Thursday, August 26, 2010

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TweetDeck's Underground Project: Allowing TweetDecks To Talk To Nearby TweetDecks (TCTV) Top
Now that TweetDeck’s Android app is out in beta mode, with its multiple streams (notably Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Google Buzz) and blended options, many users want to know when TweetDeck will overhaul its iPhone app. The company’s CEO and founder, Iain Dodsworth , who dropped by TechCrunch’s headquarters on Wednesday, says it could be a “good couple of months.” So, what is taking the British startup so bloody long? According to Dodsworth, his 15-man team is pretty strained, from working on updates to the desktop client, the Android app, the iPhone app and new features like User Streams (which delivers tweets in virtual real-time). Dodsworth, a self-proclaimed perfectionist, also has a few tricks up his sleeve— you can bet that the iPhone version will be more than just a mirror of the new Android app. Right now, the TweetDeck lab is working on several “stealth” ideas and although Dodsworth was generally vague during our off and on camera interviews, he seemed especially excited about the idea of allowing nearby TweetDecks to talk to each other. He doesn’t want to create a separate TweetDeck social network per se but such a function would certainly transform the social stream service (See video above). As he explains: “One thought that we’re having is about applications, is about Tweetdecks that are aware of other TweetDecks. Be that any other version of TweetDeck. So if you can say walk into a bar and your phone is in the background communicating with other TweetDecks and seeing who is a close friend on Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and whatever, that’s kind of interesting, there could be some sharing of information there. And some of this is dodgy ground as well, it’s like where is the privacy limit to this as well…It’s about these apps doing things without you having to get involved and perhaps say look there’s a friend of a friend in a bar down the road, you seem to follow the same people, do you know that this person is following person X who you’re not following…We don’t have to do our own networks, we don’t have to build a TweetDeck social network in any way, our mission here is to provide the tools and to provide hopefully the UI to consumer social media in a very powerful way.” As evidenced by his statement, the function is not ready for prime time and it may not be ready for the next version of the iPhone app (or ever). However, it is an interesting concept that sheds light on Dodsworth’s larger strategy for TweetDeck. During our off-camera interview, Dodsworth said it was about “serendipity,” getting TweetDeck in the geo-location game and enhancing a users’ ability to find unexpected connections. As an aggregator of the major social streams, TweetDeck has a lot of data at its disposal to connect these dots. During our chat, we also got a look at TweetDeck’s numbers. Since the Android’s debut earlier this month (it’s still in a very beta release), there have been 50,000 downloads. That’s far less than the 2.6 million iPhone downloads and the number of iPad downloads (which Dodsworth says is well north of 50,000). However, engagement is very high for the Android. According to Dodsworth, despite fewer downloads, 4x more tweets have been sent from the Android TweetDeck app versus the iPad app. Those numbers should hopefully rise across the board as TweetDeck enhances the real time nature of its service. This week, the company announced that the User Streams Preview is now available to all users. You can download the free preview here . CrunchBase Information TweetDeck Iain Dodsworth Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Guess Who Is Trying To Trademark The Word "Face"? (And Guess Who Is Trying To Stop It?) Top
When it comes to trademarks, Facebook is proving to be a bully. It is going after Teachbook in court for using a similar name, and already forced Placebook to change its name. But that is only half the story. It is not just the word “book” at the end of a company or product name that Facebook might object to. If it has its way, the word “Face” at the beginning of a name might also bring out its lawyers. In fact, Facebook is currently trying to register the word “Face” as a trademark . (It already owns the trademark on “Facebook” ). Facebook took over the trademark application for “Face” from a company in the UK called CIS Internet Limited, which operated a site called Faceparty.com . Presumably, Facebook bought the application sometime around November, 2008, which is when its lawyer started dealing with the USPTO. However, at least one person is objecting to this trademark: Aaron Greenspan . Yup, that Aaron Greenspan , Mark Zuckerberg’s classmate at Harvard who laid a claim to helping create Facebook, which he later settled . Greenspan now has his own company, Think Computer , which is behind the mobile payments app called FaceCash (watch the TCTV interview with him ). If Facebook gets the trademark for the word “Face,” that could spell trouble for FaceCash. “The possible registration has implications for my company (not to mention hundreds of others, including Apple, Inc.), so I’ve decided to ask the USPTO for an extension of time to oppose it,” he explains in an email. Apple, of course, owns the trademark to “Facetime,” the video calling feature on the latest iPhones. Although Greenspan owns the trademark to “FaceCash” , he wants to protect his ability to use the word “face” in future products. He also wants to make sure Facebook won’t go after him. Given it’s track record of vigorously defending its trademarks (which it is encouraged to do by the law or else risk losing them), that could become a very real possibility. Getting an extension of time to file an objection is not the same as actually blocking the trademark. But “face” is a pretty generic word and Facebook doesn’t actually use it on its own, only in combination with “book.” If Facebook doesn’t get “face,” maybe it will have better luck with “like.” It has at least 14 applications to trademark that word as well. CrunchBase Information Facebook FaceCash Aaron Greenspan Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Facebook To Begin Giving Y Combinator Startups VIP Treatment Top
Startups that enter the Y Combinator program don’t generally do it for the money alone — most companies receive $20,000 or less in seed funding. Instead, they do it for the exposure, connections, mentors, and resources that the YC program affords. And they just got one more major perk: Facebook has announced that it will be working to help YC companies create “transformative social experiences”, and it’s going to give them preferential treatment and access to company resources. From the Facebook post: We'll provide product, technical and design resources to support new Y Combinator companies interested in working with us to build deeply social products, whether a website or an application on Facebook.com. These companies will have priority access to our technologies and programs such as Facebook Credits, Instant Personalization and upcoming beta features. Y Combinator will be publishing a "Request for Startup" focused on social startups and is now looking for interested entrepreneurs for their winter 2011 funding cycle. This sort of treatment from Facebook is by no means a guarantee for success, but it’s still a big deal. Early access to key features like Credits and Instant Personalization could help these startups leapfrog their competition, and Facebook will also be able to help startups boost their virality with tight Facebook Connect integration and News Feed Optimization. This isn’t the first time Y Combinator has partnered with a hot social service — last year Twitter decided to give YC companies priority access to its stream. The news comes on the heels of YC’s latest demo day , which featured a whopping 36 startups. CrunchBase Information Facebook Y Combinator Information provided by CrunchBase
 
