2011 18
Quora’s growth is wild
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Internet & Technology with No Comments
I am planning to write a post on Quora but want to get better at understanding it before I do. Still here is a first observation. After 3 years on Twitter I have around 26,000 followers. On Quora I am getting around 200 per day and that is at the very start of Quora. At this rate it will take me less than half a year to have as many followers in Quora as I have in Twitter. Especially considering that the rate will likely go up as it did with Twitter. This I find shocking. Facebook had a slow start. Twitter had a slow start. Still they are both gigantic now. What is going on with Quora that is growing so fast so quickly? Will it be the next big thing? Will it fizzle out like Chatroulette? Should I ask that on Quora?
Both Joe Biden and Gaddafi agree in their hatred for Wikileaks. But they have different styles. Biden likens Wikileaks to a high tech terrorist organization. Now Gaddafi, a real terrorist responsible for the downing of a commercial jet among other deeds, has a more unusual way to speak about Wikileaks. He calls Wikileaks “Kleenex” and then goes on with a rant about the Internet in general that is just funny (so long as you forget that it comes from a bloody dictator). He says:
Even you, my Tunisian brothers. You may be reading this Kleenex and empty talk on the Internet.
This Internet, which any demented person, any drunk can get drunk and write in, do you believe it? The Internet is like a vacuum cleaner, it can suck anything. Any useless person; any liar; any drunkard; anyone under the influence; anyone high on drugs; can talk on the Internet, and you read what he writes and you believe it. This is talk which is for free. Shall we become the victims of “Facebook” and “Kleenex”* and “YouTube”! Shall we become victims to tools they created so that they can laugh at our moods?
This text comes from this article in Global Voices.
2010 13
Twitter speed
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Internet & Technology with No Comments
I would like my twitter client to come with twitter speed numbers. I would like to know how fast my Timeline is moving in terms of tweets per hour. How fast my @mentions are moving. So then people would recommend say to get an ex number of people you follow until you reach a certain Twitter speed and then stop because otherwise you can’t possibly keep up. @mentions feed speeds would also be a measure of relevance of whatever it is you are tweeting.
2010 9
Assange’s Poison Pill
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
- Image by New Media Days via Flickr
I am in the process of downloading a file that contains all the unedited cables that Wikileaks has obtained. You can do the same by downloading this link using a program like Vuze. This is a 1.4GB file so it may take a while. As far as I know it is not illegal to download it as it is not copyright material. In any case it is probably not illegal because you cannot read whatever it is that you are downloaded as it is encrypted. What this file is is a Poison Pill. Assange goes, this file is open for humanity to see.
I am downloading this file for two reasons. One is because I believe that if it was so easy for Wikileaks to obtain this information whoever our enemies are probably have it as well. Secondly because while I had mixed feelings on what Julian Assange was doing, I am so disgusted about how Western democracies are reacting towards a person who has not been formally accused of any crime that I think it’s time to stand by Wikileaks to defend freedom of the press.
Lately I have a strong feeling that the Chinese must be rejoicing at all the “retroactive law invention” that is going on in the West to put one man in jail. Because if Assange had been a Chinese citizen promoting transparency in China we would be lining up to give him the Nobel Prize. We can’t demand transparency from others and censorship for ourselves.
If the US government did not want its secrets known, all they had to do was to encrypt these secrets as Wikileak’s Assange is doing with this file. As CNN argues it comes with an encryption that not one of all the encryption crackers in the world can figure out. Think about it, we will all have this file but we will not be able to read it. Can’t the US government do the same if something is really a secret? How can real secrets be distributed among over a million of people with easy access to matters way beyond their jurisdiction and unencrypted? From now on, if you want a secret, encrypt it, and make it a crime to break the encryption.
