<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<channel>
<title>The Social Software Weblog</title>
<link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com</link>
<description>The Social Software Weblog</description>
<image>
<url>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/media/feedlogo.gif</url>
<title>The Social Software Weblog</title>
<link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com</link>
</image>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.</copyright>
<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><item><title>Social-Mail, Byoms and more: This week's eHub round up</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-2-0/" rel="tag">web 2.0</a></p>"I like your roundups of <span id="st" name="st" class="st">eHub</span>!" says Emily Chang in an email.&nbsp; All the more reason to keep doing the darned things.&nbsp; Emily Chang's <a href="http://emilychang.com/go/ehub">eHub</a> is a great resource for learning about new or newly highlighted Web 2.0 services and products, but it can be overwhelming.&nbsp; In the spirit of helpfulness, I've now done a number of weekly summaries of my favorite items on eHub.&nbsp; The following is the most recent in the series.&nbsp; No substitute for reading eHub itself, of course, these summaries are just <em>my</em> favorites on the weeks I find time to do a write up.<br /><br />Listed in order of my excitement this time instead of chronologically:<br /><a href="http://Social-Mail.com"><br />Social-Mail</a><br />Happy day!&nbsp; Send emails to an RSS feed.&nbsp; I feel far more comfortable using this tool, a <a href="http://biginjapan.weblogswork.com/">Big in Japan</a> offering, than I do using my previous stand by, mail2rss.org.&nbsp; <a href="http://mail2rss.org">Mail2rss.org</a> has worked well for me so far, but the fact that it's remained in "extreme&nbsp; alpha" mode since I found it makes me very glad to find an alternative.&nbsp; I use these tools all the time to create feeds for organizations that don't offer them (many in the nonprofit sector, for example.) <br /><br />Byoms (build your own mobile search) <br />Not highlighted directly on eHub, but the product of a company that was (<a href="http://www.kozoru.com/">Kozuro</a>).&nbsp; Custom search via IM with support for natural language queries, search sharing and RSS feeds.&nbsp; Not sure how all of these will work together yet, but those are some of my favorite features for anything - so I'll be watching closely for the June 5th public beta release.&nbsp; The company says you'll preselect certain sources you want to be able to search, then you can use IM to query those sources on your computer or mobile device.&nbsp; Sounds pretty cool to me.<br /><br /><a href="http://eco.netvibes.com/">Netvibes ecosystem </a><br />Makes ajax homepage modules easy to share.&nbsp; Netvibes is one of the most popular Ajax homepages, which are themselves very poor ways to read anything more than a few RSS feeds with few items in each one (in my opinion).&nbsp; But it may be one of the most realistic ways to hope for further RSS adoption, and the ecosystem's sharing does help make tangible the portability of feeds. There's an API that's being used to develop new modules, a Word Press plug-in - the announcement of the ecosystem got a lot of coverage throughout the blogosphere.<br /><br /><a href="http://farecast.com">Farecast </a><br />In private beta, this system will use historical data to allow users to predict future airfare offerings.&nbsp; Have to wonder if another larger vendor will buy this one out, I'm sure that's the idea.&nbsp; Probably one of the best examples, in fact, of a technology built to flip.&nbsp; Landing page visual design at least looks totally hip.<br /><br /><a href="http://bigbluesaw.com/">Big Blue Saw </a><br />You may have read some of the articles around lately about low cost rapid fabrication from CAD files.&nbsp; Big Blue Saw is an Atlanta based service that offers just such an affordable service.&nbsp; I've read about this type of thing being the future of manufacturing in the developing world, for now this service is getting press in Make Magazine at least.&nbsp; <br /><br /><a href="http://spinvox.com/">Spinvox </a><br />Turns voice mail into text messages or email.&nbsp; Sounds great, presuming that it works well.&nbsp; <a href="http://mobilecrunch.com/2006/05/25/spinvox-makes-mobile-messaging-hyper-efficient/">Discussion at MobileCrunch</a> points to two likely problems:&nbsp; long voicemail messages and the difficulty of trusting a translation to text of the important subtleties in spoken language (like the world "not").&nbsp; Not having tested this myself, I don't know whether the text messages I get are going to tell me what the names of the callers are as well as my phone's recognition of contacts.&nbsp; That would be very important.<br /><br /><br />That's this week's highlights from <a href="http://emilychang.com/go/ehub">eHub</a> according to yours truly.&nbsp; Don't forget to check out the whole site for hours of fun.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/624492/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/social-mail-byoms-and-more-this-weeks-ehub-round-up/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>eHub</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-06-02T19:24:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>eBay to include blogs, wikis - will people use them?</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/e-commerce/" rel="tag">e-commerce</a></p>Steve Rubel <a href="http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/06/ebay_to_launch_.html">discovers coverage and then goes in depth on eBay plans to incorporate blogs and wikis</a> in their service offerings.&nbsp; It looks like an impressive implementation, but I have a few questions about it.<br />
