Links: Dec 31, 2005

What caught my eye in the last weeks of the year:

• Google opens up Google Talk--libjingle is the library behind it. A lot of work to be done to make it an easily reused component, but it's already underway. Lots of possibilities.
• Google Feed Reader API To Be Released--now I know why the reader application was so underwhelming. It was proof-of-concept for the API.
• The Blogosphere Would Be A Lousy VC FIrm--"A half-billion dollar buyout might go unremarked upon, but a consumer-facing Web 2.0 company sold to Yahoo! or Google at a $20M - $40M valuation will set the blog world on fire."
• Yeald--the Interactive Investor Journal. What if Digg readers wrote detailed stories instead of just pointing to them?
• Research Note - TV 2.0: How To Think Strategically About the Future of TV--"edge platforms and edge competencies". I like the idea of an edge competency, being good at riding consumer demand rather than attempting to manufacture it through narrow channels.
• The Economics of Coffee Shops--"Make your rent in four days to be profitable, a week to break even. If you haven't hit the latter mark in a month, close."