Wednesday Roundup
Here’s today’s smathering of web goodness:
Network2.tv: This is a story that’s been a while in the making, but Jeff Pulver emailed a bunch of us VoIP bloggers about it recently. It’s gotten some play in the blogosphere, including some coverage from Businessweek. The basic idea is that it is a directory for television shows that only appear on the Internet and not on conventional TV. The programs have to be TV-like, e.g. maintain similar production qualities, come out regularly, be entertaining, and be of more general interest. Nice idea, but I’m scratching my head to figure out where this will turn into money. Jeff’s a much smarter guy than me, though, so I’m sure he’ll figure that part out.
Sprint Goes Street-Level: CrunchGear writes a nice piece on Sprint’s new street-level coverage maps for both Sprint and Nextel customers. About time, Sprint! Now I can plainly see I am just outside of their EVDO network and that I’d have marginal signal if they were my carrier. That leaves Verizon as the only major US carrier that doesn’t provide street-level coverage maps. Where’s the love, Verizon? Afraid you don’t have the best network?
Eudora Goes Open Source: Back in the day, Eudora was the shiznit in terms of email programs. However, between Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, I had completely forgotten about Eudora. I didn’t even realize Qualcomm was still doing anything with the product until I saw this announcement on Slashdot about them working with the Mozilla folks to open-source Eudora. I wonder, though: will Thunderbird become more Eudora like or will Eudora become more Thunderbird like? How will the two programs differentiate themselves? Will they become one? This passage from the Project Penelope page on the Mozilla Wiki doesn’t really help:
The “Penelope” project’s intention is to join the Eudora® user experience with the Mozilla platform. We intend to produce a version of Eudora that is open source and based on mozilla and Thunderbird. It’s *not* our intention to compete with Thunderbird; rather, we want to complement it.
We are committed to both preserving the Eudora user experience and to maintaining maximum compatibility, for both developers and users, with Thunderbird. It is our goal to build a single development community around Thunderbird and Eudora, so that both mailers advance faster than they previously have.
SightSpeed CEO Blogs: Welcome to the blogosphere, Peter. Digital Media Update is SightSpeed CEO Peter Scathy’s new home on the Internet. His first post out of the gate is an insightful piece on integrating video with the whole social networking thing. I like his ideas and hope someone runs with them. My question: Why not you, Peter? You’re certainly getting the eyeballs with all the partnerships (the latest being with AMD) and the accolades, oh my the accolades. I also know the next release is, like all the others, going to be a winner. Looking forward to it. (Thanks to Andy for pointing us in the direction of this blog.)
at&t and BellSouth Merger Cleared by DOJ: With not a single condition for approval, the US Department of Justice approves the merger of at&t and Bellsouth. The FCC has yet to approve. Two commissioners are for, two are against, and one is trying to abstain since he was involved with at&t previously. And, of course, everyone on Howard Forums (and other wireless forums) are talking about Cingular Wireless, which is co-owned by Bellsouth and at&t, being renamed at&t Wireless. Didn’t they just kill that name a couple years back? Holy mass customer confusion, Batman!
