The Latest from TechCrunch |  |
- Why Open Source Will Never Rule the Desktop and Why It Doesn’t Have To
- Viral Video Alert: Miley Cyrus Raps About Reasons For Quitting Twitter
- The Tale Of Storytlr Ends Here
- Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs
- Ten Teen Entrepreneurs To Watch
- 2 People Died In A Sweat Lodge Last Night. And Deleted Tweets Have Surfaced.
- Facebook Tries To Suck The Last Drops Of Life Out Of Orkut In The US
- Insure.com Sells For $16 Million
- Google Wave Is Easier To Understand Than…
- Android Gets Its Own Everything Search Box
- Video: Windows Mobile Turns Twitter Into Party Boy
- Peace! Obama v. The CrunchPad
- Online Shop Til You Drop With Your Friends On Plurchase
- Tweetie 2 Lives! Get It While It’s Hot
- Google Responds To FCC Inquiry By Highlighting AT&T’s Hypocrisy
- AT&T Complaint Prompts FCC Letter To Google Inquiring About Google Voice
- Google Squared Gets Better, But It Still Can’t Find Mars
- Livestream Redesigns Player To Be More Twitter And Facebook Friendly
- You Can Ignore The AP’s Bluster. It Is Just A Negotiating Bluff.
| Why Open Source Will Never Rule the Desktop and Why It Doesn’t Have To Posted: 10 Oct 2009 09:00 AM PDT  Open source software is our era's version of the French scientific salon. In the 18th and 19th centuries, young men (mostly men) would gather at the feet of elder scientists to learn the truth of the day. In Revolutionary France it was philosophy and natural science they studied and in the open source forums of the past decades it was discussions of the finer points of kernels, interrupts, and elegant coding. Purveyors of open source software have gone on to create an international network of crack programmers who all bear the same battle scars and have reveled in the same successes. But they always want more. They want the desktop. Not content to run the plumbing of the Internet and to control the firmware on almost every scientific device in the world, open source proponents believe it is their birthright to supplant Windows on the desktop or, barring that, at least gain mind share in the average home computer.           |
| Viral Video Alert: Miley Cyrus Raps About Reasons For Quitting Twitter Posted: 10 Oct 2009 08:33 AM PDT The video below has racked up a little more than 6,000 views at the time of this writing. I’d be surprised if it doesn’t top a couple of millions by the end of this weekend. Enjoy Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus’ rap about the reasons for her quitting Twitter, which caused quite a ruckus earlier this week, for reasons known only to some people other than myself. So, why did she quit Twitter? Not because her friends told her to, Cyrus raps, but because she started ‘living for moments’ and wanted to start ‘living for people’ instead. Basically, she wants to tell her fans she’s ‘too busy’ for Twitter and also didn’t like the fact that her public updates were well, public, and that gossip sites used her tweets to publish headlines about her life. If only Twitter allowed for people to protect their tweets. Oh, wait. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors   |
| The Tale Of Storytlr Ends Here Posted: 10 Oct 2009 08:01 AM PDT
Unfortunately, all data that doesn’t get backed up by its users in the next ten weeks will be wiped out, although there is a simple tool that allows for easy export of all data and soon users will also be able to download a zip archive of their binary files (images etc.). As to the why of the voluntarily deadpooling of Storytlr, co-developers Laurent Eschenauer and Alard Weisscher are not at all vague: they simply lost interest after deciding that the project could not be turned into a full-fledged company, and unsuccessfully trying to find alternatives routes or potential partners. And most importantly, lack of time:
The two men are going to try to open source the whole thing, but are not willing or able to provide an ETA since it requires significant refactoring of code. Frankly, I wouldn’t hold my breath for it and check out alternative services such as Soup.io, Lifestream.fm or Sweetcron in the meantime for your digital lifecasting purposes. As a farewell salute, here’s the probable highlight of the adventure for at least one of the initiators of the project: watch Eschenauer pitch Storytlr to Google co-founder Sergey Brin: Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0   |
| Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs Posted: 10 Oct 2009 05:38 AM PDT Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa. Are you an immigrant who is fed up with waiting for years for a green card which you may never get? Or a tech entrepreneur looking to dramatically cut costs? I've got a suggestion for you. Move South. No, I don't mean to Los Angeles or San Diego, I'm taking about way down South in Chile. They'll welcome you with open arms and offer you incentives which will cut your burn rate more than half. And you'll get to live in a land which makes even California look drab. I just returned from a fascinating trip to Chile. Their government invited me to view the progress they had made in becoming an outsourcing hub. I was impressed with their ability to grow outsourcing from nothing to close to $1 billion in revenue over a mere seven years. But I didn't see how they could grow much more in the body-intensive outsourcing