 6/24/08,
Is Google Ad Planner Getting Its Data From The Google Toolbar?
The recent launch of Google Trends for Websites was just a dress rehearsal. The real product that it is based on is Google Ad Planner, which the company announced today. Google Ad Planner is built for ad buyers who want to decide where to place their ads. It provides general traffic and demographic information for Websites, including gender, age, education, and household income.
One drawback of Google Ad Planner is that you cannot actually buy ads from inside it, not even Google ads. Advertisers have to log in separately to their AdWords or other ad platform accounts to do that.
But the bigger issue around both Google Ad planner and Trends for Websites is where exactly Google is getting this data from. The traffic data in Googel Ad Planner appears to be the same thing consumers can see on Google Trends for Websites. In fact, that is just a light version of Google Ad Planner, which uses some of the same underlying data—”aggregated Google search data, opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in external consumer panel data, and other third-party market research.” If that sounds kind of vague it is because it is.
The unanswered question is whether Google is using its widely deployed toolbar to collect the traffic data that it now wants advertisers to use for targeting ads. Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand, who has a good review, specifically asked Google if it was using toolbar data as well. Google responded saying it would “not disclose the elements of our secret sauce” even though it disclosed some of the other elements above (search data, Google Analytics data, panel data, etc.). Sullivan concludes:
It’s noteworthy the Google Toolbar isn’t being mentioned. I specifically asked to have confirmation that the toolbar is NOT in the mix, and “secret sauce” reply above is all I got.
That makes me think that toolbar data IS being used. In particular, the focus on Google Analytics data feels like a sideshow. Google can’t rely on Google Analytics as a core data source for this information, because of the simple reason that not every site runs it. In contrast, using Google Toolbar data would give them a nearly complete sample of all sites out there.
If that is true, Google should disclose the fact, even if it is only using the toolbar data in an aggregate, anonymous form. Because most people who download the toolbar are probably not aware that the data it collects about their surfing habits can be used to target ads back at them. (I wrote about the possibility that the toolbar might be a Trojan Horse for ad targeting here).
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6/24/08,
Hoodeo Tries To Match You With Your Ideal Neighborhood
Given the rise of real estate sites like Trulia and Redfin, it’s clear that the internet has become a primary resource for prospective home shoppers. But what should people do when they don’t know what city to live in, much less which home?
Hoodeo, a new website that launched today, is looking to match people with their ideal neighborhoods. The site uses a brief questionnaire to determine a user’s ideal location, and then uses real estate data from Trulia to offer a number of available homes within the region.
Unfortunately, it seems like Hoodeo’s matchmaking system could use a overhaul. The site bases a user’s “neighborhood personality” on only eleven questions, most of which revolve around income and profession. In fact, there are only two questions that seem to be based on personal preference (”Do you want to live in a family friendly area?” and “Do you want to live in a city or suburb?”). So much for creating a lifestyle profile.
Given such a limited analysis, it’s not surprising that the results are pretty questionable. After creating a profile that would have been perfectly suited for San Francisco or the Silicon Valley, my top match was Sacramento - hardly an ideal choice for a young man in the tech industry (the runner-up was Stockton). Of course, Hoodeo has no idea what industry I’m part of, because it never asked.
If Hoodeo can fix their matching algorithm, then the site might stand a chance. In the meantime, users are better off using the neighborhood data available on sites like Cyberhomes and Trulia.
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6/24/08,
Twitter Announces Their Funding, Calls Itself A Communication Utility
 Twitter has officially announced their third round of funding that we wrote about last month - new investors Spark Capital and Bezos Expeditions come on board. Spark partner Bijan Sabet has joined the Twitter board of directors.
In the post, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone also talks about their aspirations to become a communications utility, and not to worry about the business model too much until their infrastructure is stable.
I agree that Twitter is on track to become an indispensable service. In April I said “Twitter is becoming an Internet utility,” and meant it. Twitter is still a relatively small service, but users are averaging at least 15 twitter messages per day, meaning they are highly engaged. If they can get the platform stable, I believe they will eventually become as ubiquitous as email, instant messaging, sms and other forms of communication.
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6/24/08,
Smilebox’s Media Presentation Tool Now For Macs
Smilebox released its desktop media client for Mac users today. The Flash-based tool can be used to compile digital slideshows, postcards, scrapbooks, and other arrangements for sharing photos and videos with friends and family.
