Author: Rahsheen on Black Web 2.0

The initial launch of Facebook Places seemed pretty tame. They added a location check-in feature that was similar to the way the existing photo-tagging features work. Some users got into it, but it hasn’t seem to have made much of a splash. As part of this launch, we saw Foursquare, Gowalla, MyTown, and Yelp stand with Facebook as partners. Months later, things are a bit different.

API Access

Facebook has opened up the places API to third party developers. It was open before, but in a severely limited way. Now, developers have access to Facebook Places data and can also add to the database. Be sure to specify the “Facebook” in Facebook Places as some might confuse it with Google Places, a competing offering.

Mobile Apps

New mobile applications for iPhone and Android put both camps on the same page as far as location. While there are a million (ok, maybe not that many) location-based apps for either platform, I would suspect the Facebook app is more popular than any of them. With location support now baked into the Facebook applications installed on the most popular smartphones and mobile operating systems, Facebook just gained access to a huge base of location data.

Deals

I must agree with Greg Sterling when he says, “This is arguably the major announcement of the day, with far reaching implications for both users and businesses large and small.” When users think about location, they think about check-ins. Check-ins don’t make money, though. What businesses want is to attract customers and make money. While most location-based services are still in the early stages here, it looks like Facebook just beat everyone to the punch.

When you open Facebook Places on your iPhone (with the latest app installed) or at touch.facebook.com (no Deals support in Android app yet), you get your standard list of venues. You may notice that some of these venues have a yellow icon. That means there is a deal available for you to take advantage of. You can also see nearby deals on the map.

To take advantage of the deal, just visit the place, tap the deal to claim it, and show the coupon to the cashier (hopefully, you won’t need to demand a manager.)

The process for adding deals is almost as simple as the process for using them. The deals come directly from the merchant, not Facebook. Any business can add a deal using a simple one page form. No negotiations or middle-men. There are a few different types of Deals:

• Individual deals for a discount, free merchandise or other reward
• Friend deals where you and your friends claim an offer together
• Loyalty deals for being a frequent visitor to a place
• Charity deals where businesses pledge to donate to a cause when you check in

They have 22 partners, and will be opened to 20,000 small businesses. One of the partners, Gap, is giving away a free pair of jeans to the first 10,000 folks to check-in at a Gap location on an upcoming date.

With the largest social network implementing location across both the most popular mobile OS and the most popular smartphone, I think we should see some interesting things happening with location in the near future. It will also be interesting to see what happens with partnerships Facebook has as they seem to be stepping on a lot of toes here.

What do you think?

via Facebook

Today’s Facebook Mobile event turned out to be more interesting than I thought. This is probably because there was a focus on location and somewhat on Android. While Zuckerberg is still denying rumors of a Facebook phone, we are seeing Facebook take major steps to become dominant in the mobile world.

Single Sign On

Arguably the least exciting, but possibly the most useful announcement today goes to Facebook Single Sign On. I can’t tell you how many apps I’ve never tried on my mobile because I didn’t feel like logging in. Even with the simplest passwords, it’s often hard to login on your mobile phone. Single Sign On changes that:

Here’s how single sign on works: Just log in to the Facebook application on your mobile phone once. From then on, you can log in to any other application on your phone that supports single sign on without typing a username or password again. This works on any Android phone or any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch device that supports multitasking (most iOS4 devices).

Single Sign On is currently only available on the following Android apps: Flixster, Groupon, Loopt, SCVNGR, Yelp and Zynga Poker. iPhone apps should be coming soon. A simple feature that could give developers a huge boost in attracting users.

Places and Groups

The latest versions of the Facebook Android and iPhone apps now include support for both Places and Groups. Facebook Places will make it easier for iPhone and Android users to connect in the real world. In addition to these new features on Android, they’ve also updated the notifications system so that it doesn’t dump you in the browser every time you touch something.

