Trong trang phục giản dị, Hoa hậu Du lịch Việt Nam 2008 vui đùa cùng cánh diều và những người bạn 'nhí' tại đường Trần Phú nằm dọc thành phố biển Nha Trang vào lễ khai mạc hội thả diều.
Dự đoán trong tuần này, thị trường chứng khoán tiếp tục lên, có điều chỉnh nhẹ ở ngày thứ 5 hoặc thứ 6. Sang đầu tuần sau sẽ hình thành 2 xu hướng, hoặc lên mạnh hoặc tiếp tục xả hàng. (Tran Dinh Kham) >Ý kiến bạn đọc (phần 1)
Đám mây sáng rực lúc bình minh, gấu trắng ngủ trên lưng mẹ, đàn tuần lộc di chuyển tới đồng cỏ là những cảnh tượng thú vị về cuộc sống trên các vùng lãnh nguyên quanh năm lạnh giá. > Các lãnh nguyên đẹp nhất hành tinh
Chiều 8/6, tại khuôn viên cao đẳng Văn hóa Nghệ thuật Du lịch Nha Trang (Khánh Hòa), gần 700 người cùng lúc được nếm những bát phở được múc ra từ chiếc nồi cao 1,2 m.
Chắc chắn thứ tư này sẽ có đợt chốt lời diễn ra mạnh mẽ trên cả hai sàn. Theo đà đó, chứng khoán sẽ xuống dưới 500 điểm và dừng lại ở mức điểm 480-490. (Nguyen Hung) > Chứng khoán bỏ qua nỗi sợ hãi
Một nghiên cứu tại Anh cho thấy tất cả động vật linh trưởng cỡ lớn biết cười giống như con người. Đây là bằng chứng nữa cho thấy, con người và động vật linh trưởng có tổ tiên chung.
Bộ Tài chính vừa công bố quyết định kỷ luật đối với ông Phạm Văn Dưỡng, Cục trưởng thuế tỉnh Đồng Nai vì để xảy ra sai phạm trong vụ Công ty Grobest & I-Mei Industrial VN được miễn giảm thuế sai hơn 36 tỷ đồng.
Tình cảm giữa Én vàng 2008 và "nữ hoàng scandal" vượt trên quan hệ xã giao thông thường trong làng giải trí. Những lúc rỗi, Tuấn Anh và Phi Thanh Vân luôn tranh thủ gặp gỡ để chia sẻ chuyện nghề, chuyện đời sống.
Nhà đầu tư toàn cầu bắt đầu thận trọng hơn khi không có những thông tin kinh tế hỗ trợ được công bố. Tại châu Âu, giới đầu tư lo ngại giá cổ phiếu đang được thổi phồng quá mức so với năng lực nội tại của doanh nghiệp. > Chứng khoán toàn cầu trải qua tuần giao dịch bùng nổ
Cựu cầu thủ nổi tiếng người Brazil, Carlos Alberto, đã lên tiếng chỉ trích nhà vô địch Premier League vì hành động vơ vét các tài năng trẻ của quốc gia này.
Độc giả Nguyễn Hải Anh, sinh viên trường đại học Laval, Canada, chia sẻ hình ảnh khu chợ đồ cũ ở thành phố nơi bạn sinh sống. Ảnh chụp bằng máy Pentax K20D.
Xe chạy trời mưa hoặc lạnh đóng kín cửa kính mà không bật máy lạnh thì sẽ có hiện tượng kính lái bị mờ. Xin hỏi có cách nào mà không cần bật điều hòa vẫn khắc phục hiện tượng như trên không? (Minh Nguyễn).
Thủ tướng vừa ra chỉ thị về xây dựng kế hoạch phát triển kinh tế - xã hội và dự toán ngân sách nhà nước năm 2010, trong đó đặt mục tiêu tốc độ tăng GDP năm 2010 đạt 6,5-7%.
Getz 1.6 số tự động tiêu hao tới 17 lít cho 100 km trong thành phố. Theo lý thuyết thi 10 0km chỉ tốn 8~9 lít thôi. Tôi đã đem đi bảo hành, nhưng họ nói là khó mà biết được. Xin mọi người tìm giúp nguyên nhân (Trần Ngọc Dương).
Những tin đồn rồi cũng thành sự thật, khi đội chủ sân Bernabeu tuyên bố siêu sao người Brazil đã là người của họ. Nhưng đây không phải là bản hợp đồng đắt giá nhất mọi thời đại như truyền thông vẫn đưa.
