http://news.sky.com/story/1092588/gran-turismo-wants-to-build-real-life-racer
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Cyber-attack on Spamhaus slows down the internet
Cyber-attack on Spamhaus slows down the internet
Hundreds of thousands of Britons are unsuspectingly taking part in one of the internet's biggest-ever cyber-attacks, on a spam-fighting organisation based in London — because their broadband router has been subverted.
Experts said the cyber-attack had slowed down the internet for some people on faster connections.
Spamhaus, which operates a filtering service used to weed out 80% of spam emails — offering counterfeit pharmaceuticals, useless credit offers and weight-loss pills — has been under attack since 18 March after adding a Dutch hosting organisation called Cyberbunker to its list of unwelcome internet sites.
A collateral effect of the attack is that internet users accustomed to high-speed connections may have seen those slow down, said James Blessing, a member of the UK Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) council. "It varies depending on where you are and what site you're trying to get to," he said. "Those who are used to it being really quick will notice." Some people accessing the online streaming site Netflix reported a slowdown.
Spamhaus offers a checking service for companies and organisations, listing internet addresses it thinks generate spam, or which host content linked to spam, such as the sites selling pills touted in junk email. Use of the service is optional, but thousands of organisations use it millions of times a day in deciding whether to accept incoming email from the internet.
Cyberbunker offers hosting for any sort of content as long, it says, as it is not child pornography or linked to terrorism. But in mid-March Spamhaus added its internet addresses to its blacklist.
In retaliation, the hosting company and a number of eastern European gangs apparently enlisted hackers who have in turn put together huge "botnets" of computers, and also exploited home and business broadband routers, to try to knock out the Spamhaus system.
"Spamhaus has made plenty of enemies over the years. Spammers aren't always the most lovable of individuals, and Spamhaus has been threatened, sued and [attacked] regularly," noted Matthew Prince of Cloudflare, a hosting company that helped the London business survive the attack by diverting the traffic.
Rather than aiming floods of traffic directly at Spamhaus's servers — a familiar tactic that is easily averted — the hackers exploited the internet's domain name system (DNS) servers, which accept a human-readable address for a website (such as guardian.co.uk) and spit back a machine-readable one (77.91.248.30). The hackers "spoofed" requests for lookups to the DNS servers so they seemed to come from Spamhaus; the servers responded with huge floods of responses, all aimed back at Spamhaus.
Some of those requests will have been coming from UK users without their knowledge, said Blessing. "If somebody has a badly configured broadband modem or wireless router, anybody in the outside world can use it to redirect traffic and attack the target — in this case, Spamhaus." Many routers in the UK provided by ISPs have settings enabled which let them be controlled remotely for servicing. That, together with so-called "OpenDNS" systems online which are known to be insecure helped the hackers to create a flood of traffic.
"British modems are certainly being used for this," said Blessing, who said that the London Internet Exchange — which routes traffic in and out of the UK — had been helping to block nuisance traffic aimed at Spamhaus.
The use of the DNS attacks has experts worried. "The No. 1 rule of the Internet is that it has to work," Dan Kaminsky, a security researcher who pointed out the inherent vulnerabilities of the DNS years ago, told Associated Press. "You can't stop a DNS flood by shutting down those [DNS] servers because those machines have to be open and public by default. The only way to deal with this problem is to find the people doing it and arrest them."
Hundreds of thousands of Britons are unsuspectingly taking part in one of the internet's biggest-ever cyber-attacks, on a spam-fighting organisation based in London — because their broadband router has been subverted.
Experts said the cyber-attack had slowed down the internet for some people on faster connections.
Spamhaus, which operates a filtering service used to weed out 80% of spam emails — offering counterfeit pharmaceuticals, useless credit offers and weight-loss pills — has been under attack since 18 March after adding a Dutch hosting organisation called Cyberbunker to its list of unwelcome internet sites.
