Most web businesses of today believe web applications that require client plugin will fail.  This is only partially true.  First, people have no problem with installing useful applications, so an application can install the client.  Second, there are ways to grind away most biases against client plugins.

One way is best described with a story about an old women who believes her son is the most peaceful man in the world.  One day a friend of her tells her that her son just killed a man.  She laughs her friend off, disbelieving the news.  Then a close friend of her son runs over and gives her the same news.  She tells him that can't be true because her son is kind and gentle, unable to kill a man.  But a seed of doubt has been planted and she feels nervous.  When she overhears her son's name mentioned by two complete strangers talking about a murder, she starts wailing and rushes out looking for her son.

A plugin useful to many web applications will be installed by the users.  Flash, Acrobat Reader, and Adobe SVG plugins do get installed because they are generic and useful to many.

Groupware as a concept is cool.  Groupware as a tool sucks.  Why?  Because every single groupware I have come across is a maze of UI.  Take a look at this screenshot of Groove.  Microsoft Word looks simpler than Groove.  Its looks like something you would get if you glued together all the widgets in your house.  If an average man can't figure out how to set the clock on a VCR, he is going to glaze over when faced with something like Groove.

Its better to lose functionalities over ease of use.  This is first of a series of notes to come on how to design a usable groupware.  My first approach will take a web page and turn it into a shared workspace for a group.  Open your browser, click on a Favorites link, and then drag in files or type in stuff for others.  Thats what I am willing to use.  No more information appliance nor fingertip crap.

Ask yourself this question: "which is easier to find, webpages on the web or files in your computer and local network?"  For me, its the webpages thanks to Google.  I suspect same answer applies to majority of computer users.  My 30 gig drive is 90% full, but I don't know why.  I lose track of files almost as soon as I store them.  Sure, I try to organize them, but I forget about why, how, and where things are organized.  If my disk is a giant tree, I am a forgetful squirrel that was a bag lady in a previous life.

I do use Windows' search feature, but its too slow and just doesn't seem to get me what I want.  What I want is something that works as fast and as simple as Google for things on my machine.  Obviously, many people had similar thoughts, but I have yet to see a solution that satisfy my needs.

I just subscribed to Doc Searls' weblog after getting a taste of it over his stolen laptop incident.  I met him in person at a Dave's bloggers dinner, but didn't form an opinion of him because he talked very little.  But I found his posts much enjoyable and want more.  Thanks, Doc.

War is in everyone's mind lately.  Unfortunately, its difficult for me to think about a war from moral perspective.  This is because I am a war and history buff of sort.  When you read enough history, wars feels like pimples: you will have them once in a while.  If you are into reading about and reenacting past wars at all levels (strategic, operational, and tactical), wars become games.  This doesn't mean I am not aware of the tragedies of war.  Its just that war to me is like what sex must be like to a 40 year old prostitute.

I just started watching Band of Brothers, story of 101st Easy Company's journey from Normandy to German Alps.  I have read the book when it came out years ago and played almost every combat 101st had in WW II in one game or another.  Latest run was with Combat Mission which lets you fight in 3D environments at squal level.  With latest game technologies, you can almost glimpse how the war feels.  You start with a jolt when one of your company, tasked with a flanking manuever, runs smack into an ambush.  Then you get a shock when the tanks you sent to assist go up like candles.  Despair follows shock when you hear that distinct sound of Tigers prowling somewhere out there.  Its time to retreat to fight another day.  War never ends, you know.

From both engineering and business points of view, cellphones are excellent platform for deliverning not only porn but sex.  Yes, the screen is too small, but sex-talk phone business thrived on audio alone.  The kicker is that most cellphones has a vibrator built-in.  If the vibrator is programmable, you can deliver good vibrations remotely.  Earphones are recommended.  Heh.  This just might reverse the trend on cellphone size…

What We All Really Need is MoSex: Vice Week at The Feature.   Who knows how many untold millions (billions?) are going to be spent on MoPorn just this year alone. Don't be surprised (like I was).  [Russell Beattie Notebook]

You know, one with a node for each blog and a link for one or more links between blogs.  Gathering data for the graph should be easy although tiresome and could be done once a week with latest RSS feeds…

I am not religious.  My wife is a Catholic, goes to church every Sunday morning and attends Bible studies with her friends.  For selfish reasons, I like that about her.  I tried going to church with her, but when I am inside a church, I sense a presence of sort that gives me goosebumps.  Instead of feeling awed, I feel as if I am inside someone's house without permission.  Brrr.  I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

At Zen Buddist temples, I feel comforted if I am alone.  I avoid meeting monks because they feel like drug addicts to me, a drug called tranquility.  I was addicted to tranquility when I was younger, but life wasn't much fun like eating a bowl of rice without any side dishes.  So I am now floating down the river called life, enjoying every wave, up and down.  Besides, my head looks ugly when shaved.

While I am not sure if all the claims made in "Google deserves your nomination for Big Brother of the Year", are true, but Google's popularity is a concern like a volcano growing in your backyard.  I mean wouldn't it be really stupid for NSA, FBI, and CIA, if they didn't ask Google for co-operation?  What can Google management say?  Sorry, we can't notify authorities when someone googles 'How to destroy America in 21days' because we think profit is more important than national security?  If those government agencies are doing their job properly, then Google will be in compromising position soon or later, if not already.

After the initial post on the subject, I found BlogAds.com.  They sell ads on blogs. They don't appear to be doing good business though.  Here are some observations:

Money – blogers using BlogAds.com service supposedly make $20 per month on the average and as much as $150 per month.  This is just not enough to be attractive.  At this level, its better to offer gift certificates.  Receiving a $100 gift certificate for Sharper Image (for guys) or Crate & Barrel (for gals) every few months would be more attractive than measly $20 per month.  Receiving small amounts of cash every month could encourage pathetic pleas asking for readers to click on ads.  Not good.

Style – not all ads will work for blogs.  They need to be done tastefully.  When was the last time you saw animation in blogspace?  No color clashes also.  Ads for blogs must blend in with predictable position and size.  Each blogger must be able to decide the what kind of ads they are is willing to display.

Effortless – most importantly, it must be effortless with no big change to the blogging routine.  Approving an ad request should take only a single click.

All this requires a lot of work for the blogad service and deep integration with blogging tools.  But one can't expect all the blogging tools to support ads and do it consistently.  Also, one reader noted that MT blogs can't have ads because ads will violate the non-commercial license.  Solution seems to be free ad-enabled blogging tools and services that compete with existing crop of blogging tools and services.  Why pay for it when you can get it for free and receive occasional rewards as well?