Al giorno d’oggi abbiamo mille mila account di posta… di instant messaging e chi più chi meno siamo sui vari LinkedIn e Facebook… un gran casino tenere tutto sott’occhio…

Io tra MSN, ICQ, Skype, MSN, YahooMessenger dovrei tenere aperti 5 programmi… per non parlare della mail personale, quella del blog, LinkedIn e Facebook… ‘na faticaccia no?

Ed ecco che l’altro giorno “scopro” Digsby… mi “controlla” le varie mail e funge da IM multiprotocollo per i vari programmi di IM (eccetto Skype… almeno per ora)…

…poi controlla LinkedIn e facebook e un po’ di altre cose che non necessariamente utilizzo…

Comodissimo per i vari popup di avviso dei messaggi ma anche dei cambi di stato di FB o di nuovo foto inserite dai contatti…

La feature mooooolto comoda è che una volta installato su un PC e creato l’account su Digsby (a cui associare tutti gli altri) se per esempio sono in giro con il portatile ed installo Digsby lì… TAAAAAC automaticamente prende tutte le impostazioni che avevo già impostato sul PC di casa… in questo modo uno non si deve nemmeno più preoccupare di ricordarsi 10k password… ne basta una… uella di Digsby!

Personalmente mi son trovato a disabilitare un po’ di funzioni che risultavano “leggermente” invasive durante l’utilizzo normale: ridotto all’osso i popup e gli avvisi sonori in pratica] ma devo dire che sono rimasto piacevolmente impressionato dal programmino… Bhé provatelo anche voi no?

LINK

• Digsby – Sito Ufficiale

• Disgby – The Community

… or at least makes a great case for natural selection.

In Darwinian’s theory of evolution, natural selection is “the process in nature by which only the organisms best adapted to their environment survive and transmit their genetic characteristics to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated”.

Truer words were never said of social media.

Treat every online social networking service as an “organism” and we could probably trace back its ancestry right back to its most primitive form.

I decided to do a rough evolutionary timeline in the short span of 30 years that social media have been around:

Social media platforms are constantly being replaced with newer, better, succeeding generations of services which in turn must adapt and change or risk elimination.

In the cruel game of natural selection, “mother nature” takes the form of social media consumers: a fickle group of individuals ultimately deciding who lives or dies in an arena where each service has to literally fight for survival.

In this article, I will review how social media has evolved from the “primordial” 8 bit generation to the present day 64 bit service and platforms.

Usenet: the social media “Adam”

Born in 1979 from the minds of Duke University graduates, Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, the Usenet system allowed users to read and post threads of discussion, called news, on one or more newsgroups.  Its similar in several respects to the modern day forums and indeed, Usenet could effectively be named the father of all forums. It gave consumers the first taste of “social networking” in the loose sense of the phrase.

Many of us would cringe looking at the graphics we had then. I wasn’t alive during the launch of Usenet but I couldn’t imagine having to network on an interface like that. Just goes to show how spoilt we consumers are these days.

Status: Deceased

Though a friend of mind says Usenet is still being used by hackers wishing to remain anonymous, I can’t say for certain.

Bulletin Board System (BBS): fathers of the World Wide Web

The comic strip sounded like sarcasm to me.

“Well of course you can connect to other computers without being the same kind of machine! That’s just plain obvious.”

Well of course we would think that way. We’ve had the internet since we could work a computer. But even before the World Wide Web was established, people in the late 1970s could still communicate with one another using the BBS. In many ways, the BBS was the inspiration for the World Wide Web and many other aspects of the internet. It allowed users to upload and download data, read and post news on a public message board, and find and communicate with each other by way of email.

The BBS even allowed online games and a primitive form of chatrooms that provided communication using multiple phone lines called MUT, MultiUser Talk. MUT was later replaced by the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) system.

Status: Deceased

Replaced by internet forums.

mIRC

One particular IRC client stood out against the rest. The mIRC came into the market in 1995, and became an instant hit with the online crowd. The client’s main difference was in it’s scripting, giving users the power to customise commands, behaviour and appearance of their mIRC client. Filesharing, which very few IRCs at the time offered, was also possible on an mIRC. Even today, the client is still being used worldwide. IRCs were the precursors to the instant messaging clients we have today, and though no longer popular, is still in active development.

Status: Dying

The same friend told me that IRCs are still used by hackers wishing to remain anonymous. Its very rarely used for social networking purposes though, and I don’t see how it can profit anymore.

Internet forums

Bulletin boards has since evolved into internet forums like phpBB and vBulletin, bringing along with it the ‘netiquettes’ and internet culture we have today. The common features that set our forums apart from the BBS are private messaging, emoticons, picture galleries, attachments and polls. Few internet forums require paid subscription. Most rely on advertising dollars and donations to continue operation. Internet forums inspired the invention of the modern blogs we have today.

