Ajax Girl

Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet has the scoop on Microsoft’s next best thing since sliced bread: Microsoft Kitchen.

According to Foley, Microsoft Kitchen will extend Windows to the kitchen with a tailored product that will include family calendar, recipe center, entertainment features and a shared bulletin board.

No, it’s not April 1 and as far as Foley is concerned this is actually being developed. Given Microsoft’s move into Surface Computing it’s not improbable that the kitchen may follow the coffee table as Microsoft’s next target.

There is some history of kitchen based internet appliances. The LG Internet fridge was launched several years ago and although wildly derided at the time, others saw it as a sign of things to come. The cost of computers in general is far more affordable today; a kitchen focused Tablet PC or similar device running Microsoft Vista Kitchen Edition may sound indulgent, but the economics make the path to success far easier than it was for the LG Internet Fridge.

Where do you want to go today with Microsoft Kitchen? Will it mix drinks? Share your thoughts in the comments. More at CrunchGear.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122794752/

See MobileCrunch’s coverage of mobile dating startup MeetMoi, which just closed a $1.5 million round of financing from Acadia Woods partners.

We’ve covered web dating services before, but MeetMoi takes dating to the streets. The service works a lot like Dodgeball. When you’re available for a date, you broadcast your location by texting the service. Other available daters that fit your search criteria (sex, location) receive an SMS of your profile, consisting of a picture and short description of yourself. If they’re interested they can text you back with their profile by replying to the message and set up a date. It costs 99 cents for 10 reply messages and your phone number is never revealed. The service is available on Cingular, Nextel, Boost, Sprint, T-Mobile, ALLTEL, and CellularOne.

MeetMoi is not GPS enabled. I can easily see mobile friend-finding services like Loopt and Helio integrating a similar GPS version of the system into their applications.

Check out MeetMoi’s full profile.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122789466/

AOL’s feed reader, which competes with Bloglines, Google Reader and other browser-based feed readers, was launched in 2005 but is little known in tech savvy crowds. It’s serviceable and has a fast load time, but it hasn’t differentiated itself from the crowd enough to get a buzz going about the product. We mentioned it in passing in November 2006, but otherwise haven’t covered it. The site has about 1.5 million active users.

They are now preparing to release a new version, however, that has some excellent features.

Google took a similar approach with their product. It was nothing to write home about when it first launched in October 2005, but the company released a new version in 2006 that was widely applauded. Today they have significant market share and the product accounts for 34% of our RSS readers - 150,000 people get TechCrunch through Google Reader.

I saw a demo of the new AOL product at their offices here in Silicon Valley. They product will be called myAOL Favorites.

It’s still fast. They’ve added support for rich media and useful Ajax tricks to make organizing feeds easier. They’ve fixed problems like lack of OPML support as well.

But what I like best about it is that they’ve integrated a new bookmarks product in with the feed reader. The folders are integrated into a single view. Feeds in one folder area in the left sidebar, bookmarks in another.

I’m looking forward to testing it myself when they’re ready to go into beta sometime in the next couple of months. I’ve posted a couple of pictures that I took during the demo below. They didn’t say I couldn’t post them, so here they are.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122781378/

Netflix jumped up 5.66% today on rumors that the company may be in acquisition talks with by Amazon. The funny thing about rumors, though: when they affect stock prices, it becomes AP-reported news.

Netflix has been under attack from Blockbuster and others in recent years, although membership growth has remained steady and the company is profitable. A whole new class of competitors are emerging, though, that facilitate legal movie downloads. Netflix has entered that market as well, but at a cost of $40 million per year in licensing fees. It may be time to throw in the towel.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122743234/

As reported by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, eBay will be expanding it’s MediaMarketplace ad auction system into radio time through a partnership with radio ad auction startup Bid4Spot. eBay started MediaMarketplace last year to sell ad time on national cable networks for a coalition of well-known advertisers, including Home Depot Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard.

The announcement puts eBay up against Google, which last year acquired Bid4Spot competitor dMarc Broadcasting for $1.24 billion. Google has already soft launched an audio ad auction system and, in April, struck a deal with Clear Channel to sell ads across all the company’s 675 stations and recently started selling ad space on Dish Networks channels.

eBay’s Encino California based partner, Bid4Spots, has been selling radio ads in the US for the past two years and recently expanded to the UK last month. The partnership will allow advertisers to buy unsold radio inventory from 2,300 radio stations in the top 300 media markets in the United States through eBay’s MediaMarketplace or Bid4Spots own site.

The Journal cites the $20 billion radio-advertising business as an attractive market, but highlights eBay’s experience in cable advertising. eBay’s initial foray into cable was balked by networks wary of an auction system depressing ad revenue until the Oxygen channel agreed to participate in a test. It may be more of the same may for radio advertisers.

It doesn’t appear that eBay is assisting advertisers in creating spots, something that is crucial to getting smaller advertisers to participate. Google is helping with ad creation, as does competitor Voices.com.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122708858/

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

New Basecamp Customer Video: NYSE TransactTools
TransactTools is the commercial technology arm of the New York Stock Exchange.

NYSE TransactTools video.

Previewing the revised Basecamp Dashboard
We’re always looking for ways to improve the organization of the information presented on this information-heavy screen.

Store your account/login info at Highrise
“Highrise is great for aggregating information about all the accounts I have for various web applications.”Use Basecamp and FreshBooks to generate invoices and track time
FreshBooks is an online invoicing and time tracking service that recently annouced integration with Basecamp.

Writeboard and Writeroom = distraction-free writing with version control
You have no choice but to write something or get up and do something else. And you’ve got an easy way to collaborate, track changes, and revert to earlier versions.

Adding repeating events to the Backpack Calendar
We’ve always supported repeating events that were brought in via an iCalendar subscription, but now you can create your own repeating events.

Repeating events arrive.

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/449-product-blog-update

How does a chef break big and become a household name? One of the best ways is to release a cookbook or have a big cooking show on TV.

Mario Batali, Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Rick Bayless, etc. You probably know these chefs better than you know the chef of one of your favorite restaurants down the street.

These chefs give away their recipes, their secrets. They say “This is how I do it and you can do it too. Don’t worry, it’s not hard, just follow along.”

The more they give, the better off they are. The more they open up, the better off they are. The more they let you inside their kitchen the better off they are. These chefs have built empires by making their knowledge available to the public. They are astute business people.

If you’re looking for a way to break your business in a big way, follow their lead. How can you give away your formula, your secrets, your recipes? How can you give away what you know to increase your exposure and expertise?

Our cookbook is Getting Real (and Ruby on Rails to a certain extent). What’s your cookbook?

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/451-whats-your-cookbook

Compass Intelligence is out with a new report called “Exploring the Best Practices of Experience Strategies Targeting Small & Mid-sized Business Customers Online.”

In the report they rank the “top 10 vendors winning the SMB online experience race.” The list is as follows:

1. IBM
2. Microsoft
3. Cisco
4. AT&T
5. Salesforce.com
6. HP
7. Dell
8. Intuit
9. 37signals
10. Verizon

TAKE THAT VERIZON!!!

No, really, it’s a genuine thrill for our little 8-person company to be included anywhere on this list. Thanks to whoever noticed us and decided to include us on the list. It really does mean a lot.

You can buy the full report if you are interested.

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/450-top-10-vendors-winning-the-smb-online-experience-race

Stefan Schuster has created Mind42, a collaborative mind mapping tool.

It’s a Dojo powered full JavaScript client with a Java server in the backend for providing a JSON interface. Its a full Drag and Drop enabled graphical mindmap editor including web only features like collaboration, sharing, blog integration and:

• Text nodes with colors, icons, links, …
• Image nodes
• Attachment Panel for every node
• Rich Text Notes
• Collaboration
• Publish a map in your blog

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://ajaxian.com/archives/mind42-collaborative-mind-mapping

Dishing dirt is in. We’ve previously covered The Funded and Overhear.us, sites that facilitate reviews for and against companies. JobVent takes the same concept to a broader level.

Where as The Funded and Overhear.us are fairly selective and limited in use, Jobvent by comparison is the wild west. JobVent.com is a free resource for job seekers and current employees who either want to research a company or leave anonymous feedback about their experiences working at a company.

For a fairly new site the coverage is already surprisingly thorough. The top companies already have in excess of 500 reviews each and there is 10,000+ reviews all up covering 2,000 different companies, with numbers growing daily.

The layout and look screams 1996, but aesthetics aside it delivers dirt quickly and practically. Company reviews are submitted along with ratings that are used to calculate a rank for each company submitted.

Lawyers will salivate over JobVent, it’s a virtual ambulance waiting to be chased. The use of anonymous comments provides honest and raw feedback, so honest and raw it has defamation suit written all over it. If you’ve ever wanted to get even with a former or existing employer JobVent is ideal.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/122629621/