Social Networking at a glance

Ok, this I think sums up the power – and overall potential – of social networking. We have all heard of Wikipedia (I hope). If you haven't then get your tail over there and start learning. I was exposed to Wikipedia about a year ago and I have to say I am amazed. I am the "author" of a page – Livemark. I say "author" because there are some far better "authors" over there than me. People who truly care about factual information and how to best represent it.

I was working in class today (I have been training some folks on our CommonSpot software here at Cornell) and one of the side conversations that popped up was regarding the "Monty Hall Variant"(Boy do I love geeks!). Anyways I was intrigued so I thought that I would look it up. When I got there I was first amazed with the information that was posted. I am not sure a real Encyclopedia would even dedicate time to this topic but since this is a geeks world …

Anyways, what amazed more was not the article but the discussion behind the scenes about the article. Everything from philosophy about how the article (or original theory) had been presented, how the examples are confusing. The discussion when taken from the web and pasted into Word (at 9pt Arial font) was 25 pages!!! And this conversation had started a little over a month ago. The original author of the page had already archived twice the original discussion about the page. Wow! This is amazing.

Can you imagine, people working on something that detailed for what … the feeling that they participated in something, that they were a part of something that was bigger than them. To say that they made a difference in the digital definition of a term as off beat as the "Monty Hall Variant".

My new quest – how many people even know about this? Who would of thought?

RSS Feed/vs. Live Bookmarks

The ability to bookmark pages has been around since Netscape 1.0 (it may have been available in Mosaic but I can not remember that far back and at the time the concept of the web was so new to me that I may not have understood what a bookmark was). Bookmarks collectively can be viewed as a list of links to sites or pages that a user frequents. For me I link to my banking site, NBA.com, CNN.com, OnTheSnow.com Ski Report, technology help articles that I have found helpful. What made these bookmarks unsuccessful were two things
1.) If a bookmark went bad (i.e. the page was deleted or moved) you were screwed
2.) It gave you no information about the content that was contained on the page so if it changed you were screwed
Along came RSS and "Live Bookmarks" or a "Livemark"

With the advent of RSS the world of bookmarks has begun to change. Imagine some system which allows your bookmarks to be updated automatically. For instance, the page may be moved or content may change. How would you know and why would you ever want to keep up with this all. So here is the scenario:

Problem: I spend a ton of time scouring the web looking for the perfect link which gives me up to the minute updates of all my favorite local (and not so local) ski resorts. After a month of using the link the site changes the URL. Although one would think that this would be a ridiculous thing for a site to do, you all know it happens. So I am now tasked with the job of re-finding that link. Arrrgggh.

Solution: I spend a ton of time scouring the web looking for the perfect link which gives me up to the minute updates …. (you get the picture) … and instead of linking to that page I link to that sites published RSS feed. The RSS Feed (which I add to my page as a Livemark) contains not only the link for the slopes but is also updated with constants deals on great getaways this weekend to my favorite resort. In addition, if the site decides that it needs to restructure the pages a bit, it simply updates its RSS feed and I lose no time the next time a foot of snow dumps in my region.

Livemarks which up until now have been relegated to consuming RSS content for the purpose of reading articles posted to your favorite news site hold the power to make the solution described above a thing of the norm. A Livemark can help solve the "stale-ness" created with existing bookmarks. My recommendation – developers: create more Livemarks – users: consume more Livemarks – and for everyone to talk more about it.

The Feed Icon

Ok, so I just did some quick research on the "Feed Icon" you know that little orange icon that appears throughout web sites today to indicate that some content is available as a "Feed". That research has turned up some pretty interesting stuff.

There is a Wikipedia entry for this feed and it is located @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Livemark.png

Essentially they are calling this a "Livemark" aka "Bookmark" only "Live".

Then if you go down further in the entry you will see that there is a web site devoted to this:

http://www.feedicons.com

Who would of thought that we needed a website (and a pretty "flashy" site at that) to govern the icons used to represent feeds.

If you dig even deeper into the entry you will notice that there is a link to an entry in the Microsoft Team RSS Blog which describes how in December of 2005, they decided to use the little orange icon to represent the live bookmarks in their upcoming release of IE 7. Isn't this great! This is exactly what we need. A standard. Woo hoo!!!!

To me this means progress.  It is this type of progress which will make technologies like RSS a success. 

