Ajax Girl

A little while ago, Fred Wilson over at A VC posted a reader poll in which he asked his readers to identify themselves by their occupation. We thought this was a cool idea so we’ve decided to run our own polls below.

We have provided an occupation poll below that is a facsimile of Wilson’s. Further down, we have placed a few other polls that address random topics.

Thanks for taking a few seconds to fill these out - the results should be interesting!

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/145350969/

Although “advertising as entertainment” site Didja.com is not launching until next year, the NYT has a sneak peak at what it will look like (screen shot below). The NBC Universal project is part of the yet unnamed News Corp/NBC Universal cooperative strategy against Youtube. However, New Co.’s second “major assult” on YouTube looks like more of the same, a clone of TBS’s VeryFunnyAds. It’s very similar to the TBS re-branding effort, letting users watch heaps of ads by search, ratings, and sort by various companies and countries.

That’d all make sense if New Co. was copying a successful site, but VeryFunnyAds doesn’t appear to be a resounding winner despite the 63 million clip views the site article says they delivered over the past year. That number of views suggests an average of 5 million videos streamed each month, but the viewership of the site doesn’t stack up.

After an initial bump on launch, VeryFunnyAds’ traffic has since tapered out at about 100,000 uniques per month, according to Comscore. Sixty-three million streams is a lot of traffic for an audience that size, especially since they don’t allow off-site video embeds. Heavy.com, whose network generated about 6 million streams in April has about 5.2 million uniques per month. If the numbers are true, it appears TBS’s site is at most attracting a small cadre of ad fanatics.

Contrary to the “advertainment” meme going around, it doesn’t look like it has legs.

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/~3/145347806/

Keeping up with your favorite blogs can be somewhat of a chore. Robert Scoble talks about following over 700 feeds each day. But if you find that many feeds overwhelming, limiting yourself to a few blogs seems like the only option. Activeweave, however, has a solution.

Instead of searching your feed for relevant content, their Blogrovr browser plugin serves you blog posts related to the content you’re viewing. SphereIt has a similar technology that embedded with posts, like on this blog. The plugin was spun off from an earlier project from Activeweave called Stickis. The posts are taken from your favorite blogs and populate a sidebar in your browser. Today they released a new version of the plugin with an improved algorithm, personalized suggestions, and Google reader integration.

Blogrovr’s updated algorithm has significantly improved the quality and number of stories that show up. Their algorithm pulls in stories from blogs on my OPML feed and seems pretty on target. A look at one of the recent blog posts on the Skype outage shows how I get results related to Skype and the outage, even though there are not direct links between the stories. It’s not a destination like Techmeme for the tech blogosphere, but Blogrovr can scale to a large variety of blog topics.

The new version also supports blog discovery by recommending new blog posts that are highly related to what you’re reading, even if they’re not on your feed list.

The best feature enhancement has been the Google reader integration. Blogrovr now delivers blog posts related to what post you’re reading in Google reader, in real time. It’s still a bit slow in refreshing content, but a useful companion for Google reader.

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/~3/145345217/

The issues with garbage collection in IE 6 are well known. IE 7 has fixed the bulk of them, but what about IE 6 users?

It turns out that Microsoft has downloads for the various Windows operating systems, so if you could get your users to install one of these puppies they would be a lot happier running your rich Ajax application.

I really hope that Microsoft makes these critical updates so they actually get pushed to end users, else it doesn’t even matter than someone put in the hard work to make the fix.

Download the install for:

• XP
• Win2k
• Win2k3 Server

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/145293565/fixing-gc-issues-on-ie-6-new-ie-download

Netflix goes for phone over email support

“Netflix set up shop [for its call center in Oregon] a year ago, shunning other lower-cost places in the United States and overseas, because it thought that Oregonians would present a friendlier voice to its customers. Then in July, Netflix took an unusual step for a Web-based company: it eliminated e-mail-based customer service inquiries. Now all questions, complaints and suggestions go to the Hillsboro call center, which is open 24 hours a day. The company’s toll-free number, previously buried on the Web site, is now prominently displayed.”

Prototype JavaScript framework: Prototype 1.6.0 release candidate

“The first release candidate of Prototype 1.6.0 has arrived! The core team is continuing its tradition of bringing thoughtful incremental upgrades to the core APIs in addition to performance improvements and bug fixes. Keep reading for some of the highlights of this major release, or download it now for instant gratification.”

