Talking Tech - Friday, Oct. 5, 2006

Comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the comment line: [phone].

0.14 - Mark welcomes back listeners and explains the hiatus from last week. Kevin explains what analysts do at trade shows before congratulating Mark on the birth of his son. He then sets the stage for a shock announcement

0.59 - Mark is leaving the National Post to become Vice-President of Operations at b5media, a global new media company consisting of a network of 150 blogs, and reiterates his passion for the web 2.0 world.

2.40 - The first topic is Jim Balsillie following in Paul Allen and Charles Wang’s footsteps and buying a sports team – the Pittsburgh Penguins. Will they become the Waterloo Blackberries?

3.35 - Kevin says Jim is in a no-lose situation and even if he can’t get the new stadium out of the City of Pittsburgh, he can easily bring the franchise up to Kitchener-Waterloo. Mark notes that this is out of character for him.

5.05 - Rogers Wireless is interested in carrying the Pearl, but without the suite of data services that U.S. and Europe get. He wonders if the Pearl will be as successful with the general public as it has with its corporate customers.

5.32 - Kevin think it will be a runaway success with the consumers and offers some hockey advice for Jim Balsillie – invest in youth and speed.

6.19 - Mark gets back onto the Pearl and wonders if the sure-type keyword will deter users until the, slightly larger, 8800 comes out with a Qwerty keyboard.

7.28 - The guys agree that the new market will be attracted to the form and the lower price point and that RIM has the advantage as the market leader and in terms of ease of use, security and form.

8.07 - Google to buy YouTube? Mark brings up a Wall Street Journal article about a rumour that Google may be buying YouTube for $1.5bn (U.S.) and wonders if it’s worth it for something that essentially just kills time at work.

8.26 - Kevin doesn’t think so but defers to Mark’s better 2.0 judgment but points to some past deals and the mountain of cash that Google has.

9.02 - Mark says that YouTube has users and is starting to attract serious revenue - a front page ad on the site is worth $175,000 (U.S.). If Google wants to become a player in the video space, it makes sense. Kevin adds that it makes more sense for Microsoft to go after YouTube after lagging behind in the web 2.0 stakes.

10.31 - Mark wraps things up by promoting his other blogs – Maple Leaf 2.0, All Nortel, All The Time and his flagship Mark Evans blog – all of which will be moved into the b5 network eventually.

Comments for Mark and Kevin can be left on the comment line: [phone].

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.