ReadWriteWeb
China's Baidu Refocuses on Mobile and Apps
Baidu is the most-visited website in China and has captured 70% of search revenue in that country. Alexa's Top 500 Global Sites list puts it at number 6. But with virtually no penetration outside Asia, can it really be considered a global company at all, or just an awfully big one?
Until it reaches beyond its shores in an appreciable and sustained fashion, it probably won't be considered a gl...
IBM at the US Open - Analyzing Every Volley, Serve and Overhead Smash
One quote from an IBM executive stands out in the post that Chris Cameron wrote today about IBM's augmented reality app for the U.S. Open.
Rick Singer, IBM's Vice President of Sports Technology Partnerships said it all comes down tthe information generated with every tennis stroke, volley and serve:
"This is all about data. It's about how you take data, aggregate it and make it simpler to use...
Oregon Tribes Make Huge Rural Broadband Investment
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon have made a commitment to broadband for its largely rural population. Taking advantage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's broadband funding, the Tribes will spend $5.4 million in extending broadband infrastructure throughout the reservation and making it affordable for tribal users.
Warm Springs has ...
Tumblr's Improved Attribution is Good News for Publishers
Tumblr is quickly becoming one of the Web's most popular and unique platforms on which to share and discover interesting content of all media. According to Tumblr, over 5.3 million posts are made each day by the service's over 7.5 million users. Posts are passed on over and over through Tumblr's "reblog" feature, but at such a high volume it's easy to loose track of where content originated. Tu...
Strategy Roundtable: Find High Velocity Channels
First up at this week's Strategy Roundtable was Cheryl Yeoh presenting CityPockets, an online destination, and an app for managing daily deals across a wide range of sites. The daily deal and group buying market has really heated up, with numerous sites offering variations on the basic value proposition. But for Cheryl, the problem is that she needs critical mass.
I asked her not to assume th...
IBM Helps Tennis Fans "See Through Walls" with Augmented Reality
It may come as a surprise to some but augmented reality and the wide world of sports go way back. Glowing hockey pucks and yellow first-down lines on the football field are just a few of the early examples, but today AR is a part of every-day sports broadcasts. More recently, however, AR has begun to make its way into the live sports experience, and an app recently developed by IBM for the U.S....
Facebook Adds News Search
Facebook has begun surfacing widely "liked" news stories from independent media organizations in its basic search bar today, it appears. First reported by watchdog blog AllFacebook, the change is something that seems likely to be understood as a challenge to Google. It's early days for the feature, but something to watch for sure.
Search for a phrase that's appearing in the news in the main ...
How Jigsaw for Salesforce CRM Fits Into the New World of Messaging Platforms
Salesorce.com acquired Jigsaw earlier this year. This past week, Salesforce.com unveiled the integration.
The service integrates Chatter, the Salesforce.com microblogging platform. When a contact is updated through Jigsaw, the subscriber gets an update in their Chatter feed.
Jigsaw for Salesforce CRM is an example of how microblogging services are becoming message platforms for crowdsourcing...
YouTube Loses in German Court: Held Liable for Copyrighted Videos
According to a German court in Hamburg, Google's YouTube can be held liable for damages when it hosts copyrighted videos without the copyright holder's permission. This case centered around three music videos by classical crossover soprano Sarah Brightman, but this ruling will likely have far-reaching consequences for YouTube's operations in Germany. YouTube will now have to block access to the...
Tracking the Buzz in Google Reader During VMworld
The API team over at Google Buzz have been buzzing to say the least. If you recall the long lost Twitter feature known as Track whose disappearance spawned numerous impassioned pleased for return you'll appreciate the latest from Google Buzz.
Last week the Google Buzz API team updated their blog to announce the general availability for Track as well detailed error messages. This means that yo...
WIRED Gadgets
Hands-On With HDR Photos in the Next iPhone Update
A first look at iOS 4.1 Gold Master, the latest release of Apple's mobile operating system due out next week. A developer sent me a copy and I have it installed on my iPhone 4. Major new features are the HDR photo mode and Game Center.
Smart Gear for the School Year
Don't hit the books without getting the right gear. We've got all the kit you need from taking scrupulous notes, to working off campus, to being the most popular kid in your dorm.
Digital Pen Gives Boring Note-Taking a Modern Kick
Don't you wish there was a way to take notes with a pen and upload them to your computer? And don't you wish that pen had an infrared camera, a built-in speaker and mic? There is such a thing, and it's called the Livescribe Echo Smartpen.
Cruising Across Campus? Get This Cozy Commuter
Unless you're majoring in spandex and minoring in too-cool-for-school at Steephill State, you may not need a road, fixed-gear or a mountain bike. Consider REI's Novara Fusion commuter. Sure this hybrid 8-speed won't get you anywhere in a mega-hurry, but you'll likely enjoy getting there.
