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One of the most interesting functions available in Google Spreadsheets is GoogleLookup, which uses an automatically-generated database of facts to find answers for questions like "What's the population of Quebec?" or "How many employees does Google have?".

Unfortunately, the answers aren't always accurate and it would be useful to choose a different result or to edit the existing one. A recent Google Spreadsheet update added a way to change the answer: click on the cell you want to edit, select "More options" and choose one of the other two alternative answers. Maybe Google will go one step further and provide an interface for editing the facts or flagging the facts that are inaccurate.


To use GoogleLookup, create a Google Spreadsheet and type in a cell:
=GoogleLookup("name", "attribute")

Some examples:
=GoogleLookup("Quebec", "population")
=GoogleLookup("Google", "employees")

Google Spreadsheets has a special function that returns information related to the Men's and Women's NCAA Division I Basketball Championship in the US and there's also a function for stock market quotes.

Homework: Create a spreadsheet that displays facts about 20 people, companies or geographical locations by using the Google Sets-powered AutoFill feature to generate the list of entities and GoogleLookup to find the facts. You can make the spreadsheet public and share the address in the comments.

JPEGSnoop is a free application (Windows) that gives you details of JPEG and MotionJPEG AVI files.

It is for anyone who is curious in finding out the source of an image to test its authenticity.

The application can open various file types that contains an embedded JPEG image like: .JPG, .AVI, .MOV, .PDF & more.

Besides the authenticity, JPEGSnoop provides other detailed information about the images like:

• JPEG quality & resolution
• EXIF metadata
• Makernotes
• RGB histograms & more..

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The Amazon Kindle may have the backing of Oprah Winfrey, but Sony has found a weapon to fight back in promoting its own electronic bookreader: half a million free books.

The company has done a deal with Google to provide the free books for users of the Sony Reader, taking the device’s library to 600,000 books. The newly-added books are all from before 1923 and thus out of copyright, meaning Google is actually providing the digital files rather than the artistic content.

Amazon currently only has 245,000 books available for the Kindle, though the main selling point there is that they include modern, copyrighted titles. So in theory at least it should be Beatrix Potter for the Sony Reader and Harry Potter for the Kindle.

Technically it’s already possible to view these books on the Sony Reader. However, this involves downloading a PDF file from the Google Books site, saving it to a memory card, then putting this into the Reader. Thanks to the Google deal, users will be able to download the files through the Reader’s own library system. However, that’s still not as convenient as the Kindle’s option for wireless downloads on the move.

Google has already made its library of public domain titles available for users of both the iPhone and devices which use its own Android operating system. But this is the first time the books are readily available on a dedicated reading device, which is good news for the eyesight of classic literature lovers.

Designed by McBride Charles Ryan, the Klein Bottle experimental house has first started as a sphere, but as shown in the picture above, was deconstructed to provide functional living space to its inhabitant. The green geeks among you will be pleased to learn that the structure also features a rain water collection system and a multitude of solar panels. Given the chance, would you be interested in living in a house that looks like this?

[Via Dornob]

Opportunities abound for businesses that used prosperous times to build up their war chest. Even companies that didn't build up large cash reserves can employ some of the same strategies to expand or enter into new markets. ...

A friend asked me to help him think about how to split the equity in a company he was starting. His colleague is contributing office space and some key technology. My friend is responsible for where the business goes from here. I told him this:

If you apportion equity, you will certainly do it wrong.

That's because it's based on a snapshot, a moment in time.

Sure, today, your partner's share is worth 50% and yours is worth 50%. His because of what he did, yours because of what you're going to do.

But a year from now, that number can't possibly be right. You may have acquired six more pieces of software, raised millions, traveled the world, closed sales and sold the company. Wow. Or, you may have done absolutely nothing.

So, my best advice is to say, "Today, right now, your contribution is worth 5% of the company and my creation of the company is worth 5%. The other 90% is based on what each of us does over the next 18 months. Here's a list of what has to get done, and what we agree it's worth..."

