After the initial post on the subject, I found BlogAds.com. They sell ads on blogs. They don't appear to be doing good business though. Here are some observations:
Money - blogers using BlogAds.com service supposedly make $20 per month on the average and as much as $150 per month. This is just not enough to be attractive. At this level, its better to offer gift certificates. Receiving a $100 gift certificate for Sharper Image (for guys) or Crate & Barrel (for gals) every few months would be more attractive than measly $20 per month. Receiving small amounts of cash every month could encourage pathetic pleas asking for readers to click on ads. Not good.
Style - not all ads will work for blogs. They need to be done tastefully. When was the last time you saw animation in blogspace? No color clashes also. Ads for blogs must blend in with predictable position and size. Each blogger must be able to decide the what kind of ads they are is willing to display.
Effortless - most importantly, it must be effortless with no big change to the blogging routine. Approving an ad request should take only a single click.
All this requires a lot of work for the blogad service and deep integration with blogging tools. But one can't expect all the blogging tools to support ads and do it consistently. Also, one reader noted that MT blogs can't have ads because ads will violate the non-commercial license. Solution seems to be free ad-enabled blogging tools and services that compete with existing crop of blogging tools and services. Why pay for it when you can get it for free and receive occasional rewards as well?
While I am not sure if all the claims made in "Google deserves your nomination for Big Brother of the Year", are true, but Google's popularity is a concern like a volcano growing in your backyard. I mean wouldn't it be really stupid for NSA, FBI, and CIA, if they didn't ask Google for co-operation? What can Google management say? Sorry, we can't notify authorities when someone googles 'How to destroy America in 21days' because we think profit is more important than national security? If those government agencies are doing their job properly, then Google will be in compromising position soon or later, if not already.
I am not religious. My wife is a Catholic, goes to church every Sunday morning and attends Bible studies with her friends. For selfish reasons, I like that about her. I tried going to church with her, but when I am inside a church, I sense a presence of sort that gives me goosebumps. Instead of feeling awed, I feel as if I am inside someone's house without permission. Brrr. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
At Zen Buddist temples, I feel comforted if I am alone. I avoid meeting monks because they feel like drug addicts to me, a drug called tranquility. I was addicted to tranquility when I was younger, but life wasn't much fun like eating a bowl of rice without any side dishes. So I am now floating down the river called life, enjoying every wave, up and down. Besides, my head looks ugly when shaved.
This is an informal description of a possibly but unlikely new technique for secure authentication, designed to be combined with other technique such as passwords or smartcards to limit risk without additional cost other than possible inconvenience.
Identity authentication techniques may be divided into one of three categories:
- something you know (password, pass phrase, PIN)
- something you have (smartcard, hardware token)
- something inherent to you (i.e. biometric)
Time-constrained login technique falls into the first category: valid login time and duration is something you know. This technique is different from other knowledge-based techniques in that the required knowledge may be changed more frequently, possibly each time. This is because, while people can't remember daily changing passwords, they can easily remember appointments.
With time-constrained login, authentication succeeds only at certain time. A specialized form of time-constrained login is Time Capsule since it can only be opened after certain amount of time has passed. Another example that is more appropriate for day to day use is CVS login restricted to 10-11am and 6-7pm.
Absolute time-constrained login uses specific time such as 1:35pm GMT or 7:12am PST. Relative time-constrained login uses relative time such as 5 hours and 12 minutes from one or more event such as 'now' or 'after receiving SMS message containing the word 'Hollywood' from me'. Time constraint can be specified by random, by schedule, or by combination (hours by schedule and minutes randomly). Duration can be determined according to the need. Specifying relative time constraint as one logs off may be useful to protect your workstation while going to a meeting or lunch.
This is all I have so far. If you know of a similar techniques or have suggestions, please let me know. If not -- unlikely but possible -- I may file an anti-patent if there are any patent lawyers interested in doing some pro bono work. <g>
