APPLE TABLET VS MICROSOFT COURIER

TABLET WAR BEGINS.....

I’m going to try writing longer form stuff for the weekends, sort of to stretch the old mental legs a bit and share a bit of the stuff that is floating through my transom, man, about tech and especially mobile and portable electronics.

Come back with me to 2001. A young man got up on stage one afternoon in November to announce something new and amazing: an operating system dedicated to tablet computing. That young man was Microsoft’s Bill Gates and that operating system was WINDOWS XP TABLET PC EDITION.

 

Chances are that is the first and last time you saw a working tablet computer. Laptops, then, were monsters. They were heavy – 10 pounds or more – had small, bad batteries, and WiFi was just a dream for most people. It seemed, in those dark years, that laptop manufacturers could shave off pounds and complexity by removing the keyboard and offer a pen-based OS. After all, this was a post-PalmOS era when handwriting recognition was an input option we all knew and understood.

The thinking was this: if you can streamline applications – data entry applications being the target here – you could sell smaller, more expensive computers to medical and business clients. It didn’t work and Windows Tablet PC has been little more than a clever solution to a nonexistent problem.

So what’s with all the tablet talk lately?

  

We have entered an era of the thin and light computer and, rather than worrying about power we’ve become obsessed with the concept of thinness. This is why Apple, in their wisdom, created the MacBook Air and the iPod Touch. This is the same reason we are all salivating over the thought of tablets thinner than an issue of BusinessWeek and this is why laptop manufacturers –and Michael Arrington – are rushing to make them have a capacitive touch screen and manufacturing difficulties are slowing down the tablet’s release to a crawl, thereby preventing us all from having one. It will be thin and, like the abhorrent HP DreamScreen, will focus on media. The extant tablet verticals – mostly in the medical industry – will still exist.

  

Note this new focus. Rather than trying to create a business machine, manufacturers understand people want bigger screens on which to consume web and media content.

So what can we expect in the next year? Well, first we have the CrunchPad. When all the bugs are worked out, it will be an amazing device – I’ve seen it. And I’m not just saying that because I’ve been intimately involved in the design process, because I wasn’t – that gives me a bit of perspective. Expect the CrunchPad to be a excellent device for blogging – that’s what Mike made it for – and for web apps. Don’t Expect much in the way of media. [I was wrong.]

Then there’s the iPad. This will eclipse the industry and for the rest of the year that’s all you’ll hear about. Trust me. Apple could require you to give this device three drops of blood every morning in order to satisfy the demonic hell-beast soul trapped inside it and we would, gladly. The release will be on par with the iPhone release and they’ll sell a million of them.

  

Then you have Microsoft’s COURIER. It’s impressive, but it’s Microsoft; don’t expect that thing to take shape for two years and don’t expect it to take off until the second generation. Like the Zune, Microsoft will make a product but they won’t make it good until they have a little time to mull it over. I don’t think the Courier will be a player in 2010. As for the rest of the devices, expect slow uptake by price conscious consumers and folks who don’t think it’s “cool” to own “name brand” technology and are real “hackers”(read: teenagers and European students)

Archos,for example, is doing a lot of good work in the tablet space but they’re an also-ran. They are going the Tablet OS route, which is no good. Creative has some devices planned and it’s also clear that ChromeOS could power a nice device – provided HTC makes it.

 

As for connectivity most of these will have a 3G option – although I doubt the iPad will have 3G built-in. WiFi is an obvious second-best.

As for size, tablets, at least with capacitive screens, are weighed down by a huge hunk of metal that shields the electronics from the screen. This hunk of metal – and the glass – prevents us from getting a bigger iPod Touch and is what is keeping the iPad from coming out sooner. Once the world’s (i.e. China’s) scientists solve this problem we’ll get what we want. Until then it’s resistive all the way.

So prepare yourselves for the coming tablet wars and sock away a little cash because things are going to get interesting in 2010.

