April 2006 Archives

  1. Apr30

    Fire up vi to change your search engine

    Google is a bit upset to find it is not the default search engine in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser and is starting to talk antitrust. Safari, Firefox, Camino, and Opera all have Google built-in as default and sometimes the only search option.

    "The market favors open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on the quality of their search services," said Marissa Mayer, the vice president for search products at Google. "We don't think it's right for Microsoft to just set the default to MSN. We believe users should choose."

    Want to change your default search engine on your Mac from Google to Yahoo? Fire up vi, because you're going to have to dig for it. Mayer said "Google would support unfettered choice" on browsers such as Safari but so far no action or words of openness.

    I installed beta 2 of Internet Explorer 7 last week. The first time I visited Google.com there was an arrow pointing to the search box and a message encouraging me to change my default search engine. I switched and it was pretty simple.

    I'd like to see Google encourage openness in the applications where it is the only search option. Right now it seems like the company only complains when things aren't in their favor, yet Yahoo! or emergent search companies can't even compete as the best search solution for that search box.

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  2. Apr28

    Nokia Series 60 podcatcher

    Series 60 podcasting main menu

    Nokia plans to release a podcast client for its latest smartphone lineup in early July. The application takes advantage of 3G cellular data networks and/or nearby WiFi hotspots to deliver new audio content to your phone right after it's published. Users can search for podcasts but it's not clear who is providing the directory and search content for Nokia.

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  3. Apr27

    Big companies and Lawrence of Arabia

    One of my favorite scenes in Lawrence of Arabia is "Chaos in Damascus." The Arabs have just captured Damascus from the Turks and various civil tasks are divided between multiple tribes. Damascus in the hands of Turks was a pie-in-the-sky dream they never thought was possible, yet they are now all in the great hall trying to organize.

    There is infighting among the tribes, civil tasks break down, and tribal leaders point fingers blaming other tribes or things they do not understand. The telephones do not work because they have no electricity. There is no electricity because no one will fix the generators. Finally, fire breaks out in the city but the tribes will not carry a bucket of water to put out the flames.

    The Chaos in Damascus scene seems a lot like life in a big corporation to me. Tribal pride instead of a gleaming city. Here's the movie clip on YouTube.

  4. Apr26

    Firefox and IE share feed sniffer

    Ben Goodger just blogged about feed discovery in Firefox 2.0. He was able to use the same feed sniffing techniques as Internet Explorer 7, making the feed world a bit simpler for both users and publishers.

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  5. Apr26

    PodSession: eBay shopping for partners

    According to The Wall Street Journal eBay is talking to Microsoft and Yahoo! about partnerships that could help the auction giant better compete against Google and its expanding offerings. EBay is a large advertising spender but sees Google's moves into e-commerce as a threat to its main businesses in auctions, PayPal, and Skype. Should eBay and other companies be afraid of Google as the search company expands to new areas? Is it fair to eBay sellers to exclude a large referral source such as Google?

    I think eBay is just asserting itself in the marketplace and shopping around for some better deals with large ad accounts. Executives from Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! will visit eBay to try and calm them down with some strategic partnerships and eBay might realize it paid McKinsey & Co a little too much.

    Om and I talked about products we would love to see eBay build and we think they have the unique assets to make it happen. I'd love to see eBay develop better tools for shareware developers to easily list their software on Shopping.com or within eBay auctions, and handle software sales through PayPal. I'd also like to see eBay offer software such as Intuit QuickBooks Online to its power sellers.

    Om and I discuss these issues and more in this week's PodSession, eBay shopping for partners. The podcast is 20 minutes in length, a 9 MB download.

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  6. Apr26

    Facebook enters the workplace

    Popular social networking site Facebook is moving beyond schools and into the workplace. A new version of the site went live this morning allowing new registrations on corporate e-mail addresses. I was able to signup using my Microsoft address and completed my profile.

    Facebook at work

    Basic profile information still seems geared towards college students and dating. Members can self-select what they would like to find on the network including friendship, dating, a relationship, random play, or "whatever I can get."

    My Microsoft social network on the site is currently filled with recent graduates who most likely had a profile before entering the full-time workforce but I expect more users of all ages jumping in soon to see what all the fuss is about.

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  7. Apr25

    Sony PSP system update includes Flash, AAC support

    Sony updated its system software for the PlayStation Portable last night. System update 2.7 includes support for Flash content inside the browser, AAC audio playback, and channel-level RSS settings.

    AAC support means the PSP might soon support QuickTime chapters, allowing podcasters to add images and descriptive text to individual segments. Flash 6 limits the functionality of new multimedia features such as streaming audio and video but it should work fine within websites using Flash for navigation.

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  8. Apr25

    SF Tech Sessions: Timely conversations

    The next SF Tech Sessions event will take place this Thursday, April 27, from 7-9 p.m. in San Francisco. I selected a group of presenters covering online personal communication in various forms including text messaging, audio/video, and entire virtual worlds. Read more details and RSVP for this free event on the SF Tech Sessions blog.

    Participants will have a chance to chat with other local techies and hear 15-minute presentations from Meebo, Userplane, and Linden Lab. Each company has taken a unique approach to online messaging and you should come away with new ideas and perspectives on the technology industry.

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    • Posted at 11:58AM
    • Updated at 10:48PM
  9. Apr21

    Live Drive and online storage

    Fortune magazine mentioned an upcoming product from Microsoft named Live Drive in its story on Ray Ozzie this week. It's compared to Google's ambitions in online storage and other large Internet companies are starting to think of different ways to search more content online. I think Google's potential offering (GDrive) is totally different from what a company such as Yahoo, Microsoft, or even Apple might offer in terms of online storage because these large companies sell and help users create large media files. I'll use Microsoft and its Live products, both announced and speculated, as an example but similar ideas can be applied to other companies.

    I start at Microsoft on Monday and have no inside info on Live Drive or some of the other concepts and hypotheticals I'll discuss. It's all purely speculative.

    Different types of storage

    I believe online storage for large Internet companies will be introduced in stages and tied to applications developed by companies such as Microsoft. Each type of content stored requires a little different approach and different levels of involvement from teams of lawyers.

    Purchased digital assets

    You might buy a song, video, or image from a Windows Live product. Napster and other companies have provided access to multiple downloads of your purchased media across multiple computers and I'm sure Microsoft will offer similar features in the Urge music product or video offerings.

    This media already exists online, and may even be in the same data center as Live Drive accounts. You could connect the front-end of your personal Live Drive with the appropriate storefront but instead of a 30 second preview you now have access to the complete file with some DRM limiting your personal use.

    In this use case your Live Drive is a digital locker containing things you have purchased from stores owned by Microsoft. They know where the content came from, have a record of the purchase, and there is no need to duplicate the actual file. The service would be authenticated using Windows Live ID to make sure you are the only one to access that data.

    Digital content you create

    Microsoft has a few applications that create data you may want to backup to a secure location for later use. Your chat logs from Messenger, an audio or video chat, a Microsoft Money data file, or maybe the current health status of your PC. You could backup this content to your Live Drive and there might be an application-specific personal storage area available.

    You created the content and storage it online helps make sure it persists throughout time and across machines. You own the copyright responsibilities.

    Personal storage for anything

    What if you could have an L: or G: drive mounted inside Windows Explorer that was really an online storage service? The concept is not that new, we've seen it before with MSN Groups and Xdrive, but the free storage options were fairly limited compared to the gigabytes we are now used to receiving for free in e-mail and other online applications.

    You could store a Word document, a PDF, or your entire music and photo or anything you want as long as it's under your allotted storage amount.

