The Next Web |  |
- Who is building the next Google?
- What Skydrive’s New Logo Says About The Service
- This Is Why The Kindle Is Winning
- Updated: Google China Adds ICP License To Homepage, “Still Waiting To Hear” From Government
- Vodafone Foursquare Partnership Expands to Australia, Portugal
- Sony Cuts E-Reader Prices To Compete – Does Not Slash Hard Enough
- Google’s Take On Mobile Payments Is A Wash
- Condé Nast Traveler Releases $10 City Guide iPhone Apps With Augmented Reality
- Forget Diaspora, We Need Someone To Save Twitter
- California Launches Government News & Social Media Aggregator
- Blood, sweat, tears, love and karma: Inside the UK’s newest seed accelerator
- PressDoc gets a slick new feature to keep you up to date with press releases.
- Could Foursquare be looking to acquire Brizzly? [Updated: No]
- BuzzVoice lets you listen to your favorite websites. Yes, listen.
| Who is building the next Google? Posted: 06 Jul 2010 01:56 AM PDT
Back in 1998 when Google just got started its goal of becoming the next big search engine seemed ridiculous. All they had was an improved search algorithm. Yahoo, the then dominant search engine, was a multi billion dollar behemoth with hundreds of millions of active users. Yahoo ruled. If I were to have told you that I knew two guys who were planning on launching a new search engine which would replace Google within 5 years I don’t think you would believe me. Would you? Looking at history however we should know that big companies get replaced by small companies all the time, right? Microsoft was a very small company once, and it challenged IBM. Amazon challenged Barnes & Nobles and Virgin challenged, well, everybody. Unfortunately I don’t know those two guys with a plan to overtake the search engine market. Do you? Would you give them some money? What would it take to build the next search engine? I don’t know the answer but I’m sure that in 10 years we will look back and will seem obvious in hindsight. Original title and link for this post: Who is building the next Google? |
| What Skydrive’s New Logo Says About The Service Posted: 06 Jul 2010 12:19 AM PDT
Today, LiveSino shared what seems like the new logo for Microsoft's online storage service – Skydrive. What started with a 5GB online service to upload data has now become backbone to Microsoft's online services for the consumer segment with 25GB of storage space. Skydrive now offers a slideshow viewer for images, video playback for uploaded videos, is backend for Office Web Apps, and stores the 2GB Live Sync data. Skydrive is more than just online storage, it is now key to Microsoft's cloud strategy for the consumer segment and the new logo for Skydrive is in fact cloud(s). If you were to browse Skydrive and say go into the Documents folder the favicon would change to that of Office. Similarly the Photos folder shows the Live Photo Gallery icon. Perhaps not of interest to many but the attention to such details is refreshing and appreciated. Don't write Microsoft off when it comes to the next web. Original title and link for this post: What Skydrive’s New Logo Says About The Service |
| This Is Why The Kindle Is Winning Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:29 PM PDT
Hype does not have a direct one to one correlation into sales figures. Surely the iPad itself is selling well, but on that device Apple is forced to compete with Kindle, Kobo, Stanza, Barnes and Noble, and Borders among others. That is a stiff collection of competitors for the new iBooks application which still suffers form a title shortage that Apple has yet to fully remedy. Not to mention its massive multi-platform strategy, Kindle appears in the mind of the average consumer to be synonymous with e-books. The Google search data sums it up:
Despite the literally endless free promotion that iPad and iBooks have received in the last few months, Kindle is burying Apple’s reading solution around the world. Its also worth nothing that the Nook is also ahead of iBooks, putting Steve Job’s market position in third place, most likely ahead of Sony. This market is young, but so long as the Kindle has been out it has ruled the roost. iBooks has yet to live up to its massive launch. Original title and link for this post: This Is Why The Kindle Is Winning |
| Updated: Google China Adds ICP License To Homepage, “Still Waiting To Hear” From Government Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:03 PM PDT
As Rebecca MacKinnon points out, Beijing News has reported (in Chinese) that Google China’s ICP license number was added to their homepage on Monday (China time). However, the number is the 5-year ICP license that Google China received in 2007 which needs to be re-approved annually, so what this action means is unclear [updated at bottom with Google response]. Also interestingly and new are three links to “Music”, “Translate” and “Shopping” right above the ICP number and below the recently added Google.com.hk link.
