Edge: TURING'S CATHEDRAL by George Dyson

Edge: TURING'S CATHEDRAL by George Dyson: "However, once the digital universe is thoroughly mapped, and initialized by us searching for meaningful things and following meaningful paths, it will inevitably be colonized by codes that will start doing things with the results. Once a system of template-based-addressing is in place, the door is opened to code that can interact directly with other code, free at last from a rigid bureaucracy requiring that every bit be assigned an exact address. You can (and a few people already are) write instructions that say 'Do THIS with THAT' � without having to specify exactly Where or When. This revolution will start with simple, basic coded objects, on the level of nucleotides heading out on their own and bringing amino acids back to a collective nest."

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Amazon.com Help: Amazon Mechanical Turk: "Amazon Mechanical Turk provides a web services API for computers to integrate Artificial Artificial Intelligence directly into their processing by making requests of humans. "

Here are some ideas on what to do with the Turk (from Seattle MindCamp).

One time single page re-design (will pay $250 or iPod Nano 4GB)

I would like to re-design the content of my Web site's home page. I am looking for text and simple images to convey the purpose of the site (I also wouldn't mind a new logo, but that is not my primary goal). I will give away an iPod Nano 4GB, or USD$250 (via PayPal or HelpShare) to the person that comes up with the best design (as judged by me). I will decide on a winner November 18th. Sorry, but I will not be able to hand out any partial payments, just one to the best design.

The site is http://lookmarks.com. Lookmarks is a "social bookmarking" web site, where members bookmark, search, and share their favorite Web sites. Currently the home page shows the most popular links. I would like to re-design the page to better explain what Lookmarks is about, and of course make the casual visitor more likely to sign-up.

I would like the page to convey in a simple clean way that lookmarks will help you:

1. Access your bookmarks from anywhere
2. Search your bookmarks
3. Share your bookmarks with friends, family, and co-workers.

Please see this page: http://lookmarks.com/Help.aspx for more information on what Lookmarks can do.

Please provide HTML and images (not just an image file).

Yes, I know del.icio.us does the same thing, my goal with Lookmarks has been to create a site with broader (non-technical appeal).

I have also posted this on HelpShare, but you don't have to answer there to get the prize.

Please send your ideas to adam@lookmarks.com

Thank you in advance for your work!
Adam

Scoble: Thrill the influentials

The new Robert Scoble Services agenda

Scoble is writing with regard to Microsoft, but I feel this is relevant to HelpShare (and perhaps slightly less relevant to Lookmarks, because it is *not* targeted at early adopters):

We don’t know how to thrill influentials. Google does. Maybe by accident. Maybe by plan. I don’t care anymore. They found a way to bring us a little better search with advertising that sucked a lot less. That’s really why they are on fire.

How did they do it? They didn’t do it by doing committee meetings. By doing focus groups. By studying millions of users. They did it by understanding the leading edge of users and serving them well. They did NOT serve my dad well in the early days. It took me two years to switch my dad from AltaVista to Google. They DID serve ME well, though. On every user study I’ve seen I’m way off the end of the bell curve. But Google groks people like me. They serve people like me. And they romance people like me in a way that no other company does.

Amen!

Windows Live

Windows Live launched today, proving that Microsoft can do Javascript + XML as well as any of the other hyped "Web 2.0" developers. I am interested in this for two reasons: 1. I'm watching Microsoft's Social Bookmarks strategy (or lack of one), and 2. I want to get my hands on a real Javascript development environment and a comprehensive, consistent, and powerful set of Javascript libraries (when I get a chance, I'll dig deeper into those that power Windows Live).

Update:

I follow how live.com is a shift to delivering applications in an open and standarized manner (IE via Javascript and HTML), but I don't follow how it represents a change to a services business. Is it because the goals of Microsoft (the software company) and MSN (the user community services) are now aligned?