NowPublic.com, a technology platform enabling citizen reporting is also based on drupal. The site has been live for about six or seven weeks now, and while they consider it a beta, I'd say it's has tons of promise.
Outside of the single most established Korean based OhMyNewsmost, if not all of the citizen reporting web sites I've looked at, including WikiNews, have had a hard time gaining traction. I'm not sure why they're having such trouble, particularly given the popularity of WikiPedia, but it is clear however that the movement is beginning to take off, and here to stay. News will never be the same - and imho that is a VERY good thing!
What I really like about NowPublic, and what imho differentiates it from the other sites, is that the site is NOT trying to be the hub of citizen reporting itself - it's trying to create a toolset to facilitate citizen reporting. Through creative commons licensing and their really nifty 'SmartMedia' technology their goal is to facilitate the spread of newsworthy information created by people like you and I (though admittedly they need to do a MUCH better job of communicating this). Anyone (you don't need to be a member) can use the content posted on NowPublic. So if you have a blog and are writing a story and you need/want pictures or video you can use existing or request new photos/audio/video from NP members.
Being a photographer, I like the fact that through their SmartMedia my photos always show my name, and provide a way to contact me directly (actually had one person offer me a gig through this already!!) - this is all done through the image itself ensuring that anyone who uses my photos attributes it back to me (anyone who has posted a good pic to the web has most likely had it ripped off and should really apperciate this new idea). Additionally, anyone who sees the photo on any site can in turn copy it and put it on their site... it's really a great promotional vehicle for photographers. But my favorite bit is that every story is implicitly a request for citizen coverage - if you want to see a local perspective on a story, simply post it to the site. In effect every story is actually an assignment - you now have an army of people, soon to be larger than any major media organization willing to go out and get coverage of the story for you! As a photog, I'll never be at a loss for photos ideas again!
They are currently running a contest, awarding cash prizes to encourage people to go out and take photographs of newsworthy events. Their Citizen Photojournalism Awards were created to encourage people to go out and cover news stories. Any newsworthy photo uploaded to NowPublic is eligible for weekly $100 cash awards and there is a $500 grand prize. I'm hoping I win something so I can get that fish eye lens I've been drooling over.
I purchased a stealth when they first came out, but have recently switched back to my standard ergo keyboard b/c i've been unable to achieve a fast enough typing speed with the stealth. While it was better for my arms (I have been dealing with serious RSI problems for several years now) this might have been because my productivity was cut by more then half... the main problem was that I never got used to touch-typing, and i'm willing to admit that i never gave it my all - i think if i REALLY spent hours a day trying to retrain myself (similar to the hours I first put in to learn typing years ago) i might increase my speed over time, but this requires an almost unrealistic time commitment... and unfortunately for the company, I think it's harder to retrain then it is to train. In order for the product to take off i think they need to improve their product to absorb more of this burden (e.g. there are specific problems, like typing reparative characters, and the overall sensitivity of the board) I plan to give it another go, but I don't have the highest of hopes until they improve the technology some more (which they seem to be doing all the time).
The company has been very helpful and sensitive to my needs - so it is well worth trying the keyboards if you think it will work for you (they have a generous return policy). Originally I ordered the DVORAK layout (at their suggestion) to further help my RSI (under the theory that i'd have to strain less to type b/c of the "more efficient" layout) but it caused my typing to go down to a pathetic ~10 words a min. Trying to retrain myself - while remaining productive at work proved way to difficult - with my RSI it wasn't feasible to put in the extra hours after work to get up to speed... The company took back the DVOARK (as they said they would if it things didn't work out - note, we discussed all this in advance) and promptly shipped me the standard QWERTY layout. They were also very helpful in answering all my questions prior to my purchase, and after my purchase a local nyc representative called me to discuss, get feedback, etc.
I really like the gesture technology - it is a great idea, and they work well; I'm really looking forward to where this goes in the future. I think it will really revolutionize human computer interaction. You can scroll up/down, move the cursor around the screen, etc. all without having to leave the keyboard, further minimizing hand movements, and helping those with RSI.
Overall I think the product is a bit pricey, but well worth the try - I look forward to amazing things from them.
