These are some useful articles regarding startup businesses.

http://gigaom.com/2009/10/20/the-10-ways-startup-advice-is-flawed/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/24/startup-school-paul-buchheit-on-why-he-sold-to-facebook/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/11/finding-your-co-founders/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/08/startups-101-the-complete-mint-presentation/

These are some useful articles regarding creating social games.

Market Research
http://gigaom.com/2009/11/09/the-scorecard-who-wins-loses-with-ea%E2%80%99s-400m-playfish-buy/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/scamville-new-offerpal-ceo-admits-mistakes-makes-bold-promises/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/05/facebook-to-increase-enforcement-of-anti-scam-rules/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/03/tragedy-of-the-social-gaming-commons-a-blueprint-for-change/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/03/myspace-says-zero-tolerance-for-app-scams-changes-terms-of-use/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/rockyou-joins-the-no-scams-parade-but-whats-facebook-up-to/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/zynga-takes-steps-to-remove-scams-from-games/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/how-to-spam-facebook-like-a-pro-an-insiders-confession/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/scamville-zynga-says-13-of-revenue-comes-from-lead-gen-and-other-offers/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/01/scamville-hotornot-plentyoffish-facebook-myspace/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/29/how-to-measure-the-true-stickiness-and-success-of-a-facebook-app/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/d-day-for-facebook-app-developers/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/playspan-study-shows-growth-in-virtual-goods-marketplace/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/26/social-games-how-the-big-three-make-millions/
http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/20/mark-pincus-web-3-is-the-app-economy/
http://techcrunch.com/2007/06/20/virtual-goods-the-next-big-business-model/
http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_44/b4153044881892.htm
http://cdixon.org/?p=1220
http://appdata.com/
http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/why-you-can-t-stop-playing-bejeweled/1366266

Irrelevant Doom And Gloom Predictions
http://homethinking.com/brontemedia/2009/03/25/the-impending-doom-of-facebook-apps/

Game Concepts
http://mathsisfun.com/games/tanks.html
http://appdata.com/

Internet marketing is fascinating, especially when you've got a campaign with enough volume so that its performance reflects trends. My campaign wasn't doing too well today, but then I realized, everybody's partying it up since it's Halloween. But there are other trends, weekly, hourly, and it's fascinating because i's like looking into the minds of others. Surfing the net is a private activity for the most part. Nobody know how you behave online. But when you are advertising, you get the chance to collect information about people through your advertising campaigns. Its performance is a result of the behavior of others, and with volume it gives insight into behavior. Marketing psychology I suppose. Facebook makes this especially cool because once a campaign has sufficient clicks, it shows the common characteristics of those who have clicked based on the content they have listed under "interests".

Psychology is fascinating as well. With a good grasp of psychology, you can better understand yourself and others. By understanding yourself, I assume it must improve self control because it explains your own behavior. Better planning and other good stuff must come as a result of this. Plus there's also the benefit of better understanding of others. It's all a matter of understanding the big picture. By understanding yourself and understanding others you can achieve a great deal. Unfortunately, as a career it does not have the insane potential for income that I desire, a figure only business can reach. Once I get that house, and that stable income, I will have so much more time to read and learn.

Information. There's so much of it and I don't have enough time to learn it all. Psychology, electronics and of course all those random interesting articles from the internet. If only I could read it all. I finally had time to organize my stuff. 224 favorites, at least 10 receipts with scribbles of crap. Now it's all sitting in folders. Wonderful.

I also realized, my dreams are not nearly wildly crazy enough.

Previous Outrageous Dream
- Decent (No more than 4,000 square feet) sized two story house with a pool somewhere near San Francisco
- Basic economic car
- Lambo or Ferrari

Updated Outrageous Dream
- Decent (No more than 4,000 square feet) sized two story house with a pool somewhere near San Francisco, Texas, Africa,
- Lambo or Ferrari
- Basic economic car
- Helicopter
- Private Jet
- Private island
- Nuclear powered luxury yacht

Also of note, is that I recently posted about how Facebook would be an excellent platform for applications. I knew what I had in mind, but I failed to put into words the scope of what I was thinking. Luckily GigaOm had an article on this exact trend.

I had always jokingly considered creating my own internet, Internet 2.0, where there would be no anonymity and only websites with acceptable quality would be allowed. But the social web is partially like that because of its decreased anonymity. Many sites are integrating a Facebook login to allow for a social element. Where in the past someone might be hunched over a comp playing a Flash game all alone, now he can (Surrogates who?) play with others, socially, although with less anonymity.

It also mentions that the social web generates more information, and there is a need to index it. Much of the information is absolute garbage, useless status updates, mindless babbling and other junk. But it might be vaguely useful as aggregate data somehow.

Are Humans Still Evolving?

This was an article on Yahoo! and CNN a few days back. I was surprised that there was a "long-held view that natural selection has ceased to affect humans because almost everybody now lives long enough to have children".

