Is Facebook becoming the new Bebo?

09.04.2010
Once it was pretty clear. Bebo was for the teens. Facebook was for the 20 or 30 somethings and LinkedIn was for the professional types. But now seems Facebook has inherited many of the teen-related problems that dogged Bebo in its heyday.

The news of the demise of Bebo this week shocked many. AOL acquired Bebo for US$850m only two years ago but revealed that it would require a "significant investment" to stop the once-unstoppable social networking behemoth from folding.

As Bebo demises, Facebook is continuing to grow and grow, with some 400m users around the world. In tandem with this growth comes Facebook’s growth as a publishing and advertising giant. With the growth of social gaming on the site, social game firms like Zynga, publishers of the FarmVille game, are already US$300m a year revenue players as players spend money on discretionary items to boost their game play.

Only five years ago Bebo was the new thing. Every teenager had a Bebo account and 11-year-olds who didn’t qualify for the 12-year-old age limit would go to extraordinary efforts to pass the gatekeepers. With its popularity came the age-old problems of bullying, stalking, racism and the spectre of suicide.

The world post-Bebo

This throws up a host of new questions, particularly what’s going to happen to the data that would have graced Bebo accounts in years past. That picture you or your friends posted when you passed out at a party five years ago that was a blast at the time but clearly does not reflect the suited and booted job applicant today? Or what about pictures girls have taken in their glad rags on a night out attempting a Christina Aguilera pose that could wind their way onto porn sites or ads for sexy singles?

It seems, though, that ahead of the expected closure of Bebo many teens have already started the migration to Facebook to keep connected. With the migration no doubt comes all the issues that dogged Bebo in the past. Is Facebook prepared?

Facebook has already been at the centre of cases around paedophile rings, murder and lately the senior police officer in the UK responsible for child protection online Jim Gamble who leads the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, has warned that officers have seen a significant increase in complaints from parents and children reporting alleged paedophiles, bullies and hackers who are exploiting the site.

Gamble said that Facebook, who has insisted it has a secure internal system, has failed to report a single alleged paedophile to police. He also hit out at Facebook’s refusal to embed a panic button to each user’s profile page, which he claimed would deter paedophiles and protect children.

He said 252 Facebook complaints were made to police in the UK in the past three months – quadruple the number of complaints last year.

Strange currencies

Aside from the sinister aspects of stalking and bullying, a new issue has arisen that Facebook must also come to grips with as it becomes more and more of an e-commerce player in terms of currency and gaming.

It emerged in the last 24 hours that a 12-year-old boy spent nearly stg£300 of his own savings to purchase FarmVille’s virtual currency before using his mother’s credit card to add another stg£600 worth of expenses, buying everything from virtual tractors to virtual food. More than 80m people around the world play FarmVille and vie to become virtual farmers in the hope of generating virtual revenues from crops they can sell online.

Facebook/Zynga have declined to refund the money and the credit card company said it will only return the money to the mother if she’s prepared to brand her son a thief.

As Facebook sees a rich harvest of virtual currency and advertising materialise as it becomes the new social networking network of choice for younger members, it will need to get serious about checks and balances to avoid the problems that dogged Bebo in its early days. Remember, all it takes is a few bad apples ...

By John Kennedy

Photo: Former Bebo members flocking to Facebook are potentially moving with them issues encountered on Bebo, such as stalking and bullying

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15799/

Putting up barriers to a free and open internet

The Irish Times - Friday, April 16, 2010

The Government has been having high-level discussions on introducing internet blocking, writes KARLIN LILLINGTON

THE GOVERNMENT has had extensive private discussions on introducing internet blocking – barring access to websites or domains – according to material obtained under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The approach is used by some internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile network operators to block access to child pornography. But increasingly, governments and law enforcement agencies are pushing for much broader use, ranging from blocking filesharing sites to trying to tackle cybercrime and terrorism.

Critics say internet blocking creates many problems with little real effect on illegal activity. For example, internet users and businesses have complained about the side-effects of domain blocking, where barring access to domains can shut down hundreds of personal and business websites as well as e-mail addresses associated with them.

The exact nature of the Government discussions cannot be determined as many of the requests for key documents were refused by the Department of Justice. However, the ongoing high level of discussion on the subject is indicated in the detailed description of each refused item in the list of materials returned by the department.

The FOI request, made by privacy advocate Digital Rights Ireland and seen by The Irish Times, contains eight pages of listed documents. One refused item details a June 2009 meeting between the department and Vodafone on the “introduction of internet filtering in Ireland”. Another is an e-mail from mobile operator 3 listing filter technologies it is using.

