New browsers have no place like home
Yahoo has put much emphasis on it being the “starting point” for the internet and has been revamping its home page this week to boost that strategy.
But Yahoo’s content is dependent on delivery through browsers and how users configure them, and the latest versions of these appear to erode the notion of a home or start page. Read more
The Browser Wars in beta
Microsoft knows it has a real fight on its hands this time. That is the only conclusion to draw from its highly unusual decision to start advertising downloads of IE8, even though the software is still in beta (the banner on the left was just spotted on Valleywag, leading to this landing page.)
That puts the beta IE8 up against the beta Chrome in an early battle for the hearts and minds of an influential group: the technology crowd for whom any internet service past beta is already starting to feel old hat. Read more
Cisco’s latest acquisition: Tell it to the marines
If you had been asked to guess at a likely acquirer for Jabber, a private open source instant messaging company, the name Cisco might not have been at the top of your list. Today, though, comes news that the network equipment giant has indeed agreed to buy Jabber for an undisclosed amount.
Despite the cute name and sparky logo, there is nothing lightweight about Jabber. It was devised from the beginning as an enterprise-grade presence and instant messaging system. Customers include banks, telcos and the US marines. Read more
Seedcamp: the winners
Seedcamp’s winners have just been announced. They are: Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
