Month: November 2007

See the face behind the comment

I’m glad to say that this blog gets more comments these days than it ever had. This is probably due to several reasons – frequent posting on my side, improved web design of the site, recent comments list on the sidebar, email notifications for replies to your comments, etc. Most of these improvements were introduced via different WordPress plugins.

Today I am adding yet another one, which will, hopefully, bring in even more comments by making the web site a little bit more personal. I’ve installed the Easy Gravatars WordPress plugin, which shows the author’s picture near the comment. Pictures are taken from the Gravatar.com web service, which was recently acquired by Automattic – the company making excellent WordPress software and running WordPress.com web service.

If you don’t have an account at Gravatar, no image will be shown near your comments. But if you do, your comments on this site, as well as on any other web site that uses Gravatar.com will become more recognizable. So, I suggest you go register and upload the image of yours – it’s really simple, straightforward, and free.

So, let’s see faces now behind all those comments…

P.S. : I mentioned avatars before on this post.

What does Sun think about Google’s Java on Android?

Well, nobody knows for sure yet, but Slashdot (yes, again Slashdot) links to this article which has a few quotes from Sun officials.  Interestingly enough, it’s hard to say if Sun will support the open source platform

Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO of Sun, wrote a blog post congratulating Google on the day of Android’s launch.

or if it will insist on keeping mobile market defragmented

Sun also shared statements that Rich Green, executive vice president of software at Sun, made during Oracle Open World this week about Android. “We’re reaching out to Google and are anticipating they will be reaching out to us to ensure the software and APIs will be compatible–so deployment on a wide variety of platforms will be possible,” he said.

Green also said that Sun wants to work with Google to prevent creating a fractured mobile development environment.

EuroNews rules Cyprus news channels

A quote from Kim Andrew Elliot’s post (sourced stats from Famagusta Gazette Online Edition):

Expats in Cyprus prefer their news without analysis. Online survey indicates EuroNews is most popular among expats in Cyprus.

Agreed.

One other advantage of EuroNews that wasn’t mentioned is the total absence of the “talking head”.  It’s funny sometimes to see how each of the news channels tries to solve the problem of the news reader, who doesn’t have much to do while reading the news.  The poor news readers are bounced around the studio, separated into corners or grouped around one table, sitting or standing or sitting again, with empty hands or a piece of paper and a pencil or a laptop computer which is probably switched off because nobody ever looks at it, etc…

EuroNews solved the puzzle years ago.  They don’t show the news reader at all.  Brilliant!  It’s TV for crowing out loud.  It’s about moving pictures.  Show me the footage from the location.  Show me a graphs and scans.  Show me a marquee line or a visual effect if you can’t think of anything else.   But don’t show me the talking head!

Google from the 700 MHz point of view

In the last two years, the well-known fact of Google offering free WiFi Internet access in Mountain View, California has almost been forgotten (except, of course, by people living in Mountain View and Googlers themselves).  At the time of news many were wondering about why Google is doing such a thing.  Not it all suddenly became obvious…

Slashdot reports that Google is preparing for a bid in the upcoming auction set up by FCC for a 700 Mhz radio frequency.  There are a few interesting twists about the offer – “open access” and “nation-wide”.  With these news, it’s hard to see the Mountain View setup as something else rather than a test platform.  With the recently released Android open mobile platform, the connections seem obvious.

The stakes for the band are high, and Google is planning to bid at least $4.6 billion USD dollars.  And they are paying this all out of their own pocket (not sharing with another company, etc).   Wh?  Because there are quiet a few things on Google’s agenda.

If you are like me, and need more information on this whole thing, here are a few pointers:

P.S. : Now those Indian telecoms have to re-think their position.

P.P.S. : In the completely unrelated news,  Ubiquiti Networks announced world’s first 700 MHz WiFi radio.  Here is the official press release.