On November 22, 2011, TEDxBrussels held an all day event whose theme was: "A Day in the Deep Future." Speakers were asked to try and contemplate what life will be like for mankind in 50 years. Overview. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Dec 28, 2011 - 29 comments

Start a home business, get rich quick, win financial freedom! If you watch late-night TV, you've heard it all before. But what's the story behind these slick pitchmen and their dubious schemes? Enter The Salty Droid, your ornery metal guide to the corrupt underworld of scam-marketing scum. This charmingly acerbic bot (owned and operated by mild-mannered Chicago dog-lover Jason Michael Jones [inter-view, long talk + transcript]) is a valiant crusader against the vile con-men who bankrupt the elderly and the desperate with beautiful lies. Exposed so far: A shadowy "Syndicate" of frauduct-pushing personality cults polluting the media with blogspam and woo-woo talking points. Boiler rooms in the Utah desert where telemarketers farm credit from easy targets with cunning, probing scripts [PDF]. Powerful politicians bought wholesale. Believers left to die in fraudulent new-age vision quests. It's a soul-crushing beat, enough to make one feel like a regular catcher-bot in the digital rye. But somebody's got to do it -- preferably someone with plasma nunchucks and titanium skin.
posted by Rhaomi on Aug 31, 2011 - 47 comments

In February, AOL acquired the Huffington Post for $315 million. (Previously) The formation of The Huffington Post Media Group was announced, to integrate content for a new combined, claimed audience of "117 Million Americans and 270 Million Globally." Then, AOL fired 200 US employees (leaving many sites without editorial staff) and began restructuring. Today, they announced that 30 brands, including popular site Slashfood, will be closed or folded into existing Huffington Post sections. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Mar 23, 2011 - 54 comments

"Developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no." - Not long after saddling it's own iOS client with some unpopular new "features" Twitter is saying no to the development of new competing clients. Existing clients such as Twitterific and Echofon should be unaffected.
posted by Artw on Mar 12, 2011 - 42 comments

Top 5 Reasons Porn-for-Profit Is Dying. (SFW)
posted by Joe Beese on Jan 11, 2010 - 133 comments

Google began inviting volunteers to a public preview test of their new Wave web-based collaborative email and document communications platform yesterday, which enables users to "communicate and work together in real time." Initial reviews this past May seemed positive. (Previously) [more inside]
posted by zarq on Oct 1, 2009 - 75 comments

Jerry Yang, founder and CEO of Yahoo, has stepped down. He recently turned down a $31 a share offer from Microsoft, and with Yahoo shares hovering around $10, some say he was forced out.
posted by plexi on Nov 18, 2008 - 27 comments

"When copies are free, you need to sell things which cannot be copied." Kevin Kelly (previously) describes eight "generative" values that increase in value as the price tag on making copies goes down. He also has some advice for creators who want to make money off the long tail. Via
posted by ErWenn on Mar 5, 2008 - 20 comments

You got chocolate in my Google! How do you make websites better? Simple. Like Peanut Butter Cups, you just take two things that rock and mash them together. It's cheap, effective...and really gaining steam. Here's one example, along with a list of a ton of others.
posted by PreacherTom on Nov 13, 2006 - 11 comments

Friendster : Wallflower at the Web Party via
posted by Afroblanco on Oct 15, 2006 - 27 comments

Net neutrality: Meet the winner As Verizon Communications' executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, Tauke has spent the last few months embroiled in a fiery debate over Net neutrality, the concept that broadband providers must be legally required to treat all content equally.
posted by Postroad on Jun 12, 2006 - 42 comments

I can't work out if iKarma is a well-intentioned stab at applying the power of social software to the world of business, or simply a well-intentioned scrape at the bottom of the Web 2.0 barrel.
posted by Jofus on Apr 26, 2006 - 32 comments

The future of Google, Apple, and Microsoft.
posted by Tlogmer on May 13, 2005 - 40 comments

Forget about P&G and Gilette, how 'bout Google & Firefox? Is Google developing their own browser? They appear to be hiring Firefox developers. Can Googzilla be far behind?
posted by fixedgear on Jan 29, 2005 - 25 comments

Apple iTunes 4.5 was released yesterday, bringing with it several nice new features, such as a live-updating "Party Shuffle" playlist — as well as not-so-nice features like attaching Music Store links to every artist and album in your library (I turned this off immediately). As for the iTunes Music Store itself, Apple has integrated its QuickTime features of music videos and movie trailers (this is related to music how?), shopper-created "iMixes" and for this month, a new "Free Track of the Day," a questionable asset being that today's artist is Avril Lavigne. ...Perhaps you'd rather have an album sung entirely with "meows".
posted by Down10 on Apr 29, 2004 - 39 comments

Google: the God that failed? is the title of the article on MSN Slate. All of us know Microsoft is working on a new search engine technology. Till date everyone considers Google to be the Guru. MS obviously doesn't like that, so what it is doing? Well, the same thing it always does - to survive competition, eliminate it. The reasons being given by the article are pretty silly and more aimed at 'faming down' Google.
posted by jayantk on Jul 22, 2003 - 39 comments