I had always assumed that evolution always occurs. It simply would not make sense any other way. If evolution was not still occurring, it would seem to imply that every individual is reproducing at a similar rate. Evolution is survival of the fittest, but even though everyone reproduces, there are obviously some who reproduce more and some who do not reproduce at all for various reasons. Why isn't it obvious that evolution is still occurring because of this? Plus, there are those who choose not to have kids, some who choose to have lots of kids, and some who don't have kids.

But what's more likely is that there are major (understatement) gaps in my understanding that lead me to assume this from the start.

I just realized that the View Online text at the footer of phpBB forums is a link which leads to a viewonline.php page that shows the IP and WHOIS of every user online. This would not be an issue if only administrators could see it, but that's not the case. Anybody signed on to the forum can see it. This is a major privacy problem, and I can't imagine why this would be public by default. I definitely need to switch to vBulletin soon, since phpBB constantly requires tweaking, modding and is a hassle overall.

I can't figure out how to differentiate the two. How can I determine whether an individual is merely optimistic rather than naive. The two seem to overlap. A pessimist would see the optimist's actions as being naive, and lacking planning, too hopeful.

Naive: marked by unaffected simplicity : artless, ingenuous.

Optimism: an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome.

It seems like there is a transition to a less anonymous internet with Facebook. Everyone's got a Facebook, and a growing number of websites are utilizing the Facebook login feature.

Too many different platforms are competing - Windows Live, Google and Yahoo!. On a recent group project, every group member used a different platform, when someone suggested online collaboration. Ultimately, some people had to setup Google accounts. However, everyone had a Facebook. If productivity tools were added to its list of apps, Facebook would have some serious clout. Unlike other platforms, Facebook focuses on communication rather than services, making it a perfect platform for collaboration. Facebook also creates a real digital identity because everybody is identified by their name, and it might be the best new platform for productivity apps rather than Google or Windows Live.

Also, Facebook apps are big monies. I don't understand why the top games are so popular though. The mafia game has zero interactivity. It's just a screen with stats and you click away. It's like crunching numbers in a cubicle. Lame. There is no real element of competition. The winners are the ones who spend (waste) the most time playing the game. The gardening game is lame too. Why would anybody waste time growing a digital garden when they could grow a real one? Lame lame lame.

All these games use the social element to become popular. However, there is a terrible lack of a competitive element. There's a vaccum, a need for interactive, competitive games on social networking sites like Facebook. There is huge potential here. Games like Everquest and World Of Warcraft are notorious for their addictive qualities. Now add that and social networking (also addictive), and there's an even bigger opportunity.

About time. Finally got crestind.com after it was parked for a year. Kind of a stupid luxury purchase, but at least it won't get snapped up by someone else. Got some exciting plans for the site. Lots of cool open source apps I can finally test out.

Some really cool commercials from Lincoln. The tech theme is awesome, but the cars could use some bolder exterior styling, which hardly looks space agey or technologically advanced in any way (Acura). The interior is really nice however.

The ads are quite effective. There's 360 views of the interior and exterior paired with dark lighting and fairly modern music. There's no distracting voiceover and all of them end with a simple two liner slogan reminiscent of the Apple commercials. Very effective, and I assume they must be trying to target a younger demographic.

       

Others.
       

And more.
       

So classy and modern. Better than the old Mr. Scruff commercials. Makes me want to buy one, even though the build quality is probably rubbish.
   

OMG POWER WINDOWS!
   

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/brain-scans-reveal-what-youve-seen/

+

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/25/total.recall.microsoft.bell/index.html

I had the second idea for a while, except mine involved video rather than images. And it also involved some sort of robotic eyeball.

I was browsing some photos of California, and I could not stop thinking how amazing it must be to live there. I've been lucky enough to visit the state twice in my lifetime, and both trips were unbelievably fun. When I returned to Texas, it was like stepping back into an empty room. It was just mile after mile of sprawl - house, house, house, store, house, house, house, store. Within a reasonable distance, there are no places of historical interest, no locations of natural beauty (can't be helped since Texas is mostly prairie up north), even the downtown districts are boring.

But the photos were incredible. Natural beauty, dense urban areas with skyscrapers, beautiful graffiti art, a dash of sprawl, abandoned buildings.

Texas is by no means a bad place to live. It's inexpensive living at its best, and many Californians are moving here as well because of this. But the problem is that it's living distilled down to an industrial scale. It's unnatural. It just seems like all there is to do is just work, work, work and then shop shop shop, because within a reasonable distance, that's all there is - buildings for working and stores for shopping. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that would broaden my horizons, nothing that would spark my creativity, nothing that I saw in those photos. It just seems like there's so much diversity in every aspect of life in California. And so many great new ideas start in California - bands, tech startups, other businesses, etc., all of which I attribute to the atmosphere of the state. That and the continuous stream of feel good sunshine.

