TechCrunch

Given that I've spent the past week updating the business plan and buying a new domain (fshbwl.com) for the Fishbowl, not to mention getting mentioned on a site featured in this video, I serious had to laugh at this. Luckily, I have no dreams of getting rich!

I've heard some people say that no publicity is bad publicity, so getting exposure before more than 619,000 people shouldn't be a bad thing (over 650 people have viewed the video since I sent the e-mail this afternoon), even if we took a few shots from editor Michael Arrington and some of those who commented on the site.

As for the responses, it's interesting to see how different people respond to the video and the concept on the whole (there's some good communication lessons in there). Hopefully those who assume it's going to suck or are skeptical will sign up, find out more, and at least appreciate the site for what it will be.

Sort of odd, it's not at all what I expected when I fired a quick e-mail their way to see if they might know some tech oriented young Lutherans (you know, some intern who brings Michael his coffee) who'd be willing to hold a volunteer position that does those little things like set goals for the coming year and establish the budget.

By the way, if you decide to post a comment on the site, please be courteous and don't do anything that will perpetuate the negative assumptions that so many have about those of us who trust in Christ.

I ran across this interesting post from TechCrunch this morning on Google and their social networking plans. The part that really got my attention was this bit at the end:

The bigger vision is to combine all of Google’s apps and services through Maka-Maka. Google already has so much data on you, depending on how many Google apps you already use. It just needs to bring everything together. Your contacts are in Gmail. Your feeds are in Google Reader. Your IM buddy list is in Gtalk. Your upcoming events are in Google Calendar. Your widgets are in iGoogle. And don’t forget about your search history. Overtime, Google will connect all of these together in different ways, along with data about you from other social services across the Web, and give developers access to the social layer tying all of these apps together underneath. The real killer app for Google is not to turn Orkut into a Facebook clone. It is to turn every Google app into a social application without you even noticing that you’ve joined yet another social network.

As somebody who's a self-proclaimed Google whore (I use search, Gmail, Reader, Calendar, Gtalk, and the yet unmentioned Docs), this is both exciting and scary. Exciting in the sense that I love it when all of my info and apps link together seamlessly (part of why I love Mac), but scary in that it's somebody other than me controlling all of my info and now is looking at how to make it more available to others.

On the faith side this is certainly points out the need to live above reproach and makes our lives that much more transparent, but it also means that in an age where information is power, our information will be that much more accessible to everybody, including those who have evil intentions.

How much do you trust Google with your life?