Month: January 2011

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama mentioned helping entrepreneurs to start up and grow their businesses in order to stimulate the economy. To that end, three of the biggest tech companies in the nation are committing millions to an initiative called the Startup America Partnership.

Intel Corp. said Monday it is giving $200 million to the campaign, while IBM Corp. is investing $150 million. Hewlett-Packard Co. is also participating, but did not disclose if it was committing funds to the partnership. A Hewlett-Packard representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

IBM says its funds will be used in part to help mentor start-up companies, support developers, and expand mentorship programs. Startup America is working with the White House to support entrepreneurial businesses, but is an independent private-sector alliance.

Revolution LLC CEO and AOL Inc. co-founder Steve Case, will chair the alliance. His own Case Foundation, along with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, will provide launch funding for the partnership. Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm, who will be one of Startup America’s founding board members, had this to say:

“This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy.”

via Yahoo! News

AT&T is back again this year for their 28 Days Black History Month campaign. This is the third year of the campaign and the focus is on celebrating past history makers and a look at new innovators through a free exclusive speaker series. AT&T created 28 Days in 2009 to highlight Black History Month as more than a reflection of the past, but as a time to focus on what can be achieved in the future.

“This year, AT&T wants consumers to look at today’s history makers and innovators, who are changing the world we live in and truly speak to the core of ‘Rethink Possible’,” said Jennifer Jones, vice president of Diverse Markets, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We are committed to pushing the limits of what’s achievable everyday through innovation and investments in programs that educate and empower our diverse consumers.”

AT&T has used a Facebook Page in the past as the online rally point for the 28 Days campaign, but it looks like they’ve switched things up with a page on ATT.com. They’ve integrated their Black History Month initiative with your standard AT&T sales page, providing relevant news and information alongside the latest deals on free phones.

Common will serve as the exclusive host and moderator for the 2011 AT&T 28 Days speaker series. This event will showcase five individuals who are making their own page in African-American history in the fields of technology, media, fashion, politics, and business. The tour covers five-cities and two lucky winners will be randomly selected to receive new AT&T smartphones.

• Atlanta on Monday, Feb. 7
• Chicago on Thursday, Feb. 17
• Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 22
• Harlem on Feb. 24
• Oakland on Monday, Feb. 28

“The talent AT&T selected for the speaker series are great examples of today’s trendsetters who are making history everyday in their communities,” said Jones. “Each speaker offers a unique perspective and will inspire anyone who attends these events.”

You can check the website to figure out how to get free tickets or stream the event live on the web. The site will feature videos from the speaking events and you can connect with the AT&T 28 Days online community. Sign up to receive 28 Days mobile updates by texting “28days” to 65579.

For more information about this year’s events and speakers, visit att.com/thebridge.

$700 Motorola Xoom Launching Feb 17th at Best Buy

An internal Best Buy document leaked to Engadget nails down February 17th as the launch date for Motorola’s highly anticipated Xoom tablet. The Xoom features the latest and greatest version of the Android operating system, Honeycomb, which was designed to run better on tablets. The document also indicates the Xoom will come with 32GB of onboard storage. The tablet was originally rumored to cost around $800, but the same tipster has indicated a price of $699.99. Droid-Life has a nifty chart comparing the Motorola Xoom to the iPad.

$10k iTunes Winner Hung Up On Apple

Thinking she was being pranked, Gail Davis of Orpington Kent hung up the phone when Apple called to say she’d won a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Apparently, Gail’s daughters downloaded the winning app, but Gail had no idea what was going on.

Speaking exclusively to CultofMac.com, Davis says it was actually one of her two daughters who downloaded the 10 billionth app, winning the family a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Her daughters, 14 and 17, had downloaded several apps in the morning. One of them, the free Paper Glider app, was the magic 10 billionth app.

After she realized the call was legit, she tried to call back with no luck. She knew her daughters would hold it against for for life if she didn’t make things right. Luckily, Apple decided to give Gail another call. “I was hugely relieved,” says Davis. “I was getting really worried.”

Twitter May Triple Ad Revenue to $150 Million This Year

Remember when people used to joke about Twitter’s monetization strategy? I wonder if they’re still laughing now. According to Internet researcher EMarketer Inc., Twitter could more than triple its advertising revenue to $150 million this year. Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at EMarketer, went on to say that Twitter could hit $250 billion in ad revenue in 2012.

