Interesting figures at the end of the article 15 sites 227m page views in the month of March.
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/4/nick_denton_shrinking_gawker_media_ditching_three_sites
Sure there are a lot of mouths to feed in running this but that’s not a bad business not bad at all. :)
Would be really interested in some intelligent revenue guestimates on tese figures if you think you have some thoughts.
Cheers,
Dean
Friday, April 18, 2008
Dreaming in 'Australian'
Had a really cute thing happen in a dream I had last night.
Most of the dream was totally non-eventful, and there was certainly no visual cues as to where it was, I cant even remember what most of it was about.
But at one stage in the dream I remembered that I was paying for a coffee and as I handed over the cash I realised it was an Australian plastic note. Even when it happened I thought isn't that cute I'm "dreaming in Australian" then went on with the rest of the dream.
I don't know why I wanted to blog about this but I thought it was cute.
(oh and for the Americans who have never been to Australia - we developed the worlds best 'paper' cash notes and that technology is now licensed by a number of countries around the world - the greenback may be king but man is it ugly).
Just think it's cute/weird after almost 4years that i would still dream that way.
Cheers,
Dean
Most of the dream was totally non-eventful, and there was certainly no visual cues as to where it was, I cant even remember what most of it was about.
But at one stage in the dream I remembered that I was paying for a coffee and as I handed over the cash I realised it was an Australian plastic note. Even when it happened I thought isn't that cute I'm "dreaming in Australian" then went on with the rest of the dream.
I don't know why I wanted to blog about this but I thought it was cute.
(oh and for the Americans who have never been to Australia - we developed the worlds best 'paper' cash notes and that technology is now licensed by a number of countries around the world - the greenback may be king but man is it ugly).
Just think it's cute/weird after almost 4years that i would still dream that way.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Facebook Spooky
So Facebook kicked off a new feature a few weeks ago called "friends you should know" or something like that - anyway at the time I thought cool, saw one or two people that I'm real life friends with and thought "wow they are on facebook as well - yep I'll 'FB friend' them", not being a big "friend collector" i tend to turn down most friend links I get especially on linkedin etc.
Anyway so every day when I log onto FB I see a new face or two and think cool but dont play around with it much.
Until today, when you click on see all you get to see a whole swath of people.
Now for the spooky part, someone on this page (and no not saying who), I only just emailed 3 days ago aboutt a work related thing - and have only ever received 2 emails. As far as I know - no one else in my group of friends has anything to do with this person as she works somewhat outside the IT space.
....is Facebook 'beaconing my outlook emails'?
Cheers,
Dean
BTW has anyone else noticed that the Facebook 'Feed' or posts of items other people are doing - has slowed down dramatically in the last few months, eg less people are posting less items to Facebook? has the fad of FB worn off?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The growth of mobile content in the USA
Russell Beattie Throws In The Towel On Mowser; And Doesn't Believe In The Mobile Web Anymore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041501540.html
Tricia Duryee
mocoNews.net
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; 1:00 PM
In April 2007, a mere year ago, Russell Beattie started Mowser, a mobile browser that would render Web sites correctly for the mobile phone. Today, he's publicly calling it quits, writing a lengthy message on his blog explaining how he hasn't been able to raise funding and the growth on the site has been flat or falling for the past couple months (and 80 percent of it was for porn anyway). The former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Mobile evangelist takes it a step further and says others should quit, too. "Beyond the fact that I'm irretrievably in debt, the general answer is that I don't actually believe in the 'Mobile Web' anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at best, and dying at worst. I'm talking specifically about sites that are geared 100% towards mobile phones and have little to no PC web presence. Two years ago I was convinced that the mobile web would continue to evolve in the West to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn't happened, and now I'm sure it isn't going to."