Playing with Smilebox is a bit like browsing the greeting card aisle at your local supermarket. The template designs are either tasteful or tacky, depending on your aesthetic sensibilities. But they’re certainly not beautiful. The available audio overlays are also pleasant enough but not terribly exciting (fortunately paying users can upload their own tracks).
Smilebox is a freemium service: subscribers enjoy the extra music tracks, full-screen capabilities, and respite from advertisements kept from stingy basic users.
I’d like to see Smilebox develop a completely in-browser producer tool (it’s based in Flash anyway - can it be that hard to port over?), and allow its creations to play within the actual embed, as is the case with other widget companies (Slide, etc). If you click on my photo boat above, you’ll see a new window pop up.
The Redmond-based company raised $7 million last fall and has accrued $12 million overall so far.
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6/24/08,
Sources: Microsoft And Yahoo Talks Back On
 We’ve got multiple sources at both Yahoo and Microsoft telling us that official talks are back on between the two companies. But we’re hearing something different than CNET - the talks are about a full buyout again, not a sweetened search-only deal.
The information we have is thin, but what one source is saying that Microsoft is talking a price lower than the $33 they were offering when the talks disintegrated in May. Given Yahoo’s recent share price (it’s below $21 today), and the fact that just about everyone other than their board and top execs are publicly screaming for a deal, I’m not surprised.
Microsoft official comment is “no comment,” which actually contains more information than it appears to. For well over a month, Microsoft has officially been saying they’re no longer interested in Yahoo. They didn’t say that today.
Update (11:44 am PST): Additional sources say the Yahoo board offered to sell to Microsoft for the “low $30s per share, and below Microsoft’s original offer” immediately before they signed the Google search deal.
Update (11:47 am PST): From CNBC:
As mentioned at 13:29, CNBC commentator said that a source very close to Microsoft (MSFT), who is ‘in the know’ about negotiations between the two, empathically said there is no deal for the all of YHOO and nothing has changed as of today. Notes that discussions between the two about YHOO’s search business has always been on the table. Reiterates that no deal on the table for the whole co.
What we’ve heard is that the two sides are in current discussions over a complete buyout, not necessarily that there’s a deal in place or even that Microsoft has made any kind of firm offer. Another source at Microsoft reiterates to us that they’re a buyer at the right price, but isn’t saying what that price is.
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6/24/08,
It’s Time For Our Annual TechCrunch Event at August Capital
UPDATE: Tickets sold out very quickly. Additional tickets will be released in the coming weeks. There is not a wait list. Stay tuned.
 It’s time for my favorite event of the year - our (third) annual party/meetup at August Capital in Silcon Valley. Come join us and hundreds of other techies at August Capital’s fabulous outdoor patio on Friday, July 25, 2008, in Menlo Park, California.
Photos from last year’s event are on Flickr, and see our wrap-up posts from the first and second events as well.
We have branded sponsorship opportunities and demo stations for companies to show off their products. We love creative sponsorships—last year, sponsored margaritas, the photo wall, movie shorts and product giveaways were all a hit with attendees. If you are interested in supporting the event, please contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde. If you are a member of the press wanting to cover the event, please contact Sarah Ross.
 The August Capital event is one of our most popular events attended by decision makers, the venture community and dozens of members of the media.
Since we have limited capacity for attendees, we’re asking a $10 cover charge to help manage the attendee list and minimize no-shows. We will be donating 100% of the ticket proceeds to Malaria No More, an inclusive, grassroots movement to control malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that kills more than one million people each year. $10 happens to exactly cover the cost of a single bed net that will protect a child from Malaria, by the way. Tickets are available via EventBrite.
Attendee identification will be checked at the door. Due to the strong demand for tickets, we regret tickets are not transferable and not refundable. If you use your name to purchase multiple tickets, your guests must arrive with you to check in at the door.
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6/24/08,
SearchMe Launches Stacks, Gets Serious About Search Relevance
New Sequoia-backed visual search engine SearchMe launched a bunch of new features today - new video and image search engines as well as a new visual bookmarking tool called stacks.
The main new feature, stacks, allows users to bookmark and group sites and share them, visually, with others. To create a stack, you simply drag results into a newly created stack. See the how to video below, and here is a sample stack of companies that launched at the TechCrunch40 Conference last year. You can see more public stacks here.
I’ll be the first to admit that the first (private) release of SearchMe was a little rough around the edges. The results look great, and it’s fun to scroll through them like albums in iTunes, but the relevance and ranking wasn’t so hot.
