http://www.gctcbe.com Just another WordPress weblog Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:04:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en However, it's actually a lower-profile component of TopCoder's business that I find the most fascinating: Bug Races. And it is. At its most basic, TopCoder stages programming competitions, both for itself (that is, its direct consulting clients) and for third parties like Google. Companies hire TopCoder to stage competitions to build ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/09/04/topcoders-interesting-twist-on-community-based-de/ (Credit: CNET Networks) Despite having the lowest number of integrated services (see chart below) Galligan tells me the team is on track to add about 200 others in the coming months. He believes Socialthing's implicit understanding that you don't want to track down people you're friends with will draw people ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/29/socialthing-monitors-your-online-life-at-home-and/ The software maker also said that it has fixed the majority of the reported bugs found in the product since the release of Vista, as well as added a feature that allows the search index to roll back to a previously saved version if it encounters an error, as opposed ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/microsoft-updates-windows-desktop-search/ (Credit: Microsoft) Following HD DVD's demise, there's been a lot speculation that Microsoft would add a Blu-ray option to the XBox 360. The latest rumor has a subsidiary of Asus, Pegatron Technology, making a premium Blu-ray-equipped version of the XBox 360 that will arrive in time for the holidays. This one follows ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/more-rumors-that-xbox-360-will-add-blu-ray-drive/ Kelton posed the question this way in his pre-conference writeup: "What happens when early adopters have become spoiled by single-feature technologies that take no more than a moment to grasp? The challenge faced by the next wave of innovative start-ups for technology adoption increases by an order of magnitude." ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/simplicity-and-its-discontents-jason-fried-vs-fr/ Like Geni and others, to get started you simply add family members using the directional arrows found on each person's block. There's support for divorces, first, second, and third marriages, half siblings, and any other oddly conceived (literally) member of your extended family. It also supports nine different languages, meaning ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/map-your-family-in-more-ways-than-one-with-its-ou/ I pressed Javier for more detail over IM, and he offered up this lame response: He's consulting with us a few days a week working on this new product we're launching very soon.... He's fired up about what we're doing (which I can't tell you!). commentary Mike Olson sold his open-source database startup, Sleepycat, ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/mike-olson-joins-hypericsort-of/ And now, the latest in social network developer platform announcements: Orkut, the community site owned by Google, has rolled out a directory of applications to its users in India and will continue to expand geographically over the next few weeks. Announcements about social network developer platforms are a dime a dozen, ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/opensocial-apps-now-available-to-orkut-users-in-in/ •  Microsoft laid the groundwork when it introduced Web-based software and services under the "Live" rubric last year. You can argue that Mesh is the logical extension of that idea. Still, I think Microsoft is onto a big idea: a cloud service where users can tap into an always-available ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/peering-through-the-ozzie-mesh/ FOSI holds an annual conference about online safety: this year's will be on December 11 in Washington, D.C. As the first social network to become a nationwide teen craze, MySpace became a frequent target for safety advocates--including state lawmakers, who ended up working with the social network to create a safety ... http://www.gctcbe.com/index.php/2010/08/24/myspace-parent-company-joins-family-online-safety/