Update: Khosla Ventures just sent us a press release confirming the news.
Looks like not everyone’s afraid of the ongoing shakeup of the venture capital industry. Khosla Ventures, the firm headed by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, has raised two funds totaling $1.1 billion to invest mostly into companies seeking to clean up the environment.
We already wrote that Khosla was raising the funds, but the New York Times has confirmed that he’s pulled together the money.
There’s a primary $800 million fund that Khosla will use to make investments of between $5 million and $15 million, plus a seed-stage fund of $275 million, from which he’ll make investments of around $2 million. Khosla Ventures previously invested Khosla’s own money, but this is the first time it has raised a fund from limited partners, making it the largest first-time venture capital fund raised since 1999. Both funds will focus on cleantech and information technology (IT).
This news is further evidence of Khosla’s contrarian streak: Not only is he talking about making big investments at a time when everyone is emphasizing smaller, safer deals, but he’s focusing on cleantech in a year when cleantech funding has fallen dramatically. Many observers had started to wonder whether Khola’s huge bets on cleantech in recent years were at risk. But after raising such a huge fund, he now arguably has the reserves to protect many of his investments. In his comments to The Times, Khosla downplays the risk.
“Clean-tech companies taking large amounts of money — that’s project finance, not technical risk,” he says.
Khosla also has announced two new general partners: former Facebook Chief Financial Officer Gideon Yu (whose move to the firm had previously been reported but unconfirmed) and James Kim of CMEA Ventures.
I’ve emailed Khosla Ventures for confirmation and comment.
mandag 31. august 2009
SealCOS filters search results using certified brand sites
SealCOS is announcing today that it is launching a certification process to ensure that consumers are visiting an authentic site belonging to a well-known brand. The Seal of a Certified Site is meant to sift officials sites from the pretenders.
New York-based SealCOS’s recognition is like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and will be used to identify official web sites for all sorts of brands. That’s necessary because some of the imposters can often engineer web sites so that their results appear higher than official sites in typical search results.
Brands can apply for the SealCOS certification, and upon approval they can put the SealCOS mark on their sites.
The SealCOS mark appears in web site titles that are returned from search queries. Consumers can also filter search results by putting “SealCOS” into a search query to get only official sites. You could search for “leather luggage SealCOS” to get the results of legitimate brands that sell luggage, said Charles Cheheber, founder and chief executive of the company.
The aim is to help consumers deal with the mounting number of fake sites, which can cause customer frustration and lost business for the brand owners. It also helps cut on online advertising, since it lets brands stand out more easily next to third party and other sites.
SealCOS says it will investigate applicants to ensure they’re qualified. Web sites have to sell or service consumers directly and offer only the brand’s product or service. Nike.com could get a certification, but FootLocker, which sells many brands, could not get a Nike SealCOS.
Businesses can visit the SealCOS website to apply for certification. Following a thorough review of qualifications, SealCOS will certify the applicant and license them the use of the SealCOS mark. SealCOS has applied for patents and trademarks for its SealCOS mark. If someone fakes the SealCOS mark, the company plans to take legal action.
SealCOS has five employees and was founded this year. It has raised $50,000 in funding from two individual investors. The company says it has no direct competitors.
New York-based SealCOS’s recognition is like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and will be used to identify official web sites for all sorts of brands. That’s necessary because some of the imposters can often engineer web sites so that their results appear higher than official sites in typical search results.
Brands can apply for the SealCOS certification, and upon approval they can put the SealCOS mark on their sites.
The SealCOS mark appears in web site titles that are returned from search queries. Consumers can also filter search results by putting “SealCOS” into a search query to get only official sites. You could search for “leather luggage SealCOS” to get the results of legitimate brands that sell luggage, said Charles Cheheber, founder and chief executive of the company.
The aim is to help consumers deal with the mounting number of fake sites, which can cause customer frustration and lost business for the brand owners. It also helps cut on online advertising, since it lets brands stand out more easily next to third party and other sites.
SealCOS says it will investigate applicants to ensure they’re qualified. Web sites have to sell or service consumers directly and offer only the brand’s product or service. Nike.com could get a certification, but FootLocker, which sells many brands, could not get a Nike SealCOS.
Businesses can visit the SealCOS website to apply for certification. Following a thorough review of qualifications, SealCOS will certify the applicant and license them the use of the SealCOS mark. SealCOS has applied for patents and trademarks for its SealCOS mark. If someone fakes the SealCOS mark, the company plans to take legal action.
SealCOS has five employees and was founded this year. It has raised $50,000 in funding from two individual investors. The company says it has no direct competitors.
Opera 10 is here, but do any of you care?
Opera Software just released the final version of Opera 10, the latest revamp of its pioneering-but-not-terribly-popular web browser.
Could this be the breakthrough Opera needs to reach a big audience in the United States? Opera is doing all right financially, but in the US, it accounts for only 1.18 percent of the browser market, according to the W3Counter. (Opera is used by a slightly higher percentage of VentureBeat visitors, but not much higher.) The company will need to make a big splash, or strike some big deals with computer makers, if it wants to grow much beyond that. I’m not sure there’s anything earth-shattering enough about Opera 10 to do that.
Still, Opera has also as led the way for other web browsers with some features — it was one of the first to adopt tabbed browsing, and also created the “speed dial” now also available in Chrome and Safari. So even if you don’t plan to download Opera 10 yourself, you may want to check out the company’s list of things you have to try (copied below), if only to see what features may be added to your browser of choice a few years down the road.
Opera Turbo, a new compression technology that solves the pain of slow connections. Whether you are an on-the-go business traveler, you rely on 3G cards in your netbook, or you find yourself stuck on a sluggish Wi-Fi connection Opera Turbo gives you a major browsing boost. If your network speed slows to a crawl, simply enable Opera Turbo to browse the Web at broadband-like speeds. Opera Turbo will automatically detect when network speeds will enable you to benefit. Once you turn it on, Opera Turbo instantly compresses pages, so less data needs to be transferred over a limited connection. Take the Opera Turbo test today. In our laboratory trials, Opera Turbo gives up to eight times faster Web surfing over slow connections than other browsers.
A sleek and beautiful interface. You have never seen an Opera browser that looks like this. For Opera 10 we gave the browser a streamlined and elegant new interface. The world-class design complements Opera’s world-class features that help you get even more out of your Web browsing.
Better tabs, from the original pioneer. Opera continues pioneering new ways to use tabs. In Opera 10, resize your tab bar by pulling down on it or double-clicking the handle, revealing a surprise: Opera now shows you full thumbnails of all your open tabs.
I’ve only had a copy of Opera 10 for a couple of hours, not enough to form any kind of informed opinion. But combine the features list, my limited experience playing with the browser so far, and some of my frustrations with Firefox 3.5’s bugs, and I’m intrigued. So I’m definitely going to continue giving Opera a try.
It’s also worth remembering that the Norwegian company’s hopes aren’t just invested in its PC web browser. It also has mobile browsers including Opera Mini, supposedly the most-downloaded app ever, and is developing Opera Unite, a service that’s supposed to turn your computer into a server.
Could this be the breakthrough Opera needs to reach a big audience in the United States? Opera is doing all right financially, but in the US, it accounts for only 1.18 percent of the browser market, according to the W3Counter. (Opera is used by a slightly higher percentage of VentureBeat visitors, but not much higher.) The company will need to make a big splash, or strike some big deals with computer makers, if it wants to grow much beyond that. I’m not sure there’s anything earth-shattering enough about Opera 10 to do that.
Still, Opera has also as led the way for other web browsers with some features — it was one of the first to adopt tabbed browsing, and also created the “speed dial” now also available in Chrome and Safari. So even if you don’t plan to download Opera 10 yourself, you may want to check out the company’s list of things you have to try (copied below), if only to see what features may be added to your browser of choice a few years down the road.
Opera Turbo, a new compression technology that solves the pain of slow connections. Whether you are an on-the-go business traveler, you rely on 3G cards in your netbook, or you find yourself stuck on a sluggish Wi-Fi connection Opera Turbo gives you a major browsing boost. If your network speed slows to a crawl, simply enable Opera Turbo to browse the Web at broadband-like speeds. Opera Turbo will automatically detect when network speeds will enable you to benefit. Once you turn it on, Opera Turbo instantly compresses pages, so less data needs to be transferred over a limited connection. Take the Opera Turbo test today. In our laboratory trials, Opera Turbo gives up to eight times faster Web surfing over slow connections than other browsers.
A sleek and beautiful interface. You have never seen an Opera browser that looks like this. For Opera 10 we gave the browser a streamlined and elegant new interface. The world-class design complements Opera’s world-class features that help you get even more out of your Web browsing.
Better tabs, from the original pioneer. Opera continues pioneering new ways to use tabs. In Opera 10, resize your tab bar by pulling down on it or double-clicking the handle, revealing a surprise: Opera now shows you full thumbnails of all your open tabs.
I’ve only had a copy of Opera 10 for a couple of hours, not enough to form any kind of informed opinion. But combine the features list, my limited experience playing with the browser so far, and some of my frustrations with Firefox 3.5’s bugs, and I’m intrigued. So I’m definitely going to continue giving Opera a try.
It’s also worth remembering that the Norwegian company’s hopes aren’t just invested in its PC web browser. It also has mobile browsers including Opera Mini, supposedly the most-downloaded app ever, and is developing Opera Unite, a service that’s supposed to turn your computer into a server.
Silicon Mitus høyninger andre runde i sjeldne chip finansieringen
Silicon Mitus reist en ny runde med finansiering for sin virksomhet for å gjøre strømstyring chips. Seoul-baserte selskapet skiller seg ut siden relativt få chip oppstarter får finansiering i disse dager. Theamount ble ikke avslørt. Firmaet ledes av Youm Huh, konsernsjef, og det gjør tilpasset sjetonger for flatskjermer, mobile applikasjoner og energi-relaterte maskinvare. Runden ble ledet av ePlanet Ventures og deltakerne følger Walden International. Lip-Bu Tan, leder av Walden, sa i en uttalelse at Silicon Mitus overgikk hans forventninger om økonomisk ytelse. Selskapet øker sin første runde av institusjonelle midler i 2007.
Det fungerer! Finn Min iPhone fører fuzz til telefon-Snatchers
Selv om jeg er alltid skeptisk til sikkerhetstiltak som Find My iPhone, er det alltid hyggelig å høre når de arbeider. I dette tilfellet ble en ganske ordinær phonejacking i Pittsburg hindret da lurer glemte å ta ut SIM fra deres nylig kjøpte booty. Etter perps tok av, gikk offeret hjem, oppstartet opp sin [...]
Medsphere høyner $ 12 millioner for electronic health records
Slå USAs vaklevorent papirbaserte system for helse-poster i en state-of-the-art elektroniske ene er ingen pen oppgave. Men noen har fått til å gjøre det. Medsphere Systems Corporation, en åpen kildekode-electronic health records leverandør, sa det hevet $ 12 millioner i dag til å møte etterspørselen fra sykehus racing å holde sin valgbarhet for føderale midler ved revamping platene sine systemer. Carlsbad, California-basert Medsphere er ett av flere selskaper som er tilpasser Vista, eller Veteran helseadministrasjon er elektronisk pasientjournal-system, for kommersiell bruk. For budsjett-bevisste sykehus, tar åpen kildekode rute er et billigere alternativ til å kjøpe private programvare. Medsphere's variant, kalt OpenVista, brukes av 20.000 personer og 2.500 leger, ifølge selskapet. Den føderale regjeringen forsøker å presse sykehus mot å vedta elektroniske arkiver ved å love $ 19 billion stimulans midler til de som gjør overgangen fra 2011. Hvis de ikke gjør det spranget, møte de økonomiske straffer, mister en prosentandel av deres Medicare betalinger starter i 2015. Azure Capital Partners, Epic Ventures, Thomas Weisel Venture Partners og Vest Technology Investment deltok i runden.
Analyst: iPhone secure against competitors, AT&T not so much
As Palm, Google, and others roll out their smartphone platforms, you might think Apple should be worried about keeping the momentum going on its iPhone. Not so, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster in a note sent out earlier today — the competition just drives more people to Apple.
Noting strong sales of the Apple’s latest model, the iPhone 3G S, Munster writes:
The smart phone industry has effectively crowned the iPhone and its App Store the gold standard among touchscreen mobile experiences, and competitors are trying to copy the device and its software. In doing so, the iPhone’s competitors are actually promoting the iPhone …
He then goes on to compare the dynamic between the iPhone and its competitors to that between the iPod and competing music players in 2004. In other words, the iPhone is the touchscreen smartphone at the top of public awareness (even if its actual marketshare isn’t quite so impressive), so as tech companies bring more and more attention to the smartphone market, Apple benefits. The comparison would have been even more perfect if Microsoft had actually released the rumored Zune phone …
Of course, analysts have whiffed on Apple before, particularly when it comes to guessing what the company will do next (remember when everyone was predicting the launch of an iPhone nano?). The market prediction may be relatively solid, since it’s based on existing trends, but Munster is probably getting more speculative when he talks about Apple’s deal where all iPhone users in the United States must sign up with AT&T:
We believe Apple is slowly transitioning each country into which they sell the iPhone to a multi-carrier model. In other words, we expect Apple to add new iPhone carriers in the U.S. within the next year (likely with a new product launch next summer).
After all, Munster adds, Apple has already moved to a multi-carrier model in France. Plus, there’s no denying growing anti-AT&T sentiment, which was palpable at Apple’s last Worldwide Developers Conference in June. In fact, the Wall Street Journal just published an article wondering if the strain that the iPhone has put on AT&T’s network has done more damage to the carrier’s reputation than the iPhone exclusive was worth.
All I can say is that the timing would work out pretty well for me, since my AT&T contract ends next summer, and I’d be awfully tempted to switch to Verizon …
Noting strong sales of the Apple’s latest model, the iPhone 3G S, Munster writes:
The smart phone industry has effectively crowned the iPhone and its App Store the gold standard among touchscreen mobile experiences, and competitors are trying to copy the device and its software. In doing so, the iPhone’s competitors are actually promoting the iPhone …
He then goes on to compare the dynamic between the iPhone and its competitors to that between the iPod and competing music players in 2004. In other words, the iPhone is the touchscreen smartphone at the top of public awareness (even if its actual marketshare isn’t quite so impressive), so as tech companies bring more and more attention to the smartphone market, Apple benefits. The comparison would have been even more perfect if Microsoft had actually released the rumored Zune phone …
Of course, analysts have whiffed on Apple before, particularly when it comes to guessing what the company will do next (remember when everyone was predicting the launch of an iPhone nano?). The market prediction may be relatively solid, since it’s based on existing trends, but Munster is probably getting more speculative when he talks about Apple’s deal where all iPhone users in the United States must sign up with AT&T:
We believe Apple is slowly transitioning each country into which they sell the iPhone to a multi-carrier model. In other words, we expect Apple to add new iPhone carriers in the U.S. within the next year (likely with a new product launch next summer).
After all, Munster adds, Apple has already moved to a multi-carrier model in France. Plus, there’s no denying growing anti-AT&T sentiment, which was palpable at Apple’s last Worldwide Developers Conference in June. In fact, the Wall Street Journal just published an article wondering if the strain that the iPhone has put on AT&T’s network has done more damage to the carrier’s reputation than the iPhone exclusive was worth.
All I can say is that the timing would work out pretty well for me, since my AT&T contract ends next summer, and I’d be awfully tempted to switch to Verizon …
Facebook revamps deling som brukere aksje 1 million små biter av innholdet i uken
Facebook fornyet sitt design for å dele innhold av andre nettsteder som selskapet presser brukerne til aktivt å distribuere linker og videoer gjennom sosiale nettverk. Oppdateringen er en liten forbedring i løpet av de eldste: design er renere og gir mer plass til innholdet du re deling. Lignende å komponere en privat Facebook melding, inkorporerer deler vindu et miniatyrbilde av innhold og ber deg om å legge til en kommentar. Det er fremdeles en tad langsom og noen ganger trekker opp en unøyaktig øyeblikksbilde. Likevel har Facebook deling andre ikke. Du kan dele et element privat med noen venner eller åpne den opp for hele nettverket. Facebook prøver å oppstart deler for å gjøre sitt annonsenettverk rikere og å samle så mye data som mulig for å bygge ut sitt nye søkefunksjonalitet. Brukere som allerede dele mer enn 1 milliard deler av innholdet i uken på området.
Fox will air Tweet-peats of Fringe and Glee
Could Twitter save the stale summer rerun? Television network Fox is hoping that the popular social media will bring new life (and additional viewers) to repeats of the shows Fringe and Glee.
During this week’s repeat episodes, Fox will broadcast live tweets from producers and actors, both on the shows’ respective Twitter accounts, and scrolling on the screen throughout the episodes. Think Pop-Up Video for the techno-savvy masses. Those who want to become even more immersed can tweet questions directly at the shows’ stars. Just don’t ask Joshua Jackson whatever happened between Pacey and Joey.
This isn’t the first time passive and active media have come together. CNN’s inauguration coverage featured live status updates, and other shows (especially the MTV reality variety) now take live text question and comments. But these “tweet-peats” as Fox has dubbed them, may be the first time a major television network has attempted to incorporate Twitter directly into one of its popular shows.
The idea seems great for the already-loyal viewer — for those dying for tidbits about backstage gossip or hints about the new season. But repeats are also about bringing in new viewers, those who missed the show the first time around. And trying to become immersed in the lives of budding high school performers while an anecdote about the tricky harmony in Don’t Stop Believin’ scrolls across the screen seems a bit distracting to me.
The Twitter feeds will air during the rebroadcast of the season finale of Fringe on Thursday at 9/8 central and during the rerun of Glee’s pilot at 9/8 central Friday. The tweets can also be followed directly @FRINGEonFOX and @GLEEonFOX or at each actor or producer’s personal page.
During this week’s repeat episodes, Fox will broadcast live tweets from producers and actors, both on the shows’ respective Twitter accounts, and scrolling on the screen throughout the episodes. Think Pop-Up Video for the techno-savvy masses. Those who want to become even more immersed can tweet questions directly at the shows’ stars. Just don’t ask Joshua Jackson whatever happened between Pacey and Joey.
This isn’t the first time passive and active media have come together. CNN’s inauguration coverage featured live status updates, and other shows (especially the MTV reality variety) now take live text question and comments. But these “tweet-peats” as Fox has dubbed them, may be the first time a major television network has attempted to incorporate Twitter directly into one of its popular shows.
The idea seems great for the already-loyal viewer — for those dying for tidbits about backstage gossip or hints about the new season. But repeats are also about bringing in new viewers, those who missed the show the first time around. And trying to become immersed in the lives of budding high school performers while an anecdote about the tricky harmony in Don’t Stop Believin’ scrolls across the screen seems a bit distracting to me.
The Twitter feeds will air during the rebroadcast of the season finale of Fringe on Thursday at 9/8 central and during the rerun of Glee’s pilot at 9/8 central Friday. The tweets can also be followed directly @FRINGEonFOX and @GLEEonFOX or at each actor or producer’s personal page.
Is it time for the venture capital “two-and-twenty” to end?
Private equity is starting to get the hint. Is it time for venture capital to do the same?
For more than a generation, “two-and-twenty” has been a rule of thumb for management fees in the venture capital industry. It means fund managers get twenty percent of any profits they generate and two percent of total assets under management in fees.
Chris Dixon, who co-founded Hunch with Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and made early stage investments at Bessemer Venture Partners, published a provocative post last week asking if it’s time to end the practice:
The problem is the management fees. 2% made sense back when VC funds were much smaller, but not now that they have gotten so large. As peHUB said in their email newsletter today, Benchmark had an $85M fund in 1995 but today has a $500M fund. That seems to be the typical trend for most big VCs.
Let’s do a little math. 2% of $85M is $1.7M. Assuming 8 partners, that means salaries are in the $100-$200K range. Much higher than national averages but, by the standards of finance, they aren’t getting “rich.” 2% of $500 is $10M, so each partner is probably getting $1M+ in salaries. Over the 10 year life of the fund that’s $10M. Even on Wall Street that is considered pretty rich. And they get that money even if they make only bad investments and don’t return a dime to their investors.
The private equity and hedge fund industries are undergoing similar soul-searching (if that’s possible) after last year’s market crash when they were swamped with redemption requests. Two-and-twenty was also a rule of thumb among hedge funds.
After the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index plummeted by the most since 1937 last year, investors questioned why managers should automatically earn a 2 percent cut of $1 billion under management, for example, even if they delivered a loss. Private equity funds are now down to asking for 1.8 percent this year, according to London-based research firm Preqin Ltd. Hedge fund fees have stayed a little firmer than that, although some new funds are charging 1.5 percent, according to Bloomberg News.
As the venture capital industry also contracts, sending investment activity back down to mid-1990s levels, perhaps its time for funds to ask similar questions as they compete for dwindling inflows from long-term investors like university endowments and pension funds. A lower automatic management fee, with the same or more generous profit-sharing arrangement, would place a venture capitalist’s mindset more in line with the entrepreneur’s experience.
Another plus, Dixon argues, is that venture capitalists won’t flood the market with money start-ups don’t need, make too many “me-too” investments or raise too large a fund just to capture management fees. Indeed, Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist at Benchmark Partners, argued last week that a contraction may nurse venture capital back to its former health.
For more than a generation, “two-and-twenty” has been a rule of thumb for management fees in the venture capital industry. It means fund managers get twenty percent of any profits they generate and two percent of total assets under management in fees.
Chris Dixon, who co-founded Hunch with Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and made early stage investments at Bessemer Venture Partners, published a provocative post last week asking if it’s time to end the practice:
The problem is the management fees. 2% made sense back when VC funds were much smaller, but not now that they have gotten so large. As peHUB said in their email newsletter today, Benchmark had an $85M fund in 1995 but today has a $500M fund. That seems to be the typical trend for most big VCs.
Let’s do a little math. 2% of $85M is $1.7M. Assuming 8 partners, that means salaries are in the $100-$200K range. Much higher than national averages but, by the standards of finance, they aren’t getting “rich.” 2% of $500 is $10M, so each partner is probably getting $1M+ in salaries. Over the 10 year life of the fund that’s $10M. Even on Wall Street that is considered pretty rich. And they get that money even if they make only bad investments and don’t return a dime to their investors.
The private equity and hedge fund industries are undergoing similar soul-searching (if that’s possible) after last year’s market crash when they were swamped with redemption requests. Two-and-twenty was also a rule of thumb among hedge funds.
After the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index plummeted by the most since 1937 last year, investors questioned why managers should automatically earn a 2 percent cut of $1 billion under management, for example, even if they delivered a loss. Private equity funds are now down to asking for 1.8 percent this year, according to London-based research firm Preqin Ltd. Hedge fund fees have stayed a little firmer than that, although some new funds are charging 1.5 percent, according to Bloomberg News.
As the venture capital industry also contracts, sending investment activity back down to mid-1990s levels, perhaps its time for funds to ask similar questions as they compete for dwindling inflows from long-term investors like university endowments and pension funds. A lower automatic management fee, with the same or more generous profit-sharing arrangement, would place a venture capitalist’s mindset more in line with the entrepreneur’s experience.
Another plus, Dixon argues, is that venture capitalists won’t flood the market with money start-ups don’t need, make too many “me-too” investments or raise too large a fund just to capture management fees. Indeed, Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist at Benchmark Partners, argued last week that a contraction may nurse venture capital back to its former health.
Audrina setter Heidi's sangkarriere
Hun kan være alt for å støtte sine venner på "The Hills", men når det kommer til å heie på den spirende musikalske karrieren til Heidi Montag, Audrina Patridge er ikke akkurat henne costar's No 1 fan .
Jay-Z lanserer 9 / 11 veldedighetskonsert
Jay-Z ønsker alle å huske det første reagerer som svarte på anropet 11. september 2001.
Dell Mini 3i vises igjen, stjerner i en ekstra detaljert fotoseanse
Den offisielt benektet Dell Mini 3i fortsetter å vises i bilder på Internett, og denne gangen de har det så fint detaljert at vi kan virkelig se hva som faktisk enheten ser liker og hva den tilbyr programvare-klok ...
Kina-bare Nokia 3208c har berøringsskjerm, vet language
Nokia kunngjorde sitt andre Kina-spesifikk mobiltelefon - Nokia 3208c. Den idrett en berøringsskjerm for å støtte håndskrift, som sin forgjenger - Nokia 6208cbut ikke kjøre på Symbian som du ...
Nokia 3720 classic: Handle uten pleie
Nokia 3720 classic er å sette på sine støvler, dra på anorakken sin slinging sin ryggsekk over skulderen sin, og Striding ut i unfriendliest miljøer: vann, støv, tøffe ground.you name it, løfter denne enheten trekker den av .. .
Prejean å saksøke Miss California USA tjenestemenn
Carrie Prejean vil filen et søksmål mot Miss California USA tjenestemenn for stripping sin tittel som tidligere i år kunngjorde sin advokat mandag.
'Distrikt 9' åpnes i Sør-Afrika
Det futuristiske sørafrikanske sci-fi som har tatt USA med storm billettkontoret åpnet i sitt hjemland denne helgen.
Jackson hoax 'eksperiment, sier' kringkasteren
A hoax video som angivelig viser Michael Jackson hopper ut av et Coroner's van live ble produsert av et tysk TV-stasjon som et eksperiment, sa kringkasteren CNN mandag.
Politiet har opplysninger om DJ AM's siste dag i live
Når bitene er fremdeles satt sammen for å identifisere årsaken til Adam «DJ AM» Goldstein død, en politikilde forteller folk at fredag 28. august den dagen han ble senere funnet død i hans Manhattan leilighet, hadde kjendis deejay sendte sine siste tekstmeldingen til to venner på 1 am
Chris Brown sier han ikke husker å slå Rihanna
popstjernen Chris Brown har innrømmet skyld og ba om unnskyldning for overgrep mot sin daværende kjæreste Rihanna i februar, men han husker ikke treffer sangeren, sa han til CNN's Larry King.
Flueskjerm lander på Android (1000 inviterer)
Israelsk oppstart Cellogic, har skaperne av den fine flueskjerm programvaren, tilbrakte de siste 8 månedene eller så utvikler en tilpasset versjon for Android-plattformen for å komplettere sin foreløpig Symbian-eksklusiv versjon. I dag er selskapet debuterte den private alfa versjon av Android-kompatibelt program, og vi har 1000 inviterer til å tilby for de bærer rundt HTC telefoner som kjører Android 1.5 (det fungerer på Samsung Galaxy også, men er mindre optimalisert for en bestemt enhet) . Så hva er flueskjerm? hovedsak en samling av utvidbare widgets som utgjør syndikert innhold (for eksempel TechCrunch) og små programmer som krok i Twitter, Facebook osv. Du kan bruke den til å hente RSS-feed av dine favorittblogger, og dermed kunne å få rask tilgang forhåndsvisninger av publisert innhold tag artikler for senere lesing eller dele innlegg på Twitter og / eller Facebook i bare ett klikk.
Verizon klipper BlackBerry Storm ned til $ 50
BlackBerry Storm kan endelig har funnet sin prissetting sweet spot. Telefonen definitivt var overpriset for $ 200 i fjor, og selv på USD 100, prisen kuttet for noen måneder siden ikke ser riktig ut, men $ 50?!? Ja, jeg vil kaste meg inn i en vegg og pisse på restene daglig, men VZW ikke skal ha noen innvendinger mot å tømme ut lagerbeholdningen. Du vet hvorfor det er bare $ 50 rett?
Politiets gjennomgang død Rolling Stones grunnlegger
britisk politi er gjennom døden til Rolling Stones-gründer Brian Jones, 40 år etter hard-living rocker ble funnet død i et svømmebasseng.
Fwix provides local news, and wants you to be an iPhone correspondent
Fwix, a web site that wants to give you a blend of traditional local news and user-contributed stories, has launched today with an undisclosed amount of funding from Silicon Valley venture capital firm BlueRun Ventures.
Fwix’s stated goal is to be a “newswire for all things local,” sifting through main-stream local media sources, blogs and other social media sites — to bring it all to a single place for you at Fwix. If you visit Fwix, the site will serve you news relevant to your local region. It does so by detecting the location of your IP address — so if you live in San Francisco, it will show you San Francisco news (see screenshot below). The site features news from around the Web, but it also plans to let people submit news from their iPhones (via an application it says it expects to be approved by Apple this week).
There’s nothing earth-shattering about this approach. But at least it’s a fresh attempt to bring you all the local news you want in the most modern way possible — which means letting people supply news they are witnessing via their iPhones. There are a lot of other news sites that try tailor news on a local basis, including Topix, NewsVine, and even Google News (see Google’s San Francisco news). Some of them let users supply news remotely, but I’m not aware whether any of them have a dedicated iPhone application.
Founder Darian Shirazi, 22, has had a fast moving career. He previously worked at Facebook, then started Fotodunk, which was acquired by iLike, where he worked for a while, before leaving to start Redux in 2007. He then founded FlikIM. Last year, he founded of Fwix, which we wrote about here when it launched. At the time, it was focused on taking local items from feeds from Craigslist and Yelp. It has since changed its focus to news.
San Francisco-based Fwix says it is is available in 80 U.S. and Canadian cities.
Fwix says it has an 8 million unique visitors per month. However, traffic measurement company Compete shows the site gets less than 150,000 unique users a month. While Compete is generally considered to under-count the traffic of smaller sites, this is a difference that is more significant than usual, and raises questions about whether Fwix really has the sort of traffic it claims or whether Compete has become completely unreliable.
Fwix’s stated goal is to be a “newswire for all things local,” sifting through main-stream local media sources, blogs and other social media sites — to bring it all to a single place for you at Fwix. If you visit Fwix, the site will serve you news relevant to your local region. It does so by detecting the location of your IP address — so if you live in San Francisco, it will show you San Francisco news (see screenshot below). The site features news from around the Web, but it also plans to let people submit news from their iPhones (via an application it says it expects to be approved by Apple this week).
There’s nothing earth-shattering about this approach. But at least it’s a fresh attempt to bring you all the local news you want in the most modern way possible — which means letting people supply news they are witnessing via their iPhones. There are a lot of other news sites that try tailor news on a local basis, including Topix, NewsVine, and even Google News (see Google’s San Francisco news). Some of them let users supply news remotely, but I’m not aware whether any of them have a dedicated iPhone application.
Founder Darian Shirazi, 22, has had a fast moving career. He previously worked at Facebook, then started Fotodunk, which was acquired by iLike, where he worked for a while, before leaving to start Redux in 2007. He then founded FlikIM. Last year, he founded of Fwix, which we wrote about here when it launched. At the time, it was focused on taking local items from feeds from Craigslist and Yelp. It has since changed its focus to news.
San Francisco-based Fwix says it is is available in 80 U.S. and Canadian cities.
Fwix says it has an 8 million unique visitors per month. However, traffic measurement company Compete shows the site gets less than 150,000 unique users a month. While Compete is generally considered to under-count the traffic of smaller sites, this is a difference that is more significant than usual, and raises questions about whether Fwix really has the sort of traffic it claims or whether Compete has become completely unreliable.
søndag 30. august 2009
AMD lanserer lavt strømforbruk server chips å redusere energibruk i datasentre
Advanced Micro Devices lanserer sitt laveste strøm Opteron server chips i dag i et forsøk på å kjøle ned overoppheting datasentre. Den Sunnyvale, California-basert chip maker er fokusere på å kutte kostnader av energiforbruket i datasentre. For hver $ 1 at en bedrift bruker på en server, må den bruke 53 cent på måter å kjøle det. Dersom brikken er mer energieffektivt å begynne med, så avkjøling er ikke så høy. Jeg vet ikke om deg, men jeg tror det ville være bra dersom datasentrene våre ikke smelte ned, eller føre til at havnivået stiger. Brent Kerby, senior produktet markedssjef i AMD sa den nye mikroprosessoren har seks kjerner, eller behandler hjernen, og opererer på 40 watt strøm. AMD tidligere server chips brukt 75 watt og 55 watt. De nye brikkene har 30 prosent høyere ytelse per watt strøm brukes. Med lavere 40-watt strømforbruk, kan AMD nå passer 42 servere i et rack. Med 55 watt, kan det bare bli 34 servere i et rack, på grunn av til avkjøling. Og med 75 watt-prosessorer, kan det bare plass 24 servere i et rack. Intels brikker opererer på 120, 105, 95, 85, og 60-watts nivåer. Kerby sier chips kan overgå Intel server chips delvis fordi de bruker den eldre DDR2-minne som kan lagre $ 1000 per server i forhold til nyere Intel-baserte servere med DDR3 minnebrikker. Som kan legge opp til en besparelse på $ 1 million per år, sier Kerby. Selvfølgelig kan du forvente Intel å motvirke AMD. [Foto kilde: 1 & 1]
'Final Destination' nr. 1 hos Box Office
For mange forblir kreative relevansen av 3-D kino veldig mye et åpent spørsmål. Men når historien av Hollywoods 21. århundre omfavnelse av 3-D er skrevet, det godt kan peke til denne helgen som det øyeblikket da formatet definitivt etablert sin kommersielle kraft på billettkontoret.
IM + 3,4 for å støtte Talegjenkjenning i tweets og IM (for en pris)
I motsetning til enkelte mennesker rundt disse delene, elsker jeg meg litt Twitter (Psst, følg meg). Saken er omtrent hver gang jeg får en sjanse til å tweet, kan jeg ikke. Kanskje mine hender er dekket med fett som jeg stuffing ansiktet mitt med en deilig burger, kanskje jeg bare ikke vil komme hjem fra en lang [...]
lørdag 29. august 2009
Analytics for toeing the fine lines in social venture investing
The young field of social venture capital is finally getting some detailed metrics.
A style of investing that takes cues from the traditional venture capital industry while aiming to solve global problems like hunger, poverty and health care, social venture capital sits on a delicate line between seeking financial return and having tangible social impact.
Environment Planning Group Limited, a Gujarat, India-based Acumen Fund investment, aims to provide safe water
Figuring out what those trade-offs should be and how to measure them is the tough part. So New York-based Acumen Fund, a venture philanthropy fund, and a group of Google engineers put together the Pulse software system to give Google-style analytics for returns on both fronts.
The Salesforce application comes out this fall and is being tested by more than 50 non-profits and charities. It tracks what a more conventional investor might look for — revenue, return-on-equity and assets and liabilities. But it also follows less traditional metrics that a non-profit user can design like school drop-out rates for an education program or mosquito bed-net sales. Acumen will offer it for free to non-profits and work out other financial arrangements with some of the larger foundations.
