It's
time for our weekly summary of Web Technology news, products and
trends. On the trends side, we took an in-depth look at the emerging
world of open social networks. We pondered: which of Facebook Connect
and OpenID will be more successful? And we explained why "distributed
social networking" is a trend to watch, with projects such as DiSo and
OpenSocial. Also this week we examined the latest in online anonymity
and education 2.0. On the product side, we began our 'Best Products
2008' series with our selection of the top 10 Semantic Web products of
the year. We also told you about some of our favorite apps to show new
users and we reviewed the latest Nokia internet phone. Last but not
least, check the latest from Jobwire

- our new product that tracks hires in tech and new media.


The Weekly Wrapup is sponsored by SemanticProxy.com

:

Web Trends

Facebook Connect vs. OpenID: Who Will Emerge Victorious?

Facebook Connect

,
the system the company has long discussed as "Facebook on sites all
around the web," entered general availability this week and we had one
big question - should website owners use Facebook or OpenID

to authenticate and learn about their users? Will Facebook become a
dominant identifier online? Will the OpenID community lose out to the
company's proprietary system or will this challenge breathe new life
into the movement for open source, standards based, federated user
identity?


Open Source vs. Proprietary technology isn't just about desktop
software anymore - now it's about our identities and social
connections, all around the web. We published a mind map in our post,
displaying our understanding of the contrasts between these two
identity systems. If you'd like to add our thoughts to that map, you
can.

See also: What if Amazon and iTunes Implemented Facebook Connect?

The Distributed Social Networking Puzzle: Putting The Pieces Together

Distributed
social networking - where users can connect their profile, friends and
other data across multiple sites - is still a relatively new concept
and not fully developed. There are plenty of companies and projects
vying to be a major piece of the distributed social networking puzzle.
The big Internet companies have initiatives such as OpenSocial

(Google), Facebook Connect

, MySpace Data Availability

, Yahoo! Open Strategy

. There are also smaller company and open source projects such as DiSo and Noserub, which we explain in our post.
The End of Online Anonymity

It
seems we're approaching a new age here on the Internet. Instead of
being anonymous, faceless IP addresses; social computing and changing
technologies have allowed the lines between the "real" world and the
"virtual" world to blur. Web 2.0 helped create a world where your
identity is revealed in bits and pieces as you share snippets of your
life online - a photo here, a Stumble there, a tweet, a Digg, etc.
However, the rise of social media is only one of the changes that is
busy shaping the new web.

Education 2.0: Never Memorize Again?

Memorization
is a waste of time when Google is only a a few clicks away. That's what
Don Tapscott, author of the bestselling books Wikinomics

and Growing Up Digital

,
believes. Tapscott, considered by many to be a leading commentator on
our Internet age, believes the age of learning through the memorization
of facts and figures is coming to an end. Instead, students should be
taught to think creatively and better understand the knowledge that's
available online.


SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY

A Word from Our Sponsors

We'd like to thank ReadWriteWeb's sponsors, without whom we couldn't bring you all these stories every week!

• Mashery
  
  is the leading provider of API management services.
• Pro Opinion
  
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• WildApricot
  
  is Membership Management Software.
• Crowd Science
  
  gives you detailed visitor demographics.
• Strands
  
  provides real-time recommendations of products.
• Direct Media Exchange
  
  is a solution for managing ad networks.
• Rackspace
  
  provides dedicated server hosting.
• VisualCV
  
  lets you stand out from the crowd when job-hunting.
• Quintura
  
  is a visual-based search engine.
• Eurekster
  
  is a custom social search portal.
• MediaTemple
  
  provides hosting for RWW.
• SixApart
  
  provides our publishing software MT4.

RWW Jobwire

Techmeme Hires Megan McCarthy to Edit Site

Freelance tech writer Megan McCarthy just landed one of the coolest jobs on the new web, editing semi-automated news aggregator Techmeme

.
The hire was made last month but just announced this week by site
founder Gabe Rivera. Rivera explains in a post that Techmeme has always
been the product of some human intervention, primarily on the part of
the bloggers whose links power it, but that "interacting directly with
an automated news engine makes it clear that the human+algorithm combo
can curate news far more effectively that the individual human or
algorithmic parts. It really feels like the age of the news cyborg has
arrived."



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Web Products

Top 10 Semantic Web Products of 2008

In
2008 we saw the Semantic Web gain traction, giving us plenty of choice
when selecting the 10 best Semantic Web products of 2008.

This is the first in a series of posts we'll publish over December, listing our choices for the top web products of the year. Then at the end of December, we'll post a Top 100 list
- which we'll be promoting over 2009 and opening up at some point for
public voting. Check out our picks for the top 10 Semantic Web products
of 2008, by clicking through to the post.

A Taste of Magic: The First Apps We Show New Users

Whether
it's with your family, your co-workers or your clients - many of us
like to share the excitement we have about the new, social web with
others. What do you show other people to demonstrate how powerful, and yet easy to use, this new world of technology really is?


We asked our staff and a number of other advanced social web users
what the one thing is that they like most to show people who are less
experienced with the web than they are.

Nokia Challenges Apple and Google with New N97 Phone

This week Nokia unveiled

its new flagship phone, the N97, which is clearly meant to compete with the iPhone and Google's Android
platform. Unlike the iPhone, however, the N97 has a full slide-out
QWERTY keyboard. In terms of its other hardware features, the N97 also
clearly outperforms the iPhone. The N97 supports up to 48 GB of
storage, including the 32 GB that are already built-in. The phone has a
5 megapixel camera and its GPS is capable of giving turn-by-turn
directions. The resolution of the phone's 16:9 touchscreen is 640x360.
Join the YouTube Global Symphony, Play Carnegie Hall

Always wanted to play in a symphony? Here's your chance - without even leaving your living room. YouTube has announced the "world's first collaborative online orchestra"

- the YouTube Symphony Orchestra

- a one-of-a-kind experiment that provides individual musicians with an
opportunity to collaborate with other musicians all over the world. But
that's not all. If you play well enough, show some creativity, and
exude passion, you may find yourself seated in the famed Carnegie Hall

, performing live with other YouTube musicians.


SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY

That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
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