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	<title>Jason Van Dyk &#187; Study</title>
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	<link>http://www.jason-v.com</link>
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		<title>Team NVPH &#8211; Stack Overflow Web 2.0 Report</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/08/31/team-nvph-stack-overflow-web-2-0-report/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/08/31/team-nvph-stack-overflow-web-2-0-report/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:41:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web presence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=494</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a much earlier post, I posted an article pointing to Team NVPH&#8217;s web 2.0 review. To follow up with the video cast, we also put together a report based on the web 2.0 strategies Stack Overflow uses. Once again, I would like to thank everyone in the team for putting in hard work, Rod [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In a much earlier post, I posted an article pointing to <a href="http://www.jason-v.com/2010/06/03/team-nvph-stack-overflow-web-2-0-review/">Team NVPH&#8217;s web 2.0 review</a>. To follow up with the video cast, we also put together a report based on the web 2.0 strategies <a href="http://www.stackoverflow.com" target="_blank">Stack Overflow</a> uses. Once again, I would like to thank everyone in the team for putting in hard work, Rod did a stand out effort.</p>
<p>Yes, I know the report is delay (a fair few months) and it may be slightly out of date, but in the past 30 days there has been an increased interest in our review so I&#8217;ve decided to upload the report.</p>
<p>To view the report click the following link: <a href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Team-NVPH-Stack-Overflow-Report.pdf">Team NVPH &#8211; Stack Overflow Report</a></p>
<p>If there are any questions, comments or concerns feel free to let me know.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wireless and Mobile Networks &#8211; Quick Quizzes</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/06/15/wireless-and-mobile-networks-quick-quizzes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/06/15/wireless-and-mobile-networks-quick-quizzes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:15:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Information Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QUT]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[During the subject Wireless and Mobile Networks there was a series of &#8216;Quick Quizzes&#8217;. So I thought it would be a good study tool to answer these. Now I can&#8217;t say for certain I&#8217;m 100% correct here, but I thought with all that work put into answering them I might as well post it online. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>During the subject Wireless and Mobile Networks there was a series of &#8216;Quick Quizzes&#8217;. So I thought it would be a good study tool to answer these. Now I can&#8217;t say for certain I&#8217;m 100% correct here, but I thought with all that work put into answering them I might as well post it online.</p>
<p>Anyway, check out the questions and my <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">answers</span></strong> below. If you do notice something is wrong let me know and I&#8217;ll try to fix it up. If you haven&#8217;t picked up on it yet, my <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">answers</span></strong> are highlighted in the question already.</p>
<h2>Lecture 1</h2>
<ol>
<li>The automatic connection between various Bluetooth devices creates a(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">piconet</span></strong>, also called a wireless personal area network (WPAN).</li>
<li>A WLAN is an extension of a wired LAN, connecting to it through a device called a(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">wireless access point</span></strong>.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wireless Application Protocol version 2.0</span></strong> (WAP2) provides a standard way to transmit, format, and display Internet data for small wireless devices such as cell phones.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Digital Convergence</span></strong> refers to the power of digital devices to combine voice, video, and text processing capabilities, as well as to be connected to business and home networks and the Internet.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Universal Handset</span></strong> is a 1.5-pound device that allows military personnel in the field to communicate through a variety of methods using wireless technologies.</li>
<li>Industrial control <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">motes</span></strong> are remote sensors that can connect to a WLAN, then collect data and transmit it to a central location.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: Bluetooth and WLAN 802.11b/g devices both operate in the same radio frequency, potentially resulting in interference between such devices.</li>
<li>True or <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">False</span></strong>: Wireless devices emit high levels of RF while being used.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 2</h2>
<ol>
<li>The number of times a cycle occurs      within one second equals the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">frequency</span></strong> of a wave.</li>
<li>A signal unit that represents two bits is known as a <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">dibit</span></strong>.</li>
<li>The height of a carrier wave is known as the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">amplitude</span></strong> and can be      measured in volts (electrical pressure).</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Phase modulation (PM)</span></strong> changes the starting point of the cycle, while the amplitude      and frequency of the carrier remain constant.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Phase shift      keying (PSK)</span></strong> is a binary modulation technique, similar to phase      modulation, in which the transmitter varies the starting point of the      wave.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Spread spectrum</span></strong> is a technique that takes a narrow band signal and spreads it      over a broader portion of the radio frequency band.</li>
<li>In FHSS, the sequence of changing frequencies is called the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">hopping</span></strong> code.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Barker</span></strong> code (or chipping code) is a particular sequence      of 1s and 0s that has properties that make it ideal for modulating radio      waves, as well as for being detected correctly by the receiver.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 3</h2>
<ol>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">amplifier</span></strong> essentially increases the amplitude of an RF sign.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Half-duplex</span></strong> transmission sends data in both directions, but only one way at a time.</li>
<li>True or <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">False</span></strong>: Telephone systems use a type of switching known as packet switching.</li>
