SkypeFind + SkypePrime = Skype is Desperate

from Internet Outsider by Henry Blodget In a move that says more about the revenue potential of its core business than any numbers reported to date, Skype announced the launch of two new products that have little to do with the core service and are already widely available elsewhere: local product reviews and a monetize-yourself expert network directory. This strategy, of course, mimics the one that resulted in eBay buying Skype in the first place ("Core business decelerating? Quick, acquire a fast-growing company in a completely unrelated business and then think of a way to explain it!"). Just because there is precedent for this strategy doesn't mean it's a good one. The local restaurant/product/etc review business is a tough nut to crack, and companies with far more resources than Skype's have found it slow going. Keen and other companies, meanwhile, have been at the telephone-expert opportunity for years, and they haven't hit the jackpot. If Skype didn't have another business to run, none of this would matter. But it does. And this Skype user, at least, can think of a hundred things that Skype could do to improve its basic service before it rushes off to compete with Google, Yahoo, Ingenio, and others in un-related businesses. (Such as? Such as this wicked-cool one-number-forever service offered by GrandCentral) So then why would Skype do this? Perhaps because, as its skeptics have long suggested, it is finding VOIP revenue hard to generate. The last batch of numbers made it look as though things were fine, but today's announcements suggest that they aren't.

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15 Javascript Snippets

You either love Javascript or you hate it. Either way it can provide great functionality that users love. And it doesn't have to affect usability. Here are my top 15 Javascript snippits for making great sites that bit extra special.

Image Loading & Fading

Crisp photography is a sure-fire way to make a site look great, but what about the loading times of those chunky images? Give your users a nice animated loading icon, and fade the image in when it's loaded. It's a nice effect with little overhead.

http://clagnut.com/sandbox/imagefades/

Dynamic Data Tables

HTML tables are so last century. ActiveWidgets provide a dynamic data table library, allowing users to sort data by columns and highlight rows of interest. It is, however, a large overhead and not suitable for large amounts of data.

http://www.activewidgets.com/grid/

Calendar / Date Selection

Asking users to enter a valid date can be a pain - frustrating for the developer, and frustrating for the user. Offer them a simple GUI to select dates with this very customizable script.

http://www.dynarch.com/projects/calendar/

Tabbed RollBar

Tabs are great for sorting short snippets of information. Tabs without reloading the page are even better. Tabs with a rolling animation effect too? Well, that's just killer.

http://www.dynarch.com/products/dhtml-tabs/

Draggable Windows

These draggable windows are lightweight and efficient, and are perfect for intranets and web-based applications where multiple views are required simultaneously. And don't worry, you needn't have the Windows 95 look either.

http://www.brainjar.com/dhtml/windows/demo.html

Zoomable Image Thumbnails

One subject, many photos? These tidy thumbnail displays are just the ticket, allowing visitors to blow up photographs of interest. Similar to those found on eBay and such, but not as heavy on the code.

http://www.codetoad.com/dhtml_thumbnail.asp

Javascript Lightbox

A favourite little effect of mine found on many good sites these days - the Javascript Lightbox. Enlarge photographs with slick animation and easy-to-use navigation. Put a smile on the CEOs face and wow the marketing team ready for your "afternoon meeting" down the pub.

http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

Drag & Drop Shopping Cart

Get your visitors from Google Search to card payment in ninja time, with a drag-and-drop shopping cart. Reducing page loads, form elements and complicated menu screens increases sales and repeat business. But with mission-critical code like this, make sure to test it on every platform before it goes live. You know this. I was just reminding you.

http://demo.script.aculo.us/shop

Form Input Autocomplete

No one likes a smartass, unless they're doing your homework for lunch money. Let this script do your users' hard work so they don't have to - autocomplete from a selection of known data. Great for street addresses (if you have the data), category selection, search engines, tagging and everything inbetween.

http://demo.script.aculo.us/ajax/autocompleter

Drag & Drop Sortable Elements

Nothing says "I love you, user" more than drag-and-drop items. Remember the days of an "order" column, and wanting to insert an item at the top? Nightmare no more! Slick interface with a very practical purpose.

http://demo.script.aculo.us/ajax/sortable_elements

Javascript Logging & Debugging

"PC Load Letter?! What the hell is PC Load Letter!!" cries from the office. Meaningless error messages are enough to drive a man crazy, so why not step up your debugging skills and hunt those bugs in style?

