FeedMe

Knol

New from Google is the "Knol." Interesting idea. They've made it extremely easy for anyone to write an article on anything. For instance, I posted an article on how to make lemon sorbet (the same article appears here, in the FeedMe blog).

Google's company mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." They have noted that the entire Internet contains a fraction of a percent of the world's knowledge. The vast majority is in people's heads. (Yahoo has talked about the same idea.) This is a way to soak up some of what's in our brains.

A lot of press on Knol is calling it a Wikipedia competitor but frankly, I think they are missing the point. Unlike Wikipedia, Knol is not collaborative: only the author controls the content. They have very few rules or editorial controls. There are no rules requiring a neutral point of view or restricting conflict of interest. Multiple articles on the same topic can be posted. They are trusting that their search product will properly prioritize all this, along with the rest of the web.

This seems like a significant marketing opportunity. Is there a "first-in" advantage? Should we rush in to write about technical topics that benefit our companies, with links to our company websites?

Not sure, but for now, I am sharing my sorbet recipe.

(You can see all my articles -- just three so far -- by starting at my own knol page.)

(P.S. The knol system is a bit buggy. It sometimes won't load and with Firefox, it is currently not letting me sign in, though it works with Safari. Earlier today, it worked with Firefox. Its search is presently not finding any of my articles, even though they are in the system. I expect it will settle down over the next few days. Google has a motto: "Release early and often." Good think Boeing doesn't follow that philosophy.)

Walk, Drive, Bus...

Google Maps has added walking directions. They already had public transit in some areas. They include a lot of helpful information, in addition to the router.

 For instance, I can drive the 3.5 miles from work to home in 8 minutes. On foot, the route is quite different but the distance is that same. Google thinks it would take 1 hour, 11 minutes (obviously, they don't take into account any ice cream stores en route).

By bus, they tell me it will take 58 minutes — and cost $1.75. They also tell me it would be $2.05 to drive. Again, no ice cream is factored in.

Nicely done. Though it's in beta, the walking route matches what I would choose.

I love the fact that Google keeps improving their systems. By the way, if you didn't know — one of the coolest features of Google maps is that you can click and drag to change a route. If their directions send you up 101 but you prefer to take 280, drag the route line over to 280 and a new route will be drawn, using the points you request.

This is too cool. The "Tilted Twister" is a robot, built from Legos, that solves Rubik's cube, with no external PC. It was built with standard Lego Mindstorms NXT kit.

You need to see it in action to appreciate it. First, it scans all the sizes and determines the colors the cube has. Then it begins twisting sides:

More info on the Tilted Twister page to the video.

From: Tilted Twister, via Hackzine.

Where the Hell is Matt?

I almost abandoned it when I heard the shmaltzy first notes of the music, but glad I stayed. This will put a smile on anyone's face.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008), spotted on the "Cincinnati Nerd Blog."

Car Buying Aids

A friend, Dave Lloyd, bought a car recently and summarized several ways to get a good deal:

AutoCheck and CarFax let you check a vehicle's VIN number and report on title/ownership history, reported accidents, and odometer readings. AutoCheck is the better deal, as it's 20% less (go with unlimited rather than single vehicle), easier to read, and a bit more comprehensive. 

Edmunds True Market Value Pricing is invaluable for getting accurate pricing on both new/used - more accurate than Kelley Blue Book.
<http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/index.html>http://www.edmunds.com/tmv/index.html

Consumer Reports is also useful for evaluating cars and lots more - $26 annually is a steal.

These were the best sites I found for pricing cars regionally:
www.motors.ebay.com/
www.automart.com
www.autotrader.com
www.carsdirect.com
www.carmax.com is good too but I found the volume limited and it's
based purely on dealer partnerships.

Ultimately, though, after driving a few through private sellers and knowing price ranges, I called 3 local dealers, told them I was pre-qualified and what I wanted, and bargained from there.

Google Health Joins Microsoft HealthVault

With the release of Google Health will come, I expect, another round of privacy paranoia. I wrote about this before, when Microsoft's HealthVault appeared. Both services are voluntary but it doesn't take much insight to recognize that before long, you won't have a choice. Your medical records will be consolidated and networked and if you want health care, you will be in the databases — just as you are if you drive a car, use a credit card, or have a job.

It is perhaps unnerving that the institutions that are rushing forward to fill the need are companies committed to cataloging and sharing information. But I think that's a good thing: These companies have a lot to lose if any of the information escapes.

Regardless of who does it, there is an urgent need. Health care makes poor use of information technology now, way behind other industries. There are great benefits in economy, efficiency, quality of medical service — and privacy. Consolidated records are safer. Most of us now have dozens of records, all different, under poor control, in each doctor's office, hospital, diagnostic lab, or pharmacy. Few of us even know where all our records are. I think this is a boon and it's been a long time coming. 

Good Clock, Good Service

I have had a LaCrosse Technology Atomic Clock for years. Dead accurate, it sets itself by radio to the National Bureau of Standards' radio time reference, WWVB. And costs less than $20. Sweet.

But when the government changed the dates for switching to Daylight Savings, my clock didn't know, so for a couple of weeks in the spring and again in the fall, it's off by an hour unless I mess with it.

To make the story short, even though the clock is years out of warranty, LaCrosse Technology replaced the movement with one that's smarter, for free. They did it quickly and were courteous.

I would buy from these folks again.

Art Book Art

You've heard of art books. And books that are art. Here are books made into art.

Maker Faire, May 3-4

For those in the Bay Area, I would encourage you to attend Maker Faire. May 3-4 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds -- and not to be missed!

I went last year and vowed next time to go both days. It's huge and full of really, really fascinatng exhibits and brilliant ideas. Lots of free stuff.

What is it? It's the heart and soul of do-it-yourself. Hundreds of people who make stuff and love what they do so much that they stand for 12-hour days waiting for people to come by and gawk at their magic. Organizations and museums that have created hands-on demos you can play with.

If you like metal and fire, gears and gadgets, Legos and things that move, honk, squirt, squeak, spark, and belch, you have to go.

See: http://makerfaire.com/

Netflix Gets Customer Service (or Not?)

E-mail came from Netflix to tell me they are sending me a DVD — but it's a DVD I already have!

Now, one thing I don't like about Netflix is they have no way to send them e-mail. But their Help site steers you to a toll-free 24-hour phone number and an interesting touch: the website tells me the present hold time is 1 minute. Nice idea. (And clever since it encourages calls when they aren't busy.) So I call and enter a six-digit number which identified my account — that number is also conveniently displayed right there, next to the phone number.

I call. She sees the problem. They promise to ship a new DVD tomorrow.

Done. Happy customer.

Sometimes customer satisfaction is the result of how you handle a screwup.

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Postscript: Irony. They didn't actually send the replacement. Sigh.