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

RIA web in 2007 , now it is half way through, let us see how accurate is the prediction.

1. Vista is going to raise the bar for experiences across the board
Disagree, My view, Vista is not turning well. There are complaint 'Too slow'.

2. Adobe's Apollo is going to be much better than expected
Agree, Adobe is going to open source on this. Hotter and hotter.

3. Microsoft is going to make inroads into the design market
Agree, Visual studio is great, now it has WPF and AJAX. .Net 3.0 will fully released next year. So forget PHP programming, that is Web 1.0's product. Use Flex and Visual Studio.

4. The Designer/Developer workflow will get some mainstream press.
Agree, not that evident.

5. Apple is going to make a play in Rich Internet Applications
.....

6. Competition for technology in the online video space will heat up
Agree, the virtual world is just expanding so fast.

7. Flex becomes the primary technology for building Rich Internet Applications.
Can not agree more on this. Flex is so great, does not have the boundary facing for Java, JavaScript or AJAX.

8. "WPF/E" will have a higher penetration than Apollo.
Agree, fiece competition. Microsoft will be likely to win. Its foundation is so solid and strong. Looking at video provided for Asp.net programming, can tell its strength.

9. The Mozilla platform and Apollo will fight for the cutting edge Ajax developers
Agree. Crossing boundary more.
Sun microsoft has Java Fx. For Java developers, a great news.

10. OpenLaszlo is going to be a beacon for open source developers looking to build Rich Internet Applications
.....

Go chess.

2007-05-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

Computer can not replace human, though Blue chip can beat Kasparov. It is useless for "Go chess". In chess programs, brute force is the only strategically or tactically significant factor in playing strength. It is done by repeating, elimination, optimization. It is very very powerful.

Why computer can not do it properly for 'Go Chess'.Human can recognize, can be strategic, can see the big picture, can have a great vision. Human can also be delicate, be subtle, can recognize pattern, can have 6th sense, feel space that is empty.

Computer boasts its speed, human brain is not good at speed and does not need to be speedy. Why human brain is so special, what is behind it. If computer engineers can realy develop a good application dealing with "Go chess", then we can resolve lots of mystery in our own body. Are we built by God? We can build machine, but not something with spirit, only God can.

Go chess, one of my favorite game, can not be replaced by machine.

YouTube API for Asp.net

2007-05-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

This component interfaces with YouTube's API. The download comes with a website full of examples on how to use it. If you want to integrate it into your project copy the DLL from the bin folder and put it into your project.

YouTube's API

Fractal

2007-05-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Many people have planned to draw a nice Fractal gragh, I tried using VB6 years ago, at the time drawing a nice pic would take hours.
Now technology is ready, can draw a nice Fractal picture on web, speed should not be a problem, Google Map can be transmitted well, nice zooming feature can be also possible.

Either can be done by AJAX or by Flex. Flex might be better.

Tomato and Email

2007-05-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

Below is a copied article from my email. My view, if he has email address, he could be rich as Bill Gates if he can be that so successful on selling tomato.
---------------
A jobless man applied for the position of "Office boy" at Microsoft.
The HR manager interviewed him then watched him cleaning the floor as a
test.
"You are employed."

He said.
" Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the application to
fill in, as well as date when you may start."

The man replied
"But I don't have a computer, neither an email."
"I'm sorry",
said the HR manager,
"If you don't have an email, that means you do not exist. And who
doesn't exist, cannot have the job."

The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only $10
in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy a 10Kg
tomato crate.

He then sold the tomatoes in a door to door round. In less than two hours,
he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the Operation three times,
and returned home with $60. The man realized that he can survive by this
Way, and started to go everyday earlier, and return late Thus, his money
doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck,
then

he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

5 years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the US . He
started to plan his family's future, and decided to have a life
insurance.

He called an insurance broker, and chose a protection plan. When the
conversation was concluded, the broker asked him his email. The man
replied,
"I don't have an email".
The broker answered curiously,

"You don't have an email, and yet have succeeded to build an
empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you
had an email?!!"

