Computer, scoppia la guerra tra poveri, Nicola Bruno
Il Pc da 100 dollari di Negroponte trova nuovi avversari sulla sua strada. L'iniziativa del guru del Mit è in difficoltà. Poco usabile e meno “etico” del previsto, il portatile a basso costo deve affrontare la concorrenza di colossi come Intel, Asus, Hp che mettono in campo tecnologie, dollari e peso politico.

Cinema, un'industria alla prova di internet, Andrea Rocco
Mentre sulla Croisette si celebrano antichi riti, dietro le quinte la rete scardina i meccanismi di Hollywood. Una rivoluzione che c'è anche se (ancora) non si vede.

Nuove forme di narrazione crescono. La faticosa ricerca di formati per la rete, Marina Rossi
Come già per la letteratura, l'online stenta a inventare innovative forme di racconto visivo. Ma forse stiamo solo sbagliando a cercare: la vera narrazione-internet potrebbe essere la rete stessa.

TELEVISIONI
Il palinsesto che venne dal web, Federico Fasce
Intervista. A colloquio con Tommaso Tessarolo, direttore del palinsesto di Current.tv, la televisione “dal basso” di Al Gore. Un mix di tv e web che vuole parlare anche di call center e Dico.

DIRITTI – Morti bianche, la denuncia corre sul blog, Piero Babudro
CENSURE - Google non disturba Pechino, Marco Trotta
IDENTITA' - Tutti amici tra i social network, Eva Perasso

Το Facebook προφανώς δυσαρεστήθηκε από την έναρξη της υπηρεσίας Google Friend Connect λίγες μέρες μετά την ανακοίνωση του δικού του Facebook Connect. Επιβεβαιώνονται, επίσης, αυτό που σας είχα πει και σε σχετικό μου post πρόσφατα, ότι η Google προσπαθεί να βάλει κάτω από το δικό της έλεγχο τα διάφορα social networks με τον έμμεσο τρόπο της "διασύνδεσης". Γεγονός που το Facebook δεν είναι διατεθημένο να ανεχθεί.

Το Facebook δεν κλείνει εντελώς την πόρτα στο Friend Connect. Μιλά για ανάγκη συνεργασίας για τη βελτίωση της εφαρμογής, έτσι ώστε να υπάρχει απόλυτος σεβασμός της privacy των χρηστών του Facebook. Γεγονός πραγματικό, καθώς η Google, με τις νέες της υπηρεσίες φαίνεται να χειρίζεται σημαντικές πτυχές της online ζωής των χρηστών με μια ελαφρότητα που δεν είχα δει ως τώρα στο web. Το κακό είναι πως στο μυαλό των χρηστών έχει ριζώσει η ιδέα πως ότι προέρχεται από την Google είναι καλό και ασφαλές. Δυστυχώς, η πραγματικότητα είναι πολύ διαφορετική.

Βέβαια το Facebook, δεν είναι ότι νοιάζεται τόσο πολύ για την privacy μας. Η όλη ιστορία της privacy είναι η αφορμή για να φέρει την Google σε τραπέζι διαπραγματεύσεων, όπου η ουσία της συζήτησης θα είναι: για να σας επιτρέψουμε να παίζετε με τις νέες εφαρμογές σας στην πλάτη των πελατών μας και να κερδίζετε οικονομικά, θέλουμε και εμείς κομμάτι της πίτας.

Γενικώς είμαι αντιθέτως με την νέα πολιτική της Google, που έγινε πιο έντονη και φανερή με τη διάθεση της Google App Engine και ειδικότερα της API που αφορά τους χρήστες. Η Google φαίνεται ότι θέλει σε όλο το web να κάνουμε login με το google account μας. Και δυστυχώς κάποιοι που όπως πάντα, έτσι και τώρα, τους παίρνει το κύμα της μόδας και του καινούριου προωθούν με την συμμετοχή τους υποχθόνιες στρατηγικές αυτού του τύπου.

