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| What The Trend: Finally, A Way To Make Sense Of Twitter Trends Posted: 03 May 2009 08:42 AM PDT
It’s an awesome way for people to discover what’s going on, and more users will see the benefit of keeping track of trending topics now that the company has decided to integrate the top 10 trends in the right sidebar of the web version for everyone. At times the keywords for the trending topics, often determined by many users using the same hashtag for something can be quite self-explanatory, e.g. today’s ‘Swine Flu’ and ‘#swineflu’. More often that not, however, you have no idea why a certain keyword is currently a trend, and figuring out what all the fuzz is about can be quite a pain. Enter What The Trend, which attempts to offer short blurbs about trending topics with a short explanation on why it’s in the top 10 list. For example, I had no clue why ‘Jonas’ was in the top trends list, until I clicked through to this user-editable explanation blurb and learned that it’s a new show in Disney Channel. In addition, What The Trend shows me the latest tweets about the topic, and also attempts to fetch related pictures from Flickr as well as news through Google News. You can directly tweet that there’s a trend explanation to your own Twitter account, with bonus points for another service boasting its very own URL shortening service (wttrend.com). The service has its own Twitter account which it regularly updates with new trends + explanations and also offers RSS feeds and its own API. I can actually see myself going this website once and a while to get a feel of what’s trending on Twitter, although I wish I wouldn’t need to and Twitter would incorporate this into the web version itself. Until that happens, and I doubt it ever will, What The Trend provides the perfect alternative. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily. 
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| A Peek At The 100 Million Views Club: You Won’t Be Invited Any Time Soon Posted: 03 May 2009 02:43 AM PDT
It’s important to note that the video measurement startup didn’t simply analyze which videos got this total number of views on the 150+ video sharing sites it currently tracks, but also took into account views that were generated on other online properties where the videos were spread, like blogs and social networking services (a measurement method it refers to as True Reach). I won’t bore you with the full list of very viral videos - check out the Visible Measures blog post to see who’s currently on top etc. - but there is a general observation I’d like to share and discuss with you. Here’s what the company concludes after featuring the list:
I wouldn’t call it that diverse, actually. If you break the list down, you’ll note that it counts 8 music videos, 4 movie trailers, 2 TV show clips, and 4 user-generated clips. So out of the 18 online videos that amassed over 100,000,000 views according to Visible Measures, 14 are professionally produced videos that were arguably created for airing on television primarily, and certainly not specifically for online video sharing sites. Furthermore, if you break down the list of 4 clips that were classified under ‘User Generated’, two of them are actually professional artist performances that were simply recorded and/or uploaded by a regular YouTube user (“Jeff Dunham: Achmed the Dead Terrorist” and “The Evolution of Dance”). Another one (“Lezberado: Revenge Fantasies”) features a woman talking about a professionally produced TV show (The L Word), and the video that Visible Measures links to on YouTube is actually one from the official channel of Showtime, where The L Word was aired on from 2004 to 2009. So if you really want to be a pain about it, the only real user-generated video that was viewed over 100 million times would be “Charlie bit my finger - again!”, a video featuring two cute kids that funnily enough I had never seen before. This isn’t abnormal, of course: mainstream media are called mainstream for a reason, just as celebrities are celebrities for a reason (well, most of the time) and popular music artists, TV series and movies are popular for a reason (well, most of the time). You’d have to be pretty naive to think YouTube (or any web service originally meant for amateurs to share videos on) isn’t always going to be used to massively spread professional music videos, movie trailers and clips from and about popular TV shows, and that they’ll overtake most if not all videos about dogs riding skateboards and whatnot. This isn’t to say user-generated (amateur) content doesn’t have any value - it always does for at least one person - and could never be on par with professionally produced content, but looking at the list you’ve got to wonder whether we’re not all mostly craving for the latter on whichever medium we’re using at the moment we’re in the mood for it. Your thoughts? Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| It Turns Out That Google Even Has A Competitive Advantage In Scanning Books Posted: 02 May 2009 08:27 PM PDT Google is serious about scanning books. Throughout the objections raised over the years by authors and publishers and the more recent delays in its settlement with the Authors Guild, Google has been scanning millions of books all along trying to digitize as many as it possibly can. It is so serious about capturing and indexing the knowledge stored in books that it has a patent, which was issued on March 24, 2009, on how to scan books faster than was previously possible. The basic technique it uses involves two infrared cameras which determine how flat or curved each page to be scanned is and then adjusting the optical character recognition software it uses to read the text accordingly. In other words, the infrared cameras help figure out a book’s three-dimensional shape and then back out any resulting distortions. This results in much faster book scanning since each page doesn’t need to be flattened by glass plates and spines don’t need to be broken. There are other book scanning projects besides the Google Book Project. The Internet Archive, for instance, runs 18 scanning centers around the world, which all together digitize only 1,000 books a day. I am not sure what kind fo technology the Internet Archive uses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Google’s scanning operation is much faster. Those are billions of pages of high-quality information just waiting to be indexed and searched. For Google, the faster it can get those books scanned, the faster it can start to serve ads against those searches. Now, I wonder how it flips the pages. (Hat tip to Buzznewsroom). Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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| Like My Parents In 1994, Apple Finds NIN’s The Downward Spiral Objectionable Posted: 02 May 2009 05:51 PM PDT
You see, Apple has apparently rejected an update to Nine Inch Nails’ iPhone app because it found the contents of The Downward Spiral to be “objectionable,” according to Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor. History repeats itself. But what’s odd here — and what continues to be odd about the App Store approval process — is that the first version of the Nine Inch Nails app was already accepted into the store a few weeks ago. In fact, I have it. Guess what’s on it? Content from The Downward Spiral. I’m listening to “Closer” right now. Let me assure everyone, this is not the radio edit version of the song or the album. So what gives, Apple? Well, it appears to be yet another ridiculous case of Apple’s uneven app approval process. I know I’ve written about this a half dozen times already. But you know what? I’m going to keep writing about it until Apple gets its act together with this. I have no problem if Apple wants to pick and choose which apps it accepts in their store — it is their store after all, and they can do what they want with it. But it’s entirely unfair to developers, many of whom are now trying to make a living off of the platform, that the process is a complete and utter crapshoot as to whether an app will get approved or not. We’ve seen dozens of apps that are approved the first time, but later rejected for a seemingly small update. And we’ve seen others that are rejected, make almost no change, yet get in the next time they’re submitted. It would seem the the life or death of an app is entirely in the hands of the App Store inspector who checks it out. Sometimes they catch things that they don’t want in the App Store, sometimes they do (baby shaking app anyone?). But I’m really not convinced that it’s not just a personal decision on those people’s behalf which apps get through and which don’t. I’ve seen way too much evidence telling me that is exactly what happens. So we can debate whether it’s silly for Apple to block the Nine Inch Nails app for content that it already carries in iTunes (I think it is, obviously), but that’s really a secondary issue. The big issue is the whole approval process. And Apple really needs to improve it soon. It still stands high above all other mobile platforms in terms of apps right now, but with the Palm Pre about to launch, and Android getting more phones on the market (and a few other mobile app stores just opened or about to open), Apple won’t be able to coast along with this wonky approval method forever. Eventually, some developers will get pissed off enough and just go to another platform. Reznor himself seems dumbstruck by the rejection, “Not even sure where to start with that one,” he tweeted. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
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| How To Grow Your Blog Through Customer Development Posted: 02 May 2009 04:53 PM PDT This is a guest post by Neil Patel, co-founder of KISSmetrics and blogger at QuickSprout.com. He also does consulting work for a number of major Internet properties, including TechCrunch. When you think about growing your blog, whether it is a personal, professional or company blog, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Chances are it is something related to traffic or subscribers. Getting more traffic or subscribers is never a bad thing, but if you really want more sustainable traffic you first have to understand the people coming to your blog. If you can't make them happy, how can you expect your traffic to grow? Stop Assuming! You have a vision of how you see your blog and where you want it to go. The reality is that your vision may not match up with what your readers are expecting. So instead of assuming things about your readers, start getting feedback from them.
