CustomScoop's Tech Jots

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.”

Staying On Topic

A New Look for Technorati
TechCrunch
In its second redesign since May, Technorati has apparently moved its focus back on blogs. The latest version features Technorati Topics, a series of continuously updated feeds that are separated by subject, including entertainment, technology, politics, sports, business, and life. Technorati claims to only include the “best blogs,” which are determined by Technorati Authority and several other factors. Many bloggers are underwhelmed by the effort, but Duncan Riley is optimistic. “There is still some work to do in terms of improving the indexing, but in terms of focus Technorati Topics is at least a step in the right direction.”

Facebook Seeking More Investors?
BoomTown
In an effort to continue its expansion, Facebook is reportedly considering a new major round of financing.  Representatives suggest that the social network has $150 million in revenue this year, but growing costs are limiting its ability to invest in acquisitions and new technology. Kara Swisher Notes that Microsoft is rumored to have significant interest, but so is nearly everyone else in Silicon Valley. “Given the heat surrounding the company, there are not any lack of moneybag suitors, all waiting to rain down copious cash on Zuckerberg and his team.”

Meebo Now Allows File Transfers
downloadsquad
The popular browser based instant messaging service Meebo has just released a new service that will allow users to transfer files across different chat clients. Brad Linder suggests that while there is a 10MB per-file limit, this upgrade could bring in a significant number of new users. “This is definitely a step in the direction of making Meebo a complete replacement for desktop-based instant messaging clients.”

Financial Hits ands Misses

Apple iPhone Sales Reach 1 Million
Between the Lines
Apple has announced that it has surpassed its third quarter sales goal of 1 million iPhones – with three weeks to spare. While a number of bloggers are impressed, especially after CEO Steve Jobs noted that this milestone took 2 years for the original iPod, some financial insiders suggest that the total is disappointing. Larry Dignan is among those that believe the number is a healthy one, but argues that the hard work has yet to begin for Apple. “Part of the secret to [Apple’s] success is that it has a customer base that will buy the first million units of any product–most manufacturers can only dream of that loyalty. Now that this milestone is out of the way we can look forward to that 10 million iPhone mark.

The Ringles are Coming
TechCrunch
The recording industry has announced plans to release a new single format that includes downloadable ringtones. “Ringle” CDs, which are expected to cost between $6 and $7, will feature a single hit song along with two other tracks and a downloadable ringtone. Duncan Riley seems shocked by the idea, calling it a “stupid” product that consumers will not pay for. “I think the multitude of Ringtone sellers and even Apple has nothing to worry about.”

Yahoo Mulled Google Partnership
Blogging Stocks
According to The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo seriously considered outsourcing its search advertising business to Microsoft and Google earlier this year. The paper speculates that such a move would have created a massive revenue boost, but the company ultimately decided against it. Douglas McIntyre argues that Yahoo ought to reconsider, given its financial difficulties. “No matter how much pride Yahoo! would have to part with to set up a partnership with Google for search, it should do so. It needs the revenue…”  

Tech Jots – Movers and Shakers

Delicious 2.0 Takes a Step Forward
Read/Write Web
Yahoo’s popular social bookmaking service Delicious is reportedly moving from del.icio.us to delicious.com and inviting a limited number of users to test a completely revamped version of the software. Most notably, Delicious Preview features a new navigation bar and user interface that makes it easier to use the service as a search tool. Richard MacManus believes that Yahoo could find ways to use Delicious to push “social search” to the next level. “Overall, Delicious still feels like an experiment in progress. But there could be profound implications for Delicious' owner, Yahoo - particularly in search.”

Apple Drops iPhone Prices Dramatically, Apologizes
I, Cringley
Apple created a lot of buzz by announcing a revamped line of iPods earlier on the week, but what quickly became the big story is news that CEO Steve Jobs has dropped the wildly hyped iPhone from $599 to $399. Good news, right? Well, perhaps for everyone who has yet to buy the device. Many of the half million enthusiasts who had already purchased the phone began flooding Apple customer service outlets and every corner of the Internet with complaints that they were punished by purchasing the product too early. In response, Jobs has attempted to win back support by offering a $100 Apple gift certificate to the early adopters. In a lengthy, insightful, and opinionated post, Robert X. Cringely argues that this all may have been carefully planned by Jobs. “So Steve slapped his customers around a bit and what happened? Apple got free publicity worth tens of millions and the iPhone, which was already the top-selling smartphone in the world, will now sell two million units by the end of the year, up from an estimated one million.”

Netscape’s Reclamation Project a Failure
TechCrunch

AOL, now the parent company of Netscape, has announced the Netscape “Digg-like” social news service will be shut down and replaced with a Yahoo-like portal site. AOL suggests that the social news tool will be reestablished elsewhere, but would not give specific details on the project. Duncan Riley quips, “Certainly not a good sign for the current Netscape editorial team.”