Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Latest from TechCrunch

The Latest from TechCrunch

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Lista Gets An Angel Round To Help People Give/Get Free Stuff

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 09:15 AM PDT

Listia, which launched just two months ago, is one of those startups that has grabbed my attention. And apparently investors like it, too. The company as raised a $400,000 angel round of financing from Implistic Capital. Partner Adam Pearsall has joined the Listia board of directors.

Listia provides a better way for people to give stuff away. People often list free things on Craigslist or donate it to Goodwill, charities or churches. But Craigslist isn't a perfect solution, since you will get a mass of emails and need to deal with everyone. And often the winner doesn't show up. And most charities and churches aren't really interested in getting actual stuff that they then need to sell for cash. They'd rather just get the cash.

Listia makes it all a lot better. Users don't bid cash for items, rather they bid points that they get for free for signing up, listing items and referring friends. That means the winner is the person who wanted the item the most and was willing to bid the most points. The lister doesn't have to deal with a lot of emails, and the no-show risk is minimized.

And if a user really wants an item but doesn't have enough points, they can buy more. That's where the business model comes in, and the value to charities. Points can be purchased at a rate of $5 for 50 points. And if a lister decides to donate the proceeds to charity, the charity gets 60% of any paid for points used by the winner.

We’ve been using Listia to give away some of the unwanted stuff in the office. And we’ve also used it for marketing, by giving away free TechCrunch tshirts regularly. Here’s an auction going on right now, or you can use the widget below:


Listia has also just rolled out Sponsored Listings, where companies and organizations can manage free giveaways for promotion or charity. The listing has a link back to the company’s website. For now it’s free, eventually Listia will charge for this.

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Meeting With The Bobs? Gmail Will Now Make Sure You Contact The Right One.

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 09:00 AM PDT

Screen shot 2009-10-13 at 3.00.52 AM (2)You know how I know that we’re reaching the limits of email innovation? Because Gmail is now devoting much of its time to embarrassment prevention in Gmail Labs. The latest is another small, but useful feature that they’re humorously calling: Got the Wrong Bob?

As the name implies, when you turn this feature on in Labs, Gmail will scan an email’s recipients to see if you are accidentally sending a message to someone you don’t want to be sending it to. Here’s a good example of when this will be useful: Michael Arrington often sends the TechCrunch writers emails about stories but sometimes he’ll include Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis in those emails when he means to include TechCrunch writer Jason Kincaid. Typing in “Jason” populates Calacanis first, and Mike usually doesn’t realize it until it’s too late.

While that’s never caused a major problem, you can imagine how it easily could, and undoubtedly has, for a lot of people. So now Gmail will look at your history of grouping people together in emails and make sure that you want to actually send it to all the recipients if there is some anomaly in that list. If there is, you will see it below the “To:” field, with a red “Did you mean” followed by the contact’s name that you may have meant to send the message to.

This is similar to Google’s “Suggest more recipients” Labs feature, and as such, they’re renaming that, “Don’t forget Bob.” I can’t quite tell if Google is trying to make a “The Bobs” joke from Office Space (which I am), or a What About Bob? joke. Either would be good, I suppose.

Screen shot 2009-10-13 at 3.01.56 AM

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Put On Your Hard Hats, You Can Now Create 3D Buildings In Google Earth

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 08:18 AM PDT

Google is launching their version of Sim City today, Google Building Maker. The tool lets you create buildings for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you pick any building and construct a 3D version of it using photos and building blocks provided by Google. Google says that buildings are relatively fast to construct using their tool, taking only a matter of minutes.

Building Maker runs within your web browser and connect with your Google Account so you can get credit for your building. You can also use Google SketchUp to edit or modify your creation.

When your building is finished, you submit it to Google, where it will be deposited in a giant 3D warehouse. If yours is the best version of the building, Google will add it to the 3D building layer in Google Earth. Google Building Maker, which is available in 14 languages, lets you make buildings in only 50 cities at the moment, but will be rolling out the feature to other cities in the future.

While Building Maker is definitely a fun tool, Google gets some benefit out of this. They are crowdsourcing building making to their users, in addition to doing this internally. Google is also crowdsourcing to help update Google Maps, letting users report changes to a particular location, destination or roads.

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Nokia’s Booklet 3G is $299 on AT&T

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 08:07 AM PDT

Nokia and AT&T just announced the official availability of the Booklet 3G, Nokia's Win7 netbook. It will be available on October 22 for $299 with 2-year contract and $60/month data plan. The netbook, rumored to hit 12 hours of battery life and has and Intel Atom processor, 120GB HDD, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, HDMI, and 3G. The netbook will be sold by AT&T in Best Buy stores.

