The other day we were having this discussion promoted by @ppinheiro76 at Twittlis about this semantic tagging concept. The idea was that every tag we use in del.icio.us, blogger, or whatever web-data-harvesting tool we use, be unambiguously defined and linked with it's Wikipedia definition. Well, even though we didn't found an universal way about how to do it, I did found on the internet an universal way to tag the REAL world and map it to wikipedia :)
The tool is called Semapedia
and it uses this new (in Europe) technology called smartcode which basically allows to encode information in a black and white pixelised structure (think: 2D version of the traditional supermarket barcode), like a web link.
Basically using sites like Semapedia, you can generate these smartcodes that contain an html link for any wikipedia article (like Wall-E, I liked Wall-E). Semapedia will return you with a pdf containing real world tags that you can readily print and glue wherever you find it interesting in your physical vicinity.
Then, the anonymous mobile troller that passes by, may take a snapshot and, if his mobile device has installed a smartcode scanner (I use the neoreader app for the iphone), he can scan the picture and extract the link that will give him instant access to the web page contained in the smartcode. Here's what I got on my first test:
Cute, hu?
This new technology can encode any textual information including links, SMS messages, microformats, you name it. The applications for this are really mind-blowing and it gets my vote as what regards the next disruptive big thing coming ahead! Wait 'till more people get mobile net access to watch those marketeers "smart tag" virtually any product around you! Heck, I want a t-shirt and a fake tattoo with a smartcode for my web-page!
With the iphone I used the free neoreader app. But I found out there are heaps of smartcode scanners available for hundreds of mobile devices out there. So, if you've got mobile web on your phone or pda and you're a tech enthus like I am, you may want to give it a shot at this service ;)
So far, there are several encoding standards that I know of: QR code, datamatrix and shotcode. You can very easily generate a smartcode to your web-site here, here and here. There, you'll find also useful links for smarcode scanners for your mobile device. UPDATE: You'll also find here a heap of interesting news related with 2d codes in Europe. In particular I found there a link to blog4mobile, which turns my blog into a mobile blog AND provides a QR code to it. Anyone knows of other such services?
People have already started tagging the real world, all over, using Semapedia smartcodes :) Is this the birth of a new socio-cultural movement?
How about you? Have you tried it yet? What smarcode generators/scanners do you use?
Back in 2005 I was really excited about the web2.0 concepts, the web-based APIs, mashups, and all the new publishing tools that was later to be known by 2008 as "social-media".
Because now, all the links that I had disseminated through the web with mine and my wife's phd thesis are gone. Not a good thing for the sake of publishing, right? There used to be a time when I could feel a service would be good enough so that it wouldn't fail its users.
Somebody wrote a while ago:
Google is an advertising company that builds popular services that command large audiences.
To which I add:
Apple is a leisure company that builds popular media-platforms that command large audiences of media-consumers.
Google is an advertising company that builds popular services that command large audiences.
To which I add:
Apple is a leisure company that builds popular media-platforms that command large audiences of media-consumers.
I just got accepted to the most awesome workshop in the whole world, organized right here in Lisbon, the Codebits 2010, promoted by sapo.pt,
I'll be staying three days, in a row, in a big room packed with free wifi and free cable net access, unlimited free pizza, free cokes, free chocolate bars and
I'll be staying three days, in a row, in a big room packed with free wifi and free cable net access, unlimited free pizza, free cokes, free chocolate bars and
One of the biggest pain in the butt after an exciting conference/workshop/meeting is inputing all your fresh new contacts business cards info into your digital mail/phonebook. This is a problem. An unsolved one too.
Android is for tasks, life-hacks, body-hacks, and Chrome is for organized data, information.
At some point in the foreseeable future I expect to see an elegant merger where a next-gen browser will be the sole platform.
At some point in the foreseeable future I expect to see an elegant merger where a next-gen browser will be the sole platform.
I'm reposting this entry posted back in April, in order to test some problems I'm having with the commenting systems...
Hello all, it's been a while since my last post.
