Hawkeye :: Murali’s Blog

eBay (the place where I work) launched a set of fancy flash-based widgets that can show a specific item / lsit of items / search results in a nifty looking widget for your blog, myspace page, yahoo 360 etc etc

It is very very easy to create (3 steps and you are done). Try it out today and dont forget to buy me something from the widget below

eBay To Go
eBay Launches “ToGo” Widgets For Any Listing

Uncategorized eBay, Web 2.0

In case you have not heard of Skype Prime yet, it is a service which lets people accept calls and charge the caller either a fixed rate or on a per minute basis. This simple feature, in my mind opens up a huge array of possibilities for Skype and for all manner & purpose could create the next big services marketplace (eBay, the owner of Skype is ofcourse the world’s largest marketplace for products)

So, if you are an expert with time on your hands and want to make money, put your services up for hire on Skype Prime

Skype Prime

Uncategorized Technology, Web 2.0

God bless any company / blogger that wants to get some big news out today … blogosphere is consumed by the big news about Google & YouTube. Checkout Techmeme, posts about this occpuy most of the techmeme page !!!

Techmeme @ 3:05 AM ET, October 10, 2006

Uncategorized Web 2.0

So you have anyways perhaps read the rumour, re-read and read it again across multiple blogs. This supposed scoop by Mike Arrington at TecCrunch could perhaps take the record for the most related posts at TechMeme

While various people have various points of view on how real this rumour could be and what the probabilities are (quoting from TechCruch “Based on experience with these sort of rumors, I’d put this at 40% likely to be at least partially true”, that is a pathetic statement to make. What does he mean by 40 % likely to be at least partially true. sic !), the fundamental issue as I see it is not whether YouTube is worth a buy or not or whether it is indeed worth 1.6 bn $ or not or whether Google should be buying ir or not

The core issue is that bloggers in today’s world are so traffic-crazed and even fully / partially unsubstantiated news like this can gather so much steam (because everyone wants to link to TechCrunch, don’t they), that for a lay observer, this all probably seems true. Who knows, as a result of all the buzz that this generates, maybe the folks at Google would make themselves believe that this is indeed a great idea and go ahead and execute the buyout

The Web 2.0 space today is getting to be too much of an echo chamber. Lots of rumours, too much being written by Google & MySpace and every joe on the street wanting to startup something using AJAX, Tagging, Networking and no revenue model

Wake up guys … Bubble 2.0 is just around the corner. The last time around, the investment bankers and the journalists / media folks in some measure were perhaps part of the reason why the Bubble got inflated to the extent it did, this time around maybe it is these Bloggers would be the prime bubble inflaters

To give credit where it is due, I have drawn inspiration to this post from this one by Kevin Maney in USA Today

Uncategorized Web 2.0

Quoting from O’Reilly Radar

The other day, I was explaining to a reporter how I could be lumping in cellphones and the next generation of sensor networks into Web 2.0. “Well, Web 2.0 is really not just about the web. It’s really about the next generation of internet applications, and includes things like P2P file sharing and VoIP, which aren’t based on the web at all

This is cool, I never really looked at this way, but truth to tell, I think this is perfect. It would painting an incomplete picture if we were to ignore the significance of P2P networks (more specifically BitTorrent) and VoIP (more specifically Skype) on the evolution of the Internet. I have come across various estimates that put the P2P traffic of various kinds as accounting for about 40 % of the data transfered on various pipes on the net today (the number is from my memory and not quoted from any specific source)

Further, one should also consider the impact of Mobile devices - the likes of Sony’s PlayStation Portable, their upcoming Sony Mylo, Apple’s iPod, Nokia / O2’s Mobile Phones, Wi-Fi enabled Digital Cameras etc etc. All of these, are changing the way we use the internet in significant ways

It is perhaps a bit unfair to therefore call this revolution (with creative license) that we are seeing as Web 2.0. Perhaps, a better term is Net 2.0

O’Reilly Radar > Round 2: The Internet As Network of Networks
Read more…

Uncategorized Web 2.0

Under normal circumstances, classic thought would say that any startup competing with Google in one or more of its large array of services is more or less doomed to fail, because Google with its obvious power over the Internet and its ability to string the services together (hmmm, well atleast linking each of them together), would any day be able to attract more users than the small startup

But, no … not necessarily …

No. Don’t run, don’t hide. Be different. You can’t outdo Google by trying to match them point-by-point, but you don’t have to. There are other, better ways to fight. Compete differently

An excellent point being made by one of the 37 Signals folks. He goes on to add that Backpack launched their calendar and made it part of a paid service and amazingly enough the paid subscriptions to Backpack actually showed a growth

The problem plaguing many of these cool, AJAX’ified, Invite only, Beta for the forseeable future start-ups is that they folks dont have a revenue model … well, atleast none that can impress. Now, I for one, am not kicked about the prospect of monetising traffic using Google AdSense as a revenue model. What service would make money if its only way of making money is by sending users out of its site ! Beats me … and still there are a few out there who are planning to do this … god save them … for them, Kiko is just the beginning

Take the example of Flickr, these folks had a revenue model from day one and to me have everything that a Web 2.0 darling should have. Awesome community, user experience yadda yadda yadda and then on the other hand, take YouTube. Great community, features etc etc … yup - for sure. But, where’s the money going to come in from ? Apparently they spend 1 mn $ every month on Bandwidth … woo ! God save em ! I tell you now … watch out for the the next big eBay auction … and blame Google Video for that

Google does not render resistance futile - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals)

Uncategorized Opinion, Web 2.0

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Blogroll Photography, Web 2.0