AOL has announced the beta release of their newest version of the AOL software program.  It's codenamed "Helix"and integrates email, Web browsing, instant messaging, and other online activities into a single, easy-to-use application, letting you multitask in fewer clicks and fewer hassles.

Highlights from the AOL Beta site:

• Improved Navigation: A new "AppMap" feature located between the Web button and Search field on the toolbar, instantly displays clickable thumbnails of all your open windows. Now you can find what you're looking for instantly – and switch windows with just one click.
• Tabbed Organization: Tabs on email, browser and IM windows allow you to surf, send mail and more, without cluttering your screen.
• More Email Options: New, streamlined AOL Mail lets you send and receive messages using multiple email accounts, including GMail, Verizon and many more, in the same window.
• Enhanced IM: AIM 6.1 is built right in so you can see which buddies are online, chat, share pictures and more.
• Easy to Use: New functionality allows for fast, easy transfer of your Favorites and Personal Filing Cabinet from AOL 9.0 to Helix.

Once I get a chance to install the Beta, I will provide a more in-depth review.

Update: Video Host Smackdown now posted

Everyday we are seeing more apps for the iPhone appear. Today's entry is from hosting company Media Temple. They have launched their AccountCenter product for the iPhone.

Jason McVearry, Partner Director notes, "This is the first fully functional web hosting account manager designed specifically  for the iphone…meaning you can manage your domains, email, account settings and even reboot your server via your iphone."

Check out the details on their iPhone AccountCenter site. It's pretty sweet looking! Here is a sample of the app:

Here's what I love about the Web: people sharing their knowledge base for free to help others. A hundred years ago, you would never have done this. If you wanted my knowledge, you paid me. Today we are so willing to share our gifts and talents for free (or close to free). It's awesome.

Today I learned about one such knowledge sharing tool. It's a new blog by Mark Peter Davis of DFJ Gotham Ventures called, "Get Venture." Basically it provides information on the entire VC process from initial contact through check signing. And the information is very detailed. If you plan to seek funding (and even if you don't) it's a must read. You only have one chance with a VC, why not be as close to perfect as you can by using the tools that are available?

The posts to-date include:

• Why An Executive Summary
• Submitting Your Executive Summary
• Pitch Is Not The Right Word
• Do Not Interrupt Your Partner
• Management: Compatability
• Management: Competency
• Major Achievements
• Competition: Provide Insight
• Barriers: Get The Story Right
• Addressable Market: Making the Estimate

If you have other good VC resources, leave them in the comments and I will update the post.

Tonight I attended the "New York Web 2.0 Social Networking Tech Meetup." What a name – covers all bases! We met at a club which unfortunately had horrible acoustics. I was one of three presenters, and it was nearly impossible for me to hear myself over the club music, and the noise coming from the bar. I would suggest that they move it to somewhere that is a bit quieter. I counted about 75-80 attendees. I had a chance to meet the editor of the new AlleyInsider.com, which is a tech blog focused on NYC.

There were two presenters for the evening: Confabb and TrustFX. Below are my comments and thoughts from each presentation.

Confabb

Confabb is a site that lists conferences around the U.S. and provides detailed information on each. Along with the conference information, you can also signup to a social networking option which lets you create a profile which others can "friend" you on. This is a better version of MyContags.

Here are my live comments/thoughts from the presentation:

• Launched November 2006

Claim to have the largest database of conference information

• Do they have travel information for each conference?
• Have to create yet another social profile?
• You can create branded URLs for your conference, they showed a bunch of "issue" related conferences
• Is it real-time, so if something changes on the schedule, do they update?
• How do they get the word out, do they have promos at conferences? Will this replace Twitter at SXSW?
• Seems like a ton of manual labor to keep this site updated
• Seems like a good idea as long as they can get every conference into the system and get a large number of conference attendees active
• My suggestion would be to tie into a social network like facebook so users are not required to create yet another profile
• What about a tie with Meetup or Upcoming?
• Might also be nice to let me save to Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.

TrustFX

TrustFX is attempting to create a way for consumers to "trust" a business by the ratings and reviews posted about the same business. One of my friends called it "yellow pages with ratings". Their mission statement is: "To create credible online reputations". The service just launched.

Here are my live comments/thoughts from the presentation:

• CEO Andrew Ward noted that the system can't be gamed, but from what I could tell on the demo, it looked like it would be easy to game
• They only list businesses that have registered with the system. My suggestion is that they start to fill the database. I searched for dentist in my ZIP code and no results were returned. I think they would have more luck returning as much data as possible and highlight those with a trust score.
• Andrew said that businesses can tie incentives to ratings. I think this could be a big no-no as it could create a payperpost type issue
• The last slide discussed market opportunity: potential for 250k customers in year 4 with sales of $100 million and they are open to acquisition

Overall I enjoyed the event (outside of the location) and meeting many new people. I look forward to hearing from the contacts I made and hopefully covering their startups here on CN.

