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LG whips out new DM50D personal 3D TV with passive 3D glasses

2011-06-28T03:07:00.003-07:00

LG has unveiled a new 3D TV and monitor that is sized to fit into just about any room and on your desk. The monitor is called the DM50D and it has many of the same features of the higher end Cinema 3D TVs from LG. The screen promises to be flicker free and have [...]
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Solar Sinter uses sand and sun for 3D printing

2011-06-28T03:07:00.001-07:00

A student named Markus Kayser created an awesome project for a MA Design Products project. I hope he graduates with honors simply for the coolness of this project. Kayser created a device that can take advantage of the two unlimited resources out in the desert – sun and sand. The project is dubbed Solar Sinter [...]
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AMD resigns from industry group associated with BAPCo and won’t endorse SYSmark 2012

2011-06-21T23:32:00.003-07:00

AMD has announced today that it has separated from the industry group BAPCo. AMD has also announced that it will not endorse the SYSMark 2012 benchmark suite. SYSmark is a benchmarking program that is often used by publications in print and online to test the performance of computer system. The benchmark is intended to be [...]
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New AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule details emerge, launch imminent

2011-06-21T23:32:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month I mentioned that the AirPort utility update had revealed the new Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme were inbound with mention of the new products in the new software update. New details of the updated products have now landed thanks to a mystery source over at 9to5Mac. The new details include part numbers [...]
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T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide caught in wild ahead of July 6 release

2011-06-20T02:23:00.003-07:00

The incoming T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide has been caught in the wild once again, only this time around the photos are a whole lot less blurry. The QWERTY-blessed slider, TmoNews‘ tipster confirms, runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense and is “much like the Sensation but with some specific myTouch features.” The keyboard comes in for [...]
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SlashGear Week in Review – Week 25 2011

2011-06-20T02:23:00.001-07:00

Happy Father’s Day to all the geek dads out there! Welcome to this week’s edition of the SlashGear Week in Review! Panasonic confirmed a new GF series camera early in the week with a new GF3 for novices and a pro version coming. These little cameras have interchangeable lenses and are sized more like a [...]
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Gigantic 268MP image sensor shoots space photos from Earth

2011-06-17T21:51:00.003-07:00

If you though the high megapixel DSLR cameras used by pro photographers were impressive with their resolution, wait until you see the gigantic photo sensor for the OmegaCAM that is operated by the European Southern Observatory. The camera uses 32 different image sensors to reach its 268MP total resolution. It uses that resolution to shoot [...]
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Apple Accepts WebGL Graphics For iAd, Ready For 3D Ads?

2011-06-17T21:51:00.001-07:00

It was revealed today that Apple will be supporting WebGL in iOS 5, but limiting its use for only iAd developers. WebGL is a new rendering standard that lets developers create 3D animations and graphics in websites without the need for a plugin. Being used for iAds could mean lots of really annoying in-your-face ads [...]
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UK carriers band for NFC Payments joint venture

2011-06-17T04:24:00.003-07:00

Four of the main UK carriers have banded together to work on mobile commerce, pushing NFC payments, digital coupons and mobile advertising. Everything Everywhere – the combined T-Mobile and Orange – along with Telefonica UK (aka O2) and Vodafone UK have formed a joint venture which will handle the sales, delivery and payment on top [...]
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T-Mobile USA boosts 4G HSPA+ 42Mbps coverage: 47 new markets

2011-06-17T04:24:00.001-07:00

T-Mobile USA wants to give you a little extra motivation to go for its flavor of 4G, with an HSPA+ speed boost for 47 new markets. As of today, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Fresno are among the locations getting 42Mbps HSPA+ support, which – if you have a Rocket 3.0 USB modem – [...]
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Facebook testing new “Happening Now” real-time feature on some user pages

2011-06-12T22:09:00.003-07:00

Facebook is always testing new features and working to improve the social network and maintain its edge. MySpace quickly fell from its lead in the social networking scene years ago when it stopped innovating. The latest new feature that Facebook is testing is called the “Happening Now” sidebar. This is a bar that sits next [...]
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Epic Games Website and Forums Hacked

2011-06-12T22:09:00.001-07:00

Epic games, the developer of Gears of War, recently notified its forum members that its website and official forums had been hacked. With all the news about security breaches, it might be simpler to start announcing who has NOT been hacked. Not as serious as the attacks on Sony and Codemasters, the attackers were only [...]
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Mushkin unveils Chronos SSDs with SandForce SF-2281 controller

2011-06-08T22:53:00.003-07:00

Mushkin has a line of SSDs already that includes some very nice and speedy storage drives for consumers. The company has announced its latest SSD called the Chronos series and the new line of SSDs will use the SandForce SF-2281 processor. This line of SSDs will also be the first from Mushkin to use the [...]
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HTC Sensation 4G On Sale Early At Some Walmarts

2011-06-08T22:53:00.001-07:00

HTC’s new flagship phone, the HTC Sensation 4G, is reportedly going on sale early at some Walmart locations. The phone was recently knocked for having an iPhone-like “death grip” signal strength problem, which the company quickly dismissed as false. If the issue doesn’t perturb you and you’d like to grab one early, then be on [...]
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WaterField Designs Keyboard Travel Express

2011-06-08T07:15:00.003-07:00

Waterfield Designs announced today it is unveiling its Keyboard Travel Express. Designed with the wireless Apple Keyboard in mind, the Travel Express can hold wireless keyboards and accessories from other manufacturers as well. Measuring 13 x 7 x 1 inches, the Keyboard Travel Express is available in six colors. It can hold the Apple Wireless [...]
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Pioneer Elite VSX receivers pack AirPlay, DLNA streaming, more

2011-06-08T07:15:00.001-07:00

Pioneer has revealed its latest batch of Elite receivers, throwing in Apple AirPlay support along with the company’s own Air Jam collaborative playlist system, which allows multiple devices to contribute tracks to a single playlist. The Pioneer VSX-40, VSX-50, VSX-51, VSX-52 and VSX-53 offer seven channels of up to 110W each, have DLNA streaming media support [...]
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Windows Phone chief “feeling flattered” over iOS 5 design

2011-06-07T08:23:00.003-07:00

Steve Jobs may have called 2011 the “Year of the copycats” back at the iPad 2 launch, but it seems it’s other firms feeling the warm, muse-like glow of being inspirational in the aftermath of the big iOS 5 reveal. Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s director of Windows Phone, took to Twitter to say he was “feeling [...]
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HTC Sensation with AT&T 3G/4G support hits FCC

2011-06-07T08:23:00.001-07:00

Could AT&T be getting an HTC Sensation 4G of its own? A version of the dual-core HTC superphone has been spotted crossing the FCC as the PG58110, complete with support for AT&T’s GSM 850/1900 and WCMDA bands V and II. That would allow it both voice and data access on 3G and HSPA+ 4G networks. Test [...]
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E3 2011: EA Shows off Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, Need For Speed and more

2011-06-06T22:02:00.003-07:00

More action is kicking off at E3 2011 as the EA event is about to get started. It looks like we are getting right into the good stuff with Mass Effect 3, then some Need for Speed, followed with what is surely to be the biggest game for them coming up, and that is Battlefield [...]
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FIFA 12 Football Club Reveal from E3

2011-06-06T22:02:00.001-07:00

When Matt Bilbey, Vice President of football for EA, took the stage at E3 today, we had no idea what that would mean for FIFA fans: the new Tactical Defending, the Player Impact Engine, and the biggest announcement of all the new EA Sports Football Club. Definitely some exciting announcements from EAs Matt stated, Football [...]
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T-Mobile Sensation 4G Review

2011-06-06T05:32:00.003-07:00

The approach of the T-Mobile Sensation 4G may have been keeping Android fans awake at night, but I wasn’t one of them. I have to admit, I haven’t been feeling HTC’s recent handsets. Sure, they’re well made and reliable, but it also felt like the company had taken a cookie-cutter approach, churning out little-changed me-too [...]
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Acer outs H9500 DLP home theater video projector

2011-06-06T05:32:00.001-07:00

The last time we talked about a new projector from Acer was back in February when the P5403 debuted. Acer is back with another new projector today called the H9500. The projector is suitable for use in your home theater and has full HD resolution with a 16:9 native aspect ratio. Acer packs the projector [...]
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Team to show off TP1023 sport mobile HDD at Computex

2010-05-27T05:14:00.001-07:00

Computex is set to kick off next month and there are lots of companies starting to offer up a bit of tease on the products they will be showing off there. One of the items that Team will be unveiling is the TP1023 sport disk.

The TP1023 reminds me a bit of a Ferrari with its bright red paint and is in fact designed to resemble a sports car. The drive has a suspension system for the internal HDD to reduce shock and make the drive more rugged. It also features an automatic suspend mode that shuts the drive down after it idles for a specific length of time to reduce power consumption.

The TP1023 will be offered in 500GB, 640GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities. The HDD inside the chassis is a 5400 RPM unit and Team will offer the drive in USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 varieties. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

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Viliv S10 Blade factory delay: won�t ship until April 27th

2010-04-17T00:03:00.001-07:00

Bad news if you’ve set your heart on a Viliv S10 Blade, with word coming from importer Dynamism that the convertible touchscreen netbook has been delayed from its original April 22nd ship date. �The retailer is now showing various estimates, ranging from April 27th for the Atom Z530 models with the 64GB SSD, through to May 10th for the Atom Z550 variants.

The 32GB SSD models, which have an Atom Z530 CPU, are delayed until May 5th, while the entry-level machine – with a 60GB hard-drive and Windows XP rather than Windows 7 as found on the other S10 versions – is due May 7th. �No word on the exact cause of the schedule change beyond that the S10 Blade has been “delayed by the factory”, according to an email sent to a preorder customer.

[via Engadget]

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Addonics unveils new Network Attached USB adapter

2010-04-14T22:29:00.001-07:00

If you have a network in the home or office being able to share USB devices like scanners, printers, and webcams can save lots of money and install hassles. The catch is that some network devices cost a lot more than other devices lacking integrated network capability.

Addonics has unveiled a new network attached USB adapter than lets anyone connect USB devices to their network and have them accessible to any computer that has network connectivity. The adapter sells for about $50.

The adapter works with all sorts of USB devices including webcams, speakers, external storage, optical drives, and any other USB device. The adapter has a gigabit network connection and can transfer data at up to 30MB/s.

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MeeGo details spill: UIs for netbook & smartphone, more

2010-04-13T23:45:00.003-07:00

Intel’s developer conference kicked off in Beijing this week, and among the announcements there’s talk of their MeeGo collaborative platform with Nokia. �That includes some UI examples – for both netbooks, as seen here, and mobile devices, which you can see after the cut – together with feature lists and roadmaps. �Nothing specific in terms of actual device releases, of course, but Intel have confirmed that MeeGo v1.1 should land in late October 2010.

Netbooks running MeeGo will get an updated UI that splits the desktop into various content chunks, linked to social networks, calendars, internet widgets and more. �The preloaded browser will be Google’s Chrome (with Chromium as backup) while Firefox slips to being an option, and there’ll be plenty of connectivity support including WiMAX, WiFi and 3G. �Multitouch and gestures will be supported in the underlying middle-ware.

As for mobile devices like smartphones, Intel are saying there’ll be the Fennec browser, tight social network integration and cloud data sync. �VoIP is also onboard, together with 3G voice and data, plus location-based services. �As for the UI shots, they show a device potentially running in both portrait and landscape orientation. �Plenty more information and analysis at Carrypad.

[via Carrypad]

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Sony Optiarc offers new external DRX-S77U and internal AD-7260S DVD burners

2010-04-13T23:45:00.001-07:00

Sony Optiarc has announced a couple new DVD/CD burning optical drives for different user groups. One of the drives is an internal and the other is an external slim burner. Both are available to purchase online and at retailers now.

The DRX-S77U is a lightweight external slim drive that can burn up to 8X DVD+/-R discs. It can also write to DVD+RW discs and read DVD-RAM discs. It connects to the host PC via USB 2.0 and comes in several colors including black, white, pink, and gold. The drive seems to be aimed at Sony netbook users.

The company has also unveiled a new AD-7260S internal DVD/CD recorder. It has a 24x max burn speed for CDs and DVDs. The drive has buffer under-run technology and offers LightScribe technology for disc labeling using compatible media.

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Flip Slide HD on sale before it�s even officially launched

2010-04-13T01:07:00.001-07:00

Flip’s latest pocket camcorder, the Slide HD, has not only made it to Best Buy before the company have officially announced it, but actually been sold too. �Scott Peterson headed down to his local Best Buy in Roseville, California, and picked up the sliding/tilting video camera – complete with touchscreen and HDMI port – for $279.

Video demo after the cut

Apparently functionally the Slide HD is pretty much on a par with previous Flip camcorders, only it has a new 3.5mm headphone socket in case you want to preview your footage while on the move. �There’s 16GB of onboard memory, good for up to 4hrs of HD-quality video.

There’s no sign of an official press release from Cisco yet, but we’re guessing that if stock is already at – and leaving – retail stores then it’s likely to come sometime this week. �Still, you could always try to jump the queue and see if they’ll sell you one early.

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Motorola add 3D support to DCX set-top boxes

2010-04-12T22:56:00.001-07:00

Motorola may not make HDTVs, but that doesn’t mean they can’t jump aboard the 3D home entertainment bandwagon. �The company has announced that it will be pushing out an update for its 1080p24/30-capable set-top boxes that adds automatic 3D content handling.

By integrating the 2D/3D processing in-box rather than leaving it up to the HDTV itself, it means less remote juggling and menu surfing for the viewer. �Meanwhile, since the Motorola DCX box is handling the content, it automatically converts the on-screen guide, any captions or subtitles, or other messages so as to be presented in 2D or 3D as appropriate.

No word on when the update will be distributed, nor which cable companies are planning to take advantage of it, but of course they’ll need to be offering 3D content themselves, anyway. �Still, it hopefully means one less hurdle to getting 3D movies into the home.

Press Release:

Motorola Introduces Innovative 3D TV Set-Tops for Cable
Advanced processing within set-top portfolio significantly enhances the consumer’s 3D experience
The Mobile Devices and Home business of Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced today software enhancements for its industry-leading DCX line of set-tops that represents a breakthrough in 3D video processing, providing consumers with an exceptional and seamless 3D TV experience in their home. By enabling 3D content to be processed in the set-top before delivery to the 3D-capable television, consumers will no longer be confused by having to use remote controls and access on-screen menus to configure the set-top and television set every time a channel change involves switching between 2D and 3D video. Furthermore, all of this is done while maintaining the visual integrity of emergency broadcast messages, closed captioning or on screen displays while 3D video is playing.
“Motorola has been developing 3D technology for more than 10 years, leading the industry with innovative solutions that support the deployment of 3D TV to the home,” said John Burke, senior vice president, Motorola Mobile Devices and Home. “The development of this 3D software enhancement gives our service provider customers a straightforward solution for deploying high-quality 3D TV services today using their existing video delivery infrastructure. By focusing on the customer’s viewing experience Motorola has taken 3D TV to the next level and helped our industry to bring the experience of 3D from the theater into the living-room”
With many service providers having already announced their intent to broadcast select 3D programming, there are several challenges to overcome to deliver 3D signals to the home using currently deployed infrastructure and devices. Although frame-compatible 3D content can be passed through deployed set-tops and viewed on 3D TVs today, accessing the set-top on-screen guide and menu while watching 3D content provides an unsettling experience for the consumer. Motorola addresses these deployment challenges and maintains its leadership position in 3D TV by integrating 3D signal processing software into the set-top. Specifically, the new 3D TV-enabled set-tops provide the following functionality:
3D format detection: The 3D TV processing software automatically detects the presence of 3D content and identifies the type of 3D format used to ensure proper delivery and display on the 3D TV. As a result, the consumer will be able to seamlessly switch between 2D and 3D channels. Additionally, the set-tops support 3D TV over both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 and are capable of 1080p24/30 output.
Content reformatting: Upon detection of 3D content, the set-top automatically reformats all on-screen text and graphics to match the incoming 3D format so that they can be correctly displayed by the 3D TV set. The 3D processing software supports all on-screen displays such as closed captioning, emergency alerts, application graphics and text overlays, as well as existing EPGs and applications.
3D TV is becoming a hot new viewing format and participants across the ecosystem are targeting home viewing. Momentum is building, and IDC survey data shows that consumers that have experienced 3D in the movie theaters express a greater willingness to pay for 3D-capable devices,” said Greg Ireland, IDC Consumer Markets research manager. “Motorola is successfully demonstrating its ability to support 3D TV and continues to be one of the leading providers of 3D TV solutions.”
“Motorola’s portfolio supports the end-to-end delivery of frame-compatible 3D signals today, making it easier for service providers to deploy 3D services,” continued Burke. “The fact that service providers are starting to embrace 3D TV will only increase consumer interest and further drive demand for 3D programming and services. Motorola is committed to continued innovation for 3D TV to help our customers be successful deploying this exciting new service.”
To spur greater 3D TV deployment, Motorola will be working with customers to add 3D TV support to members of Motorola’s set-top product family beyond the DCX. For more information about Motorola and 3D TV, please click here
Motorola will be demonstrating these new 3D TV-enabled set-tops in its booth #SU2912 at the upcoming 2010 NAB Show in Las Vegas, NV, April 12-15.

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The Daily Slash: April 9th 2010

2010-04-11T22:28:00.003-07:00

It’s Friday night, and you’re probably out doing something else right now. Then again, if you’re reading this, maybe not. Unless you’ve got one of those fancy things that gives you the Internet in the palm of your hand. Then hopefully you’ve been taking SlashGear all over the place with you. In any case, welcome to the Daily Slash, where we bring you the best of the ‘net. First up, in the Best of R3 section, we’ve got the HTC Hero getting a new leak; the iPad feels a sizeable Quake; and AT&T is trying to change a few things. And then in the net, we pull up a good old story that just won’t die about Halo; a Chinese chess set perfectly placed in the digital age; bad news for England; and finally, a litter box of the future.