NEW FIRM OF HOTMAIL'S CO-FOUNDER STARTUP VOIP SERVICES MOBIVOX

VoIP services company SABSE TECHNOLOGIES has acquired Canadian Internet voice startup MOBIVOX for an undisclosed amount. The fledgling company provides VoIP calling via existing landlines and cellphones and also enables its users to do conferencing, make group calls, and transfer calls to their home phone from their cell phone.

 

The young company had raised a single round of funding that amounted up to $11 million nearly two years ago from high-profile investors like Flybridge Capital, IDG Ventures and Brightspark Ventures.

In a statement, Sabse Technologies says it wil integrate Mobivox’s solution into its own offering and retain most if not all employees:

The Mobivox platform and patent portfolio adds to Sabse’s offering by providing a proven voice-interface-programming language, in-the-cloud contact book storage along with network-agnostic telephony integration. Additionally, Mobivox brings a very deep team of speech developers that combined bring more than 100 years of expertise.

The news comes just three month after Sabse, which was founded by well-known entrepreneurs Saber Bhatia(Hotmail co-founder) and Yogesh Patel, agreed to acquire VC-funded Jaxtr, also without disclosing the amount it had paid for the startup. That means the serial entrepreneurs’ newest venture, which as far as we know has raised no institutional venture funding to date, has significant cash in the bank and aims to move fast in the VoIP calling and conference market by picking up strategic assets left and right.

HP LOWERS NETBOOK RATES

With Acer slowly creeping up on their marketshare, HP is planning to take some aggressive action in the notebook market to keep and improve their lead. Though there are estimates of Acer potentially replacing HP as the number one vendor worldwide, HP sees things differently, and is prepared to slash notebooks prices all over their retail market. The move is intended to make HP'S NOTEBOOKS more attractive, which of course results in better sales.

The price cuts aren't necessarily coming at HP's expense, either. The sources cited suggest HP has been shopping for vendors with more aggressive pricing, at the cost of their own margin, and placing larger orders with vendors who offer such. Some of HP's production partners are expected to take profit hits because of this. How this will affect HP's earnings isn't mentioned; I suspect HP is attempting to minimize any impact to their bottom line while avoiding the loss of more ground to Acer.

At the moment HP is still very strong. They are number one in the notebook market, and Dell has been slipping slowly. Product strength will be key as well in the coming year, as the mobile market has been growing faster than ever before -- so pricing won't be everything.

TWITTER ROUNDS $1 BILLION

The big news yesterday was that Twitter raised another $100 million. Today, Twitter CEO Evan Williams confirms in a blogspot that the company did indeed close a new round of funding. The new investors in the round are Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price. Existing investors Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital and Benchmark Capital also put in more money. 

Williams did not disclose the size of the round or the valuation, but as we first reported earlier this month the valuation is believed to be $1 billion. 

This latest round brings the total amount raised by the company to $155 million over the past two years.

PAYPAL CO-FOUNDER AND FOUNDERS FUND ENTERING A NEW FIELD DNA SEQUENCING

 PayPal co-founder and Founders Fund Managing Partner Luke Nosek is tackling a new field: DNA sequencing. Nosek sent out an email (which we’ve pasted below) saying that he has joined Halcyon Molecular, a human genome sequencing firm, as founding president. 

According to the email, Halcyon will sequence complete human genomes in less than ten minutes and for less than $100. This is significant drop in price and time from existing genome sequencing labs that take weeks and thousands of dollars to process DNA. Nosek writes that he will continue to lead The Founders Fund’s genomics investing, but his primary role will be leading and advising Halcyon as the company progresses and readies for launch. Nosek adds that Peter Theil, fellow co-founder of PayPal and Managing Partner at Founders Fund will be joining Halcyon’s board. 

When Halcyon Molecular finally launches, its pricing and timing could be revolutionary. 23andme which reads and tests parts of the human genome and was co-founded by Sergey Brin’s wife Anne Wojcicki is similar in theory. But 23andme doesn’t do a full genome scan, which Halcyon promises to do, but rather looks at SNP's which are regions of high variability in the human genome.

This summer I joined as Founding President of Halcyon Molecular, an extraordinary company which has developed a technology for sequencing DNA vastly more quickly, completely, accurately, and cheaply than ever. Ultimately, Halcyon will sequence 100% complete human genomes in less than 10 minutes and for less than $100. Current methods, which take weeks, sequence only about 90% of the genome, and cost from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on completeness.
Because only a handful of human genomes have been sequenced (and none completely), statistically significant insights have been hard to come by. If genetic research doesn’t seemed to have lived up to its therapeutic promise, it’s because sequencing is just too slow and expensive. With Halcyon’s technology, the pool of genetic information will grow by orders of magnitude in the course of months, offering the first real chance at cures for cancer and other previously intractable diseases. With full sequencing and analysis of millions of genomes, biology can begin to turn into an information science and travel down the path of Moore’s law. While we have 10X better computers and video games every ten years, we do not have 10X better cancer cures and we do not really understand what causes the major killer diseases of the first world other than the cop-out term “aging”. We must change this.
Halcyon’s progress has been rapid in the months since I joined. We have:
· Raised significantly more capital than we need
· Hired world leaders in biochemistry, nanofabrication, and electron microscopy
· Expanded our academic collaborations with Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley
· Received a $2 million dollar aberration corrected STEM electron microscope on loan from the Department of Energy
Founders Fund and myself have made a significant bet on this firm, perhaps the most significant since our investment in Facebook. I have joined as President and moved closer to Halcyon’s future offices in Stanford Research Park to work intensively with the team (I maintain my board seats on SpaceX, Pathway Genomics, and continue to lead Founders Fund’s genomics investing as well). Peter Thiel also joined the board to lend his expertise. But ultimately Halcyon needs the greatest scientists and engineers in the world to succeed in its mission. I know that exceptional people are hard to come by, but of all the Founders Fund companies that have, or have the potential to change the world – Facebook, SpaceX, Palantir, e.g. – Halcyon is the one with the chance to do so in the most profound way possible. It is truly vital that it work.
I want to stress that this is the most talented team I have ever worked with. This is not a job for your best friend’s brother-in-law. Halcyon people have put aside and left their homes, their million dollar salaries, full professorships at major universities, and fully seed-funded startup companies to be part of this effort.

SEARCH TRADEMARKS BY TRADEMARKIA(TM)

 

On the Web there are easy ways to search patents, trademarks are still lost in govt websites that are not particularly search-friendly. This problem is solved with a website that makes trademark search a breeze. 

Trademarkia let’s you search all U.S. trademarks filed since 1870, including dead marks. The company has scans of all the marks and returns results in a very appealing visual grid. You can search by company, theme, product category, or even filing attorney. Companies can also file a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office through the site. 

Trademarkia is a great resource for anyone researching trademarks, companies getting ready to file a trademark, or even product and brand logo designers. It operates much like a domain registrar like GoDaddy. Instead of searching for available domain URLs, you search for trademarks, and if they are available, you can register them for a fee.

Let’s say you want to use a Pegasus for your company’s new logo. On Trademarkia, you can search all trademarks with a pegasus to make sure you are not duplicating someone else’s mark. You can search for dead marks, and if you like one, you can register it for $159.

You can also can look at all 408 trademarks registered to Apple, or sort them to see just the 85 marks Apples has allowed to expire. Some of Apple’s toss-aways include “Mactel,” “iMusic,” “Vingle,” “Xray,” and something called the “Graphulator.” At one point Apple also trademarked “Cougar” and “Lynx” for its Mac OS series, but it let them die. Those are currently available.

 

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 8 RELEASED ON NET

Yesterday Adobe announced the latest version of Photoshop Elements, their slightly-lighterweight consumer-oriented photo editing application. New features in the Windows release include Photomerge Exposure which combines differently-exposed shots of the same scene to create uniformly-exposed shots (similar to High Dynamic Range photos), improved Online Sharing, and people recognition (much like Picasaa).

For Photoshop elements 8 on Mac (which ships in October), there's Bridge CS4 for image management, scene cleaning - to remove objects like people or cars across multiple photos - and TouchUp brushes to easily improve your snaps.

