Dylan Hunter

This really is the most disgusting part of a dying tech company. When they can’t actually make a business out of doing what they were supposed to be doing, the investors start getting the IP lawyers to start poking the carcass to see if they can pull a Unisys, (especially on really basic stuff) building themselves an annuity on the backs of those who actually succeed, turning what at least might have passed into history as something to have once been proud of into a future plague.

It really is sad to see this kind of ridiculous IP protection, especially on the Internet, used by bottom-feeders who fail against those who succeed, (especially for this kind of really stupid common sense ones) or, in this case, use as a method to try to force someone with a useful social network asset to buy Friendster out for the patent, when the business itself couldn’t justify. Here’s hoping that the numerous companies that will receive the soon-to-follow flight of C&D threats do what many of us did with those from Unisys - insert them deeply into the circular file.

P.S. Can you tell that these kind of IP issues really get under my skin?

I knew I should have gone to this session from Alexis @ Reddit, (hey, he definitely earned the linklove on that one!) - but I think he stole my material!

A nice primer from Tim O’Reilly on what Web 2.0 is, (at least in concept). Honestly, my favorite part is their "meme map":

Another company shooting for the aging boomer market. On the whole, I like this product concept class in that it’s got a strong, uplifting, celebratory nature to it, if handled well.

To be honest, these kind of things did strike me as initially kind of morbid, but if dealt with in combination with what folks still want to do with the rest of their lives, you’ve got a very nice, postively-oriented combo.

WisdomArk, Inc., developers of a new consumer web service aimed at helping communities of family and friends collaborate in the capture, sharing, and preservation of life stories, announced today that it has received $6.3 million in Series A funding from El Dorado Ventures, Venrock Associates, and Benhamou Global Ventures.

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Another good secondary data point for intuiting product demand, as expressed through easier investing / funding areas, (combining with the Flickr acquisition) or, at least, what someone with access to Yahoo’s pockets _thinks_ is product demand!

One I can get this silly Wiki SW installed, related fundings and M&A will definitely be one of the things in the MR section!

“Adding to its social networking offerings, Yahoo said that it has acquired del.icio.us, a New York-based startup that allows users to keep links to Internet content and access them from any computer on the web. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Del.icio.us will remain in charge of its site, which also allows users to share their favorite links with others, as well as search through other people’s favorites. The company, which has nine employees, has signed up more than 300,000 users since its inception in 2003. Yahoo also has recently acquired social networking sites Flickr and Upcoming.org.”