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Thursday, July 24, 2003 |
Richard Macmanus weighs in with his 2 cents....
Read/Write Web
A lot of people are getting pretty excited about Social Software. Bloggers like Joi Ito and Marc Canter are writing with gusto about social software. I'm hearing lots of trendy new acronyms and phrases - FOAF, MetaBlogs, Reputation systems, "web of trust", "moblogging", "micro-content", etc etc. It's all getting to be a blur. But these are heady times and everyone is out there hunting that White Whale, the Semantic Web.
I'm going to add my own trendy phrase to the mix: Web of Ideas.
Yes I know, Web of Ideas isn't a particularly original phrase. When I googled it, I found a number of old newspaper articles and school assignments that used it. But still I want to use it myself, because it succinctly states what I have always believed the World Wide Web is all about: dissemination of ideas.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th century American writer, once said: "The ideas in every man's mind make him what he is." We're lucky to live in the 21st century. We have Web technologies such as weblogs and RSS to help us discover, create and share ideas.
I'll write more about the Web of Ideas later. For now (it's getting late and I'm starting to ramble), I want to point to an interesting development at Erik Benson's weblog. Erik is developing an idea database. Hey, good idea Erik ;-) [Read/Write Web]
I wonder if Richard knows about the Lazy Web?
weblog at work again.  A few days ago I asked if anyone had taken pictures of me at the annual 'black cross'. Jean-Pierre van Gastel was there (he's a 3D animator in 'real life') and he completed my collection with 2 photos of my race. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]
Adam Curry flys helicopters, hangs out with Madonna and Michael Jackson and has his own reality TV show.
Now (just to prove he's cool) he's motocrossing, popping wheelies and in general - showing off to the cameras.
Chris Lydon Interview. Christopher Lydon's interview of me is up on his site. Amazing what he can do with such a tight budget and in such a short amount of time. I've been a big fan of his work, so I jumped at the chance when he called me up and asked for an interview. We did it amazingly quickly - he called me up, we talked for 30 minutes, and 2 hours later, the interview was posted to the web. Chris is onto something...... [Sifry's Alerts]
Everyone should all tuen in on thsi interview. Dave Sifry is turning into a god.
fascinating Outlook 2003-style weblog layout. since i'm used to reading messages in this format all day, this weblog design appealed to me [anil dash's daily links]
Wow! Yet another hot, D HTML app. This one loads - like instantly. I love this stuff. This one's got some decent content channels - as well.
This story from Scott Mace. You can always count on Scott for truly nerdy, broadbandy, ISPy kind of stories......
Home Networking Becomes More Entertaining. Home networking is about to take on home entertainment, and it will be an interesting place to be for both consumers and vendors alike. For the past several years, home networks have been driven by consumers purchasing broadband Internet access and connecting their second (or third) computer for their families.
But the broadband market is saturating, and there are only so many more PCs that families who can afford multiple compute beyond this mid-band stuff.rs can purchase. The real action is going to be non-PC devices that are connected to the home Ethernet, such as stereo equipment, cameras, phones and video servers. Some of this gear is hitting the market now, and more is on its way. Whether this stuff works remains to be seen, but clearly the concept of home networking is expanding quickly. [VARBusiness.com : News]
Good story, but I don't think the "broadband" market is saturating at all -- simply waiting for a disruptive reorganization while the current "broadband" monopolists face the legal fallout from their misbehavior, and technological payback as unlicensed wireless and non-traditional fiber providers gain a foothold -- provided we champion their cause politically. [Scott Mace's Radio Weblog]
This is what our business model is based upon. More than 60% of all homes with PCs have two of more PCs. The real world won't force people to choose between PCs and Tvs - they'll want to have both connected together. And where's the software to do all that?
We're just in an era of mid-band right now. Broadband is 2Mbps or better - but will probably be more like 5 Mbps once it really rolls out. I don't care whether it's tethered or wireless - we just need to get beyond this mid-band stuff.
the rise of the backchannel. i'm with stewart: it's annoying [anil dash's daily links]
Yet another rendition of the famous Dan Gillmor story about Joe Nacchio. But now that the hecklebot has been disclosed, it's only a matter of time till some VC firm decides to fund a 'back channeling' play.
HHhhmm - I wonder what the business model is?
This is from AKMA.
AKMA’s Random Thoughts
There’ an explosion of energy on the FOAF front, due no doubt to the interventions of such power hitters as Joi, Marc, and Shelley. Joi may be the one who started the present rush; as the surge of friends-of-friends rushes past and we begin settling to figuring out what it all means, Marc and Shelley have begun probing some follow-up questions.
Marc is asking about nuanced expressions for friendship, acquaintance, relation, and so on. This seems an appropriate way of handling some delicate distinctions among human relationships, but almost ends up obliging users to say too much. I listed Marc as a “friend” when I was assembling my FOAF profile because, well, we’ve exchanged polite words several times online, and I was desperate for names I might include. Marc seems a cheery and relaxed guy, so I hoped he wouldn’t mind (and it seems he doesn’t —whew!); but he’d be reasonable to object that “friend” overstates our connection. If I thought we were best buddies, though, and he thought I was some guy, the RDF syntax of our relationship might be confusing, and sorting it out might entail some tensions and (perhaps unnecessary) hurt feelings.
Shelley points out that there may be something uncomfortable about specifying the precise texture of our relationships in an open online source. That, too. Although I’m content to support a loose, heuristic web of public relationships, a more fine-grained network could easily amplify the very tech-savvy Homeland Security Department (hey, they adopted Windows as their high-security OS) to find out more about us than we wish.
Meanwhile, Liz said something very provocative on the topic, but it slipped my mind and and I can’t find it on her blog. I may edit this part later to include Liz in the discussion.
