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In what appears to be a deal with the devil, Hollywood (20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers) has decided to join forces with the popular peer-to-peer technology maker, BitTorrent, to create an online store will offer thousands of classic movies and television shows, as well as a large library of PC games and music videos.
It an important development from a number of different angles but one thing resonated with me is how the movie/video industry has addressed the P2P issue in a much different way than the music industry. Rather than try to bludgeon the video world legally, Hollywood has decided to play ball and create win-win situations. These deals don’t mean free video downloads will evaporate but at least Hollywood is trying to address the P2P in a pro-active way rather than following the music industry’s nasty legal agenda.
Can you imagine what would have happened if the music industry has co-oped Napster, which was a wonderful discovery tool (see my earlier post today on the need for discovery tools), instead of treating it like the devil? Napster’s emasculation was a sad development for a service with so much potential. Who knows, maybe Napster could have been a bigger and better iTunes if it was nurtured rather than neutered. Who knows whether the alliance between Bit Torrent and Hollywood will be successful but at least they’re trying.
For more, check out Mathew Ingram, who believes the Bit Torrent-Hollywood deal is doomed to fail, and IP Democracy, which points to the fact DRM issues could stop consumers from using the new service.
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Written by Mark Evans on February 26th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on video and Main Page and Music.
Does Powerset make Sergey Bryn and Larry Page stay up at night? You’d think Powerset is the greatest thing since, well, Google, amid the hype about its still-in-development natural language search technology. The latest news about Powerset is a deal it has struck with Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center to license a portfolio of patents and technology, which have been under development for the past 30 years.
Who knows if Powerset will be successful in creating technology that produces better results than Google, and then whether it can convince the world it’s developed a better mouse trap but it has raised $12.5-million in venture capital. For people looking to use a search engine other than Google until Powerset launches, check out Read Write/Web’s list of the top 100 alternative search engines.
Technorati Tags: Google, Powerset, Search
Written by Mark Evans on February 10th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Main Page.
Earlier this week, Bell Canada posted disappointing wireless subscriber additions in the important fourth-quarter: 160K vs. 210K a year earlier. There were all kinds of excuses: lack of industry advertising for family plans (??) and tighter credit acquisition policies but it was another sign Bell’s losing the wireless war to Rogers and Telus. An interesting story that got little coverage is Bell’s plans to convert its Solo brand into a discount wireless service.
What? A discount wireless service? This may be news to the general public but anyone intimate with the inner workings of Bell knows this is a strategy the company aggressively pursued under the supervision of Alek Krstajic last year. Bell was well down the development path (it had a whack of cool loft space in downtown Toronto, a bunch of TV commercials in the can, and an aggressive marketing plan to offer low-cost, no-frills wireless service) before COO George Cope, whose personal dictionary doesn’t include the word “discount”, killed the project.
What’s particularly interesting is that Bell was apparently prepared to extend this no-frills approach to the VoIP and Internet access markets. This strategy, which Krstajic sold to Sabia while they were flying to the Winter Olympics in Torino last year, was either a stroke a brilliance or a sign of desperation but it definitely outside the Bell box.
So will Cope revive this no-frills plans in an attempt to resuscitate Bell’s wireless subscriber growth? While he’s at it, Cope may also want to consider doing a GSM overlay but that’s another story for another day.
Technorati Tags: Bell Canada
Written by Mark Evans on February 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page.
Lots and lots of buzz this morning about Yahoo Pipes, which is being billed as “an interactive feed aggregator and manipulator” (manipulator sounds kind of evil, doesn’t it?). Anyway, I’m curious to try it out but it appears so are many other people as I’m getting an “unable to connect” message. Tim “Mr. Web 2.0″ O’Reilly expounds that Pipes is “a milestone in the history of the internet. It’s a service that generalizes the idea of the mashup, providing a drag and drop editor that allows you to connect internet data sources, process them, and redirect the output.” With a billing like that, no wonder the Pipes site is getting pounded.
Anil Dash is a little less enthusiastic, calling it an “an interesting and innovative new service” that lets people who are less tech-savvy combine different sources of online data.
“In this way, it’s possible for non-experts to create new web services for their own use or for public consumption. Pipes combines a remarkably sophisticated development environment with some core social features such as the ability to clone or share the web services you produce. The service is fairly approachable, but somewhat complex once you get just under the surface, and should be moderately successful while radically raising the bar for other tools in its category.”
When I get onto Pipes (hopefully later today), I give you my two cents but it looks intriguing. Anything that helps move RSS into the mainstream can only be a good thing!
Update: Yahoo now has a message when you try to visit the Pipes site: Our Pipes are clogged! We’ve called the plumbers! By the way, I hope the Pipes beta is better than the Yahoo Mail beta, which has huge growing pains.
Technorati Tags: Tim O’Reilly, Yahoo
Written by Mark Evans on February 9th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Web 2.0 and Main Page.
In late-December 2005, I decided to conduct an experiment by launching a blog called All Nortel, All the Time that just about Nortel Networks. Why? Well, I had one of those Wordpress.com “golden tickets’ that I wanted to use; there were no other blogs dedicated to Nortel (surprise surprise!), and I wanted to see how much traffic I could attract by writing a blog that wasn’t bolstered by my profile as a business reporter with the National Post.
Over the past 14 months, I’ve written 433 posts on Nortel and generated 282,000 pageviews, which works out to about 30 posts a month and 23,000 pageviews. Not terribly successful in terms of traffic but not bad given I’m writing about one company with a stock price that, until recently, has been nothing to write home about. In the past month, however, things are looking up. All Nortel, All the Time was picked up by Seeking Alpha, which focuses on investment opportunities, and traffic hit a record high today at 2,760 pageviews (it didn’t hurt that the CFO quit yesterday, and the company announced 2,900 jobs cuts today).
