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Yahoo business undersiege: Was the Company at Risk?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:34:23 PST

Yahoo, the iconic company of the web has reportedly loses $303 Million in its Q4. Yahoo’s Q4 loss is its first loss since 2002. The Company is in chaos. But despite of those loses Yahoo! stock were up at $11.69 a share about 3% up, that’s good news for investors but not enough Yahoo! still in great trouble the Company it needs of a bold leadership. The online giant is struggling; its core US business is us under siege. Yahoo has already announced thousands of layoffs and shutdown number of services. I’ll been following Yahoo! since the Microsoft search deal broke out so far Yahoo! is not looking good. The recent confirmation of its new CEO Carol Bartz won’t help Yahoo. A lot of tech savvy people in the Silicon Valley are not impressed about Yahoo new CEO. What exactly Yahoo! should? Well Yahoo! must undertake survival tactics and drastic measures. The Company needs a major makeover Yahoo’s mistakes was in the operational side and management, Yahoo! failed to reduce the operational costs and also to increase efficiency. But the biggest threat to Yahoo’s online business is the current economic crisis it could hurt Yahoo. The current economic crisis has sent ad rate plummeting, advertisers are cutting back on ads spending elsewhere. If Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz wants to remake the Company and conquer the web then Bartz must focus on US market. The US is the center for online advertising spending and in order to survive and conquer the web (if the God forbid) the Company needs to take or focus mostly to the US market not just abroad. Bartz got a lot works here at Yahoo!, we seen a lot of “crack” at Yahoo’s foundation. We still don’t know what direction Carol Bartz will take Yahoo. My guess is Bartz would dress up Yahoo! for sell or maybe seek an elephant in the room; I’m talking about perhaps some Microsoft search deal. Yahoo! got lot of potentials despite Yahoo’s tragedy it still managed to roll out some “creative works”, the Company recently launched Open Strategy Initiative, and the works is great it adds social networking components to Yahoo! services and it’s allows third party application integrations. But this is not enough; Yahoo! is spending time and resources into web products that won’t integrate to its core business. The search is Yahoo! core business, Yahoo! is losing the search market share, and Microsoft is growing stronger. Yahoo! needs to do something if it’s to thrive in the online business it needs to integrate it web products to its core business just like Google did. Is Carol Bartz got plans for Yahoo?

China beat US in the internet usage.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:33:06 PST

For years the Chinese government has keeping a close eye on its people’s internet usage. The Chinese government has already rolled out filtering systems used to block access to forbidden sites. The government has been watching every websites, blogs and search engines their people visit. The Great Wall of China represents Chinese government huge efforts to keep the internet under its boots. It’s Beijing’s attempts to silence dissent and block references to politically sensitive topics like human rights and democracy. But despite of those heavy handed censorships on internet usage it won’t stop internet from growing fast thought out the country. The China Internet Network Information Center claims the nation’s online population has grown 41.9% in 2008, a whopping 298 million users BBC reports. It’s already surpassed the US as the world’s largest online population. Although internet penetration is still low about 22.65. Most of the Chinese internet usage growth is happening in the countryside, according to TechCrunch, the countryside is growing faster than in the cities it’s pretty high about 60.8% compared to 35.6% in the cities. The Chinese bloggers population has also increased from 16 million to 162 million and with the advent of high speed internet connection we could expect more on Chinese online population. The recent development in the mobile industry would also give China a commanding lead in internet usage, Chinese could now browse the web through their mobile phone as the mobile phone starts to make a sleeper hit and presence in China we could expect terrible growth here. China government has already approved the deployment of 3G network for mobile phones, licenses for 3G enabled mobile phones have finally been issued to Chinese Telecom companies.

Microsoft Windows 7 first move.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:33:46 PST

Microsoft next big technological terror would soon come to your PC. Windows 7 the OS from Redmond based Microsoft Corp. The Software Company has already announced and released its first public beta version of its Windows 7 Operating System and so far the demand is great. The Company’s servers have been crippled. Microsoft online infrastructure can’t able to handle the huge demands for Windows 7 it crashed; the Company has underestimated the traffic. Although The Windows 7 is in public beta version but the demand is huge it already storm the web during its first released. Windows 7 is a monster. I’m sure this OS will create tons of buzz in the blogosphere, still I can’t give you the exact date of the official release of Windows 7. It’s still in beta stage.

