Run Webapps like a native Mac app.

Freeware application Fluid runs your favorite webapps in a dedicated, WebKit-based browser so you can run your most-used webapps just like they're native Mac apps.
[Via Lifehacker]

Emerging Tech That Will Make a Difference in '08

Check out the possible Emerging Technologies of 08 and beyond. Will it be: Open Social Networks, Next-gen Smart Phones, Web-based Applications, SAN Encryption, Ultra-Web Connectiveness, Green Technology, The Semantic Web, Low-cost Laptops or all of the above?

Jim Rapoza examines and reviews the above Emerging Technologies and the possibilities they offer in the near fuuture.

So, what is the next big thing? What emerging technology will change your day-to-day job and the face of business?

When it comes to emerging technologies, 2007 has plenty of candidates. Some look poised to effect major change, and some will have a more modest impact. Some will come up short, failing to deliver on their initial promise.

One common thread in the history of important emerging technologies is that many people initially fail to recognize them...

Odds are that some of today's most-hyped technologies will decrease in importance or fade completely into oblivion, while some mostly ignored technology becomes the true groundbreaker. Looking back at 2007, there are many technologies that fit in either category.

In this special report, I take a look at the emerging technologies that were announced or started to gain traction in 2007. From this list, I'll identify the technologies that are most likely to deliver important improvements for all businesses. I'll also identify the technologies that have failed--or appear likely to fail--on their promises.

One thing that's certain is that some of these technologies will greatly affect your job. The challenge for IT workers is to stay on top of these potentially disruptive technologies and be ready to leverage them to provide a competitive boost.

Emerging Tech That Will Make a Difference -- By Jim Rapoza

The Biggest Emerging Technology Disappointments of 2007

eWeek list's the major technology disappointments of 2007.

"The past year has seen quite a few exciting new technologies that failed to deliver or actually took steps backwards in their progress. In some cases this was because of overblown promises, in some because of technical limitations and some failures were due to politics and aggressive competition.

However, all of these technologies can take solace in the fact that history has shown many cases where a technology that initially disappointed eventually became a major success."

http://etech.eweek.com/slideshow/index.php?directory=techdis

The Biggest Emerging Technology Disappointments of 2007

Films shot on camera phones get showcase

"They have a voyeuristic feel because the cell phone is so unobtrusive. Devoid of the typical grandeur of standard films, they offer grainy but patiently taken close-ups that don't rely on zooms and other fancy editing techniques.

The Pocket Films Festival in Japan, which organizers say is the first in this nation, marks yet another use for the omnipresent portable phone here, already used to exchange e-mail, surf the Internet, read novels and navigate on miniature digital maps.

Making movies with them was simply a logical next step."

Films shot on camera phones get showcase - Yahoo! News

Stop Death by PowerPoint

| View | Upload your own

Mashable's Best Resources Online

Click through to see the plexo

Apple to open iPhone for developers

This is great news for developers and users. Now, iPhone users won't have to resort to hacking their phones and voiding their warranty.

"In an apparent about-face, Apple Inc. will allow third-party applications to work directly on the iPhone, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a posting on the company's Web site Wednesday."

Apple to open iPhone for developers - Yahoo! News

How to create a great website

Simple but good advice from Seth Godin.

Here are principles I think you can’t avoid:

1. Fire the committee. No great website in history has been conceived of by more than three people. Not one. This is a dealbreaker.

2. Change the interaction. What makes great websites great is that they are simultaneously effortless and new at the same time. That means that the site teaches you a new thing or new interaction or new connection, but you know how to use it right away. (Hey, if doing this were easy, everyone would do it.)

3. Less. Fewer words, fewer pages, less fine print.

4. What works, works. Theory is irrelevant.

5. Patience. Some sites test great and work great from the start. (Great if you can find one). Others need people to use them and adjust to them. At some point, your gut tells you to launch. Then stick with it, despite the critics, as you gain traction.

6. Measure. If you’re not improving, if the yield is negative... kill it.

7. Insight is good, clever is bad. Many websites say, “look at me.” Your goal ought to be to say, “here’s what you were looking for.”

8. If you hire a professional: hire a great one. The best one. Let her do her job. 10 mediocre website consultants working in perfect harmony can’t do the work of one rock star.

9. One voice, one vision.

10. Don’t settle.

How to create a great website

Google Testing "My World" Second Life Rival?

Things could get interesting if Google gets into this game.

"Rumors of Google's plans to create a virtual world that rivals that of Second Life have popped up once again over the weekend. The company could now be collaborating with Arizona State University to test the 3D social network, which may be tied into Google's current applications of Google Earth and Google Maps."

Slashdot | Google Testing "My World" Second Life Rival?

IBM to offer free Office software

More free Word processors and Spreadsheet applications. Who needs Microsoft :)

"IBM on Monday said it would start offering free word processing and other office software, joining a growing group of companies with free applications challenging a core Microsoft Corp product."

IBM to offer free word processing, office software | Reuters

Yahoo to start testing Mash, a social network site

"Yahoo... is testing an experimental social network service called Mash that makes it easy for Yahoo users to share tidbits of their lives with friends and family online, the company said on Sunday.

Mash, to which a limited number of public users began being invited as testers on Friday, was described by a spokeswoman as a new, next-generation service that is independent from the company's 2- year-old Yahoo 360 degree profile service...

One aspect of the service is the power it gives users to edit their friends profiles and add personal blurbs, subject to approval by the profile owner."

Yahoo to start testing Mash, a social network site - Yahoo! News

Search startup ready to challenge Google

"Powerset, is... aiming to outshine the Internet's brightest star with a new search engine built to outsmart Google.

After nearly two years of hushed development, Powerset is finally providing a peek at a 'natural-language' technology that is supposed to make it easier to communicate with search engines.

Powerset's algorithms are programmed to understand search requests submitted in plain English, a change from the 'keyword' system used by Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp. and the owners of the other leading engines.

The distinction means Web surfers will theoretically be able to get more meaningful results by typing more precise search requests in the form of straightforward questions like 'What did Steve Jobs say about Apple?' instead of entering an ungrammatical mishmash like 'Apple Steve Jobs said.'"

Search startup ready to challenge Google - Yahoo! News

Glide Mobile Lets You Check Out PowerPoint Slide Shows on Your iPhone

"One of the sorely missed features of the Apple iPhone is full compatibility with Microsoft Office. Out of the box, you can read Word documents on it, but you can’t edit them. And don’t even think about running a PowerPoint slide show. But starting later today, Transmedia CEO Donald Leka tells me, Glide members will be able to go over to glidemobile.com on their iPhones (or Blackberries or Treos or Nokias) and show people slide shows that they’ve uploaded to Glide."

The Next Net: Glide Mobile Lets You Check Out PowerPoint Slide Shows on Your iPhone

SoCal college offers YouTube class

Here's a dream-come-true for Web addicts: college credit for watching YouTube.

Pitzer College this fall began offering what may be the first course about the video-sharing site. About 35 students meet in a classroom but work mostly online, where they view YouTube content and post their comments....

Class members control most of the class content and YouTube watchers from around the world are encouraged to comment, Juhasz said.

She hopes the course will raise serious issues about YouTube, such as the role of "corporate-sponsored democratic media expression."

YouTube is "a phenomenon that should be studied," student Darren Grose said. "You can learn a lot about American culture and just Internet culture in general."

SoCal college offers YouTube class - Yahoo! News:

A Case Study in Online Promotion

"Andrew McAfee, a professor of technology and operations management... says he's... become convinced that young companies will rely ever less on 'channel' technologies like e-mail and more on 'platform technologies' like Facebook and MySpace (NWS) to communicate externally and internally. 'Platform technologies are universally visible and transparent and open to everybody. I think the communication bias of young people today has migrated from channel to platform.'"

A Case Study in Online Promotion

Is this a future of Television?

