Radio Paradise meets Flickr

It is a good thing that Sun Labs researcher Paul Lamere loves Radio Paradise as much as I do (or more). He has created a mashup of Radio Paradise and Flickr which he calls Snapp Radio. He has found a way to connect Flickr images with songs that play on Radio Paradise (also works with Last FM). So instead of looking at weird geometric shapes evolve in your regular run-of-the-mill visualization program, Snapp Radio serves up concert photos from the artists as well conceptual images. Sometimes the choice of photos can be a bit strange but a) what a great idea and b) it’s addictive!

How does it work?

Snapp Radio will connect to Radio Paradise or Last.FM to figure out what song you are currently listening to. Snapp Radio augments this information by connecting to Last.FM and finding any social tags that have been attached to this song and artist. Snapp Radio then uses all of this information to fashion a set of queries to Flickr to find a set of interesting images that are related to the song. Snapp Radio collects the images, orders them in an interesting way and presents them to you in your Web browser.

Snapp Radio FAQ

From Wikipedia to Citizendium

There will be no logged-out editing and no anonymous editing [in Citizendium].  Anyone may participate, but all must be logged in under their own real names (we will use the honor principle to begin with), and with a working e-mail address.  Where Wikipedia shares the culture of anonymity found in the broader Internet, the Citizendium will have a culture of real-world, personal responsibility.

Larry Sanger

Larry Sanger, one of the founders of Wikipedia, has started a new project called Citizendium, which initially is supposed to be a “progressive fork” of Wikipedia. One of the key differences is the inclusion of editors (vs. authors) who must state their credentials on a user profile page. With this system, Citizendium hopes to fight the “widespread anonymity that, according to Sanger, has led to a “troll problem” in Wikipedia. He also want to make Citizendium attractive to academics, “so that they can contribute in a way they feel comfortable with”. He explains his approach in detail in an essay called “Toward a New Compendium of Knowledge“.

Trying to get rid of anonymity and trolls is a good idea. It will bring who-edited-my-wiki-page feuds to an end and make it easier to call out people for editing an entry a certain way. The proposed editorial system could be a challenge, though. Larry Sanger suggests that Citizendium editors and “chief subject editors” act as “facilitators and organizers, not dictators”. I think it is a great idea in theory but in the end, when there are differences in opinion, somebody has to make a decision. But overall, I find the notion of taking personal responsibility for writing or editing entries very appealing.

Larry Sanders wants to have software and servers for Citizendium set up by September 30th.

Links of Note - September 2

Two articles on managing people from business author and consultant David Maister that I found well worth reading:

- Why (most) training is useless

- Tips on managing people

His blog and more articles can be found here.

I found David Maister’s articles by reading a new blog called Managing the Professional Services Firm by Australian consultant Jim Belshaw. It features good insights on training and recruitment.

Boeing loses Connexion

Boeing announced that it will shut down its inflight Internet service Connexion, which allowed passengers on a number of airlines to surf the Web during flights (via CNN).

Boeing says the market for the service didn’t materialize. Scoble thinks that 30 bucks was too expensive for two hours of service. I think it probably failed for a different reason: space.

I tried Connexion during a Lufthansa flight to Germany last year. The connection worked perfectly and it was a fast surfing experience. The problem was that I was sitting in economy class and had absolutely no room to actually work on the computer. It is one thing to use a laptop on a plane to watch a DVD. But it is almost impossible to actually type on the keyboard and get stuff done even if the guy in front of you hasn’t yet lowered his seat dangerously close to your crotch. I basically had to put the laptop monitor on my legs and put the keyboard against my belly. It looked more like I was playing accordion than working on a computer.

A look at an overview of airline seat dimensions shows that there are very few airlines who offer a little bit of comfort for economy class passengers. As long as there is no room to actually properly use a computer for work, and make onboard Internet usage useful and fun, it doesn’t really matter how expensive the service is or how much trouble airlines have to go through to install a service like Connexion. To make a service like this work, it is not enough to win over the business class.

Pandora vs. Radio Paradise

After reading about it on Mark Evans’ blog, I’ve been trying out Pandora for a few days. It is a great idea to let listeners create their own music radio station based on their favourite artist(s) and then provide recommendations of ’similar’ music. 

The intelligence behind the recommendation engine is still a work in progress, though. For example, how I got from my selections Buffalo Tom and Heather Nova to a recommendation of Def Leppard is still a mystery to me.

I did like some of the songs Pandora came up with and it is definitely a site I will return to. But Radio Paradise is still my favourite Internet radio station. Bill and Rebecca at Radio Paradise put together a program that I prefer to my own Pandora selections. They have introduced me to many artists that were new to me, and some of them I would have never come across on my own - even with a recommendation program.

Maybe it is a little bit like the chess matches between Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue. It is fascinating to see what technology can do. But I always wanted Kasparov to win. When it comes to Internet radio, I’m still in Bill and Rebecca’s corner.

Canada’s Top 300 Technology Companies according to Branham

The Branham Group announced their annual listing of the top 300 Canadian technology companies. Not a lot of suprises in 2006 but it provides a good overview of the Canadian market. Categories include:

• Top 25 Multinationals
• Top 20 Movers and Shakers
• Top 25 Up and Comers
• Top 25 Canadian Software Companies
• Top 25 Canadian IT Professional Services Companies
• Top 10 Canadian IT Security Companies
• Top 10 Canadian xSPCompanies
• Top 10 Canadian Wireless Solution Providers
• Top 25 ICT Hardware and Infrastructure Companies