<ul>
    <li>First, if people wanted more in depth discussion - wouldn't the product descriptions and the buyer/seller feedback be less mass produced than they are now?&nbsp; "Great customer!&nbsp; Would sell to again for sure!" over and over again.&nbsp; What percentage of the auction pages are mass produced by huge eBay store owners?</li>
    <li>Given that this will be a pure commercial space it seems like the promised land for comment spammers.&nbsp; Will eBay be able to fight spam in a way that doesn't shut down discussion but works for users?</li>
    <li>Not sure that these mediums are the best suited for this context.&nbsp; It seems like kind of an awkward application of two very hip, exciting tools.</li>
    <li>Tag support makes sense if implemented in conjunction with pre-selected categories and full text search.&nbsp; Given the nature of this particular market, though, I wonder if this will be the space where we really see tag spam emerge in a big way for the first time.</li>
    <li>Internationalization of discourse will be an interesting mess to watch, I'm guessing.&nbsp; Most businesses large enough to do a lot of international business mitigate language and cultural differences by hiring specialists to help with these issues.&nbsp; Micro-businesses will not have these resources and I'll be curious to see how many miscommunications, previously silent prejudices and other communication issues emerge.</li>
    <li>Business blogging often helps build relationships between companies and their customers.&nbsp; How much loyalty do you feel to any particular eBay store?&nbsp; I'm guessing not very much.&nbsp; Thumbs up, thumbs down on reputation may be enough reputation/communication system for the vast majority of eBay users.<br /></li>
</ul>
I'm not sure how much adoption these tools are going to see.&nbsp; Blogging takes time and energy.&nbsp; I'm not sure that people will find that investment worthwhile when sprucing up product pages and optimizing for search is already doable.&nbsp; Does conversation drive commerce, as Rubel says?&nbsp; Or in this case are we dealing with an intention economy - where people come to eBay intending to purchase something and only need help finding the best option at the best price?&nbsp;&nbsp; I've never been too clear on how great an option it was to be able to call a seller on Skype, so I'm not sure how great an idea this is.&nbsp; I've only been ripped of on eBay once, though, so perhaps I don't understand other peoples' need for communication.&nbsp; <br /><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/624436/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/06/02/ebay-to-include-blogs-wikis/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>blogs</category><category>eBay</category><category>wikis</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-06-02T15:45:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>SuperOyster to monetize your place in line</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/startups/" rel="tag">startups</a></p><a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/05/superoyster_is_in_alpha.html">The O'Reilly Radar profiled</a> a pre-release service today named <a href="http://superoyster.com">SuperOyster.</a>&nbsp; It's to be federated out to commercial vendors with high demand and a line of prospective customers.&nbsp; The vendors use it to manage their waiting lists and draw revenue by facilitating the sale of postions in line to people with longer to wait, for whatever.&nbsp; Football tickets, winery events, super exclusive foo-fee-foos.&nbsp; I don't know that much about rich people, but isn't a certain amount of the hipness quotient mitigated by the public knowledge that you didn't get into the soiree because you were hip enough to know about it first - but because you bought out some one else who did?<br /><br />One way or the other, I find this software offering-to-be fascinating.&nbsp; The company says it utilizes "a patent pending process known as waiting list monetization."&nbsp; Presuming they get past the non-obviousness requirement in the patent proccess, it could be quite a succesful service.&nbsp; I'm sure their value proposition will rest in the quality of their services, even if you or I feel like we should have thought of that once we see what they are doing.&nbsp; Their FAQ adresses the "why should I not just use eBay?" question by saying that they provide a direct link through the trusted vendor you're wanting a ticket to patronize.&nbsp; I imagine most jerks online would be less willing to stiff say, the 49ers, than you or me over eBay.&nbsp; That's an interesting proposition in thematic terms, and seems smartly alligned with some key psychological tendencies in the e-commerce space.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/621615/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/24/superoyster-to-monestize-your-place-in-line/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>lines</category><category>placeinline</category><category>SuperOyster</category><category>tickets</category><category>waiting</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-05-24T16:42:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>MySpace teams with print mag, Nylon</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/collaboration/" rel="tag">collaboration</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/msm/" rel="tag">MSM</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/social-networking/" rel="tag">social networking</a></p>&nbsp;MySpace has announced it will partner with the print magazine <a href="http://nylonmag.com">Nylon</a> to prerelease an online version of the mag with links to the MySpace pages of bands and others profiled in Nylon stories.