SecoBackup to backup MySql

By Vivek | April 27th, 2007 at 02:41 pm ET         

Amazon S3’s figure of 5 billion objects would soon start getting even bigger since at least couple of teams are working on solutions that would use S3 as storage space for MySql database. First is SecoBackup. I had written about SecoBackup few days back when they launched their consumer facing free data backup software that stores data onto S3. Today I had a talk with Ajoy@SecoBackup and he gave me few details about the upcoming release of their new app that would back up MySQL onto S3. Second MySql+S3 tieup is being worked on by Seattle based Mark Atwood. Mark’s offering makes S3 “accessible to MySQL users via a plug-in storage engine”.

While we are on Amazon webservices, checkout another plan that is shaping up to use new clustering features of MySQL 5.x and on-demand computing capacity of Amazon EC2 to create a highly available and scalable service. This would definitely be something to watch for since queries are one of the bigger real reasons that can bring a down site.

All above were just few of the ideas we are tracking among many more people are working on. Amazon seems set to be CDN of Web20.

Another utility search company gets big money :-/

By Vivek | April 27th, 2007 at 01:58 pm ET         

Just like the big funding round for WhiteFence last month, another player in the same space, AllConnect, has raised $15 million in funding. Covestco and Nth Power participated in the funding round. AllConnect’s promise is to make your consumer utility search easier. Partnering with over 30 power companies and other services services providers, AllConnect gets all the data at one place. As in the case of WhiteFence, the question still remains - Why would anyone search for pricing from electricity provider or telephone company when all he has is 1 or atmost 2 options to choose from? I am little lost out here. Okay I get the fact they are trying to push things on to visitors on their site, the company’s foundation itself feels shaky.

PikSpot launches media widget - rate+tag+comment from anywhere

By Vivek | April 27th, 2007 at 01:27 am ET         

Web video industry never sleeps. If you have one team innovating today and thinking they are set for next 6 months, they can be proven wrong pretty quickly. PikSpot belongs to this next league of innovators that is working hard to make media sharing viral. In case you haven’t tried, PikSpot is similar in concept to eSnips. You can upload media, create groups, rate content,…. Although the UI pretty much sucks, PikSpot has added a smart feature - LiveEmbed that compensates for everything else.

With LiveEmbed users can take all the content associated with a user-created group and embed it into their MySpace profile or blog or site. Anyone on the site where the content is embedded can vote, comment, and tag the content. PikSpot on it’s end pushes out the updates to all the sites where the content is located to make sure everyone gets the latest ratings and comments in real-time. After trying out PikSpot for a while, the idea does sound viral that can get more eyeballs to content.

In some ways the embed and playlist functionality is similar to what CozmoTV had launched earlier this year.

Links:
PikSpot

Bizhuddle - Social Networking for SMBs

By Vivek | April 26th, 2007 at 10:31 pm ET         

Launching next month, Bizhuddle will be applying social networking concepts on SMB communities. Now don’t jump to conclusions too fast with ideas like YAWLSNP(Yet Another White Label Social Networking Platform). Bizhuddle’s plans are to get the SMB customers and their service providers interacting with each other. To get the interaction going, Bizhuddle will miz 3 components for it’s service, Huddles, Reviews, and Playbooks, to converge distance between service providers and the businesses who need them.

As you might guess, “Huddles” will basically be the p2p discussion forum. People ask for help or offer help. All the time either side keeping SMB related issues into perspective. Local businesses would get rated and ranked in “Reviews” component of the service. The idea here is to enable aggregation of reviews in a local scope. “Playbooks” at Bizhuddle would be guides from professional service providers, who already have enough SMB related content available but find it difficult deliver the right community. While the longer term goal is to build a UGC site, Bizhuddle will be sourcing content from number of small business associations and counselors to get the initial traction.

From the business model perspective, as Bizhuddle would be providing very targeted and local information, any geo-targeted ad campaigns should perform really well. Would watch how things shape up for Bizhuddle next month.

Links:
Bizhuddle

Orange shoots for £8/month unlimited data

By Vivek | April 26th, 2007 at 04:27 pm ET         

TimesOnline is reporting that Orange in UK is planning to take 3G headon this time around and get itself some more customers. Orange new plan would it’s users unlimited anytime browsing for just  £8/month. Not sure how long we need to pay for $45 for Blackberry network.