Status: Stable

Most people find internet forums to be a great source of information and since there are no visible alternatives in sight, it will likely continue for a long time.

Windows Live Messenger: entering the age of instant messaging

Formally known as MSN Messenger, the Windows Live Messenger almost wholly replaced Amercia Online’s AIM and Yahoo Messenger in 1999. The client allows for an amazing range of features and capabilities including, but not limited to, games, sharing folders, phone calls, web camming, application sharing and animated display pictures.

Instant messaging is still very much alive in our day and age. Contacts are more connected now than ever before. True, a phone conversation would flow much faster and is more personal but you can’t multitask on a phone, and you can’t leave your phone running for the whole day.

Metaphorically, signing in to the client is like entering a large living room where all your friends are gathered. The difference of instant messaging from other modern social media platforms is that most of the people in your contacts list are people you already know. There was small chance of meeting anyone new (although new MSN services available provide for that deficiency though it remains unpopular).

Status: Stable

The communication technology will likely improve in the far future, but ‘instant’ messaging is already pretty much… instant. The only technology I see replacing  this is telepathy, or mind reading.

Blogs: the creation of the blogosphere

Taking concepts and characteristics of a forum, blogs have evolved out of the primordial soup of the digital communities in 1997 and rose to popularity in 1999. Blogs were revolutionary in that they gave social media consumers the platform to have their voices heard by the internet community. There are several types of blogs for several different subjects and purposes. The most common form of blogs are personal blogs, an online diary of sorts that allowed readers to get a glimpse into the bloggers life. Corporate blogs are blogs used primarily for marketing purposes, adding content updates that relate to the product or service the company offers and giving the company a sort of personality.

What completely differentiates a blog from its ancestors, besides the obvious customability and depth, is the ability for any user to earn a profit. A blog is one of the few social media platforms that can be very lucrative. Some of the more famous bloggers blog for profit by featuring advertisments in their page. Companies know the influence bloggers have on their consumers and the evolution and growth of the blogosphere makes this platform a necessity for any smart social media consumer.

Status: Growing

There are people alive today who dream of blogging for a living. Its a great indication how much fun people get out of blogging. Theres just something about letting people hear your thoughts and feelings that makes you feel warm inside. Kinda like when you write that diary and pretend to hide it knowing it’s going to be found anyway.

Six Degrees: the first of its kind

Six Degrees was the first social networking site ever to be in operation. It evolved from the concept of ’six degrees of separation’; everyone is at the most six degrees away from anyone on the planet. Unfortunately, no one got the concept and it was sold in 2000 for $125 million, and shut down a year after. It was however, the precursor to other social networking sites like Friendster and Facebook.

Status: Deceased

Six Degrees paved the way for future social networking sites. It was too complicated itself, which was probably why it shut down.

Friendster

Taking from the concept of Six Degrees, Friendster had a highly successful reign in Asia in 2002 which continued until early 2008 when Facebook gained immense popularity, leaving behind millions upon millions of inactive accounts in the biggest internet ghost town. Friendster was an example of the internet consumer’s viciously low attention span and loyalty to any one platform.

Rumours, presumably started by rival Myspace, that Friendster would become a pay site made it unpopular with the younger Western crowd. 90% of their users are from Asia, particularly Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, China, India, South Korea and Japan.

Today, Friendster is looking at expansions into Asia and growing its list of features to seperate themselves from social networking giant Facebook.

Status: Near Death

I think I’m being generous when I say its not dead. I checked into Friendster yesterday and none of the accounts in my friends list had been entered in the last 3 months, except two which were entered a month ago.

Myspace

Also the victim of Facebook’s growing popularity is Myspace. Myspace was a copy of Friendster launching in 2003 and gained popularity over the years with the Western countries until 2008 when it lost its users to Facebook. Today, it struggles to compete with Facebook with an extreme makeover, adding applications and updates and redesigning their pages.

Status: Near Death

Myspace is probably as dead as Friendster. Or maybe less dead. But dead is dead.

Facebook: the big boys on the block

Facebook started first by focusing on smaller communities of high school students. The name itself is taken from the American college face book given to freshmen on their first day of school. It differentiates itself effectively with its many features and games, including a public wall that friends of the user can post messages on. Its integration into the iPhone and other smart phones make it the most accessible social networking site currently available. Its popularity speaks for itself and remains at the top of the food chain. However, its hard to say how long Facebook can keep its users happy before another social site pops up.

Status: Growing

Almost everyone has a facebook account these days. Not to mention ‘facebooking’ is now as much of a word as ‘blogging’ and ‘tweeting’, I’d say facebook could last.

Twitter: so simple, its smart

A service evolved from SMS (short messaging service) and blogs, Twitter is a microblogging site that enables users to send messages, called tweets, to the world in 140 characters or less. Twitter is also highly accessible, integrating itself in various smartphones like the iPhone. According to comScore and other research sites, only 11% of its users are teenagers. Its used by companies, reporters, educators and even politicians in the case of Barack Obama’s unorthodoxed campaigning online.

