Archives: January 2006

Google Plunges, No Joke

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 31, Categories: Google, predictions

Only a month ago, I made some mock predictions, though I actually expected this first one on the list to happen--just not so soon: * Google’s stock price will fall...

WiMax... For The Home?!

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 31, Categories: wireless

A company called Radiospire is betting its future on WiMax, a technology commonly expected to offer blanket coverage within metro and rural areas. Only Radiopsire sees this technology as being used to stream video and other content within the home. This is the strangest use of WiMax I'd ever heard of. And yet, it could work.

Tube Music Network And The New TV

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 31, Categories: TV

Yesterday, I talked with Les Garland, co-founder of popular music channels MTV and VH1. Last year, he launched The Tube Music Network, a music channel only accessible to people with digital TV tuners (currently, less than 1% of Americans have those, but their numbers are growing rapidly). As this digital TV takes off, we could see a plethora of new channels emerge -- and do to traditional TV what FM did to AM radio.

Red Hat and the $100 laptop

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 31, Categories: open source software

When Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab proposed a $100 laptop for school kids in poor nations a year ago, he professed interest in a handful of operating systems,...

Does Paying Attention Cost Too Much?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 30, Categories: RSS, Web 2.0, attention

Over at Bokardo, folks are trying to figure out how to deal with information overload, especially RSS feed overload, a problem a lot of us have been running into. It's...

Amazon Expands Tagging

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 27, Categories: Amazon.com, Power of Us, Web 2.0, tags

After first quietly experimenting with tags back in November, Amazon lately has added a couple of interesting new wrinkles. In some listings, you can also view what other tags customers...

Bill Gates and the xPod

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 27, Categories: Microsoft

My esteemed colleague Jay Greene broke the story in the BusinessWeek print edition this week that Microsoft is considering making it's own digital music player to rival Apple's iPod. There's...

Interesting New Microsoft Browser Feature...

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 27, Categories: Google, Microsoft, advertising

... as imagined by Naval Ravikant: Made me smile, anyway. (Via Munjal Shah)...

Dave Duffield's Next Move

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 26, Categories: software as service

Do I mean Workday? Nope. Little new to report on that, but stay tuned. Details on exactly what Dave & the original PeopleSoft gang are up to should be coming...

Mea Culpa on Ning

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 26, Categories: Web 2.0

I've been trying hard with this blog to tap into online conversations instead of simply posting my own views, and that often means weighing in on controversial posts by other...

Update: John Thompson Takes the Mic Afterall

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 26, Categories: security

I just got a call from someone at RSA, who read my posting on Symantec's revolving door. Turns out, Symantec CEO John Thompson will be doing that keynote on Feb....

Who Wins the Most as Disney Buys Pixar

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 24, Categories: Apple Computer, digital media

Steve Jobs and Apple, for sure. Doncha think? I have to believe that, contrary to all the stories that wax on about how much Jobs can change Disney culture, the...

Symantec's Revolving Door

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 24, Categories: security

Things just keep looking dicier at Symantec. First there was the controversial Veritas merger. Then came fears of McAfee cannibalizing the consumer business through its relationships with internet service providers....

Why Spot Runner May Be Revolutionary

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 24, Categories: Power of Us, Social Media, Web 2.0, advertising

I like Umair Haque's take on the real reason why Spot Runner is revolutionary--or could be. This is the new outfit, still in beta, that lets local businesses buy generic...

Bursting Hollywood's Bubble

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 24, Categories: digital media

Forgive me for veering from my usual beat here, but as I was driving into work today I heard Steven Soderbergh on NPR's Fresh Air. I groaned. I'm not the...

Dan Gillmor: The Rough Road to Citizen Journalism

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 24, Categories: Power of Us, Social Media, Web 2.0, citizen journalism

Dan Gillmor finally offers an explanation of what's happening (or, more lamentably, not happening) at his citizen journalism venture, Bayosphere. He's got a raft of reasons why the site hasn't...

Mobile TV: Beyond The Cell Phone

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 24, Categories: wireless

Mobile TV networks could be used to beam video onto devices other than cell phones. They could potentially broadcast video into cars, portable media players and the iPod -- and deal a blow to satellite TV.

Open Source Taking Up Residence?

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 23, Categories: open source

I am renowned for taking my work place anxiety to bed with me. If I'm working on a tough story, 10-to-1 I dream about it night-after-night until it's done. I...

The Identity Conundrum

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 23, Categories: Web 2.0, identity

Dion Hinchcliffe has a thoughtful post about how better systems for establishing identity online may help avoid some of the recent conflagrations that have erupted, such as furor over the...