Why you should keep your landing pages simple

“In every case, landing page effectiveness and measured conversion increased significantly when choices and unnecessary distractions were eliminated — and the overall design and orientation of the page emphasized the call to action.”

Indian retailer succeeds with designed clutter

“So Mr. Biyani redesigned his stores to make them messier, noisier and more cramped. ‘The shouting, the untidiness, the chaos is part of the design,’ he says, as he surveys his Mumbai store where he just spent around $50,000 to replace long, wide aisles with narrow, crooked ones: ‘Making it chaotic is not easy.’ Even the dirty, black-spotted onions serve a function. For the average Indian, dusty and dirty produce means fresh from the farm, he says. Indian shoppers also love to bargain. Mr. Biyani doesn’t allow haggling, but having damaged as well as good quality produce in the same box gives customers a chance to choose and think they are getting a better deal. ‘They should get a sense of victory,’ he says.”

Tips on working from the most popular productivity bloggers

“Here are a handful of tips on working from the most popular productivity bloggers on the internet, along with bloggers on organization, the environment and more. Instead of blathering, we will summarize and then allow you to read more if indeed you think a point is up your alley.”

Collaboration with development is a handshake, not a handoff

“As designers, we have the opportunity to provide an immense amount of value as the design moves through the development process. This process is best when it’s less of a handoff and more of a handshake; it’s a commitment between the designers and developers. Trust is a key component of this relationship, and once developers learned to trust our design decisions—and realized that we were really listening to their feedback about technical feasibility—it allowed them to focus on writing code and not second-guessing our design choices.”

iMovie ‘08 moves backwards

“I can’t remember any software company pulling a stunt like this before: throwing away a fully developed, mature, popular program and substituting a bare-bones, differently focused program under the same name…It’s unusable, in fact, for anyone doing professional work that requires any degree of precision.”

Biz videos w/ Kawasaki, Jobs, etc.

“Stories are what change people’s lives, and video is a great way to deliver stories. The web is now exploding with free videos (you knew that) and many of them are powerful enough to make a difference…Here are a few to get you started.”

Wozniak's new goal is efficient housing

“It’s like the way I used to make computers”—how so? Woz: Simple design. Think about the right way to build something and take a lot of time to get it the best that can be done with the fewest resources used. No waste. Build it right and with few parts it does a lot. Don’t cover things with more and more and more technology for features. Design them in from the start. It starts with the architect, of a home or a computer, working from a knowledge of the building materials and a desire to choose wisely.’” [via Slashdot]

Photos from Virgin America inaugural flight

“Today I had the pleasure of going on Virgin America’s inaugural ‘California Dreaming’ flight number VX0846 from LAX to SFO. It was a pretty fantastic experience altogether, starting with taking off from the Imperial Terminals Flight Path Museum at LAX and ending with a reception by Mayor Newsom.”

Remedies for the small blogger blues

“Redefine success for yourself. List all things your blog does for you (fosters gratitude in your life, helps you hone your craft, organizes your thoughts…).” [via MM]

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/571-sunspots-the-handshake-edition

Bryan Brunton has created Empires, a game of expansion and conflict set in an alternate history prior to World War II. You and your opponents are leaders of the most powerful nations in the world. Empires was based upon the board games Attack! and Axis and Allies.

Dojo, DWR, and JavaServer Faces are the weapons of choice.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/145188870/empires-ajax-axis-and-allies

Denny Ferrassoli has been thinking about data-binding as it related to JavaScript and HTML, and came up with JavaScript Model Objects.

His example was a simple table row repeater which looks like:

And the HTML template:

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/145187109/javascript-model-objects

Weston Ruter has created Web Forms 2, a cross-browser implementation of the WHATWG Web Forms 2.0 specification. This specification is currently a mature working draft and has been adopted by the W3C HTML Working Group to serve as a starting point for the next version of HTML. This implementation will follow the HTML 5 specification that evolves from the W3C process.