Cisco Bets Big On Mobile Data Networks With $2.9 Billion Purchase Of Starent Networks

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 08:01 AM PDT

Cisco is on a buying spree this month. This morning it announced a $2.9 billion acquisition of mobile networking infrastructure provider Starent Networks, which follows on the heels of another $3 billion acquisition announcement two weeks go for Two weeks ago it announced the $3 billion acquisition of video video-conferencing company Tandberg.

You add $3 billion here and $3 billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.

Cisco has always been a large acquirer, and the fact that it is opening its purse strings again is a good sign for tech M&A overall. But these are relatively large bets for Cisco, which needs to keep at the forefront of networking technologies. The Starent acquisition gives it a strong play in mobile data networks as carriers migrate to 3G and 4G platforms. Broadband is moving to mobile, and Cisco needs to be there.

If this acquisition helps it compete more effectively against the likes of Ericsson and Nokia Siemens, mobile data networks could become one of its fastest growing businesses.

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This Year’s Laptop And PC Lines Are Touch-gasmic… But Why?

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 07:41 AM PDT

You may have seen a young man named Michael Arrington bemoaning the current state of touch technology on these very pages. While I tend to agree on the aggregate, I saw HP's new touch line last week and came away impressed, at least in the quality of the interface HP built around the TouchSmart 300 and 600, 20 and 23-inch all-in-ones with touchscreens. Sony also dumped out some touchscreen Vaios in an event so-over-the-top that Mischa Barton was there (seriously!). OEMs are going touch-crazy. But why now? Why touch?

Our Friends From The Next Web Go International, Launch 8 Local Tech Blogs

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 07:09 AM PDT

Before I started writing for TechCrunch, I did a brief stint at The Next Web, a tech blog published out of Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

It was fun, mainly because its founders are positively insane and famously quirky. Today, they’re taking their online media company forward with the launch of eight new local blogs focused on technology, startups, news, internet culture and the future of the Web.

The international ‘hubs’, as they’ve been baptized, will be published in each country’s native language, which is the main difference between this network and the late blognation (which I also used to work for, unfortunately).

The countries that The Next Web is launching in today, each with a dedicated editor firmly located on the ground, are France, Russia, South Korea, The Netherlands, Argentina, Turkey, Romania and Germany.

Of course, our own TechCrunch Europe will keep on fiercely competing for stories with the European ones.

The editors of the local blogs are also responsible for bringing in the needed advertising dollars to keep the venture viable. Only part of the ad space on the country blogs gets reserved for run-of-network campaigns, from which the revenue is shared between the publisher and the local editors. The same goes for local events. Basically, most of the writers get paid based on the revenue they manage to generate on their own, which is 100% reserved for them.

Best of luck to them, but in my educated opinion it’s not going to be an easy feat for each editor to grow the blog to a size that attracts major advertisers, and even then it’s going to be an uphill battle to turn it comfortably revenue-generating.

In addition to the native-language blogs, The Next Web is debuting two blogs aggregating English blog posts and news articles covering a whole continent, starting with Europe and Asia. Unlike the country-specific blogs, which will be managed by (at least) one full-time editor, each of the continent blogs will have at least three editors.

More details are available here, including the names of the local editors.

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Jitterbit Releases Version 3.0 Of Its Open Source Data Integration Platform

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 07:06 AM PDT

Jitterbit, a open source data and application integration company, has launched the 3.0 release of its product. The new release includes the debut of the 'MX' Enterprise version of Jitterbit, which the company says is designed for especially large enterprise customers. MX joins the normal Enterprise version (which should be suitable for most businesses), as well as the Jitterbit Community product, which is available for free but doesn't come with support. In layman's terms, Jitterbit helps applications and systems that wouldn't normally be able to 'talk' to each other do just that, and it also helps automate some of the more tedious processes involved in data management, like transferring data between applications.

WikiReader Packs All Of Wikipedia In A Power-sipping Portable

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 06:23 AM PDT

The new WikiReader is a $99 portable device from the Openmoko group that stuffs every Wikipedia article into a pocket-friendly traveling companion. While those of us entrenched in technology day in and day out may scoff at the idea of having Wikipedia at the ready (we all have smartphones, remember?), this is something that might be able to make some waves with baby boomers and/or the technically petrified. I'll have a hands-on/review this week but the basic gist is that the unit uses two AAA batteries, a low-power CPU and monochrome touchscreen, and standard microSD cards to house all the articles. It's not a connected device, either. Everything's completely offline.

Transactiv Raises $1.2 Million For Stealth Online Commerce Platform

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 05:57 AM PDT

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Transactiv has announced that it has secured $1.2 million in financing from Blue Chip Venture Capital, CincyTech, Neyer Holdings, Queen City Angels and a number of private investors.