“The company is definitely attracting brand advertisers,” Williamson said. “The difference is going to be whether Twitter can prove itself to advertisers as delivering results. I think this will be the year that we know a lot more.”

via Bloomberg

In-App Payment System Coming Soon to Android

Actually, in-app payments were set to launch last quarter, but “Developers were busy with their Christmas applications,” Chu said. “So we couldn’t get enough feedback,” he continued. Eric Chu, a group manager at Google for the Android platform, promised that in-app purchase ability will come this quarter. Chu says they have invested a lot of time in carrier billing, but that will be only one option among many, including the Android Market payment system. When they do add more, developers won’t have to do a thing, Chu said.

via TechCrunch

Android 3.0 Platform Preview and SDK Tools

A preview of the Android 3.0 SDK has been released for developers so that they can begin testing their applications for a tablet form factor.

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is a new version of the Android platform that is designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. It introduces a new “holographic” UI theme and an interaction model that builds on the things people love about Android — multitasking, notifications, widgets, and others — and adds many new features as well.

While this is exciting news for developers, most of us might find the screenshots of Honeycomb slightly more interesting. Android 3.0 brings enhancements to the user interface as well as updates to the Android developer tools. Are you developing an Android tablet app?

Microsoft Sells 300 Million Licenses for Windows 7

As part of their Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 earnings release, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 has sold over 300 million licenses to-date.

To put that in perspective, 300 million is roughly the combined number of households in North American and in Europe! Or, to put it another way, if you lined up 300 million Windows 7 product boxes, they would stretch nearly 1.5 times around the Earth!

Over 20% of Internet-connected PCs worldwide are running Windows 7. Their earnings report announced record second-quarter revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2010. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.17 billion, $6.63 billion and $0.77 per share, respectively.

via The Windows Blog,

On a recent trip to Hawaii, the auto-tune king, T-Pain got a new tat. Apparently, he does this every time he visits Hawaii.

“I get a tatt every time I come to Hawaii. I think this ones pretty sweet, unless facebook shuts down soon 0_o”

His new ink reads, “You Don’t Have To Like Me,” with the word “Like” replaced with the famous (infamous?) Facebook Like button. An interesting choice for a tattoo. At least he didn’t get it on his neck or his face.

via Rap-Up.com

Crunchgear caught up with T-Pain at CES and has a video where he talked about his new I Am T-Pain microphone. I won’t lie, I could definitely have fun with that. The mic will run you $40.

Elsewhere on Facebook, Dwyane Wade has posted a Thank You video to his 2 million fans who voted him into the NBA All-Star Game. The 28-second video was posted on his Facebook page this morning via WhoSay, a stealth startup created to help artists, athletes and iconic personalities connect with their fans. Because of support from his fans, he was the top candidate at guard in Eastern Conference balloting, ensuring his All-Star spot for the seventh time in his eight seasons with Miami.

“Global 14 was created because of the increasing trend of ‘social notifying’ versus ‘social networking,’ says Dupri. “Social notifying is when people share information, such as in ‘Hey, check out this website.’ There’s no conversation or expectation of a response.”

After first blocking Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Egypt has decided to take it to the next level and completely disconnect themselves from the Internet. The largest Internet Service Providers in Egypt have stopped providing the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing information used to connect the rest of the world with servers in the Egypt.

“The Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet,” Renesys said. “Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now. But every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world.”

At the end of last year, Google decided they would do their part to make copyright work better online. Among changes like acting on reliable takedown requests within 24 hrs and improving AdSense anti-piracy review was this little tidbit:

We will prevent terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in Autocomplete. While it’s hard to know for sure when search terms are being used to find infringing content, we’ll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose.

Amidst pressure from the entertainment industry, it looks like these changes are finally going into effect. The idea here is that people are downloading things illegally because, when they search for those things in Google, the illegal links come up first. It doesn’t seem that Google has actually removed search results, but you will no longer see these “piracy related” terms in Autocomplete or Google Instant.

Of course, this raises concern among a lot of people. Google uses an algorithm to rank pages. The algorithm is basically looking at user activity to figure out what you see in your search results, Google Instant, and autocomplete. Censoring the results here is seen by many as a slippery slope. Where do we draw the line? Will we see other terms censored or added?

via TorrentFreak

You thought the State of the Union address was just going to be another stuffy speech? Okay, maybe not, but tonight’s event will be enhanced with a bit of interactive web magic. The Whitehouse has launched a site that will allow you to not only watch the State of the Union at 9pm EST tonight, but you’ll be able to see related content alongside the speech right on the site. The headline features the phrase “Watch & Engage.”

For the first time ever, and only on Whitehouse.gov, Americans can choose an enhanced viewing experience for the President’s State of the Union Address.

