How To Structure a Yahoo-Google Search Deal: It’s All About The Tail and the Torso @ 17-05-2008 22:24
Even as Carl Icahn rallies angry shareholders to try to force Yahoo back to the bargaining table with Microsoft, one of the “strategic alternatives” Yahoo may still be trying to work out in the background is a search advertising deal with Google. There is a 60 to 70 percent gap between what Google collects [...]
Don’t Screw Your Partners Over A Marketing Promotion @ 17-05-2008 22:21
Celebrities are starting to take notice of Seesmic, a “Twitter for video” service that lets people have asynchronous video conversations on the fly (see my disclosure, I am an investor). First was Deepak Chopra, who made a whole series of videos for this site. And yesterday things got even more exciting, when Steven Spielberg, Harisson Ford, [...]
Facebook’s Glass Jaw @ 17-05-2008 18:00
Facebook finally has a real problem to deal with - an exceptionally rational and well-thought-out strategy by Google that puts the leading social media cloud in the path of a wave of angry users. The only thing Facebook has going for it is that said users don’t yet know they’re angry. With its denial of service [...]
Blabnote: The Voice-Only Social Network. Say What? @ 17-05-2008 06:03
It seems a given that mobile social networking is going to be “the next big thing”, but squinting at tiny text is still a pain on today’s phones. To deal with this issue, Blabnote, a British startup that is currently in private beta, has created what may be the world’s first “vocal social network.” [...]
Friday Survey: Do You Own An iPhone? @ 17-05-2008 04:39
It’s coming up on a year since the iPhone was released, and the second version appears to be just around the corner. So it’s a good time to check in with our readers and see just how many of you actually use the device. Please take a second and let us know where you stand. [...]
Battle Over Data Ownership on Gillmor Gang @ 17-05-2008 03:37
Epic Gillmor Gang today. Everyone went in with guns blazing over the data portability/ownership debate that has spilled out over the Facebook/Google scuffle. DataPortability founder Chris Saad was also on the call, but failed to take a leadership position in the debate (he did, however, weigh in with a blog post on the subject before [...]
Storyblender Brings a Goofy Side to Casual Animation @ 17-05-2008 03:29
Storyblender, which recently launched in private beta, is a new casual animation platform that will appeal to users who want customized movies in a hurry. The site was a presenter at TechCrunch 40. If you’d like to try it out, you can grab one of 500 invites here. The site is straightforward, which is [...]
Breaking: Condé Nast/Wired Acquires Ars Technica @ 16-05-2008 23:40
Condé Nast has acquired popular technology blog Ars Technica (ranked #5 all time on the BloggerBoard), we’ve confirmed. The site will become part of Wired Digital (which in turn is under CondéNet, run by Sarah Chubb). Wired Digital assets include Wired.com and Reddit (acquired in 2006). The acquisition price will not be disclosed, but our [...]
Become a Virtual NewsCopter Passenger on AirFox Live @ 16-05-2008 21:30
Chicago’s Fox affiliate WFLD has launched AirFox Live, a mashup whose spec list reads like a technophile’s pipe dream. The site combines a helicopter, GPS, live video, and Google Maps to produce a realtime data stream of the network’s newscopter that serves as uniquely informative eye-candy. Live video taken from the helicopter’s cameras are displayed [...]
Live Universe Picking Up Jangl’s Pieces @ 16-05-2008 21:11
Just over a week ago the founders of and five engineers from VoIP services provider Jangl left for Jajah after the company failed to find a proper suitor. Following their departure, it was unclear what would happen to Jangl’s assets and remaining staff. Now we hear from multiple sources close to the deal that Live [...]
What Windows Might Look Like On The OLPC @ 16-05-2008 20:26
Google’s Bob Lee creates a much better image to go with our post yesterday about One Laptop Per Child and Windows teaming up. More at CrunchGear. CrunchBase Information One Laptop Per Child Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Danish Mobile Social Network ZYB Acquired By Vodafone For €31.5 million @ 16-05-2008 12:09
ZYB, a mobile social network that we gave high marks to in August 2007, has been acquired by Vodafone for €31.5 million, or about $50 million. The company had raised just €3 million in venture capital. ZYB was smart in how they built their service. At first they were a simple address book backup-to-web service. But [...]
Data Portability: It’s The New Walled Garden @ 16-05-2008 11:22
The scuffle today between Facebook and Google has very little to do with user privacy and everything to do with user control. A huge battle is underway between Google, MySpace and Facebook around control of user profiles and, therefore, users themselves. And their three new products, Data Availability, Facebook Connect, and Friend Connect, are all [...]
Android vs. LiMo: What’s the difference? @ 16-05-2008 11:15
With LiMo’s recent announcement that Verizon had hopped onto their Board of Directors, things are starting to heat up between the LiMo platform and Google’s competing product, Android. Both are open-source Linux-based platforms, and both are aiming to rock the handset market sometime in the next year or so. LiMo is Linux-based. Android is Linux-based. [...]
Blaine Cook Joins Today’s Gillmor Gang, Talks Twitter @ 16-05-2008 09:42
He was pretty careful about what he would and wouldn’t talk about, but former Twitter Chief Architect Blaine Cook bravely faced the Gillmor Gang today to talk about the challenges facing Twitter, the feasibility of a decentralized Twitter competitor, and other Twitter related issues. The timing is perfect, as big media is starting to take [...]
Exclusive Look at Plazes for iPhone @ 16-05-2008 07:13
Today Plazes CEO Felix Petersen gave us a peek at iPlazer, the upcoming iPhone client for the geo-tagging social networking site. The app will be available when Apple’s official App Store launches in mid June. Plazes has been around for a while - it was one of the first companies to be covered [...]
Rumor: Google To Launch Hosted Site Search, Ditch Mini @ 16-05-2008 06:26
A source has informed us that Google plans to announce the replacement of its Mini Search Appliance with a new enterprise search solution called Hosted Site Search in the next few days. We hear it will be a for-pay product that, as the name suggests, will allow businesses to search their websites and other data stores [...]
Jennifer Aniston Geeks Out, Let’s Revise Those Kindle Estimates Upward @ 16-05-2008 05:34
One thing Citi analyst Kevin Mahaney didn’t know about earlier this week in his very optimistic sales estimates for the Kindle: Jennifer Aniston is apparently a fan. At least, that’s what it looks like in the picture above published by US Weekly (that is the first time and also the last time that publication will [...]
Get the Lowdown on Cloud Computing at GigaOM’s Structure 08 @ 16-05-2008 03:44
Next month GigaOM will hold Structure 08, a conference centered on the changing face of computing infrastructure. The event will discuss the wave of cloud computing technology that has been driving a revolution in web applications and has started to overthrow the notion of conventional servers. Structure 08 will feature a workshop on Google App [...]
Poor Children Of The World No Longer Will Have To Struggle With Linux @ 16-05-2008 02:34
One Laptop Per Child will ship a special version of Windows on their low cost laptops for poor children, the two companies announced this afternoon. Previously the laptops, which to date have been tested in a number of countries, ran only Linux. Trials of the Windows version of the machines will begin in June in [...]
He Said, She Said In Google v. Facebook @ 16-05-2008 02:17
More details on Facebook’s banning of Google Friend Connect from the Facebook API earlier today. I spoke with Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly and Google’s Director of Engineering David Glazer about the banning to get a fuller picture of the conflict. Here’s an example of how Friend Connect (more details) works in practice. A third [...]
Spellr.us Launches: Check Your Site For Spelling Erors @ 16-05-2008 02:10
Last month we ran a brief post introducing Spellr.us, a service that monitors websites for spelling errors. Little was known about the site at the time - all we had to go by was a teaser splash page. The site has finally entered a private beta, and it shows a lot of potential. [...]
The Mike Arrington Show @ 16-05-2008 01:02
Yeah that’s right. I have a puppet parody now, too. This is pretty tame stuff compared to the hit job Loren did on Shel israel. Before you hit play, note that there is some offensive language in the video, referring to our recent dispute with Wired. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets [...]
HubSpot Gets $12 Million To Drive Traffic to Your Site @ 16-05-2008 00:42
Internet marketing is big money, and so is the $12 million recently raised by HubSpot, a consultancy and software provider for sites looking to improve their visibility online. The Series B round led by Matrix Partners comes on top of the $5 million raised from General Catalyst Partners last September, bringing the company’s grand total to [...]
It’s Alive!: PopTok Combines Emoticons With Movie Quotes @ 16-05-2008 00:10
Israeli startup PopTok has done a brave thing. It’s created a plugin that combines emoticons and movie quotes (which, used in excess, are two of the most annoying things known to man). The plugin is currently Windows only, offering support for AIM and MSN Live Messenger with more protocols on the way. The JVP [...]
