The latest version of Mac OS X, Leopard, has a network browser that uses stylized icons of the various computers in the LAN. Here is the icon of a generic PC running Windows:
So funny!
Technology
Google Opening the Social Graph
Google will today (Thursday) launch the OpenSocial API which is an application programming interface (i.e. a list of functions) that a number of social networking websites and plugin writers will comply to.
Techcrunch was the first to reveal the details but, basically, OpenSocial will cover (I quote the Techcrunch article):
- Profile Information (user data)
- Friends Information (social graph, who is linked to who)
- Activities (events, notifications, birthdays, news)
Google partners are LinkedIn, Hi5, Ning, Orkut, Salesforce, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and even Oracle as well as plugin developers Flixster, iLike, RockYou and Slide.
Notably missing are Facebook and MySpace (which will therefore not be compliant with the OpenSocial API – for the time being, at least.)
My interpretation
Following Microsoft’s flirt with Facebook, Google is trying to be more present in the social networking “business” (which is massively massive!)
Google could have tried to impose their own social networking system, Orkut, but decided to do something more subtle: impose their own OpenSocial API.
The consequence will be a number of different social networking ecosystems (e.g. Friendster and LinkedIn with their extremely different fauna) working seamlessly together fighting against Facebook and MySpace.
Seems to me that Google is really trying hard to control The Long Tail of the social networking phenomenon i.e. neither the kids nor the geeks.
My feeling
I personally use a number of social networking systems and I would be happy to make them interoperate. Google has proposed an API. For once, it does not seem that they want outright control of the data being exchanged. But what will be Google’s next step?
6 November 2007 – MySpace joins OpenSocial
Now everything will be interoperable. Except Facebook.
My next LCD TV, possibly?
My current Samsung TV is working fine.
But one of these days, I think I’ll replace it with the gorgeous Sony Bravia KDL-32S3000 LCD TV pictured above.
It’s beautiful, it’s feature complete (HDMI, 720p and Widescreen) and is currently being sold at around $900 in the US.
The only slight issue is the lack of high definition content in Mauritius. As indicated in the TV’s manual (which I’ve, of course, downloaded and read cover to cover), the TV accepts the following HD signals:
- Over-the-air broadcasting via HD-quality antenna. MBC broadcasting HD signals?!? Forget it.
- HD cable subscription. Not available here.
- HD satellite subscription. I am not too sure that this is a priority either from Parabole Océan Indien or Canal Satellite. I have a Parabole Maurice subscription and I don’t have access to films in English. I am forced to watch (mostly) everything in French which is crap as I tend to watch a lot of American and English movies. So if they don’t feel that having two audio streams is important I doubt they’ll bother with an HD video stream which is bound to use a much higher amount of bandwidth. My guess is that we won’t have HD satellite programs here for at least 2-3 years.
- Blu-ray Disc player or other external equipment. I don’t think I’ll buy a Blu-ray or a HD-DVD player soon (but who knows?). I don’t also intend to buy a PS3 or an XBOX 360. So there is only the Apple TV left. I am thinking of getting one to host all my media files (audio, photos, videos of the family and some movies) but I’ll have to convert all my video files to H264 first… which I’ll have to do as I fear that the (cheap) DVD-R I used to store my home videos won’t last for ever.
Seem a little bit limited for the time being, isn’t it?