In order to reduce the noise, clutter and meaningless posts, I have decided not cover or post anything in 2007 related to:

• Google
• Yahoo
• YouTube
• MySpace
• Facebook
• Digg
• Microsoft
• Apple
• News Corp
• Any newly launched services already discussed else where in BlogLand

The reason for this is that I am getting so tired so read the same old story over and over again all over the blogoshpere. Really. How interesting is it to read that Google launched a new service 50 times the same day? Or about which company will acquire Facebook. Vista this and Vista that. Zune here and Ipod there. Alexa this and Digg that? Put a couple of these companies to John Lennon’s "Give Peace A Chance" and you”ll get the spirit in which I am writing this

Although I do not believe in New Year resolutions (I’m Jewish) I will try to be more selective about what I am writing from now on, less clutter and try to be more original rather that mirroring all the noise out there.

Disclaimer. I will only write about any of the above if the have anything directly to do with my business or changed something dramatically in my or other peoples life…

Digg it?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Digg, Facebook, Google, MySpace, Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube

Piper Jaffray held their third Annual China Internet & Technology Conference in Beijing last week. From the discussions & presentations held at the conference, the following key take aways emerged:

1. The economy is less of a risk, compared with last year
2. Leaders are emerging within the sector
3. Companies are more realistic about market opportunity and margin leverage
4. Regulation is helping moderate growth rate, preventing potential bubbles
5. New areas are emerging in blogs, social networking, etc.
6. Adoption of advertising and online medium by small businesses is increasing
7. Local companies enjoy home-grown advantage

Focus Media and Ctrip are emerging as leaders, Baidu and TOM Group as well. Baidu is dominating search and Google will have a difficult and uphill struggle in challenging Baidus domination. Online advertising is expecting to grow 35-40% during 2006 (an amazing oppertunity here). What I find particulariy interesting is the new areas that are emerging in blogs and social networking. According to Piper Jaffray, blogging is the big new trend catching on very rapidly. They also believe that it will continue to grow, and the existing players such as Bokee, Blog CN, Sina and surprise: MSN Spaces are likely to be market leaders. Other rapidly growing companies are: online match making, phone agencies and travel search engines.

Against this background I must say that Maxthon is very well positioned in China, we are already driving a huge percentage of Baidu’s search traffic, we are the second biggest browser in China and our user growth in China (as well as outside of) are just exploading.

Tags: Piper Jaffray Tags: China Tags: Internet Tags: Technology Tags: Focus Media Tags: Ctrip Tags: Baidu Tags: Tom Online Tags: Advertising Tags: BlogsTags: Social networks Tags: Bokee Tags: Blog CN Tags: Sina Tags: MSN Spaces Tags: Maxthon

It seems like Scoble have nothing better to do over at Microsoft today than inventing a new word (brrreeeport), then tag it and see what happens. BTW, the brrreeeport sounds extremely familiar to a certain bodily sound that Adam Curry happens to let loose in the Daily Source Code on a regular basis like a 30 second spot…sponsored by (oh you know by whoom..). The worst thing is that even I find myself writing a post on it..Is this the sad true state of the blogosphere today, or is it just what makes people tick’?

Looking at the more serious side of it (if there is any..) when I was running a blog campaign for Samsung Mobile’s Anyfilms.net some time ago, I noticed that Google Blog Search by far out numbered Technorati and the others in tracking the posts. Technorati turned out to be really disappointing as a reliable tracking tool (which was a pity since I really like their service). The big surprise however, was MSN Search tracking far more blogs with the tag “anyfilms” than the others (after Google of course).

