Blog Archives

Seesmic, the video social networking service [I wrote about](/bus-news/article.php/3725261/Visualize+This+With+So+Much+Video+Its+Hard+Not+To.htm) earlier this year, announced a diverse list of investors that ponied up $6 million for a piece of the San Francisco-based company. Heading the list is the investment group Atomico co-founded by Skype creator Niklas Zennstrom.

Other notable names on the investor list include: Ron Conway (an early investor in Google), Reid Hoffman (founder and chairman of LinkedIn), Michael Parekh (managing director at Goldman Sachs), Martin Varsavsky (founder of FON) and Michael Arrington, founder of the tech investment Web site TechCrunch.

"Seesmic has grasped the opportunity to evolve the way people express themselves and converse online. Theirs is an exciting vision and I look forward to supporting the team, said Zennstrom, in a statement.

The Seesmic service, which is still in a private alpha or test phase, lets users enjoy an online ego trip posting any 'it's-all-about-me' videos they want from their webcams. The Seesmic site in turn has real time updates and management features that let you track videos posted by specific people.

Dr. Russ Riendau is a man on a musical mission. Author of The CEO's Guide to Talent Acquisition, Riendau thinks companies would do well to encourage more music in the workplace because, he says, it can boost morale and productivity.

At his Web site, a picture of guitar-toting, ready-to-rock Riendau, is bracketed by his thoughts on the topic: "In reality, music's been part of the business world since the cavemen and cavewomen celebrated the successful wooly mammoth hunt."

I second that "Uggah! Uggah!"

"Rhythms are part of the human condition, actually embedded into our DNA," he continues.  (And so will iTunes in a few more years the way things are going).

Among his tips for companies looking to jump on the music bandwagon:

* Mount speakers in the parking lot to begin and end the workday with music. Change the tunes each day or week to reflect different tastes and generations

* Replace those old motivational posters with some hip Rock 'n Roll signs

* Create a "Jam Room" in your facility for all employees. Fill it with instruments of all kinds and some percussion instruments as well. The media will love your story, too!

(Be sure to tell your stock holders too, I'm sure they'll be thrilled). I actually think this could work with some judicious picks, for example, don't pipe "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" into the company lounge.

Apple didn't bother waiting a week to roll out new Macs at
the Macworld Expo ��� the company went ahead and announced ahead of the show which starts January 15 in San Francisco.
Nothing wrong with that, just a surprise given Apple's propensity to keep its
product plans close to the vest until Master Steve takes the stage.

The pre-announcement surely guarantees the biggest news at Macworld won't be a
new Mac, at least not a conventional one. Rumors have flied fast and furious
that CEO Steve Jobs will unveil a subnotebook or ultralight portable at the
show. The old news of new Macs will surely be just a warm up for the packed
crowd of media and Apple acolytes on hand for Job's keynote. I would also expect
more news on the iPod front, particularly on the content side with some new
deals announced and gushing sales figures for the iPhone.

Apple's favorite enemy/collaborator, Microsoft, will surely
trot out an exec to talk about the new version of Office for the Mac, the first
major update since 2004. Just don't expect it to be CEO Steve Ballmer. As far
as I know, Ballmer has never shared the stage, much less broken bread, with
Jobs. When the MS/Apple relationship was at its rockiest a few years back,
Ballmer wondered aloud whether Microsoft should still develop for the Mac. No
love lost there, so I'd be shocked to see the two Steve's on stage. Then again,
no expected Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz to cozy
up to Michael Dell on stage at Oracle OpenWorld  last year, also at Moscone. Perhaps the tech version of San
Francisco's famed Summer of Love is approaching.

Perhaps the precursor to all this was "Millie's Book, the 1990 best seller supposedly penned by First Lady Barbara Bush's dog Millie. Now comes the announcement of Pet-Files.com, a Web Site/social network dedicated to pets. The idea is to let pet lovers see other's pets, read their blogs (ah, poor Snoopy left us far too early), get in touch through comments, rate photos and videos and just have fun with all things pet-related.