With advertisers moving to the web to target specific audience and networks putting too many restrictions on content creators, creative minds are migrating over to the web. As broadband access expands and download speeds increase, the web looks more and more appealing for distributing video content.

The creative minds behind such TV shows as "Thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life" are launching a Web-based show, hoping to find the artistic freedom online that they say is lacking on broadcast networks.

The show, called "Quarterlife," will debut Nov. 11 on MySpace.com and will also be paired with its own social networking site that will include story extras as well as career, romance and other information for the show's young audience.

Centered on a group of recent college graduates, the show started as a pilot for an ABC series called " 1/4 Life." It aired once in 2005 and was pulled because of creative differences between the network and creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

With the explosion of online video and the migration to the Web of such well-known artists as Will Ferrell, Harry Shearer and Bill Murray, Herskovitz and Zwick decided to resurrect the show and give it a cyber twist...

The show's 36 episodes will air exclusively on MySpace.... Each episode will be about 8 minutes long with two episodes debuting each week. The producers and MySpace will share revenue from ads that will run in the video. Additional revenue will come from product placement deals, Herskovitz said.

In a new wrinkle, the show also will have its own social networking site called quarterlife.com...

TV veterans produce Web-only show

The 8 Secrets that Make Apple No. 1

In his Computer World article, Mike Elgan makes some great points about why Apple is succeeding where other consumer focused companies are failing. I think these key points apply no matter what business you are in. Definitely worth a read.

Basically, you can divide consumer electronics companies into two groups: Apple, and everyone else. Apple really is that different. Its influence on global design is many orders of magnitude higher than its nearest competitors. It engenders customer loyalty significantly greater than that earned by any other company in the consumer electronics space. The Apple brand and awareness of its products in the general culture far exceed what you might expect, given the company's actual sales.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is famous for a crazy video in which he yells, "I...love...this...company." With Apple, it's the customers who shout that.

It's no accident, and it's not a passing phenomenon. Apple knows something that other companies don't. Here are the eight secrets that make Apple the best company in the industry.

The 8 Secrets that Make Apple No. 1

Peachpit Releases Designing Your Second Life

Just what we need, a manual for our Second Life :)

"Peachpit announced the release of Designing Your Second Life by Rebecca Tapley... a guide to the subtle and sometimes baffling new world of the online community Second Life.

Designing Your Second Life teaches the reader everything they need to know to build a more rewarding second life, from creating an avatar to building impressive homes and planned communities to establishing a social community and career. Author Rebecca Tapley takes real-world topics such as urban planning, color theory, user experience, interior design, and landscaping, and maps them to Second Life conditions. This teaches readers to identify the best skin and hair, clothing, architecture and construction, property for sale, and more. In addition, her insights and observations on Second Life etiquette, manners, and customs will be an invaluable resource for all users."

Peachpit: Peachpit Releases Designing Your Second Life

5 Things Google Looks For

Key's to a higher page ranking on Google...

1. Keywords used in the title of your pages (between the TITLE tags)
2. Keywords used in headings (H1) and in the first paragraph of your blog
3. Keywords used in link text, both on your blog as well as on other blogs
4. The PageRank value of your pages
5. Pages that contain at least 200 words or relevant text content (the more pages the better)

5 Things Google Looks For - Daily Blogging Tips and Web 2.0 Development

The Coming Virtual Web

"In the future, the Internet is almost certain to look more realistic, interactive, and social—a lot like a virtual world"

The Coming Virtual Web

Family Trees 2.0

New sites are coming up to tap into the oldest kind of social networks, this article highlights a few of them.

"Family Trees 2.0 A new crop of genealogy Web sites are designed to recharge the oldest social network in human history: the family."

Family Trees 2.0

Way Too Good for Facebook or MySpace?

I guess, this had to happen sooner or later. Social Networks for the "really connected" seem to be the new craze (for those in the know) and you have to be "invited by an existing member" in order to join, sounds very exclusive to me! Read this BusinessWeek article for more.

"For the rich and well-connected who don't want to rub elbows with those who aren't, exclusive social networks pledge to keep out the riff-raff..."

Way Too Good for Facebook or MySpace?

Finding Your Dream Domain Name

"Not all the good ones are taken, but many are. Experts suggest you choose your company name first, and go from there..."

Finding Your Dream Domain Name

Google to Embed Ticker-Type Ads in Video

I guess, this is okay for all those who are used to seeing ticker type info running along the bottom of their TV channels; but I wonder if it's going to intrude on the video content, leading to complaints from content providers.

"Google says it's ready to introduce a new kind of video ad. The ads will be like news tickers – appearing 15 seconds after a user begins watching a video clip, and run like an overlay on the bottom part of the screen. Google says users will feel like they are in control of what they're watching."

NPR : Google to Embed Ticker-Type Ads in Video

Steve Jobs: Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

This is a two year old speech but quite inspiring and timeless, for anyone, at any stage in their life.

15 Crazy And Cool Photo and Video WebSites

You can do some pretty interesting things with your videos and photos on these sites. 15 Crazy And Cool Photo and Video WebSites

Amazon Launches Lulu Competitor

More options for writers to get their work published.

"CreateSpace, which until last week was CustomFlix Labs, a company founded in 2002 and acquired by Amazon in 2005, today launched a print on demand book publishing service. The newly minted CreateSpace service line-up now includes print on demand books, DVDs, CDs, direct download video, audio books, and HD DVDs (Blu-ray coming soon). This puts Amazon in direct competition with Lulu, and to a lesser extent CafePress."

Amazon Launches Lulu Competitor

Hollywood pros to launch online video site

When it debuts Tuesday on the Web, My Damn Channel will become the latest attempt by Hollywood professionals to cash in on the huge popularity of online video...

The site is the brainchild of former MTV and CBS Radio executive Rob Barnett, who believes Internet audiences want to see professionally produced shows other than network TV fare.

"The old media companies don't know how to program for this medium,' Barnett said. 'There is a focus on reruns and outtakes, and I don't think that cuts it."

Hollywood pros to launch online video site - Yahoo! News

12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally

Good tips on improving your Facebook profile.

"12 ways Facebook can benefit the web worker, particularly those who are home-based. The more connected you are to your co-workers and clients without being intrusive, the better your working relationship."

Web Worker Daily » 12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally

9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Network

Good review of "Build Your Own Social Network" websites.

"These up-and-coming companies provide so-called “white label” social networking platforms that enable their customers to build their own social networks (often from scratch) and to tailor those networks to a range of purposes."

9 Ways to Build Your Own Social Network

The Internet Crash of 2007

Seriously funny ;-)



The Internet Crash of 2007 [Via: LifeHacker]

How Top Bloggers Earn Money | BusinessWeek

This BusinessWeek article profiles several successful blogs that have managed to attract a following and in the process, created a new business for some accidental bloggers.

"From cat pictures and celebrity gossip to tech news and politics, the stars of the blogosphere earn plenty of dough, regardless of subject. Some bloggers start their sites intending to make big profits. But most of the bloggers we talked to had more modest expectations, and saw their blogs unexpectedly turn into businesses as traffic picked up and ad dollars rolled in. Here's a look at how some of the most popular blogs make their money."

How Top Bloggers Earn Money | BusinessWeek

Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks

"Eric Nakagawa, a software developer in Hawaii, posted a single photo of a fat, smiling cat he found on the Internet, with the caption, 'I can has cheezburger?' in January, 2007, at a Web site he created. It was supposed to be a joke. Soon after he posted a few more images in the same vein: cute cats with funny captions written in a silly, invented hybrid of Internet shorthand and baby-talk. Then he turned the site into a blog, so that visitors could comment on the postings. What happened after that would have been hard for anyone to predict."

Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks

PixelNovel: FlickrShop

Cool new free plug-in to export images from Photoshop (CS2 & CS3) to Flickr.

