From: TechCrunch <fb@techcrunch.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:06:02 +0000
Subject: The Latest from TechCrunch
To: pusat.rss@gmail.com
TechCrunch
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OfferPal Sues Former Customer Kickflip For Starting Competitive Service
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 08:33 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/x4h-sOtC5j0/
Offerpal Media, an advertising platform concentrated on helping developers
monetize social networks by offering virtual currency in exchange for
participating in offers like online surveys, has filed suit against
Kickflip, the company behind the Gambit payment engine.
As first reported in GigaOm, the suit alleges that Kickflip temporarily
used Offerpals services for the purpose of stealing knowledge of how the
service worked, which it then used to start a competitor. From the suit:
[Kickflip] misrepresented its intentions in forming a relationship with
Offerpal, and then used the information and trade secrets learned in the
course of the relationship to develop and improve Defendant's own competing
service.
Kickflip responds that the suit has absolutely no merit. The company
originally started off as a game developer in 2007 (you can see a list of
their old games here). The company says that during that time it has tried
to use OfferPal and SuperRewards (an OfferPal competitor) to monetize their
games but that both were unable to meet their needs, so they built their
own service. The companys about page offers a similar background:
In 2007, we formed kickflip inc. to build online games, eventually reaching
over 7 million users. We had the same problem you havemaking money. So we
built all the tools we needed to help users pay for our games. Our users
loved it. We loved it. So we thought wed allow a few friends to use it.
Surprisingly, the developers and their users liked it too. Since then weve
been focused on providing the easiest payment solution for online games and
communities.
Kickflip has issued the following statement regarding the suit:
We were game makers long before we built Gambit. As game makers, we used
the services of both OfferPal and SuperRewards. We noticed these services
couldnt keep up with our needs, so we decided to build our own, which
turned into Gambit. Since then we have been building partnerships with game
developers. We have a lot of respect for the business OfferPal has
developed, and it is unfortunate that they feel it necessary to sue a
former customer and game developer. We are confident that this lawsuit has
absolutely no merit, and we plan to fully defend ourselves. If you have
further questions, feel free to contact our lawyer:
Eric Benisek
Vasquez, Benisek Lindgren LLP
925-627-4250
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Facebook Nabs The Man Who Engineered Google AdSense For Many Years
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 07:25 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/BjNz14Nmd2U/
Facebook has just hired Greg Badros, a Google Senior Director of
Engineering, weve learned. Badros joined Google in early 2003 and has
worked his way up the chain since then. At Facebook, his official title
will be Director of Engineering.
At Google, Badros was in charge of the AdSense engineering team from its
formative years in 2004, through when it exploded in popularity with
billions of dollars in revenues. He has also led the Google Calendar,
Google Reader and Gmail teams. Since March 2009, he has led the Application
Platform group. But its the AdSense experience that is particularly
interesting here, as Facebook is attempting to better monetize its service.
Badros will report to Mike Schroepfer, who Facebook hired from Mozilla in
July of last year. Schroepfer is the VP of engineering.
Before Google, Badros worked at Go2Net which was later acquired by
InfoSpace. He served as the Chief Technical Architect at both companies.
His Google profile doesnt reveal much about him, other than the schools he
attended, and his blog — which he infrequently posts on.
Update: Here's Facebooks official statement statement:
"Greg Badros has joined Facebook as a director of engineering, reporting to
Mike Schroepfer. Greg is one of the most accomplished engineering talents
at Google, and it's wonderful that he has decided to bring these talents to
Facebook and take on numerous responsibilities across the engineering
organization."
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Greg Badros
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Facebook
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Google
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Facebook Vanity Landrush Tonight At 9 pm PST: Heres What You Need To Do
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 07:23 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/DhtwJ8n-Wb4/
We were the first to tell you about the Facebook vanity URL landrush, and
were going to guide you across the finish line. And dont worry, I declined
to participate in the journalist program that would have given me my name
in advance. Ill be right there with you, battling for the name Ill have to
live with for the rest of my life. Ok, that was a little dramatic. But it
is a final decision - after you pick one, you cant change or transfer it.
