Google Releases First Pre-Beta of Chrome 2.0 : The Google Chrome team keeps releasing updates to Google's browser on an almost weekly basis, but it is interesting that the latest version in the developer channel is now already being called 2.0. This comes just about four months after Google first released its browser to the public. This new version (2.0.156.1) is only available in the developer channel, but it already points at where Google is planning to go with this next version of Chrome, which, besides many new features, also includes a new version of WebKit and Google's own implementation of the HTTP protocol. Sponsor For us, this new version worked perfectly, but others had a different experience. If you want to try out the latest versions of Chrome, you can find instructions for how to subscribe to the development channel here. New Features ... more

Startup Tips: Surviving & Thriving in a Down Economy : This week's RWW Live podcast show was on the topic of how startups can navigate through the choppy waters of the current economy. We've already posted today on a two year old life-story repository startup called Dandelife, which is struggling - although we were able to draw some lessons from that. But it's also good to look at the startups that continue to battle away. Our podcast guests were two examples of that - BrightKite and Zoho. Both were recognized by ReadWriteWeb in our annual end of the year awards: Zoho won 'Best Little Co' and BrightKite won 'Most Promising Little Co'. In the podcast they had some excellent advice for startups, so in this post we review some of those tips; and we invite you to add your own tips in the comments. Sponsor RWW Live host Sean Ammirati started by asking Zoho and BrightKite how they got their startups off the ground. Zoho replied that they started small, bootstrapping with one product. They started in the desktop business software market and within 6-12 months they had begun to generate revenue from that; then in 2003-04 they began to develop web apps, which they did using the revenue from the business software. So they've always managed to bootstrap using company revenue - they've not taken funding. BrightKite started as a "nights and weekends" project that they submitted to TechStars, a small funding initiative similar to Y Combinator. TechStars provided mentorship, a bit of seed capital and generally got them off the ground - in return for some equity. BrightKite did a working prototype, then raised an angel round of $1M last year. I then asked the two companies about how their product plan will be affected, if at all, by the economy downturn. I noted that Zoho has a wide variety of products in their Web Office suite, so for example do they plan to fold some of those into bigger products due to the economy? Zoho replied that they make money from their business applications, rather than their collaboration apps. So they have made it a priority to integrate their collaboration apps into the business apps over the coming year(s). They will also continue to add new apps, however those will be money-making business apps. ... more

Has anyone seen Micronauts: Revolution on DVD?

♥ | "Inhabitat » China Announces the World’s Largest Solar Plant" ( http://ping.fm/ePj01 )

♥ | "Worlds Largest Sand Carpet and Intriguing Sand Art" ( http://ping.fm/9WFuU )

♥ | "Using Social Media for Reputation Management" ( http://ping.fm/c6kRt )

What if you could fulfill all your desires? (http://ping.fm/br9lx)

Desire Utilitarianism (http://ping.fm/br9lx)

Talking with the Philosophers: Desire Utilitarianism (http://ping.fm/br9lx)

YouTube - Talking with the Philosophers: Desire Utilitarianism (http://ping.fm/br9lx)

Facebook for iPhone/iPod touch has been updated! #Macworld

How to have a Permanent Orgasm (http://ping.fm/gLP7C)

Reading Marvel's Future Tense! Adventures with the Micronauts and Rom The Space Knight!

Return of the Cheap Decade : In March 2003, Rich Kaarlgaard wrote a great article in Forbes detailing how the coming decade was all about massive reductions in costs and prices, driven by technology. We had grown accustomed to Moore's Law driving down PC costs. Kaarlgaard pointed out that this was happening across the spectrum of the economy. He was right, but many of the effects were hidden by the credit bubble. When money is so cheap, costs rise. Now we are in for an even cheaper decade, and today's headlines are showing the way. Sponsor Selling to the Bottom of the Pyramid Today's news from One Laptop Per Child was about layoffs due to difficulty in raising money. But the mission remains, and the core driver remains technology, as one of the commentors points out: ... more

Nothing slows down time like a good line at the post office! It's like I'm trapped in hole in the fabric of space and time.

OK, heading out now to Trader Joe's with @siskita. Still so much to do when I get back!

I'm considering a new electric razor. But are there any that are good and cheaper than $100??

Eating bacon, eggs and waffles!

How to Stop Twitter Becoming a Waste of Time (http://ping.fm/fSsKv)

Catching up on Star Trek: Voyager; taking the fight to the Borg!