Từng bộ phận của sản phẩm đình đám này được tách ra để xem nó thực sự đáng giá bao nhiêu. Nhiều chuyên gia cũng cho rằng Pre đã gặp "xui" khi được bán chỉ 2 ngày trước thời điểm iPhone 3.0 có thể ra mắt. >Đánh giá của các chuyên gia về Palm Pre
Thị trường chứng khoán đang tăng để lấy lại số điểm đã mất năm ngoái. Tuy nhiên việc thị trường tăng nóng với nhiều mã cổ phiếu tăng trên giá trị thực của công ty thì cũng là điều đáng lo ngại cho giới đầu tư. (Người mua cổ phiếu) > Ý kiến bạn đọc
Nhiều hộ dân chung cư Nguyễn Văn Luông (quận 6) bất bình vì chủ đầu tư mượn nhà cộng đồng tại đây làm nơi để xe cho doanh nghiệp. Nếu có đám cưới hay ma chay, các hộ dân phải báo trước mới được trả mặt bằng. > Chết ở chung cư không có chỗ làm đám ma
Một ngày sau khi Coopmart tuyên bố 'tẩy chay', hôm nay hệ thống siêu thị Big C cũng ngưng bán hàng trà xanh của Tân Hiệp Phát, Sở Y tế vào cuộc lấy mẫu xét nghiệm nước trà xanh 0 độ. > Trà xanh 0 độ, Dr.Thanh bị siêu thị Coopmart 'tẩy chay'
Dùng nước hồ Tây tắm ngay tại chỗ, cởi trần ngồi tâm sự với bạn gái, nhiều người ăn mặc từ kín đáo đến mát mẻ để tránh nóng...VnExpress ghi lại hình ảnh chiều nay khi nhiệt độ ngoài trời Hà Nội chừng 40 độ C. > Nhiệt độ ngoài trời miền Bắc có thể lên tới 45 độ C
Không chỉ có tượng Phật Thích Ca bằng đồng cao và nặng nhất nước, ngôi chùa lớn nhất Đông Nam Á này còn sở hữu nhiều kỷ lục. VnExpress.net ghi lại hình ảnh quần thể chùa Bái Đính (Ninh Bình).
Hải quân Mỹ sẽ đưa hai thiết bị tối tân để Pháp tìm kiếm hai hộp thu tín hiệu trên cabin chiếc máy bay đã lao xuống Đại Tây dương tuần trước, trong khi giới chức nói rằng tìm hộp đen là nhiệm vụ quan trọng nhất trong cuộc điều tra. > Vớt mảnh vỡ máy bay trên đại dương
Nhóm cướp giả vờ gây ra va chạm xe trên phố, rồi dừng lại hỏi thăm, rối rít xin lỗi. Lợi dụng lúc này, đồng bọn sẽ áp sát, nhẹ nhàng "nẫng" túi xách trước sự ngơ ngác của nạn nhân.
Từ đầu tháng 6, nhóm thanh niên gom mua được khoảng 12 xe máy của những băng trộm ở TP HCM đem về nhà cất giấu. Chiều 5/6, khi đang bán xe cho nhóm người đến từ Long An thì đường dây này bị phanh phui.
Sở Y tế TP HCM trưa nay thông báo, chuyến bay UA 869 chở 293 người từ Mỹ đến VN có đến 6 ca mắc và nghi mắc cúm H1N1. Trong khi đó, chỉ mới 110 người được giám sát; số còn lại được khuyến cáo phải tự cách ly. >Thêm 2 bệnh nhân nhiễm cúm H1N1 xuất viện
Những thiên thạch chứa sắt nhỏ bằng nắm đấm mà tàu thăm dò tự hành tìm thấy trên sao Hỏa có thể giúp giới khoa học chứng minh rằng hành tinh đỏ có tồn tại nước. > Hồ nước mặn có thể tồn tại trên sao Hỏa
Trao đổi với VnExpress.net, nhiều bộ trưởng cho biết, đã sẵn sàng trả lời các vấn đề nóng của của đại biểu Quốc hội như gói kích cầu, bô xít Tây Nguyên, thất nghiệp... Nữ bộ trưởng Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân khẳng định, không có chuyện "ngại" nhận trách nhiệm. > Hơn 170 câu chất vấn chờ Chính phủ
Người hưng phấn, kẻ sốt ruột - tâm trạng nhà đầu tư cũng như đang sôi sục theo diễn biến thị trường. Song không ít người bắt đầu thận trọng, cân nhắc kỹ trước khi hành động. > Ý kiến nhà đầu tư về diễn biến thị trường
Về đêm cô con gái 4 tháng tuổi của chị Phượng (Hà Nội) lại khóc ầm ĩ, có khi đến hơn nửa tiếng. Tưởng con chỉ khóc dạ đề, đến khi đi khám vì bé bỏ bú, biếng ăn, bác sĩ bảo cháu bị còi xương.
Rạng sáng 8/6, xe khách chở gần 40 người chạy tuyến Sài Gòn - Hà Nội đến xã Đại Lộc (Hậu Lộc, Thanh Hóa) đã tông trực diện với xe tải chạy ngược chiều.
Ngọn lửa kèm theo nhiều tiếng nổ bùng lên dữ dội lúc 11h30 trưa nay, tại cơ sở sản xuất nhang trên quốc lộ 1A, quận Bình Tân, TP HCM đã thiêu chết người đàn ông.
