Social Networking: A Time Waster Or The Next Big Thing In Collaboration?

Yes they can be great time wasters but they can also be great for collaboration to. I wish my work place let me access Facebook. Sigh!

from the article
Facebook, the social networking application made popular on college campuses, is increasingly being adopted by businesspeople. College kids use it to organize parties, make friends, share photos, and pursue relationships--but what's any of that got to do with the workplace? How the social networking model is applied to business will determine whether it becomes the next office collaboration tool or the latest Web app to get blocked at the firewall.

Hinting at the potential of social networking at work, thousands of employees of Shell Oil, Procter & Gamble, and General Electric have Facebook accounts. A Facebook network of Citigroup employees--only those with Citigroup e-mail accounts can join--has 1,870 users. Procter & Gamble employees use Facebook to keep interns in touch and share information with co-workers attending company events.

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15 things Apple should fix in iPhone 2.0

It's hard to make the perfect product. As good as iPhone 1.0 is the next version should be even better. What would you like to see in the iPhone?

From the article
The iPhone will likely go down as the most successful launch of any technology product in history. It s a truly revolutionary product and deserves much of the praise it has received -- but that doesn t mean it s perfect.

In the spirit of constructive criticism, we re offering up 15 big things that Apple can do in the next generation of iPhones to make using an iPhone even better. Apple hasn t said when the next-gen devices will make their appearance, but some Apple watchers have speculated early 2008.

In fact, we might not even have to wait for iPhone 2.0 to see some of the items on our wish list: It s conceivable that Apple could update the current crop of iPhones via software updates. Are you listening, Apple?

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Mozilla Launches New Messaging Company, Thunderbird MailCo!

This is good news. Thunderbird looks set to become even better and a few other exciting developments coming by the sounds of it.

From the article
Mozilla has been investing in email since the Foundation was created. We have a good, solid client in Thunderbird, and we have aspirations to do more. We ve spent the last few months working on how to meet those aspirations. Many thanks to everyone who participated in the discussions.

The result is that Mozilla is launching a new effort to improve email and internet communications. We will increase our investment and focus on our current email client -- Thunderbird -- and on innovations in the email and communications areas. We are doing so by creating a new organization with this as its sole focus and committing resources to this organization. The new organization doesn t have a name yet, so I ll call it MailCo here. MailCo will be part of the Mozilla Foundation and will serve the public benefit mission of the Mozilla Foundation. (Technically, it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, just like the Mozilla Corporation.)

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Windows Vista: Five Broken Promises

Windows Vista seems to have let most people down one way or the other.

From the article
I like Vista.

I use it daily, but I also use it with the full knowledge that it's a pre-service pack 1 OS from the boys in Redmond. That necessarily means it will have glitches, bugs, and annoyances. That's a given.

I'm willing to put up with all those headaches, certainly more so than Jim Louderback. But there were several things I was really looking forward to in Vista that are simply missing in action or broken. These are features I'd really hope would improve my productivity and make life a little easier.

HA!

Let's run down the list, shall we?

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Facebook to Offer Data Storage

Facebook keep adding new stuff all the time. They really do seem to be trying to position themselves to take on some of the big guns (in certain areas). I wonder how much Facebook is worth now?

From the article
Quietly tucked away in the Facebook Developer wiki, as I noticed while browsing around today, was Facebook’s next step to world domination (at least, developer domination) — to offer data storage. Until the launch of this service, developers have been responsible for providing their own storage for the information pertaining to their Facebook applications, the most popular external option being Amazon’s S3 service.

At this stage it seems unclear as to what the precise data storage offering from Facebook is going to be. The Developer wiki indicates that the new service is in Beta, however, there are no indications around more specific details such as space limitations. Costs are also not revealed so one could assume that the data storage offered may be free for a while whilst the service is still in Beta.

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Google Pushes for 'Weaker' Privacy Standards

I am not surprised that Google want weaker standards. Google want to know everything about you and want to share it with the world.

From the article
Google is pushing for a new international privacy standard. Peter Fleischer, the company's global privacy counsel, unveiled the initiative at a Unesco meeting in Strasbourg, France, on Friday, calling for "minimum standards of privacy protection that meet the expectations and demands of consumers, businesses, and governments."

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Web ad blocking may not be (entirely) legal

Well it's all very well saying this but how will the police it. Are they going to go and check everyones browser to make sure they are not running ad blocking software.

From the article
Advertising-supported companies have long turned to the courts to squelch products that let consumers block or skip ads: it happened in the famous lawsuit against the VCR in 1979 and again with ReplayTV in 2001.

