Mike Butcher

FYI: As I said here, from now on mbites.com will become my personal blog (stuff about me, what I’m doing what I’m thinking out loud etc) while tbites.com will be where I write in a more professional manner about tech startups, Web 2.0 and social media. End transmission…

I’m currently writing an article about Twitter for New Media Age magazine. Given how much coverage they have had so far it feels a little daunting and I’m not sure I’ll uncover much that’s new (although I’ll try, of course!). If you feel you are in a position to contribute to this, perhaps by commenting or passing me any inside information, then email me. For the record, I protect my sources (and have been for about 19 years now).

Here’s quite a sophisticated (well, compared to 90% of it) bit of spam I got today. Not only does it leech off the tragedy of the London 7/7 bombings, but it also comes from a vaguely plausible email address. Plus it even has the usual legal disclaimer from a law firm. These spammers are really getting into spear phishing (targeted spam):

<snip>

From: “Anthony Singer-Singer”<anthonysingers@aol.co.uk>

Subject: Information For Your Attention.

Greetings from Guildhall Court Chambers!

Pursuant to our fundamental commitment to human rights, social justice and equality which still underpin everything that we do whether in the courtroom, or out in the wider world, we wish to seek your cooperation and guidance, if you could perhaps provide us with detailed information as you share the same last name with our late client who died on July 7, 2005 London terrorist bombing leaving no trace of his immediate family members information.

Over the years, we have worked indefatigably and uncompromisingly to locate any of the relatives of our late client and all to no avail hence, the need for this correspondence. We would be delighted to have you as the apparent heir of our late client hence, you share the same last name and could possibly be somewhere in his family tree. We have been mandated by his bankers to provide any of his family members to claim his lawful assets with the bank because it is legally incumbent on us to do so as the legal representatives to the deceased.

We have decided to take this chance with you as out last resort to have you stand as the apparent heir of our late client since you both share the same last name as we have secured an order of mandate from the Probate Registry to locate any member of his family to claim what rightfully belong to him and for this reason, it remains your legal right and responsibility to protect the interest of your family in this regards.

Contact me for additional information and to discuss the modalities of this brief. Your earliest response is imperative and shall be appreciated to enable us conclude this brief in good time without delays.

Thanking you for your kind attention in anticipation of your response ASAP.

Respectfully submitted,

Anthony Singer-Singer, LLB (Hons)

Guildhall Court Chambers

Lincoln ‘s Inn Fields,

London WC2A 3LS

WARNING:

The information contained in this e-mail (and or accompanying attachments) may be legally privileged and is confidential. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient you are notified that any use, disclosure, copying or distribution of the information is prohibited. If you have received the message in error please notify us

immediately, delete the original and all electronic copies, and destroy any hard copies.

</snip>

It looks like OpenID is an idea whose time has come if this long and detailed post by Tom Coates is anything to go by. You see, it’s all very well having the convenience of being able to log into several sites with one ID. In a phrase: big deal. Where OpenID could be really useful is in aggregating all the IDs of the real, trusted people, and thus distinguishing them from the fake, untrusted people created by comment spammers, robots and other entities trying to spoof identity online. Now you’re talking. Now you have a possible system for reputation and trust, the like of which has not existed before. Of course, it doesn’t exist yet, but if the standards behind OpenID are adopted and developed then a lot of the drawbacks which come with social networking and user generated content networks could be addressed in a big way.

On Vecosys today I have an exclusive story on Izimi.com, a UK-based P2P and instant messaging startup, about to relaunch with a social networking and file sharing strategy. They are a pretty ambitious bunch, aiming at the US market. It would be nice to see a UK startup take the fight back to Silicon Valley, for once.

For my money, Gary Hayes offers an excellent explanation and graphic. Key quote: “We are heading towards a rich media personal hub that points to and houses all of our ’shareable’ content. But the current 2D web, mostly linear to linear linking, is about to be enhanced by virtual environments in which we meet as avatars, interact as 3D moving objects that takes sharing, collaboration and communication to the next, predictable level.”

Azeem has an interesting post about how Digg has now overtaken Cnet. Amazing really, in such a short space of time.

I’m organising an event for NMK, called My So-Called Second Life. It’s an afternoon seminar on the opportunities for creative firms and investment in the new world of MMORPGs (massively mulltiplayer online role playing games). Why is this interesting? Well, the likes of Disney and the directors James Cameron are getting into the area, along with a new wave of technology and media firms. If you think you could contribute as a speaker, be on a panel, or you just want to come, email me. But read the description first.

Next week I’m off to Tokyo, where I’ll be dunking my head into all things mobile, electronic and (I daresay) visiting the famed Akihabara area, famed for it’s geeky fascination with technology. Being a card-carrying Neophiliac and already write a column called Technofile, it’s just as well…