The Best of R3 Media

HTC Hero Gets Android 2.1 Leaked: So, people aren’t patient. We get that. Then again, when companies like HTC are slow to push out updates, the patience is hard to come by. And, despite the fact the latest rumor of Android 2.1 going the official route is April 9th, why should you wait any longer? A brand new leak for the HTC Hero has hit the Interwebs, but this is isn’t like all the other ones. This is a test ROM, officially from Sprint, for their branded Hero. It’s already rooted, and it’s not for the faint of heart. Don’t even try this unless you know what you’re doing. It’s not worth bricking your phone. [via Android Community]

The iPad Runs Quake at 70fps. ‘Nough Said: Quake is one of those ports that seems to be making the rounds quite well. In fact, we might even consider it the right of passage for some of the best portable gaming devices on the market. So, seeing it on the iPad isn’t that alien to us. Sure enough, it took a strong-willed developer less than 24 hours with his very own iPad to compile the game onto the tablet, and run it at a beautiful 70fps thanks to that A4 processor and PowerVR SGX GPU. There’s no control scheme right now, and he hasn’t made it public yet. But hey, at least you know it exists. [via Everything iPad]

AT&T Wants You to “Rethink Possible”: AT&T doesn’t have the best reputation on the block. In fact, it might be one of the least liked carriers out there. Or, perhaps the dissenter’s voices are just the loudest. Whatever the case, AT&T is hearing it, because they’re changing their ways. Starting to change their ways, anyway. They’re moving away from a monster wireless carrier, and trying to make people see them as a progressive lifestyle change. Interesting, to say the least. The change will take several months, and we’re wondering how this is going to go over with the customers. [via SlashPhone]

The Dredge Net

The Halo Movie Still Exists: If you’re a gamer, and if you’ve played any games within the Halo franchise, then you’ve probably heard (at least once) that there was a movie being passed around the high executives in Hollywood for quite some time. In fact, a few high ranking names were even tagged to direct and produce the film (who subsequently went to produce and direct another alien-based flick, District 9), but it all went down the drain when no one could agree on money. In fact, Microsoft even said the project was dead entirely. But, Frank O’Connor of the Redmond-based company and of Bungie Studios fame says the project is, in fact, still alive. They’re just biding their time, waiting for the perfect moment to launch it to the world. Consider our patience waning. [via Tom's Guide]

LED Chinese Chess Board of the Future Makes You Want to Learn How to Play: Playing board games is probably on the way out, especially considering tablets seem to be making it a lot easier, and more convenient, to play all of them. But, that’s not stopping other people from creating new ways to play chess. Take this LED Chinese chess game, for example. Based on a silica gel chessboard, you can roll it up for easy access when you’re travelling. You can push LED lights down, and they will activate based on the side that you’re sitting. There’s even a computer on board, just in case you can’t get someone to play with you futuristic Chinese chess set. [via Yanko Design]

England Isn’t Participating in Any 3D World Cup Matches: So, 3D is a huge part of the technology industry lately. And it’s probably not going anywhere any time soon. The World Cup is one of, if not the biggest sports events on the entire planet, and so FIFA (and everyone else even remotely tied to the football experience) is trying to make 3D games a possibility. They’ve made it happen before, and they’ve even got a huge list of matches that will be played in 3D. England isn’t included in any of the matches, though. Which is a huge crying shame, to be honest. [via CNET UK]

Litter Box Isn’t Much of a Box: If you’re a fan of cats, then you know that you don’t just get a cute, fluffy animal. You also get a smelly, large box to hold all the stuff they don’t want in their bodies anymore. Hey, it’s a part owning a cat. But, scooping is a hassle, especially when you have to sit over the box and smell all those fumes while you scoop the clustered mess. So, get ready to smack down $97 for this fancy litter box, where an air purifier will help you get rid of those terrible scents. Well worth the money, right? [via DVICE]

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Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch Responds to Apple�s Latest iPhone SDK

2010-04-11T22:28:00.001-07:00

By now you’ve heard about the ongoing war between Adobe and Apple. You’ve probably heard about it even if you live under a rock. It’s everywhere, and as we expected, it didn’t die down after the launch of the iPad. In fact, it seems to be getting worse after the announcement of iPhone OS 4.0. Especially when folks started navigating through the fine print and legal documentation, and we started to learn that Steve Jobs and company had begun a far stricter implementation of the rules for their SDK. More importantly, they tied the noose around Adobe’s figurative neck a bit tighter.

At its most basic level, Jobs doesn’t want Adobe powering any applications on his new devices, such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad. Even if Adobe’s CS5 product, Flash Professional, allows for developers to compile and package their finished product in a format for iPhone OS, Apple doesn’t want any part of it. If a developer tries to submit an application developed in that format, they will actually violate Apple’s new Terms of Service, and therefore their application is going to get kicked to the curb, rather than accepted into loving arms.

Writing on Adobe’s Conversations blog, CTO Kevin Lynch told all those listening that the iPhone packager was going to remain, and that if developers wanted to develop their applications in this format, they weren’t going to stop them. The only company that would be hindering the developers would be Apple, and therefore Lynch and the rest of Adobe is leaving it up to the figureheads at Cupertino to figure out the details. The truth is, and Lynch knows this, Adobe is everywhere, and if Apple doesn’t allow for developers to build in Adobe products, other companies will. There’s open arms somewhere else, basically. Apple isn’t the only house on the block. At this point, this fight is just beginning, ladies and gentlemen. It’s time to choose your side.

[via Adobe]

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AdSense Tip � Attract New Advertisers to your Site

2010-04-09T21:29:00.001-07:00

More advertisers could mean higher CPMs. Learn how to attract new advertisers to your Google AdSense enabled website.
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Role of VPN in Globalized World

2010-03-27T01:09:00.000-07:00

A VPN supports at least three different modes of use:

· Remote access client connections

· LAN-to-LAN internetworking

· Controlled access within an intranet

However, it would be better to find to discuss about the types of VPNs before analyzing the things where it can accommodate.

Secure VPNs use cryptographic tunneling protocols to provide the necessary confidentiality (preventing snooping), sender authentication (preventing identity spoofing), and message integrity (preventing message alteration) to achieve the privacy intended. When properly chosen, implemented, and used, such techniques can provide secure communications over unsecured networks. Because such choice, implementation, and use are not trivial, there are many insecure VPN schemes on the market. Secure VPN technologies may also be used to enhance security as a 'security overlay' within dedicated networking infrastructures

Trusted VPNs do not use cryptographic tunneling, and instead rely on the security of a single provider's network to protect the traffic. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is commonly used to build trusted VPNs

Technology Behind VPNs

Several network protocols have become popular as a result of VPN developments:

· PPTP

· L2TP

· IPsec

· SOCKS

These protocols emphasize authentication and encryption in VPNs. Authentication allows VPN clients and servers to correctly establish the identity of people on the network. Encryption allows potentially sensitive data to be hidden from the general public. Many vendors have developed VPN hardware and/or software products. Unfortunately, immature VPN standards mean that some of these products remain incompatible with each other.

VPN Tunneling: VPN technology is based on the idea of tunneling. Network tunneling involves establishing and maintaining a logical network connection .On this connection, packets constructed in a specific VPN protocol format are encapsulated within some other base or carrier protocol, then transmitted between VPN client and server, and finally de-encapsulated on the receiving side).

Two Types of VPN Tunneling

VPN supports both voluntary and compulsory tunneling. Both types of tunneling can be found in practical use. In voluntary tunneling, the VPN client manages connection setup. The client first makes a connection to the carrier network provider (an ISP in the case of Internet VPNs). Then, the VPN client application creates the tunnel to a VPN server over this live connection. In compulsory tunneling, the carrier network provider manages VPN connection setup. When the client first makes an ordinary connection to the carrier, the carrier in turn immediately brokers a VPN connection between that client and a VPN server. From the client point of view, VPN connections are set up in just one step compared to the two-step procedure required for voluntary tunnels.

Compulsory VPN tunneling authenticates clients and associates them with specific VPN servers using logic built into the broker device. This network device is sometimes called the VPN Front End Processor (FEP) (also Network Access Server (NAS) or Point of Presence (POP) servers). Compulsory tunneling hides the details of VPN server connectivity from the VPN clients and effectively moves control over the tunnels from clients to the ISP. In return, service providers must take on the additional burden of installing and maintaining FEPs.

VPN Tunneling Protocols

Several interesting network protocols have been implemented specifically for use with VPN tunnels. The three most popular VPN tunneling protocols listed below continue to compete with each other for acceptance in the industry. These protocols are generally incompatible with each other.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)

Several corporations worked together to create the PPTP specification. People generally associate PPTP with Microsoft because nearly all flavors of Windows include built-in client support for this protocol. The initial releases of PPTP for Windows by Microsoft contained security features that some experts claimed were too weak for serious use. Microsoft continues to improve its PPTP support, though.

Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

The original competitor to PPTP for VPN tunneling was L2F, a protocol implemented primarily in Cisco products. In an attempt to improve on L2F, the best features of it and PPTP were combined to create new standard called L2TP.

Internet Protocol Security (IPsec)

IPsec is actually a collection of multiple related protocols. It can be used as a complete VPN protocol solution, or it can used simply as the encryption scheme within L2TP or PPTP. IPsec exists at the network layer (Layer Three) in OSI.

VPN SECURE

The most important part of a VPN solution is security, the nature of VPNs — putting private data on public networks — raises concerns about potential threats to that data and the impact of data loss, where a Virtual Private Network must address all types of security threats by providing security services in the areas of:

Authentication - Authentication is the process of ensuring that a user or system is who the user claims to be, there are many types of authentication mechanisms, all work off of one or more of the following principles: a login name, a password, a token, a card key, fingerprint, retinal scan. A weak authentication makes use of one of these components, usually a simple login/password sequence but a strong authentication combines at least two authentication components from different areas.

Presentation - Encryption is based on two components: an algorithm and a key, a cryptographic algorithm is a mathematical function that combines data with the string of digits contained in a key to produce encrypted text. There are several major types of encryption of varying degrees of complexity, as measured by lengths (bits) of cryptographic keys like Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), RSA, Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECC).

Transportation - The modification of data packets in a network is an attack on data integrity. Message authentication is the procedure used to verify that received messages come from the alleged source and have not been altered

Non repudiation - Non-repudiation is a means to verify that an electronic message has been sent and received by the specified parties. This protects both parties to ensure that neither the sender nor the recipient can later claim the transaction did not take place, which is a vital not only while dealing contracts, but also for online sales of digital goods such as music and entertainment.

Unfortunately, VPN technology alone does not provide reliable proof about who is accessing the data at either end of the tunnel without strong authentication is incorporated, information may be shielded as it crosses the network only to fall into the wrong hands. However, RSA Security’s authentication solutions greatly reduce this risk by forcing external users to present multiple forms of identity to provide assurance that they are who they claim to be before they are granted access.

VPNs for Remote Access- A VPN can support the same intranet/extranet services as a traditional WAN, but VPNs have grown in popularity for their ability to support remote access service. In recent years, many organizations have increased the mobility of their workers by allowing more employees to telecommute where Employees continue to travel and face an increasing need to stay plugged in to the company network. Typically, a corporation that wishes to set up a large remote-access VPN provides some form of Internet dial-up account to their users using an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The telecommuter can then dial a 1-800 number to reach the Internet and use their VPN client software to access the corporate network. It can be better utilized when a company needs a remote-access for a large firm with hundreds of sales people in the field. Remote-access VPNs permit secure, encrypted connections between a company's private network and remote users through a third- party service provider. The overhead of maintaining such a system internally, coupled with the possibility of high long distance charges incurred by travelers, make VPNs an appealing option here.

VPNs INTERNETWORKING

VPN remote access architecture’s extension provides an entire remote network to join the local network. A server-server VPN connection joins two networks to form an extended Intranet or extranet rather than a client-server connection. To implement limited access to individual subnets on the private network, Intranets use VPN technology. In this mode, VPN clients hook up to a VPN server, which acts as a gateway to computers behind it on the subnet, However, it takes benefits of the security features and handiness of VPN technology.

ADVANTAGES

VPNs promise two main advantages over competing approaches – Cost Savings-One way a VPN lowers costs is by eliminating the need for expensive long-distance leased lines, with the help of VPNs, an organization needs only a relatively short dedicated connection to the service provider could be a local leased line (much less expensive than a long-distance one).

Another way VPNs reduce costs is by lessening the need for long distance telephone charges for remote access where VPN clients need only call into the nearest service provider's access point but in some cases it require a long distance call, but in many cases a local call will suffice.

A third, subtler way that VPNs may lower costs is through offloading of the support burden with VPNs, the service provider rather than the organization must support dial-up access, where Service providers can in theory charge much less for their support than it costs a company internally because the public provider's cost is shared amongst potentially thousands of customers.

Scalability -The cost to an organization of traditional leased lines may be reasonable at first but can increase exponentially as the organization grows. A Company with two branch offices, for example, can deploy just one dedicated line to connect the two locations. If a third branch office needs to come online, just two additional lines will be required to directly connect that location to the other two. However, as an organization grows and more companies must be added to the network, the number of leased lines required increases dramatically. Four branch offices require six lines for full connectivity, five offices require ten lines, and so on. Mathematicians call this phenomenon a "combinatorial explosion," and in a traditional WAN this explosion limits the flexibility for growth. VPNs that utilize the Internet avoid this problem by simply tapping into the geographically distributed access already available.

Compared to leased lines, Internet-based VPNs offer greater global reach, given that Internet access points are accessible in many places where dedicated lines are not available. The only way to properly deploy the appropriate VPN for any organization is to evaluate the needs of your operation and it’s remote clients. At that point you must evaluate the hardware involved on both ends, the operating systems on both ends, the Internet service on both ends, the applications software involved and more. Performance, security, and limitations of the existing infrastructure always dictate how you move ahead. Often this process is short and simple but there are a variety of unforeseen problems that can crop up if you do not carefully evaluate these elements. Whether in-house or through a vendor it is important to evaluate your existing systems and requirements first, to save time and money later. Once you have finished this part of the evaluation it will be a much simpler task to choose among various VPN approaches. Often something in the initial evaluation will mandate a certain VPN approach, if this is the case your choices will be easily defined. If you have very few limitations placed by your existing technology the decision becomes one of ROI, performance, and security demands.

DISADVANTAGES

With the hype that has surrounded VPNs historically, the potential pitfalls or weak spots in the VPN model can be easy to forget. These four concerns with VPN solutions are often raised like 1. VPNs require an in-depth understanding of public network security issues and taking proper precautions in VPN deployment. 2. The availability and performance of an organization's wide-area VPN (over the Internet in particular) depends on factors largely outside of their control. 3. VPN technologies from different vendors may not work well together due to immature standards. 4. VPNs need to accommodate protocols other than IP and existing ("legacy") internal network technology. Generally speaking, these four factors comprise the hidden costs of a VPN solution. Whereas VPN advocates tout cost savings as the primary advantage of this technology, detractors cite hidden costs as the primary disadvantage of VPNs.

CONCLUDING REMARKS:

The success of VPNs in the future depends mainly on industry dynamics. Most of the value in VPNs lies in the potential for businesses to save money. Should the cost of long-distance telephone calls and leased lines continue to drop, fewer companies may feel the need to switch to VPNs for remote access. Conversely, if VPN standards solidify and vendor products interoperate fully with other, the appeal of VPNs should increase. The success of VPNs also depends on the ability of Intranets and extranets to deliver on their promises. Companies have had difficulty measuring the cost savings of their private networks, but if it can be demonstrated that these provide significant value, the use of VPN technology internally may also increase. VPNs do not offer any network services that aren't already offered through alternative mechanisms. However, a VPN does use a unique mix of technologies that promises to improve on the traditional approaches. A well-designed VPN should incorporate the following: Security, Reliability, Scalability, Network Management, and Policy Management

"http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/role-of-vpn-in-globalised-world-497961.html"

Simple way To have Your Secure VPN Tunnel

2010-03-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

First what do we are expecting from a VPN tool? Answers are very simple:

Since the Data should pass through a public network then you need to assure the protection (Data security).

SLA (service Level Agreement) as all amounts of Data is received by destination.

Easy to configure.

Multi-platform support.

Cost effective.

How Hamachi is going to protect our data privacy?

Since Hamachi is a central managed VPN connection that means the Server is managed by the Vendor.

Then all what you need is to install the Client software’s in order to connect to that server and establish your own group of computers. To perform this task Hamachi’s Client exchange a Key value with the server once they agreed on a Key then only peers you are targeting can encrypt your Data. LoGMeIn (Hamachi’s owner)servers authenticate all peers using RSA key-pair, then to login the client submit its Hamachi’s IP which is assigned by the server, when the client connect it announced what key is expect s the server to have. This simple logic cans grantee the establishment of your Tunnel but you need to enter a user name and password for the destination to be authenticated (OS user).

Data loss in communication ?

Off course data loss were depends on many items such as your ISP connection, firewall configuration, software’s you are using what if they are original or not, sending across different platform, etc.

If we can assure all mentioned items then you can guarantee a perfect data communication between your business units.

Further more Hamachi will not disturb your internet connection by taking all the bandwidth for the VPN tunnel as some Tools done instead Hamachi will work under virtual Ethernet Adapter giving different IP address, this will enable you to continue your normal web browsing while your secure communication with other Business unit is established.

Easy to configure ?

All you need to do is to click on the network menu and select create new network then type your new network name and password, and don’t forget to send to other people your network name and password to join you by selecting from network menu join an existing network. That is all what you need to spend on configuration 1 minute.

Multi-platform support ?

Simply, YES. Further more it can work under virtual machine I tested.

Cost effective?

It’s free to use.

Also you can use Hamachi to perform a remote administration; this can be done as well by combine the benefits of VNC and Hamachi. We tested and the result was great. I can show you how to do it,

After installing Hamachi you will have a global IP address, through this IP you can reach your remote nodes if Hamachi and VNC are configured. All you need is to type that IP plus configured port in VNC Viewer as example:

Hamachi IP:0

Then presses connect and perform your remote administration.

