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loupanthère | il y a 3 jours | citations : 0

Ouverture des réseaux sociaux, la route sera longue… »

Décidément, pas une semaine ne passe sans que l’on nous annonce une nouvelle révolution sociale. Ce mois de Mai s’annonce tout de même comme une très bonne cru avec pas moins de trois annonces majeures dans le domaine de l’intéropérabilité des réseaux sociaux.

Data Availability : un pas en avant, deux pas en arrière

Contre toute attente, c’est donc MySpace qui a ouvert le bal avec le lancement de Data Availbility, une initiative visant à partager les données des membres de My Space avec les services partenaires (Yahoo, Ebay, Twitter). Comprenez par là que MySpace ouvre une partie de son système d’information pour laisser d’autres services accéder au profil des membres, à leurs photos, à leurs vidéos et à leur liste d’amis. Plus d’infos ici : MySpace Embraces DataPortability, Partners With Yahoo, Ebay And Twitter.
A priori une belle preuve d’ouverture mais à posteriori une belle démonstration de verrouillage des membres : “Laissez donc vos données personnelles chez moi (et moi seul) pour que les autres services puissent y accéder (et vous rendre encore plus dépendant)“.
Même si les mécanismes proposés sont suffisamment sophistiqués pour autoriser de la synchronisation de listes d’amis ou du mashup social, je ne peux que rester méfiant vis à vis de cette annonce. Il existe en effet un groupe de travail qui a été créé pour traiter de ce genre de questions (Data Portability), pourquoi vouloir faire cavalier seul ? En fait la réponse à cette question se trouve dans le nom de l’initiative : dans Data Portability il y a “portage� alors que dans Data Availability il y a “disponibilité“, et c’est bien là où la différence se trouve : ce projet ne vous permet de sortir vos données personnelles pour les mettre ailleurs, elle permet juste à d’autres services d’y avoir accès.
Voilà donc une belle illusion d’ouverture que nous offre MySpace. Pour en savoir plus, je vous recommande la très bonne analyse suivante : Thoughts on Data Portability.

Facebook Connect : “On a merdé mais ça va s’arranger�

Piqué au vif, Facebook propose dans la foulée (et en catastrophe) une initiative équivalente (Facebook Connect) qui va offrir la possibilité de connecter son compte Facebook à des sites et services partenaires pour leur faire bénéficier du levier social. Encore de biens belles promesses où l’on nous parle de “Real Identity� et de “Dynamic Privacy“. Mouais… venant de la part de Facebook, c’est un peu comme si le gouvernement chinois nous faisait la leçon sur les droits de l’homme et la liberté d’expression. Plus d’infos ici : Facebook Answers To MySpace With Facebook Connect.
Mais ne soyons pas trop critique, Facebook Connect est un peu comme une extension de la Facebook Platform qui donnerait la possibilité de déployer des applications sociales à l’extérieur de leur fameuse plateforme (prévoyez une avalanche de notifications).
Si vous savez lire entre les lignes, vous comprendrez que cette annonce est un constat d’échec pour Facebook : ils se rendent compte que leur technologie propriétaire (le FaceBook Markup Language) n’était pas forcément une bonne idée et qu’ils n’ont pas su atteindre la masse critique d’utilisateurs pour s’affirmer comme un standard de facto.
Je vous recommande ainsi la lecture de deux articles :

• The State of the Facebook Platform, où il est question de la baisse d’activité de la communauté des développeurs ;
• Facebook va se ringardiser comme une boîte de Palavas, qui résume parfaitement le problème de positionnement de ce service.

Pire, certains y voient également un aveu de faiblesse concernant la plateforme technique (qui a visiblement du mal à tenir la charge) et un moyen détourné de ne pas avoir à investir trop d’argent trop vite pour la remettre à niveau. La démission récente du fondateur et directeur technique ne serait pas un hasard : Rising Cost of Facebook Infrastructure; CTO Resigns.

Vous en rêviez ? Moi non plus !

Sans vouloir jouer les rabat-joie (quoi que un peu quand même), j’anticipe un retour de flamme de la part de la communauté qui pourrait plus craindre les dangers de cette initiative plutôt que d’en apprécier les bénéfices (lire à ce sujet : I Don’t Like Chocolate with My Peanut Butter or Why I Don’t Want a Social Graph).
J’imagine que mettre en oeuvre de telles solutions techniques est un véritable challenge technique, mais est-ce réellement ce que les utilisateurs demandent ? Encore une fois, le groupe Data Portability est réellement sur la bonne voie, pourquoi chercher à prendre des chemins détournés ?

