CustomScoop's Tech Jots

Advertising Creep

Facebook’s Trojan Horse
Valleywag
There is a “new and improved Facebook Flyers” tool for fans of the rapidly growing social network. Many bloggers believe, however, that service upgrade is essentially the quiet launch of a major new highly targeted advertising network. The key difference being that the old Flyers allowed users to only target small groups, while advertisers will now be able to target large groups based on gender, age, location, political views, education, and just about anything else. Facebook Flyers is earning high praise already, and while many speculate as to why Facebook is “downplaying” the new ad network, Owen Thomas is sure that it will not fly under the radar much longer. “Make no mistake: This system poses a direct threat to Google's AdWords and Microsoft's AdCenter.”

A Better Way to Advertise Online
TechCrunch
YeildBuild, a web advertising optimization tool designed to work with a variety of networks, has just beta launched. The service reportedly uses algorithms to decide which layout, style, and network will be most successful for particular websites in different scenarios. The tool will monitor results and automatically change ad displays when results decline. Nick Gonzalez calls YeildBuild a smarter solution. “Simply slapping AdSense on your site is one of the easiest, but not necessarily best, ways to monetize your website.”

Libraries Pass on Google’s Free Offer
Mashable
More groups, including the Boston Library Consortium, are turning down Google’s offer to digitize their books for free, citing the search giant’s exclusive commercial rights requirement. While a number of libraries are accepting Google’s terms, the company is under fire by Adam Ostrow and others who believe their policy is too restrictive. “By participating in the Open Content Alliance, Google would both be improving book search for everyone, while also bringing more content into its index (and, likely generating more profits). Let’s hope the company has a change of heart.”

Technorati’s Change of Heart

Technorati Shifts Focus Back Towards the Blogosphere
Mashable
Technorati has brought back some of the blog-centric features that many users were upset to see removed over the summer. The site will once again offer authority rank filtering, charts, and a blog directory. Company representatives also report that the site now enjoys stronger and more stable performance. Pete Cashmore applauds Technorati for going back to help those that made the site popular. “This is great news, and we can only hope that Technorati will continue to focus on serving bloggers and blog readers, who were alienated by the last redesign.”

Skype Services Come to MySpace
GigaOM
Skype and MySpace have announced plans to produce interoperable instant message clients, which should be released sometime next month. The new software will allow users to make free calls to other MySpace members, enjoy numerous forwarding and voicemail features, and link profile information to their IM accounts. Om Malik is impressed by the partnership, calling it a win-win. “The new client will give a big boost to both communities and is a net positive for both Skype and MySpace.”

Facebook Pledges Faster Response Times for Abuse Complaints
Bits
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has agreed to close his Facebook investigation after the social network promised to do more to address allegations of abuse from users. However, the good news was short-lived for Facebook, as Cuomo’s counterpart in Connecticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, expressed disappointment by the news and quickly demanded further protections. “Much more must be done to protect children on Facebook... We will explore all options -- including possible legal action."

Live Made Easy

Microsoft Beefs Up Live Search Offerings
Search Engine Journal
Microsoft has unveiled a series of new Live Search upgrades, highlighted by a free phone search product called Live Search 411 (1-800-CALL-411). Many of the new features are designed for mobile devices, and include dynamic driving directions, voice input, and location-based search. While noting that Microsoft is perhaps a step behind similar services already provided by Google, Arnold Zafra applauds the effort. ”It’s never too late to catch up, for who knows Windows Live Search may actually pull it off.”

YouTube Releases AntiPiracy Tool
Read/Write Web
Google has beta-launched a long awaited copyright filter for YouTube videos. The tool will require publishers to upload copyrighted content so the system can monitor for unauthorized versions. Content owners will then have the ability to either block clips altogether, or monetize them through revenue sharing. Marshall Kirkpatrick argues that Google/YouTube has not gone far enough. “YouTube has chosen to follow the letter of the DMCA law only; today's announcement will not come close to satisfying angry rights holders.”

Leopard Will Pounce Next Friday
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
The blogosphere is abuzz after Apple’s announcement that it will release Leopard, the company’s wildly hyped operating system, on October 26. Along with the announcement, Apple has revealed details on the 316 upgrades that the OS will feature and started accepting preorders. As with many other Mac lovers, Nik Fletcher is chomping at the bit. “After a somewhat disappointing WWDC Keynote this year, the '300+ feature' proclamation has reassured me that Apple hasn't necessarily lost its way as a desktop OS and computer company. 26th October just cannot come quick enough.”

Facebook Opens Up Its Briefcase

Facebook Gnawing Away at LinkedIn
TechCrunch
Facebook wants to continue its meteoric rise in the social networking arena by taking a bite out of LinkedIn. The site has recently allowed users to publish two different profile versions for friends and professional contacts and is reportedly gearing up to launch new networking capabilities to its API. Michael Arrington believes that these new tweaks could prove to be very significant. “Facebook could build a LinkedIn-type networking application within the overall Facebook network. And that could be very bad for LinkedIn in the long run.”