Deals

Deals is a feature of Places that lets you see nearby deals at local businesses. Integration with businesses is one of the primary goals of location-based services, so this is a pretty big deal. Deals are now only available in the US. You can access deals on your iPhone with the latest Facebook app and Android users can use the touch.facebook.com site.

via Facebook

In a rare move by Google, every Gmail user received an email to notify them of the settlement regarding Google Buzz. Shortly after its launch in February, drama ensued as many users complained of a breach of privacy. A few Buzz users decided to bring a class action lawsuit against Google and apparently won….kinda.

Google says in the email that the settlement “acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns.” They have also committed $8.5 million to an independent fund dedicated to supporting organizations promoting “privacy education and policy on the web.”

The interesting part is that this settlement is dated September 3rd, so why the email now? From the email:

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010.

In short, a settlement was reached, but you are not getting paid unless you go after Google on your own. Good luck with that. Of course, most users still have no idea what Buzz is and probably didn’t even bother reading the email.

For more details on the settlement and how to “opt out, object, or comment” on it, visit http://www.BuzzClassAction.com/

We first covered Scvngr a couple of months ago. They are a location-based service that is doing things a bit different. Rather than simply earning badges for checking in, their making the road to rewards a little more challenging.

One company that has partnered with Scvngr is Tesla Motors. They’ve set up a challenge that requires users to visit one of Tesla’s eight U.S. showrooms, and snap a photo of a Roadster to earn three points. Or, players could figure out how many battery cells power each Tesla vehicle for another two. Players who complete the Tesla challenges will unlock a limited edition Tesla badge.

Sounds kind of like Amazing Race. The problem is that SCVNGR was working off of a limited database. If you’ve used any location-based service, the most annoying thing you have to go through is manually entering information for a venue.

Today, users worldwide will avoid this annoyance as Scvngr switches to a database pre-populated with data from Google Places. Google has decided to give SCVNGR access to a developer preview of the Places API, which should make the service much more interesting. It’s no surprise that Google would give SCVNGR a nudge, it was one the first investments made by Google Ventures.

SCVNGR already has partnerships in place. Foursquare and Gowalla are both involved with Facebook Places while also diversifying beyond the simple check-in game. Maybe we will finally see some interesting things happening in the location space.

via TechCrunch

Talk of a PlayStation Phone is still going strong and Sony isn’t doing much to kill the rumors. It started back in August and was reignited last week when Engadget showed up with photos. During two separate conference calls for investors last Friday, Sony was asked to comment on the alleged PlayStation Phone. One call was in Japanese and later translated. The second was directed at US investors. The results don’t necessarily prove the existence of a PlayStation Phone, but they aren’t denying anything, either.

The initial comment, translated from Japanese, is especially vague:

“It’s not that we are not looking into those markets as well. We will look into those markets in trying to develop strategy for the future. Of course, we can’t talk about specific products, but smartphones and tablets… it is difficult to tell you how we can put the games on them, but they are not going to be planned in different parts of our company,” the unidentified Sony executive said. “When we organized ourselves last April, we introduced network services, and within that umbrella, network services, all of these products are handled. Therefore, the planning and the prototypes for various content [are] all carried out within this… one umbrellas. So we are trying to figure out what we can do as Sony in this market. I think this is as far as I can tell you regarding these products at market.”

During the second call, Sony executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato,, and senior general manager of investor relations Gen Tsuchikawa, were present on the call. The actual speaker didn’t identify himself, but he was slightly less vague:

“Now, PSP being a proprietary platform, was more concentrated on, how do you say, [the] core gaming segment rather than the light gamer,” the executive added. “But now we are addressing that market as well. I cannot be specific as to how we will introduce new product to address these markets, but one thing I can say is that we have those markets addressed, and we will come out with products and services to capture the broader gaming market.

“I know this will not be a clear-cut answer, but please wait until we are ready to announce what ever products and services that we may come up with,” the Sony executive said.

Based on their remarks, Sony is definitely working on something to address the “light gaming market.” They specifically mention smartphones and tablets and we can assume this “light gamer” would be someone who just plays games on their smartphone during downtime. By that ingenious logic and combined with the leaked photos, it’s obvious Sony is working on a smartphone. It’s also possible they are looking into a tablet device with gaming abilities, much like the iPad.

