Have you seen the movie Gattaca? People can easily check someone’s DNA information by going to a public service terminal and requesting that information. Well, it seems that kind of future is almost upon us. At the Web 2.0 Summit, Craig Venter, a biologist working on projects having to do with gene sequencing, said it won’t be long before DNA sequencing becomes part of a standard medical test. What was a biologist doing at a Web 2.0 conference? Well, he was interviewed by Tim O’Reilly on stage, in the effort to show how close biology and information science are tied together, and have been for some time. Mr. Venter supports genetic transparency and predicts a future in which someone can easily find your DNA information on search engines or “Google a date’s DNA”. People will be able to see whether someone they are thinking about getting involved with has a hereditary disease or other genetically induced health anomaly that may have a negative impact on offspring.

Is this the kind of future we are aiming for as a global society? I am not sure this is the right way to go, although movies are usually pretty good in showing things that will come to pass in the future, so this may actually become reality. On one side, it may be useful to know your potential partner is carrying DNA code that may cause health or other problems for offspring, but on the other hand there are other factors in survival, especially in the human society.

Share This

Facebook users will now have the ability to view news from Google News within their Facebook profile through the Google News Facebook app, introduced yesterday. It’s still in beta, so experiments are going on, and there will probably be changes over the coming weeks.

The user chooses news categories to monitor, pretty much the same as on Google News personalization, except every news item can be shared with a Facebook friend by sending it directly, or by sharing it through the profile. There are also options to save a story to My Stories and to view stories sent by friends (Stories from friends). Additionally, the app allows the user to create their own news category (custom section) and save stories with a particular topic.

Share This

Some time ago I was talking social networking with a friend and colleague, and we were discussing Twitter among other services. His main argument was “why would someone be interested in what you were doing a couple of minute ago”. I must say I was kinda skeptical towards Twitter in the beginning. I saw a lot of people using it on their sites, but what I saw were things like “I am chasing my cat around because it just whizzed on the carpet..” or something like that. Indeed, judging by this example one might ask what the value in such a service really is. Well, at the Web 2.0 Summit, there was a situation where Twitter was actually used to bypass a bad network connectivity problem. As you can see in this post on WebWare, there seemed to be a problem with spotty network connectivity, so participants decided to Twitter this conference.

Take a look at this twittercast from the Web 2.0 Summit. This may just be the alternative to live blogging from conferences, although there is no pictures and videos (but then again, this would require good network connectivity, which as mentioned, wasn’t present). Here is the twittercast from Web 2.0 Summit:

It seems we have a new term in the Internet glossary - twittercast - live coverage from an event through the use of Twitter.

Share This

Image credit: ASUS

The new 7” screen ultra-portable PC has hit the markets, well in Taiwan anyway. The sales seem to be going great thus far, according to PC World. I have long been desiring a device that would allow for many of my daily tasks to be done in environments other than my office or home. The size is almost perfect and allows you to perform tasks such as email correspondence, blog post writing, image upload and stuff like that. With weight under 1kg and compact dimensions it’s pretty easy to carry around, although you still need a bag or a backpack. It uses solid state disk technology (SSD) which means the data stored is shock resistant, and thus safe in a portable environment.

The prices range is about $300 US (give or take depending on the model). It ships with a Linux based OS, although it’s Windows XP compatible. Some of the built-in goodies are the 7” LCD wide-screen (800×480), 900 MHz Celeron Processor, ASUS Linux OS, webcam (optional), stereo speakers, modem, ethernet, wi-fi, VGA output, audio & USB ports, SD card reader. ASUS boasts this product to allow for complete mobility and a new experience in Internet browsing. Well, it’s certainly got all the mobility ingredients, although for the life of me, I don’t understand why the screen is so small with so much obvious extra space around it. They could easily have fitted an inch and a half more in that frame. The price is in the right neighborhood, so I will definitely think about once the Eee PC heads for Europe.

Official ASUS press release.

Eee PC official site

Share This

Google decided to intriduce Google Shared Stuff profiles into Google Maps. User who decide to share a map they have created (viewed), can now have information from their Google Shared Stuff profile shown together with the map (for example, the user’s picture appears with the map). This adds the personal touch to Google Map sharing, and since it’s integrated with a whole lot more through the Shared Stuff profile, we could say Google Maps are now Social Google Maps.

