Dan Kantor

What A Day in Tech/Net News!

continuations:

The frontpage of Techmeme is simply stunning at the moment.  So many important things happening:

• Google announcing an attempt to completely remake communication and joint document prodcution with Wave.  See “Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave” on the Google blog.
  
• Microsoft is trying to get back into the search game with Bing.  It definitely looks like an attempt at a differentiated offering as can be seen in the video promoting it (although launching via a video seems a bit lame).
  
• Hulu, which is offering some of the best TV via the web introduced a desktop application and forbids using it on anything other than a Personal Computer (time to connect a netbook to the TV).  This will further the trend of “households cutting the cord on cable” (also on the frontpage of Techmeme).
  
• The Boy Genius gets their hands on an actual Palm Pre and has some immediate grips about the keyboard but approves of the screen.  Still rooting for Palm and web standards on a device.
  
• The Time Warner Board approves the AOL spinoff ending the disastrous merger that marked the top of the Internet bubble.  The spinoff will likely mark the bottom for traditional media companies.
  
• GigaOM launches a subscription product, which I believe is a key revenue strategy for publications that can provide valuable insights for a targeted (business) audience.  At the same time, big newspaper publishers may be trying to collude on charging for content in what would be a doomed attempt to rescue their existing model.

And — almost forgot — Ballmer shows off the Zune HD (how did that item qualify among the rest of this incredible lineup?).  My head is spinning — which could of course also be because I stayed up until 2:20am local time in London catching up on all this news.