Happy Christmas

Bubble 2.0 ;-)

Love it! Thanks Colin. Via the new Naked team blog

Mashup Event & Merrill Lynch Social Networking Research

I went along to Mashup Event last week which was on the topic of Social Networking. Merrill Lynch hosted the event and used it to present some research they did on the topic. Sadly I dont have time to offer you insightful and intelligent analysis of the results, but you can read the results here.

Give One Get One

"From now through December 31, 2007, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution. $200 of your donation is tax-deductible (your $399 donation minus the fair market value of the XO laptop you will be receiving)."

How about a One Mobile Per Village (OMPV) Programme anyone??

Jason Devitt testifies to Congress

At Future of Mobile the other week, Brian Fling showed us this video - it left an impression on me and made me wish that I was as eloquent.

Future of Mobile - November 14th

There's a "Future of Mobile" event on at the BFI IMAX Cinema at London's South Bank on the 14th Nov. It's cheap to attend (£89) and they have a great line up of speakers. It's organised by Carsonified who put on a great show at FOWA last month.
Topics to be covered that caught my eye include; Beyond WAP: Advance Browsing, Mobile Ajax, and the future of the Web (Dan Appelquist from Voda & MobileMonday), Gmail and the Next Generation of Mobile Web Apps (Marcus Foster from Google), and the keynote from Tony Fish: Tuning in to Mobile Culture. See you there?

Pipl - better people search

I like this - Pipl is a search site specifically for people - the returned results are more comprehensive and its a category which has a lot of scope as more and more of people's personas and lives are mirrored on the net.

"Unlike a typical search-engine, Pipl is designed to retrieve information from the deep web, our robots are set to interact with searchable databases and extract facts, contact details and other relevant information from personal profiles, member directories, scientific publications, court records and numerous other deep-web sources".

Prostate Cancer Awareness

The UK is sometimes known for it's eccentricities and this month is no different. November is now "Movember", and to raise awareness of Prostate Cancer, men up and down the country are growing a variety of facial hair styles to make the point. Here's my efforts - I went for the Mexican druglord look which ensured I had plenty of room to move on the tube this morning ;-)

Donations welcome here

Geek tees

Switched have a done a neat review of the top geek t-shirts....here are my favourites:

Facebooks for Enemies

So you set up your facebook account and connect to all your buddies, but what do you use for those that you detest, hate or want to diss?
here's a selection...


EnemyBook is a handy app that you can plugin to Facebook and add people as Facebook enemies, specify why they're your enemies, and even become friends with the enemies of your enemies.

Next up is Hatebook, a Facebook clone that simply connects you to all the people you hate. Presumably their Supoerpoke equivalent includes "run-over", "shoot", "stab", "poison" etc



Finally, Snubster. This site enables you to create a list of people that you want to alienate yourself from - avoid them like the plague. You can put them to "on notice" or "dead to me".



This is all humorous evidence of a real issue with social software in that very few sites are able to reflect your social context within the confines of their technology. You don't want to be connected to 'everyone' and forced to share everything - most peoples social spheres consist of multiple sub-segments of groups (close family, not so close family, current colleagues, old colleagues, mates that live close by, mates that live abroad, etc etc). Technology needs to mirror how we communicate in the real world, notably enabling me to share different things with different groups - to fence these groups off from one another so that the lines dont blur.

A Social Network for Two...

Cool animation set to Zefrank's recent tune "A Social Network for Two".
Via reboiled

Work Naked...

Nothing to do with us, I swear!
image via crackunit

Google acquires Jaiku

Here's the news from the Jaiku team - another interesting piece of the puzzle in the long running Google Phone (probably an OS) speculation...

"Wonderful Jaiku users,

Exciting news, Jaiku is joining Google!

While its too soon to comment on specific plans, we look forward to working with our new friends at Google over the coming months to expand in ways we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Our engineers are excited to be working together and enthusiastic developers lead to great innovation. We look forward to accomplishing great things together.

In order to focus on innovation instead of scaling, we have decided to close new user sign-ups for now. But fear not! All our Jaiku services will stay running the way you are used to and you will continue to be able to invite your friends to Jaiku.

