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What a difference a day makes. It’s been a mere 24 hours and the overly-hyped, poorly-named Cuil is already a footnote. They are the latest unexciting contender to challenge Google in the search arena (deja vu with both LOUD3R and PowerSet). And yet again, the challenger has been deservedly crushed. Why? Because their search results were simply not that good. In an industry where the bar for search methods & results is very high (Yahoo, MSN, Ask), you can’t launch with a sub-par product. It has to be “better” somehow. And Cuil was not better … In fact, it was vastly worse. On Cuil, a search on “cuil” did not bring them up on the first page. Wow. A search on “topLingo” puts us as last place on the first page. On any other search engine we rank in the number one spot. And it went down on it’s inaugural day. Did they expect light traffic when they were calling out Google and press-releasing to every blog and reporter on the planet? Amateur hour.
Google reminds me of those boxers at the turn of the century that would challenge everybody in town to 3 minutes in the ring with them. One guy after another would get pummeled mercilessly. You better get a real badass in the ring if you want knock out the 800 pound Googlrilla.
Cuil is just the latest casualty in what will turn out to be a lot of attempts to unseat the big G.
This weekend, WordPress released version 2.5 of their top-tier open source blogging software. This release sets the bar high for intuitive admin systems. I could write on and on, but nothing compares to actually using it. I’m composing this entry, for instance, using the new full-screen editing mode. This allows the writer to focus solely on his writing, without any clutter. I love it!
Go get it (or view demo) at WordPress.org. If you’re running an existing WordPress installation, this is a must-have upgrade. The 2.2 to 2.3.3 upgrade added incremental improvements to the front-facing app and some advanced SEO features. But this upgrade is 90% geared toward admins … thank you, WordPress … and, at the same time, sets a whole new standard on usability.
Bonus geek fact: This weekend, I found out the origin of the word “bLog” and why it employs that odd capitalization. It’s short for “WebLog”, a term coined back in the first dotcom bubble.
 Need a solid video host?
Brightcove, an internet TV platform, not only hosts your vids but also helps you promote it via:
1. Community: Leverage viral video sharing.
2. Distribution: Attract affiliates and list content with video search engines.
3. Advertising: Generate revenue from advertising.
Check out their 2 minute demo: http://www.brightcove.com/products/index.cfm
The hot buzzword in 2008 will be social platform. Rising social network star Facebook got the ball rolling this year when they announced their open development platform which allowed software developers to create custom applications to run inside Facebook. This has turned out to be wildly popular and other social network sites are following the leader. Myspace has been working on a platform and more recently, news that LinkedIn, the popular social network for business professionals is also creating an application platform.
Social networks will become much more than networks in 2008 as more social platforms arrive, allowing users access to more features and marketers access to more of the so-called “social graph“.
Google has been making some big moves lately, one of which is in the social network arena. Open Social is a set of API’s (application programming interfaces) which will allow developers to create applications that will run on a variety of social networks at once. Facebook applications can only run on Facebook, but Open Social applications can run on any platform that adopts the standard. At launch, some of the important partners include, Myspace, Linked In, Salesforce.com, Ning, and NetVibes.
Facebook currently dominates the social network space, in part due to their vibrant application platform. Open Social could serve to level the playing field. It will also make things easier for developers as they will only have to write one application for distribution across many platforms. This is one to keep an eye on. Will adoption grow and how will Facebook respond?
Top Companies
Only surprise on this list is Facebook and since Microsoft just invested $240 million their numbers are still to be determined.
Source and full article: Tech Crunch
Top Social Networks & RSS Readers
MySpace is still king for now, but for how much longer. Facebook is climbing up the ranks quickly.
Source and full article: Tech Crunch
Top Social Bookmarking & RSS Readers
WOW! Google dominating del.icio.us and My Yahoo was a surprise.
Source and full article: Tech Crunch
San Jose based Adobe Systems is a legend in Silicon Valley, most famous for their dominant Photoshop application. Adobe is also a leader in desktop publishing and has a strong competitor in online video editing as well. Now Adobe is stepping into a whole new world, the world of online Web 2.0 applications. Adobe has purchased Virtual Ubiquity and their online word processor Buzzword. This puts Adobe in direct competition with Google and Zoho for the online office productivity market.
