Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Utility Computing/Web Services/SaaS (Page 8 of 8)

Shut Down by Google, They’re Baack – with ‘iReader’

February 20, 2007 / / 0 Comments

A Minneapolis-based tech firm, almost put out of business by Google last year with for scraping its site with its ePrecis technology, is back today as Syntactica. [As Syntactica president Henry Neils said to me last week, “Like they don’t scrape everything out there.” Hah!] Under this new company name, they’re introducing the iReader Web Previewer tool. Ireaderlogo So, take that Google! It previews the content of a web link without clicking on it — by studying the language, the linguistics, behind it. Pretty heavy stuff, but this team of developers has been working on perfecting this technology for years, so this is certainly no upstart. Perhaps they’re onto an application of it now that will stick, and that the powers-that-be will allow to happen. User acceptance will tell the story, of course, and that’s why reaction in the blogosphere will be big for these guys. Smartly, they’re opening the technology up via open source XML web services, I learned last week.

Ireadernytimes

Richard MacManus at Read/Write Web has already done a great post called iReader Previews The Content Behind Links. It tells the story well, so I won’t repeat it. It’s also worth taking a look back to see what he blogged about ePrecis in October 2005 on ZDnet, calling it “next generation search.” [By the way, the old ePrecis site, which, interestingly, still shows up in a Google search(!), won’t seem to come up today. Must be getting hit too hard.]

The beta they just launched is an easy plug-in install for IE or Firefox (Mac or PC), and it’s sure to create a lot of conversation out there. Try it out on some of your favorite news sites, like the NY Times, CNN, MSN, etc. Seems to work great on the story links down near the bottom of the NY Times page, for example, where stories are grouped into categories. Let me know what you think. Or better yet, tell the company: they’re about to launch their blog, too, where you can do that.

Note one VERY KEY thing: you can turn the iReader plug-in on or off! So, if it’s bothersome to have these little “preview windows” showing up for you on some sites, just right-click your mouse to toggle it on and off. Not sure how you do it on a Mac yet, though, in Firefox. I think they’re adding some notes on the downloading page…

[Disclaimer: I have a consulting relationship with Syntactica.]

Minne-GOOG?

February 14, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Google has Minnesota in its future — or certainly should. So says my neighbor Ed Kohler, who blogs at TechnologyEvangelist.com. (He’s literally just a couple miles from my place in Bloomington, MN.) He just put up a spectacular pitch for why Google should buy the soon-to-close Ford plant property in St. Paul for a data center site. Ed, you are the man! Talk about a compelling case. Wow, would this ever put Minnesota back on the map as a major computing center. [It really was once. Seriously.]

Minnegoog_1

The University of Minnesota even brought the “Gopher” search and retrieval protocol to the Internet in 1991. How many of you remember that? I’ll bet Larry, Sergey, and Eric do…

Other states are, of course, all over Google to locate facilities inside their borders. But we can surely make a better case than North Carolina, with all the recent flap going on there regarding the outrageous tax incentives secretly offered to Google. We wouldn’t need to bribe them — we actually have something they could really, really want.

Last year, Larry Page threw a bone to Ann Arbor, Michigan — where he went to undergraduate school — by opening an ad sales office there. I learned about that when I discovered the Ann Arbor SPARK blog suddenly started running me as a “guest blog” one day last year. [Thanks, guys. Never even been there, but happy to help!] Landing that Google office was a coup — well, a morale booster, anyway — for a state that’s in dire need to create jobs to get their economy back on track. But it’s small potatoes compared to what a data center on this jewel of a property on the Mississippi could mean in economic terms, for both Google and Minnesota.

This piece of land is literally a one of a kind. Ford’s been there 83 years! Henry himself purportedly chose the place. I mean, Google — your own hydroelectric dam??? The possibilities for this property, to so many varied interests, are mind boggling. One of those eventual outcomes, of course, would be more high-rise condos. But who the hell wants those? The neighboring residents of Highland Park surely don’t! The battles between forces opposing potential developers for that property are just starting to heat up. And, unfortunately, that could drag on for years. How nice it would be for a big monster player like Google to come in and shorten that process considerably… 🙂

Why, as Ed so eloquently argues, shouldn’t Google take a serious look at the state that brought us such Internet legends as Gopher and the Allaire brothers? [In fact, I’m gonna ping my friends Jeremy and JJ right now and send them this link, so they can weigh in on this, too!]

So, the gauntlet has been tossed. Are you listening, Governor Pawlenty? …and whoever else is actually taking leadership in this state for real economic development. Ed’s laid out the case for the “Minne-GOOG” data center. Now let’s see if our guys have the cajones to pick up the ball and take a run at selling it to Larry, Sergey, and Eric….

Go, Gopher(s)!

