Monday, October 25, 2010

Y! Alert: TechCrunch

Yahoo! Alerts
My Alerts

The latest from TechCrunch

Digg Founder Jay Adelson Is Okay With Not Selling Early, Even In Light Of Layoffs Top
On stage at FailCon today, Jay Adelson went over his storied career from Equinix to Digg. Adelson kept emphasizing the fact that he had no regrets despite Digg having failed to pin down acquisition offers from both Current and Google, while the news broke during the panel that Digg had just laid off 37% of its staff . I asked Adelson while he was onstage whether he wanted to revaluate his “no regrets” comments with this recently reported information, particularly with regards to selling the company early. Adelson, who looked genuinely concerned at the news, affirmed that he would not have done anything differently, “I know that those were loyal employees who were hoping for an exit. I’d like to think that they gained knowledge and wisdom from being there and that Matthew Williams and administration are making these kinds of decisions because they have new data.” When asked if he thought Digg was dead, as many press reports post Version 4 redesign hint at, Adelson was adamant that it wasn’t: “The site’s got 20 million people [monthly], that’s a lot of people. It’s insulting and weird when the media reports that 20 million are stupid because a site that they’re visiting is “dead.” Digg might not have 100x return future, but it has a future.” Adelson’s prior recounting of his career trajectory was a personal and painful story and he also made it clear there was never a point when where selling was a viable option,  “There’s this image of Digg as constantly being offered money. Talk is cheap.” ( Disclaimer: Many of these quotes are paraphrased.) Image: Andrew Mager CrunchBase Information Digg Jay Adelson Information provided by CrunchBase
 
