Want to help an organization? Try playing games on Live Search Club

I stopped playing Live Search Club months ago. I got bored with it, and the prizes weren’t that compelling. There was this one game I wanted, but it seemed to take forever to get there. So I gave up. Can you blame me?

                                                                      

I just checked out the site again to see if anything changed, and guess what? It did. Now they added a few games, but most importantly, you can support an organization of your choice. It’s really cool.

Go to the Search and Give page. Go to the My Charity Setting on one of the links. From there, you can find names of charities by entering in the name of the charity, the city you live in (US only), or the zip code. There’s a TON to choose from.

Then you go on over to step #4 and put the percentage of tickets that you want to give out of your total game winnings. It has to be between 0-100 of course.

Accept the Terms and Conditions. Save Settings.

                                                                  

There. Now any game you play, your donations will come through. Here are the new games I noticed:

EnLIVEnment : A play on words between Live (Windows Live) and the Enlightment (democratic thinking period). There’s a painting and you drag your cursor (which plays as a magnifying class) and find some ‘hidden’ things in the picture. If you find something, a little box says you found something and you click your mouse. That launches a Live search, and that gives you a point. You throw your cursor and click until you found all 40. Easy-peasy. This is an easy way of getting 40 fast tickets.

Search Queries : I thought this was rather entertaining. Some professor was creating the ultimate Search queries, but some blackout happened and they all escaped. So you, as the Internet ‘Explorer’ (pun!), has to find out where all the queries are using riddles and Live Search. At first it was interesting, but the riddles were obtuse for me, and the search really didn’t help much at all. So maybe if you’re good at riddles, this is a game for you. I didn’t finish it.

Red Carpet Reveal : The goal of this game is to solve 5 riddles involving pop culture, and the answers to the riddles are all related to one person and you have to guess who it is. A good game for people in tuned with pop culture. You get 10 pts.

There are also 3 other games I didn’t try:

Spelling Bee : "Sweet sticky fun is only a mouse click away! In Spelling Bee, your goal is to spell as many words as possible using the letters tucked into the honeycomb. Spell enough words in a round and you’ll move on to the next beehive."

Star Shuffle : "Get to the top of the charts with this word scramble challenge! Each puzzle features an anagram of a famous name – put all the letters in order to discover the hidden talents."

Word Slugger : "In Word Slugger, your goal is to spell as many words as possible. Each baseball on the field is marked with a letter. Spell a word by typing the letters or click the baseballs in the correct order. Bat in enough words and move on to the next round."

So if you really want to help out an organization, this is a good way of doing so. At the same time, you can also get prizes with the money you saved for yourself and find out new interesting things. Give it a try : http://club.live.com/

Shared Community Living – possible future housing development in the future

As Americans, many of us live in the suburbs of America. You know what a suburb is, the area between the country and the city?

You’ll usually find families or middle-aged couples living in these homes. Where usually the parents work, the kids go to school, driving a car is the main transportation, maintaining green lawns, and other pieces of suburbia life.

But as humans evolve and change overtime, so does there living habits. Many urban futurists predict a movement, at least a slow movement, towards more condensed and robust city centers. No more of the ‘wasteful’ suburbian life we once had, but a new kind of living. A living that would be more beneficial, than as it is now.

What we’re talking about here is Shared Community Living. This kind of living is where a big group of multiple people all live in the same dwelling, and share many of the necessities, features, tools, amenities, and other things offered at the dwelling. This isn’t something new. Dormitories are very similar to this lifestyle. Sometime large families (prevalently Hispanic ones in the US) also live in the same dwelling and coexist together. This is also done in many countries around the world already.

Urban futurists are looking at SCL in a different way. In a more modern way than what we take it as now. Futurists are dreaming the concept of SCL in a different way.

So here’s the basic concept in mind : Imagine a nice 3-story complex that’s set around pretty close to central area of the city. The complex is as very eco-friendly as the come as well as aesthetically pleasing. Around 40-60 inhabitants live here. All of them have separate nicely spacious bedrooms. The large kitchen zone, bathroom zone, and other zones are shared.

Notice I said zone, instead of room. Because with up to 40-60 inhabitants, I doubt a room would suffice. So the kitchen has practically all the perks (plus extras!) of your average new suburbian kitchen. But instead of you having to pay for it all, you get to share the cost of the whole thing among other inhabitants. So you’re paying a relatively small fraction for a nice kitchen, but you’ll have to share it. But you can share 4 mega-ultra refrigerators, induction cooktops, and other stuff that would cost a lot to pay your own.

Same with the bathroom zone. It’s not a danky area of a shared complex. Touchless controls, sensors, clean smell emitters, and all the latest modern conveniences in the bathroom are shared in use as well as the cost. Very cost effective, but you still get nice features in your bathroom zone! I think they’ll be separated between men and women though.

Then there’s the entertainment zone. A pool table of two, several large flatscreens TV’s, foosball table, video console, gameboard cabinet, etc. And again, you’re sharing the cost with other people. So you get more bang for your buck.

Then there’s your own area of the house : the bedroom. Each room should have enough space for a bed, a desk and a dresser. Standard features include built-in bookcase, nice big window, semi walk-in closet, ceiling fan, several outlets, etc.

There are many benefits to SCL:

• Cost effective
• Get access to many nice features
• Very social setting to live in
• Friends can live very close by
• Nice dwelling

Thought there are a few cons:

• Not much privacy
• Inhabitants might hog some areas
• Setting is fit more for singles, not kids
• Limited space for belongings

The cons are pretty simple to solve though. If you’re the kind of person that likes to keep to himself, just don’t live there. Or at least you have your own bedroom to keep locked in under.

Some people might hog the area. Tell them nicely to not take up so much. Set clear space of what’s yours, like YOUR soda in the fridge with a permanent marker. Tell people to respect the amenities that cost relatively low in the first place.

Even if you do get to know people well, it might be scary to leave your kid(s) alone where anyone can mess with them. And there might be um ‘some’ things you might not want your kid to blunder in with the inhabitants of the house. So get a townhome or a real apartment/condo.

