SOMEWHAT FRANK

A Very Facebook Web 2.0 Summit

The Web 2.0 Summit took place this past week in San Francisco. While I participated in a few AOL sponsorship events, I also participated in Lobbycon. In my short time at the Summit, it appeared the Web 2.0 Summit seemed to be more of a "suit" fest while the Web 2.0 Expo, this past April, seemed to be much more approachable. Nonetheless, Facebook was all the buzz and Mark Zuckerberg spoke with John Battelle at the conference similar to how Mark Zuckerberg spoke with Mike Arrington a few weeks ago at TechCrunch40.

LinkedIn Platform Closed, Google Buys Jaiku, MSNBC Snags Newsvine, YouTube In Google Earth & Facebook Talent Vacuum

Photo of the Week: I got a chance View The Rock from Pier 39 while coming in San Francisco, California for the Widget Summit.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 10.14.2007

Techmeme Leaderboard Ignites Conversation, Netvibes Expands Cobrands, Facebook Addiction, Web App 101 & Top Social Media Coverage

Photo of the Week: This is a photo of the sunset I was able to experience while on vacation this past week in Clearwater, Florida.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 10.07.2007

Video: Why Facebook Works For Me...

Facebook usage has been on the rise and with it, a frenzy to create Facebook applications. What's all the frenzy about? Dave McClure, an advisor for several startups and non-profits, has created a new course titled, Creating Engaging Facebook Apps at Stanford University to help answer that very question. For the course, Matt Monahan has created a video to explain why Facebook works for him.

Amazon MP3 vs. iTunes, Microsoft Facebook Investing?, Widget Timeline, CSS & Photoshop Tips & YouTube Adsense

Photo of the Week: The San Diego, California Harbor taken during DEMOfall 2007 earlier this week.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.30.2007

YourTrumanShow Video Widget Launches

YourTrumanShow, the personal video diaries startup, has just launched, VideoMap, video discovery widget at the DEMO Conference in San Diego, California. Catering to artists and online personalities, YourTrumanShow, looks to cultivate discovery within its network by exposing its interesting video linking feature to other social network and the Web via VideoMap.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Video Chat

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, sat down with TechCrunch co-editor Mike Arrington at the TechCrunch40 conference for a fireside chat. Mark talks about opening up the Facebook platform and announced the FBFUND is a $10 million grant fund from Facebook aimed at helping application developers. The grants range from $25K to $250K and Facebook takes no equity or debt.

Viacom Flux, Cheap Facebook App Building, Yahoo Launches Mash, Propeller the New Netscape, Facebooking Your Brand & Blogger Corporate Value

Photo of the Week: This illustration titled cubs by greasy chicken face is my attempt to will my favorite baseball team, the Chicago Cubs, into the playoffs. I know it's not very web/tech related but its the Cubbies, it is mid-September and they are still leading the National League Central pack.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.16.2007

Pentagon Hacked, iPhone Announcements, Facebook People Search, 10 Web Trends, Delicious Preview, MyStrands Music Video & Netscape Digg Clone Gone

Photo of the Week: I took this photo of Red Sox on the gates of Fenway Park while visiting Boston this weekend for TECH cocktail Boston.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.09.2007

Google Phone Details, Dapper Facebook App Maker, Clown Co. Named Hulu, Personalized & Social Search and The Sexual Relationship Database

Photo of the Week: I found this unique view of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC this weekend.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.02.2007

Are You A Shareaholic?

Shareaholic makes it easy to submit the web page you are currently viewing in a Firefox browser to Digg, del.icio.us, Facebook, Google bookmarks, Magnolia, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Twitter.

Are You Addicted To Facebook?

I have discussed technology and Internet addiction before, as it can be a very real thing. Facebook has become a very popular destination recently and I was wondering, is it possible to be addicted to Facebook? Take this quick poll and let me know what you think. Are you addicted to Facebook?

iPhone Secret Features, Flickr Video & Tools, Google Mashup Editor, Facebook on Netvibes, Best Conferences & Twiistup

Photo of the Week: Barry Bonds hit home run 755 last night in a game vs. San Diego tying Hank Aaron for most career home runs in Major League history. John Feeley was in attendance and captured history with his zoom lens in this shot (shown above).  

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 08.05.07

Twiistup 2: 08.08.07 - Sign Up Today!
Time to for Twiistup 2, you may recall I attended Twiistup 1 on my birthday in Santa Monica, California and had a blast. If you are going to be in Venice, California this coming Wednesday (August 8, 2007) you should stop by Air Conditioned Supper Club and Twiistup too! SIGN UP HERE.

How To Become A Blogger
Stowe Boyd dishes 5 simple steps to becoming a blogger. It is a common question, I am glad he addressed it.

Facebook Meet Netvibes: Netvibes Introduces the Facebook Widget
The new Netvibes Facebook Widget launched to allow users to view their Facebook notifications and friends. You can now access your Facebook info on Netvibes, and keep up to date on what your friends are doing.

Secret New iPhone Features
Walt Mossberg points out how Apple issued its first iPhone update this week. And, while the company billed it as merely a bug-fix and security-improvement patch, in fact it has several small feature improvements that Apple hasn’t announced or documented.

FLICKR TOOLBOX: 100+ Tools For Flickr Addicts
Check out some Flickr tools that Mashable pulled together for Flickr addicts like me.

Google Mashup Editor
Read/Write Web got beta access to the new Google Mashup Editor which provides a simple interface that enables developers to make basic web applications and mashups quickly. And again, like Yahoo! Pipes, it is very definitely aimed at developers.