Facebook sued Startup Power.com

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 23:48:52 PST

Startup Power.com a service that lets users aggregate their social networking experience across multiple sites such as MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, etc. was sued by Facebook last Dec. 30. Facebook sued Power.com for trademark infringement, copyright infringement, violation of Facebook terms and other charges. What Power.com doing here is it solicits and uses Facebook login information to access information stored at Facebook without authorization InsideFacebook report. The Company (Power.com) used the name “the Facebook team” on its emails it sent. Power.com has also created falsely email address such as Facebookmail.com during its site promotion. It’s a clear violation of Facebook’s trademarks and terms. According to a good friend of mine, Power.com is also offering $100 to the person that invited the most new users to Power.com. Facebook got no choice but to defend its turf and sued Power.com.

Facebook's creative works.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:16:51 PST

Facebook one of the fastest rising dot com company in the web history. With its massive user base an estimated 140 million active users (comScore). It’s the largest social networking site in the web. Facebook is also the six most trafficked sites in the US (comScore), it’s got an eye popping page views of 65 billion page views per month. But despite of those monstrous figures Facebook still got problem on monetization side. It’s still struggling to earn money. User base is crucial to online business Facebook got a massive user base which put it in a better position to make money. Advertising is Facebook’s golden goose and online advertising depends on user base, more users mean more revenue. The Company still struggling when it’s come in selling ads. It’s already done so many CPC campaigns. Over the past weeks the Company has been working on some “ads experiment”. Facebook is trying to transform advertising from nuisance to something people actually could use. Facebook is struggling to reach users. Last year Facebook generated only $ 145 million in revenue according to third party marketing analyst firm eMarketer, and much of its ads deal have done with Microsoft. By contrast its rival MySpace pocketed $ 540 million in revenue last year, that’s a huge gap. The Company has been experimenting and testing various ways on how to monetize those eyeballs, mainly by selling advertising. It’s done a lot of efforts to increase its traffic and applications engagement. Most of Facebook’s traffic is happening outside the US. The Company main focus is on user experience side. The recent redesigned is done to enhance user experience. But it hurt the users, Facebook users are complaining about the design, they find it too difficult to navigate. Facebook’s design have caused uproar in applications’ status and distribution, it’s also experienced a drop on its traffic. But Facebook has now starts to recover from the drop on traffic, its now back on works, focusing around news feeds and profile feeds to help promote user activity. This is all about information sharing about advertiser on the site. At Facebook, an advertiser can set up a “Page” about a product then users can become a fan. Facebook is betting hard on focused actions like joining on “Advertiser Page”. But we got problem here, privacy should be a top concerns here. What users worries that a new types of news feeds, placements, and Advertiser Pages do begin to dilute The Facebook news feeds.

Apple's next killer salvo: the next blockbuster hit.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:35:25 PST

Apple, one of Silicon Valley’s best performing company. Apple comes from the old world, its elegant products like iPhone, iMac, iPod, etc. cocoon customers from the chaos of the information age. Almost everything Apple makes transcends gender, geography, age and race. Apple not only beat Microsoft or Sony but it’s also set the standard for corporate America, how to build a good brand and make a truly disruptive technology. We don’t hear big about this year’s Macworld. But there are rumors that circling around the web, Apple got something big. Tech savvy people are pretty excited about what next at Apples. Rumors are rife on the tech world that Apple’s next operating system OS x 10.6 dubbed” Snow Leopard”: is about to make its debut at Macworld. For days Apple and its friends have been giving hints to developers about Apple’s next operating system. It’s expected to be released by 2009. If “Snow Leopard:” doesn’t appear at Macworld then it schedule could be move to March or April. It’s quite ahead of Microsoft’s release of its next OS Windows 7; Microsoft Windows 7 is expected to be release before the end of 2009. What exactly Snow Leopard got? Snow leopard got power and stability, Apple claims that Snow be the first OS to fully use a computer’s graphics processing unit power alongside its CPU power. Snow Leopard is expected to pounce the market by 2009(My guess is first quarter).