Η αντίσταση του Facebook αυτή την στιγμή είναι σημαντική.

Upon reaching this notice i began to suspect this may actually have to do with the  100 million in debt face-book stated it took on to "buy new servers". Or is this the new facelift that was reveled to occur in the future to optimize growth and easy of use? In the article by Business week http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080514_205389.htm

There is talk about how decreasing the amount of clutter, and optimizing user growth by enabling more efficiency in the process of signing up as well as enabling more simplicity in the sites management of modules on ones personal landing page. The aim is to simply be simple and not get in the way of the user, but rather be part of the experience. Thus maybe i am one of the few affected in this round of face-lifts, but once its done I shall let you know if the results are worth the upgrades. Comment if you have gotten the facebook face-lift as well, any insight to how it is would be great.

y muy apropiadamente me tropecé hoy con este agridulce y hermoso poema de Charles Bukowski.

nunca he traducido poesía, así que no está de más experimentar:

Charles Bukowski
las chicas de la secundaria

las chicas solían decirme: "eres tan
negativo!"
lo decían de modo muy definitivo y
parecía satisfacerlas.
(los chicos no me decían nada porque
sabían que yo se los
devolvería.)
pero las chicas eran muy superiores
diciendo, "eres tan
negativo!"
las hacia sentir intelectuales, o,
al menos, inteligentes.
ya tenían ideas formadas
de lo que era la vida
y lo que debería ser la vida
y cómo se debería uno desempeñar
bajo estas
condiciones.

para mí estaba bien, yo no quería estar
cerca de ellas, no quería follármelas o
casarme con ellas o
siquiera salir con ellas.
no encontraba a ninguna de ellas
hermosa.

ahora, más de 45 años después
encuentro que casi todos son
negativos
y yo soy positivo
y aún me siento afortunado de que no me follé, casé o
salí con ninguna de aquéllas.
ellas, y aquéllos de su edad, se han
vuelto en gran parte tan
tristes, amargados y
psicóticos.

supongo que comenzaron a ser
positivos
tan temprano
que se lo gastaron por
completo.
y ése es el fin de su
historia.

The biggest surprise in Google's announcement of Friend Connect was Facebook's participation as a "social graph provider."

As a participant in and survivor of "Scoblegate," I know all too well what a big deal it would be for Facebook to allow portability of their social graph to Google's visionary project to socially-enable the long-tail of the Web.

At Monday's CampFire One event on the Google campus, I was excited to see Dave Morin, who heads up the Platform at Facebook. Were they really participating in Google Friend Connect? Man, I knew this was big, but that would make it something HUGE!

Today, we all learned from Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, that Facebook has decided to *not* participate in this exciting opportunity, in an official Facebook blogpost citing heartburn over privacy issues and violation of various Facebook terms and conditions. So, they blocked Google's Friend Connect application. Wow!

Could it really be true? At Plaxo (disclaimer/reminder: I head up marketing there), we believe that Google's Friend Connect represents an enormous opportunity for the social networks participating as Social Graph Providers. As they light up the long tail of the Social Web, we want our users to be able to fully leverage their investment in creating a truly useful, fully-articulated social graph within Plaxo Pulse, categorizing their real-world relationships as family, friend, or business. We want our users ti be able to take their local piece of the social graph with them, wherever they go across the Social Web. And we are confident that Google's Friend Connect is a great vehicle for making that a reality.

Is it really possible that Facebook will cede this market opportunity to us? As a business person, I sure hope so! :)

But as a citizen of the Web, I hope not. Openess and competition leads to innovation and more choices.

I can hardly wait to see how this all plays out! Here's the latest on the drama, again from TechCrunch.

And Dave, I'm not really trying to harsh on you or Facebook here. I do believe you guys are working on opening up, and am keen to hear the details when you're ready. (And I hope you're not reading all this from your vacation in Hawaii. Aloha.)

