Category: Web, Tech & Design

Opera Software is developing a new Internet browser that allows users to talk to their computers.

The new browser incorporates IBM’s ViaVoice technology, enabling the computer to ask what the user wants and “listen” to the request.

No release date has been set yet as the browser is still in it’s development phase.

Even though this is cool technology, but still I’m not all that excited by it.
First of all, I don’t want to talk to my computer.
In fact, I wish I didn’t have to talk to people either and that they’d have some sort of computerized interface for me to go through, lol…

Secondly, voice technology is still far from efficient nowadays, so using voice commands for a computer will be even more nerve-wrecking and frustrating than if we had to code every command in Perl.

Anyway, it’s good to see new stuff like this coming out from Opera. They’re really leading the way in innovating browsers.

But voice browsing is not for me, I just like to kick back, relax, forget about talking, and tap away at my laptop.

So it soon will be Microsoft North African Developer conference time again.
Yes, it’s been almost a year since the last one.

In fact, my first blog post ever was about NDC 2003.

Anyway, this year’s NDC will take place April 14-16 in Casablanca / Morocco.
I won’t be attending this year.
There’s no way in hell I’m going to pay for a plane ticket and hotel to listen to a bunch of people tell me how great Microsoft’s products are.
Sorry, but I just can’t find Microsoft anywhere on my priority list.
So, till the next NDC in Tunisia, have fun without me…

The slogan they’re using for this NDC is: Get Inside!
Now what kind of dumb slogan is that ?
Get inside what ?!

Anyway Clemens Vasters is going to be speaking at the NDC again, so that should be really good.
Ingo Rammer and Scott Hanselman are going to be there too, but I don’t know if that’s good or not because I have no idea who they are 😛
Excuse my ignorance…

If anyone’s interested in this NDC, check out the website.

So the results of the blog survey that Fernanda Vi

The next version of the classic Swiss Army Knife will feature a built-in USB flash memory stick that will hold up to 128MB.

The new USB knife will be unleashed at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany starting tomorrow.

Now, is that a cool gadget or what ?

[via engadget]

So Bill Gates is still pushing forward with his idea to combat spam.
He’s been going at it for months saying that the best way to stop spam is by making people pay for emails.
Now, the idea has shaped up more into a plan to make users buy stamps to be able to send their emails.

I know that the math makes sense and that charging a small fee for emails will greatly reduce the number of spam mails sent, but then again it’ll also reduce the number of wanted emails.
The factor that made email so successful in the first place was that it’s free. Making people have to pay for it won’t work, they’ll just quit altogether.

Ok, so maybe they won’t have to pay ?
Maybe the postage stamp is just some processing time to solve a puzzle and show your good intention ?
Well, spammers have the money and resources to bring in more machines and let them give away the processing time.

I think that the problem enabling spam to thrive on is not the fact that it’s free but rather the underlying technology.
SMTP is not tight enough. It was good for the beginning when it was used by a small group of trustworthy people, but now that’s not the case and a big overhaul is needed for it. Tighter authentication should be built into it.

Related Links:

• End of the road for SMTP?
• Buy stamps to send e-mail

I found this really funny article about How to write unmaintanable code. It’s really cool.

It’s writer says:
In the interests of creating employment opportunities in the Java programming field, I am passing on these tips from the masters on how to write code that is so difficult to maintain, that the people who come after you will take years to make even the simplest changes. Further, if you follow all these rules religiously, you will even guarantee yourself a lifetime of employment, since no one but you has a hope in hell of maintaining the code. Then again, if you followed all these rules religiously, even you wouldn’t be able to maintain the code!

Check out the whole guide on How to write unmaintanable code.

[via eclecticism]

So Tucows have acquired BlogRolling.com

I don’t know why I have a bad feeling about this one.
I mean, when Google acquired Blogger, I thought: fantastic ! Blogger will go on to greater things.
But now, I’m not so sure about this one.
Maybe it’s just because I hate the Tucows download site, or because I don’t see any connection or reason why they should do this in the first place.

Well ok, it turns out Tucows have a service called Blogware, and that they bought BlogRolling to provide more value for that service.

Anyway, I don’t give a damn what they do with their Blogware and how they integrate BlogRolling into it. All I care about is that they don’t screw it up for the rest of us.

The full press release is here.

Just found a really interesting article on a list apart on how to help your site’s visitors.

For this to be possible you have to recognize and achieve a number of things.

1. Recognize that websites are hard to navigate.
2. Understand what it is your visitors are looking for.
3. Accept that visitors scan your headings and links.
4. Be relevant in the words and phrases you use.

I definitely agree. Site makers should put theirselves in the visitors shoes more often when they’re designing a website, and try to make it as easy as possible for users to find their way around and know how to use it.

Read the whole thing here.

So, Yahoo! have added an RSS aggregating feature in My Yahoo!.
I heard that they were working on this before, but today is the first time I actually saw it and tried it out.

It’s still in beta but it seems to work fine.
I think it’s a great idea.
Everyone has to have a Feed reader of some sort nowadays. Too many blogs and news sites to keep up with.

So, after 8 years of existence and following a round of layoffs at Terra Lycos, Webmonkey‘s online journey has come to an end.

It’s a real shame.
Even though I rarely used it, it was always great to know that there was a cool source of information there that I could tap into whenever I needed it.

The content was simple, straight to the point and well written by everyday programmers; picking you out of the world of professional writers and all the jargon to simply give you the stuff you really need.

This is one of the sites that truly don’t deserve to go.