Tomorrow s legal fight may be over Web browser add-ons that let people avoid advertisements. These add-ons are growing in functionality and popularity, which has led legal experts surveyed this week by CNET News.com to speculate about when the first lawsuit will be filed.

If ad-blockers become so common that they slice away at publishers revenues, "I absolutely would expect to see litigation in this area," said John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

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Squidoo Gets Into People Search

This went "live" a couple of weeks ago. It's a nice addition to Squidoo and very well done.

From the article
We’re not sure when it launched, but Fred Wilson has discovered that Seth Godin’s Squidoo has quietly entered the people search field with a new product called Squidwho.

Squidwho provides similar features to competitors including Wink, Spock, PeekYou, WikiYou and Zoominfo. Pages include a short biography, Amazon products (where applicable), YouTube videos, Flickr shots, latest news and RSS feed data from appropriate sites.

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Microsoft downplays stealth Windows Update file updates

More poor form by Microsoft. They are always trying to do some sneaky yet they keep getting found out.

From the article
Microsoft has sought to downplay the recent, but unpublicized, automatic update of system files on Windows XP and Vista machines as "normal behavior."

ZDNet blogger Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has been writing the last two days about a "stealth" update that occurred on his and other machines in late August, even though those machines are set to not install automatic updates. "I just don t like the idea of having updates foisted upon systems without being aware that they are coming in and having the option to postpone them,"

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Google Quietly Closes AdSense API to Small Sites

Once again the small web site operator is shut out. Sigh!

Form the article
"Google has raised the required minimum traffic limit for publishers who wish to use its AdSense API to 100,000 page views per day. The AdSense API was introduced in March as a way for sites with user generated content to share advertising revenue with their members. Says Google, "This policy change will probably result in fewer developers going live and give us a chance to enhance our support resources and processes to more easily support a greater number of developers in the future...we hope to be able to lower it in the future as we become more efficient at supporting our developers!"

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Apple iPod touch: Full Review

Well it's going to be quite sometime before the iPhone makes it to New Zealand. In the mean time I cannot wait to get my hands on an iPod touch.

From the article
When the iPhone came out in June, many people (myself included) loved it, but wanted it without the phone—and that pesky two-year contract with AT&T Wireless. I'm no luddite, but I don't want my personal media player to ring in the middle of a song. That said, the multi-touch glass display was beautiful, Cover Flow was a great way to navigate tracks, and the Web browser was better than any other portable player's before it. Apple could have delivered a player with just these features and nothing more and I would have been thrilled. But it didn't. The company added a WiFi version of the iTunes Music Store so you can buy songs on the go—now, if you have WiFi access you can download tracks anywhere. Apple also announced a partnership with Starbucks that enables iPhone and touch owners to purchase songs they hear in Starbucks stores via WiFi.

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Google, at age 10, is the official heart of the Internet

It's pretty hard to escape Google these days. They are everywhere. Google are taking over the world.

From the article
Born 10 years ago, the Google Internet search engine has grown into the electronic center of human knowledge by indexing billions of web pages as well as images, books and videos.

On September 15, 1997 Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two 24 year-old Stanford University students, registered the domain name of "google.com." The word is a variation of 'googol,' which refers to the number 10 to the power of 100, a term popularized by US mathematician Edward Kasner.

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Top 10 Wikipedia Tricks

Wikipedia is a fantastic resource. This is a pretty good list of some useful tricks most of which I didn't know about.

From the article
Without a doubt, Wikipedia is one of the most useful and amazing sources of information on the internet—but chances are you aren't using it to its full potential. Thanks to its freely available content base, lots of Wikipedia-related projects have sprung up that offer easy access to information every which way you need it. Whether you want to do a quick lookup on your mobile phone to settle a debate at the bar, mind map related articles, integrate Wikipedia lookups into your media player and instant messenger or simply need better and quicker search tools, check out our list of top 10 Wikipedia tricks.

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Revver's Million Dollar Pay Out

That's rather impressive. Good to see people making money off the internet. Have you ever made money of Revver?

From the article
Revver's announced it’s pay out of $1 million over the past year, meeting a milestone for the amount of money drummed up and split with content owners that promote and leverage Revver’s video-sharing network.

Revver has also noted that this milestone coincides with its one year anniversary. Congrats to Revver. As one of the first video-sharing networks to offer a rev-share model with content creators, many flocked to the site hoping to have more control over their content and, more importantly, earn extra cash. In celebration, Revver has presented Doug Bresler, creator of animated series “Dogtoons,” with an honorary check, as he received the millionth dollar earned.