&nbsp; Sounds like a good idea.&nbsp; The publication in question appears predictably vapid, but the model here could foretell similar agreements in the future.<br /><br />The move brings to mind the thesis of <a href="http://roughtype.com/">Nick Carr,</a> who predicts in his forthcoming book and current Gilmor Gang appearances that on-demand media and contextual advertising will decouple high-revenue low-value content from the low-revenue high-value content it has effectively subsidized in traditional media institutions.&nbsp; (Think Britney Spears coverage selling the ads that then pay for the investigative journalism found in section A or F, whichever the case may be.)&nbsp; Perhaps the analogy here is that MySpace's partnerships like this one with Nylon will help raise funds to help pay for the hard-hitting critical thought of Fox News.&nbsp; Hmmm.... no it's probably an example of the kind of cultural destruction that Carr sees on the horizon.&nbsp; Fluff will pay for nothing but profits and more fluff while journalism that, for example, challenges those in power, will become an underfunded, far less visible niche market.<br /><br />One way or the other, agreements like this, the <a href="http://marshallk.com/washington-post-integrates-blogs">WaPo's Technorati partnership</a> and now <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/05/22/timecom-adds-sphere-it-links/">Time.com's embrace of newbie Sphere</a> all point to a real blurring of the line between traditional and new media.&nbsp; That doesn't even seem a relevant question any more.&nbsp; It's about being smart, not about whether new forms of media will beat old ones.<br /><br style="font-style: italic;" /><span style="font-style: italic;">MySpace/Nylon story via </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20060522MySpacetoOfferFreeMagazine.html">Alex Bard and WebProNews.</a><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/621050/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/23/myspace-teams-with-print-mag-nylon/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>MySpace</category><category>Nylon</category><category>partnerships</category><category>publishing</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-05-23T12:57:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Wired Mag adds Feedburner</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/rss/" rel="tag">RSS</a></p><a href="http://feedburner.com">Feedburner</a> made another big announcement today, they are now <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/pressreleases?release=wired_news_to_manage_and_monet_1.jsp">providing their RSS management, advertising and FeedFlare services for Wired Magazine</a>.&nbsp; As far as I can tell, they are a great example of providing an awesome free service to consumer-level users (bloggers) as a way to gain visibility and a foothold on the enterprise market.&nbsp; Who wouldn't want to keep track of their number of subscribers?&nbsp; For more details on Feedburner, check <a href="http://netsquared.org/klau">my recent interview with biz dev VP Rick Klau</a>.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/618918/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/16/wired-mag-adds-feedburner/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>Advertising</category><category>Advertising2.0</category><category>Feedburner</category><category>RSS</category><category>Wired</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-05-16T14:32:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>This Week's Highlights from eHub</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a></p><a href="http://emilychang.com/go/ehub">Emily Chang's eHub</a> is a good place for new Web 2.0 services to announce themselves.&nbsp; But if you're like me, it's hard to keep up with them.&nbsp; Thus I'm trying out a practice of summarizing my favorite items from eHub each week.&nbsp; It's just my option, though, and I missed the week before this one - so for goodness sake go check out eHub yourself.&nbsp; This week saw 28 items in eHub.&nbsp; After the jump are my descriptions of my favorite 8 of them.<br /><br /> <br /> <a href="http://atlas.freshlogicstudios.com/">Atlas</a> - Mashed up Microsoft's Virtual Earth with local search, driving directions, blogs, events, gas prices, movies, traffic, wifi hotspots, and more. Also has a freely available API for realtime GPS device tracking. By Fresh Logic Studios.<br /> <br /> Couldn't get many features to work, but perhaps that's because I wasn't logged in.&nbsp; Great idea though.<br /> <a href="http://www.opsdo.com/"><br /> Opsdo</a> - uses bittybrowser to display search results on multiple engines you chose.&nbsp; Great idea.&nbsp; Firefox only.&nbsp; Pretty proof of concept for now, but it's a great concept.&nbsp; Give me a browser search bar plug in and a bookmarklet to search any highlighted word on the page and I'm there.&nbsp; Lots of search engines included.<br /> <a href="http://share.opml.org/"><br /> Share Your OPML</a> - I love it and have loved it all week.&nbsp; I know not everyone does, but I do.&nbsp; Check out this super charming <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=3006">interview with Dave Winer by Dan Farber about Share Your OPML</a>.&nbsp; Farber doesn't grok the power of Share's simplicity for awhile, it's a funny but great interview.&nbsp; One for the history books, really - we'll be listening to this one after Dave is dead.&nbsp; And I say that as a guy who sent him two emails this week that he didn't respond to - I know not everyone likes Dave Winer.