Google Friend Connect : Et vous pensiez échapper à OpenSocial ?

Suite à ces deux annonces, Google enchaîne et dévoile son plan : Google Friend Connect. Pour les détails, c’est ici : Google Friend Connect Tries to Strangle the Social.
Il s’agit donc d’une approche inverse puisque ce Friend Connect va servir à exporter les données et applications sociales. C’est en quelque sorte un moyen de widgetiser le graphe social en injectant une dimension sociale là où il n’y en a pas (cf. Google brings Friend Connect to the masses).
Une stratégie très maline de la part de Google qui choisit de boxer dans une autre catégorie que MySpace et Facebook (normal dans la mesure où Orkut ne décolle pas en Amérique de Nord ou en Europe).

Quelques réflexions à replacer dans un contexte plus global

Passé l’effet d’annonce des ces 3 initiatives, je pense qu’il est temps de prendre un peu de recul et de replacer tout ceci dans un contexte plus large pour ce rendre comte de la supercherie :

• C’est Yahoo qui a tiré le premier en annoncant le support d’Open ID il y a déjà quelques mois (et même Microsoft dans une certaine mesure avec son très ambitieux Live Mesh) ;
• Attention aux dérapages éventuels. Cette triple ouverture ne fait qu’accroitre l’urgence de définir une charte des droits sociaux à laquelle les géants des média sociaux devraient souscrire (lire à ce sujet l’ébauche suivante : A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web) ;
• Quid des revenus ? C’est bien beau tout ça, mais est-ce que ça va amener de l’argent dans les caisses (de la marge, pas du C.A.) ? Très difficile à dire pour le moment, même si l’on entrevoit des possibilités intéressantes (Some benefits of Data Portability for online shoppers) ;
• Où sont les vrais standards ? Même si ces 3 initiatives font avancer les choses, nous sommes encore bien loin d’avoir un contrôle réel sur notre social graph (cf. Data Availabity, Data Connections, Data Data Everywhere).

Bref, un bon début mais la route reste encore longue.

FredCavazza.net | il y a 3 jours | citations : 45

Nouvelle version de GoogleReader pour l'iPhone »

Iphone france | il y a 4 jours | citations : 0

Ajouter un lien Google à votre site »

Entrez les termes que vous recherchez. Envoyer un formulaire de recherche

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loupanthère | il y a 4 jours | citations : 0

La conception du spam chez Google »

Lors de la conférence Web2expo, Matt Cuts a livré le point de vue de Google sur le Spam. On parle ici de spam de moteurs de recherche, ie les techniques et les moyens utilisés pour tricher et se classer sur Google alors que son contenu ne le justifie pas.

Ce que l’on peut retenir:

• Google ne déteste pas les référenceurs,
• Google essaie d’aider ceux qui veulent améliorer leurs pages pour être bien référencés grâce au Webmaster Tool
• Google fait de plus en plus attention au spam
• Google applique toujours bien sa devise “Don’t be Evil“

Emarketing et Pureplayers by Voxinablog 2.0 | il y a 5 jours | citations : 5

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loupanthère | il y a 5 jours | citations : 0

Google Music: Search »

Google Music: Search

by garret

Impressive, I'm surprised I've never saw this before. Google organizes the results in a very accessible way. Shows all albums and all songs (if you like). Even has links to reviews from all over the web.

music research reviews music search engines

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BlogMarks.net | il y a 6 jours | citations : 12

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loupanthère | il y a 6 jours | citations : 0

10 Everday Financial Challenges & How to Overcome Them »

Written by Mary Rowland This article is From Reader’s Digest

Clear Those Financial Hurdles

Was there ever a time when any one of us turned our backs on a bargain? Probably not. But today there’s even more reason to hang on to your dollars. The U.S. economy is cooling down, according to the Federal Reserve Board. At the same time, Americans are piling up more credit-card debt than ever before, and our savings rate is negative, the first time since the Great Depression.

So we’ve rounded up ten financial challenges, and come up with solutions to help you keep more of your money.

1. That SUV of yours seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you’re paying way too much to fill ‘er up.

Solution: First, look for the cheapest gas prices in your area before you head for the pump — they may vary by as much as 20 percent within a few blocks and can change frequently. Gasbuddy.com collects price information for the U.S. and Canada from 173 websites. Gaspricewatch.com collects prices on 128,000 gas stations from 123,000 volunteer spotters.

