Is FeedBurner’s candle dimming?

FeedBurner, the service cofounded by Dick Costolo, seems to be getting a hard time from commentators on the web right now (actually, it’s been taking flak for quite some time now but I won’t go into that. It seems that the $100 million investment by search giant Google has been left hanging in the wind and the recent departure of Costolo to pastures greener (aka Twitter) doesn’t seem to have helped matters either - “FeedBurner is dead!” say the experts.

So, why all the grumbling? For a start, there’s the lack of integration with some of the amazingly powerful tools offered by the big G - Analytics; probably one of the best web analysis tools going right now but still no hooks into FeedBurner. Sure, we all know that integration takes time but Google bought FeedBurner back in 2007 which has given them ample time to get the work done.

The next big grumble comes from ad revenue; Google has integrated adsense into FB allowing you displaying pretty little ad boxes on your feeds. The problem is that the revenue derived from this feature is truly appalling. One commentator quoted a site making $200 every 1,000,000 impressions! You won’t be paying your debts off with kind return, let alone running a business based on ad revenue.

The original idea was that FeedBurner’s powerful set of RSS tools would be merged with Google’s infrastructure providing users with an incredibly powerful extension to the already awesome array of analytical tools available. Had this have happened everybody would have been happy: killer marketing tools for online businesses and a healthy revenue stream coming from Adwords straight into G’s very large wallet!

All well and good but, for some reason, this simply hasn’t worked out. And, with the departure of Costolo to Twitter, it looks unlikely to happen anytime soon. Ask any good techie and he’ll almost certainly tell you that integration is one of the hardest jobs going but, even if it is only one step at a time, Google needs to fix this. The highest priority for many webmasters is stats. After actual readers, stats are the lifeblood of any website (how did we get by in the days before search engines?) are need to fixed fast. The danger for Google lies in FeedBurners competition; there are plenty of sites out there that offer similar, and better services, than those seen on FeedBurner. If the search giant starts to lose ground in the distribution of RSS feeds how long will it be before competing sites start to build more, and better, functionality that eats into Googles core revenue generator? It will certainly be interesting to see if Twitter takes up the baton under the steely eyed guidance of Costolo!

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Google Chrome looks to have done a good job of reigniting the browser wars that many of have long since forgotten Sure, FireFox is doing a good job and has picked up significant market share but the recent announcement of the Chrome OS looks set to upset the apple cart…again.

So far, Chrome has managed to garner a respectable market share of nearly 2 percent which may not seem like a lot but you have to remember that it was only launch back in 2008. The main disadvantage that Chrome has is that it’s not bundled into an OS like Microsofts Internet Explorer or Apples Safari but that is all changing. Google recently announced that they are building the Chrome OS designed specifically to fun on those feisty little netbooks that seem to be all the rage right now. This could give Chrome a significant advantage the developers favourite, FireFox.

Google has also been working hard to emulate features seen in other browsers - plug-ins, bookmark management, print preview, and all the other gizmos that nobody really uses! In addition, they’re working on greater security and faster performance when running applications written in the JavaScript (such as the ability to kill of a tab that has hung).

One of the most significant announcements to come from the search giant is the current development of its O3D plug-in which allows for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics into its Chrome browser. The idea behind this plug-in is to further Google’s ambition to speed up the transformation of the internet from a static medium into a foundation for applications - think Google Apps. Another ongoing project is the Google Native Client, which allows Web applications to take advantage of a computer’s native processing power.

In short, it looks like Google is progressing with their aim of moving your desktop and applications onto the web, a sort of cloud computing gargantuan.

Are we going to see a return of the browser wars? Probably but nothing compared to the early days of IE. Google has a plan for the Chrome OS and it isn’t just about being the best web browser. Watch this space.

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And this time it being offered by our Swedish friends. Kabooza,a new online backup service, has managed to raise 7 million Sweden Kronor from Aggregate Media.

The big selling point around Kabooza’s offering is that their service is really simple. Okay, they’ve made the statement but surely that’s the aim of most, if not all, of the online backup services currently available? Personally, I come across some offerings that were a little clunky but none of them were difficult to use.

