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Google does make money from Firefox and Opera downloads. Google pays the Mozilla Foundation many millions of dollars to include Firefox as the default search option. (google it) Google also pays Opera for the same thing. In fact, the Opera web browser was made free due to google's generosity. http://gigaom.com/2005/09/21/google-made-opera-bro wser-free/

Um, care to back that up?

Um, yeah.. what they said :)

Search engines pay money to the browser makers to get their search engines in there anyway.

Um, care to back that up?

Funny, I thought that "accusation" was common knowledge. Opera, for instance, hasn't exactly been hiding the fact. Back in September, Jon von Tetzchner said:

What finally made [going free] possible is the increase in revenues from search and service partners. We can now go free and still increase our revenues.

And later in the same interview:

We have been working with Google for a long time. Our new search deal increases our search based revenue, which is an important factor in our decision to go free. We are also working with Google to make sure their services work well with Opera.

Camino doesnt support extensions.

From Camino FAQ

Q. Does Camino support Firefox extensions?
A. No, and it never will. Firefox extensions rely on XUL (a user interface toolkit made by the Mozilla Foundation) to interact with the user and draw their interface. Camino uses Cocoa (an interface toolkit made by Apple) and does not support XUL.

Also from the interview with Camino Project lead Mike Pinkerton

We recognize this is a problem for our users, but extensions only exist because of the cross-platform UI layer upon which Firefox is built. It's that same cross-platform UI layer that makes Firefox feel "wrong" on Mac OS X. Camino's use of Cocoa for the user interface makes it fit in with the rest of the platform, but prohibits us from using extensions. We feel this is a trade-off worth making. That said, we are investigating ways to allow non-user-interface extensions to register and work correctly.

Here's the score on Palm and its Treo:

Hardware: Famously prone to failure.

Software: Palm thinks so highly of its PalmOS that it has switched over to Windows Mobile!

If you *did* like PalmOS, as I did, this is not an encouraging sign about Palm's support for the platform (you still can't make an appointment starting at 11 pm and ending at 12:30 am, or view national holidays, on the Calendar).

If you don't like PalmOS, well, you may be one of the first Windows Mobile fans on the planet, or you're shopping for a Nokia.

I'd love to see Google actually take the fight to Microsoft on something that Microsoft has not traditionally been strong at and show them how it should be done. Show them that they are innovaters and not just tagging along on already established software. Trying and compete with them on this front is almost a lost cause.

How about:

Search (Google>MSN or Windows Live)
E-mail (Gmail>Hotmail)
Desktop Search (G. Desktop>Windows Indexing Service. We'll see about Vista)
Corporate Intranet Search (Google Enterprise>WDS Enterprise)
What about Google Scholar, or Google Answers?
What about Google Wifi?

Google's good at search. Really good. They've made a LOT of money with search, and "search" technologies are the kind of thing you can integrate into most any application, and cross-applications as well.

Thus, when Google wants to compete with Microsoft, why bother building a new solution, when they can purchase a company that builds a great solution, but is financially incapable of competing with Microsoft?

Buy Keyhole. Add Search.
Buy Hello+Picassa. Add Search.
Buy Blogger. Add Search.
Build on Jabber. Add Search.

See the trend?

Add a program to the Google palette, make it interoperate with the other Google apps, and move on.

Writely is a nice product. It produces Word and OpenOffice.org compatible output. It's a good enough wordprocessor for 99% of people. And as a web app, Google can integrate it into Gmail, Blogger, hell, Google Talk. Add in search. Add in online storage.

See the Google strategy?

Of course, you've got to be able to run your web apps on browsers, and if MS dominates the browser market, that could get risky. Then again, one might wonder why Google funds Mozilla and Opera. Note that there isn't ANYTHING fishy going on here; Firefox (and Opera) give Google search referrals, and Google pays them. It's entirely straightforward, non-binding, and easy to change by the user.

As soon as I get the opporunity, I'm switching my company to an online Office solution. Sure; you can use your own Office desktop if you like. But most people, who don't need the fancy Office (OpenOffice.org) features will be okay using Writely.

A clutch feature for me will be if writely has excellent ODTDOC conversion. Then I can switch our file format, too.

But I don't think its fair to critize Google for staying with its core abilities. Google is a search company (or started as one, anyways). Google's developers are brilliant, but there is no reason for Google to launch a completely new app if there are other talented developers out there doing the same thing. Either buy 'em out, or co-develop with them. You don't always have to be evil and use the embrace->extend model in order to win. I think Google is winning the battle v. Microsoft in an entirely "good" way.