The Truth: Why iPhone Users Will Ditch AT&T and Run to Verizon Top
Last week we saw the carriers' growth numbers for Q3 2010, and AT&T completely blew away Verizon with new subscribers. Despite mass availability of Android phones, Verizon only added 1 million subscribers in Q3, its lowest total in years. AT&T added 2.6 million. It's now completely clear why Verizon has finally capitulated and cozied up with Apple —even with tons of Android models, Verizon simply can't compete with AT&T in terms of new subscriber growth. Right now the question du jour among iPhone aficionados is how many net subscribers will leave AT&T and switch to Verizon once the iPhone becomes a reality in January 2011. That number is going to be a lot larger than people think for a series of compounding reasons. First off, let's establish that iPhone service on AT&T has not improved. Dropped calls are one issue. But so are dead connections, intermittent signal, and my personal favorite—the inability to use the phone for voice or data even when you have "full signal". There is a reason why these issues are endemic to iPhones on AT&T, but don't affect either Android smartphones on Verizon, or iPhones on other GSM carriers worldwide. And it always intrigues me that it's hardly ever mentioned by either analysts, the media, or by Apple and AT&T themselves. I suppose the former community doesn't understand the issue, and the latter doesn't want you to know the truth. Earlier this summer I uncovered the real reasons why AT&T's network is so terrible , just prior to iPhone 4 and iOS4 being released. Contrary to what's normally discussed in the press, the issues are not capacity related. It’s not about the number of cell towers or wireless bandwidth. Instead, they relate to "signaling", control and status information which is communicated back and forth across wireless networks. Smartphones use signaling for network polling and status updates, for functions like SMS, billing, and for DHCP requests. When I wrote that piece, Steve Jobs had just gone on record at D8 saying that AT&T was working hard and the issues would get better by the end of the summer. Well guess what? They haven't. The issues have not been alleviated because they require a completely rethought approach to network topology at the signaling layer, and after three years it's clear AT&T has no clue how to do this, especially amidst a continual onslaught of iPhone subscriber growth. Attempts to overhaul its signaling network present a chicken-and-egg problem. AT&T must also build out its LTE network, which is the real solution to creating robust signaling. This dilemma is compounded by the fact that 3G isn't going away—I recently learned Apple plans to bypass LTE in 2011, instead opting to wait for "4G" to mature. This means that AT&T subscribers will be relying on AT&T's woefully strained 3G network for another 18 months or more. Unless they switch to Verizon. The premise that Verizon's network will support the iPhone fine is now anecdotally supported by the fact that Verizon smartphone subscribers use more data than iPhone subscribers, and because Android phones actually use the same power saving disconnect methods that the iPhone popularized. Up until this point AT&T could physiologically assuage the concerns of iPhone users since they had exclusivity. But soon people will be able to compare Apples to Apples, if you will. An iPhone user on Verizon will not experience the same issues an iPhone user on AT&T. If you don’t believe me, this will become clear for everyone when the Verizon CDMA iPhone becomes available. The really interesting part is that it appears Apple is going to supply a dual mode GSM/CDMA iPhone in mid-2011 which supports all carriers worldwide.  Imagine the scenario of a new customer walking into the Apple store—why on earth would they go with AT&T when their neighbor talks about how well the iPhone works on Verizon? This confluence of reasons—the general delay of 4G, coupled with Apple's plans to support a dual mode GSM/CDMA iPhone—will be hurt AT&T. It's beginning to look like there are going to be a lot more AT&T defections to Verizon than the majority of people think. And once again, Steve Jobs will smile like the Cheshire cat while Apple stands above the fray, as the primary beneficiary. _________________________ Contributor  Steve Cheney is an entrepreneur and formerly an engineer & programmer specializing in web and mobile technologies. CrunchBase Information Apple AT&T Verizon Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Digg To Layoff 37% Of Staff, Product Refocus Imminent Top
It was just a few months ago that Digg dropped 10% of its staff. Now the company is making much deeper cuts – 25 employees will be laid off, a little more than 37% of Digg’s total staff. This comes on top of news that Digg lost their chief revenue officer, Chas Edwards , earlier today. I spoke with founder Kevin Rose and new CEO Matt Williams about the cuts earlier this morning. The company will be refocusing the Digg product, Williams says, and more announcements will be made tomorrow. The company, with around $15 million in revenue, is also running at a loss today. With these cuts, says Williams, the company should reach profitability in mid 2011. Here’s the blog post from Williams: Team, When I joined Digg six weeks ago, we set an immediate focus on improving the web site. We listened carefully to user feedback and started making changes to generate momentum in our business. As I mentioned in one of our first all-hands meetings, another top priority was to take a hard look at the entire business, across product, sales, and operations. Through the time I have spent with each of you, I've been impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm you've shown. I've also learned a great deal about what is working well at Digg, and what is broken. Many things are working well. The team is listening and acting quickly on the feedback from our passionate community. We've been able to deliver nimbly on the new platform, with over 100 bug and feature releases to the web site in the past two months. Our Diggable ads product has seen a notable increase in use by advertisers and clicks by users. Unfortunately, to reach our goals, we have to take some difficult steps. The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high. We must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011. We’ve considered all of the possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs. The result is that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I've made the decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people. It's been an incredibly tough decision. I wish it weren't necessary. However, I know it's the right choice for Digg's future success as a business. I'm personally committed to help find new opportunities for everyone affected by the transition. Digg's Board members have also offered to help find placements within their portfolio companies. Let's please use today to show our sincere appreciation for our friends and colleagues who will be moving on. Tomorrow, we’ll go forward with a new strategy for Digg. CrunchBase Information Digg Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Even If Solar Grows 30X, It Will Only Be 4% Of America's Power Capacity Top
For all the talk about solar, the US market for solar power still has a long way to go before it makes a real dent in the country’s overall power capacity. On Monday morning, Bloomberg New Energy Finance , a major aggregator of green industry data released a few key projections: the US solar market is on track to grow 30x to 44 gigawatts by 2020 and could make up 4.3% of America’s total power capacity. Of this fraction, the bulk (or approximately 68%) will be in photovoltaics with solar thermal making up the remainder.  Furthermore, Bloomberg predicts that consumer traction will also move noticeably higher, with 2.4% of homes solar-equipped by 2020. Of course, that path to 4.3% of national power capacity is not cheap. In order to get there, the US market will need to attract $100 billion in investment dollars. The possible leap from 1.4GW to 44GW is an impressive growth curve, but these figures certainly highlight the simultaneous growth and challenge of solar installation. As Bloomberg New Energy Finance points out, the surge in solar capacity has been supported by two crucial trends: the drop in prices (the price of photovoltaic modules has tumbled from roughly $300 per watt in the mid-20th century, to less than $5 per watt today) and the heavy hand of government support. And yet, even as solar becomes more affordable, it’s still playing catch up to other sources of energy. That may be a well known fact but it often gets muffled in the bucolic vision for solar panel farms as far as the eyes can see. “The group’s latest analysis places the unsubsidized cost of best-in-class photovoltaic and solar thermal electrivity generation at just below $200/megawatt hour— nearly four times the equivalent cost for a coal-fired power plant ($56/megawatt hour)— and between two and four times the cost of onshore wind power, ” according to the Bloomberg report. On the investment front, it will be interesting to see how the solar industry fares in the money race. Overall, the sector has been a major beacon for investment dollars but momentum has recently waned. According to a Mercom Capital report for the third quarer,  VC funding for the solar sector was $169.35 million on 11 deals, versus $922 million for 18 transactions in the prior quarter. On the flip side, there was strength in other funding sources (including credit lines from banks), which totaled a healthy $20.7 billion for the quarter. (Image: Flickr/ Warm N’ Fuzzy )
 
