Just as they’ve released their quarterly earnings report, Google sneakily launched a new feature today, “Web History”. Offering a web-based alternative to your browsers similar feature, Web History aims to organize what you visit into a concise and easily browsable archive of data.

The feature appeared for me in a small box on Google’s search results and I’m presuming this is where the feature will see its search integration. I’m too paranoid to install it (privacy concerns) however it looks like an intriguing idea from both ends (user and Google). I’m frequently losing websites that I visited earlier in the day or week; sometimes even months after visiting a page I’ll go back and try to find the page in question. Google is looking to eliminate this problem by creating a navigable database of everything you visit, and by throwing Google’s famous search on top of it they are looking to make your net archeology a bit easier.

A similar feature to this was implemented in Google Desktop, allowing users to search through their web history. It is likely that we will see a merging of these two features in the future to prevent redundancy, however Google hasn’t given any word yet. One feature that has been lost (or as they say, renamed) is Search History, the functionality of which is now present in Web History.

I applaud Google for trying to make users’ lives easier, at the same time though we have to wonder what Google is doing with this data. Storing all the world’s information isn’t the most profitable business and Google has ads to make up for this, however it surprises me that ads will continue to cover for these side ventures that take focus away from the original mission of search. I don’t want to suggest Google as an Orwellian Big Brother, however they must be fast approaching some government organizations with the ability to find out about people!

Ultimately Web History is an interesting addition to the Google suite of tools, however I won’t be enabling it. I’m a bit too paranoid (and too forgetful for those times I may want it disabled).

This week I came across an interesting little app called Mosoto. Mosoto is an instant messager for Facebook — you are able to sign on via Facebook and then see who within your network is online and chat with them. There are lots of other features added on such as file sharing and even video conferencing! I won’t go into the breadth of features since there is a really nice screencast which does a good job of explaining how it works. What I do want to discuss is the impact this will have on the major messaging networks such as MSN, AIM et al.

Is your social network more important than your messaging buddies? There has been little to challenge the dominance of the big IM networks over the years but services like Mosoto are going to do a pretty good job. Mosoto was only possible due to the release of the Facebook API and with the possibility of other social networks creating APIs we could see other sites such as hi5 and Bebo added to the mix. On the other hand, MySpace’s instant messaging client hasn’t done much to dent the popularity of the established IM services; but then again, there is a difference. MySpace created their own proprietary IM client whilst Facebook is relying on independent developers to use their API to create such services. As a result I think that features built around Facebook will be far more compelling since quality will rise out of competition between developers trying to create the best new services.

If Mosoto and others succeed in making instant messaging mainstream on your social network, the likes of MSN, AIM and Yahoo Messenger should wonder where their futures lie.

Today, the Gizbuzz team had the opportunity to interview Dave Hoff, the co-founder of IMified - a new service that’s taking the internet world by storm. The premise is simple; take popular web applications (Remember The Milk, Basecamp, Salesforce, etc.) and break them down so they can be used through popular instant message networks.

We spoke with Dave about all sorts of things: what IMified is, the challenges faced, the instant messaging interface, APIs, and more. It’s a great service with a lot of potential and we got an interesting look into the early stages of what may well become a very influential startup.

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Stock markets slipped across the world today, probably fuelled by a drop in China’s Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq (the NY technology SE) has slipped just as all the others have, raising the possible question of a Web 2.0 bubble burst, brought about by other economic factors. Since the question ‘is this a bubble?’ is asked (or answered) by someone just about everyday in the tech blogosphere, I thought this would be a good opportunity to take a look at what might happen from here, using some common-sense economics.

In order to work out if we will see a bubble, we need to take a guess at what this stock slip means for the rest of the economy; this is either a correction of stock prices which were becoming slightly over-optimistic, or it is a more sinister economic downturn.

In the first case, there will be little or no impact on Web 2.0, because private equity is over-funded at the moment anyway, and they want to spend that money. If other areas of the economy, such as advertising and consumer spending, are doing well, then there is no reason why web companies shouldn’t continue to succeed. Therefore venture capital will continue to be available, and companies will continue to succeed.

However, in the other option, there could be a significant impact. Crucially, if the advertising market is hit (which can be one of the first cuts companies make if they are short of cash) then monetisation for much of the Web 2.0 sector becomes much harder. Companies will also have less cash to make acquisitions. Therefore, in a situation when it is difficult for Web 2.0 companies to succeed, the good venture exits (such as that seen with YouTube and Skype) will not happen because a) the companies won’t be making any money, and will have little prospect of making money, and b) no-one will be able to afford them anyway. In this situation, we could see a ‘bubble burst’, although it will be far less dramatic than that seen in 2000.