segment without choking off local industry by sucking all the capable engineers and scientists into relatively high paying IT jobs. I told them that they had as much of a chance to compete with India in outsourcing as India had in competing with them in copper exports. India has a billion people. Chile has only 16 million people, less than some Indian cities. But Chile does have 40% of the world's copper, a magnificent inflation hedge. Chile may not become an outsourcing powerhouse. But this South American gem could very well morph into the new land of opportunity for immigrants in general and export-centric tech entrepreneurs. The Chilean government has put together an incredible slate of incentives for technology-based companies that export their products. The government wants you to invest $500,000 over 5 years, but is pretty flexible about how you do this. So what do you get for your $500,000? To start with, they’ll give you a visa. You can stay as long as you want – even permanently. You need to submit a business plan but you have a lot of latitude for what’s an acceptable business. Any type of high tech products, medical or biotech products, or green or cleantech products get the stamp of approval, as does software or even online gaming or social network software. Even if you want to set up a call center or technical support service that derives revenues from sales to foreign companies and they think you're legit, you’ll get the visa. But first, you want to check out the country, right? The government will give you 60% of your due diligence costs, or up to $30,000, to visit and explore Chile. And they'll grant you another $30,000 to launch your company in Chile. If you work from one of their tech centers, the government will pay for 5 years of rent (up to $1 million) or split the costs if you want to locate elsewhere in this gorgeous country. How about workforce incentives? Chile has you covered. The government will pay you (as an approved entrepreneur) up to $25,000 for the first year of "training costs" for any locals you hire. By the way, Chile has some excellent engineering schools so it's not terribly difficult to pick up a good Java or C# programmer. They typically make $15,000-30,000 per year. Can’t find the local talent you want? Chile will subsidize your efforts to bring folks from Sunnyvale, Mumbai or wherever you may find them. And you can train these folks on Chile’s dime as well. And if you decide to buy some land and build your own labs or offices, they'll give you 40% of your costs up to $2 million. How about for H-1B immigrants or other talented folks who want to move to Chile? Simple. Get a legitimate tech job and they’ll give you a visa, no questions asked. Are you starting to get my drift? (Note: If Chile took even one-quarter of all the H-1B holders current working in tech jobs in America, they would probably come close to doubling the size of their technology workforce). But wait, there must be a catch. Not that I can find. I visited Vina Del Mar, a beautiful beach resort about an hour from Santiago. The weather and landscape is just like California (except they've got their seasons reversed – when its summer in the U.S., it's winter down under). Vina del Mar is located right next to Chile's wine country, boasts magnificent beaches and looks like a modern version of Miami. Guess what a fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment on the beach costs? $500 per month. Even the capital city of Santiago looks and feels like a new European city, with very low crime rates, great weather and friendly natives. For those true California boys, Chile even has great surfing. To top this off, Chile is a thriving democracy with one of the most open economies in South America. In fact, if I was starting a new tech company and didn't need to be in any particular area, I'd start it in Chile in a heartbeat. What really struck me was how many Chileans I met who boasted of their country being a "land of immigrants.” Everyone told stories about how Chile was built by immigrants and welcomed the world's most skilled and most oppressed. This reminded me of how America used to be before the xenophobes started blaming immigrants for all their own shortcomings and misery. Seems too good to be true, doesn't it? There are some downsides. Chile is a 15 hour flight from the West Coast. And if you're going to stay long-term, you'll need to learn Spanish. That's not a big price to pay for all the benefits. Yearning to be free of the costs and constraints of the tech landscape in North America? Go South, young techie. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0   |
| Ten Teen Entrepreneurs To Watch Posted: 10 Oct 2009 01:32 AM PDT
