DISQUS

Peter S Magnusson · 2 years ago

Hm, I had missed that Ceedo needed operator support, but you're right. Anything requiring operator blessings is a tricky business model.

Chris Morrison · 2 years ago

Peter: I don't think the cooperate of mobile operators is required to run the software on a phone, but it makes the difference between a small and large market.

MDH · 2 years ago

Was it required that each company have an unimaginative, me-too, Webby 2.0 company name to be considered?

Peter S Magnusson · 2 years ago

Chris: it's still unclear to me. Their new web info on the topic says "Ceedo is currently working with leading handset manufacturers, mobile operators, content providers and system integrators to bring Ceedo Mobile to the hands of end-users everywhere."

MDH: Lol! Indeed. Did you see Maher's rant about goofy names?

nilb · 2 years ago

Few comments: 1. Google is not that good (it is overhyped and overrated - see articles when you replace the logo of google with Yahoo and vice versa - how people still say that the results of Google logo (meaning Yahoo are better than of Yahoo logo) However, powerset is trying to educate people with a new kind of service - which probably won't work. (Who really want to write a full question).
2. In order to Viewdle to work they probably need some mass facial database (maybe they can make it if they will have facebook permision). Otherwise, they are probably only be good for celeb...
4. Cast.tv - only have a chance of being bought. If Google or Yahoo really want they can replicate it (nothing that exciting) - and I don't believe they can have any good IP to defend them...
3. Yawnnn... most of this companies sound like something already been done or used... nothing really new or helping people. Wake me up with TC4 will be interesting

nilb · 2 years ago

Few comments: 1. Google is not that good (it is overhyped and overrated - see articles when you replace the logo of google with Yahoo and vice versa - how people still say that the results of Google logo (meaning Yahoo are better than of Yahoo logo) However, powerset is trying to educate people with a new kind of service - which probably won't work. (Who really want to write a full question).
2. In order to Viewdle to work they probably need some mass facial database (maybe they can make it if they will have facebook permision). Otherwise, they are probably only be good for celeb...
3. Cast.tv - only have a chance of being bought. If Google or Yahoo really want they can replicate it (nothing that exciting) - and I don't believe they can have any good IP to defend them...
4. Yawnnn... most of this companies sound like something already been done or used... nothing really new or helping people. Wake me up with TC4 will be interesting

Chris Morrison · 2 years ago

Peter: Right -- I was unclear before. Ceedo, and most of the other product releases that use mobile phones, all hope to have carriers (and others) pick up their service and put it on cell phones, rather than making the end users do that themselves. It's like having a computer come with Internet Explorer pre-loaded rather than Firefox -- the previous, regardless of its relative worth, has a huge advantage in gaining the initial audience.

Alexey Gavrilov · 2 years ago

Chris, thanks for a thoughtful coverage of Loudtalks.

I'd like to comment on some issues, which you brought up. There is no reason why a hundred of buddies would bubble at you simultaneously. This doesn't happen with your IM, this won't happen with Loudtalks. If there are people who would not respect your time, you probably don't want to have them in your Loudtalks contacts.

You make a valid point that sometimes getting the message as a text is more convenient. We don't aim to be anything for every situation though -- we only want to create the best experience for quick and unobtrusive conversations. Sure sometimes IM or email or SMS works better -- fine, there is a place for all of us.

It's true that there are many voice services, but they are essentially a telephone. Loudtalks is closer to IM than to a telephone so we don't really compete. There is no other program, which lets you do what Loudtalks does. I use it and it's so much quicker that I don't even think about switching to IM until I need to post a link or copied text. The obvious challenge is to have enough people actually try it.

Chris Morrison · 2 years ago

Alexey: Thanks for the thoughts. It does help to think of Loudtalks as an IM service.

My thought is that, although Loudtalks is neat, both the IM and voice spaces are so cluttered it may be difficult for an independent piece of software to compete -- even one with a unique feature.

When I think of Loudtalks, I can't help but have the idea that it would be an awesome feature to add to an existing IM client. But I didn't get any sense of whether you intend to compete or go towards being acquired -- again, the technical problems during the presentation were just bad luck.

Good luck with the company!

Andreas Doms · 2 years ago

Faroo: "... who on earth would use this?"

Everybody who understands that logging your personal searches by Google, your ISP or your administrator is not necessary to provide very good search results. (Nobody sees your keywords when you search with such an P2P engine.)

Everybody who dislikes spam and paid rankings. (In a P2P network spam vanishes quickly, original content will be most important.)

Everybody who wants to see the dark web not indexed by Google. The indexing is decentralized, so it will see parts of the web not reach by Google.

Wolf Garbe · 2 years ago

> FAROO ... who on earth would use this?

Perhaps people would like to take their fair share from the search business, instead of giving the whole revenue to one single outgrowing company.

> How does it seed the engine with results so > that they are relevant from the get-go ...

Until the final launch FAROO will increase the index size with an initial crawl, to prevent the "chicken or the egg" problem. This is the reason, why FAROO is still a private beta test, concentrating on the core p2p technology.

> It is based in Erkrath, Germany. Long shot.

I always thought that in the internet age the information flows through the solid submarine cables really fast between the continents ;-)
When all the American search companies go to China, perhaps the Europeans could help out meanwhile in the US ;-)

Igor Jablokov · 2 years ago

Chris, appreciated your summary on Yap's TC40 presentation. Re: the lag, we specifically left some wait states in there so it would sink in with the audience regarding what's going on (otherwise the thread would've raced by as fast as a desktop IM experience). With the actual performance being 1-2 seconds, I'd challenge any champion texter to beat that! ;-) Re: launch, it could be both an independent one & with certain carriers who asked for exclusivity; with the 1st approach, it's a proven model since Greystripe had 20 million downloads of their off-deck ad-supported Java games delivered over-the-air. Thanks for your feedback!