At 9 pm PST youll be able to log in and claim your new name. Go to
facebook.com/username and log into Facebook. Youll see a tool like the one
below to pick a permanent Facebook URL:
Usernames much be in basic text, at least 5 characters long, and include
only alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period or full stop (.).
When you get your name, the next step is to leave a comment below with your
new URL (yep, we want to see it) and then become a Fan of the TechCrunch
Facebook page. Ok, to be honest, that last step is optional and probably
has very little impact on you getting the vanity URL you really want. But
it wont hurt, either.
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Twitpocalypse Not Now: Crisis Averted. Mostly.
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 05:38 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ORhsKQ-D2fY/
So, as just about everyone on Twitter was talking about today, the
possibility of a Twitpocalypse was upon us. The site tracking the possible
failure of certain third-party Twitter apps not built to handle the signed
integer limit, believed the crisis would happen tomorrow early in the
morning (in the U.S.) — but Twitter pre-empted the problem by triggering it
today instead, so all hands would be on deck to attack the problem. And it
worked.
As planned, we averted the twitpocalypse with a deploy this afternoon,
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone tells us. Excellent news. But there is one
small temporary casualty of the problem, Twitter Search has been paused for
about an hour, Im told. But it should be caught up and back to normal soon,
says Stone.
So, everyone can calm down, for now. Just like the Y2K bug that much of the
world freaked out about a decade ago, the Twitpocalypse came and went with
nary a problem.
Update: As a few commenters have noted, and Ive just confirmed, the popular
Twitter app, Twitterrific, is completely broken right now due to API errors
— at least the iPhone version. Some reports have said TweetDeck is facing
similar problems.
.
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Twitter
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TechCrunchs Most Frequently Used iPhone Apps
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 03:38 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/p1vYX-dEVR0/
Most TechCrunch writers are iPhone users. And while we're still debating
whether when what time we will be upgrading to the iPhone 3G S next Friday,
we are excited for the iPhone OS 3.0 next Wednesday. Weve had a few
requests to publish the apps we use on our iPhones - and were going to
share that information with you now.
The following list is by no means all of the apps we have on our iPhones.
There are plenty of apps we only use a couple times a month (e.g. Shazam),
but when we need them, theyre great. Weve also linked to any
TechCrunch/CrunchGear/MobileCrunch reviews of the apps. Let us know which
apps you use in the comments below.
App
Users
Review
Yammer
7
Qik
6
CG
Skype
6
CG
Tweetie
6
Facebook
5
MC
foursquare
4
Flight Control
4
TC
Pandora
4
TC
Recorder
2
Loopt
2
TC
Strategery
2
Twitterific
2
TC
Fieldrunners
2
CG
Remote
2
Deep Green
2
Instapaper
2
TC
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Holocaust Museum Death Wont Change Facebooks Mind On Hate - But Advertisers
May Be Able To
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 03:16 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/k6plBdAp3-A/
Earlier this week a Holocaust denier shot and killed a guard at the
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. Facebook didnt change its
policy on allowing Holocaus denial groups, even though one group quickly
put up a cartoon mocking the event.
If attacks on Jews by Holocaust deniers wont be enough to sway Facebook
that this is all hate speech, perhaps angry advertisers will do the trick.
Brian Cuban has been tracking advertisers who have insisted their ads dont
show up anywhere near Holocaust denial pages on Facebook, and at least one
who doesnt want ads to be placed on profiles of people who are members of
such groups.
Vodafone, Tesco, American Airlines and Dominos Pizza have pulled
advertising, says Cuban.