We have put together a quick Q&A about the acquisition at http://jaiku.com/help/google

Jyri Engestrom and Petteri Koponen, Jaiku Founders"

Vodafone InsideOut 4 2ndLife

Vodafone have launched 'InsideOut' for fans of SecondLife, enabling you to call and text within SecondLife and between SecondLife and the real world. So as your directing the construction of your new condo in ever-bright city , you can call and text people in the real world from your virtual mobile device.
Vodafone is handing out free HUD's (Heads Up Displays) from a Vending Machine in Vodafone InsideOut Island - they allocate you a virtual mobile number (currently a +49 german number) - and you carry the HUD around with you in SecondLife to make calls and text to other residents within SecondLife and people outside as well.
Until the end of November all calls and texts are free, although Voda reserve the right to charge from this point onwards.
The HUD could evolve to provide location alerts to other users within SecondLife, notification and live-streaming of real-world events in to SecondLife, and a neat monetisation model for online to offline communication.

We are now recruiting for the following role at Naked - pls get in touch if you know anyone that might be appropriate...



Role: Software Engineering & Infrastructure Lead
Company: Naked Ltd
Direct Reports: 2-4 (Year 1)
Salary: Competitive + Equity + Options + Health
Based: London, UK


Who is Naked?
Naked Ltd is a London based start-up company with a core team of 7. Naked is properly funded and is finalising its next financing round to support the scope of its ambition to grow into a global community within 5 years.

Being Naked
Naked is a state of mind as well as a service offering. Being Naked is being close to the people you care about, individually or as a group, by being true to yourself through genuinely open and transparent communication. This closeness is unique and special for each individual, and exists between their chosen groups of family members, friends and aquaintances – their ‘world of we’.

Open Messaging
Naked is a new open messaging service that addresses people’s desire for closeness between friends, family and acquaintances. Naked enables people to share idle thoughts, profound comments, feelings, experiences, through short-form lightweight mixed-media posts. Unlike conversational systems like instant messaging, the resulting stream is both ephemeral and permanent, and is automatically shared in online spaces dedicated to each individual and the specific people and groups they want to be close with. Posting to and accessing these streams can be done through multiple channels (web, mobile, IM, email, RSS) enabling ongoing and ‘anytime’ sharing.

Platform Approach
- Open
Naked adopts an open approach to platform, architecture and member data. 3rd party platform API’s ensure open access to developers and other web services while an open architecture means support for industry efforts to converge messaging across services, channels and networks, through standards bodies and API’s. And open member data recognises that our members own their personal information and should control when, what and where this data is shared with others.

- Channel Agnostic
Naked is designed to work across devices, enabling anytime and anywhere messaging on a pc or mobile, via the web, im, email and rss. Availability of open API’s and web services ensures that as the service evolves, others can compliment the channel spectrum with whats new and needed.

- Rapid & Agile
A development methodology that recognises our members as co-developers, incorporating feedback in to regular rolling release cycles that spur the evolution of the service and its social application.

Who are we looking for?
Naked is seeking a Software Engineering and Infrastructure Lead to recruit and lead a small, close-knit team of exceptional IT talent. You need to be an exceptional coder, collaborator, inventor, architect, leader and mentor, all rolled into one. You like working in a fast-paced and engineering-driven environment and you love envisioning projects, motivating a team of engineers and are happy to roll your sleeves up to implement critical components yourself.

You will be responsible for all software and infrastructure related projects, including those that are managed in house and externally in collaboration with 3rd party development partners. You will need to direct your team efficiently across projects and govern the technical roadmap for Naked. You will manage the ongoing scaling of the application environment and the associated infrastructure requirements and costs.
You will need to play a stakeholder role in all related industry activities while leading the implementation of supporting initiatives within Naked. You will be an opinionated proponent of open member data and technology, and develop a vision for how to realise this within the context of a social messaging environment such as Naked.
You will have in-depth experience across web and mobile technologies and standards, as well as substantial experience in designing, documenting and supporting web services API. You will have worked in an agile way on a number of previous projects and be accustomed to supporting a member-led development process.
You and your team will play a critical role in shaping the evolution of the next killer application and will be ready for all the tears and laughter that accompanies this challenge.


To work at Naked you need to have:

• A degree BS/BA/MS in Computer Science or related field.
• Software background with significant knowledge and exposure to Ruby on Rails.
• Entrepreneurial drive, demonstrated ability to achieve and stretch goals.
• Solid leadership skills and experience building strong engineering teams.
• Significant experience in software development across boundaries in a highly geographically distributed environment.
• Multi-domain expertise in mobile, web, and messaging technologies and standards.
• Strong project management skills.
• Budget forecasting , management and reporting experience
• Proven track record of product delivery.
• Able to fit in well within an informal start-up environment and to provide hands-on management.
• Able to establish credibility with smart engineers quickly, and provide long term vision and motivation.



