I’m still uncertain whether I’ll get any spare time to pick up where I left in the forseeable future. On the other hand it is comforting to know that the code is out there for anyone to improve and develop further.

Look at this as a small sign of life from me, and an open invitation to those of you feeling tempted to carry on where I left. It is actually fun if you have the time and very rewarding to watch the download numbers just ticking away.

I will continue to write, and keep the site running so let’s just keep in touch.

Daiko

The connection and interaction between people on these sites and with these tools has just amazed us all. It is slowly but steadily putting the individual and its personal features center, and instead of focusing on what they may have recently published (a hurdle for many), the individual is right there, able and ready to share the things they know with people they know.

The hurdle to share things with a more focused group of people, whether being relatives, schoolmates, former collegues or friends, is much lower than just throwing it out in cyberspace to a bunch (if you’re lucky) of anonymous readers. Suddenly the web becomes more humane, simply because sites become people.

The one group lagging behind here are Governments. Few Governments, and their agencies, have taken on board the obvious challenge of, through social networks, actually using the possibility to engage in a direct dialogue with their constituency. The mantra should of course be “Follow the Audience“. Traditional media simply isn’t enough if you need to reach your audience. Simply because a lot of them aren’t there like they used to be.

Some US Agencies have realized that established concepts as Town Hall meetings, could be webified to engage also online participants. But I think we’ve only seen the beginning of a new era in utilizing the new social networks for reaching the audience. What if Homeland Security announced and screencasted the Town Hall meeting on Facebook, and thus reached some of the 11.798 people that has signed on the Facebook group to stop the RealID act?

People are social beeings and the tools now present, and used by millions, show how people in new ways form groups, discuss real issues, and form oppinions in foras mostly out of reach for Governments. How can governments expect to shape the future without being part of it?

The same question applies to the internal communication challenges within Governments. Why are most Governments still pretending that knowledge is a fixed entity that can be reproduced in an intranet article and published once for employees to read some time next year, if they find it. Don’t they notice that people still ask each other in the hallway or cantina where to find things and who to ask for help on certain issues they are strugling with right now. Social Networks web 2.0 style, installed as an intranet would create Government wide hallways and cantinas to pose those questions right from the workplace.

No wonder why Dustin Moskovitz is leaving Facebook for a new startup. He, if any, understands how social networks are set to revolutionize how corporate and government entities work internally. For now, those of us searching for new ways to create a functioning intranet based on Social Networking are turning our eyes towards BuddyPress, and Liferay as open source alternatives.

The future is now, and Governments has to adapt in ways that restore their dialogue with the public and thereby their overall relevance to their constituency.

The Audience has left the building…….

In addition there is a pot-file included for other enthusiasts to translate it into their languages. Please send me a copy of your .po and .mo files if you do so for inclusion in the official download. And don’t hesitate to report any problems…..

As always! Have fun!

This is my channel where I show you some clips from the youtube archive of some of the best Saami artists:

1 Too open information when not logged in

Being used to Facebooks closed environment you soon wonder whether it is intentional to show all people and blog/forum posts to non-members. At least that could be controlled by Admin.

2 What do you gain by being connected!?

You get a limited feed, but you still get to see the full profile of people ++ (as I understand it). You can also send messages to people you are not connected to.

3 How about an invitation only option?

If Insoshi could be used as a closed social network that was open by invitation only, it would be the perfect tool for larger networks of professionals. I guess that could be an Admin option to configure that.

4 No upload function

The blog feature is very limited. I miss the oportunity to upload files and photos, +++. I’m not that concerned with text formatting tools. Again the size limits for uploads must be possible to control by Admin.

All in all I really think Insoshi has something going here and a long awaited Open Source Social Network has a bright future.

Please enjoy and report any problems with it. Since this widget actually includes two widgets (the videoplayer also), make sure you test the flexibility of being able to change the way you display the video’s from the various YouTube widgets you have running.

Download it here: Daiko’s YouTube Widget

Have fun!

Check it out and please give me feedback on it’s functionality.

You find it here.