Dominos Pizzas Social Media Specialist Phil Lozen wrote to Cuban saying
that initially, Facebook was pushing back on their ability to block ads
from some of the pages. But as of today even pages showing search results
for hate groups wont have Dominoes ads. He also says that Dominoes would
not have purchased ads at all if they knew of the possibility of their ads
appearing near Holocaust denial pages.
What we really need are a set of large advertisers to boycott Facebook
entirely until these groups are banned. Theres a reason why eBay and other
private companies wont let this kind of hate speech on their sites. Its bad
for business. And as soon as Facebook realizes that, theyll change their
policy. Then look for lots of talk from Facebook employees about how proud
they are that their company did the right thing - [insert current policy
here].
And for those of you who will argue that the best way to handle hate is to
shine a light on it, debate these people openly, and generally assume that
reason will prevail: youre wrong. Read this USA Today opinion piece that is
talking about the steady rise of hate groups in the U.S. - the Internet
gives formerly isolated racists, whether individuals or small groups, a
means to stoke one anothers smoldering anger. With the ready availability
of weapons, even a single person can do enormous harm.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies,
people, and investors
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Dotcom Hangover: Amazon Pays $51 Million To End Long-Standing Battle With
Toys "R" Us
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 02:51 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9c-8ZBtATM8/
Back at the height of the dotcom bubble, Amazon was signing lucrative deals
with traditional retailers to be their online store. One of the biggest
such deals was with Toys R Us. It was announced with much fanfare in 2000
and was supposed to last a decade. Toys R US would handle the toy buying
and inventory management, Amazon would handle the Website.
It made sense until, oh, about 2004, when Toys R us filed a lawsuit for
breach of contract. While Amazon was perfectly happy to be the exclusive
online presence for Toys R Us, it didnt feel that it had agreed to make
Toys R Us the exclusive of provider of toys on Amazon. A New Jersey court
ruled in favor of Toys R Us back in 2006. But only yesterday did Amazon
finally settle with Toys R Us, agreeing to pay $51 million.
In an SEC filing Amazon states:
On June 11, 2009, Amazon.com entered into a settlement agreement in its
lawsuit with Toys "R" Us, Inc., and its affiliates, with terms that
include, among other things, (i) a one-time payment from Amazon.com of $51
million in the third quarter 2009, substantially all of which was
unanticipated and will be charged to "Other operating expense" in the
second quarter, (ii) dismissal of all claims and counterclaims, and (iii)
mutual releases.
Nine years after the initial agreement, that particular dotcom hangover is
finally over. It lasted almost as long as the original deal was supposed
to be. The lesson here: dont hand a key part of your business to someone
else, especially if it is where your growth is going to be coming from.
That is the same as handing control over your destiny to someone else.
(Photo credit: Flickr/Daniel Chan).
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Why Europe Wont Go Browserless This Fall
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 01:45 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ia4joq0kez8/
The web is currently ablaze with headlines that IE8 will not be included in
the European release of Windows this fall. In fact, no browser at all is
going to be included with the latest version of Microsofts operating
system. No, Hell has not frozen over — the news is the result of
Microsofts longstanding (and very costly) antitrust issues with the
European Commission. And it has everyone, from the regulators to consumers
to IE competitors, very upset. Fortunately, it seems like this is much ado
about nothing.
The way some people are portraying it, its as if millions of computer users
are suddenly going to be left Internet-less, isolated on their home PCs
without any hope of ever reaching the web beyond. But an important
statistic that some major news outlets are failing to highlight (though
most others are pointing out) is that the vast majority of people wont
notice the change at all. Thats because PC makers — your Dells, HPs, etc.
— will be able to install IE8 before their computers ever reach the
consumer. And you can be sure that for nearly all of computers they sell,
theyre going to do just that.
But what about that 5% of users that are buying the the OS in a retail
store? For one, consider the fact that many of the people taking the
initiative to actually go out and buy Windows 7 are perfectly capable of
finding a way to install Firefox or IE on their computers. But what about
everyone else? Microsoft has made it clear that its going to offer IE on
an easy-to-install basis, which includes distribution via via CD, FTP, and
retail channels.
