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Google To Launch “Friend Connect” On Monday

techcrunch.com — Don’t they say good things come in threes? Well, regardless, we ’ve heard from multiple sources that Google will launch a new product on Monday called “Friend Connect,” which will be a set of APIs for Open Social participants to pull profile information from social networks into third party websites.

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  • JMIJohnny, on 05/11/2008, -24/+8Man, Google's becoming a massive internet monopoly. I'm not sure I want to see where all of Google's expansions go in 10 or so years.
    • mem2, on 05/11/2008, -14/+1meh @ ure massive ignorance cbf going into more detail than meh - its all the parent comment is worth,
    • FTLJohnson, on 05/11/2008, -8/+8Monopolies can only exist by force of government. Businesses in a free society succeed only by making people happy and giving clients and customers exactly what they want. Considering that Google is an American company that doesn't overly use government manipulation to stifle competition or to get what it wants - I'd say it's not a monopoly at all. Certainly not when compared to what are the likely monopolies of your 'utilties' like your power provider, water provider, trash collection provider, or even your cable television provider. The word MONOPOLY is entirely overused, and is not a black and white situation. Monopolistic behavior does not arise from providing services that make people happy. People consider companies evil and monopolistic with a DIRECT correlation to the amount of COERCIVE force that company uses. This is whether that force is enacted directly through the company, or through the corwardly proxy of government legislation and political maneuvering. Either way, that is what makes a monopoly, NOT simply popularity.
      • diblasio, on 05/11/2008, -5/+2tl;dr
      • FTLJohnson, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2I think the fact that people dugg me down without even replying in the thread shows pretty clearly how many mindless automatons are on digg. They probably didn't even read the entire comment before digging it down, just like Mr. Douche-Chills aka Diblasio. Seriously... I'm really curious as to the logic behind people who can actually disagree with my above statement... Not everything can be pre-cut into little sound bites for you. Sometimes you have to do a little chewing and not expect everything to be regurgitated for you by those that you adopt as your surrogate mommy.
  • FishHammer, on 05/11/2008, -5/+83First I need to find some friends :(
  • LeapDaddy, on 05/11/2008, -1/+97And I was just thinking, I need to spread my personal info more around the internet's.
    • AsSubtleAsABrik, on 05/11/2008, -8/+8I don't understand why everyone is so scared about that. It's not like you post your social security number on these sites.
      • sourceholder, on 05/11/2008, -2/+6But isn't that what you're supposed to do with a "social" #?
        The term nearly implies that it's perfectly compatible with Internet "social" networks. ;)
      • uhhNo, on 05/11/2008, -0/+21Step 1: Apply for job
        Step 2: Employer looks up your name on Google
        Step 3: Employer goes to your social networking site
        Step 4: Employer sees a picture of you drunk with marijuana smoke around your head
        Step 5: ???
        Step 6: Profit
        • MalkyMalc, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4You're paranoid. Really. Also, lock down your facebook page like a normal person.
          • uhhNo, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1I guess i didn't put enough emphasis on step 4... if you don't have any incriminating or indecent content on your social networking page, then you are fine. Also, I was talking about a decent job, not some minimum wage crap where they don't care who works there...

            If you think that no employers look up their candidates you are being irrational (and stupid)
          • Jookly, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1I think that if you smoke weed and work for a company that doesn't approve of it you are a hypocrite and a sell out and I want to grind you into executive powder
        • AsSubtleAsABrik, on 05/11/2008, -0/+2But those pictures of you smoking and drinking are not "personal" information. You do that with other people and in public places. I'm sure if you're boss found you walking around the streets of New York drunk and smoking a blunt, it would also be an issue.
      • WolverineBlue, on 05/11/2008, -0/+7Actually, I normally use it as my username... Is that bad?
      • t0x2c, on 05/11/2008, -2/+5987-65-4325
      • MalkyMalc, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3Agreed. If you're not a total spanner with your info I don't see this kind of thing as a risk. Also, we do give massive amounts of very sensitive data to other non-internet-based companies all the time, and there is no reason to suggest that they are any more trustworthy than Google or Facebook etc.
    • Jookly, on 05/11/2008, -0/+3What I don't understand is why people think their SS number is safe. You can just transpose a number in your own and viola! you have someone else's SS number.