Photoshop Elements costs US$99 for the Mac or Windows edition - and Windows users can also pick up Photoshop Elements 8 and Premiere Elements 8 in a bundle for US$149. Windows users can also download a trial version of Photoshop Elements from the Adobe website.

If you're not convinced by Elements, we've covered a few alternatives recently on Download Squad: Paint.Neta and GIMP 2.8  for Windows, and Pixelmator and Acon for Mac OS X.

SUBLET'S VIPRE - A LIFETIME ANTIVIRUS

Sunbelt's Vipre might not be as well known as Norton or McAfee, but it's definitely a solid choice in desktop malware and virus protection.

Now, thanks to the fine people at HSN who also bring you products like Tony Little fitness gear and Carol Alt's line of cosmetics you can score Vipre's protection until you're stone dead for a mere $99.90. Plus $6.95 shipping and handling, of course.

For added craziness, you can even cover the tab in three equal installments of $33.30.

Let's put this into perspective: a three-year sub for Norton Internet Security will run you $164.99. At that price, you'd be able to buy Vipre for this entire lifetime and 65% of any additional existence you luck into afterward. That's pretty sweet. A little new age, perhaps, but still an excellent deal.

AT&T ENABLES MMS FOR IPHONES

For American iPhone users, today is a pretty big day. AT&T customes should now have MMM (also commonly known as picture messaging) on their iPhones. Update your carrier settings by clicking on your phone in iTunes and going to "Check for Update." Then, to make sure MMS has been enabled for you, go to Settings -> Messages. You should see an option to turn MMS on. Now, whenever you're sending a text message, you'll see a camera icon you can tap to attach a photo.

Other smartphone users have mocked the iPhone's lack of MMS, pointing out that the feature has been almost universally available for years, even on old flip phones. It's not as if the iPhone is making a big leap forward today: it's just catching up. This is probably less Apple's fault than AT&T's, though. International iPhone users have had MMS for a while now, and AT&T delayed rolling it out because the necessary infrastructure wasn't ready. This is a big win for iPhone users, but it's also a bitter reminder that AT&T is still their only choice of carrier in the US.

GOOGLE'S NEW SKETCHUP 7.1

 Google's Sketchup application is a great way to build 3D models for free - and Google have just announced that SketchUp 7.1is now available. Hot on the list of features in this new release are the support for KMZ file imports (KMZ is a standard for the packaging of 3D models and their GPS location data), faster rendering of those large models you're building, as well as the ability to use Google Streetmap images in models that already plotted with GPS data.

SketchUp remains a free download - though if you're wanting to use some of the extra Pro features in version 7.1, you'll need a $500 licence - and requires Windows XP / Vista or Mac OS X 10.4+.

The folks from Google have also put together a video of the new version in action which we've embedded after the jump!

TIPS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS

With Bing slowly but steadily risisng in popualrity. Google is facing more pressure than ever to rejuvenate the search experience it has to offer. Sure, they still hold a clearly dominant share of the market at about 64.6% (versus 19.3% for its closest rival, Yahoo), but then again Google has proven to know better than to just rest on its laurels. 

Over the years, the Mountain View-based company has been enhancing its search engine not only to provide quality and relevant results, but also let users be more particular about their searches with dozens of special features and operators. Despite this, I am willing to bet that most people just use the vanilla search as is. 

Fair enough. I mean Google is supposed to be easy to use, so why complicate it? Well, for starters, these functions are meant save you a lot of time and effort. I'm sure the more inquisitive of you know all about the basics, like quoting your searches to find exact matches, and then some -- but that's truly just the tip of the iceberg. Today we'll be highlighting some of our favorite Google search tricks. 

Special Features:

 

Beyond the standard word search capability, Google can quickly display things like the current time or weather of a particular city; it can be used to track packages; as a calculator for basic and fairly advanced math operations; and can convert things like currency, weights and measures. 

Time and weather:

To find the time in another corner of the globe simply enter "time" and then the name of a large city or country -- time Berlin for example. Likewise, weather humidity, temperature and forecast can be viewed by typing the word "weather" followed by the desired location. 