Sensitive to the conflicts that might arise over how to measure social impact, Acumen Fund developed the technical part of the software separately from the qualitative part, said Brad Presner, who managed Google’s business analytics team before coming to the fund. (That means that even though Acumen Fund uses it mostly for projects in the developing world, a religious philanthropy could use it to track impact in its community.)
Acumen also wanted to create benchmarks across the entire industry, so that social venture funds like Root Capital or E+Co would have a way to keep track of what works and compare returns. The fund built a wiki and asked other partners like the Rockefeller Foundation to contribute ideas.
Designing metrics encompasses a lot of sticky questions: social venture capitalists have to weigh whether it might be better to fund a project that has a shallow impact on a larger group of people or a very deep effect on a handful of lives. When there are trade-offs between boosting financial returns and benefiting a disadvantaged customer base, they have to figure out what to prioritize.
Venture philanthropy, or philanthrocapitalism, is a young field that was borne out of the successes the venture capital industry saw in the 1990s. Newly wealthy entrepreneurs and investors wanted to donate but needed accountability and a better understanding of how their dollars were having impact. So they started applying some of the metrics and business practices from traditional investing into charitable work. Returns in this area are not meant to be competitive with private equity- or venture capital-sized returns. Instead, social venture capital is a more disciplined form of charity that requires a self-sustaining business model and some of the listening mechanisms built into a market-based approach.
Acumen Fund, which manages more than $40 million, looks for businesses that can scale up to impact more than 1 million people and operate on their own within five to seven years. They raised money from the Skoll Foundation, which was created by eBay’s first president, Jeff Skoll, to develop Pulse. Eventually, Presner said the fund would like to grow it into an industry standard and spin it off into an independent project.
A style of investing that takes cues from the traditional venture capital industry while aiming to solve global problems like hunger, poverty and health care, social venture capital sits on a delicate line between seeking financial return and having tangible social impact.
Environment Planning Group Limited, a Gujarat, India-based Acumen Fund investment, aims to provide safe water
Figuring out what those trade-offs should be and how to measure them is the tough part. So New York-based Acumen Fund, a venture philanthropy fund, and a group of Google engineers put together the Pulse software system to give Google-style analytics for returns on both fronts.
The Salesforce application comes out this fall and is being tested by more than 50 non-profits and charities. It tracks what a more conventional investor might look for — revenue, return-on-equity and assets and liabilities. But it also follows less traditional metrics that a non-profit user can design like school drop-out rates for an education program or mosquito bed-net sales. Acumen will offer it for free to non-profits and work out other financial arrangements with some of the larger foundations.
Sensitive to the conflicts that might arise over how to measure social impact, Acumen Fund developed the technical part of the software separately from the qualitative part, said Brad Presner, who managed Google’s business analytics team before coming to the fund. (That means that even though Acumen Fund uses it mostly for projects in the developing world, a religious philanthropy could use it to track impact in its community.)
Acumen also wanted to create benchmarks across the entire industry, so that social venture funds like Root Capital or E+Co would have a way to keep track of what works and compare returns. The fund built a wiki and asked other partners like the Rockefeller Foundation to contribute ideas.
Designing metrics encompasses a lot of sticky questions: social venture capitalists have to weigh whether it might be better to fund a project that has a shallow impact on a larger group of people or a very deep effect on a handful of lives. When there are trade-offs between boosting financial returns and benefiting a disadvantaged customer base, they have to figure out what to prioritize.
Venture philanthropy, or philanthrocapitalism, is a young field that was borne out of the successes the venture capital industry saw in the 1990s. Newly wealthy entrepreneurs and investors wanted to donate but needed accountability and a better understanding of how their dollars were having impact. So they started applying some of the metrics and business practices from traditional investing into charitable work. Returns in this area are not meant to be competitive with private equity- or venture capital-sized returns. Instead, social venture capital is a more disciplined form of charity that requires a self-sustaining business model and some of the listening mechanisms built into a market-based approach.
Acumen Fund, which manages more than $40 million, looks for businesses that can scale up to impact more than 1 million people and operate on their own within five to seven years. They raised money from the Skoll Foundation, which was created by eBay’s first president, Jeff Skoll, to develop Pulse. Eventually, Presner said the fund would like to grow it into an industry standard and spin it off into an independent project.
Week in Review: The chip industry’s future, Adwhirl’s acquisition and more
If you haven’t kept up with tech business news during the past week, this post will get you up-to-speed. First, here are the five most popular stories that VentureBeat published in the last seven days. Looks like our readers really wanted to hear about the game industry:
The coolest and scariest things coming in the chip industry’s future — “At the Hot Chips chip design conference at Stanford University this week, chip researchers spelled out some of the toughest computing problems of the future and the solutions to deal with them. … They talked alternately about running into technological brick walls, and about ways to get around them. But they warned that the ever-increasing cost of making the newest chips will have an impact on the entire food chain of electronic products where chips are used.”
Which video game console should you buy? — “Now that the seasonal price cuts have finally arrived for video game consoles, the console makers are positioned for the fall selling season. The question for gamers is which console is the best bargain.”
EA’s chief creative officer describes game industry’s re-engineering — “The world of video games is changing and the companies involved in it have to adapt to a broader and less hardcore market, said Rich Hilleman, the chief creative officer of Electronic Arts. While Hilleman covered familiar territory, he did so with more candor than most corporate executives and he offered interesting insights into how to deal with the ‘re-engineering’ of the video game business.”
Seed is the new Series A for VCs — “It may be too soon to pop the champagne, but the mood in the venture community appears to be slowly improving. … What is most noteworthy about the recent increase in funding activity is the structural change occurring in the market for early stage investments.”
Game maker Blizzard buys time to fortify online game service Battle.net — “Blizzard Entertainment delayed its mammoth game, Starcraft II, until next year because the online game service that goes with it, Battle.net, needed an upgrade. Today at Blizzcon, the company’s annual event for the Blizzard fans, the company did its best to explain that Battle.net is undergoing a major overhaul.”
And here are five stories from other parts of the tech world that we thought were important, thought-provoking, or just fun:
Admob buys mobile ad aggregator AdWhirl — takes out major threat — “Admob, a leading mobile advertising service, is acquiring AdWhirl, a service that aggregates ads from mobile ad networks. In an interview confirming the deal, Admob chief executive Omar Hamoui told VentureBeat the move was made to create an open and transparent mobile ad exchange.”
Apple’s Snow Leopard may stop you from doing your job — “Reviewers haven’t trashed Snow Leopard, especially given its nearly-free price. But none of the most influential Mac product review experts are excited by it. And all of them hit problems.”
Twitter co-founder Stone doesn’t care about “Teens don’t Tweet” talk — “We’re back at it again. After Morgan Stanley let a 15-year-old write a research report this summer on how teens consume media that said young people don’t use the microblogging network, a ‘Teens don’t tweet’ refrain spread throughout the blogosphere.”
Govt’ gives out $300M for advanced vehicles, “Clean Cities” — “The U.S. Department of Energy just announced that it will provide $300 million in stimulus funds to 25 projects aimed at putting 9,000 more alternative-fuel vehicles on America’s roads, and building the infrastructure needed to power them, including 542 fueling and charging stations across the country. All told, these projects — now under the banner of the DOE’s long-standing “Clean Cities” program — could cut petroleum use by up to 38 million gallons a year. That’s nearly 1 million barrels of oil.”
Aboomba tests a new fundraising strategy: Get married — “With venture investing still down, and the VC industry likely to shrink even further, what’s a cash-strapped startup to do? The soon-to-be-married couple behind stealth-mode web company Aboomba decided to take a fresh approach: Ask their wedding guests for funding.”
The coolest and scariest things coming in the chip industry’s future — “At the Hot Chips chip design conference at Stanford University this week, chip researchers spelled out some of the toughest computing problems of the future and the solutions to deal with them. … They talked alternately about running into technological brick walls, and about ways to get around them. But they warned that the ever-increasing cost of making the newest chips will have an impact on the entire food chain of electronic products where chips are used.”
Which video game console should you buy? — “Now that the seasonal price cuts have finally arrived for video game consoles, the console makers are positioned for the fall selling season. The question for gamers is which console is the best bargain.”
EA’s chief creative officer describes game industry’s re-engineering — “The world of video games is changing and the companies involved in it have to adapt to a broader and less hardcore market, said Rich Hilleman, the chief creative officer of Electronic Arts. While Hilleman covered familiar territory, he did so with more candor than most corporate executives and he offered interesting insights into how to deal with the ‘re-engineering’ of the video game business.”
Seed is the new Series A for VCs — “It may be too soon to pop the champagne, but the mood in the venture community appears to be slowly improving. … What is most noteworthy about the recent increase in funding activity is the structural change occurring in the market for early stage investments.”
Game maker Blizzard buys time to fortify online game service Battle.net — “Blizzard Entertainment delayed its mammoth game, Starcraft II, until next year because the online game service that goes with it, Battle.net, needed an upgrade. Today at Blizzcon, the company’s annual event for the Blizzard fans, the company did its best to explain that Battle.net is undergoing a major overhaul.”
And here are five stories from other parts of the tech world that we thought were important, thought-provoking, or just fun:
Admob buys mobile ad aggregator AdWhirl — takes out major threat — “Admob, a leading mobile advertising service, is acquiring AdWhirl, a service that aggregates ads from mobile ad networks. In an interview confirming the deal, Admob chief executive Omar Hamoui told VentureBeat the move was made to create an open and transparent mobile ad exchange.”
Apple’s Snow Leopard may stop you from doing your job — “Reviewers haven’t trashed Snow Leopard, especially given its nearly-free price. But none of the most influential Mac product review experts are excited by it. And all of them hit problems.”
Twitter co-founder Stone doesn’t care about “Teens don’t Tweet” talk — “We’re back at it again. After Morgan Stanley let a 15-year-old write a research report this summer on how teens consume media that said young people don’t use the microblogging network, a ‘Teens don’t tweet’ refrain spread throughout the blogosphere.”
Govt’ gives out $300M for advanced vehicles, “Clean Cities” — “The U.S. Department of Energy just announced that it will provide $300 million in stimulus funds to 25 projects aimed at putting 9,000 more alternative-fuel vehicles on America’s roads, and building the infrastructure needed to power them, including 542 fueling and charging stations across the country. All told, these projects — now under the banner of the DOE’s long-standing “Clean Cities” program — could cut petroleum use by up to 38 million gallons a year. That’s nearly 1 million barrels of oil.”
Aboomba tests a new fundraising strategy: Get married — “With venture investing still down, and the VC industry likely to shrink even further, what’s a cash-strapped startup to do? The soon-to-be-married couple behind stealth-mode web company Aboomba decided to take a fresh approach: Ask their wedding guests for funding.”
Rapport: Twitter investoren Chris Sacca klargjøring venturefond
Velkjente angel investor Chris Sacca er i ferd med å lansere et tidlig stadium venturefond kalt Små Capital, ifølge en rapport på TechCrunch. Fondet vil være ganske liten, sier rapporten - $ 5 millioner i alt, med investeringer på ca $ 50.000 til $ 150.000 hver. Likevel er det oppmuntrende å se nye tallene inn i venture-bransjen i tid da så mye av diskusjonen er doom-and-tungsinn. Som Twitter Backer, tidligere Google-ansatt, og noen som er frittalende om politiske saker (du kan lese mer om hans politikk i mitt dekning av en regjering 2,0 panelet et par måneder siden) Sacca er en fremtredende figur i tech scene - det finnes også et Twitter-konto viet til parodying himr. Aktuelle investeringer omfatter web typografi oppstart TypeKit tid og forvaltningsselskap RescueTime. Som svar på e-posten min, sa Sacca han ikke kan kommentere, noe som antyder det er noe i gjære (selv om detaljene ikke nødvendigvis samsvarer med TechCrunch historie). Det er også et nettsted for Små kapital, men det har ikke noen informasjon.
Rising to the Top: 5 måter indie utviklerne lykkes på App Store
Det er ingen hemmelighet: Det skjer noe Benjamins gjøres på App Store. Faktisk er App Store nå en $ 2.4 milliarder dollar per år forretninger, ifølge AdMob månedlige mobile beregninger rapporten. Her er en annen morsom fakta du sikkert allerede vet: de fleste app utviklerne visne inn i App Store avgrunnen lenge før de noensinne [...]
Entrepreneur Corner Roundup: the new Series A. forecasting customer growth and breaking into existing markets
Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner:
Seed is the new Series A for VCs – With the economy in crisis, VCs have been reluctant to put term sheets down on new investments. That’s slowly changing, but instead of using the Series A mold, many VCs are using ’seed’ money. Caine Moss, corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati discusses how to protect your company.
Do the math: An easy formula to forecast customer growth - Before you have a shot at a capital injection, you’ll first have to provide firmly grounded revenue and customer projections. Loyalty Lab COO Michael Greenberg shows you how to accurately predict those numbers.
Four rules for running with the big dogs – Breaking into an existing market is tough, since many customers are loyal to an established competitor. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank details four ways to make it easier.
Clarifing direction through strategic process management – Coming up with a great idea is one thing. Executing on it is another. Angel investor Sy Fahimi discusses strategic process management and the dramatic impact it can have on your business.
Emerging trends in the future of technology - While some entrepreneurs fear the tech field is full, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the field is still wide open, with a lot of areas that still haven’t been explored.
Seed is the new Series A for VCs – With the economy in crisis, VCs have been reluctant to put term sheets down on new investments. That’s slowly changing, but instead of using the Series A mold, many VCs are using ’seed’ money. Caine Moss, corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati discusses how to protect your company.
Do the math: An easy formula to forecast customer growth - Before you have a shot at a capital injection, you’ll first have to provide firmly grounded revenue and customer projections. Loyalty Lab COO Michael Greenberg shows you how to accurately predict those numbers.
Four rules for running with the big dogs – Breaking into an existing market is tough, since many customers are loyal to an established competitor. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank details four ways to make it easier.
Clarifing direction through strategic process management – Coming up with a great idea is one thing. Executing on it is another. Angel investor Sy Fahimi discusses strategic process management and the dramatic impact it can have on your business.
Emerging trends in the future of technology - While some entrepreneurs fear the tech field is full, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the field is still wide open, with a lot of areas that still haven’t been explored.
Noel Gallagher avslutter Oasis
Oasis frontmann Noel Gallagher har sluttet i rockegruppa etter et nedfall med sin bandkollega bror, annonserte han sent fredag.
fredag 28. august 2009
Disc jockey DJ AM funnet død
Nesten ett år etter å ha overlevd en flyulykke i South Carolina, disc jockey Adam «DJ AM» Goldstein ble funnet død i sin leilighet i New York fredag ettermiddag, opplyser hans publicist.
Roundup: Chinese PC sales rebound, Microsoft lobbies against Google, my ad network is bigger than yours
Incentived PC sales in China climb, making Americans look like a bunch of penny-pinching sissies — Chinese customers bought 11.7 million computers in the second quarter, a 14 percent rise over last year’s sales. The Wall Street Journal says government stimulus plans have helped by knocking 13% off some products, bringing Lenovo’s entry-level PC price to $365. Flat-panel TVs are another hot item for which government incentives are available. Flat-screen glass maker Corning has been unable to keep up with what it says will be a 15% increase in monitor and TV sales this year, despite higher prices.
[Photo: Lenovo]
Microsoft’s chief D.C. lobbyist said to be holding regular “screw Google” meetings — Beltway gossips quoted by Daily Finance say Microsoft holds weekly meetings with Law Media Group, a secretive D.C.-based PR firm, and lobbyists Glover Park Group. Frankly, I think Daily Finance should’ve named the source quoted as saying, “Law Media Group has several people who work full-time on Google-bashing. Everybody knows Microsoft is trying to throw roadblocks at Google and knock them off their game. Microsoft is trying to harm Google in the regulatory, legal, and litigation arenas because they’re having problems with Google in the competitive marketplace.” What, are you afraid LMG will come over to your house and break your knees? John M. Simpson from Consumer Watchdog stood up and put his name on this quote: ”It’s obvious that Microsoft is engaged in some sort of organized campaign to undermine Google” by casting the search supergiant as a bad guy to the Federal government.
Who’s the biggest mobile ad network? – VentureBeat often quotes AdMob, which claims to operate the largest network of mobile ads. SiliconAngle.com founder John Furrier doesn’t believe it, and cites different rankings from Nielsen that puts AdMob at #5 behind Millennial Media, Yahoo, Google and AOL. Nobody’s list is de facto correct, but Nielsen places Millennial at 45 million and AdMob at 25 million, a non-trivial difference in size.
TheFunded launches a four-month training program for startup founders — Founder Adeo Ressi plans to conduct a program called Founder Institute in San Diego, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Paris, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Singapore, London, Berlin and of course New York. Xconomy writer Bruce Bigelow describes Ressi a hybrid that combines the benefits of an incubator and a startup training camp for very early-stage entrepreneurs.”
Facebook’s advice for nonprofits — Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark, works on nonprofit initiatives for the company. At a New York conference held my Mashable, Randi advised non-profits to avoid these mistakes which the Wall Street Journal helpfully typed up for everyone: Relying on groups instead of fan pages. Including too many apps on pages. Sending donors to sites away from Facebook, which Zuckerberg said keeps them from forming a chatty, engaged fan base on Facebook.
