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Two classic NES games are available for download this week on the
Wii virtual console. Choose between a classic baseball-arcade sim and a puzzler inspired by everyone’s favorite dinosaur sidekick.

What games do you think are missing from the Wii virtual console? Sound off here!

Yoshi’s Cookie (1992, NES, 500 Wii points): Nintendo really tried to cash in on the whole Tetris era by developing many Nintendo-branded spin-offs. In Yoshi’s Cookie, you’ll take on 100 stages of cookie-themed puzzle action.

Bases Loaded (1988, NES, 500 Wii points): A true classic, Bases Loaded brought arcade-style baseball into the home. Great gameplay combined with innovations, such as the first-ever view from the pitching mound, allow for this game to be fun even when played today.

But O’Reilly encouraged the audience to start small, and he offered them their first challenge: register to vote.

Click here for full coverage of Web 2.0 Expo

As for the financial-services industry, O’Reilly implied that in a big sense, firms had it coming. “If you look at what went wrong on Wall Street, this is an industry that, in its heart, parades a lot of value,” he said. “Liquidity in markets is critical. But if you look at the last decade…these Wall Street firms captured a lot more value than they were creating.”

“Do you see a problem here?” he posed, showing another slide of the popular
iPhone app “iBeer,” which simulates chugging a pint. “You have to ask yourself, are we working on the right things?”

There is clearly a lot that needs to change, and perhaps the tech industry trend of large-scale conferences is part of it. We’ll see whether Silicon Valley’s leaders and moguls are willing to do what they think is right, rather than what they think is profitable.

Global warming. The U.S. losing its edge in science and technology. A growing income gap. “And what are the best and the brightest working on?” O’Reilly asked, displaying a slide of the popular Facebook application SuperPoke, which invites you to, among other things, “throw sheep” at your friends.

Web 2.0 evangelist Tim O'Reilly addresses the crowd at the last Web 2.0 Expo, in April.

There’s an inherent irony in what O’Reilly said, given the fact that massive conferences like the Web 2.0 Expo are packed with the trendspeak and hype that birthed SuperPoke-like entertainment, and certainly aren’t helping the environment by distributing tons of press kits and swag–not to mention flying in hundreds of attendees in a massive spurt of carbon emissions.

NEW YORK–Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, is known as a futurist, but his keynote address on Thursday morning at the Web 2.0 Expo was heavy on the realism in the wake of sobering news from Wall Street.

To be fair, O’Reilly Media has been printing fewer event programs and encouraging conference goers to recycle, and it has used carpeting made of post-consumer material.

“(These are) pretty depressing times in a lot of ways,” O’Reilly said in an address that first had looked like it would simply be a starry-eyed discussion of enterprise opportunities for Web 2.0. “And you have to conclude, if you look at the focus of a lot of what you call ‘Web 2.0,’ the relentless focus on advertising-based consumer models, lightweight applications, we may be living in somewhat of a bubble, and I’m not talking about an investment bubble. (It’s) a reality bubble.”

(Credit:
Dan Farber/CNET News)

He brought up examples like Google.org, the Omidyar Network, and even small companies that have decided to take on social and political challenges rather than the trendy social-network craze of the week. “Business is the engine of innovation,” O’Reilly said. “I really believe in markets, and I believe in the power we all have to build great companies that change things.”

ShareThis can also provide analytics on sharing, showing site managers which stories are the most shared and what services they are shared on. (I’d love to get this data for my work.)

ShareThis plans to put the updated service into very limited private beta on October 6. First 100 people to e-mail beta@sharethis.com with “Webware: beta” in the subject will get access to some of the new functionality at that time, through a Firefox plug-in.

If people begin to use the ShareThis aggregation page to find sites and stories to read, it will kick off a virtuous cycle of site managers installing the widget to get onto the aggregation page, and the aggregation page potentially driving traffic back to the sites.

The real power is the new ShareThis page that reports on what people are sharing with their friends. As I said, there’s a Digg-like element to this. But while Digg only ranks the stories that people send to Digg, ShareThis can track what people are sending to Digg, Reddit, MySpace, and dozens of other services. Also, ShareThis is egalitarian–the ShareThis button appears on every story on more than 60,000 sites, CEO Tim Schigel claims.

The service will also soon get new group features. When you’re in the process of sharing a story, it will also show you other similar stories that your friends (people you’ve shared with in the past) have also shared. Schigel has commissioned research that shows that adding general-sharing functions to a site increases readership by 3 percent and that ShareThis in particular does so by 6 percent.

The service also has a browser plug-in for
FireFox, but the product’s real power comes from the widget that publishers are voluntarily installing in their site templates.

New, improved pop-up ShareThis menu.

The new ShareThis will show you how many times the things you share are shared by others. There will also be a Digg-like page showing what's being shared around the Web.

The service’s user interface, which lets people post items they like to dozens of services, such as Digg, Twitter, Delicious, and plain old e-mail, is also getting a graphical and performance refresh designed to make it simpler to use. (See story, “ShareThis and the stealth business model,” for a look at the current version of the product.)

There are other sharing widgets out there, like AddThis, but I continue to be impressed by ShareThis. It’s unobstrusive and functional. Site managers seem to be adopting it as the default sharing widget on new and existing sites. And now the company is planning to leverage that growth in a new and interesting direction. It’s smart.

ShareThis, a handy little widget that site managers can install to make it easier for readers to share and save Web pages, is preparing for a new release that gives the service Digg-like powers.

What remains to be seen is whether the company will succeed financially. Schigel explained his revenue ideas to me in a meeting in January, and repeated them last week when we met again. But he still hasn’t turned them on. I’m concerned that he may be building a powerful and important online service that won’t actually make any money; in my opinion, companies should begin beta testing their business models as soon as their product begins to attract loyal users.

BOGOTA, Colombia—In the time it took me to fly here from Miami, Microsoft’s patience wore out.

But back to Yahoo. Apparently, Microsoft grew tired of Yahoo’s glacial pace. The software maker noted that its limited discussions with Yahoo have been less than fruitful.

The deal, as it was initially proposed, would be worth somewhat less due to a decline in Microsoft shares. However, those close to the company have made the case that Yahoo’s shares might be a whole lot lower were it not for Microsoft’s offer being on the table.

In any case, it will be interesting to follow what happens next, albeit from the Southern Hemisphere. Attention sources, expect a very long distance phone call.

Microsoft’s latest move is clearly an attempt to get things kick-started without having to preemptively outbid itself. The software maker is in an interesting position. Its offer, when made February 1, was worth $31 a share in cash and stock.

Of course, this letter didn’t come out in the hour and a half I was sitting on the tarmac in Miami, but rather just after the plane took off for the three and a half hour flight. Luckily, my cell phone had Internet access from the moment I landed and the hotel has perfect Wi-Fi as well.

As you may have read by now, the company went public Saturday with a letter to Yahoo’s board imposing a three-week deadline. Come to the table and negotiate a deal or prepare for a proxy fight.

Cost and performance. That’s a pretty potent combination. Mardi Gras has got nothing on open source for excitement.

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As a possible reason for these companies’ interest in open source software, the Institute cited the ability to deploy lower cost platforms that can reduce costs, including reducing costs of security. Additionally, open source technology now has a track record of solid performance that makes adoption easier….

If you work for a company with more than 1,000 employees in Brazil, the chances are overwhelming that your employer uses open source. Instituto Sem Fronteiras, a Brazilan research firm, surveyed 1,000 companies in late 2007 to figure out the rate and depth of open-source adoption, and discovered that 73 percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees use open source.

It also found that desktop open-source adoption increased 12.4 percent in 2007 by those already using it, while 53 percent still have yet to discover open source on the desktop. Apparently those that have been using it have liked the experience.

Why are these companies using open source? It’s largely a matter of cost:

In Alfresco’s case, roughly 30,000 people download our software each month. Of those, maybe 4,000 to 6,000 register for documentation or give us their contact information in some other way.

I just did a search on “Mule” for my friend, Dave Rosenberg (CEO, MuleSource), and found some big-name customers and prospective partners using and promoting his software. He had no idea on these. That’s just how open source is, but LinkedIn can help.

Second, I found out how people are using Alfresco. A large stock exchange migrated from Interwoven to Alfresco. The world’s top personal financial management software vendor uses our Community Edition to power its website. I wouldn’t have known this but for LinkedIn.

Today I found a new way. LinkedIn. What do I mean? And is this only something for open-source vendors?

One of the frustrating things about an open-source business is you don’t generally know who is using your software. The paid customers you know, of course, but generally this represents a small fraction of the total user base.

Think about that. Wouldn’t you rather hire someone that already knows your code? Wouldn’t you rather engage a partner that has already done implementations of your software? Of course you would. LinkedIn can help.

Dense though I am, it eventually dawned on me to search for the word “Alfresco” in the LinkedIn database. What I found surprised me.

LinkedIn is just one source of data. I’m betting that there is interesting data sitting in Flickr, Facebook, MySpace (OK, maybe not), etc. All of these networks have data on what interests their participants. Someone needs to provide a way to search all that data from one query. That would be powerful.

Larry Augustin gave an excellent presentation [PDF] on this recently at OSBC. He talked about how to engineer a product to maximize conversions from downloads to dollars.

First, I discovered a wide range of people with Alfresco experience. Some are existing Alfresco customers and partners, some are employees. But a significant percentage include potential customers and partners.

I was searching for potential sales engineers, and initially did the standard searches: People in Chicago or Austin with Documentum, FileNet, Sharepoint, Java, etc. in their profiles.

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In the meantime, I encourage you to check LinkedIn to see who loves your open-source project. You may be surprised (and pleased) to find out that careers are being built on your software.

The CNET Tech Index, which includes the likes of Apple, Cisco, eBay, and others, closed down 15.10 points to end the day at 1,189.15, off 1.25 percent.

Some of the companies that were particularly hard hit include Yahoo, which fell as low as $13.20 a share in intraday trading–a level it hadn’t reached in five years. The Internet search pioneer closed at $13.76 a share, down 5.62 percent, during the regular trading session.

