Ajax Girl

The New York Times tonight added Mixx bookmarking buttons on its site, which is an important milestone for the company. Facebook, Digg and Yahoo Buzz are the only other third party social bookmarking services that are offered.

The NYTimes doesn’t include well known and more established services like Delicious, Reddit and others on its pages. And since Mixx is only six months old, so this is an important sign of confidence in the young startup.

An example is here, just click on the “share” button to the right of the article.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/249915764/

Online and mobile research firm Invoke Solutions has taken an additional $7 million in funding in a round led by North Atlantic Capital that included existing investors Bain Capital and BEV Capital.

Waltham, Mass. based Invoke Solutions offers real-time online and mobile research services that offer “fast, usable insights for their clients.” Invoke Solutions products are used by companies including Microsoft, Washington Mutual, Conagra, Dell, and Nestle “to conduct better, faster, brand, communications, and product research in the US and Europe.”

The new round will be used by Invoke to continue developing its enterprise feedback management platform and increase its delivery capabilities across all parts of the company.

Total funding to date is around $38 million.

(via PE Hub)

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/~3/249895083/

Where does Facebook go when it wants to check the pulse of its users? Craigslist of course.

The company just posted the following job offer on the classifieds site, offering a $25 Visa Gift Card for anyone who stops by their Palo Alto offices this Thursday “to provide feedback on Facebook” (what, no stock options?).

Sign up at this URL. As a corollary, we’re offering $25 in straight cash to anyone who leaks information about new features or designs they see while visiting Facebook HQ. Just kidding. Or are we?

According to Ryan Merket, Facebook has posted at least one other user studies job to Craigslist over the past three weeks. Kudos to them for reaching out of their own sizable corner of the web to fill these temporary gigs.

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/~3/249870773/

Citizen journalism site Helium has today officially launched its content marketplace after 7 months in beta testing.

We’ve covered the service twice before, once in 2006, then last year when Helium Marketplace first opened its doors. Helium offers two services: a user generated content portal that’s part Wikipedia, part Squidoo, complete with revenue sharing. The marketplace works in a similar way to oDesk, Scriptance and similar services, marrying buyers looking for articles to be written, with writers who can supply original content. Unlike similar marketplace services, individual writers are not selected for each job, instead submitting articles against job requests that can then be voted upon by other users. The publisher then selects the articles they want to use from the rank-ordered list.

During its beta phase, Helium Marketplace signed up over 100,000 active freelance writers. Payments per article range from $20 to over $100, with a 20% transaction fee going to Helium.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/249856856/

I’m sure there is little requirement for even more Brits wandering around Silicon Valley - but I’m afraid it’s going to be unavoidable during the week of 19-25 April, as 20 UK startups invade, courtesy of the British government. Web Mission 08 is a project to bring 20 UK tech startups out to network with companies and people in Silicon Valley. Organised by UK entrepreneur Oli Barrett and consultants Polecat, the project was contributed to by TechCrunch UK and tech entrepreneur and investor Doug Richard. Over 100 companies applied to join. The aim is for the companies “to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.” As well as the government’s UK Trade Invest department, other sponsors include law firm Heller Ehrmann, British Telecom and the HSBC bank. Some supportive voices have come from Bebo’s Michael Birch, among others.

What was the criteria for coming? The judges were looking for companies who could do meaningful business in the US: from setting up office, to finding funding, to extending their network, and developing sustainable ‘cross-pond’ relationships. They also assessed the companies based on their business viability and the strength of the management team. And they looked for a mix of companies that showed the breadth of what the UK has to offer in this space.

The group has a schedule while it’s over and will also be visiting the Web 2.0 Expo conference. We may even persuade Mr Arrington to say hello. And if you want to meet with the startups, then email info@polecatting.com. Come say hi - we’re saving you a trip to London.

