As part of its ongoing support for the open social web as an alternative to walled gardens, Plaxo released to open source the code for an important new piece of software, an Online Identity Consolidator. The new software contributes to the community effort to create a public, user-controlled “social graph,” by leveraging the linkages people are publicly-asserting between the various social web applications they use, such as blogs, social and business networks, and photo/video sharing sites. In addition to releasing the Consolidator code, the company added features based on the technology to its recently-launched next-generation social network, Pulse, and published a Consolidator implementation site for developers.

A debate has been heating up within the Web 2.0 community over whether the future of the social web will be defined by openness, with users in control of their data, or by walled gardens, in which corporations assert ownership of their users’ personal information and relationships. The call for a user-controlled approach to consolidation of online identities gained momentum with the recent publication of a manifesto by Brad Fitzpatrick (in collaboration with David Recordon), entitled “Thoughts on the Social Graph.”

Today’s announcement is part of a broader strategy in support of the open social web, and follows recent moves by Plaxo to implement and endorse important open standards, including: SyncML, iCal, OpenID, and microformats.

MySpace announced the official launch of the ‘MySpace Music Tour,’ a new series of MySpace produced and branded concert events. The first MySpace Music Tour, presented by Extreme Style by VO5, will kick off Oct. 16 in Seattle, WA, and will be co-headlined by artists Hellogoodbye and Say Anything. Other bands will include MySpace Records artist, Polysics, and to-be-announced special guests. The Tour will include more than 30 shows across the United States throughout October and November 2007.

“MySpace has served as a platform for countless bands and musicians around the world to showcase and promote their music to millions of fans online,” said Tom Anderson, president and co-founder of MySpace. “With the new MySpace Music Tour concert series we are able to bring people face-to-face with the bands and artists they’ve come to know and love on the site. The kick-off tour has an amazing line-up of bands and I know the MySpace community will be psyched to see them live.”

Co-headliners Hellogoodbye and Say Anything have made their names as popular MySpace Music artists. Japan’s Polysics are touring in support of their first album for MySpace Records, Polysics or Die: VISTA!!!, which
comes out Oct. 9. Widely known for their hyper-kinetic live shows, Polysics perform new wave punk in Japanese, English and even their own space-language.

To date, MySpace has more than eight million bands using the site. MySpace music has allowed bands to share music and videos, announce tour dates and communicate with fans and others in the MySpace community, seamlessly integrating the web into shared online and offline experiences. MySpace Music has been the launch pad for exclusive, high-profile album releases from artists such as Gnarls Barkley, Panic! At the Disco, Lily Allen, Fall Out Boy, Timbaland, Modest Mouse, The Used, and many more.

National Lampoon, Inc. announced that it has launched a National Lampoon video channel on Yahoo! Video.

“The new National Lampoon channel on Yahoo! Video is another step in our progress towards building out the National Lampoon Video Network,” said Daniel Laikin, National Lampoon’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our relationship with Yahoo! Video provides another destination for our fans worldwide to view our original comedy content and interact with our programming.”

All of National Lampoon’s new programming will be made available on Yahoo! Video through the National Lampoon channel. Initial programming includes National Lampoon’s hugely popular webisodes, which have drawn praise from top critics nationwide, as well as National Lampoon’s SpinCycle mashimations and the Fat Guy Nation series.

Akamai, a global service provider for accelerating content and applications online, announced that a consistent, high-definition video experience is now possible online via its global content distribution network. Akamai’s customers are now delivering HD quality content on Akamai’s uniquely distributed edge delivery network that is specifically tuned for optimal delivery of HD files online.

“As broadband connectivity becomes more ubiquitous, users are demanding– and frankly should expect– a high-quality, high-definition video experience on the Internet,” said Mike Afergan, chief technology officer, Akamai. “Delivering premium HD content is a critical way for our customers to attract and delight their audiences in today’s highly competitive media environment. We are just at the beginning of a very exciting market opportunity for delivering premium HD content. Consumer demand exists, broadband is ready, and businesses are looking for ways to maximize the value of their high-production HD content.”

“Akamai’s goal is to be able to support 100 Terabits per second of traffic. Our flexible and distributed architecture uniquely positions us to realize that vision and we are aggressively progressing toward that goal,” said Afergan. “We are also committed to the long-term objective of building an ecosystem linking content owners, network providers and video platform players to ensure a superior HD web experience wherever last-mile infrastructure permits.”

If you have nothing to do this weekend, why not spend your time unlocking your iPhone. Yup, Engadget reports that the iPhoneSIMfree.com has unlocked the iPhone. Ryan Block of Engadget also has this video as proof.

BigString Corporation, which offers a free email service that allows senders to recall, destroy or change emails after they have been sent, announced today that it will be the back-end provider for the new email offering by podcastGO to its users.

