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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “New York Times Paywall to Cost Less Than $20 a Month”

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Mashable: Latest 29 News Updates - including “New York Times Paywall to Cost Less Than $20 a Month”

New York Times Paywall to Cost Less Than $20 a Month

Posted: 21 Jan 2011 01:15 AM PST


Full access to the New York Times website will cost less than $20 a month, Bloomberg reports citing a source familiar with the matter.

This is significantly less than the $11.70 a week which is the price for the printed edition, and also less than $19.99 which is the price for a monthly subscription to NYT on Amazon’s Kindle.

However, Bloomberg‘s source claims that subscribers to the print version of NYT will get full access to the online service as well. Furthermore, president of the New York Times Scott Heekin-Canedy said last month that the price for access to the web edition would be comparable to the Kindle subscription, which probably means it will be just a tad lower than $20 a month.

The paywall, which was scheduled to go up this January, is a reversed approach from what NYT was doing so far: right now, it charges for archived and editorial content while the new content is free. With the paywall up, a set number of articles will remain free each month for non-subscribers, but anything over that number will require a monthly subscription.

Most publishers and experts agree that you cannot just go all-or-nothing and start charging for content that customers are used to getting for free. The NYT has been testing the waters for quite some time, releasing bits of information here and there and obviously trying to determine the right balance between the amount of content that should remain free for all and the amount of subscribers-only content as well as the right price for it.

Would you pay a price slightly lower than $20 for a monthly subscription to NYT? Give us your opinions in the comments.

[via Bloomberg]

More About: media, New York Time, newspaper, paywall, publishing

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Eric Schmidt to Sell $335 Million of His Google Shares

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 11:41 PM PST


Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt intends to sell more than half a million of the company’s shares in a transaction that would be worth approximately $335 million today.

In a filing with the SEC, the technology giant disclosed that Schmidt has adopted a stock trading plan where he will sell around 534,000 shares of Google Class A stock over the next year. The company cites portfolio diversification as the primary reason for the sale.

If Schmidt were to sell his shares at today’s closing price of $626.77, it would be worth $334.7 million.

While a rather large amount for the vast majority of us, it’s still a small fraction of Schmidt’s 9.2 million Google shares, which represents 2.9% of Google’s outstanding capital stock. After he sells his shares, he will still own 2.7% of Google and hold 9.1% of the company’s voting power, thanks to his ownership of Google’s Class B common stock.

Schmidt’s current ownership stake is worth a whopping $5.77 billion, only eclipsed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It’s important to note that the Google co-founders are also selling significant portions of their Google shares. In January 2010, an SEC filing revealed that they would each sell 5 million shares over five years, a transaction that would be worth $6.27 billion in total at today’s closing price.

Earlier today, Schmidt announced that he would be stepping down as CEO and handing the reigns to co-founder Larry Page. Schmidt will be taking on the role of Executive Chairman and will be in charge of external relations and partnerships.

More About: eric schmidt, Google, larry page, SEC

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Make Your Music Go Viral on Facebook By Offering It For Free

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 10:36 PM PST


According to Dave Glassanos, founder of Disrupt.fm, the price of a song is about the equivalent of a Facebook update. That’s up for debate, but I will say that Glassanos’s Facebook-oriented startup is pretty cool.

Disrupt.fm is based on the premise that pirating music is a common occurrence — one that yields no benefit for musicians when it comes to publicity. To solve that quandary, Glassanos has come up with an alternative method of free music sharing.

Basically, artists can upload their music to Disrupt.fm, which users can then download for free. However, that song doesn’t just end up in the black void of a user’s iTunes library — since one is prompted to connect to Disrupt.fm via Facebook, the song is also automatically shared to the user’s Facebook wall, where it can be listened to as a stream by friends.

Currently, the selection on Disrupt.fm is not — shall we say — the best, and the UI is a little clunky (you can’t search for artists, etc), but the idea is solid. Ideally, an artist would upload a few tracks to the service — to prevent a fan from snagging the entire album for free — and gain buzz for a new album thusly.

While this service is reminiscent of pre-existing clients like Track For a Tweet, it kicks it up a notch by catering to Facebook users, who are much more plentiful than those using Twitter.

[via hypebot]

More About: disrupt-fm, facebook, music, social media

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What Does Google Offers Mean for Groupon? [OP-ED]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:13 PM PST


It’s confirmed: Google is preparing to launch Google Offers, a direct competitor to Groupon. If you can’t buy them, join them.

Google is already beginning the push for its new group-buying service, reaching out to local businesses for the first test run of its daily deals program. With its massive reach, vast advertising network and huge brand recognition, it’s very likely that the search giant will enter the local deals market with a bang.

What does that mean for the current king of the space, Groupon? Should it be shaking in its boots and wishing it had accepted Google’s $6 billion acquisition offer? Or will Groupon find a way to prevail as it prepares for a $15 billion IPO?

Google Would Be an Instant Player

For Google, the daily deals market is all about developing a stronger local advertiser network. Here’s what I said when the news about Google’s $6 billion offer to Groupon first broke:

“If Google goes through with the biggest purchase in the company's history, it will have the upper hand in local business advertising. That advantage could be so great that the courts stop this acquisition from ever happening. That's why Google wants Groupon so badly that it's willing to overpay by billions; if all goes according to plan, the search giant will be flooded with so much local advertising revenue that it will be able to buy a dozen Groupons.”

Google already has a major advertising network through AdWords and AdSense, but it isn’t focused on local. Still, it’s a very good starting point for launching a daily deals business. By integrating daily deals into its advertising network, Google can quickly and easily gain exposure with businesses. In fact, it probably could get enough local businesses to sign up just through word-of-mouth.

Getting users to Offers wouldn’t be a big challenge for Google, either. A simple link on the Google homepage would be enough to get the ball rolling, and promotions in local searches, Google Maps and more would help drive even more users. People don’t generally care where their deals come from, but Google’s name recognition automatically legitimizes the service.

Google would need a sales force and a writing team, but not one as big as Groupon’s team. The Chicago-based company has over 4,000 employees and growing.

Make no mistake: Google will be an instant player in this market.

Groupon’s Resiliency

If Groupon has proven one thing though, it’s that this market is huge. It’s enormous. It has enough room for not only Groupon, but LivingSocial, which is on fire thanks to Amazon, and hundreds of Groupon clones of all different sizes.

Groupon also has a huge head start, thanks to its massive sales force, home-grown name recognition and $1+ billion in funding. CEO Andrew Mason and his team have proven that they can outperform the competition, despite having a technology that can be easily copied. Google, on the other hand, has yet to prove that it can build a successful social product.

The group-buying giant is also diversifying. It recently launched Groupon Stores, a self-serve deal platform so that businesses can create their own stores. It also released the Deal Feed to combat deal saturation.

After spurning Google’s offer, Groupon had to be expecting today’s news. We doubt Groupon would have rejected Google’s offer if it didn’t have a plan for competing with them. While I admit that is my own hypothesis, Mason has proven more than capable of predicting major technology and business trends. I think it’s a safe bet to say that Groupon is prepared for (and not scared of) Google’s entry in its market.

The truth is that nobody knows the limits of the daily deals market. It’s tough to tell how many businesses are still interested in daily deals, but there are millions upon millions of local businesses that have yet to indulge in the daily deal phenomenon. We’re about to find out if there’s enough room Google and Groupon, but

More About: daily deals, Google, Google Offers, group buying, groupon, LivingSocial, Opinion

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How a Sentiment Analysis Startup Profits By Checking Emotion in E-mail

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 08:00 PM PST


This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Every Thursday, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they’re doing to grow.

Whether intended or not, our text-based communication often carries emotional undertones that can often undermine (or give away) our true intentions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in e-mail, which most of us use as our primary means of digital communication and can, on occasion, get us in trouble if we choose the wrong words.

