At the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, Gartner analysts presented their insights into the top 10 technologies and trends to rule the world in 2009.
With emphasis on virtualization, organizations should also pay close attention to cloud computing, green IT, Business Intelligence (BI) and social software — among other strategic trends.
See the original post:
Gartner: 2009 Top 10 Strategic Technologies
Well, one analyst believes so. Those involved with the Web 2.0 industry are in trouble, according to Oliver Young, a Forrester Research analyst. He believes that the supply of Web 2.0 service applications is becoming too great, and that prices will decline as a result. As if that didn’t sound bad enough, pricing is one of the few aspects left to compete with.
See original here:
Web 2.0 Implosion Imminent?
It’s time for our weekly summary of Web Technology news, products and trends. This week we had two big product launches: the Google Phone and MySpace Music. We also looked at Favtape, a new startup aiming to shake up the online music market. On the trends side, we had another great podcast this week - on Data Portability. We also analyzed Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere, checked out the world of barcode scanners, and investigated how some religious organizations are using the Web. Last but not least, we bring you the latest from our new Enterprise Channel.
Google Phone Unveiled, Can it Beat the iPhone?
This week, Google, T-Mobile, and HTC came together to introduce the first phone running the Google mobile OS, Android. The overall message at launch was focused on openness. But will the future of the mobile internet be driven by open platforms? That’s what Google is betting on with Android, but more importantly, it’s what T-Mobile is hoping will stop the flood of customers leaving their service for AT&T’s iPhone.
To entice customers away from the iPhone, we now have the G1, a slick alternative with a touchscreen and an app store of its own. The companies want you to believe the G1 is just as good, if not better, thanks to the real QWERTY keyboard and the open nature of the Google OS. Now that we have all the facts, are you convinced?
RWW Predictions: Google’s Android vs. Apple’s iPhone
This week we asked at RWW Predictions: will T-mobile or AT&T adjust their entry price point (either up or down) for the HTC Dream and the iPhone respectively in 2008? Nearly half of respondants said no, there won’t be a price adjustment in 2008.
The long awaited MySpace Music service launched this week. We like what we see. It’s going to be a very big deal.
Users will be able to assemble playlists from a huge catalog of songs from all four major labels and from independent distributor The Orchard, full length songs are all streamable for free, users will be able to purchase DRM-free MP3s through a close integration with the AmazonMP3 service and developers will have a gradually increasing amount of access to user activity data from the Music section. Screen shots in the post.
Muxtape Is Dead - Favtape Emerges as a Great Alternative
While Muxtape’s Justin Ouellette posted a dire story about the shutdown of the popular mixtape service and his dealings with the music industry, Favtape has updated its service dramatically. Muxtape will effectively remain closed for the general public and will only return as a music hosting service for bands. Favtape, on the other hand, now looks like Muxtape on steroids, with embeddable playlists, album art, integrated YouTube search, a shuffle mode, and the ability to create tapes based on your last.fm and Pandora bookmarks.
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
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In this week’s episode of RWW Live, our podcast show, we discussed Data Portability - the ongoing campaign for open data across the Web. We had an amazing group of Data Portability leaders on the call: Chris Saad (Co-founder, DataPortability.org), Daniela Barbosa (Chair, DataPortability.org), Eran Hammer-Lahav (Open Standards Evangelist, Yahoo), and Angus Logan (Technical Product Manager for Windows Live Platform, Microsoft). Friend of RWW Chris Messina also popped into the call midway through. The discussion was very interesting, check out the recording here:
Download MP3
Blog search engine and ad network Technorati released its 5th annual State of the Blogosphere report this week. Technorati says its findings indicate that blogging is now mainstream. We’re not so sure. Although reading blogs is becoming increasingly mainstream, is writing them?
The Scannable World: Mobile Phones As Barcode Scanners
One of the promises of the mobile web was the possibility of being able to integrate the internet with the real world. One of the ways to accomplish this task is through the use of barcodes. The idea is that you take a picture of the barcode with your camera phone and you’re then delivered to a mobile web site. This could effectively make anything - whether a poster, an ad, or an object - a virtual part of the world wide web. Although this technology has been available for years, it’s only now with the birth of the smartphone, or more precisely, the next-gen smartphone, that the potential for this type of integration may finally be realized.