And if you're thirsting for more, here's a link to a video Robert Scoble shot at the Google CampFire One event. He interviews me before it all gets going, but if you make it to the end, you can see Dave Morin arrive and give his props to Scoble.

1. myspace.com
2. Wikipedia.org
3. YouTube.com
4. facebook.com
5. photobucket.com
6. craigslist.org
7. flickr.com
8. IMDB.com
9. digg.com
10. WordPress.com
11. topix.com
12. Netscape.com
13. xanga.com
14. TypePad.com
15. cafepress.com
16. feedburner.com
17. LiveJournal.com
18. Technorati.com
19. linkedin.com
20. del.icio.us
21. dailymotion.com
22. friendster.com
23. StumbleUpon.com
24. last.fm
25. MyBlogLog.com

Out of 25 of them, at this moment, I'm only aware of 8. Among these 8, only 3 of them that I'm familiar with and frequently access to. Yeah, I know. I do embarrass myself, eh? Alright, never too late to sample them one by one, the top 25 Web 2.0 sites. How about you? How many from the list you have explored? 5? 10?

まさか ぜんぶ知ってる？ ;)

LTS&R ain't gonna get you very far.

As a side note, my pformer employer blocked Facebook almost immediately after I left the organization. Coincidence? Happenstance? Divine intervention from Baby Jesus?

I'm curious about the level of access to Web 2.0 in Corporate America. Does your organization block The MyFace? How about the Twitters? It seems pretty clear to me: if they don't see the value in web2pointohs, they won't see the value in your employment.

Unlike other platforms, Hi5 does not publish a ranked application directory, so it has been hard to get real data on how quickly apps have penetrated the user base. Because Hi5 launched with viral channels open, penetration has been as fast as Facebook's platform launch in the first 45 days, if not faster. Inside Facebook reports on some stats as to just how quick penetration has been - stats I have not seen elsewhere:

Hi5 Platform Totals

* 617 applications
* 1 million total daily installs
* 14 apps have been installed on more than 1 million profiles
* 6.5 million total daily canvas page views
* 9 apps with more than 10 million total canvas page views so far

Amongst Active Users

* 3.7 apps on average
* 52% have at least one app
* Max apps installed by any one user is 23

Hi5's user base is primarily international, and anecdotal evidence from Facebook developers suggests that international users are more willing to install apps than US users. This may have influenced Hi5's fast start out of the gate, despite repeated instability in their platform. (Facebook's platform was equally unstable at launch, and still suffers outages from time to time).

While it may prove to be harder to monetize the Hi5 international user base through advertising in the short term, we may well see alternative monetization models emerge. Note slide 48 in Ben Joffe's excellent comparison of social network business models between the US and Asia.

Would love to hear any data from readers on how their apps have performed on Hi5.

In the past, when we found applications passing user data to another party (for instance, to ad networks for the purpose of targeting), we suspended those applications and worked with those developers to ensure they respect user privacy. Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

Facebook alleges that Google violates their terms of service by storing user profile data. This allows the possibility of redistribution without the users explicit permission. TechCrunch just posted this...

Here’s an example of how Friend Connect works in practice. A third party site may want to add social elements to their service. They can integrate with Friend connect and allow users to sign in. Those users choose a social network where they keep their profile (Orkut, Hi5, GTalk and, until today, Facebook) and log in via the social network’s API. They then become “members” of the site, using Google’s terminology. If any of their friends from their social network also become members of that site, those friends are shown on the site and you can interact with them.

IMO the average user is probably not going to care too much if indeed their profile is compromised. I mean it's not like I have my SS# or bank accounts or my medical history on these social networks. So an ad company knows I like trail running and they push a bunch of ads for trail running apparel and shoes whenever I log in - big deal! The issue here is not really privacy but who ultimately wins control over the social graph.

Google needs to add a bunch of check boxes on the setup page so users can check the type of data they want pulled down. Should be a relatively easy fix!