Well, you can install it on your Mac Mini now.
http://gigaom.com/2005/12/01/apple-front-row-for-e veryone/

Add a bluetooth adapter, Salling Clicker and your bluetooth phone and you're good to go. Better than the original because it doens't require line of sight!

Nope.. it failed miserably the first time I tried with nested OPML. Someone else too.

qouting from Om Mallik's blog-

"I am not sure what to make of the conversations, because frankly at $2-to-$3 billion, it doesn't make sense for eBay to get into a whole new business. I can understand giving the consumers ability to click-and-call the seller/buyer.
But it can be done fairly cheaply and easily. When connecting to PSTN, eBay will then have to deal with all that comes with it, including a nosy and notoriously pesky FCC. Are they ready for it? Why not partner with someone - and there are enough desperate companies who will do this - and get the "voice apps" embedded into their products. There is a good reason why Yahoo's Dialpad service still uses Net2Phone, and Google hasn't touched the PSTN as yet."

fair enough analysis. Not surprising that ebay's stock fell 5% after this news.

The OP mentioned the main-stream press. The following blogs all give different angles on the same story, all worth viewing: ZDNet Russ Shaw Om at Gigaom Jeff Pulver Mark Evens and the Vonage Forum

... can be found in the comments section of this blog post. Executive summary: "organizations" have exactly NOTHING intelligent to contribute because their premises are flawed, and fail to take into account the fact that economics of such projects vary vastly from one community to another.

Because of The Power Supply burning up .

The format needs to be standardized.

Tivo is obviously pretty busy as they are also in talks to partner with comcast cable.

http://www.gigaom.com/2005/03/14/comcast-tivo-talk ing-again/

Not necessarily. Look at TiVo, which is a pioneer of DVRs, its name even became a verb. Tivo is screwed up. Now look at Dell. Nobody in good mental health would call Dell innovative. However is Dell is leading PC market and having a good piece of server market.

it's not from the NYT site, it's the interview of the guy who wrote Videora, which is at this site.

They're half a billion in debt, but are currently making a profit. Frankly, the link to the "half billion" figure is to some jackass "Business 2.0" staff writer's personal weblog. This "Om Malik" guy doesn't really impress me. He's a lower-tier writer with questionable opinions. Frankly, anyone who looks only at debt while ignoring profits is a dunce. The /. article lapping it up is the typical misunderstanding of the world of finance. Nobody seems to understand the difference between "defecit" and "debt".

Before you know it, they are going to be getting into TV and DVRs - because - god forbid someone else has a product they don't.... Oh... wait....

Advocating SIP

Advocating a better connected lifestyle

Finally, my Xmas wish: The Ultimate Handheld device for, now, 2005.

We don't need numbers to get in real-time touch with one-another. We need smarter devices interconnected with address books, presenting users with actual contact information, and obscuring the means by which you're getting in real-time touch with each-other.

A good review of Blinkx with some discussion. I've also got a post about Blinkx that includes links to discussions of Linux version of something similar (Dashboard) and Microsoft's attempt (Implicit Query).

"... a call center worker in India makes more money than a doctor does ..." I think you might want to read the comments on this page: Dark Side of Outsourcing

The real reason Comcast bought TechTV is so they can control the flow of technical information.

Comcast along with Cisco/Linksys and CableLabs plan to SNOOP on YOUR HOME NETWORK!

"I have a router and NAT." NO PROBLEM. ATT is working on fixing that bothersome little problem.

And if your using their new extreme tier with that fancy new Cisco/Linksys WCG2000 router/modem/SNOOPER no problem. CableHome aka SpyHome will allow them to:

CableHome 1.0 support for the ability to deliver secure, managed services from Comcast's head-end network to the subscribers' home network

TRANSLATION:
The goals for the CableHome Management Portal include:
* Enable viewing of LAN IP Device information obtained via the CableHome DHCP Portal (CDP)
* Enable viewing of the results of LAN IP Device performance monitoring done by the CableHome Test Portal (CTP)
* Provide the capability to disable LAN segments

You can read more here.
So TechTV had to go! Too much info in the wrong hands!

What is cheaper in India? Home appliances cost the same: LG India "According to expedia.com the Marriott, New Delhi charges $105 for their cheapest room. The Marriott, New Delhi is a three-star property." expedia.com Real Estate: http://www.indiaproperties.com/research/rates/delh i_rates.asp Groceries: fabmall.com More at: http://gigaom.com/archives/2004/04/dark_side_of_ou tsourcing.html

May not be true. Read the discussion from the second comment onwards at : http://gigaom.com/archives/2004/04/dark_side_of_ou tsourcing.html

I am glad that I am able to get movies over Kazaa legally. It is nice to have a film industry which respects me!

Actually, "google" is just "googol" spelled incorrectly.
Wish I could google a better link...