web 2.0

New bird coming to Angry Birds

SAN FRANCISCO--Andrew Stalbow of Rovio, after revealing some stats on the success of Angry Birds at the Web 2.0 Summit here, let drop that a new bird is coming in the October update of Angry Bird Seasons.

Stalbow did not say what the bird would be, just that the game has been providing hints to users in recent updates and ancillary products. A slide he displayed of the Mighty Eagle bird showed a small, duckling-like yellow bird in the corner, which may be the new bird. But more on this as it develops.

As for those stats, Stalbow reeled … Read more

Foursquare moves toward ditching check-ins

SAN FRANCISCO--Interviewed at the Web 2.0 Summit, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley talked about how the location check-in app is becoming more passive.

"One of the big hurdles we have is that you have to think about using it," he said of Foursquare. "If we can lower that barrier, we can juice the experience."

That's why the company recently launched the Radar feature, which, once you turn it on, collects info about where you are, the direction you're going, and so on. It'll tell you if people you like are nearby, and "… Read more

HP's confusion is Dell's gain, says Michael Dell

SAN FRANCISCO--Hewlett-Packard's uncertainty and confusion is unquestionably an advantage for Dell Computers, according to the company's founder and CEO Michael Dell.

"It's a great opportunity for us to describe to our customers and our potential customers our commitment to what we do, [and] investments that we're making within inside our business," said Dell while speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit on Tuesday morning. He added that Dell Computers has approximately 100,000 partners, and that pool is growing very quickly.

"You think about the enterprise customers. These are customers that think about … Read more

Twitter CEO: 250 million tweets a day--now what?

SAN FRANCISCO--Twitter CEO Dick Costolo took to the state of Web 2.0 Summit here tonight and, in a far-reaching conversation, talked bluntly about the 5-year-old company's goals.

"We have lofty ambitions," Costolo said in a conversation with John Battelle, whose company, Federated Media, sponsors the conference. "We want to be part of the fabric over every communication in the world, and we think we can reach every person on the planet."

That goal, he said, makes Twitter distinct from what Facebook and Google+ is trying to achieve, which he described as social "as … Read more

UberMedia's new social platform chimes in

Serial entrepreneur and investor Bill Gross is "completely smitten" with social media.

"The way it's connecting the planet, it's a new connective tissue for knowledge sharing," he told CNET during an interview last week. "It's really, really unbelievable."

As Gross sees it, the only hurdles today's social networks face are relevance and monetization. Not surprisingly, his latest social offering, dubbed Chime.in, is an effort to address both issues. Chime.in will formally launch today at 11:05 a.m. PST--timed to coincide with a live demo by Bill Gross … Read more

Yahoo's Levinsohn: What problems? Let's talk about U2!

SAN FRANCISCO--Considering all that's going on with beleaguered Yahoo, it's impressive that Ross Levinsohn even showed up here at today's Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

Not surprisingly, Yahoo's executive vice president for North America didn't say much about the hot-button issues in his interview with John Battelle, the founder and CEO of Federated Media, which puts on the conference: Will the company sell itself, for instance? And who will replace Carol Bartz, whom the board fired in September after a disastrous 2 1/2 years as CEO?

But Battelle tried.

Is Yahoo buying AOL? … Read more

Sean Parker: Spotify to finish what Napster started

SAN FRANCISCO--Sean Parker's interests in revolutionizing the music industry, so to speak, are well known from his early days as a co-founder of Napster. His current efforts on this horizon are focused on Spotify.

"These historical limitations that defined the dynamics of the record business no longer any sense," said Parker, speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit.

Parker described Spotify as an "attempt to finish" what he started with Napster, being that it is a "dream of frictionless-free, tiered service that enables music sharing."

"We're all trying to figure out … Read more

The 404 800: Where we're skipping straight to Web 5.0 (podcast)

We're wrapping up this week of 404 episodes with special guest Jason Fischell, Vice President of Product for CNET.com. We're taking questions from the chatroom about Jason's history with CNET, his opinions on the current state of consumer technology, and the possibility The 404 replacing Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men.

The 404 Digest for Episode 800

Rumor: Next Nintendo console to debut at E3 2011.

Taco Bell testing taco shells made out of Doritos. Is it too soon to recreate the Japanese earthquake disaster in a video game? Follow Jason on Twitter.

Episode 800 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

A break in the clouds at Web 2.0 Expo (photos)

It was a beautiful week in San Francisco, and while conversations about the future of the Web were happening inside Moscone West at the Web 2.0 Expo, some folks were taking advantage of the sunshine to work from the park, tinkering with the data cloud beneath a sunny, cloudless California sky on what turned out to be one of the first warm days of the year.

Here are a few of the cooler, springtime shots I found from in and around the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco this week. (Click here to see a slideshow of photos from the conference itself.)… Read more

Time to hit reload on Web 2.0 Expo?

SAN FRANCISCO--The Web 2.0 Expo this week was missing something. It might've been Tim O'Reilly, the founder of conference co-producer O'Reilly Media and a well-regarded, if slightly granola-inclined, industry sage. He was out of town; gone from the program was his traditional opening keynote, a quick but poignant take on the state of the industry.

Or it might have been the hype missing from the rather quiet halls of the Moscone Convention Center. A few years ago, it was a must-attend event for industry insiders and a launch pad for new start-ups looking to get onto … Read more