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Yahoo on shopping again. A strategic move?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:27:02 PST

Despite Yahoo’s recent tragedy the Search Company have announced that it will take 30% of the shares of an Indian Telephone Information Service. What exactly is yahoo buying here? Technology? Yahoo has been managing a declining business since Google and Microsoft departure (Remember the ill-fated Google-Yahoo search deal and Microsoft‘s declined on Yahoo acquisition talks).The Search Company got terrible business days, the Company has shown a failure in its execution, it miss every major industry shift. No products innovation, no corporate deals, no managements shakeup. The Company major mistakes are on the operational side, the Company paid no attention to products development and failure on costs control. I’m sure there are always plenty of good reasons for Yahoo’s decision to invest to an Indian Company, why? The Search Company has been on chaos, its main core US business is declining. Its stock have plunged to a ridiculous low of $ 9 a share. Wells, this investment could be part only of Yahoo’s Strategic move”. I think Yahoo is trying to innovate and exploit a new area, that’s why the Company decided to invest to this Indian Telephone Information Service. We just wait and see what next to Yahoo.

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Google working inside Facebook: What about Microsoft?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:06:57 PST

Who told you that Facebook isn’t making enough money, who said Facebook lack focus on site monetization? They have been rumor on the web that the leading Search Company Google has been working inside Facebook. There have been reports that the Search Company has been busy filling ad inventory on Facebook site and according to the reports things have been going well. Will Facebook embrace Facebook AdSense? The Google advertising works inside Facebook is not a joke, it is real and reports have been confirmed. The two companies finally work together, this sounds pretty weird to us considering that the two got fierce rivalry. Google’s OpenSocial platform was launched to counter the threat of Facebook platform craze and both companies are preparing themselves in the much anticipated battle of Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect. Both companies are struggling to establish their own tool as the dominant online identity standard for both developers and users. The rivalry heats up when Facebook blocked Google’s Friend Connect service from accessing Facebook member’s profile. Facebook has even banned Google Friend Connect over Facebook’s privacy issues. If there’s anything that could slow down Facebook’s rapid growth, it’s definitely Google; it’s the only Company on the web that could threaten Facebook’s expansion. For the Mountain View based Company Google, Facebook is a threat; the Search Company has relied on an open internet to make its entire business. Social networking site like Facebook is a threat to Google’s business because users tend to stay within Facebook’s “walled garden” and communicate among themselves and they’re not using Google. The Search Company has a business plan that depends on the web, it core technology search depend on openness. What exactly is going on here? This appears to be a case of Silicon Valley speaks “frenemies” companies works together in one particular field and compete in others. Google has already run some test advertisement on Facebook. Working with Google is great; it got a pretty good reputation, global presence, all right online advertising system and best of all nice brand name. Still we don’t exactly know how Google could work on Facebook site. The super hot social networking site is well known to the advertising world for its penny ads spaces CPMs. At Facebook, ads could be sold for as little as 15 cents per 1000(CPM) compared with the estimated $13 at Yahoo, those ads spaces are at bargain price. When Facebook unveiled Facebook platform last year, a plethora of new startups spawned around the social networking site each vying for a piece of social advertising spaces, companies like Social Media, Lookery emerged from the haze. These startups have quickly learned that social ad spaces are not a good place to do business and a poor place for startups to compete. According to AllFacebook startup like Lookery sold their ads network specifically business is tough in social ads spaces. Facebook’s social ads spaces are a brutal place for startup like Lookery. Companies that could thrive and succeed in this place must get ability to scale on the sale side. Big companies like Google and Microsoft are the kind of companies that could thrive in this kind of environment. Facebook’s social ads spaces requires size and smarts, Microsoft got size while Google has both. Google could be the perfect company to do business on Facebook social ads spaces. Both Microsoft and Google now are doing business with Facebook. The real question that everyone is wondering is what about Microsoft business on Facebook? The Software Company has also done some online advertising deal on Facebook and it got huge investment, Microsoft paid $240 million for just 1.6% of Facebook, giving the social networking site a staggering market valuation of $ 15 billion. Microsoft has paid premium to thwart Google or Yahoo attacks, and just to keep Facebook out of Google and Yahoo hands. I’ll already write about Microsoft-Facebook advertising partnership and also I mentioned on my earlier post about the rumored Microsoft–Facebook Search deal. What next for Facebook? OpenSocial on Facebook? Well let’s just wait and see what next.

