Archive for July, 2007

Just last week, Microsoft executives let known the company’s plan to introduce a number of Web-based applications in the months and years ahead. Already, there’s mention that an office suite may be coming down the pipeline.
If you read the headlines about Microsoft’s new Works suite (a sort of “dumbed-down” Office equivalent) that have hit the Web in the past few days, you most certainly noticed the keywords “free” and “ad-supported”. And perhaps you thought the day had come that it [...]

We all love the concept of open source. It excites us. Despite the fact that the vast majority of computer users rely on creations born of a proprietary nature for most, or even all of their daily tasks, a big soft spot for Tux & Friends still exists. In an ideal world, everything would be “open”. I’m sure you’d agree.
There’ve been some great successes in the OS world. Linux, for one. It’s not the most popular platform out there today [...]

Here is the update on the status of our Profy iPhone contest. For those of you who have missed it, this summer we at Profy are giving away five iPhones to our readers absolutely for free. The task is rather simple: you write a guest post on the topic of your choice related to Web 2.0 and if your post gets more comments during two weeks after publication than any other post participating in the same round of the contest, [...]

Apparently singles looking for matches are starting to want more mobility and freedom. According to M:Metrics, 3.6 million cell phone users in the United States made use of a mobile dating service in May 2007 alone, a number that is expected to continue to rise.
To meet this demand, online dating service Match.com is launching a mobile matchmaking application for cell phones, which will allow its website subscribers to find singles and stay up-to-date while on the go. The [...]

Back before YouTube was taken off the market for $1.65bn by Larry, Sergey & Co, a video host with a slightly more infamous existence – it was and still may be the place to go for full-length copyrighted content (television, movies, etc.) that didn’t require knowledge of BitTorrent and such – was making lots and lots of noise of its own. Its name: DailyMotion. If you haven’t heard of it ‘til this moment, you’re either an impeccable citizen or [...]

If you recall the past public request by Netflix (the very successful US-based direct mail DVD rental service) for a recommendation engine that would operate in a more personalized and social fashion than the one currently in place, you may find this next story somewhat interesting.
It involves TrustedOpinion.com, and I must say there’s something of a strange arrangement between Netflix and the relatively young engine. Strange primarily because TrustedOpinion, rather than have its technology integrated fully into the Netflix website, [...]

Isn't the idea behind Facebook to make your social life more vibrant and increase your productivity? Apparently, big business begs to differ, as the UK-based Telegraph has reported that “more than two thirds of employers are banning or restricting the use of Facebook and similar sites over fears that staff are wasting time on them when they should be working.”
This comes after the news that Australia-based Telstra has banned Facebook access to its 49,000 employees.
The problem with workplace use [...]

Ever since Google purchased YouTube last November, critics have been wondering what the search giant will do to reduce and control piracy on YouTube. Google is now knee-deep in litigation concerning this very issue. In March, Google was sued by Viacom, who is alleging copyright infringement on YouTube. Viacom is seeking a hefty $1 billion in damages.
Some good news has been slipped by Google, suggesting that, soon, Google plans on eliminating the possibility of piracy and therefore future lawsuits. During [...]

Fichey is about as simple as browsing the internet can get. This new service that launched today provides a basic flash site that works very similar to StumbleUpon by allowing users to browse popular current websites.
One major difference though, is that this service is not in traditional web 2.0 style which involves collaboration. Instead, the sole purpose of this service is to re-hash content that has recently been popular on the social bookmarking services Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. [...]