TechBait

I just read an interesting Wired article about how an unnamed FaceBook employee told a reporter that the CEO doesn’t believe in privacy.  While this is merely one employee’s off the record opinion, FaceBook actions and policies seem to bear this out.  I didn’t realize how much information was being shared out by FaceBook, and it is true that they are littered with hackers and social engineering types who cause all sorts of havoc for account holders.  What’s your opinion on that?

There are reports that Google is spending over $100. million to open source a video codec by ON2 in order to leapfrog a web video standards impasse.  As it stands today, much of the web’s video is encoded in proprietary formats like Adobe Flash, for example YouTube’s .flv video files, and that various browsers are set to use the Ogg Theora codecs while Apple refuses to use it due to an “uncertain patent landscape”.    Netscape accuses Google of sabotaging the standard because they use the Adobe formats for YouTube, etc.  Lots of infighting.  If you want to play the videos you need a third party proprietary plugin like Adobe Flash.  While this is free for the end user of an approved Operating System, it is very hard for device and software makers to create software and products around this without facing potentially huge licensing/royalty or lawsuit issues.  Having an open source alternative that is backed by such a standards setting monster like Google would take a huge step towards making this problem go away.

Ogg Theora is actually based upon an earlier open sourced version of the On2 codec, but it’s performance can’t match the newer versions or the non open sourced competitors.  The Register article explains the whole situation very well.  I’m linking to it in order to comment on it.  Google has become this 8000 lb gorilla on many technology fronts.  They wield enormous power due to their sheer size and domination of the Internet search and advertising markets.  One little change in their search algorithm or standard can shut down many people’s profitable Internet properties overnight, with no recourse.  They have become evil, ironic for a company who’s motto is or was, “Do No Evil.”

So, if they open source this video codec and make web video seemless and ubiquitous without the worries of patent issues, they would take a small step away from being evil.

According to this post at Network World, Best Buy is requiring a certain level of Twitter expertise in order to qualify for an “Emerging Media” executive role.  The funniest thing is that the company’s CEO, while having an account, barely would qualify to work in his own marketing department.  You gotta love that.

Twitter is a mixed bag.  For a long time I didn’t see the value in it.  Now I see value, but I also see a lot of useless chatter.  It is a VERY useful PR tool for celebrities to plug their agenda.  It’s a great marketing tool.  It is an awesome market research tool.  Twitter is like putting your pulse on the Internet.  I posted something last night about Microsoft adding value to their Bing search engine with some nifty Twitter tools.

So, back to Best Buy.  Yeah, sure, why not?  I think it’s great that senior management at these large companies are getting with the times.  It’s actually a sign of the times.  As the older boys bow out, the newer generation takes with them the tools of the modern age.  I would still rather that Best Buy do a better job with it’s floor staff.  I laugh every time I see commercials where they are putting up some alleged floor person who went above and beyond to help out a customer.  I wish that they would ship some of them over to the Best Buy store in Paramus NJ on Route 17 north, where you could all but keel over with a coronary before any of them notice you.