Ajax Girl

I imagine more than a few startups will take Jenaé up on her offer to wear your startup shirt and talk about your company for a day. It’s $75, and she posts videos on her site, YouTube, Seesmic and Viddler, posts pictures on Flickr and tweets about it all as well.

You have to send her the shirt two weeks in advance, and afterwards she gives it away.

It consists of me being your walking advertisement as I wear your company shirt and showcase anything else you send me. I spread the news via Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Viddler, Seesmic and my website, showcasing who you are, what you do, and how others can do business with you. For each, I create a showcase video where right on the show, I open your package, talk about your company, then wear your shirt and spread the news. The day after the company is showcased, it will be listed under our shirt & swag graveyard where others can buy the paraphernalia I showcased.

We’ll be signing up momentarily.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/k_CvfmYMq4s/

Starting in 2006 Peter Schiff goes prescient. He nails the current crisis in detail. The other talking heads can’t get the bull [market] out of their mouths fast enough. They’re even laughing him off. My favorite moment is when Ben Stein says Merrill is a super bargain at $79. “It’s a joke it’s so cheap” he says. MER closed today at 13.80. Here’s the MER chart from August 17, 2007 — the day Ben Stein called it. Bueller…Bueller?

Source: Signal vs. Noise
Original Article: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1401-starting-in-2006-peter-schiff-goes-prescient

IntenseDebate, the enhanced commenting system that was recently acquired by WordPress’s parent company Automattic, has relaunched to the public (the service originally opened its doors in late 2007, but reentered private beta as soon as it was acquired). IntenseDebate has also released the public beta of its WordPress plugin, which includes a number of features that make it much more appealing to blog owners.

The most important feature is two-way comment syncing, which copies all comments left on your blog through IntenseDebate’s system to your WordPress install. One common complaint about early versions of some comment systems, including InstenseDebate and close competitor Disqus, was that comments resided on their servers, leaving blog owners in a bind if they ever chose to discontinue the system. Disqus remedied this issue with their 2.0 release in August and IntenseDebate has done the same with this plugin.

Other new features in the plugin include integration with the WordPress admin panel, search engine-optimized comments, setting and profile sync, and trackback support. WordPress will also start integrating some IntenseDebate features into its standard install beginning with version 2.7, though details on the integration have been scant. And while the service is now owned by Automattic, it continues to offer support other blogging platforms, which actually comprise the majority of the service’s installbase.

Besides Disqus, other competitors in this space include SezWho and JS-Kit.

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Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GVAMVJ2Nd4s/

It’s OpenSocial day today. It’s been roughly one year since the service launched to fight Facebook’s exploding platform product, and the main companies behind OpenSocial are holding an all day press and developer event at MySpace’s San Francisco headquarters.

The presentation above was shown to attendees of the event. See our other coverage as well:

OpenSocial Turns One: My, How You’ve Grown!
Social Network Apps To Finally Monetize Within The Next Year

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Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wVeiUo5Ck8c/

The days of buying packaged software loaded onto CDs are numbered. Today, Microsoft quietly drove another nail into the coffin of packaged software by launching the Microsoft Store on the Web. After testing the software download store in Europe and Korea, Microsoft opened up its U.S. version today.

The store sells all Microsoft software from Office to Xbox 360 games. Instead of shipping the software in the mail, you download it over the Web. Just like you can download apps directly to your iPhone from the iTunes App Store, the Microsoft Store takes the same approach for its own PC and server software. (It does not distribute mobile apps or software made by other companies).

CEO Steve Ballmer hinted this would happen last week. But the company did not make a big deal about today’s launch, perhaps not wanting to alieante any of its retail distribution partners. . Microsoft program manager Trevin Chow put out the word on his personal blog, explaining the benefits of Electronic Software Distribution (ESD):

You pay for an ESD product just like you would for one that would be physically shipped to you. The big difference is that after your payment is confirmed, you can immediately download the product to your computer and install it right away. There is no longer any need to pay for shipping costs and waiting for the big brown truck to drive across the country. You’ll be able to enjoy your software almost immediately – all it takes is the download time of the product, which will vary depending on the size of the digital download.

The obvious fear for most users buying ESD products is not having the software on physical media to re-install the product at a later time. Microsoft Store solves this by letting you re-download the product until mainstream support for the product ends. Typically this is 5 years after the product is released. You always have the option of copying the downloaded products to physical media if you want to have it available longer than the mainstream support lifetime.

The store also sells Microsoft peripherals such as Xbox 360 consoles, computer mice and keyboards (those need to be shipped).

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/avZYnJMlcsQ/

Today at OpenSocial’s first birthday event, a group of press, developers, and members of the OpenSocial team convened to discuss the future of the platform. Of the many topics discussed during the roundtable, perhaps the most pressing was the issue of monetization - many developers are simply unable to convert their users to a steady stream of revenue. And while OpenSocial’s Director of Engineering David Glazer admitted that he didn’t know the answer, he predicted that within the next year we’ll see a standardized payment platform integrated into OpenSocial. And with that, we may start to see more of these applications transition into viable businesses.

Since the launch of Facebook Platform (and the subsequent launch of OpenSocial on MySpace, Hi5, and many other social networks), application developers have struggled to convert their userbases into steady revenue streams. Advertising has seen some success (spawning companies like SocialMedia), but very few apps have been able to successfully implement any kind of transaction or micropayment system.

Much of the problem can be attributed to the fact that there is no consistency between payment platforms - users typically have to reenter their credit card information for every app, which is both a hassle and also increases potential security risks. What we need is a unified system, where users enter their information once and use it across any application. Facebook (which is not on the OpenSocial platform) annouced plans to roll out a micro-payment platform back in March, but it still hasn’t materialized.

Now it sounds like OpenSocial will have its own system - one that could potentially work across every social network that supports that platform, including MySpace, Hi5, and Orkut. Glazer explained that he suspected someone would figure out how to effectively implement a monetization system into the standard, allowing developers to call on standardized hooks to securely deal with financial information. Having a ubiquitous microtransaction system would significantly lower the barrier associated with spending money on these apps, which would likely be a boon for developers. Many developers will still struggle with establishing user bases in the first place, but those that can will no longer have to rely exclusively on banner ads to pay the bills.

Of course, this assumes that every participating social network would fully implement the monetization standard, which is by no means guaranteed. But if it did happen, the scenario would leave Facebook as the odd man out - one of the only major social networks to use its own proprietary payment system (if it ever releases one at all). Don’t be surprised if Facebook rushes to be first out the gate, which would make it look like an innovator rather than the holdout.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Y-Sy_MvKU14/

This story has moved from absurd to absurder. And from crazy to a little boring.

Herbert Elwood Gilliland III claims he invented YouTube and wants compensation (he asks alternatively for $1 million or 1% of the sale price, which is significantly more. All the details are here, including a crazy video.

Video blogger iJustine jumped on the bandwagon and created a spoof video making fun of the whole thing. And Gilliland has responded, minus the crazy but plus a whole lot of boring. And now he says he fixed Paypal, too. Videos are below:

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/IJmVcbSMTnI/

For the last couple weeks, Jim Jannard of RED Camera has been teasing everybody on the REDuser forums with vague promises and outrageous claims of revolutionizing the industry. Skepticism would be the natural response, but after the original RED One camera turned the industry on its head in 2007, people learned that the company said what they meant and made what they said. Early adopters knew they were getting in the ground floor of something that would not only change the industry but likely completely metamorphose once things got underway. As it turns out, they were right, and RED’s announcement today represents the ideal of the RED camera system made reality. What does today’s bombshell mean for the hi-def video industry, and what does it mean for you and me?

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mGv6xZShV2Q/

Update: see the whole State of the Union presentation here.

Today, Google’s OpenSocial application platform is marking its first birthday with an event bringing together some of the platform’s top developers at MySpace’s San Francisco office. In conjunction with the milestone, the OpenSocial team has announced that Google’s Dan Peterson (former product manager of Google Web Toolkit) has been named President of the Board of OpenSocial, with MySpace’s Alan Hurff taking the role of Chairman of the Board.

Since launch, the platform has been deployed by over 7,500 developers and reaches a staggering number of users, with 315 million application installs across social networks including MySpace, Orkut, Bebo, and Hi5 and a total reach of 600 million users. MySpace alone has over 135 million application installs, 40 million users and 4600 applications available in its directory.

MySpace has also launched support for OpenSocial .8, and will implement version .9 once it becomes available next year. The upcoming version makes the platform more accessible to less experienced developers by introducing WYSIWYG editing along with OSML.

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

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/psdTSTW1ZeA/

First we had Twitter. Then we had Yammer (and Identi.ca and Present.ly). Now we have Twingr. You can create your own version of Twitter for any group you like, and Twingr will host it. The service, created by Killer Startups (which recently bought Startups.com and is expanding beyond blogging), just launched in private alpha and is open to the first 500 micro-blogging communities that get on it.

Like Twitter, you can send out 140-character messages, follow what other people in your Twingr group are saying, and send direct messages to them as well. A nice added touch is a box where you can paste links without taking up any of your allotted characters. No need to fool around with TinyURLs (Twitter, take note). Here is a TechCrunch Twingr that I just set up.

You can think of Twingr as the Ning of micro-blogging sites. The idea is that there will be hundreds of Twingrs (eventually more), all organized around their own particular communities. In this sense, Twingr is very much like Yammer, the TechCrunch50 winner that created an enterprise version of Twitter. In fact, Twingr looks almost exactly like Yammer, down to the royal blue background. The difference is that Yammer is a private messaging service limited to people in your company, whereas anyone can see and join your Twingr group.

To be honest, I’d just rather wait until Twitter launches its own version of groups, as it already has in Japan. I’ve already put so much effort into building up my network there, and it is programmed into my phone for easy SMS Tweets. Until then, there’s Twingr.

Update: Turns out it’s a great day to launch a Twitter competitor because Twitter is once again down.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ziVnuUPIYt8/