I’d like to think All Nortel, All the Time’s quasi-success has to do with being focused, enthusiastic and committed - and I would argue these are the elements if you are going to blog the right way; be it about technology, cooking, books or sports. Perhaps the most rewarding part is the traffic and comments I get from Nortel employees, and the fact that after all this time, I’m still the only Nortel blog in town (other than Nortel CTO John Roese). Make of that what you will!
Written by Mark Evans on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Main Page and Nortel Networks.
With more intense competition looming on the horizon from the soon-to-be-deregulated carriers, Videotron has proclaimed it now has more than 400,000 cable telephone customers after two years in the business. Of course, it helps to offer service for as low as $16.95 a month if you’re a triple-play customer but there’s no doubt Videotron has made life miserable for Bell Canada, particularly in Montreal.
The key question now is whether Videotron will be able to maintain this momentum when the local telephone market is deregulated, and Bell will be able to sell its service for whatever price it wants without seeking regulatory approval. Given Bell’s drive to improve revenue, it’s unlikely it will try to regain market share by slashing prices (that would be anathema to COO George Cope’s disciplined pricing approach) but you can expect Bell to do some targeting marketing in places where Videotron has a strong foothold. Should be fun to watch.
Technorati Tags: Videotron, Bell Canada
Written by Mark Evans on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Telecom Regulation and VOIP Services, Competition.
By now, the news about Steve Jobs’ “Thoughts on Music” have made its way down the Mac Mountain to the unwashed masses.
For thoughts on whether DRM protection should be eliminated (a.k.a. you could whatever the f@#k you want with your music) or whether they should intact, you can go here but what I find particularly impressive and astounding is the enthusiastic reaction to Jobs’ opus. In little time after his Deep Thoughts were unveiled, there were dozens of blog posts. Today, Techmeme is awash with posts (there must be at least 150 posts…and counting). It really talks to the marketing power/aura that Jobs and/or Apple possess these days.
Sure, Jobs’ view on DRM is newsworthy but everyone seemed so keen and willing to immediately jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible. As an active blogger who likes being part of the “conversation”, I questioned whether adding my two cents was really worth it. What could I add to the conversation that hadn’t already been said by someone else? Would my views be valuable or just made the echo chamber that much louder?
In any event, Jobs got the reaction he wanted yesterday, which is not at all surprising given he’s such a master marketer/manipulator. He had a message to deliver (kill DRM but Apple really doesn’t want to lead the charge), and he got an awful lot of help yesterday.
Update: Norway has responded to Jobs’ Thoughts by essentially telling Apple to solve its own DRM problems.
Technorati Tags: Apple, Steve Jobs
Written by Mark Evans on February 8th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
Ever wondered what you could do with Skype beyond making voice calls? Then, check out this list of 25 tips and hacks to get more out of Skype.
Technorati Tags: Skype, VoIP
Written by Mark Evans on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
In a classic case of link-baiting and a blatant attempt to rile the disciples of Steve Jobs/Mac, the Guardian’s Charlie Brooker has an amusing opinion piece entitled “I Hate Macs” - inspired by his distaste the Mac vs. Windows advertising campaign now appearing on British television. Here’s a statement that will enrage Mac enthusiasts:
“I hate Macs. I have always hated Macs. I hate people who use Macs. I even hate people who don’t use Macs but sometimes wish they did. Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults; computers for scaredy cats too nervous to learn how proper computers work; computers for people who earnestly believe in feng shui.”
“PCs are the ramshackle computers of the people. You can build your own from scratch, then customise it into oblivion. Sometimes you have to slap it to make it work properly, just like the Tardis (Doctor Who, incidentally, would definitely use a PC). PCs have charm; Macs ooze pretension. When I sit down to use a Mac, the first thing I think is, “I hate Macs”, and then I think, “Why has this rubbish aspirational ornament only got one mouse button?”
Charlie, you are about to learn an important lesson about people who love Macs and idolize Steve Jobs: anyone who dares to criticize the Mac or suggest it’s inferior to Windows in any way will be inundated with comments, e-mail and letters about their ignorance. As a reporter, I toiled away with little or no feedback from readers except when I wrote anything that could be construed as less than positive about the Mac. Charlie, you’re not just dealing with a product; you’re dealing with a religion.
Technorati Tags: Apple
Written by Mark Evans on February 6th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
So, it’s not surprising Google is apparently coming out with a Powerpoint-like service that will complete its online productivity suite portfolio - and, more important, give it the same arsenal as Microsoft Office. The question is whether it matters? Just because Google built it, does it necessarily mean users will come?
On my computer, I’ve got Office 2003 (no plans to upgrade to Office 2007) but I’ve also got an increasing number of documents on Google Docs, Spreadsheets and GMail. The Docs and Spreadsheets documents were created so I can easily share documents and spreadsheets with other people. While Google won’t replace Microsoft Office as the “go to” productivity suite any time soon, it is a nice complement to Office given I have yet to wade into the world of Microsoft Live.
But what will it take for Google Office to take major amounts of market share from Microsoft Office? There is a lot of enthusiasm for Web-based services but it’s difficult to see many people, particularly corporate-types, abandoning Office any time soon for Google. Why should Google Office be anything different as a competitive threat as WordPerfect or Open Office, which are, in theory, easier products for many people to embrace? (One different Google Office does have over WordPerfect and Open Office: it’s free. (Update: My bad, Open Office is free too).
That said, Google Office could get some more traction if wireless networks become more ubiquitous, and the use of Web-based services becomes more mainstream. One thing I have noticed in recent months is how Google-based services such as GMail, Docs & Spreadsheets and Google News have become key parts of my computing environment.
For more, check out Paul Kedrosky, who doesn’t care Google Office may not have all the bells and whistles as Office.