Here is a video explaining the new addition to Google Maps:

Google has already entered the social networking playground with opening in a big way in early November 2007. This is another move that clearly reveals the path towards a new social Google dimension. Is Google Search somewhere at the end of the social network evolution for Google? I wonder what Google search results would look like then.

Share This

No really! Just look at this thing. It’s like the ultimate pocket sized internet tablet device and it’s got the muscle to go with the good looks (except for the VGA camera):

• integrated GPS receiver
• Wi-Fi connection
• up to 45 hours of music playback and memory to store up to 7,500 songs
• 10GB memory card
• large (4.13″), sharp (800×480 resolution) wide screen
• powered by maemo Linux based OS2008
• Mozilla based browser with Ajax and Adobe flash 9
• Bluetooth
• VGA camera (why?!? VGA) for video chat

This is a very good looking upgrade from the previous N800 (qwerty keyboard to start with). Read in more detail in the press release on Nokia.com .

Share This

Following Live Search updates a few weeks ago, Microsoft has rolled out additional changes that are the end of Live Search service updates for this fall. Updates consist of the following:

Maps and Directions

• Innovative driving directions
• Innovative visualization and 3-D
• Innovative local content index including user-generated content
• Virtual Earth platform updates

Mobile Enhancements

• Live Search for Windows Mobile with voice input
• Live Search 411
• Live Search for use with BlackBerry® Devices

Read in more detail in their official press release.

Share This

I guess this was only a matter of time, but AdSense is finding its way onto Facebook through targeted publishers. Although AdSense has been around on Facebook ever since launch through personal pages, Google is now taking a more direct approach by creating a network targeted specifically at Facebook publishers. According to this post on VentureBeat (there is also an illustration of what this looks like), Google is making efforts in getting third-party Facebook app developers to show AdSense on their application pages. But these AdSense are not just plain old ads; they are targeted specifically for advertisers who want their ads to appear on Facebook. Google was only to quick to exploit this opportunity, especially since the other two main competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo, both have Facebook in their sites, with Microsoft already having signed a deal with Facebook to show its ads across the site.

Share This

There is a new service on the Web, called TokBox (tokbox.com) which enables users to make video calls without installing any additional software whatsoever. What you get is free video chat, no downloads to use the service, interface embeddable in any website, and privacy control. Finally, this sounds too good to be true.

This is nothing really new in concept. The service uses Flash technology, and its support for audio/video streaming. The rise in adoption of broadband Internet in the last couple of years has certainly contributed to something like this finally happening, but the fact that all you have to do to use this service is to register, and all you have to do to make yourself available for video chat is to paste some code, makes this really useful.

There is also an API for a more advanced use of TokBox services, but I haven’t tried it yet. The API documentation is simple enough and gives basic control on how you are going to use TokBox on your site. Developers can make POST requests with or without authentication and get functionality accordingly. If I understood correctly, apart from calls, you can also register users through the API from your own website. This is cool if, for example, you give someone the option to video chat with you but they don’t use the service yet. I can see a lot of implementation for this for something like customer support, where a friendly face can get more than than a lengthy phone conversation. The only obstacle may be industry adoption, but look at Skype, and how quickly it spread.

So, what about money? Advertising appearing on the site may be delivered to TokBox users by TokBox or one of their web advertising partners. I expect this will not be much different than other in-video advertising solutions such as AdSense in YouTube (video units). Free always has a price, but if this is done moderately it shouldn’t bother users too much.

NY Times gave TokBox a more in-depth coverage, and gives them a thumbs-up for the future. Actually, according to the NY Times post, one of the people backing TokBox is a former YouTube founder Jawed Karim, which should mean TokBox is heading in the right direction. TokBox aims to do for video chatting what YouTube did for online video.

The service is still in Beta, so glithces are to be expected. The API has a lot of room for expansion so if you have suggestions, head on over to their blog. BTW, they announced a small competition, The TokBox $5000 Developer Challenge, where the best use of their API for development gets $5K. So, if you have an idea, go for it.

Share This

I posted some time ago about the Headcast, John Cleese’s video cast. Well i thought I’d check on the progress. It seems there is something going on on headcast.co.uk. The site is in the works obviously, there is a short video of John announcing the Headcast, but also a header image that doesn’t load. There is nothing more to see though, except a couple of links to other sites, which leads me to believe that we’re witnessing a live development process going on. Maybe a news blog on the site wouldn’t be a bad idea?!

In the meantime, visit John Cleese’s Big Site and check out the silly walk page. For the rest of the stuff, you’ll have to join.

Share This