'Saving' the Internet? | CNET News.com

'Saving' the Internet? | CNET News.com: "On Oct. 6, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the case of Brand X Internet v. the Federal Communications Commission that has the potential to delay the progress of the Internet in the United States by certainly years and potentially decades. Through its actions, the 9th Circuit has 'invited' the 50 independent and natural bureaucratic state-based public utility commissions directly into the fold of the Internet. "

SAD: Not a quick, easy-reading article :-( but a worthwhile read, since the decision by the 9th circuit has fairly far-reaching effects on how Internet access will (or won't) be regulated...

2003's Top Ten IM Trends

2003's Top Ten IM Trends: "Both Microsoft and IBM see IM and presence being syndicated to third-party applications. As part of the new Notes and Domino release, Lotus Domino Designer will allow developers to add presence capabilities to applications that run inside of a Notes or Domino application layer. Microsoft is providing tools to allow for similar connectivity directly to customers, and through a bevy of partners. "
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"For the moment, the convergence of wired and wireless IM has been predominantly driven by carriers' efforts to glean additional income from subscribers. But increasing evidence shows that businesses also want wireless IM and presence-enabled technologies -- making the ascendancy of mobile IM one of the probable big stories of 2004."

SAD: Not sure they're the top ten, but an interesting summary of events nonetheless...

Spicing Up Collaboration

Spicing Up Collaboration: "As a result, the firm's soon-to-be-released Pepper Keeper system borrows from concepts developed in enterprise collaboration and e-book technology. Like Notes, it's designed to support a number of applications that leverage the same technology -- which can be developed by business partners. Some applications will ship with the product out of the box and will enable users to create and share 'pages' of information, in the form of customizable journals or photo albums. Consumers will be able to purchase other applications that run on the platform and that function similarly, using the 'page' metaphor.

They'll also need to buy replacements once they 'fill' the pages of their current applications. That's because Pepper Keeper borrows from the model of the traditional notebook journal or photo album in that the applications' pages are 'consumable' -- that is, they're usable once. "

Transatlantic Text Messaging Gets a Boost

Transatlantic Text Messaging Gets a Boost: "Verizon Wireless and Vodafone (Quote, Chart), two of the largest mobile carriers in the world, have teamed up to broaden the exchange of wireless text messages between North America and Europe -- and potentially increasing the technology's usage.

Starting early next year, customers of the leading U.S. carrier, Verizon Wireless, will be able to exchange messages sent using Short Messaging Service (SMS) with customers of Vodafone, the world's largest carrier and Verizon Wireless' partial owner."
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"Underlying the two networks' new relationship is Vodafone's recent agreement with InphoMatch, a major player in routing SMS messages between networks. Specifically, the arrangement with InphoMatch removes technological hurdles barring Vodafone customers from exchanging messages with any of the non-GSM networks already serviced by InphoMatch, which has had Verizon Wireless as a customer since 2002. (However, interoperability agreements such as today's still need to be in place before messages can be exchanged.) "

SAD: The simple fact that some vendor can dictate who I can message with via my cell phone is problematic. Imagine at this day and age to be able to only call certain numbers from your cell phone? This may be one reason IM will win out over SMS longer term; at least users can decided for themselves who they communicate with once their cell phone is IM-enabled, cost being another issue altogether.

ActiveBuddy Morphs Into Conversagent

ActiveBuddy Morphs Into Conversagent: "The New York-based firm, which markets bots, chat-based interactive agents, and the servers that power them for internal business and business-to-consumer use, said the branding change comes as it seeks to position itself as a provider of Web-based chat applications -- and reduce its brand reliance on instant messaging. That's a major change for a probably best known as the creator of the phenomenally successful SmarterChild consumer IM bot. "
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Nevertheless, the move by the firm to distance itself from IM would seem to speak a great deal about the prospects for almost any sort of customer-facing IM application. After all, ActiveBuddy was one of the pioneers in IM-based consumer marketing, launching IM bots itself or providing technology to agencies to on behalf of Keebler, Dr. Pepper/7-Up Company, and New Line Cinema.

CMP Media

CMP Media: "Unified Communications (UC) promises to change this time-drain. By blending a company's wireless and wireline communications with unified messaging, presence intelligence, and user-provided routing instructions, companies can improve customer response time, reduce message overload, eliminate phone tag, and enhance remote collaboration. "

SAD: Although the title indicates unified communication, it is an interesting read on SIP and presence as well...

Akonix Nabs $11 Million

Akonix Nabs $11 Million: "Enterprise instant messaging gateway player Akonix Systems has $11 million in new financing to help it continue making a name for itself in the hotly competitive arena for business IM solutions. "
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In connection with the broadening interest in enterprise IM solutions, the cash injection also comes following what Akonix said was a record third quarter, in which it added more than 50,000 licensed customer seats and doubled revenue from the previous quarter.