What it hasn’t announced yet, however, is what it’s actually building. So what do we know?

According to the release, the capital will be used to fund the company’s development of its “next-generation commerce platform, intellectual property portfolio, and technology leadership”. The boiler plate doesn’t reveal much either, mentioning only in passing that the startup’s technology aims to “enable online commerce for businesses of all sizes”.

The platform is slated for launch in 2010.

Transactiv was co-founded by Karl Perron, acting as the startup’s President and CEO, whose LinkedIn profile reveals that he filled a number of senior executive positions at SAP before moving on to head OutPerformance back in August 2007. OutPerformance was a provider of enterprise profit optimization solutions to the manufacturing industry whose assets were acquired by S&OP Solutions in January 2009.

Hopefully for Perron and the rest of the team, the startup will fare better than the late Transactiv, a venture-backed company that offered a B2B eCommerce solution but apparently went out of business without making any type of splash.

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ViVu Raises $3 Million For Online Video Conferencing Platform

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 05:54 AM PDT

ViVu, an online video conferencing platform, has raised $3 million in Series A funding led by Inventus Capital Partners, with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Quest Venture Partners and entrepreneur Bill Carrico participating. The company says that the new financing will be used for sales and marketing efforts.

ViVu’s “video as a service” lets anyone create a live video webcast that can be used for online meetings and events, sales presentations, demos or training sessions. ViVu’s cloud-based technology can be enabled via a PC, Mac or smartphone and provides an auditorium like-view within the browser (see above) making it ideal for large conferences.

ViVu’s platform also featured a chat feature and integration with the Twitter stream, letting organizers pull in Tweets related to the subject matter of a video conference. ViVu will save all video, slides and conversations, letting users access the files at any time. And ViVu will provider users will analytic regarding participant's means of access, network domain, and time spent in the session.

ViVu faces competition from several other startups in the video conferencing space, including TokBox and TinyChat.

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TodaCell Raises $1M for Smart Mobile Ad Inventory Management Technology

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 05:25 AM PDT

Israeli TodaCell has raised a $1M round to be used to market the company’s mobile ad inventory optimization solution that analyzes users’ click patterns across ad campaigns that span category verticals and age groups.

Through the analysis TodaCell can go back to advertisers and recommend which campaigns will better perform on any of the inventory in its publisher network.

The technology doesn’t offer a ‘hit-the-ground-running’ proposition as it may take a month or two for TodaCell to analyze a publisher’s inventory in order to make ‘intelligent’ recommendations. Sure, a bit of downside, but I’m not aware of machine-learning technologies that offer instant results.

Another benefit TodaCell presents advertisers is that it’s not a blind network in which it’s unknown where ads will actually be served. Campaigns run using TodaCell do offer this type of transparency in advance, which is an important factor for most advertisers and their agencies.

The first I heard of TodaCell was in mid-2007 when it began pitching the local VC’s and angels, subsequently raising a seed round of $350K. Since then deals with companies such as Taptu, Fring, MobiLuck, MocoSpace and TuneWiki have extended TodaCell’s reach from literally zero to 26M unique mobile users per month (by its own account), split 60% US and 40% Europe.

Assuming this number is true, it situates TodaCell as a top 10 mobile ad network.

This traction may not actually be a complete surprise, considering the company’s founder and CEO is Moshe Vaknin, who was also the co-founder and CEO of ad-server company Checkm8. Vaknin was also a co-founder of AdWise, an online ad targeting company which back in 2001 was gearing for an IPO but imploded when its main customer went bankrupt—ah, the good ol’ Bubble 1.0 days. But clearly, ad-serving is something Vankin knows a lot about, and TodaCell is his first venture into the mobile realm of the business.

The $1M investment comes from AfterDox, an investment group comprised exclusively of angel investors who are all current or ex-Amdocs executives. This is an important point as collectively the group has a rolodex chock full of contacts spanning mobile operators and telecom players worldwide—an obvious benefit for TodaCell.

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Mobile Ad Revenues To Top $4 Billion In 2015, Mostly From Search (Report)

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 05:15 AM PDT

Coda Research Consultancy in a new report forecasts mobile broadband search and display ad revenues in the US to grow to $4.2 billion in 2015, up from $1 billion in 2010.

The firm predicts that 70% of those revenues – or nearly $3 billion – will come from search advertising, and sees a bright future for local search in particular. SMS revenues on the other hand are forecasted to drop to a mere 3% in the next 5-6 years, down from 55% in 2010.

