UPDATE: In discussions with MediaTemple after things had calmed down, we agreed that R/WW is better off on a single tenant server. For all its positive points and innovation, ultimately the Grid is a multi-tentant solution - which when you have a critical asset (as R/WW is for me) is probably not the ideal solution. MediaTemple had actually advised me of that originally, it has to be said. So currently R/WW is in the process of being upgraded to a Dedicated Virtual server.
[original post] Apologies for the site downtime - the MediaTemple Grid Server was down for 2.5 hours tonight, meaning R/WW was unavailable during that entire time. Normally MediaTemple is an outstanding server provider, and their customer service is second to none in my experience. However, I have major concerns about the Grid Server - which was touted so highly on TechCrunch in October 2006. Quoting from Michael Arrington's post at that time:
I've mentioned Openads, a free open
source ad server, twice in the last few months here on Read/WriteWeb. I continue to be
very interested in their business model; but also I hope they disrupt not just the ad
fulfillment and tracking business, but also expand to focus on creating an
open alternative to the current online ad networks. While this week's announcements
didn't note any change in strategy, towards attacking Google's cash cow (AdSense), they
did make a few announcements that show that the organization continues to make great
progress on the heels of their $5 million
venture raise.
This Monday morning in New Zealand, my local Wellington newspaper The Dominion Post ran a story about Read/WriteWeb. Seeing as the focus of the article is making a living off blogging, I thought I'd add some more thoughts on that. The DomPost article states:
"Richard MacManus runs the world's 28th most popular blog, Read/WriteWeb, from his home office in Lower Hutt.
It's every blogger's fantasy. Mr MacManus started a blog on web technology as a hobby back in 2003. He's now turned that into a full-time job that earns him a comfortable living."
Thank you to everyone who applied for the Read/WriteWeb writer roles we wrote about a couple of weeks ago. The response was amazing, with over 120 people applying. There were a lot of good applicants and the shortlist was brimming with talent. However we only had two part-time positions available and they have gone to: Aidan Henry and Andrew Pipes. You will be hearing more from those two people, as R/WW writers, very soon!
Also a note that Josh Catone will be going full-time on Read/WriteWeb shortly. All of these additions and changes will allow me to focus more on growing the business, although of course I will still be one of the main writers for R/WW.
Jack Johnson tipped me off to this website. Well, okay, he tipped off a couple of billion other people at the same time. I'm writing this while I watch the web stream of Johnson's set at the Live Earth concert in Sydney, Australia, and right before an energetic rendition of "Staple It Together," he urged the crowd to visit Climate Counts.
Climate Counts, which launched on June 19th, is a non-profit website that rates corporations based on their environmental impact. They use a 22-item scorecard that asks questions like "Is there top-level support for climate change action?" and "Does the company require suppliers to take climate change action or give preference to those that do?" You can read the full list here (PDF). So who's on top? And how do web companies rank?
Here is a summary of the week's Web Tech action on Read/WriteWeb. Note that you can subscribe to the Weekly Wrapups, either via the special RSS feed or by email.
To mark the halfway point of 2007, I wrote up a 2007
Half-Year Web Technology Report. This review showed that Google and Facebook have
been setting the pace on the Web so far in 2007. Do you agree? Please
leave a comment on that post if you have an opinion on the top Web Tech companies of
2007.
R/WW Network blog last100 has been busy reviewing new Internet TV services. This week last100 editor Steve O'Hear hands-on tested and wrote reviews of three Internet TV applications: VeohTV, which is pitching itself as a more open alternative to Joost; Zattoo, a p2p live streaming offering; and LiveStation, which like Zattoo also specializes in ‘live’ TV over the net, rather than on-demand content.
With the massive Live Earth concerts, which will be broadcast live to an estimated 2 billion people over television and the Internet (you can watch them live on MSN), just about five hours away, I thought it might be interesting to take a brief look at Al Gore's other Internet and television endeavor.
Founded in 2005, Current TV is independent cable and satellite television network aimed at a youth demographic. Catering to the short attention spans of the 18-34 year old set, shows on Current are delivered in "pods," which are short segments that are generally under ten minutes in length (and usually not much longer than five). In March of this year, Current TV surpassed a global reach of 50 million homes when it launched in the UK on British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media.
What's slower than email? Snail mail of course! Being a member of the generation who grew up on the Internet, it's easy to forget about postal mail. There's very rarely a need to send any (in the past month I've used it to send and receive original copies of signed contracts overseas, and that's about it), but on a daily basis I might send or receive hundreds of peices of email. Snail mail, however, is far from dead. Last year in the United States alone the US Postal Service handled over 200 billion pieces of mail.
With that in mind, how do you bridge the gap between electronic mail and snail mail? A new start up named eSnailer thinks they have the answer. They promise to post a real letter, for free, to anyone via USPS. They don't specify, but it appears that the service likely only works in the US and possibly Canada, and I had trouble getting it to accept an address in Australia.
Europe's burgeoning startup culture just got another boost, with the launch of Seedcamp - a project to support Europe's young entrepreneurs, by giving them funding and contacts. It's very similar to Silicon Valley's Y Combinator, the Paul Graham-led investment fund that specializes in early stage startups. We profiled Graham and Y Combinator in December last year.
