Some News I Missed While on Vacation Last Week
If you are like me, you may have taken some vacation time last week and are now working diligently to dig out from under all the emails, messages, and industry news that popped up while you were away. While I did a pretty good job of staying on top of my email (even though the Wi-Fi connection was sketchy at my hotel in Jamaica) I definitely missed a number of articles and blog posts. So, here is a quick list of interesting news that I am catching up with now that I am back in the office.
Down with Walled Gardens
I pretty confident that I have never linked to an article from Scientific American before, but when the “founder” of the Internet Tim Berners-Lee (what, not Al Gore?) writes an article on the future of the web, it’s worth noting. Among other topics, he contends that sites like Facebook and other “walled gardens” are a threat to the future of the Internet – which he feels has been built and will continue to thrive on open sharing of data among sites and applications. The article is a bit of a long read (OK, really long), but give it a read if you are interested in what the “founder” of the Internet has to say about its future.
Long Live the Web: a Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality
Gavin Dunaway at Adotas provides his take on the Berners-Lee article, if you want a quick synopsis.
Web Founder Labels Facebook a Threat
To the Victor go the Spoils
News flash for those who have been living without any connection to the outside world over the past couple of years – Facebook has won the latest round of the social media battles. (I’m not proclaiming them winners of the war, since the 20 year history of the Internet tells us that one-time top dogs can end up being overtaken by more innovative upstarts – see Alta Vista, Friendster, AOL, Netscape, Excite, etc.) MySpace admitted as much with its latest partnership with Facebook, dubbed “Mashup,” which will allow Facebook users to log in to MySpace using their Facebook login info and share content more easily between the two sites.
MySpace ‘Mashup’ Opens Door To Facebook Users
Gmail and Privacy Issues
A new lawsuit filed in Texas argues that contextual ads within Gmail infringe on users’ privacy and violate federal wiretap laws. Whether or not the case gets anywhere, it is another example of offline laws (potentially) being applied to the online world.
Gmail Targeted Ads Accuses of Violating Wiretap Laws
How Not to React to a Bad Public Relations Situation
This story has been building up for the past few weeks, but now that it appears to have reached a conclusion, I thought I would comment on it. Basically, the editor of a cooking magazine was called out for reprinting an article from a blogger without providing any attribution. When contacted by the blogger, the editor sent back a response that was less than apologetic. The blogger posted the response on her blog, which set off a serious firestorm of negative reaction to the magazine. This appears to have resulted in the magazine (which was very small to begin with) shutting down. I won’t go into all the details, as you can read more about the story in the article below, but it is a great example of how not to handle a bad PR situation. If the editor had responded to the blogger with a more apologetic message, it is likely the entire issue would have disappeared. But, by coming across as unconcerned about copying the blogger’s article, the editor basically helped turn a small issue into a huge one that took down the business.
Update: Cooks Source Succumbs to Internet Savaging