Technorati Tags: Google, Microsoft
Written by Mark Evans on February 5th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Microsoft and Main Page.
I’m giving a presentation on Tuesday to a group of sales people who work for a news distribution company looking at exploiting Web 2.0 tools. One of the things they want to know is “What is Web 2.0?”. You can use the standard definition propagated by the followers/disciples of Tim O’Reilly, who see Web 2.0 as the emergence of Web-based services. But is this too broad of a definition for people grappling with the idea of collaboration tools, Wikis, blogs, video-sharing, etc.? I mean, the echo chamber understands Web 2.0 and us “insiders” are gulping down the Kool-Aid as quickly as new cool Web 2.0 services can be produced. But what about everyone else? What about all those people still on the outside looking in - otherwise known as the mainstream?
To me, an basic definition of Web 2.0 is it’s active/dynamic Web; the place where people do things. This is different from Web 1.0, which was static and mostly involved accessing material that you would have otherwise had to have read in a newspaper, magazine or book (and all those flawed IPOs made by companies with little revenue and but lots of hype). One of the most creative ways to explain Web 2.0 and how it’s changing the Internet is this video, which I’ve watched several times already. The video was created by Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. (Hat tip to Somewhat Frank for giving the video some much-warranted attention)
Technorati Tags: Web 2.0
Written by Mark Evans on February 5th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Web 2.0 and Main Page.
This isn’t totally a tech-related post but….a good friend, Mark Walker, is opening a new indoor golf simulator facility in downtown Toronto called InnerGolf. For anyone looking to hone their game during the off-season or simply play an indoor round (it takes about an hour), it’s definitely work checking out.
Mark, who along with me and Rob Botman, was one of Blanketware’s co-founders, is a true, dyed-in-the-wool entrepreneur. Aside from InnerGolf, he operates an ERP consulting business called Skyytek Canada, which is one of the leading re-sellers of the NetSuite product.
Technorati Tags: Golf
Written by Mark Evans on February 4th, 2007 with no comments.
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So, what happened this week in the world of tech? In this week’s Talking Tech podcast, Kevin Restivo (aka my partner in crime and the solicitation of evaluation units) talk about the launch of Vista (is anyone really that excited); the coming out party for BlogTV.ca (Canada’s version of YouTube), super high-speed Internet access from Videotron using technology from Cisco; and a new blog from Nortel CTO John Roese.
Written by Mark Evans on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Main Page and Podcasting.
Do you dig Digg? Do you trust that the top stories are really the top stories? Or are they being manipulated? In yet another concession that some of the results may be artificially torqued (don’t people have better things to do with their time?), Digg CEO Kevin Rose has decided to remove a long-time feature called “Top Diggers” that highlighted the efforts of 5,000 of its leading users.
The question is why Kevin, why? Why remove it simply because these Diggers are “being blamed by some outlets as leading efforts to manipulate Digg”. Who are these outlets are why do they have such clout? Is this an admission that some or many of your “Top Diggers” are manipulating the results? You call the criticism by these mysterious outlets a “disappointing trend” but you fail to disclose why they are, in fact, disappointing.
Clearly, Digg is have a problem with perception in an industry where you’re cool today and passe tomorrow (e.g. Friendster). Rose is trying to be pro-active rather than being forced to do something dramatic when a major problem emerges out of nowhere. The question is whether the growing criticism is water lapping against the shore or a tsunami. If Digg is seen as being inaccurate, manipulated, less-than-honest, etc., it creates the real possibility “Digg This” could quickly become less prominent around the Web.
That said, Digg is increasingly been seen as the default place on the Web for people to “vote” on the news. As Rose says in his blog posts, Digg is now getting 5,000 story submissions a day, and it has generated more than 50 million “Diggs” since it started in November 2004. This, in theory, should give Digg some clout and some goodwill to combat attacks from “some outlets”. If I were Rose, I’d address the concerns of his critics but, honestly, I’d be as or more concerned about building a sustainable business model to turn all those Diggs into dollars.
For more, check out Deep Jive Interests,who is surprised it took Rose so long to make this decision and why he’s not doing more; Technology Evangelist, and Pro Blogger.
Technorati Tags: Digg, Kevin Rose
Written by Mark Evans on February 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Web 2.0 and Main Page.
I’ve been playing around with an idea about the search world for the week or so but needed a hook to hang it. Fortunately, Google’s kick-ass, blow-your-socks-off fourth-quarters results are just the ticket.
So here’s the premise: as the amount of digital content increases (blogs, user-generated content, video, Web sites, etc.), it’s getting more difficult to discover new material - something that could be described as a discovery dilemma. There are for example, more than 50 million blogs but how do you find the ones that are the most appealing to you? There are search engines such as Technorati, aggregators such as Techmeme, and tools such as TheGoodBlogs. But what about other ways to discover blogs?
The same discovery challenge is happening within the music industry, which is struggling because it can’t find a way to harness P2P as a discovery tool. This is why so many people are excited about Pandora, which is using algorithms to recommend music to people, and LastFM, which is using the recommendations of other people to promote new music. Going back to blogs, wouldn’t it be great to have a Pandora or LastFM to discovery new blogs. Something that recommends new blogs based on the blogs you already read.
The video industry has an even bigger challenge because how do you tag video efficiently so people who are interested, for example, in watching Diet Pepsi-Menthos videos can finally them easily. Even the search industry is still trying to improve the quality of its results, which is why you continue to see venture capital poured into new players such as Powerset, which is trying to out-Google Google by using natural language search as a better mouse trap.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve done a good job articulating the discovery challenge/opportunity. All I know is it’s getting more difficult to quickly and efficiently find the digital content that meets your specific needs and interests - whether it’s text, music and video. This is probably a post I’ll re-visit as I give the idea more thought but it’s a start.
