In this article, we'll analyze the trends and technologies that power the Semantic Web. We'll identify patterns that are beginning to emerge, classify the different trends, and peak into what the future holds.
In a recent interview Tim Berners-Lee pointed out that the infrastructure to power the Semantic Web is already here. ReadWriteWeb's founder, Richard MacManus, even picked it to be the number one trend in 2008. And rightly so. Not only are the bits of infrastructure now in place, but we are also seeing startups and larger corporations working hard to deliver end user value on top of this sophisticated set of technologies.
Earlier this week when we wrote about "The Perfect Social Tool," a commenter on the post hinted that a service called Favo may be it. Curious, we went to check it out. Well, Favo may not be the social tool we were dreaming of, but by all appearances, it does look like something we want to try. Although Favo hasn't launched yet, it appears to be an intelligent bookmark manager that could finally have us ending our relationship with delicious for good.
IBM is about to commit itself heavily to browser-based applications. The giant IT company is quietly working on a project called Blue Spruce, which aims to create a fully browser-based application development platform. ReadWriteWeb was given an exclusive first look at Blue Spruce at the Web 2.0 Summit, where we sat down with IBM's VP of Emerging Internet Technologies, Rod Smith, for a "show and tell" of what IBM claims will be the next evolution of the browser. What's more, it's fully open standards based - so it is squarely aimed at challenging the proprietary-rich Internet platforms of Microsoft's Silverlight and Adobe's Flash.
In the midst of the current US economic slowdown it is clear that the good old days are over. At least for some chunk of 2008, more likely for the whole year, we are in for some gloomy times.
Companies are being forced to cut costs and let people go. Some smart people aren't sitting around waiting to be downsized - instead they're jumping ship and hopping aboard another.
Facebook senior engineer Charlie Cheever flew to Kampala, Uganda, a couple of weekends ago to lead a Facebook Developers Garage and teach 100+ East African students how to take advantage of the growing Facebook economy using the company's apps platform and APIs. Leila Chirayath (founder of Samasource) and I (from Appfrica Labs) were also involved. The three of us organized this event to offer not only a hands-on workshop, but a concrete path for any developer in the region to expand his or her network and develop for an international audience.
(Hint: It's Not FriendFeed)
Robert Scoble just admitted to spending 7 hours per day in FriendFeed. It's easy to see why. The more you explore that service, the more you find, and the deeper you fall down into the rabbit hole that is the social web. It's probably one of the most interesting and powerful social sties that we've seen develop over the past year. Yet it, like many other of today's social web services, seems to be a somewhat incomplete vision of what a real social web could be.
At ReadWriteWeb our mission is to explore the very latest web technology products and trends. We like to test out all the new web apps and spot the trends before others, and we're fortunate to have a great group of sponsors who support this goal. So once a week we write a post about them; here's who they are, what they do and what they've been up to lately. We hope you'll pay them a visit as a way to show your appreciation for their sponsorship of this site.
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It was only this morning that we were lamenting about the lack of the perfect social tool when what did we stumble across but Twitchboard? No, no, it's not the perfect tool, silly, it's a Twitter app. Yet what it does is something that no other Twitter apps have done before: it gives us hope for the future of the social web.
You've been good all year. But did you make the official "nice" list? If you celebrate Christmas, you'll no doubt be wondering when the big man will be swinging by your house with Rudolph and the gang. "Up on the housetop, click click click" and all of that. Instead of waiting around for the jingle of sleigh bells and the pawing of tiny hoofs, why not put technology to work for you? Google and the US-Candian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) - because nothing says "Christmas" quite like tracking thermonuclear weaponry - have teamed up again to help you figure out when Santa Claus will be landing on a rooftop near you.
Sometimes, no matter how compelling your service, it all comes down to the basics. When the buzz begins to die down, you have to resort to compelling content to sell your site and services. This goes for every site. Even Second Life, who recently discovered that their existing home page design wasn't doing the site justice. Now, after testing a new design for their landing page, they're going live with a new design and the Lindens are hoping that it will continue to motivate more residents to join the Second Life community.