    Desktop storage bloat is one of the reasons people hold off buying a new computer. With 40 GB or more of saved music files, photographs, and more, families are paralyzed at the thought of losing all that data when they buy a new computer. Microsoft has a little motivation to get the online backup experience right because it's likely to lead to more purchases of new PCs to match the new digital lifestyle.

    Storage others can access

    So far I've described storage types only visible to one account holder and hidden from the rest of the world. There is also a need for online storage space you can write to and share with others. Attachments too big for e-mail or the latest acoustic performance of your band in a garage are two examples.

    Sharing any file with anyone online gets a bit tricky and this is where lots of lawyers get involved. Are you sharing a Metallica song? A file with a virus? The latest hit movie?

    I think smaller companies will offer this type of storage while turning a blind eye to copyright and international concerns while bigger companies work on ways to make everybody happy.

    Other online storage concepts

    A new company called Fabrik wants to connect a stand-alone hard drive on your home network with secure online storage. Gordon Bell and other researchers at Microsoft are working on MyLifeBits, a lifetime store of everything you do every day including a camera you wear everywhere.

  10. Apr19

    Application-specific WiFi for free

    I've read some chatter lately about free WiFi offerings by Yahoo! and others tied to a specific application. Connecting a product to an established network of connection points makes a lot of sense for companies with established branding power, and I think there will be many new partnerships to help users of specific applications stay connected on the road.

    While there is a lot of talk about companies building their own WiFi networks for specific purposes I think we will instead see partnerships with existing restricted access networks with some advertising and branding swap to offset costs.

    Yahoo! Messenger On-the-Road

    Although just a survey question with a screenshot at this point, Yahoo! could offer similar partnerships for its ad-supported client software such as Messenger. Yahoo! already has a partnership with AT&T combining high-speed Internet with Yahoo! content and it makes sense for Yahoo! to continue that relationship with AT&T and the Boingo Wireless aggregation business to extend its reach and cross-marketing.

    Yahoo! would collect money from advertising within its Messenger product to offset any costs to the network. Boingo Wireless would receive its WiFi-finder bundled with millions of Messenger downloads, increasing its ability to sell subscriptions to hundreds millions of users.

    Nintendo DS

    Nintendo currently offers its portable gamers free access via Wayport connections in the U.S. and Canada. As of last month Nintendo WiFi had over 1 million users connecting to play online from McDonalds, Borders, cafes, and more.

    Nintendo makes money from hardware sales and software licenses and McDonalds becomes a new place for kids to play with their Nintendog while eating a Happy Meal.

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  11. Apr19

    Google GData

    Google's GData format is a" new protocol based on Atom 1.0 and RSS 2.0." It also includes OpenSearch elements.

    It's too late in the day for me to dig into the format right now, but you might enjoy having a look.

  12. Apr19

    Back from vacation

    I spent the last week in Maui visiting a friend and having some rest and relaxation before I start at Microsoft on Monday. I spent my time scuba diving, hiking, eating BBQ, climbing volcanos, and watching movies and a few European soccer matches. It was a relaxing trip and a fun adventure but it's good to be back in the Bay area and around familiar people and places.

    I was impressed my the number of enterprising small businesses in Maui made possible by tourism. Individuals would set up a photo area with a few tropical birds and charge for postcards to send home. There were small shacks along the Hana highway selling flavored ice and bottled water right outside someone's home. People led hikes or snorkel trips with nothing more than a map or a fishing boat and some snorkel gear, all tied into activity booking agents such as Expedia.

    I took lots of photos. Some of my favorites:

    If you sent me an e-mail and I was slow to respond it's because I was out having fun.

  13. Apr19

    FeedBurner adds e-mail subscriptions

    FeedBurner just announced FeedBurner Email, allowing readers to subscribe to your feed via e-mail. Most Internet users are familiar with e-mail but a feed reader is a completely foreign concept. They live within Outlook and have an efficient work flow governed by rules-based sorting and alerts. This new feature provided by FeedBurner helps a feed publisher reach more readers in their favorite method of delivery.