Having experienced this first-hand one too many times, Matt Eldridge sought out a solution to the problem. We have spell check to save us from making an egregious spelling faux pas and grammar check to keep our subjects and verbs in agreement, so there must be a tool for tone check, he reasoned. In fact, there was not, so Eldridge left his day job, found a technical co-founder in Josh Merchant and together the two started sentiment analysis startup Lymbix.

In July of 2010, after one and a half years of heavy research and development, Lymbix released an early stage version of ToneCheck, an Outlook plugin that uses detailed sentiment analysis to check the emotional tone of content in e-mail. The tool proved to be an instant hit with e-mail senders, 20,000 of whom downloaded the plugin in the first month after release.

Lymbix is now working on a faster, lighter and smarter version of ToneCheck scheduled for release in late February. It’s just one of many things the young but sufficiently funded company — Lymbix has raised more than $2 million in angel funding and pulls in revenue from licensing deals — has in store for the year. “This year is our coming out party,” says Eldridge.

Check Yourself

The feverish early response from users validated the need for product, says Eldridge, who also admits that version one of ToneCheck is a bit too intrusive and cumbersome.

The Microsoft Outlook add-on is currently easy to use, but rather manual in nature. Users first compose their e-mail, then hit “Run ToneCheck,” at which point the software analyzes text content and alerts the e-mail sender to phrases that don’t meet the user’s predefined tone tolerance settings.

The next iteration dramatically improves on that experience with automatic and real-time tone checking — similar to how spell check works. A Tone Alert bar sits below the e-mail message and visually alerts the writer that the tone of a particular sentence may be too aggressive or upsetting.

Corporate Tone Tolerance

What if there was a way for a corporation to set a baseline for tone that would apply to all outgoing e-mail? Alternatively, what if a business could route inbound messages based on their sentiment? Would the end result be more positive communication, better sales and an improved bottom-line? Eldridge believes so, which is why Lymbix is working on an enterprise product called ToneFilter for just that purpose.

Once completed, ToneFilter will offer businesses company-wide outbound e-mail safeguards and the ability to automatically route inbound messages based on their sentiment to appropriate personnel. The corporation could define an acceptable tone for company e-mail, as well as get a disgruntled customer’s e-mail routed to the best customer service representative or an enthusiastic message to a savvy salesman.

The enterprise product will also come with reporting that monitors the tone trends of e-mails across the company.

Money in Emotion

Eldridge says that Lymbix may release a premium, for-charge version of ToneCheck for consumers at a later date, but for now he’s content to keep the Outlook add-on free of charge. That’s because the company is pulling in revenue from API licensing and several soon-to-be-announced partnerships, according to Eldridge.

“Our core technology is understanding and analyzing the emotion in text communication,” says Eldridge. And, that technology is in high demand. “Licensing our API is a very lucrative business for us.”

Lymbix strategically choose to build alongside Microsoft’s e-mail client to reach the more than 500 million Outlook users, but Eldridge reports that there’s been significant interest from partners to build ToneCheck for web-based email programs and social sites like Facebook.

Spell check and grammar check have become like crutches supporting our daily work and communication tasks. Should Lymbix’s ToneCheck and API make emotional spell check a commodity we can’t live without — whether it be in e-mail, on social networks or in any other text-based form of communication — then it will surely have a bright future.

Images courtesy of iStockphoto, ayzek and Flickr, whatsupbuttercup

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

More About: email, lymbix, Outlook, Outlook plugin, software, spark-of-genius, ToneCheck

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Nike Gets Buzz From Mysterious Kobe Bryant Project [VIDEO]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 06:53 PM PST


Nike is building buzz on YouTube for a mysterious project directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Kobe Bryant called The Black Mamba.

Nike has released a couple of 15-second trailers for the film that have collectively gotten about 50,000 views since going live earlier this month with no promotion. One trailer features Bryant, who is presented as “the world’s best basketball player” encountering “his biggest challenge yet.” The camera then pans to a pool of gasoline that is lit just before reaching Bryant’s feet. Another trailer, released earlier this month, shows Bryant tossing a ball at the camera.

A Nike rep says the film highlights the Nike Zoom Kobe VI and will premiere in early 2011 in the U.S. and China. The rep declined to discuss further details. According to a report in Entertainment Weekly, the Rodriguez film runs 8 minutes and will launch next month during the NBA’s All-Star weekend.

The effort comes after Nike has had some success with long-form, Internet-based video. The brand’s three-minute Write the Future epic, celebrating last year’s World Cup hit 7.8 million views in its first week and has received more than 21 million views in 2010, according to YouTube.



More About: advertising, kobe bryant, MARKETING, Nike

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Verizon Releases First iPhone 4 Commercial on YouTube [VIDEO]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 06:05 PM PST

Verizon has just launched its first commercial spot for the long-awaited Verizon iPhone on YouTube.

The 30-second spot teases customers for the February 10 launch of the iPhone 4 on Verizon. It features lots of ticking clocks, dramatic music and people waiting in anticipation for the day the iPhone makes its way to largest carrier in the U.S.

There is only one line in the entire commercial:

“To our millions of customers who never stopped believing this day would come… thank you.”

Let the Verizon iPhone countdown begin.

[via Engadget]

More About: att, iphone, iphone 4, verizon, Verizon iPhone, verizon wireless, video, youtube

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Google to Launch Groupon Competitor [EXCLUSIVE]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 05:37 PM PST


Google is preparing to launch Google Offers, the search giant’s Groupon competitor, Mashable has learned. We have the documents to prove it.

One of our sources has sent us a confidential fact sheet straight from the Googleplex about the company’s new group buying service. “Google Offers is a new product to help potential customers and clientele find great deals in their area through a daily email,” the fact sheet says.

Google Offers looks and operates much like Groupon or LivingSocial. Users receive an e-mail with a local deal-of-the-day. They then have the opportunity to buy that deal within a specific time limit (we assume 24 hours). Once enough people have made the purchase, the Google Offer is triggered and users get that all-too-familiar $10 for $20 deal for that Indian restaurant you’ve never tried.

From what we can tell, Google Offers will be powered by Google Checkout. It also includes Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, Google Buzz and e-mail sharing options.

Google is actively reaching out to businesses now to get them on board with Offers. It even apparently has a writing team in place to craft the write-up for offers.

Google famously tried to buy Groupon for $6 billion just a few months ago in order to bolster its local advertising business. Groupon rejected the offer though and is instead preparing for a $15 billion IPO.

The search giant clearly isn’t giving this market up without a fight, though. With its vast reach, huge resources and brand recognition, it could prove to be a powerful player in the space. We’re going to be watching these developments closely. We’ve reached out to Google for comment.

Below, we’ve embedded the entire fact sheet Google is sending to local businesses:

Update: Google has responded to our inquiry and sent us the following statement:

“Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new products, such as the recent Offer Ads beta, that connect businesses with customers in new ways. We do not have more details to share at this time, but will keep you posted.”

Google essentially confirms Google Offers is real. It looks like Google Offers is in the testing phases, though.

Update 2: We’ve also learned that Google will pay out 80% of a business’ revenue share three days after its deal runs. Google will hold the remaining 20% for 60 days to cover refunds before sending the rest.

Offers Fact Sheet

Thanks to Mashable’s Jolie O’Dell for her help on this story.

More About: EXCLUSIVE, Google, Google Offers, groupon, trending

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Now You Can Log in to Flickr with Facebook

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 04:33 PM PST


Flickr has added the option to sign in to Flickr with a Facebook account in an effort to make Yahoo’s popular photo-sharing site more accessible.

The new feature is part of Flickr’s push to make more OpenID login options available. In October, Flickr launched Google-powered signups for accounts. It made sense: Google is the world’s largest “identity provider” on the web.