<li>Packet switching requires that the data transmission be broken into small units called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">packets</span></strong>.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">directional antenna</span></strong> radiates the electromagnetic waves in one direction only, and can help reduce or eliminate the effect of multipath distortion if there is a clear line of sight between the two antennas.</li>
<li>In the United States, the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Federal Communications Commission (FCC)</span></strong> serves as the primary regulatory agency for telecommunications.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">radio frequency spectrum</span></strong> is the entire range of all radio frequencies that exist.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Adaptive array processing</span></strong> replaces a traditional antenna with an array of antenna elements.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 4</h2>
<ol>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">isotropic radiator</span></strong> is      a theoretical perfect sphere that radiates power equally in all      directions.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Directional antennas</span></strong> are used when you need to transmit a signal in one direction      only.</li>
<li>In <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">free      space loss</span></strong>, RF waves tend to spread away from the source of the      signal (the antenna).</li>
<li>The length of a single RF sine wave, or the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">wavelength</span></strong>, is what      determines the size of an antenna.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Smart</span></strong> antennas “know” where the      mobile receiver is, and can track it and focus the RF energy in that      particular direction to avoid wasting energy and to prevent interference      with other antennas.</li>
<li>In most wireless communications applications,      one transmitter communicates with several mobile clients. This is called      a(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">point-to-multipoint</span></strong> wireless link.</li>
<li>The space between two antennas would be more accurately      represented by something similar to an ellipse. This elliptical region is      called the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Fresnel zone</span></strong>.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Spectrum analyzer</span></strong> displays the signal amplitude and      frequency, and can also detect interference in a particular frequency or      channel.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 5</h2>
<ol>
<li>FIR uses a modulation scheme called  <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">4-pulse      position modulation (4-PPM)</span></strong>, in      which information is conveyed by the position of a pulse within a time      slot.</li>
<li>At the heart of the Bluetooth RF layer is a      single radio transmitter/receiver (transceiver). This single tiny chip is      called a Bluetooth <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">radio module</span></strong>.</li>
<li>A group of piconets in which connections exist between      different piconets is called a(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">scatternet</span></strong>.</li>
<li>In <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">sniff</span></strong> mode, a slave device listens to the piconet master at a reduced rate so      that it uses less power.</li>
<li>The upper ZigBee layers include mechanisms used      by the devices to join a network, which is called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">association</span></strong>.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">superframe</span></strong> is a mechanism for managing transmission time in a piconet.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Encryption</span></strong> is the process of encoding communications, and ensures that      the transmissions cannot be easily intercepted and decoded.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sequential      freshness</span></strong> is a      security service used by the receiving device that ensures that the same      frames will not be transmitted more than once.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 6</h2>
<ol>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WiMedia      Alliance</span></strong> was formed to support      the development of any necessary higher-layer protocols and software      specifications for 802.15.3 and to perform various other administrative      functions.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Quality-of-service      (QOS)</span></strong> capabilities allow devices to request more channel access      time in order to prioritize high-volume, time-sensitive traffic, such as      voice stream.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">piconet      coordinator (PNC)</span></strong> is the device that provides all of the basic      communications timing in a piconet.</li>
<li>The frame check sequence (FCS) is a 32-bit <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">cyclic redundancy check (CRC)</span></strong> field, a common technique for detecting data transmission errors.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Denial-of-service      (DoS)</span></strong> attacks flood a Bluetooth device with so many frames that      it is unable to communicate.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Advanced      Encryption Standard (AES)</span></strong> is a symmetric key encryption mechanism introduced by the      National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United      States.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Hand-off</span></strong> is the ability of a device to move from one master or PNC to      another without getting disconnected from the network in a network that      extends beyond the communications range of each device that controls the      communications.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Spectrum      conflict</span></strong> is the      potential for technologies using the same frequency bands to interfere      with each other to the extent that they sometimes perform poorly when used      within close range of each other.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 7</h2>
<ol>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mini PCI</span></strong> is a small card that is functionally      equivalent to a standard PCI expansion card.</li>
<li>The AP will automatically select the highest      possible data rate for transmission, depending on the strength and quality      of the signal. This process is called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">dynamic      rate selection</span></strong>.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">802.11</span></strong> standard defines a local area network that provides cable-free data access      for clients that are either mobile or in a fixed location at a rate of      either 1 or 2 Mbps, using either diffused infrared or RF transmission.</li>
<li>Even though it contains data, a 802.11 frame’s      size is not measured in bits but in <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">time      slots</span></strong>.</li>
<li>One type of channel access method is <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">polling</span></strong>. With this method,      each computer is sequentially <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">polled</span></strong>,      or asked if it wants to transmit.</li>
<li>802.11b standard <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">power management</span></strong> allows the mobile client’s NIC to be      off as much as possible to conserve battery life but still not miss out on      data transmissions.</li>
<li>In the 802.11b standard, <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">management</span></strong> frames are used to set up the initial      communications between a client and the AP.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Distributed      coordination function interframe space (DIFS)</span></strong> is a standard time      interval during which all clients must wait between transmissions of data      frames.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 8</h2>
<ol>
<li>IEEE 802.11a uses the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Unlicensed      National Information Infrastructure (U-NII)</span></strong> band.</li>
<li>With an 802.11a WLAN, each AP can use one of <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">8</span></strong> available channels.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Orthogonal      Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)</span></strong> primary function is to split a high-speed      digital signal into several slower signals running in parallel.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: The IEEE      802.11g standard specifies that it operates in the same frequency band as      802.11b</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wireless      bridges</span></strong> are designed to connect two wired networks or to extend      the range of a WLAN.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Authentication</span></strong> is a process that      verifies that the client device has permission to access the network.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WPA2</span></strong> is the version of WPA      that has been certified by the IEEE to be compatible with IEEE 802.11i.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Virtual      private networks (VPNs)</span></strong> use an encrypted connection to create a virtual tunnel between two points      across a public or corporate network.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 9</h2>
<ol>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">broadband</span></strong> transmission sends multiple signals at different      frequencies.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Scintillation</span></strong> is defined as the      temporal and spatial variations in light intensity caused by atmospheric      turbulence.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Local      multipoint distribution service</span></strong> (LMDS) is a fixed broadband technology that      can provide a wide variety of wireless services.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: Multichannel      multipoint distribution service (MMDS) is a fixed broadband wireless      technology that has many similarities to LMDS.</li>
<li>A data transmission to or from a single device      is called a(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">burst</span></strong> in      the 802.16 standard.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Latency</span></strong> is the amount of time      delay that it takes a packet to travel from source to destination device.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jitter</span></strong> is the maximum delay      variation between two consecutive packets over a period of time.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">RSA</span></strong> is an algorithm developed in 1977 by      Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 10</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Short Message Services</span></strong> (SMS) allows for the delivery of short, text-based messages      between wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and pagers.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">mobile      telecommunications switching office</span></strong> (MTSO) is the link between the      cellular network and the wired telephone world, and controls all      transmitters and base stations in the cellular network.</li>
<li>1G technology is based on the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Advanced Mobile Phone Service</span></strong> (AMPS).</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: W-CDMA adds a      packet-switched data channel to a circuit-switched voice channel.</li>
<li>A WML document is called a deck that contains      one or more blocks, known as <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">cards</span></strong>.</li>
<li>The Java programming language was developed by      Sun Microsystems as an object-oriented language used for general-purpose      business programming, as well as interactive Web sites.</li>
<li>The single largest factor limiting the      development of 3G is <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">spectrum</span></strong>.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Low      earth orbit</span></strong> (LEO)      satellites circle the Earth at an altitude of 200 to 900 miles (321 to      1,448 kilometers).</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 11</h2>
<ol>
<li>One class of active tags is called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">beacons</span></strong> because they      transmit on a periodic basis, without receiving an interrogation from a      reader.</li>
<li>The <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">mobile      telecommunications switching office</span></strong> (MTSO) is the link between the      cellular network and the wired telephone world and controls all transmitters      and base stations in the cellular network.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sensory</span></strong> tags, as their name      indicates, can be equipped with thermal, gas, smoke, pressure, and a      variety of other kinds of sensors to monitor and record environmental      conditions, liquid volume levels, or attempts to tamper with a product.</li>
<li>With EPCs, companies will be able to acquire      the manufacturer’s name over the Internet using a service from EPCglobal      Inc. called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Object Name Service      (ONS)</span></strong>.</li>
<li>HF RFID transmission uses a protocol called <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">slotted terminating adaptive      protocol (STAC)</span></strong>, in which the tags reply within randomly selected      positions or time intervals, referred to as slots.</li>
<li>After the <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">destroy      password</span></strong> is transmitted by the reader, the tag is permanently      disabled and can never be read or written to again.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: In hospitals,      RFID tags in a patient’s identification bracelet can provide vital      information that cannot be easily misplaced.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">blocker</span></strong> tag is a device that can be used to simulate      the presence of a virtually infinite number of tags.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Lecture 12</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: Industry      experts agree that access to corporate data from almost anywhere is the      greatest advantage of wireless technology.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wireless VoIP      phones</span></strong>, the telephone handsets that connect to a WLAN’s access      point (AP), enable you to use the WLAN for regular telephone calls.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Wireless      VoIP SOHO</span></strong> routers can be connected to a DSL or cable modem and      provide both a WLAN and telephone services through the user’s Internet      connection.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">True</span></strong> or False: The human      factor in implementing wireless technology is sometimes a significant      obstacle.</li>
