Google Wave - Gmail 2.0

Google has announced Google Wave - Gmail redefined. And its kinda cool. It is Google's answer to social networking stickiness and an attempt at turning your Gmail interface into a social networking, Web conversation and communication portal - where you go to do mail, IM, share pics, update mates and tweet.

Looks like all its missing is voice calling, blogging and I'm done. More time at Gmail here we all go - and one last goodbye to AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft mail. At least for consumers. At first...

Bing v Wave - the Next Net Frontier

Microsoft and Google are pitching their futures on two new services that point towards the next Web frontier - convergence. Microsoft yesterday announced Bing as its latest answer to Google search. It is not a direct competitor to Google search, but a competitor in trying to redefine Web searching - not just a search engine but a 'decision engine'. A kind of Web 2.0 Wolfram Alpha.

If, by now, you are totally confused - lets try and simplify. Bing attempts to change search engine into Internet assistant. Not just providing the most relevant links, but exposing the most relevant answers, which includes simple access to the information. Video thumbnails go live as you hover over. Shopping comparison is embedded and travel information comes alive. Try it - it goes fully live next Wednesday.

Animoto Turns Slideshows into Videos

There is a small crop of new Web 2.0 start-ups going after the slideshow to Web video space. Animoto looks to be one of the cooler players. Their proposition is straight forward - email your photo slideshow over to them, pick some cool (copyright approved) music or musac and bingo they'll mash it all together and create a free Web video. Which could make you look cooler at YouTube, your blog or wherever.

Chez Animoto 30 second clips are free. Thereafter you pay - proving that Fremium models are all the rage. But I'm left with one niggling question. Why doesn't everyone just buy a Flip and go DIY?

iPadio Do Phlogging

Phlogging (phone or audio blogging) seems all the rage. Recently we reviewed a free service from Audio Boo. And here's another. It's called iPadio which is interesting branding. It rings with I paid. For radio?

And there is the big question - who pays? For Audio Boo it seems no one. iPadio are aptly named because companies do - consumers don't. After all someone's gotta pay right? Ipadio's USP for consumers is that you can apparently use any phone to phlogg - oh and of course its free - whereas Audio Boo is free but just for iPhone users right now - which is a growing and Web savvy audience.

iPadio believe that their phone-to-Web model has multiple business applications including customer service, field agents who need to report, Radio and disability services. But which is their killer app? Beats me. Maybe its too early to tell. Phlogging holds a great deal of promise and the early players are off - it will be interesting to see how Six Apart and Google's Blogger respond. They should be in the mix.

Need a Start Page - Start.io

Need a Web based, easy and quick to set, public up start page - check start.io. You can get up and running in minutes with all your favorite, publicly accessible links, nicely categorized and ready for you to share with the world. It could even become a link driven human home page.

And this probably points to the future of start.io - your personal portal to stuff that matters most that you also want to share. Beyond this, it could be neat for start.io to allow you to run your blog, twitter feed and more scrolling live, next to your links at your home page.

Then, bingo, forget my Yahoo - it's myPortal. And I'd buy into it for one.

Wolfram Alpha Challenges Google?

Wolfram Alpha, the next wave in Internet search with a couple of branding challenges, is going live on the 18th May. Just 5 days to go. It feels like a countdown to something, well, potentially huge. Wolfram Alpha could be the next Google. It's a next generation search engine that answers your question by scanning the Web, then utilizes the most advanced computational models to turn Web based data into newly computed answers to your original search query. If that sounds like techno mumbo jumbo let me try and explain it more simply.

Wolfram Alpha will attempt to give you real answers to real questions - not just a list of relevant links. So, if you type in 'how long does it take to fly from New York to London' you will get a real answer such as 7 hours, not just a bunch of relevant links a la Google.

The huge question is is Wolfram Alpha competitor to Google or partner? Given that Google is desperately, behind the scenes, trying to come up with a similarish service - they see them as competitor first. For us users they should be hugely complimentary Wolfram Alpha gives you direct answers to your questions, Google gives you links. But guess who Google's gonna try and buy damned soon??

Stupeflix Does Video Mash-ups

Stupeflix, (stupid!) is a Web 2.0 start-up offering mash-ups of your latest pics, words and videos to produce a professional looking video - stupid! It reminds me of Apple's iMovie for the Web. So for all of you who do not own a Mac or are too lazy to figure out iMovie here's one for you.

Also, if you use your smartphone to shoot movies and take pics they have a nifty way to mash 'em together without the vid/pic/word thing looking to kitsch. Or amateur.

For the rest of us I guess we'll hang onto our MacBooks and use iMovie a while longer. But they're worth watching...

Audio Boo Does Podcasting on the Go - iPhone

So here's a cool new Web 2.0, Brit tech, start-up - with a splash of iPhone. It's called Audio Boo and it's a podcasting tool for the masses. You sign in at audioboo.fm, then download their iPhone app, and presto it turns your iPhone into a podcasting recording device. After recording some fruity voice messages/snippets/personal radio rantings it automatically loads and plays your track at your personal Audio Boo page.