"http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/simple-way-to-have-your-secure-vpn-tunnel-589491.html"

Simple Way To Protect Against Malicious Programs

2010-03-27T00:56:00.000-07:00

Ok let’s start by some definitions, all you need is to read carefully and feel free to contact me for any assistant, last days I have received a lot of inquiries concerning Viruses, Worms, and Bacteria, etc so I noticed that many people have confused about some terms, Let’s See

Viruses

A computer virus is a computer program or Script that can copy itself and contaminate a computer devoid of permission or knowledge of the user. The name "virus" is also commonly used to refer to many different types of malware and adware programs. The original virus may modify the copies, or the copies may modify themselves. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or the Internet, or by carrying it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive. Meanwhile viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network shared file system.

Recent viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, Instant Messaging and file sharing systems to spread.

Virus Phases:

Virus Phases can be grouped into four categories as listed below:

Dormant Phase:The Virus is idle.
Propagation Phase:The Virus places an identical copy of itself into other programs.
Triggering Phase:The Virus is activated to perform the function for which it was intended.
Execution Phase:The function is performed.
Types of Viruses:

Parasitic Viruses

A parasitic virus attaches itself to a file in order to propagate. It generally keeps most of the file intact and either adds itself to the start or end of the file, COM and EXE files are easiest to infect, as they are simply loaded directly into memory and execution always starts at the first instruction.

Memory resident Viruses

A virus that stays in memory after it executes and after its host program is terminated. In contrast, non-memory-resident viruses only are activated when an infected application runs.

Resident viruses contain a replication module that is similar to the one that is employed by nonresident viruses. However, this module is not called by a finder module. Instead, the virus loads the replication module into memory when it is executed and ensures that this module is executed each time the operating system is called to perform a certain operation. For example, the replication module can be called each time the operating system executes a file. In this case, the virus infects every suitable program that is executed on the computer.

Resident viruses are sometimes subdivided into a category of fast infectors and a category of slow infectors. Fast infectors are designed to infect as many files as possible. For instance, a fast infector can infect every potential host file that is accessed. This poses a special problem to anti-virus software, since a virus scanner will access every potential host file on a computer when it performs a system-wide scan. If the virus scanner fails to notice that such a virus is present in memory, the virus can uses the virus scanner and in this way infect all files that are scanned. Fast infectors rely on their fast infection rate to spread. The disadvantage of this method is that infecting many files may make detection more likely, because the virus may slow down a computer or perform many suspicious actions that can be noticed by anti-virus software. Slow infectors, on the other hand, are designed to infect hosts infrequently. For instance, some slow infectors only infect files when they are copied. Slow infectors are designed to avoid detection by limiting their actions, they are less likely to slow down a computer noticeably, and will at most infrequently trigger anti-virus software that detects suspicious behavior by programs.

Boot Sector Viruses

A boot sector virus is a computer virus which infects the boot sector on hard disks, floppy disks, and theoretically also other bootable media such as CD's and DVD's.

A boot sector virus infects or substitutes its own code for either the DOS boot sector or the Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR is small program that runs every time the computer starts up. It controls the boot sequence and determines which partition the computer boots from. The MBR generally resides on the first sector of the hard disk.

Since the MBR executes every time a computer is started, a boot sector virus is extremely dangerous. Once the boot code on the drive is infected, the virus will be loaded into memory on every startup. From memory the boot virus can spread to every disk that the system reads.

Some CMOS setups can be configured to prevent writing to the boot sector of the hard drive. This may be of some use against boot sector viruses. However, if you need to reinstall or upgrade the operating system, you will have to change the setting back to make the MBR writable again.

Stealth Viruses

A stealth virus is a file virus that uses special techniques to hide its presence from users and virus scanners. This is achieved by intercepting the read request to the file and returning the content of the original read request to the uninfected file. Once the computer has been infected, the virus can make modifications to allow the computer to appear that it has not lost any memory and/or that the file size has not changed.

When an antivirus program tries to detect the virus, the stealth virus feeds the antivirus program a clean image of the file or boot sector.

Polymorphic Viruses

It’s a Virus that changes its signature every time by replicates and infects a new file in order to trick the antivirus program. But what is the Virus signature? The virus signature is like a fingerprint in that it can be used to detect and identify specific viruses. Also it could refer to an algorithm or hash that uniquely identifies a specific virus. It may be a static hash that calculated numerical value of a snippet of code unique to the virus. Also, the algorithm may be behavior-based Anti-virus software uses the virus signature to scan for the presence of malicious code.

Bacteria

Bacteria are programs that do not explicitly damage any files. Their only purpose is to replicate themselves. Bacteria reproduce exponentially, eventually taking up all the processor capacity, memory, or disk space.

Worms

A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computer terminals on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. Unlike a virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause harm to the network, if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer.

Many worms come in the form of email file attachments, or as hidden additions to actual email messages, which trigger the execution of infectious code, In addition to email, worms can also infect computers via web sites, file sharing systems, instant messages, and more. Therefore, any computer connected to the Internet runs the risk of being infected with a malicious worm.

Once installed on a computer, worms spontaneously generate additional email messages containing copies of the worm. They may also open TCP ports to create networks security holes for other applications.

Trojan horse

The phrase is derived from the classical story of the Trojan horse. In computer security a Trojan is a program or command procedure containing hidden code that, when invoked, performs some unwanted or harmful function. Trojan horse programs can be used to accomplish functions indirectly that an unauthorized user could not accomplish directly. For example, to gain access to the files of another user on a shared system, a user could create a Trojan horse program that, when executed, changed the invoking user's file permission so that the files are readable by any user.

Trojan horse is almost designed to cause harm, but it can also be harmless. They are classified based on how they violate and damage systems. The six main areas where Trojan horse are often used:

· Remote Access
Data Destruction
· Downloader
· Servers (Proxy, FTP, IRC, Email, HTTP/HTTPS, etc.)
· Security settings disabler
· Denial-of-service attack (DoS)

Logic Bomb

A logic bomb is a piece of code intentionally inserted into a software system that will set off a malicious function when specified conditions are met. For example, a programmer may hide a piece of code that starts deleting some important files.

Some use for a logic bomb is to ensure payment for software. If payment is not made by a certain date, the logic bomb activates and the software automatically deletes itself. A more malicious form of that logic bomb would also delete other data on the system.

Trap Door

Undocumented entry point written into code for debugging that can allow unwanted user to access the system.

Trap Door can be a hardware or software-based and it’s always hidden acting as entrance to a computer system that can be used to bypass the system's security policies.

Dear reader now it’s the time to learn how to simply distinguish between mentioned malicious programs, some one may ask why I need to distinguish among such programs. OK, in order to protect your system you need to know first you are protecting against what. Because each malicious program has its own technique in order to defend.

Let’s be more practical and learn how malicious programs can affect our files, we will mainly talk about Windows operating system.

The Windows operating system recognizes file types and associates them with programs based on their file extension. That means Windows might recognize filename.htm as being associated with Internet Explorer. Thus, when a user opens filename with htm extension, Windows will first open Internet Explorer that will handle opening the file. When Windows is first installed, certain file type associations are automatically assigned, as example the default handler for .TXT files is the Notepad program.

When new programs are installed to the system, they will often add new file types associated with that program or even change previous file type associations to be handled by the new program. Consider Windows Media Player (WMP) is the default handler for .MP3 files, if similar program is installed, it will prompt during the installation to change the default handler from WMP to that new similar one (Since both applications has the ability to open same data files). And If allowed, this will cause an MP3 files (or any others it may have re-registered) to be opened by new installed program in the future, instead of WMP.

Viruses can do exploit files and their associations moreover Virus can change some extension or redirect them to another hidden program. It is important that file extension viewing is enabled and that you are aware of which extensions are associated with which programs. Before proceeding further, ensure file extension viewing is enabled on your system.

Most of common malicious codes contaminates are done through compiling some scripts. When you have .vbs extension file (these files written using VBScript and it is a scripting language) it’s executed by wscript.exe as its associated program.

The main purpose of this program is to enable developers to construct their own instruction using notepad or any free editor to write the code and save it with .vbs extension (or any other script formats), when you click on such file some function or functions are performed through its associated program mainly the Windows based script host (wscript.exe) to do specific task, if the code was written by a Hacker or Cracker then this task may harm your computer.

The question is do we really need the wscript.exe? Ok, this depends on many items like whether you are using individual computer or not? What if you or the one who may share the computer with you are interesting in code development? Number of useful programs that have been installed to your system and they require to use or to access some script files.

If you are confused about your answer or you are not sure don’t worry we will show you a easy way to get a ride of unwanted script debugging without the need to remove the wscript.exe, simply we are going to change the association of the script file that have the .vbs extension to be established using non related program example Notepad.

Let’s start step by step, first on your Windows explorer select Tools,

Second from the tools menu select Folder Options, and then click on the tab File Types and navigate till you find your desired extension, here we need to mention that its totally danger to randomly change the file association for any extension unless you know what you are doing otherwise you will case a serious problem for your Operating system and it may totally be damaged. So please try to be careful while choosing your file extension.

Third, press on button Change, and from Open With window choose Notepad .

Make sure that the option always use the selected program to open this kind of file, is ticked then press Ok, and Close.

By this point you should know how to disable the ability of Windows from executing some scripts data file based on their extensions. without deleting the program wscript.exe, To re-enable the script debugging for some extension do the same procedure and select wscript instead of notepad or simply press on reset button.

Beside scripts debugging some large packages are often include their own built-in programming languages. In such case malicious code could be written as macros. Before going further let’s agree on that, macro is an instruction that carries out a list of program commands automatically. Some applications (Example: Word Processing, spreadsheets, presentation slides and more some.) allow macro programs to be embedded in documents, so that the macros may be executed automatically when the document is opened, this provides a suitable way by which malicious program’s can be spread.

When accessing a document with embedded macro code’s a copy of that macro resides on the computer and then any document on same computer that uses the same application can become infected. If a copy of an infected file is passed to anyone else through email or any removable media the malicious program can spread to the recipient's computer. This process of infection will end only when the malicious program is detected and disabled or removed. But the main difficulty is that many popular modern applications allow macros, also macro codes can be written with very little specialist knowledge. You can create your own trusted certificate (Certificate is a unique ID same as fingerprints) to enable digital authority for macros debugging and this certificate should be assigned to specific document, as example Microsoft Office supports such kind of certificates and all you need to do is to Run Selfcert.exe from My Computer or Windows Explorer (you can find it in Microsoft Office tools under the name Digital certificates for VBA projects). Then in the Your name box, type the name you want to associated with this certificate, and then click OK, Selfcert.exe will create and install a self-signed certificate that you can use to sign VBA projects on the current computer. More setting is required to make the system trust your certificate and this can be done using certmgr.msc. To open this program from Start menu choose run and type certmgr.msc. Then move your certificate from personal to trusted certification folder.

Don’t forget to associate your new certificate with your existing documents; this can be obtained by pressing keys alt+f11 to open the VB editor for the document then choose from the bar Tools, from Tools menu select Digital Signature, from the new opened window select your certificate note that one certificate can be assigned for many documents.

Malicious Code Execution Prevention

Another technique you can use in order to prevent malicious programs as of been executed from the memory is to use that well known security feature the Data Execution Prevention (DEP). DEP can be defined as a set of hardware and software technologies that perform additional checks on memory to avert malicious code from running on a system and it’s available in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 and Windows Vista (also its included in Windows server 2003, 2008 but this Article i will cover just the OS for personal computers), these technologies can be enabled for both hardware and software. However you need to be aware about the compatibility of your processor (some processors does not support the DEP) in case of hardware enforced DEP or the compatibility of your applications and services in case of software enforced DEP.

Hardware-enforced DEP

Hardware-enforced DEP flags all memory locations in a process as non-executable except if the location trustily contains executable code. When a malicious program tries to insert and run code from non-executable memory locations Then DEP will act to prevent these attacks by intercepting them immediately.

Software-enforced DEP

With software enforced Data Execution Prevention, security checks will be enabled in order to block malicious code that takes advantage of exception-handling mechanisms in Windows. Software-enforced DEP runs on any processor that can run Windows XP SP2. By default, software-enforced DEP helps protect only limited system binaries, regardless of the hardware-enforced DEP capabilities of the processor.

What Social Needs Does Chatroulette Fill?

2010-03-25T20:58:00.003-07:00

I believe you have already heard of Chatroulette, the new video chat platform that has attracted the attention of millions. In February there were 30 million unique visitors to the site. That's 1 million new users each day. The site made quite a buzz on the news media, blogs, and Twitter. Comscore reports 1 million U.S. visitors in February with a predominance of 18- to 24-year-old males.

The platform looks premature (it might be part of its charm) as it comes with one feature only: the next button. (By clicking it you are skipping from one user to another.) The next feature is vital as it gives the user a sense of control. I would even consider naming the hype around its users the "Next" Generation.

Sponsor

Guest author Dr. Taly Weiss is a marketing trends researcher with a PhD in Social Psychology, a digital research expert, and the founder of TrendsSpotting trends agency. Her digital trends insights are presented at The TrendsSpotting Blog and she follows consumer trends at TrendOriginal.com. Taly's academic work contributes to the field of Behavioral Economics. TrendsSpotting offers customized and syndicated research reports, published at top market research databases. She can be contacted at talyweiss@trendsspotting.com.

What a powerful (yet dangerous) tool that can be for people who seek to experience the control they lack in their personal life. The Next Effect is well embedded in the whole Chatroulette random experiment.

What social needs does such a platform serves?

Psychologically speaking, these random experiences can teach us on few important needs about social interactions.

the crave for peeking
(online) face to face
control (and at the same time - lack of control)
The no commitment effect.

Combine the four together and you understand the power and the addiction potential of Chatroulette.

We are all well familiar with the above needs:

Peeking into strangers' lives is what brought popularity to the reality TV shows. We humans receive instant gratification from the arousing feeling that comes when we are allowed inside private personal places.
Face to face interactions are certainly not new experiences on the Web. But they are getting to an extreme when you personally encounter strangers in their natural surroundings.
As to control, Chatroulette can well imitate an act of meeting strangers on the street. You can choose between two acts: you can play active or passive. They are both highly addictive. You can actively approach, and they might not get interested in you. You keep on trying. At the same time, you can choose to be the one who turns down interactions. That can be satisfying don't you think?
The no commitment part is achieved by users' anonymity. Chatroulette doesn't require any identification or user subscription. You don't have to work hard and fake your identity.

Finally, there is something new in these sets of random acquaintances that leaves you unprepared. This surprise element can never be achieved offline. While Twitter and Facebook let you follow strangers you choose to, Chatroulette adds more dimensions to these interactions. It is no longer about your friend's whereabouts or images, nor about reporting what's going on now. It's live and you get a chance to play with an imaginary sense of control. While in real life you hardly talk to strangers, here you get it as a social norm.

The future of random interactions:

I can think of several ways of making these interactions more intriguing - mobile interactions on the move (following people wherever they go) would definitely be hot, as well as the option to filter the people you meet by their location, age or gender.

But forget that for now. If Chatroulette were to succeeded in controlling immoral and pornographic activity, what a great human experiment it would open!

Discuss

Read More... [Source: ReadWriteWeb - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

Gravity: New Form of Fun for Groups or a Dinosaur at Launch?

2010-03-25T20:58:00.001-07:00

High-profile startup Gravity launched its group conversation website to the public tonight. Founded by three former MySpace executives - Amit Kapur, Steve Pearman, and Jim Benedetto - and backed by Redpoint Ventures and August Capital, Gravity "connects people with shared interests and helps them engage in meaningful and fun conversations."

Unlike other social networks that rely on previous relationships, Gravity connects users with others "you should know and should be talking to because they share your passions." Rather than rely on existing social connections, Gravity encourages users to make new ones.

Sponsor

Using metaphors from astrophysics Gravity allows users to create "Worlds" (topics)
that they can "orbit" (follow). �This metaphor does not extend to "Amir, the friendly neighborhood dinosaur" that serves as the guide.

There are real-time notifications to conversations that one "orbits," and the company indicates there will be an API that allows widgets to be embedded elsewhere.

Although Gravity seeks to do something new, the dinosaur might be an apt mascot, for the site seems to be in most respects a combination of forums and groups - two of the Internet's earliest forms of social networking. �The threads are organized chronologically, with embedded comments and the ever-popular "like" feature.

Liz Gannes wrote tonight on GigaOm that "the back end is a dynamic 'interest graph' with deep analytics about people's participation." She notes though that Om Malik "thinks the company is just hoping to latch onto general tech industry excitement about big data." TechCrunch had in-depth coverage of the companies plans for its data in December.

The service has been in private beta since December, and those who are active on Gravity already seem to be pleased with the service and with its look-and-feel. �I did get quick and friendly responses to the conversations I started there, although admittedly the topics seemed, well, conversational. �Contrast this with an informational site like Quora, a site founded by former Facebook CTO Adam D'Angelo, where users participate less in conversation than in Q&A. SnapGroups, a site started by Yahoo Groups inventor Mark Fletcher earlier this month, is similar as well.

Some say there are two types of people in social networking: �those who like Facebook and those who prefer MySpace. �The difference between Quora and Gravity might just echo this.

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Startup Strategy Roundtable: Validate Your Ideas

2010-03-25T17:57:00.011-07:00

I started doing my free Online Strategy Roundtables for entrepreneurs in the fall of 2008. Based on this work, I've been able to draw a few conclusions.

First, a good percentage of entrepreneurs don't bother validating their ideas. Another percentage are immediately interested in raising money. Raising money without validating the business is pretty much impossible. If we can address some of these patterns we have a chance at significantly reducing infant entrepreneur mortality.

At this morning's roundtable I worked with four new entrepreneurs, and this is what I learned.

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Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She has founded three companies and writes a business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy. She has a masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her three books, Entrepreneur Journeys, Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction, and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market are all available from Amazon. Her new book Vision India 2020 was recently released. Mitra is also a columnist for Forbes and runs the 1M/1M initiative.