Technorati Tags: Brrreeeport, Technorati, Google, MSN Search, Scoble, Microsoft, Tags, Search, Tracking, Blogs, Blogging, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, Samsung Mobile, Samsung, Mobile, Anyfilms, Video, Film, Movies

Internetweek, just ran an article called a very good article called: IE7 Vs. Everyone Else, where they let four tech expert battel over which is the best browser. One of the experts, Ron White from Networking Computing wrote this superbt piece in support of Maxthon, as the best alternative:

The first rule of Maxthon is, “Don’t talk about Maxthon.” If Firefox and Opera are underground favorites among Web surfers, then Maxthon must be the double-dog double-secret browser. Over the last four years, Maxthon has quietly developed a base of devoted — and tight-lipped — users who make the Illuminati seem like exhibitionists. How obscure is Maxthon? It’s so obscure that, despite more than 46 million downloads, even Google barely knows about it. When I did a search for Firefox, Google yielded some 412 million hits, while a search for Maxthon returned a scant 4 million. I can get more hits than that off my own name. (Of course, it helps if you share a name with a well-known comedian.)

Usually such obscurity is well deserved. But in the case of Maxthon, it’s as though Jack Nicholson never made it out of B horror flicks. Maxthon is simply the most powerful, and yet the simplest, browser to be used anywhere, anytime, by anyone.

Ron White, really managed to capture much of the spirit of the Maxthon community by saying that we” make the Illuminati seem like exhibitionists” – that’s hilarious! Ron continues,

When you install Maxthon, it emerges on your screen fully decked out in an array of features and tools and conveniences, as if to say “We’ve anticipated everything you could possibly need for your surfing.” It’s like being on a safari with room service.

Ron then comes to what sets Maxthon apart:

What sets Maxthon apart is pure brawn. To say it browses is misleading. It blitzes the Internet like a cybertank wrapped in armor plate and studded with heavy-duty weaponry.

Finally, towards the end of the article, Ron asks, why we haven’t heard about Maxthon?:

All this invites the inevitable question, “If Maxthon is so smart, why do Firefox and Opera get all the press?” Could it be that, while Firefox and Opera have the clout of free-world capitalism behind them, Maxthon is the creation of one man, working mostly alone, in the warehouse of a company in China? (Really.) There are no PR people pushing Maxthon at CES. No advertising. No press kits.

Well, dear Maxthon brothers and sisters, I think that that Ron White has deserved to become a member of our beloved, well kept, devoted and tight-lipped fraternity. As to Ron’s question “If Maxthon is so smart, why do Firefox and Opera get all the press?”, the answer is quite simple. We are still a very small company (but we are growning..) and so far we haven’t invested any money on advertsing and PR people, but been focused on developing a great product. However, like Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changing”…(in true cryptical spirit please pay attention to a few lines on the last verse..) so stay tuned for more exposure during 2006.

Technorati Tags: Maxthon, Firefox, Opera, IE7, Microsoft, Google, Illuminati, Browsers, Internet Week, Network Computing, Bob Dylan, Ron White

Google continues to spread like a virus all over. Google just announced that it is entering into the radio space (as well) by acquiring dMarc Broadcasting a the leading radio advertising platform with more than 4600 radio stations in its network. This will probably mean Adsense-like radio advertising. Price tag: $1.1 Billion. Sounds like music to my ears or should I rather say, like Google in my ears…Danny Sullivan has more on the story.

Jamie @Channel 9 made this amazing Google Park Cartoon starring Scoble..

The ink of my last post hardly had time to dry, before the rumors of Google’s upcoming Instant Messenger – Google Talk surged. It seems to have come with the Picasa deal (Hello) a proprietary IM used to share pictures and post to blogs, and according to Om Malik is based on the open source Jabber protocol and will be the worst possible news for someone like Skype, because now they will be up against not two but three giants who want to offer a pale-version of Skype. Don’t know about that, but they definitely have to watch out – it’s going to be a tuff challenge. I remember talk’s with the Google product people over one year and their keen interest in an IM. Like I said – definitely makes sense and very welcome (just hope that it will live up to the expectations) just hope that it will not be filled with all kinds of meaningless features.

And here we go again. Yet another Google product. Google launched Sidebar with the following features:

Desktop applications are definately on the rise, just take a look at Yahoo’s aqusition of Konfabulator. The only missing feature in the sidebar is an instant messenger, but I have a very strong feeling that that has been cooking for a long time and is yet to come. Would definately make sense. I am sure we’ll see something similar soon on Yahoo, AIM and others. Thanks to Ouriel for the link.