Time Capsule: The End of May 2006 Is Pear Shaped.

No lengthy musings or rants about unstrained marketing here tonight. This is simply a collection of odds and ends that came in at the end of the month. The whole collection was…sort of strange when looked at in aggregate- or “going all pear-shaped” as my some of my friends in the U.K. say. As I reviewed over two years of blogging a nascent idea came to put together my own “time capsules” to catch some moments of Internet time. Not unique I know, but unique to me at any rate. I thought about a simple list of links, but everyone has pertinent and poignant links. Therefore I added my own drivel to make it uniquely my own. In the future I may start ranking them by some factor. Then again- maybe I won’t. The thrust of the exercise is to gather intriguing business news and order it around running thought processes.

Perhaps it all won’t seem so strange a year from now…

Rumors, News and Stuff…End of May 2006

Phillip Kaplan steps down as CEO from AdBrite. He wasn’t “forced out”, he just stepped down for more professional management. Given that Phillip launched FuckedCompany you can be the judge or award him some points.

This lady will legally change her name for cash in this eBay auction. No drugs or sex, but gambling seems to be wide open. I am surprised the marketing terrors at Golden Palace Casino aren’t all over this one. 45k does seem kind of steep. Maybe if she were Steve Ruble or she offered a house payment plan.

David Andrews blistered Vonage over poor CRM here at Revenews. I won’t even link to their stock freefall while others are taking them to task and blaming Vonage for deaths.

While I am on VoIP- the port agile and tunneling Skype continues a lethal barrage by inking a distribution deal with Dell. eBay, who purchased Skype (which just purchased Sonorit/Camino ) likes Net Neutrality- a recent hot topic for Revenews Blogger Brad Waller. Meg Whitman, eBay’s CEO, has been trying to get eBay customers to lobby Congress to pass Net Neutrality laws as Jimmy Daniels notes. Preston Gralla sees the transparency though. I haven’t decided and may resort to a coin toss if pressed. Did I mention that ICQ is a decade old this year? I didn’t- but I believe it is.

“Google creep” seems more intrusive as a Ferrari trip is synced up to Google Maps. I keep wondering when one of these satellite sweeps will capture a crime in progress and someone will discover it with a map search so it can be used to capture the offender? They also launch a new feature called Reply by chat that enables you and your contacts to discuss an email you’ve sent or received. Now you can talk about what you have just typed. A bane for some, perhaps a boon for others. I’ll pass for now.

On another note Google is “concerned” over MSIE 7 yet they aren’t launching a “GBrowser”. Unlike Jim Kukral I can read what Rafat seems to have nailed in 2004. Actually they are all about partnerships now and not Mergers and Acquisitions. On a cool aside, with hip tech in mind, I found BittyBrowser- the browser within a browser. In the twentieth century they probably could have gotten several million in venture capital. The twisted in me wants to use the code to create browsers, within browsers, within browers. Thankfully adherence to Xeno’s Paradoxes keeps me from even trying.

After a lengthy wait and plenty of jabs Ask.com finally rolls out Bloglines Search. The irony isn’t lost on me, but I will refrain from cheap puns or double entendres. It is a bit sad Jeeves didn’t get to see it happen though. As I said no cheap puns.

Yahoo takes aim at YouTube (my favorite Internet meme watching perch as of late) but forgets to bring Flickr along for the ride. I make note that Kevin Smith has unleashed a toungue-in-cheek yet savvy campaign on YouTube as well as other social networking platforms for the Clerks 2 movie. That requires another entry to do the marketing blitz justice.

Social Networking battles continue to heat up with SixApart prepping Comet, now renamed Vox. Also a dev. team from Red Hat has wound up in the mix with an “open source” service called…get this…MugShot. Linux people do have a dry sense of humor or perhaps they know more about MySpace than we expect. More analysis from Jeff Hester here. Something tells me I am going to have to create a Social Networking category soon as there is so much going on in that space.

Sam Harrelson returns to online marketing after a mysterious hiatus. On the words of no one is very apt Sam. Excellent and on target as always. A trend of less citation and more experimentation would be great- although it might rip apart the under-pinnings of the blogosphere if that revolution should occur.

For the win… (Mandatory to use a tired, blogging-centric, text-based meme.)

Last but not least- rumors are swirling hard and fast in the inner security circles that 180 Solutions is in acquisition talks with HotBar. (Hat Tip To Alex). I have to wonder if they know about YapBrowser making a return?

Now that I am done with this documentation and thought process exercise I think I might start another blog elsewhere to make these “time capsule” observations. I don’t want to confuse business people with entries like Paperghost contemplates stabbing himself in the head with a knife over DC Comics creating a China-based Superteam. Then again, images like that keep me roving the blogsphere. I did warn you the end of May was going all pear-shaped.

/ That’s a wrap.

About Wayne Porter

Wayne Porter is one of the original founders of ReveNews.com, and served as the CEO and founder of XBlock Systems a specialized research firm on greynets and malware research before being acquired by unified communications security leader, Factime Security Labs. His work includes serving as a panlist at the Federal Trade Commission to shape legislation on software and the creation of two patent-pending technologies for corporate networks. Wayne is a frequent speaker at e-commerce & business events including CJU, ASW and RSA and frequently cited in the press. He has been designated a Microsoft Security MVP three times and is recognized on Google’s Responsible Security Disclosure page- in addition to receiving the first Summit Legend Award. Wayne currently works as a Security Consultant on Social Media and operates a consultancy on digital worlds. His hobbies include reading science fiction, playing chess, fishing, writing, collecting shiny digital gadgets, playing racquetball and studying memetic engineering. He maintains a personal weblog at WaynePorter.com detailing his explorations in security, web 2.0, and virtual worlds.
You can follow Wayne on Twitter: @wporter.

Website: http://www.wayneporter.com