On this page, you’ll be able to see charts, graphs and other content as President Obama delivers his speech.

Immediately following the speech, senior White House officials will take your questions about issues covered in the speech live from the White House via Twitter (reply to @whitehouse), Facebook, and a web form at www.whitehouse.gov/sotu-questions.

On Wed, a “special guest” will answer questions via the @PressSec Twitter account. Press Secretary Gibbs won’t be available, but you can still follow the account to figure out who will take his place. Respond with your question to @PressSec using the hashtag #1Q and watch for his video responses.

This Thursday, JAN. 27TH, at 2:30 P.M. EST President Obama will answer your questions live on YouTube. Submit your text or video question and vote your favorites to the top. Learn more at youtube.com/askobama. That same day, you can join the discussion about issues addressed in the speech online with White House policy experts at www.facebook.com/whitehouse.

On Friday, Yahoo! will sit down with Vice President Joe Biden to ask him your questions. Submit them at Yahoo.com and check back for your answers.

Starting today Russell Simmons is hijacking MySpace to host the ‘Hip-Pop Challenge’- a search for the best musicians in hip-hop and pop. Simmons has sifted through the unsigned bands and artists of MySpace and selected 5 hip-hop acts and 5 pop acts. The MySpace community will get to vote on their favorites in each category and the winner gets a mentoring session with the entertainment mogul himself.

“There seems to be a white space in the American entertainment spectrum. The gatekeepers are getting older and don’t recognize that a great number of American youth aspire to live in a post-racial world. Those gatekeepers that are intent on keeping the walls up present me with the great opportunity of ushering in a glimpse of the next America,” says GlobalGrind.com Founder, Russell Simmons. “Through strong partnerships with pioneering platforms such as Myspace, this Hip-Pop phenomenon continues to come to life.”

Russell will also be in control of the Myspace homepage and Music homepage. In addition to sharing his biggest music influences and Def Jam classics, he’ll be sharing political and culture commentary from GlobalGrind.com, and exclusive excerpts from his new book “Super Rich: A Guide To Having It All.”

Simmons will also kick-start the Myspace curators program. This program aims to highlight leaders on specific topics who demonstrate knowledge and influence. Simmons will be choosing Myspace’s new official hip-hop curator. In a six-month contest, users will upload videos explaining why they should be chosen.

“Russell is a true visionary and I am personally excited to offer him our site as a platform to discover new talent and express his passion for the Hip-Pop culture,” Said Myspace CEO Mike Jones. “He is the definition of a true curator.”

This isn’t the first time MySpace has been hijacked. The Black Eyed Peas kicked off the program towards the end of last year and Jack Black followed soon after. The Hijacks program is designed to offer MySpace users around the world access to exclusive content and creative programming curated by the celebrities, musicians, television and film personalities they care about.

About a week ago, Starbucks launched a national mobile payment network that would make it simple for customers to pay at the register using their mobile phones. Not much fancy technology involved, simply an app that displays a barcode that the barista can scan. They claim to be operating the largest mobile payment program in the country.

What does this have to do with Apple?

Apple’s iTunes Store has a payment network of millions of people worldwide. The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the planet. According to Bloomberg, Apple will be embedding NFC chips into the next iteration of the iPhone an iPad. If you recall, Near-Field Communication (NFC) allows your device to beam and receive information at a distance of about 4 inches. This could be used to check-in to physical locations and also for, you guessed it: mobile payments.

If Apple can nail Near-Field Communication (NFC) and tie it directly into their already-established iTunes payment system. It could change everything. It could transform Apple from the biggest technology company in the world, to the biggest company in the world, period. By far. via TechCrunch

Google is well aware of the importance of NFC. The latest Android phone, the Nexus S, has NFC built-in and Eric Schmidt demoed the feature at the Web 2.0 Summit before the device was actually launched. The problem for Google is that they don’t have a robust payment network to support the technology. This is the key ingredient and Google’s Checkout just can’t compete.

Apple’s service may be able to tap into user information already on file, including credit-card numbers, iTunes gift-card balance and bank data, said Richard Crone, who leads financial industry adviser Crone Consulting LLC in San Carlos, California. That could make it an alternative to programs offered by such companies as Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and EBay Inc.’s PayPal, said Taylor Hamilton, an analyst at consultant IBISWorld Inc.

Are you ready for tap-to-pay?

Demand Media, the company behind eHow.com, is looking to go public this week. They plan to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “DMD,” but there could be trouble for the companies business.

