nterview with Sole 24 Ore: Crushing the Web 2.0 Myths

Interview with Geert Lovink by Vito Lops
For “Sole 24 Ore” the main economic newspaper in Italy
April 21, 2006

VL: Can we say that we finished the transition from the New Economy to Web 2.0?

GL: Indeed, we have left the post-dotcom era, a relatively quiet period that gave people time to catch up with other aspects of life and develop ideas. Let’s get to the core of the Web 2.0 question: should we welcome the next round of nonsense investments? No. The problem is really not the Internet and the next generation of exciting applications. We should carefully listen to those closest to the fire, like Ed Phillips in San Francisco, who at the nettime list on March 23 2006 observed that surplus stock market money is, once again, roaming around the Bay area, looking for victims. Venture capitalists are Draculas, demolishing interesting Internet initiatives, forcing them into hyper-growth and takeovers. It’s the opposite of distributed and networked activities and their involvement only benefits the further concentration of power in the hands of Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. (more…)

A remarkable experiment will be conducted later this month at Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki Station, reports Weekly Playboy. It involves surveillance cameras, and inevitably raises questions concerning privacy, security and the appropriate balance between the two. How much of the former must we sacrifice to the latter? (more…)

Project Ladybag ist eine Tasche, die Emoticons darstellen kann, wenn man an gewissen Ecken daran zupft, aber darüberhinaus auch noch eine weitere Funktion hat, nämlich zeigen, welche Teile des täglichen Handbag-Equipments man vergessen hat einzupacken. Ist kein Handy drin, zeigt es das als Handy-LED an.

Es ist in den letzten Jahren ja viel von einem Internet of Things geredet worden, aber so langsam zeigen sich erste sehr praktische Applikationen, die das Konzept aus der Hobby-Futurologie heraus in die Welt der alltäglichen Bedürfnisse holen. Mesh-Ups wie diese, realisiert via RFID, dürften in sehr sehr naher Zukunft einen ähnlichen Hype generieren wie Web 2.0 Applikationen vor kurzem. Nicht mehr Mashups (aktiv Dinge zusammenwerfen) sondern Meshups könnten dann in den Fokus rücken. Dinge sich untereinander vernetzen lassen. Dinge die über andere Dinge Bescheid wissen und sich vor allem in vorkonfigurierten Konstellationen wohlfühlen. (more…)

Information Week reports on a study revealing growing use of mobile phones to access the Web: People are turning to mobile phones for Internet use more quickly than they are adopting laptops for the same purpose in many parts of the world, according to a recent study of Internet trends.Personal computers are still the most popular way to gain Internet access, but the rapid pace of mobile phone installation and the development of wireless networks is driving robust growth in the use of phones for browsing, according to results from The Face of the Web, an annual study by Ipsos Insight.

Four in 10 adults in Japan used their wireless handsets to browse the Internet in 2005, according to an announcement from Ipsos this week. That is double the rate from 2003, but the trend is leveling off in other markets, including the United States and Canada, where notebook PCs appear are emerging as stronger on-the-go platforms.

Twenty-eight percent of mobile phone owners worldwide have browsed the Internet on a wireless handset. That is up just 3 percent since 2004, and the trend is being driven in part by people over age 35, rather than younger, early adopters.

www.smartmobs.com

Das Internet erleichtert nicht nur Arbeit und Kommunikation - es wird für immer mehr Nutzer die Basis für wichtige Lebensentscheidungen. Chat-Rooms, Experten-Foren und Preisvergleich-Websites helfen, den richtigen Entschluss zu fassen. (more…)