//beconfused

Everyone is talking about Web 2.0 these days. Honestly, I don’t really like to use that term a lot as it has been overused and has, in my opinion, kinda lost its meaning.

Today, Web 2.0 can mean anything – video content, social networking, social news, social bookmarking, Ajax, Prototype libraries, JSON, accordion visual effects, mash-ups, Ruby on Rails, XML, and whatever.

It’s a marketing term for any webservice that is published after 2005. Google managed to revolutionize the way people understand ‘beta’. Today, some products is following some sort of a perpectual beta idea, meaning it’s just beta forever. That, once again, is pure marketing.

(Facebook has communities for Web 2.0, Web 3.0, Web 4.0, Web 5.0 and in case you haven’t noticed – Web �??.0.)

Has the web really changed that much? Sure it has, but it didn’t just come overnight. It came a long way and Web 2.0 describes the awakening – the awakening of ordinary people such as my mom and my elephant – and the reintroduction of these technologies. Magazines that cover whatever Web 2.0 ideas are selling like hotcakes and if you actually read a couple of them you’ll realize none is particularly clear of what Web 2.0 is.

Because it just is so many things! But ultimately, I think Web 2.0 is about you and me addicted to connecting and sharing information. It’s as if we allow ourselves to be part of a whole movement. Just thinking of that scares me, but the thought never fails to make me tingle with excitement.

From Kevin Rose

We’ve signed on Microsoft as our new partner to sell and serve the ads on Digg. It’s a deal similar to the one Facebook signed with Microsoft last year.

This move gives us an advertising partner with a larger organization and a more scalable technology platform to keep pace with Digg’s growth. Best of all, it lets the Digg team completely focus on new feature development. Federated Media, which has been an awesome partner for the last year and a half, will continue working with Digg focusing on integrated sponsorships and custom programs like the Arc project in labs.

Source: Digg blog

Digg intends to switch from Google to Microsoft? I love to see how their ads actually work. I didn’t know Facebook switched to Microsoft too. Google should watch out a little. Ads are a good business.

Social networking websites are kinda driving me nuts by contantly sending me reminders that my friends have added me. I am displeased that my friends added me into those mailing list. It keeps sending me reminders to join those social networking websites like Multiply, MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, Hi5 and others. (I refuse to link them.)

I know how it works roughly, once you register, you’re given an option to input your Hotmail username and password. Then made a promise not to do anything to your passwords asides to collect your friend’s email addresses. You log in and they collect your friend’s email and mass invite them to join the social network.

It’s kinda like spam if you think about it. My friends always seem to get tricked into doing that.

Before you guys submit your username and password, think about security a little okay? You’re actually giving someone your username and password to tell him or her to sign in and take all your friend’s emails. The process is just automated, but your password can remain with the website and the webmaster can eventually log in to your account.

It is unlikely that the webmaster would check your email account. But what if the website got hacked and their databases got accessed by others. It’s just not the safest to do. On a side note, I believe the Microsoft Windows Live ID team has something in plans to build APIs for retrieving user’s contacts without having to surrender your username and password to a third party website.

Please don’t get all your friends into this type of trouble. Think twice before surrendering your username and passwords.