As we’ve noted before, most reports from research agencies predict a steep rise of revenues from mobile search in the coming years, and I’m bullish about that too, but Coda seems overly optimistic about the general growth curve in its forecasts. I also don’t believe revenues from SMS, which continues to be one of the cheapest, quickest and easiest to use form of peer-to-peer mobile communication, will really decrease so rapidly. Mobile advertising isn’t a zero-sum game.

A couple of weeks ago, eMarketer reached more conservative conclusions based on its own research, estimating that mobile ad spending, including messaging-based formats, will reach $416 million in 2009 and $1.56 billion by 2013. The Kelsey Group forecasts U.S. mobile advertising revenues (search and display) to grow to $3.1 billion by then.

The consensus, however, seems to be that SMS revenues are set for a decline in the next five years, and that the increase in mobile advertising revenue from search and display will compensate for that decline and continue to make the segment grow faster than regular Internet advertising.

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Peerset Rolls Out Psychographic Data Tool For Advertisers And Brands

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 04:56 AM PDT

Startup Peerset is launching an advertising data tool that generates “psychographic” recommendations and ad placement advice, based on content analysis. Peerset's proprietary technology organically links interests, values, lifestyles and attitudes to brands, letting advertisers see the constellations of these links.

Sound confusing? That’s because Peerset’s technology is fairly complicated. The startup basically examines interactions on social media sites and then interprets these connections and provides recommendations to brands and advertisers based on the results. For example, if the ad subject is “Fashion,” Peerset may determine that the ideal audience is also communicating about “Sex and the City,” “sushi,” and “Madonna.” Peerset says that this data can help advertisers and brands figure out what audiences are likely to engage and connect strongly with a product or service.

Peerset goes beyond just giving advertisers data on target audiences; the startup actually integrates with existing ad serving systems and will place contextual adds next to connecting “subjects.” Peerset will actually execute media buys either through social media publishers or through ad networks which let you target by keyword. For example, the “Fashion” ad would be placed next to content about Sex and the City or sushi.

And Peerset’s technology lets advertisers create campaigns that target and connect with audiences who share similar values, interests or lifestyles. It should be interesting to see if Peerset’s technology proves to be profitable for advertisers and brands.

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Factual: Applied Semantics Co-Founder Launches A Repository For Open Data

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 04:07 AM PDT

Gil Elbaz wants people to make lots of spreadsheet tables filled with fun and important facts and share them across the Web. Later today, he will be launching Factual, which he describes as “a platform for anyone to share and mash open data.”

Elbaz previously was the co-founder of Applied Semantics, which Google bought in 2003 for $100 million and turned its technology into AdSense. With Factual, he is trying to collect a rich repository of structured data (i.e., data neatly placed in rows and columns in his database), all contributed by developers, publishers, and “data enthusiasts.” So if you love making spreadsheets, Factual is for you.

The way that Elbaz is going to get people to contribute to his online database is that all the data placed into it is open and free to use. He is also making it easy for people to create their own tables and embed them on their own sites. “We've built smart tools to help a community maintain a large, trusted source of structured data,” he explains.

See the examples embedded below of U.S. prisoners on death row and American Idol finalists to get an idea of what these tables look like. Every cell can be clicked on to add comments, see the source of that particular data point, and offer corrections. The tables can be filled with any kind of data, from a list of cancer doctors with their specialties and which insurance they accept, to a list of farmer’s markets across the U.S.

Elbaz believes that good data leads to good decisions. So he designed Factual to self-correct and improve its data over time. Once he has a rich source of structured data, that will start to become very appealing to developers, who can access Factual’s data through its API .

Of course, he is not the only one trying to o this. Danny Hillis at Freebase has a two-and-a-half year head start. Everything in Wolfram Alpha is highly structured in an automated way. And Google is trying to get into the game with Google Squared.

Check out the interactive Factual tables below.

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Yahoo Reaches Settlement In Pay-Per-Click Class Action Lawsuit

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 02:27 AM PDT

A class action lawsuit brought in 2006 by several Yahoo! pay-per-click search advertising customers has been settled, one of the parties involved who received an e-mail about the settlement informs us. In the e-mail, administrator Rust Consulting lets the concerned parties (”all persons that purchased, directly or indirectly, Yahoo! pay-per-click advertising in the U.S. marketplace”) know that the court has granted preliminary approval of the Settlement and has provisionally certified the Settlement Class.

The lawsuit (PDF) alleges that customers contracted for targeted ad placements through two products, "Sponsored Search" and "Content Match" (and predecessor products provided by Overture and GoTo.com) and that Yahoo! breached its contract with its customers by allowing Yahoo! ads to be displayed in spyware, domain name parking sites (bulk registration sites), pop-ups, pop-unders and typosquatting sites. According to the message, which is reproduced on a dedicated website about the case, plaintiffs brought claims for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, and unfair business practices.

