SOMEWHAT FRANK

MySpace Opens Platform, Google News Local, Plaxo & Bebo Rumors, Yahoo Live, FoxyTunes Acquired & Customers Turned Evangelists

Photo of the Week: I got a chance to catch up with some old friends this week in Silicon Valley including a trip to Atherton when I snapped this photo.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 02.10.2008

Hubdub Launching Predictive News Aggregator

I am a big fan of news aggregators like Digg, Reddit and Mixx as they bubble up interesting content from around the Web. Hubdub, a UK-based startup, is launching at DEMO08 to put a new spin on the traditional news aggregator landscape by creating a predictive marketplace for news. Hubdub will look to leverage the value of user-generated news aggregation with the accuracy and stir of prediction markets.

Microsoft Backs DataPortability, Facebook Translates, Digg Tweaks, YouTube Mobile, Widget Kings, Mahalo Examined & Davos

Photo of the Week: The weather in California has been a bit moist this past week as this photo by Michael Risenhoover shows.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 01.27.2008

Video: Tantek Çelik On Open Web Media

Tantek Çelik, an innovation leader and long time advocate of open standards efforts like microformats, recently discussed open Web standards and data portability at an Open Media Web Meetup. Tantek  believes writing on the Web is like "writing in sand" since it all could be wiped out irretrievable when the next wave of technology standards come through. Tantek also speaks about data formats and how content data formats expires content over time. Tune in to Tantek's forward thinking perspective and analysis.

Someone Please Buy Digg Already!, Mozilla Weave News, Evan Williams On Product Ideas, Fraxi Digg Cloner & 50 Sports Social Networks

Photo of the Week: I took this photo of the Christmas tree in front of the Hancock Building while working from Chicago, Illinois this past week.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 12.23.2007

madKast Offers Bloggers Easy Sharing Add-On

Distributing content is key to any serious blogger. There are a number of social news and bookmarking sites offering bloggers the ability to have sharing features on their site. Adding all the icons to your blog can cause some serious 'icon acne' and cramp the style of any blog design. So it is important to make it easy for your blog readers to share your content with others and social news sites alike. madKast, a Boulder, Colorado based start-up, recently launched to offer a way for bloggers to make sharing easy.

Android Announced, IAC To Split Up, Digg Being Sold?, Forbes Buys RealClearPolitics.com and BlogWorld Takes On Vegas

Photo of the Week: I spoke at BlogWorld Expo about RSS feed this past week and the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas and it's oversized guitar was a reoccurring scene as Brian Solis captured in this photo.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 11.11.2007

Mixx: A Social News Remix

Mixx launched last week to offer up a social news site for the mainstream to explore. Founded by Chris McGill, formerly of Yahoo and USA Today, Mixx aims to offer a place for large publishing companies to get into the social media space. Mixx enables users to contribute and discover stories, video and photos as they blend their own mix of the Web.

Try This: Q & A-Style Recommendations

Looking for a recommendation? Try This leverages user contributed questions and answers to offer recommendations. Try This reminds me of a cross between Digg and Yahoo Answers as it offers community recommendations by leveraging a question and answer format.

Yahoo Buys Zimbra, Google vs. Facebook, More Social Digg, Google Sharing Stuff, Zink and Zync, TechCrunch40 & Me Meme

Photo of the Week: I spotted this interesting business model marketing strategy at the TechCrunch40 conference - which was the biggest story this week.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbit: 09.23.2007

Pentagon Hacked, iPhone Announcements, Facebook People Search, 10 Web Trends, Delicious Preview, MyStrands Music Video & Netscape Digg Clone Gone

Photo of the Week: I took this photo of Red Sox on the gates of Fenway Park while visiting Boston this weekend for TECH cocktail Boston.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 09.09.2007

Confer: The Australian Digg-Clone

The "land down under" has a new social news site called Confer. The community-based site enables users to post and vote on blog posts, news, web content and videos. Is it another Digg-clone? The key difference I see between Confer and Digg is that Confer offers up far more mainstream topics - oh and it's Australian!

Sk*rt A Social News Site For Women

Women looking for a place to find interesting content recommendations should look no further than Sk*rt. Sk*rt offers a social news site of "pure goodness" which is geared towards topics and interests that women might like. The platform which could be deemed a Digg-clone offers content discovery via social recommendations.

Are You A Shareaholic?

Shareaholic makes it easy to submit the web page you are currently viewing in a Firefox browser to Digg, del.icio.us, Facebook, Google bookmarks, Magnolia, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Twitter.

BuzzFeed: What's Buzzing On The Web

What's buzzing on the web? Wouldn't it be nice to know? Using a combination of techniques which include sophisticated algorithms, click tracking and human editors BuzzFeed, a NY-based startup, discovers and distributes what is buzzing on the Web.

BuzzFeed's simple, elegant blog-like design was influenced by Jason Kottke. The light, clean background and orange accents makes the page pop like shiny candy for your eyes.  Images and large text display categorized buzz from the Web.