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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Cuil

Cuil is officially launched and the buzz is in, the word, Google should be afraid. I don't think Google has anything to worry about as of yet. So what if the founders of Cuil where key engineers at Google. So what if Anna Patterson orchestrated the latest algorithm that Google is supposedly currently using.

I test drove cuil, I think they offer a great interface for the results, but I don't see where their claims that their algorithm is much more sophisticated than that of Google's. I found it to be quite inaccurate. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being Google's fan. I think Google is quite sophisticated and offers great search tools that have been gamed and manipulated by scammers and skeemers to skew results. I'm still able to find solutions via my queries, that which I tried on Cuil and was unsuccessful.

I recently read a book that stated that just because you have the technical know how on performing a specialized task, does not mean you have the skills needed to run a company. Anna was the architect of Google’s large search index, but is she simply a search technician and coder or does she carry the ability to run the business while having other create and manifest her vision?

The bottom line is that many more powerful companies have try to take the Giant down and the giant is yet to loose. The numbers don't lie, Google has 50% of the search market share, while Yahoo possesses 20%. These numbers sound familiar, they should, think Coke and Pepsi. Others like MSN, AOL, LIVE, ASK carry the difference in the search engine space. Another search engine that had a big debut was Mahalo. It came out with an interesting concept of taking the machines out of the equation, but the buzz quickly ceased and I doubt that it will ever produced or come to full fruition. I won't hold my breadth on Cuil, but I'm glad to see competition as it will only make Google come out with a stronger search product. My prediction is that Cuil will be cool for a week or two.

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posted by Death is Forever at 9:27 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Are you in a pyramid scheme?

Next time you find yourself sitting in a business meeting, instead of zoning out, pay attention to how things go down. Someone comes up with a new idea, the executive thinks the idea is brilliant. Together they identify who is going to perform the task, the executive will leave the meeting and head over to the CEOs office and present the idea. He will take full credit for the idea or he will say it was a collaboration from the originator and himself. Some lowly man down the totem pole will put in over time, they might even put in a weekend or two to accommodate this brilliant idea into their already full plate of tasks. Once compile and completed the sales person will bring in new money to the company where the CEO will congratulate the executive on a brilliant thought and a great job well done, while the lowly individual will get to put in many more extra hours and keep delivering product for another 20 years and perhaps one day get noticed and promoted to head janitor.

Wikipedia describes a pyramid scheme as a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. It has been known to come under many guises. In other words, the lowest man in the bottom does all the work while the ones above gets all the glory.

The bottom line is that you want to get yourself out of the bottom of the pyramid and march up the diagonal. In order to do so, you need to identify what makes you unique and sets you apart. What do you bring to the table? You must enjoy doing something that others don't. You enjoy doing because you are good at it. Take your talent and find the right place where you will now be able to sell it as the commodity. You, my friend, will not longer be at the bottom putting in the extra time and effort into tasks that other dreamt up for you; you will now be delegating to others and only performing the tasks which you enjoy.

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posted by Death is Forever at 8:56 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Div Container Width

I have become a great fan of CSS and fluid design for the past couple of years. Tables are a thing of the past. The problem is that even though most Web designers have evolved, browsers have not.

You see browsers are put together by coders, developers if you will. Those types only understand 0 and 1s and have very little time to worry about nuances that pesky designers would devote their time to calculating. One of those nuances are containers like div.

Originally designed to serve as layers, again for Web and Graphic designers, div have become very useful as not only can they float and be positioned, but they serve as containers for content on the Web page.

Here comes my issue, I been having some problem fitting the content on a multi-column site. After some quick Googling, I came across a forum thread explaining that the total outside width of a div box is the sum of the values for the following properties:

margin-left
+ border-left-width
+ padding-left
+ width
+ padding-right
+ border-right-width
+ margin-right
= total occupied width of any {display:block} type box

This makes no sense to me. Although Firefox does follow standards and many accuse Internet Explorer of breaking rules and misbehaving; IE6 and IE7 follow rules much more closely to how designers work. When I designed a page I typically render it in Photoshop, then I translate the work into HTML and CSS. When I measure my drawings in Photoshop, IE follows suit, while I have to more intensely calculate when it comes to Firefox.

The bottom line is that it is unfortunate that browser creators can't come together and be unified so that we, as Web designers, don't have to patch holes cause by the multitude of browsers. Perhaps one day the W3C will succeed in unifying browsers with coming up with standards and rules. As for me, I'm just waiting for Google to come out with their own browser, take over the world, and keep making us drink their cool-aid, until then, I'll keep plugging the holes and hope to stay afloat.

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posted by Death is Forever at 3:10 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, July 14, 2008

You are ready for an update

I recently read an entry on Eric Shanfelt's blog entitled "Publish Web First, Print Second" which further reinforced my accounts from a previous entry Instant Information entry. I have discussed this topic to death, which by the way is endless, in the past couple of month. I have discussed it with colleagues, friends, and just about anyone I know who is interested or willing to hear it.

Yet, little change has taken place. We all continue, day in day out, to use the Web site as a landfill. A place to dump all information, whether relevant or otherwise, and continue to save the best for print. I have also noticed that this is the case for most sites for which I visit and receive a magazine.

It dawned on my this evening that perhaps is not our sites or our processes that need an upgrade, but ourselves. We are at cross roads, a place where digital media is changing the way we obtained our information. We are at the point where most jobs are going digital, yet change hasn't taken place. People still walk into their desks and the only digital they see is their email. I'm referring to the mail clerk all the way up the food chain to the CEO.

I can assure you that less snail mail is receive every day than digital mail. We have completely revamped our immediate communication avenues, but have yet to see that we no longer wake up and go outside to pick up the paper. We instead turn to Google news, MSNBC.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com or some other .com avenue to be feed our daily dose of information.

Then why is it that most publishers insist in saving the best content for print? Because the senior level editors fear for their jobs, they fear that the pimpled face twenty something is going to come in and replace them.

My mother always told me and re-enforce two important things that I carry with me to this day:

1. Go into any career you want, just make sure you work to be the best in your field.
2. Always associate with smarter people, they will teach you new things and take you to the next level.

I used to think my mother was crazy, but what 12 year old wants to listen to their parents, let alone pay attention to any advice they might have to give.

The bottom line is that if you give the new generation a chance for expressing their ideas, and you surround yourself with the best and the brightest, you will rise in your career as you will have the best team working for you. If you insist in keeping them in the dark basement and cultivate them as mushrooms, they will grow to resent you and you will miss out in sharing ideas and growing your company to the next level. Ever noticed the Windows Update icon that pops up near the bottom right corner of your PC? A little box typically pops up notifying you of yet another update/upgrade to your current flavor of Windows. Don't you wish you came equipped with such an enhancement. Time to update!

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posted by Death is Forever at 11:30 PM 2 Comments Links to this post