MacWorld January 2008 Keynote
Rough Outline; draft 5

Greetings! Welcome to Moscone Center
Quick Overview: iPod/iTunes
- iPod has been extremely profitable for us this holiday season
- Sales figures, market share
- Our new models are doing better than ever
- 3 iPod games released last month accidentally (supposed to be for today)
- Another new game today: Chess
- iTunes doing extremely well (sales figures/market share)
- Today: 30 indie labels releasing their entire catalogs in iTunes Plus
- Many more to follow in the next few months

iPhone
- Best iPod ever
- Sales figures, market share
- Sales beyond our wildest dreams
- Much more than the 1% market share we asked for in January
- Starting today: 8GB $399, 16GB $499
- Four times the memory as original iPhone for the same price
- iPhone is coming to Japan in March with NTT DoCoMo
- SDK is unveiled!

iPhone/iPod Touch SDK
- Apps and Widgets
- Using Cocoa with Objective-C
- Developers submit programs as source code, not executable
- Specify iPhone or both iPhone/Touch (certain features iPhone only)
- Set your own price: Apps $0-$6.99, Widgets $0-$2.99
- Users buy/download in iTunes Wi-Fi Store / iTunes Store (Mac/PC)
- Automatic updating wirelessly or docked

- Demonstration of exporting from XCode 3 to iTunes Store
- Submits source code to Apple for validation (make sure that people aren’t abusing the system, prevent malware and viruses)
- If using microphone or GSM, iPhone only; otherwise, available for both iPhone and iPod Touch
- Apps can be free or up to $6.99; Widgets free or up to $2.99
- Developers recieve 70% of revenue for their products
- Licensed under Apple Mobile Software License
- Can download wirelessly from iTunes Wi-Fi Store or docked to computer from iTunes Store
- Demonstration of wirelessly downloading (and running) the app submitted earlier
- Apps and widgets can be rearranged on front screen; front screen scrolls to show all apps/widgets
- Resubmit updated versions of apps; when added to store, iPhone/Touch will ask you to update it next time you use it (or next time you dock the iPhone/Touch)
- Developers can get their hands on a beta version of the SDK tomorrow on ADC and start developing; final version due early February
- iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch Software update 1.3 allowing for Apps mid-February

Example apps/widgets
Apps:
- iChat (coming with 1.3 update) (AIM, Jabber/Google Talk)
– Quick demonstration
- RSS Feed Reader (coming with 1.3 update) (read feeds online or off)
- One of our partners made something cool: Last.fm (scrobble tracks played on iPhone/touch wirelessly without syncing w/ computer)
Widgets:
- Dictionary (coming with 1.3 update) (quickly look up words, translate, use wikipedia)
– Quick demonstration
- Yellow/White Book (coming with 1.3 update) (search for contacts, add them to your address book directly from the app, will sync back with address book on your Mac/PC)
- Sports Ticker (coming with 1.3 update) (choose your sports and teams, get updates on their progress)
- Another partner: Twitter (update your Twitter on the fly, see your friends tweets)
- Try these out on the show floor today

Mac
- Sales are getting better and better every day
- Hardware sales figures/market share
- Leopard released October; doing spectacularly
- Sales figures/market share
- Selling extremely well; estimated to overtake Tiger in terms of marketshare by June if you only count the new Macs that come with it preinstalled; even quicker if you include boxed copies
- 10.5.2 out today - many bug fixes, also addressing a lot of issues and complaints users had such as list view with stacks and certain HIG non-compliance issues

New MacBooks!
- What would MacWorld be without a new Mac? (sorry about last year)
- Completely redesigned MacBook
- Completely aluminum body like MacBook Pro
- 13″ screen at 1440×900
- Two colors: Black and Silver
- Looks gorgeous at 0.8″ thin
- A major feat of engineering - patents abound
- DVD drive pops open on side when eject button is pressed
- New on all notebooks and iMac: iSight HD (720p)
- New backlit keyboard based on recent Apple Keyboard revisions (keys slightly lighter than that of laptop casing, colorwise)
- New matching MagSafe cable (Aluminum ends, cord color matches that of keyboard)
- New matching Apple Remote (slightly smaller with larger overall buttons)
- Intel GMA X3100 graphics
- 3 models
- Completely phasing out the combo drive on all product lines today
- BTO models can upgrade all the way to 2.6GHz/4GB Memory/320GB hard drive
- 4.5 hours of battery life
- Starting at $1199

