Monday, April 28, 2008

The future of this blog

I want to continue with this blog, but I don't know how. I really enjoy writing about social networking, but I also enjoy writing about a lot of other stuff. I could start some more blogs, but I don't write enough to justify that. I could start writing about my personal life, but I don't think I could do that to my loyal readers (you are out there right?). I'm just a pretty boring person, plus I already tried that back in high school with my Xanga. To show you, here's a fake post that I easily could have written on my old Xanga.

Evan's Xanga!!!!!111oneone

October 03, 2002

So today I went to schooll and lerned some stuff. then i went to home
and listened to weezer. they are like the greatest band ever.
seriously.

Currently Playing: Soul Calibur II on gamecube. I'm like really good
with taki the ninja. seriously, her ninja moves are
awesome.

Who would want to read that? Nobody. That's why I stopped writing about my personal life.

I think I'm going to continue this blog, but change the focus away from social networking technology and such. But I need a new title. I like using "Ramblings" in the title, because I like to ramble. But it needs more. I will probably be writing about general tech stuff, business, social networking, video games, and entertainment. I also enjoy self-deprecating humor if you couldn't tell already. Right now, I'm leaning towards "Unmused Ramblings." But that title really needs a good subtitle. What do you think?

And here's a question I want to pose to everyone in our class. What are you going to do with your blog after this semester? Are you going to keep writing on social networking? Are you going to use it as general personal blog? Are you going to let it languish in the blogospere with no more new posts? Or will you simply delete it?

Friday, April 25, 2008

Two Amazing Cover Songs

Here are two amazing cover songs that I recently found on YouTube. The first is The Fratellis' cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" that evokes the excellent Jimi Hendrix version of the song. The second is Kate Nash covering "Fluorescent Adolescent" by Arctic Monkeys.



Sunday, April 20, 2008

The future of social networking?

Whats going to happen to social networking in the future? I have a few ideas, but I'll save them for later. First I want to talk about something I think will not happen.

This post (from last November) on the NY Times Bits blog, describes how Google and Yahoo! are going to use their e-mail programs to create a sort of organic social networking service. Now here's why I don't think this is a good idea. I don't really use e-mail to talk to any of my friends. I use AIM, Facebook, and Skype. I use e-mail almost entirely for mailing lists, and other website communications. While I can't speak for others, I would gain little benefit from either of these services.

I really don't know what the future of social networking will look like. I feel like the cycle of the new "next big thing" replacing the old "next big thing" will continue for a while, until someone figures out a genius way to actually make money over a long period of time using social networking.

Friday, April 18, 2008

MK Vs DC

Midway just announced that the next Mortal Kombat game will be called Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The DC Universe, you know, Brandon Routh, Christian Bale, err.... Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and all the rest.

What is this, the late 90s?

Way back when, the Marvel vs Capcom games were awesome. Mainly because Street Fighter is awesome and Marvel is awesome.

Mortal Kombat hasn't been a good game since MK Trilogy on PSX and has pretty much fallen off the pop culture radar. Plus, the only successful DC property right now is Batman (which is likely why he's in this game's logo). The game is probably going to be terrible, like pretty much all DC-based games. I'm going to buy it, though, its just too goofy to pass up. Check out the official website here.

Source: http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/04/18/mortal-kombat-vs-dc-universe/

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Yahoo! OneConnect

When it comes to mobile applications, Yahoo! is king, at least on my Nokia 6126. I use Yahoo! Go everyday to search, map, check my e-mail, check the weather forecast, and read the news. Its attractive, easy to use, and has a lot of features in one place. If any company is going to make the ultimate mobile social networking service, its Yahoo!

Later this year, Yahoo! will be launching their next mobile app, Yahoo! OneConnect, and it has me really excited for the future of mobile social networking. It going to support IM (including AIM, who uses Yahoo! Messenger anyway?), social networking (including MySpace, Facebook, Last.fm, Twitter, LinkedIn and others. According to this News.com article, the service will also let you know if any of your friends are nearby, using GPS and/or triangulation.

For all the great possibilities of this service, it could potentially take internet stalking to a whole new level, and turn it into real stalking. As with anything else, people will need to be extra careful with who they link up with on Yahoo! OneConnect.

Even with those reservations, I can't possibly express how cool this app will be. Just check out the website for even more info. Also check out this video for a demonstration of the service.

Monday, April 7, 2008

YouTube and the race for President

YouTube's YouChoose '08 channel is an interesting example how the internet can both help and hurt candidates. Today, on the channel's front page, there is a link to this video making fun of Hilary Clinton's chances in the upcoming election.

The link to this video is directly below the link to the Clinton campaign's official YouTube page. That is certainly not something that Mrs. Clinton would appreciate being there.

While the internet provides a medium for politicians to share their views, recruit supporters, and rally their base, it also allows them to be ridiculed in the same space. As much the campaigns try to present the perfect image of their candidates, there's no stopping something like this.