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Facebook preparing to beat MySpace on US.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:33:16 PST

Rumors are rife on the web that Facebook is now the world’s largest social networking site and still getting stronger. But MySpace still dominate the U.S. according to Comscore MySpace got 75 million monthly U.S. visitors compared to Facebook’s 35 million that’s a huge gap almost twice. MySpace was about twice the size of Facebook in the U.S. Facebook got an impressive growth and with no sign of slow down, my prediction here is Facebook would overtake MySpace, it could happen maybe next year. MySpace still the most trafficked website in the U.S. Of course, we can’t just ignore MySpace buzz, it still got those strong mainstream buzz, so far MySpace is still strong in the U.S. Facebook is preparing to overtake MySpace it could be slow but sure. This past few months Facebook undergo some major makeover, its got a new look, its simplify user’s sign up. The main objective is quite simple, speed up user’s registration, sign up could be done faster, and users won’t get lost. The results are great more sign ups, more users. Facebook profile management also get simpler and more user friendly. According to site statistics in the last two months Facebook has added nearly 10 million monthly U.S. that’s fast and big. Facebook is on hot pursuit, the race for the biggest social networking site in the U. S. is on. Still there’s no telling whether Facebook’s numbers will continue to kick butt. New competitors arise almost everyday, Facebook need to innovate and continue to introduce new technology, innovation I crucial in this kind of business.

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Will Facebook Connect beat Google Friend Connect?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:45:05 PST

Finally the day has come; Facebook Connect is now live for all who wish to integrate into their sites. Facebook Connect is the social network’s hottest tool for expanding their social services. Facebook Connect service was originally announced last May just one day after MySpace announced its very own Data Portability Initiative and a few days before Google announced Google Friend Connect. Facebook is betting hard on Facebook Connect to become the primary identity standard on the web. Facebook Connect is a huge step in social networking world. Connect will allows users to port their profile data to third party websites, with Facebook Connect third party sites that wants to know and pull personal data of visitors coming from Facebook could be done easily. They can even send back information to their Facebook news feeds. But some of the Facebook Connect partner sites have yet to implement the Connect service. Well the only bug that I see for Facebook Connect is the integration issue, its requires programming knowledge but Facebook are now working on this problem, a plug-in for Facebook Connect is about to release very soon , all we have to do is wait. The said plug-in would ease Facebook Connect integration. Facebook Connect main competitor Google Friend Connect is also on the move, Google launched its own Friend Connect the same day Facebook launched its own Facebook Connect. But for me, Google got edge here; it’s got a wider online reach and global presence. Google has provided a better ways for all sites to easily embed Friend Connect to their site; integration could be done after registering Friend Connect service. Look like Facebook got a strong competition here, mighty Google is always on move. The race is on. Who will be the dominant online identity standard? Both Facebook and Google have announced on the same day. Both companies are struggling to establish themselves as the primary online identity standard for users and developers. Both got strong partnerships and mainstream buzz. I have to ay that the battle between Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect is about to get fierce and brutal. But the crowd would like the two.

Google force to control cost: Lively add to Google's deapool.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:46:45 PST

The Wall Street financial meltdown have just delivered shock waves that ripped across the globe, it started to claim casualties. Fire broke out. There is no escape for companies caught on fire, not even big companies like Google, the Search Company is taking a heavy hit and it’s not feeling good. Google has started to feel the pressure of global economic crisis, its force to implement cost cutting works. Google got even plans to reduce the number of employees. Right now I can’t give you the exact figures maybe in my next blog post I will provide some data about the latest on Google financial status, for the mean time let’s get back to the issue. The headline is about Google, the Search Company has shutdown the operation of Lively, a browser based virtual world that could be embedded into other websites. Basically it was fast, Lively just launched last July, now the Search Company is adding Lively to its deadpool. Google got no choice but to thrive, its must make tough decision; there are always plenty of good reasons for Google’s decision to kill Lively. The Search Company has been experiencing tough business days. Google shares have been sliding down in the last 6 months hitting a low of $ 247(from a high of $ 724). Google got no choice but to implement cost control and do something, it getting a downsizing spirit. Shutting down Lively is only part of Google’s cost control strategy. Google’s main business strategy is quite simple, prioritize online resources (those that performing well) and focus more on core technology---search, apps, platform and cloud computing. Master the core technology and then figure out a business plan, that’s how Google’s Search business started. Lively doesn’t perform well, the massive web traffic that the company expects never materialized. Google need to control the costs and save more money, one way to do that is to pull or shutdown online resources that’s not performing well. If Google doesn’t shutdown Lively, the Search Company might ended up losing crap load of money. It was a tough and brave decision

