I ran into this little report page from linkbuzzr.com. They are in the process of creating a search engine that’s based on user generated news sites such as digg.com, reddit.com etc. Their first implementation is digg. Since they started back in May, they have collected a lot of information, but they only display Digg.com. I guess if you like to increase your digg karma you may want to subscribe to these sites’s RSS feed and start digging! Their content is obviously digg-friendly Check it out:

Here is digg.com’s TOP 10 most dugg sites for May 2008

www.huffingtonpost.com 47
www.youtube.com 39
www.nytimes.com 22
news.bbc.co.uk 21
arstechnica.com 21
www.chicagotribune.com 17
gizmodo.com 17
www.telegraph.co.uk 16
www.popularmechanics.com 16
www.dailymail.co.uk 15

You can see the full list here

Is hard to visualize what will happen in the next few years when events like these happen (Not that it will, but it’s moving that direction). We know for sure it will definitely influence the technology world. If you didn’t already know Yahoo.com was built predominantly using open source technologies, which means that relationship that existed before between yahoo and the “free for all” community will slowly vanish.

MAYBE! perhaps Microsoft will instead embrace all these open source applications and build systems that support both worlds… who knows. What do you think?

Bill Gate’s mug shot… troublemaker!

The Microsoft corporation in 1978

Bill Gates, about 27, in his Microsoft office in 1982

Still 1982…

Still 1982 with Paul Alan…

Bill Gates back in 1983

1987… making history.

And finally getting his degree from Harvard!

And finally at CES 2008

Microsoft’s Newest invention… Surface! more on this incredible machine here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

now go back to the first image and compare to the last image… pretty crazy huh? To think that 30 years from now our kids are going to laugh at things “WE” think are very advanced… like the Surface table below, the iPhone, etc. A few weeks ago I was invited to a Microsoft executive briefing and I had a chance to see some pretty intense futuristic stuff… things you only see in movies such as the minority report or the matrix! Anyway, I won’t ruin the surprise!

Now the big question is, what do you think is waiting for us 30 years from now?

A big part of Apple’s latest success is attributed to Steve Job’s great marketing drive and branding initiatives. However, there is another guy no one talks about anymore and his name is Steve Wozniak, he is the co-founder of Apple, Inc. and the brains behind the original operating system.

He is no longer working for Apple, but he still collects a pay chek every month from Apple (He better be!!).

A comment on my previous article made me post this (Thanks Hugh Pearse)

And a recent pic

Many many years later! (2007)

I know we have other success stories like Google, Facebook, etc… but this is based on number years of being successful, profits and social / market influence.

Google is always unfazed with upstarts who try to take their place. Maybe this will change soon. PowerSet Labs is unveiling a whole new way to search by producing results that are more accurate and more appealing to advertisers. Will people choose PowerSet Labs over Google? Only time will tell…

Here are some of the key differences between the two.

• Google’s search engine matches words within search queries with text in Web pages [More]. It creates relevancy by counting link popularity, so basically the more your site is referenced on other websites the better. There is a lot more to it of course.
• Powerset’s system will analyze the actual meaning of words and phrases that it indexes on the Web. It will also analyze the linguistic meaning of the query and find the best matches between the two

“Our unique innovations in search are rooted in breakthrough technologies that take advantage of the structure and nuances of natural language. Using these advanced techniques, Powerset is building a large-scale search engine that breaks the confines of keyword search.”, Powerset Labs

These guys are not alone, Hakia, Inc. is also trying the same approach.

Do you use Google? or I should say, do you Google? do you see yourself saying “Do you Powerset?” Let us know.

Yahoo is getting very close to unveiling Mash, their new social network type website. Right now its by invitation only, but soon they will unleash it to the wild. Who knows what will happen. What do you think?

Here are the major bullet points:

• Users have to register
• Age, gender and Zip are required fields during registration and they are later use for serving targeted ads.
• They currently offer over 800,000 tracks and 3,500 music videos for download
• Expects to have more than 2 million tracks over the next several months
• Cannot be burned into a CD
• It can be transferred to dozens of digital music players
• The content does not work on Apple’s Macintosh computers or iPods (VERY BAD in my opinion)
• The downloads cannot be copied to more than two portable music players or compatible mobile phones at one time. (Not so good)

They do feel very strongly about security and virus protection. They want their users to feel completely safe when they download something from SpiralFrog, so basically no virus, no adware and no spyware.

Anyway, I’ll have to try this out before I give my opinion… stand by. If you find this info valuable, digg it.