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When you come across the term Web2.0, the first thing that comes to your mind would be - ‘This looks like a new version of the World Wide Web! Web 2.0 is not really a new version of the Web, but a term that’s refers to an improved form of the World Wide Web.

The concept of Web 2.0 started during a brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. During this session, what they noted was, through the dot com bubble had burst; the World Wide Web was far from over. It had in fact just started to become an important tool for springing up new applications and sites. They concluded that the dot com collapse marked a turning point for the Web and this turning point ushered a new set of features into the Web. They characterized these new features as Web 2.0.

With the coming in of these new features, the use of the World Wide Web as a means of just browsing the internet was over! Web users now have the opportunity to contribute and shape the content they see and read about on the Web. Such contribution can be done in many ways such as writing a compelling blog, recording a podcast or sharing photos and videos with the world. Thus, with Web2.0, the demand for “user-generated content” has reached the top and there is no looking back now.

So, what are these new features that revolutionized the World Wide Web and changed user outlook on how to use the web forever? Here’s a look:

* Web 2.0 has a participation architecture wherein as more people use it, others are also benefited. In other words, there is a network effect in its usage.

* It has become a platform for business and communication, rather than just being a place where information is stored. The Web is used to deliver applications, just through a browser.

* The Web now consists of sites which are informative and interactive. The information on the site is owned by the site owners and is constantly updated by them.

* Web 2.0 has feature-rich and user-friendly interfaces based on Ajax or other similar frameworks.

All these features indicate that Web 2.0 is actually the second generation of Web-based services. Social networking sites, Wikis, Communication tools, and Folksonomies, are typical examples of these new services. One important characteristic that the new services share is that they provide for online collaboration and sharing among users. Web 2.0 has brought a number of innovations for its users, by which user experience of the web has been enriched. Looking into the innovations associated with Web 2.0:

* Rick user experience: The web sites, we see on the web now offer a rich user experience through Ajax technology. They have the same features as the personal computer such a word processing, spread sheet, slide show presentations. The use of browser-based operating system are also seen and these services function as application platforms and provide the same user experience as a desk-top operating system by offering features and applications similar to a PC environment.

* Rich internet applications: Software such as Ajax, Adobe Flash, Flex and OpenLaszlo, provide rich internet application techniques by which users can request for updates to some part of a page’s contents, without the need to refresh the whole page.

* Advanced server software: The service technology required for supported web sites in Web 2.0 has advanced. As a result server vendors offer new features. One is the universal server approach, in which all required functionality is placed in a single server platform, and the other is the web-server plugin approach, in which standard publishing tools are used, along with API interfaces and other tools.

* Enhanced client-side software: The coming up of scripting language such as Javascript has enabled the use of client computer to reduce workload on the server. The extra functionality provided by Web 2.0 depends on the ability of users to work with the data stored on servers. This can be done through forms in an HTML page, through a scripting language such as Javascript, or through Flash or Java. All these methods make use of the client computer to reduce the server workloads.

* RSS: Syndication is an important feature of Web 2.0. Through syndication, end-users can do different things with the data on a particular site. They can use it in another context such as another web-site, to a browser plugin, or to a separate desktop application. Protocols which permit syndication include RSS ,RDF, and Atom. All these protocols use XML-based formats.

* Use of web protocols: One of the most important elements of Web 2.0 infrastructure is web communication protocols such as REST and SOAP. REST provides a means to access and manipulate data on a server using the HTTP verbs GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE, while SOAP enables posting XML messages and requests to a server.

All said and done about the effects of Web 2.0 on internet users, the term has received considerable flak from critics.One point argued is that since there is actually no real standard set to define Web 2.0, it can be thought of in different ways by different people. Furthermore, much of the radical changes attributed to Web 2.0 have emerged before the term Web 2.0 was actually coined. For example, Amazon provided its users with the feature of writing reviews and consumer’s guides when it started in 1995.

There are sites which claim they are Web 2.0 site because they some trivial feature such as a blog. This is more like using means Web 2.0 as a way to market themselves and not actually using it in the context if what it really means. The critics who points all this out feel that there is actually no Web 2.0, but only an extension of the existing World Wide Web with enhanced technologies. For example if you take Ajax technology, it cannot be used as a replacement of underlying protocols like HTTP, it functions like an additional layer of abstraction on top of them.

However, despite what the critics say, the term has been coined and is here to stay. As the World Wide Web evolves with the advent of more advanced technologies, this term will become more significant as people will have to associate such new technologies with a new version of the web. Even if this new version is not actually announced, it is expected that Web 2.0 will be used to refer to them.

