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TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » Roll up, get your Olympic Torch Facebook app  Annotated

tags: facebook, olympics, techcrunch

We are boycotting this Olympics, right? Web 2.0 tie-ins for the Games are *so* not cool.

TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » Brits go online while watching TV. Duh.

tags: media, socialnetworking, tv

The research showed that nearly 70 percent of online British adults who watch television go online while doing so, with 21 percent of 16-24 year olds always using the Internet while watching TV.

SMT - fail on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

tags: no_tag

I was totally taken by surprise by this one.

(A little further research has revealed that it was created by WCRS, and that there is some controversy over the originality of the idea. What a shame.)

15 Free Social Media White Papers and Ebooks  Annotated

tags: research, social media, whitepaper

for all that extra reading time I’ll have…

Submit A Business Plan  Annotated

tags: business, business model, funding, vc

So saith Sequoia: “Start-ups with these characteristics often foretells the success of a business and the likelihood of it becoming a sustainable, enduring company.”

Eudora Releases - MozillaWiki  Annotated

tags: eudora, penelope, thunderbird

If I’m ever able to ditch exchange server, this sounds a very plausible alternative: “Eudora 8 is an email client that combines Mozilla’s Thunderbird with code, features, and GUI elements from Qualcomm’s Eudora.”

A TiddlyWiki, of course. You can see my very small TiddlyWiki here or a more impressive example from Jeremy Ruston, who created the thing, at the main site.

It’s a sort of wiki - but wait, come back! There’s a few interesting differences from the sort of wiki software you might be used to:

(a) the whole thing is contained in a single HTML file - the javascript, the CSS, the data you’ve added.

(b) so you can download it and use it on your laptop or travel with it on a USB key. If you like you can sync that with an online version.

(c) you can use it on any browser - even the iPhone.

(d) it’s written to encourage short posts - Tiddlers - rather than the massive empty spaces found in the MediaWiki software and others.

Apparently, there’s some way to use it as a blog platform, but I’m still working that bit out…

It’s a genuine question. No rhetoric here.

I am working on a contribution to a white paper being prepared by Hotwire PR via Drew Benvie - my particular chapter is ‘Who Uses (online) Social Networks, and How?’

I have a feeling that my first stab at the answer - ‘lots of people in all sorts of ways’ - won’t stretch to 1000 words, so any contributions, quotes, introductions to eminent scholars and links are very welcome. By next Tuesday. I’m also considering its economic importance to UK, plc.

I suspect that my original answer is probably right, considering there are networks for old people, babies, dogs, zombies and pretty much everyone in between. However, some uses are likely to be more common than others. For the purposes of this article, I’ll define online social networks as web sites that allow users to create personal (and often personalised) profiles on their own pages within the site and also to communicate with and befriend other members, thus articulating and visualising their social networks.

Economic importance is tricky, too. Most stories from official sources are along the lines of “£10bn a day lost productivity due to Facebook”. On the other hand, how much money has been saved on things like research time, recruitment fees, knowledge-sharing, advertising and general strengthening of loose ties which one day lead to money changing hands?

Anyway, over to you. You can reply via email, if it’s a secret.

So, apparently Internet Explorer 8 is available for download, according to my twitter colleagues and a certain Mister Gates.

But don’t search for ‘ie8′ with Google, because you’ll get this:

One half of the screen is a search for news about ie8. The next suggests that I was probably searching for IE7. None of the remaining four links, as I scroll down, are any use.

I buy into the idea of integrated search, that results from news, maps etc. be incorporated into your search. But, in this case, half the screen is devoted to trying to persuade me to search for a different product entirely.  Pah! - Page and Brin, your time is up. (Not that I tried any other search engine for this result - we all know they’re rubbish,eh?)

(Here are the links you really need.)

[as a noteworthy aside]

NMK has employed the services of Elizabeth Varley as a new events consultant. She will be producing around four new events and a similar number of courses for us over the next year.

Elizabeth has been working in new media for a number of years and has great links with a number of key organisations in the web 2.0 revolution as well as web 1.0 diehards (viz. the ones that made money). She’s also a kick-ass writer and thinker on this stuff.

I’m really thrilled to be working with Elizabeth. The key thing, for me, in a role like this, is that you’re able to spark off each others’ ideas but at the same time complement each other’s skills. She’s clever, well-organised, focused and determined… So that should work out fine.

Join the NMK Facebook group here.