Agora Media Group Innovation Blog

Google Buzz is “a Google approach to sharing.”

Google is making an interesting move which is two-folded.
At the one hand, it’s trying to enter the social networking business, on the other hand it’s trying to do what it’s overaching goal is: organizing information, in this case, social information.
Google’s trying to get a grasp on Facebook and Twitter. Especially Facebook is unstoppable in its advance in monthy traffic.

What Buzz does is incorporating social tools in Gmail.
It has five features:

• Users can auto-follow people which he/she is frequently communicating with, be it email or chat.
• Sharing becomes much easier, the user will be able to share content from Flickr, Youtube and so on.
• A recommendation service where Buzz will help you find popular content.
• The user will get social updates.
• The user will be able to update his/her status, be it to the public or private.

Some features do look alike the ones which are available on Facebook and Twitter. Gmail is a perfect platform to deploy these social tools, a huge userbase of 170+ million, which will return Google lots of intel, on usage, functionality, usability etc.

One of my last articles, The Synaptic Web and the Flux of Information, referred to search and filtering and why filtering is becoming the mechanism in this highly communicative digital society.
Google Buzz will create Google’s own real-time stream of information, how will Google manage the flow for the user, in terms of keeping an overview and not being overloaded?
Yet another tool is not adding more simplicity to the overcrowded landscape. Looking forward how and if Google is able to convince its users to go for Google Buzz.

What are your initial thoughts?

With a userbase big as Yahoo’s one, it’s a logic result that Yahoo is figuring out how to leverage its users to create an Augmented Reality application which differs a bit from others.
Instead of tagging pictures to a geolocation, Yahoo’s goes social by making it possible to leave notes on specific surroundings, which can be read by the user’s network.

Read here the patent which is filed by Yahoo. Read up the detailed decriptions, some interesting notes are made.
The abstract:

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for capturing information that is pertinent to physical surroundings with respect to a device, the information including at least one of visual information or audio information. Overlay information for use in generating a transparent overlay via the device is obtained using at least a portion of the captured information. The transparent overlay is then superimposed via the device using the overlay information, wherein the transparent overlay provides one or more transparent images that are pertinent to and in correlation with the physical surroundings.

There are many Augmented Reality applictions developed or in development, the potential application by Yahoo differs in terms of existing userbase and possible mass adoption. The social aspect might drive adoption, being able to identify oneself faster with overlaying data, than any kind of data which is not close to someone.

Would this move make sense by Yahoo?

What if information and intelligence between websites, content and data are becoming more important than the websites, content and data itself?
What if we don’t have to search for content anymore, but throughout filters, information and intelligence comes to us?
What if the starting point is not the static objects itself, but the dynamic patterns between the objects?

Then we have the notion and new point of perspective of the Synaptic Web:

The Internet is constantly evolving. As the speed, flexibility and complexity of connections increase exponentially, the Web is increasingly beginning to resemble a biological analog; the human brain. But what exactly is it that’s makes us, or the Web, smart?

In the brain, neurologists now believe that it is the density and flexibility of the connections between neurons, not simply neurons themselves, which are at the root of intelligence. These connections are called Synapses.

Even if the total number of brain cells, or neurons, begins to diminish in early adulthood, our ability to generate new connections between neurons and between different parts of the brain – what neurologist call “plasticity” – persists throughout life. What’s more, the brain seems to be like any other muscle in that plasticity can be increased with exercise.

It is at the synapse, the “gap” between one neuron and another, where neural connections are consummated to create pathways that, when used, are reinforced with additional connections and, when unused, are “pruned” to make way for new, more useful pathways. It is these incredible chemical bridges that define the patterns of communication that, at any given time, define our cognitive capacity.

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In the previous post on our CMSP technology, I explained shortly what the system is, what it can do and why it’s time for this kind of technology which creates new cross media digital experiences.
The CMSP will bring people Entertainment 2.0 !

This post will be about the functionalities which were available in the previous platform based upon the CMSP technology.

From then, technology has evolved, one of our partners is able to transform calls into tweets or text which then will be inserted next to the avatar.
As you can see, the marketing opportunities from an advertiser/exploiter point of view are vast, think of “in-game” advertising, product placements, memberships and so on.

We are looking for early stage investors/angel to revive and redevelop this platform to the needs of current markets.
If you’re interested, have tips or potential leads, do let us know, we can provide an executive summary and business plan upon request.

Below you’ll find a screenshot with the highlights of the technology as it was deployed for that particular network. Click for full screenshot.

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Today, February 3rd, game developer Paladin Studios has launched EnerCities. It is an online game in which players are challenged to build a sustainable city. It will run online (www.enercities.eu) and on Facebook, and is available in six European languages. The game is part of an educational platform dealing with energy issues, backed by European Commission funding of €1 million. read more

Last Friday (January the 29th) I received the great news that I am selected for the next round of the Rising Star of the Year Award.
From the first of February till March the 15th the entries will be voted on by LinkedIn members, the three with the most votes -in each category- will go through to the final stage which will be decided by the judges.

Read my nomination here and do vote for me and the Agora Media brand.

A big thank you to Richard K. for the nomination, fantastic words and appreciation!
Thanks to all who supported me in acknowledging the nomination.
Please do so again

It might be an unsettling reality, or hard to grasp, or too different from current settings, but as Matsuda explains:

The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change in the way in which we operate within it.

This view offers a look into a more cyborg-like society, where technology and the human being are intertwined heavily. Not a bodily intertwining, but more an informational and intelligent enhancement.
If our daily lives are being ‘controlled’ by step-by-step executions, how does that impact the quality of it?

This film is produced to finalize his Masters in Architecture, which is part of a larger project about the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality.
It’s wise to contemplate about consequences of technologies, even if they are exaggerated, to understand and keep understanding its role in society and effects on the environments.

Your opinion?