The man thought for a while and replied,
"Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!"

Moral of the story:

M1 - Internet is not the solution to your life.
M2 - If you don't have internet, and work hard, you can be a millionaire.
M3 - If you received this message by email, you are closer to being an
office boy, than a millionaire. ..

Trend for "make money online"

2007-05-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

Years before, from 2000-2003 I could always hear seminars teaching property investment, actually I attended one of them and bought 2 properties and had some profits.

In the last a few years, there were seminars teaching CFD, a highly leveraged trading method for shares. Now, recently, there are seminar on 'Make money online' or 'Home business'.

Yesterday I received a DVD from an Australian Company www.InternetMasterySecrets.com.au. I clicked an adword in one website and ordered it. The instructor mentioned from now on it is better to name every new website with 'secrets' because people are interested at knowing secrets. A friend of mine asked the DVD from newspaper advertisement recently as well. We are influenced by the same atmosphere.

In my working place, a few people are designing web pages. No wonder, 120,000 new websites are being created every day. The virtual world is expanding rapidly.

The DVD is titled 'how I went from wage-slave to 850K per year in just 12 months. It tells a number of good theories on marketing for selling eProduct. I think most people follow will not make a success. How a profit is made, is by selling eBook, audio, video, or providing coaching or seminar to people. Then what is the topic, teaching new member how to 'make money online'. Oh, the same concept of '1 to 100 dollar story'. More and more people have heard the story, less and less people will open pocket and pay.

Worth a try, just for a different experience. Concept is never wrong, multiple stream income, or passive income. This is another kind of investment, share, property...

Paramid scheme and make money fast

2007-05-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

"If you give me a dollar, I can tell you how you can make you 100 dollars fast". Then what is the answer if I give you a dollar, finding another 100 people ask the same question. Paramid is better, can have multiple levels.

First time before knowing the term, is when I was in University. That was in Shanghai, in early 90. A Taiwanese is selling grocery and ask every person who joined buying stuff for 300 Yuan/month. How much you can earn for a year, he claimed 90,000 yuan is so easy. It was so appearing considering how much is my living expenses, is around 2000 yuan a year. When I was attending the presentation, the stadium is packed for around 20,000 people. I don't know how many people followed, and how many made some fortune. Later it was banned in China and such marketing is labelled illegal.

Second time is in 2001, when I was in Sydney, similar concept, similar introduction. But this time, it is on on-line shopping... This time, after the presentation, I spoke to my colleague it was not new for me. I have been very rich once.

Nowadays, similar scheme is often used. 1 level or multiple level. Because it really
sounds great... On the 13's level, that is world population...

Every one want to have a good living without much work. "want to earn $100,000?, without experience, without hard work" - I definitely want. But I never hear who is very rich because he is on top of a pyramid.

Microsoft is considering acquiring Yahoo

2007-05-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is considering acquiring Yahoo! in what could be a $50 billion deal.

Well, search engine will be dominated by Microsoft and Google. Who have more innovative ideas will win. Microsoft is good at following and take over.

Apart from USA market, China is 2nd largest market in the world. China will be replacing USA as the largest internet market in 2010 by having 200 Million on the line.

Why buy Yahoo, can consider to buy Baidu, which is the largest search engine in China, taking 53% of market share. Li KaiFu, its CEO mentioned in near future, there will be no place for overseas company.

Hate the idea of creating Blogg is for making money only.

2007-05-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Recently I have tried a number of tools that is designed to make money by web site or Blogging. I would say they are just not impressive as they stated.

1. First I went to a advertisement, promising the website worth $1,200. Then I registered, what I found is 3 ads (with some nice pics) for other companies, the only way to earn money is by affiliate. Then I sent to a forum, suddenly, more than 60 people visited the site, by none of them registered the 3 ads.

