SEO Werkt!

The antiquated, “eyeball” media model is screwing with our online behavior.

I had a fun brainstorming session recently with Pierre Omidyar (@pierre). One of the things we talked about was how social software’s design has impacted how we behave online. The metrics companies choose to put in front of us are really meaningful since people optimize their behavior around those numbers.

In the consumer space–because most companies decide to follow Google into “free” land– they fall trap to optimizing for the dusty, century-old media business model: get a ton of viral, sticky eyeballs, then sell ad space.

Number of friends, is the metric on big kitchen sink networks like Facebook, Myspace, etc. On Twitter it’s number of followers. And you can see the resulting behavior every day. As soon as someone joins Facebook, it’s a race to add as many friends to cart as possible to get that number up. Just look at Follow Friday. There are even applications developed to help you game your Follower numbers, so you can quickly achieve the status of 23,083 meaningless followers.

Here’s why Friending and Following doesn’t work

Besides not actually being part of an environment tailor made around meaningful connections, the other reason that Friending, Following and other social number don’t work is that no one wants to give you negative feeback. Sure, Robert Scoble stopped following 106,000 people but most of us don’t want to unfriend, unfollow, or unanything that would send a negative message to someone else. So, while we focus on driving our social numbers up as high as possible, those numbers end up being meaningless. They don’t reflect reality. In real life people come in and out of our life. People we vouch for at one point, we can’t vouch for at another point. Our friends change. People we want to meet change. Because the kitchen-sink networks optimize their numbers around mass-use in order to sell advertising, they can’t solve this problem.

The numbers we track in our online/offline life

After my conversation with Pierre, it got me thinking about the numbers we track in our online and offline life. Since, Blackbox Republic is focused on fusing online/offline realities together, arriving at measurements that help enable meaningful relationships has been at the forefront of our development. The chart below is a visual representation of the delta between how we currently account for our online and offline social. As you can see, it’s pretty huge. I’d be interested on your ideas on how to bridge it more effectively.

A couple of days ago I was contacted by Bill Liao because he was interested in purchasing a domain name that I owned. After a couple back and forth emails negotiating the price he made an offer I couldn’t refuse. He jokingly asked me if I’d be willing to donate the entire purchase price of the domain to The Hunger Project. I told him I’d be more than happy to donate 50% of the purchase price to THP.org and he replied with "Deal!". Not knowing whether or not we actually had a deal, since I had not seen any money in my bank account, I had some doubt that he would follow through with his verbal (email) commitment. Then later this afternoon I received a PayPal notice saying funds were in my account and shortly after that I received an email from him with the confirmation that he had donated the other half of the purchase price to The Hunger Project. Needless to say I was quite excited. Not only was I able to sell a valuable domain to a good home and reduce my domain portfolio by a name, but a well-deserving non-profit got a nice donation. I’m not at liberty, nor do I think it makes much sense, to disclose how much was donated but I can tell you that it was a nice $x,xxx donation. Bill impressed me with his willingness to trust someone he’d never met that lives on the other side of the world and that he wired money to my account without as much as a written contract. I’ve had my fair share of legal dealings, I’ve won some suits and lost some suits, but every attorney I’ve ever met says that the best contracts are the ones that sit in a desk droor collecting dust. However, I think the best contract is the one that exists verbally and is acted on by both parties. I’m sure I have over 100 pounds of contracts in filing cabinets that cost several hundred thousand dollars to put together but none of them has the spirit of the deal between Bill and I. Because of his willingness to risk losing some money to someone he’d never met, I was all the more eager to make sure he got the name as quickly as possible because someone that acts on faith inspires others to do the same. I guess its a little bit of a Pay It Forward mentality but it just makes sense. I wish all of you who have been burned in the past (we’ve all been on both sides of that regrettably) don’t miss an opportunity to act on faith every once in a while, cause like Piper says… "You never know daddy!" And she’s right. Don’t get me wrong, handshakes can only go so far and are not appropriate in the majority of business deals, but when you can take a risk without it causing permanent damage then I highly recommend taking that chance. It’s well worth it.

I have always enjoyed reading through privacy policies, terms of service and general legal docs web sites use to tell you what they’re going to do with your data. When the iPhone came out, one of the first things I did was go into settings > general > about > legal and read through all of the fine print. The information in there is quite amazing. I mean, they tell you who’s software they’re licensing for the iPhone, what companies they have partnered with, which fonts they are using (Helvetica anyone?), the terms offer us a plethora of insight that any reverse engineering biz dev guy would love. Today’s terms of service and privacy policy docs read like a playbook for creating competing products and web sites. They tell you who to partner with, show you which partnerships have a stranglehold on your competitor and so much more.

