Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Thursday 26 June 2008, 5:26 PM
ICANN has .cheezburger
According to the Beeb, ICANN's board has unanimously approved major changes to the way web URLs are constructed. We'll be running a full story on this shortly, but here's the main gist of what will now be allowed:
* Custom domain names - It's no longer a game of .uk, .it etc as based on countries... we will probably soon be seeing .mcdonalds and .dell. Basically anything goes, although a bit of money to back it up will help, as trademarks will get priority.
* Internationalised domain names - URLs are currently all in English-friendly script, no matter where in the world. Other scripts like Chinese and Arabic will now be allowed.
* And yes, this could help .xxx become a reality.
The exact way in which this will all work will still need to be finalised, but the major hurdle has been cleared. Sadly, I feel I may personally lose out in my bid for .meyer to the cookware company...
* Custom domain names - It's no longer a game of .uk, .it etc as based on countries... we will probably soon be seeing .mcdonalds and .dell. Basically anything goes, although a bit of money to back it up will help, as trademarks will get priority.
* Internationalised domain names - URLs are currently all in English-friendly script, no matter where in the world. Other scripts like Chinese and Arabic will now be allowed.
* And yes, this could help .xxx become a reality.
The exact way in which this will all work will still need to be finalised, but the major hurdle has been cleared. Sadly, I feel I may personally lose out in my bid for .meyer to the cookware company...
Thursday 26 June 2008, 2:41 PM
Facebook rolls out status comments
Ah, jolly good! I've just noticed Facebook has suddenly made it possible to run a comment thread off status updates, or anything else that appears in a user's mini-feed - a very useful feature, if you ask me.
I've a friend down in Cape Town who comments on my status updates from time to time, but needed to use a rather horrible third-party app to do so (actually, almost all third-party apps are horrible, if only for the fact that you don't know which are data-mining scams). Now she doesn't. Huzzah!
I've a friend down in Cape Town who comments on my status updates from time to time, but needed to use a rather horrible third-party app to do so (actually, almost all third-party apps are horrible, if only for the fact that you don't know which are data-mining scams). Now she doesn't. Huzzah!
Wednesday 25 June 2008, 12:52 PM
Windows 7 due Jan 2010 - we know!
Much hoopla on the intarwebs about a letter sent out on Monday from Bill Veghte, senior vice president of online services and Windows Business Group, to MS's customers.
The letter reiterates what we already know: XP is supposed to cease sales as of June 30 (except for where it won't) and "Windows 7" is due three years after the launch of Vista - this latter point is being interpreted by many as indicating January 2010, but if Microsoft is on target then we should see the business editions of Windows 7 at the end of next year.
The letter is worth reading, though, for its pleading tone regarding Vista: "Free downloads like Adobe Reader and iTunes have versions that are optimized for Windows Vista. With the exception of devices that are very old, the vast majority of compatibility and driver issues have been addressed and customers are seeing a much improved user experience." Golly, must rush out and buy it then!
The letter reiterates what we already know: XP is supposed to cease sales as of June 30 (except for where it won't) and "Windows 7" is due three years after the launch of Vista - this latter point is being interpreted by many as indicating January 2010, but if Microsoft is on target then we should see the business editions of Windows 7 at the end of next year.
The letter is worth reading, though, for its pleading tone regarding Vista: "Free downloads like Adobe Reader and iTunes have versions that are optimized for Windows Vista. With the exception of devices that are very old, the vast majority of compatibility and driver issues have been addressed and customers are seeing a much improved user experience." Golly, must rush out and buy it then!
Monday 23 June 2008, 3:54 PM
Facebook to go open source?
Well, at least its application platform... According to Techcrunch, "multiple sources" have been whispering about this development, slating it for as soon as this week.
What would this mean? Well, basically it would mean that applications developed for the Facebook platform would be able to work on other social networking sites - something that already happens for FB apps on Bebo. It's all a response to Google's OpenSocial, it seems. I wonder where this sort of thing will take social networking - sometimes it's so easy to forget we're dealing with an industry that's so in its infancy, it's practically still a gleam in its daddy's eye...
What would this mean? Well, basically it would mean that applications developed for the Facebook platform would be able to work on other social networking sites - something that already happens for FB apps on Bebo. It's all a response to Google's OpenSocial, it seems. I wonder where this sort of thing will take social networking - sometimes it's so easy to forget we're dealing with an industry that's so in its infancy, it's practically still a gleam in its daddy's eye...
Monday 23 June 2008, 1:41 PM
Nokia buys another location company
The Finnish handset behemoth has snapped up yet another location-based services company, Germany's Plazes. The 13-strong startup, based in Berlin, provides "a context-aware social-activity service that people can use to plan, record, and share their social activities: why they are at a given location at a given time, whether in the past, present or future." Whatever that means.
From the press release:
By acquiring Plazes, Nokia will be able to extend its context-based service offering with social presence and time-based activity planning features. Plazes adds the elements of "place" and "time" to social networking through features that allow people to alert friends of their activity and location; review their own and others' past activities; share their experiences and make plans with friends, who are then able to respond with comments and suggestions as well as their own location information.
Sounds interesting. Seeing as the company already has Navteq and sticks GPS in most of its handsets, this could be where Nokia's muscle translates into something truly innovative on the location front.
From the press release:
By acquiring Plazes, Nokia will be able to extend its context-based service offering with social presence and time-based activity planning features. Plazes adds the elements of "place" and "time" to social networking through features that allow people to alert friends of their activity and location; review their own and others' past activities; share their experiences and make plans with friends, who are then able to respond with comments and suggestions as well as their own location information.
Sounds interesting. Seeing as the company already has Navteq and sticks GPS in most of its handsets, this could be where Nokia's muscle translates into something truly innovative on the location front.
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