FBHive - a website/blog that specialises in Facebook news and updates posted their recent findings on how Facebook could be hacked to find out personal information. It was a very simple way in which most developers would know... In fact, it was almost so basic that I had the tools to do this myself if I were the malicious type. Luckily I don't have the technical knowledge or the intent :)

Facebook Basic Information Exploit from FBHive on Vimeo.

With privacy being such a hot topic at present, especially with the ongoing public increase into the digital medium, this is something that needs to be addressed for any future social media platforms to succeed. Let's not kill the a positive trend because of complacency.

Related links:

• FBHive

Google has rolled out its new filtering interface to YouTube. The Wonder Wheel is an expanding wheel that gets deeper into a search by adding nodes so users can further find information in by "drilling-down."

I don't know where I get these titles from but I thought I would take a look at Microsoft's strategy for the internet and see how Bing (Microsoft's new replacement to Windows Live Search) integrates into this. With Microsoft not launching Internet Explorer (IE) with the new release of Windows (I can hear web developers cheering across the globe), it seems that they are having to rethink their positioning online. While from a business sense, it made perfect sense for Microsoft to bundle IE with Windows, it was ruled by the European commission that they were monopolising the market, and therefore not being fair to competitors.

We all know that Microsoft has needed to rethink it's offering for a while, as their entire digital strategy falls around the sole fact that IE comes as standard and they can showcase all their products by using IE as a portal (For example Windows live mail, Windows Live Search, etc). At present, this was the only way Microsoft could compete with the big guns such as Google, Mozilla, etc. Now that this ruling is in place, what can Microsoft can do to firefight this predicament? 

Well, their first answer to this is to tackle the search market with the launch of their new search Engine Bing. According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, they are looking at investing 5-10% of their operating income to invest into Search which will translate to anything up to $11billion (Patricio Robles, Econsultancy) - that's not a bad budget to kick-off a project. In fact, I wouldn't mind that budget at all.

Looking at Bing
So let's analyse Bing. Firstly the name is short and concise and is good step forward in my mind. In the same way you associate shoddy workmanship to a Lada, most people tend to think the same of Microsoft when online. Their change to a "trendy" name (in the loosest form of the phrase) not only disengages them from their previous brand equity, but also brings them into the new era of sites. You could potentially hear people say"Bing it" in the same way as "Google it." It may not happen, but if it did, at least it would sound good (as opposed to "Windows Live it").

Bing is also much nicer to look at compared to its precedessor. With an aesthetic image that changes daily and a clear, intuitive, Google approach to the interface, it definately ticks a few boxes upfront.

Ref: www.bing.com

So the next question is do the results step up when they need to?
Let's take a look - the design again, is very clear - again, almost Googlesque, but why reinvent the wheel? So with regards to design and layout, you can't complain too much about the way it looks. It does what it says on the tin.

So are the results valid?
In my opinion, no. I was very disappointed with the results that were displayed. After the hype I was expecting some groundbreaking intuition within the results, but I was delivered less than adequate information for what I was looking for. There were some interesting results that I haven't seen before such as PDA views for some websites; but let's face it, you don't need these unless you're actually on a PDA. 

A basic search for small-medium equity websites (e.g. Search term "Sticky Panda" for the Creative Agency Sticky Panda) delivers a correct top result but little related information. This only seems to be the case for websites above a certain criteria as a few other searches seemed not to make the cut at all.

There were also issues regarding the applicability within the ordering of the results. Items that I felt were more relevant to my need were bumped down due to what looked like a PageRank/hierarchy structure. So the slightest mention of a search term on a high traffic website such as the BBC would automatically get placed above lesser authoritative sites that may actually be more resourceful to the users' need.

Final opinion
Where as the usability and aesthetic design of Bing is well executed, it seems that less time was taken in producing the algorithm(s) driving the results. Microsoft needs to sink a good chunk of their budget into getting this right so that applied results are given at the right time to users, as this is the key to any search engine.

Bing is still in Beta and has a lot of (potential) financial investment available so it is definitely one to watch, but until I have more confidence in the results that I will see, I will not be making the switch from Google.

Related links:

• Bing
• Google
• Yahoo!

Apple seemed to have a few problems last night due to the mass amount of people trying to download the new software update for the iPhone. I was one of the lucky ones to get in early and had a good test run.

I have to say that I'm a bit in limbo on my thoughts on the update - partly impressed, partly disappointed. There were a few features that I thought were missing from the original 2 generations of the iPhone such as the Sat Nav opportunities, copy and paste, forward contact, and more functionality that varied in size and spec. Some of these have been dealt with, others have not.

For example,  I was very impressed by the full iPhone search facility. Especially useful as the song/artist/album name sometimes gets mixed up in iTunes and emails can be tough to search, so I could see a real benefit with this. The implementation was good, although placing it infront of the first screen did seem like a bolt on, but I can overlook that due to the way it works. 