<li><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Upfront</span></strong> costs are costs that are      necessary to start a project.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Upfront</span></strong> is a detailed planning document that is sent to potential vendors with      precise specifications for the products and services that the organization      intends to buy.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">wireless      application service provider (WASP)</span></strong> can design and create a      wireless application to run on a specific range of devices.</li>
<li>A(n) <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">help desk</span></strong> is a central point of contact for users who      need assistance using technology.</li>
</ol>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Team NVPH &#8211; Stack Overflow Web 2.0 Review</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/06/03/team-nvph-stack-overflow-web-2-0-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/06/03/team-nvph-stack-overflow-web-2-0-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:24:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QUT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rankings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a group effort (Team NVPH), I would like to share our netcast which reviews Stack Overflow and its Web 2.0 strategies. I personally would like to give a big hand out to Jonathan who spent a fair bit of time on editing the video! Direct YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peYSjTxnzK0 Direct Vimeo Link: http://www.vimeo.com/12230792]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In a group effort (Team NVPH), I would like to share our netcast which reviews <a href="http://www.stackoverflow.com" target="_blank">Stack Overflow</a> and its Web 2.0 strategies. I personally would like to give a big hand out to Jonathan who spent a fair bit of time on editing the video!</p>
<p><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/peYSjTxnzK0&#038;hl=en_GB&#038;fs=1&#038;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/peYSjTxnzK0&#038;hl=en_GB&#038;fs=1&#038;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></p>
<p>Direct YouTube Link: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peYSjTxnzK0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peYSjTxnzK0</a><br />
Direct Vimeo Link: <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/12230792" target="_blank">http://www.vimeo.com/12230792</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lightweight Models &amp; Cost-Effective Scalability</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/05/06/lightweight-models-cost-effective-scalability/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/05/06/lightweight-models-cost-effective-scalability/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 May 2010 05:25:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lightweight Models, Oh-my! Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my! Lightweight Models &#38; Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my! Lightweight Models &#38; Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my! It might seem like a quest to have the best of everything but Lightweight Models &#38; Cost-Effective Scalability isn&#8217;t that mythical. You don&#8217;t have to battle the the wicked witches, but that doesn&#8217;t say it is a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="size-full wp-image-438 alignleft" title="Yellow brick road" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Yellow-brick-road.jpg" alt="" width="167" height="243" />Lightweight Models, Oh-my!</p>
<p>Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!</p>
<p>Lightweight Models &amp; Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!</p>
<blockquote><p>Lightweight Models &amp; Cost-Effective Scalability, Oh-my!</p></blockquote>
<p>It might seem like a quest to have the best of everything but Lightweight Models &amp; Cost-Effective Scalability isn&#8217;t that mythical. You don&#8217;t have to battle the the wicked witches, but that doesn&#8217;t say it is a simple path to take either.</p>
<p>So lets talk about an example that exists out there already:</p>
<p><strong>Wikipedia</strong> &#8211; <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org" target="_blank">www.wikipedia.org</a></p>
<p>We all know what Wikipedia is but in case you missed it (perhaps your just starting to use a computer?), Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia that is based on an openly=editable model. It allows users to add articles/pages and also edit existing ones in a self organising way.</p>
<p>So lets take a look at some stats and see how large Wikipedia is, bear in mind this is only the English side of Wikipedia and doesn&#8217;t count for other languages.</p>
<table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th>English Wikipedia Statistics</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Wikipedia is running <a title="MediaWiki" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a> version 1.16wmf4 (r65975).</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>It has 3,284,100 articles, and 20,270,597 pages in total.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>There have been 385,317,574 edits.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>There are 846,860 uploaded files.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>There are 12,270,511 registered users,<br />
including 1,721 <a title="Wikipedia:Administrators" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators">administrators</a>.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><small>This information is correct as of 03:31 on May 6, 2010.</small></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>I&#8217;ve also put together a more visual representation taken from the wiki stats page, Click to enlarge the view!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Wikipedia-Size.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-442" title="Wikipedia Size" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Wikipedia-Size-600x184.jpg" alt="The visual size of Wikipedia if printed out" width="600" height="184" /></a><br />
So there is no doubt that Wikipedia is large, and they have use an Open Source, Scalable solution across multiple servers, multiple countries, etc. All with less than 30 staff members dedicated staff members. Of course you don&#8217;t have to be as large as wikipedia to use the software and there are in fact many smaller sites that use the same software. You might not have the large economies of scale either, and that doesn&#8217;t matter because there are effective solutions out there.</p>
<p>Enter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)" target="_blank">LAMP</a>, a solution stack of open source software that is ready to take on your needs. LAMP is actually an acronym (not a light stand) that represents the key open source software packages.</p>
<p><a href="http://linux.org.au/" target="_blank">Linux</a> &#8211; An operating system<br />
<a href="http://www.apache.org/" target="_blank">Apache</a> &#8211; A HTTP web server<br />
<a href="http://www.mysql.com/" target="_blank">MySQL</a> &#8211; Database software<br />
<a href="http://php.net/index.php" target="_blank">PHP</a> &#8211; A language in which you can code web pages</p>
<p>LAMP allows you set up and host your own site with ease, it is scalable and as for the cost effect side &#8211; it is Open Source. I&#8217;ve heard lots of rumours but I haven&#8217;t been able to find any &#8216;hard facts&#8217;, but major sites like Facebook and Flicr are based on LAMP, or at least were at some stage. I could say my site is based on a LAMP distro to also make a point (but it isn&#8217;t), however there is nothing stopping you from starting your own site and doing so.</p>
<p>The next biggest craze though is cloud-computing and business creating their sites of API&#8217;s, and renting CPU power from Google, while hosting data on Amazon S3, etc. The reason I avoided this is because it is very much on the hype cycle and I don&#8217;t feel comfortable not having that much control. This might be changing (and it looks so), but it is hard to recommend outsourcing a solution when you can get started yourself easily with LAMP!</p>
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		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<title>Leveraging the Long Tail using Web 2.0</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/05/02/leveraging-the-long-tail-using-web-2-0/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/05/02/leveraging-the-long-tail-using-web-2-0/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 May 2010 10:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Study]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[rankings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=431</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So what is the long tail and how is it applied in the web? Well to be honest, the long tail doesn&#8217;t have to apply to the web, in fact it wasn&#8217;t originally but in more recent times it has been used to describe the strategy internet companies have taken to leverage the online market. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So what is the long tail and how is it applied in the web? Well to be honest, the long tail doesn&#8217;t have to apply to the web, in fact it wasn&#8217;t originally but in more recent times it has been used to describe the strategy internet companies have taken to leverage the online market. Some examples are Amazon, iTunes, eBay and Netflix are great examples.</p>
<p>The long tail describes a wider range of products that are more specific getting sold less often, rather than the &#8216;head&#8217; being more common/generic products being sold more often. A great image create by <a href="http://www.leftclick.com/blog/chasing-the-long-tail" target="_blank">leftclick</a> can be seen below:</p>
<p><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/long-tail.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-433" title="long-tail" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/long-tail.png" alt="" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>Effectively the dinosaur represents a curve on the graph, where there more generic or common a product, the increase of the results. On the other end the more specific the term, the less results occur. Following the example by <a href="http://www.leftclick.com/blog/chasing-the-long-tail" target="_blank">leftclick</a>, how would you leverage the long tail in web 2.0?</p>
<p>If you were in the hotel business and you had a resort you could describe yourself as a &#8216;hotel&#8217; or perhaps even the location your hotel was. This would be a very generic term, and really &#8216;the head&#8217;. If you were more specific, you could use key works such as &#8216;accommodation&#8217;, &#8216;Queenstown&#8217;, &#8216;backpacker&#8217;, &#8216;wheelchair access&#8217;, &#8216;pets allowed&#8217; and the results would be fairly narrow. Putting this keywords into Google may give you the results of a few million (the head), to a few hundred or less (the tail).</p>
<blockquote><p>The more specific your key words, the more specific your audience &#8211; leveraging the long tail can yield lower costs in advertising while also increasing your conversion rate.</p></blockquote>
<p>By doing the following you can target advertisements on the long tail in the example above. This also means you will have lower costs (because there is less competition) and have higher conversion rates (because the target audience is looking for services similar to what you offer).</p>
<p>Another great tip is from <a href="http://www.leftclick.com/blog/chasing-the-long-tail" target="_blank">leftclick</a> is focused pages, targeted at these specialised search terms. What this basically means is, don&#8217;t rely on your advertisements bringing in visitors, create pages or content so the search engines results will list the page (in in turn bring them to your site). In the above example creating an online guest book, or encouraging user reviews (even better if they blog about it and link to your site) are a few good ways to create content.</p>
<p>So what if your a site like Amazon? Similar approach works but there is a few more tips which you can use. If you have a large product range, once the visitor is on your site you might want to direct them towards more generic items you have for sale. The products are more popular and as a first time vistior you might be more interested.</p>
<p>Perhaps you&#8217;ve become a member of a site like Amazon and bought a few items. Soon you wont to direct your members towards a little more &#8216;specific&#8217; material. This will have the opposite effect in that existing members who have seen the common/generic stuff can get pushed towards the more specific terms. By doing this you are encouraging existing users to branch out more.</p>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Perpetual Beta &#8211; A look at Gmail</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/04/25/perpetual-beta-a-look-at-g-mail/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/04/25/perpetual-beta-a-look-at-g-mail/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:31:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Information Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=412</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So what is a Perpetual Beta? Lets look at some dictionary meetings before going further: Perpetual &#8211; perpetually &#8211; In a perpetual manner; Seeming to never end; endlessly; constantly en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perpetually Beta &#8211; A software release is the distribution (whether public or private) of an initial or upgraded version of a computer software product. The software [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So what is a Perpetual Beta? Lets look at some dictionary meetings before going further:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Perpetual</strong> &#8211; perpetually &#8211; In a perpetual manner; Seeming to never end; endlessly; constantly<br />
