Monday 20 March 2006

Amazon's S3 vault

Deflation of storage and inflation of web start-up boom ?

You know, attention matters on the web.
I almost missed Amazon's S3 web service. Call it ''partial attention''.
First guess/tag/, you name it - giant hosting tarantula for all your web building needs. As someone said '' it's what for the architects is cheap land''.
From the FAQ:

Amazon S3 is based on the idea that quality Internet-based storage should be taken for granted. It helps free developers from worrying about where they are going to store data, whether it will be safe and secure, the costs associated with server maintenance, or whether they have enough storage available. The functionality is simple and robust: Store any amount of data inexpensively and securely, while ensuring that the data will always be available when you need it. Amazon S3 enables developers to focus on innovating with data, rather than figuring out how to store it.


Now, let's build something huge and Amazon will take care for hosting. Pay as you go.

So, what kind of company Amazon wants to become ? Maybe they should split their Amazon Web Service division into separate company ? With Alexa Web Search and Amazon's Mechanical Turk on board, they are operating in a different space then its retailing business, IMHO.

Sunday 19 March 2006

The battle for search icon in China

One touch to begin search magic with your thumb.

Chinese search engine Baidu and Nokia are teaming up for easy and convinient screen interface. They have both interest in finding a clearly and easy way of searching on mobile phones.
Nokia has an application called, of course, Nokia Mobile Search Application ;) and Baidu searches local resources. For these high-end Nokia mobile phones, Baidu's search button will be easly accessible from the main interface.

Google is not even ''option'' for Nokia searches in China.

Defibrillator in your chest

Watch out, you brave heart, it's me - The doctor

People who suffer from heart problems will be able to get help via transmitter that sends data about heart conditions over mobile networks to their doctors.
Australian newspaper reported about a victorian man that became first australian with heart implantant called defibrillator.


The device, already in the chests of 30,000 Europeans and Americans, means doctors can monitor their heart patients from the comfort of their own home - regardless of where the patient happens to be in the world.

Nice to have real time data over mobile, but what about response in emergent situation ? It is more about state's health system than technology.

I can imagine doctor sitting in the comfort of their home with leggs up on the desk, smoking cigar , sendind SMS message that you should slowdown because you risk another burnout ;)

Could my privacy be in danger if my doctor use insecure IT system and secret service gets data about your heart activity ? Or your spouse ?
Just joking ;)

Goomobile search tech

Goomobile.com

It's not search engine, but it's a very valuable resource for those researching mobile search technology.
My passion is mobile technology as well, so I'll check this site often.
Have I said I got new mobile phone ? Finally, I got ''that'' Sony Ericsson I allways wanted ;))

Sunday 12 March 2006

Intuition game with 580 million

Rupert Murdoch really understands The Next Net ( business 2.0 coined term ).
News Corp is getting digital all over the place, and it has few smart people on board.

I was amazed today reading some words Fox Interactive President Ross Levinsohn spoke recently.
Fox Interactive is essentially internet arm of News Corp. and they are pro-actively seeking web properties that intenet users acctually ''USE''.
They bought MySpace last year.
Here's that famouse quote by Ross Levinsohn that struck me a lot:
He said he didn't go to business school, doesn't look at spreadsheets and basically goes on instinct. The primary question he asks is, "Will consumers use it?" He said that Intermix (Myspace) was acquired over a two-day period in Century City, CA. "I was scared to death, spending 580 milllion of someone elses money," Levinsohn said. "We are approaching it differently than anyone else out there. There is not another company on planet that could move with speed we have. Rupert [Murdoch] and [Peter] Chernin (Fox's #2] are fearless."

Levinsohn also described the conversation he had with Chernin about whether to buy Myspace or IGN, a game site. Chernin asked him which one he preferred.
Levinsohn thought about it and finally gave an answer, but he was enamored of both.
Chernin's answer–buy both, which he did for over $1 billion. "At Fox Sports, we needed seven signatures to hire a $20,000 secretary. It's Rupert Murdoch's company–no other media company can move like that."



( source: IBDN Network event )


Wednesday 8 March 2006

AllPeers for the Next Net

The new exciting Firefox plug-in called AllPeers, still unreleased , brings new exciting promises for effective file sharing on the web.

Allpeers is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application that will enable millions of users to share their audio, video and other files with their friends and families directly from web browser interface without waiting and uploading.

At least, that's the promise.

Take a look at their FAQ explanation, and watch Technorati tag for new updates or official blog.

The news is that they just got funded by some venture capital firms. The founders of successful web phone Skype got in the game

I've seen some screenshots of the AllPeers plugin, but I had mixed feelings, just like in this article.

Are plug-ins mass markets ? Are they intended to be ? This is mixture of peer-2-peer and bittorent philosophy, and will have to fly on network effect to make really useful.

Still, if there's a promise to invest in this thingie, one should ask about business model. At first, I can't find logical business model. Or, is it just me ?