Here’s a list of some of our favorite teen entrepreneurs. And please keep in mind that there are lots of startups we’ve yet to hear about. So if you are a young entrepreneur, make sure to leave a comment below and add your bio and startup information to CrunchBase. Jessica MahJessica Mah, 19, is currently the CEO and Co-Founder behind Indinero, a Mint.com for small businesses. Mah started her first startup at 13. Last year, she founded internshipIN.com, a site to help high school and college kids find internships in their area. Now, at 19, Mah is finishing up her Computer Science degree from the University of California, Berkley, as well as being the CEO of Indinero. Ashley QuallsAshley Qualls, 19, started WhateverLife when she was 14, a site designed to give MySpace users free Myspace layouts and HTML tutorials. She employs both her mom, and her friends who do graphics for her. Qualls started WhateverLife in 2004 as a hobby, and now has turned into a business, with her site getting anywhere from 150,000 to 360,000 daily page views. Donny OuyangDonny Ouyang, 17, started his first business in 2006 called Kinkarso Network. Kinkarso Network operates a number of web properties including; BattleForums.com, HostBright.net, ChristianAvenue.org, etc. Ouyang has been featured in Entrepreneur, PC Magazine, Retire At 21, Internet Entrepreneurs, and many other sites. Sam PurtillSam Purtill is one of the founding engineerings of YouNoodle, a service that lets users follow start-ups that they are interested in and predict success of start-up teams based on analysis of historical data about qualities of the team's founders and other information. Purtill originally built the site, and has been with the company since September 2007. Sam placed his previous project, ClassOwl, on hold to join YouNoodle, despite taking the idea to a product in less that six months. He also has worked on various design projects in Romania. Grant Bell & Robert DayGrant Bell is a teenage entrepreneur who is the co-founder of Tomorrow’s Web, an online network dedicated to supporting and engaging with young people with an internet in the web, technology and entrepreneurship. Bell is also the Founder of Pitchie, a stealth startup. Robert Day is the co-founder of Tomorrow’s Web as well. Day has worked for various web companies such as ChannelFlip and Be Broadband's OpenHub. Mark BaoMark Bao, 17, is an internet entrepreneur based in Boston, MA. Bao is the founder of Avecora and Ramamia. In August 2009, Bao sold his product, Avecora OnDemand, to Branchr Advertising, and renamed the product Atomplan, which he is still the acting CEO of. In the past, Mark has been involved with the Facebook Platform, launching numerous applications, selling three applications, and organising the Facebook developer meetings in Boston, as well as the main event Facebook Developer Garage Boston. Zachary Collins & Dustin SniderZachary Collins and Dustin Snider are the co-founders of Yazzem, a site which allows anyone to share their thoughts about anything that interests them by starting and joining topics. In July 2009, Collins sold Twtbase.com, a database of Twitter apps, and is also home to the very first Twitter applications search engine. Patrick DeVivoPatrick DeVivo is a blogger and entrepreneur in New York City. He founded Youth Bloggers Network in May 2007, and then sold the site to Teens in Tech Networks in March of 2009. Of course, there are entrepreneurs that started their companies at a young age, and since then have grown their businesses. myYearbook co-founders Catherine Cook and Dave Cook started the company in 2005. Catherine is currently a student at Georgetown University, while also working on myYearbook’s growth and features. myYearbook is one of the largest teen oriented social networks, getting about 3 million unique page views per month according to Compete. Disclosure: I am the Founder and CEO of Teens in Tech Networks. Teens in Tech Networks acquired Youth Bloggers Network in March 2009. Youth Bloggers Network was founded by Patrick DeVivo, who is mentioned above. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.   |
| 2 People Died In A Sweat Lodge Last Night. And Deleted Tweets Have Surfaced. Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:24 PM PDT
Apparently, the man who rented the place and threw the retreat, author James Arthur Ray, is also an avid Twitter user. And yes, during the night of the incident he was tweeting about it. Ray later deleted those tweets and all the tweets about the retreat. But, as Mark Maunder discovered, they’re still available in Twitter search. And a couple are pretty interesting:
Now, we’re not presuming to know what happened that night, and authorities are still looking into the matter. But those are two very odd things to say on a night when two people died. And deleting them, obviously, does not look good. The fact that these tweets still exist in Twitter Search is very interesting. Twitter recently updated its terms of service agreement, making it very clear that “your tweets belong to you.” But that ownership for whatever reason, be it technical or otherwise, doesn’t fully extend to the point that when you delete a tweet, it is gone forever. This isn’t a new issue, but this could bring complete control of your data on Twitter to the forefront. If you delete a tweet, it’s not really gone, so be extra careful about what you say. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0   |
| Facebook Tries To Suck The Last Drops Of Life Out Of Orkut In The US Posted: 09 Oct 2009 08:07 PM PDT
According to comScore, Facebook had over 92 million unique visitors in August 2009 in the United States. Orkut had around 972 thousand unique visitors. Now, it would be one thing for Facebook to simply port the tool over to the US — after all, they’ve already got the tool built. But the social network is actually advertising it to its users in the United States (the ad takes you to the Orkut friend finder). Seems a bit vicious, doesn’t it? Like sucking the last few drops of life out of something that’s on its way out anyway. Thanks to Nick Gonzalez for the tip. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.   |
