An Associated Press article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer sounds a warning about applications downloaded in social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. 

When the account holder decides to add an application from a third-party developer to their home page, they have to agree to let the developer “know who I am and access my information” which means everything on a profile, except contact information.   Agreeing to those terms has become a matter of routine for the nearly 70 million Facebook users worldwide who use applications to enhance sharing and communication with friends online.

Even if you always choose to keep your social pages private — only accessible to selected friends — you may have opened the door to privacy and security abuses when you add one of the growing number of applications.

The third-parties developers say they use the information to connect users with similar interests, or to target ads, based on demographics such as gender and age (something Facebook and MySpace also do).  Facebook and MySpace say they hold application developers to strict standards and note that e-mail addresses and phone numbers aren’t made available.

Experts in online security issues, on the other hand, think there’s too much personal information accessible online with few guarantees that it’s safe.  Social networkers may have little understanding where their information goes and have a false sense of security.  After awhile, it is too easy to check those boxes allowing access to your information, especially if you want to enjoy the fun that the apps can provide.

“I suspect that there’s a whole lot of clicking without a lot of thinking,” says Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at the Pew Internet & American Life Project who studies privacy issues. “So much of this sharing happens in a way that users don’t see the consequences. It’s kind of a big, black hole.”

The article offers these privacy tips:

• Provide enough information for your friends to be able to identify you — but not so much that someone could use information to steal your identity. There’s no reason to include your entire resume, from education to work history.
• Consider making your profile private so people you don’t know can’t “scrape” information and images from it.
• Even if your profile is private, remember that your information and photos can be accessed by third parties through your friends — and through application developers on such sites as Facebook and MySpace.
• Remove social networking applications you’re not using and check out the creators of those you do install. If something seems suspicious, report it.

If you are a member of a social network, be sure to examine the privacy options, understand what might happen to your information, and ensure that the settings coincide with your wishes.

Music: Mix it up
ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want, they say.  You can download and sample from music on the site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime.  Watch for occasional copyright restrictions, depending on the specific license.

If you are just browsing and listening there is no need to register.  But if you register you get your own artist’s page where you can upload your own music, cut-ups of other artists and loop libraries.  You can leave reviews, and interact in the forums, pick favorites and more. 

Those who create music that they want to retain all rights to should not upload it to ccMixter.

MySpace Music CEO sees money in free tunes
 MySpace Music, the major-label-backed online service slated for a summer rollout, is planning to deliver “all the music in the world” for free.

Once that mission is accomplished, according to MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe, the cash will follow as music fans turn MySpace Music into a money-making machine with multiple revenue streams.

The new service will strip out band pages from the original MySpace — currently the most popular social-networking site — and stream full-length songs and videos for free.  MySpace Music will peddle DRM-free downloads, ringtones, concert tickets, T-shirts and more.

For more information read Wired.com’s in-depth interview with DeWolfe.

Nine MySpace apps
Mashable picks nine examples of MySpace’s initial platform applications.  More are on the way.

YouTube video option for high quality
Now you have the ability to upload higher quality videos which means improved sharpness and visual clarity.  To watch higher quality videos to to your Account page and choose “always show me higher quality when available” (if you have a fast Internet connection) or “never show me higher quality.”  Higher quality videos also have a link right below the video player which will allow you to select between the normal or higher quality settings.

Internet TV update: Hulu, Joost, TiVo
Read/WriteWeb focuses on three Internet TV services: Hulu, Joost, and TiVo.

MySpace Chief Technology Officer Aber Whitcomb calls Seattle “a hotbed for innovation and disruptive ideas,” and expansion of MySpace’s office there a natural next step as the company grows.  MySpace chose to locate downtown, instead of the eastside suburbs where Microsoft’s large campuses are, in order to appeal to developers who don’t want to commute across Lake Washington.

Seattle developers work on core parts of the social networking site — ranging from messaging to sign up.  They also have been instrumental in creating the MySpace Developer Platform which allows third parties to create applications for the larger community.  The Developer Platform — similar to Facebook’s open platform initiative — was turned on for the larger MySpace community Thursday. 

Both Yahoo and Google have established large and growing branch offices in Seattle.

New tools, Web services for online collaboration
There’s no doubt that the idea of collaborating online with your scattered work team has moved from an interesting concept to the level of necessity for accomplishing the best outcomes.

Take a look at Robin Good’s new tools and web services list of online collaboration technologies.  You may find some some you were unaware of.

Gizmo gets MySpace IM support
Duncan Riley at TechCrunch says that Gizmo Project offers an attractive feature set.  “Gizmo has long since lost the battle against Skype to become the dominant VOIP service, however if you’re looking for a fully featured mobile IM client that also offers cheap calls it might be worth a look.”

In addition to wide IM support that makes it a competitor to Adium and Trillian, the VOIP side offers competitively priced calls to external numbers, as well as free calls to those using the SIPphone platform.  File transfer and cross platform voice chat is supported for all, as well as video calling between Gizmo users only. 

Test phones online before buying
Now this sounds like a great service — a free online place where you can accurately test the features of some high-end phones to help you make a decision before you buy.  As Friedbeef’s Tech points out, it’s one thing to read reviews and something else to have a feeling for how the things important to you will actually work.

He laments the small number of phones currently testable at TryPhone (currently 14), but notes that they continue to add new ones.  You can compare models side-by-side or take a close look at each one.  The site will show you an overview of the phone (from a variety of mobile service providers), reviews when available, give you specs, demos of features, and also has a shopping cart for buyers. 
 