I saw Dave Morin, who runs Facebook's developer platform, at Google's event Monday night. You can see him at the end of the event where I shoved my cell phone in his face and tried too get him to comment. He refused.

After the camera is off he said it was "interesting" that Google had used Facebook as one of the examples during its launch of Friend Connect.

I guess it was a lot more than "interesting."

They blocked Google because they didn't want Google to populate its friend network with data collected from Facebook.

Oh, I know, that's not the real reason they told TechCrunch and others. Here's the official statement from Facebook.

Facebook is being consistent here. Dave Morin told me a few months ago all about Facebook's concerns. Such ask, what happens if you change your email address, will it change everywhere that your email address got copied to?

Clearly with Google's Friend Connect the answer is "no." Why? Because it was a one-time action and there was no live connection back to Facebook and Google's Friend Connect's data would get older and older (and more and more out of date). Want to delete your email address off of the Web? Sorry, thanks to other systems Facebook can't ensure that'll happen.

Now, I've been on both sides of this story. A few months ago I tried using some unreleased technology from Plaxo to do exactly what Google did on Monday night. I not only got kicked off of the API (which is what should have happened) but my account was hidden and I was locked out for about 20 hours.

Facebook's "penalty" for that behavior was way too harsh. And, some, like John Furrier, believe that Facebook is on the wrong side of the line tonight again.

Me? I think Facebook has a point, but I think the horse is out of the barn already and Facebook won't be able to shove it back in.

Why? You should check into Minggl. It's a toolbar that does far more than what Google's Friend Connect does.

But it does it in a way that Facebook will never be able to block. Why? Because it's your browser that scrapes all your friend's info into Minggl's browser bar. That bar then uploads all that information back up to Minggl. There's no way that Facebook will be able to block Minggl. If Google wants to push the issue they should do exactly what Minggl is doing.

To get geeky for a moment, Minngl is collecting that data with a separate IP address each time the same one your browser is using. If Facebook wants to block Minngl it'll have to block you from browsing to Facebook. Facebook can't do that to everyone, so Minggl has picked an architecture that makes it impossible for Facebook to block. At least using technical methods. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook tried to sue Minggl or other companies that use similar methods to collect data.

Privacy is dead.

Anyone who puts anything on a computer screen that they want hidden from public view should think again. I don't think it can be stopped and the walled gardens that have built around Facebook and other social networks are temporarily walled at best. That data WILL leak out of the walls and already is. Facebook's attempt to keep the walls up will prove unsuccessful.

Just ask former KGO Radio Talk Show host Bernie Ward. He was convicted of sending child pornography through email to someone else. If email isn't a private medium then surely Facebook isn't. (The person he was emailing those photos to emailed them to the authorities).

What do you think? Does Facebook have a point or is the horse already out of the barn?

UPDATE: This is being discussed at a much faster rate over on FriendFeed than over here.

UPDATE2: Google employee Kevin Marks says I'm wrong in comments here. Here's his correction to this post: "Robert, you’re wrong about Friend Connect data getting stale. It’s fetched directly from your linked Friend Data sources, including other Social Networks, with short-term caching on Friend Connect servers. There is a live two-way connection - Friend Connect posts back events to the Social Networks’ activity streams when the user choses to do so."

Join MiMi, Boutique Mix and other fabulous African Designers and Vendors for the May 20th Fashion Trunk Show portion of the Passport to Africa Event in Washington DC.

Passport to Africa is an annual week-long celebration of African culture and people. It is designed to highlight Africa's many cultures through creative and unique events. Passport to Africa is produced by IDOA Entertainment (I Dream Of Africa Entertainment). Click here to learn more about this fab Africana event!!!

Why am I feeling so old? Tomorrow is my birthday. That’s right, I’m officially older. The oldest person alive…in my house. Tomorrow, I am turning…I can’t even believe I have to come to terms with this…32. Yes, I know what you’re thinking…”Goddamn that’s old!” I know, but you don’t have to rub it in, you…you…you young whippersnapper you. I’d kick your butt for being so disrespectful, but I’m too tired and can’t lift my foot past my ankle. 

