… and the web application hosting business cowers in fear. Now, my friends, people are discovering what Google’s REAL differentiated IP is..

Application scaling is a real problem for the managed hosting business unless some software company comes up with a platform/solution that lets them leverage their existing computing infrastructure. This is allegorical to, and is probably as big an opportunity as, SAN and NAS a few years ago … big incumbents like EMC and Network Appliance with totally vertical solutions (Google and Amazon in this case) competing with guys using software and off-the-shelf hardware (the hosting companies licensing the wares of some as-yet-non-existent software company).

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Thanks to AOL, Instant Messaging is now an ecosystem. This morning they announced OpenAIM, effectively a programatization of the OSCAR protocol, AOL’s long-since-reverse-engineered network interface for Instant Messaging. This effectively legitimizes what has become common practice — hacking IM for fun and profit. Both Adium (for OSX) and Meebo use the open-source libpurple library to access the various Instant Messaging networks. At my insistence, EQO implemented this as well.

That AOL is now embracing, rather than oscillating between pretending they don’t see and vaguely threatening to block and/or sue third party developers leveraging and enhancing their Instant Messaging platform is a huge leap forward — both for the third-party developer community and for AOL and AIM themselves. This should not be considered to be a strategic advantage for AOL: I would hope that this should cause YahOo and MSN to follow suit.

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Last week, Ian presented at New Media BC’s Fusion Forum, an event which played matchmaker between investors from both sides of the border and startups from all across the country. Like our earlier pitch at the Canadian Financing Forum, this gained a lot of attention and notoriety for the company. We were edged out of first place by game-maker HotRocket who won a free trip to San Francisco to pitch some Valley VCs. Still, second place is no slouch. Thanks to the investors and media who voted for us!

Last week, Weston Demo’ed Pulse, our Facebook Music Reccomendation App (and soon other stuff) at DemoCamp in Vancouver. You can check out the video on our Pulse web site, thanks to local Tech Tsar Bruce Sharpe, who video’d and cut together a nicely produced experience for your viewing pleasure.

People always ask me who we compete with, and I have become accustomed to unsheepishly responding with “Google”. That’s not to say we’re trying to topple the 800-lb. gorilla, mind you, but anyone who’s in the Personalization business and Recommendation Engine development world ultimately has to concede that the most likely generic player in this category is indeed GOOG.

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This almost escaped our gaze, but last week Something Simpler (that’s us!) made RocketBuilders‘ 2008 “Emerging Rockets” list, along with 49 other companies from the Web, Cleantech, Biotech, Wireless and IT industries. According to their site:

“The Emerging Rockets list profiles technology companies from multiple technology sectors with great potential for investment and market breakthroughs in the coming year. Both lists are predictive of future success making them unique in approach and unique in value for our business audience.”

In our investor presentation, which I gave a version of a few weeks ago at the Canadian Financing Forum, I [almost] jokingly use the phase “Web 3.0″. Originally it was intended to inspire Marc Canter to rush the stage and force the organizers to call security, however the audience seemed nonplussed by such a bold pronouncement and I was almost disappointed that my presentation was allowed to proceed unheckled.

It was a nice way to tie a bow around a new kind of movement. And despite peoples’ resentment and guffaws, back-handed sneers, and general griping the phrase is starting to get thrown around more liberally. Whereas Web 1.0 was defined simply as “the Web” and whereas Web 2.0 was defined within the tight little circle surrounding Tim O’Reilly, what Web 3.0 means will be negotiated out in the open. For now, Web 3.0 seems to be all about context and personalization.

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Back before we all went to big box stores to fulfill just about every need (material and otherwise) we trundled a few blocks away to a corner grocery, hardware store, or butchers’ to pick up our consumables. Growing up as I did in Vancouver, my mother used to haul me every few days to Vancouver’s Chinatown where we’d waltz into the world-famous Dollar Meats. What does Dollar Meats have to do with Relevance Engines? I’m afraid I’ll need some more of your time to explain.

Over the years, the staff there came to know my mother and I, and would offer me all manner of BBQ pork and other delicacies which I have long since absorbed into my regular diet. The woman behind the counter, despite her poor English and the frenetic pace in the store, always knew what my mother wanted and often recommended other interesting flavors and offered samples. She knew us, she always was friendly, and she always gave my mom new ideas for her cooking without being too pushy. Despite their generally abrupt speaking style, visiting the staff at Dollar Meats felt less like an errand than it did a weekly adventure. Read the rest or post a comment »

Have you read “The Tipping Point“?  Many of us have.  The growth of sales of the book itself is an example of the idea it attempts to illustrate:  ideas can spread like wildfire when they capture a zeitgeist or purport to solve a common problem.  It’s a book that contains many great ideas, and provides a pretty interesting layman’s summary of the concept of memetics.  Memetics is a concept I spent way too much time studying in University, and which has moved from circles of furry-browed academics and into popular culture since the book’s publication because many people want to “get rich quick”, and almost as many have experienced failure when attempting to put the lessons of Tipping Point into practise.  (more…)

VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwire - January 21, 2008) - Something Simpler, a leading developer of vertical search and content matching technologies, is pleased to announce that it has received the “Best Early Stage” award at the 11th annual Canadian Financing Forum held in Vancouver, B.C. on January 16. The Forum is a respected resource for technology entrepreneurs and North American investors who seek to recognize and facilitate partnerships with companies based in Canada. Read the rest or post a comment »