Future-Phobia

Justin Biebers phone number

2010-09-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

Do you have a daughter aged around 12? Do you know that at this very moment, she is feverishly engaged in one single task, to the exclusion of all others?That task is the attempt to discover Justin Bieber's phone number.Evidence of this can be found on Yahoo Answers, where questions relating to "Justin Biebers phone number" appear with a frequency which can only be described as

Social networking defined

2009-06-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Facebook has well and truly trounced MySpace and vindicated my long-held belief and carefully researched position that Facebook is better than MySpace.Isn't Facebook great?!You can form an instant relationship with someone you met minutes ago and gain an instant insight into their every thought, every photographed moment of their lives, every friend they have, and feel as though you have

What's on my mind? What's on my mind?

2009-03-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

What's on my mind? What's on my mind? Gah... I don't know - wait, let me think... oh, I've blocked up, I'm sure there was something...I mean, what's with Facebook? You knew where you were with "What are you doing?", or just plain old "status" - now they want a period of deep self-examination before you change your status. I can imagine men the world over, a cold chill running down their spine - "

Too late for netBook genericide?

2009-02-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

Are you the proud owner of a netbook? Perhaps an Asus, Dell or MSI netbook?No you're not - according to Psion there is only one "netBook" and that trademark was registered by them as early as 1996.A number of sites using "netbook" in one generic sense or another received cease and desist letters from Psion at the end of December informing them as much, and many, like this site selling used

Microsoft now bribing you to use their search

2008-11-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Microsoft are so desperate to get a piece of the Google search pie that they are resorting to bribery again! Yes, in a repeat of their UK Big Snap campaign from February 2008, they have launched Big Snap Search II, in which you can possibly (not) win some prizes in the form of - TA-DAAA, some John Lewis coupons - nice!What's the catch? Well, for a chance to match two different-valued coupons and

Commodore UMMD 8010 Netbook - paper clip included!

2008-09-08T03:53:00.000-07:00

The amazing success of the netbook format of notebook computer has prompted a venerable industry name to jump on the bandwagon - no less than Commodore itself!Though Commodore today has little in common with the company that produced the almighty C64, as well as the VIC20, C128 and later of course, the Amiga, it is thought that new Commodore UMMD 8010 netbook, announced at the IFA Show in Berlin,

Sure-fire defense against identity theft - LEARN TO READ!

2008-03-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

As yet another request to urgently verify my bank details online lands in my inbox (funny, I didn't know I had an account in the National Credit Union) I have got to thinking about the issue of protection against online fraudsters and the whole question of literacy.Computer literacyI know that my calls for compulsory netiquette and basic Internet and literacy training for new computer users will

5 Reasons Not to Work Wireless in a Cafe

2008-01-25T03:42:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in a recent post (Why I Didn't Buy a Dell), I have finally joined the notebook "elite" (I usually join elites about 10 years after they are no longer elite) and one of the things I was really looking forward to was being able to sit in a cafe, sip a coffee or two and work there as a change from the home office, connected to the internet of course via the cafe's wireless hotspot. In

Why I didn't buy a Dell

2008-01-23T04:48:00.000-08:00

They NEARLY got me.I needed a new laptop, actually my first laptop, now that my job has become a little more mobile. Dell seemed the obvious choice. They are a close second in the notebook market behind HP (20% and 15% of the market respectively - 2006 figures, e.g. see here) and they have a great attraction for the small business and home user, for many of whom Dell is almost a synonym for "new

Burn your books, get your reading life back on track!

2007-12-11T02:53:00.000-08:00

Reading re-KindledI've been wanting to remark on this for a while but haven't got round to looking into it properly - the new "Kindle" from Amazon (what kind of a name is that?!) Well, having read up on it a bit more, or at least Amazon's blurb I can say it has certainly caught my interest. What is the Kindle? In short, an e-book reader, one that initially retails at $399, which seems a bit steep

Blogrush - a trickle of targeted readers...