    E-mail subscriptions to a feed is nothing new, even for FeedBurner customers. The company has partnered with FeedBlitz and more recently Squeet to provide e-mail subscriptions in the past, and both companies remain an option for FeedBurner users. The feature probably became popular enough for publishers and essential to the complete subscription experience that FeedBurner decided to bring the feature in house for more control and reliability.

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  14. Apr15

    Recruiters in the late 90s

    In the summer of 2000 I became fed up enough with clueless recruiters calling me I decided to create a fake résumé to test how bad the industry had become. The résumé was not just slightly fake, it was over-the-top and obvious to anyone in the industry. I put the résumé up on Monster.com with my real name and phone number and a completely altered work history.

    I had calls within 20 minutes, including recruiters claiming to work for KPCB and Benchmark encouraging me to come work at companies such as BroadBand Office or Catapulse. I had so many calls I had to shut off my phone to get back to work.

    Résumé highlights

    1. 15 years of Java experience. I told one recruiter I was not interested in working with them but she wanted someone with 15 years of Java experience so bad I suggested she give James Gosling of Sun a call and she probably did.
    2. Created industry-leading teleportation technology for Amazon.com in 1989. I actually got a call from an early Amazon employee about this one, so it was worth it. (Amazon was founded in 1994)
    3. Worked as Pixelon's CTO developing industry-leading vaporware and head party planner of their $16 million launch party. Pixelon was in the news for falsifying everything including their own names.

    Do I remember the bubble of the late 90s? Yes, why yes I do. I hope I never again get a call from a recruiter interested in vaporware experts.

  15. Apr13

    Think Partership acquires IceRocket

    Think Partnership is acquiring IceRocket, a search engine focused on emerging media such as feeds, cell phone pictures, and the latest news. Think Partnership is a group of companies based out of Chicago in the dating, real estate, and SEO industries.

    Think Partnership raised $26.5 million last week in a private placement of preferred stock and they are redefining the company through acquisitions. No word yet on the purchase price of IceRocket. The deal is in the due diligence stage.

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  16. Apr12

    Start pages do have revenue

    A few blogs -- Richard MacManus and others -- have pointed to my post from Monday as "confirmation" that Live.com is the new homepage, and it must be true because a future employee of Microsoft said it. There could be a little more research from the publishers, but this is the wild west known as the blogosphere after all.

    My information about Live.com came from the Windows Live launch last November when Bill Gates mentioned it on stage. The news is not new, and the products discussed such as Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista haven't even launched yet.

    As for comments about losing advertising revenue by serving up a search box, remember that search is a revenue-generating activity for each provider and some companies make money from their personalized home pages by selling special default feeds such as placing ESPN for sports content and not Fox.

    In short: the best way to confirm that a new feature exists is when the code gets locked for release and until then many things are possible. The past can hold some queues but just like a company reorganization -- just happened at Windows Live -- things can change.

  17. Apr11

    Yahoo! My Headlines widget

    Yahoo! released version 3.1 of its Widget Engine today including a new widget that displays the latest headlines from your My Yahoo! feeds. The new widget, Yahoo! My Headlines, allows you to see the latest headlines, source feed, and publish time of your My Yahoo! feed subscriptions.

  18. Apr10

    Creating a feed syndication platform at Microsoft

    Starting next week I will join Microsoft's Windows Live division to create a new product team around syndication technologies such as RSS and Atom. I will help build a feed syndication platform leveraged by Microsoft products and developers all around the world. I am excited to construct a team and product from scratch focused on scalability and connecting syndication clients and their users wherever they may exist: desktop, mobile, media center, gaming console, widget, gadget, and more.

    Live.com is the new default home page for users of the Internet Explorer 7 and the Windows Vista operating system. Live.com will be the first feed syndication experience for hundreds of millions of users who would love to add more content to their page, connect with friends, and take control of the flow of information in ways geeks have for years. I do not believe we have even begun to tap into the power of feeds as a platform and the possibilities that exist if we mine this data, connect users, and add new layers of personalization and social sharing. These are just some of the reasons I am excited to build something new and continue to change how the world can access new information as it happens.

