Sergey Brin’s Lecture available on Google Video
Google's Sergey Brin gave a talk to students at Cal-Berkeley last October on "Search Engines, Technology and Business." The lecture is now available on Google Video.
[gv data="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7137075178977335350&hl=en"][/gv]
Link Roundup
This is one of those weeks where I've got more material than time. So here are some quick thoughts on some things that have been floating around my browser this week.
(1) A new startup launched this week called Grand Central. According to Life Hacker, Grand Central "lets you consolidate all of your phone numbers into one number, meaning someone can call you on your GrandCentral phone number and all of your phones (cell phone, work phone, home phone) will ring." That's just sort of the starting point with this service too. Sounds awesome. Looking forward to giving it a try.
(2) There is an interesting post on Forever Geek that debunks the Myspace claim to have 100 million users. It puts the number of actual users at around 43 million. Not sure about the methodology, but there is no doubt in my mind that that 100 million number is bogus.
(3) Saw an interesting post entitled 10 Things that will Make or Break Your Website. Best advice comes in the first bullet: "EASY is the most important feature of any website, web app, or program."
(4) The Wall Street Journal published a fascinating article on the email overload problem that afflicts most of us. Great read for anyone that feels like a slave to their inbox most days.
(5) Michael Kinsley wrote a great article for Time Magazine this week called Do Newspapers Have a Future? Money quote: "Newspapers on paper are on the way out. Whether newspaper companies are on the way out too depends." IMO, the key to survival is figuring out how to use the Internet properly. We'll continue to beat that particular drum.
(6) Mark Warner got a lot of attention for appearing in Second Life a few months back. We wrote about it. The appearance was short and he didn't take any quesitons from the audience, saying he would come back for a full townhall in late September/early October. Did they ever schedule this? I haven't heard a peep about it since the initial burst of coverage.
Consumerist vs. Wal-Mart’s (Edelman’s, really) Krempasky
It's no secret that I think that Consumerist does a huge favor to the general public in pointing out what's fishy about the latest bridge on the market. Editor Ben Popken has now taken Consumerist readers into a conversation Edelman PR's Wal-Mart advocate Mike Krempasky attempted to have with Ben.
If Ben is being entirely truthful and transparent, then the question that was posed to Editor Ben by Krempasky will make your stomach sink. According to Consumerist, Krempasky, representing both Edelman and Wal-Mart, asked, "What can we do to get you to stop writing about our companies?"
Sort of Godfather, no? Continue reading “Consumerist vs. Wal-Mart’s (Edelman’s, really) Krempasky” »
Give Vox a Try
I understand the appeal of the big online social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, etc.) conceptually but have never really embraced them personally. I just don't use them.
Part of it is that I'm too old for most of them. But mostly I find them uninteresting.
So I'm sort of surprised by my own interest in the social networking site Vox. What makes Vox intriguing to me is that it isn't really a social networking site – it is a hybrid social networking site/ blogging platform. Like Livejournal and MSN Spaces, the focus with Vox is on writing and sharing stuff (photos, videos, books) as opposed to creating some sort of oversized online persona. It is refreshing. So with that, here's a quick review of the service. Continue reading “Give Vox a Try” »
Top 10 “Changers” of the World of Internet and Politics
PoliticsOnline and World e-Gov Forum have announced this year's list of nominees who are competing for the title of Top Politics and Internet World Changer of 2006. I thought I'd just encourage you to cast a vote. I must admit that I don't know a lot of the nominees apart from what I've seen online, but I support the promotion of those who make it their mission to encourage civic engagement and participation in politics using the Internet as a major medium. The Internet represents a truly democratic venue for discussion (unless you think about all of the people who do not have access to the Internet and therefore are unable to participate) and the objectives of many of these nominees are pretty interesting.
The nominees are as follows*:
Continue reading “Top 10 “Changers” of the World of Internet and Politics” »