For Windows (there’s no Linux or Mac version yet) users, Kabooza’s software should be very intuitive (just think ’synchronisation’) - once you’ve downloaded the app and installed, simply select which folders you want to backup and…err, you’re done. A pretty neat and tidy service by any standards - now all Kabooza have to do is get around users inherent distrust of online storage!

For anyone interested, the Kabooza service gives you 25 GB monthly upload limit per month for $49.95 per year.

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  What you get:

• Unlimited 8MB BT broadband
• Free evening and weekend BT broadband calls
• Free Wireless BT Home Hub with Hub Phone
• BT ToGo smartphone to take broadband with you everywhere
• 50 minutes and 50 texts included

Let’s start by saying that this isn’t the cheapest broadband offering on the market but hte mobility features more than make up for that. The BT ToGo deal effectively gives you all the advantages of BT’s Option plus mobile broadband and a free handset - more on that in a moment.

Ok, the free smartphone - there are two choices. The package comes with a free HTC s620 which is great for reading emails or browsing on the move. Trying to create documents on it is a different story - don’t bother. It’s far too fiddly. Now, if you want that little extra in the form of the HTC s710 you have two options: pay an extra £29.99 for the smartphone or FREE when you upgrade to 250 or 600 additional minutes. The sliding keyboard on the s710 is far easier to use. I had no problems creating documents. The only downside to this device is that it has no 3G - so if you’re not range of WiFi you’re back to the GPRS snail express! The real bonus with the ToGo package is that you can use BT cells to connect to WiFi - there are currently thousands of these around the UK and the number is growing. The best place to find these cells are either in large towns or cities (and motorway service stations). You get 500 free BT Openzone Wireless hotspot minutes so unless you spend your life online whilst you’re travelling you’re unlikely to use these up.

Both handsets feature Windows Mobile Edition with the usual range of additions like voicemail, Snap and Send (send photos from your handset BT Digital Vault - for FREE), contacts and calendaring services etc. The usual things you’d expect in a smartphone. I was pretty impressed the the Snap and Send feature - this actually worked rather well. The only problem I found was that transfer times could be slow over GPRS.

Free texts, etc.

The standard package gives yout 50 free texts and 50 free minutes to any UK network. Not great if you’re a textaholic!

You also get unlimited BT FON Wireless minutes.

The BT FON connection is made up of other BT customers around the country who offer a little secured section of their broadband service for wireless users. In return, they get access to the other BT FON hotspots around the country.

There are heaps of these, and they’re rapidly gaining in numbers.

Right, let’s get down to the crux, home broadband. I’ve been using BT for about 3 years now and I have to say that I haven’t always been impressed. All I can say is that I’ve made a lot phone calls to the helpdesk. Things have changed since I upgraded to BT ToGo. Now this could simply be because it’s a relatively new product and BT want to pull in as many customers as possible or it could be that they have got their act together. BT states a connection speed of 8Mb on their site but I’ve yet to see that. I’m seeing a max of 5Mb. But remember this; BT states that you will receive a maximum of 8Mb - that doesn’t mean you’ll get 8Mb. The really nice part about this package is that there’s no download limit - but do check AUP first.

The home broadband package comes complete with the updated Home Hub which provides connections of PC’s and consoles. On top of that you can connect your house phone to the hub and make internet calls, which is just like using Skype. Internet call quality over the Home Hub was very good. Not like the bad old days of VoIP!For more traditional phone users you get free evening and weekend landline calls.

Overall signal strength from the Home Hub was very good. I could even browse the web from the comfort of my garage (no comment!) which has pretty thick walls.

One aspect of this package that catches many peoples eyes is the free telephone support -24/7 and considerably better than what I’ve become accustomed to. The only gripe I have about the free support is that it seemed to be frequently engaged - users must have been having problems at exactly the same time! That said, when you get through the teams are genuinely helpful but sometimes need a little push if you want them to put you through to deeper technical support.

The contract is 18 months long but there are no set-up fees!

On the whole, I’m pretty impressed by the BT ToGo package. I’m not so concerned about the home broadband, even though the overall service was very good. For me mobile usage was key as I travel a great deal. I’ve never had any form of outage with the mobile aspect of the package but I’m frequently  in London where there are a huge amount of BT cells to connect to. If you’re happy with periodic use of EDGE when you’re on the move then this could just be the mobile broadband offering for you.

If you’re interested, here’s the link so you can take a look for yourself: BT ToGo.

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Wii fans rampage across EBay in search of deals!!

Nintendo Wii has taken the top spot in EBay’s 2008 list of technical toys with over 2 million devices sold on the auction site. The Xbox360 came in second place with around 1.3 million sales. The Sony PSP and iPod touch dropped into the third and fourth spots, respectively.

The full tally:

Nintendo Wii: 2,056,866 (and related hardware/software), Microsoft Xbox360: 1,297,903 items sold, Sony PSP: 350,591 items then the iPod Touch in fourth place with 281,361 items sold.

Nintendo Wii Fit, Apple iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Pearl and Curve, PS 3 all accounted for over a million more sales for the online aucition giant.

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Rumours abound that Microsoft is prepared to stump up $20 billion (£13 billion) for Yahoo.

The proposal forms the centrepiece of a complex transaction that would see Microsoft support a new management team to take control of Yahoo. However, it doesn’t appear that Microsoft will be aiming for a full takeover of the web giant (looks like they’ve learnt a lesson after having their fingers burnt once…twice…or was it three times?).

There have been rumours cirulating that former AOL CEO, Jonathan Miller, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media, are being positioned to head up the new management team. Although it’s widely believed that senior management at both Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed the deal there’s no guarantee that it will succeed.

Yahoo isn’t really in a position to argue though; when the first Microsoft bid was launched the search pioneer was valued at $33 per share - right now, it’s about $9 per share.

A number of commentators are suggesting that now is the ideal time for Microsoft and Yahoo to work towards a new deal, although, if you think about it, Yahoo don’t really have much say in what happens. It really is a case of ’sink or swim’ and Microsoft is holding the life preserver!

The deal between Yahoo and Microsoft will see Redmond obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. Microsoft would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. This would leave Yahoo to concentrate on their core business: e-mail, messaging, and content services.

This deals allow Microsoft to attempt to recoup some the ground lost to Google. Microsoft’s search efforts have only managed to give them a rather miserable 5% of the market share in contrast to Googles 77%. Adding Yahoo’s search customer base to this figure would, theoretically, give them about 23% of the market.  That said, a large number of Yahoo search users favour it because ‘it’s not Google and it’s not Microsoft’!

Microsoft may own the desktop but, when it comes to the web, they’re rapidly slipping behind. Steve Ballmer has said he is not interested in buying the whole of Yahoo company, but has expressed a strong interest in buying the search business. Maybe the days of Microsoft’s stranglehold are coming to an end only to be replaced by Google!

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Only kidding, Jerry, we love ya really. Well if you haven’t worked it out already, Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, is stepping down. I know some readers will be saying ‘about time, too’ but let’s be fair, the man built Yahoo into one the pioneering internet giants so I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from him.

Yang announced in a memorandum that he will continue in his role until the board names his successor. But he’s not leaving Yahoo - on stepping down, Yang will then return to his previous job as “chief Yahoo,” a corporate strategy role, which means he’ll still be on the board.

Jerry Yang had only been in the CEO seat for a year and a half but during his tenure it’s been a roller coaster ride with shares rising rapidly when Microsoft announced an interest in buying the company. Then there’s the share price wipeout that followed the ‘deal, no deal, deal…no deal’ saga (currently Yahoo’s share are languishing at $11.82, down from around $33 at the height of the acquisition frenzy). Yahoo’s share price actually shot up by 4% after trading on Monday - does that tell you how the investors feel about this decision?

Roy J. Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, wrote in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as C.E.O. over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo as a key executive and member of the board.”