A collateral effect of the attack is that internet users accustomed to high-speed connections may have seen those slow down, said James Blessing, a member of the UK Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) council. "It varies depending on where you are and what site you're trying to get to," he said. "Those who are used to it being really quick will notice." Some people accessing the online streaming site Netflix reported a slowdown.
Spamhaus offers a checking service for companies and organisations, listing internet addresses it thinks generate spam, or which host content linked to spam, such as the sites selling pills touted in junk email. Use of the service is optional, but thousands of organisations use it millions of times a day in deciding whether to accept incoming email from the internet.
Cyberbunker offers hosting for any sort of content as long, it says, as it is not child pornography or linked to terrorism. But in mid-March Spamhaus added its internet addresses to its blacklist.
In retaliation, the hosting company and a number of eastern European gangs apparently enlisted hackers who have in turn put together huge "botnets" of computers, and also exploited home and business broadband routers, to try to knock out the Spamhaus system.
"Spamhaus has made plenty of enemies over the years. Spammers aren't always the most lovable of individuals, and Spamhaus has been threatened, sued and [attacked] regularly," noted Matthew Prince of Cloudflare, a hosting company that helped the London business survive the attack by diverting the traffic.
Rather than aiming floods of traffic directly at Spamhaus's servers — a familiar tactic that is easily averted — the hackers exploited the internet's domain name system (DNS) servers, which accept a human-readable address for a website (such as guardian.co.uk) and spit back a machine-readable one (77.91.248.30). The hackers "spoofed" requests for lookups to the DNS servers so they seemed to come from Spamhaus; the servers responded with huge floods of responses, all aimed back at Spamhaus.
Some of those requests will have been coming from UK users without their knowledge, said Blessing. "If somebody has a badly configured broadband modem or wireless router, anybody in the outside world can use it to redirect traffic and attack the target — in this case, Spamhaus." Many routers in the UK provided by ISPs have settings enabled which let them be controlled remotely for servicing. That, together with so-called "OpenDNS" systems online which are known to be insecure helped the hackers to create a flood of traffic.
"British modems are certainly being used for this," said Blessing, who said that the London Internet Exchange — which routes traffic in and out of the UK — had been helping to block nuisance traffic aimed at Spamhaus.
The use of the DNS attacks has experts worried. "The No. 1 rule of the Internet is that it has to work," Dan Kaminsky, a security researcher who pointed out the inherent vulnerabilities of the DNS years ago, told Associated Press. "You can't stop a DNS flood by shutting down those [DNS] servers because those machines have to be open and public by default. The only way to deal with this problem is to find the people doing it and arrest them."
Monday, 10 September 2012
The New iPhone
All-new looks
Since the iPhone 4S was cosmetically near-identical to the iPhone 4, expect a wholly new design this time around. Leaked images suggest a similar glass front but with a proportionally longer display: enough for an extra row of app icons, which may cause app developers some headaches or mean that older apps have black lines at either edge, working as they always used to. The longer screen could make video watching more pleasurable as it'll be closer to the widescreen 16 x 9 ratio.
Rear metal jacket
It will also have a metal back. Since it's hard to get signals (wi-fi, 3G and so on) through metal, expect a section that's more signal-friendly like glass or plastic. The first iPhone had a plastic section on the back for this purpose.
Better connected
And along with 3G, expect the new iPhone to have 4G, too. Of course, at first there'll only be one 4G frequency in the UK, the 1800MHz band chosen by Everything Everywhere and theoretically switched on tomorrow. There's no confirmation but I'd say that this frequency will be included in the iPhone 5, making it a poster boy for speedy data transfer. At last, no more stuttering browsers or long delays for web pages to load. Yeah, right.
A bigger screen
This is the development that's as near-definite as can be. Last year, rumour has it, a bigger-screened iPhone was on the cards but was nixed when the apps just didn't look good enough. So if that problem's solved, expect a 4-inch display, instead of the 3.5-inch one all previous iPhones have had. It'll still be a Retina Display, though the resolution will change to fit the larger display.
