Facebook Connect

Facebook is opening up the walled garden and sharing…or are they?

Their new announcement:

“Today we are announcing Facebook Connect. Facebook Connect is the next iteration of Facebook Platform that allows users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site. This will now enable third party websites to implement and offer even more features of Facebook Platform off of Facebook – similar to features available to third party applications today on Facebook.”

At a first glance, it might seem as if this is a great move for Facebook and its users. But is it really?

Some initial thoughts.

In an attempt to be the social network across the internet:

  • Users can have one web identity (see sxip) which will eliminate the need for the thousands of logins we have.
  • Facebook will become even more centralized and necessary for warehousing user information. (Federal Reserve : Money :: Facebook : User Data)
  • Third party developers can build much more powerful applications without the restraints of the Facebook platform. No canvas page.
  • What was first an attempt to build a platform or centralized location, has now become an open initiative, encouraging users to engage third party websites ultimately leaving them with less advertising inventory.
  • User data might now become available for third party ad targeting outside of Facebook.com
  • Disrupting their own Facebook App ecosystem
  • New revenue model? Their current one isn’t really working.
  • They are becoming more open
  • They are becoming more closed

 

In the end, I think the real question is whether or not Facebook actually intends on adhering to these fundamentally “open” policies they are trying to replicate from the likes of MySpace, Twitter, Yahoo, and eBay. 

 

Ryan Waggoner states it best here:

“As Kaliya stated, I’m afraid that this is just another strategy for Facebook to “lock-in” their users and attempt to become the central repository of everyone’s social graph. If that’s the case, this is not data portability as I still don’t have full control over my data.

Hopefully, they’re going to be fully supporting open standards, but I doubt it. Facebook strikes me as a company that pretends to be open, but is only open one-way or to the extent that they can control.

Facebook is Microsoft 2.0”

Looks like we will have to wait and see, but something tells me Ryan and Kaliya will be right.

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Is M”y” Generation Uniquely Apathetic?

This is the question my friend Mark Korshak is looking to answer in “Project Youthanized.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNqeEcDp_jg]

But how do we truly compare generations?

Let’s consider a student in college 30 years ago, to the student today (The generation Y student). How would these students engage activism?

Years Ago: pass out fliers   Today:  send out emails

Years Ago: organize a rally  Today: create a Facebook group

Years Ago: collect donations (change in a cup)  Today: collect donations (PayPal)

Years Ago: attend a rally   Today: watch a speech on YouTube

Years Ago: start a magazine  Today: start a Blog

Technology must be considered in any cross generational comparison.

Although it may seem as if students today are indeed “apathetic”, I can’t help but wonder, is that really the case? If you’ve ever joined a facebook group, if you’ve ever commented on an article, if you’ve ever published ANYTHING to the web, then you have engaged some form of activism.  You have made your voice heard. The extent of that activism however, is still unknown.

I wish Mark the best of luck in determining, how, if at all, “uniquely apathetic” our generation is, and how he goes about measuring the extent of this apathy.

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The International Game

Who is winning? And at what sports?

I’m not speaking in literal terms, but a recent post by Andrew Weissman really forces us to look at the future of business. Business creation, sustainability, and innovation.

Six sigma worked pretty well for GE. Google’s 70/20/10 rule seems likes its doing just fine. What new business strategies will emerge….and where?

An invention I should have pursued further

Last year, I began pursuing an idea with a good friend of mine. We met with one of our extremely talented professors, Giri Venkataramanan, and began developing mathematical equations to turn our idea into a reality. Well, we stopped pursuing the idea due to a simple lack of free time, and sure enough, the idea has surfaced and is now in production.

“Terry Kenney’s Dragon Power Station prototype works by harnessing the kinetic energy of trucks passing over plates buried in the road and turning that energy into electricity.”

– Jason Chen, Gizmodo.com

Even one of the comments made, expresses the same thought process we encountered.

“@ludwigk: It’s a great idea though if done as already noted by NOT lowering your fuel economy. If they placed this on, say, every interstate off-ramp. Everyone needs to slow down anyways. Lots of traffic. It’s not going to hurt your fuel efficiency if you’re already trying to stop. all it will do is save you some wear and tear on your brakes. Granted, it’s probably not generating as much power as that article initially claims, but still…every bit counts.”

But if anything good comes from this, it is this: Validation. (Andy M taught me this)

The fact that this idea was developed, and is in production, validates our initial pursuit of invention.

