You know an idea has either hit the mainstream and/or headed downhill when a major news magazine puts it on the cover. Well, Newsweek has finally discovered Web 2.0 with a cover story on how the “live Web” is thriving and making people forget about the dot-com boom. Here's an example of how Newsweek has enthusiastically embraceds Web 2.0.:
“What makes the Web alive is, quite simply, us. Our presence, most often conducted at the speed of broadband, is constant and mandatory. Thanks to our activity, the Web has replaced phone books, and is in the process of replacing phones. It's the place that answers our questions in four tenths of a second and ships us funny clips that mix the “Back to the Future” guys with the “Brokeback Mountain” soundtrack. It's the main news source for the non-arthritic population, and a megaphone for those who make their own media. As we keep offloading our activities to the Web and adding previously unmanageable or unthinkable new pursuits, it's fair to say that our everyday exist-ence is a network effect. That has made some splendid opportunities for smart, nimble new companies, and threatened the existence of old ones now afloat in the mainstream.”
While you can criticize Newsweek for coming late to a party that has been raging for more than a year, I guess it is encouraging to see the spotlight on the real power of the Web as a dynamic place to “do” things. When I co-founded Blanketware Corp. in 2001, we made a huge bet on “do” but we were unfortunately three or four years ahead of the curve. Today, the Web has become an integral part of how we live, work and play. In many cases, we don't even think about it anymore. When you go to Canada411 or BigYellow.com to look up a phone number, it means the Web has grabbed another part of your everyday activity.
My only concern about Newsweek's “discovery” is it could give people the impression the dot-com boom (and, potentially, the bubble) is back again – rather than delivering the message that what we're now seeing now is the Internet's real potential starting to emerge.
Paul Kedrosky describes the Newsweek story as “terrifying” because I think he's worried it could breath life back into the term “Web 2.0″. Scott Karp weighs in as well with a sharp, but accurate, post that starts with : “how deeply iron that, despite thousands of blog pages devoted to Web 2.0, it took stodgy old Newsweek to bring the hype to the masses”.
Update: As a shameless plug, the mesh conference in Toronto is focused on how Web 2.0 is impacting how we live, work and play. Kedrosky is delivering a keynote so perhaps he'll cite the Newsweek story as an example – good or bad – of what's happening on the Web.
WordPress Presses Forward
WordPress.com – the hosted version – is slowly inching itself forward. It recently unveiled the long-awaited launch of a spellchecker., which cames on the heels of some very cool widgets that provide some more personalization options. Slowly but surely, WordPress is adding many of the must-have features that its growing legion of followers (and potential users) have been hoping to see. The question now is when Matt Mullenweg and the WordPress gang will get to the point where they will let Javascript be added so we can use value-adds such as Google Analytics, Blogbeat, etc. Matt will be in Toronto later this week at the iSummit conference so I'm hoping to get an update onWordPress's progress. It will interesting see how Mullenweg plans to evolve WordPress into more of a business rather than a enlightened, innovative public service. With SixApart recently raising more venture capital and the blogosphere still in its infancy, there are all kinds of routes that WordPress can take. The challenge is picking the right one.
Update: ecto has released a beta version of 2.0, which has struck a chord with Neville Hobson.
Google Finance….Maybe Not So Bad After All
Fred Wilson, a long-time Yahoo Finance user, has a post on how he thinks Google Finance is better. In some ways, I have to concur, which is contrary to my original view when GF was launched earlier this week. After using GF quite often, it has grown on me. I like the fact you can search by using a company's stock ticker or corporate name; I like how blog posts are part of the mix, and I like that data such as revenue and profits are quickly displayed. Who says first impressions are lasting?
Update: It's also interesting to check out Jeremy Zawodney's post on Yahoo Finance's woes.
The Roots of Net Neutrality Rules in Canada
Lost amid the 129 recommendations of the Telecom Review Panel's long-awaited report, which was released earlier this week were a few paragraphs about net neutrality – but they could be the foundation for a much-needed policy that Canada's telecom regulator – the CRTC – has yet to address. Here's some of the text from the recommendation:
“The report notes that there is growing concern that increasingly deregulated telecommunications service providers could, for strategic reasons decide to block or limit access to some Internet applications and content. Therefore, the panel recommends that the Telecommunications Act should confirm the right of Canadian consumers to access publicly available Internet applications and content by means of all public telecommunications networks that provide access to the Internet…..The panel believes telecommunications service providers, in most cases, have little or no incentive to interfere with customer access. However, the principle to open access to the Internet is sufficiently important that it justifies a new regulatory provision to ensure that it is maintained.”
Granted, this is just one recommendation that's short on details and long on wishing thinking but at least someone is recognizing the importance of net neutrality. If this is just the start of a more comprehensive, detailed public discussion, then the panel will have done its job. Does it strike anyone as strange that the net neutrality issue is red-hot in the U.S. while it's still lurking in the bushes in Canada? Maybe it's because the Canadian carriers such as Bell and Telus have not been has aggressive about implementing downstream tollgates or prioritization fees – other than Shaw and its mysterious $10/month QoS “enhancement” fee that improves the quality of non-Shaw VoIP services such as Vonage. Vonage, by the way, recently filed a complaint with the CRTC so maybe this will be the spark needed to put net neutrality on the front burner.
0rb vs. Slingbox
With Slingbox making its official debut in Canada next week, it was interesting to see a post on MobileCrunch about Orb, which lets you access digital content (live TV, videos, photos, music) over the Web. "The coolest thing of all that Orb really works," MobileCrunch's Oliver gushed. Orb may not have all the bells and whistles of a Slingbox but it seems to offer a useful tool for people who want digital content while away from home. Orb and Slingbox are both great examples of how the Internet's "big pipes" are being leveraged to provide people with on-demand access to digital content. The idea that you can be flying over the Atlantic Ocean and watch an episode of The Sopranos stored on your PVR at home is pretty awesome. Slingbox just sent me a trial unit so one of my weekend "chores" will be setting it up.
Panel Recommends CRTC be Gutted
In a very polite, Canadian-like way, the Telecom Review Panel is recommending that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission be overhauled – one of the key findings of a three-person panel charged to create a blueprint for the future of the country's $32-billion telecom industry. While these recommendations may never see the light of day, the suggestion the CRTC needs to step a major step back and allow market forces to rule the day is an idea whose time has come. You can check out my column in today's National Post.