Facebook isn’t far behind though, so it was only a matter of time until Flickr added a Facebook login option. You can now choose to sign in with your Yahoo ID, your Google ID or your Facebook credentials. However, you still need a Yahoo account associated with your primary Facebook e-mail in order to use the Facebook login feature.

Yahoo’s photo-sharing service has also rolled out several features. The big one is that Flickr has made it easier to share your public photo uploads to Facebook. If your accounts are linked, you can simply set up Facebook Connect in your account settings.

Flickr’s future has been major point of contention in recent months after a leaked slide showed that Delicious and other Yahoo apps were on the cutting block. Yahoo product chief Blake Irving though has made it clear that Yahoo is committed to developing Flickr. Today’s update seems to show that Yahoo isn’t letting things slow down at Flickr.

More About: facebook, facebook connect, flickr

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Meetup Everywhere Localizes Communities With Site Overhaul

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 03:31 PM PST


Meetup Everywhere, a platform for brands and organizations to mobilize fans in various locations, launched a massive redesign today. The site overhauled not only its look but also its functionality.

The most important change is account owners’ ability to create “Worldwide Meetup Days” for their communities. This allows organizations to initiate a Meetup theme and date on their Meetup Everywhere page, making it easier for them to mobilize fans around a particular activity or topic. Once the Worldwide Meetup Day is created by the account owner, it shows up on each community’s Meetup page as an event. Members can then RSVP to attend, or step up as an organizer by locking in a venue and adding event details.

Users can still create their own Meetups, but the process is now much more collaborative. Any community member can suggest an idea, but leave the date, venue and details blank. Other members can then fill in those fields, making a team of co-organizers to put the event together. The beginnings of this tweak came in late 2010, but have come full circle with the ability to suggest only a topic. The best part? Other communities on the organization’s Meetup Everywhere page can then “steal” ideas from fellow communities and make them their own. “It is way easier to team up to plan Meetups suggested by the main organization or based on ideas of local members of the community,” says Meetup Vice President of Strategy Andres Glusman.

Another difference that’s exciting for both account owners and communities is the addition of the most active members’ profile pictures in the left column of each community page. The photos with stars in the bottom right corner denote that he or she is a Meetup organizer. Hovering over a picture shows the person’s name, any social media accounts they’ve linked to their profile and how many Meetups they’ve organized (if any). This shows organizations who their super users are, while recognizing community members for their activity and giving other members a way to get in touch with potential co-organizers. In addition, communities are further recognized on the Meetup Everywhere homepage, which now has a leaderboard showing organizations sparking the most Meetups.

Aesthetically, the big change you’ll notice is on the map. Instead of your average Google Maps flags, Meetup has created pins out of its logo that show the number of Meetup communities in an area. As you zoom in, clicking on each community’s flag brings up the exact location of that community and its number of members.

Overall, the new Meetup Everywhere makes it easier to follow a local community, helping organizations and their fans engage more effectively. It comes at a time when many large organizations are changing their marketing efforts to show a more local presence.

Some organizations have already begun taking advantage of Meetup Everywhere’s new capabilities. E-commerce site Etsy today launched a Worldwide Meetup Day to mobilize its 596 communities to craft valentines for the elderly. The New York Jets have initiated AFC Championship watching parties for its communities, while BabyCenter is celebrating Guilt-Free Parenting Day.

Mashable is also jumping on the Meetup Everywhere changes by launching Pre-SXSW Meetups. Visit our page to see if there’s one in your area and look for a post on Mashable next week with details.

What do you think of the new Meetup Everywhere? Will it inspire you to use the platform more often? Sound off in the comments.

More About: -local, community, Etsy, Google Maps, mashable meetup, meetup, meetup everywhere, redesign, social media

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Woman Who Fell in Fountain in YouTube Video May Sue

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 02:48 PM PST

Remember how we all laughed last Friday at the cautionary tale that was “Girl falls into fountain while texting at the Berkshire Mall”?

Well, the folks at the mall where the incident occurred probably aren’t laughing now, as Cathy Cruz Marrero (the fountain woman) is considering suing them.

The video in question — in case you haven’t seen it — is pretty self-explanatory. It features a mall security video with audio of mall employees laughing at Marrero as she texts while walking, subsequently falling into a fountain.

Now, Marrero is making the news circuit rounds with a lawyer in tow, stating that she might be suing the mall.

“My issue is I don’t think security was professional because they didn’t send anyone to check on me until 20 minutes later and I had already left,” Marrero told Reading Eagle.

“We are troubled by the fact that anyone at the Berkshire Mall responsible for releasing this video would find humor in an employee injured on the premises,” her lawyer, James M. Polyak, added. “We intend to hold the appropriate persons responsible.”

What do you think of Marrero’s actions?

The Original Video

More About: viral video, youtube

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U.S. Army Launches Social Media Handbook

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 02:32 PM PST


The United States Army has officially announced the release of the 2011 Army Social Media Handbook, a document that’s meant to offer social media guidance for soldiers, personnel and families alike.

The handbook is a follow-up to the 2010 Social Media Book, which was produced by the Army’s Online and Social Media Division. According to a post on Army Live, the official U.S. Army blog, the 2010 book “only scratched the surface of Army social media use,” which is why a new document was created.

The new social media handbook now provides additional tips and best practices, along with information on operations security tips, branding information, checklists, regulations and frequently asked questions.

A list of security tips, provided in the handbook, includes points such as:

- Setting privacy setting options to “friends only.”
- Not revealing schedule information and event locations.
- Considering turning off the GPS function of smartphones to avoid geotagging.
- Reviewing photos and videos before they’re posted online to make sure they don’t give away “sensitive” information.
- Making sure family members understand what type of information can and cannot be posted on social networks.

These Army guidelines and tips come during an era when social media use has become increasingly widespread and accepted in the U.S. military, to the point where the Department of Defense announced a new social media policy last February. On one hand, it’s still possible for commanders to restrict Internet access — going beyond social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter — from time to time. Just last month, the U.S. Air Force blocked more than 25 media websites, including The New York Times, from its computers to prevent access to classified information originally published by WikiLeaks. (Note: The ban did not extend to personal computers.)

But even though such restrictions are still possible, some branches of the military have actually loosened up their online social policies: The U.S. Marines lifted their ban on social media early last year, allowing access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at work. And there are plenty of official military-affiliated pages out there on the aforementioned social networks.

With all five branches of the military on Facebook and Twitter, it’s no wonder the Army also decided to tweet out the news about its new social media handbook.

More About: military, social media, u.s. army

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Verizon Makes First Legal Challenge to FCC’s New Net Neutrality Rules

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 02:23 PM PST

Verizon

Verizon has filed an appeal challenging the net neutrality rules that the FCC adopted last month, which aim to prevent Internet providers from blocking or slowing legal content.

“We are deeply concerned by the FCC’s assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself,” said Michael E. Glover, Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, in a statement Thursday. “We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers.”

Verizon expressed its disappointment with the FCC’s new rules when they passed on December 21, arguing that government intervention, not industry discrimination, is what threatens an open web. Others argued that the rules are too weak and leave consumers, websites, and online services vulnerable to gate-keeper control by providers.

The federal court of appeals where Verizon filed the appeal is the same court that struck down an attempt by the FCC to enforce net neutrality principles last year.

More About: fcc, net neutrality, open web, verizon

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How Larry Page’s Google Will Function

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 02:21 PM PST


We’re still reeling from the bombshell announcement that Google co-founder Larry Page is replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO. The change, effective April 4, will take Larry Page to the top while Eric Schmidt will take on the role of executive chairman. At the same time, co-founder Sergey Brin will be stepping down as president of technology and assuming the simple title of co-founder.

What does this mean for Google as a company? What is going to change and how is it going to operate?