Just as Demand Media is launching their IPO, Google is cracking down on search engine spam. Demand Media’s business revolves around creating content to rank in the search engines. In a securities filing related to their IPO, Demand says, “while traditional media companies create content based on anticipated consumer interest, we create content that responds to actual consumer demand.”

This means they find hot keywords, things people are searching for, and then hire people to build content around those keywords. This is somewhat similar to the way the average blogger works, except that most bloggers have a topic they stick to and they don’t have a team of contractors to churn out content.

Some of these articles are filled with useful information, but others are closer to what Marco Arment described when he railed against content “generated by penny-hungry affiliate marketers and sleazy web ‘content’ startups to target long-tail Google queries en masse, scraping content from others or paying low-wage workers to churn out formulaic, minimally nutritious pages to answer them.” Demand isn’t the only “content farm,” of course. Associated Content, which was bought by Yahoo for $100 million last year, also produces tens of thousands of articles a month on similar kinds of topics, and there are several smaller sites such as Suite101.com that take a similar approach. via GigaOm

It will be interesting to see if Google’s attack on search engine spam will affect Demand Media and companies like it, but the mere threat of losing search rankings could affect their business. Matt Cutts writes:

As “pure webspam” has decreased over time, attention has shifted instead to “content farms,” which are sites with shallow or low-quality content. In 2010, we launched two major algorithmic changes focused on low-quality sites. Nonetheless, we hear the feedback from the web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content.

Demand Media has seen narrow profits with their approach, losing $31 million in the first 9 months of 2010. The previous year, however, revenue jumped from $143 million to $179 million. Proceeds from the IPO would be used to expand abroad and fill out their content library. After expenses, Demand expects to see net proceeds of $58 million.

via Official Google Blog, Bloomberg

Many were surprised when WorldStarHipHop.com unexpectedly disappeared from the net today. What’s more interesting is that rapper 50 Cent is taking credit for the shutdown on Twitter, saying in one tweet “I put worldstar to bed.” In November of 2009, 50 filed a lawsuit against the website for using his image without authorization.

There has been no official word from World Star Hip Hop, but (surprise, surprise) there is already a Twitition up to try and save the site. There may be no hope in this case though, and 50 seems to have already set his sights on at least two other targets, saying “I predict 2 more web sites will shut down this week. Take a guess who they are. I’m sick of the hate I’m to strong.”

50 claims to have shutdown the site in collaboration with “howard gordon and the good folks over at homeland.” This could imply that 50 worked with homeland security as some kind of informant. If you were looking to advertise on Worldstar, no worries. 50 recommends contacting thisis50.com. In true 50 Cent style, he is still going in on Worldstar on his Twitter. 50 is well-known for taking beef to a whole new level and is even calling out “Q” of Worldstar directly, who named ThisIs50.com a top competitor when we interviewed him in 2009.

UPDATE: Rap Radar has audio from Q of WSHH responding to 50′s claims on Hot 97. He says the site is down due to server issues, not 50 Cent. Apparently, this has nothing to do with Homeland Security either. It looks like 50 Cent just used this as an opportunity to promote himself and World Star gets some shine as a trending topic on Google and Twitter.

Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley took the stage at DLD today in Munich. He shared a few facts and figures about the company.

Although still barely two years old, Foursquare is now about 50 employees serving 6 million users and built on some $20 million of V.C. money; estimates value it at $250 million. About 40 per cent of its traffic is international.

Even with the threat of Facebook and competition from Groupon, Crowley sees things pretty clear: “The main difference between [us and Facebook] is we have a much more tightly curated social graph. On Facebook I have 1000 friends. On Foursquare I have 80 people in New York I share with,” he said. “They are different products for different audiences.”

As far as the deal-of-the-day site Groupon goes, it seems to be approaching the problem from the opposite end. Foursquare and Groupon are both looking to pursue relationships with local merchants at their core. Foursquare has taken the location-based services route, while Groupon began by dealing with merchants directly. Of course, Facebook’s hundreds of millions of users could be a threat to both.

Crowley denies he is looking to sell, but seemed pretty comfortable on stage beside Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon. Groupon turned down a $6 billion offer from Google. It seems that Foursquare and Groupon could be powerful if they worked together. As it stands now, Crowley is well aware there may be trouble ahead.

