Archive for November, 2007

Every once in a while – and ever more frequently nowadays – there are those who scream of impending doom for the very existence of the Internet. And they’re not all frizzy-haired crackpots. Some are rather sane groups of individuals, who analyze the status of the Web fairly closely. And, yes, they see current trends [...]

The Associated Press reported this week that Sony BMG “inked a licensing deal with Yahoo! Inc. that clears the way for people to upload files with music or video content by the record company’s artists” to Yahoo!-owned sites. The terms of the agreement stipulate that Yahoo! share revenue amassed through advertising associated with its current [...]

The world of computer software is still largely dominated by localized offerings. You know, the stuff you put on your hard drive. The Microsoft Offices. The Adobe Creative Suites. All those handy utilities. And it?s understandable why they continue to command a great majority. They tap the processing power of our hardware systems very well; [...]

We spoke earlier this week of the joint YouTube-Beatbullying development that, you guessed it, addresses the issue of thuggery perpetrated both on school playgrounds and ones constructed on the Web. This next story, though not specifically related to the abovementioned announcement, also concerns the act of cyberbullying. It has to do with a particular case [...]

It’s getting to be a relatively quiet week in the tech world. Sure, servers are serving and screens are…you know…screening, but a good portion of the newsmakers and newsbreakers are taking a bit of a rest, a siesta if you will. Why? Well, here in the US in particular, we’re coming up on a national [...]

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about Powerset and their recent restructuring. Today, I talked with Barney Pell one of the founders and former CEO of the startup. As I have said before many times, Barney is an extraordinary person with a brilliant vision and Powerset has been one of my favorite [...]

Although online video and television programming offerings have surged over the past year, one particular aspect of the experience, the pricing scheme, can turn out quite costly if viewers are paying $2 to $3 per episode of a show. Not to mention the fact that, as we have seen with Google, purchased videos may not [...]

Yesterday, Amazon’s main man, Jeff Bezos, took the press for a ride to a predicted future where trees grow as they please, no longer threatened by pulp-hungry paper mills, and where the invention known as the e-book finally gets the acclaim it’s been due. That is, if such critical celebration is even warranted. Which is [...]

Here’s something to chew on: Microsoft wants to spend the next three to five years growing its online advertising market share by more than 300%. What can you really say to such seemingly irrational ambition? Good luck, I suppose. But really, if we’re honest, would it be right to expect any less pompous a plan [...]