Web

A Rude Letter

Dear Yahoo! Corp,

The past couple of weeks have been tough, I have to say. Who would’ve thought that things would’ve turned out like this? With you going downhill, I offer to drive a stake down and bring you back up to the top – and what do you do? You go and spurn my advances of $44.6 billion – something that doesn’t happen to me very often. And I don’t like it.

Sure, you could’ve left the meeting with the gigantic Google or the ever-so-handsome Apple, but ya didn’t. I can’t figure you out – you turn all three of us down, and now you claim to be strong enough to return even though you’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember. But I won’t stand for it – if they’re not going to have you, I’m going to take you whether you like it or not.

So now I’m going to have to seize you by my own force and use your shareholders to get to you – and you can’t do jack but watch. Know this – we really could’ve had something special and gotten along, but you had to do things the hard way. I wish you well, and hope you don’t feel too threatened by this – even though you have every right to. I’m not violating you, just liberating you from the clutches of failure.

Your buddy,

Microsoft

P.S. I’m still giving you a chance to accept my proposal, but not for long. Have fun!

Author’s Comment: Thanks to Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger for introducing this concept to me.

Yahoo! Digs Trenches for Long Haul

Breaking news – well, sorta.  Yahoo! corp. is going to fight the Microsoft takeover.  I have to admit, such a move really took guts – Yahoo’s risking the support of their stock shareholders in order to stand up to the big guys, and I’m going to say it’s a noble move.  But is it smart?

Not exactly, as Yahoo! now lands itself in a pretty precarious position.  Without Microsoft, Yahoo! is going to have to find an alternate method of financial support, as it’s been losing funds for a while now – and this task alone won’t be easy (who else will be willing to offer tens of billions of dollars?  …Apple…?  *wink*).  Plus, what I’ve been saying the whole time was that two losers really don’t make a winner – and now, with Yahoo! taking serious consideration (well, more serious than before hopefully) into how they’re going to survive, it looks like they’re going to have to step up their game.

With this short chapter in the saga closed, we can only wait and see what Yahoo! does next.  But this definitely is turning very, very interesting.  Of course, Microsoft still has a chance, it just has to increase its bidding amount – which would be difficult, but it’s still very feasible.  Not to mention the nagging of shareholders should be able to change Yahoo!’s attitude.

Source: http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/98213/98213.html

Yahoo! Another Possible Purchaser!

Last week, Microsoft shook the fragile framework of the world by announcing its proposed hostile takeover of Yahoo! corporation for a whopping $44.6 billion dollars. In my opinion, Yahoo!’s continued losses mean that they couldn’t afford to not look at this offer seriously. Alas, as most stories proceed, there emerge a few ironic twists and turns that even I would never have predicted.

Jerry Yang, Yahoo! CEO

Source: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/YHOO/0x0x10712/25D58133-E6FD-4AD5-A5D0-11AA773135C3/jerry_yang.jpg

Microsoft’s still in it to win it, and could very possibly do so. With Yahoo! chairman Terry Semel resigning, it seems that the opposition to Microsoft’s takeover left with him. However, apparently, Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang doesn’t seem too fond of Microsoft – but who will Yang turn to in such a time of disaster and Microsoft seemingly coming in to sweep Yahoo! from the outskirts of the web into the mainstream again?

Apple Logo

Source: http://images.jeb.be//Apple/apple_logo_(640×480).jpg

Why, Apple, of course! It’s rumoured that Yang has expressed openly admiration for Steve Jobs and the whole Apple crew – and its well-earned, of course. Apple already revolutionized the way we listen to music and now the way we handle mobile devices – perhaps the internet is the next step? However, Apple isn’t the only giant to intervene between the transaction of Microsoft and Yahoo!.

Enter Google – king of the search industry. I was surprised to see such a strong reaction from them, actually – they claimed that Microsoft and Yahoo! combining would lead to a monopoly, which I can sympathize with, but Google has been so successful already that I doubt even such a strong move would be capable of downing Google – now very reluctant to relinquish their view of the top. Understandable.

