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When the Choice is Mobile, My Choice is "All of Them"

Posted on June 10, 2010 by jessestay

The web is a competitive landscape. It’s an environment with lots and lots of type-A personalities all competing to be the dominant players. It’s full of opinionated people, entrepreneurs, and bloggers, who all have their opinion on a subject. Everyone wants to be right. That’s why, when you see a landscape, such as mobile, where a single player such as Apple has such a passionate community that will fight tooth and nail for it, it’s a big target for critics, and those behind it will fight back. When a player such as Android comes along with a serious threat to the popular guy, people will do all they can to choose sides and either go with the popular guy, or pick the underdog. On the web, it seems it always has to be one or the other. However, I think you’ll find the true, perhaps more silent Geeks, will be the ones on the sidelines choosing “All of the above”.

I grew up in a home where we couldn’t afford a Mac. We had Apple IIs at school, and I had several distant relatives with Macs and I’d play thoroughly with those when I had the chance. In fact, a lot of my first programming experience, learning BASIC, was on those very Apple II machines I got to use in elementary school. At the same time I remember playing Commodore 64 at my friends’ homes and being fascinated with the different types of architectures and different styles of programming that went with those architectures. I was fascinated that some systems took cartridges, some took floppy disks, and others took tape to read (and eventually store) data. In those days it didn’t really matter what system I was on. It mattered that I was able to get the job done and learn from each. I was fascinated!

Later on in High School, I remember some of the classrooms having PCs, some having Macs, and all of them having varying different operating systems and computer architectures. I’d come home to an even cheaper system that I would then spend hours upon hours trying to read other peoples’ programs and try to understand what they were doing in languages such as Pascal, Assembly, BASIC, and even a little C++. The thing is, as a developer and passionate geek it didn’t really matter to me what system we were using. It mattered that I was learning new things and studying new architectures and figuring out how to code and what those architectures did.

I took that same mentality as I went to college. I sold computers at a Tandy-owned Computer City store (they later went out of business), and I remember always being jealous of the people that could afford the one or two Macs that we sold. They were so cool! They could read text aloud in a human-sounding voice, and had such a different look and feel that fascinated me! At the same time, I remember vivid conversations with co-workers about the release of IBM’s OS 2 Warp we were getting ready to sell, and how cool it was to finally have a 32-bit operating system on the market. We had similar discussions and envy about Windows 95, and I remember having fun beta testing it with a friend of mine (who now works for Microsoft, ironically). I remember how cool the SGI machines we sold were and how cool they were for rendering graphics and other high-end stuff.

Later on I discovered this thing called Linux. I remember wanting to know all I could about it. Finally, an operating system I could afford that let me tinker with its insides and see what it did underneath. I wasn’t this excited since the old 8080 kits you used to be able to build your own computers from! I remember learning how to compile the entire OS from scratch and the difficulties that entailed, yet at the same time how I could do so many cool things that I just couldn’t do on Windows. Later on I even remember tinkering around with the short-lived BeOS.

Finally, only about 5 or 6 years ago I finally bought my first Mac (an iBook). It was probably the first time I could actually afford one. It was a beautiful experience! It was one I will never forget. Everything, from the packaging, to the operating system, to the little fading light when it went to sleep had me hooked. It was the perfect desktop operating system for me at the time. I learned all about packaging, branding, and experience from that.

Today, you’ll find me using all kinds of different operating systems and technologies. Technology fascinates me! While you may find me using Mac on my desktop, and trying out my new iPad, you’ll also see me setting up Windows 7 for my kids and my family. You’ll see me tinkering with the parental controls and helping them understand this world called Windows. At the same time you’ll see me using Linux for my web servers, and at various companies I’ve worked for it made even more sense to use Windows for those servers. Some day I might even use Google on my desktop or even on a server. I will certainly try each and every one out, oodling at all the cool features and unique pieces of each. Let’s face it – new technology, no matter where it is, is pretty dang cool!

While I may carry an iPhone today, and I will probably buy the iPhone 4, I also own a Palm Pre. You can also find me carrying and trying various flavored devices of Android through work. I just asked Sprint for a demo unit of the Evo I could review for you guys. You may even catch me carrying a Blackberry device, or even Windows Mobile (which at one time was my favorite phone as a user). You may see me tethering my iPad off my Palm Pre, or using an Android tablet device with a jailbroken iPhone. The fact is, as a developer, a blogger, and an entrepreneur, but mostly a geek, I need to understand all of them. I need to learn how each operating system works. I need to know the basics of coding on each so I can make educated decisions.