      416-06-4220
      • danjwray, on 05/11/2008, -3/+4That's not a real Social Security Number. Digg has an algorithm which determines real SSNs from fake ones and replaces all the numbers in real ones with Xs for anyone other than the poster.

        Mine is XXX-XX-XXXX

        I can see it, but you can't. Try it.
        • y2kbg, on 05/11/2008, -2/+2XXX-XX-XXXX

          edit: hmm i really hope that it gets blocked out when other view this
        • L0t3k, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Don't be a dick.
  • IxXxIRhinoIxXxI, on 05/11/2008, -11/+2Monday can't come soon enough
  • steveoco, on 05/11/2008, -2/+36I think at this level people really need to start thinking about how much information they put online about themselves.
    • plbland, on 05/11/2008, -4/+3Oh you guys and your tin foil hats :o)
    • EdwardsNH, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3"...at this level"?! You kids should have thought about this from day one. Yikes.
    • nsfx, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4You're absolutely right. Two things need to happen so that social networking sites stay more beneficial than dangerous. First, (and I'd be very surprised if we don't see this on Google's APIs), there needs to be rigid privacy settings with smart defaults and a high level of granularity for customization. Second, (this is the hard part), people need to start saying "No" to each other just like they would in real life. So unless Mr. Stalker is also Mr. Hacker, you're pretty safe if you utilize the privacy settings.

      I think it'd be a cool feature to accept a friend as an acquaintance, i.e., "Yes, we're friends, but you don't get to see X, Y, and Z on my profile / feed." You could also have accept a friend as a co-worker, as a best friend, et cetera, with different privacy settings for each.
      • y2kbg, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1nsfx FTW
      • L0t3k, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3This is my biggest aggravation with Facebook apps. Users accept a blanket "This publisher can have access to my personal information", by checkbox, which is checked by default.

        What does that statement cover? What can they find out about you? How much information really gets released? Why aren't there more granular controls by default?

        These are questions people just aren't asking often enough.
        • zongamin, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2Solution is to assume everyone can see everything. Then think about what you really want people to see.
          Remove anything that isn't suitable for everyone, or should be private (phone number, DOB etc)
  • Alix7, on 05/11/2008, -7/+5I was ***** thinking of a social network that had widespread use on all other social network websites.

    • Mohanned, on 05/11/2008, -0/+3Well, it's a good thing you weren't lazy and made it...
    • zongamin, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Yeah - no one else had ever thought of it either.
  • SemiSarcastic, on 05/11/2008, -7/+2Alright, prono.
  • birkoph, on 05/11/2008, -3/+13I have a feeling these APIs ,Open Social, and OpenIDs will discourage people from using their real info/names online.

    Everyone will eventually go back to using Host_Dude_983247982734.


