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
sponsored by: This week: business folk getting interested in Web 2.0, Adam Curry podcasting from 2.0 perspective, cool Web 2.0 ‘mini-apps’, wrap-up of the adverts in RSS debate, Bosworth’s Web of Data. From MBA to Master of Web 2.0? I get accused of being too geeky sometimes on Read/Write Web (no argument there!). So I’m … Read more
Web 2.0 is coming soon to consumer medical information services, says Gordon Gould. He reckons the most interesting apps won’t come from established Web medical players, like WebMD, but rather from startups. Gordon thinks the established companies are too Web 1.0 – “monolithic, closed, and mostly just about info-retrieval”. WebMD’s mission seems to be to … Read more
You know how Jude Law seemed to be in just about every movie released in Hollywood last year? Well on a smaller scale, my writing is being published on various sites across the Web currently. And no I’m not talking about those people who copy and paste my posts into their blogs! ionRSS.com My new … Read more
Microsoft’s new version of Xbox, code-named Xenon, will be more of a “PC hybrid” according to Bill Gates. They’re aiming to be a media hub for the living room, utilising the Web as a channel for media content and to enable collaboration. As Tom Foremski notes, this will give Microsoft “a ready platform for its … Read more
Based on the great comments I received to post.icio.us a week ago, I’ve been doing some experimenting on R/WW. First I tried out the ‘5 links to a post’ style (again). I don’t think it worked, for me or for you. So now what I’m going to do is the “mini-analysis” style that Andrew Chensuggested. … Read more
Jeremy Keith has developed a web app called Adactio Elsewhere, which uses APIs to collect scattered pieces of Web content into one place. It’s a nice idea and one that Erik Benson was exploring not so long ago. Erik ended up piping all his content pieces through to his weblog via the Bloglines API. Jeremy … Read more
I’m trying again with a branded daily update of Web 2.0 news and views. Not content with cornering the “Web 2.0” niche in blogs, I’m now making a play for the term “2.0” 😉 Let me know what you think of the new format. Backpack: Web 2.0 Email? Popular Web Design firm 37signals has announced … Read more
Dave Winer has posted a comment by Jason Calacanis about adverts in RSS feeds. In a nutshell, Dave doesn’t want ads in RSS feeds and Jason does. I found this comment from Dave to be very curious: “BTW, what exactly is wrong with the way the BBC and NY Times do it? They write good … Read more
sponsored by: This week: Google turns up the heat, Yahoo burns to be a media bigco, Microsoft’s 64-bit light at the end of the tunnel, blogging media empires warm their hands by the advertising fire, Craigslist – GoogleMaps make a combustible combo. Google’s Preemptive Strike In the Mojo Cold War, Yahoo took the initiative from … Read more
Summary: Yes Microsoft is a Web 2.0 company, because their goal is to use the Web as a Platform. The difference is they’ll use the Web as a Platform via millions of Windows-run ‘devices’. That’ll be their interface into Web 2.0. The Yahoo Search team has a vision called FUSE – which stands for Find, … Read more
Now that I’m part of the new Silicon Valley Watcher network, reporting on RSS, I’ve got to thinking about how I fit into this new world of blog-journalism. Here’s the beginnings of my theory on this… Back in the 70’s Tom Wolfe coined a style of news writing called New Journalism, which was very influential … Read more
I thought I’d post this before Phil Pearson gets to it 😉 A New Zealander, Chris Liddell, has just been appointed to the job of Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft, making him the third most powerful person there (behind Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer). Mr Liddell commented: “Obviously it’s a great privilege for me personally … Read more
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do a daily Web 2.0 update with links – without being, you know… one of those blogs that just links to other blogs. What I’m looking for is something in-between del.icio.us and a ‘real’ post. My ‘Web 2.0 News’ posts from 1-2 weeks ago were a … Read more
sponsored by: This week: Macrobe/Adobemedia, sports RSS feeds, Google and Yahoo MojoWatch, Mobile Web 2.0 woes, Dan Gillmor’s Web 3.0. Web Design Bigco: Adobe buys Macromedia This was all over the Web Tech part of the blogosphere this week and the general feeling was one of surprise that two Web Design heavyweights have joined forces. … Read more
John Battelle: “In the Web 2.0 world, it matter less that you have a major media company behind you, what matters is if your voice and point of view are considered valuable by your audience.” PaidContent.org: Weekend Readings on Web 2.0 – hey Rafat, since you hate the term ‘Web 2.0’, I’m available to do … Read more