SOMEWHAT FRANK

What is Twitter Worth?

Twitter has exploded since coming out earlier last year and I have talked about it a number of times and even put my thoughts on video. I even saw my own sister come around and sign up for an account after talking to her about it awhile back and getting the: "why would I want to do that?" reaction.

Twitter recently were reported to take a little more funding thus making an exit price tag more pricey. But I wanted pose the question to the blogosphere and my SOMEWHAT FRANK readers:

What is Twitter worth?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

IfbyPhone Launches Free Calling On Facebook

Now you can make free calls to your friends from your Facebook profile thanks to IfbyPhone, a Chicago-based telephone application platform company that has created Phone-Me-Now.

Phone-Me-Now gives Facebook friends free "click to call" functionality without disclosing their caller ID. I am not really sure if that is a good thing or not but I guess it depends on your objective. I would think it would play to the advantage of a telemarketer but I guess it could be nice to call your friends without disclosing your phone number in case you are trying to keep it private. The Phone-Me-Now application takes advantage of Ifbyphone technology to enable all types of phones (i.e. mobile, VoIP or rotary) to connect via the Web and enables inbound, outbound and click-to-call telephone applications with integrated interactive voice response dialogs.

Docstoc Gets $3.25 Million More In Funding

Docstoc, the online document community offering, which I have covered a number of times, has raised $3.25 million in a series B round of funding. I got a call from founder and CEO Jason Nazar yesterday to inform me of the news. Congratulations to Docstoc on getting some additional funding and good luck on building the product out in the next couple years.

Additionally, Docstoc announced the creation of the Content Partnership Program which allows content partners to generate revenue off of a content they are sharing through Docstoc. This should help motivate more people to add and share documents on Docstoc.

Video: TECH cocktail DC 2 Community Builder

TECH cocktail DC 2 the community builder event that took place last Thursday evening in Washington, D.C. showcased six startups from the local area. The event united over four hundred guests for an evening of tech conversations and fun.

This is the last event before the upcoming TECH cocktail CONFERENCE which will unite all the various TECH cocktail cities for a full day conference in Chicago on May 29th. The list of speakers is pretty amazing and the focus of the conference is to help anyone in business to take a more "no nonsense" approach by leveraging technology and the Web (i.e. running a "real" business rather than one setup to simply attract as many users as possible with no real monetization strategy in mind).

Six Apart Improves Offering, Building Real Businesses Anywhere, Hubble Photos, Startpages Trend Social & TECH cocktail DC 2

Photo of the Week: This photos was taken at TECH cocktail DC 2 on Thursday evening in Washington D.C. you can check out the full TECH cocktail DC 2 Photo set.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 4.27.2008

Triggit Affiliate Links Toolbar For Publishers

Are you looking for another way to monetize your blog or website? While there are a number of options Triggit, a San Francisco meta-ad network startup, offers a toolbar which can be used to connect your content to monetization opportunities. It offers a simple tool for webmasters to add affiliate links to content.

Kirix Strata: Web Browse Your Data

At the heart of just about every web application is a database. Getting at and manipulating that data is often done through SQL statements which involve a level of database understanding. Kirix, a Chicago-based startup, is looking to help change that by exposing your data in a Web browser experience with the launch tomorrow of Strata. Strata is a powerful set of tools that enables anyone to access, browse and manipulate data from a Web browser.

Sungevity: Solar Power Made Easy

Looking to do something to help the environment on Earth Day? Why not try adding solar panels to your home? Sungevity, a Berkeley-based startup, is looking to help make the process of adding solar powered panels to your home as easy as putting in your address and identifying your home on a map.

First Bloom Helps Replant Trees on Earth Day

"The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a  focusing lens on what we can become."

—Lady Bird Johnson

Twing Aggregates & Adds Life To Web Forums

Do you remember when online forums were the cutting edge in online community building tools? While forums still have a place on the Web there are so many richer community building experiences. Forums are still being used and Twing looks to bring them up to par by aggregating online forums. Twing offers a forum search and adds community features to surface the 'hot items' in the forums.

The 'my' Trend, How To Freeload at Web 2.0 Expo, Google Genetic Index Coming, AOL Top Ad Network By Reach & Is Content A Commodity?

Photo of the Week: This past weekend brought out some warmer spring weather which brought out the joggers like this photo captured on film in Chicago by my friend Araceli Arroyo.

SOMEWHAT FRANK Weekly Tidbits: 4.20.2008

Video: A Look Inside Lijit Networks

You have probably seen the Lijit search widget on a number of sites around the Web. It has been the search option for SOMEWHAT FRANK and TECH cocktail for sometime as it offers some great site search analytics in a manageable and easy to digest format. I even get a weekly statistics email from Lijit keeping me updated as to how search is performing every week and what people are searching for.

When I visited Boulder, Colorado back in March 2008 for our first TECH cocktail Boulder I got a chance to visit the Lijit Networks headquarters and I captured it on video. Thanks to Tara "Tarable" Anderson for the impromptu guided tour and for turning me into a Lijit search widget (as shown to the right).

Mashup Open AIM For Cash Prizes

For all you developers out there that like to create mashups, there is currently a developer contest being held with cash prizes called the Open AIM Developers Challenge. All you have to do is create a mashup that leverages the Open AIM APIs and submit it to dev.aol.com. There will be 29 winners with prize allocations from $10K to $500. Scoring is based on a number of criteria but 20 percent is based on usage so the sooner you get a mashup submitted the better your chances are to win.

TripIt Takes Another $5.1 Million

TripIt, the social travel management site which I reviewed previously, has received $5.1 million in Series B funding. The funding was provided by Sabre Holdings, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and European Founders Fund. The series B round will be used to expand development, marketing and support for TripIt users.

TripIt has been on a roll aggressively rolling out social and a mobile interface since launching at TechCrunch40 last year.

Livecontacts Free GPS Buddyfinder Launches

With the popularity of text messaging and the rise of Twitter via mobile there is a growing trend for find me/follow me mobile applications. FindWhere, a Sterling, Virginia based company, has just launched an application called Livecontacts to help you find and keep track of your buddies. Users can now share their location and track their friends’ locations for free. Livecontacts is taking the same approach that craigslist took to democratize the online classified advertising space by offering users what is traditionally a paid geographic data service for free.