Ajax Girl

Peter Higgins had a little fun, and created a parody of the script.aculo.us home page: dojo.moj.oe.

The site shows off the new easing code that Robert Penner contributed to Dojo:

A small change in the Animation system to accommodate
the inclusion of the entire set of
Robert Penner’s Flash easing functions to The Dojo Toolkit. They were contributed
under CLA to the Dojo Foundation, and ported to JavaScript (dojox.fx.easing) by Bryan Forbes,
a Dojo committer, and maff mastermind.

He had released them BSD some time ago, officially. This CLA only insures a clear
traceable licensing path: written permission from the author. Its a huge win for JavaScript, and
the toolkits using or wanting to use those functions (Dojo now included). A big personal
Thank You is in order, from all the OpenWeb.

The dojo._Animation change is transparent, though these functions will not work
with the Dojo 1.0.x branch, basically because numbers were being clipped beyond “100%” of
the Line (like in the elastic easing functions, the “snap back” after overshooting the
target).

The moj.oe demo started out as a simple preview of this _Animation change, and the
fun easing functions. The gravity button uses the bounce transition to drop the circles
to the ground (and bounce), the snap-back when you drag the circles (or logo) uses
the elastic easing function, and the “Live Download” dialog uses the backIn easing method when
you click “hide”, for that “little boost immediately before leaving” …

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/216241957/dojomojoe-parody-of-scriptaculous-homepage-in-dojo

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on American 60 Minutes tonight in an appearance Michael wrote about January 11 with the title “Facebook - Why Not Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?” Michael’s call was right, because what Mark Zuckerberg said tonight demonstrates why silence is sometimes the best policy.

The story started with what looked to be a fluff piece, until it got a little bit more challenging. One example was the question as to whether he had surpassed Google founders Larry Brin and Sergey Page; instead of simply denying it he responded with “is that a question?” Well it clearly was a question and the right response would have been to simply say that no, he hadn’t (or something along those lines), but I can’t image what it would be like to be put on the spot like that by 60 Minutes, wrong response but excusable.

The ripping the scab off the wound moment of the night came with Beacon, and if I’d been sitting on a chair I would have fallen off it, and not due to jet lag. Asked about Beacon and as to whether users who signed up to connect with friends now felt that they were “snooped upon” Zuckerberg responded that “Beacon makes Facebook less commercial.” Huh? You can draw your own conclusions on that. He also gave an example of Beacon selling scarfs “proactively,” and said that Beacon was a good thing because Facebook needed to feed it’s 400 employees, after earlier ducking a question about Facebook’s business model (in particular a lack of revenue.)

Zuckerberg did note though that he lived in a one bedroom apartment and slept on the floor (well, a mattress on the floor), if he is truly wealthy he’s not letting it go to his head and that’s a positive thing.

On one hand his relative youth provides some justification for his reactions under the media spotlight, and yet as Kara Swisher noted toward the end of the piece, most people now regard Zuckerberg as having become “a suit.” He’s very good a trotting out the company line with a canned response, but his tendency to rely on these sorts of responses leaves him caught short when he doesn’t have a prepared response for harder questions. My only observation is that perhaps he’d be better off relaxing a little more and being more open and honest; Facebook must reach a tipping point this year in growth and people will feel a lot better about supporting him if he was little less robotic, and more importantly more open.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/216227085/

Netflix will begin offering unlimited online movie streaming from a library of over 6000 movies to customers on their $16.99 plan starting Monday.

The move is said to be in response to the expected announcement by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the Macworld Expo Tuesday that iTunes will offer movie rentals from most major studios. The expected price of the iTunes rented movies is $3.99 each, putting Netflix is a competitive position for high value regular movie watchers.

Netflix has previously offered limited movie streaming to its 7 million + customers, but capped the streaming access at 17 hours a month.

According to AP, the offer will not be available to Netflix customers currently on the $4.99/ mth 2 DVD plan.

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/~3/216176174/

This week’s New Yorker features an article by Ken Auletta about Google’s growing lobbying efforts and general education in Washington politics. The article recaps much of what most regular observers already know about Google, but there are two items that caught my eye—both shoehorned in towards the end.

