Archives: May 2005

Web Search's Future: Anything but Text

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 31, Categories: Search

New search engines are experimenting with animation and even voice searches.

Who's The Boss?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 30, Categories: Gadgets

New Intel Chieftain Paul Otellini is moving quickly to put his money where his mouth is. The chipmaker last week announced two new desktop platforms for businesses and consumers that...

Internet Radio: Here We Go Again

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 30, Categories: Digital Music

A program called Replay Music from Applian Technologies threatens to bring out the recording industry's legal firepower again. I can understand why the industry isn't happy about a program that's...

The Little Viewers That Could

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 29, Categories: Gadgets

Talk about segmenting the market. Kodak http://www.kodak.com is finally getting around to releasing their EasyShare Handheld Picture Viewer, a $150 gizmo that won raves at the Consumer Electronics Show in...

Vonage spending loads for new customers

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 27, Categories: advertising

Vonage appears to be dramatically hiking ad spending

Liquid Software

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 27, Categories: software

Paul Wahl has done his bit for Solid Software. He was COO of Siebel Systems from 99 to 03, and had worked at SAP for seven years, including being CEO...

BitTorrent Crackdown: Battling the Hydra

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 26, Categories: digital media

It's hard to blame the movie studios for wanting to shut down those BitTorrent sites that let people download pirated movies. And in this case, they succeeded. But I can't...

Picture this: A successful HP acquisition?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on May 26, Categories: Digital Imaging

Let's face it, it can't be good if your best acquisition ever is a controversy-fraught, morale-sapping, investor-rattling deal such as Hewlett-Packard's 2001 mega-purchase of Compaq Computer. But at this point,...

When Is a Podcast Not a Podcast?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 26, Categories: Social Media

When you can't actually download it, as Stowe Boyd points out in a critique of our first podcast. However, in this case, you can do just that. We just didn't...

The Next Billion

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 25, Categories: digital divide

I don't usually do blog-pointer things. I typically write mini stories about new stuff I find interesting--with a point of view tacked on. But there's a new blog that I...

An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World for Yahoo Music?

Posted by: Heather Green on May 25, Categories: Digital Music

On Yahoo Music and its subscription model.

iPod Killers?

Posted by: Heather Green on May 25, Categories: Digital Music

Music and cell phones.

So Long, Scott Sassa: Friendster's CEO Is Out

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 24, Categories: Social Media

Jeremy Zawodny at Yahoo! had the rumors first, but I just confirmed them: Scott Sassa is out as CEO of the social networking company as of June 13, after less...

Google Vs. TV

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 24, Categories: Search, e-commerce

No contest, according to one stat from the latest Forrester Research/Shop.org survey of online retail: Average percentage of new customers acquired from the following sources: Search engine marketing: 43% Offline...

What's Cooking? Broadband Over Gas Lines

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 24, Categories:

Broadband-in-a-pipe technology could revolutionize the way we access the Web and receive our TV broadcasts.

Our first podcast!

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 23, Categories: Social Media, podcasting

And appropriately enough, it's on podcasting, the subject of today's BW Online special report. In a 10-minute talk, our own Ira Sager and Steve Baker introduce the concept and some...

Wash and Dry, Robot Style

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 23, Categories: Gadgets

So we know the Roomba robotic vacuum is big on wow factor and short on actually cleaning your floor, but what about Scooba? You guessed it, the folks at iRobot...

Apple Loves Intel?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 23, Categories: Gadgets

Is Steve Jobs finally succumbing to the Dark Side? The Wall Street Journal is reporting Apple is in serious discussions with Intel to use its chips in its Macintosh line....

Robots To Replace Today's Human Companions?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 23, Categories:

Robots could replace real-world interaction.

Viral Ads, or So the Marketers Hope

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 22, Categories: Social Media, advertising

USA Today writes about how Wendy's and Anheuser-Busch are hoping to tap into word-of-mouth marketing with "viral" ads that young people will send to each other online. Busch even hired...

Update on News You Can Trust

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 20, Categories: Social Media, blogs

About a month ago, I flagged a survey from MoveOn.org that asked questions about a possible online news service filtered by journalists and "citizen reviewers." It looks like the...

Tagging and Feedster

Posted by: Heather Green on May 20, Categories: blogs

Interesting prototype application of tagging at Feedster. Scott Rafer, Feedster;s CEO and president is looking for comments....

If It Quacks Like a Duck...

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 19, Categories: Search

Google seems to be taking great pains to avoid calling its new personalized home page a portal, but I'm not sure the semantic gyrations matter. It's a portal! So what...

Call it I-Robotware

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 19, Categories: software

Continuing on my robot theme... Canadian tech entrepreneur Nelson Lin has at long last accomplished a goal he set for himself more than 20 years ago. His tiny, seven-person RoboCoder...

Nokia's Got Game

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 19, Categories:

Nokia could finally cause real pain to handheld gaming console makers Sony and Nintendo.

On FeedDemon and Scoops

Posted by: Heather Green on May 19, Categories: blogs

Jason Calacanis is on a tear over whether CNET should give Om Malik credit for breaking the story about FeedDemon. Dave Winer has some smart points that I couldn't agree...

