Qloud.com and Google Friend Connect

This week Google announced their FriendConnect feature which allows websites to use Google’s authentication and friend information in their sites. Qloud has been an early partner with Google on this initiative and worked with them to build that into Qloud.com. Any user can sign in to Qloud.com using their Google account and we pull their friends from that service too.

You can learn more information about Google Friend connect at Google.com/friendconnect and on that page you’ll see Qloud is listed as one of the example sites.

Related articles

• Facebook Connect Now Open to All Developers
• Playing with Google Friend Connect

Congrats Chamath!

So last night we heard the big news that CP is the new VP of Product Marketing and Operations at Facebook.

What a great match. Facebook is an incredible company. There’s a lot of hype around them, but I think that it is all deserved. Facebook has the potential to be the next in line to AOL / Amazon / Yahoo / EBay / Google in the Internet Panthenon. Depends if they can continue to operate so excellently as they grow and blend in the commercial with their existing fantastic consumer experience.

Chamath is a perfect hire to help with that evolution. Facebook could have hired most anyone they wanted for that job, and they got the right choice: super smart, super committed, obsessed with the space. I’ve also heard that there are some, er, um . . . “big personalities” at Facebook. Well, everyone over there should know: get ready for another.

I knew that the VC thing was not going to last for Chamath given his need to be closer to the operations of the industry. Well this move is perfect. So, congrats Chamath from me and Mike and Jim. Big time position! Remember though, in all of your fame and fortune, to us you’re still just a good ol’ boy floating down the Shenandoah River in an inner tube drinking beers.

Portable Player Plug-ins

Nobody seems that psyched about the Zune. I don’t have one, but all of the reviews are super negative.

It is too bad, because it seems that the Zune is not going to be able to break Apple’s stranglehold on the portable player industry, which I don’t think is good for anybody: consumers, services, etc.

Here’s a thought for Microsoft or Samsung or whomever: how about opening up your portable player platform to support plug-ins for independent developers? Yes, there are stability concerns, but there could be a whole certification process that ensures that everything is OK.

It just seems that nobody can keep up with Apple’s innovation. So why not go the time-tested route to accelerated innovation: allow independent developers to do it for you. There are so many consumer digital media services out there, and many would love the chance to extend their service on to a device in an open way (not through some exclusive agreement). Lord knows we would. And consumers would really benefit from devices that allow for independent plug-ins. It would provide some really compelling reasons why a user would want a non-Apple device.
And if your are stuck battling for the 20% or whatever of market share that Apple has not yet conquered, what do you have to lose? Take some risks.