SOMEWHAT FRANK

CNN Launches User Video Play via Blip.tv

Time Warner is looking for citizen journalist videos as CNN has launched a product called the CNN Exchange. The exchange asks users to submit video footage for specify stories on the CNN site. The videos can be up to 30 MB. CNN will then moderate and display the videos it finds the most riveting. It should be interesting to see some of the videos that appear. The product is is powered by Blip.tv, an online video hosting and sharing service,which is mildly underrated and should benefit from the excellent exposure to a mainstream audience. 

There are a lot of skeptics of the move (UPDATE: many of which posted replies on this TechCrunch post), however I find it is a great move by Time Warner. They are a media giant but have made a number of innovative and creative moves in the last few weeks - I am sure there are more to come.   

37Signals Looking for Startups to Fund?

37signals, the Chicago-based company specializing in producing simplified online management and collaboration tools, recently made a blur of moves that have made many wonder if they are going to start funding startup ventures.

Eric Olson made some very interestings points last week on his post titled 37ventures?, while the news that 37signals will be adding calendar and voice note features to its Backpack product make me wonder if they will be developing all these features in-house or gobbling up startups. If 37signals stays true to its "Get Real" philosophy additional products should be created in-house but with all the recent cash that they received it may be easier to invest in other startups than re-invent the wheel.

Pushing Google's Buttons

Google has added a new feature to its infamous Google Toolbar by now allowing users to add their own custom buttons. If you are have a function in mind most likely Google has got a button for it on display in the Google button gallery. Interestingly, there are a few pages of blog toolbar button entries. According to Google the popular buttons currently are:

1. Weather
2. Gmail
3. Dictionary (Google)
4. Mood Ring
5. Google Video

Of course, if you do not see a button you like you could take a crack at coding your own button.

Crack The Technorati Top 100 Blogs

David Sifry, founder of Technorati, offers some advice on breaking into the Technorati top 100 blogs list:

1) React quickly.
2) Make your posts easy to read.
3) Link, link, link!
4) Optimize for search engines.
5) Post, post, post!

Additionally, I would recommend writing compelling content. Here is the list of the current top 100 most popular blogs by link count, according to Technorati.
 

The Blogosphere Underground Exposed

Steve Rubel recently posted an interesting piece about the sea of emails, instant messages and bookmarks that are circulated behind the scenes by bloggers, reports and companies calling it the "Blogosphere Underground." The underground conversations are ongoing and sometimes can be overwhelming. Any blogger should be able to relate.

The blogosphere is the ultimate social network. It is a place for exchanging ideas and has connected me with some of the sharpest and most interesting people in the world - many are the thoughtleaders and influencers of the web 2.0 movement. To be quite honest, I cannot keep up with all the conversations behind the scenes all the time as my email fills up like a dirty martini glass at happy hour. Nonetheless, I love the community and interaction the blogosphere provides. Blog on!

Study Reveals Shift in How We Interact with the Web

A new browser study performed by University of Hamburg researchers found a shift in how we interact with the Web - moving from static hypertext information to dynamic interactive services. The report examining navigation by tracking page reloads, web site viewing patterns and screen size dimensions. According to the report:

"With the increase in new windows and use of AJAX, the back button has dropped from over 35% to less than 15% of all page transitions. Overall the trend reflects an increase in interactivity and form submission, with a corresponding 50% drop in the use of the back button for web navigation."

The complete rather lengthy but very interesting report can be found on WebsiteOptimization.com.

Covering ad:tech Chicago 2006 : Day 2

I continued reporting on the ad:tech Chicago for iMedia Connection on day two of the conference. I covered the following sessions:

Advertising on Social Networks
Integrate Your Local Media Strategy

Here is an excerpt from the session on social media which showcased MySpace.com:

Shawn Gold, senior VP of marketing and content of MySpace.com, tried to answer the question, "Is social networking a fad or an enduring online behavior?" In doing so, Gold gave a brief explanation of the evolution from Social Networking 1.0 to 2.0. This included highlighting Friendster's poor technology, which resulted in a non-scalable service, lack of customizations for user self-expression and limited connectivity through popular culture or blogging. Gold did note that Friendster is still the most popular website in Guam, but explained that it may be due to their lack of broadband penetration.

Gold went on to talk about the success of MySpace and the future of social networks.  Lee Odden also covered the social media session for Online Marketing Blog.

