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The more acquisitions, the more product confusion and the less ability for an end-user to figure out if the products serve their needs.

I would add one more thing: get your product into users’ hands.

One of the inherent advantages of open source is that a product is available for download. Some vendors, like Oracle, make their whole SOA suite available for download, whereas other companies, like Software AG, make components available, and still others, like HP and SOA Software, make you pay before you get to do anything.

Over at InfoWorld, Dave Linthicum highlights five things that SOA vendors should know.
1. Make sure your product works.
2. Make sure you know what SOA is.
3. Get wise about the approach to SOA.
4. Don’t sell yourself as “one stop SOA shopping.”
5. Consider the future.

An SOA approach is as much about initial design as it is about refinement. A user needs to be able to try the products out and see if they work for their use-case before they are forced to choke down a massive license fee.

The SOA (service-oriented architecture) marketplace has been a morass of vendor-speak, focused on selling software stacks instead of addressing the core issue, which is how to develop a cohesive architecture that will scale with your organization.

Indeed, as an adult-focused “community” site rather than a social network, Tokoni’s target audience is one that hasn’t caught on to the blogging and Twittering craze, and offers a more Luddite-friendly forum for conversation by encouraging the posting, reading, and discussing of personal stories and experiences. Another site with a similar slant is Gather.

With the U.S. presidential election approaching, Tokoni (which means “help” in Tongan) has partnered with WomenCount.org to provide a forum for women to discuss political issues.

“We created Tokoni to fill the distinct need for an online community where individual stories of life’s experiences have a voice and are valued, and where the collective wisdom of the community is celebrated,” Kazim said in a release. “The growth of social media has enabled people to control how they create, consume, and share content and personal experiences online; however, participation in the social Web is still daunting to the mainstream. Tokoni makes sharing your own story easy.”

Tokoni, a community site for “sharing stories,” has formally launched after nearly a year of public beta. It has taken investment backing from eBay as well as the auction giant’s founder, Pierre Omidyar, and was founded by former eBay executive Mary Lou Song and Alex Kazim, former president of the eBay-owned Skype. Kazim serves as Tokoni’s CEO.

If you’ve been following The Digital Home, you know that I said on numerous occasions that Google needed to bring professional content to YouTube.

Well, it has done just that.

Google announced last week that YouTube will now feature television shows and films from Crackle, CBS (publisher of CNET News), MGM, Lionsgate, Starz, and others. The company claims there are now thousands of shows and hundreds of films available on the site. The videos feature pre-roll ads, as well as in-stream commercials, similar to Hulu. All the content is currently limited to U.S. viewers, but Google hopes to open it up to international viewers in the future.

Though Google has dabbled in professional content via partnerships with Seth MacFarlane and film studios in the past, this is the first meaningful step it has taken to make YouTube more reliant upon professional content. It’s about time.

YouTube has a problem: it’s hard to monetize. In its 2007 filing, Google said YouTube revenues were “not material” to its financial statements. A 2008 Forbes report pegged YouTube revenue at $200 million annually. CreditSuisse analyst Spencer Wang, reported earlier this month that he expects YouTube to incur a $470 million loss in 2009 alone.

Financially, YouTube has been a loser. The reason is simple.

Most advertisers are wary of advertising in YouTube videos because the content isn’t controlled. Would Dove soap really want its ads running in the middle of a 10-minute, profanity-laced rant about political theory from a random user? Would Microsoft want its laptop-hunter ads running in a video railing against Windows? All the user-generated content, while a traffic winner, isn’t regulated. It scares off advertisers.

And that’s precisely why YouTube’s professional content is extremely important to the future of the site. All the shows and movies the section now offers were produced in a controlled environment, so the advertiser knows what it’s getting–if not the exact content, then at least the standards the content was created to. The content was created to fit within decency regulations, and all of it individually targets a specific demographic. Armed with that reassurance, advertisers are now more likely than ever to invest in in-stream ads on YouTube.

But user-generated content is still important. It attracts 100 million viewers per month to the site and it will probably be the main source of traffic to the professional pages. For once, YouTube’s user content will help Google generate meaningful revenue.

As its collection of films and shows grows, YouTube will become the central hub for video entertainment on the Web. I can go to the site to see a favorite music video or to check out a funny clip a friend recommended. After I’m done viewing that, I can skip over to the professional content to check out an old episode of “Alf” or “Dirty Jobs.” With this single announcement, YouTube has become an even more attractive site.

