For most of the life of the Internet the United States has played the biggest role in the development and managing of it. At one point all the data that flowed on the Internet went through the US and US companies. I don’t there are very many companies involved with the Internet infrastructure ever imagined a day would come where this wasn’t the case. That day however may very soon be upon us; if it already hasn’t started happening.
In the past week we have heard that Comcast is going to be introducing download caps which follows on the heels of Time Warner announcing trial runs of the same idea. Not that long ago universities in Canada were seriously considering moving the US based servers they were using for research for more localized options.
Their concerns revolved around the US Patriot Act and the immense powers for surveillance of activity within the US Internet infrastructure. It was also suggested that if this became more of a trend than just a couple of Canadian universities could the Patriot Act end up hurting business like Google.
Then today we have John Markoff from the New York Times writing a post about how Internet traffic is starting to bypass the US. It is his point that companies are more interested in their profit margins instead of creating technological advances regarding the Internet.
While companies like Comcast or Time Warner are trying to boost their bottom lines by any means possible without improving or advancing Internet connectivity the US is; quite rapidly in some cases, being surpassed by foreign countries. As John points out in his post:
Internet technologists say that the global data network that was once a competitive advantage for the United States is now increasingly outside the control of American companies. They decided not to invest in lower-cost optical fiber lines, which have rapidly become a commodity business.
He also ties in the fact that other countries are beginning to realize that the Internet is an integral part of their economic development. This means that they are wanting to start gaining control of how the Internet enters and leaves their countries.
Along with that there are growing concerns outside of the US about how it’s intelligence agencies believe that they need to have access to all the data that flows through the Internet. This doesn’t sit well with a lot of countries and as a result we are beginning to see a lot of the Internet traffic being routed around the US
Ms. Claffy said that the shift away from the United States was not limited to developing countries. The Japanese “are on a rampage to build out across India and China so they have alternative routes and so they don’t have to route through the U.S.”
Andrew M. Odlyzko, a professor at the University of Minnesota who tracks the growth of the global Internet, added, “We discovered the Internet, but we couldn’t keep it a secret.” While the United States carried 70 percent of the world’s Internet traffic a decade ago, he estimates that portion has fallen to about 25 percent.
This has to lead one to wonder what is going to happen to the US in the large global Internet scheme of things. When you consider that it is being run by companies who don’t appear to be interested in advancing the technology anymore and you have countries going around them for various reasons it doesn’t bode well for the country. More importantly where does this leave the US people as the Internet is obviously starting to leave them behind.
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So Microsoft saw Apple and the iPhone 3G and adjoining App Store pass its stoop slapping fives with its oh-so-cool friends, and executives in the Windows Mobile division perhaps thought it best to come up something with their own. Then, just last week, Google unveiled plans to introduce something called Android Market to complement its mobile software platform when it arrives sometime in the next few months. Now Microsoft is letting slip its own message about third-party unity. The company’s buzzword: Skymarket.
There isn’t much detail as to what Skymarket will be. One can venture a guess, though. Something in the vein of those other two labels up in that first paragraph there. What we can confirm is that, according to job listings discovered by istartedsomething, Microsoft is seeking both a “senior product manager” and “product manager - commercial integration.” Both would be tasked with pushing “the launch of a v1 marketplace service for Windows Mobile.”
This is admittedly good news, as it’s better for progress to be made in the industry within as many major mobile platforms as possible. But as Long Zheng writes, the Windows Mobile world has for a long while been living a heavily scattered existence, and only now has Microsoft seemed pressed to coalesce its personal universe. A universe purported to claim 18,000 applications, much of which is presumably best described as anti-matter. Or dark matter. Or just no-good matter. Which says quite a bit. An adventurous biggie, it is not.
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As an iPhone owner, this pleases me. But more basically, as a owner of a touchscreen-enhanced device, this pleases me especially so. Truly custom tagging of photos, just as one would through an typical Web browser, is yet one more of those small, relatively insignificant options that prove just how useful something of the iPhone’s design can be.