Jiglu Makes Life a Little Easier for Bloggers
VentureBeat
Relief may be on the way for bloggers who have grown tired of organizing content by tagging every post. A new service called Jiglu is designed to tag posts automatically using complicated contextual search formulas. The service will also allow bloggers to automatically embed links in their posts that will link back to related content. Chris Morrison sees potential in the new offering, but suggests that any new blog-related company faces an uphill battle. “Blogs are already crowded with competing services, from Sphere to Widgetbox add-ons. Any startup seeking to further the limited real-estate of blogs risks disappearing as soon as the shiny patina wears off.”

How Stuff Sells
IP Democracy
The popular web reference site HowStuffWorks has been acquired by Discovery for a cool $250 million. The goal, according to Discovery is to beef up the company’s lagging web presence and promote television programs online. Cynthia Brumfield believes the move will boost Discovery’s web presence, but still sees the purchase as a bit of a head-scratcher. “The $250 million price tag seems steep for a site that counts only 3.8 million unique U.S. users per month and 11 million users globally.”

Social Networks Grow on Trees

A New Mixx for Social Networking
TechCrunch
The obligatory social media network launch of the day comes in the form of Mixx, a blend of Digg and Facebook with a focus local and niche news. Mixx, which is now in private beta, encourages users to share stories in order to develop a customized Digg-like interface that is specific to each individual’s interests. Michael Arrington suggests that experienced team behind Mixx could help it succeed where others have failed. “I think it’s a worthy experiment. Entrepreneurs have been trying to crack the personalized news nut for years, with a string of failures. At some point someone will get the model right.”

Google Considers Trans-Pacific Cable
Epicenter
An Australian news service has sparked rumors that Google is planning to lay a multi-terabit cable across the Pacific Ocean. The project, dubbed “Unity” reportedly involves a consortium of telecom companies aiming to have the cable in place by the end of next year. Brian Gardiner notes that, if true, this would quickly make Google a major player in the industry. “Google itself would theoretically own a large portion of the… cable, giving the company a leg up on rival internet companies by providing significant cost advantage for trans-Pacific data transmission.”

Networks Lure Viewers with Free Downloads
Mashable
In a recent flurry of activity, Fox and ABC joined NBC in announcing plans to offer free video downloads. Each network has signed deals with separate services, ranging from Amazon, to iTunes, and AOL. Kristen Nicole is unsure how this new trend will play out. “It seems as though all the major networks have made a made a mad dash to complete their fall line up Internet strategy. We’ll see how much this tactic actually helps the television industry in the way it’s hoping for.”

Playing with Ads

Google Launches Gadget Ads
Marketing Pilgrim
Google has announced the launch of an interactive widget based advertising network dubbed Gadget Ads. The ads will support a variety of rich media, including video, Flash, Javascripts, and RSS feeds. Initially, Gadget Ads will only be available to high volume AdWords clients, but Andy Beal expects that the widgets will quickly pop up across Google’s entire network. “Now that advertisers have a solid advertising platform to monetize them, you can expect to see a whole lot more.”

Digg’s New Social Network
ParisLemon
Digg is expected to roll out a number of new social networking tools today. Users will be able to develop their profiles, send private messages to friends, and take advantage of enhanced message boards. MG Siegler applauds the effort, and suggests that it will lead to dramatically increased advertising revenue. “If this works even slightly, Digg's valuation is going to go through the roof.”

Mint!
GigaOM
A new web based personal financial tool called Mint has won top prize at the TechCrunch40 event in San Francisco. Mint allows users to monitor their finances without routine maintenance by directly linking to accounts, and offers customized tips and email reminders. Adena DeMonte is clearly impressed by the service, but wonders if banks will cooperate. “Of course, not all of the 65 million online bankers in the U.S. will trust an online finance site with their banking passwords. Will enough of them trust Mint for the site to be successful? In this age of identity theft paranoia, I’m not so sure.”

Lining Up to Take on Microsoft

Mozilla Targets Email
The Open Road
Mozilla has announced that its email application Thunderbird will break out into a separate subsidiary with $3 million in seed funding. Thunderbird will attempt to foster the same type of open source development community that previously developed Firefox in order to build an email client and communications tool that can compete with Microsoft Outlook. Matt Asay is applauding the news, suggesting that Outlook has done very little over the last ten years to improve the email experience. "We've long needed real competition in the email market, given how much time people spend in email... This is a Very Good Thing."

IBM Takes on Microsoft Office
Between the Lines
IBM has just unveiled Lotus Symphony, an open source productivity suite designed to compete directly with Microsoft Office. Initially, Lotus Symphony will include software for spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations, but no email client. The suite will be freely available, and IBM will hope to monetize the offering with support contracts for larger companies. Dan Farber is clearly intrigued, but suspects that the ambitious project will ultimately fail to seriously challenge Microsoft. “Lotus Symphony is likely to meet the same fate as the ill-fated OS/2 and Lotus SmartSuite, the operating system IBM and productivity suite created in the 1990’s to topple Windows.”