See also:
The Scannable World, Part 2: Scanning Your Web Printouts
The Scannable World, Part 3: Barcode Scanning In The Real World
This week, as part of our ongoing Mainstream Web Watch series, we looked into how religious groups are using Web technologies. In the first post we looked at LifeChurch.tv, a sophisticated rich media site that aims to preach Christianity over the Internet. What was really great to see is how LifeChurch is using best-in-class web apps to create each different aspect of their online presence - Twitter for real-time communication, Wufoo to create their online forms, Blip.tv for video teaching, Mogulus for live broadcasting, and so on. It has also developed its own web apps.
See also:
Religion and Web Technology, Part 2: Shalom Hartman Institute
Religion and Web Technology, Part 3: Inside Islam
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
Last week, we covered how Zoho is defying conventional wisdom in the Web Office market. But is being unconventional all it takes for a bootstrapped start-up to take on both Microsoft and Google, in head to head evaluations by giant enterprises such as GE? Far from it. Whenever you see a surprising ‘overnight sensation’, you will usually find years of hard work and careful execution.
In Part 2 of this story, we revealed some of Zoho’s cookbook.
Email us if you’re interested in writing for ReadWriteWeb’s Enterprise Channel.
SEE MORE ENTERPRISE COVERAGE IN OUR ENTERPRISE CHANNEL
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Here is the original post:
Weekly Wrapup: Google Phone, MySpace Music, and More!
It’s time for our weekly summary of Web Technology news, products and trends. This week we surveyed the leading online banking products and 10 recommended photo sharing sites. We also checked out a new ‘deep web’ search tool and reported on Joost’s move to the browser. Our prediction question this week was about the controversial ‘Twitter for enterprise’ app Yammer - check out the results below. On the trends side, we looked into a report about “super influencers”, gave you some suggestions for quality social media consultants, reported on the latest Tim Berners-Lee foundation, and analyzed how the economy shake-ups this week affect the tech sector. Last but not least, we bring you the latest from our new Enterprise Channel.
Banking 2.0: Money Management Moves to The Cloud
There was a time when managing finances from your computer meant you had to use desktop software. Today, that’s no longer the case. There are now a number of applications that let you do your banking in the cloud, a trend we’ve dubbed “banking 2.0.”
These sites aren’t just simplified versions of our former desktop apps, either. Instead, they offer a number of features that take advantage of their “always on” status. Forget downloading updates and typing in your transactions line-by-line, these new banking 2.0 sites can offer you better insight into your financial situation with no additional effort on your part beyond just logging in.
Store, Tag and Print: 10 Great Photo Sharing Services
The photo sharing market is growing at a steady clip and new services are released regularly. In this round-up, we compare the features and usability of 10 of our favorite photo sharing sites. Two years ago, we published a similar list. So now seems a good time for us to revisit the topic.
Some of these sites focus more on mainstream users and photo-finishing, while others stand out because of their extensive social features. Note: we’ve included a full table of features for the services listed (see below).
Click here for the full-size version of this table.
Sometimes Google Isn’t Enough: New Research Engine Searches “Deep Web”
What do you do when you need to research something on the web? You just google it, right? Using a web search engine like Google is usually fine for casual searches, but when you need to delve deep into a subject, it just won’t do. What you really need is a research engine that explores the unindexed reaches of the Deep Web. For that, there’s now Infovell, “the world’s research engine.”
Less than 0.2% of the web is indexed and some of the most valuable information lies beyond the search results returned from traditional engines. That’s where a service like Infovell can help. This new subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) engine lets you explore content found on the Deep Web.
See also: Semantics + Google = SemantiFind
Finally: Joost Now Available on the Web
This week Joost announced that all of its content is now available directly on its website and not just through its desktop client. Joost was one of the most hyped-up companies on the web when the peer-to-peer streaming video service was still in stealth mode in 2006; and beta invites were rare and coveted. However, once users actually got a look at Joost, disillusion quickly set in. Joost’s video quality was very high and it had signed up a wide range of content producers, but its downfall was its reliance on a desktop client. Users were already switching to viewing video on the web and having to start up a client just to watch video was simply too inconvenient.
RWW Predictions: Funding for Yammer
This week’s prediction question focused on the winner of the TechCrunch50 event: Yammer. Yammer is a communications product that duplicates the functionality of Twitter, but with an enterprise twist. We certainly have our doubts about Yammer as an enterprise tool. However, we wanted to know your prediction for the financial future of Yammer. Will Yammer raise a round of funding in 2008 or 2009. If so, how much will they take? As at time of writing, here were the results:
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
A new report from Universal McCann discusses the rise of “a new breed of super influencers” that has been created by “the tools of the social media revolution.” Before we all don our superhero capes, let’s look more closely at the findings of the report.