Having lived all these countless years (well, not countless…32), I have much wisdom and advice to pass on to the generations that follow me. So young ones, listen closely:

·    When you lose the TV remote control, you can still change the channel. It may require getting up and walking to the TV, but it is possible. If you try really hard, you can also increase and decrease the volume and turn it on and off.

·    There was a time when every other word in the English language was not preceded by the lowercase letter “i.” It’s iEnglish for iGod’s sake—speak properly! Now where did I leave my iPhone?

·    Hannah Montana is not the greatest musical act ever. That honor is reserved for New Kids on the Block. Damn right, “The right stuff, baby!”

·    If you want to learn valuable lessons from someone, go talk to them. Don’t go on the internet and read blogs…wait, ignore that one.

That’s all the lessons I have so far. If someday I live to the ripe old age of 35, I may impart more. Unless dementia kicks in even further, in which case perhaps you can come over and change my diaper. Oh, and pay some of my bills, because chances are that I haven’t for a while…might as well start paying them now, if you don’t mind.

Hold on…be right back…

…

…

…thanks for waiting. It’s amazing how age shrinks your bladder. I had something really important to say…damn dementia!

So as I sit on my virtual rocking chair, swaying back and forth on my Second Life porch, I reminisce about years gone by…the good old days without all this worthless technology…oops, out of time. I have to go check my Twitter page, play some Scrabulous on Facebook, play GTA IV on Xbox Live and watch the game on HDTV, so no more time to blog about the good old days.

For access . . .goto Facebook and search on 'respect the land'. Become a fan . . . not just of the page but of the message.

Dean

The unpredictability of startups never ceases to amaze me.  And no, networking is not equal to Facebook.  Cause if it was, it'd look something like this:

De momento, siguiendo el ejemplo de Juan Varela, lo utilizo para básicamente para informar a mis followers de que he posteado algún nuevo artículo o comentario en este blog. Además, he instalado un widget que vincula Twitter con Facebook, con lo cual, lo que escribo en Twitter aparece automáticamente en Facebook, cosa que facilita mucho la tarea de mantener actualizado Facebook. Todos los días, casi la mitad de las visitas que recibe este blog llegan a través de Facebook o Twitter.

Pero Twitter también puede ser útil para una empresa, como explica Fernando Polo en su blog Abladías (el link me lo envió Oscar Espíritusanto): fomenta los lazos emocionales y el networking, ayuda a crear marca y es fácil de manejar y mantener. En Abladías podrán encontrar "Los 10 mandamientos del Twitter corporativo".

Según un artículo publicado por BusinessWeek, propuesto por Enrique Dans a través de Twitter, esta herramienta 2.0 cuenta con entre medio y un millón de usuarios activos, muchos menos que Facebook (70 millones). Además prevée que una amplia mayoría abandone la aplicación cuando surjan otras más novedosas.

IF YOU ARE VOTING FOR KHANG, PLEASE READ.

Khang has said that, if he wins the title of Grade 11 Rep, he will shave off his cheese-stash! I know a lot of us want him to get rid of that thing, and if he wins, it will put an end to the peach fuzz above his lip.

SPREAD THE WORD. KHANG MUST WIIIIIIIIIIINNNNN.

That is all

The above was a message sent to all members of Khang Nguyen for Grade 11 Rep group on Facebook.

Interesting promise, eh?

Oh well.  It's better than nothing, eh?

Most of the Facebook kids were not around when Netscape blew it to Microsoft. Now Facebook is making a blunder to fight Google on a frontal basis.

Here they write via their developer blog ....hold on let me get the violin out.."Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service. Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose."

Kara Swisher please decode this for us? I think that this is garbage for Facebook to do this - Hello Beacon...