I will never pick just one. I will never pick just 2. As a true geek, I have an obligation to try them all and enjoy the cool features of each. Will I disagree or be negative about specific components of each? Certainly, but as with any technology, I will always have elements of each I particularly like and really admire. I would be hurting myself, and those I write for (both from a blog and software standpoint) if I ever picked just one. Picking one would be the negative choice.

Next time you see a Geek, ask to see their phones – you will always know the true Geek as the one that pulls out each and every phone or embedded device they’re playing with at the moment. That’s the type of Geek I want to be.

I Like This – a Facebook "Dislike" Button for the Entire Web

Posted on June 6, 2010 by jessestay

A post to Facebook by Ryan Merket (former Facebook employee, founder of Ping.fm, and now founder of Appbistro) inspired me to check out a new Facebook App by Zach Allia that lets you “dislike” any website on the internet. The app is simple – you add a little bookmarklet to your browser and connect it with Facebook. Now any website you visit you can “dislike”, and your dislike appears on your Facebook Wall for all your friends to see.

Merket and I had a little fun with the app. He would dislike one political figure’s Facebook Page, and I would then go and dislike the opposite political figure. Or, he would dislike something and I would go “like” his recent dislike. I even went to one of his dislikes, clicked the permalink for the dislike, and disliked his dislike! (Have a headache yet?)

The app doesn’t just work on Facebook. You can go to any website on the internet and click the little “Dislike” bookmarklet and your dislike will appear. In addition, you can go to http://likebutton.me and get a similar like bookmarklet to like things on the internet in a similar manner.

This is a totally cool idea, and great example of the simplicity of Facebook Graph API. I predict it will be very popular due to Facebook and other sites’ lack of a “dislike” button for the network. I hope he can find a good way to monetize the concept. In a recent environment of negativity on the internet, this app could just provide a little level of fun and positivity to Facebook. “dislike” is the new “poke”. 😉

Check out, and “like” the app at http://dislikebutton.me/

Do you “like” the concept?

Google Axing Windows Makes Total Sense (and It’s Not For Security)

Posted on June 5, 2010 by jessestay

Several articles have come out recently criticizing Google for their recent policy, removing the Windows Operating System from their currently approved list of OSes that employees can use. One might expect that I would be against this move, considering the recent criticism I’ve given of Google employees deleting their Facebook accounts. I think this situation is different though, and I actually support it. Of all companies, I think Google is most prepared to make such a move and I think we’ll see a lot of innovation come as a result.

Companies Have Tried This Before

Several years ago I worked for BackCountry.com as an engineer. While there, our engineering department had a policy, making Linux and open source tools the default, while only allowing other operating systems (including Mac OS X) on an as-needed basis. We found this saved us a ton of money, and, as engineers it made sense because we were able to completely alter the systems we were writing on as we needed. It also made it so we could completely duplicate the server environments we were developing for on our local machines if we needed to.

We decided while there to take this to another level, and while I was there we started to push this policy throughout the company. We got a lot of push back, and it took us, as engineers and developers, to help out the rest of the company as they adapted. We started using Zimbra for e-mail, Bugzilla for bug tracking, and everything we could do we tried to do with open source tools. We saved a ton of money.

There was one fatal flaw to this, though. Where we were not an engineering-specific company (our bottom line was probably our buyers, who secured really good deals on outdoor gear, or even our customer support team, where we preached “We use the gear we sell”), we simply did not have enough resources to keep this going and be able to support it all whenever the company had a need that open source software could not solve. The main benefit to open source software (which security is only a minor benefit) is that, as developers, you can get in and alter the software if it doesn’t meet your needs. Then the code you altered could be shared with the rest of the world and others that also might have that need. That’s a great benefit.

However, not having resources to constantly do that whenever there is a need means you’re always going to have weaknesses in your systems, and those systems are likely to fail. I think that became a problem for BackCountry.com, because I heard that shortly after I left they were forced back into a closed-source, Microsoft-backed Exchange system, which probably means back to Windows for most employees. The simple fact is Microsoft, when it comes to Enterprise systems, can’t be beat. Exchange is by far the best e-mail system there is out there. Linux pales in comparison, and has always had problems competing against Exchange and the desktop. Not to mention general user experience and understanding of the OS by a mass audience. Most companies don’t have the time or money to devote resources towards replacing these COTS systems.

Why Google is Axing Windows

So one would think that making a similar move by Google may be prone to similar risks. Google’s hacker culture I’m sure has developers begging to be on Linux or Mac OS X, and higher executives wondering how they’re going to get along without Windows. There’s one thing different about Google though that completely sets them apart from any other company out there that might try such a thing: Google’s base is developers. Not only that, but Google has a vested interest in creating an operating system that works.

