Author Archive

Here’s something I didn’t expect to read this morning. Virtual worlds are big stuff.
The kid-oriented variety, anyhow. Indeed, The New York Times reported today that despite the less-than-stellar magnetism attributed to the teen- and adult-specific gamespace/marketplace called Second Life, the places on the Web reserved for the youngest of computer-savvy generations are quite the attraction these days. So much so that Disney and other companies are investing heavily in new environments built to attract children with a wide range [...]

The last 365.2425 days - give or take - have comprised a pretty remarkable period of time. Everything in the tech space has appeared supercharged since that day of new beginnings past. Whether you look at advancements made in root technologies that have enabled the transmission of higher and higher quality media over the Web, or more singular accomplishments like new utilitarian services among the likes of office software built both for local and remote use and backup options that [...]

The first Web browser to garner mainstream acceptance among the Internet’s earliest users (in the general consumer sector, that is), Netscape Navigator has been slated for final decommissioning come February 1, 2008. The news of the program’s imminent departure was released late last week by its current owner, AOL.
As much as we knew Navigator’s time would come to face permanent retirement, it saddens us a bit that the legendary utility, which once was said to saturate roughly 90% of [...]

The year is almost through. Eggnog’s running low. The once fresh-cut Douglas-firs placed inside millions of homes over the holidays are running dry and approaching their final demise. Bottles of bubbly are being prepped and placed on standby for the global celebration to happen next week for the new calendar’s arrival.
So I think it’s only fitting to follow convention here and offer up a few wise words in anticipation of suspected things to come in the wide world of Web [...]

In a bid to diversify its holdings in the realm occupied by its Web-based business, Wal-Mart has done something quite unpredictable and peculiar. It has launched its very own SEM service. (SEM is short for search engine marketing.)
Indeed. The company that started small and unsophisticated decades ago and grew to become the largest retail force on Earth, has apparently tapped the powers that be at Innuity, a well-known Web software specialist, and arranged to establish a marketing service within [...]

Unlike many retail giants of mostly brick-and-mortar, chain-linked proportions headquartered in the US, Amazon has shown a nice finish to 2007. The company, one of the largest of all online retail outlets, displayed a record number of sales this month – 5.4 million for the day of December 10th alone - effectively pushing the marketplace to a 13-year high, reported the London Times yesterday.
And there’s more. The mega-success, in tandem with the Warner Music Group, also revealed earlier this [...]

What seemed to grow more and more apparent throughout the last few months in advance of Macworld Expo ’08 has finally been outed by big media.
The Financial Times reported early yesterday (in its trademark salmon-colored pages) that Apple and 20th Century Fox, a entity held by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, inked a deal that would grant iTunes users the option to rent films produced by the studio. The news of the impending partnership comes in anticipation of [...]

It’s arrived! And ahead of schedule, we see.
Earlier this week we received a memo sent by the CEO of Red Room, a writer-reader oriented online networking solution. The company head, Ivory Madison, conveyed some happy holiday wishes to the team here, and also mentioned that abovementioned site, which I myself spoke favorably of just a few weeks ago, had gone live.
And it’s as enjoyable as I’d imagined. Like all newly launched Web services, I first ventured to Red Room to [...]

Sure, we’re a tad too late to the punch. We probably should’ve spent a few moments earlier in the week sharing a thought or two about the Web-2.0-ification of Queen Eliza and her immediate familial subjects relatives – in advance of her holiday greeting. But better late the never, right?
Okay, putting aside the fact that that little four-word adage went tired and expired many, many, many years ago, we must say we enjoy the fact that Her Highness has [...]