Some of you might have already heard about Matt.

Last year, his video “Where the Hell is Matt ?” was one of the most played (> 6,000,000 views) videos on the internet.

But, who is Matt ? What is the story behind him ?

His full name is Matt Harding, a former designer and writer for videogames.

In 2003 he quit his job and started traveling around the world.

The idea to produce a video that show him dancing during his journey was given by a travel buddy.

The 2005 Video

After producing the first video in 2005 a sponsor asked Matt about a second video.

They paid the bill and the next journey started… and the result we are all aware of!

The 2006 Video

You can read a whole interview with Matt  here  and/or view another interview below.

Matt Harding Interview

Matt published another video where he shows his mistakes and his bad dancing style.

Matt’s Outtakes

The new project is currently running and you can now participate in it.

You can sign up to dance with Matt here.

Crossposted by Cybernout at http://cybernout.wordpress.com/

[source: http://www.mihaidragan.ro/kindablog/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/leopard2.jpg]

Disclaimer: I haver never owned a Mac or used / worked in OSX, however respect both the machine and the OS.

Year – 1998: As a junior editor for the yearbook, I was introduced to a PC, well a computer at least that had a mouse which had only one mouse button! This was the year I had actually been given a computer @ home and I was hooked to Windows 95 and Motoracer and a game called G-Nome! I used to scoff @ the links leading me to the desktop from where I am typing this particular post when I used to search for cheat codes for the game – GNome! The Intenet Explorer was a true boon to me – a source of games, cheat codes, chatting and PORN! ! Windows was GOD, as it allowed me to do all that – play games and check out porn!

I had an AMD K6 processor based machine, which clocked 200Mhz and well it was AWESOME ! I never realised at that point of time, the magnitude of change, literally a radical revolution that was going to occur with the electronics industry and 8 years later, I’d be typing away on a laptop that’s easily 20 times more powerful than my desktop in 1998, will run a version of the Operating Sytem, which was named after a game I knew and I’d be using that same OS to type something known as a blog, about what I thought about [or didn't] 8 years ago over a hi-speed internet connection.

Anyhoo, the point is that the world has changed. Now, getting back to the main topic. At that point of time, I NEVER imagined that I’d be drooling over a laptop created by those same SINGLE-MOUSE-COMPUTER guys and Id be lusting behind a version of the Operating System, which I thought was complete crap. I am smitten people, yes, truly crazy about the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. These notebooks are an exquisite mesh of sound engineering design, power and eye-candy! Something Apple has been excelling at – a good-looking gadget that according to them “JUST WORKS”

Consequently, my free time, this is the time other than the time I don’t work and I am not writing to my better half, I have been checking out videos and pictures of the MacBook and MacBook Pro. Well, all-in-all, I have just one statement tomake – I WANNA GET MYSELF ONE OF THOSE!! Well, at least that was the case until today afternoon, where I came across a very interesting video.

What I found appalling about this video was the constant mockery of Windows Vista by the Apple people. I agree that OSX is an amazing Operating System – a software wonder. Be kind enough to share it with the PC world! If you think people all over the world would appreciate it so much, why is Mac not release OSX – PC Version? Well, the answer is simple – it can’t!!

OSX will run offcially ONLY on a Mac. Talk about proprietary to the core. This is something along the lines of how Sony works as well. Sony has its own brand of adapters, chargers, even alkaline cell policies, which allow ONLY Sony Battery chargers to run on it!

Now, whilst I agree that this is important to maintain Mac sales, and also is the reason why the Mac running OSX is a lot more stable than the PC running Windows, Apple guys were twisting the fact, trying to make us consumers believe that OSX is a lot better than Windows, Windows Vista in this case. That too based on the “similarity” of “looks” of certain applications.

However, Apple _conveniently_ forgot to mention the following – Windows is targeted at a mainstream customer base, where in the hardware is NOT an issue. A Windows copy [mite not be all the features all the time] will definitely run on any PC, as long as it maintains the requirements of the Operating System!! Now, I agree that Microsoft might have spent an awful lot of money and resources on developing Windows Vista. However, what I am considering what Microsoft has done, if at all they have copied features of Mac, is bring the features of OSX into the PC world, which is going to be received with open arms. I am still shocked @ the negative publicity given to an operating system, which wasn’t even released at the point of time the video was shot.