Thinner display
That display may well use a different technology that makes it thinner, allowing the iPhone 5 to slim down overall. Not that the current model is plump, but the new one may shave around 1mm off the thickness.
Frederico Ciccarese
The latest OS, version 6, will be on board with gorgeous new maps (courtesy of TomTom) and improved capabilities from Siri, the voice recognition program. Note that some of the Siri features may only be available in the US at first.
Your dock connector won't fit
The familiar 31-pin connector on the base of the phone is likely to be replaced with a smaller one - though not the microUSB connection on almost every other handset. So your iPod speakers will need to be replaced or to have an adaptor to work.
Faster processor
The iPhone 4S processor is called the A5; the latest iPad has the A5X, which is the A5 with extra graphical processing grunt. Expect the A5X or even a new model called the A6 to feature in the iPhone 5.
Mobile wallet
The new software includes a neat feature called Passbook which will collect together your boarding passes, tickets and more. It may be connected to the phone's GPS, so your plane ticket could pop up on screen as you approach the airport. And it could feature NFC, the contactless connection used in the London Oyster card system. NFC is already on several mobile phones but Apple could be the first with an end-to-end system to make NFC really work, though again it may only be for the US at first.
A bigger battery, smaller sim
That 4G drains battery life faster, so it's likely there'll be a bigger cell in the iPhone 5. And since Apple likes to make other components smaller to allow for more battery, expect the rumours of a nano sim to be true. Apple switched from a regular sim card to a micro sim with the iPhone 4 and now nearly every high-end phone favours the smaller model. A similar rush to the smallest sim may follow from other manufacturers.
Overall, the new iPhone is likely to be a much bigger upgrade than from iPhone 4 to 4S. And though many fanboys will be disappointed, you can expect it to sell in greater numbers even than its super-selling predecessors.
So, when can I get one?
Apple always releases within days of its product announcements. The only exceptions are for the first of a new type of product, when approval from the American FCC is required in advance, which is why the first iPhone and iPad were announced months ahead of release. That doesn't apply here. Apple likes a big opening weekend and favours Fridays for onsale dates, so you can bet that the iPhone 5 will be in stores on Friday 21 September, with pre-orders probably starting on Wednesday. On your marks...
The images on this page are mock-ups of how the iPhone 5 *may* look by designer Frederico Ciccarese
On MSN Tech & Gadgets: Apple iPhone 5: what we know so far
http://tech.uk.msn.com/mobiles/the-new-iphone-what-in-store
Monday, 6 August 2012
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Monday, 14 May 2012
Wi-fi-blocking wallpaper set for launch
Wi-fi-blocking wallpaper set for launch
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. Or, indeed, trying to fry your brains with electronic waves.
If you come out in a cold sweat at the thought of all the invisible waves pinging around your four walls - and don't fancy clambering into a Faraday cage for some protection - then you might be due a spot of redecorating.
Researchers at the Centre Technique du Papier have come up with a wallpaper that blocks wi-fi and mobile phone signals. Slap this stuff all over the walls, floor and ceiling of your bedroom and you'll create a haven that takes you back to a time before phone networks and the mobile internet even existed.
Well, it's one way to stop your partner from making those bedtime Facebook updates.
The wallpaper - dubbed Metapaper by its creators - only blocks wi-fi and mobile phone signals. So your incoming FreeView TV signal, for instance, can still get through your walls.
Although it's likely to be most useful in places where ringing mobiles and other electromagnetic disturbance is a genuine problem (such as theatres, concert halls and hospitals) Metapaper is also set to be made available for private purchase.
As well as blocking signals coming in, it also blocks your own signals from going out - so you could also look at this as adding an extra level of security, since your wi-fi network could potentially be limited to just your own home.
The team behind the wallpaper says it works by using conductive ink that filters out the specific frequencies that carry mobile phone (GSM) or wi-fi signals (0.9, 1.8 and 2.1 GHz for mobile phones, 2.45 and 5.5 GHz for wi-fi).
