Rev2.org

The ubiquitous little iPod and the ever-popular iPhone are much more than just music players and phones with games on them.  They’ve expanded into tools of higher learning and of warfare.  Neither of these are game apps, they’re real-life uses for Apple’s little electronic boxes.

University of Missouri Requires Students Buy iPhone or iPod
That’s the headline at eWeek.com describing the phone and music player as tools of higher learning.  Apparently, the University of Missouri plans to require Freshmen to use the Apple devices as delivery points for both on-time information (wirelessly) the students will need to know as well as course material.

They’ll also be required to access the iTunes University in the iTunes Store for some courses.  According to the university, students need access to review lectures “while on the go or working out.”  That’s a direct quote, you can’t make this stuff up.

On a related strain, Amazon has partnered with several universities to give trial runs to the new Amazon large-screen Kindle for textbook use on campus.  As of this summer, about 60% of U.S.  higher education textbooks will be available on the Kindle.

The iPhone and iPod Go to War
Meanwhile, the two devices from Apple are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.  According to The Independent, the U.S. military thinks that these tools are idea for the age of “network-centric warfare.”  Plus, unlike the $400 screws and $800 toilet lids the Pentagon normally buys, the iPod and iPhone are extremely affordable for the Department of Defense to purchase in bulk.

Seriously, though, they are being used in a wide variety of ways by troops.  The idea was first noticed when the Marine Corps noticed that many of their sniper teams were using the little devices to do on-the-fly ballistics calculations.

Now, both the Army and the Marines are using the devices for everything from inter-unit communication to language translation.  They’re even capturing images of suspects or detainees for analysis by intelligence.  They’re also easy to train soldiers to use, since most already own a personal one.  The DoD is even funding applications development for the Apple platforms.

No word yet on whether military personnel who use the devices will get custom camouflage protective covers for them.

I’ve noticed something that’s got me wondering.  Facebook recently installed frames to links so that when you click on a link that someone has posted on their Facebook stream, it goes to a Facebook-framed page instead of the actual link.  Remember the old days when you clicked a link and got a page saying “this site is not Facebook, go at your own risk” and then had to click again to go through?

Facebook did away with that and went directly to framing pages, Digg style, with a nice, neat little toolbar-looking frame.  Even Myspace hasn’t stooped to this (yet).

There are three basic reasons this bothers me–and should bother everyone else.. especially other bloggers:

1. This steals traffic, links, and content. Because you’re technically still on “Digg.com” or “Facebook.com” when you visit a site in frames, the traffic does not record on the site in question.  So instead of the visit getting credited to Rev2.org, it gets credited to Digg.com or to Facebook.com.  This applies to links passed around too (i.e. “Rev2.org” becomes “digg.com/d1qiJW” instead.
2. This means loss of revenue for you and me. If you aren’t getting the traffic (because of the frame stealing it) and you aren’t getting the link-backs (same reason), you’re losing potential advertising revenue.  You’re immediately losing it if your advertising income is based on views.  Your losing money over the long run if your advertising sales are based on overall measured site traffic.
3. It leads to more use of this abusive phenomenon. Now that Digg apparently is doing well with it, Facebook has gotten into the act.  How long before Myspace, Twitter, Google, and the rest jump on this bandwagon?  How long after that before popups start appearing?  As times get tougher, these sites’ owners are going to get more desperate for income streams…

For a more in-depth look at why this frame spamming is such an issue, read this great post by ToMuse.

Now, when About.com started doing this (they were the first major site to do so, as I recall), many Web bloggers and writers were extremely unhappy and made a lot of complaints.  When Digg started doing it not long ago, the uproar was deafening.  Facebook, however, has barely generated a bleep on the radar with their implementation.

Why?

Good question.  First, I think users are getting used to seeing it.  Second, I think site owners are starting to get the idea that even the Big Boys aren’t going to respect their property and are now doing something about it (ala the new WordPress frame-breaker plugin).  Third, everyone seems too interested in talking about Twitter right now, so maybe the cries of foul are being drowned out by the Twitterverse.

Whatever the reason, I think we’re going to see more of this rather than less.  The sites that do this (mostly social networking sites, of course) are obviously getting away with it, so they’ll continue.  Others will inevitably join in.

That’s why content publishers like Rev2.org and others need to band together and combat this trend.  Frame-breaking is a very good start and should be standard on any site that can do it.  If you’re using WordPress, install the WordPress plugin.  If not, find some good code to insert to do it for you.  This article at flapjacktastic covers that nicely.

As the WordPress plugin site says, “Die, Digg-bar die!“

There’s two things to remember about Easter eggs: they’re usually hidden in plain sight and they often have goodies in them.

By now, most already know that the Contra Code will create a screen flare effect in Facebook.  If you didn’t know this, you should try it.  Log into Facebook and use the Konami code: up up down down left right left right b a (enter).  Now wherever your mouse is on the screen will have a flare.  Fun!

To see the Contra Code in action on Facebook without using it on your account, go check out the short video posted by AllFacebook.com on their blog.

There are other Easter eggs on Facebook that aren’t as well known too.

One is the pirate language filter.  Go to your language options (usually bottom-left, under the Applications tab; or under Settings-Language, top right).  Sure enough, a Pirate Language option is there.  This ads a lot of “Arrrg” and “ye mateys” to your screen.

