This blog has moved

I've switched to wordpress, so I am no longer updating this blog. My new blog is here.

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Virtualization for BPOs?

LiveOps is a very interesting start-up which is essentially virtualizing call centers. This is the description of LiveOps from Techcrunch:

Palo Alto based LiveOps offers web based management of more than 10,000 home based telephone workers. Here’s what makes them interesting: their service operates as a performance based auction, routing incoming calls to the best performing worker available. Top workers participate in IM communities to discuss methods of increasing productivity and solving problems. I like seeing the web make work more interesting and perhaps services like this will help decrease the drudgery of call-center work. At the very least, it will likely make the business more efficient.

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Bruce Eckel: Why Java lost, AJAX won and Flash will ultimately take over the web

Bruce Eckel has an in-depth article on the language/platform of choice for RIAs (rich internet applications). Although Java (with applets) was arguably the first-mover in this space, it lost out because of a bunch of issues (difficult to install, parts not well thought out, etc) which he has dissected. He contrasts this with JavaScript and AJAX which is clearly the winner right now. However, he goes on to say that AJAX is essentially a hack that has reached its limits and is unlikely to go much further. It will run out of steam and the technology likely to take over is Flash (with Flex as the tool for creating rich Flash apps). Very interesting reading even if you don't agree with him.

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Cat smileys

Check out these new smileys.

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Yahoo! Pipes: drag-n-drop mashups for the web

From the O'Reilly Radar: Yahoo!'s new Pipes service is a milestone in the history of the internet. It's a service that generalizes the idea of the mashup, providing a drag and drop editor that allows you to connect internet data sources, process them, and redirect the output. Yahoo! describes it as "an interactive feed aggregator and manipulator" that allows you to "create feeds that are more powerful, useful and relevant." While it's still a bit rough around the edges, it has enormous promise in turning the web into a programmable environment for everyone.

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Israeli spa offers "snake massages"

No comment!!

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Why Windows is less secure than Linux

Here is a graphical representation of the various system calls that occur when the Apache webserver is running on Linux: Now, let us look at a similar picture for IIS running on a Windows server: The blogger who created these thinks this is clearly shows why a Microsoft webserver is inherently less secure. Also check out the related slashdot discussion

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