Interesting tidbits about the lawsuit:

During the course of the Action, Yahoo! has produced over 1.5 million pages of documents and hundreds of gigabytes of data. Yahoo! employees testified at deposition. The plaintiffs or class representatives did much of the same. Yahoo! has apparently entered into the proposed settlement to avoid further expense, inconvenience and the burden of drawn-out litigation.

In addition, the Sunnyvale company has agreed to launch a new filtering option for ads, and to make some other modifications to the way it handles disclosures and click fraud investigations:

Yahoo! has agreed to develop and offer a new ad placement option that will enable Yahoo! Ad customers to control where their Yahoo! Ads appear. The Ad Placement Option will allow Yahoo! Ad customers to specify that their Sponsored Search ads should be displayed only on websites and other Internet properties owned or operated by Yahoo!, and the websites of certain "Premium" distribution partners. According to the docs, Yahoo! has agreed to make best efforts to launch the Ad Placement Option as early as the first quarter of 2010, but in no event later than September 30, 2010. Yahoo! will maintain the Ad Placement Option for at least two years from the date of its launch.

Yahoo! will post enhanced disclosures on the "Traffic Quality" portion of its website about where Yahoo! Ads may appear on the Internet. These disclosures will provide information about the Ad Placement Option, including a link to a Yahoo! webpage with instructions for using the Ad Placement Option. The company will also modify its click investigation request tool to allow advertisers to ask questions or request investigations regarding certain Yahoo! advertising partners. Yahoo! will also add language to the Traffic Quality section of Yahoo!'s website notifying advertisers that they can request investigations of partners.

As part of the settlement, Yahoo! has also agreed to pay pay a $20 refund to eligible Class members who are out of business (I’m sure they’ll be relieved). Claims forms must be submitted to the administrator by March 22, 2010.

One thing is for sure: the lawyers have won this case.

Yahoo! will pay the costs of notice and claims administration, as well as the plaintiffs' attorneys' fees and costs, and service awards to the Class Representatives. The attorneys' fees amount up to $4,170,000, plus reimbursement of expenses of approximately $100,000, and for service awards to the three Class Representatives of $10,000 each. I’m convinced the lawyers are yodeling all the way to the bank.

For your reference: Google settled a similar case back in March 2006 for $90 million.

You can access the court documents here.

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Yahoo Is Looking For A Few Good Yodelers (Or Really, Any Good Ones)

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 02:27 AM PDT

Screen shot 2009-10-13 at 2.15.17 AMDo you like sounding like an idiot? Does the thought of doing so in front of millions of people appeal to you? Then Yahoo has just the thing for you (or, rather, Y!ou).

Yahoo has just launched Yodel Studio, a site for you to yes, record yourself yodeling. The idea is for Yahoo users to remix the service’s signature sound for a chance at recognition, most notably, on Yahoo’s homepage which is visited by tens of millions of people each month. Yahoo is also pledging up to $130,000 for local and global charities on behalf of each yodel submitted.

So how do you do it? Well if you happen to be in New York City, London, or Mumbai, there are live events happening later today (NYC and London) and tomorrow (Mumbai). Professional recording booths will be set up and celebrities will be on hand to help you with your yodeling. People like Randy Jackson (from American Idol) and LeAnn Rimes will be in New York, along with Jewel, who apparently is one hell of a yodeler herself (watch the video below).

If you aren’t going to be in any of those cities, you have until November 8 to submit your yodel through this site. The recording is all done through the web browser and includes video. It also includes background tracks if you want to yodel along with generic rock or hip-hop beats.

The videos are already rolling in on the site. Wow. Feel free to post links to your yodeling in the comments, if you dare.

Obviously, this is a quirky part of Yahoo’s new It’s Y!ou marketing campaign. Will this bring Jerry back? That seems unlikely; if I heard all these people yodeling, I would run the other way as quickly as possible..

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10/GUI: One Very Slick Desktop Multi-Touch Concept (Video)

Posted: 13 Oct 2009 12:53 AM PDT

Screen shot 2009-10-13 at 12.52.28 AMHopefully you just read Michael’s post about Why Desktop Touch Screens Don't Really Work Well For Humans. The answer is so simple that a lot of people overlook it: No one wants to hold their hands at monitor-level all the time, you’d get tired very quickly. If you’re looking for a quick answer as to why many touch screens like the TouchSmart line haven’t seen success in the past, that’d be it. But that’s not good enough. We need a solution, because as much as some people would like to hold on to the past, we’re not going to be using a keyboard and mouse forever to interact with computers.

Certainly, having a touch screen computer that sits at an angle like an architect’s desk is one solution. The issue there is that you need the screen to be big enough so that your hands don’t completely obstruct what you’re doing. Hopefully Microsoft will unveil some version of the Surface that works like that. But another potential solution comes by way of a brilliant concept video for something called 10/GUI.

If you haven’t seen this demo before, you should watch it (below). It brings up some key issues surrounding the future of touch input from both a hardware and software perspective. 10/GUI’s solution is to create a multi-touch pad that lays on your desk in the area that a keyboard or mouse would. You then use this pad to interact with the monitor in front of you, just as you would with the more traditional methods of input.

The key difference is that rather than have one cursor on the screen, you potentially have ten (one for each finger). While all your fingers could be resting on the screen, a “click” would not occur until you applied pressure from one or many of your fingers. The result is pretty cool — manipulating the user interface in a way not completely unlike the computer interaction in Minority Report (which is still my ultimate dream), though not three dimensional, of course.

But 10/GUI realizes that using this touch technology still may not be ideal for manipulating current computer operating systems. Specifically, the idea of the window-based interface becomes less ideal as you add more and more windows. 10/GUI’s solution is something called Con10uum, which is basically a linear way to organize windows. When matched with some of the multi-touch gestures, the system seems to make some sense.

Of course, then you get into a whole different game. Companies are already scooping up patents on different multi-touch gestures left and right. For example, here are some of the ones that BumpTop has for its system. Apple has others. Microsoft undoubtedly has some of its own too. It’s beyond ridiculous that you can patent a gesture, and this could lead to real issues in the future if multi-touch computing does take off. Nevertheless, that’s where we are.

Again, 10/GUI is just a concept created by R. Clayton Miller. You can read more about it here.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

[thanks Basti and Daniel]

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Why Desktop Touch Screens Don’t Really Work Well For Humans

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 11:27 PM PDT

Hewlett Packard refreshed their TouchSmart line of computers today. If you’re not familiar with these, imagine an iMac all in one computer that has a touch screen, and you’re most of the way there.

I really like the TouchSmart line, and use a second generation machine as my main Windows test computer. The touch interface is done via infrared, which is a very cost effective way of creating a touch interface on a large screen. Microsoft, in fact, uses it in their experimental TouchWall product that can make a touch screen of virtually any size wall (more TouchWall footage).

Overall I give the TouchSmart top marks – the only drawback is that it is inexplicably heavy at something like 60 lbs., and no one seems to know why. But since it sits on your desk, it’s not like you’re lifting it very often, so it doesn’t really matter.

But the machine is still all wrong. Anyone who has used one for a long time will tell you that they quickly revert to using the keyboard and mouse. And it isn’t because of the software or touch technology – both are fine.

The problem is that you get tired keeping your hands up and on the screen for a long period of time. Touch experts I’ve spoken with say it’s because your hands are above your heart, which isn’t comfortable for very long.

You don’t get this problem with Microsoft’s Surface computer, which is a low table in front of you. And the TouchSmart layout tends to work well in the kitchen, where you’re standing at a counter with the computer at a lower level.

But for the desktop, it just doesn’t work.

So what does the future of desktop touch computing look like?

Most experts I’ve spoken with agree that the problem was actually solved centuries ago. The proper layout for a desktop touch screen machine is the architect’s desk – a slightly inclined desktop that is a touch screen for your computer. With the advances in touch technology most users won’t need any peripheral input device (keyboard, mouse, etc.) to be productive on inclined desktop touch screen machine. The desk should also be somewhat shorter than a normal desk – the bottom of the screen should basically be on your lap, and you would be mostly looking down on the machine.

If I were HP, I’d design a version of the TouchSmart that inclined way down to a 25 degree or so angle. My guess is people would love it. Until, of course, they realized the viewing angle for the LCD screen was so poor that the screen was unreadable. But that too can be fixed.

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Google Hops On A New Satellite To Watch Us From Space

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:55 PM PDT

FORMULALaserSatelliteLast year, there was a lot of coverage of Google striking a deal with satellite imagery company GeoEye to be able to use the high resolution images from its new GeoEye-1 satellite for their Google Earth and Maps products. The exclusive deal saw Google shift away from its partnership with rival DigitalGlobe, which provides many of Google’s rivals with imagery. Now, it looks like Google is back on board with a new DigitalGlobe satellite.

In a post today on its Lat Long Blog, Google reveals that DigitalGlobe has just launched their next-generation satellite dubbed WorldView-2 (no idea if this is to one-up GeoEye-1), and that the company will be getting new imagery from it. In the post, Google notes that it works “directly with several commercial satellite imaging providers.” Presumably, that means the deal with GeoEye is still in place, and now Google has found itself on yet another state-of-the-art satellite that peers down on all of us, gathering data.