We’ll have to watch over the coming weeks to see what happens; I’m fairly hopeful that this is just a recognition by the markets that they were getting a little too excited. Given that the economy is inevitably cyclical, it seems much healthier to have mini booms and mini busts with sustained net growth than enormously successful booms and devastating busts.

Google Finance is the best place to get stock prices for the US stock exchanges. Unfortunately they don’t display the FTSE (the UK index), so you have to use Yahoo Finance for that.

Google’s email service Gmail is in trouble in Europe - or its name is at least.

In the UK, already a trademark dispute means that all new signups get @googlemail.com addresses instead of @gmail.com, and the branding on the actual webmail interface mentions ‘Google Mail’ instead of the shortened form.

According to this report, however, a German entrepreneur, Daniel Giersch, who offers an email service called G-mail is trying to battle Google in the courts to stop using the Gmail name.

However, Mr Giersch is now apparently taking the fight to the EU courts, meaning a judgement in his favour could have repercussions for all EU member states.

The current situation, for the UK at least, is that people who signed up before the name change retain @gmail.com addresses, and new signups get @googlemail.com. Sending email to both domains currently gets through to the right account.

However, it’s not clear at this stage whether this legal battle might cause Google to be forced to move all users residing in EU countries over to a Google Mail address, or if it has more potential issues.

This certainly must be a nasty headache for Google, not to mention Mr Giersch’s service and the confusion Gmail and G-mail must cause to him.

“FreeNation Foundation is the name of the organization we are attempting to form with the idea of starting a new nation.” With that sentence, GhostOutlaw, a member of the FreeNation Foundation, began an interview we held this past Thursday. I wasn’t only interviewing GhostOutlaw though, several others were in on the fun (namely Dpx and Democritus, both established members of the FreeNation community), and many more were watching and contributing their answers to my questions in another IRC channel.

The subject of the interview was the project to found a nation on the ideals of a free culture. The effort has been dubbed the “FreeNation” project, and already has gained support from a wide community that spans the globe. Initially created by The Pirate Bay (a BitTorrent tracker) as an effort to navigate around copyright laws, the project has advanced into a fully-fledged redesign of human culture in an attempt to fix the problems that we have faced up until this stage of our existence.

On “core”

“We are forming an organization that is fluid, and has equality through the ‘ranks’. Today I may be head of a group, tomorrow I might be digging a ditch.”

This equality and community building was always in focus throughout the interview. They have good reason too - the FreeNation community had lashed out harshly when a small group of members (”dubbed as ‘core’ thanks to Brokep, Public Relations of The Pirate Bay” said GhostOutlaw) attempted to push the project forward more quickly by creating their own IRC channel which was password protected. Their secrecy and connection to the Pirate Bay lead to confusion and uproar in a week old project.

“The initial starting of core was a few members who found that some of the IRC chat was a little to spammy to actually have a cohesive discussion,” explained GhostOutlaw. “[We are a] ’structure group’ — we are trying to form the skeleton or structure to allow us to achieve our goals,” added Democritus. “The idea is that when we CAN handle the huge influx of interest, we will actually be able to accept those into our community and give them JOBS!!!”

No one knows exactly what jobs will be available. For now, this “structure group” is focused primarily on releasing a website and rolling out a public relations move that will help encourage increased donations. Although the plans aren’t set in stone as to how the website will be put in place, Dpx said that they “plan to have a wiki and a forum, that much has been decided.”

“But I know it’s island fever and I got it real bad” - The Beach Boys

The overall plan for FreeNation is to buy an island, on which the group will promote a free culture. It was said most concisely by Democritus: “We wish to establish a collective of like minded individuals on an island colony, to provide a place where a new society can be born and raised, to learn from our own mistakes, and those of the past to provide a better future for all of mankind.”

Details were vague, and I was routinely assured that “we are working out what exactly the goals are.” It is understandable - the project has only been around for ten days. Community was stressed as well. GhostOutlaw pointed out that “the end result will be whatever the community wants to be. It’s a community project and a community effort.”

The community was built around the proposition of providing The Pirate Bay a safe haven from copyright laws. When the community took over the reigns, the idea was morphed. As Democritus told me, the idea was now much more focused on creating a new type of society that would promote Free Culture from all angles. When I asked about The Pirate Bay’s connection to the FreeNation Foundation, I was told that “what we have now is a highly evolved form of TPB’s idea. They did want to start a country for servers. They are part of our community.”

