Mobile service for Yahoo, photo storage space — woo-hoo! — in Net Notes
The ever-expanding mobile computing landscape and online file storage highlight today's edition of Net Notes.
• Yahoo Go 3.0
While some of the folks at Yahoo are keeping a close watch over their collective shoulder for a not-so-friendly takeover by Microsoft Corp., other Yahoos have their focus on an even bigger target -- the world of mobile computing.
With projections of 4 billion (with a "b") mobile phones expected to be in use across the planet by 2010, Yahoo realizes the "third screen" is the place they must be to succeed. I saw a demonstration of the new Yahoo Go 3.0 during the recent 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show and also heard from the company hierarchy of their plans to be sure Yahoo has a large role in the growing mobile world, especially in the United States.
Marco Boerries, executive vice president for Yahoo's Connected Life division, said one of the greatest challenges his company faces is the vast number of mobile companies and devices their services need to work with. There are now more than 250 mobile phone carriers and more than 2,000 devices using many different platforms.
My Palm Treo 680 is one of the devices not supported for Yahoo Go 3.0, but I was told by a Yahoo employee that a fix in the works. Although I can't use the latest-and-greatest version of Yahoo on my smart phone, I do use an earlier version of Yahoo mobile with no complaints. The service is very fast on my AT&T network phone, and I'm perfectly happy not having a music catalog of ring tones at my beck and call.
Yahoo's partners on the Go 3.0 upgrade are MySpace, MTV and eBay. Not too shabby; that trio represents a huge user base and some very diverse content.
"We need to deliver services people want," Boerries said, adding that allowing thousands of developers to create mobile widgets will work to make the new service indispensable.
I hope the Yahoo succeeds and I also hope the company can fend off the Microsoft takeover. There's something about competition that makes things better.
• Memeo Internet Disk
Memeo specializes in making files stick around with their suite of backup, synchronization and sharing software. I'll focus on the Internet Disk portion of the business, which gives users affordable online storage of files and a way to coordinate with the popular photo site Shutterfly.
Users can buy online storage, which allows for access of your files from any Internet-connected computer, for less than $2 a month for 1 gigabyte of storage to about $50 a year for 5 GB of storage.
As someone who shoots thousands of digital photos annually, I'm always looking for another place to store backups. This one looks like a winner.
Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.
TIP OF THE WEEK MobileRJ (www.lvrj.com/mobile) In the interest of full disclosure, I need to tell you my staff is behind the new mobile venture being launched by the Review-Journal. Access the site from your mobile phone (it works from desktops, too), for an ever-growing list of deals and coupons and the daily stories from the Review-Journal staff. Check it out and let me know what else you'd like to see on your third screen. Send me an e-mail with your ideas.