Trao đổi với VnExpress.net chiều 8/6, ông Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn, Phó giám đốc Sở Xây dựng Hà Nội, cho biết, dự kiến tháng 7 sẽ khởi công xây dựng nhà ở cho sinh viên tại Khu đô thị Pháp Vân - Tứ Hiệp và Mỹ Đình II.
The New York Times Sunday edition team picks fights like no one else. The problem is they tend to pick the wrong fights. And mask opinion pieces as straight up factual articles.
In December they wrote about Facebook revenue woes just, as it turned out, at the time that Facebook saw a huge spike in advertising dollars that will propel them to as much as $600 million in revenue this year. Then there was the Tesla article that prompted quite a response from CEO Elon Musk. That article was retitled and rewritten to correct errors and change the overall tone.
I can’t help wondering if our occasional criticism of the NYTimes prompted their most recent attack, this time aimed squarely at us. Not only does writer Damon Darlin get a lot wrong, he just absolutely failed to write the real and far more interesting story that was staring him in the face.
When Damon reached out to me by email to talk about the story, I wrote back something along the lines of “The Sunday New York Times scares the shit out of me” because of their reputation for twisting conversations to fit whatever story they’ve decided to write. But Damon persisted, saying “I want to call you about a column I am doing on different ways news organizations approach reporting rumors.” Seemed fair enough, I have lots of thoughts on that subject.
We talked for 20-30 minutes by phone. About 30 seconds of dialog, remixed to change the meaning and context entirely, made it into the article as quotations. None of the rest of our talk seemed to influence his thesis, that blogs can’t be trusted, at all.
Damon was laser focused in the article on a post we ran talking partially about Apple/Twitter acquisition rumors. Here’s that post: Twitter Mania: Google Got Shut Down. Apple Rumors Heat Up. Damon says:
Hours later, TechCrunch, a popular Silicon Valley tech news site, was reporting the very same thing. The posts generated a good deal of traffic for both sites. They were picked up by numerous reputable sites and retweeted endlessly on Twitter. The TechCrunch post yielded 405 comments from readers, an unusually large response. Within 12 hours the Gawker post had been viewed 22,000 times, enough to earn it the orange flame that Gawker editors use to designate a post as hot news.
Neither story was true. Not that it mattered to the authors of the posts. They suspected the rumor was groundless when they wrote the items. TechCrunch noted, 133 words into its story, that, "The trouble is we've checked with other sources who claim to know nothing about any Apple negotiations."
But they reported it anyway. "I don't ever want to lose the rawness of blogging," said Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch and the author of the post. (Owen Thomas, the writer of the Gawker post, has since taken a job at NBC and did not want to comment on the record.)
Damon is suggesting that I reported the rumor as if it were real, and waited until deep into the post to say anything about it being unlikely. 133 words into it!
The fact is we didn’t talk about the rumor until the third paragraph of that story, and the statement about it being unlikely to be true came immediately after the sentence that stated the rumor:
Today, though, rumors popped up that Apple may be looking to buy Twitter. "Apple is in late stage negotiations to buy Twitter and is hoping to announce it at WWDC in June," said a normally reliable source this evening, adding that the purchase price would be $700 million in cash. The trouble is we've checked with other sources who claim to know nothing about any Apple negotiations. If these discussions are happening, Twitter is keeping them very quiet indeed. We would have passed on reporting this rumor at all, but other press is now picking it up.
There’s just no way to interpret this paragraph as a cheap way to get traffic by misleading readers. We say exactly what we were hearing, and what we believe to be true. And by the way, it shouldn’t matter, but we’ve subsequently confirmed that Apple and Twitter were in fact in acquisition discussions, and the original source for our story was correct.
The other money quote from Damon is also misleading and was taken out of context:
That drive to compete with the so-called mainstream media is what's behind his strategy. He doesn't have the luxury of a large staff to confirm everything, so he competes where he has the advantage. "Getting it right is expensive," he says. "Getting it first is cheap."
Note the break between "Getting it right is expensive” and "Getting it first is cheap." The break is there because there were paragraphs of dialog between them. Damon saw a way to slap them together to make us look bad. He did that because it fit his original thesis, which he had formed prior to talking to us.
The Real Story
The real story is what I said between those two sentence fragments, and it’s that stuff that makes all the difference. I talked to Damon about how stories evolve on our blog. How it can start with a rumor, which we may post if we find it credible and/or it’s being so widely circulated that the fact of the rumor’s existence is newsworthy in itself. But then we evolve a post to get to the truth.
We don’t believe that readers need to be presented with a sausage all the time. Sometimes it’s both entertaining and informative to see that sausage being made, too. The key is to be transparent at all times. If we post something we think is rough, we say so. If we think it’s absolutely true, we signal that, too, while protecting our sources.
A good example of this is another Twitter story we wrote, this time about Google. in Sources: Google In Talks To Acquire Twitter (Updated) we wrote, based on a solid source, that Google was in late stage talks to acquire Twitter. The post itself brought out other sources who disputed that the talks were in late stage. Within minutes after posting we had updated the text, adding “Yet another source says the acquisition discussions are still fairly early stage, and the two companies are also considering working together on a Google real time search engine. But discussions between the companies are confirmed.”
That update is 100% correct. Google was in talks over a data deal, and there were discussions of an acquisition. Our original source got his information from a Google employee. We have subsequently confirmed that a Google employee did in fact tell him that they were in late stage acquisition discussions with Twitter, because he believed it to be true. There was some internal miscommunication about the discussions.
But anyway, media outlets like the NYTimes think that having to update a story is a sign of weakness. I believe the opposite, that it’s a sign of transparency and a promise to our readers to continue to give them the best information we have. Corrections and updates are made constantly to big news posts.
Some people ask why we don’t just wait until we have the whole story before posting. That’s where the cheap/expensive quote above comes in. The fact is that we sometimes can’t get to the end story without going through this process. CEOs don’t always take our calls when we’re asking about speculative rumors. But when a story is up and posted, it’s amazing how many people come out of the woodwork to give us additional information.
It’s that iterative process, which Jarvis nails completely, that I was trying to guide Damon to. He can like it or hate it, but it works. And readers love it. The only people who don’t like it are competitors who like to point out that a story was partially wrong, and that they got it right later. But the fact is that they didn’t even know there was a story to begin with. Our original post kicked off the process, and they, like us, started digging for the absolute truth.
The other thing Damon conveniently left out of his article are the many, many big stories that we have broken over the years. There’s a reason that we are no. 1 on the TechMeme leaderboard. There’s a reason why we have more than twice the weight of CNET, at no. 2 and the NY Times at no. 3. It’s because we have an exceptional reputation for honesty and hard work, and we spend all our time in the community building friendships with the people who are driving this industry forward. I translated the word “friend” into “source” for Damon so he could understand what I was talking about. I don’t just call these people when I have a question on a story. I also call them to hear about their kid’s elementary school graduation, or to give them advice on which venture capitalist might want to invest in them. They trust me, and they talk to me.
Here are a few of the stories that we’ve broken over the years. These aren’t stories where we followed someone else, they’re things that we broke first and nailed. I don’t think the NY Times or anyone else can point to this kind of track record:
Yahoo’s Offer To Buy Facebook (we posted internal Yahoo documents showing their valuation modeling of the Facebook deal, and broke the fact of the discussions first)
Google/Yahoo Search Deal (we broke the news that a deal was happening, down to the time it was being announced, although we were off by two hours because Yahoo changed the time. this was a major stock market mover)
Bebo Getting Acquired (we had the price range and speculated on lots of buyers while competitors were yelling that it wasn’t true)
Facebook In Dubai Raising More Money (story was 100% true, despite the fact that Facebook continuously denied that they were raising more money right up until they announced that they had raised more money)
Cisco Buys Flip (we had parties and price, no on else was anywhere near this story)
Thousands Of MySpace Sex Offender Refugees Found On Facebook (just as MySpace was kicking off 90,000 registered sex offenders from its site, thousands of them were showing up on Facebook—our post led to inquiries by the Connecticut Attorney General).
These are just a few of the big stories we’ve broken over the years, and there are countless other smaller stories that we’ve owned completely as well (like this). Readers flock to us because we have the most interesting tech news and because we always maintain 100% transparency. Our love of this community is obvious to our readers. I just wish fear of the unknown didn’t blind the NY Times and others to the future of journalism. Because that fear is driving them exactly away from the truth.
I always shudder when journalists say “don’t say something, get a source to say it and then quote them.” It leads to really awful stuff. Pretending that you’re writing one story when you’re really writing another, and then twisting what your sources tell you to fit whatever it is that your editor told you to write isn’t ethical journalism. It may check all the boxes that were laid out for you in journalism school, but it isn’t anything other than op-ed with nothing real to back it up.
Update: Tim O’Brien, who has trashed us before, tells Jeff Jarvis via Twitter “@jeffjarvis really, it has nothing to do with a “playground fight”. it’s just a a difference of opinion. you’ve aired yours, which is great.”here. One problem - this wasn’t labeled as an opinion piece, it was labeled as factual reporting.
A couple of days ago we reported statistics from StatCounter suggesting the Bing, Microsoft’s new “decision” engine, had bypassed Yahoo as the number 2 search engine in the U.S. and the world. Well guess what? That same data suggests Bing reign as #2 was extremely short-lived: As in one day. Yes, the same data now suggests that just as quickly as Bing shot up, it’s now heading the opposite way. And in fact, it’s still falling.
On June 4, Bing had over 15% of the U.S. search share market, according to the data. On the same day, Yahoo had just over 10%. The following day, Yahoo had almost 11% while Bing had fallen below 10%. And yesterday, Bing had fallen to 6.68% while Yahoo rose again to 11.33%. Meanwhile, the same data suggests that while Google took a big dip during Bing’s reign, it too has now started moving back upwards as Bing declines. Not that Google was in any real danger — on June 4 (the day of Bing’s #2 position), Google had fallen to 72% of searches in the U.S. Now it’s just about back up to 80%.
