Unit Structures Fred Stutzman’s thoughts about information, social networks and technology.

New Version of Freedom: v0.3

In response to a few bug reports and feature requests, I’ve updated Freedom. The new version should fix the “asking for your password at 5 minute intervals” affecting some users, and it now allows up to 6 hours of Freedom. To update Freedom, download the new version and drag it to your Applications [...]

ClaimID – New Features and an Update

This week has been an exciting one over at ClaimID. Working with two great companies – JanRain and Vidoop/Confident, we’ve introduced some new technologies that make the OpenID process simpler, and more secure. For us, it is a true win-win! Read more about both announcements at ReadWriteWeb and over at the ClaimID blog:

ClaimID [...]

Social Networks can’t be Bootstrapped

Via Techcrunch’s Erich Schonfeld, Google appears to be moving towards turning iGoogle into its own social network. As Google is notoriously ham-fisted in this space, I worry that a move to appease a VP may undermine the well-executed and popular iGoogle product.
Before you write this off as another Google rant, lets step back for [...]

Two Talks this Week

Although the semester is winding down, this is looking like a very busy week – my class presents their final projects tomorrow (and we’re having cupcakes), one of my students has a thesis defense on Thursday, and I’m giving two talks this week. Yow.
The first talk is today, a guest lecture to COMP 380 [...]

Freedom and Close Networks

On Friday, I released Freedom, software that fights the oppression of the internet. Incredibly, through the power of del.icio.us, Reddit, Twitter, blogs and endless Tumblr’s, Freedom has spread widely, with tens of thousands of views. Even more incredibly, I received a donation for my efforts, proving that Freedom is truly on the march. [...]

Productive Unit Structures: Introducing Freedom

A few years ago, I used to judge the quality of a coffeeshop by the speed of its wireless network. Now that I’m working on my dissertation, I find myself desperately searching out places where I can be network-free. In this college town, it is difficult to find a work or study place [...]

Social Software’s Curation Era

For the past few days, I’ve been playing around with Muxtape. For those who haven’t seen it, Muxtape is a website that allows you to create and share digital mixtapes. For those of us raised in the age of the mixtape, Muxtape is a wonderful find; it evokes warm memories of a youth [...]