Category: Statistics

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The Risk board game dice roll probability calculator and battle simulator

I know there are plenty of you out there who love to play the board game Risk. We're hooked on the Lord Of The Rings edition, and I still need to check out the very rare expansion pack one of my friends recently got. As you will see, I'm getting ready for it with all I've got, developing myself a weapon that will help me dominate the game. Something that will turn the odds in my favor without actually cheating. Say hi to my Risk battle simulator, which is able to calculate the chance of winning for specific Risk situations.

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written 17:32 CET on chronolog
12721 views   •   1 like   •   Like   •   
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Trends of 2010, according to Facebook, Google and Twitter

The year is coming to an end, and our favorite big brothers all published reports about trends inside their ecosystems (Facebook, Google, Twitter). Even though the services are not perfectly comparable (information gets pulled and pushed: while you search, you pull data; on social networks the data gets pushed to you), I think they can provide a clear picture about the general state of the Web in 2010. Three obvious winners emerged, coming strong in all the charts. Apple made the iPad the most wanted gadget around, FIFA World Cup mania took over the whole planet, and Justin Bieber topped the celebrity world. I was curious about the comparison, so I've joined all three lists, gave all topics a score, and put the results into pictures. Sadly, I'm not a designer to make a really cool infographic about it, so this will have to do.

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written 8:42 CET on chronolog
2073 views   •   2 likes   •   Like   •   
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Apple has enough money to buy Slovenia's entire yearly production

Apple is currently hot like a chili pepper. Its products are well accepted, their sales and revenues are growing, and their stocks are going sky-high. A few months ago Apple even managed to dethrone Microsoft as the largest technology company in the world and second third largest according to market capitalization (behind Exxon and PetroChina). Their yearly revenues are currently around $65 billion, which is a lot, and that figure is even more interesting if put into perspective.

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written 23:00 CET on chronolog
4437 views   •   4 likes   •   9 comments  •   Like   •   
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Twitfluence prototype calculation for measuring Twitter influence

The prototype calculation of Twitfluence uses the data available form Twitter API to measure your Twitter influence and coolness. The basic technical specifications of the application is available, but I will also be supplying the basic information about how the algorithm works. The actual calculation is already online for beta users, and generally speaking, there are three major components that add up to the score: your followers, your mentions and retweets, and your lists, all accounted as ratios between you and others.

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written 12:54 CET on chronolog
2696 views   •   4 likes   •   Like   •   
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The Web is going rogue. The Web is going mainstream.

Times are changing, and the World Wide Web isn't any different. You've probably already noticed your mother on Facebook and it's not too hard to understand that interests of specific generations can be a bit different. The same goes for young people, who are obviously growing up in a world of their own, a confusing world overwhelmed with infinite amounts of information.

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written 18:16 CET on chronolog
2143 views   •   3 likes   •   Like   •   
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The impact of hyperlinks, toolbars and URL shorteners on Google Analytics

In the past few weeks I've done an extended analysis of visits on my blog, which made me wonder how the super fancy new web gadgets and features influence Google Analytics and traffic reports. By these new gadgets I mean the nowadays very popular URL shorteners, such as tinyurl or bit.ly, and the annoying inside-browser toolbars, used by Digg, Stumbleupon, Google images and other services. These inventions made me wonder, as well as probably many other bloggers, web developers and marketers do - are these things messing up the traffic statistics? To be sure, I had to try it out by myself and found out the following: No, they do not. Or better put, Google is smart enough to know what's happening.

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written 19:51 CET on chronolog
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An approach to statistics and data analysis

When information systems evolve, they become greedier for both operational and advanced strategic statistics and data analysis. This need is a part of a natural evolution. The more data you have, the higher potential for extracting information you have. Looking at business environments using IT platforms, that's what analytics are actually all about - getting useful information from usually bad data. It turns out the task of analytical reporting is not so complex as it seems, but you definitely need a set of different skills / people to make it work.

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written 21:32 CET on chronolog
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