In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup – our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week – we explain why augmented reality is ramping up (and look at three new iPhone examples), analyze the top websites in the U.S., check out new Twitter statistics suggesting that teens don’t tweet, review recent Wikipedia changes, and more. We also check in on our two new channels: ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0’ trends and products) and ReadWriteStart (dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs).
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Web Trends
Augmented Reality: 5 Barriers to a Web That’s Everywhere
Fifty years after its invention by the British Royal Navy for use by fighter pilots, the technology of layering information on top of our naked view of the world may soon cross over the line between science fiction and mass consumer experience. “The internet smeared all over everything.” An “enchanted window” that turns contextual information hidden all around us inside out. A platform that will be bigger than the Web. Those are the kinds of phrases being used to describe the future of what’s called Augmented Reality (AR), by specialists developing the technology to enable it. Big questions remain unanswered, though, about the viability of what could be a radical next step in humanity’s use of computers.
5 Ways Sentiment Analysis is Ramping Up in 2009
The New York Times had an article this week about sentiment analysis, a trend which has been accelerating on the back of the Real-time Web – and Twitter in particular. Sentiment analysis is no short-term hot trend. It will eventually become a key feature of search engines, which will integrate the aggregate sentiment of the crowd into search results. In our post we take a look at five examples of how sentiment analysis is starting to ramp up on the Web.
Top 50 U.S. Web Properties: Facebook Enters Top 5 For The First Time
Annual changes of note: Facebook #5 with a rocket; Twitter entered Top 50 in June; Demand Media, Answers.com and Break Media sites to watch.
comScore has just released their latest
Media Metrix rankings for the Top 50 U.S. Web Properties. If we compare the top 50 to one year ago, we see that the top 4 is still the same: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL. But there’s one notable entrant to the top 5: Facebook. Last year the same list by comScore had Facebook ranked number 16. As of July 2009, it is number 5; Facebook’s highest ranking yet.
Teens Don’t Tweet? They May Start Soon
“Teens don’t tweet.” Over the past few weeks, this fact has been reported time and time again by analysts, bloggers, and mainstream media. But before all you adults get too comfortable with your Twitter dominance, take a look at the recent data from comScore. It appears that the youngest Twitter users – those in the 12-24 bracket – are now the fastest-growing segment of Twitter’s population.
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
A Word from Our Sponsors
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ReadWriteEnterprise
Our channel devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0’ and using social software inside organizations.
Why Zoho Wants You to Sign in With Google Apps
Not long ago, Google revamped its sign-on system using the federated protocols of OpenID. Now Zoho, a major provider of SaaS productivity and enterprise tools, has decided to support Google Apps accounts for anyone logging into its services. Although the two companies have overlap in areas such as online document editing, the majority of Zoho’s suite is not in competition with Google.
ReadWriteStart
Our channel ReadWriteStart, sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs.
When and How Founders Should Hire a Professional CEO
This is one post/chapter in a serialized book called Startup 101. For the introduction and table of contents, please click here.
There are two schools of thought about founders as CEOs. One school says that founders rarely make good CEOs: the skill sets are simply different. The other school says that no one has as much passion, drive, and deep market and technological understanding as the founder, and so they are best off remaining as CEO.
SEE MORE STARTUPS COVERAGE IN OUR READWRITESTART CHANNEL
Web Products
The Wall Has Fallen: 3 Augmented Reality Apps Now Live in iPhone App Store
First Paris Metro, then Yelp, now London Buses. The newest is even selling database layers through in-app purchases.
It has been widely reported that the API required to display Augmented Reality (AR) layers of data on top of the camera view of a non-jailbroken iPhone 3Gs would not be publicly exposed until the launch of the next version of the iPhone Operating System, expected this Fall. Many developers are patiently waiting, but some have now found a way around the restriction. This week we discovered 3 AR-enabled apps hitting the iTunes store.
Confused About Wikipedia’s Flagged Revisions? What’s Really Happening
Wikipedia’s new ‘flagged revision’ policy will radically change how entries about living persons will be maintained. There seems to be some confusion about the extent to which these new policies, once implemented, will change the nature of Wikipedia. According to some, Wikipedia will cease to be free and open. Instead, a group of editors with dictatorial powers will patrol the site. The reality, however, is far less dramatic.
Opera Mini Is Most Downloaded Mobile App
The Opera Mini application is now considered not only the world’s most popular mobile browser, but also the world’s most downloaded app. According to independent applications marketplace GetJar, the browser has been downloaded more than 25 million times from its store.
Bing Continues to Grow, But Yahoo Loses Market Share
Since the launch of Bing, watching the developments in the search engine market is finally interesting again. According to the latest data from Compete for July, Bing continues to grow slowly but surely. At the same time, though, Compete notes that Bing has not been able to convert its growing search share into a rise in paid clicks on ads on the site.
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
