Mission Creek

Here is a fascinating exchange between a Google executive and one of the thought leaders, and founders of the internet (no, not Al Gore) Tim Berners-Lee.  Many thought leaders feel the next step of the web is to use Artificial Intelligence to search the web and categorize information through a universal medium for information exchange by putting documents with computer-processable meaning (semantics) on a single standard.  This notion would rely on standardized tagging to parse the data and direct the process (this is a very simplified summary).

I think this Google representative has a very valid read.  In essence, his argument is that the tagging is only good as the tag- which is completely subjective. The cynic would also say that the a universal standard would make it easier for search to be completed by competitors.

from cnet.com 

…

“What I get a lot is: ‘Why are you against the Semantic Web?’ I am not against the Semantic Web. But from Google’s point of view, there are a few things you need to overcome, incompetence being the first,” Norvig said. Norvig clarified that it was not Berners-Lee or his group that he was referring to as incompetent, but the general user.

“We deal with millions of Web masters who can’t configure a server, can’t write HTML. It’s hard for them to go to the next step. The second problem is competition. Some commercial providers say, ‘I’m the leader. Why should I standardize?’ The third problem is one of deception. We deal every day with people who try to rank higher in the results and then try to sell someone Viagra when that’s not what they are looking for. With less human oversight with the Semantic Web, we are worried about it being easier to be deceptive,” Norvig said.

“While you own the data that’s fine, but when somebody breaks and says, ‘If you use our enterprise system, we will have all your data in RDF. We care because we’ve got the best database.’ That is much more powerful,” Berners-Lee said. To illustrate his stance, he used the example of bookstores initially withholding information on stock levels and purchase price but then breaking them as others did.

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full story here 

from nytimes.com

Sometimes we forget that technology; truly revolutionary technology can be developed without the internet…

WASHINGTON, July 18 — In a new approach to making the electric car a mass-market product, a California company will unveil on Wednesday a model that is very specialized, very expensive and very, very fast.

Tesla Motors, a four-year-old Silicon Valley start-up, has raised $60 million and spent about $25 million developing a two-seat Roadster that will sell for $85,000 to $100,000.

It goes from zero to 60 miles an hour in four seconds, “wicked fast,” said the company’s chairman, Martin Eberhard. Because it is an electric, the driver does not have to shift into second gear until the car hits 65, he said…

full story here 

from techcrunch.com

I think this may be a promising use for social networking. Aren’t some of the most interesting jobs always filled by a friend of someone who knows someone……..

Do job seekers and employers outside of Silicon Valley want user generated content, tagging and feeds in their employment services? The premise that they do will likely be put to the test on a global scale now that the fast growing job search site Jobster has landed $18 million more in venture funding from a team lead by international publishers Reed Elsevier. The company has now recieved almost $50 million in funding, from funders also including Ignition Partners, Mayfield Fund and Trinity Ventures…

full story here