"I agree completely with my son James when he says the 'Internet is like electricity. The latter lights up everything, while the former lights up knowledge.'"
- Kerry Packer
Australian publishing, media and gaming tycoon
Just observe how people now easily use technology married to the Internet - on Christmas - to source an obscure holiday song from childhood to listen that tune once more. Or tell how they found their new
dog (a rescue, on Petfinder.com). Or look at the results in the gifts - a
personalized calendar, which involved photo uploads and customization online (yup, at WalMart's site). Finding exactly what is desired
is becoming second nature.
Most people don't care
how it works, they just want to
find what they want. (Preferably at a discount when considering a purchase.)
Behind the engines of change that are transforming the globe are some pretty smart people. And powerful search engines.
Curiosity about online corporate leaders led to another kind of search. Most interesting businesses are powered by the people who create them.
Everyone has ideas. The majority of humans talk about them. Leaders work to link concepts to business models and then on to reality. First, try it out in the sandbox, and (in this case) on to growth. Today search engines put the global marketplace at our fingertips. (If you are terrier-like in your research.)
The evolution (think Charles Darwin was right) of business means learning all the time. Blogs (some) are the conversations about change.
So here's the first in a sometimes series about online innovators.
Founded as the first blog search engine,
Technorati has grown up into a full-service media company. The online partnership introduces fresh content to millions of consumers, and indexes millions of blog posts in real time, then surfaces them in seconds.
The company is led by Richard Jalichandra, president and CEO, a veteran Internet executive whose media experience includes leadership roles across the media spectrum. He's been an M&A and strategy consultant for several Internet properties and investment firms, and also served as SVP of corporate development for exponential interactive, Tribal Fusion’s parent company. Previously, he was SVP of business development for Fox Interactive Media, and was the vice president of business & corporate development at IGN Entertainment (acquired by Fox Interactive), where he led the company’s M&A, business development and international activities. Before joining IGN, Richard led national accounts sales at Lycos, was vice president of business development at Neopost Online, served as senior vice president/managing director of Answerthink, and founded K23 Creative Services in Singapore. His early career included management roles for Ford, IBM and Siemens.
Now, where did the concept come from?
David Sifry, founder and chairman of the board, is a self-described "serial entrepreneur" - with more than 20 years of software development and industry experience.
Sifry co-founded and served as CTO of Sputnik, a Wi-Fi gateway company; was co-founder of Linuxcare, where he served as CTO and vice president of engineering. He also was a founding member of the board of Linux International and on the technical advisory board of the National Cybercrime Training Partnership for law enforcement.
His blog is as interesting as he is - called
Sifry’s Alerts.An excerpt -
"
On-demand, Personalized Travel Books. Travel books that are tuned just for you, only about the place that you're going, with local information like festivals, events, and concerts that are going on during the dates of your stay. We put in local maps that are tuned to where you'll be, and we even customize the guide based on what we learn about you, like the timezone differences from your hometown, electrical plug differences, embassies and consulates nearby, differences in tipping policies, exchange rates, local weather forecasts, and much more.
"Can I customize it? Of course. You get full control over your guide - so if you already know where you're staying, you can click to deselect all of the information about hotels, for example. You can add customized chapters and fill them with information that you gather from your friends, or from around the internet. And when you're done, you can get your guide in multiple formats . . ."
