Site support

The magnitude of the natural disaster in Asia is becoming clear. While a few tech companies are doing what they can to help, others have not leveraged their high visitor numbers by putting up links to relief organisations or donation sites.

These are a few of the companies that have done the right thing:

Apple - replaced all the content of its main page with info and links to relief organisations.
Yahoo - the top content spot links to Oxfam, Unicef and others
Google - a link underneath the search box
MSN - large box on its main page.

Others like Lycos, IBM etc. are hopefully doing their part despite not showing it on their sites.

Cerulean releases Trillian 3.0

My favorite among the new features in Trillian 3.0, apart from the serverless IM support, is the connection to Wikipedia. Trillian 3.0 will "determine which words or phrases have interesting information associated with them". This will come in handy when discussing topics that the other party in the conversation wants/needs to learn more about. Are there any privacy issues tied to this feature? I'm not sure yet.

Keep an eye on what the people at Cerulean Studios are up to via the companies blog.

MSN Desktop reviewed

Charlene Li of Forrester has what I believe is the very first review of MSN's new desktop search tool(bar).
MSN Desktop debuts - integration helps, but complexity hinders

Great Google suggestion

Google Suggest
"Google has launched a new feature that tries to guess what people are looking for as they type queries into a search box." The full story from CNET News.

It's still in beta, but any service that lists 14 500 results for my last name has to be good, right? ;)

Yahoo! searches desktops with X1

Yahoo! has choosen a great partner for its desktop search test. X1 is part of Bill Gross' Idealab, also home to transparent search engine co Snap. Gross also created Overture.

"Yahoo plans to stand out from the pack by cinching its portal assets--free e-mail, calendars, photos, music, instant chat and so on--with search. The company does not plan to place ads within its beta desktop search tool [...]"

Watch out Google, Microsoft etc, this is a very clever partnership.

Feedster gets $ feed

I noted recently that NewsGator was receiving additional investment from Mobius. Now Feedster has also received some $. No info on the amount etc from the VC, Omidyar Network.

First seen at the (brilliant) SiliconBeat.

Amazon UK rents DVD's

Amazon is the latest entry in to the crowded UK online DVD rental market.

Since leaving San Francisco for London we've been testing a couple of the DVD services. So far none has impressed us. The two we won't be using in the future are...

ScreenSelect - The site looks like Netflix and almost works like it too. Good account management options, large movie selection but a very confusing system for choosing when your DVD's get dispatched. Also slow turnaround.
Rating: 3,5/5

Blockbuster - You'd think Blockbuster would understand how people rent movies. They don't. Poor site design, it's hard to find even new movies, there's no proper search functionality and the multiple "my list" options don't help. On the plus side is quick turnaround.
Rating: 1/5

Unfortunately our US favorite Netflix has postponed its UK launch in prep for Amazon's US DVD rental launch. Can we still sign up, please? (To Netflix - let the ex-subscriber offers transfer between the US and UK ;) )

Update on Torres

Regarding my post on Mike Torres and MSN Spaces from yesterday. Mike emailed me today and wanted me to know that he hasn't been asked to do this on behalf of MSN Spaces. He simply enjoys interfacing with the company's customers and show that MSN is listening.

In my book, Mike is a good example of when employee blogging really works.

Blue Apple?

Plenty of rumors around at the moment re IBM being interested in Apple. Some commentators think that when the deal between IBM and who ever acquires its PC business (still looks like Levono Group) is done, Big Blue might be looking towards Cupertino.

All this reminds me of Taligent, a company and an object oriented OS, that was laid to rest in 1998. The partners in that project were IBM and Apple.

Torres talks Spaces

When MSN launched its blogging offering Spaces it, predictably, got ripped. A lot of the venom was delivered based on opinion, some of it on fact, some on fiction. Apart from the purely made up stuff, the feedback was relevant and/or interesting and at times amusing.

But (and it's a big but - a BUT) for anyone truly interested in the progression of blogging, finding out what the people on the receiving end of all this feedback has to say must be of paramount interest.

Mike Torres is one of the people behind Spaces (I think he's a program manager) and he addresses some of "the recent hullabaloo".

I don't know if Torres has been asked to do this, or if he simply wants to share his two cents on a project that he clearly knows a lot about. Either way, this is what more companies need to do. Get a voice in the blogosphere (bad expression), start using your blogs in a clever way. It doesn't matter if people agree with you; at least you have a voice.

I've enjoyed reading Mike's postings. He's answered a few questions I had, and given me an insight in to the development of Spaces. Mike represents the other party, the missing bit that's needed to have a dialogue.

Mike's blog: Torres Talking

Update December 8, 2004: Mike emailed me today and wanted me to know that he hasn't been asked to do this on behalf of MSN Spaces. He simply enjoys interfacing with the company's customers and show that MSN is listening. In my book, Mike is a good example of when employee blogging really works.

Related posting:
MSN launches in to Spaces and Google re-Groups. December 3, 2004

Look like Bono

The perfect gift for iPod fans, or a sad way to waste $20? You decide. Either way, it made me laugh.

ipodmyphoto

Jyve and Q-Card

In case you've missed it, Jyve "is a free community built around voice communication powered by Skype."

It was bound to happen!

But ignore the usual community stuff, what is really interesting is the "Q-Card".

"Visitors to your website [...] will now be able to easily contact you by Voice and Instant Message or leave their information so you can call them back through the Q-Card."

This is brilliant. It adds communication options, including Skype Out, and gently "forces" who ever wants to speak with a Q-Card holder to fill in some basic info. Those of you who have been Skyped by spam callers will appreciate this. It's also a great way of getting a heads-up on a caller, not unlike that of a call being introduced by a receptionist.

Share it with Grouper

Is there a place for a legal, workgroup centered, file-sharing app? A handful of people from AOL, including Josh Felser who sold Spinner.com to AOL for $320 million in 1999, think so.

At the moment Grouper is marketed as a consumer app, but SMB's are clearly the target market. At the moment networks are limited to 30 people. In most SMB's this is not a problem, even though from what I understand the number of users might change. Instead the small size of the groups, they are by invitation only, also make Grouper less interesting to those inclined towards illegal file sharing.

Related posting:
I like Five Across. October 17, 2004

What Is dotMP?

"dotMP is your mobile domain name, [...] and home on the Web and the mobile Internet."

There are several clever uses for this service. For example, if I don't know a colleague's mobile phone number, but I know their (short) .mp URL, I can use it to contact them via my phone.

Personal site info
Commercial site info

IBM for sale?

Is IBM's PC business for sale?

"International Business Machines, whose first I.B.M. PC in 1981 moved personal computing out of the hobby shop and into the corporate and consumer mainstream, has put the business up for sale, people close to the negotiations said yesterday."

The NYT story.

MSN launches in to Spaces and Google re-Groups

MSN today launched its blog offering "Spaces".
MSN Spaces

It's still in beta but Google started linking more prominently to the updated Google Groups yesterday. Among the updates... Moderators can name groups with common language such as "Disney Parks," vs. Usenet names like "rec.arts.disney.parks."

More $ to NewsGator

NewsGator has received a series B investment from Mobius Venture Capital, the firm that provided its seed capital.

More on this from the Denver Post.

Take a look at Greg Reinacker's NewsGator