Hey, We’re Talking Tech
It’s Friday and time for another Talking Tech podcast.
Not surprisingly, we talked about the iPhone after Kevin managed to snag on at an Apple store at a mall near Detroit last weekend. Despite the fact he can’t use it as a phone yet (the Wi-Fi works, though), Kevin spends considerable time gushing about the iPhone.
Google’s acquisition Grand Central also grabbed us given we believe it sets the stage for Google to become a key telecom services player now that’s it assembled a portfolio that includes a ton of dark fiber.
Finally, we talked about the $52-billion acquisition of Bell Canada by private equity investors following a much-criticized auction process.
Share This
Written by Mark Evans on July 7th, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
Babelgum’s Online Film Fest: Right Train, Wrong Track
Babelgum (the “other” peer-to-peer Internet TV startup), will host an online film festival to “reward the very best in international independent short filmmaking.” They even got Spike Lee to be an “honorary” judge (read: he’ll only watch a handful of of flicks). It’s great that Babelgum is creating a program to recognize the short film format, but there are some problems with this festival. Continue reading to find out.
Written by Om Malik on September 3rd, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
BetaHouse Incubates Web 2.0
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Greg Gibson, one of the founders of BetaHouse, a CoWorking group here in Boston. The premise of BetaHouse is pretty simple: For $400 a month, you get a desk, WiFi, access to a fully stocked (beer, caffeinated beverages and fatty snacks) refrigerator, a barbecue every Friday, music, and — most importantly — a group of other geeks with which to network, socialize and bounce around ideas.
The idea is to provide a creative environment in which techies and entrepreneurs can develop their ideas and bring them to market — and of course, get funding.
One idea that Gibson himself has developed in the BetaHouse office is PrayAbout, a social networking site based around support and prayer. Once you join the site, you can put in prayer requests that other people will answer, effectively creating a support group community to help you deal with your challenges.
The site appears to perform a useful social function and attracts people from around the world. One thing that Greg noted was that a number of people who have received support (such as a suicidal man in South Africa) have in turn become more involved with the site, providing support to others.
PrayAbout is quite different from other social networking sites in that it’s not ad-supported — all revenue is derived through subscriptions. It currently has some 14,000 subscribers, and that number is growing.
As for BetaHouse, time will tell how well this works. One issue I see is turnover. Once an idea is funded, the developers behind it will likely move to new offices in order to accommodate an expanding team, continually leaving BetaHouse with empty desks that need to be filled.
Written by on September 3rd, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
Time for a Rival to Google News?
It’s somewhat ironic that I’m reading a Sunday newspaper while also reading online about Google’s agreement to enter into a wholesale agreement with four news wires - Associated Presss, Agence France-Presse, Press Association of Britain and Canadian Press.
Mathew Ingram provides a succinct take on what the deal means but the bottom line is many newspapers could start to see far less traffic from Google News. This is because Google will highlight stories provided by the news wires, which could see Google News users visit AP’s Web site, for example, rather than newspapers that publish (and pay for) AP’s stories.
Google may claim nothing much will change but this agreement is another punch below the belt for newspaper industry, which has not been waging a fight to remain viable as the Web becomes the way more people consume news. If you thought newspapers (and Tribune Co. owner Sam Zell) were having issues with Google News and how it was “aggregating” their content before, you can now expect some major fireworks to happen.
Do not be surprised, for example, if newspapers start to demand to have their content pulled from Google News. A big obstacle, however, is Google News accounts for a huge chunk of traffic for many newspapers so leaving it would be a major decision.
Still, maybe it’s time for some of the major newspapers (e.g The Guardian, New York Times, L.A. Times) to create their own online news portal to compete with Google News. Or perhaps it’s time for the newspaper industry to get behind Topix, whose investors include Gannett Co, The McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co.
The bottom line is there is a major war brewing between Google News and the newspaper industry. Unless Google starts strikes more deals soon, things could get ugly.
More: If the Google News agreement was bad enough the Newspaper Association of America said ad revenue in second-quarter fell 8.6% to $11.3-billion from the same period last year. This is the fourth straight quarterly decline in ad revenue.
Share This
Written by Mark Evans on September 2nd, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
GigaNET Weekly Wrap Up
Written by Om Malik on September 2nd, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
Did You Invent Facebook?
Go to sleep, wake up; another person claims to have invented Facebook.
Step right up, Aaron Greenberg. So let’s hear your claim, young man. So you started a service called houseSYSTEM at Harvard four months before the precocious Mark Zuckerberg started The Facebook. Other than liking your idea and starting his own social networking thing, Mr. Greenberg, what else did Zuckerberg do to support your claim? They did teach you about competition at Harvard, and how it’s okay to start rival business down the street focused on the same market.
Not to belittle Greenberg’s claim but it does demonstrate how difficult it can be to invent something.
Who really invented the airplane? Was it Clement Ader, Samuel Langley, Albert Santos-Dumont, or the Wright brothers? Who invented the telephone? Alexander Graham Bell, Philip Reis or Antonio Meucci? Truth be told, Bell Co. successfully battled 13 lawsuits over whether it invented the telephone, including five that went to the Supreme Court.
In all, the Bell Company fought out thirteen lawsuits that were of national interest, and five that were carried to the Supreme Court in Washington. It fought out five hundred and eighty-seven other lawsuits of various natures; and with the exception of two trivial contract suits, IT NEVER LOST A CASE.”
Often, invention is simply taking a nugget of a good idea, making it better through changes and improvements, and finding a market for it. A classic example is what Bill Gates did with BASIC software.
My hunch is that Greenberg’s claim has more to do with envy than IP, and that any legal efforts will fail. The people behind UConnect, which also made a claim to have invented Facebook, may stand a better chance given Zuckerberg did some programming for them while at Harvard.
(Note: I do give Greenberg credit for something getting the NYT to write up his tale of entrepreneurial woe but that may say more about the fascination with all things Facebook than anything else.)
Of course, we all know really invented Facebook: Pete Cashmore.
Technorati Tags: Facebook
Share This
Written by Mark Evans on September 1st, 2007 with
no comments.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
No comments
There are still no comments on this article.
Leave your comment...
If you want to leave your comment on this article, simply fill out the next form:
You have to be identified to write a comment.
Untitled
...
Written by on with
comments disabled.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Comments disabled
Comments on this article have been disabled.
Untitled
...
Written by on with
comments disabled.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Comments disabled
Comments on this article have been disabled.
Untitled
...
Written by on with
comments disabled.
Read more articles on Uncategorized.
Comments disabled
Comments on this article have been disabled.
