Categories: Social Software

Zynga: Inside the App Factory

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on October 22

I recently spent a day touring Zynga, the creator of FarmVille and other social games that have the tech world talking. With nearly 500 employees, the place is humming with...

Middle East Censors Got You Down? How to Circumvent an Internet Proxy

Posted by: Spencer Ante on June 16

Like many Americans, I have been riveted by the outpouring of dissent in Iran against the powers that be. It is amazing to see such a public expression of outrage...

Who's Ever Heard of Macrovision?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 18

What's in a name? According to copy-protection pioneer Macrovision, not much. Known for years as the company that made software for electronically distributing software to computers, Macrovision also holds key...

Power.com: One Ring to Rule All Social Networks?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 01

With what looks to be a fair amount of fanfare, a company virtually unknown in the U.S. is aiming to disrupt the fast-growing social networking business. Tonight, Rio de Janeiro-based...

Jimmy Wales' Wikia Search Project Launches Apps

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 08

In the latest of many attempts by a wide variety of players to improve search results beyond Google's iconic 10 blue links, the community information service Wikia Inc. on Oct....

Socialtext 3.0: Will Wikis Finally Find Their Place in Business?

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 30

For years, Socialtext has helped pioneer the use of wikis, or group-editable Web pages a la Wikipedia, inside companies. Today, it's launching Socialtext 3.0, a collection of three applications built...

Do You Fake It?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on January 24

I suppose it was only a matter of time before the same humiliations people suffer on the Internet would be extended to the cell phone. Sprint Nextel announced today it...

Real Threat to Virtual Goods in Second Life

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 15

The many people who make real money by selling virtual clothing, houses, and much more on the online virtual world Second Life aren't real happy right now. A program...

37Signals, 1 Big New Investor: Jeff Bezos

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 20

37signals, the little-software-outfit-that-could and prolific producer of popular collaborative services such as Basecamp and Backpack, has its first venture investor: Bezos Expeditions, the personal investing firm of Amazon.com founder and...

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...

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...

Virtual World, Real ATMs

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 02

The one thing about my recent story, "Virtual World, Real Money," that still mystifies a lot of people is the idea that virtual money inside an online game can be...

Campfire: Group Chat for Businesses

Posted by: Rob Hof on February 16

The keep-it-simple folks from 37Signals are at it again with their latest offering: Campfire, a hosted group chat service starting at $12 a month. Some interesting business features: Chats are...

Why I Don't Use a Calendar

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 07

An online calendar like Outlook, that is. Actually, I use a bunch of calendars, but all paper. Don't look at me like that. After attending the When 2.0 workshop yesterday...

Flock About to Takes Wing

Posted by: Rob Hof on October 20

So says their pal Mike Arrington at TechCrunch. Flock is the new "social browser" that has been the buzz of bloggers and others for weeks. Now, we get to see...

Learning to Work with Wikis

Posted by: Rob Hof on September 21

A few weeks ago, I suddenly realized I would need a better way to collaborate with BusinessWeek's other writers and editors on our Best of the Web list than simply...

Gizmo Takes On Skype

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 02

Michael Robertson seems to enjoy trying to shake up the powers that be, as he did in music with MP3.com and in computer software with Lindows (now Linspire). Now, he...

Sun Taps into the Power of Us

Posted by: Rob Hof on July 01

Sun Microsystems is moving fast into what it calls the Participation Age, or at least talking about it a lot, Howard Rheingold notes in his Smart Mobs blog. "Sharing is...

The Rise of Distributed Business

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 22

I've seen John Seely Brown's talk on "innovation ecologies" a couple of times now, including today at Supernova 2005, and I think I'm finally coming to understand it. The idea...

The World's in Color--So Is Innovation

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 20

I'm attending a workshop at the Supernova 2005 conference in San Francisco, and apparently I'm not the only one getting a little annoyed at Janice Fraser's presentation. It's not that...

The Power of Us, Indeed: A Goldmine from Readers

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 19

Like few other stories I've written, The Power of Us has unleashed a torrent of ideas and Web sites from a surprisingly diverse set of readers. And unlike most previous...

The Power of You

Posted by: Rob Hof on June 16

We've gotten lots of comments from readers, nearly all insightful, about our recent cover story, The Power of Us. As you might expect, the comments are now an integral part...

Microsoft Stays in its Groove

Posted by: Rob Hof on March 10

Microsoft's purchase today of Groove Networks isn't really surprising, given its previous investments in the collaboration software company. And you certainly can't accuse the Redmond giant of being inconsistent. Buying...