Eric Schmidt @ Google I/O 2009: It's Time

In his Google I/O keynote Eric Schmidt said that it is just the beginning for the new computing model enabled by cloud computing, the open web and mobile devices. As the CEO of Google he has defined Web 3.0 in 2007. Now it is time for make it happen!



"It is the beginning of the real win of cloud computing, of the real win of applications, of the real win of the Internet which is changing the computing paradigm ... so it just works. And it works no matter what device you're using, no matter what operating system you're using... That is the promise of our new web computing model."

Google I/O is a developer gathering focused on pushing the boundaries of web applications using Google and open web technologies. Google engineers and web development leaders will lead you through two days full of in-depth breakout sessions on the latest technologies, and informal Q&A at Fireside Chats. The sessions include topics about AJAX and Data APIs, Clients, Google Web ToolKit (GWT), App Engine, Enterprise, Mobile and Social applications.

Interesting Google I/O sessions:

• Building Applications in the Clouds
• Building Scalable Geo Applications
• Adding Interactive 3D Content to your Site
• Mastering the Android Media Framework
• Google and the Social Web
• Building Advanced 3D Geographical Applications for the Web with the GoogleEarth API

There is great innovation happening at Google! Check out the Google Code Channel on YouTube for more insight.

The Best of the Web 2009 - 13th Annual Webby Award Winners

Webby Winners truly represent the best of the Web. With nearly 70 categories, Website entries make up the majority of Webby Awards Winners, Nominees and Honorees. Some are beautiful to look at and interact with. Others are a testament to usability and functionality. And a handful excel across the board. To be selected among the best is an incredible achievement worthy of praise.

Webby Award Winner Websites in 2009 by category:

• Activism - Protect An Acre
• Art - Keith Tyson Website
• Associations - Create an Effect
• Automotive - The Truth About SMART
• Banking/Bill Paying - Xero
• Beauty and Cosmetics - AXE 100 Girls
• Best Copy/Writing - NYTimes.com
• Best Home/Welcome Page - adidas.com homepage
• Best Navigation/Structure - WHITEvoid online portfolio
• Best Practices - NYTimes.com
• Best Use of Animation or Motion Graphics - Coraline Website
• Best Use of Photography - The Big Picture
• Best Use of Typography - Wordle
• Best Use of Video or Moving Image - TED.com
• Best Visual Design - Aesthetic - The Turbo Gene Test
• Best Visual Design - Function - NIKEiD
• Blog - Business - 5 Blogs Before Lunch
• Blog - Cluture/Personal - 1000 Awesome Things
• Blog - Political - Democracy in America Blog
• Broadband - NBC.com Full Episode Player
• Celebrity/Fan - Yahoo! omg!
• Charitable Organizations Nonprofit - The Nature Conservancy
  
• Community - Flickr
• Consumer Electronics - Secret Services
• Corporate Communications - Seymourpowell
• Cultural Institutions - Guggenheim Museum
• Education - Smarthistory
• Employment - TheLadders
• Events - YouTube LIVE
• Family/Parenting - Disney Family.com
• Fashion - Red Issue
• Financial Services - Mint.com
• Food and Beverage - Hotel 626
• Games - Club Penguin
• Games-Related - The Escapist
• Government - BayBridge360
• Guides/Ratings/Reviews - Very Short List
• Health - Take Care Down There
• Humor - The Onion
• Insurance - NWMutual "Let Your Worries Go"
• IT Hardware/Software - HP - Creative Studio
• Law - WomensLaw.org
• Lifestyle - BBC Climate Change: Bloom
• Magazine - TheAtlantic.com
• Movie and Film - Sundance Channel
• Music - NPR Music
• NetArt - Dreamgrove: webpage and interactive garden
• News - BBC's News website
• Newspaper - guardian.co.uk
• Personal Web Site - My Star Wars Collection - Joshua Budich
• Pharmaceuticals - Leading Ladies
• Podcasts - guardian.co.uk podcasts
• Politics - The Huffington Post
• Professional Services - cake-factory
• Radio - NPR.org
• Real Estate - Trulia
• Religion and Spirituality - Comment is free: belief
• Restaurant - Parish Food and Goods
• Retail - NIKEiD
• School/University - Campus Daily Guides
• Science - Cassini Mission Website
• Self-Promotion/Portfolio - Thank You begins with a T.
• Services and Applications - Animoto
• Social Networking - Digg
• Sports - ESPN.com
• Student - Mission Loc@l
• Telecommunications - Orange 'Balloonacy'
• Television - Flight of the Conchords Lip Dub
• Tourism - Tourisme Montreal
• Travel - Kayak.com
• Weird - Jason Nelson's Digital Oddities
• Youth - Tate Kids

Congratulations! Check out the full list of 2009 Webby Award Winners, People's Voice Winners and Nominees on WebbyAwards.com.

