The ideas in our “Social Machines” feature (Technology Review version, blog version) are starting to provoke responses here and there on the Web. It seems that the story’s timing was about right. Of course, we were far from the first to note the growing power of mobile devices, the rapid spread of wireless networking, and the appearance of useful new social software tools on the Web. But what happens at the intersection of those trends was what interested me. I don’t think the new Web-based social software applications would be nearly as interesting, for example, if you couldn’t access them from mobile devices such as laptops and smart phones. Quite a few people have commented that the story has given them a new way to think about this confluence. Others, of course, have pointed out the article’s shortcomings, which are many.

Here’s a selection of English-language blog entries and links: