The name is Konstantin Klein. I'm a senior editor with Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin, Germany. I've been blogging since October 30, 2000, under various blog and domain names. This is the 2010 edition of my weblog.
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© 2010 Konstantin Klein,
Planet Earth
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I like it when competitors copy me because it means they aren’t about to leapfrog me: they’ll always be playing catch-up.
Your humble narrator, back in October when Nokia filed a patent suit against Apple:
If you can’t beat ’em, sue ’em.
I feel this suit against HTC is a terrible mistake.
For the time being, I've disabled my Google Buzz account. It's not because I have privacy issues with Google - others, however, might. And although I've tried to secure my Buzz account and - more important - my contact list, although I've really enjoyed the rapid increase in followership, although I've even on the brink of declaring Buzzing the new blogging...
...apparently, I need some more time to figure out all the implications that come with Buzz.
I do think that Google Buzz has enormous potential beyond the scope of most other social networks; actually, I think Buzz could be the first social network I could actually use for serious work and serious fun.
I'll be around, watching this thing closely. But since I have other things to do as well, I'll let others figure out how to use Google Buzz. You are more competent than I am. You know who you are.
From the Easily Amused Dept.: The funny thing is, we have an IT industry with three leaders. The really funny thing: although they love to pretend to, the three of them are not actually competing.
Three separate market segments, with ample space for each. Cue track "Why can't we live together" now.
As I said. Easily amused I am.
General file storage and sharing (formerly known as "GDrive"), now coming to a Google account near you.
Ads placed by Google next to a (legitimate) GMail message with today's
winning lottery numbers. Apparently, people who play the lottery also
are interested in selling their gold teeth, knowing more about short
term investments, getting rid of bad breath, buying cheap business
cards, getting to know Ricarda M. (who t.f. is Ricarda M.?) and
consulting a clairvoyant.
Was also ist das Produkt? Es ist, was es immer war bei Google: Suche (Affiliate-Link) . Wissensvermittlung. Orientierung. Punktgenau abgestimmte Information aus der Cloud – kostenlos geliefert im Austausch gegen Daten über die Nutzer.
So what is [Google's] product? It is what it always has been: search. Knowledge. Orientation. Information, tuned to the point, from the cloud - delivered for free in exchange for user data.
And so, the "Googlephone", the Nexus One is not Google's attempt to expand into the hardware business; it is a mere tool to market Google's real product even better. And - sorry if some out there still don't get it - it is a comprehensively new approach to doing business on the Net successfully: by treating information not just as merchandise but as currency as well. This is the real economy 2.0.
Again, Peter Sennhauser:
Ein Nokia-Telefon ist ein Gerät. Das iPhone und iTunes sind ein System.
Nexus One ist ein Konzept.
A Nokia phone is a device. iPhone and iTunes are a system.
Nexus One is a concept.
Der Internetgigant kennt bald jeden unserer Schritte. Es ist Zeit, dass die demokratische Gesellschaft sich wehrt.
The Internet giant is about to know every move we make. It is time for a democratic society to take action.
Thank you, Ms. Gaschke, for demonstrating a certain familiar paranoia when it comes to innovation, again. For one of the signs of a democratic society is that its members are free to choose - even the Internet services they use. In other words:
If you are afraid of Google, don't use it.
Keep your personal information for yourself, don't upload pictures of yourself, don't enter your address where it is visible to the public, don't use Google for web searches (use Bing instead, a product by Internet White Knight Microsoft - good one, huh?). Just don't.
Or, if you can't do this (for instance because Google's services are indispensable for you), please understand that information has become a tradeable value, not just for Google, but for yourself. You have to choose how you pay for services: with money (the traditional way, still in use, even on the Net), or with information. The right of informational self-determination (Recht auf informationelle Selbstbestimmung) is not about keeping your personal data secret, it is about your right to do with your data whatever you want.