2. I wrote a few articles in Squidoo, I put all kinds of affiliate in, after 2 weeks, there are around 50 visits totally, and earning is 0.

3. HyperVEE, is a software I downloaded, and upgraded to GOLD membership. Using the software can produce lots of website easily. Some people mentioned it was ever used for creating 600 web site easily. What I found is what it can possibly deliver is horrible. Searched article does not match its keyword title or it has no documents returned. From software development point of view, it does not meet the basic standard. If a web site is developed by this software, I don’t know who will visit, why they would click Adsense in the site. What it can do is precompiled searched articles in the site, which can be possibly done by customized Google search or searching Looksmart.

4. I bought EasyBlogGenerator, it is a very sophisticated software. It has high standard from development of view compared with HyperVRE. If the objective of using the software is to creating blogging quickly, saying creating 40-50 blogs easily, then it definitely would end into a wrong track. The software can be helpful for people wanting to have a decent web site without good knowledge of HTML. Also, I hate the idea of copying other people’s article and replacing a few words to own the article.

Come on, there are 120K blogs are being created everyday, if propose of creating Blog is to make money, then it is totally WRONG. Making money is a by-product of people’s thoughts or people’s great efforts.

Name of the Blog was also changed for a few times because of this investigation process.

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, April 2007

2007-05-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

Looksmart in Australia is not listed. Is the 101 search engine.

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, April 2007

How many blogs

2007-05-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

According to web study, every day there are 120,000 new weblogs are being created, in mid 2005, there are around 70 million websites in the world.

And website are indexed and searched out by a few main search engines, to make a living from web by Google Adsense, is difficult.

First needs to find a good topic, secondly create a nice attactive web site or blog, thirdly, need to consider ways to improve traffic.

No many clicks a day people are conducting, 20 billions. So, there is still a chance to get clicked if page is rank is low.

Blog in Flex

2007-05-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is a blog application written by Flex, like to see its appearance in one of the server. RIA, this would be Blog 2.0 The flash blog

iGoogle and web applications

2007-05-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

When I first experienced iGoogle, first thing in my mind is what application can bring business value. Unlike weather, time, or art tool, is there any application small and easy to be used by end users. On the other hand, it can also benefit the community. Then I come across the Amazon search tool, which I feel is one of the best to be used by every one.

When buying stuff online, unlike shopping in grocery, we are unable to compare product and ask people's advice. Therefore, 2 aspects are affecting people's decision most, 1) what other people's comments on the product, 2) what are similar products.

One tool can help comparing similar products, make sure you have used it well before you go shopping online. It is an application written in Adobe Flex 2, a new programming language that is able to move traditional windows application to Web based.

Now we are talking Web 2.0, what is it, Blogging, Wiki, AJAX, community sharing, Web services. Another important concept for web 2.0 is we now going to face "the Platform of Future", that is more applications will be used in web. There will be less dependency on operating system, less need for software installation. Its benefit is obvious, having better security & support, less maintenance cost. IT people call it Web 2.0, none- IT can call it business 2.0.

Google introduced iGoogle today (May 2nd 2007), a personalised web platform. It has hundred applications or gadgets allowing customer to customise. The trend is Google and other IT companies will bring more and more business related application to web based, such as Microsoft's Word, Excel, Visio. Microsoft is not far behind on this either, its windows presentation foundation to be release in 2008 is really fascinating.

Make sure you have searched Amazon properly before you go shopping online - search Amazon

What is iGoogle.

2007-05-02T03:10:00.000-07:00

iGoogle is an application that focuses on implementing Google`s technology – and search technology in general – into different mediums, one being your desktop. It has 4 features
Google Search, Google Mail, Desktop Search and News Search, it will charge you $25 for a full version.

You are kidding, this iGoogle is published by YazaaWeb Inc. Not by Google.

Come to the real story, Google launched its personalised homepage today, calling YouGoogle might be a better name. Nowadays, there are too many names starting with "i", but less with "You".