I had great respect for Steve Jobs, however his stupid bullish attitude is now making me take a fresh look at his products. There’s NO reason for him to take such a bullish attitude with Microsoft and Windows. This is also shown in the Mac vs PC ads. So, Steve, seriously, your products look great and I have heard that they work amazingly well as well, however what you did in that show, was rude, and totally uncalled for. I have not seen, so far at least any ads by Microsoft against any of your products, and trust me, your products are NOT flawless.

The Mac is picking up sales thanks to the shift to the Intel Chips. However, you must also take note Steve, the multitude of videos in youtube, the tremendous number of pics in Flickr, etc, which show a Mac running WIndows. Apple itself is working on BootCamp so that it “does” windows now.

But, Steve ever considered this – A Mac now runs Windows, but can any PC run OSX?

So, chill guys, I mean there’s market for everyone!! Peace in the cyber world!! I am all up for innuendos, but downright flagrant attack on your competitor’s products is NOT good marketing =D! It’s a good way to get attention to yourself, however, make sure that you have a product that can handle all that attention!!

Update: 2006-12-09 Check out this video during MacWorld 1997. Hmm, interesting how Steve Jobs has changed his perception after Apple has pulled itself back together.

I was apprehensive about what I wrote wondering I were indeed a bit strong about Apple, not being a sportive player in the market. However, after seeing the video above, where in Apple was down and under and Microsoft and Apple “tying the knot” literally, really speaks something about Steve Jobs doesn’t it?

Crossposted @ Ramblings of an Eccentric Soul… – by gurupanguji

November 14th is when Children’s Day is celebrated in India. With celebrations happening all over the nation we felt it appropriate to share with you a video that we received a while back. Take this time to reflect on the time we were once kids!

Hopefully this video made you smile

Posted by WildGrey.

Scrybe™ is a groundbreaking online organizer that caters to today’s lifestyle in a cohesive and intuitive way.

We have online photo storage [ala Flickr , Zooomr , Photobucket], Online To-do Lists [ala Ta-Da Lists and countless others], Online Documents and Spreadsheets [of the erstwhile Writely fame and now the Google Docs and Spreadsheets fame, on which this is being edited by wildgrey and gurupanguji btw], and so on and so forth. Well, we are sure you see the trend – else BOOM – here it is – It’s ONLINE folks!! Yup, the future is Web-Apps. And working to conquer the web-traffic are giants and the pillars of the Blue stocks now – Microsoft , Google , Yahoo!

With Google acquiring Writely and managing to spearhead the online collaborative editing of documents and spreadsheets, Microsoft had started on the Microsoft Office Live! Hopefully its answer should be a comprehensive Office package online. Yet, the news today is of Scrybe – a truly innovative Web 2.0 App!! [Yeah it holds a dear place in our hearts, coz we sound similar - not the same feeling that the Elvis' of the world get, but yeah something along those lines]
Scrybe allows you to create your own personal calendars, lists, notes and allows you to share them with others and/or publish them. So what’s new you may ask [If you didn't WHOA - Yo!! *shaking u vigorously - and in a slow stoned tone - "Dude, it's the 21st century..."*]. Let’s see what we got in this genre – there’s Google Calendar, iCal, Microsoft Outlook but none of them have been able to solve the one issue that has plagued web-apps – ’synchronizing both offline and online data’. Trying to bridge the divide – b/w what’s web and what’s not – Scrybe has managed to come out with an excellent solution to the age old problem [or so they claim and we are gonna test that claim]!
OfflineSync™, which arguably is the flagship of this entire Scrybe application, allows you to work with the application both offline and online. Therefore assuming that you are not connected to the internet you could still work with the application by simply choosing the ”Work Offline’ mode available in most of the current browsers, and working the same way you would if you were online. The next time you happen to get connected to the Internet, all the data that you worked while being offline gets synchronized with your online data thereby seamlessly integrating your work – bridging the divide – enabling you to concentrate on your organizing – and not be bothered with the synchronization and other menial tasks!
Before we begin our odessey exploring and testing what Scrybe can do for us, let’s just compare the various so-called – Personal Organizer – applications that you have a choice from as of now

Note: Soon to be added – Microsoft Office Live! I am keeping an eye on that for the simple reason that Live search [http://live.com/] is definitely a search engine worth mentioning ! I LOVE their jazzy effects!! I still use Google, but hey eye-candy – call Live!!