Where it is in the food chain is highly suspect. At the moment, Twitter looks to have a bright future with companies looking to use the platform to reach out to its target consumers, a job twitter is flawless at. Its simplicity however, is a double-edged sword; although its consistently ranked top 5 in the list of social networks most used, it also has a very low retention rate (40% according to Nielson Online) with users dropping the service after a month.

Status: Growing

Personally, I found the service jarring. It’s literally ‘too much, too fast’. I’m one of those people with an unhealthy compulsion to reply to every message and in twitter, I’m like an addict getting a constant fix.

The statistics don’t agree with me though, so I’m gonna have to call it as it is.

Youtube

Youtube remains one of the largest and most effective video sharing site in the market. Naturally, with the improvement of digital technology, sharing videos was an obvious step for the online community. It’s not surprising that Youtube met with extraordinary popularity that’s still rising even today. Its reported that Youtube’s bandwitdh in 2007 consumed as much bandwitdh as the entire world wide web in 2000. Companies have engaged the site to market their products. Vloggers who were virtually unknown suddenly rose to massive fame. People suddenly lost hours of their day just watching videos on Youtube.

Although not a social networking site in the strict sense, Youtube does offer an immense level of connection in the form of comments, video replies, subscriber systems and private messaging. The site is easy to use, and highly accessible through most digital devices.

Status: Growing

The revenues earned from the site is gradually increasing, but Google still hasn’t figured out how the site can be used to earn profits. Youtube is constantly evolving and changing together with digital technology so it would stay in operation into the far future.

Other worthy mentions

Linkedin: More for the businessmen. A site that could widen your range of business contacts. Your profile page is your resume here.

Flickr: Although you can’t call it a social networking site in the strictest sense, the site offers more than just image sharing. You can also set up a profile, add friends and create groups.

Revver: The very first video hosting site to share all revenue generated by a video on their site with the video’s owner 50/50. Several video hosting sites are starting to do the same, but Revver shares revenue for all videos (Youtube requires you to have at least 500 subscribers).

Delicious: Hate the name, kinda. Its a social bookmarking site that’s pretty useful if other social news sites couldn’t already do the same. It takes it to a new level with rating systems however and is helpful when your in need of some recommendations into sites.

Digg: Same as Delicious in several respects. Digg has a top 100 Digg Users system that rewards top one hundred users with more traffic. You can ‘dig it’ or ‘bury it’ depending on how useful you thought the link was.

Free World Dialup

Free World Dialup – http://www.freeworlddialup.com/
“Use FWD to make real, free phone calls using your favorite telephone, computer or PDA and any broadband connection. Call your neighbor or a relative, next door or in another country; all with the same ease, speed, and high quality.” Thanks to Jeff Pulver and his crew!

Quick summary:

1 – First, got to http://www.freeworlddialup.com and sign up to get your FWD # and password.
2 – Download http://brands.xten.net/x-litefwd/download/X-LiteFWD_Install.exe FWD/X-Lite (“self-configures”) program or go to http://www.myphonebooth.com/ to call any FWD # and U.S. toll free #s using Internet Explorer (Firefox not supported).

Quickstart Guide: http://www.freeworlddialup.com/support/quick_start_guide
FWD Xlite Configuration Guide: http://www.freeworlddialup.com/support/configuration_guide/configure_your_fwd_certified_phone/fwd_xlite/all
MS Windows Messenger Configuration Guide: http://pulver.com/fwd/fwd30news.html#messenger (FWD supports Windows Messenger 4.6/4.7 but not MSN Messenger 5.x.)

3 – To call a U.S. landline/cell #, dial *+arecode+7digit#. (This FWD feature is not listed on their website, but has been working for several months now.)

4 – To call a FWD # from a PSTN (your regular phone), click
http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/476274~3ccc4c9edbe2a596714a4fd9da897204/fwdaccessnumbers.zip or after you’ve signed up go to FWD web page, click on “Features”, “Access #s” for a list of FWD access numbers in your area. Available in several states in the U.S., UK, NL and DE at this time.

Packet8:
– To call a P8 phone # from a FWD phone: Dial **898 + 1 + P8 number to be routed to P8 service.
– To call a FWD # from a P8 phone:
*If the FWD # you are calling contains 5 digits, start to dial with the prefix 0351. For example: 035112345
*If the FWD # you are calling contains 6 digits, start to dial with the prefix 0451.

Call UK:
Get a UK telephone # that will call you on your FWD #. Register http://fwd.calluk.com.