He goes on to spell out his argument, using statistics that others would say are signs that there is in fact a mobile Web developing. The iPhone isn't catalyst for change, instead he writes that "all it did is point out that there never was one to begin with." Some figures provided by M:Metrics verify his beliefs?the research firm found in the U.S. that 85 percent of iPhone owners browsed the web vs. 58 percent of smartphone users, and only 13 percent of the overall mobile market. "Let me say that again clearly, the mobile traffic just isn't there. It's not there now, and it won't be." But I think that's the extreme. He doesn't actually believe that people aren't interested in getting information while on the go, but that they want an identical experience to the Web, not a re-formated abbreviated one. That's different than saying the mobile Internet is dead. It means full browsers could succeed. "Mowser was always meant to be a short term bet against Moore's law, filling a specific near-term need and building a base of traffic to later expand to other cloud and proxy services. Well, the traffic never arrived naturally to allow the site to grow without funding," he wrote.
Still, we are still far off from the billions of phones in the market getting full Web browsers, so it would be hard to say that no one in the meantime will be interested in a partial Web. Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb has a hard time believing it, too, and personally likes mobile friendly Web pages, and reads them often, he says. What do you think? Is the mobile Internet dead?
Wow - one guy decides that startup life isn't for him and this is supposed to throw a whole shadow over the industry.....hmmm I don’t think so.
I like Russell, I've been a long time reader of his blog and an occasional user of his Mowser application.
I think the key point here is that...."Mowser was filling a temporary problem", with the release of the iPhone and the imminent massive model variants of the Android OS on the Horizon and the sure but steady improvements in the Windows Mobile 6 OS I think Russell is throwing in the towel as handsets are getting "good enough to no longer need Mowser".
Now do I think he threw it in too early with only 12 months operation - sure but thats because I'm a serial startup entrepreneur with 2 listed companies under my belt.
As an employee of www.Amethon.com one of the worlds first mobile browser specific analytics applications just for mobile content, I for one, am seeing huge growth in mobile content.
Amethon's clients are seeing traffic build month on month, and yes I think a lot of that has to do with better quality handsets and better quality browsers and most importantly higher data speeds with somewhat more reasonable flat rate unlimited data plans.
With a better user experience more people are finding the convenience of accessing content on the move .....or standing still but getting it right where they are standing with a mobile device never far from their hand ....
The best part about this mobile content is the volume of advertising coming into the space is funding a better user experience, and with tools like Amethon Mobile Analytics users analytics information and a solid roi can be demonstrated against this advertising spend.
Am I sad to see Mowser go, yes - Will Russell bounce, for sure - one of the smartest pioneers in the mobile business, Do I think USA consumers are a little behind eastern consumer patterns in mobile content consumption - YES but that has more to do with carriers and handsets than personal desires and usage patterns.
The mobile space is just taking off, with all the fallouts and successes that there was in the desktop browser wars in the 1990's.
Watch this space and get in early......your customers are waiting.
Regards,
Dean Collins
www.Amethon.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041501540.html
Tricia Duryee
mocoNews.net
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; 1:00 PM
In April 2007, a mere year ago, Russell Beattie started Mowser, a mobile browser that would render Web sites correctly for the mobile phone. Today, he's publicly calling it quits, writing a lengthy message on his blog explaining how he hasn't been able to raise funding and the growth on the site has been flat or falling for the past couple months (and 80 percent of it was for porn anyway). The former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Mobile evangelist takes it a step further and says others should quit, too. "Beyond the fact that I'm irretrievably in debt, the general answer is that I don't actually believe in the 'Mobile Web' anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at best, and dying at worst. I'm talking specifically about sites that are geared 100% towards mobile phones and have little to no PC web presence. Two years ago I was convinced that the mobile web would continue to evolve in the West to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn't happened, and now I'm sure it isn't going to."
He goes on to spell out his argument, using statistics that others would say are signs that there is in fact a mobile Web developing. The iPhone isn't catalyst for change, instead he writes that "all it did is point out that there never was one to begin with." Some figures provided by M:Metrics verify his beliefs?the research firm found in the U.S. that 85 percent of iPhone owners browsed the web vs. 58 percent of smartphone users, and only 13 percent of the overall mobile market. "Let me say that again clearly, the mobile traffic just isn't there. It's not there now, and it won't be." But I think that's the extreme. He doesn't actually believe that people aren't interested in getting information while on the go, but that they want an identical experience to the Web, not a re-formated abbreviated one. That's different than saying the mobile Internet is dead. It means full browsers could succeed. "Mowser was always meant to be a short term bet against Moore's law, filling a specific near-term need and building a base of traffic to later expand to other cloud and proxy services. Well, the traffic never arrived naturally to allow the site to grow without funding," he wrote.