I have been following Facebook for some time and never got one response from their PR people. I'm tired of waiting. My opinion is that this move is bad. What a PR blunder.

Update: Mike Arrington has a detailed post from both companies. Nice post Mike!.

Facebook: Privacy my ass - This is a Facebook PR stunt backfired...this imho only hurts Facebooks platform development efforts because FB need to develop the platform and this petty shit has to stop.. ..Elliott's 2nd day on the job. Nice job pal - NOT.

Hey everyone, I hope your week is going well. Sorry I didn't blog last night. I switched my Thursday with a Wednesday off this week. I want to congratulate JessicaB; she is the winner of my contest. Apparently 3 times was a charm. Thanks for entering everyone. I will have more contests all Spring and maybe Summer long. If you want a chance to win, check back here often. If you don't want to wait, just purchase one of my e-books. You will get the same three months of tutoring as well.

I heard about a close friend of mine that got here facebook username and password stolen. It was a phishing scam that stole her information. It's very important to protect yourself from phishing scams. Phishing scams are the newest way to steal someone’s identity and bank account information.

Phishing scams can be very misleading since they are designed to look like trusted websites. Phishing scams through ebay and paypal have been popular for years. But, now the crooks look to social networks. Once they access most peoples personal profile; they have all they need to steal that person's identity. The crooks can find personal information they need, like your name, phone number, and address. That's all they need these days to steal your identity. Your social security number can even be stolen from this information.

It was reported this year that 90% of the time that someone’s identity was stolen online, was from facebook, myspace, or a similar social network. Social networks have become a breeding ground for scam artists. Be careful who you let be your friend on social networks. Make your profile private to protect your identity.

It has also been reported these types of phishing scams involve some getting to know you until you trust them. Then the victim is hit with a friendly link or message that contains malware. Malware(virus) is a very bad program that can do everything from ruin your computer to stealing your identity. The scammer may also send you a website link or program without you realizing it. Some scammers are reported to leave these links in their profile, so innocent victims click on to them while looking at profiles. They never know their identity was just stolen.

These phishing links are also known to steal your social network username and password. Once the thief has this information, there are no limits to what they can find out about you. Stealing identities is a very serious business. The thieves are very good at what they do. Don't underestimate them.

Take extreme measures to protect yourself from con-artists. Don't use the same password you use for other websites as you do on social networks. Make your social network passwords totally different. Believe it or not, some people even use the same bank username and password as their social network. It is reported that this is how thieves are logging into bank accounts online and stealing money from their victims.

I know it's a pain in the neck to remember another new username and password. But, protecting your identity is well worth the hassle. If you have ever had your identity stolen, you know how important it can be in the long run. Add some initials to the beginning or end of your usual password. Keep the same username but change the password. Anything to throw the thieves off the trail.

Don't ever click on links sent through your email. Try and go directly to the sites you are registered. Clicking links in emails are a big way phishing scams have ripped people off. People click the link and it brings them to a website that looks just like a website they are a member to already. The person logs in and BAM, your username and password is stolen. The website just brought you to the scammer’s webpage and stole your username and password when you logged in to the site. Ebay and Paypal have been hit with this email phishing scam big-time in the past few years.

Be careful and protect yourself at all costs everyone. If you have any questionable content let me know. I can help.

Thanks for reading!

LP@thehomedropshipguide.com

Long-time readers will recall that I went through the same process with Facebook last year. Even though I found some things that Facebook is good for (Susan compares it to collecting one's friends like Hummels), and find it fun to play games with my friends, professionally I've done zilch. Seemingly the moment I was convinced to sign up with Facebook was when Facebook-backlash began. Now people frustrated with Facebook offer plaudits for Twitter instead. So maybe I can be ahead of the curve, or at least on the curve this time. So far I've found that Twitter is a good forum for writing Haiku and publishing Overheard-type comments. If you want to follow me you can find me at http://twitter.com/Othemts.

Here's a typical article Why Twitter Matters from iLibrarian.