Lifehacker offers this review of what the blogger considers the best social bookmarking options. I am pretty much a Diigo user, but also am experimenting with a tool I maintain myself (Scuttle). A problem with these services and with participatory sites in general is that an investment in one service makes it difficult to move on to a new and better service.
I have written previously about LaLa, Apple’s purchase of LaLa, and then Apple’s termination of the commitment LaLa made to users.
Others are commenting and some offering alternatives. Evidently MP3tunes is willing to pick up LaLa users for 10 cents. If Michael Robertson’s description of this offer is accurate, I think his optimism is off target and his understanding of the value of LaLa somewhat limited. It is true that LaLa gave your credit for your purchased music and allowed you to play this music from Internet-connected computers, but LaLa also allowed you to pay 10 cents for Internet-only access to your music.
I am predicting that the MP3tunes offer is for one year only and the regular annual price of $40 will be in play again next year. There are other ways for me to access my own music SimplifyMedia (this happens to be the service I use and I assume there are others). The unique component of the LaLa system was the opportunity to purchase online access to specific songs/albums. This may have been a part of the LaLa service intended only to attract users, but I found it quite valuable and purchased access to hundreds of songs.
Now, I must modify my own contentions. It appears that SimplifyMedia is also backing away from the services it has been offering. It is becoming more and more difficult to trust cloud companies.
A TechCrunch post cautions that the reaction against Facebook may be an example of online mob behavior. Some may be reacting to gain attention and then others join without being able to evaluate the issues. I am concerned that the settings of others I friend may determine whether or not my content is viewed by those I do not know. If I understand this issue correctly, it is something to be concerned about.
Concerns related to Facebook privacy and Facebook motives continue to escalate. If you are interested in this issue, here are some resources you might consider.
EFF – How to opt out
Singel article from Wired
In a previous post, I described the announcement that free NING accounts would be discontinued.
NING has now announced that the NING mini version will continue to be free for some:
Ning will remain free for K-12 educators and their students.
Read toward the bottom of the post from the NING blog to see the comment on plans for K-12 users.
You know, $20 a year for the NING mini account (up to 150 members) is really a pretty good deal.
Sometimes the images tell the story. Here are NASA images of the Gulf oil spill.