 

  

 Calculator and package tracking:

 
Use Google for math equations by entering them as a query -- 3*2 will work, but so will a more complex calculation like 94/36*(sqrt 34)^3. Most symbols and integers can be swapped with written words, too. Typing the tracking number for your UPS, FedEx or USPS package directly into the search box will get you quick links to easily track the status of your shipment. 

 

Unit conversions:

 
Conversions are just as easy. Simply enter a number followed by something like USD to GBP, mm to inch, Fahrenheit to Celsius. Be it teaspoons, microseconds, bytes or kilometers, Google's conversion calculator is quite featured, and can be used for just about any unit that comes to mind. 

 

Other tweaks:

 
While all of that is handy and easy to use, things get much more intricate. By using the proper strings of text, you can even use Google search in palce of P2P program to find songs, video clips, and other media. There are also plenty of minor hacks and tweaks. For instance, Omgili shows how to tinker with a Google search URL to get real-time results. This is particularly useful for finding news related to current events; here's the latest on IDF (in progress as of this writing) within a 30 minutes timeframe, by the way.

Query Refinements

Finally, below is a table of a few functions that we have found to be useful -- but they only scratch the surface, really. We would love to hear about the small search adjustments you make to refine or otherwise improve your Google results.

Function	Purpose	Example
+	Includes specified words.	netbook +11.6 +ion
-	Excludes specified words.	gaming keyboard -logitech
*	The standard wildcard symbol. Used as a placeholder for unknown words.	traditional * food
~	Searches for words similar to the one it's paired with.	first computer build ~help
..	Searches for a numeric range -- especially useful for dates or prices.	halo pc $0..$15
define:	Can be used for various things, including words, acronyms, and phrases to offer specialized search results.	define:monkey see monkey do
filetype:	Filters out results by specified file type.	filetype:torrent ubuntu
related:	A great way to find sites that have similar content.	related:techspot.com
site:	Search for site-specific content.	Lynnfield site:techspot.com
Combining operators	You can use most of these search functions in a single query to further enhance your results	+microsoft +yahoo ~talks "Matthew DeCarlo" site:techspot.com

Did you know?

Google is cooking up an innovative personal communication and collaboration tool dubbed GOOGLE WAVE. In short, it is a web-based service, computing platform and protocol designed to unite email, IM, wiki, and social networking. Based on recent information posted on its blog, it appears like Google Wave may be entering the public beta phase next week.

WINDOWS 7 PARTY.GEEKS GONE WILD!

In what could be one of the strangest marketing ideas ever (but definitely original), Microsoft is teaming up with House Party in hopes that consumers will throw an actual real life party to celebrate the release of Windows 7.

Those interested can  apply online here to host a party between October 22 and 29. 

Those selected can pick a theme, then upload photos and videos, chat with other hosts, blog your experience, and download fun favors all from online. And if that by itself doesn't sound enticing enough, party hosts will also get for free a special Signature Edition of Windows 7 Ultimate and a Windows 7 Party Pack.

I don't know about you, but no Windows 7 party of mine would be complete without this guy:

FREECOM FIRST EXTERNAL HARDRIVES WITH USB 3.0 IS AVAILABLE ON MARKET

When a new or updated technology is launched it doesn’t take long for manufacturers to take advantage and get new products available to buy. That’s the case with USB 3.0 and Freecom look to be first out the gate with an external hard drive taking advantage of the speedier connection.

The new drive carries the name Freecom Hard Drive XS 3.0 and will allow transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s, which is more than double the speed of USB 2.0 that maxed out at roughly 60MB/s (but typically a lot less in real-world use). As the name suggests this drive is based on the XS range, which Freecom launched back in May and proclaimed as the smallest 3.5″ external hard drive available. This updated drive sticks to the same dimensions so not only is it the smallest, but currently the fastest USB external drive there is.

Axel Lucassen, managing director of Freecom said:

The rapid transfer speeds of USB 3.0 are going to make sharing information easier than ever before, and with the rise of interactive web applications and new media showing no signs of slowing, it’s arrived just in time.

USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with existing USB conenctions so you can take advantage of this drive even without a USB 3.0 connection. The XS 3.0 will be available in Europe first from next month in 1, 1.5, and 2TB models. Prices start at$175.

I gonna buy it soon..Wat about u..??

APPLE REDESIGNS IMAC LINE

Apple may be ready to introduce a new line of iMac computers with updated specs before the end of year. According to people "familiar with the matter" cited by AppleInsider, the revamped all-in-one desktops will feature a thinner industrial design with new enclosures and possibly even a Blu-ray drive option. The company has previously dismissed this technology calling its licensing process "a bag of hurt."

The updated models were finalized earlier this month and will reportedly remain dual-core -- current models feature Intel Core 2 Duo processors ranging from 2.66GHz to 3.06GHz. More affordable starting prices are also rumored make their way onto the scene and, based on previous updates from Apple, it's reasonable to expect increased harddrive capacities and perhaps newer graphics cards too. Whatever they have in store, an announcement is expected "anytime between next week and mid-October."

GOOGLE SEARCHES FOR BEAUTIFUL MINDS - CRACK THE CODE AND GET A JOB AT GOOGLE

 "IF YOU CAN FIGURE THIS OUT, YOU MAY HAVE A FUTURE WITH GOOGLE"

 

It used to be that M.I.T was filled with code-breakers. Part of the movie A Beautiful Mind takes place there and in real life it’s always had close ties with the military and intelligence agencies. Tech companies also like to recruit there, and Google is no exception.

In search of some beautiful minds, Google has been putting up signs around the M.I.T campus with a code that say, “If you can figure this out, you may have a future with Google.” If they crack the code, which is a fairly simple substitution cipher (or not), it reveals a phone number where they can leave their contact information.

So far, no M.I.T. students have been able to crack the code, or at least they haven’t bothered to leave a voicemail. Maybe they need some help.

 

Do reply if u crack the code...

YET ANOTHER TWITTER BACKGROUND CREATOR - TWEET SCENES

Companies and brands always want to have their Twitter profiles and background images fit their profile. Tweet Scenes is hoping to make the process of creating backgrounds for Twitter users much easier. You upload your logo, photos, text and links, and give some basic background information on your company and what you’re looking for. You then pay a flat fee ($129) up front, and get your design done in three business days.

Tweet Scenes is owned and operated by a web design and development company with over a decade of design and branding experience.

There are lots of free alternatives to Tweet Scenes, like TwitterBackground.com, which is currently the number one free Twitter backgrounds site. According to Nathan Cames, the founder of Tweet Scenes, there aren’t any good Twitter background companies that make good quality backgrounds for the brands on Twitter. Also, you should consider the fact that there are numerous third party applications that don’t use Twitter.com, so you will never see the backgrounds.

It’s a little unclear why someone would pay $129 for a Twitter background when you could get one for free — if you wanted to spend that much you might as well just find a designer to do it for you. If you don’t like the background you get, there’s a money-back guarantee. You can find an example of one of the backgrounds below.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON TWITTER? AD.LY

As Twitter continues to mull over how to make money, startups are looking to capitalize on the advertising potential of the microblogging platform. Media network Glam Media is going to be launching a Twitter ad network. And today, Adly, an Los Angeles-based startup, is launching a Twitter-based advertising network to connect high-end brand advertisers with celebrity and high-profile Twitter users. The idea behind the startup is simple: advertisers can pick which celeb they want to Tweet about their product and once the celeb approves the Tweet, he or she will be paid handsomely by the advertisers. Basically, Ad.ly is the middleman between advertisers and the Twitterati. In fact, founder and CEO Sean Rad says that he wants Ad.ly to be the Federated Media for Twitter.

