This is a must watch.. Lin-manuel Miranda performs in front of the Prez.
August 31, 2010
Presidential Rap
Netflix and Hulu
I love Netflix. I have been a happy subscriber of the service for a long time. I am very impressed with their execution. Their streaming experience is pretty good and the selection has been steadily increasing. We stream Netflix movies directly on our TV using Wii. I really like their new app for iphone and ipod touch. They are profitable, growing nicely and generally kicking ass.
I also like Hulu. They offer a useful service and nice viewing experience. But their selection can be a lot better. They are struggling to find a sustainable business model. They are owned by major networks, and in spite (no, ironically, because) of that they seem to have major restrictions on what they can carry and how and where they can be played. Networks are worried about Hulu cannibalizing their revenues and therefore suffocating it.
How come Netflix seem to negotiate these tricky licensing deals much better than Hulu? It’s called Leverage. Netflix is making boat loads of money while Hulu doesn’t. That makes all the difference in the tale of these two companies.
August 30, 2010
Google Buys SocialDeck
InsideSocialGaming reports that Google acquires mobile social game developer SocialDeck.
In its latest social acquisition, Google has bought mobile game developer SocialDeck, according to a letter posted by the company.
SocialDeck’s games were downloaded about a million times in 2009. Its games include Shake & Spell, Color Connect and Pet Hero.
What makes this acquisition a bit more interesting is that SocialDeck has significant cross-platform experience. A non-game product it offers, called Spark, provides social integration across Blackberry, the iPhone and Facebook, while Shake & Spell also works on all three of those platforms.
Google’s gaming interest is obviously with Android. But it’s also reportedly working on a social platform to rival Facebook; Google’s technology plans could be advanced by SocialDeck’s experience in extending the social experience across multiple devices.
Buying SocialDeck also seems to fit in with Google’s broader plans, which we wrote about following its acquisition of Slide. With Slide, Google is likely working on a broad, viral platform for both the web and its own mobile devices.
The effort is being headed up by Slide founder Max Levchin, as we reported last week; it’s possible he had a hand in buying SocialDeck, although the timing may have been too close.
There’s no word yet on how much Google paid for SocialDeck. The company is based on Ontario, Canada.
August 29, 2010
Skype is suddenly hot
It’s quite amazing what the buyout from ebay has done to Skype. Now it suddenly is technology darling out there. Apparently Cisco is making an aggressive run for Skype.
Cisco has made an offer to acquire Skype before they complete their IPO process, says one of our more reliable sources. We have not been able to confirm this rumor one way or another via other sources, which isn’t surprising. A company in lock down during the IPO process is usually even more tight lipped than normal.
But if true this would be one very big acquisition. Skype insiders are hoping for an out of the gate valuation of $5 billion or so, we’ve heard. Presumably Cisco would have to bidding in that range to make it interesting.
Google was also rumored to be sniffing around Skype, but antitrust concerns may have persuaded them not to make an actual offer.
Cisco has done a great job with WebEx. This would be a similar but much bigger play. It makes sense for Cisco and would provide nice returns for Andereesen and his freinds.
Printed Oxford Dictionary is History
Disruption of printed dictionary is complete.
LONDON – It weighs in at more than 130 pounds, but the authoritative guide to the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, may eventually slim down to nothing. Oxford University Press, the publisher, said Sunday so many people prefer to look up words using its online product that it’s uncertain whether the 126-year-old dictionary’s next edition will be printed on paper at all.
The digital version of the Oxford English Dictionary now gets 2 million hits a month from subscribers, who pay $295 a year for the service in the U.S. In contrast, the current printed edition — a 20-volume, 750-pound ($1,165) set published in 1989 — has sold about 30,000 sets in total.
It’s just one more sign that the speed and ease of using Internet reference sites — and their ability to be quickly updated — are phasing out printed reference books. Google and Wikipedia are much more popular research tools than the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and dozens of free online dictionaries offer word meanings at the click of a mouse. Dictionary.com even offers a free iPhone application.
Back story of Search Advertising
Ali Partovi has a very interesting guest post on Techcrunch on how an 18 year old Scott Banister invented search keyword advertising.
The story begins in 1996 with an 18-year-old college dropout named Scott Banister
, who came up with a simple but elegant concept that turned out to be one of the best business ideas in history.
This is the true story of the search business model — a concept that John Battelle and other search historians have erroneously attributed to Bill Gross for Goto.com. Although Gross deserves the lion’s share of credit for recognizing a good idea and more importantly for implementing it, the credit for developing the idea itself belongs elsewhere.
An interesting read.
August 27, 2010
August 26, 2010
Netflix is awesome
My kids (and I) will love this. Netflix comes to iphone and ipod touch.
August 19, 2010
Now a movie on Google
First came the movie on Facebook story. Now there will be one on Google.
he founders of Facebook aren’t the only game-changing geeks poised to have their story told on a movie screen. Michael London’s Groundswell Productions has teamed with producer John Morris to acquire movie rights to the Ken Auletta book Googled: The End of the World As We Know it. They will use the book as the blueprint for a feature film that tells the story of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and the fast rise of the juggernaut web business that made them billionaires.
The book was published last fall by Penguin. Auletta, the media columnist for The New Yorker, chronicled a business that grew into a search engine-driven octopus whose $20 billion in ad revenue last year was more than the major broadcast networks combined. CEO Eric Schmidt predicted to Auletta that Google will become the world’s first $100 billion media company.
Intel Buys Who? McAfee?
Intel buys security software maker McAfee for $7.68M.
Here is the justification Intel gives for the acquisition:
“With the rapid expansion of growth across a vast array of Internet-connected devices, more and more of the elements of our lives have moved online,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a statement. “In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences.”
“Hardware-enhanced security will lead to breakthroughs in effectively countering the increasingly sophisticated threats of today and tomorrow,” Renee James, Intel senior vice president, said in a statement. “This acquisition is consistent with our software and services strategy to deliver an outstanding computing experience in fast-growing business areas, especially around the move to wireless mobility.”
Intel sees integrating security into cloud hardware and mobile devices. Intel’s strategy is to use software to enhance hardware to neutralize commoditization. My question is why the security piece before some other pieces, say virtualization?