<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perpetually">en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perpetually</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><strong>Beta</strong> &#8211; A software release is the distribution (whether public or private) of an initial or upgraded version of a computer software product. The software engineers and company doing the work decide on how to distribute the program or system, or changes to that pre downloads and compact discs.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(software_development)">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(software_development)</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p><strong>Perpetual Beta</strong> &#8211; Perpetual beta is a term used to describe software or a system which remains at the beta development stage for an extended or even indefinite period of time. It is often used by developers in order to allow them to constantly release new features that might not be fully tested.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_beta">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_beta</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Perpetual Beta in Web 2.0 is used to describe an online service which remains under constant development. At great example of this was Gmail.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.gmail.com" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-418  aligncenter" title="Gmail-BETA-Logo" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Gmail-BETA-Logo.jpg" alt="" width="470" height="194" /></a></p>
<p>Google&#8217;s Gmail service launched on the 1st of April, 2004 as an invite only service. I remained as an invite only service for nearly 3 years before becoming open to the public (7th of February, 2007). It was still labeled a Beta for another 2 years until the lifted the Beta labelled along with the rest of the Google Apps Suite on the 7th of July, 2009.</p>
<p>During its time in Beta Google constantly introduced new features and changed its services. Introducing new languages, enabled IMAP support, increasing the mailbox size, integration with Google Docs, custom themes, Google labs and many more. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gmail" target="_blank">Click here for a history of Gmail</a>.</p>
<p><strong>So why label something a Beta? </strong>Generally if something is in Beta you can expect some things not to work, and problems arise. This is all part of harnessing the collective intelligence to develop the product, find bugs and provided feedback to make a better product. Without having a web 2.0 application or service you will be stuck in the traditional software life cycle which can cost more, take longer and not be as effective.</p>
<p><strong>So why take the Beta label off after so many years? </strong>From an Infrastructure perspective you don&#8217;t deploy products that are in Beta. You deploy products that a ready that have no expected bugs or problems. Google understood this concept so after around 5 years the finally took the Beta label of. This changes how a business can look at a product and it will allow business to evaluate Gmail and related apps as a potential solution. Previously this would have been ruled out straight away because it wasn&#8217;t ready, it was in &#8216;beta&#8217; and a business can&#8217;t afford to have systems that are un-reliable.</p>
<p>So while the main service of Gmail isn&#8217;t in Beta anymore there are still more features on going. Google introduced <a href="http://www.googlelabs.com/" target="_blank">Google Labs</a> which is an opt-in only service that lest to add features and functionality that are in a &#8216;Beta&#8217; phase. I actually use some of these myself such as multiple inboxes, offline synchronisation, youtube preview in e-mails just to name a few. Once these have been tested enough they might make it to the core functionality of Gmail. So this is an example of a Web 2.0 service that is on a constant Perpetual Beta.</p>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Software above the level of a single device</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/04/18/software-above-the-level-of-a-single-device/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/04/18/software-above-the-level-of-a-single-device/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:52:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online communities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=402</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It has been nearly three years since Tim O&#8217;Reilly talked about &#8216;Software Above the Level of a Single Device&#8217; on his blog (click here to read it), yet it is still relevant to today. Why? Well the concept is a good one in it&#8217;s broadest view every web application embraces this. For a user to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It has been nearly three years since Tim O&#8217;Reilly talked about &#8216;Software Above the Level of a Single Device&#8217; on his blog (<a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/11/software-above-the-level-of-a.html" target="_blank">click here to read it</a>), yet it is still relevant to today. Why? Well the concept is a good one in it&#8217;s broadest view every web application embraces this.</p>
<p>For a user to receive data from through the internet there is a least software running on the servers and and software running on the clients end to get this to work, however I don&#8217;t this this is the point Tim is trying to make. I like to think of the concept as software allowing you to do more with the device, than if the software was isolated.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a style="text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Foxtel-IQ.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-403  aligncenter" title="Foxtel IQ" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Foxtel-IQ.png" alt="" width="146" height="98" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Take for example the Foxtel&#8217;s IQ cable box. It allows you to view channels, record shows, bring up an EPG all on the device. This functionality is extended through an iPhone App or their website which allows you to program your IQ box through the internet. It has extended your experience from using the software on the device itself, to using web software/ application to view the EPG, schedule in shows to record without using the IQ box directly.</p>
<p>This has extended to other areas inside your home, take a look at the gaming industry. Sony has create an online community, integrated with its products called the Playstation Network (PSN), Microsoft has done the same with X-Box Live and Nintendo with their online community (although very limiting).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Google-Products.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-406  aligncenter" title="Google Products" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Google-Products.png" alt="" width="308" height="303" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">I&#8217;ve been trying to stay from examples such as Google Maps, E-Mail, Search, Images, Docs, etc simply because it there is so much to talk about and how their software through API&#8217;s, Common Protocols, Applications, etc allows their own software to be used on a wide range of devices, but really if you look at any of them you could drill down and see how they are examples of software above the level of a single device. In fact, Minterest.com published an article recently called &#8216;<a href="http://www.minterest.com/60-google-products-services-you-probably-dont-know/" target="_blank">Over 60 Google Products &amp; Services You Probably Don&#8217;t Know</a>&#8216; that gives you a break down on what Google offers. There is actually a fair few I didn&#8217;t know about and haven&#8217;t used.</p>
<p>Another similar example of been trying to escape is how the iPhone connects into iTunes on your computer. This then allows you to configure the device, sync selected data such as photos, music, playlists, applications, bookmarks, etc. While iTunes is allowing you to download music, update software on the phone, subscribe to podcasts, add lyrics to songs, download album artwork, etc all without using the iPhone itself. This can all then can synchronised back to the phone. Apple have then added in another software component called <a href="http://www.me.com/" target="_blank">mobile.me</a> which could deserve a post in itself (Take a look at Anthony Nicolaides&#8217;s post on &#8216;<a href="http://mars.discoalien.com/blog/2010/04/mobileme/" target="_blank">MobileMe above the level of a single iDevice</a>&#8216; to find out more).</p>
<p>Looking back on how far we have come in nearly three years. There is still a lot more companies can achieve by providing &#8216;software above the level of a single device&#8217; as there a still plenty of gaps above. With cloud computing increasing in popularity and continued progression of technology it really is becoming an easier world to live in. All we need now is for companies to not lock themselves into a &#8216;walled garden&#8217; and the ease of synchronising myself to the digital world will become second nature (Wow! I feel like a holiday, looking at how much I use technology in my daily life.. perhaps I&#8217;ll Google holiday resorts on my iPhone).</p>
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		<title>Rich User Experiences &#8211; Get Creative</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/28/rich-user-experiences-get-creative/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/28/rich-user-experiences-get-creative/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Mar 2010 07:40:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=378</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What is a website you revisit? Chances are it isn&#8217;t a static HTML page that still hasn&#8217;t been updated since the 90&#8242;s. Not that that web page would be bad (it could sill server a very good purpose), but if you are going to have a great site based on Web 2.0 design principles the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What is a website you revisit? Chances are it isn&#8217;t a static HTML page that still hasn&#8217;t been updated since the 90&#8242;s. Not that that web page would be bad (it could sill server a very good purpose), but if you are going to have a great site based on Web 2.0 design principles the site your thinking of will have a more dynamic layout.</p>
<p>The reason you revisit a website is normally because it has updated, there is new data, you have found a purpose to return and all of this is intended to generates a rich user experience that makes you want to return. There are however ways of getting ahead of the crowd and making that user experiences better.</p>
<p>10 years ago you might have been tempted to use animated graphics on a page with some fancy DHTML coding to make you think &#8216;wow, that&#8217;s cool&#8217;, however technology has advanced and so should your website. Today a site will use AJAX, PHP, .NET, HTML 5 to create a richer experience for the user. These standards allows a developer to load content that refreshes automatically, embed videos, images, upload data, etc.</p>
<p>The next level up is creating a Rich Internet Application. Now you might be thinking application in the sense of a program you find under the menu in your computer but I&#8217;m talking about a Rich Internet Application that uses Adobe Flash, Java or Microsoft Silverlight (the three biggest players in the area). Before you can actually view something in Flash, Java or Silverlight you will need to download and install the plug-in. However once installed you will be able to download a small application on the website and run it in your browser. There are however downfalls in going this way. Silverlight doesn&#8217;t work in Linux, Flash doesn&#8217;t work on most mobile devices, Java can be problematic on some PC&#8217;s, etc which need to be taken into consideration.</p>
<p>So lets move on to some examples! There are plenty out there so I&#8217;ve just decided to to pick an example site from Adobe Flash, Java and Microsoft Silverlight:</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-390" title="Adobe Flash Logo" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Adobe-Flash-Logo-200x200.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" /> <a rel="attachment wp-att-389" href="http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/28/rich-user-experiences-get-creative/microsoft-silverlight-logo/"><img class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-391" title="Java Logo" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Java-Logo-200x200.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="200" /> <img class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-389" title="Microsoft Silverlight Logo" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Microsoft-Silverlight-Logo-179x200.jpg" alt="" width="179" height="200" /></a><br />
<strong></strong></p>
<p><strong>Adobe Flash &#8211; </strong><a href="http://www.donniedarkofilm.com/"><strong>Donnie Darko (the movie)</strong></a></p>
<p>This one I might be a little Biased to as I really enjoyed the movie and when I discovered the website I was impressed. The website is based on flash and is a great example of a RIA (Rich Internet Application). It combines, text, video, audio and takes the user on a journey through the website. In fact it is a challenge the whole way through as information is provided through to you in short bursts, mouse clicks are hidden at times and you are prompted to put in passwords to open the next section (should you be clever enough to work it out from the information provided).</p>
<p><strong>Java &#8211; </strong><a href="http://games.yahoo.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Yahoo! Games</strong></a></p>
<p>Yahoo! Games are based on Java. I&#8217;ll rephrase that. Most of Yahoo!&#8217;s games that you play online use Java. They have a wide range from poker, scrabble, pool to Bejeweled. This has created an incredible series of RIA which gives the user a Rich User Experience that keeps them coming back! I would suggest to give it a try, but I warn you that you may become addicted.</p>
<p><strong>Microsoft Silverlight  - </strong><a href="http://www.silverlight.net/showcase/" target="_self"><strong>Silverlight.net Showcase</strong></a></p>
<p>Silverlight is the newest of the three, however this doesn&#8217;t mean it hasn&#8217;t got any attention. In fact <a href="http://www.statowl.com/custom_ria_market_penetration.php" target="_blank">Stat Owl</a>, has showed that Silverlight is slowly growing in market share. The showcase site itself is in in Silverlight, but it provides many examples (over 900) of websites that are using Silverlight. These range from MMORPG, public transport, geospatial imagery to dynamic bar graphs.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any stand-out examples of Rich Internet Applications!</p>
