Traveling Geeks

Moby Picture: What Matters to us is Your Story

Mathys van Abbe from Moby Picture was in London during our latest geek tour.

I didn’t have enough time to put their app through the test on the Nokia N79 we were using on the ground, but I plan to load it up on whatever new phone I end up with in the next couple of weeks. It’s most definitely time for a new one.

Their mission is to enable users to share their adventures as easily as possible. Says Mathys, “it’s not about the technology. What matters to us is your story.”

Moby Picture adds as much context in the background as possible to enrich your content. They also match your location against other content taken in the same timeframe, determine whether there’s a popular spot nearby, or an event going on.

Groups enable you to aggregate content about specific interests, events, hobbies, etc. Using this feature, you can post to a group in a variety of ways, but the simplest is to just add the group hashtag (like #moby) to the title or description of your posting.

They are working on closing deals with publishers and are encouraging third party developers to use their APIs. More after I start playing with it.

“I come from 5 generations of Cohen merchants …” Joe Cohen

Joe Cohen, Founder, Seatwave.com

“I come from 5 generations of Cohen merchants thus love the marketplace; I also have non-genetic love of sport and music = best job ever,” Joe Cohen. #WDYDWYD? #TG2009 @SeatwaveJoe

My Traveling Geeks Meme: WDYDWYD? What is it?

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Video of Howard Rheingold talk in London on 21st Century Literacies

This is my edit of a talk on 21st century literacies that I gave in London at the Reboot Britain conference in July, 2009. It was part of the action-packed, fun-filled Travelling Geeks tour. About 40 minutes. {Original link: Howard Rheingold on 21st Century Literacies.}

[bliptv 2373937]

Howard Rheingold on 21st Century Literacies.

Moor hen!

Here's a moor hen on the River Cam in Cambridge.

Yes, I'm easily entertained.

Economics of Privacy in Social Networks

Random Thoughts on Social Media & Newspapers

From The Guardian Live Event Podcast in London this month, I spent more time tweeting the event than thinking about creative things to say about the decline of newspapers that hasn’t already been said a million times before.

A few random thoughts in a 140-like format from what the panelists and audience threw out during the event:

Ten metropolitan papers across the country may be closed by the end of the year in the U.S.

Subscribers are leaving papers, although they may choose to read it in a different format, perhaps on a kindle.

We learned about Michael Jackson’s death through Twitter.

We’re all the media now, but it’s important for us to make some distinctions.

The New York Times and other majors are not always right, but we create our own levels of credibility over time.

Now, it’s up to us as individuals to have better crap detectors, it’s important for that kind of media literacy to sink in with the general public.

Organizations like the BBC can hang onto their brand by not necessarily being first on a particular news story. Why leap on the news when there’s other important stuff to report on.

Talk about what you know now because that’s what you know now.

Once you press the button, you can’t change it. That’s why we have put six layers of safety around the production process.

The Telegraph has proved the value of exclusives. Exclusivity has a diminishing commodity value because of the nature of how quickly stories can get out there.

The thing about Twitter is that the barrier to entry has dropped to an SMS message.

The barrier is really low on Twitter – there’s actually a guy who’s building supply chain toys in China who is using Twitter.

The thing about Twitter is that it works on every phone. People in the developing world can get as much utility out of Twitter as we do because they can use it on their cell phones.

Charterhouse Square

Part of our stay during our recent London trip was at the Malmaison Hotel, which is around the corner from the Barbicon tube on the circle line. Despite the fact that I lived in London and had countless subsequent visits, it’s an area where I never spent that much time.

Malmaison is in the corner of a quaint courtyard called Charterhouse Square.

Here’s a little background which will make all Americans feel incredibly young regardless of where they grew up in the states.

The Charterhouse is on the site of a former Carthusian monastery founded in 1371, by Walter de Manny, on what is now the north side of the square. It was established near a 1348 plague pit, located in the square, which formed the largest mass grave in London during the Black Death when around half the population died of the plague.

Tens of thousands of bodies were buried here. The name is derived as an Anglicization of La Grande Chartreuse, whose order founded the monastery.

It’s no wonder we look at the world differently than our Anglican pals on the other side of the pond.

UK Diary: Friday – Looking For Ghosts In Peterhouse College Founded 1284

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8z7odjIZdw

After a hard-packed day of visiting with Cambridge startups, government agency representatives, Cambridge tech incubator, meeting with Nokia research labs, meeting with Microsoft Research Labs – and punting on the river Cam, the Traveling Geeks are invited to dinner at Peterhouse College.

According to my excellent guidebook “Cambridge Colleges” by Janet Jeacock, Peterhouse College features one of the finest collections of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass, by Morris, Burne-Jones, and Madox Browne. It is the oldest of all 31 Cambridge University colleges, founded in 1284.

As the rest of the TGers are shmoozing on the lawn, my son Matt and I explore the building. We’re hoping to find some ghosts. Please see the short video above.

Next: More Cambridge innovation. . .

Cambridge Traveling Geeks TweetUp #TG2009

We had the most gorgeous setting for a TweetUp ever, arranged by Karyn Barnes of East of England. Thank you, Karyn!

Below are a few choice photos and links to larger sets. If anyone else has photos, please let me know.

Cambride England TweetUp at the Fitzwilliams Museum

Flickr Set from Susan Bratton

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luvlotus/sets/72157621345333391/

Flickr Set from Mark Littlewood

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39952434@N04/sets/72157621295932914/

Laurence John, Amadeus | Andrea Christofaro, Designer

William Tunstall-Pedoe, True Knowledge with Susan Bratton, Personal Life Media

Leading Memory Lane

I had an interesting chat at the TechCrunch Europe Awards with Sven Hock of Kingston Technology Company.

They’re over twenty years old and tout themselves as the world’s independent memory leader. Kingston offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and cell phones.

Kingston also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.