Here are some of the highlights from the week’s Web Tech action on ReadWriteWeb. On the product side we explored: next gen apps outside the browser, uses for wikis, Facebook’s usefulness (or lack thereof), the public launch of Google Health, and 4 promising mobile social networks. On the trends side we analyzed: the Mobile Web, … Read more

ReadWriteWeb is the exclusive Media Partner for an interactive debate on the future of the Web, featuring Tim Berners-Lee. The event is June 11 and is being run by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The debate will address questions such as: Is net neutrality essential for democracy? What role does AI have in the future of … Read more

Today we’re pleased to announce a new biweekly feature on ReadWriteTalk, our podcast show. It’s a live discussion with the ReadWriteWeb Network authors that we’re calling RWW Live. On this first episode, host Sean Ammirati is joined by myself (Richard MacManus) and Alex Iskold from ReadWriteWeb, along with Steve O’Hear from Last100 and Charles Knight … Read more

In the tradition of American Idol, The Apprentice, Top Chef, and Dragons’ Den, a new TV show is in development in New Zealand that will bring the ‘Elimination/Game show’ format of reality TV to the world of startups. I will be one of the 3 judges. The TV show, to be called Start Up (not … Read more

Today Google announced the public availability of Google Health, after initially launching as a closed beta back in February. It is described as “a safe and secure way to collect, store, and manage [your] medical records and health information online” and is being positioned as a way for users to control their own medical records. … Read more

ReadWriteWeb network blog last100, which focuses on digital lifestyle products and services, is currently running a competition where you could win a top of the line HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook valued at around $5,000. To be in to win, leave a comment on last100listing your top five digital lifestyle products and/or services. They don’t … Read more

Digg is in big trouble. We already know that Yahoo! Buzz, a beta social news service by Yahoo!, can drive a large amount of traffic and comments to websites. We also know the ongoing problems at competitor digg, which continue to be skated around by digg management. Now we have proof that Yahoo! Buzz is … Read more

One of the buzz phrases we’ve heard a lot this year is “data portability”, which means the ability to move your personal data between different applications and vendors. It has its own standards group, called naturally enough DataPortability.org. Some of the big Internet companies have signaled their support for data portability – in January Google … Read more

Last night ReadWriteWeb got its first link on the Yahoo homepage, thanks to Yahoo Buzz – the beta social news service that is letting blogs get coverage on the world’s most trafficked website. Our initial turn on yahoo.com happened late at night, 10pm PST, and lasted around 3.5 hours. It happened to our post about … Read more

The strange saga of Omnidrive continues. On Friday we reported that online storage service Omnidrive, once a market leader, had joined the deadpool after the site’s domain name expired. Further evidence was posted during the weekend by Omnidrive angel investor Clay Cook, who had invested $100,000 into the company. In a scathing post, Cook wrote … Read more

Thank you to our sponsors, for supporting ReadWriteWeb’s mission to provide in-depth coverage of Web Apps, Web Technology Trends, Social Networking & Social Media. To enquire about sponsor slots on ReadWriteWeb, please email us for a Media Kit. We also have opportunities on our network blogs last100, AltSearchEngines and ReadWriteTalk. Here are our current sponsors: … Read more

This month’s Semantic Web Gang podcast, syndicated on ReadWriteTalk and featuring RWW’s Alex Iskold, is up now. The main topic is Bret Taylor’s idea of a Wikipedia for Data, which RWW covered here. The gang (which btw is like a quieter and more polite version of the Gillmor Gang!) looks at the role that semantic … Read more

Here are some of the highlights from the week’s Web Tech action on ReadWriteWeb. On the product side: this week we took a look at our readers’ favorite web apps, we covered the social news space in depth (including posts on digg, Mixx and a new app called BlogRize), we brought you the latest news … Read more

A couple of weeks ago we held a competition, asking you to tell us what web 2.0 apps most excite you currently. We had a great response, with 113 comments. I decided to list each web app mentioned in a spreadsheet and count up the most popular. What surprised me was the number of web … Read more

One of the highlights last week at Web 2.0 Expo was the launch of Microsoft’s new cloud computing play, Live Mesh. Mesh is a new development platform for syncing user data between the desktop and the Web, and across multiple devices (currently just Windows computers, but it’ll support mobile, Mac computers and other devices in … Read more