Pet-Files, which bills itself as the "world-wide pet community" said its free site offers unlimited photos, videos, profile pages and blogs -- and you don't even need to register. Finally, my cats can feel free to dish some real dirt without fear of retribution!

Marco Bellinaso, said in his own blog posting that he started Pet-files from his home in Italy after his attempts at a personal blog and one on technical subjects both "failed miserably." Now he's got a new pet project.

"I decided it's time to try again, this time with a blog about pets, my greatest passion together with software and technology," said Bellinaso in a blog posting where he also profiles Mescal, his three year-old cat.

For his part, Mescal blogs that his best trick is: "I can run away at the light speed when I need to. I also silently go after my human and not-human victims and make sudden little attacks that make everyone laugh."

Pets.com was one of the great Web failures, but who knows, maybe Pet-files is on to something.

Seems like car makers were falling all over themselves last
year to tout the latest in iPod connectivity and convenience for music lovers.
But the next step in adding computer doodads goes way beyond music and Chrysler
wants to lead the charge.

At the recent International Auto Show in Detroit, Chrysler
said its working aggressively to develop an advanced, in-vehicle wireless
communications system that provides increased security and convenience, and
goes "well beyond" what systems currently available provide.

Higher gas prices means less driving? Bah! Chrysler execs don't see that
equation playing out anytime soon.

"We recognize that customers are spending more and more
time in their vehicles, and that the automobile is becoming much like an
additional room in the home or office," Frank Klegon, Chrysler's executive
VP for product development, said in a release.

Chrysler's technology roadmap for vehicle connectivity over
the next few years starts with cellular and WiFi, but then expands to WiMax which
of course offers significantly higher speeds and bandwidth compared to WiFi and
doesn't rely on a network of hot spots.

Features Klegon said will be coming to Chrysler, Dodge and
Jeep vehicles over the next few years include:

*  Turn-by-turn
navigation combined with satellite imagery to provide more realistic maps.

*  Internet search
and email access including audio read-out of messages using text-to-text
speech, and sending messages via voice command.

*  The ability to
make on-line purchases, view streaming movies and download music.

*  Wireless audio and
video file transfer from home computer to car

And here you thought cell phones were a distraction!

Didn't see this one coming. Dell announced it's joined with Collexis Holdings, Inc. to launch BioMedExperts.com, a new online community that links medical experts in more than 120 countries with over 1.4 million profiles and 12 million pre-established network connections.  The aim of the site is to help drive information sharing and discussion between the biomedical and life science research community.

Dell is providing computer hardware to power the Collexis-designed BioMedExperts site. Dell will also provide marketing support for BioMedExperts, including co-branded marketing efforts and promotions at major life science research conferences. While this may seem far afield from Dell's core competency, the computer giant says there is plenty of relevant opportunity as IT is uniquely poised to speed drug discovery, development and healthcare delivery. "BioMedExperts is a cutting-edge tool that can link researchers from around the globe and enable this new level of collaboration," said James Coffin, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Dell's Health Care and Life Sciences group.

And now you also know Dell has a Health care and Life Sciences group.

So how many social networks do you belong too? Two? Five?
More?

Chances are there are wrinkles and differences to the personal information you
provide on each -- say, MySpace versus LinkedIn. A Silicon Valley startup
collects information from public data on more than 30 social networking sites,
including Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Windows Live Spaces and
YouTube. With a Spokeo  account you can add friends, or anyone else for that
matter, by email or their profile URL, and the site collects their information
from the social networks they belong to.

Each time you log in to Spokeo you'll
get a summary of changes made by your friends,  or any other folks your tracking, at these sites. Spokeo calls its
service, which only collects information that is public on these sites, a
"Friend Tracker." 

A blog entry by Spokeo's founder Harrison, begins:
"Whenever I introduce Spokeo to my friends, their first reactions are
always "Wow!", then "Hm ... this is a little scary", then
"This is freaking cool!".