Relevance and ranking is getting better, though. It’s the focus on the company now, says CEO Randy Adams. And the effort is being led by new VP of Research Mike Mathieson, who joined the company three weeks ago from Yahoo, where he was the director of engineering for web relevance.
SearchMe is one of only a handful of companies that indexes the entire web, so they’re serious about evolving into a big search player over the years. Search volume is up to 100,000 - 200,000 queries per day, says Adams. so they must be doing something right. Some users just want the quick text search results that they’re used to, and SearchMe’s visual results just slow down the process. But others (like my parents) like seeing the page before clicking on it.
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6/24/08,
Tech Policy Poll
Quick poll: If you could suggest one tech policy proposal for the Presidential candidates to adopt, what would it be?
Later today, I am speaking on a panel at the Personal Democracy Forum about national tech policy. In the poll below, I’ve listed some general policy proposals that are important to the tech community dealing with Net neutrality, patent reform, H1B Visas, copyright, renewable energy, open-source adoption, and appointments to the FCC.
Please vote and let me know which one you care about the most.
I’ve already started asking some people in the tech community for their ideas, some of which are reflected in the poll. Marc Andreessen says:
I would advocate unlimited H1B’s for anyone college educated (”brain drain the world”) and eliminating software and business method patents.
Also a huge government push to use free and open source software.
Dave Burstein, the editor of DSL Prime has a suggestion for the candidates:
Make sure some of your appointments to the FCC and other agencies have technical competence.
Not one of the 5 FCC Commissioners has a technical background, nor do most of their aides and bureau chiefs. Nearly every rumored candidate for these jobs is a lawyer. One of the best possible choices tells me he has no chance, because he “isn’t a politician.” Far too often decisions simply don’t make sense, possibly because no one senior realizes when the lobbyists are lying. Lawyers and history professors can also have a place, but some of the people at the top should also know the subject in depth
Suggest your own national tech policy proposal in comments. (This is quick and dirty, but we’ll be refining our thinking on this over time with your feedback. A good place to bone up on these and other tech policy issues, and where Barack Obama and John McCain stand on them is at our Tech Primaries site).
Update: Chris Sacca weighs in with these ideas:
Net neutraility: While I believe that uniform throttling when done transparently and equally for all applications, including the ISP’s own, can be justified in some cases, we are heading for a major conflict between the delivery of iTunes/Netflix/YT/Hulu content versus the licensed content of the MSOs and Telcos. This will come to a head in the next 18 months.
Spectrum - Three main issues here:
1) Ratification of the TV White Spaces use. Spectrum between broadcaster channels should be reserved for the public good. WiFi has been an amazing public benefit and there is no reason a similar commons cannot be created in the White Spaces (also now being called WiFi 2.0 by some). If the National Association of Broadcaster just decided to cooperate, all alleged interference problems would be easily solvable.
2) ATC (ancillary terrestrial component) spectrum. The FCC granted satellite guys ability to also use their spectrum on a terrestrial basis. However, there is some fogginess around the definitions and this has prevented major buildouts. A new administration could make very clear the utility of this spectrum and it would inspire competitive plays and thus consumers win big.
3) Restrict future spectrum auctions to new entrants. The D block auction failed for a number of reasons, but the rest of the 700MHz auction showed us that yet again the player with the most money will further consolidate spectrum ownership. The public is the big loser when all the airwaves are controlled by one or two players. The FCC should ban incumbents from the reauction of the D block and inspire some real competition for the benefit of all.
Censorship - We should impose sanctions on any nations that censor or otherwise interrupt the free flow of information on the Web. It is becoming downright ridiculous under certain regimes. At a minimum, we should forbid US hardware companies from supplying repressive governments with the tools necessary to filter and restrict access to content. This is no different than monitoring the sale of arms and related technology.
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6/24/08,
Animoto Now Available For Commercial Use
Animoto, the web application that allows users to quickly and easily create personalized, professional-quality videos from their own photos and music, is announcing their first commercial-use service called Animoto for Business.
With this new offering Animoto is targeting businesses ranging from the mom’s-and-pop’s to large enterprises. Commercial subscribers will have the same functionality as the consumer subscribers, with the major differences being that music will be licensed for commercial use and the addition of unlimited access to DVD-quality downloads in both MP4 and ISO formats. Paying customers will also be able select a cover screen photograph (no more green screen). Additionally, embedded commercial videos won’t have a persistent Animoto watermark, nor link-back buttons to Animoto.com at the end of video.
