Public weblog portability. I was e-mailing with xian about the portability of weblogs…[John Robb’s Weblog]
A great idea and one that is needed! If you’ve moved a blog between systems or hosts, you know what a pain this can be.
Wi-Fi revenue predicted to fall as use climbs
While global Wi-Fi use is set to explode over the next five years, revenue from the technology is due to shrink, leading to a consolidation of the market, according to a report released this week by Pyramid Research LLC. Worldwide Wi-Fi users will number 707 million by 2008, Pyramid predicted, yet revenue per user will drop from around US$30 a month this year to $3 a month in five years. [MacCentral]
AMERICA’S KEY ‘INFLUENTIALS’ ARE WEB JUNKIES
America’s “Influentials” — a demographic of business networkers, news junkies and community movers and shakers — prefer the Internet to any other media for acquiring their daily information, according to a new study. Ad Age
AOL Tries its Hand at Cash Cards
One of the newest features in the upcoming release of the 9.0 client is aimed at parents and kids and is seen as a way to hold down subscriber churn. [internetnews.com: Top News]
With no annual fees or charges, the AOL Cash Card is neither a debit card nor a credit card. Instead, it’s kind of an allowance, loaded on a plastic card, that kids can use both offline and online.
When the new card arrives, it will hit a market landscape that was once littered with failed e-cards aimed at teens. Start-ups such as eWallet and ICanBuy.com, which offered a similar service that let parents use their credit cards to fund prepaid spending accounts for their children, fell by the wayside during the dot-com shakeout. Others, like RocketCash, managed to survive but they allow users to purchase only from a select number of sites.
In AOL’s case, it has some marquee names helping to back the concept, including a partnership with Visa to develop the cash card program based in part on Visa’s BUXX program, a similar pre-paid card for parents of teenagers. BankOne, one of the largest issuers of Visa cards, is also issuing the cards.
This will certainly be one to watch…
Buy.com launches digital music service
Hoping to reprise Apple’s early iTunes success, the company offers a catalog of more than 300,000 songs from major and independent labels–for computers using Windows. [CNET News.com Entertainment & Media]
Looks like an Apple rip-off service right down to the commercials on the bottom of the home page. You need Windows Media Player 9 which manages the rights through SMDI. It’s a combo package with download, transfers and burns. Seems to be more focused on the rights part than necessarily on the music part, but we all know who wants it that way…
Good for Buy, that as usual they win on price… though I wonder how much they paid Tommy Lee?
House Panel Urges FCC Action
Five months after initial vote, agency still has not published final rules providing Bells with unbundling relief. [internetnews.com: Top News]
Although the FCC has not issued its final order in the matter, the agency ruled the regional Bells will no longer have to share their high-speed fiber lines with broadband competitors. The FCC’s ruling provides the Bells with substantial “unbundling” relief for lines utilizing fiber facilities, including no unbundling requirements for fiber-to-the-home loops or hybrid loops that utilize both fiber and cooper.
U.S. consumers: we don’t like our phones smart
Through recently conducted research, Jupiter Research says the company has found that when choosing a mobile phone, U.S. consumers prioritize small size and voice-related functionality over more advanced features such as integrated digital cameras, games, PDAs or music players.[infoSync]
That’s M-Life, Do you Get it Now
Perceptions: When Ads Work Too Well
Teenagers who have drinking problems have stronger brain responses to images from alcohol advertisements than other teenagers do, a new study reports. [New York Times: Health]
The exact mechanism is unclear. The research could not determine whether people with drinking problems were predisposed to be more responsive to advertising or whether advertising encouraged problem drinking.
Broadband boosts EarthLink’s bottom line
Growth in high-speed subscriptions helps the Internet service provider post a narrower second-quarter loss–and also offsets dial-up defections. [CNET News.com]
Internet News.com also reports on this one and mentions the addition of Circuit City as a National retail partner.
Wheels of Zeus Appoints Management Team, Signs Customers
LOS GATOS, CALIF. — Wheels of Zeus, a startup formed by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to develop a wireless radio system called Woznet, announnced its management team. The firm has also signed letters of intent with two prospective customers, Rich Rifredi, the new chief operating officer, told VentureWire.
Mr. Rifredi previously helped found Pixo, which developed applications for wireless phones, and was acquired by Sun Microsystems earlier this year. His career began at Apple, where he spent nine years and ended his tenure there as worldwide product manager for the company’s Powerbook products.
