Category: Tech

What do you get when you cross the most popular location-based social networking site with a powerful search engine? A way to find the hottest spots around town in real-time. Forget looking up stale reviews, figure out where everybody is at right now. According to Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley, this is exactly the type of relationship Foursquare is looking for with Google, Yahoo, or Bing. Crowley says that the data generated by Foursquare “generates hugely interesting trends which would enrich search.”

“We can anonymise data and use it to show venues which are trending at that moment. Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about. Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

Location, while wildly popular, is still mostly a misunderstood area. While millions of people flock to these services to share their everyday happenings, others look at them and wonder what the point of it is. This is pretty much the same situation we see around Twitter. The true power with these services is not the simple interactions, but the data those interactions create. In this case, we see a very interesting opportunity to figure out what places people are going to and not simply what topics they’re talking about online.

While Foursquare is enjoying a lot of success right now, they are only just getting started. Attracting users is only the first step. How they choose to use the data collected from users will be much more interesting and may help more users see what all the fuss is about. We are seeing the potential already with Foursquare layers, which combines your location data with information about the location to give you a deeper context about where you are.

Crowley doesn’t have a timeline yet for these search deals, but says that the search giants are not the only ones interested in Foursquare’s data. All three search engines have neither confirmed nor denied that they’ve been in talks with Foursquare.

via Foursquare ‘in talks with Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!’ about search partnerships

Old Spice Shows New Media How It’s Done

Pretty much everyone knows who the Old Spice Guy is. The first commercial had everyone from your best friend to your grandmother ending sentences with “I’m on a horse!” Who knew this ready to like manly man would step out of your TV screen and start responding to you on Twitter and Facebook? The Old Spice marketing team churned out over 65 custom video responses to questions asked on the Internet. The marketing campaign was a smash, totally changing the image of Old Spice from an old man’s after-shave to anyone’s favorite bath time treat.

Apple’s “Surprise” Press Conference

Apple has announced a press conference for today, Friday, July 16, at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Presumably, they will address the iPhone 4 antennae debacle, but who knows where things may go from there. Many blogs have speculated on what will actually happen during the conference. Some say they will not address the issue at all, while others say they may give everyone a credit towards a free case. Bottom line is that Apple needs to do something major to save their image of perfection and user satisfaction.

Google Games Secretly Underway

According to TechCrunch, Google has secretly donated between $100 and $200 million dollars to Zynga. The plan is to use Zynga as a base for a new project called Google Games. Even as they lose a bit of market share to Bing and Yahoo, Google is still making things happen from the sidelines. The reason this partnership with Zynga is so important is because it helps Google gain access to a large social graph of users. These games attract a large amount of users and have a viral quality to them that makes the investment worthwhile.

Posterous Goes at WordPress with New Import Feature

Posterous has it’s target set on WordPress with a new import feature that will make switching from WordPress to Posterous extremely easy. If WordPress is just too much power for you to deal with, Posterous is a great alternative. The problem is that many people are already fully invested in WordPress. Posterous now takes away the hassle and makes the switch a cinch. This is actually part of a larger campaign for Posterous to develop import tools for 15 services in 15 days, which has already brought the lawyers out.

Even though Facebook, Twitter, and Google have dominated the headlines, MySpace has not stopped putting in work. They have been in the lab working on their product as well as acquiring new talent for their team. Last night, MySpace vice president of online marketing Sean Percival tweeted about “clean new profiles” that are starting to pop up around MySpace. Hours later, MySpace confirmed that they were testing a new profile design:

“We’re testing a new look and feel of our site among users and the response so far has been positive,” …”As always, we’re interested in hearing feedback from our community as we roll out enhancements to the user experience and look forward to sharing more details with you in the coming weeks.”