Ok – We’ll give you a minute now – Scratch those itching hands and brain – Done?? Ok – here we go!! Presenting…….
SCRYBE….
1. Login:

What you see here is the quintessential Web2.0 login screen. Now there are a couple of things that you need to note here besides the Web2.0 glamor [Yawn, now everything seems so drab - there was a point in time when WordPress deleted those posts and comments, my mind used to go - WOW!!].

• Enable OfflineSync checkbox: You would wanna check this guy [or girl for the gender equality person]! After all it’s OfflineSync(TM) that we are just waiting to test. Unless you enable this during your login you will not be able to experience the seamless nature of this application as you will not be able to work offline. If you check the box and login, the application will store your online and offline data into a temporary folder in your system.
• Rewrite offline data from scratch checkbox: Assuming some error has occurred with your data (say invalid time zones) ticking this checkbox will ensure your data is created ‘error-free’ for offline purposes. (We recommend this box be checked just to be on the safer side of things)

2. Working Space – It’s all about views folks!

After the loading screen – you reach this page! See anything familiar? Yup – you got that right – that IS a calendar. Even I was searching for something that’s outta the world after all the hype . But, then I realised, after all it’s a personal organizer – it better show a calendar!
Work Area: The workspace for this application consists of a main work area where the calendar gets displayed. There are also a couple of other window panes that allow you to work with the various elements of the application.
Views:
There are 4 view modes available for your calendar

1. Day – highlights the day’s events with the timing clearly demarcated and showing what are the times free – what’s occupied etc.
2. Week – Easy view of the busy days – not so busy days etc [helped by clicking on the day to quickly find out in a lil bit more detail if you are busy or not]
3. Month – A 7 column [for the days of the week] arrangement of the dates of the month.[See pic above]
4. Year – All the months arranged

Well, AJAX Flash for shows all its capabilities with the intuitive UI designed by the folks over at Scrybe. Apparently it’s all about the click [wondering if there are keyboard shortcuts for the keyboard oriented people]. What you see is generally by default a month-view [Any options to set default views folks?]. Click on a particular date, and well – it blooms out to a semi expanded view where you can see the events for a particular day with a slightly higher amount of detail.
Intuitive UI [should we be putting a (TM) symbol here?] takes it to the next level. Whenever you want more detail on something – just click on it – it blooms with more detail! We like the effect and appreciate it from Scribez! But warning, it could get pretty choppy at times on slower machines. Furthermore, we might just get tired off it. So well an option to change this might be a good idea. Furthermore, wonder how many people are gonna take notice of this in some time and start considering it as a “time-waster”. Well, Scrybe could also make a quasi-performance booster , but slowly decreasing the bloom out time. People wouldn’t realise it and just think that Scrybe is getting faster [Just a suggestion from the devious minds here!!]
Anyhoo – it’s all about the views folks. Want more detail, click on what you wanna get to know more – and it automatically takes you there in a single click [G'bye Double Click in Outlook - which we use generally]

Creating an Event
Creating an event can be done in a couple of ways

1. Clicking on a day from ‘Week Mode’ and entering details into an empty event holder you can get by clicking the ‘Add’ button
2. Navigate to the ‘Day Mode’ and enter you event details across a time slot of your need.

[COOL FEATURE ALERT]
When you add an event in [1] manner – you can type your event details as you would take notes

For e.g. Pickup Honey from airport at 5pm. Scrybe immediately picks up 5pm and allocates the event at that time.

