The MySpaceation of Facebook

Myspace has long been parodied as the Jersey Shore of social networking: full of emo kids, aspiring "models" and generally everybody on the internet who has bad taste.

Facebook, in contrast, was born in the Ivy League. The pages were clean and streamlined (if for no other reason than the user had less control than the MySpace user). However, a series of changes took place, starting with the decision to News Feed. To wit, Facebook got a lot more cluttered. News Feeds OK, gaming apps OK, credit card ads - well, they're annoying, but every other website has them. In the past few months Singles adds have started popping up.

A website is a lot like a professional athlete or a Nascar coat of paint - the quality of the sponsors are reflection of the quality of the brand. So, LeBron and Nike (good for him), GlobalSecurity.org and credit card adds (...ehh), -- Facebook and Hot, Local Singles?!

This from a company that is reportedly worth ~USD 15b?

Facebook can try to squeeze every last drop of ad money it can, but if it does it must come up with a new social networking strategy - it can no longer be the clean-cut Myspace

Controlling the weather

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20463/?a=f

How to save money running a start up

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/03/07/how-to-save-money-running-a-startup-17-really-good-tips/

Fortune's List of Top Entrepeneurs

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/99/biz_08midas_The-Midas-List_Rank.html

A Summit guy is ranked high.

A Useful Undergraduate Class

http://cubist.cs.washington.edu/Security/2007/11/22/why-a-computer-security-course-blog/

http://cubist.cs.washington.edu/Security/

"Technology" as a sector of the economy

Magazines, newspapers, business entities, etc. typically classify "technology" as a sector of the economy.

Is this appropriate?

By technology, they typically mean companies/firms involved in computing, electronics, genetics, etc. However, this is not the true definition of technology:

1.	the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.

2.	the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature.

3.	a technological process, invention, method, or the like.

4.	the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their civilization.

So why not include the newest tractors or cranes next to the newest operating system?

Instead of saying "technology" is a sector of the economy, would it not be more appropriate to rather say that technology is the cutting edge of *every* industry? Or better yet, to replace the word "technology" with "cutting edge"?