- Recent
- Popular
- Tags (4)
- Subscribers (22)
- Some Texas Optimism for Tech StartupsYesterday
- I live in Texas, where during the tech bubble folks were walking around saying that it was nothing compared to the real estate crisis of the late 80s. So now seemed like a good time to chat with Austin Ventures, which has been investing in the state since 1979 and announced two funds worth a
- As Rome Burned, Team Cyprus DancedYesterday
- Yes, the meme is just getting started it seems. 1938Media does his own take of the Team Cyprus video, set to the tune of AC/DC's HighWay To Hell:
- Thanks to our GigaNET SponsorsYesterday
- We’d like to say thanks to this month’s GigaNET sponsors:Accenture: “The Innovation Dilemma: How to Achieve High Performance through Superior Research & Development” (free download)Volo Media: Dynamic advertising for downloadable audio and videoPeer1: ValuePro Managed Hosting Plan, $299/moKi Work: Take control of your online businessBrain Keeper: Collaboration that worksRackspace Hosting: Experience fanatical supportAcquia: Commercially supported
- 11 troubled Web companies: The next Kozmos?Yesterday
- digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/11_troubled_Web_companies_Digg_not_on_the_list';"We are going to lose some good companies." That's the warning cry from investors in tech these days. Some we won't miss, of course: the lame, me-too, or single-featured "products" masquerading as businesses. But be prepared. Some Web 2.0 start-ups that are well-loved by many are in serious danger of falling off the cliff.The problem is that being loved is no guarantee for success. Even being used isn't enough. Remember Kozmo, the munchie messenger service from the last bubble? Not a person who used it didn't love it. In the interest of building a user base, the company was OK with losing money on every transaction in its early days. But when the time came for it to become a real business, it was too late. It couldn't transition to a viable company, and it folded. It was a tragedy.Here, in no particular order, are 11 online services companies that could face a similar fate. Several of them are 2008 Webware 100 winners. Like I said, popularity isn't enough. TwitterAlthough well-used by many and even relied upon by some (like me), Twitter has yet to turn on a revenue model. It's not like the company would lose users, if it set up a minor advertising strategy as a test; people want to see the company make some money. Please, Twitter, turn on the revenue before it's too late.MeeboThis is one of the coolest online communication companies I've seen. I like its products and services. But the reven
- Zoho Mail: Mobile, offline, and out of betaYesterday
- Zoho Mail, out of private beta testing, works on the Apple iPhone.(Credit: Zoho)Zoho made some significant changes to a core part of its cloud-based application suite Friday: its online mail application now works offline and with Apple's iPhone, and the beta test is now publicly available.The offline and mobile features are major areas of development for Web-based applications, and cloud computing advocates including Zoho, Yahoo, and Google are racing to build in those features. Offline access helps ameliorate Web-based applications' limitations when no network is available, and mobile access helps fulfill one of the big promised advantages of Web applications: access your documents any time you do have network access.Offline access, which in Zoho's case is enabled with Google's Gears technology, lets people read and write mail in the browser even when not connected to the network. "Zoho Mail automatically detects your connectivity and switches to online/offline modes seamlessly. While offline, you can respond to your emails as you would normally. When you go back online these emails will be sent out from your outbox," the company said Friday in an announcement.Easier said than done, perhaps: I just got an indefinite "Loading..." message in both Google Chrome and in Gears-enabled Firefox when trying to access my mail after I shut off my network.(Update 10:30 a.m. PDT: I thought I'd gone through the offline settings properly, but evidently I hadn't. It does in fact work, mostl