Martin Weigert’s thoughts on the social web. And life.

There is a lot discussion going on about Facebooks new Open Graph features and the way the company tries to take over the web. While Facebook's attempt to connect any website with the social graph of its 400+ million active users is both innovative and superior to any other similar initiative, the centralization of the web with Facebook as the central point and the social networks ignorance of core principles of privacy has led to a lot of criticism.

Comparisons between Facebook and Google - the other big web company with a dominating role in the current web world - are inevitable. Even Google gathers as much data as possible about its users and even Google tries to be everywhere, to be the heart that powers the web.

Nevertheless there are many differences between both companies, and I want to point out the one that in my eyes is most crucial and that lays the basis for how I judge the way the two services act:

Google at least tries not be evil. It might not always work, but still, if you follow the companies activities, you will see that this is more than an empty phrase.

And Facebook? Well, Facebook doesn't claim not to be evil, and considering how they act (e.g. hiding the logout button), I don't feel that they are investing any energy in at least trying not be.

For me, it's not so much about what they do, how successful they do it and what their goals are (earning money, and that's understandable), but HOW they do it and how honest they are. I think that this is where Facebook fails. And that's a problem.

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Over at netzwertig.com I posted a list of 33 web services and start-ups from Germany, Switzerland and Austria (D-A-CH) which are worth keeping an eye on in the future. Here is the list, divided into a few categories. Go and check them out, some are even in English.

Digital Content
Paperboy
PaperC
popurls
Rivva
txtr

Music
play.fm
simfy
SoundCloud
steereo
tape.tv
tunesBag

Organizing
Doodle
Finalfolder
MindMeister
Memonic
Mister Wong
mite
Wuala
ZCOPE
Zootool

Mobile/Location
aka-aki
barcoo
dailyplaces
Friendticker
Qype
Tagcrumbs
unlike.net

Social Networks/Web Publishing
Jimdo
mixxt
myON-ID
yiid

Video
make.tv
Mov.io

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The past three days I attended the re:publica 2010 in Berlin, a conference about the consequences of the digitalization for society, business, media and politics. About 2500 bloggers and digital natives gathered at the venue in central Berlin to listen to presentations, discuss and do networking.

It was my first re:publica but it won't be my last. Most of the topics and speakers were great, as was the good mix of people and the overall, very constructive and inspiring atmosphere. Wifi hardly worked, and even 3g was pretty shakey, but still everyone somehow managed to feed Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla.

I met a lot of people who I knew from Twitter, and got confirmed that I'm following the right people. It was a lot of fun and today I actually kind of miss going to the venue...

It's definitely an event worth attending -at least if you understand German, since a majority of the presentations and panels is in German.

I would like to come up with some critical comment as well, but I would need to make it up. So no, this was a really great event and I'm looking forward to re:publica 2011!

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Sweden has a pretty damn strong and successful start-up scene, compared to other countries with a similar size (and even compared to some much much bigger countries). One could probably write and read books about the why and how, but it might actually be enough to read this article from Swedish computer magazine Computer Sweden to understand what lays the basis for the rise of Swedish start-ups. Do you feel the optimism and positive attitude? Who wouldn't want to become an entrepreneur or a developer in a country where the overall perception of tech and web start-ups is that enthusiastic?!

Here is a Google translated version.

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I have recently started to contribute to the Twingly blog as well. My first post is an overview about the location race between Gowalla and Foursquare. Check it out:

http://blog.twingly.com/2010/04/13/the-state-of-location-based-services-gowal...

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People in Germany often complain about having to pay too much for health care. And they like to refer to Sweden as a role model for affordable health care. I say that's not always true.

I'm just refreshing my hepatitis A & B vaccination. To get the complete and long term protection, one need three doses. And each cost about 500 kr or 50 Euro (students pay about 400 kr). That makes 1500 kr in total. When you want to make an extensive trip to countries south of the northern hemisphere, you often need more protection than only against hepatitis. Here in Sweden I have to pay for each additional vaccination. That easily can add up to several hundreds of Euros.

Now, last year my brother in Germany did get a full protection against all diseases you can imagine - he went to Southeast Asia - and his health care insurance covered all the costs. He told me that this is not common for every insurance company in Germany, however the
one he is a member of is far from being a premium one with especially high fees or something like that.

I don't write this to complain about the Swedish system. There are a lot other benefits, particularly costs for staying at the hospital and getting surgeries are pretty low as far as I heard. Still, sometimes it is good to highlight the flipside of a system, too. After a few years in Sweden I can say that the German health care system is - from a patients perspective - pretty good. If it's sustainable is a different question.

