Ajax Girl

Omnipresence was another big theme in 2007 with Twitter brining always on, always available communication to the masses. Whether this is merely the beginning of a broader trend, or something that will pass in 2008 is still to be seen. Certainly I’m not sure if I want to see lot of people live twittering births, like we saw from Robert Scoble this year, but perhaps overall we’re all the richer for the networking Twitter delivers.

NC Winters at Freelance Switch sums it up nicely; Twitter fans can substitute Twitter for blog. For our coverage of Twitter this year, click here.

Twitter

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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/~3/208780420/

Online application provider 8Apps has announced that it will be shutting in January. 8apps offered collaborative online tools not dissimilar to those offered by 37signals.

According to a post by Download Squad reviewing the site back in July the site was on the market then, but it appears there were no takers. Probably not helping the service was its failure to ever open to the public; even today it’s still an invite only service, great for initial buzz but not a great way to build up a user base over the long term, unless of course you’re Google.

8Apps rounds out the TechCrunch Deadpool for 2007. See a full list of this years Deadpool entries 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/~3/208733450/

Microsoft has taken its marketing push for Windows Vista and Windows Live into enemy territory by offering demonstration videos on YouTube (example above). The new channel (link) was launched December 21.

The content itself isn’t all that exciting, but they do demonstrate various positive aspects of Vista and Live that viewers may not be aware of. The more interesting aspect is that Microsoft would use the Google owned YouTube for such as promotion; it certainly demonstrates just how powerful the market position of YouTube has become over the last 2 years that Microsoft would use it to promote their products.

Courageously, Microsoft has also left comments open on each video. Most people can guess the next part:

(via istartedsomething)

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/~3/208470324/

Zivity is definitely one of the most controversial startups of 2007. It’s the first (as far as we know) adult site to have received Silicon Valley backing, including an announced $1 million angel round. And they certainly livened things up at the TechCrunch40 conference a few months ago. They went last, and their demo contained enough nudity to make much of the crowd shift uneasily in their chairs.

But that isn’t the end of the controversy. The site, which we first covered in August, allows models to upload photos to the site and gain followers. As people vote for models, real dollars flow to the model and photographers who were involved in the shoot. And one of those models is co-founder Cyan Bannister. She’s uploaded one set of photos for the beta period, without nudity. Next week, she says she’ll add another set that includes topless photos, and may go completely nude in the future.

Bannister says that a few years ago she would not have even considered taking her clothes off for a camera. But she isn’t new to getting attention for her looks. In 2000, when she was just 22, she won the “Sexiest Geek Alive” award. When starting Zivity, though, she knew she had to, as she puts it, “eat her own dog food.” For most founders that just means actually using their own product. But for Cyan, it also means taking off her clothes and modeling for Zivity.

So how popular is she with users? The beta has just 500 users so far. Cyan has gathered 25 votes, putting her on the leaderboard of the most popular models. But she’s still well behind the no. 1 model, “Pearl,” who has 117 votes.

Expect more news on Zivity in the next several weeks. They are expanding their beta users (this will be a popular one for our readers), and will soon let in more of the 20,000 people who have signed up to get a look at the site.

Lots of founders say they’re willing to eat their own dog food to support their startup. But how many will shed their clothes?

Zivity was also one of the 100 startups nominated for the Crunchies Startup Awards in January.

Zivity

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/208413555/