My guess is that Google is using “security” as a front to put a jab up against Microsoft, hoping others might try to make the same decision. Google is hoping that the bad stigma Microsoft has had in the past regarding security (Windows 7 is actually pretty secure) might dwell in the minds of others considering similar decisions. However, I bet the real reason is that this will force all employees, in this hacker culture, to truly understand what they’re missing when there are no Exchange servers, when there are no Active Directory databases, and when Executives can’t use the operating system or tools all their colleagues at other companies are using.

Google wants their employees to hurt from this. When you make a hacker culture that actually has a monetary benefit (Chrome OS) to fix problems that arise as a result, problems get solved, and people stop being lazy. I expect that as Google makes this move we’re going to see a much higher rate of bug fixes and User Experience enhancements on Chrome OS and Linux, and possibly even Android. I expect better user experiences on the server. I expect finally an e-mail solution that works up to par with Microsoft Exchange, and a directory services solution that works up to par with Active Directory.

I argue Google Axing Windows as a company is a good thing! I hope it’s only temporary, or on an “as needed” basis so employees that need to create Windows clients that interact and drivers that work together with Google devices, that the company can still understand and work with such devices. Yet at the same time I think doing everything they can to challenge employees to truly understand the weaknesses their new operating systems and web services provide will challenge the thousands of developers working them to produce solutions. While I think security is a lame excuse and PR ploy for Google to remove Windows from their network architecture, I still think this is one of the best things the company has done in a long time.

Google’s move here could be the best thing to happen to Linux, and the open source enterprise world, in a long, long time.

The iPad is the Context-Aware Monitor You Can Take Anywhere

Posted on June 5, 2010 by jessestay

For those that don’t follow my Twitter or Facebook or FriendFeed streams, a few weeks ago I bought an iPad. I was sitting down at the Pool in Hawaii next to Chris Pirillo (we were both speaking at a conference – tough life, huh?), and he pulled out his iPad and immediately started working right there in Paradise. It was that which convinced me I needed to see what this device could do for me and why it was special. But what does make it special? Why is it so “magical”?

I’ve been debating that over the last several weeks. I have a 17″ Macbook Pro that works great and I can take it anywhere I go that I need a full computer. I have an iPhone that I can take everywhere else and access the internet, take brief notes, and get things done. Why would I need an iPad?

I had this discussion with a co-worker the other day, and it got me thinking. He suggested that the value in the iPad is not what it is, but what it could be, and most of all where this technology in general is going. He suggested the concept of bringing his iPhone or Android phone with him wherever he goes, and if he’s near a monitor and keyboard, pulling up an entire OS experience on the monitor via Bluetooth connection. That got me thinking back to the iPad – in reality, the iPad is about context. It’s about having a monitor-sized device that you can carry around in your backpack and display, in a large form-factor, images, video, and text that are relevant to the place you are at that very moment. It’s the monitor I can carry everywhere I go, but more than that – the potential is it could very well be a monitor that communicates with my iPhone, a monitor that communicates with my car, a monitor that communicates with my keyboard at work.

Steve Gillmor inferred this in his Keynote at the Kynetx Impact Conference recently. The Kynetx platform is all about providing a unified API experience that enables developers to provide contextually relevant experiences no matter where the user is. The iPad, in many ways is doing just this. It’s transforming the web from being just data endpoints that require their own displays that stay static, in one place (like TVs and Computer Monitors), to adaptable display interfaces you can take with you wherever you go. Now, instead of needing a TV, you can take the TV with you. Now, instead of your desk needing a monitor, you can take that monitor with you. Now, instead of needing displays throughout your house to control your thermostat, lights, music, etc., you can do all that with a device you have wherever you go.

One of the big rumors for the upcoming June 6 WWDC Keynote by Steve Jobs is that Apple will be announcing a new Apple TV device that is based on the iPhone OS. When you think about it, this idea is not that far-fetched. Now, on the same operating system developers are writing applications for that already stream TV (think Slingbox or Netflix), surf the web, pull up your favorite magazine publications, and more, developers just need to change the screen size to adapt the experience for that specific screen size and experience. For instance, the Scrabble application, when purchased on the iPad, has a mode that you can play Scrabble with different opponents around a table and allow those opponents to use their iPhones as letter holders so no one else in the room can see each opponent’s letters. The two different screen sizes adapt, and work with each other. The iPad, in that case, adapts to become the board in a board game.

