With his recent apologies(see here article in FT), Mr. Zuckerberg had proven two things:
1) Facebook is incredibly successful and beyond expectations
2) Its advertising business model is unstable yet.

Facebook is an incredible success from different points of view. First of all, it is amazing to see how fast the website grows. Those young adults spend their life on Facebook exchanging and posting information.

I am not convinced that this success is totally controlled. It does not mean it is not deserved. It might even be the other way around. We have to acknowledge that Facebook is setting up new standards on communities’ engagement. Facebook is joining Apple, Google, Nintendo and some others in the closed ‘Trend-Setter’ group.

Second, the depth of the website is increasing at an unbelievable speed. Recently, with the introduction of the Beacon advertising model, the site reached a new limit, though it might be unfortunately too far.

Members have signed a petition demanding to be consulted before their profiles could be accessible to advertisers. They are absolutely right. Privacy controls and spam protections are available on your PCs to prevent you from receiving too many unwanted advertisements. On the mobile phones, regulations are set up to ensure that your privacy is respected.

It should be the same on Facebook. People do not join Facebook to let their profiles get ‘raped’ and distributed freely to advertisers. Mr. Zuckerberg should know better than anyone that the community works IN the community, not outside of it. I have the right to share my profile and get money out of it ONLY if I want.

Promotions, advertisements are just some ways to get you the products you might need. They should not be used in an intrusive manner.

Hopefully, Facebook has learnt its lesson.

(c) Amazon.com

For ages, the video games industry has been trying to bring arcade games to homes. For ages, I have considered that they failed.

Yes, there are hundreds of good games available and the depth of gaming has increased over time. From RTS to FPS to MMORPG, the videogames industry has diversified to please the consumers. If you remember some years ago, we used to go to the arcades to play the pac-man kind of, the shooting game or racing game.

I was more on the shooting game kind and I remember spending lots of money trying to kill and progress through the different levels of Time Crisis. Some years ago, I was very excited to see the release of the House of the Dead on DreamCast. Finally, a game that was promising enough to recreate the arcade shooting game we liked in the past. The graphics were nice; however, the control was the weak point. I never could get into it, trying to aim using a game pad has never been as fun as doing it with a plastic gun pointing at the screen. Then, gaming guns that you could connect to TV sets were available. However, it is not precise and lots of 100HZ TV were not supported.

Recently, the House of the Dead on Wii got me into it. Wow, wii-ing the pointer on the screen and shooting was really fun. However, the lack of high definition graphics and digital sound disappointed me. That game was great but it still does not score a 20 over 20 mark.

I was going back to my cave and cry waiting for the new messiah.

Until yesterday…

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you: Time Crisis 4 on PS3.

WOW, WOW, WOOOOOOOW…Yeah, this one definitely deserves a 20/20. This game justifies why you should buy a PS3.

They’ve got it all – High definition graphics, Dolby Digital Sound, PURE arcade and a real gun working on ALL sets. From high-definition TV set to (finally!!!) video projector, yes you can play it. It is so easy to setup. Just display the two sensors ‘ala’ Nintendo Wii (too bad, it is plugged into the USB port and not wireless) and plug in the USB gun (yes, too bad too).

And finally the fun begins! Here you go. Hide and shoot. Shoot and hide. Hide and shoot. WOW, you can finally have your arcade shooting game at in the comfort of your home!

Get a friend, some beer and a Pizza and you finally return back to the good old days as a student.

Who said it is only for the ‘young at heart’?

Let me get back to it…