DEMO: People Are Central in New Model

January 31, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Chris Shipley is giving her introduction right now. There’s an exciting shift going on in IT, she says. Tech is no longer the central focus. “We’re deeply into the age of Age of the Power of the Individual.” Chrisintro_2 We have the power to choose the technologies we use and how we use them. “We’re all becoming designers and producers. We’re ‘creating consumers’,” Shipley says. It’s not just about consumer applications, however — personal preferences of enterprise buyers drive their IT choices, too. And the 68 companies here exemplify both areas, she says. “One person’s office app is another’s home-based business app in the making.”

The first demo presenter was the Kauffman Innovation Network, showing its new iBridge network, which is designed to help universities get their technologies off the shelves so they can be commercialized.

What’s Really Happening at DEMO

January 29, 2007 / / 4 Comments

Here’s something better than just a list of presenting companies at DEMO ’07, which I posted the other day. Below is a list with a few words on what each of these companies actually does…or what they’ll be introducing at the event, which starts Tuesday evening in Palm Desert, CA. Demofirst Note some of these mostly brand-new, hand.pngcked firms are remaining “stealth” right up to the end (but surprisingly not that many). What is surprising is that a few have no web sites at all! [We can only hope they might activate a site once the conference actually begins? 🙂 … ] Also note there are five big-name firms using DEMO to introduce something new as well, but I didn’t have time to drill into their massive web sites to see that that might be. Nonetheless, here’s everything else, and I must say some exciting stuff is due to be unveiled. (If you’d rather view this list with live links to each company’s site, here’s a quick web page I put up. It’s all public info — I just aggregated it so I can see everything in one place to plan my coverage.)

