Company Name

Dailymile

20-Word Description

Dailymile is a social training site for runners, triathletes, and cyclists.

CEO’s Pitch

That race was great, but how do I stay in-touch with the people I just met? And how can I find people to train with in a new city? Providing an answer for these questions drove us to begin dailymile. We wanted to find a better way for athletes to sign-up for races, share workouts, and meet participants. Participating in a race doesn’t end after you submit payment. It’s the daily journey of training, learning, and sharing. As athletes, each day for us is an adventure filled with lessons learned and friends made. We share these experiences with one another through dailymile.

Mashable’s Take

Currently in private beta, Dailymile is a site for keeping track of your workouts, finding athletic events you can participate in, and sending motivation to others. The design is very slick and the features are well-organized, and while the event section dedicated to 10Ks and triathlons can be intimidating, there are tools that can be useful to just about any level of athlete – even if you’re just the type trying to stay in shape by going to the gym.

Once logged in, the homepage of Dailymile is very Twitter-esque, allowing you post a short update about your most recent workout (which can range from running, to swimming, to weightlifting, etc.), as well as multimedia content like photos and videos. There is also a “You and Your Friends” timeline, an “Everyone” timeline, and a “My Training” log – essentially the same views offered on Twitter. Speaking of Twitter, your updates can be auto-posted to the service if you sync your accounts.

Dailymile takes it a step further than other would-be Twitter clones though with some features very specific to the fitness niche. For one, there is the “Motivation” feature, which allows you to message other people on the site with a pre-set message like “Great Performance” or “You’re an Inspiration.”

There are also discussion groups you can join like “40+ and proud of it” and “My first marathon,” so you can find people pursuing a similar fitness goal as yourself. The aforementioned event section is already seeded with lots of running, trialthon, and cycling events you can participate in, though most seem to be on the West coast (not surprising given the time of year).

Ultimately, Dailymile has adopted a lot of popular features of other sites for the fitness niche and done a nice job with them. I think it’s more likely to be successful with serious workout nuts than weekend warriors, but there is certainly something for anyone that wants to put the time in - both in the gym and on the site. As mentioned, Dailymile is currently in private beta, but you can try it out using the invite code ‘mashable’.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

The alleged problem: The new transmission method uses a channel currently only employed by a handful of applications, like gaming and VoiP. With P2P traffic flooding that transmission line, users' Skype calls or World of Warcraft sessions could get interrupted amidst the P2P noise, the Register supposes.

Hogwash, says BitTorrent. The company tells the Industry Standard it's trying to implement a "performance neutral" change intended to reduce network congestion. (You can follow the technical debate in greater detail at Slashdot.)

So what will happen? Internet providers don't have the option of blocking BitTorrent traffic: Comcast (CMCSA) tried that once and the FCC pressured them to stop. (And the incoming Obama administration seems even less disposed to Internet filtering/blocking than the current one.) That leaves another option: more download caps for bandwidth hogs, which Comcast has already rolled out, and other providers are testing.

See Also:
Comcast's Diet For Bandwidth Hogs: A 20-Minute Timeout
Comcast, Slapped By FCC, Expands Testing New Tech To Slow Down Your Internet

Awhile back, I talked about a nifty up-and-coming web conferencing utility for Microsoft SharedView, a decent alternative for GotoMeeting or WebEx.

Yet another great alternative, Yugma is an online web conferencing tool similar to GotoMeeting or WebEx in that it offers an easy way to create and share your desktop to other remote users across the Internet.

Granted, there are freeware AND paid variations, with certain limitations imposed on the free version (you get the 'pro' features for 15 days after signing up).

Performance seems more than adequate, and you do get free teleconferencing capability (long distance charges apply) even with the free version.

Features for the free version include 10 participant max, the aforementioned free teleconferencing, Skype compatibility, Desktop Sharing, etc. - unfortunately, changing presenter or scheduling sessions online is not part of the included free features.

Using the Yugma interface is not unlike GotoMeeting, with controls in all the right spots (screen sharing, record/playback session, annotation tools, change presenter, etc.).  Everything is laid out just where you would expect it.

The only issues that I have with Yugma is that you need to create a Yugma account to join a session, when you share your desktop, you share your Yugma interface (which I would consider to be a major issue).

Alternates:

• Mikogo
• ConferencingNow
• Yuuguu

Win XP	CS3	CS4
Cold Launch on Benchmark Machine*	21.7s	12.8s
Cold Launch on User Machine**	36.4s	19.5s
iMac (Leopard)
Cold Launch	25.5s	16.4s

 

* Benchmark machine is the optimized setup machine for taking consistent launch performance numbers. It has no virus scanner and a totally defragmented hard disk.