The future of tech is in that contextual, ubiquitous experience. In the future, you’ll be able to take your iPad with you and when it detects a keyboard it will provide a different experience that works with the keyboard than the one that doesn’t. Future iPads will detect where you are, and provide new UIs based on the location you are at currently. The future of the tablet device will adapt based on the environment around it and provide an experience that fits the size and form factor of the screen it was built for. The future computing experience is about each display and/or device in the room adapting to the experience the user is having at any given moment.

This isn’t about your desktop becoming more portable. This isn’t about your iPhone becoming bigger. I believe what the iPad has done is rather reinvent the monitor, making the monitor itself more portable, smarter, and more adaptable than ever before. What I’m carrying around in my hands with my new iPad is not a new type of computer. It’s a monitor, a display interface, that follows me around wherever I go.

If you’ve got an iPad and you like this concept, be sure to check out the Air Display app, by Avatron Software, Inc., which turns your iPad into an entirely separate monitor that you can add to your existing Mac when it’s nearby.

What do you think the iPad is?

My Favorite Things: Spotify, the Social Music Streaming Service

Posted on May 29, 2010 by jessestay

I’ve been thinking about a new series for awhile. The idea is I get to share my favorite applications, gadgets, and services that I use on a regular basis. Each one I am either already paying for or I would have paid for in a minute if they had not already sent me a free copy (and some I even pay for anyway just because I want to support the company since I like it so much). This is your peak into my life and the things I use on a day-to-day basis. These are the things that were so good they got me to spend time out of my busy schedule to share with you. Listen carefully to these, as these are truly the technologies I really, really enjoy and I think you will too. The first of these, which I’ve been trying to write about for awhile now, is an iTunes competitor called Spotify.

As I write this, I’m sitting here, listening to Dave Morin, a Facebook friend’s playlist of 90s music and none of it is hosted on either of our computers. I’m listening to Sugar Ray’s “Every Morning”, and the cool thing is I haven’t even downloaded the song yet! Spotify is a 100% cloud-based subscription service based in the UK where you pay a monthly fee, and get to stream as much high quality as you like to your computer.

Spotify’s database is amazing! While there are some rarer songs that are harder to find, Spotify has been able to satisfy just about every search query I’ve given it, providing me with music all over the world in just a few clicks. New releases come out on the service almost as quick as they come out on iTunes, and some like Mika’s new album even get exclusive release on the service earlier than they release in stores (Mika’s had an overlay for the pre-release time asking you to purchase the album).

Every song on the service can be added to a playlist, which, as I’ll show in a minute, all your friends can then subscribe to and also listen. You can easily access any of your playlists, and it also keeps track of your searches so you can go back and access those as well.

Each song can be added to a playlist, or you can view your friends’ playlists

Social Integration

Spotify has the most amazing social integration of any music service I’ve used so far. I think of it as “Twitter lists, for music”. If you link your Facebook account it will immediately show you the playlists of all your friends, and you can “subscribe” to the playlists you like and have them appear in your sidebar for listening later.

In addition to subscription to friends’ lists, sharing is quite simple as well. Just right-click on any song, click “Send to”, and you’re given the option to immediately share that song to Twitter, Facebook, or even friends on the Spotify service. Your friends can then listen to the song on Spotify and add it to their lists as well. I’ve found myself listening more to my friends’ music than my own playlists, discovering all kinds of new music, and music that I have not heard in ages via this means. Remember listening to music with your high school buddies? Now you can do so again through Spotify’s social integration.

Clicking on the “What’s New” tab not only gives me a customized view based on my listening habits of new music tailored for me, but I also get a feed of my friends’ listening activities. I can see, in real-time what all my friends are listening to and check out what they are interested in right then and there.

Clicking “What’s New” gives me a feed of what all my friends are listening to

Downloads

With a near $20/month subscription, any user of Spotify can also download any of the music streamed on the service. This way if you don’t have an internet connection later you can still listen to the music with no problem. You can even take it further though – in any friend’s list, if you swipe a box next to “Available Offline”, all of that friend’s list will download to your computer for listening later. This makes it easy to bring the entire musical experience with you no matter where you go.

Mobile App

I actually loved the service so much that I proxied the service so I could pay them the monthly fee (I had a free blogger copy) just so I could try out the iPhone app. The iPhone app provides most of the same functionality as the desktop application, and also gives you full ability to download music for listening when you don’t have a connection in the car. I’ve found the music quality on the iPhone is not quite as clear as the iPhone’s native iPod player, but it is still good, and worth using. The service is also available on Android and Symbian devices.

Spotify’s iPhone version

US Release?

Spotify currently is only available outside the United States, and to select bloggers in a limited US trial. I originally got access to the service for free, but I liked it so much I am now paying the monthly fee just to support the service. Rumors abound about a US release, but it is still unclear on when this will happen.