RSS to the masses

So this image appeared on Microsoft's home page today. I don't usually frequent the Microsoft site so I am not sure how long it has been there but I found this interesting. I have been talking about the launch of RSS as a great technology and as a technology that has not been delivered to the masses. I am convinced that Microsoft will be the company (unfortunately) that will deliver RSS to the masses. Especially with their latest browser. So I clicked the link and I was brought to a page that lists out some of the popular RSS feeds. Feeds that would probably make sense for someone that runs windows exclusively at home and at work (nothing against the Mac).

– Technet Security Updates

– RSS Feed for Most Recent KBs for Office XP

– RSS Feed for MSDN: Windows Media Center (I have recently bought this OS for home)

Anyways there was also a (prominent) link on this page which discussed what a feed was and how to use it. This is the kind of information that I think the masses needs. Education is the key to any new technology. I am glad to see this type of information posted. Even if it is by Microsoft.

Using Feeds (Microsoft style)

True to form they have this excerpt at the bottom:

Reading and subscribing to feeds using Internet Explorer 7

The newest version of Internet Explorer (version 7 due for release in 2006) will support feeds, including automatic discovery of feeds on Web pages, basic feed reading capabilities, and basic support for saving feeds.

Should be a fun ride when IE 7 is released.

When is NBA.com going to get rid of that ridiculous front page

Ok, I admit it, I am a huge fan of the NBA. I know post Jordan ratings are down and only true basketball fans can like this game today and the March Madness is more exciting than the NBA playoffs. I know. I know.

We are not here to discuss this though! We are here to discuss the riduculus design of the front page of NBA.com. Now there are many things that I like about the site and I think that they have improved over the years but here are the two reasons I think that the page sucks!

Reason 1
That stupid, ugly, ridiculous expanding/collapsing ad that is half broken. Now my resolution is 1400 x 1050 and it takes up more than a quarter of my screen for the first 10 seconds of the page view time. The fact that this takes up this much real estate is not the real problem though. There are two other problems, one is that it pushes the main content tabs – the 500 x 300 rectangle which contains the latest stories and links. The second problem is that the ad has an annoying _toggle_ style JavaScript function which is on a timer. The basic functionality is designed so that if you wait it will collapse the ad automatically. If however you are impatient (and who isn't) and you want to click the _toggle_ "Expand AD" button it will begin to collapse the ad (thank heavens) except that when the code timer goes off (yes the click did not stop the sites automatic timer) it _toggles_ the ad back into an expanded state. ARRGGGH!

Reason 2
The main content tabs – the 500 x 300 rectangle are completely dysfunctional. Part of the reason they are dysfunctional does have to do with the Ad but they are also dysfunctional all on their own. The tabs are on their own timer which is displayed in the lower right hand corner of the content tab area. When you arrive at the site the content tab timer starts ticking and the ad collapses automatically you have missed the window of opportunity to read the important content for the first tab (which I would assume holds the most important content) and it has already switched over to the second tab. Now to go back to the first tab you actually have to make 2 clicks (In whichever order you choose – I switch it up some nights to break the monotony). The first click is on the "Pause" button in the content tab window. This will stop the automatic rotation of the content tabs. You must then click back to the content tab 1 to see the main content. Now even without the problems related to the expanding/collapsing ad, these content tabs are no good. I read pretty quick but I am no speed reader and even if I could see the content in the first tab when I first arrived at the site, I would never be able to read it fast enough and it would switch to the second tab before I could finish. That is down right cruel!

So here are the improvements that I would make:
1. If I click on the "Expand/Collapse" button for the Ad collapse it and don't open it again. I shouldn't have to do this but I will give them the right to show me the ad if I can close it at will
2. Take a note from ESPN (which has implemented a very similar tabbing style content area) – Display the main content above the content tabs in a non-expiring style and then below the main content do your tab content thing _BUT_ when I click on a tab – stop the damn automatic tab switching timer! Or at least place the "Pause" button on – or near – the tabs.

Ahh… the price we pay for the love of the game.

[ UPDATE: 2006.06.03] – it appears that the NBA has seen the light.  The horendous drop down add no longer appears at the top of the page.  Now if they would only fix the stupid rotating graphic…

The Username/Password protocol

How long will it be before we finally decide on a uniform security architecture that has protocols for exchanging Usernames and Passwords?  About 5 years ago a friend of mine Michael Rowan, had a great idea caled eid.com (that was EId.com in the marketing).  It was an idea similar to Microsofts Passport.  You would sign up with them and you would create one username and password.  Then commerce sites and general web applications would sign up to use this general authentication protocol so that you could log in once at eid.com and be logged into all of your applications.

