MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.
Recent Posts
Ditched by potential parents, Digg grows up on its own
When it comes to web 2.0 startups, the social news site Digg is like an old man. Launched in 2004, it quickly exploded on to the scene and became both a web and media darling in relatively short order. So now it seems like it… Continue Reading
Twitter has real business partners — and fake ones
Like a lot of people, I read the story about Twitter backing its first UK ad partner yesterday and thought it was a pretty big deal. Names like Universal Pictures, Virgin Media and Gorillaz were all mentioned as using the service known as Twitter Partners… Continue Reading
12seconds crowd-sources commercials for a business model on top of Twitter
While Twitter itself may not have a final business model yet, the hot thing these days is for third-parties to use the service to create their own business models. Short-form video startup 12seconds is the latest to do this, rolling its users’ likelihood of tweeting… Continue Reading
FriendFeed’s redesign has given them something to talk about
When FriendFeed launched its redesign on Monday, some users (like me) applauded the move as a step in the right direction towards a more real-time web experience. Others, simply put, hated it. But initial reactions are well, initial. Now that everyone’s calmed down a bit,… Continue Reading
The race to a million Twitter followers is on
As of today, three Twitter users have over 750,000 followers: CNN Breaking News, Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher. With Twitter’s growth continuing to explode, one of them is likely to surpass the million follower mark sometime soon.
Yesterday, Don Dodge wrote that based on current growth… Continue Reading
Twhirl goes into a user feedback cocoon and is reborn as Seesmic Desktop
I’m here at headquarters of San Francisco video blogging company Seesmic for the launch of Seesmic Desktop, the next step in the company’s product offering.
The product is a revaming of the popular Twhirl, which was one of the first third-party Twitter clients, and which Seesmic… Continue Reading
Video: Trent Reznor’s insights into the future of music as a business
By now, everyone realizes that the major music labels have royally screwed up in the transition to digital distribution over the Internet. Digital rights management (DRM) and suing consumers among other errors in judgment seem only to exacerbate problems like piracy. Even today, we’re seeing… Continue Reading
Video recording looks to be a go with the new iPhone. What about the old ones?
One of the hot rumors about the next version of the iPhone is that it will feature video capturing capabilities. Some new features today found buried within the iPhone 3.0 software seem to confirm this once and for all.
MacRumors was able to grab a screenshot… Continue Reading
Twitter makes its commercial debut thanks to Sprint
Twitter continues to expand into the mainstream. It’s already being used by a number of celebrities, it’s all over news channels, and its founders have even started making the rounds on various television shows like The Colbert Report. Now, Sprint has released a commercial, running… Continue Reading
Don’t like FriendFeed’s real-time speed? Eat my dust.
People hate change. That’s as true on the Internet as it is in real life. For proof, look at any Facebook design tweak over the past several years. Today, FriendFeed rolled out a major change of its own, moving its aggregation and conversations from a… Continue Reading
Microsoft makes yet another HP commercial
As expected, Microsoft released its second “Laptop Hunters” commercial today. But rather than the bubbly actress Lauren, this one features Giampaolo, a “technically savvy” shopper. Once again, the ad pits a PC versus Mac, with price being the key issue. Simply put, this ad is… Continue Reading
Roundup: Twitter rumor frenzy, AT&T prepping for a new iPhone, Yahoo Music opening up and more
Here’s the latest action:
Twitter is selling/no it’s not/but it should/no it shouldn’t — There are lots of rumors flying around out there about Twitter right now. While Google isn’t buying it anytime soon, the two sides are talking. And they should be — or maybe they… Continue Reading
Microsoft’s second “Laptop Hunter” commercial airs tomorrow sans Lauren
While I found Microsoft’s first “Laptop Hunter” ad a bit odd and misdirected, it certainly got a lot of folks talking. Some said it rightly pointed out that Macs are more expensive than PCs, while others claimed the entire ad was faked. Now get ready… Continue Reading
The DiggBar features sponsored links as well
In reviewing Digg’s new DiggBar yesterday, I noted that it did feature advertising if you activated certain drop-downs such as a list of other stories from the same source. That seems like an okay way to make some money, but ultimately, Digg users probably aren’t… Continue Reading
Take the guesswork out of expanding your business with new ZoomProspector tool
A lot of startups have to start small and focus their businesses on specific areas rather than do a national or worldwide roll out. But if that startup is having localized success in one region, how does it choose where to expand to next? The… Continue Reading
New FriendFeed interface to roll out Monday
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some website hits coming from beta.friendfeed.com. This is the domain for the beta area of FriendFeed, which we reported on the existence of last year and which was eventually opened to everyone. But then FriendFeed moved all of… Continue Reading
With DiggBar, Digg wants to be central to sharing content on the web — and it could work
The main problem I have with Digg these days is that I have to go to digg.com to use it. Sure, there are other ways to see stories on the site, such as RSS. But if you want to Digg a story, you have to… Continue Reading
Netflix delivers its 2 billionth movie — and it’s a Blu-ray
“I can tell you I never want to see the movies that come by mail,” is what Blockbuster chief executive Jim Keyes had to say during his company’s most recent earnings call. Well, apparently, someone does.
Netflix announced today that it has delivered its 2 billionth movie… Continue Reading
Palm announces availability of webOS Mojo SDK — but it’s limited
Today at the Web 2.0 expo in San Francisco, Palm announced the availability of its Mojo software development kit (SDK). Third-party developers will be able to use this to build applications for its webOS software which will run on the Palm Pre device.
It’s important that… Continue Reading
Confirmed: Major Veoh restructuring, layoffs
Online video service Veoh is said to be undergoing a major restructuring tomorrow, a source close to the company tells me, that could include large layoffs and a potential change to its product strategy. [Update: We’ve since confirmed the layoffs and restructuring, more at the… Continue Reading