metarand

It’s High Time For Blogging To Embrace Social: Digital Life Aggregation

I totally agree with Om Malik’s prognostication about blogs embracing the social, lifestreaming features of services like Dopplr, Friendfeed and Twitter.

Om was writing in response to Six Apart’s release of Moveable Type Pro:

Six Apart is making the right move, for it is time for blogging to evolve…blogging is not just an act of publishing but also a communal activity. It is more than leaving comments; it is about creating connections.

He sees your personal blog acting as your digital life aggregator - an aggregation point or hub for all the various lifestreaming services or features you want to utilize wrapped or skinned with your unique identity.

The big question here is around ease of use and mass adoption. MySpace, Facebook and other services have done an incredible job in solving these two points so that anybody can very easily set up a semblance of a personalized digital life aggregator.

Does Moveable Type Pro (and hopefully soon, Wordpress) go far enough in extending this metaphor for those who want to increase their independence and assert their unique identity?

In other lifestreaming news, AOL has acquired Socialthing!, which was still in private beta, and will be integrating it into the People Networks division, alongside AIM, Bebo, ICQ and others.

Y Combinator-Backed Omnisio Is YouTube’s First Post-Google Acquisition

Omnisio has been acquired by Google as YouTube’s first acquisition since they were themselves acquired a few years back. You can listen to the recent Metarand Unplugged audio interview with the video annotation startup’s CEO, Ryan Junee, here - in it we talk about the company and their journey through Paul Graham’s Y Combinator program.

Besides Ryan and his two fellow Aussie co-founders, Paul must himself be over the moon — from woe to go this must’ve been one of the quickest exits for Y Combinator. Atherton-based Omnisio launched in March 2008.

The best part - Ryan is a committed serial entrepreneur and I fully expect we’ll be hearing more great things from him in the near future.

While Ryan did not disclose to us the quantum of the deal, Michael Arrington has surmised it as being in the $15 million range.

Twitter Goes In Search, Finds Summize

I’ve been a big fan of Summize, since this Twitter search engine launched a few months ago. Whenever I’ve wanted to get an accurate snapshot of the conversation on the Twitter microblogging service about a brand, company or person I’ve used Summize.

Twitter has now announced that is has acquired Summize in what will transpire to be a mainly stock-based deal, and the Ney York-based Summize team of five will take up roles at Twitter in San Francisco shortly.

Twitter plans to merge the Summize service and API with their own and integrate it under the Twitter brand. It will be interesting to see if this enhances the Twitter experience or detracts from the Summize search function — I’m hoping it’s an improvement all round.

Borders Sells Off Australia

Borders has finalized the sale of its Australian, New Zealand and Singapore businesses in a transaction worth approximately $104M.

The purchaser, Pacific Equity Partners-owned book retailer A&R Whitcoulls Group Holdings, had to front up with $90M in cash and will also make deferred payments of $14M. In exchange they’ll add 30 bookstores to their portfolio.

Whitcoulls was formerly known as WH Smith Asia Pacific and its portfolio of book and related products companies includes Angus & Robertson, Whitcoulls, Calendar Club, Supanews and a Travel division.

Sugar Gets Sweet With StarBrand Media

Women’s lifestyle blogging network, Sugar Inc has added StarBrand Media to its portfolio.

StarBrand represents a useful ecommerce addition - this LA-based online marketplace enables the purchase of clothes and other items viewers see on TV shows.

[via TechCrunch]

Yahoo Search Now, Facebook Next: Microsoft Readies For Acquisition Integration

According to John Furrier, Palo Alto is abuzz with both Microsoft and Yahoo execs.

His take is that after Microsoft consummates the current deal it has put on Yahoo’s table to acquire their search business, they’ll be wandering down University Avenue to knock on  Facebook’s door (with a multi billion $ check in hand).

I haven’t had this verified, but can see how it would fit into Microsoft’s strategy. They already own a small piece of Facebook and given the social network’s recent bad rap it may be an opportune time for them to swoop.

UPDATE: Robert Scoble is also confirming the rumors swirling. Don’t bother going to the Garden Court Hotel (pictured above) for a sticky beak at what may be one of the most important deal talks ever in the history of the Internet, the meetings are taking place elsewhere.

UPDATE II: The blogging echochamber has been resonating with the continued vibration that Facebook is in Microsoft’s sights. Kara Swisher tells us that Mark Zuckerberg has denied the rumor. But who remembers how the YouTube founders adamantly told us they would never sell.

The beauty of the echochamber is that we also get some sound analysis emerging. Umair Haque makes some good points. I totally agree with him that it would be nuts for Microsoft to make the acquisition and then keep Facebook closed:

…only openness can maximize the value of network effects in this space, because there are no hard technological switching costs creating lock-in.

Facebook may become an integral part of Microsoft’s web plumbing, but to close its spigots would drive down its acquistion value.

Can CBS Phoenix CNET For $1.8 Billion?

After much speculation as to where CNET would end up - they’ve landed in the lap of CBS.

CBS Corp will acquire CNET Networks in a transaction valued at $1.8 Billion. As a result they’ll have access to a greatly enhanced online footprint.

I expect this deal to receive a lacklustre response. CBS will need to do a lot to revive user excitement in CNET.

Other coverage:

Silicon Alley Insider

paidContent

Micrsoft/Yahoo Deal Theme Song: It Ain’t Over Till Its Over

The blogosphere has been abuzz since Microsoft indicated it was walking away from its offer to acquire Yahoo. But as many of us know a deal like this ain’t over till its over - anything can happen, and indications from Ballmer behavioralists is that anything probably will happen.

Taking a read through Michael Arrington’s comments on his colleague, Erick Schonfeld’s blog post speculating on the departure of Steve Ballmer we find:

Wow, Erick. Your poll options remind me of the “so when did you stop beating your wife” jokes. In yesterday’s Gillmor Gang we talked about what, if anything, Microsoft did wrong in the negotiations. Overall it seems they were handled as well as could be expected right from the beginning.

and later,

I mean, seriously, how about “He’s played this perfectly from start to finish”

and it isn’t over yet.

One thing the team at TechCrunch hopefully can agree on, and which they’ve got right is that Yahoo will be having an interesting Monday.

The best comment so far though has to be this parody:

Cox Confirms Acquisition of Adify Ad Network

Cox Enterprises has confirmed that it has acquired vertical online advertising network company, Adify Corp.

Adify provides Build Your Own Network technology, which empowers media companies to increase their reach and boost revenue. Backed by Venrock and US Venture Partners, this Silicon Valley company will become part of Cox TMI in a transaction expected to complete in May.

Cox is a leading player in the automotive media vertical, but has pledged to remain committed to serving the broader media industry through Adify.

Some sources are reporting that the deal is valued at $300 million.

Acquisition time on the web

Idearc acquires Switchboard

Idearc, which publishes Verizon Yellow Pages, is set to acquire Switchboard from InfoSpace for $225 million.

Switchboard provides local online ad solutions and online yellow pages and assists consumers to find and compare local businesses offering specific products and services, while also creating revenue opportunities for merchants.

Yahoo acquires Zimbra

Yahoo has also been on the acquisition trail. In a mostly cash deal, Zimbra will be changing hands for $350 million. The open source enterprise email provider is based in San Mateo and received $30.5 million in venture funding across three rounds. Investors included Accel, Benchmark and Redpoint Ventures.