The Zen of Web

Afraid that it will get caught up in a long legal battle with the government, Google today announced that it would widthdraw from the advertising partnership with Yahoo that would have allowed Google to serve text ads on Yahoo’s search engine.

This isn’t really a huge setback for Google as it is doing just fine with or without this deal. However, it does leave Yahoo in a difficult place as it was the main reason Yahoo was able to fend off Microsoft’s hostile takeover attempt.

As they would say… the saga continues… Let’s see what will happen next. I wonder who will blink first. Microsoft or Yahoo? One way or another, it is indeed possible and even very likely that they will now go back to negotiating table and try to work something out. We’ll see…

written by Allen \\ tags: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo

Read about this today that Microsoft will offer free software licenses and support/guidance to startups opting to use their technology platform. The catch is that the startup needs to be invited into the program so it’s not just any aspiring Internet company.

You can read more here and on the official page.

Frankly I don’t know how it will be received. Startups have so many open source alternatives to choose from. I wouldn’t bother with Microsoft technologies myself, either. But with that said, this is a good move by Microsoft, even if a little too late. I would’ve done this a long time ago… Well, better late than never…

written by Allen \\ tags: Microsoft

written by Allen

Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

Yes, you heard me right. I think this is a good thing. It forces those who never have what it takes to make it anyway to close door sooner. The industry needs to weed out the ‘pretenders’ every once in a while and now is a good time for that.

Lately there’s been a lot made about how VC’s are advising their portfolio companies to conserve cash and find a viable revenue model fast. Duh… That needs to happen regardless. But of course, this is bad for entreprenuer wanna-be like myself. Maybe now is a good time to lay low and just wait…

written by Allen

News came out that Facebook.com’s search functionality had integrated Microsoft’s Live Search and can now be used to search the web. Not surprising when you consider that Microsoft is an investor in Facebook. But when you really think about it, this is just as silly as anything goes. Who in the world is on Facebook and wants to use it to search the web? I know I don’t. Even if you already prefered Live Search over Google, this still is very counter-intuitive. Further more, Facebook’s execution of the search results conforms to the design style of the rest of the site, which is to say that it’s not your typical search engine. I simply don’t like it… The last bit to consider is this; it’s not clear how Microsoft can really monetize from this integration, even as the result page does display related text ads.

Nice try, Microsoft… But if you really want to gain grounds on Google, you gotta try harder than this.

written by Allen \\ tags: Facebook, Live Search, Microsoft

(You can tell he’s not exactly right from how much weight he must’ve lost…)

Only Steve Jobs and people in his inner circle really know if there’s any truth to the rumor that he’s been really ill again. And I know some people wouldn’t attribute that much of Apple’s success today to Jobs. However, it is undeniable that in the public eyes, Jobs is Apple. It’s hard to imagine someone else other than Jobs on the stage to introduce a new Apple product.

That’s pretty amazing for a CEO when people deem you as that irreplacable!

written by Allen \\ tags: Apple, Steve Jobs

Today I got an e-mail from a company called WebNameSolution.com (according to the WHOIS record, it’s in Montreal, Canada) trying to sell me a domain name for $199.95. It’s not a random offer, you see. It’s for a domain name that I owned and decided not to renew. And now they are trying to sell it back to me!? Do they think I’m an idiot?

Actually I checked with the company that I originally registered the domain with. I could get it back for $8.88 which is what I paid for it the first time. This makes their unsolicited offer even all the more ridiculous!

It can happen to anyone to forget renewing a domain. It’s no surprise that a company would exploit a situation like that. But it’s even more amazing because in this case I would be a total moron not to try getting back the domain with my registrar first.

Simply unbelievable… But maybe not… Even Network Solutions, who manages .com, .net and .org, abused the domain registration grace period that domain registrars enjoy (but when regular consumers register a domain, they cannot change their mind and ask for a refund…).

written by Allen

I’m totally speculating here, of course — I’m not somebody who’d have any such insider information. But I think what I’m suggesting now does seem somewhat possible…

Could Microsoft never really intend to buy Yahoo from the start?

Before Microsoft publicly announced their bid to buy Yahoo, people (as in shareholders) weren’t happy with its declining share price. And for sure people were saying that Yahoo needed to better compete with Google in search advertising (but I actually don’t necessary feel that way myself). But what people weren’t saying back then was that Yahoo didn’t have a future as an independent company. People saw Yahoo as a powerful brand and understand its position as the Internet company with the most aggregated pageviews. Somehow after Microsoft came into the picture, people suddenly said Yahoo needed to be acquired.

Why? All for maximizing shareholder value? Whatever…

I’m just thinking… Maybe someone foresaw the tailspinning Yahoo would be in today and advised Steve Ballmer to make a move. The purpose would not be to actually buy Yahoo but to put it in a situation where it would be busy regrouping and could no longer compete effectively with Microsoft. As we have found out now, the #1 got bigger, but at least Microsoft has a chance becoming #2…

We may not ever find out. But could this be possible? Most definitely!!!

written by Allen \\ tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

I consider myself an aspiring Internet entrepreneur. I think I qualify because back 2006 I launched a web service. Even though it flopped but at least I tried and I’m again trying now. The thing is… even though I’m almost always online (I’m not necessarily proud of that), I’m not necessary the best target customer of a web service myself. I’m pretty fixed on how I use the Internet and my “user behavior” is hard to change.

