Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

HelloTxt makes it easy to make sure all of your friends know what you’re up to all the time, no matter what social networking services they use. Actually, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but HelloTxt does let you post messages simultaneously to a whole slew of social networking sites that grant you to frequently update your status.

You don’t need to register for an account to use HelloTxt, but as you’ve probably guessed, you do need to enter your login information for your various social networking sites. If you do register for an account, you only have to enter this data once, and then you can broadcast your updates to your hearts content. Registered users can also see a timeline with your latest updates and responses from their friends.

[via makeuseof]

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: World wide web, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

HelloTxt makes it simple to make sure all of your friends know what you’re up to all the time, no matter what social networking services they use. Actually, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but HelloTxt does let you post messages simultaneously to a whole slew of social networking sites that grant you to frequently update your status.

You don’t need to register for an account to use HelloTxt, but as you’ve probably guessed, you do need to enter your login information for your various social networking sites. If you do register for an account, you only have to enter this data once, and then you can broadcast your updates to your hearts content. Registered users can also see a timeline with your latest updates and responses from their friends.

[via makeuseof]

Read

Share This

Share This

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “p2pnet.net has put together a fascinating retrospective on the RIAA’s war against college students, commenced February 28, 2007. The campaign is described as one to ‘force “consumers” to purchase what they’re told to buy — corporate “content,” as the Big 4 call their formulaic outpourings.’ In a scathing indictment not only of the major record labels, but of those schools, administrators, and educators who have yet to take a stand against it, Jon Newton reviews a number of landmark moments in the 11-month old ‘reign of terror’. They include the announcement of the bizarre ‘early settlement’ sale, the sudden withdrawal of a case in which a 17 year old Texas high school student had been subpoenaed while in class during school hours to attend a deposition the very next day during his taking of a standardized test, the call by Harvard law professors for the university to fight back when and if attacked, and the differing reactions by other schools.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

nushoin writes “Gnome and KDE are the two major desktop environments used on Linux today. However, Gnome is growing more and more affiliated with Microsoft’s proprietary technologies (Mono, OOXML). Targeting the Gnome desktop environment could prove dangerous in the long run, assuming that one would like its applications to run on distributions other than SuSE. On the other hand, TrollTech is being bought by Nokia, whose commitment to the desktop world remains to be proven. Assuming that one would like to develop a desktop application (either free or closed source), which desktop environment would you target, and what widget tool kit would you use?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: World wide web, Features, Web services, Search, web 2.0

Sure, Google, Yahoo!, and other mainstream search engines are great if you actually want to get quick and accurate search results. But we’re suckers for new approaches to old problems, like trying to find what you’re looking for on the web. Even if they’re a bit rough around the edges.

Galaxy It certainly fits the bill. While most search engines plot your results in a list that runs from the top of the page to the bottom, Galaxy It arranges results in a series of boxes. At the center of the screen is a box showing your current search term. It’ surrounded by text, images, or videos representing pages that match your search query.

In classic mode, you can click on any box to visit the corresponding page. Or if you want to refine your search, you can click the top of a result box and drag it to the center to start a new search. The problem is that the new search term might not have as much in common with your original request as you think. For example, when we searched for “Eee PC,” one of the initial results was “Eee Computer reviews.” When dragged that box to the center, our new search turned out to be just “reviews,” so we wound up with reviews for a ton of unrelated products.

Continue reading Galaxy It: Search outside, or rather inside the box

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) does not much like the fact that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is making a bid for internet portal firm Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). So the world’s largest search company has decided to begin a PR campaign to get the government to kill the deal.

In a blog post, Google Senior Vice President David Drummond, asks whether Microsoft could “now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the World wide web that it did with the Personal computer,” according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Microsoft immediately took the other side of the argument by saying that Google dominates the global search market. A purchase of Yahoo! would not knock Google out of the No.1 spot.

The bickering over the matter probably makes little difference. Google is so powerful now in internet search that Microsoft might not make much progress there even by owning Yahoo!. There will be all sorts of integration problems if its bid goes through. Google probably will keep gaining search share in the meantime. The government knows all of that. There is tiny reason for them to oppose the deal.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Management, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

I often visualize large business by utilizing my own metaphor of navel warfare. I may be the only guy on the planet to do this, but I don’t think so. The exercise helps me in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the companies I’m considering. It also helps me in putting intra-corporate affairs into perspective.

In my view, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been like a swift and smooth-running state-of-the-art aircraft carrier. It’s well outfitted for its task, able to strike at a moment’s notice. It has a well-seasoned and knowledgeable crew. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has been similar to an aging destroyer group that has been at a loss for an effective admiral. Would you care to guess what I call Google in this scenario? Most of you probably already know. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is like a battle ready nuclear submarine, running deep, cold, and nearly silent, with the ability to effectively engage in battle from a very long distance away.

