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Written on March 10, 2008 – 10:11 am
Robert Gaal, co-founder of Wakoopa
The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our '
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One of the podcasts I enjoy the most is The 1UP Show. It’s a series of video’s by the late Ziff Davis Media covering new games and the people who love ‘em. As an entrepreneur focused on the web I do enjoy how they look at innovation as consumers in the gaming space, instead of outside folks analyzing a vaguely defined market. Their latest episode contained a few interviews with up-and-coming small game developers. It struck a certain cord with me that I really felt like sharing with you in this post. Even though The Next Web is not game centric, there’s something anybody can take away from this I think. (more…)
Written on January 16, 2008 – 3:48 pm
Robert Gaal, co-founder of Wakoopa
This just hit the presses: Sun will acquire MySQL for $1 billion. If you’re not familiar with MySQL: it’s the open-source database system that fuels a lot of sites, including Facebook, Google, and this one. From the press release:
SANTA CLARA, CA January 16, 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of the world’s fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1 billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun’s position in enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today’s announcement reaffirms Sun’s position as the leading provider of platforms for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source contributor.
Will this change MySQL as we know it? Mårten Mickos, MySQL CEO, says the culture of the company (mainly open-source minded) will stay the same:
Marten Mickos with The Next Web founders
“Sun’s culture and business model complements MySQL’s own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation — software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation. We are tremendously excited to work with Sun and the millions of members of the MySQL open source ecosystem to continue to deliver the best database for powering the modern Web economy.”
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz also elaborates on his blog.
We’ve had the pleasure of having dinner with Mårten in Amsterdam a few months back. We’ll try and contact him ASAP for a short interview regarding this news. Congratulations Mårten!
Written on January 13, 2008 – 2:53 pm
Robert Gaal, co-founder of Wakoopa
Are you a saxophonist, pianist, trumpeter or a skilled musician falling in a non-rock category? Then consider yourself summoned. The Foo Fighters want to create the first ever user-generated orchestra at their next performance of The Pretender at the Grammy Awards, and they’re using Youtube and MySpace to do so. Actually, it’s one of the few instances where those two platforms work together. The post on the Youtube blog doesn’t link to MySpace though, so don’t get any funny ideas.
Upload your video here and cross your fingers. If you will excuse me, I have an instrument to master. Just like these guys.
Written on December 22, 2007 – 12:44 am
Robert Gaal, co-founder of Wakoopa
Well, you be the judge. Take a look at what CBS money can buy.
Yes, this is not a joke. Last.fm built an actual ball pit in their office, just like XKCD. I think this ranks pretty high amongst the top 10 of the coolest things I’ve- no wait, this is the best thing ever. How long do you think it will take for some reporter to see this as a sign that Web 2.0 has jumped the shark?
All we have at The Next Web office is a ping pong table… That’s it, I’m on strike!
Written on December 19, 2007 – 6:25 pm
Robert Gaal, co-founder of Wakoopa
I like Gmail. I like Remember The Milk. Wouldn’t it be cool if these two played together? The guys at Remember The Milk certainly thought so, so they hacked together some integration using Firefox plugin Greasemonkey. This basically means Gmail now has an awesome todo-list functionality. Not only does it let you add and manage tasks, it integrates with e-mail very easily (star a message and it pops up as a todo-item automatically). Watch the demo video and be amazed.
Now I can go on and on about the coolness-factor of this new app, but I think one thing is very interesting. The way they force Google to notice them. Remember The Milk is one of the best todo-list-startups out there, and has been online for over a year or so. They continue to innovate on many levels, but the main area of feature growth is within Google products. The have integration with Google Calendar, iGoogle, Google Maps, Google Gears, etc. Great for their users of course, but also great to get on Google’s acquisition-radar. Not to mention the easy integration process when they actually get acquired. And really, wouldn’t a todo list be a perfect fit for the Google Apps suite?
Somebody once told me about a startup that moved offices next to eBay so they would notice them, maybe even enough to be acquired. But integrating your product in some companies technology before they acquire you? That’s just great strategy. Or at least a happy accident.
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