Maybe next time.

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Fred Wilson – “And Who Do The Other 17% Think Will Win?”

The anticipation of who will be the democratic nominee is growing. Fred Wilson posed a great question today in his post titled “And Who Do The Other 17% Think Will Win?”

“My other thought when looking at this chart was “if these were two stocks, what would people be doing with them?”

– Fred Wilson

Behind any investment, their must be substance. Which candidate is proposing ideas that are subtenant, tangible, and practical. We all remember what happened in the dot com bubble when people started pouring money into those revolutionary internet ideas. And who made it out on top?

Substance behind the idea.

Better image here

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Academia: Badger Bike

Academia Series: Post 2

My freshman year of college, I was required to take a class called Engineering Professional Design (EPD 160). I was among a group of 35 other undergraduate engineering students (whose majors were undeclared at the time), and we were required to design and construct something for a real client.

Our client was the Department of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and we were to design and fabricate something that could carry at least 300 lbs of material and soil all over the campus.

Of the 35 students, we all broke up into teams to design a potential solution. My small group came up with a hybrid model of a tandem bicycle with an extended bay and motor. This design was chosen, and I was elected project manager to supervise the construction.

Early into construction, our client decided to give us additional funds that surpassed the required minimum. We had a budget of around $3,000.

In the end, we developed the “Badger Bike”, under our budget, and provided a unique and environmentally friendly device, to some environmentally friendly people.

Pictures and our final presentation below:

Intro Pp Badger Bike Final

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Rocks, Paper, Scissors….Memristor?

Consider the game of Rocks, Paper, Scissor. Three components. Three pieces that make up a rather historical game. What if a fourth component was introduced to the game? What would that fourth component look like, and what would its properties be. Wouldn’t this drastically alter the way the game is played?

Yes.

This is happening now in the world of electronics and circuits and stands to revolutionize an entire set of rules. What was once three fundamental devices (resistor, capacitor, and inductor), now has a fourth family member called the memristor.

Basically, this new device remembers how much charge was passed through, either forwards or backwards. Disregarding all the technical jargon, I wonder how this will effect chip manufacturing and design. 

Might the smallest invention or innovation ultimately have the most profound effect? 

There is simply nothing like true innovation.

What happens if you play Rocks, Paper, Scissors, _____________? Try it.

 

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On the Microsoft/Yahoo merger…

“No one wants it (the Microsoft-Yahoo merger) to happen. The only reason it’s being considered is that the management of Windows Live has been so ineffective that they can’t ship anything worth using. They are consistently behind what consumers want, and unlike the old Microsoft, they are so poorly managed that they can’t even copy everyone else. “

–Anonymous source to Mary Jo Foley of ZDnet

So adding more layers of complexity to an already dwindling organization is going to help? Microsoft is better off staying focused on XBOX and bridging the gap between media and the living room.

Where did their core competencies go?

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Google, Microsoft head to MadTown

The amount of countless hours I’ve spent in UW-Madison’s Engineering Hall, should earn me the “GAL” or “Get a Life” award. Instead I will receive a degree in Electrical Engineering from UW-Madison. And perhaps the same reasons I decided to attend this University, are now being considered by Google, as they too plan on setting up shop in Madison, Wisconsin.

In a statement to The Badger Herald, Google representatives said, “We are opening an office in Madison because the city offers an excellent quality of life, a deep local talent pool and commitment to education at all levels, including the University of Wisconsin.”

Madison, WI

Photo © UW-Madison University Communications

And anyone that has ever stepped foot in Madison could agree with that statement. But being that Google is a worldwide leader in software and computer architecture, its main focus will be within the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Leading this Madison/Google operation will be “retired professor emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering James Smith and 1980s computer engineering graduate James Laudon.”

Add a new Biomedical research to the list as well, and Madison will continue to lead the way as one of the premier research facilities in the world.

Some other great programs within my department, that I have been lucky to be a part of.

  • WEMPEC – Wisconsin Electrical Machines and Power Electronics Consortium
  • WCAM – Wisconsin Center for Applied Microelectronic Devices

It is extremely rewarding to see that my department, its students, and faculty members, have yet another great achievement to add to the list. 

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The Stockdale Paradox

“Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties.

AND at the same time

Confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

-Jim Collins, Good to Great

Let us try and apply this to our own lives. What could possibly be the result?

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