Sunday, March 4, 2012

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A Yelp Review Of Yelp Stock Top
yelp logoWith Yelp stock beginning its second day of trading tomorrow morning, I wondered what a Yelp review of Yelp stock might it look like.
 
Everything, Everywhere, All The Time Top
cablesThe web is a blessing and a curse: there is simply too much information. And it's coming at us too quickly. Meanwhile, the tools we have to process the data flow are failing miserably, and yet, very few people are building us better ones. Instead, these days, it's far easier to build the next great photo-sharing app than it is a better Gmail. It's more fun to build a new social network for taking pictures of food than it is a tool that tells us exactly what we missed when we went offline for an hour. And no one, and I mean no one, is building a better RSS reader for a niche audience of serious news consumers. Where are the magical email auto-responders that answer, tag and organize emails for us? Where are the intelligent calendars that integrate with messaging systems (social, email and otherwise), capable of reading text-based communications and turning them appointments and meetings? Where are the automaters, the filters, the noise reducers? Where's the Siri for everything? Let's start with email. As a tech bloggers, we tend to get a lot of email. But the email overload situation is not unique to this industry. It's become such a common complaint that they now hold entire conferences devoted to the issue. There are some tools to help deal with the flow, or at the very least, allow us to step away from the inbox for a minute without completely losing track.
 
Movilway Expands Mobile Payment Services To The Underbanked In Latin America [Video] Top
moviTabletMovilway, the company pioneering prepaid mobile payments in Central and South America, recently updated their arsenal of tools to include a new custom Android tablet Point Of Sale (POS) terminal as well as a new MoviPIN system for online purchases. Both systems — available at select locations — bring digital purchasing power to those without bank accounts or credit cards. "It's a common problem in rural and remote areas of the world, where many people simply do not have access to bank accounts," said Movilway strategist Daniela Morgenstern. "How do you order and pay for online goods when you don't have a credit card or a bank card?"
 
2012: The Year For Change In Online Sports Streaming Top
playbutton2012 needs to be the year sports teams around the world wake up and start realizing that their multi-billion dollar licensing deals with networks are about to become worthless. My company designs and manufactures TVs, and we see a gigantic spike in sales any time there is a big sporting event -- the Soccer World Cup, the Olympics, etc. It's clear that loving sport is an almost universal trait, which helps bring us together (or sometimes cause a bit of animosity). Let me explain: One of my favourite sports is tennis. A couple of years ago there was nothing better than a Federer versus Nadal encounter. I flew myself all over the world to watch this. I was in London for the 2008 Wimbledon 5-setter Final. I was also sitting front row for the epic 5 set battle that went on until the early hours at the 2009 Australian Open Final.
 
Key Takeaways From The Facebook Marketing Conference Top
Facebook Reach GeneratorFacebook has a grand scheme to make advertising on its properties less risky and less guess-work than buying ads anywhere else on the Internet. Facebook wants ads to be content, and now its Reach Generator allows advertisers to pay a fixed fee to guarantee that their content is seen by 75 percent of their fans. Of all the announcements made at the Facebook Marketing Conference on Wednesday, Reach Generator is the most innovative because it provides a powerful alternative to CPC and CPM for the world's richest brands, and a way for Facebook make more efficient use of its inventory. Here's a breakdown of Reach Generator and the other big news from the Facebook Marketing Conference, and how it changed the marketing industry landscape.
 
SV Angel Also Buying Up Foursquare Stock. Dennis Crowley Emerges As Big-Company CEO Top
dennis-naveenSpark Capital isn't the only existing investor buying up Foursquare employee stock in an up round, I've learned. Legendary investor SV Angel is, too. That's an unusual move considering that the firm typically focuses on early-stage deals. Why? Yes, there's the promise of Foursquare becoming the way that you find interesting people and locations around you, the source of data for deals, discovery and yield management. But there's a more human reason why these investors are going out of their way to get more stock at a higher price, too. And its name is Dennis Crowley, chief executive officer.
 
Porn And Parenting: The Brave New World Top
200px-BraveNewWorld_FirstEdition
O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world! That has such people in it!
This quote, from Shakespeare's "The Tempest", embodies a perspective I think many fathers such as myself are experiencing as our children enter this amazing world of technology we now live in. In the play, Miranda, raised most of her life on an isolated island, comes upon a group of drunk sailors straggling off a ship. Miranda, oblivious to any sort of "morals", or "culture", was fascinated by this "Brave New World" she had come in contact with.
 
Post MWC: Total Immersion's Augmented Reality Concepts Assist E-Commerce Top
totalimmersionAnother Augmented Reality update from Total Immersion popped up on my radar at this year's Mobile World Congress. This nifty app, demoed at the Texas Instruments booth, is loaded with retail potential for e-commerce situations. This is not the first AR tool we've seen to assist with retail apparel purchases, however it is one of the best. Excellent AR tracking.
 
Don't Be Afraid To Go Pink: Designing Great Tech Products For Women Top
0111-tech-300x231When it comes to fashion, women have embraced products that were originally designed for men. Flip through any J.Crew catalog and you'll encounter the Boyfriend Jean, Boyfriend Blazer, unisex ankle boots, and of course the classic men's shirt paired with skinny jeans. When it comes to tech? Not so much. In the predominantly male tech world, products are usually, by default, designed by men -- for men. However, women have different design preferences and needs, with research showing that men and women do indeed use the Web and social media in different ways.
 
Work 3.0: How The Employment Model Needs to Change Top
team 061 rWith the economy still struggling to recover, key indicators of economic performance are largely focused on traditional employment — we are fixated on how many people have managed to find on-site, single-employer jobs. But is this an outdated perspective? Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath would say so. In a recent blog post for Harvard Business Review, McGrath questions the pervasive assumption that "regular" employment is always the most stable and desirable. She writes, "Many of the assumptions about society that we take for granted are based on the notion that relatively stable employment relationships are the norm. When will our thinking catch up with the new reality?" Anyone looking for a job or tasked with hiring must wonder what this means for them.
 