Top 5 Books on Innovation and Strategy in the Facebook Era

Right this minute, more than 1.5 million people are on Facebook. They’re interacting with friends and talking about brands. They’re learning about businesses and providing valuable information to market and sell. In the Facebook Era, businesses are closer to their customers than ever before.

Clearly, social media is the most important innovation in the recent history of the internet. Web 2.0 is about people - rapidly changing the competitive landscape. Companies must adapt their strategy and execution quickly to be successful in this new world.

The following is list of top 5 (5 star) books on business strategy and execution in the Facebook Era:

• The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff - practical case studies of how actual businesses are using social networking in real life


• The Innovator's Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth - practical and actionable book on innovation


• The Momentum Effect: How to Ignite Exceptional Growth - best of strategy, marketing, innovation, business development and so much more


• Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day - comprehensive, perfectly paced guide on social media marketing


• The Innovation Zone: How Great Companies Re-Innovate for Amazing Success - practical guide on innovation

Wuala Launches P2P Online Storage Cloud

Wuala has launched a hybrid P2P social online file sharing service.

Wuala provides secure online storage and backup for all kinds of files (including photos and large videos). Accessible from anywhere at any time and easy sharing with friends, family, and co-workers. 1 GB is free of charge and additional capacity is available either by trading in your local storage of buying more from Wuala at a reasonable starting price of $25 for 10GB.

The Wuala client supports Windows, Mac and Linux. I look forward to downloading a client for the Apple iPhone on the iTunes App Store. Is this the way to the TeraPod?

On the technical side the Wuala has an interesting P2P architecture. Wuala is a new way of storing, sharing, and publishing files on the internet. Unlike traditional online storage systems, Wuala is decentralized and can harness idle resources of participating computers to build a large, secure, and reliable online storage.

Dominik Grolimund, the founder of the Swiss startup Caleido, discusses interesting details in this Google Tech Talk video.

Social Search to Save Us from World Wide Irrelevance

How do we navigate in the Virtual World to find and discover relevant content and sites? Google is your friend. Despite the billions of pages indexed many search results are irrelevant.

Social search addresses relevance by using implicit and explicit user behaviors such as attention, social networks, presence and communities to rank results. Social search is using the wisdom of crowds to help people to find stuff.

Peer-to-Peer Banking

Are you a better lender than a bank is? Do you need money to buy a new MacBook Pro?

Prosper and Zopa offers Internet Based Social Lending. They are an Ebay like online marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money so that both parties can get a great deal. Social Lending is not new. It has been happening on a small-scale in families and social groups for hundreds of years – and the Network has opened it up to everybody.

The Social Futures Observatory has an interesting paper on the subject:
Internet Based Social Lending.

Map of Online Communities

xkcd has a nice map of online communities where the geographic are represents estimated size of membership. It even features a compass for navigation!

Beating the Market with The Wisdom of Crowds

Working together on The Network investors can improve their investment decisions. Motley Fool CAPS and Stockpickr! aims to harness the collective intelligence of the investment community.

At the heart of CAPS are thousands of predictions. Players predict whether stocks will outperform or underperform the S&P 500 and over what time frame this will happen. A stock's CAPS rating indicates the stock's potential to outperform the S&P 500 as decided by the community.

StockPickr is a free stock recommendation site that allows you to receive automated stock recommendations from thousands of portfolios, both professional and amateur, with a similar make-up to yours. Thousands of professional and peer portfolios are in the site database. From smaller, more focused portfolios to multi-billion dollar funds, you will get recommendations from all those who have similar portfolios to you.

The Future of Media

How to navigate the Sea of Web 2.0?

The Future of Media Strategic Framework is a great tool for this purpose.

Click on the image for the Future of Media Strategic Framework pdf (293KB)