I almost get annoyed when I hear people who update their Facebook status regularly say they have nothing to tweet; I don't think it unreasonable to suggest Facebook emphasised their statuses more recently so that people could instead say "yeah, but I already do that with Facebook".

I also think of twitter as a less of s social network and more of a communications mechanism. Other than the size and arguably the artwork on the site, there is nothing dictating the nature of messages. There is also absolutely no need to interact with anyone other than people you already know, and there is no need to share updates with anyone you don't already know (assuming an account obviously). There is also, and this is important, no need to tweet. It's also got a proper, complete, open API - the sort of API that most companies are afraid of.

The one terrible thing, and I really think it is terrible, is that it's rapidly becoming very powerful. It doesn't federate, it's just one single company, and that's potentially a lot of power in one place. Of course, there is always http://Identi.ca ?

(Other topics for discussion include, 'does one thing, and does it well' vs 'everything in one convenient place'.)

I'd almost entirely forgotten about Live Journal. It was only a tech post referenced by a gadget blog that made me think to check my account. Since then I've been seriously thinking about how good it actually is. I've been happily using Twitter and Facebook for years, but this is, well, letting me ramble, and it feels good to ramble.

Paul and I used to have philosophical debates on the relationship between the 'quality of an idea' and the popularity of that idea. Put simply: people don't always do good things and people often do bad things. Actually that's far too broad, but in the context of Live Journal, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Microblogging, I can't help thinking about it.

I feel as though live journal is a good thing, maybe I should start using it again.

After 3 weeks of scouring job listings every day, I've got a job again. Not a 'proper' one, but I'd rather do this than a permanent role anyway to tell the truth. I've got a lot of freedom with this, I can work when I want, how I want and - unlike Sony - I've got a lot of responsibility.

I'm working for a friend, on something entirely unrelated to anything at Sony that we've been talking about on an off for a few months now.

I'll probably be able to advertise it here when we're done :)

I finished working for Sony on Friday.

They told me about this 2 days earlier, and apparently no one knew. I knew my contract was in some way on-going and it could end at any time, and I blatantly should have checked when it was actually up for renewal, but someone should have said something. Three days notice was a bit ridiculous.

Never do anything with Reed Employment. A company that can't once manage to phone the right number should just burn (I told them 6 times!) and that's without even thinking about 3 days notice.

Anyone in any major city can phone me for the price of a local call. I did NOTHING to set this up.

I use Gizmo project, have done for about a year now. Its a lot like Skype, except...

Gizmo uses SIP so my computer is a SIP client, SIP clients can be phoned from regular phone numbers in about 300 cities worldwide.

SIP clients can also be called for free from any other SIP client, just like Skype clients can call other Skype clients for free. Oh, except that SIP clients can be regular phones with an adapter, USB phones, Ethernet phones, or any one of dozens of applications.

Gizmo also uses Jabber, which means I can talk to anyone who is using Google Talk, Live Journal, or any other Jabber network. Jabber is easily the biggest non-proprietary IM system, and Google talk alone is getting very close to the popularity of MSN Messenger.

In conclusion: Use Gizmo.
Seriously... Its free and really, really good.

Ok, maybe not, but it can be a huge time sink and I don't want it to be.

For a start, maybe its me but I can't really do much else at the same time maintaining a proper converesation. Instead, I think it makes far more sense to be to use VoIP, where the conversation takes up virtually all my attention and is a far better exchange. Text is good, better than nothing, but its far worse than voice for actually expressing emotion and communicating ideas.

(There are still downsides to VoIP, I don't think for a second that it's the perfect solution. I'm not going to write about that now though, since the result would be huge, rambling, and not relevant as it's not currently possible)

The other thing I want to change is something Dad commented on while reading my draft IM guide (which is currently on a back burner). He said that he really hated it when people started a conversation with various "How are you" statements and then asked a simple question.

How would YOU feel if I started a conversation along the lines of "Hello, do you happen to have XYZ on MP3?" and then disappeared when YOU said no?

I had an idea as I was mustering some form of consciousness this morning. The whole concept and design of what's illustrated below is something I've been considering for the last few months or so, and I realised long ago that the requirements of such a system is best illustrated by actual scenarios. Technologically this is possible now (albeit expensive).

[Paul and I are sitting on a fallen tree trunk, by the river near Caversham]
Ben: But I hate the way he always... uh, there's a random dog sniffing my shoe. Can you see anyone around?
Paul: No, no one that looks like they've lost a dog.
Ben: The collar says 'Ashley and (Joanne Thompson - 200x/03/05 - Caversham)"
Paul: Someone who cares about her age a a lot.
Ben: [Presses single button on watch] Phone Joanne Thompson of Caversham.
There are two people matching those criteria.
Ben: Tell me their dates of birth please.
Twelfth of June, two thousand and twen...
Ben: Call the second Joanne
Joanne is unable to receive phone calls currently.
Paul: Call an available friend of Joanne
Calling Sam Thompson
Sam: Hello
Ben: Hello, sorry to disturb, I've got Joanne Thompson's dog here in front of me
Sam: Oh yes, so you do; look behind you
Ben: Ahh, hello
Joanne: Sorry, we tend to let her wander off a bit. Thank you
[They wander off]
Ben: So what were we talking about?

(I have a lot of tech predictions, I have most of them written down somewhere, but it occurred to me that it might be an idea to put them somewhere I couldn't have manipulated later)

Linden Labs has recently announced that server software for Second Life will be completely open source, meaning the most popular virtual reality environment is now entirety open and free. I believe this means two distinct, but completely dependent things. There will be one obvious standard for virtual reality online - a standard similar to those used for HTML and E-mail - a way of doing things not linked commercially to one particular company. I believe that when this is the case no commercial standard could compete, nor would want to. I also believe having only one choice would result in less confusion, and far more cohesion, in the whole market.

I am fairly certain this cohesion will soon make virtual reality environments far more popular as a concept. I am also quite certain now that this will enable Linden Labs, as the creators of this standard, to dominate the entire virtual reality market.

I listen to quite a few audio and video podcasts, this one that has had by far the greatest impact on me. I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in UK politics.

(Forgive them the appalling website)
http://www.channel4.com/news/podcasts/index.html

(To paste directly into iTunes/Podcast reciever)
http://www.channel4.com/news/podcasts/rss.xml

(The latest direct when I posted this entry - Jon Snow is better to be honest)
http://www.channel4.com/news/podcasts/mp3s/240207_snowmail.mp3

When Windows users talk about Windows, they tend to bitch and moan about it.
When Linux users talk about Linux, they actually tend to bitch and moan about MS.
When Mac users talk about OS X, they tend to talk about how wonderful it is.
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