How To Manufacture Desire Top
Nir Eyal2Type the name of almost any successful consumer web company into your search bar and add the word "addict" after it. Go ahead, I'll wait. Try "Facebook addict" or "Zynga addict" or even "Pinterest addict" and you'll soon get a slew of results from hooked users and observers deriding the narcotic-like properties of these web sites. How is it that these companies, producing little more than bits of code displayed on a screen, can seemingly control users' minds? Why are these sites so addictive and what does their power mean for the future of the web? We're on the precipice of a new era of the web. As infinite distractions compete for our attention, companies are learning to master new tactics to stay relevant in users' minds and lives. Today, just amassing millions of users is no longer good enough. Companies increasingly find that their economic value is a function of the strength of the habits they create. But as some companies are just waking up to this new reality, others are already cashing in.
 
Aurasma Augments Reality Anywhere — Even Waiting For A Cab Top
aurasmaAt many conferences, like the Mobile World Congress, it seems the best demos usually end up happening while waiting in line for lunch or for a cab. While rolling through the pile of video content I collected at the MWC this year, I ran back across this Augmented Reality demo by Aurasma. It is a perfect example of the "elevator demo" and in one way illustrates the portability of many AR concepts - they don't rely on a bunch of fixed assets or perfect lighting situations.
 
5 Reasons Why Your Facebook Store Might Be Struggling Top
facebook-storeBeware, the sky is falling! Or at least that's what we're hearing from some experts on F-commerce following announcements from a few big name retailers in recent weeks that they are shuttering their stores on Facebook. Going as far as to suggest that the "F" in "F-commerce" now stands for "failure," these critics are boldly asserting that F-commerce's days are numbered and that the entire concept is destined to soon be but a footnote in the pages of tech history. Frankly, such claims are more than a little mind-boggling. Whenever a new medium like F-commerce emerges, companies are naturally uncertain on how to approach it and it always takes some time before strong and effective strategies emerge. Think back to when the Internet first caught on – it was uncharted territory for everyone but now, just about every business has in-house employees that handle things like online reputation, SEO, SEM and more.
 
Three Free Healthcare Apps That Empower Patients Top
11414511-mhealth-is-in-high-demandThe significant adoption of smartphones among physicians has not only led to an explosion of medical apps aimed at healthcare providers, but it has also cultivated an emerging trend of health and wellness apps aimed at empowering patients. While great innovation is happening in the health and wellness mobile ecosystem, it's difficult for patients and physicians to navigate through the large database of apps to find ones they can actually use. My experience reviewing health and medical apps as a writer, combined with my experiences in a high volume Emergency Department that sees a diverse patient population, has allowed me to get a unique sense of this space.
 
How I Screwed Yasser Arafat Out of $2 Million, the Comic Book Top
Altucher-Cover-lowres1Editor's note: James Altucher is an investor, programmer, author, and entrepreneur. He is Managing Director of Formula Capital and has written 6 books on investing. His latest book is I Was Blind But Now I See. You can follow him @jaltucher.
 
Highlight Needs To Let You Switch Off 'Friend Of Friend' Notifications Before SXSW Top
photoAmbient location app Highlight is a big deal. Eldon likes it, Scoble likes it, MG and Mike like it and Grindr fan Charlie Cheever likes it. More importantly, I like it. Before you call me out for being slightly narcissistic with the above statement (which wouldn't make me at all unique in my field), here's why the fact that I like it is important; In case you haven't noticed, I am a female, which means I am an indicative use case for an app that forces you to constantly broadcast your location.
 
App.net Wants To Help Mobile Apps Stand Out At SXSW Top
sxsw crowdsHere's one of the great things about South by Southwest: Everyone wants to launch a cool new product there. Here's one of the worst things about South by Southwest: Everyone wants to launch a cool new product there. That's why Dalton Caldwell, CEO of App.net, is holding a special App Showcase at Beauty Bar on the afternoon of March 10.
 
From Zynga To Flipboard: Why All Eyes Are On China For The Next Mobile Boom Top
china mobileIf you spend any time speaking with Western mobile companies, one topic that's likely to pop up is their "China strategy." Due to a mix of mobile penetration, sheer population, and popularity of the mobile web, Western mobile companies recognize there's a lot of money to be made overseas. The idea is not without merit: China is the world's largest mobile market with almost one billion users, 69 percent of which access the Internet through their phones on a regular basis.
 
One Year Later: How Google Panda Changed Our Business Top
google-pandaFebruary 24, 2011 was a day that will live in infamy for the team here at Viewpoints. That was the day of the Google Panda update. Up until that point we had enjoyed four years of consistent traffic growth to Viewpoints.com. We managed to double traffic each year and had just reached 2.7 million unique users. We had heard that Google was planning to update its algorithm to penalize content and link farms and were excited about the bump we might get as a result. Turns out we were in for a bit of a surprise.
 
PinClout Gets A Cease-And-Desist From Klout, Will Change Name Top
pinclout"Klout for Pinterest" may be a catchy company description, but taking it too literally may lead to legal trouble. Startup PinClout launched about a week ago, and its name seemed to make the company's mission clear — to measure influence on fast-growing Pinterest. And there's been positive interest, with some tech press coverage and what co-founder Chris Fay said is an average of 2,000 to 3,000 unique visitors every day. However, the company just received a letter from Klout's attorney asking it to "immediately cease and desist from all use of or plans to use the PINCLOUT mark and the www.pinclout.com domain name."
 

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