I wanted to post the entire contents of the Apple iPhone terms document back when they released the 1st iPhone but they didn’t have a way to email or copy the entire agreement to get it off of my iPhone. Well, thanks to the new cut-n-paste feature in iPhone 3.x OS, we can now do just that. So for those of you who want to know who Apple went to bed with, here are the entire contents of the iPhone, enjoy. P.S. I have bolded all company names, registered trademarks (except for those owned by Apple) and copyrights so you can see who Apple partnered with and why.

Legal Notices:
Copyright ? 1983-2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.

Apple, the Apple logo and iPod are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc.

For Apple and third party software license agreements presented at activation or included with the product and presented with any software updates, see www.apple.com/legal/sla/

ACELP is either registered trademark or trademark of VoiceAge Corporation in the United State and or other countries and used under license from VoiceAge Corporation. The ACELP?.net codec in this product is used under license from VoiceAge Corporation. Copyright ? 2002-2005 VoiceAge Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Audible software in this product is used under license from Audible. Copyright ? 2002 by Audible, Inc. All rights reserved.

This product contains the BLUEmagic software Bluetooth? protocol stack. BLUEmagic is a trademark of Open Interface North America, Inc. registered in the US. Bluetooth? is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. used under license.

Portions of this Product are copyrighted by Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved. “Hiragino” is a trademark of Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. registered in Japan.

Copyright ? 1981 Linotype AG and/or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. This Record Material And The Data Recorded Thereon Are Licensed From and Are The Property Of Linotype Or Its Licensors And May Not Be Reproduced, Used, Displayed, Modified, Disclosed Or Transferred In Any Manner Without The Express Written Approval Of Linotype.

Copyright ? 1999-2002, Linotype Library GmbH & affiliates. All rights reserved. Linotype HelveticaNeue and Zapfino are Trademarks of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions, exclusively licensed through Linotype Library GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.

Marker Felt typeface designs created by Snyder Fonts.

MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and THOMSON multimedia.

Source of North American and Canadian area code data: http://www.nanpa.com/ and http://www.cnac.ca/

Features the QDesign Music Codec.

Features the Sorensen Video Codec.

Vantage Research (successor to Lernout & Hauspie) , et al. (ProofReader)

IntelliWriter ProofReader text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.

IntelliWriter ProofReader Catalan text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Adapted from Catalan word list ? 1992 Universitat de Barcelona. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.

IntelliWriter ProofReader Czech text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Spelling database adapted from word list supplied by Jan Hajic. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.

IntelliWriter ProofReader Dutch text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.
IntelliWriter ProofReader English text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.
IntelliWriter ProofReader French text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.
IntelliWriter ProofReader German text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Spelling database adapted from word list supplied by Langenscheidt K.G. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Hungarian text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Portions of technology and word list supplied by Morphologic. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Italian text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Spelling database adapted from word list supplied by Zanichelli S.p.A. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Polish text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Portions of technology and word list supplied by Morphologic. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Portuguese text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved. Portions adapted from the Dicionario Academico da Lingua Portuguesa ? 1992 by Porto Editora. Reproduction or disassembly of embodied algorithms or database prohibited.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Russian text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Spanish text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.
IntelliWriter ProofReader Swedish text proofing software ? 2002 by Vantage Research. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policies:
Apple’s Privacy Policy can be found at: http://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
YouTube’s Privacy Notice can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy
Google Maps Privacy Notice

November 1, 2006
The Google Privacy Policy and our various product-specific privacy notices describe how we treat personal information when you use Google’s products and services, including any of Google’s mobile products and services. In addition, the following describes our mobile privacy practices. For a web version of this and other Google privacy policies, please go to www.google.com/privacy.html.

Mobile-specific information we collect
* Most of the personally identifying information we collect is what you tell us about yourself. For example, certain of our products and services allow you to interact and share personal information and data with others. You choose what you want to share and how you want to share it.

* Sometimes, we record your phone number. We record your phone number when you send it to us; ask us to remember it; or make a call or send a text message or SMS to or from Google. If you ask us to remember your phone number, we will associate your phone number with your Google Account, or, if you do not have a Google Account, with some other similar account ID. We often generate this account ID based on your device and hardware IDs, so if you change your device or hardware, you will have to re-associate this new device or hardware with your account before we can authenticate you.