<br /> <br /> Anyway! <br /> <a href="http://www.cellswapper.com/cellswapperv2/default.aspx"><br /> CellSwapper</a> - Find some one to take over your cell phone contract.&nbsp; Great idea.&nbsp; Not sure what the business model is, but I can imagine using this.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://workcircle.com/">WorkCircle</a> - geek job listings and CVs searchable by tags and more.&nbsp; 300+ listings under consultancy, you'll note.&nbsp; Looks like fun.&nbsp; Not sure how this is differentiated from other options besides by niche, which I don't imagine will be enough.&nbsp; People seem to be using it though.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://pearlcrescent.com/pearlcomments/">Pearl Comments</a> - make notes about a web page for your team members, highlights page section linked to each note.&nbsp; Firefox extension now available.&nbsp; Could be good.<br /> <a href="http://www.musichawk.com/"><br /> Musichawk&nbsp; </a>- brings together social networking, Wikipedia bios, reviews in Pitchfork Media, tour info, Google news search, Technorati search, affiliate links to buy.&nbsp; Seems like a good enough idea.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.tagground.com/">Tagground</a> - tag search in one place for <a href="http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com/" target="_blank">yahoo my web 2.0</a>, <a href="http://del.icio.us/" target="_blank">del.icio.us</a>, <a href="http://www.rawsugar.com/" target="_blank">raw sugar</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/" target="_blank">flickr</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/" target="_blank">You Tube</a> and more.&nbsp; You can search to see how a URL was tagged or what URLs have been given a certain tag.&nbsp; Drops the ball on URL search in&nbsp; del.icio.us - but del.icio.us probably doesn't help much. No RSS feeds available, a shame.&nbsp; Not as slow or ugly as some other options, but hardly fast either.&nbsp; This is a very important class of tools and it would be great if Tagground gets it right.&nbsp; Right now it's akward and still not fast enough.&nbsp; I'd really like to use someone other than Technorati for this.&nbsp; Tagground seems to want to be AJAX, so there's no URL visible for a search's results.&nbsp; Thus no <a href="http://blummy.com/">blumlet</a> is possible.&nbsp; Oh well, it's a nice idea.<br /><br />Don't you worry, they'll keep coming on <a href="http://emilychang.com/go/ehub">eHub</a>!<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/617451/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/05/11/this-weeks-highlights-from-ehub/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>eHub</category><category>reviews</category><category>web2.0</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-05-11T16:18:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>TrafficLand NY, Google Maps plus traffic cams</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/mapping/" rel="tag">mapping</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/mashups/" rel="tag">mashups</a></p><a href="http://www.resourceshelf.com/2006/03/trafficlandcom-comes-to-new-york-city.html">ResourceShelf.com</a> pointsthis morning to <a href="http://www.trafficland.com/nyc/findacamera.php">TrafficLand's new service for New YorkCity</a>.&nbsp; Pretty neat implementation.&nbsp; Click on a node of interest on a Google Map and you'll get a goodview of what traffic is like in that location.&nbsp; Adds all over the place, could get alot of traffic - if youwill.<br /> <br /><a href="http://www.trafficland.com"> The company </a>offers delivery to mobile devices and haspartnerships with cops and media outlets.&nbsp; Very interesting.&nbsp; I find private, as opposed to public,surveillance fascinating.&nbsp; Hardly ever discussed.&nbsp; This, though, is a public/private partnership as theysay.&nbsp; The cameras are owned by local government agencies and presumably their feeds are licensed by <ahref="http://www.trafficland.com">TrafficLand</a> and who knows who else.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/601012/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/20/trafficland-ny-google-maps-plus-traffic-cams/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>API</category><category>GoogleMaps</category><category>maps</category><category>traffic</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-20T12:45:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Afternoon news round-up: a lot is happening today</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a></p>Whew, what a day it's shaping up to be!&nbsp; Lots of interesting developments.<br /><br />
<ul>
    <li><ahref="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/15/announcing-talkcrunch-a-new-weekly-podcast/">TechCrunch launches apodcast</a>, called TalkCrunch, that will profile and interview Web 2.0 startups.&nbsp; Mike Arrington seems like apretty nice guy (almost to a fault) and he couldn't be more connected to the startup world, so this should be gooddepending on his interviewing skills.</li>
    <li><ahref="http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2006_03_15.shtml#054108">Rafat at PaidContent.org is reporting that AOL (ownerof this blog) is going to relaunch Netscape.com</a> as a Digg-style hub for user selected content with Weblogs Inc.founder Jason Calacanis at the helm.&nbsp; Nice, sounds like Netscape could be relevant again.&nbsp; Unfortunately,Calicanis is on the record as saying he thinks the new Digg comment moderating system is worthless.&nbsp; Perhaps thatmeans we can expect a load of worthless comments to remain above the fold on the Netscape site.</li>