Still, we are still far off from the billions of phones in the market getting full Web browsers, so it would be hard to say that no one in the meantime will be interested in a partial Web. Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb has a hard time believing it, too, and personally likes mobile friendly Web pages, and reads them often, he says. What do you think? Is the mobile Internet dead?
Wow - one guy decides that startup life isn't for him and this is supposed to throw a whole shadow over the industry.....hmmm I don’t think so.
I like Russell, I've been a long time reader of his blog and an occasional user of his Mowser application.
I think the key point here is that...."Mowser was filling a temporary problem", with the release of the iPhone and the imminent massive model variants of the Android OS on the Horizon and the sure but steady improvements in the Windows Mobile 6 OS I think Russell is throwing in the towel as handsets are getting "good enough to no longer need Mowser".
Now do I think he threw it in too early with only 12 months operation - sure but thats because I'm a serial startup entrepreneur with 2 listed companies under my belt.
As an employee of www.Amethon.com one of the worlds first mobile browser specific analytics applications just for mobile content, I for one, am seeing huge growth in mobile content.
Amethon's clients are seeing traffic build month on month, and yes I think a lot of that has to do with better quality handsets and better quality browsers and most importantly higher data speeds with somewhat more reasonable flat rate unlimited data plans.
With a better user experience more people are finding the convenience of accessing content on the move .....or standing still but getting it right where they are standing with a mobile device never far from their hand ....
The best part about this mobile content is the volume of advertising coming into the space is funding a better user experience, and with tools like Amethon Mobile Analytics users analytics information and a solid roi can be demonstrated against this advertising spend.
Am I sad to see Mowser go, yes - Will Russell bounce, for sure - one of the smartest pioneers in the mobile business, Do I think USA consumers are a little behind eastern consumer patterns in mobile content consumption - YES but that has more to do with carriers and handsets than personal desires and usage patterns.
The mobile space is just taking off, with all the fallouts and successes that there was in the desktop browser wars in the 1990's.
Watch this space and get in early......your customers are waiting.
Regards,
Dean Collins
www.Amethon.com
Lypp/37 Signals Mashup contest - or why I like 'use my tools contests' for market stimulation
http://blog.lypp.com/2008/04/14/37signals-voip-mashup-with-lypp
37signals VoIP Mashup with Lypp
We are less than one day away from opening the doors to the 37signals VoIP Mashup with Lypp. Tomorrow at noon (Pacific) the contest starts.
Developers, build a mashup application or mashup your existing application using both the Highrise API and the Lypp API and win stuff. This is a great way to show off your Ruby-fu and win some great prizes.
Best app:
$3000 Apple gift certificate
20,000 minutes of call time from Lypp (approx value: $1800)
12 months subscription for a Highrise MAX account (approx value: $1800)
This is not only a great example of why mashups in the corporate space are going to be huge in 2008/9 but also an example of exactly how new products like this should be launched.
By encouraging a 'sandbox derby' where for a limited time developers/users/customers are encouraged to come over and not only play with your 'toys' for free for a limited period of time but also possibly win cash and prizes - they win but also you get market awareness levels raised and get to stress test your tools to see how they may be adopted in the market.
Besides what better way to launch some tools then see what customers can come up with when really encouraged to be creative.
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, April 14, 2008
To Vista or not to Vista
I came across this article today
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24070867
Here's my reason for sticking with XP;
I'm a geek and I would love to upgrade to Vista, all my hardware is pretty much up to speed though laptop might need an upgrade but with the hard drive bitlocker encryption I would feel a lot safer when out and about with my laptop about loosing it.
