The Edge Of The Web.

Posted on July 31st, 2007 by Simon Chen

Personally, I think its been a bit quiet on the web.

I know Facebook is all the rage at the moment (and picking up speed like a runaway freight train), Google is defending its recent financials, as well as quietly tip-toeing into the spectrum race (about as quietly as a 300 lb gorilla can anyway), Microsoft is buying up as many online ad companies it can get its hands on and theres somewhat of a renaissance going on at Yahoo!

There’s also a little company called Twitter thats making a splash - I first came across these guys at Web 2.0 Expo earlier this year.

But its all a bit “Business As Usual” sort of stuff. Nothing riveting. Nothing that jumps off the page. Or so I thought.

I was listening to a voice post from John Battelle and he was talking about the preparation thats going on for the upcoming Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco in October.

I’ve talked about this a little bit before, but you cant help but be impressed by the line-up of presenters and key notes. Battelle goes on to state:

“I do this thing with some of the players of the big platform players - Google, Yahoo!, Vicacom, EBay, Microsoft and I’m really going to push with these guys towards the edge. Its not just the new hot start ups or edgy markets or places where the web hasnt caught up yet, but what are they doing about operating on the fringe….”

The voice post is here for those who want to listen.

It got me thinking about a meeting I had late last week. I’ve posted about MyLiveSearch before and the 2 smart brothers behind this new search technology. They’ve had some decent initial coverage.

Well, there’s not much I can share at this stage due to a non-disclosure agreement - but I will say this. I think, just maybe, that these guys might be on to something. I saw a real, live, working demo of the search interface and it took me a while to truly appreciate what they have done.

If successful, MyLiveSearch could well and truly invert the entire search space. Thats if they’re allowed to. The beta version is due out in 3 weeks or so. It might very well change the way you think and “search” on a daily basis.

Will it threaten the Google juggernaut? Maybe not. But it will catch their attention. And the Gabriel boys might just find themselves working from a Mountain View address in the not too distant future.

These sorts of applications are the “edge” that I think Battelle refers to. And its not until you see it first hand, that you truly marvel at the way the web is continuing to evolve.

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