Discussing Second Life and Google’s new SketchUp product in April 2006, I wrote

What stops Google from offering a virtual-earth.google.com that is essentially a coordinate space for users to populate with their models? … [This] could be used to spice up many Google offerings, such as Google Groups’ mail list feature, IM, personal home pages and the nascent markets on Google Base.

Techcruch is now reporting a rumour that Google is turning Google Earth into a virtual world. Given Google’s strengths open standards, I would be be surprised if a Google offering didn’t improve on Second Life’s walled-garden approach. Of course, given that Google paid for YouTube’s community, it wouldn’t surprise me if at some point Google acquired Linden Labs or reached some sort of understanding to ‘join’ the two worlds.

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• The Dirty Secret of Indian Data
• India ranks 27th in the Business Competitiveness Index
• Eric Sink: Localization doesn’t matter. Especially for developer apps, which is what Eric’s talking about. I wrote about localization in a different context a few years ago.
• Rising healthcare turns many companies into ‘moms’: “They’re pushing employees to eat their vegetables and go outside and play.”

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Tokyo’s Akihabara. Chennai has to make do with good ol’ Ritchie Street.

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Microsoft: From hypergrowth to hyperconsistency. The last piece is especially good.

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Time: Larry and Andy Wachowski, the fraternal directing duo, had always envisioned The Matrix as part one of a trilogy. Aaaiiie!! First I’ve to wait for The Two Towers, then Episode III, and now Reloaded? Why can’t they make this stuff all at once in the first place? I want instant gratification now! Ye hear me? Now!!

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Adam Barr on Windows XP Embedded.

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Password Bouncer

Administrators can set policies that force the use of upper and lower case letters and [...] requiring the fourth character in any password to be a numeral or restricting passwords that end with numerals or special characters.

The problem with controls like these is that they get in the way of sophisticated users and actually compromise the integrity of the system by reducing the choices available for a passphrase. Less sophisticated users, on the other hand, continue `bucking’ the system by scribbling passwords on pieces of paper. IMHO, a rule like `at least 8 characters, and having at least one non-alphabetic character’ is adequate for the vast majority of non-critical systems.

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Lawmeme has a great review of Kellner’s `going to the bathroom is thievery‘ interview. I love it when execs in the entertainment business take themselves too seriously.

A lot of the interview talks about video on demand (VOD). I think VOD is interesting, largely because it is vapor today, because of the content owners’ greed and fear of `losing control’ thanks to digital delivery. Interestingly, the company that’s best placed to build exciting new applications (including VOD) on VOD-capable infrastructure is AOL TW’s cable arm. But the so-called synergy between AOLTW’s `content’ and `distribution’ arms seems nonexistent, which makes you wonder what the merger was all about. Think about it: a $49.95/month broadband internet connection, with 4 movies (per month) from the Time-Warner library thrown in for free, in formats which are easy to view on a standard computer, and difficult to copy but not a pain to use. Side by side, work with set-top box makers and consumer electronic companies to equip their hardware with firmware that hosts a browser and email client: WebTV on steroids. If I was a AOLTW shareholder, I’d love to know why this scenario is vapor today.

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Flangy digs Spider-Man. Also confesses to liking Unbreakable (Hey, me too!). When in school, Sunday afternoons (1pm) was dedicated Spider-Man time. Aaah, gotta wait until May 24, when it premieres here.

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Techblog: IT industry is lousy at lobbying.

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