Mel Marten presented ClaroConnect, described as being like a match.com for financial advisors and clients.� There was a discussion about the best way to monetize the business, whether charging an annual fee is preferred to monetizing every lead. Then the conversation turned to affiliate marketing.

Albert Santalo with CareCloud was next.� This Internet-based service simplifies the many tasks of the modern medical office. While this business has been validated by a growing list of clients, the positioning of their service needs to be more sharply defined in order to scale the business.� Through much give and take, the importance of segmentation and focusing on the strongest segment of their market was emphasized.�

Martin Linkov presented Favit, a product aiming to personally curate and simply present online content.� As a blogger and potential customer, I said I am looking for a service to curate and prioritize what other bloggers are saying about a topic I am blogging about to give my readers a fuller perspective.� But Martin is not looking to answer that need.� He demonstrates how difficult it can be to explain a complex service, while being pressed to succinctly define who the user is for this service, and what is the value proposition for the bloggers who are the stated channel.� The most valuable selling proposition for this service still needs to be defined and validated.�

Mark Hernandez pitched his business, After COOL Fitness.� I liked this business idea, there is clearly a need to fill in as physical education and recreation programs are being cut from school budgets.� Currently they are paid by grants and parents.� When I learned of the lopsided ownership structure of the business, I felt Mark's main priority should be to rework the capital structure of the business while continuing to organically grow the business regionally.

The roundtables are the cornerstone programming of a global initiative that I have started called One Million by One Million (1M/1M). Its mission is to help a million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond, build $1 trillion in sustainable global GDP, and create 10 million jobs.

In 1M/1M, I teach the EJ Methodology which is based on my Entrepreneur Journeys research, and emphasize bootstrapping, idea validation, and crisp positioning as some of the core principles of building strong fundamentals in early stage ventures.

You can find the recording of this roundtable session here.�Recordings of previous roundtables are all available here. You can register for the next roundtable here.

Photo by Laurent Cottier.

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Sweden is the World's Most Networked Country - U.S. Drops to Fifth Place

2010-03-25T17:57:00.009-07:00

In 2005, the U.S. still ranked as the most networked country in the world according to the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report. This report, which provides an extensive analysis of the economies and network infrastructures of 133 countries, has now demoted the U.S. to fifth place, and ranks Sweden, Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland as the most networked countries in the world. With regards to broadband adoption, the U.S. only ranks 22nd in the world.
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U.S. Has Some Catching Up to Do
As the report notes, the U.S. still boasts an environment that is highly conducive for information and communication technologies. The U.S. still ranks first when it comes to IT usage in business, and fourth for IT usage in government. On an individual level, however, the U.S. lags behind many other countries, mainly due to the low mobile subscription penetration rate - where the U.S. only ranks 72nd in the world - and the relatively low number of broadband subscribers (22nd). The report's authors base this assessment on information from 2008, however, and according to some data we saw earlier this year, broadband penetration in the U.S. was actually down in 2009.
China and India
China, which ranked at the bottom of the report's annual rankings in 2002 (64th out of 74 countries) has now moved up to 37th place (out of 133 countries). India, too, continues to climb up the the World Economic Forum's rankings and has now moved up to 43rd place.
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Verizon's VCast App Store: Good for Consumers, Better for Verizon

2010-03-25T17:57:00.007-07:00

Verizon Wireless prepares to take on the big names in mobile application stores, including Apple and Google, with the launch of its own carrier-specific "Vcast App Store" next week. Here, customers will be able to purchase mobile apps and pay for them on their monthly wireless bill. The store's launch was announced at the recent CTIA conference, where Verizon disclosed the launch date (March 29) and revealed other details about the store's planned operation. Most notably, the new VCast store has a revenue model that mimics that of Apple's iTunes. Application developers partnering with Verizon keep 70% of the revenue generated from app sales, while Verizon keeps the remaining 30% for itself.
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Verizon's VP of marketing John Stratton recently explained in an interview with CNET that the company is not trying to compete with the other application stores already out there, but rather partner with them. The store already has one launch partner, RIM, makers of the Blackberry line of smartphones.
Verizon Deals Itself into the App Store Game
But what do the VCast Store partners get out of the deal? Not revenue it seems. Only developers and Verizon share in that. Instead, the partners simply get access to a wider audience, which in turn supports their own developer community. And more developers means more apps, and more apps means better smartphone sales. That reasoning may explain why RIM is on board at launch time. Blackberry smartphones, although still a staple in the business world and, interestingly enough, still at the the top of the smartphone OS market in the U.S., don't have the developer community that Apple, Android and even Nokia with its Ovi store do. In fact, recent reports pegged Blackberry's app store size as 4th largest in a lineup that included the top six smartphone makers.
At least RIM is aware of this issue. "It's real simple; for this revenue stream to carry on and thrive," explains Jim Balsille, co-CEO of RIM regarding the company's mobile app offerings, "the applications need to be adopted so we can drive more BlackBerry sales. And this makes the carrier a strategic partner."
One-Click App Shopping
In addition to using its own Web site to provide an online application store where apps can be purchased, rated and downloaded, app store developers who partner with Verizon will also have access to APIs that allow them to tap into other Verizon services like location-based services and messaging. But the biggest benefit is that Verizon app shoppers, whether accessing the store via the website or mobile phone, don't have to pay for their applications on the spot using a specially created VCast account and associated credit card. Instead, the apps purchased are invoiced on a monthly cycle alongside minutes used and texts sent on customers' cell phone bills.

For consumers, the benefit is a one-click process for app buying. For Verizon, the benefit is that they've just re-inserted themselves into the revenue stream that is the mobile application market - a market growing so fast, it's expected to reach $17.5 billion by 2012. Unlike AT&T, which gets nothing every time an iPhone application is sold but then has to support the data traffic new apps bring to its network, Verizon hopes to make the mobile app store something that's mutually beneficial to customers and carriers alike.
The VCast application store will launch March 29. Interested developers can find support and have their questions answered over on the Verizon Developer Community forums.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.Discuss

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Google Apps in China: It May Work, It May Not

2010-03-25T17:57:00.005-07:00

The Google break from China raises some questions for the enterprise considering cloud computing. It's one thing if the network goes down. That can be fixed. But when the government does its own blockade, that's another story.
Google Apps customers face this very issue. Google has the thorny task of explaining to its customers of what they may expect when using Google Apps in mainland China.
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First off, it's important to clarify that Google is not shutting itself out of the China market. Google has stopped censoring its search services: Google Search, Google News, and Google Images on its Chinese domain, www.google.cn. But Google intends to continue to do R&D in China ad it will maintain a sales presence there.
But for people working in China, there can be a bit of a mixed message. What if you are using Google Apps in Beijing? What can you expect? To keep customers updated, Google has created a Google Apps status dashboard that updates daily to show what in the Google network is working on a day-to-day basis.
Google Groups, Blogger, YouTube and Google Sites are entirely blocked. This could pose a number of issues. For example, a customer may use Google Sites for an intranet, project site or an employee profile page. You could go on with the issues this presents but basically it's one of the downsides when using a cloud computing service in face of a repressing regime.
Google has some recommendations for those doing business in China:
"... it is important to know that there are several networking configurations and associated technologies available to help ensure ongoing access to your critical business services such as Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. These network configurations, such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection, secure shell (SSH) tunneling, or using a proxy server, are already in place by many businesses with worldwide operations who serve their users from various locations. Companies should consult their own technical, legal and policy personnel to find a solution that works best for them."
But then what if the applications do work? Where is the data? Who can access it?
Google says it does not host a customer's data in mainland China nor do Google employees in China not have access to Apps systems or customer data.
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YouTube Tries to Fix Its Comments Problem

2010-03-25T17:57:00.003-07:00

YouTube comment threads aren't exactly known for offering highly intellectual discussions. Today, however, YouTube is introducing a new experiment that is meant to highlight the best comments on any video. This experiment will offer a "highlights view" of comments that shows the top rated comments and comments from the uploader at the top of every comment thread.
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To opt-in to this experiment, just click here.
More Updates
This experiment also introduces a new way to view ratings. Just a few weeks ago, YouTube abandoned its star ratings in favor of a like/dislike system. In this new experiment, YouTube will now show exactly how many people likes and disliked a given video. Until now, any video you likes was also saved as a "favorite." Starting today, likes aren't automatically saved as favorites anymore.
To round up today's updates, YouTube will also start to surface "Most Liked" videos in various places on the site. According to today's announcement, the YouTube team hopes that "'most liked' becomes a reliable signal that helps you find quality videos to watch."
Fixing YouTube Comments: Is it Possible?
As we noted earlier this year, the new watch pages feature a far more minimalist design than YouTube's current layout. With today's updates, however, YouTube isn't trying to tweak the site's design as much as the comment culture on the service. It'll be interesting to see if these tweaks will help to bring up the level of discussion on the site, or if giving this much prominence to the uploader's comments will actually reduce the overall number of comments people will post on YouTube.
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CBS.com Testing HTML5 in Advance of iPad Release

2010-03-25T17:57:00.001-07:00

CBS.com is apparently adding itself to the lineup of big-name media properties scrambling to get their websites ready for the upcoming Apple iPad, due out on April 3. Recently, both the Wall St. Journal and NPR.org confirmed that they were revamping their sites using HTML5 markup language, the upcoming Web standard that supports video playback without a Web browser plugin. The reason for the overhauls? Apple does not support Adobe's Flash technology on their mobile devices, a lineup that also includes iPhones and iPod Touches. That means that CBS.com's Flash-based streaming video wouldn't play on Apple's new slate computers - devices expected to land in the hands of anywhere from 1 to 6 million customers this year, depending on which analyst predictions you go by.
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CBS iPad Tests Spotted in the Wild
A blogger at TheOtherMacBlog, Colum ODwyer, spotted what appeared to be HTML5 video tests late last night when two odd clips appeared on the CBS.com homepage. Screenshots were snagged showing accompanying text that read "iPad - test - dan config." (Oops, Dan, it looks like you pushed the wrong button!)
Another blogger from MacRumors, Arnold Kim, then followed up on this news by delving into the CSS of the CBS.com website itself to discover multiple references to HTML5, the technology that would be needed for viewing videos like these on the iPad. Kim also loaded up the CBS.com website using the iPad SDK Simulator, a tool provided to developers testing iPad applications. Since he was coming from a device which would appear to CBS's servers as an iPad, he was shown a different version of the site. Here, videos displayed with accompanying text that again read "iPad - test - dan config."
Without a doubt this is hard evidence that CBS is at least testing HTML5 technology with the iPad in mind. Whether or not CBS's website will actually be iPad-ready by April 3 is unknown at this time. ~~We have a call into CBS.com and will update this story with their comment when they phone back~~.Update: CBS will neither confirm or deny their iPad plans. A CBS spokesperson said the company "is constantly putting our content on a variety of platforms," and is "ready to test any idea that brings that content to the widest possible audience."
iPad Owners Want Their Free TV
The iPad is clearly meant to be a more of media consumption device than media creation device. Without a hardware-based keyboard (it's sold separately) or camera, consumers buying the iPad are expected to use it more for reading books and magazines, watching video and playing games than for creating media like videos, photos or even long-form text. For media publishers, the launch of the iPad means more pressure to convert their websites, either whole or in part, to HTML5. Although Flash is used for more than just video, publishers - and most notably sites featuring streaming video news reports or entertainment offerings like online TV shows - will be among the most heavily affected by the iPad's lack of Flash support.
In this case, CBS.com hosts a large library of videos in both standard format and HD. There are short clips as well as full length TV shows, all of which are offered for free to site visitors and are supported by in-stream ads that generate modest revenue for the broadcaster. Although you can find some of the company's content indexed on Hulu, the joint venture between NBC, Fox, ABC and others, clicking through on the links there redirects you over to CBS.com's own website. CBS also has a shaky relationship with Apple's iTunes, keeping popular shows like Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist either out of the store altogether or offering only limited seasons. (Neither appear to be available now.) In other words, if you want to watch CBS video from your computer, CBS.com is the most reliable place to find it. In that case, the company needs to get its website working on the iPad soon, or it will lose out on an audience that will potentially number in the millions by year-end.
Image credits: Videos, TheOtherMacBlog; CSI, MacRumors
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YouTube Tries to Fix Its Comments Problem

2010-03-25T14:57:00.001-07:00

YouTube comment threads aren't exactly known for offering highly intellectual discussions. Today, however, YouTube is introducing a new experiment that is meant to highlight the best comments on any video. This experiment will offer a "highlights view" of comments that shows the top rated comments and comments from the uploader at the top of every comment thread.
Sponsor
To opt-in to this experiment, just click here.
More Updates
This experiment also introduces a new way to view ratings. Just a few weeks ago, YouTube abandoned its star ratings in favor of a like/dislike system. In this new experiment, YouTube will now show exactly how many people likes and disliked a given video. Until now, any video you likes was also saved as a "favorite." Starting today, likes aren't automatically saved as favorites anymore.
To round up today's updates, YouTube will also start to surface "Most Liked" videos in various places on the site. According to today's announcement, the YouTube team hopes that "'most liked' becomes a reliable signal that helps you find quality videos to watch."
Fixing YouTube Comments: Is it Possible?
As we noted earlier this year, the new watch pages feature a far more minimalist design than YouTube's current layout. With today's updates, however, YouTube isn't trying to tweak the site's design as much as the comment culture on the service. It'll be interesting to see if these tweaks will help to bring up the level of discussion on the site, or if giving this much prominence to the uploader's comments will actually reduce the overall number of comments people will post on YouTube.
Discuss

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The Art of the VC Pitch: A Roundup of Advice from 6 VCs

2010-03-25T14:56:00.007-07:00

I have a few different friends who are trying their hands at entrepreneurship; some have met with investors already, while others are closing in on their meeting date with anticipation and uncertainty. Based on hearing some of the things they were doing to prepare for their meeting, I thought it would be wise to roundup some of the best pitch advice I've come across not only for them but for the other first time entrepreneurs out there who may not know what typical VC pitches are like.
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Pitches range in length from 5 quick minutes to a half hour or more, but what I have consistently seen while researching this topic is that no matter what length the pitch is, the key is to keep things simple and understandable while not patronizing the VC. But don't take my word for it, here is advice from six venture capitalists on various aspects of the all important pitch.
David S. Rose - How to Pitch an Angel (or VC)
If you're looking for "Pitching VCs 101," then look no further than Rose's 2008 TED University presentation on how to give presentations (embedded below). Rose, who has raised and invested millions through pitches, leads Rose Tech Ventures which after educating prospects on the art of the pitch saw investment rates climb. "Our investment rate more than DOUBLED, and we have funded over $35 million into more than 50 companies during the past six years," writes Rose.
Highlights from Rose's speech include taking the VC on an emotional journey during your pitch by telling a story, and remember that they are there to evaluate you more than your idea.

Chris Dixon - Pitch yourself, not your idea
Investor and entrepreneur Chris Dixon reiterated Rose's point last November that VCs are more interested in the quality of the team than the quality of the idea. Ideas are subject to change, but how people work and interact are pretty solid and unmovable, so remember to be self-aware, he says.
"What you should really be focused on when pitching your early stage startup is pitching yourself and your team," writes Dixon. "Of course a great way to show you can build stuff is to build a prototype of the product you are raising money for. This is why so many VCs tell entrepreneurs to 'come back when you have a demo.' They aren't wondering whether your product can be built - they are wondering whether you can build it."
Mark Suster - Who Should Attend Your VC Pitch?
Mark Suster, who has written extensively on pitching to VCs, brought up an interesting decision entrepreneurs need to make before their pitch: who is coming? Suster argues that for most situations just having the CEO is plenty, but that showing "the depth of your bench" can be beneficial too. However, there are several pitfalls he warns you to avoid when you start including more people in your pitch.
"If you bring the full team make sure that you construct the entire storyline in advance so everybody knows how you plan to have the meeting flow," writes Suster. Who is going to cover which slides, who is going to field which questions, how are you going to answer difficult questions (which you should write down in advance and practice). Definitely don't "wing it" - have practice sessions to see how each member performs. Honestly I would say a good 50% of team presentations that I see seem like they really haven't practiced the flow very well amongst team members."
Guy Kawasaki - The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint
Though originally posted in 2005, Kawasaki's rule of 10/20/30 in presentations still holds true. We've all seen those terrible presentations with way to many slides and way too much text that is way to small. The slideshow isn't supposed to do the talking for you, its merely a supplement to the wisdom that will come flowing from your voice.
"I am evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint. It's quite simple: a PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points. While I'm in the venture capital business, this rule is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc."
In another related post, Kawasaki points out this presentation as a great example of using visuals and text together with expert ability. It's not a great example of a VC pitch, but the presentation does a great job of conveying the message of the presenter. In other words, be more like Steve Jobs - that man knows how to pitch!
Don Rainey - The Top 5 Rookie Mistakes in Pitching VCs
Enough about what to do right, lets talk about what not to do. Among Rainey's list of the top mistakes made by novice pitches is presenting terms to the VCs, being late to the meeting, or asking VCs to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). But the number one issue Rainey sees all too often is when the entrepreneurs come to pitch a VC firm without any prior knowledge of the firm and its investments.
"One doesn't need be an expert on our history, track record or portfolio but a little knowledge can go a long way. Just a little awareness on our companies, professional background, and current boards, can drive efficiency for the person pitching an idea," writes Rainey. "If I've had three companies in Internet Advertising, for example, you can probably skip explaining simple concepts related to it. If one lacks that awareness, it wastes time AND undermines credibility. Plus, you look [like] someone who doesn't do what it takes to succeed because, in this instance, you haven't."
Bijan Sabet - Startup Presentations
Sometimes your aren't the only company pitching to VCs in a single day. In the case of this week's Y Combinator Demo Day, 26 startups presented back-to-back with one intermission. This means that by the 26th presentation, which could be you, the VCs in attendance are likely itching to get out of their seat and go meet the other entrepreneurs, so how will you grab their attention? Bijan Sabet says humor can be a great ice-breaker and get your audience engaged with your pitch.
"A number of entrepreneurs used humor in their presentations in just the right amounts. Too little and the presentation can by dry. Too much and it's just, well, a joke. But the right amount is a wonderful way to engage your audience," writes Sabet. "It's obvious that Paul Graham, the founder of YC, plays a huge role in helping these (mostly) first time entrepreneurs find their way and put together their presentations. And it's also obvious that these founders practice their pitch over and over again so they can nail it in a room full of strangers."
So what have we learned? Remember that you are just as much if not more important than the idea you are pitching, figure out before the pitch who is coming in the room and who is saying what, make sure your slides aren't poorly designed, avoid common rookie errors, and don't be afraid to spice things up with a dab of humor. Of course, there are a countless number of lessons to be learned before pitching VCs, but hopefully this has covered the basic and most important ones.
If you need an example of a well designed pitch deck, Mint.com (which was eventually bought out for big bucks by Intuit) recently made an early deck of theirs available on slideshare. If you have other suggestions for first-time pitchers, leave your thoughts in the comments!
Photo by Flickr user Dawn Ashley.
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3Tera Acquisition Complete - Disruption Fuels CA Move to the Cloud