Worldwide data shows the story to be basically the exact same. Bing was #2 for a day then Yahoo regained its place as Bing fell.
Of course, it’s important to note that StatCounter is not the be-all end-all measurement tool for such numbers. It claims to track the browsing behavior of over 2 million users across 3 million sites. But the overall trend is undeniable — Bing shot to fame quickly, and once the initial hype wore off, it’s now falling back down. Microsoft needs to keep pushing those TV and web ads to keep its name in people’s minds. Otherwise, Bing runs the risk of having already peaked.
Update: As Matt Cutts (who yes, works for Google) points out in the comments, StatCounter updates every few hours, so there is also data for today already. And it’s more bad news for Bing. It’s now down to 5.65% in the U.S. — yes, that’s less than what Live.com was at last month.
We’re on the verge of Apple’s WWDC keynote tomorrow morning in San Francisco. We’ll be there covering it live starting at 10 AM PST. After the usual months of speculation, there are two things Apple’s VP of marketing Phil Schiller is expected to focus on during the keynote: Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” and the iPhone platform. Obviously, the iPhone 3.0 software will be a big part of that, but most of those details were already given during Apple’s iPhone 3.0 SDK event a few months back. That’s why a new piece of iPhone hardware seems likely to take center stage tomorrow as well.
Details of such a device (or devices) have been trickling out over the past few months. It now seems fairly likely that the device will look similar to the current iPhone 3G, perhaps with a different, more matte-finish back and a loss of the silver ring that goes around the screen now. It will likely feature a better camera — probably 3.2 megapixels (as opposed to the current version’s 2 megapixels) and could have autofocus. The device should also be able to record video. It’s also possible that it could have a front-facing camera, though that may be saved for a future version rather than this one. Speed will likely be a focus as the device should have a faster processor, more RAM and be able to handle faster 3G connection speeds. And that leads to two final rumors: The device’s name and battery life.
Daring Fireball’s John Gruber made his predictions for the WWDC keynote this morning, talking about what he’s heard and what he’s unsure about. He has a great track record when it comes to such things, so when he says he’s heard a new possible name for the device, it’s at the very least probably a code name, which he notes. And I hope it is a code name, because it’s kind of lame: iPhone 3GS.
As I allude to above, he makes the case that the “S” in iPhone 3GS would stand for “Speed.” That makes sense given what Apple is likely to tout with this version, but is a rather boring naming convention. I would much rather see Apple go with some other names that have been tossed around like “iPhone Video” or the “iPhone Pro.” The latter makes some sense given the other recently reported talk that there will be a slightly cheaper version of the iPhone that will be for sale when this new version comes out. A lot of people including Gruber believe this cheaper version could simply be the current iPhone 3G reduced in price to either $149 or $99.
Eventually, such a model would undoubtedly be phased out in favor of a new, smaller model just as Apple has done with its iPod line. And that’s why I still have some hope that Apple will simply call its new iPhone the “iPhone,” while it gets ready to transition to an “iPhone nano” or whatever they’ll call that when it comes out eventually (not tomorrow). But calling it simply the “iPhone” could raise some confusion if the cheaper iPhone model is still the “iPhone 3G” — some people might be tricked into thinking that the iPhone 3G is more advanced than the one which would be called the iPhone. So that’s a roundabout way to describe why would could be stuck with a clunky iPhone 3GS name.
I just wonder if that name will draw some confusion from people misreading it as the plural version of the iPhone 3G. I can just see ads touting that a store has iPhone 3Gs in stock — while they mean the iPhone 3GS. And just try doing a Google search for “iPhone 3GS,” — yeah, that’s pretty useless. Not that Apple would dictate a name based on a Google search. Of course, I also thought the MacBook Air was a bad name because it sounded like “MacBook Error,” but that seems to have worked out okay for Apple.
The other juicy tidbit in Gruber’s predictions is that he’s heard this new iPhone 3GS will have 15 to 20% better battery life. If true, that is awesome. I recently complained about the diminishing battery life of my iPhone 3G, but when it was still young, I found the device’s battery life to be pretty good — not great, but good, considering how much I was using it. But a 20% boost on top of that would be most welcomed.
I had an informative chat with Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur at the TechFellow AwardsFriday night, where he revealed to me the future plans for Seesmic Desktop, a desktop Twitter and Facebook client that’s built on Adobe Air. Seesmic will launch a new version of the desktop client next week that will let users compress their stream of Facebook updates and Twitter messages into one column. Currently, the client divides streams from different accounts and social networks into several columns.
The new version also features a new button that will let you post a Tweet to multiple Twitter accounts at the same time. And Seesmic will also let you see tracking stats from links sent out with url shortening service bit.ly. Seesmic’s current version lets you use a variety of other url shorteners, including tr.im and Snurl, but doesn’t let you see stats within the client itself.
