Check out Taaz to experience an amazing product that showcases some fairly sophisticated technology. After uploading a picture to Taaz one can quickly modify it by trying out different hairstyles, makeup, and other beauty products. Basically it is a virtual makeover. Besides offering a fun product Taaz is a good example of a Web 2.0 product that is far superior to previous offerings and one which can be free to consumers, but still offer a level of sophistication upon which premium pay offerings can be built. Try it out and you won’t be disappointed.

Sphere

The internet is not a place to let your kids roam free. It is too easy to find inappropriate material that leads to way too many questions. There are plenty of services which offer the ability to filter the internet and make it a safer place. However, these services have never been truly effective because the internet expands and evolves faster then the filters. This made adding filtering technology in schools and the home a frustrating experience because it was still too easy to find the bad stuff and the filters often blocked material that would be helpful for research. This has always lead me to believe that the only real solution would be a program that allows a whitelist of approved sites instead of trying to blacklist all the bad ones. KidZui has created a product that provides just such a solution coupled with a fun and interactive browser easier for kids to use. It is designed for kids ages 3 - 12 and every website, image, and video accessible has been manually reviewed by trained parents and teachers. The program’s interface will change depending on the user’s age to make the experience easier for younger children and more valuable to older kids. Content is also filtered or allowed based on age and parents can approve additional sites at any time. KidZui is a powerful solution and one which can be expanded to become the defacto standard for a safe internet experience beyond even 12 years of age. The service costs $5 per month or $50 for a year in order to have enough money to pay the individuals who review and approve content. However, there are a few other products that offer a similar solution for free such as Kidzcd or the Glubble add-on for Firefox. The KidZui solution is slick and powerful, but it is difficult to compete with free. What this space really needs is a wiki based solution that parents and teachers can use to collaborate together in creating the whitelist of approved material, which then can be used by all filtering programs.

KidZui: The Kid Safe Browser
KidZui: Browser For Kids

Sphere

You may have noticed that this site lacked a proper icon. To remedy the situation I asked all the wlazorik fans to submit an icon they would like to see. I am pleased to announce that the winner of the icon contest is Kristin. The funny, futuristic, and slightly crazy robot you see to the left will be the new face of wlazorik across the web. Thanks to everyone who put forth all the great submissions, and thanks to Kristin for her winning selection. I would also like to thank my wonderful and very beautiful girlfriend Krista for organizing and running the competition.

Sphere

Organic Light Emitting Diode ( OLED ) technology has been in development for a number of years and we have even seen the use of small screens in cell phones and mp3 players. However, the expense of making these screens kept the displays small and limited their uses. Now GE has made a breakthrough by demonstrating a roll-to-roll manufacturing process for organic light electronics. This will drive down the cost and make large living room sized OLED television possible much sooner. It will also be beneficial in the production of solar power cells and high-efficiency lighting. Did I mention that OLED devices are also flexible? Think screens that roll up and lighting where the lamp shade is the light bulb. OLED televisions are superior to today’s Plasma and LCD technologies in every category. If you can’t wait to get a hold of one you can purchase the 11 inch Sony XEL-1 today for $2,500.

Sphere

Recently I discovered that the AddThis and Sphere plugins were causing a Pingback issue in Wordpress. When I sent a ping to one of my own posts the data that appeared in the comments was jumbled and filled with text from the two plugins. The comment that occured appears below:

[…] Google Health Service Enters Pilot Stage addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wlazorik.com%2F2008%2F03%2F04%2Fgoogle-expands-
health-reach-with-
investment-in-gene-sequencing-project%2F’; addthis_title = ‘Google+Expands+Health+Reach
+With+Investment+In+Gene+Sequencing+Project’;
addthis_pub = ‘??????′; Sphere […]

Even after disabling the plugins I still saw the text for the trackback url of the post appearing in the comment. Some of the issues may be related to my theme, but if you are experiencing a similar issue the fix is easy. Simply wrap the code for the plugins and the trackback url in an html paragraph tag <p></p>. This will prevent the text from being sent along with the pingback. Below are the sections of the single post theme file, AddThis, and Sphere plugins which I edited:

Single Post Theme File

<p><a href=”<?php trackback_url(); ?>” rel=”trackback”>Trackback URL</a></p>

AddThis Plugin File

function social_widget_badge($link, $title){
$pub = $this->addthis_username;

$badge = “<p><script type=\”text/javascript\”>\n”;
$badge .= ” addthis_url = ‘$link’;\n”;
$badge .= ” addthis_title = ‘$title’;\n”;
$badge .= ” addthis_pub = ‘$pub’;\n”;
$badge .= “</script><script type=\”text/javascript\” src=\”http://s7.addthis.com/js/addthis_widget.php?v=12\” ></script></p>\n”;

if ( $title == ‘About+Bill+Lazorik’ || $title == ‘Projects’ || $title == ‘Contact+Bill+Lazorik’ ) {
$badge = ”;
}
return $badge;
}

Sphere Plugin File

function get_sphereit_link( $link, $content=NULL ) {

// did we get some content to check?
if (!is_null($content) && !enableSphereItLink($content)) {
return “”;
}

$content= “<p><span style=\”margin-bottom:40px; border-bottom:none;\”>”;
$content.= ‘<a class=”iconsphere” title=”Sphere: Find Related Content” onclick=”return Sphere.Widget.search(\”;
$content.= $link;
$content.= ‘\’)” href=”http://www.sphere.com/search?q=sphereit:’;
$content.= $link;
$content.= ‘”> Sphere</a>’;
$content.= “</span></p>“;

return $content;
}

Feel free to test your pingback configuration by adding a link to this blog in your post.

Sphere

Google continued to branch out into the the Health space with investment in a project to sequence the DNA of 100,000 people. The research project will provide valuable data to the scientific community by helping to isolate the genetic factors involved with a variety of diseases. This type of information can lead to faster drug development and better treatment through the arrival of truly personalized medicine. I am sure the incentive behind the investment is more philanthropic then financial, but it doesn’t hurt to have a hand in this project considering Google’s past investment in Personal Genome Service 23andMe. The results of this research is exactly the type of data that 23andMe requires to expand its capabilities. There were some initial reservations about the relevance of Google’s interest in 23andMe due to Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google president Sergey Brin, being the co-founder. However, the 23andMe service would fit perfectly as an offering in Google Health. Expect to see Google continue both its financial and philanthropic Health investments to gain further leverage in the industry.

Google Backs Harvard Scientist’s 100,000-Genome Quest

Google Invests In DNA Sequencing Project

Google Health Service Enters Pilot Stage

Sphere

Researchers at the Univerity of Hertfordshire have been doing research into people’s perceptions regarding different robots. The idea is to find a robot form factor that would be pleasing to work with on a daily basis. However, the team found out that robot preference depends an awful lot on personality:

People with more extrovert personalities tend to choose more humanoid robots, which have a greater resemblance to humans, with facial features and a human-like voice, whereas more introverted people tend to prefer mechanical-looking robots, more like a box on wheels with a metal head.

Find Your Robot Soulmate

Sphere

As your new fun website of the day I bring you DanceJam by MC Hammer. The site opened to the public on March 1st. It offers a forum for individuals to upload videos of themselves dancing. Dancers battle against each other to determine who has the most skill or funniest moves. For those of who don’t know, MC Hammer is actually active in the tech startup community and DanceJam has been in development for several months. The combination of MC Hammer’s name and a focused niche should should enable the site to distinguish itself from other video startups.

Sphere

Intel has announced the release of a new processor family called Atom that will begin appearing in devices later this year. The ultra low power chip can reach speeds of 1.8GHz. These processors offer a dramatic reduction in power requirements down to less then 2.5 watts from 35. Such a large decrease means longer battery life in ultra portable laptops without compromising performance, and will pave the way for a new category of powerful hand held devices.

Low Power Processors

Intel Press Release

Sphere

Researchers at IBM have discovered the exact amount of force necessary to move individual atoms. Previously scientists used a trial and error based method to get atoms to go in the right direction. Now researchers can figure out that it takes 210 piconewtons to move a cobalt atom on a platinum surface, but only 17 piconewtons on copper. The advancement will prove valuable to the development of faster computers and high-density data storage.

IBM Hits Milestone in Nanotechnology

Sphere