Under the current system, Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin run the multibillion dollar company as a triumvirate, having equal say on all key decisions. There have been a lot of advantages to this system, as Google’s rapid ascension has proven, but Schmidt says that it has also slowed down decision-making and made it difficult to figure out who’s accountable for decisions at the top.

Today’s changes are designed to fix all of that. During today’s earnings call, Schmidt told analysts and press that he will be focusing on external affairs, primarily partnerships, business relationships, government outreach and customer relations. He will be the one who heads to Washington to explain Google to the Justice Department and forge new relationships with technology and media’s biggest organizations. He will also probably be the leader on acquisition negotiations.

Larry Page, on the other hand, will focus on internal affairs, especially “product development and technology strategy.” He will be the man who focuses on the nuts-and-bolts of the organization, making sure employees are happy while pushing the ball forward on Google’s overarching initiatives and products.

Finally, Sergey Brin’s new role as co-founder is to lead the company’s “strategic projects.” He will be in charge of Google’s new and experimental technologies, so we expect him to be in the trenches with engineering teams designing and developing its key projects in local, social and other high-value areas.

Throughout the call, Schmidt made it clear that the trio will be sticking together and that they are “best friends” as well as longtime business colleagues. However, the buck now stops with Larry Page. He will make the final decisions and call the shots. So now, when Google has a breakthrough quarter or has a major product flop, everyone will know who to praise or blame.

Make no mistake: This is Larry Page’s company now.

More About: ceo, eric schmidt, Google, larry page, Sergey Brin

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Google Revenue Up 26% From End of 2009

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:46 PM PST


In addition to announcing a major shakeup in management, Google also released its fourth quarter earnings for the fiscal year ending 2010.

The company reported revenues of $8.44 billion for the quarter. This is an increase of 26% from fourth quarter 2009. GAAP operating income was $2.98 billion, which corresponds to 35% of revenues. Google’s traffic acquisition costs (TAC) totaled $2.07 billion, which equals 25% of advertising revenues.

Net income (GAAP) for the quarter was $2.54 bililion, compared with $1.97 billion in 2009. This resulted in a GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $7.81 on 326 million diluted shares. That’s up from $6.13 year over year.

Google-owned sites were responsible for 67% ($5.67 billion) of total revenues. That is a 28% increase year over year. Google’s network revenue, which includes the AdSense programs, accounted for $2.50 billion (30%) of total revenues. Network revenue was up 22% year over year.

In addition, aggregate paid clicks — including clicks related to AdSense partners or ads on Google sites — increased 18% year over year and 11% from third quarter 2010. Average cost-per click increased 5% year over year.

More About: Google

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MTV To Hold Online Awards Show for Digital Content

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:40 PM PST


First, there were the video awards, then the movie awards, and now, MTV is kicking off its first-ever awards show that focuses on digital music and social media.

As part of its ongoing push toward the digital realm, MTV is adding a new awards show to its stable of events. Although it is not fully sketched out yet, Dermot McCormack, executive vice president of digital media, MTV Networks Music & Logo Group, tells us that the show — which has yet to be named — will take place in the spring of 2011.

And, here’s the clincher: It will be online-only. “This will be the opposite of a TV awards show,” McCormack says. “Social conversation will be the centerpiece.”

According to McCormack, media has moved into a multi-screen world, therefore, the show should be able to be accessed on all of these screens — especially since it deals with the digital and social media world much more than it does the world of traditional media.

While McCormack and Co. don’t have any specific awards mapped out yet, categories could include “best music app,” as well as awards for monumental moments in social media (think Kanye West’s tweets).

Awards will be doled out mostly based on the whims of the audience, with a few selected by MTV itself, and audience participation will be a big part of the process all around.

MTV learned a lot of lessons about fan interaction from its search for the first TJ (Twitter Jockey), a web show that relied on participation via social media in order to function.

Those lessons will be applied to the shaping of the show. “There’s a lot of constraints on TV,” McCormack says. “Digital, as a storytelling medium, has fewer constraints. We will look to innovate around how to take advantage of the tools the web offers.”

You can probably expect interactive touches like the Captionbomb game MTV launched around the Skins premiere, which lets fans chat and check in during the show.

At this juncture, it’s undeniable that the music scene has changed in accordance with the digital world: The way we find music, how we interact with that music, how we share tunes, etc., have all been affected by the advent of social media and flourishing technologies. Therefore, MTV is striving to recast the way it looks at musical achievements.

“The digital music world needs a new MTV,” McCormack says, “And we would like to apply for that job.”

More About: mtv, social media, tech, television

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HP Makes Sweeping Changes to Board of Directors

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:23 PM PST


HP has just announced a major change in its board of directors: it has appointed five new board members while removing four others.

Effective January 21, the new directors will be Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, Shumeet Banerji, CEO of Booz & Company, Gary Reiner, former CIO of General Eletric, Patricia Russo, former CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, and Dominque Senequier, CEO of AXA Private Equity. Each will have to stand for re-election in March.

At the same time, four incumbent directors will be stepping down, including Joel Hyatt (Current Media), John Joyce (Silver Springs Networks), Robert Ryan (Medtronic) and Lucille Salhany (JHMedia). With the changes, HP’s board will have 13 directors.

It’s a major shake-up at the top of HP after the Mark Hurd scandal. The former CEO of HP stepped down last year after an investigation over sexual harassment and personal misconduct. Hurd has since joined Oracle as co-President.

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Larry Page To Replace Eric Schmidt as CEO of Google

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:09 PM PST


Google announced its fourth quarter earnings this afternoon, and with it the news that co-founder Larry Page is replacing Eric Schmidt as CEO of the company, effective April 4.

Page, who served as Google’s first CEO from 1998 to 2001, will take over Google’s day-to-day operations, while Schmidt will assume the role of executive chairman of Google, “focusing externally on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership,” Google said in a statement. He will continue to act as an internal advisor to Page and Google’s other co-founder, Sergey Brin, who oversees Google’s strategic projects, Schmidt explained in a blog post.

"We've been talking about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making for a long time,” Schmidt said in the statement. “By clarifying our individual roles we'll create clearer responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. In my clear opinion, Larry is ready to lead and I'm excited about working with both him and Sergey for a long time to come."

Page added, "Eric has clearly done an outstanding job leading Google for the last decade. The results speak for themselves. There is no other CEO in the world that could have kept such headstrong founders so deeply involved and still run the business so brilliantly. Eric is a tremendous leader and I have learned innumerable lessons from him. His advice and efforts will be invaluable to me as I start in this new role. Google still has such incredible opportunity — we are only at the beginning and I can’t wait to get started."

On a lighter note, Schmidt tweeted, “Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!”

For further analysis on the change, please see my colleague Ben Parr’s post.

More About: eric schmidt, Google, larry page, trending

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Box.net Unveils New, Simplified Interface

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 12:58 PM PST


Cloud collaboration and management company Box.net revealed today a brand new, simplified version of its website and product.

The new Box, which will be rolling out in the next 30 day, is the culmination of two years of ideas and more than six months of engineering. We spoke with Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie and engineering manager Kimber Lockhart about the new Box.

A New Approach to Enterprise Software

Levie pointed out the problems with enterprise software as it exists today — and one of the biggest problems is the length of the product cycle. Having a three-year upgrade cycle might be good for an IT person who doesn’t want to constantly install new programs or configure new settings across a network, but it makes implementing changes much slower and necessitates that companies support older versions of software in parallel with newer versions.

Moreover, Levie told us that most enterprise software is designed for the IT administrator and not for the user. For certain types of software, this approach may be appropriate, but for content management solutions, it doesn’t make sense.

Levie says he thinks that the rate at which Box can continue to iterate and update products gives the company a big advantage over the competition.

We agree. One of the biggest players in the cloud enterprise software space, Salesforce.com, is accelerating at a breakneck pace and making major acquistions left and right.