According to Le Meur, Seesmic will soon be offering a browser based client. This offering is actually appealing, considering that Adobe's AIR platform has some strange UI bugs and quirks and tends to use a good amount of resources on computers. And Seesmic will also launch an iPhone app, which is currently under wraps along with the web-based product. Details about the features of the browser client and iPhone app will be officially unveiled at TechCrunch’s Real Time Stream CrunchUp on July 10.
Seesmic Desktop, which faces competition from popular client and rival Tweetdeck and a plethora of others, officially launched in April. Le Meur tells us that Seesmic is getting about 10,000 downloads a day. PeopleBrowsr, another social network aggregator, recently made the opposite switch, adding a desktop Adobe Air client to its browser product.
As TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters recently wrote, the social network aggregator market is almost fully saturated. It seems like every day there are new startups that are trying to venture into the already competitive landscape. So it makes sense that Seesmic would want to not only build up its offering with useful features, but also try to conquer all the mediums—web, desktop and mobile.
Disclosure: TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington is an investor in Seesmic. I am not.
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It’s been over three months since I wrote anything here on TechCrunch, but over the next 10 days or so you’ll be hearing more from me as I travel with a group of 32 techies through East Asia as part of GeeksOnAPlane, a field trip of sorts organized by Dave McClure intended to open our Western eyes to how the technology industry works in Japan and China.
The web as experienced by the biggest continent on the planet unfortunately gets short shrift on the blogs that regularly hit Techmeme. I personally can profess to have only cursory knowledge of the trends and companies that come out of Asia, and that knowledge consists mainly of echoes that get passed along by word of mouth. Sarah Lacy has done all of us a favor by recently reporting from China, but we can always use more to enlighten us about what’s going on across the Pacific.
In a couple of minutes, I’ll be boarding a plane bound for Tokyo with the group you see above. And over the next few days we’ll be attending conference-type events, such as Startonomics Tokyo, where we’ll hear about a variety of topics such as the Japanese investment climate and startup success stories. My main goal is to share with you all what this all looks like to someone who’s familiar with the web but from an almost purely American point of view.
If you find these insights interesting, I encourage you to follow GeeksOnAPlane on Twitter. I’ll also be posting snippets of my experience to my own account. If you want to comment on any of our travels, use the hashtag #goap on Twitter.
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Even on the Web, world dominance must be achieved one country at a time. While Facebook has long been the largest social network in the world, and should soon pass MySpace in the U.S., it is not the largest social network in every country. The map above created by Vincenzo Cosenza resembles more a game of Risk, with Facebook sweeping across the globe from the West.
Using Alexa and Google Trend data, Cosenza color-coded the map based on which social network is the most popular in each country. All of the light green countries belong to Facebook. But there are still pockets of resistance in Russia (where V Kontakte rules), China (QQ), Brazil and India (Orkut), Central America, Peru, Mongolia, and Thailand (hi5), South Korea (Cyworld), Japan (Mixi), the Middle East (Maktoob), and the Philippines (Friendster).
Apparently, Alexa already thinks that Facebook is larger than MySpace in the United States. And Maybe it is, or maybe Cosenza’s isn’t using the best data. But I love being able to visualize market dominance on acountry-by-country basis. I wonder what the map would look like using comScore data, some of which can be found in our recent social network valuation model.
Below is an interactive version of the map.
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One of the most useful, if often-overlooked, features of Google Book Search is the ability to enter your own books and create a personal library which you can then search if Google has scanned those books. (And chances are it probably has). If you are trying to find a passage or a factoid you once read but can’t remember the book no matter how hard you wrack your brain, the ability to search your personal library can come in handy. Except who wants to enter each book one at a time?
Now you can scan your books into your library on Google Book Search using a normal barcode scanner. I am not one hundred percent convinced that this is actually faster than simply typing in the title of the book and adding it to your library. It is faster than typing in the ISBN numbers, however, which is how Google Book Search handles mass imports.
But if we are willing to convert our entire CD collections to digital form, it is high time we started tackling our books. Right now, Google is merely matching your books with the books it has already digitized for search purposes only. But once they know what books you own in print, the next logical step is to sell you a digital version of the book and related books on the same topics or by the same author. Once Google collects a big enough book search history on you, it shouldn’t be too hard for them to recommend new books to you which are spot on. Knowing what books you’ve read, will certainly help them in that regard.
In the video below, Google’s Matt Cutts goes through the process of scanning your books into Google Book Search.
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Founder and former CEO of NetvibesTariq Krim is moving forward with his ambitious Jolicloud project, looking to build a better operating system for web workers with netbooks (or smartbooks or cloud computers, whichever term you prefer). A couple of days ago, we got a couple of exclusive screenshots from the team, and just a day after the startup started sending out a handful of invite codes for early adopters who wanted to get a peak at the alpha developer release. I also got hold of one and have been using Jolicloud on my Acer Aspire ONE for about four days now. These are my initial findings.