    <li>Theshockingly smooth new OMPL reader <a href="http://www.grazr.com/">Grazr</a> is available online.&nbsp; See a coupleboxes worth in action over at <a href="http://darwinianweb.com/archive/2006/308.html">Darwinian Web</a>.&nbsp; Can'twait to see this puppy put to a variety of uses.</li>
    <li>John Furrier gets <ahref="http://www.siliconbeat.com/entries/2006/03/15/podtech_raises_55_million_to_create_the_npr_of_podcasting.html">abunch of cash</a> to turn his small tech-podcasting network, <a href="http://www.podtech.net/">Podtech.net</a>, into"the NPR of podcasting."&nbsp; I'm always interested in Furrier's guests, but can't listen to his showbecause he really grates on my nerves.&nbsp; Maybe I've just been getting jealous in advance.</li>
    <li><ahref="http://tech.memeorandum.com/060316/p13#a060316p13">Blog software provider Six Apart gets even more money</a>, inpart to move forward with plans to offer private blogs.&nbsp; Cofounder Mena Trott believes that blogging is unlikelyto ever go mainstream until it was easy for people to limit access to their content online.&nbsp; Maybe I don't haveenough LiveJournal experience, but I question how widespread the practice of regular posting is going to be on personalsites that aren't publicly visible.</li>
</ul>
Maybe things will slow down a bit so we can breathe a bit beforetomorrow.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/600122/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/16/afternoon-news-round-up-a-lot-is-happening-today/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>digg</category><category>Grazr</category><category>netscape</category><category>OPML</category><category>podcasts</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-16T15:16:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Federated Media gets funding, look for Digg to get even bigger</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a></p><a href="http://fmpub.net/archives/2006/03/fm_financing_re.php"><img align="right"src="http://www.federatedmedia.net/images/fm_logo_interior.gif" alt="" />Federated Media</a>, home of Digg.com,BoingBoing, Dooce <a href="http://www.federatedmedia.net/authors/index">and other popular blog-type sites</a>,announced that it's completed a Series A round of fund-raising with contributions from JP Morgan, the NY Times, TimO'Reilly and others.<br /><br />It's interesting the think what this kind of funding could be used for in theuser-generated content context that a number of the sites in the network represent.&nbsp; I can only guess that it willlead to even more user generated content.&nbsp; Once it moves past the early adopters, who all know about most of thesesites already, I wonder whether the fundamental nature of the communities there will be changed.&nbsp; Will there benew demands in making more and different content scalable?&nbsp; We shall see.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/599848/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/15/federated-media-gets-funding-look-for-digg-to-get-even-bigger/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>blogs</category><category>digg</category><category>funding</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-15T19:04:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Start-up finds and sells cheap TV ad slots</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a></p><a href="http://www.spotrunner.com/">SpotRunner</a> is a new service that finds and sells shockingly inexpensive 30second TV ad slots to anyone.&nbsp; I'm impressed.&nbsp; The home page highlights prime time slots in CentralCalifornia on ESPN ($44), Bravo ($18) and AMC ($13).&nbsp; They offer a number of basic commercials that you cancustomize.&nbsp; I suppose we'll see how well those work!&nbsp; Perhaps we're all watching template ads customized fordifferent customers already.&nbsp; One way or the other, this seems to have some interesting potential.&nbsp; Thecompany says there are far more unbought ad slots on TV than you might think.&nbsp; <em>Found via <ahref="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6049354.html">ZDNet</a>.</em><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/599356/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/14/start-up-finds-and-sells-cheap-tv-ad-slots/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>advertising</category><category>promotion</category><category>TV</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-14T13:02:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Audioblog.com rebranding and expanding</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/podcasting/" rel="tag">podcasting</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/portable-media/" rel="tag">portable media</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/videoblogging/" rel="tag">videoblogging</a></p><img width="80" height="NaN" align="right" src="http://ericrice.com/images/ericrice_headshot-sm.jpg" alt="" />After afew days off I'm in the swing of things at SXSW, where the first thing I got to do was&nbsp; <ahref="http://netsquared.org/rice">interview Eric Rice</a> (off-site) of <ahref="http://audioblog.com">Audioblog.com</a> yesterday.&nbsp; Audioblog started as a service that allowed people torecord podcasts by calling a phone number; today the company offers many more related services - including videohosting and delivery.&nbsp; Found out a number of interesting things.&nbsp; First, the company is in the process ofrebranding and will soon be referred to as Hipcast - to better reflect their offerings beyond audio and blogs.&nbsp;Second, they are expanding operations into Japan with <a href="http://www.castella.jp/">Castella.jp</a>.&nbsp; EricRice is a busy man in the podcasting scene and his company looks to be on the ascent.