Crenk » portal

Microsoft Soft Launch New MSN.com Home Page

Steven Finch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:49:54 +0000

It has been reported that MSN.com is rolling uot a new version over time. You can preview the new version at http://preview.msn.com.

I never knew that more than 1/3 of all Internet users worldwide visit MSN every month. 400 million people per month. Thats nearly as good as Yahoo’s 600 million and killing AOL’s 80 million. But still, it’s the most popular Internet portal that no one actually ever goes to.

In the new version everything is a lot cleaner and easier to read. They have integrated Facebook and Twitter nicely and more videos. Additionally, you will notice the simplicity of the Bing search bar which provide no clutter.

Microsoft have also reported that more than half of their monthly visitors use Facebook on a monthly basis, as well as 15% using Twitter. These are the key reasons why these services are added but not much else.

Tweet Portal: Biggest and Best Twitter Links all in one place

Steven Finch — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:29:55 +0000

There are so many places on the net where you can now see the biggest and best links via Twitter. Today we came across a new site that has high hopes, TweetPortal. TweetPortal does exactly what is says in the tin and show the most popular tweets via channels (business, sport, etc).

TweetPortal is great for quickly seeing what is happening in each area via Twitter, but it still has a lot of work to do to be more efficient than the likes of Tweetmeme.

So what does TweetPortal need to improve? Well here are my thoughts:

Design – the overall site design isnt great, plus it is actually quite hard to get a good overall look at what is happening in the world via the home page. More tweets need to shown on the home page in a different format, cause the basic boxes dont really work.
Advertising – Im really not a huge fan of dirty Google adsense ads that ad nothing at all to the design and at the same time seem to cheapen the site quality.
Channels – there is a great list of channels, however when checking out the channels it still only breaks down into a very limited number of smaller channels.

TweetPortal really has a huge amount to do to become a Tweetmeme competitor let alone a key destination for news via Twitter. It will be interesting to see if they take our advice on board and really try to improve the quality and options within their service.

All Your Data Connected Virtually Thanks to PogoPlug

Luis Sandoval — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:38:17 +0000

How many of you have thumb drives lying around with little use for them? Perhaps you’ve got several external drives that you have to keep plugging in and unplugging when you are not using them. This frustrating experience cycles because there’s never been a suitable solution for all this.

If you’ve not checked out PogoPlug, then this little device could be a life saver for all of you. PogoPlug is a device that allows you to plug all of your USB devices to it and via a portal, you have access to all of your data from any computer/laptop in the world.

Before you throw them away, take a look at PogoPlug and keep all your data accessible. The PogoPlug comes in at a reasonable $99 offering easy setup, easy sharing, and the kicker…iPhone access for those needed to access their PogoPlug on the go.

Lycos Europe To Close Its Doors. Is This First Step to Tech Company Closures?

Steven Finch — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:17:29 +0000

There have been a lot of huge companies here in the UK shut down of late because of the economic crisis, such as Woolworths, MFI and others. In the technology world there havent been too many casualties so far. However that being said, it has been reported this morning that Lycos Europe will be closing its doors. A date still hasnt been confirmed but it is rumoured to be before the end of the year.

Lycos Europe, the portal and Web hosting service, said on Wednesday that it has concluded a strategic review process and will shut down operations and seek a sale of remaining assets. The company is separate from Lycos in the U.S., and was launched as a joint venture between Telefonica’s Terra and Bertelsmann.

“As a result of this strategic review process the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Lycos came to the conclusion that the best available option of the company is to (i) strive for a sale of its domains, Danish portal and shopping activities and (ii) to discontinue the portal and webhosting activities,” the company said.

Lycos Europe will also return about $60 million to its shareholders.

What other technology companies are going to follow in the footsteps of Lycos? It tends to be old brands that are struggling to actually build a strong brand in this ever growing environment. My tip has to be on Napster being of the big boys to close its doors very soon!

Is Yahoo Moving Away From Being a Portal Style Site?

Steven Finch — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:30:14 +0000

The blogoscope has noticed that the Yahoo home page has a new shape about it. The design now has the Yahoo logo at the top of the page and placing more of a presence on the search feature of Yahoo. Is this a sign of the site slowly moving away from being a full portal?