Piece from Valleywag which echoes Tim Berners-Lee’s comments on user generated content last September. Oh, sorry it’s a gif as I couldn’t be bothered to upload it in a proper fashion.
Monthly Archives: April 2008
Born on 18 April
Jennifer and Richard have a baby boy. Congratulations too for Roger and Linda, and Nicky & Nick.
SocialText Putting A Little Social Into…Enterprise Wikis
Comment on the ‘socializing’ of Socialtext: “It’s interesting to see all the different folks who are trying to provide “Facebook for the enterprise”. Who will win? Private label social network providers? Collaboration vendors? Or Facebook themselves?” Chris Yeh of http://www.pbwiki.com/
But I also like lars from Headshift on the rise of the dashboard as featured in this 3.0 private beta. Which reminds me I must get a better profile pic sorted.
And now (22 April) news that iGoogle will allow for more social networking uses, it looks like the dashboard is where it’s at..
Benefits of Brazil
Interesting article in Gringoes.com that links Brazil’s econmic growth to China’s, whilst dodging the US credit crisis.
“There has probably never been a better time for a worker to find a good job in Brazil than at the moment. The economy is growing, shrugging off most of the fallout from the crisis in the United States, consumers are buying as if every week was Christmas, real pay is rising and millions have been moving up the social ladder into higher classes. Unemployment is virtually at a record low and jobs are plentiful.
“Social inequality and misery are still around but millions have been taken out of poverty or given a helping hand thanks to the economic boom and government social security programs. How much credit should President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva take for this situation? Quite a lot but the truth is that Lula has had a lot of lucky breaks and he knows it.”
Social Networking: The Way to Communicate
Social Networking: The Way to Communicate — taken from Truste
By Candice Stewart
In recent years the popularity of Social Networking Sites (SNS’s) has exploded – Facebook, after launching a mere four years ago, now boasts an excess of 97 million users; LinkedIn launched May 2003 and now has over 20 million registered users; and the story is similar across the board.
The dynamic user-generated design of SNS’s makes them very attractive, but also presents many challenges to both platform providers and users alike. As these sites are vastly made up of user-generated content – users disclose PII about themselves and others, share personal and sensitive data and images, and others may chose to implement 3rd party applications that may also collect and disclose user PII. Social Networking Sites must be aware that they are potentially subject to the same vulnerabilities facing internet platforms at large, such as: Spam, Spyware, and Identity Theft.
What can be done to contain the above risks? Social Networking Sites have a duty to protect user PII, and make custom privacy controls readily available. In order to uphold industry credibility, SNS’s should choose their 3rd party partners wisely and must convey clear and transparent disclosures to users through their privacy policies. Finally, SNS’s must know their audience; privacy controls should cater to the level of privacy required and/or desired by various user-bases. While SNS platform providers must ensure the security and privacy of user PII, the users are responsible for making sound choices regarding what personal information they share and with whom they share it.
See mp3 recording of presentation
Xing vs LinkedIn (beta) on mobile
My very lasy & quick comparison of the mobile service provided by Xing (to launch in the UK) vs Linkedin’s beta product (the established business social networking player of course).
Xing
Nice and easy JAVA solution. Note though if you open the Xing main site and go to the mobile app download link, and save and open, you cannot connect until first until you first close the main site on your mobile.
LinkedIn
First time round when I entered http://m.linkedin.com/ an error message comes up, but second time round it let me in just fine. Now I’m looking forward to giving it a proper road test!
The film ’21′
Having seen ’21′ I enjoyed the references to basic maths, changing variables, and non-linear solutions in a cultural (as opposed to a maths) way. Also loved the bit at the end where Laurence Fishburne is in his retirement gear, poolside, reading the newspaper upside down.
On a lateral note it struck me this could be viewed as an example of complexity-maths, but as I’m no mathematican I’m not sure:
“Avraham Trakhtman has ended the mystery of the Road Colouring Problem by proving the theory of a “universal map” which allows a journey to end at a certain destination whatever the starting point by following the same instructions.
“In a diagrammatic version of the conjecture – now a theorem thanks to Professor Trakhtman – a 16-line graph forming one square and eight triangles, with the lines coloured red or green, includes two vertices, each representing different destinations. Following the route “blue red red” repeated three times always leads to one, and following “blue, blue red” always leads to the other, whatever the starting point.
“Professor Trakhtman said that it took him a year to solve the problem. But he insisted to AP: “The solution is not that complicated. It’s hard, but it is not that complicated. Some people think they need to be complicated. I think they need to be nice and simple.”
Obama’s comments on culture
Barack Obama’s comments on culture have got him into trouble. Sounds like he doesn’t understand how culture and politics interact, which is sad. But then what politicians really do in a positive sense? After all the culture of mainstream politics is itself I believe in a difficult position to really understand the varied culture people in the real world live in day to day. I’m sure that’s what in reality puts a lot of bright people off going into politics. I know I’d rather channel my desire for change through social networking and cultural change where you have a better chance of connecting with individuals in a real two way conversation.
Obama made the remarks at a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday – before a very different crowd from those he has been courting in Pennsylvania and Indiana – after he was asked why he was not doing better in Pennsylvania. (SF Chronicle)
“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama responded, according to a transcript of the fundraiser published Friday on the Huffington Post.
“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” he said.
Medicsight buy
“The medical imaging software specialist Medicsight has received approval from the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for its MedicRead Colon workstation.” (10 Apr, Investors Chronicle)
Leading to IC recommendation:
“Shares in Medicsight have slipped since we advised buying (70.5p, 7 March 2008) the turn of the year. But, with success pegged to the group securing approvals ["The forthcoming year will be extremely important for Medicsight with the expected clearance from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Japanese Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW), which will unlock significant revenue,' said chief executive David Sumner"], recovery should be on the cards and, at 59p, the shares remain a buy.”
Hmm, sounds interesting. See CEO David Sumner explain more on TV in an interview at CNBC on 18 February following the Toshiba partnership. A few points copied from IC, with addition from me in red:
BULL POINTS
Operating in world’s largest health markets
Added market intel from sister company Medicexchange
Expanding list of partnerships, eg Visage Imaging
Approvals for Japan and US entry due
Global increase in CT imaging and regulatory impetus
BEAR POINTS
Future growth dependent on regulatory approvals
Loss making