Think about cars! Think about how much pollution we could save the world if we started sharing cars in a systematic and organized way. This is what start ups like PickupPal or Zimride (makers of the Carpool app on Facebook) are trying to do on the Web. These are great ideas, trying to make carpooling really effective by solving some of the key issues behind it: trust (people fear sharing cars with strangers) and critical mass (you need a good number of trips in your system before users might consider carpooling a reliable alternative for their transportation needs).

Using Facebook is a good idea: millions of users, a chance to know more about drivers and discover personal connections that might give users enough reasons to trust each other and share a car. There are other carpooling websites, less Web 2.0, like GishiGo, eRideShare, CarpoolWorld, CarpoolConnect, iCarpool and SharetheRide, and they all contribute reducing CO2 emissions, while helping users save money. Find the one that best suits your needs… and share!

Le Web 3 Conference organized by my friend Loic Le Meur is taking place in Paris this December 11th and 12th. If you haven’t bought a ticket yet, you can have a 100€ discount as a reader of my blog.  I will be speaking at LeWeb 3 but I wanted to alert you of the many other speakers and fun things going on at Le Web 3 many organized by buddies of mine.

Le Web 3 has become the largest Web event in Europe. Speakers include  Dan Rose from Facebook, my good friend Tariq Krim from Netvibes, Fon board member Janus Friis from Joost, Japanese Chief Fonero and head of Creative Commons  Joi Ito who is one of the most insightful analysts of the internet in the world,  my friend and Internet entrepreneur Marc Samwer, renowned (and super funny) Israeli VC Yossi Vardi, Evan Williams from Twitter, Kevin Rose from Digg, Hans Rosling, designer Philippe Stark of hotel and restaurant fame,   Google Nelson Mattos, TED‘s media director June Cohen and JP Rangaswami from British Telecom our partners at BTFon.

If you are in the internet in Europe and want to learn and network you should come!

The second largest wireless operator in the US has recently announced it will allow the use of any device and application on its network. The American wireless market is probably one of the few in the world in which customers are not allowed to use any device with the wireless operator they have chosen. Up until now operators have tightly controlled devices and applications users were able to use on their networks: consumers wishing to adopt Verizon as their wireless carrier have to go to a Verizon store and choose from one of the phones offered by the carrier.

Starting from next year Verizon will let consumers buy and use any kind of device and application on its network as long as it will meet the carrier’s “minimum technical standards” (and work on CDMA networks). Users will be able to pay according to the bandwidth used, without restrictions on the kind of applications they can run on their mobile devices (good news also for mobile developers).

Verizon will keep selling phones at subsidized prices in its stores, bundled with network connectivity and other services, but this won’t be anymore the only option available to consumers.

This is also good news for mobile phone manufacturers like Nokia: they will be able to sell directly to US customers without signing exclusive deals with the carrier. It’s also good for FON: devices won’t be restricted as to the connectivity options available and WiFi phones will probably become popular also in the US.

The rationale behind such an important move from one of the largest carriers in the States is quite clear: the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auctions will force carriers to open their (new) networks to any device, according to the “open access” rules Google has effectively pushed for. Making their existing network more open now could give Verizon an advantage over its competitors.

This move also comes really close to Google’s recent Android open platform announcement: openness is probably becoming a buzzword, but is also the best way to ensure customers get the kind of innovative devices and applications they are increasingly demanding, a chance for Verizon to satisfy more sophisticated users eager to use mobile data applications on compelling devices competing with Apple’s iPhone.