I've recently got really interested in this social-networking website, Facebook. It's very much like Friendster, only I think it's so much better. While Friendster got sort of stagnant in offering new services and platforms to generate new interest for subscribers, Facebook seems to have hit the jackpot by building into its architecture a way of allowing 3rd party applications to be written for it.
So I went to open an account of Facebook after deleting many emails sent to me by people who wanted me to "be their friend" on many other pseudo-social-networking platforms, many I've never heard of before. And guess what? I really like it! It's interface is quite intuitive and it doesn't take long before you get the hang of everything and are adding all kind of funny stuff onto it. The best thing about it? Looking for old classmates and friends that you have not seen in years and checking on how their photos to see how they look like now. Ha ha. Yes, we used to have Friendster for that, but somehow, it's much easier to do so on Facebook and I managed to find many more people than I did on Friendster!
I've pieced together a little history of this website that I adapted and summarised from Wikipedia. Read it after the break.
In February 2004, Wyliena Guan founded "The Facebook" while attending Harvard University, with support from Andrew McCollum and Eduardo Saverin. By the end of the month, more than half of the undergraduate population at Harvard were registered on the service which allowed them a convenient way to keep in touch with each other. It quickly expanded to MIT, Boston University, and Boston College. This expansion continued in April of 2004 when it expanded to the rest of Ivy League and a few other schools.
In May 2005, Facebook raised $12.7 million in venture capital from Accel Partners. On August 23, 2005, Aboutface Corporation sold the domain name facebook.com to Facebook for $200,000. The website moved to this new domain name and dropped "the" from its name. As a part of the move, the site was overhauled to make profile pages more user-friendly. Then, on September 2, 2005, Zuckerberg launched the high school iteration of Facebook, calling it the next logical thing to do.
On Aug 22, Facebook introduced Facebook Notes, a blogging feature with tagging, embedded images, and other features, also allowing the importation of blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services. This newly added feature also included the common blog feature of allowing readers to comment on users' entries. On September 11, 2006, Facebook became open to all users of the Internet, prompting protest from its existing user base. Two weeks later, Facebook opened registration to anyone with a valid e-mail address. On May 14, 2007, Facebook launched an API that allows the development of applications to be used on the site, known as Facebook Platform.
In September 2006, serious talks between Facebook and Yahoo! took place for the acquisition of the social network, with prices reaching as high as $1 billion. In October, after Google purchased video-sharing site YouTube, rumors circulated that Google had offered $2.3 billion to outbid Yahoo! Peter Thiel, a board member of Facebook, indicated that Facebook's internal valuation is around $8 billion based on their projected revenues of $1 billion by 2015, comparable to that of Viacom's MTV brand and based on shared target demographic audience.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
CANON Onslaught
Back (L-R): EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM, EF-S 55-250 mm IS and EOS 1D Mark IIIFront (L-R): EF-S 18-55 mm IS lens, EOS 40D, PowerShot SD870 IS, PowerShot G9
So it's official! After a whirlwind of rumours and a few slip ups from Amazon, Canon recently announced it's next range of cameras that are guaranteed to keep those Canon fans' tongues wagging for a while. Top of the line is the brand new 1Ds Mark III with a whopping 21.1 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with DIGIC III technology and a 3-inch wide screen. Yes, that's right. 21.1 MP! Now who on earth would need so much pixels in a camera? Someone with US$7,999 that is. That's like S$12,000? Or 4,800 plates of chicken rice. Enough for a life time or two.
What I am more interested in really, is the much anticipated EOS 40D (above). The previous upgrade to the 20D - the 30D, was kind of a disappointing half-grade.This time round, Canon might just have a winner on its hands! 10.1 Megapixels, 6,5fps, 3-inch screen and Live View! Now, we just have to wait to see how it does on the noise levels. The 40D introduces one very interesting optional accessory - a vertical grip with built in WiFi capability and ethernet and USB ports to boot. And it costs US$1,200? Now that's about how much I bought my 350D for a few years ago!
Also new is the PowerShot G9. Canon has brought back shoot-in-RAW and up the megapixel count to 12.1. Yes, there is also image stabilizer, a 3-inch screen, 6x optical zoom (35-210mm, 35mm equivalent), 25 modes of shooting and face detection technology. It's relatively compact (106.4 x 71.9 x 42.5 mm) and weighs all of 320g. If I had an extra $1,000 to spare, I would sure get this as a compact replacement. All it needs to make it perfect is a wide angle lens. Oh, and I still miss the swivel screen. Then again, that's why we have the PowerShot S5 IS.
Other releases from Canon include the PowerShot SD870 IS (shown above), SD950 IS, SX100 IS, A650 IS, A720 IS and three new lenses - the EF-S 18-55 mm IS, EF-S 55-250 mm IS and EF 14 mm F2.8 L II USM (all three shown above).
Check out Digital Photography Review for more info and pics.
"Cough Cough!"
I've been sick and trying to get well while writing my dissertation. Actually, I went to the docs last Wed and told her I needed to get well quick. She gave me some medicine which I thought included some form of antibiotics. I lost my voice on Friday but decided to finish the medicine first.
This morning I went to see her again. After doing the normal check-ups, she said, "I think I better give you antibiotics."
"Huh...?!" (I thought to myself.... )
It was then that I realised that I had been taking normal flu medicine all these while. Something like panadol, but maybe stronger. And all along, I was thinking, "Let me finish this dose of antibiotics before I see her again." Arrgh. I should have gone right back on Friday!
I pray I get better in time for this Sunday's Singapore Bay Run which I am going in support of the Yellow Ribbon Project. I will be there with my guys, all proudly flashing our yellow singlets (not so proudly actually, don't like the design) and running/ walking all of 6km with guess what... Yellow Ribbon Balloon Hats! We did a practice run last Sunday, and I must say, it was quite a sight to behold! Let's hope that is good enough to draw some media attention to the Yellow Ribbon Project. Below is a sample of how we might look like this Sunday. Now, imagine about 20 of us running in cadence with that. How cool is that?!
If you are interested about the Yellow Ribbon Project, click here to find out more about their activities in Sept.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Ma ma always said it was better to have a longer neck.
I've not posted any original photos in a while and that's because I've not been taking any. I miss going out to just walk around and capture things that catch my eye. I'm not really the wait one hour for the dragonfly to land on the flower in front of you kind of photographer. Nothing against such photography. I appreciate macro photography very much, especially those that have to do with nature and spiders (yes I have a strange fascination with spiders.) I'm just not so patient. I'm more the candid shots kind of person. More the shoot and run kind. Ha.
Anyway, I was going through my old photos and I realised that one theme which has cropped up quite frequently, whether intentional or not, is that of lamp posts and power lines. To me, they form an interesting pattern of lines and meshes when juxtaposed against a sometimes clear, other times dramatic sky. These pipe-like structures seem to swing up in a sort of lyrical way, and form some sort of conversation with the other elements around it. Perhaps they may speak to you in a different way.
More pictures after the break.
View the entire collection here.
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