Just get up and dance

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
From: 25 things I have learned in 50 years (by Dave Barry)

Twitter Addiction

I'm getting REALLY addicted to Twitter.

I'm late as always but I'm getting a lot of cool stuff there and it's damn easy and quick to update.
I'm also in the Pownce beta but other features (adding links and files) really seem to be useless clutter that you can easily do with other tools. To me Twitter is the first big thing after Google that is really simplifying my web.
Add me as friend if you like etc

The land of the iPhone

I just got this link to PocketTweets from Steve Rubel on Twitter. PocketTweets is a web interface for Twitter that fits the iPhone screen.





















It got me thinking:

1. The lack of a Dev Kit doesn't seem to be a big deal in the Web 2.0 age
   
2. other than all the bells and whistles, the iPhone is the first interface to really bridge the gap between PCs and mobile phone. Paired with an always on internet connection it opens for the first time ever the real Internet experience on the go. Here are some very interesting possibilities (most already available after DAYS from the launch):

• An always updated to do list
• An iPhone Social Network? That's the holy grail. Millions of people always connected, out and about and ready for some real world social experience (real world??? oh-my-god)
• News Feeds on the go
• Searching more stuff than you'll ever need, when you (won't) need it
• etc
• more etc
• almost any other etc you may think of

I don't have an iPhone yet (not my fault, no iPhone yet in Europe), but I considered the way I do the above stuff right now. I do all that with my Mac, and I think most of you do, too.
That's why I guess that, when I get my hands on an iPhone, my computer time will be dropping much more than my mobile phone time (iPhone owners, seeking your thoughts on this).
Heck, I'm not even sure I'll drop my mobile when I get the iPhone: I'll be too concerned about no-scratching-no-damaging-no-crashing-etc to use it the hard-nosed way as I use to with my mobile.

Now, if you don't believe that 499 $ is not an issue when you're selling a mobile phone, I can tell you that 499 $ is even less important when you're selling a pocket-sized (though full featured) computer. Apple just re-invented the tablet PC, making it the way it was supposed to be from the start.

This is no mobile phone + iPod: this is the second coming of the Newton ;-)

I guess that instead of speculating about the market share Apple will get on the cell phone market, we really should track the iPhone on its own (or maybe on the PC market).

At the end of the day, if the web is about multiple-way communication, it's not the land of laptops (too much of a productivity item) and not of mobile phones (too much about chatting one to one).

The web is the land of the iPhone.

UPDATE: Hugh agrees on Twitter
UPDATE 2: on a similar pov, Steve Rubel explains how to Turn Your iPhone into a Mobile Nerve Center

Social Networking: some figures

And speaking about social networking, TrendSpotting has a detailed post on a couple of surveys (from Grunwald Associates and Forrester) tracking the social networking activity on US young generation.

I think it's very useful to have a look at hard data not to drift into speculations (even if these researches mostly confirm the buzz surrounding social networks today).

And BTW Taly I already expressed my love for your blog (my favourite for trend watching by far) but it really sucks when I read it on Google Reader. Pls do something about it! :-)

SocialStream will redefine the way we see social networks

SocialStream is a Carnegie Mellon University's project sponsored by Google (I really didn't get if this is aimed to be the new Orkut interface or a totally new environment), Google OS has a post on it.
It's basically a social network aggregator, meaning that it helps you keep track of your friends no matter which social network they're part of.
The demo (see below) looks absolutely stunning, I believe this is the future of social networks and that the first one to reach a critical mass will win big.
Don't know exactly which is the status for rolling out of this but if you know drop me an email, I can't wait to try this out.

Google's Sheryl Sandberg on future of advertising

The Read/Write Web has a post worth reading on Sheryl Sandberg (Google's Global VP of Sales and Operations) speaking about the future of advertising @ the Supernova conference.
For I know that you are lazy (otherwise you had already found a better blog than mine), here's a very short summary that won't teach you anything but you could still say "of course I read it":

• Advertisers need to get better at creating a 1:1 experience for their users. As an example, she cited the work that Cadillac did with their MyCadillac campaign.
  
• Advertisements need to continue increasing personalization. This was surprising to me, given that I don't believe Google has publicly announced any plans to incorporate behavioral targeting into their ad delivery system.
  
• Users are demanding the delivery of information to be an experience and advertising must respond to it, just like content needs to.

On related news, Read/Write Web has just become my primary tech news resource winning the race against TechCrunch for I like R/WW style (fewer but much deeper posts) most.

Progress

Looks like I'm in a little quoting spree these days. Anyway I found this on the always useful Lifehacker and I thought it was good to share:

"Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." - Robert A. Heinlein

Paul Buchheit (creator of Gmail) Quote

"I think, in general, people are uncomfortable with things that are different.
Even now when I talk about adding new features to Gmail, if it isn't just a small variation or rearranging what's already there, people don't like it.
People have a narrow concept of what's possible, and we're limited more by our own ideas about what's possible than what really is possible. So they just get uncomfortable, and they kind of tend to attack it for whatever reason."
Paul Buchheit, the creator of Gmail

The Google Operating System has a nice post on Paul Buchheit, a former Google engineer that, among other things, built GMail and came up with Google's mantra: "Don't be evil".
Also his blog looks very interesting.

Declaration of Indipendence

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Declaration of Independence

Valeria has a nice post on this, I just wish I could declare myself independent from a lot of weight I'm carring around and that isn't bringing any value to my life.
In the meantime, happy 4th of July to my friends from US!

FARC reports death of 11 kidnapped deputies

My friend Alberto linked me to this video:

FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo) is a colombian revolutionary communist army. They're considered terrorists because their attacks are not only against the government but also towards civilians.

On June 28th 2007, the FARC reported the death of 11 out of 12 kidnapped provincial deputies from the Valle del Cauca Department. The Colombian government has stated that FARC executed the hostages and stated that the government's forces had not made any rescue attempts. FARC claims the deaths occurred during a crossfire, after an attack on one of its camps by an "unidentified military group". The guerrillas did not report any other casualties on either side.

Here's a link to the wikipedia page.
If you want to take action against this happening there's a number of possible ways. There are Facebook groups on this, a YouTube channel and a lot of other stuff you can find by just googlin' it. Help spread the voice if you can. Thank you.

Hugh Macleod on social media

Even though the guy keeps on showing no love to italian bloggers (and liking italian design is not an excuse), Hugh Macleod has a very nice post on social media. Enjoy!

Harael Links 07.01.2007

TrendSpotting has a clever post on Global Warming perception in various countries/social clusters.

Speaking of GW, you may not know that the average computer wastes half of the power delivered to it. That's why Google announced a partnership with Intel and other companies for drastically reduce the power consumption and save massive amount of energy and greenhouse gases. Thanks Google Operating System Blog for the link!

TheLastRipper let's you save songs you listen via Last.fm [via Lifehacker]

Some crazy folks at Hubpages test 86 Mac Plus vs a 2007 AMD dual core and you won't believe who wins [via 43 Folders]

Kevin Rose's (he's the founder of the wildly successful Digg) new startup, Pownce, aims at hitting Twitter hard.

Following recent considerations I revamped my Tumblr, so drop in while you can. Lots of random stuff there! :-)

Lifehacker has a comprehensive tutorial on how to publish and map your photos with Picasa.

Lifehacker again: how to prioritize quickly and intuitively. This is awesome!