What’s in it for you?
Apart from working in a fun but highly dynamic and challenging environment, we offer a competitive salary and benefits, stock equity package and an outstanding and unusual working environment.
Naturally we are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Nokia's Mobile Social Network; Mosh

While most operators are busy enabling mobile access to the leading social networks, Nokia has been developing its own with a strong mobile flavour - Mosh. Out now in private Beta. Luca Filigheddu has a good overview.

Amazing Times...

thanks for the link Biff

Naked Needed

It's clear from Om's frustration with Facebook, that he needs Naked. I'll send him a beta invite ;-)

Navigate your Internet...

Naked Yak

Since February this year, I’ve been working on a new company called Naked. We’ve been pretty quiet as of late, but are now beginning to emerge out of stealth as we finalise the Beta, which is due to launch in Q4.
Naked is a new ‘open messaging’ service that enables people to share thoughts, feelings, and experiences, through lightweight mixed-media posts. Unlike conversational systems such as IM or text messaging, the resulting stream is shared in online spaces dedicated to each individual and the specific people they want to be close with. It’s new, it’s different and I want to avoid saying it’s like X because it really is a very differentiated proposition from what is available today. We’ve combined functionality in to a totally new communication experience that we believe addresses a core human need to keep in touch and stay close to the people that you care about. It’s not a platform for collecting and broadcasting that you have 5000 friends, it’s a much more intimate environment that is member centric and cross-channel, so it works on your mobile, you can access it on the web, and keep in touch with it via IM and email.

You can follow the first part of our member engagement strategy at NakedYak.

Stay tuned, there’s more to come… ;-)

Seedcamp

A great initiative kicking off in September 07 to identify, support, fund and mentor Europe's most promising start-ups. Sign up for it here


i came across this on Saul Kleins blog here

Social Networks using Ruby on Rails

Congratulations to my mate Alan, who has recently finished his first book - "Practical Rails Social Networking Sites". It's out now on Amazon, and is a must read if you're considering building anything in Rails.

"Practical Rails Social Networking Sites shows you the complete development cycle of a social networking community web site. The project develops first as a simple content management system, after which it progressively adds features in order to build a full Web 2.0--enabled community-based social networking site using Ruby on Rails".

"You will learn how to make the best use of the Ruby on Rails framework within a large project and how to implement and adapt features specific to a community. The book offers practical advice and tips for developing and testing, along with guidance on how to take your site live, as well as optimize and maintain it".

"The book also explores how to integrate with other community sites such as Flickr and Google Maps, and how to make good use of Rails' Ajax features. You will also learn how to optimize and adapt your site to work well on mobile browsers".

Unlimited SMS, MMS & Video for $5/month

Unlimited SMS, MMS & Video for $5/month on Cingular

Blue Planet Run team need Global Mobile Sponsor

Just got pinged by the CEO of the Blue Planet Run Foundation - a charity that is raising the awareness of the global safe water crisis (unsafe water kills 6000 people/day). They need some help - ideally about 50 cheap (preferably free) mobile contracts with big data plans (roaming enabled), 3G/UMTS cards etc, and pronto...

"On June 1, 20 runners will leave the UN Building in New York City on an unprecedented adventure – running around the world, 24 hours a day, to raise awareness of the global safe drinking water crisis. This crisis shapes the lives of the over 1b people that live today without safe drinking water; half the hospital beds in the world are filled with people suffering from water borne disease. The 20 runners will run relay style, passing the baton each 10 miles, as they run across countries including the UK , France , Belgium , Netherlands , Germany , Poland , Russia , Mongolia , China , and Japan , then returning to the US on August 1 and running from San Francisco to New York City , where the Run will conclude on September 4th".

With 20 runners, 30 support people, and lots of multimedia to be pushed to the website, wireless connectivity is critical. The event should be generating tons of press throughout Europe, Asia, and the US. The Team will be using wireless technology for voice comms, wireless email, location positioning and wireless data.

I know a few of my readers work in some pretty big European/Global mobile operators, so I was kinda hoping that you might drop this request on the desk of your friendly PR/Sponsorhip department. This is a genuinely credible and extremely worthwhile request, so if you think you can help, please get in touch, and I'll forward on the details.....thanks :-)

MySay

If you've observed and enjoyed the recent hype surrounding Twitter, then take a look at MySay - its the voice based equivalent - "phatic voice". Im not sure the target demographic likes voice quite so much though.