MS has has RealNames (http://www.realnames.com/body/home.asp) e.g. type the word "explorer" into your address bar in IE and you get the website: http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/explorer/index.as p?flashok=true
i have a really nasty RSI problem (repetitive stress injury; most people who claim to have, or are diagnosed with Carpel Tunnel, really have an RSI type issue). After a lot of research, I bought an expensive version of one of these head mice, the head tracker . Long story short, while it helped me pull through the harder times, and keep working, i would have been MUCH better off walking away. I've done serious damage to my neck (and my arms are still pretty bad). I've also tried foot mice - you damage your feet. Think about it - your neck (or your arms) for that matter weren't built for such fine motor movements, repeated thousands of times... word to the wise, they may help some people who have NO other way to access a computer, but I would be weary for others... we need a device that can read brainwaves... LEFT!!! no LEFT!!! god damn it! (click...) doh!
You are nothing but an ignorant troll. Have you ever been to afternic.com? I've been a member of afternic for a long time now. Afternic is an independent third party exchange for domain names -- they merely provide a platform whereby owners of domain names can auction them; afternic the company itself does not auction any names; they are an exchange, not a broker or domain owner. Afternic has never violated any ICANN policy.
Where is the court filing that you speak of? I find your claim to be outrageous, and completely un-found.
In an completely one-sided advisory, which is clearly propaganda, ICANN states:
"In investigating Afternic's application for accreditation, ICANN discovered that Afternic's web site presented many offers to sell domain names based on other company's names, some with remarks reflecting the abusive nature of the offers. One company name, for example, was offered with the remark that it would be an "Excellent domain for a reseller, owner, or competitor of" the company (this example was offered at a starting bid of $125,000)....Currently, Afternic's site is offering many other domains incorporating well-known business, celebrity, and government agency names..."
Nobody likes cybersquatters, myself included, but how is this different from how Network Solutions or any other company operates in this market? You can go to register.com or Network Solutions and register anything you want, no matter what law or trademark it violates. That is between the user and the entity which feels it is being violated. The same thing is true on afternic. Just like EBAY, with almost 200,000 auctions it would be impossible to actively police everything.
Afternic did not encourage these people to purchase these names, and they fully comply with ICANN's dispute resolution process, as wells requests from trademark holders, etc.
ironic that nsi has recently tried to force domains to be a service rather than property (thereby reducing liability and retaining control of.com namespace) - and then this week - they announced that they are going to offer aftermarket services to compete directly with afternic.com!
if nsi is claiming that as a registrant i don't own my name, pretty odd that they would offer a service for me to sell it! they are so greedy they need to have their cake and eat it too - a domain is like property when nsi needs a sexy new revenue stream to announce for its shareholders, but it is a service when nsi might be legally liable. they will probably get their way, they exert so much influence and $ over icann and the industry (not to mention political clout). no big deal, just the future of internet identity and branding at stake.:-O
use melbourne it; they have the most registrant friendly license agreement (only ones to receive 4 stars by www.domainbuyersguide.com)
Cybersquatting is identity blackmail, pure and simple. Registering a name that is closely tied to an individual or organization and offering to sell it to the identity holder for extortion profits.
Outside the narrow confines of extortion, there is domain name speculation, which is no different than speculation in other markets (real estate, commodities, stocks, beanie babies, etc). It is also interesting to note that it is legal to buy and sell trademarks, patents and copyrights - which branding and advertising companies do all the time. Philosophically and ethically, what is the difference between trademarking a name and licensing or selling the trademark, or registering a domain and doing the same?
So why do some people still have a problem with the domain name aftermarket? Is it because ordinary people can play in a game that has until now been reserved for large companies? Is it because some people are still clinging to a precommercial Internet and ignoring inevitable market realities? Regardless, the domain aftermarket is here, its getting bigger every day, and it's becoming more accepted as just another market in which speculators win and lose.
Afternic.com is the leader of the secondary market for domain names. With 60,000 names on auction we have more domains then all other major auction sites (yahoo, ebay, etc.) combined. If you are looking to buy or sell a domain name I hope that you will seriously consider our site.
I couldn't disagree with you more! First, open markets - auctions or otherwise are great price setting mechanism. Second, I would say they are getting more then 8 million in free advertising from the press coverage alone. I would go so far as to say that it has paid for itself, and then some. Think of it as an investment - and this was a very smart one - with a proven track record of setting record prices in the domain name market (in 1997 it was sold for $150k). It cost a lot of money to brand a site, such a phenomenal domain only makes it easier - again saving you money in the long run, increasing the value of the name. I would argue a name like "business.com" is inherently easier to market, and the money saved by this alone, for a large multimillion dollar company again makes this price more then justifiable. One might argue that business.com is generic, if you drop the.com, what is "business" on it's own?
This is one of the questions our site, Afternic.com is trying to answer, How much is a domain worth? While we can't give you an answer - we do offer an appraisal board, where you can post your domain (anonymously even), and give the community an opportunity to rate it. Various members have different appraisal methodologies, taking into account length, is it a common word or phrase, how fit it is for a business, etc. It's been very educational to see some of the responses. For example, people have placed domains up for appraisal in every price range - I've seen users strike down absurdly high prices, and encourage others to raise a domain that may on auction and undervalued. Hope this helps.
Slashdot Mirror
Outside of the single most established Korean based OhMyNews most, if not all of the citizen reporting web sites I've looked at, including WikiNews, have had a hard time gaining traction. I'm not sure why they're having such trouble, particularly given the popularity of WikiPedia, but it is clear however that the movement is beginning to take off, and here to stay. News will never be the same - and imho that is a VERY good thing!
What I really like about NowPublic, and what imho differentiates it from the other sites, is that the site is NOT trying to be the hub of citizen reporting itself - it's trying to create a toolset to facilitate citizen reporting. Through creative commons licensing and their really nifty 'SmartMedia' technology their goal is to facilitate the spread of newsworthy information created by people like you and I (though admittedly they need to do a MUCH better job of communicating this). Anyone (you don't need to be a member) can use the content posted on NowPublic. So if you have a blog and are writing a story and you need/want pictures or video you can use existing or request new photos/audio/video from NP members.
Being a photographer, I like the fact that through their SmartMedia my photos always show my name, and provide a way to contact me directly (actually had one person offer me a gig through this already!!) - this is all done through the image itself ensuring that anyone who uses my photos attributes it back to me (anyone who has posted a good pic to the web has most likely had it ripped off and should really apperciate this new idea). Additionally, anyone who sees the photo on any site can in turn copy it and put it on their site... it's really a great promotional vehicle for photographers. But my favorite bit is that every story is implicitly a request for citizen coverage - if you want to see a local perspective on a story, simply post it to the site. In effect every story is actually an assignment - you now have an army of people, soon to be larger than any major media organization willing to go out and get coverage of the story for you! As a photog, I'll never be at a loss for photos ideas again!
They are currently running a contest, awarding cash prizes to encourage people to go out and take photographs of newsworthy events. Their Citizen Photojournalism Awards were created to encourage people to go out and cover news stories. Any newsworthy photo uploaded to NowPublic is eligible for weekly $100 cash awards and there is a $500 grand prize. I'm hoping I win something so I can get that fish eye lens I've been drooling over.
I purchased a stealth when they first came out, but have recently switched back to my standard ergo keyboard b/c i've been unable to achieve a fast enough typing speed with the stealth. While it was better for my arms (I have been dealing with serious RSI problems for several years now) this might have been because my productivity was cut by more then half... the main problem was that I never got used to touch-typing, and i'm willing to admit that i never gave it my all - i think if i REALLY spent hours a day trying to retrain myself (similar to the hours I first put in to learn typing years ago) i might increase my speed over time, but this requires an almost unrealistic time commitment... and unfortunately for the company, I think it's harder to retrain then it is to train. In order for the product to take off i think they need to improve their product to absorb more of this burden (e.g. there are specific problems, like typing reparative characters, and the overall sensitivity of the board) I plan to give it another go, but I don't have the highest of hopes until they improve the technology some more (which they seem to be doing all the time).
The company has been very helpful and sensitive to my needs - so it is well worth trying the keyboards if you think it will work for you (they have a generous return policy). Originally I ordered the DVORAK layout (at their suggestion) to further help my RSI (under the theory that i'd have to strain less to type b/c of the "more efficient" layout) but it caused my typing to go down to a pathetic ~10 words a min. Trying to retrain myself - while remaining productive at work proved way to difficult - with my RSI it wasn't feasible to put in the extra hours after work to get up to speed... The company took back the DVOARK (as they said they would if it things didn't work out - note, we discussed all this in advance) and promptly shipped me the standard QWERTY layout. They were also very helpful in answering all my questions prior to my purchase, and after my purchase a local nyc representative called me to discuss, get feedback, etc.
I really like the gesture technology - it is a great idea, and they work well; I'm really looking forward to where this goes in the future. I think it will really revolutionize human computer interaction. You can scroll up/down, move the cursor around the screen, etc. all without having to leave the keyboard, further minimizing hand movements, and helping those with RSI.