With the new, more simplified Box.net, Box hopes to increase its growth in the enterprise space. Box now has 5 million customers (both paid and free accounts) and its revenue for enterprise users in 2010 was 3.4 times greater than the revenue it generated in 2009.

Taking a Cue From Mobile

Box.net has received a significant overhaul in terms of its user experience. Although we have always found Box to be an attractive web app, the new release is really focused on highlighting content.

Levie and Lockhart told us that the iPhone, iPad and Android apps influenced the new design.

One of the big challenges of the redesign was making the interface more simple without losing the features that users have grown accustomed to using, Lockhart also told us. This required a major overhaul of the entire backend and administration system, but Lockhart says that, if anything, administrators now have more power and control over file and user permissions.

Box is continuing to invest in mobile and plans to bring some of the newest features to the mobile apps in the coming months.

New Features

In addition to the content-focused redesign, Box has also added some new features to the service.

The big news is that Box.net now supports real-time activity updates. The system, which isn’t dissimilar from Salesforce.com’s Chatter, is designed to alert users of new information and updates throughout Box. This includes Growl-like notifications of newly uploaded files or changes to drafts, while a user is viewing or editing content and in-line real-time updates when viewing a listing of files or folders.

Box has also added the ability to form discussions around projects or folders and not just individual files. This is a smart move and makes Box much more suited for tasks that might incorporate several different files from various places.

Big Third-Party Push

In addition to the new Box.net, the Box Apps Marketplace has also received an overhaul. This marketplace does a better job of highlighting some of the Box partnerships like Google Docs, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM and others.

Developers will be able to integrate more cleanly into the Box Apps Marketplace, meaning that notifications and status updates from third-party apps can now be part of the Box experience too.

Extensibility is one of Box’s strengths and we hope to see the company ramp up the ability to integrate with apps and services not just on the web but with mobile.

On that end, Box will be partnering with Samsung to bring a better, more integrated experience to the Samsung Galaxy S series of smartphones and tablets. Box is also working with VMWare to ensure that corporate communications across the cloud are as secure as possible.

The new Box.net release is a great example of how consumer-facing web apps are having an impact on enterprise focused products. We look forward to following these trends in the future.

More About: Box, box.net, cloud computing, enterprise software, salesforce.com

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10 Million User Accounts Compromised in Trapster App Attack

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 12:16 PM PST


Trapster, a free mobile application for sharing and finding “speed traps,” has alerted its 10 million users that their accounts may have been compromised in a recent security breach.

Users are advised to immediately change their log-in credentials. If the same password was used across multiple services, especially web mail or PayPal, users are advised to immediately change those passwords, as well.

In general, the best way to keep your online accounts secure is to use a password manager that generates long, random and unique passwords for every online account you use. (Here are five password managers we like.)

In an e-mail to its users, a Trapster rep writes, “The Trapster team has recently learned that our website has been the target of a hacking attempt, and it is possible that your email address and password were compromised.”

The e-mail continues, “We have taken, and continue to take, preventative measures to avoid future incidents, but we are recommending that you change your Trapster password.”

The Trapster blog doesn’t yet have any details on how the breach occurred, what kinds of data were compromised, how usernames and passwords are stored (we certainly hope it’s not plain text), or what the company has done to beef up security.

Although it’s unlikely any black-hat hacker would actually want a Trapster user’s sign-in name and password, the redundancies between mobile app passwords, e-mail passwords, bank passwords and PayPal passwords do leave the window open for criminal profit. In a just-published report on the state of cybercrime, we show how these kinds of security breaches can lead to big business on the black market — and big losses for consumers who don’t carefully guard their own identities.

Check out that report for more information on how to protect your online identity, and always use unique passwords for every web app you use.

More About: mobile app, security, trapster

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Facebook vs. Google: Which Do Consumers Like More? [STATS]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 12:04 PM PST


Coming off a phenomenal year, Facebook is close to narrowing the gap with Google when it comes to public sentiment, but is not quite there yet, according to research from YouGov’s BrandIndex.

The company, which polls 5,000 people per day online, found that Facebook currently has a “Buzz Score” of 31.3 vs. 39 for Google. Those figures are based on averaging positive scores (+100) with negative ones (-100). In other words, if you polled three people and two had a positive view of Google and the third didn’t, the buzz score would be calculated by dividing 200 by three to get a score of 66.7.

The final numbers only tell part of the story, though. Google started the year with a 45.1 Buzz Score, so 39 is down by 6.1 points. Facebook, meanwhile, only edged up slightly for all of 2010, but the brand’s Buzz Score see-sawed throughout the year. Privacy concerns over the summer sent Facebook’s score into the single digits, while the opening of the movie The Social Network in October prompted another drop. Since then, though, Facebook’s Buzz Score has been steadily climbing.

“You are talking about more recognition than ever, booming business, talk of IPO, Time magazine cover, etc. that has helped them,” says Drew Kerr, a rep for BrandIndex.

More About: brandindex, facebook, Google

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The State of Cybercrime [STATS]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 11:56 AM PST


How much does it cost to buy a stolen credit card number on the black market? What about renting a botnet or setting up a fake online store designed to steal user identities?

Cybercrime involving stolen credit card numbers, money laundering, botnets and other black-hat activities is a huge business online. A new report [PDF] from PandaLabs uncovers the going price for some of the most popular kinds of cybercrime, and most Internet users would be surprised at the numbers behind common forms of online crime.

For example, you can purchase bank details for accounts with confirmed six-figure balances for $80 to $700. You can find someone to design and publish a fake online store for between $30 and $300. A credit card-cloning machine costs $200 to $1,000, and an actual fake ATM, which steals valuable credentials from anyone who uses it, can be bought for a mere $3,500.

According to a statement from PandaLabs, “This cyber-criminal black market caters to buyers' needs just like any other business and functions in similar ways.”

“Since there is a great deal of competition in this industry, the rule of supply and demand ensures that prices are competitive, and operators even offer bulk discounts to higher-volume buyers,” the report continues. “They will offer free 'trial' access to stolen bank or credit card details, as well as money back guarantees and free exchanges.”

Most sellers and buyers remain relatively anonymous in these transactions, however, conducting transactions over IM apps and making and accepting payment through services like Western Union, Liberty Reserve and WebMoney.

The report also states that, while exact metrics are lacking, the business of cybercrime appears to be more prolific than ever.

“Although we don't have precise data,” the report reads, “we believe that this nefarious business has expanded with the economic crisis. Previously it was in no way easy to locate sites or individuals dedicated to this type of business, yet now it's relatively simple to come across these types of offers on underground forums.”

Stains of malware are also on the rise, particularly ones designed to steal bank details. Currently, trojans account for 71% of all new malware, up from 49% in 2005. And 99% of the time, malware is intended to target Windows operating systems.

“Five years ago,” the report states, “there were only 92,000 strains of malware cataloged throughout the company's 15-year history. This figure rose to 14 million by 2008 and 60 million by 2010.”

For consumers who wish to protect themselves from this kind of cybercrime, take the following common-sense precautions:

  • - Sign your credit and debit cards as soon as you receive them.
  • - When paying by card in a brick-and-mortar store, make sure your card is always in view.
  • - Destroy any physical correspondence that includes your name, address, Social Security details or account numbers; and don’t let mail sit in your mailbox for too long.
  • - Save and destroy all your ATM receipts or destroy them.
  • - Clear browsing data, including cookies and temporary files, after making an online purchase.
  • - And of course, never save or write down your passwords, keep your antivirus software up to date and only shop online at trusted sites.

Image courtesy of Flickr, arenamontanus

More About: black hat, cyber crime, cyber criminals, cybercrime, data security, security, user data

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YouTubers Get Another Conference: Another Step Toward the Mainstream?

