Top 10 Web Tech Stories of 2007
2007 was an eventful year in Web Technology, with the rise of Facebook, some frenzied acquisitions from the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, and of course the iPhone. To round out the year (and put an end to the December lists!) here is a look at what we think were the 10 biggest Web tech stories of the year. They're ordered in terms of technology impact and innovation - however it's a subjective list, so let us know in the comments what you think should be in there.
This post doubles as the final Weekly Wrapup of 2007 -- it's been a great year and all the best everyone for 2008! Here's looking forward to more Web innovation and startup success in '08!
On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs announced at Macworld "three revolutionary new products": an iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. But turned out it was all one device: the fabled iPhone. This is our number 1, because it finally made the Mobile Web real for the influential US market (and the geeks who bought it in America, then took it overseas and unlocked it! cough).
2. Facebook Announces Platform
Much has already been written about this announcement on May 24, but suffice to say that it ushered in a new era for social networks - where outside companies could deploy advanced functionality inside the Facebook site.
3. Google Acquires DoubleClick for $3.1B
On April 13 Google acquired online advertising company DoubleClick, which set off a frenzy of acquisitions in this space - notably Microsoft's $6B purchase of aQuantive. The Google/DoubleClick deal confirmed that online advertising was in a bubble period.
4. Google Announces OpenSocial
At the end of October Google launched OpenSocial, a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web, in a bid to cut off Facebook's momentum with third party developers. Perhaps the biggest part of this news was the world's largest SNS MySpace joining OpenSocial the day after.
5. Amazon Launches Kindle eReader
Despite mixed reviews of this e-Reader device with internet connectivity from Amazon, the Kindle promises to shake up the e-commerce giant's core business model - by delivering books electronically instead of the familiar brown box.
On July 23, eight Democratic presidential hopefuls took the stage in South Carolina -- a crucial early primary state -- for a debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube in which all of the questions were submitted by users of YouTube. The Republicans got their chance in September. In the same vein, 2007 also saw the MySpace/MTV Candidate Forums and the rise of web 2.0 tools in politics.
On Nov 5, Google announced an open-source mobile operating system called Android. This could significantly change the way that Mobile Web applications are developed.
8. Steve Jobs' open letter against DRM
On Feb 6, Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted his Thoughts on Music in the 'Hot News' section of the Apple website. In it he outlined why DRM should be abolished by record companies. And Jobs' pleas seemed to be heard by the record industry, with first EMI and then later Universal and Warner on AmazonMP3 ditching DRM.
Late this year Facebook announced a new advertising system that used retail data collected from its users. But after howls of privacy protests, Facebook had to back off some and make the system opt-in. It's also worth mentioning here another Facebook story that just missed this list: in October Microsoft invested in Facebook at a $15b valuation.
10. Adobe AIR
On June 10, Adobe officially unveiled Adobe Integrated Runtime, or Adobe AIR for short. Formally called Adobe Apollo, it is a cross-operating runtime developed by Adobe that allows developers to create Rich Internet Applications for the desktop. It was a close call between this and Google Gears (the offline browser plug-in), or Microsoft's Silverlight (a Flash-like plug-in) - both of which were also launched in '07.
What have we missed? What were your top Web tech stories of 2007?
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Best of ReadWriteWeb 2007, Editor’s Picks
2007 has been a very busy year for ReadWriteWeb. We started the year with just one daily writer (yours truly!), a couple of regular feature writers (Alex Iskold and Emre Sokullu) and the occasional guest writer. We ended the year with 2 new lead writers and 3 more blogs (more on that below).
Of course we have more plans for expansion in 2008. But as we're nearing the end of 2007, I thought I'd pick out 12 of my favorite posts over the past year - one for each month. These weren't necessarily the ones with the most page views, but they were significant to me and for RWW. I hope they also show the flavor of this year.
As I mentioned above, in 2007 RWW ramped up. We got two new Lead Writers: after a couple of guest posts in March this year, Josh Catone came on board as a Lead Writer in April; then in September Marshall Kirkpatrick joined RWW in the same role. We also started a blog network: on May 20 we launched last100, a blog covering the digital lifestyle (edited by Steve O'Hear); on June 4 we launched AltSearchEngines, covering the hundreds of alternative search engines taking on Google (edited by Charles Knight); and on August 28 we launched ReadWriteTalk, our podcast show (hosted by Sean Ammirati).
