Thursday, September 10, 2009

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Cerego Raises $3.4 Million For Smart.fm, Launches Facebook Friend Quiz Top
Japanese company Cerego, the brains behind the social learning platform iKnow!, has raised $3.4 million in a round of funding from NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile phone carrier. To date, Cerego has raised a total of $23.4 million in funding since its launch in 2000. Cerego originally launched iKnow as an online service for Japanese people to learn English and then expanded the platform to allow users to learn content in any language. Cerego has developed learning algorithms based on research in the fields of cognitive science and neuroscience that power iKnow. The learning engine is unique because it lets users set personal learning goals and then plans a curriculum and strategy around these goals. Cerego has launched a new Facebook app called Smart.fm Brainspeed, which basically scans the information in the profiles of all of your friends and then creates a quiz around their personal information (i.e. Where was Michael born?). Users who answer the most questions correctly about a particular friend, will “own” that friend until they are unseated by another friend. The company says the app is more of a poof of concept to show that Cerego’s technology can leverage structured information to help educate across different verticals and platforms, such as Facebook. The fact that mobile subscriber NTT DoCoMo has invested heavily in Cerega suggests that perhaps the company’s technology will be primed for mobile apps phone in the near future. Here’s a video about Smart.fm’s technology: Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Google Aims To Halve The Cost Of Solar power Top
What a market leader and major dealer in capital does publicly with their money is revealing. One of the things I admire about Microsoft is that through their Labs and Research initiatives, they've done a lot of good work in fields only tangentially connected with Microsoft markets. Google has some initiatives of their own ( if you didn't know ), and green power has been among their favored funding targets for a few years now. Recently they've decided that solar power isn't efficient enough. Well spotted, Google! They must have Binged it. Of course, they're no stranger to the green . They've got millions invested in renewable energy, two solar power firms in particular ( eSolar and BrightSolar ), but they're also calling for backup from the government and other major investors. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Facebook Lite: How Will Twitter Respond? Twitter Lite! Top
So, we now have Facebook Lite in the U.S ., a slimmed down, sexier version of Facebook. It’s been said for a while that Facebook may have a long term problem with Twitter because it was too bloated, while Twitter was so light and simple — talk of that should die down now. So how will Twitter respond? I have a feeling we’re about to enter a war similar to the war razor blade companies engage in. You have 2 blades? We’ll do 3! Then we’ll do 4, etc. Except here, less is more. So behold, my idea for Twitter Lite! Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0 TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Interview With The Pirate Party Of The United States Top
Let's make one thing absolutely clear about the Pirate Party of the United States (PPUS): it has no interest in defending your ability to illegally download The Blueprint 3 from Waffles.fm. It just doesn't. If you had the idea in your head that the PPUS would somehow work to legalize your bad habits, well, tough break, kid: it's a legitimate political party whose goal is not to make it so that you can download the latest Lady Gaga release with impunity, but rather to effect change in the more general realm of copyright and governmental transparency. In other words, you may want to lower that skull and crossbones flag you've been flying. This past week I spoke to not one, but two officers of the PPUS. Ryan Martin, the party's Administrator, and Glenn Kerbein, the party's Operations Officer. The conversations were illuminating. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Kickin' It Old School: Facebook Lite Launches In The U.S. And India Top
Well here it is. Just as we first discovered a few weeks ago, Facebook Lite has just been released for U.S. users to test out. Simply put, the site is SO much cleaner than Facebook regular, and much, much nicer to look at. Did I mention much, much faster? Originally intended to be used in countries where high speed Internet connections are sparse or non-existant, apparently Facebook has realized there’s a real desire among all its users to have a smaller version of the service. [Update: More on that below] On top of a launch in the U.S., the service is also live in India right now, we’re told. As we wrote last month: All that being said, it is entirely possible that the service could find its way to the rest of the world as an option for those who maybe don't want all the bells and whistles that Facebook provides, and instead just want speed. Facebook didn't have anything to say on that matter, and specifically not the U.S., but it seems reasonable. One great thing about Facebook Lite is that on top of being much cleaner, updates appear in real-time along the bottom of the page, something which is much nicer to look at then that ugly toolbar that is on Facebook Proper. This alongside the Facebook’s brilliant experimental desktop updater for Mac seems to show that the company is committed to user experience once again, rather than cluttering things up. Remember, keep it simple, stupid . This move into the U.S. market with Lite is also interesting because rival MySpace did a similar thing to remove bloat back in April . Thin is in, it seems. Of course, if you like applications on Facebook, you won’t like this version, as they are nowhere to be found. But the reason myself and many others started using Facebook in the first place was because of the social connections and data. I want to access this data as quickly as possible, I don’t care about playing games. You’ll also notice that an “Events” tab has been added to the top toolbar. Again, this is much nicer than Facebook Proper, where events are buried in a sub-section. Also along the top, just above the Feed is a way to “View Top Stories” as opposed to those listed in order. I hate to keep repeating myself, but again, a great change. You’ll also see that current and upcoming birthday for your contacts are at the top of the Feed. So why India as well? Well, as we noted previously, India is one of the countries that was originally being targeted by Facebook Lite, and it was the first test space it launched in several months ago. India also represents an area where Facebook is growing very fast . So fast, in fact, that Yahoo may have shut down a social network of its own, SpotM, in response to it. Google’s Orkut remains the leader in the country, however. This is the third interesting development to come out of Facebook just today. This morning, it announced that it would open source a key part of the technology behind the recently acquired FriendFeed. And earlier this afternoon, it began using the “@ reply” syntax , mimicking the way people communicate on rival Twitter. We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment as to why they decided to push this live in the U.S. so quickly. We’ll update when we hear back. Update : Here’s what Facebook is saying on the matter: We decided to roll out Facebook Lite in the U.S. to give users a simple, expedient alternative to facebook.com, and hope that it will fill this need. While the majority of our user base is outside the United States, we're always working to enhance the new user experience even in markets where facebook.com is easily accessible. We have also found that people who are new to Facebook tend to be most interested in a simpler experience, focus on establishing their network of friends and communicating with them by writing on their walls, sending messages, and looking at pictures. We have introduced the Lite site with these new users in mind. Update 2 : And here’s Zuckerberg with the team that worked this banging the gong for the release. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Job Boards Are So Over. TalentSeekr Targets And Recruits Through Ads Instead. Top
Even though unemployment is at the highest levels in a decade, companies are still finding it difficult to find the best qualified candidates to fill the positions that are available. The reason for that is because more often than not, the best qualified candidates are already employed and not necessarily looking for new jobs. Certainly not on job boards like Monster.com or HotJobs. So if the best candidates won’t seek out job openings on employment sites, the jobs need to seek them out. That is the idea behind TalentSeekr , which is essentially an ad network for jobs. Companies fill out what jobs they are trying to fill in what locations, then TalentSeekr creates and tests multiple ads across the Web—social networks, blogs, forums, search engines, you name it. Based on the response rate and quality of the applicants that come through the ads, TalentSeekr optimizes the mix of ad types (banner, text, video, creative elements) and placement. (Watch the video below to see how it works). If more qualified applicants are coming in through LinkedIn than Facebook, it readjusts the mix. (In fact, LinkedIn makes a lot of money through recruitment ads on its own site in much the same manner. TalentSeeker is attempting to apply the same principles in a more distributed manner across the Web). “What we are doing is what job boards did to newspapers. Everybody knows the space is about to shift big,” says Ryan Caldwell, the CEO of EnticeLabs , the company behind TalentSeekr. EnticeLabs was founded in August 2007, and funded with $1.3 million in angel money so far.  It’s been operating in a private beta until recently, and already counts among its customers Dell, GE, IBM, Adidas, Rebock, eBay, Google, and Microsoft. In addition to TalentSeekr, which is aimed at companies looking to recruit, EnticeLabs’ other product is CareerAds, which is aimed at blogs and Websites looking to display job-focused ads. TalentSeekr’s approach takes longer than filling a job on Monster, but if you are looking for 3,000 SAP consultants, it could be a better approach.  If you are looking to just fill a single position quickly, you are probably still better off with Monster or some other job board.  Hiring managers get a dashboard (see screenshot below) which shows the number of ad impressions, clicks, and ultimate applications resulting from the ads, as well as the geographic distribution. The average clickthrough rates for TalentSeekre ads can range from 0.15 percent to 0.37 percent (see table below).  Then among those who click, the application rate can be anywhere from 0.22 percent for medical jobs to 2.68 percent for tech jobs.  But with an average cost-per-click of around $1, and an average cost per qualified applicant of anywhere from $200 to $2,600, it still beats hiring a headhunter. Job ad networks have been tried before by both large companies (Monster has its Career Ad Network ) and small. A Y Combinator company called SnapTalent tried this before shifting over to career fairs, and ultimately deadpooling (their site is no longer online). Caldwell isn’t worried about the same fate happening to EnticeLabs because he’s gone after big enterprise with thousands of employees first, rather than the other way around. “This is not something where you can do a cute little startup,” he says, “you need scale.” The other thing that gives him confidence is that big employers like IBM and GE are talking about shifting large online recruiting budgets away from poorly-performing job boards. Since TalentSeekr already tracks the performance of its ads, it can also plug into applicant tracking systems used by HR departments to get feedback into how the people hired end up doing in terms of job evaluations, longevity and other factors. CrunchBase Information TalentSeekr EnticeLabs Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 
Skimble Helps You Plan And Track Your Gym Workouts and Outdoor Activities Top
For anyone who has wanted to run a marathon, hike a particularly challenging mountain or even simply learn a new sport, it can be helpful to plan and track your activities and progress to increase efficiency and productivity. Skimble is hoping to be the online destination for anyone who wants to plan and track an activity or workout goal. Skimble’s online tools let you discover activities, by giving you information on popular outdoor active trips, i.e. a hiking trip to Lake Tahoe; and gym workouts, i.e. indoor rock climbing. You can join one of these trips or you can create your own. When you create a trip, you can create a feed of news and updates about the trip and share the page with other friends. The feed also pulls in any Tweets about the subject of the trip. So if you are planning a trip to Tahoe, Skimble will pull in Tweets about rock climbing, hiking or canoeing in Tahoe. Once you create an activity or trip, you can begin tracking your progress. The tracking tool, which is particularly compelling, is easy to use and actually makes tracking a goal or activity really simple. Whereas many activity tracking tools on the web focus on weight loss, Skimble focuses on helping you create a calendar and schedule of your activities, and will chart out your performance based upon time spent on the activity. You can also compare your progress to a friend’s on the site. The focus is less on the weight loss and more on the accomplishment of finishing an activity. Skimble, which was incubated in The Funded’s Founder Institute, attracted over 1,000 outdoor enthusiasts that have praised the ability to track and compare their accomplishments. You can also share your trips and activities with Facebook via Facebook Connect on the site. Competitors to Skimble include DailyBurn. And Skimble plans to release a mobile app to let users plan and track on the go. Unsurprisingly, Skimble’s founders are both techies and experienced mountain climbers. In fact, Skimble’s co-founder Maria Ly is a former gymnast, who has extraordinary flexibility and strength. See her jaw-dropping performance in this video: Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. TechCrunch50 Conference 2009 : September 14-15, 2009, San Francisco
 

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