Facebook Apps Wanted !

Facebook 從不知名的渠道入侵香港，近期大熱非常。而 Facebook 的 Developer Platform 又好似幾得意。不過大量的 Apps 真係好煩，尤其 Apps 之間的兼容性極低，有違 Web 2.0 的精神。好果可以將不同的 Apps 自由組合起來，應會更好玩。

 以下是一些異想天開的想法:

• Wall Integrated : Wall / SuperWall / FunWall … 真係有好鬼多，如果可以結合為一個，你話幾好，唔使咁煩
• Blog Integrated : 好多人都有寫 blog 但係又必都可以直接搜入 Facebook ，如果可以的話，你話 …
• Photo Integrated : 我自己就己經有好多網上相簿，其實唔係好想係 Facebook 又開多個。但佢果個可以 Tag 的 feature 其他地方又冇喎，如果可以 Tag 到 Facebok 以外的相，你話 …
• Bookmark Integrated : 如果可以將甚麼 del.ico.us, blogmarks, clipmarks, blinklist, dingo … 結合一齊的話 …

正所謂 “分久必合，合久必分” …

Update : 原來 WordPress Facebook App 真係有架。

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0, Facebook

High Education for Free

After MIT launched its openware to public.  UC Berkeley distribute a full course lecture on Youtube.  lectures Upcoming news : Harvard is planning to release something similar in Second-Life alike platform, though don’t know if it is free.

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Pandora is terminating its services .. partially …

What the xxx !!!!!!

Dear Pandora Visitor,

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for most listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

We believe that you are in Hong Kong (your IP address appears to be xxxxxxxxxxxx). If you believe we have made a mistake, we apologize and ask that you please contact us at pandora-support@pandora.com

If you are a paid subscriber, please contact us at pandora-support@pandora.com and we will issue a pro-rated refund to the credit card you used to sign up. If you have been using Pandora, we will keep a record of your existing stations and bookmarked artists and songs, so that when we are able to launch in your country, they will be waiting for you.

We will be notifying listeners as licensing agreements are established in individual countries. If you would like to be notified by email when Pandora is available in your country, please enter your email address below. The pace of global licensing is hard to predict, but we have the ultimate goal of being able to offer our service everywhere.

We share your disappointment and greatly appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Tim Westergen

Tim Westergren
Founder

Update : Though Pandora is blocked in some areas.  But we got YoBo from the Greater China !! which offers similar service (if not a clone).

Filed under: Web 2.0

egoSurf

見 webleon 提到 egoSurf 這個工具，即管一試。egoSurf 堅持不會公開其背後的計分方法，但比較過幾個國內知名 blogger 及自己的分數，就變得丈八金剛摸不着頭腦。大家可以自己看看:

keso	980
無有嫏	990
webleon	2254
idpt0000	7235

看，這是我的分數。我測 egoSurf 的分數應該是越少越好 ….

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Problem about Digg a-like service

I just read the following from VentureBeat :

Wired nails Digg — Wired has published a piece explaining how a reporter paid Diggers to get a pretty lame, poorly written blog post featured prominently on Digg. They did it using a service called User/Submitter. The eye-opening piece tells how the phony blog was — surprisingly — voted for even by people who weren’t paid (because those who digg early on stories that turn popular become more “reputable” in the Digg system, and so Diggers blindly digg away without taking time to read them). One commenter wondered: “How the hell did this get to the front page?” Of course, the parent of Wired, you’ll recall, is Conde Nast, which owns a competitor to Digg, called Reddit. This is particular harmful for Digg, because its management has said gaming can’t happen.

I can imagine that similar problem could only go even worse in mainland China. When user generated content, the most inspired drive behind Web2.0, has been corrupted, will all these still work??!!! And is there anything we can do to stop these happending ??!!

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Job Index in Recruit.net

Recruit.net offers a new feature : Job index. Somethings like Google Trend, but this time focus on keywords found in job ad. In view of the success of the company in the already developed market, there is still space for niche searchengine, e.g. property, bid, restaurant …etc. Given that the searchengine provide excellent searching power, friendly user interface, and RSS feed that alert user for any update …

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Web2.0 – Dead or alive ?

It is around a year after the hip of web2.0.  Numerous startups has funded worldwide, but too few concepts.  Many niche player in the market, with a few dominator.  It seems that it has reached the tipping point that many many heard web2.0 / blog / wiki by different channels.  But what’s happen when it passed this particular moment.

In Hongkong, the blogosphere goes quiet.  Forum / newsgroup stills retents its presence.  So, is it dead or still alive? and when those buzzwords don’t work, what will happen?

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

recruit.net

recruit.net, another web2.0 (I suppose it is) company / services launched in hongkong (oh .. actually across asia-pacific region).  It has a nice interface, simple with small ajax add-ons.  Why I call it 2.0, because it does provide a RSS feed.  You even subscribe to the feed for a particular search result, i.e. you will got updated job postings in whatever feed reader, e.g. Google Reader, Bloglines.  Amazing.

I don’t know if it will integrate to SNS, just like LinkedIn does.  But a simple job search engine works for me just fine. 

One thing to notice is that recruit does not accept job posting directly to its website, but instead, it search through the major job listing web in the market. 

Another job listing web site has also launched in U.S. recently, created by the great author Joel, jobs.joelonsoftware.com.

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Amazon – wanna to be tech-giant ?

Amazon has a few move in tech service offering, which including :

1. Mechanical Turk
2. S3 – Simple Storage Service
3. SQS – SImple Queue Service
4. EC2 – Elastic Compute Cloud

I doubt if any tech companies offer the same coverage of services, from storage, computing power, message queue (or application intergation) to AI tasks processing platform. All these services are innovative, some in the tech involved, some for the cost saving. If Amazon keeps its pace with these technology business growth. One day, or sooner, it may be one of the tech giant.

Certainly, in the very beginning, the major customers of these services are those new startup or non IT companies in small size.  How long will it take to raise the level of reliability for these services to a level that capable for large enterprise solution, e.g. financial institution.  SAP has offered hosted services for its own system.  Maybe, one day, companies will not buy their own machine . . .

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0

Future of Microsoft Office?

Zoho, one of the most successful web-based office, recently improve its usability with a QuickReader plugic. When you want to edit a web page, by just right click the link. Considering the functions provided by these web-based office nowadays, it may take maybe only 2-3 years (or event less) before people leaving microsoft office completely …. at least, in homes & schools.

Filed under: 走在最前, Web 2.0