What do you think they’re working on?

via PCMag.com

Most would assume that Chrome, backed by a company pushing hard for HTML5, would be the browser that best supports HTML5. Most would also assume that Internet Explorer, the bane of most web developers, probably doesn’t support the proposed standard well at all. Most people would be wrong on both counts.

The Worldwide Web Consortium has the numbers and Internet Explorer 9 puts the competition to shame. Seven aspects of the spec were tested: “attributes”, “audio”, “video”, “canvas”, “getElementsByClassName”, “foreigncontent,” and “xhtml5.” The rankings came down as follows: IE9 beta release 6, Google Chrome 7, Firefox 4 beta 6, Opera 10.6, and Safari 5.0.

We’ve talked about Microsoft‘s change of philosophy a few times. They are definitely updating their image and embracing the latest technologies across all of their products, including Internet Explorer. The Register puts it best:

Yes, the HTML5 spec has yet to finalized. And yes, these tests cover only a portion of the spec. But we can still marvel at just how much Microsoft’s browser philosophy has changed in recent months.

via The Register

We reported last week that Google and Samsung might be launching the Nexus Two. This seemed highly unlikely given what Eric Schmidt said about the Nexus One, but the tech world is still buzzing about about a second iteration of the Google phone. According to BGR, Samsung has flat out denied these rumors.

Remember that Nexus Two handset rumor that caught fire late last week? Well, according to Korean website danawa.com the report was a false alarm. The site is quoting a Samsung official who claims that the reports — which really took off after Gizmodo published the above mock-up — are “simply not true.” via BGR

There is definitely something brewing for Samsung’s November 8th event, though. Between Gizmodo and Android And Me, there are multiple sources confirming the existence of a device that could be the Nexus Two. Samsung could be flat-out lying, or this mystery device may just go by a different name. We can be pretty certain in saying that there will be an Android device of some kind launching.

What do you think is going on here?

Firesheep is a Firefox plug-in that makes it simple for the average Joe to hack into your account. Basically, if you’re on a network with someone running Firesheep, they will be able to see and probably access your login sessions. This means not only seeing what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter, but also posting messages to your friends, family, and followers. The developer, Eric Butler, explains it best:

It’s extremely common for websites to protect your password by encrypting the initial login, but surprisingly uncommon for websites to encrypt everything else. This leaves the cookie (and the user) vulnerable. HTTP session hijacking (sometimes called “sidejacking”) is when an attacker gets a hold of a user’s cookie, allowing them to do anything the user can do on a particular website. On an open wireless network, cookies are basically shouted through the air, making these attacks extremely easy.

The most important point to note here is that Firesheep is simply a tool. It only highlights how insecure standard security on the web is. VentureBeat makes an interesting analogy to the whole fun debate: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” The tool itself isn’t the danger.

Packet sniffers have been around for years, but now we can all see just how easy it is for someone to get into our accounts if we use public Wi-Fi or don’t bother to secure our own networks. While The NextWeb offers some hints to avoid getting fleeced by firesheep, Computer World asks if this plug-in is even legal. Check the Firesheep blog for more info and tips on protecting yourself.

via Firesheep – codebutler

Today, Blekko opens up to the public. They’ve been in private beta since July and are finally opening the doors to the masses. Of course, just because Blekko is a search engine, comparisons are immediately being drawn with Google. In reality, it’s like comparing apples to oranges.

blekko is a better way to search the web by using slashtags. slashtags search only the sites you want and cut out the spam sites. use friends, experts, community or your own slashtags to slash in what you want and slash out what you don’t.

The primary problem that Blekko addresses is the amount of spam and irrelevant results you get when searching on a specific topic. SEO is somewhat complicated, but it’s not rocket science to get a relatively useless site ranked in Google. Many topics you might want to search for are dead from the start because of this (anything health/fitness, for example). Blekko not only cuts through clutter, but also allows you to do things with search that just aren’t possible with keywords.

