Niv Calderon Connected

It took me not more than two minutes to decide to write a post about this Firefox add-on called MashLogic, (after the companie's name). I didn't know what to expect, but after the installation I went to my other tabs and saw the technology working.

In short:
You browse the web, you see regular links and you see more links that looks a bit different. Those other links will open small in-window popups (if you stand on them) and will give you information from different sources about this word or phrase, at present, most of them will come from Wikipedia and LinkedIn.

HeadUp
Last time I wrote a product review it was about Semantinet's Headup where I suggested they should open themselves to go beyond the social web, and it is my guess they have only just started there and that they're on their way to connect the dots of the normal web.

Semantics
Well, it's funny to say, but MashLogic has done just that, but the opposite- they went to connect the dots in the normal web and left the social web, or to be precise- they are not connecting everything I do as a user all over the web. I'll explain. Whereas Semantinet's Headup are looking at what people are doing all over the social web, MashLogic is looking at words and phrases and suggesting to us the users extra value to whatever we are looking for and then some more about words and phrases that are living in or near the same context.

Words and phrases becoming links that may interest you. MashLogic

User Experience
After Installing the addon you get a window you need to choose which places you want to take info from. My guess is that this list will grow in time and that it is the amount of boxes you check that decides how many phrases you'll learn more about. To the guys at MashLogic I suggest to make this settings page smaller. it's too big and there's too much to read there. My first reaction to this was that I got scared and wanted to close it. It didnt take me a second to realize I need to choose from the list of options, but the too much to read part is unnecessary. Less is more.

What Now
The world is becoming a world of mashups. Web 3.0 is somthing people are saying is going to be a world of semantic connections and technology understanding contexts. BORING.
You can stone me if you want, but I think web 3 is going to be an era where technologies will ultimately learn to co-exist with each other to the max. The foundation is already here (undoubtedly web 2 is the foundation for web 3) Look at the Open Social technology, look at the data portability vision, look at the Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web, Go read about Yahoo's Open Strategy (or watch the video). In the future,  technologies that will stand alone and won't speak in both directions will be obselete, we're on our way there right now.

MashLogic vs. SemantiNet
MashLogic is what I thought missing to Semantinet and Semantinet is what's missing to MashLogic. Those are two startups that probablys tarted at the same time (2007) but went in two different dirrections.
Their future is unknown but promising. I think they should work together, what do you think?

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PostScript- If you are interested in a product review you can contact me via email or via Facebook

invitations to MashLogic

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more about MashLogic:
MashLogic at CrunnchBase
John Gannon writes about MashLogic
VenturBeat
Techcrunch

Digsby has done something no application should do to its users. I'll tell you more than that. After I'm done writing this I'm going to uninstall this program and send them a letter to be deleted from their database, they made me angry.

It's the second time in my life I'm angry at a startup I use its application, and this time i'm not going to shut up about it. The first was a Firefox plugin called Xoopit that connected to my Gmail and started sorting my attachments to give me a once a week email with all my photos in order. Joy. Not really.
Even after I removed this plugin it continued sending me emails until I said no more. I went to read the terms and conditions and to my amazement- they save a copy of ALL my emails in their server in the process. I'll say that again- by installing and registering to their service- you grant them permission to save a copy of all your emails. That-made-me-angry the first time. (this is their pirvacy policy, they may have changed it in the mean time, i talked to them back in August and just re-read the conversation with them).

Digsby became known to me 2 nights ago by a friend. I was enthusiastic about a so called all-in-one IM/EMAIL/Social Network application I could see what's going on everywhere. Well, it turned out somehow the Gtalk side didnt work but than I got a @reply from a Twitter friend telling me he's not very enthusiastic about this program. How did he know? I asked my self this question too. It appears my Digsby sent it for me, WITHOUT ASKING.
What were you thinking to yourselves? Very not cool.

This morning I got an email notification from none other than LinkedIn. "Your request to join a LinkedIn Group has been accepted", was written in the subject line. I ASKED TO JOIN A LINKEDIN GROUP? i asked myself?

What are those guys at digsby thinking to themselves?
There are 3743 members in the LinkedIn group called "Fans of Digsby". I wonder how many of them truly asked to join.

An application, whether its desktop or web, shouldn't mess with the privacy of its users. It should deffinately not give itself the privilege to write status updates for its users ( to help itself expand ) and most certanly should not attampt to link its members to groups or any other sad attampt to grow in an unnatural way. An application that does such things, who knows what it's capable of. I don't want to find out.

Haven't seen The Muppet Show in years I think, and just when I was looking to write about how social media can change the way we are in school, the way we study, the way we communicate with our fellow students and teachers (it can be in grade school, it can be in university), I found these 3 amazing short videos, each not more than 20 seconds, that made me lough out loud and think of the brilliancy the writers poses and how connected they are to what's happening today in this field. their brilliancy in taking a social phenomenon like YouTube and how people are using it, and drill down on it all the way, all the way to the point where the two characters stick their heads to the webcam. It's hilariously like that. I've never thought of the Muppets as a satire show, but than again, maybe I was too young. This is a satire to how we are when online. It's a replica of us.

The book of what is social media, is not written yet. How to best use it, how can organizations benefit from it and how traditional advertisers can take advantage of it, these are all very big and very good questions and we still don’t have all the answers to. In the mean time, we’re reading blog posts about all of this, watching video clips and participating in social media and networking events. This post is about networking and how to succeed in making it a good one for yourselves and for all the participant.

Jeff Pulver is one of the pioneers in this industry and among other subjects, he is known for his love for networking events. A few months ago, after I've participated in three events in a row I wrote a post about how to create a successful networking event and it was after being in one of Jeff's morning networking events he calls "Breakfasts", for the time they happen (9a.m) and for the informal atmosphere they are created in. Those events are just great, and in Tel Aviv, where i'm from, each breakfast groups more and more people each time. After a few times hosting these morning meetups he recorded a video and took many social media characteristic, specifically from facebook, and brought them down to earth, for people in the process of networking.

This video is better than words

More about social media
Social Media and Marketing: Chris Brogan
Garage Geeks Rock Band Party

The book of what is social media, how to best use it, how can organizations benefit from it and how traditional advertisers can work with it, those are all very big and very good questions and we still don't have all the answers to it (but we're getting there). The book of how to use social media is not written yet, and people, even experts in this field can't say everything about how things become viral.

In the mean time, we're reading blog posts about this, watching video clips and participating in social media and networking events. This post is all about this, but instead of sending you out of here to read, I want to invite you to see a very special video.

I don't know if you know Chris Brogan or not, but in my opinion, he is one of the geniuses of our time (and one of the few people who really understands this phenomenon that is called Social Media). His title is Social Media Strategist, and in this video, if you choose to see it, you will see and hear him talking about how to use social media for advertising (just be first!). The interesting part in this video for me is that this video is probably the sum of his blog posts from the last year or so, so it's a very good video if you don't want to read his entire blog, but, he writes a post a day so there's a lot to learn from him.

Advice for People Attending Conferences