So, if you’re in the UK or any of the areas Spotify is available, be sure to check it out and give it a try. For those of us in the US, we’ll be stuck waiting until the US music industry gets its gear in order, contracts are signed, and we too will have the opportunity to try out the goodness that is Spotify. Spotify is the most amazing music service I’ve ever used, and I quickly find it replacing my usage of iTunes and even social streaming services like Last.fm and Pandora Radio. Spotify has revolutionized the way I listen to music. If you can, I highly recommend you check it out.

Facebook Shows its Hand in Privacy

Posted on May 26, 2010 by jessestay

I spoke earlier how I didn’t buy the claims against Mark Zuckerberg trying to steal away our privacy and con people into becoming more public if they didn’t chose to do so. Today Facebook made that even more clear in a press conference I attended by phone by stating their intentions, and introducing an even newer, more simplified, more granular privacy control model that launches today.

The new settings enable, via simple controls, for users to chose at a high level whether they just want friends to see their data, whether they want friends of friends to see their data, or whether they want to customize that data at a piece-by-piece level. Users that set this will then default to this setting with any new feature Facebook releases in the future, making users able to be confident their privacy will not change. In addition, Facebook is enabling users to opt out of the “Instant Personalization” settings completely. Instant Personalization enables third party websites that have partnered with Facebook to, with the user’s ability to opt out, collect user information with the intent to make the experience for that user more personalized and more relevant on each site that implements these controls. Users will be able to opt out of this completely, and also set granular controls as to how applications have control over their privacy. Users will also be able to control how people see them in the Facebook search and directory much better with the new settings.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and founder, had a sincere tone at the press conference, wanting to be absolute sure they had no ill will, nor intentions to sell user data to advertisers, or disrespect user privacy in the process. He was very clear that along with allowing people and helping them to be more open and share better, Facebook held the same priority towards enabling users to have complete control over how public, or private that data was as they used the site. He admitted they rushed to launch their previous features and hoped that this new round of more simplified settings made it easier to understand what users were getting into, and at the same time allowed them to set specific settings to their comfort level on the site.

I think Facebook laid down to rest any concerns users have had about privacy. They showed their hand, and, while a Full House at Facebook, I think those that just quit Facebook over privacy will be forced to fold.

Facebook will be gradually rolling out the new settings to all users starting today. If you’re in Utah, be sure to watch Fox 13 KSTU at 5:30pm and 9pm (you can watch online here) for more as I discuss these new settings with Nineveh Dinha. I’ll try to post those videos later. See screenshots of the new settings below:

Want Your Business in a Dummies Book?

Posted on May 23, 2010 by jessestay

I’m looking for concrete examples of businesses, large and small, that have seen firm success by integrating Facebook either as an application, a Page, or on their own website via Facebook Connect or Facebook Graph API. If you have analytics and statistics to back up your claim, I’d like to get quotes from you on how Facebook’s API has helped your business. The best ones I’ll be including in Facebook Application Development for Dummies.

This is a great opportunity for your business or website, as your brand will be promoted, pushed, and shared with an audience of thousands (wouldn’t it be cool if it were millions?) of readers worldwide, in a brand that is recognized in bookstores everywhere. So if you, or someone you know has a great story to tell about how the Facebook API has helped your business, I’d like to share those case studies with my readers. The best ones I’d like to also try and share on this blog if you’re okay with it. Feel free to share them in the comments if you want everyone to see, or send them to jesse@staynalive.com.

Oh, and and not to show preference, but if anyone has any good contacts at Digg – I really want to see if their integration of Facebook Connect has helped. I think that would be a great example to share – send them my way if you think they might be interested.

This book is a group effort – I hope to include you in many more opportunities like this, so keep reading and subscribing!

Pornography and Choice – The Dilemma Over the Future of Open

Posted on May 17, 2010 by jessestay

I’ve been following the Ryan Tate late-night rant (language) over Steve Jobs’ desire for a world “free from porn” and his objections therein (while still not completely sure the purpose for his rant). While pornography was only one of the things Jobs highlighted, Tate, who has no children of his own, seemed to focus on it, considering a world “free from porn” an infringement on his own privacies. I’d like to take a different angle and share my own views, as a parent of 4 children, and how I really feel the web as we know it infringes my own freedom as a parent. It also infringes on my children’s own freedom, in the the native choices technology-wise that I have access to in order to protect my children and my family from pornography. That’s right, I said it (well, I’ve said it before) – the web, while open, is not entirely free. Let me explain.