TryPhone says “the goal of TryPhone is to show you how things REALLY work (not how they were designed to work) – without marketing hype – to help you make a better, more informed purchasing decision.”
 

Now you can add your own comments or subtitles in any language with Overstream, a video subtitle web app that has been around for a year. (See the happy birthday video for an example of how added captions look.) 

You can add subtitles to online videos, create captioned videos, video postcards, and video letters.  Sign up for a free account to use the Overstream Editor, store them on their server, and send the link to your friends.

YouTube, Google Video, MySpace Video and Dailymotion are supported now and more are planned.  A personal RSS Overstream Publication Feed link is available on each user’s Profile Page.  Subscribe to it to receive all the public overstreams created by the particular user.

Lifehacker says it’s a nice replacement for the similar but defunct Mojiti.  There are tutorials and a FAQ here. 

Online censorship in 2007
in the tradition of the year in review, Mashable recounts “several poignant, backward-thinking moments of the past twelve months in which individuals the world over have had to juggle the existence of Internet blocks; be they government-enforced or leveraged by corporations.”

Some of the sites censored:  MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

 GCal scheduling every-which-way
Lifehacker has rounded up a wealth of GCal syncing guides, organizers, and other GCal tools for your desktop, mobile device, Firefox, and even iPod.

Moving from Windows to a Mac
Two of my close relatives (you know who you are) abandoned Windows-based machines to embrace Macs.  If you are doing the same, there are things you need to know and Web Worker Daily lists 16 ways to successfully make the switch.

MySpace and Bebo have joined a Google-led alliance promoting a common set of standards, called OpenSocial, for software developers to write programs for social networks, reports the New York Times.

Facebook’s opening of their site recently led to fast growth of “things to do” on the social network and gained it a lot of press.  We reported earlier on the need for MySpace and Google to follow suit. 

The Times article says Google’s alliance “now presents a powerful counterweight to Facebook.”  MySpace, still the world’s largest social network with 110 million active members, along with Britain’s top site, Bebo, could bring pressure on Facebook to drop its own standard and join OpenSocial.

“OpenSocial is going to be become the de facto standard for developers right out of the gate,” said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive of MySpace, in a press conference at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.  “It will have access to 200 million users, making it way bigger than any other platform out there.”

Others participating in the OpenSocial alliance include Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning and the blogging network SixApart, as well as the software makers Oracle and SalesForce.com.  Creators of several of the most popular programs on Facebook, including Slide, RockYou, iLike and Flixster, have announced their intention to write programs conforming to the OpenSocial standards. 

Check out the OpenSocial site for more information and a video.

Meebo Platform Launches
Going along with the crowd, Meebo launched its Meebo Platform yesterday, joining Facebook and MySpace in opening to third party developers to create applications for the popular web chat service.

Meebo Platform consists of a set of APIs to give developers access to certain user features and information.  Developers will be able to include Flash applets and Javascript snippets within the applications, says TechCruch.  But the Platform is opening to only four partners at this time, making way for those who Meebo thinks will make the user experience richer.  The communication based partners are Tokbox (video chat), Talkshoe (conference calls on the fly), Ustream (lifecasting) and Pudding Media (PC to PC VOIP calls).

YourStreet
A map-based news site has recently launched called YourStreet.  It combines Google Maps with local news and comments from your own locale. 

At the site they say, “YourStreet transforms the way you experience local news by indexing and mapping thousands of articles, blogs, and conversations down to the street level… Our algorithm interprets the articles, identifies specific locations in the text, and plots them on an interactive map.”

You can register at the site to join the neighborhood conversation.  Or drag the map or zoom in to get more information about a location, view articles, find out what’s happening around your home, your work, your child’s school, or any other location in the country.

You can also comment on an article, start or add to a local conversation, and create a profile to let your neighbors know who you are.

MySpace opens up for applications
 It seems like just yesterday that I posted about rumors that MySpace would make a Facebook-like move to open up. 

The same day, October 17, at the Web 2.0 Summit, MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe and and News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch announced that MySpace will open up its platform to third-party application developers.  The move will position MySpace to directly compete with number one rival Facebook and its widely successful application platform.

The platform will be opened up within the next couple of months, and MySpace will set up a “sandbox” on the site as a test bed for new applications.  MySpace will build a catalog soon for all of the widgets on MySpace, making them easier to find and install.

Adobe preparing shift to Web apps
Another announcement at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco was about Adobe’s plans to work toward shifting all of their apps online, a process likely to take ten years.

Read/WriteWeb is skeptical that they can pull off a full shift of Adobe’s software catalog to Internet apps.  They believe stripped-down versions, rather than ones that would satisfy a professional, are likely to be what we see as web-based apps, but there is an interesting comment thread at the post where some disagree.

“Adobe has launched stripped down online versions of some of its apps, already.  Premiere Express, which powers the video mashups at sites like Photobucket and YouTube, is one of the nicer online video editors, but still falls well short of Adobe’s software offering.  Two week’s ago at the Adobe Max event, Adobe showed off the latest version of their Photoshop Express web app — again, it appeared to be one of the nicer online offerings, but still well short of their traditional software package.”

The high-level processing necessary to do a lot of the things that Adobe’s popular offline apps do such as managing multiple layers, calculating the math behind vector graphics, and applying complex filters, is complicated, and may be beyond the capabilities of Flex or Flash.  Broadband capabilities will need to be much greater, also, to support these web apps at speeds comparable to desktop apps, they note.