FWD Features: Some features like Voice email needs to be activated at http://www.fwdnet.net

Internet Calling
Call Waiting
CallerID
Missed Call notification
Call Forwarding
Call Transfer
Three Way Calling
Voice email
SoftPhone, IP Phones & *Web-based
Aliases
Whitepages directory
ENUM Entry
eDial SOAP
Conferencing
Instant Messaging
Web Calling/FWD-Talk
Corporate Cisco Call Manager Connection
Calling to Toll Free Numbers in the UK, US, NL, JP and FR TellMe Service (411).
– NL Dial *31(800)… to reach Netherlands toll free #s.
– UK Dial *44(800)… or *44(808)… or *44 (500) to reach UK toll free #s.
– US Dial *1(8xx) xxx xxxx to reach United States toll free #s.
– JP Dial *81 0120… to reach Japan toll free #s.

Frequently used numbers
613 Echo test
55555 Volunteer Welcome Line
514 FWD Coffee House
612 Time
411 TellMe Information
611 Part Time Technical support
511 FWD Conference Bridge

At the moment, I think this is way better than Skype, Yahoo IM voice chat, etc…I’ve been using FWD for over a year with my cable broadband service and didn’t have to set up any port forwarding on my broadband router. Obviously you’ld need a mic/speakers connected to your PC.

You can also use your regular telephone via an adapter http://voipstore.pulver.com/product_info.php?products_id=32 and IP phone http://voipstore.pulver.com/product_info.php?products_id=33. Adapters and IP phones from different vendors like Cisco are available.

* Broadbandreports.com VoIP forum (formerly known as DSLReports.com)
– If you have any questions or just curious about VoIP, visit the VoIP forum http://www.dslreports.com/forum/voip at DSLReports.com.

The character, functions, and styles of instant messaging in the workplace

In a 2000 study published by ACM and located in the archive of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, five researchers profiled the use of the Hubbub Instant Messaging (IM) system amongst a group of 437 AT&T Labs professionals.   Previous research suggested that IM is a tool that supports informal communication in the workplace.   In this study, IM conversations served one of four types of functions: 1) asking quick questions or making clarifications, 2) coordinating and scheduling of work-related tasks, 3) coordinating impromptu social meetings and 4) keeping in touch with family and friends.

Upper management commented on the release of the Hubbub software and expressed fear that it might cause a decrease in workplace productivity.  The research in this particular article showed that Hubbub was indeed used for non-business conversations with colleagues and was seen as a “less-serious” communication tool than email.

Hubbub users were categorized into either “intense” or “mainstream” groups depending on their level of IM usage.  Intense users tended to have many, face-paced interactions while mainstream users had fewer interactions and multi-tasked less during their conversations.

I became interested in this topic after a conversation with my mom about her IM usage at work.  It never occurred to me that working professionals would use an instant messanger.  After looking at this article, how would you categorize yourself?  Do you use IM at work?  Are you an intense or a mainstream user?  What sort of benefits or drawbacks do you see to the use of an instant messaging system, such as Hubbub, in the workplace?

After reading Amy May Shead’s Blog: “The human being – self centered”, it made me think about the way we communicate. In a conversation I had with Ms. Shead yesterday, she made me realise that there is a generation of children that are growing up who does not know life before texting, instant messaging, twitter, facebook, social networking.

Before coming to this country, I was the kind of person that despised texting. I could barely tolerate talking on the phone. I preferred having a person to person conversation with no medium in between. I can honestly say that I was addicted to instant messaging and Facebook, but I found that it did not impede upon my ability to communicate in a person to person format. I was never an outgoing person, but once I became comfortable with a person, it became easy to strike up and maintain a conversation about anything.

Lately I have noticed (as have some of my friends) that it has become more of a challenge to talk to people on a one on one basis. Hand me a cell phone or a computer and I can go on for hours if I wanted to. This change in my behaviour I believe can be attributed to my increase in texting. I find myself texting significantly more often that I did back home. This is because it’s less costly to send an SMS than it is to make a phone call.

If only a few weeks of texting has sparked such a dramatic change in my behaviour, I wonder what it has done to the generation that grew up with cell phones in their hands. Will these people be able to communicate at a high level with out holding an electronic device in their hands? Will people hide behind their electronics to avoid having to face another human being?

Most things adapt to the changing times. In the future will job interviews be conducted via instant message? Will the dating scene and courtship change? Everyone has seen a group of people sitting at a table texting each other and others. Is this the future of society’s social construct? Will people live vicariously through technology?

Ultimately the key factor that’s being affected is our ability to communicate on a person to person basis. Human interaction is an important part of development when we are young. Facial expressions and body language accessorise speech. If the text generation do not develop these skills how will they be able to function in society? What will the future of interpersonal communcation look like?

Google has always been flagbarrer in brining in innovative ideas and user friendly products in tech segment. Once again they are ready to come out with their innovate product “Google Wave”.  Question is what is “Google Wave”? Well, the answer to this question is the following video.

Google wave is basically a new age Internet communication platform which intergrates all the communication needs (i.e. instant messaging, chat, blogging, microblogging, colloboration, etc.) of a person into single platform. The most important thing is it’s open source product developed in Java (obviously it can’t be on microsoft platform ) using Google web toolkit. So in future great minds can also contribute their bit in enhanching this product and coming out with more plug ins, extensions and other facilities.