So what does all this mean? Well, only Google knows for sure, and as today is a federal holiday here in the US, we might not see an official response to this until tomorrow morning (we’ve emailed them for comment nonetheless). One likely scenario is that the current homepage represents the final deal that Google China has made with the Chinese authorities in exchange for having their ICP license re-upped (it expired on June 30, so some kind of decision should be forthcoming soon), to go along with phasing out auto-redirects of searches to Google.com.hk. Another possibility is that this is another preemptive move by Google to show more good faith if the final decision on the ICP license still hasn’t been made. We’ll keep an eye on this story (it’s also barely 6am in China right now) and will update as more clarification comes in. UPDATE: We have received word back from Google, and it seems as if this follows more closely to our second possibility of Google making another preemptive move to be more official looking. From Google PR:
So the waiting game continues, we’ll just have to see for how long. Original title and link for this post: Updated: Google China Adds ICP License To Homepage, “Still Waiting To Hear” From Government |
| Vodafone Foursquare Partnership Expands to Australia, Portugal Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:30 PM PDT
As in the UK, the partnership isn’t about new features or deep integration, it’s about Vodafone showcasing Foursquare to its millions of subscribers. In the Portugal deal announced last week, Foursquare is now featured on Vodafone Portugal’s mobile portal (My Portal or Vodafone live!) and users can get a link to foursquare.com/mobile by sending a free text message with the text ‘4square’ to 12345. A Foursquare app will also be highlighted in Vodafone’s App 360 store (not sure if that is Apple, Android or something else). In Australia, Vodafone actually conducted a text message campaign to subscribers telling them that Foursquare is “the future of social networking!” (though apparently the link they sent was broken in Safari on iPhones):
In a press release for the Portugal announcement, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley was quoted as saying, “We’re extremely excited about expanding our relationship with Vodafone, and we look forward to finding more ways to partner with them.” Well, of course they are. So what does this expanding relationship mean for Foursquare? Well, first of all, along with being big in Japan, popular in Europe and getting good press from the World Cup, it means that Foursquare is solidifying their worldwide appeal and popularity at the expense of their competitors (in the US, Loopt is one competitor that has worked closely with carriers). With a new round of funding under their belts, Foursquare should be able to spend even more time now developing these (all important?) carrier relationships around the world, especially in markets where smartphones have even greater penetration than in the US. Generating revenue from location based services (LBS) has long been a goal of wireless carriers, and as geolocation is finally starting to catch on (Foursquare just surpassed 1 million check-ins in a single day), it isn’t surprising that they are jumping back onto a bandwagon that they have promoted for nearly a decade. Original title and link for this post: Vodafone Foursquare Partnership Expands to Australia, Portugal |
| Sony Cuts E-Reader Prices To Compete – Does Not Slash Hard Enough Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:39 PM PDT
You could argue that Sony makes the best electronic reading devices around, but that does not mean that in this cut throat market they want to be at a price disadvantage, right? Surprisingly, Sony seems to answer yes to that question. While they have cut their prices, they are still not in line with what their competition is offering. This is the new Sony line up pricing:
The Pocket Edition matches the price of the WiFi Nook, but is not WiFi enabled. The Touch Edition lacks the 3G capability that the Kindle and the higher priced Nook both offer for just a few ten dollar bills more. The Daily Edition is still far and away overpriced. Sony seems to be unwilling to fight a price war, and that just may sink its e-reader line. The trend seems to be that eventually e-readers will be akin to a razor, and e-books that razor’s replacement blades. Expect the cost of e-readers to drop even further in the coming months. Sony needs to cut deeper, and soon, to keep up. Original title and link for this post: Sony Cuts E-Reader Prices To Compete – Does Not Slash Hard Enough |
| Google’s Take On Mobile Payments Is A Wash Posted: 05 Jul 2010 12:06 PM PDT
If you make a payment with a mobile phone you are choosing to not make that payment with cash or a card. Using your phone as a payment device must either be simpler and faster than either of those traditional methods, or provide some extra value that compensates for it not being as simple, or as easy. Given that cards and cash are simple, quick, and generally (if not completely, as with cash) secure, this new offering from Google needs to beat them at that game, or provide a serious ancillary value to the purchase to make the switch from cash and cards to mobile payments worth the work. That is just not the case that we have seen from Google with their ‘Chrome Checkout Extension’ and its integration with Google Checkout on Android phones. ReadWriteWeb summarized well how you, the user, would employ the service in a store and how it interacts with the merchant you are trying to buy something from:
How likely does it sound that a major merchant would take the time to populate an online register with all of their items, then take the time to build you a shopping cart of your set collection of items, and then provide you with a QR code to scan with your phone which would then allow you to pay for your gum and toilet paper from your mobile. Given how much time, energy, and effort that requires, the answer is plainly that they won’t. The only real advantage to using this form of payment is that (assuming Google holds up), it is slightly safer than using your credit card on its own. While that is real advantage, it is hardly something to write home about. Credit cards are popular because they are fast, and are safe enough for nearly everyone. If you don’t like them you can use cash. Where does a payment using a phone fit in? If this is the future, we need to tweak it so the transactional friction is far, far lower. Original title and link for this post: Google’s Take On Mobile Payments Is A Wash |
| Condé Nast Traveler Releases $10 City Guide iPhone Apps With Augmented Reality Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:38 AM PDT
While the App Store has Rome being released today, Barcelona July 2 and the New York and Paris apps in June, none of the apps have reviews yet which is leading us to believe that they were all just released publicly into the App Store (MediaWeek in the UK also says that Condé Nast is “launching” them this Tuesday, so that seems to confirm this idea). From what we’ve gathered, these four apps are only the first of many to come from Traveler, which of course makes sense. Although expensive, the apps do look well done from the App Store previews. This shouldn’t be too surprising - Condé Nast also owns Wired and produced the very popular Wired iPad app (maybe they used the same developers?). Here are the main features listed in the app descriptions (same features for all four city guides):
The most exciting features of these apps are certainly the audio tours and the augmented reality features, which you can see a preview of in the Barcelona app below. Also, the maps look really nice (the one below is for the Rome app) and the “word of mouth” feature could also be very interesting. While $10 for an iPhone app that covers just one city may seem a bit steep, Condé Nast isn’t exactly focused on the budget traveler, so we suspect that if this app works as advertised, that it may do quite well with the jet setting crowd at least. (Note: the apps are being released by Condé Nast’s UK digital division).
