todaytest 05/02/2008

• Marshall Kirkpatrick » How to Build an RSS and Blog News Site for Your Project

  tags: blog

  • 
    How to Build an RSS and Blog News Site for Your Project
    

    
    05.01.08
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    
    

    I'm excited to unveil my latest consulting project, a fairly extensive RSS-based microsite put together with Sun Microsystems for next week's JavaOne conference. It's called BlogCentral. Turns out today is international RSS Awareness Day! This might have been a better fit for Enterprise RSS Awareness Day last week, but that's ok.

todaytest 05/01/2008

• Bezos’ Bucks Back Kongregate

  tags: utr, success

  • Bezos’ Bucks Back Kongregate

    
    

    
    
    

    
    Print
    All Articles
    
    
    
    Letter to the editor
    
    
    Podcast
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    
    
    on 30 April 2008, 12:45
    
    by Ken Schachter
    
    
    
    

    
    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Billionaire investor Jeff Bezos is putting $3 million behind San Francisco-based Kongregate, an online casual games site that draws its content from Indie developers.
    
    The investment brings Kongregate’s investment total to $9 million, with a $1 million angel round and a $5 million investment by Greylock Partners, a backer of Red Hat, Digg and Facebook.
    
    The investment by Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, comes through his person investment fund, Bezos Expeditions.
    
    Kongregate competes with companies like Miniclip in trying to build large audiences for casual games offered through an Internet browser. Kongregate, founded in June 2006, offers more than 4,000 Flash and Shockwave games from more than 1,500 developers.
    
    Kongregate Chief Executive Jim Greer likened the "super-angel" funding round to an insurance policy.

• UMG, Sony invest in music startup MOG (Tech Confidential - VC Ratings)

  tags: utr

todaytest 04/25/2008

• Fyreball User Login - Fyreball - Annotated

  tags: utr2

  • Fyreball is a fast, fun and better way to share the best stuff with your friends.
    See a video or picture that made you laugh 'till you snorted?
    Got a web game that you can't stop playing? Fyre it up.
    

    
    We're gonna stop with the jibber jabber now, because that's boring.
    Sign up and see what we're talking about!

todaytest 04/24/2008

• Ex-Googlers working on stealth social search | Tech news blog - CNET News.com - Annotated

  tags: utr2

  • Ex-Googlers working on stealth social search

    
    
    
    

    
    
    Posted by Stefanie Olsen
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    | Post a comment
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    Nathan Stoll, former product lead of Google News, has been quietly working on a new social search service he started with the help of two other Google refugees, CNET News.com has learned. The site, called Mechanical Zoo, is poised to launch in beta next month.

    
    
    

    The San Francisco company, which is about 9 months old, has an impressive team of tech veterans. It was co-founded by Stoll; Max Ventilla, a former business development manager at Google; and Damon Horowitz, a longtime computer scientist and former lead engineer of Perspecta, a search software company that sold to Excite@Home in the dot-com heyday. Fritz Schneider, who was an application-security engineer at Google for about five years, heading up the Google Firefox team, is also a part of the 12-person staff.

todaytest 04/22/2008

• U.S. Lags in Social Media Creation, per Survey - Annotated

  tags: utr2

  • NEW YORK A new global study of social media use reveals that
    the U.S. severely lags behind Asian and South American countries in
    participation rates.
    
     
    
    Consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe are more likely to be
    passive social-media participants -- sharing videos and reading
    blogs -- while those in emerging markets often create content
    through blogging, social networks and video and photo sharing
    sites.
    
    
    
    
    "By and large, in the U.S. we're a country of voyeurs," said David
    Cohen, U.S. director of digital communications at Universal McCann,
    which conducted the study. "We love to watch and consume content
    created by others, but there's a fairly small group that are doing
    that creation -- unlike China, which is a country of
    creators."

todaytest 04/20/2008

• TechCrunch UK » Blog Archive » Web Mission 08: UK startups to visit Silicon Valley - Annotated

  tags: utr2, startups

  • based on their business viability and the strength of the management team. And they looked for a mix of companies that showed the breadth of what the UK has to offer in this space. The aim is for the companies “to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.”

    
    

    So, without further ado, the confirmed companies for Web Mission 08 are:

    
    

    Groupspaces - Web-based tools for groups

    
    

    Tioti - A social network around TV

    
    

    Exabre (TheFilter) - Advanced music recommendation

    
    

    Coull - Interactive video platform

    
    

    Zogix - Employee services platform

    
    

    Byteplay (dotHomes) - Real estate search engine

    
    

    Trampoline Systems - Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour

    
    

    Hubdub - News prediction social network

    
    

    WAYN - travel and lifestyle social networking community

    
    

    TrustedPlaces - Venue recommendation network

    
    

    Slicethepie - Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans

    
    

    Mydeo - Mainstream application for storing and sharing video

    
    

    Skimbit - Research and share decisions

    
    

    Huddle - Enterprise 2.0 collaboration

    
    

    Rummble - Mobile social networking and recommendation

    
    

    Zebtab - Desktop TV application

    
    

    Silobreaker - Contextual and graphic search results

    
    

    Kwiqq - Social Website builder

    
    

    edocr - Making business documents interactive

    
    

    ShortFuze - Online movie creation tools for social networks

• Coull - Annotated

  tags: no_tag

  • To read more about the Web Mission (including an agenda) go to: www.webmission08.com

    
    

    
    

    The 20 companies embarking on the Web Mission are: 

    
    

    
    

    Groupspaces - Web-based tools for groups

    
    

    Tioti - A social network around TV

    
    

    Exabre (TheFilter) - Advanced music recommendation

    
    

    Coull - Interactive video platform

    
    

    Zogix - Employee services platform

    
    

    Byteplay (dotHomes) - Real estate search engine

    
    

    Trampoline Systems - Enterprise software harnessing social behaviour

    
    

    Hubdub - News prediction social network

    
    

    WAYN - travel and lifestyle social networking community

    
    

    TrustedPlaces - Venue recommendation network

    
    

    Slicethepie - Enabling bands to raise money directly from their fans

    
    

    Mydeo - Mainstream application for storing and sharing video

    
    

    Skimbit - Research and share decisions

    
    

    Huddle - Enterprise 2.0 collaboration

    
    

    Rummble - Mobile social networking and recommendation

    
    

    Zebtab - Desktop TV application

    
    

    Silobreaker - Contextual and graphic search results

    
    

    Kwiqq - Social Website builder

    
    

    edocr - Making business documents interactive

    
    

    ShortFuze - Online movie creation tools for social networks

    
    

    
    

    Details on the 20 selected companies are listed in TechCruch.    

    
    

    Click here to see the article on Netimperative’s website.  

todaytest 04/19/2008

• With a nod to the Valley, CBS Interactive shuffles management | The Social - CNET News.com - Annotated

  tags: utr, la

  • CBS Interactive, the media giant's digital division, has announced the opening of a Silicon Valley office and an executive reshuffling to focus on growth, President Quincy Smith announced Thursday.

    
    
    

    The CBS Interactive satellite office in Menlo Park, Calif., has opened, with its eye on tech partnerships and acquisitions. The Valley branch will "allow the company to better facilitate existing partnerships in the area, and future ones as well," a release from CBS explained.