Let me start with the point that, while outside this blog I may have my own opinions and beliefs, I am not saying in any way or form whether porn is “evil”, or “not evil”, or whether it is “good”, or “bad” for society. That is not the purpose of this article, and I’ll leave that for you to decide. One thing I think we can all agree on however is that, for good or for bad, pornography affects us all, and, as an individual, or father of 4 children, I don’t have much choice in the matter. Let’s face it – whether I want it or not, my children are going to see porn, probably many, many times in their life, perhaps way before they are old enough to even know what it is. As a parent, at least the way the open web works, at a native level I don’t have any choice in that matter. Is that freedom?

Right now we live on a very open web. It’s a vast web, linked together from website to website, which enables sites like Google and MSN and others to index that content and provide answers to many questions. We have a whole lot more knowledge because of that. At the same time it’s a very wild west atmosphere – the very “Net Neutrality” we are all fighting for is keeping any sort of control that parents and families so desperately want for their children from accidentally stumbling on things they don’t want to see. This is probably why much more closed environments like Facebook are thriving – we’re being given some level of control, as parents and individuals, over this very open atmosphere. We need an open way to fix this problem. Or maybe closed is the only solution…

Let me share an example: My daughter, who is 9 (not even starting puberty yet), told us the story of her friends at school talking about various sexual topics. She told us about one friend, a boy, who wanted to know what sex was, so he Googled “sex” on the internet, something he knew how to do from school when he had a question about how something works or what something was. Needless to say, as parents, at age 9, we were fortunate enough to have our daughter ask about this before Googling herself, but we were now forced to give “the talk” to a 9 year old. I can only imagine that boy’s parents – I hope he talked with them about what he found.

As a father of 4, I’m scared to death what my kids are going to have to go through. I certainly don’t want to shelter them from the world, but at the same time I want to be the one introducing them to the world, not the world getting to them first. We need innovation in this area. I’m worried it’s an area that gets little attention because the innovators in this space either aren’t parents themselves, or have no objections to their children seeing it. The thing is, this isn’t a “good” vs. “bad” battle. This is a battle about true “freedom”. This isn’t about anyone telling you that you can’t watch porn. This is about those on the web that don’t want to watch it or come across it being able to avoid it entirely, as a native component of the web.

Right now all the solutions out there are hacks. Solutions like (my favorite – I’ll be doing a review soon) Net Nanny, Norton Internet Security, and others are great at helping parents to monitor what their kids are doing and even protecting them from things their parents don’t want them to see, but in reality they’re just solving a problem the web should have solved in the first place. Pornography, sexual content, violence, or anything else we, as parents and individuals want a handle over should be elements that are handled at the core of the web. The web needs elements to identify this type of content, and ways to punish those that don’t identify their content, taking away the overall freedom that is inherent to the web. The web should be about choice. It’s not at the moment.

At the same time, operating systems, like Windows, OS X, the iPad, Android, and the iPhone, all need to have layers built in that give parents and individuals more control over the content they want to see. I should note that Facebook, at the moment, has no way for me as a parent to monitor what my child is doing on the site – I can’t let my kids on it until I have that control. Don’t even get me started about Google Chat.

I’m not quite sure what the solution is, but we need innovation in this area. Perhaps XRD or the new JRD and identifiers for content are the solution. Maybe Google and Microsoft and others that index this content could reward sites with higher search rankings that properly identify their data. Maybe a “.xxx” TLD is the solution. At the same time we have to take into account chat, and how people interact online. Maybe verified identity is the solution in this area. On the open web we can’t give up on this effort though, or the more closed solutions, like Jobs inferred with the iPad, are going to win, and rightfully so.

Steve Jobs is right, whether Ryan Tate likes it or not – as a parent I am not free on the web right now. The only freedom I have is to just turn off the computer, keep my kids from learning technology at a young age, and hope they don’t see it at school, or at a friends’ house, or the elsewhere (which they will). Freedom is about choice – we should all have the choice in this matter, and that choice just doesn’t exist on the web at the moment. I hope the Open Web can fix these problems before Apple, or Microsoft, or Facebook do it in a closed environment. Either way, I welcome the extra freedom I will get from it.

From one parent to another: Thank you Steve, for trying to make my life as a parent a little more “free”.

Adobe and Google Sitting in a Tree? Or Did Adobe Just Pwn Google?

Posted on May 14, 2010 by jessestay

There’s something really fishy going on with Adobe’s “I ♥ Apple” Ad campaign. You might have noticed it yesterday as you were browsing websites such as TechCrunch and Google Reader. Basically, somehow Adobe got around Google’s “no popups” ad policy for Adsense and for those on Macs and for some reason Opera web browsers. For users visiting sites with a specific Adsense ad image installed, Adobe was displaying an ad that said “I ♥ Apple”, trying to convince users of Apple operating systems that Apple was in the wrong. The ad was then causing a popup window on the page – I couldn’t open TechCrunch without a popup appearing, and I know TechCrunch didn’t put it there.

Aside from the existing issues of how effective such a campaign is already, what is really baffling is how Adobe was using their own Flash to get around Adsense’s security measures preventing popups. Jimminy Fuller investigated this last night, and gave me this explanation:

Since the ad was being handled by Google Adsense, this shouldn’t have been happening. It’s forbidden under the Adsense TOS, so I went to see if this pop-up was actually occurring. I couldn’t recreate the issue though for one reason: the ads were selective.

Selective ads? First thing that popped into my head was that they were performing a User-Agent check, a hunch that proved fruitful, later on. I ended up rooting around and finally was able to find some rendered code for the ad, at which point I went digging into the source to see if I could find the User-Agent check. I found that pretty quickly and noticed a little quirk where they were also messing with Opera users, I
assume because Opera also recently turned a cold shoulder to Adobe’s Flash platform.

So I spent a little time analyzing what was going on in the ad besides just the selective pop up, but couldn’t come up with anything determinate as to how they were getting the set of scripts embedded into their ad. What I did find out while analyzing their ad, was that they were using primarily javascript (ironically), lots of it, which did all the preemptive work in analyzing what your browser and OS, were, as well as if you had Flash 8, or higher, installed. If they were able to match the User-Agent, to either a Mac or Opera, and you had Flash installed, they would force a window open that held a Flash element, otherwise the ad was only activated if you clicked upon it.

That’s the very basic analysis of what this ad was doing, but it means that either Google allowed them to do this, or that Adobe basically ignored Google’s rules, and managed to manipulate the ad System to relay this message, I assume the latter. This is quite disturbing, however, because if Adobe, without Google’s consent, can manipulate the ad code, in such a way, it means that there is a possibility for it to be used as an exploit vector. Google has since pulled the ad, it had about a 10 hour stint, but I wonder if we’ll hear anything from any of the parties involved, particularly Google or Adobe.

You can read more details of Jimminy’s evaluation here on his blog.

Adobe brought up this popup when you visited certain websites like Google Reader

What Jimminy found is quite disturbing. As he said, the fact that Adobe was able to get around the popups rule either means Google had a specific relationship for this partner, in which they were willing to make an exception to the popup rule, or Adobe Pwn’d perhaps the only viable potential partner they have in the battle to come, revealing even a greater hole in Google’s code allowing other parties to potentially exploit any website with Adsense installed.

Adobe certainly has its own issues, and rightly so, but exposing flaws in Google’s ad code and taking advantage of perhaps your greatest partner isn’t the best way to fix those issues. I really hope we hear from Adobe or Google on why these Popups were allowed. We talk about Facebook and privacy, but if Adobe can get around Google’s safeguards, and deploy specific Javascript commands on any website that deploys Adsense, I think Google may be the one with issues here and I hope this gets fixed.

Mark Zuckerberg – A Cheater? A Stealer? I’m Calling Calacanis’ Bluff

Posted on May 12, 2010 by jessestay

I give – I call. I’m getting really tired over all the “I’m deleting my Facebook because they have gone corrupt” posts all over the place. Some of the smartest minds in the industry (and those I respect most) are all doing it, even Leo Laporte, and it’s breaking my heart. I don’t understand how any of these people can talk about Facebook with any grain of salt after this without some level of bias. How can you talk legibly about Facebook from here on out if you’re not using the service? How can you know how to compete properly if you’re not using your competitors’ products (ahem, Matt Cutts)? How can you know whom to invest in unless you’re truly trying out all the biggest players in the game? It doesn’t make sense to me.

Jason Calacanis wrote a scathing letter to his e-mail list today just ripping apart Mark Zuckerberg, coining a term I’m not sure I want to repeat here since it’s almost a curse word (okay, he coined the term, “Zucked”). He called Zuckerberg a liar, a cheater, a backstabber, and even inferred he had Asperger’s-like tendencies (which anyone who has or knows someone with Asperger’s should be offended). According to Calacanis:

“Zuckerberg represents the best and worst aspects of entrepreneurship.
His drive, skill and fearlessness are only matched by his long
record–recorded in lawsuit after lawsuit–of backstabbing, stealing
and cheating.”

I’ve heard elsewhere Zuckerberg compared to a Nazi, and other Facebook employees all “drinking the Kool-Aid” they were being served there. I’ve been called names myself for supporting them. I really feel bad for those at Facebook right now – quite honestly, as a company, despite their audience, they’re not that big! Bullying them certainly isn’t going to help.