FlickrShop is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that allows you to upload images to Flickr photo sharing website directly from Adobe Photoshop.

PixelNovel

15 Productive Uses for a Wiki

The Web Worker Daily has some great tips on how we can use a Wiki to manage our personal and work related projects.

We're all familiar with wikis, of course — Wikipedia being the most famous example, but many other useful wikis abound on the Internet. But one of the most productive forms of wikis is the personal wiki, which you can create at any number of sites. Once you've got your personal wiki set up, here are 15 ways to use a wiki productively, web worker style...

Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 15 Productive Uses for a Wiki

Essential reading for bloggers

Another great find from Lifehacker; this time a list of the 55 most essential articles for serious bloggers from Entrepreneurial blogger Matt Huggins.

Whatever your reasons for blogging, you're sure to find some useful information here. Articles are organized by category: blogging basics, how to write meaningful content, how to increase your readership, SEO, community, monetization, and more.

Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide

70+ Podcasting Tools and Resources

A comprehensive list of resources for Podcasting [via Lifehacker]; very useful for any aspiring podcaster out there.

Social web tracker Mashable has compiled a monster list of the seventy most essential podcasting resources.From basic podcast creation to miscellaneous podcasting tools, this is a very comprehensive list that should take care of most (if not all) of your podcasting questions.

Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide

Google Makes FeedBurner Services Free

A good service, now set free by Google.

FeedBurner has ceased charging for two premium features following their acquisition by Google in May.FeedBurner Stats PRO, a service that provides detailed statistics including subscriber numbers, item clickthrough tracking, podcast downloads and aggregate item uses amongst other features, becomes free.

Google Makes FeedBurner Services Free

Internet getting close to becoming ‘most essential’ medium in American life

[According] to a new report by Edison Media Research. Consumers age 12 and older were asked to choose the “most essential” medium in their life; 33 percent chose the Internet, just behind television (36 percent), but above radio (17 percent) and newspapers (10 percent). In 2002, the Internet trailed TV on this perception by a significant margin (20 percent verses 39 percent), and also trailed radio’s 26 percent.

In the study, newspapers were named as “least essential” medium by 35 percent, followed by the Internet at 24 percent (it was most mentioned in 2002 at 33 percent), and both radio and television had the fewest mentions at 18 percent. The Internet and television have swapped places in the last half-decade as “Most cool and exciting” medium. The Internet is mentioned by 38 percent for this perception in 2007 (verses 25 percent in 2002); 35 percent now say television is “most cool and exciting” (verses 48 percent in 2002).

“It is not a stretch to say that the Internet has become just as important as television as a primary source of information and entertainment in the lives of Americans,” says Larry Rosin, president, Edison Media Research. “It is entirely possible that the Internet will lead in all positive categories five years from now.”

Internet getting close to becoming ‘most essential’ medium in American life

Real Life or second Life

Check-out this real life enactment of Second Life. It's really funny ;)

"Your Truman Show" brings your story to the web

Your Truman Show, Inc. today launched the beta version of its online broadcast network dedicated to publishing, rating and reviewing the drama and comedy of personal video stories. YourTrumanShow.com combines on one platform the power of personal blogging, user-generated video and social networking.

Your Truman Show brings your story to the web | via Scobleizer.com

Spout.com presents first full length feature film on YouTube

Apparently, this is the first feature length film to run on YouTube; worth a look.

We are exceptionally pleased at Spout to be presenting the first feature length film to run on YouTube: Four Eyed Monsters. Check out our official press release here and read about our promotion with the makers of this film, Arin Crumley and Susan Buice. If you are interested in a little history about this film, check out their video-podcast about making it and trying to get distribution...all 8 episodes. And, if you haven't signed up on Spout yet, go here immediately: http://www.spout.com/foureyedmonsters.

Spout.com presents first full length feature film on YouTube

The Twitterization of Blogs

Learn how blogs are changing due to the Twitter/mobile blogging phenomenon of "less is more."

Most bloggers prefer mundane tidbits to deep thoughts, and backed by voice transcription and video sharing, the cell phone may soon be the tool of choice...

The Twitterization of Blogs

Lessons from the Amp'd bankruptcy

The blogosphere's been abuzz about Amp'd Mobile's Chapter 11 filing in the wake of a 'liquidity crisis'. GigaOM cited a company statement blaming inadequate systems:

"As a result of our rapid growth, our back-end infrastructure was unable to keep up with customer demand."

But Om and others rightly note the more critical factor here is that Amp'd has had a devil of a time collecting from its customers, with 40% of its 200,000 subscribers owing Amp'd money -- cash it desperately needed to fund marketing and operations.

There's a lesson here for managers suffering from a tunnel-vision obsession with top-line revenue growth: while inadequate infrastructure can hobble a business; an inadequate balance sheet can bring it to its knees (and crawling into bankruptcy court). It's nearly impossible to grow your way out of that kind of trouble.

It's also important to note that privately-held Amp'd has filed for Chapter 11 (reorganization), not Chapter 7 (liquidation), meaning that (at least for now) they ostensibly intend to eventually re-emerge as a viable business. But as the Business Week story points out, another potential outcome is that one of its major creditors (Verizon seems a likely suitor) will end up getting the whole company on the cheap. That's a high price to pay for growth.

O'Reilly Radar > Lessons from the Amp'd bankruptcy

VideoNewsLive - Your Daily Video News Community

Join the new social community that gives you daily updates on video news across the web. You can discover new content by simply joining the social network, each day new content news will be delivered to you. The sources come from over 35 unique providers across the net, or, alternatively you can suggest a new video news provider. The community is enabled to submit video news links, and upload their own videos. You can create a dialouge with your peers by rating and commenting upon the videos you view. If your personal hero is Ron Burgundy, you too can upload your own video news and submit it to the site. You, too, could be kind of a big deal.

In their own words:

Videonewslive.com is a user driven social community site, with a community of users who enjoy daily video news currently from over 35 different providers. The user community can participate by suggesting a new video news provider, submitting video news links, and uploading videos.

VideoNewsLive - Your Daily Video News Community [via Robert Scoble's shared feeds on Google reader]

Photobucket to become part of MySpace

A Web site that enables its users to store photos and video for inclusion in MySpace profiles will become a part of the popular online hangout.

MySpace's parent, News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, agreed to acquire Photobucket Inc. just weeks after a public spat in which MySpace partially blocked content from Photobucket. The block was mysteriously lifted after about two weeks, but both sides had been silent on the details of their peacemaking.

Fox also agreed separately to buy Flektor Inc., which offers Web-based tools for creating slideshows, video mash-ups and other interactive presentations.

Photobucket to become part of MySpace - Yahoo! News

Why Ustream will change mainstream

Like most enduring ideas, the Ustream concept is just plain simple. Ustream allows just about anyone to broadcast live video over the Internet and interact in near realtime with connected viewers using chat.

Global Neighbourhoods: Why Ustream will change mainstream

MySpace to launch online TV channels

Popular Internet social network MySpace said it planned to launch online television channels from news and entertainment networks that include The New York Times Co., Reuters and National Geographic.

The new channels will also include programming from 'lifestyle' media companies that will offer animation, night life, video game shows and music.

MySpace to launch online TV channels - Yahoo! News

Web Site Traffic: Google upgrades Analytics

"Google's overhauled the reporting interface ('dashboard') in their web site stats program, Analytics.

The new look is a lot easier on the eyes and the brain."

Web Site Traffic: Google upgrades Analytics (via: Lifehacker)

Bring Your A-game to Write for Blogs

Good set of basic rules for any blogger. Read on...

"If you’re a freelance writer who’s written for newspapers and magazines, or an English or communications major who’s an old pro at writing papers, or even just someone who’s always written well, you might think your talent will translate directly into awesome blog writing.

You’d only be half right.

