Ajax Girl

Used car sales are big business - at least $370 billion/year in the U.S., with $81 billion or so of that occurring online. New startup HotSwap wants to apply some of the more recent trends on the web to that market, and bring more buyers and sellers together. And while used car sales aren’t exactly sexy, HotSwap is a very cool site. Think YouTube, for used car sales.

The company, which is based in Berkeley, CA, allows anyone to list a used car for sale. In addition to basic information, people are asked to include a video of the vehicle, which is embedded in the listing. Videos, they say, are a much better way of showing off a car. And with the ubiquity of simple video cameras (most digital cameras also take video), just about everyone can easily create and upload a video. See the video at the end of the post for more details.

Listings by individuals are completely free. Dealers pay a small fee per listing and also pay for more advanced software to keep track of listings.

The site has fairly useful Ajax tools for refining search, allowing visitors to look for specific color, type of car, location, mileage and price. Offers can be made directly via the listing, or viewers can ask a question, etc. Listings will also be able to be embedded into other sites.

Listings are light since the site is pre-launch and no one has heard about it. But they’ve already inked a deal with Red McCombs Automotive, which has around $800 million/year in sales and will list every used car on HotSwap. The company says they are also in discussions with AutoNation, which has nearly $20 billion a year in revenue.

The site hasn’t officially launched yet. There are no credentials stopping people from visiting but much of the functionality hasn’t been finished and there are bugs. The company says they’ll officially launch in the next few days.

HotSwap raised “around” $2 million in funding from Kinsey Hills Group (who also funded Scribd) last month. They compete head on with eBay, of course, as well as sites like Vast and, to a lesser extent, Edgeio (which I co-founded).

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Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/137822479/

Twitter has raised a round of financing, led by Union Square Ventures. The size of the round has not been disclosed (yet), but additional investors include Charles River Ventures, Marc Andreessen, Dick Costolo, Ron Conway, and Naval Ravikant.

The service, which has around 300,000 users, has grown rapidly in recent months. Pownce, Kyte and others are competitors.

See Duncan Riley’s interview with founder Biz Stone here.

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/~3/137787510/

This past February, HBO and AOL collaborated to launch comedy website ThisJustIn.com. Rumor has it that the site will be shutting down by the end of August.

The site is a video blog that features daily topical comedy videos, ranging from short sketches to funny commentary. When launched, the site replaced AOL’s existing comedy property. The terms of the co-venture dictated AOL would sell advertising on the site, while HBO could cross promote content on its TV and mobile network.

The Hollywood Reporter notes the rumored shutdown follows the departure of a number of top executives tied to the site; Steve Stanford, who ran the site, was allegedly laid off from AOL a month ago. HBO also let go of some key execs who had oversight of the site, including Jim Moloshok, Carmi Zlotnik and John Penney.

“This Just In” operates in a particularly competitive vertical market, competing against the likes of CollegeHumor, the Onion, and Will Ferrel’s new project FunnyOrDie, amongst others.

We have asked ThisJustIn to comment and will update should we receive a response.

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/~3/137794468/

Nevada based YouDeparted provides an encrypted electronic safe deposit box with up to 5GB of space that can be accessed by loved ones in the event of a members death

Members use the service to store important information and last messages. When a member passes away, designated family members and friends may unlock the account. Before an account can be unlocked, a minimum number of Recipients set by the member must independently verify that member’s passing. Once the account is unlocked, Recipients are granted access to information specifically left for each of them, and the emails and letters written earlier by the member are sent out.

Founder Collin Harris got the idea for YouDeparted after his father suddenly fell ill and passed away without specifying his last wishes or requests. Several years later his family members are still struggling to settle matters relating to the death, including where the ashes should be scattered.

In addition to correspondence and email, the service can be used to pass on photo collections, movies, audio clips, copies of documents, and any other files that the member wishes to leave for family members.

YouDeparted are quick to point out that they are not competing with online wills or estate planners; YouDeparted is a service that begins where a typical will or trust ends. No one wants to kick the bucket, but it never hurts to be prepared. YouDeparted is a clever idea that is bound to appeal to the well prepared, or those facing terminal illness. The service costs $9.95 per year.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/137778533/

A fan translated, Spanish language version of the latest Harry Potter book has hit the internet.

Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows made headlines early this month when the English language version found its way onto Bit Torrent prior to its official launch.

The unofficial Spanish language version can be obtained and/ or read in several ways: a blog by the name of Spanish Hallows on Blogger has each chapter translated and posted, and downloads are available on Bit Torrent and several file hosting sites.

The official Spanish language version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is not due to be released until later this year.

All up it’s not really surprising; the model of controlled releases in the age of the internet and obsessed fans has failed once again.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/137760455/

Poetry speaks to many C.E.O.’s

Sidney Harman, founder of Harman Industries: “I used to tell my senior staff to get me poets as managers…Poets are our original systems thinkers. They look at our most complex environments and they reduce the complexity to something they begin to understand.”

The 105% Rule: Word of mouth is generated by unexpected highlights

“Call it the 105% Rule. From a word-of-mouth perspective, it’s virtually impossible to discuss an experience that is 5% better than the norm on all dimensions. People don’t talk like mystery shoppers, reporting diligently on each relevant feature. People talk about the exceptions, the unexpected, the highlights…Fostering the conversation you want customers to have about your products should be an explicit part of product development.”