Technorati Tags: Google
Written by Mark Evans on February 2nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Main Page.
I’ve been playing around with an idea about the search world for the week or so but needed a hook to hang it. Fortunately, Google’s kick-ass, blow-your-socks-off fourth-quarters results are just the ticket.
So here’s the premise: as the amount of digital content increases (blogs, user-generated content, video, Web sites, etc.), it’s getting more difficult to discover new material - something that could be described as a discovery dilemma. There are for example, more than 50 million blogs but how do you find the ones that are the most appealing to you? There are search engines such as Technorati, aggregators such as Techmeme, and tools such as TheGoodBlogs. But what about other ways to discover blogs?
The same discovery challenge is happening within the music industry, which is struggling because it can’t find a way to harness P2P as a discovery tool. This is why so many people are excited about Pandora, which is using algorithms to recommend music to people, and LastFM, which is using the recommendations of other people to promote new music. Going back to blogs, wouldn’t it be great to have a Pandora or LastFM to discovery new blogs. Something that recommends new blogs based on the blogs you already read.
The video industry has an even bigger challenge because how do you tag video efficiently so people who are interested, for example, in watching Diet Pepsi-Menthos videos can finally them easily. Even the search industry is still trying to improve the quality of its results, which is why you continue to see venture capital poured into new players such as Powerset, which is trying to out-Google Google by using natural language search as a better mouse trap.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve done a good job articulating the discovery challenge/opportunity. All I know is it’s getting more difficult to quickly and efficiently find the digital content that meets your specific needs and interests - whether it’s text, music and video. This is probably a post I’ll re-visit as I give the idea more thought but it’s a start.
Technorati Tags: Google
Written by Mark Evans on February 2nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Google and Main Page.
There’s a lot of buzz today about Technorati’s new now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t Digg-like tool called WTF (Steve Rubel captured screen shots before the service was pulled down). You can get a variety of takes on WTF from folks such as Mathew Ingram and Mr. Arrington but what struck me about WTF (other than the, well, colourful name) is how yet another feature from Technorati fits into the greater strategic scheme of things.
I mean, Technorati’s raison d’etre is apparently to be the world’s leading blog search engine - and I think they’re still among the best despite competition from Google, Sphere, Feedster, etc.. But what puzzles me about Technorati’s direction is how its move into non-search services enhances the core search offering, which is struggling to keep up with the blogosphere’s growth. Sure, you don’t want to be a one-trick pony but lots of people will tell you Technorati has to do a better job at search before it branches off into other areas.
Technorati’s multi-faceted strategic direction struck a chord after reading a recent post by Mapping the Web that talked about companies trying to be “too many thing for too many people” by offering lots of features rather than one to three really good features.
“How often do you read a features set that is over a page long and you’re left wondering… “WTF does this thing actually do for me?” It’s a daunting reality. Now, isn’t it refreshing when you browse a feature set that is minimal (only in terms of size). You can paint a clear picture in your head as to what the system/site/software can accomplish for you.”
Maybe Technorati should take this advice to heart.
Technorati Tags: Technorati
Written by Mark Evans on February 1st, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page.
Has Web 2.0 reached the tipping point where it’s about to stumble into the mainstream? Read/WriteWeb’s Alex Iskold believes this is about to happen based on the activities of mainstream media such as Time and the NYT that are enthusiastically embracing tools such as RSS, deli.ico.us and Digg.
“It appears that we are nearing a tipping point for the mass adoption of prominent web 2.0 services, like digg and del.icio.us,” he said. “Endorsement by mainstream media opens these services up to millions of people who otherwise would either not know about them, or not take them seriously. So these are not just links, these are literally endorsements - or recognition of additional value for mainstream media.”
McManus is definitely on to something given some of the recent conversations I’ve been having with corporate executives who realize this Web 2.0 phenomena is starting to get interesting, and perhaps it’s time to start looking at whether any of them can be adopted. One of the challenges facing the mainstream is figuring out what applications are worth exploring. Do you get into Digg and del.ici.us, or try to find tools that are better, more user-friendly, easier to install, etc. - not an easy task given the growing number of tools/services in each category. But the fact companies are started to talk about Web 2.0 tools is a fairly impressive indication that they’re catching up to the rest of us.
What I tell companies looking at Web 2.0 tools is experiment, dabble, play, and not be disappointed if something that’s rolled out fails to resonate with employees, customers, investors, etc. It’s still early in the game so there is plenty of time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. The only way they’re really to going fail is if they choose to ignore Web 2.0 tools.
Written by Mark Evans on February 1st, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Web 2.0 and Main Page and Media.
According to Moody’s, Canada’s wireless market is “an oligopoly”. And, not surprisingly, prices are twice as high as the U.S., which has caused market penetration (56%) to lag behind the U.S. (76%) Stop the presses, you mean Canada’s wireless carriers aren’t aggressively battling each other for business by offering consumers attractive deals? You mean all the talk among wireless executives about “disciplined pricing” is just code for raising prices higher so ARPU can be increased.
Well, wonders never cease. And I thought there was healthy competition within Canada’s wireless market as carriers fought tooth and claw for market share. Then again, the Canadian government did shrink the competitive landscape when it approved Rogers’ $1.4-billion acquisition of Microcell. And it’s not like the MVNO market has spurred more competition, although Virgin Mobile is really trying hard to be a pain the ass to Telus, Rogers and Bell.
Who knows, maybe the de-regulation of the local telephone market will cause home phone prices to increase, which, in turn, could make wireless service more attractive. Then again, there’s no indication wireless carriers will stop chanting the “disciplined pricing” mantra any time. As long as there’s growth left in the market, why offer deals when there’s no need for them?
Technorati Tags: Canada, Wireless
Written by Mark Evans on January 31st, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Wireless and Main Page.
