CenterNetworks

Snaplog Offers a Better iPhone Photo App

Allen Stern — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:50:01 -0600

Snaplog is a new Brooklyn-based startup looking to create a better iPhone photo application than comes with the phone itself. After taking a photo using the Snaplog app, you can change a variety of settings for each photo including: photo cropping; full frame or square, captions, tags, privacy settings and photo effects.

There are also exposure and saturation settings so you can adjust the lighting and look of each photo.

After you are satisfied with the settings on the photo, it can be emailed or posted to Twitter. It can also be saved into a public Snaplog stream. There's also an option to create your own Snaplog page. The pages use a pretty nifty refresh system as you scroll up and down the page.

Here's an example Snaplog - this is the account of the founder Robert Spychala. It appears that the Snaplog application will be available soon in the iTunes App Store.

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CyberSynchs Backs Up Your Mobile Phone

Allen Stern — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:25:32 -0600

CyberSynchs is a new NYC-based startup looking to help you if you should ever lose your cellphone. What they offer is a backup service that takes the data from your mobile device and moves it online so you can access it if you mobile device is lost or stolen. Mashable has a good review of the service from last month.

The service is only available for Windows Mobile devices currently but they are working on iPhone and BlackBerry availability. The service costs $2.99/month during the beta period.

Founder Amos Winbush sat down with Web2NewYork organizer Peter Verkooijen to discuss CyberSynchs and also a general discussion on the CEO role. Here's their discussion:

Odadeo Means Social Help for Dads

Allen Stern — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:00:32 -0600

We've written several times about social networks for moms including NY-based CafeMom. Today I came across a social network for dads called Odadeo which launched this past Father's Day. I basically had no father but could see where a site like Odadeo could be very beneficial for not just new dads but also dads dealing with their children at all stages of life.

The site starts out with a question, "How am I going to be a better dad?" What a great question to ask -- it could actually work across a variety of other categories as well. Basically dads create pledges for their families and then other dads provide tips on how to accomplish the pledges. Pledges can be tracked with charts and graphs so that dads can monitor their progress. There are ties into a SMS function along with Twitter integration.

I could see odadeo growing into a strong resource for dads. They could easily add more content and more how-to content. Perhaps a partnership with a site like 5min on how-to videos. Would also like to see a local resource locator - so dads know where to go for help locally.

Dads can also create pages for their kids -- similar to the other kid sites we've reviewed in the past. Odadeo moved into public beta last week -- the team is based in Cardiff and Birmingham in the UK. Somehow I am guessing dads are hesitant to ask for help - similar to asking for driving directions. I guess to some extent, odadeo is like the social GPS for parenting.

Flock Partners With MySpace and Vidoop on OpenID Browser

Allen Stern — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:59:06 -0600

Just a month after the public launch of the Flock 2.0 browser, Flock has announced the addition of OpenID to the Flock 2.0 browser today. I've been saying for a long time that if OpenID wants to succeed, they have to get it into the browser so when you hit a site that offers OpenID login, it could be as close to seamless as possible.

MySpace, Flock and Vidoop jointly developed OpenID for Flock which should help the Flock browser gain additional user adoption. OpenID for Flock is now available to all Flock 2.0 users as an alpha extension -- my hope is that it becomes part of the default install over time. The companies note, "The MySpace, Flock and Vidoop (OpenID) implementation is a reference design released as open source under GPL, and as such, modifications by developers will be brought together and shared with the wider open source developer community."

Perhaps today's announcement will push the other major browsers (IE, FF, Safari, Opera, etc.) to start looking at implementing OpenID into the browser as well. I am not talking about an extension or plugin, but rather a full integrated environment. If OpenID is going to gain in popularity and usability, it's critical that using an OpenID login as easy as possible.

With all of the talk over the last few days about Facebook Connect, it sure does look like eventually we will have an old-style Western duel setup. Facebook Connect vs. OpenID - let's get it on!

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Pownce is Gone and It's Kevin Rose's Fault

Allen Stern — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:54:55 -0600

We've learned today that the microblogging service Pownce has been acquired by Six Apart. It also appears that Pownce will close in two weeks from today. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, it appears it was a deal to get some programming talent.

Mr. Ha at VentureBeat has a good overview of the deal and what it means for the team. Ha notes, "Culver and Mike Malone, who were Pownce’s main developers, will move on to similar roles at Six Apart. Though Pownce won’t be a part of Six Apart, you can be sure the two will be working on something related to the “rebalancing” effort that Six Apart chief executive Chris Alden mentioned." Apparently Kevin Rose will remain on as a Six Apart advisor.