Yahoo! Logo

Source: http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/05/yahoo_logo.jpg

I think the best move would be for Yahoo! to end up in the hands of Apple Corp. as they seem to have a knack for doing things right, and don’t have their own web portal yet – Google’s Google, and Microsoft’s got MSN and Live. I think that Apple + Yahoo! would = an interesting move, but we’ve yet to see the chess game play out.

A Quick Peek at Pandora

I had a blast during my stay in the states, visiting various places and seeing sights that are hardly available in Toronto. Plus, the Winter was much milder, making the trip that much better. Unfortunately, that meant having hardly anytime to use all those services that piqued my Canadian interests! Luckily, this evening I had a chance to take a quick look at Pandora – which I must admit, is very similar to Last.fm. Thank goodness that’s still available to us.

Pandora Home

Pandora loads very quickly, and it guides you through the whole experience very closely. The only difference between Pandora and Last.fm so far as I can see is that Last.fm needs to be downloaded onto the computer to enjoy the total experience, whereas Pandora is fine just on the internet. Basically, all you need to do is input a beloved artist and out comes the results – some new music to explore, as well as probably some of your old favourites.

Pandora Guide (1)

Pandora’s GUI is great! It’s very user-friendly and it’s a lot more flexible than Last.fm – no need to register, no need to download the client. I’m sure that if I registered, a lot more features would have been available to me; sadly, I don’t think it’d be very realistic to sign up for a service I’m going to lose access to by tomorrow.

Pandora Guide (2)

Being the picky listener I am, I already found one thing to whine about – the skipping limit! It was a real pain in the behind to know that I wan’t allowed to skip as many songs as I wanted to, due to some “restrictions”. Last.fm actually didn’t have this problem last time I checked. I realized I had used my quota and I gave up Pandora that instant. Might’ve been a hasty decision, but I didn’t have much of a choice anyway – I’m leaving for Canada tomorrow.

Pandora Limit - Outrageous!

It’s probably a bit overrated by Canadians, as Pandora isn’t really that much better to use than Last.fm – in fact, they’re arguably at around the same calibur I daresay. However, I must also emphasize that I haven’t used Pandora to it’s potential yet and this is just a very quick judgment – I can be proven wrong, but it’s just a bummer to realize how restricted it is to an unregistered user. I’m still glad I had this eye-opening experience though – looks like we still can survive without Pandora. And we might have to for a while, because the RIAA hasn’t invaded Canada yet.

Mozilla Weave Concieved – A Look into the Future

At this day and age, I’m quite surprised that even just a concept of the Weave has been so widely accepted into the world. With viruses and hackers running rampant, I didn’t realize that our metadata was vulnerable enough to have to be stored on a server, as opposed to in our brains. It really does seem like our future is here now – doesn’t it?

Mozilla Weave

Source: http://people.mozilla.com/~cbeard/weave/weave-logo.jpg

The Weave is a new project introduced by Mozilla, which promises to sync all your metadata (saved passwords, cookies, all that good stuff) with a server – preferably your own, yet possibly ones provided by Mozilla – with both being available. How considerate! This means that all your data will be available when you open a Firefox session, and will be automatically synced – wherever you are – including at a restaurant on in your dear grandmother’s house for a nice family gathering.

My main concern with this is how the metadata will be accessed in a secure method. I would assume since metadata consists of such important information, it will be a very sought-after target for hackers. Will the metadata be accessed via a username and password, or will there be a more creative, original method of access? The metadata will all be stored on a server, and you have a choice of either using your own or one provided by Mozilla. I’d like to see how Mozilla handles the situation of teaching an average user how to create their own server, or use part of their computer to store or stream the metadata elsewhere.

Mozilla Weave Services Overview

Source: http://people.mozilla.com/~cbeard/weave/services-overview-v1.png

The actual server should be very safe from intruders otherwise – if Gmail can keep such large volumes of data safe, I believe that Mozilla, a company so successful with their secure browser Firefox, then I think that they can do the same, if not better, with Weave – where they realize security will be an issue. I also think that this will grow to be a convenient service, but I don’t think it will be a revolutionary one. It’s a step in the right direction though.