Whither WiMAX?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on January 23, Categories: wireless

Remember when Uncle Sam used to talk about using the freed spectrum from switching analog TV transmissions to digital for emergency communications? According to Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary of Commerce...

Looking for Tiny TV?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on January 23, Categories: video

So what if the number of Americans watching TV on their cell phone is as tiny as the screens they're viewing? That's not stopping Nokia, Motorola, Intel, Texas Instruments and...

Down, Boy!

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 20, Categories: Enterprise Software

I’ve noted a few times that SAP has become the PR pit bull when it comes to Oracle. Last December, when Oracle announced its quarterly earnings, SAP sent out a...

Benioff's New Game

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 20, Categories: software as service

Even with the burden of planning an event seemingly weekly, the folks at Salesforce.com still have spare time on their hands. Witness the latest amusing, catty volley at the old...

What's Wrong At Marc Andreessen's Ning?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 20, Categories: Web 2.0

Just about everything, in Mike Arrington's opinion. The online service for creating customized social applications out of other Web services--do-it-yourself mashups, in other words--launched only last October by the Netscape...

The Insider Threat

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 20, Categories: security

The idea of companies spying on their employees creeps me out. Yet I realize that businesses have to protect their personal and proprietary information from insiders just as carefully as...

Express: eBay for the Rest of Us

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 19, Categories: eBay

It got nearly buried in earnings reports, but eBay announced an interesting new service that will debut in spring: eBay Express. As eBay tells it: With eBay Express buyers will:...

Tech Earnings: Not So Bad, Really?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 19, Categories: Tech Spending

Just finished a story on tech stocks, not something I usually track closely across the board. (Hoping that won't be too painfully obvious, but I'm sure you'll let me know.)...

Has the Web 2.0 Crash Arrived?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 18, Categories: Google, Web 2.0, Yahoo, bubble

Steve Rubel thinks so, based on the severe reaction to Yahoo's earnings miss on Tuesday. Much as I see a lot of signs of a bubble, I think it's a...

Mash-up Heaven

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 18, Categories: Web 2.0, mash-ups

Mash-ups of multiple Web sites are among the coolest things online today. But how to keep up? With Mashupfeed, of course, where you can subscribe to a feed of the...

One Giant Step Back for Software Woman-kind?

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 17, Categories: Enterprise Software

Being one of the few women covering business software out there, every once in a while I have to play the girl card. (And not just to blog about my...

Wi-Fi Whereabouts

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on January 17, Categories: Internet

Looks like we'll be seeing the day sometime soon where we'll have an always Web-connected world. Internet Wi-Fi finding company JiWire says we're fast approaching 100,000 wireless Internet "hotspots" around...

Mood Cell Phones And Other MOTOFWRD Ideas

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 17, Categories: wireless

Cell phone maker Motorola just announced the winner of its first-ever MOTOFWRD competition, challenging college students to come up with cool new cell phone products and applications. I found the...

The Gather-ing Storm

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 16, Categories: Web 2.0

Yikes, I guess the hype about Web 2.0 is starting to reverse course. Just as the new blogger network Gather gets $6 million more in venture funding, bloggers are falling...

Kleiner Perkins Energy Startups Soon to Shine?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 13, Categories: alternative energy, energy, venture capital

For years, Kleiner Perkins VC John Doerr has been talking up the firm's investments in energy and environmental startups, but he has not revealed many details. Last night, at a...

A blast from the dot-bomb past

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 13, Categories: Asia, Internet

Remember chinadotcom? Back at the turn of the millenium, it was one of the hottest startups in Asia and had a market cap of about $8 billion. Well, we all...

A big step for Linux in China

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 12, Categories: open source software

China has long been seen as a fertile ground for Linux and other open source software. In a country where more than 90% of software in use is pirated, it...

The Future of Media: Microchunks or Brands?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 12, Categories: Power of Us, Social Media, Web 2.0, blogs, digital media

VC Fred Wilson and serial entrepreneur Mark Pincus are debating what the next era of media will be. Fred think it's RSS-style microchunks of content that carry ads and are...

Is Siebel's great news great for Oracle?

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 12, Categories: Enterprise Software

Well, well, well, look who remembered how to sell software! Siebel Systems, soon to be part of the Oracle land-grab, pre-announced a stellar fourth quarter today, with revenues up 20%...

Treo 650 or Treo 700w?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on January 12, Categories: Gadgets

I've got to say, sometimes this coopetition thing gives me the willies. I've been playing with the new Palm Treo 700w for about a week now, and am still finding...

News Flash! Yahoo!'s Newest Acquisition! ;-)

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 11, Categories: Web 2.0, Yahoo

Greg Yardley has the scoop on Yahoo!'s latest acquisition. From the lede: Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YAHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced the acquisition of an unnamed Web 2.0 company...