It's set to go on sale next year at a price that should be no higher than what you would expect to pay for mid-range wallpaper. The technology could also be integrated into plasterboard, wood or floor coverings.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/blog/tech-and-gadgets-blogpost.aspx?post=505e6c3e-8d2a-40d3-88a1-4b521fda21b2
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you. Or, indeed, trying to fry your brains with electronic waves.
If you come out in a cold sweat at the thought of all the invisible waves pinging around your four walls - and don't fancy clambering into a Faraday cage for some protection - then you might be due a spot of redecorating.
Researchers at the Centre Technique du Papier have come up with a wallpaper that blocks wi-fi and mobile phone signals. Slap this stuff all over the walls, floor and ceiling of your bedroom and you'll create a haven that takes you back to a time before phone networks and the mobile internet even existed.
Well, it's one way to stop your partner from making those bedtime Facebook updates.
The wallpaper - dubbed Metapaper by its creators - only blocks wi-fi and mobile phone signals. So your incoming FreeView TV signal, for instance, can still get through your walls.
Although it's likely to be most useful in places where ringing mobiles and other electromagnetic disturbance is a genuine problem (such as theatres, concert halls and hospitals) Metapaper is also set to be made available for private purchase.
As well as blocking signals coming in, it also blocks your own signals from going out - so you could also look at this as adding an extra level of security, since your wi-fi network could potentially be limited to just your own home.
The team behind the wallpaper says it works by using conductive ink that filters out the specific frequencies that carry mobile phone (GSM) or wi-fi signals (0.9, 1.8 and 2.1 GHz for mobile phones, 2.45 and 5.5 GHz for wi-fi).
It's set to go on sale next year at a price that should be no higher than what you would expect to pay for mid-range wallpaper. The technology could also be integrated into plasterboard, wood or floor coverings.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/blog/tech-and-gadgets-blogpost.aspx?post=505e6c3e-8d2a-40d3-88a1-4b521fda21b2
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
What is HTML?
What is HTML?
HTML is a computer language devised to allow website creation. These websites can then be viewed by anyone else connected to the Internet. It is relatively easy to learn, with the basics being accessible to most people in one sitting; and quite powerful in what it allows you to create. It is constantly undergoing revision and evolution to meet the demands and requirements of the growing Internet audience under the direction of the » W3C, the organisation charged with designing and maintaining the language.The definition of HTML is HyperText Markup Language.
- HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web — by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you to the next page. The fact that it is hyper just means it is not linear — i.e. you can go to any place on the Internet whenever you want by clicking on links — there is no set order to do things in.
- Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a certain type of text (italicised text, for example).
- HTML is a Language, as it has code-words and syntax like any other language.
How does it work?
HTML consists of a series of short codes typed into a text-file by the site author — these are the tags. The text is then saved as a html file, and viewed through a browser, like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. This browser reads the file and translates the text into a visible form, hopefully rendering the page as the author had intended. Writing your own HTML entails using tags correctly to create your vision. You can use anything from a rudimentary text-editor to a powerful graphical editor to create HTML pages.What are the tags up to?
The tags are what separate normal text from HTML code. You might know them as the words between the<angle-brackets>. They allow all the cool stuff like images and tables and stuff, just by telling your browser what to render on the page. Different tags will perform different functions. The tags themselves don’t appear when you view your page through a browser, but their effects do. The simplest tags do nothing more than apply formatting to some text, like this: <b>These words will be bold</b>, and these will not. <b> tags were wrapped around some text, and their effect will be that the contained text will be bolded when viewed through an ordinary web browser.If you want to see a list of a load of tags to see what’s ahead of you, look at this tag reference. Learning the tags themselves is dealt with in the next section of this website, My First Site.
Is this going to take long?