Weave provides a promising look into the future, but I’m not sure whether it will be one for better or for worse. Such a tactic makes me wonder if humans are getting lazier – so lazy that they are unable to memorize a few passwords – but alas, that’s a total other social issue. I think it will be great for collaborative purposes as well, as partners will be able to use each other’s data to collect information twice as fast, essentially. What convenience, and what a conception.

Official Information:

http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/12/introducing-weave/

Day-to-day Applications/Use Cases:

https://labs.mozilla.com/forum/index.php/topic,392.0.html

Hulu is for Real

For the past demi-year, Hulu has been officially open as a beta to consumers. But as part of the Canadian public, I’ve lacked the opportunity to try such a service as it was unfortunately unavailable in my region at this time. Either way, I’ve finally arrived south of the border, and I’m dying to try this service out. Luckily, I was able to access the service – if I weren’t, I might’ve died.

Hulu has a wide variety of shows, which all seem to appeal to me. They are all hits on TV, and they are all widely available on the internet – something that Hulu is trying to discourage by officially offering a medium to watch such shows. However, I must object – when you are trying to discourage piracy, please try to include the rest of the world – just something to take into consideration.

Hulu Catalogue

A spectrum of features are made available – in fact, something to the most minute detail like changing the background colour is available for the comfort of your eyes. The overall GUI is pretty and goes well with the whole glass look of the new Web, as well as Vista. They also go so far as to offer summaries and user opinions of the shows they offer.

Hulu User Interface

The most important feature of a video site has to be the playback – which I must admit, disappointed me a bit. I must mention that I am using wi-fi, so I might not be getting as strong a signal as I could be, but I still think that streaming a video should be much smoother. I had to wait a while for the video to load, as it was quite choppy at first. Also, it’s resolution isn’t as nice as something like Veoh’s, so I think it wasn’t really worth the hype. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still above Youtube par, but I was certainly expecting more.

Hulu The Siimpsons Playback

Hulu looks very promising at the moment, and if it progresses then it should be a feasible alternative to piracy. However, I’m begging Hulu creators to please make the service more widely available, and to make the videos load faster as well as in higher quality. If you’re still in Canada right now, then you’re really missing out.

Google Enters the Game for KNOLedge’s Sake

Everyone’s heard of Wikipedia – the infamous encyclopedia that can be edited by pretty much anyone, yet remains accurate and quick enough to look up information on it, as long as cross-references are made.  The only thing Wikipedia has yet to improve on is its payments to contributors – something that Google seeks to remedy with Knol.  The world can never have too much information – can it?

Basically, Google is launching a new encyclopedia called Knol.  User-based, just like Wikipedia with a twist – contributors get paid.  Contributors are allowed to write “pages”, and are then given the option of implementing advertisements for the pages – they also get a cut of the profits made.  Not a bad idea – people get a cut of how well their articles are written, a great example of capitalism!  …right?

My main concern would be plagiarism.  Who’s to stop someone from copying articles from Wikipedia and pasting them directly into Knol?  On a small-scale that’d be a simple situation to quell, but if used on a large scale it might be a hard situation to stop (I’m sure it’d be in the Terms of Use somewhere).  However, Google being the giant it is might have already thought of such a situation and are just biding their time for someone to tempt them into being banned from anything Google for life.  Scary thought, isn’t it?

Another nice serving of food for thought – although the details haven’t been released, how would one user be able to contribute such a large article?  Wouldn’t there naturally be some bias – and thus require the intervention or assistance of a second user?  If so, would the profits be split in half?  If everyone does this, won’t the profits become so diluted that it wouldn’t make much of a difference anymore?

Knol looks like a great concept, but there are certainly a few kinks to be worked out.  I approve of the idea that there is never enough knowledge, but how Google pulls this together I will be anticipating.  Actually, I know they’ve got a way, I just can’t figure out what it is (I live by faith).