The latest from TechCrunch
- Bands Should Really Take Advantage Of Aviary's Myna Remixing Tool
- Imitation Isn't Always Flattery: Microsoft Previews Google Apps Killer To Beta Testers
- TC50: Six Noteworthy Startups From Korea And Japan
- Alibaba Turns 10 – Aims To Create 100 Million Jobs, Employ 10 Million People
| Bands Should Really Take Advantage Of Aviary's Myna Remixing Tool | Top |
| One of the cooler things that Nine Inch Nails has done in recent years is release the audio files for many of its tracks for fans to use to create their own remixes with Apple’s GarageBand software. It’s a great idea to get fans more involved in the music, but unfortunately it does require that you have a) GarageBand and as such, b) a Mac. With Aviary’s new Myna audio editing tool , bands will now be able to offer such functionality simply through the web browser. If you haven’t checked out Myna yet, you should. Aviary released it the other day, and it’s really impressive for software that is fully contained in the browser. It’s not quite as powerful as GarageBand, but most casual users probably don’t need all the bells and whistles that GarageBand provides. Most users will find Myna more than powerful enough, and actually, it seems quite a bit easier to get the hang of as a result of being slightly less complex. But the really cool potential for Myna lies in using its API and getting some partnerships with bands to do remixes on the web. The first such partnership is with the band Major Lazer . They’re currently holding a contest between now and October 1 for whichever fan does the best remix. There will be one grand prize winner (who gets $500 among a bunch of other stuff) and five runners-up. In a time when everyone is talking about falling music sales, and wonder if the recording industry as it’s currently constituted can survive, this sounds like a great way for bands to create a more interactive experience with their fans. Again, Aviary makes this very simple to do. You load up the Myna app from Major Lazer’s website and it’s pre-populated with various musical elements of three tracks that you can remix. From there, it’s simply a matter of dragging and dropping elements to get the mix you want. Cool stuff. Update : Here’s the link for the API information. Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
| Imitation Isn't Always Flattery: Microsoft Previews Google Apps Killer To Beta Testers | Top |
| Imitation isn’t always the sincerest form of flattery, and this is certainly the case for Microsoft in the development and launch of its web-based browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. All based in the cloud, the web-based versions of these products, which are aggressive competitors to Google Apps, have fewer features than their desktop cousins but still give users basic tools to edit and change documents in the cloud. We wrote about these products during Microsoft’s announcement about the new features of Office 2010 back in July. Today, Microsoft is officially rolling out the FREE web-based version of its Office suite, which is officially called Microsoft Office Web Applications, to a select amount of Windows Live SkyDrive users in anticipation of the public release in the first half of 2010. Microsoft Office’s move to the cloud isn’t surprising. Facing challenges from Google's browser-based Apps products and its new Chrome OS, Microsoft is under pressure to make its three screens strategy, which is the ability for products to synchronize across the phone, browser, and desktop, a successful reality. We received a hands-on demo of the SkyDrive-based, collaborative web-based apps (our previous demo in July was for apps based on Microsoft Sharepoint ) and I must admit, it’s impressive. Here’s a comprehensive view of what to expect at some point next year: Windows Live SkyDrive: Microsoft Office Web Applications will be a part of Windows Live SkyDrive, which is an online file storage provided by Microsoft. Users sign in to SkyDrive by using their Windows Live IDs so anyone who has a Windows Live account will be able to access the free web-based versions (Microsoft currently has 500 million Windows Live customers). All of the documents and files created and stored in the office suite will be hosted in SkyDrive’s 25 GB of free online storage. It’s important to note that SkyDrive is for or non-enterprise users. Microsoft’s Web Applications will also be available in its secure, behind the firewall storage system Sharepoint which will eventually have integration with Windows Azure. When you sign into SkyDrive, you click on the “My Documents” tab which will take you to you an interface where you can create, share and edit PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, Word documents and OneNote files. All of the applications are shareable even if the recipient doesn’t have Microsoft Office’s web-based or desktop applications installed on the computers. So you can share a web-based PowerPoint presentation with an individual who doesn’t have PowerPoint installed on his or her computers. Also, in order to share a file, you type in the recipients email address. The recipient doesn’t need a Windows Live account to see or comment on the file. Also, Microsoft Office Web Applications works on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari (versions for Chrome are still being developed). PowerPoint Web Application: The web-based application lets you open, create and edit PowerPoint presentations in a lightweight version of the desktop application. What does lightweight mean? Well, you can change fonts, colors, text and some graphics. But most of the bells and whistles that create the impressive looking PowerPoint decks are in the desktop version only. The experience is very similar to the desktop version of the application, which is achieved through the power of javascript and AJAX. Presentations look the same on the web and in the desktop version, even though there are some features that you cannot create in the web-based product. Microsoft has made it very simple to switch between the desktop and web. In the browser-based version, you simply click an “Open in PowerPoint” button and the desktop version will open up the file. If you make any changes to either the desktop or web-versions of a presentation, your file will be saved on both platforms simultaneously, making the transitions seamless. It’s ideal for presentations (think Web-Ex), where you have more functionality to play with in the desktop version (giving you the ability to create sleeker decks), but can easily share and save comments and edits during a live presentation. Excel Web Application: Similar to PowerPoint, the web-based version of Excel is a lightweight application that offers the basic features. You can modify data, make formatting changes, enter new columns, create new headers, change colors and sort and filter data. One key lacking feature in the web-based product: the ability to create charts. This is a significant part of the Excel’s desktop version that’s missing from it’s browser cousin. Of course, if you create a spreadsheet with charts in the desktop version of Excel, the file will look exactly the same in the web-based version, but you won’t be able to re-create charts. But whereas there are limitations in the creation of spreadsheets, Microsoft has possibly made up for this in its collaboration sharing capabilities. Spreadsheets can be edited by multiple users in real-time. And spreadsheets can be shared and commented on by anyone, even those who don’t have the desktop version of Excel. Word Web Application/OneNote: Documents in the Word desktop application look exactly the same in the web-based version and can be shared and commented on by anyone. If you have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computers, you’ll have the added bonus of being able to zoom in and out high degrees. In the version that will be rolled out to beta testers today, the the web application of Word and OneNote will not be feature the ability to edit but this functionality will be available when the products are launched next year. Unfortunately, the real-time collaborative editing feature of Word is missing in this version, but the hope is that this will be added next year as well. Mobile: We mentioned in our original post in July that the ability to use products across the OS, browser, and mobile device is a key part of Microsoft’s strategy. We actually demo’d the Sharepoint-based version of PowerPoint on an iPhone and it was disarmingly sleek. While this functionality has already been established for Sharepoint, the SkyDrive-based apps are still being developed to work on mobile browsers. Microsoft says it will be done by the time the product launches next year. The Wrapup: Microsoft says it will be adding beta testers in waves of 1000 users until the product launches. There’s no doubt that the web-based apps are impressive. And the ability to seamlessly switch between the desktop and web versions is key, and one that Google currently can’t compete with. But one of the important innovations that Microsoft has made in this consumer-facing version is the sharing and collaborative features, which are certainly the future of any professional applications suite. As we wrote in the past, Microsoft's move to the browser could pay off in a big way, especially when it comes to giving Google Apps a run for its money. Microsoft seems certain that Microsoft Office Web Applications will be popular amongst students, which is a sector that Google has been gaining traction. But the more successful Microsoft is in its browser strategy, the more they validate Google's approach in the space, which will eventually put price pressure on Office. Let the wars begin. Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
| TC50: Six Noteworthy Startups From Korea And Japan | Top |
| Nearly 130 million people use the web in Japan and Korea combined, with Japan itself boasting the world’s third biggest Internet population (94 million users). But getting exposure on an international scale is a big problem for globally positioned web startups in these (and many other Asian) markets. TechCrunch50 has always been very welcoming towards companies from countries other than the US. Last year, for example, a total of five companies from Japan made a showing at the event (three startups presented onstage, two were in the DemoPit). This year, Korea sent four promising companies to TechCrunch50 (finalist Sealtale , and DemoPit participants UniQube , touchring and FillThat ), while Japan had two startups exhibiting in the DemoPit ( LIFEmee and Spysee ). These are the four noteworthy Korean services that made it to TechCrunch50 this year: Sealtale (TechCrunch50 finalist) Launched by six college students, the Korean version of Sealtale , a social widget service, has attracted 200,000 users in six months (the English version launched Monday on TechCrunch50’s first day). Sealtale lets users express their interests, preferences or causes via so-called seals, which are interactive widgets. You can integrate these seals into your blog or profile page on a social network and interact with other people within the seal itself. The system works across various blog platforms and social networks. The seals can include content like text (RSS feeds, comments, posts), audio and video files. Sealtale allows you to design and distribute your own seals, too. Companies can create branded seals and use them as viral marketing vehicles. A movie studio, for example, could create a seal for one of its movies and provide trailers and text-based information for users who choose to show that seal on their blog. Read more about Sealtale in our previous post . FillThat (DemoPit company) Monetizing blogs is notoriously difficult. FillThat intends to solve this problem by creating a revenue stream for bloggers within a blog’s commenting space. The way it works is that you buy virtual currency (”Fill Dollars”) with real money and then reward insightful comments with a tip. As a result, the valuable comments will (hopefully) bubble up to the top of the comment thread, at the same time suppressing spam and useless comments. FillThat will go live next month. Touchring (DemoPit company) Touchring wants to bring voice communication into the social space. The Flash app makes it possible to call up friends over so-called Touchrings, cell phone-like icons that you can design yourself and integrate into your blog or profile on various social networks. Calls with other Touchring users are free, but you can also make phone calls to landlines and mobile phones ( rates ). Touchring launched yesterday. UniQube (DemoPit company) Seoul-based Solspectrum showcased UniQube in the DemoPit, an in-stream ad placement solution that’s supposed to help video portals monetize their content. The aim is to enhance brand awareness and customer engagement by integrating interactive ads into video clips or movies at the right moment in a non-intrusive way. When an actor eats a pizza in a certain scene of a movie, for example, an overlay pizza ad could be displayed. Viewers choosing to click on it could then sign up for a competition or get discount coupons directly within the video without navigating away to another page. Snippets containing the interactive ads can be cut out and sent to friends via Twitter, Facebook and other media. UniQube users can track the distribution paths and effectiveness of their video ads in real-time. The solution is built upon Silverlight and still in development. These are the two services from Japan that were in the TechCrunch 50 DemoPit: LIFEmee LIFEmee is a comprehensive life management service that allows you to store and share the significant aspects and events of your life online (from “the cradle to the crave”). Keep a diary, list up and control personal assets, upload a Last Will and Testament, lay out future plans and compare certain elements of your life, i.e. your annual income, with LIFEmee users around the world. LIFEmee launched at TechCrunch50 (a Japanese version follows soon). Read more about this service in my previous post . Spysee The Japanese version of this people search engine went online last year and instantly gained impressive traction . Much like Spock , Spysee is focused on collecting information on individuals and shedding light on their relation with other people. Type in “Michael Arrington” , for example, and you’ll get a mini bio, a diagram displaying people (relatively) close to him, pictures (i.e. this one ), relevant news, keywords, blog posts and video clips. Spysee went live Monday (in beta). Photo credit: Fumi Yamazaki Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
| Alibaba Turns 10 – Aims To Create 100 Million Jobs, Employ 10 Million People | Top |
| This is a guest post by Shanghai-based entrepreneur George Godula. His company Web2Asia partners with Western Internet companies for market entry in Eastern Asia, and also does early stage investments in local tech startups. George had the opportunity this weekend to attend Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group ’s 10 year anniversary celebration, dubbed the “Alifest”. Alibaba is best known for its international B2B e-commerce and sourcing market place Alibaba.com , but also operates Taobao – the “eBay of China” and largest C2C Internet retail web site, Alimama – an online advertising exchange and affiliate network – as well as Alipay , China’s most popular third-party online payment system modelled after Paypal but offering additional features such as escrow services. Alibaba’s chairman Jack Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 out of his Hangzhou apartment. Ten years later the company has grown to China’s second largest Internet company , after digital entertainment giant Tencent. His company Alibaba.com’s 2007 IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange was the second largest Internet offering ever after Google’s debut on NASDAQ in 2004. Since 2005, Yahoo! is a strategic shareholder when it acquired 39% of Alibaba Group for US$ 1 billion. In return Alibaba operates the portal Yahoo! China , but the secondary role Yahoo! China plays for Alibaba became evident when Ma shared his vision for the next 10 years of Alibaba during this weekend’s press conference. This was once again underscored yesterday when Yahoo! sold $150 million worth of shares in Alibaba.com . Jack’s dream is to focus on empowering and encouraging small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) across the globe and it centers around 3 major goals for the next 10 years: Goal 1: 10 million people “work at” Alibaba By “working at” Jack symbolically referred to millions of SME entrepreneurs that will not literally be employed by Alibaba but are turned to “netrepeneurs” and independently utilize and work online with Alibabas trade platforms and software solutions: Alisoft was established in January 2007 and offers software as a service solutions for SME’s. In July 2009, Alisoft was merged with Alibaba Group R&D Institute to lay a solid technology foundation to further develop Alibaba Group’s businesses. At the same time Alibaba Group this weekend announced the establishment of a new subsidiary focusing on cloud computing. In the medium run, it is evident that Alibaba will strive to emerge as a leading software solution provider for SME’s, eventually competing with Western players such as Salesforce.com . Goal 2: 100 million new jobs created worldwide by Alibaba A megalomaniac target at first glance, this could very well become reality when considering Alibabas resources and Jack Ma’s obviously wide-reaching personal connections that became more apparent to me through the course of Alifest. In May 2007, Alibaba.com introduced the Ali-loan program offering financing to small Chinese businesses in partnership with leading Chinese banks. This model was now hinted to be extended across other countries in cooperation with Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen bank. The second corner stone to achieve this goal involves Alibabas training department, Ali-Institute that was upgraded this July to become a new profit-oriented business unit under Alibaba.com. During the cleverly staged Alifest program speakers such as Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus, former president Bill Clinton (both over video) and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz underpinned the importance of fostering SME development across developing nations and endorsed Alibabas global efforts. This is quite remarkably for a Chinese company. Provided, you still consider it as such: “In 10 years we wont make differences between local or international companies any more, but only between differences in integrity”, Jack Ma said during his speech this weekend. All points considered Alibaba is indeed in a powerful position to shape the worlds economy in the coming decade. Taking Alibabas already undisputed status among SME manufacturers in what is soon to become world’s largest economy, even the third proclaimed goal by Jack Ma can seem plausible: Goal 3: 1 billion people trading on Alibaba Group’s platforms The roadway to Alibabas most eager goal was visualized to us impressively when Alibaba.com’s CEO David Wei gave us an exclusive tour of his company’s new headquarters. (Which by the way also has a basketball court inaugurated by another of Jack Ma’s friends Kobe Bryant, who was also present in Hangzhou this weekend) David presented us Alibaba’s realtime trading statistics generated from the three pillars of its business: international trade, domestic Chinese wholesale and domestic Chinese retail. (the according graphs can be seen in the picture above from left to right). During the time of our visit last Friday evening at around 7pm Chinese time, 2.87 million concurrent users were active on Alibaba.com’s B2B portal. According to David the daily average concurrent user number is 4 million, around 10% of its 42.8 million worldwide registered users. The groups domestic C2C e-commerce marketplace Taobao holds around 78% of the online consumer market in China. As of mid-2009, it served 156 million registered users. Transaction volume on Taobao reached nearly US$ 11.8 billion in the first half of 2009, and by that exceeded the largest retailer in China in transaction volume during the same period. David continued to say that “Alibaba’s combined trading statistic give us 3-6 months lead time to predict Chinas domestic trade and export volumes”. These are without doubts immensely powerful insights to possibly the biggest driver of our current world economy. Not without reason, Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma was one of the first to recognize the economic downturn in February last year, when he predicted “a though (economic) winter is coming , dark clouds are forming and the thunder is coming closer” during the annual Alibaba all-employee conference. “Today, the darkest period for Chinese exporters is over”, Alibaba’s CEO David Wei confirmed to us. I asked David to tell us more about AliExpress – a new international wholesale platform for small-sum orders from its Alibaba.com database of Chinese manufacturers. He confirmed “the platform is still in beta but bound to launch in rather weeks than months from now”. The service offers minimum orders as low as 1 item, escrow payment and delivery with full tracking. Advertising “factory prices on even the smallest orders” the service is de facto a B2C marketplace just like Amazon and in part eBay that connects the Chinese manufacturers on Alibabas existing B2B portal Alibaba.com with the US consumer market. It will also be the first international roll out of Alibaba’s online payment and escrow system Alipay now competing with PayPal China in fight for Chinese SME merchants. Alipay currently facilitates about 4 million online payments worth up to US$100 million per day. It surpassed 200 million registered users in early July 2009. With AliExpress the company for the first time attacks eBay directly in its home market. In China the US company already lost against Alibabas Taobao, giving up its domestic eBay platform and partially selling it to Chinese Internet group TOM Online in 2006. Not included in that sale, however was eBays and PayPals cross-boarder business of Chinese merchants selling to US consumers, that continues to be operated by PayPal China itself. This remaining eBay asset is now under serious threat, with Alibaba entering the B2C export business. The move nevertheless comes with many risks for Alibaba. Only in December last year, Alibaba’s competitor Global Sources Direct , a division of NASDAQ-listed online sourcing platform Global Sources, announced it would discontinue its wholesale services. The platform was established in 2005 as a joint venture between Global Sources and eBay. A major part of the failure was attributed to the fact, that in such a cross national market place setting, it is impossible for its operator to guarantee quality, availability and delivery times. Instead it has to rely on the goodwill of its merchants, which in a developing market like China is a huge challenge. It remains to be seen how Alibaba can solve this problem better than its competitors. Additionally to its international challenges Alibaba Group is under constant attack from rising Chinese rivals such as Baidu’s new C2C e-commerce platform Youa . Since the end of last year China’s number one search engine Baidu.com has blocked all Taobao merchants offers in its natural search results, leading to a huge loss of search volume. In retaliation Alibaba Group, previously one of the biggest ad spenders on Baidu , stopped all its PPC campaigns. In the "Art of War", Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu writes “concentrate your energy and hoard your strength”. However, Alibaba’s Jack Ma seems to ignore this advice by competing on multiple battlefields both at home and abroad, potentially stretching his company's resources too thin. Yet the man reinforced his modesty in yesterdays closing speech when he said “looking back we are now a big company, but looking ahead we are still a very small company”. Having seen Ma passionately in action this weekend, it is clear that he's lost none of the tireless energy that has made him successful, instead gaining in charisma and determination that will be necessary for the next 10 years ahead. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco | |
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