Apple at $80.86? I Love It

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 11, Categories: Apple Computer

Daniel Terdiman at News.com notices that Apple's stock price today, when it announced its first Intel-based Macs, closed at an interesting price. Can't make this stuff up! Update: Om Malik...

Silicon Valley Hiring from Biz Schools Again?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 10, Categories: bubble, tech jobs

So says a News.com story: "Like the swallows to Capistrano and the New England Patriots to the NFL playoffs, the MBAs are returning to Silicon Valley." Uh-oh....

New CEO at eHarmony: A Sign of an Upcoming IPO?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 10, Categories: Internet

Dating site eHarmony just appointed a new CEO. I think this is a sign that the site might go public soon.

Glad I Waited to Buy an Apple Notebook...

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 10, Categories: Apple Computer

... since Steve Jobs did indeed announce two Intel-based notebooks at Macworld today, along with new iMacs. I'm always leery of buying a machine of any kind in its first...

Boning Up for the Jobs Keynote: BW's Apple Special Report

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 10, Categories: Apple Computer

If you're looking to put Steve Jobs' imminent keynote at Macworld into perspective ahead of time, check out our Apple special report. Clayton Christensen makes some very interesting points about...

Some Useful VoIP-related Sites

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 10, Categories: VOIP

With VoIP's use skyrocketing, VoIP-related informational sites are popping up left and right. Here are a few I found particularly useful.

Turning Spreadsheets Into Applications

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 08, Categories: Wiki

Outside Wall Street, it seems like the spreadsheet is used for just about everything but crunching numbers: keeping lists, tracking job candidates, organizing projects. But Excel wasn't really designed to...

The Google Pack Gotcha

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 07, Categories: Google, Microsoft

I've been wondering about the real reason behind the just-announced Google Pack, a rather disparate mix of (admittedly good) software programs that are pretty easy to get elsewhere. (As for...

Bubbasoft? Puh-leeeze

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 06, Categories: Microsoft

It may be the talk of the blogosphere, but I can't bring myself to link to this wild rumor about a certain Seattle software giant's new president. You'll have to...

And another thing..... about Java

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 06, Categories: Java

Man, did I step in a sinkhole when I published a story about Java on the BW Online Tech Channel a few weeks back. A lot of commentators called me...

Haiku Contest: It's time for a vote

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 06, Categories: poetry

Thirty plus years ago, Paul Simon asked: Is poetry really dead? I'm here to tell you it is not. We got 33 entries for the BW TechBeat Haiku Contest. The...

No $600 Price Targets Here

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on January 05, Categories: Enterprise Software

Prudential analyst Brent Thill released a research note late yesterday with his crystal ball pronouncements for enterprise software in 2006. If he's right, let's just say no one is getting...

HP's CSC Play: A Milestone Deal?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on January 05, Categories: Hewlett-Packard

I don't have any inside scoop on whether the talk of HP and private equity firms teaming up to buy CSC is correct. But I wonder if HP and its...

Maybe Some Gardens Have Walls for a Good Reason?

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 04, Categories: Google, craigslist

According to Search Engine Roundtable, the popular online classified-ad site Craigslist may be blocking search engines such as Google from crawling its site. Search experts like John Battelle make a...

Skype's Celebrity Encounter

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 03, Categories: Skype

Skype, the popular VoIP service, is inviting users to participate in a cool new contest. The winner gets a phone conversations with band Coldplay. I believe this is the first time Skype is using celebrities to promote the service, and it could be indicative of a major marketing push to come from Skype in the coming months.

Netgear + Skype = Major Trouble for Cisco?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on January 03, Categories: Cisco

I am hearing that Netgear and Skype, the popular VoIP calling provider, are going to make a joint announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow. That would be bad news for Netgear's rival Cisco.

BW TechBeat Haiku Contest: Calling for Entries

Posted by: Steve Hamm on January 03, Categories: poetry

Rather than doing something conventional like post my predictions for 2006 (Sorry, Rob ;-)), I have decided to kick off the new year with a tech haiku contest. The...

Google at $600? Welcome Back, Henry--Er, I Mean Safa

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 03, Categories: Google, bubble

Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy raised his target price on Google today to $600 by year-end. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's reminded of former CIBC Oppenheimer (then...

IM + Mobile + Publishing = ... Something Big

Posted by: Rob Hof on January 02, Categories: Instant Messaging, Web 2.0, blogs, mobile computing

Now here's a use for instant messaging that may finally get me to use it on my cell phone. (As you can probably tell from my photo, I'm old enough...