Category Archive

 Interesting post from Alec Saunders.. Is this a new trend?

A twit no more. Disconnected from the hive:

Yesterday, drowning in a sea of updates, I disconnected from the Twitter hive.  Its constant stream of free-form presence updates has undeniable appeal, but the sheer volume of information, coupled with the lack of mediation tools, has made it unmanageable for me.   

I briefly flirted with Jaiku.  In addition to the updates, it also aggregates feeds for a user, letting you collect RSS feeds, presence information, and status updates all in one place.  So few people I know use Jaiku, however, that that flirtation was short lived.

So I’ve turned to facebook.  Facebook has the appeal of Jaiku’s feed aggregation, coupled with Twitter’s short form status updates.  It also provides deeper tools than Twitter or Jaiku for managing which updates end up being delivered to your mobile, and which not, which solves the “sea of updates” problem for me.  Facebook gives you very fine control over which updates and from which users are delivered as text messages, versus accessible only online. 

Best of all? Apparently my whole network already knew about facebook.  When I loaded my contact database into it to see who I knew on facebook, I had an instant friends network of nearly 200 people. 

Whatever the category represented by Twitter and Jaiku, facebook seems to have already conquered it.

Currently I am in the process of organising a new open network event in Amsterdam The Netherlands. I am planning to host it once a month. Very informal style. With one or two speakers per event. The ambition of these drinks is to integrate the mobile industry especially with the more traditional industries(internet, IT, advertising, Retail, etc). I see that the mobile industry is still pretty isolated and it is time to change that.Want to help me organise these drinks, wish to speak on one of these evenings or ofcourse want to participate please let me know.

Just read this post on Mashable about “dead” Dodgeball. Interesting to see how services develop and why some succeed and others fail..

Dodgeball, the text-message based social networking service, seems to have been left for dead.

Dennis Crowley, the founder of Dodgeball, and Alex Rainert have both left the sinking Dodgeball ship. Acquired by Google in 2005, Crowley insists that Google is not providing the resources necessary to innovate their service, let alone keep up with recently popular Twitter and newcomer Jaiku. Crowley and Rainert have decided to quit Google, leaving Dodgeball to fend for itself. An announcement from Crowley says that the whole experience at Google was frustrating, “especially as we couldn’t convince them that Dodgeball was worth engineering resources, leaving us to watch as other startups got to innovate in the mobile + social space.”

In the end, that leaves Twitter the reigning chief. Not that their dominance was in question as of late, but Dodgeball is sure to meet its end very soon. It’s a shame that Google never built up Dodgeball, considering the current and future mobile market, but then again, Google has $3.1 billion deals to tend to.

UPDATE:

Thanks to BlueAce here some more info from the guys themselves:

So…. Alex and I quit Google on Friday.

It’s no real secret that Google wasn’t supporting dodgeball the way we expected. The whole experience was incredibly frustrating for us - especially as we couldn’t convince them that dodgeball was worth engineering resources, leaving us to watch as other startups got to innovate in the mobile + social space. And while it was a tough decision (and really disappointing) to walk away from dodgeball, I’m actually looking forward to getting to work on other projects again.

So, what’s next? Starting today (Monday!) I’m joining the kids at area/code who are knee-deep in building all sorts of Big Games (remember PacManhattan? ConQwest?). Alex is moving on to IconNicholson where he took a gig as a Creative Strategist focusing on mobile and emerging technologies. (And sorry, but I don’t know what Google has planned for dodgeball going forward.)

ps: Clear your calendar for this Saturday (April 21). A whole crew of us are dj’ing to celebrate our escape. (details + invite coming soon!)

Do you work in the mobile industry?

Have you heard about Microblogging?

Do you know Twitter?

Well….Check out Jaiku’s new mobile application for Symbian series 60 3rd edition devices.. It is amazing. See screenshot below..

Micro blogging preferably with location information is really going to be soo big business.. I AM 100% SURE

It is timely(now), location aware(where), social(who, what) and easy to use.. All critical elements of a great mobile service are there..

So now you know it.. no more excuse that you didn’t see it coming….

Please have a look at Stephen Downes, a researcher in e-learning. Explaining the difference between groups and networks. This stuff is applicable on many areas.. Just think about it..