|
|
|
|
|
Can Peer To Peer Make The Internet More Reliable?.
While so much of the focus on peer-to-peer networks is about file
sharing, Simson Garfinkel thinks that's something of a distraction. The
overall benefits of peer-to-peer computing mean that we should be
looking to use it to make the internet more reliable.
As he points out in the article, part of the fear the recording
industry has about peer-to-peer networks is that they can't be shut
down. However, couldn't we take that same ability to stay up and use it
for good reasons? For example, if DNS ran via peer-to-peer, we wouldn't
have to worry about denial of service attacks (like the one that took
down a bunch of root servers last year) completely killing DNS. Also,
if websites were served up on a peer-to-peer system, then denial of
service attacks or even "the Slashdot effect" would have very little
impact. He even suggests it could be a way to avoid site defacements -
though, if a hacker can propagate the defacement across peer-to-peer
nodes they could get around that. Of course, he also points out that
this isn't particularly easy to do. There certainly are people working
on it, but that doesn't mean we're going to have it any time soon. I
think this is all part of the pendulum that keeps swinging back and
forth about the pros and cons of centralized vs. distributed data. If
we really moved to a truly distributed P2P world, there would suddenly
be articles about how inefficient this was to have so much repetitive
data out there, and recommending a "new" and "innovative" system of
somehow corralling all that distributed data into a "centralized"
database, and everyone will suddenly think that's the next big thing. I
don't deny the benefits of distributed and redundant data. However,
both sides have pros and cons - and people seem to get pretty enamored
by the potential of whichever one they're not using. [ Techdirt]
|
|
|
|
Bad news for bookstores: instantly check Amazon prices with a cameraphone.
This is Barnes & Noble's worst nightmare: a company called NeoMedia
has new application for Nokia cameraphones called PaperClick that let's
you walk into any bookstore, take a picture of any book's ISBN, and
automatically get its pricing information from Amazon. It's bad news
for any bookstore, but something like this is especially troublesome
for independent booksellers who are having a hard enough time competing
with Amazon as it is. Will bookstores be the next places to ban
cameraphones? Read [Via PicturePhoning.com]... [ Gizmodo]
|
|
|
|
New Microsoft Smartphone on October 8th.
Microsoft is getting ready to announce another cellphone running their
Smartphone operating system on October 8th. They're not saying who it
is yet, except that it'll be from somebody big. We're guessing that the
phone is going to be Samsung's i600, which has been in the works for
just about forever. Read [Thanks, Alberto]... [ Gizmodo]
|
|
|
|
Extreme Mobility By Ray Ozzie. Excerpt:
Recently, I was speaking privately with the CIO of a very large
(>100,000 employee) company who matter-of-factly indicated that
they've just stopped buying desktop PC's. Instead, employees are
offered one of a palette of notebook or tablet PC's to suit their
needs. All WiFi. Very consistent with what I read in the news today and elsewhere. [ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
5 Key Questions (You?ve Been Dying) To Ask About Business Blogs. Excellent Article On Business Blogging By Debbie Weil
By now you've heard about blogs or
Weblogs. They're the next new thing. They're cool. The blogosphere (the
community of active bloggers) has grown from a dozen or so Weblogs in
1999 to an estimated half million today. And, just maybe, blogs are the next killer app of online marketing. Technology evangelists like Chris Pirillo are saying that "email marketing is dead." killed by spam and clogged inboxes. Will
business blogs replace e-newsletters as the most powerful,
cost-effective tool for communicating with customers? Should every
company be adding a blog to its site - or replacing a static site with
an ever changing Weblog? Don't be
shy. Let me pose five questions you've probably been dying to ask. Then
you decide whether business blogs are the new new thing. [ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
RSS Hitting Critical Mass. Excellent Content On RSS Hitting Critical Mass By Dan Gillmor (SiliconValley.com/eJournal)
Extracts:
One fan is Mitchell Kertzman, a friend
who has run several Silicon Valley companies and is now a venture
capitalist with the firm Hummer Winblad
in San Francisco. When he saw an RSS newsreader for the first time, he
says, "I had the same instinctive feeling I had years ago when I saw my
first primitive Web browser -- a feeling of amazing and unlimited
possibilities."
"RSS is evolving as a replacement for
e-mail publishing and marketing," he (Chris Pirillo) says. "RSS
suddenly makes the Internet work the way it should. Instead of you
searching for everything, the Internet comes to you on your terms."
I wish public-relations people would get
with the program, too. If they'd only start creating RSS feeds of
releases, journalists and the public at large could see the material
they want, and the PR industry would be able to stop blasting huge
amounts of e-mail to people whose inboxes are already over-cluttered.
Of course, there will continue to be a use for e-mail in PR, but the
volume could be cut substantially. [ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
Semantic Blogging for Bibliography Management. From HP Labs ,
This description of Semantic Blogging gives an idea of the level of
thought already being applied to the utilization of "blogs":
Extract:
Web-logging, typically abbreviated to
"blogging", is a very successful paradigm for lightweight publishing
which has grow sharply in popularity over the last two years. The
notion of semantic blogging builds upon this success and clear network
value of blogging by adding additional semantic structure to items
shared over the blog channels. In this way we add significant value
allowing navigation and search along semantic rather than simply
chronological or serendipitous connections.
