Is it me or has social networking been played out? It seems that every magazine or newspaper that I read makes mention of some local social networking start-up company looking to make millions online just like MySpace and Facebook. There are social networks designed around music, soccer and even shoes!

I personally can’t keep up; even though I feel like I need to be on-top of all things ‘online’ related. I’ve never been a fan of MySpace because the user-interface is just butt-ugly but Facebook has attracted me, and likewise LinkedIN. Otherwise, what can I do on these specialized social networking like ShoeTube which can’t be paired down to function on Facebook / YouTube?

Granted I’m not a student any longer, and now as a papa I find myself with even less time to engage with social networking sites; therefore my view is certainly slanted to us ‘old’ folks. Isn’t there a side effect to trying to socialize on several sites as opposed to just one or two sites? Doesn’t the plethora of social networking sites reduce the depth of content to just superficial ‘pokes’ rather then real meaningful socializing?

Help this old guy see the light, show me what I’m missing out on.

Every now and then I drift into the Google Labs to have a look at the current projects underway. This latest round I was intrigued by several cool projects baking in the Google oven.

Google Notebook

http://www.google.com/notebook

Pros: This is my favorite item coming out of the labs. Especially if you install the "My Notebook" toolbar for your browser. This way you can highlight and right click items on a Web page and save them to your notebook. It is sort of a glorified scribble pad of idea, text and links which you can search on later.

Cons: I haven’t found one yet, but let me keep working with it and I’ll be sure to find something it can do better.

Google Music Trends

Visit http://www.google.com/trends/music

Pros: The default listing isn’t that interesting but once you select a Genres or Country, then the list becomes a bit more interesting.

Cons: It’s just Google Talk participants so the data feeding into this is a bit suspect to say the least.

Google Trends

Visit http://www.google.com/trends

Pros: Presents a visual trend line on various search terms. The regions and cities is a useful subset of data which sometimes shows very distinct differences how users search.

Example: I used "web site, website" to see which term most people search on. Interestingly enough both terms have dropped in search volume from 2004 to 2008 however the news references for the terms has increased in the same time period. Plus, India much prefers the grammatically incorrect "website" whereas the French and Italians lean towards "Web site".

Cons: The news on the right seems a bit odd and out of place. I actually stumbled on two broken links during my short tests.

Google Code Search

Visit http://www.google.com/codesearch

Pros: If you are looking for code examples to steal learn and integrate into your project, this is certainly a good point to start from.

Cons: Just stay away unless your a coder.

Google Mars

Visit http://www.google.com/mars/

Pros: I think I found a real nice piece of real-estate once we find a way to get there.

Cons: For real? Why do we need this? And why does it wrap 4 times when you zoom all the way out? I’m still waiting for Google to drop a Martian into the map as an Easter egg.

Google Information / 411

Dial 1-800-GOOG-411

Pros: Uses voice recognition to locate businesses and then patches you right thru, and yes it’s free. They located "Imulus" in Boulder, Colorado just fine and on the first try. Not bad for a word which is hard to decipher with voice recognition.

Cons: Where is the residential side of this

Transit

Visit http://www.google.com/transit

Pro: Once you find a location which has public transportation the familiar Google Map interface is overlaid by transit locations which highlight when you select a schedule which is close to the time you wish to leave.

Cons: The city availability is pretty limiting, especially in the US where the coverage is scattered and seems to defy logic. For instance why would they have coverage for Grand Junction, Colorado rather then Denver, Boulder or even Colorado Springs? Sorry, no New York or Chicago either.

Jaiku, my favorite micro-blogging platform, has finally added a SMS shortcode for its US users. This lets users from the US text updates to Jaiku without using an international number. This is great news!

This has actually been instituted since March 6th, but I somehow missed the announcement.

Jaiku users may activate their account at http://jaiku.com/settings/mobile.

The number is 30300.

When I program I seek precision in my code: my code should be clean, maintainable, and fast. When I write code, I control its lack or abundance of these characteristics. When I use a library or framework I forego some of my fine-tuning for increased development speed.

When I write JavaScript code from scratch I know exactly how many statements are parsed to do the task I want it to do - but when using a library or framework, it’s not entirely obvious. Using one line of JQuery to do the work of many lines of DOM traversing or manipulation is a perfect example. Although it saves time, unless I look at the JQuery source code, I’m not sure how many lines it actually took JQuery to do what would have coded from scratch.

I love JavaScript libraries and use them whenever I can as long as the scope warrants it. JavaScript itself can feel buggy if care is not taken, and can be tedious to code with at times, even for pros. Despite this, I don’t think developers should be library or framework dependent.

Developers who write JavaScript should remember they are writing JavaScript, not JQuery, Prototype, or MooTools. JavaScript libraries or frameworks often mask or hide how JavaScript behaves in the browser environment. Developers who ignore how native JavaScript works do so at there own peril.

On July 7, 2007, Asus announced the Eee PC, an ultra-portable, ultra small Linux powered laptop. The Eee PC has been a success, spawning fan and mod sites like Eee User. It’s been especially interesting to Linux fans like myself, and the Linux community has been quick to adopt the device. It’s received raved reviews.

And I want one.

My gut told me to hold off. I didn’t want a first generation device. Even with the great reviews I’ve heard on podcasts and the like I didn’t buy. Now it appears I’ve been rewarded as Asus has announced a new version for later this year with a bigger screen and greater performance. Perhaps when the new version is released I’ll buy. But we all know another, better version will out be soon after.

That’s the catch-22 with all up and coming technology. Waiting is no fun. Once you finally buy your new device (a laptop, an iPhone, a computer processor) the price eventually drops and new sexier models are released. It’s the way it is and the way it will always be. Such is the burden of being interested and enjoying new technology.