In addition to the new commercial features, Animoto has also recently upgraded some of the consumer side features such as DVD-quality (864×480 resolution) downloads, faster video render times (4x faster), and support for “odd shaped” image uploads (long images with text previously were not handled correctly).
Animoto partnered with ten companies for the commercial launch, ranging from large media companies like Getty Images, to wedding photographers, and real estate brokers. They are attempting to represent its broad and diverse application by showing the many different uses and advantages to any size company.
I made a promo video for TechCrunch50 with a trial commercial account, and I have to admit I was impressed. It was surprisingly quick and easy to upload photos, choose music, describe and then render. After a few minutes, I came up with what you see below.
Animoto for Business is a subscription service that gives unlimited access to create, present, view, and download commercial-use videos. Subscriptions cost $99 per user for three months, or $249 per user for one year. Animoto was founded in August 2006 and was recently funded by Amazon for an undisclosed amount.
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6/24/08,
Premier European Singing Community RedKaraoke Launches in U.S.
 Things have been quiet on the online karaoke front for some time now. Online karaoke is great. It’s like watching all the train wrecks from the first couple weeks of American Idol, sans the stage and pithy British insults. There have been several attempts in the online karaoke scene over the years, and we’re proud to report a newcomer.
RedKaraoke, the most popular European karaoke site, is launching its English language version today. RedKaraoke boasts the largest online karaoke song catalog, with 14,000 songs, and more than 400,000 users worldwide. The site allows you to record your song through either audio or video. Users can compete against other users to appear in the rankings page, or share them with friends. They also are the first site to offer a “Tone Control Tool” which allows users to control the tone of their voice to match the song (one thing you wish you had a karaoke bar). RedKaraoke also has rights agreements with copyright management companies and music publishers, and is affiliated with ASCAP and BMI.
Surprisingly there are a lot of competitors in the online karaoke marketplace. Ksolo, the world’s first web-based karaoke service, was acquired by Fox Interactive Media in April 2006. Two years later, they relaunched it as Myspace Karaoke. Myspace Karaoke has a catalog of about 3,000 songs, requires a Myspace account, and offers no video functionality. Yahoo! acquired Bix, an online contest site that had a karaoke functionality, in November 2006. Electronic Arts acquired SingShot in February 2007, which became Sims on Stage. SingShot/Sims On Stage, was the second ever online karaoke site, offers audio and video capabilities, and a catalog of 4,000 songs. Another newcomer onto the scene is SingSnap, who has a very basic front end, no bells and whistles, but seems to have a good community, with forum posts at around 850,000.
RedKaraoke attempts to set themselves apart in several ways . For example, instead of using MP3 files for their background track, they use MIDI and KAR files. By using this technology, they can convert almost any song into a karaoke track. The other sites mainly use MP3 files, which requires a re-recording of the music, which is both costly and time-consuming, and ultimately leads to their smaller catalog. The MIDI sound quality is very poor, like an old school ringtone, but it does allow for seamless recording, low bandwidth, and a larger catalog. A very unique feature is the “Tone Control Tool,” which allows for users to sing songs that they wouldn’t ever be able to in real life.
With the exception of a few unappealing design features and minor problems, I generally like what RedKaraoke is trying to do. I had originally though that the winner in this space would have been the one to appropriately tie their service into an existing social network through an application. Like Sims on Stage does on Facebook with their application Karaoke Showcase, or like Myspace does with Myspace Karaoke. I especially think that an application would work with RedKaraoke, because the tone control feature would allow people to feel better about posting their videos to their friends.
Red Karaoke was founded by brothers Miguel Angel and Richard Diez Ferreira in 2007. The site has always been free, and generates revenue through the sale of advertising space, strategic sponsorships and special activities. RedKaraoke is also announcing today the expansion of the U.S. offices, with two new executive appointments. Justin D. Abbott has joined as International Sales and Business Development Director, and Fernando Ara as Country Manager for the U.S. RedKaraoke is profitable in Spain, but recently had their expansion funded for €2 million from VC firm Clave Mayor in January 2008.