2007-12-11T02:17:00.000-08:00

As Agloco dies a much-predicted death, my thoughts turn to Blogrush, another much-virally-publicised scheme, supposedly for "Driving a flood of targeted readers to your blog" by installing a sidebar widget which syndicates articles from related blogs in the widget, and in return syndicates your articles to other related blogs. Like a big, happy, network of blogs. It gained initial publicity by

STOP PRESS! Agloco dies a death!

2007-12-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

If anyone was in on the wild and crazy, make-money-to-surf Agloco scheme they would have received this email during the day:We would like to update you on the status of AGLOCO's operations. We continue to believe in the AGLOCO concept, but our revenue is currently not sufficient to give Members a meaningful distribution. And though there are increases in membership, the resulting revenue is not

Facebook: Take the money and RUN!!

2007-12-10T00:02:00.000-08:00

I am not the first to notice this, but Facebook is becoming ANNOYING!Yes, it is clever, darned clever, fiendishly effective at drawing you in - it ensures that unlike with MySpace you are basically in contact with people who are genuinely your friends, and who is going to refuse to click on a link that says, "Your friend xxxx has sent you a message..."?But this viral vivacity could be its

Goodbye darkness my old friend

2007-11-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

There's no real darkness anymore. And it's all technology's fault.Example: when I was a kid, probably in around 1980, I visited a cave system in Slovenia called Postojnska jama. Maybe you've been there? It features spectacular natural subterranean beauty, with the most amazing stalactites and stalagmites and other geological features.But the highlight of the trip for me as a wee nipper was when

USE BCC: NOT TO:!!

2007-11-15T05:44:00.000-08:00

Maybe I am preaching to the converted, but I have to get this off my chest. Because it seems that this crime is still being committed with impunity across the Internet.Only this morning, I received an e-mail from someone who I thought knew better. It was a legitimate marketing mailing, sent to some 100 recipients, advertising a relevant product. Nothing wrong with that.But how do I know how

Meta-money-making blog

2007-11-09T03:29:00.000-08:00

You probably know this, but a lot of blogs are not just written for the good of the blogger's eternal soul, but they actually make money from them as well!But there is a growing phenomenon of blogs about how to make money from blogging. Some of the most successful such blogs are those of Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) and John Chow, where you can find a constant supply of good information about how to

I scorn your Facebook "friendship"

2007-10-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

Having firmly established that Facebook is better than MySpace, I must comment on something I feel warrants the attention of you Future-Phobics. It is the friend-collecting phenomenon, which was absolutely rife on MySpace and which you need to actively consider if you are to avoid it on Facebook.Facebook is quite different from MySpace in that the connections you make are strictly "friend of a

You can die, and Amazon doesn't care

2007-10-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

I was thinking these days how much Amazon has diversified. I mean, weren't they originally a bookstore?! That does seem a long time ago!Now when you go to their site, you are confronted with an almost unfathomable array of different windows displaying bestseller lists, "related products", new products, wishlists, customer reviews and a dozen other features which most of us ignore.Not only that,

Technology is making us talk funny!

2007-10-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

I am racing down a mountain road on my bike, the wind whistling past me, yelling seemingly to myself, "Paaaaaaarzzzzz, paaaaaarrrrzzzzz!!" How did things come to this pass?To go back a little way, I was recently reviewing a new mobile phone, the HP iPaq 514/512/510 Voice Messenger, on my mountain-biking blog (long story, go and check it out, maybe this rant will make more sense) and I was

Digital Point readers confirm Facebook is better than MySpace!