[Photo: Flickr/Jim Fruchterman]
Onstage proposal charms Twitterati — Mashable COO Adam Hirsch proposed to his lady, Mashable Managing Editor Sharon Feder, in front of the entire audience at the Social Good conference in New York City. Besides getting a yes from Feder, Hirsch’s public plea spawned 165 tweets and an entry on Valleywag. Wow, that’s more coverage than my last divorce got.
[Photo: Lenovo]
Microsoft’s chief D.C. lobbyist said to be holding regular “screw Google” meetings — Beltway gossips quoted by Daily Finance say Microsoft holds weekly meetings with Law Media Group, a secretive D.C.-based PR firm, and lobbyists Glover Park Group. Frankly, I think Daily Finance should’ve named the source quoted as saying, “Law Media Group has several people who work full-time on Google-bashing. Everybody knows Microsoft is trying to throw roadblocks at Google and knock them off their game. Microsoft is trying to harm Google in the regulatory, legal, and litigation arenas because they’re having problems with Google in the competitive marketplace.” What, are you afraid LMG will come over to your house and break your knees? John M. Simpson from Consumer Watchdog stood up and put his name on this quote: ”It’s obvious that Microsoft is engaged in some sort of organized campaign to undermine Google” by casting the search supergiant as a bad guy to the Federal government.
Who’s the biggest mobile ad network? – VentureBeat often quotes AdMob, which claims to operate the largest network of mobile ads. SiliconAngle.com founder John Furrier doesn’t believe it, and cites different rankings from Nielsen that puts AdMob at #5 behind Millennial Media, Yahoo, Google and AOL. Nobody’s list is de facto correct, but Nielsen places Millennial at 45 million and AdMob at 25 million, a non-trivial difference in size.
TheFunded launches a four-month training program for startup founders — Founder Adeo Ressi plans to conduct a program called Founder Institute in San Diego, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Paris, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Singapore, London, Berlin and of course New York. Xconomy writer Bruce Bigelow describes Ressi a hybrid that combines the benefits of an incubator and a startup training camp for very early-stage entrepreneurs.”
Facebook’s advice for nonprofits — Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark, works on nonprofit initiatives for the company. At a New York conference held my Mashable, Randi advised non-profits to avoid these mistakes which the Wall Street Journal helpfully typed up for everyone: Relying on groups instead of fan pages. Including too many apps on pages. Sending donors to sites away from Facebook, which Zuckerberg said keeps them from forming a chatty, engaged fan base on Facebook.
[Photo: Flickr/Jim Fruchterman]
Onstage proposal charms Twitterati — Mashable COO Adam Hirsch proposed to his lady, Mashable Managing Editor Sharon Feder, in front of the entire audience at the Social Good conference in New York City. Besides getting a yes from Feder, Hirsch’s public plea spawned 165 tweets and an entry on Valleywag. Wow, that’s more coverage than my last divorce got.
CFX Battery heve $ 26M i ny finansiering
CFX batteri, skaperen av som gjør primære og oppladbare batterier, har hevet 5 millioner dollar av en planlagt $ 26 millioner runde av nye midler, ifølge en regulerende innlevering. Dette er Pasadena, Calif selskapets andre runde - den tidligere tjente NOK 15.18 million fra CMEA Ventures, Harris & Harris Group og amerikanske Venture Partners, peHUB sier.
Batteri maker Seeo raiser $ 8.6m
Seeo, en Berkeley, California-basert batteri-maker, har reist mer enn $ 8.6 millioner i nye midler, ifølge en regulerende innlevering. Selskapets hjemmeside sier ikke mye om produktet, bortsett fra at "Seeo utvikler avanserte materialer for å revolusjonere elektrisitet lagring og levering." Selskapet høynet nesten 1 million dollar fra Khosla Ventures i fjor, og peHub rapporterer at Khosla er en avkastning investor.
“Touch” technology for desktop computing finally taking off
[This piece, written by Al Monro, CEO at touch-screen designer NextWindow, is the third in a series of posts about cutting-edge areas of innovation. The series is sponsored by Microsoft. Microsoft authors will participate, as will other outside experts.]
After many years in the making, it looks like touch technology on the desktop is finally taking off. Dell and Hewlett-Packard already have delivered touch-enabled PCs to market, and these products have been very well received. According to analyst firm DisplaySearch, just over one million desktop PCs/monitors were sold in 2008 with touch, and this number is projected to grow to more than 2.4 million in 2009. And a recent article in Computerworld notes that several other major computer vendors including Lenovo, Acer and Sony will soon launch their own touch PCs. In the meantime, Microsoft is preparing to launch Windows 7, the first-ever operating system with built-in multi-touch functionality. The combination of these efforts has led DisplaySearch to predict that the global touch screen PC market will reach $9 billion by 2015.
The actual technology used to convert a traditional monitor to a touch screen monitor is a key variable driving consumer adoption of touch-enabled PCs. Of the million-plus touch PCs and monitors sold last year, roughly three-quarters of them used a technology known as “resistive” touch. It is a low-cost solution found in many touch screens, including hand-held computers, PDAs, consumer electronics, and point-of-sale-applications. But limitations can include excessive glare and/or reduced image quality. Resistive screens also are susceptible to vandalism, in that touches will not register if the resistive sheet is cut or scratched.
Meanwhile “optical” touch screen technology, which last year was used in the remaining 25% of touch PCs and monitors sold, is increasingly popular with PC makers. (Disclosure: My company, NextWindow designs optical touch monitors.) HP and Dell are both using optical in their touch PCs and the technology has many consumer-friendly advantages. In particular, optical touch technology provides the best clarity of image and the lowest cost. Optical is also ideal for computer screens ranging in size from 12” – 120”, where as competing technologies such as “projected capacitive” (used in the iPhone, for example) are primarily designed for smaller devices. Just as importantly, optical delivers the kind of physical tool-like flexibility that consumers enjoy. You can interact with optical touch screen applications using your fingers, a hard or soft stylus, and even a paint brush. In fact, only optical and infrared technologies let users interact with an application without touching the screen at all — this is known in the industry as “zero activation pressure” required to make commands. In addition, scratches on the touch surface will not affect the touch screen operation.
Until now the touch-enabled software applications market has been stuck in a very chicken-or-egg situation. Software developers were reluctant to build touch applications due to the dearth of touch-enabled PCs. Likewise, PC makers were hesitant to deliver touch-enabled PCs because there were no touch applications. But now that touch PCs and Windows 7 are hitting the market, the universe of software developers can begin building applications to run on these systems. It’s easy to imagine existing applications like Microsoft Paint, Adobe Acrobat, Bing Maps and Google Earth will be much more enjoyable to use with touch: consider channeling your inner Picasso by using a paint brush to sweep and swipe the computer screen.
It’s even more fun to ponder what as-yet-unknown developers will do with touch. For instance, how about a grocery market app that lets users stroll down aisles “flicking” produce and other items into shopping carts with the swipe of a finger, or spinning product boxes around to view ingredients. Or an app from a cosmetics company that lets users project their face on to the screen and then use their fingers to brush, dab or blend make-up. The truth is, we really don’t know what’s possible with touch — and that’s a big part of what makes this market so exciting.
Be sure to see the previous articles in this series:
How phones emerged as main computing devices, and why user interface will improve
Put your finger on it: The future of interactive technology
After many years in the making, it looks like touch technology on the desktop is finally taking off. Dell and Hewlett-Packard already have delivered touch-enabled PCs to market, and these products have been very well received. According to analyst firm DisplaySearch, just over one million desktop PCs/monitors were sold in 2008 with touch, and this number is projected to grow to more than 2.4 million in 2009. And a recent article in Computerworld notes that several other major computer vendors including Lenovo, Acer and Sony will soon launch their own touch PCs. In the meantime, Microsoft is preparing to launch Windows 7, the first-ever operating system with built-in multi-touch functionality. The combination of these efforts has led DisplaySearch to predict that the global touch screen PC market will reach $9 billion by 2015.
The actual technology used to convert a traditional monitor to a touch screen monitor is a key variable driving consumer adoption of touch-enabled PCs. Of the million-plus touch PCs and monitors sold last year, roughly three-quarters of them used a technology known as “resistive” touch. It is a low-cost solution found in many touch screens, including hand-held computers, PDAs, consumer electronics, and point-of-sale-applications. But limitations can include excessive glare and/or reduced image quality. Resistive screens also are susceptible to vandalism, in that touches will not register if the resistive sheet is cut or scratched.
Meanwhile “optical” touch screen technology, which last year was used in the remaining 25% of touch PCs and monitors sold, is increasingly popular with PC makers. (Disclosure: My company, NextWindow designs optical touch monitors.) HP and Dell are both using optical in their touch PCs and the technology has many consumer-friendly advantages. In particular, optical touch technology provides the best clarity of image and the lowest cost. Optical is also ideal for computer screens ranging in size from 12” – 120”, where as competing technologies such as “projected capacitive” (used in the iPhone, for example) are primarily designed for smaller devices. Just as importantly, optical delivers the kind of physical tool-like flexibility that consumers enjoy. You can interact with optical touch screen applications using your fingers, a hard or soft stylus, and even a paint brush. In fact, only optical and infrared technologies let users interact with an application without touching the screen at all — this is known in the industry as “zero activation pressure” required to make commands. In addition, scratches on the touch surface will not affect the touch screen operation.
Until now the touch-enabled software applications market has been stuck in a very chicken-or-egg situation. Software developers were reluctant to build touch applications due to the dearth of touch-enabled PCs. Likewise, PC makers were hesitant to deliver touch-enabled PCs because there were no touch applications. But now that touch PCs and Windows 7 are hitting the market, the universe of software developers can begin building applications to run on these systems. It’s easy to imagine existing applications like Microsoft Paint, Adobe Acrobat, Bing Maps and Google Earth will be much more enjoyable to use with touch: consider channeling your inner Picasso by using a paint brush to sweep and swipe the computer screen.
It’s even more fun to ponder what as-yet-unknown developers will do with touch. For instance, how about a grocery market app that lets users stroll down aisles “flicking” produce and other items into shopping carts with the swipe of a finger, or spinning product boxes around to view ingredients. Or an app from a cosmetics company that lets users project their face on to the screen and then use their fingers to brush, dab or blend make-up. The truth is, we really don’t know what’s possible with touch — and that’s a big part of what makes this market so exciting.
Be sure to see the previous articles in this series:
How phones emerged as main computing devices, and why user interface will improve
Put your finger on it: The future of interactive technology
6rounds wants to add video to all your web activity (invites)
For anyone wanting to have a video chat with their friends, there’s no shortage of options. But a startup called Gixoo is hoping there’s room for a new service, called 6rounds, which adds new ways to interact with people while chatting.
Right now, you can see the service in action at the 6rounds website, although the company plans to expand the service far beyond the site. It’s easy to start a video chat with friends or other people you find, and 6rounds even tries to help the conversation along by suggesting interests you have in common (based on user profiles). More importantly, it isn’t just about having conversations. You could play a game together, or watch a YouTube video, or shop on Amazon during a chat — activities open in a window in the center of the screen, while the chat windows are pushed to the side.
Eventually, however, chief executive Dany Fishel says, “We hope that 95 percent of the video chats don’t occur at 6rounds.com. We don’t see it as a destination site.”
To that end, there should soon be a 6rounds Facebook application, and after that similar applications for other social networks and websites — either built by the company itself or by third-party developers; Fishel and chief operating officer Ilan Leibovich say they plan to give developers access to the 6rounds service through application programming interfaces (APIs). It’s also possible to embed your 6rounds profile on other sites (see the sample embeddable profile here).
6rounds is still in a private beta test, but VentureBeat readers can check it out by clicking here (Gixoo gave us 250 invites).
The Israel-based company plans to make money through virtual gifts, personalization, e-commerce, licensing, and advertising. It has raised a total of $1.5 million in venture investment, with backing from Rhodium Investment Group and the Israeli Startup Factory.
Right now, you can see the service in action at the 6rounds website, although the company plans to expand the service far beyond the site. It’s easy to start a video chat with friends or other people you find, and 6rounds even tries to help the conversation along by suggesting interests you have in common (based on user profiles). More importantly, it isn’t just about having conversations. You could play a game together, or watch a YouTube video, or shop on Amazon during a chat — activities open in a window in the center of the screen, while the chat windows are pushed to the side.
Eventually, however, chief executive Dany Fishel says, “We hope that 95 percent of the video chats don’t occur at 6rounds.com. We don’t see it as a destination site.”
To that end, there should soon be a 6rounds Facebook application, and after that similar applications for other social networks and websites — either built by the company itself or by third-party developers; Fishel and chief operating officer Ilan Leibovich say they plan to give developers access to the 6rounds service through application programming interfaces (APIs). It’s also possible to embed your 6rounds profile on other sites (see the sample embeddable profile here).
6rounds is still in a private beta test, but VentureBeat readers can check it out by clicking here (Gixoo gave us 250 invites).
The Israel-based company plans to make money through virtual gifts, personalization, e-commerce, licensing, and advertising. It has raised a total of $1.5 million in venture investment, with backing from Rhodium Investment Group and the Israeli Startup Factory.
Latest judges for DEMO’s $1M media prize: Omar Hamoui, Mark Pincus, Larry Augustin and Anu Shukla
Here’s the latest batch of judges who will be at the DEMO conference next month in San Diego. They’ll help award the $1 million media prize (see details) to the best of the 60 companies launching new technology products at the event.
We’ve already announced that a list of all-star alumni will also be on hand for the Sept. 21-23 conference as well as the first bunch of judges here. We’ll be making more announcements shortly.
These folks have awesome track records, are in the thick of things at their current companies, or both:
Omar Hamoui (left) is founder & CEO of Admob, the leading mobile advertising company. He founded Admob in January 2006 while in the MBA program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Omar started and ran several companies in the mobile, internet, and computer software industries including Vertical Blue, GoPix and fotochatter, a mobile to mobile image sharing network. We’ve covered Admob’s growth since its launch three years ago, when Hamoui managed to get backing from one of Silicon Valley’s top backers, Sequoia Capital. See also our article about Admob’s acquisition of a mobile ad exhange AdWhirl.
Mark Pincus (left) is chief executive of Zynga, the largest social gaming network reportedly making more than $100M a year after launching just two years ago to target Facebook, and more recently the iPhone. It reports 27 million daily users. Pincus was an early social network entrepreneur, having founded Tribe Networks (tribe.net) in 2003, one of the first social networking sites. Cisco purchased Tribe.net’s assets. Prior to Tribe, Pincus co-founded SupportSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT), a provider of service and support automation software, serving as CEO until its IPO. His first company was Freeloader, the first web-based consumer push information service — acquired seven months after launch by Individual, Inc. for $38 million.
Larry Augustin is CEO of SugarCRM. He’s a path-breaking entrepreneur in open source: In 1993, as a Stanford graduate student, he founded VA Linux (now SourceForge, NASDAQ: LNUX), the first company to pre-install the Linux operating system on computers. While CEO, he launched SourceForge.net, a popular collaborative software development management system. He led the company through an IPO in December 1999, and served as CEO until 2002. From 2002 to 2004, he was a Venture Partner at Azure Capital Partners. He’s on the board of Fonality, the Free Standards Group, JBoss, Linux International, MedSphere, the OSDL, Pentaho, SugarCRM, Hyperic, Compiere, Zend Technologies and Appcelerator. He blogs here.
Anu Shukla is founder and CEO of Offerpal Media. Founded two years ago, Offerpal has become one of the leading social advertising network companies. It has done so by letting advertisers engage with readers in more engaging ways than traditional advertising — for example by making readers discount offers in exchange for information about themselves, and letting them gain points for virtual currency. Such methods, which provide more promising leads, have become particularly effective for social application developers — those targeting Facebook, for example — to monetize their traffic. Like Zynga, Offerpal is one of the early “break out” social companies, and is also rumored to be making more than $100 million a year. Shukla also was founder and CEO of Mybuys Inc., a provider of personalized product recommendations for online retailers. Prior to Mybuys, she founded and was CEO of internet marketing automation company Rubric. Rubric was acquired in 2000 for $366 million. She was also VP of Marketing and Product Strategy at Versata (VATA).
As mentioned before, the presence of such accomplished judges are just one reason to show up for DEMO. The world’s leading press shows up (everyone from the The Wall Street Journal, to USA Today, CNN, CNET, Forbes, Infoweek, ComputerWorld, PC World and the top blogs), the production values are second to none, and well, check out the list of alumni companies, which speaks for itself — including Netflix, TiVo, Adobe Acrobat, Palm Pilot, Sun’s Java, Salesforce, WebEx, the list goes on and on.
More details here. Tickets here.
We’ve already announced that a list of all-star alumni will also be on hand for the Sept. 21-23 conference as well as the first bunch of judges here. We’ll be making more announcements shortly.
These folks have awesome track records, are in the thick of things at their current companies, or both:
Omar Hamoui (left) is founder & CEO of Admob, the leading mobile advertising company. He founded Admob in January 2006 while in the MBA program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Omar started and ran several companies in the mobile, internet, and computer software industries including Vertical Blue, GoPix and fotochatter, a mobile to mobile image sharing network. We’ve covered Admob’s growth since its launch three years ago, when Hamoui managed to get backing from one of Silicon Valley’s top backers, Sequoia Capital. See also our article about Admob’s acquisition of a mobile ad exhange AdWhirl.
