I have been hard at work during the past few months, creating something very special. When José Luis Antúnez came to me with such a great idea I could not turn it down. YouAre is a global social network that lets you publish multimedia microcontents. It’s global because it takes on relations between people in different fields (personal, professional, interests, …). YouAre lets you publish from texts to multimedia files such as images and videos.

SOCIAL NETWORK

YouAre is a social network that represents a semantic graph. Nowadays we have implemented XFN (metaweb nivel), but the goal is to create a true semantic graph. We are developing a reasoner which will check the consistency of the relations between the differents nodes (or vertex) of the semantic graph. For example, in an ontology representing a basic familiar hierarchy, if a user A sets that he’s the user B’s father, and later the user B sets that he’s the user A’s father, an inconsistency will be produced, as the user cannot be father and son at the same time. In this case the system would indicate an error. In YouAre we want to go beyond simply giving an indication and be able to predict possible inconsistencies. For example, if the user A is male and he sets he’s homosexual, later if he sets that the user B (female) is his partner, the system would detect a possible inconsistency (a warning). We can create a true semantic graph with a well defined ontology. Now we can extract information from the established relations between the users.

MICROCONTENTS

We can publish microcontents in YouAre. There are three different typologies available: texts, images and videos. The texts will have a lenght of 140 characters. We will be able to publish images and videos from external services such as Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, … Also we will be able to upload ours pictures directly onto the system.

Now you can ask for an invitation in order to test YouAre. We will send out invitations in a few weeks. Whilst you are waiting, you can view a set of screenshots on Flickr. Stay tuned to YouAre.

GNU Octave is a cross-platform Open Source alternative for the famous Matlab. Octave uses the same commands as Matlab and it’s an excellent free alternative. The new version 3.0 was released the past December 21st. The most significant changes have been the improvements of graphics (like controling the width of lines, RGB line colors are supported, the possibility of making a subplot and then use the print function to generate file with the plot, …), path handling and built-in variables. You can check out all the notable changes in the Octave official site.

The release of the new KDE 4 will match simultaneously with the development cycle of Kubuntu 8.04. As we’ve said before, Ubuntu 8.04 will be a LTS (Long Term Support) version. Jonathan Riddell sent an email to the Ubuntu MailList telling Kubuntu 8.04 will be released with the option of using either KDE 3.5 or KDE 4. The difference is Kubuntu 8.04 with KDE 4 will not be LTS. Anyway, people who keeps a KDE 3.5 release will receive the usual 18 months of support for that release.

It’s true, this is the age of the second Internet bubble. By means of Oriol’s blog, I have been noticed that the popular site Digg is for sale. People was speaking about a possible $300 million rumor last month. Many people think Digg doesn’t worth that amount. Who can buy Digg? I’ve read in some blogs that there are two possibilities: The New York Times Co. and the Washington Post Co. This a little fragment of the report by Venture Beat: A reliable source just confirmed the company’s plans, noting the company has hired Allen & Company, a tiny but influential private investment firm, to help broker a deal. The asking price is still $300 million, the source said. We asked Digg founder Kevin Rose about a potential sale, and Allen & Company’s involvement. He told us, unsurprisingly, that “we never comment on things related to acquisitions.. This operation would be the biggest purchase of a social bookmarking site.

A new law has been passed in Norway which will make Government, state and regional agencies, authorities and services start publishing documents using the following open formats: HTML, ODF and PDF. They will be able also publish in other formats, but they must always publish in one of these formats from January 1st 2009. Futhermore, in 2014 the published documents by institutions must have been converted and made available in one of the three formats. These mandates will make every citizen able to feel free to choose which software they want to use to get access to public information. Using open formats in publication doesn’t force people to do use a particular software (in many cases private software).

I have just one objection, PDF is not a truly open format. The PDF format is maintained by Adobe solely. It’s true the PDF specification is a published specification, but an open format is generally maintained and added to by a community. Anyway, I’m proud of the Norwigian goverment.

