Google+ Ad On Facebook Is Banned

What happens on Google+, stays on Google+. At least that’s the way Facebook would like to see things. Web developer Michael Lee Johnson found that out the hard way. He was trolling for Google+ friends on Facebook by running a Facebook ad asking people to add him to their Circles on Google+. Facebook, apparently, did not like him using its site to build his own social network somewhere else. So it pulled his ads.

He writes on Google+:

I recently ran a Google+ advertisement on Facebook that got all of my campaigns suspended. – Great.

Yeah, Facebook frowns on people promoting competing products with Facebook ads. It’s even in its Terms of Service. But seriously, where else is he going to find friends for Google+?

For More News: http://techcrunch.com/

Anynod’s Smart Cover Clone Pulled From Samsung Stores

Anynod’s Smart Case hit the interwebs yesterday and caused more than a few people to call for Samsung’s head. Why? Well, Samsung retail stores throughout Korea where selling the blatant rip-off of Apple’s Smart Cover. But while Samsung was facilitating the case, it was actually made and distributed by Anynod. It doesn’t matter anymore. Samsung did the right thing and has pulled the case from its stores stating it wasn’t approved nor received the official “Designed for Samsung Mobile” certification.

 Samsung’s statement via its Samsung Tomorrow Blog

As a general practice, Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners before they are given the “Designed for Samsung Mobile” mark.

In this case, approval was not given to Anymode for the accessory to feature this official designation.  We are working with Anymode to address this oversight and the product has already been removed from the Anymode sales website.  The product has not been sold.

This case caused an absurd amount of outrage. It’s just a tablet case. There wasn’t nearly the same amount of outcry when Apple debuted the Smart Cover. You know, the blatant rip-off of the InCase Convertible Magazine Jacket.

For More News Visit:  http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/anynods-smart-case-pulled-from-samsung-stores/

Oops: Microsoft accidentally reveals secret social project

Microsoft is working on a social/design project called Tulalip, according to details from a splash page that was accidentally published to Socl.com recently.

As of Thursday, Microsoft has taken down the splash page and replaced it with a message acknowledging the project.

“Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest,” the message states.

While I believe that publishing the splash page was an accident, I don’t believe Tulalip is simply an “internal design project”.

The splash page (pictured above) describes the Tulalip service as a way for users to “find what you need and share what you know easier than ever”. There are options to connect the service with both Facebook and Twitter. The page also contains two rows of images that look very similar to the “Tiles” interface design found on Microsoft’s new Window’s Phone 7 operating system.

Also, the splash page’s domain name is shorthand for “Social”.

I think it’s obvious that Microsoft is planning to do much more with Tulalip than it’s letting on. The company was unavailable for further comment on its plans for Socl.com at the time of publication.

If you’ve got a theory on what Microsoft is up to, please sound off in the comment section.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson responded with the following statement: “Socl.com is an internal design project from one of Microsoft’s research teams which was mistakenly published to the web. We have no more information at this time.”

http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/14/microsoft-social-project-tulalip/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29

Angry Netflix subscribers--so, who has a better deal?

First off, I'm going to say it: I told you so.

Two weeks ago, I wrote that people who watch a lot of movies via Netflix's streaming service are starting to find holes in the selection. In some genres, such as action films, the titles are bottom of the barrel. I predicted that this was going to become a bigger issue in other movie categories as people started working their way through the library.

I had no idea that Netflix was only going to exacerbate the problem by making it more expensive to rent DVDs. Sure, subscribers can supplement the streaming service with disks as a way to fill out the dead spots in Netflix's selection. But that's bound to be less appealing with the new pricing structure--now many customers are threatening to quit the service.

Yesterday, the company announced a price hike and said one reason for it was that Netflix subscribers continue to order DVDs at a high rate, one that the company didn't anticipate. CNET's Don Reisinger has more details about the new plans, but it breaks down like this: There are no longer any hybrid plans that offer access to DVDs and Internet streaming. There's one plan now for DVDs and a separate plan for streaming. Each costs $7.99 per month (for one disc at a time). To access discs and Web video, people have to pay for both plans and that means $15.98 a month.