Another refused item details minutes of a meeting between the Office for Internet Safety and the Garda “re proposed introduction of blocking technology”. Discussions on the international use of blocking and on proposed European legislation were also refused.

Possible interest in the wider use of such technologies is indicated by a refused document in which an e-mail and note on blocking child pornography sites was forwarded to the official in the Department of Justice in charge of casino gaming regulation.

Proponents of internet blocking argue that it removes offensive and illegal material from the internet and can make it more difficult for child pornographers and their customers to operate.

But critics say it is a blunt instrument that does little to combat pornography or other activities, while causing headaches for networks and ISPs. It can also cause inconvenience and costly disruptions to service for innocent companies and individuals if their websites, internet access and e-mail get cut off.

Paul Durrant of the Internet Service Providers’ Association of Ireland says blocking brings cost burdens for service providers and is not particularly effective. He also says it often means many legitimate websites are barred.

Often, website operators are not informed that their site is on a blacklist and may be unaware that millions are denied access to it.

ISPs also object to taking on the role of policing illegal filesharing. Internationally, ISPs claim they are under increasing pressure from copyright holders and law enforcement agencies to bring in blocking software to do this. “It gets very difficult to judge what is illegal and this kind of blocking would be problematic to implement,” says Durrant. “The Government really needs to put clear laws in place if it wants to do this.”

Durrant adds that blocking “stifles a free and open internet” – a concern for national and international “smart-economy” businesses – and could affect inward investment and the ability of Irish businesses to operate effectively.

Existing evidence indicates that blocking is a clumsy approach and amounts to censorship, says TJ McIntyre, a barrister, UCD law lecturer and chairman of Digital Rights Ireland. He is concerned about the indications from his FOI request that blocking could be brought in on a national level.

McIntyre has written a paper arguing that increasing pressure on network providers and ISPs to act as third-party “gatekeepers”, often in a “voluntary” fashion, allows for unaccountable control of internet users and usage.

“Blocking involves censorship taken on no legal basis. There is no judge, no jury and no right to be heard if you are blocked,” says McIntyre. “The chances are it also will be used in unaccountable ways by unaccountable organisations.”

He adds: “If you want to stop people accessing certain material, the thing to do is to legislate for that.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/0416/1224268442542.html

Googling, goggling

The Irish Times - Saturday, March 27, 2010

A US survey has suggested that internet browsing is not reducing people’s TV viewing – they’re just doing them both at once. But is simultaneous media consumption good for sanity? KEVIN COURTNEY finds out

I’M WATCHING Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience on BBC2 while trawling through YouTube in search of the Lady GaGa video everyone’s talking about. The Gotan Project’s new album is streaming on my laptop and Donal Dineen is playing a new Efterklang tune on the radio. The Guardian’s media supplement lies open on the table to my left, and the Word is propped up on my right. Behind me, the baby monitor relays the tiniest sounds made by my sleeping infant, and my mobile chirrups with a cacophony of tweets.

I’m getting a headache – is there a universal off switch? Can I get off this technological treadmill? When a sexy new medium arrives on the scene, most people assume it’s going to knock the previous one out. The Kindle will spark a mass book-burning, and MP3s will send vinyl into meltdown. And the web will consign that goggle box to a dusty corner.

But a survey this week suggests that, just because something is new and bright and shiny, doesn’t mean people will ditch the old model. They’ll simply move it slightly to one side to make room for the new arrival. The survey by Neilsen, the company that tracks TV viewing in the US, has found that more Americans are watching TV while surfing the web – far from signalling closedown for traditional TV, the internet is emerging as a complementary activity.

According to Neilsen, during the last quarter of 2009, simultaneous web/TV usage went up by 35 per cent, with nearly 60 per cent of TV viewers happy to surf the net while watching their favourite TV show. “The initial fear was that internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalise traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different,” says Matt O’Grady of Nielsen.

One of my favourite movie scenes when I was a teenager was from The Man Who Fell To Earth , the bit where Bowie the alien is watching a bank’s 15 TV sets, all tuned to different channels. As a typical bloke who can’t concentrate on more than one thing, I was in awe of this multi-tasker from space.

But does using multiple media at the same time really mark us out as highly evolved? It seems the more tech stuff we get, the farther our attention spans seem to regress – we can’t even hold a real-life conversation without constantly checking our mobile phones. Within five minutes, I’ve lost track of what’s happening on the TV. And I seem to have stumbled down some disused back-road of the information superhighway, where everything looks like Geocities, circa 1995.

