I'm a seven, I think. Danny was too, but now, for some reason, he's a six. Mike's an eight. Google, natch, is a Ten (one of only two that Amit could find). PageRank is the unofficial, and official, and semi-official, arbiter of value on the web. And it's just…
Why I love Kevin's work, part umpty billion….
Elon Musk will be at Web 2 this year, and his SpaceX (one of three companies he's started since leaving PayPal, including Tesla and SolarCity) today had its first successful launch. More at BoingBoing Gadgets…….
It may seem like a long way off, but the Web 2 Summit is in less than six weeks – right after the general election. And this year's Launch Pad, where we honor six of the best companies in the space, will close its application process this Friday. (The…
Launch Pad is a bit different this year, and I’ve heard anecdotally that folks are not sure if they should be submitting their companies because A/ They think they have to be looking for funding or B/ their companies don’t match what we’re looking for in terms of industry. So to clarify:
A/ Launch Pad companies are reviewed and judged by leadings VCs (Khosla Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, NEA, Omidyar Network, Panorama Capital, and Sequoia Capital), but there is no requirement of a “funding need.” The goal is to honor six great private companies, not six great private companies who need funding.
Read More(image credit Marin IJ) I've just posted my latest missive on the American Express Open Forum blog, where I Think Out Loud about my local hardware business, which just might be forced out of business. It's titled "Think Local, Act Conversational – It Just Might Save Your Business." From…
(image credit Marin IJ)
Corbet’s Hardware is my neighborhood hardware store, it’s something of a local legend. Let’s see what happens when I put it into Google (I omitted the apostrophe, as most folks do).
Interesting. First up is a link from “zinsser.com”, which appears to be some kind of a shellac company (no, really, a company that makes shellac). Corbet’s probably carries their products – the Zinsser site lists its distributors – but man, what on earth is that doing being first? Clearly, Corbet’s has not exactly joined the conversation economy quite yet.
Read MoreYesterday Danny posted a typically thoughtful piece on Google's success, on the occasion of its ten year anniversary. Titled The Google Hive Mind, the piece addresses an age-old question about Google: does it have a master plan? Danny argues that, in essence, the company does not, and runs through…
Danny argues that, in essence, the company does not, and runs through a convincing number of examples that support his thesis.
But as with every argument, I think there’s another side. Danny writes:
Read MoreThis will be interesting to watch: To mark our 10th birthday and celebrate the spirit of our users and the web, we're launching Project 10^100 (that's "ten to the hundredth") a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best…
To mark our 10th birthday and celebrate the spirit of our users and the web, we’re launching Project 10^100 (that’s “ten to the hundredth”) a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life. CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world. For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.
The site is here. I wish we could see the ideas streaming by and vote on them. It’s too opaque right now. But this is VERY Web Meets World, which is the theme of Web 2 this year, and Larry Brilliant, the head of Google.org, will be our first speaker. Good timing.
I'll admit it, I have a Google Blog Search RSS feed for "John Battelle." Come on, don't you? Ok, anyway, what I've noticed is that at least 10-20 percent of the hits Google Blog search reports back to me are spam, usually very popular stories in which I have…
Ok, anyway, what I’ve noticed is that at least 10-20 percent of the hits Google Blog search reports back to me are spam, usually very popular stories in which I have been mentioned that are republished automatically by long tail Adsense and affiliate scrapers. It’s part of the web ecosystem, whatever.
But this one story where Google’s Matt Cutts, who works very closely on issues of spam and blogging, responded to my email about Twitter nofollow, is off the charts. Not a day goes by that some spammer (or five) isn’t republishing this story (example).
Read MoreFortune gave this piece a Diggbait title: Everyone Hates Comscore (I am quoted) But the truth is more like this: Everyone Wishes They Shared the Same Reality. The promise of online marketing is not yet delivered upon. Meanwhile, we have an arbiter that often seems disconnected from reality, at…
Everyone Hates Comscore (I am quoted)
But the truth is more like this: Everyone Wishes They Shared the Same Reality.
Read MoreI'll grok this soon, but is anyone else tired of claims of "revolutionizing" advertising? From AdWeek: Yahoo! executives are not setting low expectations for the company's forthcoming advertising platform, likening its effect on advertising to the advent of color television and introduction of the DVR. At a press conference…
Yahoo! executives are not setting low expectations for the company’s forthcoming advertising platform, likening its effect on advertising to the advent of color television and introduction of the DVR.
At a press conference to unveil the newly renamed platform, now called Apt, Yahoo!’s top executives promised a sea change in how advertising is bought and sold across thousands of Internet sites. Yahoo! will introduce Apt widely in 2009, with its 784 newspaper partners using the system by the end of this year.