Related articles
- Julian Assange Vows “Poison Pill” Release Of Damaging Secrets If Arrested Or Killed (alternet.org)
- WikiLeaks Ready to Release Giant ‘Insurance’ File if Shut Down (foxnews.com)
2010 6
How Wikileaks will make the world a safer place
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
When I read articles like this one on CNN arguing how Wikileaks is providing potential target lists to terrorists I worry. Probably so do you. But think about this. It was so easy for all this information to leak out that we should all wonder how safe it was to begin with. If Wikileaks, without any special spying skills, just being there to collect info, could get all this sensitive data, why couldn’t have Al Qaeda or any other of our enemies have done or do the same thing? While we may object to the style of Wikileaks I have no doubt that thanks to Wikileaks, USA will completely rebuild the way it handles sensitive data and as a result the safety of the system will have been improved. Wikileaks has the effect on security that hackers have on software development. Wikileaks found simple bugs everywhere. It is up to the people whose job is to make us safer to fix it. Yes, granted, Wikileaks could have given all this info to the State Department and not publish it. But sometimes it takes a shock like this for things to really change and what should be transparent be transparent and what should be classified be classified.
2010 2
Skype Access, new collaboration between Fon and Skype
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
Good news continue at Fon. Today we’re announcing a new collaboration with Skype, one of our first investors. At Fon, like at many other companies, we use Skype to talk to each other. I use it with my family all the time and I really think it’s a must-have application, so I’m really happy to announce we’re working with Skype to provide Fon WiFi via Skype Access.
During the initial phase of this project, we are offering Skype Access at 300.000 hotspots around the world (except Japan and UK). Anyone with a Skype account will be able to connect to a Fon Spot using Skype credit. This is a great way to forget about inserting credit card details every time you want to connect. For ‘Aliens’, connecting to the hotpots with Skype Access is super convenient. Skype will search for Fon Spots, and when a Fon Spot is in range it will show a pop up window with the price per minute to connect with Skype credit. One click, you are connected, that easy.
With this collaboration we take another step to make it easier for everyone to access the Fon WiFi network, which continues to be the biggest in the world with more than 3 million hotspots worldwide. The Skype Access collaboration is beneficial for our entire Fonero community. ‘Bills’ get to keep 50% of the revenues from their Fon Spots and ‘aliens’ get a quick and efficient way to pay for and connect to Fon WiFi. Ultimately, what we want is for Skype users to join the Fon community. All they need to do is buy a Fonera SIMPL (39€/$49) and start roaming the world for free!
2010 27
The new Fonera Simpl, now available!
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
After having sold over 2 million Fonera Simpl WiFi routers to telcos, we are now making our newest Fonera available to everyone online through our new Fon site. We sell it for 39 Euros / 49 USD.The Simpl is our newest palm-sized router, targeted to smartphone and tablet-PC users. With the new Fonera Simpl when you connect to Fon WiFi at home or on the go, you can Torrent, listen to Spotify, stream YouTube videos and download and install heavy applications in a way that’s fast, simple and useful, without eating up your 3G credit and straining 3G networks.
The Fonera Simpl is really attractive to mobile operators. Customers only need to plug their Fonera Simpl into their fixed internet connection and can easily configure their smart devices to connect automatically to any Fon signal. It offers several connection solutions for the SIMPL to assist users who want a hassle-free connection to Fon WiFi at home and on the go. New WPS functionality allows users to easily connect smart devices to their private WiFi signal with the touch of a button (on the back of the SIMPL). Smart devices can also be easily configured to connect automatically to the public Fon WiFi signal whenever one is within range. Fon offers downloadable connection applications for devices ranging from Android or Blackberry, based on the WISPr recommendation from the WFA, to the iPhone. The value to mobile operators from traffic offloading on overloaded 3G networks is very tangible and Fon is offering an easy and affordable solution to ease this problem and create great user experience.
The new Fonera SIMPL includes:
- 1 WAN Ethernet port (for ADSL/Cable modem)
- 1 LAN Ethernet port (for PC)
- 1 SSID (Open, WEP, WPA, WPA2)
- 1 SSID (Fon network)
- 802.11n (150 Mbps)
- 802.11b/g (54 Mbps) compatible
- Detachable, external antenna
2010 18
Broadcom integrates the Fon functionality into its chipsets
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Fon with No Comments
I’m very happy to announce that Broadcom, the leading company in providing cable solutions based on DOCSIS®, has finished adding the Fon software to its latest SDK. This is one more step, and a big one this time, into growing the Fon network towards making “WiFi everywhere” a real claim.
With this integration, Broadcom enables any manufacturer using their cable solution to make Fon ready routers in no time, saving development time and costs as well as providing professional support for future maintenance and improvement.