The only real sure spot to keep your things in check is your bedroom. But there should be ample room to really have all the things you need. Things in the future are more digital anyways, so you’re just mainly looking for laptop/desktop space.

So SCL looks like a pretty nice way of living urbanly in the future. What do you think?

Top 10 New Things in the field of Web Search

                                                                                  

So what’s the latest and the greatest in the field of web searching? Well I’ve got a list of the top 10 new things a web search engine should have :

1. Dynamic Search – Instant search as you type. Type in a few letters, and results come up instantly based on those letters. It’s really nifty. Obvious places you can already see this is when searching in WMP 11, Yahoo! (Search Assist), Vista’s Instant Search, OS X Spotlight, Windows Live Toolbar, etc. Integrating this directly into the search engine would be profound. What Yahoo! and Live Toolbar does is neat, where it shows what "search term" you might be looking for, but I want to see what "results" you’re looking for, not just the words. And if it’s done instantly and just as fast : wonderful.
2. Website image preview – Have you ever seen an icon like this : ? Or an icon like this : ? Chances are, if you hover your cursor over them, an image preview of a site will show up. Too some that can be really nifty. To give you a nice identifier of the site you’re about to go to, just in case you’re not sure if it’s the site you want, or a site you want to avoid. Very nifty.
3. Universal Search – Seeing all or many major search fields (Web, Image, Video, News, etc.) all in one setting. This is predominantly seen in Ask.com, where major search fields are seen all at once. This can be useful for those who don’t know of something, and seeing all of it laid out in various fields can be useful. This has been seen before in Google and Windows Live before as well.
4. Ranked Search – This is more user-done than a regular algorithm. Have you ever searched for something, but couldn’t find that definite thing you’re looking for until you reach several more results down? If users could rank results themselves, this would more appropriately match results to what’s most popular and relevant now, than some algorithm. Think of it like ranking comments on Digg or any other site : bad ones get a thumbs down, good ones get an up arrow. Something like that. This could also be more beneficial in image search than anything.
5. Filtered Search – Sometimes, you really wish you could narrow down to EXACTLY what you’re looking for. That’s where filtered search comes in. You can EXCLUDE certain keywords that are not at all related to what you want (Windows as in Microsoft, or the ones on walls?). You can find results from a CERTAIN site just by dropping the URL : like this. Look for something posted at a particular TIME. Etc. That can be really useful for a college student or somebody who likes to specify what they’re researching for.
6. Immersive Search – How about a more interactive search engine? Services like Viewzi are entering into the age of customizing how we view the data. Traditional search results laid out as they are now, are getting kind of old. These days, a simple link won’t do for us. Now we can embed other neat graphics, layouts, among many extras to customize our search experience. Viewzi is a search experience that’s looking to make the data we find more visual-friendly and interactive. Take a look at the video. Soon, we can really customize how we view the data in a better way.
7. 3D Search – Imagine if a website was like a little 3D space, in a world of other 3D spaces. This is taking the web to the next level. You could make your own little self to walk around this vast world. Think of it as Second Life, but specifically for websites. Stroll around, gander at floating videos, streaming content, and a bunch of other neat things from where you are. Maybe we can see Virtual Earth utilized for this?
8. Data manipulation – Wouldn’t it be neat to manipulate the data you find? What we do now is just look at it and click at it. New ways of data manipulation could be things like grouping together things you like, adding tags or notes to certain results, ranking them, among other things. There’s something called Tafiti (Silverlight-needed) that does something similar to that. You can search for things, and if you like a result, you can drop it into one of the glass panes next to you. And make a collection/group from that. Or how about literally stretching photos from image results? Playing multiple video results at once? Rearranging web results the way you see fit? The possibilities are many.
9. Localized Search – Localized search has been gaining traction for quite awhile now. Suppose you were at at Point A, and you were looking for destinations. First it would help to have a GPS feature handy or the address/zip code of the area. Localized search can help you pinpoint to where you want to go if you’re just wanting to try anything new or unfamiliar. Find a store, school, police department and look at their user rating, reviews, pictures, health inspections, and other info. about the area right at your fingertips. This is the kind of information that can be really helpful when you’re on the go. We’re really seeing this take off.
10. Favicons with results – Not a major thing, but favicons are the little logos you see on many websites. You can usually see the site’s favicon right from the URL entry of the browser. Like I said, it’s not a major thing, but it could be pretty handy if you’re looking through a long list of results from multiple. You might trust this site a lot more if you can see the favicon fast and directly, and pick it. It’s a nice tool for those who are more pertained to go with ‘trusted’ sites they know. We can see this coming in web results, news results, image results, video results, etc.

So those are the top 10 new things to come in web search. I’m really rooting for Microsoft to do a remake of their whole Live Search brand with these little tips to what I want to see. If a search engine could manage most of these next-gen things, they would be definitely #1.

PowerPoint sucks, Keynote is far better

Now I try to be fair when I can, and Keynote (from the iWork suite) is loads better than the current PowerPoint for Windows.

Why is Keynote so loads better than PowerPoint? Well I hate to admit it, but Keynote plays very well with Apple’s sense of style, design, effects, eye candy, and all the good stuff that will attract people. So in essence, a Keynote presentation would probably outdo a PowerPoint presentation in getting the point across better.

Here’s the main things I like about Keynote:

• Awesome graphics display – Text, pictures, slides themselves have a nice myriad of effects you can put on them. These effects really give a razzle-dazzle to presentations. They make the whole thing feel more alive and 3D-like in a way. You can really show off your text/pictures/slides with pretty much the same thing. Text : Blast, Comet, Sparkle, Drift, Fly In, Bouncy, Compress, Flip, to name a few. Actually most of these effects also work well on object/pictures as well. Real neat.
• Awesome slide transitions – Not only are there cool 2D transitions, but there’s also 3D transitions. Taking that a step above. 3D effects like Blinds, Confetti (one of my faves!), Cube, Mosaic, Reflection, Swap, etc. Then there’s 2D ones like Blur, Droplet, Flash, Push, Reveal, Scale, etc.
• Photo background remover – It’s called Instant Alpha in Keynote. What it does, is remove the background of a photo, so you can take the focal part of the picture out. Like suppose there’s a picture of a banana on the grass. You click the tool, and you apply an extended circle over the area (or the majority of the picture) you want wiped out. Then it will just leave the banana part behind. Making the banana look more natural and singular like. Really neat. I think it’s in other photo software as well.
• More skimmed UI bar – I like how the UI is pretty skim at the top, and there’s more room for the slide – the real canvas.
• Floating palettes – Whenever you select a specific item (like text, photo, slide itself, etc.), a little box comes up for it, along the outside of the program, or on top of it. The box contains all the options that you can do with what you selected, all in one box. So it’s simpler to find, and it’s also easier to preview within the box.
• Point A to B animations – Like I said, the customizability is what makes this tool also great. You can really drag focal lines from the center, and move a ghost image of it across to where you really want it. It’s super easy to use. And there’s even more you can do with it like making the graphic get smaller as it goes.
• Cheaper price – You can get the whole iWork suite (word processor, presentation slide maker, and spreadsheets) for just at $79.

Of course there’s things like there’s no ClipArt, you can’t buy it seperate from the whole iWork suite, stuff like that.

PowerPoint has been a tool for many, but after looking at Keynote, I can spot many flaw and issues that still live with PowerPoint today. Things like:

• 90s-like style effects – Even with the new PowerPoint 07′, the effects done on text and graphics is so weak. It’s ok, but we’re not really talking about graphical here. Just plain regular 2D-like effects.
• Only WAV files are supported throughout PowerPoint – It’s definitely NOT easy to insert sound files into PP. Audio you want to play throughout the entire presentation has to be WAV. Why? I don’t know. Maybe PP employees just don’t appreciate MP3, WMA, or AAC enough to include that support.
• No super drag-n’-drop – Suppose you make a graphic in one slide, but decide that it looks better in another slide. You’re first reaction would be to pick-up the graphic piece, go over to the Slide managing pane, and drop it to the slide you think it belongs. But PP won’t do that. It just won’t let you drag-n’-drop to other slides. It’s so dumb if you ask me.
• PowerPoint costs MUCH more than Keynote – A copy of PowerPoint retails around $229 (stand-alone), while Keynote (which does not have a stand-alone version) goes for around $79. You can obviously see which is the better deal here.
• ClipArt content is outdated – Microsoft needs to refreshed their library of media with something new. Most of that stuff is way too 90’s to fit in now. They look seriously outdated. I sometime avoid ClipArt altogether and just copy and paste photos from the web. I want leaner, cleaner, simpler looking icons. None of that artsy stuff. Just give beautiful simple icons to represent real day things, and that would be cool.
• Default UI takes up some screen space – The way PowerPoint is by default, takes up a lot of screen real estate. Like the Slides/Outline pane on the left, takes up some unnecessary space. You can slide it closer to the left to just get a good enough look of the slide thumbnails. Then there are the right panes that come up sometimes, like "Clip Art" and "Custom Animation". While the new Ribbon UI is really easy to work from, it also takes up a lot of space as well, and I find it best to just minimize the ribbon. Though I wish just the simplest of tools were laid-out in the Quick Access Toolbar by default.

Now I’m not saying PowerPoint 2007 is bad easier. The design is nice, shape adding is cool, themes, and all that are nice. But the major think PowerPoint is lacking in is graphical effects. They really sharpen the point in PowerPoint.

              

              

Live Writer is more than just a blogger’s tool – It can also function as a word processor

Live Writer has to be the most versatile text editor there is. Although not as full-featured as Word, Live Writer can do simple word processing.

                                                                   

Simple tasks like writing things down, fair number of fonts, sizes, saving option, printing, tables, pictures, bold, italics, underline, numbering, bullets, inserting pictures, little stuff like that.

Essentially, it’s like a free and small version of Word. It’s amazing that it can do small things like that.

It’s also pretty customizable, as you can go to the Live Gallery site and download plug-ins.

Best of all, it’s FREE. And NO ADS. If somebody really needs to do word processing, and Word isn’t available, Live Writer is a great alternative. Compared to that OpenOffice crap.

Microsoft TouchTab

Rumors are flying around about a special multitouch/touchscreen tablet coming from Microsoft in a year or two. This may sound surprising, considering Microsoft doesn’t make hardware for Windows OS, but it seems like they are. I think this is due to the fact that most PC makers just don’t understand how mobile computing should work. I think this is suppose to be a joint-project between multiple hardware companies with Microsoft – all expecting a share of the profits when it sells. TouchTab is suppose to coincide with the release of Windows 7. According to some, it’s said to be ‘revolutionary’ and ‘innovative’, two words most people don’t try to associate with Microsoft. The TouchTab will incorporate popular features of laptops, tablet PC’s, among other mobile features to make it a success.

Then, there’s also another rumor about the Microsoft TouchTop – Think of this as the TouchTab but more like a desktop, stationary computer. Sort of like the Microsoft Surface table, but small enough to actually fit on your desk.

As far on any specific details, that’s about all I can gather from these rumors. No pictures or any specified features. Sorry.

At first, I immediately thought this wouldn’t do so well on Microsoft’s relations to PC makers, who usually bundle Windows along with their computers. But considering that I heard it was a joint-project worked on by several PC makers, maybe they’ll be ok with this if they can just get a cut. It will be completely branded by Microsoft somehow, though the PC makers might get mentioned, though not directly on the device.

This is actually a good thing. This shows Microsoft is committed to bring next level computing to the masses. Well actually, touchscreen tablets have been here for awhile, but Microsoft (and hardware makers) for the most part, have never made them appealing to the masses. But maybe that might change now, seeing that they’ve obviously cared enough to join forces.

So even though I don’t know for sure what we’re going to see, it doesn’t hurt to wish does it? So I’ve made a list of all the things I expect to see in the so-called TouchTab. I’ll try to make it not be too Microsoft-specific, we’re these features can be applied to any future mobile device. (Though I might add in parenthesis where I would love MS technology to come in). So here it goes.

Hardware :

• Smooth and durable plastic – I want the covering of the device to have a nice smooth surface. With as little rough spots or fingerprint-catching as possible. And make it scratchproof, or where it doesn’t scratch that easy. And of course, make it long-lasting. Think of laptops like the Vaio TX.
• Built-in high resolution webcam – 5MP or higher maybe? I want video chats to be as clear as possible and photos taken with it to come out nice looking. And make it not stick out too much. Be as discreet but simple like the built-in iSight cams in Macs. The built-in mic should also be high quality enough to get good voice input. Just in case you feel like recording your voice or using voice recognition to move around your OS.
• Touchscreen or multi-touch input – It would be wonderful to have a screen you could interact with. Hopefully, the thing behind it works well to detect every single touch, swipe, gesture, pen flick, etc. that you could apply to the screen. And the multi-touch better recognize multiple inputs. (I’m hoping that it would work in the same way as MS Surface)
• Great specs (of course!) – Give nice decent specs. Give specs that will actually work well mobile. Don’t scrimp on specs. Give nice specs, and it would be even better if it could use less needed as possible and still work efficiently. And go for Compact Flash HDD too. As long as you give us the good specs, you can expect happier users.
• Slide-out keyboard with light-up keys – Even though the screen will support touch inputs, that doesn’t mean some of us want to depart without them. I at least want the option. Make it ultra-slim to fit with the device’s design (or make it optionally removable from the screen) and I would love to see keys with light-up symbols (the symbols, not the keys themselves). I’m looking for a bluish-white (or an option to change other colors and hues) light. And make it one of those chiclet keyboards, similar to the Sony Vaio TX.
• Light-up logo – As far as I know, only Apple and Alienware offer such a cool thing. There’s just something about a light-up part on external hardware that people just MUST have. The light-up really makes the device look cool. Please have it. Oh, and whatever logo you guys choose, DON’T make it too complex (abstract), ugly, or too overly big. That just ruins it.
• Good external AutoDetection – Maybe the words don’t realistically meet up that way, but if it can auto-detect things, that would be neat. Such as if it become darker, to turn the light-up logo on (instead of waste energy during daytime). Of to go into sleep mode if the user hasn’t touched it for awhile. And if the laptop lid closes, automatically turn off (hope you saved first!). Just recognize external conditions and reacting well to it would be great.
• At LEAST around 6-8 hours of battery life – The more self-reliant laptops can be, the better. But having to charge them often is a drag. Better yet, why not actually be innovative and but solar panels on the laptop? It makes it’s own energy, and it’s free!
• No CD or DVD drive – Now I know some people still use them, but for the most part, I think average users will find them useless. These days, you can download fast and instantly to your hard drive via the internet. Download things from music tracks, to games, to movies, to tv shows, and even whole programs. The CD/DVD drive will only take up more inside space and make the device bigger.
• Make as many port plug-ins that work well – These days, it’s as simple as connecting a device via USB and loading/downloading data. So make the ports well designed to instantly attach to the plug, without scarring it or making it too difficult to plug in.
• Speakers that go all the way up – Don’t give me any sub-standard built-in speakers. Give them the high audio quality they deserve.
• Lay off the system stickers – If I wanted to know what operating system or chip it is, I could just read it in the manual (providing that the manual is actually readable and to the point). But I don’t want nasty ugly stickers on the front of my device. And then the pain of carefully removing them to make sure I don’t leave sticker residue.
• Dimensions no taller than 1" – If the tablet’s height is higher than 1", it’s definitely going to be hard to call it "ultra-portable".
• Weigh no more than 5 lbs. – Ultra-portable also means being light.
• Support up to the highest resolutions – Important if you like to view HD content, work with media, etc.

Software (OS):

• Bluetooth – You know, to better connect phones, PDA’s, and even mice. And maybe to sync your (WinMo) phone OS with your computer.
• Built-in GPS – Would really come in handy when you’re mobile. Makes it easier to find exact business or places near you on online maps, great for exact geotagging of photos, and other location-based activities.
• Handwriting recognition – Very important if you’re a pen user.
• Voice recognition – Important if you’re going to use voice input.
• Fast WiFi (802.11n) connection
• Multi-touch capable OS 
• Calling abilities (VOIP or Live Messenger?)
• Fingerprint scanning (directly from the screen?) and iris scanning (from the webcam?) 
• Electronic currency standard – If it’s stands popular enough, you could use the tablet to send digital money to purchase items. You just have to wait for more businesses to find it standard everywhere.
• Super drag-n’-drop – Share files and whatnot across other tablets by drag and dropping them across screens
• Dialkeys pre-installed – They make great virtual keyboards. Their super nifty. They should come with ALL touch devices.
• TV tuner – watch TV on the go
• Origami Experience 2.0 – media playing friendly
• Smart scroll – instead of traditional scroll, use a small circle cycle button, and just simply twirl around the circle to scroll
• InkSeine technology – according to Microsoft, it’s a way to quickly search across things like the computer, the web, etc. In such a simplistic way.
• OneNote included – Even if Microsoft doesn’t usually sell Office with Windows, OneNote is a must-have feature on a touch device. Taking notes, keeping journals, jotting down ideas, have never been any easier.
• Input customizer – I don’t know if there’s one available on current touch device, but mobile users really need a way to customize what inputs they use. Like I might want to create certain shortcuts from my keyboard by punching in simple commands at once. Or the way I flick a pen/finger might indicate what I want to see show up. Things like that.
• Wacom technology – specialized touch input at its best

Accessories/Customizations :

• Docking station – Set so that the screen is still usable. Charges the device up and can connect to other devices as well. Simplistic in design and easy to use.
• Laser engraving – With a multitude of designs and layouts to choose from
• Skins – Skins to cover the device. Fur, tough rubber protection, leather, whatever.
• Color choice – Have a spectrum of colors the way you want your tablet to be.
• Imager/Bar Code scanner – handy for businesses
• Credit Card reader
• Carrying cases
• Power adapters
• Special mounting options – like from a wall, embedded in a wall, stationary, etc.
• Among others

Services:

• Back up support – Specialized back up to the companies servers
• Stores – Real store locations across the countries
• Repair services
• Special purchasing deals with large enterprises/schools
• All the works

So pretty much basically incorporate things that practically everyone wants, and you’re good. If there’s anything else I should add, drop a comment.

Flickr – the possible impact Microsoft could have on the site with the possible Y! acquisition

Most people who are against the Y! deal, is mainly because of one reason : Flickr.

                                    + = ?

The most popular Y! property, is one that Y! really has as little to do with. There is integration of Y! ID, Yahoo! Maps (geotagging photos) and Yahoo! ads, but that’s about the only main thing. Flickr has pretty much kept the same simplified look it started with, and is still doing a hot job of what a photo-sharing site ought to be.

Most people have varying opinions on what possible outcome there could be on Flickr with the Yahoo! acquisition. Most being negative because it involves Microsoft of course.

So I decided to come up with 2 scenarios, the best possible outcome and the worst possible outcome when Microsoft buys Y! and gets Flickr. Here it goes:

SCENARIO : Good outcome

• Pro account fees go instantly down – Flickr has a professional account with more features, but it comes at about $25 a year, which can still be quite a lot to most people. Microsoft, in order to keep the userbase from fleeing away, will most likely drop down pro account fees. I’m seeing around $15. This is a great thing.
• Integration with Windows – There will be ways to make it easier to upload straight to Flickr from  Windows. Possibly in Microsoft’s picture software, or the picture folder on the system. Metadata (tags) that you put on your photos on the OS, can be synced to Flickr. It’s already possible with Windows Live Photo Gallery.
• Site pretty much stays the same as it was – Now I don’t know how the whole Yahoo! ID thing will work, but most likely the site will stay the same, because that’s how people already like it. No need to fix what’s not broken. There will be NO Windows Live Photos, or migration to Live Spaces, or nothing like that. It’s going to stay the same as it pretty much was before.
• Making adCenter ads spread to more users – This would be awesome for Microsoft and its advertisers. I’m seeing just simple text ads, none of that crazy annoying graphical banner ads.
• Photosynth integration – Maybe now PhotoSynth will be ready to allow users to make a virtual 3D panorama of their photos. Or share them with other users as well.
• HD View integration – Then there’s HD View. It’s like panoramic stitching of many photos but the ability to zoom in and out and get a pretty good high quality detail of the photo.
• PhotoZoom integration – Another technology, very similar to HD View, but utilizes Silverlight and RSS/Atom feeds. Very neat. Check out the video.
• Better JPEG XR/HD Photo introduction – Taking photos to the next level, Microsoft made this format. It has more higher quality rendering than the regular JPEG. This would be a great thing for users.
• Media Center integration – Imagine surfing Flickr pics right from your couch. Or your own sets and photos you’ve made on Flickr. Very nice.
• Silverlight integration – This could be a good thing if done right. I’d love to see Silverlight thrown on somehow. Maybe when browsing for photos? Where you can sort of interact with photos similar to a touch surface? Tossing photos you find interesting over here, other groups there, stretch out a few to see them in higher res, flip them to get their info., etc.
• Group Shot software – This tool, created by Microsoft, can scan through a series of similar facial photos, and pick the best ones to put into one photo.
• Live Search to definitely outdo Google Search in Image searching – Usually, any image search engine from the top 3 search companies doesn’t always contain the photos we want. Since Flickr has user-made photos, and since users are usually smarter than computers as to what we WANT to see, this would be far more reliable than using some fancy computer algorithm.
• This could drive away the anti-MS fans – I go on Flickr a lot, and I notice a lot of anti-MS hate (all the time) on there. So maybe this will make some foolish Apple lover, go find some "alternative" and realize that MS doing all these things like I said in the bullet, has made Flickr better. That Microsoft isn’t as bad as they think it is. Of course, flamboyant Mac fans would probably never listen to reason, but to what satisfies their eye, eye candy.
• Microsoft will learn to support other browsers – If they’re going to do any changes to Flickr, they’ll probably have to apply the same changes not to just Flickr IE users, but to all other browsers as well. This might finally get some WinLive/MSN sites in compliance with other internet browsers, or make sure IE8 will be indeed better in doing this.

SCENARIO : Bad outcome

• Pro account fees stay the same OR go up – Microsoft doesn’t feel the need to win users over and show that they’re not idiots, so they just keep the price the same. Or the acquisition costs so much, that they might raise fees to bring some money back. Bad idea.
• Loss of support for other browsers – though it would be pretty weird to go backwards in support for other browsers when Flickr already has it there, there could be a chance that Microsoft will be flimsy on supporting other browsers.
• Taking Flickr, and turning it into Windows Live Photos – Microsoft might make the unwise decision to try to incorporate an already successful separate site, and make it work into their already existing site networks. The problem is, is that Windows Live still needs a ton of work (in the way it both looks and functions) and Flickr wouldn’t at all fit with Windows Live branding. And dropping it into Spaces and requiring Windows Live ID will make you infamous.
• NO good blogs – The Flickr team employees love to blog, where as Microsoft employees don’t always have the appreciate for blogging regularly. Not all of them, but there seems to be quite many (hint : check out the numerous Live team Spaces).
• Changing the look – Some people might fear that Microsoft will try to give a whole makeover to the site, but the makeover might make it uglier, harder to navigate, and slower. Not hard to believe with Microsoft’s past record.
• Making it completely Silverlight – While Silverlight is amazing technology, not everybody might have access to it, or feel like they should have to download a "Microsoft" product just to view it.
• Rabid fanboys go on a rampage – Those groups threatening to leave Flickr if bought by ‘M$’ might actually stay and try to cause trouble. Posting up as many (maybe even duplicates) of anti-MS hate FUD across Flickr. The whole point of Flickr is to share and find awesome photos. Hating isn’t what people want to see.

That about sums it up. Hopefully, Microsoft will take the smart route, and be careful with every crucial decision that might possibly kill the site’s userbase. One false move, and the acquisition of the Flickr site has become useless. So contrary to peoples’ doubts about Microsoft, I’ll take the high road and be optimistic about it.

Microsoft buying Yahoo! – Good or bad?

The press and blogosphere have gone nuts about what this could mean. MOST of them thinking it’s a bad idea.

               &   + = GOOD or BAD?

Me, on the other hand, think quite the opposite. Like I’ve said before, where many people like to take anti-stances and be all pessimistic about things, I look at the good side of things.

People are saying the deal means bad things, will fail, and is utterly useless because:

1. Yahoo! is worth nothing as much as MS will pay for it, so it’s a waste of money
2. Y! has little good sites worth buying for
3. This is Microsoft’s more aggressive ‘hostile’ attempt to beat Google and takeover Yahoo! Inc.
4. Monopoly
5. Worse sites than they were before

I would like to counter this by saying:

1. Yahoo! has to be worth something. Maybe not as much as MS is paying for it (probably to make the deal a sweet one!) but it’s like the #1 visited site in the world. It’s a very popular site for it’s services and content. Which it has a lot of. So it must be worth a lot if it has many users and sites.
2. How about Flickr? Y! Mail? Not to mention deals, such as the one with AT&T for it’s internet services, among other importance that Yahoo! bestows in Asia.
3. So, what if it is? It shows that Microsoft isn’t going to sit down, and let the world move on past them. It shows that they’re really in the internet business for sure, and is willing to adapt by any means.
4. You have to be kidding to call this a monopoly. Google still by far would be considered a monopoly by search if you have to say it this way. There is NO MONOPOLY on the web. There’s a large number of alternatives you could always use if you don’t want to stick with the top dogs. Nobody is forcing you to use any of them.
5. If Microsoft did that, they would go broke in a New York minute. Does anybody really think that Microsoft is going to pull a big bonehead mistake like that, and squash some of the success that Yahoo! has had? I don’t think so. Maybe the haters hope so, but that’s just plain dumb.

So most people not liking the idea, is just because they don’t like Microsoft. The people who avoid Microsoft as much as they can, that they don’t ever even try some of their latest stuff, and making up jokes and things to keep away from it. That’s dumb beyond dumb.

Here’s how I basically hope to see accomplished with the merger : Best of Y! + Best of WinLive/MSN = One great cohesive web services/content site provider.

Here’s how the right scenario should work out:

1. Microsoft actually buys Y! for that amount of money, with the BIG promise that the worst to be expected, shouldn’t be expected. Show a nice website that counters what many people (want) to badly assume of this merger, what there could be with this merger (adding the best of both worlds), and the great opportunities it could represent with such a merger. That way, not many users will jump out their shoes to join another service because of their dumb anti-MS feelings. I’m really hoping the site/message can really show an example of a WinLive/MSN site and a Y! site combined for the so-called best of both worlds thing.
2. Keep sites the same for quite awhile – While underground deep in their top secret labs, engineers, developers, etc. from both sides offer their ways of slowly merging properties together. The best things to pull from each site, the new look (possibly?), where to put them, how to do things, etc. All very important matters of a service/content, talked with the uttermost importance. I mean one bad site tossed together could mean the end of the 2, if people really don’t like where it’s going.
3. Finalize it. Offer the best public beta out of it as possible. NONE of those crappy betas that will instantly make people assume the worst is to happen already. Actually, just give practically what the final copy will be, let people give their feedback, fix it, and release it.
4. Slowly bring Y! branded sites into WinLive/MSN – This is the really hard part. Transitioning is never easy. Expect server failures, a long while to update each and every single account, and other issues. Issues like Y!’s music DRM’d content (that won’t work with Zunes), the Flickr site (branding this as Live Photo will kill it!, or putting any new UI), what to do with @yahoo.com accounts (keep them the same?) among numerous decisions. It’s up to the 2 guys to make it work right.
5. At the same time, drop the bad sites, or bad stuff about their old sites. Condense things more, fix up search to be really spectacular, and numerous other fixes.
6. Finalize the new merged sites. Everything is now working well and good. Many people are very happy. Hopefully this is before 2009.

There you go. That’s the game plan I’m hoping Microsoft will follow. So this could be really awesome if Microsoft plays their cards right. I don’t think they’d be that dumb to mess up the whole deal by knocking down well-loved sites, raising pro accounts higher, or anything like that. There’s a lot at stake if users don’t feel good about Microsoft buying Yahoo!

Taking a look at personalized start pages – Live.com, iGoogle, MyMSN, MyYahoo! and Netvibes

Now, I’m not a fan of "start" pages, but I’ve been taking a look at several start page sites including Live.com, iGoogle, MyMSN, MyYahoo! and Netvibes.

So here’s my opinions:

                                                                                          

Live.com – Of all the sites, I find it has the most uncluttered page. That’s about the only special thing about it. Here’s what I like:

• It’s very uncluttered – Very clean and white.
• Adding RSS feeds is fast – It’s under the "Add Stuff" link > Advanced Options > and you can put in the RSS feed URL, or actually any URL. And it’s quick.
• Easy to send to mobile phone – It’s easy as 1-2-3 to send customized content from your phone to your mobile phone. Just type your number, and it’s done.
• Put in an OPML file – also done easy : Add Stuff > Advanced Options tab > find your OPML file and it’s done.
• No ads – No ads at all!

However, there’s a lot of thing I don’t like.

• Not easy to find modules – It’s called "Gadgets" on this site. There’s a very small itzy-bitzy link at the top of the page to add gadgets. Very inconspicuous though. You might not notice it. They should throw a giant plus sign next to it. You can’t even search for gadgets directly from the same page. Nor is there an obvious link to find more on Live Gallery. Plus most of the ones they display on the preview from Live.com are just RSS feeds. I also find that there aren’t many good gadgets out there. Most of them are rather crappy-built, or there just isn’t a good solution.
• Not many options to change color scheme/theme – Unlike other start pages, there’s not many options to change the appearance beyond column choice and a few color choices. There’s only 5 color schemes: Ocean, Granite, Ice, Pink, and Green. Not very many, huh? I hope that the new Live.com will support a wide spectrum of colors, and users can make their own themes (and share!), with ways to upload photo backgrounds, etc. Options could also use a "Wrench" icon or something to make it noticeable as well.
• Moving modules is rather unintuitive – Well it’s not difficult or anything, but I don’t like it. You can drag the title bar and when you move it around, only a strip of shaded line indicates where it will be positioned. Other sites like Netvibes, Facebook, and iGoogle use a more sophisticated approach, where dotted-lines indication not only the position of where the module will be, but also what space it should take up. All of this instantaneously of course. That’s a far better approach. Also unfortunately, Live Spaces too uses the unsophisticated method, and it’s really horrible! Sometimes, modules won’t move at all. Ugh.
• Still has the old Windows Live ‘Flair’ UI – Microsoft, in a dumb move, didn’t upgrade all of their Windows Live sites to the new 2.0 look, including Live.com. Not that the Flair UI is bad looking, but I would like to see this site as well as others updated. Hopefully it won’t look hideous.
• Changing the "Language" option will really kill you – In the Options menu, there’s a choice to change the language. Whatever you do, DON’T CHANGE THE LANGUAGE! I did the mistake of that, just to see what the page would look like, and I ended up not getting the page at all. There was no personalized page, because Live didn’t support other languages, and as a result, I don’t have a page at all. It took me quite a while, to find the links to change the Language back to English to get my page back. I thought that was dumb. What does language have to matter with support for it? Thanks Microsoft for putting an unnecessary and grueling option to the menu.
• Renaming the page won’t work if you click on the title – Instead you have to click the "Edit" arrow on the right of the title bar of the gadget, and select rename page. Other start pages just work if you click on the page name, and immediately you can change the name. Is it that hard?
• The "What’s New" link at the top right is definitely not recent – I pressed the link and laughed. There’s a little video tutorial of Live.com, but you can see the old Live Search look in the video, and there’s been a few minor updates that didn’t make it to the video. They really need to drop dumb sites like that.
• Moving modules across pages doesn’t delete the old modules – If you drag-n’-drop modules to another page, you’ll still see them on the old page as well as the new page. I like to think the modules I move are ONE module, and taking them to another page would mean removing one and putting it somewhere else. Like if I had a toy in a box, and moved it to another box, then there shouldn’t be a toy still lying in the old box. Kind of common sense if you ask me.

iGoogle – It seems like a pretty flexible site to me. Everything that’s needed is there. I’ve only been using it recently, so this is my only opinions so far. Here’s what I like:

• You can make your own themes – Or choose one from many on the Themes site. You can write a review and rate them. Quite nice. Some themes can even update to local weather conditions, or other things by the time of day. Very nice feature.
• Very easy to move modules – On iGoogle, modules are called gadgets. and I love how they use the sophisticated method of dotted-lines to indicate both the area and size of where the module will be place.
• Plenty of good gadgets to choose from – A nice selection of gadgets are available.
• No ads – surprising, this being Google.

What I don’t like:

• Gadgets can looked messed up – If you put a gadget in an area that take up 1/2 of the page, it should render well. If you put a gadget in an area that’s 1/4 the page, well that could get rather messed up. The screenshot I provided shows this. Buttons pop out of their gadget space, you only see half the whole gadget, and so on. This is a similar problem for Live Spaces gadgets.
• No color schemes to choose from – You do have personal ‘themes’ but not color schemes. Like to have red outlined modules, or even a yellow background. There’s no color schemes at all.
• Suggestion of Firefox – There’s this module called "Recipe of the Moment". It requires you to have Firefox to use it. Like I’m not content with IE7 or Opera.
• Theme takes up a lot of screen real estate – What happened to simple? The theme bar takes up a whole lot of space, and you can’t shorten it up a bit.

                                                           

MyMSN : Worst of all 5 sites. Very archaic looking. Speed can be slow, changing a few things can be arduous, and most people just hate it. Here’s what I like (if you can say that):

• Fun to look at what the ‘old days’ was – That’s about it. It’s amazing just to see how much has evolved since then, compared to this old relic.
• Columns are scalable! – I was rather surprised by this. Even though everything else is awful about it, it’s at least interesting that you can scale the column anyway you want. There a drag arrow on the side, and pull as far as you want. Quite nifty. Though you can’t scale individual content from top-to-bottom

What I don’t like:

• The look – You see Windows logos at least on 2 spot. Really. It looks like the site was made in the early 2000’s and hasn’t been updated since then. The options in each column have Office 2000-like drop-down menus. Sign In/Out button is the old one. Basically it’s so old looking. And did I mention it was ugly?
• Users can’t make their own content – It’s so old that developers can’t make their own modules (called "content" in MyMSN) and that kind of sucks. You have to rely on what little things MSN has to offer. And it’s not good. Not that anyone would still develop for that site anyways.
• There’s ads – Well actually, just one small text ad link at the bottom, telling you to download more MSN software
• Modifying the page is rather clumsy – Where most Web 2.0 sites can modify things on the fly without having to reload or switch to a whole other page, MSN does the opposite. Apply a change to the color scheme or theme require refreshing the page. Adding content, or a page means a windows popping out to choose options. Horrible.
• Not up to current MSN UI look – While most MSN sites have had an updated UI, this is one of the sites that didn’t for some reason. It could use it.
• Moving modules uses the boring box drag – Like Live.com and MyYahoo!, MSN doesn’t utilize box drag-and-drop with dotted lines. Though it does move and scroll through rather well.

                                                                                           

MyYahoo! – Yahoo! has revamped their start page, and I have to say : It’s really good! Yahoo! has also had a new refreshed UI coming across all it’s site, and it’s rather nice and flexible to work with. My Yahoo! contains a lot of good start page elements. Here’s what I like:

• Very friendly starting guide – The way Y! does it is quick and simple. In no time, you’ve got what you want.
• Everything is done on the page itself – from selecting modules, applying themes, and all of that are done instantly and fast right on the page. Very nice.
• Very nice looking – MyYahoo! is very slick looking, and everything looks quite rich. VERY graphically pleasing. They did an excellent job on the site’s dynamics.
• Options go into more detail – from RSS timestamps, to hover previews, and even search engine use can be decided upon by user
• Very good integration to other Y! sites – Y! really did a good job at bringing attention to other Y! sites. There’s modules that lead directly to the site with the links, My Quicklinks at the top dynamically shows all the good properties, it’s really nice.
• Weather module is the best of them all – I mean really, Y! Weather modules displays weather the best

Despite the good stuff, there’s bad:

• Ads everywhere! – Argh. When you thought it was good, there’s the dumb ads. I can could at least spot 2 on MyY! One at the top where it gives you suggestions to add more modules (which I’m sure most people don’t need to see!) and one graphical ad on the right pane.
• No way to review, rate, and report modules – The great thing about Y! modules is that they appear instantly well on the page with a new preivew and all, but you can’t rate, review, or even report problems/issues about a module.

                                                                                   

Netvibes – This is really the only start page of the 5, that’s only function is really being the start page. This a REALLY great start page site. It practically has it all. Here’s what I like:

•  Super customizable – of all 5, this takes 1st place. Adding pages, modules, separate search engines, colors, themes, etc., it’s all there.
• You can change the color of individual modules – Instead of all the modules having the same color scheme, you can change individual ones the way you might see fit.
• No specific affiliations with other web companies – Unlike the big players I mentioned already, Netvibes runs completely independently, as far as I know of. It’s really open. You don’t HAVE to use a specific default search engine. You don’t HAVE to use content from this company. It’s very open to multiple web services. And you can even use more than one in each module. Very amazing.
• Do everything within the site! – Like MyYahoo!, Netvibes does everything within the site. But to a greater achievement, you can actually do everything on that site without going to a whole separate link. You can even make a Netvibes account right on the site without going anywhere, fast and simple. I mean, that’s pretty amazing and nifty. No need to wait for reloading of the page; it’s all there!
• Access multiple accounts from MANY online services – You can check through a wide variety of practically all the major e-mail providers, all the major search engines and even popular social networks. Right there at your fingertips. No need to find a hack or wait for someone to make it, the folks at Netvibes has already done that for us!
• Adding content is as easy as pie – Netvibes has a pane that opens up instantly on the left side of the page to add stuff. Choose from things like Feeds, Basic Widgets, Communication, Search, Applications, and External Widgets. It utilizes a tree-branch-like menu, where you click on drop down arrows to see more content under the label. Very smart.
• One button collapse mode – Have you ever felt the need to collapse (see just only the title of the module in a skinny mode) all your modules at once? Like maybe to make them easier to deal with as you’re fixing up your page? Well once again, Netvibes has made that task much easier. At the very top right of the page, there’s a down-pointed arrow that collapses all modules. Very efficient time saver.
• Built-in page search box – What I mean by that, is it has it’s own search box to find content just on your page. Like if you’re looking for a specific module, and you have like a bazillion on a page, then searching it in the search box makes it simpler. Very nifty.
• Universe (sharing) feature – Like some start page sites, Netvibes offers a way to share your own start page to many other users, via a site to glance at neat user-made start pages. But Netvibes offers the best solution called Universes. You get to preview through the real user-made start page, and interact with it before deciding if you want it. You can comment and rate on it. I find it more simpler to use than other start pages’ offerings.
• Add a tab icon – Want to individualize even more? Well you can make each tab have specific icons. Netvibes has great default ones. Or you can give an image URL for Netvibes to fetch there.
• Get themes – You can choose from Netvibe-made ones, or make your own. Really nice. Though you can’t share this individually.
• Get header and main page wallpapers – You can customize the header of the page with images on Netvibes on your own or by a URL (with the embedded link right behind it to make it work). You can even customize the height of the page. Same thing for the bottom portion.
• Extend columns! – You don’t just have separate columns, but you can also extend them the way you want. Think the middle column is more import? Than make it wider. Just go along the sides of the top column’s module and stretch. Instant and fast. The only other site that does this is MyMSN (too bad though).
• Very browser friendly too many of them – Works with the latest of the top 4 browsers
• No advertising – you have to wonder how they can handle many sites without ads!
• I could go on and on about the site, but that would take a very long time. :^)

Even though this site is super amazing, I don’t like:

• Lack of Live Image and Video Search – I mean come on, these are practically the best search types that Live Search does. Yet it’s not included officially by Netvibes. Not even MSN Video, which has risen to #2 status in video-sharing sites lately. Sigh.
• Wallpaper and themes apply to ALL tabs – You can’t make themes and wallpapers tab-specific. Anytime you change the wallpaper or theme, it updates on all the tabs.
• Built-in search box is rather cruddy – If you try searching the name of a module/widget, it doesn’t work so well. I tried search for my "To Do List" widget, but it didn’t show up in the search. That’s pretty dumb if you ask me. That’s what the whole widget is called, yet it’s not recognized.

So that’s about it. That’s my fair thoughts of these start pages. So here’s what start pages I think is the best to the worst:

1. Netvibes – No doubt about it. Being super customizable, super self-page efficient, utilizing many different accounts, and being cross-browser gives this a top dog ranking. The ONLY way to beat this site is to just buy them. Really.
2. MyYahoo! – Also a very great site. Nice look, very easy to make, good Y! integration, also self-page efficient, and great to use, aside advertising and dominant Y! stuff.
3. Live.com – It’s a pretty clean-cut bare bones site. Has the necessities, and is great for just plain simple stuff. I would place Live.com and iGoogle around the same rank, but I use Live services more, so I think Live.com happens to be better.
4. iGoogle – Ok site. I find it takes longer to load up, too Googly for even me, but there’s many good gadgets as well. Though compared to other sites, it’s kind of boring.
5. MyMSN – Absolute trash site that need to be tossed out – I mean comparing #1 and #5 is a joke. MyMSN hasn’t been updated for years, and this really shows how MS just doesn’t get the internet more than anything. Awful site design, low customizability, no way to make/share modules, and it’s darn slow. I don’t get what’s taking so long for Microsoft to kill it.

So there you have it. That’s my very long analysis of the top 5 start pages. I definitely recommend Netvibes the most. Sad to see Microsoft really far behind the pack though. They’re practically the bottom two.