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Should corporate blog deserve the journalism treatment?
The Diva Marketing Blog is upset with Jupiter Research.
In its quest for the truth, blog took a good look at a recent study from the analyst firm in which it predicted that 70 per cent of all site operators will have implemented blogs by the end of 2006.
The figure seems steep, the blog noted. But instead of blindly tearing the study apart, the blog decided to contact Jupiter Research and ask for additional details and a copy of the study. That's where things went wrong.
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In Jupiter's defence, the firm tends to work with survey data. The 70
per cent prediction likely is based on companies telling the research
firm about their blogging plans. The Diva Marketing Blog counters the
Jupiter data by pointing to the Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki, which indicates that only 5.8 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies currently have a blog. The wiki howeer doesn't however show the number of internal blogs that aren't accessible to the general public.
The Diva Marketing Blog saw its request for additional information denied because the blog is written by a firm that offers commercial blog consulting services. That's enough to grow Jupiter's suspicion: the firm has an interest in reading the report so they can better inform their clients. By claming to be a blog/journalist they try to obtain a free copy of the report that otherwise would cost them thousands of dollars.
The firm actually is say that its willing to work with blogs just as it works with journalist, but that it verifies the blog's background and independence. In that, it treats bloggers the same as it treats journalists.
The Diva Marketing Blog is quick to cry foul, but Jupiter's decisions makes perfect business sense. It's like Toyota operates a car blog and asks Ford to testdrive its latest car for a review.
The analyst firm however could have been more proactive and address some of the fundamental questions that the blog raised about the research methodology without disclosing data from the study.
Tags: jupiter research, blogging, blog, weblog
June 30, 2006 at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Security giants discover blogs
Symantec has joined the blogging movement and launched its own blog. Postings on the blog date back to date May, but the official launch posting was put up only on Monday.
McAfee only weeks ago launched its Avert Labs Blog.
Both sites add some much needed credibility to the online security
blogging landscape that is currently dominated by 2nd tier
organisations like F-Secure and the SANS Internet Storm Center.
Large corporations however have proven that it's hard to truly embrace blogging if there are multiple layers between the rank and file employees and upper management. So it remains to be seen if these blogs can independently report about news that involves their clients or their products.
Tags: symantec, mcafee, security, blog
June 29, 2006 at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Red Hat's patent shield put to the test
Red Hat has been slapped with a patent lawsuit for an alleged infringement of a Firestar Software patent in one of the JBoss open source applications.
After a year of talking about putting up patent shields, the time has come to put them to the test. But most cynics will argue that the defence mechanisms will do little to avert disaster.
The OSDL's Patent Commons project is purely informational. It won't deter any patent claims.
Patent pledges from IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystems, Nokia and others are about as comforting as the Sweden promising not to invade Canada. They come with the best intentions, but from the wrong people.
They certainly won't help Red Hat in its fight against Firestar Software.
While there's been a lot of talk about protecting open source applications from patent claims, very little has been done. It's starting to look like the technology industry mostly interested in comforting their customers and taking away their concerns in an effort to secure their revenues.
The large patent holders and filers meanwhile have too much to loose from the current system to warrant any real changes.
Photo credit: Ken Duncan
Tags: red hat, patent, firestar, OSDL, ibm, open source
June 29, 2006 at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Password reset for your gun
A German inventor claims to have come up with a way to fight gun accidents and thefts: password protection.
The feature would prevent the device from firing if it doesn’t use a cartridge that has a matching password embedded. The cartridge could lock up after a preset amount of time or each time it's reloaded. The embedding would take place in the gun store.
Given the trouble that most users have in remembering their computer passwords, gun passwords should make for comical if not deadly situations.
The system furthermore is unlikely to make a difference. Many guns that today are used in crimes in the US have been obtained on the black market (including the back door of the gun shop). If an untraceable gun can be purchased that easily, a password protection system won't last long either.
Photo: Jesper Noer
June 29, 2006 at 03:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Unknown iPod update delayed?
The next generation iPod has been delayed, claimed a financial analyst with American Technology Research. His report caused a 2.5 per cent fall in Apple's stock price.