2010-03-25T14:56:00.005-07:00

CA completed its acquisition of 3Tera today in what seems like a successive line of announcements about CA's push into the cloud as an infrastructure service provider.
In fact, the 3Tera announcement feels like yesterday's news in wake of the most recent announcement that CA is acquiring Nimsoft, the California based startup. Overall, CA has been a buying spree, acquiring a total of five companies in the cloud world. In addition to 3Tera and Nimsoft, CA has also purchased Cassatt, NetQos and Oblicore.
CA realizes that the halycon days of being an IT vendor are as solid as vaporous cloud. The real future is in adapting to the enterprise and its efforts to shed IT assets and move its applications to a cloud environment.
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The 3Tera and Nimsoft acquisitions exemplify this move.
3Tera
3Tera's AppLogic is a cloud management platform to move applications to a public or private cloud. It's widely viewed that AppLogic gives CA the ability to provide service providers with a set of management tools. It also gives 3Tera the capability to sell to enterprise customers. Some of the challenges concern the scope of AppLogic's virtualization capabilities. It is limited currently to the Xen platform. This could prove an issue as most companies have standardized on VMware. CA says it will broaden AppLogic's virtualization capabilities to VMware ESX and Microsoft HyperV.
Nimsoft
Nimsoft is a cloud management platform and benchmarking service. Cloud computing sounds fine and good but how it compares to on-premise applications can be a challenge to quantify. Nimsoft provides a unified monitoring environment for Google Apps, Salesforce.com, Amazon Web Services and Rackspace. Nimsoft also provides benchmarking tools that actually test and compare the differences, giving quantified results about the actual performance. The Nimsoft deal fits into CA's evolution as a

What's Next?
As stated on GigaOm, CA will hold its annual CA World event in May. We will learn more what is in store at that time. But we can expect to see its cloud strategy unfold a bit more, including SaaS services with upgrades at a pace that we see with SaaS providers.
The cloud management market is getting quite competitive but we have to keep in mind that customers are still a bit wary about cloud computing. And when companies are wary it means long decision making processes. And that means a longer sales cycle for the likes of companies like CA.
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Wordpress iPhone App Gets Geotagging

2010-03-25T14:56:00.003-07:00

WordPress' iPhone app (iTunes link) just got a nice update and now allows you to geotag your mobile blog posts. WordPress launched official support for geotagging posts through the web interface on Wordpress.com blogs last November, though bloggers with self-hosted WordPress installations have long been able to geotag their posts with the help of numerous plugins.

While the iPhone app supports both Wordpress.com and self-hosted WordPress blogs, users with self-hosted blogs won't see any advantage in geotagging their blogs until WordPress releases its own geotagging plugin in a few weeks.
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Geotags are Only Exposed in Your Blog's Feed (For Now)
For now, it doesn't look like there is any way to actually highlight a post's location directly in a post or on the blog, though WordPress.com's feeds are compatible with the GeoRSS format and the location attached to a post will appear in compatible services like Friendfeed. It would be nice if WordPress automatically added a link to your location on a map at the bottom of the post or gave you the option to display the location associated with this post in a sidebar widget.
Chances are, WordPress will do more with this in this information in the future. It would be nice, for example, if WordPress could highlight "nearby" posts or allowed users to browser post on a map.
How To Enable Geotagging in WordPress
By default, WordPress won't show your location, even on geotagged posts. To enable geotagging on Wordpress.com, you first have to enable it in the Wordpress.com settings for your blog. Look for the "Enable Geotagging" setting in the "Your Profile" tab.
To geotag your post from the iPhone app, simply click on the compass icon next to your new post's headline.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.
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Digg's iPhone App Might Be Better Than the Website

2010-03-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

Digg released its official iPhone app this morning and in many ways it's more usable than the website itself. The app is a little buggy, doesn't allow you to post comments and doesn't include the video or images section of the site - but it's still quite good.
The best is likely to come as the app's login process points to the next version of Digg as a platform. In that future scenario, top stories will be surfaced faster and more to your liking by integrating links shared by your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, there are a number of reasons I'm more likely to use this new app than I am to visit Digg.com.
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The new Digg app's design is clean, simple and easy to browse. No ads, no story summaries until you ask for one, no extraneous text about Digg features. It's much easier on the eyes than the site itself, which has grown overloaded with features, colors and text. Feature request: It sure would be nice to be able to peruse the images section of Digg on the iPhone, especially if there was a way it could be made fast.
Bookmarking stories to read later is smart. That's a feature unique to the iPhone interface. Browse your favorite categories looking for the stories you're interested in reading, bookmark them, then go back and see them all in one place. That's a compelling use-case, especially on mobile. What percentage of the stories on any Digg page do you really want to read? Hunting for interesting content amongst what's popular is part of the fun. Why stop hunting for fear of losing track of a gem you've found? Feature request: Instapaper integration. I'd love to hit up Digg while sitting on the tarmac before a plane takes off and easily save some good stories to read while up I'm in the air.
The "most popular" paradigm is particularly well-suited for mobile. If you're a serious web user, you probably get news and links from all over the web, not from one site. Right now Digg's links are probably old news to you, too. The limited selection or most-popular "in case you missed it" type of stories you'll find on the Digg front page is uniquely well suited to mobile reading. I don't have time to do too much exploration on my phone so please respect my time and recommend me some good stuff. Feature request: Please bring me personalized recommendations asap in this app.
The sooner those recommendations can be tied to the activities of my friends on Twitter and Facebook, the better. Unfortunately, it looks like that New Digg is still several months away.
Until it comes out, though, the Digg iPhone app is a pretty good way to follow popular news online. You can get it here or search for it in the app store.
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China To Media: Toe the Government Line on Google

2010-03-25T11:56:00.009-07:00

Lest we forget what is at stake with the situation involving Google and China, the Washington Post has published today a list of directions from the Chinese government sent out to all media outlets on how they are allowed to cover the incident. The rules are a stark reminder of why, no matter how long Google kowtowed to government demands there, the search engine's actions are important for the development of a free society.
Obtained and translated by China Digital Times, the instructions specifically outline how traditional and new media may or may not approach the topic.
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The instructions start out highlighting how important Google's actions are and how this importance is not to be emphasized to the public:
Google has officially announced its withdrawal from the China market. This is a high-impact incident. It has triggered netizens' discussions which are not limited to a commercial level. Therefore please pay strict attention to the following content requirements during this period:
The first instruction really says it all: "Only use Central Government main media (website) content; do not use content from other sources."
The Chinese government wants to stay on top of forming the message about Google and its place in China, as we saw with stories this past week about Google colluding with U.S. spies and being an agent of the U.S. government, not an agent of free thought, speech or change.
The instructions go on from there, directing media to use the government assigned title, refer only to government main media websites and control any and all discussion. The section on Internet media is particularly informative.
B. Forums, blogs and other interactive media sections:
1. It is not permitted to hold discussions or investigations on the Google topic.
2. Interactive sections do not recommend this topic, do not place this topic and related comments at the top.
3. All websites please clean up text, images and sound and videos which attack the Party, State, government agencies, Internet policies with the excuse of this event.
4. All websites please clean up text, images and sound and videos which support Google, dedicate flowers to Google, ask Google to stay, cheer for Google and others have a different tune from government policy.
5. On topics related to Google, carefully manage the information in exchanges, comments and other interactive sessions.
Not only are websites required to closely follow the governmental opinion on the subject, but they are to keep conversation in check. No "conversations" or "investigations" are to be held and all related content is not to be placed in a prominent position.
In case you're wondering through all of this what the Chinese government's take on Google is, exactly, it's that "Google Is Not God". And according to these instructions, this sentiment is something that needs to be repeated by all Chinese media alike.
And you thought U.S. media could be a mouthpiece for corporate and governmental interests.
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Huge Growth Projected for Web Tech, Software, Systems Job Market

2010-03-25T11:56:00.007-07:00

Looking for a job? You're probably about to find one. By the year 2018 there will be 1.4 million job openings for so-called "computer specialists" - that's everyone from developers to database administrators - according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The non-hardware-related job market is expected to grow faster than almost any other sector in the country. For instance, jobs for systems and application software developers are expected to grow 30%-34%. The number of network systems and data communications jobs will explode by 53%.
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The BLS' analysis, which measures from 2008 to 2018, found that only a few other job sectors are expanding as fast as tech. Health care is also at the top of the list - which makes sense considering the growing needs of the aging Baby Boomer generation. But many "computer specialist" jobs are unique in that they have some of the lowest replacement rates in the nation. That means those double-digit growth figures represent almost entirely new jobs.
Editors Note: This post is part of a series ReadWriteWeb is producing in partnership with Tableau Software, where we examine interesting data sets relevant to technology trends today. You can use Tableau Public to create interactive visualizations like this and publish them to your own blog or website or anywhere online. This is the last week to enter Tableau's User Generated Graph Contest. Winner will receive a free trip to Web 2.0 and $500. Sign up before March 26.
Play With the Data
The top graph shows what kind of education will be required for the fastest-growing jobs. The bottom graph puts employment growth into a wider perspective. You can play with the data yourself by choosing different education levels or job types. You can also download the data and create your own visualizations.
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Data source: Employment Projections Program, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Photo by Mark Puplava.
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Sweden is the World's Most Networked Country - U.S. Drops to Fifth Place

2010-03-25T11:56:00.005-07:00

In 2005, the U.S. still ranked as the most networked country in the world according to the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report. This report, which provides an extensive analysis of the economies and network infrastructures of 133 countries, has now demoted the U.S. to fifth place and ranks Sweden, Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland as the most networked countries in the world. With regards to broadband adoption, the U.S. only ranks 22nd in the world.
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U.S. Has Some Catching Up to Do
As the report notes, the U.S. still boasts an environment that is highly conducive for information and communication technologies. The U.S. still ranks first when it comes to IT usage in business and fourth for IT usage in government. On an individual level, however, the U.S. lacks behind many other countries, mainly due to the low mobile subscription penetration rate - where the U.S. only ranks 72nd in the world - and the relatively low number of broadband subscribers (22nd). The report's authors base this assessment on information from 2008, however, and according to some data we saw earlier this year, broadband penetration in the U.S. was actually down in 2009.
China and India
China, which ranked at the bottom of the report's annual rankings in 2002 (64th out of 74 countries) has now moved up to 37th place (out of 133 countries). India, too, continues to climb up the the World Economic Forum's rankings and has now moved up to 43rd place.
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Act Now. Amazon and Microsoft Launch Windows Server License Mobility Pilot

2010-03-25T11:56:00.003-07:00

Early this morning, we received an announcement from Amazon the company is launching a pilot for EC2 customers to allow your enterprise organizations to move existing Microsoft Windows Server licenses to Amazon and receive a proper discount for the new EC2 instance.
The offer is open until September and is being called a pilot by the companies to test the waters and pattern for hosting Windows within Amazon.
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The note from Amazon is on the Windows Server license mobility prompts immediate action:
"Dear Amazon EC2 Customer,
We are excited to announce the immediate availability of the Microsoft Windows Server� License Mobility Pilot, which enables customers with Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EA) to migrate their existing Windows Server licenses to Amazon EC2. By moving existing licenses to the cloud, you can leverage licenses that you have already purchased to reduce your cost of running Windows On-Demand or Reserved Instances by up to 41%. Microsoft will stop accepting new enrollments for the pilot on September 23, 2010 so it is important to act quickly.
To participate in this pilot, Microsoft requires that your company meet the following criteria:
* Your company must be based (or have a legal entity) in the United States
* Your company must have an existing Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) that is valid for a minimum of 12 months after your entry into the pilot
* You must already have purchased Software Assurance from Microsoft for your EA Windows Server Enterprise, Datacenter, and Standard licenses
* You must be an Enterprise customer (Academic and Government institutions are not covered by this pilot)
Once you have enrolled in the pilot, you will be eligible to run your Windows Server licenses in Amazon EC2 for the next 12 months following your sign-up. You will still be responsible for maintaining the appropriate number of Client Access licenses and External Connector licenses needed to operate your EA Windows Server licenses.
To learn more about this pilot or sign-up, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/windows-license-mobility-pilot. We hope that you take advantage of this new pilot!"
By clicking that link, you are one form away from that hardware in your closet moving to Amazon. Make sure your license administrator is handy, it asks for the basics, and of course the company agreement numbers with Microsoft.
Microsoft is Going Big into Cloud. And Amazon, Deep
For the right license holders, this is could be a big opportunity to jump to Amazon's cloud. This could cause organizations look at old hardware with a new rigor. If this program grows, we could see whole blocks of infrastructure move to Amazon and new Windows servers materialize.
Even if this license mobility is a low or no-revenue event to Microsoft in year one, the company will win to see those servers in action. Each one, no matter where it is hosted, represents value for the company and the ecosystem.
We think that Amazon wins with Windows Server license mobility. We can see system admins de-provisioning hardware adding a step to the script "fire up new instance at EC2" and feeling even better about tidying up your data center.
License mobility seems to be another sign of how the cloud may just be more portable in its nature. And faster that FedEx.
Are your windows servers licenses ready for EC2?
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.
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CBS.com Testing HTML5 in Advance of iPad Release

2010-03-25T11:56:00.001-07:00

CBS.com is apparently adding itself to the line up of big-name media properties scrambling to get their websites ready for the upcoming Apple iPad, due out on April 3rd. Recently, both the Wall St. Journal and NPR.org confirmed that they were revamping their sites using HTML5 markup language, the upcoming web standard that supports video playback without a web browser plugin. The reason for the overhauls? Apple does not support Adobe's Flash technology on their mobile devices, a lineup which also includes iPhones and iPod Touches. That means that CBS.com's Flash-based streaming video wouldn't play on Apple's new slate computers - devices expected to land in the hands of anywhere from 1 to 6 million customers this year, depending on which analyst predictions you go by.
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CBS iPad Tests Spotted in the Wild
A blogger at TheOtherMacBlog, Colum ODwyer, spotted what appeared to be HTML5 video tests late last night when two odd clips appeared on the CBS.com homepage. Screenshots were snagged showing accompanying text that read "iPad - test - dan config." (Oops, Dan, it looks like you pushed the wrong button!)
Another blogger from MacRumors, Arnold Kim, then followed up on this news by delving into the CSS of the CBS.com website itself to discover multiple references to HTML5, the technology that would be needed for viewing videos like these on the iPad. Kim also loaded up the CBS.com website using the iPad SDK Simulator, a tool provided to developers testing iPad applications. Since he was coming from a device which would appear to CBS's servers as an iPad, he was shown a different version of the site. Here, videos displayed with accompanying text that again read "iPad - test - dan config."
Without a doubt this is hard evidence that CBS is at least testing HTML5 technology with the iPad in mind. Whether or not CBS's website will actually be iPad-ready by April 3rd is unknown at this time. ~~We have a call into CBS.com and will update this story with their comment when they phone back~~.Update: CBS will neither confirm or deny their iPad plans. A CBS spokesperson said the company "is constantly putting our content on a variety of platforms," and is "ready to test any idea that brings that content to the widest possible audience."
iPad Owners Want Their Free TV
The iPad is clearly meant to be a more of media consumption device than media creation device. Without a hardware-based keyboard (it's sold separately) or camera, consumers buying the iPad are expected to use it more for reading books and magazines, watching video and playing games than for creating media like videos, photos or even long-form text. For for media publishers, the launch of the iPad means more pressure to convert their websites, either whole or in part, to HTML5 since the Flash-based portions of their websites will not display on an iPad. Although Flash is used for more than just video, publishers, and most notably sites featuring streaming video news reports or entertainment offerings like online TV shows, will be among the most heavily affected by the iPad's lack of Flash support.
In this case, CBS.com hosts a large library of videos in both standard format and HD. There are short clips as well as full length TV shows, all of which are offered for free to site visitors and are supported by in-stream ads which generate modest revenue for the broadcaster. Although you can find some of the company's content indexed on Hulu, the joint venture between NBC, Fox, ABC and others, clicking through on the links there redirects you over to CBS.com's own website. CBS also has a shaky relationship with Apple's iTunes, keeping popular shows like Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist either out of the store altogether or offering only limited seasons. (Neither appear to be available now). In other words, if you want to watch CBS video from your computer, CBS.com is the most reliable place to find it. In that case, the company needs to get its website working on the iPad soon or it will lose out on an audience that will potentially number in the millions by year-end.
Image credits: Videos, TheOtherMacBlog; CSI, MacRumors
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Report: Proud Religious Facebook Users Are More Likely To Be Single

2010-03-25T08:56:00.001-07:00
A recent report published in CyberPsychology & Behavior finds that Facebook users that disclose their religious affiliation are also more likely to list themselves as being single. This is an interesting parallel and underscores the amount of interesting demographic data that can be obtained from the Facebook network.The information was collected from 150 Facebook [...]
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Google Brings Twitter Search Results to China

2010-03-25T08:55:00.011-07:00

It's been nearly a year since China first shutdown access to Twitter in preparation for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, but today Google has opened up the doors again, in a way.
According to an article this morning in the Los Angeles Times, Google has added Twitter search results to its search engine there, "in effect, lifting a nine-month blackout of the microblogging service in China."
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Earlier this week, Google announced that it would stop censoring search results and would redirect visitors from mainland China to Google.com.hk from Google.cn. Already, China has worked to censor search results provided on Google.com.hk.
This latest move by Google is sure to further aggravate an already tense situation, but we have to wonder, as we have before, if it really matters or if we're looking at it from an ethnocentric point of view. Twitter may have been blocked, but China has several of its own Chinese Twitter clones. So now China can see tweets, which are predominantly not in Mandarin, in Google search results.
Then again, the Los Angeles Times points out that the search results are already bringing sensitive topics into view of Chinese citizens:
The tweets do not show up for all searches, but only for terms that appear to be popular on Twitter. On Thursday morning, that included discussions on such taboo subjects as how to circumvent China's Internet firewall, why Google decided to exit China and a vaccine scandal unfolding in central China.
The move seems more like a principled slap in the face than anything else. But then again, so does much of this situation.
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Test Shows: iPhone Touchscreen Still the Best

2010-03-25T08:55:00.009-07:00

If the future is all about touchscreen interfaces, then performance of the screen in registering where it's been touched is pretty important. International design firm Moto ran a robotic finger test on 6 leading touchscreen smart phones to see how well they registered a robot's loving touch.
Some of the phones did remarkably poorly, like the BlackBerry Storm and the Motorola Droid. The iPhone, Google Nexus One and HTC Droid Eris all did quite well. Check out the video below to see the tests and marvel at the apparent differences between touchscreens and their performances.
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Robot Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo.
As Sadat Karim writes on Neowin,
"Hope is not lost though, as Moto Labs concludes that they do expect these problems to be remedied in the future as touchscreens mature and gain further traction in the industry. Commitment and competition will ultimately deliver seamless touch experiences for all consumers over time, since phone makers are continuously perfecting their products."
To see touchscreen hardware nerds duke it out over the test, check out the Moto Labs blog. How about you, readers? Have you felt the difference in performance across some of these handsets?
See also: User Interfaces Rapidly Adjusting to Information Overload
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.
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Is a Facebook/Syphilis Connection 'Ridiculous'?