The trend is personalised web will be replacing windows application or Lotus workspace (which is handled by IBM websphere), it is the platform of the future (possibly not future anymore, platform of now). What is behind it, XML, webservices, and AJAX.

One thing I am not satisfied is it browser compatibility, I played Google Bubbles (don't know what it is), but this is message I got, "Technically, this gadget does work with Internet Explorer but the animations are much smoother and faster in the Firefox browser. If you are still using IE this would be a good time to switch.". Well, possibly iGoogle should consider using Adobe's Flex more.

What is behind Web 2.0

2007-04-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

What is behind: Web 2.0, Blogging, Wiki, AJAX, Web services, SOA, RIA, - (Flash, AJAX, Social nature, and community contributes.

Another important thing not mentioned, is using large storage, share video, photos...

The future of the Internet

2007-04-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

From, IBM, Microsfot, to Google.
From Mainframe, to windows application, to Web 2.0.

Can you really make money in internet

2007-04-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Have a search on Google suggest, type in make money, you would get "make money online", "make money from home" or "make money on internet" as the top pop ups, each one come up with 100-300Millions links. Why, not make money from real estate, or from stock. Why home, internet or online. OK, it is digital world. For me, almost 40 and IT background, not hard to understand, my dad who is teaching in uni can't understand. I am half digital, my next generation will be 100%, most things can be done via web, education, shopping, meeting friends. I wonder is it misleading to youngsters, is it so easy to make money from internet.

I think though among 200 million links, possibly only 10% of less leads people to right way.

The internet dictionary defines easy money as money obtained readily, with little effort and, often, illegally. Winning the lottery is a way to make easy money. We would all love to do it and very few of us ever will!

I think it is actually time to get real here. It is probably easier to make money working hard then it is hard to make money working easier. Think about that for a minute. The internet has redefined how hard it is to make money. At least physically that is. You will not break a sweat building a website, putting top quality products on it, and marketing your website all over the internet.

This truely is making easy money after you get it all set up and running smoothly. But to be fair it is hard to get a system in place to get a profit pulling website up and running. The nice thing is after you get a system in place that works for you making money on the internet is the easiest money you will ever make.

Making easy money comes down to one thing and that is getting a system in place that automates your money making efforts and leaves you to become good at one thing, - marketing your website.

With a good system or a platform, just like a popular TV channel, can attract lots of traffice (eye focus), therefore good paid ads. But if thinking a TV channel just broadcasting ads, nobody want to watch. Now the digital world can have lots of replacement, such as next Harry Potterr would be written on line, reviewed and sold on line. There is no book or print in order to save trees. That is what make money online is about.

Make money online via survey is another really good source, I don't think you can get rich fast by this. Why receiving letters or have somebody drives to your place, they are not green,

For reducing CO2 emission and protecting environment, only reason for travel is to have holiday, not meeting or conference, only reason for printing is for official contract, not for textbook or novel.

Sudoku in iFrame

2007-04-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Go2Web20.net - The complete Web 2.0 directory

2007-04-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

Go2Web20.net - The complete Web 2.0 directory

A great tool listing top application for web 2.0 stuff. Love to see what Flex 2 can bring.

Adding Google Map

2007-04-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Steps, goto Google Map API, cut and paste code.

One important factor is to add 2 lines of code, this would add move and zoom bar.

map.addControl(new GLargeMapControl());
map.addControl(new GMapTypeControl());

IBM and Web Services

2007-04-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

IBM's email possibly is considered the best email system in 2000. IBM is enriching Lotus by introducing Java in R5, iNotes in R6, Wiki and web services in R7. One important feature is providing webservies for email, one good feature IBM provided is providing web services for busytime.nsf.

Well, if web services is well used, can overcome lots of shortcomings related to replication.

Flex paved a bright way for web's future.

2007-04-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

Flex is a combined technology that gives developer a integrated framework for building RIA (rich internet application). It was launched late last year by Adobe. When I compared its effects and events with .Net framework provided, it is really richer. For example, for a Flex 2 Label, it has 13 effects, 64 events.