Well, it depends on what you want from it. Knowing HTML will take only a few days of reading and learning the codes for what you want. You can have the basics down in an hour. Once you know the tags you can create HTML pages.However, using HTML and designing good websites is a different story, which is why I try to do more than just teach you code here at HTML Source — I like to add in as much advice as possible too. Good website design is half skill and half talent, I reckon. Learning techniques and correct use of your tag knowledge will improve your work immensely, and a good understanding of general design and the audience you’re trying to reach will improve your website’s chances of success. Luckily, these things can be researched and understood, as long as you’re willing to work at it so you can output better websites.
The range of skills you will learn as a result of running your own website is impressive. You’ll learn about aspects of graphic design, typography and computer programming. Your efficiency with computers in general increases.You’ll also learn about promotion and your writing will probably improve too, as you adapt to write for certain audiences.
Do I have to be online all the time?
Not at all. You can code your entire website offline, storing it all on your own computer, and then just transfer all the files onto the web. Then whenever you have new content, you just add that to the existing online version of your site. It’s really quite simple.Is there anything HTML can’t do?
Of course, but since making websites became more popular and needs increased many other supporting languages have been created to allow new stuff to happen, plus HTML is modified every few years to make way for improvements.Cascading Stylesheets are used to control how your pages are presented, and make pages more accessible. Basic special effects and interaction is provided by JavaScript, which adds a lot of power to basic HTML. Most of this advanced stuff is for later down the road, but when using all of these technologies together, you have a lot of power at your disposal.
thanks to http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/starthere/whatishtml.html
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Monday, 22 August 2011
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Official Google Blog: Games in Google+: fun that fits your schedule
Official Google Blog: Games in Google+: fun that fits your schedule: "My family has a games closet. Inside you’ll find a few decks of cards, two decades’ worth of board games and a Twister mat for those times w..."
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Preview the latest +1 button changes
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Preview the latest +1 button changes: "Webmaster level: All Want to test the latest +1 features? Today we’re introducing a new option for webmasters who want to be the first to k..."
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing...
Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing...: "Update : For our international readers, this post is also available in French , German , Italian , Japanese , Portuguese , Russian and Span..."
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Friday, 6 May 2011
Intel chips promise more speed
Electronics giant Intel says it has redesigned the electronic switches on its chips so that computers can keep getting cheaper and more powerful.
The switches, known as transistors, have typically been flat. By adding a third dimension - "fins" that jut up from the base - Intel will be able to make the transistors and chips smaller. The company said the new structure will let chips run on less power, giving the company its best shot yet at cracking the growing markets for chips used in smartphones and tablet computers. Intel has been weak there because its current chips use too much power.
Chips with the 3D transistors will be in full production this year and appear in computers in 2012.
Intel has been talking about 3D, or "tri-gate", transistors for nearly a decade, and other companies are experimenting with similar technology. The announcement is noteworthy because Intel has figured out how to manufacture the transistors cheaply in mass quantities.
A chip can have a billion transistors, all laid out side by side in a single layer, as if they were the streets of a city. Chips have no "depth", until now.
Analysts say the design is one of the most significant shifts in silicon transistor design since the integrated circuit was invented more than half a century ago.
"When I looked at it, I did a big, 'Wow.' What we've seen for decades now have been evolutionary changes to the technology. This is definitely a revolutionary change," said Dan Hutcheson, a longtime semiconductor industry watcher.
For consumers, the fact that Intel's transistors will have a third dimension means that they can expect a continuation of Moore's Law. The famous axiom, pronounced in 1965 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, has guided the computer industry's efforts and given decade after decade of cheaper and more powerful computers.
The core of Moore's prediction is that computer performance will double every two years as the number of transistors on the chips roughly doubles as well. The progress has been threatened as transistors have been shrunken down to absurd proportions, and engineers have confronted physical limitations on how much smaller they can go. Controlling power leakage is a central concern.
