Clipmarks | rickmahn's clips

What are Lifestreams & Activity Feeds?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:54:44 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Brian Solis (co-author of "Now is gone") gives his take on some new services like FriendFeed and what they mean for Social Media and your brand.

Clip Source: www.briansolis.com

Lifestreams and Activity Feeds Channel Your Online Brand

Friendfeed officially launched this week making it the latest entrant into the foray of applications dedicated to channeling lifestreams and activity feeds. It also happens to be the newest ambassador for the emerging microblog and micromedia categories.

FriendFeed offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends," said Bret Taylor, FriendFeed co-founder. It's a great way to sift through the overwhelming amount of information available on the Web. FriendFeed has the information that you care about, because it's from the people you care about."

Tags: brian solis, friendfeed, lifestream, activity feed, branding

Bourne 4 You...

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:54:46 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Have you heard that there will be a 4th Jason Bourne movie? Check out Doug Haslam's post on naming the movie! Great fun.

Clip Source: doughaslam.com

Help hollywood name the 4th “Jason Bourne” movie

February 28, 2008 – 1:49 pm

Just heard that Matt Damon has signed on to play Jason Bourne in a 4th film in the action-packed “Bourne” series. As many of you know, the first three movies were “The Bourne Identity,” “Bourne Supremacy,” and “the Bourne Ultimatum.”

What to name the 4th film? I think we have an opportunity to help the producers here. How do you follow up such Hyperbolic titles? On Twitter, I have already garnered a number of suggestions. Please add your in comments:

The Bourne Divinity
Bourne Again
The Bourne Yesterday
The Bourne on the Bayou
To the Manor Bourne
The Bourne Free
The Bourne to Run
The Bourne Postscipt
Bourne 4.0
The Bourne Hyperbole
Bourne in East L.A

What’s your idea?

Technorati Tags: Bourne, Matt+Damon

Tags: jason bourne, doug haslam, movie

Clear communications in social media

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:07:51 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Dave Fleet has a great post on being more clear and approachable to the non-geeks on the topic of social media. There are many ways of communicating concepts and he's taking the lead on making it easier to understand. Kudos Dave!

Clip Source: davefleet.com

I’m Done With Social Media

“Social media” is out. So is “microblogging.” No more “social bookmarking” either.

What am I talking about? Clear writing. Plain language.

I’m not pulling the plug on all this stuff. However, I am going to start to write about it in terms that the average person on the street can understand.

Tags: social media, dave fleet

Android - Want to take a look?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:59:56 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Darren Waters of BBC News dot.life column had an interview with Andy Rubin and a demo of an Alfa version of Android on a 3G handset. Check it out.

Clip Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Under the bonnet of Android

I had the chance this week to meet Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms.

He's the man behind Android, the open source operating system that is at the heart of the Open Handset Alliance.

He was kind enough to give me a demo of Android running on a handset and the video is here. I've written up my interview with him and you can read it on the BBC News website.

The software stack, I was told, was Alpha, so not even Beta; but what I was shown gave a good indication that Android should be taken seriously by competitors like Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Google says they are driving the Android initiative because they want to see internet-style development on mobile platforms in the way that the openness of the web has given rise to Facebook and the Web 2.0 movement which should be able to migrate to the mobile phone.

Tags: google, android, mobile phone, operating system, open source, andy rubin

5GB Free as a network drive

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:55:29 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: I see Kevin Tofel, one of my favorite tech bloggers, has posted about AOL's XDrive online storage service. Good stuff, and yes, you can set it up as a mapped drive on Windows systems. Should work excellently with the Eee PC!

Clip Source: jkontherun.blogs.com

5 GB of online storage doubles as a network drive

Last week Microsoft upped the online SkyDrive storage capacity to 5 GB and several folks asked if you could mount the space like a network drive. Unfortunately, that functionality doesn't exist yet although I suspect that will change in the future... just a guess, of course. Xdrive from AOL (yes, AOL!) offers the same amount of free storage and PC users actually can use the space as a virtual hard drive by using the Xdrive Desktop client software. You can drag & drop files to it, schedule backups and more with the full client. I just installed it on an XP machine and was able to connect and map a virtual drive that appears like a network drive in Windows Explorer. I called it my "J:" drive... too bad I can't have two accounts so I could have a "J:" and a "K:" drive...