Now Netflix finds itself awash in angry comments, which are appearing on Facebook, Twitter, the company's own blog and even on newly created Web pages, as ticked-off subscribers rip Netflix on this issue. For instance:

• Someone named Bob Meyer wrote this in the comments section on Netflix's blog: "I hope the streaming selection gets a whole lot better. I've been buying a lot of videos from Amazon Instant Videos because Netflix doesn't have them, maybe I need to switch to Amazon for my streaming, too."

• A Mitch Bartlett wrote: "This price change wouldn't be so bad if you put more movies on streaming. Right now the streaming option is loaded with stuff nobody would ever rent."

• And someone who identified herself on Netflix's blog as Beth Case wrote: "It's no longer worth (being a Netflix subscriber) with the limited streaming catalog. At least before if it wasn't available on streaming I could probably get it on DVD. Not worth $16 for ONE DVD at a time and streaming."

Streaming movies over the Internet is Netflix's future. Streaming is cheaper for the company than shipping DVDs through the mail, and for subscribers, streaming is far more convenient. Netflix, which now has more than 23 million subscribers, has credited Web distribution for the service's rapid growth the past two years. CEO Reed Hastings has said that moving the business model to streaming would save money and that the extra cash would be used to acquire more and better films and TV shows.

  

Related links
• Hollywood wants share of Netflix's windfall 
• Netflix spooks Hollywood more than ever
• Netflix subscribers now equal Comcast's
• ZDNet--Netflix's pricing backlash: Follow the money, churn rates

The costs of content are going up for Netflix as the six top Hollywood movie studios have begun to play hardball. This is no trumped-up excuse. I've written extensively about this and so have many others.

But for Hastings and his management team, which has led the company on a charmed run the past two years that saw Netflix jump to a huge lead in the Web video sector and a long run-up in the company's share price (Netflix shares closed trading Tuesday at $291 a share), the fee increases appears to be their first real miscalculation in a long time. They appear to acknowledge that they misread the demand for DVDs and they certainly appear to have mishandled preparing customers for the price hike.

"We have realized that there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs both from our existing members as well as non-members," wrote a Netflix manager on the company's blog. "Given the long life we think DVDs by mail will have, treating DVDs as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan neither makes great financial sense nor satisfies people who just want DVDs."

People are going to get angry anytime a favorite service raises prices by a large amount, and in this case, the price of a subscription for some Netflix customers will go up by 60 percent. But the reality is that Netflix's price for streaming a disc rental is $16, far less than a cable subscription, which can run over $100.

Amazon and YouTube, which both offer better selections than Netflix in some genres, charge by the rental. At YouTube, visitors can rent movies for $2.99 and $3.99. The prices are similar at Amazon. If you jump to these other services for their selection, I don't blame you, but if you're doing it just because of Netflix's rate increase, you might want to pause and do the math.

You would only need to rent five movies a month at YouTube's and Amazon's prices before you would be paying more than Netflix's new $16 DVD/streaming fee. These other services also don't have as many options for watching streaming video on a television set.

The fact is, Netflix is still the best deal around.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20079051-261/angry-netflix-subscribers-so-who-has-a-better-deal/#ixzz1SFLFVeLF

Google AdSense Founder Raises Cash From Lerer Ventures And Others For Stealth Startup Scopely

Google AdSense co-founder Eytan Elbaz is announcing a round of funding from a group of all-star investors for his stealthy startup Scopely. Investors in the round (the amount of which was not disclosed) include Lerer Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Howard Lindzon, Terri Semel’s Windsor Media, David Cohen, Dave Tisch, Gil Elbaz, and Evan Rifkin.

For background, Elbaz co-founded Applied Semantics, which he sold to Google for $100 million in 2003. Applied Semantics ended up becoming Google AdSense, and Eytan stayed on as Head of Domain Channel for Google. He left Google in 2007 to pursue other projects.

