matt hamann
musings from here to there
Zune Phone becoming reality?
01256 days
I’m in the market for a smartphone. My two-year contract on my Verizon plan is up in June or July ’09 and although I’m not necessarily in a hurry to get rid of my current phone (the LG Chocolate 2), I would like something that makes texting and emailing on the go a breeze, plus gives me the option of 3G internet anywhere. I’ve been very pleased with my Verizon service, so I’m definitely sticking with them, but thus far I haven’t been terribly impressed with their smartphone lineup. Which is why today’s announcement/speculation makes me very excited. Yes, I realize that Verizon may get the iPhone by 2010, but given my experience with Apple products, I’m in no hurry to get one of those anyway.
Wired.com is running a story on a potential Microsoft announcement at CES ’09 on January 7th regarding a new smartphone based on their already well-made Zune product. While this could be a brand-new OS release, it could also be part of the plan for Windows Mobile 7. Either way, it’s pretty exciting stuff, and since AT&T has an exclusivity deal with Apple, I could see Microsoft picking Verizon as a potential partner for their phone. Ultimately the best endgame here would be for Microsoft to get their phone to as many wireless providers as possible in an effort to take as much market share as possible.
Harnessing the power of social networks
01261 days
by matt
in Social Networks
If ever you’ve wished for a way to connect all 120+ million Facebook users with your business or community website, wish no longer–the solution is here. Facebook Connect promises to link any Facebook user’s existing account with a website which implements the service and integrates it with a new or existing database of users. Basically, this means that with a site visitor’s approval, you can access certain information from their personal profile on the popular social networking site. The uses for such information are practically unlimited, providing businesses new ways to target ads to specific users–making them even more relevant than Google’s own advertising system, which displays ads based on the analysis of each search.
Facebook Connect is hot on the heels of Google’s own “Friend Connect” system, which similarly allows anyone with a Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID account to login to a partner site using the credentials of their choice. I suspect that Google’s program is probably a bit more open at this point, but it remains to be seen which service is the most effective.
While Google is by far one of the most popular sites on the web, with more than a billion searches performed each day, it certainly has a significant user base. Unfortunately, not nearly as many people have a Google Account or supply that account with personally identifiable information as they would on popular social networking sites. Facebook has the edge here in collecting users’ favorite books, movies, TV shows, music, hobbies and more, so if a site like Amazon partnered with Facebook Connect, it could offer pinpoint accurate suggestions to shoppers. You like Lord of the Rings? Here’s a set of books and movies in the same genre. The possibilities really are endless.
Ultimately, I believe that APIs like Google’s OpenSocial will be the key to linking each social network site into one global peoplenet. It’ll be crucial for the average user and consumer to be able to login to any site, whether using Facebook Connect, Friend Connect, or the older MySpace Data Availability initiative. It shouldn’t matter which service I prefer–I should be able to access my information from Facebook while logged into Google and vice-versa. It only makes sense!
All things equal, this opens up a huge can of worms in the privacy arena and it’ll be up to users and social networks to come to an agreement on what information is sharable without violating privacy rights.
It’s exciting though, and I can’t wait to see how things progress from here!
I'm a PC (and a human being)
0Microsoft is throwing it right back at Apple, who has attempted to stereotype the Personal Computer (PC) as a bloated, disfunctional, and not-very-hip machine. I won’t delve into the many arguments about how Macs are really just PCs with an Apple logo and an alternative OS, or how Linux (which Apple ignores in it’s commercials) runs on many PCs.
So to counter this so-called “stereotype,” Microsoft has released the “I’m a PC” ad campaign. See for yourself why that stereotype is so wrong…
The client's website is done! (or is it?)
0Design and content are the two main things that cross most people’s minds when they begin crafting a new website, whether for themselves or for a paying client. But even in the design phase, it’s crucial to consider search engine optimization (SEO), accessibility, and how you’re going to make updates and improvements after the site goes live.
Is the client going to be making updates themselves? Can they do it without destroying the layout or other features? What about when a new page is added, or one is deleted?? Is there a mechanism in place to detect and remove/fix broken links? It’s also good to think about the next redesign. As the web evolves and changes it’s necessary to update the look and feel of a site to keep up with the changing times. Can this be done easily without breaking the existing content?
All of these are valid questions to begin asking early on in the construction of a good website. But even beyond that, Smiley Cat has 12 Essential Site Building Blocks that I’ve found, well, essential to jumpstart good website development. Check them out before starting your next project (or even finishing your current one!)
Facebook update now arriving, but not without a few bugs
01397 days
by matt
in Social Networks
If you haven’t seen it already, the long awaited Facebook makeover can now be viewed live and in full color! At the moment, it’s an opt-in thing–use it if you want to get used to it, but if you’re not ready for the change you can still stick with the current layout.
In my opinion the new look provides a much needed layout to an already successful social network. It should attract even more people than before. Also, in listening to their users, the crew over there at Facebook has moved the profile pics back to the left-hand side of the page among a couple other minor tweaks.
My browsing wasn’t without difficulty though. Many times clicking a link or button resulted nothing happening. Either the browser would just act like it was working but never came back with a new page. Other times clicking a link just didn’t do anything–as if the link wasn’t programmed to go anywhere. My guess is that Facebook’s servers are getting hit fairly hard at the moment with everyone checking out the improvements and I’m sure the development team is actively working to make the transition as smooth as possible. I don’t foresee too many problems come mainstream launch day.
In a few weeks (my guess is sometime toward mid-August) the new Facebook site will go live for everyone and you won’t have a choice but to use the new UI. It’ll take a bit of getting used to at first, but all in all it’s for the better and I think you’ll like it a lot. Go take a look!