It’s an blogged update from Jyri Engeström, a co-founder of Jaiku (the micro-blogging service that Google bought). The wtf news is that Jaiku has been a 20% project up until now, with the sweetener:

In spite of the decision to not throw resources at building Jaiku into an independent Web brand, recall that the acquisition announcement stated that “Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users.” Of course this statement still holds true, and you can bet your Android that there are completely new Wow!’s in store.

I wish – but I’m waiting to see.  Google’s track record in producing social software ain’t so great.  The single point that is worth reading again and again until you feel it’s wisdom in each of your 140 chars is below:

This is a step in the direction we all want to go: away from the tyranny of silos towards freely interoperable social networks. People should be able to post and follow status updates across servers just like they send email. No single service, no matter how large and powerful, is the platform. The Web is the platform.

Yet… we need a demonstration.  It’s not enough to produce a framework: you need a game-changing app to convince.  Can the Android-ecosystem come up with the goods in the new year?  Fingers crossed.

Right up until the moment you typed it into Google did you fondly imagine that it was an almost unique thing? Do you sometimes wish you had control of simonhammond.com, simonhammond.co.uk or simonhammond.net? Does it kinda freak you out seeing your name bandied about like this?

I manage both simonhammond.net and simonhammond.com, which is maybe a bit superfluous. So, here’s the deal: if enough are interested to make the effort worthwhile, I’d be ready to turn simonhammond.net over to the entire community(?) of Simon Hammond’s as a hub of some kind — whatever you want (e.g. profiles, mail/web redirects, blog). I have the ability and the crazy inclination. Dave Gorman is probably partly to blame here.

The idea of setting up a virtual group for strangers with nothing more in common than the name with which they identify themselves deeply appeals to me. If you’d also get a kick out of joining one of the most exclusive groups on the Net, and optionally want to be easier to find on the web, then identify yourself below. I may need to see some ID later.

(You might want to pick a nickname to avoid future ambiguity.)