Diaspora Three Weeks Away From Unveiling Open-Source Facebook Alternative Top
Remember Diaspora ? You’ll be forgiven if you don’t. Since they received a lot of hype as the open-source “Facebook Alternative” this past May, they’ve been quiet. In fact, they hadn’t given any updates on their progress since early July . But today they’ve re-emerged with some updates. Notably, they say : “ We have Diaspora working, we like it, and it will be open-sourced on September 15th .” That’s just three weeks away. That’s good news. But even though it has only been three months since the initial buzz began about the project, the online world has slightly changed. Back then, it seemed as if everyone with a voice on the web was screaming bloody murder about Facebook and their privacy issues. That plus a timely New York Times profile helped Diaspora raise over $200,000 from the crowd-sourced fundraising site Kickstarter — the most ever raised on the site and an amazing $190,000 more than Diaspora’s original goal. But today, again, just three months later, Facebook is still growing like a weed . Controversy keeps bubbling up, but it just as quickly subsides. We all forgot to quit . And so the question remains: will a project like Diaspora be able to get any traction given Facebook’s 500 million person head start? At the very least, Diaspora is being realistic about what they can and cannot do. In the post today they’ve noted that they have for now scrapped the idea of plugins and APIs in favor of “simple and high value features.” I like the sound of that . Further, they write: We are spending a good chunk of time concentrating on building clear, contextual sharing. That means an intuitive way for users to decide, and not notice deciding, what content goes to their coworkers and what goes to their drinking buddies. We know that's a hard UI problem and we take it seriously. And while the open-sourcing of the project begins on September 15, they won’t be done working on it. Two of the members of the core four-person team are taking a leave from their studies at NYU (this was a Summer project for all of them) and the work will continue long-term. Meanwhile, the team notes that it is time for some R&R, as three of them will be attending the Burning Man festival in California. Presumably, those pictures will only be shared with their “drinking buddies” list in Diaspora. CrunchBase Information Diaspora Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase
 

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