| Insure.com Sells For $16 Million Posted: 09 Oct 2009 06:10 PM PDT We recently wrote about dominance of number of .com domains and also noted that .com domain registrations were starting to turn around again after a poor 2008. It looks like values of .com domains may be rising as well. Insurance broker Insure.com has sold its name and Web site for a whopping $16 million. The insurance company’s name and URL, which was sold for 10 times more than it was bought for in 2001. According to this report, the domain name was purchased by marketing firm QuinStreet, which also shelled out $18 million for Internet.com’s tech trade business in August. QuinStreet helps businesses target their customer audiences and generate sales leads. Other large domain purchases this year include the sale of Candy.com for $3 million, ToysRUs’ acquisition of Toys.com for $5.1 million, the sale of Fly.com to Travelzoo for $1.8 million, and the sale of Ad.com for $1.4 million. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors   |
| Google Wave Is Easier To Understand Than… Posted: 09 Oct 2009 04:48 PM PDT As we’ve noted several times, Google Wave is a service that is fairly hard to explain. And for many people, it’s also hard to understand. That seems somewhat reasonable given that it’s trying to be a new form of communication and that it is still very early in its life span. But just how hard is it to understand? A new website brilliantly takes a look. Easiertounderstandthanwave.com pits Wave against the other hard-to-understand aspects of life. On the site, you are given a picture of Wave and a picture of something else and asked to click on which is easier to understand. Wave’s competition includes: Metaphysics, the end of Donnie Darko, Ozzy Osbourne, Death, osmotic pressure, cardiothoracic surgery, the health care-reform bill, Google Fast Flip, and even Sarah Palin. Humorously, Google Wave loses to all of those. As of right now, it is beating very few topics. They include: Women, Scientology, the United States Tax code, Chinese telegraph code, Microsoft Visio 2004, and Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. Users are welcome to submit other topics to put up again Wave in the competition. But the best part of the site has to be the elevator music-version of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” playing in a loop in the background. Update: Here’s another awesome tidbit about the site. I have it on very good authority that it was built by a Facebook employee. It’s not clear if this was just one employee acting alone, or if Easiertounderstandthanwave.com can be viewed as how Facebook looks at Google Wave. Which is to say, down on it. And now we know why we have the little “Not affiliated with any company” at the bottom. Update 2: Okay, it was just one employee. Conspiracy theorists can rest easy. Maybe. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.   |
| Android Gets Its Own Everything Search Box Posted: 09 Oct 2009 03:35 PM PDT We wrote about Google’s Quick Search Box (QSB) a few months ago when the product was officially launched. We found the Twitter plug-in particularly interesting because QSB was able to turn into a Twitter app that let you post Tweets from the search box itself. Now, Google is launching a version of QSB for the Android Phone which provides similar functionality from the phone’s home screen. QSB on the Android aims to cut down on keystrokes by providing suggestions as you type and provides a single search box to let you search a variety pf content on your phone, including apps, contacts, and browser history, as well as content from the web, like personalized search suggestions, local business listings, stock quotes, weather, and flight status. And QSB is intuitive; the search box will pull up items that you search for and use most often. On of the most compelling features of QSB for the Andoid is that third-party developers can include suggestions in search, letting outside information from any apps make into searchable content. So if the app is built with QSB support, QSB will index the content in the app and it will show up in the box. For example, you could search a Twitter app for Tweets. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that QSB for the Android has the ability to Tweet from the search box itself, but perhaps that plug-in will be added in the near future. Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.   |
| Video: Windows Mobile Turns Twitter Into Party Boy Posted: 09 Oct 2009 03:06 PM PDT
I don’t know. I think the commercial is pretty good, but only because it seems to me the strategy here was to turn Internet Explorer, Outlook, Microsoft Messenger and the others into Party Boy from Jackass. And interestingly, Twitter is the only non-Microsoft product to make that cut. We know Microsoft has been thinking about Twitter lately. It could well be their ultimate Party Boy. Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0   |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:13 PM PDT
Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love President Obama as much as the Europeans do (we endorsed him way back when Clinton was still leading the primaries). But Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is just…awesome. He’s been in office for nine months and hasn’t actually done anything at all yet. Except, maybe, increase the troop count in Afghanistan. For the record, we still believe Twitter was the best choice for winning the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Was Obama awarded the prize for his heroic attempts to fight the spread of disease? Or perhaps the fact that he is single handedly saving OpenID from its tragic yet inevitable end? We may never know. Far be it from me to criticize the winning of an award based on nothing but an incredible ability to manipulate the press. We’re guilty of that ourselves with the CrunchPad, some would say. But perhaps in the future the committee should wait a few years to review the accomplishments of a nominee before giving the award. Like they do with the prizes for physics and chemistry, among others. Seven of the last ten Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded for “effort” rather than achievement. And when it comes to just trying your hardest v. actually getting something done, Sean Connery said it best: Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors   |
| Online Shop Til You Drop With Your Friends On Plurchase Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT
Obviously, Plurchase thinks it has what it takes to succeed in the space with a new method of doing things. In the past, social shopping sites have either required you to have a browser plug-in to converse with friends while on shopping sites, or they have been entirely new sites that everyone had to go to. Plurchase simply offers a social overlay to the sites you already use, and makes it easy to invite friends to join you. Say you want to shop for something on Zappos, you visit Plurchase’s site then hit the button to take you to Zappos. You will see the Zappos site just as you normally would, but with the addition of a Plurchase panel on the right hand side of your web browser. On this panel you will see your buddy list of other Plurchase users, which includes what sites they are currently shopping on. There’s also a link to invite other friends to join you in shopping with Plurchase via email. And below that is a chat area to talk to your online friends as you shop. If you find an item you like while shopping and want to show a friend, you can bookmark the item and leave a comment. You can also note whether you “like” it, “dislike” it, or note that it’s “cool.” Your friends can do this as well. Anytime you bookmark an item, it shows up in the chat area with a link, so your online friends will see it and can see what you’re looking at. And if you hook up Plurchase through Facebook Connect, you can also ask you Facebook friends what they think about items by sending them to your Facebook page. One interesting thing about Plurchase is that although the site just has Zappos, Amazon, and Craigslist integration right now, the plan is to eventually roll it out to all the big online retailers. And when that happens, you will be able to chat with friends while you’re shopping at Zappos even if they’re shopping somewhere else, like Amazon. “Plurchase requires no download/install/plugin for users, and no sign-up. There’s zero integration work required by the merchants. Plurchase uses some clever technology. We use a custom proxy server to ‘wrap’ our functionality around the retailer site, and that includes proxifying their JavaScript and Flash code,” co-founder Tom Saffell tells us. The core idea behind Plurchase is that while online retailers are great at selling items, creating their own social integration won’t work well because it is limited to just that one site. “We see Plurchase as part of a broader trend: the distribution of social features across all types of websites,” Saffell notes. He’s written more about that idea here. The plan is to extend Plurchase’s social feature to include Twitter integration soon as well, we’re told. Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors   |
| Tweetie 2 Lives! Get It While It’s Hot Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:26 PM PDT
You may not be able to find it through a search right now, but use this link to go directly to it. As we noted originally, the app is $2.99 even if you bought the original Tweetie. This has been the source of some controversy, as some users (like former Who’s The Boss stars) don’t understand why this isn’t a free upgrade. But we feel the many upgrades in the new app warrant the price. More importantly, it’s $3, you probably spend at least that on coffee everyday. And you’ve probably spent ten times that on fart apps. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.   |