About the Author
By Hannah Sharon. A university student interested in Internet Marketing and SEO.

[tags]web 2.0, rss, rss syndication, feature rich websites, world wide web, web platform, internet applicatons;/tags]

I came across two iPhone YouTube videos this morning. The first one is serious - Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer scoffing at the iPhone in a way that makes it seem like he’s actually a bit nervous about it. He pushes the Motorola Q as a mobile Windows device that he says is a better choice for business users - “It will do Internet.” I don’t know what Motorola Q he’s using, but mine barely makes phone calls in between crashes. The second video is pure humor, and very relevant given all the hype around this yet to be released device.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

A couple of days ago I wrote about Spinvox, a startup that converts voicemails to text and sends them to you via email and/or SMS. They are just launching in the U.S., and Spinvox gave us 100 accounts to give away for free (the service is fairly expensive). Over 300 people responded in the comments saying they’d like one.

Since the company itself follows up, the easiest way for us to manage these account giveaways is by asking commenters to leave their email address in the comment itself. The harvesting risk is obvious, but people are willing to take it since it’s the only easy way for us to coordinate things. It’s something we’ve done multiple times in the past successfully.

What we didn’t expect is for one of Spinvox’s competitors, SimulScribe, to harvest the emails and spam those people directly and without their permission. But that’s exactly what they did. At least some people who left their email in the comments to receive a free Spinvox trial got an unsolicited email from the CEO of SimulScribe, James Siminoff, urging them to try their service. Simulscribe even used the subject line “Free Trial from TechCrunch” - a misleading (and trademark violating) message.

This was a bold marketing move, to be sure, but a very questionable one. Potential customers will think about how cavalier SimulScribe is with personal information before doing business with them. For our part, I apologize. And we’ll find a better way of giving accounts away in the future.

To Spinvox - here’s a terrific marketing opportunity. You should give every commenter to that post a free account. They’ll be loyal (and talkative) customers.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Google’s RSS reader was nothing to write home about when it first launched in October 2005. But the new version, released late last year, has won it accolades and legions of new fans. More than a few people have recently called it the best RSS reader, hands down.

But it’s hard to know exactly how popular it’s gotten. Feedburner doesn’t track it yet, so we can’t compare the subscriber numbers to other readers. We’ve noticed a significant jump in referrals from Google Reader, though. Enough to suggest that it is as large or larger than Bloglines already.

Hitwise says different. In a post tonight comparing the web based readers, they put Bloglines and Rojo firmly ahead of Google Reader. Generally Hitwise seems to be on the money, but something doesn’t add up.

One semi-obvious explanation is that Google Reader requires far fewer page refreshes than Bloglines. This would decrease their page view numbers, but not visits, which is what Hitwise tracks. We may need to wait until Feedburner starts tracking Google Reader directly as well to triangulate its true popularity.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

MOG, a great music site that somehow we’ve never covered, is a social networking site for blogging music aficionados. It’s a little bit Last.fm, a little bit iLike, and a little bit something else.

The existing MOG service is centered around a bit of software that you download to your PC (Windows or Mac). Like iLike, MOG tracks all of the music you listen to. However, where iLike just monitors iTunes, MOG tries to track all the music you listen to on your computer or iPod.

Each user has their own MOG page (Example - Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie) showing the music they are listening to. Other users can comment on the page, etc (normal social networking stuff). MOG also compares your listening habits to others and suggests new music you might like. Each album and song also has it’s own MOG page, along with links to purchase the music.

This morning MOG is launching a new feature - an embeddable Flash music player, making them a little bit like iJigg, too.

The new player will allow bands and fans to upload songs to their MOG page and syndicate them across the web with a few lines of code. It also provides a new revenue stream for MOG through song tags that link to music purchases on Amazon and iTunes. However, the new feature comes with a few requirements: the player only plays one song at a time, and the MOG post they upload the song to must have some written commentary in it. The new player can only play a single file at a time, fast-forward, and reverse. The lack of a playlist is a bit of a let down.

Here’s the embeddable widget:

The new player is clearly an attempt to further take on the MySpace Music and the other major music communities like myStrands and last.fm. This is a battle on the mind of MOG founder David Hyman, who cites the depth of user interaction, particularly artist-fan interaction, as their main distinction.

MOG has an extensive database linking songs and artists, using Gracenote’s wave-matching and text matching to map the song you play to the one they’ve got on file. The tracker updates your MOG in real time with the contents of your library and what your top played songs are. Each song also has a 30 second sample for your MOG’s visitors.