** User machine is the one similar to user environment, having a virus scanner, fragmented hard disk with a few common applications installed.

• The team has posted a series of how-to guides and source files created by leading designers.
• Jack Westbrook came up with a set of scripts for exporting each AI layer as a separate PNG.

Reading the come-on to prospective entrants provides some insight into the pressures biotech and pharma generally are facing these days to impress potential investors, analysts and the scientific community (from whence comes the brainpower it needs for survival’s sake):

“Take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your organization’s efforts and talents, and contribute to the industry’s broader knowledge base.

EARLY BIRD DEADLINE (No Fee): December 18, 2008
FINAL DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: January 21, 2009

Benefits of participation:

* Gain Peer Recognition: Spotlight the talent of your team, and position your organization as a thought leader, among an elite group of life science professionals.
* Heighten Visibility: Use creative positioning to add another layer of credibility in the industry. Entries, nominees and especially winners receive recognition at the Gala Dinner, in widely-distributed press releases, in the Best Practices issue of Bio-IT World magazine, as well as continued coverage on Bio-ITWorld.com and in the Best Practices Compendium of entries.
* Leverage Exposure: Showcase your expertise and unique solutions, and use the exposure as a conduit to valuable connections, investors, sales leads, job candidates, and other external audiences.

Well, it is working with me so far!! I get the magazine and there is always something interesting about how modern science is conducted and the results disseminated.

It was interesting to read what fields are covered in competition:

* Basic Research & Biological Research: Disease pathway research, applied and basic research
* Drug Discovery & Development: Compound-focused research, drug safety
* Clinical Trials & Research: Trial design, eCTD
* Translational Medicine: Feedback loops, predictive technologies
* Personalized Medicine: Responders/non-responders, biomarkers
* IT & Informatics: LIMS, High Performance Computing, storage, data visualization, imaging technologies
* Knowledge Management: Data mining, idea/expertise mining, text mining, collaboration, resource optimization
* Health-IT: ePrescribing, RHIOs, EMR/PHR
* Manufacturing & Bioprocessing: Mass production, continuous manufacturing

I decided to take a look at what was showcased in 2008 and perusing many of the articles linked to is a good way to see how big pharma and big government science are adapting to the world of Science 2.0.

Here is an interesting article for example: Connecting the Cancer Community caBIG Time

Now this is an ambitious undertaking that I had not heard about before. Here is some of what I read here:

caBIG™ stands for the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid™. caBIG™ is an information network enabling all constituencies in the cancer community – researchers, physicians, and patients – to share data and knowledge. The components of caBIG™ are widely applicable beyond cancer as well.

The mission of caBIG™ is to develop a truly collaborative information network that accelerates the discovery of new approaches for the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

The goals of caBIG™ are to:

* Connect scientists and practitioners through a shareable and interoperable infrastructure
* Develop standard rules and a common language to more easily share information
* Build or adapt tools for collecting, analyzing, integrating, and disseminating information associated with cancer research and care.

Since its inception, caBIG™ has committed to the following cornerstones:

* Federated: caBIG™ software and resources are widely distributed, interlinked, and available to everyone in the cancer research community, but institutions maintain local control over their own resources and data.
* Open-development: caBIG™ tools and infrastructure are being developed through an open, participatory process. caBIG™ leverages existing resources whenever possible, rather than building new tools in every case.
* Open-access:caBIG™ resources are freely obtainable by the cancer community to ensure broad data-sharing and collaboration.
* Open-source: The caBIG™ source code is available to view, alter, and redistribute.

Whoa! That is a pretty sweeping mandate and game plan! This is one heck of a gargantuan undertaking, but when you read about the dynamo behind it and look at how far it has come in a few years you start to have real faith in big government science and realize that within massive research organizations there are some damn impressive people who want to take a machete to stultifying processes and stodgy mindsets that have unnecessarily impeded scientific progress for too long. One such intellectual powerhouse is profiled thus:

Kenneth H. Buetow, Ph.D., is the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Associate Director for Bioinformatics and Information Technology and the Director of the NCI Center for Bioinformatics (NCICB). As Director of the NCICB, Dr. Buetow oversees coordination and deployment of informatics in support of NCI research initiatives and the Center’s participation in the evaluation and prioritization of the NCI’s biomedical informatics research portfolio. Dr. Buetow initiated the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid™ (caBIG™) pilot project and oversees its activities.

Go, Dr. Buetow, go! Keep the good work! The hope, apparently, is to create a model in the case of cancer that will engender like networks throughout medicine. A worthy, noble goal.