2007-10-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

Following on from my article, Google confirms Facebook is better than MySpace, I can reveal that DigitalPoint forum members agree! In fact the discerning users of this well-known forum for webmasters started a poll a few weeks back (nothing to do with me guv'nor!) asking the simple question, Facebook or Myspace?And guess what - the results are almost exactly the same as my scientific Google-based

Your site can be the second page of the internet

2007-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

The position of First Page of the Internet is already taken. But your site can be the second page of the internet! What is the second page of the internet? It's the page that is linked to from the first page of the Internet, right?Have a wander over to the First Page of the Internet and get your site (or someone else's!) listed as the Second Page of the Internet, at least for a fleeting moment in

Google mired in grinding poverty

2007-09-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

An article at ZDnet today has highlighted the plight of poverty-stricken Google.Google is projected to earn $19 billion in revenue in 2009, and yet the company, and the markets, have their sights set on $100 billion. How are they going to claw their way out of the "tens of billions" poverty trap and ensure a normal third-world-economy-sized financial future for their children and their children's

Google confirms that Facebook is better than Myspace

2007-09-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

The debate rages on - which is better, MySpace (sh'yeah, right) or Facebook?I like to do things scientifically here, and in an unbiased way, which means I will use the mighty Google to settle this debate once and for all, democratically.My method is as follows:1) Search Google for the phrase "MySpace is better than Facebook" and note the minuscule number of web pages which contain this exact

end now... End...now... END... NOW!!!

2007-09-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

I wonder, what particular part of the phrase "End now" is it that Windows XP does not understand?Similarly foreign to our favourite operating system is the mystical operation "Cancel", particularly useless when you have removed a CD from the drive and have not intention of putting it back in, whatever stupid reason the OS has for wanting it.Windows should just have one button that pops up every

Domain names - going, going...!

2007-06-25T04:47:00.002-07:00

The year is somewhere around 3007, and the Galaxy is poised on the brink of war. This will be the conflict to end all conflicts, making the oil, water and Moon wars of the mid-third millennium look like mere skirmishes in comparison.This is the battle for the Last remaining Domain Name. Slowly but inexorably, for the last thousand years, the domain-squatters, spammers and Google subdivisions have

Top 6 list of top lists to list on your blog

2007-06-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

It's a Well-Known Fact (I read it in some Top 10 list of top list tips) that "lists" are The Future if you want to "drive traffic" to your site/blog, so here we go - this is a Top 5 List of Top Lists that I desperately hope will top the list lists:Top 10 lists - the original, the Granddaddy of all lists, the figure 10 suggesting an authoritative and comprehensive, if not exhaustive overview of

Do NOT send Shane Bernier a card!

2007-06-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

I knew this would happen sooner or later: the "virus" hoax would turn out to be true! Not actually a virus hoax, but one of those "sick kid" emails. The usual scenario is that there is a child sick in hospital whose life will be immeasurably improved by your sending the email on to all your friends. This child, in almost every case, does not exist, except in the mind of the original email

Silly things to email

2007-06-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

This page is intended to become a growing list of silly and/or stupid things to email, or rather NOT to email. It was born mostly from being on the receiving end of "stupid emailed things", although I must confess to having sent a few silly things by email too. By silly things I do not mean those viral emails your friends insist on sending on a frequent basis, by silly or stupid I mean just plain

Call for a radical new PC connector

2007-06-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

Remember those "hole-and-peg" sets you may have had when you were a kid? Still a tousle-haired toddler, new to the world, you struggled to insert a star-shaped peg into a triangular-shaped hole. This exercise was meant to teach you a lesson - the lesson that the world had rules: square pegs go into square holes, round pegs into round holesIf only this could have prepared you for owning a PC. Hair

Internet sweat-shops, coming soon to a slum near you

2007-06-11T05:28:00.000-07:00

Surely it is only a matter of time before the Internet becomes as exploitative as the real world (if it already hasn't) and we are forced to deal with examples of forced/bonded labour and modern-day slavery even in the online world!I will give you a couple of examples where things seem to be going that way already:1) you may not be aware of this, though it is not an especially new story (see

Dehumanising webmaster jargon! (Did you know you are a hit?)