These profiles are rolling out out slowly, so you may not see yours yet (I know mine hasn’t been updated). Here are some details about the new design pointed out by Mashable:

• A new left-hand navigation: Profile navigation has been condensed into the left hand navigation menu under the profile picture.
• Focus on the stream: MySpace Stream — the site’s version of the Facebook newsfeed — is the focus of the the new profiles. You can view a user’s recent activity, comment on items and share content with friends.
• Follow on other social networks: There’s a new module giving you the option to follow a user not only on MySpace, but also on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. Whether this is a standard module remains to be seen.
• A vastly improved UI: Without a doubt, the new profiles feature better design than their predecessors, which have been the scourge of social web app designers for a few years now.

Reactions are mixed so far, but that’s always the case when a site does a complete redesign. Especially when it involves personal profiles, which MySpace has always been known for. Their glitter graphics and raining hearts have been both a blessing and a curse.

On a related note, MySpace has also acquired the team and assets of Threadbox, the social media service that aims to kill your email. Threadbox is focused on making communications and collaboration easier. Methods for communication on MySpace are somewhat scattered and Threadbox might just be the technology they need to tighten things up. According to a representative from MySpace:

“We’re thrilled to announce that the talented Threadbox team has joined MySpace. We’re in active discussions about how we can incorporate their innovative technology into our site.”

Not only is Threadbox a powerful collaboration tool on its own, but it’s also helps you pull your social media world together by integrating into your email, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. With a new visual interface and some work on the back-end with the Threadbox team, MySpace might be on its way back.

As media gathered for the Apple Press Conference today, many speculated about what was going to happen. Would Steve Jobs apologize for the iPhone 4 antennae flaw? Would they offer free bumper cases to reduce the problem? Have they developed an in-store fix to coat the antennae? Would we get details on the white iPhone 4? Maybe they would just announce some random new product to distract everyone from the antennae debacle entirely.

The conference opened with Apple playing the iPhone Antenna Song, which was pretty odd. Jobs took the stage, chuckling about the video. He went on to say, “We’re not perfect. Phones aren’t perfect. We know that. You know that. But we want to make all our users happy. If you don’t know that, you don’t know Apple. We’re going to talk about how we’re going to do that.”

Jobs began to explain the technical details behind the antenna problem and how the iPhone 4 is not the only device effected. They showed videos of other phones experiencing the exact same problems. Jobs says they were aware of the issue, but took it as a matter of course.

“We have an extremely sophisticated antenna lab. This is a state of the art antenna test facility. We have 17 anechoic chambers. We’ve invested over $100m in our antenna testing facilities over the last 5 years, and we have 18 PhD scientists and engineers doing some very advanced antenna design.”

To put things in perspective, Jobs pointed out the call drop rates of the iPhone 4 as compared with the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4 drops less than 1 additional call per 100. According to Jobs, that’s even too much for Apple. Jobs believes that the major difference between the 3GS and the 4 is that the 3GS didn’t change the design of the phone. There were a number of cases available, on day one. The iPhone 4 has a radically new design and doesn’t fit any of the cases. Jobs believes this problem only became so noticeable because users who wanted a case weren’t able to get one, which would have shielded the antennae from interference.

“Having said this, we care about EVERY user. And we’re not going to stop until every one is happy. But it’s important to understand the scope of the issue — the data says the issue has been blown so far out of proportion, it’s incredible.”

There are two primary solutions to this problem that have been touched on before. In order to make sure your phone is reporting the proper signal strength, you will need to update to iOS 4.0.1. That solves part of the problem in that the change in signal when holding the phone in the iPhone 4 Death Grip won’t be as drastic.

The second and more interesting solution is that Apple will issue everyone who bought an iPhone 4 a free case. You will be able to sign up for your case on the Apple website. Even if you already bought a case, Apple will give you a refund. Because they can’t make the bumper cases fast enough, you will have a choice of which case you want from the website. All this goes on until September 30th. In the event that this is just not a good solution for you or you are just not satisfied, you can get a full refund (it seems they will waive the restocking fee).

I think they make a good point and have offered a decent solution. At this point, only 1.7% of iPhone 4 users have actually returned their phones over this issue, compared to 6% who returned the iPhone 3GS. Is this the solution that everyone has waited for? A free case? Will this soothe the angry mob or is this simply a case of Apple relying on ego and confidence to get out of facing the problem directly?

via Gizmodo,GDGT,Ars Technica, and MobileCrunch

In the early phases of iPhone 4 development, a senior engineer voiced concern over the antennae’s design. They warned that the design could lead to signal problems and dropped calls. Those very same problems that are currently causing such a buzz in the tech and mainstream worlds now.

Last year, Ruben Caballero, a senior engineer and antenna expert, informed Apple’s management the device’s design may hurt reception, said the person, who is not authorized to speak on Apple’s behalf and asked not to be identified. A carrier partner also raised concerns about the antenna before the device’s June 24 release, according to another person familiar with the situation.

Apple chose this particular antennae design because they were looking to create a thinner handset. By wrapping the antennae around the edge of the device, they were able to get what they wanted. There are actually multiple antennae wrapped around the device to cover different frequencies. With it in such an easily accessible place, the antennae is also vulnerable. By putting your fingers in the wrong place on this outer bezel, you can easily short out or interfere with your iPhone 4’s signal strength and possibly cause your call to drop.

Knowing that Apple had previous knowledge of the antennae issue makes their responses to customer complaints even more baffling. Since they actually had time to think about it, you would think they would have come up with a better response then telling customers to not hold the iPhone a certain way.

The latest update to iOS, the software that runs the iPhone, is supposed to fix part of the problem and it looks like it’s being rolled out at this moment. While this update will not keep your calls from dropping, it will give you a more accurate view of your signal strength. You see, Apple was “accidentally” using the wrong formula to calculate the bars on your phone, so it looked like you had a strong signal when you didn’t.

In any case, it doesn’t look like this is a problem Apple can fix. It’s a design flaw in the phone itself and the issue has been completely blown out of proportion, primarily because of the way Apple has handled it. They have announced a press conference for Friday, so it will be interesting to see how or if they will address this issue.

Apple is ready to release a new MacBook Air, an updated iPod Touch, and will possibly be bringing FaceTime to the iPod Touch and iPad. Both of these should be available later this year. According to Mingchi Kuo, senior analyst at Digitimes Research:

• Citing discussions with upstream component makers, noted that the 11.6-inch MacBook Air will feature an even slimmer and lighter design than the previous-generation models and the technologies used for the design and concept are expected to be broadly used in the company’s other product lines to boost their competitiveness.
• The new iPod touch will feature a 3-megapixel camera, capable of both photo and video recording, and will adopt Apple’s latest A4 processor, which is also used in the iPhone 4.

What we don’t see here are dual cameras for the iPod Touch, which would make it a prime candidate for FaceTime. According to Boy Genius Report, Apple is working on making FaceTime work for devices besides the iPhone. To do this, you will be able to start FaceTime video calls using your Apple ID. This ID is registered to whatever device you’re connecting from. Apple will use push notifications to alert you of incoming FaceTime calls. Allegedly, FaceTime in the new iPhone OS 4.1 beta already has support for recognizing these push notifications.

One area that isn’t clear is how a non-iPhone device would start calls to an iPhone. It seems like you would still need to use the phone number, which raises the issue of the calling device not actually having phone capabilities. In this case, an Apple ID associated with the iPhone itself seems the most likely solution.

This is a logical progression for FaceTime. During its initial demo at WWDC, Jobs said that he wanted FaceTime to become an industry standard for video calling. The first step would be to activate FaceTime on non-iPhone Apple devices like the iPod Touch and iPad. This would lay the groundwork to extend the capabilities to other manufacturers. An Apple ID is simply an email, so calls could be initiated across carries and manufacturers using any email address you have associated with your phone. Of course, this is all still in the rumor phase, but I think FaceTime on Android would be pretty cool.

It seems that the king of search has its competitors nipping at its heels. While Google is still the top of the totem pole when it comes to search, Yahoo and Bing are gaining some ground. There are some major concerns with the numbers, though. Google has taken a stance of not actually creating content while Yahoo and Bing both consist of original and user-generated material. This almost makes it seem like comparing apples and oranges.

