In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup – our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week – we report on a new “superphone” launched by Google, take a look at how the Web is transforming personal finance, give you 5 reasons why RSS Readers still rock, get a first look at the new startup of ex-Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo, analyze the trends that emerged from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and more. And as usual we check in on our two main channels: ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0’ trends and products) and ReadWriteStart (our daily resource for entrepreneurs).
Also read on for details of the newly released printed edition of our current premium report, about the Real-Time Web.
Now Available: Printed Edition of The Real-Time Web Report
At the request of the librarian community and people that just like paper, we have made The Real-Time Web and its Future report available in print.
For those of you that prefer it digitally, you can still download it.
Don’t forget about our Community Management Report. It too is coming in print soon, so watch out for it!
Web Trends
How The Web is Transforming Personal Finance
Not too long ago, personal finance tools like Quicken and Microsoft Money used to be bound to the desktop. Today, free online tools like Mint, moneyStrands and Wesabe make it easy to track financial information. So you can now get a better overview of your personal finances than ever before.
Editor’s note: This story is part of ReadWriteWeb’s Personal Finance series, a weekly, three-month-long look at how the Internet has transformed personal finance. If you are interested in sponsoring this Content Series on Personal Finance, please contact our COO Sean Ammirati.
5 Reasons Why RSS Readers Still Rock
Recently we wrote about the decline of RSS Readers as a way for people to keep up with news. We noted that while many people still use RSS Readers, usage has decreased due to the emergence of real-time and social flows of information via Twitter, Facebook and other such services. The post sparked a fascinating discussion, with over 160 comments. What we learned from that discussion is that while the RSS Reader market is indeed in decline, there are still a number of compelling use cases for RSS Readers.
Welcome to the Age of Robot Reporters
Recently, three emergency vehicles responded to a report of an unconscious person at the world headquarters of Nike Inc. in Portland, Oregon. How did we know? An automated form-pumping robot from startup company Nozzl Media told us. Nozzl Media unveiled this week a demonstration of its first product, a widget intended for newspaper websites seeking to display real-time local information derived from Twitter messages, blog posts and automatically extracted public records.
Web Apps Meet Consumer Electronics at CES
The 2010 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) saw a big trend emerge: web applications being ported to consumer electronics, from the technology inside cars to Web-enabled TVs. Earlier this week we noted that online music service Pandora will be made available in cars, courtesy of a new Pioneer device that will begin selling in March. Other evidence of this trend can be found in Ford’s announcement of a new in-car system and Samsung’s latest Internet-connected TV.
SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY
ReadWriteEnterprise
Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise, devoted to ‘enterprise 2.0’ and using social software inside organizations.
The Pros and Cons of the Google Nexus One As An Enterprise Phone
The Nexus One is another smart phone that we will inevitably see inside the walls of the enterprise. Smart phones seem to have a way of being used for all kinds of work activities. So, what are the pros and cons of using the Nexus One in the enterprise?
ReadWriteStart
Our channel ReadWriteStart, sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark, is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs.
5 Web Apps To Keep Your Startup Organized
In a world where emails, phone calls, texts, and Tweets constantly bombard us, it is getting harder and harder to manage the firehose of data and information being thrust our way. For young companies to succeed this environment, it is imparitive they become organized and efficient lest they fall behind and quickly become overwhelmed.
Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Los Angeles
Best known for its movie stars, sun and surf, Los Angeles probably isn’t the first place you’d think to breed technology. But when you consider the influence of investors like Jason Calacanis and Mark Suster, in addition to the fact that companies like Demand Media and Docstoc call Southern California home, it’s not surprising that the community is emerging as one of the country’s hottest startup hubs.
SEE MORE STARTUPS COVERAGE IN OUR READWRITESTART CHANNEL
Web Products
Live Blog: Google’s Android Press Gathering
Google held a press event this week to showcase the new Nexus One, which it described as “Where Web Meets Phone.” Google calls this a new category of phones – the “super phones.” The Nexus One apparently “pushes the limits of what is possible on a mobile phone today.” Google will sell the phone in its own web store. Check out our live blog coverage for more details.
Droid’s December Boom: Metrics Show Device Use Doubled in One Month
The Android platform has grown exponentially since mid-2009, but December’s stats show a particular factor that might help catapult the platform to greater heights of user adoption. In figures just released from mobile advertising company AdMob, the Droid singlehandedly boosted calls to their network by nearly 300 million requests.
Facebook’s 1st CTO Launches His Next Company
Adam D’Angelo was a programming genius who knew Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in high school, became the young company’s first CTO and has just begun to unveil his new startup company, Quora. Built by D’Angelo and a team of crack young engineers, Quora is a real-time enabled Q&A site. The company calls itself “A continually improving collection of questions and answers.”
Skype: Coming to a Couch Near You
Starting this spring, you won’t need to gather the whole family around a 15-inch laptop screen to talk with cousin Joe on the other side of the country. As a matter of fact, you won’t even need to get up off the sofa after the evening news, because Skype is coming to the big screen – the big TV screen, that is. Skype announced this week that they have been working with LG and Panasonic to embed Skype in Internet-connected widescreen HDTVs.
SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY
That’s a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.
