Rafe's Radar

Start-up Asana promises workplace nirvana

Rafe Needleman — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:29:00 PST

Heavy on vision but light on the details, new workplace apps company emerges from Facebook tech talents.

Originally posted at Webware

Reporters' Roundtable Podcast: Tech biz turkeys

Rafe Needleman — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:20:00 PST

Why is it that as Thanksgiving approaches, when we should be focusing on the good things in our lives, journalists take the opportunity to talk about what's bad? I don't know, but I do know that I'm not immune to the trend.

This week on the Reporters' Roundtable: tech business turkeys! Unlike the Real Deal podcast Thursday in which Tom Merritt and Brian Tong tried to steer you away from turkey products, in this episode, we discuss the turkey business decisions and business models that we've seen in tech over the years.

My guests are both co-workers. First, in the studio, Charlie Cooper, executive editor at CBSNews.com and author of the column Coop's Corner. Before moving to his highfalutin' job at CBS News, Charlie worked in the CNET newsroom as an editor and columnist, and he ran a great daily video podcast called the Daily Debrief.

Dialing in from our Boston bureau is Jim Kerstetter, executive editor of CNET News. Jim is responsible for all the news coverage on CNET, and he covered tech prior to that at BusinessWeek. When I approached him about this roundtable topic, he said, "I think I covered all the bad businesses already."

By the way, right after we stopped recording, and my guests left, the live chatroom pointed out that we had neglected to mention perhaps the most heinously derelict tech business decision in the history of personal computing. They were right. I could tell you what it was--or leave it up for ongoing discussion in the comments, which is what I'm going to do.

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Reporters' Roundtable Podcast 11: Tech biz turkeys ...

Originally posted at Reporters' Roundtable Podcast

Live blog today: Google Chrome OS press conference

Rafe Needleman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:57:00 PST

Starting at 10 a.m. PST, Google plans to reveal technical details and launch plans for its upcoming operating system. CNET's Rafe Needleman will have a running commentary.

Originally posted at Webware

Going rate for acquisitions at Intuit: $170 million

Rafe Needleman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:46:00 PST

When selling a company, it helps to know the buyer's sweet spot. We know Intuit's.

Six Apart releases tiny blog tool, TypePad Micro

Rafe Needleman — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:19:00 PST

New Chroma theme, designed for short posts, available for free under the new TypePad Micro brand.

Originally posted at Webware

Crowdsourced cartography in PublicEarth, OpenStreetMap

Rafe Needleman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:00:00 PST

Can a crowd of amateur mappers create better guidebooks and maps than professionals? Signs point to yes.

Originally posted at Webware

Reporters' Roundtable Podcast: Funny business

Rafe Needleman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:10:00 PST

Humor is serious business. This week, we have two entrepreneurs who prove it: Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network, the company behind Failblog, ICanHazCheezburger, ThereIFixedIt, and other sites you've probably wasted your lunch hours on; and Ryan Dolan, previously in business development at The Onion, now making a go of it with his own business, 30Watt, which sells funny products like those at PrankPack.

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Reporters' Roundtable #10: Funny business ...

Originally posted at Reporters' Roundtable Podcast

YouTube to get high-def 1080p player

Rafe Needleman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:17:00 PST

YouTube exec announces another bump-up in available YouTube resolution. The new resolution, as well as a new full-screen player, will roll out to all users within days.

Originally posted at Webware

Clicker launches for all--watch it

Rafe Needleman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST

This online video directory service is the best TV search engine we've seen.

Originally posted at Webware

Two new remote Webcams: Mole and Vue

Rafe Needleman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:56:00 PST

One is small and simple but fails as a security camera; the other is big and ugly but does it all.