Author: Rahsheen on Black Web 2.0

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

The Huffington Post and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson are launching a HuffPost section devoted to African-Americans. The new section will be called “HuffPost GlobalBlack,” and is expected to debut in early March. Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington says the goal is simply to cover more stories “of importance to the black community.” GlobalBlack marks the first of 27 sections in the Huffington Post that will be focused on race.

“We have the supreme irony of having the first African-American president, which is such a historic event and a milestone, while at the same time, conditions for African-Americans are deteriorating, in terms of unemployment, in terms of high school graduation, in terms of the number of African-American males in prisons.” — Arianna Huffington

Last year, we asked why so many Twitter users are black. Edison Research reported that 25% of Twitter users were African-American. The Media Audit reported that 32% of media consumed by African-Americans is from the Web. We also talk and text the most, outpace other ethnic groups in mobile app usage, and 35% of us choose to watch TV online.

Even as African-Americans adopt digital methods of media consumption and communication, Sheila Johnson believes the “African-American voice is really falling off the radar screen.” Johnson sold Black Entertainment Television to Viacom in 2000.

“We’re on other radar screens, with other digital sites, which is wonderful. But I really wanted to bring the real news, the storytelling — to really bring back the voice of the black community on some relevant news and views.”

“We’re going to be able to fill that void,” Johnson adds.

Groupon may be the best known group-buying site around, but competitor LivingSocial is making a name for itself with a little help from its big brother Amazon. Today, they launched a promotion that is buzzing across all social networks and trending on the search engines.

The deal offers buyers who subscribe to LivingSocial a $20 Amazon gift card for just $10, and according to a number of reports the cards have been flying off the virtual shelves, as word of the deal spreads through Twitter and other social networks. With an estimated 300,000 cards sold within a few hours of the deal being launched, the offer was already worth about $3 million. If the pace of buying continues, the deal — which is available for 24 hours — could generate as much or more gross revenue as a deal that Groupon did with The Gap last year, which brought in about $11 million.

Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures, one of LivingSocial’s financial backers, said that the deal is “the first step of operational integration” as a result of the Amazon investment, which totalled $175 million. It’s unknown exactly how much revenue this will generate for LivingSocial, but it definitely shows that the partnership between Amazon.com and LivingSocial could put some serious pressure or Groupon.

At the time of this writing, the LivingSocial deal has 19 hours remaining, so get it while the getting is good.

via GigaOm

Today The Loop 21 announces that Ken Gibbs will join the staff as Chief Operating Officer & Executive Editor. Danielle Belton, Janee Bolden, Michael Brody and Keli Goff have all been named Editors. Theloop21.com, a leading African-American website for economic and political news, has made key alliances with media companies and has steadily grown their audience over 2010. This has prompted them to expand and invest in some executive-level talent.

Ken Gibbs is a digital media pioneer, serving as a critical member of the founding team for Africana.com, which was later acquired by Time Warner and rebranded as AOL Black Voices. He has also contributed here at Black Web 2.0 and held senior positions at InteractiveOne and Essence.com. Gibbs will run the overall editorial processes at The Loop 21, including oversight of the management and editorial staff.

Danielle Belton, writer and creator of the award-winning politics and pop culture blog blacksnob.com, will become the Money & Politics Editor. Janee Bolden, previously Managing Editor at Bossip.com, will serve as Culture & Entertainment Editor. Michael Brody, formerly a national news editor for the Fox News digital platform and Editorial Manager at PR Newswire, steps in as Front Page & News Editor. Keli Goff, an accomplished author and analyst for networks including MSNBC and CNN, will serve as Contributing Editor for Special Reports.

“This is an exciting time for us,” said Darrell Williams, founder & publisher of theloop21.com. “We’ve achieved and surpassed a number of key milestones in 2010 and we are building on the momentum. I’m extremely pleased to welcome a wealth of senior operations and editorial talent to our team who are committed to our vision and mission.”

On Martin Luther King Day, Steve Jobs released a letter saying he would be taking a medical leave of absence. It’s believed he did this on a holiday in order to avoid Apple stock taking a big hit in the US, but the Frankfurt exchange saw an immediate drop of 7%, shaving more than $22 billion off the company’s market cap. The next day, AAPL dropped sharply at about %6, but quickly rebounded. In total, they only saw a 3% drop.

There are a few major factors at work here. The first is that Jobs has been out twice before. During those times, there were major drops, but the company has continued to exceed expectations since then. Also, yesterday, Apple had their earnings call for the first fiscal quarter of 2011. They blew away most Wall Street estimates.