Of course, the photos were only of select scenes that were exceptional in some way, but even considering this fact, none of them can really be found in Texas.

So I was reading Wikipedia, and as usual one entry led to another until I stumbled upon the online disinhibition effect. I have definitely noticed that people tend to act differently online and become more wild in general, whether it's the stupid, inane YouTube comments or forums. But I guess that's the great thing about the internet.

I had definitely noticed two of the causes - the illusion of anonymity (which can be pierced with even a little digging) and a certain degree of equality. And boom, out of the blue, there's a full fledged article with all the different factors. Fun read. And more.

I want to work and work right now. A little bit tired, cold and hungry and all motivation is lost. All this pampering through life doesn't do any good. There should have been an element of struggle. When you don't experience it early on, it's tougher to get through it later on.

In the end it all comes back to the same thing. I want to be doing whatever I want on the spur of the moment. I want to wake up in the morning, and if I think, "hey, I feel like drawing today", I will be able to do so. I'll be able to whip out paper, chair, pad sit down and draw and draw with no regard for time and no worries, stopping only when it's dark. Sure, I could draw right now. But if I did, I would not enjoy doing so, for all the while in the back of my mind all the things I have to do would be distracting me. It would not be enjoyable. My mind is just buzzing with all the wonderful things I could be doing, learning to cook, play golf, drawing, playing piano, reading. But again, this is only possible with time. And time can only be acquired with money. Money I don't have. Feeling a bit better now that I've organized this thoughts. More motivated.

Nothing too new or exciting from Apple

Storage Upgrades And Price Cuts
obviously to fend off the upcoming Zune HD, which now looks rather pricey in comparison. Very nice, but not a dealmaker. I want an iPod Touch, and it still lacks a camera.

Genius For Apps And Playlists
Added a Genius feature for apps to rake in more cash. Lame. I wonder how long this new "feature" took. Probably all of 1 hour with one coder.

iTunes Gets More Bloated
Woo.

iPod Nano
Voice recorder is great. It's got a radio and allows pausing of radio, but no radio recording, which my Sandisk Sansa has. It has a video camera, but it can't take stills for some reason. But I was right about design "reaching a limit" of sorts. This time around, no major design update, just a change to a glossier coating. The new finish is repulsive though. Instead of the clean brushed finish every other Apple product has, they chose to give it a glossy coat this time around, which gives it a rather cheap and ugly look. The only reason this change was made was probably for the sake of change. Just for that, I would not want to buy it. Plus I'm sure it would scratch much more easily.

No Upgrades to iPod Touch
I was hoping for a camera at least, but nothing. I'll probably get an iPod Touch once it has a radio, video camera, camera, voice recorder and radio recorder, to match the features on my Sansa.

There are very few times, it would seem, when trends are so visible and obvious. This is one of those times. I am lucky (?) enough to be living in a time of exponential development in all fields. This combined with greater situational pressures means opportunities.

Some of the industries I've been thinking about that seem guaranteed to have good returns - fast food, green energy, drugs and natural resources.

So most of these look pretty obvious now that I type them. Oh well.

Studies conducted by linguists on the way people speak - syntax, vocabulary, etc. as a reflection of how they think. Need to find more information on these topics more readily. Just like everything else, analyzing it can be distilled to a simple process, and need to figure out how.

Things just don't work out. Just have to try again.

The instructor is not a person. People have varying teaching methods, resulting in students with varying levels of understanding depending on who taught them. The teacher will take on a secondary role as clarification instead, by answering student questions.

Students will learn from video courses. Each student will have a touch screen desk and learn from an animated video lesson. This allows student control of pace. With videos, it eliminates the potential disadvantage of bad teachers. In addition, videos can be split tested for teaching effectiveness. By modifying certain parts of the instructional videos into A and B categories, and analyzing the scores of the students who took the A and B tests, we can compare scores and see whether one particular teaching method was more effective. Obviously there are factors that will affect this, but this is a generalization. With A and B split testing, the lessons can be continuously improved. By the end of the semester, if a either group A or group B shows a statistically significant score from the other, their score will be modified.

The lessons should also be based on a question and answer format. All lessons currently consist of a mess of facts presented with no explanation of their applications, significance or anything. They are presented as nothing more than facts to remember, and this makes it difficult.

Number of hours exercised must equal the number of extra years lived to make back the time investment in the exercise. To be a worthwhile investment, amount of time spent exercising must be less than the number of extra years lived, thus you are gaining time.

So assuming every day you exercise 1 hour, and that this would extend life expectancy by 3 years, the extension of 3 years would equate to 26,280 hours of life extended. Therefore if you exercise for an hour a day from birth, at the age of 82, your investment would balance out, and any further exercise investments would not pay off. This is assuming the lifespan extended by is static.