Hashemian Blog
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Sunday, March 26, 2006
Energy drinks paradox
As I remember from my biology classes of decades ago, food is what gives us energy. Suddenly this seemingly common-sense belief had been turned on its head thanks to the bevy of new drinks sweeping the market, known as energy drinks.
The other day I saw a can of Tab in the grocery store with the phrase "Low Calorie Energy Drink" printed right on the can and suddenly the absurdity of this statement hit me. How could a low calorie drink produce any energy? Tab is one of the old diet drinks on the market. Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi are perhaps the reigning diet drinks, but by some accounts Tab still has a solid following, which is why you can still find it on store shelves.
With the success of so called energy beverages such as Gatorade, Red Bull and Monster, many more are getting into the fray, and some, like Tab, use their established names to attract a piece of the multi-billion dollar energy drink market share.
Am I too old-fashioned not to fall for the hype? Perhaps. I had never tried these drinks until last week when I was given a free promotional bottle of Powerade, the competitor to Gatorade. I was excited to taste this potion and see what the fuss was all about. One taste of this nasty mediciny drink and I tossed it right into the garbage can. Thanks, but no thanks.
If I want an energy drink, regular high-fructose corn syrup Coke will do just fine. If I want to stay alert, tea or coffee fit the bill, and if I'm thirsty cold water or seltzer is my magic potion. As the saying goes, if it ain't broken don't fix it. No gimmicky energy drink can replace a glass of cold milk or orange juice for me. Let the hip crowd enjoy the newfangled chemically fortified drinks, I stay with my old-fashioned boring drinks.
tab energy,coke,pepsi,gatorade,powerade,red bull,monster,energy drink,soda <Energy drinks paradox>
// posted by rh
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Database free-for-all
There was a time when being a database vendor was easy money. Today database management systems have become dime-a-dozen commodities, thanks to widespread availability and the number of competing vendors peddling their products. This sea-change is of course not just limited to databases. Commercial software in general is rapidly marching towards the open source model. To quote Greg Stein of Apache Software Foundation, "… over time, you aren't going to be paying for software anymore."
To put things in perspective, oracle, the king of databases, offers a free version of its database engine, Oracle Database XE, which is currently in beta. IBM has a free version of DB2, Microsoft has SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, and Sybase also offers a free version of its database product.
I have actually downloaded and experimented with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and have found it to be a solid database. Okay, it doesn't have the bells and whistles of its pricey siblings, nor does it scale as much or has technical support attached, but it is still a great value.
I suppose MySQL and Postgres SQL still reign supreme in the freebie database world, but that might be due to the fact that many people may not be aware of the free versions of commercial products. The open source guys probably aren't feeling too happy about these free products flooding the market. How much more can you compete with free, short of paying users money to deploy your product?
The point is that the commercial software is finally seeing the writing on the wall and is beginning to adapt. As many have predicted, the future of making money in software is not selling products, but it is in providing support and services around such products.
There is however one free database product that is so versatile and so nimble that it would be difficult to uproot from its niche. SQLite is a beautifully crafted and versatile database product that is truly cross-platform. What it lacks in terms of terribly advanced features and power, it more than makes up in speed, ease of use, and flexibility. SQLite has my vote for one of the best database products available on the market.
database,oracle,sql,mysql,postgres,sqlite,sql server,microsoft,ibm,db2,sybase,open source <Database free-for-all>
// posted by rh
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Microsoft Windows Live Mail
I have been writing a few entries about the Microsoft Live products in my blog. This entry is about Windows Live Mail. A few days ago I had registered for the beta version of this product, and yesterday I received the invitation in my Hotmail account to join, and join I did with some reservation.
I wasn’t so enthused about Microsoft Live which was basically a hosting service with some bells and whistles, but Windows Live Mail definitely won me over. When Google introduced the Gmail service, I pretty much packed up my bags and migrated from Hotmail. But I am glad that my Hotmail account was still active when I signed on to Windows Live Mail.
With Windows Live Mail Microsoft can finally give Gmail a run for its money. It has a smooth, slick interface, and it’s been designed to mimic Outlook. It has a clean interface, and it is much more responsive that the old, tired Hotmail, thanks to AJAX. The product is still in beta and it doesn’t offer some amenities such as POP download, email forwarding, or the large storage space that Gmail does.
If Microsoft decides to match some of the missing features, it is quite possible that it would give some second thoughts to those who were contemplating leaving Hotmail, and it might even win back some of the market share that was lost to Gmail.
For now, I am not planning to abandon my Gmail account, but as the product improves, I can see the possibility of switching back to Hotmail (now Windows Live Mail) in a not too distant future.
Microsoft,Windows Live Mail,Hotmail,Google,Gmail,Windows Live <Microsoft Windows Live Mail>
// posted by rh
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Amazon S3
Today I received an email from Amazon touting the release of their new storage service, Amazon S3. This is a new addition to Amazon’s arsenal of Web services, dubbed AWS (Amazon Web Services). S3 (which stands for Simple Storage Service) offers online storage to users at relatively cheap prices. It is the latest in the Amazon Web Services tools which include Alexa Web Search, Mechanical Turk, and Alexa Top Sites, among others.
