The Flag and What?

Not only was it the first FAB for 2008 but it was the first time we didn't have our bell! )-:

Who would have thought we could misplace it? Luckily Nigel raided his son's toy box and a tamborine became this month's substitute.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it an enjoyable evening. One of the highlights of the night was the quiz. There was some contention regarding the last question: "What is the name of Linux's open source platform designed for mobile phones?"

The answer, OpenMoko, was indeed correct! Android is Google's open source platform and the other answers provided were invented.

Limo is also a mobile phone platform for Linux.

Despite the contention we had 3 teams tie for first place. In traditional FAB style, the "paper-scissors-rock" play off determined the winning team. Congratulations to the "Trapa" team who won a WIFI hotspot finder and a Wordtracker memory stick.

I am looking forward to the next FAB on the 5th of February which will be sponsored by BondMarvel and Roland Turner. I will post details of the venue next week.

Search Trails - Taking Search to a Lower Level

The birth of a new search engine doesn't happen very often. Yesterday Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales launched his new 'google killing' search engine - wikia. Sadly it seems to have been universally panned the moment it left the starting blocks.

It reminds me of when we first entered the industry. OOF! I can still smell the canvas! ;-)

Since then we've learnt a lot. There will be no Google-killing search engine anytime soon and social search is not simply Facebook + search. I believe social search is about creating a shared global search memory similar to Vannevar Bush's 1945 vision of the Memex.

"There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record."

Search trails are the missing ingredient - a simple, transparent, democratic system of way finding - no PageRank, OpenRank, MinesMoreOpenThanYoursRank - required.

Wikia, Mahalo and Google will litter the search landscape with Knols and other 'editor' controlled silos of information - but we will still need trails between them. The trails themselves need to be honest search memories, made by the masses, not by a group of self-appointed 'editors'.

New Arrivals for the New Year

We are pleased to announce that Janine Neves has joined the Trexy team.

Our new marketing person was not the only new arrival today. Our latest shipment of 2000 Trexy goats also just arrived.