Saying "sorry" via Facebook

Yesterday morning when I got into the office (having walked through the crowds in Martin Place) I made my own personal 'sorry' declaration on Facebook via Twitter (I appreciate doing that achieves nothing in a practical sense but yesterday was all about the symbolism, right?).
When I next checked back at the end of the day I found lot of my friends had done the same. I can't recall having seen that happen before and I thought it was an interesting outcome of on-line social networks. I wondered how many others did the same.
Perhaps in the future we'll no longer need to ask our friends the 'where were you on that the day X happened?' question around significant events -- because we'll already know.
Update: Looks like Chloe Lake over at News had the same idea.
Update 2: Here's an interesting counterpoint: Radio callers outraged: I'm disgusted, says one. My reading of on-line opinion (after all blogs etc are now another way people share their views en-mass, talk back radio is no longer alone there) suggests many were supportive.

Social Apps Will Thrive In A Recession?

To echo Josh Bernoff's disclaimer, I'm not an economist, but I'm pretty sure I don't agree with his reasoning in this Groundswell post (and I may be wrong but I think the Tech Wreck was well underway before September 11).
I do agree some things are different now -- one key point Josh doesn't mention is that on-line advertising is far more mature now, and so capable of demonstrating value, than it was in 2000.
But it looks to me like Josh is asking the wrong question. It's not whether or not Facebook etc will do well in a (US) recession but whether investors will continue to put money in at the same pace.
People didn't stop using email after 2000 and I suspect they wont stop using social networking tools now (incidentally, Mark Jones at Filtered had a great post about what's next, Email 3.0.)
But venture capital funding did become harder to get for Web businesses after the Tech Wreck and businesses did slow spending on new IT projects tools for a while afterwards.
In my view that's the challenge the social networking micro-economy is going to face if the US enters a recession -- a rapidly growing customer base at the same time sources of funding are becoming more risk averse.
And that's a recipe for currently those independant outfits being accquired by large IT and media companies I think-- just like after 2000 -- as they seek the protection of more finanically stable parents (witness the recent rumours re Digg).

Google and Microsoft: lawyers at ten paces over Yahoo

Since I'm now with a law firm I'm watching with new interest as lawyers David Drummond at Google and Brad Smith at Microsoft trade barbs over the latter's proposal to buy Yahoo.
If Google is successful I suspect we'll start to see more large firm's senior lawyers engaging in public debate -- though not if the Economist's speculation over MS's motives turns out to be right.

I love TED

Two years ago I saw video that gave me first goose pimples about technology I've had in years (and that's includes a period where I've been exposed to some pretty amazing innovation from IBM and Dell).
It was Jeff Han demonstrating the high-resolution multi-touch computer interface that's since become known as Microsoft Surface at an event called TED (Technology Entertainment Design). Bill Gates later did virtually the same demo (at TechEd I think).
(It caught my interest because the keyboard is my least preferred way to interact with technology. I appreciate it was probably the best early computer engineers could come up with at the time but live for the day when we can consign it to history.)
I knew nothing of TED at the time (which in itself was surprising to me since I read a lot about technology) but I've been going back to this amazing Web-site regularly ever since.
TED's tagline is 'inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers' and for once on the Internet it's actually true. Just take a look at these past presentations on the theme What's New in Tech.
More recently the TED blog featured a short presentation from Hollywood 'it' producer JJ Abrams on the use of mystery in film making (as it turns out we both have the same favourite scene in Jaws) and tonight I this great demo on Microsoft's Seadragon technology and the 'zoom interface'.
It's actually surprising how little media coverage TED attracts, particularly when you consider the quality of presenters and the clever ideas being showcased, and especially in comparison to the attention given to the relatively trivial news coming out of CES and Macworld etc.

Video: Blogs in Plain English

Found this today and I think it's great!

Scoble doorstop with Lenovo CEO at Davos

Just when you thought you were getting used to Web 2.0... here's Bill Amelio, CEO of Lenovo (and former President of Dell APJ, so for a time the boss of my boss) doorstopped by blogger Robert Scoble at the Davos forum using live streaming video from a mobile phone!
I know Robert Scoble's been doing these videos for a month or two but this is the first time I've really grasped the impact.
Granted the circumstances are unusual -- he filmed Bono earlier and Scoble's not exactly your average run-of-the-mill blogger (he's at the World Economic Forum for a start) -- but wow!
Even a senior journalist at the Wall Street Journal would be unlikely to get an interview with the head of a large multinational like Bill on the spur of the moment (clearly Bill had some warning).
Not saying chance meetings didn't take place before this -- almost everyone has brush with fame story -- but if blogging turned people into amateur journalists, this puts a TV station in their hands!
Interesting times...
Update: Here's a comment along the same lines from TheFlack.

Saab not that green: watchdog

It will be interesting to see if the ACCC is successful with this action (I don't know the facts of the matter of course) but at the very least it is a reminder to organisations of the need be able to substantiate green claims -- and for consumers to not to take them at face-value.
It's tempting and comparatively easy to claim 'green-ness' -- you only have to look at the avalanche of people committing to become carbon neutral in the last 18 months to see that -- but you if haven't done your homework too you're exposing your company's reputation to a disproportionate risk (not to mention misleading people).
My former company, Dell, became the first IT hardware vendor to commit to becoming carbon neutral last year but did so only after having thoroughly understood its carbon footprint and committing to lowering its overall carbon intensity 15 percent by 2012.
(Carbon intensity in this case means the ratio of carbon emissions to company revenue and is, I believe, a more useful measure environmental impact than the volume of emissions alone, since large a company will logically produce more carbon than a small one.)

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