Grouper's glog$

Grouper is hitting the headlines with its group blogs - "glogs" and the news of $2.5 million in their second round of financing.

More on this from Silicon Beat.

My December 6, 2004 post on Grouper

Get the door, it's Bloglines

"In its first feature launch since being acquired by Ask Jeeves Inc., Bloglines is offering the ability to track packages shipped through United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp. and the U.S. Postal Service."

Tried it, loved it.

Bloglines Takes Aggregation Beyond RSS, Blogs (eWeek)

Insecure Messaging

CNET has a good story on IM-borne threats.

Does IM stand for insecure messaging?

Flashmaps

I still think Google Maps is the best map resource out there right now. But the people at Flashmaps have a good thing going for those who "need a locator map or [are] building a map-based application for thousands of listings". Instead of me trying to explain the "mapping resource for macromedia users" - try it.

What's in your wallet?

InterActiveCorp buys Ask Jeeves for $1.85 billion
Yahoo buys photo-sharing site Flickr
HP to acquire Snapfish photo service

Yahoo! 360

I'm pleased to see that Yahoo! are beta testing blogs on the US market. The Korean Y! blogs have been around for quite some time and it wil be interesting to see what, if any, of the asian functionality that will be transfered to the US version.

Related posts:
MSN launches in to Spaces - December 3, 2004
Torres talks Spaces - December 7, 2004

Total Hotspots hotting up

I had a quick email conversation with Alex Housley at Total Hotspots recently. Turns out that their service, which I gave a 5/5 rating in my October 20, 2004 post, are upgrading.

According to Alex the main new feature will be "a “My Hotspots” membership area, which allows users to save their favourite searches and locations and receive updates and recommendations (by cross referencing profiles) online and also via email. "

I think this is close to a master stroke. Total Hotspots recognise that despite the travelling life style many of us have, we still tend to return to the same cities or neighbourhoods.

Other upgardes to the service include "improvements on the ratings and ranking system, an enhanced directory and a number of new photos and descriptions".

I'm sure that's nice too, but for a already good service to offer a proper level of personalization might be what really puts them ahead of the (admittedly not so impressive) pack.

The new features become available during the spring.

RIM confirms NTP settlement conference

"Research In Motion held a settlement conference with NTP before a U.S. judge on Friday about the firms' ongoing patent infringement battle, RIM confirmed."

I know quite a few organisations that are keen to place orders on Blackberry's but that are holding off until the "ongoing patent infringement battle" is over. At least it's moving forward now.

On a related note, UK's PDA Essentials magazine have a great introduction to the Blackberry for newbies in the current issue.

Photo: Copyright © 2005 Research In Motion Limited

2 years on the blog

Today my blog turns 2 years old! Hipp hipp hurray.

I'm glad to see that so many of the people who started reading this blog in the early days are still frequent visitors. I'd like to extend a big thank you to the "First Ten" and everyone in the "Big 30" that visit, write to me with feedback, comment on my views etc. As they say here in England... cheers!

Here's to the next 2 years and beyond!

Wi-Fi v. WiMAX

This morning we posted a new article over on the main Orvet Digital site. Wi-Fi v. WiMAX – the non existent fight is about wireless history repeating itself.

"This time Wi-Fi investments are held back by the promise of WiMAX. While I could almost (but not quite) understand holding off on 802.11b in favour of 802.11g, this latest round of “Wi-confussion” is worrying."

Your feedback is appreciated.

Apple supports chat

I've alway's been a big fan of "web chat" support services. Some, like Earthlink, manage to combine canned (or pre set, if you wish) responses with a fairly personal touch. Others fail misserably.

Apple this week started testing their own service (not called iSupport in case you wondered).

Who can use it? "If you purchased your iMac less than 90 days ago or if your iMac is covered under an AppleCare Protection Plan."

In related chat news, Apple today released iChatAV 2.1 which "adds support for video conferencing with the AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Microsoft Windows." Thank you thank you.

Yahoo! turns X

It's hard to belive it's been 10 years already. Happy birthday Y!.

Yahoo!'s 'netrospective', fittingly inspired by Jonathan J. Harris' brilliant 10x10.

CNET on Yahoo!'s first ten years

Blinkx + Movielink

A quick note just as I'm on my way out for dinner...the TV + net connection is getting more exciting thanks to Blinkx and Movielink!

From Russell Beattie