"Ribbit, which is still in beta testing phase and set to launch in the coming months, is headed up by Silicon Valley tech veterans who plan to load their phone service with applications previously unavailable from a single phone network. Instead of simply displaying a caller ID, for example, Ribbit will create a mashup of relevant information culled from social networks like Twitter and Facebook, revealing what the caller is currently doing/reading/watching."

This is pretty neat, kind of like half-way between now and complete web integration on our phones. When will we get complete integration? Please....

"As the environmental consequences of driving cars become ever more clear, consumers are increasingly aware of the benefits of alternative modes of transportation... Walkit's goal is to help consumers make more informed decisions about whether they choose to walk for all, or part, of any given journey... Users looking for walking routes simply enter their starting location and desired destination, along with whether they prefer the most direct route or the least busy one; there's also an option to request a route "via" some other spot along the way."

Melbourne needs this, with integration with our public transport, and probably with an option to avoid public transport when it screws up, like today.

"By offering a set of sophisticated project management tools, Kluster aims to enable crowds to develop new concepts... Anyone can initiate a project, and Kluster claims to use complex algorithms to let the brightest ideas surface, not just the loudest ones. Several companies have signed up to engage Kluster’s community and tap into their collective creativity. In the best case scenario, the crowds will help brands create new hit products."

One of the better executions of crowdsourcing out there. The idea of getting companies to use a platform like this to help focus their products is similar to my now dead loopboard project. One to keep an eye out for I reckon.

"Ocean Tomo Auctions will offer the “Jaipuria Patent” for sale, U.S. Patent 7,047,202 which was filed back in 2001 and is considered one of the most important patents related to social networking... The patent claims priority to an earlier Indian patent and describes many of the fundamental workings of social networks, including creating an online social network including individual users and groups, accessing and using social network via the Internet or wireless devices, and advanced user privacy features."

I'd love to see this tested in court.

"Today I was in a meeting where someone mentioned that most of the people he knows have profiles on both MySpace and Facebook because their real friends are on MySpace while their work friends are on Facebook... It sucks for teens trying to balance mom and friends. It sucks for college students trying to have a social life and not piss off their profs. It sucks for 20-somethings trying to date and balance their boss's presence. "

Hmm... not something I'm dealing with right now, but an interesting point. I guess the alternate argument is that your employers expect this anyway, so does seeing it matter?

"Although not personally, Rudd accepted Goldfingers' request to be his friend within hours of the offer early Monday morning as the New York strip club story exploded...Confidential understands Myspace suspended the page yesterday after members of Kevin Rudd's team met the company to ensure friend requests were monitored more closely. "

WTF! Why did myspace suspend the Goldfinger's profile for one of Rudd's minions's mistakes? Smells like political fishiness...

"How many Facebook applications is too many? With people adding unnecessary apps to their profiles at a blistering pace, we wondered just how far you could push the limits; from the Abe Vigoda dead or alive indicator to Ploppy, the app for sharing the current state of your poop, we added hundreds of ‘em. This screen capture shows what happens when you add over 200 Facebook apps: a huge mess. It takes about 40 seconds to load, which is arguably faster than many MySpace profiles."

Hahaha... someone has too much time. But agreed - there are profiles with way too much crap on it.

"I got an email a few weeks back from Phillip Kingston, who together with Edward Thomson, have launched a self funded, beta service called Flogd. Both are 4th year students at the University of Melbourne.The basic idea behind flogd is that you can very easily integrate your own shop on your blog, myspace or facebook profile (yes, there’s a Facebook app). I imagine there would certainly be a large market of niche blogs out there who would have relevant products to flog."

Interesting idea, and all done using paypal so minimal setup costs to them, but revenue flows from commission. Good luck guys! Meanwhile, I should get a Facebook account...

"You may have seen the news that Facebook has acquired my fledgling startup, Parakey. The project remains very much alive, and since we will be working to port the concepts and technology to Facebook, it will remain stealthy."

Wow, congrats to Blake but this definitely shows that Facebook has more than the web in its sights. Sounds like a bold plan to leapfrog it's competitors.