Zec

RSS and blogs are winning combination

Paul Stacey wrote great article in which can be seen first-hand experience with the exitement of discovering RSS feeds and news agregators. It reminds me on my struggle with that little orange button ( XML written on it ). When I first time used news agregator it was really EUREKA. It helps a lot in today's blogosphere and as a tools for information junkies. And as Paul suggest, for e-learning designers of great help.
Paul's EUREKA effect:

That evening I was catching a Translink bus from downtown Vancouver out to White Rock where I live, and by chance had nothing to read on the hour long ride. In the absence of a book or a newspaper I turned on my laptop and opened up the Amphetadesk aggregator. Wow! For the next hour I lost myself in a smorgasbord of ideas, notes, and discoveries as I checked out the rich musings of the educational technology weblogs I had downloaded.

RIAA subpoena

There's a war going on, you know. The world finds out just recently about new bloody tactics of RIAA for hunting file sharers. Subpoenas is keyword. And law suit. But how subpoenas are looking in real life? How are they crafted with words, which explanation are there, which information exactly they contained ? Lawyers are familiar with this "beauty"
Here's great real life example of it. This is one of several hundred similar subpoenas issued by RIAA recently under the DMCA. Most have been filed in US District Court in the District of Columbia. Let the battle begin !

Moblogging for masses

Look at the great article published in the Feature magazine by Mark Fraunfelder. He writes about moblogging. I am deeply enthusiastic for moblogging in years to come. Simple said, moblogging allows you to make blog far away from your desktop. It is not deskbound.
Moblogging isn't about surfing the net, writing links and comments onto you weblog, but it has A REAL WORLD ON THEIR RADAR. Street near by, people around you, events you are attending. Smart people will do instant reporting and experience, skillfull people will show possibble features, creative people will make opinion, context, experience, dicoveries.
Moblog and weblog, broadband connections, video streaming, audio- all that mixed together can be described as internet broadcasting . A brave new media world is coming, and new media heroes. Everything could be documented and good content (amateur microcontent) will show up . As I see it, two things are crucial: "the platform "( service providers with storage,hosting, softvear ), the terminals ( mobile phone, laptop, PDA, with enhanced features ).Unfortunatly, we haven't here in Croatia not even one weblog service provider, yet ( Iskrica isn't worth discussing at all )).
Don't know what will happened with moblog service. Probable not so soon and it wil come from mobile operators their service. Not the best options , in my view. Well, I would like to make some people around me more enthusiastic for weblogging, and moblogging. Then we could try to get things going ( Yes , with our private money )
Here are short comments and notes from Gen Kenai at 1st International Moblogging Conference in Tokyo. Many firsthand experiences from those early adopters. Great insight.

Advanced mobile solutions

Yesterday I read annual report of Estonian Telekom. It's the biggest telecommunication company in Estonia. I found some nice data about their business. Specially related to their mobile telecommunication unit. They are innovative indeed.
Look at some products and services they are offering to their customers. M-commerce is area where they made significant achievements. Mobile parking sevices, mobile lottery services, mobile ticket buying services , multi SMS services etc.
We have some of this features in Croatia too. Mobile parking is very widespread here in Croatia. It is paying your parking place with short message made from mobile phone.
It's interesting to look at m-ticket solutions. They offered in Estonia paying with mobile phones public transportation system . Ticket for concert could be bought as well. In that case you need to call short number and corresponding ticket is activated and an SMS confirming the purchase of the ticket is sent back. Then, ticket controllers can quickly check the validity of passenger's m-ticekt using electronic card ( RFID card) connnected with telephone number.
We in Croatia still don't have m-ticket but just few days ago I heard advertising on radio that it could be bought tickets via mobile phone for Robbie Williams concert. So, it seems it starts here as well. Estonia is far away from Croatia ( geographiclly and technologicaly ), but still we have something in common. Postcommunist countries that are building market economy from the bottom ( so called emerging economies). And mobile phones seems to be fetish for their citizen because of high penetration of mobile phones among citizens. And it is amazing how Estonia quickly become new economy's country where's having internet connection a human right.

Moblogging and journalism

Howard Rheingold writes interesting piece about moblog and journalism in the future. How this new tools and technology can change journalism. He points out that no matter how good hardware and software we have ,it will be critical applying old fashioned standards to earn people's trust.
He predicted in his book " Smart Mobs -The next social revolution" that

that advances in technology would soon give everyone the tools they need to publish independent reports of news events as they are happening directly to the Web and other platforms.

But he says that people should keep in mind that amateur journalist and would-be journalist need keep this close to attention:

Journalism, if it is to deserve the name, is not about the quality of the camera, but about the journalist's intuition, integrity, courage, inquisitiveness, analytic and expressive capabilities, and above all, the trust the journalist has earned among readers. Good journalists discern compelling stories in events, cultivate and mobilize networks of sources, double check and triple check facts, develop reputations that can only be won by getting the story right week after week, year after year

Imagine that Ernesto Hemingway, famouse writer and adventurist had at their hands some of this tool availaible today. Camera-phone , laptop, PDA, weblog, moblog , email. Wow ! It would be interesting to see what would be result of his personal blogging production. :-)) Ernesto was journalist as well. And he was hero. Old fashioned hero. Today we do not have many of those. Maybe one day when there will be millions with tools and technology that will enable distributed news and documentary production. Then we will have first heroes. O , what about Salam Pax, iraqi blogger ? Isn't he acctually first of that sort ? I think we in Croatia have great potential for moblogging cause we treat our mobile phones like fetish. ( good penetration of mobile phones into everyday life ) :-))

Wi-Fi realism

Great article by Peter Howe who says

that wireless "is rapidly becoming a dotcom-style bubble waiting to burst, with service providers throwing far more money at expanding services than consumer demand will warrant any time soon."

Needless to say something. I mean , I read somewhere when someone said that Wi-Fi is simple commmodity which will be available as something ubiqoitus. When you stay at summer in hotel you'll like that you have air condition available. Pretty the same could be with Wi-Fi. We pay for rooms not for air condition per se. It is build in overall price after all.