thomas jankowski - gazing at life

Facebook.com and Classmates.com – Not Good vs. Evil but Useful vs. utterly Worthless

tejot — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:04:20 +0000

I am not trying to contend that Facebook is superior to anything in any way. While it’s a highly useful tool, it’s had its problems, and it still lacks some basic features (which would make it more useful but less of an addiction, which is supposedly bad for business). But while that may be a wonderful topic for another day, today I’d like to focus on why classmates.com is so much worse than facebook.com. [fg]->tj!

Some years ago, when classmates.com first came into existence, I’d like to think that it was one of the first splogs I’ve ever seen. It was impossible to surf the web for more than five minutes before walking into one of their annoying advertisements. And no, they weren’t the calm, serene, 200×200px adsense boxes. They were huge banners, oftentimes popups or interstatial popunders. I think I actually had a windows service running that was specifically devoted to blocking their ads. Not to say that I haven’t signed up for an account. The idea was good and I was in high school at the time. It all would have been wonderful, except that a) the website never got any major traction, and b) I think it became so synonymous with spam that the very idea of using it as a service caused an involuntary acid reflux.

Well, low and behold, in one of my many pseudo-spam mailboxes a few days ago, I started getting messages from classmates.com again. I must say, with some nostalgic melancholy, that they have not changed much. Every few days, I get an e-mail telling me that so and so many people joined my class, that so and so many people viewed my profile, signed my guestbook, etc. Since I’ve been a regular Facebook user for a while, I thought, what the heck – lets see what classmates.com learned from facebook and the rest of the socnetverse.

It turns out they learned nothing. Zip. Nada. It’s still looking like it hasn’t seen an overhaul since ‘97. It still loads forever. It’s still full of advertisements – my “home” page shows two major outside banners – vertical and horizontal skyscrapers. Currently they both show University of Phoenix, which tells me they are not too brightly targeted – why show someone with both undergrad and grad degrees a random ad with… “Bachelor of Science and Psychology”?! Then there’s a square hmmm, maybe 250/300 px ad in top-right corner from SinglesNet. I have no idea if that’s keyed to the fact that my profile shows me as being single. Still, the ads inside correspond to my current IP as opposed to my address, and while that makes me a bit less nervous, it’s also – if I were at all interested – a lot less useful to me since I’d rather see something related to where I live / spend most of my time – i.e. my address, rather than my IP, which indicates at best my temporary location or nothing at all, since I often use a VPN server in the U.S. or an anonymous web proxy.

On top of the externally pointing ads, there is a banner at the bottom pointing to a network of six other sites (either affiliates or member sites is my guess), and two more banners, one asking me to upgrade to a full account for $2.46/month, another asking me to buy a gift. In other words, most of my screen real estate on classmates.com is pure waste. But it only gets better. When I try to click on my guestbook, it tells me it can only be accessed by full members. When I try to see who has viewed my profile, same story… In fact, there seems to be very little I can do with a free profile.

OK, now let’s compare the features of the so called Gold Membership to what I get with Facebook.

Send and Read Classmates Email (”free” and “delivery guaranteed”, lol) -> messages / group wall on FB
See photos -> Albums on FB
Read Profile bios and Q&A -> Profiles on FB
See who stopped by -> Wall on FB
Post to message boards -> Group wall + discussions
Plan reunions and events -> Events on FB

In short then, I get about 4-5 advertisements less on Facebook than I do on classmates.com (and those I do I block with Greasemonkey anyway). I get at worst the same functionality for free (or I should say, for whatever my ad-views + mined data is worth to FB). At best, with an import from my blog, half a dozen or so useful FB apps, etc., I get a lot more. Oh, and before I forget, it’s not really $2.46/month either. It’s $2.46 if you pay $59 / 2 years [sic!], $3.25 / month for 1 year ($39), or $5 / month for 3 months ($15). My current total monthly bill for various services of varying usefulness is about $70 – and I happily dish that out when I truly benefit from such services. But $2-5/month for a service I’d use very lightly, with no mention of the fact that at the very least I wouldn’t see any of these damned advertisements is just pathetic. And to think their primary niche must be poor, recent graduates… It’s no wonder they have failed so miserably.

If classmates.com has any hopes of surviving, it needs a facelift – starting with its business model, ending with its site UI design. In the meantime, I’ll tough it out with Facebook for socializing when face-to-face interaction is not possible. With OpenID gaining a lot of attention lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone designed a fully functional social network around that. Just imagine – full privacy, ownership of content, single sign on to any service… yep, definitely worth dreaming about.