Overall I think the product is a bit pricey, but well worth the try - I look forward to amazing things from them.
both MS and AOL ALREADY DO HAVE this...
s p?flashok=true
MS has has RealNames (http://www.realnames.com/body/home.asp) e.g. type the word "explorer" into your address bar in IE and you get the website: http://www.fordvehicles.com/suvs/explorer/index.a
AOL has keywords...
i have a really nasty RSI problem (repetitive stress injury; most people who claim to have, or are diagnosed with Carpel Tunnel, really have an RSI type issue). After a lot of research, I bought an expensive version of one of these head mice, the head tracker . Long story short, while it helped me pull through the harder times, and keep working, i would have been MUCH better off walking away. I've done serious damage to my neck (and my arms are still pretty bad). I've also tried foot mice - you damage your feet. Think about it - your neck (or your arms) for that matter weren't built for such fine motor movements, repeated thousands of times... word to the wise, they may help some people who have NO other way to access a computer, but I would be weary for others... we need a device that can read brainwaves... LEFT!!! no LEFT!!! god damn it! (click...) doh!
Where is the court filing that you speak of? I find your claim to be outrageous, and completely un-found.
In an completely one-sided advisory, which is clearly propaganda, ICANN states:
"In investigating Afternic's application for accreditation, ICANN discovered that Afternic's web site presented many offers to sell domain names based on other company's names, some with remarks reflecting the abusive nature of the offers. One company name, for example, was offered with the remark that it would be an "Excellent domain for a reseller, owner, or competitor of" the company (this example was offered at a starting bid of $125,000)....Currently, Afternic's site is offering many other domains incorporating well-known business, celebrity, and government agency names..."
Nobody likes cybersquatters, myself included, but how is this different from how Network Solutions or any other company operates in this market? You can go to register.com or Network Solutions and register anything you want, no matter what law or trademark it violates. That is between the user and the entity which feels it is being violated. The same thing is true on afternic. Just like EBAY, with almost 200,000 auctions it would be impossible to actively police everything.
Afternic did not encourage these people to purchase these names, and they fully comply with ICANN's dispute resolution process, as wells requests from trademark holders, etc.
ironic that nsi has recently tried to force domains to be a service rather than property (thereby reducing liability and retaining control of .com namespace) - and then this week - they announced that they are going to offer aftermarket services to compete directly with afternic.com!
(see http://www.afternic .com/index.cfm?a=th&fId=21&tid=1497&rc=11008)
if nsi is claiming that as a registrant i don't own my name, pretty odd that they would offer a service for me to sell it! they are so greedy they need to have their cake and eat it too - a domain is like property when nsi needs a sexy new revenue stream to announce for its shareholders, but it is a service when nsi might be legally liable. they will probably get their way, they exert so much influence and $ over icann and the industry (not to mention political clout). no big deal, just the future of internet identity and branding at stake.:-O
use melbourne it; they have the most registrant friendly license agreement (only ones to receive 4 stars by www.domainbuyersguide.com)
Outside the narrow confines of extortion, there is domain name speculation, which is no different than speculation in other markets (real estate, commodities, stocks, beanie babies, etc). It is also interesting to note that it is legal to buy and sell trademarks, patents and copyrights - which branding and advertising companies do all the time. Philosophically and ethically, what is the difference between trademarking a name and licensing or selling the trademark, or registering a domain and doing the same?
So why do some people still have a problem with the domain name aftermarket? Is it because ordinary people can play in a game that has until now been reserved for large companies? Is it because some people are still clinging to a precommercial Internet and ignoring inevitable market realities? Regardless, the domain aftermarket is here, its getting bigger every day, and it's becoming more accepted as just another market in which speculators win and lose.
Afternic.com is the leader of the secondary market for domain names. With 60,000 names on auction we have more domains then all other major auction sites (yahoo, ebay, etc.) combined. If you are looking to buy or sell a domain name I hope that you will seriously consider our site.
Afternic.com is the domain name exchange.
This is one of the questions our site, Afternic.com is trying to answer, How much is a domain worth? While we can't give you an answer - we do offer an appraisal board, where you can post your domain (anonymously even), and give the community an opportunity to rate it. Various members have different appraisal methodologies, taking into account length, is it a common word or phrase, how fit it is for a business, etc. It's been very educational to see some of the responses. For example, people have placed domains up for appraisal in every price range - I've seen users strike down absurdly high prices, and encourage others to raise a domain that may on auction and undervalued. Hope this helps.