Microsoft move into security software: Microsoft threaten Symantec business.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:48:28 PST

Redmond based Company, Microsoft Corp. has just announced its free security software for PC, the Microsoft moves create buzz on the computer industry. The Software Company is launching products that step right on Symantec and McAfee business. Microsoft has already tested and experimented security services for big businesses and PC users. It has its own Windows OneCare, an all in one service the company is working on to bolster security for PC. The Company threatens to steal some business away from competitors like Symantec, VeriSign and McAfee by offering a broader array of security technology, Microsoft is in good position to outmaneuver its competitors, and it got formidable resources, deep pockets and wider online reach. Microsoft has already acquired a number of security companies like Sybari Software Inc. and Alacris Inc, the acquisitions are done to boost its presence on security software. The Company spends much of its time responding to security problems. The Software Company has started to offer aggressive pricing on its latest security software such as anti-malware products, the days of Symantec and McAfee which dominated the PC industry for years are numbered, the killing of Symantec business will not be an easy and fast but it could be a slow and brutal one. Microsoft is well known for its greed and brutal competition, looks like Symantec and McAfee the next target here.

Microsoft-eBay team: Doomsday for Google.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:49:07 PDT

First, I would like to apologize for my late Blogsite updates, I admit I ‘m late and quiet busy doing something, but now the author is back in business. Now let’s get back to work, what’s new now? Microsoft in headline, the Redmond based Software Company, Microsoft has dramatically changed direction, and the company has been rumored in merger talks with eBay. What! Microsoft is considering buying eBay and merging it. Well, Microsoft got tons of money and anything are possible, Microsoft could acquire almost any web companies it wants but not Google, it’s not rich enough to bid for Google. The e-commerce powerhouse eBay could be the next target here, Microsoft got plans to integrate eBay to its MSN Division and take on Google. Maybe this one is part of Microsoft big web strategy to fight Google; Microsoft has already acquired European price comparison website ciao.com for about $ 486 M. I think Microsoft is doing a creative works here, the ciao.com acquisition is done to boost Microsoft e-shopping search and push the software company to e-commerce field, Google got its own Froogle, a comparison site, if Microsoft succeed in buying eBay, the software company will gained control of all eBay properties, and that’s sounds trouble for Google, eBay got Paypal, the dominant online payment system, a tough competitor to Google’s Checkout. eBay also got net powerhouse Skype, which got technology that could be used and integrate in Microsoft instant messaging. For years eBay has positioned itself to be a global and giant, it is an online clearinghouse for most of the world’s top manufacturers and retailers, it is an online have for buyers and sellers, eBay‘s market muscle has scared online giants such as Google. For Microsoft eBay acquisition could be a “sure bet”, eBay dominate e-commerce market. Well the two companies occupy different corner of the web. The two got vastly different focuses, both got good technologies. If the merger works the right way( I’m talking about the Microsoft’s Way) then Google were in deep trouble here, the search company must prepare for future web fight , a new war is about to emerge something big, Microsoft will do anything in its power to beat Google.

Yahoo to maintain position number two.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:16:23 PDT

Yahoo starts its biggest homepage makeover, Jerry Yang and its Yahoo boys are back in business, after the Microsoft takeover bid and the Google ads partnership, Yahoo is now officially online and back in business. We got a major radical makeover here. Yahoo got a nice homepage. Navigation is good, user interface is clean, users won’t get lost anymore. There a lot of excitement about Yahoo, we missed him, this past few months, the web witnessed Yahoo “serious problems”. Correct me if I’m wrong I thought Yahoo is out of control, its stocks plunged, it got a brutal competition, no innovations, no transformational deals, no managements overhaul and the worst of all, the threat of Microsoft takeover bid. But Jerry Yang is back, Yahoo is Yang’s baby, Yang return, to remake the company and conquer the web. Yahoo done some aggressive move, one of this is the Google – Yahoo ads partnership. A deal which allows the search king to sell search ads on some of Yahoo’ search result pages- smart move. Yahoo’s bottom line here is to reduce the amount of money Yahoo needs for expensive data centers and product developments. Yahoo can’t afford too buy those expensive server decided to outsource a tiny percentage of its search ads to rival Google, who has the formidable resources to power it search ads. Yahoo step have immediately boosted its financial status. The Google ads deal is the last sort of action Yahoo got to stay away from Microsoft and ends the software king takeover bid. Its panama online advertising starts to move on, Yahoo need to work hard because Microsoft is preparing to challenge Google, it means Microsoft will leapfrog Yahoo; Microsoft AdCenter is now making a hits online. Yahoo need to watch this and must do something; it must maintain its number two position next to Google not Microsoft.