The analyst claimed that a next generation wide screen video iPod player was scheduled to be released this fall, but its launched has been delayed until the first half of 2007. The next iPod Nano won't end up in store until December instead of the earlier predicted release date in September.
Delay is relative, since Apple hasn't even officially announced the products.
But there are two important factors to keep in mind: Apple sells the majority of its iPods during the holiday shopping season. Secondly, the company expects consumers to buy a new iPod about every 18 months, so it would have to release new models at an equal rate.
The iPod Nano was launched in September and the video iPod in October.
Neither one of the models would suffer from a delay when it comes to the 18-month refresh cycle, although Apple couldn’t afford to miss out on the Christmas shopping.
June 29, 2006 at 03:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The smoke clears on the Linux battlefield
A week after Novell ousted its chief executive, Red Hat reported earning that exceeded analyst expectations.
The Linux vendor reported sales of $84m and net income of $13.8. Revenues from subscriptions (read: support contracts) increased by 45 per cent year-over-year.
The summary: Red Hat is firing on all cylinders. It's business model is working and customers are saying that the services are worth paying for – even if anyone can download the software free of charge. (Disclaimer: you'd have to manually compile the official Red Hat Enterprise Linux, but Fedora is available for free).
Novell meanwhile is faced with declining earnings as its legacy Netware software is becoming ever more legacy. It's Linux business meanwhile is failing to attract the same level of attention and developer excitement that Red Hat is getting.
Netware might be bringing in the cash, but its increasingly looking like a distraction. Why not sell it to Computer Associates – company that is known for milking outdated software products - and use the money to become a truly open source company?
Photo: adam stevens
Tags: novell, red hat, linux, netware
June 29, 2006 at 03:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Web2.0 enterprise database goes live
Touted at the first Web2.0 application for enterprises, DabbleDB has launched and received its first round of venture capital funding.
DabbleDB makes creating and maintaining a database child's play, as the online demonstration will show you. In summary, it lets users import, sort and manipulate data and share it over the web.
But while covering themselves with a Web2.0 sauce, the company's founders are making a capital mistake by charging a fee. At their current stage, it's key to get as many people as possible to play with the application and create some kind of viral buzz.
Charging between $120 and $1800 per year ensures that few people will bother looking at the product.
It's a small effort to drop the fees for the 'individual' service while still charging users who seek more advanced features such as multiple user accounts and encryption.
You can't get to Web2.0 by acting like an old economy company.
June 28, 2006 at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Sweatshop owner says Apple knew and approved
The Chinese original equipment manufacturer Foxconn that makes the iPod media players for Apple has admitted that it has broken Chinese labour laws by requiring its employees to work about 80 hours extra each month.
China caps off the maximum amount of overtime at a slightly less inhumane 36 hours per month.
Adding insult to injury, the company went on to pound its chest over the fact that it had actually paid its employees the legal minimum wage for the overtime – apparently it felt that was quite a generous thing to do.
And for those who still want to complain thereafter, Foxconn countered that Apple knew and approved of this all.
If Steve Jobs approved, that must makes everything all right. Any other complaints?
June 27, 2006 at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft launches SourceForge competitor
Microsoft has unveiled an open source developer website.
The Codeplex website lets developers "create new projects to share with your fellow developers around the world, join others who have already started their own projects, or use the applications on this site and provide feedback."
There's no Microsoft logo to be seen on the site, except for the copyright and legal disclaimers in the bottom of the page. The company must realise that its logo doesn't sit very well within the open source community.
The website looks like a desperate attempt to get in touch with the open source community rather than an attempt to solve any real world problems. Sadly enough, Codeplex looks very much like a clone of the SourceForge project.
That just makes it a typical Microsoft product: rip off somebody else's idea and claim it as your own. Because why join a large community if you can try and stimulate confusion by creating your own?
Tags: microsoft, sourceforge, Codeplex, open source, developer
June 27, 2006 at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Microsoft ventures into unified communications (video)
Microsoft is looking to kill the telephone with its forthcoming unified communications products.
Unified communications seeks to tear down the walls between communications devices and services. The idea is that communications will come to the user rather than the user having to manage mobile, landline, email and instant messaging communications separately. Just to give you an idea of what such a world could look like, you can watch the video below.
Tags: Microsoft, unified communications
June 26, 2006 at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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