Google's OpenSocial initiative to establish common, standard APIs for creating social-networking applications is still in its early days. But its impact for end users, developers, Web site owners, social-network operators and even business application vendors could be huge in the long run.

Elgg is an open source application for rolling out a social network. It installs like any Web-based software, but instead of a blog or a wiki, it gives you all the components of a social networking site -- your own MySpace!

Veteran tech entrepreneur Bob Bickel has let out a whisper of his new venture, Ringside Networks, which will aim to make social networking applications work outside the network.

The popular social networking site Facebook just announced a Chinese version, but similar Chinese-based Web sites such as Xiaonei and Hainei have been struggling there. However, since April, UCenter Home, an open source social network service based on PHP and MySQL, is pushing open social networking in China.

Hackers now have their own social network, backed by GnuCitizen, a high-profile "ethical hacking" group.

The only real exchange between peers in a traditional peer-to-peer network is limited to the files being transferred. Tribler is a new P2P network that's introducing social networking concepts to facilitate better interactions between users. Its users will also be able to cash in on their generous uploads for faster downloads.

How much would you pay for an Internet connection from an ISP that guarantees a neutral network, bills itself as a "social enterprise" instead of a traditional business, and sends free Ubuntu CDs to every new customer?

After my last few articles on how to connect Ubuntu Linux to network shares and a network printer, I want to have a look at some of the more fun aspects of Ubuntu Linux. I thought this was appropriate at the moment, so...let the games begin!

Ever wondered how much your contribution was worth to a project? If you are a Java developer helping out one of the hundreds of open source Java projects, head over to SourceKibitzer. It's a social network of Java developers that provides various metrics for open source Java projects.