Normally, I don’t have enough patience to watch any videos lasting 1 hr 20 mins but I saw the entire demo video in one shot yesterday. Above video demonstrates the cool features of Google wave. Some of the features I liked are

• display of message to the other user as you type (Normally when we use messenger most of our time waste in seeing the message “xxxx is typing”.) Instant display of message can be good and can be a bad as well. It depends on how we use it.
• Adding the notes into the messages with pictures.
• Playback feature to go through the history of message.
• Support for extensions and gadgets
• translation facilities. what it means is if you are communicating with french fellow who doesn’t know english and he keeps typing in french. But on your screen you will get that thing translated into the english instantly as he types.  (I think around 40 languages are supported for now. Don’t know whether any indian languages are supported or not. Also, not bothered about the perfect translation. शब्दो पर मत जाओ, भावनाओ को समझो )
• excellent spell checker as demonstrated in video above
• blogging support from wave platform. (I don’t know rightnow whether it will support wordpress or not and if it does support whether it will reduce the blogging hassels for me)
• twitter, facebook, etc. micro blogging services support
• colloboration of infomration e.g. as shown in video above, no. of people can work on the same document and can also keep track of the history of changes.
• can be used as bug tracking tool
• support for mobile platforms as well

So after seeing demo I was really impressed. Now I’m eager to try my hands on it. But currently, use of google wave platform is only by invitation. Request for the google wave can be made from the following link

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

I have already requested for one. Hope I get it soon.

Claims of “virtual” sexual harassment—-sexual harassment by email, text message, instant messaging, Facebook, smartphones and other technologies—-are surging.  For example:

• In April 2009, Central Michigan University paid $450,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by two female soccer players who accused their coach of sexually harassing them via text message and manipulating them into secret sexual relationships;
• In July 2009, a 22-year old Oregon woman sued LA Fitness after three of her managers texted her from a bar asking her for sex and identifying X-rated acts they would like to perform on her;
• In August 2009, a Hooters waitress in Fort Lauderdale, Florida sued the restaurant over explicit text messages and photos she received from her manager;
• A former World Wrestling Entertainment employee has filed a lawsuit in Connecticut alleging that she was sexually harassed by a married senior director who pursued her via late night text messages and phone calls; and
• In West Virginia, four Famous Dave’s waitresses sued the company after they received text messages from their supervisor asking for sexual favors.

Experts say the surge in virtual sexual harassment claims is largely a by-product of the informality that modern technology invites.  An employee might think twice before making an inappropriate sexual remark at, say, a corporate meeting.  But emails, texts and instant messages give employees a false sense of intimacy that can invite trouble.

Virtual sexual harassment also presents multiple challenges for employers.  First, many employers have outdated sexual harassment policies that do not specifically address this type of harassment.  The failure to adopt specific measures prohibiting this form of harassment could become problematic when an employer attempts to invoke its sexual harassment policy to defend against a harassment charge–particularly if the employer supplied the technology that enabled the sexual harassment to occur.  Second, virtual sexual harassment, in the form of texts, emails and the like, leaves an evidentiary footprint that other forms of harassment do not.  When it comes to virtual sexual harassment, forget “he said, she said”–the texts, emails and instant messages don’t lie.  And the deletion of pertinent electronic data—-whether voluntarily, involuntarily or pursuant to a document retention policy—-gives rise to concerns over spoliation of evidence.

To minimize concerns, employers should remind employees of their sexual harassment policies, making specific mention all forms of communications, including emails, texts, instant messages and so on.  Employers should also consider amending their sexual harassment policies to specifically prohibit “virtual” sexual harassment.

Via gmail, dat is makkelijk want een gmail account is al aanwezig, geprobeerd te chatten met een collega. Eerst even uitzoeken hoe het werkt. Het lukt niet echt om een scherm te openen, en later hoor ik van de betreffende collega dat zij een aantal keer heeft geprobeerd met mij te praten, maar bij mij gebeurde helemaal niets!

Omdat ik toch dit bericht wil schrijven met echte ervaringen, doe ik nog een poging. Ik stuur eerst een mailtje, ‘hallo, ik ga zo meteen iets tegen je zeggen via de chat’. Dit keer lukt het wel. We zijn geen van beiden enthousiast.

Toch denk ik dat er wellicht een heel goede invulling is voor de mediatheek. Zoals op de 23politiedingen blog ook al werd genoemd, hebben de openbare bibliotheken Al@din, en er zijn meer bibliotheken die een mogelijkheid bieden om op bepaalde tijden te chatten met medewerkers. Een uitstekende manier volgens mij om direct contact te maken met je gebruiker. De juiste informatie op de juiste tijd, bij de juiste persoon, op de juiste manier. Iets anders wil je toch niet?