At the same time, the new financing also continues the hot interest in enterprise IM solutions from the venture capital arena. Early this year IMlogic closed $14 million in new financing. In late 2002, FaceTime landed an undisclosed amount of new funds in November from Bank of America, bringing its total backing to more than $40 million.

SAD: The interesting parallel to follow for similar industry growth would be that of the early email infrastructure add-on vendors, those that provided SMTP gateways, security services, management tools, etc. Most of the add-on market products will eventually have to be features of the core IM platform so it will be interesting to see these companies adapt accordingly.

AOL Preps Live Video IM

AOL Preps Live Video IM: "America Online is poised to unveil the next version of its client software, and which includes an enhancement to its built-in instant messaging that offers streaming videoconferencing.
The Dulles, Va.-based Internet giant, a unit of New York media conglomerate Time Warner (Quote, Chart), plans to launch the next version of its flagship client software, codenamed Tahiti, early into 2004. With that release, the AOL software should include capabilities enabling AOL subscribers to initiate streaming video sessions from within an IM conversation. "

Yahoo! News - IBM taps FaceTime to support WebSphere portal

Yahoo! News - IBM taps FaceTime to support WebSphere portal: "He added that this level of functionality in IM systems has been around for a while, from companies such as FaceTime and its rival IMlogic Inc. However, IBM has now decided which company it's going to work with. FaceTime was the obvious choice, said Gardner, because IMlogic is pretty rooted with Microsoft. "

Microsoft Connecting Web Conferencing with IM

Microsoft Connecting Web Conferencing with IM: "The Redmond, Wash., company plans to go as far as to introduce in 2005 a server-based version of Live Meeting, something the company hinted at when it introduced Live Meeting 2003 in September. While details are still being worked out, the server version will either be a stand-alone offering or a feature within Microsoft's Office Live Communications Server presence and IM software introduced with Office System 2003 in October, said David Hastie, product manager in the real-time collaboration group. "

SAD: I'd be expecting much more news on the integration front - there is a lot of low hanging fruit for Microsoft to act on that will be very useful and competitive in the marketplace...

Macromedia Adds AIM, ICQ to Central

Macromedia Adds AIM, ICQ to Central: "'This is huge for us,' said AOL spokesman Derick Mains. 'Flash developers are the third largest community of developers behind Windows and Java, and this gives us access to that entire community. And for the Flash developers, it gives them this great tool for building in presence and messaging.'
Additionally, it's also a plus for Macromedia, which becomes the first channel by which independent developers can gain access to an AIM/ICQ SDK and APIs. Until now, most independent development work has been subject to retaliation by AOL because it leveraged AIM's OSCAR protocol without permission.
'This can help AOL and Macromedia, but it also helps the whole developer community,' said Lea Hickman, senior director of market development at Macromedia. 'It's added functionality that they could do in Central that they couldn't do anywhere else ... This is the first time that AOL has opened up and licensed out their messaging, so it's actually a huge deal.' "

SAD: Saying it's a huge deal is an understatement, speaking from personal experience...

Yahoo! News - SCO Escalates Linux Legal Battle

Yahoo! News - SCO Escalates Linux Legal Battle: "'When SCO bought [Unix System V rights] from Novell, there was non-compete language that would prevent Novell from competing against the core offerings of SCO,' McBride said during the conference call. 'Linux is a knockoff of Unix. There can't be a more straightforward reading [of the non-compete clause].'
McBride noted that SCO won't retreat from its position unless Novell changes its plans to buy the Linux distribution. 'There's nothing [for us] to respond to yet, but when the transaction is complete, they will be violating the non-compete. And if they do what they say they will do--go out and compete [with SCO]--then yes, we will take the appropriate measures to enforce that non-compete.' "

SAD: This is why you need to have strong strategy and business development folks. I hope for Novell's sake that they really didn't sign the non-compete that SCO asserts here...

Daily Times - Site Edition

Daily Times - Site Edition: Google unveils browser-free Web search: Google Deskbar, released the other day, appears as a search box in the Windows toolbar. After the search words are entered, a resizable mini-viewer pops up with the results. Users can jump to the site within the mini-viewer or launch their browser. Unless a program is filling the screen or the user has set the taskbar to automatically hide, the search box is always visible. With a keyboard shortcut, the cursor can be moved to it without moving the mouse. Though the software is free, Google does get some exposure on the desktop: The company’s logo appears faintly in the search box when words aren’t being typed into it.

Mercury News | 11/15/2003 | Google puts coders to the test

Mercury News | 11/15/2003 | Google puts coders to the test: "Thomas Rokicki, 40, director of technology at Sunnyvale's Instantis, was the oldest finalist. He faced long odds, competing against the young ``savants,'' he said. So he took a risk, trying the hardest problem first to gain more points. The gamble failed, and he tumbled to around 20th. Still, he insisted that coding skill doesn't decline with age. It's just that older folks get rusty with lack of practice. Besides, he'd almost cracked the toughest problem: ``If I'd had five to 10 minutes more minutes, I'd be the one sitting up there with a big smile and a check in my hand,'' he said."

