It is currently called Google Apps for Your Domain since it lacks Writely and also Spreadsheets still. But those programs are to follow according to InformationWeek.

The initial Google Apps contains e-mail (Gmail), IM (Google Talk), calendar (Google Calendar) and a website design program (Google Page Creator). All are of course hosted applications.

Google said that they will provide software for specific customer groups "from family websites and community groups to non-profits and small
businesses, as well as universities, large enterprises, and ISPs."

After round 48 the bidding in the US spectrum auction is levelling off. One news is that the satellite operators are out of the race and will have to partner with someone else. Rumours are that could be Clearwire. In the meantime T-Mobile USA remains the highest bidder. The total amount of the auction has reached $13bln while the top 5 list remains unchanged:

1. T-Mobile $3.9 billion
   
2. Verizon Wireless $2.8 billion
   
3. SpectrumCo $2.2 billion
   
4. MetroPCS $1.4 billion
   
5. Cingular $1.2 billion

The times when the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) took Internet adverts into a fixed set of sizes and styles with the goal to make it easier for sites to sell advertising, but on the other hand took out any creativity, are coming to an end. (banner advertising is the best - most boring - example)

Now we have newer Rich Media formats. These formats are similiar to TV adverts and often have an interactive element. This market is poised to take over from search in 2007 (according to Forrester Research), which of course will not happen that fast, but over time it might well succeed. So if you have ever wondered how to use audio/videos on your website, take a look at the following tutorial website starting to explain for beginners all the way to professionals how Rich Media is created and used on your website (the latter might find better tutorials though on the Internet, but for beginners and intermediate it is a nice site).

In the tech business environment there's nearly no day that we are not confronted with our most famous presentation tool: Microsoft PowerPoint. Even if you opted to use a different presentation tool such as Keynote (Apple users) or OpenOffice.org Impress (free as the name suggests), the same approach is typically used. This is to put together a presentation with slides showing a list of bullet points, with some supporting pictures, tables and graphs in between. The bullet point lists are supposed to help the audience to understand and follow our presentations; but they actually do the exact opposite. They distract the audience from the talk since they read the bullet points and will try to understand them. In addition they - as Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, remarks correctly, in my opinion - lead to an "atmosphere that is formal and stiff, and relaxed discussion stops. It's almost as if bullet points take aim at whatever is interesting and lively in a room and silently kill it". As you would expect the book is approaching things without those bullet points and is doing so by taking lessons from Hollywood. Cliff Atkinson is using three basic steps - borrowed from movie making - to create focused and interesting presentations:

1. Write a script to focus your ideas.
2. Storyboard your script to clarify your ideas.
3. Produce your script to engage your audience.

In order to round things up, the author aligns the book with scientific research by following findings from one of the most renown educational psychologist's, Richard E. Mayer (professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara).

Although the book is published by Microsoft Press and uses PowerPoint for examples, it is generic and a highly to be recommended book for all of us bullet point tech business fanatics! The hope is that from now on our presentations get more interesting once we read the book... thanks Cliff!