Internet Telephony, Better Yourpages & More

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Yahoo has joined the Internet telephony game by bundling a Skype, Gizmo Project (my fav) Voice over IP (VoIP) service with Yahoo Messenger.

Among Google’s many new initiatives is Google Finance; but that wasn’t even one of the 25 things Danny Sullivan loves about Google.

There are new Web 2.0 applications every day… Today, I was especially impressed by one of the niftiest home page sites I’ve ever seen (you don’t even have to sign in to personalize your page): NetVibes. Really impressive. (btw, it seems to me that TechCrunch is the best place to tune into the latest Web 2.0 developments… pun intended.)

I know it’s not just a “good news day.” Things are accelerating again. Look out more is on the way!

(Oh yeah, and the hackers have already got Windows booting on an Intel MacBook Pro.)

DabbleDB: The Best Web 2.0 Application Yet

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I’ve been tracking Web 2.0 and related applications. (For example, this previous post: “Define Web 2.0 & Ajax… Hunh?”.) But, DabbleDB is the best thing I’ve seen. It’s actually an online tool that lets you build a database-driven application on the fly, quickly and about as easily as can be imagined. No kidding. It’s still in “private beta” but should be public soon, but thanks to my new favorite blog, TechCrunch, we have a rapid fire, 7-minute video demo to show you what I mean. Check it out!

Two-thirds on US Home Internet Users Now Have Broadband Connections

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Wow. Even when you think you know what’s happening out there, suddenly there’s another imporant milestone among what I might call “techno-megatrends” tracking. Beyond all the business Internet users who almost all of whom have broadband Internet connections… Amongst US Internet users at home, a full two-thirds now have broadband Internet connections. If you ask me, that’s pretty impressive. Things are continuing to change fast and, as usual, they are accelerating. No wonder there’s so much Internet video action these days. Here’s more details from the new Nielsen//NetRatings report.

Internet Video Meets Internet TV: The Convergence Continues…

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Of course, I’ve been tracking Google Video and video podcasts… And certainly, I have spoken many times about the trend from broadcasting to narrowcasting… And I’ve even referred to special interest (or well-focused) websites as “microcasting”… But now the NYTimes has jumped on the term “slivercasting.” And, that’s fine.

But, what’s more, I tend to perceive an article on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Business section sub-titled, “As Internet TV Aims at Niche Audiences, the Slivercast Is Born” as something of a benchmark. It’s always nice to have a professional business perspective that includes real world examples (not to mention video clip examples) as a form of instantly credible support for the apparent conceptual trends. 😉

Bottom line, Internet video and Internet TV (what I used to call “The Video Web” in my old Videography column) are becoming more and more real, viable and important.

And, personally, I even have to admit that I’m wanting to trade in my iPod for a video iPod, especially now that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is available from iTunes, including a new Multi-Pass option that gives you the current episode plus the next 15 episodes for $9.99 (vs. $1.99 per episode.) Stay tuned!

Free Chat App Can Help Convert Browsers into Buyers

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It’s been proven that offering a live, realtime interaction via online chat applications like LiveChat can help convert browsers into buyers. Now, open source strikes again by making this kind of technology free via a new web-based app, ZaZaChat. As you might expect, it’s still in “beta,” so if anyone tests it, please let me know. Now that the price is right, all you need is the time and willingness to interact directly with your prospective customers. 😉