Vista is a nice upgrade from Windows XP but it’s hardly a ground-shaking product even after five years of development and 50 million lines of code. The lack of enthusiasm has been muted (highlighted by the WSJ’s Walter Mossberg who described it as “worthy, but largely unexciting product”.
So what can Microsoft do to get people talking about Vista, which has many attractive features and far better security? How about spending a whopping $500-million on advertising, which makes the $150,000 or so that Microsoft spent sending free Ferrari laptops to bloggers look like a drop in the bucket. Over the next little while, it is going to be impossible to avoid Vista. There will TV commercials, billboards, magazine, newspaper ads and public transit vehicles featuring Vista. Even Bill Gates is getting into the action by making appearances all over the place, including The Daily Show.
The strange and ironic part about spending $500-million (which is higher than the GDP of 17 countries) is, at the end of the day, most people will end up buying Vista anyway. At some point, you’ll have no choice but to trade in your Pentium III, 1GB machine for someone even more powerful, which, of course, will be powered by Vista. It’s like that old Fram oil filter ad where the garage mechanic says “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later”. Well, you get Vista now or get Vista later but either way you’re going to get it - unless you’re a Mac-ite.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting Vista is a bad or unworthy product. I’m just saying there’s no reason to be rushing out the door to upgrade if your computer is doing most of what you want it to do now. My sense is Vista is just phase one of a multi-part plan to introduce a far better OS than XP. Rather than delay Vista’s launch, Microsoft finally got it/rushed it out the door, which likely explains why people see it as alright but not earth-shattering.
For more, check out this video by the NYT’s David Pogue, who looks at how much Microsoft borrowed by the Mac. Engagdet’s Peter Rojas blogged live from the official Windows Vista launch event in NYC, while CrunchGear offers up six good reasons not to upgrade to Vista.
Technorati Tags: Advertising, Microsoft, Vista
Written by Mark Evans on January 30th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized and Microsoft and Main Page.
LinkedIn is one of those rare Web 2.0 companies - it has a business model (sponsorships, subscriptions, advertising) and it’s profitable, it’s become a highly useful tool for more than nine million users, and built a loyal following given all the LinkedIn requests that hit my in-box. So, it’s no surprise the company has raised $11.8 million of venture capital. As much these VC deals are interesting, I’m waiting for the first tranche of Web 2.0 IPOs to hit the market to see if anyone has the chutzpah to actually do an offering. Then again, why go through all the effort if someone’s going to make the liquidation a snap by making a lucrative acquisition offer.
Technorati Tags: Venture Capital
Written by Mark Evans on January 29th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Page and Venture Capital.
Wordpress boss Matt Mullenweg believes spam is one of the blogosphere’s biggest threats but another increasingly troubling issue is plagiarism. We’re not talking about people taking the ideas of other bloggers but outright theft of entire posts or passages. A recent example is The Client Side, which had its posts ripped off without attribution or even a hat tip by Scott Kress, an experienced blogger who should know better. Over the weekend, several b5 bloggers noticed a blog called All Women Talk is using other people’s content without permission.
Within the media, plagiarists are treated like vermin and quickly ostracized. In the blogopshere, it seems many people are still trying to get their heads around plagiarism. On one hand, it can be somewhat flattering to have your content “borrowed” by someone else because it suggests what you’re writing is interesting. Many blogs using your content will try to get around it by linking back to your blog or giving you credit.
After awhile, you begin to realize you’re doing all the work while someone else is reaping the benefits (readership, traffic, advertising revenue) by scraping your content. Why should someone ever visit your blog if they can read it somewhere else? You soon realize the linkbacks are insincere tokens of thanks. Rather than giving you some props/credit, they’re a cheap and inadequate way of asking for permission.
So what can you do if another blogger is ripping off your work? You can start with a friendly comment or e-mail, suggesting that while you’re flattered by the attention, it would be better if they put together their own thoughts on a particular topic while citing the blog where they got the idea. If that doesn’t work, a harsher e-mail or a post on your blog outing the plagiarist may be the next move. In extreme cases, you can use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, (DMCA) to compel people to take down seen to be infringing on copyrighted content.
For more information on plagiarism, check out Plagiarism Today, a blog that looks at plagiarism, content theft and copyright issues.
Technorati Tags: Plagiarism
Written by Mark Evans on January 29th, 2007 with no comments.
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Featuring one of the best headlines I’ve seen in a long time - “Is that your cellphone in your pocket…?”, the National Post had a story a couple days ago about wireless carrier Telus quietly offering downloads of pornographic photos and videos for about $3 or $4 a shot You’ve got to love the explanation from Telus spokesman Jim Johannson, who said since porn is already widely available on mobile browsers, the carrier has “introduced — in a very responsible way — adult content that’s in behind proper age verification and that’s compliant with provincial standards and regulations.”
Ha! I guess that makes it alright. What Johannson should have said is: “Like any ARPU-hungry carrier, we’re looking for new ways to enhance wireless data revenue. Clearly, porn is a lucrative online business so it’s a no-brainer to serve consumers who want a mobile fix”. According to the Post, the North American mobile phone users spent $400-million on adult photos and video last year. No one should overlook the fact the porn industry is always on the bleeding edge of technology - be it VCRs, e-commerce, streaming video, DVDs and, now, wireless.
Technorati Tags: Pornography, Telus
Written by Mark Evans on January 29th, 2007 with no comments.
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Another Friday, another Talking Tech podcast featuring yours truly and my trusty sidekick, Kevin Restivo. In the wake of CES, it was a fairly quiet week but there was lots of buzz in the online video market with the official launch of Joost, Netflix getting into the movie and TV download business, and Brightcove raising $59.5-million. Both Kevin and I are impressed with Joost, which we think will be a success as long it can get content owners onboard. I also think Joost will be another entrepreneurial success for Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friss, who appear to have the Midas Touch in the wake of Skype’s sale to eBay.
