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Damn, Flickr

admin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:02:53 -0700

Having just written this... it seems no longer to be the case.

Flickr RSS feeds and 3rd party linking seem to be all over the place. Not sure why. An example:

Farm 3:

Open this link over a proxy: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2269/1740247862_fa25059da6_o.jpg - it should open fine. Now open this (replacing the farm3.static.flickr.com with an IP address for the server) http://69.147.90.158/2269/1740247862_fa25059da6_o.jpg - there will be an Access Denied error.

Do the same without a proxy (inside China) and the page with farm3 in the URL should open fine, while the page with the IP address in the URL should not.

Farm 1 and 2:

The same test. Open this random picture I browsed with a proxy http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1032/596142984_770c57d3f4_m.jpg (should be toilet paper/mouse combo - how cute) now open it again using the IP address instead of the URL (http://69.147.123.56/1032/596142984_770c57d3f4_m.jpg) and the Access Denied error, as with Farm 3 above, will show up. This was not the case until a week ago. In this example exactly the same photo is being retrieved so user permissions should not come into the equation.

Again, do the same without a proxy (inside China). The URL with Farm2 in it should result in a blank page, the link with the IP address in the URL should result in the Access Denied page.

Conclusion:

From trying to access the photos tested above via a URL using the server's IP address, for both Farm3 and Farm2, It is clear (as of this moment this evening) that Yahoo/Flickr have disabled access to their server content via URLs with an IP address and therefore prevented Chinese/Iranian Firewall circumvention measures that the Firefox 'Access Flickr' plugin provides. It is not clear whether Flickr meant this to happen, or if it is a side effect of other efforts they've been making.

In China, the Farm3.static.flickr.com server seems to be unblocked, for now. Little chance of accessing older photos (pre Farm3/pre October) without going 100% through a proxy, or using an overseas website to cache photos fed through RSS.

Not a dud

admin — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:51:14 -0700

Absolutely not a dud.

What I think will happen:
1. Facebook will 'pop' (in a good way) - it will boost it's userbase hugely over the next few months.
2. Other systems come along as competition. I don't believe Facebook is yet at critical mass, but it may approach critical mass very soon.

Competition is key. Other sites have 'seen how' to do social networks, and why some other attempts at social networks have failed. Facebook developer buzz seems akin to the launch of Windows 95/98.

But applications are inherently limited by Facebook's in-not-out approach to data.

They're chasing one of the biggest prizes on the Internet - identity and networks.

Facebook do bring a lot new to the web - things that would not have been published are now done so more and more easily. If I published a blog on Facebook - that blog which might have once been public now becomes Facebook-only, while a non-Facebook blog is viewable on both - the non-Facebook blog (that also gets 'Facebook'd') retains a higher audience.

In the end, I believe audiences want the most seemless access to data that's possible. If you had a Facebook-style list of friends in a browser pluggin that could be used on any site, in the same way as Facebook-only apps are now, they layer and abstraction is thinner, while the functionality is retained and enhanced. People aren't going to abandon eBay, Amazon, G/Hotmail, etc, any time soon - they can be enhanced with Facebook, but not completely drawn in.

Contrast this with Facebook's current policy of suckling in data and applications. If a competitor had the same functionality but more applications - essentially because they were truely open and an external website could work with Facebook data and everything else on the web, they would be a super-set of Facebook's existing potential (Facebook potential + existing web apps/crossover + future web app potential).

They're no dud. 'Friending' stuff in a user-friendly and trusting way is a killer app already. But Facebook, or their similar-veined successor, will come under pressure to truly open. It's a huge prize, there will be huge competition.

In the mean time, and mentioned in the last section above, I'd recommend anyone with a website to embrace Facebook as much as they can, because there's no getting away from it, and it can actually help 'get content out there' quite nicely.

I can't disagree any more.

Commenter — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:22:51 -0700

I can't disagree any more.

Facebook is one of the biggest new tools on the Internet, and you think it's a dud? Seriously?

Blog awards

Lonnie — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:13:22 -0700

You got my vote....

I am generally not a fan of popular vote contests as they rarely represent the best quality in winners....Your category will be a case in point if the totals hold....

Good luck!!

Great Post

Valehru — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 07:33:57 -0700

Keep it up, was a decent read!

@Rick, my original site is still on wordpress, going to be changed very very quickly to my new rails platform! My new site, beilabs.com, although not a blog, does help keep track of my thoughts about tech and current projects I am working on is completely developed on ruby on rails. Just thought I'd point out how much spare time I have on my hands...

Re: What is a blog?

Rick — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 08:47:54 -0700

A blog is a website that runs wordpress.
And NOT drupal!

(just kidding...)
:)