On Saturday owners of .org domains will have a new registry, the Public Interest Registry. After winning the .org registry away from Verisign, PIR (a creation of the Internet Society (ISOC)) promises to be more responsive to the non-commercial needs of Internet users, which is ostensibly what the .org is all about. Info from ISOC on the bid and other related items here, some grumbling about ISOC's methods by the losing bidders here. Will .org return to its roots with this change, or business as usual?
posted by WolfDaddy on Jan 22, 2003 - 16 comments

PK Interactive receives funding from idealab According to the article on Yahoo News, "New York's PK Interactive, best known as the owner and publisher of popular "dot-com deadpool" site, F---edcompany.com, has received $18 million in private funding from idealab and its existing investors, Chase Capital Partners, Flatiron Partners and TechFund Capital." Sort of a strange turn of events, no?
posted by ph00dz on Apr 1, 2002 - 2 comments

What is the future of online news. Will subscription eventually win through? Is there a viable business model that will allow independent publishers (such as Salon) to survive, or will we see further media consolidation? Where does blogging fit into this spectrum?
posted by RobertLoch on Dec 19, 2001 - 9 comments

Kali.net (once one of the world's largest Internet gaming networks) is created. Makes money. BeTech buys Kali to impress investors. BeTech stops paying for upkeep. ISPs get peeved. No more Kali. Or is there? Is this a funeral or a phoenix? And is there anything else on the 'Net about this? I'm coming up with bupkus.
posted by ZachsMind on Dec 9, 2001 - 1 comment

PacBell seeks to secure a monopoly Californians urged to contact the PUC to put the brakes on PacBell's plan to kill the independent ISP. Should they be allowed to take their toys and go home or be forced to share? And, what effect will this have on the future of tech companies if PacBell is able to lock out DSL competition?
posted by sillygit on Jul 31, 2001 - 6 comments

Scient and iXL Merge ...and I'm wondering who thinks this is a really good idea. A big part of the problem these "iBusiness" consultancies have is that they're too big. Remember all those layoffs? It's in large part because of big overhead, which is a big problem in a tight market. So what problem is being solved by making these two companies into one bigger company?
posted by peterme on Jul 31, 2001 - 14 comments

Snapshots of san francisco: one man's view of the san francisco dot-com fiz-out. (more people should have websites, i can't get enough.) -- flash needed
posted by tomato on Jul 25, 2001 - 8 comments

"At some point Yahoo! will shift emphasis towards a billing relationship, that is as good as fact. What they need to decide, however, is whether to lead with a subscription or ISP model."
posted by grambo on Jun 28, 2001 - 14 comments

Four sites account for half of Web surfing 'Even more significantly, the number of companies controlling 60 percent of all U.S. surfing time plummeted from 110 to 14, according to Jupiter Media Metrix, which released the survey Monday.'
posted by rebeccablood on Jun 5, 2001 - 21 comments

Buffett calls Internet investing "a big trap"
If only many investors would have listened to Mr. Buffett a few years ago. Today, in Omaha, Buffett said, "But I think the idea that you could take any business idea and turn it into wealth on the Internet is just wrong." Common sense strikes again.
posted by shackbar on Apr 29, 2001 - 14 comments

7 Lessons Learned From The Dot-com Fallout -- "Some of these are so obvious it's almost too embarrassing to list them." Indeed.
posted by shauna on Apr 17, 2001 - 9 comments

One million credit card numbers stolen! News at 11! The FBI has gone public with a rather dry account of a huge organized attack on ecommerce sites, exploiting security flaws in NT which Microsoft fixed and offered patches for nearly two years ago.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Mar 9, 2001 - 5 comments

"Accept our valuation or let Sand Hill put you into Chapter 11." This article from Red Herring on bridge financing for cash-strapped dotcoms makes the dire nature of the situation pretty explicit.
posted by JParker on Jan 24, 2001 - 0 comments

Welcome to the blob. Please watch your step. It looks like Viacom's going to swallow up Yahoo! and all its assorted properties. What does this leave untouched, by partnerships or redistribution deals or what-have-you? Anything? (Who was it again who was predicting that one large company that controlled everything called Omnivox? I remember reading about it somewhere when I was, like, ten or so.)
posted by maura on Jan 17, 2001 - 11 comments

I think they got a bargain. A company which was in financial trouble let a kid come in for two weeks as an intern. He took a look at their business, immediately set up a web site for them to sell their product, and they promptly received an order for 70,000 pounds through that web site. It appears it will save their company.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Dec 28, 2000 - 5 comments

marchFirst circles the bowl... Too bad. I thought it would be cool to work for them but now analyst are predicting the demise of the company. I wonder if they will have a great deals on Macs when they go bankrupt?
posted by Brilliantcrank on Nov 21, 2000 - 7 comments

Is the Revolution really over? According to Wired it is, “…one day, the digital revolution was over. The big media companies wrested control of the Internet from the kids in the horned-rimmed glasses.” Derek has his comments on this but to add my own, nothing new and exciting happens anymore.

The Internet has become synonymous for pink slips, mergers, and legal battles.

I know there was a previous link to this article but I was inspired by Derek to bring a different matter to the table.
posted by Brilliantcrank on Oct 24, 2000 - 11 comments

Bob Metcalfe on how to be a startup millionaire. I love Bob, ever since he left 3com, he's been a prolific writer on the tech industry. This time he tells how to grow a successful company in 8 easy steps.
posted by mathowie on Nov 19, 1999 - 0 comments