Perspctv - next level for internet conversation tracking

I mentioned Perspctv in a recent post in relation to best tools for tracking the US elections online. Well today I saw on Techcrunch that they have just widened their service to allow for search of any terms (up to 5 terms can be compared). As of today Perspctv becomes an indispensible tool in the kit-box of online reputation/conversation tracking.

Modern Design

A cool slideshow I found on Chris Brogan's blog about the changing nature of design

Rapid Change in Design: The Changing Landscape & New Rules for Design Project

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social media)

in one week...Obama will win!

Obama is gonna win!!!, that's becoming clear now and i'm getting excited.

Like most Europeans, i've felt dismayed at the direction the US has taken over the last 8 years and asked myself time and again how it could possibly be that such a vast proportion of the US still votes republican. And what I learned this time around is that one of the main arguments against Obama is that he's a "socialist, a marxist, even a communist".

I also found these same people believe that the poor are poor because "it's their own fault" and "they are lazy", rather than that they are people who have been marginalized by society and haven't had the same chances and opportunities in life.

So what it comes down to for me personally is that basically Obama's social centre-left politics stand for the inherent moral obligation for humans to help others. It is not only the duty but also the self-preservation-interest of society to support those who are falling through the cracks of the system. Compassion is a pillar of the human state and must be reflected in economics and politics for these to work properly.

As I posted recently, George Soros, a truly intelligent man, says these words ..."this belief that everybody pursuing their own interest will maximize the common interest, is a false idea" .... Sustainability is the optimum investment decision, not short term profit-maximization - what they teach at business schools is false and Wall Street and we are paying the price for it now.

I think recent market events have made it very clear that market fundamentalism is a perilous path, and ironically much like communism, it tends to destroy the fabric of society by unleashing unchecked possibilities for greed and corruption.

It's clear that the optimum path is also the only logical and sensible approach, which is that we must strike the correct balance between the social good of people (safety, justice, healthcare, culture) and capitalism, and when in doubt, err on the side of the people - which in my opinion is what the centre-left is all about.

So that's my reply on this particular issue - and don't get me even started on all the other reasons why Obama must win - like the fact that the McCain campaign picked someone clearly unqualified for VP and then have the gall to pretend like it was the right thing to do for the country ("country comes first" is the ironic slogan of their campaign). Basically what they did is something akin to getting your local bus driver to fly the plane your kids are on - i mean they should be out of contention for that alone, no?. come on, surely!

LESS THAN ONE WEEK :)

George Soros on the sustainability of financial markets

Bill Moyers recently interviewed George Soros regarding the current financial crisis and posted the video on his blog. The interview is very interesting with Soros shedding insight onto the unsustainability of unregulated markets, out-of-control lending, complex securitisation of mortgages and misguided groupthink.

My favourite quote from this interview is regarding the breakdown of the social aspect in society that rampant uncontrolled capitalism has fostered, with Soros saying "this belief that everybody pursuing their own interest will maximize the common interest, is a false idea". That pretty much says it all and debunks most of what we are all taught at business school.

One of the highlights of this video is that he also goes into specific detail about his suggestions for repairing the current situation. Update : HiddenValue has just pointed out that today's FT has an article by Soros specifically on this subject.

My personal take on the subject : get ready for some barter economics ;)

amazing Apple BRICK laptop

Awesome concept for a new Apple laptop as seen on Crenk

3 great ways to track the US elections

Here are three great ways to track the US elections in visually interesting ways:

1. Perspctv - a website that tracks the US elections by agreggating information from 14 web services and presenting it in a visually attractive format

2. Twitter Election - a twitter page that tracks the current twitter discussions about the candidates with a great auto-refresh feature

3. NewsLine - a mashup service that shows the current online conversations regarding the elections aggregating information from all over the internet, from blog to twitter posts, in a chronological format similar to Plurk.

Social Networks and Retailers

At Alensa we recognized over a year ago that the combination of social networks with retail platforms could result in something more than the sum of its parts. Gartner is coming to the same conclusion now in its latest recommendations for retailers.