As the web evolves, we’re seeing more and more news about social media in the mainstream media (most of it old and outdated), but it’s there none-the-less. Today was a particularly good day for the key sources of social media news, and generally I’d just Digg and or StumbleUpon (feel free to add me), but though I might share today.
No one really knows where this is all going to end up, or how successful it’s ever going to be.
New album arrived today: Disturbed - Indestructible
Just over the first two tracks now, and the grinding guitars over the familiar drive of some fucking thunderous drums book through. Now that’s a lot of adjectives, but this album sounds like the sound track to Armageddon itself. Getting solid reviews everywhere. Also the brand new video below (speaks for itself).
A much darker tone overall, with some epic vocals from one of my favourite frontmen David Draiman. One can also hear a much wider use of Draiman’s vocal ranges, and also a few extra layers. His vocal asethetic range from his classic tones right through to traditional growls.
The guitars are drawing on some much more classic techniques of prog metal, and their tones during distortion are of a much more vintage quality.
For me, the artwork was a step backwards. A strange type face and cliche placement didn’t do anything for the album which is focused on the classic disrtubed mascot in a very unoriginal possition. The album art has a first person shooter feel about it. Think Doom.
Overall, solid album that hits with some big fucking force, a must for anyone who wants a heavy album that will drive you.
Favourite tracks: Indestructible, Torn, Inside the Fire (below)
Micro-blogging, and more specifically, micro-blogging services (like Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk) are all forms of lifecasting, also known as lifestreaming. Put simply:
Lifestreaming is the continual (or regular) broadcast of one’s life and or activities through a digital medium.
So what should micro-blogging mean to you? I often get asked about the point of it all, or more recently ‘how do I make this useful for me?’. The question is always asked as if there’s something different about me and fellow Twitters that make it useful only for us. That’s just wrong.
It’s up to the user to make this services useful. And very useful they can be. As long as you understand what you want to get out of it. It comes down to how you break your audience down (work, life, social, spiritual etc) and then you begin to find voice and voices to talk and listen to about your focus.
Some users utilise Twitter and other micro-blogging services like Jaiku, purely for work streams - answering questions about digital media, recruitment. Others, for news and current affairs - getting opinions as they stream recent news. Then there are combinations. Where, between ‘Coffee number 3′ and ‘Any thoughts on open source mobile OS?’.
As we social media enthusiasts take up the early adopter positions, we encourage people to try the services out for themselves. You shouldn’t need worry about existing friends being in these networks, but look forward to making new networks.
Watch this space: What is really about to get interesting, and perhaps not as marketable as the iPhone, is the emergence of open-source mobile operating systems.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
Umberto Eco Italian novelist & semiotician (1932 - )
So tonight I decided to join (via an invitation from bobcoon - thanks!) Jaiku. Just going to bash out some points as I enter the Jaiku (the name comes from the phrase Japenese Haikus). Rather than a narrative review of Jaiku (or an overview AKA what the fuck is Jaiku?)
Love the colour scheme, big clear lay out
Oh, nice, location service built in! Much simpler than brightkite, but perhaps just as practical at this stage as brighkite on mobile in Australia aint happening yet.
Enjoying the badges too, brillant little Map mashup in there
How do I find my existing friends? No existing contact import (from Gmail for instance)
Web Feeds: Now this is fucking cool. Photos, blogs, videos, RSS, music, bookmarks and more. This really has me interested now.
Thoughts: why isn’t this attracting the media attention that Twitter does? Jaiku is owned by Google now, so what does the futureh old? Will we get a local number to update via mobile from?
I’ll keep watching this space with the other early adopters (reports indicate it’s huge in Asia) and see where it ends up. If you’re posting Jaikus already, add me.
Catching up on some RSS today - came across a quick article from Forbes, with some very colourful analogies, and a picture gallery featuring phones that might (although I didn’t agree, save the Android) be a threat to Apple.
Here’s 4 tasty quotes about some perspectives on the iPhone:
It’s like a scene from a bad horror movie. Samsung and Research in Motion [RIM] are among the companies trundling down the steps into the basement. And down there, waiting for them, is Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and his chainsaw collection. Dudes, don’t go down there.
….
The biggest reason? Apple has caused a panic, with competitors scrambling to crank out Web-friendly, widescreen phones. But like the iPod, the harder rivals try to blunt Apple’s strengths, the worse they look in comparison.