In Canada, the big tech news of the week was Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s admission that its Talvest mutual trust subsidiary had lost a backup file that contained the personal data of 470,000 investors. Of course, this pales in comparison to TJX Inc. having its network hacked and as many as 40 million credit card numbers exposed.
We wrap up the podcast with a look at a week in the life of telecom entrepreneur Terry Matthews, who saw one of its investments, Ubiquity Software, acquired by Avaya for $144-million, while another, March Networks, had its stock drop 40% after revealing that one of its large customers (Wal-Mart) is buying less of its digital surveillance technology.
Technorati Tags: Wal-Mart, Terry Matthews, Video
Written by Mark Evans on January 20th, 2007 with no comments.
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While many companies deliberate about whether to blog or not to blog, 75-year-old Bill Marriott (the CEO of Marriott International) has started to write a personal blog. (Hat tip to Tony Jung, who put me on to a Washington Post story). Marriott hasn’t completed embraced blogging - he dictates his posts into a tape recorder and his first post was an unblog-like 700 words - but give him some major kudos for venturing into the blogosphere - something far too many CEOs have been reluctant, afraid or unwilling to do.
Technorati Tags: Bill Marriott, Bill Marriott, Blogs
Written by Mark Evans on January 20th, 2007 with no comments.
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Did the Wall St. Journal attend a presentation I gave last month to the Toronto Venture Group? You’d swear someone was copiously taking notes given a story it had yesterday on how many Web start-ups have adopted a low-cost, no-frills business philosophy - as opposed to the high-flying, high-spending environment during the dot-com boom.
For me, the WSJ story strikes a chord given I co-founded a start-up during the boom (Blanketware Corp.), and now live and breath the new new way of doing business at b5media. We’re a company without a traditional office (we’ve been operating out of CEO Jeremy Wright’s basement and a converted garage in the back of my house so far). When it comes to doing business Skype and Hotwire are key strategic tools, and until winter finally arrived last week, I was happy to ride my bike to meetings if it meant saving the $10 or $15 on parking.
One quote that stood out in the WSJ story came from Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha, who said “Any crash this time won’t be as precipitous as in 2000. Because start-ups aren’t going through cash at such a blistering pace, that gives companies more time to figure out what works in their business.”
While you could argue there may not be a dramatic financial crash, I do believe 2007 could a start-up fall out as many “projects” started in 2005 and 2006 exhaust their initial angel/friends/family/founder financing, and are unable to raise more money because their business models aren’t solid enough. For more thoughts on the WSJ, check out Digital Alchemy, USA Today’s Kevin Maney and PodTech’s John Furrier, who rightly makes the point that the focus for start-ups shouldn’t be on being thrifty but, rather, generating revenue.
Technorati Tags: b5media, Venture Capital, Web 2.0
Written by Mark Evans on January 19th, 2007 with no comments.
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When the New York Times’ Walter Mossberg talks, people listen. So, I suspect many people at Microsoft must be somewhat disappointed with Mossberg’s take on Vista, which is sees as a “worthy, but largely unexciting, product”.
“Vista is much prettier than previous versions of Windows. Its icons look better, windows have translucent borders, and items in the taskbar and in folders can display little previews of what they contain. Security is supposedly vastly better; there are some new free, included programs; and fast, universal search is now built in. There are hundreds of other, smaller, improvements and additions throughout the system, including parental controls and even a slicker version of Solitaire.”
My take on Vista is pretty much the same as Mossberg’s. Vista is a definite improvement from a user-interface perspective with some really nice, user-friendly features, particularly the multi-media players. That said, my overall reaction is akin to what my mother says when goes to a movie or play that’s alright but not amazing. Her default phrase is “It was very nice”, which is a mild praise, at best. (I’ll provide a more in-depth review of Vista in a few days.)
As one of the bloggers who received a Ferarri laptop pre-loaded with Vista, one thing I can say is I’m more impressed with Vista than the laptop. The Acer machine has a great screen but it’s fairly heavy, difficult to open and the exhaust fan blows on your hand (if you’re right-handed).
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Vista, Walter Mossberg
Written by Mark Evans on January 19th, 2007 with no comments.
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For folks in the technology world, Techmeme has become one of the places for the latest news. Search Engine Land (aka Danny Sullivan) has a lengthy Q&A with Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera. For those interested in how Techmeme is generating revenue, Rivera said the sponsored post program has been a success since it was introduced several months ago. “I’m even sold out for the next few months” he said, which makes you wonder how long it will be before Techmeme’s reasonably-priced sponsorship rates increase.
Technorati Tags: Techmeme, Gabe Rivera
Written by Mark Evans on January 19th, 2007 with no comments.
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If anyone had any doubts about the iPod’s staying power, Apple’s fiscal first-quarter results suggests there no lack of demand for the world’s coolest MP3 player. In the quarter ended Dec. 30, Apple sold a 21 million iPods - an impressive 50% increase over the same period a year earlier.
The iPod’s ability to maintain its momentum indicates the MP3 player market still has plenty of room for growth, and that Apple’s drive to pump out new versions of the iPod have resonated with consumers. It’s an interesting contrast to a post I wrote yesterday on upgrade fatigue when it comes to products such as Internet Explorer and Office.
Apple’s ability to drive higher iPod sales also reflects how competitors are failed to make any serious inroads even though there are products as good or better than the iPod. The iPod has achieved what I like to call “default status” so when people think about buying an MP3 player, they think about an iPod - much like they think about a Blackberry when it comes to a mobile e-mail device.
For something, well, completely different on Apple, check out the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, puppy
Written by Mark Evans on January 19th, 2007 with no comments.