Mark Pincus (left) is chief executive of Zynga, the largest social gaming network reportedly making more than $100M a year after launching just two years ago to target Facebook, and more recently the iPhone. It reports 27 million daily users. Pincus was an early social network entrepreneur, having founded Tribe Networks (tribe.net) in 2003, one of the first social networking sites. Cisco purchased Tribe.net’s assets. Prior to Tribe, Pincus co-founded SupportSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT), a provider of service and support automation software, serving as CEO until its IPO. His first company was Freeloader, the first web-based consumer push information service — acquired seven months after launch by Individual, Inc. for $38 million.
Larry Augustin is CEO of SugarCRM. He’s a path-breaking entrepreneur in open source: In 1993, as a Stanford graduate student, he founded VA Linux (now SourceForge, NASDAQ: LNUX), the first company to pre-install the Linux operating system on computers. While CEO, he launched SourceForge.net, a popular collaborative software development management system. He led the company through an IPO in December 1999, and served as CEO until 2002. From 2002 to 2004, he was a Venture Partner at Azure Capital Partners. He’s on the board of Fonality, the Free Standards Group, JBoss, Linux International, MedSphere, the OSDL, Pentaho, SugarCRM, Hyperic, Compiere, Zend Technologies and Appcelerator. He blogs here.
Anu Shukla is founder and CEO of Offerpal Media. Founded two years ago, Offerpal has become one of the leading social advertising network companies. It has done so by letting advertisers engage with readers in more engaging ways than traditional advertising — for example by making readers discount offers in exchange for information about themselves, and letting them gain points for virtual currency. Such methods, which provide more promising leads, have become particularly effective for social application developers — those targeting Facebook, for example — to monetize their traffic. Like Zynga, Offerpal is one of the early “break out” social companies, and is also rumored to be making more than $100 million a year. Shukla also was founder and CEO of Mybuys Inc., a provider of personalized product recommendations for online retailers. Prior to Mybuys, she founded and was CEO of internet marketing automation company Rubric. Rubric was acquired in 2000 for $366 million. She was also VP of Marketing and Product Strategy at Versata (VATA).
As mentioned before, the presence of such accomplished judges are just one reason to show up for DEMO. The world’s leading press shows up (everyone from the The Wall Street Journal, to USA Today, CNN, CNET, Forbes, Infoweek, ComputerWorld, PC World and the top blogs), the production values are second to none, and well, check out the list of alumni companies, which speaks for itself — including Netflix, TiVo, Adobe Acrobat, Palm Pilot, Sun’s Java, Salesforce, WebEx, the list goes on and on.
More details here. Tickets here.
What’s Next: a Wikipedia for small businesses?
Three years after Alexander Graham Bell spoke the telephone’s first words in 1875 – “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you” – the first phone directory was published. The New Haven Telephone company published a white card with the names of 50 subscribers, divided into business and residential. (Only when a printer ran out of white paper and used yellow did the directory become the Yellow Pages.)
In 2007, yellow page directories were a $31 billion market, but they are being rapidly killed by the web, mobile access, 411 lines, and services vastly more convenient than thumbing through dead trees. The value of accurate business details is still higher than ever. Google’s $150 billion value stems greatly from advertising against business searches.
Yet a century after Bell’s words, business information is surprisingly sparse. Think of your favorite auto shop – can you find its hours? Its prices? The name of the mechanic on staff that you like? Because 70% of small businesses don’t have a website, there’s a good chance you can’t without calling them.
That seems crazy given how much this information can affect your buying decisions, but it makes sense considering how costly it has historically been to stay current. Yellow Pages employs hundreds of sales agents to call businesses, costing tens of millions of dollars per year.
The internet now offers a better solution: crowdsourcing. Wikipedia has destroyed the paper encyclopedia without hiring one sales agent. Alexander Bell couldn’t have foreseen that people would spend millions of hours writing 8,000 words about the Undertaker for free. While Wikipedia is great for general information, it includes almost none of the business directory information that is more valuable. Yelp, YP.com, and CitySearch offer some basic details or user editing, but either focus on reviews or don’t have deep details.
What’s needed is a Wikipedia for small businesses. Provisionally called ShopStop, it would be a public wiki that lets anyone create a website about a business and add a wealth of information:
-Contact details
-Hours of operation
-Lists of products or services
-Recommended items
-Food nutritional values
-Photos
-Prices
-Coupons and specials
-Management and staff
-Credit cards accepted
-Wheelchair accessibility
-Wireless availability
-Franchise locations
-Availability of power outlets
-Customer traffic
-Phone tree options
-Years of operation
-Public restrooms
Business owners could claim their site and add their own details, but unlike MerchantCircle, Smalltown, and other attempts at bringing small businesses online, ShopStop would not require any action from the small business. Their website can be created and useful even without their knowledge.
Like Wikipedia, ShopStop could create custom fields for each category. Editors could specify the price of oil changes across auto shops, massage styles across day spas, and flavors across ice cream parlors. Also like Wikipedia, editors could cite sources and vote on or flag inaccuracies.
This information would be quite lucrative. Search engines, shopping sites, directories, researchers, and developers would love ShopStop’s data APIs. Small businesses that become aware of their ShopStop site could pay to enhance their profile or advertise on searches or competitor pages. The more information they add, the more likely they are to bring leads.
Would enough people add this information? One might argue that people update Wikipedia and Yelp because they love the topic or vendor, but that updating wheelchair accessibility isn’t sufficiently sexy. That’s probably true, but game mechanics can create incentives. Like Yelp’s medals for writing the first review, ShopStop could award every update with points, status, and prizes, perhaps with products from the stores themselves. A ShopStop mobile app would let people update information and earn points right at the location. Some of this information will change often, but it only takes one editor in the world to add value to everyone else.
A challenge would be reaching scale before Yelp, YP.com, or CitySearch begin co-opting these features. ShopStop might defend with loyalty programs like high-end prizes that require many updates. Yelp publicly says it favors consumers before businesses, so another tactic would be to favor businesses by allowing them to control their reviews and sequester information they want private. Finding maven editors in each city won’t be easy but will be hard to duplicate. Executed well, ShopStop could kill the yellow pages for good.
What do you think?
Do you think ShopStop is a good startup idea?(polls)
Mark Goldenson could probably update wireless availability in Bay Area cafes by heart. He is starting an innovative venture in health care. To submit an idea for the What’s Next series, email Mark at mjgold3@gmail.com. Selected ideas will receive attribution.
Photocredit for top image: http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/images5/dennisrogers_rip.gif
Want to see previous ideas?
What’s Next: fully ergonomic laptops?
What’s Next: an eHarmony for travel?
What’s Next: facial recognition from mobile phones?
What’s Next: a StumbleUpon for porn?
In 2007, yellow page directories were a $31 billion market, but they are being rapidly killed by the web, mobile access, 411 lines, and services vastly more convenient than thumbing through dead trees. The value of accurate business details is still higher than ever. Google’s $150 billion value stems greatly from advertising against business searches.
Yet a century after Bell’s words, business information is surprisingly sparse. Think of your favorite auto shop – can you find its hours? Its prices? The name of the mechanic on staff that you like? Because 70% of small businesses don’t have a website, there’s a good chance you can’t without calling them.
That seems crazy given how much this information can affect your buying decisions, but it makes sense considering how costly it has historically been to stay current. Yellow Pages employs hundreds of sales agents to call businesses, costing tens of millions of dollars per year.
The internet now offers a better solution: crowdsourcing. Wikipedia has destroyed the paper encyclopedia without hiring one sales agent. Alexander Bell couldn’t have foreseen that people would spend millions of hours writing 8,000 words about the Undertaker for free. While Wikipedia is great for general information, it includes almost none of the business directory information that is more valuable. Yelp, YP.com, and CitySearch offer some basic details or user editing, but either focus on reviews or don’t have deep details.
What’s needed is a Wikipedia for small businesses. Provisionally called ShopStop, it would be a public wiki that lets anyone create a website about a business and add a wealth of information:
-Contact details
-Hours of operation
-Lists of products or services
-Recommended items
-Food nutritional values
-Photos
-Prices
-Coupons and specials
-Management and staff
-Credit cards accepted
-Wheelchair accessibility
-Wireless availability
-Franchise locations
-Availability of power outlets
-Customer traffic
-Phone tree options
-Years of operation
-Public restrooms
Business owners could claim their site and add their own details, but unlike MerchantCircle, Smalltown, and other attempts at bringing small businesses online, ShopStop would not require any action from the small business. Their website can be created and useful even without their knowledge.
Like Wikipedia, ShopStop could create custom fields for each category. Editors could specify the price of oil changes across auto shops, massage styles across day spas, and flavors across ice cream parlors. Also like Wikipedia, editors could cite sources and vote on or flag inaccuracies.
This information would be quite lucrative. Search engines, shopping sites, directories, researchers, and developers would love ShopStop’s data APIs. Small businesses that become aware of their ShopStop site could pay to enhance their profile or advertise on searches or competitor pages. The more information they add, the more likely they are to bring leads.
Would enough people add this information? One might argue that people update Wikipedia and Yelp because they love the topic or vendor, but that updating wheelchair accessibility isn’t sufficiently sexy. That’s probably true, but game mechanics can create incentives. Like Yelp’s medals for writing the first review, ShopStop could award every update with points, status, and prizes, perhaps with products from the stores themselves. A ShopStop mobile app would let people update information and earn points right at the location. Some of this information will change often, but it only takes one editor in the world to add value to everyone else.
A challenge would be reaching scale before Yelp, YP.com, or CitySearch begin co-opting these features. ShopStop might defend with loyalty programs like high-end prizes that require many updates. Yelp publicly says it favors consumers before businesses, so another tactic would be to favor businesses by allowing them to control their reviews and sequester information they want private. Finding maven editors in each city won’t be easy but will be hard to duplicate. Executed well, ShopStop could kill the yellow pages for good.
What do you think?
Do you think ShopStop is a good startup idea?(polls)
Mark Goldenson could probably update wireless availability in Bay Area cafes by heart. He is starting an innovative venture in health care. To submit an idea for the What’s Next series, email Mark at mjgold3@gmail.com. Selected ideas will receive attribution.
Photocredit for top image: http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/images5/dennisrogers_rip.gif
Want to see previous ideas?
What’s Next: fully ergonomic laptops?
What’s Next: an eHarmony for travel?
What’s Next: facial recognition from mobile phones?
What’s Next: a StumbleUpon for porn?
Bill would give President emergency control of Internet in his dreams
West Virginia Senator John Davidson “Jay” Rockefeller IV — the Democratic great-grandson of oil mogul John D. Rockefeller — has been said to be working for months on a draft of S. 773, a bill whose stated goal is “to ensure the continued free flow of commerce within the United States and with its global trading partners through secure cyber communications, to provide for the continued development and exploitation of the Internet and intranet communications for such purposes, to provide for the development of a cadre of information technology specialists to improve and maintain effective cybersecurity defenses against disruption.”
Translation: It means the White House can order companies to disclose information, and possibly take control of their networks and computers, if the President declares them “critical” to an emergency involving the Internet.
CNET reporter Declan McCullagh has obtained a copy of a 55-page working draft that’s newer than the version online at thomas.loc.gov. He’s excerpted the part that allows the President to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks. Here’s the exact wording:
The President … (A) may declare a cybersecurity emergency; and (B) may, if the President finds it necessary for the national defense and security, and in co-ordination with relevant industry sectors, direct the national response to the cyber threat and the timely restoration of the affected critical infrastructure information system or network.”
The president of the Internet Security Alliance, which includes Verizon, Verisign, Nortel and Carnegie Mellon University on its board, told McCullagh the bill is “troubling due to its vagueness.” Especially the part where it says that in a cyber-emergency, companies whose private networks are deemed critical will be required to share information requested by the government, but doesn’t set limits on what that information can be.
Fred Tien, an attorney with online rights advocates the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also told CNET that the bill’s language has become “more ambiguous” over time, empowering the President — currently a guy who has already had one cyber-czar quit on him — to declare a private network “critical” and effectively take control of it.
McCullagh is personally critical of the bill’s requirement that the White House implement a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy in six months, because the mandatory legal review of the strategy to decide what is or isn’t legal in the strategy will take at least a year to complete. Hey, it’s just like Twitter’s business model.
[Image: Valleywag]
Translation: It means the White House can order companies to disclose information, and possibly take control of their networks and computers, if the President declares them “critical” to an emergency involving the Internet.
CNET reporter Declan McCullagh has obtained a copy of a 55-page working draft that’s newer than the version online at thomas.loc.gov. He’s excerpted the part that allows the President to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks. Here’s the exact wording:
The President … (A) may declare a cybersecurity emergency; and (B) may, if the President finds it necessary for the national defense and security, and in co-ordination with relevant industry sectors, direct the national response to the cyber threat and the timely restoration of the affected critical infrastructure information system or network.”
The president of the Internet Security Alliance, which includes Verizon, Verisign, Nortel and Carnegie Mellon University on its board, told McCullagh the bill is “troubling due to its vagueness.” Especially the part where it says that in a cyber-emergency, companies whose private networks are deemed critical will be required to share information requested by the government, but doesn’t set limits on what that information can be.
Fred Tien, an attorney with online rights advocates the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also told CNET that the bill’s language has become “more ambiguous” over time, empowering the President — currently a guy who has already had one cyber-czar quit on him — to declare a private network “critical” and effectively take control of it.
McCullagh is personally critical of the bill’s requirement that the White House implement a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy in six months, because the mandatory legal review of the strategy to decide what is or isn’t legal in the strategy will take at least a year to complete. Hey, it’s just like Twitter’s business model.
[Image: Valleywag]
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LeAnn Rimes 'flamme ber om personvern
After filing for skilsmisse fra sin kone, skuespilleren Eddie Cibrian - som nå Romancing countrystjerna LeAnn Rimes - ber om personvern og sier han fortsatt er forpliktet til sin unge sønner.
Jesse Dayton krysser over med «Halloween II
Du kan ikke komme gjennom en samtale med Jesse Dayton uten å høre en referanse til Texas minst en gang.
Andreplass i App Store bringer i $ 6300 per dag
Det er få ting mer ettertraktet i iPhone-utviklere verden enn de øverste plassene på App Store salgslistene. Jada, det er bare én vei å gå når du har nådd toppen, men når du er der, you're riding high. Du kommer til å lene seg tilbake, slappe av, og se Cupertino lille talkbox skrives ut penger. Men [...]
Intel boosts its estimates for third quarter as consumers buy computers again
Intel said today it was raising its third quarter revenue and gross profit margin guidance because it has seen stronger than expected demand for microprocessors and chip sets. Those components are used in personal computers and it suggests that both computer makers and consumers are bullish about buying again.
Intel had set its revenue guidance at a conservative $8.5 billion, plus or minus $400 million during its last quarterly call in July. Now it has bosted the revenue target to $9 billion, plus or minus $200 million. Gross margin is expected to be 53 percent, plus or minus two percentage points.
Intel stock is up in early trading to $20.40 a share, up 93 cents. Shares of other tech stocks are up too. Intel sells to almost every computer maker and so its results are a bellwether for the tech economy. Chief executive Paul Otellini has said that revenues hit bottom in the first quarter and that the computer-based economy is now climbing back up. The new announcement provides evidence that computer makers are in the midst of a big buildup in inventory in response to computer demand.
It echoes the bullishness of Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell, who predicted a major upswing in consumer computer demand in 2010 as a result of Windows 7 buying. Microsoft is launching its Windows 7 operating system on Oct. 22, while Apple is launching its Snow Leopard version of the Mac OS X today.
Most chief executives have been shellshocked from the recession and have been reluctant to talk about a turnaround. Mark Hurd, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, the worlds biggest chip maker, has been especially reticent about predicting an improvement. But it will be interesting to see if the slate of new gadgets coming will get consumers buying again. The early indications from Intel are positive.
Intel had set its revenue guidance at a conservative $8.5 billion, plus or minus $400 million during its last quarterly call in July. Now it has bosted the revenue target to $9 billion, plus or minus $200 million. Gross margin is expected to be 53 percent, plus or minus two percentage points.
Intel stock is up in early trading to $20.40 a share, up 93 cents. Shares of other tech stocks are up too. Intel sells to almost every computer maker and so its results are a bellwether for the tech economy. Chief executive Paul Otellini has said that revenues hit bottom in the first quarter and that the computer-based economy is now climbing back up. The new announcement provides evidence that computer makers are in the midst of a big buildup in inventory in response to computer demand.
It echoes the bullishness of Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell, who predicted a major upswing in consumer computer demand in 2010 as a result of Windows 7 buying. Microsoft is launching its Windows 7 operating system on Oct. 22, while Apple is launching its Snow Leopard version of the Mac OS X today.
Most chief executives have been shellshocked from the recession and have been reluctant to talk about a turnaround. Mark Hurd, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, the worlds biggest chip maker, has been especially reticent about predicting an improvement. But it will be interesting to see if the slate of new gadgets coming will get consumers buying again. The early indications from Intel are positive.
