Monday Recap: Google/Endoxon, Google Phone, Mobile Myspace, Digg Video and Skype TV
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Written By Kate Zimmermann | December 19, 2006 | Share This
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The Searchviews server was strangely under the weather yesterday, hence the lack of post - But, over the weekend a number of online media & communications companies announced some significant deals. Google picked up a mapping company and is rumored to be talking about a “G phone”, Myspace is going mobile, digg has video & podcasting, and skype is looking into TV. Here’s a quick recap:
Google/Endoxon
Google purchased half of Endoxon, a Swiss map and local search service. Endoxon caught Google’s eye with their new product “blue”, a geo-referencing search service with mobile capabilities. Endoxon will be a boost to Google’s info on Europe in Google Earth and Google Maps. From InfoWorld, “Endoxon develops AJAX (asynchronous Javascript and XML) mapping technologies for integrating and processing geo-referenced data and high-resolution aerial and satellite images for dynamic Internet and mobile services.”
Google/Orange
Google and Orange are rumored to have plans for a Google Phone by 2008. Though Google is certainly looking to expand it’s mobile, local and map technologies (see above), it’s dubious whether or not the search company would venture offline into hardware production. Perhaps Google is fed up with faulty hardware slowing up its mobile services, perhaps Orange wants to benefit from Google’s brand value… perhaps it’s just a rumor.
Myspace/Cingular
Myspace and Cingular have signed on to offer Myspace for mobile. Users will soon be able to access and edit their myspace profiles directly from the Cincular cell phones. This opens a whole new window for Myspace’s sociability - and a whole new can of worms for privacy issues. Not only that - Myspace is already a mess on a PC screen, it’s questionable whether they can clean up their interface to make it work for mobile. Nevertheless, this is MySpace’s largest-scale mobile partnership, and the first of it’s kind for social networking sites in the U.S. The new application will cost $2.99/month plus data usage charges.
Digg Redesign
Digg launched a new version of its site, introducing a new interface with podcast and video aggregation. Users can “preview” the new content, comment on individual posts and watch them in full on their respective sites. Because the videos aren’t actually hosted by Digg and are only available as previews, Digg doesn’t run into copyright issues. Also in the redesign, digg has added a “Top Ten” section to give visibility to stories that generate the most lingering traffic. Check out Kevin Rose’s video for a closer look.
Skype TV
Skype announced that they’re developing a peer-to-peer television service, code named “The Venice Project”. The project will use Skype’s broadband technology to stream quality TV programs to consumers through a free peer-to-peer network. Though the P2P network dodges copyright issues, it’s unclear how well it will fare with personal computer security. Other P2P sites such as Limewire are notorious for letting in unwated viruses and spyware -and by offering free high quality television shows, the Venice Project will likely attract enemies from big media companies and cable networks. So far Skype’s product test of about 6000 users hasn’t posed any major problems, but what happens when it opens up to the global public?
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