And then make a list. Stuff like commenting and updating and supporting the code. Stuff like closing sales and hiring people and raising money...

Of course, you leave an out for unforeseen events and dilution based on bringing in new partners.

You may end up having small disagreements about how to interpret the list, but this sort of advance flexibility is well worth the awkward conversation it takes to get it started. Another tip: put in a clause appointing a trusted third party as an arbitrator, so small disagreements don't snowball into litigation.

Few months ago, a post at WRD was sharing the Microsoft Web Platform.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the new features in Web Platform, which are:

• Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 Beta
• Web Application Gallery

The Web Platform aims to be a complete ecosystem for building and hosting websites, services, and applications.

Microsoft Web Platform Installer

It installs almost everything that can be required in a Windows server environment like:

• IIS 6/7
• SQL Server 2008 Express
• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
• PHP v5.2.9-1 & more..

and enables users to install web applications like Wordpress, DotNetNuke & more with 1-click.

Web Application Gallery

This is the presentation of the applications that support Microsoft Web Platform. And best of all, anyone can create new applications & have them listed in the gallery which is an opportunity for reaching to thousands.

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Two of my favorite people to interview – ever- are Fritz Grobe and Stephen Yoltz of Eepybird.com, a performance troupe based in Maine. If you’re anything like 40 million other people in the world, you know these guys from “The Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments” – a recreation of the Bellagio Fountains using nothing but Diet Coke & Mentos.

And while watching the Diet Coke & Mentos fountain is cool, cooler still are the minds behind the viral video sensation.

I first interviewed them at a show they produced at Maker Faire Austin 2007 – which is when the first part of this two-part video was filmed, and then again at Maker Faire Austin 2008, which is when the second half was filmed. In it they talk about the process behind both “Mentos” and the newer “Post-It” projects, including when 3M (the maker of Post-it notes) showed up at their house in the woods of Maine with two tons of post-it notes, when they went to Castile, Spain to set a world record – and about their rivalry with a business school in Riva, Latvia.

All from Diet Coke & Mentos.

If you’re just interested in skipping the interviews and seeing a high definition, live-before-an-audience version of Diet Coke & Mentos, you’ll find two opportunities to skip ahead, one at 2:40 of the first video, and the other at 7:32 of the second video.

But really – these guys are insane geniuses, and little, to date, has been asked about the methods to their madness. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired by it. Or entertained, at least.

If you’d like to see the videos in full HD resolution (well worth it!), just hit this link for part 1, and this one for part 2. The links will take you to the videos’ high-def pages on YouTube.

The Diet Coke & Mentos Saga of the EepyBirds - Part 1 (2007)

The Diet Coke & Mentos Saga of the EepyBirds - Part 2 (2008)

[Picture source: Flickr]

Google Maps added street view imagery for many major cities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Amsterdam and Rotterdam are some of the cities added to Google Street View.

"Having checked my old house in Sheffield, which I moved out of last year, I can tell that the photo was taken in the last nine months, so it's much more up-to-date than the Google Maps imagery for the area," noticed Tony Ruscoe.



More interesting photos at Google Maps Mania blog.

Gmail launched four new experimental features in Gmail Labs that show previews for some of the links included in an email. For now, Google supports YouTube videos, images from Flickr and Picasa Web Albums and Yelp reviews.

Here's an example: if you receive a message that includes links to YouTube videos and Flickr images, you'll see a list of previews below the message.


"Gmail currently automatically detects package tracking information, addresses, and event information and shows quick links to delivery status, maps and directions, and Google Calendar. So why couldn't Gmail automatically detect links in emails and show videos, photos, and ratings right inside these messages as well?" asks the Gmail blog.

While the previews are useful, placing them below the message is unfortunate. A Firefox extension like Interclue does a better job at showing smart previews for many other kinds of content and it's not limited to Gmail.