Dell and cable giant Comcast were also down during the regular trading session, but a few companies were able to post and retain their gains on Wall Street.

Credit: Susan Dove/CNET News

The broader markets also posted declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average giving up 189.01 points, or 2 percent, to end the day at 9,258.10. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fared a little better, with only a 0.83 percent decline, or 14.55 points, to close at 1,740.33.

Apple gained 6.42 percent to finish the day at $89.79 a share, while chip giant Intel rose 4.17 percent to close at $16.25 a share.

Tech stocks and the broader markets received a mild case of whiplash Wednesday, as rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world prompted a brief run up before stocks gave way to yet another consecutive day of losses.

Investors remained skittish despite the central banks cutting interest rates. There were hopes that the cuts would instill confidence in consumers and businesses to prompt spending and jump-start the economy.

(Credit:
SkyMall)

(Credit:
SkyMall)

Just a handful that caught my eye this go-round:

(Credit:
SkyMall)

· The $49.95 Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock is the anti-Clocky: 30 minutes before wake-up time, an ambient light glows softly, brightening over the next half hour while faint aromatherapy scents fill the air. The alarm can also be used to waken the drowsy using only sounds with names like Nightfall, Thunder Storm, Zen Melody, and Mountain Stream. It’s all so civilized!

· These animated hitch critters attach to your trailer hitch to add a third brake light for added traffic safety and protect your ball hitches from corrosion–all while allegedly displaying your wacky sense of humor. Choose from $25 critters including a waving deer, motorcycle-riding hog, flapping duck, and more. We’re not sure if these are adorkable or just plain dorky, but they definitely highlight the awesome silliness of some SkyMall offerings.

What kind of Crave editor would I be if I didn’t spend my entire flight (OK, it was only an hour long) scouring SkyMall for Crave-tastic gadgets? The catalog doesn’t always feature the newest of the new, but it still provides great sky-high skimming for gadget hounds–or those who just want to keep their mind off the turbulence.

· This giant crossword puzzle–which claims to be the world’s largest–ought to keep hard-core wordsmiths busy for an afternoon or two. It’s 7×7 feet and has 28,000 clues for more than 91,000 squares. It folds up for lap or tabletop solving, which might be the best way to go. Hang it on your wall, after all, and you just know those unsolved words are going to taunt you to the point of insanity. It’s printed on sturdy paper stock and goes for $29.95.

(Credit:
SkyMall)

· We still have more than a month of summer left–plenty of time to splash around in the pool with a floating wireless speaker providing the soundtrack. The 3-inch, 5-watt speaker communicates wirelessly with a transmitter connected to any audio source (MP3 players, radio) up to 150 feet away. It’s housed in a weatherproof rubber case and is said to be fully submersible. Still, we wouldn’t recommend using this $179.95 baby for water polo.

LiveCycle ES Update 1 will be available next month, Adobe said.

The PDF Generator 3D ES component is targeted at the manufacturing industry and allows companies to share two- and three-dimensional models in PDF format. The component works with more than 40 CAD applications, according to Adobe.

The Content Services component, developed in conjunction with Alfresco Software, lets companies build a process or application linked to existing enterprise content. For instance, companies can use the tool to create a system for connecting manufacturers to parts suppliers, or for linking hospitals to insurers.

LiveCycle is one of the primary products in Adobe’s enterprise business. The product is designed for applications that involve document exchanges inside and outside of organizations, such as government Web sites that require people to fill out and process claims. It uses Adobe’s PDF and Flex software to create paperless, Web-based applications.

The company on Tuesday is expected to announce LiveCycle Enterprise Suite Update 1, which adds new content management features along with tools to more quickly build financial services and government applications.

The new release also includes two new components: LiveCycle Content Services ES, and LiveCycle PDF Generator 3D ES.

Adobe Systems is updating and expanding its LiveCycle software for building business-oriented Web applications.

Bragster, a London-based site “for dares and social bets,” announced Wednesday that it has secured $3.5 million in Series A venture cash. The funding round was led by none other than Intel Capital, the investment branch of the famed chipmaker.

So what are some of the top bets and challenges on Bragster? One member has dared another to “slap someone around the face with a fish in a supermarket.” O.K., I’d like to see that, however inappropriate it may be. Same thing with “dress like a Spartan and run around in the street shouting lines from the movie 300.” Others, like “pour 2 mugs of boiling hot coffee on my laptop,” start to make me uneasy. Call me old-fashioned, but somebody could get hurt. At least Johnny Knoxville occasionally informed his viewers that they shouldn’t imitate him at home.

Something about this just makes me uneasy.

The premise of the Digg-meets-Jackass-esque site is that members dare one another (or place open dares) to perform ridiculous feats, then insist on video evidence that they were completed. Bragster, co-founded by a former Morgan Stanley employee and an Amazon.com alum, provides prizes to some of the most over-the-top stunts and also sponsors contests like the “Undies at Uni Challenge,” which appears to encourage college students to take their clothes off.

Then there’s “I bet I can do 15 shots of tequila in 60 minutes.” Um, that’s called “really dangerous.” I hope Bragster has good lawyers.