Blekko accomplishes all of this by allowing users to create vertical search engines (search engines focused on a specific topic or group of sites). Google is a horizontal search engine, pulling results from sites across the web that have nothing to do with each other. Blekko’s more focused and crowd-sourced approach is what has many interested.

Will it challenge Google? I doubt it. I think they are tools for different jobs. While Blekko allows you to go through the web with a fine-toothed comb, sometimes you just need a pick with a fist on the end.

Five use cases where slashtags shine

1. Verticals with just YOUR favorite sites:
   u2 /music, iphone reviews /tech, wine /buy, 2010 season /steelers, American Idol /tv
2. Search you can’t do with keywords:
   global warming /conservative, ufos /paranormal, congress /humor, Kim Kardashian /gossip
3. Slash through heavily spammed categories:
   avoiding swine flu /health, iphone 4 reviews /techblogs, Aruba /travel, low calorie /diet
4. Access to recent material and web data:
   Obama /date, Mel Gibson /rank, cnn.com /seo, techcrunch.com /links
5. Direct access to 3rd party api’s:
   US Open /youtube, Twilight /twitter, Moby Dick /amazon, sports car /shop

blekko: how to slash the web from blekko on Vimeo.

via Search Engine Land, Blekko, WSJ

Rapleaf, Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Earlier this month, we found out that some of the most popular apps on Facebook were sharing user data they shouldn’t have been. While many of the apps involved did not share this information intentionally, it still violated Facebook policy. To explain the gravity of the issue:

The main issue with passing around this UID is that it can later be combined with other data floating around the Internet about you. RapLeaf, a company that compiles data about web users and sells it, was able to connect these UID’s with data they already had. This allowed them to form a better picture of the individuals they were tracking. This data collection is really where the privacy issue lies.

So, companies like Rapleaf know your Facebook UID. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it does pose a problem when that UID is connected to other identifying information. According to WSJ, Rapleaf is one of the few companies that not only collects and sells data about website users, but has no problems storing your name with the data.

This makes RapLeaf a rare breed. Rival tracking companies also gather minute detail on individual Americans: They know a tremendous amount about what you do. But most trackers either can’t or won’t keep the ultimate piece of personal information—your name—in their databases. The industry often cites this layer of anonymity as a reason online tracking shouldn’t be considered intrusive.

It’s one thing to take a bunch of anonymous information about a person and use it for ads or statistics, but once you start tossing in names and UID’s things start to get a little disturbing. What do you think?

Digg Lays Off 25. Games Their Own System.

Earlier this year, Digg dropped 10% of their staff. In an effort to remain relevant, they completely redesigned and refocused the site. Regular Diggers didn’t like the changes one bit. Now, Digg has lost their Chief Revenue Officer Chas Edwards and plans to fire 25 more employees. This amounts to about 37% of their current staff. In a blog post by Digg CEO Matt Williams, he explains the new cuts:

Unfortunately, to reach our goals, we have to take some difficult steps. The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high. We must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011. We’ve considered all of the possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs. The result is that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I’ve made the decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people.

About the same time we are finding out about Digg’s financial troubles, it looks like they may have been gaming their own system. According to @LtGenPanda, an avid and vigilant Digg user, It seems that Digg manipulated their own system to benefit publisher partners. In response, Digg explained that they only used these accounts to test for spam vulnerabilities. Digg Founder Kevin Rose says “We’ve used test accounts since day one and will continue to use them as we validate our various spam/promotion algorithms.”

GetGlue Gets Serious About Rewards and Integration

Yesterday, GetGlue announced partnerships with USA, Syfy, ESPN, and 20th Century FOX to launch GetGlue Rewards and showcase exclusive site integration. USA viewers will get exclusive badges for checking in to USA’s top shows. They will also be able to earn branded fan stickers and secret stickers for shows like Psych and Burn Notice. Syfy will include deep integration with GetGlue on the website for their live Ghost Hunters Halloween event. You will be able to earn special badges, interact with other users on the site, and check-in using a special widget on the site.