As a freelance journalist (for the past 15+ years), I’ve discovered that writing for blogs is a bit different (sometimes quite a bit different) than writing for other mediums, and understanding those differences can help you write amazing blog posts and get a ton of readers. Be a blog writer, not just a writer, and you’ll find success in this new medium."

Bring Your A-game to Write for Blogs

MySpace to acquire Photobucket

MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., has reached a preliminary deal to acquire Photobucket, the world's top photo-sharing site, for around $250 million in cash...

MySpace to acquire Photobucket: source - Yahoo! News

Bring Your A-game to Write for Blogs

"If you’re a freelance writer who’s written for newspapers and magazines, or an English or communications major who’s an old pro at writing papers, or even just someone who’s always written well, you might think your talent will translate directly into awesome blog writing.

You’d only be half right.

As a freelance journalist (for the past 15+ years), I’ve discovered that writing for blogs is a bit different (sometimes quite a bit different) than writing for other mediums, and understanding those differences can help you write amazing blog posts and get a ton of readers. Be a blog writer, not just a writer, and you’ll find success in this new medium."

» Bring Your A-game to Write for Blogs

Broadcast live events with Ustream.tv

Ustream.tv lets you broadcast any live event over the web using nothing more than a webcam.

You could use this free service to broadcast your band's concert, your high school's football game, your company's training session or just about anything else. All you need is a Ustream.tv account, a video camera (either a webcam or a camcorder that has webcam capabilities) and a broadband Internet connection (cellular modem cards are recommended for on-the-run notebook users).

You can schedule events, send out invites and archive broadcasts for later viewing. It's a pretty amazing service, though the Ustream.tv site doesn't do a particularly good job of explaining its features, nor does it offer much in the way of help. Still, this definitely has the makings of a Next Big Thing. What kinds of events would you broadcast?

Broadcast live events with Ustream.tv - Lifehacker

PublicSquare: Painless Publishing

PublicSquare makes publishing easy. Stop wasting time on the mechanics, and spend your time on the stories and the people.

PublicSquare: Painless Publishing

Podcasting: Believe The Hype

[Like] blogging... podcasting is a relatively easy way to increase consumer awareness and create an open dialogue between your customer and your brand, ultimately creating loyalty...

Customers can also subscribe to your podcast, so that each time you produce a new show, they will automatically receive it. Much as a webinar can do (but without needing to be live), podcasts can reach your target market with regularly scheduled relevant messages and information about an issue, your industry, and your business.

Podcasting: Believe The Hype

Success With Search Engines

What if you had a Web site and no one came?

Success With Search Engines

Business Blogging

Your small business can benefit from using blogs to raise awareness, increase customer loaylty, and boost sales.

Business Blogging

PAH-FEST

PAH-FEST, which stands for “PROJECT ACCESSIBLE HOLLYWOOD,” is a new kind of digital media festival that celebrates the stories and voices of everyday people. PAH-Fest invites people from all walks of life to tell their digital stories using today’s latest technology and pro-sumer equipment. All movies created during the festival are available in the Online Theater.

PAH-FEST

At Last, an Online Art House

Jaman has an eclectic catalog of easy-to-download movies, including a wide selection of foreign films. The cost is low, the quality good...

At Last, an Online Art House

Panning for Video Gold

Video discovery startups generally cull and curate video from around the web, use social networking principles to make personalized recommendations, and allow users to create personal playback lists. Magnify.net, for example, lets users create personalized video blogs around certain topics. Network2.tv, founded by conference organizer Jeff Pulver, rates and recommends videos.

The brand new Divvio suggests videos based on personal viewing habits. Dabble, meanwhile, allows users to link to others with similar tastes. These sites avoid tricky licensing deals by leaving the video hosting to others.

RED HERRING | Panning for Video Gold

Examining the Move to Reanimate HTML

When it comes to the technologies that make up the World Wide Web, one thing is certain: HTML clearly represents the past. HTML, you did a great job in building the foundation of the Web, but, today, the future of the Web belongs to XML, XHTML and multiple scripting languages. So long, HTML!

Wait a second. What's that? The World Wide Web Consortium has announced the formation of a new HTML working group chartered to create the next HTML standard...

Examining the Move to Reanimate HTML

The Ins and Outs of Virtual Worlds

Some of the biggest names in high tech are convinced that Second Life and other virtual worlds are the future of the Net. Are they fooling themselves?

The Ins and Outs of Virtual Worlds - Review by PC Magazine

Virtual Reality Goes Mobile

When will virtual reality hit cell phones? It already has. In October, the California company Gemini Mobile Technologies unveiled a new service called eXplo, the world's first '3D Mobile Social Community Platform.' In much the same way that Second Life streams an alternate universe to your PC desktop, eXplo serves one up to your wireless handheld. Even as you're moving across town in the real world, you can walk your 3D avatar through an online virtual world.

The Ins and Outs of Virtual Worlds: Virtual Reality Goes Mobile - Review by PC Magazine

Big Spenders of Second Life

Virtual world residents shell out real dollars for nonexistent clothes, cars, and real estate. Will real-world luxury brands capitalize?

Big Spenders of Second Life

The Virtual Meeting Room

Intel, Raytheon, and other companies are dabbling in technology that enables 3D conferencing, but will employees take to avatar exchanges?

The Virtual Meeting Room

Microsoft Aims to Outshine Adobe's Flash

In a bid to capitalize on the burgeoning online video market, the tech titan is launching Silverlight, its new video-player software...

Microsoft Aims to Outshine Adobe's Flash

The Coming Virtual Web

In the future, the Internet is almost certain to look more realistic, interactive, and social—a lot like a virtual world...

The Coming Virtual Web

Designing the Perfect Presentation

The design firm behind Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth offers insights on improving a presentation...

"In the accompanying slide show, I offer seven keys I learned from Duarte that can be applied to any presentation."

Designing the Perfect Presentation

What’s New and Next in Video Games

David Perry, a 20-year veteran of the video game industry and BusinessWeek.com columnist, discusses the latest trends in the world of video games – and where savvy investors and designers should look for the Next Big Thing

Download this episode (requires QuickTime 7 or iTunes)

What’s New and Next in Video Games

How Second Life Changes Customer Service

The virtual world could become the first point of contact between companies and customers and could transform the whole experience...

Since it began hosting the likes of Adidas, Dell, Reuters and Toyota, Second Life has become technology's equivalent of India or China - everyone needs an office and a strategy involving it to keep their shareholders happy. But beyond opening a shiny new building in the virtual world, what can such companies do with their remote real estate?

Rather than a simple showcase, some believe Second Life could one day become a first point of contact for customers.

How Second Life Changes Customer Service

Personal portals show the Web world what you watch

While scores of companies allow Web users to create personalized pages, most rotate in the orbit of one of the major Internet players, such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, or Time Warner's AOL.

By contrast, Netvibes lets users pull in information from almost any modern Web site -- Microsoft e-mail can sit next to Yahoo photos and Google search on a user's home page, alongside the latest cool features from tiny start-ups.

Personal portals show the Web world what you watch - Yahoo! News

Make Internet TV

The site covers shooting, editing, licensing, publishing and promoting video on the internet; it illustrates these topics with screenshots, photos, screencasts, graphics, text and more. It's essentially a free online book about video creation and publishing.

[They've] also started the MITV Wiki http://mitvwiki.org - a connected site where anyone can add resources, links and experiences that are related to creating online video.

This guide has step-by-step instructions for creating video feeds that can be easily subscribed to and have the potential to be watched by millions.

Make Internet TV

SpeedBit's Incredible Shrinking Download

The Israeli company says its new accelerator can download a film inside 20 minutes. If true, this could revolutionize the online video industry...

SpeedBit's Incredible Shrinking Download

Twittered-out

Read one person's experience with Twitter and the conclusion she came to. Unless it evolves into something useful, I wonder if this is one of those fads that will soon go the way of the dodo.