Microsoft best weapon of choice.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:57:13 PDT

Almost every gamer across the globe knew Halo, one of the most popular game in the planet and probably the best video game ever. Halo has stood the time, it’s already proved itself. Halo is Microsoft’s last bid and the only weapon of choice it got on its arsenal on its struggle with Sony for the battle for the game console supremacy. Halo is exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Halo has already earned its reputation as a cross media property, the success of Halo has spawned a number of secondary products such as Playbook novels, there’s even a Halo themed Mountain Dew beverage. Halo is awesome, it’s a kind of game that every single gamer that already played it will always miss it and love it. A hardcore game, perfect to those individuals who love to push the boundary of limit. The gamers who already played Halo tend to sense that there’s something behind the game that’s attract them. Halo main character, the master chief, a super soldier, fully equipped and encased in powerful body armor draws most attentions to users. The most striking thing about the master chief is it’s never revealed its face, taking off the helmet is unacceptable, and it’s a nonsense idea! The game is not just about firepower, weapons, aliens, nonstop actions, its includes also drama effects. Microsoft has just made a great entertainment property; it could be potential revenue booster for the ailing giants like Microsoft. The Software king has invested billions and huge efforts has been thrown into Xbox 360 and its counting on Halo as a weapon of choice on its never ending sudden death match with Sony’s blockbuster hit PlayStation 3. Sony’s PlayStation 3 is the most powerful and probably the most advanced game console in the market as of now, it got lots of power, its cell chip is designed to power next generation games. It got what I call “the matrix thing”, with it sophisticated and highly advanced cell hip it could put the Microsoft Xbox 360 into shame. But with Halo effect the “battle of the games” will just be fine for Microsoft. Halo drives Xbox 360 sales. Sony got no answer to Halo, absolutely no. Microsoft has just put Sony back on its heels. Halo is a nice game, I recommend it. You gonna love it. Halo has become a multimedia entertainment property. And Microsoft the company behind Halo, a job well done.

Chaos at Microsoft.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:49:43 PDT

Wake up Bill! Redmond we have a problem. Brutal competition, open source challenges, stock price plunged. Microsoft is in great trouble. Signs of damages to Microsoft are everywhere. The relentless advance of he free open source software. The competition and advantages of internet based companies like Google and Yahoo! have in the web.Microsoft’s stronghold desktop software is under siege. Apache dominances in web servers represent a huge lost opportunity. Open source such as Linux and Apache has been a major factor in the recent slowing of the beast. Google’s dominance in search gives it commanding lead in online advertising, which Microsoft is playing a catch up with. The beast needs to fight back. But to get a piece of actions, it would need to make some radical changes. Despite it travails Microsoft still acted as if the internet universe revolves around it. Microsoft needed some face lift. Its need improvement of its search services as well as email and web contents. Microsoft must get the attention of an average user. The attention of an average user is what fuels this internet engine (online ads), it just the user that everybody’s in the web fighting over. Its software products need some kind of intellectual property licensing program. Allows selected customers right to view its source code something Microsoft never done before. It must find ways how to make business with opens source. The Microsoft-Novell pact was a good example, which included of course a marketing collaboration. The beast must find ways to make Linux and Windows server products work together better. This was a top priority for customers as they consolidate their computing into fewer machines. These are really big strategic problems and figuring out how to fight back is what Microsoft must think first. Typically Microsoft would have taken the hits and kept powering forward. That is Microsoft way.