But here is why I wont upgrade and the one and ony thing holding me back, licensing.
Being a geek I tend to change hardware a lot, some ram here and there, a new video card occasionally - upgraded cpu's when pricepoints fall etc etc.
So if I change two of these items....I'm up for a new vista license. Yep thats right, Microsoft in their wisdom have deemed that should you change more than 2 items of hardware your old license is now null and void and worth nothing.
hmmm somehow I'll stick with my 5pack of windows xp licenses that I bought ages ago and although I've never had more than 4 machines using my licenses at the same time I always know that should I remove one of those licenses I can run it on another machine.
Sorry MS, no amount of marketing or wishful thinking is going to make me change until this restriction is lifted.
Cheers,
Dean
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Broadband Infrastructure Costs and what to do?
Martin Geddes writes a really interesting blog - often with fairly insightful vision.
He recently posted something about bandwidth auction costs that I've posted a reply to (but not yet online until he approves it). But you should go check out his article here
http://www.telepocalypse.net/archives/001130.html
My comments submitted are below;
Martin,
Excellent analysis about the costs not 'disappearing'- I cant help but think if 3g spectrum costs were cheaper then data throughput in countries where carriers got a little carried away (pre-crash) on their bidding would be higher/cheaper.
The carriers now need to recoup these wireless infrastructure costs somehow / somewhere and when you consider how vital to the well being of the economy/industry that connectivity is you almost wish for a more 'planned economy model' to delivering Internet bandwidth.
Anyone have any thoughts on if this is possible to implement for landline broadband.....nationalisation coup of carriers by the US marines maybe :)
Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net
He recently posted something about bandwidth auction costs that I've posted a reply to (but not yet online until he approves it). But you should go check out his article here
http://www.telepocalypse.net/archives/001130.html
My comments submitted are below;
Martin,
Excellent analysis about the costs not 'disappearing'- I cant help but think if 3g spectrum costs were cheaper then data throughput in countries where carriers got a little carried away (pre-crash) on their bidding would be higher/cheaper.
The carriers now need to recoup these wireless infrastructure costs somehow / somewhere and when you consider how vital to the well being of the economy/industry that connectivity is you almost wish for a more 'planned economy model' to delivering Internet bandwidth.
Anyone have any thoughts on if this is possible to implement for landline broadband.....nationalisation coup of carriers by the US marines maybe :)
Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Kobe 'Ikea' Monorail
Wow check out TrendHunter for a link to a super decked out 'Ikea' Monorail.
How long do you think this would last here in New York?
Cheers,
Dean
Monday, April 07, 2008
Improv Everywhere
The guys knock one out of the park this time (if you haven't heard of the Improv Everywhere group search my blog for other posts in the archive).
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/04/07/best-game-ever/
Basically they turned up a little league game between the Mudcats and the Lugnuts and turned it into a major event bringing cheer squads, a jumbotron and even had the GoodYear blimp fly over the game.
Can you imagine how buzzed these 10 year olds would have felt.
This truly is the power of social networks.
Cheers,
Dean
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/04/07/best-game-ever/
Basically they turned up a little league game between the Mudcats and the Lugnuts and turned it into a major event bringing cheer squads, a jumbotron and even had the GoodYear blimp fly over the game.
Can you imagine how buzzed these 10 year olds would have felt.
This truly is the power of social networks.
Cheers,
Dean
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Windows Mobile V's iPhone
Here's an interesting factoid for you;
Windows Mobile runs on 140 models of handsets with 160 operators in 55 countries.
It's real nice that the Apple iPhone is about to announce their 3g version which will make it their second model of handset but if I was developing applications for a global market I know which platform I'd be building for.
Now the Android OS that's going to make for some interesting competition.
Cheers,
Dean
Windows Mobile runs on 140 models of handsets with 160 operators in 55 countries.
It's real nice that the Apple iPhone is about to announce their 3g version which will make it their second model of handset but if I was developing applications for a global market I know which platform I'd be building for.
Now the Android OS that's going to make for some interesting competition.
Cheers,
Dean
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