So here are my picks for 2007 from the RWW team:
January
The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines
This was the post that spawned a new network blog. Published Jan 29, Charles Knight wrote:
"Ask anyone which search engine they use to find information on the Internet and they will almost certainly reply: "Google." Look a little further, and market research shows that people actually use four main search engines for 99.99% of their searches: Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com (in that order). But in my travels as a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), I have discovered that in that .01% lies a vast multitude of the most innovative and creative search engines you have never seen. So many, in fact, that I have had to limit my list of the very best ones to a mere 100.
But it's not just the sheer number of them that makes them worthy of attention; each one of these search engines has that standard "About Us" link at the bottom of the homepage. I call it the "why we're better than Google" page. And after reading dozens and dozens of these pages, I have come to the conclusion that, taken as a whole, they are right!"
February
Yahoo! Pipes and The Web As Database
Alex Iskold tested out and explored the emergent world of Yahoo! Pipes. He saw some interesting parallels with Relational Databases in the 90's, concluding that with pipes, the Web essentially becomes a giant database that can be queried and remixed in any number of ways.
March
Interview with Google's Matt Cutts about Next-Generation Search
I had the pleasure of interviewing the head of Google's Webspam team, Matt Cutts. The topic of our conversation was Next-Generation Search. We discussed personalization, semantic technologies, alternative interfaces, structured data, and much more.
April
Your Guide to Online TV Guides: 10 Services Compared
Josh Catone set out to discover a new online TV guide. He found 10 services with all the web 2.0 bells and whistles - but was he satisfied?
May
2007 was a year in which desktop apps made a comeback, thanks to technologies like Adobe's Apollo (which was later re-named AIR). During a visit to the US in April, I popped into the Adobe office in San Francisco to find out more about Apollo - the company's new RIA (Rich Internet Application) runtime and development platform. I learned what Apollo is and checked out some of the latest Apollo apps.
June
The Implicit Web: Last.fm, Amazon, Google, Attention Trust
Alex Iskold explored an important, growing trend:
"The basic concept of the Implicit Web is simple. As we touch information, we vote. When we come across an article we like, we spend time reading. When we like a movie, we recommend it to our friends and family. And if a piece of music resonates with us, we listen to it over and over again. We do this automatically, subconsciously or implicitly. But the consequences of our behavior are important. The things that we are paying attention to have great value to us, because we like them."
July
Pivots of the Web: What's Next After Social Networking?
Emre Sokullu took a closer look at the paradigm shifts of the web, especially for the near future. What approaches have dominated the web over the years and which ones failed; and why? Also, since Facebook is already widely accepted as the next big thing, the new question is: what is the next "next big thing"? Is it already out there?
August
The Web 2.0 Election: Does the Internet Matter in Election Politics?
Josh Catone explored the Web in politics - e.g. how the CNN/YouTube debates and the MTV/MySpace candidate's forums have been (and presumably will be) great ways for voters to genuinely connect with candidates on issues that matter to them. He concluded that this form of user generated politics can only be good for the political process in the long run.
September
We're well into the current era of the Web, commonly referred to as Web 2.0. Features of this phase of the Web include search, social networks, online media (music, video, etc), content aggregation and syndication (RSS), mashups (APIs), and much more. Currently the Web is still mostly accessed via a PC, but we're starting to see more Web excitement from mobile devices (e.g. iPhone) and television sets (e.g. XBox Live 360). This post looked at the near future of the Web.
October
2007 Web 2.0 Summit Review: How the Web 2.0 Conference Has Evolved Over 2 Years
My review of the latest Web 2.0 Summit. In some ways a companion post to the Future Web Trends post in September...
November
The RWW Guide to the World's Most Popular Twitter Clients
The most comprehensive comparison of the top Twitter interfaces that you're likely to find, courtesy of Marshall Kirkpatrick.
December
An appropriate way to wrap up the year, looking forward to the next. The above post has 67 comments as of now, so why not add your own predictions (if you haven't already)?
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