Safe Surfing with TrustPlus

We’ve all heard the horror stories about people getting ripped off on the web. Scams are all over the place - and unfortunately it’s not just spam. It’s easy to avoid the Nigerian scams (although amazingly enough people still get caught up in that one), and it’s simple to delete the spam. But what about other transactions like buying on EBay or craigslist, or dating on Match.com? How can you be confident that the person you are dealing with is trustworthy? The ease with which one can change identities makes it hard to trust people.

Conversely, if you spend a lot of time and energy building up a good reputation on a particular site, be it selling on EBay or commenting on AVS Forum, you can’t take that reputation to other sites.

Fortunately, my friend Shawn Broderick has come to the rescue. Shawn has started a company called TrustPlus, which allows you to build your online reputation, take it where ever you go online, and check out the reputation of people you are interacting with at EBay or other sites. It’s really easy to use and it makes a lot of sense.

If you download the TrustPlus Plug in, every time you visit a site like EBay, Linkedin or craigslist, you will see a trust icon next to the post. If the person has a reputation with TrustPlus, the icon will tell you their rating. At the same time, whenever you interact with someone, you can go to TrustPlus and rate that person.

The nice thing about TrustPlus is that the heuristics behind the reputation calculations are pretty sophisticated. For example, if you build a good reputation by commenting on audio/visual equipment, that is a big positive if you are selling a stereo on craigslist, but it won’t be as relevant if you want to sell a car.

In the same way, ratings about others get more weight if they come from people you know and trust instead of strangers. Let’s say you are buying something from JohnDoe487 at EBay. JohnDoe487 has received good ratings from a lot people, but he also has a few negative ratings. And it turns out that one of the negative ratings comes from a good friend of yours. That negative rating will have more weight in the reputation of JohnDoe487 that you see. Pretty cool, huh?

Like any network, the more people that use it, the more value you get out of it. So stop reading an go check it out! www.trustplus.com

Wii Wins!!

In what few would have predicted a year ago, the Nintendo Wii is now the best selling next Gen console (Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Sony Playstation 3). Given that that the Xbox 360 had a year head start.\, this is an impressive accomplishment. Worldwide, the Wii has sold 11.54 million units compared to 10.95 million Xbox 360 units and 4.6 million PS 3 units. Check out the data here.

This is good news for us Wii owners, as the virtuous cycle with software will start to kick in. Initially the game publishers make bets on the different systems and will favor one over the others in terms of the amount of software they design for it. For this generation of console, the Wii was initially dismissed (based upon the mediocre performance of the GameCube). But with the success of the Wii, we should see developers start to shift more resources to the Wii.

And yes - I did say “us Wii owners.”  We have a Wii!!!!!  Back in May I was in a BestBuy and happened upon a woman holding a with a brand new Wii. I looked at her and I looked at the shelf and realized she had snagged the last one. The sales clerk must have seen my look of disappointment (or jealousy) and offered to check in the back to see if they had any more.  Imagine my surprise when he returned with a Wii under his arm!

Working under the philosophy of “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission” (always a risky thing to do - but this was a Wii!!!!), I bought it. Since then I have had a chance to play a number of different games including Wii Sports (tennis, golf, bowling, boxing, and baseball), Super Paper Mario, Resident Evil 4, Super Monkey Ball, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the Bigs, Boogie, Madden NFL ‘08, and just in the past few days Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

So - what’s the review? Overall I give the Wii two strong thumbs up. It’s a great system that is a lot of fun to play. It’s not without it’s flaws, but my hunch is that over time, the minor quibbles I have with the system will be improved upon.

I really like the control system, and it is used to great effect in a number games. Initially I found the sensing to be a little fussy and I found the cursor would jump all over the place at times. It turns out that placing the sensor bar (which picks up all the movements of the Wii controllers) below the TV works much better than having it on top. The graphics are okay for most games, but they are getting better as developers get more comfortable with the hardware. Metroid Prime 3 is a perfect example - the graphics are really good and smooth. Not PS3 quality, but the key point is it doesn’t matter - the game is FUN!!