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/jslogging/

Font Resize Detection

After spending days getting your web site pixel perfect, inconsiderate users will always resize your text and ruin your layout. Well okay, they need to because their eyesight can't comprehend your 6pt type. Which means you need to support different font sizes without ruining your layout.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fontresizing/

Displaying Points & Text On Maps

If your data is geolocation based, it looks great on a map with clickable points. But how do you make that interface accessable to everyone? A List Apart shows you how.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/cssmaps

Photo Album & Slideshow

A more advanced way of displaying your pictures - let users sort them by category, view random pictures, and even set up a personal slideshow. Probably more suitable for family pictures than commercial uses, but I've found it handy over the years.

http://www.kitykity.com/photoalbum/

Sliding Content Areas

And finally another slick animation for your site, without the overhead of Scriptaculous, create "Digg-style sliding comment boxes" for popup information.

http://firblitz.com/2007/3/6/re-how-to-create-digg-comment-style-sliding-divs-with-javascript-and-css

Well that's it from me. I hope you enjoy putting some of these into practise, and enjoy the look on your CEO/client/marketing guy's face when it goes live.

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SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS Beta is live

who's going to buy Palm? blackberry can't do this (yet) -- your own TV shows on your own portable device. Posted Mar 28th 2007 1:31AM by Darren Murph

Hey you, rabid Palm OS fan, 700p owner, and Sling advocate -- remember that SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS Beta you signed up for last month? Well, it's time to lose a little more sleep over it, but this time you'll be enjoying the niceties of streaming media on your handset instead of sweating the release date. According to SlingCommunity, the beta will be going live today, and will officially support the 3G-enabled Treo 700p, but "early reports" are suggesting that 680 owners may be able to enjoy limited success even without Sling's stamp of approval. Of course, the beta will remain free of charge until a public release is ready to rock, and then you'll have the option of cutting ties or ponying up the $29.99 purchase price to keep on slinging. Additionally, the kind folks over at UneasySilence have done the hard work for you already, so be sure to hit them up for a nicely appointed pictorial walkthrough while your waiting to get your own install on.

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Intercept packages before delivery with UPS

innovation in the supply chain from Lifehacker

UPS has just rolled out a new Delivery Intercept feature that adds a new level of control over everything that happens to your package after it's shipped but before it's delivered.

After you ship your package, Delivery Intercept lets you return the package to sender, change the delivery address, reschedule delivery, or have UPS hold the package for pickup over the internet any time before delivery. The service isn't free (it looks like it may be as much as $10/intercept), but anyone who's had to hassle with shipping problems that could have easily been remedied with a mid-ship intercept will likely find this a handy option.

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Justice Department Wasting Billions On Another Tech Debacle

from the haven't-we-seen-this-before? dept

Remember the famous FBI computer system? The one that was late, over-budget and was useless at fighting terrorists? The same one that some security experts decided it would be worth beginning a crime spree the day it was launched? The same one that was eventually scrapped entirely despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent? Well, it looks like the Justice Department may have another such system that they're wasting taxpayer money on. The Justice Department has been building a $5 billion (with a b) wireless communication system. However, a new audit says that the system is apparently "at a high risk of failure." Like the FBI's computer system, the system is "not on the path that was envisioned." And now, just like with the computer system, the Justice Department will spend many months examining whether its worth salvaging the system, or just throwing it away. Accountability, apparently, isn't something the Justice Department takes too seriously.

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