In Time For The Holidays, Borders Slashes Prices Of E-Book Readers Top
The arrival of the holiday shopping season is certainly escalating the e-book wars. Today, Amazon released data showing rapid Kindle sales and Barnes and Noble is expected to release a color version of the Nook. Borders is jumping into the mix by announcing a number of deals on its assortment of e-readers in time for the holiday shopping season. For the next week, Borders is offering free shipping on online eReader orders, a $25 gift card, free eBooks, 20 percent off device accessories and more incentives for shoppers to choose Borders for the e-book gifts. So if you purchase the Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet, which costs about $299.99, you will receive a $25 Borders gift card. Borders is also knocking $30 off the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader with WiFi to bring the price down to $169.99. The Kobo eReader, which lists for $129.99, is now priced at $99.99; and the Aluratek Libre is now $99.99 through Nov. 15. Borders is also throwing in five free eBooks with any pre-order of the Kobo Wireless eReader ($139.99) and offering a Sony Reader cover with built-in light with the purchase of any Sony device. The company will be knocking off 20 percent on all eReader accessories with the purchase of any e-book device. It’s a competitive market, and Borders doesn’t nearly have the share that Amazon does. Price cuts can be a sales driver during the holiday time, and these sort of deals are necessary to compete with the big guys. And Borders has previously used price cuts on readers to draw traffic and sales. Earlier this year, Borders launched a branded eBook store and released the BlackBerry, Android, iPad and iPhone eReading applications, all powered by Kobo. And as more and more players enter the market, prices will continue to drop. I think we can expect more price-cuts, features and deals coming from all e-book distributors over the next few months. CrunchBase Information Kobo Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Dept. Of Advertising: Check Into Cheryl Cole Billboards With Facebook Places Top
When Facebook launched Places in August, it encouraged advertisers to list their businesses in the Places directory. But now an advertiser is taking it one step further and asking passersby to check into a billboard using Facebook Places. In a new outdoor campaign across the UK for British singer Cheryl Cole , who has a new album coming out and a concert tour, fans who check into the billboard will be taken to her Facebook page and get a chance to win two free tickets (plus travel and hotel) to one of her X Factor shows. The campaign was designed by Mediacom and Polydor Records. I am not really sure a billboard counts as place, although I do suppose it is location-specific. But tying together check-ins with outdoor advertising like billboards and posters is something we will probably keep seeing. It is not the first time someone has this approach. A Nets billboard on the side of a building in New York City this summer, for instance, urged people to check in with Gowalla. It is not clear how successful these billboard check-in campaigns will be, however. It just seems more natural to offer promotions tied to actual places of business. But as the check-in concept expands from checking into a place to checking into brands, it could become more of a simple call to action. CrunchBase Information Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase
 
AdMob Brings Interactive Video Ads To Android Top
Google’s recently purchased mobile ad network AdMob is announcing today that it is bringing interactive video ads to Android phones. AdMob already offers the video ad format for iPhones. Similar to the iPhone formats, the new SDK for Android devices includes interactive video and interactive interstitial ad units. The ad network will dynamically identify screen resolution, size, and network connection speed to serve users the best ad for each device. And Android developers have more interactive options when including ads in their applications. The new ad units themselves can be placed when an app opens or within an app. AdMob says that it has run over 120 video and interactive interstitial campaigns for clients such as Universal Pictures, Best Buy and Seattle's Best Coffee. Google’s big push for AdMob has been the ability to serve interactive mobile ads across many mobile platforms, whereas single-platform options like iAd have been focused on only serving iOS devices, limiting reach for advertisers. Interestingly, Apple is also eying the video ad space and is rumored to be developing iAds for video. CrunchBase Information AdMob Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Is Cloud OS Maker Jolicloud Preparing To Sell A Netbook Of Its Own? Top
Jolicloud , which set out to build a cloud-based operating system for netbooks , appears to be preparing to build and sell its own line of actual netbooks, too. Tariq Krim , founder and CEO of the French startup, earlier today tweeted links to two interesting pictures : As others are speculating , these pictures suggest Jolicloud is working on a proper netbook rather than sticking with just building software to run them . For background, Jolicloud’s upcoming 1.1 release will no longer be all about netbooks, but also for people to replace older desktop and laptop computers still running Windows with a faster ‘Internet OS’. Krim loves to call it the company’s “HTML5 iOS”. Krim stopped short of confirming to me that they are preparing to sell custom Jolicloud computers directly, and declined to go into detail about the pictures and the computer that can be seen in them. He did, however, promise me to share more information about what’s cooking in the Jolicloud kitchen soon enough (I have a meeting planned with him during an upcoming event in Dublin, Ireland, later this week), so hold tight. I’ve spoken to other sources, however, who confirmed to me that Jolicloud is in fact partnering with a hardware manufacturer to build a ‘social netbook’ (activation would be as simply as clicking a Facebook Connect button and importing your social graph), targeting the 12-25 year old demographic. None of them would confirm pricing of the ‘jolibook’ to me, however, although clearly for that demographic the price needs be low enough to remain interesting, say $250-$350. The elephant in the room is of course the imminent launch of Google’s Chrome OS , which will steal much of Jolicloud’s thunder no matter how both operating systems stack up on a product quality level. On a sidenote: we’ve heard rumors about Google prepping the launch of a proper Chrome OS-based netbook , too. A lot will of course depend on positioning. If it turns out Jolicloud will focus primarily on selling to youngsters, its strategy could differ from Google’s enough to carve out a niche of their own. Founded back in 2008, Jolicloud has raised $4.2 million from London-based Atomico Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners in July 2009. CrunchBase Information Jolicloud Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Amazon Touts Kindle Sales Numbers Without Sharing Kindle Sales Numbers Top
Unsurprisingly, the fourth quarter is usually the best sales period for the Kindle (and most retail products), but it looks like this year will be especially strong as more consumers flock to e-books. After announcing a new e-book loan feature last week, Amazon is revealing a number of new Kindle stats today in time for the holiday shopping rush. According to the company, sales of the new generation Kindle devices have already surpassed total Kindle device sales from the holiday season of last year (October through December 2009). Sales of individual Kindle titles are flying off the digital bookshelves. Amazon sold more than three times as many Kindle books in the first nine months of 2010 as in the first nine months of 2009. Amazon also said that Kindle book sales continue to overtake print on Amazon.com. This data is consistent with Q2 and Q1 Kindle numbers Amazon revealed during its earnings call in July. And in the past 30 days, Amazon.com customers purchased more Kindle books than print books, which includes both hardcover and paperback combined, for the top 10, 25, 100, and 1,000 bestselling books on Amazon.com. In the three months since Amazon debuted the new Kindle, Kindle devices or Kindle-related items such as Kindle books and covers represented 15 of the top 15 bestselling items on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk combined. Of course, this dramatic growth is buoyed by the fact that e-book sales are rapidly growing (Amazon says sales are up 193 percent between January and August 2010). Kindle book sales growth during the same period exceeded this rate. All of this growth sounds pretty great, but it’s really hard to accept these stats and data without the actual numbers of Kindles sold or e-books sold. Clearly, Kindles are big-sellers for the e-commerce giant (perhaps because the company slashed prices of the device to $139 for WiFi-only and $189 for the full-featured model). Amazon is notorious for sending out releases or news touting Kindle sales while never releasing the actual numbers (data which Apple reveals all the time). For now, Kindle sales will continue to be one of the best-kept secrets in device land. Also related: B&N will be releasing a color version of its Kindle competitor, the Nook, this week. CrunchBase Information Amazon Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Ray Ozzie Has Seen The Future, And It Looks A Lot Like Google Top
Just as Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie is preparing to step down , he’s leaving the software giant with a farewell memo outlining where the “Post-PC” world is headed. Titled “Dawn of a New Day,” it comes across as a dire warning for Microsoft to move faster away from its dependence on the PC towards “continuous services” in the cloud available across a wide array of “connected devices.” Ozzie has hit upon some of these themes before , starting with a big-think memo five years ago called “The Internet Services Disruption.” Certainly his original concept of Microsoft Mesh was very much in this vein of syncing data across devices and the cloud. But Mesh has been years in the making, and is only now beginning to see the light of day in limited ways. It is almost as if Ozzie is saying Microsoft didn’t completely get the message. After starting off this latest memo with some dutiful praise, he gets to the meat of his concerns: Yet, for all our great progress, some of the opportunities I laid out in my memo five years ago remain elusive and are yet to be realized. Certain of our competitors' products and their rapid advancement & refinement of new usage scenarios have been quite noteworthy. Our early and clear vision notwithstanding, their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences, in the seamless fusion of hardware & software & services, and in social networking & myriad new forms of internet-centric social interaction. What he describes sounds a lot like Google, which is pushing to remove the distinction between native apps and Web apps with the Chrome OS and Google Apps. Google is also probably the furthest ahead in terms of syncing connected devices such as Android phones and Google TVs to the cloud. A general design principle Google follows is if your data is in the cloud, it should be available on all your devices. This is already true for Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Picasa. It’s also increasingly true for other apps. The Send-To-Android feature , for instance, makes it easy to send links to phones which will then launch apps on those phones. Google extended that functionality to its Chrome browser. Android also updates apps over the air seamlessly. Obviously, Google isn’t the only threat here. It certainly isn’t at the forefront of social networking (that would be Facebook). And perhaps that is where Microsoft can still find its footing, by creating a computing architecture that brings together devices, the cloud and social networks. Ozzie hints at this: Tomorrow's experiences will be inherently transmedia & trans-device. They'll be centered on your own social & organizational networks. For both individuals and businesses, new consumption & interaction models will change the game. It's inevitable. Of course, Google also realizes how important social is going to become. But when you think about who is winning in social, neither company comes to mind. Photo credit: Flickr/ Dan Farber CrunchBase Information Ray Ozzie Microsoft Google Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Cashie Rings Up PayPal API To Offer Checkout Platform For Publishers Top
There are plenty of checkout and shopping cart solutions on the web; including Payvment, BigCommerce and others. Cashie is launching today as a cloud-based e-commerce platform that can be easily installed on a website or blog. Cashie is designed for publishers using content management platforms such as WordPress, and can be integrated into a site by copying and pasting a few lines of code. The technology leverages PayPal’s X Developer Platform to allow users (who need to have a PayPal Website Payments Pro merchant account) to offer a PayPal and standard credit card checkout experience. On the front end, buyers will see be able to see a shopping cart with all of their items that will allow them to change quantities, remove items from their cart, or checkout. The basic idea behind Cashie (which was developed by Web Assist) is that it is a dead simple way for any publisher to integrate a basic checkout an shopping cart system. So do we need another checkout service? Cashie’s president Hieu Bui says yes. A former developer for PayPal, Bui says that the web needs a simple way for any user to start monetizing content or other products on their websites. A number of sites are already using Cashie, including a real estate site, a UK-based vacuum dealer, and a site selling fragrances. Cashie also confirmed that it would soon be offering a micropayments option, leveraging PayPal’s soon-to-be launched Digital Goods platform, so that content creators can monetize their content. CrunchBase Information WebAssist Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Facebook, Groupon And Zynga Investor Mail.ru (aka, DST) Shoots For $5.7B Valuation In IPO Top
