Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Chime.in Will Try to Solve Relevance, Monetization Problems

Marketers might not be too terribly excited to learn that yet one more social network is launching. Chime.in will use a 250-character plus one image format, plus a topical format that organizes information contributed to the social network based on interests. 


A user might follow a particular person, but only some posts, on certain topics. Chime.in also will try to sort posts so that more-relevant or "better" content rises to the top of the feed. 


Existing social networks have two problems: relevance and monetization, founder Bill Gross argues. There’s a signal-to-noise problem, and there’s no way to monetize that attention unless you send them to your website. What we’ve created is a new interest-based network, he argues.


You can see what we call a “chime-line” on your page, which you can sort by time or by the number of “likes” or the number of comments. 


That way, the good stuff rises to the top, Gross argues. One of the problems with Twitter is that there is no way for me to filter my tweetstream by the most thoughtful or the most interesting, so that’s what we are trying to do with Chime. 


You can also follow people — but instead of just following everything, you can do what we call a “selective follow,” and choose just the topics you want to follow in their stream. So with Robert Scoble, I might want to follow his tech posts but not the ones about his day at the beach, so I can choose to do that. 


We allow anyone — individuals, celebrities, brands — to create a rich-media page and monetize that themselves. So if someone wants to sell ads on their page, the real estate adjacent to that content is his, and 100 percent of the revenue from those ad sales goes to him. If he wants us to sell the ads for him, then it’s a 50-percent revenue share. 


Verizon Wireless and Motorola Launch Droid RAZR

DROIDRAZRFront<br />HomeVZWMotorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless announced Droid RAZR, described as the world’s thinnest 4G LTE smartphone.

Measuring 7.1 mm thin, it is made with Kevlar fiber for strength and Corning "Gorilla Glass" for scratch resistance, and runs on the new Verizon Wireless 4G Long Term Evolution network.

The new RAZR works with the Motorola Lapdock 500 Pro or Lapdock 100, giving you the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a desktop-class Firefox browser.

Or, plug your Motorola RAZR into the HD Dock or HD Station to connect to your HDTV, speakers and other productivity peripherals for large-screen entertainment.

Users also can browse the web and use Android apps using the Smart Controller. The built in touch-pad lets you zoom, pinch and rotate content just like a touchscreen.

You can also connect a navigation dock for GPS and directions, battery pack for extra life, Bluetooth-enabled keyboard and the Motorola Elite Sliver headset.

Mobile Broadband is Ramping Fast

1Smart phones now seem to be driving mobile broadband activity, not PC dongles. 


“We’re in the middle of one of those once-in-every 10-20 year shifts,” says Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins partner. “Mobile connectivity is at the center of that, and mobile devices just nearly outshipped PCs.”


Mobile broadband growing fast



Against All Odds, U.S. Is Leader In Smart Phone Market

Despite a recession and competition from foreign smartphone manufacturers and developers, the United States has become the leader in the smart phone market, says Mary Meeker, partner at VC firm Kleiner Perkins.

"In what looked like a market the U.S. was not gonna lead in, America is winning in a big way.

Software and applications likely would be credited with some of the reasons for leadership, since most observers would say the U.S. market also leads in Web apps.

  U.S. Is Leader In Smartphone Market

Apple earnings miss

As usual, investors had high expectations for Apple quarterly earnings, especially after smashing iPhone sales records. 


But Apple missed expectations today. Apple reported third-quarter earnings of $7.05 a share, on revenue of $28.3 billion. Analysts, on average, expected Apple to earn $7.22 a share on revenue of $29.5 billion.

Apple has not missed earnings forecasts since the second quarter of 2002, according to FactSet data.


It might be too early to say Apple already has begun its descent from its heights under Steve Jobs. Some say there is no worry. Others say it will be a few years until people notice something is different. 


Skeptics might say things already are different. 

Microsoft Launches Xbox Promotions: New Platform on the Way

Microsoft announced on Tuesday its Xbox 360 Christmas and holiday bundles, one with Kinect, one without.

The first bundle contains an Xbox 360 with a 250GB HDD, Kinect, the games Kinect Adventures and Carnival Games: Monkey See Monkey Do, plus 3-months of Xbox LIVE Gold for a suggested retail price of MRP $399. Microsoft bundles

The second bundle is equipped with a 250GB HDD, Fable III and Halo: Reach, plus 3-months of Xbox LIVE Gold for a suggested retail price of MRP $299. New platform

Steve Jobs Was Like Thomas Edison, Says Ben Horowitz

Was Steve Jobs more like Thomas Edison or more like Walt Disney? So far, most people seem to think Edison is the better metaphor. 


"People have compared him to Thomas Edison and I think that's right." Steve Jobs Was Like Thomas Edison 


Personally, I prefer Disney. Edison was a prodigious inventor. But Disney was all about delighting people with experiences. 


The "Magic Kingdom" somehow feels more like something Steve Jobs was obsessive about. 


And if you know anything about how Disney runs its theme parks, you know they are obsessive about illusion and immersion in an experience.  



Directv-Dish Merger Fails

Directv’’s termination of its deal to merge with EchoStar, apparently because EchoStar bondholders did not approve, means EchoStar continue...