It's kinda like a YouTube for podcasting - assuming you've got an iPhone of course. But, hey there's enough of those around the place by now and if it takes off they can probably port to other smartphones. Recording quality is OK but cramped by iPhone speaker ruggedness and we're not quite sure how long you can podcast for at any one speak'ing. Other than that its a start-up worth watching and an iPhone app worth downloading. Unlike most of the rest of the 35,000 plus out there!

Building a Successful Start-up is About Context

I read a couple of interesting articles today on tips from a failed entrepreneur and how to bootstrap a company by a venture guy - which seems a bit of an oxymoron. Or is it moron?

Either way, they got me thinking. Both are right and yet they lack something. And I think that something is context. You see entrepreneurs today all too often fail because they lack context. They either lack domain expertise or a broad understanding of the process by which to build a particular company at a specific point in time.

What are the exact steps required, what are the do's and don'ts, which tools are required and how do you know which is the right decision at any one point in time. Check Innov@te's blog. They seem to have some ideas. And remember it's all about context. Surround yourself with those that can provide context and you stand a chance.

blur Group Launching Online Start-up System for Entrepreneurs

blur Group, a crowdsourcing group out of London, is about to launch an online innovation and start-up service for entrepreneurs and Innovation Officers around the world. They call it Innov@te Online and it is based on a 48 phase business build methodology and system which takes users step by step from concept through to exit.

They spread the 48 phases across six core start-up stages including @ha idea, concept, market entry, market development, market dominance and exit. With some neat tips and tricks along the way.

They even have a system called CREATE-IVITY which helps folks generate innovative ideas. If it works, this could be quite a breakthrough for innovators and entrepreneurs alike. Venture Investors should sit up and take notice too. For launch details and more check Innov@te's blog.

Online Video Goes to the Next, Next Phase

Online Video is changing. Two guerilla's in the space, Comcast and Youtube are taking some nifty steps that could shift the landscape. The latter today announced that they will be adding social features to Youtube.com - enabling real-time communicate amongst friends while watching a Youtube movie. This way it should feel a bit less like you're all alone watching videos while hunched in front of your laptop. Youtube are tapping into a growing trend in which all manner of sites are lifting a page out of Facebook's playbook and bolting on social features.

In the mean time Comcast, the cable dinosaur, might just be yanking itself up a decade or two. They're close to launching a free Web based movie service for their existing cable customers allowing them to watch certain prime movies on their TV, PC, Laptop and one day even phone. They are apparently also taking the Web and an associated app store to the TV thanks to Adobe and Flash. The online video revolution has just begun - really.

Kindle to iPhone

I have been reading a bunch of blogs and opinion pieces on the Kindle 2 recently. There seems to be a growing body of consensus that believe Amazon have come up with Gutenberg Press 2.0. For the Kindle 2 is about to usher in a new digital dawn for writers, readers and books. Well, actually, the folks to thank for that may be Google more then Amazon, but let's set that aside for a moment.

For it struck me that the Kindle may not prove to be the runaway hit that everyone imagines - or at least not medium term. Because the Kindle is starting to feel a little like the iPod a few years back. After all the iPod introduced us to Music 2.0 and its digital dawn. But, you see, the iPod just proved a transitionary device leading us all to the iPhone. So what's the future of the Kindle? I guess iPhone 3.0.

Etendi Does Distance Parenting Online

Here's a neat Web 2.0 start-up for parents who do not live with their children but want to keep regularly in touch. Do it online with Etendi. They provide distant parents with cool online tools to stay in touch. And there is no need for their kid(s) to provide an email address - just the parent. Then they can video call with their kids, share pictures, create albums together, chat, do homework and even share gifts online.

As a kid I went to boarding school from the age of 12 and would have appreciated something like this. So, for all those parents with kids away at boarding school, on travels, or otherwise this ones for you. Add up the number of parents that are divorced or on military duty and Etendi could find quite a market for their application.

Twitzap Does Live Twitter Ticker

For those of you Twitter nuts who don't think its instant enough for you then Twitzap could be the answer. It's (according to them) the first real-time Twitter client and you don't even have to instal anything. Just log in with your Twitter username and password and get Twitzapping.

It is a handy way to watch live Twitters scrolling down the screen as they happen, meet other Twitter folks and create Twitter channels. It's like a universal, live ticker for Twitter. Cool for those brokers who still have a job. We'll keep a watching brief. If Twitzap works out - no guesses who's gonna buy them.

Google's Schmidt on Paid for Internet News

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, spoke today at a convention of leading newspaper bosses (sounds like an AA get together) and stated that '... many publishers were increasingly thinking about charging for their content, and he said he expected the newspaper industry to eventually resemble television, where some content was free, some was purchased by subscription and some was paid for every time it was viewed. But he said he expected that advertising would remain the leading revenue model in online media.'

I think he's missing a trick. And its called the blogging universe. TV has no competition from blogs - just Youtube amateurs as yet. But citizen journalism via blogs is a powerful global force which probably means that simple, commoditized news will be hard to charge for online. Hi value added info yes, straight news no. Luckily for Google its advertising that's gonna keep news groups alive on the Web. Tricking themselves that they can get away with charging subscriptions online is a little head up their...