The new technology will be used for Intel's PC chips and its Atom line.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=157298700
The switches, known as transistors, have typically been flat. By adding a third dimension - "fins" that jut up from the base - Intel will be able to make the transistors and chips smaller. The company said the new structure will let chips run on less power, giving the company its best shot yet at cracking the growing markets for chips used in smartphones and tablet computers. Intel has been weak there because its current chips use too much power.
Chips with the 3D transistors will be in full production this year and appear in computers in 2012.
Intel has been talking about 3D, or "tri-gate", transistors for nearly a decade, and other companies are experimenting with similar technology. The announcement is noteworthy because Intel has figured out how to manufacture the transistors cheaply in mass quantities.
A chip can have a billion transistors, all laid out side by side in a single layer, as if they were the streets of a city. Chips have no "depth", until now.
Analysts say the design is one of the most significant shifts in silicon transistor design since the integrated circuit was invented more than half a century ago.
"When I looked at it, I did a big, 'Wow.' What we've seen for decades now have been evolutionary changes to the technology. This is definitely a revolutionary change," said Dan Hutcheson, a longtime semiconductor industry watcher.
For consumers, the fact that Intel's transistors will have a third dimension means that they can expect a continuation of Moore's Law. The famous axiom, pronounced in 1965 by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, has guided the computer industry's efforts and given decade after decade of cheaper and more powerful computers.
The core of Moore's prediction is that computer performance will double every two years as the number of transistors on the chips roughly doubles as well. The progress has been threatened as transistors have been shrunken down to absurd proportions, and engineers have confronted physical limitations on how much smaller they can go. Controlling power leakage is a central concern.
The new technology will be used for Intel's PC chips and its Atom line.
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=157298700
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Android phones 'top with consumers'
Android phones 'top with consumers'
pa.press.net
Apr 06 2011
Android-based phones, such as the HTC Legend, have edged out the iPhone to become the UK's most popular smartphone
Android phones have edged out the iPhone to become the most popular smartphone in the UK, according to new research.
Android phones have edged out the iPhone to become the most popular smartphone in the UK, according to new research.
Some 28% of smartphone users own an Android, with 26% using an iPhone and 14% a BlackBerry, the study for digital banking provider Intelligent Environments found.
More than four million British people over 18 years old own an Android - and it is popular with both young professionals and older people.
More than a third (36%) of those aged 25-34 who are smartphone owners use an Android phone, and a quarter (25%) of retired people who own a smartphone use an Android phone.
Android users are most likely to spend time mapping and planning travel - 34% rate this in the top three "apps" they spend the most time using, compared with BlackBerry and Apple (both 28%).
iPhone customers are the heaviest smartphone users - 18% spend more than four hours on their phone each day, compared with just 4% of Android and BlackBerry users.
Some 63% of iPhone users rank social networking and 48% games in their top three apps.
Nearly one fifth (18%) admit that their main bank account is always overdrawn, compared with an average 12% of all Britons.
James Richards, director of mobile at Intelligent Environments, said: "The top three mobile platforms in the UK certainly seem to attract different personalities. It's fair to say that iPhone and BlackBerry have strong identities but given that Android is on a number of handsets, we are clearly seeing more of a mixed user base.
"Perhaps we will see the telecoms industry of the future tailoring their apps and services further to suit the variety of demands being placed on the mobile."
Monday, 21 March 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Facebook - where next for social networks?
Want to know what the next big thing in social networking is after Facebook and Twitter? Of course you do.
Humans are, after all, social animals and we are genetically programmed to seek out spaces, real or virtual, where we can meet, chat and socialise with
So are we all going to live in virtual 4D holographic bubbles come 2020? In which we can virtually socialise and interact with our friends and family as if they were sitting in the same room? Just as you call up your contacts on Skype or Facebook Chat or Windows Live Messenger, might you soon be able to instantly ping a virtual representation of their body in real-time right onto the couch in front of you?