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Another day, another major online video announcement with BrightCove raising $59.5-milion of venture capital from a group of investors including the New York Times Co. It was only yesterday that the tech world was abuzz with the official launch of Joost (otherwise known as the Venice Project) and Netflix getting into the business of downloading movies and TV shows. Then, there’s the launch of Video.ca (well, in Canada, this is newsworthy).
Amid all this activity, it will be interesting to see how cable companies deal with the growth of video delivered and consumed on the Internet, particularly if the content owners get into the business of going direct to consumers. Does this mean the cablecos will have to aggressively enhance their video-on-demand and pay-per-view operations? Does it mean cablecos will try to squeeze more money out of their high-speed Internet access operations as consumers demand more bandwidth to download movies and TV shows?
It could be that cablecos will be squeezed by online video - much like newspapers, radio and the music industry are being squeezed by the Web. We’re in the midst of a huge shakeup in the media landscape that no one is able to avoid.
Technorati Tags: Venture Capital, Video
Written by Mark Evans on January 18th, 2007 with no comments.
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I’m not sure whether this is the right phrase but do consumers have a bad case of “upgrade fatigue” when it comes to Microsoft software? Look at Internet Explorer, which has seen its market share decline to about 80% in the U.S. while Firefox has climbed to 14%, according to WebSideStory and Net Applications. This is despite the fact IE7 has Firefox-ized itself by adding such as tabs so you can open multiple Web sites at the same time. Are people moving to Firefox because it’s better and/or cooler, or are they simply tired of IE?
While there’s no Firefox in the operating system world (sorry, Mac and Linux supporters), there doesn’t seem be much buzz about Vista’s impending launch. While I haven’t drilled down into Vista yet, there appears to nothing compelling that will drive XP users to buy Vista. And what about Office 2007? How many people really need a new version of Word or PowerPoint when Office 2003 will do pretty much everything and anything you need.
Of course, millions of computer users will happily upgrade to IE7, Vista and Office 2007, while people buying new computers will have no choice. That said, IE7’s battle against Firefox puts the focus on the upgrade cycle and how difficult it can be to migrate people to new versions at a time when interesting competitors are battling for the attention of consumers.
Technorati Tags: Firefox, Microsoft
Written by Mark Evans on January 17th, 2007 with no comments.
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The online video market is obviously red-hot (today’s news about NetFlix and Joost are perfect examples) so b5media is looking to launch a new blog looking at the people, key players, start-ups, trends and technologies shaping this fast-emerging industry. If you’re interested in writing this blog, drop me an e-mail at markevansATb5media.com.
Technorati Tags: b5media, TV
Written by Mark Evans on January 17th, 2007 with no comments.
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So what’s in a name? On the Web, picking a corporate name can be a painful process. You have to find a name you like, make sure your investors like it, bounce it off some regular folks to see if passes the sniff test, and, if you’re lucky, the URL is available. Then, you have to worry about a lawsuit from someone who may have registered the name at some point or launched a product using the name that no longer exist. Given all these hurdles, I wonder how much pain Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis experienced as they thought about a new name for The Venice Project (a very cool moniker, by the way) before selecting Joost?
What’s a Joost? A quick Google search suggests it’s some kind of programming tool, a truck accessory retailer or an Australian artist (I think). I guess Joost for work for Zennstrom and Friis, although I suspect they could have called their new Internet-based television program “mud” or “dirt”, and it still would have generated the same amount of buzz for a product still in beta. For more, check out CNet and IP Democracy.
Technorati Tags: Joost, Niklas Zennstrom, Skype, TV
Written by Mark Evans on January 16th, 2007 with no comments.
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Putting aside the issues about how the iPhone is a locked device and whether Apple actually owns the iPhone brand name (or whether it’s Cisco, The Internet Phone Co.), a big question that must be asked is whether Steve Jobs and Apple have badly stumbled out of the gate from a public relations perspective with the iPhone’s launch. In other words, here you have Jobs confidently striding on stage to finally unveil the much-anticipated iPhone only to have the world start to push back on a number of issues after the initial euphoria evaporated.
It’s pretty stunning given how savvy Jobs has been over the years in terms of manipulating the Apple message. Apple is cool; Apple isn’t Windows; Apple has street cred; Apple isn’t evil; Apple is user-friendly, the iPod is ultra-cool, blah, blah, blah. You really have to ask whether Apple pulled the trigger too early on the iPhone before all its ducks were in a row properly. The growing concerns about DRM, the iPhone’s closed environment, and the ability to not use third-party apps suggests Apple didn’t think everything through as well as it should.
So, what happened? Did Apple jump the gun too early - something that has some credence given the iPhone is six months away from actually seeing the light of day. What couldn’t Apple have waited another two or three months so that many of the sticky issues that have popped up in the past week couldn’t have been resolved? Did Jobs/Apple believe something dramatic had to be produced MacWorld? I don’t know about you but the iPhone backlash seems so, well, un-Apple. For more, check out Gizmodo, Michael Parekh and Tom Raftery.
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone
Written by Mark Evans on January 16th, 2007 with no comments.
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Over the weekend, the Globe and Mail has a story about business card was disappearing as “Generation Blackberry’ relies more on electronic data than paper. While the business card may not as much of a corporate staple as it was 25 years ago, the suggestion it is fading into the sunset is overblown - particularly the notion seven million Blackberry users are sounding the death toll.
Truth be told, it’s not the Blackberry or other portable devices in which you can input data that will reduce business card usage but the growth of blogs. If want someone to know more about who you are, what you do and how you think, a blog is doing to a lot better job than a little piece of paper with your name, e-mail address and telephone number on it. In a sense, blogs could take the place of the business card and the resume.
