Category: Web 2.0

Using Digg & The Wall Street Journal Together: Review with Screenshots

November 14, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 16 Comments

Digg Logo Digg founder Kevin Rose announced that Digg buttons will now be available on the Wall Street Journal website (WSJ.com). Not only that, but anyone will have free access to any WSJ articles visited via Digg. Coincidentally, this news comes around the same time Rupert Murdoch suggested that he might take down the Wall Street Journal’s online subscription pay wall. Whatever the circumstances, I’m a daily user of both sites and welcome the collaboration.

In fact, here’s a walk through of how the integration looks and works:

Tech News, Tech Reviews, Web 2.0

Radiohead Responds to Download Stats: Says They’re False

November 8, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 214 Comments

Radiohead Band Radiohead has decided to respond to the previous coverage of their social experiment of offering their album online at a name-your-own price. According to a study (by a third party, comScore), only 38% of downloaders paid something while the 62% majority paid nothing. And of those paying, most paid less than $4. While it was fun to speculate on what this could mean for the music industry, turns out any speculation was based on more speculation (comScore’s). Here’s what Radiohead had to say:

Music, Tech News, Web 2.0

Even More Gphone News: Google in Advanced Talks with Verizon & Sprint

October 30, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 4 Comments

Gphone The latest info from our good friends those “people familiar with the matter” is that Google is in advanced talks with two U.S. cellphone operators: Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel. The talks, of course, are revolving around the two companies offering new Google-powered mobile phones. Google has to get some major wireless operators to sign on to this project if it’s to reach its rumor-generated goal of getting Gphones in front of consumers by the middle of next year.

Gadgets, Internet, Microsoft, Tech News, Web 2.0

Google Unveiling Gphone Plans In Two Weeks & Wants to Change the Cellphone Industry

October 29, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 37 Comments

Google Cellphone The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) is quoting “people familiar with the matter” in stating that within two weeks Google will announce plans to bring Google-powered phones to market by the middle of next year. Apparently, Google’s goal is “[T]o make applications and services as accessible on cellphones as they are on the Internet.”

Gadgets, Microsoft, Tech News, Web 2.0

Web Video Quality: Companies Are Starting to Care

October 9, 2007 Bob Caswell 3 Comments

BitTorrent YouTube made popular the idea of video on the Internet even if it has always seemed to be pretty low on the list of options in terms of picture quality. But now certain companies have realized that just because computers can be another way to watch video doesn’t mean the general population is content with fuzzy, low quality in a tiny window. Today there’s news of at least two companies focusing on Internet video quality: BitTorrent and Move Networks.

Media, Tech News, Web 2.0

FriendFeed: A Solution to Fragmented Social Networking?

October 5, 2007July 13, 2008 Bob Caswell 9 Comments

Anyone familiar with digg, Netflix, del.icio.us, flickr, Picasa, LinkedIn, Last.fm, StumbleUpon, reddit, etc. knows that any sort of social networking at any of these sites (that is, sharing / commenting / befriending) happens in isolation. Want to see what your friends are up to in terms of music listening, picture uploading, movie watching, career changing, or Internet bookmarking? Well, clear your schedule because you’ll need the time to log in to your dozen or so favorite social networks. Being social has never been so fragmented and time consuming.

Amazon, Internet, Tech News, Tech Reviews, Web 2.0

Geoweb & Geotags vs. Geospam & Geohacking: The Latest in So-called Web 3.0

September 7, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 3 Comments

Geoweb The Economist (subscription required) dives into what it thinks is the next generation of the Internet: the Geoweb. Interestingly enough, it formalizes the thoughts of TechConsumer author Marion Jensen who received attention when he wrote on this subject two months ago. While Marion stopped short of calling the location-based Internet Web 3.0, it’s good to know he is not alone in his concept of the “next big thing.”

Apparently, the geoweb already has an emerging architecture: traffic jams, seismic tremors, crime rates, and melanoma stats are just a few areas where data is being collected and tied to location. A new discipline of “geographic information systems” (GIS) is on the rise, which includes fancy software used mostly by governments and companies to analyze spatial data. And the data “tend to be of impeccable quality.”

Microsoft, Privacy, Tech News, Web 2.0

I Blame the Internet for My Lack of Reading Books, What’s Your Excuse?

August 22, 2007July 16, 2008 Bob Caswell 11 Comments

Books I must say, I love this day and age where information flows freely. I remember back (what, ten years ago?) when I took magazine and/or newspaper subscriptions seriously. There were (are) so many, and they all cost money. Which ones should I subscribe to? Which are worth the time of sifting through pages to find what I really want?

But now, finding information to stay up-to-date on your news or hobbies? Who spends time actually searching for information they used to get in a magazine or newspaper? I know I don’t. It’s almost in front of me before I’m ready for it; I’m still catching up with what’s considered old news because it’s been a couple days. Sites like Techmeme or Google News aggregate it for me. Combine that with my favorite RSS feeds via Google Reader (all of which are free daily updates of what I used to pay for via magazines or newspapers) and I have some good, quality information that interests me.

Web 2.0