Installation
Jolicloud is still in alpha mode, and there’s no denying that there are a lot of kinks left to iron out before it’s ready for public use. For instance, the process of installing it on my Windows XP-powered netbook was frankly a pain in the butt. You need to download an IMG file from the Jolicloud website, ‘burn’ it to a USB key and boot your computer from that drive. But, not only did mine not boot automatically from the key (I had to dive into the BIOS and change the order manually), it also completely froze at the first installation screen.
I only got it to start up once out of perhaps 30 attempts, which was frustrating. And the one time I got into the OS (I didn’t install it, just ran it on test mode) I wasn’t even able to install any applications, which is supposed the main USP for the system. After the first day of not being able to effectively try Jolicloud, Krim advised me to try using another USB key, and lo and behold everything went fine from there. The speed of booting up and shutting down have been impressive ever since I finally installed the full system on my computer.
Using Jolicloud
I’ve now had Jolicloud installed on my netbook for about three days now, alongside Windows XP to make sure, and already I don’t think I’m going to be booting up Windows much from now on. As you could tell from the screenshots we received earlier this week, a lot of thought has been put into the design of the OS, adapting it for optimal use on smaller screens. Even when you run Jolicloud for the first time, everything is quite visual, making it easy to navigate even when you’re not familiar with all the buttons and processes. Compare it to switching from Windows Mobile 6 on your smartphone to the iPhone OS: it’s incredibly easy to get used to, and it’s just a better general user experience, particularly if you use a lot of web applications. I can’t wait to try Jolicloud on a touch-screen enabled netbook to see how it stacks up.
I installed a bunch of applications on Jolicloud in just a matter of minutes, web-based ones such as Gmail, Twitter, Flickr, Wikipedia, but also tools usually run from desktops like Boxee and Skype. All behave the way they should, and smoothly at that. The only hick-up I’ve noticed so far is that sometimes I’ll get a blank screen when you start up applications from the My Jolicloud interface for no apparent reason, but apart from that it’s all pretty impressive, and fast.
I particularly like the fact that there’s a persistent bar at the top of your screen that puts all the instances you’re running neatly into tabs with icons, making for seamless switching between applications (including Firefox, which comes pre-installed and enables you to do whatever you’re used to on your current computer with Mozilla’s browser, including installing add-ons and plug-ins). The team is currently talking to application developers in order to get more on board, and even some that are creating Jolicloud-specific tools.
A bit of social
You can ’subscribe’ to other Jolicloud users, which means you’ll get updates on what they’ve installed on their own netbooks. This should provide a great way to get to know the best applications when eventually the list of tools grows too big for users to easily find their way. It’s also a good way for Jolicloud to analyze who is using what on which type of machine (this reminds me a bit of Wakoopa). It could prove beneficial for Jolicloud to integrate more social features in the future, like the ability to communicate directly with other users or instantly share applications, reviews, screenshots, etc. on the multitude of social networking services out there.
Technology
Jolicloud builds upon Debian and Ubuntu 9.04, tweaked to be more suitable for computers that are in general relatively low on disk storage and memory, and have smaller screens. Hence, they are suited for the so-called netbooks and offer little added value for more powerful laptops. To run applications, Jolicloud uses either custom Linux builds for services or Mozilla Prism for anything that can run off the web. For Windows-only products, there’s Wine, an emulator that runs those applications in a virtual desktop.
Conclusion
The frustrating experience with the initial installation aside, Jolicloud - especially for an alpha release - is impressive. Particularly for people like myself, who use a lot of web applications on a daily basis, it’s definitely a step up from running Windows XP on my Acer Aspire ONE. The design of the system is spot on, the processes are straightforward and everything ‘just works’.
That said, I have my doubts about the potential of the OS to become more than a niche product for people aleady using a niche product (netbooks), and it will be interesting how much of a competitor Google turns out to be with Android, which is poised to become a netbook-specific OS in the coming years. I wouldn’t mind having Krim prove me wrong and invent the future with his small team instead, though.
(If you want to give Jolicloud a whirl yourself, your best chance is to put yourself on the waiting list and well, wait. If you’ve received a promo USB key at an event in the past, it likely doesn’t even work anymore)
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We’re just two days away from Apple’s WWDC keynote where it’s expected to show off the next generation iPhone hardware. Not surprisingly, pictures are starting to surface on the web of the purported device — a French site, Nowhere Else, has a bunch of them, that have since been posted elsewhere. Who knows if the pictures are real or fake — it seems like just as often these days people yell “Photoshop,” when the product is actually real as the vice-versa situation. But real or fake, I have to say that I hope they’re real for one reason.
While at first glance, that device looks nearly identical to the current iPhone (it seems like that will definitely be the case), there is one big difference: A front-facing camera. This is interesting to me for two reasons, because it could jump-start two trends: Mobile video chatting and the self-picture.
Now, there are a few other devices capable of doing mobile video chatting, but none have taken off yet. But an Apple chat app built exactly like its iChat app on Mac computers, could change that immediately. Just imagine placing a call to another iPhone user (or maybe even someone using iChat on their computer) and being able to hit a button and see their face. It’s something that seems like an obvious direction to go in, and there’s been talk about it before, and patents filed indicating such functionality.