More Tech-Driven Threats to Mainstream Media

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 18, Categories: Social Media

First blogs, now even more challenges to traditional media are on the way. And if panelists at last night's Churchill Club panel are right, those challenges will be here sooner...

15-Sec Video Spots don't Fit Internet Time

Posted by: Heather Green on May 18, Categories: advertising

Interesting take at The Pomo Blog on why the portals shouldn't give in to advertisers who want to run standard TV-length spots online. The portals should be in the drivers...

Recycling the Dark Side

Posted by: Heather Green on May 18, Categories:

About e911.org's call to recycle Star Wars merchandise.

Ow! I Just Hit MyYahoo's Ceiling

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 17, Categories: blogs

I've been trying to add RSS feeds to my MyYahoo page for days now, and they simply won't appear. I wonder if I've lost my mind. Then I stumble on...

Advice from Jeff Bezos to Amazon.com Investors: Patience

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 17, Categories: e-commerce

Amazon.com has an interesting new feature that lets you see how often a particular word occurs in a book, and the most frequent show up in bigger type. If such...

The Third Screen?

Posted by: Heather Green on May 17, Categories: wireless

JupiterReasearch finds that nearly half the 2,337 people online respondants surveyed in March do want to video on their phone. But they want it gratis. Only 19% of those surveyed are willing to pay.

Sony Runs Circles Around Xbox 360

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 17, Categories: Gadgets

Did the spider just eat the fly? After seeing new consoles Monday night from Microsoft and Sony, it's clear Sony couldn't have been happier that their Redmond (Wash.) nemesis jumped...

Acquisitions R RSS

Posted by: Heather Green on May 17, Categories: blogs

About FeedDemon being bought by Newsgator.

Web-based Self-Publishing Explodes

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 17, Categories:

Bob Young, co-founder of red Hat, has had a nose for business all his life. So when I found out he is involved in a self-publishing venture, called Lulu.com, I became intrigued.

Birthing Pains at KYOU

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 16, Categories: Social Media

Wow, for a radio station surprisingly clued into the Net zeitgeist, KYOU sure doesn't look too welcoming on its first day. The San Francisco station just started broadcasting podcasts today,...

A Sobering Look at Computer Science Research

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 16, Categories: computer science

It's easy to be complacent about the state of technology today when you see venture capitalists starting to invest in startups again, traffic worsening in Silicon Valley, and blockbuster IPOs...

Xbox vs. Sony

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 13, Categories: Gadgets

OK, so now we know pretty much what Xbox 360 will do when we rush to get our mitts on it in November, thanks to Microsoft's 30-minute infomercial on MTV...

Texas Instruments' DLP Cinema

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 13, Categories: Gadgets

Went to the San Francisco premiere of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith last night www.starwars.com. It was cool watching everyone's favorite Sith Lord strut finally strut...

Google and Dodgeball: A Bite Out of Local Media?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 12, Categories: Search

Dan Gillmor spies an interesting post by Steve Yelvington at Poynteronline on the upshot of Google buying Dodgeball, which helps friends link up with each other via cell phone...

Death by Square Feet

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 10, Categories: Entrepreneurship

Ross Mayfield is finally looking for an office for his startup, Socialtext. That may not sound very momentous, but these days, the best startups seem to operate a very long...

Social Networking Site to Facilitate Offline Interaction

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 10, Categories:

We have all heard of social networking, the online phenomenon where people post their photos, likes and dislikes onto Web sites like Friendster.com and LinkedIn.com to connect with people with...

Fun = Innovation

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 10, Categories: Innovation

JotSpot CEO Joe Kraus blogs about how he's trying to make sure expediency doesn't crush innovation at his startup. His answer: Have fun! They held a Hackathon last week in...

Open API, Open API

Posted by: Heather Green on May 10, Categories:

Man, check out all the different tools that have been created around Flickr because of its open API policy. It makes the service richer, deeper, stronger. Almost a superhero....

Let the Games Begin

Posted by: Heather Green on May 10, Categories: Digital Music

About Rogers Wireless offering a full download music service

Brainy PCs on Wheels

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 10, Categories: robots

Most robots you hear about are welding cars on assembly lines, crawling into volcanoes, or waiting on rich Japanese. Most of them are pretty expensive and not very smart. Now...

Big shifts in the way companies charge for software

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 06, Categories: Enterprise Software

It's amazing how a an architectural shift in one technology can upset the apple cart for another. That's just what's happening as a result of the shift to produce microprocessor...

Is Nokia regaining its swagger?

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 04, Categories: wireless

Nokia new handsets could wake the phone giant from its funk

VoIP: A Godsend for Advertisers?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 03, Categories:

A new VoIP phone could offer advertisers a new way to reach consumers during dinnertime.

Speaking of Local Content...

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 03, Categories: Social Media

Ross Mayfield notes that Backfence.com has just launched. It's a collection of Web sites for local cities--so far, just McLean and Reston, Va.--with what cofounders Mark Potts and Susan DeFife...