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		<title>Inovation in assembly &#8211; A closer look at Twitter</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/20/inovation-in-assembly-a-closer-look-at-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/20/inovation-in-assembly-a-closer-look-at-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:29:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=376</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Web 2.0 sites allow people to interact with each other like never before. It is a great way for sites to connect with their users individually, offering them targeted and customized services and information. One example of this innovation in assembly is the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). They provide users with various Web-based [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Web 2.0 sites allow people to interact with each other like never before. It is a great way for sites to connect with their users individually, offering them targeted and customized services and information. One example of this innovation in assembly is the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). They provide users with various Web-based software applications, virtual platforms leading them to more information, tools and additional ways to interact with the core website.</p>
<p>Twitter, the online social networking site is a great example of an innovative company embracing this technology. Although their premise is simple (allowing its users to post text-based messages of up to 140 characters long), they have adopted APIs, which allow other web services and applications to integrate with their site.</p>
<p>Some examples of applications and other sites that have used API&#8217;s twitter have provided are as follows:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.anothertweetonthewall.com/" target="_blank">Another Tweet On The Wall</a> &#8211; Enter in a Hash tag it will start to display random twitter posts in a nice flash page one at a time. If the user has posted a link to a picture (also through an API), then it will load the image and display it as the background.</p>
<p>Twitter Updates &#8211; I totally forgot, but on my site you can see that there is a section on the side which show my latest twitter posts. It pulls the data through the use of twitter&#8217;s API&#8217;s.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitterrific.com/" target="_blank">Twitterrific </a>- Desktop application for the Mac which lets you use all of twitters features, without ever needing to go to the original site. They also provided an application for the iPhone which does similar things.</p>
<p>In fact, there are far too many examples to write down here so if you are interested check out the following sites which have more examples, and tutorials on Twitter API&#8217;s.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/02/twitter-web-designer-and-developer-toolbox-api-and-tutorials/" target="_blank">Smashing Magazine</a> &#8211; 50 Twitter Tools and Tutorials for Designers and Developers</li>
<li><a href="http://apiwiki.twitter.com/">Twitter API Wiki</a> &#8211; The official Twitter API wiki, including resources, helps, examples and further information.</li>
</ul>
<p>The use of API&#8217;s in Web 2.0 provide unforeseen opportunities to the core website. It allows 3rd party developers to use the data inside the website and extend the features, functionality in creative and innovative ways.</p>
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		<title>Data is the Next Intel Inside</title>
		<link>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/14/data-is-the-next-intel-inside/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jason-v.com/2010/03/14/data-is-the-next-intel-inside/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:15:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enterprise 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jason-v.com/?p=371</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every day, consumers from all over the globe are uploading, transferring and downloading valuable data online. Web 2.0 has become a vastly growing global resource for people to connect with each other and gain instantaneous information. Google is one example of a service that has transformed dramatically over the last decade. It primarily began as [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Every day, consumers from all over the globe are uploading, transferring and downloading valuable data online. Web 2.0 has become a vastly growing global resource for people to connect with each other and gain instantaneous information.</p>
<p>Google is one example of a service that has transformed dramatically over the last decade. It primarily began as a unique way for consumers to search through the Internet using special text-matching techniques. However, over the years it has grown to encompass other technologies and services, such as e-mailing, online mapping, social networking and video sharing. These new services have only been made possible by taking advantage of Google’s enormous range of data collected and stored over the years.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/TouchGraph-Google.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-396" title="TouchGraph - Google" src="http://www.jason-v.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/TouchGraph-Google-600x458.jpg" alt="TouchGraph.com - 'Google.com'" width="600" height="458" /><br />
</a>Above is an image I produced using <a href="http://www.touchgraph.com" target="_blank">TouchGraph.com</a> doing a search for &#8216;google&#8217;, which visually displays the major links associated with Google.com. <a href="http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html" target="_blank">You can try it out yourself!</a></p>
<p>The Google information database is extremely valuable, with each new web application heavily reliant on this information. Effective database management has become an absolute necessity for the company and the data it holds has become extremely valuable. With out this data, Google&#8217;s services wouldn&#8217;t exist. This is also a major challenge for any new comer to the market as they will be starting off with an &#8216;empty&#8217; database as such.</p>
<p>As Web 2.0 sites grow and develop, their data will become increasingly important. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia place less emphasis on providing content themselves, and a move to user-generated content. There is a far greater focus on the conservations between users, as opposed to providing a place for advertisers to promote brands. Between 700,000 and 1.3 million blogs are made daily and according to Google, a new blog post is being created every second of every day (James, 2009).</p>
<p>There have been many ethical and legal questions raised regarding the website’s privacy settings. Facebook has been featured on many news programs both locally and internationally, with people questioning whether its privacy settings are indeed safe and confidential for each user. Clearly, being in control of this large range of data is a huge and challenging responsibility.</p>
<p>Since many Web 2.0 services thrive on the participation between users, data storage services become more valuable. Consumers depend on these sites for a safe, fun and interactive environment to connect with other people and information. If the Web 2.0 site fails to provide this service, then the demand will reduce. It is becoming more apparent nowadays that the data found on a site is just as important as the actual software. Google has recently shown this to be the case with their investment to DigitalGlobes imagery and geodata. As technology progresses, we demand more than what the Intel Inside chip has to offer. People now have an interactive environment, where communication is fast, simple and reliable.</p>
<p>James, L April 2009, ‘Should you advertise on social networking websites?’, World Advertising Research Centre, viewed 10 July 2009</p>
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