Reconfirmation: Flickr To Add Video
Flickr has been rumored to be adding video since August but it appears that they could do it sooner than later.

Personalize Your Site’s Content With MineKey
MineKey is a startup that makes adding personalization to any website simple through their embeddable widget.

Perform Powerful Searches Visually with SearchCrystal
searchCrystal enables you to perform powerful searches visually. Their wonderful platform makes it possible to explore and filter 50 - 500 web pages, images, videos, blogs in a single display that guides people toward relevant info in a structured way.

What Web Conferences to Attend
I wrote up a pretty extensive list of conferences worth looking into back in January. Of course a few other conferences have popped up over the last few months. Read/Write Web weighs in on the conferences to check out.

Facebook Impact, Google Acquires ImageAmerica, Internet TV, Pageflakes Blizzard & Collaboration Tools

Photo of the Week: I took a trip to Sausalito yesterday and took in some gorgeous sites including this little red sailboat in the Bay.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 07.22.07

Google Maps: A users guide to personalization
LifeHacker offers a guide to personalizing Google Maps.

The Impact of Facebook's Platform
Read/Write Web looks at the impact Facebook is making on the Web. It has been just under 2 months since Facebook launched their platform initiative, but this self-opening move has already had an extremely positive impact on the company.

Facebook buys Parakey
GigaOm believes Facebook’s new mission is to: buy all talent under 25 in the Palo Alto-Mountain View area. Parakey is a prime example.

Work Together: 60+ Collaborative Tools for Groups
Mashable looks at 60+ sites that will help everyone be on the same page via online collaboration. Stop, collaborate and listen...

Google Acquires ImageAmerica
Google acquired Clayton, Missouri based ImageAmerica, a company that builds high-resolution cameras for the collection of aerial imagery.

The Professionalization of Internet TV
NewTeeVee looks at the low-cost Internet TV options these days.

Pageflakes Blizzard Release Launches
Customized home page startup Pageflakes launched a slew of new features this morning under what it is calling its “Blizzard” release.

Totally Uncorked
Gary Vaynerchuk's WineLibraryTV a daily 15-min video podcast was recently highlighted in TIME Magazine. Gary was a sponsor and demo'er at TECH cocktail in DC 1. Way to go Gary!

Dow Jones, News Corp. Set Deal
News Corp. reached a tentative agreement for the purchase of Dow Jones & Co. at its original $5 billion offer price. The deal will be put to the full Dow Jones board this evening for its approval, said people familiar with the situation.

Mesmo.tv Discovers Videos You Like
Mesmo.tv is social video bookmarking tool launching today that lets you tag videos you like and throw them into a personalized content stream and group channels.

Review of Streamy, a News Networking Service
Streamy users can share, view, filter and drag-and-drop news stories, while communicating via a very slick chat module.

WordCamp 2007 - Journalism Panel: Om & Dvorak
Josh Hallett covers the second session at WordCamp 2007 which featured John Dvorak and Om Malik. I was there to take in the session which offered an eternal blog/journalism debate.

AOL Named Top Site, myAOL Beta Released, Facebook a Fad?, Widgets Evolution and Formats, Tagging Tools, Blogging From Hobby To Fame and iPhone Hackers

Photo of the week: These green frog cupcakes were spotted and then were quickly devoured at the most recent TECH cocktail in Chicago.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 07.15.07

AOL Top Web Site Under New Ranking
Nielsen/NetRatings will begin reporting total sessions and total time spent on a site in order to figure out site popularity putting AOL on top of the rankings and bumping Google down to 5th.

AOL Launches Three New myAOL Products In Beta
AOL launched a suite of personalized products into beta: myPage (personalized home page), Mgnet (image-driven content discovery and recommendation engine) and Favorites (feed reader and bookmarking). All three services can be accessed via tabs on the main myAOL page.

Facebook and the Working Adult: Fad or Revolution?
Web Worker Daily investigates whether or not Facebook in the working world is just a fad or here to stay.

The Tagging Toolbox: 30+ Tagging Tools
Tags - for some, one of the best ideas on the web, for others, merely a visual distraction. Mashable investigates a number of tagging options.

Google Adds Mapplets: Widgets for Google Maps
Google is unveiling what they’re calling “mapplets". Mapplets are essentially widgets for Google Maps which can integrate and manipulate Google with HTML, Javascript and Flash content.

The Evolution of Web Widgets: From Self-Expression to Media Companies
Read/Write Web takes a look at how web widgets have evolved from cool, viral toys of self-expression to important big media tools.

Basic web widget formats
Anyone publishing widget content online should know a few basic concepts shaping their decision and choose the right mix of software and content based on their target. Niall Kennedy covers some of the basic advantages, disadvantages, and considerations for each type of widget content and bring you up-to-speed on a few current widget deployment options.

Google: Viacom's Built to Sue
Google's CEO Eric Schmidt took a swipe at Viacom Friday, saying the company was "built from lawsuits" and pointed to its litigious history. Schmidt's comments were made to reporters at a hotel bar at the annual Allen & Co. meeting of media moguls.

iPhone Hackers: "we have owned the filesystem"
This could be problematic.

Perez Hilton gets show on VH1
The sharp-tongued celebrity gossip blogger has apparently been meeting with someone over at VH1. Another example of how blogging creates a platform to do just about everything.

Turning Blogging From Hobby to Career
Richard MacManus runs the world's 28th most popular blog, Read/WriteWeb, from his home office in Lower Hutt. It's every blogger's fantasy. Mr MacManus started a blog on web technology as a hobby back in 2003. Blogging can pay. Congrats Richard, keep up the great blogging!