In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup, our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week, we look at the future of mobile phones in light of Google’s Android OS, examine the future of journalism, discuss how sensors are becoming more a feature of social networks, advise you when not to use social media, analyze how companies such as Comcast are using Twitter, and more. Also, we look at featured stories from ReadWriteHire, our new product which tracks hires in tech and new media.
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Web Trends
Android Isn’t a Phone OS Because in the Future There Will Be No Phones
T-Mobile is working on plans to build several devices that run Google’s Android operating system but can’t really be considered phones, according to internal documents secured by the New York Times this weekend. The revelation appears to provide more evidence to the argument that Android isn’t really a mobile phone’s operating system because in the future there won’t be devices thought of as phones. There’s no good reason for phones to continue to exist as distinct devices for voice communication. For all intents and purposes, there will be no phones in the future – only portable data devices used for all kinds of communication, voice being an equal partner with the web.
The Future of Journalism Will Be Radically Different
An Interview with Spot.us about the changing nature of journalism.
These days, everywhere you look it seems that some newspaper is closing its doors, stopping its presses, or maybe just going online-only. This sea of change is being heralded by some as the “death of journalism,” a transformation that has been brought about thanks to the web. But is the web really killing journalism? Or, is it allowing an entirely new type of journalism to emerge?
When Sensors and Social Networks Mix
The integration of sensors with social networks will lead to real-time data and more useful web apps.
In posts this week we reviewed an MIT experiment called WikiCity, that gathered real-time location data from mobile phones in Rome and graphically mapped trends from it. We then looked at a more commercial product doing similar real-time location data analysis, called Citysense. That product aims to let users find the most popular night spots in San Francisco and the most efficient ways to get to them. The next stage of projects/products such as Wikicity and Citysense will be to enable users to social network, using data from sensors as one input.
These days, everyone is talking about social media and discussing what services and tools to use, how to use them, why you should use them, etc. In fact, if you listened to all the advice out there, you would probably think that no matter who you are, whether an individual wanting to build a personal brand, or a large multinational corporation intent on communicating with customers, you should be using social media. But is social media for everyone? Are there times when you shouldn’t be using it at all?
Microsoft Europe: Internet Usage Will Overtake Traditional TV In 2010
Microsoft, in a new report about Internet usage in Europe, predicts that the Internet will overtake TV as the most consumed form of media in Europe by the middle of next year. Broadband connections in Europe have grown by 95% in the last five years, and the average European now spends about 8.9 hours per week online. Microsoft also predicts that over the next 5 years, usage patterns will shift away from traditional PCs to other web enabled devices like game consoles, IPTV, and mobile phones.
State of the Enterprise Market: Slow and Unsteady
The 2.0 web is heralding massive challenges for this week’s Enterprise customer. But, who is that customer? Is it the Enterprise buyer with an IT budget? Is it the line of business executive who says, “Screw IT; let’s do this” and rolls his own social computing platform by hiring a half dozen open source developers? Is it the departmental user who pays for a wiki with her credit card, recruits her team members and evangelizes on working a different way? The answer is: yes, it’s all of these, and no (unfortunately) it’s none of these.
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
A Word from Our Sponsors
We’d like to thank ReadWriteWeb’s sponsors, without whom we couldn’t bring you all these stories every week!
- Mashery is the leading provider of API management services.
- Expensd, tracks your expenses for free.
- Web 3.0 Conference, semantic web and linked data, May 19-20 NYC
- Semantic Technology Conference, the future of the Web, IT, search, business.
- Crowd Science gives you detailed visitor demographics.
- TaxACT lets you file your taxes online.
- Rackspace provides dedicated server hosting.
- Calais brings semantic functionality into your website or app.
- Aplus provides web hosting services for small business hosting needs.
- O’Reilly Found, search acquisition and architecture conference.
- MediaTemple provides hosting for RWW.
- Eurekster is a custom social search portal.
- SixApart provides our publishing software MT4.
ReadWriteHire
Who’s Getting Hired in Tech? Q1 Numbers from ReadWriteHire
Rapleaf’s Auren Hoffman says that hiring is harder in a downturn because the noise goes up but the quality stays the same. That’s a pretty strong statement to make, but if it’s true then it’s all the more remarkable to see which companies are making hires now.
Our site ReadWriteHire covers new hires in tech and new media. We’ve just published our aggregate numbers for the first 3 months of 2009. Who’s hiring? Software and IT companies, social media and social networking companies and marketing and advertising firms.
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Web Products
This Machine Eats Tweets: The System Behind @Comcast and Others
This week my home wifi was having trouble and I posted a message to Twitter saying, “My wife has decided to start the day with a call to Comcast customer service, I should have offered to poke her in the eye with a spoon. Would have been more fun for her.” Within minutes a man named Bill (@ComcastBill, really) publicly replied to ask if he could help. I didn’t think much of it, I assumed he was camped on a search.twitter results page for the word “Comcast” or maybe had subscribed to an RSS feed for the search. It turns out though, that far more than that was happening behind the scenes. An extensive machinery of tracking, delegation and analysis stood between Bill and my little Tweet. Maybe it has to be that way, maybe it’s a good thing – but there’s something deeply disturbing about it too.
Yahoo Opens Up Its Music Site: Now Includes YouTube, Pandora, Last.fm
Yahoo introduced a new version of its Yahoo Music artist homepages this week, which now include links to YouTube videos, Pandora radio stations, Last.fm, and photos from Flickr. Yahoo also plans to open up its API so that others can build applications for Yahoo Music, and, at a later point, artists will be able to create their own customized pages on Yahoo Music as well. Thanks to its drag-and-drop interface, users can easily customize the new artist homepages to their own liking.
PostRank Debuts Discovery Engine – Find The Best Blogs on Any Topic
PostRank this week announced a new feature to its website called the Discovery Engine. This leverages the power of its existing automatic ranking algorithms to recommend new information sources to visitors. Along with this new tool comes a completely revamped web page layout that focuses more on the user experience on the site.
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