| Google Responds To FCC Inquiry By Highlighting AT&T’s Hypocrisy Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:10 PM PDT In a blog post, Google has given their take on the whole brouhaha over the restriction of outbound Google Voice calls to phone numbers in “rural” areas. Google writes that the reason they restrict these calls to local phone carriers’ in rural areas is not only because they charge pricey termination rates for calls but because these carriers are partnering with adult sex phone operations and free conferencing call centers to drive traffic. Google says that because Voice is a free application, they can’t afford to pay for these rates — and that because it is not a traditional phone service, it shouldn’t have to. AT&T has also previously tried to block calls to these areas but the FCC mandated that the carrier continue service to these areas to provide universal service. AT&T called Google out a few weeks ago to the FCC, saying that there’s no reason that Google should be able to block these calls because of the rates if AT&T can’t do this. Shortly afterward, Google responded, explaining that it was not a traditional phone carrier and should not be held to the same rules as AT&T. But AT&T continued to complain and has even convinced a number of members of Congress to decry Google's actions. Today, the FCC responded to AT&T’s complaint by asking Google for more information about Google Voice, which Google claims is a free web-based free application designed to “supplement and enhance existing phone lines, not replace them.” Google says that AT&T is in a completely different situation, in part because the carrier charges users for their services and receives hundreds of millions of dollars in universal service subsidies. Google says that web applications like Google Voice and Skype shouldn’t be treated like traditional phone services and calls attention to AT&T’s hypocrisy in the whole matter. Here’s the the conclusion from Google’s post:
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| AT&T Complaint Prompts FCC Letter To Google Inquiring About Google Voice Posted: 09 Oct 2009 12:57 PM PDT
The letter begins with an explanation that “in light of pending Commission proceedings regarding concerns about so called “access stimulation”, the Commission’s prohibition on call blocking by carriers, as well as the Commission’s interest in ensuring that “broadband networks are widely deployed, open, affordable, and accessible to all consumers,” we are interested in gather facts that can provide a more complete understanding of this situation.” The letter’s first question asks how Google Voice’s functions work from a technical standpoint, and how Google informs users about any numbers they may be restricted from calling. Question two asks what Google means when it says that Google Voice is currently “invite only”, which was one of the defenses Google offered in its Public Policy Blog to AT&T’s initial accusations, and how many people are on Google Voice. The third question will likely be a key one — it asks how Google Voice fits in with the classifications in the Communications Act of 1934, and if Google competes with any services classified as “telecommunications services”. Question four asks how Google actually identifies the numbers it restricts. The final question explores if Google contracts with any other services to function. For those that haven’t been following the story so far: Google’s decision to block certain numbers stems from the way some rural local carriers have been exploiting current FCC rules. Some local carriers charge very high prices for AT&T, Google Voice, and other services to connect their calls. Few people would normally call these rural numbers, so these local carriers team up with conference calling centers and sex lines to further drive traffic. AT&T has previously tried to block these numbers but was barred from doing so, and is upset that Google Voice is getting away with it. AT&T has framed this as part of the Net Neutrality debate, though given their past stance on the issue it’s hard not to take their arguments with a grain of salt. Update: Google has responded to the letter by writing a blog post outlining AT&T’s hypocrisy.
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| Google Squared Gets Better, But It Still Can’t Find Mars Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:54 AM PDT A few months ago, Google launched an experimental new search project, called Google Squared, that literally tries to take all the messy, unstructured information on the Web and put it into neat little, labeled boxes. It is still very much in Labs, but today it got better. Google Squared can now deal with four times as many squares of data, 120 up from 30. Columns can now be sorted, and results can be exported into Google Spreadsheets were the data can be manipulated, charted, and so forth. In other words, it is turning random facts found on the Web into data that can be played with and computed. While Google Squared is much better, it is nowhere near ready for mass consumption. If you do a search for “planets,” for instance (see screenshot), it fails to identify Mars in its grid. The first result is Pluto, which officially is no longer a planet. While I too am still resisting the deplanetization of Pluto because of my emotional attachment to it, Google as a cold-hearted, just-the-facts-ma’am search engine doesn’t have the same excuse. And it is not just Pluto, it also lists Ceres (another planet also-ran), Jupiter’s moon Io, and the Asteroid Belt (which most definitely is not a planet). Mars definitely needs to go in there before the Asteroid Belt. Is this the best Google can do against Wolfram Alpha and other newfangled search engines which also take advantage of structured data to present a deep set of facts for every query? Search for “planets” on Wolfram and it correctly identifies all eight (minus Pluto) including Mars.
