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Hungry For Young People, Food Network Launches Edgy Food2 Posted: 01 May 2009 05:20 PM PDT The Food Network just launched a saucy new site, Food2, aimed at engaging a younger generation of cooks and foodies through blogs and video content. Scripps Network, which owns the Food Network, also recently launched a recipe aggregation site, which we reviewed here. Food2 is a flashier, more hip FoodNetwork.com (Food Network’s site) that features and outspoken, “eclectic slate of food bloggers” aimed at the twenty-something crowd who favor appetizers and cocktails. The video content on the site is short and sweet, making it easy for viewers to see a five minute visual snapshot of how to make a dish. The site features Food Network video content and a variety of new web video series from spunky, young cooks (think less Emeril, more Top Chef). Food TV chef Kelsey and Top Chef star Spike pair up on a show where each use similar ingredients to create dishes-kind of like a face-off of recipes. Kitchen Conspirators, from the Brooklyn, NY-based underground supper-club group Whisk & Ladle, features three young chefs who with the help of a guest chef, plan a meal for a dinner party. There’s $12 Challenge, which is a food meets love show, where two young chefs try to woo a bystander with an inexpensive meal. The site also features a how-to series with food blogger Adam Roberts, The Amateur Gourmet,, who leads viewers through how to make simple drinks and food items. The blogs, on the other hand, leave much to be desired. The content is not organized by type of recipe or subject, which makes it difficult to sift through. It looks like the site has good amount of blog content, from recipes to other news about food but there’s no useful breakdown of the content. The site also features a number of recipes and tips which seems to be focused on the basics, like how to clean a grill or how to prevent apple slices from turning brown. Recipes are a little more creative and ranges from “Jumbo Shrimp Stuffed with Cilantro and Chilis” to “Panamanian Corn Tortillas & Lobster Disc with Cilantro Pesto.” The site also trying to combine elements of social media by integrating with Facebook Connect. If the site ramps up its blog content, I think it could be a useful platform for twenty-somethings who are more interested in creating quick, cheap meals and drinks than some of the large, elaborate meals (often time for families) that are shown on Food TV. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Microsoft Shows Off The Power Of Facebook’s New APIs Posted: 01 May 2009 03:42 PM PDT Earlier this week Facebook made the landmark (and long-awaited) announcement that it was going to enable the “Open Stream“, granting developers far more access and flexibility to Facebook data than they had before. To commemorate the event, Facebook held a special Technology Tasting at its Palo Alto office, where it gave everyone an idea of exactly what developers could do with the new data. We saw some impressive demos, including an example from Plaxo of how social sites could symbiotically exchange data with Facebook, followed by a walkthrough of the upcoming version of the new Seesmic Desktop. But out of all of them, by far the most visually impressive was a pair of applications put together by Microsoft. Yes, that Microsoft. In less than 72 hours, two small teams managed to put together a pair of applications built on the new Facebook APIs that really show off just how robust a Facebook application can be. The first app was built in Microsoft’s Silverlight platform, while the other is based on .NET. I managed to get some footage of the demos during the event, but honestly it didn’t really do the apps justice (that’s what I get for trying to record with a video camera in each hand). So I got in touch with the team at Microsoft, which put together the high quality walkthrough video above. The video is narrated by Brian Goldfarb, Director of Microsoft's Development Platform Group. Are the apps innovative? Not especially. But damn if they don’t look cool. For those of you itching to try these out for yourselves, I’ve got bad news: you can’t. At least, not yet. But Microsoft will be releasing an SDK and the source code for both of the apps in the near future. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Google’s Enterprise Strategy May Be Solid After All Posted: 01 May 2009 03:27 PM PDT There has been some doubt lurking in the trenches about whether Google has a solid, organized enterprise strategy. But there have been some recent developments that indicate that Google might have a viable game plan to become a player in the enterprise space. Yesterday, Google rolled out Google Apps Directory Sync, a tool that will let businesses sync the user account information in Google Apps with Microsoft Active Directory or Lotus Domino. Google says it's using technology from Postini, security and compliance company Google acquired in 2007, to import information from users' LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) systems, which includes mailing lists, groups, and user aliases, to a user's Google Apps account. This utility will help many businesses, schools etc. who are currently using Google Apps save a lot of time and energy when it comes to importing information to their Google Apps system.

