last100 reports that Joost, a hot Internet TV startup from the founders of Skype, may come out with a set-top-box (i.e. allowing Joost to connect to a TV) and a mobile version of their product. Right now Joost is a browser-based app. But it certainly makes sense to bring Joost more into the living room (set-top-box). Perhaps less so to make Joost a mobile app, which last100 editor Steve O'Hear is skeptical of.
Rumors of a potential acquisition by Amazon today sent shares of Netflix up over 5.5%. Amazon closed down nearly 2%. The price of the rumored acquisition is anywhere from $1.5 to $2.1 billion.
Because Netflix's stock has been stuck in a slide recently -- down almost 18% this year -- some analysts think it is the perfect time for the company to be snapped up. But others are less sure, citing a potential Internet tax issue that could pose a problem to an acquisition.
In the US mobile phone carriers run closed networks: my Samsung phone will only run on the Verizon network, and if I switch to another carrier, the applications I bought over Verizon's service won't come with me. This set up has big Internet companies up in arms. Last March, for example, Google CEO Eric Schmidt accused the carriers of creating "walled gardens" that kept Internet companies out. The carriers, however, say that they spend billions of dollars on their networks and shouldn't be forced to open them up. In March 2005, then-AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre (though it was SBC at the time) told Businessweek that the big telecom companies spent billions laying fiber optic line and it was unfair for Internet companies to have free access. "They use my lines for free -- and that's bull. For a Google or a Yahoo! or a Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts!" he said.
Today I traveled to Sydney, Australia for a Web 2.0 forum. Most of the top Aussie web 2.0 startups were in attendance, as well as an interesting mix of Australian business people and executives in the audience. I got the sense that Australian big business is interested in utilizing new web technologies, and I made a point of saying how innovative the current crop of aussie 2.0 startups are - and in the case of companies like Atlassian and Omnidrive, how successful they've been already. As in New Zealand, there are a few aussie startups that I expect to ramp up over the next 12-18 months. And I discussed how localization can play a big part in web 2.0 success in countries outside the US. Also discussed in the forum was the Web Office (takeaway: collaboration is key), how mobile technologies may make a big difference, the huge amount of web innovation happening all over the world, and much more.
Me pontificating, with microphone in hand (on the left)
Clearspring is going to annouce tomorrow that
it was chosen by NBC to be its exclusive widget platform for the next year. This is a major deal for Clearspring, and for NBC
as well. The specific terms of this business arrangement have not been disclosed.
According to Clearspring founder, Hooman Radfar, this is a first of kind deal between a widget platform and a media giant. In the interview earlier today, Radfar said that he sees this as a major step towards breaking silo/portal approach and embracing distributed content strategy for NBC. So what is the motivation here for NBC and what is compelling about Clearspring's offering? Lets take a look and try to understand why this deal makes sense for NBC.
Yesterday we ran a story about remarks made by Yahoo!'s VP of Front Doors, Tapan Bhat, at the Next Web conference in Amsterdam. Bhat said that the dominant web paradigm was shifting from search to personalization. "The future of the web is about personalization," he said. "It's about weaving the web together in a way that is smart and personalized for the user."
Some analysts and reporters saw this as an admission of defeat by Yahoo! and the Times Online article which we quoted from ran under the headline: "Search is history, says Yahoo!." But, Yahoo! says that the Times reporter was a bit overzealous. They released the following statement to us to clarify Bhat's remarks:
Watch out Food Network, here comes Rouxbe, a start up from Vancouver, Canada that produces some of the nicest instructional cooking videos I've seen. Founded by Dawn Thomas and Joe Girard, who previously owned a film catering business in Vancouver, Rouxbe's film pedigree shines through.
Initially launched last November, Rouxbe has amassed a library of over 80 professionally produced instructional cooking videos (an out put of about 4 videos per week, if I counted correctly). The videos are presented as multi-part, indexed flash movies in an attractive video player (see this free video for pan-seared cod as an example). Videos are shot mostly from an overhead angle and narrated, step-by-step. Using the player, users can jump to any specific step in the video, pause, rewind, skip, or replay.
More Google Maps news: Today Google announced a partnership with budget airline Jet Blue that will put Google maps into the seat backs on their airplanes. Sounds sort of silly (so, I can get driving directions to my destination? ... but I'm already flying there!), but I think it's pretty neat. The announcement also let me practice my favorite pastime: mashing up Google's logo with that of another company. The results this time were more appetizing than "GooBurner," in my opinion.
The JetBlue Google Maps will allow fliers to track the progress of their flight -- location, altitude, and air speed -- while en route. Customers will also be able to track the progress of the JetBlue promotional RV as it travels across the US from their seat back screens (that part is pretty silly).
Yesterday, Google signed what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind deal for the search company to sell display advertising on a third-party site, reports Red Herring. That site is Glam Media, a women-targeted network of blogs and websites that ranks #2 behind iVillage in its niche, according to comScore. Last month Google spent $3.1 billion to acquire DoubleClick, a leader in the display advertising space, though the deal is not yet complete, and is facing scrutiny by the US Federal Trade Commission.
Glam CEO, Samir Arora, said that two "major search companies" had also courted Glam for the contract. He isn't saying who, but many analysts guess that Yahoo! and Microsoft are the likely rebuffed suitors. Google is acknowledging that display advertising is making a comeback on the web. While search ads still dominate the advertising landscape, last year search ad revenue fell marginally while display ads were up.
Six Apart is announcing today the beta release of Movable Type 4, a much anticipated upgrade to a blog platform that has two distinct user bases nowadays - consumer base (like R/WW, which uses MT) and Enterprise. Of equal interest is that Six Apart is also announcing the Movable Type Open Source Project, a move that will see the release of an open source version of Movable Type in Q3 of this year.
MT4 boasts over 50 new features and "a completely redesigned user interface", which includes a more advanced WYSIWYG editor and a system dashboard with dynamic graphic display. MT4 is also pushing itself as "a social media platform", which allows users to turn their audiences into communities. In effect this means that readers can become members of a website, with rights to post alongside authors - including sharing photos, videos, and audio. There is also a new ratings framework and later in the beta period more community features are promised.