Google has a market share of 62.6 percent, down from 63.7 in May, according to Comscore. Both Yahoo and Microsoft’s sites including its flagship search tool, Bing, saw gains, each increasing their numbers from 18.3 to 18.9 percent and 12.1 to 12.7 percent, respectively, from May to June. Yet all three search engines experienced growth year over year, with Bing leading the pack at 77 percent volume growth last year. Google grew 12.7 percent.

The numbers are not all that drastic, but Yahoo and Bing are gaining a little. It’s not surprising that this would be the case. Google is the gold standard when it comes to search. It’s a household name and has even become a verb. Google is everywhere from your desktop to your mobile phone. As far as search goes, they have probably run out of room to grow.

Bing, however, is something new and exciting for many users. Even those happy with Google can’t help but try it out. Microsoft is working very hard to promote Bing and is in no way lacking the resources to do so. Yahoo is actually now using Bing on the back-end for its own search efforts.

Bing also has plenty of money behind it to keep at Google’s heels. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer stated in 2008 that his company is dedicating five years to building a better site.

The discrepancy in the comparison between Google, Yahoo, and Bing is that Yahoo and Bing are gaming the system. Because they are creating content as well as providing contextual search results, they give themselves an advantage. Google, however, has a policy of not creating any content.

UBS analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald note that a big driver for the market share gains at Yahoo and Bing were the use of contextual searches – searches tied to slide shows and other material in which the search results are offered without specifically being requested. Excluding contextually driven searches, the UBS analysts note, Yahoo gained 10 basis points of market share, and Microsoft 20 basis points.

While they are growing, it’s doubtful that Yahoo and/or Bing will overtake Google any time soon. ComScore will be making moves to exclude contextually driven searches in August.

via Google Loses Search Traffic to Yahoo and Bing: Analysis

Microsoft continues to innovate on multiple fronts to stay on the bleeding edge of productivity and social media. This is primarily through their push into the cloud using Windows Live and their Outlook Social Connector plugin, which connects your regular email with your social networking services. Social Connector initially only supported LinkedIn, but is now also integrated with Facebook as well as Windows Live Messenger. Windows Live now adds the ability to access your contacts across all Microsoft services at one location: http://contacts.live.com.

Microsoft worked side-by-side with Facebook to make sure Social Connector integration was on point. It works mostly as expected, pulling in profile photos and making it easier to see who you’re emailing, but it also pulls in Facebook news feeds from your contacts. While you’re checking your email, you can also see their status updates, picture uploads, wall posts, and other activities.

Keep in mind that you already have information about your contacts from LinkedIn, Live Messenger, MySpace, and Outlook itself. This gives you a broader context for what’s going on with your contacts and will allow you to make sure your interactions are relevant and useful. One additional point is that the social connector platform has been updated to allow for real-time updates. This means that you don’t need to manually refresh anything or worry about whether the information you’re looking at is up-to-date. It all happens for you in the background.

In the latest release of Windows Live, they’ve paid special attention to contact management. In a post on the Windows Team Blog, they talk about how confusing it can be and aim to offer a solution to the problem. They are offering a contacts setup that is similar to what Google already offers:

Up to date
Reflective of all the people you know on all the services you use
Available on all the devices you use (phone, PC, web)

Microsoft wants to take things a step further, though. Rather than simply aggregating all of your contacts, combining the same people from different networks, and keeping everything in sync, Windows Live will eventually let you do things like instant message your Facebook contacts.

The new Windows Live contacts interface will also integrate with your mobile device so that you can have your contacts on the go. The new contacts roll out is working along with the new Hotmail release, so if you don’t see it yet, be patient.

It has long been confirmed that the iPhone has a little reception problem. Not the problem with AT&T dropping the ball, but the issue with its antennae design. The antennae wraps around the outer edge of the phone in such a way that you can easily short out the system just by holding the phone a certain way. The problem is, this is how many people hold their phones. It is now being called the “iPhone Death Grip.”