In case you haven’t heard about Google’s new web-based service called “Google Wave”, here’s a good place to start. The Google Wave is a web-based service that is used as a “personal communication and collaboration tool”. It’s a computing platform that is designed to merge email, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. This could be the next big thing. Our world today has become a social networking phenomenon or as I’d like to call it the ” social media revolution”.

Watch this next video here to understand what I’m saying.

Facebook is a blog post in itself, but can you see what I’m saying here with the Facebook member increase in such a short time. We’re living in a fast paced world, and yes this may sound cliche but can you imagine what it’ll look like in the next 10 years. Will Facebook still exist? Will it become another google? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

This is an image of what Google Wave looks like

Here’s a video to give you an idea on how Google Wave works?

So if Google Wave merges email, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking, is that like anything else we’ve encountered so far? This is like having gmail, aim, a wiki page I’ve done for class, and Facebook all on one platform. It’s a bit hard for me to fathom but, wow, that would so cool for lack of a better word. I may have to give this a try when it’s more open to the public. I’m interested to see what Google Wave will eventually turn into. Maybe Google will start making their own computers and and monopolize this entire industry if they haven’t done so already.

You tell me, what do you think about Google Wave?

Conversando com meu amigo vegetal novamente… Desta vez o monólogo perolado veio do Brócolis. Eu não posso deixá-lo sozinho por uns minutos que ele começa a filosofar…

Brócolis diz (15:59):
*não faça filhos
Brócolis diz (16:06):
*nada contra tb………
*se quiser fazer vai lá! mas filhos são pra vida toda……..
*ou a tua… ou a deles…….. dizem q se for a tua é menos doloroso
Brócolis diz (16:07):
*e faz sentido…
*dizem q o mal do século é a depressão…
*eu acho q não
Brócolis diz (16:08):
*no meu caso é a procrastinação… ela é tanta q até fico assim… como dizem…. deprimido…
*procrastinação e depressão são um exemplo típico de “ovo e galinha”???
Brócolis diz (16:11):
*já li uma resposta científica sobre qm veio primeiro…. mas achei q isso tirava tanto a graça da coisa preferi ignorar
Brócolis diz (16:12):
*e sempre q fossemos mapear qm era o ovo e a galinha iamos ter q estabelecer critérios para identificar….
*e desconfio q ainda assim não seria definitivo
Brócolis diz (16:13):
*afinal…
*o q nessa vida é definitivo/
*/
*?
*o passado é definitivo…
*pelo menos até alguem inventar uma máquina do tempo
Brócolis diz (16:15):
*mas ainda assim… desconfio q ele seria imutável… possivelmente iria criar uma nova versão (estilo De volta para o futuro)
Brócolis diz (16:16):
*mas a existencia de universos paralelos (?!?) não poderia acabar com a destruição de tudo uma vez que isso é algo inesperado
Brócolis diz (16:22):
*tá… to aprendendo ainda….
*reunião demorada essa hein???
*isso me lembra dos meus dias de juventude…………………
(…)
Brócolis diz (17:01):
*sono do cão
Brócolis diz (17:02):
*se houver reencarnação eu quero voltar um cachorro….. de preferencia um vira-lata devidamente adotado…. mas poderia ser um cachorro de raça…. desde q não fosse poodle, aqueles peludinhos irritantes e tivesse mais de 20kgs
Brócolis diz (17:03):
*já notou q na maioria dos cachorros o grau de neurose é proporcionalmente inverso ao tamanho??
Brócolis diz (17:04):
*meu cachorro de 30+kg é sempre boa paz…. leva uma vida tranquila… já a cadela (não vamos entrar em questões sexistas) de 10-15kg é louca total……. se ela decide dormir nos pés da cama/sofa em q tem alguem… caso esse algum se mexa, ria, balance ela rosca… late e chega a ameaçar mordiscar……….
Brócolis diz (17:06):
*e o fato dela se impor ainda q seja diminuta é legal…. mas basta um dos maiores ficar irritado e dar uma latida mais forte q ela lembra da mortalidade

Riazu announced today that it will be transitioning from this week to its new interface powered by the Riazu L!VE network.

Riazu.com and its associated companies and network sites will be deploying new services starting in November for testers, developers, website owners and businesses to try out.

Built upon the principle of quick information exchange through simple updates and listings the Riazu Virtual Marketplace is the closest to real life shopping.

Looking forward to test out the new service, you will have to wait aleast a week or more untill Riazu transitions to public beta this november

There was an editorial by David Brooks in today’s New York Times about how texting has changed dating.  While I found the analysis fairly shallow, he brought up an interesting point about how technology is changing our ’social scripts.’

Dating, or otherwise, the way we interact is changing.  Per last week’s post about relationships and social media, with the rise of new technologies, our interactions are changing.  Dating used to consist of a courtship period with actual dates.  That is not quite the same anymore (at least not at my college).  First, there is the requisite text-ship.  This involves lots of texts filled with ‘witty’ banter.  When a phone call would be a bit too forward, we text.