Font | Digi.no

Desde el mes de Junio he estado viviendo en una bella ciudad, trabajando con una bella familia dentro de una bella compañía. A veces toca decir adios y siento que ya ha llegado el día. Han sido miles los momentos que he vivido en Barcelona, unos muy buenos y otros a lo mejor no tan buenos, pero el balance total me dice que la experiencia ha sido muy positiva. Aún así, seguiré ligado a mi actual trabajo hasta el 31 de Enero a distancia. Desde aquí me gustaría expresar un especial agradecimiento a Jordi Ber, Glòria Muñoz, Óscar J. Baeza, Xavi Jiménez, Sergio Cerezo y a todo el resto del equipo de Grupo Intercom por compartir conmigo el día a día durante estos maravillosos meses.

Ahora son tiempos de cambios y en apenas una semana me marcho a vivir al Reino Unido. En unas semanas más.

Now we can enjoy the new LinkedIn API on a REST based system. Nowdays the API is not public, but if you are interested in developing some application based in LinkedIn, you must to send them an email to developers@linkedin.com telling them what you wanna do. Lucian Beebe (Director of Product Management at LinkedIn) explains us how the LinkedIn API works in the following video.

Estoy buscando a un desarrollador web especializado en PHP para Construmática, un proyecto en rápido crecimiento de Grupo Intercom, grupo empresarial de referencia en la Internet española y fundador, entre otros, de negocios tales como Infojobs, Softonic, e-Magister, Neurona, etc.

Construmática es el portal de referencia para el sector de la arquitectura, ingeniería y construcción en España. Se trata de un agregador de contenidos (mashup), un buscador vertical y una comunidad profesional destinada a los técnicos del sector de la construcción (arquitectos, ingenieros, etc.) en España. Construmática tiene más de 400.000 visitas y 2 millones de páginas vistas mensuales.

Bajo la supervisión del Director General y en colaboración con otro programador, las funciones que realizará serán:
- Planificación y coordinación técnica
- Programación de nuevas funcionalidades y secciones
- Actualización y optimización de funcionalidades y secciones existentes

Se ofrece un entorno de trabajo muy bueno, flexibilidad horaria, ambiente informal, integración en un equipo multidisciplinar, joven y dinámico, y con un nivel muy alto desde el punto de vista técnico y de negocio. También grandes posibilidades de desarrollo profesional (programa de formación, creación y gestión de equipos, stock options, etc.)

Los requisitos son:
- Experiencia mínima de 2 años
- Conocimientos muy avanzados en programación con PHP+MySQL
- Nivel avanzado en programación Javascript
- Profesional dinámico, buen comunicador y espíritu de equipo
- Sentido de la responsabilidad, metódico y capacidad de trabajo

Por otro lado también se valorará:
- Experiencia en proyectos web y/o start-ups
- Conocimientos de SEO, accesibilidad, usabilidad y estandarización
- Conocimientos de JAVA
- Buen nivel de inglés

El tipo de contrato a priori es indefinido y la jornada será fulltime (8 horas al día). Si estáis interesados no dudéis en contactar conmigo: contactar

The first edition of iWeekend has just been celebrated this past weekend in Barcelona. I couldn’t attend because I’m in Andalusia for some days (I’m sorry Luv). iWeekend is like StartupWeekend, an event where the goal is create a startup in one weekend (54 hours). When I’m read the Luv’s notes about the iWeekend, I think he doesn’t feel very happy with the results. Anyways, I’m glad and admittedly very proud of Luv because he’s got to do it (we must consider the difficulties of organizering events like this). I think iWeekend is not a bad idea, but I need to admit that it’s not possible to create something good and complex in only three days.

The result of this last (and first) edition has been Adlemons. I haven’t read very much about it, but reading the name I can deduce it’s something related to advertising. I’ve read an interview in Loogic that they’re going to launch Adlemons the next 11th December. Congratulations Luv.

Today is a special day. For many Andalusians, today is the true national day of Andalusia. Thirty years ago, Andalusian people went out to the streets to claim their rights of self-government. A 18-year-old boy called José Manuel García Caparrós was killed (4th December 1977) by a coward Spaniard in Málaga. José Manuel tried to put an Andalusian flag on an official building, but someone shoot him. Many people cried his death, and nowadays Andalusia is still crying for him. In the Carnival of Cádiz, many coplas have been written about him. I remember specially one called Un 4 de Diciembre muere un malagueño interpreted by Raza Mora.