Let’s address the Zynga issue that Calacanis seems to be basing much of his letter on (the reason Calacanis calls Zuckerberg a liar and stealer). As a Facebook developer myself, and having addressed, consulted and discussed with many very successful Facebook developers as both a consultant and author of Facebook development books (see the upper-right, and a Dummies book on the way), I’ve seen the pain of many, much more than just Zynga, that have been affected by what Calacanis is talking about. Zynga is the last of the successful Facebook.com developers that managed to make millions by building applications on top of Facebook.com itself. I know one developer that went from 0 to 2 million users in just a couple weeks in the early days of Facebook.com – it was a mad GoldRush!

The problem, however is that none of these developers adapted. Facebook gave them all the tools they needed to adapt and move outside the platform, and I’ve seen very few actually take Facebook up on that offer. Facebook gave the hints that they were pushing in that direction and no one followed. Zynga is just now realizing that as they build their own website – it’s the smart thing to do, and Facebook hasn’t abandoned them in the process. Facebook, in fact, has pushed Zynga in that direction, offering tools, plugins, protocols, and many other ways of building outside the Facebook platform, while still enabling them to maintain their existing user base on Zynga.com itself. Zynga’s finally doing the smart thing here, and Facebook wants that to happen!

The crazy thing here is Zynga probably has one of the closest relationships with Facebook of any Facebook developer I know. Sure, Facebook is trying to make money off of what Zynga does in their own environment, but can you blame them? It’s Facebook’s own environment. They have every right to control their own IP, and every developer on the platform should know that by now – I’ve written about it many times. Every company needs a core. I’m a little jealous of the relationship Zynga has built with Facebook though – there is no reason to feel bad for them. And they’re now working on their own core as Facebook helps them through that process. I don’t see anyone lying, cheating, or stealing from anyone here. Is Facebook supposed to be giving their IP away? I don’t get it.

Now let’s talk privacy. Were you aware that Facebook actually gives users a chance to debate privacy policy changes when they go into place? For every change to Facebook’s terms that goes into place, users have the opportunity to complain, react, and share their feelings in whatever manner they feel necessary about new changes put into place. The November policy changes (which were probably the biggest recent change) were proposed here (if you really have problems with the Privacy changes you really should subscribe to the updates, that is, unless you’re no longer a Facebook user):

“Facebook has proposed an updated privacy policy. We encourage you to view the proposal and offer your comments here <http://www.facebook.com/fbsitegovernance?v=app_4949752878> by 12:00 PM PDT on November 5, 2009. For future policy updates, become a fan of the Facebook Site Governance Page.”

When this was proposed, users were overwhelmingly for the changes. Comments were overwhelmingly in a positive tone, resulting in the changes being adopted. Had users complained back then, the changes would not have gone into place. This is actually the same process that got Beacon reversed. New changes were again proposed on March 26, shortly before F8, when the OpenGraph initiative was announced. Users again overwhelmingly supported the changes, and on April 22, the new changes were accepted. It was on April 23 that Matt Cutts, and others deleted their Facebook accounts – I’m very curious if they even tried to make their concerns known on the Site Governance site. It should also be noted that Facebook issued press releases for each of these proposed updates – Mashable covered it. ReadWriteWeb covered it. So did TechCrunch, in vivid detail.

So I don’t get it – Facebook is opening up more than they have ever before (despite these same people calling them a Walled Garden before). They’re the only site out there with a policy in place that actually lets users vote on privacy and policy changes. They’re the only site out there with the ability to provide any level of granularity towards privacy (did you know you can specify specific groups, exclude specific individuals and groups, and get very specific with exactly who sees your status updates on Facebook? That’s only the beginning.). Facebook seems to be making all the right moves, yet they’re Nazis. They’re liars. They’re cheaters. They’re stealers. All this doesn’t compute! I don’t see Google doing any of this. And talk about taking developers out of business – Google’s the biggest culprit of all!

I’m sorry Jason, but calling names isn’t how you win Poker either. It’s time we start encouraging Facebook’s moves, hoping they continue this momentum to become more open. It’s time we start educating users that they get to vote on this stuff before it goes live (which they did!). It’s time we start helping to get the word out to users on what is private and what is not in their Facebook accounts now that the changes have gone into place.

I’m sorry, but I’m getting sick of all the bloggers and so-called “experts” complaining about this when they didn’t do anything to stop it in the first place. This, especially, when we’re given so many options! Right now they’re all starting to sound like a bunch of complainers to me. Am I really the only one that sees this? I feel like I’m the only one writing about it. Maybe it’s time I fold, or is everyone else just bluffing?