This requires very little interaction.  And any, are scrutinized under new terms.

In my sorority, we find ourselves saying, “just send it out over email.”  Our meetings have gotten shorter and less frequent, because email and the internet has eliminated the need for them.   At first, we found it hard to adapt technology into the sorority.  There were too many emails being sent around, cluttering our inbox; and there are new liabilities with Facebook etc. for the sorority nationally.  However, we instituted an email of the day and the sorority has forced us to post a caveat on our sites.

Now we are finding that the problem is actually how to keep meetings relevant.  I suppose that as we are reworking what can be considered normal human interaction with technology, the new normality has bled into daily life.   It makes me sad to hear people use instant message lingo in normal conversation (almost as sad as it makes me to hear it in instant messaging): lol, g2g, ily — ew.  See the movie, Bring It On 2, and you will understand.

Since it is so easy to communicate without interacting, it makes face-to-face relationships all the more meaningful.

Vodafone: Ξεκίνημα για το Vodafone 360 με το Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 :: myPhone Forum

Την έναρξη της εμπορικής διάθεσης του Vodafone 360, της νέας σειράς υπηρεσιών Internet για το κινητό και τον υπολογιστή στην Ελλάδα, ανακοίνωσε μεταξύ άλλων η Vodafone. Από σήμερα είναι επίσης διαθέσιμο στα καταστήματά της το νέο Vodafone 360 Samsung H1, το πρώτο κινητό το οποίο επιτρέπει την πλήρη αξιοποίηση των δυνατοτήτων του Vodafone 360. Υπενθυμίζεται ότι η νέα σειρά υπηρεσιών της εταιρείας περιλαμβάνει τηλεφωνικό κατάλογο με δυνατότητα ενοποίησης όλων των επαφών του χρήστη από το κινητό, το Facebook, το Windows Live Messenger, το Google Talk και άλλα κοινωνικά δίκτυα σε ένα σημείο, παρέχει τη δυνατότητα δημιουργίας διαφορετικών ομάδων επαφών σε διάφορα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης, δίνει τη δυνατότητα διαμοιρασμού τοποθεσιών, φωτογραφιών κ.α, διαθέτει τρισδιάστατους χάρτες και υπηρεσίες πλοήγησης με λεπτομερείς φωνητικές οδηγίες στα ελληνικά, ενώ τέλος επιτρέπει την πρόσβαση σε παιχνίδια, εφαρμογές και περισσότερα από 1 εκατ. τραγούδια. Τις υπηρεσίες Vodafone 360 μπορούν, σύμφωνα με τη Vodafone, να τις απολαύσουν οι ενδιαφερόμενοι μέσα από τα νέα προγράμματα «Vodafone Unlimited με Internet».[next]

 

I spend a lot of time each day communicating with colleagues and clients, by phone, email, on social networks, and via the occasional fax. But when I need to have a short conversation and get an answer right away, instant messaging is hard to beat. Unfortunately, there are several IM protocols, and most of them don’t talk to each other. That’s why I use the multi-protocol IM software Adium on the Mac (s aapl) and Pidgin on the PC (s msft). I can also use a web-based alternative like Meebo or the new Imo.im.

VoxOx wants to take multi-system communication several steps further. In addition to the various IM protocols, it supports social networks (Facebook, MySpace and Twitter); SMS texting; faxing; private email; file sharing; video conversations; and voice connections. VoxOx also supports Skype messaging, although you have to have the Skype software running, which sort of defeats its purpose.

When you sign up for the service, you are assigned a telephone number in southern California (other locations are apparently on the way). Incoming calls to that number, and voice conversations between you and other VoxOx users, are free; other calls are charged at rates similar to other VoIP services. VoxOx has just begun offering flat-fee voice and texting plans, at prices it claims are significantly cheaper than Skype’s. VoxOx’s other services are free.

In recent days, VoxOx has released beta 2.0.5. The software has improved since I first tried it a year or so ago, but it is very definitely still a work in progress. Its dark background with white text theme is hard on the eyes and isn’t editable, and its contact manager has no provision for importing from or syncing with other address books.

VoxOx seems to be trying to collect the useful features from Skype, conferencing services, virtual PBX services, instant messaging and file sharing services, and putting them all in one place. It’s a pretty cool idea, and VoxOx is definitely worth trying, but I’m not quite ready to make it part of my daily workflow yet.

Have you used VoxOx? What did you think of it?

Estava eu conversando amistosamente com um vegetal amigo meu sobre “relacionamentos fadados ao fracasso”, quando surgiu essa pérola do Instant Messaging. Não poderia deixar de compartilhar.

