Party Gaming: Preliminary Results 2005
Here is a link to the PDF of their IR presentation. In-depth interviews (video, audio, text) with departing CEO Richard Segal and Martin Weigold, Group FD are available free on Cantos.com.

Highlights:

· Revenues up 63% to almost $1bn

· $70m increase year-on-year in casino revenues

· EBITDA up 49% to $584m (now 60% from 65%, due to marketing and distribution costs)

· Q4 launch of Blackjack increased casino revenues 5X and made them #1 online casino in the world

· 34% of their users play both poker and blackjack, with 15% cannibalization

· International growth: in December, 37% of poker sign-ups were non-US

· Yield per active player day was down by 8% year-on-year to 17.5%

· Successful launch on integrated PartyGaming brand

Web 2.0 well-defined in Jupiter Research podcast
Quoted from the Social Software Weblog, The question of how to define Web 2.0 is a common one, and this weekend I was able to listen to a conversation that covered all the based quite well. Titled "Web 2.0: What Does it Mean for Business?" I found this to be one of the most easy to understand and thorough discussions on the topic available. It's 30 minutes long and well worth a listen. The discussion covers the history of the technologies involved, the role of user generated content and much more.

Review: The Future of Marketing summit
A few interesting panels, some obvious fear of the unknown, a bit of agency drivel, and a few dinosaurs were spotted Thursday at the Future of Marketing Summit at the TUC in London. Live blogging on i-boy.com: 1, 2, 3, 4

Vista has a voice
New voice recognition technology is being built into the Vista OS, and by early accounts seems to be a pretty sharp implementation. Chris Henley at Technet has a demo video.

Rocketboom goes HD
I agree with theblog50: Rocketboom is the best videoblog on the web, and it just got better. Starting with today’s episode, Rocketboom is now filmed in 16×9 high-definition format, which makes host Amanda Congdon look even hotter than usual. We didn’t think that it was possible, but it is, and the world rejoices along with us.

In other news …

A seXtreme film wins the 2006 Red Bull Hike&Ride. Sex sells. Go figure. ;)

Blink blog: Malcolm Gladwell has a blog.

Those interested in perfecting their language skills should check out this video.

After eight weeks of testing in private beta, Newsvine is now live.

Encyclopodia: Put the Wikipedia on your iPod

Un-Pimp My Ride: If you thought Volkswagen's "GTI Fast" TV commercials were funny, wait until you see these.

Have a great weekend,
~G~