Friday, October 28, 2011

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(Keen On) … Customer Service Guru: Reed Hastings Deserves Everything That He Gets (TCTV) Top
Ooyala Backlot Web-8Netflix is not only in the movie business, it is also turning into this year's biggest corporate horror story. Having increased its price by 60% earlier this summer, Netflix has lost 800,000 customers and $12 billion in 90 days - including $2.3 billion in one day earlier this week. So should we feel sorry for founder and CEO Reed Hastings, whose has gone from Silicon Valley hero to corporate goat in just a nightmarish three months? No, we shouldn't. According to John Tschohl, the so-called "guru of customer service", Hastings deserves all the ridicule and criticism that he is now getting.
 
Supplanted By Facebook Messenger, Beluga Will Stop Swimming On November 11 Top
belugaBeluga, the slick group messaging app that Facebook acquired back in March, is shutting down. In a post on Beluga's blog, the company's original team of three writes that, beginning November 11, you'll no longer be able to send messages (though you'll still be able to access old messages until December 15, at which point they'll all be deleted). If you'd like to download all of your pods before they get harpooned, you can grab an archive of your account using this tool.
 
Hulu Signs Five-Year, In-Season Content Streaming Deal With The CW Top
huluAfter Netflix signed a deal with The CW Television Network, Hulu is the next online movie platform to announce an agreement with the network. Hulu has just announced a five-year licensing agreement with the CW Network, which is owned by CBS and Warner Brothers, for the rights to stream in-season episodes of The CW's programming on Hulu Plus' subscription service and the platform's free, ad-supported service. Here's Hulu's blog post announcing the deal. The content will be available later this year. Programming includes nine series on The CW's Fall 2011 schedule, including new series "Ringer," "Hart of Dixie" and "The Secret Circle," as well as "The Vampire Diaries," "Gossip Girl," "Supernatural," "Nikita," "90210" and "America's Next Top Model." Hulu says this deal makes it the only online subscription service to carry in-season episodes of The CW's drama and reality series.
 
Socialcam: Further Proof That You Folks Really Like Your Filters Top
Screen Shot 2011-10-28 at 2.24.58 PMSince last spring we've been tracking the progress of Socialcam, the 'Instagram for Video' that spun off from Justin.tv. The app, which is available for iOS and Android, hit the 2 million download milestone at the beginning of the month, and to mark the occasion it launched a new feature that made the 'Instagram' comparison even more apt: filters. Yes, you can now overlay your videos with an array of effects (the top two are 70's and Electronica). As it turns out, people really like filters on their videos. A lot. Socialcam CEO Michael Seibel tells me that in the two weeks since launching filters, Socialcam had 350,000 downloads, an 84% increase in daily app opens, 69% increase in daily video viewers, and 50% boost in video creation (that's huge).
 
W3i Suggests iOS Developers Use MAC Address As UDID Replacement Top
UDIDMobile app monetization and distribution network W3i is announcing the results of its tests to determine whether or not an iPhone's MAC address can serve as a replacement to the UDID (the unique device identifier), which Apple is phasing out as a way for developers to track an app's users. According to W3i, developers can and should begin tracking the iPhone's MAC address as a UDID alternative, as it has successfully seen Apple approve its own application where this is the case. Unfortunately, this advice is arguably premature. Apple may let slip a single app, but if a large number of iOS developers began doing the same (tracking the MAC addresses, that is), Apple may certainly change its position on the matter.
 
Your New Weekend Plans: Disrupt Beijing Livestream Starts Tomorrow Top
Beijing 2011Maybe you couldn't join us in Beijing for our first international Disrupt conference, but all is not lost! Step one: Order your favorite Chinese takeout. Step two: Tune into the livestream from Beijing, brought to you through the Great Firewall courtesy of Ustream. Step three: Tweet what you love and hate the same way you would sitting in the conference hall in the US. The hashtag is #disruptbj. (Seriously, stop giggling, twelve-year-olds and Michael Arrington.) It'll be almost the same as being here for thousands less. And you don't even have to pull an all-nighter to get the highlights. All the Hackathon action starts at 8pm PST Saturday night and the conference begins at 6pm PST Monday afternoon.
 
Nokia Devises U.S. Strategy, But Can They Pull It Off? Top
usanokiaNokia's new Windows Phones won't hit our shores for at least a few more months, but Nokia's top brass is already hard at work devising their strategy for cracking the U.S. market. According to Digits, Weber and Nokia are looking to attract first-time smartphone users who feel overwhelmed by other options on the market, and don't want to pay a princely sum for a new device.
 