Red Karaoke plans on extending their reach to Japan by the end of the third quarter, and Germany and France in 2009. They are currently developing a Facebook application, and working on several new features for the site including a video uploading platform, blogging platform, lyrics database and search, and widgets and RSS services. They are also currently gearing up for their partnership with Antena 3’s TV show “Al pie de la letra” - a Spanish equivalent to American Idol - for whom they’ll be hosting all of the auditions for on their site.
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6/24/08,
Nokia Acquires Symbian - Goes Open Source
Nokia have today announced that they will be acquiring the remaining 52% of Symbian they don’t own and will be releasing the complete Symbian platform under the Eclipse open source license. Nokia have also announced the creation of the Symbian Foundation, which is an alliance of mobile vendors and application providers that any company can join.
Continue reading on TechcrunchIT.com >>
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6/24/08,
Yoono Launches Public Beta, Scores $4 Million in Funding
Yoono, the social network browser plugin that relaunched in May, has entered public beta. The company has also announced a $4 million extension to their Series A funding round led by AGF Private Equity.
Yoono has existed for a number of years but has recently reinvented itself, offering a retooled browser sidebar for Firefox that serves as both a social network feed aggregator and a media-rich content sharing tool. The sidebar can be configured with a number of different widgets that include a Flickr photo viewer and a music player. You can see our review of Yoono’s relaunched plugin here.
The company intends to use the funds to help keep up with its growing user base, and would also like to expand the widgets available on its platform. Yoono faces competition from a number of other browser plugins like Minggl and from Flock, the web browser that has been tailored for social networks.
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6/24/08,
Jaxtr Finally Enables Out-of-Network Calling, Raises $10 Million
Jaxtr, the online VoIP service that also offers a social network, has launched out-of-network calling that will allow users to call phone lines around the world. The new service will allow users to call family and friends (even non-members) from their own phones for a fraction of the costs associated with traditional long distance calling. The company has also raised a $10 million Series B funding round led by Lehman Brothers Venture Partners.
To use the service, users need to enter each international number they’d like to call on the site, which generates a unique local number for every contact. From then on, they can simply call the number from their phone as they normally would. The initial setup seems like a bit of a hassle, but it is significantly easier than using a calling card every time you need to place a call. Rates vary by country, and are generally much cheaper than standard call fees (many also appear to be lower than those found on similar VoIP services).
The site is also introducing “Premium Memberships”, which offer digital voicemail through email and customized contact pages. These premium memberships are actually free, but are only granted to active members (the site declined to specify what exactly was needed to attain ‘active’ status). Members who don’t qualify as “active” should be able to purchase premium membership in the near future.
These new features, especially the out-of-network calls, make Jaxtr increasingly competitive with other VoIP operators like Jajah, which has a number of very similar features. And while there might not be much that differentiates the two companies from each other, it is important to note the massive market for international calls, which can certainly support more than a few similar services.
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6/24/08,
John Adams’ New Job: Fix Twitter
John Adams, Twitter’s new Ops Engineer (and apparently a descendant of the guy from the HBO series), said in a Twitter message today (where else) that he’ll soon be working to “fix twitter.”
While I’m guessing that isn’t exactly how Twitter would like to have him describe his new job, we wanted to know more. So TechCrunchIT’s Steve Gillmor put a camera in his face and made him talk (link to video is here). Interview above, although he tones down “fixing twitter” to “working with the team to solving their problems”. Good luck John, and thanks for being such a good sport with the interview.
I spoke with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone about Adams’ hire via email this afternoon. He begins on July 7, Biz says, and has worked previously at Apple, Inktomi, iFilm and others as a security and network engineer. They’ve also hired Rudy Winnacker from Google, where he has been a systems engineer for the past five years.
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6/24/08,
New Home Page Unveiled At Yahoo AU
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6/24/08,
Microsoft’s First Step In Accepting OpenID SignOns - HealthVault
Over 16 months after first declaring its support for the OpenID authentication platform, Microsoft has finally implemented it for the first time, allowing for OpenID logins on its Health Vault medical site. Unfortunately, Health Vault will only support authentication from two OpenID providers: Trustbearer and Verisign. Whatever happened to the Open in OpenID?
The rationale behind the limited introduction is that health is sensitive, so access should be limited to the few, most trusted OpenID providers. It certainly makes sense, but it also serves to underscore one of the problems inherent to OpenID: security.
The text-based passwords found scattered across the web simply aren’t very good for protection. We’ve heard countless tales of hacked or phished passwords leading to identity theft - what happens when a user’s entire web presence (including financial and health data) is tied to a single password? It’s a recipe for disaster.
