John O Connell’s Blog

These are glorious days for networking. The social Web is richer and wider than ever before, and it offers a myriad of services and platforms to help us connect with each other, share our likes and dislikes, etc. Some people even say that too many such services exist, that many of them will plunge in dot-com bubble-like style.

When we first came up with the idea for Weebiz, a network of companies and not people, we were surprised that no one had thought of it before. All of those many networks that are available had taken their own path in finding their niche. How come no one had thought about this incredibly vast segment: businesses? Sure, directories are plenty, but those aren’t really networks. Companies on them are isolated and can only be found through normal searches. Global trade centers help many companies sell their products, but they still keep companies compartmentalized.

via Weebiz: A Social Network for Companies Is Born.

We reported over the weekend that the Google vs. Bing battle was heating up, as we learned that Google has been researching and exploring what threat its new Microsoft competitor poses to its market dominance. Now, Google seems to have made a rather thinly veiled counter-attack in the renewed search engine wars.

If you visit the Google homepage today, you will find, beyond the nifty Firebird ballet logo, a link that says “Discovering the web: Explore the world of Google search.” The resulting page, “Explore Google Search,” explains an array of Google’s blended search capabilities. It’s almost certainly a reminder by Google that it is also a “decision engine” with features to match.

via Google to Bing: We’re a Decision Engine Too!.

Yesterday Myspace made 30% of it’s employees redundant. And, whilst I sympathize with those employees who are now wandering around employment websites, desperately trying find a job, this day had to come.

There is no getting away from the fact that Myspace is over. And it’s been over for a long time. Unfortunately for the sacked employees Myspace management were, and are, too stupid to see the writing on the wall.

via Is this the beginning of the end for Myspace? | Upstart Blogger.

The IT industry is on the verge of a major transformation and the business benefits of moving to cloud infrastructure in terms of cost savings, efficiency and the environment need to be promoted.

Yesterday IT infrastructure provider Novosco, storage giant EMC, and leading communications technology provider Cisco hosted a virtual data centre briefing at the Europa Hotel, Belfast.

via SiliconRepublic.com: Business benefits of cloud computing need to be explored – CIO.

Need to Know Google Wave At its annual Google I O conference in late May Google unveiled Google Wave a forthcoming online service that will provide a personal communications and collaboration hub for users and an extensible platform for developers. Google s descriptions of Wave are both goofy and unhelpful–example: “Google Wave can make you more productive even when you re having fun”–and the service isn t available yet for testing. But Google Wave is an important new web platform and it presents a credible threat to Microsoft s online efforts. Here s what you need to know about Google Wave.

via Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows: Need to Know: Google Wave.

Remember Lycos? Well, believe it or not, they’re not dead yet. In fact, the search engine / web portal has just announced that it has regained the rights to use the trademarked brand names “Lycos” and “Hotbot” within the European territory. In case that confuses you: Lycos Europe had an exclusive license to use those terms within Europe under an agreement dating back to 1997 when the company was formed as part of a joint venture and started up European operations independently from Lycos.

via Lycos To Relaunch Search Services In Europe, For Whatever Reason.

By Victoria Ho, ZDNet Asia, Wednesday, June 10, 2009 07:14 PM

The world of open source development could be divided if the European Commission EC succeeds in passing a law extending consumer protection rules to software, according to experts.

The EC proposes software companies be held liable in the European Union EU for the security and efficacy of their products.

via Software liability law could divide open source : News : Software – ZDNet Asia.

Discuss this on boards.ie: politics > EU

Cloud computing and net neutrality are becoming major factors in forcing telecoms operators to upgrade their core network bandwidth, according to an industry analyst.

In turn, top industry players such as Nortel, Cisco and Juniper Networks are pushing towards high-speed 100Gbps Ethernet products in response to operator demand, Ovum principal analyst John Mazur told ZDNet UK.

via Cloud pushing telecoms into bandwidth boost – ZDNet.co.uk.

Commentary–Over the years, the question “is Linux ready for the desktop” has been raised time and time again, and countless articles have been written about the strengths and weaknesses of this operating system. While desktop Linux adoption has yet to go completely mainstream, recent indicators show that a major change is underfoot.

via Why Linux is ready for the desktop today | Tech News on ZDNet.

A working definition for cloud computing — a new computer technique with potential for achieving significant cost savings and information technology agility — has been released by a team of computer security experts at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Since the US federal government is considering cloud computing as a component of its new technology infrastructure, it is NIST’s role to evaluate it and then promote its effective and secure use within government and industry by providing technical guidance and developing standards.

via Computer security team defines cloud computing.