The Latest From Betaworks: Findings. A New Way To Share Book Passages And Web Marginalia Top
findingsReading, which began as a solitary activity, is increasingly becoming a social experience. We share links constantly on Twitter and Facebook to the latest blog posts and articles we are reading, and electronic books such as Amazon's Kindle allow you to share your highlights and notes with the world. A few days ago, betaworks soft-launched a new product called Findings, which is aimed at sharing passages from digital books and the web. Findings is a pet project of Betaworks CEO John Borthwick and author Steven Johnson. The service lets you share your highlights from Kindle books as well as articles on the web via a bookmarklet. But it is not intended to be a web clipping service. It is really more about reading in the digital age, sharing quotations from books and other writings that resonate with you and making them your own by collecting them into a feed. In many ways it harkens back to an earlier form of reading hundreds of years ago when Englishmen would hand-assemble their own collections of quotations into a "commonplace book."
 
Linux Foundation, Canonical and Red Hat Weigh In On Secure Boot Top
linux-foundationThere's been some hubbub lately about Secure Boot, a hardware-verified, malware-free operating system bootstrap process that aims to improve the overall security of computers. Part of the UEFI specification which is slated to replace the aging BIOS with which many of us are familiar, Secure Boot can forbid the loading and execution of unsigned operating systems. Microsoft is requiring that Secure Boot be activated and enforced for any OEM systems that want to use the "Designed for Windows 8" logo. The nature of the technology, and Microsoft's recommended implementation of it, could remove control of the overall system from the end user, and in this configuration Secure Boot may prevent Free Software operating systems from loading. After some initial hysteria on Slashdot (where else?), calmer minds have prevailed, and have reviewed the UEFI Secure Boot specification in some detail. It's a pretty marked change from the old BIOS: the use of public key cryptography makes the whole thing considerably more complex. But there's nothing about Secure Boot, prima facie, that specifically locks out Free Software operating systems.
 
Judge: No Stickers Or Posters About Health Risks In San Fran Cell Phone Shops Top
Judge-JudyWhile the debate is still ablaze over whether cell phones actually cause damage to the brain and/or body, San Francisco recently lost patience and went ahead passing legislation requiring cell phone shops to display posters that warn customers of the potential risks their beloved cell phones may impose. Along with the posters, retailers would also be required to put warning stickers on window displays, as well as hand out fact sheets to customers. But, in predictable fashion, the CTIA has filed a lawsuit opposing the ordinance (just like it so successfully did the last time San Fran tried to pass the bill). This time around, the judge seems to side more with the CTIA than the city, giving a firm "No" to the sticker and poster ideas, while revising the fact sheet with his own edits.
 
Gilt Groupe Reportedly Acquiring BuyWithMe Top
gilt3Flash sales giant Gilt Groupe is acquiring the troubled daily deals startup BuyWithMe, which recently saw over half its staff laid off after the company failed to raise the funding it needed to survive. Beginning November 1st, BuyWithMe will officially become a part of Gilt, according to a report from BetaBeat, which has been covering the BuyWithMe saga for the past couple of weeks.
 
The New Google TV: 4 Demo Videos Including Looks At The New Apps Top
Google just announced the major refresh of Google TV. It adds a bunch of new features to the platform including Android Market and a TV & Movies. I'm not entirely sure this new coat of paint will help sell the house per se, but it will certainly make the current owners happy. The update will slowly hit existing Google TV units starting with the Sony models on Sunday with the Logitech boxes getting it shortly thereafter. As with most mass roll outs, you might be waiting in line awhile until a spot opens on the server. Thankfully Google released these demo videos that show off a bunch of the new features to pass the time.
 
Google TV Update Rolls Out On Sunday: Better Content Discovery, Android Market, But Hulu Is Still Blocked Top
google-tv-logo-v2Google TV is finally ready for prime time a year after it officially launched. Starting on Sunday, the update will first roll out to the Sony Internet TV units with the Logitech Revue units getting it shortly thereafter. Existing users will probably love the update as it brings a redesigned interface and a selection of the Android Market. It seems to be exactly what the platform should have been when it launched last year. But for everyone else, either those looking to cut the cord or supplement pay TV with Internet video, it's still a tough sell. All the downfalls associated with Google TV a year ago still exist. While the system might not be half-baked anymore, I'm still not sure if Google TV deserves a place in your living room.
 