Please Promote!

Wireless LANs and Neo-Nomads / Feasibility of Virtual Work

tejot — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 14:57:14 +0000

While the current 11n protocol may prove quite an obstacle for wide-scale deployment in corporate environments, most notably because of the prohibitive costs associated with purchasing gigabit switches and 10-gigabit uplinks, as well as due to the problems currently present in the 11n protocol, those very same issues can provide a robust environment for a casual, working neo-nomad. [fg]->tj!

In a home/cafe/neighborhood environment, 11n access points can be a heaven in disguise. Usually strong enough to not have to rely on Power over Ethernet (POE) circuitry (which currently at 15.4 watts is often not strong enough for 11n devices), they also operate in the 5 GHz band, which is vastly preferable in places where the 2.4 GHz band is already crowded with other consumer electronics that contribute to the interference we have all seen in homes where sometimes even in the same room as the wireless A/P, the Signal-to-Noise ratio makes regular WiFi almost unusable. And in most cafes, currently covered by 1-3 11g routers, one 11n A/P will be more than sufficient – thanks to its increased speed and range.

In remote environments, having an access to an 11n A/P with a decent 11n adapter makes all the difference in the world. Two weeks ago, I was on a boat a few miles off the coast of Sunderland, UK, and as I fired up Sony Vegas Video to work on a few frames in complete peace, I was almost mesmerized to pick up the wireless signal from my room, situated about half a mile away from the coast. No parabolic antennae, noting mounted on a roof, not even a direct line of sight (but pretty close since the building itself is not shielded from the sea in any way). Imagine the possibilities at mounting such 11n A/Ps, rugged sufficiently to survive in an outdoor environment, at various campsites, parks; using them during expeditions to provide effortless contact with the base camp (thereby reducing the costs of having to carry multiple sat-phones). Of course, there is also a somewhat unethical bonus to 11n devices – they can oftentimes completely crash 11g networks, thereby reducing outside interference even further.

The problem with using wireless LANs, be it from a neo-nomad’s perspective or that of a corporate ITS department is, of course, security. A lot of people use completely open connections, where stealing passwords and other sensitive data is literally a piece of cake. Others use ancient protocols that take about five minutes to break. Only a select few bother to check that they use a 256-bit AES encryption over WAP (specifically WPA2-PSK). Separate from that layer of information is the actual data transmission, which too, should be encrypted. If you have your own MS Server 2000 (or better) – very handy for neo-nomads, it takes about 2-5 minutes to setup a VPN tunnel. Have a unix/linux account – even easier – use SSL (via Putty). And if you have neither, but have a few bucks to spare, use one of the new web companies that offer a VPN-out-of-the-box packages (about $5-$10 a month). Don’t weigh it, don’t look for shortcuts, just implement is as a standard practice and put it under recurring operational expenses.

Wifi-based telephony also becomes a bit more realistic under 11n specifications. Quality of Service gets better implementation (no more drops when downloading songs through iTunes). Roaming between A/Ps no longer causes 0.5 – 10 sec drops, which both disconnect Skype and SIP-initiated VoIP calls. With sufficient uplink, a DYI neighborhood LAN/VoIP exchange would take only a few A/Ps. Convergence between 11n and IP PBX devices is also more likely, resulting in such phenomenal gadgets as the new Nokia E61i, which switches to cellular network only if WiFi connectivity is not available (granted, it’s a pilot project run by Cisco that has very peculiar requirements for now, but it’s still a move in the right direction).

Finally, while places such as Movero Tech are responding to the fluctuation in the field which wants to see more mobility than just Exchange-synched e-mail, by providing enterprise-level mobile solutions covering all aspects of modern company – supply chain management, ERP, CRM, etc., no players have attempted to dominate the professional consumer sector by providing this functionality using a monthly fee to end-users. Such platforms can be built using some of the most recent web 2.0 startups, but still not for mobile platforms. While enterprises try to conceal the Total Cost of Ownership when it comes to deploying non-standard mobile technology, small and medium sized companies know well that investing in a centralized, standardized platform decreases TOS by as much as 30%. If the platform happens to offer a plug-in system / SDK / open-source following, all the better.