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GPhone: Centerpiece of a New Strategy?

There is no doubt that Google are upto something. I'm not sure that I would go as far as ushering in an era of free cell phone calls as the writer indicates in his article. However should Google enter the mobile market then that will change the landscape a bit.

From the article
Rumor mongering over Googles much hyped, but thus-far vaporware, cellphone (the GPhone) is a new international web geek passtime. How can I possibly resist partaking in the fun?

My Theory

It strikes me that Google may seek to use the launch of a game-changing mobile device (or perhaps more precisely, a mobile platform - as theyre unlikely to manufacture the units themselves) to move strategically in a direction that, in one fell swoop, fills a large gap in their offering, and rains the pain down upon traditional cellular providers.

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Turns Out Those Six Thousand People Who Are Your 'Friends' On MySpace Aren't Really Your Friends

If you thought they were then you are stupid. No one can have 6,000 friends let alone 6,000 friends they have never met.

From the article
This seems unlikely to come as a surprise to most people, but despite the number of tools and applications such as social networks for getting people to network with each other, the number of close friends that most people have hasn't really changed -- and it almost always involves people who have gotten to know each other face-to-face rather than online.

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Google Dominates the Feed Reader Wars

That would be because Google Reader has what most users want and it's easy to use.

From the article
It took them long enough! Back in January I came up with five things that I’d like to see on Google Reader. 9 months later, they have added one of them. I guess that’s not too bad of a job considering they knocked out the largest item. Last night Google announced search for Google reader.

When I have thousands of feed articles that I browse through on a daily basis, it is impossible to retain all that information in my head. All I remember is snippets of information that I can then go back and reference. Thank god for the new feature. I have yet to take advantage of it but I know that this is going to be an insanely useful feature.

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Is Steve Jobs Sick Of The Cell Phone Industry Already?

I can understand Steve Jobs frustration. The cell phone network operators are parasites.

From the article
I haven’t been privy to the private conversations of Steve Jobs, but listening to his keynote the other day, it’s difficult not to pick up on at least some antipathy the man seems to hold towards the entire mobile phone industry.

“Steve Jobs’ entire keynote was a series of middle fingers directed at AT&T and their carrier brethren,” says Sascha Segan, lead cell phone and PDA analyst at PC Magazine. “Notice that he dropped the iPhone’s price without mentioning AT&T

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Eudora e-mail program reborn as open source

Gees Eudora brings back memories. Eurdora was the first email program I ever used.

From the article
Eudora, a pioneering e-mail program named after author Eudora Welty, is rising from a technical grave as an open source program after owner Qualcomm Inc quit selling the product in May.

Eudora routinely got strong reviews from computer magazines and had a loyal user base, but commercially it was overshadowed by software that Microsoft Corp included with new personal computers, International Business Machine's Lotus software and Web e-mail programs.

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Firefox passes 400 million downloads

Go Firefox. Now if they can just get Firefox 3.0 out.

From the article
Firefox just passed the 400 million download mark, according to the Spread Firefox site for promoting the open-source, extendable Web browser.

That number shouldn't be confused with actual installations, Mozilla's public relations folks rightly caution. (I'm sure I've downloaded it at least a dozen times this year, and I'm only using copies on three computers at present. On the flip side, there are any number of other ways to get Firefox, including Linux installations.) Nevertheless, 400 million is an achievement worth noting, given that just a few years ago it looked like Microsoft had the market locked up with Internet Explorer.

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The 8 most dangerous consumer technologies

I have to confess that I am guilty of using consumer technologies at work. Still I always manage to get my work done so I don't really see a problem with it.

From the article
High-tech consumer products and services of all kinds are making their way into the workplace. They include everything from smart phones, voice-over-IP systems and flash memory sticks to virtual online worlds. And as people grow more accustomed to having their own personal technology at their beck and call -- and in fact can't imagine functioning without it -- the line between what they use for work and what they use for recreation is blurring.

In a recent survey of corporate users by Yankee Group Research Inc., 86% of the respondents said they had used at least one consumer technology in the workplace, for purposes related to both innovation and productivity.

Unfortunately, this trend poses problems for IT organizations. For one thing, the use of these technologies increases the risk of security breaches.

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Google Reader Adds Search

Nice new feature. I have used Google reader for ages. You?

From the article
As mentioned in the previous post, Google Reader is now mature. But how could it mature be without having a search feature? The wait is over: Google Reader finally added search.

