Tuesday, April 10, 2012

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HTML Mobile Gaming Site Cellufun Is Now Tylted, Eyes Up "Substantial" Facebook Play, Virtual Goods, Ads Top
tylted logoFacebook is banking a lot on the future of HTML5 and the idea of people going web-first instead of native-apps for their mobile content fixes, and today mobile gaming company Cellufun taking one step in its strategy to position itself as a key player in that space, too: it's announcing that it is rebranding itself as Tylted. Tylted -- a name chosen from 30,000 entries in a competition run by Cellufun (the unnamed winner got $10,000) -- says that strategy also includes the launch of a new ad platform, the expansion of its virtual good business, and -- as you might expect from a social gaming company doing a lot of work in HTML -- plans to do a whole lot more on Facebook's mobile platform this calendar year.
 
Google's Chrome OS Will Soon Look More Like Windows Than A Browser Top
chrome-os-drawing-1It's hard to say how popular Chrome OS, Google's browser-centric operating system, really is. There can be little doubt, though, that Google is quite serious about this initiative. Today, Google launched the latest developer version of Chrome OS and this update sports the first major redesign of the operation system's interface since its launch in late 2010. In this new version, Chrome OS almost looks like a traditional OS, with a full-blown desktop and window manager instead of just a browser and tabs. Aura, as this hardware-accelerated window manager is known, is Chrome's next generation user interface framework and it is making its public debut in this new developer version of Chrome OS.
 
Adobe Online Ad Report: Search Spending Up 16 Percent, Mobile Traffic Quadrupled Top
adobe ad reportSearch may not be the most exciting area of online advertising right now, but it's still "the biggest driver of return on investment", according to a new report from Adobe. The report has the elaborate title, "Adobe Digital Index: Global Digital Advertising Update" and it covers the first quarter of this year. Compared to the same period last year, Adobe says that search spend increased 16 percent in the United States and 3 percent in the United Kingdom. That growth is coming from an increase in clicks, not an increase in the price that advertisers are paying for those clicks — which, for Google, actually fell 5 percent.
 
Foxconn Bears The Brunt Of Ivory Tower Assault On Capitalism Top
ShenzhenRecent media reports about working conditions in Apple's (Foxconn's) Chinese factories are way off the mark. Through Kogan, I have been working with China for the past six years. Having most of our production done in China, we take our factories and working conditions very seriously. I regularly visit all of our Chinese manufacturing facilities to keep an eye on what is going on and I am always talking to the factory owners, managers and assembly line staff.
 
From 0 To $1 Billion In Two Years: Instagram's Rose-Tinted Ride To Glory Top
instagram-1Even now, it's still shocking how the remarkably low distribution costs of the web can change a founder's fate overnight. Many startups are duds, and most grow at a clip that's just not fast enough to justify an interesting valuation. But once in awhile, a company comes along and just nails it. The right timing. The right market. The right place. Then all the rules you know about multiples, comparable benchmarks and so on just buckle under the pressure of momentum.
 
Xfire Hires Former Tencent Exec As CEO, Now Supports Chinese Language In-Game Chat Top
program3016Xfire has had a bumpy road over the last five-plus years. Back in 2006, Viacom bought Xfire for $102 million. In 2010, Titan Gaming took over ownership. Then, in October of last year, Xfire raising an additional $4M from Intel Capital and split off to become its own independent company. Again. Full-circle, and somewhat back to "square one" in just about five years. But not without some progress, as Xfire today continues to connect more than six million gamers each month, allowing them to share video, pictures and chat in-games. Looking to capitalize on its growing user base, Xfire today appointed a new CEO, Malcolm CasSelle, and announced a new partnership through which it intends to bring its social gaming experience to China, along with the exploding gaming markets across Asia.
 
Meet Chris Cheng, The Googler Who Moonlights As A Primetime TV Sharpshooter [TCTV] Top
chrischengSure, everyone knows that many techies love video games that involve shooting. But when you think of real-life expert marksmen, you usually think of people who have served in the military or the police force -- or at least, people who live in rural areas with big yards where they can practice shooting on lined up cans of Keystone Light (not that I have any familiarity with that.) San Francisco Bay Area techies don't usually fit in with any of those sterotypes. That's why Chris Cheng's rise has been especially fascinating. Cheng's day job is as a program and project manager at Google's Silicon Valley headquarters, but millions of people have come to know him in recent months as a contestant on the fourth season of Top Shot, a reality competition show airing on the History Channel in which 18 contestants battle it out to win the title as the top target shooter.
 