Nye trender i fremtiden teknologi
Mens mengde tech bedrifter kan gjøre noen gründere frykter at feltet er stengt for dem, sier Steve Ballmer feltet er fortsatt vidåpne. I en entreprenør trodde leder foredrag ved Stanford University tidligere i år, sa Microsofts konsernsjef de dynamiske egenskapene til teknikken betyr at spillerne er alltid i endring - og det er mange områder, slik som Human-Computer Interaction, som ikke har blitt avlyttet.
Sex, narkotika, litt rock 'n' roll i "Woodstock"
A beskjeden film låst til et stort generasjonsskifte landemerke, den siste kurven ballen fra «Brokeback Mountain» regissøren Ang Lee er en mild coming-of-age, kommer ut komedie satt opp mot den epokegjørende musikkfestival.
Samsung's Star skinner lys: Fem millioner enheter solgt siden mai
Jaja, hvis det ikke er året for rimelige touchscreen bar! Samsung har nettopp trappet opp og kunngjorde at over 5 millioner av Samsung S5230 Star enheter har fuond sine nye eiere siden introduksjonen sin ...
Kinesisk iPhone Gets tjenestemann i engelsk. China Unicom Nesten Doubles AT & T's Subscriber Base.
Akkurat som vi skrev om i går, har kinesiske telekom-giganten China Unicom bare offisielt kunngjort at den har nådd en avtale med Apple om å selge iPhone i Kina. De gjorde det som en side i deres inntjening kunngjøring, som du finner her. Enkelte detaljer som ikke avslørte i går med at dette er en 3-årig avtale mellom China Unicom og Apple, og at de første iPhone vil lanseres en gang i 4. kvartal i år (rapporten i går hadde sagt oktober, som er absolutt en mulighet). Ikke oppgitt er om dette vil være iPhone 3GS eller eldre iPhone 3G. Aktuelle rapporter hadde indikert at enten måten ville ikke enheten kommer med WiFi-funksjonaliteten (som hadde visstnok lenge vært en stikkende punkt mellom Apple og den kinesiske bærere).
Dokumenter: Pot funnet i Jacksons soverom
Første søk av Michael Jackson på soverommet om dagen etter hans død fant marihuana, hud-bleking og hår voksende salver, anti-insomnia piller og tomme flasker av flere anti-angst narkotika, ifølge Retten dokumenter uforseglet torsdag.
torsdag 27. august 2009
Roundup: Dell up, phishing down, App Store forecasts all around
Dell beats forecasts, boosting stock despite loss in profits — The company reported revenue of $12.9 billion net income of $472 million, 24 cents a share, a 23 percent decline from last year’s $616 million net from $16.4 billion in revenue. That’s 28 cents per share excluding costs associated with an in-process restructuring. Analysts had forecast $12.6B revenue and 23 cents per share earnings. Dell’s stock price jumped to $15.65 just before the close of trading, a 7 percent surge. The New York Times reports that analysts expect an upswing in corporate spending on Dell computers as the economy gradually recovers and aging equipment gets in the way of worker productivity and cost-effective IT.
Is the iPhone app market worth $2.4 billion a year? I read the same AdMob report as Om Malik, but Om homed in on the craziest biggest number in the thing: AdMob claims that the iPhone App Store is selling apps at a rate of $2.4 billion a year. Why didn’t I run that number? I guess because I don’t believe it.
Sirius introduces an iPhone dock to deliver satellite radio to auto drivers – The $120 dock, available this fall, is designed to plug into a car cigarette lighter. It will use a new connection system that plays the iPod through the car stereo. Customers will be offered the full XM lineup for $12.95 per month, plus a Best of Sirius option for another $4. Sirius’ customer base has dropped from 19 million at the end of 2008 to 18.4 million in June. The Wall Street Journal has the full story.
Phishing emails largely abandoned by fraud careerists — The Register reports that no one knows for sure what all the former phishing experts are doing now to make a living. But it’s definitely true that phishing emails have dropped off. Anti-virus firms are climbing on top of each other to take the credit for detecting phishing emails so well that they’ve put the crooks out of business. That seems to understate the extent to which Internet users have become smarter about emails designed to dupe them. The current crop of phishing emails has reduced its number of targets to two: 43.7 percent are aimed at tricking PayPal users. 13.1 percent target eBay users, as reported to the Register by Russian anti-virus firm Kapersky Lab.
Ad agency sues other agency over its campaign for Bing — Delaware-based Denizen has filed a lawsuit against supersize firm JWT and its parent company WPP. Denizen claims that WPP breached a confidentiality agreement, and JWT stole Denizen’s proposed technique for blending a TV show’s content and characters into advertising, using Denizen’s ideas to create advertising spots for NBC TV show The Philanthropist. Business Insider reports that “Denizen says the ad agency and holding company not only stole its trade secrets for creating integrated ads — which include strategies for obtaining Screen Actors Guild contracts, methods for gaining access or rights to TV program content and ways to shoot the ads — but also made them publicly known due to the number of parties involved in the Bing campaign.”
Net experts who left Forrester join Altimeter — Jeremiah Owyang and Ray Wang were both Forrester analysts who focused on the Internet. Deborah Schultz went from marketing director at blog software maker Six Apart to social media expert for Procter & Gamble. All three have joined Altimeter, where they will bring Web 2.0 and social media strategies to clients of Altimeter’s consulting business. Altimeter will host a free webinar titled “The Future of Business” on September 10th.
Is the iPhone app market worth $2.4 billion a year? I read the same AdMob report as Om Malik, but Om homed in on the craziest biggest number in the thing: AdMob claims that the iPhone App Store is selling apps at a rate of $2.4 billion a year. Why didn’t I run that number? I guess because I don’t believe it.
Sirius introduces an iPhone dock to deliver satellite radio to auto drivers – The $120 dock, available this fall, is designed to plug into a car cigarette lighter. It will use a new connection system that plays the iPod through the car stereo. Customers will be offered the full XM lineup for $12.95 per month, plus a Best of Sirius option for another $4. Sirius’ customer base has dropped from 19 million at the end of 2008 to 18.4 million in June. The Wall Street Journal has the full story.
Phishing emails largely abandoned by fraud careerists — The Register reports that no one knows for sure what all the former phishing experts are doing now to make a living. But it’s definitely true that phishing emails have dropped off. Anti-virus firms are climbing on top of each other to take the credit for detecting phishing emails so well that they’ve put the crooks out of business. That seems to understate the extent to which Internet users have become smarter about emails designed to dupe them. The current crop of phishing emails has reduced its number of targets to two: 43.7 percent are aimed at tricking PayPal users. 13.1 percent target eBay users, as reported to the Register by Russian anti-virus firm Kapersky Lab.
Ad agency sues other agency over its campaign for Bing — Delaware-based Denizen has filed a lawsuit against supersize firm JWT and its parent company WPP. Denizen claims that WPP breached a confidentiality agreement, and JWT stole Denizen’s proposed technique for blending a TV show’s content and characters into advertising, using Denizen’s ideas to create advertising spots for NBC TV show The Philanthropist. Business Insider reports that “Denizen says the ad agency and holding company not only stole its trade secrets for creating integrated ads — which include strategies for obtaining Screen Actors Guild contracts, methods for gaining access or rights to TV program content and ways to shoot the ads — but also made them publicly known due to the number of parties involved in the Bing campaign.”
Net experts who left Forrester join Altimeter — Jeremiah Owyang and Ray Wang were both Forrester analysts who focused on the Internet. Deborah Schultz went from marketing director at blog software maker Six Apart to social media expert for Procter & Gamble. All three have joined Altimeter, where they will bring Web 2.0 and social media strategies to clients of Altimeter’s consulting business. Altimeter will host a free webinar titled “The Future of Business” on September 10th.
Real-time søkemotor OneRiot rakes i $ 7 millioner
Real-time søkemotor OneRiot har raket i $ 7 millioner i støtte fra eksisterende investorer Appian Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, og Spark Capital. Det bringer Boulder, Colorado-baserte selskapets totale finansiering til 27 millioner dollar. "Det var fornuftig for oss alle å gjøre dette akkurat nå, sa Tobias Peggs, selskapets daglig leder, i et intervju. "Det er et økende og betydelig etterspørsel etter sanntid søkeresultater. Dette er en tillitserklæring fra våre eksisterende investorer. " Sanntidssøk er et raskt voksende område som graver opp resultatene basert på hva folk sier eller publiserer akkurat nå. Selskaper som OneRiot, Topsy og Scoopler skuring gjennom kilder som Twitter, Digg og Flickr for å finne ut hva brukerne deler for øyeblikket. Inntektspotensialet modeller inkluderer annonser ved siden av søkeresultater og merkevareledelse. OneRiot har vært mer aggressive enn sine konkurrenter i å rulle ut en application programming interface til å oppmuntre andre selskaper til å gjøre bruk av sine søkeresultater. Det oppstart også snagged en fordeling avtale med Microsoft som innarbeidet søkeresultater i Internet Explorer og utgitt RiotFeeds, som er sanntids nyhetsstrømmer sentrert rundt temaer som teknologi eller idrett.
Musikk blogging nettverk MOG høyner 5 millioner dollar
MOG reist en $ 5 millioner til å bygge ut redaksjonelt innhold og annonsering på musikken sin blogging nettverk. Gjennom sine viktigste nettstedet og alle sine blogger, sier selskapet at det kommer minst 8 millioner unike besøkende i måneden og har registrert seg annonsører som Nike, Procter & Gamble og LG. MOG forretningsmodell er som Glam Media tilnærming: selskapet bygger opp reklame relasjoner for hundrevis av blogger som er tett fokuserte på et vertikalt marked som musikk. "Vi har sett super-rask vekst, sier grunnleggeren David Hyman i et intervju. "Vi selger annonser øverst 700 musikk blogger og undertegnet opp alle de siste 11 måneder. Hyman også har en track record: han også laget og solgt Gracenote til Sony fjor for USD 260 millioner. Runden ble ledet av Menlo Ventures, mens Simon Equity Partners og Scott Jones lagt på deres eksisterende investeringer - brakte oppstart samlede finansiering til $ 12.5 millioner. Sonja Hoel Perkins i Menlo Ventures blir medlem av styret. Selskapet har 14 ansatte og er basert i Berkeley, California
Facebook 3.0 for iPhone nå tilgjengelig på App Store
Nesten to uker etter å ha sendt programmet til Apple, Facebook er helt fornyet 3,0 søknaden er live endelig på App Store, i henhold til app's utviklere Joe Hewitt. Du kan laste den ned nå her. Butikken viser nå at programmet er versjon 2.5, men hvis du klikker Last ned-knappen likevel får du den nye versjonen. Den nye programmet gir massevis av nye funksjoner, gjør den det som kan være det mest nyttige programmet på App Store (husk å lese dette innlegget) for våre full gjennomgang. Blant de tilleggene er hendelser som er frustrerende er utelatt fra tidligere versjoner. Nå vil du kunne se opp hvor hendelser er, og du kan også svare på dem og se hvilke av dine venner er å delta (for alle som noensinne har hatt å støvel opp web-versjonen av nettstedet bare for å lete opp en Event adressen er dette en stor avtale. Du kan også legge inn video direkte til stedet hvis du har en iPhone 3GS - en funksjon som trolig vil se antall videoer på Facebook øke dramatisk.
Linksify raises $500K for better contact management
As networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn evolve, they’re becoming more social, more interactive, and more open to third-party developers. But a new startup called Linksify wants to take users in the other direction — rather than creating new ways for you to interact with people, it’s stripped away most social networking features and instead focuses exclusively on contact management.
The site is launching its public beta test today and also just announced a $500,000 investment from entrepreneur and angel investor Jon Fisher (who worked with Linksify founder Tony Yu when they were chief executive and chief financial officer, respectively, at Bharosa). About a week ago, Fisher sent out an email announcing that’s he’s quitting LinkedIn for Linksify, because (in his words) he wanted to:
stay connected without invitations
update and sync outlook and PDA address books automatically
show different portions of profile to different people
increase security by encrypting contacts
Basically, Linksify wants to be your online address book, one that gives you a high level of security and control over who sees what information. You divide your contacts into acquaintances, personal contacts, and work contacts, then specify what information you want to provide to each group — for example, you might only give your home address and personal cell phone number to your personal contacts.
Linksify updates don’t stay trapped in the service, either — they synchronize with your Google, Yahoo, or Outlook accounts. You can also pre-approve people to see your contact information by sending them semi-private “passkeys” to your information. And for additional security, your contact information is encrypted.
This approach addresses a lot of my problems with LinkedIn — to the extent that I use LinkedIn at all, I use it as a contact service and barely look at the other social features and applications. The service is free, but Linksify will eventually charge for premium options like syncing multiple address books and mobile devices.
The site is launching its public beta test today and also just announced a $500,000 investment from entrepreneur and angel investor Jon Fisher (who worked with Linksify founder Tony Yu when they were chief executive and chief financial officer, respectively, at Bharosa). About a week ago, Fisher sent out an email announcing that’s he’s quitting LinkedIn for Linksify, because (in his words) he wanted to:
stay connected without invitations
update and sync outlook and PDA address books automatically
show different portions of profile to different people
increase security by encrypting contacts
Basically, Linksify wants to be your online address book, one that gives you a high level of security and control over who sees what information. You divide your contacts into acquaintances, personal contacts, and work contacts, then specify what information you want to provide to each group — for example, you might only give your home address and personal cell phone number to your personal contacts.
Linksify updates don’t stay trapped in the service, either — they synchronize with your Google, Yahoo, or Outlook accounts. You can also pre-approve people to see your contact information by sending them semi-private “passkeys” to your information. And for additional security, your contact information is encrypted.
This approach addresses a lot of my problems with LinkedIn — to the extent that I use LinkedIn at all, I use it as a contact service and barely look at the other social features and applications. The service is free, but Linksify will eventually charge for premium options like syncing multiple address books and mobile devices.
Apple’s Snow Leopard may stop you from doing your job
Apple’s $29 Snow Leopard operating system is, as the name and price imply, an upgrade to the existing Leopard operating system with no major new applications. Still, Snow Leopard is a significant piece of under-the-hood work, with 90% of the 1,000 or so projects within Mac OS X upgraded in some way.
Many of the changes are low-key, in the manner of BMW’s annual revisions to its 3-series sedan. For example, nearby Wi-Fi networks are displayed not just by name, but with a meter for signal strength.
Reviewers haven’t trashed Snow Leopard, especially given its nearly-free price. But none of the most influential Mac product review experts are excited by it. And all of them hit problems. Problems that might keep you from doing your work on your Mac.
Problem No. 1: Some applications won’t work yet
There’s a crowdsourced list of what apps work and don’t at snowleopard.wikidot.com. Many of these apps will be tweaked in the next few weeks to make them work better with Snow Leopard. The list isn’t sufficiently thorough yet, specifically for Microsoft Office. Many professional reviewers have been just as vague about what fails for them. For example, New York Times writer David Pogue said that he “experienced frustrating glitches” in Microsoft Word and Photoshop CS 3, but he didn’t say what they were.
What could possibly go wrong? More bugs bite the big reviewers
Here are some of the other problems reviewers have run into:
Wall Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal: Snow Leopard installed the wrong driver for one of his printers. His screen saver stopped working with some of the photos he’d configured to cycle through it. Apple told him it’s a bug. Microsoft Exchange support for email was tricky to setup. Walt required help from an Apple employee to configure it. You’ll probably need your IT department to help out.
VMWare Fusion, which runs Windows simultaneously with Mac OS X, was “glitchy.” His Cisco VPN software crashed not just itself, but the Mac it was running on. Snow Leopard didn’t recognize his Verizon cellular modem, another bug acknowledged by Apple.
Time Machine, the file backup system, stopped working on one of Mossberg’s Macs. An Apple employee found a corrupted file that Leopard had treated as OK.
David Pogue, The New York Times: He experienced “frustrating glitches” in Microsoft Word, Photoshop CS3, Flip4Mac, CyberDuck and TextExpander. Safari crashed occasionally. He hit sporadic “cosmetic glitches” in Snow Leopard’s user interface. I’ve asked him to give us more details, especially on the Word bug that could be a work-stopper for many.
Jason Snell, Macworld: Apple Mail crashed often for him, more than it did on Leopard. Safari also crashed several times.
Joshua Topolsky, Engadget: Wi-Fi conked out on one Mac, and they haven’t been able to get it working again. YouTube’s uploader stopped working, so that he had to upload his own demo videos to Engadget from a PC. MobileMe sync states became “confused.” Spotlight tried to re-index all of his Mac’s external drives. QuickTime will no longer present video on a different monitor, nor can he set full screen as a default. Some export options from the QuickTime player to another format are gone. Topolsky’s Turbo.264 HD stick stopped working. The disappearance of InputManage plugins in 64-bit apps mean that some of Topolsky’s favorite third-part apps — 1Password and Glims — are broken for now. Growl, GrabUp and Skitch also failed to work properly, as did Engadget’s Sprint wireless access card. Whenever they booted into 32-bit mode to get older apps to work, Safari crashed.
Through sheer bloody-mindednes and the begrudging use of a PC, Engadget has lots of videos of Snow Leopard in action.
Brian Chen, Wired: Adobe confirmed to him that Creative Suite 3 “may have compatibility issues.”
