Magic and computering

Magiksyl
envoyé par degentsyl

Last year when we had our course in E-business with Liz Craig, thanks to her we discovered so many new things. And I am thinking particularly about dailymotion. To be honest, I do not understanding many things about computering and before that course I do not know even how to build a blog. I was using internet only to make some kind of researches and read my emails.

As I already told you during the classroom, I am deeply passionated by conjuring and I remember that in the middle of december 2007, Liz Craig asked me a question: "We had a discuss in class about the concept of dailymotion, so now why don't you create an account and upload some videos on it?"
So I decided to follow her advice and as I had nothing to make some videos I decided to use my webcam and start uploading some magic tricks online. That was absolutly new and incredible for me. I made some screen shot about my dailymotion account that I would like to comment but you can go right on dailymotion to watch what I have done with that link:

http://www.dailymotion.com/illusionmagique

I Would like to show this screen shot because I think it is one of the most relevant about dailymotion. I am doing magic since many years during parties or for all kind of special events, but nobody know me or even heard about me. The industry of magic is very small but there are so many people who love it and try to practice as amateur like me.

So I created my account on December 27th of 2007 and I started uploading my first videos on the same day. It is exactly 147 days from today and you can see on the previous screen shot there are already 9487 persons who had a look on my videos, so it make an average of 65 persons watching my videos daily and it will increase very soon because I am going to put around ten new videos next month.
247 users of dailymotion add my videos as their favorites and 159 of them put some comments on them.
To conclude with that screen shot I would like to underline something interresting, indeed dailymotion permits people who have an account to create their own channel and add on it videos of their choice, therefore 36 dailymotiers have added at least one of my videos on their personal channel that is the reason why I have 36 fans.

I have now 18 videos online. My goal as I am developping a business around magic is to meet a maximum of people sharing my hobbit so that is why I am posting some comments on their videos. I have already post 194 comments. Then I discovered that some of dailymotion's users have already set up some groups dealing with magic, so I am member of 42 of them. Right here I copy a shot of a groups page:

The following screen shot concerns my "virtual" magic friends, I have now more than 200 friends on dailymotion:

I am accepting as fiends only users who have already a small knowledge about magic. What it is interresting with that concept is the fact that we are able to discuss easily about specific techniques or manipulations for exemple.
But the major negative aspect is that it is only a virtual friendship. So I decide to organize two weeks ago a meeting with four of them in my own flat and we spend many hours together and we plan to make that kind of small seminar monthly. Next time we will discuss about the creation of an association to organize biger meetings and make magicians amateurs aware on the fact that they are not alone.

InnoCentive Business

InnoCentive is an "open innovation" company that takes research and development problems in a broad range of domains such as Engineering, Computer Science, Math, Chemistry, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Business, frames them as "challenge problems", and opens them up for anyone to solve them. It gives cash awards for the best solutions to solvers who meet the challenge criteria.

The idea for InnoCentive came to Alpheus Bingham and Aaron Schacht after they attended a public lecture at the Santa Fe Institute^. The company was launched in 2001 by Jill Panetta and Alpheus Bingham.

In December 2006 the company signed an agreement with the Rockefeller Foundation to add a non-profit area designed to generate science and technology solutions to pressing problems in the developing world

As of early 2007, InnoCentive's web site features an award from the non-profit "Prize 4 Life" foundation for $1 million for finding a biomarker that measures ALS disease progression.

InnoCentive is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

InnoCentive calls the scientists who attempt the problems "solvers" and the companies these problems come from as "seekers". As of 2005 InnoCentive had 34 of these "seekers" (including Procter & Gamble, Dow AgroSciences and Eli Lilly), which have posted more than 200 "challenges" in 40 scientific disciplines, of which more than 58 had been solved by over 120,000 "solvers".

The problems listed are categorized as biology or chemistry problems, but use a very liberal definition of these disciplines, for example challenges have been posted in the areas of system network theory, manufacturing engineering, design, materials science and nanotechnology.

Solutions have come from US, Europe, Russia, China, India and Argentina; the cash awards for solving challenge problems are typically in the $10,000 to $100,000 range.

InnoCentive provides a consultancy service to enable its clients to make the most of its "solver" network. "Science advisers" and "problem definers" help clients to identify a challenge appropriate for posting on its network. They then estimate an appropriate award fee by determining the complexity of the problem, the resources required find a solution, and the value transferred to the company. InnoCentive reserves the right to reject the award amounts that are deemed too low and its experts provide a solution vetting service to screen out ideas that do not meet the challenge criteria.

InnoCentive forces its "seeker" companies to agree to intellectuel property audits so that once a solution is provided to the company it can guarantee that the intellectual property is not used if the company decides not to award it. The company may also force the "seeker" company to award the solution if it deems that it meets the requirements of the challenge.

InnoCentive also provides a consultancy service to its network of "solvers". Its "science experts" provide feedback to explain the terms of the challenges as well as why submitted solutions may be deficient. It provides the logistic and legal framework for maintaining their control over the intellectual property until its sale to the seeker company. All communication and submitted solutions remain confidential.

Competitors offering similar services include NineSigma, Yet2.com, and YourEncore.

What is a mash-up ?

It is the capability to mix and match data and applications from multiple sources into one dynamic entity. You put opposite things together= Creates a new product.
The term mash-up comes from the hip-hop music practice of mixing two or more songs.
Timbaland is good in mash ups, mixing different styles of music to rap.

Here's a sampling of mash-up Web sites:
Panoramio: a mash-up of Google Maps and geopositioned photographs of locations
Hiking Outpost: a mash-up of Amazon and online hiking information resources
Flash Earth: a zoomable mash-up of Google Maps and Microsoft's Virtual Earth
Diggdot: a mash-up of Digg, Slashdot and Del.icio.us that integrates and filters content
HousingMaps: a mash-up of Google Maps and Craigslist rental ads that displays geographical information for rental properties.

The freemium concept

Magic videos wall

Stelios Haji-Ioannou at Zeitgeist Europe 2007

Landind with easyJet

Fun chez Easy-Jet
envoyé par Tango-fox