Graham Charlton

Gartner predicts that blogging will peak next year

Gartner yesterday released its ten key predictions for business and IT in 2007 and beyond. These included forecasts that PC prices will halve by 2010, and that Vista will be the last major Windows release.

Another prediction caught the eye though - that the blogging phenomenon will peak next year and level out thereafter.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 12:50pm 4 comments

Skype founders' Venice Project now in beta

The Venice Project, the internet TV project from Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, has gone into public beta testing.

The Venice Project will stream TV to its users’ PCs, thereby avoiding the long download times of other internet TV services like Channel 4's recently launched on Demand service.

by Graham Charlton 13 December 2006 12:52pm 0 comments

Are PR firms paying Digg users?

Calacanis-flavoured rumours doing the rounds in the blogosphere suggest that some of Digg's top posters have been paid, or offered payment, by PR firms.

He may have resigned from his position at Netscape, but Jason Calacanis is still keeping an eye on events surrounding Digg. He reports in his blog that a number of Digg's top 50 users are on the payroll of a leading (unnamed, of course) PR firm.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 11:44am 0 comments

Google claims click fraud rate is lower than 2%

Andy Beal at MarketingPilgrim has an interesting article, in which he reports claims from Google that their click fraud rate is less then 2%.

Andy has been talking to Google’s business product manager for trust and safety, Shuman Ghosemajumder, about click fraud detection. He was shown a PowerPoint presentation which was normally for Google employees' eyes only.

by Graham Charlton 13 December 2006 12:34pm 0 comments

Web 2.0 company Xing raises €35.7 million in IPO

Business social networking service OpenBC, a Teutonic version of LinkedIn, has announced that it has raised €35.7 million in an IPO. Its market cap is about €157 million.

OpenBC, which is rebranding as Xing, has around 1.5 million members, and was able to boost its revenues year-on-year from €1.6 million to just under €6 million at the end of the last fiscal year.

by Graham Charlton 12 December 2006 13:43pm 1 comment

Google in duplicate content shocker

It seems that, when they came to designing an IE7 promo page, Google couldn't be bothered to start from scratch, and produced a page that looks remarkably similar to Yahoo's.

Both Yahoo and Google have produced personalized versions of the new Internet Explorer 7 browser – Matthew Ingram has the screenshots.

by Graham Charlton 12 December 2006 13:46pm 0 comments

Online retailers see importance of product information

The American Express Retail Monitor has found that, as shoppers become more clued up about the products they are buying, retailers have realised the importance of providing product information.

The survey found that 85% of retailers view the provision of product information as a key factor in attracting the kind of consumers who now demand comprehensive product information before making a purchase.

All of which sounds a lot like common sense, yet we all know that many etail sites still fail in this area.

by Graham Charlton 12 December 2006 11:40am 0 comments

New York Times allows user comments - on third party sites

The New York Times announced on Monday that it will allow its stories to be commented upon, yet it stops short of embracing user-generated content by allowing comments only through third party sites (Digg, Facebook and Newsvine).

It is the first time the newspaper's online site has added a news-sharing tool, which will allow users to discuss its stories on social news sites, though in truth users can do this anyway...

Nevertheless, the paper has embedded links to all three sites onto many of its online stories.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 12:15pm 1 comment

VC investment rising to dotcom bubble levels

Research by Ernst & Young has found that the volume of cash invested in venture capital globally has reached the highest levels for four years, which may prompt some folk to talk about dotcom bubbles once again.

Worldwide, VC investment is predicted to top $32 billion, which would make 2006 the highest year for VC investment since 2002, when the global figure was $51.22 billion. In the first three quarters of 2006, $25.39 billion in venture capital was invested.

by Graham Charlton 11 December 2006 17:41pm 0 comments

Podcast directory Pluggd raises $1.65m

Pluggd, a Seattle based startup, has raised $1.65m in funding from Intel and angel investors to help it start distributing its technology.

Pluggd is a podcast directory, but what makes it special is its ‘HearHere’ technology, which allows users to search within audio internet programming to find the segments they want.

by Graham Charlton 08 December 2006 10:33am 0 comments