Nike and iPod team.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:50:20 PDT

Nike has combined the world’s sporting goods brand with the world’s most beloved gadget, all while cleverly capitalizing on the social networking. Behold the shoes of future the $29 dollar Nike plus iPod kit, launched in mid 2006. The kit includes a small receiver that attached to an iPod nano and measures the runner’s speed, distance and calories used. The data display on the nano’s screen. There another services or cool things, nikeplus.com, where runners can upload their data, compare speeds and even challenge a worldwide community in times. The technology is great. Nike created a concept for measuring performance and building interactive websites around the data. IPod the device known for its design and remarkable technology made a nice combination with world class brand name, Nike. The result of this duo is nikeplus, to consumer they not just buy sneaker, they joining a global running club. The nikeplus site also is great; the site puts you and your achievements at the heart of this. This site tells runner’s speed and graphs distances for each run. A map function lets runners’ new popular routes. The digital community has changed the way Nike thinks about athletic footwear market.

Killer Database.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:50:37 PDT

Oracle Database 11g, the biggest release of Oracle's flagship database in several years, was launched recently. It was an awesome and superb Database. Oracle Database 11g continues the tradition of Oracle innovation. Oracle strikes again, this time it prove itself gain as the leader in the Database market period. It do have some features such Oracle Audit Vault, this was makes Oracle the only database to be truly compliant. Hot patching, this one allows DBA to apply update and fix bugs to the database without bringing the whole system down. Query Result Cache, this one save system effort and improve system performance. Truly Oracle database 11g leads the database industry and established itself as the de facto standard, It leads in many areas namely: grid computing, clustering technology, data security, high availability, scability, and manageability, this sounds trouble to Microsoft Oracle's archrival and competitors out there such as MySQL a scrappy open source database compete to oracle in database driven web applications and ambitious corporate accounts. But they are still lags behind and still playing catch up when it come to cutting edge technology and features in database.

iPod Killer.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:51:08 PDT

Succesful second acts are exceedingly rare in the tech business. Apple, executed the most remarkable comeback ever with the iPod, the ubiquitous iPod made headlines and still strong. It is the most popular portable digital music player on the planet. Its mark the 100 million iPods record sold this year and about 2 billion songs sold on iTunes storeo. I admire iPods for its sleek design, ease of use(navigation is easy and cool) and somehow also manages a feel warm and ergonomic. And with the elegant way that iPod synchronize with the iTunes store, the iPods was a hit. But iPods do have some drawback, it was a closed system. The songs Apple sells at it iTunes store cannot easily be played on the other devices, and copy protected song purchased from other sites willl not played on the iPod, well this was the bad news. The reality is that there is the iPod-iTunes ecosystem that excludes everyone from the music market. Reverse engineering is the answer to Apple's closed system. we done this to ensure "interoperability". DoubleTwist, the company that unlock the iPods find a way how to deal with this problem. They post a program online which removed the encryption that limits what devices can play the disc, well that good news to us, and bad news to companies such as Apple. Isn't opening iPod system illegal?This could Jobs worst nightmare(not to mention his stock option backdating case). It will ruin Apple's near dominance of the digital music market. What will be Steve Jobs next move. . . stay tuned.

Google vs. Apple Part I: Could Gphone beat iPhone?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:09:10 PDT

Apple's elegant products cocoon customers from chaos of the information age. The new iPhone could a breakout hit and be the device that must people use to access the net. But there's a shadow hanging over Apple and its's being cast by Google. It lead a coalition to build a n OS called Android that will work in the next generations of cell phone as wells as other consumer smart devices. The Google and its friends got 34 members- mobile phone carriers and handset makers . This sounds trouble for Steve Jobs, we know Google , it will crush anything that stands on its way, and that including Microsoft or even Apple. iPhone vs. Gphone: the war of the wireless. Is Google's Android powered Gphone has just been created to take on Apple's iPhone and to steal away its revenue stream? Will Google bull the wireless the way it bull the web? But the wireless doesn't work the way the web works, its quiet different. There are rules here and games must be played. If done right, the Gphone will changed the future of mobile cell phone. But iPhone got amazing technology Apple's skills has always been cutting edge technology and making it accessible. The technology work to delight the masses. Its has all the requirements to be a viable platform. the first ever, fully equipped, functional hand held computer. That was the scariest thing. Will Gphone beat iPhone? Google's Open handset Alliances( The Coalition behind Android) could actually dwarf Apple Platform. It got formidable resources and deep pockets. Google makes its money on a free and open web, its projects are built to be hacked, making it the favorite of third party programmers. Speculations emerged that its Gphone is more secure than Apple's proprietary iPhone, and its pack of cutting edge technology. Well just bring it Google! Users don't care whether it got symbian, windows, androids or whatever. what they want is its works better . Gphone vs. iPhone: a good match, the search king vs. the consumers electronics champs.

