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January 18, 2006
Google talks to Jabber
Google Talk service is now connected to the XMPP network which means, amongst other things, it talks to Jabber now.January 17, 2006
Google enters radio advertising space
Google's latest acquisition - dMarc Broadcasting, makers of software for radio broadcasters to insert audio advertising into their broadcast streams - marks their foray into audio advertising. As Fred Wilson points out, this shows how media is a big direction for Google. I'm also curious to see how advertising in the mobile devices space pans out this year.Google Mobile
New stuff on Google Mobile as noted on MobileCrunch. Gmail was already available on mobile.
But also check this out .. enter a URL and you'll get a version of the page for your mobile device. No information on this page in typical Google style, looks like someone just stumbled on to this page and tagged it on del.icio.us.
January 16, 2006
Ahh .. YubNub
I had forgotten about YubNub until this post on MobileCrunch reminded me again. But this time I can tag it on del.icio.us and this time safely forget about it again :)
Still love the idea. Best part .. it's built on rails. Can't wait to write my own first RoR application.
January 13, 2006
Guy Kawasaki's hindsights
Hindsights by Guy Kawasaki (wikipedia), now CEO of Garage TEchnology Ventures.
Frankly, smoking, drugs, alcohol--and using an IBM PC--are signs of stupidity ... :)
January 12, 2006
MobileCrunch is born
Michael Arrington from TechCrunch just announced a new TechCrunch network blog - MobileCrunch, written by Oliver Starr, a serial entrepreneur with experience in technology,wireless and fiber optic telecommunications, mass distribution, e-commerce, biotechnology and alternative medicine. If MobileCrunch can do for the mobile/wireless space what TechCrunch does for Web2.0, this is good news.
January 11, 2006
MacWorld roundup
So now that the dust has settled down, let's review what this MacWorld brought us.
- iMac with Intel Core Duo Processor
- MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo again, built in iSight, FrontRow and Apple remote, 4x faster
- iLife '06 with all new iWeb
- iWork '06 with Pages 2 and Keynote 3
- iPod radio remote
AOL acquires Truveo
AOL yesterday acquired the video search engine Truveo. This is interesting in light of Google paying $1 blilion for AOL's 5% and even stinks of betrayal. Techcrunch's post with the news here, also covered by Jeff Clavier here.
They use some innovative techniques to create metadata about the media files, looking at surrounding content to determing context. Techcrunch's original review on Truveo here.
Here's a good demonstration of Truveo in action by comparing search results for Google's keynote video at CES 2006, covered earlier.
January 10, 2006
Google Earth for Mac
Yahoo acquires WebJay
According to the Yahoo! Music Blog, Yahoo yesterday acquired the online music playlist publishing company WebJay. I've never used this site myself, but it's an interesting concept. They use an open XML format for sharing playlists called XSPF (pronounced "spiff"), which should soon be available as part of Yahoo Music's already existing open APIs.
Also reported on Techcrunch and an IM interview of Lucas Gonze, the creator of WebJay.
Riya raises second round funding
According to their blog and also at Techcrunch, Riya has managed to raise $15 million from Bay Partners for their second round funding.
These guys have some really cool technology as noted in the original review. Also covered earlier was Google acquisition rumors.
January 08, 2006
My new AJAX desktop
NetVibes. I've been using it ever since I saw it on Web 2.0 companies Michael Arringto couldn't live without, and I absolutely love it. Lots of new features are in the works as per their blog.
Not sure where the image is from (couldn't find it on NetVibes website) .. I just stole it from the Techcrunch post.
Moblogging
So I've finally managed to enable blogging via email on this blog, which
means I have even less excuse not to blog regularly. Currently not supported
are images and multiple categories in moblog entries. Also, a new 3-column
layout and the option to subscribe, RSS and email (your emails will NEVER be
shared with anybody else :)
January 07, 2006
Google Video Store
Announced today during an entertaining closing keynote at Consumer Electronics Show, Google Video Store puts them in direct competition with Apple iTunes Music Store. At $1.99 a pop TV shows from CBS, WGBH, HDNet and the NBA will be available for download. What's more, Google's video store will let absolutely anyone upload and charge for videos, making it far lucrative than any other option out there. Google press release here. 
Also announced at the keynote, Google Software Pack - a free collection of essential software, available only for Windows XP. Comes with a Google updater to now help them keep track of what software you're using on your machines :)
January 06, 2006
Microsoft unveils iPod killer
Bill Gates announced yesterday the launch of a new music service that is obviously aimed at dethroning Apple iTunes. Called Urge (coming soon), it has over 2 million tracks for purchase or as part of an all-you-can eat subscription. The service extends to TV as well with a partnership with DirectTV.
What's interesting is Microsoft's partnership with Intel around Viiv, which was earlier rumored to power Apple's next generation Mac Mini with DVR capabilities. Can't wait for the MacWorld Expo next week now :)
January 04, 2006
Blogging sucks if you don't have the time
And this blog now officially sucks considering how little time I get to spend on it!
So let's say spending more time maintaining this blog is one of my resolutions for this year.