The confirmed companies for Web Mission 08 are:

• Groupspaces - Web-based tools for groups
• Tioti - A social network around TV
• Exabre (TheFilter) - Advanced music recommendation
• Coull - Interactive video platform
• Zogix - Employee services platform
• Byteplay (dotHomes) - Real estate search engine
• Trampoline Systems - Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour
• Hubdub - News prediction social network
• WAYN - Travel and lifestyle social network
• TrustedPlaces - Venue recommendation network
• Slicethepie - Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans
• Mydeo - Mainstream application for storing and sharing video
• Skimbit - Research and share decision-making application
• Huddle - Enterprise 2.0 collaboration
• Rummble - Mobile social networking and recommendation
• Zebtab - Desktop TV application
• Silobreaker - Contextual and graphic search results
• Kwiqq - Social website builder
• edocr - Making business documents interactive
• ShortFuze - 3D online movie creation tools

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/249820242/

Over the past 7 years I’ve probably been to almost every major web industry conference at least once. I can’t remember the last time I saw a good honest disagreeable debate on stage. There’s too much “yeah, totally” and “I definitely agree” and “Absolutely” going around.

Panels of friends

Part of why this happens is that the web design industry as a whole is pretty chummy when it gets together. That’s not a bad thing, but it amplifies the echo chamber.

Another reason why this happens is that when people put panels together they usually put their friends on them. Friends can disagree, but it doesn’t happen in public very often.

Finally, most of the panels I’ve seen aren’t assembled to present three different points of view — they are assembled to present the same point of view in three different ways.

Conferences are meek, Blogs are strong

There’s plenty of debates going on over the web. Take the recent Calcanis vs. Hansson round. And then the recent Norman vs. 37signals exchange. And then there are the savvy provocateurs such as Michael Arrington that suggested 37signals drove a company to the deadpool because we encourage people charge for their products. We didn’t respond on the web, but it would be fun in person.

These back and forths are wonderful. They are passionate, interesting, and heated. People are forced to sharpen their position and everyone learns a thing or two. They expose important discussions and spawn new ones. They also generate a lot of traffic for those involved.

So why does the web have all the good debates? Where are the web conferences pitting two opposing viewpoints on stage? Hearing two passionate points is a great way to reevaluate what you believe. Where’s the web conference called Web Fight Night? I see a big market opportunity.

Any takers?

If anyone wants to set up a conference or special event let us know. We’ll take the side of the “self-funded small business that encourages people to stay away from the VCs, says you don’t need to live in San Francisco to be successful, suggests that charging for your products is a good thing, espouses the advantages of small teams, applauds shorter work weeks with more reasonable hours, rejects the notion of traditional ‘seriousness business stuff,’ and believes keeping it simple is the way to success.”

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/906-web-conferences-wheres-the-outrage

Online advertising firm Eyeblaster has registered for a $115 million initial public offering on the NASDAQ. Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank Securities are serving as joint bookrunners with UBS Securities and Pacific Crest Securities as co-managers.

New York based Eyeblaster offers online campaign management solutions and services to advertising agencies and advertisers. Eyeblaster manages campaigns across digital media channels in multiple formats including rich media, in-stream video, display and search.

Eyeblaster’s major competitors include Google through DoubleClick, and Microsoft with Atlas.

The company was founded in 1999 and has 221 employees in 23 countries with R&D facilities in Israel. The company booked a $7.4 million profit in 2007 on revenue of $44.7 million from 979 customers.

(via CNN)

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/249786764/

While this is not strictly Ajax or JavaScript related, it is noteworthy to point out that Sitepoint just released a HTML reference that is quite handy to have around if you wonder if what you are building is really HTML or just tagsoup.

Good HTML references are really hard to come by, either they are just listings, like W3schools.com or terribly outdated. Sitepoint have done quite a good job in listing all the HTML elements and categorizing them into different use cases. There is also a list of deprecated elements and attributes to avoid (which could be considered dangerous to still bring up as some of them are too handy to simply add to solve an issue) and a Microformats primer.

We know for a fact that other portals/article sites are working on similar projects and consider it a really good way of flushing old and outdated tutorials on things as simple but important as markup out of the search engine result pages.

The reference also gives a legend of browser support, something that so so far was only available on the German SelfHTML reference.

Source: Ajaxian
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/249744240/sitepoint-releases-html-reference-as-a-beta

We’re releasing 250 tickets for the Geek Goes Chic MeetUp in Los Angeles with PopSugar. These will go quickly, so act fast. If you miss out, please be patient and stay tuned; we will continue to release 250 tickets each week leading up to the event on April 10.

Event Details:

• Date: Thursday, April 10, 2008
• Time: 6:30 pm - midnight
• Venue: Vanguard, 6021 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood (maps: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo)
• Photo/Flickr Tag: PopCrunch2008
• For additional details, see our dedicated event page.

