Freely Available Utilities

The title comes from a phrase that stood out for me in this post from RWW. That post highlights some really sweet data pr0n (TwitterThoughts and World Twitter Map) built by Yvo Schaap that uses the Twitter API for data, Yahoo Pipes for parsing and the Google Visualization API for producing the eye candy. All… Read More

What We’re Reading

Based on the response to my poll question last week about more content, no one seems very psyched about interspersing our Reader Shared Items into posts. That’s fine, and like I said in the comments, I get bored with blogs that post more links/links posts than original content, even I think the content rules. I… Read More

3 x Location

A couple news items from last week have me thinking about location-based services again. First, a location-based social networking tool called Shizzow launched a private beta. Similarly to other services (Brightkite, most notably), Shizzow helps you stay in touch with people IRL, but the secret sauce is that you don’t have to know the address… Read More

Yahoo-Microsoft Endgame?

I blogged about the Yahoo-Microsoft soap opera when it first began. I expected it to end pretty quickly, with Yahoo realizing they couldn’t go it alone anymore. Since then, rumors have swirled and now the plot is as thick as mud. News Corp has gone from savior to Microsoft conspirator, and Google is still lurking,… Read More

Thoughts on Microsoft-Yahoo

I’ve been thinking about the proposed Yahoo-Microsoft merger since the news broke on Friday. As a closeted economist and enterprise apologist, the offer’s value really jumped off the page. Microsoft is offering $44.5 billion in cash and stock for a business that generated just under $7 billion in revenue in its fiscal 2007. Microsoft’s Office… Read More

On Social Apps, Trying Again

So, Billy and I had a whimsical dust–up over the differences (or lack thereof) between our approaches to the enterprise-ification of New Web. A few other voices chimed in too. Right, wrong, indifferent, it’s been a slow week. Mr. Long Tail, Chris Anderson, posted an entry yesterday that hits the core of the differences between… Read More

AppsLab Events Widget

Maybe you noticed our newest widget, it’s right down there on the right, just under the Archives. If you’re too lazy to look, here’s the shot. This widget shows events that have been posted to our upcoming group, aptly called appslab. Anyone can join and use upcoming, and anyone can join and post events to… Read More

Yahoo! The Sleeping Giant

Last week, screenshots of Kickstart, Yahoo’s lastest foray into social networks surfaced. Not surprisingly, Kickstart is targeted at recruiting, helping college student find an “in” at companies where they want to work and helping companies recruit students. I like this approach, as long as they can keep it clean by ensuring the students are really… Read More