Michael Chisari on the future of social networking: "Almost three years ago, I started the Appleseed Project as a way to start experimenting with the idea of distributed social networking. Armed with enough hubris and naivete to think I could build it alone, I coded and coded until I got to the point I am now: With a project that stands at around 75% complete, it functions as a sort of proof-of-concept for distributed social networking in general. I've learned a lot, however, about the technological hurdles and impact that a truly open and distributed social networking platform could provide."

Damn the Facebooks and the MySpaces. The last time we checked, there was this thing called the internet that had 6 billion users. It's time to take our personal data out of Mr. McGregor's little gardens and put it back where it belongs -- free and open on the open web.

Social networks like Facebook and MySpace are taking the web by storm because they make it easy to manage your personal data and keep in touch with people you know. But to get value out, you have to put something in -- photos, contacts, appointments, lists of your interests and your blog musings.

Therein lies the rub. When entering data into Facebook, you're sending it on a one-way trip. Want to show somebody a video or a picture you posted to your profile? Unless they also have an account, they can't see it. Your pictures, videos and everything else is stranded in a walled garden, cut off from the rest of the web.

Like locked cell phones and copy-protected music, Facebook is on the wrong side of the open-network debate. Facebook is a sealed bubble. Facebook users are locked into Facebook, just as iTunes locks music fans to Apple's iPod.

A new Appleseed version has been released. Read more for the full announcement.

Here is a simple roadmap for the features and timeline you can expect for the future. I'll probably update this with more information when I have more time.

MySpace MP3 Gopher can be used to download any song from MySpace as an MP3 even if it is marked to disable downloading. MySpace MP3 Gopher is a Windows program requiring no installation, and for those not on a Windows box the author offers an online version that anyone can run. It is hosted on his home computer so it is bound to get slashdotted rather quickly. All you need to grab a MySpace song is its "friendID," which is in every URL as a parameter. Tech-recipes has step-by-step instructions.

People want a people directory with semantic relationships. But more than that, people want services which integrate with the people directory. The #1 problem solved by MySpace is the identity issue. Identity on the Internet was never anything people took the time to establish prior to the advent of social networking sites, because so little time was invested inside the microcosms where identity could be established. MySpace took the concept of identity and ran with it, allowing individuals to create elaborate and highly customized descriptions of their personal identity. However, all that information remains locked inside of MySpace. All that elaborate personal detail is only usable within MySpace's walled garden.

Brazil is suing Google, charging that it failed to comply with court orders to provide information on users of Orkut, the country's most popular community site. The case has implications that could impact cross-border e-commerce.

Pornography, cursing, drugs, racism, satanism and violence! Oh my! Whatever can a Christian do against the threats described in this article? Well, a different group of christians has a solution with Xianz.com. But until then, read the fearmongering from ChristaNet. Think about the children! Won't someone think about the children!

Paul Lamb muses on the potential of social networking combined with mobile technology like cellphones. Social networking for: neighborhoods, education, social services, and street-smarts.

Not a chance in hell. All these propietary social networking sites are the living dead, they just don't know it yet. For a few years there'll be a fight to see who can be top propietary dog, but they will all fall before Appleseed's subterrean fire.

Bragg has deleted his tunes from his MySpace.com page, which offers this explanation: "SORRY THERE'S NO MUSIC," because "once an artist posts up any content (including songs), it then belongs to My Space (AKA Rupert Murdoch) and they can do what they want with it, throughout the world without paying the artist."

After a few long months, we're back with two new features: Journals and Messaging.