Wednesday, January 07, 2004

Word Out - Blogs/Video In 2004 From [The Doc Searls Weblog] - comments on blogs/video functionality in 2004. Jimmy Guterman in Business 2.0 (subscription required): 2004 will be the year that blogs go mainstream, although doing so will not have the liberating effect that today's well-known bloggers are predicting. We won't enjoy some avalanche of great new independent presses tearing down the media monoliths or something similarly utopian. We'll just get ... more voices. The volume of blogs will mean that individual ones will lose much of their impact among the technorati -- and the technorati will lose whatever little impact they're having on mainstream media. In a world where millions blog regularly, pundits like Lawrence Lessig, Clay Shirky, and Dave Winer aren't celebrities anymore. As with other Net media (from Usenet to webcams), the old-timers will whine about how the good old days were better, but the movement of blogging from an elitist activity to just another thing we all do on the Net can't be considered anything but healthy. This year, the broadcast television networks will bow to reality and start accommodating TiVo (TIVO) and the new generation of Net-enabled media appliances. Chief among them will be Sony's (SNE) upcoming PSX, which will unite TiVo functionality, massive storage, Net access, and a game console. The hybrid device has proven to be surprisingly popular in its initial just-before-Christmas release in Japan, and there's a nation of living rooms with too many knotted patch cords that need a cost-effective solution. Using everything from product placement to various forms of viewer participation, TV execs will finally deal with these new devices and find that there's life beyond the 30-second ad spot. My corollary to the first one: Conceiving the Net in static real estate terms — "sites" that are "under construction," for example — will give way to more journalistic concepts. Writing. Posting. Linking. Replying. Commenting. Answering. Sourcing. A whole new world of verbs and verbiage. 3:49:29 PM    comment []

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Broadband Reaches 100m Lines At End-2003 There are now more than 100m broadband lines worldwide. This conclusion is based on Point Topic's full analysis of the broadband statistics for end-September 2003. It includes all kinds of mass-market broadband services - whether over the telephone network (DSL), over cable TV networks (via cable modems) or over fibre-optic cables.  Broadband is growing much faster than mobile phone usage did - so far at least. It took mobile phones about 5.5 years to grow from 10m to 100m worldwide. Broadband has achieved the same growth in only 3.5 years. 3:41:25 PM    comment []