Details Window PaneFor every event created certain details pertaining to it will get populated in the Details Window pane – a small window on the upper right corner of the screen. The pane has neatly organized tab like links discussed below:
a. General

• Shows general information about a particular event.
• You may change a created task from one date to another by simply choosing another date and clicking Update
• A text field called “Where” allows you to denote where the event will take place. This will be displayed when you hover the mouse over a particular event.
• You can add labels to an event. You may even choose to associate certain colors with certain labels. Currently there are only 4 colors available – Beige, Pink ,Lavender and Green. But it might just be a matter of time before they include customizable colors for labels.
• The only problem we noticed was with the delete. It did not ask for a confirmation for that action which we believe is necessary – especially with crazy touch sensitive touchpads coming with the laptops.

b. Reminder

• This will send you a reminder concerning an event that was created.
• Reminders can be send to a email address or email address of a mobile phone(via text message). Indeed a very welcome feature for those times when getting online is just out of the question [*wink wink*]. However, only a few providers are listed as of now. We sincerely hope and pray that the list expands soon.

c. Repeat

• Will schedule an event for repeat daily/weekly/monthly/yearly. Pretty much the same for all the calendar users.

d. Notes

• You can add notes to a particular event.
• Link field – Probably to associate link to another event?

e. Sharing
Coming soon! Evaluating Formats iCal,hCal,RSS,SSE,Email.
f. Publish
Coming soon! Private/Public Shared. Provision to export and import.

3. Timezone - Synch it across multiple sites across the world
Working across multiple sites spread, rather scattered here and there. Your developers are in a remote corner in India? You are globetrotting with your laptop and your Treo? Your language translator is huddled up in Geneva? And the product Configuration Management is in the air-conditioned walls of New York? Well, then this feature just might help you to synch it across with all of them.
This is one one cool feature of Scrybe, which shall be useful when the Sharing feature becomes live. When an event is created the time associated with it is based on the time zone of the creator, and it gets synched to the time zone of the party with whom it’s shared.
A globe icon in the details window pane takes you to a timezone screen [Awesome UI here btw]. Here you can view various timezones and the difference in timings from each other as well as GMT. There is also a provision for you to view other time zones by dragging the clock available. Your timezone gets configured during the initial setup of the account. You may choose to modify your primary timezone by clicking on the time line displayed on the left of the screen. You can also select secondary timezones to know what the equivalent time is in another time zone ! So you can check to see that the developer in India is not going to be stuck on the notorious Hosur Road, when you are calling to talk to him about the latest design changes and remind him of the impending deadlines. [Not that this is gonna change that ]
Pros:

• You can drag the clock for time to be displayed in Ajax Timeline similarity. As you drag the clock along you will notice the needles of the clock moving in clockwise or anti-clockwise direction depending on if you pulled it right or left. This level of attention to detail in every aspect of the application is just mind blowing.
• Drag to desired timezone and clock on nation to add it to you recently used time zone list.
• Ability to view multiple time zones (Secondary Time Zones) in day/week view.

Cons:

• Inablity to select a timezone for use by clicking the icon from the Details pane . One has to do that from Day/Week view.
• We also found out that this takes away an offsite consultant’s excuse to say that the time was wrong in the event calendar and we strongly protest against it!

4. Lists window pane
Aah the task list. When Microsoft Outlook, came out with this, one of the those people who was thrilled by this was Guru’s dad. Well, we use the feature once in a while. Nothing new about it, except for one thing you get to look out for
- Amazing intuition, where in you just paste a set of lines and it automatically creates a list out from that for you.
Features Review:

• This pane allows you to create something called list
• Imagine lists as a folder of your various ‘things to do’
• Detail pane changes to reflect actions that can be performed with a created list
  • General
    • Share with – Coming Soon
    • Personal Note – Coming Soon
    • Include task in email
  • Notes
    • Allows you to add notes for a particular task
    • Allows you to add tasks to a particular list
• Once a task is added Detail pane reflects actions that can be performed on the tasks
  • General
    • Allows you to attach a label to a task i.e assigning which list this task belongs to
    • Requires textfiled enables you to add anything in particular that needs to be to accomplish this task(can add only one such item -con)
    • Assign to – Coming Soon
    • You may set the date and time for this task (Shifting between AM and PM very hard. Multiple clicks required – possible buggy interface)
    • Remind me – should most probably be used to send you a reminder. Must have multiple ways to do it 1) Email me 2)Send me a text message(speculating at this point) because checking the textbox still keeps that drop down box an non-editable)
  • Notes
    • Lets you add notes for a task
    • Small checkable box adjacent to the task lets you mark it off as finished
    • Ability to star a task – activates the date/time and remind me option
  • Added tasks get displayed on day view pane
  • Ability to add multiple tasks at once(definite plus point)
  • Tasks marked as finished automatically get sorted to the bottom of lists while other remain on top
  • Ability to select multiple tasks at once (another plus)
  • You can also filter tasks based on labels,dates,required,and status

5. Themes
You can customize the theme the way you would like it to be by tweaking color,saturation and brightness (reminds us of our old televison sets).

6. Terms Of Service
Make sure you take a look through this not-so-conventional jargon before proceeding through with anything.
7. Keyboard Shorcuts
Ever since Gmail came out with this (thats the first place we saw it) everyone seems to be adding this handy little feature and Scrybe has its fair share. Useful if your the kind of person who loves to buy a keyboard every 3 months. Speaking about keyboards, check this baby out :drool
8. Coming Soon

• FluidContext
• GlobalTimez
• ListTransfer
• JumpContext
• PaperSync
• ThoughtPad
• Bookmarks

And to think we were thrilled with just the current set of features!! Bring it on Scrybe!
9. Upcoming modules
Now this is a tricky one. We’re yet to figure out the real purpose of this page. What we speculate is some sort of customization? perhaps? Its currently just a blank page so we’ll just have to wait and see what this little section is all about
10. Time Maps
Time Maps enable you to understand how busy you are for a certain day. This is indicated by a line with different shades depending on how busy you are. This in turn allows to have a quick glance at that schedule and know is you can spare a little time or not.
Now just when you thought it was all over heres some more.
12) PaperSync™
We are kinda thrilled about this and can’t wait for Monday to come and check out this nifty feature. Sounds cool though with the various formats available all aimed at the final end use ! Now, with PaperSync, if only they also developed a way by which they actually convert whatever changes we have made on to the paper back onto Scrybe !
Anyhoo, more about PaperSync, this allows you to print your lists and events into any one of the following formats

a. Classic

• Prints traditional calendar views, i.e. Year, Month, Week or Day, depending on the current selection.
• The Classic format, also allows you to print your task lists with the selected calendar view.

b. Booklet

• A 2-fold format that prints your calendar and lists on the top half of the printed paper. The remaining half contains empty lines for scribbling your notes.
• The size of the document, once folded, is roughly about that of a booklet. You can simply carry it in your folders, books, files, bags or brief cases.
• The Booklet print can be folded in less than 20 seconds, and requires no cuts, glue, or stapling on the printed paper.

c. Pocket

• A 3-fold format that prints your data in 3 sections. When you look at this document on a flat paper, the top section displayed to be printed upside-down. However, once you fold this document, it appears on top correctly, in the right direction, containing empty lines for scribbling your notes.
• The size of the document, once folded, is roughly about that of a wallet. You can simply carry it in your pockets, or wallets.
• The Pocket print can be folded in less than 30 seconds and requires no cuts, glue, or stapling on the printed paper.

Conclusion:
Aah the ending – we can take a nice nap now!! *YAWN* In conclusion to this sleep-obstructing post, here’s the dig!
Scrybe
Pros:

• Amazing idea
• OfflineSync™
• TimeMap
• Excellent UI
• PaperSync™
• Interesting features ahead
• Indians explaining the features in a Youtube video – promo for Scribez

Cons:

• Non-resizable windows
• We don’t get to use time zones as excuses anymore with our managers *sigh*

Posted by wildgrey and gurupanguji

Technorati tags: Internet, Technology, Applications, Business, Web2.0, Videos, YouTube, India, Startups, News

Youtube is becoming another myspace with a large number of sad/pathetic people who waste their time and life. The worst part is they are all so blind even after being exposed some people say stuff like “you rock Girl, even if its fake”.

That was an excerpt from one of our previous posts, on an exposed YouTube star, and it pretty much sums up most of what YouTube is all about. However, there are some hidden gems.

An article on Digg, had a pretty huge list of full length cartoons available on YouTube and I believe its worth a mention. So if you haven’t already heard , take heed! Although the link (http://prezwho.com/cartoons.htm) given while being dugg is no longer a valid one, here’s a mirror available from duggmirror.

P.S:- Some of the videos might be in the process of being removed (if not already been removed) on request from content owners so make sure you watch them before they disappear completely!