Looking forward

The FreeNation Foundation’s proposal is one that will continue to receive accolades and attacks. It’s a dramatic proposal that, whilst not yet successful, shows the power the internet holds in bringing people together. If the foundation achieves their goal, this new open culture will dramatically alter the landscape of culture all over the world.

The plan needs guidance though. As of now, it seems to be in more than capable hands. With the “group-formerly-known-as-core” helping to guide discussion and establish an infrastucture for conversation, the community’s input is relevant now more than ever. “As the community grows, it will shape and change and evolve. We are looking forward to being part of this process.”

Update: Digg here!

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Read more about the FreeNation Foundation by visiting their website and wiki.

The following are my unsolicited and rather unorganized predictions for 2007. Think I’m wrong? Think I’m crazy? Let me know in the comments.

In 2006, we conceptualized Web 2.0. We determined what it was about, the theories and ideas that made it happen. We perfected our AJAX and polished our gradients, creating the beginnings of a social web.

The problem though, was that Web 2.0, generally, did not get past the tech community. Really, does your family share in the joys of social bookmarking? Do your friends obsess over the wonders of The Long Tail? I’d venture to say no. It isn’t anyone’s fault, it is simply that we have built up the architecture for a revitalised internet, but haven’t brought in the general public to experience it.

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GigaOM is reporting that Google may be in talks with UK mobile phone service provider Orange to produce a mobile phone pre-loaded with Google’s software that would allow even easier access to Google’s mobile services on the move.

From the original Observer article:

Their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange’s logo. The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specialising in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod. But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset.

It’s likely that we’d see things like Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and perhaps the Docs & Spreadsheets apps on this phone - but where would this leave Google services on other handsets?

Google already have done some good work into getting their online services into the mobile arena, with Gmail available through XHTML and a Java application for phones and many of their other services having mobile incarnations.

What would this device uniquely offer in that case - a better experience, additional services that haven’t been ported to the mobile platform yet or what?

Google already offers its search engine and other services on mobile phones. It has a partnership with Vodafone and last month announced a broadband agreement with the operator 3. It is working to make youTube, the video-sharing site it bought recently for £870m, easily accessible on handsets. But it is eager to expand in what experts see as a huge potential market, possibly the key to the future of the internet.

Manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola are working to make the mobile internet commonplace. Earlier this year Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice-president of Nokia, said at a product show in New York: ‘In the mid-Nineties I said that if you don’t have a mobile phone you will be making a declaration that you wanted to be outside organised society. People said I was crazy, but now everybody has a mobile phone. Today I’m saying that in 10 years’ time the same will be true if you don’t have the full internet in your pocket.

A spokesman for Google said: ‘We don’t comment on market speculation and rumour, but we are focused on mobile and there’s nothing new in our commitment to that space.’ Orange declined to comment.

Interesting… very interesting.

Redmond-based Microsoft and Utah’s Novell are entering a new partnership based around Novell’s SuSE Linux.

As part of the deal, all future litigation against Novell will be halted, including patent infringement disputes. Microsoft will begin offering sales support and technical support for Novell SuSE Linux, an open source operating system available in several versions, including OpenSuSE (community developed) and SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (Novell developed, includes proprietary applications).

The deal is not final, and may be changed at any time. This appears, however, to dent the plans that business software giant Oracle has had to begin support for Novell competitor Red Hat. Both Oracle and Red Hat stock was down at the time of this writing.

A press conference is slated for 5:00pm EST (now) and more details may be announced. As always, GizBuzz will keep you updated.

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The press conference has begun. Updates follow:

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CrunchGear have the story that the founders of many services including Skype, the P2P file sharing service Kazaa are planning to launch a new peer-to-peer Web TV service which will allow people to share their TV programs (the idea being they will be created by the users) with other users of the service.

The service is currently codenamed ‘Venice’ and will, if we can judge it by the success of previous projects, be very big.

From the original news article:

“This is a system where people with professional content can put it out (on the Internet). And that can be anybody,” said Friis, who currently has “a lot of people” negotiating with TV production companies around the world.

Of course, there is an enormous potential for people to put copyrighted material onto the service, but Skype co-founder Janus Friis did say he didn’t want any more trouble with lawsuits (after Kazaa was extensively used by users to swap copyrighted material).

This is a very interesting move and it has the potential to become quite a popular service, if it can successfully tear people away from the likes of YouTube.

Does that mean they’ve left it too late this time, having let YouTube absorb almost all of the video sharing market, or will there be a market for the peer-to-peer element?