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/598794/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/12/audioblog-com-rebranding-and-expanding/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>audio</category><category>international</category><category>phones</category><category>podcasting</category><category>video</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-12T10:47:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Huge directory of Web 2.0 sites</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-2-0/" rel="tag">web 2.0</a></p>Sanjeev Narang, a Washington based consultant, has compiled <a href="http://www.econsultant.com/web2/index.html">a hugedirectory of Web 2.0 web sites</a> organized by category.&nbsp; There's a lot that isn't listed, but there's a lot thatare.&nbsp; It's impressive.<br /><br />In exchange for <ahref="http://www.econsultant.com/web2/top-web2-sites-download.html">a small donation</a> to the Seattle childrens'literacy organization <a href="http://www.pageahead.org/index.php">Page Ahead</a> he'll send you the full list in anExcel file.&nbsp; That's cool.&nbsp; Found via <ahref="http://www.rev2.org/archives/2006/03/05/web-20-yellow-pages/">Rev2.org</a><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/596617/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/04/huge-directory-of-web-2-0-sites/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>companies</category><category>directories</category><category>directory</category><category>list</category><category>literacy</category><category>sites</category><category>web sites</category><category>Web2.0</category><category>WebSites</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-03-04T20:28:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Edgeio takes the leap into a new world</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/e-commerce/" rel="tag">e-commerce</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/microformats/" rel="tag">microformats</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/startups/" rel="tag">startups</a></p><img width="200" height="NaN" align="right" alt=""src="http://blog.edgeio.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/edgeio_logo.jpg" />Keith Teare and Michael Arrington were kindenough to give me a tour of their new online listings service <a href="http://edgeio.com/">Edgeio</a> last week and nowthat <a href="http://blog.edgeio.com/?p=13">it's begun to open to invited users</a> seems as good a time as any to writethat conversation up.&nbsp; I thought the concept, look and functionality of <a href="http://edgeio.com">Edgeio</a> alllooked great.&nbsp; I'll discuss those, but I'm also interested in some of the questions the service will face at itforges into a radically new space for information services.<br /><br />The basic idea behind Edgeio is that off-sitecontent producers (bloggers and others) will add meta-data to their own content that will designate certain informationas intended to appear on Edgeio.&nbsp; That content will include, but not necessarily be limited to, items for sale andevents being promoted online.&nbsp; There are a variety of ways this will be done, ranging from simple code like manypeople add for <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/edgeio">tags destined for Technorati</a> to an even more usable textsignifier that can be added for users uncomfortable with HTML.&nbsp; Arrington says bloggers will be the primarycontributors of content to Edgeio, but that any site that publishes an RSS feed will be able to participate.&nbsp; Allof this is good news for usability and diversity of content.<br />Content contributors, members, will create accounts wherein they will be able to fine-tune how their listingsappear.&nbsp; How this will play out remains to be seen, whether posting listings on your own site if you still enterEdgeio to fine tune those listings represents a significant convenience seems unclear to me.&nbsp; In theory it willmake listings easier, requiring less time in Edgeio itself for content providers, and it is certainly an interestingway to interact with a listing service.<br /><br />People interested in viewing the listings in Edgeio will be able tovisit the site and use a variety of cool search and display tools.&nbsp; The geographic slider appears to be a powerfulway to filter or expand any set of listings, though the categories may prove overly arbitrary.&nbsp; It is nice to beable to slide visible results for your query from your city to your state, country or to global listings.&nbsp; Thechoice to set up the hierarchy geographically instead of by milage may be a problem for some users.&nbsp; ThoughVancouver, Washington is only miles away from Portland Oregon, for example, appears inconsequential to a systemorganized by state.&nbsp;&nbsp; Since thousands of locations world wide have been geocoded, this may be something thatwill be easy to change later.&nbsp; I'm sure it's a hard choice to make and hardly one faced only by Edgeio.&nbsp; Assliders become more common, though, I would surprised if location wasn't connected in users' minds with proximity andvery particular systems of relevance.&nbsp; Ebay's sort by proximity by mileage may have created certain expectationsfor users as well.<br /><br />Edgio also allows users to view results via a hierarchy of tags.&nbsp; This is smooth,intuitive and and something that other public information repositories could really benefit from learning from.<br/><br />Edgeio not only consumes RSS feeds, it also publishes many types of feeds as well.&nbsp; This was great to see,though unsurprising from a service that's all about Web 2.0.<br /><br />One of the things enabled by this support of RSSwill likely be the ability for bloggers and other content creators to resyndicate Edgeio listings on their own siteswith a widget that will later be available to Edgeio members.