First look at what Flex can do, Fladdict might be considered as one of the most top class application that Flex can do, particularly on its Amazon book search. Giffy, is another one, tying to bring Microsoft Visio on web, well. If people follows, no more installation is required. Traditional windows applications done by VB or IBM Domino or Java can be replaced by web apps. Google also uses it in Google Finance, acquiring Youtube which is using Flash displaying video. I might consider it is a smart move that Google can acquire Adobe Flex, if it can.

Adobe Flex site also provides many great examples. Among these, 3 tools I feel useful.

1) CSS editor for flex components

2) Code editor explorer. A good overview what code to be used to bring things moving.

3) Template. Presents a number of presentation ways.

Tools like Flash catcher can download the file as an exe file working locally (if Flash player 9 is installed locally). The desktop application can be useful if the user is offline. This is the same concept of Apollo which Adobe is researching on - "Apollo is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop RIA’s. Notes rich text field can load Java applet nicely, unfortunately, it can not support Flex application.

Flex is able to integrate with other language well by WebService, HttpServices, or by Flex data services, e.g. it links with Asp.Net for authentication. By using these, it can have rich functionality supported by .Net or Java classes. Its cutting edge is its presentation, the capability it provides is far beyond reach by Javascript, user does not need to refresh screen, vendor does not need to worry testing browser's compatibility between JS or CSS, even not need to worry installation with different versions. This is a big step ahead of AJAX. What would happen in the future, application will be hosted in web, not longer in people's PC. There will be no need to worry or update operating system all the time. This leads changes for web development. Microsoft and its WPF is its major competitor.

On its cons, 1. I feel it has not evolved as a sophisticated IDE platform as .Net. Its IDE is not as friendly as visual studio. For example it does not have solution or VBP concept to hold a project. After a project is closed, it becomes hard to reload. Need to create a new project and import script files.

2. It does not support animated gif, though it can run video or sound easily.

3. Memory intensive, after using for a while, slower to compile.

Hints: 1. You can use ctrl + s more to auto compile, this would prompts syntax error on time.

2. Use "Enter" instead of "Space Bar" to accept suggested method.

3. Trace is good debugging tool as “print” in notes.

4. Refer to Flex's guides more to know shortcuts.

Employee of the month

2007-04-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

Employee of the month, that generator looks so good to me.
Outsourcing like everything in the world, has its cons and pros.
Cons: security, quality of services, threaten of job opportunity, tax payer's money outflow. Pros: cheap, introducing competition, green - reducing carbon dioxide.
I am in favor of it, particularly from the green aspect, a generator can do the job, no CO2 emission.

Google and doubleclick

2007-04-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

Google Spends $3.1 Billion

Google paid $3.1 Billion to acquire DoubleClick (DCLK). Microsoft and Yahoo are behind. This would give Google a much more diversified advertising model, an advertising revolution.

Controversy: "DoubleClick is often linked with the controversy over spyware because browser cookies are set to track users as they travel from website to website and record what commercial advertisements they view and select while browsing". From wiki

Last year, in China, the top worst virus is Panda virus, 熊猫烧香, it is a spyware able to detect all kinds of confidential information on people's machine. Surprisingly, it was created by a teenager. After personal information is collected, it is then sold to others. They call it "肉机", "meat machine", like meat in butcher's table.

To what extent, user's details will be tracked can be considered acceptable. Like to what image can be provided in Google Map. It is a good concept. Call "Vendor and buyer", dealer could know you better, your hobby, item browsed, goods purchased online. The information can be further collected, analysed and sold to "seller". I think it is a very good business model. How to understand market is one of the biggest difficulties for product owner. A story is on questioning 2 burger providers " How to make good return by selling burger". One provider said, create best possible burger, make it large and attractive before selling. The other provider said, just find people who are hungry, no need to worry to improve burger's quality.

The business model follows the second.