We may get to a point soon where business cards will simply consist of your name and the blog URL, or you could tell someone you met to just Google “Mark Evans and technology” to find you (assuming you’ve been writing for awhile about a particular topic). Then again, there is something formal about business cards that Blackberrys or blogs don’t have. A business card is a sign of a relationship just beginning, which is why in Asia you treat a business card with great respect, and study its information before talking to the person who gave it to you.
So, long live the business card! (For the history of the business card, click here.)
Written by Mark Evans on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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For the past six weeks, b5media has been actively trying to hiring an advertising sales manager so we can grow revenue and become less dependent on things such as text links and AdSense. In talking to potential candidates, one of the things we’ve highlighted is the huge potential of the blog-vertising market as advertisers begin to allocate some of the budgets to the user-generated content market.
There is little doubt blog-vertising is going to see huge growth over the next few years as advertisers become adopt more aggressive online strategies. We see evidence of this trend in our business every day as email inquiries appear in our in-boxes. The question is how quickly will the blog-vertising market grow. According to a study done by PQ Media earlier this, the blog-vertising will climb to $120-million by 2010 compared with $16.6-million in 2005. That’s impressive but it strikes me as conservative, although I could easily be accused of being biased. 
What has struck me over the past three months since joining b5media is how many advertisers are still cautious about the online market, which seems strange give the strong growth that Internet advertising has seen over the past two or three years. Many advertising realize they need to be on the Internet but they’re still unclear about where to do it (mainstream sites, niche sites, blogs, podcasts), how (banner ads, CPM, CPC, CPL) and how much of their budgets (1%, 5%, 20%).
In terms of the blog-vertising market, a major challenge facing advertisers is who to do business with given there are 50 million blogs and counting. My sense is advertisers will approach the market in a pragmatic way and do a lot of experimenting with a variety of players to see what works. Part of this go-slow approach is many advertisers still see the blogosphere as the Wild West where anything goes. This is great for readers looking for lively writing but not ideal for advertisers that want editorial content they can count on.
As a result, advertisers initially do business with blog networks such as b5media, Federated Media, Gawker, Weblogs Inc., 9Rules, GigaOm and PopSugar where there are editorial standards and the media buys are easier than trying to pick off individuals blogs even those that are popular.
For more thoughts on the blog-osphere and the advertising market, check out Canadian Business writer Andy Holloway’s recent column.
Written by Mark Evans on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Would you buy an iPhone? Are you willing to spend $499 or $599 (without any subsidization by carriers) for the greatest thing apparently since sliced bread? Is the convenience of a MP3 and a phone in a well-designed package worth shelling out five or six Ben Franklins (six or seven Sir Robert Bordens for Canadian consumers)?
For all the excitement about the iPhone’s features, its success will obviously and ultimately hinge on its commercial popularity. So, let’s take a step back and look at the potential target audience for the iPhone. It’s unlikely the iPhone will resonate with corporate users given its a closed environment, it has lots of features (camera, MP3 player, etc.) that most employees don’t need and CIOs aren’t interested in, and anyone who wants superior mobile e-mail will probably get a Blackberry.
The iPhone is probably too expensive for younger consumers, who are happy spending $100 to $300 on a Nano/iPod, and already have plenty of options if they want a cool phone. So, that leaves the middle market - people like you and me who may love the iPhone’s features and the cool factor but may also have a hard time justifying its purchase. (Sorry honey, I spent the grocery money on the greatest thing since sliced bread rather than sliced bread).
TechCrunch suggests the iPhone will be a smash-hit with the Mac crowd but it’s frankly not a big enough market to make the iPhone anything more than a niche product. So what do you think? Will the iPhone resonate with consumers or become the latest Razr?
Note: With everyone focused on the fight between Cisco and Apple over the use of the word iPhone, what about The Internet Phone Co., which owns the iPhone.com URL and markets all of its plans using the iPhone brand?
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone
Written by Mark Evans on January 14th, 2007 with no comments.
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After a two-week hiatus, Kevin Restivo and I are back with another Talking Tech podcast - along with a guest appearance by Duncan Stewart. Since Kevin spent the week in Las Vegas attending CES - all work, no play apparently! - we spent some time focusing on some on the more interesting products and trends. In particular, Kevin said there was a huge focus on the home entertainment market as consumer electronic makers come up with new toys for the living room.
Not surprisingly, we spent some time talking about the iPhone. Duncan has his reservations about its prospects given the iPhone is entering a competitive market with a lot of cool devices already battling for attention. This environment, he argues, contrasts with Apple’s move into the MP3 market where there was only modest competition, and the iPod blew its rivals away. Kevin is far more enthusiastic, while I’m somewhat in the middle and do not see the iPhone as a Blackberry-killer. For more see, David Pogue’s iPhone FAQ.
We end the podcast with something different, we ended with chip maker AMD, which posted disappointing fourth-quarter results due to fierce competition with Intel.
If you want to drop us an e-mail, please do so at heytalkingtechATgmail.com. Thanks again to our production team of Neil Johnson, Ed Lee and David Jones.
Written by Mark Evans on January 13th, 2007 with no comments.
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So, there’s tons of buzz about the Venice Project - Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis’ new start-up to disrupt the television industry - now that beta invitations have finally been extended. While I haven’t got my invitation yet (sniff, sniff), Om Malik has the inside story on the company’s strategic direction from Fredrik de Wahl, who is running the company.
Written by Mark Evans on January 13th, 2007 with no comments.
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Kevin Restivo has emerged from the bowels of the Las Vegas Convention Centre with a sad tale about Wi-Fi connectivity during CES. Over to you Kevin, who promises to provide us with some insight into the cool gadgets and devices he saw at CES during our Talking Tech podcast tomorrow.
Dave Dobbin where are you?
The International Consumer Electronics Show (and Las Vegas for that matter) should have consulted the Toronto Hydro Telecom president before it built a Wi-Fi system in the media and an
