Archives: August 2006

Update on the UN open source symposium

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

In the wake of my last posting, I finally got hold of Colleen Thouez, chief of UNITAR, the United Nations Institute of Training and Research. She filled me in on...

LBO Gang Eyes Silicon Valley. Hmm.

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 31, Categories: bubble, private equity, tech's future

My colleagues Peter Burrows and Justin Hibbard have written a story on private-equity firms circling the Valley--an interesting analysis of why it may be time for some tech companies to...

Wait, Now It's Google + Apple. Or Is It?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 29, Categories: Apple Computer, Google, Microsoft, digital media

Lots of speculation about what it means that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is joining Apple's board. Marshall at TechCrunch muses that Google's just-announced online office suite on Apple computers might...

PR in the Internet Age: Same As It Ever Was?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 29, Categories: Google

Robert Scoble finds it kind of strange that Google chose to brief only a few, mostly print news outlets on its Google Apps For Your Domain, and pass up the...

Users of Rebtel, Please Stand Up!

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 29, Categories: VOIP

VoIP experts call Rebtel, a VoIP service for mobile phones, the next Skype. Have you tried it?

Now, It's Google + eBay

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 28, Categories: Google, Skype, advertising, eBay

This is what Ray Noorda invented the word coopetition to describe. I have a feeling an eBay-Google relationship is going to be, let's say, dynamic....

Pushing open standards at the UN.

Posted by: Steve Hamm on August 28, Categories: open source software

The outcome of the global battle between Microsoft and the proponents of open source software is a hard one to call. Even though open source seems like a natural fit...

Google Vs. Microsoft, For Real

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 27, Categories: Google, Microsoft, Web, Web 2.0, software, software as service

So Google's moving forcefully at last into the business software market, at least in a test version. Google Apps for Your Domain, will let small businesses, nonprofits, and universities use,...

Dummies for SOA

Posted by: Steve Hamm on August 25, Categories:

There are plenty of challenges for journalists who specialize in corporate computing (like me) in an era when no-new-insight-added personality profiles are the kinds of stories that are trumpeted on...

Amazon's Virtual Computer

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 24, Categories: Amazon.com, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, utility computing

What will Jeff Bezos think of next? On the heels of its data storage service announced last March, Amazon.com this morning introduced a limited test version of an online computing...

So long, Frank Quattrone scandal. Now about those stock options

Posted by: Peter Burrows on August 22, Categories: stock options

I can't help recalling the fervor that surrounded Frank Quattrone in early 2003, when news broke that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was investigating various allegations against the...

Vote for Your Best of the Web

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 22, Categories: Best of the Web

Our now-annual Best of the Web survey is now live. We'd love to hear not only what you think of the choices we've come up with, but others you like...

XM Rally: Big Ado About Nothing?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 22, Categories: satellite radio

Investors sent XM Satellite Radio's stock up 10% today on an analyst upgrade report. What's surprised me about this market reaction is, the analyst report offers hardly any new information.

Death to Trackback Spam

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 22, Categories: blogging

I give up. Deleting trackback spam is consuming my life--at best, I get about 200 to 300 spams for every valid trackback--and the pure ickiness of many of them is...

The Real Web 2.0 Bubble

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 21, Categories: Google, Web 2.0, bubble

John Battelle, riffing off a Paul Kedrosky post, puts his finger on the problem with the proliferation of Web 2.0 companies. A lot of folks insist it's not a bubble...

Amazon's Video Download Service Unmasked?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 21, Categories: Amazon.com, TV, digital media, video

Alan Taylor discovered what appears to be a beta site for Amazon's widely expected video download service, which looks like it's called Amazon Unbox. Taylor, a former Amazonian, clearly did...

Patty Seybold on Customer Innovation

Posted by: Steve Hamm on August 17, Categories: open source

The notion of shared effort (network as virtual brain) certainly has gathered a lot of momentum. Open source software keeps on marching up the technology stack. Wikis are blooming everywhere....

A Silicon Valley CEO Speaks Out

Posted by: Peter Burrows on August 15, Categories: stock options

In recent months, I've made a point of asking CEOs I speak with for their view on the stock options scandal. Almost none have been willing go on the record,...

802.11n Delay = Death of Wi-Fi?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 15, Categories: wireless

Ratification of the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard has been pushed back again. Is that a big deal? I would argue, the delay could push Wi-Fi out of mainstream use.

What's Up, Mike? A Brief Talk with TechCrunch's Editor

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 11, Categories: TechCrunch, Web 2.0, blogging, blogs

Mike Arrington's new CrunchGear blog won't be the end of his ambitions. Mike told me he's planning two more blogs in the next month, starting with gaming, probably by acquisition....

Munch, Munch, More Crunch: Now It's CrunchGear

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 10, Categories: TechCrunch, Web 2.0, blogging, blogs

TechCrunch's Mike Arrington has sure been busy. Tonight he debuted yet another site, CrunchGear, a new gadget blog headed by former Gizmodo editor John Biggs. As Mike describes it: Expect...

GoogleBay?

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 10, Categories: Google, eBay

A group of fed-up eBay merchants is petitioning Google to start an auction site, following eBay's decision to hike rates on eBay Stores, according to a report in AuctionBytes. Those...

Mega GigaOM

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 10, Categories: Best of the Web, blogging, blogs

Om Malik's new site is up, packed with more features, like tabs for various sections and RSS feeds for each of those sections. Lots to digest. Bon voyage, Om....

Sliding out of Beta

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on August 09, Categories: Web

In the Web world, it’s fashionable to stay in Beta in perpetuity. But there are exceptions. Yesterday, Max Levchin’s Slide announced it was emerging from Beta-land. Levchin was the co-founder...

As investors place bets on Cisco's stock, Cisco execs bet on the investors

Posted by: Peter Burrows on August 08, Categories: Cisco

If there was ever a company that seemed to have figured out the mysteries of investor behavior, it was Cisco Systems during its glory days in the 1990s. By beating...

My$pace

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 08, Categories: MySpace, Power of Us, Social Media, Web 2.0, social networks

Suddenly, MySpace has a $900 million deal with Google that dwarfs the $580 million News Corp. paid for it. Is there now any doubt that social networks can make money?...

Muni Wi-Fi: Not Free For All

Posted by: Olga Kharif on August 08, Categories: wireless

Hundreds of U.S. cities are talking of offering citywide Wi-Fi Internet access and paying for Wi-Fi operations through advertising. Unfortunately, advertisers aren't too excited about the idea, according to a new survey.

The Meaning of "Made"

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 08, Categories: Web 2.0

Hoo boy. Lots of people have lots of issues with BusinessWeek's current cover story on Digg's Kevin Rose. What seemed to set off folks such as Scott Rosenberg most of...

Prediction Markets Go Corporate

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 07, Categories: Power of Us, predictions

My colleague Rachael King has an interesting collection of stories on prediction markets in BusinessWeek Online's latest CEO Guide to Technology. Just like they sound, these are markets set up...

Valley Boys

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 04, Categories: Silicon Valley

My colleagues Sarah Lacy and Jessi Hempel [sorry, Jessi, left off your name at first!] have this week's magazine cover story about Digg's Kevin Rose and the new crop of...

CrunchBoard: Jobs in the New Web

Posted by: Rob Hof on August 03, Categories: TechCrunch, Web 2.0, tech jobs

There's a new kid on the crowded job board walk. As TechCrunch's Mike Arrington tells it: A good percentage of emails coming to me every day are from people asking...