Today there's been a sensational claim by 2 Gartner analysts that "Windows is collapsing". In Computerworld, Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald are quoted as saying that "Microsoft has not responded to the market, is overburdened by nearly two decades of legacy code and decisions, and faces serious competition on a whole host of fronts that will make Windows moot unless the software developer acts." One of those fronts is of course web applications.
RSS is a big deal, as anyone who's subscribed to even a few feeds probably knows. Once you get past just a few feeds, though, it can quickly get overwhelming. RSS can leave you feeling inadequate, brain-dead and uninspired.
I was feeling frustrated yesterday when switching from one feed reader to another on a new computer. Then I remembered how wonderful RSS really is - and I decided to write this post. I hope you'll find it interesting and useful.
There has been a lot of talk lately of companies monitoring social media, be it Twitter, blogs, or social networking sites, for mentions of their company name and responding to customer service issues. Some of this interaction has been in the Twitter community, with Comcast being one of the more active participants as of late. Although in some cases, customers twittered their frustration after failing to receive the support they needed through traditional methods, in many cases, Twitter was the first place the customers vented their frustration, and then were surprised when they received a response from a support rep or company spokesperson.
With 1.3 billion people on the web today it's a safe bet that at least a few of them have shared experiences and the promise of the web as a global support group is something that is finally being realized. There have been specialized web sites for specific ailments for as long as there has been a world wide web, covering everything from lung cancer to obesity to social anxiety to alcoholism. But over the past several years, a new breed of general social networks geared toward physical and mental health support has begun to emerge. These sites link people with shared medical experiences and allow them to support one another in difficult times. Below are ten web sites that fall into this new category of "support group 2.0."
We've heard tell that Facebook imposes a limit of 5000 friends. Really, just a measly 5000. They also keep doing pesky things like improving privacy controls. Well, we're sick of it! What if we want more friends and less privacy? If you're like us, you'll love nclüdr, a new social network that proudly proclaims to be the "most awesomest ultimate social network ever." That's a sentiment we're forced to agree with.
Just because MySpace's web show "Quarterlife" was a big flop on NBC here in the U.S., that doesn't mean that MySpace is going to stop shopping their web shows for TV syndication. While the U.S. market for web-to-TV programming may be dead, the worldwide market awaits, and, overseas, web shows might have a better chance.
Cross network web IM service Meebo is announcing today the hire of CNet and Warner Music vet Carter Brokaw as the company's new Chief Revenue Officer. Along with that announcement the company is starting to talk about its plans to monetize a platform that many have said will be impossible to profit from. The plan is very marketing 2.0. Is that what users want? Is the ad world ready?
Meebo's spent six months studying focus groups gathered from their 30 million users per month to see what kind of advertising users will put up with. The response has been unsurprising - users say they don't want impersonal sales messages broadcast at them. They want to be invited into useful or entertaining engagements with advertisers where they, the users, remain in control of the experience. They (we) want utility-based ad campaigns.
The Economist published a short article about the Semantic Web today, picking up on apps we've covered here many times - like Reuters Open Calais, Twine, Hakia and AdaptiveBlue. But one app right at the end caught my eye, as I'd not heard of it before: Qitera. Its homepage describes it as "a next-generation information engine - a semantic web service that connects everything you know to everything you read." The company is German, but based in San Francisco. Qitera is currently in private beta, so it's hard to know what this app does. But it sounds a lot like Twine.
At least once each day I get a call from someone trying to sell me outsourced development services. It's difficult to not be frustrated with these calls and it is increasingly hard to be polite, because
they come so frequently. Yet, more than frustrated, I am just puzzled. Does this tactic still work? Who in this day and age would give business based on a cold call? These companies could definitely use a dose of business development 2.0.
There has been a lot of talk on the web over the last few days about Google App Engine. We've analyzed it here on ReadWriteWeb. Now it's your turn to have your say. We've created, via a new app from Impact Games, an interactive game that will let you model Google App Engine's impact in the marketplace. You can play the game below:
