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Posted: 20 Sep 2010 07:10 AM PDT  Google Apps is making some serious inroads into businesses and other organizations. Today, Google announced that more than 3 million businesses, schools, and government agencies are using Google Apps. To put that in perspective, that gives Google more enterprise customers than Salesforce, which has about 2 million. There are now 30 million employees and other enterprise users on Google Apps, which is a bundle of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Video, and Google Sites. Google Apps has grown by 5 million enterprise users since last March. Google sells it as an economical alternative to Microsoft Office and Exchange, with better sharing features since all the apps are based in the cloud. The success of Google Apps is part of the growing consumerization of enterprise apps. Employees want their business apps to have a similar look and feel and the same ease-of-use as the consumer Internet apps they use every day. Google Enterprise president David Girouard will be joining us next week at TechCrunch Disrupt on a panel with Yammer CEO David Sacks and Charles River Ventures partner George Zachary, where I will ask them what is driving this consumerization of the enterprise (tickets). | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 06:49 AM PDT  The Galaxy Tab will soon be here and Samsung is revving up their marketing machine ahead of its launch. The latest video clocks in at just under two minutes and attempts to make a case for the tablet by yet again showing off its functions. Honestly, nothing shown is all that spectacular anymore thanks to the iPad’s rich feature set. The only two things demoed that are not available on the iPad is video chat and Flash compatibility, but I doubt many people will fail to notice those key advantages.That’s actually fine. People like choices and consumers will no doubt smile at the fact that another tablet is finally available with a similar feature set as the iPad. It’s now up to a marketing blitz from Samsung and the four major carriers in the US to get the word out. Believe it or not, there is a good amount of people who doesn’t get their news from tech blogs. Crazies, I know. | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 06:20 AM PDT  TiVo already has an impressive lineup of internet apps on their DVRs but the offering just got a little more musical thanks to Pandora. Nearly all of Pandora’s trademark features including access to the Music Genome Project is available in the app. Users can thumb up or down artists and create personalized radio stations on the fly. Existing Pandora users can sign into their accounts or new accounts can be created via an on-screen interface — no computer required. Pandora is just the latest app to hit the TiVo Premiere platform. It joins other music apps such as Rhapsody, Live365, Music Choice as well as Netflix, BlockBuster, and YouTube. It clearly signals that TiVo is commented to adding killer applications to their devices although this update is probably the first of many that passes-over older TiVo boxes such as the Series3 or HD line. The company moved to something totally different with the Premiere and the older platforms might not get all the goodies as the new model. Oh well. I guess it’s time to upgrade.         | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 05:59 AM PDT  Just as promised, the Peek 9 launched today and brings a whole new level of cool to the not-a-smartphone device. It seems nearly everything is updated from the mail service to the hardware. It’s a mighty big update for Peek, but somehow all this goodness rings up for less than the previous generation — even the service plan is cheaper now.        | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 03:28 AM PDT  Soon, visitors of Facebok.com will no longer land on a shady site promising cheap Apple products in a Facebook-styled theme (deliberately not linking to it) but be redirected to Facebook instead. That’s because the company has prevailed in a dispute over the domain name earlier this month. Facebook had apparently filed a complaint against the current owner of Facebok.com, supposedly a German named Franz Bauer (which is almost certainly not his or her real identity) who resides in a hotel in Munich according to public WHOIS information. He or she will now see the domain name get transferred over to Zuckerberg and co. Coincidentally, the domain name Faceboook.com and Facebooj.com also lead to that same shady website, and I’m sure there are many more like that. For those two, at least, Facebook has yet to file formal complaints. Facebook, in general and especially compared to other Internet giants, isn’t all that active when it comes to protecting users from landing on ill-intended websites based on the misspelling of its website address. According to UDRPsearch, the company has only filed two formal complaints with the National Arbitration Forum this year, compared to only three last year. Closer to home, I know that Facebook.be isn’t owned or operated by Facebook either, as an example. All this may not be that big of a deal at first glance, but profiting from type-in traffic based on typos in domain names is an entire industry. The more companies make a certified effort in obtaining ownership over these types of domain names, the less of a chance for survival that particular nasty industry will have. | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 02:00 AM PDT  “Two-factor authentication” may be the least sexy-sounding feature I’ve ever written about. But if you’ve ever worried about being phished or having your password hacked, it could be your best friend — because it makes it much, much harder for a hacker to break into