In other words, every single computer store you walk into is going to have
giant displays inviting you to grab your Internet Explorer pack. At
checkout, your friendly clerk is going to remind you to make sure you grab
one. If you find yourself walking out of the store without an IE CD, its
almost certainly because you made the decision not to. In the incredible
event that you do install the OS and cant figure out where your browser
went, there will likely be a hotline at Microsoft dedicated to answering
this exact question. No, its not going to be especially user-friendly (at
least compared to having the application pre-installed). But this is
hardly going to be a crisis.
Now, its easy to decry Microsoft for this move, but its also pretty easy to
understand why theyre doing it. The company is eager to launch Windows 7
on time, and it isnt too keen to hand over another 1.7 billion euros in
fines. It also doesnt want to resort to the so-called ballot screen which
would present a list of alternative browsers during the OSs first boot,
which is one of the solutions being proposed. Microsoft may work out (or
be forced to use) an alternative solution, but in the mean time this should
help the company avoid any further fines. Its also a way for Microsoft to
effectively tell the European Commission to piss off.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because its time for you to find a new Job2.0
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Review: Kindle DX
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 01:30 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/OBGD5LI8xxI/
Another month, another version of the Kindle. I've been using a Kindle
since it was shaped like a very thin doorstop and I'm delighted each time I
see a new version. The latest version is the DX, a monstrous 9-inch version
of the smaller Kindle 2 that supports direct PDF reading without conversion.
Why am I interested in the Kindle? Well, I already have a first-gen Kindle
so I'm not too keen on upgrading immediately. But I've been waiting for
Amazon to solve something with the Kindle DX that has been nagging me for
quite a while. You see, I have a problem. I don't want to read the New York
Times on paper anymore but paper seems like the only logical way to read
it. Reading the newspaper on a gadget is rude and dangerous - especially
with toddlers around the house. It's a tough sell to have a gadget at the
breakfast table. But then I know that I'll never read it on the desktop
whether through the Times Reader or any other source. So the DX sounded
great. It has all of the features of the current Kindle plus rotational
sensing and a beautiful, huge screen that might just fit the entire NYT
front page and not just one article. So that's why I wanted to see the DX.
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Gliider Makes Makes Trip Planning A Breeze
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 12:58 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bGNEV8sPIaI/
At Launch Silicon Valley this past week, I saw a demo of Gliider, a Firefox
plug-in and tool that allows you to drag and drop travel information you
collect from around the web. The video explains the concept behind Gliider,
which is still in private beta, fairly well. While the travel 2.0 space is
nearly saturated with a plethora of competitive products, Gliiders tool is
incredibly useful and its focus is narrow (Gliider only wants to help users
with planning), which could make it standout in the crowd.
After you download the plug-in, you can pop-out the Gliider trip planner
box from your browser when you need it. Within the planner box, you can
create a trip, specify where you are traveling to (Gliiders search box
offers auto suggestions), and when you plan to go. Gliider will
automatically create folders for each type of information, including
flights, hotels, shopping, transport and food. You can also create
customized folders.
When you come across useful travel info, like hotel, restaurant, or flight
listings, you can highlight the text and images and simply drag and drop
the info into the box. Once the item is in the organizer, you can make
insert comments to each item. It replaces bookmarking for travel and
automatically organizes links, sites, and listings for you. Once youve
finished the planning process of a trip, Gliider will email you all your
details in a PDF file. The startup will also be rolling out a iPhone app
that will let you view your planned trips.
Gliiders proprietary technology will read where and when you will be
traveling and provide customized hotel deals for you. And Gliider will also
track hotel deals, letting you know when a price goes up or down. The tool
doesnt yet do the same for flights, which would also be a useful item to
track. Gliider will soon have a ask around feature, which via Facebook
Connect, will let you solicit advice on a trip or listing from your
Facebook friends.