Get tickets here, based on availability. As usual, tickets are $10 to manage the guest list, and proceeds will be donated to charity. All ticket purchases are non-transferable and non-refundable. If you purchase multiple tickets under your own name, your guests will need to arrive together with you at the event. Photo IDs are required for event check-in (attendees must be at least 21 years of age); no paper tickets necessary. Hope to see you there!

Thank You to our growing list of MeetUp Sponsors

We’ve been lucky to receive a strong showing of support from sponsors for the LA MeetUp (We need your help; 1,500 people is a big bar tab). Sponsorship packages are available in all shapes and sizes: dedicated entertainment rooms, specialty cocktails, MeetUp giveaways, demo tables, etc. Please contact Jeanne Logozzo to learn more about how your can participate.

Thank you to our charter MeetUp sponsors:

Co-Host

Partner and Product Launch Sponsors

Product Sponsors

Event Sponsors:

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/~3/249739035/

Jamis loves digging through numbers and stats and generating interesting reports. One of the most fun is when he writes a script to summarize the Campfire activity in our main “All Talk” room.

Here’s a summary of stuff people have said and done in the room over the past 30 days:

away (said "bb15" or "bbl" or "brb")
   Ryan Singer               ::    32
   Jamis Buck                ::    26
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    23
   Jason Fried               ::    20
   Sam Stephenson            ::    16
   Jeff Hardy                ::    16
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    13
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    13
   Sarah Hatter              ::     3
   Josh Peek                 ::     2
   Matt Linderman            ::     1

back (started a message with "back")
   Jason Fried               ::    36
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     9
   Jamis Buck                ::     8
   Sarah Hatter              ::     5
   Jeff Hardy                ::     4
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     3
   Ryan Singer               ::     3
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     2
   Josh Peek                 ::     2
   Sam Stephenson            ::     2

backpack (mentioned "backpack" or "BP")
   Jason Fried               ::   284
   Sarah Hatter              ::   144
   Jamis Buck                ::   126
   Mark Imbriaco             ::   101
   Ryan Singer               ::    89
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    87
   Sam Stephenson            ::    62
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    60
   Matt Linderman            ::    40
   Jeff Hardy                ::    35
   Josh Peek                 ::     3

basecamp (mentioned "basecamp" or "BC")
   Jason Fried               ::   108
   Jamis Buck                ::    95
   Sarah Hatter              ::    78
   Ryan Singer               ::    54
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    53
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    42
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    21
   Sam Stephenson            ::    18
   Matt Linderman            ::     8
   Jeff Hardy                ::     3
   Twitter                   ::     1
   Josh Peek                 ::     1

bytes (# of bytes sent via textual messages)
   Jason Fried               :: 256829
   Ryan Singer               :: 163959
   Jamis Buck                :: 155861
   Sarah Hatter              :: 115837
   Mark Imbriaco             :: 115049
   Jeremy Kemper             :: 107844
   David Heinemeier Hansson  :: 107656
   Sam Stephenson            :: 65543
   Jeff Hardy                :: 39912
   Matt Linderman            :: 27447
   Josh Peek                 :: 17438
   Twitter                   ::   355
   The Earth                 ::    54

campfire (mentioned "campfire" or "CF")
   Jason Fried               ::    22
   Sarah Hatter              ::    16
   Sam Stephenson            ::    13
   Jamis Buck                ::    12
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    10
   Ryan Singer               ::     9
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     7
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     5
   Matt Linderman            ::     3
   Josh Peek                 ::     1
   Jeff Hardy                ::     1

commit (a change to an application was committed)
   Jeremy                    ::   205
   Jamis                     ::   160
   Jeff                      ::   154
   Ryan                      ::   147
   Sam                       ::   116
   Josh                      ::    82
   Mark                      ::    69
   David                     ::    23
   Jason                     ::    19

deploy (a change to an application was deployed)
   Jamis@pemba               ::    22
   Jeremy@geech              ::    14
   Mark@strongbad            ::     6
   David@envy8               ::     5
   Sam@mutton                ::     2
   Packagethief@julian       ::     1
   Sam@kid                   ::     1
   David@Envy-Air            ::     1

emote (surrounded a message in asterisks *like this*)
   Ryan Singer               ::    31
   Jamis Buck                ::    24
   Jason Fried               ::    15
   Jeff Hardy                ::     8
   Sam Stephenson            ::     7
   Sarah Hatter              ::     4
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     4
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     4

