Office Live Vs. Google Apps - Battle of the titans
October 31, 2006
It’s on! Not willing to cede the long tail office market completely to Google, Microsoft will release Office Live on November 15th. The on-line service will come in a free, ad supported version as well as two different subscription versions. Right now Office Live only comes with a website builder, email, calendar and contact management. Google gives you all that and a spreadsheet and word processor and wiki (with JotSpot). Out of the gate, advantage Google. Hopefully Microsoft will figure out how to get online versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Sitting on the sidelines for now is Apple. They are building a nice application set with iLife, but no online versions so far. With the exception of .mac, everything Apple has done is on their own OS. Is Apple missing the web 2.0 boat?
Google Purchases JotSpot Wiki
October 31, 2006
With Google’s new “borg” strategy, they have assimilated another hot web property. This time it’s wiki maker JotSpot. JotSpot was formed by original Excite founder Joe Kraus. JotSpot is a great wiki actually because it has the best wysiwyg tools and some nice pre-built apps. Google can nicely integrate this into their on-line app suite which already includes word processing (acquired from Writely), spreadsheets, email and calendar. JotSpot also tries to be a collaboration hub for teams as you can attach many kinds of media to a wiki page. You can see how well this plays with Google Apps.
The Google overall strategy may be getting more clear now. Give Microsoft the top end office market, there’s no competing there really. But stake a claim for the long tail office market. Those Google guys, they’re pretty smart.
YouTube Asked To Remove 1,000 Sports Clips
October 27, 2006
A digital rights company representing sporting bodies has asked YouTube to remove about 1,000 videos for copyright infringement - and believes there are as many as 10,000 more illegal clips on the website.
At what point does YouTube become boring and uninteresting as it’s content gets sucked out? At what point will Google be unable to maintain and improve YouTube as it is overwhelmed with takedown requests? Maybe that’s the strategy all along. Bleed ‘em dry and max them out with work. YouTube, your 15min of fame is up. Time to move on to the next hot thing.
The Problem with DRM
October 25, 2006
Other than the fact that it limits control over content that we purchase, sooner or later, you’re going to get hacked.
The Boy Scouts and the MPAA
October 24, 2006
Another great and insightful post from Dave Slusher. The battle for the next generation of Internet users is on. What are we going to call these guys, the YouTube/Google generation? The GooTube generation?
Here is a link to the pdf describing this program.
Craig Newmark (aka craigslist) Won’t Sell Out
October 20, 2006
He’s sitting on one of the hottest Internet properties, but Craig Newmark of craigslist has no interest in taking the money. Newmark says he doesn’t need the money because he has all he needs to live comfortably. It’s a remarkable statement on humility but I disagree with him on charity. Newmark says he is also not interested in taking the money to give to worthy causes. “Finding a good cause is incredibly hard and time-consuming” he said. What? Are you kidding me? AIDS research, cancer research, diabetes, or just talk to Bono; he has a ton of things you could do with a few million dollars. When the time and the situation is right, Newmark should absolutely take the money and use his unique opportunity to have a major impact for good on the world.
Yahoo Targets Internet Growth Areas
October 18, 2006
Where are the growth opportunities in the Internet economy? Take a look at where Yahoo is planning its future investment. Social media, video and mobile access. I think 
they’re right on with this outlook but they did just get beat out for YouTube (video) and they were not able to complete a deal with Facebook (social media). About the only place Yahoo has some traction is in mobile phones. Yahoo Go is available on several popular phones and they plan to be everywhere by the end of the year. Yahoo’s mobile stuff is actually quite good and useful. They’re doing better than most, but watch out because Google maps is available on phones as is gmail and the google rss reader.
Tattoo Your RAZR - Wicked Cool
October 18, 2006
Always finding new ways to breath new life into the RAZR line, Motorola and T-Mobile 
have introduced new RAZR models with laser tattoos based on the work of artist. These phones look great and if I weren’t so interested in moving to a smart phone, I’d want one.
The Best Marketing Campaign Ever
October 17, 2006
Cisco has launched a new marketing/advertising campaign called “The Human Network”. I first saw it as an ad on tv and I actually went back (thanks Tivo) and watched it a second time. When is the last time you did that? What a fantastic tv ad. Then I saw it on-line and today I have found the main site. They are also now getting Internet industry luminaries to help define what is the human network. In fact, anyone can submit a story about what the human network means to them. The main site has lots of inspiring and interesting content on it. Nowhere do I see an ad or data sheet for a Cisco router. This is about branding and it works.
How Friendster Blew It
October 16, 2006
The Internet world was their oyster. Right technology and the right time, and still Friendster, the worlds first social network, messed it up. Here is a good article about how they did it.