SunRocket’s suddent demise has left it’s 200,000 customers with many questions and few answers. Most are trying to get money back for the annual fee they paid, and in parallel, calling Vonage for a new account. Recent layoffs had indicated that SunRocket was not doing well, but on Monday morning, when subscribers couldn’t make calls, it was clear that SunRocket went down from it’s position as the #2 Internet VOIP provider in the US. Lets will see what SunRocket’s sudden demise means for VoIP market and customers. One thing is for sure, Vonage will gain from this, and will further consolidate it’s top spot.
Category Archives: Internet
Google buys Feedburner
By PureVC
If you haven’t heard already, Google has purchased Feedburner. Fred Wilson gives some color to the deal on his blog. While terms were not disclosed, Fred admits that his firm made about 3 times its money on the deal. That doesn’t sound like a “homerun” but he clearly outlines how rewarding the investment was for him and his firm in terms of personal satisfaction and in learning about the new media feed world.
This transaction confirms what few prescient VCs have known is the next wave of startups that take advantage of new media. Several years ago no one knew what a widget was or what a feed was. We were all using email and looking at portals and webpages. A very small iteration occurred, and that included the “blog”, the “feed”, and the “community”. In the past few years these have taken off and it remains an undercapitalized investment category simply because a lot of VCs don’t understand the power of this space. Continue reading
Video on Google Search Tips
We all, or most of us, use Google for search and information gathering. And there are some advanced ways of using it. Watch this video to learn more.
Microsoft Yahoo Merger??
There is strong rumor that Microsoft and Yahoo are talking on a deal – they did engage in talks a year back but nothing came out. But in the same one last one year, Google has made a few big moves, which can easily make these two ‘other giants’ rethink their original positions. Yahoo has continued to struggle while Microsoft has seen an increasing threat in the form of Google and both companies have seen major reorganizations in their top management.
So some form of teaming might make more sense now and The Wall Street Journal is reporting that “executives at Microsoft and Yahoo are taking a fresh look at a merger of the two companies or some kind of match-up that would pair their companies’ respective strengths.” While talks are reputedly in the early stages, Microsoft is certainly feeling a sense of urgency due to the Google threat. “Short of a wholesale merger, Microsoft could spin its online group into a separately-run Yahoo, in return for a Yahoo stake. Continue reading
Media Book Manuscript – almost ready!
The phrase “the last mile is the longest” must have come from the publishing industry. The manuscript of my book on the facts and trends in digital media has been there at that 90% complete level for a while, and the last 10% is taking much longer time. The book is titled: “The Death of Mass Media”….describing how mainstream media will morph into a large aggregation of individual media publishers via blogs etc. More about it in the coming days.
I am thankful to all those who have given suggestions and pointed out assumptions which needed some more text behind them. The support from the team at BookSurge has been great.
So in the next few weeks, the book should finally go out for publication, and this the place where the feedback will arrive. I wanted the book to also have a blog along with it, so the discusion of all things – good and bad- will happen here. Lets be ready for many critics who will point out various flaws. But that’s okay and welcome. It gives one more chance to answer their doubts! Continue reading