Another problem with simultaneous web/TV viewing is that I need glasses to look at my computer, but not to watch the TV. So I’m clicking with one hand, channel-hopping with the other, and trying to flick my specs with my elbow. Good thing my phone is on hands-free, ’cos I haven’t got any hands free. The Bubble comes on the TV. It’s a quiz show in which contestants are shut away from all news for a week. Where do I sign up?

If I thought using various media simultaneously was a juggling act, try adding an inquisitive toddler into the mix. But then, inspiration hits. I put a Bob the Builder DVD on the telly, log on to the Bob the Builder website, pull up a Bob the Builder ringtone on the mobile phone, open up a Bob the Builder comic, and leave the whole multimedia-tasking thing to the real expert.

Pint, anyone?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0327/1224267157113.html

Corporate desktops no longer physical but virtual - HP

14.04.2010
The end of the corporate desktop as a physical entity is nigh, warns the world’s largest computing company HP, pointing to desktop virtualisation as a trend encouraging it to rethink its client computing architecture.

HP today introduced its client infrastructure portfolio to redesign client computing environments to simplify management, increase security and enhance the user experience.

It said that today’s workers have a diverse range of computing requirements across devices, applications, mobility and performance needs. As such, technology teams are challenged to deliver services efficiently and cost-effectively across this heterogeneous environment.

The future of 'corporate desktop'

According to an independent report from Forrester Research Inc: “Beginning in 2010 but flourishing over the long term, the ‘corporate desktop’ will no longer be a physical machine but a virtual image that users will access from whatever device is most convenient at that time in that particular location.

“Users will be able to complete all of their activities (work and personal) from the same device without security compromises.”

HP said that with PC refreshes and operating system migrations on the horizon, the time has never been better to strategically rethink client architecture design.

The new HP Client Infrastructure Services portfolio strategy focuses on end-user segmentation and takes a life-cycle approach to change, and advises a hybrid design model that includes a mix of new and traditional PCs, virtual desktops, application virtualisation and more.

New HP Client Strategy Services take a business value approach to client architecture strategy and planning to accelerate the transformation and ensure a business case with return on investment.

HP Client Migration Services speed the move to new operating systems and ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption. New services include:

· End-user Segmentation – Ensures every user receives an enriched, interactive and personalised experience. HP identifies candidates for traditional vs virtual desktops by analysing end-user segments across type, usage scenarios, applications and performance requirements.

· Application Rationalisation – Simplifies management and reduces costs across the application portfolio; resolves compatibility issues and finds opportunities for virtual desktop infrastructure and application streaming.

· Integrated Client Management – Speeds deployment and reduces time spent on ongoing management by automating the migration to virtual or traditional clients along with the refresh of devices and software updates.

Feedback on HP

“HP’s knowledge and practical experience helped us smoothly transition to Windows 7 to meet our goal of maximum user functionality managed with a minimum of resources,” said Wim Vanhoof, manager of Information and Communication Infrastructure at De Persgroep, a leading media company in Belgium.

“The new virtual application streaming environment enables employees to be more productive and ensures that future acquisitions can be readily integrated within the desktop architecture.”

HP Client Virtualisation Services help clients realise the benefits of virtualisation faster with expert services targeting client, storage and server technologies from HP, VMware, Citrix and Microsoft.

Updates to the solution portfolio include the HP ProLiant WS460c G6 Workstation Blade, which is a dedicated remote client that provides the performance and scalability for high-end 3D visualisation projects demanded by manufacturing and oil and gas industries. New graphics capabilities combined with enhanced memory per blade enhance the user experience.

HP has revealed new thin client technologies, including HP TeemTalk 7.2, where desktop clients gain more productivity with “one-click” screen navigation and multiregional offices seamlessly support Chinese-language communication to more than two serial devices.

HP Device Manager (HPDM) provides accelerated implementation and upgrades through silent installation, automation and backup and recovery, saving administrators significant time to rollout and configure large deployments for remote locations and remote console access. The network also offers flexibility to identify new thin clients for easy management.

By John Kennedy

Photo: Physical desktops may be no more, what with the emergence of desktop virtualisation

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15863/

Google and Bing roll out new Twitter search features

14.04.2010
Both Google and Microsoft’s Bing have added new features to the Twitter feeds included in their search-engine results.

While Google has gone for a visual timeline that allows people to track certain times inside a constantly updating stream of tweets that appear in the search results, Bing has introduced real-time tweets in its search results - something Google has previously incorporated.