&nbsp; This makes a lot of sense given the service's roleas an information broker and may represent as well a likely future development for many services distributing dynamic,public information.&nbsp; <br /><br />One possible bump in the road may be the use of Edgeio listings off site inobnoxious ways.&nbsp; I asked whether Edgeio listings might appear in the future as the revenue source for blog spamala Adsense (eg. fill the web with garbage blogs related to widely searched keywords and run the Edgeio listings forthose keywords beside the blog in hopes frustrated visitors will click there).&nbsp; Arrington says that revenuesharing will be a much smaller part of the widget equation than its use by bloggers for promoting their listings.&nbsp;This seems like an unresolved but important issue.&nbsp; They say, and I believe them, that they have every intention ofdoing what it takes to remain a positive force on the web.&nbsp; I'll be curious to see how this feature rolls out, asit seems that resyndication and revenue sharing create technical difficulties and financial disincentives to doanything about this problem.<br /><br />Overposting.&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://craigslist.org/">Craigslist</a> ishaving a real problem with users over posting to their system.&nbsp; I asked the Edgeio folks how they would deal withthat.&nbsp; They said that there was no real way to stop it, but that the system would be set up in a way that madeoverposting impractical.&nbsp; The best way to increase visibility will be to pay a small fee (25 cents per day) forpriority listing, not to post multiple times throughout a day.&nbsp;&nbsp; Similarly, Arrington says their system willhave some built in accountability because the source of the posted information will be known by Edgeio and spammerswill be easily removed.&nbsp; The system does have a very nice "flag as spam/ flag as miscategorized" feature- but given how quickly new blogs can be started anonymously I'm not sure how easy it will be to block spam based on thesource.<br /><br />Another question that faces all vendors in this space is raised by <ahref="http://www.craigslist.org/about/fair.housing.html">the ongoing law suit against Craigslist</a> for the appearanceof housing listings on their site that violated federal anti-discrimination law.&nbsp; It's a tough question for new webinformation brokers - to what degree are you responsible for and how do you police user generated content? Are you apublisher?&nbsp; Edgeio will for now have to rely on self-monitoring of postings after they appear, which may or maynot satisfy Federal Courts 1.0 (if you will).&nbsp; Arrington said in an email, " we are watching how law isdeveloping in this space very closely and will make service changes over time to protect our community and thecompany."&nbsp; I hope they don't have to make service changes, but in the event that they do I hope they are ableto come up with some good ones.<br /><br />Edgeio represents an exciting development in online information services andcommerce.&nbsp; It's a powerful example of the kinds of things made possible by microformats in blogging and RSS.&nbsp;Edgeio may have a real first mover's advantage in this space.&nbsp;&nbsp; The company certainly brings fresh energy to aset of possibilities and possible problems that larger, established vendors have been slow to respond to.&nbsp; We'llsee how things unfold for them.<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/593123/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/02/21/edgeio-takes-the-leap-into-a-new-world/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>craigslist</category><category>edgeio</category><category>microformats</category><category>reviews</category><category>rss</category><dc:creator>Marshall Kirkpatrick</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-02-21T13:24:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>YouTube and ______, sitting in a tree</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/social-media/" rel="tag">social media</a></p>So <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/18/youtube-is-probably-being-acquired/">rumour has it</a> that <ahref="http://www.youtube.com">YouTube</a> has just been acquired. Place your bets, ladies and gents -- who's the luckysuitor? My money's on Yahoo.<br /><br />[warning: rumour, speculation, disclaim disclaim yadda yadda]<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/18/youtube-is-probably-being-acquired/>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/583138/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2006/01/19/youtube-and-______-sitting-in-a-tree/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>acquisitions</category><category>rumours</category><category>social video</category><category>SocialVideo</category><category>video</category><category>yahoo</category><category>youtube</category><dc:creator>Barb Dybwad</dc:creator><dc:date>2006-01-19T20:35:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>MySpace blocking YouTube?</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/social-media/" rel="tag">social media</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/social-networking/" rel="tag">social networking</a></p>Just caught wind of this as I was guffawing over <a href="http://wowinsider.com/2005/12/05/the-internet-is-for/">thisWorld of Warcraft mashup</a> video -- it appears that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/blog">MySpace is blockingYouTube</a>, not just embedded videos but all YouTube URLs and even any references to the YouTube service. ApparentlyMySpace hasn't responded to any inquiries from YouTube staff or MySpace users who also use YouTube. Considering theoverwhelming amount of strange and random multimedia crap I <span style="font-weight: bold;">have</span> seen embeddedinto MySpace profiles, I find this a little odd. Anybody know what's up?