* Most of the other information we collect for mobile, such as your device and hardware IDs and device type, the request type, your carrier, your carrier user ID, and the content of your request, does not by itself identify you to Google, though it may be unique or consist of or contain information that you consider personal.

* If you use location-based products and services, such as Google Maps for mobile, you may be sending us location information. This information may reveal your actual location, such as GPS data, or it may not, such as when you submit a partial address to look at a map of the area.

* Certain of our products and services allow you to personalize the content you receive from us. For these products and services, we will record your preferences and any information you provide about yourself or your interests (such as a list of your stocks to personalize your stock listings).

* If you use Google to transcode, or format, non-mobile pages to display properly on your device, we need to send your request to Google’s servers for formatting. That means that we will record these requests, which are generally for material beyond Google’s sites.

Uses (aka: how Google uses the information they glean from you)
* We use your information to process and personalize your requests. We also use the information for support, to develop new features, and to improve the overall quality of Google’s products and services.

* We may also use the information to show you a history of your activity, to provide you with statistics about you or your use of our product or service, or to provide you with a better user experience.

* If you purchase something through Google, we may also use your information to bill you and to handle billing disputes.

Information sharing and onward transfer
* All requests must be sent through your mobile carrier’s network and your carrier may have access to it. For information regarding your carrier’s treatment of your information, please consult your carrier’s privacy policies.

* We may share your information with certain third parties we use to perform certain functions, such as billing and text message or SMS delivery. These third parties will be contractually bound to treat your information in accordance with the applicable Google privacy policies.

* Certain of our products and services allow you to interact and share your information with others. Please consider carefully before disclosing any personal information or data that might be accessible to others.

Your choices (do we really have a choice Google?)
* Certain of our products and services allow you to opt-out of certain information gathering and sharing or to opt-out of certain products, services, or features. Each product has a help page which describes these and other options.

More information
Google adheres to the US Safe Harbor privacy principles. For more information about the Safe Harbor framework or our registration, see the Department of Commerce‘s web site. Further information about Google’s various mobile products and services is available at mobile.google.com. For more information about our privacy practices, go to the full privacy policy. If you have additional questions, please contact us any time at:

Privacy Matters
c/o Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043 (USA)

Acknowledgments:
Portions of this Apple Software may utilize the following copyrighted material, the use of which is hereby acknowledged.

Alice Group (BSD kernel)

Copyright ? 1993 Allen K. Briggs, Chris P. Caputo, Michael L. Finch, Bradley A. Grantham, and Lawrence A. Kesteloot. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the Alice Group. 4. The names of the Alice Group or any of its members may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE ALICE GROUP AS IS AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ALICE GROUP BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

AT&T (C Library)
The author of this software is David M. Gay. Copyright ? 1991 by AT&T.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this entire notice is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or modification of this software and in all copies of the supporting documentation for such software.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR AT&T MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Stig Brautaset (json-framework)
Copyright ? 2008 Stig Brautaset. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Carnegie Mellon University (Mach Operating System)
Copyright ? 1991 Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved.
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.

CARNEGIE MELLON ALLOWS FREE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE IN ITS AS IS CONDITION. CARNEGIE MELLON DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY OF ANY KIND FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Carnegie Mellon requests users of this software to return to Software.Distribution@CS.CMU.EDU; or Software Distribution Coordinator, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890; any improvements or extensions that they make and grant Carnegie Mellon the rights to redistribute these changes.

Carnegie Mellon University; Paul Mackerras (pppd)
Copyright ? 1993-2002 Paul Mackerras. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. The name(s) of the authors of this software must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without prior written permission. 4. Redistributions of any form whatsoever must retain the following acknowledgment: This product includes software developed by Paul Mackerras .

THE AUTHORS OF THIS SOFTWARE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Derived from main.c, which is:
Copyright ? 1984-2000 Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. The name Carnegie Mellon University must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without prior written permission. For permission or any other legal details, please contact: Office of Technology Transfer, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890. (412) 268-4387, fax: (412) 268-7395, tech-transfer@andrew.cmu.edu. 4. Redistributions of any form whatsoever must retain the following acknowledgment: This product includes software developed by Computing Services at Carnegie Mellon University (http://www.cmu.edu/computing/).