Additionally, I ran into my "blog mother" at the conference. What is a "blog mother?" A "blog mother" is a person that inspired you to start a blog. For me, it is was a session which covered blogging led by Amanda Watlington and Jeremy Zawondny which inspired me to start Somewhat Frank, and the rest is history. I ran into Amanda while talking with Lee Odden at lunch.  It was great to see her, as she is part of the Somewhat Frank blog family. :)

Tagged: ad:tech chicago, adtech, myspace, social media, social networking

Covering ad:tech Chicago 2006 : Day 1

I covered day one of ad:tech Chicago for iMedia Connection in exchange for a press pass for the event. I spent most of my time in the press room where I ran into Lee Odden while writing these two articles that were published on iMedia Connection today:

WOM in the New Social Media Landscape
Creating a Positive User Experience

They were both very interesting sessions. However, I wanted to highlight one portion of the User Experience session presented by Dan Evans, President of Critical Mass. This is an excerpt from my write-up:

Dan stressed the importance of lifetime learning as a crucial factor in the technology space. He also pitched embracing new technology as action items to the room full of marketers and advertisers, to better understand and embrace the current state of the online landscape. His "To Do List" read:

1. Get an iPod to better understand media that includes podcasts and other user generated transferable content.
2. Write a blog to better understand the tools that are being used to spread viral messages like wildfire.
3. Subscribe to real simple syndication, or RSS, to be in tune with how it works.
4. Set up a Flickr account to understand photo sharing and the social networking aspects of photos.
5. Create a profile on MySpace, TagWorld or some other social networking site to see how it works and better understand how it could be leveraged.
6. Expand your network from just instant messaging to other avenues through LinkedIn, Skype and other networks.

He said, "If you don't have the time to embrace it…hire someone that does."

Dan gets it and I am pleased I was able to convey that in my writings.

Tagged: ad:tech, adtech chicago, interactive marketing

Technorati Turns 3: Redesigns Homepage

Technorati, the popular blog search engine, has turned three today and has launched a new homepage design. Technorati is more than just a blog search engine it is a "live web search engine" and offers a number of different features that make it a destination more than just a search search engine. It has positioned itself to look similar to the Yahoo! homepage which makes me wonder how long it will be before someone acquires them as I have mentioned before.

Check out the latest changes in this post which includes a video walk-thru of the updates, by Technorati CEO, David Sifry. David also had this to say:

• Technorati is 3 years old!  What an amazing trip so far.
• The World Live Web is all about people - We're here to help make sense of all the interesting stuff we do in real-time.
• Technorati's rolled out a major update to our site and to our back-end systems.
• We've made some major speed and accuracy improvements in core search.
• Link counting is a lot more accurate and timely.
• We've personalized the homepage so you can get a look at all the stuff you care about on one page.
• While we love expert bloggers, we've also spent a lot of time making Technorati understandable to normal people.
• We've added in lots of features to help you make sense of the blogosphere, including Discover, which is topic-based, Favorites, which gives YOU the power to pick your favorite blogs, and Popular, which algorithmically derives the most linked-to items in the last few days.
• We've made some big changes to blog profiles - allowing you to get stats about any blog that Technorati tracks, including the tags used, posting frequency, traffic, and Technorati ranking.
• We've made things easier for advertisers and partners, and we've been overwhelmed with demand. We're building out our capabilities, and if you're interested in advertising, drop us a line.
• This is just a start - there's more to come in the coming weeks and months, including better charts, more real-time spam detection and elimination, more real-time media indexing, microformats integration, and additional localization and language support.

The update looks great. Happy birthday Technorati!

TECH cocktail 1: Now Playing on YouTube, Google Video

TECH cocktail, the people mixer that gathered many technlogy and business thoughtleaders from the Midwest in Chicago on July 6, 2006, has released a video which is posted on the TECH cocktail web site. Thanks to Lambert Smith of Stone Cliff Productions, TECH cocktail 1, can be found on both YouTube and Google Video.

TECH cocktail 1 (YouTube version)

TECH cocktail 1 (Google Video version)

Or you could just click the video above. Hope you enjoy the show!

Yahoo Selling Jessica Simpson non-DRM Personalized MP3

Yahoo has recently starting selling a non-DRM personalized mp3 by the artist Jessica Simpson. The track "A Public Affair" can be purchased on Yahoo! Music and offers over 300 different personalized versions. So if you feel the need to be serenaded by Jessica you should buy this track.

Aside from the joy you might feel from purchasing a personalized mp3 by sex symbol, Jessica Simpson, you might consider purchasing the track to show your support for the move by Yahoo! Music to sell non-DRM music. I just purchased a copy to support the movement - of course I had to go with the personalized Frank version of the song. Thanks Jessica for the shout out!

