Zach Beauvais

In a bid to test a bit of the Semantic Web, I have inserted a little line of Java script into my blog which should automatically turn many of my links Smart. Not 8 hours after I had inserted the script, I was contacted by Fraser at AdaptiveBlue, the creaters of the Smartlink technology, who asked how I was finding the new links. After offering me some advice about ‘Turning on Smartlinks in my Blog’, Fraser also agreed to a Question and Answer post about AdaptiveBlue (watch this space…)

Because I have been trialling BlueOrganiser for a few weeks, I am somewhat familiar with the technology, and do find it useful. I have not, however, noticed any of my links becoming ‘Smart’ of their own accord. I did manage to manually make a couple of links smart by adding a bit of HTML to the blog article (<smartlink="yes") which enabled AdaptiveBlue’s flashy menu with information on Apple and the iPhone. However, the automatic tech doesn’t seem to have worked with my Drupal website (after inserting the code in the page.tpl.php file–just like Google Analytics’ Urchin code). Fraser suggested I create the following link, to test out the smartness of my placement.

Is it Smart?

It does indeed appear to be Smart but is displaying the following error message:

"Rats! The Smart isn’t connecting to this Link…"

Oh well, it’s a step in the right direction for the Semantic Web. More on this later!

For avid news readers, not much beats a classic broadsheet newspaper for quality content and writership. Although I use Google Reader to keep up with the best of the blogs, and sometimes skim Technorati and Digg for new reads, I keep coming back to the consistent content found on traditional newspapers–online. That isn’t to say that everything found at a ‘proper’ news site beats everything on a new media service or a blog. Indeed, many blogs have amazingly-tuned insights and offer the best rants on the planet. But, when you want general news, looking through the often opined views of one-man blogs can be a headache. Much blog content is very focused, and most Digg and Technorati articles lean towards the geeky. I landed some time ago at the Times Online and frequently browse its headlines.

The Times Online has some of my favourite columnists and consistently high-quality comment. Who can resist a rant or opinion from Jeremy Clarkson? Alongside, Lord Rees-Mogg and his ilk of commentators whose opinion I have come to respect (if not always with 100% agreement!) However, I do have a few problems with the Times Online. There is, actually, only one major complaint.

It is so slow!

It boasts its Windows links and utilizes "Live Search" instead of Google, and I wonder if this architecture is what makes it so mind-numbingly time-consuming. Its content is well-positioned and not as graphic heavy as many sites whose load-time is much faster (check out Top Gear for an example of a slow site which is faster!).

On Engadget, I noticed a post about much-rumoured "Google Phone". Apparently, they have it on good authority that the people over at Google are working on their own Mobile OS. The interesting bit, though, is that Google has been working very closely with Apple on the iPhone project. If they launch their own Google Phone (gPhone, Googlephone, whatever…) they will be in direct competition.

What I wonder, however, is whether Google and Apple are playing even closer together. Imagine two companies more able to launch intuitive products and acquire companies and methods in order to put them to better use within a larger structure. Google, recently, has been launching its Web Office while hoovering up smaller developers to bring in the very best of web-based and hybrid (web/desktop) applications. What does Google need next?

Brilliant hardware. Who builds better hardware than Apple?

This is only a guess, but what happens if Google and Apple work closer on mobile tech? Instead of direct competition (which would only result in a proliferation of one-upmanship devices and platforms with little long-term customer satisfaction) a JV of some description could result in the best of breed mobile devices (and why just mobile) with a very long shelf life!

What do you reckon?

Having been reading Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, I’ve begun formulating a few thoughts on what some have called the ‘emergent church’.

Because I work with the internet, I tend to see things from an ‘online’ perspective. When I see a presentation, I ask why it doesn’t link to resources and I tend to Google answers and keep many tabs open with on-the-fly further reading on a subject. One of the most wide-spread of all internet buzzwords is "Web 2.0". The ideas behind it have been summed up (indeed, coined) by the O’Reilly network. To me, many of these have a strong resonance with the ‘newly painted church’ of Mars Hill. For example, there is an emphasis in Web 2.0 on participation and "The long tail" which I see reflected in "every member ministry" and discussions instead of sermons. Teaching has taken on a very interactive flavour, and theology is less about rules.

While the tag ‘Church 2.0′ is wildly inaccurate on one score (e.g. there have been many renditions of the church), the notion of a renaissance is definitely present and many of the tenets of Web 2.0 can be helpfully used as metaphor in the church.

Participation vs. Preaching:

With links to various incarnations of the ‘Cell’ movement, the idea of discussion supplementing or even replacing pulpit-sermons is certainly not new.