To remedy the issue, a number of companies have come up with different ways to improve security. Trustbearer requires users to provide a physical ID “token” to verify their identity (users can order a $40 USB stick if they don’t already have one of the acceptable ID cards). Vidoop offers a free browser-based image authentication system that uses advertising to generate revenue. And so on.
With every new security measure comes a new, subjective, stratification of the system. The promise of OpenID is a platform that “eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.” But by only accepting “secure” OpenID providers, Microsoft has demonstated that this system is by no means unified in its current form. Soon users will need to remember their “secure” OpenID, along with their “normal” credentials. And what happens when another provider comes along with an “uber-secure” ID, forcing users to remember yet another login?
There are a number of companies besides Microsoft that could be criticized for their slow or poor implementation of OpenID - Google, which has become an OpenID provider through its Blogger property, has yet to implement the platform on any of its flagship services. But it seems that the platform itself may be even more deserving of scrutiny. What good is a unified login when its default form will only be accepted on the least private and secure sites?
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6/24/08,
1.5 Million Australian Students Dump Outlook/Exchange For Gmail
 Google just took away one of the world’s largest Outlook/Exchange installations for 1.5 million students at Australian schools, and replaced it with Gmail. More information is here.
The cost savings are substantial. The Outlook/Exchange platform involved a AU$33 million contract and took four years to go live, although it’s unclear why it took so long. The Gmail/Google Apps rollout, which is being completed by subcontractors, will cost just $9.5 million and should be live by the end of 2008. User storage will increase from 35 MB to 1 GB.
This is being called the largest single deployment of Gmail in the world, we’ve emailed Google for a comment.
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6/24/08,
If You’re Going To The Angelina Jolie Wanted Screening, Get Your Butt Over There
Wanted Exclusive Trailer HD
If you were one of the quick ones and got a ticket to the Angelina Jolie/Wanted screening tonight in San Francisco, drop everything and get on over there, ’cause it starts at 7:30 (the team will start handing out tickets at around 6:30). My guess is most of the people on the wait list will get in as well, but my apologies if you head over and are turned away.
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6/24/08,
Centrif Tries To Mix Bookmarking With Ask.com
There are few things more satisfying than asking a search engine a question and immediately getting an answer. No weeding through Wikipedia entries. No sifting through spammy links. Just give me what I want to know.
For years sites like Ask.com and Google have offered this feature, but only for purely factual information - things like “What is the longest river on Earth?”. But try asking “How do I bait a fishhook”, and you’re left to fend for yourself.
Centrif, a new site that just launched in public beta, is looking to change this by offering a service that acts like a mix between a bookmarking service and an online reference guide.
Instead of indexing the internet, Centrif relies on user submissions to determine the best answers to each question. As they find informative pages across the web, users are invited to share their discoveries (along with the questions they answer) with others. Users can add pages to Centrif’s index using a bookmarket, a Firefox extension, or through the site itself.
Later on, users can ask questions at Centrif’s main site, which draws from these previously bookmarked pages. Questions that have been answered multiple times will have their links ranked according to their popularity, presumably allowing the most authoritative answers to rise to the top.
Unfortunately, the site still has some obvious shortcomings that severely handicap its utility. For one, the search will only find a match if every word in a query is included in a result’s description. A search for “What is James Bond’s favorite car” would not pull up a page that had been tagged “What is James Bond’s car?”, because the word “favorite” wouldn’t match. The site doesn’t have a synonym dictionary either, which makes searching even more difficult.
Beyond these search issues, Centrif simply doesn’t have many answers yet. The site is going to have serious trouble with the “chicken and the egg” problem - until it builds up a comprehensive database, few people will have a reason to use it. And it doesn’t have much to offer as a pure bookmarking tool either - there are plenty of mature competitors like delicious that have much more to offer.
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6/23/08,
Diller Repackages IAC’s Ad Network, Everyone Thinks It’s Something New
Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp announced a minor enhancement to the demographic and behavioral ad targeting available across its sites today—something it is calling “Audience Cubes.” Advertisers can now run ads targeted at different demographic slices including 18 to 34-year olds, sports fans, homeowners, and parents on 26 IAC sites (Citysearch, Evite, Match.com, Ticketmaster, and others). Judging from the coverage the announcement received, though, you would think that IAC just launched an entirely new ad network.
Some typical headlines:
Diller Fashions IAC Ad Network(Ad Age).