What is interesting about Google's timeline is that you can zoom to any point in time and 'replay' what people were saying publicly about a topic on Twitter.

The Twitter graph for the topic or keyword you have searched has a slider that can be moved about to a particular time, say, when the news first broke or when conversation about it peaked. Moving the slider to a certain point will display tweets from this moment in time below the graph.

The replay feature is rolling out now in the English language initially and the first phase of its release will allow you to explore tweets going back to 11 February 2010, and soon with the ability to go to the very first tweet on 21 March 2006.

This will please old-school Twitter users who have found that they cannot go back to Twitter archives through Twitter's own homepage.

By Marie Boran

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15865/

Twitter hits 105m users – reveals @anywhere biz tool

15.04.2010
Twitter now has in excess of 105m users and is adding 300,000 new users a day, the company said as it outlined new business initiatives. The company says it is now focusing on generating cash.

Twitter drew 180m monthly unique visitors to its site in March.

Co-founder Biz Stone says the company is not focusing on an IPO plan at present but is keen to bring various advertising and business services to fruition.

The company in recent days launched its advertising service, which has signed up five advertisers so far. Last week, the company launched a Twitter app for iPhone.

Among the new services being launched is Twitter Journalism, a collection of tips and how-tos from Craig Kanalley, traffic and trends editor at Huffington Post and creator of Breaking Tweets.

Archived tweets at US Library of Congress

The company has also decided to donate all tweets that it considers worthy of preservation to the US Library of Congress. It said that 55m tweets a day are sent to Twitter and that number is climbing sharply.

“Over the years, tweets have become part of significant global events around the world — from historic elections to devastating disasters. It is our pleasure to donate access to the entire archive of public Tweets to the Library of Congress for preservation and research,” the company said.

Significantly for the business world, Twitter has unveiled an @anywhere service. The idea is that web users will be able to engage with existing Twitter features from all of their favourite sites. “Today, we're happy to announce this service is live and ready for anyone who wants to build a little Twitter into their online experience.

“Our friends at Foursquare call @anywhere ‘aggressively simple.’ Other partners like Amazon are excited that customers can ‘conveniently follow suggested Twitter accounts without ever leaving’ the shopping experience. Bing implements the new tools so users can ‘seamlessly interact with Twitter.’ The Huffington Post already went all-out and built a Twitter edition and the WSJ.com told us they hope @anywhere ‘will help us connect readers with the broader story.’

“Citysearch says that @anywhere ‘will help our users get a complete real-time snapshot of a merchant and, when they'd like, engage that merchant via Twitter directly from our site’. And, in the UK, the Guardian is using @anywhere to innovatively connect readers with those running for public office.

“Now, from within our pages you can ask questions of your prospective parliamentary candidates and of our journalists,” the Guardian said. “This is a clear indication of how we're trying to lower barriers between our audience and those who hold power or seek to hold office, and between our readers and our journalists.”

The full list of sites who have been working on @anywhere implementations pre-public launch include AdAge, Amazon, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, Disqus, eBay, Foursquare, Gawker, Google, Gowalla, the Guardian, the Huffington Post, Hunch, Mashable, Meebo, MSNBC.com, the New York Times, Salesforce.com, WSJ.com, Yahoo!, and YouTube.

By John Kennedy

Photo: Twitter drew 180m monthly unique visitors to its site last month

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15867/

Google Docs incorporates Wave elements

14.04.2010
The Google Docs productivity suite has received a significant overhaul with the document editor getting real-time editing collaborating over the web, as well as sidebar chat.

Instead of the previous version of Google Docs, where collaborative contributions had a slight delay before they appeared in full on the other person's screen, there is now the ability to see character-by-character changes in real-time, much like the Google Wave experience.

The sidebar chat now makes it possible to instant message while collaborating - something that was already present on the Google spreadsheets application.

There is also improved document formatting: import/export fidelity has been improved, there's a revamped comment system, and now there are real margins and tab stops and improved image layout within documents.

"These improvements have been highly requested, but previously impossible to create with the older documents editor on older browsers," said Jonathan Rochelle, group product manager with Google Docs.

The spreadsheet editor has also been tweaked to run faster, load faster and scroll seamlessly, plus brand new features include a formula bar for cell editing, auto complete, drag and drop columns, and simpler navigation between sheets.

The drawing editor is now also collaborative so flow charts, designs, diagrams and other business graphics can be co-created in real-time.

By Marie Boran

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/15851/