2010-03-25T08:55:00.007-07:00

Yesterday, the Telegraph ran an article about a study that seemed to have found a connection between the spread of syphilis and the popularity of Facebook. Today, the paper has run a follow-up story, wherein "Facebook has said that reports linking the site's rise to an increased incidence of the bacterial infection syphilis are 'ridiculous'".
According to the article, a Facebook spokesman has said that the initial report ignores "the difference between correlation and causation", but is the idea so unbelievable? Are we falling into the trap of technological determinism in thinking that Facebook could actually aid in and cause the spread of STDs?
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Right off the bat, we have to say that Facebook has a decent argument, at least on a semantic and statistical level. Further on in the Telegraph follow-up article, the spokesman for the social networking site "pointed out that the dramatic rise in social networking over the past two years meant that Facebook's rise could be correlated with any other increased trend in the UK". Is it really so hard to believe, though, that people are meeting and arranging casual sexual encounters through the social network? According to Facebook, it is:
"As Facebook's more than 400 million users know, our website is not a place to meet people for casual sex - it's a place for friends, family and co-workers to connect and share," a Facebook spokesman is quoted as saying in the initial article.
It's not like we're comparing the rise in popularity of a site that sells used cars with sexually transmitted disease - Facebook deals in social interaction, which does, indeed, involve sex and therefor sexually transmitted diseases. Even the name "Facebook" comes from the book that some colleges put out at the beginning of every year with pictures and names of all of the incoming class (at least they used to) - the book that upper-classmen scan for the hot incoming freshman. The only thing that might be missing from the previous statement is that, at times, Facebook is a place for friends, family and co-workers to connect and share...sexually transmitted diseases. Okay, hopefully not family.
But is it really Facebook's fault? Probably not. While the professor behind the study said that there was a "fourfold increase in the number of syphilis cases" in these areas, where residents were 25 percent more likely to log onto Facebook, the site is likely not at fault. Were Facebook not available, we'd likely be trying to put the blame on Myspace, Craigslist, Friendster or whatever other method that was most popular for social interaction there.
In the end, we run into one of those "chicken or the egg" dilemmas. Would these towns, absent entirely of the Internet, have these same rates of syphilis? Or are the new communication options offered by the Internet making this all possible?
We're likely to stand behind the idea that the Internet, indeed, aids in interaction and Facebook's popularity is likely a solid corollary, but that this is not an inherent fault with the network. Blame the Internet, if you will - it can take it.
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Augmented Reality Among Time's 10 Tech Trends for 2010

2010-03-25T08:55:00.005-07:00

Thanks to the growing popularity of mobile augmented reality (AR) applications such as Layar and Wikitude, as well as countless advertising campaigns from corporate giants, AR is beginning to make its way out of the shadows of obscurity and into popular culture. Once an experimental technology left for expert engineers, AR is becoming more and more accessible to both developers and consumers of the experiences. Now, the greater AR community has another feather for its cap as Time Magazine has recognized it as one of its 10 Tech Trends for 2010.
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"One challenge for 2010 will be harnessing the growing ubiquity of webcams and smart-phones to make augmented reality useful as a tool in day-to-day life," writes Time's Dan Fletcher, pointing out the U.S. Postal Service's virtual box simulator that helps customers determine what size box to use by holding the item they are shipping up their webcam.
Unfortunately, Fletcher merely skims the surface of AR in his 10 part article published Monday, and in doing so he unintentionally labels players in the mobile AR space as "gimmicky." I can see how it would be easy for someone investigating AR iPhone apps to be overwhelmed at the plethora of apps that let you shoot things in an augmented first-person perspective, but it is still disappointing that he failed to notice the quality apps in the space.
But hey, it's still great for us augmented reality fans to see our beloved emerging technology receive national notoriety in a publication such as Time, so we'll take what we can get. AR snagged the #4 position on Time's list, but when you look at some of the other trends listed, you notice that AR is already taking advantage of most, if not all of them.
Time's #1 tech trend for 2010 is location, and it points out the growing popularity of services like Foursquare and Gowalla. Mobile AR applications have been taking advantage of location data since day one and it continues to play a crucial role. After location comes "building platforms, not websites," which Layar has been developing with their third-party POI data-sets and their upcoming layer marketplace. Good thing "frictionless payments" is another trend to watch for in 2010, otherwise Layar's marketplace would be ahead of its time.
Also on Time's list is social gaming, and social objects, immediately reminding me of Tonchidot's Sekai Camera app which lets users leave AR objects in physical space for people to interact with through the application. One could argue that AR uses all of the other nine technologies featured on Time's list with the exception of the iPad, which unfortunately has no camera with which to augment our realities.
On a related note, Layar co-founder Claire Boonstra was named to Laptop Magazine's list of the most influential women in technology. Alongside Boonstra was Google's Marissa Mayer, Caterina Fake of Flickr and Hunch fame, and Melinda Gates. This, as well as Time's inclusion of AR on their tech trends list, is great exposure for augmented reality.
If you'd like to learn more about how companies are using augmented reality for marketing in both desktop and mobile-based experiences, be sure to check out our latest premium report on the subject which was released earlier this week.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.
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Verizon's VCast App Store: Good for Consumers, Better for Verizon

2010-03-25T08:55:00.003-07:00

Verizon Wireless prepares to take on the big names in mobile application stores, including Apple and Google, with the launch of their own carrier-specific "Vcast App Store" next week. Here, customers will be able to purchase mobile apps and pay for them on their monthly wireless bill. The store's launch was announced at the recent CTIA conference, where Verizon disclosed the launch date (March 29th) and revealed other details about the store's planned operation. Most notably, the new VCast store has a revenue model that mimics that of Apple's iTunes. Application developers partnering with Verizon keep 70% of the revenue generated from app sales while Verizon keeps the remaining 30% for itself.
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Verizon's VP of marketing John Stratton recently explained in an interview with CNET that the company is not trying to compete with the other application stores already out there, but rather partner with them. The store already has one launch partner, RIM, makers of the Blackberry line of smartphones.
Verizon Deals Itself in to the App Store Game
But what do the VCast Store partners get out of the deal? Not revenue it seems. Only developers and Verizon share in that. Instead, the partners simply get access to a wider audience, which in turn supports their own developer community. And more developers means more apps and more apps means better smartphone sales. That reasoning may explain why RIM is on board at launch time. Blackberry smartphones, although still a staple in the business world and, interestingly enough, still at the the top of the smartphone OS market in the U.S., don't have the developer community that Apple, Android and even Nokia with their Ovi store do. In fact, recent reports pegged Blackberry's app store size as 4th largest in a lineup that included the top 6 smartphone makers.
At least RIM is aware of this issue. "It's real simple; for this revenue stream to carry on and thrive," explains Jim Balsille, co-CEO of RIM regarding the company's mobile app offerings, "the applications need to be adopted so we can drive more BlackBerry sales. And this makes the carrier a strategic partner."
One-Click App Shopping
In addition to using its own web site to provide an online application store where apps can be purchased, rated and downloaded, app store developers who partner with Verizon will also have access to APIs that allow them to tap into other Verizon services like location-based services and messaging. But the biggest benefit is that Verizon app shoppers, whether accessing the store via the website or mobile phone, don't have to pay for their applications on the spot using a specially created VCast account and associated credit card. Instead, the apps purchased are invoiced on a monthly cycle alongside minutes used and texts sent on customers' cell phone bills.

For consumers, the benefit is a one-click process for app buying. For Verizon, the benefit is that they've just re-inserted themselves into the revenue stream that is the mobile application market - a market growing so fast, it's expected to reach $17.5 billion by 2012. Unlike AT&T, who gets nothing every time an iPhone application is sold but then has to support the data traffic new apps bring to its network, Verizon hopes to make the mobile app store something that's mutually beneficial to customers and carriers alike.
The VCast application store will launch March 29th. Interested developers can find support and have their questions answered over on the Verizon Developer Community forums.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.Discuss

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Bing Keeps Getting Smarter: Adds More Info About Cars, Sports Teams

2010-03-25T08:55:00.001-07:00

Bing now knows a lot more about cars and will also give a select group of users the option to compare the performance of different sports teams. Microsoft just announced these updates at the Search Engine Strategies event in New York. The new comparison answers for sports will be rolled out to only about 5% of Bing's users at first. In addition, Microsoft will also begin to roll out some minor design changes to a small group of users today that will better highlight Bing's assets like weather and travel search.
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Starting today, mobile users will also see improvements to Bing's autosuggest feature, which will now include answers for things like stock quotes right in the autosuggest box.
Domain Task Pages for Cars
Whenever a user searches for cars and car-related topics ("2010 Toyota Camry specs," for example), Bing will now bring up a page will all of the car's specs instead of directing you to another site with this info. This page will also include links to additional images and videos about the car, as well as the ability to restrict the search query by different trims and links to the specs of cars in the same class.
In Microsoft parlance, these pages are called "domain task pages" and chances are that - if successful - the company plans to roll out more of these for additional topics in the near future. The task pages are part of Bing's efforts to provide users with specialized answers for popular queries in verticals like weather. According to a recent job posting, other topics for these pages that Microsoft plans to launch in the future could include "movies, music, games and other high-volume domains." Given that Bing bills itself as a "decision engine," it only makes sense for Microsoft to try to capture as many popular searches as possible and present its users with relevant answers right on Bing.com instead of sending them on to other sites.
Sports Comparison and UI Changes
A small number of Bing users will now also be able to compare the performance of sports teams by simply typing the name of two teams in the search form. As Stefan Weitz, Microsoft's Director of Bing, also told us during a briefing earlier this month, about 0.7% of all queries on Bing are comparison searches and the company hopes to capture more of these in the future and present the right answer in Bing instead of sending users to multiple sites.
The same number of users (about 5%) will now also see a new user interface for the boxes at the top of the page that Bing will often display for popular topics. For searches related to cities and towns, for example, these "Bing boxes" will now include info about local weather, a relevant link to Bing Maps, as well as airfare info from your current location (based on your IP address). For popular artists, these boxes will now also include information about upcoming concerts and other relevant information. Sadly, this concert info is based on chronology and doesn't take a user's current location into account.
Overall, these are interesting updates - not necessarily because Bing now knows a lot more about cars and sports, but because they show the direction the Bing team is going in. As a "decision engine," the Bing team's intend is to give users more information directly on the site instead of just presenting them with a couple of links. While these links can be relevant (and Bing still shows them most of the time, too), the Bing team wants to reduce the number of queries that result in links and increase the number of times the software can present users with direct answers Microsoft has sourced from its own databases or from sources across the Internet.
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Facebook Updates Stream Publishing Policy For Developers

2010-03-25T05:55:00.001-07:00
When Facebook opened up their “stream” to developers via the Open Stream API last year, they arguably added potential value for end users and are now trying to provide consistency of use in applications. The Facebook Developer Blog has a new post indicating a policy update on the devopment use of the Open Stream API [...]
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Some WordPress Plug-ins for Language Translation are Best Avoided

2010-03-25T05:54:00.011-07:00
Some language translation plug-ins for WordPress blogs cache translated pages locally and they can harm your site's ranking in Google search.
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Video Demo � Opera Running on the iPhone

2010-03-25T05:54:00.009-07:00
This is a video demo of the Opera Mini browser running on the iPhone.
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That's Not a Phone, It's a Tiny Computer: Global Mobile Data Surpasses Voice

2010-03-25T05:54:00.007-07:00

The mobile phone's days as primarily a phone were short lived. Global mobile company Ericsson announced at the CTIA conference today that mobile data traffic surpassed voice traffic worldwide at approximately 140,000 Terabytes per month at the end of last year.
GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham writes, "Worryingly, that data traffic was generated by an estimated 400 million smartphones set against 4.6 billion mobile subscribers making voice calls. What happens when everyone has a smartphone?" This is an historic moment in terms of both technical capacity and the development of innovative features to serve mobile users.
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The mobile industry is just coming to terms with this "tsunami of data" and the challenges it poses. Tricia Duryee wrote last year on MocoNews that two years ago none of the mobile companies would admit they faced a shortage of capacity, but that changed dramatically at the CTIA conference last year. In calling for more wireless spectrum, Qualcom co-founder Irwin Mark Jacobs said last year, "In the lab, we've done everything we know how to do to optimize spectrum. We have to use different tricks now."
These tiny computers trying to use the spectrum that phones have traditionally used for voice are real game changers. As Duryee again reported last year, one smartphone equals 30 feature phones on a network, and one netbook or aircard equals 450 feature phones.
It's not just about capacity, either. As mobile search specialist Peggy Anne Salz wrote last Summer, there's a whole lot of feature development possibilities opening up because of this data:
"The advance of Internet-specific smartphones and the spread of app store schemes turns up the pressure on mobile operators (and their content providers) to decipher data transactions (on and off the network), combine it with location and demographic data and use the results to create a 360-degree view of the individual."
Hopefully that will mean cool new features to serve users, not just mobile profiles to follow us around and target us with ads. So far smart phones have treated us pretty well though, haven't they? They certainly aren't just phones anymore.
Don't miss the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 8th in Mountain View, California! We're at a key point in the history of mobile computing right now - we hope you'll join us, and a group of the most innovative leaders in the mobile industry, to discuss it.
Discuss

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Apple's App Store Still Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction, Android Close Second

2010-03-25T05:54:00.005-07:00

The arrival of Apple's App Store in 2008 changed the marketplace for mobile developers and mobile carriers alike. The App Store changed the perception of what an app store for mobile devices should look like and started a new arms race among mobile carriers and handset manufacturers. According to a new survey by market research firm Nielsen, however, Apple is still ahead of its competitors. Apple's customers install more applications on their device than users of any other platform and Apple's customers are also more satisfied with Apple's app store than the users of any other app store.
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Apps Installed Per Device
iPhone users have installed an average of 37 applications on their devices - more than the users on any other smartphone platform - while Blackberry users only use 10 apps on their phones. Android users have around 22 apps on their phones, followed by Palm users (14) and Windows Mobile users (13). Unsurprisingly, feature phone users don't install a lot of apps on their devices. Only 12% of cell phone users with feature phones downloaded an app in the last 30 days. In contrast to this, about 46% of smartphone owners installed an app in the last month.
App Stores
With regards to the popularity of different app stores, Nielsen's data isn't that interesting, as most users don't really have a choice. Apple's App Store is the most used mobile app store and has captured 25% of the market, followed by Blackberry's App World Store (16%). Carrier stores run by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon are also still very popular and have a market share between 8% (T-Mobile) and 15% (Verizon). The Android Market only had about a 2% market share by the end of 2009, but given the small number of devices on the market at that time, this number will surely grow in 2010 as more device manufactures add Android devices to their lineup.
Customer Satisfaction
When it comes to customer satisfaction, Apple's App Store and the Android Market are far ahead of their competitors. 84% of Apple's users are satisfied with the user experience in the iTunes store and 81% of Android users are happy about their experience. All the other stores, however, still have a lot of catching up to do. In Nielsen's survey, the Windows Marketplace ranked the lowest (56%), followed by the Blackberry App World store (58%).
Discuss

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Let�s Help Smashing Magazine!

2010-03-25T05:54:00.003-07:00
Smashing Magazine, the best blog on web design and graphics, needs your help to stay afloat!
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Twitter Hacker, TechCrunch Document Leaker, Arrested in France (UPDATED)

2010-03-25T05:54:00.001-07:00

The AFP is reporting that the person who leaked internal business documents from Twitter Inc. to the blog TechCrunch last July is also the same person who compromised the Twitter accounts of Barack Obama and other celebrities last year. A 25-year-old who went by the name "Hacker Croll" has been tracked down and arrested in France by French authorities, with the assistance of the FBI. It's not clear from the report what charges are to be filed.
Reportedly, the FBI alerted France to the man's presence in that country almost a year ago, in the same month the internal documents were leaked. Update: Hours after the report of the man's arrest, the AFP now says he has been released after questioning. Apparently the man explained that he merely guessed peoples' passwords and the police were unimpressed. "He's not a genius," a source explained.
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The media report doesn't make mention of the leaked documents, only the illicit takeover of Obama's account. "Hacker Croll" was identified as the source of the controversial files, though. It seems possible that these two incidents are being improperly connected, but the report filed indicates they were carried out by the same person.
We've reached out to both Twitter and TechCrunch for comment.
When the documents were sent to TechCrunch, that blog deliberated publicly at length about whether it had a journalistic obligation to publish or suppress them. Founder Michael Arrington in the end decided to work with Twitter executives to identify the most sensitive documents but published other, less sensitive information days later. The resulting blog posts provided a very interesting look into the thinking of one of the most important companies on the Internet, but proved damaging to TechCrunch's reputation with people in the industry who considered the decision to publish them an unacceptable betrayal.
TechCrunch argued that it was within its legal rights to publish the information, and the law breaking had been done by the person who sent them the files. Now that person is apparently headed to trial.
The ethical and perhaps legal implications of TechCrunch's decision will no doubt be discussed again due to this turn of events.
The one clear lesson from all this that no one can argue with, though: Don't mess with Twitter or the FBI will hunt you down where ever you may be around the world.
Discuss

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No Support For Alcatel 4400 and Cisco Call Manager 4.1 Through Ethernet Connectivity

2010-03-25T03:42:00.001-07:00

In last week we were trying to integrate Alcatel 4400 with Cisco Call Manager 4.1. The two IPPBX were in the same premises and were connected through the Ethernet connectivity.In general scenario the two exchanges can be connected with E1 or T1 line but the customer wanted to get the calls routed through Ethernet only.

We tried to get the help from Cisco guys but they gave us the documents of configuring the exchanges through E1 line only.Then we got the answer that the Cisco will not able to support this kind of scenario as the proper documentation regarding this scenario is not available.

Other categories

Cisco Jokes Photos Tutorials Voip Goa

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Digital Activism: An Interview with Mary Joyce

2010-03-08T22:13:00.001-08:00

Digital activism is defined by the newly launched Meta-Activism Project as "the practice of using digital technology for political and social change." One of the leaders in the field of digital activism is Mary Joyce, the founder and executive director of the Meta-Activism Project. Joyce is among the most knowledgeable and experienced digital activists in the world. She also founded DigiActive.org in 2007, a volunteer organization for grassroots activists. In 2008, she was New Media Operations Manager for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
As a lead-up to the upcoming event in New York City with Chinese digital activist Ai Weiwei, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and yours truly, I interviewed Mary Joyce about the strategies and success stories of digital activism.
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RWW: You recently moved on from DigiActive in order to create a new organization for digital activism. Can you tell us more about what that will be?
MJ: The new organization is called the Meta-Activism Project (MAP) and its goal is to build the field of digital activism by catalyzing a body of strategic knowledge unique to the field.� Today's digital activist is in an untenable position: caught between the 100-ton rock of pre-digital strategy and the thousand slippery pebbles of highly-contextual tactical knowledge that focuses on a seemingly endless stream of new social media applications.� We want to build a new body of activism strategy that recognizes the radically different communications infrastructure of the digitally networked world.
I am really excited to announce the official launch of the Meta-Activism Project on ReadWriteWeb! The site - http://meta-activism.org - went live at the end of last week and, though it is pretty bare now, we'd like it to be a central location for people interested in building a body of knowledge about the fundamental mechanics of digital activism.
RWW: We've heard a lot about Twitter being used in Iran last year, and the subsequent blocking of social media services like Twitter and Facebook in China. What other countries have social media tools had a big impact in, for digital activism?
MJ: Judging impact is quite tricky in the field of digital activism, as few cases of digital activism are actual successes.� Usually we judge the success of an activism campaign by whether the activists achieved their campaign goal.� However, in almost all of the famous cases of digital activism "success" - the post-election mobilizations in Iran and Moldova in 2009 or the 2008 general strike in Egypt - while activists did successfully mobilize using social media, they did not achieve their campaign goal, be it to overturn an allegedly fraudulent election result or the wide range of social and political reforms demanded by the strike organizers.�

Mary doing digital activism training at Video Camp Goa
The measuring of impact thus becomes extremely subjective.� Digital activism proponents want to count mobilization as success even when the goal is not achieved, while skeptics and pessimists point out that, by traditional measures, most digital activism campaigns are failures.� Though I am certainly a proponent of digital activism, I would actually side with the skeptics here.� In order to really push the field forward, we need to set high standards for digital activism success and not be satisfied with half-measures.�
RWW: Facebook and Twitter are the two most high profile social media tools being used for digital activism. Are there any other Internet tools that have had success, that perhaps people aren't as aware of?
MJ: I could tell you, but that tool would probably become outdated in a few months, or would prove useless out of its original context.� That's the problem with tactical knowledge: tools change, contexts change, and activists are forever playing catch-up.�
Probably the greatest factor which determines the utility of an application to activists is scale and "use neutrality."� Scale means that the tool needs to reach a certain critical mass of users before you will have the network effects that will either make it likely that activists will become aware of it (in the case of something like Tor or proxy servers) or, in the case of social platforms, that enough people will be on the platform to constitute a meaningful audience for an activist message. "Use neutrality" means that it can be easily co opted, that its architecture can facilitate a wide variety of interactions and does not dictate the content of hosted files.� YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger are use neutral, LastFM and Bloglines are not.�

Mary at the Women's Leadership and Technology Conference, Sharjah, UAE
RWW: Over the past year or so, can you describe a couple of success stories for digital activism using web tools.
MJ: Ha! More about measuring success. With the lack of true success, it is no wonder that people are so eager for these stories.� I think the traditionally-defined successes in this field (i.e. when the campaign goal is achieved) are much smaller and less dramatic - NGO meets fundraising goal through online donations (multiple cases), bloggers get a corporation to withdraw an offensive advertisement (e.g. Motrin), a social network lifts a questionable national block (e.g. LinkedIn in Syria).�
In the high-stakes activism campaigns that intend to make dramatic changes at the national and international level, I would say that we have cases of successful mobilization - Iran, Moldova, Egypt - without successful campaigns.
RWW: In terms of China, a lot has been written about the censorship there - both the Great Firewall that blocks certain sites and domains, and the self-censorship that many companies have to do in order to survive. Currently Google is trying to challenge censorship, but we're not sure how successful even a hugely influential company like Google will be. So what, if anything, can ordinary people do in terms of digital activism to support the freeing up of the Chinese Internet?�
MJ: I am not an expert on China, but it seems like the best strategy for defeating the Great Firewall is to make it obsolete: create so many ways of getting around it that it no longer successfully censors Chinese Internet users.� This means both creating new circumvention tools - more Psiphons, proxies, Tors, FreeGates - and finding new and innovative ways to get those tools to Chinese users.
RWW: Thanks Mary for this illuminating interview. We at ReadWriteWeb wish you the best with the newly launched Meta-Activism Project!
Discuss

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Chris Pirillo Debuts E-Book: 140 Twitter Tips

2010-03-08T19:12:00.007-08:00

One of our favorite geeks has just released an e-book on best practices for Twitter use.
Chris Pirillo's 140 Twitter Tips, a 14-page PDF, is a concise compendium of useful guidelines and helpful hints for every kind of Twitter user, from doing-it-wrong noobs to social media addicts. From the best time of day to get retweets to how to process public criticism, the e-book also covers a broad range of common issues users experience.
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Some of the tips might seem like common sense - until you realize you might not be adhering very well to them, yourself. Most of us are occasionally guilty of using too much jargon and oversharing (or undersharing, in the case of some more professionally oriented accounts).
The e-book costs only $1.40, or you can hold out for the $14 deluxe version, which will contain more than 140 adorable illustrations from Kristin Marshall.
Click here to purchase 140 Twitter Tips from GnomeTomes, the new publishing arm of Pirillo's social media empire/blog network Lockergnome. Other GnomeTomes include guides for YouTube and Windows 7.
Discuss

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Location Privacy Goes to Washington

2010-03-08T19:12:00.005-08:00

Testifying before a congressional hearing in late February, Mike Altschul with the Wireless Association was blunt: Federal mobile phone privacy policy is undefined and the privacy guidelines for location-based services written in 2008 are obsolete.
The hearing on consumer privacy was the fifth in a series that seeks to evaluate and eventually legislate location-based privacy issues. It comes none too soon. The recent flood of location based apps and services has significantly shifted liabilities from mobile carriers to app developers and end-users. As Congressman and hearing chair Bobby Rush of Illinois said, Yesterday there was Facebook, and in the not-too-distant future we will be encountering something more akin to a "Placebook."

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While the Wireless Association works on its 2010 guidelines, and while Congress deliberates, what's going on with all our geolocation privacy rights? Do we have a right to control what location-based advertisers do with our info once they have it? Do we have a right to ensure that law enforcement and government agencies don't abuse our easily obtained mobile data streams? Are our children safe? What does social science research say about all these changes?
These are the many questions that this congressional hearing sought to address. Here's a breakdown:
What does the privacy research tell us?
Lorrie Cranor, direct of CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory at Carnegie Melon University testified about her research into how end user's react to the implication of privacy loss due to location-based technologies. She also reported on her survey of the most popular applications and systems.
"In August 2009 we evaluated 89 location sharing applications and systems to determine the types of privacy protections each offered," she said. "Overall, we found that most of these applications provided fairly limited privacy controls and about a third of them did not provide readily accessible privacy policies on their websites. We reviewed the websites for these applications again in February 2010 and found similar results for the 84 services still in existence at that time."
Who will have access to our information?
Last Tuesday we reported in our Ads with Eyes post about a report by the Center for Democracy and Technology on advertising abuses that mobile end-users may face. The center is also concerned about abuses of law enforcement and government agencies related to their use of location-based information.
At last week's hearing John B. Morris, general counsel for the center presented the case for why the Electronic Communications Privacy Act should be updated to protect location information from inappropriate disclosure to government. He highlighted how recent court proceedings and local government surveillance protocols are creating contradictory rulings, unclear jurisdictions and generally snowballing into a fundamental lack of privacy protection for U.S. citizens.
What's the latest wording of potential new laws and guidelines?
The preliminary language of almost all future U.S. laws begin in hearings such as these. In his testimony, Tony Bernard, VP of Useful Networks, sought to outline some of the most essential elements of this new language.
"In order to derive an end user's location from any source, the end user must be presented with notice of how, when and by whom location will be used," he said. Additionally, said Altschul, senior VP and general counsel for the Wireless Association, "Notice must be provided in plain, easily understood language. It must not be misleading, and if combined with other terms or conditions, the portion pertaining to the location-based service must be conspicuous."
How will kids and young adults be affected?
Anne Collier, Co-Director, ConnectSafely.org testified that new technologies are not as much of a threat to children as we may believe, and the real issue is the quality of parenting and supervision that kids are getting. As far as kids' potential for future use of location based services, she presented startling data. "U.S. teens now send or receive an average of 3,146 text messages a month and 9- to 12-year-olds 1,146, according to the latest figures from Nielsen," she said. "For them, a text isn't like a phone call, it's part of a conversation as well as of the ongoing flow (or seemingly 24/7 drama) of school life. But texting is only one of young people's social tools. There is as yet no data on teens' mobile social mapping or LBS use, but we know that more than 65 million, or about a third, of Facebook users of all ages currently access the social site through their mobile devices."
What comes next? At the end of the hearing, Rush said, "In closing, let me state clearly, for the record, and especially for those interested consumer groups, industries, and government regulators who have been monitoring our series of hearings that, with the information we'll obtain from today's hearing, we have now learned enough to take the next major step."
What should that next step be? Are you ready for more clearly defined location-based privacy protections? How can companies who are currently building applications and services keep themselves out of the courts? Do we really need more regulation to resolve this? What do you think?
Hands photo by Monika Leon. D.C. photo by Barb Ballard.Discuss

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Another Nationwide Outage For The Blackberry

2010-03-08T19:12:00.003-08:00

The Blackberry just doesn't seem to have the luster it once did. Today, it had another nationwide outage.
According to Data Outage News:
"A number of users are reporting and an escalated RIM tech support call has confirmed data issues affecting WiFi devices NOT connected to a WiFi network. The outage is sporadic and issues are confirmed on at least on Verizon and T-Mobile on both US east and west coasts. Again, if you are connected to WiFi, you likely won't notice any problems until you are out of WiFi range. This is not affecting ALL WiFi users, the reports are sporadic, but across all carriers, BIS and BES included."
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What's going in with the Blackberry? Once the enterprise stalwart, it is now looking like a struggling behemoth. Its interface almost seems antiquated. An analyst group is now saying the iPhone is expected to beat out the Blackberry in 2011 for the number one spot. And now we have another outage.
Twitter users are all over today's outage. Some people are saying their service has been out since the morning. There have been some reports that the outage is international in scope.
The last Blackberry outage came in December. Reported outages also came in 2007 and 2008.
Blackberry has been facing a lot of of market pressure. The iPhone, the Android and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series all present challenges to the Blackberry.
A report by Trefis shows the iPhone beating out the Blackberry by 2011.
The iPhone's surge into the business community is a major reason for it overtaking the Blackberry.
A Trefi analyst write in Forbes:
We expect Apple's market share to overtake that of RIM by 2011, and for Apple and RIM to have 11% and 8% market share, respectively, by the end of Trefis forecast period. We believe sales of the iPhone will eventually outpace BlackBerry sales for the following reasons:
1. Apple's ecosystem of consumer products (Macs, iPad, Apple TV) and services (iTunes, iPhone apps) make the iPhone a more attractive phone for many consumers compared to the BlackBerry
2. End of AT&T exclusivity will give Apple's iPhone wider distribution in the US (comparable to BlackBerry distribution)
3. iPhone is making inroads with business customers that have traditionally preferred the BlackBerry
Discuss

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First Look at SnapGroups: A Delightful Tool For Lightweight Discussion

2010-03-08T19:12:00.001-08:00

Mark Fletcher builds software, that's just what he does. He may have sold the system that became Yahoo Groups for $400 million, and then made millions selling Bloglines to Ask.com as well, but that doesn't mean he's going to stop making software. And it's not just any software he makes, either. Those two projects changed millions of peoples' lives.
Tomorrow morning Fletcher will unveil his newest creation, a lightweight group communication tool called SnapGroups. We first wrote about it two weeks ago but hadn't been able to take a look until tonight. We're happy to report that you're probably going to like it a lot: it's easy, it's clear, it's got good social design and it's real time. Check out the screenshots below.
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Update: Just after we posted this, Fletcher says he's lifted the password from the site and it's live!
SnapGroups makes it really easy to create a group discussion around a particular topic, invite people, set variable privacy controls and then participate in that conversation as part of a whole "newsfeed" style stream of updates from all your various groups in one place. Fresh comments, likes and dislikes get pushed to your browser live using a home-made bit of AJAX and the whole thing couldn't be much simpler. It's a lot of fun to use, in fact.
Fletcher says this is only the beginning, that all kinds of features are still to come, but he's focused on the basics for now. He started working on the site in October and says his favorite part of the project was "learning about the new technologies that have sprung up in the past couple years." "The various databases that have come out recently are great," he told us. "I'm using Mongo, but there are many interesting projects now." The core of the site is written in C++.
Fletcher says SnapGroups will go live tomorrow morning. You should try it out when it does. Invites to groups will no doubt be flying around Twitter and Facebook. It may very well become something you want to use regularly. Hopefully there will be a way to export your conversations easily. Fletcher is a pretty straightforward guy and will probably implement just about anything that enough people ask for and that isn't too hard to do.
Mark Fletcher has a habit of building relatively simple things, like the first major email list system and the first popular RSS reader, that end up being a defining player in the rise of a new era online. Simple, real-time group communication? Not at all hard to imagine that being a big new thing as well.
Discuss

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Twitter Analysis: Influencers Still Signing Up; Lots of Followers Doesn't Equal Lots of Lists

2010-03-08T16:12:00.011-08:00

Twitter launched lists in October 2009 and this feature has quickly become an essential part of the Twitter ecosystem. The power of lists isn't just in their ability to organize your followers, they also provide an an insight into how other users use Twitter. The number of followers an account has might show its popularity, but the number of lists called, for instance, "most influential" or "essential", that it appears on reveals just how important that account is.

