Mike Wagner - Perpetual beta

As I've discussed before, major technological drivers behind Web 2.0 are web services mashups and AJAX. AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML enables a desktop-like experience and interactivity via a browser. Mashups, on the other hand, allow for web services to actually run over the public Internet. It is no surprise then that these new technologies open the doors to new ideas--and thus new entrants--into the SaaS market. Venture Capital money has poured into a number of Web 2.0 startups, and Esther Schindler at IT Bussiness Net reviews three such Web 2.0-based CRM startups in CRM for the Web Crowd. Below is an excerpt: [M]ost of the well-known Web 2.0 sites, such as MySpace.com and digg.com, are inherently consumer-oriented. While a business site can use some Web 2.0 elements, such as location mapping features, few of the Web 2.0 developers are putting their attention on the needs of corporate users. One exception is Customer Relationship Management (CRM), long a standby of ...

RIAs (Rich Internet Applications) are not any different from other software solutions. Developers need to follow some basic User Experience design principles. They have to choose the right design to fit the right context of use against what we know about users' cognitive capabilities. The warning to development teams not to be too enthusiastic with new and cool technologies. This is what initially led to Jakob Nielsen's decree that Flash is "99% bad." Most of the challenges associated with developing RIAs are design issues and not technological problems. How Developers Deal with Design Problems The only way they can know if their application works well for users is through testing. One technique is for development teams to test an existing RIA. How are people using applications such as Yahoo Mail Beta, Gmail, and Zimbra? The best thing about design is that you never have to feel the need to start from scratch. Developers can also leverage new design conventions. T...

On Visiting Wisconsin This Summer - Do it, Then Go Home Posted on 06/17/2004 11:24:06 AM PDT by Peace4EarthNow 1. Don't order filet mignon or pasta primavera at Al's Lodge. It's a diner. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day. Let them cook something they know. If you upset the ladies in the kitchen they'll kick your ass. 2. Don't laugh at the names of our little towns (Sheboygan, Mukwonago, Onalaska, Oconomowoc, Nekoosa, Pewaukee, Wauzeka, etc.) or we will just have to kick your ass. 3. We know our heritage. Most of us are more literate than you. We are also better educated and generally a lot nicer. Don't refer to us as a bunch of hicks or we'll kick your ass. 5. We have plenty of business sense. You have to make a living here, unlike some places where people are allowed to live off parents past the age of 16. Naturally, we do sometimes have small lapses in judgment from time to time, but we are not dumb enough to let someone move to our state in order to ru...

July 25, 2006 , ZapThink BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 25, 2006--ZapThink released a report today showing that demand for Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and more sophisticated user interaction is increasing dramatically. RIAs provide an end user experience that combines the experience that users are most familiar with in desktop and client/server applications, such as rich graphical user interface, responsive performance and highly interactive functionality, with the scalability, distribution, and manageability benefits that Internet applications provide. The report entitled "Rich Internet Applications: Market Technologies and Trends" shows that Rich Internet Applications will continue to gain prominence in the enterprise, with companies spending more than $500 million on RIA applications by 2011. "Users today increasingly demand more from their online user experiences," said Ronald Schmelzer, senior analyst with ZapThink. "The convergence o...

SiliconBeat July 21, 2006 Venture capitalists are going nutty over Web 2.0 companies, pouring $870 million into these companies during the first three months of the year, up from $786 million the quarter before, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Here is a list of all Web 2.0 companies that received venture backing. Download the list here ; note the tabs at the bottom, which show all 2005 fundings, and then 2006 Q1. Scroll to right to see the funding amounts, etc.

Here I was introducing my girlfriend to the state in which I grew up in and what better way to do that than take her to a good ol' Wisconsin Waukesha county fair . Besides the fried cheese, cheescake on a stick, and cream puffs, who could we have been blessed with mainstaging? Yes, that's right. Twisted Sister; and they rocked. What a way to introduce my girl to the state I love. Needless to say I don't think she had developed a Wisconsin stomach yet. Below is a pic of her after two days of traditional foods such as mentioned above but also including fish frys, and brats with krout. At least she doesn't look as bad as Mel Gibson's mugshot photo. Dee Snider is an avid advocate of the March of Dimes. You can sponsor Dee Snider in the Annual Bikers for Babies Ride to benefit the March of Dimes.

By Ronald Schmelzer Document ID: ZAPFLASH-2006712 | Document Type: ZapFlash Question: what do you call two or more architects in a room? Answer: an argument. Now that Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the topic du jour within many such rooms in enterprises today, one favorite argument is over Representational State Transfer (REST) and its relationship to Web Services. Many such discussions degenerate into a religious discussion over which approach is better, but as with most arguments in the SOA space, the reality is far more subtle. Up until now, ZapThink has been happy to stay on the sidelines of this battle, but the time has come for us to weigh in with the ZapThink take on the REST vs. Web Services debate. The Context for REST and Web Services This perennial debate centers on a core challenge of SOA: what is the best way to create a loosely-coupled Service interface? One approach is the style of distributed computing known as REST. REST depends on the Hyperte...

The Onion A U.S. Geographic Survey expeditionary force announced yesterday that it has discovered an unexplored and heretofore unknown land region between the New York and California coasts. Enlarge Image "We shall call this land 'the Midwest,'" said Dirk Zachary, New York City native and leader of the 200-man exploratory team. "And its primitive inhabitants shall be known as 'Midwesterners.'" Zachary and his men discovered the region while searching for the fabled Midwest Passage, the mythical overland route passing through the uncharted areas between Ithaca, NY, and Bakersfield, CA. "I long suspected something was there," Zachary said. "I had flown between the city and L.A. on business several times. The duration of my flights seemed to indicate that some sort of a large area was being traversed, an area of unknown composition." When asked if he had ever looked down from the airplane window during his flights, Zachar...