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Brian M. Clapper (poll)
Copyright ? 1995-2002 Brian M. Clapper. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that: (1) source distributions retain this entire copyright notice and comment; (2) modifications made to the software are prominently mentioned, and a copy of the original software (or a pointer to its location) are included; and (3) distributions including binaries display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by Brian M Clapper, in the documentation or other materials provided with the distribution. The name of the author may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Effectively, this means you can do what you want with the software except remove this notice or take advantage of the author’s name. If you modify the software and redistribute your modified version, you must indicate that your version is a modification of the original, and you must provide either a pointer to or a copy of the original.

Digital Equipment Corporation (BSD kernel)
Portions Copyright ? 1993 by Digital Equipment Corporation.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies, and that the name of Digital Equipment Corporation not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the document or software without specific, written prior permission.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS AND DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Hiroaki Etoh, Federico G. Schwindt, and Miodrag Vallat (stack_protector.c)
Copyright ? 2002 Hiroaki Etoh, Federico G. Schwindt, and Miodrag Vallat. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Michael Everson (Unicode Mapping Tables)
Used with permission from the author.

FreeBSD, Inc. (BSD Operating System)
This product contains software provided by FreeBSD, Inc. and its contributors.
Copyright ? 1994-2007 FreeBSD, Inc. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE FREEBSD PROJECT AS IS AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FREEBSD PROJECT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of the FreeBSD Project or FreeBSD, Inc.

Free Software Foundation (libgcc, libstdc++)
Copyright ? 1988-2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF).

Parts of this software include the libgcc and libstdc++ libraries owned by the FSF. You may obtain a complete machine-readable copy of the source code for the FSF software under the terms of GNU General Public License (GPL) with libgcc exception and GPL plus libstdc++ exception, without charge except for the cost of media, shipping, and handling, upon written request to Apple. The FSF software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GPL for more details; a copy of the GPL is included below.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place – Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software–to make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation’s software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author’s protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors’ reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The Program, below, refers to any such program or work, and a work based on the Program means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term modification.) Each licensee is addressed as you.

Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any

1. Labels

One of our Founding members told me that “labels create drama,” and we agree. If there’s one thing we’ve overwhelmingly and consistently heard is that sexpositive people don’t want to be labeled. They don’t want checkboxes, or to live inside someone else’s rules. So inside Blackbox Republic you won’t find yourself having to put yourself in buckets. If you want to label yourself, fine. Do it. But we don’t make you.

Sometimes you don’t know how to fit in until you break out. — Michael Baczynski

2. Profiles

Profiles are tired, old snapshots of us. The web is littered with them.  Our public profiles are strewn everywhere like super-ego mini-marts. None of them are accurate. It’s the public, professional or dating us. Over and over. Who cares what your favorite movies are or where you went to high school.

3. Lookie-loos, tourists & creeps

Chris Rock once said that if a bullet costs five thousand dollars, there would be no innocent bystanders. When someone got shot, you’d know it was for a damn good reason. Since our members will pay to be there, they’re there for a good reason. Combined with our vouching system, that means that the tourists, creeps and lookie-loos will troll their usual haunts but not find a home in the Republic.

4. Hang ups

Sex-positive people don’t have an issue with their own sexuality or that of others. Odds are, if you are that comfortable with yourself, you don’t get over-heated about too much. In my experience, sex-positive folks have less overall hangups. If you can be open and accepting of the intimate parts of your and others’ life, you’re open to a lot.

5. Censorship

Blackbox Republic is a place for unbound self-expression. A place to explore your alter-egos. We’ve joined a ton of sites in the last few months and are surprised how heavy handed and micro-managed their administration is. There are member agreements that force you to agree to never name another competing website. The Admins delete, edit, and/or move member’s content. No doubt, dating and sex sites are used to a lot of bad behavior by their very definition.

6. Store

There are millions of storefronts all over the web. The last thing you’ll find in Blackbox Republic are more shopping carts. There are no product directories, or browsing the isles.

7. Ads

Don’t we get assaulted with ads enough in our public life? As innovative as the web is supposed to be, it’s really just the same old media model of “free” to get the eyeballs and sell ads. You won’t find that inside Blackbox Republic.

8. Public life

Blackbox Republic is a private community. That means it’s not for prying eyes, search engines, or career-ending accidents. Your life is our secret.

9. Boring people

Ours is a creative, right-brained crowd. You can bet that since everyone who’s there is serious about being there and as everyone is sex-positive, that there will be no shortage of amazing people. You won’t find depressing newsfeeds, get poked, have a drink thrown at you or get caught up in a Vampire contest.