In addition to a trailer sticker, a special sticker for those who watch the during its opening weekend, and a sticker that rewards fans for watching the movie in theaters after the opening weekend, 20th Century FOX has integrated GetGlue’s check-in widgets onto each movie’s Facebook page. Fans will be able to check-in to GetGlue directly from the movies Facebook Page and interact with other fans.

MySpace recently announced plans to completely overhaul the website and change the focus of the MeeySpace brand. Rather than being simply a social networking site like Facebook, MySpace wants to be a social entertainment destination for Gen Y. These means a new brand, a new website, and a new suite of products. The goal is to create a “rich, highly personalized experience for people to discover content and connect with other fans who share similar interests.”

As we talked about previously, the new direction puts the focus on connecting with others around similar interests rather than just connecting with people you might already know. With about 15 million African-American members, MySpace has become a hub for African-American youth and culture. As a result, Rap and Hip-Hop have been propelled to the top music genres on the website. In response, the new MySpace will allow you to:

• Discover and engage with Myspace’s broad array of programming, including originals, exclusives and content from around the Web.
• Express, collect and display their creations and interests on their profiles and through sharing tools.
• Connect to other fans with similar tastes.

“This marks the beginning of an exciting turning point for Myspace. Our new strategy expands on Myspace’s existing strengths – a deep understanding of social, a wealth of entertainment content and the ability to surface emerging cultural trends in real-time through our users.” -Mike Jones, CEO of Myspace

The design of the new beta site puts a focus on the content. From the ground up, each element makes it easier for people to find relevant content. The welcome page updates with fresh content from across the site in real-time. After you login, this information changes to become relevant to your individual interests. To cover all your screens, Myspace will soon release a mobile version of the beta site, accessible on any mobile browser, with new iPhone and Android apps coming later this year.

As we mentioned before, MySpace will be rewarding active users on the site. Specifically, the subset of users that help bring in quality content, which helps MySpace attract more users:

Myspace will also focus on promoting curators – a subset of its audience whose reputation and knowledge around particular entertainment topics and emerging cultural trends make them uniquely influential – by supporting them with the resources, tools and platform to expand their reach within the Myspace community.

New users get immediate access to the beta site. Current users should have access to the beta by the end of the month. Visit www.myspace.com/newmyspace for more details.

Days after Sony kills off the Walkman and images of a Sony Playstation Phone run rampant, speculation about a potential Apple-Sony merger is spreading across the web. The rumors caused a slight jump in Sony’s stock, which was stagnant until that point. Apple and Sony haven’t addressed the rumors at this point.

It seems like a merger between Apple and Sony could make sense for both companies. They are on a collision course as far as gaming and entertainment goes. Apple is quick to point out that iPhone and iPod touch are the world’s best-selling portable gaming devices. They are well ahead of Nintendo and Sony doesn’t even appear to be in the running, which explains why they may need to branch out and create a phone/gaming device of their own. A merger with Apple could create a more powerful adversary for Microsoft and Nintendo. Think Playstation + Apple TV.

On the other side of the spectrum both companies are big on entertainment. Apple would gain a foothold into millions of living rooms, possibly bringing Apple TV functionality and iTunes integration to more devices. This is the direction Google TV was headed before some push-back from the entertainment industry.

Apple may very well succeed in invading our living rooms and owning our handhelds, but a merger with Sony could accelerate the process and bring exciting technological developments.

via DigitalTrends, Technorati, TUAW

Rumor has it that Google and Samsung may be teaming up to launch the successor to the Nexus One, the phone that kicked off all this Android business in the first place. According to Android and Me, Google and Samsung will announce the “Nexus Two” at an upcoming press conference on November 8th in New York.

This would be an interesting move given what Eric Schmidt said about the Nexus One:

The idea a year and a half ago was to do the Nexus One to try to move the phone platform hardware business forward. It clearly did. It was so successful, we didn’t have to do a second one. We would view that as positive but people criticised us heavily for that. I called up the board and said: ‘Ok, it worked. Congratulations – we’re stopping’.

This news comes from multiple “trusted sources.” The Nexus Two would run Android Gingerbread (3.0). This would make sense given that the Nexus One always received the latest Android OS updates first. Even after it was no longer available to the public, the device was available for developers for testing.