Mashable is reporting that social networking site Respectance has taken a Series A round of financing to the tune of $1.5 million. What makes Respectance unique is that pages are built for those who have deceased.

Pete notes, "Certainly, a 'social network for the dead' has the kind of simple premise that the mainstream media can latch onto. Meanwhile, we tested the site a few weeks back and liked it: with a nice, usable design and support for multimedia like photos and videos, it’s very well executed."

Assuming the Internet isn't going away anytime in the next 60 years, this type of site could be very valuable. A young child can learn about their grandparents from family and friends across the world.

It might be also a good place for each of us to live an "Internet Will" online.  Last month, I spoke with SharedBook, who handles the technology for Legacy.com, a site that scrapes gets obituaries from newspapers across the nation and creates printable books from the comments.

I guess when the living is so overwhelmed with social networking, those who have passed on is a good place to market to.

Updated: If you are reading this in a feed reader, please visit the page to read the response from ExpoTV CEO Daphne Kwon. The response has clarified the concern I raised to my (and I hope everyone's) satisfaction. Thanks Daphne!

Last week I reported on a video reviews site called ExpoTv. During the demo, I asked about their syndication policy regarding positive and negative reviews. Since I was the last question, I don't think they had a chance to full answer, but the gist of their reply was, "We allow the retailers to pick what they show." That just does not sit well with me.

Thi Luu, SVP, Web Operations provided a comment on my original post:

Thanks for feedback on ExpoTV and wanted to address your question about our syndication strategy. We feel that because video is a new medium for most retailers and comparison shopping engines, they haven't yet been able to build into their sites the sorting functionality about the content being positive or negative.

They link to and promote ExpoTV to allow users a more robust experience and to find more video product reviews. Until they build the capability to sort through the videos, having a lot of them without any ability to skim through them is tough on users. So for now, we let them display what they want.

As the retailers build more functionality around videos on their sites, we agree it's a much better user experience (and written reviews have proven it's more effective) to offer all opinions and we will be encouraging them to do so.

That's why we feel strongly about letting people submit positive and negative videos about products on ExpoTV.com and compensate our video creators for both types of videos. Hope this helps to address your question.

Best,
Thi Luu
SVP, Web Operations

Thanks for the reply Thi. What I would like to understand is the ExpoTv policy if a syndication site only requests positive reviews. Will this be noted on the syndication site? I am guessing not and that's where my ethical concern begins. I could understand if a customer wanted to purchase one "highlight" review for their site, but outside of that, should not be able to purchase just one type of review. In this case, it feels like Payperpost using video.

Imagine visiting buy.com to buy your new gadget. You see two video reviews and play both. They tell you how great the product is. You buy it. It dies. Turns out ExpoTv had 100 reviews, of which 98 were negative but you never saw those.

So CN readers, chime in? Do you think it's ok for ExpoTv to offer only positive or negative reviews to its syndication sites?

Nokia and Twango have announced that Nokia has acquired the assets of Twango. The price of the transaction is undisclosed but the WSJ believes it was less than $96 million. Twango is a place to share and save your photos, videos and audio files. We reviewed Twango back in January and the service has continued to grow since launch. I was impressed with co-founder Randy Kerr’s business acumen in January and I am just as impressed in my acquisition discussion with him today.

A bit from the official release:

"The Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks – at anytime, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose. We have the most complete suite of connected multimedia experiences including music, navigation, games, and – with the Twango acquisition – photos, videos, and a variety of document types," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia. "When you combine a Nokia Nseries multimedia computer that is always on, always connected, and always with you together with a rich media sharing destination like Twango, people will have exciting new ways to create and enjoy rich media experiences in real time."

I had a chance to briefly speak with Randy about the transaction and here are my notes:

• The company does not share membership numbers but he said they have "sufficient numbers" to make the deal work.
• The official release states "Nokia acquired substantially all of Twango’s assets" – this means it’s an asset purchase.
• I asked about iPhone compatibility with Twango and Randy said that the app works great on the iPhone, in fact using the Safari browser, all of Twango is available.
• Revenue models info? Randy said they will continue to offer a free service and are looking into ad models and premium subscriptions.
• Who are Twango’s competitors? I was pretty sure I would hear the usual suspects but Randy surprised me by saying that Apple and Google are their biggest competitors. Apple with the iPhone and Google with their suite of social-sharing services.
• They are hiring in Seattle and the job information will be posted on Tuesday on Twango’s web site. They have 12 employees today, 6 new Nokia staff are joining the team and their goal is to double the headcount by year’s end.
• The Twango name will remain for now and will be a service of Nokia.

Congrats to the Twango team and to Nokia for getting a great service. It will be interesting to watch where Twango goes now with a large company with deep pockets behind them.