<h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://www.youtube.com/blog>Read</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/574207/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/23/myspace-blocking-youtube/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><category>myspace</category><category>social media</category><category>social software</category><category>SocialMedia</category><category>SocialSoftware</category><category>video</category><category>world of warcraft</category><category>WorldOfWarcraft</category><category>wow</category><category>youtube</category><dc:creator>Barb Dybwad</dc:creator><dc:date>2005-12-23T17:04:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Yahoo gobbles up del.icio.us</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/social-bookmarking/" rel="tag">social bookmarking</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-services/" rel="tag">web services</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/yahoo/" rel="tag">Yahoo</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-2-0/" rel="tag">web 2.0</a></p><p>Well, now, isn't this fascinating - <a href="http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000223.html">Yahoo acquireddel.icio.us</a>. Wonder if this means I'll be able to stop using the <ahref="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000633055947/">combination bookmarklet</a> for <ahref="http://del.icio.us">del.icio.us</a> and <a href="http://myweb2.search.yahoo.com">My Web 2.0</a> at some point andget one bookmarklet to rule them all. Automagic sync between del.icio.us and My Web 2.0 bookmarks? Or will the servicesget merged somehow? Anybody have predictions they want to throw down?</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/68708/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/12/09/yahoo-gobbles-up-del-icio-us/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Barb Dybwad</dc:creator><dc:date>2005-12-09T15:08:00+00:00</dc:date></item><item><title>Google and Riya, sitting in a tree...?</title><link>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/</guid><comments>http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/#comments</comments><description><![CDATA[<p>Filed under: <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/companies/" rel="tag">companies</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/google/" rel="tag">Google</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/photo-sharing/" rel="tag">photo-sharing</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/startups/" rel="tag">startups</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-services/" rel="tag">web services</a>, <a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/category/web-2-0/" rel="tag">web 2.0</a></p><a href="http://www.riya.com"><img width="240" vspace="16" hspace="8" height="175" border="0" align="right"src="http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/3060000000054610.JPG?0.9052482345075582" alt="Riya" /></a>
<p>Haven't seenany confirmation or anything other than the standard "we can't comment" since the rumours of <ahref="http://news.com.com/2061-10812_3-5958810.html">Google flirting with Riya</a> started flying. <ahref="http://www.riya.com">Riya</a> (nee <ahref="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000547057525/">Ojos</a>) uses face recognition technology to helpautotag your photo collection. I got a demo of Riya from the uber-fun <a href="http://www.horsepigcow.com/">TaraHunt</a> at <a rel="tag" href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/search/?q=tagcamp&amp;submit=Search%BB">Tagcamp</a> and was pretty impressed - you train the software simply by tagging a few photos of someone, andit then automagically finds other photos of that person and autotags them. It's not perfect yet, but it did make animpressive number of correct matches, even identifying photos where the person's face was turned or in shadow, etc.<br/>  <br />   Of course I'm going to complain that it's Windows-only (and IE6 only, even, blech!)... which makes it aperfect candidate for the Goog, who loves to <ahref="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000367055775/">stick it to Mac users</a>. ;) Riya plans Firefoxand Mac support in the future, so I'm complaining now while the complaining is good. Anywho - you know howrumours are, and we may still not know anything even after Riya's <ahref="http://munjal.typepad.com/recognizing_deven/2005/11/youre_invited_o.html">launch party tonight</a> at <ahref="http://www.techcrunch.com">TechCrunch</a> central.<br />  <br />   Om <ahref="http://gigaom.com/2005/11/16/googles-riya-designs/">has more on the rumours</a>.<br />  <br />   [Via <ahref="http://tech.memeorandum.com">Memeorandum</a>]</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/forward/68692/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;fc=1&amp;url=http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/" title="Linking Blogs">Linking&nbsp;Blogs</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2005/11/18/google-and-riya-sitting-in-a-tree/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a><br /><p><font size="1"><hr>Sponsored by: <a href="http://www.userplane.com/traffic/ss/1_0/redirect.cfm?GUID=82036209-a3de-4ee9-b4f7-09934929923a">Userplane Apps: Live communication applications powering the world's leading online communities.</a></font></p>]]></description><dc:creator>Barb Dybwad</dc:creator><dc:date>2005-11-18T13:51:00+00:00</dc:date></item></channel></rss>