your account. Today, Google is announcing that it’s bringing the security feature to its millions of users: the feature will be rolling out first for Google Apps Premiere, Education, and Government edition customers, with plans to bring it to all Google users (even those who aren’t using its Apps suite) in the next few months. So what exactly is two-factor authentication? Most of the login systems you’ve probably used are only ‘one-factor’ — you enter one password and you’re in, but if that password gets compromised, you’re toast. More secure systems are common in large businesses, and often require both a password and a physical card or dongle to login — these are called ‘two-factor’ systems, because they require both your password and another key, and are far more secure because a hacker probably isn’t going to have that physical token. Unfortunately these security systems are generally quite expensive. But Google is bringing one to the masses. Google’s system doesn’t require a physical keycard. Instead, it relies on your mobile phone. First, you need to activate the optional feature from your settings page (again, this is only available to certain Google Apps customers at first). Then, when you go to sign in to your Google account, you’ll first be asked to enter your password as usual. Next, you’ll be brought to a screen asking for a verification code (see the screenshot above). The verification code comes from your mobile phone, which you’ve previously linked up to your Google Account. Google has built a ‘Google Authenticator’ application for Android, the iPhone, and Blackberry — fire up the application, and it will give you the six digit verification code that you enter back into your browser (the system can also send you a SMS message or give you the code via voice call).  That’s it. The entire process only takes a minute or so, but it’s much more secure because anyone wanting to access your account will also need access to your mobile phone. You can opt to require this two-factor authentication all the time, or you can elect to only require it one time per computer (in other words, you’ll only need to enter it once on your home PC and/or work computer). Like I said, this may not sound sexy, but it’s a big deal. Given how much data users are storing on Google, and the fact that plenty of people still fall prey to phishing scams on a regular basis, this is a major step in helping keep users secure. This is all optional (unless your Apps administrator sets a policy requiring it), but I suspect Google will be making a push to urge users to take advantage of the new system as it begins rolling out more broadly. The news will also make Google Apps an even more tempting proposition for security-conscious businesses (Google notes that prior to this release, it was also the first company to receive FISMA certification in the collaboration/document sharing space). To make this more appealing to businesses, Google is also open-sourcing its authentication apps, so businesses can create their own custom-branded versions. | ||||
Posted: 20 Sep 2010 12:03 AM PDT  The Myriad International Holdings unit of Naspers has acquired a controlling interest in social networking and shopping site operator Multiply, we’ve learned. Multiply will continue to operate under the same management team. This company was originally founded in 2004 and raised $26.6 million in venture capital funding over the past few years in a bid to compete against the likes of MySpace and, later, Facebook and Twitter in the social media space. Obviously, it never became much competition to these social networking giants (although admittedly MySpace itself has lots much of its shine recently), especially not in the United States where the bulk of online advertising budgets is spent. Its last funding round, secured in November 2008, valued Multiply at $100 million, although I’d be very surprised if MIH / Naspers acquired its interest in the company at that valuation. Originally started as a straightforward media management and closed-circuit communication service (Microsoft handed over the reins of MSN Groups to the company back in October 2008), Multiply has shifted most of its focus to social ecommerce in recent times. Multiply, which now blends social networking and private media sharing with an online marketplace, at present self-reportedly counts over 70,000 merchants and 20 million monthly unique visitors. Presumably, the venture-backed company considers there to be potentially more revenue opportunities down the line. Earlier this year, the company launched the Multiply Marketplace to provide a way for sellers to be found by buyers within the Multiply network. Sellers can sign up for a customized online shop within the Multiply network and start listing items for sale and promoting them to the site’s user base. I checked out the United States offering and it was a thoroughly underwhelming experience, to say the least. This is what most of the virtual ‘shops’ look like:   When I signed up for the site, I received a welcoming message from Multiply founder and CEO Peter Pezaris, which read that over 10 million people use the network to buy and sell products and services every month. Having browsed the Marketplace for about half an hour, I can’t possible imagine that’s really the case, although I understand most of its user activity originates from Asia, Latin America and Europe. Boca Raton, Florida-based Multiply says teaming up with Naspers, which holds stakes in a good number of Internet and mobile ventures from across the globe, will allow it to focus more attention on intensifying its social shopping efforts in Southeast Asia in particular. To illustrate its reach: Myriad International Holdings, Naspers’ investment subsidiary, boasts a large stake – nearly one third – in top investment firm Digital Sky Technologies (which boasts investments in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon but is also big in Russia) and holds about 35% of Chinese Internet juggernaut Tencent. | ||||
Posted: 19 Sep 2010 12:35 PM PDT  In 2007, Google said it wasn’t working on a Google Phone. In 2009, Google said it wasn’t working on its own branded phone. In 2008, Microsoft said it wasn’t working on a Zune Phone. Leading up to the iPhone unveiling, we heard an Apple phone wasn’t coming. Guess what? All those projects were very real. And the Facebook Phone project will prove to be no different.Perhaps you read our story from late last night that Facebook is working on its own phone. This morning, Facebook PR has begun countering that story, saying that our report “is not accurate.” Sorry, did I say “countering”? I meant “spinning”. If you read their statement, it goes on and on about how important the mobile space is to Facebook and technologies like HTML5 and their own Connect are central to what they’re working on. It’s all vague PR babble that actually doesn’t mean a whole lot. In fact, the only thing that does is this: “Facebook is not building a phone.” There are a few possibilities here. 1) Our sources on this are wrong. 2) Facebook is lying. 3) Facebook is telling their own version of the truth. 4) This is a need-to-know basis project and Facebook PR doesn’t need to know. We going to say that based on what we’ve learned, what can safely rule out number one. We’re also going to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt and rule out number two — for now. Number four is possible, but seems unlikely. We have to believe that Facebook would simply tell their PR department to say nothing at all, if they didn’t want to brief them on the project. So that leaves number three. By saying “Facebook is not building a phone,” what the company likely means is that they won’t be manufacturing their own hardware. Right. We never said that they were. As far as we know, Facebook doesn’t own hardware manufacturing plants, so how would they? This is the same type of semantic caveat Google kept using in saying they were not working a phone. Okay, there aren’t actually Google employees in the plants building them, just like there won’t be Facebook employees building them piece by piece. Instead, Facebook, like Google, is likely working on its own mobile operating system (maybe even based on Android — we admittedly don’t have a lot of details at this point) that will be tied to hardware built by a third party. That’s exactly what we said in the first paragraph of our post last night: Facebook is building a mobile phone, says a source who has knowledge of the project. Or rather, they're building the software for the phone and working with a third party to actually build the hardware. Which is exactly what Apple and everyone else does, too.So, yes, technically they’re not physically building a phone, I suppose. But that’s sort of like saying Banana Republic isn’t in the clothing business because they outsource the actual shirt-making to Asia. But my favorite part of the statement is this: For an example, check out Connect for iPhone and the integration we have with contact syncing through our iPhone app. Another example is the INQ1 phone with Facebook integration (the first so-called 'Facebook Phone'). The people mentioned in the story are working on these projects.So a chief architect of Firefox (with a ton of OS and mobile OS experience), a chief architect of Chrome OS, and the former product lead of Android are working on the INQ1 phone? Right. We may not know the specifics about what Facebook is up to with regard to their own phone, but we know they have a very talented team working on the project. And Facebook can deny it all they want right up to the day it’s released. Update: Nice job Facebook. You still sure there is no phone? (Oh, and for those asking — yes, the Zune Phone project was very real. Microsoft killed it after years in development and that played a big role in J. Allard’s departure, we hear.)         | ||||
Posted: 19 Sep 2010 12:07 PM PDT  In an offense called “Operation Payback,” members of the Internet collective Anonymous have organized what seems to be anti anti-piracy movement. Dubbed by Torrent Freak as the ”protest of the future” the group has been pretty busy over the past 36 hours launching DDoS attacks on the MPAA, Indian anti-piracy site AiPlex Software and today both RIAA.com and RIAA.org. The attacks are apparently in retaliation for comments the CEO of Aiplex software made about his firm being hired by the film industry to take down The Pirate Bay. The original call to arms below: How fast you are in such a short time! Aiplex, the bastard hired gun that DDoS'd TPB (The Pirate Bay), is already down! Rejoice, /b/rothers, even if it was at the hands of a single anon that it was done, even if ahead of schedule. now we have our lasers primed, but what do we target now?From the Anonymous media kit: Operation:Payback is a bitch.Both RIAA sites currently offline (they went down 5 minutes before schedule), as people continue to mobilize through the 4Chan message boards and Twitter, using the LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon) DDoS tools to initiate independent attacks, and continuing to make what would seem unlikely for a group of people called Anonymous, celebratory tweets. For all the “future of cyber protest” rhetoric, it remains to be seen how much effect a flood of traffic and a few hours of downtime will have on changing RIAA or MPAA piracy policy. After all, despite yesterday’s sustained attacks, the MPAA site is back up and running, snow owls and all.    | ||||
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