exclaim (an exclamation was made)
   Sarah Hatter              ::   136
   Jason Fried               ::   130
   Jamis Buck                ::    97
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    53
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    44
   Jeff Hardy                ::    30
   Sam Stephenson            ::    26
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    26
   Ryan Singer               ::    23
   Josh Peek                 ::     8
   Matt Linderman            ::     5
   Twitter                   ::     1

frown (icons, like :()
   Jamis Buck                ::   104
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     8
   Ryan Singer               ::     8
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     8
   Sarah Hatter              ::     8
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     5
   Jeff Hardy                ::     5
   Sam Stephenson            ::     4

gasp (gah! ack! ugh!)
   Sarah Hatter              ::    28
   Jamis Buck                ::    28
   Jeff Hardy                ::    10
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     7
   Jason Fried               ::     7
   Sam Stephenson            ::     6
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     4
   Ryan Singer               ::     3
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     3

get_real ("get real" or "getting real" was mentioned)
   Jamis Buck                ::     2
   Jason Fried               ::     2
   Ryan Singer               ::     1
   Sarah Hatter              ::     1
   Jeff Hardy                ::     1
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     1
   Matt Linderman            ::     1
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     1

highrise (mentioned "highrise" or "HR")
   Sarah Hatter              ::    66
   Jason Fried               ::    65
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    43
   Ryan Singer               ::    38
   Jamis Buck                ::    28
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    23
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    20
   Sam Stephenson            ::    17
   Jeff Hardy                ::    11
   Josh Peek                 ::     5
   Matt Linderman            ::     4
   Twitter                   ::     1

image (an image was linked to)
   Jason Fried               ::    51
   Ryan Singer               ::    19
   Sam Stephenson            ::    18
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    10
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     8
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     7
   Jamis Buck                ::     4
   Sarah Hatter              ::     2
   Matt Linderman            ::     2
   Jeff Hardy                ::     1

judo (the word "judo")
   Jamis Buck                ::     7
   Ryan Singer               ::     7
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     3
   Sam Stephenson            ::     2
   Jason Fried               ::     2
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     2
   Josh Peek                 ::     1
   Matt Linderman            ::     1
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     1

just (the word "just")
   Jason Fried               ::   310
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::   175
   Jamis Buck                ::   170
   Mark Imbriaco             ::   166
   Sarah Hatter              ::   158
   Jeremy Kemper             ::   145
   Ryan Singer               ::   137
   Jeff Hardy                ::    57
   Sam Stephenson            ::    48
   Matt Linderman            ::    40
   Josh Peek                 ::    26

laugh (the user laughed (lol, haha, heh, etc.))
   Jason Fried               ::   617
   Ryan Singer               ::   515
   Jamis Buck                ::   445
   Mark Imbriaco             ::   395
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::   359
   Sarah Hatter              ::   352
   Jeremy Kemper             ::   288
   Sam Stephenson            ::   195
   Jeff Hardy                ::   109
   Matt Linderman            ::    51
   Josh Peek                 ::    42

link (an external site was linked to)
   Jason Fried               ::   225
   Sarah Hatter              ::    77
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    68
   Sam Stephenson            ::    56
   Jamis Buck                ::    45
   Ryan Singer               ::    35
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    35
   Matt Linderman            ::    28
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    27
   Jeff Hardy                ::    20
   Josh Peek                 ::    11

need (the word "need")
   Jamis Buck                ::   105
   Jason Fried               ::    96
   Sarah Hatter              ::    66
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    64
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    59
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    56
   Ryan Singer               ::    50
   Sam Stephenson            ::    34
   Jeff Hardy                ::    23
   Josh Peek                 ::    18
   Matt Linderman            ::    15

negative ((bad|hate|awful|terrible|sad|suck|no))
   Jason Fried               ::   192
   Sarah Hatter              ::   102
   Ryan Singer               ::   100
   Jamis Buck                ::    96
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    81
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    70
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    63
   Sam Stephenson            ::    47
   Matt Linderman            ::    22
   Josh Peek                 ::    19
   Jeff Hardy                ::    17

