Category Archives: personalization

e-Vic – Personalization that works

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve seen many tries at personalization in the last decade. Most don’t work very well. Among the best personalization systems are Netflix’s and Amazon’s recommendations engines. There’s another to add to the list, and it comes from an unlikely source: … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, personalization | 3 Comments

MeCasts coming to your TV

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve written before about the fragmentation of television. With cable and satellite, programmers can reach smaller and smaller audience segments. With content delivered over broadband, those segments become even smaller. Broadband distribution ultimately enables everyone to have his or her … Continue reading →

Posted in apple tv, personalization, social networking, television, video, YouTube | 7 Comments

Facebook as the new Web OS

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

I wrote a couple of pieces last year encouraging social networks to open up their networks and to let partners develop modules and applications around them. Facebook, with the new Facebook platform, is the first company that I’ve seen that … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, personalization, social networking, web 2, web 2.0 | Comments Off on Facebook as the new Web OS

Facebook platform gets Journal ink

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Today’s Journal has a story on the Facebook platform. Facebook now offers more than 800 new services — from photo slideshows to online file storage — up from fewer than 100 a month ago. Meanwhile, those who are creating the … Continue reading →

Posted in facebook, personalization, social networking, web 2, web 2.0 | Comments Off on Facebook platform gets Journal ink

Making better ads

Posted on April 26, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Every week, I get an email from United Airlines telling me about their e-fares for the coming weekend. Almost every week, I ignore this email because the information isn’t relevant to me. This week’s email includes fares from Burbank to … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, email, personalization, travel | 4 Comments

Map your world with Google Maps

Posted on April 5, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

Google today released a feature I’ve been wanting for a long time — the ability to make your own maps. You can add placemarkers and draw lines and shapes on the map. You can also add pictures to a map, … Continue reading →

Posted in flickr, google, local search, maps, personalization, web 2, web 2.0 | 7 Comments

AIM 6.0’s Buddy Feeds bring another dimension to social networking

Posted on November 15, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

Liz at GigaOm writes about my favorite new feature in the AIM 6.0 client released today, the Buddy Feed. I’ve been using it in beta for a few weeks and think it has the potential to really transform social networking. … Continue reading →

Posted in aol, im, instant messaging, personalization, web 2, web 2.0 | 2 Comments

Google’s Custom Search – a take on social search?

Posted on October 31, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

I’ve been playing with Google’s Custom Search engine lately. In short, it lets you build custom search engines around a given topic. You can create your own search engine around toys, HDTV, restaurants, travel Web site — whatever interests you. … Continue reading →

Posted in google, personalization, search | 5 Comments

Module-based personal publishing

Posted on July 17, 2006 by Rakesh Agrawal

On my personal blog, I’m experimenting with module-based publishing. As I adopt new services across the Web, I’m finding that much of the information I generate is blog worthy for the people that are interested in my personal life. On … Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, facebook, google, personalization, publishing, social networking, web 2.0, yahoo | 3 Comments