My point in bringing up this metaphor is easy. I believe that a union between Microsoft and Yahoo! is a timely and appropriate thing. At this point in the game, they really do need each other. They have strengths that are diverse yet compatible. Personally I couldn’t have thought of a superior move for Microsoft to make at this time. I believe that is why Microsoft came out with such a blockbuster offer for Yahoo!. This isn’t the kind of thing you want to announce only to let it get bandied about before anything really happens. Strike at dawn in full force and don’t let up until you have what you came for.

How does Google fit into the Microsoft-Yahoo! buyout scenario? Honestly folks, it really doesn’t. I’d bet my next paycheck that the reaction at Google to Microsoft’s offer for Yahoo! was expressed with excitement similar to when the mail carrier arrives. Google plots its own course, pretty much irrespective of what the “competition” is doing. That’s why it’s so successful. That’s how Google does things.

Be ready for Google to take another unexpected turn, stepping into something you never would have thought it might do. I still state it’s getting ready to enter into government contracts for information handling services. There also are whispers swirling around regarding Google and the provision of original Internet content. I wouldn’t yet call them rumors; it’s just something I think I heard.

I’ll sum things up with one more reference to my navel battle metaphor: Never look for Google to launch counter-measures in reaction to a perceived attack. It has been my observation that, without question, Google always goes straight to launching its own torpedoes.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Bad news, Industry, Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, China, Politics, Recession

Someone might want to explain this to me because it defies almost all palatable logic that I have the ability to apply to it. I read earlier this week that China carries a big debt portfolio and that about 70% of it is American debt. Additionally, China is buying up American debt at break-neck speed, while possibly neglecting their own populace in order to do so.

As I was taught, there are two potentially profitable reasons to buy debt obligations. The first (and best) reason is because there is a reasonable expectation that the debt will be repaid, supported by documentation, collateral security, and research. The second reason is because there is an expectation that the debtor shall default, resulting in the expeditious seizure of pledged security assets that are desired.

I’ve become aware of an unsettling third scenario regarding the value of buying debt. You can easily use it to purchase control of the debtor’s assets through their weakness.

We can probably assume that the Chinese have heard rumors that American banks are writing off billions of dollars in debt-related losses. I’m guessing that it’s no secret around the globe that American debt might currently be a sucker’s bet. So are we to assume that Chinese financiers are ill-informed of the facts or shall we believe that they’re just stupid? Is it simply a matter of Chinese bankers having a special talent for choosing safe debts to invest in? Should we think that the Chinese believe in us, or is this simply a matter of China’s cheap purchase of global political power. I’m thinking that the latter explanation is the case.

To take the matter one step further, what happens if there is wholesale default on the treasury securities China has invested in? You must believe that our government is certainly facing that possibility. If the debts are owed by our government, does that mean China could have the sheriff evict our president from the White Home in the event of default? Yeah, laugh now if you want to. Then stop and consider it again.

I fail to grasp the concept well, unless it’s as obvious as it appears to be. In which case it would seem that China is knitting itself a massive catch-22. Why would you buy a position into financial stresses you helped create? Why would you purchase debt obligations as, by default, you thwart the ability to repay? It seems all too obvious to me that China has designs on the very soil you’ll be buried in. The only problem is, in the process of taking control of American assets, they’ll handily destroy the concepts of free enterprise and capitalism that have been essential in their rise toward dominance.

There’s a bit of ironic justice beginning to show through the clouds now, and I’m desperate to see how it’ll all play out. China’s day of reckoning may be closer than you think. In the face of a very limp dollar, which actually makes us more competitive in the world markets, China is experiencing the need to raise the wholesale prices on their goods for export. Suffice it to say, this could play out well for us by breathing a bit of life into American light manufacturing, but only if it creates steady jobs that pay the labor force more than $12 per hour.

The single biggest problem we get when we invite communist governments to play the games of capitalism is that we always have to interrupt the fun to explain to them the probable outcomes. Generally, by the time they figure things out for themselves, it’s already too late for them to put things into good order. Then we spend the next twelve or so years bailing them out of the messes they got themselves into. It’s sort of like slicing our own throat with the knife they intend to sell to us.

The only new angle to the situation this time is that China and several other countries that hold no regard for free democratic society are now holding the mortgage to the farm. How long will it be before Congress no longer has the clout to halt them from calling that note due and payable? Will China then be buying our manufacturing base out from under us, financed by our own debt? My easy advice to you is this: Don’t ever think it can’t happen.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Employees

With the announcement of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)’s $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the real courting process is about to begin.

As I predicted back in July 2007, this “affair” had to happen if Microsoft was ever going to be serious in challenging Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)’s reign in the lucrative search engine world. Looking at October 2007 data from comScore — the independent scorekeeper in the search world — Google was actually widening its dominance. Explain please!

There were 55.3 billion search queries worldwide during the month of October. Google handled 42.4 billion of these queries, while 2.1 billion were directed to Microsoft and Yahoo! handled 10.8 billion — or a total of one-quarter of Google searches. Worldwide growth was 56% year-over-year for the industry, while Google’s annual growth alone was 81%. The message: Google was taking market share at the expense of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Coupled with its recent disappointing guidance for 2008, Yahoo! had no choice but to hook up with Microsoft, and the opportunity for Microsoft was now. That’s all well and good, but now what happens?

Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., just south of San Francisco, while Microsoft is 1,000 miles north in the Seattle area. The 1,000 miles is also the gap in their respective corporate cultures. Microsoft will do nearly anything now to retain the key, strategic Yahoo! employees. Culturally, Microsoft versus Yahoo! is like the stiff-upper-lipped British “gentleman” meeting a reformed 1960s hippie. Microsoft I know would disagree, but visit both campuses and the differences are rather pronounced.

Yahoo! already announced the head-count reduction of 1,000 people from its 11,000-person workforce, and Microsoft mentioned a $1 billion worth of “synergies” once the transaction closes. “Synergies” in Silicon Valley means more head-count reductions. But more importantly, key Yahoo personnel not scheduled for layoffs will begin to feel suspicious. Will key positions be in Sunnyvale or in Redmond, Washington? Will my new boss wear a Microsoft hat rather than a Yahoo! hat? Will I be able to park my bike here on campus for free? Will the coffee remain free? Can I still create to my heart’s content?

These are the types of questions that run through the brilliant minds of technology geeks. Microsoft won’t close the Yahoo! transaction for about six months. The ensuing six to nine months will tell the tale if Microsoft is capable of absorbing such a huge acquisition. The Microsoft acquisition of aQuantive went smoothly — so far — as aQuantive is only five miles away and key senior managers were kept in place. This Yahoo! purchase is about eight times bigger, but Yahoo! was also a direct competitor to Microsoft. aQuantive was a absolutely new technology for Microsoft, so they had to retain the key players.

Microsoft has yet to detail what “synergies” really means. Who stays and who goes? What about Yahoo! CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang — what’s his REAL new role going to entail? Right now, Jerry must be kept happy.

Large acquisitions rarely go without major disruptions and surprises. The biggest surprise here might be Yahoo! employees “taking it easy” these next three to six months. The attitude of “we now have a deep pocketed parent” may permeate, and Yahoo!’s senior management will be more focused on the acquisition process than the business building process.

The real opportunity here may be for Google. Google might prove to be the biggest winner of all in this proposed deal. More on why this move is to Google’s advantage in my next article … stay tuned.

Georges Yared writes about finding great growth stocks today in GameOn Investing.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Forecasts, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Stocks to Buy

With Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) bidding $44.5 billion for Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) one would instantly think that Microsoft is the winner — and they could be — in about a year or so… maybe. In the meantime, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will benefit immediately. The deck chairs are being re-arranged and there will be one less player. But before everyone thinks Microsoft is going to walk away the huge winner, think again.

The game changer right now is Google. With 76% search engine market share, it will still be 4X the size of Microsoft after the Yahoo transaction is shut. Google has been successfully expanding its presence globally, and not in just the usual countries, but in the Brazils, the Portugals, the Argentina’s, the Australias, etc. Seeding these remote, but lucrative locations is done and Google is now reaping the rewards.

Google can now capitalize domestically with its customers and Yahoo’s/ Microsoft’s customers as well by playing the disruption card. Basically, when a technology company is about to be acquired a lot of potentially negative things can and do happen: employees and customer relationships are disrupted. Google can unequivocally claim to customers that they are indeed “the” priority right now and that smooth media/advertising projects are awaiting their approval. Yahoo/Microsoft aren’t sure which players are staying or leaving yet. Customers don’t like that!!

Google can also emphasize that a disjointed headquarters status of Seattle or Sunnyvale can also lead to confusion and levels of customer service declining. Google has to take its game up a notch in the next 12 months and capture even more share.

Google’s quarter was viewed by many as a disappointment. It’s a buying opportunity the same as we witnessed from last July. Google reported a “disappointing” June 30th, 2007 quarter, saw its stock fall from $550 to $500, to only rebound and soar up to $747. That same opportunity is staring us in the face again. Remember, this company does not give earnings or revenue guidance to the Street. The so-called disappointment was solely in the eyes of analysts. I estimate Google will earn $20 per share in 2008, up from $15.58 in 2007.

Has the industry growth rate slowed down? Perhaps, but only temporarily in the United Says. The analogy I would use is the Boston Red Sox won 96 games to win the Major League Baseball Eastern Division in 2007. It might only take 94 wins in 2008, but still win the division. In 2009, it make take 98 games, but still, they’re the winner. Google dominates its sector without question and it will grow faster than the industry or any major competitor. Bottom line is whatever slowdown there may be…it’s in the price!! Google should double in the next two years in value.

Google’s overseas revenues are still under 50% of total revenues, yet international growth is 80%+. Also, Google might expand its breathtaking market dominance as it bids for the “airspace” from the FTC. This new line for Google would be complimentary to its core search engine and advertising business.

So yes, Microhoo or Yasoft will be the clear number 2 player, but Google has a 12 month window to accelerate its position and its terrific profitability. Google has a game changing situation right here, right now.

Georges Yared writes about finding great growth stocks today in GameOn Investing.

Share This

Share This