"In the end, though, Twitter was just too much communication for me. The company plans a digest feature for sending compiled updates every so often, the way you can get messages on some mailing lists in batches."

Review: Twitter takes e-chat to extremes - Yahoo! News

Jib Jab: What We Call The News

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

Media Moguls Make Their Move Online

Former media titans such as Eisner and Bochco are finding lots to like as they produce new shows aimed at social networking's explosive growth...

Media Moguls Make Their Move Online

Japan Goes for Animation in a Flash

Web Flash animation programs have opened new worlds, and better connections, to amateur animators equipped only with a PC and a dream...

Japan Goes for Animation in a Flash

Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe

If you are a producer of digital data, trust me you are, you need a backup system. Here's a review from Information week of "Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe."

Hint: You can Mozy up and try a free service to get 2GB of storage for your critical files.

Review: Five Online Backup Services Keep Your Data Safe

Is the 'Web OS' just a geek's dream?

Technically, so-called Web OS software still relies on an underlying operating system, like Windows or Linux, to translate a user's actions to hardware functions. But proponents of the Web OS or 'Webtops' are bringing more end user computing into the Web browser, arguably making the choice of operating system less important.

Some sites mentioned in the article: Laszlo Systems, Goowy, YourMinis, Desktoptwo, TransMedia's Glide OS

Is the 'Web OS' just a geek's dream? | CNET News.com

Does email have a future?

Interesting article on the long-term future of email. Although junk-mail and spam are a huge problem, I think email is here to stay at-least in the foreseeable future, especially in the business world. Email affords us to archive and retrieve messages easily, a feature not easily available in instant messaging and text messaging. One possible alternative to email could be a Wiki, when it comes to tracking project development and serving as a knowledge-base, within organizations. Read on.

The days of email as a mission-critical application appear to be limited, according to an IDC report.

IDC said it is projecting that 97 billion emails will be sent worldwide in 2007 and more than 40 billion of those will be spam. That 40 billion spam mark means that junk email will surpass person-to-person email. Overall, email volume in 2007 will approach 5 exabytes, doubling the amount over the past two years.

» Does email have a future? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Yahoo wants a piece of iPod

Just as Apple announced it has sold it's 100 millionth iPod, here comes news from yet another competitor looking to take a bite out.

Yahoo has teamed up with Sandisk and start-up Zing to promote a new digital music player with wireless connectivity, reports the Wall Street Journal. The new digital music player will essentially be a special edition of previously announced Sansa Connect that allows consumers to download music wirelessly and without requiring a PC.

GigaOM » And now Yahoo wants a piece of iPod

Spam-Free Marketing

>> Do's and don'ts for e-mail marketing.
>> Tips for Writing Effective Promotional E-mail

Direct e-mail marketing is the same as any other kind of marketing: You'll waste time, effort, and money trying to get the attention of people who have no use for your product or service.

Spam-Free Marketing: How You Can Do It, Too

The Digital Road to the White House

When it comes to campaigning, the Internet has mushroomed from a political backwater in 2000 to become a pivotal part of the making of the president in 2008. This year's crop of candidates has learned from both Howard Dean's Web-fueled rise and fall and former senator George Allen's (R-VA) catastrophic failure in 2006, when his YouTubed 'macaca' comment helped cost him reelection to the Senate (the deciding race in giving the Democrats control of both houses) and a presidential bid.

The Digital Road to the White House - Review by PC Magazine

Google lets users create own maps

One particular thing to note for emerging media professionals is the ability to attach photos and videos to map locations. This could start a whole new wave of location based videos posted by users, so keep those cameras handy :-)

The Web search leader, which set off an explosion of creative map-making among professional programmers after introducing Google Maps two years ago, is now offering MyMaps, tools for everyday users to create maps in a few mouse clicks.

Let your imagination run wild, spatially speaking: Pinpoint your favorite restaurant locations. Return from a world tour and plot out landmarks along the way. Take photos from a recent hike and use MyMaps to illustrate locations along the trail.

"Who better to create maps than local experts?" Jessica Lee, product manager for Google Maps, said in an interview. "MyMaps makes map-making universally accessible to anyone."

Google lets users create own maps - Yahoo! News

Web drama to make debut on MySpace

"Prom Queen" is the first show to be produced by a new studio formed by former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner. It will consist of 80 episodes, each lasting 90 seconds.

Each episode will appear during a 12-hour window on MySpace before showing elsewhere, including on its own dedicated Web site.

Web drama to make debut on MySpace - Yahoo! News

Twitter: All Trivia, All The Time

Is instant blogging the next big thing or is it the peak before the big drop-off, read on and decide for yourself.

Instant blogging reaches warp speed, but more and more, there are cries of information overload... The service's followers love its quotidian tidbits. Others cry: Enough already!

Twitter: All Trivia, All The Time: "

The Mind-Bending New World Of Work

Motion-capture technology has burst out of Hollywood and into businesses from aerospace to advertising (read on for details).

The Mind-Bending New World Of Work

The New Avatar In Town

A new crop of online multiplayer games is coming, targeting a broader audience with simpler navigation and customization than Second Life. These games also rule out lewd behavior. The companies behind them have a novel way of making money, selling digital goods such as avatars and their outfits. The games themselves are free.

The New Avatar In Town

NBC and News Corps' challenge to YouTube

This has the potential to be really big boost for licensed content. NBC and Fox are both planning to make their hit TV shows and movies available via the new online channel in an ad-supported model. YouTube could take a big hit as a result of this venture, especially considering they are partnering with AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! which gives them huge exposure.

News Corporation and NBC Universal will launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film, it was announced today by Jeff Zucker, President and Chief Executive Officer, NBC Universal and Peter Chernin, President and Chief Operating Officer, News Corporation. The video-rich site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios.

AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! will be the new site's initial distribution partners. Their users, who represent 96 percent of the monthly U.S. unique users on the Internet, will have unlimited access to the site's vast library of content. This media alliance will offer consumers free long- and short-form video and create a compelling platform for advertisers, targeting the rapidly growing audience of online video consumers.

NBC Universal and News Corp. Announce Deal with Internet Leaders AOL, MSN, MySpace And Yahoo! to Create a Premium Online Video Site with Unprecedented Reach: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Think: The changing media environment

KERA's Think has a video podcast on the subject of the challenges traditional media is facing due to today's constantly changing media environment. Very relevant to any Emerging Media student.

Think, March 16, 2007 DALLAS TX (2007-03-16) How does a newspaper editor manage and meet the challenges of today's ever-changing media environment? Watch host Krys Boyd discuss this with Bob Mong, Editor of The Dallas Morning News. Krys then previews the Dallas International Film Festival with Michael Cain, CEO and Artistic Director of the AFI DALLAS International Film Festival.

KERA: Think

YouTube to present video awards

Next week, the online video-sharing Web site YouTube will present awards for best user-generated videos of 2006.

Starting Monday, YouTube members can browse through videos in seven genres at http://www.youtube.com/YTAwards/ and rank their favorite short-form videos. Polling closes on Friday. Trophies will be handed out on March 26.

YouTube to present video awards - Yahoo! News

Socializing online luring an older crowd

This article offers a slightly different view on the growing popularity of social networking websites, different from one of my previous postings. However, I would argue 20-30s is not really an "older crowd" :-)

Teenagers are being joined by more people aged in their 20s and 30s on social networking Web sites as the trend of socializing online continues to expand, according to a survey on Wednesday.

Figures from online intelligence service Hitwise showed visits to the top 20 social networking Web site such as MySpace rose by 11.5 percent from January to February.

Socializing online luring an older crowd: study - Yahoo! News

Free Operating System Developer Challenges Microsoft And Google

In the third quarter, a little-known Swedish software company plans to release a free operating system with the potential to radically alter the economics of software development. If successful, Xcerion could erode the power Microsoft derives from controlling the desktop, beat Google at its software-as-a-service play, and make commodity Linux boxes more viable as a platform for the masses.