Hello all, it's been a while since my last post.
Hello all, it's been a while since my last post. These last months were spent mostly dedicated to finish my unfinished thesis - Ever heard of PhD comics? No? Well, it works better than Dilbert for me. Here's a nice one ...
The ipad is probably more expensive than the Chrome OS... but the browser experience is better, much better. I'm bending towards buying an iPad for my mom, so that she'll start using a computer, finally! She bought a laptop because she wanted to get in touch with her kids and friends through gmail.
My mom sure could use one of those Google PCs.
She's a veteran school teacher. She doesn't like using computers and hates the fact that she has to configure them for the wifi connection.
She's a veteran school teacher. She doesn't like using computers and hates the fact that she has to configure them for the wifi connection.
There were a lot of reactions around the last post on Cinch. And some folks might be curious about the service and the iPhone app. So I decided to write a follow-up post (the title is possibly borrowed from someone else by now).
Wow, it's been a looong time since I posted something here. Lots of spider webs to clean up...
Anyway, I'm posting this entry to tell the world about this cool new thing I started using out of lately. It's called Cinch and it's the best thing since sliced-bread.
Anyway, I'm posting this entry to tell the world about this cool new thing I started using out of lately. It's called Cinch and it's the best thing since sliced-bread.
Update: if you want to check out what is cloud-computing in a secured sandboxed environment please follow this link.
When I first started this blog, I wanted to make a statement about my vision regarding the future of computing. I called this new thing the webtop. That was back in 2006.
When I first started this blog, I wanted to make a statement about my vision regarding the future of computing. I called this new thing the webtop. That was back in 2006.
Hi, I'm testing a javascript based syntax highlighter for this blog.
Google just launched earlier this week the new google mobile app with voice search. Now, we always went extatic in this blog, whenever a new web-based app with text-to-voice or voice-to-text features would come around.
Last week I went to codebits, the 24/3 hackers contest organized by the portal sapo.pt. And it was awesome! I had loads of fun, learned tons of stuff, met a bunch of new and interesting people, worked on my tech social network, etc, etc...
Last week I went to Shift.pt, a conference about new technologies, society and the web, organized and sponsored by Sapo.pt. There I've acquainted a bit more with Pedro Custódio and his team/friends, as well as a whole new bunch of very interesting people.
Here's an excerpt of a mail (addressee anonymacy kept) I wrote today that tells a long way about what are my expectations on shift, the web2.0 and society conference happening in Lisbon the 15th, 16th and 17th October 2008.
Dear Mr.
Dear Mr.
Wordle is an instant, genuine, original, art creating engine that leverages on the single most creative content originator on the whole galaxy: YOU.
Wordle is BEAUTIFUL because YOU are BEAUTIFUL.
Wordle is BEAUTIFUL because YOU are BEAUTIFUL.
One of the interesting things about web-wired mobile devices, is the ability to quickly geolocate the user, either by GPS, either by cell-tower antenna id, either by networked wifi ip.
Google just launched today their new open-source browser called Chrome. They're now adding a new element to the browser wars along with IE, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Opera. This is a really smart move from Google towards building their Google OS.
Evernote is an interesting web service that stores all your notes, audio-notes, and snapshots and archives them for you. It then allows you to perform text search on them, even inside images.
In this post I will show you how to subscribe to twitter to receive free sms alerts on your cell phone. You can receive live soccer goals, weather forecasts, traffic alerts, the IST canteen menu, you name it ...
UPDATE 2008-08-27: DISCLOSURE 1: SMS ALERTS AREN'T FREE IN THE U.S.
UPDATE 2008-08-27: DISCLOSURE 1: SMS ALERTS AREN'T FREE IN THE U.S.
Today was the WWDC, the famous Apple keynote by Steve Jobs at the Moscone center.
Ok, maybe not everyone is aware but, while I'm mingling with numerical models and computational geo-fluid dynamics by day, by night I keep working on this rather low-profile web-project with some friends called PointPontoPt, which is Portuguese for the domain name http://point.pt.