Today, we're using lists to unscientifically analyze what we think are some of the some of the most influential Twitter accounts. We used a variety of lists to identify 485 accounts and then ran those names through Tableau's data visualization tools.
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Editors Note: This post is the second of a four-part content series ReadWriteWeb is producing in partnership with Tableau Software, where we examine interesting data sets relevant to technology trends today. You can use Tableau Public to create interactive visualizations like this and publish them to your own blog, Web sites, or anywhere online. You also can embed this (or any other Tableau Public) visualization on your own site.
Our List
We generated our list of Twitter influencers based on the lists that the RWW team follows and lists that some of the most influential people on those lists have created. We only used lists that were aggregating accounts that the list creator had called, for instance, "most important", or "most influential". After removing duplicates, we ended up 485 Twitter accounts. This list includes people, companies and breaking news feeds. By using lists instead of just follower counts we added an important filter, as many of these lists were created by Twitter users outside of the RWW team.
The Data
Powered by Tableau
What it Means
Many of the conclusions are unsurprising: Influential accounts have between 100 to more than 1 million followers. While there are some relatively new accounts in our list, the vast majority has been on Twitter for over a year. When it comes to influence on Twitter, being an early adopter clearly has some advantages.
Most of the users who appear on a lot of lists and have a lot of followers also tweet a lot. Given that some of these accounts are from news organizations, this number makes sense, but there is also a group of users like Anil Dash, the Gates Foundation and Outside.in's Steven Johnson who don't tweet a lot, but still have a large number of followers based on their reputation.
It is interesting to note is that there seems to be a group of users that has a very large number of followers, but doesn't appear on an extraordinary large number of lists. This group includes a surprisingly large number of Twitter employees, including Cheryl Palarca (Twitter HR), Alex McCauley (Twitter business operations) and Kevin Thau (mobile products and partnerships at Twitter).
Lastly, it's obvious that a large number of power users - those with a high number of followers and who appear on a large number of lists - were early adopters; SXSW 2007 and the months leading up to it is when a significant number of influencers signed up. However, while the sign-up rate of those influencers has significantly dropped over time, new influencers continued to appear right through the end of 2009. Twitter early adopters may have moved on the next big thing, but users with prestige haven't stopped signing up.
Discuss

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Gowalla Follows Foursquare's Lead with Real-Life Incentives

2010-03-08T16:12:00.009-08:00

After recent announcements by Foursquare of partnerships with big time players like Zagat, the New York Times and Bravo, Gowalla is fighting back with its own major media partnership.
Gowalla and the Travel Channel announced today that the two companies will be working together to offer "the integration of proprietary Travel Channel content into Gowalla's social networking service." Along with another deal, Gowalla has started to connect the virtual with the real, a direction we think will be key in succeeding in the location-based app arena.
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According to a press release, the agreement will begin with tomorrow's premiere of "Food Wars" on the Travel Channel. In much the same way that Foursquare began offering special badges and information on venues featured in Bravo's television shows, Gowalla will begin adding new features based on the locations in the show. Here's the company's explanation:
The first content integration will focus on the new series, Food Wars, a new Travel Channel offering where blindfolded participants choose sides to determine "Who Makes The Best Dish In Town." Food Wars pits the nation's most famous culinary rivals against one another for a final showdown, where a blind taste test will settle the debate. Locations used in the series will be integrated into the Gowalla platform and Gowalla users will be able to check in and find specific show information, along with the details of the culinary showdown that was filmed there, pick up Items specific to the show, and be awarded specially created passport stamps.
Gowalla also quietly released an Android version of its app this weekend, which is currently available for download in the Android Marketplace.
This comes just in time for SXSW Interactive, which is bound to have thousands of techies roaming Gowalla's hometown of Austin. As the CNET article on the deal points out, Gowalla has led rival Foursquare in the funding realm, with $8.4 million in Series B funding last year. And while we do like the look of Gowalla, Foursquare offers real-life incentives, such as discounts at certain locations for becoming mayor. Well, just in time for the aforementioned SXSW, Gowalla will have some real-life incentives too - Austin's homegrown Sweet Leaf Tea.
Now, the Sweet Leaf deal isn't quite up to par with a Zagat partnership, but it's one to keep in mind over the next couple of weeks nonetheless, as you're wandering Austin's streets and growing more dehydrated by the moment. (Yes, we know how much beer you really drink.) According to Gowalla's blog, there will be virtual Sweet Leaf Tea cans around town that will be redeemable for the real thing, so keep an eye out.
Gowalla's first foray into integrating its virtual collectibles with real-life goods came in early January, with its partnership with InCase, a maker of iPhone cases, among other things. As part of that deal, users could collect different InCase-branded virtual items and when they checked in at Apple stores, they had a chance of winning an iPhone case upon checking in. So just by going to a location, you were entering a contest for a real-world prize.
And really, it's this sort of thing that we think will keep apps like Gowalla afloat. Long after the shininess of "checking in" and collecting "virtual goods" for their own sake wears off, real-life incentives will be there. Whether they come in the form of information, as is the case with the Travel Channel deal, or in the form of tasty sweet goodness, as with a can of Sweet Leaf Tea, we're going to need something more than a virtual beatnik to keep us checking in everywhere we go. And of course, letting our friends know where we are, and vice-versa, is great, but if one company gets into the real-life game and another doesn't, guess which one we'll probably be playing.
Discuss

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DeadHeads and Retweeters: Crowdsourcing Influence

2010-03-08T16:12:00.007-08:00

Last week the New York Historical Society opened the first large-scale exhibit of material from the Grateful Dead Archive. The archive will be managed by the University of Santa Cruz with special access to four decades worth of videotapes, recordings, fan letters and even a note from President Obama. What is surprising about the archives and the band itself, is that this classic group of rock icons is being touted as one of the first businesses to take an active role in viral marketing and brand influence building.
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Beyond the iconic imagery of the Uncle Sam skull, the dancing bears and the jester, the Grateful Dead are so well known for their viral influence on fans that entire academic careers have been spent studying the band as a sociological phenomenon. In a recent article entitled, Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead, writer Joshua Green outlines how the band's willingness to allow its music to spread via taped concert recordings is similar to that of many of today's startups.
Said band lyricist John Perry Barlow, "What people today are beginning to realize is what became obvious to us back then--the important correlation is the one between familiarity and value, not scarcity and value. Adam Smith taught that the scarcer you make something, the more valuable it becomes...The Internet doesn't behave that way...If I give my song away to 20 people, and they give it to 20 people, pretty soon everybody knows me, and my value as a creator is dramatically enhanced."
The freemium model was implemented with the assumption that merchandise and concert sales would follow. Although the band sought legal action for commercial bootlegging, the group knew that attempting to hold back regular fans from making personal recordings would not only be foolish, but it would be impossible. Instead, an open recording policy for concerts not only pleased Deadheads, but it paved the way for some of the band's best advocates to recruit others. It's estimated that recordings for 2,200 of the 2,350 Grateful Dead concerts exist and many of them are available online. Given the fact that all of these recordings required no overhead from the band, it was a great way to crowdsource distribution and increase influence. The group even went so far as to reserve an on-site spot for tapers in a special section behind the soundboard.
This reserved space can be likened to a consumer-facing startup community's willingness to offer viral tools such as blogging buttons, bookmarking widgets, Facebook fan pages and Twitter integration. The idea here is that a company reserves a space for free distribution in order to gain mindshare and find a conversion funnel for paying customers. In the startup world, the point of conversion has always been up for debate.
Said investor and entrepreneur Dave McClure, "There is a role for freemium, but unless you missed the TPS report the FREE part is only a loss-leader for the MEE-YUM part -- it's a test-drive before you buy something. If your users are just kicking the tires then you need to kick them to the curb eventually."
That being said, as proven by the Grateful Dead, freemium content and permission to redistribute can trigger a mechanism for broad influence. Because influence generates perceived value, startups may find it easier to overcome barriers for customer acquisition by offering limited teaser content. After all, if the Grateful Dead can overcome wallet friction from more than 40 years of psychedelic drug users, surely a groundbreaking experience can rally loyal (and paying) fans.
Photo Credit: Jim Marshall from the Grateful Dead Archives
Discuss

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Pandora Will Pull Ahead With Warner Music

2010-03-08T16:12:00.005-08:00

It was just about a year and a half ago now that we were hearing the bells toll for Internet radio service Pandora, but, as evidenced in today's New York Times profile of the decade old stalwart, the service seems to be going nowhere but up.
While Pandora "has been on the verge of death, struggling to find investors and battling record labels over royalties," according to the Times' profile, a recent move by Warner Music may help to put one Internet radio station above the rest.
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The Times' profile tracks the full life and times of one of our favorite Internet radio stations, describing the many reasons Pandora experienced its first profitable quarter in 2009 and looks to become even more profitable. But it might have missed out on one reason - Pandora will have the music that other free players won't.
As Tom Conrad, CTO for Pandora, told us last month when Warner announced it would pull all of its licensed content from streaming music services, "Pandora operates under a different licensing structure and won't be impacted by Warner's apparent decision with respect to free, on-demand services." This could be huge in keeping Pandora on track to break $100 million in revenue this year, as predicted by William Blair, a digital media analyst, in the Times article.
The Times compares Pandora with other services, such as Slacker Radio, noting that Pandora has one third as many songs but three times as many listeners. We can't help but wonder if the absence of Warner's discography might further imbalance this scenario in Pandora's favor.
Update: Slacker Radio has informed us that they too will carry Warner Music titles. This is from a note from a member of Slacker Radio's PR team:
Slacker has and has had since day 1 voluntary licenses with all major labels and 100's of Indie labels. Slacker negotiated deals and then built a business around those rates. We have good relationships with Warner and voluntary licenses with them. We do offer and will continue to offer music from Warner.
According to last month's article in the BBC, however, services like Spotify and Last.fm could be in trouble of losing a large portion of their music library.
While the sheer number of songs is obviously not the deciding factor here, it could be a big one. With control over artists from Frank Sinatra to the Bee Gees to Puff Daddy, Warner's music catalog could be the distinction between life or death for any online streaming music service. And now, with deals with automakers and consumer electronic manufacturers, it looks like Pandora is here to stay.
And as the Times points out, with last month's hiring of CFO Steve Cakebread, the company looks poised to go public in 2010. In the meantime, we wonder what will come of the competition when Warner music officially pulls the plug and leaves them without a "Stairway to Heaven".
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Read More... [Source: ReadWriteWeb - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

10 Principles For Not Killing Your Startup

2010-03-08T16:12:00.003-08:00

Everywhere you look these days, people are attempting to start innovative businesses and nonprofits, working on putting team, product and financing together, and generally trying to change the world - or, at least, their world - through entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, I strongly suspect that the mortality rate of tech startups is as high as ever (no rigorous scientific tracking there, just common sense and observation - please do share stats if you know of some). In any case, one failed startup is one too many.
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Guest author Greg Boutin helps startups and early-stage ventures defy a certain death, through strategy and marketing services. He blogs on entrepreneurship and on semantic technologies. He thanks Arnold Wytenburg, William Mougayar of Eqentia, Fabien Tiburce of Compliantia, and Ceara Scullion for their priceless input on this post.
So, wouldn't it be great if we could align on a guiding set of principles on how not to kill a startup? Think Hippocratic Oath for entrepreneurs - just not strictly an oath, and more in the spirit of "Doing Good" than "Doing No Harm" (or "Doing No Evil" for that matter). After all, unlike humans, doing nothing to a startup is a sure path to death, so we need to be more proactive.
And yes, I know, blanket business principles can sometimes be silly (if you haven't yet, I recommend you read the Halo Effect by Rosenzweig), but as the recent book The Checklist Manifesto argues, situations can also sometimes be improved with the introduction of simple, field-tested guidelines. I can personally tie every startup failure that I know of to the principles below not being respected.
So here is a rough copy - or should I say an alpha - of a list, based on inputs from other entrepreneurs, and my own experience as a startup consultant and entrepreneur. Please make your own suggestions for changes and additions/subtractions in the comment section. If I get many responses, I'll compile the best submissions into a beta version to be published in a follow-up post.
And of course, our list will always remain in beta. Without further ado:
How Not to Kill Your Start-Up (v 0.1)
This one's obvious - watch your cash flow. Whether your plan is to fund your startup through investors or through revenues, plan ahead. Every other principle below flows from this simple one.
Spot a real problem and concentrate your efforts on solving it. Do not disperse your time among too many concurrent, unrelated pursuits.
Identify your target market(s) and collect market feedback early on. Seek to understand your prospects and customers through first-hand observation (how do they currently deal with the problem you are trying to solve?) and continuous inputs.
Design and develop a minimum viable solution as fast as possible. A minimum viable solution is anything you can extract a firm commitment from a potential client or investor with.
Surround yourself with dedicated, effective people. Build a small team and a pipeline of strong players, and nurture a circle of supporters with knowledge and/or financial resources. Incentivize everyone intelligently (if nothing else, respect can go a long way) and reward them fairly.
Read Crossing the Chasm. Appreciate the difference between early adopters and mainstream prospects. Know which one you target, and do not confuse technologies and products with whole solutions. Only offer whole solutions to mainstream leads.
Consider other sources of competitive power than just technological sophistication, e.g. superior customer experience or service, exclusive distribution partnerships, or other market-based advantages.
Have a plan for cutting through market noise. Know how prospects will hear about your solution. Understand that building a great product is required but rarely sufficient to build a great business, it needs to be marketed one way or another.
Invest time in selecting and testing a business model, and be open to changing it based on new learning. Choose one you are able to sell to investors if you go down that road (even if it is based on traffic only, à la Twitter, have a monetization model you can justify).
Be creative and resourceful in meeting your objectives. Seek cost-effective solutions, and do not give up in the face of adversity, but seek to learn and adapt your approach to overcome obstacles.
And ultimately, remember that startups sometimes need to be killed, for their own good (or yours at least). Do not fear failure, because that is the fastest road to failing as an entrepreneur. Just rinse and repeat.
Photo by B S K.
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Read More... [Source: ReadWriteWeb - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

The Future as Platform: Mark Hendrickson's Vision for Plancast

2010-03-08T16:12:00.001-08:00

Mark Hedrickson is 24 years old. He grew up in Menlo Park, California, down the street from Stanford, raised by a high-tech marketer Dad and a Mom in banking. Then he went to college and studied Nietzsche. He has now set out to build The Future - specifically your future, your intentions, your plans as a platform for analysis and software development.
The story became particularly interesting today: Hendrickson's new company Plancast is submitting its much-anticipated iPhone app to Apple days before SXSW and announced on Hendrickson's alma matter tech blog TechCrunch that it has raised just short of $1m from a list of industry stars. We offer below some perspective on what Plancast aims to do: nothing less than "to be the platform for all 'intent' data," Mark Hendrickson says.
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Plancast is a website where people post their plans. Plans to attend a conference, plans to go to a party, perhaps plans to get a haircut. "We have the same 'who wants to share that?' issue as Twitter," Hendrickson told us today, "the standard 'I dont use Twitter because i don't care you're eating a sandwich.' What we've learned though is that semi-mundane stuff is actually interesting. So, perhaps we wont have a lot of the 'getting a haircut' stuff because that's indeed quite mundane, but we will get 'getting drinks tonight downtown' or 'heading to Palo Alto for the day' type stuff. Which actually leads to very cool serendipity."
Now that Twitter is such an unqualified success in all but monetization, it's cool to say you've got the same problems Twitter had.
Mash up all those plans from friends and you get an interesting stream of forthcoming events.
The site is simple, if smart, today. The little company has big plans for the future, though. "We want to host and distribute all content that pertains to what individuals, organizations and businesses have planned for the future," Hendrickson says. "If you break the idea of an 'event' down into its basic units (what's going to happen, when, and where), there's a ton of relevant social content through the long tail. We're designed to host a superset of all this event data."
Leveraging the Future
If the web first enabled people to publish diaries of their past actions, then moved on to status updates and check-ins about current thoughts and locations, then Plancast aims to be focused on the Future. "I think [the future has] been a neglected area in geo-location discussions," Hendrickson says.
"Check-ins have dominated the conversation over the past year, and check-ins are great for what they are - but they have a certain limited value. If someone checks in somewhere across town, what are the chances you're going to get up and hustle over there to join? You also have limited data -- often you dont know why they're there. From an advertiser's point of view, you have to grab their attention immediately. Whereas if you have intent, you have more time to give them an offer and have them consider that offer and act on it. The scope of planning data is larger than check-in data in other ways too. Check-ins are really specific to particular venues -- bars, retaurants, parks etc. so the scope of content/ads you can serve up is quite local."
This conversation about the future needed to move on to something other than advertising.
"It's absolutely a platform," Hendrickson told us.
"It's not just a consumer destination. We're building our API early [expect to see it launch very soon] because we want to be the plumbing for future intent data. We want to power third party website calendar systems, third party apps, mash ups, etc. We want to do analysis on big data sets that compile intent data from all over. Once we start pulling from lots of sources -- Facebook, Meetup, Linkedin, Twitter, Dopplr, Tripit, etc etc -- we can then match intents and figure out really cool stuff. 50% more people are planning to see Avatar this weekend vs Hurt Locker. And we can pump this data back out to other companies that have special needs for it.
"Let's say one day you can search 'movies' on Plancast and it knows A) your location, B) your past behavior, C) your friends' activity, and D) aggregate activity. The top result could be a movie showing that 2 of your friends have already planned to see and which is very popular in aggregate in your city."
Hendrickson says he's hard at work building out privacy settings that will help more people feel more comfortable sharing more plans. That's easier said than done, of course. This young, philosophically-trained startup co-founder from Palo Alto would be well-served by reaching out and bringing close to the company some advisors who specialize in understanding the privacy concerns of everyday people online, if he's going to build a platform for the future of our communication around intent. Location based social networks in general face a big challenge in making people comfortable using them and demonstrating their utility before they can become mainstream phenomena.
For now Plancast is hiring engineers with its new money, which was just announced today. Investors include SoftTech VC, True Ventures, Founders Fund Angel, and Zelkova Ventures. Angels Aydin Senkut, Saul Klein, David Cohen, Joshua Schachter, Dave McClure, Dan Martell, Ron Bouganim and Paige Craig put in money as well, bringing the total to $800,000.
Things have come along quickly since Hendrickson was writing blog posts at TechCrunch, he left the staff there one year ago this Wednesday, and bought the domain Plancast.com for $500 last summer. ("I thought about buying Plancaster," he says, "but some guy named Paul Lancaster had it.")
Can this young man and his team build "the platform for all 'intent' data?" Marketing analyst Jeremiah Owyang has been bullish on Plancast for months. He described it as a leading example of the forthcoming "intention web" in December.
Expect the real-time web to quickly evolve into the intention web. People will work together to share their information about what they plan to do, and improve how they work or organize. Expect Social CRM systems (Salesforce, SAP), Brand Monitoring vendors (Radian6, Visible Technologies), and Search Engines (Bing and Google) to quickly try to make predictive models on what could happen, and what are the chances. Businesses that have a physical location like retail, events, or packaged goods can use this data to anticipate consumer demand. They may offer contextualized marketing, or increase or decrease inventory or store hours to accommodate. Don't be surprised in the future and you walk into a store with your preferred items, meal, or drink already nicely packaged for you.
Plancast may or may not play a big role in transforming visions like that into reality, but it's definitely a startup worth watching either way. Look for the company's iPhone app later this week (built by high-profile developer Leah Culver) and check out the many listings of SXSW events on the site already, including our very own ReadWriteWeb event on Saturday night. We'd like to know if you plan on joining us.
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Read More... [Source: ReadWriteWeb - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]

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