New Startup Accelerator Gen Y Capital Partners Will Fund Young Entrepreneurs, Pay Off Student Loans Top
GYCThis week, with support from the White House and the Obama administration, the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) announced the launch of a new startup accelerator and investment company, Gen Y Capital Partners. The new program will provide seed capital for tech startups created by Gen Y'ers (those under the age of 35). Like many accelerators, Gen Y Capital Partners (GYC) will provide mentoring, education, and assistance with living expenses. But the best part of the program? Getting in means getting rid of your federal student loan debt.
 
Pictured: The (Ridiculous) BlackBerry Porsche P'9981 Top
gallery-3anglesI promise I'll stop harping on RIM for a while, but I couldn't resist -- the BlackBerry Porsche P'9981's product page has gone live, and it affords us several new looks at the silliest-looking RIM device in recent memory.
 
YC-Funded Ridejoy: Make Some Dough Back On Your Next Roadtrip (And Maybe Some New Friends) Top
ridejoylogoLooking to take a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles without putting a major dent in your wallet? Ridejoy, a YC-backed startup that's launching today, might have exactly what you're looking for. The service allows drivers who are already planning to take a roadtrip to 'sell' their extra seats to other users. The net result: drivers earn money on trips they were planning on taking anyway, and Ridejoy passengers get a door-to-door lift, in some cases for less than they'd pay for a bus ticket. You may have seen Ridejoy before, at least in an early form: it did a one-off trial for Burning Man this year with BurningManRides.com — a site that helped people coordinate their trips out to the Nevada desert. 1600 people signed up, 1150 rides were posted, and 400 rides were completed over a three-week span. In a neat twist, five pilots offered rides-by-air, completing a total of ten plane trips.
 
Keen On … Failure Is The Ultimate Rebirth (TCTV) Top
Ooyala Backlot Web-7In Silicon Valley, failure has been democratized. You don't need a lot of money to fail. Nor do you need any previous experience. Take, for example, Brian Wong and Roger Dickey – two young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who, in spite of their youth, are already steeped in failure. Wong, who was the youngest person ever to receive venture capital funding and is now the CEO of the mobile rewards network Kiip, once worked at Digg – the paragon of a failed Silicon Valley technology start-up. While Dickey managed to build 16 sixteen (yes, that's SIXTEEN) failed Facebook apps before getting lucky with Mafia Wars. When I spoke to Wong and Dickey earlier this week at FailCon, they both embraced the idea of failure. It's all about "mental resilience", they told me. Every setback is a "learning opportunity", they said, and they described failure as "the ultimate rebirth". Great failures of the past include Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, they explained, while Groupon's Andrew Mason and Zynga's Mark Pincus are today's heroic failures, guys who failed so fast and frequently that in the end that had to get something right.
 
Judge Dismisses Class Action Lawsuit Over Facebook's Friend Finder Feature Top
facebookA class action lawsuit filed against Facebook over its FriendFinder feature was dismissed yesterday by a California federal judge. In the case of Robyn Cohen, et al. v. Facebook, a group of the network's members alleged that Facebook misappropriated users' names and likenesses to promote its Friend Finder service, which suggests new Facebook friends to a user who chooses to upload his or her email contacts. The Robyn Cohen case was actually dismissed previously on June 28, 2011, but the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint. Thursday's order dismissed this complaint. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs did not show any economic harm from Facebook's alleged use of their names and likenesses.
 
The iPhone 4S Has Been Jailbroken Top
jailbroken4SListen up, fanboys, because this is one you won't want to miss. The iPhone 4S has been officially jailbroken. iClarified reports that the iPhone Dev-Team found a way to get Cydia running on both the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, though the jailbreak is "VERY preliminary." There are still big pieces missing and plenty of work left to do, so unfortunately the jailbreak won't be released to the public. The jailbreak is also said to work for the iPad 2, and there's a video to prove it.
 
Facebook Sees 600,000 Compromised Logins Per Day Top
facebookNew figures from Facebook reveal how often the social networking site's users are hacked. In the blog post announcing the forthcoming "Trusted Friends" feature, Facebook also an included infographic detailing Facebook's security measures. One figure in particular jumped out at security researchers: every day, "only .06%" of Facebook's 1 billion logins are compromised. Or, to put it another way, 600,000 logins per day are compromised.
 

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