Traditionally a master of the desktop, it shows a great deal of savvy and guts for Adobe to move into the online market. What makes this even more interesting in the Buzzword word processor is based on Adobe’s Flash technology. Adobe is playing up the benefits of Flash, saying it is more flexible and powerful than Ajax, which is the current favorite web 2.0 technology. Adobe’s AIR allows Flash applications to run offline or online, which will prove to be a critical factor as most web 2.0 apps do not work offline yet. The Zoho word processor does work offline but Google Docs does not.
A question everyone should be asking is, where is Microsoft in all this? As of yet, nowhere to be found. Microsoft clings to their venerable Office suite, continuing to bet on the desktop. It may be a long time before web 2.0 supplants the desktop application, but I am surprised to not see Microsoft at least put a toe into this water.
Sometimes technology uncovers things we have never considered before or shows us things we have not noticed. Such is the case with this Navy building and it’s unfortunate shape, only discovered and disseminated widely because of Google Maps and blogging. Now the Navy will spend $600,000 to redesign the landscape and buildings to change it’s appearance from the air and on Internet mapping systems. Another related post details the various rooftop advertising around the country also now visible on Google Maps.
 VideoJug.com an online video resource for expert advice and professional know-how knows their niche market.
Thier tagline appropriately reads “Life Explained. On Film.” and have taken a business model from the likes of Ask.com whose approach to competition is not to worry about the 800 pound gorillas (Google and Yahoo for Ask and YouTube for Video Jug) rather serve their niche markets to the best of their abilities.
In VJ’s case their niche is education and to date they’ve recieved more than 30 Million dollars in venture capital, staff 50+ professionals and have produced 20,000+ high definition how-to-videos such as “How to be the perfect girlfriend” or “How to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds.”
www.VideoJug.com
 The geniuses from 37 Signals who brought you Basecamp (the web-based project management miracle worker) flex thier muscles once again with “Ta-Da List” an online To Do List manager bare bones in features … just as it should be.
Less is more these days and with tasks as simple as jotting down action items there’s no reason to convolute software with massive features. Ta-Da List is simple to access, simple to add to and simple to manage items quickly and efficiently. It also produces independent RSS feeds either per list or for all lists and allows you to share lists by giving others access via email logins.
www.TaDaList.com
 Man I love Google! Not only are they buying up some very cool companies handsomely rewarding the owners, they’re hooking up the users as well by “Googlizing” the products.
For those of you using Feedburner, a new Google purchase, two critical features and reasons to pay monthly for the service are now free. MyBrand which allows you to remove the Feedburner URL and use your own, and TotalStats which gives you more analytics are now FREE! Here’s how to enable:
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/feedburner-give.html
 An avid user of LinkedIn, the MySpace for business professionals, I’ve been playing around with their new Answers section.
Similar to the popular Yahoo! Answers the concept is social networking based and allows professionals to quickly post a question based on specific subject matter and receive responses from professionals who either know the answer or connect you with someone who does. I.E. sales networking.
www.LinkedIn.com
 eBay’s feedback system is really the only solution online to reach true success in having consumers respect and base decisions on another users “Online Reputation.” The Gorb is one of a few startups whose trying to capilize on that.
The Gorb has anonymous comments and ratings about an individual so whether you love them or hate them you place a rating on their personal and professional lives. Scale is from 1 to 10, with total averages and comments.
Sound scary? Maybe not. Experts believe the future of the web (3.0, 4.0 whatever) relies solely on accountability and identity. I’m just hoping someone doesn’t give me a zero and say I smell like Greek goat cheese!
www.TheGorb.com
 Are you an RSS fan and need help finding something interesting to subscribe to? Try FeedMiner. They stole Google’s interface but have fast results and can help you find random crap like “Patently Silly: The Humor of Invention.”
www.FeedMiner.com
 Want a better alternative to taking a marketing class at your local college? Then pay attention marketing guru Seth Godin. Here’s a 48 minute online video of him speaking to the people at Google about why they rock and what marketing means in web 2.0.
Seth recaps his permission marketing, purple cow, idea virus and all marketers are liars concepts with remarks like “Tiffany’s doesn’t sell necklaces. They sell blue boxes with the Tiffany’s logo on it. They charge you $1000’s of dollars for the box and then give the necklace away free inside!”
“All Marketers are Liars” - Seth Godin speaks at Google
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