“We are 50 people, and to me it sounds like a huge company,” Crowley said. “We still have a huge fight in front of us (…) We need to stay humble.”

via WSJ, Mashable

Motorola Bootloader Policy

Motorola has recently come under fire regarding their bootloader policy. Motorola’s devices are developed so that the bootloader is locked. This means you can’t root them. So, even though they make some of the best and most popular Android handsets on the market, many Android fans steer clear. When one of these Android users expressed their displeasure in a comment about the situation, a Motorola employee fired back:

if you want to do? custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we’ll continue with our strategy that is working thanks.

Harsh words, but it looks like this employee was a bit hasty. Motorola later added a note to their Facebook page distancing themselves from this comment. They say they are actually “working closely” with their partners to offer a solution which will allow developers to use their devices as a development platform without compromising their users’ interests. We’ll see how that works out.

via Phandroid

Blog Beef: TechCrunch vs. Engadget

I’m assuming Michael Arrington is bored because he was going in on Engadget earlier this week. It makes sense that the two sites might go at it every once in a while as they both cover the same niche and are good at what they do. They are the top two breaking news tech sites around. More recently, TechCrunch was acquired by AOL, which means the sites are now sisters…or brothers…whatever. In any case, Arrington decided to poke a little fun at Engadget for buying ads on Google. Later, Arrington posted another tirade detailing the blog fight rules of engagement. In that post, Arrington made some claims against Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky, who then responded in his own post. Arrington basically said Joshua attempted to tank the TechCrunch+AOL deal.

At the end of the day, this is like Lil Wayne and Drake falling out and having a fist fight instead of going at it on the mic. Nobody wants to see tech blogs beefing, we want to see tech blogs talking about tech. If we wanted to see drama, we’d watch Basketball Wives. To their credit, Engadget has posted no responses on Engadget.com.

Netflix Wants to Kill DVDs

A post by Jamie Odell, director of product management at Netflix, on the Netflix blog seems to indicate that Netflix is trying to move away from DVDs.

We’re removing the “Add to DVD Queue” option from streaming devices. We’re doing this so we can concentrate on offering you the titles that are available to watch instantly.

He goes on to say that providing the option to add to your DVD queue “complicates the instant watching experience and ties up resources that are better used to improve the overall streaming functionality.” Last I checked, an interface element like an Add to DVD Queue button has nothing to do with the ability to stream video. It’s like removing the record button from your DVR to improve video quality. The reason may actually be that Netflix wants to put more focus on their streaming video efforts, and less on mailing DVDs. This would also explain the price bump on existing plans to make room for a cheaper streaming-only plan.

via Netflix

Starbucks Launches Mobile Payment Network

Even if you don’t like coffee, this is a big step for mobile payments. We’ve heard of NFC possibly becoming the future of mobile payments, allowing you to pay or check-in by tapping your phone on a special surface, but Starbucks has launched something much simpler.

To use the system, Starbucks cardholders load an application onto their iPhone or BlackBerry smartphones. The application displays a barcode that’s scanned at the register to pay for drinks. Users can also manage Starbucks accounts and find nearby stores with the application.

It’s simple in that there is no special hardware required, just your standard every day smartphone. The app has also appeared for Android as well. Starbucks is now claiming to be operating the largest mobile payment program in the country, which should have other companies looking into mobile payments. Good news for those of us tired of carrying and swiping hunks of plastic, which is so 2010.

via Seattle Times

Mashable got their hands on a confidential fact sheet which seems to detail a group buying service: “Google Offers is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email.”

Google Offers looks and operates much like Groupon or LivingSocial. Users receive an e-mail with a local deal-of-the-day. They then have the opportunity to buy that deal within a specific time limit (we assume 24 hours). Once enough people have made the purchase, the Google Offer is triggered and users get that all-too-familiar $10 for $20 deal for that Indian restaurant you’ve never tried.

The leaked document was later confirmed in a statement by Google to Search Engine Land:

“Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new products, such as the recent Offer Ads beta, that connect businesses with customers in new ways. We do not have more details to share at this time, but will keep you posted.”

If you recall, Google was trying to buy Groupon just a few months ago. Rumor was they were willing to pay upwards of $6 million for the popular group-buying service. Of course, the deal never happened.

If you can’t buy ‘em, join ‘em. Coupons and group-buying are hot right now and I suspect we will soon see a tie-in with location-based services. Google will have their hands in both. Depending on how they execute it, Google Offers could definitely spell trouble for services like Groupon and Amazon-backed LivingSocial.

The service seems to work primarily via email, so I hope Google doesn’t try to leveral existing Gmail users as they did with Buzz. They do need to figure out an easy way to get users to opt-in, though. Possibly via Google Maps, or Google Hotpot.
Offers Fact Sheet

via Mashable