Entitled When did we start trusting strangers? How the internet turned us all into influencers, the premise is that influence was moved beyond “professional and top down” (mainstream media) and into Web-enabled peer to peer influence. But despite McCann calling this a “democratisation of influence”, all influencers are not equal. There are “super influencers” who are “extremely heavy users of social media, particularly in terms of content creation.” Are you one of these people? Let’s check out what the characteristics are…
Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value
Is social media nothing but snake oil? Sometimes it can seem that way. As economies shift and trends emerge, would-be experts start popping up like weeds. Really good social media experts are a treasure - and they’re not always easy to find.
In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren’t full of hot air - they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that’s all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples’ services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.
Tim Berners Lee Launches World Wide Web Foundation - Will it Be Effective?
Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, announced this week the formation of a new organization dedicated to studying how the web works and expanding access to the billions of people who can’t get online today. The World Wide Web Foundation kicked off with $5 million in support from media funders the Knight Foundation.
Can yet another organization really make a difference? Some observers seem to be suffering from Organization Fatigue, but we’re interested to see what Berners Lee can do. A group dedicated to deep study of the web and the obstacles to its growth sounds like a great idea to us. Not everyone agrees.
How Decoupled is The Innovation Economy From Rest of The Economy?
What a week of market mayhem! How odd having that as the backdrop to the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. We have been sounding alerts about the economic backdrop to our world of innovation for nearly a year. Back in February we wrote that this is not our bubble. Since then, the news from the economy has gotten worse and nobody is suggesting it will get better any time soon. Reading the papers is pretty grim (unless you stick to Sports or Arts). Yet we contend that it is not grim in the ‘innovation economy’. Here’s why…
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
Report: Nearly 70% of Businesses Allow Social Media Usage
A new report about Enterprise adoption of Web 2.0 technologies, by Awareness, Inc., shows that employers are increasingly allowing staff to use social media applications in working hours. Awareness puts the figure at 69 percent of businesses in 2008, up from 37 percent last year.
It’s the latest in a string of reports this year - from Awareness, Forrester and others - which provide data about the growth of web 2.0 in the enterprise. It’ll be a $4.6 Billion industry by 2013, according to Forrester. See more of Awareness’ findings in this post.
Email us if you’re interested in writing for ReadWriteWeb’s Enterprise Channel.
SEE MORE ENTERPRISE COVERAGE IN OUR ENTERPRISE CHANNEL
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Go here to see the original:
Weekly Wrapup, 15-19 September 2008
It’s time for our weekly summary of Web Technology news, products and trends. This week we surveyed the leading online banking products and 10 recommended photo sharing sites. We also checked out a new ‘deep web’ search tool and reported on Joost’s move to the browser. Our prediction question this week was about the controversial ‘Twitter for enterprise’ app Yammer - check out the results below. On the trends side, we looked into a report about “super influencers”, gave you some suggestions for quality social media consultants, reported on the latest Tim Berners-Lee foundation, and analyzed how the economy shake-ups this week affect the tech sector. Last but not least, we bring you the latest from our new Enterprise Channel.
Banking 2.0: Money Management Moves to The Cloud
There was a time when managing finances from your computer meant you had to use desktop software. Today, that’s no longer the case. There are now a number of applications that let you do your banking in the cloud, a trend we’ve dubbed “banking 2.0.”
These sites aren’t just simplified versions of our former desktop apps, either. Instead, they offer a number of features that take advantage of their “always on” status. Forget downloading updates and typing in your transactions line-by-line, these new banking 2.0 sites can offer you better insight into your financial situation with no additional effort on your part beyond just logging in.
Store, Tag and Print: 10 Great Photo Sharing Services
The photo sharing market is growing at a steady clip and new services are released regularly. In this round-up, we compare the features and usability of 10 of our favorite photo sharing sites. Two years ago, we published a similar list. So now seems a good time for us to revisit the topic.
Some of these sites focus more on mainstream users and photo-finishing, while others stand out because of their extensive social features. Note: we’ve included a full table of features for the services listed (see below).
Click here for the full-size version of this table.