The copy and paste seems to work really well and is quite intuitive to get to grips with, and the ease of forwarding a contact is very simple - however, there is still no option to send via text message.

Despite some nice features (and I was maybe naive to think this), but I was expecting the voice control and video software to be included in this update... this was a big disappointment for me. I was also unsure why there was so much time invested into the Voice memo as there are free apps available that do this, and I have to say, do it better than the standard one supplied by Apple.

There are a few functions I am yet to see such as the YouTube sign in, etc but as with all iPhone features, I'm sure that I will cross this in time. Nevertheless, I would recommend the download despite a couple of bugs in layout as all in all, I think it it is a good step forward. Whether I can see the benefit in the iPhone 3GS yet remains to be seen, but if I decide to upgrade I will be sure to keep you posted.

Bill Thompson, who works as an independent journalist for the BBC, wrote a good article on the Digital Britain Report and has some good insights and comments about the plan moving forward. I recently met Bill while working on a project for the Writers' Centre Norwich and he is a savvy guy who has some very valid opinions with regards to how technology can move forward. He probes in the right place and time, and I think he is doing this here with the BBC as I have a few similar questions also:

• Are we doing enough to combat piracy if it is such a big issue for Britain?
• Why are we only setting the bar at 2mb downloads when Korea gets up to 100mb? 
• If we are aiming to be a global leader in the digital evolution, then surely we must aim much higher and be more aggressive with our targets?

I could be wrong, but surely for us to be an industry leader in digital, we need to set our sights higher so that we can accommodate the new technologies that are arriving online and so that the average user can embrace them. I understand the logistics and cost of something like this  to be rolled out, but if our connection to the internet is hindering us as a nation to economically evolve, then I think this needs to be ramped up further.

Despite my rant, I do have to mention that I think that the report sets a good foundation for us to develop further as the overall objectives for the nation (in my opinion) are very positive and should take support. My only concern is whether our realist nature is overtaking our drive to excel.

Related links:

• The Digital Britain report (3MB PDF download)
• Engaging with the internet (BBC article)

Photosynth was something that was talked about a couple of years ago and I saw a video of the conference for when Microsoft unveiled this, although haven't seen much of it since. However, looking at it again, it does make me wonder if the lack of exposure is due to the slightly static growth of Silverlight as using the product itself is pretty cool.

Although it can sometimes be a little "juttery" and doesn't seem quite as smooth as Cooliris, it does work pretty well for what it does, especially being able to use hi-res imagery and the ability to stich all your images together.

Related links:

• Photosyth example created by Apple to showcase their iPhone apps
• Cooliris

The ability to swordfight using the accelerometer on the iPhone is either genius or madness. Let's face it, the boys of us who dreamed of the ultimate lightsaber fighting game on the Wii is actually pretty excited by the concept. How well does it work? I'll be honest I haven't tried it yet as it is only a 2 player game (which could be a pain if there is no one around with an iPhone or the game itself).

Check it out though:

For 59p you can't really complain too much, but does it have what it takes to start a new revolution in advanced gaming?

iSamurai: Two-Player Sword Fight includes the following features:

• Two-player interactive Wi-Fi game using two iPhones or iPod Touches
• Single-player game with four levels of difficulty
• Tutorial featuring animations of the different attacks
• Training “Dojo” where the player can practice the different iSamurai moves
• Art of War quotes from legendary warriors 

Last.fm founders Felix Miller, Richard Jones and Martin Stiksel have decided to handover the business to CBS whom they sold the business to for $280 million last year.

On the Last.fm blog, they mention how the business started in a living room in East London in 2002. 7 years later they have reached 37.3 million monthly unique visitors. The London based company now has 60 employees and is deemed as one of the top music social media websites online today.

Related links:

• Last.fm website
  
• Last.fm blog

With the large release of the new iPhone being launched in the US and UK next Friday, there has been much debate over whether this release is "groundbreaking" enough? Is this just the consumer expectations being too high and Apple being a victim of their own success? The only thing I think that we should have expected from Apple is to manage our expectations better before the release.

The gradual improvements being made by Apple, (which by any other commerical business is a sensible approach) can only be positive learnings to go into the future groundbreaking designs that we expect and love from Apple.

Related links:

• BBC news on the iPhone 3GS release

Google Wave is tipped to be the next big online collaboration tool, but will this be a success or is it just innovation that won't fit the bill? There are currently a few online collaboration tools such as Huddle and Basecamp, However, Google Wave boasts to be more than just a corporate opportunity. It gives the opportunity for you to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, friends and family.

Google Wave will allow users to converse and edit documents in realtime; from pictures to files. All in one place.

As always, Google seems to be creating tools that are moving with the changes in user interaction and behaviour (that are also useful). I'll be interested to see how this turns out, and whether this is going to be revolutionary, or a product that will eventually be put on the shelf.Beta testing should be soon if the product is released later this year so keep your eyes peeled.

 Related Links:

• Google Wave 
• Huddle
• Basecamp