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The NYT Adds Blogrunner; Mainstream Media Fail to Mention it

posted on November 2, 2007

image If you want to see evidence of why blogs continue to grow as a source for news, while mainstream media (MSM) sites appear stagnant, you need look no further than the latest announcement by the New York Times.

The NYT has announced the integration of Blogrunner–a news aggregator similar to Techmeme–a service it acquired in 2005. Take a look at the Technology section and you’ll see the "Technology Headlines From Around the Web".

That the NYT is adding news from other resources–including blogs–is not a big surprise. The newspaper is one of the few mainstream media sites that appear to "get" social media and are aggressively pursuing models that embrace citizen journalism.

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Do Not Track Registry; Good Idea or Ill-conceived?

posted on November 2, 2007

As Andy already reported, organizations from consumer, privacy, and technology groups recently proposed the development of a “do not track” list in hopes of providing consumers the ability to prevent advertising networks from being able to track which websites consumers are visiting. The proposed “do not track” list was based on the idea of and is being compared to the “do not call” list that the FTC implemented in 2003 with significant success.

Conceptually the idea seems acceptable but the truth is it also seems extremely unrealistic. The following information is quoted directly from the proposal:

”Companies providing web, video, and other forms of browser applications should provide functionality (i.e., a browser feature, plug-in, or extension) that allows users to import or otherwise use the “do not track” list of domain names, keep the list up-to-date, and block domains on the list from tracking their internet activity.”

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MySpace Joins Google’s OpenSocial

posted on November 1, 2007

Yesterday, Google announced its OpenSocial program to create a standardized APIs for social network platform developers. While their list of participating networks was lengthy, notably absent were the social networking giants—MySpace and Facebook.

Until today. MySpace and Google announced that the largest social network in the world will be joining the developing initiative by the largest search engine in the world. Google has said that over the past year, they’ve been secretly working on with MySpace to include them in the OpenSocial.

MySpace will not make an effort to create its own markup language (as Facebook has already done). Flixster has already created a MySpace application using the OpenSocial API standards (screenshots at TechCrunch).

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Buy a Google Computer for $199!

posted on November 1, 2007

image If you’ve been waiting for Google to launch its own computer and operating system, that day is here.

Wal-Mart is selling a desktop computer for $199 running Linux GOS– a variant of the popular Ubuntu but with lots of optimization for Google products.

From the Everex TC2502 product specs:

It runs on the gOS operating system and features the OpenOffice.org 2.2 software suite that gives users the ability to create word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. Additional highlights include a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, Ethernet port and stereo speakers.

Key Features & Benefits:

  • 1.5 GHz Via Technologies C7-D processor
  • 512 MB of DDR2 system memory
  • 80 GB hard disk drive
  • DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive
  • 10/100 Mbps Ethernet

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Pilgrim’s Picks for November 1

posted on November 1, 2007

I’ve lost something and I need your help finding it. What did I lose? The whole month of October–anyone know where it went? ;-)

Here are today’s top picks:

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Why "Do Not Track" is Stupid

posted on November 1, 2007

Reuters reports that a group of privacy and consumer organizations have asked the FTC to create a "do not track" list for internet users who want to opt-out of any ad-behavior tracking.

Such a list would function much like the FTC’s "do not call" registry that consumers can join to prevent telemarketing phone calls, according to the groups, which include the Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Consumer Federation of America.

Oh it would, would it? I don’t think so. While it’s easy to remove you telephone number from a telemarketer’s list–your number is always the same–how can that work with the internet? Let’s look at the challenges, shall we?

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Zombie Biting & Sheep Throwing Coming to LinkedIn?

posted on November 1, 2007

image Caroline McCarthy takes a closer look at Google’s plans to bring a standard set of APIs to social networks via OpenSocial.

While there are a lot of benefits to developers–they get a single API standard to work with–the social networks themselves have reason to be cautious. In particular, sites like LinkedIn and Plaxo are more business-focused and the last thing they need is any zombie-biting, sheep-throwing applications cluttering up their network.

Adam Nash, LinkedIn’s senior director of product, emphasized that Google is allowing participating social networks to decide just how open they want their OpenSocial platforms to be. "(OpenSocial) doesn’t change the fact that we truly have no interest in zombie biting and food fights on LinkedIn," he emphasized. "In order to be in the LinkedIn directory, we will have some set of standards."