pelago

Programmableweb.com year end summary and 2007 predictions:

2006 Year End Mashup Stats
Top 5 Mashup Questions for 2007

Inc.com discusses the growth and coming future of Software as a Service (SaaS)…aka the ASP model.

It makes perfect sense for small companies that want to focus on their core business instead of building business infrastructure. Our Intervals Task and Time Management product (intervals101.com) was built so that we could track all of our time, tasks, and projects. When we first developed it we didn’t anticipate having others use it, but we received a lot of requests from our clients so we decided to retrofit it and make it a product.

The “build to solve your own problems” and share with others approach. I anticipate that there will be a lot of this and a lot of options for consumers in the near future. Especially with the advent of so many frameworks out there to speed up development time and time to market.

PC World outlines a lot of the “best of web 2.0″…for lack of a better term. They talk about how the Internet is becoming centered around participation, as opposed to the browse and view world we currently live in. If Web 2.0 still seems like a confusing topic, I recommend reading this article and clicking around on the various offerings. It’s a great way to get a glimpse of where things are going…

- Michael

Google the great gives us glimpses of insight into their growing empire.

1. Be Narrow
2. Be Different
3. Be Casual
4. Be Picky
5. Be User-Centric
6. Be Self-Centered
7. Be Greedy
8. Be Tiny
9. Be Agile
10. Be Balanced

Read the details here: http://evhead.com/2005/11/ten-rules-for-web-startups.asp

Our guiding principals for Intervals development are very agreeable with Evan Williams’ thoughts. We have been around for over 6 years, so we’re not a start-up, but our decision to develop a web-based product definitely makes part of our company a start-up. We see many companies, and especially small companies, trying to niche products in the market for the new type of consumer. We are optimistic that Intervals will fill a need for folks who need a no-nonsense time and task management system.

We’ll see how it goes in 2006 - Michael

More insight into the inner workings of the Google empire.

I saw this in Wired this month:

Egg & Muffin Toaster

Product Demo

We’ll prolly add one to the office here shortly - Michael

Web 2.0 deals with the ongoing evolution of Web 1.0 (aka the Internet as we know it). It’s a statement on the condition of things and where they are evolving to.

Digital Web Magazine has a good summary of Web 2.0 and how it impacts web designers. Check it out here.

Internet 2.0 is a departure from the current Web as we know it. Internet 2.0 is a consortium of universities with some government and non profit involvement. It has an all fiber backbone with extremely high bandwidth throughputs and applications are built around experimental protocols. Here is the official Internet 2.0 site.

-Michael

>> We’ve been using this little gem for a while, but I neglected to post about it. Lookout Search is very fast and very efficient….if you ever accidentally drag and drop an email into a folder you don’t have to worry about it. Lookout uses a speedy index to find items…you can even spider your calendar and notes.

-Michael

“NEW YORK (CNN/Money) The first anniversary of Google’s initial public offering is rapidly approaching.

And to commemorate this occasion, it seems safe to paraphrase Frank Sinatra: For Google, it was a very good year.

Shares went public at $85 on Aug. 19, 2004 and now are trading at about $285. Sales are expected to increase by nearly 90 percent this year and profits are expected to more than double. ”

>> Any predictions on where Google’s stock will be at the end of the year? The low and hi opinions in our office say $135 on the low end, while another boldly predicts $317.

- Michael