---
title: "Read/WriteWeb Weekly Highlights"
date: 2006-09-16
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2006"
    url: "/tag/2006.md"
---

# Read/WriteWeb Weekly Highlights

In case your RSS Reader got the better of you over the working week, here’s a snapshot of last week’s Read/WriteWeb posts. The big web tech stories were Times Reader, Zune, Yahoo Mail Beta, iTV. Here are summaries of all our posts this week:

[New York Times Reader Launches](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/times_reader_launches.php) – NY Times releases the beta of its new desktop app, promising a better Web reading experience. Built with Microsoft WPF technology.

[Netvibes Claims 5 Million Users](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/netvibes_claims_5million_users.php) – despite Netvibe’s 5M user base (is that return users?), we’re still a way off start pages being mainstream tools.

[Zune – Social Networking Differentiates It From iPod](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/zune_social_networking.php) – while the new Microsoft iPod-like device will offer social music sharing via WiFi, questions remain over its DRM.

[Yahoo! Mail Beta Release – Exclusive Podcast With Ethan Diamond](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_mail_beta_interview_ethan_diamond.php) – Yahoo opens up the beta for its Ajax-powered web email, which has desktop-like user experience and great features such as calendar and RSS Reader integration.

[Apple’s iPod Success Won’t Be Repeated With iTV](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apple_itv_success.php) – 30 people commented on this, most of them making good cases for Apple *succeeding* with iTV.

[The Web VC Chart](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_web_vc_chart.php) – Alex Iskold’s well-researched and beautifully designed chart of Web VC investments. Keep the comments coming in, because we’re going to do an update real soon on the chart.

[Poll: Do Personalized Start Pages have a viable future?](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/poll_personalized_start_pages.php) – 52% say yes, 46% no and 2% don’t know what start pages are.

[VCs on Web Technology: Judy Gibbons from Accel](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/vcs_on_web_tech_judy_gibbons.php) – this is well worth a read if you’re a budding entrepreneur in the Web space. Judy has 25 years experience in the computer industry, so her advice should be noted.

[What New Web Technology Has Apple Unveiled?](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apple_showtime_web_tech.php) – a wrap of Apple’s announcements this week, including movies on iTunes and an as-yet unreleased device (currently named iTV) that will enable you to view video content on your television.

[Sharpcast’s Desktop/Web Synchronization – Soon For All Types Of Files](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/sharpcast_synch_all_files.php) – this is what Next Generation Web Technology is all about; solving a big pain point (synching files/data between PC, mobile and other devices) and making it all seem easy.

[Smartpox: Bar Codes For The Web](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/smartpox_bar_codes_for_web.php) – Read/WriteWeb was the first publication to cover the oddly named Smartpox, which offers barcoding technology to connect the online and offline worlds.

[Top Web Apps in Brazil](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_web_apps_in_brazil.php) – continuing our very popular series on international Web markets, we discovered that Brazil Internet users are very community-minded and social. And yes, a lot of them use Orkut.

[World Internet Penetration Now 16% – Asia Growing Fast!](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813001752/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/world_internet_penetration_sept06.php) – China and Asia in general are making great progress in Internet penetration. Despite the US and countries such as my own being above 65% penetration, much of the world is closer to 10-15% or lower.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/weekly_highlights_16sept06.php))*