SAD: The OLDEST finalist --- at 40? I think there was a typo.......

EBay's Founder Meets an Idea That Reminds Him of His Own: "Like eBay, Meetup is turning out to be a bigger idea than it may have appeared at first. The concept is to use the Internet to set up face-to-face meetings among people of like interests, rather than the pseudonymous message boards that are considered communities on the Internet. "

What Mr. Heiferman did not expect was how the Web site would become instrumental in Howard Dean's presidential campaign. In January, Joe Trippi, Dr. Dean's campaign manager, heard that a small group of Dean supporters was arranging get-togethers using the site. Soon he persuaded Meetup to let the campaign formally use the site to organize supporters and to get their e-mail addresses - with permission.

"We hadn't realized that we had created a great user mobilization tool," Mr. Heiferman said.

silicon.com - Apple 'world's fastest' ad banned from UK TV

silicon.com - Apple 'world's fastest' ad banned from UK TV: Television regulators have banned an ad for Apple Computer's Power Mac G5, saying its claim to the title 'world's fastest personal computer' is not fully supported.

"While reviewers initially gave the ad the OK, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) this week decided to take action after receiving eight complaints from viewers. The agency concluded: 'There was insufficient evidence to support the claim 'world's fastest, most powerful personal computer'.' "


SAD: Tough audience...I guess someone actually pays attention to ads, go figure!

IMPlanet News Briefs

IMPlanet News Briefs: "'With the number of IM sessions taking place in the business sector expected to almost triple this year, and so much uncertainty regarding IM products, integration strategies and business value, there's a significant need for comprehensive research examining these issues,' says Paul Ritter, Yankee Group program manager for collaboration research, said in a statement released earlier in the week. "


SAD: I imagine we'll see more comprehensive research reports on IM, dynamic collaboration and more importantly the 'P' word -- presence...

Cisco Joins Conferencing Battle

Cisco Joins Conferencing Battle: "While Cisco examines ways to tie MeetingPlace into its offerings, Latitude has made some recent steps of its own toward integrating the product into related technologies. In August, the firm struck a deal with FaceTime Communications, an instant messaging management gateway vendor, that sought to create an MeetingPlace add-on enabling users to launch Webcollaboration, document sharing and voice conferencing from IM sessions.
Slated to be launched later this quarter as the MeetingPlace IM Gateway, the add-on would provide these capabilities to business workers using the major public IM networks -- such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger -- or enterprise IM solutions like Lotus Instant Messaging, Microsoft Exchange Messaging and Live Communications Server. "
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The Redmond, Wash., giant recently released a new version of LiveMeeting with the Office 2003 package. "Microsoft's desktop franchise provides a big competitive advantage through integration with Office and Outlook," SG Cowen analysts said.

Cisco's arrival on the scene is likely a negative for WebEx, the San Jose, Calif., company that controls about 65 percent of the Web conferencing market, SG Cowen analysts said.

SAD: I would be looking for an extended relationship between Yahoo and Webex at this point...desperation isn't a strong basis for a relationship, but that hasn't stopped others from using it as a model...

Boston.com / Business / Technology / Free calls? So what's not to like?

Boston.com / Business / Technology / Free calls? So what's not to like?: "'If I were running an incumbent carrier, I don't think I would be terribly concerned about Skype at the moment, but I'd have it on my radar screen,' said Nancy Kaplan, a vice president with Adventis, a Boston telecom consulting firm. 'Having it be strictly computer-to-computer is somewhat limiting, but I think anybody who has to make a significant amount of international calls will find this interesting.'
Even if Skype is not a silver bullet aimed at the heart of conventional phone companies, Kaplan and other analysts expect it can be one more factor accelerating the erosion of their business. Skype could make deep inroads in certain now-lucrative markets, such as college students who make long phone calls or people who call family and friends overseas."

SAD: The title sums it about here. It's true that the short-term threat is for long distance services, but it's too easy to see the long-term threat against the Bell companies and cable companies (who want to extract dollars above the IP packet traffic). The quality, which I'll continue to crow about, is simply amazing - with only brief annoyances that, when you're paying nothing, are very easy to deal with.

"Linux is great" says Microsoft That magpie attitude, according to Microsoft, is mutual. Red Hat’s decision to end support for its free software and the Novell-SuSE link-up have put the last nail in the coffin of the free software model, the Redmond behemoth believes - even going so far as to speculate that the move from free to paid-for open source software is a validation of Microsoft’s way of doing business and the only way the open source movement can survive.

SAD: Sometimes there are a few things that only your competitors can answer for you...such as this