"What Skype did for telephony, we want to do for software development," says CEO Daniel Arthursson. "We're enabling the 'long tail' for business software."

For five years, Xcerion has been working on an XML-based Internet operating system, XIOS, that runs inside a Web browser. It's an abstraction layer that sits on top of a true operating system like Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows, just like Transmedia's Flash-based Glide Next media sharing environment.

But XIOS isn't simply an interface for media sharing. Rather, it's a complete XML-based operating system and development platform that replicates the desktop computing experience from inside the browser and adds the benefits of cloud-based computing, making applications and data available over the network.

Watch it in action and you'll see the threat it poses to Windows: Double-click on XIOS and the familiar desktop interface appears inside the browser window. Expand the browser window in full-screen mode and the Windows desktop vanishes beneath it. Of course, the XIOS environment could just as easily look like the Mac OS desktop or something else entirely. This is what Microsoft feared Netscape would do--turn its main asset, the operating system, into middleware.

Small Software Developer Challenges Microsoft And Google With Free Operating System

Open-Sourcing Of College Education

Take advantage of this if you can.

College education has gone open source: A number of top universities are placing their course materials online, free. No course credit is granted, but self learners can have access to all the same materials as those shelling out tens of thousands of dollars annually. That's great news for IT pros who are either unemployed or looking to acquire new skills and knowledge.

The movement includes prestigious universities MIT, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of California at Irvine and others.

InformationWeek: The Open-Sourcing Of College Education

Is Social Networking Destined To Go Bust?

This article makes some good points about the eventual decline of social networking sites such as MySpace. Food for thought.

Michael Hirschorn takes an in-depth look at online social networking and predicts that sites like MySpace will soon go bust.

Hirschorn's thesis is that online trends rapidly go from must-have to has-been. And unless the service or trend in question evolves -- like Google or Web browsers -- the trend tends to go flat just as quickly as it spiked into the mainstream...

InformationWeek: Is Social Networking Destined To Go Bust?

NBC to offer on-demand mobile television service

NBC Universal said on Wednesday it will sell prime-time television shows like 'The Office' and 'Heroes' on demand over cell phone networks in the United States.

Viewers will be able to purchase full episodes of top-rated NBC shows starting at $1.99 for a 24-hour period. NBC said it is working with MobiTV to provide the service, part of a mobile television network first created in 2003.

NBC to offer on-demand mobile television service | Reuters.com

Startup to offer the 'personal radio'

Interesting concept that un-tethers online radio from the computer; but it still requires a Wi-Fi connection to update itself. Wonder how they will differentiate themselves from cell-phone based music services that allow the user to listen via subscription.

A new service is taking personal taste in music to another level by combining elements of Internet radio, portable music and satellite distribution.

A startup led by a team of veterans in the digital music arena seeks to offer 'personal radio' that lets users choose the tunes, genres or artists they want, and listen to them on the go.

Slacker Inc., based in San Diego, launched its radio service Wednesday, making its Web site, http://www.slacker.com, available in a beta, or testing, stage.

A separate Wi-Fi-enabled pocketable gadget that will be able to play the personalized selections will be available in the early summer, with models ranging roughly from $150 to $299, the company said. A car kit that will deliver the music via satellite signals will be available later in the year at a price yet to be disclosed.

Startup to offer the 'personal radio' - Yahoo! News

The CEO Guide to Corporate Wikis

Here's a podcast that gives a good overview of how wikis can be used within an organization to increase productivity and collaboration.

A wiki is a Web site that lets visitors easily add, remove and change the content. The first wiki was created in the mid 90s by computer programmer Ward Cunningham who named his invention,'wiki,' after the word for quick in Hawaiian. The best-known wiki is perhaps Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which is written collaboratively and can be edited by anyone. Wikis are now making their way into corporations where they are used as collaborative software to handle such tasks as project management, tech support, research and development, event planning and customer relationship management.

Download this episode (requires QuickTime 7 or iTunes)

BusinessWeek: Corporate Wikis

Online Video Dos and Dont's

Another good article with guidelines on the "Do's and Dont's" of online corporate videos.

How to adopt online video as an effective corporate marketing tool -- without falling prey to the booby traps.

Tipsheet: CEO Guide to Online Video

Business Goes Straight to Video

This BusinessWeek article discusses the pros and cons of how online video is being used by corporations, how some have used it successfully while other's have failed. A must read for those who are considering video on their own websites; it may also help you avoid making the same mistakes.

A growing number of companies turn to online video, and the word of mouth that accompanies it, for everything from advertising to recruiting.

Business Goes Straight to Video

Matching Sustainability with Profits

Excellent article about why product designers should be thinking more than just the cool factor in the products they design. Read the entire article here.

We live in a society of consumption. Our voracious and seemingly endless appetite for more, better, bigger, and easier is leaving our planet overrun and creating an environment that may not be able to sustain human life.

As designers, are we partially responsible? Are we helping or hurting?

The common and understandable perception is that designers just make more stuff the world doesn't need, but this is unfair. Good designers—conscientious designers—work with sustainability in mind. They know they need to create products, services, and environments that make sense for clients, and work for and with our earth. In other words: Profitable sustainability.

How is it to be done?

A simple—but not sufficient—answer might be to design more environmentally friendly products and processes. This might be called the 'diet chocolate cake' approach: Keep doing what we are good at and giving people what they want, but somehow do it less harmfully. At the other end of the spectrum is the abstinence approach: Plead guilty to the charge that designers spend a lot of time designing 'elegant landfill' and stop doing it. The great designer Dieter Rams, for example, called for a less wasteful approach in his monograph, 'Less But Better.'

Matching Sustainability with Profits

Sony to launch virtual universe

Capitalizing on the popularity of social networks and online worlds, Sony will launch its own virtual universe and another 3-D game built almost entirely by players. 'Home' is a real-time, networked world for the PlayStation 3 in which players create human-looking characters called avatars. They can buy clothing, furniture and videos to play on a virtual flat-screen television in their virtual apartments.

The concept is strikingly similar to Linden Lab's 'Second Life,' a Web-based phenomenon with nearly 4.5 million residents. But Sony's world will feature heavy doses of video games for avatars to play, as well as virtual arcades, music, movies and other Sony-approved media downloads.

Sony to launch virtual universe - Yahoo! News

Rocketboom's Powerful Lift-Off

These are the early days of video blogging. Most of the postings on the Web are rough and tedious -- little more than home movies. But the success of Rocketboom and a few sites like it underscore the potential of video blogs. Cheaper video recorders mean just about anyone can make videos, while the spread of speedy Net service means almost anybody can watch clips posted online. The result? The Internet is coming alive with a mix of video, from the polished parody of Rocketboom to the raw interviews of reporters. As these videos flow into the living room, they will reshape what we think of as television. "TV will be transformed," says Mitchell Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corp. (IBM ) and now an investor in Participatory Culture, an online video startup. "People will look at it as historically quaint that you had to watch something that others chose for you."

Rocketboom's Powerful Lift-Off

Is the Web the New Hollywood?

Take Jeff Macpherson, the indie filmmaker in Vancouver who started Tiki Bar with his friends. He's getting plenty of attention from Hollywood types, but instead of trying to parlay Tiki Bar into a gig in big-budget TV or movies, Macpherson wants to raise money to create a series of similar shows for the Web. 'This is the beginning of something big,' Macpherson says. As people spend a growing portion of their lives online, some would-be movie moguls view Internet TV as an end in itself. Some are even finding that they can make money doing it...

The Internet is turning into a breeding ground not just for shows, but also entire networks. ManiaTV, a startup launched 17 months ago to be the MTV for the online set, broadcasts its own live show over the Internet and offers on-demand videos about music and videos. It draws 2 million visitors a month.