The Rat Race Top
rat raceWhen I was in college, I had a fixation on weight lifting. Like many other young men, I was obsessed with working out, with a disproportionate concentration on upper body muscle building exercise. Despite what it may have appeared, my focus wasn't on being fit (I rarely did cardio, had no flexibility), it was on appearing fit and having an adequately muscular build, especially when in comparison to my peers. Fit enough wasn't "fit enough to my own standard," but rather "looking more fit than everyone else." My mother always told me that if something was worth doing, it was worth doing your best. Unfortunately, the message got a little garbled in translation, and what I internalized was that if something was worth doing, you had to be the best. And ever since I've entered my adult life, I've always had a small knot in my chest every time I've done anything that can be compared; a small worrying reminder that I'm not the best at whatever it is.
 
Marriott Puts An End To Shady Ad Injection Service Top
adLate last week, one Justin Watt discovered something suspicious going on with the wi-fi at his hotel, the Times Square Marriott. Not content to charge him hundreds for the room and $16.95 for internet access, it appeared that the service provider was using JavaScript injection to serve banner ads on every website guests visited. The story spread like wildfire for obvious reasons, and at last Marriott has responded, saying the problem has been remedied and won't happen again.
 
Facestagram: Five New Features Facebook + Instagram Could Launch Top
Facestagram LogoPicture being able to filter your Facebook photos, or use your Instagrams as Facebook Checkins. Though Instagram will remain its own "independent" app, its $1 billion acquisition by Facebook could power many improvements for the two photo sharing services. Instagram founder Kevin Systrom and Mark Zuckerberg have reassured users that the Instagram they've grown to love isn't going away. But what will change? Here's a look at a five of the ways we think the two services could work together to further dominate photo sharing, make more money, and give you a better experience.
 
This Is What Change Looks Like: Washington, D.C. Mini Meet-Up Top
scaled.IMG_8315It'd be easy to forget, but startups do exist, and even prosper, outside of Silicon Valley. John and I believe firmly in this, and have thus decided to venture forth and find technology gems hidden away in cities with less prominent tech scenes. The first of these adventures takes place in Washington DC, and as I type these very words I'm surrounded with at least 300 entrepreneurs, startup employees, investors, and journalists. The energy is palpable.
 
Valley to Detroit: Motor City Woos Laid-Off Yahoo Employees Top
Valley to Detroit logoLast week, Yahoo announced that it would cut 2,000 jobs. Given the employee shortage in Silicon Valley, most of the qualified engineers that lost their jobs in this round of cuts will likely land on their feet pretty quickly. For those who just had enough of the Valley, though, Detroit-based Quicken Loans and its family of companies is offering these former Yahoo employees (and anybody else who wants to apply) a chance to move to the Motor City to "be part of something really big." Quicken, together with Detroit Venture Partners, Rockbridge Growth Equity and Fathead.com, has set up ValleytoDetroit.com to entice Silicon Valley engineers to apply for jobs at their companies and move to Detroit.
 
Twitter Nabs Former Salesforce Exec Chris Fry As VP Of Engineering Top
Chris Fry | LinkedInAfter hiring a new VP of Communications, Twitter is adding key engineering staff. Chris Fry, a former exec at Salesforce, has joined Twitter as VP of Engineering. According to Fry's LinkedIn profile, he was previously the Senior Vice President of Development at Salesforce, where he was responsible for all development including Chatter, platform, applications and other core products. Fry joined Salesforce in 2005 as an engineering manager. Prior to his time at Salesforce, he was an engineer at BEA.
 
Jack Tramiel, Founder Of Commodore International, Dies At 83 Top
tramielJack Tramiel, one of the PC industry's major pioneers, has died. He was born in 1928 and, after surviving imprisonment in Auschwitz and another concentration camp during World War II, first established the Commodore name in business in 1953. His most successful endeavor, and one of the most successful in the history of computing, was the legendary Commodore 64, one of the very first computers built, as Tramiel would later put it, "for the masses, not the classes." He was 83.
 