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 11:33 AM PST


These days, YouTube stars are inching closer and closer to becoming bona fide celebrities, as evidenced by the launch of Playlist Live, a convention that will be held in March and will feature personalities almost entirely culled from YouTube.

Granted, the idea of a convention dedicated to YouTube celebs isn’t new — the self-appointed inaugural fest of that sort would be VidCon, which kicked off last year. There’s also YouTour and the upcoming DigiTour. And then, of course, there’s ROFLCon, which delves into Internet meme/viral culture. Still, the proliferation of conferences of this nature points to YouTubers gaining a more prominent place in the zeitgeist.

So what does this most recent event entail? Well, it’s a lot like VidCon, actually (although likely smaller) — a convention featuring comedians and musicians doing what they do online… offline. Some comedians, like Julian Smith and Wheezy Waiter, will be performing, while other personalities — such as The Mystery Guitar Man — will be doing meet and greets. There will also be live musical performances by the likes of He Is We and All Caps. (YouTube is not officially involved in the event.)

The whole shindig is sponsored in part by District Lines, a company that makes a lot of merch for YouTube stars.

“YouTube is not about guys getting kicked in the nuts and squirrels on waterskis anymore,” says Kevin Khandjian, CIO of District Lines. “This has been the year that we have seen the YouTube community blow up. Antoine Dodson has become a household name. People are accepting YouTube as legitimate entertainment.”

While we’re not entirely sure that society as a whole has fully embraced YouTube culture as legit, a lot of its denizens have succeeded in breaking into mainstream media — Pomplamoose appearing in a Hyundai commercial springs to mind.

Moreover, many of the performers appearing at Playlist Live have created careers on YouTube, such as Joe Penna (a.k.a. The Mystery Guitar Man). Penna started his YouTube channel during the recession, after which the videos gained traction due to their creativity and style.

“I used YouTube to build up my career for sure,” Penna says. “If I had gone the more ‘traditional’ route, I’d probably still be a PA, or maybe an assistant cameraman at best, but with YouTube I was able to cut the timeline down to a couple of years. I just directed my second national commercial and that wouldn’t have happened without YouTube.”

Kyle Sibert, who will also be appearing at Playlist Live, runs the comedy channel Livelavalive with his friend Mitchell Davis. “Making YouTube videos has been my job for over a year now,” he says. “When I first started, my friends were the only ones watching, and they thought it was pretty awkward actually…. I’d say that the best explanation is that it has changed from a hobby to a career or lifestyle for some.”

And that lifestyle is fascinating to many a viewer — watching a “regular person” with a video camera in such an interactive venue.

“I like meeting fans in person because they feel like they’re your friend already,” says Penna. “They’ve watched you and grown with you over time and it’s exciting to see their excitement.”

According to Penna, the experience of being a YouTuber has changed a lot in recent years. “People were just isolated all over the country making these videos and sending them to each other, now a whole industry has grown up around it and it’s really exciting to see that taking shape.”

Taking a platform built on cat videos and fat kids falling down and turning it into a legit entertainment provider seems like a feat, but given YouTube’s massive audience, burgeoning partner programs, and recent fiscal success of sister content hosts like The Cheezburger Network, it’s definitely not impossible.

“We think this is part of the puzzle to bring legitimacy to YouTube,” say The Fine Brothers, who will also be appearing at Playlist Live. “Events such as these and the others that continue to happen can show in a more traditional way the power of the audiences we all have.”

“The issue we think will be, how much attention can these drum up?” they add. “The YouTube community needs to learn to open itself up a bit more to invite, include and find ways to present itself to the mainstream entertainment world in creative ways to really make a larger dent.”

Playlist Live will be held March 26 to 27 in Orlando, Florida.

More About: video, viral video, web video, youtube

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HOW TO: Optimize E-mail Marketing for Gmail’s Priority Inbox

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 11:10 AM PST


Priority Inbox is revolutionizing how Gmail users receive e-mail — instead of dredging through loads of messages, Priority Inbox users are benefiting from Google’s algorithm, which predicts which e-mails are important based on which ones a user opens and responds to. This new feature is the first big innovation since the spam filter that has ruffled feathers for e-mail marketers.

The feature’s algorithm considers information such as who sent the e-mail, how many others it was addressed to (and who they are), which label it falls under and which words and phrases are used, to determine if it is worthy of the “important” marker. If the system makes a mistake, users can correct it, and it improves over time.

Google claims that typical Priority Inbox users spend 43% more time reading important mail compared to unimportant, and 15% less time reading e-mail overall as compared to Gmail users who don't use Priority Inbox. Good news for e-mail power users, and bad news for e-mail marketers who are almost certainly doomed to fall under the “everything else” category.

We spoke with John Murphy, president of e-mail service provider ReachMail, for his thoughts on the implications of Priority Inbox for marketers and tips on how to optimize e-mail campaigns for it.

Implement a Double Opt-In

Murphy recommends implementing a double opt-in sign-up form for all e-mail communications with potential consumers. Double opt-in is the process by which users sign up via an opt-in form and then confirm via e-mail. While this process can decrease a marketer’s list of e-mail addresses by sometimes up to 50%, Murphy noted, it ensures that those who complete both steps are engaged — well, engaged enough to at least open your first e-mail and click the confirmation link.

“The mindset is going to be completely turned upside down,” said Murphy. “Marketers right now want to get every single last e-mail address they can, just because of the one-odd chance that somebody down the road is going to buy something from them.”

While it’s already a best practice for marketers to emphasize quality leads, (instead of acquiring or buying every e-mail address they can get), this will be even more important moving forward.

Offer Content & Frequency Preferences

Another way to better personalize e-mail communications with recipients is to set up a preference center in which users can choose how often they’d like to receive e-mails. Furthermore, the option to customize content helps target communications based on a user’s interests. The key is finding a way to be relevant and engaging to your audience.

As an advanced step, Murphy recommends offering up dynamic content that changes based on a user’s behaviors on a site. If he or she bought running shoes, for example, serve up content relevant to running in your next e-mail communication with that customer.

Benchmark Open and Clickthrough Rates

Implementing double opt-in procedures and allowing for customization preferences increases the likelihood that e-mail recipients will open and engage with a marketer’s content. To make sure these tactics and others are working, Murphy suggests benchmarking open and clickthrough rates to keep track of changes. “If you see any decline, really examine your program and see what you can do to get those up,” he said.

Furthermore, Murphy urges marketers to strive for high clickthrough percentages based on open rates. “You don’t want to have an open rate of 30% and then a clickthrough rate of 0.5%. That’s not good. You want to ideally get it to where 30-40% of the opens get clicks.”

To do that, Murphy urges marketers to stay away from teasing people with great subject lines that lead to lame offers — be honest in your subject line pitch, and try to reflect the offer as best you can.

Conduct A/B Split Tests

Lastly, it’s advisable to A/B test e-mails, sending out two versions of an offer to small sample sizes to see which performs best. Of course, from there, you send the top performer to the rest of the list.

If creating and testing two versions of an offer isn’t realistic for your team, Murphy suggests another option. “Test a small sample, say 100 e-mails, and see what the open and clickthrough rates are. Make sure that they are at least as good or better than your traditional rates. If they’re much lower, you have to totally revamp that effort until you can get it performing better,” he advised.

Conclusion

Murphy believes that Gmail’s model for Priority Inbox will soon expand to other e-mail providers in an effort to improve the user experience and continue to drive traffic for e-mail providers. As a result, it’s in the best interest of marketers to shape up their e-mail programs to account for such possibilities.