It’s not clear just how many people have run into the problem, but there have been enough to bring a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T. Apple’s responses to claims that the antennae is defective or just poorly designed have been less than stellar. Upset iPhone 4 customers were basically told to not hold the phone that way by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Later, Apple attempted to blame a software bug.

“Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength,” Apple’s letter reads. “For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars.”

So, the software bug should be fixed with an update, but does this mean your iPhone 4 antennae problems are solved? Not really. While your phone will more accurately report how bad AT&T’s reception is on the phone, you’ll still get even worse reception by holding your phone in that special way. Real solutions for the problem involve putting a case on the phone or otherwise covering up part of the antennae with tape. I said “real” not “desirable.”

Apple doesn’t seem to want to take any responsibility for the issue, infuriating many customers. It doesn’t look like they will get out of this one unscathed, though. Consumer reports just tested and reviewed the iPhone 4 and, while they say it’s the best smartphone on the market, they can’t officially recommend it because of the antennae problems. When you want to buy this product, we recommend you get a loan first, here is a best site to get a loan.

According to some PR experts, a complete recall is inevitable. According to RWW, “Apple’s stock is taking a hit due to the R-word being batted around, with it already down 4% by 10:45 this morning.” While some claim that this is a non-issue and will all blow over, I think Apple is going to have to do something major to appease their fans and investors.

Many already refer to the iPad as a huge iPhone that can’t make calls, but New York-based voice over IP phone system provider M5 Networks has a way to change that using an application. M5 is in the business of offering small to mid-size companies software that allows them to route calls through the cloud. This lets them make and receive calls from any Internet-connected device, including mobile devices and computers, with the calls appearing to go through their office line. They even offer the ability to start a call on one device and smoothly transition the call in progress to another device.

Just last month, M5 added the ability to make an receive calls on the iPad.M5 Chief Executive Dan Hoffman says this will give their clients more options for handling their phone calls. He also says that “the clearest reason (to take a call on an iPad) is the advantage of running this app on a Wi-Fi connection” and that the iPad has a better microphone.

One interesting scenario that Hoffman puts forward is in using the iPad as a conference phone. Even if there is no phone in the room, the iPad can connect to the Internet. This would allow an individual or group to jump on the conference call regardless of where they might be physically. All they need is a little WiFi.

The application is currently still in the testing phases. Once the iPad gets multitasking as the iPhone has, the possibilities for this M5 calling application become a little clearer. It could be used to view a presentation remotely, while talking to the presenter on a call. A team could collaborate in real-time on a shared document or maybe a Google Wave while discussing the changes on the phone. The possibilities are very interesting.

This is just another move towards blurring the line between phones and computers. The iPad is already in some weird space between your laptop and your cell phone, but giving it the ability to make calls causes even more overlap. At some point, we may have one device that does it all in one convenient and portable package and Our conference tables sourced in San Diego..

via Phoning from the iPad

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promised 14,000 partners at the Worldwide Partner Conference on July 12th that Windows 7 slates would be available later this year.

Microsoft and its existing PC partners, including Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony, will all be fielding Windows 7 slates in the coming months, Ballmer said. These slates will be available at a variety of price points and in a variety of form factors — with keyboards, touch only, dockable, able to handle digital ink, etc.

The iPad is probably the most well know slate/tablet device out now. Other OS and device manufacturers don’t plan to get left behind, though. There is a lot of buzz in the industry about tablets based on Android, WebOS, and Chrome OS. It’s good to have confirmation that Microsoft isn’t going to be sitting back on their laurels.

We knew MS was working on something cool when Ballmer demoed a prototype of a Windows 7 slate from HP at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Since then, we haven’t heard much about it. The iPad stole the show, and rumors of other slate-like devices took over from there. While Ballmer never mentioned the competition, we are probably going to see a pretty crowded market this year.

One thing Microsoft has going for it is its ties with the corporate world. Most office computers run Windows, so it’s not a huge leap to allow office workers to use a slate form-factor with a compatible OS on it. Corporate IT departments may be more willing to accept a Windows 7 tablet. This will give workers the flexibility to use the tablet at home and in the office…or in the home office. Other tablet devices are a much harder sell to corporations.

We know that Microsoft is focusing on the slate as a form factor for Windows 8, but that is pretty far off at this point. If they are releasing tablets this year, they will also need to have the proper infrastructure to support them. Namely, some type of app store. Windows 7 will also need some serious changes to make it work well on a touchscreen device. If they execute properly, Microsoft may be able to push the tablet farther than home consumers.

See Also:

• Microsoft’s Ballmer: Windows 7 slates are coming this year
• Windows 7 Slate PC On Their Way. Still!

Video calling has been a hot topic since the release of the latest Android phones and the iPhone 4. This is mostly because of FaceTime, Apple’s solution for robust video calling. FaceTime only allows calls from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 and both phones need access to a WiFi network. You cannot use FaceTime on your standard data plan.

We’ve seen at least one workaround, but Fring has caused a stir in the market by enabling video calling across the board. This new feature came with the launch of the latest Fring iPhone app. While the quality may not be as good as FaceTime, you could make calls on your standard 3G connection. You could even make calls across networks and to a desktop using Fring’s Skype support. Well, that was until Skype blocked the Fring application.

To be fair, it looks like Fring turned off Skype first. So many people were playing with the video calling feature that their network was strained. To compensate, they temporarily turned off Skype support. Later, they say Skype demanded that they not turn it back on and went so far as to call Skype “cowards.”

Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so.

They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards.

Needless to say, we are very disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness is now trying to muzzle competition, even at the expense of its own users.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience Skype has caused you.

You would think that would be the end of it. Skype, possibly afraid of a little competition, decides to block Fring. There is a discrepancy in the story, though. In response to an inquiry from TechCrunch, a Skype spokesperson says they have been debating with Fring about whether they operate in accordance with Skype’s terms of use and license agreements for some time now. They go on to say that they did not block Fring from anything and it was entirely Fring’s decision to stop offering Skype.

This is obviously not the end of the story and it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Until then, you can download Fring, call up your friends, and tell us what you think about it.

Just as Apple’s iAds went into effect, we heard early reports of developers making ridiculous amounts of revenue from them. One particular developer posted his numbers to the social site Hacker News, showing that they had made about $1,400 in a single day. Obviously, those types of returns had other chomping at the bit to get at iAds, but are these numbers realistic?

These numbers show the developer bringing in $1,372.20 in iAd revenue on 9,300 ad impressions. These came with an 11.8% click-through rate, which is not typical at all for these types of ads. His effective cost per 1,000 impressions (eCPM) was $147.55. According to Business Insider, this is about 50-100x the eCPM that other mobile ads bring in. Any developer would code their fingers to the bone to get results like this on ad revenue alone.

Another developer, Kenneth Ballenegger, explains why we shouldn’t get too excited here. One of the most important things to note is that iAds are new, a novelty. Users are probably clicking on them because a) they aren’t sure what the are or b) they just want to see what they’ll do. These are not your average ads, which usually drop you on a landing page somewhere. Most of the iAds are media rich and interactive.

According to a post by Ballenegger: “another important factor to consider: Most competing ad networks refresh their ads every 30s. iAd does it every 3min. Thus, for the time it takes iAd to display one ad, another network gets to show 6.” Because of small factors like this, you can’t make a direct one-to-one comparison to other ad networks.

To get a fair comparison, the refresh rate for iAds needs to be added into the equation. After some fancy math, we find that the eCPM for iAds is closer to $1.60-$2.50. Much less than the $147 reported by the developer on HN, but still a bit higher than the 80 cents or so you might see from Google.