The real question here is why Google would bother with another phone in the Nexus series. The Nexus One primarily served as a template for manufacturers and carriers. Just as Google has done in other areas, they needed to push the envelope a little to show everyone what was possible and get them interested in the Android brand.

Now that Android OS has gained popularity, we are seeing interesting things happening around it. Everyone and their grandma is opening up their own Android app store. Beyond skinning the phone, HTC is trying to completely co-opt the Android brand. They call it a “holistic experience filled with moments of delight” and don’t even want you to call their devices Google phones.

It’s possible that Google may be trying to preserve the purity of Android by having at least one device out there not tainted by the motivations of the carriers and manufacturers.

What do you think?

via TheNextWeb, Android and Me

Users of Android and iPhone devices have recently noticed a feature on Google search for mobile that lets you search for apps. Searching for an app will give you more details on that app at the top of your results. You can also use the “more” dropdown to access Android/iPhone App Search directly. While the feature is just being discovered, Google actually announced it back in June.

The Android Market recently crossed the 100,000 app boundary and critics have already pointed out that finding the exact app you need is difficult. Searching using the Market app is simplistic and third-party solutions don’t completely solve the problem. Using Google search directly may make it easier to find the app you need as well as making sure it’s legit. As Android Police points out, it would be great to see an Install button added as well. Still, a direct link to the app in the market saves some time. Also, keep in mind that this feature works for finding iPhone apps as well.

Frostwire Mobile P2P

Now, it will be easier to locate apps like Frostwire, which lets you search, browse and share files locally and over the Internet using Wi-Fi in a P2P-style network all from your Android phone. With the Limewire software banned from distribution by Limewire LLC, Frostwire is the next runner-up for P2P file-sharing. It works on your desktop and now also your Android. It will be interesting to see if they will face a similar fate to Limewire as they both run on top of the Gnutella network.

PayPal Checkout in Android Market

Another problem plaguing the Android market is the process of purchasing apps. One quick fix for this would be integration with PayPal to replace the current checkout method. According to an accidental post by PayPal, this feature should be on the way soon. They’ve since taken down the post, but Google sees all.

A lawsuit filed against Limewire about four years ago has finally reached a verdict. The file-sharing service has been found guilty of assisting users in committing copyright infringement “on a massive scale” according to a federal judge. The suit was filed by the RIAA in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of eight major music publishers.

LimeWire LLC was charged with facilitating “pervasive online infringement.” They were also accused of “allowing and actively encouraging users to participate in music piracy.” The plaintiffs claimed that over 93 percent of the content available via Limewire infringed on one copyright or another.

A visit to the Limewire website stops visitors cold with a popup message and a link to the actual court injunction:

“THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT-ORDERED INJUNCTION TO STOP DISTRIBUTING AND SUPPORTING ITS FILE-SHARING SOFTWARE. DOWNLOADING OR SHARING COPYRIGHTED CONTENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS ILLEGAL.”

Back in May, a court found Limewire liable for copyright infringement. They even held founder Mark Gorton personally responsible for the copyright violations.

“The evidence demonstrates that [Lime Wire] optimized LimeWire’s features to ensure that users can download digital recordings, the majority of which are protected by copyright,” Wood said in her 59-page decision. “And that [Lime Wire] assisted users in committing infringement.”

This latest case resumes in January 2011, when the court will figure out how much Limewire has to pay. With the minimum penalty at $150,000 for each music copyright infringement, Limewire may be on the hook for around $1 billion.

While our copyrights must be protected, I’m still on the fence about this case. Limewire is only a piece of software that leverages an existing underlying file-sharing network. That peer-to-peer network is still there and Limewire is not the only game in town. Users are already looking into alternatives like Frostwire. BitTorrent also offers an alternative file-sharing method that users could turn to. It’s unlikely that the RIAA or any other entity could shutdown all available avenues for piracy.

Will you miss Limewire? Do you think it and software like it should be shutdown like this?

via PC World