Gliider mainly makes money from affiliate fees—when they suggest deals
(they have a partnership with Expedia) and a user clicks to the deal and
books, Gliider will get a cut from the purchase. The startups CEO and
co-founder Jordan Stopler, declined to say how much they receive in these
deals but also added that the startup will be offering deals on flights as
well in the future. Gliider will also be adding functionality for IE8 soon.
The most obvious and serious competitor to Gliider in this space is TripIt,
a popular travel site (and one that Mike cant live without) that lets you
generate an itinerary by simply forwarding the service your email
confirmations from hotels and airlines. NileGuide also is similar in
function. But the beauty of Gliider is that its solely focused on planning
a trip and not on creating a step by step itinerary for travelers. And the
fact that Gliider is a plug-in makes it easy to access and integrate with
the browser experience.
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Twitter Moves Up The Twitpocalypse. All Hell May Break Loose Today.
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 12:15 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/e7w7WUZYFNA/
Twitter users, the Twitpocalypse is upon us.
Twitpocalypse is the name given to a bug thats about to be exposed.
Apparently, its similar to the Y2K bug in its nature, and stems from the
fact that every tweet sent out has a unique numeric identifier. This
identifier is about to hit 2,147,483,647. This number is the signed integer
limit and apparently when some third-party Twitter clients start hitting
it, the identifiers will start turning negative, and those apps are likely
to crash as a result.
This crash was supposed to happen sometime tomorrow, according to the
countdown, but it looks like Twitter has just moved up the Twitpocalypse
time to 21:00 GMT, which is 2 PM Pacific/5PM Eastern time today. Yes, in a
couple hours.
Theyre forcing the failure now so that all hands are on deck working on the
issue, rather than having it go down in the middle of the night.
This Google Group thread run by some developers working at Twitter explains
more. Engineer Matt Sanford originally explained:
The overflow of the 32-bit signed integer value for status ids (a.k.a The
Twitpocalypse [1]) is fast approaching. The current estimate is around
tomorrow at around 11am GMT, or 3:00am Pacific time in the case of Twitter.
There is some discussion internally about accelerating things so well be
in the office and able to cope. Nobody is their freshest at 3:00am, not to
mention it would be nice to not have apps broken throughout the weekend if
one-person developer teams dont notice. No decision has been made yet but I
wanted to get something out to you all so you know whats going on in the
event we decide to do this.
But now is saying:
The responses to @twitterapi and all discussions internally show a
preference to not waiting until the middle of the night. The current plan
is to force this issue at 21:00 GMT (2:00pm Pacific/5:00pm Eastern for
those in the US). This will let us make sure we have all staff available in
the unlikely event something goes wrong on our end. Well also be available
when people who dont follow the twitter-dev-talk list start reporting
errors. While we did warn developers about the Twitpocalypse Im sorry we
didnt think about setting a drop-dead date and scheduling this previously.
Well keep trying to improve on warnings like this. Good night, and good
luck.
So yeah, be prepared for some Twitter apps to fail in about 2 hours.
Hopefully Twitter will be able to resolve this quickly.
Update: Its possibly a coincidence, but Twitter has just welcomed two new
members to its API team today. Is Twitter manning up for the battle?
Update 2: Its now past 2 PM and no reports of massive failures yet. Perhaps
this really is just like Y2K.
Update 3: Heres an update from Twitter developer Doug Williams:
Just an update, there is a lot of coordination that it takes to pull
something like this off. We need the operations team to watch the servers
and application. The services team to work closely with the ops folks to
ensure that any problems on our end are properly tracked and fixed. And
Matt is running around coordinating the entire effort.
That said, the deadline may slip a bit as we work to ensure that weve
covered our bases, and that the engineering team is ready to react to
unforeseen problems.
Doing what we can to keep the tweets flowing.
Update 4: The crisis looks mostly averted. More here.