37Signals Takes Funding From Bezos

37signals, the Chicago-based startup that preaches against taking outside funding with the battle-cry of "less is less," has taken funding. What? Can it be true? What is this world coming to?

Some are calling them sellouts but let's take a step back for a second to analyze the situation. 37signals has taken funding from Jeff Bozos, CEO of Amazon. I think we can all see that 37signals preaches "less" however sometimes it is important to build a business with a little help from a guiding voice. Jason Fried of 37signals had this to say on a recent post on Signals vs. Noise:

"It will be great learning from Jeff as we build 37signals into one the great companies of the next 20 years."

I do not think that 37signals needs the cash but I think they need it to keep the 37signals' momentum going. I think they were interested in getting Jeff Bezos' mentoring help to further the progression of 37signals for the longevity of the company. It will be interesting to see what happens. Hopefully the move doesn't turn out a Chitown rendition of the Notorious B.I.G. song, Mo' Money Mo' Problems. With the extra voice in the clubhouse, I wonder if they are going to change its name to 38signals?

Yahoo Teams With Zillow For Zestimates

Yahoo! Real Estate and Yahoo! Search have partnered with the  startup Zillow to help push out  its Zestimates (Zillow contrived property value estimates) to the masses. I recently encountered them integrated into the new Yahoo homepage as a Featured item (as shown below).

According to a post on the Yahoo! Search blog, the integration is a mashup of several of Yahoo's services. It uses Yahoo! Search to perform the search, Yahoo! Maps to display the location and even offered links to Yahoo! Answers for users looking for additional home value information. Using Yahoo! Maps is new to Zillow since its core product uses Microsoft's Live Local mapping solution which offers "Bird's Eye View." I highlighted Zillow and the feature in this post I wrote for TechCrunch comparing the online mapping services. The "Bird's Eye View" feature helped Zillow get some early buzz so I wonder if Yahoo has anything similar in the works.

This appears to be a great partnership for Zillow and meshes with its mission:

"To give as many consumers as possible access to free real estate information."

Yahoo draws a lot of traffic and this deal puts Zillow in the spotlight but clearly the service is not yet perfect. In performing a few searches on homes in my local area the I encountered many empty search result sets as the search could not find the property I requested. Also some Zestimates are displaying some fuzzy numbers which are not correct. However, if Zillow can patch up these types of empty result sets and tighten its fuzzy numbers, Zillow is in a position to become "the source" for online property information.

Flickr Goes Down

What impeccable timing Flickr has. Not even a few hours after I compose an article praising Flickr do I come to find out in visiting the site that Flickr is down. Flickr posted (as shown below) the message, "Arrggh! Our Tubes Are Clogged!" Though I appreciate the humor, I am bummed about the temporary storage failure. I guess both humans and the web are not perfect.

Thankfully, photos are safe and have not been lost according to this recent Flickr Blog post.

Applications for the Flickr Obsessed

Flickr is one of my favorite web 2.0 applications. While it is not the most popular photo site on the web (ranking 6th behind Yahoo Photos, Photobucket and a few others in visitor metrics according to a Comscore, June 2006 report), Flickr is a fantastic photo repository and social network for photographers and photo enthusiasts alike. It enables a user to meet and stay in touch with people across the globe though photos. The phrase,“A picture is worth a thousand words” is amplified with Flickr as the photos do all the talking.

There are a number of new mashup applications and mashups that have been built for the Flickr obsessed. Preloadr is a useful Flickr-based online photo editing software. It uses the Flickr API to allow users to login to their Flickr accounts from the Preloadr site and then make photo edits and tweaks. FlickrInspector a non-commercial website, that displays publicly available data about single Flickr users. This could be useful in exploring and contenting with other Flickr users. Aside from the recent TechCrunch article pointing the "Flickr Freaks" to Preloadr and FlickrInspector, there was an excellent article written (back in Feburary 2006) on WebMonkey that names it Top 10 Flickr Mashups. The list includes the following:

Retrievr - Search Flickr by visual input
Spell with Flickr - Spell out messages using Flickr photos
Tagnautica - Explore Flickr visually using related tags
Flappr - Flash-based Flickr browser
Captioner! - Add comic captions to your photos
Fastr - Flickr guessing game for hours of enjoyment
Colr Pickr - Combines a html color wheel with Flickr photos
FlickrFling - Parses and maps news stories to photos
Flickrball - Game based on 6 degrees of separation theory
Flickr Sudoku - Combines Flickr photos with Sudoku game

I have written about Tagnautica and a few others previously on Somewhat Frank. For a list of more Flickr mashups visit the ProgramableWeb Flickr Mashup list. 

What is your favorite Flickr mashup?