Eytan declined to reveal exact details on what Scopely will focus on, but said that the startup will disrupt the social space that is “ripe for innovation.” He says that social networks have grown up quickly and Scopely’s product, which is being programmed in Node.js, will play in this arena. He adds that online advertising will play a part in Scopely as well.

The angel investment will be used for product development and expanding the engineering team. Currently, the Scopely team includes 12 senior engineers and product managers from companies including Playdom, MindJolt, Warner Brothers, and Saatchi and Saatchi. The startup is even offering some lucrative referral incentives in case you are interested.

For More News Visit: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/13/google-adsense-founder-raises-cash-from-lerer-ventures-and-others-for-stealth-startup-scopely/

Eric Schmidt Comments On Google+’s Success, Claims “Millions” Of Users

Speaking at a press event on Thursday at the Allen & Co conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, former Google CEO and now Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gave a 70 minute talk to the relatively few reporters that are here about various topical Google issues, including the most topical of Google issues, the launch of Google+.

 When asked by a reporter how he would gauge the success of Google+ Schmidt replied, validly, “Well it’s been out for a week!” before going on to say that the biggest marker of its success was the fact that “An infinite amount of people are unhappy because they don’t have their invitation.” He later went on to say that the amount of people who had invitations but weren’t let in because of high demand was the greatest problem the service was facing. “We’re reviewing it on Monday,” he said.

Schmidt also seemed pleased that people seemed to understand that Google+ was different than Facebook.

“Circles is particularly well suited to the contact list you have in your phone, we have a somewhat different view of privacy. We tried to build a system that you could use for the relationships over time. The people who built the Internet did not get a stable version of identity; You need identity, in the sense that you are a person, this is who you are these are your friends and so on … The issue on the Internet is not the lack of Facebook, the issue on the Internet is the lack of identity. “

When asked by reporters whether Google planned eventually to fill out Google+ with other products, Schmidt answered, “Yeah, and there’s a lot coming,” saying that business accounts and ads are expected, assuming Google+ continues to grow. ”We test stuff and when it works we put a lot more emphasis on it,” he said.

When pressed to reveal how many people were part of the Google+ beta currently Schmidt replied, “I don’t know but it’s millions, it’s a lot.”

For More News Visit: http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/09/eric-schmidt-on-gauging-googles-success/

Facebook Launches Skype-Powered Video Calling

Confirming our report last week, Facebook has just announced a major new feature that it’s launching in tandem with Skype: video calling.

It’s a feature that’s been rumored for quite a while, and it’s one that Facebook is putting a lot of weight behind. Now, whenever you browse to a friend’s profile, you’ll see a new button nestled between the ‘Message’ and ‘Poke’ buttons that says ‘Call’. Click that, the other user will see a popup asking if they want to accept a call, and you’ll be immediately connected (you’ll need to install a small plugin the first time you use the service).

You’ll also see video calling integrated into Facebook’s Chat product. Really, you can’t miss it — Facebook is launching a new chat sidebar today that by default it takes the entire right side of the screen, and the first time you click on any user you’ll see a prompt asking if you’d like to make your first video call.

So why is this a big deal? Facebook emphasized the fact that users will not have to create new Skype accounts to make calls, and that this will allow users to call their friends and family with a very minimal amount of setup (the flow for installing the applet only took a few seconds).

Of course, this comes just a week after the launch of Google+, which includes a video chat  feature called ‘Hangouts’. Facebook’s video chat doesn’t support group chats yet, but when asked if Facebook will be rolling out group video calling, Zuckerberg said not to rule anything out. He added that one-to-one calling makes up the vast majority of video calling.

Skype CEO Tony Bates took the stage to make a few comments. One important thing he noted: Skype is talking with Facebook about having some paid products available through the web format.

For More News Visit:  http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/06/facebook-launches-skype-powered-video-calling/