The sad reality here is that Pownce had a HUGE opportunity that was wasted by Pownce co-founder Kevin Rose. Instead of Kevin using his huge network to push Pownce, he pushed their biggest competitor Twitter. With 75,000 followers on Twitter, Rose could have easily moved (at least a large percentage of) them over to Pownce and made the service more active. I've watched how loyal Rose's fans are and they would have helped to build Pownce up, instead of allowing it to be sold for scraps. It's a pretty shocking business strategy.

I can't imagine how the team must feel building a tool that one of the founders doesn't even actively promote! Take this as a lesson for your startup, actively use your own service or watch it fall apart!

The (Hilarious) Bailout of Silicon Valley Auto Maker Tesla

Allen Stern — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:38:29 -0600

This weekend Tesla Motors was back in the news as they are pleading with the U.S. government to give them some $400 million to continue their mission of building cars for the "rich". I say "give them" because even though the money is apparently a loan, if Tesla goes under, it then becomes "give them". Randall Stross from the NY Times wrote a piece which apparently bashed Tesla. In response, Tesla sent their first line of blogging defense, Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis to take care of the matter. Calacanis has posted a number of counter-arguments to Stross' post and I'd like to comment on the Calacanis post.

First, let's begin with a number of disclosures. Something that you would think the $100 million-valued Huffington Post would require of their authors but apparently that's not the case. Calacanis' company Mahalo has received funding from Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk. In addition, Jason's brother-in-law and Mahalo investor Ryan Scott is also a Tesla Motors investor. Boy that's something the readers of the Huffington Post piece should know, right?

As many of you know, I am a public transportation junkie. My belief is that all (or most) government funding should be used towards pushing mass transit. Creating cars powered by batteries, water, or anything else won't fix our growing traffic issues. Take the millions and billions of dollars and create better transit systems in cities across this country. There's so much that can be done with transit to create real environmental and human savings.

If we are going to look at ways to save oil, why not spend the money creating more efficient air travel? I have to imagine that the savings up in the sky would be larger than those on the ground but yet I never hear anyone talking about fixing air travel.

Ok, now let's talk about cars and what appears to be the hot trend now, battery-powered cars. I am no expert in battery-technology but if the concensus is to move forward building batteries for cars, I am all for it. However, instead of dropping hundreds of millions into Tesla, put it into the great universities across this country. Create a cross-university research center where students, scientists and industry professionals can work together to create the battery technology. Once it's perfected, then it could be sold/leased/provided to companies like Tesla. This would be a much safer investment than giving money to frankly any auto-company at this time. I bet this type of research project could even draw in some of our worldwide allies and help slowly regain some of our lost status in the worldwide community.

I haven't seen anything from Tesla that speaks to the average American family. A $60k sedan isn't for the average American family. Calacanis' math is interesting -- a person making $80k should be able to easily afford a $60k car. Boy that's exactly how we got into the mortgage hell we are in now - people living beyond their means! And Tesla hasn't displayed the leadership that would be needed for me to believe that they would be able to remain a going concern long enough to repay any loan. How many CEOs have they been through so far?

At the end of the day, we need better ways to move people from place A to place B. All transportation options should be considered and creating expensive cars isn't the way to accomplish what we're looking for.

Update: Philip James points us to this illustration of why we need more transit:

AOL Launches PlaySavvy - Parental Gaming Resource

Allen Stern — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:16:00 -0600

AOL has announced the launch of their latest online content site today. Named PlaySavvy, the goal is to provide a resource for parents to help them figure out the world of console gaming (no online??). PlaySavvy is part of the GameDaily section of AOL's content network.

Libe Goad, Editor-in-Chief, AOL PlaySavvy said, "Playing video games is one of the top pastimes for children these days, almost more than watching TV. We created AOL PlaySavvy to help parents navigate through all the gaming information out there in order to decide what’s appropriate for their children."

PlaySavvy contains content in the following categories: gaming 101 (all about games), FAQ (apparently with feedback from a parental gaming panel), gaming reviews from a parent's perspective but with the kids in mind and how-to articles including how to talk to your kids about gaming.

The login functionality uses AOL ids and some of the content is provided by third-parties. While I can't imagine this site doing massive pageviews, it could help keep parents inside the AOL content network longer which is a good thing for AOL.

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AOL and Yahoo Reveal 2008 Top Searches

Allen Stern — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:13:33 -0600

Search engines Yahoo and AOL have released their "2008 top searches" lists today. Check out the Yahoo and AOL year in review websites to view the full lists of all types of searches. Oops she did it again -- Britney Spears leads on both search engines. Somehow Yahoo has Britney as the top overall search but not the top search in the celebrity category?

