Archives: June 2006

Visto: Another Mouse that Roars

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 30

There's plenty to dislike about patent trolls. They exploit flaws in the patent office and legal system to stick up innovative technology companies. But just because a patent holder is...

On-Demand Software: Little Things Add Up

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 28

A couple of news items crossed my desk that aren't earth shattering in themselves but point to remarkable things happening in the on-demand world. 1) Market pioneer Salesforce.com announced that...

An albatross or hidden gem?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on June 27

Was Intel's decision to sell its communications chip business to Marvell a good or bad one? From the look of way each company's stock is behaving, a lot of people...

Another Social Networking Site?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on June 27

Another day, another social networking site. A group of former Microsoft and Apple employees this fall plan to formally launch iBloks, a sort of digital scrapbooking site that lets users...

How to break Microsoft's lock on applications

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 26

Lock in. It's the enemy of the corporate or government IT manager. Everybody wants to have alternatives so they're not dependent on a single tech supplier for a crucial set...

Amazon.com May Get a Second Life

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 23

When I wrote a cover story recently about Second Life and other virtual worlds, I immediately wondered why any retailer, say Amazon.com, wouldn't want to set up in-world, so...

Digg It Monday

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 23

As we first noted a couple of weeks ago, the collaborative tech news site Digg would soon be branching out into more general news. TechCrunch's Mike Arrington has the skinny...

On the Other Hand, Are Online Games Rotting Our Kids' Brains?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 22

As I mentioned in my recent story about virtual worlds, I've never been a gamer. The main reason is that I could immediately see how addictive Myst, World of Warcraft...

The Role of Fun in Online Success

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 22

The success of World of Warcraft and other online role-playing games has a lot of online businesses salivating about the possibilities of embedding game dynamics into their services. The idea...

The Death of Ads?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 22

Two of the biggest marketers in the world showed up at the Supernova conference in San Francisco today and sounded more like Web 2.0 zealots than brand giants. Michael Wiley,...

Oracle Pre-Announce: A Little Hat Eating....

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on June 15

So last earnings story I did on Oracle, back in March, talked about why investors were under whelmed with what appeared to be pretty good results. Some people- who shall...

The Penguin's New BFF

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on June 15

In case, you forgot your junior high days, BFF is note-passing slang for "best friends forever." And, don't get jealous IBM, but it looks like Tux's new best pal may...

eBay Dives into Web 2.0

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 14

eBay, arguably the original Web 2.0 company, is sure latching onto the newfangled 2.0 stuff. Today, it announced eBay Wiki, with service hosted by JotSpot. It's intended to allow members...

Flock redux

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 13

Last October, the folks at Flock broke their silence and revealed their plans for a new “social browser” designed for collaborating, sharing photos, and blogging. The Flock beta was supposed...

Om Goes Indie

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 13

Silicon Beat has the news: Uberblogger Om Malik is leaving Business 2.0 to create a news site of some kind--more details from him tonight. I've admired his ability to do...

Baynote: The Search Beat Goes On

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 13

Lots of people assume Google will be the last word in search, but I think it's kind of early to assume that. One more sign that search ain't over yet...

Microsoft's Big Loss

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 12

Scoble's leaving. Wow. Hard to imagine a guy who helped Microsoft's image more. He explains why he's moving on. Good luck, Robert!...

Digg This: Soon, Not Just for Geeks Anymore

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 11

Digg, the collaborative tech news site, will soon branch out beyond geekdom. At a Web 2.0 panel at the eBay Developers Conference today, President Kevin Rose said that in the...

eBay Gets into the Ad Game, Sort Of

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 11

I couldn't make it early enough to the eBay Developer Conference in Las Vegas to hear the company announce eBay AdContext, which at first sounds like a competitor to Google's...

The Next Big Thing: Spreadsheets?

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 09

What is it about spreadsheets these days? JotSpot recently released a way of creating online spreadsheets that can be shared, called Tracker. Then Google announces one this week. Now, the...

VMware's new hybrid strategy

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 08

VMware is still on a tear, and right now, the competition looks pretty weak. But company President Diane Greene isn’t getting complacent. She’s turning VMware, an independent subsidiary of EMC...

Web 2.0 Goes Corporate

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 05

Yes, Web 2.0 has become a marketing buzzword for "anything that's cool," as venture capitalist Peter Rip puts it. But even as the term itself may be losing its meaning,...

Whole Software

Posted by: Sarah Lacy on June 01

What do organic food and open source software have in common? It's not a lame riddle--believe it or not, they share quite a bit. On a flight back to San...

SugarCRM comes of age

Posted by: Steve Hamm on June 01

A year and a half ago, when I first met SugarCRM CEO John Roberts, he was a fresh-faced young guy full of excitement about how open source software was going...

Quick: Name the world's biggest tech company

Posted by: Peter Burrows on June 01

It's IBM, right? Well, that's only half right--because Hewlett-Packard has now pulled into a dead heat with Big Blue. I discovered this while rummaging around Yahoo Finance this morning. If...

Silicon Valley Is a Very Strange Place, Chapter 437

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 01

Are you a Googlehead too?...