So Facebook finally went live with it’s latest design and as expected, the backlash began right away. Search Facebook Groups for “new Facebook” and you’ll see results such as “I HATE THE NEW FACEBOOK (STALKER) Layout” or “The New Facebook Sucks!” or “I Hate the New Facebook”. Looking at most of these groups, it is clear that these people are misunderstanding what Facebook is meant to be.
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It seems nowadays, there is a web application for everything. In a few short years, we’ve seen explosive growth in a movement called Web 2.0. This has resulted in a shift towards spending more and more time in our browsers, and less time in standard desktop applications. With so many new web applications popping up left and right, you will invariably see clones and companies trying to best each other. It can definitely be overwhelming trying to keep track of them all. The following are the web apps that make the cut for me. Those who know me well, know that I am extremely particular about the technology I use so I hope you will find these sites as useful as I have.
Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor whose final lecture inspired millions, has died of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pausch, 47, who turned the lecture into a book, said that no one would have been interested in his words of wisdom were he not a man in his 40s with a terminal illness.
Via Digg (via TechCrunch)
Today Google has launched Knol, its Wikipedia alternative that holds authors accountable for the articles they write. Each article is created by a team of authors, who receive attribution, and are allowed to take part in a rev-share for AdSense ads on their page.
I’m not entirely convinced that Knol will become that popular. This day in age, being first has a lot to do with a product’s success. While Knol address the one main criticism of Wikipedia, article integrity, that alone doesn’t look like enough to chip away at Wikipedia’s popularity and sheer volume of information. That being said, I do believe that the open editing of Wikipedia has held up better than most would expect. I’ll be interested to see how the perception of Wikipedia changes (particularly in academia) over the next several years.
Everyone’s favorite procrastination tool is due for it’s 2nd major makeover. I’ve been playing with the new version for a little while now and evidence of other social networking sites have made their way into Facebook’s new design. The look and feel is mostly the same; the single largest change is the merging of the newsfeed with the wall reminiscent of Twitter or Pownce. You’ll also notice the ability to clean up your profile by using tabs to organize all your content; applications no longer dominate the page. With these changes, emphasis is being put more on social interaction. While I like the direction Facebook is taking, most Facebook users will probably immediately oppose the change espescially given the fact that the Twitter-like concept of the new Facebook is still largely unfamiliar to most people. I fully expect hundreds of “Petition to change Facebook back to the way it was” groups to pop up.
Continue reading ‘The new face of Facebook’
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