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Help CrunchGear Raise Money For the Childs Play Charity
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 12:13 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/EwibG6GQy5I/
Here's a quick update on this year's Wiimbledon, folks. If you're unable to
make the event in Brooklyn on June 27th and you still want to help
CrunchGear raise money for Child's Play then donate your used gadgets to
Gazelle. We've set up a "Gazelle for Goods" page and we're hoping to raise
$2500 for Penny Arcade's charity, Child's Play. Go dig into your desk
drawers and find some old gadgets to donate! Don't forget to sign up at
Eventbrite if you want to play in the tournament and remember, it doesn't
cost anything to attend.
Wiimbledon Gazelle
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Interview: Ben Heckendorn, Console Modder
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:14 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xBfbYzDzt-c/
I recently sat down with the king of gadget modders, Benjamin J. Heckendorn.
Ben recently spoke at the Games for Health conference here in Boston, where
he talked a bit about his Access Controller, which was born from a request
for a controller that could be used with one hand by a soldier who had lost
his arm in combat.
Heckendorn also brought up the idea that Microsoft ought to make a "Brain
Box" available for the Xbox 360, which would enable people to make their
own controllers without having to deal with licensing issues. Microsoft
would still make money by licensing and selling the Brain Box, while
hackers and modders would be free to create unique controllers like the
Access Controller without having to go through the expense and legal
trouble of getting the controllers approved for retail sale. Sort of a
standardized peripheral concept, if you will.
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This Is Getting Ridiculous: Startups Already Trying To "Assetize" Facebook
Vanity URLs
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 11:01 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-5mKdZ_-1go/
Facebook vanity URLs may not be here just yet, but that isnt preventing
startups from readying offerings that aim to complement them (or you could
say piggy-back on them).
Assetize, for one, is readying its account username marketplace for the
highly-anticipated-in-some-circles unique addresses. Coinciding with the
impending introduction of unique Facebook URLs for the masses (at 12:01 AM
Eastern Time tonight), Assetize will enable users to buy and sell them much
like you can with regular website addresses on so-called domain name
after-markets. The startup already provides the same service for a variety
of other accounts, such as Twitter, Gmail and Ning, and will now be adding
Facebook to its roster.
As Facebook noted in its blog post announcing the upcoming availability of
the unique addresses, its not possible to change or transfer vanity URLs.
This doesnt pose a problem, says Assetize, because youre still able to buy
and sell access to the account, i.e. your login credentials.
In related news, SocialToo is jumping on the Facebook vanity URL bandwagon
too, by offering its users a way to get a bunch of analytics on their
Facebook profiles, like which browsers visitors to the account are using,
where theyre located, and where theyre clicking from (if available). All a
user would need to do is register for the service, click on the link to get
a special code from Facebook, provide the code along with a SocialToo
username and password (the username will be what their vanity URLs will be
based on), and click submit. Next time they log in, theyll see a new
SocialStats tab with statistics for their URL.
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YouTube and Yahoo Logos Offer One Last Reminder About The TV Broadcast
Transition
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 10:54 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6Yj6HvXE2o8/
If youre reading this, chances are you havent been using an over-the-air
antenna to get analog television service for quite some time. Im not even
sure Ive seen the rabbit ears since the 80s. But just in case you are one
of the rumored 6 million Americans who arent ready for the switch from
analog to digital, Yahoo and YouTube are doing their part to remind you.
Both sites feature analog-to-digital logos to mark the transition that
happens today.
While YouTubes is purely cosmetic, Yahoo was nice enough to link its to a
site that gives users more details about the switch. But again, Im not sure
that at this point if youve missed the notice after notice that the
transition was happening, thats youre surfing Yahoo either — or own a
computer, or even watch TV. The U.S. government started a $1.2 billion
campaign in 2007 to let people know about the switch. But somehow all that
time and money still wasnt enough as Congress had to delay the transition
in February (when it was supposed to occur) and give the program more money.