Or, if some of the advocates of artificial intelligence are to be believed, might we, before long, be able to create our own AI friends and family - should we be particularly unhappy with the ones we've been landed with in real life? Beguiling notions, for sure, but whether or not they are ever going to resemble reality or be discarded into the recycling bin marked 'daft sci-fi futures' remains to be seen. We can reconvene in 2020 to check on which.
One industry that does have a grasp on where the future of social networking is headed is the marketing and advertising trade because, like it or not, advertising dollars are the fuel that Facebook, Google and all those other 'free' online services you use day-in-day-out run on.
The Facebook of tomorrow
For those with a professional interest in the future of online social networking, it may well be worth your while booking a flight to Montreux in Switzerland this coming May, to attend this year's Festival of Media. Speakers at the festival's Media Accelerator Program (MAP) are selected from the cream of the most successful media, marketing and app development companies in the world.
Basically, if any group of people has a grasp on what Facebook and its ilk might turn into over the next decade, it's these guys. And the festival's 'Hot Companies of the Year' awards, which go to those devs and new media companies creating the latest innovations and pushing the coolest new possibilities with social media, give a clear indication of where all of our online social lives are headed in the future.
As such, I asked a number of MAP delegates about their views on what comes after Facebook, to try to get an inside track on where social networking is heading in the next five years.
MAP panel chairman Bernhard Glock, former global media director of Procter and Gamble and President of the World Federation of Advertisers, describes MAP as being, "about finding the Facebook of tomorrow, by bringing together start-up and new emerging companies in the media and marketing communication area and putting them in front of industry-leading participants."
Interestingly, in Glock's opinion, many of these marketing and advertising industry heads don't actively scout for new ideas, relying instead on their external agencies to alert them to new trends in the online social networking market.
"I was very much "internally focused" and "externally protected" as Vice President for Global Media at P&G and received filtered information from my own organization and agencies," says Glock. "Now that I have been out in the media market for more than a year with my own consultancy company and more recently as a partner with Medialink, I am fascinated by and excited about dealing with start-up and new emerging companies with genuinely groundbreaking media ideas."
But what might MAP 2011's speakers and new start-ups have to tell us about the future of social networking?
"My assumption is that we'll see several Facebook-style companies, as well as plenty of totally fresh ideas," says Glock. "Among all digital developments, social media is one of the fastest growing and most exciting phenomena. Facebook has changed how human beings socialise forever, so I look forward to seeing world changing ideas emerge at the Festival."
Facebook: the poster child of social media
Another MAP judge, Greg Brooks, content director for the festival organisers, C Squared gave me his own thoughts on the future direction of Facebook.
"The future Facebook will be a platform-neutral company, with its services accessed through mobile phones or tablets as easily through a PC," said Brooks. "It will also likely involve the innovative use of data, both in collection and also usage with regards to connecting users to advertisers in more relevant ways."
In Brooks' opinion, while Facebook is "the poster child of social media," the advertising industry feels that it has "only just begun to scratch the surface of the power of the social graph" opened up by Mr Zuckerberg's network.
"The next wave of pure plays will use social data at their core, to connect users and advertisers in more meaningful and engaging ways, whilst enhancing the overall digital experience for the user," says Brooks.
"There is also no guarantee that the next Facebook will come from the West," notes Brooks. "China has more mobile users than any other country on earth, almost three times the number of US mobile users, and with the rise of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) you are just as likely to see the next two guys in a garage coming from Guangzhou as Palo Alto."
Which, translated into non-ad-industry-speak, all seems to suggest that, in the future, online advertising will become both less intrusive - targeting your own very specific needs and interests - and, at the same time, more entertaining.
Well, that's what I hope (and fervently pray) my translation means...
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=156431285
Humans are, after all, social animals and we are genetically programmed to seek out spaces, real or virtual, where we can meet, chat and socialise with
So are we all going to live in virtual 4D holographic bubbles come 2020? In which we can virtually socialise and interact with our friends and family as if they were sitting in the same room? Just as you call up your contacts on Skype or Facebook Chat or Windows Live Messenger, might you soon be able to instantly ping a virtual representation of their body in real-time right onto the couch in front of you?