2007-06-08T03:16:00.000-07:00

Did you know that you are just a "hit", a mere statistic, a "click", an item of traffic? Well you would know this if you followed some of the webmaster chat that goes on, on forums such as Digital Point. The most important thing for most webmasters who are in it for business, is that they get as many people visiting their sites as possible, and as high a percentage of those people as possible

Agloco Holy Grail viewbar cometh out (and just sitteth there)!

2007-06-06T03:12:00.000-07:00

NOTE (added after following post): I did it! I actually GOT the mythical Agloco Viewbar (you know, the one they had us all buying into before it even existed). I feel like some medieval crusader, recovering some jewel-encrusted cup from a Jerusalem treasure-store. Could this be the Holy Grail?! He takes it in trembling hands and places it on the table, and just gazes at it for a while, expecting

Why you will stop using ICQ at the age of 30

2007-06-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Remember ICQ? It was the first widely popular chat client, far more user-friendly than IRC, allowing Internet newbies suddenly to chat to people all over the world for free (though a lot of us were still using it over dial-up).The thing about it was that you got a lot of unsolicited chat requests, and probably still do if you use it. If you are a girl you get a lot of guys of similar age, or

The Blogfish - the next generation in blogging

2007-05-14T04:24:00.000-07:00

The Blog-Fish (not a reference to the Gnome panel applet of similar name) is like the Babel-Fish of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Fame. What you do is put the Blog-Fish (actually a sophisticated electronic mind-reading device) in your ear and there it stays indefinitely.What it does is eliminate the need to write blog entries anymore. No more minutes and minutes of thinking up new stuff to

Web 2.0 sites - painfully, agonizingly slow

2007-04-24T03:34:00.000-07:00

I will point a finger (actually two) straight away: Squidoo and Feedburner. These typical Web 2.0, AJAXy sites are agonizingly, painfully slow! I have nothing against them, in fact I use both of them a lot, but their grinding, ponderous, slothfulness drives me crazy!I am one of these people who opens 37 tabs in Firefox and another 43 different programs in Windows, so I can see how I might be

Digital photography will eat itself!

2007-04-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

According to data from IDC published in ZDnet's blog, almost 30 million digital cameras were sold in the US alone in 2006. Future-Phobia confidently predicts that this massive market penetration of digital cameras will eventually result in a similar effect to the "pop will eat itself" and "net advertising will eat itself" effects and an uneasy equilibrium will soon be reached, if indeed there is

Wednesday's blog is full of woe!

2007-03-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

I have been observing this phenomenon for some time and, though I do not really have the global web traffic stats to back me up on this (help anyone?), I have become convinced that Wednesdays, as far as blogging and the Web are concerned, are best skipped over.There just seems to be this mid-week lull that takes hold on Wednesdays - the major bloggers seem slow to post, my own web stats take an

Word Tips World!

2007-03-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

I have made the most of today's lull to launch a new blog (still in fairly rough form) where I want to provide medium-advanced tips for using Microsoft Word. It's called Word Tips World and is looking very rough, still plenty to do on it.But I have been wanting to do this for a while: I use Microsoft Word an awful lot and call me Future-phobic but I think this software package is going to be

Amazon launches context links - get sold stuff in context!

2007-03-27T04:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note about a new service Amazon are providing to their affiliates.To quote the notice that they sent round today:Context Links automatically identify and link relevant phrases within your page content to Amazon products, unlocking new ad inventory and saving you the time from having to manually create links. You can add the links to your pages in minutes, and we provide a wealth of

The PC mouse to become history thanks to Launchy!

2007-03-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

The mouse is soon to be no more! A time is coming when we will finally be able to rely on the keyboard alone to use our computers!Now, you may be used to not taking this blog entirely seriously, so let me just say I am taking a little rest from the cynicism, satire and parody to tell you about a neat little open-source program you may not know about, called Launchy (all credit to its writer, Josh

Start making money using a tried and tested method!