Repollo diz (11:11):
*O fim não é necessariamente um fracasso
*Rá
Brócolis diz (11:11):
*existem “COISAS” q devem permanecer na escuridão
*a luz do dia pode ser fatal
*umh………. elabore
Repollo diz (11:12):
*Ué.. uma relação não é fracassada simplesmente por ter terminado. As pessoas envolvidas cresceram, aprenderam, aproveitaram.
Não sempre, claro, e aí sim seria um fracasso…
Repollo diz (11:13):
*Mas isso tudo hipoteticamente falando
Repollo disse (11:16):
*Acabaram as tuas opiniões sobre o assunto?
Repollo disse (11:17):
*Ou preferiste ficar quieto para evitar externar uma opinião que tu achas que poderia me deixar chateado? (hun)
Repollo disse (11:20):
*Ok, acho que tu só te ausentaste da frente do computador
*O que não deixa de ser estranho, já que normalmente pões um “brb”
Repollo disse (11:21):
*Percebeste que estou falando corretamente?
*Um problema que tenho quando estou conversando no msn
Repollo disse (11:22):
*É que quando a pessoa demora demais pra responder, eu continuo falando e fazendo perguntas, dando margem para que meu interlocutor não responda à pergunta que eu fiz lá em cima, ou seja, fico sem saber a principal resposta que eu queria saber.
Repollo disse (11:24):
*Ou então eu começo a levantar possibilidades sobre qual seria a resposta do meu interlocutor, o que acaba por dar a deixa para que o interlocutor não dê a resposta verdadeira, e sim uma que eu “sugeri”, por saber que eu acreditaria naquela resposta.
Repollo disse (11:25):
*Por exemplo: “onde foste? Estás me ignorando? Ou só foi beber água?” 2 horas e meia depois, chega a resposta “Eu tinha ido beber água”.
*E acho que não é uma boa eu contar as minhas fraquezas-em-uma-conversa-de-msn DURANTE uma conversa de msn. (hum)
Repollo disse (11:27):
*Tu deves ter ido almoçar (viu? fiz de novo)
*Mas acho uma baita sacanagem tu dizer “elabore” e sair pra almoçar em seguida _.o
*Tá, nem acho (:\)
Repollo disse (11:28):
*Tenho a impressão de que quando voltares e leres tudo, darás boas risadas.

Leggendo il titolo sicuramente vi siete chiesti: e che razza di “ma” mai ci sarà? Beh, potrebbe sembrarvi un’inezia ma c’è (secondo me almeno).

Innanzi tutto partiamo da che cos’è effettivamente Google Wave, per questo vi cito un articolo di Raffaele Bisegna:

E’ un ibrido che raccoglie in una sola schermata le e-mail, gli instant message, e tutte le soluzioni esistenti per il video e l’audio sharing. Usando Google Wave gli utenti possono scambiarsi testi, immagini, video, musica e conversare, il tutto in tempo reale e lo possono fare in una situazione di gruppo [...]

Si tratta insomma di un servizio che in poco tempo riuscirà a spazzare via i vari Facebook, Friendfeed (che continuo a trovare troppo confusionario), Twitter (che vi sarà integrato) e messenger.

Passiamo comunque al perchè del mio “ma”. Google Wave è partito come un closed beta, ovvero una fase chiusa ad invito (com’è stato inizialmente anche per GMail) durante la quale gli utenti potranno dare feedback ed aiutare quindi a dare una release abbastanza stabile per il lancio.

Questa closed beta però presenta una pecca. Io ad esempio ho ricevuto l’invito (dopo mesi di attesa) stamattina, ma ancora non posso valutarne tutte le possibilità, avendo un solo contatto e non potendone invitare altri. Sembra infatti che i fatidici 8 inviti concessi ad ogni utente siano in una fase di stallo. Ma come è possibile testare un servizio che si basa sulla collaborazione senza contatti? Effettivamente non si può.

Aspetterò quindi di avere qualche amico con cui provarlo, e vi darò un giudizio il più obiettivo possibile! Fino ad allora siete i benvenuti se già avete un account e volete lasciarmi tra i commenti il vostro indirizzo, in modo da provarlo insieme

Come on, how often do you actually laugh out loud in an IM chat? I know some are against the use of ‘lol’ completely, but I think it is okay to use if you are genuinely laughing, but what I hate is the liberal use of lol when no laughing has taken place at all.

Many people use lol when someone has written something only mildly amusing and it’s just not right! Don’t even get me started on lmao (laughing my ass off) and the ridiculous rotfl (rolling on the floor laughing) … I mean, if you’re rolling on the floor laughing, how are you typing?!

The trouble has arisen because people are not aware of the alternatives that can be used instead of lol when you are not actually laughing out loud. If you’re not already aware, then this is what you should be using:

tsf – that’s so funny

tf – that’s funny

ss – slightly smiling

and their opposites:

nf – not funny

snf – so not funny

So please use them and only use lol when you are actually laughing otherwise the lol will become even more meaningless.

Jake McMillan