After a quick browse, it was good to see some another article surrounding the fan-boyism and marketing (hype) surrounding the iPhone in general. The author’s last comment is what had me.
By the time you read this, Apple should have announced the second-generation iPhone at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 9. Once again idiots will be camping out on sidewalks. And once again Apple will have leapt ahead of its competition and made life even more difficult for rivals in the already overcrowded smart phone market.
…
Great as the iPhone may be, I’ve held off on buying one. It surfed too slowly, and I’m generally reluctant to buy the first version of any tech product. Now I’m ready to take the plunge. As soon as the overnight campers clear out, I’ll be there with my credit card.
So after numerous tests, lots of time-outs I finally set up my Ping.fm account. Still in it’s early beta, it got many of us excited about the idea of finalising centralising the way we publish our micro-updates to the big web world.
The number of serviced accounts are limited, but targeted. For me, it was an integration of brightkite, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Very quickly I realised that although this would be a quick click away from updating all my services at once, I became very concerned about 2 very important things.
Audience: Anyone who reads these rants will understand how particular I am about audience. And no, it’s not about appropriate for work and non-work friends. It’s about the particular networks (inside those macros) that are interested in what I’m interested in.
My LinkedIn contacts might not be too concerned with the fact that I’m telling my Facebook friends that I’m enjoying some new music or fixing the stereo in my car.
One Way Conversation: Great. I can tell everyone what I’m doing, thinking or ranting about it in one click. I won’t have to open those windows. But wait - what if I want to know what they’re doing? Then chances are I’d need to be on-site or on-platform anyway, or aggregating it (slowly) through some other medium. I may as well pay them the mind with a relevant update.
The internet and more to the point, social media, should be a two-way conversation. I want to talk to the right audiences about the things relevant to them, and I want to be able to listen to those I’m interested in. If I want to ask a question (as one often does with Twitter) then I’d be far better asking the right people.
In conclusion, I think Ping.fm might be right for some, it’s certainly customisable, but I don’t believe this application will rule them all, nor do I believe it’ll be one that will. It’s certainly a step forward though in the way we integrate our lifestreams.
On July 30, I made a note (read: prophecy) that Facebook will ultimately suffer because of the inundation of meaningless, impractical applications swamping users with tricky invitations.
Maybe my original title “Facebook Will Fail” might have been a bit strong, but statistics are clear:
The decline at Facebook is substantial: he cites figures showing that between January and April 2008, the number of posts fell by 51 percent, signups by 29 percent, and highly active users - surely the lifeblood of any social network - by 47 percent.
“The proportion of totally banal applications seems to be on the increase and there are fewer and fewer applications that my network, as an example, is finding to be sticky,” he says.
iTWire
Facebook needs to remain user centric, and by allowing every developer and his barkless dog to create impractical, uninteresting and unengaging applications for mass assault (any in some cases viral assault) then we’re really going to start seeing some declines.
MySpace took a hit. Facebook can (and probably will) too.
Is it the great phone revolution of all time? Fuck no.
I was trying my best to avoid discussing the iPhone. Why? Because people are excited about the iPhone (officially) hitting our shores for all the wrong reasons. But I was prompted this morning by a great post (read: rant) about the marketing hype (read: inane fanboyism) surrounding the iPhone launch in Australia.
Scott makes the point that this is just another piece of consumer electronics than we (me included) will purchase just for it to be replaced in the future - so why bother with all the fuss?
Quick facts about the iPhone:
- The iPhone will be released in Australia on July 11
- Yes, it’s 3G
- No, you can’t send MMS
Agreed, there will never be-all and end-all phone - we need to stop looking for these God tools whether they be phones, browers, OS etc. Because once we’re there, that’s where the progress stops.
it’s NOT a revolution, but like the rest of the world I’m bored and if this keeps me entertained for a little longer, then why not ;)
Should you buy an iPhone? Sure, if you’re in to touch screens, wifi, multi-media and email. Get educated with with sites like the CNET.com.au iPhone Launch Centre.
I will be - I’ve just bought a MacBook and currently weild a Nokia e61i, and but if the iPhone wasn’t abou to land in Australia, I’d probably be picking up a BlackBerry Bold or something similar. I want to buy it outright, which means the carriers and Apple themselves will need some solid deals. I want better data packages, and more email as Asia has shown us that this is probably the way of the future.
But again, don’t take it from me. Make your own mind up.