Frank Canova, the new vice president of engineering, previously served as vice president of worldwide product engineering at Palm. He had also worked at IBM, developing the company’s SmartPhone and managing PDA and portable computer projects.
Gina Clark joins the company as vice president of business development and marketing. She had been vice president of marketing at PalmSource. She also held the same position at LoopNet, an online service for the commercial real estate industry.
The company’s product, a cross between an RFID tag and a cell phone, is a wireless radio with one to two miles of range that provides location and status information. Mr. Rifredi said applications for the system include families keeping an eye on their pets and construction companies tracking whether their equipment has been turned off or on.
The devices have much longer range than RFID tags, which have a range of only a few feet, and do not require subscriptions like cell phones. The device will have a battery life measured in months.
Wheels of Zeus plans to sell its reference designs to manufacturers with distribution in consumer areas as well as in business and enterprise markets. Consumers won’t see a device in stores until the second half of next year, Mr. Rifredi said. The price would be left up to the manufacturers, but Mr. Rifredi says the bill of materials for the device will be $25.
The firm raised $6 million in a first round last year from Mobius Venture Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Palo Alto Investors, and plans to raise a second round later this year.
Bloglines…
Don’t have an aggregator, or want to have access to your subscriptions while on the go at a different system? Bloglines is a very nice (and simple) web based RSS Feed Reader. Takes less than 5 minutes to be up and running. Upload the OPML file from your current aggregator to get started… pretty cool.
Hotels’ High-Speed Internet Often Has a Catch
Although many hotels now promote high-speed Internet access, laptop-toting business travelers can’t always count on it when they check in. [New York Times: Technology]
Tired of the Telly? Reprogram It
A Colorado startup is selling a digital entertainment center that can easily be upgraded by its owner. To some, Interact-TV’s Telly looks like the perfect marriage of living-room ease of use with PC upgradability. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]
The Telly automatically records TV shows, and can pause and rewind live TV. Programming information is provided over the Net through a free subscription service.
The Telly also plays music and displays photos. Thanks to a built-in CD-RW/DVD drive, it can rip and burn CDs, and play DVDs. The company said DVD burning will be added in the near future. Consumers will be able to buy and install their own DVD-burning equipment, and the necessary software will automatically be pushed to the device using the Net.
TiVo upgrading with a mac
The vast majority of TiVo upgrade guides require the use of PC, and there are scant resources and programs for the mac, even though OS X is now a BSD based operating system (meaning most basic linux tools work in BSD as well). Over on the TiVo underground, member A@ron asked for help and got little in response. He eventually found software and figured it out, and posted a full guide to TiVo upgrading using a mac as a result.
[PVRblog]
Display weather, stocks, more in iChat AV
Status Symbol 1.0 is a standalone application that can manage your iChat AV status… [MacMinute]
I’ve had a chance to play with this bit (at the bottom of the page) and I have to say it’s pretty cool. You can easily create custom as well as dynamic updates to your IM status.
Another update… my friend on AIM cannot see any messages other than that I look available. This may only be a iChat feature/function.
Intel, Linksys partner to improve Wi-Fi
The chipmaker and the wireless gear maker are aiming to make it easier for consumers to use Wi-Fi technology, as the companies look to gain a stronger foothold in the emerging market. [CNET News.com]
The New BMW 6 Series coupe
The new 6 Series coupe from BMW will be unveiled in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show and will go on sale in the United States in spring 2004.
BMW says the 645Ci, with a 4.4-liter engine, will be able to reach 149 miles an hour and sprint from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in well under 6 seconds. New York Times
Thirty is the new twenty-one
The NYT reports that 20-somethings are enjoying an extended adolescence they didn’t have a generation ago. No one has to… [Gawker]
Baby Bells look to skies for video
SBC and Qwest separately sign deals with EchoStar to sell its Dish satellite TV programming bundled with voice and broadband services, to combat a triple threat from cable providers. [CNET News.com]
Yahoo! Adds Site-Building Tool
The portal offers SiteBuilder as part of its Web hosting service, in a bid to appeal to small-and medium-sized businesses. [internetnews.com]
I check it out quickly and while this is only for Windows (yeah yeah) it seems like a very nice tool. I have previous experience with the WebSites from Verisign product and this looks easier to use. Hard to say if the template are better or worse… probably worse. They are keeping it simple though, making it very easy for the SMB to get going.