The Fastest Way to Collect Online Form Responses
The Fastest Way to Collect Online Form Responses
FormRouter is redefining the forms management process with exciting new solutions for routing and data collection. Through our unique technology, FormRouter facilitates the routing of PDF, InfoPath, Excel, HTML, Flash, Word, ASP and ASP.NET forms between individuals filling in forms and those wanting to process the captured data. FormRouter is an Application Service Provider (ASP) offering subscription services enabling form routing of hundreds to millions of forms, scaling to meet your needs.
Using FormRouter, non-technical users publish forms within hours – without engaging IT professionals. By eliminating manual re-keying, you reduce costs, increase accuracy and slash the time required to get results in house and online. Completed forms are encrypted and routed to the FormRouter server. Alerts can be predefined to monitor form submissions for “desirable data” (the needle in the haystack) with user notification via e-mail. Designated users (i.e. those with appropriate permissions) can download (24/7) the aggregated results into a wide variety of destinations including application programs, Lotus Notes/Domino Access, SQL Server, Text, Excel, XML and other ODBC compliant databases.
FormRouter customers can expect to realize significant ROI in the first year. The benefit is compounded based on the number of forms and the number of form submissions being processed.
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Stalking 2.0: The Websites that Track Your Every Move (Voluntarily!)
Stalking 2.0: The Websites that Track Your Every Move (Voluntarily!)
So, you don’t mind being followed and tracked? You don’t care if your friends can see what websites you’ve been to lately, what software you’ve been running, or even what music you’ve been listening to? Then you’ll love the web’s trend towards extreme openness: sharing everything you do on your computer. Sometimes referred to as sharing your ‘attention’ data, this is a growing market. Below, we round up 12 services that want to track your every move - voluntarily.
Wakoopa is an excellent service which tracks what software you have been running. It keeps tabs of what software is running in the background, what software you have installed, and what software you actively use. Every so often the software uploads this data to the Wakoopa site where it then lists all programs you have been running. The interesting thing here is that you can add friends to track individually or join a team and combine the data. Thanks to Wakoopa, I have found several useful programs that I now use regularly.
Last.fm has been making news with the site being acquired by CBS for nearly $300 million. If you’re a tech-savvy music fan, you probably already use it. With Last.fm you download a small program which gathers information on the current song you are playing through your favorite mp3 software application. Through a process called “scrobbling,” the software determines what song you are listening to and then uploads this song’s data to the server and then keeps track of it. On the website itself there are many ways of viewing the data which is fun to play around with. To be honest though, I think the greatest part is learning exactly how much horrible music you listen to and what songs your friends listen to in comparison. (Our Last.fm review.)
Cluztr takes it to the web by tracking every site you visit online through your browser. Not only that, it also keeps a history log or “clickstream” of all those sites. One word of advice, avoid visiting sites that your mother would not think much of, as it’s all out there for your friends to view. Cluztr installs a plug-in to your FireFox or Flock browser (sorry IE and Safari users, Cluztr is hopeful for a mid to late 2007 release) where it then captures your entire web surfing history and compiles it into your “clickstream” which you are free to share or publish on the web for all your friends to see. There are also social functions built into the sidebar which allow for posting of messages for that specific site which other users can see when visiting that same site. (Our Cluztr review.)
AttentionTrust offers services similar to Cluztr. AttentionTrust installs as a browser plug-in and tracks the sites you visit. You can then take this data and share it with other applications or development projects that could make use of this data, or simply store it on your desktop. AttentionTrust’s idea is to let you share this data with in interested parties for a fee - in other words, a form of lead generation.
Atten.TV is another site that allows you to follow what you or your friends are clicking on around the web. You have the option to share this data or keep it private. It is completely up to you. Since you are reading this article, I think it is safe to assume you are leaning towards the former option. The downloadable application is only for Mac OS currently. (Our Atten.tv review.)
Me.dium can be considered a competitor to Cluztr. Me.dium takes the same basic approach, but doesn’t act as a personal log: instead, it lets you see which sites your friends are on, and join them there. It is simply personal preference on your decision to use Cluztr, Me.dium, Atten.TV or AttentionTrust. (Our Me.dium review.)
