Keitai, or mobile phone, novels have become very popular in Japan. I found this info via the O’Reilly Radar but the original post can be found at the economist.com web site.  It indicates that Keitai novels is a blossoming industry in its infancy in Japan accounting for 82 million in sales a year.  A Keitai novel is a short novel  that is downloaded and read on your mobile phone.  Published in shorter formats much like the Chap books Stephen King attempted a number of years ago.  The new format is perfect for the mobile phone market and may just save the publishing industry who has been suffering from increasing decline in book sales.  A similar trend seen with the highly popular new music format, or ring tone, which has been a welcome windfall for the music industry.

This is a complementary product to the recent rise in short format fiction as published by one of my favorite sites 365 Tomorrows which publishes a short format speculative fiction story each day in 500 words or less.

About two years ago CNet published an article titled Five reasons social networking doesn’t work .

Here is the list of reasons that social networking doesn’t work:

1. There’s nothing to do there
2. It takes too much time
3. Traffic alone isn’t enough
4. Strangers kind of suck
5. We already have the Internet

The most important one that has plagued social networking sites has been number one, there’s nothing to do there.  Once you create an account, generate your lists, all you have left is adding friends.  Things are slightly better than that today, but basically that is it.

Facebook has changed all of this with their announcement of the Facebook Platform.  The Facebook Platform gives developers access to all the Facebook users.  They can embed applications, similar to widgets, into Facebook and  users can add them to their navigation.  Giving users something to do once the novelty wares off.

This certainly sets them apart from the other social networks.  I can’t wait to see how this plays out.

With all the discussion of immigration lately, I have begun to wonder if the age of borders is passing.  I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  It just is.  National borders is a hold over from a non-globalized economy.  I don’t see how you can treat the issue of immigration separate from that of globalization.  At it’s heart, that is the real issue.  We have a totally globalized economy and all the policies that go with it.  On the other hand, we have the issue of immigration and its policies.  Each treated as separate issues.  The U.S. is schizophrenic on this issues.  If we are ever going to have resolution on these issues, it will have to be done together.

Ron Paul just might be the man who can get the country back on track again. He is drawing a strong following from both the right and the left. Here is his answers to questions at the Republican debate held recently at the Reagan Library.

Ron Paul’s Campaign Website.

I might be a little behind the times, but I had to blog about this book.  If you have never read a Science Fiction novel before, then Ender’s Game is the one you want to start with.  If you are a Science Fiction fan, then you want to read Ender’s Game anyway.

I had a hard time putting this book down.  It’s a story about a time when people are only allowed to have two children unless special dispensation is given for what is called a third.  By having a third you are giving up your right to the third child in the event the military finds him/her suitable for military service.

The story is about a boy nicknamed Ender. He was a third.  Put into military training at a young age and groomed to be the replacement for the hero of the first bug war.

This book makes you feel for the characters.   As though you have a stack in the outcome of their lives.

It’s a fast read and well worth the time.

This is the most creative way I have seen someone get the message out on environmental issues.

That is the headline at Internet Outsider anyway.  I have to wonder when did $250 million become giving yourself away.  While the pundits are pontificating on how bad this sale is when compared to other recent sales like flickr or, worst of all, YouTube; we really need a reality check.

First of all, none of these services are really all that good.  Lets face it, they are all virtually clones of each other.  We have no ground breaking technological advances in the services that they offer.

What we have is some fairly routine, if not mediocre, software that was slapped together and, through some hefty marketing efforts (read giving away the farm), able to wrangle together a fairly substantial user base.

Anyone who lived through the last online advertising revolt will understand that this is not going to last.  Google has found a way to artificially extend this ad boom, but it will end.  Consumers grow tired of ads rapidly.  The number of clicks will diminish over the next few years, as will the number of people participating in the Google ad network when they realize the only one making money on the ads is Google.

To be honest, I think News Corp. paid to much for photobucket.  The software isn’t rocket science.  They should have just built it for half that amount.  $125 million would have likely given them software that was better than what they got for $250 million from photobucket.  Let’s face it.  Once MySpace offers a photo/video service of their own, photobucket was doomed anyway.

What I am waiting for is a social networking site that is full featured and gets it.  As soon as that happens, all this other junk will fade into the sunset.

Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives back in April, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) will outlaw corporate prejudice based on genes according to a New Scientist article.  Expected to pass without issue in the U.S. Senate, GINA will open the door for Americans to seek genetic testing to determine if they are genetically predisposed to inherited diseases without fear of being denied insurance.

Smells like the precursor to GATTACA to me.  I don’t know why having this law doesn’t make me rest any easier.

Before we write that obituary maybe we should examine what was left out of the Popular Mechanics article that has the net buzzing with disinformation this morning.

Basically the premise of this article is that, with the cost of  coming down, everyone will want to install a home server to handle their computing needs.

I agree with some of the facts in this article.  Computing power is coming down in price and everyone is going to want to utilize this new found power in their homes.  That is where my agreement ends.

I admit that when I use Windows I have much less problems than the average person, but no one can make the claim that Windows is a sound computing platform for the masses.   Security, stability, reliability are very real problems.  What home user wants to take on more of those problems.

What a home user wants is something that just works.  They don’t want to think about it or deal with maintenance on it.  This is why .Mac or Google apps will not be going away, but will actually increase in adoption as time goes on.

In addition to this, the fact that I can connect to .Mac or my Google apps from any device thats connected to the Internet from any location makes it even more appealing.  Why put all my data on a server in my home and then not have it when I am at work or at the mall.

No I think Popular Mechanics put out an article about one man’s infatuation with the new windows home server that had little to do with the reality of the common person.

I must be living under a rock to have missed this one. Afterworld is a wonderful online SF short. If you haven’t tried the series YouTube has the first ten episodes online. Each episode lasts about 3 min. Here is episode one to give you a taste.