2007-03-26T01:14:00.000-07:00

WE ALL WANT TO MAKE MONEY, DON'T WE!?I used to DREAM about what I could do if I had MONEY!Well stop right here if that is you too!Because I have found the money-making formula that can make your dreams come true! And I am so excited about it, I am going to share it with you, free of charge!You can earn money every day just by putting my simple principle into practice. And you can start doing it

It's Shutdown Day, go away!

2007-03-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

What are you doing reading this?! It's the 24th of March, Shutdown Day! You shouldn't even have your computer switched on, never mind be surfing the net! You ought to be out there doing something healthy, talking to someone, learning about the outside world!But seriously though, what if people really did all close down their computers for the day! What would the Internet do while we were away? I

Table-tops to replace notebooks and laptops!

2007-03-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Future-Phobia is always first with technology news! Today we have another exclusive! We can reveal that exciting developments are afoot in the field of personal computing. If research at a leading computer company (who shall remain nameless - they usually do here) produces the expected results, we will soon be rid of the "laptop" or "notebook" computer for good!No more carrying around that bulky

What happens to the Internet at the end of the world?

2007-03-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

The internet, especially the Web, is an incredible, organic, constantly shifting, growing, moving pulsating mass. Some of this motion is automated - crawlers, bots, daemons. But most of it is due to human activity. It's the humans who are mostly creating the content, making the links, clicking the links, voting, buying, "Digging", advertising, selling, surfing...I had a bizarre thought - you know

Human-readable captchas soon to become a reality!

2007-03-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

New advances have been made in the technology of "captchas" which will soon render them human-readable!If you are not familiar with what a captcha is, you are sure to have encountered them - they are the funny little graphic you are sometimes presented with when you try to log in somewhere, or post to a forum. You are asked to decipher the hieroglyphics you see on-screen and enter them in a field

Playstation 3 Emulator in a glass of water!

2007-03-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

Future-Phobia can exclusively announce that scientists in America (yeah, bit vague, we know!) have managed to achieve a high level of emulation of Sony's new, next-generation console, the Playstation 3, using a glass of water!This emulatory (?) feat has been achieved, it is thought, by lashing together a chain of Cray

Google honeymoon drawing to an end?

2007-03-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

We love GoogleWe all love Google, right? The cuddly upstarts who have created an internet revolution (not to mention a multi-billion dollar business) from humble student beginnings. Most would agree that this has been achieved thanks to their huge creativity, their willingness to "think outside the box" and - this is in my opinion the most important factor - the huge added value they provide.

Silly things people search for on the net

2007-03-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

Amazing abilities of Web 4.0 search engines - recapI recently wrote a not-entirely-serious blog post about how Web 4.0 was imminent, and how one of the amazing things about Web 4.0 would be the ability of search engines to find anything for you, even lost car keys!Silly things people search forWell looking through my logs for the search terms that people key into search engines to get to my site,

Reddit is better than Digg!

2007-03-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

If you were following my little experiment yesterday, you will know that I was trying to discover which of the two services, Reddit.com or Digg.com is "better".What do I mean by "better"? Well, I am looking from the point of view of someone trying to spread the word about a particular piece of news, perhaps a news site, or a regular web site hoping to draw attention to a new feature, product etc

Video-on-demand will help reduce piracy?

2007-03-14T04:15:00.001-07:00

Amazon seems to really be pushing it's new product, Unbox, a video-on-demand/download service that it launched at the beginning of this year. Another mail went around to us affiliates today, reminding us of the service.The service ties in with the TiVo system (Series2 or Series3 TiVo) and allows you to effectively buy or rent videos by downloading them to your TiVo DVR device for a fee. In the

Which is better, Digg or Reddit?

2007-03-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

If you reached this blog entry via one of the above-mentioned services, then I hope you won't mind the fact that you are part of a little experiment to see which of the two sites, part of the contemporary social bookmarking phenomenon, is more effective at publicizing a story.This is not much more scientific than the old "my Commodore 64 is better than your Spectrum" debate (though we all know

The Internet is making people talk funny!

2007-03-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

Following on from a post I made a couple of days ago, in which I speculated a little about the future role of the English language on the Internet, I was thinking about another Internet tendency which threatens/promises to affect language.SEO and keyword-based advertisingIt is the phenomenon of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and keyword-based targetted advertising like Google's Adsense. In case

Internet affecting the "color" of English?

2007-03-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

What will happen to the English language in the world of the Internet and the forces which govern communication in this global community? I have been increasingly asking myself this in the light of my work as a translator of Serbian into English, and also as someone who dabbles in webmastering in his not-so-spare time.If you ask a Brit what they think of American, Webster-influenced spelling of

Exploited Chinese laborers in evil "Get paid to surf" Agloco toolbar scheme

2007-03-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

Are you signed up for Agloco, the much-publicized "get paid to surf" scheme that is getting lots of people very excited about the prospects of actually finally making some money off this net thing? Are you waiting with bated breath for any news of the release of that toolbar, and the beginning of your descent into wealth and riches. Maybe you got an email from Agloco today, marking the 100th day

Virus hoax will one day be true!

2007-03-08T14:43:00.001-08:00

Was just reading a blogger quoting an amusing virus hoax spoof and had a horrifying thought! What if one day that virus hoax email turns out not to be a hoax at all!Imagine the scenario! Microsoft learns of a virus which really IS really really new and really really dangerous, wipes everything off your hard disk, fries your motherboard and cannot be detected by any anti-virus software!Bill Gates

Google Pagerank leakage is actually link juice!

2007-03-08T00:54:00.000-08:00

Following on from my revelation yesterday, that Google is likely to expand the Pageranking scale to 15, due to dangerous build-up of Pagerank, I can further reveal, thanks to information gleaned from bloggers such as Andy Beard that the likely agent of the leakage is actually link juice!It appears that this "link juice" is somehow squeezed from websites by the Googlebot, probably with a special

Google will soon increase Pagerank to 15 due to "PR-leakage"!

2007-03-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

Future-Phobia predicts that Google's Pagerank measurement, which uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the significance of pages on the Internet, ranking them from 0-10, will soon have to be expanded to cover a range from 0-15!This is because there are so many sites out there that are just TOO GOOD! So good in fact, that in certain cases, the Pagerank has gone right off the scale and leaked

Net advertising will eat itself!

2007-03-07T02:11:00.000-08:00

You may have heard the expression "pop will eat itself". I don't mean the British band, but rather the idea (phrase originally coined by the British New Music Express magazine), that pop music is coming to a point where it is recycling itself so much that we are gradually approaching the point of the "perfect pop song" where by definition there is nowhere else for music to go.Carried over to net

Web 4.0 on the horizon!

2007-03-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Web 3.0 is old hat - if you really want to read about this aging technology, check out this blog entry. Here at Future-Phobia we are ready to face Web 4.0!In the coming period we will try to predict some of the innovations that Web 4.0 will bring. One thing is for sure, the Internet will become a multi-dimensional experience, transcending the concept of space and time.Here are a couple of

mp8 in the pipeline!

2007-03-06T00:54:00.000-08:00

A quantum leap is expected soon in the field of audio compression, scientists have reported. An 5 year research program, veiled in secrecy, has uncovered a method to make the leap directly from mp3 to mp8, completely circumventing 4, 5, 6 and 7.It is not known exactly what features the new audio codecs will bring, but it is thought that we can expect:high compression rates, enabling an average

Future-phobia

2007-03-06T00:34:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to begin this blog for some time. I want to put down on paper (to use a somewhat quaint figure of speech) the fear that I feel inside, and in so doing perhaps render it less potent.Technology, in its relentless march, threatens to trample us into the dust from whence we came. Perhaps, though, if we can see it coming, see its jackboot descending on us, we can sort of roll over