Tech analyst, AI & the web
I founded the tech blog ReadWriteWeb in April 2003 and ran it until October 2012. During my time running the business, it was well known for its cutting edge content (“What’s next on the Web”) and its influential global audience. At its peak, RWW was ranked among the top ten blogs in the world by Technorati.
This category contains all of the articles I personally wrote for RWW, now archived on ricmac.org for easier browsing and search. If you’d like to explore the original context, you can also view a year-by-year archive with links to the Wayback Machine
– Apples rolls out new Intel Mac Minis, iPod Hi-Fi (the iPod Hi-Fi described by Steve Jobs as “a home stereo reinvented […] for the iPod age”) – MediaPost: Mainstream Media Warms To ‘Web 2.0’ (WashingtonPost guy: “We’re trying to lengthen the interaction between reader and content.” NYTimes calls it a “nexus of content and … Read more
On ZDNet I’ve just posted a lengthy analysis of the main Ajax homepages (aka personalized start pages): Over the past year many new AJAX homepages, aka personalized start pages, have been introduced to the market. Microsoft and Google have offerings, as do a host of small startups. First I’ll define what an AJAX homepage is, … Read more
Feedburner’s just released a pretty significant upgrade to their service, including a new “Feed Stats Dashboard” and some much needed drill-down stats on individual posts. TechCrunch has the early scoop as well. The best new feature for me is the feed item stats, so I’ll start with that. Now you can see what percentage of … Read more
I’ve been tracking the development of all the personalized start pages that have flowered up over the past year. Live.com, Google Personalized Homepage, Netvibes, PageFlakes, et al. These are services that don’t just offer a place to store all your content and links – but house your widgets, gadgets and web services too. I’ll be … Read more
Seems reporting new media news gets a bit dreary sometimes. This from PaidContent.org: “BlogMedia Acquires The Blog Herald [by rafat] : Blog blog blog blog blag blag blah…blah. [by rafat] [Feb.27, 06]” I have to admit, the press release Rafat linked to made me yawn too. Oh well, at least the blogosphere isn’t talking about … Read more
Online classifieds service edgeiojust launched. I tested the service out recently and on ZDNet I’ve posted my thoughts. I love the concept of edgeio, because it’s almost exactly the same ideal as the Structured Blogging initiative. Structured blogging means publishing different kinds of information – like events, reviews and classified ads – in a ‘structured’ … Read more
Summary: While full-text feeds are under-valued today, they will be an integral part of the content ecosystem in the near future. And that’s when their true value will be recognized. James Gross from the Feedster blog has an interesting post about how full-text feeds will provide much more value in future than today: “What has … Read more
– Erik Benson goes “old man grey” (I knew he was wise beyond his years…) – Kevin Roberts’ Sisomo (leading edge kiwi wows the marketing/advertising world again with a beautifully designed site about his ‘Sisomo’ concept — “the story of sight, sound and motion”) – The Future of Web Apps podcasts available now (this will … Read more
When my post about Web Office Suite products got Slashdotted, one of the main issues amongst Slashdot commenters was: why do we even need a Web Office? This comment by Eightyford put it best: “What are the advantages of having an online Office Suite? I’d say that the disadvantages include: security issues, slow speed, dependance … Read more
This a beautifully designed web calendar. It has a lot of AJAX smoothness, which make for a very nice UI experience. It’s easy to enter events and you can change calendar views with little trouble. I’d like the option to reduce the calendar view from the current minimum of 4 weeks to just 1 week. … Read more
Quote from Rod Drury, founder and CEO of kiwi web email company AfterMail (which was acquired by Quest Software for US$45 million in January 2006): “We demonstrate globally from our office in Wellington, install our products remotely and receive funds electronically. We have US phone numbers in our office. The barriers to global commerce are … Read more
– The Return of Mr Safe (like a geeky version of Inspector Clouseau, Mr Safe is one of the enduring characters of the tech blogging world… in this latest episode he confronts his old foes Chief Inspector Funky and the evil Dr Fork) – Stowe Boyd on Advisory Capital (instead of investing money, invest expertise … Read more
On my ZDNet blog, I’ve reviewed the best Web Office products currently on the market. I believe some of these may be acquisition targets for Microsoft, Google or even Yahoo – as the big companies roll out the inevitable Web Office Suite. [Full story on ZDNet…] Originally published on ReadWriteWeb (archived copy)
– TechCrunch leads Silicon Valley Web renaissance (I miss the Gatsby mansion… fun times in Silicon Valley) – Brian Oberkirch interviews Umair Haque (a nice Bubblegeneration 101 on Umair’s theories, which you should take time to grok if you’re in the new media business…) – Media Investing’s New Thing: Web2.0 (“Any traditional media company, with … Read more
– Amazon Plans Music Service To Rival iTunes (nice opportunity for server–>device integration here… among the plans: Amazon-branded portable music players for retailers and a subscription service) – MySpace goes mobile (launching a mobile service that will let users read and post to the site for free) – Alex Barnett screencast on ‘Attention Engines’ (this … Read more