Steve Jobs: iTunes 10 Icon Does Not 'Suck'
While winding down from Wednesday’s iPod announcements, Apple CEO Steve Jobs appears to have taken some time to respond to an e-mail criticizing the new look of the iTunes icon.
Gadget Lab Podcast: iPods, Apple TV and Samsung's Galaxy Tab
This week's episode of the Gadget Lab podcast is heavy on fruits. High on vitamin A, Dylan Tweney gushes over the pluot, a plum-apricot hybrid, while Brian X. Chen dishes out this week's announcements of brand new Apple gear. They also share our impressions of Samsung's iPad rival, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab.
How Sheep Determined the Size of Your Gadgets
It's easy to figure out why e-readers and tablets are the size that they are: They're all about the size of paperback books. But why are paperbacks that size? It all has to do with the sheep.
Silicon Alley Insider
Breathtaking Photos Of Hurricane Earl From Space
NASA has posted beautiful photos of Hurricane Earl over the North Atlantic. This pretty storm monster is about to ruin your Labor Day weekend. See more amazing photos of the storm >
See more amazing photos of the storm >
30 Aug. 2010 --– Photographed by an Expedition 24 crew member on the International Space Station, this is an oblique view of the eye (center) of Hurricane Ea...
STARTUP POWER RANKINGS: This Week's Winners And Losers
Hope everybody knows we're keeping score. Here's how start-ups are looking heading into the September stretch run:
Booyah, the mobile gaming company behind the extremely successful location-aware MyTown, launched a new iPhone app called InCrowd leveraging Facebook Places. NEW RANK: #88
Things just keep getting worse for Digg. Its users are still in revolt over its new design, its site has be...
CHART OF THE DAY: Watch Out Cable Companies! Live Streaming Popularity Up 600% For The Year
The world of web video is quickly evolving, and live video sites are benefiting. New data from comScore shows minutes spent on live streaming sites like UStream, Justin.tv, and Livestream are up 600% on a year over year basis.
In July users spent 1.5 billion minutes watching videos on those sites. It's still much smaller than recorded web video. YouTube alone served up well ov...
Ex-Digg Architect Tells Kevin Rose "Keep The Crap Off The Site"
Digg CEO Kevin Rose can't win for losing.
First, he was raked over the coals for overhauling Digg.
Then, in response to some of these complaints, he announced on Twitter that he would add some features back.
Well, that did him no good.
He was promptly ripped by ex-Digg site architect, Joe Stump, who said, "I love you man, but seriously? Upcoming has *never* been a useful feature. What's been do...
Facebook Takes Another Shot At Google (GOOG)
Facebook is quickly moving in on Google's search business.
It's now testing searching results ranked by "likes."
Google ranks search results based on lots of stuff – but mostly on how often pages are linked to from other highly-linked to pages.
This could, someday not too far off, end up being a serious disruption for Google.
From All Facebook: Another big upgrade from Facebook: the compa...
How To Use Google's Cool New "Priority Inbox" With Your Company's Email (GOOG)
Google introduced a cool new feature this week called "Priority Inbox," which tries to intelligently filter the important email from the less-important email in your inbox.
It's now live for all Gmail.com users, but companies (and individuals) using Google Apps for their email can actually access the feature, too.
How?
One of your domain administrators needs to go into Google's Apps contr...
If Your Startup Can't Get Money In New York Right Now, There's Something Wrong With It
Smart Decisions is supported by Mercedes-Benz.
Good news New York City startups: It's never been easier to raise money to get your company off the ground.
One plugged in digital media exec told us, "If you can't get money for your startup right now, then there's something wrong with you." Other people in the scene basically confirmed this, but added a few caveats.
Chiefly, ...
Normal People Haven't Heard Of Groupon Yet… But They Think It's A Great Idea
We asked people on the street what they think of daily deals company Groupon. Most of them hadn't heard of it. But once we explained what the company does, most of them got pretty excited. That's probably why Groupon revenues are supposedly going to reach $500 million this year. Watch above.
BONUS: Watch Our Interview With Groupon Co-Founder & CEO Andrew Mason
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AOL Didn't Have A Choice For Search, And It Shows (AOL, GOOG, MSFT)
AOL doesn't seem to have gotten any big upfront payments from Google for its search deal.
How come?
Probably because AOL wasn't in a very good position to negotiate.
The speculation is that while CEO Tim Armstrong may have talked and even negotiated with a handful of search companies (he says it was six or seven), he only really ever had one choice…Google – the incumbent.
One sourc...