PETA On The Google Goats: Let Them Eat Grass (But They Need Perks) Posted: 01 May 2009 02:45 PM PDT Following up on our story about the hilariously absurd use of goats to mow the lawns around Google’s headquarters instead of lawnmowers, we were able to get a comment from PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA is okay with letting the goats be goats (eating grass and looking cute), but they have some major concerns about how they’ll be treated in doing these tasks. Says Amy Cook, an Assistant Manager of Marketing for PETA: PETA has no problem with letting goats do what goats want to do (e.g., look cute and eat weeds), but we do have concerns about how the goats may be transported, whether they are provided with access to shelter during storms and shade as well as water during hot weather, where they are housed when they aren't "working," what kind of veterinary care they receive, and what becomes of old and/or excess goats. PETA has found over and over that whenever animals are used by a business to make money, corners are cut and animals often suffer as a result. And that really gets our goat, if you'll pardon the pun. You think Google, with its “don’t be evil” mantra, would be kind to the goats. But then again, they have been cutting food supplies to employees during tough times, so you have to wonder if the goats would be left without an ample supply of water as well. Also, veterinary care seems like one of those goat perks that might be on Google’s cost-cutting checklist. But you never know. I’m going to reach out to Google for comment. Update: And here’s the response from Niki Fenwick, a Google representative: Google takes the wellness of our employees very seriously and we pride ourselves on having a responsive and adaptable culture. The lawn-mowing goats are not, of course, full-time Google employees - but we would certainly respond directly to any concerns about their treatment. I can confirm that during their time in Mountain View, like other Google employees, each goat is entitled to a free organic lunch. Love me some organic salad, hope the goats do too. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

After Tribulation, The “Sexiest” iPhone App Hits With A 12+ Rating Posted: 01 May 2009 02:08 PM PDT Last month, Sookie Solutions got the bad news that its iPhone app, Peekababe, was getting rejected from the App Store. The reason? Excessive sexual content. Well today, it’s here, sexy as ever. Here’s the gist: The app features pictures of several women wearing clothes. You can swipe from side to side to get different women/clothes combinations. But if you touch the screen, those clothes magically dissolve leaving you with a bikini or lingerie-clad lady. You can then set these girls as your wallpaper. Yes, it’s kind of silly in a juvenile way, but the real story is that Apple first rejected the app, then later accepted it. Perhaps this is another sign of easing restrictions on the App Store. After all, the app seems to do basically the exact same thing it did before. But it also appears to be yet another tale of the app approval process causing confusion. “It took us close to 1 month to get approved. The approval standards should be more specific and easier to understand. You will see that our app content is very similar to already approved apps’ content,” developer Alan Bigio tells us. He goes on, “One thing that you may want to suggest is that Apple sets up a pre-approval process where developers send an idea, and Apple can accept it or reject it before developers waste time. In the long run this could even benefit Apple, because too often they have their employees wasting time with apps that get reject for very simple things.” That’s an interesting idea, certainly with developers getting increasingly annoyed by the uneven app approval process, it seems like something needs to be done. So why did Apple approve the app this time? Well it may be because Sookie now includes a 12+ rating for it. “My rating was based on the guidelines that they have for the iTunes store. Better to be safe than sorry,” Bigio says. There is also a clear note saying that it does not contain any nude or pornographic pictures. 12+ is kind of funny though. Something tells me a lot of parents wouldn’t want their 12-year-old playing with this app. There have been plenty of other “sexy” apps that have appeared the App Store over time, including iStrip, MagicPen, Wobble and Bikini Babes. But Peekababe seems to have the clearest images and is definitely one of the most blatantly sexual yet. And watch out, because in the next version, you’ll get a sexy cowgirl, a hot nurse, and “many more babes too!,” the app promises. Check out the video below to see it in action. The app is $0.99 in the App Store. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Ex-Employee Sues Zynga For Discrimination, Wrongful Termination Posted: 01 May 2009 01:43 PM PDT Zynga’s social gaming network is going gangbusters right now, reportedly pushing nine figures in revenue. But the company’s legal woes continue. A former Zynga employee named Robert Fulop has filed suit against the popular social gaming company for violating the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the California statute that prevents employee discrimination. The suit alleges that Zynga has discriminated aginst Fulop on the basis of age and disability, namely those tied to his request to temporarily reduce his work load in the time leading up to and following a heart operation. Fulop is seeking a total of $50,000 in lost compensation and general damages, along with further damages whose amount will be determined at trial. I’ve summarized the suit below and embedded the full document. It’s important to note that the suit obviously paints Zynga in a poor light (the company wouldn’t comment) so keep in mind that it is only one side of the story. The suit revolves around the termination of Fulop a few months after he began working full time at Zynga, and soon after he informed the company that he would need some time off to undergo a heart procedure. According to the document, Fulop is a long-time game designer with over 30 years in the industry whose career began at Atari in 1979. He was recruited to join Zynga as a contractor from early August 2008 through late September, when he was brought on with Zynga as a full time employee. A month later he began suffering chest pains (he had a prior heart attack in 2005) and went to the hospital for testing. Fulop notified his team leader that he would need to work from home and part-time for the weeks leading up to and following the operation. Nine days later, Fulop was terminated from that game’s team. According to the document, whether or not he was terminated from the company entirely remained unclear for weeks (he underwent his heart procedure in the mean time). He was terminated from the company soon after the operation. From the document: “… As soon as Plantiff informed Zynga of his medical condition and his need for accommodation, he was immediately terminated. Plaintiff’s request for accommodations was summarily ignored without any discussion whatsoever.” “As a pretext for the termination, Plaintiff was informed that he was being terminated because there was no work for him. This pretext is belied by the fact that Plaintiff was terminated approximately five weeks after he was hired as an employee and by the fact that immediately after Plaintiff was terminated, Zynga sought to hire another person for Plaintiff’s exact position” This isn’t Zynga’s only legal trouble. In February, the creator of Mob Wars sued the company for copyright infringement (Zynga’s game, Mafia Wars, is very similar). Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

For The First Episode Of “This Week In Startups,” Jason Calacanis Interviews His Best Friend Posted: 01 May 2009 01:40 PM PDT Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo who is famous for his Twitter-follower envy (and is our partner in organizing the TechCrunch 50 conference), now is trying his hand at his own Web video talk show. It is called This Week In Startups and it is being streamed live on Ustream right now. The format is an hour-long interview Charlie Rose style, compete with the black background. Except Calacanis couldn’t find a round table, so he’s using a rectangular one instead. His first guest is literally his best friend, Brian Alvey. Calacanis and Alvey built Weblogs together before selling it to AOL, and Alvey is now the CEO of Crowdfusion, a content management system. So if you are into CMS platforms, check it out. Alvey has created 21 of them. Calacanis is always entertaining and Alvey is a smart guy. But, come on, Calacanis. You couldn’t find anyone else to be on your first show than your best friend? Oh well, the important thing is that he Calacanis actually launched the show. We definitely need a talk show that is focused solely on startups and how to build them. I like the format and think this could build a rabid following. The best part is that Calacanis is taking questions for his guest from Twitter. The show, which is in progress, is embedded below. If you want to ask a question, send out a Tweet with the hashtag #twist: Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Tweexchange Is The Ultimate Twitter Name Marketplace Posted: 01 May 2009 12:20 PM PDT Twitter handles are quickly becoming as desirable as domains and Tweexchange hopes to capitalize on this by providing a marketplace for Twitter members to exchange, buy or find Twitter usernames from other existing members. Tweexchange also lets you easily find what Twitter handles have been taken and recommends alternate usernames for your desired Twitter handle. It’s actually a useful service when trying to find what Twitter names are available. The site also lists Twitter handles for sale, which could be a lucrative business if the handles listed for sale are actually desirable. Currently, the only handle listed that could be of value is “HowardJohnsons,” which is on sale for $750.00. If you do see a Twitter name available that you’d like to buy or negotiate, Tweexchange lets you send the owner a Tweet or email inquiry. Selling "free" Twitter names is apparently 'against Twitter rules', but it’s unclear as to how and if Twitter is enforcing this rule. “Twitter Squatting” is become a popular phenomenon. People are taking up brand names, company names and famous individuals' names as user names in the hopes of cashing in big one day, like many who bought popular domain names have in the past. Most recently, CNN and James Cox, the original owner of CNNbrk (CNN’s breaking news Twitter account) created a deal for Cox to act as a consultant as the network “acquired” the Twitter name. The news that CNN didn’t own the actual CNN Twitter handle emerged during CNN’s competition with Ashton Kutcher to see who reached 1 million followers first. CNN didn’t disclose how much the network is paying Cox for the consulting gig. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

A Valleywag Out. Owen Thomas Leaving Gawker. Posted: 01 May 2009 12:19 PM PDT Owen Thomas, who has run the Silicon Valley gossip rag Valleywag for the past couple years, is leaving Gawker, the site’s parent company, we’ve learned. This move is a bad blow for the site which significantly cut its workforce a few months ago as it was rolled under the larger Gawker.com umbrella, and made into a column. Thomas, who was previously an editor with Business 2.0, was brought in to run Valleywag in June 2007, replacing the head of Gawker Media, Nick Denton. Denton’s run as the editor of Valleywag came only after he fired Nick Douglas from the same job. We hear Thomas is going to work for NBC on some kind of site which may or may not be centered around the Valley as well. [Update below, Denton has confirmed Owen's NBC gig.] We’ve just contacted Thomas who declined to comment at this time. Update: Gabriel Synder, the editor of Gawker, has confirmed the news and had this to say: While I’m sorry to see Owen leave, I’m still committed to keeping Valleywag going as Gawker’s tech column. Snyder continued that while he couldn’t say who will be brought in to replace Thomas, there will be a new editor of Valleywag and the site will definitely not be shuttered. “Owen’s been great through this entire transition and has set the template for how coverage of the tech beat can fit into Gawker,” Snyder went on to say. Update 2: Here’s Gawker founder Nick Denton on the move: Owen has a reputation as a fearsome gossip writer. What’s less known is his penchant for management. It sounds like this NBC job will give him the responsibility he’s been craving — and take him out of the Valleywag firing line! We’re replacing him internally. More on that later. NBC may be building out a bunch of local sites, Denton says, which Thomas would be a part of. Denton went on to say that Gawker’s Q1 revenue numbers have been strong, up 27% from the year ago period. Of Valleywag specifically, he would only say that it’s sold under Gawker.com, so it’s not separated out for things like ad sales anymore, apparently. Gawker is down from 15 to 9 sites now after it shed a bunch last year, but he says the majority of the revenue came from those 9 sites anyway. He adds that they’ve been growing, even during the downturn. Update 3: Gawker has just confirmed that the new editor of Valleywag will be Ryan Tate (pictured, right). Tate had been serving as Gawker’s night editor, as well as contributing some of his work to Valleywag. Gawker is now seeking a night editor to replace him. Update 4: Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser has the story on Thomas’ new gig. Apparently, he’ll be the managing editor of NBC Bay Area, a news site focused just on the Bay Area that is in beta right now. As Plesser notes, this will make Thomas an employee of GE (which owns NBC). [Owen Thomas photograph by Benjamin Tice Smith] CrunchBase Information Owen Thomas Gawker Media Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Google Rents Goats To Replace Lawnmowers (I’m Not Kidding) Posted: 01 May 2009 11:15 AM PDT In what absolutely reads like an April Fools joke, Google has a post on its blog today explaining how it has rented a herd of goats to replace the lawnmowers that normally cut the grass in the fields around its headquarters. This is Google’s “low-carbon” approach to maintaining its property. Google is renting the goats from a company called California Grazing. Apparently, every so often a herder will bring about 200 of them to the campus and they’ll roam around for a week eating the grass. Not only that, these goats will fertilize the land at the same time — yes, that way. Google claims the goats will cost about the same as lawn mowers would. And a border collie named Jen will be brought onto Google’s payroll to help with the herding as well, apparently. No word on how the maintenance workers who previously had this job feel about losing work to goats. We’ve contacted PETA about the news (the first person I talked to initially chuckled), and they’re going to get back to us with an official comment today. Update: PETA has gotten back to us with its official stance on the Google Goats. Read all about it here. CrunchBase Information Google Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