More Marketing Resources from Mashable:

- Why Group Buying Is Leaving Local Businesses Behind
- Case Study: How Google Sells Its Free Products
- HOW TO: Stay Competitive in a World of Online Price Transparency
- Twitter + Random Acts of Kindness = A Successful Social Campaign
- Why Marketers Should Invest in Crowdsourced Research

More About: e-mail, e-mail marketing, email marketing, gmail, Gmail Priority Inbox, Priority Inbox

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Toaster-Like Contraption Brings Scents to Gaming

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 10:46 AM PST


That decades-long quest for olfactory accompaniment to your favorite game or video might finally be over. That’s right, Smell-O-Vision is on its way later this year, and its name is ScentScape.

For a mere $70, you can hook up this toaster-like contraption from ScentSciences, and it will waft 20 different scents into your gaming lair. Trudging through a field of daisies on your way to your next battle? You’ll experience it through your nose, too. Do you love the smell of napalm in the morning? The scent of victory can be yours, right there in your home theater.

The various scents must be programmed into games, but California-based ScentSciences thought of that as well, including ScentEditor, an editing app that allows users to create their own scents and share them with other players.

ScentScape is not only aimed at gaming, but it can be adapted to home videos. This must be part of the march toward complete realism in the realm of home entertainment. After all, if you have 3-D video, you might as well try to accompany that with 7.1 surround sound — and now Smell-O-Vision, right? Necessary or not, after the long and checkered past of the Smell-O-Vision idea, this must be the most advanced attempt yet.

This looks like a fun gadget, but we’re thinking an active imagination might be able to do better. For instance, you know that old TV gag where someone falls down the stairs, and you don’t see the person falling, but you hear it depicted in a cacophonous sound effect? Your imagination fills in the action in a much more entertaining way than seeing it portrayed on screen. The same goes for a variety of smells, noxious or otherwise.

[via GizmoWatch]

More About: home theater, ScentScape, ScentSciences, Smell-o-vision

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The 10 Biggest Developments in Social Media This Week

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:57 AM PST

What's Hot in Social Media

Welcome to this week's edition of "What's Hot in Social Media," a series in which we revisit the week’s most popular stories concerning social networks.

We're keeping our eye on 10 interesting developments this Thursday.

WikiLeaks To Release Secret Swiss Bank Account Info

Swiss whistle-blower and retired banker Rudolf Elmer has given WikiLeaks details concerning the bank accounts of more than 2,000 prominent individuals. The information may contain evidence of tax evasion.

Facebook Halts Phone & Address Sharing (For Now)

Following widespread displeasure over its recent decision to allow application developers to request access to a user's address and mobile phone number, Facebook has decided to temporarily disable this feature until it implements changes that will help users make better informed decisions about their privacy.

Social Networks To Capture 11% of Online Ad Spending in 2011

U.S. marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year, much of which will go to Facebook, according to eMarketer. Facebook generated $1.86 billion in advertising in 2010, the firm estimates.

Facebook Launches New Mobile App for Feature Phones

Facebook has released a new mobile application designed specifically for feature phones. It will give users access to Facebook messages, events, pictures, news feeds, profiles and more.

Twitter Launches in Korean

Twitter has launched the Korean version of its popular service, bringing the total of supported languages to seven.

Goldman Sachs Excludes U.S. Clients From Investing in Facebook

Goldman Sachs's U.S. clients will not be able to buy shares of Facebook via the company's private placement deal, the financial services firm announced Monday.

Cheezburger Network Scores $30 Million in Funding

The Cheezburger Network, an Internet publisher known for popular memes like LOLcats and FAILS, has just scored a $30 million Series A led by Foundry Group, with participation from Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures, and SoftBank Capital as well.

LivingSocial Smashes Sales Records With Amazon Offer

Group buying site LivingSocial ran its biggest promotion yet Wednesday: a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. More than 1.3 million people purchased the voucher, generating approximately $13 million in gross sales.

Tumblr Sending Bloggers to New York Fashion Week

Tumblr is sponsoring more than 20 bloggers at New York Fashion Week next month.

First Kickstarter-Funded Film Headed to Sundance

Matthew Lessner's utopian, tongue-in-cheek film The Woods, the creation of which was partially funded by fundraising platform Kickstarter, is heading to the Sundance Film Festival.

More About: amazon, cheezburger network, facebook, goldman sachs, hot in social media, kickstarter, LivingSocial, tumblr, wikileaks

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Google: Docs Isn’t Getting a Music Player Anytime Soon

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:54 AM PST


The rumors about Google Docs getting a music player, playlists and a preview pane are just that, according to one of the execs in charge of Docs.

Earlier this week, Google Operating System blog, which is not affiliated with Google, dug through the Google Docs source code and found several references to features not currently in Docs. This includes references to a preview pane, a media player, playlists and collections, a potential feature to organize multiple folders.

Don’t expect the imminent launch of a music player though, says Jonathan Rochelle, director of product management for Google Docs. I just had breakfast with Rochelle and directly asked him about the Google Docs music player rumors. He told me that his team has “no goal for a music player.” Instead, it’s a case of people looking too deeply into the code. “It’s hard to find why it’s even there,” he added.

Essentially, Google’s programming teams are always testing different ideas and products, adding and subtracting them from the code all the time. And as is true with many technical teams, Google’s engineers also like to have a little fun and place random things into the code, even if they’re not coming to market anytime soon. The code references could indeed be for upcoming products, but they’re just as likely referring to legacy products or absolutely nothing.

Rochelle doesn’t discount the possibility of a music player though, even saying that it’s a good idea. However, don’t expect Google Docs to become an iTunes replacement anytime soon. Rochelle says that his team is very focused on building a more powerful version of offline Google Docs based on HTML5.

More About: Google, google apps, google docs, microsoft office, music, online music

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Why Group Buying Is Leaving Local Businesses Behind

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:31 AM PST


Chris Treadaway is founder and CEO of Lasso, the social commerce middleware solution for brands and media companies. He is also the author of the book Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. He blogs at treadaway.typepad.com.

There's no denying the appeal of LivingSocial's half-off Amazon gift card deal. The deal for $20 in Amazon merchandise for $10 racked up over 1.3 million sales, rivaling Groupon’s recent national coup with their Gap coupon.

First of all, kudos to LivingSocial for taking full advantage of Amazon's recent $175 million investment in the company. In an odd twist of the value proposition of group deals, it's LivingSocial that benefits the most in offering the deal, especially as they try to claim market share against the increasingly ubiquitous Groupon.

Yet as these "retail hacking" services have leveraged their impressive investment dollars to emerge as national leaders of the space, it's the local businesses that the companies originally celebrated and benefited that are left behind. And ironically enough, big brands that ultimately won't need a group purchasing service to monetize great deals are the present-day beneficiary.

The Local Sell-Out

The appeal and promise of Groupon, LivingSocial and other early entries into the group purchasing game was that small brands, companies and businesses could reach potential new customers, and users received great deals on things that they may not have otherwise tried.

There was a serendipitous magic to the process. Those early deals were extremely high value for consumers, but a value of experience as much as price. The nice restaurant you've been wanting to try, the massage you've been needing but putting off, the random off-kilter adventure like skydiving — these were the things we as consumers loved to have arrive in our inboxes, and that businesses were excited to prompt.

But let's be honest: The retail hacking secret is long out of the bag, and as more and more businesses sign up to offer deals (and more companies offer group purchasing), the consumer is the big loser. Why? Competition has made it tougher for the group purchasing providers to attract the top local advertisers in almost every market.  That’s why you’ve probably noticed far more "great deals" from acupuncturists than great restaurants lately. It used to be exciting to get the Deal of the Day e-mail. It isn't anymore.

Group purchasing has gotten much less effective at the local level, precisely where local businesses and we as local-conscious consumers originally found so much value. The leading platform providers are now seeking top national and international brands to do group purchasing deals (e.g. Gap, Amazon, etc.), while the hyperlocal promise, as delivered by group purchasing, falls by the wayside. 

But Is That What Brands Need?

Consider the case of The Gap — the first international brand to experiment in the group purchasing arena. The Gap's August experiment with Groupon sold 445,000 coupons for $11 million in revenue. The deal was very popular, but some have questioned whether or not it was actually a win for The Gap after fees, lost revenue due to sales to existing customers, and accounting of the deal in financial statements. Consider also that The Gap has almost 1.3 million fans on Facebook and countless people in e-mail lists and its rewards program. If you have those assets at your disposal, do you really need to outsource group purchasing? And do you really want to treat your existing customers the same as you treat new customers? Doubtful.

Lessons Learned

Kudos to Living Social and Amazon for a very well executed campaign.  But I think there are three great lessons from the success story.

1. Great deals from great businesses will always be interesting to consumers whether they come from a top-notch local business or an internationally respected brand;

2. Brands that need a quick shot of cash can capture that demand with a great deal and the right social commerce middleware to support them; and

3. The local business/group purchasing honeymoon may be ending, perhaps in a messy divorce.

Big brands have discovered the opportunity in social commerce and are now looking to capitalize.  As what happened with search advertising and what is happening in social advertising, it's about to get a lot tougher for the typical local business to compete. Easy money from group purchasing is getting a lot harder to find for many local businesses. It is now the beginning of the second wave of social commerce where a variety of more sophisticated marketing approaches, tools, and tricks will be necessary for savvy local businesses to succeed. When that happens, brands will be sure to follow.

More Marketing Resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Stay Competitive in a World of Online Price Transparency
- Why Marketers Should Invest in Crowdsourced Research
- Why Webcasts Are Perfect for Tapping Into Emerging Markets
- Case Study: How Google Sells Its Free Products
- Making Data Relevant: The New Metrics for Social Marketing

More About: amazon, business, gap, group buying, groupon, living social, local businesses, retail, small business, social media marketing

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See iPhone Multitouch App Switching in Action [VIDEO]

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:15 AM PST

Here’s video evidence that lets you see the new multitouch, app-switching capability on the iPhone. We’ve seen this trick on a video featuring the iPad, but not one with the iPhone.

Similar to the gestures available now on Apple’s laptops with their “Magic Trackpads,” a four- or five-finger multitouch gesture lets users move from one application to another. But don’t get your hopes up about using this on iPads or iPhones when iOS 4.3 is officially released. We obtained this from Apple’s official release notes for iOS 4.3, beta 2:


In other words, developers can play now, but the rest of us may just have to wait a bit. The second beta of this iOS 4.3 was just rolled out yesterday, and even though its recipients are sworn to secrecy, they are leaking some tantalizing clues.

When can the rest of us get iOS 4.3? Apple’s not saying, but we expect at least one more beta and then an RC (Release Candidate) before it gets into the hands of the public. Look for it to become available around the same time the iPad 2 is announced.

[Via Engadget]

More About: beta, beta 2, Developer preview, iOS, ios 4.3, ipad, iphone

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HOW TO: Stay Competitive in a World of Online Price Transparency

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 08:10 AM PST


Langley Steinert is the CEO/founder of CarGurus, a leading online automotive community which provides price transparency tools for car shopping. Previously, Steinert was chairman/co-founder of TripAdvisor, the largest online travel community in the world. Prior to TripAdvsior, Steinert was VP of marketing at Viaweb (acquired by Yahoo!).

The Internet continues to change the way we shop for products and services. Going on a trip? You've probably done your research via the web, influenced by every good (or bad) hotel review you found along the way. Buying a TV? You probably did your homework for that, too. Maybe you researched that TV from your smartphone, while in the store where you were tweeting about your not-so-helpful salesperson.

The ability to access information and share it instantly has empowered consumers. Savvy marketers have learned to adapt, working within this new paradigm to grow their businesses and win customer loyalty. But a new alarm is being sounded by merchants with regard to price transparency on the web, where the consumer seems to be the only winner. Merchants often feel like they are being pit against one another in a death match of ever-lowering prices. Consumers flock to Kayak to find the lowest airfares or Zillow to find the lowest priced house in their neighborhood.

The newest challenge for web businesses is how to manage that information, and more importantly, how to handle it with transparency.

The New Online Price Transparency

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Back in 2000 when I helped co-found the travel site TripAdvisor.com, I got my share of angry e-mails from hoteliers irate that we were publishing bad user reviews about their establishments. The very purpose of our site was to provide consumers with fully transparent information about the quality of hotels throughout the world. Hotel reviews from other travelers provided useful insights about the "real" quality of a hotel –- both good and bad. Savvy hoteliers figured out how to pay attention to these reviews and "manage" their reputation. Most hotels now have dedicated online reputation managers who post rebuttals to negative consumer reviews in order to give the hotel's side of the story. Additionally, many hoteliers actively encourage consumers to go on hotel sites and write a review if the consumer has had a positive experience. Mind you, if in fact the core offering is not a good one, all the reputation management in the world will not help. In that regard, listening and internalizing consumer criticism is a new must in the business world.

Addressing price transparency represents a similar challenge for many marketers, who fear losing advantage in a public battle for the lowest price. It is no wonder merchants are concerned. There are thousands of websites across all industries dedicated to providing access to the best deals. In real estate, Zillow can tell you how much that house you are looking for is "really worth." Kayak can help you find the lowest airfare from New York to Los Angeles. CNET will help you find the lowest price on the latest digital camera. Disparities between price and value are being exposed on the Internet in real time for the world to see.

What's a Merchant To Do?

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So what should an online merchant do about price transparency tools on the web? Here are my tips to help merchants better manage this new reality:

  • Don’t Hide: Given the explosive growth of sites like Kayak, Zillow and CarGurus, this phenomenon is not going away. Consumers expect to be able to research prices and find the best deals using the Internet. If you ignore this issue, you are doing so at your own peril. The worst outcome would be your competitor down the street learning to manage the process and you becoming competitively disadvantaged and losing valuable customers and sales.
  • Manage the Process: Try to reach out to these sites and investigate ways that you can manage the process. On Kayak, for instance, you can buy sponsored placements to drive consumers to your site. You can use that ad space to differentiate your offering. Ads on Kayak from Virgin America tout free Wi-Fi. Virgin is trying to make it not all about price and using sponsored placements on Kayak to do so.
  • Retain the Consumer: For those consumers who do come to your site, make sure you establish an ongoing relationship with them. Try to get their permission to e-mail them in the future. Consumer electronics sites like Amazon go out of their way to responsibly use e-mail to stay in contact with existing customers. When that same consumers go to buy their next product, they often go to Amazon first due to this ongoing relationship. Amazon offers service as a way to stay competitive, even if it doesn’t always have the lowest price point. As the adage goes, you should spend at least as much time and money retaining your existing customers as you do trying to acquire new ones.
  • Be Fair: There is no need to have the lowest price, but if your prices are not in line with the competition, you might want to make the necessary price adjustments to at least be in the ballpark. You want to signal to the consumer that you understand the marketplace and that, while not willing to offer the lowest price, you are willing to be fair. Use other dimensions of marketing to differentiate your offering, but make sure you are at least in the consideration set.
  • Leverage Other Channels: Use alternate online channels like Facebook and Twitter to enable your loyal customers to spread the word. Encourage your existing consumers to become fans of your products and services. You should then communicate news and updates to those fans. You will be surprised at how quickly these channels can virally spread the word. Again, work this channel to differentiate your offering and make it not only about price.

What tips did you find most useful? What advice would you share? Let us know in the comments below.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- Case Study: How Google Sells Its Free Products
- HOW TO: Build a Social Media Education Program for Your Company
- Why Webcasts Are Perfect for Tapping Into Emerging Markets
- 24 Professional Events & Organizations for Social Media Strategists
- 5 New Paradigms for a Socially Engaged Company

Images courtesy of Cristóbal Cobo Romaní.

More About: business, crowdsourced, information transparency, social media

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