Beginning September 3rd, podcastGO’s 2.4 million users will be able to sign-up for a free, podcastgo.com email account, offering all the functionalities that have made BigString a leader in the burgeoning video, recallable, erasable and self-destructing email industry. Conversely, BigString users will be able to gain access and view the hottest podcasts from podcastGO, at BigString.com’s BigFun section.

Users of the new podcastGO private label email will be able to send an embedded video email (up to 10 minutes in length) without the need for the recipient to click on the a link or download the video. Providing another way for the users to interact with each other and share their video podcasts. Another unique email features allow users to remotely erase or modify emails sent to any recipient, designate their emails to be non-forwardable, non-printable and/or non-savable, or opt to have their emails self-destruct after a set amount of time or views. In addition, users will also have the added security to send secure emails via an encrypted, password-protected email system that can only be open via a Secure Socket Layer (SSL).

Movavi added new tools to Movavi Online, a web-based service that enables users to download and convert video from one format to another– for sharing, podcasting, cellphones, iPods, and more– for free.

The upgrade also enables users to download video from YouTube, Google, MySpace, MetaCafe and other video-sharing sites. Also, users are now able to download and watch Flash videos, convert video from the Internet to AVI, MP4, MPG, 3GP and other formats for use with iPod, iPhone, PSP, cellphone and other devices, and merge several videos into one large movie.

In addition, users can embed a line of code with which bloggers, designers, developers, individuals and companies may offer video conversion services from their own Web sites, blogs, social networking pages and browsers.

Why pay for mobile games when you can get it for free? In just over twelve months, consumers have responded to Greystripe’s question by continuing to reject the paid-gaming model, downloading over 14 million free mobile games from sites like GameJump.com, run by Greystripe, and other distributors all powered by Greystripe¹s mobile advertising network for gaming.
  
“In less than 12 months we have successfully shifted the economics of mobile content through the launch of Gamejump.com,” said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe. “Now mobile gaming joins radio, Internet, and television as a
form of entertainment that can be offered free to the consumer, supported by advertising in our case, before and after a consumer plays our titles.”
  
Currently, a whopping 800 games by 70 publishers are featured in Greystripe¹s catalog, which include a variety of genres to appeal to different users around the world. Having diverse titles has been successful: in the past year alone, the company has seen users play an average of 3.4 games and the number of females downloading games closing in on their male counterparts. Additionally, it seems like the early morning commute and lunch breaks are the most popular time of the day to play mobile games with 9 am, 1 pm, and 2 pm being the most popular game play times (adjusted per time zone).

Electronic Arts Inc. unveiled plans for a new feature called Be A Pro: Online Team Play that will enable 10 people anywhere in the world to connect online to play a single match of FIFA Soccer 08. The new feature, available for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and the Playstation 3 computer entertainment system, will be offered as a free downloadable feature six to eight weeks after the game ships to stores. FIFA Soccer 08 will be available in stores in Europe on September 28 and beginning October 9 in North America.

Be A Pro: Online Team Play is the evolution of a new play mode featured in FIFA Soccer 08 called Be A Pro that locks you into the role of a single, fixed player the entire game and challenges you to master the same disciplines as a real soccer player. Users receive real time feedback and analysis on the fly and a unique camera angle keeps both player and action in focus, zooming in when you’re on attack. Now in Be A Pro: Online Team Play, up to five friends on different consoles will be able to select and take control of their own individual players on the same team, supported by AI teammates, to play against up to five rivals of another team. Alternatively, online users can select to play with free roaming players, and teams can have a combination of both.

“Be A Pro forces you to think and react like a professional player where you experience the whole range of emotions players go through during the course of a game,” said Andrew Wilson, Executive Producer of FIFA Soccer 08. “Now we are taking this experience online for you to share with your friends. You will have to learn to work together as a team much like any real teams go through in order to be successful.”

It has been a fast-paced and memorable first year for BakeSpace.com, the online social network and recipe exchange for people who are passionate about food. Launched on August 22, 2006, BakeSpace has grown to nearly 15,000 members who gather on the site to post, search, and exchange recipes, share culinary tips and build relationships with other food enthusiasts from around the world. Together they have posted more than 22,000 recipes on the BakeSpace Community Cookbook.

“Our goal is to preserve and update the age-old tradition of gathering in the kitchen to cook and socialize,” said BakeSpace Founder Babette Pepaj. “Over the past year, BakeSpace members have built a grassroots community where they can share their passion for all things food related.”

BakeSpace is designed for anyone interested in cooking or baking, whether they rely on the microwave or like to prepare gourmet meals from scratch. The site’s members come from 174 countries, and range from teenagers just starting to explore the culinary lifestyle to great grandparents who want to share and catalogue their treasured family recipes. The common thread among members is their passion for food and learning from one another.