If Metroid is really a gamers game (although it is pretty easy to get into), Wii Sports is a great family game. My kids love playing golf and tennis, and Nick regularly KO’s me in boxing. Even my Mom could play Wii Sports (which is exactly what Nintendo wanted). Super Monkey Ball is a fun silly game with lots of mini-games that are a hit with the family - especially the snowboard race. Of the games I’ve played, the only dud was the Bigs.  Way too hard for me - after one inning of solo play (as the Red Sox of course!) - I was losing to Detroit 22-1. Boogie is not really my cup of tea (a Karaoke game), but Caitlin loves it.

I’ll have other comments as I play more Wii, but overall I’m impressed and I can see why Wii wins.

Newsweek Fesses Up

I’ve been on vacation for the past week, so I haven’t had much opportunity to blog - but I did want to post a quick follow up to my comments on Newsweek’s cover story of a few weeks ago. It was so bad that Newsweek felt compelled to post a follow up to the story. As Robert Samuelson writes

The story’s thrust: discredit the “denial machine,” and the country can start the serious business of fighting global warming. The story was a wonderful read, marred only by its being fundamentally misleading.

The story was, as Sameulson puts it, “a peripheral and highly contrived story.” Too bad Barbara Boxer and Al Gore don’t agree.

Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much…

For some strange reason, the Global Warming “Alarmists” are out in force decrying the Global Warming “Deniers.” The cover story of this week’s issue of Newsweek is titled The Truth About Denial. And Al Gore was in Singapore (what was the carbon footprint of his private jet trip to Asia) proclaiming

“There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community. In actuality, there is very little disagreement… This is one of the strongest of scientific consensus views in the history of science. We live in a world where what used to be called propaganda now has a major role to play in shaping public opinion.”

If the consensus was so strong and the global warming deniers so crazy, one would think that there would be no need for such a concerted effort to marginalize the non-believers.

Let’s look at the Newsweek article. Talk about a hack job. The  article is an editorial disguised (not very well) as news. You would be hard pressed to find a more one sided article on www.moveon.org.

As the article begins, Sen. Barbara Boxer relates how after a meeting with the head of the IPCC, she was approached by a staffer who claimed that a conservative think tank funded by ExxonMobil had offered scientists $10,000 to write articles undercutting the recent IPCC report. Turns out this is quite the exaggeration. In fact,while the AEI is a conservative think tank, they received $1.6 million over 7 years from ExxonMobil, less than 1% of total revenue for that time. The money was a standard honorarium offered by the AEI and in this particular case, the request was for scientists to review the latest IPCC report in light of the uncertainties highlighted in the previous IPCC report.

Another claim the Newsweek article makes is that the ExxonMobil has given over $19 million over the years to the Competitive Enterprise Institute to produce what Sen. Rockefeller called “very questionable data” on climate change. No mention of the $3 BILLION that Richard Branson has donated to “combat global warming”, or the multiple millions donated to environmental groups to spread the message of the impending doom that global warming will wreak on the world. One estimate suggests that the those who believe humans are responsible for the current warming have received over $50 Billion.

The Newsweek “article” also points out the money that certain global warming skeptics have received (specifically the $165,000 Patrick Michaels received from the coal industry), while painting global warming alarmists as impartial. For example, NASA’s James Hansen is portrayed as a level-headed climate scientist struggling to communicate the dangers of global warming. I suppose the $250,000 Hansen received from a foundation headed by Teresa Heinz Kerry (shortly before he endorsed John Kerry for president) doesn’t count.

I could go on outlining errors, exaggerations and distortions, but you get the picture.

And then there is Al Gore proclaiming that there is a conspiracy to discredit the IPCC and it’s conclusions. I was a History of Science major in college, and for Gore to proclaim that the idea of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is one of the strongest consensus in the history of science is laughable. But then again, if we aren’t all convinced that CO2 is the most evil of all gasses, how will Al sell his carbon credits?

iPhone Impressions

Well - I finally got a chance to play with the iPhone in person. It’s a slick piece of equipment - but is it worth the $600 (not including the two year commitment with AT&T)?

I did like the interface - it’s intuitive and flashy. It’s especially nice when looking at pictures and surfing the Internet. On the other hand, the iPhone I was playing with had trouble sensing when I turned the phone from vertical to horizontal. But shaking the phone when I rotated it seemed to do the trick.

