Archive of thenextweb.com
Written on 1st September 2008
1 COMMENT 
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom
September is suddenly here, and I, for one, have been looking forward in my diary to see what key events are taking place that I should attend – and The Future of Web Apps Expo, in London, October 8-10, certainly looks like a must.
The line-up of speakers includes Jason Calcanis, Kevin Rose, Kathy Sierra, Tim Bray, Blaine Cook and David Recordon, and FOWA Expo is a great opportunity to see what’s new, and what’s going to be next in the web. Our friends from Diggnation, who presented their show live from the Next Web Conference 2008 in Amsterdam back in April will also be presenting a live Diggnation show from FOWA – always an event to look forward to.
UK Startups: Win a stand at FOWA ‘08 with Sun
As I was checking out this show’s details today, I got a tweet from Stewart Townsend of Sun Microsystems – he’s just announced a competition for UK startups to win an exhibition package worth £2500 with a stand in the Expo Space – Start Up Community, a delegate pass, an expo pass and a listing on the FOWA site. Nice.
Even if you’re not a winner in the competition, the Sun Startup Essentials programme has some really nice features, such as technical support, special discounts on Sun hardware, PR opportunities, invitations to special networking events, special offers, and introductions to VCs/Angel Funds. The eleigibility is fairly flexible too – if you’re a UK business trading for less than six years, and have fewer than 150 employees – you’re a startup. Given all this comes at no cost, it’s certainly worth taking a closer look.
All you need to do to have the chance to win the free FOWA Expo Stand & Delegate Package (sorry, eleigible only if you are a UK startup) is to join the Sun Startup Essential Programme (and use the tracking code FOWA08) and do it soon – the draw for this great prize will take place on the 22nd of September, with the winner announced the very next day – and of course, we’ll keep you informed here at The Next Web as to who the lucky winner is.
Giving away a free stand and delegate places for an important event like FOMA08 is a great way to support cash-strapped startups who are hungry for exposure in the UK – well done, Sun.
Written on 29th August 2008
2 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
The folks in Redmond have recovered from their unsuccessful attempt to buy Yahoo and are, once again, on a buying spree. Microsoft is about to acquire web-based survey company Greenfield Online for $486 million.
This acquisition gives Microsoft access to Ciao.com, a popular price comparison and consumer reviews site in Europe. Of course this immediately brings up questions about whether Ciao.com’s validity stays in tact. What if Microsoft plugs it Xbox games a little too much in the video games section?
It definitely looks like Microsoft gets particularly excited about Ciao.com, as it will sell of Greenfield Online’s main business, namely the Internet survey solutions, to an unknown buyer. Reuters reports that this part of the company accounts for about 75 percent of Greenfield Online’s overall revenue.
With major companies like Microsoft and Google buying media outlets, the validity of formerly trustworthy tools like search machines and comparisons sites becomes doubtful. I earlier reported about Google ranking its own content higher in the search results (i.e. Knol above Yahoo! Answers), the same might be happening with Ciao.com.
Hopefully, these developments might spur an anti major media company sentiment. While we’ve agreed with multinationals buying news papers (Murdoch et al), it may be easier to develop alternatives to sites like Ciao.com. Will “has no mother company” become a popular marketing slogan?
Written on 20th August 2008
4 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
29 percent of Internet users have purchased something they were pointed to via spam, according to a study by Marshal. Not surprisingly, the most commonly purchased items include Viagra and porn, but also software, and luxury items such as watches, jewelery and clothing – the counterfeit type.
622 visitors of the Marshal site took a poll, which asked ‘What purchases have you made from spam?’. Quite a tendentious question if you’d ask me. ‘Have you made purchases from spam?’, would have been a more balanced question.
Anyway, a similar poll from Forrester Research from 2004 showed that out of 6,000 respondents, 20 percent had made purchases from spam. So the problem is getting worse. A reason for this could be that Internet users have gotten more used to making online purchases. Or that spam has become more sophisticated (in a negative way), like blog spam.
If taken seriously, this study shows that spam is a matter of supply and demand. “The poll highlights an inconvenient truth,” said Marshal’s Vice-President of Products, Bradley Anstis. “Many of us often question ourselves, why is there so much spam? The answer is, enough people are purchasing products from spam to make it a worthwhile and profitable endeavor for spammers.”
Marshal’s Website poll indicates that the number of respondents who admitted to making a purchase through spam have made multiple purchases; on average, more than two different types of purchase per person. This supports the conclusion that those who buy from spam make a habit of it. My guess is that people buy stuff via spam which they wouldn’t dare to buy in public.
So spam turns out to be a rather booming business. No wonder the number of spam emails already make up for 85 percent of all email traffic. Anstis: “There are approximately 250 million people out there who are interested in these kinds of products and have made purchases from spam in the past. That’s equivalent to double the population of Japan mixed in with every other Internet user. As a spammer – how do you reach that market without knowing specifically who these people are and with the bare minimum of expense? Easy, send lots of emails to everyone.”
Written on 6th August 2008
0 COMMENTS
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of The Next Web Conference. Twitter: @patrick
The commercial web is about as 5000 days old. Despite its relatively short existence it changed our life, the way we communicate and how we do business. And there’s a lot more to come.
Every once and a while something special occurs on the web and spreads like fire over the web. Dipity is a service that lets you make a timeline of anything. One of their users (BG K) created a timeline with all internet memes.
Great stuff. Do you remember ‘dancing baby‘ in October 1996? Or Rick Rolled (easy one) in 2007?
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
