Jumping to Conclusions: The Next Generation Internet

by francine Hardaway on June 9, 2009

For many reasons, I’m interested in the next generation Internet. This morning, I’m at Launch SIlicon Valley, watching ten companies in this space present their concepts.

I haven’t finished listening, but I have already jumped to my conclusion. According to these presenters (who were quite good, by the way), the next generation of the internet solves problems created by the current generation of the Internet.

In other words, it’s full of refinements and improvements, rather than big technological jumps. A better process here, a better algorithm there, and lots of emphasis on smart phone apps or Firefox add-ons. The most interesting company by far was from China, which is definitely kicking our ass in next-gen internet stuff according to this presenter, the first Chinese company ever to present at this conference.

World’sLaw is a legal service. Its competitor is Legal Zoom, but these guys have attorneys, while Legal Zoom is only document preparation services.
By Jobi – a power search with saved search with timelines and keywords, language and location, domains and file types. It’s a power search built on top of Google
GazoPa similar image search. Uses features such as color and shape to find images, and uses the image itself, not just keywords, as the search key.
The founder actually drew a watch on his computer, uploaded it, and got photos of watches back. Even now, it has an iPhone app to upload pictures from your iPhone and search images.
With current mage search engines, if large volume of data, can’t return images quickly. But for them, the more data they have, the better they can return
Gliider – manages travel for you. It holds on to your travel information, replacing bookmarks, cut and paste, printed documents. ‘There’s no good way to hold on to my travel info when I am planning a trip.” It’s now in private beta, and is a Firefox add-on.
Gamexiu. Games and social networks are two fastest growing segments in China. 16,000,000 games, growing at 17% a year. 200,000,000 users are on social networks in China, and the virtual goods business is a $4 billion business. Most users are single children under 25, using social gaming as the way of getting companionship.
It’s the world’s first 3-D Internet social gaming platform. Completely integrates into other social networks, so is also distributed. The avatars can go anywhere across the web, and the application itself can be embedded in other social networks.
They are a social world similar to Second Life. It looks easier to bring the user into an immersive life than SL, however. And the selling of virtual items is huge!

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

jjtoothman June 9, 2009 at 11:40 am

“the next generation of the internet solves problems created by the current generation of the Internet.”

Cool. We’ve created a self sustaining industry with built in job security.

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