Social networking sites, a good idea?

For a while now employers have been using social networking sites to find out more about job candidates. Well now it looks like universities might be using them to see if their students are engaged in activities that the school finds unacceptable. I really do not have a problem with this, as my father-in-law would say "when your dumb, you suffer". Why do people not think first when posting stuff on these sites. Once there it becomes public knowledge for everyone to consume. If you don't want your parents, employer or school to know about it don't post it online. I remember when I was in high school MTV was in town for spring break every year. The school would tape the shows and then watch them to see if any of the students where there. Did I miss a day or two to be at the beach with MTV, of course I did (sorry mom) but I did not try and get in front of the camera. That would have been dumb.

Second life - maybe not for corporations

From this article, it appears companies are leaving second life because they do not appear to be able to generate revenue from it. I for one think that the only people who will profit from second life are Linden Labs and the people who can convince others that they need virtual goods. This can only last so long before a better or free virtual universe takes over. Or better yet when people realize there is a real world to play in with real people to hang out with.

Virtual copy write infringement

Apparently a Second Life entrepreneur is having his virtual sex machine pirated and sold at a lower cost than the original. I am not sure if this belongs in a real court, a virtual court or if Linden Labs should just step in to handle the dispute. Another question is does Linden Labs have any liability here to protect entrepreneurs from having their products copied and resold. Can you and should you be able to copy write "Virtual" items? I personally think this does not belong in a real court wasting tax payer money. Lindon Labs should have software usage agreements to deal with the virtual items made in its world. Read the Reuters article here.

Advertisers hacking Web2.0 for profit

This article discusses how advertisers are using social news sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon to make new profits. For a price they will guarantee that a site will get a enough thumbs up or votes to generate traffic for that site or story. How many other web 2.0 sites are going to become targets to this kind of advertising? What new technologies can these sites use to prevent these hacks from working? This is a classic game of cat and mouse, lets just hope the web 2.0 sites win the game.

YouTube Remixer: Edit Videos Online At YouTube

Get those family vidoes out, it looks like YouTube is now offering the ability to edit your movies online. I am not sure how much use this will get because most people using YouTube seem to have video capture / editing software already, but maybe it will bring in the mom and pop crowd that are less sophisticated.

Navy and FOSS

Well the Navy is now jumping on the FOSS bandwagon. I wish more of my tax funded agencies would see the usefulness of FOSS. It could not only save tax payers millions, but also create more competition among the vendors who prey on our tax dollars.

Navy CIO 'recognizes the importance of OSS to the warfighter'