Plazes is a service that tracks where you are no matter where you are in the world. So now if you not only want your pals to know where you are online, you can have them know where you are in person. Just be sure not to get in to trouble with this service.
iStalkr doesn’t keep tabs on you directly, but rather, indirectly by utilizing RSS and ATOM feeds that most social web 2.0 sites are utilizing now. If you sign up for an iStalkr account and enter some social sites you are a member of, like Del.icio.us and Twitter, iStalkr will then grab the RSS/ATOM feed for that service and will be able to get your updates from the site. To put it simply, think of iStalkr like as a central hub for your social website information and updates. (Our iStalkr review.)
SlifeShare is an application built for the Mac OS primarily. If you are running Firefox you can install the extension regardless of what OS you run. SlifeShare is similar to iStalkr in that the application tracks data from multiple sources and acts as a central hub, but SlifeShare takes it a step further and collects this data directly. Music, videos, photos, websites, applications, and more are tracked and then the data is displayed on the SlifeShare website which you can share with friends. You are only allowed five friends, after which you must either become a premium user or just stick with the five friend limit. (Our SlifeShare review.)
YouTube Active Share simply allows you to share videos that you watch on YouTube with all your friends. Your profile will show what videos you have recently watched and when you are currently watching a video while others are viewing the same video, they will see your name appear on a list of people currently watching that video.
Particls is a downloadable application which doesn’t necessarily track what you do, but instead tracks what you are most interested in receiving information about. The concept is that you allow the Particls software to search your documents for keywords that will allow the program to determine what information you want to be fed to your computer via RSS and ATOM feeds. For example, if you type in Web 2.0, it’s almost a guarantee you will receive site updates from the Mashable website directly to the Particls software. Minor problems with the application is that it can be a resource hog at times, but it is very powerful, and Particls will have an ad supported version and a pay version in the future.
Google History has drawn much controversy over privacy issues. Google search history is another controversial tool Google released that tracks every search term you enter into Google’s various search tools. This feature is mainly for your benefit only.
Got any more sites that track you around the web? Add them in the comments.
by James Mowery
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Live Satellite Images in Google Earth!
Live Satellite Images in Google Earth!
As part of the Google Earth image update released last week Google quietly added a major new feature to Google Earth - live satellite images!
Using the live satellite mode I created a screen capture of cars driving down a road, which you can see in the animated thumbnail below.
Live Satellite only works for the city of Edinburgh, UK but will be rolled out to other cities in the near future. Apparently Google wanted to keep this amazing new feature quiet so as to not overload the satellite’s built-in web server.
If you’d like to see the Live Satellite Mode in action yourself then load up this placemark file.
Be warned that Edinburgh is very cloudy today, so you may have to search around a bit to find a gap in the clouds.
We’re told that as Google add the Live Satellite feature to more and more cities they plan to rename Google Earth to Google Live Local.
Please note that this entry is an April Fool’s Joke - there are no live images to be seen!
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Is Ubuntu an Operating System?
Is Ubuntu an Operating System?
Is Ubuntu an operating system? Last week at EuroOSCON, Mark Shuttleworth gave the closing keynote outlining what he believes are the major struggles faced by the open-source/free-software community. During his talk, it became clear that Ubuntu is trying to achieve a radical shift in the software world. Ubuntu isn’t trying to be a platform for mass-market application software: it is trying to be the primary provider of both the operating system and all the application software that a typical user would want to run on his machine. Most Linux distributions are like this, and I think it is a dangerous trend that will stifle innovation and usability, or even worse make the desktop irrelevant.
Mr. Shuttleworth’s initial point was one that few people disagree with: that software installers are bad for users and usability. Indeed, the typical method of installing Windows software (downloading a setup.exe file from a website or running it from a CD) manages the software very poorly. Each vendor must construct its own scheme for where to install, how to update, and most of all how to manage dependencies between pieces of software. Of course, Windows has guidelines about installing to C:\Program Files\Vendor\Application Name, but even Microsoft does not consistantly follow the rules. Everyone recognizes that installers are not good for users, even Microsoft, who in an effort to fix the mess invented the (complicated and poorly-tooled) MSI installer format. Apple uses disk images, application bundles, and relocatable software to avoid the problem. It is good to see a major Linux distribution thinking through the problems that installers present.
