+1: Turning Search Results Into Status Updates

Image via CrunchBaseThat plus one button (+1) might be Google's ultimate master stroke in the social space, it might not be Google Plus. Search continues to be huge. People search. That is what the web is all about. Otherwise we already had the water cooler crowds. The web liberated us from the confines of geography. People want to go online and search far and wide.

Before the +1 button the search results belonged to Google. Searching was a spectator sport. Now Google has allowed us to participate. We have become part of the secret sauce Google algorithms. We change the search results just as we consume them.

But this is just a start. I want much more say in what happens to my +1 activity. I want some kind of an internal display. I want my +1 action to become the mother of all bookmarks. I want some kind of an internal dashboard.

Ultimately I want my own very personal Google. I want to be able to search though only sites I ever pressed that +1 button on.

Pressing that +1 button is the simplest of status updates for now. You are not having to write up anything. If you press that button enough times, you should have mapped out your personal interest and knowledge graphs. That is powerful.

Tech And Terrorism

Physical

Americans Are Fat

Sunday afternoon plan: free lunch at the Gurudwara near Jackson Heights. My childhood best friend's wife is Punjabi. Evening plan: Ace Hotelless than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Just did 1000 situps. Tech consulting interrupted.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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30 minutes of crude yoga. Feeling good.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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1000 units of tummy muscle exercises.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Making yogurt. Nobody makes it better in NYC.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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500 pushups. Yoga next. Yoga: not easy. The mind wants to wander.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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120 minute walk. Hello Vig Bar. Happy birthday Soraya Hareez.less than a minute ago via txt Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Headed to the Ace Hotel for some good music this evening. But first the free lunch at the Gurudwara near Jackson Heights.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet ReplyParamendra Bhagat
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Haddaway: What Is Love

Just heard on the sound system at the Ave Coffee in Sunnyside.
Ace Sundays
No More Beer, No More Soda

Android Has To Be Kept Free

Microsoft making money from Android is criminal behavior. Oracle attempting to make money from Android is criminal behavior. This has to stop. Android has to be kept free. These attempts by PC era companies is the non innovative way to go after Android. Oracle does not even exist in the smartphone space, but I guess the Oracle CEO's best friend does. That is taking friendship too far. Microsoft is a distant also ran in the smartphone space, and so it has decided to play foul.

Microsoft And Oracle Misbehaving On Android



Android being free is fundamental to what Android is all about. Charging for Android from the back door would be a major setback to the Android phenomenon.

Considering the smartphone is how the vast majority of humanity will come online, it can be argued this is to be the Android century. Android is robust and it is free. It is as good as any in performance and it is free. If it is no longer free, that takes away from the shine of Android.

Microsoft And Oracle Misbehaving On Android

Image via CrunchBaseI have not dug into the details, but what I know is Android was supposed to be free. And I get the impression both Microsoft and Oracle are after Android. This is sad.

But Sun's Java went open source a long time ago, no? What seems to be the problem?

Larry Ellison going after SAP is fun, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Android has to be kept free. It is to do with humanity. The leftover swathes of humanity, if they ever will come online, Android will be it. And it makes no sense to jack up the prices. You do that and less people get to come online.

For the first time I am wishing retirement upon Steve Ballmer and Larry Ellison.

Leave Android alone.

The gist of the story is this: the PC guys - Steve Jobs, Steve Ballmer, Larry Ellison - are going after the Internet guy - Larry Page.

The story should end thus: software patents should be disallowed. The patent trolls have been creating mayhem. Takes energy away from innovation.

Plus, Face

Image via CrunchBaseGoogle's first successful social experiment is - you might have heard - called Google Plus. Plus is arithmetic. It is to do with numbers. Google has always been about numbers. The name Google itself is googol misspelt. Googol is "the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros."

With the Facebook name, the emphasis is on Face. The emphasis is on human relationships not on algorithms.

It was this very mismatch in DNA that prevented Google from cracking the social nut for the longest time. But finally they did it.

Australian Woes

A high school classmate from Kathmandu days, now in Australia.

Kathmandu Woes

Kathmandu Woes

A high school classmate in Kathmandu.

"Do You Have An Email Address?"

This had to have been in 2005, 2006. I was doing democracy work for Nepal. My blog was my primary tool. And I had the largest Nepali mailing list in the world. I had managed to penetrate all the key organizations inside the country and out. And I stayed on a constant lookout for new email addresses.

So I am at this event in Queens. It has not started yet. I am working the room, meeting people, blatantly asking for email addresses.

I came across this guy who apparently did not know what an email address was. Every Nepali in the city has a phone, but only a minority even today have email addresses.

"Would you have an email address?" I asked.

"I do, but I forgot it at home," he said and saved face.

The guy apparently thought I was talking about some kind of a physical object. Like, do you have a Vespa?

Nosh: The Starting Point Is Not The Dish

Image via CrunchBaseI have long been a proponent of adding a social element to FoodSpotting, (FoodSpotting API) and Nosh seems to have that element, but where Nosh does not seem to "get" it is that with Nosh the dish does not seem to be the starting point. That is a big minus. (FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point)

The social graph I have had in mind for FoodSpotting has been more the Color kind than the Facebook kind. FoodSpotting could be an amazing force for peace. And I don't feel like I am exaggerating. I do mean to talk geopolitics.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting

But if I were FoodSpotting, this would be a wake up call to me. The brain behind Nosh was the same brain behind what today is Google Voice. The guy sure has the tech chops. And he is trying to fork into the FoodSpotting space from the Instagram paradigm. But he has already exhibited some major vision level blind spots. The name Firespotter borrows half the body from the name FoodSpotting. Thief!