    I'll be working out of Microsoft's Silicon Valley campus but hopefully there will be a new San Francisco office in the near future. I'll be working closely with the Hotmail storage team to make sure the platform scales and with the MessageCast Windows Live Alerts team to make sure you can customize how you receive new content. Microsoft Research already has a few projects focused on the blogosphere as well as research into new search and social networking techniques. Windows Live is all about your info, your relationships, and discovering new things all in a seamless and secure experience. Oh so much fun, it's just a matter of prioritizing and having a strong enough platform on the back-end to make it all possible.

    I want RSS and Atom syndication technologies to be available anywhere, integrated as the background technology delivering new information when and where it matters most. Read your own personalized top news stories while waiting for the bus. Track your friends' Halo results anywhere. Pull the latest information off the corporate intranet and into an authoring application. Load your own niche content channel into your DVR. Update the art on your walls. I geek out on this stuff and could go on and on.

    I will continue to engage the community. There are some big challenges ahead for the entire syndication industry that are best solved by working together. There is a need for new shared metadata initiatives to describe rich media such as podcasts, videos and images. Some content publishers are holding back their content due to a lack of clear authentication and feed noindex options. The industry can gain a lot by having open dialogue and working groups around various issues in the space and I will continue to look outward for new ideas, partnerships, and best practices.

    I'm excited about the many opportunities before me in my new job. Not quite as excited as Steve Ballmer running around on stage but I'll stay focused on building great products.

    Steve Ballmer

    Add my feed to your favorite aggregator to stay informed of the latest news as a new journey is just around the corner. Onward!

  19. Apr10

    PodSession: You're being watched, and Macs now do Windows

    Om and I received a variety of feedback last week as podcast listeners stood up against research reports about podcasts and their audiences. Some people thought a 20-minute discussion of hot tech news was just right and others wanted even shorter, more digestible chunks. This week Om and I recorded two 10-minute podcasts to try something new and introduce a little variety. It was also tough to pick just one topic this week since both Apple and Google had big announcements last Wednesday.

    You're being watched

    Your cellular carrier knows where you are at all times. Pinpointing your location helps connect phone calls and lets emergency personnel send help to your location even if you have no idea where you are. New ad-supported networks such as Earthlink and Google's municipal WiFi network in San Francisco will track your activity to better target advertising based on your location and/or browsing habits.

    What are you willing to give up for free or cheap access to the Internet? Om and I discuss who's watching you and why, and introduce some new business ideas that will encourage users to opt-in to tracking.

    You're being watched - Geolocation and privacy. The podcast is 12 minutes long, a 6 MB download.

    Windows on a Mac

    Apple released a public beta Boot Camp last week, a preview of what's coming in the next major OS release. The blogosphere was abuzz at the news of a new shiny toy from Apple and its implications. How will "Leopard" change the way we choose applications and games?

    I boot into Windows to use applications I cannot get on a Mac or to take advantage of new features that may eventually make their way into the Mac version. Boot Camp allows me to boot into financial mode or gaming mode with one piece of hardware. I think Apple's move makes a lot of sense as users are less likely to miss 10 GB of disk space than 512 MB or more of RAM.

    The Windows on a Mac podcast is 10 minutes long, a 5 MB download.

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  20. Apr06

    Blogging surveys tend to ask the wrong questions

    The latest numbers about blogging terms reaching the mainstream masses have little interest to me based on the questions that have been asked. Asking people on the street if they can define RSS or podcasting is like asking about a PSTN or 802.11g wireless networks. It makes much more sense to focus on current uses of the technology to determine the pervasiveness of new ideas.

    I'll use my mom as an example because she is afraid of her computer crashing if she changes anything, even plugging in a new keyboard. Some of the news she cares about the most is thousands of miles away and not well covered by TV, radio, or print publications in California.