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker: The how-to blogger warned readers to “look out for … Adobe CS2 Suite, Adobe Photoshop Elements, CoverSutra, Cyberduck, (maybe) Disk Inventory X, Disk Warrior, and (maybe) Google Gears.”
The basics you need to know about Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard severs Apple’s ties to the past. It doesn’t support older models that have non-Intel CPU chips.
It does support applications that haven’t been upgraded to run on Intel CPUs, but you’ll have to install Apple’s Rosetta tool to run pre-Intel software on Intel hardware. Apple seems to have deliberately removed Rosetta from Snow Leopard to goad users into abandoning their older Macs.
Snow Leopard takes up less disk space than Leopard, because a huge library of little-used printer drivers is gone.
It’s slightly faster than Leopard, most notably in the way its Safari browser handles Javascript in interactive Web 2.0 sites like Facebook. Javascript code is run about one-third faster. But application launches aren’t that much faster, and some apps are slightly slower. It may be that their makers need to optimize them for Snow Leopard, but that will take months for most software developers.
Every part of the Mac OS X interface has been changed, usually for the better. It’s hard to explain, but the interface for the operating system, and high-profile built-in applications like the QuickTime player, have been refined.
[Photo: Tambako]
Many of the changes are low-key, in the manner of BMW’s annual revisions to its 3-series sedan. For example, nearby Wi-Fi networks are displayed not just by name, but with a meter for signal strength.
Reviewers haven’t trashed Snow Leopard, especially given its nearly-free price. But none of the most influential Mac product review experts are excited by it. And all of them hit problems. Problems that might keep you from doing your work on your Mac.
Problem No. 1: Some applications won’t work yet
There’s a crowdsourced list of what apps work and don’t at snowleopard.wikidot.com. Many of these apps will be tweaked in the next few weeks to make them work better with Snow Leopard. The list isn’t sufficiently thorough yet, specifically for Microsoft Office. Many professional reviewers have been just as vague about what fails for them. For example, New York Times writer David Pogue said that he “experienced frustrating glitches” in Microsoft Word and Photoshop CS 3, but he didn’t say what they were.
What could possibly go wrong? More bugs bite the big reviewers
Here are some of the other problems reviewers have run into:
Wall Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal: Snow Leopard installed the wrong driver for one of his printers. His screen saver stopped working with some of the photos he’d configured to cycle through it. Apple told him it’s a bug. Microsoft Exchange support for email was tricky to setup. Walt required help from an Apple employee to configure it. You’ll probably need your IT department to help out.
VMWare Fusion, which runs Windows simultaneously with Mac OS X, was “glitchy.” His Cisco VPN software crashed not just itself, but the Mac it was running on. Snow Leopard didn’t recognize his Verizon cellular modem, another bug acknowledged by Apple.
Time Machine, the file backup system, stopped working on one of Mossberg’s Macs. An Apple employee found a corrupted file that Leopard had treated as OK.
David Pogue, The New York Times: He experienced “frustrating glitches” in Microsoft Word, Photoshop CS3, Flip4Mac, CyberDuck and TextExpander. Safari crashed occasionally. He hit sporadic “cosmetic glitches” in Snow Leopard’s user interface. I’ve asked him to give us more details, especially on the Word bug that could be a work-stopper for many.
Jason Snell, Macworld: Apple Mail crashed often for him, more than it did on Leopard. Safari also crashed several times.
Joshua Topolsky, Engadget: Wi-Fi conked out on one Mac, and they haven’t been able to get it working again. YouTube’s uploader stopped working, so that he had to upload his own demo videos to Engadget from a PC. MobileMe sync states became “confused.” Spotlight tried to re-index all of his Mac’s external drives. QuickTime will no longer present video on a different monitor, nor can he set full screen as a default. Some export options from the QuickTime player to another format are gone. Topolsky’s Turbo.264 HD stick stopped working. The disappearance of InputManage plugins in 64-bit apps mean that some of Topolsky’s favorite third-part apps — 1Password and Glims — are broken for now. Growl, GrabUp and Skitch also failed to work properly, as did Engadget’s Sprint wireless access card. Whenever they booted into 32-bit mode to get older apps to work, Safari crashed.
Through sheer bloody-mindednes and the begrudging use of a PC, Engadget has lots of videos of Snow Leopard in action.
Brian Chen, Wired: Adobe confirmed to him that Creative Suite 3 “may have compatibility issues.”
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker: The how-to blogger warned readers to “look out for … Adobe CS2 Suite, Adobe Photoshop Elements, CoverSutra, Cyberduck, (maybe) Disk Inventory X, Disk Warrior, and (maybe) Google Gears.”
The basics you need to know about Snow Leopard
Snow Leopard severs Apple’s ties to the past. It doesn’t support older models that have non-Intel CPU chips.
It does support applications that haven’t been upgraded to run on Intel CPUs, but you’ll have to install Apple’s Rosetta tool to run pre-Intel software on Intel hardware. Apple seems to have deliberately removed Rosetta from Snow Leopard to goad users into abandoning their older Macs.
Snow Leopard takes up less disk space than Leopard, because a huge library of little-used printer drivers is gone.
It’s slightly faster than Leopard, most notably in the way its Safari browser handles Javascript in interactive Web 2.0 sites like Facebook. Javascript code is run about one-third faster. But application launches aren’t that much faster, and some apps are slightly slower. It may be that their makers need to optimize them for Snow Leopard, but that will take months for most software developers.
Every part of the Mac OS X interface has been changed, usually for the better. It’s hard to explain, but the interface for the operating system, and high-profile built-in applications like the QuickTime player, have been refined.
[Photo: Tambako]
Seedonk lets you manage video cameras wherever you are
Unless you’re a video hardware geek, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard about network cameras. Those cameras could be more useful than your standard webcam, because they’re tied to a wireless network, not a specific computer. But Herman Yau, chief executive of a startup called Seedonk, says the setup can be such a huge pain that when a regular consumer buys a network camera, they usually end up returning it.
By making those cameras more social and easier to use, Seedonk hopes to bring the devices to a mass audience. Its core product is a piece of software that’s installed on cameras and on your desktop computer, which turns the network camera interface into something similar to instant messaging. When you buy a Seedonk-enabled camera, you can just connect it to your wireless network like another device, rather than getting buried in IP addresses and other technical details.
Then, once it’s connected, you can see a list of all your cameras, view live footage, and even share that footage with your friends on Seedonk. For example, it would be easy to view live camera footage from different parts of your house when you’re on vacation, or to monitor your baby if you’re working in another room. (Seedonk is compatible with regular webcams, too.)
The company isn’t stopping with desktop software — it also offers a Facebook application, so you can view footage while logged into the social network and share it with your friends there, plus an iPhone application.
Starting today, the Fremont, Calif.-based company is opening its tools to the public in a beta test. Somewhat oddly, you’ll have to wait to use network cameras on Seedonk — the company is still making deals with hardware makers, but it hopes to have a Seedonk-enabled camera on the market soon. Meanwhile, consumers can use their webcams to play with the desktop software, Facebook app, and iPhone app. The basic applications are free, but Seedonk will eventually start charging for premium services.
The company has raised a seed round of undisclosed size from an Asian semiconductor parts distributor called Quadrant. The main competition comes from device makers like Linksys and D-Link; Yau notes that those manufacturers are potential partners too.
By making those cameras more social and easier to use, Seedonk hopes to bring the devices to a mass audience. Its core product is a piece of software that’s installed on cameras and on your desktop computer, which turns the network camera interface into something similar to instant messaging. When you buy a Seedonk-enabled camera, you can just connect it to your wireless network like another device, rather than getting buried in IP addresses and other technical details.
Then, once it’s connected, you can see a list of all your cameras, view live footage, and even share that footage with your friends on Seedonk. For example, it would be easy to view live camera footage from different parts of your house when you’re on vacation, or to monitor your baby if you’re working in another room. (Seedonk is compatible with regular webcams, too.)
The company isn’t stopping with desktop software — it also offers a Facebook application, so you can view footage while logged into the social network and share it with your friends there, plus an iPhone application.
Starting today, the Fremont, Calif.-based company is opening its tools to the public in a beta test. Somewhat oddly, you’ll have to wait to use network cameras on Seedonk — the company is still making deals with hardware makers, but it hopes to have a Seedonk-enabled camera on the market soon. Meanwhile, consumers can use their webcams to play with the desktop software, Facebook app, and iPhone app. The basic applications are free, but Seedonk will eventually start charging for premium services.
The company has raised a seed round of undisclosed size from an Asian semiconductor parts distributor called Quadrant. The main competition comes from device makers like Linksys and D-Link; Yau notes that those manufacturers are potential partners too.
Facebook makes worldwide privacy changes to meet Canadian law
Facebook agreed to change its privacy policies to meet Canadian law today, tightening third-party developer access to user data. The government wanted the company to address what it considered the social network’s biggest risk — “the relatively free flow of personal information to more than one million application developers around the world,” according to assistant privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham.
The main changes are:
Developers now need express consent from users for every type of personal information they want to access and they need to provide information on how they plan to use it. That means users need to give an ‘OK’ when they want to share data like gender, age or location with developers.
The company will provide clear options on how to deactivate and delete accounts.
Facebook is also making its policies clearer on what will happen to a user’s profile if they die and give them more choice if they want to be “memorialized” on the site.
Facebook will roll out the changes over the next 12 months, giving developers time to comment. But developers will still need to change their code to let users choose the kind of data they want to share and opt out of giving information beyond the minimum needed to make an app function.
“We are still very much in the conceptual stages of development and many of the details are yet to be determined,” wrote Ethan Beard, Facebook’s head of platform. “However, we’ve committed to requiring developers to specify in advance what categories of user data they will need.”
See Facebook’s response here.
See the Canadian government’s statement here.
The main changes are:
Developers now need express consent from users for every type of personal information they want to access and they need to provide information on how they plan to use it. That means users need to give an ‘OK’ when they want to share data like gender, age or location with developers.
The company will provide clear options on how to deactivate and delete accounts.
Facebook is also making its policies clearer on what will happen to a user’s profile if they die and give them more choice if they want to be “memorialized” on the site.
Facebook will roll out the changes over the next 12 months, giving developers time to comment. But developers will still need to change their code to let users choose the kind of data they want to share and opt out of giving information beyond the minimum needed to make an app function.
“We are still very much in the conceptual stages of development and many of the details are yet to be determined,” wrote Ethan Beard, Facebook’s head of platform. “However, we’ve committed to requiring developers to specify in advance what categories of user data they will need.”
See Facebook’s response here.
See the Canadian government’s statement here.
Topp musikere å markere dystert jubileum
En unik samling av noen av verdens fremste klassiske musikere samles i Krakow, Polen, 1. september for en spesiell ytelse under taktstokken til russiske maestro Valery Gergiev å markere 70-årsdagen for utbruddet andre verdenskrig.
Nokia N900 er nå offisielt outed og det emballere noe alvorlig ting
Vel, det synes Nokia ha noe enda mer spennende å annonsere på den kommende Nokia World, slik at de har besluttet å fyre tidlig med N900 tablett / smarttelefonen kunngjøringen. N900 er en videreføring av Nokia ...
First judges for DEMO’s $1M media prize: Satish Dharmaraj, Russ Fradin and Jennifer Zeszut
I’m delighted to announce the first few judges who will be at the DEMO conference next month in San Diego. They’ll help award the $1 million media prize to the best companies launching their products. I’ll be announcing more judges over the coming days.
The media prize (see details here) is a new feature at DEMO. We’ve already announced that a list of all-star alumni will also be on hand for the Sept. 21-23 conference. That, added to the 60 companies we’ve selected from thousands to launch their product, plus the significant press that show up (everyone from the The Wall Street Journal, to USA Today, CNN, CNET, Forbes, Infoweek, ComputerWorld, PC World and the top blogs), is going to make this a fun event you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more announcements in coming days.
Satish Dharmaraj (top left) is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. Dharmaraj previously was CEO of email company Zimbra, a company he co-founded in 2004, and then sold just three years later to Yahoo for $350 million — making it one of the more notable successes of the Web 2.0 movement. Prior to Zimbra, he was VP of messaging product at Openwave Systems, and was part of the founding team at unified messaging company Onebox, which was sold to Phone.com for $850 million. Before that, he was at Sun’s JavaSoft division. At Redpoint, he’s focusing on software-as-a-service, cloud and software infrastructures and open source computing areas. He’s made angel investments in blogging service Posterous and open source web meeting company Dimdim.
Jennifer Zensut (left) is chief executive of Scout Labs, a startup backed by CNET founder Halsey Minor, which recently introduced a subscription service that allows companies to monitor the web (blogs, social networking sites, news articles, forums) for trends in opinions about products or services. The company recently was mentioned in a New York Times story for its help in letting ticket seller StubHub identify a surge of negative blog comments about one its policies. Previously, she was vice president of marketing at Leverage Software, director of marketing and product planning at eBay and director of strategy at Razorfish.
Russ Fradin co-founded vertical ad network Adify in 2006, and sold it just two years later to Cox for $300 million — making it one of the biggest, quickest hits among the new advertising network companies. Before Adify, Fradin was the senior vice president of business development for Wine.com, the online wine retailer, and before that he was EVP of Corporate Development for comScore Networks. Fradin also served as VP of business development at Flycast Communications.
More details here. Tickets here.
The media prize (see details here) is a new feature at DEMO. We’ve already announced that a list of all-star alumni will also be on hand for the Sept. 21-23 conference. That, added to the 60 companies we’ve selected from thousands to launch their product, plus the significant press that show up (everyone from the The Wall Street Journal, to USA Today, CNN, CNET, Forbes, Infoweek, ComputerWorld, PC World and the top blogs), is going to make this a fun event you won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more announcements in coming days.
Satish Dharmaraj (top left) is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. Dharmaraj previously was CEO of email company Zimbra, a company he co-founded in 2004, and then sold just three years later to Yahoo for $350 million — making it one of the more notable successes of the Web 2.0 movement. Prior to Zimbra, he was VP of messaging product at Openwave Systems, and was part of the founding team at unified messaging company Onebox, which was sold to Phone.com for $850 million. Before that, he was at Sun’s JavaSoft division. At Redpoint, he’s focusing on software-as-a-service, cloud and software infrastructures and open source computing areas. He’s made angel investments in blogging service Posterous and open source web meeting company Dimdim.
Jennifer Zensut (left) is chief executive of Scout Labs, a startup backed by CNET founder Halsey Minor, which recently introduced a subscription service that allows companies to monitor the web (blogs, social networking sites, news articles, forums) for trends in opinions about products or services. The company recently was mentioned in a New York Times story for its help in letting ticket seller StubHub identify a surge of negative blog comments about one its policies. Previously, she was vice president of marketing at Leverage Software, director of marketing and product planning at eBay and director of strategy at Razorfish.
Russ Fradin co-founded vertical ad network Adify in 2006, and sold it just two years later to Cox for $300 million — making it one of the biggest, quickest hits among the new advertising network companies. Before Adify, Fradin was the senior vice president of business development for Wine.com, the online wine retailer, and before that he was EVP of Corporate Development for comScore Networks. Fradin also served as VP of business development at Flycast Communications.
More details here. Tickets here.
Stjerner holde søkelyset på New Orleans
Lenge før diker brøt, kjendiser over hele verden hadde en spesiell plass i deres hjerter for New Orleans. Men noe om orkanen Katrina - noe om byen - ansporet en enestående respons fra underholdningsverdenen som fortsetter fire år senere.
AdMob finner Android app brukerne mer sjeldne, men like besatt som iPhone app brukere
De nyeste månedlige rapporten fra mobilt annonsenettverk AdMob, som undersøkte 1117 brukere, og finner at forbrukere som laster ned programmer på en Android håndsett eller en iPhone oppføre seg veldig likt. Det store gapet mellom dem er at bare 19 prosent av Android brukere bry med apps, sammenlignet med 40 og 50 prosent for iPod Touch og iPhone-eiere, henholdsvis. "Men" AdMob skriver: "brukere som kjøper betalt apps på begge plattformene viser lignende nedlasting og forbruksvaner, som indikerer potensialet for betalt apps på Android Market som det utvikler seg." Flere høydepunkter fra rapporten: - Hver måned laste ned Android og iPhone-brukere om lag 10 nye programmer, mens iPod touch-eiere laste ned et gjennomsnitt på 18 per måned. - Over halvparten av Android og iPhone-brukere bruker mer enn 30 minutter per dag ved hjelp av programmer. - Mer enn 90 prosent av Android og iPhone OS brukere bla og søke etter programmer direkte på sine mobile enheter. - Brukere som jevnlig laster ned betalt apps tilbringe cirka $ 9 på et gjennomsnitt av fem betalte nedlastinger per måned. - IPhone representerte 60 prosent av amerikanske smarttelefon bruk i AdMob nettverk i juli 2009, etterfulgt av Rim og Android enheter på 13 og 12 prosent. AdMob hevder å være verdens største mobile annonsenettverk, som tjener mer enn 7 milliard annonser per måned til mer enn 160 land og territorier.
Apple kommer endelig verdens største mobilmarked: Kina for å få iPhone i oktober
Major Kinesisk ny portal 163 er rapportering [Google machine translation] at Apple endelig har signert en avtale med China Unicom å bringe det iPhone 3G til fastlands-Kina i oktober. Dette er store nyheter for Apple, som nå er å legge inn et marked med rundt 700 millioner mobilbrukere, den største i verden (USA: ca 270 millioner). Etter måneder med forhandlinger mellom Apple og China Unicom, "industri innsidere" er angivelig forventer en offisiell kunngjøring gjøres av landets nest største telekomselskap morgen i Hong Kong.
