YAHOO! has launched the beta version of a new social networking site known as Mash, which is by-invitation only for now. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation just a few minutes ago. Thanks ultraweb for the invite — much appreciated.

I’ve just begun customizing the profile he set up for me, so it’s really bare right now. The pic shows me with my daughter Sam, who’s 5 years and nine months old. We took the pic using Photo Booth on Mikaela, my MacBook Pro, with the sepia special effect applied to it.

It’s funny how Mash got leaked to the press, apparently due to an honest mistake, as recounted in the New York Times.

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THEY’VE already made TV history as the creators of “thirtysomething” and “My So-Called Life.” That didn’t stop ABC, however, from canceling Marshall Herskovitz (who has also produced a number of movies, most notably “Traffic,” “I am Sam,” “The Last Samurai” and “”Blood Diamond”) and Edward Zwick’s (who directed “The Last Samurai” and “”Blood Diamond,” as well as “Glory,” “Legends of the Fall” and “About Last Night…”) show, then called “1/4 Life,” in 2005 after the pilot.

Well, who’s laughing now?

The two have ditched the old medium and resurrected their baby, now known as “Quarterlife,” as a Web show. In fact, it’s more than just an Internet series, but also a social network — check out their site. Here’s their trailer:

Quarterlife Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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BINTAN, Indonesia–Here’s a video I took of Mark Trudinger, CEO of Kindernet Pte Ltd, talking about the dangers posed to children by the pervasiveness of social networks and other Web 2.0 applications.

And here’s an excerpt from my story that came out in INQUIRER.net Infotech:

BINTAN, Indonesia–Social networking and other Web 2.0 applications may have made the Internet more exciting and interactive to people, but they pose new dangers to children.

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BINTAN, Indonesia–”LIVECASTING is to TV what blogging was to journalism.”

This was declared by Steve Ng, founder of The Digital Movement, in his presentation for the Web 2.0 session of Kickstart Asia 2007.

Ng pointed out that livecasting is revolutionizing broadcasting by allowing ordinary people to become their own TV networks. In particular, Ng cited Ustream.tv.

“Ustream.tv allows people to livecast events using just a webcam,” Ng said. [Read the rest of this entry »]

WHY is Friendster so popular in the Philippines?

Once upon a time, Friendster was the social networking site. It was huge in the US and other countries, but since then it has seen a pretender to the throne, MySpace, become the new king of social networking.

In the Philippines, however, Friendster is still hands-down the most popular social networking site, notwithstanding the presence of homegrown alternatives such as GrooveNet. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Filipinos are practically single-handedly keeping Friendster alive. Heck, according to Alexa, Friendster is the second most popular site for Philippine Internet users, next only to Yahoo!

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