Heat Maps are “the new visualization vogue”

“Lets you see trends at a glance. Heat maps are useful for everything from where to place your Google ads to sussing out rent prices in your city. They sometimes even approach the level of art.”

Black panel

“One Saab innovation, inspired by the company’s roots in aeronautics, was the ‘Black Panel’ feature (also known as Nightpanel). This allowed most instrument panel lights to be extinguished at night at the touch of a button, permitting less distraction during night driving. While Black Panel was active, other instruments could illuminate themselves as required to gain the driver’s attention.” [tx Derick]

Coke cans go on a diet

“Ever since its introduction, Coca-Cola Classic has had an ever-increasing need to cover its labels with extraneous seals, bubbles, stripes, bevels, edges, shadows, doodads, gizmos, what-have-you. Its a (pardon the pun) classic example of destroying a beautiful and timeless logo, but typical of what happens in packaging and advertising with the need of marketing departments to pack everything they can into whatever they can. (“Add this! Jazz it up! Make it pop!”) How this new label made it past all the approvals is beyond me, but it boldly projects confidence and respect for the Coca-Cola logo and brand as a piece of American culture that should not be adulterated. Kudos to Coke for having the balls to go with such a clean design.” [image via gedblog]

Pentagram makes a grill

“The Fuego grill was originally developed as part of the Discovery Channel show, but Pentagram retained the rights to the design. When no BBQ manufacturers were interested in the design (they did not get it), Robert Brunner formed a new company – Fuego North America – with another client and an Italian manufacturing company.”

Theory: Women, especially mothers, have advantages over men in the small-business world

“They are better listeners. Consequently, they pick up details and nuances men often miss. They are more active networkers. They are better motivators. Having to juggle home and workplace duties, they are better multi-taskers. They are more patient, and thus better able to stick to long-term strategies. They are more tenacious. Men can be pretty dogged, but not a single one, to my knowledge, has had to endure childbirth.”

Ridiculous list of boxes to uncheck

Perfect for people who like to uncheck 5,000 checkboxes.

Redheads at Improv Everywhere

“For our latest mission, over 50 redheads rode the subway together and protested a Manhattan Wendy’s for their ‘racist logo.’”

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/541-sunspots-the-tenacious-edition

Microsoft announced today that it had agreed to acquire AdECN, an advertising exchange platform company based near Santa Barbara.

AdECN offers a real-time, auction-based, neutral exchange for online display advertising that works in a similar way to stock exchanges. A member of the AdECN exchange buys on the exchange for its advertisers and sells on the exchange for its publishers.

AdECN is a direct competitor of Right Media, a company acquired by Yahoo in April for $680 million. Microsoft previously acquired online advertising network aQuantive for $6 billion in May.

Microsoft said the acquisition would assist Microsoft in building a comprehensive search and display advertising platform “that helps advertisers and publishers maximize ROI on digital advertising investments.”

AdECN was founded in 2003. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

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Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/137744633/

Guy Kawasaki’s Truemors is testing out a new version of the service for Facebook. This is a very different application from Truemors.com, which is a sort of Digg for rumors. TFF is an application to spread rumors just with your friends, or a subset of friends:

TFF is very different from Truemors.com. Our site is for you to “tell the world,” so if you post something at Truemors.com, anyone with a browser can read it. With Truemors.com, our intent is to spread information as far and wide as possible.

By contrast, TFF is for you to “tell your friends.” You can post something that only your friends can read and discuss. In fact, you can get even more specific: Selecting just a few of your friends.

Add Truemors for Friends here.

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/~3/137707797/

ThinkFree Premium Edition, a desktop client that provides seemless Microsoft Office style functionality both offline and online launched in closed beta recently, and we have free invites for TechCrunch readers.

The first 50 readers to email techcrunch@thinkfree.com will obtain instructions and access to the beta trial of ThinkFree Premium.

ThinkFree premium edition provides the same features as the online version of Thinkfree, but on the desktop. Features include file sync functionality that keeps online and offline documents up to date, including automatic uploading of documents created in the desktop app to ensure everywhere access; an archiving feature, full screen viewing and high priority tech support.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/137699425/

Jonathan Phillips of Me.dium is giving a talk at 3:20pm PDT in which he will be broadcasting his work through Me.dium itself.

If you can’t be at the show, download me.dium and then login to the shows home page ~3:20 to join the fun!

Me.dium: Mapping the Internet and Its Users in a 208 Pixel Wide Sidebar

Me.dium provides a real-time, shared browsing experience where users are able to see crowds form on popular sites and follow recommended paths around the Internet. This session covers the challenges that Me.dium has faced designing a user interface in a space that is only 208 pixels wide, as well as the technical challenges of implementing a long-lived Ajax application using the Dojo toolkit. Attendees can leverage this knowledge to continue to push the boundaries of Ajax development.

In this session, you will learn how to:

• Deliver a substantial amount of functionality in a compact space;
• Gradually introduce complex user interface elements to create a more tenable learning curve;
• Build an interface that is entertaining.
• Performance tune a long running Dojo application;
• Use the Dojo gfx package for client-side rendering of a map of the Internet.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/137702930/medium-live-talk-from-the-show-at-320pm-pdt