Another is hidden text, which is found all over the site.  This is the “white on white” text that used to be used by spammers in the old days to hide massive numbers of search keywords on the page to boost rankings.  On Facebook, they’re usually funny axioms.  Pick a friend and go to their friends list, then scroll down to the white space separator between the page navigation list.  Highlight that white space.  Quails with the what now?

For a more thorough look at Facebook Easter eggs and apps, check out the Easter Egg area on Mashable.

Amazingly, all this fun and excitement is even profitable.  Well, maybe the Easter eggs aren’t specifically, but Facebook itself and even the game makers who create the little Facebook plugin games are showing profit.  Facebook on its own is well on its way towards a $500 million revenue year.  The little games that plug into it (like the ever-popular Mob Wars) are set to do the same too.

VentureBeat is reporting that between them, the little apps on Facebook like Mob Wars, Texas Hold’Em Poker, etc. are poised to pull in about half a billion in revenue this year.  That’s not insignificant, especially given that most people view these games as mere gimmicks and “codes of love.”  Turns out, they’re pretty big business.

Hopefully this doesn’t mean that Facebook will become inundated with them like Myspace has.  Or at least that these apps don’t take over the site and fill your screen with constant advertising and popups.  That was my main reason for leaving Myspace.  Apparently, I’m not alone.

If you have an Apple iPhone and have upgraded to the new Beta 5 release for OS 3, you’ve doubtless noticed a few changes.  The biggest is to MMS.  YouTube video streams saw an improvement.  For a minute anyway, then they reverted back to the way they were.

According to Gizmodo, the fixes were dramatic.  They were most impressed with the YouTube upgrades and most concerned with the locking of MMS so that current iPhone hacks to make it work with localized services are gone.

Winandmac.com was excited about the YouTube improvements and then quickly reported that they were fleeting and are now gone.  I’d like to think that Apple was testing the limits of the 3G network regarding video quality, but that’s just my hopeful guess.  Many iPhone users complain about the ugly quality of most video streams–especially YouTube–so this would have been a welcome fix.

Meanwhile, over at the iPhone Blog, discussions of the MMS changes are heating up.  The beta 5 release apparently shuts down any user control of MMS, effectively blocking tethering, carrier tweaks, etc.  The carrier file itself is also closed to editing, giving rise to compatibility concerns for some AT&T affiliate network users.

So, the Apple network has released both Beta 5 and iTunes 8.2 pre-release developer information has been distributed to developers.  As MacRumors.com says, this is unusual coming only 8 days after Apple’s last release, deviating from their usual bi-weekly schedule.

It will be interesting to see how these latest upgrades change the iPhone experience for users.  I expect there will be a lot of scrambling around by techs at affiliate carriers for AT&T who were reliant on tweaking the MMS to gain compatability.  The other day I watched as an associate was unable to watch YouTube videos after the upgrade, so many of the bugs might not be worked out.  I will wait until it gets a clean bill of health before downloading this time.  Many hack-apps will cease to function as well.

TaxiRoute is a UK-based and is basically a route calculator for taxi fare estimation. It includes tariff details and other charges from local authorities in the UK as well as the standard rate for taxi service. It calculates the best route (shortest and/or cheapest) and gives travel time as well as the estimated fare.

It’s free to use and very quick. Feedback seems to say it’s accurate as well. TaxiRoute started in 2007 and has since seen some major upgrades throughout to increase speed, accuracy, and so forth. Which taxi companies are operating in the area you’re inquiring about are also listed.

TaxiRoute earns income  from donations and advertising sponsorships. A proprietary version for taxi companies to use on their site (sans other company’s info) is also in the works.

The site’s creator, Trev, began the site when he wondered why his fare to go from one point to the next and back again would be different each time. Building the system, he realized it was a matter of routing and what the cab driver knew of local authorities’ tariffs.

Trev also says that now smaller cab companies are using the site as a fare quotation system, which inspired the proprietary licensing plan.

TaxiRoute.co.uk emerged from alpha testing in 2008 and has been getting extremely popular in the UK, especially the London area. No account is needed to check fares and tariffs, but having one allows you to save searches for later reference.

A pretty cool idea and one that might catch on if expanded to other areas.  Curious to see who will be first to come to market in the United States.

If you’re into cars, you know who motorProfiles and probably motorguru.com is. Especially if you’re into the Florida ride scene. The site has been around for about a year now and has recently undergone some serious upgrades to both its front page design and its content.

The main page is cleaner, emphasizes motorguru’s video content more (their strong point), and is generally more appealing to the eye. The back-end has seen some improvement as well, shoveling out the site’s content with fewer delays. The switch to Vimeo seems to have made the difference here.

Of course, motorProfiles is still delivering most of motorguru’s core content, with entertaining and informative reviews of the vehicles that are hot right now. A new live show called motorguru LIVE is also featured and will be focused on events around the car industry and entertainment, such as races, lifestyles, and so forth.

Motorguru.com has also announced partnerships with several other sites in related fields, including Mio.tv and AmericanLemans.com. These are intended to drive more traffic to the site.

Motorguru.com is located in Delray Beach, Florida with studios in Boca Raton, Florida.