KEEP IT SHORT. But as marketing evolves, it will need to adapt to its new environment, ad experts warn. "I don't think that just transposing the 30-second-spot model works in this space," says Mohan Renganathan, associate group director in New York City for ad agency MediaVest Worldwide. "Video over the Web is more about getting content you're interested in seeing that you have searched for."

BusinessWeek: Is the Web the New Hollywood?

Second Life Opens For Business

Good article discussing the pros and cons of "doing business" in SL. What companies are doing in this online world, how it is affecting their real world operations and what they can do to improve there presence.

Toyota, Circuit City, Dell, Sears, and Adidas have set up shop in the Second Life virtual world. But their stores are empty. Can businesses find a place with any real-world payback in this fantasyland of overindulgence?

Second Life Opens For Business - InformationWeek

Podcast Bunker

Here's a site that claims to list only the very best podcasts; both the mainstream and the off-beat. They have a weekly top 20 list, as well as a "slew" of RSS feeds. Check out Podcast Bunker.

'Second Life' gets chatty

Second Life is going to get a lot more interesting with this new feature. Wonder what it will do to our real social lives now that users can talk in SL. See this previous posting for the downside of living online.

Linden Lab, the company behind 'Second Life,' says it is implementing voice-over-Internet software that will let the thousands of people online at any given moment talk to each other over their computers' microphones and speakers.

`Second Life' gets chatty - Yahoo! News

Online addict dies after "marathon" session

This is really sad, but the way things are going, the sedentary lives we are leading, we should all take this story as a note of caution. Don't be stuck to your computer screens, online social networks and gaming worlds. Go enjoy and participate in the real world as much as you can, it will do you good.

An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a 'marathon' online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday.

Online addict dies after "marathon" session - Yahoo! News

Build your own social sites

Pretty interesting concept.

Ning, the latest startup of Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, is looking to get a jump ahead of MySpace and Facebook by giving consumers free tools to create and operate specialized online social networks of their own...

"Other social network sites ask you to join their world. We are about people creating their own worlds," said Ning Chief Executive Gina Bianchini, who co-founded Ning with Andreessen.

Build your own social sites

Jyve puts users in charge of answering search queries

Here's an interesting new twist on a search engine, Jyve lets live users answer questions posted by other users. It is a unique approach because it brings in social networking aspects into the utilitarian search engine. By using the "knowledge" in people's heads, you may find some unique answers to a question that cannot be answered by Google.

"Can’t find it on Google? There are many alternatives to the world’s most popular search tool, but a newly created Web site called Jyve offers an approach that acts like an online chat room instead of a typical search engine.

Jyve users ask questions and receive answers from other users, usually within seconds. It’s like a cross between Wikipedia and Ask Jeeves (now known simply as Ask.com)."

Jyve puts users in charge of answering search queries - Network World

Does Your Business Need a Second Life?

A good question to ask for any business. Read on.

Why are companies like Toyota (NYSE:TM) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT) getting immersed in this pixilated fairyland? Why did IBM (NYSE:IBM) announce it was going to spend $10 million developing a presence in Second Life and other virtual worlds? One word: research...

Rob Seaver, Vivox's CEO, says he has every intention of making real money in Second Life. But mostly, he thinks Second Life lets him explore the future of the Internet and think about what that might mean for his business. "A lot of what Second Life portrays is the future," Seaver says. "This 3-D virtual realm is a significant part of the evolution of the Internet and more and more activities will be presented in the virtual world."

Does Your Business Need a Second Life?, Inc. Article

How I Did It: Philip Rosedale

Inc Magazine interview with Philip Rosedale, creator of SecondLife, CEO of Linden Labs.

"Second Life was just unfundable," says the man who dreamed up this virtual world. Funny how things change when you give people the ability to fly. Now everyone, including businesses of all sizes, wants a piece.

How I Did It: Philip Rosedale, CEO, Linden Lab

Wicked Productive Wikis

Here's an article that discusses why a Wiki may be a good way to do collaborative work. I think it's a good solution for organizations to track product development or project management. It can also be a good way to maintain a knowledge base for internal use within an organization.

Forget daily status reports. Set up a wiki to collaborate more effectively with your project teams.

Wicked Productive Wikis - Expert Help by PC Magazine

Have I Got A PowerPoint For You

In the beginning, there was MP3 sharing. Then came friend sharing (MySpace), photo sharing (Flickr), and video sharing (YouTube). Now it has come to this: PowerPoint slide sharing.

SlideShare.net offers a place to upload, view, and search for PowerPoint presentations. And since opening up its beta site in October, it has received tens of thousands of files.

Talk Show: Have I Got A PowerPoint For You

Call-in to Create a Free Podcast

Want to try podcasting on the cheap? Gcast offers the chance to try basic podcasting free, by letting you record your podcast over the phone.

Geek Chic: Gcast Podcasting Service - Personal Technology - Network Computing

"Slidy" Show

Here's a way you can be free of the M$ monopoly. Use the open source "Slidy" XHTML presentation to create accessible slide shows with ease. It works across browsers and is operated like PowerPoint.

Check it out.

Another Way to Sell

Here's an article on the trend of advertisers placing 3D ads in games and online worlds.

The line between video games and advertisements is blurring. Just as savvy marketers are bringing Batman billboards and Powerade vending machines to greater numbers of games, those at the bleeding edge continue to find new ways to get advertisers in touch with players. Their latest trick? Three-dimensional branded content.

RED HERRING | Red Herring Software Report

Revver video clips to be on Verizon's FiOS

The deal reflects interest among traditional distributors and the technology industry to make Internet videos easier to watch on television and follows similar offerings from other companies.

Comcast Corp., the top U.S. cable operator, last November said it would make select Internet videos from Ziddio.com available on its on-demand TV service.

Digital video recorder technology company TiVo Inc. landed a deal with online retailer Amazon.com to make movies and shows purchased online viewable on TVs connected to TiVo set-top boxes.

Revver video clips to be on Verizon's FiOS - Yahoo! News

Adobe Brings Video Editing Tools Online

Adobe and Photobucket announced a partnership to integrate Adobe web-based video remix and editing technology directly into the Photobucket user experience, giving 35 million Photobucket users direct, free access to world-class digital video editing tools.

TecKMagazine - Adobe Brings Video Editing Tools Online

Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes

Thanks to John Keese for finding this awesome video.

Why Should Businesses Blog?

Good article discussing why businesses should blog. I personally believe a thoughtful, well written blog can be an asset to the business, providing insight into the workings of the company and the vision of its founders.

A blog is a window into your business's people, culture and values. You want your customers to connect to your brand in a way that encourages community, trust, and, of course, repeat sales. In today's crowded marketplace, you should embrace any opportunity to win consumer loyalty.

On a more technical level, a blog is a form of online diary, often focused on a particular topic or theme. For your small business, your blog could cover company culture, industry trends, or even items you find interesting. A blog can also serve as a crisis communications tool, providing your customers with your opinion or defense—instantly.

One of the best ways to increase your readership is to link to other blogs. This enables you to build a community of like-minded people who could be potential customers quickly. You could, for example, use the Web site Technorati to find similar businesses or industry blogs. This site will also show you how many blogs are linking to a particular entry—another way of measuring popularity. But make sure you have something intelligent to say when commenting on other blogs. By contributing thoughtfully, you can create respect for yourself and encourage a community to form around you.

Business Blogging

Bloggers: All Typed Out?

Has the blogging phenomenon peaked or is this just the beginning of the next big wave. PC magazine discusses these issues in the following article.

The blog phenomenon is following a familiar cycle, according to Gartner: We're in the midst of the hype phase, but soon bloggers (and readers) will pass into what Sarner calls a 'trough of disillusionment, where they'll realize that blogging isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread.'

