Here’s a good market analysis of blog tools using a metric “Google-share”.Though the metric may not be a fool proof one, it does give an indication of the market direction Links: www.elise.com/web/a/an_overview_of_the_weblog_tools_market.php www.elise.com/web/a/weblog_tools_market_update_february_2005.php

I remember an interview with a top scientist at Intel who was nearing his retirement at the time of the Interview. When asked what he would choose as a field to work in, if he were 25 now. He said categorically that any technology relating to environment protection From then on I have been particularly looking at news relating to businesses in that sphere. VC funding has started to flow in to such businesses , recent one being Pionetics Inc.

I came across Amplify, a tool that helps one to store various interesting pieces of info, images, pdf etc from different websites in a single page called Amp. One it is stored as Amp it can shared with any person using mail, instant messaging etc. This service reminds me of http://www.tenbyten.org. However this is more for an individual customer who can create his own view and share it with others. Probably this can be added as a feature in the future Firefox or IE versions.

Alvin Toffler’s view of the future is wonderfully captured in the book “The Third Wave” If one were to look around the institutions relating to politics, business, technology, communications, technology, etc that were regarded as strengths of human civilization, one can see that they are facing a lot of pressures and forces in the current age. The author describes these institutional structures as Second Wave structures i.e industrial revolution structures and sees their end in the coming years.

A sample list of books which are considered essential for understanding Technology and Business Aspects Love is the Killer App – Tim Sanders Net Gain – John Hagel Intellectual Capital : New Wealth of Organizations – Thomas Stewart Linked – Albert Lazlo Influence : The psychology of Persuasion – Robert B Giald Smart Mobs : Howard Rheingold Designing Web Usability : Practice of Simplicity – Jacob Nielsen