Two weeks ago, Facebook has announced a major new initiative called Facebook Open Graph. This is an attempt to not only re-imagine Facebook, but in a lot of ways, an attempt to re-define how the Web works. We wrote in details about the implications of this move for all interested parties.
A big part of the announcement is Facebook’s vision of a…
Facebook just shook the tech world by announcing several major initiatives that collectively constitute an aggressive move to weave the social net on top of the existing Web.The rumors were that the leading social network would launch a “Like” button for the entire Web. Instead, Zuckerberg & Co. unveiled a bold and visionary new platform that…
The book and media industries are going through interesting times, to put it mildly. As physical books prepare for their demise, the confusion around pricing of digital ones grows. Yet, whether physical or digital, to sell books you need marketing. People need to hear about a book before they buy it.
This is where the book review come in. Every…
FriendFeed has recently launched a search feature, and so Facebook search must be coming soon.
Real-time Web search (of streams of activities) is a hot topic right now. Everyone, including Google and Microsoft, recognizes the value of using trusted contacts as filters. What was once called social search is now called real-time search, but this…
Chris Anderson’s new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (available for free in text form and as an audio book), is stirring controversy and a spicy conversation around the blogosphere. The current wave of discussion started with a critical review by Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker. In his review, Gladwell defends journalism and goes…
It is no secret that Facebook has Twitter envy. The number one social networking site is not content to win over rival MySpace. It is not satisfied being far ahead of Google on the social web. Facebook now has Twitter firmly in its crosshairs.
True, Twitter traffic has gone through the roof. True, Twitter is the new killer app, the new cool kid…
On Tuesday, January 20th, 2009, America and the whole world will gather to watch Barack Obama be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America. Many have called Mr. Obama the Internet President because of the unprecedented way his campaign used the medium to raise funds, raise awareness, and ultimately outmaneuver John…
Yesterday, I was with my wife in the L’Occitane store. The shelves were filled with fragrances, soaps, lotions: all sorts of handcrafted beauty products. It occured to me while looking at the labels that I have no idea how these products were made. I am reasonably versed in chemistry, but the process of manufacturing perfume is not something I…
Much has been written lately about the rise of the API.
Offering a programming interface to an online service is now standard practice amongst this generation of web companies. Through APIs, we get to enjoy a range of innovative Twitter clients, wide
availability of maps and location information, custom search engines, and more. However, delivering…
In this article, we’ll analyze the trends and technologies that power the Semantic Web. We’ll identify patterns that are beginning to emerge, classify the different trends, and peak into what the future holds.
In a recent interview Tim Berners-Lee pointed out that the infrastructure to power the Semantic Web is already here.
ReadWriteWeb’s…
In the midst of the current US economic slowdown it is clear that the good old days are over. At least for some chunk of 2008, more likely for the whole year, we are in for some gloomy times.
Companies are being forced to cut costs and let people go. Some smart people aren’t sitting around waiting to be downsized – instead they’re jumping ship…
It’s the end of 2008 and everyone on the Web is hurting due to the economy. But we know that things will get better, because slow-downs eventually bury the old and give birth to new evolutionary ways of doing things.
One of these evolutions started quietly in 2008. We are witnessing the rise of a new kind of web: contextual. You might not have…
2009 is approaching quickly, and the consensus is that it’s going to be a really tough year. The US financial crisis is triggering a global recession. Yet, a crisis is also a time full of hope. It is a time to re-think, re-tool, and get ready for the next upswing.
For big Internet companies, 2009 is going to be a very bad year for sure…
Anything that can be a video will be a video
During the Web 2.0 Summit recently, the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, pointed out that one of the reasons the world is no longer the same is YouTube. For better or worse, said Mr. Newsom, we are now always on the record. Every significant and insignificant conversation is being recorded, and the…
Last week LinkedIn announced an additional
infusion of capital from strategic investors. The company has been
around since 2003 and
Bernard Lunn recently
wrote an in-depth analysis
of the LinkedIn business here on ReadWriteWeb. Most of us use LinkedIn a few times a week, yet almost
no one is emotionally connected to the company. Isn’t it strange…
In good times everyone wants to
be a platform. But when times are bad and platforms are just an expense, the resources suddenly
shift away. The recent re-design of Facebook, the slow down of Google’s
Open Social, and Flock closing
its extension site – these are all part of the same pattern. Platforms that don’t
have monetization wired in…
Tough economic times and
startups have at least one
thing in common – you need character and determination to survive.
Character is what it takes to win,
to believe and to persuade others. It’s a mix of passion, determination,
sleepless hours,
hard work.
Character is about crossing the finish line, about achieving dreams and
goals.
While…
From the dynamics of social networks to market bubbles, science has a lot to say about
the world of technology.
One of the great discoveries of modern science was the realization of
how interconnected the world is. The deterministic, Newtonian view of
a clockwork Universe was replaced by the much more dynamic, uncertain and entangled
world of…
We live in an age when success of innovation is mixed with unprecedented failures.
On one hand we’re reinventing the web, fighting for a greener future and building genomix.
On the other there are housing bubbles, credit crises and war.
The technology patent crisis is important to our future. For decades the patent law
served its purpose…
Unit Testing is
one of the pillars of Agile Software Development. First introduced by Kent Beck, unit testing has found its way into
the hearts and systems of many organizations. Unit tests help engineers reduce the number of bugs, hours spent on debugging, and
contribute to healthier, more stable software.
In this post we look at
a dozen unit…