But YouTube’s professional content isn’t without its flaws. There are few major shows on it today, and most of the movies are awful. “Alf” and its ilk are just the start, though. I think most people will find one or two commercial shows on YouTube worth watching.

Meantime, Google can fulfill its promise to attract more advertisers, bring in more shows, and turn YouTube into what I think it could become: the top destination for all the best video on the Web. In the process, I think we’ll see more advertisers than ever flock to YouTube, helping it inch toward profitability.

Related: What does Hulu offer that YouTube doesn’t?

Check out Don’s Digital Home podcast, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

(Credit: Panasonic)

That price puts it in direct competition with inexpensive dSLR models like the Nikon D60 and Canon Rebel XS; it’s a bit smaller compared to those, but lacks an optical viewfinder, which is a significant disadvantage. And it’s significantly more expensive than more compact, fixed-lens enthusiast competitors like Panasonic’s own LX3 and the Canon PowerShot G10. As yet, performance is a big unknown.

This is shaping up to be quite an interesting model. It’s slated to ship next month.

When Panasonic announced its first interchangeable-lens camera, the Lumix DMC-G1, it said the camera would cost less than $800. Today it’s official: $799.95 with the 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 (28-90mm equivalent) lens.

The other factor to take into account is lenses. It’ll take a while for a big aftermarket to develop–if a sizable one develops at all–until which time new lenses for the G1 and Olympus’ model will likely be few and far between. Costwise they seem competitive, however; for instance, the second lens offering from Panasonic, Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f4.0-5.6 is slated to cost $349.95, though street prices will probably be a bit cheaper. In comparison, Canon’s 55-250mm lens commonly costs about $275-$300. I consider that the same ballpark.

(Credit:
Microsoft)

Among other things, Microsoft asserts that:

Microsoft envisions ASA as a tool companies will deploy to help reduce costs associated with call centers or internal help desks. The way it would work, a user engages in a chat-type session asking questions in conversational English. The system then would tap into a knowledge base to find the most fitting answer.

But Microsoft is now about to take another stab by rolling out an updated natural language search tool it acquired when it bought Colloquis in 2006. The company this week is giving private demonstrations of Automated Service Agent, or ASA, a hosted online customer service technology, which makes its official debut next month.

• ASA will offer direct answers to even the most technical questions.
• The service will be available 24/7.
• Microsoft’s Knowledge Modules will include
terms and phrases germane to different industry niches.
• ASAs can serve as a training tool for new employees or for retraining existing staff.

Over the years, Microsoft has taken different approaches to offering online support. Some of you may remember Microsoft Bob, a bizarre software desktop replacement whose personal guides were supposed to offer personalized help.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, the product went nowhere and is now better-known as the answer to the trivia question, “What was Melinda French’s claim to product fame?” (Of course, Melinda French later went on to fame and fortune as Mrs. Melinda Gates.)

“We see this as offering a lot of advantages over FAQs or keyword searches,” said Clinton Dickey, director of Microsoft’s Automated Service Agents. “When you have an FAQ, a customer still has to go through the a long list of possibilities to get the answer–if they get it at all. We see this as driving self-service on the Web where ASA can provide very particular answers. The beauty of ASA is that it can ask questions in natural ways and will link answers from a knowledge base that expands over time.”

Most computer users are more familiar with the Clippy, the office assistant Microsoft put into Office 97 that offered advice to user queries. The feature was subsequently panned by Smithsonian magazine as “one of the worst software design blunders in the annals of computing.”

At this point–and for the foreseeable future–Dickey said Microsoft does not intend to use ASA’s technology in a consumer search application. That’s likely the smart move. Routine in-house questions that go unanswered waste time and money. Any technology provider that can reduce costs at call centers or other internal support centers will find no shortage of takers among the corporate set.

Here’s a clever site that can help you sock away money for purchases you’re hoping to make some day: SmartyPig. You tell it what you’re saving for, how much it costs, and when you want to buy it, and it will tell you how much you need to save each month (hard math, that). Then, if you let it, it will automatically deduct that amount from your checking account each month until you make your goal.

SmartyPig is the weirdest online savings account I’ve seen, but it appears benign. It brings a disciplined approach to savings to consumers. And if SmartyPig isn’t right for you but you think it might be good for someone you know, you can–surprise!–buy the other person a gift card to SmartyPig itself to get them started on the service.

See also Some Notes on SmartyPig in The Simple Dollar. And Leverage: A bank for your gift cards on Webware.com.

