Thought this was cool…. even more prevalent in the deaf world, which is like 1% of the entire population.

Yahoo! Answers – theory of six degrees of separation

In 1967, psychologist Stanley Milgram tried to test the theory by sending several letters to random people in the Midwest. The letter featured the name, address, and occupation of a single person on the East Coast; participants were asked to forward the letters to the people who they thought were most likely to know the person. It took an average of five intermediaries to reach the target.

AOL shareholders should be glad abt this news.

The deal shows that Google is willing to pay to preserve its lucrative relationship with AOL and prevent Microsoft from becoming a bigger provider of Internet search tools. A deal between Microsoft and AOL would have made Microsoft’s own advertising network more attractive.

The struggle over AOL reflects the larger competitive landscape between rivals Google and Microsoft, said Internet analyst Scott Kessler of Standard and Poor’s.

The proposed agreement with Google gives AOL more flexibility to sell Google search ads, and have them appear only on AOL sites. The online service currently directs advertisers to Google’s Web site with no way to limit display ads to its own customers.

AOL is Google’s biggest customer, accounting for about $420 million, or about 10 percent, of Google’s revenue during the first nine months of this year, according to regulatory filings.

Most of the $420 million came from the ads Google distributes on AOL’s Web site. The two companies first began working together in 2002 when Google wrestled away AOL from another online advertising network currently owned by Yahoo Inc.

Microsoft, which increasingly views Google as a fierce rival, has been negotiating with Time Warner since January but did not propose any cash investment in AOL, officials said.

*update*

Google has bought 5% of AOL for one billion dollars, preventing Microsoft from making a big move into the search engine market.

Gmail Mobile.

Type http://m.gmail.com in ur browser on your sidekick. Only one image will be loaded (Google logo) and the rest is all text, which means it gets downloaded fast. Oh yeah, you can always search ur emails. No need to sort. :-)

Calvin really loves snow, especially making snowmans.

Some of my fave:

Click on pics to enlarge.

Type “20002” or your zip code and “weather” in the google search. Now you get your weather report in < 1 second than loading up on weather.com and bunch of ads. :-)

Wanna know which one is really the best search engine? Google, Yahoo, or MSN? Don’t sweat, there’s an easy way to find out.. Just take this test and you shall see. *matrix theme plays*

Hmm, this is neat and looks promising…

answers.yahoo.com

Question: How old is the oldest man on Earth at the time being?

Answer: Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (Puerto Rico), born in Cabo Rojo on August 21, 1891, became the oldest fully authenticated man residing in the world on 17 January 2005 at the age of 113 years 149 days.

Currently living in Isabela, Puerto Rico, he is also the oldest living veteran, having been called up in 1918 by the US Army. A non-combat veteran, he was two months into training when World War I ended on 11 November 1918.

Saw this on someone’s blog and thought I’d share with you guys. A good perspective on life and money.

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

“I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life.”

The American interrupted, “I have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”

“And after that?” asked the Mexican.

“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterwards? Well my friend, That’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!”

“Millions? Really? And after that?” said the Mexican.

“After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like and enjoying your friends.”

And the moral is: know where you’re going in life; you may already be there.

Microsoft, Google still vying for AOL

Google and Microsoft are fighting over to get a deal with AOL that will allow them to tap their internet advertisements within AOL. Even though AOL is rapidly losing subscribers to a broadband service, it is still the largest internet service provider, so, whoever got the deal would be HUGE. Microsoft probably has the edge in money and is desperate to set off in internet advertisments but it’s Google that has the momentum and has an immediate credibility.

Moreover, Google is eyeing a deal with Comcast cable company, also for internet advertising plus possible other things like an agreement to put Google as a default search engine on the Comcast’s start-up disk, which was what they did with Mozilla Firefox’s default homepage – to the google search.

Now, I can see why Google is so insistent on getting information as much as possible, every data counts—doesn’t matter what they are and after building a huge wealth of data, they can go after the businesses and say we have the data, we have every possible data there is and we can help you make money off advertisements by the means of our data.

It’s only beginning.

Wanna see how Google throws a holiday party? Look no further than here and here.

No, I didn’t go. :-(

And check this convo out with two IBMers after I gave her the link.

Pamela: wanna see google holiday party pixs?
Brian: nahhh. I don’t want to be envious of google employees
Pamela: http://www.xanga.com/GrowingGrass
Brian: strange party
Brian: looks like fun too
Pamela: airhockey, pp, billard. wow
Brian: yeah. ok. now you’re getting me a bit jealous of google.

:-)

It’s about time that someone has created a complete list of how much caffeine there is in every drink. AMP’s my fave energy drink—it has 112.5 caffeine.

Caffeine Content Chart. :-)

Flat panel tv on each aisle?, Posted via Sidekick II by natech.

Wal-mart trying to be tech?

On the way to work this morning, I happened to see two hybrid cars rolling next to each other on the highway. Obviously, one was a Toyota Prius and the other a Honda Civic Hybrid. It occurred to me that hybrid cars are becoming more mainstream ‘cuz, like on the HOV lane , one in every 5 car is a Toyota Prius. It’s only going to go up with the gas price (although it’s being cheaper right now but $3.00 a gallon is going to be a fixture in the near future) and urban houses being ridiculously expensive, people are going to have a long commute to work. Anyway, while I was able to look at two hybrid cars at the same time, the new 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid is much better-looking than the Prius. Aside from being a Honda loyal owner, I really like the new look of the Civic and if you are going to get the car, you better be able to afford it (duh). So I was already thinking how can I get my hands on the new Civic. So, look at what I have here:

1. 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid MSRP: $21,850. I’ll negotiate for 20k, although that probably will be very hard due to high demand and stupid dealership markups.

2. Google’s Fuel-Efficient Vehicle Incentive Program: $5,000 cash.

3. Federal Tax Credit – $2,100 (that’s a CREDIT to you, not a mere deduction. )

4. Washington DC sales tax waiver and discounted vehicle registration – abt $1,000.

So, Estimated Final Price = $11,900. Plus if i sold my car for $13,000. Well, I’ll be damned, Who thought I’d actually get some money for getting a hybrid car? And not to mention, years of saving money on gas, which comes in thousands, not just hundreds.

mm-hmm….

Apparently, someone took a pic of this roadmap of Sidekick lineup. Looks like Sidekick III is identical to II except the mp3 player thing, which I don’t need. Then a new redesign in 2007 called a Sidekick NG that can play video.