The White House Gets A MySpace Page To Show Off Obama’s Hoop Skills Posted: 01 May 2009 11:07 AM PDT The White House finally got around to setting up a MySpace page. It is spare and tasteful and doesn’t say MySpace anywhere on the page, unlike the White House page on Facebook which is clearly a Facebook page. The page is dominated by the most recent White House blog post, which currently features a YouTube video of Obama shooting hoops with the UCONN Huskies women’s basketball champs. Every time he shoots, he gets nothing but net, while some of the girls choke. (Maybe they were a little nervous playing against the President of the United States). Here is the video: Other than teh blog post with the video, there isn’t much to the page other than a few links to Whitehouse.gov and to Obama’s and Vice President Joe Biden’s MySpace pages, as well as a link to some playful White House photos. The whole page seems designed to humanize Obama and help younger voters relate to him. There are no ads on the page, but if you click through to photos page, then you do get some ads. The add beside this photo of the president running down a hallway with his daughter’s puppy has an ad that says, “Pimp My Profile.” Not very Presidential. On Facebook, there is an ad slot on the actual page, but I only saw a house ad for Facebook’s gift shop with a penguin. (See screen shots below). The Facebook page basically has the same information, but presented as a stream. Which one do you like better? Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

The Tasteful Thickness Of Your Free Google Profile Business Card Posted: 01 May 2009 10:25 AM PDT How serious is Google getting about promoting its profiles? Well, aside from now including them in Google Search results, and giving you the option to have a vanity URL, Google is now giving away 10,000 sets of business cards to people that have one. The deal, in partnership with iPrint.com, is being promoted with a huge link at the top of Google Profile pages. The link reads, “New! Order profile business cards to tell your friends about your profile.” Click on the link and you’ll be taken to an ordering page. The cards are pretty basic, but they’re an idea that’s been getting buzz on the web for quite some time. It’s simply a white card with a big Google logo. In the middle is the Google Search box, which has your real name (as opposed to your profile name) inside of it. At the bottom it has the vanity URL for your profile. With the promotion, the first 10,000 people who sign up will get 25 free cards. But you’ll have to sign up for an iPrint account to get them. And unfortunately, these cards are only available to be shipped in the continental U.S. And yes, the card even has an “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. But sadly no, it doesn’t have a watermark. Update: As some commenters are noting, it looks like you may need to create and fill out a Google Profile for that link to the free business cards page to work (which makes sense). [thanks Derek for the tip] Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

The Online Ad Recession Is Officially Here: First Quarterly Decline In Revenues Posted: 01 May 2009 10:09 AM PDT It was the last part of the advertising sector to fall and may be the first to recover, but online advertising is now in a recession. With the four largest Web advertising companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL) having reported March quarter financials, we can get a pretty good sense of how the sector did as a whole. If you add up the online advertising revenues of these four online advertising bellwethers, the total online advertising revenues for the quarter came to $7.9 billion, a 2 percent decline from a year ago and a 7 percent decline from the fourth quarter. The growth of online advertising has been slowing down for a while, but this is the first quarter to experience an actual decline in revenues. Given the poor performance reported by all of these companies during the quarter, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Only Google was able to eke out any annual growth, the rest all saw online advertising revenues drop. The fact that Google’s advertising revenues represents 68 percent of the total and that it saw modest growth helped to dampen the overall decline. On an annual basis, the revenue growth just keeps going down from 18 percent growth in the third quarter to 8 percent in the fourth to this quarter’s 2 percent dip. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the decline is even steeper. Other than the slight 3.4 percent rebound we saw last quarter in sequential growth, which appears too have been seasonal, the sequential growth rate has been coming down for at least the past six quarters. These numbers represent global advertising revenues, and include network revenues paid to affiliates through AdSense and Yahoo’s ad network. I’ve stripped out Google’s licensing revenues, and for the other companies include only the advertising portions of their online revenues as reported in their quarterly earnings statements. Those interested in comparing this to more official numbers should note that the IAB, which only recently came out with fourth quarter data, only measures domestic revenues for the industry. You can see the numbers I’m using in the table below. Online Advertising Revenues (in millions) 3Q07 4Q07 1Q08 2Q08 3Q08 4Q08 1Q09 Google $4,190 $4,758 $5,086 $5,185 $5,352 r$5,504 $5,331 Yahoo $1,544 $1,590 $1,572 $1,587 $1,563 $1,594 $1,383 Microsoft $670 $860 $840 $840 $770 $866 $721 AOL $540 $620 $552 $530 $507 $507 $443 Total $6,994 $7,828 $8,050 $8,142 $8,192 $8,467 $7,878 Sequential Growth Q/Q 12.73% 2.84% 1.14% 0.61% 3.4% -6.96% Annual Growth Y/Y 18% 8.16% -2.10% Update: For everyone complaining in comments about my top chart because it doesn’t start at zero, here is another one showing the exact same data. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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