SmartyPig is not monetary rocket science. It’s really an exercise in retail financial packaging. The company works exclusively with Iowa’s West Bank (chosen by the founders due to its proximity to their homes and its reputation, I was told). There’s nothing wrong with this at all, but SmartyPig is not a service you could plug into your existing Bank of America account if you wanted to.

It pays interest, too (currently 4.3% APR). Plus it lets other people contribute to your fund–if you like gifts of the monetary kind. There are widgets for social site profile pages. And in a final twist of clever business, once you reach your goal, you get your money in a Mastercard debit card or you can take payout in a gift card. The gift card option will get you an extra bonus, up to 5%, depending on the retailer. SmartyPig buys gift card dollars in bulk, and at a discount, so the company makes additional revenue every time someone wants their money this way.

Make your savings goals public.

And there are some odd restrictions: You can’t take your money out in cash nor have it transferred to another bank for free. Withdrawing by check costs $25. You can, though, close your account at any time and get the debit card. Co-founders Jon Gaskell and Mike Ferrari told me they are looking at other withdrawal options. But, as Gaskell told me, the symbolism of the gift card or the debit card is important to SmartyPig customers. “”People like the idea of having the goal and sticking to it, and not using SmartyPig like a bank bank.” The service makes it easy to save and easy to spend the savings on what you’ve saved for, but not quite as easy to shovel your savings back into your general checking account. That’s by design.

On Monday morning in Los Angeles, attendees at Microsoft’s E3 press conference heard
Xbox head Don Mattrick “declare” that that video game console would win the so-called next-generation console war.

Nintendo’s Wii is now said to be the top-selling next-generation video game console in the United States, having reached 10.9 million units sold during the month of June.

Of course, in an interview Tuesday, Shane Kim, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of strategy and business development for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business unit, told me that Mattrick’s declaration applied only to the battle between the Xbox and the PS3. Mattrick himself didn’t make any such clarifications during the press conference.

According to Nintendo, NPD’s numbers show that during June, the Wii hit 10.9 million units sold in the U.S.

In May, Microsoft announced the Xbox had hit 10 million units sold first, a milestone the company said has historically been reached by each console generation’s eventual winner. And in its quarterly earnings release Thursday, Microsoft said it had sold 1.3 million Xboxes during the last quarter. But it’s been clear for some time that the Wii is outselling both the Xbox and Sony’s
PlayStation 3 on a monthly basis. And given that the Xbox has been out a full year longer than the Wii or the PS3, Nintendo’s news is all the more noteworthy.

Additionally, Microsoft and Sony both surely have their own positive spins on NPD’s numbers, though I haven’t gotten those missives yet. Nintendo wins this round, at least, for quickest NPD-related press release (that I got, at least).

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

But if the latest sales data put out by NPD mean anything, Microsoft’s road to victory could be a little harder. That’s because, according to Nintendo, the
Wii in June surpassed the Xbox 360 to become the best-selling next-generation console in the United States.

Either way, you have to tip your hat to Nintendo for the success of the Wii, and for the console’s having reached the top spot in the U.S. For now, at least. Who knows what the next press release will say.

And in Kim’s defense, it’s true that most people think of the Xbox and the PS3 as being in a different category of video game console than the Wii, despite all three often being lumped together.

In a recent study from Forrester Research, analysts found that Dell and Hewlett-Packard provided customer experiences that were well below par, while Apple came out on top.

The Windows 7 experience

Windows 7’s taskbar is a game-changer. When you roll your mouse over an icon in the taskbar, thumbnails of every open instance of the application will be displayed. If you’re unsure which window you want to open, you can hover your mouse over a specific thumbnail and it will be brought to the front in full size. It’s a simple addition, but it makes finding open windows much easier. More importantly, it enhances the consumer experience.

Whenever you perform a clean install of an operating system, it’s fast. Windows XP was snappy when I installed it on my machine and so was Vista. But after using Windows 7 and comparing it to a clean install of Vista, I found that Windows 7 booted faster than Vista. It also opened applications quicker than its predecessor. The difference wasn’t major, but it was noticeable. So noticeable, in fact, that I think consumers will be happy with what they find.

“I do think Microsoft’s software has a bit to do with it,” Temkin wrote. “Consumers don’t distinguish problems with the operating system from problems with the PC manufacturer. Bottom line, the Windows ecosystem needs an extreme customer experience makeover.”

When I used Windows Vista, one of my biggest complaints was the almost constant annoyance from User Account Control. It was everywhere. “Do you really want to open this application?” “Do you really want to download this program?” “Do you really want to sit that way? It might hurt your back.” It ruined my experience.