The DEMO 07 Presenting Companies and What They’re About
6th Sense Analytics, Inc. – Morrisville, NC – www.6sa.com – SaaS analytics for sw dev teams
Adobe Systems, Inc. – San Jose, CA – www.adobe.com – ??
Aggregate Knowledge – San Mateo, CA – www.aggregateknowledge.com – content recommendation engine
Alcatel-Lucent Ventures – Murray Hill, NJ – www.alcatel–lucent.com  -??
Attendio, Inc. – San Francisco, CA – www.attendio.com – still stealth (angel investors, Sunbridge Partners)
Bling Software, Inc. – Pleasanton, CA – www.blingsoftware.com – Ajax-based player for mobile Apps
blinkx, Inc. – San Francisco, CA – www.blinkx.com – video search
BooRah, Inc. – Palo Alto, CA – www.boorah.com – restaurant reviews (SF area only for now)
Boston-Power, Inc. – Westborough, MA – www.boston-power.com – WEB SITE NOT FOUND (hello?)
Brevient Technologies, Inc. – Milwaukee, WI – www.jyngle.com – mobile messaging for groups
BUZ Interactive – Palo Alto, CA – www.buzinteractive.com – mobile personalization
Ceelox, Inc. – Tampa, FL – www.ceelox.com – biometric security software, incl for web site access
CircleUp, Inc. – Newport Beach, CA – www.circleup.com – online tool for community information-gathering
ClipSyndicate, a service of Critical Mention – NYC – www.clipsyndicate.com – news clips for web sites
DARTdevices Corp. – Mountain View, CA – www.dartdevices.com – middleware for device integration
DesignIn, Inc. – Marblehead, MA – URL unavailable – (no URL, hello?)
Devicescape Software, Inc. – San Bruno, CA – www.devicescape.com – connects devices to wi-fi w/o browser
eJamming, Inc. – Valley Village, CA – www.ejamming.com – jam with other musicians online, in real time
Eyejot, Inc. – Seattle, WA – www.eyejot.com – still stealth to the end
GoWare, Inc. – Gilbert, AZ – www.goware.biz – access your PC data through your mobile phone
Helium, Inc. – Andover, MA – www.helium.com – user-created online reference resource, peer-reviewed
Inilex, Inc. – Chandler, AZ – www.inilex.com – platform to track assets like cars via phone or email
ink2 Corporation – Emeryville, CA – www.ink2.com – WEB SITE NOT FOUND (hello?)
Integrien Corp. – Irvine, CA – www.integrien.com – predicts enterprise app slowdowns and outages
iqzone, inc. – Scottsdale, AZ – www.iqzone.com – “snap, send, sell” (otherwise stealth)
Iwerx, LLC – Mt.Dora, FL – www.iwerx.com – WEB SITE NOT FOUND (hello?)
Jaman.com, Inc. – Palo Alto, CA – www.jaman.com – global online community for cinephiles
Kauffman Innovation Network – Kansas City, MO – www.iBridgeNetwork.org – online forum, research/innov
LiveSquare.com  – Gilbert, AZ – www.livesquare.com – anti.pngracy technology for streaming media
Magnify.net – New York, NY – www.Magnify.net – video publishing platform, integrates UG video into websites
Me.dium, Inc. – Boulder, CO – www.me.dium.com – reveals hidden world of people/activity behind browser
Mission Research – Lancaster, PA – www.missionresearch.com – “Giftworks” fundraising software
Mixpo Portfolio Broadcasting – Seattle, WA – www.mixpo.com – broadcasts videos/photos/music to the web
Mobio Networks – Cupertino, CA – www.getmobio.com – mobile content & apps that are fun, simple, everyday
My Currency Co. – San Francisco, CA – www.my-currency.com – community site for real estate, investment
Nexo Systems, Inc. – Palo Alto, CA – www.nexo.com – free web sites for online groups
Nextumi – Dublin, OH – www.nextumi.com – sharing layer that connects cell/IM/MySpace/Facebook/email
Nuvoiz, Inc. – Mountain View, CA – www.nuvoiz.com – software to expand usage of VoIP over Wi-Fi
OurStory – Mountain View, CA – www.ourstory.com – capture, share, and preserve stories about your life
PairUp, Inc. – San Francisco, CA – www.pairup.com – “the business trip, reinvented” (no more info)
Panjea.com – Los Angeles, CA – www.panjea.com – social media network with marketplace for members
Preclick Corp. – Atlantic Highlands, NJ – www.preclick.com – simple software for organizing & editing photos
QTech, Inc. – Hyderabad, AP, India – www.qtechinc.com – tools for mobile phones to jog your memory
Reveal Technology – Palo Alto, CA www.revealtechnology.com – trusted enterprise P2P network software
SailPoint Technologies – Austin, TX – www.sailpoint.com – enterprise software for identity mgmt/compliance
Seagate Technology – Scotts Valley, CA – www.seagate.com – ??
Serendipity Technologies – Yakum, Israel – www.serendipity–tech.com – WEB SITE NOT FOUND (hello?)
SharedBook, Inc. – New York, NY – www.sharedbook.com – reverse publishing platform (online to offline)
Shipwire.com – Los Angeles, CA – www.shipwire.com – automated, low-cost order fulfillment
SOASTA – Mountain View, CA – www.soasta.com – sw for testing, certification of web services & web apps
SplashCast – Portland, OR – www.splashcastmedia.com – Marshall Kirkpatrick’s media syndication service
SupportSoft, Inc. – Redwood City, CA – www.supportsoft.com – automated software support for consumers
Symantec Corp. – Cupertino, CA – www.symantec.com – ??
TeleFlip – Santa Monica, CA – www.teleflip.com – send messages from PCs to cell phone with no software
TextDigger, Inc. – San Jose, CA – www.textdigger.com – AI software for advanced information retrieval
ThePort Network – Atlanta, GA – www.theport.com – solution for creating, administering online communities
Thunk – San Francisco, CA – www.honeypitch.com – proposal automation solution w/CRM, productivity tools
Total Immersion – Suresnes, France – www.t-immersion.com – augmented reality software (returnee from ’04)
Trailfire, Inc. – Seattle, WA – www.trailfire.com – hosted service to let anyone comment on any web page
Triumfant, Inc. – Research Triangle Park, NC – www.triumfant.com – automated resolution management
Vringo, Inc. – Beit Shemesh, Israel – www.vringo.com – community for sharing video ringtones
VUVOX Network – Redwood City, CA – www.vuvox.com – personal, emotive expressions on your media
WHISHER.COM – Barcelona, Spain – www.whisher.com – “Wi-fi reloaded” (otherwise stealth)
Wyse Technology, Inc. – San Jose, CA – www.wyse.com – ??
Yodio, Inc. – Bellevue, WA – www.yodio.com – personal audio publishing for “fun, fame, and fortune”
ZINK Imaging, LLC – Waltham, MA – www.zink.com – still stealth to the end
Zoho / AdventNet – Pleasanton, CA – www.zoho.com – CRM & office productivity apps, incl ZohoWriter
ZoomInfo – Waltham, MA – www.zoominfo.com – search engine to discover people, companies, relationships

I have my list of favorites to check out. Which ones are you most interested in, and why?

Utility Computing for the Little Guy

August 27, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Well, it’s finally happened. Amazon’s recent announcement is heralding a new day in computing, especially for startups and small businesses. Here’s how CNet and Computer Business Review covered the story. I began writing about utility computing (also called on-demand computing) way back when — well, in 2002, anyway, before the media began covering this phenomenon in a big way. Mostly that was due to my friend and client Tom Kieffer, who had founded a company here in Minneapolis (since acquired) based on this concept. Tom saw this trend coming all the way back in the late ’90s, when he founded that company, Agiliti Inc. And, even though the UC movement subsequently had a bit of slowdown as a result of the dot-bomb and general tech crash in 2000, he firmly believed it was still a major trend. Well, write down August 2006, folks, because I say this is a key milestone in confirming that utility computing is, in fact, very real. Internet startups everywhere (just to name one category) will be looking seriously at services like this as a way to scale.

I just discovered that Greg Linden, formerly of Amazon, and lately founder of Findory in Seattle, did a post on this, too, on his very good blog called Geeking With Greg.

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