Blogging, as it stands, already offers
many compelling values. It provides a very low barrier to entry for
personal web publishing and yet these personal publications are
automatically syndicated and aggregated via centralized servers (e.g.
blogger.com) allowing a wide community to access the blogs. Blogs have
a simple to understand structure and yet links between blogs and items
(so called blog rolling) supports the decentralized construction of a rich information network.
Semantic blogging exploits this same
personal publishing, syndication, aggregation and subscription model
but applies it to structured items with richer metadata data. The
metadata would include classification of the items into one or more
topic ontologies, semantic links between items ("supports", "refutes",
"extends" etc.) as well as less formal annotations and ratings. There
are several ways this more structured data could extend the power of
blogging:
- Discovery. At present is
it not easy to discover either a channel of interest (e.g. "I would
like to find blog channels about the semantic web") or a collection of
specific items of interest (e.g. "Are there any more blog entries
describing this application idea?").
- Cross-linking.
Current blogs support a single link between the channel record and the
blogged item. By extending this mechanism to support linking between
items (using a property hierarchy) we can create a network of topic
interconnections that supports more flexible navigation. These links
can themselves form part of the disseminated content - for example to
represent the structure or scholarly discourse.
- Flexible aggregation and selection.
The current blog subscription mechanisms are in some ways both too fine
(being bounded by the individual blogger's channel of posts) and too
coarse (e.g. I might like Ian's technology channel but am only
interested in the semantic web bits). The richer categorization and
structure of semantic blog channels would make it easier for users to
create virtual blog channels which aggregate across multiple bloggers
but select from that aggregate according to other criteria such as
topic (or community rating).
- Integration with other sources and applications.
The structured nature of semantic blog channels makes it possible to
develop automated blog robots that can process and enhance the blogged
items. For example, in the bibliography domain transducers would enable
import and export via existing bibliography schemas like BibTex and
automatic linking to large repositories such as CiteSeer.
[ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
Weblog Influence On Corporations. Pragmatic Example Of The Power Of Blogging: Here's an example of how weblogs can have influence on corporations. Plaxo is a start-up with substantial investment capital. A quick look at Google shows how weblogs are influencing the information flow on the product they sell (both pro and con
reviews). What is the value of a highly ranked review on a product
keyword in Google? A couple years ago, I was talking to PR insiders
(off the record) and the consensus estimate was that a positive product
mention in the WSJ or NYT would cost $100,000 (what is worth depends on
how well the company can monitize it). Positive mentions in other
publications scale down from that. What is the third and fourth link on
a product name in Google worth using this benchmark? Given that it has
a high level of persistance (and that people often use Google as a
means to find the company/product site), it could easily be worth
$40-$50 k. Given that, why aren't PR agencies all over webloggers that
do product reviews to ensure that the reviewer gets all the relevant
information needed to make an objective review? I guess they are too
busy sending out press releases that nobody reads. [John Robb's Weblog] via [Blogging Alone]. [ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
P2P Evolution Continues - Skype. Intriguing new P2P "tool" from Skype - that I am downloading to evaluate.
FAQ extract from the Skype website states:
What is Skype?
Skype is a free
program that uses the latest P2P technology to bring affordable and
high-quality voice communications to people all over the world.
How does it work?
When
you use the free Skype software, you can connect to other Skype users
so that you can talk and chat. Behind the scenes, cutting edge p2p
technology manages the connection for you.
How do I get it?
Just click here to download Skype, the download should take only a few minutes depending on your connection speed - and installation is a snap!
What does it cost?
During
the beta period Skype is free and helps us to refine and improve our
product. Eventually, some features and services of Skype will require a
paid subscription or prepayment. Our ambition is to keep the basic
functionality of Skype (PC to PC calls) free. More information will be
provided once our beta program is complete.
[ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
B2B News Aggregation/Blogging. New Beta B2B News Aggregation Site - Weblogs, Inc. is creating a new layer on top of the traditional business-to-business media that:
- saves professionals the time associated with reading
dozens of B2B publications by providing a non-stop, top-level summary
of the news;
- provides analytical tools that give readers the ability to sort and search stories by subtopics within an industry;
- gives users the ability to participate by engaging
in discussions, ranking stories and by submitting their own “blogs”
(i.e., pointers and summaries of stories on other sites); and
- promotes fairness and truth in reporting by acting as a public forum where industry professionals can participate.
[ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
|
|
Considerations For Changing And Maintaining Customer Behavior. Developed
this simple "change/maintain" behavior curve several years ago and,
based on some end user demand generation research and planning I am
working on right now - thought it might be interesting to post these
thoughts - and consider the feedback from others - especially in light
of how one might view the "emotional" value proposition and "logic"
value proposition of RSS related technology and tools. Thoughts? [ Rob Robinson's Idea Engagement Area]
|
|
© Copyright 2003 Ed Pimentel.
|
|
|