Much as I appreciate the nuance that Marc’s entry seems to promise, I suspect that we might gain more meaningful, more fine-tuned information by looking at links: are they all one-way? do they seem to be mutual — that is, nearly-simultaneous — or do they alternate by direction at sporadic intervals? how do complementary links relate the two (do third-party linkers tend to emphasize her rather than me, or me rather than her)? Throw in even a crude whuffie system, and we learn a great deal from public information, learning that doesn’t depend on how each party inflects the word “friend.” [AKMA]
Now back to MY commentary......
Coolio dude - you can always say you're my friend. But our products (which will leverage FOAF) will give folks options to say (besides just being 'a friend'):
- they are acquainted with somebody
- they know somebody by reputation
- they know somebody in passing
- or that they don't know somebody, but wish to
Only if you say you're someone's friend, will we go through an email verification process. All other types of relationships can stand 'unverified'.
I just love watching the AOL turnstyle turn. Olaf Olafson was hired back in March to 'coordinate the technology efforts of AOL'. Not sure who's reporting to who - but now they've hired an ex Merril Lynch and GE Caprital guy to be their technology strategist. Oh boy, that'll solve their problems.
I'm confidant John McKinley can coordinate and lead AOL's technology efforts. I wonder if he ever heard of Magic Carpet? Here's the article....
AOL taps technology strategist. America Online names a new chief technology officer of AOL Technologies as the company heats up its efforts in broadband, wireless and other areas. [CNET News.com - Media]
Kevin Werbach has some insight into this announcement:
AOL's new CTO. AOL hired John McKinley, former CTO of Merrill Lynch, as its new Chief Technology Strategist and President of AOL Technologies.
At Merrill, McKinley was a visible and respected leader in the move to Web services. Hiring him suggests that AOL, which has always defined itself as a company that doesn't care about technology, may be changing its tune.
The Internet companies that have thrived while AOL faltered -- Microsoft, Amazon.com, eBay, Google -- have two things in commons. They are deeply technology-driven, but they see technology not as an end in itself but as a platform. Maybe I'm reading in too much, but this could be the direction AOL is going. [Werblog]
Kevin is rgiht. AOL has never been a technology driven company. But once Microsoft started running MSN ads that said - explictly - RUN ON MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY that should have given AOL a clue. Now we get to see what happens next.
I just love the idea of analysts who look at what's going on now - and extrapolate the future based upon the present.
What that completely misses is not only the innovation factor, but the reaction factor, the people's factor and the obsolescence factor. Why would you think that "business as usual" is going to continue? Doesn't that negate all development, changes and evolution? And what about disruptive technology and trends? Michael Gartenberg only needs to look at the Fashion industry to find a universe where change is constant and where new designs and innovation are essential to moving forward.
Look at what happened to the music business? It happens about every 10 years, where the Clear Channels and power mongers take over - limiting exposure to any new sounds or grooves. Well the grooves make it out anyway! Usually through the club circuit. Then some new young Turk hears that, signs a few new bands and gets promoted and builds profits on these new grooves.
That needs to happen in our universe.
Jupiter Media Analyst Michael Gartenberg: "Consumer electronics companies are NOT embracing open standards as Joi says, in fact just the opposite. CE vendors want you locked into their standards and want to create interoperability with their devices not with their competition. Can anyone out there say Memory Stick?"
[The Scobleizer Weblog]
So to be official about it - I totally disagree with Gartenberg. Open Standards are gonna save the consumer electronics business. Consumers don't trust new product launches anymore. They've been burned too many times. They want to make sure formats are compatible - so they have a multi-vendor set of choices.
Those consumer electronics vendors who continue the proprietary format game - will perish.
Not to be outdone or get in the last word, Robert Scoble insists that his employer is just a simple, humble innovator - wishing for more respect. I called Microsoft the world's biggest corporation and Robert's coming back with employee numbers and the like. I was thinking in terms of market cap, profits, cash in the bank and things like that. The things that count.
But if you live in a country that lets convicted illegal monopolists get away with 'taking the air' away from it's competitors - than that shouldn't be surprising. With a measily 55,000 employees - Microsoft can be - well Microsoft. It's a new noun, like Kotex or Coca-cola. Here's Robert's rap........
Marc Canter defines "relevant" by "who is leading the pack." OK, but, how do you define the leader? Was beta video tape the leader, or was VHS?
He also says "But Mr. Red Pill himself has to go and defend the world's largest corporation - somehow implying it has the RIGHT to dominate all categories."
Um, how do you define "biggest?" NEC has twice as many employees. We certainly pale in comparison to Wallmart's numbers, for instance. IBM has 300,000. We have 55,000.
More from Marc: "Just one word - network boxes. How come Microsoft got into the network hub and wireless box business? Did that invent that? Provide any innovation?" Actually, we listen to the complaints of our users. They told us they wanted a box that was distributed by someone who had a technical support division and with a manual that could be easily understood.
Yet more: "So unless Microsoft starts INNOVATING - their contributions are the filler." Ahh, now we're getting somewhere. Between now and 2005, Microsoft will ship more new operating system APIs than we have since 1995. Is that innovation? Yes! Will that open up new opportunities for guys like Marc Canter? Yes! Will it keep us, um, relevant? Yes!
[The Scobleizer Weblog]
Robert sounds like a main conscious of the fact that this bosses read his blog. Can't blame somebody for trying to keep their job. But seriously there's nothing more I'd like to see than some real innovation coming out of Redmond.
Three Degrees looks cool. Everyone is waiting for OneNote. And I don't have to tell you that the Home Media Center - is right up my alley. I just HOPE they don't think they're done yet. Everyone knows you don't buy ANTHING from Microsoft until it's at least a 3.0.
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