Top Startup » Lifestream

Location is the web’s new frontier 2.0

Colin — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:58:54 +0000

Where are you tweeting? Where are you blogging? Where was that picture taken? Where are your friends?

It’s a big world out there and location is an axis on which everyone is dying to slice you up.

You don’t have to be on the terrorist watch list to get value putting your location online. I’ve picked my horse and it’s Fire Eagle.

There are a bunch of other horses for storing your location. They are irrelevant. Everyone else wants to trap “where” in a walled garden. Fire Eagle allows developers to create applications around providing your location. I’m using Navizon on my iPhone to update Fire Eagle. Fire Eagle also allows developers to create applications that utilize your location. Dan Choi helped me build the map to the right using Fire Eagle ->.

Why should I tell Twitter where I am and Google Maps where I am. I want to tell Fire Eagle where I am and let Fire Eagle tell everyone else – at the level of granularity I choose.

Developers take notice: Support fire eagle for location based services or you are a second tier web 2.0 app.

Where am I blogging now?

Colin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:12:39 +0000

Topstartup has been sparse recently. Not necessarily because I am not blogging, more because I am really busy and blogging elsewhere:

Work

Virosity blog – the blog for my employer
good2gether product blog – the blog about new releases of good2gether, our current project

Fun

bikeacrossthe.us – the blog (work in progress) about the upcoming cross country bike trip
colin.nederkoorn.co.uk – my tumble log. Short blog posts and cool things I come across on the web. This is the one place that aggregates everything I do on the interwebs, including this site.

Not to say that I won’t be spending my time writing articles for Top Startup. I intend to post now more when I have something meaningful to say, rather than to keep to a schedule.

It’s the freakin beacon speakin

Colin — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:40:38 +0000

I added a new review to Yelp! and understood Facebook’s Beacon all at the same time. It’s powerful, and a very good idea. Im slightly impressed

So here’s how it works:

Im signed in to facebook.
I then go on to yelp and add a review
Yelp infers who I am on facebook and sends a message to facebook that I have posted a new review
Next time I log in to facebook, I have the option to add that to my mini-feed.

Personally I am not crazy about adding MORE lifestream data into facebook’s clutches, but it’s a slick implementation and a solid idea.

Enjoy the beacon!

tumblr is a cool way to aggregate public (and some private) lifestream data

Colin — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:00:46 +0000

I’ve got this blog, I’ve got pintmaster.com, I’ve got a picasaweb account. It’s a confusing mess! I’ve got lots of “stuff” I need to share with friends. Granted, i’ve got my rel=me links in the sidebar. But, giving you guys that stuff to do something with isn’t enough. We’re all lazy. We want someone or something else to do the heavy lifting. In comes tumblr

It’s what they’ve left out that makes it cool

Beyond aggregating my personal streams, what makes tumblr cool is that they’ve made a determination on the things that people like to share with each other:

Each content item is more structured than my blog. For example, in my blog, every tumblr content type falls under one thing. I like that I can post a quote without feeling the need to write a blog post around it. I’ve got my iPhone rigged now, so I can snap a picture and mail it to my tumblr page.

Cool privacy

tumblr has cool privacy in the form of channels. I can specifically allow or deny access to channels based on email addresses. I think it might require people to join though – which is a little bit of a bummer. I’ve got a music channel which has links to cool stuff that I’ve heard recently. It’s only for friends because Im not sure if I can share it. It’s not an oink.cd replacement, but if you want in, let me know!

tumblr vs. twitter

Twitter still has it’s place. tumblr is not there yet in terms of social interaction. There are a lot of back and forth conversations on twitter now. tumblr still feels very one way. Maybe because aside from Brian Del Vecchio, I am practically alone there.

Thumbs up

So, tumblr rocks. I’ve got it working in moodblast and Im going to continue to use it. If you want more than just the topstartup.com content, you can check out (almost) everything I’m putting online at: colin.nederkoorn.co.uk. Im sure my first couple of hours on tumblr only scratch the surface of what’s there. Expect more in the future.

iPhone call logs = lifestream data

Colin — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:00:32 +0000

Beyond open social networks, I’m interested in lifestream data; data that answers the questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? – Who is doing it?, What are they doing?, Where are they doing it? When are they doing it? Twitter attacks the “what” problem well. Their goal is to capture anytime, anywhere what you want to disclose you are doing and make it public. Well, this is all good and well, but I’d like to know a little more.

My interests are more along the lines of capturing and utilizing my own lifestream data to add context and relevance to the things I do on a daily basis. Im interesting in understanding – where I was when I made a phone call, or had an IM conversation. Who is at a conference or event with me. This might sound obsessive to some. Im a firm believer that the memory works better in context. The context of a meeting or event can trigger other memories and pieces of information.

Super cool command line software

I found a new tool that helps me get closer to that goal:iphonelogd

It’s very cool and really simple. You just need to get over the fear of the command line! ruby iphonelogd.rb Calls. Just give it the name of the calendar you want to put the data into and you’re done! One step.

What can you do with it?

One cool use for this is to find out when the last time you spoke to a friend, relative or business associate was. You can use that information to add context – maybe that was the day you went to the dentist, or your wife had a baby since then. Having that information handy better equips you to make conversation.