Om and Niall PodSessions

Online storage is everywhere and getting cheaper every month! Amazon's Simple Storage Service offers a grid storage solution for developers at a cheap cost. Cablevision is currently testing 80 GB of networked storage with fast enough access for a remote DVR. Services such as Box.net give away free storage and make money on upsells.

On the home networking front, new devices are plugging-in to your local network for quick access by multiple computers and a rich browsing experience inside of a browser.

We are starting to see some enterprise-level backup and storage technologies applied to the consumer space. Home computer users are consuming more and more storage space by ripping CD collections, downloading music and movies, and loading large images from their cameras. Lost data means either a lot more work or memories vanished forever, creating new opportunities for a data insurance policy for individuals.

Om and I talk about these topics and more in this week's PodSession titled Online storage. The podcast is 21 minutes in length, a 9.6 MB download.

Posted by Niall Kennedy at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In this week's PodSession Om and I talk about Google Finance and the emergence of Google's portal play. With e-mail, calendaring, mailing lists, finance, instant messaging, news, feed aggregator and more, Google is expanding its product offering beyond its search core and creating new "sticky" environments for its users.

Google Finance was created in Bangalore, India for the U.S. financial market. I liked the product's data overlays and integration of information from multiple Google properties such as blog search, groups, and news. Om found the product lacking in features such as major shareholders and insider activities.

What do users want from a portal? Are Gmail users more likely to spend time on other Google properties? Is Google a portal? Aren't portals dead?

We talk about these issues and more in this week's PodSession, Pushing the Portal. The podcast is 19 minutes long, a 9 MB download.

Posted by Niall Kennedy at 10:09 AM | Permalink

In this week's PodSession Om and I discuss voice and mobile technologies currently available for platform integration. When does it make sense for a web application to add voice or mobile capabilities? What are the costs and benefits?

Are so called "web 2.0" companies just shinier versions of existing applications? Is anyone actually pushing the envelope and inventing entirely new industries? IP-based voice applications have already changed the way we think about communicating online. Mobile phones are now common tools of daily communication with relatively fast data connections with always-on access to the Web and focused data. Why are we not seeing more integration of voice and mobile into new web applications?

Google Local and Windows Live Local search products are just starting to launch pay-per-call advertising on their sites, connecting any computer with a paying merchant over a telephone line. Other companies such as Progressive Auto Insurance are integrating support call centers with web applications to help complete sales.

Now that conference season is in full swing startup companies can walk through the halls of focused gatherings such as VON or CTIA to gather new ideas about product integration across multiple mediums and devices.

This week's PodSession, VoIP and mobile integration, is 23 minutes long, a 11 MB download.

Posted by Niall Kennedy at 11:26 PM | Permalink

AT&T chief executive Ed Whitacre, affectionately referred to as "King Ed" by me, and "Mr. T" by others has always been of the school of thought that breaking up Ma Bell back in 1984 was a mistake. He has done his best to rectify that by gobbling up three out of seven Baby Bells - Ameritech, Pacific Bell, and more recently BellSouth - and merging them with his SBC. Of course along the way he picked up the remnants of a proud company called AT&T.

His splashiest move came last move when Mr. T bought BellSouth for $67 billion in cash, and about $22 billion in proportionate debt. Result, a giant phone company, the biggest in the world with over 71 million access lines, 54 million wireless customers, 9.5 million broadband lines and over $98 billion in sales.

I got together with Niall earlier this week and tried to do an analysis of the deal, its impact on Verizon and cable providers. Of course there are implications for start-ups, especially those in the telecom space. What it means for network neutrality, Yahoo! and Google. Hopefully you can tune in.

This week's PodSession, Return of Ma Bell is 21 minutes long, a 9 MB download.

Posted by Om Malik at 10:23 AM | Permalink

New companies are launched every day in Silicon Valley on whims, enthusiasm, and occasionally firm financial footing. In this week's podsession we talk about startup business models beyond the flip and how to position a new company for sustainable growth and self-determination.

• What are good candidates for billable web services?
• How can startups partner with complimentary companies to create a stronger market presence?
• Serving the enterprise market.
• On-demand impulse buys on mobile and home media devices.

This week's podsession, Startup dollars and sense, is 22 minutes in length, a 10 MB download.

Posted by Niall Kennedy at 12:10 AM | Permalink