Mail.ru Group , formerly known as Digital Sky Technologies and notable investor in Internet sensations Facebook , Groupon and Zynga , among others, has filed for a $876 million IPO on the London Stock Exchange that would value the investment firm at up to $5.7 billion . That valuation is higher than expected (earlier reports predicted a $5 billion valuation). Mail.ru, which includes largely Russian e-mail, social-networking and gaming sites, will float just over 3 million new shares and 28.59 million existing shares in the form of global depositary receipts at between $23.70 and $27.70 per GDR, it said in a regulatory disclosure . Shares will be admitted to a Standard Listing on the LSE under the ticker ‘MAIL’. To be clear, Mail.ru Group is the new name for DST’s Russian holding – its international investments are handled by DST Global , which has retained its name and will not float. Part of the proceeds of up to $876 million (which, for your reference, would be slightly more than the total of capital raised by Facebook since its founding) from Mail.ru Group’s IPO will be used to increase the company’s stake in Russia’s biggest social network, vKontakte.ru , reports Russian business paper Vedomosti . Mail.ru Group, which already owns social network Odnoklassniki.ru and ICQ , plans to buy a 7.5% stake in vKontakte for $112.5 million, increasing its equity stake from 24.99 percent to 32.49 percent. The investment values the site at $1.5 billion . Mail.ru is also purchasing an option to acquire an additional 7.5% stake in vKontakte over the next year, which if exercised would bring its stake to 39.99%. Mail.ru Group shareholders include Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov , South African media company Naspers , China’s Tencent , Goldman Sachs, Tiger Global Management and DST founder Yuri Milner . Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase are acting as joint coordinators for the IPO, and the banks are working with Morgan Stanley and VTB Capital as joint book-runners in connection with the offering. CrunchBase Information Digital Sky Technologies Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Old Meets New As Groupon Partners With eBay Top
Groupon may not turn out to be the next eBay according to our own Mike Arrington, but the social buying site is on a veritable tear. Coincidentally, the latest Internet giant to partner with the ecommerce startup is … eBay . While arguably symbolic, the deal – which we predicted was going to happen when we covered the Yahoo-Groupon acquisition rumors – doesn’t go as deep as one might suspect. For now, the agreement spans a co-marketing incentive whereby US-based eBay customers can sign up for Groupon deals on groupon.ebay.com and earn 5% back in eBay Bucks , the ecommerce juggernaut’s free rewards program. Groupon closed a similar affiliate deal with Ning last week. We’ll have to wait and see if these disitrbution partnerships grow into something more meaningful over time. Groupon is currently live in more than 100 North American markets and running nearly 200 deals per day; eBay for one says it will use geolocation to determine the closest deal for each user. CrunchBase Information Groupon eBay Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Interlude, S-Curve, And VEVO Team To Launch Ridiculously Engaging Interactive Music Video Top
Head to leading music video portal VEVO this morning and you’re going to see something that’s quite out of the ordinary: a new music video starring Andy Grammer that puts you in the director’s chair. Hit ‘play’ and things will start simply enough, with Grammer walking down an alley as he croons toward the camera. But after a few moments you’ll see a popup asking if you want him to “Bump into Movers” or get “Dumped by Bikers”. Better make up your mind — you only have ten seconds to make your choice, and it actually impacts which version of the video you’ll be seeing. It’s part video game, part choose-your-own adventure story, and it’s what you might call “engaging as hell”. The video may well be a taste of what’s to come over the next few years as musicians, entrepreneurs, the labels, and web publishers work together to figure out the future of music content online. And it’s surprisingly fun — there are dozens of possible versions based on the choices you make, with variations that include everything from dancing housekeepers to multiple cameos from actor Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office ). But the story behind the video is also compelling. Over the last week I’ve spoken with some of the key players involved with the production to learn how it was put together, and where they see things going from here. Interlude If the interactive portion of the video seems vaguely familiar, it’s because we previously wrote about the startup that’s building the technology behind it: Interlude . This Israeli company was founded by Yoni Bloch — who is actually a well-known musician himself — and has developed a platform that can add this engaging, interactive layer to video content. Interlude put together a demo video of Yoni early this year, and it was a huge success in Israel — he tells me that 25% of the country’s Internet-using population watched it. And perhaps even more impressive: the engagement stats showed that nearly everyone watched the video more than once, so they could discover the multiple routes. Of course, interactive videos aren’t exactly a novel idea — we’ve seen plenty of startups looking to add an interactive layer on top of video footage, and it’s even possible to use YouTube’s annotations feature to build some basic interactivity. The key distinction that Interlude brings to the table is an interactive experience that’s seamless: the content doesn’t pause as it waits for you to make your decision. Instead, you see an overlay for a period of time determined by the artist (for the Grammer video it’s 5-10 seconds), and the audio and video never cuts out. S-Curve It’s one thing for a startup to build a snazzy custom video player — but how do you actually get artists to use it? That’s where S-Curve , a record label founded by former Columbia Records President Steve Greenberg , came in. Greenberg (who is also known for discovering The Jonas Brothers and is a Grammy-winning producer) says that S-Curve is still a small company, which gives it the flexibility and a very strong incentive to keep innovating as much as possible. To do that, the label is working to discover and foster new technologies that are related to the music business — and then to actually use these technologies with S-Curve artists (and help connect the companies with the rest of the industry). Along with Interlude’s interactive video project, S-Curve has also been involved with Hashtag art , which was used by Katy Perry. In return for helping these companies get off the ground in the hard-to-crack music industry, S-Curve will sometimes take an equity stake in the company, which is the case with Interlude. Greenberg expects that Interlude’s technology will extend well beyond music— he says there’s been interest from the advertising world, producers of online webisodes, and a content creators from a variety of other categories. In short, he says “the only limitation is the creativity of the people making the video — lightbulbs are going to go off when everyone sees it”. VEVO The third piece of the puzzle is distribution — you need people to actually see what Interlude, S-Curve, and Andy Grammer have put together. Cue VEVO, the music video portal that’s a joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Abu Dhabi Media (EMI participates as well, and all VEVO content is syndicated to YouTube in a setup that still confuses me). VEVO would be featuring Grammer’s music content anyway (S-Curve is distributed by UMG) but this video in particular is going to be given very prominent placement. The reason? It’s the first video to be part of VEVO’s new Video Evolved showcase. VEVO CEO Rio Caraeff says that the site wants to do everything it can to feature innovative music content — he says that “music videos are ripe for reinvention” and he wants VEVO to be a place to help these experiments come to life. So the site is setting up a separate section that will highlight these new technologies as they launch. In some cases, VEVO will simply be embedding content from other services onto the Video Evolved site. But in the case of Interlude, VEVO has actually integrated the startup’s video player into its platform, so it will be hosting the content itself. VEVO is also doing something special to mark the launch of its first truly interactive music video: the site will be tracking which ‘routes’ made through the video are most popular and after two weeks this version will be considered the ‘official’ release — it will be the version that’s given to other content channels like television and YouTube. There’s a clear theme running through all of this: the desire to discover the future of music videos and their interplay with the web, whatever that may be. And while it’s far too early to say whether this interactive music video technology will be as ubiquitous as the “static” music videos that came before it, I can say one thing with certainty: it’s pretty damn fun. Sure, it’s quite possible that the novelty will wear off after a few of these, but I found myself watching the video repeatedly just so I could find Dwight — the last time I was this engaged in a music video was Britney Spears’ Sometimes . I finally found Dwight, and it seems like the labels won too: I now have this Andy Grammer song stuck in my head.
 
How To Protect Your Login Information From Firesheep Top
TechCrunch reader Steve Manuel claims to have found a workaround to Firesheep , the controversial Firefox extension that allows anyone on an insecure open Wifi network to access user login info for almost every single social network in existence. Firesheep banks on the fact that most social sites default to the HTTP protocol because it’s quicker. The already existing Firefox extension Force-TLS attempts to circumvent this by forcing those sites to use the HTTPS protocol, therefore making user cookies invisible to Firesheep. Like the alternative option HTTPS Everywhere , the Force-TLS  Firefox extension allows your browser to change HTTP to HTTPS on sites that you indicate in the Firefox Add On “Preferences” menu, protecting your login information and ensuring a secure connection when you access social sites. HTTPS encrypts user data, so if a script like Firesheep’s like tries to pull it, it can’t be read. Force-TLS forces a number of sites to make all of their requests over an SSL secured channel and while some sites, like Amazon, don’t currently have the secure option, the majors like Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc all allow a HTTPS connection. How to configure: 1. Download the plugin here and install into Firefox. 2. Open “Preferences” and add the domains you want to force the HTTPS connection with. 3. Restart Firefox. Note: Unlike HTTPS Everywhere, Force-TLS relies on the user defining the sites they want to access through a secure HTTPS connection. And while everyone should have learned by now that there’s always some privacy risk when interacting online, hopefully the installation of Force-TLS will at least put less of a damper on today’s stint at your local “free Wifi!” boasting cafe. I’m also looking into the possibility of equivalents for this extension on other browsers and will update this post as soon as I have alternative options. Thanks: Steve Manuel   Teaser Image: Kevin Steele
 
Five Years Later, Ray Ozzie Pens Another Great Memo: "Dawn Of A New Day" Top
Ray Ozzie , who famously took over the reins as Chief Software Architect at Microsoft when Bill Gates formally retired from the company (his last full-time day was June 27, 2008), stepped down from that position last week and will leave the company behind within months. Ozzie, of course, you should know as the historical driving force behind Lotus Notes, a popular e-mail and collaborative workspace software package. He also co-founded Groove Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2005. Five years ago this week, Ozzie penned a memorable memo, 5,000 words long, entitled “The Internet Services Disruption” , outlining the challenge for Microsoft to catch up to its rivals in the Internet and cloud computing space. He’s celebrating that birthday with a fresh memo : “Dawn of a New Day” . Below is a short excerpt from the end of the memo, as I wouldn’t dream of stealing the man’s thunder (read the whole, 3,477-word thing here ): Let there be no doubt that the big shifts occurring over the next five years ensure that this will absolutely be a time of great opportunity for those who put past technologies & successes into perspective, and envision all the transformational value that can be offered moving forward to individuals, businesses, governments and society. It's the dawn of a new day – the sun having now arisen on a world of continuous services and connected devices . (Hat tip to @ScepticGeek ) CrunchBase Information Ray Ozzie Information provided by CrunchBase
 
