links for 2009-06-17

I’ve been an Internet email user since early 1984 when I got my first Project Athena account as an undergraduate at MIT. Notwithstanding all the “email is dead” messages over the years, I continue to use email as my primary online communication mechanism. There are an enormous number of things that frustrate me about email, most notably the lack of fundamental innovation in email clients and servers. That said, as a messaging tool – it still dominates for me.
Several years ago I started saying that “my social graph is in email.” I found it interesting that Facebook and LinkedIn used email as a primary messaging layer to remind me to come back to Facebook and LinkedIn respectively to check what was going on. This signaled confirmation to me that these systems were making sure they were using the most persistent messaging layer to build and reinforce their social graphs.

Lots of services try and rate the reputation of online users, particularly in the world of online commerce. So it’s not surprising that attention is being paid to rating users in the social networking space. Enter TweetGrade.
Purewire Inc. launched TweetGrade last week, calling it the authority in online user reputation on Twitter. “TweetGrade provides a quantitative assessment of a user’s reach and influence in the Twitter community, and it helps people understand a user’s online reputation, legitimacy and safety.”
The company pointed to some of the scams encountered on the micro-blogging site as evidence that its service is necessary, such as a “Best Video” scam. “Attacks such as this make it imperative to know the reputation of those people with whom you interact online. TweetGrade assures this trust by providing evidence of Twitter account legitimacy, protecting users from malicious or illegitimate accounts that attempt to send spam or spread malware.”

George O’Leary. Robert Irvine. Dave Edmondson. Ronald Zarrella. Jack Grubman.
Some names you might recognize, some names you won’t. But what they all had in common was: they lied on their resume. George O’Leary was hired by Notre Dame to be its football coach after years of distinguished service at Georgia Tech, but five days later he resigned after it was discovered he did not have a master’s in education from NYU and did not play college football at University of New Hampshire. Robert Irvine, the “Mission Impossible” chef on The Food Network, made Princess Diana’s wedding cake and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Or did he? No. He almost lost his job.

News Corp.’s MySpace social- networking unit fired almost 30 percent of its staff to save money in response to falling advertising sales and gains by larger rival Facebook Inc.
The cuts lower U.S. staffing at Los Angeles-based MySpace to 1,000, according to a statement today. The announcement suggests the company eliminated about 400 jobs. Dani Dudeck, a MySpace spokeswoman, declined to comment on the firings, severance costs or how much money may be saved.
News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is retooling his Internet operation to regain momentum. The $580 million purchase of MySpace in October 2005 looked shrewd the next year when Google Inc. signed a $900 million accord to sell ads on the site. Facing the expiration of that deal and gains by Facebook, Murdoch, 78, hired former AOL chief Jonathan Miller in April to overhaul the digital operation.

Facebook Inc., after eclipsing MySpace in global users last year, now leads its social-networking rival in the U.S. as well, according to research firm ComScore Inc.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company had 70.28 million U.S. users last month, topping MySpace’s 70.26 million, ComScore said. Facebook’s users almost doubled from a year earlier, while MySpace lost 5%.

Last week, during Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), we learned of the day when we could download the iPhone 3.0 Operating System would be available for iPhones everywhere: June 17th. Well, if you take a look at your calendar, that day has arrived, and soon Apple phone owners will be buzzing about push notification or their newfound ability to cut, copy and paste.
While you may know many of the features that are coming out with the iPhone 3.0 update, you probably don’t know them all, and you may not even know where to download the software. This short guide provides a quick overview of the iPhone 3.0 software, what to expect, and what’s upcoming in terms of applications and the iPhone 3G S.

Julius Genachowski is widely expected to be confirmed to head the Federal Communications Commission today, following a nomination hearing where he was urged to revive an agency lawmakers said had been mismanaged through years of secrecy and influenced by corporate interests.
“Fix this agency, and prove to us that the FCC is not battered beyond repair,” Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) said during yesterday’s hearing. “Show us the FCC can put consumers first and give them confidence that when they interact with the agency they can get a fair response.”

The launch of my freelance career can be definitively marked by the publishing of my first blog post. I’ve always had opinions about advertising and marketing, but for the longest time I was sure nobody would be interested in them. It wasn’t until my company went under and I had way too much free time on my hands that (without any intention of becoming a freelancer) I decided to give blogging a shot. Literally days after that first post, I started getting e-mails and phone calls from people who wanted more.
In addition to being a great tool for getting noticed in the saturated world of freelance marketing, a professional blog is a very useful addition to a job application. Here’s why.

One Mother’s Day, I bought my wife what she had wanted for years — a weeping cherry tree — and I threw in a bird bath, so that when the tree matures, our feathered friends can happily splash and drink under its loving protection.
Oh boy! Another tie or pair of funny boxer shorts for Dad!
For Father’s Day, my wife gave me some boxer shorts and a tiny reading light, so I can flip through a book in bed without disturbing her.
My wife is the first to admit it: For her, and for many people, Father’s Day is an afterthought, a holiday just a few steps above the one that celebrates the groundhog and that other one that promotes trees.
If Mom’s Day and Dad’s Day were in a prize fight, we all know which holiday would wind up lying in the corner of the ring, knocked-out teeth on the mat, dazed head stuck in a bucket.