There’s really no question that the iPhone is the software benchmark in the mobile market. The platform itself has something to do with Facebook’s ability to built this next iteration of the iPhone software. But the fact that the application’s engineers have design the upcoming edition this way - it’s safe to assume, as does Nick O’Neill of All Facebook, that this clues us in on what’s next to arrive in the App Store - shows just what one can do given the freedom of that pocket-sized canvas. There are occasionally rumblings about the lack of complete openness for third-party software development. Which is true. There isn’t. But if something such as this manages to pique the interest of the desired audience, well, objective achieved, no? If you can’t have everything, is a lot enough? Maybe so.
As numerous Android Challenge finalists and winners have similarly shown, a touchscreen is very much the necessary means to achieve all possible ends. There’s no getting around it. Yes, you can create outstanding mobile software which functions exclusively via a keypad. But media-rich applications which require user interaction to the detail shown in the video posted are clearly done best in a world of touch. You get less hassle on the user side, and there’s a good bit of comfort on the developer end as well.
Furthermore, seeing as how Android users and developers get the benefit of “open,” it may not be too much to think of touchscreen devices as the kill-switch for the buttoned, non-touch, plebeian masses. For the time being, the iPhone remains the stellar dream machine, giving software makers the ability to bring the unmatched intuitiveness of the hardware into the employ of their applications and services.
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Matt Richtel of The New York Times added to Valleywag’s presumed embarrassment today by letting readers of the world-renowned rag in on his secret. Evidently the salacious gossip artists at the other VW weren’t privy to a Twitter novel - or a Twitter thriller, a so-called “Twiller,” to be precise - under production by Richtel. I myself learned of its evolution near the start. How about you? No matter. The reason I touch on the subject is to expand on the commentary a bit.
The Twittersphere, after all, is full not only of these kilobit- or megabit-sized novels. Comedians wax to varying degrees of hilarity via the medium at all hours. 140-character-long jokes can be punchy, woeful, and plenty of things in between, it turns out. Just like your half-hour stand-up routine. Indeed, if you follow a real talent for an extended period of time, well, you begin to get exceedingly dependent on the feed I know I do. (Merlin Mann, I bid you much thanks. Shall your run of the funnies never end.)
People celebrate the art of the haiku, as well. Too many people, arguably. So I ask, is there a limit? Nevermind the faults and the failures behind the stage, many - if not all - of which seem to have disappeared completely. Does the service’s message structure determine what is and what is not possible? Does it maintain a sort of fun and casual gimmicky quality because you’re required to stay within set bounds? If the answer these questions is a resounding no, could there then be a moment when Twitter members are honored with awards for creativity? Awards you can handle, too. With your hands!
Twitter itself, as we know, has won ample praise. It received the SXSW Blog Award for being so beautifully basic. Well, I say it’s time to weed the membership for some serious recognition. Or at least begin to consider the possibility of a trophy. Or two. Or more. What say you? (Poll after the jump.)
A quick Web search will bring an event dubbed “the twitties.” The byline is “awards for the most interesting twists on 140 characters!” Visitors to the site submit favorite URLs for particular messages published and vote to nominate that which they believe to be the best. But that premise seems limiting to me. I’d like consistency to be honored. Serials. The best delivery of on-the-ground journalism, too. How about a head-to-head comedy competition? The categories can be many.
Yes, it is far fetched to think a Twitter user somewhere will rank as some sort of Hemingway 2.0. But if the players in the field today have shown anything worthwhile, it is sheer inventiveness. Twitter, against some major odds given the technical issues it has had to contend with, is now being used just as often by people broadcasting cocktail recipes as organizations campaigning for the next so-called leader of the free world. Peculiar, absolutely. But incredibly intriguing as well. And I tell you it’s time to take it to the next level. Agreed?
