http://3rdtuesday.net Business Networking for Scotland en-us 40 http://new.3rdtuesday.net/forums/topic.php?t=21 Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:06:31 +0000 Yesterday evening at the Googleplex in California saw the launch of Google's new OpenSocial initiative for social applications. There's been a lot of talk surrounding this announcement, mainly the hope that Google were finally about to break the 'walled gardens' of the social networks. Of course, OpenSocial doesn't do this. It's simply a standardised API for social network sites to make available to developers who can then write applications on top of this. So now Scrabulous can be written once, and then run on MySpace, Bebo, Orkut (big in Brazil) and a host of other services. Apps can get access to the user's profile and friends list, and send notifications through the site's own architecture in a completely standardised way. Oh, except that will require the authors of Scrabulous to rewrite their application - because it's currently on Facebook. Zuckerberg and gang's Facebook Platform isn't part of the OpenSocial API. It doesn't play nicely, and Facebook were conspicuously absent from last night's 'Campfire'. This despite the fact that Facebook is the fastest growing of all the social networks, and the only one that's so far managed to get real traction from third party development. So the lesson from last night very much seems to be that if you're looking to write the next 'Food Fight vs Chuck Norris' killer social networking app - then thanks to Google, you'll now only need to write it twice. I guess that's some kind of progress. http://new.3rdtuesday.net/forums/topic.php?t=20 Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:03:22 +0000 Wireless Innovation are hosting a seminar on Mobile Social Networking on November 23rd from 9am to 1pm at their Hillington Park base (just off the M8 near Braehead for those who don't know it). The focus is on exploring the impact of social networking on today’s businesses, and the key speakers are: Phil Taylor of Strategy Analytics who will give an informed ‘state of the nation’ on the growth of this market over the last few years and advise on Strategy Analytic’s predictions for the future of social networkingSimon Vaughan from BT who will answer the question “Are you Mobile Networking in the Office?”Mike Kinsella, Founder of Weeworld will provide an overview of their experience as Scotland’s first social networking company. You can register for attendance free by emailing wirelessevents@innovationcentre.org http://new.3rdtuesday.net/forums/topic.php?t=19 Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:14:47 +0000 Welcome to the new look, new format 3rd Tuesday site. We've moved the site to a more blog-like feel to reflect a new attitude. If you've been a 3rd Tuesday attendee in the past (don't worry if you haven't, you're still welcome) then you'll realise that while we always enjoy our speakers; much of the value in 3rd Tuesday comes from the conversations at our events. So what could be more logical for a tech-focused community than to take that conversation online as well? So this site is intended to fill the gaps between 3rd Tuesday events by keeping up a semi-regular fix of news, analysis and opinion about issues that affect businesses in Scotland. We'll be highlighting issues from the wider internet as well, but we're keen to focus predominantly on the community right here at home. 3rd Tuesday is a conversation rather than a traditional blog - so you can expect to see a number of people posting on here. In fact we welcome posts from anyone who's part of the community: If you've got a product launch coming up, a major contract win, a new partnership, or just some interesting thoughts on something that we've missed - let us know. We can't promise to post everything - but we'll definitely take a look and we'll try to publish anything interesting. http://new.3rdtuesday.net/forums/topic.php?t=18 Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:51:23 +0100 Last night's 3rd Tuesday was voted a big success by all who attended, Microsoft Silverlight team included. We had 53 attendees including several digital agencies - Union Digital, Line Marketing, Lightershade and more. Jon Harris, the Microsoft User Experience Evangelist kicked off his presentation with the observation that MS is about to be "no longer tumbleweed blowing through the designer sector". He spoke about the traditional clash of designers and developers who until now have both spoken different languages. He's predicting 250-300 million downloads of Silverlight in 18 months to give them 80% penetration. Wouldn't give a roadmap as they say it's changing monthly according to feedback. Right now the design tools are for Windows only, but interoperability will increase with future releases. Currently they're working on showcase projects with 40 London agencies and their channel development manager Emma Bateson is working hard to matchmake agencies and Silverlight business partners. Simon Robson from Union Digital and Ross Laurie from Line Marketing are both keen to provide showcase projects for Scottish creativity with Silverlight.