leaf trombone
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Smule Completes the Band with Leaf Trombone
iPhone musical application developer Smule made a name for itself when it released its Zelda-inspired Ocarina software last year to great fanfare. Boasting a simple (yet surprisingly difficult to master) interface consisting of 4 note pads (simulated finger holes), the software combined multi-touch and breath detection to make the iPhone into a very playable instrument similar to a real ocarina.
Today, Smule announced the latest and most ambitious of their iPhone/iPod Touch-based instrument apps, Leaf Trombone: World Stage. Leaf Trombone improves upon the shortcomings of Ocarina in a number of areas (like adding tutorials), and throws in a very ambitious online judgment area called World Stage.
Apple to own rich media in '06?
The Internet Stock Blog asks: "Is it possible that if Yahoo is the new Internet media leader with RSS, etc. and Google is the leader in search, that Apple will own rich media?"
Well 'own' is too strong a word, but I do know I'll be paying much more attention to Apple this year than last. With iTunes and the recently video-enabled iPod, Apple is in a strong position to lead the way in delivering microchunked entertainment media over the Web to consumers. I expect all the main players (e.g. MS, Yahoo, Goog, AOL) to increase their presence in rich media in 2006 though, including releasing Internet-connected media devices a la Apple.
Update: Chris Garrett left a great comment that is worth highlighting: "If they release the expected media center mac mini they would also have a strong basis to develop a suite of rich media applications, hopefully incraesing the visual offerings of iTunes and maybe even expending it into a platform for streaming TV. They could develop this into a form of subscription TV, free of ads. If this happens we might start to see specialist channels becoming more conspicuous and possibly the rise of Indie Television."
Think Secret has more on this: "Apple is planning to unveil a robust new content distribution system in January at Macworld Expo alongside its revamped media-savvy Mac mini, Think Secret has learned. The new content system and related media deals, which will include feature-length content, expanded television offerings, and more, will further cement Apple's increasing lead in digital media delivery.
2005 reflections and plans for 2006
It's technically New Years Eve where I am, as I write this. I haven't done much blogging over the past week, because I've been re-charging my batteries and making plans for 2006. In this post I reflect on the year that's past and tell you a bit about my plans for R/WW in 2006.
A year ago I set myself a goal to convert my hard work on Read/WriteWeb into real-world success, particularly career wise. The fact I was able to quit my day job in August and then earn a living as a self-employed Web Consultant -- I think that means I achieved that goal. Plus I visited America, a place I've long dreamed about, for the first time in October and met many of the people I'd gotten to know via blogging. At the start of 2005, Read/WriteWeb had around 500 RSS subscribers. Just before the xmas holidays I'd reached a shade under 8,000. Not quite the level of growth Techcrunch has enjoyed, but not too shabby ;-)
Since this is a personal post and all but the first 500 of my subscribers has by now tuned out ;-)... let me take this opportunity to thank some people. Marc Canter was the first person to give me ongoing work. Marc's the first at a lot of things, so keep an eye out for DLAs and Broadband Mechanics in '06. Susan Mernit has given me a lot of interesting work this year, which has kept me on my toes and sharpened my skillset. I've also done work for Rojo, Nooked, Aqute Research, ZDNet (blogging), New Zealand National Library, Idealog, O'Reilly Media. Also a huge thanks to R/WW's sponsors this year.
In 2005 I met a number of amazing bloggers in person. Too many to mention, so I won't even try to list them all! But a special shout-out to my Web 2.0 Workgroup co-founders Mike Arrington and Frederico Oliveira. Also I owe a big thanks to Havi Hoffman and Elizabeth Osder from Yahoo, who introduced me to the good people of Yahoo and showed me around the campus in October. Finally I must mention the spicy noodles dinner with Mike, Fred, Gabe and the one and only Dave Winer. An evening to remember.
2006 Plans
More travel beckons in 2006. I'm coming to Seattle at the end of January for Microsoft Search Champs. Also Ben Barren is trying to entice me across to Melbourne, to help him kick-start online media in Australia. So it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out career and life wise next year.
I'm planning to ramp up Read/WriteWeb in 2006, focusing on the intersection of Web technology and media. I really want to make R/WW a thoroughly professional site, where you can come to get the latest news and views relating to Web-based media. Just as one year ago I was excited by the possibilities of Web 2.0 (the Web as platform), now I'm excited by what I expect will be a huge year in 2006 for digital media. It's building on the Web as platform, taking it to the next level.
I like to be one step ahead of trends, so expect big things from Read/WriteWeb next year. Happy new year everybody!
Acquisitions and The Big 3
William Slawski has compiled two very useful lists of acquisitions, first by Google and now by Yahoo (see also The Guardian's list). I'll add the third, Microsoft's acquisitions as listed on their corporate site. From 2003 on:
Nov. 3, 2005: FolderShare
Nov. 3, 2005: media-streams.com AG
Aug. 30, 2005: Teleo Inc.
Jul. 20, 2005: FrontBridge Technologies
Mar. 10, 2005: Groove Networks Inc.
Feb. 8, 2005: Sybari Software Inc.
December 16, 2004: GIANT Company Software
April 26, 2004: ActiveViews
April 30, 2003: PlaceWare
Feb. 19, 2003: Connectix
The crucial one there was Groove, which Microsoft acquired on March 2005. It seems to have acted as a catalyst for their 'software as a service' strategy - Groove CEO and now Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie has been a leading light in that. Microsoft's acquisitions history suggests they strip off the technologies and human assets from their acquisitions and put them into Microsoft products. Not dissimilar to what Yahoo and Google do nowadays too.
I'd say Yahoo's key acquisitions over the past few years have been Overture (search), Oddpost (email), Ludicorp/Flickr (social software street cred). You can definitely see a pattern to all of Yahoo's purchases, because they usually get eventually re-branded and folded into the Yahoo business as part of their wide and deep product line. Overture products for instance are now Yahoo! Search products. Oddpost has morphed into Yahoo's Gmail competitor, the new-look AJAX-driven Yahoo! Mail. And Flickr's presence is being felt across the board, in products such as My Web 2.0 and Yahoo 360.
Google is a bit harder to figure out, because as Adam Rifkin noted a couple of months ago, Google tends to buy "small, creative, engineering-driven teams with no-bullshit cultures and interesting products and/or innovative technologies". Maybe the difference comes down to semiotics, as Ben Barren wrote:
"Yahoo's M+A semiotics read : fun, jagged, dangerous in the same way a rollercoast ride is; delicious, flickr, konfabulator (sadly renamed) Google's scrip semiotics are more complex, obtuse, asexual + asynchronous : Android, Akwan, Urchin, Keyhole."
Whatever the outcome of all these acquisitions, expect more to come in 2006. Already people are talking about a Microsoft/Newsgator deal, Yahoo/Netflix, Yahoo/CNET, Yahoo/TiVo. And what about Google/Feedburner? (a shock pick suggested to me by one of my correspondents).
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