How does the Best of Twitter sound to you? ( surveys)
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As has been made very clear by the media, the presidential candidates chosen to represent the two major parties of the United States for the election this November will be spending precious primetime airspace sparring over issues which pollsters of America deem most important to the nation’s people. Those who dislike watching the matches will of course stray to different stations. But millions of others will remain transfixed. And given the social componentry now available to Web users, a large swath of the population - democrats, republicans and independents alike - will undoubtedly continue to toss one-liners and Google-searched investigative research every which way in any and all Internet channels available.
In light of this reality, we figure it is only fitting that we bring to your attention several moderately well-known as well as some relatively obscure websites that focus on all vocal aspects of the political process, from sound bytes to speech in long form and the commentary which accompanies the rhetoric. Sure, you could visit RedState or HuffPost or CNN or Fox News. But there are some places less about the pomp and more about the circumstance worth a mention all the same.
CreateDebate is one example. If offers a quick voting mechanism as well as one for commentary. Many users publish quite detailed summaries of their views on particular topics, which makes for engaging reading and naturally sparks responses from more users as a result. Want to engage a forum that follows politicians’ one-liners with more extensive commentary to the affirmative or the negative (or perhaps neutral standing)? CreateDebate is well worth the cost of entry: free. We wrote about the website back in April, and gave it considerable praise then. It turns out the review was warranted.
Another service, whereIstand, offers a similarly polished experience as that of CreateDebate, albeit with a different format. Navigation might take some getting used to, but it’s reasonably well-featured to accommodate opinionmaking among the membership. Just to note, it’s football season in the collegiate and professional leagues, so there are quite a few opinions sitting among the frontrunners which focus on the game. But the floor is open to all, as they say, so express yourself if you wish - for whatever reason.
At first MyGuesstimate may not strike you as a world-class forum. And that’s because it isn’t. We first reviewed the joint exactly one week ago, and while it has grown a bit, it hasn’t flourished. Still, the structure of it allows for a good amount of discussion. Post questions with answers, and see where the community takes it. Comments are allow, too, so talk doesn’t end with the click of a button. Its simplicity and user networking aspects are what I enjoy most.
Disregard for a moment my initial bout of sarcasm when mentioning the pollster establishment. This next one, appropriately enough, is called Pollster.com. It essentially provides an interactive map displaying the 50 American states with a rough gauge on the consensus view on both major presidential candidates, Barack Obama (D) and John McCain (R). The utility of this service is limited, as you’ll see. But perhaps a weekly or bi-weekly visit couldn’t hurt. The latest poll results fall around the last few weeks of August, so the numbers are fairly current. If you’re one to take regional, state-by-state, or national polls into consideration when writing your ballot red, white, or blue, this is one place to bookmark.
Meanwhile, if you’re an all-around political junkie, RealClearPolitics covers the news, the numbers, and a fair amount of public discourse as well. Want a resource that scopes virtually every relevant and semi-relevant vantage in the quadrennial chess game currently underway? You can do far worse than RealClearPolitics.
I should say that I trawled the Web for quite some time before arriving at We Op-Ed. And I’m not sorry I did. Well-design and equally accommodating of both original thought and user commentary, with videos debates and a fairly active community holding it all together, We Op-Ed should be far more busy in the way of conversation than it is today. It is arguably one of the best destinations among those listed here. If the mainstream media isn’t doing it for you, We Op-Ed probably will.
Perhaps you’re interested in a quick view of the top candidates’ political leanings. Their voting records, their statements. All that fun stuff. If you need to keep informed to keep your online conversations teeming with data, ProCon.org is a kind of one-stop shop. You won’t find everything, of course. But you’ll likely find enough fodder to trigger posts on forums elsewhere.
Analysts of the election underway have made it very clear that youth involvement is the highest it’s been in years. That is especially true for those of voting age, but even citizens that will be below the 18-year threshold come November have places to dish their positions. Youth Noise is one interesting venue. It covers multiple topics outside of politics, but has also reserved a spot for those watching the race.