NYC Considering Installing Enormous Touchscreens Instead Of Pay Phones Top
payThe Big Apple is looking into upgrading its existing pay phones, and a pilot study is underway that replaces everyone's favorite anachronism with something a little more 21st-century: giant touchscreens. According the NY Post, the city will unveil 250 revamped phone booths next month that have been revamped with 32-inch touchable displays. These access points would be set up for Skype and other video services, email, wi-fi access, and *11 numbers. It's ambitious, and depending on the execution could be a big step forward for public communication points. On the other hand, city dwellers are likely to be skeptical of the devices; smartphone owners will find no use for them, and pay phone users won't know what to make of them. Are they really going to Skype their dealer?
 
HTML5 Features Can Drive Up Mobile Websites' Usage By Up To 28% Top
usablenet_logoIf your mobile site still mostly consists of static pages, maybe it's time for an upgrade. According to new data from Usablenet, adding just a few interactive elements could increase your users' or readers' engagement with your site significantly. Usablenet, which describes itself as a "technology platform for mobile and multichannel customer engagement," says that when brands on its platform started using HTML5-enabled features like interactive galleries, location services, overlays and expandable (or collapsible) boxes, their pageviews increased by 11% and their bounce rates decreased by 15%. In total, sites using these features experienced about a 28% increase in overall usage. Usablenet's customers include major enterprises like Expedia, Tesco, Amtrak, American Airlines, OfficeMax, ShopNBC and online fashion marketplace ASOS.
 
AT&T Going Big With Lumia 900 Advertising, Could Spend As Much as $150 Million Top
lumia-900Well, after months of breathless waiting (and a Nicki Minaj concert in Times Square), Nokia's Lumia 900 is finally sitting pretty on store shelves. If you haven't heard about AT&T's newest handset yet, you soon will: AdAge reports that the nation's second largest wireless carrier will be spending up to $150 million to promote the Lumia 900 over the coming months. It seems like a hefty sum to throw behind a Windows Phone of all things, and it's reportedly even more than the carrier was thought to have spent on pushing the iPhone.
 
Insta-Backlash: Twitterverse Overreacts To Facebook's Instagram Acquisition, Users Delete Accounts Top
b9e75d38827211e1989612313815112c_7Not everyone is happy about Facebook's acquisition of Instagram this morning, it seems. In an apparent insta-backlash, a bunch of folks are tweeting about their intentions to delete their Instagram accounts now that Facebook has tainted their trendy social network with its massive data-grabbing paws. It's a spectacle even worse than when Instagram launched on Android, prompting all those #teamiPhone tweets. Sigh.
 
Two More Years: Microsoft Reminds Windows XP Users That It's About Time To Upgrade Top
Windows XP SP3Windows XP, the operating system that launched in 2001 and just refuses to die, will still be getting security updates and hotfixes until April 8, 2014. With "just" two more years to go, though, Microsoft today reminded these users that it's about time to upgrade their PCs. Microsoft stopped selling retail copies of XP in 2008. Just like XP, support for Office 2003 will also end in April 2014, so Microsoft is also using this occasion to remind these users that Office 2010 is indeed a viable alternative to an office suite that was released more than eight and a half years ago.
 
Windows Phone Has A Nasty Porn Addiction Top
dirty dirty windows phoneWindows Phone has a widely known downside: It lacks 3rd party apps. Sure, the major ones are there in Facebook, Twitter, Angry Birds and even Spotify, Rdio and Reddit browsers. But besides apps from big-name developers, the rest of the apps are ironically reminiscent of Windows 95-era shareware. And then there's the smut. The lack of high quality apps has seemingly made more room for dirty apps. The categories in Windows Phone's Marketplace are filled with them. These dirty apps are the top hits in Entertainment, Music + Video, Lifestyle, and Health + Fitness. Microsoft should be embarrassed. This isn't about sheltering youngsters from boobs -- rather, Microsoft has failed to give developers freedom and a chance to succeed while at the same time keeping potentially offensive material from sitting so close to the surface.
 

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