Here's the lists from the News category:

	Yahoo	AOL
1.	Hurricanes	Presidential Election
2.	Caylee and Casey Anthony	Olympics
3.	Election 2008	Bailout
4.	Pakistan	Hurricane Ike
5.	Pregnant Man	Unemployment
6.	China	Stock Market
7.	Iraq	Bigfoot
8.	Shelley Malil	Stimulus Checks
9.	Patrick Swayze	High Gas Prices
10.	Afganistan	Eliot Spitzer Scandal

Some other fun bits....

How to tie a tie = most popular how-to search on AOL
AOL says Las Vegas was the most searched U.S. city for travel - NYC placed 5th
Yahoo shows Jamie Lynn Spears moving up in the celebrity category - hey a teenage pregnancy and a baby daddy will do it every time!
In Yahoo's "influential women" category - mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano beat out Michelle Obama
Heath Ledger and Bernie Mac lead Yahoo's dead people category

Google Knows Where I Am and Everything Else I Do

Allen Stern — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:23:15 -0600

This weekend Samsung alerted me that my cell phone was ready for an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 which apparently also set the GPS receiver to "on". This morning I went out for a walk, loaded Google Maps, clicked "use GPS" and started walking. This was my first time with my own GPS unit and damn is it precise. On my walk home I realized Google now knows where I've been walking. While I didn't login to use the Google Maps service, they could easily get that information.

XMCP wrote a post this weekend which looks at how Google tracks each of us as we use the net. Last year James Thomas devised a plan to go without using any of Google's services and was able to turn off their tracking as well. XMCP's post doesn't include the mobile point I've noted above but does look at some of the elements of tracking. People talk about how worried they are about national ID cards - does Google know more about us than an ID card ever will? I like XMCP's notes about Google Chrome.

Just how much does Google know? Ok for Google to control these many bits of data on each user no matter if they use it or not? Here's my chart for easy reference:

If you use Adwords, they know your marketing plan and they know your purchasing patterns.
If you use Adsense, they know which of your sites makes money (though we know nothing sadly), they know how to target which ads to your site, they know how much to payout and how much to keep.
If you use Alerts, they know what topics are important to you.
If you use Analytics, they know which sites you control and/or monitor, how those sites are doing and every trend possible.
If you use Blogger, they know what you write about. Every word, every phrase, every out and in link.
If you use Calendar, they know where you have been, are, and plan to be.
If you use Catalog search/Product Search, they know what items are of interest to you and which items you actually purchase.
If you use Checkout, they know all of your personal information: name, address, phone, credit card, ccid.
If you use Chrome, they know everything they didn't already know about your browsing.
If you use Desktop, they know what you have on your PC.
If you use Docs and Spreadsheets, they know that you are writing a paper on 13th century france, and your checking account is $30 overdrawn.
If you use Earth, they know where on the planet you desire to research.
If you use FeedBurner, they know all about your readers and your readership levels.
If you use Finance, they know what stocks (and other instruments) you own, which you monitor, and which trends you follow.
If you use Gmail, they know everything. Yep, everything.
If you use Groups, they know you have a fetish for rare steaks and love art from Paris.
If you use Image search, they know that you like Britney Spears and you have a craving for chocolate babaka and cat photos.
If you use Local search, they know where you are now, and what you are interested in.
If you use Maps, they know where you might be, where you might be going, where you have been. And as noted above, if you have GPS, they know where you are at this exact moment.
If you use Reader, they know what you are interested in.
If you use Search (any Google search), Google knows every search you have ever made.
If you use Talk, they know who your buddies are.
If you use Toolbar, they know every web site you visit.
If you use Translate, they know that you are learning German.
If you use Video, the same applies as for YouTube.
If you use YouTube, they know every video you have watched, what genres you like, which naughty videos you have watched, which ones you commented/favorited on, and the videos you have uploaded.

Please add your own Google tracking bits and I will update the post. (added Reader per comments)

NYC Spotlight: NYC Game Industry Website

Allen Stern — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:51:23 -0600

Each Saturday here at CenterNetworks we like to highlight a NYC Web-related blog. This week we have something for the gamers out there. The NYC Game Industry site is basically a portal for game developers in NYC. The site launched this week and has a pretty smooth-looking design.

The site features a news blog, event calendar, company directory, job board and a forum. I like the school directory - if you plan to become a game developer, it's a must read. To be honest, I didn't even know we have an active game developer community here in NYC. I will try to get out to some of the gamer events in the near future and report back.

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