By contrast, to the culture of openness Dr. Buetow exemplifies here is a case of really bad marketing. As I write this column, I am clicking around some of the links in the original Bio-IT World article. I wanted to see to check out what sorts of conferences were advertised for those in the biomedical field. I was rather intrigued by the idea of writing here about the 4th Annual World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress. But to get a brochure, you have to register — give me a break! How lame is that?

And then to compound the image of troglodyte thinking and the utter incapacity to grasp the revolution that is Web 2.0 that healthcare IT already has in the rest of the tech world, here is the wording on the press page.

“World Congress press credentials are available to full-time editorial staff writers employed by a trade publication, mainstream media outlet (newspaper, radio, TV, etc.), or online magazines. Freelance writers or contributing editors may request press credentials if the event is being covered for a specific publication.”

Grrrrrrrr. That pretty much excludes tech bloggers who produce some of the best coverage of IT around. If I were in charge of a major tech conference, I would not hire Patrick Golden to be my director of communications. But then I am just a little tech blogger and he has bigger fish to fry. But dissing the tech blogosphere is not the act of a smart person in the age of Web 2.0. No wonder the bright young minds of tech give healthcare a pass so very often–much to my continuing dismay, as someone who works in healthcare.

However, there are a couple free Web analytics programs that are easy to hook up and use. One of the newest is Microsoft adCenter Analytics. Because the site says it’s a limited Beta, you have to register and then wait for an invitation to join the program. It typically takes a few days to hear back from them, but when you receive your invitation you can follow their simple instructions to create a profile and add the script to your site.

The thing is, their instructions don’t address what to do on a SharePoint site. So that’s where we come in. I’ve seen a few blog posts and videos out there about how to add other analytics scripts to a SharePoint blog, but they all seem either light on detail or leave out a key piece of information, so I shot my own video, Add Microsoft adCenter analytics to your SharePoint blog home page.

As the title suggests, I show only how to add the script to your home page. This will capture lots of great numbers about home page usage, but does not capture information about individual posts.

Microsoft adCenter Analytics

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PC Wizard 2008 is a powerful utility designed especially for detection of hardware, but also some more analysis. It’s able to identify a large scale of system components and supports the latest technologies and standards. This tool is periodically updated (usually once per month) in order to provide most accurate results. PC Wizard 2008 is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/Flash Media performance, Video performance, MP3 compression performance.

The current specification for password-based 256-bit AES encryption in PDF provides greater performance than the previous 128-bit AES implementation.  While this allows for 256-bit AES password protected documents to open faster in Acrobat 9, it can also allow external brute-force cracking tools to attempt to guess document passwords more rapidly because fewer processor cycles are required to test each password guess.  These tools operate independently of Acrobat and work directly on a password protected document by repeatedly guessing from lists of dictionary words like "turkey", "potato", and "pie" to see if the document will open.

Adobe continues to recommend that customers using password-based encryption utilize long pass-phrases with upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols to help mitigate dictionary attacks. With a longer phrase and more diversity of characters, there are many more permutations to guess. This significantly increases the time required to guess passwords, which in turn significantly increases the security of the protected document.

Additional security measures were added to the 256-bit AES implementation of password security in PDF, and Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9 both support these measures.  Specifically, Acrobat 8 used pass-phrases of up to 32 Roman characters in length for 128-bit AES encryption.  Acrobat 9 now supports pass-phrases of 127 Roman characters in length for 256-bit AES encryption and added support for unicode characters.  In the permutation with repetitions formula used to calculate how many unique pass-phrases are possible, X^Y, Adobe has increased both X and Y in Acrobat 9. Pass-phrases can now be up to 4 times as long and support a greater number of international characters and symbols to be entered by keyboards around the world, which can greatly increase document protection when used properly.

Need help picking a long pass-phrase? Pick a line or two from your favorite song or poem and add numbers or symbols if they aren't already there.

Adobe continues to make significant investments in document security.  Acrobat utilizes NIST FIPS 140 certified encryption libraries and is certified by the US Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC).  Adobe offers several document encryption methods at multiple levels of assurance and is considering additional security measures for future releases of password security that balance performance with security.

For higher-assurance applications, Adobe continues to recommend using PKI-based encryption or Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management encryption - instead of user-generated document open passwords.  Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9 now support 256-bit AES encryption for both of these environments.  256-bit AES encryption is widely known to be stronger than 128-bit AES.  Document protection can also be increased with hardware tokens - including three-factor authentication with a smartcard, PIN and biometric.

For more information about Adobe's information assurance solutions in Acrobat, LiveCycle, and other applications, visit http://adobe.com/security

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