As for browsing, I was disappointed. It was slow and crashed at least three times in the 10 minutes I was using it. I’m not sure if it was using Wi-Fi or the AT&T network, but I hope it was the AT&T network, otherwise the iPhone is REALLY slow. That said, why Apple didn’t have the phones using Wi-Fi remains a mystery.

Finally, as many people have already commented, the touch screen keyboard takes some getting used to. My thumbs are used to the Treo 650, and so I found that I was making more typos than usual.

I came to the conclusion by asking: “what does the iPhone do that my phone doesn’t?” And other than a cooler interface and some nice voicemail management, my answer is “not much.”  I think I’ll wait until iPhone 2.0 (or 3.0)

Something’s Fishy

I went to an interesting lunch yesterday sponsored by Fast Company Magazine (and yes - I know Al Gore is on the cover of the latest issue - It’s still a good magazine).  The speaker at the lunch was the CEO of EcoFish, Henry Lovejoy. Lovejoy founded EcoFish to address the growing problem of depleting fish stocks. The company only sells fish that are caught in sustainable fisheries.

I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. Who wants to pay more for fish just because they come from sustainable fisheries? Aren’t there “plenty of fish in the sea” as we are often told? Turns out, there aren’t. Henry presented two slides that I found simply shocking. The first showed the biomass (the weight) of fish in the North Atlantic in 1900, the second showed same information but in 2000. The difference is scary. Take a look for yourself here. The flash demo shows the change in the biomass over the entire century, but if you really want to be blown away, just compare 1900 to 2000.

It seems to me that this is a pretty big issue that isn’t getting anywhere near enough attention. And compared to global warming, this issue is real and immediate.

Briggs!!

Let me introduce our newest family member - his name is Briggs and he is an 11 week old Goldendoodle (a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle). I’m not a huge fan of the name Goldendoodle (it sounds like what will be left when Briggs pees in the snow).. but I love the breed. They are supposed to have the intelligence of a poodle and the energy of a Golden. So far, Briggs seems to have the intelligence part down, but then again, what dog owner ever says his dog is dumb? I’ll keep you posted as he starts Puppy Kindergarten.

His flight up from Virginia was somewhat traumatic - the poor guy was sick to his stomach on the way to the airport - so he wasn’t very happy when he first arrived. But now he’s settling in and he seems much better.

The kids think he’s great, and Kerry wants to take maternity leave to stay home with him. All in all, we couldn’t be happier with the little guy!

iHype……

My friend Diane clued me into a great video from the folks at MadTV. Given the recent launch of the iPhone, I think it’s timely. Check it out here.

I haven’t seen the iPhone in person yet, but I’m impressed that the reviews suggest the hardware lives up to the hype. Too bad AT&T’s service doesn’t. Some are even looking at the iPhone as a Wi-Fi enabled video iPod and are discounting the phone capabilities.

As for me, I’m waiting for iPhone 2.0 or 3.0. And for the AT&T service to get better.

Zooloretto…

Congratulations to Michael Schacht and the folks at Abacusspiele on winning the coveted “Spiel des Jahres” award yesterday. For those of you who don’t follow board gaming that closely (probably most of you!), the Spiel des Jahres is the German award for Game of the Year. Think of it as the equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Zooloretto is a simple game that can be played in about 45 minutes and my boys who are 6 picked it up pretty quickly. As trucks full of animals arrive at your zoo, players have to put them into the appropriate pens. Different types of animals can’t occupy the same pen, so you have to be careful not to take too many different types of animals. Ending up with animals that you can’t put into the limited number of pens cost you points, so you have to manage your zoo carefully.

And as my kids have pointed out - the Panda is really cute.

If you can’t find the game at your local hobby store, try picking it up on the net at Thoughthammer or Funagain Games. 

The Future of Computing

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but if you haven’t seen the recent demos of surface computing, you should check it out here. It’s some pretty cool stuff. Of course it’s Microsoft, so expect to wait until version 3.0 until the bugs are out…  but still, I want a surface computer as my desk!