Digg is launching several new features this morning that signal a strategic shift in the company’s all news focus to date. They’ve added a podcasting content area, enhanced the video area and are signalling that new content areas are coming as well. Among the changes, users will now be able to consume audio and video content directly on Digg. Another key feature addition is the launch of “Top 10 Stories,” which is a quick view of the ten hottest stories on Digg at any given time. See TechCrunch for the full story and screenshots.
I spoke to Digg founder Kevin Rose, CEO Jay Adelson and VP Marketing Mike Maser for a few minutes to talk about the changes. We also discussed how Digg acquired the SpikeTheVote domain name, Digg’s current user stats, their upcoming financing and other issues.
Time: 38:59 Minutes
Size: 8.9 MB
Steve Gillmor and I recently spoke with Adobe senior vice president and chief software architect Kevin Lynch about the upcoming release of the Apollo platform. Apollo, the code name for “a cross-operating system runtime” is a platform that will allow developers to create to desktop applications using existing web development skills such as Flash, Flex, HTML, JavaScript and Ajax. Web applications can be run online or offline through Apollo, which will also have the traditional benefits of desktop applications - speed, drag and drop functionality from the desktop to the application, and accessing the file system. Apollo is cross-platform, meaning any application developed for it will run on Windows, Mac and Linux machines. And they are promising easy porting of existing web applications to the Apollo platform.
Adobe is counting on platforms like Apollo to drive future revenue growth. Look for a developer release in the near future and a full release in 2007. More on TechCrunch, including screenshots.
Time: 37:32 Minutes
Size: 8.6 MB
