by Ron Miller

Google and Microsoft Exchange Big Announcements

Big week for Google and Microsoft as Google announced its new unified communications platform dubbed Wave and Microsoft announced the Zune HD and a new search engine they're calling Bing.

Read my take on DaniWeb.

Photo courtesy of Indigo Goat.

US Military Technology Paradox: Cutting Edge & Clueless

The US Military is by turns cutting edge and clueless. On one hand, they embrace cloud computing and social media tools, yet think it's worthwhile to upgrade from Windows XP/Office 2003 to Vista/Office 20007 when Windows 7 and Office 2010 are on the way. Like any large organization, they make good and bad decisions when it comes to technology.

Read more on my DaniWeb TechTreasures blog.

Photo by ianmunroe on Flickr.

Searching for new strategies to make content pay online

This week in my FierceContentManagment Editor's Corner I look at ways content providers can make money online. Chris Brogan wrote a blog post this week called "The Next Media Company," in which he outlines his manifesto for a new media company, and throws down the gauntlet to challenge others to build on his initial brain storm. I decided to pick up that challenge.

Read what I had to say on FierceContentManagment.

Photo by D70Focus on Flickr.

Microsoft Ad Wars Turn To Google

Microsoft is poised to release its latest search offering Bing to the world and hopes to prop it up with an $80 million ad campaign. I don't see ads substantially changing consumer behavior and it's ultimately throwing good money after bad.

Read why on DaniWeb.

Photo by moggs oceanlane on Flickr

What Business Could Learn from the New Star Trek Movie

Experimenting, learning, listening, team building; these are the pillars of successful organizations and they are the pillars of the Star Ship Enterprise. Who knew the Star Trek movie was a business case?

Read my post on DaniWeb.

Photo by ydhsu on Flickr.

Are You Ready for a Thing Called Pre?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

It's official. The Palm Pre is due for take off on June 6th, the 65th anniversary of the D Day invasion, but instead of taking on Nazi Germany, Palm's target is Apple and RIM.

Read more on DaniWeb.

Should We Expect Help in Free Services?

Beth Harte just posted this Tweet on Twitter:

Beth is not alone. My wife has been having Facebook connection issues for the entire weekend. She sent an email this morning and at least got an auto response suggesting they might get back to her at some point.

But this has me wondering when we use these free services online do we have a reasonable expectation that they should work for us? Partly we have become dependent on these services to do our work and the vendors certainly haven't discouraged this behavior. On the other hand, the services are provided for free. What do you want for nothing? Your money back?

There also has been a lot of talk about how to monetize these free online services and offering a premium service with help available could certainly be a way to do that. If I use these services for business (or even pleasure) and I have come to depend on them would I pay to ensure that they are up and running most of the time, and that I can deal with a human if I run into issues? I think I would and I think many people would.

Yo, online services, you listening? There's a business opportunity for you here. It's up to you to take advantage of it.

What do you think? Would you pay for a small monthly fee for a premium version of Facebook, Twitter or other Online Service if you could access help when you need it.

Video Tells History of Story Telling From Earliest Times to Now

This wonderful video from Mark Logic follows our need from earliest times to make sense of the world through stories and how today we have the power to get our stories to millions of people. Watch and enjoy.

Sleep Dealer Presents Dark Vision of Future Social Networks

Saw a great movie last night called Sleep Dealer, a dark, distopian vision of the future where globalization reaches the ultimate level of dehumanization. People wear nodes that enable them to connect to machines and operate robots in far-away locations, but these nodes can also be used to connect directly to the internet and upload one's memories to an online memory selling service.

One of the lead characters is a "freelance writer," but instead of writing in the conventional sense she connects to this black vision of YouTube and uploads her memories, hoping to sell them to make ends meet. If people like the memories, they ask for more and pay a fee to the "writer."This got me thinking that perhaps the screen writer has a point.

Perhaps in a sense we are all sticking the internet in our veins and sharing parts of ourselves online. Social networking certainly has plenty of upside and I'm a big fan, but is there a line? We have to learn to keep at least parts of ourselves private and not provide every detail of ourselves to the world. How much you reveal is a personal decision, and certainly sharing some personal information is what humanizes us on social networks, lets people see that we are so much more than our professional selves. But if you take it too far, consider the long tail idea and how we are using the internet, Sleep Dealer presents an interesting metaphor for a dark social networking vision.

Apple Fires Back in Latest Round of Ad Wars

The tit for tat going on between Microsoft and Apple feels a bit like a reality TV show, but looks like Apple got the upper hand with its latest Get a Mac ad.

Read why on DaniWeb.

Photo by army.mil on Flickr.