Product Refreshes
- Refreshing Mac Pro and Mac mini today
- Mac Pro now with Penryn!
- Base model 2×2.8GHz dual-core/1GB/NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB/250GB(1×250GB)/1×16x double-layer SuperDrive
- Upgradeable to 2×3.2GHz quad-core/16GB/NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB/4TB(4×1TB)/2×16x double-layer SuperDrives
- Starting at $2,499
- Mac mini gets slight speed bumps and double-layer SuperDrive in all models
- Base model 2.0GHz IC2D/1GB/100GB
- BTO Upgradeable to 2.4GHz IC2D/4GB/320GB
- Starting at $599

One More Thing
- Been brewing for a while
- YouTube’s been in Apple TV and iPhone/iPod touch: now it’s in iTunes
- Download YouTube videos straight to iTunes or from iPhone/iPod Touch for later offline viewing (sync back to computer)
- Coming in iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch 1.3 updates

Thanks for coming, and enjoy the expo!

The interesting part is that there are several new comers in the Open Source segment. Linux seems to dominate the field, while taking different approaches, the goal seems the same; Establishing solid alternatives to Windows Mobile and Symbian.

LiMo is developing middle ware as open source, arguing that the UI is the area providers will use to differentiate themselves from each other. LiMo is supported by several strong players and just announced that their member base is further expanded:

LiMo will announce Monday that Acrodea, ETRI, Huawei, Purple Labs and Trolltech are joining the consortium, which launched a year ago with founding members Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and Vodafone.

OpenMoko is the odd kid on the block. They are also building a working phone and a developer kit for hackers that want to build their own customized phone. Nice twist in this competitive market:

Apple’s iPhone may come with numerous features for consumers, but for developers, it offers limited customization options. The movers behind the OpenMoko open-source project, announced in November 2006, want to offer those developers an alternative with unlimited customization. OpenMoko: An iPhone Alternative for Developers?

For the more adventurous of you check out the hacker kit:

Neo Advanced

This Hacker’s Dream Box is a heavy duty, mysterious black box that houses the OpenMoko development board. The Advanced kit is padded to protect your Neo 1973, development board, and accessories for hackers in transport.

Last but not least you have the G-phone or Android. The previously announced $ 10 million challenge is now on, and this open source mobile linux with Java including UI elements and functions to create a consistant user experience on both keypad and touch screen phones.

I think that by the end of 2008 the true winners will be the users. Never before has the industry been so focused on User Experience. Driven by Apple, we will not only see more functional smart phones but more important with user interfaces that works!

• What will customers get on an Android-powered phone that they can’t get on their current devices? New content? New applications?
• Will the system be secure enough to prevent viruses, hacking and other potential problems? * What safeguards will be in place to protect customer’s privacy?
• If Gmail is the default e-mail, how easy will it be for customers to access other email platforms? AT&T: We’re unsure what Android brings to the table - Google Phone

Others really sees the potential in the concept Google has come up with when launching the Linux based Java supported (or Java-like) foundation for a new mobile OS.

Why don’t we get Nintendo going:

The current DS, of course, is perhaps unsuitable for double-duty as a mobile handset; it would look faintly ridiculous held to the head for calls, and instead you’d likely be pushed toward using a Bluetooth (or wired) handsfree kit. But a new design - that built upon Android’s technical capabilities and Nintendo’s gaming prowess - could easily sweep the board of gaming cellphones. Chris Davies writes in Could Nintendo use Android for a new gaming-cellphone? - Google Phone

And finally, forget about AppleTV, TiVO, MsME and Dreambox, why not a Google TV system?

An open-source operating system like Android for the set-top box could change that. If creating applications for set-top boxes was more like creating applications for the Web, we’d be able to do a lot more things with our TVs—especially if those set-top boxes were also connected to the Web. Want instant messaging and caller ID on your TV? No problem. Want customized information widgets for the TV that scroll breaking news, weather, sports scores or stock quotes from sources you choose in your own ticker at the bottom of the screen? No problem. Want to turn that annoying ticker off? No problem. Want to control the camera angles on that basketball game? No problem. Want to add the live video stream from your friend’s cell phone who is at the game? No problem. Want to create your own video mashup of fight scenes from various movies that you can edit right on your TV and share with others on their TVs? No problem. The Google Set-Top Box (Think Android For TV)

I’ve always liked the innovative professionalized DIY approach among tech companies: “What if I took this and plugged it into that and just reprogrammed it a little bit……”.

Instead of the approach by some: “Have you thought about … and what about ….?????”

Only time will tell which approach succeeds also market wise.

Go for it Google!