Ad.ly’s platform is self-serve for both the Twitterati and the advertisers. So for example, an advertiser for Dell could choose which celeb or power-user to pitch their ad too and then submit a bid to a particular user. The celeb (or publisher) then approves or denies the request. Once the publisher approves the Tweet, the message is sent out via their account by Ad.ly. Each campaign requires the celeb to send out four Tweets over the course of a week. Here’s a sample Tweet that a celeb would send out. It’s important to note that each Tweet identifies Ad.ly and links to an online interactive campaign for a brand:

So how do advertisers know how well their campaign is doing on Twitter? Ad.ly features a customized dashboard that tracks click-through rates, retweets, and even the geographic location of users who retweet an ad. The startup is also in the process of launching a “machine learning client” product that would identify the makeup of a celeb’s user base and then match advertisers based on the target audience of a brand’s ad pitch. For example, the new technology will determine the breakdown of a celeb’s follower base by gender.

Each publisher sets the price of a Tweet campaign but Ad.ly will give the publisher a pricing suggestion based on variety of metrics. Ad.ly’s proprietary algorithm evaluates follower counts, authority, quality of Tweets and will help determine the Twitter’s value. And when I say that celebs get paid “handsomely,” I mean it. If a celeb has above a million followers, each Tweet gets in the five figures, with multiple Tweets about a product netting the celeb a six-figure reward (yes, for four Tweets!). Ad.ly takes a cut of what the celeb makes, but Rad wouldn’t reveal what the percentage is.

This is an interesting idea and a potentially lucrative money maker if these numbers are correct but there are a few concerns I have. First, will a celeb’s Twitter “authority” be negatively impacted by the appearance of ads within his or her stream? The second issue I have is the whole idea that a celeb will be monetizing off of other people clicking in their Tweets. I’m not sure how followers will react to this, considering many of these celebs are raking in the money as it is.

But Rad says that the ads won’t distort the quality of a celeb’s stream because the Tweets are spread out and sent every two days, and the ad campaigns that are promoted via Ad.ly’s platform are for high-end brands such as Dell, Maserati, and Hilton. He adds that ad-sponsored Tweets are clearly marked by Ad.ly so people can ignore those Tweets if they’d like. As for the monetization issue, Rad says that celebs can opt to donate any proceeds they receive from the campaign to a charity of their choice.

For the launch, Rad has accumulated an impressive list of high-profile celebs who are willing to participate in the network. Celebs include Kim Kardashian, Brooke Burke, Nicole Richie, Brody Jenner, Dr. Drew and Samantha Ronson.

Ad.ly has recently raised a Series A round of funding from GRP Partners but Rad declined to reveal the amount of funding. Ad.ly faces competition from fellow Twitter ad networks Magpie and Twittad.

 

LIVE JOURNAL USERS CAN MAKE MONEY WITH GOOGLE ADSENSE NOW

 LiveJournal is a widely used web-based blogging platform. It has over 3,000,000 users in the North American market alone. Basic accounts are free, while Premium accounts (which have more features) run $19.99/year.

It’s notoriously hard for bloggers with a limited audience to monetize the traffic generated by the content they self-publish, and Live Journal users are no exception. Now LiveJournal has added a program dubbed 'Your Journal - Your MOney' which should help users monetize their blogs or journals using Google Assense
Important caveat: only users with paid accounts are eligible for the program.

Here’s the deal: users who cough up between $5 for 2 months or $25 for 12 months of using LiveJournal, can add Google AdSense banners to their blog and keep 100% of the earnings (after Google takes their cut). They will be required to sign up for a Google AdSense account or associate an existing account to start earning revenue from displaying Google ads. Users who enter the program can control where ads appear and whether they’re text, images, or both.

What I fail to see how this deal benefits LiveJournal in any way, since they won’t be seeing a penny based on the current agreement. Perhaps it’s just a way for them to maintain its user base, considering the fact most popular blogging platforms already offer multiple ways for users to monetize their traffic.

LiveJournal has a rich history when it comes to weblog publishing. First started more than 10 years ago (on April 15, 1999) by Brad Fitzpatrick as a way of keeping his high school friends updated on his activities, its parent company Danga Interactive was acquired by Six Apart in January 2005. Less than two years later, Six Apart announced it was selling LiveJournal to SUP, a Russian media company that had been licensing the LiveJournal brand and software for use in Russia. Fitzpatrick moved on to join …Google, which may be part of the reason behind the LiveJournal/Google advertising deal.