    My mom would love to have daily updates on a few things: the latest news from Ireland, the latest news from in and around my brother's military base in Iraq, and updates from my sisters' schools. If she happens to be home at the right time on a Monday night she can catch 22 minutes of news geared towards Irish-Americans interested in what's going on "back home." My parents visit a blog to find the latest news from my brother's base in Iraq, but they have no clue they are reading what some people call a blog. She visits school websites to find the latest general news.

    If my mom opened up her web browser and found all her favorite news sources in one place, time-shifted and waiting for her on her schedule, she would probably be using RSS, podcasting, or some other fancy word but wouldn't be able to tell you what is powering the experience.

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  21. Apr06

    Google Toolbar adds feed subscriptions

    Google Toolbar subscribe to feed

    The latest version of Google's Firefox toolbar adds support for feed subscriptions to online aggregators with just one click. Users are able to choose from a list of five popular online aggregators as well as Firefox's own Live Bookmarks option.

    The icon was located right below the address bar feed icon in my Firefox window and seems like the least confusing place for the button even though it's odd to see two options.

    Google toolbar subscription preferences

    I was able to choose between Bloglines, Google Personalized homepage, My Yahoo!, NewsGator Online, and Pluck.

    It would be nice to provide advanced users with the ability for users to add their own favorite online aggregator through some simple template syntax such as http://domain.tld/addfeed?url=[feedurl] in the feed reader drop-down.

  22. Apr05

    PodSession: wireless broadband

    3G logo

    I want high speed Internet everywhere. Forget the WiFi hotspot locator attached to your keychain or the questionable reliability of a local cafe, I want a reliable and fast connection everywhere I go, even if it's on a train or car moving 60 mph. Thankfully the cellular phone industry is up to the task and rolling out wireless data connections with up to 3 Mb/s in the San Francisco Bay area and other large metropolitan areas throughout the U.S.

    These new mobile technologies are known as EV-DO or HSDPA depending on the carrier and are delivering high enough speed with low latency for us to start taking it seriously. The technology is built-in to many mobile phones and even a few laptops and getting online anywhere might be as simple as a $8 USB or a $100 specialized PC card and a data plan costing around $60 for unlimited data usage.

    In this week's PodSession Om and I discuss the latest wireless broadband offerings from major U.S. carriers such as Sprint, Verizon, and Cingular available today and in the next 6 months. What would you do with a 1 Mb/s always-on connection in your car, pocket, or on your laptop? How would it change the types of applications you develop or the way you seek out new information?

    If you have an ExpressCard 34 slot in your laptop, help is on the way! Novatel will introduce a EV-DO card in about 5 weeks that will work with your MacBook Pro and other laptops using the new card format.

    This week's podcast, Wireless broadband, is 22 minutes long, a 10 MB download.

  23. Apr03

    Google and Clear Channel partner for web search

    Google just signed an exclusive deal with Clear Channel to provide its search services across all of the radio conglomerate's web sites. Clear Channel is the dominant radio network in the United States.

    The partnership is for text-only ads at the moment but Google has been interested in extending its advertising reach to radio and print media. Google currently advertises its jobs site on NPR stations.

  24. Apr03

    Technorati Director Richard Ault leaves, joins Metroblogging

    Richard Ault just announced he has left Technorati to join Metroblogging, a network of blog sites focused on local content from over 45 cities throughout the world. Richard was Director of Product Marketing at Technorati since January 2004, and one of the first company hires.

    Metroblogging was co-founded by Jason DeFillippo, who left Technorati in February to focus on the blog network full-time.

    Richard enjoys skiing and it wouldn't surprise me if he and his family is working from Lake Tahoe until the snow melts and their house is remodeled.

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Niall Kennedy Niall Kennedy is a web technologist in San Francisco, California in the United States. I am very interested in the world of... MORE »

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