Mr. Shuttleworth’s statements, however, go much deeper than the technical deficiencies of Windows installers. He talked about how Ubuntu was leading a paradigm shift away from “users installing software” towards a system where all the software a user needs is provided by the operating system. Ubuntu should provide all the software a users needs or wants in the packages. Does that mean that users should not be installing software directly? According to Mr. Shuttleworth, the way to provide a good user experience is for users’ software should be provided by the central Ubuntu repository and managed through the Ubuntu update system.
Granted, Ubuntu has done a good job of making the Linux desktop usable1. A properly managed centralized software repository can make it a lot easier for users to confidently choose software that is tested and compatible with their system. By releasing an entire set of software that has been tested together, Ubuntu can provide the necessary support to guarantee the suite will work together more seamlessly and provide a better user experience.
Users must be able to make their own software installation decisions.
People use Windows because the software they want uses Windows2. People have an amazing variety of wants. There are those who cannot install Linux because a particular piece of software they need is not available, be it InDesign or a specialized accounting program, or any number of new products that have yet to be conceived.
Free-software fundamentalists and practicalists often loudly disagree whether encouraging proprietary software on Linux is irresponsible or essential. It is either misguided or arrogant, however, to think that all users’ needs can be met by a central software repository, even if all software were open-source and free. Some of the best software available today started out small, was distributed on the internet, and made popular by word of mouth. The impetus of “Download Now” is strong, and promotes healthy competition and diversity. Whether a video player by a startup company or a newly-released version of Firefox that hasn’t yet made it to the central repository, stumbling blocks in the software distribution process caused by this centralization will reduce the ability for small projects to promote new software through viral marketing.
This is not an absolute restriction. Authors could provide the download as a .tar.bz2 archive or even .deb package, but those types of packages require the user to perform complicated actions such as opening a terminal and knowing the magic incantation. Ubuntu cannot prevent users from installing software, but it does intentionally make installation difficult. If Ubuntu achieves mainstream status, an alternative packaging format that allows users an easy way to install software will inevitably emerge (e.g. AutoPackage). Instead of fighting this tendency, Ubuntu should embrace the world of “external” software, and provide a simple and standard way for users to install these packages.
If application developers can’t attract users to the desktop, the only alternative is for new applications to be deployed entirely on the web. Although some people believe that the trend of applications moving onto the web is irreversable, I’m more optimistic. There is value, power, and security in the desktop. But without cooperation, I certainly wouldn’t plan to deploy my next application on Linux.
Allowing users to install their own software does have some consequences. Unfortunately, the discussion of how the software should be packaged and distributed quickly devolves into flamewars over the relative merits of RPMs, dpkg, or <insert technology here>. This is counterproductive, ignoring the fundamental issue: Linux software is typically not a self-contained package that could be placed in a single directory. A collection of files that are variously placed in /usr/bin, /usr/share/man, and perhaps many other locations, making it very difficult to relocate binary software because library dependencies are resolved to a fixed set of paths, and never relative to the binary location.
I do not pretend to have a solution in hand for installing software on Linux. I think that Mac-style application bundles could be made to work, but supporting them would require additional features in the dynamic linker, along with something like mac Launch Services to provide good cross-application integration. In addition, since regular software updates are an essential part of modern system security, it is important to have a good and simple way to update software. If distributing software in relocatable packages is completely impractical for technical or social reasons, the same problem could perhaps be solved by allowing users to easily install packages from non-default software repositories.
The final (and perhaps most pernicious) problem when thinking about redistributable software is the ongoing binary incompatibility between various Linux distributions and between versions of the same Linux distribution. While it is important not to hold back development of new features, it is a problem that every major operating system has had to face, and has faced (more or less) successfully. This is a problem that needs to be faced at all levels of the software stack, from the compiler to final packaging. Perhaps, if Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular continue to disclaim responsibility for ABI changes, software will use managed runtimes or scripting languages out of necessity to isolate itself from the shenanigans of the underlying OS. As it is, creating software that is compatible with multiple Linux distributions in multiple flavors is a nightmare.
This attitude is not unique to Ubuntu. Although this essay is inspired by an Ubuntu keynote, it applies to all the Linux distributions. Ubuntu should not be marked for special criticism, except that I hoped their focus on users and usability would lead to better appreciation of and support for user-installed software. Since Linux vendors are typically in the support business, they can define a set of software that they package and support; they have little financial incentive to do serious work on binary compatibility or software installation.