Be careful about how you use debit and credit cards to pay for the gas. Sure, gas company credit cards offer rebates on gas, usually from one to five percent. But they often carry high annual percentage rates and limit you to a particular brand of gas. Some even offer teaser rebates of up to ten percent, which may be available for only 30 days. A better choice is a general-purpose credit card, with rebates wherever you buy gas.

Avoid using your debit card. When you buy gas on a debit card, your bank “locks up� as much as $100 for as long as several days or until the station owner processes the transactions. If your bank account is running low, you may bounce a check or two.

An easy way to save on gas? Properly inflated tires. Check them weekly and shave up to 9 cents off a $3 gallon.

2. You stop at the supermarket a few times a week to pick up something for dinner, tossing in pricey items as you go.

Solution: Order groceries and staples online and get them delivered to your door. E-grocery stores became one of the biggest disasters in the dotcom debacle a few years back. But a handful of them are beginning to resurface, with more sure to follow.

Some sites are still regional, but amazon.com announced the nationwide opening of its grocery store this summer, with 14,000 nonperishable items, some hard to find and many discounted. Amazon offers free shipping on orders over $25. To see which e-grocer operates in your neck of the woods, check out safeway.com, peapod.com, freshdirect.com and netgrocer.com.

More Savings Tips

3. Your daughter wants a clarinet, and you need to get rid of that old couch, but it’s still got some life left in it.

Solution: Try freecycling. Community groups across the nation have organized to help consumers give away stuff they no longer need and find free stuff they could use. This isn’t a barter arrangement. You give or you get, but not necessarily from the same person. Once you find a recycler who has something you want, you make arrangements to pick it up.

Nancy Castleman of Elizaville, New York, has given away Jerusalem artichokes from her garden, lawn mowers, a television, stereo speakers and a sewing machine. She’s received computers, a stove, a lawn tractor and a 30-gallon pail of birdseed.

The granddaddy of online recycling is freecycle.org, a network of nearly 2.5 million members in 3,710 communities around the world. Also global is freesharing.org. Members offer furniture, clothing, appliances, computers and more. Check out the list of other “sites like us.� For a smaller, folksier site, go to sharingisgiving.org. Search by ZIP code for local garage sales and thrift shops.

4. Your son left for college, and you want to keep in touch — without paying huge phone bills.

Solution: Talk for free on the Internet. Go to skype.com and download free software that allows you to make free domestic calls (and very inexpensive international calls) to other Skype users. David Kavaler, a junior at Northeastern University in Boston, went to Venice, Italy, for a summer photo program and used Skype to call home. “It was very cheap, so I didn’t bust my budget on phone bills,� he says. Google is also developing a network to handle calls and instant messages to friends anytime, anywhere. Google Talk is free. Go to google.com/talk to sign up. JAJAH recently introduced a free global calling plan. Go to jajah.com, enter your own phone number and the number of the person you want to call. Your phone will ring and a recorded voice will announce that you are being connected to your friend’s phone. Within moments, you are talking. Free. After this initial call, both you and your friend will need to register (no charge) at jajah.com to continue the free chats. Most countries are in JAJAH’s free zones, but check before calling. Take note: Some phone companies charge for incoming calls.

5. Your wife’s birthday is coming up. She has champagne taste, and you’re on a beer budget.

Solution: Get a cup of coffee, prop yourself up at your computer and take a look at some new online options.

Shopping.com compares prices, warranties, dimensions, quality and other factors for the top five sellers in a specific category. It also provides buyer reviews and ratings. If you’re looking for jewelry, for instance, you can search by material, stone type, style and store. A no-brainer for men short on patience.

Jellyfish.com helps you earn cash back (two to three percent) when you make purchases through a Web retailer. Here’s how it works: Go to jellyfish.com to find the right product at the best price. Once you’ve made the purchase and jellyfish gets its commission from that merchant, jellyfish will credit your account or send you a check for at least half of what it’s received. No fees, no hidden charges.

6. You’d love to get away over the holidays, but with fuel prices and airfares climbing, it doesn’t look good.

Solution: New Internet travel search engines analyze data and update prices regularly to help you get the cheapest rate on airfares, hotels and rental cars. Objective price comparisons and no commissions.

Farecompare.com collects data and updates 6 million fares between 77,000 city pairs up to three times a day. For last-minute getaways, see the Top Deals list. Suppose you live in Denver, Colorado, and you would like to slip away for a long weekend. At FareCompare, you can see that it would cost you $158 round-trip to Chicago, $198 to Cancun and only $247 to Anchorage.