One final factor to consider is the fill rate for iAds. Ballenegger says these are “appalling low.” What happens is that your app requests an ad to display, but there is no ad available. In this case, you miss out on the chance for an ad impression and click-through. Rather than miss out on some cash, Ballenegger recommends falling back on another ad network for failed iAd requests.

Once the hype around iAds dies down, we may still see slightly higher revenues generated from them. As a developer, you probably don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. Take advantage of all your options to maximize your cash flow.

YouTube has enjoyed great success based on content from it’s users. Sure, the technology that lets us watch all these videos is a factor, but the content is what keeps us coming back. There is a relatively small group of content creators on YouTube that produce some seriously high-quality stuff. They have audiences that rival some network television stations and have been able to generate some serious cash flow from their activities on YouTube. This small group has to handle every aspect of their business and sometimes this quality of work is hard to sustain without help. This is where the YouTube Partner Grant Program comes in.

The YouTube ecosystem is vibrant and growing fast. We have over 10,000 partners, and 94 of Ad Age’s top 100 advertisers have run campaigns on YouTube and the Google Display Network. We’ve made great progress in the last five years. But we think we can do better. That’s why today we are announcing the YouTube Partner Grants program that will invest five million dollars across select new and emerging YouTube partners. Our goal is to catalyze the creation of new ideas and production models from some of our most innovative and original content partners for the benefit and advancement of the entire industry.

A YouTube Partner Grant will augment the production budgets of that small group of YouTube partners who are at the forefront of innovation. The funds will serve as an advance against that partner’s future YouTube revenue share. They will be able to keep themselves afloat based on the quality content they have already contributed.

Here’s how it works:

• YouTube is identifying eligible partners based on factors such as video views, subscribers, growth rate, audience engagement and production expertise
• Selected partners are contacted by YouTube and invited to submit a Grant proposal
• Proposals are evaluated by YouTube based on signals which include projected performance, distribution plan, marketing plan, cost requirements and appeal to advertisers
• If approved, funds are transferred to the partner so they can get started on their project

This is a really big step for a number of reasons. Google has routinely stayed out of the content creation game and, while this doesn’t go directly against that policy, it does place them in a different position on the subject. On another note, there has always been a discussion about content creators being compensated for their work. Not just on YouTube, but elsewhere on the web. This is an excellent example of a service giving back to the community that sustains them.

Gmail FINALLY Adds Custom Email Signatures

Who knows why it took them so long, but you can finally add a rich customized signature to your outgoing mail. No browser plugins, no hacks, no weird cut/paste magic. Just go into your Settings and, in the place that used to have that boring old plain text box, you now have a rich text editor to design your sig. You can even design a separate signature for each email address you have configured. via Gmail Blog

LG Confirms Android Tablet

Not to be left in the dust by competitors, LG plans to release an Android tablet by the end of the year. Specs haven’t been released yet, but it’s been hinted that it will be much different from competing projects. LG will also be releasing a new version of their Optimus Z handset, which will be pre-loaded with Android 2.2. The Android army just keeps growing. via Engadget

YouTube Leanback Lets You Lean Back

Tired of trying to figure out which YouTube video you want to watch? Don’t feel like creating a playlist? Don’t you just wish you could hit a button and entertaining video content just flowed through your screen, letting you lean back and relax? Well, that’s exactly what YouTube Leanback is all about. The goal is to be more like regular television, offering simple controls and a constant flow of video. As soon as you hit the site, videos begin playing based on your YouTube activity and settings. You don’t even need your mouse. Use the left and rightarrows keys to skip and up or down to access more options. Definitely a win for couch potatoes everywhere. via the YouTube Blog

Google Checkout Offers Mobile Payments in Chrome

If you have a Google Checkout account and an Android phone, you may be able to pay for stuff with out the need of a physical payment method. Your phone becomes your currency. The merchant also needs to have a Google Checkout account along with Chrome and the Android Payment Chrome Extesion. When you go to buy your things, the merchant rings you up in Google Checkout, adding all your items, and the plugin creates a QR Code. You scan the code with Android and can pay with your own Google Checkout account. via ReadWriteWeb