Or, if some of the advocates of artificial intelligence are to be believed, might we, before long, be able to create our own AI friends and family - should we be particularly unhappy with the ones we've been landed with in real life? Beguiling notions, for sure, but whether or not they are ever going to resemble reality or be discarded into the recycling bin marked 'daft sci-fi futures' remains to be seen. We can reconvene in 2020 to check on which.
One industry that does have a grasp on where the future of social networking is headed is the marketing and advertising trade because, like it or not, advertising dollars are the fuel that Facebook, Google and all those other 'free' online services you use day-in-day-out run on.
The Facebook of tomorrow
For those with a professional interest in the future of online social networking, it may well be worth your while booking a flight to Montreux in Switzerland this coming May, to attend this year's Festival of Media. Speakers at the festival's Media Accelerator Program (MAP) are selected from the cream of the most successful media, marketing and app development companies in the world.
Basically, if any group of people has a grasp on what Facebook and its ilk might turn into over the next decade, it's these guys. And the festival's 'Hot Companies of the Year' awards, which go to those devs and new media companies creating the latest innovations and pushing the coolest new possibilities with social media, give a clear indication of where all of our online social lives are headed in the future.
As such, I asked a number of MAP delegates about their views on what comes after Facebook, to try to get an inside track on where social networking is heading in the next five years.
MAP panel chairman Bernhard Glock, former global media director of Procter and Gamble and President of the World Federation of Advertisers, describes MAP as being, "about finding the Facebook of tomorrow, by bringing together start-up and new emerging companies in the media and marketing communication area and putting them in front of industry-leading participants."
Interestingly, in Glock's opinion, many of these marketing and advertising industry heads don't actively scout for new ideas, relying instead on their external agencies to alert them to new trends in the online social networking market.
"I was very much "internally focused" and "externally protected" as Vice President for Global Media at P&G and received filtered information from my own organization and agencies," says Glock. "Now that I have been out in the media market for more than a year with my own consultancy company and more recently as a partner with Medialink, I am fascinated by and excited about dealing with start-up and new emerging companies with genuinely groundbreaking media ideas."
But what might MAP 2011's speakers and new start-ups have to tell us about the future of social networking?
"My assumption is that we'll see several Facebook-style companies, as well as plenty of totally fresh ideas," says Glock. "Among all digital developments, social media is one of the fastest growing and most exciting phenomena. Facebook has changed how human beings socialise forever, so I look forward to seeing world changing ideas emerge at the Festival."
Facebook: the poster child of social media
Another MAP judge, Greg Brooks, content director for the festival organisers, C Squared gave me his own thoughts on the future direction of Facebook.
"The future Facebook will be a platform-neutral company, with its services accessed through mobile phones or tablets as easily through a PC," said Brooks. "It will also likely involve the innovative use of data, both in collection and also usage with regards to connecting users to advertisers in more relevant ways."
In Brooks' opinion, while Facebook is "the poster child of social media," the advertising industry feels that it has "only just begun to scratch the surface of the power of the social graph" opened up by Mr Zuckerberg's network.
"The next wave of pure plays will use social data at their core, to connect users and advertisers in more meaningful and engaging ways, whilst enhancing the overall digital experience for the user," says Brooks.
"There is also no guarantee that the next Facebook will come from the West," notes Brooks. "China has more mobile users than any other country on earth, almost three times the number of US mobile users, and with the rise of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) you are just as likely to see the next two guys in a garage coming from Guangzhou as Palo Alto."
Which, translated into non-ad-industry-speak, all seems to suggest that, in the future, online advertising will become both less intrusive - targeting your own very specific needs and interests - and, at the same time, more entertaining.
Well, that's what I hope (and fervently pray) my translation means...
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=156431285
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