There is a belief that Jerry’s departure could reignite Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo as Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, has complained that Mr. Yang wasn’t interested in the deal. So the Yahoo acquisition death knell might be soon be beating out the wedding march!had no real interest in the deal. Microsoft declined to comment - sure they’re not interested, their much hyped Live Search is sucking both Yahoo’s and Google’s dust! Why would they want to buy the no.2 search company?

But Microsoft isn’t the only interested party; Yahoo and AOL have been discussing a merger for a number of months now. From a company perspective, a deal with AOL would seem more in keeping with the traditions and direction of Yahoo but I’m sure the board are probably more concerned with expanding the waistline of their wallets.

Yahoo said it would look for possible replacements inside and outside the company. Potential candidates include Susan L. Decker, Yahoo’s president; Daniel L. Rosensweig, the former chief operating officer of Yahoo who is now a principal at the investment firm Quadrangle Group; and Jonathan F. Miller, the former head of AOL.

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Watch out Google, the rumour mill is grinding and sources suggest that Apple is developing a search engine to rival the search giant - I can hear Google sniggering as I type!

The news, which came out of TechCrunch.com, may well be influenced by the fact that Google’s Android OS looks set to take a chunk out of the iPhone market - fight fire with fire, boys.

Although this rumour seems to be a death wish it’s actually quite a logical move on Apple’s part - right now, iPods and iPhones own a seriously large chunk of the market for their respective sectors. By building a search engine which integrates into OS X and charging for ad space Apple could pull in some serious moolah. Then there’s Safari - make an Apple search engine the default setting, sit back and let the money roll in.

TechCrunch does go on to point out that Apple may simply be redesigning the user experience for searching whilst retaining Google as the engine of choice.

Either way, Google currently holds the search engine crown. To beat them, Apple will have to produce something specatular which integrates easily and provides the relevancy users want. Integration will be simple for Apple - they own OS X, the rest…let’s wait and see.

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…again

The Google Yahoo ad deal is dead, share price is down (read ‘abandon ship’) and it would appear that Yahoo doesn’t have a clear idea of where it’s going. Time to post the ‘For Sale’ signs again.

Straight from the Yang horses mouth - “To this day the best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo,”

“I don’t think that is a bad idea at all, at the right price whatever that price is. We’re willing to sell the company,” he told the audience at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco.

“But why not sell earlier?”  I hear you say. According to Yang, Microsoft walked away from a public offering even though Yahoo were prepared to negotiate. I thought Microsoft walked away because Yahoo wanted more - is that what they mean by negotiation? A further deal by Microsoft to buy Yahoo’s search engine also fell flat on its face. It’s pretty easy to see why also these setbacks spawned rumours of Yang quitting Yahoo.

So, the door is still open to Microsoft but are they interested?

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Ok, I think most people agree that the the Yahoo saga is dead and buried. Yahoo is actively seeking a tie up AOL. This effectively prevents Redmond getting their hands on the pioneering internet company. Actually, no!

It seems that Mithras Capital, which holds 1.9 million Yahoo shares , would like Microsoft to buy Yahoo at $22 per share, according to Reuters. Once an acquisition is complete, Microsoft could then shed the non-search aspects of the businesses leaving them with a significant stake in the world of search.

Mithras Capital partner Mark Nelson seems to think that is a realistic proposition! Does anyone think that Microsoft will bother responding? Ballmer and co. are probably chuckling to themselves over the apparent chaos that currently reigns supreme inside Yahoo. Time for Yahoo to make a stance, get rid of Jerry Yang (I do like Jerry Yang, but it’s time to move on), appoint a new CEO and get back into the saddle.

Mithras Capital have obviously lost the plot - I wonder if they’ve noticed that the world economy is facing armageddon? If they have, why would Microsoft even consider a deal at a time like this? Sure, they’ve got lots of money in the bank but I’ve a feeling they maybe be needing a lot of this ‘loose change’ to shore up the company in the next few years.

Final note: Yahoo were down another 8.1% today, to $12.65, from yesterday’s close of $13.76. Ouch!

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