Google dictionary

Google introduced a service to get definition of words. For this it is enough to enter the extra keyword define: into the search field. Then it provides several definitions based on what has been found on the Internet. It seems it triggers on the word glossary in the URL.

[via Pito]

Social Software Services

Scott Rosenberg comments on the hype in the Venture community around the Social Software Services (such as Friendster). He notes that having page views, unique visitors and time on site are in no way a guarantee for a successful business.

Pity we did not figure out how to turn a successful service, as measured by visitors, etc. into a successful business model. Maybe they should ask a subscription? Or does success always equate to free? But when do you change to a paid model? What are the switching costs for a user, when there are many competitors in the field? Maybe they should make the switching costs as high as possible and then hope that a lot of people stay.

Clients and Services

Recently several blog-posts talk about services in relation to clients. The last post blogs about a speech that Tim O’Reilly gave at the MacOS-X conference. O’Reilly thinks he sees the future in Apple’s iTunes program (client). He especially likes the sharing possibilities. But there is still a log way to go. I guess that the red line through this are network connected applications (all your local apps can become a service) and embedded services such as CDDB and iTunes Music Store.

Pito talks in one of its blogs about the interface of web-based apps. He notes that web-based apps can be powerful and that URL’s are very important. But in iTunes I do not see any URL’s for the services. I think that is much easier for the user. I think I prefer the way Apple goes: Applications will always be much richer than browser-based applications, especially if the application start to work together. And Internet services will start to be hidden in the apps.

Om Malik discusses Micro-clients such as iTunes as the future: XML-powered micro-apps. This looks like a similar discussion.

Peer Sites

Dave Winer found yet another internet service, which is not clear: Peer Sites. And indeed their value proposition is very unclear. I get the impression that they want to create network of Peer Sites, that operate on top of Internet, but which are more secure. Access to this secure Internet from the regular Internet is through a gateway. 

Picasa

BoingBoing call this service a online consumer digital-photo-organizer service. They are now in the news, because they introduced the Hello-service. I get the impression that they offer a kind of Photo Instant Messaging (or Image Chat according to Marc Canter). This service allows users to simulate a “flip through your holiday photos” experience. (no MacOS support, I’ll stay with iPhoto).

Wireless predictions

On Venture Blog some very interesting observations (predictions) are about the future of wireless. A must read!

Some things a picked out of it:
- Wireless CB (Voice Instant Messaging);
- No more desktops;
- Voice is just an app (I read service);
- Location based apps;
- People find services in order to fill up the bandwidth;
- Saturate the hotspot coverage: hardware costs beat the thinking;

There.com

Dave Winer asks what There.com is. It looks like a 3-D environment, where you can do all kinds of things (play, shop, chat). If you sign up, you will get an avatar.

I would like to try it out, but they are available on Mac. Is a look time ago a saw this kind of (3D-)service.

Amazon Fulltext Book Search

Amazon has added the possibility to search in the contents of many books (120.000).

I did some ego surfing, but it did not reveal anything. Also my last name, Leene, did not turn op much.

[inspired by Joi Ito]

Magnatune

Magnatune is a start-up, which helps independent artists to distribute their music. Customers can listen to the music online and download it, if they want to (after paying for it of course).

When I read it, I wondered whether artists will not be able to publish their material on their own in the future. Create an RSS-feed with your music. Anyone can then subscribe to your music. Maybe a payment mechanism should be around RSS. All the promotion will be done through the RSS-grapevine. A company such Magnatune might help the artists with all the technical stuff. Then we only need a Music RSS-aggregator with metadata, so I can tune in to the feeds to my liking.

[via this source]

Skype

Skype is free downloadable software, which allows you to turn your PC into a (stereo!) Internet phone (if you have speakers and microphone). In 2 months time the software had been downloaded 1,6 million times. The article predicts the death of Verizon (and its ilk), but I see that as mainly a US view.

I read before about it, but did not have the chance to check it out yet. I am intrigued why this is a success now. People have been talking about VoIP for years and many experiments have gone down the drain. Is it because the Broadband penetration is sufficiently high? From their website I get the impression that their soundquality is better and it has more functionality. Or, ... Unfortunately I can not try it on my Mac.

[via Slate]

Kunekt

Kunekt‘s idea is to publish your contact information on your website (as a RSS-file), so that interested people can subscribe to it. This allows the subscribers to have the latest information. The information can subsequently be imported into your favourite address book.

This seems like a good idea. I remember other services that tried to create a central directory, which did not work. A distributed solution seems to be much better. It depends on whether the importing from RSS is a standard and the markup will become a standard. Kunekt allows you to create a RSS address card and they will host it. They also have import and export tools. I will add the file to my site.

Community filtering

The Floating Atol weblog announces the death of unwanted advertising. A distributed system allows users to flag all unwanted advertising (ad-spam), whether they are banners, comments, weblog entries, etc. This flag is distributed to other users and their client software kills the ads.

This certainly will kill the advertising model. I wonder whether there will be any genuine advertising left. Are there ads that might interest me? Or can I live in an add-free world?

update: Floating Atol translated this as “Blueblog wonders: can I live in spam-free world”. I must clarify: I certainly can live without spam. I never react on spam and I never click on ads. So this kind of advertising is useless to me. I however do like to the lastest news on for instance software. My RSS-feeds suffice for that. I howver extrapolated Floating Atol’s comment to include all advertising. not just spam.

WiFi a feature?

Interesting quote of a bakery/restaurant chain owner who will offer free Wi-Fi in its bakeries.  “You do not ask what is the ROI on a bathroom either:” I my theory piece I should add something on free services that are bundled with non-free services.

[via BoingBoing]

Last mile

On the Isen blog a list of predictions about Wireless Broadband Internet Access is made:

4. In the ‘last mile’, wireline-based technologies and systems will generally prove to be insufficient or not cost-effective to provide ubiquitous, always-on, Broadband Internet to most homes and businesses;

I am not sure I agree with this. I do think that at home a WiFi-solution is great, both for in-home and offering a hot spot. But will wireless be enough to do the last mile, especially in crowded areas? DSL and cable seem to work well in cities as a solution for the last mile. Undoubtedly fiber will move closer in as well. I see wireless as an intermediate solution. As demand builds, fiber can get closer and the wireless part will get more dedicated to a single home. But maybe this mean that I do agree for the short term and also for the long term, but then the last mile is no longer a mile.

RSS weather

I started to notice that I stopped using the Web for finding news. My RSS-aggregator client is much easier to scan a lot of news. So an RSS-feed for the weather is good news. It is a pity that they have so few European cities available. The weather for Paris, France is not accurate enough for me. They should add more cities (or airfields).

[via Dave Winer]