One is the startling fact that because of Google’s increasing interest in the mobile phone industry (it is bidding for wireless spectrum and has created Android, a new open-source, mobile operating system), CEO Eric Schmidt, who also sits on Apple’s board of directors:

. . . now recuses himself from mobile-phone discussions at Apple board meetings.

Excuse me? I guess that’s commendable. Schmidt knows he has a conflict of interest there. But what good is a board member who cannot talk about a company’s hottest product? The iPhone only represents Apple’s biggest growth opportunity. If Schmidt won’t talk about the iPhone in board meetings with Steve Jobs because he’s gunning for the same market with Android, maybe he shouldn’t be on Apple’s board at all.

The other tidbit that I found noteworthy was this quote from a “senior executive at Time Warner”:

Sometimes I don’t know what to think of Google. We have the best relationship of anyone with Google. On the other hand, you always have to worry when someone gets so much more powerful than all the competition out there. This is why I come down to this: I hope the government starts understanding this power sooner rather than later.

I’ve heard variations of this sentiment myself. There is no shortage of competitors (or potential competitors) who are scared stiff of Google and wouldn’t mind seeing Google’s power checked by the government.

You can see this in the resistance to Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick (which the FTC approved, but now is awaiting the EC’’s verdict). There are even grumblings of antitrust action that will no doubt become stronger if Google’s market share in search and online advertising continues to swallow everything else in sight. Concentration of power is not the same as abuse of power, but that won’t stop Google’s growing list of enemies from trying to link the two.

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/~3/216122683/

San Ramon, CA based a la mobile has become the first company to offer a complete package of applications based on Google’s Android mobile phone operating system.

A a la mobile demo unit includes a Google browser, phone dialer, audio player, Google maps, camera, games, calendar, contacts manager, calculator and notes installed on a HTC Qtek 9090.

According to a USA Today report, although a la mobile is not a member of the Open Handset Alliance, it intends to pitch the prototype to handset makers.

Andy Rubin, Google’s senior director of mobile platforms told the paper that the coalition is on track to roll out an official Android-based phone in the second half of this year.

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/~3/216090645/

It’s been a few months since we wrote about Startup Schwag, a service that sends users startup-branded tshirts and stickers every month.

You’ll either think this is lame (not target market) or so cool you’ve wet your pants (target market) and act accordingly. The first attempt at the model by Valleyschwag didn’t scale and folded. Startup Schwag isn’t relying on the companies to produce the stuff, though (that’s where Valleyschwag ran into trouble when they got too big), they do it themselves with the company’s permission.

The first mailing included a TechCrunch Tshirt, and one made its way to Lisa Brewster, who writes the blog Sophistechate. She posted the picture above to her blog a couple of days ago. Golf clap for Lisa, our new unofficial mascot. Another woman models the reddit tshirt here.

Founder Roddy Richards says the service is doing well and has 400 subscribers now paying $15 per month each.

Richards has also founded a startup called PriceAdvance. It was rejected by Y Combinator, but Richards used the money YC gave him to apply (travel expenses) to incorporate the company and get it going. It launched December 11 and is doing well, he says.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/216081926/

Being a Londoner, how can I not mention a pub night that relates to Ajax technology!

Brent Ashley has created the first Ajax Pub Nite for Monday January 14th in Toronto.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/215850411/ajax-pub-nite-toronto-jan-14th

In February the Israel Web Tour rolls into Silicon Valley. Ninety Israeli startups applied to join the tour, and fifteen of them were selected to attend. The tour consists of a week-long conference and cultural exchange between Silicon Valley and Israeli entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

The general public is invited to parts of the show. more information is available on this website, including speakers.

Participating startups include 5min, Plymedia, AllofMe, Nuconomy, ClickTale, blogTV, Sportingo, PicScout, Qoof, 8hands, Velingo, Innovid, Semingo, PageOnce and Journeys.

I moderated a panel at the event last year. Highlights from that panel and the event in general are in the video below.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/215825011/