Microsoft in attack:The beast strikes back.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:51:16 PDT

The battle for web supremacy continues, the stakes are high. The grabs are not only the ad buys worth billions of dollars but also the very model that will dominate the web-ad business. Microsoft the veteran software king, for years it has planned, invented and tried a way to do a better search and sell online ads, but still playing catch up to Google. Even if Microsoft succeeds in buying Yahoo!, it will still trail Google in terms of ad revenues. Can Microsoft catch up on online ads? Not anymore this time its Microsoft turn. The beast is back. Microsoft announced the official launch of Microsoft AdCenter, Microsoft's " winning play", designed to take on Google's and Yahoo's ad network. AdCenter , Microsoft attempt to catch up with Google and Yahoo in the multi billion dollars online advertising market . The Redmond Beast is moving fiercely into the lucrative internet search and online business. During the past few months, Microsoft strikes some strategic deals, do some partnerships and done some acquisitions to some of the best of the web. The timing is good, web companies that it acquire could assist Microsoft's push in online advertising. Microsoft AdCenter is officially opened for business, it is 100% live and opened in business in US AdCenter now serves all ads on Microsoft sites. Microsoft done some makeover here, it has unveiled a new online advertisement tracking program able to provide new information about online ads and help them look beyond and crafts ads tailored to the user's need. And this thing works, it could be a full service competitor to Google. Microsoft swings a late and heavy bat at online ads, but bill is quiet serious about online ads, and Microsoft mean business here. Is Microsoft really trying to steal Google's fire? Well absolutely yes! Microsoft aims to topple Google's dominance on online ads.

The Good, the Bad and the Worst.

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:03:42 PDT

Social networking, its all about us. It was organized around people. Social networking sites can create and maintain relationships that wouldn't have existed otherwise. Myspace, facebook, orkut, friendster and many to names, are just some of the buzziest sites today. Facebook , the hot social networking sites, here you can poked somebody, write to walls of your friends and receive notifications email about your friend's personal messages to you.The best things about facebook, its encourages friends and acquintances to form links and stays, apprised of one another's activities through a "news feed" a kind of live wire services that track your friend's pages updates. Another hot social networking site, Myspace was on the lips of every teenagers. Its a mishmash of the modern media and the de facto homepage for the music industry. The site is home to millions of bands, thousands of comedians/filmmakers and millions of striving attention-starved wannnabes. Friendster, once the hottest social networking site, was stumbling badly. I called it "the old house". But now its making a comeback. But now there's a shadow hanging over the web, and its being cast by Google, the net leader. Google is laggard in social networking, its has its own site called Orkut which is big only in India and Brazil. And its making a rampage on the web. Orkut could be a great challenger to facebook or myspace as social networking leader, who knows? maybe someday. . . The best thing about orkut is its own by Google.Its give Orkut huge advantages when its comes to web tools. In the war of the social networking sites the massive web infrastuctures is an advantages and crucial to its survival. The site got clean interface and ease of navigations. Regardlss of how the social networking site plays out. Myspace, Facebook, Friendster and Orkut probably will keep powering on. For one thing, they has some big deals on the horizon. The heat of competition is always be there. The questions is who's the best?

Google vs. Facebook: Who will rule the net?

noreply@blogger.com (erwin castro) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:51:50 PDT

Facebook has just unveiled its own platform and thrown open to developers but Google will not playing a catch up here , they got also their own plan and readying a counterattack. Both Facebook and Google want to build the next great platform. These two net powerhouses struggle for web supremacy. Facebook a feisty upstart and busiest startup of the web 2.0 eras is making a sleeper hit, with its gated community of 70 millions active users, offers a more controlled experience. It is the forefront of connecting people to one another. While Google is all about openness and tend to push open standards and alliances among third party developers. Its projects are built to hack making it the favorite of third party developers. Google core business depends in openness, its business plan depends on the web being used by as many as people as possible. What Google want here is to make the web more useful that’s why the company spends lots of money building applications. Facebook is a threat to Google, because users tend to stay within their network, and they’re not using Google search or clicking Google Ads, instead there are using network application such as iLike. The future of the net depends to the winner of the platform war. The stake is high. The web itself is so vast that it defies attempt to control it. Both Google and Facebook can pull too far ahead.