Of course, DoS attacks remain an issue, on at least two layers. Drivers can be overloaded and corrupted; radio waves can be intercepted and jammed. Either way, there is still little that can be done and while these issues occur quite rarely, we will have to wait for the protocol itself to be fixed before any headway can be made here.

All in all, exciting changes – for neo-nomads, virtual employees, neighborhood ISPs and VoIP providers. If you haven’t grabbed a pre-N device, now is the time, provided it can be flashed to the latest firmware when (or if) it comes out.

Please Promote!

Neonomads, or how travels, collaboration, virtualization and motivation are entering a new era

tejot — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 20:56:43 +0000

The term neo-nomad (aka neonomad, digital bedouin) is rather new. In fact, it still lacks a formal definition although the neologism itself is simple enough to understand. A new type of a nomad; a wanderer, someone without a fixed sense of belonging… The way it has been used thus far refers, very generally, to people who take their work with them. In America, this usually applies to the vast amount of web 2.0 startup execs and other self-employed tech workers roaming around in the Bay area. They are sometimes referred to as the Starbucks society, since that is the preferred meeting place of the neo-nomads. Quite aptly so – all major Starbucks locations have excellent wi-fi through a partnership with T-Mobile, and have a corporate feel to them – it is here that one can run into execs from Google, Flickr, or a dozen other hot, new startups. [fg]->tj!

Bill Thompson’s use of the term seems a bit more embracing of the neo-nomad mentality. As he points out, “it’s the pattern of working life that defines a nomad, with no office, colleagues who are largely engaged with online and often a number of overlapping projects to be juggled and managed at the same time”. That’s the type of a definition I’m more inclined to lean towards; the newness of this new approach should not be political in nature – whether it’s the independents or the corporates who are ‘it’, or whether ‘it’ offers more or less of job security.

Yasmine Abbas’ neo-nomad blog talks about “digitally geared people on the move”. That’s even better in a way, since the focus has been shifted to the interface, the design, and the socio-cultural aspects of this novelty. Much needs to change before assuring sufficient portability for such new workers to feel totally free. Bill Thompson has already pointed out that managing larger enterprises in an entirely virtual fashion may be problematic as there is no current infrastructure that can support large-scale enterprises comprised of neo-nomads.

But that, too, is changing. Just a few years ago this was a field reserved for a small amount of highly determined technocrats. Nowadays, with the advent of much cheaper and lighter laptops, with fairly easy access to broadband internet, and with the continuing onslaught of highly collaborative projects, being a neo-nomad is proving more and more feasible. Almost all bloggers who have made the switch to full time blogging are fully virtual. Most programmers and writers can also find similar opportunities all over the world, especially since guru.com, rentacoder.com and other similar ventures have started to spring up and offer a sort of a platform for location-independent work. Even the most “regular” people have found ways of monetizing new frontiers, such as SecondLife, WoW or RuneScape.
What I would like to see is a further expansion of this definition that would focus on the mobility of a true nomad. Bedouins never felt at ease staying in one place for too long… neither do some of the neo-nomads. To be able to travel extensively and work while on the road would be ideal, but that is still difficult to accomplish these days. Wi-fi access is becoming almost common-place in the U.S. and Canada, but even in West Europe it is at best spotty, especially outside of the major commercial centres. The fact that there’s a multitude of incompatible wi-fi providers and oftentimes one needs to subscribe to a number of various services does not help. I once paid over $100 in one day for just under four hours of Internet use at four different airports. Traveling with more than one laptop because of proprietary security concerns or machine-assigned VPN accounts has also reduced my mobility at times.

Nonetheless, this too is starting to change. WiMax sounds promising as an alternative to other forms of broadband; so does the recently investigated idea of direct satellite access without having to route the signal through terrestrial stations. For now, GPRS and 3G networks offer ‘anytime/anywhere’ access in quite impressive remote places. While pitching a tent in Antarctica is not quite yet doable, Kenya should not longer pose a problem. In fact, I have deployed servers on other continents from campsites before and I’m just waiting for a more global Internet coverage to take the deserts of Africa or the jungles of South America (perhaps the new protocols developed by the InterPlaNet initiative might help with access in any remote area).

Finally, the ways to bypass the shortcomings of traditional security practices (without limiting their effectiveness), are starting to increase as well. Virtualization, using VMWare or Microsoft Virtual PC, is probably the easiest way of accomplishing this step. Almost any setup, be it a laptop, a desktop, or even a server, can be packaged into a virtual image and then redeployed on a machine of one’s choice without disrupting the host system. In effect, my protected company laptop can be made to run “inside” of my own laptop. Advanced IT skills are not required for this, nor is a high-end laptop. My $700 light Acer, with a memory upgrade to 2GB and a slightly faster hard drive can handle 3-4 virtual machines running on top of my usual interface.