So far it features:

• Extensions to form control elements
• The repetition model for repeating form controls
• The forms event model: Form validation
• Fetching data from external resources (with the data attribute)

Weston has a test suite to play with.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/145182748/web-forms-20-cross-browser-implementation

Google is looking to acquire “one or two Chinese internet companies” and will invest in five in the next 12 months as part of a continued push to increase market share in the worlds fastest growing internet market.

Google has previously focused on building partnerships in China, with Google technology powering Chinese search portals Sina.com, Soso.com and 163.com. Google also made a strategic investment in popular Chinese browser Maxthon in April.

The Chinese acquisition strategy for Google would not seem as difficult as might immediately be presumed; a number of the leading Chinese search companies are listed on the NASDAQ. Market leader Baidu sits at the less appealing (from an acquisition viewpoint) market cap of $5.73 billion, however lesser players are well within a more likely price for a Google acquisition; No 2 ranked search player* NetEase.com (163.com) has a market cap of $1.78 billion and third placed Sohu.com has a market cap of $1.08 billion.

Baidu.com currently dominates the Chinese search market with a market share of around 55%

* traffic rankings per Alexa May 2007. 

(in part via PC World)

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/~3/145105862/

Y Combinator wasn’t the only incubator to demo their most recent startups today. Colorado-based TechStars also brought their startups on stage - ten of them - to give the audience a first look at what they’ve been up to all summer. Each startup gave 5% of their equity in exchange for $15,000, operational support, office space and mentoring.

Most of these companies are unlaunched and seeking additional angel funding (exceptions are noted). Here are our notes on each - and see Don Dodge for his take:

EventVue builds social networks around conferences (see confabb, an existing competitor). The idea is to let people connect before, during and after conferences in an online space, to add to the physical interaction at the conference itself. The company plans on generating revenue by charging an affiliate fee for each new registration. They are currently looking for $150k in funding.

Intense Debate - see our previous coverage. Intense Debate is a souped-up blog commenting widget that adds a lot of features for publishers and commenters alike. Currently installed on 30 blogs. Installing the plug-in on your blog (WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad) adds threading, comment analytics, bulk comment moderation across all your blogs, user reputation, and comment aggregation. They are looking for $500k in funding.

SocialThing is an ambitious project that simplifies the management of digital content (blogs, photos, music, friends, social networks and links). Users can also synchronize information from and to various social networks from their profile page. Strong viral component. Revenue from advertising. Raising $500k.

J-Squared Media has launched their “Sticky Notes” Facebook application. It has 1.7 million users after six weeks, who have sent over 4 million sticky notes. They are working on several other related Facebook applications and are cash flow positive with $30,000/month in revenue from cost per action advertising. Not seeking funding. More here.

Search-To-Phone is a mobile search service via voice. Call and leave a voicemail asking about a product or service. The request is then routed to the appropriate business to call you back with information and/or a special offer. Built on TellMe and Gold Systems technologies for voice recognition. They’ve signed a business development deal with Excell Services to provess 10 million calls. They are looking for a small capital investment and more partners before launching.

Villij is a recommendation engine that analyzes your online life (social networks, blogs, bookmarks, etc.) to find people who may have similar interests as you. Raising $500k.

MadKast has the honor of being the first TechStars startup to launch. Our previous coverage is here. They’ve made a dead simple way to increase distribution for your blog with one line of javascript or one click for Blogger and TypePad. Once the widget is installed, readers can send a blog post via email, mobile MMS, or social bookmarking networks to friends. They are raising $300k in capital.

FiltrBox is a content monitoring and filtering service for blogs, news sites and other websites. Content is filtered by topics, keywords and context and then delivered to the user via RSS, email and/or text messaes. Filters can be adjusted via sliders and will learn what you like over time. Raising $500k in capital.

KBLabs is developing Facebook applications and widgets. Wah! Cool was their first application, which launched four weeks ago. It now has 100k subscribers and is generating 1.5 million page views per week. Other applications include Post Secrets, Motivate Me and Track Bot. The founders are going back to college this Fall but will continue to consult and build Facebook applications. They are not looking for funding.

BrightKite serves location based notifications (”place streaming”) over email, instant messaging of text messages. The idea is to stream content about a place, from a place. Friends are alerted when you are nearby. You receive offers from local busineses. Etc. Targeted towards conferences, bars, parties and public places. It is also a platform for third party applications. Raising $500k in capital.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/145090915/