Console price war finally arrives as Microsoft cuts Xbox 360 price by $100
In a move that will inject much-needed energy in the console game market, Microsoft matched Sony’s PlayStation 3 price cut by slashing the price of the Xbox 360 by $100.
The company just announced that, beginning Aug. 28, the price of the Xbox 360 Elite console (which has a 120-gigabyte hard drive, formerly at $399, will now be $299 in the U.S. The Xbox 360 Pro console (with a 60-gigabyte hard drive) will be cut from $299 to $249, while the Xbox 360 Arcade model (no hard drive) will remain the same at $199.
The question now is whether this will be enough to bring back video game sales. The cuts by both Sony and Microsoft are among the biggest since the companies introduced their consoles. Prices have held steady, by and large, because the console makers usually add a bigger hard drive and then keep the price the same or close to the previous price.
Sony cut its prices last week as it announced the new PS 3 Slim model. Both companies are now positioned for the holidays, and they’re hoping that a solid slate of games will help revive game sales in the U.S., which have been slumping for five months compared to year ago figures. The price cuts are responses to weakening consumer demand, but they have come relatively late because the console makers have to adjust their inventories and also reduce the costs of the electronics inside the machines.
The mainstay console is the Xbox 360 Pro. That will now be $50 less than Sony’s mainstay, the PS 3 Slim at $299 with a 120-gigabyte hard drive. Sony’s 160-gigabyte model costs $399. Microsoft generally stays below Sony’s mainstay price because the Sony machine has a built-in Blu-ray player while Microsoft only has a DVD player.
It looks like Microsoft will phase out the 60-gigabyte Xbox 360 Pro console, since it will sell that box only while supplies last. That means Microsoft will be left with just two models, the $199 model and the $299 model.
Now the ball moves to Nintendo’s court. But Nintendo just might keep the Wii at $249. Wii sales have been falling this year, however, so Nintendo might make its own move soon.
Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said in a statement that the company will be coming out with its “Project Natal” technology, where you need no controller and can control a game via your body movements, sometime soon. Natal is expected to ship next year, according to industry sources.
The company just announced that, beginning Aug. 28, the price of the Xbox 360 Elite console (which has a 120-gigabyte hard drive, formerly at $399, will now be $299 in the U.S. The Xbox 360 Pro console (with a 60-gigabyte hard drive) will be cut from $299 to $249, while the Xbox 360 Arcade model (no hard drive) will remain the same at $199.
The question now is whether this will be enough to bring back video game sales. The cuts by both Sony and Microsoft are among the biggest since the companies introduced their consoles. Prices have held steady, by and large, because the console makers usually add a bigger hard drive and then keep the price the same or close to the previous price.
Sony cut its prices last week as it announced the new PS 3 Slim model. Both companies are now positioned for the holidays, and they’re hoping that a solid slate of games will help revive game sales in the U.S., which have been slumping for five months compared to year ago figures. The price cuts are responses to weakening consumer demand, but they have come relatively late because the console makers have to adjust their inventories and also reduce the costs of the electronics inside the machines.
The mainstay console is the Xbox 360 Pro. That will now be $50 less than Sony’s mainstay, the PS 3 Slim at $299 with a 120-gigabyte hard drive. Sony’s 160-gigabyte model costs $399. Microsoft generally stays below Sony’s mainstay price because the Sony machine has a built-in Blu-ray player while Microsoft only has a DVD player.
It looks like Microsoft will phase out the 60-gigabyte Xbox 360 Pro console, since it will sell that box only while supplies last. That means Microsoft will be left with just two models, the $199 model and the $299 model.
Now the ball moves to Nintendo’s court. But Nintendo just might keep the Wii at $249. Wii sales have been falling this year, however, so Nintendo might make its own move soon.
Shane Kim, corporate vice president of strategy and business development for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, said in a statement that the company will be coming out with its “Project Natal” technology, where you need no controller and can control a game via your body movements, sometime soon. Natal is expected to ship next year, according to industry sources.
Zynga claims FarmVille has become fastest-growing social game ever
Zynga plans to announce Thursday that its FarmVille game has become the largest and fastest-growing social game in history.
The game now has more than 11 million active daily players since its launch on June 19 on Facebook. They all play their roles as virtual farmers, creating and managing their own farms. On average, FarmVille has attracted more than 1 million active users a week. All told, Zynga now has more than 93 million monthly players across all of its games. That probably adds up to about a third of the Facebook user population.
To me, that’s astounding. I’ve never seen any game spread that fast. Facebook makes money from it through ads, while Zynga cashes in via virtual goods. This brings home the message that we’ve been writing about since the Social Gaming Summit and the Casual Connect conference — that social networking games are on a tear.
The ironic thing is that FarmVille is a knock-off of the Facebook game FarmTown. It shows how a fast follower can copy a game, improve it slightly, and surpass its rival with better viral networking. According to All Facebook, FarmVille has 30 million monthly active users, while FarmTown has 17 million. Zynga was able to come from behind thanks to developer MyMiniLife, which Zynga just acquired.
With FarmVille, you play, invest and express yourself by plowing, growing and harvesting a variety of crops for money and game points. You can invest in your farm by buying fruit trees and farm animals such as pigs and cows. You can add barns, windmills and greenhouses.
“FarmVille demonstrates the huge market potential of social gaming – in just 9 weeks the game has become a cultural phenomenon,” said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of Zynga in a statement. “No other application has achieved what this game has in such a short amount of time. Who would have guessed that FarmVille is now the biggest online game in North America and quickly becoming the biggest online game in the world. ”
Mark Skaggs, vice president and general manager of Zynga’s Social RTS studio, says that the game combines the best elements of social gaming with people’s instinct to nurture. Zynga has funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, IVP, Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Avalon Ventures, Pilot Group, Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel.
# # #
The game now has more than 11 million active daily players since its launch on June 19 on Facebook. They all play their roles as virtual farmers, creating and managing their own farms. On average, FarmVille has attracted more than 1 million active users a week. All told, Zynga now has more than 93 million monthly players across all of its games. That probably adds up to about a third of the Facebook user population.
To me, that’s astounding. I’ve never seen any game spread that fast. Facebook makes money from it through ads, while Zynga cashes in via virtual goods. This brings home the message that we’ve been writing about since the Social Gaming Summit and the Casual Connect conference — that social networking games are on a tear.
The ironic thing is that FarmVille is a knock-off of the Facebook game FarmTown. It shows how a fast follower can copy a game, improve it slightly, and surpass its rival with better viral networking. According to All Facebook, FarmVille has 30 million monthly active users, while FarmTown has 17 million. Zynga was able to come from behind thanks to developer MyMiniLife, which Zynga just acquired.
With FarmVille, you play, invest and express yourself by plowing, growing and harvesting a variety of crops for money and game points. You can invest in your farm by buying fruit trees and farm animals such as pigs and cows. You can add barns, windmills and greenhouses.
“FarmVille demonstrates the huge market potential of social gaming – in just 9 weeks the game has become a cultural phenomenon,” said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of Zynga in a statement. “No other application has achieved what this game has in such a short amount of time. Who would have guessed that FarmVille is now the biggest online game in North America and quickly becoming the biggest online game in the world. ”
Mark Skaggs, vice president and general manager of Zynga’s Social RTS studio, says that the game combines the best elements of social gaming with people’s instinct to nurture. Zynga has funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, IVP, Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Avalon Ventures, Pilot Group, Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel.
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onsdag 26. august 2009
Rumor: Qualcomm FLO TV kommer
Qualcomm (de sannsynligvis gjorde brikkesettet du bruker på telefonen) arbeider med å bringe en ny type produkt til USA, FLO TV. Omtrent på størrelse med en iPhone, er FLO TV ment å la deg se digitale TV-sendinger på farten.
Roundup: Nokia Money, iPhones coming to China
Nokia announces Nokia Money, a payment-by-phone service that will launch next year — The service will let anyone send and receive money with a text message or a voice call. All you need to know to send someone money is their phone number. Nokia Money will be operated by Redwood City-based Obopay, in which Nokia invested $70 million in March. The system is blessedly simple to use: You register one or more bank accounts or credit cards with Nokia Money, then text away. Nokia EVP Mary McDowell said in a prepared statement that phone users without bank accounts were prime targets of Nokia Money. “With more than 4 billion mobile phone users and only 1.6 billion bank accounts,” McDowell said, “global demand for access to financial services presents a strong opportunity to combine mobile devices with simple but powerful financial services.”
Apple prepares to launch the iPhone in China in October — China, by sheer number of subscribers, is the world’s largest mobile market, with 687 million subscribers compared to America’s 270 million. Apple is in the final stages of negotiations with state-owned wireless carrier China Unicom, the Wall Street Journal reports. China Unicom is the country’s second-largest carrier, smaller than China Mobile, which is also a state-owned enterprise. With 125 million GSM subscribers and 43 million CDMA subscribers, it’s the third largest carrier in the world after China Mobile and Vodafone. Apple will face serious competition from China Mobile, which plans to launch Android phones later this year. The Wall Street Journal goes long on the story.
[Image: Emerging Voice]
Zoho adds Google Apps account support for logins — Wait, aren’t they rivals? No, Zoho’s Ragu Vegesna told Read/Write Web. Zoho has a total of 19 apps. Only four have direct Google counterparts, Vegesna says, so letting Google Apps users login to Zoho is the perfect way to steal them away.
Zune marketing chief leaves now? Why now? — Microsoft’s Zune HD, which includes a digital radio receiver and a very nice touchscreen, goes on sale September 15th. Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune, has left the company to take a position at Universal Music Group, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Stephenson will take charge of marketing for Universal’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records. The Journal’s between-the-lines take on what happened: Stephenson concluded that the Zune is doomed, and he can’t save it.
[Photo: Microsoft]
Forrester says social network users don’t want to be content creators — “ If you believe in the future that everybody will be creating or organizing content, we disagree,” says analyst Josh Bernoff in the analyst firms’ third annual Social Technographics Profile. “It’s a matter of temperament, not technology.” But users who prefer to tag along and consume passively have, thanks to Facebook, expanded from 35 percent of online Americans last year to 51 percent today. The report includes a tool for creating a profile of your customers — presuming you have some — based on their age, country and gender.
Survey finds that Firefox users put off upgrading because they didn’t want their porn collections exposed — “The number one reason for not upgrading was the new location bar, and the fact that it delved into people’s bookmark collections to suggest sites as they typed,” reports PC Pro writer Barry Collins. “No fewer than 25% of Firefox 3 refuseniks cited this as the reason they wouldn’t upgrade. In fact, almost all of the people who provided feedback had tried Firefox 3, didn’t like what they saw, and headed back to Firefox 2.”
Apple prepares to launch the iPhone in China in October — China, by sheer number of subscribers, is the world’s largest mobile market, with 687 million subscribers compared to America’s 270 million. Apple is in the final stages of negotiations with state-owned wireless carrier China Unicom, the Wall Street Journal reports. China Unicom is the country’s second-largest carrier, smaller than China Mobile, which is also a state-owned enterprise. With 125 million GSM subscribers and 43 million CDMA subscribers, it’s the third largest carrier in the world after China Mobile and Vodafone. Apple will face serious competition from China Mobile, which plans to launch Android phones later this year. The Wall Street Journal goes long on the story.
[Image: Emerging Voice]
Zoho adds Google Apps account support for logins — Wait, aren’t they rivals? No, Zoho’s Ragu Vegesna told Read/Write Web. Zoho has a total of 19 apps. Only four have direct Google counterparts, Vegesna says, so letting Google Apps users login to Zoho is the perfect way to steal them away.
Zune marketing chief leaves now? Why now? — Microsoft’s Zune HD, which includes a digital radio receiver and a very nice touchscreen, goes on sale September 15th. Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune, has left the company to take a position at Universal Music Group, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Stephenson will take charge of marketing for Universal’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records. The Journal’s between-the-lines take on what happened: Stephenson concluded that the Zune is doomed, and he can’t save it.
[Photo: Microsoft]
Forrester says social network users don’t want to be content creators — “ If you believe in the future that everybody will be creating or organizing content, we disagree,” says analyst Josh Bernoff in the analyst firms’ third annual Social Technographics Profile. “It’s a matter of temperament, not technology.” But users who prefer to tag along and consume passively have, thanks to Facebook, expanded from 35 percent of online Americans last year to 51 percent today. The report includes a tool for creating a profile of your customers — presuming you have some — based on their age, country and gender.
Survey finds that Firefox users put off upgrading because they didn’t want their porn collections exposed — “The number one reason for not upgrading was the new location bar, and the fact that it delved into people’s bookmark collections to suggest sites as they typed,” reports PC Pro writer Barry Collins. “No fewer than 25% of Firefox 3 refuseniks cited this as the reason they wouldn’t upgrade. In fact, almost all of the people who provided feedback had tried Firefox 3, didn’t like what they saw, and headed back to Firefox 2.”
RightsFlow høyner $ 1.5M bidrar til å styre musikk lisensiering
RightsFlow, et selskap som forvalter lisensiering og betalinger for plateselskapene, musikere og nettbaserte musikktjenester har økt med 1,5 millioner dollar i første runde av finansiering. New York-baserte RightsFlow sier sin teknologi hjelper bedrifter og kunstnere håndtere komplekse problemstillinger rundt opphavsrett. Lansert i 2007, hevder selskapet har mer enn 1500 kunder, herunder Muzak (selskapet hvis navn har blitt synonymt med heis musikk), samt musikk oppstart imeem. I tillegg til å forbedre eksisterende tjenester, sier RightsFlow vil bruke pengene til å bygge et nettsted hvor fans og artister kan enkelt lisens sanger fra utgivere - hvis du vil spille inn en cover-versjon, kan du bare besøke området, søke etter sangen, og deretter betale lisensavgift. Den runde kommer fra stammer Ventures. Konkurrenter inkluderer RoyaltyShare, som støttes av Hollywood talent agency William Morris og Musikk rapporter. Kom og se de mest lovende nye teknologier avduket for første gang på svært DEMOfall 09 i september 21-23 i San Diego. VentureBeat lesere kan registrere deg for å delta på konferansen på en spesiell 20% rabatt av våre faste rate. Registrer deg nå på: http://www.demo.com/f9vb2
PageOnce bring helps BlackBerry users track their cell phone minutes
It can be a real challenge for me to keep track of how many cell phone minutes I’ve used. Sure, most of that data is available on mobile carriers’ websites, but you have to be dedicated to check in on a regular basis, and even then interpreting the data can be a challenge. For example it took months before I figured out that I consistently exceeded my allotted number of text messages (yes, I’m pretty dense and lazy when it comes to my bills, but I doubt I’m alone).
Now a startup called PageOnce wants to make the process much easier with an application called the Cell Minute Tracker. The Palo Alto, Calif. company released an iPhone version of the application a few months ago, and today it’s launching a BlackBerry version, which looks pretty similar. Once you enter your account information, the tracker presents an easily-digestible chart summarizing your plan, including how many days you are into the cycle, how many minutes you’ve used, and how many rollover minutes you have. There’s a free version of the app, but you’ll have to pay $2.99 if you want to monitor each person on your family plan, and receive email alerts when your bill is due or when you go over your usage limit.
Chief executive Guy Goldstein notes that the BlackBerry version doesn’t just bring the Cell Minute Tracker to a new set of smartphones, it also dramatically expands the number of mobile carriers covered — in the United States, for example, it was previously limited to AT&T (because AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone), but the tracker now supports “all the major carriers in the US.” The iPhone version has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, Goldstein adds.
This app seems like a smart variation on PageOnce’s big mission, which is to provide a single service that makes it easier for people to manage all their online accounts.
Come see the most promising new technologies unveiled for the first very time at DEMOfall 09 this September 21-23 in San Diego. VentureBeat readers may register to attend the conference at a special 20% discount off our regular rate. Register now at: http://www.demo.com/f9vb2
Now a startup called PageOnce wants to make the process much easier with an application called the Cell Minute Tracker. The Palo Alto, Calif. company released an iPhone version of the application a few months ago, and today it’s launching a BlackBerry version, which looks pretty similar. Once you enter your account information, the tracker presents an easily-digestible chart summarizing your plan, including how many days you are into the cycle, how many minutes you’ve used, and how many rollover minutes you have. There’s a free version of the app, but you’ll have to pay $2.99 if you want to monitor each person on your family plan, and receive email alerts when your bill is due or when you go over your usage limit.
Chief executive Guy Goldstein notes that the BlackBerry version doesn’t just bring the Cell Minute Tracker to a new set of smartphones, it also dramatically expands the number of mobile carriers covered — in the United States, for example, it was previously limited to AT&T (because AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone), but the tracker now supports “all the major carriers in the US.” The iPhone version has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times, Goldstein adds.
This app seems like a smart variation on PageOnce’s big mission, which is to provide a single service that makes it easier for people to manage all their online accounts.
Come see the most promising new technologies unveiled for the first very time at DEMOfall 09 this September 21-23 in San Diego. VentureBeat readers may register to attend the conference at a special 20% discount off our regular rate. Register now at: http://www.demo.com/f9vb2
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