This has benefits for all Foneros, since it will allow the Fon network to grow even faster, for router manufacturers, who will be able to provide Fon ready solutions much faster and in a safe way, and for the ISPs, since they will be able to market Fon solutions much faster even upgrading their existing router base when possible.
All in all, great news for the WiFi market!
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
You can connect Apple TV to your TV and it’s pretty good. It only costs $99 and you get iTunes, Youtube, Netflix (North America only). But if you live in Europe I find it best to connect a MacMini to your projector TV or large display and add a VPN service like Witopia so you can surf as if you are in USA and get Hulu, Pandora. There are instances when the opposite is true. When you want to Spotify for example it is best to appear in Europe. In any case once you have a MacMini connected to a large display you have the keyboard problem. You can use a long wire to cover the distance that people need to seat away from a large display, say 3 meters (sorry I hate inches feet). But a 3 meter cable is ugly and inconvenient. You can also get a Bluetooth keyboard but then you have another problem and that is that large displays work great to watch movies, TV but poorly to type or surf because the print is too small from the right movie viewing distance. So there are two solutions. One is to use an iPhone app call Remote which is great but you will still have the problem of not seeing the small print from Movie viewing distance. The other one, the one I use, is to use screen sharing. Here’s a tutorial on how to use it.
The biggest advantage to use Screen Sharing in a MacBook air is that you can have BOTH a surfing experience and a movie watching experience. You surf on your laptop but you look at Netflix or any movie platform on the large display.
If Apple TV had a keyboard I could go for it. But I find the way in which you need to input information in Apple TV horribly annoying so the MacBook Air (or any mac laptop) plus MacMini connected to your TV is the best solution.
2010 4
23andMe and my Genetic Ancestry
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Internet & Technology with No Comments
Last month I posted my genetic disease risk profile according to 23andMe. For those of you who don’t know this company, 23andMe is a genetic testing service that provides information and tools to understand your DNA. How does it work? Well, it’s really easy. You order a kit from their online store, spit into the tube that comes with the kit, send it back and in 6 to 8 weeks you can log into your account and start investigating your genome. I’m an investor in 23andMe and I was very curious to try out the service. The results to my genetic disease risk profile were quite interesting, but what I really find fascinating is that from just a few drops of saliva I can learn lots about my ancestry.
23andMe offers information on both sides of the family. I learnt that from my mother’s side, my haplogroup is H7. The haplogroup H “originated in the Near East and then expanded after the peak of the Ice Age into Europe, where it is the most prevalent haplogroup today. It is present in about half of the Scandinavian population and is also common along the continent’s Atlantic coast”. The haplogroup H is over 40,000 years old, and it’s present mostly in scandinavians and basques. Below you can see a map indicating the presence of this group:
From my father’s side the information is completely different, and quite interesting at that. My paternal haplogroup is E1b1b1c1, which is a subgroup of haplogroup E. This haplogroup arose in the eastern part of Africa about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. It’s pretty common in Africa, present in Arabs and Berbers, Senegalese and Bantu-speaking groups in South Africa and Kenya in levels of almost 75%. E1b1b1c1 comes from E1b1b1c, and it’s the most popular group stemming from it. It originated at the end of the Ice Age, around 15,000 years ago, and now it’s common in eastern Africa, the Near East and Mediterranean European populations. Below, my paternal ancestry map:
But the most interesting thing about my parental genetics is that, according to 23andMe, you can be genetically jewish. If someone had told me that before, I’d have though that this person was very racist. However, now I see that it is actually possible. My paternal haplogroup is present in Ethiopians, Jordanians, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. E1b1b1c1 averages 10% among both Ashkenazi from eastern Europe and Sephardic Jews from Iberia. It’s also present in Ethiopian Jews, Yemenite Jews and Libyan Jews. This means that this specific haplogroup was present in the Jews that left the Levant and spread through the Old World around 2,000 years ago, which means that it is possible to determine if a person is Jew or has jewish ancestry based on their DNA. Who knew?
23andMe also offers a map of “global similarity”, so you can compare your genetic information to those around the world and see in which parts of the world there are people with similar genetic information to yours. Mine says I’m closest to Southern and Northern Europeans, then Near Eastenders and Central Asians. I also resemble Northern Africans, Siberians, North Americans, South Americans, Oceanians and Eastern Asians.