InterActiveCorp launches ad network, including for brands it’s ditching (Cnet).
Separate, Yet Together: IAC Creates Ad Network With Its Split Businesses (paidContent).
IAC To Bind Spin-off Companies In Ad Network (Silicon Alley Insider).
Sounds good, except that IAC has been selling ads across this very same ad network for the past three years. It’s called IAC Advertising Solutions. Maybe nobody noticed.
The company consolidated the ad serving technology from all its properties last year on Microsoft’s Atlas, and even before then was selling ads across the network. The news that this ad network will remain intact even once IAC splits into five separate companies is not really news.
And the fact that IAC is just now turning on some extra behavioral targeting capabilities is not that big a deal. Every advertising network is doing that. Even Yahoo.
(Photo by endolith).
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6/23/08,
TechCrunching The Enterprise: TechCrunchIT
 We just launched TechCrunchIT, our newest property, with editors Steve Gillmor and Nik Cubrilovic. The site is focused on the enterprise tech space - all the software, technologies, standards, platforms, etc. that help companies do their thing, and form the building blocks of the products we feature on TechCrunch, MobileCrunch and our other blogs.
TCIT will be a lot like TechCrunch in editorial and content style - a range of enterprise-related news and analysis including applications, open standards, platforms, cloud computing, microenterprises, customer experience, legacy enterprise, social media, information management and software among other subjects. They aim to promote an understanding of emerging and existing enterprise technologies and products and to analyze their commercial, social, and consumer impact.
Make sense? If it’s not clear where the line is between TechCrunch and TechCrunchIT, perhaps my muffler analogy will help. A frequent debate on the Gillmor Gang is over the importance, or at least the interestingness, of end user/consumer products (think YouTube) v. the technologies that allow those products to exist (in YouTube’s case, Adobe Flash). I personally think the YouTube’s of the world are more interesting, and I refer to those products as “Ferarris.” All the technology that goes into making those Ferarris I refer to as “mufflers” (the enterprise guys hate that, which is why I keep doing it).
Basically, TechCrunchIT is a blog about the mufflers. And Steve and Nik are going to do their best to keep you entertained while reporting every important development in the muffler market.
Quite often there will be cross coverage between the blogs when we think a particular story will interest both sets of readers. Also, Steve and Nik will continue to occasionally write here on TechCrunch. You may even see me hop over to TechCrunchIT once in a while to write a post or two.
We have two terrific sponsors right out of the gate - Microsoft and Sun. Thanks to both of them for believing in us as we get started with TechCrunchIT. There are still a few bugs on the site, so bear with us as the paint dries and everything settles down. But if you hurry over there now, you’ll see some live coverage of the Salesforce/Google event in San Francisco today.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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6/23/08,
Top 100 Advertisers Shifted $1 Billion To the Web Last Year At The Expense Of TV And Newspapers
The top 100 advertisers in the U.S., who represent 41 percent of total advertising spending, shifted about $1 billion last year from TV and newspapers to the Web. An analysis from Ad Age shows that overall media spending in “measured” categories (TV, print, radio, Web) by the top 100 advertisers was flat in 2007, with 0.3 percent growth to $61.3 billion. But spending on Web display ads rose 33 percent to $4.2 billion. The article notes:
Put another way, these top-tier marketers increased measured internet spending by $1 billion; slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million.
This is yet one more piece of evidence that dollars are flowing from traditional media to the Web. The analysis is based on data from TNS Media Intelligence for 2007. TNS only measures display advertising, and not search.
The big question is whether the recession that has already hit some categories of advertising will hit the Web this year. Already, the growth of spending in display advertising slowed overall in the first quarter of 2008. And the Interactive Advertising Bureau showed a slight decline for all Web advertising (including search) to $5.8 billion in the first quarter, from $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.
Here is a table from Ad Age showing the breakdown in spending for the top 100 advertisers (the $44 billion in “unmeasured spending” includes things like direct marketing, in-store advertising, and other promotions, and is not included in the figures cited above):
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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6/23/08,
Chat With Facebook Friends and Share Flickr Pics or YouTube Vids On Your Phone With Jibe Mobile (Invites)
There are plenty of ways to upload photos and other content from your phone to the Web. But the premise behind Jibe Mobile is simply to be able to use your phone to share social media already on the Web with your friends, whether they are online or out with their phones. The service is launching today in private beta. We have invites for the first 300 people to sign up here.
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