Tags: online storage, xdrive, skydrive, aol, microsoft, kevin tofel, jkontherun

WordPress 2.5 goes gold in two weeks

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:03:26 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Check out this post for details on a number of important WP related news.

Clip Source: blog.internetgecko.com

WordPress Wednesday News: WordPress 2.5 in Two Weeks, New Hot Media Library, Instant Upgrades, Theme Designers Lack Inspiration, More Plugin Vulnerabilities Found

WordPress 2.5 prepares for release March 10. The new Media Library image and file uploader is looking hot. Improvements to “instant” upgrades for WordPress and Plugins. The new WordPress Administration Panels interface is nearly done. Are you ready for WordPress 2.5? As a user and Plugin or Theme developer? Is your Plugin or Theme ready? WordPress Theme designers get bashed for their lack of imagination and creativity. More Plugins found with security vulnerabilities. WordCamp Dallas a month away. And did someone say something about reformatting WordPress?

Tags: wordpress, blogherald

iPhone brings carrier lock-in to the forefront

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:36:48 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: The iPhone & Apple is the example used to show how anti-competitive vendor lock-in has become in the wireless world.

Clip Source: arstechnica.com

New bill takes on cell phone unlocking, municipal broadband

New legislation has a chance at doing away with US wireless carriers' practices of phone subsidies, long-term contracts, and steep termination fees. With provisions that would require clearer language from carriers and non-subsidized handsets and plans, even Apple could be forced to open up the iPhone to other networks.

The iPhone is at the center of yet another squabble over US mobile phone consumers' rights. After "permanently inoperable" firmware updates, a class action targeting mobile phone locking practices, and even an unlocking exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA),

Tags: iphone, legislation, carrier lockin

Does your employer own you?

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:47:09 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Seriously. Bijan Sabet penned a fantastic guest post over at GigaOm. Recommended.

Clip Source: gigaom.com

When Did You Become Someone Else’s Intellectual Property?

By Bijan Sabet, a general partner at Spark Capital who also blogs at www.bijansabet.com.

Every day, venture capitalists like me see the chilling effect that employer non-compete agreements have on innovation. In dozens of states, the most brilliant contributors are locked out of joining new opportunities in their field of expertise for a year, sometimes even longer.

Silicon Valley represents America’s model of innovation. Because employee non-compete clauses are not enforceable in California, workers are free to pursue new ideas and opportunities, and the employer’s legitimate intellectual property rights are still protected by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and non-solicitation agreements (NSAs).

And as a result, too many bright minds are forced to sit on the sidelines rather than use their skills to bring new ideas to market.

Tags: non-compete, nda, employment

New DST Update for Windows Mobile

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:40:24 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Check out this post at PocketPC Thoughts on a new Daylight Savings Time update for Windows Mobile devices.

Clip Source: www.pocketpcthoughts.com

Microsoft Releases New Daylight Saving Time (DST) Update for Windows Mobile
Posted by Darius Wey @ 09:00 PM

"This update supersedes and replaces update 941898. (Update 941898 was released in August 2007.) This update includes daylight saving time (DST) changes that were signed in to law after update 941898 was created. If you have already applied update 941898, read the descriptions of the specific time zone changes that are discussed in the "More information" section to determine whether you should apply this update."

Tags: windows mobile, microsoft, dst, daylight savings

Mathew Ingram on Google's Chatback

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:48:22 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: One of my favorite bloggers has some feedback on the new Google Talk Chatback widget.

Clip Source: www.mathewingram.com

Chatback widget from Google: About time

I may not be the best one to follow in this regard, since I have a fondness for widgets and plugins (yes, Brent, I know my page is really loading slowly), but I think the Google chatback applet is a great idea. Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch seems less than impressed, and wonders why anyone would want random people visiting their blog to send instant messages through Google Talk. I see it as just another way for people to ping me about something — even if it’s just to see if I’m around, or to ask a quick question. I’ve already used it several times, and it’s only been a day or so.

Tags: google, google talk, google chatback, widget

Google Talk Chatback

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:16:13 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Interesting new feature of Google Talk...

Clip Source: googletalk.blogspot.com

Google Talk chatback

Do you have a blog, online profile, or some other personal web page? Would you like to communicate more with your visitors? Today we're launching a new Google Talk feature that lets visitors to your web site chat with you. We call it "chatback" because instead of you doing all the talking on your blog, your visitors can talk back to you. Sure, they could leave comments, but those are public and hard to use for a real conversation. With chatback, it's a real instant message session.

Tags: google talk

One of my favorite attention grabbing events...

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 02:49:27 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: From blogger and biz card cartoonist Hugh McLeod.

Clip Source: www.gapingvoid.com

"doodling for profits"

There's a great little article on the Businessweek website about the power of doodling in the corporate world. Steve Clayton, The Blue Monster and myself all get a wee mention.

In the fall of 2006, a group of senior European executives at Microsoft entered a meeting expecting to see a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, Steve Clayton—then the chief technology officer for Microsoft's U.K. Partner Group—showed them a hand-drawn image of an impish blue creature bearing gnarled fangs and sporting the provocative caption "Microsoft: Change the world or go home." After a few initial gasps, recalls Clayton, the attendees engaged in a lively discussion around the current direction of the company and the brand. "People liked the way it changed the angle of conversation," Clayton says.

Rock on.

Posted by hugh macleod at February 25, 2008 8:10 PM | TrackBack

Tags: hugh mcleod, microsoft, blue monster

AIR goes "Live"

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:51:36 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Read/Write Web has the scoop on Adobe's announcement of AIR, Flex3 and Blaze DS today.

Clip Source: www.readwriteweb.com

Adobe Announces Full Releases of AIR, Flex 3, and Blaze DS

Adobe today will bolster its "Platform for Rich Internet Apps" with the full release of a trio of developer tools. Each of the tools Adobe is releasing is either free or open source. Along with the boost to Adobe's RIA platform, a number of companies are also announcing applications built on Adobe's cross platform system runtime, AIR.

Perhaps the most significant of Adobe's announcements is that their much-touted desktop runtime for Rich Internet Apps, AIR, is coming out of beta about a year after being announced. The final release will be free on the AIR web site for Mac and Windows (with Linux support promised in "upcoming versions").

Tags: adobe, air, flex 3

Peek at Ubuntu 8.04 looks promissing

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:22:47 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: ArsTechnica takes a look at Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 5 release. There are some interesting new features, especially for dual-booting with Windows.

Clip Source: arstechnica.com

Wubi arrives: a look at Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 5

The Ubuntu development community has announced that the fifth Ubuntu 8.04 prerelease is now available for testing. Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 5 adds additional polish and reliability as well as a few intriguing new features. The official release of Ubuntu 8.04, codenamed Hardy Heron, is scheduled for late April and feature freeze is already in effect.

We tested alpha 5 to get a first look at the new features in action and to see how it compares to alpha 4, which we reviewed earlier this month. Ubuntu 8.04 includes a new sound server called PulseAudio, the new GIO and GVFS I/O abstraction layer and virtual filesystem mechanisms, the PolicyKit secure privilege escalation framework, improved support for virtualization, and a new VNC client. Integration of these features is moving forward steadily and GVFS has become a bit more robust.

Tags: ubuntu, windows, arstechnica

New Phone-to-web sync tool?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:07:59 GMT

clipped by: rickmahn
clipper's remarks: Syncy is covered by TechCrunch writer Roi Carthy. Looks like an interesting service that may provide real value to those looking to not only sync their phone address/contact information, but also use that as the basis for a social network.

Clip Source: www.techcrunch.com

SYNCY That Phone

Companies are starting to figure out that the contact information on your mobile phone may be the most important social network you have - perhaps even better than the email inbox that Yahoo is targeting.

Danish startup ZYB started offering a service that simply backed up your mobile phone contacts to the web in mid-2006. A year later they turned all that data into a mobile social network. They’re one of the small startups with a real shot at mobile social network with critical mass. As of August 2007 they had 200,000 active users.

It’s no surprise, then, that ZYB is being emulated. Israeli startup NewACT, with $6.5 million in funding over two rounds from Cedar Fund, are launching a new service called SYNCY into beta today. The service lets users migrate contacts, calendars and media from a mobile phone to the web. It’s part ZYB, part Sharpcast.

Tags: syncy, techcrunch