AWS used to refer to Amazon’s interface to its catalog of inventories. The moniker was later changed to Amazon E-Commerce Service (AES), while AWS became the umbrella label for the various services it offers today and its future Web Services.
By releasing S3 and other Web services, Amazon seems to be following in the footsteps of Google which has transformed itself from being a strictly search company, to one that offers multitude of online services. Just as before when it transforms itself from being strictly an online bookstore to a marketplace, Amazon seems to be chasing new revenue models by morphing itself into a one-stop shop for various Web products.
Whether the new S3 service can become a successful venture depends on what other competitors might have up their sleeves in the coming months. For example, Google is rumored to be working on its own online storage offering which would become a rival to S3. Google shook up the online email market a few years back by offering Gmail which gives users a gigantic amount of storage with a slick interface.
If Google decides to enter the online storage market, one might guess that it could make it a free service supported by advertising. In that case, while Amazon may have bragging rights for being first, Google might steal the show with its cost-free model and a more user-friendly interface.
Amazon,Google,online storage,Amazon s3,aws,gmail,alexa <Amazon S3>
// posted by rh
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Google adsense settlement
Last week’s news of Google settling the adsense lawsuit for $90 million dollar, finally put to rest the dark cloud that was hanging over Google for quite some time. Click fraud is a known and abused strategy by which scammers can generate revenues while unscrupulous competitors can drain advertising funds from each other.
The settlement, if nothing, is a good move for Google. While they claims that they do a good job thwarting junk clicks, of which I’m sure they do, Google has decided to be fair and own up to the fact that its methods are not fool-proof. Instead of arrogantly sticking to its guns, Google decided to play nice and that’s a win for all parties involved.
Click fraud will continue to dog this industry for the foreseeable future, but by making this move Google has also assured a commitment to its advertisers. So in the long term this bit of settlement money is a good investment for its reputation and ultimately its future as it explores new streams of advertising revenues.
Google,adsense,click fraud <Google adsense settlement>
// posted by rh
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Windows live.com
Microsoft’s nascent site, live.com, made yet another milestone today, announcing a new, polished search engine. The new search engine release comes only about a year after Microsoft’s much touted MSN search. MSN search was supposed to be the Google and Yahoo killer, but it was never able to live up to its hype.
Windows Live, together with Office Live are Microsoft’s response to the new Web resurgence currently under way. Dubbed Web 2.0 (some would argue that the moniker is already dated), the new Web renaissance gives users a number of new features such as interactivity, multimedia, on-demand facilities, and real-time presentation of material from various sources, known as mashups. It is, by some accounts, slated to be the future technology that would finally unseat the well-entrenched Windows desktop and other Microsoft productivity suites that currently run on most computers around the world.
It is believed that Microsoft threw quite a bit of money into MSN search, so logically one must assume that the new live.com search is based on the same repository, only with a slick interface. Even with all the progress Microsoft has made to carve out a larger Web market share, it still has a long way to go to match the power and the appeal of Google and Yahoo.
If history is any indication, Microsoft could have that chance to do unto Google what it did with Netscape during the browser wars era. But it is still too early to predict the outcome of Web supremacy. The Web has proven to be too fickle when it comes to brand loyalty and popularity.
live.com,Office live,Windows live,Microsoft,Google,search engines,Yahoo,Netscape,mashup,MSN,Web 2.0 <Windows live.com>
// posted by rh
Monday, March 06, 2006
Web page images
I don't why, but these days no matter what site you surf on, there's always a picture of someone doing something. Most of the time the picture doesn't even come close to describing what the page is pitching.
For example, take a look at the image just above. It's a picture of two women having pizza outdoors. They seem to be having a good time, laughing it up and enjoying each other's company. I saw this today on the login page of Yahoo mail. Okay, I see Yahoo mail is pitching its address book as an alternative to remembering emails. I'm sure it's a great service, but what exactly is the role of this picture there?
Is it supposed to remind me of the great times I had with old friends so I would quickly add them to my address book, lest I forget their email addresses? Is it supposed to engender a happy feeling to encourage me to use Yahoo mail more often? I suppose in the end, it's just trying to get my attention and add a little décor to the page much like a painting on a bare wall.
Not that I mind these pictures. You see them on many sites these days. Bank, phone company, software outfit, tax preparation, and insurance company sites have them. They generally depict people in happy, relaxed, joyful, or content situations. I suppose if happiness and contentment is what everybody is looking for, these picture could create powerful subconscious connections between individuals and the companies displaying them. It makes me wonder how many times I've decided to do business with a company based on a seemingly random happy picture.
marketing,images,web page <Web page images>
// posted by rh
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