Posted on November 29th, 2007 by Andy
Until recently, searching for accurate, well-written pieces in the expanding blogosphere was a bitch. The struggle was particularly tiresome if you were not familiar with the first generation of authoritative sources such as TechCrunch, GigaOm, BoingBoing, etc. However, the quest for accuracy and refined writing skills was not surprising for those viewing blogs as an alternative to mainstream journalism - every amateur driven industry inevitably collects sub par content (porn anyone?). Digg and Technorati provided early solutions to the problem by aggregating content into a single platform. Unified content facilitates more accessible data, and thus the first semblance of a ranking system. These early aggregators, however, suffered (to this day) from bubbling eclectic news that does not always scream “know…
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Posted on November 28th, 2007 by Andy
The relationship-search connection attracts a variety of labels from leading Internet authorities. Facebook’s Zuckerberg ambiguously refers to the combination as a “social graph” - loosely defined as the map linking personal data through social applications. Internet visionary Tim Berners Lee recently hypothesized on the ”Great Global Graph” (he loves consonance), describing a new level of digital understanding in which different applications instinctively recognize the user’s established network. No more repopulating a social network upon joining.
Typically, descriptions of this new relationship -based connection are speculative, but the future is always available in the present. An example of the Berners-Lee vision exists through the convergence of web-based email services into social networking sites. Email accounts, especially those with large storage capacity like Gmail, are bursting with enough uber personal information to induce salivation throughout Facebook’s Beacon team.
Yahoo recently released a rudimentary module to incorporate Facebook information into…
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Posted on November 26th, 2007 by Andy
Continuing with yesterday’s theme of global technology initiatives, I decided to expose several startups located throughout Africa. Africa remains a drastically different continent than North America and Europe with different technological demands. However, the same bizarre company names are still apparent. The names are most likely a response to common domain scarcity and the desire to create a new dictionary entry, but could be demonstrative of the universal insanity of technology entrepreneurs.
Afrigator is a blog trending site similar to Digg, aptly named to represent the long tail of the African blogosphere. According to analytics on Afrigator, the site directs approximately 400,000 users per month to blog posts from specified African channels. The user base does not, however, appear to participate heavily in the ranking functionality of Afrigator (both the home…
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Posted on November 25th, 2007 by Andy
Building a top-level staff for an Internet operation is difficult even in developed tech centers like the United States and Europe. Job boards for leading blogs and niche networks such as LinkedIn and AdvisorGarage help entrepreneurs staff western startups. Asian centers, however, are resorting to slightly more creative tactics for attracting quality talent. Examine the following videos from Singapore and Hong Kong development agencies - try not purchase plane tickets immediately with dreams of Asian styled sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.
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Posted on November 19th, 2007 by Andy
Excessive expression on any platform inevitably results in contradiction. Not suprisingly, U.S. politicians are familiar with this certainty and are regularly criticized for scandals and conflicting messages. The 2008 election, however, welcomes a new era of political transparency via the rapid interactive outlets of Web 2.0. Look no further than the John Edwards campaign…
Edwards recently provided an interview with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. When asked how his technology initiatives differed from Democratic competitors Obama and Clinton, Edwards responded:
“But today, Washington is broken – too often, our laws are written by big corporations and their lobbyists, and what’s good for the rest of us gets lost completely. Where some of the other Democratic candidates use the language of compromise or are in fact…
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