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Press Release - NewsGator Online Services Provides Access to Exciting New Content from Multiple Devices and Platforms NewsGator Online Services Subscribers Can Synchronize Subscriptions between Multiple Machines, Access Content from any Web Browser, POP3 Email Client, or Mobile Device, and Access Exclusive Premium Content LAS VEGAS and Denver, CO -- January 7, 2004 -- In addition to launching NewsGator 2.0 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, NewsGator Technologies announced its new NewsGator Online Services offerings to users today. NewsGator Technologies will be previewing Version 2.0 and their new Online Services at the Digital Experience media event held at the Mirage in Las Vegas tonight between 7 and 10 pm. NewsGator Online Services is a powerful set of tools, allowing users to search for the content they want, including exclusive subscriber-only content, and read this content on any device. These services are available for anyone – not just NewsGator for Outlook users. Subscription Synchronization Users who subscribe to NewsGator Online Services can now synchronize their subscriptions across multiple machines. This is an industry first - NewsGator 2.0 for Outlook and NewsGator Online Services are the first commercially available tools to provide this capability in such a flexible manner. This sophisticated system ensures that subscriptions follow users wherever they go, users never have to read the same content twice (unless they choose to), and even supports multiple subscription lists so users can have separate, but overlapping, subscription lists at home and at the office. Multiple Editions NewsGator Online Services includes three content reader editions, allowing users to read their subscribed content any time, any place, and on any device: Web Edition -- NewsGator Online Services provides a web-based content reader, which allows users to read content they have subscribed to from any web browser. POP Edition -- NewsGator Online Services allows users to read their subscribed feeds in any email client. This includes Outlook Express and Eudora on Windows, Apple Mail and Entourage on the Mac, and any other email client that supports POP3. Mobile Edition -- NewsGator Online Services allows users to read their subscribed feeds on any mobile device that supports HTML, including mobile wireless phones and PDA's. This is a powerful feature for road warriors who use mobile devices to access information while away from home or the office. And of course the subscription synchronization system works across all of the NewsGator Online Services reader editions, as well as NewsGator 2.0 for Outlook. Keyword Search and Related Content feeds NewsGator Online Services provides subscribers with the ability to search for content that matches a specific keyword or URL, and return that content in a feed. This now allows users to be immediately notified if their keyword or site is mentioned on the web or elsewhere. Sources searched for this content include weblogs, commercial news sites, SEC filings, and more.  This is an extremely powerful capability, useful for anyone from PR and advertising agencies to marketing personnel to weblog authors. Premium Content NewsGator Online Services also provides exclusive, subscriber-only content to its subscribers. Initial media launch partners for premium content include InfoWorld and others to be announced soon. Additional content partners include Full Tilt Features (an independent comic syndicate) and Ask the Builder by Tim Carter, a nationally syndicated columnist and host of a home improvement show on radio and TV. While this technology is currently perceived to be a niche market, NewsGator Technologies is taking a leadership position by signing deals with partners that will reach a large number of consumers. By providing content, which appeals to an extremely wide audience, these partners are helping to drive the syndication and personal content aggregation space to the mainstream market. "We are very excited to announce our Premium Content launch partners," said Greg Reinacker, President of NewsGator Technologies. "In addition to leading technical publications, we have signed non-technical publishers as well – bringing content that appeals to thousands of consumers and business owners to our service. This is exactly the kind of thing that will drive more aggressive mainstream adoption of syndication and aggregation technology." Moving forward, NewsGator Technologies will be aggressively adding content partners across a number of industries to this service. NewsGator for Outlook retrieves news from news sites, weblogs, newsgroups, and other information sources that support the RSS syndication format, and automatically integrates the news items. NewsGator Online Services takes this experience to the next level, providing access to subscriptions any time, any place, on any device, and providing rich content to subscribers.  RSS (Rich Site Summary) news syndication is an emerging method of staying abreast with rapidly changing information and allows users to sort, organize, group and search news in multiple ways. NewsGator Online Services is a subscription service, and will be available on January 19, 2004 at http://services.newsgator.com. Pricing starts at $5.95/month per user. [NewsGator News and Updates] 2:46:20 PM    comment []

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IDC To RFID: Tags, You're It The researcher says radiofrequency ID tags and related tech is headed toward the mainstream of supply-chain management strategies, with U.S. spending to leap to about $1.3 billion by 2008.  [CNET News.com - Front Door] 2:15:31 PM    comment []

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Portable Dual Screen Computer From Estari Estari, Inc. is the developer of the world’s first full functioning, wireless-capable, portable, dual-screen personal computer – the 2-VU™ Personal Computer. As the first-to-market with this novel product, Estari will lead the world in transforming the way people experience information, learning, and knowledge through the innovative convergence of technology. Estari is realizing this vision by combining its revolutionary product with intelligent document management software developed by FileScout Software Solutions, Inc. Thus, Estari’s patented mobile computers combine the best aspects of a laptop, desktop, tablet PC and eBook reader into an all-encompassing solution that provides increased functionality, productivity and mobility with an unprecedented visual workspace. 1:27:00 PM    comment []

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Windows Server 2003 for 64-Bit Extended Systems Beta Customer Preview Program You can sign up now to receive trial software for Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, for 64-Bit Extended Systems via CD or download. Read about the Customer Preview Program (CPP) and the different options for obtaining the pre-release software, and then use the links on the right to register to order the CD Kit or download product files. Note that in either case, the pre-release software is time limited and will expire in 360 days.(CNet) 1:12:49 PM    comment []

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Commentary: Ten Tips For Killer Web Services Forrester experts synthesize the best and worst practices of early adopters into tips for business and IT managers to avoid common pitfalls and build killer Web services.  [CNET News.com - Front Door] 9:14:16 AM    comment []

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Veritas Bulks Up Its Utility Computing Lineup The software maker purchases start-up Ejasent for $59 million, as it head further beyond its storage management roots. [CNET News.com - Front Door] 9:11:38 AM    comment []

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Intel Launches $200 Million Fund for 'Digital Home' (Reuters) Reuters - Intel Corp. (INTC.O), the world's largest microchip maker and an eager entrant into the consumer electronics business, is backing up its vision of a PC-centric digital home with a new $200 million investment fund. [Yahoo! News - Technology] 9:04:36 AM    comment []

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