Kayak.com gathers flight and fare information from hundreds of websites in real time to provide what it claims are the best travel deals available, including flight, hotel and rental cars. A recent check found that the cheapest nonstop round-trip fare between Boston and Pittsburgh was $139 on either United or JetBlue. Click on the airline of your choice and you will be linked to that site with the flight ready to book.

Farecast.com charts the lowest fare between the departure and destination cities you choose, predicts whether fares are heading up or down and allows you to see what time of year is cheapest for travel. The site searches the airlines and provides links to each. Click “flexible search� to get a lower-priced option. This site is in beta testing, and for now, departure cities are limited. A recent search showed that the lowest price for a round-trip ticket between Seattle and Houston was $244. Twenty days later it had risen to $333. Farecast predicted that fare would hold for seven days.

7. You signed a two-year contract for a cell phone only to discover that the service in your area is unsatisfactory.

Solution: You’re facing two years of dropped calls or a $150 termination fee to cancel the contract. But a new website — celltradeusa.com — can help you find someone to take over the remainder of your contract.

Click onto this bright red website; the screen is split between “Get Out� and “Get In.� There are advantages on each side: The seller gets out of the long contract and keeps his old number. The buyer gets a shorter-term contract and pays no activation fee.

Once you sign up to sell your contract, you’ll begin receiving e-mails from interested buyers. Pay the $19.99 registration fee and you’ll receive their contact information. Celltrade does not guarantee that a potential buyer will be approved by your service provider. The company will check on the creditworthiness of the buyer, just as it did with you.

8. Your credit-card application was denied, and your mortgage rate is higher than your sister’s. Ouch.

Solution: Improve your credit score and save thousands of dollars. These scores determine how much you pay in interest on your mortgage and credit cards, and how much you pay for auto and life insurance and more. Credit scores can even be the deciding factor in whether you get the job you want (some employers think it speaks to character).

The Fair Isaac Corporation was first to develop credit scores to determine how likely you are to be a good credit risk. A chart at myfico.com lists mortgage interest rates, updated daily, and shows what interest rate you might get, based on your score. For example, someone with a score of 760-850 could get a 6.31 percent interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage of $216,000, according to the site. His monthly payment would be $1,338. For the same mortgage, someone with a score of 620-639 would get a 7.89 percent interest rate and pay $1,569 per month. That’s a difference of $231 a month, or $83,160 over the life of the 30-year loan.

To determine your score, computers grind up a ton of information about your credit history — and spit out a number. FICO scores range from 300 to 850; a score of 720 or more is considered good by most standards; above 760 gets you the best rates — and the right to negotiate even better ones with some lenders. The fastest way to improve your score is to pay your bills on time and reduce the amount of debt you carry.

Go to annualcreditreport.com for your free report — you’re entitled to one every 12 months from each of the three bureaus. You’ll pay extra for your credit score.

9. You’re living paycheck to paycheck, worried you’ll never own a home, get a degree or retire.

Solution: Consult a financial planner. Time was when they refused to do anything short of a full financial plan, which cost thousands of dollars. Today a network of fee-by-the-hour planners will help you with one specific goal — choosing investments for your 401(k) plan, getting out of debt, saving for college — for as little as a few hundred dollars.

To find an à la carte planner, go to garrettplanningnetwork.com. Participants in this network have been trained and approved by Sheryl Garrett, the planner in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, who set up the network and who has been named one of the most influential people in financial services. Michael Donahoe, a planner in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, met with a young couple who wanted to buy a home. They had $10,000, but they couldn’t manage to save the remaining $10,000 needed for the down payment and closing costs. If they kept their $10,000 invested at 8 percent, Donahoe estimated, it would take them about 8 1?2 years to buy a home.

Donahoe set them up with a systematic investment program and reviewed their retirement benefits at work. As a result of his suggestions, they will probably be able to purchase a new home in two years, says Donahoe, who charged them only $370. Donahoe provides a fee estimate before he starts work. “And I don’t bill above what I estimate,� he says.

10. You’d like to go to the movies and eat out more often, but the “fun stuff� really costs.

Solution: Check out meetup.com, a social networking site unlike the others: Folks actually get together. Over 2.5 million have joined local Meetups, and there are more than 4,500 interests listed, including dining out, movies, belly dancing, scrapbooking and ghost tracking. Join an existing group for free, or start your own.

But you’ll have to check your neighborhood at meetup.com to see which groups discount activities or offer them at no charge. A yoga instructor in Brooklyn, New York, for example, gives free lessons since she found a studio she can use at no cost; she asks for a $5 donation. A movies Meetup in Orlando, Florida, and a vegan group in Boston get group discounts.

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RagZag Politique | il y a 7 jours | citations : 0