As shown above, there are many ways to get feedback from readers. Another example of getting feedback was when Michael Arrington first started TechCrunch. He began having meet ups at his house just months after starting the blog. The face-to-face feedback that he must have received proved to be valuable and effective in helping TechCrunch grow. As a result, the content on TechCrunch, which started with primarily basic company profiles, has also been expanded on and improved from there. Track, Analyze, and Execute! Analytics solutions like Google Analytics, Feedburner, and Lijit are great, but what's the point of having them if you aren't really using them? You probably log into your Google Analytics account every once in a while and look to see if your traffic is up or down, but do you ever get down into the nitty-gritty details to try and understand your readers? Do you know what changes you need to make to increase your readership and engagement levels?
After you analyze the data provided by your web analytics solutions you need to take action. Whether it's modifying your design to decrease your bounce rate or figuring out what new content topics you should be writing after looking through your Feedburner/Lijit stats, you have to take action. If you don't, you shouldn't even waste time tracking your stats. Engage, Engage, and Engage! Blogging is a two way street, you can't expect to understand your readers if you don't interact with them. Polls, surveys, and feedback tools are great, but that is only half the battle when it comes to engagement. Here are few ways you can engage with your audience: Conclusion If you want to grow your blog, you need to first understand your readers. Without understanding your audience you won't know what they like and dislike. Take the next few hours and start analyzing your blog and create a game plan on how you can grow your blog. If you find yourself getting stuck, just leave a comment and I'll do my best to help you out. J Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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| The Latest On ShoeMoney’s AdWords Lawsuit Against A Google Employee Posted: 02 May 2009 03:15 PM PDT Last month we reported on an interesting trademark case between online marketing guru Jeremy ‘ShoeMoney‘ Schoemaker and a Google employee named Keyen Farrell, who works as an AdWords Account Strategist. Schoemaker is accusing Farrell of violating his trademark by using the word ’shoemoney’ in the ad copy for Farrell’s own site - something that Google prohibits. AdWords disputes aren’t anything new, but the case is interesting because it involves a Google AdWords employee, who obviously should have been aware of the program’s Terms of Service. And there’s also the possibility that Farrell could have used his administrative access to bypass Google’s filters (which should have caught the trademark). In the latest developments, Farrell has filed an affadavit stating that he did not know that the word ’shoemoney’ was trademarked, and that he was working through Google’s standard system when he placed his ads, which failed to prevent him from registering the word. In effect, he’s saying that the blame lies with Google, which should have prevented this from happening in the first place. It’s worth noting that when Danny Sullivan attempted to use the word ’shoemoney’ in an ad last month the system rejected it, though it is possible that it was added to the filter database in the time since Farrell began using it. Farrell’s affadavit also denies any sinister action on his part through administrative access, stating that he never accessed the Google account for Jeremy Schoemaker and/or Shoemoney Media Group, Inc. Farrell and his father, who is also named in the case, are seeking the case’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction (the suit was filed in Nebraska, where neither of them live). The full documents are embedded below. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one. If Google does admit fault, Schoemaker could potentially name them in the suit, and the discovery process in this case could turn up some interesting details on the way the AdWords program is run, and how much data employees have access to. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
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For sure, 
So I got up this morning, fired up 
Back in 1994, there was no album I wanted more than Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral. The problem was that I was 12 at the time, and the album carried the dreaded “Parental Advisory” sticker, which meant I couldn’t buy it at the store without my parents — and that wasn’t an option. You see, they (like most other parents) weren’t too fond of songs like “Closer,” on the album. You know the one. “I want to f**k you like an animal.” Yeah, that “Closer.” Well, now it’s 2009, I’m 27, and should be free to buy whatever the hell I want. Except I can’t once again. This time thanks to Apple.
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