For those in the academic world, there are also sites like Debate Central and iDebate to serve as information centers for student debaters. As the fall semester commences in the next couple of weeks in many parts of the country, these destinations will likely be visited with great frequency. Get better prepared to play warring parties in front of your classmates.
ForandAgainst.com takes us back to original debate site premise given to this collection, but its topics are hugely diverse. That is to its benefit, but not for politicos. Miscellany reigns supreme. You can of course present political discourse if you like, but it’s open to question whether such material will rise to the fore. Science and philosophy share a spot at the top of the ladder, it seems.
Now, in the event that none of the sites presented here make the grade, or don’t offer a enough of a fly-on-the-wall take on odd political jibber-jabber, there is a wildcard that may well grab your eye. A Twitter-Google Maps mashup, developed by a Mr. Michael Geary, involves Twitter, Twittervision, and the ever industrious Google Maps API. Of course, watching it go can get tiresome. The blogging can get very redundant very fast. Nonetheless, the choice to be an observer with a bird’s-eye view is entirely yours.
Finally, how about a look at the Google Books upload of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. A total 423 pages, front to back. Something to inspire? Stir that nostalgia? Maybe rehash some of the matters at hand back in the day?
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I touched briefly yesterday on the topic of advertisements and marketing in social networks - business-to-business advertisements in particular - and what I consider to be the likely outcome of the Facebook versus LinkedIn race for more growth in the professional aspect. Facebook, it seems to me, is in a better position to influence the sector more broadly, particularly as more online networkers of young adult age make their way into the workforce.
Interestingly enough, Facebook watchdog Nick O’Neill, of the website All Facebook, postulated another scenario, similarly ad-specific, in which he considers the network’s search feature as a potential monetary opportunity. In short, he envisions sponsored results would help pad the pockets of Zuckerberg and company, presumably because the process has worked in favor of most any large Web service that arranges its own pages in such a fashion. (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, Ask, etc.)
Now, they would surely make money. It’s really all a matter of chance. Heavy traffic makes interaction with Facebook search results, sponsored or not, inevitable. Facebook might show a little less in the way of phenomena insofar as search trends go. It’ll never be a Google, no. But it’ll be something. The question to ask is, can that something be of the caliber that warrants a serious push for implementation? I hesitate to say yes. At this point I feel better saying no.
It’s just that I imagine Facebook users don’t expect the experience that a traditional search engine delivers. Sure, the network has displayed considerable ambition to become something of a social operating system for Web users all over the globe. So you can say, why not make search look a bit more like [insert big-name search engine here]? And frankly, Facebook’s deal with Microsoft to implement Live Search into the network shows that Facebook is doing something that I don’t think it necessarily should.
Yet, search isn’t everything. At least not in the traditional sense. It is a proven moneymaker, absolutely. But there must be a way to give Facebook users a more unique way to find who or what they’re looking for within the network. Advertisements are a given. Still, how and where those advertisements are displayed is what will drive Facebook from a break-even or slightly profitable enterprise into a name that carries weight behind its $5-15 billion valuation. The last few years have shown this. The plain old ads-atop-search-results design won’t make that happen. What do you think?
(Image credit: All Facebook)
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What it does
Everyone has an inner rock star. Whether you pretend to be Mick Jagger or Elvis when you’re in the shower, you’ll definitely love Karaokeparty.com. Through this great site, you’ll be able to impersonate your favorite music stars and dazzle your friends with your singing abilities (or inabilities, depending on the person). All you need is a computer, an internet connection, and a microphone, the site will take care of the rest. If you’re worried about the site being closed by the RIAA due to copyright violations, don’t worry: all the songs on the site are covers of original music. This means that you won’t have to worry about the RIAA raining on your next karaoke party. Getting started is surprisingly easy, and within minutes you’ll be able to start singing your hear out for the enjoyment of others. You can view the site’s catalog of songs before you start singing, this will help you build an impressive repertoire.