But Windows 7 is different.

Aside from compatibility issues, one of my biggest complaints with
Windows Vista was its design. Microsoft tried to be too fancy with the look and feel of the OS instead of focusing more on its ease of use. It wasn’t an improvement over XP and it ruined my experience.

According to the study, which asked 4,500 U.S. consumers to rate the usefulness and enjoyability of products, Dell received a “poor” rating in overall customer experience. The company mustered a “very poor” when it came to the customer’s enjoyment using Dell products. HP’s experience was rated as “poor,” while Apple led the way for computer manufacturers with an overall “good” experience.

Bruce Temkin, the study’s author, wrote that while PC manufacturers have some work to do to enhance the consumer’s experience, Windows also contributed to the low marks.

How much higher is the question. Improving a consumer’s experience goes beyond installing better software. The hardware needs to follow suit. Though the specs in most PCs are on-par with competing products from Apple, PC manufacturers need to be aware that part of Apple’s appeal is in the design of the product. And although HP and Dell have tried to improve the design of their PCs, Macs are still the most attractive computers on the market.

And isn’t that all Dell and HP really need? If Temkin is right and most consumers cannot distinguish between the software and the hardware, won’t an improved Windows help enhance their overall experience? And won’t that, in turn, help PC manufacturers score higher on the survey?

There are countless other areas where Windows 7 provides an improved experience over Windows Vista. But those three examples illustrate something we can’t lose sight of: using Windows 7 is more enjoyable than using its predecessors.

But in Windows 7, the UAC popped up just once or twice over the course of a week. The annoyance was gone. And, once again, it improved my experience.

But as these companies try to figure out how to turn things around, it’s Windows, that very OS that’s currently bringing them down, that will help them break out of their decline.

I agree with Temkin. But I also believe that Windows 7 is the single Windows OS that can improve the consumer’s experience.

Check out Don’s Digital Home podcast, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

In July, the Massachusetts court had requested that ConnectU present more concrete evidence to support its case, indicating that the would-be social-networking site didn’t have enough of an argument against Facebook. Facebook, meanwhile, argued that ConnectU’s claims were moot and requested that the case be dismissed.

“We hold that the jurisdictional claim in the amended complaint warrants full consideration and constitutes a viable hook on which federal jurisdiction can be hung,” the court document read. “Because this holding is at odds with the conclusions reached by the court below, we reverse the order of dismissal and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Earlier on Monday, reports surfaced that Facebook may be close to a settlement on its longstanding legal dispute with former rival ConnectU, after several years of dismissals, appeals, and general unpleasantry. But a recent court ruling suggests that the timing may not be entirely random: a judge in a U.S. court of appeals ruled that ConnectU was allowed to reinstate its case, reversing Facebook’s request for dismissal.

Documents filed last Thursday from ConnectU vs. Zuckerberg et al., which has been handled in a Massachusetts district court, reveal that a senior circuit judge in the court of appeals opted to allow ConnectU to reinstate its case.

But in the documents filed Thursday, the appeals court decision ruled clearly in favor of ConnectU. “Although the defendants have advanced other arguments, those arguments are either unavailing, or inadequately developed, or both,” the ruling read. “We reject them out of hand and, for the reasons elucidated above, we reverse the order of dismissal.”

ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra had originally filed suit against Facebook’s founders in September 2004, claiming that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had nabbed their code and business plan while employed as a programmer for ConnectU when all four were students at Harvard. Also named in the suit were four early Facebook employees as well as the Facebook corporation itself.

Current, which filed for an initial public offering in January, now operates Current News, where users can vote on the news Digg-style and then see the top stories incorporated into an hourly news show on the cable network. Digg, meanwhile, remains the subject of acquisition rumors on the part of just about every major tech and media company around.

It’s one of the juicy tidbits detailed in BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy’s book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0, which hits bookstores on Thursday. In an excerpt posted to TechCrunch, Lacy writes about how executives Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose turned down a $100 million offer from Current in 2006 because they had, as TechCrunch paraphrased, “issues with control going forward.”

Plenty of would-be buyers have been named for social news site Digg, but one we haven’t heard much about: Current Media, the cable and Web news channel that was launched by former vice president Al Gore.

The thinking is consistent with what founder Rose told CNET News.com in February when asked about selling his company. “I’ve had several friends that have been acquired by the Yahoos and Googles of the world, and while there is some upside in certain things, for the most part, it slows things down,” Rose said at the time. “You can’t get a product out the door fast enough.”