Raza Mora - Un 4 de Diciembre muere un malagueño
Autor: Diego Caraballo Blanco
Año: 1978

Un 4 de Diciembre muere un malagueño
una bala traidora le quitó la vida
tan solo porque estaba queriendo a su pueblo
y alzando la bandera de su Andalucía
Seguro que la mano que apretó el gatillo,
no importa de qué lado ni de qué partido,
es una mano sucia de alma retorcida
¿Por qué razón señalaron con sangre la fiesta de los andaluces
con un asesinato que a nada conduce
pues no renunciaremos a nuestra autonomía?
Andalucía tendrá como escudo tu nombre y tu orgullo,
tu furia y tu fé.

Los malagueños te llorarán siempre
y nunca te olvidarán José Manuel Caparrós,
tu bandera blanca y verde, ahora que nadie te apunta,
cuélgala en el cielo azul, en el lucero mayor,
y dile a las estrellas que eres andaluz.

The story is repeated again. Four years ago the draw results took Spain into a group shared with Greece (please, do not forget they are the current champion), Russia and Portugal, very similar to this year’s (only Portugal has been replaced by Sweden). In the Euro2004 Portugal, Spain won 1:0 to Russia (thanks to a Juan Carlos Valeron’s great goal), Spain drawed versus Greece 1:1 and eventually lost against Portugal. I can find out some similar aspects between the four-years-ago Spain and the current one, but the main one is: People don’t believe in the national team.

Last week at Evento Blog, I heard a controversial phrase from Andreu Buenafuente. He said: “I don’t let comments on my blog because I don’t let some idiot comes to my blog and piss me off“. He said too: “The comments don’t bring something good to my posts“. I’m not agree with this last phrase (I have had great comments in this blog), but the first one makes me think. When I started this blog nearly four years ago, I started to spread out my blog to a close circle of friends. Nowadays, I receive thousands of visits per day, and many idiots leaves stupid things here. I know we musn’t feed the troll, I know it’s so much better not to listen to them, and I know too the alleged “anonymity” of Internet makes more brave the idiots. I feel sorrow when they feel safety thanks to their unknowledge about how Internet works (no, Mr Troll, Internet is not anonymous, moreover if you do nothing to hide your ass…). But I’m tired of pressing the delete button, I’ve too little time to loose deleting comments. So I’m going to take measures that I do not want to. The first one: I’m going to close the comments. Failing that, I’ll moderate them.

The second action: I will take up writing my posts in English, or at least the most of them will be written in English. Why? I’ll explain it some day.

Vía La Voz de Cádiz. Esto ya huele a carnaval. A falta de dos meses escasos, ya vamos escuchando pasodobles de ensayos como este de La Banda del Capitán Veneno, la nueva comparsa del vigente campeón del COAC Juan Carlos Aragón, que ya nos dislumbró el año pasado con Araka la Kana.

Si caminito del Falla - La Banda del Capitán Veneno
Si caminito del Falla, el corazón te palpita,
de esa manera canalla que rompe y estalla igual que un cañón,
y es que mil cosas bonitas van a pasarte esta noche,
sentirás que por fin a tu puerta otra vez han llamado los dioses,
te lo digo paisano porque yo viví una noche de sal,
no quedaba más gritos que de nuestras manos llamando a la suerte
y más miedo que ver como a cada mujer le temblaban las piernas.

Abre ese telón que la función ya no se puede alargar más,
que ya no queda libre un palco ni un rincón
que está acabando con nosotros la final,
abre ese telón que el corazón me está volviendo a palpitar
que no me acuerdo ya de la presentación
ni de los dos cuples que vamos a cantar
y entre las negras y calientes bambalinas,
cuando por quince los corazones sus latidos multiplican,
y mira si lo que te acabo de contar fue más bonito y mas tremendo
que ganar esa final, y más divino y celestial ay querídisimo paisano,
que loquito de envidia está Dios esa noche
volvió a hacerse hombre por ser gaditano.

El lanzamiento oficial de KDE 4.0 Desktop se retrasa hasta Enero de 2008, así lo indicó ayer KDE News. La causa es que KDE quiere arreglar unos cuantos fallos antes de lanzar (sabia decisión), por lo que la fecha de salida se ha fijado el día 11 de Enero. Los desarrolladores saben que podrán sacar una versión más pulida y con un mejor funcionamiento en Enero. Aún así, el desarrollo de la nueva versión de KDE y un montón de aplicaciones se consideran estables y listas para usarse.