A typical day of transactions would like this:
6:00 AM – Log into eid.com and navigate to CNN.com Pipeline to review the daily news
6:15 AM – (Boring day in the news) – head over to ESPN.com and check your Virtual GM Standings and the Daily Dime’s Insider edition (both password protected sites)
7:00 AM – head off to work
10:45 AM – at morning break you could check your latest credit card statement, pay your phone bill and check your stock prices (all without a single username and password)
12:30 PM – at lunch you can go over to Amazon.com and order the latest Tool album and a few books you have been meaning to pick up at the book store
4:45 PM – before you leave work you go to Peapod.com and order your groceries to close out the week
8:15 PM – Sit down and start playing your favorite MMORPG

All of this with a single login in the morning.  Ahh… weren’t ideas great back then.

I am not sure what happened with that proposal he built but I know that it never got off the ground.  At the time I think that there was some potentially stiff competition so it was shelved for another idea but I liked it.

Especially with all of this social networking software out there.  I probably have 40 passwords, NO Lie!  I know that there is software that you can buy that will manage all of your passwords for you and can even be loaded into your browser but most of those still require you to create an account with the sites you want to use and the save the usernames and passwords.

What I am talking about is a system where I have one central location where I keep enough personal information about me as I want (no need in storing every Internet users Credit Card information on a single network behind a single security scheme – way to tempting).  Seriously though, I would store my name, birthday, zip code and some of my preferences.  Then I could “release” this information to the sites that I wanted to access.  With my single username and password, the sites would get what they want – my demographic informaiton – and I would get what I want.

It is really not that different from how we do things today.  I rarely carry cash.  I just “wave” my ATM/Credit Card and get the services I need.  The worst thing I have to do is sign my name or punch in a number.  If I buy something from Toys ‘R Us or Borders or Lowes, they don’t ask for anything.  I know that we are in a place where Identity theft is common, but I have to believe that the system is getting better.

Anyways, I will stick to using a similar username and password for almost everything so that I can remember it easily.

Beta this … Beta that …

We are seeing more and more applications/software pieces going into beta.  I am a memeber of so many beta software companies – box.net (which is finally out of beta), everything Google, Yahoo just launched their new site look which was in beta for some time, AOL has a new beta viedo set to rival YouTube.  It seems everyone has a beta product.

Don’t get me wrong my intention for this post is not to paint a bad pictures around betas – IE 7.0 has been in beta since my son was born two years ago.  I just find it amazing that everyone seems to be pushing out semi-release software.  It shows what I believe to be a big shift in the user driven software market.

In the past we were given software in select groups.  You had to be a partner or a user with 10 hours to spare a week and it was a select few.  If you remember, you were sent a username and password to some secret site and you had to sign some sort of NDA.  I think what is happening is a great idea.  Give people the software in an early stage with the bare minimum from a features standpoint and get feedback.  What works, what doesn’t work.

I applaud this movement and I see it as a symbol of this user driven Internet that is beginning to take shape and form.

Share your OPML

I have spoken a bit about RSS in the past and this topic runs along those lines.  If you get into RSS feeds and readers you may also get into sharing your feeds with others.  You could liken this to the ability to sharing links (a la del.icio.us).  The site (which was started by the creator of RSS – Dave Winer) is
http://share.opml.org/ a little light on the feature list and quite frankly I can not see this site growing really large but it is interesting anyways.

The basic idea is that you would export your RSS readers list of feeds using a technology specification called OPML Outline Processor Markup Language.  Most readers will export the list in that format so this process is pretty painless.  OPML in short is an XML file with a particular layout.  Once you create an account and upload your OPML file you get some links on the right side of the page.  The two nicest features that I can see are the “Subscriptions Like Mine” and the “Top 100 Feeds” links.  These are indexes, the first based on match ups from your list and the second being the most popular RSS feeds found in everyone’s list.  Unfortunately, the “Subscriptions like mine” link does not appear to work.  It may be that I had just signed up and the tools on the site had not caught up with my post.

What I think is interesting about this site is that it is a litmus test of sorts.  If you look at the top 100 you will notice that besides a few feeds like CNET News.com and Bloglines, these feeds are all technical feeds.  If you remember before we talked about the masses here and while there has been some debate as to what will drive RSS to the masses, a site like this will at least let us know when that shift will be made.