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Saturday's iPad launch led (once again) to discussions wether the lack of USB ports, camera and Flash is a handicap or not. I assume there are different angles to this question, so everyone has to decide by him- or herself. 

But connected to this specific issue is the question about if more is always automatically better, and if less is always worse. Of course the answer is obvious: No, less can be better than more for a majority of the target group. 

Just have a look at this incredibly multifunctional Swiss knife. And compare it with this one. For at 80-90 percent of the customers looking for a good knife, the latter one will be more than enough. And 10-20 percent would complain that the small one doesn't include some specific tools to do whatever with it...

It's like this with all kinds of products, with gadgets and of course with web services. Twitter could offer a lot more functionality, but this wouldn't necessarily mean that the service is becoming better. 

Facebook already offers a lot, and can sometimes feel overwhelmed and unfocussed. 

In the end, it depends on what you want to do with a specific product or service. And if it is capable to do the things really good that the company providing it wants you to do with it. 

Sometimes, more is better. And sometimes, less can be more.

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Just a quick thought: Everyone is waiting for the iPad, and the first lucky people in the US will be able to hold one in their hands this weekend.

The expectations are high, and even though there are some shortcomings like the lack of flash support, I'm convinced the iPad will become a huge success story. I'm planning to buy one as soon as possible (unfortunately, there is no launch date for Sweden yet), and today I thought about what would need to happen for me to (maybe) change my mind and not to order an iPad at the Apple store as soon as possible?

It's if Google would make a concrete announcement about a high class, Google branded Chrome OS or Android powered tablet to be sold within the next two month. This is what Google could do to partially destroy the iPad hype, and to force people having to make a choice.

How likely is that this will happen? Extremely unlikely. Which means that Steve Jobs can start to sell a product without fearing a real (= equally powerful) competitor. That's every company's wet dream.

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Do you remember how much desktop software you did install during the past 12 month? I do: Not a lot. In fact, I get increasingly hesitant towards installing programmes locally on my PC.

I realized this when a friend recommended two desktop apps recently, one alternative to iTunes and one for converting movie files. When I read his mail, I first tried to figure out if the apps he mentioned were web services or desktop apps. As soon as I knew that I had to download them to my machine, I completely lost interest.

There are several reasons why I almost entirely have started to dismiss local software. First it's the installation routine, which takes time. Second, it's the fact that with every tool you add to your software collection, your computer becomes slower. The third reason is connected to the fact that I'm using multiple machines - at least two computers plus one iPhone. Which means that a locally installed programme is not available on other devices you are using. And last but not least, formatting your computer or buying a new one means you have to reinstall all the software again. I have probably done this 20 times in my life, and it gets more annoying each time.

All this makes me embrace cloud based apps. There are a few exceptions, though. Like Spotify for music streaming, Thunderbird for email, Dropbox for file sync/storing or Digsby for Twitter/Facebook. But those are all rather extensions (or enablers) of web services than pure desktop apps, providing a superior user experience compared to (similar) browser-based services. And they sync between all machines I'm running them on.

There are a few desktop computer tasks without any comparable (= equally powerful) cloud alternative left, for instance professional lay-outing, video processing or music editing. Yet. Give it a few more years, and even this will easily be done in the cloud.

Let's not deny that there are some unsolved issues with cloud computing, such as data security and privacy risks as well as a dependency on fast internet connections. But for 90 percent of the digital things I do, I can put up with this. And for the remaining 10 percent, I'm sure the future will have a solution, too.

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In this article from November last year I asked when retailers in Europe will start to utilize location based services like Gowalla and Foursquare. It looks like they are finally starting! At least one is:

Swedish grocery chain ICA will open up a new store for food to go in central Stockholm tomorrow, and has launched a competition that encourages people to check in with Gowalla every time they are coming to the store. The person who has most check ins at the ICA to Go store on March 30 and who is able to answer a single question wins an iPad. Furthermore, everyone who passes by, checks in and becomes a founder before tomorrow will get a free coffee after opening. 

ICA has set up a Wordpress site which shows recent check-ins and the top 10 list of people with most check-ins. 

Props to ICA for (to my knowledge) being first at least in Sweden, and one of the first (if not the first) retailer of significant size in Europe to use location based services to create loyal customers (and to get some media coverage and Twitter buzz).

Update: @fdqps asked me if I could add that the campaign was created with the help of the agencies teknograd and Deportivo. I think I can do him this favour.

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