Not everyone agrees with Gartner's prediction. 'I find it hard to fathom that blogging will peak only a few years into this phenomenon, while the technology for creating and aggregating blogs is still the domain of the early adopters,' says Larry Genkin, publisher of the soon-to-be-launched Blogger & Podcaster magazine (coming in March).

Bloggers: All Typed Out?

13 Most Beautiful Avatars

Eva and Franco Mattes have "photographed" the "13 Most Beautiful Avatars" in Second Life, then printed them on large canvases for an exhibition. According to them, they tried to capture the avatars that looked most like real people.

Check out the pictures and their interview.

Brainy Stuff

Here's a pretty cool product for gamers. San Francisco based, Emotiv makes headset that uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with all game platforms from consoles to PCs making it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind.

In the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, Jedi master Yoda uses the mysterious Force to lift Luke Skywalker's star fighter from a swamp by simply thinking about it. But when it comes to playing Star Wars computer games, gamers have to use a clumsier method to move the ship: pushing buttons on a control pad.

San Francisco-based Emotiv wants to give gamers Yoda-like powers. The startup, founded in 2003, is developing a technology that monitors a user's brain activity and interprets it to manipulate a game environment, such as lifting an object and spinning it around...

Download the complete article >

Next Wave: Brainy Stuff
Red Herring Magazine : January 15 | 07
By Brad Howarth
Red Herring Magazine >

Tagging, no longer fun and easy

Interesting article on the issue of tagging blogs, images and websites. Why it may be creating more "noise" than clarity.

"Most people think that tagging on the Web is pretty easy and fun. Give 'em a blog or a Web page and a field named 'tags,' and they'll start stuffing in text with wild abandon in the hopes that their content will be easily found by people who are desperately searching for information and opinion on feline hairball cures or cycling in the Ozarks or whatever their particular hobby is. Alas, all these folks are doing is polluting the Web."

Tagging, no longer fun and easy - Network World

Virtual News Readers for the Virtual World

This is a pretty neat use of Virtual Avatars to present news reports that are automatically combined using images and blogs from all over the world. It's a unique experiment by a couple of Computer Science graduate students at the Northwestern University’s Intelligent Information Laboratory (InfoLab).

News at Seven is an automatic system that crafts daily news shows. It finds the news you are interested in; edits it; finds relevant images, videos, and external opinions; and then presents it all using a virtual news team working in a virtual studio. News at Seven is a uniquely compelling experience that can present traditional news--augmented with supplemental images, videos, and opinions from the blogosphere—all without human intervention.

News at Seven

Clever mobile enhancements on the rise

The founders of Zink Imaging LLC believe they have two great ideas in one absolute show-stopper. They've created a portable device that makes it ultra-convenient to print photos from digital cameras and phones. And they designed it to use no ink.

That's not to say 'hardly any ink,' mind you, but zero ink — shorten that and you get 'Zink.' Instead, the device uses heat to activate minuscule dye crystals embedded in the photo paper.

Not bad for a device roughly the size of an iPod. No wonder founder and CEO Wendy Caswell proclaims that Zink 'delivers a magical user experience.'

Clever mobile enhancements on the rise - Yahoo! News

Want to learn the truth about your business? Hire a blogger.

For BzzAgent, 2006 was shaping up to be an exciting year. The Boston-based word-of-mouth marketing agency had just landed $13.8 million in venture funding and a brand-new board of directors, and it was planning on nearly doubling its staff from 47 to 80. Making room for all those new hires meant moving into new, larger headquarters. Facing this barrage of change, many companies would lie low and wait for the dust to clear. BzzAgent chose a different path. Call it courageous corporate transparency or a temporary lack of judgment, but for president and founder Dave Balter, it seemed the perfect time to start a blog.

And not just any blog. Rather than post himself or ask staffers to contribute, Balter decided to hire an outsider--someone who would function pretty much as an embedded reporter. For 90 days, the blogger would come to the office, attend meetings, interview employees, even go out for after-work drinks with them, and share his thoughts on the company's transformation. The project's name: 90 Days of BzzAgent. (Click the link below to read more.)

The Outsider

Painless Podcasting: How You Can Do It

Source: PC Magazine

A podcast is an audio file (typically MP3) served from a Web site and combined with an RSS feed that lets subscribers automatically download new content directly to their PCs or mobile devices. Podcasts are an invaluable way to share your expertise and promote your business. Don't be afraid of podcasts; this stuff isn't very complicated as long as you stay organized... If you're just getting started, though, you can always podcast yourself. Here's how:

1. Plan the format. Most podcasts are structured like radio shows, with hosts interviewing guests or speaking about topics of interest. You can interview clients about how great your products/services are, increasing customer loyalty and driving new sales. Asking someone to be a guest on your podcast can open doors, creating a relationship that you can later make the most of for sales purposes. You can use your podcast to establish your reputation as an expert within your field, perhaps by ­recording how-to segments.
   
   
2. Record your podcast. You can use a portable voice recorder (digital, if possible, so you can simply copy the audio file to your computer), hire a service that records phone interviews, make a VoIP call from your computer and record it, or simply ­attach a microphone to your PC and record.
   
   
3. Edit your podcast. You may want to cut out parts of an interview or add some music. Audacity is an excellent freeware audio recorder and editor...
   
   
4. Host your podcast. The next step is to ­upload your podcast to a server. If you have enough space on your current Web host, simple create a new directory and store your podcasts there. Or you can use a service such as Podblaze or HipCast to store it. Either way, you'll simply link to the audio file from your blog or Web site.
   
   
5. Serve the RSS feed. Your feed is a file that's updated every time you add a podcast. Subscribers to your feed can then automatically download your new content. Podcasts require an RSS feed formatted in a certain way. You can use FeedBurner... to serve an enhanced feed, or FeedForAll for a simple feed.
   
   
6. Promote your podcast. No one will ever find your podcast if you don't promote it, not just on your own site but also on the major podcast directories and search engines, such as iTunes. [Click for instructions on how to submit your podcasts to iTunes (techspecs), Yahoo! Podcasts, and Podcast Alley.]

PC Magazine: Painless Podcasting (ARTICLE DATE: 01.10.07)

Goodbye User Manuals, Hello Screencasts: The End of the Traditional User Guide?

... this is a growing phenomenon, and an excellent one too. It has long been a problem with software that it takes time and effort to get to know an application properly. With large professional Applications you are often willing to put in the time and effort to learn it regardless, but when trying out shareware or smaller pieces of software, I find that if an Application doesn’t grab my attention quickly I will often abandon it for something that does. I know this sounds like laziness, but sometimes you are just too busy to invest the time. By using simple quicktime videos, a developer can give a much better overview to an application and allow the potential user to get into the software much quicker. More than that though, it is a great boon for end users to quickly see what a software product can do and immerse themselves in the features without having to go through pages of documentation first. I hope more software developers realize this in the future and we start to see the traditional user manual replaced with a more media rich and easier to follow alternative.

Goodbye User Manuals, Hello Screencasts: The End of the Traditional User Guide? at thomas fitzgerald.net

The 20 Most Popular Websites

Source: Complete.com

• myspace.com - 11.9%
• yahoo.com - 8.5%
• msn.com - 3.7%
• ebay.com - 3.7%
• google.com - 2.1%
• aol.com - 1.7%
• pogo.com - 1.6%
• facebook.com - 1.0%
• amazon.com - 0.7%
• craigslist.com - 0.6%
• go.com - 0.6%
• youtube.com - 0.6%
• live.com - 0.5%
• bankofamerica.com - 0.4%
• wikipedia.org - 0.4%
• walmart.com - 0.3%
• mapquest.com - 0.3%
• neopets.com - 0.3%
• adultfriendfinder.co - 0.2%
• aim.com - 0.2%

Read on for more info and charts, and graphs.
The 20 Most Popular Websites: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance