I got news about OpenSocial last night (or early this morning, depending on where your located) but decided not to write about as I dosed off to sleep – I knew the blogosphere would be full of information (and mis-information plus a lot of duplicate information that adds no value) by this afternoon (when I'm writing this).

A number of people, including John Battelle, have already weighed in on this with a press release (where he got it from I can only guess) that OpenSocial is Google's attempt to dominate Social Networks by proposing a standard set of API's.  The reason why we need a set of common API's is:

"….The proliferation of unique APIs across dozens of social websites is forcing developers to choose which ones to write applications for – and then spend their time writing separately for each. OpenSocial gives developers of social applications a single set of APIs to learn for their application to run on any OpenSocial-enabled website. By providing these simple, standards-based technologies, OpenSocial will speed innovation and bring more social features to more places across the web. Users win too: they get more interesting, engaging, or useful features faster. "

Here's the OpenSocial API's that will be offered – starting tomarrow or next week:

APIs available now include:

"…The OpenSocial APIs give developers access to the data needed to build social applications: access to a user's profile, their friends, and the ability to let their friends know that activities have taken place. OpenSocial resources for developers and websites are available now at code.google.com/apis/opensocial.

Developers will have access to:
- Three JavaScript and Gdata APIs to access social functions
- A live developer sandbox on Orkut at sandbox.orkut.com

Websites will have access to:
- A tool to help OpenSocial-enable their websites
- A support forum for communicating with Google and other websites

All of these resources and the live developer sandbox are available now.

Developers already at work

Dozens of developers have helped test early iterations of the OpenSocial APIs and Google is grateful for the extensive feedback they have provided.

[List of all gadget developers]

Links to these gadgets are available at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial.

There's also coverage in Search Engine Watch by  Danny Sullivan that has some nice diagrams:

I think one of the logical outcomes of OpenSocial is customized clients that can create social networks of the fly (peer-to-peer); maybe that's not that apparent now, but eventually, I think that's what we'll end up with.

Instead of joining social networks, we'll be creating our own – as needed, asynchronously – "networks" will form based on how people are interacting – not so much from deliberate design.  However, developing dynamic, personalized social networks for everyone are probably years away.

The New York Times also has a story on OpenSocial today – Google and Friends to Gang Up on Facebook where a party is mentioned that will take place on Thursday, November 1st – wish it were taking place in New York City – I'd ask to go and cover OpenSocial for Webmetricsguru.com.

According to Steve Rubel, new technology is more important in how it affects society than in and of itself.  I sort of agree – but I don't know if it's fund managers and investors that are stuck on new technology for it's own sake – or have become dependant on it for any profits they make.

"…The endless dot-com parties are back. So are the countless trade shows/conferences that regurgitate the same "new paradigms" the last 10 events did – with no end in sight. And yes, the ridiculous BS press releases are flying into my Gmail box. This is why I don't speak at or attend very many Web 2.0 conferences anymore. I don't have the heart for it. I would be stirring the big pot of Kool-Aid.

Let's face it, we're skunk drunk and it's because of money. It's almost like we all need to enter Betty Ford Clinic 2.0 together. This time, it's not stock market money but private equity, M&A, VCs and to some degree the reckless abandonment of logic by some advertisers who are perpetuating what is sure to end badly when the economy turns. Hubris is back my friends."

I guess Steve Rubel would know about the endless trade show conferences – he used to go to many of them, but lately has been attending less and less conferences.   I suppose I can't blame him – most of the value of conferences are networking anyway, there's not much new information that's shared in any conference I've gone to – and I go to my share as well – but nothing compared to the numbers of conferences that Steve gets invited to.

Skype Cell Phones are coming on the market now and that is a big deal, especially for international calls according to Last 100, but the first offerings are skimpy in must have features like WiFi and a full keyboard:

"..The handset itself won’t win any prizes on the style-front. It’s a bog standard candy-bar design, with a slightly cheap looking trim. This isn’t a phone for the tech-savvy early adopter crowd to rival the iPhone, but is squarely aimed at younger, more general, price conscious consumers.

• Despite offering first-of-its-kind native Skype functionality, the phone doesn’t feature WiFi. Duh!
• Sending Skype-to-Skype IMs maybe free, but there is, sadly, no QWERTY keyboard.
• Presence — the ability to see who is “online” and ready to receive a call — is a great feature on a cell phone.