Sometimes Google Isn’t Enough: New Research Engine Searches “Deep Web”
What do you do when you need to research something on the web? You just google it, right? Using a web search engine like Google is usually fine for casual searches, but when you need to delve deep into a subject, it just won’t do. What you really need is a research engine that explores the unindexed reaches of the Deep Web. For that, there’s now Infovell, “the world’s research engine.”
Less than 0.2% of the web is indexed and some of the most valuable information lies beyond the search results returned from traditional engines. That’s where a service like Infovell can help. This new subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) engine lets you explore content found on the Deep Web.
See also: Semantics + Google = SemantiFind
Finally: Joost Now Available on the Web
This week Joost announced that all of its content is now available directly on its website and not just through its desktop client. Joost was one of the most hyped-up companies on the web when the peer-to-peer streaming video service was still in stealth mode in 2006; and beta invites were rare and coveted. However, once users actually got a look at Joost, disillusion quickly set in. Joost’s video quality was very high and it had signed up a wide range of content producers, but its downfall was its reliance on a desktop client. Users were already switching to viewing video on the web and having to start up a client just to watch video was simply too inconvenient.
RWW Predictions: Funding for Yammer
This week’s prediction question focused on the winner of the TechCrunch50 event: Yammer. Yammer is a communications product that duplicates the functionality of Twitter, but with an enterprise twist. We certainly have our doubts about Yammer as an enterprise tool. However, we wanted to know your prediction for the financial future of Yammer. Will Yammer raise a round of funding in 2008 or 2009. If so, how much will they take? As at time of writing, here were the results:
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
A new report from Universal McCann discusses the rise of “a new breed of super influencers” that has been created by “the tools of the social media revolution.” Before we all don our superhero capes, let’s look more closely at the findings of the report.
Entitled When did we start trusting strangers? How the internet turned us all into influencers, the premise is that influence was moved beyond “professional and top down” (mainstream media) and into Web-enabled peer to peer influence. But despite McCann calling this a “democratisation of influence”, all influencers are not equal. There are “super influencers” who are “extremely heavy users of social media, particularly in terms of content creation.” Are you one of these people? Let’s check out what the characteristics are…
Seven Social Media Consultants That Deliver Tangible Value
Is social media nothing but snake oil? Sometimes it can seem that way. As economies shift and trends emerge, would-be experts start popping up like weeds. Really good social media experts are a treasure - and they’re not always easy to find.
In this post we highlight seven social media consultants that consistently bring tangible value to the table. These folks aren’t full of hot air - they use their blogs to offer clear examples, links, tutorials and other resources you can put to use. If the goods you can see for free are so solid, that’s all the more reason to investigate paying for these peoples’ services. We hope this list will help you get smarter and maybe save a whole lot of money and anguish.
Tim Berners Lee Launches World Wide Web Foundation - Will it Be Effective?
Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, announced this week the formation of a new organization dedicated to studying how the web works and expanding access to the billions of people who can’t get online today. The World Wide Web Foundation kicked off with $5 million in support from media funders the Knight Foundation.
Can yet another organization really make a difference? Some observers seem to be suffering from Organization Fatigue, but we’re interested to see what Berners Lee can do. A group dedicated to deep study of the web and the obstacles to its growth sounds like a great idea to us. Not everyone agrees.
How Decoupled is The Innovation Economy From Rest of The Economy?
What a week of market mayhem! How odd having that as the backdrop to the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. We have been sounding alerts about the economic backdrop to our world of innovation for nearly a year. Back in February we wrote that this is not our bubble. Since then, the news from the economy has gotten worse and nobody is suggesting it will get better any time soon. Reading the papers is pretty grim (unless you stick to Sports or Arts). Yet we contend that it is not grim in the ‘innovation economy’. Here’s why…
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
Report: Nearly 70% of Businesses Allow Social Media Usage
A new report about Enterprise adoption of Web 2.0 technologies, by Awareness, Inc., shows that employers are increasingly allowing staff to use social media applications in working hours. Awareness puts the figure at 69 percent of businesses in 2008, up from 37 percent last year.
It’s the latest in a string of reports this year - from Awareness, Forrester and others - which provide data about the growth of web 2.0 in the enterprise. It’ll be a $4.6 Billion industry by 2013, according to Forrester. See more of Awareness’ findings in this post.
Email us if you’re interested in writing for ReadWriteWeb’s Enterprise Channel.
SEE MORE ENTERPRISE COVERAGE IN OUR ENTERPRISE CHANNEL
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Read the original:
Weekly Wrapup, 15-19 September 2008
