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.

Tag: Graeme Thickins (Page 42 of 55)

Widgets…Gadgets…Wadgets?

May 5, 2007 / / 2 Comments

Could another Web 2.0 technology fusion be on the horizon? As in, widget meets advertising, new love affair blossoms? That would seem to be the gist of the latest online advertising development, with Google now saying it will do a full launch this summer of its Gadget Ads. Wadgetgraphic It didn’t take the 800-pound gorilla long to figure out that advertisers were coveting all the space that content publishers have been devoting to widgets. Many of these advertisers would naturally like to push their wares inside little embedded, interactive pieces of web real estate, too. It’s not just about getting a click-through; these things offer great branding possibilities as well.

Steve Rubel reported yesterday about this latest move on his Micropersuasion blog under the headline, Google Widgetsense Is a Reality. He based his post on a piece Niall Kennedy did a bit earlier, called Google Gadgets Are Now an AdSense Unit. That, in turn, was based on news broken at an event by Tameka Kee of Online Media Daily: Google Tests ‘Gadget Ads’. And it was all later breathlessly reported by Pete Cashmore at Mashable thusly: Gadget Ads!. Got all that? Such is the blogosphere — and all that reporting happened in a matter of a few hours!

Just a few weeks ago, in a guest post I did on Read/Write Web from the Web 2.0 Expo in SF, entitled Widgetsphere: New Playground For Marketers, I raised this question of where does a widget stop and an ad begin? Well, it appears the line is growing fuzzier as we speak. Capitalism marches on!

UPDATE: To accurately label Google as an 800-pound gorilla, not an 80-pound one. 🙂

Apple Blows Through 100; Jobs Safe?

April 25, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Well, the Wall Street Journal just reported Apple’s latest blowout numbers:

“Boosted by demand for iPod players and Macintosh computers, Apple reported its profit soared 88% to $770 million and revenue reached $5.26 billion. The company shipped 10.5 million iPods, up 24% from a year ago. Mac shipments rose 36% to 1.5 million machines. ‘The Mac is clearly gaining market share,’ said CEO Steve Jobs. Separately, a group of Apple board members issued a statement defending Mr. Jobs from accusations tied to the company’s stock-options backdating. The directors said they have ‘complete confidence’ in Mr. Jobs’s ‘integrity and his ability to lead Apple.’ Apple shares jumped 10% to $102.55 in late trading.”

Stevejobs_3 Gee, I guess you could say the market likes it? And this after a page-one Journal story today suggesting Jobs knew more than previously reported about his company’s options backdating. To hell with that, the market seems to be saying — just keep giving us those good results.

Up 10% in one day? Amazing…

Web 2.0 Expo: My Recap on Read/Write Web

April 23, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Just saw the post up on Read/Write Web that includes my recap of the Web 2.0 Expo event last week in San Francisco. Web2expo Richard MacManus published his take earlier, then followed with this one that includes my thoughts and those of two other writers that contribute to R/WW and happened to be at the event.

By the way, congrats to Richard on the fourth anniversary of Read/Write Web! He’s come a very long way since those early days — from spare-time sideline to media property. Quite an entrepreneurial story, and one with a international component, too, since Richard has more of a global bent being based in New Zealand. Readwriteweblogo
Richard also used to blog for ZDnet, but now is fulltime on R/WW. What makes the blog so well followed is that it does analysis, not just news bursts about the latest deals and startup launches (though it covers its share of those, too). It’s been amazing to watch its growth.

Minnebar Rocked!

April 22, 2007 / / 1 Comment

Excellent speakers and panels, and a great crowd yesterday at our local BarCamp event. More proof that we have a vibrant tech community here in Minnesota! Major expertise, lots of energized developers and entrepreneurs, and some exciting, budding startups in the works.
Also more proof that online and offline community can be mashed up successfully…. Minnebarlogo

It was great to see a top VC firm in state, Split Rock Partners, as one of seven sponsors of Minnebar. I told partner Michael Gorman he blended right in wearing a tee shirt and shorts — love that! 🙂 And I saw him in the Ruby on Rails session that I also attended. (We have an outstanding group of “RonR” developers here, by the way.)

The turnout for the GetGoMN session was fantastic, with Scott Littman and George Reese telling the story behind the recently launched site to support entrepreneurs. Getgologo175w Lots of great questions and input from several people. I’m convinced that promoting Minnebar on the GetGo site contributed to the record attendance. The biggest turnout yet for a BarCamp in this country! Yeeeee-haww!!!

Minnebarrooftop_2 Photo: Beers on the roof with event sponsors John Roberts (left) and Harold Slawik (right) of New Counsel plc, and Bill McLeslie of ipHouse. The event wi-fi was awesome — Bill hooked us up with 7 megabits of bandwidth. Gorgeous day in the Twin Cities — the high hit 83 F!

Minnebarintraining My favorite photo at the event: We start ’em young here in MN. Matt Bauer, ace developer just recruited to MotionBox in NYC (but he didn’t have to move!), shows a developer-in-training how it’s done. Matt had just finished his session on Adobe Flex.

Lots more photos on my Minnebar Flickr set. Other photo sets are linked on the Minnebar site. I suspect you’ll also be able to read some more about the event at the Star-Tribune’s Vita.MN site and in the Pioneer Press, because they both had people covering the event.

Coolest thing I learned at Minnebar? I met a former Google employee (an early employee), who moved back here from the Valley his wife, who was also a Google employee, and he’s about to launch a cool new web app online. Stay tuned….

Kudos again to the three hardest working event organizers on the planet (volunteers, yet!): Dan Grigsby, Ben Edwards, and Luke Francl…and, especially, a great big thank you to the sponsors. This all-day event is an annual thing, but evening events are held throughout the year, too. So, watch for the next “MinneDemo” and come learn and celebrate Minnesota innovation with us!

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