At an increase of 71%, the company posted its highest revenue ever at $26.74 billion. Earnings grew 78%, for a net quarterly profit of $6 billion, thanks to massive sales of 16.24 million iPhones (up 86% year-over-year) and 4.13 million Macs (up 23%). Apple also shipped an impressive 7.33 million iPads. Only iPod sales declined, yet Apple still shipped 19.45 million units. Sales of the iPod Touch shot up 27%, and now represent half of all iPods sold. (via Fast Company)

One thing missing from the earnings call was any commentary whatsoever on the health of Steve Jobs. No one even dared to ask. Many have speculated that his medical absence is related to his previous liver transplant in 2009. A University of Chicago Medical Center transplantation expert tells Scientific American that there are a myriad of complications that can result from a liver transplant. The use (or under use) of immunosuppressants can cause everything from hypertension and hypoglycemia to organ rejection and viral infection.
Should you or your child find yourself in a life-threatening situation, please call 911. In many other emergency dental cases, our team at orthodontist The Woodlands can provide you with proactive, fast service to help preserve your teeth. We have experienced doctors that are prepared to act quickly to prevent any further damage or pain.

Whatever the case may be, we all wish the best for Jobs and hope for a speedy return. Some are already thinking the unthinkable, though. Forbes speculates on what Apple would be like without Steve Jobs, who brings an element to the company that no one will be able to duplicate. To date, Apple only releases products that Jobs himself has scrutinized closely and approved.

When he leaves, someone else will have the power to make those decisions. But he or she may not have Jobs’ sense, as he once put it, of where the technological puck is headed. And no matter who the new CEO may be, that person will never have the authority that comes from having founded the company, been ousted, and returned to rescue it from bankruptcy.

At this point, Apple is on a roll and it doesn’t seem that anything will stop them. They have a vision and a plan and Jobs may be taking a breather because he knows all their ducks are in a row. What do you think?

The hotly debated Comcast-NBC merger has been in the making for over a year now and has finally been approved by the FCC and the DOJ. This will mark the first time one company will control both how television and movies are made and how they get into your living room.

Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, is buying a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co to create a $30 billion business that would include broadcast, cable networks, movie studios and theme parks.

There are a few requirements to the deal that should protect against the most obvious abuses of power. Comcast will be restricted from withholding content from competing content providers. Comcast must also commit to remaining open so that customers can access all web content.

Most notable in the deal are stipulations regarding Hulu. Comcast was forced to relinquish all management rights to Hulu. They will retain a financial stake, but won’t be able to interfere with its management. This is to prevent Comcast from messing with “the development of products that compete with Comcast’s video service.”

Their was only one vote in the FCC against the merger and it came from Commissioner Michael Copps. He says “the potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees to reach end users and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real.” Democratic Senator Al Franken also opposed the deal, saying “the FCC has given a single media conglomerate unprecedented control over the flow of information in America.”

The merger officially goes into affect on January 28th.

via Reuters, TechCrunch

A page which appears to be run by The King Center has been vandalized. Rather than posting racist comments on the wall of the Facebook Page, the vandals have decided to post photos instead. At the time of this writing, the photos of the page has been overrun with racist words and disturbing imagery.

It’s not clear if this page is truly owned and operated by The King Center, but the page has over 827 thousand Likes and shows up as the first result in Facebook search. Official or not, the page is getting attention and something needs to be done.

The photos seem to have been uploaded by a small group and are showing up in the Photos tab as well as in the sidebar. Definitely a reminder that we don’t live in a post-racial America and highlights the importance of guarding your social media outposts.

via BV Black Spin

Lil Wayne’s Twitter account was hacked yesterday. The username was changed from @liltunechi to @lilchinetu and the hacker began having a little fun at the expense of Wayne’s 1.2 million followers. The hacker also took the time to slam some of Wayne’s celeb colleagues. In one instance, he attacked Atlanta entertainer Soulja Boy:

“I sent a donations to your paypal, check it, I heard you got 13,000 sales lil homie, i feel bad for you! #DamnSoulja”

At this time, reports have come out that Wayne has regained control of his account, but I’m skeptical. The original account, @liltunechi, has been suspended. The account used to hurl insults, @LilChinetu, repeatedly claims to be the real Weezy and even has a Twitition floating around. This account has also posted that @LilTuneChi_Real (a protected account) is an alternate account for Wayne, which makes no sense.

Another account, @LilTunechi_YM, claims to be the backup account for @LilTunechi (Weezy’s original Twitter handle), which also makes no sense.

At the time of this writing, none of these accounts carries the Verified label that might suggest the account is official.

via AllHipHop.com, HipHop DX, The BoomBox