    • Hood15, on 05/11/2008, -3/+0They stopped doing that at some point?
    • MalkyMalc, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1says birkoph
    • UnterDenLinden, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4You have your name listed as "Kevin Rose is emogay"....
  • mCanada, on 05/11/2008, -2/+22Wow totally cool. Now I can buy my condoms on froogle, I can have my house tracked on maps.google.com, all of my emails can be archived and data mined through gmail and now all of my friends can be tracked through friends.google.com!
  • antiorblkflag9, on 05/11/2008, -0/+19It will make it so much easier to stalk people
  • asskicker32, on 05/11/2008, -8/+3I love how google likes to try to ruin everyone's fun.
    • mem2, on 05/11/2008, -0/+8I love how your troll attempt died @ birth.
    • Hood15, on 05/11/2008, -0/+0Confused? They're ruining your fun how?
    • asskicker32, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1Troll attempt nothin. They make a free version of office, to the dismay of MS. They do IM, they buy YouTube, now they create this thing that links all the social networking services, isolating the monopolistic lock that myspace and facebook have; eg, ruining everyone's fun.
  • wilhoitm, on 05/11/2008, -1/+19Can we use this to pick up chicks?
    • Mohanned, on 05/11/2008, -1/+17Yeah, you can pick them up and drop them off at my house.
  • flipnboi, on 05/11/2008, -0/+2good news for stalkers?
  • birkoph, on 05/11/2008, -1/+6First it starts innocently enough with telling your internet friends what you had for breakfast and how your day is. Then it turn into a mass broadcast of what movies and mp3s you've pirated, and the used porn kevin rose bought on ebay.
  • birkoph, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3Stalking and identity theft just got a whole lot easier.
  • zc456, on 05/11/2008, -6/+5I.... yeah, no comment. Shoulda stopped at Gmail and iGoogle. This will just make another huge splash in a small pond the same way it did for YouTube.
    • OrangeSoda31, on 05/11/2008, -0/+2What?
    • Hood15, on 05/11/2008, -1/+2Small pond? Social networking is considered a small pond now? Wow.
    • TheOtherGuy, on 05/11/2008, -0/+4Yeah.. cos that whole YouTube thing never took off.
  • shar0213, on 05/11/2008, -5/+2Another thing Google is releasing on Monday is the list of all 50 winners of the Android Developer Challenge. They had over 1,700 entries, and judging just wrapped up last week.
    One of the winners already announced is Android Scan, an app that collects pricing and reviews for anything with a barcode. Check out the quick 3-minute video in action on real barcodes: http://scan.jsharkey.org/
  • wave789, on 05/11/2008, -0/+18In other unrelated news, Google announces Google Toast (Beta), which simulates toasting bread.

    All you have to do is upload a picture of a slice of bread and Google Toast (Beta) toasts it for you.

    Also, it appears that Google is reverting their basic search to a beta.
    • ingxia, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1just tried it and....the toast got burned! Good thing they call it Beta. Note to Google: For the "final" "public" release add a butter knife tool for scraping off the charcoal.
  • Ukspudnie, on 05/11/2008, -0/+2Google now with added friend_words, enabling advertisers to target the users with the highest amount of friends and peer recommendation across all life/media feeds on all networks, hasn't facebook tried this one?

    forgive me for being a suit, is this just another source of ad revenue generation after all we all are in some way influenced by others.. used to be mainstream media but we've all got wise to that one.

    As long as we all think and stay datasafe it's a good thing in general but I still worry about goggles real intentions.

    Puts tin foil hat firmly on head.
    • Ukspudnie, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1oh it did post.. but still didn't save my edits.. damn
  • jumico, on 05/11/2008, -4/+1**** McDonald's Southern Style Chicken
  • Ukspudnie, on 05/11/2008, -4/+1I wrote.. a massive post, but digg decided to crash and lost it all.. now i feel deflated.. I wonder if google friends will let my friends know when I say something bad about one of their products or advertisers...
  • Deist4Life, on 05/11/2008, -1/+2bring on the ads. As long as google keeps providing free services and unobtrusive ads I will remain happy. Besides, its either that, or Microsoft owns the world...Google seems nicer :-)
  • omnithought, on 05/11/2008, -1/+3They should spend more time on their search engine.
  • RSMiller, on 05/11/2008, -1/+1Now if they could only write up an API that McDonalds could use in its Flash ads...
  • yangmi0313, on 05/11/2008, -0/+0Is it attractive enough to develop so many copies of friend connect?
    Let us look forward.
  • JasonCox, on 05/11/2008, -0/+1Hooray! More ways for websites to spread my private information around the Internets!
  • petecampbell, on 05/11/2008, -2/+2Isn't there many sites already that offer data importing from other social networks? without the need for even more API's?
    Hate to be a plugging bitch, but one of my client's websites (http://www.youmeo.com) allows people to import Flickr/Facebook content alongside status syncronisation for example.
  • renevrivero, on 05/11/2008, -1/+0http://oracleswell.blogspot.com/ enough said. :)
  • natdg, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0Will check on it!
  • Phoghat, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Keerist! Is anyone except pre - pubescent teens interested in this *****?
  • woodles, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1A great day for nerds on the internet. That doesn't include me of course
  • ajaypathak, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1this website is opening
    http://readerszone.com
  •  

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