What I would imagine will happen is that the distribution to the masses will happen automatically.  What I mean is that people will be using RSS without really knowing it.  Much like HTML.  When the web hit the masses back in the mid 1990’s people had no idea what HTML was.  They understood the power of HTML but did not know that they were using it.  I could see that same process happening with RSS.  More importantly, for this technology to truly meet the masses, it has to happen.  People don’t care about the architecture, they care about the functionality.

So what would that look like?  Is Firefox’s definition of “Live Bookmarks” the answer?  They don’t call it RSS, the call it “Live Bookmarks”.  So what people may understand is that they can create a bunch of Live Bookmarks which show “snippets” of content from their favorite sites directly within their browsers without having to go the page.  The browser would be using RSS behind the scenes without the user  ever knowing this.

A natural extension to this would be the ability to “share” my Live Bookmarks.  This extension would behind the scenes be enabled using OPML.  The browser could also be enabled to show “recommended” Live Bookmarks based on the cross-reference of your feeds against others.

So you may know it is hitting the masses when you see feeds in here from WWTDD.com.

What will we see return from the first .com boom?

Everyone remembers the hey day, or have read about it. Daily massages, in office happy hour specials, boat cruises, pool tables, TV Rooms with every cable channel immagineable, Play Stations (the PS2 and XBox were still on the drawing board). Work was a forest of toys and playthings. It hardly resemebled a place where money was actually made. But, for someone spending 70+ hours a week at work, what was 5-10 spent around a ping pong table. It just made sense.

In light of the recent fever sorrounding Internet Development again, I can't help but wonder what we have learned this time around. Certainly we have learned that the companay in order to be successful, needs to have some customers. They can not just be some idea that makes sense. Additionally, the "prototype" needs to be as close to production as possible before large amounts of funding are turned over. But what about the working environment. Did we learn something there? Was our open attitude towards "distractions" a misstep or was their some value there?

Working environments will change and are changing. I think that motivation to spend "extra" hours at work will still be driven internally, instead of the top down approach of typical brick and motor companies. While we will not see a full return to the early days of Interent development you will see an occasional fosball table here an there and early Friday cocktail hour will make a comeback.

People work a lot here in America especially in a time of growth like we are seeing here. During that time of growth you need to produce a working environment that is enticing. If you are not ready to give up equity or do profit sharing inside your company then you should at least set up (or designate some as your) entertainment committee. Get the husbands, wives and families of your workers involved. Spouses that compete with the company for precious time like to be involved.

In any case, like I stated before, I am ready for the next wave!

Internt Software development is changing

I found this excerpt from another blog ( http://www.librarystuff.net/ ) yesterday and was compelled to write about it.  I was a part of the original Interent boom and although I was only working at an ISP building small local sites and applications, it was an exciting times.

 I know that some people out there that will say Interent Software development has never gone away  . A part of me would have to agree but there is a certain formula similar to the following which is making Internet Software development interesting:

Power of Internet = Technology Innovation ^{( No. of Users with Broadband Access )}

What I mean is that there is the exponential power related to the number of users on the Internet.  Application developers have more “customers” now than ever and more and more funding is being placed back into idea companies.  Sure they actually need to have the software built these days and they need at least 500,000 registered users but that isn’t so difficult with the increased user base available.

So everyone wants to put a label on this and I guess it makes sense.  I am not one to argue with the masses and this movement in order to get any press has to have a term.  Who am I to argue?

Anyways, more proof that this is real:

An interesting piece in USA Today via the CSM about Web 2.0. Some quotes to think about:

“The
ideas may not be new, but the technical ability to carry them out is.
And now, most Americans have a broadband Internet connection. It’s
always on and can display videos easily. The cost of storing files such
as photos and video online has dropped dramatically.”

…

“In
one sense, Web 2.0 is a way of thinking about business. “There’s a
really powerful fundamental shift in just how people create
technologies and companies on the Internet,” Bard says. But it’s also a
social movement, providing new ways for people to come together.
“Hundreds of millions of us on the Web feel we’re building a new world,
and we want to contribute,” Mr. Weinberger says. “Something truly
remarkable is going on.”

The idea of Web 2.0 as the
community-driven Web reflects something fundamental and enduring about
human nature, Werbach says. “People want to collaborate and share
information and ideas with their friends and be part of communities,”
he says. Web 2.0 helps them do so.”