Couple all of the above with user-provided wi-fi access points, a will to see some of this world, and some motivation, and the neo-nomads’ playground increases exponentially. I can have a coffee outside of Sicily, admiring the Mediterranean, almost just as easily as at the Bay area Starbucks. Last year I was actively working while touring some wineries around Bordeaux and on a bus some 60 miles outside of Madrid. Even my biggest pet-peeve, battery-life, seems to be finally getting addressed…

Cruising along the virtual landscape while admiring the physical landscapes outside is becoming a unified and realistic experience. Now, that is the future.

Please Promote!

Google learning from Microsoft

tejot — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:14:22 +0000

In a recent story, Google has been praised for offering terabytes of free storage (along with the hardware and the support) needed for scientists to transport large amounts of data between various teams. Up to 120 TB in fact, if we look at the example of data received from Hubble. [fg]->tj!

This sounds almost too good to be true, but I’m an optimist and a believer in most of Google’s endeavours (though I choose to not hold any of their stock if only to be able to claim objectivity). This move makes sense from a business perspective when one considers Google’s mission, its business goals, its evangelical R/D approach and its sheer data-storing ability.

It also mark’s Google’s ability to learn from Microsoft’s (and many other once-monopoly holding companies’) errors: no matter how good or popular a product may be, if it’s forced upon people, the people eventually rebel in one way or another. Either way, there’s resistance. Nowadays, on many IT forums, people are asking why isn’t Google doing more. The question, while perfectly valid, may be somewhat of a moot point: there are doing as much as possible within the constrains of public acceptance into Google’s overwhelming intrusion into almost all IT/IS sectors. The limitations are clearly self-imposed and mostly a sign of extremely good top-level management on all fronts. This, combined with Google’s vast support of the Open Source sector, takes care of almost all existing and foreseeable resistance.

Some may see this as an example of hegemony in practice. To me it’s social capitalism at its best – a perfect example of how it is possible to make a profit while rendering the rest of the world more than happy to help generate that profit.

Please Promote!

resurrecting Asimov: robotic laws

tejot — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 04:40:00 +0000

It’s been a while, but I shall make no excuses – I’ve been reading about 10x more than usual, leaving very little time for any writing, and well, my academic writing takes priority when push comes to shove. [fg]->tj!

Anyway, I’ve come across this wonderful article from the BBC. I must say that since I’m a technocrat, a futurist, and a science-fiction lover myself, in principle I agree with Asimov’s laws. Even more so since those laws are quite minimal – they simply protect people and robots (in that order). They do not implement a higher order of ethics, which eventually would be bound to result in something as ridiculous as human laws. And by ridiculous I mean any and all cases where discrepancies between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law exist (also known as the law vs justice debate), or situations where the judicial system is used/abused to pass judgment in cases which are the responsibility of the legislative arm of the government.

In this case, it seems that an attempt is being made at trying to write robotic laws at a micro level. It seems a very humane thing to do (no pun intended), but I believe that at least three major problems arise from even trying to pose the question.

First, the laws are being drafted taking into consideration the fact that robots will eventually become sentient and will require such laws. If that is the case, then how can we design laws for sentient beings without taking into consideration their own input? That almost sounds like the exact opposite of democracy.

Second, an attempt is being made at limiting the potential that robots will bring into our lives – the example given was of people becoming addicted to robots the same way people became addicted to the cyberworld when the web became popular. Notwithstanding this remote possibility (remote because only a tiny percentile of Internet users has been identified as suffering from such an addiction), such extremes often bring about novelties, ideas, further research, and so on. Trying to police the ‘explorer’ gene in people is like trying to thwart evolution and progress.

Third, there are still many countries where equality and democracy is nowhere close to being established. How can we attempt to implement a system of laws around an idea that a) we either cannot invoke in other countries, or b) simply did not work out. The process of democratization is not without its own flaws, just as most other political systems have their own. Why not try to implement if not something new, then at least a system that’s built upon the problems we recognize in democracy?

Yes, laws of robotics are required. But prior to laying them in stone or silicone, our own limitations should be recognized, established, and embedded in these laws both as a precaution and as a safety-valve.

Please Promote!