Original title and link for this post: Condé Nast Traveler Releases $10 City Guide iPhone Apps With Augmented Reality |
| Forget Diaspora, We Need Someone To Save Twitter Posted: 05 Jul 2010 10:20 AM PDT
In short, everything that was broken on Twitter that we hated so very much to see stop working before is still doing just that: failing. Twitter still can’t handle its growth, its traffic, its usage spikes, and these weaknesses are every day occurrences. Be honest, when was the last day that you did not see at least one fail whale? And yet, we cannot live without Twitter. It is far too ingrained into our lives to let go for even one day. So, on behalf of the Twitter user community, I vote that some snappy developers start a service that, using your Twitter credentials, creates a running usable backup of your Twitter stream. Not a lifelong archive, but a 24 hour database that you can search and use whenever Twitter decides to give up the ghost. This would be a frozen view at the most recent tweets from everyone you follow in order, all your Lists’ updates, a tally of your @ messages, and copies of your DMs. It would be a full shot of one day’s Twitter for yourself, updated whenever Twitter would let it. This would only be a useful service for the most dedicated Twitter users, but to be able to access all Twitter information that we want from the last 24 hours that is relevant would be a boon worth paying for. Combine that with what RowFeeder has done, and you have the ability to get 95% of what you want from Twitter, everything except the most breaking updates, in a format that you can search from your desktop when Twitter is kaput. If you don’t know RowFeeder, they handle custom Twitter searches that are archived into online spreadsheets, allowing you to track specific terms on Twitter over the long-haul. You can also dig farther into the data when you have it pre-collated, making RowFeeder the information junkie’s box of delights. Perhaps I am one of the few, but I suspect that I am hardly alone in wishing for a third-party method of seeing what Twitter would show me if it was not down when it is. How often would this service come in handy? At least three times a week if Twitter continues having what I would call its normal rate of meltdown, more if it continues to suffer as it has in the last few weeks. What do you do when Twitter is down and you need information? Original title and link for this post: Forget Diaspora, We Need Someone To Save Twitter |
| California Launches Government News & Social Media Aggregator Posted: 05 Jul 2010 09:36 AM PDT
News.CA.gov includes 83 Twitter accounts, 40 YouTube channels and nearly 100 RSS feeds according to state CIO Teri Takai in a press release. He was quoted as saying:
As an aggregator, there are no additional long-term resources needed to provide content, which in a state with a $19 billion deficit, is especially important. The screenshot below gives you an idea of what kind of content is available – child abduction alerts, DMV tweets, CalFire updates, videos about the Fourth of July – as you can almost immediately see, this page is going to be extremely useful in times of crisis as a way for the state government to channel news to the public. While there doesn’t seem to be any algorithm to this to push the most important news to the top (it’s just pure feeds) this is still a very solid effort by California’s state government and in states that don’t already have something similar, this could be a model to build off of.
Original title and link for this post: California Launches Government News & Social Media Aggregator |
| Blood, sweat, tears, love and karma: Inside the UK’s newest seed accelerator Posted: 05 Jul 2010 09:01 AM PDT
The Y Combinator and Techstars model of giving startups intense coaching on their business model, technology and future plans over a period of weeks is growing in popularity in Europe. Seedcamp is a popular example with its one-week course. Another is the Difference Engine, a thirteen-week programme based in Middlesborough which has just seen its first wave of startups graduate. Difference Engine founder Jon Bradford is currently on a European ‘tour’ to show off the startups who took part and to drum up interest in wave two, which is currently open to applications. Last week he visited Manchester’s Techcelerate event along with two of the companies who made it through the programme successfully and had a chat with him to find out how he felt it had gone. More “Bootcamp” than “Seedcamp”Jon Bradford doesn’t cut the stereotypical figure of the accountant and sometime venture capitalist that he is. Relaxed, chatty and wearing a t-shirt he has more in common with the startups he mentors than the suited-up moneymen he might normally be associated with. Despite his laid-back air, he describes the Difference Engine as a “Bootcamp” and he truly means it. Startups work seven days a week from 8am to midnight, talking to mentors and working on their products. These mentors, successful entrepreneurs, gave their time for free and Bradford says that the Difference Engine is based on karma as much as anything else. Mentors were happy to help for no fee as it was a only short course, they were “giving something back” to those following in their footsteps… and there’s always the chance of getting in