Trend Watch: Barry Diller to Buy Ask Jeeves for $2 Billion
Like It's 1999 Dept: By Alice Hill Ok, so what can we learn from today's announcement that search engine Ask Jeeves went for a cool $2 billion? If history is any indicator, I think it means that we are coming around again into territory I remember well. Not convinced. Consider these "new" trends.
Browser wars are heating up again. It used to be Netscape vs. IE, and today's match is IE vs. Mozilla/FireFox. Next up: search engines are cool again. We used to marvel at the speed and power of Alta Vista, and now Google and Jeeves and anyone with a good algorithm is burning up the airwaves. Celebrity blogs have arrived. Back in the day it was "hip" to have your own domain. And of course celebrities rushed to get in the act - from Martha to Ralph Lauren. Today, blogs are the new personal website and here come the celebrities right on schedule.
Today a new CD format was introduced eerily reminding me of the day when music CDs were made into mini CD-ROMs you could run on your computer. They came with lyrics and grainy videos and no one cared. Today, it was announced that a double sided CD you flip over and put in your DVD player will offer music lovers a way to enjoy the music and also watch a video performance. Can you guess where I think this is headed.
Ok..so did I leave anything off? And what does this mean about the future? If I can look into my crystal ball, I predict there will be a new and faster way to get online (calling WiMax, calling WiMax) that will jumpstart more online development. Sony will release a new gaming console that will truly excite everyone all over again (and I don't mean the PSP), and then TV will start doing more tech shows again (calling CNET.) And that is just the beginning.
Like It's 1999 Dept: