Black Web 2.0

I recently read an article over at Springwise about a Doctor who makes house calls and get this…also communicates with patients via IM, text, or video chat. The article got me thinking about how many people would actually use this kind of service. I find myslef doing more and more of general life maintenance tasks online; scheduling oil changes and other random appointment scheduling. In fact I have become so use to doing this it now takes me “longer” to take the time out to pick up a phone and schedule an appointment for those things. I am not sure if I am in the minority for this type of behavior but I will say that I would actually probably use Dr. Jay Parkinson; that is if he wasn’t located in Brooklyn. I know I would definitely use online scheduling and I think added ways of communication are always a benefit, especially for a health provider. The “house calls” to your home or work are a huge time saver I am sure and also brings personal relationships back to medicine. How many of you would choose a 2.0 doctor?

Big ups to Mega for putting the bug in my ear that the deadline for One Laptop Per Child has been extended.  For those that don’t know we are collecting pledges to donate to the organization.  The goal is to reach $399, here are the pledges we have thus far:

Mega $100
Markus and Angela (Black Web 2.0) $100
Theo J.  $20

Name: Blingd.com

Founder/Chief Executive: Ganiu Ladejobi and Peterson Lochard

About: Created by two avid hip hop blog readers, Blingd.com allows you to submit, approve and/or disapprove news articles about hip hop. Think “a hip-hop digg.” Launched October 16th,2007. This website will be reviewed in detail by Black Web 2.0 in the near future.

Funding: no info found

Related Properties: N/A

Website: www.blingd.com

Name: Pouchons.com

Founder/Chief Executive: Thierry Bellevue

About: As quoted from Founder, “Pouchons.com is the next Hip-Hop Social Network and looks like your standard network, but with a distinct hip hop twist. Pouchons provides social elements allowing users to create a personal page where information such as profile photo, pictures, comments, and other personal information can be included within the user’s profile. Pouchons also allows users to customize their profiles as they want. Friends have been reincarnated as Homies and Messages as Shout outs. Users send shout outs, give props, kisses or hugs to others users. ”

Funding: no info found

Related Properties: N/A

Website: www.pouchons.com

In the second episode of our new series of podcasts, we talk with the very enlighting Tariq Muhammad, Director of AOL Black Voices. AOL Black Voices is the No. 1 website for black news, entertainment, culture and community with over 4.3 million monthly uniques visitors.

In this interview we discussed, Tariq’s new role as Director of AOL Black Voices, his previous tenure at Black Enterprises, and his foray into the world of web startup.

iTunes subscriptions to the podcast are available, and an archive of all podcasts will appear under the podcast category of our site. Enjoy!

I recently wrote a post about One Laptop per Child, an initiative to supply laptops to children in underdeveloped countries, and got a good response from you all. The laptops are only $399 and if you buy 1 laptop at that price between November 12th and the 26th One Laptop per Child will send you 1 laptop for a child in your life, you also have the option to donate the second laptop. I want to big up Mega, one of our readers, for pledging to donate $100 towards one of these laptops and putting the bug in my ear for such a great idea, especially around the holidays. Markus and I here at Black Web 2.0 are matching that and want to give all of our readers the opportunity to pledge a donation, no amount is to little. Unfortunately I only read about this last week and we only have 7 days to reach the goal of $399. With the remaining laptop we will be donating it locally to a child in the States who does not currently have computer access at home.

Let the donations begin…..

Mega $100
Markus and Angela (Black Web 2.0) $100

Full admission time here: I am a Black marching band fiend. It started in seventh grade when I wanted to find a way to get out of seventh period early, so I put down my books, picked up a trombone, and the rest was history. Having played competitively in both high school and college in several honor bands, marching bands, symphonic bands, jazz bands and orchestras, something about the Black marching band experience speaks to me.

A Battle of the Bands competition? You know I’ll be there.

However, those not privy to the goosebump-forming chill and noteworthy awe of listening or seeing a Black marching band don’t have to look far to get an introduction.

No…not YouTube, silly. The Marching Network.

Started in 2006 out of Jackson, MS, The Marching Network has over 10,000 videos of Black marching bands easily categorized by decade, college and many other categories. Users can comment and rate videos, and upload their own using TMN’s upload tool. Videos are displayed in either Windows Media Player or Flash video format (including the option to incorporate a YouTube-hosted video), and includes code to view the videos on an HTML message board or any website.

Overall, while I love the content, I found parts of the site hard to navigate because of the small font used for comments and ratings. A redesign, hopefully, is around the corner, to better separate ad content from the videos themselves. I’d even suggest a special TMN branded Flash video player for further branding efforts. Your mileage may vary, of course.

TMN’s back end is powered by Vidiac, a technology and video distribution company out of Atlanta, GA.

Today is the official release of Alicia Keys As I Am, and I must say that the camp behind her at J Records had a mean widget game leading up to this day.

The widget includes news updates, video clips of Alicia in the studio, and videos uploaded by fans.

The widget comes with instructions for adding it to your favorite social networks — either your facebook or MySpace account.

But this post today isn’t really about Keys’ record release or J Records’ widget game. It’s a lot more about the vulnerability and security risks encountered with social networking, particularly as it relates to Alicia Keys.

This YouTube video reveals how the MySpace page of Alicia Keys (along with Greements of Fortune, a French funk band, and Dykeenies, a rock band from Glasgow) was hacked on November 8, just five days before her record release. [Shout outs to MML for the tip.]

What this hack reveals is that:

…MySpace is suffering from the major drawback to any practical, open platform for the masses. “Security and functionality exist in an inverse relationship,” he said. “The more functional you make anything, the less secure it tends to become.” [The New York Times Bits Blog]

Takeaway: All that Web 2.0 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Well at least MySpace isn’t. Of course the hack won’t affect Keys’ record sales, but it makes for a great headline (innit)?

One laptop per child is attempting to supply each school aged child in an underdeveloped country with an XO Laptop. Between November 12th and November 26th is you purchase and donate 1 laptop ($399) you will receive 1 laptop to give to a child in your life. What I find particularly interesting about this laptop is the way it includes social and sharing features, it basically has its own built in social network. Each child with one of these laptops will be connected with other children who own one of these XO Laptops and can browse the web together, chat, play games, and even edit music together. Sounds interesting huh? You can learn more about the interface and social aspects of the laptop on there website. You can also donate from their site as well.

Mix together elements of YouTube, Flickr and MySpace and you’ve got Zoopy, a social networking site for the country of South Africa. Starting back in March 2007, the site bases its operations off the premise of sharing photos and video for your network of friends, or even complete strangers.

Recently introduced to the site is the Zoopy Street Cam, a first-person, man-on-the-street type format where people are directly asked their opinions on issues in and about South Africa. Even local politicians are jumping on the Zoopy bandwagon, including Cape Town mayor and leader of the Democratic Alliance Helen Zille. According to Zille, “[Zoopy] is an incredibly promising project.” This sort of political transparency is refreshing, especially given how reticent a majority of politicians here in the States have been in terms of embracing technology for reaching out to their constituents.

While Zoopy is but one of a host of social networking sites, there’s not much behind their smiley yellow mascot that you wouldn’t find on any other social networking site. What Zoopy does have going for it is context. Pictures and videos are local to South Africa, giving people an inside look into their country, their customs and more. But without any revolutionary features or a new perspective or take on the social networking landscape, Zoopy stands the chance of fading into the background of larger, less local competitors.

Technorati Tags: zoopy, social networking, video, south africa, web 2.0, startup