by cameron | Feb 2, 2007 | Podcast
Recently I discovered an Aussie start-up taking on the big boys in the area of local search – the online business directory dLook. Started in April 2006 by Theo and Meg Tsiamis, dLook is going head-to-head with the bigger online business directories in Australia and is starting to take siginificant marketshare from them, at least in terms of traffic.
Check out dLook’s Alexa chart versus Sensis’ YellowPages:
The best part of the story? dLook has four employees and is self-funded out of the Tsiamis’ bank account!
So I invited Theo onto the show to talk about why they decided to step out of their previous business (real estate development) to set up a search site (hint: a rude reply from one of the existing search providers) and how they are going to continue to beat them at their own game.
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The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.
by cameron | Feb 1, 2007 | science, science vs religion
Over the last few weeks I’ve had a number of people, in the comments section and in emails, suggest that science also involves an element of faith and, therefore, isn’t very different from religion.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, but it seems to be one of those memes which has made its way like a virus into the faith apologist camp and I want to give you (the rational thinkers in the audience) the tools to defend yourself against this argument should you meet it in a dark alley some night.
Science, or more accurately, the scientific process, is about the search for knowledge. Those of us who want the human race to survive and prosper know that the key to survival is knowledge. We are incredibly fortunate that evolution has provided us with large brains and, if we fail to use them, we may never understand enough about the universe or ourselves to avoid the vast number of pitfalls that could wipe out life as we know it on this very frail, fragile little planet.
The scientific process, developed over thousands of generations of human struggle, is bringing us closer every year to understanding our true nature, our place in the universe, and the way our universe works at the most fundamental levels.
And part of the scientific process is to speculate.
“Hmmmm, I wonder if….?”
Now, this is where religion apologists will try to tell you that “faith” enters science. They seem to think that the act of speculation involves faith. That’s a mistake of gigantic proportions and demonstrates a failure to truly grasp the scientific method.
Here’s the difference.
It’s important to remember that the dictionary definition of ‘faith’ is “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.” So when a person has ‘faith’, they believe something to be true regardless of whether or not there is any evidence to support that idea, and, worse still, when there is overwhelming evidence to refute the idea.
When a scientist speculates and develops a hypothesis, they aren’t investing that idea with “truthiness” (as Colbert might say). They speculate merely in order to then prove or disprove. That is the entire process of science. Speculate – investigate – prove/disprove – publish – repeat. The scientist doesn’t need the hypothesis to be true in order to have done their job. If it is refuted, then we now know one more fact. And, again, that’s what science is about – discovering the facts about how the universe works.
So the next time someone tries to suggest to you that science is just like religion, don’t let them get away with it.
Remember:
Faith = believing something is true despite the facts.
Science = searching for the facts.
by cameron | Feb 1, 2007 | Uncategorized
I’m pleased (kind of) to announce that Molly Malone of Mollyzine.com has won the $50 Amazon voucher for my competition around promoting G’Day World on your blog. Congratulations to all of the other entrants…. Miriam. Next time I’ll have a rule that you can’t do what Molly did and promote the site by suggesting that there were photos of Britney Spears nude on my site. That’s just WRONG. Molly, email me for your prize details dude! I hope you use it to by a copy of “The God Delusion” buy Richard Dawkins. Actually, I might just send you a copy of that instead of the voucher, whaddya reckon?
by cameron | Feb 1, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
ROFL! Mark made the brilliant observation on the recent Sensis post that Telstra’s American CEO, Sol Trujillo, in a November 2005 article on the ABC said:
SOL TRUJILLO: Google Schmoogle.
PETER RYAN: Speaking at yesterday’s release of Telstra’s strategic review, Mr Trujillo said Sensis was the answer, at least for Telstra, and that Google could be feeling some heat, at least locally.
SOL TRUJILLO: We’re outgrowing Google in Australia. We’re doing more, we’re growing faster and we have more capability, because we’re more relevant.
Well here’s the Alexa charts for Google’s Australian site versus Sensis versus YellowPages.com.au:
You may not be able to see the Sensis or YellowPages lines on the chart. That’s because they are wayyyyy down the bottom. Sensis has been a terrific asset for Telstra over the last few years but it’s time to face the facts – they are losing the battle for online search which, by all rights, was theirs to lose.
They aren’t the only ones that should be kicking themselves.
Back in 2003 I suggested to Steve Vamos, who had recently left Ninemsn to run Microsoft Australia, that we could take Hotmail and turn it into a White Pages killer. At the time I think Ninemsn were saying they had 7 million registered Hotmail accounts in Australia. My idea was that if we could create an incentive for people to put REAL contact information into Hotmail, instead of the dubious information usually in there, it could have become a serious online threat to Telstra’s WhitePages. Steve just laughed at me.
That’s why he and Sol get paid the big bucks I guess.
Of course, the Hotmail site is now a usability disaster of Iraq proportions. Not that I ever go into it anymore, but Belinda checks her old Hotmail account from time to time and I look over her shoulder… and shudder.
Speaking of shuddering.. I was just in Officeworks and saw that “Microsoft Windows(TM) Vista Home Premium Oh My God Can We Fit More Words Into This Title How Much Room Is Left Of The Box You Would Think We Are Charging By The Word Oh Hang On We Are Edition” is selling for $500! $300 for the upgrade! Wow. I nearly got excited about it yesterday when a mate of mine from MSFT told me that it can take a USB hard drive and turn it into RAM. Why isn’t THAT in the advertising?? But at those prices, I’ll have to wait until someone gifts me a copy. And just forget about paying $800 for the new version of Microsoft Office. I know that ribbon is kind of pretty but it ain’t $800 pretty.