Now, the government has regulations on just how closely Google and these companies can look (mostly because the government itself wants to be the only ones that can see really, really close up on us). But still, this is starting to get mildly creepy. I’d love to know how many satellites they are using up there to get their imagery.

It was recently revealed that Google was breaking away from TeleAtlas as the provider of its mapping data in the U.S. (though it is supposedly still using it for some other parts of the world). One reason they can do that is because they now have so much data from this satellite imagery (as well as their Street View imagery).

Is it tin hat time yet?

Watch the WorldView-2 launch below.

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Meet The New hi5: It’s Game Time

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:47 PM PDT

If there’s been one shining star on social network applications platforms, it’s been casual gaming: Zynga is rumored to be making an absolute killing with their games, and Mochi Media’s unified Flash payment platform has shown some very impressive early results. Now hi5, one of the world’s most popular social networks, is looking to capitalize on the trend. On Wednesday, the social network will be launching a totally revamped site that places a much stronger emphasis on games and virtual currency, along with a new avatar system. The site won’t go live for everyone for a few days, but you can check it out now at http://new.hi5.com.

The new hi5 still retains many of the same key features you’ll find on any social network — your profile consists of a photo or avatar, you can browse through your friends, and so on. But there’s clearly a much bigger emphasis on the site’s games and virtual currency (called ‘Coins’) than there was in the past. In the old design, the Games link was buried in the header, which also included links to Photos, Messages, Applications, and more. Now Games and Coins are both featured just as prominently as the link to your Profile and Friends. If it isn’t the first thing people will click on, it’s probably the second.




Alongside the new emphasis on gaming, hi5 is launching an avatar system called hi5 Stars, which features Flash-based animated 3D avatars (no download required). You’ll be able to change the appearance and movements of these to fit your current status, which anyone will see when they visit you profile. There really isn’t much you can do with them at this point, but down the line hi5 will be using these as part of its social entertainment experience, in much the same way Nintendo has done with the Wii’s Mii system, we’re told. This means that you will likely be able to use your avatar in some games, which is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Hi5 is not especially popular in the United States compared to Facebook, but it’s quite popular abroad, with over 60 million monthly unique visitors (only 10% of which come from the US). This would normally pose a challenge to developers who would have to figure out how to engage in transactions with users around the world, but hi5 has that taken care of. The social network has set up 60 different payment systems for users worldwide, all of which convert to hi5 Coins. And aside from the benefits of making international payments relatively painless, virtual currencies tend to lead to more impulse buying (it’s much easier to toss away a few Coins than a few dollars). hi5 takes a 50/50 rev share of any money spent in a game.

Even before the redesign hi5 games section has been doing very well. It only launched in February and already accounts for around 1/3 of the site ’s traffic, and direct user payments through the game already account for 15% of hi5’s revenue. Expect to see that number jump substantially over the next few months.

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Dictionary.com Launches Free BlackBerry App, Unveils API

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:15 PM PDT

Earlier this year, we wrote about Dictionary.com’s nifty iPhone app. Since April, the app has seen 3 million downloads and is steadily growing in popularity. Today, Dictionary.com (which as part of the Ask.com network that also includes Thesaurus.com) is launching a similar application for BlackBerry smartphones, which has a few key differentiating factors from its sister iPhone app.

In addition to providing users with more than 500,000 words, definitions and synonyms, the app also features audio pronunciations, spelling suggestions, a “Word of the Day” for both English and Spanish and the ability to view a recently searched terms list. One of the features that is exclusively available on the Blackberry app is the ability to access a definition or synonym while reading or drafting an email. The app lets you highlight the word and you’ll be given an option to find a synonym or definition. The app also has a native feature that lets you email or SMS text any word and its definition to yourself or a contact.

Doug Leeds, president of Dictionary.com, says that the features included in the Dictionary.com app were designed to meet the specific professional needs of BlackBerry users. For example, definitions have been condensed to be more functional on a Blackberry screen. Leeds also tells us that they are releasing their API to partners to incorporate into various applications. While Dictionary.com is still finalizing partners, Leeds says that the API will be incorporated on e-books, letting users (but wouldn’t say which one).

While Dictionary.com’s BlackBerry app is free, the Oxford American Dictionary is $19.99 on Blackberry’s App world. Dictionary.com was bought by IAC-run Ask.com in July of 2008 when the conglomerate bought Lexico, the operator of Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.

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Someecards Launches Invites For Parties I Would Actually Want To Go To

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:02 PM PDT

Screen shot 2009-10-12 at 6.18.02 PMEvery so often I think to myself, “what ever happened to Evite?” Then I get an email invitation and realize that it’s still alive. While some of the early adopters and tech elitists may have switched to services like MyPunchbowl, Socializr, Pingg, Cocodot, and even MySpace and Facebook, Evite lives on in the minds of many of those outside of the tech sphere. And that’s why Someecards now wants to kill it with a new Invites section of their site.

Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. “The thing is, there’s really nothing wrong with Evite. It’s just not fun, which is really our big point of differentiation. Our site will be fun. And if you’re planing a party, shouldn’t it start off from the point of sending out the invites being fun rather than lame?,” Someecards co-founder Duncan Mitchell explains.

We agree.

I, for one, am much more likely to show up at a BBQ if I get an invitation that reads, “I’d appreciate it if you could bring meat, beer, condiments, paper goods, and all the guests to a BBQ I’m throwing,” than if I get one that says something like, “BBQ Time!”

While Someecards has a bunch of cards pre-populated in the Invites section based on the type of party, you can actually make any card on the site into an invitation. Simply find a card you like and click on the Invite tab below it, then enter in the data such as the title of the party, the details, the time and date, and where it will be. Once it’s sent, invitees can comment on the “Party Wall” and attach other Someecards there to express what they are feeling about the event.

The plan is also to attach the invitation functionality to all user-generated cards within the next few weeks, we’re told. And eventually Someecards will add Facebook Connect to extend these invites to your Facebook account as well.

The monetization plan is the same with the rest of the service. Aside from ads on the site, certain Someecards are sponsored by brands.

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RentCycle Wants To Be An OpenTable For Local Rental Businesses

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 06:01 PM PDT

One of the big trends we’ve seen over the last few years is the push to bring local businesses online. No longer are online reservations and purchases solely available through major brands — it’s now quite easy for a local business to set up a storefront online, and plenty of them are doing it. Now a new site called RentCycle is looking to tap into a slightly different market: the rental industry, which encompasses everything from power tools at Home Depot to scuba gear at a local shop in Hawaii.

The company launched in a limited alpha last week, and has since signed on over 20 local rental businesses. The first 100 Techcrunch readers to sign up here with the promo code “techcrunch” will be able to sign up for free.

Founder Tim Hyer ackowledges that there are plenty of other sites looking to cater to local businesses, like this year’s TC50 winner RedBeacon. But he says that RentCycle is unique in that it is focused on rentals alone (RedBeacon has a much broader range of businesses). He also says that most of the services that are focused on rentals tend to cater to peer-to-peer rentals, not to established businesses.

Hyer says that the company’s goal is to serve as a sort of OpenTable for the rental industry, offering a full inventory and reservation management software solution that lets customers book their rentals and pay for them online. The service’s backend is straightforward, perhaps to the point of being a little too basic. There’s a calendar management area where you can see every upcoming rental by date, as well as an inventory screen where you can see the number of items you have available, as well as their current price. Finally there’s an area for analytics where you’ll be able to see analytics, with reports on pricing variability, seasonal changes and more, but these aren’t yet available.



Initially RentCycle will be focused on the hardware industry, which Hyer says is larger and less fragmented than other rental industries. In the longer term, he anticipates supporting rentals for parties and events, sporting goods, electronics, leisure and tourism (snow skis, surf boards, etc.), luxury goods (yachts, jets), and baby goods.

RentCycle is free for businesses renting out five or fewer items. Businesses renting out up to 25 items pay $40 a month, or $60 for up to 50 items. For $100 they can rent an unlimited number of items. RecentCycle is a graduate of TheFunded Founder Institute, a startup camp for new startups that has some similarties with incubator programs like Y Combinator, though the structure is different (TheFunded has ‘warrants’ to purchase equity from companies at market value rather than taking a stake outright).

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Woopra Opens Its Doors For Live Web Analytics

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 06:00 PM PDT

Woopra, the impressive live tracking and analytics service, today announced that they are opening their doors for all new signups. Until today, new users had to be approved if they didn’t have an invite code.

Sure, there are a lot of analytics alternatives, so what makes Woopra so special? Real Time. It’s the big trend this year, and Woopra certainly delivers. Woopra is similar to Google Analytics but provides real time stats and a number of additional features, such as the ability to chat real time with visitors to the site. (See also, Chartbeat and our coverage).

Woopra first became public when Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV spoke with John Pozadzides, CEO of iFusion Labs, the parent company of Woopra at WordCamp Dallas in September 2008.

With today’s public launch of Woopra, one of the biggest changes is the pricing. Until now, Woopra has been free for all users. Coming with the public launch is paid accounts. All current users are getting moved to the free account (pageviews limit: 250,000), with an option to upgrade to a premium account. Also, Woopra is supporting SSL, making SSL available to all paying clients. One of the big requests that users have requested is that Woopra support subdomains as well, and this is also being announced. You can find the full list of plans for Woopra here.

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