online (total time spent in the room)
   Jamis Buck                :: 438h 36m 22s
   Jason Fried               :: 421h 46m 39s
   Jeremy Kemper             :: 349h  6m 58s
   Jeff Hardy                :: 343h 13m 36s
   David Heinemeier Hansson  :: 318h 12m 20s
   Sarah Hatter              :: 317h 36m 46s
   Ryan Singer               :: 297h 13m 48s
   Sam Stephenson            :: 245h 31m 42s
   Mark Imbriaco             :: 212h 10m 26s
   Matt Linderman            :: 143h 25m 39s
   Josh Peek                 ::  58h 31m 51s
   The Earth                 ::   0h  0m 22s

only (he word "only")
   Jason Fried               ::    71
   Jamis Buck                ::    65
   Ryan Singer               ::    63
   Sarah Hatter              ::    51
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    40
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    38
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    30
   Jeff Hardy                ::    19
   Sam Stephenson            ::    19
   Josh Peek                 ::    10
   Matt Linderman            ::     6

paste (# of code pastes)
   Sarah Hatter              ::   239
   Jason Fried               ::   160
   Jamis Buck                ::   108
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    95
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    75
   Ryan Singer               ::    56
   Sam Stephenson            ::    54
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    38
   Matt Linderman            ::    26
   Jeff Hardy                ::    16
   Josh Peek                 ::     4

paste_bytes (# of bytes sent via code paste)
   Mark Imbriaco             :: 97587
   Jason Fried               :: 96497
   Jamis Buck                :: 91502
   Sarah Hatter              :: 54554
   Ryan Singer               :: 41529
   Sam Stephenson            :: 23008
   Jeremy Kemper             :: 17157
   Matt Linderman            :: 12869
   Josh Peek                 :: 10484
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::  6635
   Jeff Hardy                ::  3708

positive ((good|nice|awesome|like|love|best|neat|rock|yes))
   Jason Fried               ::   608
   Ryan Singer               ::   456
   Jamis Buck                ::   269
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::   261
   Sarah Hatter              ::   222
   Jeremy Kemper             ::   215
   Mark Imbriaco             ::   165
   Sam Stephenson            ::   147
   Jeff Hardy                ::    82
   Matt Linderman            ::    67
   Josh Peek                 ::    47

question (a question was asked)
   Jason Fried               ::   568
   Sarah Hatter              ::   391
   Jamis Buck                ::   372
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::   364
   Ryan Singer               ::   301
   Jeremy Kemper             ::   265
   Sam Stephenson            ::   185
   Mark Imbriaco             ::   133
   Jeff Hardy                ::   101
   Matt Linderman            ::    75
   Josh Peek                 ::    37

topic (the room topic was changed)
   Jason Fried               ::     3
   Sarah Hatter              ::     1
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     1

total (total messages sent, of any kind)
   Jason Fried               ::  6274
   Ryan Singer               ::  3902
   Jamis Buck                ::  3548
   Sarah Hatter              ::  3181
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::  3040
   Jeremy Kemper             ::  2933
   Mark Imbriaco             ::  2493
   Sam Stephenson            ::  1922
   Jeff Hardy                ::  1035
   Matt Linderman            ::   563
   Josh Peek                 ::   397
   Twitter                   ::     5
   The Earth                 ::     3

upload (# of file uploads)
   Ryan Singer               ::   146
   Jason Fried               ::    79
   Sam Stephenson            ::    70
   Sarah Hatter              ::    66
   Matt Linderman            ::    35
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    23
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    22
   Mark Imbriaco             ::    20
   Jeff Hardy                ::    19
   Jamis Buck                ::    14
   Josh Peek                 ::     8

wink (icons, like ;))
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::    89
   Jeremy Kemper             ::    83
   Jason Fried               ::    36
   Jeff Hardy                ::    12
   Sam Stephenson            ::    10
   Sarah Hatter              ::     7
   Josh Peek                 ::     7
   Jamis Buck                ::     5

words per message
   Twitter                   ::    14.2
   Matt Linderman            ::     9.8
   Mark Imbriaco             ::     9.2
   Jamis Buck                ::     8.8
   Josh Peek                 ::     8.8
   Ryan Singer               ::     8.4
   Jason Fried               ::     8.2
   Jeff Hardy                ::     7.7
   Jeremy Kemper             ::     7.4
   Sarah Hatter              ::     7.3
   David Heinemeier Hansson  ::     7.1
   Sam Stephenson            ::     6.8
   The Earth                 ::     3.6

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/905-campfire-fun