Free-software zealots may be also to blame: “users have the software source code, they are free to compile and install it themselves!”, mixing a philosophy and a technical decision which are not inherently related. Human nature wants software that works, and this includes software which can be installed and tried without the technical prowess needed to unpack software and run “configure && make && make install” and interpret the resulting console spew to figure out whether it succeeded or not and then figure out that you really needed make 3.80, and your gnome headers are too old, or too new, etc.. The issues of licensing software freely should be divorced from the ability of users to install and use the software.
In the process of creating a usable and supportable Linux, Ubuntu has created a software cathedral with “more than 16,000 pieces of software”3. I do not wish to disparage this effort; this cathedral has produced a usable Linux desktop. But the Linux desktop must also provide a method for users to install software from the bazaar. Unless Linux provides a software installation mechanism, the central Ubuntu software repository will stifle the development of the software it is designed to distribute and protect.
Notes:
- # Why did Ubuntu choose the obnoxiously self-gratifying motto “linux for human beings”? Of course it’s for human beings; the question is whether those humans can use it.
- # For the purposes of this essay, it’s not important why developers write software for Windows, or whether the application/OS cycle is vicious or virtuous.
- # http://www.ubuntu.com/, 2-Oct-2006
source: BSBLOG
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Kensington 72258 Ci60 Wireless Optical Mouse for PC or Mac
Kensington 72258 Ci60 Wireless Optical Mouse for PC or Mac
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Wireless USB 2.0 Dongle Mac PC
Product Description
Wireless USB 2.0 Dongle+ Software Access Point. 802.11g High Speed Mode. 2.4 GHz up to 125* High Speed Mode Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) Hardware 64/128-bit WEP engine; WEP weak-key avoidance TKIP hardware AES engine supporting CCM and OCB 802.1x SSN
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His chance of snow is 100%
Mount Rountree: Southern Snowman
CARY, North Carolina - No matter what happens this morning, Rick Nordman will have 5 inches of snow in his backyard, easy.
His secret: Read more of this story…
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CES 2008 - Have touch phones jumped the shark?
Touch Phones.
There are all sorts of announcements coming out of CES. Not the least of which was Motorola’s news of a new touch-sensitive addition to it’s Moto ROKR line of phone’s called the E8. I blame Apple for the abundance of new touch phone’s coming out. Everybody seems to be making some kind of iPhone clone. HTC has it’s touch, Motorola now has the E8. Who’s next?
Read more of this story…
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Joost Invitations
If you need an invitation, post a new comment (not a reply) with your email. If you have a Joost invitation token, send it to that email and post a reply to that comment so none are wasted. If you get invited, do the right thing and invite others. Do it for karma and the warm fuzzy feeling inspired by the word: community.
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Joost raises $45 million in funding
Joost raises $45 million in funding
BRUCE MEYERSON
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Joost, an Internet-based TV service being launched by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, said Thursday it has raised $45 million from five investors including CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. and an influential Hong Kong telecommunications executive.
Index Ventures, a European venture capital firm, and Sequoia Capital were the lead contributors to the investment. The fifth participant is Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings, who invested in Joost through his charitable foundation, the Li Ka Shing Foundation.
Joost, which recently expanded a trial of its TV service to more users, transmits video with peer-to-peer technology, the signature approach that co-founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom used to launch the hugely popular Skype calling and Kazaa music-sharing services.
P2P relies on the shared computing power and bandwidth of its users to transmit data, rather than serving it all directly to each user from a central data center. With P2P, the more people using the system, the better quality the transmission will be, making quick adoption especially crucial to Joost.
Skype proved so successful that it was purchased by eBay Inc. for $2.6 billion, but Kazaa drew the legal ire of the music industry as users downloaded music without paying for it. A settlement last year will lead to a redesign of Kazaa, which is no longer owned by Friis and Zennstrom.
No copyright troubles are envisioned with Joost, which has gone the mainstream route by signing deals with major content providers, including its new investors. Viacom, for example, has agreed to let Joost show content from MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount and Comedy Central. Overall, Joost says it now has 150 channels of video.
Now that a sizable number of consumers have high-speed Internet access, online video viewing has taken off, as exemplified by the explosive popularity of YouTube, acquired by Google Inc. in November for $1.76 billion.
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