Assuming this new iPhone is significantly faster than the current model, it certainly seems like a possibility. But there’s a major x-factor pointing in the direction of why this won’t happen: AT&T. Considering that it gets all worked up when developers try to create a Sling app that can stream video over its 3G network, and blocks it (it’s Wi-Fi only), just imagine what it will think about two-way live streaming video chat.
Of course, that stance is pretty ridiculous considering that AT&T allows the Sling app to work on other phones on its network. But given what it knows about how much bandwidth iPhone users use versus the other smartphones out there, AT&T made a play to attempt to salvage its often sketchy network. But it’s possible that if AT&T really is doing massive upgrades to its network to get ready for this new iPhone which will supposedly connect to the Internet at higher speeds, that the company could allow video streaming as long as it’s from Apple. After all, it doesn’t want to piss off Apple, lest it expands its business to other carriers, like Verizon, as well.
Or Apple/AT&T could just say that this mobile video chatting is limited to Wi-Fi, like the Sling player is. But that would be pretty lame.
But it seems logical that sooner or later this functionality will come to the majority of smartphones. And you can bet that Apple wants to be credited with jump-starting this trend. And I think it would work because while video chat is cool on the computer (most people still seem to be impressed when they see a video iChat for the first time), it sucks being tethered to a desk and chair to use it. Using it on the go could be much more interesting. Naturally, some people would hate such a feature, but it would be one of those things that eventually became a norm, I think. It wouldn’t replace straight-up voice calling obviously, but it would be a nice option.
The other trend I noted above is one that is actually already alive and well: Self-picture taking. People have been doing this a lot pretty much since the dawn of the digital camera since you can immediately take a picture, see how you look, then delete and re-take if it’s bad. And people seem to love doing it on the iPhone already, as you can see clearly on all the web’s photo sharing sites.
But as it stands right now, you either have to take the picture in a mirror, which just looks odd because you’re holding your iPhone in the picture — and you’re well, taking a picture in a mirror of yourself. Or you have to hold the iPhone away from you to snap the shot. But that often results in a crap picture because the iPhone’s camera sucks and doesn’t have a steady-cam features (though it seems likely that the new one will).
But a forward-facing camera could be a game-changer for the vain — which, come on, we all are in some regard. And it’s something that Apple already has experience with thanks to its Photo Booth program which is included in OS X. For those that haven’t used it, basically it just allows you to use a computer’s camera to take a picture of yourself and you can do weird things to the picture like give yourself a giant head. I could definitely see Apple including that same funtionality on the iPhone.
So again, I don’t know if these latest pictures are legit at all. They look pretty good, but there is odd issues with focus, blurriness and illuminated dots. But that really doesn’t matter, eventually I think Apple will add a forward-facing camera to the iPhone to lead the way in the mobile video chatting and self-picture trends — it just may not be announced this Monday.
No, we didn’t get a Palm Pre to check out before its launch today — something which is a bit fishy and contributed to a big heap of drama earlier today. But it does seem like a ton of people both on the web and in real-life are very excited about the device. And they should be, having just read others’ reviews and talking to friends who have used it, it seems like it will easily be at least the number two coolest phone out there.
So for those of us who didn’t get one today, here’s the video that plays upon starting up your new Pre. It’s pretty damn awesome — much better than the iPhone’s startup screen — which I’ve been seeing a lot of lately. This one actually reminds me a bit of the cool Apple TV startup video.
Judging from the reaction on the web, people aren’t having too hard of a time getting the new Palm Pre at Sprint stores across the country. But last night, one woman was apparently so concerned that she wouldn’t be able to get one that she sped her car to a Sprint store — wait, let me rephrase that — she sped her car into a Sprint store.
Check out the video embedded below from NBC Chicago. It’s pretty incredible. Joking aside, I highly doubt the elderly woman behind the wheel actually wanted a Pre and more importantly, she was fine aside from a few bruises. But as you can see, the store didn’t fare so well. And it was probably the worst time something like that could have happened given the Pre launch today.
The store apparently said it would still be ready for the 8 AM launch. Anyone in Chicago know if they made it? Perhaps having absolutely no storefront helped with the crowd flow. Let’s just hope they cleaned up the broken glass and picked up the poor fallen giant Pre display.
The New York Times Sunday edition team picks fights like no one else. The problem is they tend to pick the wrong fights. And mask opinion pieces as straight up factual articles.
A couple of days ago we reported statistics from 
We’re on the verge of Apple’s WWDC keynote tomorrow morning in San Francisco. We’ll be there covering it live starting at 10 AM PST. After the usual months of speculation, there are two things Apple’s VP of marketing Phil Schiller is expected to focus on during the keynote: Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” and the iPhone platform. Obviously, the iPhone 3.0 software will be a big part of that, but most of those details were already given during Apple’s 
Founder and former CEO of 
No, we didn’t get a Palm Pre to check out before its launch today — something which is a bit fishy and contributed to a 
Judging from the