Web 2.0 News & Review

Yahoo to Decide on Microsoft Bid Today

2008-02-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

A TechCrunch article this morning stated, "Sources have indicated to us that Yahoo has scheduled a special board of directors meeting on Friday to determine, effectively, the fate of the company."

My opinion: Yahoo is going to accept the bid and make a deal with the devil. Yahoo lovers: Get ready to move to another service.

Walk Score Review

2008-02-07T07:32:00.000-08:00

I just came across the site Walk Score today.

It works as follows: You type in your address and it calculates a Walk Score (out of 100) based on how walkable your neighborhood appears to be. Walk Score computes the score by calculating distances to various destinations: Grocery stores, restaurants, cafes, schools, parks, etc.

When trying a prior address of mine, 7 Eleven was counted as a grocery store. I guess you can technically buy groceries there, but that's not too healthy.

My opinion: It's a nifty little site but could use some fine-tuning. It would be very helpful to have a tool that takes other factors into account, such as traffic volume, air quality, and pedestrian-friendliness.

I got a 78. Not bad. Get your Walk Score.

MakeMeSustainable: Greening Web 2.0

2008-02-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

MakeMeSustainable.com is greening Web 2.0. Words from their mouth: MakeMeSustainable was created to fill the void between how we feel about our environment and what we do about it. We bring you the tools to take action.

In addition to tools that help analyze and lessen your carbon footprint, MakeMeSustainable is building an online community of people interesting in sustainable lifestyles.

Tip: Going vegan is one of the best things we can do for sustaining life on our planet.

Read the related article here.

Free VoIP Calls Through February

2008-02-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

ooVoo is allowing users to place free VoIP calls throughout the month of February (ad-free).

Check out ooVoo or read the article here.

Howcast Launches Today

2008-02-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

Howcast, a YouTube-like site for instructional videos, launches today. Howcast's "three founders — Jason Liebman, Daniel Blackman and Sanjay Raman — are ex-Google employees who worked on Google Video and YouTube."

Article: Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast, Raise $8 Million A Round

Web 3.0: Rank and recommendation

2008-02-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Jemima Kiss of The Guardian has written an article on Web 3.0, with Last.fm as a case study.

If web 2.0 could be summarised as interaction, web 3.0 must be about recommendation and personalisation.

Recommendation is nothing new, of course. Amazon has been pushing "people who bought this also bought this" for years, and tools like eBay's trader ratings system are staple. Things get more interesting as the technology gets cleverer; hence we get automated recommendation and personal recommendation.

Article: Web 3.0 is all about rank and recommendation.

Google Calls Microsoft Bid for Yahoo Hostile

2008-02-03T16:52:00.000-08:00

Google has finally gone on record regarding Microsoft's bid for Yahoo:

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Read the blog post here.

TechCrunch Article on Microsoft and Yahoo

2008-02-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

TechCrunch wrote a great article today on Microsoft's pending acquisition of Yahoo.

In the article, Duncan Riley compares services on Microsoft and Yahoo and theorizes which will continue. Riley figures, "MSN to be sold or wound down in favor of Yahoo and (Windows) Live." He also sees, "Live Search to replace Yahoo Search on Yahoo."

Read the article here.

Microsoft to Take on Google?

2008-02-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

Microsoft put in a bid this morning to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion. Having failed to become a big competitor in the search industry, Microsoft is pulling out the wallet and banking on Yahoo to increase their competitiveness.

While I do think acquiring Yahoo will greatly help their position in the search industry, I do not think they will be a match for the likes of Google. Yahoo has steadily been increasing their Web 2.0 functionality, but is, in my opinion, still no match for Google's search ingenuity.

The majority of web users prefer Google for quick and well-rounded search results. That said, however, Yahoo is more of a community portal and has probably survived this long for that very reason.

Microsoft, slowly going the way of the buffalo due to the rapid direction the Internet and personal computing are heading, has probably realized the dire importance to break through as a true competitor on the social web. Acquiring Yahoo is a good decision on their part.

If the acquisition is successful, will Microsoft place as big of an importance on the social web as Yahoo has? If not, they might as well drop their bid now. My money is still on Google.