OpenID

Squawk Box July 28

by alec on July 28, 2008

It’s Monday the 28th of July, and we’re back for another SquawkBox.

First topic — Facebook Connect launched last week. It lets you add Facebook identity to any web site. It’s a bit like OpenID, but with the backing of Facebook. Plus, it has the ability for you to populate your Facebook news stream with data from that site, and for applications that aren’t part of Facebook to access your social graph.

Is this a good idea? Or is it a privacy busting virus from the folks that brought you beacon? Our consensus was that it was probably a good idea. Facebook is distributing apps across the social graph, and that can only be good for everybody.

We also discussed the talk last week that iPhone was for the Rich, and Android for the masses. Show us the phones, we said. Even so, we believe that Android will be a success, and will change the dynamic of the phone industry. Listen to the call to learn why.

And lastly we chatted about Cuil, the new search engine that launched last night. A couple of folks had tried it. Pluses: The layout is nice, as is the related items feature. Minuses: the index isn’t as complete as it could be yet.

What would it take to really beat Google at this game, though? Or maybe Cuil’s strategy is simply an exit to Microsoft.

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Pownce poseur snatches Chris Pirillo’s good name

by alec on July 28, 2007

Chris Pirillo has a beef with social networks. It's called identity. A poseur on Pownce has snatched his identity, and started to sign up unwitting powncers as his friends. People he doesn't know. People who don't know him.

Virtually all social networks suffer from the same problem. As networks proliferate, individuals can't be members of all networks, and are therefore vulnerable to having their identity spoofed on that network.

The solution is OpenID. Claim your identity once, and assert it on every site that supports OpenID.

To make that work, of course, folks on Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Pownce, Twitter, and so on would have to follow Plaxo's example, and support OpenID for login. Even better than what Plaxo does (support OpenID or their proprietary login) would be to simply support OpenID. Period.

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Plaxo’s open platform

July 25, 2007

Last week I chatted with Plaxo architect Joseph Smarr about their new OpenID initiative. Basically, what they've done is implement support for the use of an OpenID as your Plaxo credentials rather than a Plaxo specific account. Future plans call for them to also become an issuer of OpenID credentials too. What they're trying to become is [...]

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Aswath's Modest Proposal

March 28, 2007

While I was on vacation, Aswath Rao published a pretty interesting piece titled OpenID Negates the Need for P2PSip. Here's what he's proposing: I can store the IP address and the port number on which my SIP client will listen for incoming calls in a web page and my partner can visit that page before [...]

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AOL and OpenID

February 16, 2007

Wow!Â AOL has just experimentally implemented OpenID for all their members.Â First Microsoft, now AOL… Google next? The implications of this are staggering.Â Identity based services will be able to be built across networks without requiring multiple accounts, or competing identity schemes.Â

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Breaking the identity stalemate

February 6, 2007

Sometimes wishes to come true.Â It was only a few days ago that I posted a rant about Yahoo’s decision to impose Yahoo ID’s on Flickr account holders.Â And I was just one of the many voices in the blogosphere raised against Yahoo’s decision.Â Anyway, it kept Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield busy for a few [...]

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Extending OpenID to SIP

January 25, 2007

My friend Aswath Rao continues to push forward the idea of using OpenID to assert identity in voice networks.Â Many others, including myself, believe that the ability to assert identity is an important step in the evolution of communications networks.Â If you have an interest in this,Â check out what Aswath has written. UPDATE: Minutes after [...]

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