All the song updates, blog posts, and other widgets, are displayed in drag-n-droppable AJAX boxes. If you don’t want your friends to know you listened to Celine Dion, you are free to manually edit each of the boxes, adding or deleting items.

MOG claims 20,000 users, 200,000 uniques/month and is currently privately funded to the tune of $1.4 million. For a small site, they’ve done a very good job of attracting some big name bands to participate.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Tags: mog, techcrunch, web2.0

Seattle-based Shelfari is a book centered social network that launched last fall. There’s lots of competition in this space, including Library Thing, Listal, Delicious Monster and others. The basic idea is to tell Shelfari all of the books you own, and have an online visual representation of your library. Book fanatics and book clubs are the target audience.

Shelfari isn’t as big as Library Thing (key Library Thing stats here), but it is a better designed site and they have a great looking widget to show off the books you own. Shelfari also allows users to insert their Amazon affiliate ID and make money off of any books sold from people clicking on the widget.

Library Thing sold 40% of itself to ABEbooks last year, so they have essentially taken themselves off the market. An acquisition or further financing would have to be approved by them. But the space is interesting enough that venture capitalists and bigger companies are starting to take note, and Shelfari is a good platform.

There are rumors that Shelfari will be acquired or raise a round of financing soon. Perhaps then they’ll be able to hire someone to write those pesky FAQs.

Shelfari was founded by former RealNetworks employees Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman. John Cook wrote a good launch article about them last year.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Tags: librarything, listal, deliciousmonster, books, amazon

There was a mysterious outage on MySpace this morning. It lasted just 2.5 hours, and the site itself performed mostly as it should. All that happened was this: Anyone trying to add a Flash widget to the site, or show an image via an inserted link, or otherwise embed any sort of code, couldn’t do it. Existing widgets worked fine, but none could be added. And if a MySpace user edited their page, any existing embedded code produced an error.

So far, MySpace hasn’t returned our request for a comment on exactly why this happened. But executives at some of the countless startups that are building their businesses on the back of MySpace, now the largest Internet site, in the hope of a YouTube-like success sure are talking. All off the record, of course. A common comment is “I don’t want MySpace to single us out.”

What they’re saying is that MySpace just made its first move in an upcoming big stakes game of “chicken,” and that a senior exec there is making a career-defining bet that everyone else will blink first. MySpace is still prickly over the YouTube acquisition (they wanted it), and rumors are that they weren’t happy that PhotoBucket didn’t ping them about an acquisition before taking their last round of financing, either. Perhaps the recent $20 million Slide funding was one straw too many. All of these companies rely heavily (understatement) on getting their content onto MySpace user pages.

People have been predicting this for some time, but until now MySpace hasn’t taken any drastic steps to cut these services off. Today may have been a test to see how easily they could cut these widgets out, and to see how people would react. Or, it could have just been a bug.

If MySpace does start to permanently ban widgets and other embedded code, they’ll almost certainly say it is for security reasons. But they’ll continue to push their own competing services, and allow only “certified” partners back in. And my bet is that the certification process may have a fee involved.

Update: MySpace is now unofficially telling affected companies that this was a “developer error” and not intentional.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

SixDegrees is a new site that urges users to donate to celebrity charities and then place a widget on their sites promoting those charities. It’s not explained very well, and it appears to be little more than a wrapper for Network for Good, a really excellent charity social network. It’s also, of course, a shot in the dark to revive Kevin Bacon’s flatlined career.

Users are urged to add a celebrity widget to their site which is tied to a donation page for a specific charity or charities. Donations made through the widget are tracked and the total is displayed in the widget. Users can also create their own custom widget, sans the celebrity photo.

Bacon goes into detail in the video below about the Six Degrees of Separation movie and the subsequent game making fun of the fact that he’s appeared in so many films. However, the connection of all that to this service isn’t really explained, although it can be assumed that since we all are so close in the global community, giving to charity is good.

We’ve created a widget to test it out. Donations go the the Red Cross.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Late last year Google fired a few shots at PayPal when they waived merchant fees at Google Checkout for the rest of the year. Today they hit hard, using their biggest gun to promote the service: the Google homepage.

Google has added a link to Google Checkout along with a $10 coupon to use with Google Checkout merchants. Hitwise predicts we’ll see a big spike in Google Checkout traffic. I agree.

Small merchants overwhelmingly use PayPal to take credit card payments (we use them on CrunchBoard). But Google’s Checkout product is superior in a lot of ways. And the fact that they are promoting it on the Google home page and in search results is a real competitive advantage. Whether it is enough to overcome PayPal’s own big gun - their lock on eBay - isn’t obvious. But everyone loves a good fight, and the word is Checkout has more interesting stuff coming.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.