Now that the transition is finally happening, the companies that bid on
that spectrum last year can finally start actually using it. The auction of
those airwaves by the FCC raised nearly $20 billion, with Verizon taking a
large chunk of the coveted C-block. You probably remember hearing about the
auction on a lot of tech sites because Google threw down the gauntlet early
on and promised to pledge at least $4.6 billion towards a part of the
spectrum. It didnt end up winning any part, but by raising the stakes,
Google no doubt helped ensure that the minimum bid was met — because the
thought of Google winning a huge chunk of wireless airspace that it could
use for a number of things, including mobile communication, likely scared
the hell out of the giant telcos.
And Google also pushed hard to make sure that no matter who won the
bidding, that the spectrum was open, meaning any companys products and
services could be used on it. Products and services like the ones Google
provides. While Google of course owns YouTube, its own logo doesnt reflect
the transition today. Perhaps it realizes that the vast majority of its
users probably havent been in danger of being effected by it since the 80s.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered
Daily.
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Shutterfly Finally Adds Video Sharing
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 10:53 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zrcTHUMyPaI/
Shutterfly, an online photo sharing and printing site, is adding video
capability to its photo sharing sites. Shutterfly is using video hosting
site Motionbox to power its video sharing service. So when you upload a
video to your Shutterfly Share site, it will also be stored in your
Motionbox account. If you upload to Motionbox directly, you will be given
the option to post your video to your Shutterfly Share site.
Users can also share videos to social networking sites including Facebook,
MySpace, Twitter and Blogger can upgrade for unlimited video storage and
HD-quality playback. The free account is a little limiting for storage—you
can only upload ten video clips. For $30 per year, you can have a premium
subscription which allows higher file size limits, unlimited video
downloads and HD-quality playback.
Im assuming that Shutterfly will monetize the addition of videos by
offering customized DVDs of clips. Currently, the company offers users a
variety or printing services where users can not only print their photos,
but also create cards, mugs, invitations, apparel and more with photos
emblazoned on each item. But Im not sure how else Shutterfly can make money
off of the video component.
Shutterfly, which IPOd in 2006, is playing catch up to other more popular
photo sharing sites, like Flickr and Photobucket, which both host video as
well as photos. Even Facebook is becoming the go-to destination to share
photos and videos. But Shutterfly, a vestige of the dot-com boom and bust,
has managed to survive, despite being in an ultra competitive space thats
chock full of similar offerings and products.
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///////////////////////////////////////////
Flickr Tests Twitter Integration With Email Uploads
Posted: 12 Jun 2009 09:02 AM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/IWFupsMdkuw/
Watch out TwitPic, Flickr is finally waking up to the power of letting
users share links to their photos over Twitter. Flickr members can now
sign up for the Flickr Twitter Beta, which allows them to link their Flickr
and Twitter accounts (using Oauth) to their send out a Tweet whenever they
upload a new photo via email. Here is an example from a Twitter employee
(see screenshot), which then links to this photo on Flickr.
This only works for email uploads right now. Flickr gives you a special
@photos.flickr.com email address which allows you to email photos directly
into your Flickr stream from your mobile phone or desktop email. If you
want to Tweet out a photo, you simply add 2twitter at the end of your
special email address before the @ sign. It is a bit kludgy. (Why not
just add it as a feature to a mobile Flickr app instead?) But once you set
it up, it is pretty easy. I just tried it myself. There is nothing like
Tweeting out a photo to get an instant response.
This is just a taste of where Flickr might be going. Right now, you cant
choose to Tweet out photos you upload directly to the Website (yet). But
the beta test points in that direction. Flickr is using its own shortened
URL (http://flic.kr). And it is letting users choose which photos to share
via Twitter instead of automatically sharing all uploaded photos, which is
the right way to do it.
(Hat tip to Ouriel, who has a more complicated way to do the same thing via
Twitterfeed).
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