on a few business deals along the way. In fact, one mentor ended up as chair of one of the startups when the programme ended. That said, basing a programme on karma was a hard sell to the public organisations who helped fund the project, apparently! Startups get £20,000 to cover living costs over the 13 week period and the few months following while they seek funding for their businesses or develop them further. In return the Difference Engine takes 8% of common stock in each startup. However, Bradford says that love is just as important as money – he enjoyed the thrill of discovering cool products and helping to take them to market. No London distractionsAlthough the Difference Engine is based in the small town of Middlesborough, 250 miles from London, Bradford sees that as an advantage. “In London there are so many distracting events for entrepreneurs to attend. Being in Middlesborough means that there are no distractions; the startups can just get down to working hard at their businesses”. If Bradford has one regret about the first wave of the Difference Engine, it’s that he didn’t have enough time to spare working with the startups himself. Although he was in the room with them for the full thirteen weeks, administration and organisational tasks took up much of his time. Now that he’s settled into the routine of the programme he plans to be a lot more hands on in wave two. The Difference Engine is currently taking applications from startups worldwide. Digital and technology-based businesses will be considered, as will companies producing digital content. The video below is designed to show applicants what could be ahead for them and features interviews with some of the first wave’s startups. Original title and link for this post: Blood, sweat, tears, love and karma: Inside the UK’s newest seed accelerator |
| PressDoc gets a slick new feature to keep you up to date with press releases. Posted: 05 Jul 2010 08:07 AM PDT
Bearing that in mind, PressDoc has just added a new feature for email alerts. All you have to do is head to the PressDoc site, in the email alerts section, and choose your preferences. You can choose hourly, daily or weekly digests, in 4 different languages, filtered by relevant categories. Clearly, it’s a great little addition to an already spectacular product. Oh, but you’ll want to keep your eyes on PressDoc, moving forward. In the near future, we’re told that there will be a WordPress plugin that will show all relevant PressDocs in Draft format. So all you’ll have to do is add text, remove text that you don’t want, pick an image and then publish. In the interest of full disclosure, PressDoc is part of The Next Web Incubator. Original title and link for this post: PressDoc gets a slick new feature to keep you up to date with press releases. |
| Could Foursquare be looking to acquire Brizzly? [Updated: No] Posted: 05 Jul 2010 06:15 AM PDT
Thing Labs is responsible for a product known as Brizzly. Think of Brizzly as your own personal Twitter network, where you can control who sees what. It’s a bit more chat-like than status updates, but also goes into social networks as well as link and media sharing.
However, blank speculation aside, Gray goes a bit further into the evidence. He notes that Mike Hirshland, of Polaris Venture Partners, sent out a tweet about a startup getting a buyout offer. Gray, being the curious-natured fellow he is, dug down to find that Hirshland was a backer of Thing Labs. Even deeper? Chris Wetherell, one of the founders of Thing Labs, just made a trip to the Foursquare headquarters quite recently. The entire story is laid out in painstaking detail on Louis Gray’s blog. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time. As Louis says, if he’s wrong, he’ll eat crow. But we’re willing to lay it on the line that he’s really close, if not dead on. Update: A recent tweet from Jason Shellen, CEO of Thing Labs, debunks the rumor. We, like Shellen, do enjoy the occasional saucy one though, so there’s no harm and no foul.
Original title and link for this post: Could Foursquare be looking to acquire Brizzly? [Updated: No] |
| BuzzVoice lets you listen to your favorite websites. Yes, listen. Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:37 AM PDT
I think I just found my way to spend my time more wisely: BuzzVoice. BuzzVoice is, in essence, like having your own passenger’s seat narrator for your favorite websites. You tell it what you like, and BuzzVoice will read the latest content from sites around the Internet. The app has just updated to version 3.0 for iOS and so it seemed like a perfect time to tell you about it. Here are the high points:
Of course, I could tell you loads about it, but watching the video is probably the best bet: There are a couple of BuzzVoice versions. The Lite version, for free, gives you top celebrity news from around the Internet. The full version will cost you $4.99, but gives you the 1,600 sources and full function. It’s absolutely worth a look, and we expect to hear more about BuzzVoice in the future. Original title and link for this post: BuzzVoice lets you listen to your favorite websites. Yes, listen. |
Microsoft's Live services are being upgraded at regular intervals which is a positive sign given the nature of this field.
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