You can search all your feeds, the feeds from a folder or the posts from a single feed. In fact, you can perform two searches: one for a folder or feed and another search for the posts that contain some keywords and are from the folder or feed you've previously selected.

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Googlers Get Kinky On Wikipedia

Those people at Google have all the fun. Why can't I get kinky at my work place.

From the article
Users of Google registered IP addresses contributed to Wikipedia entries including “Amateur Pornography“, the “List of male performers in gay porn films” and “Mutual Masturbation” according to data pulled from Wikiscanner. Other sexually related edits include the pages for sex show and the talk:#$%^ sex; a particular person is using a computer with a Google IP address to share the details of his sex life with the world.

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Chicago cop chases down gunman on Segway

I never thought of the Segway as a crime fighting tool. How cool! I'm sure this cop is the envy of everyone in the force.

From the article
Believe it or not, Chicago policeman Thaddeus Martyka isn't the first cop to chase down a crook with the help of a Segway, but nevertheless, the two-wheeled wonder is to thank for yet another arrest. Whilst patrolling the streets and enjoying the summer breeze, the officer heard shots fired and decided to wheel over and see what the commotion was all about.

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Chinese military hacked into Pentagon

Oh no this is terrible news. The reason I say that is George Bush in his gun slinging trigger happy ways will probably want to go and bomb them then invade.

From the article
The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials.

The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack.

Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army.

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Google Wiki Prepares To Launch

Google don't buy companies for no reason. No doubt they have over hauled the service so I would expect it will re-launch with a raft of new features. I watch with interest.

From the article
Google may finally be preparing to re-launch wiki service Jotspot, nearly a year after it acquired the company. Jotspot has not allowed new customer registrations since the acquisition was announced, although existing customers retained access to their accounts.

Google Operating System noted that the Jotspot discussion board and help desk have moved over to Google. More telling, Google Blogoscoped discovered that “jotspot” is now a Google Apps service code name. Attempts to log in to the service are shown a page with a (somewhat fuzzy) Google Wiki logo.

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Crazy Gadgets to Keep Cool

A truly crazy collection of gadgets. I'm not sure how popular these will prove to be!

From the article
Keeping your cool during the summer is no easy task. Ingenious and inventive people are constantly trying to find new an innovative ways to stay cool. As summer draws to a close here are a few who have gone in new, inventive, and sometimes humorous directions in their quest to keep cool.

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Google SMS Payment System

This sort of service will really take off. Google are onto a winner.

From the article
In the past year we’ve been hearing a lot about making payments via cellphone and a recent patent application from Google means it might happen sooner than you think. The patent describes a system in which you can pay simply by texting the sum to a processing server. Making person-to-person transactions should be just as easy as using cash and since the service integrates with Google Checkout, it won’t be accepted anywhere.

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NBC: 'Apple's got it wrong'

This is one spat that just doesn't seem to want to go away. Anyway I'm still with Apple on this one. I think NBC are shooting themselves in the foot.

From the article
Bloomberg has published NBC' response to Apple's decision to dump the broadcaster from the iTunes Store. As one might expect, they deny any ill will or, for that matter, any intention to effectively double their prices.

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PatentMonkey: Biometric Cell Phone Developments

I'm not sure I like Motorola's idea of having your cell phone deliver electric shocks to your body!

From the article
If Motorola or AT&T’s recent patents show, biometric controls are coming for cell phones. AT&T envisions a means to unlock your phone with your voice while Moto has begun developing a means to use a cell phone to deliver a shocking messages to your body on command.

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Apple responds: NBC wanted $4.99 per TV show episode!

NBC where just been greedy. No one is going to pay $4.99 per episode. An example of a very greedy company. Apple are better off without them.

From the article
Apple(R) today announced that it will not be selling NBC television shows for the upcoming television season on its online iTunes(R) Store. The move follows NBC's decision to not renew its agreement with iTunes after Apple declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99. ABC, CBS, FOX and The CW, along with more than 50 cable networks, are signed up to sell TV shows from their upcoming season on iTunes at $1.99 per episode.

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Amazon to launch music service in September

Amazon might actually stand a chance to make a bit of a dent in Apple/iTunes dominance. Only if they make it a cheap, reliable and easy to use service with heaps of music.

From the article
Amazon.com has tentatively set a mid-September target for the launch of its music service, the New York Post reported in its online edition on Friday, citing sources familiar with the situation. The store will offer songs in the MP3 format and give consumers an alternative to Apple's iTunes, the report said.

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