10. Only sex

Blackbox Republic is a community where–yes–sex will happen. So will friends, dating, and marriage. It’s about your whole personal life, not just your sex life.

Ok, so you’ve created Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube accounts for your brand.

Very cool and hip….

Keeping all of these sites fresh and current is fun.

For the first three days…

jQuery, a lightweight (only 19kb in size) JavaScript library has become my new best friend. It’s like mushrooms to Mario. Obviously I’m not alone since Microsoft is now distributing jQuery with Visual Studio (including jQuery intellisense). If you are using the new MVC framework from Microsoft then you will no doubt become familiar with the intricate workings of jQuery.

jQuery is not all that difficult to learn. The biggest thing you have to understand is all the different “selectors” that are available to you. Using selectors developers can query, in a CSS like way, for HTML elements, and then apply “commands” to them.

For example, the below JavaScript uses jQuery to find a <div> element within a page that has a CSS id of “rightSide”, and shows it and “leftSide” and hides it.

As another example, the JavaScript below uses jQuery to find a specific <table> on the page with an id of “datagrid1″, then retrieves every other <tr> row within the datagrid, and sets those <tr> elements to have a CSS class of “even” – which could be used to alternate the background color of each row:

This next example gets all links <a> in a specific <div> and attaches an onclick event to them:

Being able to traverse the DOM and locate HTML elements to attach events, behaviors, animations and CSS is priceless. But what about ASP.NET controls like the RadioButtonList, GridView, ListView, Repeater, and many others that we as developers like to bind to? How do we traverse them when they all get their ids auto-generated? That’s what we will look at now! And with jQuery it’s not that hard!

When you add an ASP.NET RadioButtonList control to a page, like below:

The browser renders the control to the code below:

As you can see, we don’t have control over the generated items id tag. It would not be an easy task to guess what the auto-generated id tags are going to be. There’s simply too many ways it can very depending on if you are using master-pages and or web-controls. The one thing that we do know is that somewhere in the id will be the id we gave to the control; in this case “rblCaseControl”. Lucky for us this is all jQuery needs to go to town. Look at the code below:

This code uses jQuery to get all radio buttons that have “rblCaseControl” somewhere in their id tag. We could get the selected value of the radio button list using this code:

With this code we have now found the selected value from our ASP.NET RadioButtonList control using jQuery. Perhaps now we want to send that value to a web method in our codebind page using Ajax? Well we could use jQuery for that too! But, that’s another article.

Further Reading:

• http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/09/28/jquery-and-microsoft.aspx
• http://weblogs.asp.net/mikebosch/archive/2008/02/15/asp-net-mvc-submitting-ajax-form-with-jquery.aspx
• http://www.chadmyers.com/Blog/archive/2007/12/13/using-jquery-with-asp.net-mvc.aspx

I’ve been reading a lot about life streaming and thought I’d jump right in – it was time for a change.  And a big change is happening with me already as in a few weeks I’m leaving my employer of more than 14 years – international public relations powerhouse, Hill & Knowlton – and moving to an international marketing powerhouse, Momentum.  At H&K I’ve worked all over the US – H&K Chicago, DC and LA offices – and for the past 3+ years have been at H&K Sydney, and for the past 1 ½ years serving as the company’s first (and hopefully not last) Asia-Pacific Creative Director – working across 9 offices with some of the best and the brightest in the business.  At H&K I have had the pleasure to work incredible colleagues and clients, and am lucky to have made lifelong friends that continue to rock my world.

But now, I’m heading to a new adventure, working with a company known for creating ideas that entertain and engage people in ways that span from physical to digital and everything in between.  It’s a company that embraces a “work is play; play is work” attitude, knowing creativity truly thrives and grows when people are simply having fun and working their brain power and imagination to the fullest.

So, with all that in mind, what better time to move to a whole new way to capture life’s moments of inspiration and fascination – the world of life streaming, and best brought to you by Posterous.   On my new Posterous Lifestreaming site (http://ryanpeal.posterous.com/) that launched this week, I’ll continue the tradition of reviewing great campaigns and pondering how to make them better, hopefully encouraging everyone along the way to kick even bigger booty.  And I’ll be including a bunch of other stuff – cool things to check out, interesting interviews of some of the smartest marketers around and more – taking full advantage of this new medium. (Of course there are still brilliant people at H&K, find some new blogging inspiration at H&K’s blogging home here.)

I hope all of my readers from the past two years follow me to my new home.   Cross over children, come in to the light (nothing like a good Poltergeist movie quote to end an entry).