The New York Times is Freed
BuzzMachine
The New York Times has announced the end of TimesSelect, the paper’s two year old subscription program. As a result, articles will be freely available and the paper will pass on $10 million in subscription revenue in favor of a rapidly growing advertising market. Jeff Jarvis argues that this is an overdue move that represents the end of paid content. “It was a cynical act doomed from the start. With it goes any hope of charging for content online. Content is now and forever free.”

That’s a Big Fine, Even for Microsoft

Microsoft Loses Antitrust Appeal
Techdirt
A European Union court has rejected Microsoft’s appeal of a $690 million antitrust ruling. As a result, Microsoft faces not only the significant fine and court fees, but could also be required to release unbundled software and share code with outside companies interested in designing products for Microsoft’s operating systems. Mike Masnick is puzzled by the ruling, arguing that it does not make life any easier for consumers. “The final analysis should depend on whether or not the customer will be better or worse off. It's not clear how the customer is any better off from this decision.” Microsoft could still appeal the ruling once more.

Yahoo Launches New Social Network
Mashable
Yahoo has just unveiled the beta version of Mash, its new social network. By all reports, Mash appears to be a somewhat stripped down version of more established rivals like MySpace and Facebook. The site features drag and drop customization, a number of optional add-on applications, and the promise to open its platform to outside developers. Sean Aune is not dismissing the effort, but does not yet see much reason to sign up. “I’m sure there is more to come down the road from the new site, for the time being, it just has a feel of a ‘poor man’s copy’ of Yahoo’s missed opportunity: Facebook. “

AOL Shifts Focus, Headquarters
Silicon Alley Insider
America Online is moving both physically and strategically. The company, which has announced plans to move to New York City, has launched a new advertising network comprised of a number of recent acquisitions. Platform A, Henry Blodget notes, will greatly expand AOL’s reach into the Internet advertising market, even while it signifies the end of the company’s days as a portal and service provider. “This is the final dagger in the back of the old AOL.” Blodget also points out that AOL’s profit margin will shrink substantially with ads placed outside of its network.

Facebook Gets a Little More Professional

Faceforce Links Customer Service, Social Networking
Mashable
Salesforce, a customer relationship management software company, has just launched a Facebook application that links customer data directly to user profiles. Faceforce displays leads, contacts, and account data from corresponding Salesforces account in an effort to help sales professional personalize relationships with customers. Adam Ostrow argues that the new mashup will make Facebook more appealing to the working class. “It’s… another thorn in the side of LinkedIn, as there is now yet another feature that makes Facebook more attractive to professionals.” CRM FYI has more details on Faceforce, and if you are interested in Salesforce, check out Between the Lines for the latest.

Yahoo Acquires News Aggregator
BoomTown
Yahoo has reportedly purchased the news aggregator BuzzTracker for $5 million. While some note that the service has a reputation for being “spammy,” Yahoo hopes to take advantage of the tool’s ability to track the most popular stories using algorithms and the human eye. Kara Swisher believes this acquisition is just Yahoo’s latest effort to redefine its business strategy. “The purchase is clearly part of Yahoo’s renewed efforts to link to more third-party content, rather than pointing at its own owned-and-operated properties.”

Technology Meets Happy Hour
Crave
British technophiles might soon have a new favorite bar. London’s Twentyfour features customizable interactive video walls and a bar that will summon servers just by touching it. After “drooling” over photos of the bar, Caroline McCarthy quips, “With over a thousand LED color combinations available, this is one place where the decor won't get boring.”

Propelling Web 2.0

Netscape Finds a New Home
Search Engine Journal
Despite many predicting its imminent demise, Netscape’s dig-like social news service has resurfaced, this time under the name Propeller. A number of bloggers are expecting site traffic to be dramatically lower without the Netscape brand, but Loren Baker predicts that the new domain will quickly grow popular. “I foresee this service squeezing its juice all over the news sites and blogs which participate in the social news sharing and voting arena, especially with all of the Netscape redirects and expected links from AOL properties.”

Mobile Social Networks Eye Presence Detection
TechCrunch
A handful of startup companies are trying to build mobile social networks around the concept of presence detection. As Michael Arrington explains, “Knowing when your friends are around, and having the ability to meet new people who share your interests (even if it’s just that you are both single), will drive massive usage of networks.” In his popular blog TechCrunch, Arrington details several companies that offer this feature, but he argues that until “massive usage” is achieved, many potential users will be hesitant to get on board.

iPhone Unlock Now Freely Available
jkOnTheRun
While already available for $99, a hack to unlock the Apple iPhone can now be downloaded for free. Apple has reportedly said it will not try to block third party applications, but James Kendrick suspects that the company can and will take action to reverse this hack. “I would be very surprised if Apple didn't have the ability and the plan to undo any unlocking that is applied by the end-user. Apple can roll out "updates" whenever they want via iTunes and it could get messy to keep the iPhone unlocked.”