LDK Solar Inks $300 Million Deal With BYD Top
Several big names in solar have settled from recent highs on Wall Street, but there’s still a lot of money running into the sector. On Monday morning, LDK Solar announced that it has locked up a new two-year sales deal with Chinese juggernaut BYD worth roughly $300 million. Under the deal, LDK will provide monthly shipments of polysilicon starting on January 2011. It’s another win for the solar wafer manufacturer, which earlier this month raised its third quarter revenue guidance about 7% to a range of $610 to $640 million. In addition to raising its outlook, LDK noted that shipments of solar wafers and modules were outpacing demand. For its part, the diversified BYD— which makes everything from automobiles to mobile phone batteries— has made no secret of its ambitions in green tech. Earlier this year BYD announced that it will spend more than $3 billion over five years to construct one of China’s biggest solar power battery plant in Shangluo. Meanwhile, the company has also been working on large-scale energy storage solutions and their all-electric vehicle, the e6, is being prepped for a US debut. Although BYD (which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has a 10% stake in) has struggled this year amid soft demand in China’s auto market, the company has seemingly maintained its aggressive stride in the green sector. “We are very excited to add BYD, a leading high-tech enterprise that has a strong commitment to the green energy sector, as a key customer,” LDK’s CEO, Xiaofeng Peng said in a statement. CrunchBase Information LDK Solar Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Skype Demands Mobile App Nimbuzz Remove Support, Effective October 31st Top
Exclusive: Nimbuzz , a popular mobile communication service provider, has been asked by Skype to remove support for all Skype services, effective October 31st. The startup will be announcing the news to its 30 million or so registered users later today. Nimbuzz sees the decision to ask for the removal of support for Skype services in line with the communication software giant’s “mandate to disconnect with all third-party VoIP services ahead of its impending IPO “. Skype, in turn, calls bullshit and claims Nimbuzz simply stopped communicating with them quite recently, following several months of discussions about Nimbuzz’ compliance with its API Terms of Use and End User Licence Agreement. Update: Nimbuzz has posted about the situation on its blog . You may remember that the exact same thing happened between Skype and Nimbuzz rival fring back in July. Skype at the time also stated that it tried to resolve a dispute with fring amicably for a considerable amount of time, only to arrive at a point where they saw themselves forced to threaten legal action over “misuse of Skype software”. From October 31st onwards, Skype users will also find themselves unable to chat, send messages or call their contacts on Nimbuzz, and vice versa. Nimbuzz points out users will remain free to communicate with their contacts using other VoIP/SIP, instant messaging services and social networks, including Facebook, Yahoo, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Google Talk, Twitter, MySpace, ICQ and others. In both the Nimbuzz and fring case, of course, it’s their millions of users who also use Skype that are the ones getting screwed over here. It’s also telling that Skype has started requesting the bigger third-party service providers to remove support for Skype services very recently, while both fring and Nimbuzz have offered Skype support for many years … Said Evert Jaap Lugt , CEO of Nimbuzz: Skype's decision is unfair to its own and our users. People want to choose how they communicate and to be able to make calls and send messages, regardless of service, social network, device or operator network. Nimbuzz gives them the freedom to do so, Skype does not. For what it’s worth, Skype responded with this canned statement: "Skype has been in discussions with Nimbuzz regarding our concern and belief they were using Skype's software in ways which it was not designed for, in a breach of our API Terms of Use and End User Licence Agreement. Skype offered to meet Nimbuzz and discuss the issue however we have not heard back from them since our last correspondence to them in early August. As we have said before, Skype encourages openness and supports developers to build products that work with the Skype platform." Coincidentally, both Nimbuzz and fring recently started offering their own paid VoIP services to users ( NimbuzzOut and fringOut , respectively), so my educated guess is that that’s the real reason why Skype is singling out these companies in particular (for now). For all its popularity , competitor eBuddy does not offer support for Skype services and, as far as I know, never has. Nimbuzz is not a small player in the mobile messenger / VoIP space either, any way you look at it. The startup recently announced that it has surpassed 150 million downloads and has 30 million registered users across all major mobile operating systems. Moreover, Nimbuzz claims 3.65 billion mobile voice minutes have been logged over the past year. The company has raised $25 million to date, and one of its shareholders is Naspers / MIH Group, the multinational media group which boasts investments in Tencent , Mail.ru , Facebook investor DST and other notable industry players. Time will tell if both fring and Nimbuzz have strong enough offerings, and loyal enough users, to stand their ground against the many alternatives, no longer bearing in-app Skype support. It will also be interesting to see if Skype will move to demand more third-party clients to remove support for its services in the future. We’ll keep you posted. CrunchBase Information Nimbuzz Skype Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Firesheep In Wolves' Clothing: Extension Lets You Hack Into Twitter, Facebook Accounts Easily Top
It seems like every time Facebook amends its privacy policy, the web is up in arms. The truth is, Facebook’s well publicized privacy fight is nothing compared to the vulnerability of all unsecured HTTP sites — that includes Facebook, Twitter and many of the web’s most popular destinations. Developer Eric Butler has exposed the soft underbelly of the web with his new Firefox extension, Firesheep , which will let you essentially eavesdrop on any open Wi-Fi network and capture users’ cookies. As Butler explains in his post, “As soon as anyone on the network visits an insecure website known to Firesheep, their name and photo will be displayed” in the window. All you have to do is double click on their name and open sesame, you will be able to log into that user’s site with their credentials. One word: wow. It’s not hard to comprehend the far-reaching ramifications of this tool. Anytime you’re using an open Wi-Fi connection, anyone can swiftly access some of your most private, personal information and correspondence (i.e. direct messages, Facebook mail/chat)— at the click of a button. And you will have no idea. This is how it works. If a site is not secure, it keeps track of you through a cookie (more formally referenced as a session) which contains identifying information for that website. The tool effectively grabs these cookies and lets you masquerade as the user. Apparently many social network sites are not secured, beyond the big two, Foursquare, Gowalla are also vulnerable. Moreover, to give you a sense of Firesheep’s scope, the extension is built to identify cookies from Amazon.com, Basecamp, bit.ly, Cisco, CNET, Dropbox, Enom, Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Github, Google, HackerNews, Harvest, Windows Live, NY Times, Pivotal Tracker, Slicehost, tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, Yahoo, Yelp. And that’s just the default setting— anyone can write their own plugins, according to the post. Within an hour of Butler’s post appearing on Hacker News, Firesheep was downloaded more than 1,000 times and evidence of usage has already popped up on Twitter in fantastic fashion. (Disclaimer: At the time of this post, I was not in a public setting and could not fully exploit the extension, however several users have reported success.) (I had to pull one Tweet down at the request of the user, who had hacked into someone’s Twitter account). Thanks to Bensign , aka Ben Schaechter (former TechCrunch developer) for the tip. According to Butler’s post, he created this seemingly diabolical tool to expose the severe lack of security on the web. We spend so much time quibbling over the minutia in privacy policies, we lose sight of the forest, or in this case, gaping security holes. “Websites have a responsibility to protect the people who depend on their services. They’ve been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it’s time for everyone to demand a more secure web. My hope is that Firesheep will help the users win,” Butler says. Update : A TechCrunch reader has discovered a Firefox extension that can prevent Firesheep from accessing your login information. (Teaser Image: Flickr/ David Makes )
 

CREATE MORE ALERTS:

Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted

Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope

Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more

News - Only the news you want, delivered!

Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more

Weather - Get today's weather conditions




You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)