In their own words
“Karaokeparty is a music service that let users sing karaoke, practice singing and challenge friends. All that is needed is a microphone and a computer connected to the Internet.”
Why it might be a killer
The internet was needing something like this. It could turn dull parties into true Karaoke shows for the whole family.
Some questions
What’s the connection speed required to use the service? Will more songs be added in the future?
Link: http://www.karaokeparty.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/karaokeparty-com-get-your-elvis-on
What it does
As the internet grows more and more interactive, website owners and developers are looking to strike the right balance between content and interactivity. The people over at Zeepmobile.com have an answer to your interaction problems. If you want your site visitors to be able to interact with your site through their mobile phone, you should check out the site right away. On it, you’ll find detailed information on what their great application can do and what if could do for your site. The text messages people will be receiving have space for ads, so you’ll be able to add extra profits to your site through them. Many sites have toyed with the idea of users interacting through SMS, but this service brings that to the masses. If you’re thinking of creating a more interactive experience, you shouldn’t rule out this site and their innovative service.
In their own words
“Zeep Mobile was created by nerds, for nerds and consumers alike. We offer a simple way for web applications to interact with their users via SMS messages. The service also offers teaser advertising space on each message, matching ads to appropriate individual users through targeting data.”
Why it might be a killer
Making it possible for all sites to have this feature should make this popular amongst startups looking to innovate.
Some questions
Will people take to interacting via SMS? Is this affordable for smaller sites?
Link: http://www.zeepmobile.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Mobile/zeepmobile-com-interact-through-sms
What it does
Nowadays, it’s hard to tell what music sites are legal and which aren’t. If you’re looking for a legal alternative to enjoying music from new and established acts, you should check out Cloudspeakers.com. Through this great site, you’ll be able to check out the latest songs, videos, and even reviews from all your favorite artists, all in one place. This site adds information from other music sites, making it a hub of information for the musically minded person in the family. If you have a band, you’ll be able to feature your music on the site. This will help you spread word about your growing musical talent. This could well become the place for label A&Rs to come check out new bands that are making a buzz on the internet. Whether you want to feature new music or just enjoy it from your browser, you should take a look at this site.
In their own words
“Cloudspeakers…is a music aggregator of links to legal audios, videos and reviews.”
Why it might be a killer
Music will forever be featured on the internet. Anyone looking for the latest new music should check out this legal site.
Some questions
Where do they get their links from? Why choose this site and not the original sources?
Link: http://www.cloudspeakers.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/cloudspeakers-com-comprehensive-music-aggregator
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In their own words
“Neighborhoodies is a small company run by kids who have no business running a business.”
Why it might be a killer
Fashion is very important, and hoodies are the current cornerstone of it. On this great site, you’ll find the most creative hoodies around.
Some questions
Aren’t there too many hoodie vendors already? What happens when the hoodie goes out of style?
What it does
Rappers wear them. So do rock stars. And if you want to be in style, so will you. I’m talking about hoodies, and if you’re looking for the most creative ones, you should check out Neighborhoodies.com. On this stylish online store, you’ll be able to find a wide variety of hoodies for people of all styles. Whether you enjoy listening to country music or yodelling, there’s probably something in here for you to wear. If the case presents itself that you don’t find something for you, you’ll be able to find a very interactive hoodies design feature on the site. This will allow you to customize your hooded sweatshirts to a point where you are sure to be the only person wearing something like it. Companies could make team sweatshirts, allowing their employees to be uniformed without feeling awkward. In short, if you’re looking for the latest in hoodies and customisation features, you should check this out right away.
Link: http://www.NeighborHoodies.com
Our Review: http://www.killerstartups.com/eCommerce/neighborhoodies-com-hoodie-yourself-up
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