LiveJournal says it signed up over 22 million new users since its U.S. launch and has a worldwide monthly reach of 25 million users with approximately 7 million in Russia and 8 million in the U.S.
Kind of funny to notice Fitzpatrick hasn’t yet entered the program to start monetizing his own live journal blog.

Or maybe he just doesn’t have a paid account?

MICELLO - "Google maps inside a building"

I’m here at DEMO Fall, where dozens of startups are presenting to a conference room full of attendees and press. One interesting company that presented today is Micello, a startup that’s looking to offer interactive maps at a more detailed level than what you’ll find on sites like Google Maps or MapQuest. 

The idea behind Micello is simple: Google Maps is great for helping route cars places, but when it comes to navigating a large area with many points of interest by foot, it can fall short. So Micello offers a much more detailed perspective, outlining the stores that are in your vicinity. 

It works as you’d expect, with a look that’s similar to the maps you find inside of shopping malls. Even better: the site allows you to search for whatever product or service you’re looking for, with results appearing directly on the map.

For example, if you were looking to find a certain kind of item at a mall — say, some shoes — Micello would present a map of the various stores in the mall with the shoe stores highlighted in red. The service will allow anyone to create maps, and estimates that it takes around four hours of work to make a map for a large mall. The company isn’t limited itself to shopping centers either, with plans to offer support for college campuses, airports, convention centers, and theme parks. At launch Micello will offer 100 maps from around the Bay Area, with more coming every day.

PICASA 3.5 ADDS FACE RECOGNITION AND GEO TAGGING

It took a whole year, but Google is finally adding the facial recognition features you can find in Picasa Web albums to its desktop app. With today's release of Picasa 3.5, when you add a name tag, it scans your entire photo library and applies that name to every match. If it’s not sure it’s the same face, it gives you the option to apply the tag.

To help you tag people, Picasa auto-completes names from your Google contacts when you start typing a name. And you can also geo-tag a photo by marking a photo on Google Maps. 

Once faces are tagged, you can create a face collage of the same person, time-lapse movies, or sync the tags with your Picasa Web albums. You can now upload directly from your camera to Picasa Web albums if you like. Also, with this release the Mac version is no longer in beta.

Facial recognition is now a standard feature for photo apps, both desktop and online. iPhoto has it, Faceboopk Photos has it , and now both Picasa’s online and desktop versions have it.

Here’s a video with a demo of the new features:

TOP 10 TWITEER APPS OF APPLE IPHONE

What are the top Twitter apps on the iPhone? It’s hard to say because the iTunes store doesn’t have a Twitter category (Twitter apps are lumped in under “Social Networking). But AppsFires , the iPhone app sharing service, might have an answer—at least for the early adopter crowd who tend to use AppsFire (i.e. people like you, dear reader). AppsFire looks at apps actually downloaded and kept on people’s iPhones. Based on a sample of 1,500 AppsFire members, the top ten Twitter apps on the iPhone are:

1. TweetDeck
2. Tweetie
3. Twitterific
4. TwitterFon
5. IM+
6. Twitelator Pro
7. Twitterrific Premium
8. iTwitter
9. ShoZu
10. Boxcar

Notice that 7 of the top ten Twitter apps are paid apps. The only free apps are TweetDeck (No. 1), Titterific (No. 3), and TwitterFon (No. 4).

AppsFire also collected some data on what percentage of users download Twitter apps compared to Facebook apps (see slideshow below). While it found a total of 32 different Facebook apps on user’s iPhones, compared to a whopping 102 Twitter apps, more users had a Facebook App on their device.

The No. 1 Facebook app, of course, is the official Facebook app for the iPhone, whereas Twitter does not have any official iPhone app. A full 70 percent of users in the AppsFire sample had the Facebook iPhone app, while only 63 percent had a Twitter app. So much for diversity.

The one thing AppsFire does not know, however, is which apps are actually used more often.