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| Livestream Redesigns Player To Be More Twitter And Facebook Friendly Posted: 09 Oct 2009 11:11 AM PDT  Video streaming service Livestream, which was known as Mogulus until a few months ago, just launched a redesign of its streaming player and channels. Livestream lets anyone create and produce live webcasts through an embeddable player. The startup offers free ad-supported players and premium players, which are ad-free, can be branded and offer high quality streaming. Livestream has also made its players a whole lot more social, by letting users discuss live video in realtime with a new player side chat companion. Users can discuss live videos using Facebook, Twitter or Livestream’s in-house chat application. Livestream’s chat widget has separate tabs for for Facebook and Twitter streams, where users can update their status or send Tweets from the box. Users can also now share videos to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg and Delicious. The pages on which Livestream’s players are hosted, called “channels,” have a sleeker look after the redesign. Livestream lets broadcasters choose colors or background images to customize the look of their channels. And the startup has added several compelling features and a UI redesign to its player. The 16:9 video player has become more light weight, and can also be customized. The player now offers a full-page widescreen mode, a pop-out feature, and the ability to customize and change the color of the player and even specifics buttons such as auto-play and auto-mute. Also, multiple players can now be embedded into the same page. Livestream’s founder and CEO Max Haot says that one of the most significant parts of the new redesign is the addition of social features. Haot says that he is trying to not only make Livestream.com a social video destination but also wanted to incorporate the social stream into the interface. Livestream faces competition from Justin.tv and Ustream, which are both leading in the space, according to Compete. But with a new name and a redesign, Livestream is proving that the game is far from over. Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.   |
| You Can Ignore The AP’s Bluster. It Is Just A Negotiating Bluff. Posted: 09 Oct 2009 09:57 AM PDT The Associated Press is yapping again about the “exploitation of news” by search engines, news aggregators and, well, the Internet itself. The CEO of the AP, Tom Curley, told a media industry powwow in Beijing:
I am temporarily lifting our ban on AP stories to make a point. The remarks seemed to be directed at Google, among others. But if you follow the link above, it will take you to an AP article hosted on Google. Is Google stealing it? No, Google already licenses stories from the AP, so it is already “supporting it.” What’s really behind all the bluster is that the AP is in the midst of renegotiating a new licensing deal with Google, and is using vague public threats to try to get more money out of them. It’s really kind of sad. The AP is just so desperate for cash as its revenues begin to fade that it doesn’t know whether to brandish a stick or a carrot. Just the day before, Curley put out a trial balloon to see if search engines like Google would be willing to pay extra to get news delivered 20 to 30 minutes faster. At press conference I attended on Wednesday, an AP reporter asked Google CEO Eric Schmidt what he thought about paying extra for 20-minute exclusives. Schmidt responded, “We have a contract with the AP. I don't want to talk about a proposed service where we pay more.” In other words, he isn’t going to negotiate in public. He didn’t sound too enthusiastic about the premium service anyway. “We have to be very careful not to favor one publisher over another,” he said. Exactly. The AP can go ahead and delay its news as much as it likes. The rest of us will be happy to fill in. It wasn’t just the AP who was bashing the Web. Rupert Murdoch joined, railing against online “aggregators,” “plagiarists,” and “kleptomaniacs.” It is a tired refrain, and self-serving from someone who now wants to charge for online contenet. News organizations need to either evolve or die. Just today, one of Murdoch’s competitors, Hearst, launched its own news aggregator, LMK. Has Hearst joined the ranks of plagiarists too? It’s funny. Both Curley and Murdoch were singing different tunes just a few years ago. But they have different agendas now. Photo credit: Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors   |
Kids these days. It seems like they’re writing HTML before they learn how to talk. And a lot of them are starting companies before they graduate from high school. 
Last night, at a retreat in Arizona, 
Facebook has seen amazing growth over the last few years, and has long since established itself as the largest social network in the world. But the battle isn’t over yet — Facebook is still duking it out overseas with a number of other social networks to establish regional dominance. In India, Google-owned 
Earlier this afternoon 
Oh-Bah-Mah!
Social shopping is a nut that no one has been able to crack. The idea sounds good; people enjoy shopping together in malls and such. But online, there have been 
A couple weeks ago we did 
Two weeks ago AT&T 
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