See… I want to be in this Internet industry but I don’t always eat my own dog food. Should I be concerned? What gives?

Like most people on the Internet, I use e-mail (Gamil and Lotus Notes for work) and instant messengers (MSN and Skype) to communicate with others. I’m grateful for them making the world smaller as I can stay in touch with friends and family easily. And thanks to Facebook, I’ve managed to reconnect with some lost friends lately. Recently I’ve also started to follow closely activity streaming/lifestreaming on Facebook and Windows Live Space (since a lot of people on my MSN list also have a Space and their activities are aggregated).

And like many others, I get my news from the Internet (I hardly turn on the TV now…). I read NYTimes.com, BusinessWeek.com and ESPN.com religiously and occasionally CNN.com, too. (Sometimes I feel guilty not reading more local news often enough, ’cause after all I don’t live in the US anymore…) And I keep up with many Internet industry focused blogs like TechCrunch and others.

So beyond communication and news, what do I really use the Internet for? What web services and applications do I use?

To start, I do contribute content on the web as I blog (on many sites — in the event that I run the site all by myself, I use WordPress) and upload pictures (Windows Live Space) to share with others. And besides Facebook, I also have a profile on LinkedIn and a couple of Chinese SNS. I don’t have a lot of time to watch video online. But when I do, I occasionally browse stuff on YouTube and watch longer clips on Tudou.com, which is great because it lets you download the files to your computer. I have an account on Twitter and FriendFeed but I don’t really update them and don’t go there often to check on others’ updates. I do use online banking and I use Google to search for stuff all the time. Let’s see what else… I use Baidu to find mp3 files sometimes and when necessary, I use Google Map to find a location that I need to go to. Oh and I use del.icio.us to bookmark interesting stuff online but mostly that’s ’cause I wanna share those links on my blogs. As in I don’t really use it to go back to those sites later on, as a bookmark is supposed to help you do.

There you have it… That may not include everything I use, but is probably close to all I do and use online…

New web services and applications come out everyday. I often find out about them early. Sometimes I would sign up to just take a look. But for the most part, I’m not what you’d call a “heavy user.” I’m probably not a “early adopter” either in most cases.

So why is that? Someone like myself who is fascinated by the power and possibilities that come with the Internet and yet I don’t seem to use it as much as I probably could.

One reason is that I’m definitely too busy to mess around on the Internet and a lot of stuff online are really just fun, silly things for people to mess around with (see all those stupid Facebook apps). But really, I don’t use many of the Web2.0 sites as much as you might imagine because I don’t find most of them worthwhile enough to spend much time with. I think that’s scary to say and should probably serve a constant reminder to myself that a good idea is truly hard to come by.

Sites like YouTube, Digg or others succeed because they give their users a reason, whatever that may be, to change or adopt a new behavior. That is not easy to accomplish. I tend to think that in order for something on the Internet to stick, you need to provide some concrete value to the users. My dad would say I’m too serious and up-tight and that “it” will stick, too, if you could also provide fun (although some people might say there’s a lot of value in “fun” as well).

In any case, as I sit here and think about the way I use the Internet myself, I just really appreciate to live in this day and age when technology is making more things possible everyday!

written by Allen

Companies do shady things to survive in bad economic times. That’s bound to happen. Like the airlines that begin to charge passengers for their luggage. If the ticket price shouldn’t already cover the costs of transporting the luggage, does that mean airlines actually believe that people would normally travel without any luggage?

Lately the ISP’s have started talking about a metered fee structure for their broadband Internet customers. They argue that this is only fair because heavy usage by some customers will affect the others who don’t transfer a huge amount of data over their connections. I think that’s a load of bull and just a way for them to squeeze more money out of their customers.

The way we use the Internet is changing everyday. In the early days, people wouldn’t be transferring a huge load of data because there’s no YouTube or BitTorrent for them to use. But surely today we have all kinds of new way to use the Internet that will require a huge data transfer. And it’s not just an issue on the user side. Content providers are creating more games and video content that will require more data transfer. So the way I see it, it is the ISP’s that are not catching up with the time. The issue at hand is not the customers using up too much bandwidth. It’s them not upgrading their network fast enough to adjust to the market needs.

And yet, they want the customers to pick up the bill for that network upgrade. If every company from all the different industries charges more just so they can improve their product offerings, what kind of penny pinching life will we all end up living in? This is just a pathetic attempt for the ISP’s to pick on the everyday consumers in tough time.

Comcast on the other is putting in some technology that slows down people who use up a lot of bandwidth with P2P file transfering. That’s even worse! These people pay their monthly bill and are now getting a second-tiered service. They should move to a new provider immediately!

A while back ISP’s talked about charging major Internet content providers a premium for priority data transfer over their network. This, as many would remember, sparked a huge “Net Neutrality” debate. With congress involved, ISP’s got nowhere, of course, and that’s how we arrived at this point. Shame on the ISP. They couldn’t pick on the big Internet companies, so they decided to pick on us…

written by Allen