E-Commerce @WalmartLabs: Scrappy Startup Now Walmart's Future In April, social media startup Kosmix was acquired for $300 million by retailing giant Walmart. Kosmix had built a Semantic Web platform called the Social Genome, which organized social media data. The platform powered 3 products: TweetBeat, a real-time social media filter for live events; Kosmix.com, a topic-based search engine; and… Richard MacManus View comments
Design Designing For 5 Screens: PC, Mobile, TV & More In May, we analyzed usability guru Jakob Nielsen's report on iPad design and concluded that it was a welcome return to form for the web veteran. Nielsen and his company have followed up with another excellent usability report, this time about "transmedia" design. It covers mobile, tablets, TVs and even dips a toe into "extreme screen… Richard MacManus View comments
Humor The US Open Explains the Dangers Posed by Twitter It's time for the US Open tennis tournament and inside the players' lounge, there's an ominous sign posted by the event's Tennis Integrity Unit warning of the dangers posed by Twitter. Snapped quickly and posted online by CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell, the posted sign and policy are an amusing reminder of what happens when the… Marshall Kirkpatrick View comments
Analysis The Hive Mind Needs More Women Kevin Kelly wrote a thought-provoking post about how "the impossible" is happening more often nowadays, thanks in no small part to large scale collaboration over the Internet. In other words, the hive mind. He cites eBay and Wikipedia as two examples of things he would've thought impossible in decades past. Collaboration over the Web is… Richard MacManus View comments
Contests A Winner for August's First MacBook Air Contest Earlier this month, we asked "What are important considerations when managing hundreds of virtual machines?" The stakes were high – a MacBook Air, to be exact. We received plenty of responses but only one rose to the top. Chad Fulton responded, that the most important thing when managing hundreds of virtual machines is managing people… Joe Brockmeier View comments