Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Wikipedia Founder's Google Killer

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is planning to launch a new search engine that he hopes can compete with top search engines Google and Yahoo.

Mr. Wales plans to launch the new search engine, currently dubbed “wikiasari,” in early 2007, he wrote on a Wikia page devoted to the project. The name combines the words “wiki”—a Hawaiian word meaning quick, and “asari,” Japanese for “rummaging search.”
RED HERRING | Wikipedia Founder's Google Killer

Jaxtr Tests Social Network Calling

Startup Jaxtr on Thursday launched a test version of its calling application for social networks and blogs.

The test comes after Palo Alto, California-based Jaxtr last week brought in LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke, who was vice president of marketing at the social-networking site for professionals.

Jaxtr’s service will allow people to connect phone calls via social networks or blogs through installation of its web-based widgets. The heavy interest in social networks has brought a need for startups creating such applications, Mr. Guericke said.
RED HERRING | Jaxtr Tests Social Network Calling

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Visiting the 'Second Life' World: Virtual Hype?

Virtual appearances in Second Life have generated a real world business for Giff Constable, Vice President of Electric Sheep Company. The 35-person startup helps other companies create social events inside Second Life.

For example, they produced a recent appearance by musician Ben Folds for Sony. Constable believes this is just the beginning.

"Right now everybody has email," Constable says. "You know, 10 years ago, I think a lot of people would have found that a surprising thought. I think 10 years from now, everyone is going to have an avatar."
NPR : Visiting the 'Second Life' World: Virtual Hype?

Friday, December 22, 2006

Google upgrades Blogger for some users

"Google is offering some Blogger users access to a new version of the service which enables user-definable templates, tagging of posts, multiple authors, and faster publication of new posts.

The company said the service upgrade will also integrate use of the blogging service more closely with its other services through changes to the account log-in process.

The new features bring Blogger service closer to that offered by competing blog-hosting services such as Six Apart's TypePad and Automattic's Wordpress."
Google upgrades Blogger for some users - Digital Lifestyle - Macworld UK

Mogopop lets users create, download content for iPods

Mogopop has been announced as a new free online service and website that lets users create, publish and download content for iPods. “Mogopop is a free web-based service where members and visitors can create, publish and download multimedia content for iPod,” the company explains. “This content that can incorporate audio, video, pictures, podcasts, text—whatever our members’ minds can imagine, they can create. Mogopop downloads are like mini-Websites for iPod that anyone can enjoy.”

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Gartner: Blogging to peak in 2007

Could blogging be near the peak of its popularity? The technology gurus at Gartner Inc. believe so.

One of the research company's top 10 predictions for 2007 is that the number of bloggers will level off in the first half of next year at roughly 100 million worldwide. The reason: Most people who would ever dabble with Web journals already have. Those who love it are committed to keeping it up, while others have gotten bored and moved on, said Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow.
Gartner: Blogging to peak in 2007 - Yahoo! News

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Lulu: The Long Tail of publishing

In one area at least, the new economy is delivering on its promise.

Unlike expensive vanity publishing of the past, today an author need not part with a penny to see their words in print and can even make money.

In just three years, Canadian Internet entrepreneur Bob Young's Lulu (http://lulu.com) has gone from nothing to a turnover of $16 million and is now publishing 2,500 new titles a week by unknown authors from across the globe.
Online vanity publisher is a Lulu - Yahoo! News

Monday, December 11, 2006

Wikipedia founder remakes Web publishing economics

Wikia Inc., is ready to give away -- for free -- all the software, computing, storage and network access that Web site builders need to create community collaboration sites.

Wikia, a commercial counterpart to the non-profit Wikipedia, will go even further to provide customers -- bloggers or other operators who meet its criteria for popular Web sites -- 100 percent of any advertising revenue from the sites they build.
Wikipedia founder remakes Web publishing economics - Yahoo! News

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

By 2010, movies-over-the-web will be Hollywood’s ‘new box office’

Movies-over-the-web are going to be a big part of Hollywood’s “new box office,” according to the Research and Markets research firm. And Apple is in a good position to capitalize on the trend. In fact, the research firm says that the iPod is also laying the foundation for Apple’s “Television 2.0” business expansion, with the advent of video capability and the sale of video programming on iTunes.
By 2010, movies-over-the-web will be Hollywood’s ‘new box office’

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The eBay Model Goes To The Movies

How can independent filmmakers and small film libraries, whose titles are languishing unseen in storage, connect with the new venues for video that are sprouting up? The traditional methods of licensing films--attending film festivals and markets or meeting with distributors--are too expensive, exclusive, and inefficient for almost everyone but major players.

Here's one possible solution: inDplay, a Silicon Valley startup backed by Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capitalist William R. Hearst that aims to connect films with professional buyers through an online marketplace.
The eBay Model Goes To The Movies

Friday, December 01, 2006

You Oughta Be In Webcasts

Scripted Web shows are piquing the interest of Mad Ave and giving filmmakers a new venue...

Welcome to the new wave of Web video. Far from the land of dogs on skateboards and Webcam yakkers on YouTube (GOOG ), this online genre of scripted programs is attracting small but passionate groups of fans. The networks and talent agencies are watching closely, and the phenomenon is giving indie filmmakers new ways to get their works seen. At the same time, this emerging ecosystem is creating a tempting--albeit challenging--play for advertisers looking to cut through the chaotic mass of Web pages on YouTube and MySpace.
You Oughta Be In Webcasts