Google is known for their free services, open APIs and their “don’t be evil” motto. For most part they aren’t evil, but keeping their search algorithm a secret is just plain evil. Microsoft is known as a closed source software giant with a desktop OS monopoly. What makes Google any different when they have a proprietary search algorithm and they have a Web monopoly? Why don’t they open their search algorithm? The reasons are very similar to why Microsoft has kept their code closed and ironically Google too can become victim of the power of social computing and open source. (more…)

There is so much hype around Web 2.0, yet very few people seem to really know what it is. I recently heard about someone suggesting that they were going to redesign their site this year to “make it Web 2.0”; and next year to “Web 3.0”. I thought that Web 2.0 was a stretch for many companies and few understood it, never mind Web 3.0! What is Web 3.0 anyway?! I figured this was just big talk, but decided to look into it because Web 2.0 is very real and I guess eventually a newer generation Web will follow Web 2.0. (more…)

A picture says a thousand words and so I guess a video says a thousand pictures This video plays with words and really does explain Web 2.0 faster than words or pictures can do alone. It’s a mini lecture on social computing: The evolution of the Web into Web 2.0 and how Web 2.0, the “Machine”, is us and how it is using us to grow. It demonstrates how user generated content, tagging, blogs, and wikis have revolutionized the Web and that we need to rethink how we do things. The video moves very fast, but it’s worth watching twice.

YouTube was hugely popular even before the Google announcement, however, the deal generated a ton of press and media coverage. YouTube and Metacafe attracts users through their AFV-style video clips, but, with the growth of broadband and the addictive audience that these social video sharing websites provide, it looks like Google is the catalyst for making on-line videos and movies mainstream. There still isn’t a standardized on-line video/movie format or protocol, but this type of momentum will certainly help - especially for publishers who are struggling to find a recipe that works. And while off-line publishers and media companies are trying to find a way to monetize on-line video, users are embracing free on-line services like YouTube, Metacafe and Brightcove. For now, the best thing to do is to use these services and learn from them. You can find an interesting comparison of YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe and Soapbox here.

I quite accidently stumbled on the search engine/tagging site Wink tonight. Quite accidently because I was looking for an update on the freeware presentation creation software called Wink: DebugMode (more on that Wink in another post). Since social bookmarking, tagging, social networking, social computing and all other social whatever stuff has been the topic at work over the last week, the Wink search engine really caught my attention. (more…)