“Web 3.0″ still fuzzy

Just when most techs could barely stand being marginalized under the 2.0 meme, the 3.0 is now here and alive. 2.0 was about the democratization of the web. 3.0 seems to be getting tagged (no pun) as the semantic web where all content is tagged with meaning and more accessible. I still feel that is too esoteric, and really a variation on the 2.0 theme. I’d like to see a bigger definition to this “third wave”. I see web 3.0 as ubiquity, the end of isolating devices and access to the web to all. Mobile devices, game boxes, telephones, PCs, Mac, mp3s and TV sets. In fact, it spells the end of the analog vs digital era in entertainment. 3.0 should be the untethering of human beings to devices and the freeing up of access to all knowledge and tools wherever you are. Platforms that cross devices unhampered (there are already many), content that follows you on command.

Alas, the semantic web may win out as 3.0 and perhaps ubiquity will be relegated to 4.0. But truly, the latter is a bigger wave.

WordPress commits big faux-pas

Last night the guys at WP decided to retire their feed stats! Yes can you believe it? The vitriol that has flown into their comments (which are now closed) is exponential. Feed stats matter–people who subscribe to your feeds are higher in importance than views! Scratching my head on this one.

If that isn’t enough to grate me, the feed stats button was buttressed to another called “Blog Surfer” that took me to a line-up of posts by Robert Scoble. Arrrrrgh! While I may have visited his blog a couple of times in the past I’ll decide want I want on my dashboard not WP. I am not the least bit interested in Mrs. Scoble’s trip to the spa and the like. WP thinks this may force views to other WP bloggers–but it is really a form of advertising. I thought WP was dead set against this! The dashboard entry point and forums provide enough here.

Please WP, you are excellent thinkers and doers but this one is a thumbs down of stellar proportion.

Corporate blogs: powerful marketing tool

Many corporations are reluctant to enter the world of social media fearing a loss of control over their relationships with customers. Funny thing is the consumer has always been in control.

The key precedent to entering the world of blogging is transparency. Currently, consumer trust is at an all time low and transparency is the antidote. Someone recently posted that a corporation that does not offer a blog from its CEO or executive team is suspect. There is truth in this statement. The web is about interactivity; marketers have always wanted a relationship with their customers and the web is the simplest, most accessible tool.

Remember blogs can and must be moderated. Where my blogs have received thousands of spam messages over the last six months, these spammers are now posting “nice blog” and other short saccharine statements with minimum links to get through our filters. But moderation saves the day. Expletives, hateful comments (under the guise of freedom of expression)–all can be deleted. I compare much of stealth hateful comments to “road rage”. The blogosphere has too many hateful participants and frankly the more we moderate, the more it will be taken over by social decorum. There is no more honesty in freedom to hate than there is in freedom to be kind. Even Tim O’Reilly is trying to start a new higher standard for blogging; I blogged about this earlier. I applaud this worthy cause and his courage.

Blogs put a face, a voice and a heart behind a corporation and its brands. It adds vital meaning to the brand. And builds community around it. And furthermore, it also provides a zero cost, authentic tool to learn how your customers feel. In a panoply of marketing tools, this is probably the most effective.

The truly fearful can turn off comments as a starting point—it’s not interactive but it does provide a sincere voice. I’t s a good start.

Blogging is an indispensible tool for marketers. Some say, “I don’t have time to blog”; truly, they are postponing the inevitable. Blogging should be on every marketer’s daily To Do list.

New VS Old: the trial of the century this July 27

VS

The internet is all about openness, sharing, community. It is the democratization of all voices, the”long tail”.  It’s what it is. I believe in creative rights totally! But the thing is, if Viacom were to win its case now to be heard July 27 ’07 (NYTimes) it could truly alter the face of the internet. And the tail could be snipped short creating costly barriers to viewers and put power back in the hands of traditional networks for awhile.  Networks are still thinking analog and fighting to maintain a dying model while they figure out a way to dominate on internet turf. This win will buy time while they create a new revenue stream to upshore losses in the old format.

Digital entertainment will be ubiquitous within five to ten years and we will see the rise of production companies who find impetus solely from the internet using BitTorrent styled or compression technologies. The world will move from 20 some broadcast hours to a place where there is no limit on time or choice. Audiences will become exponentially fragmented and advertising will become less intrusive and relevant. No one not even Viacom will be able to stop this reality.

If YouTube get their wrists slapped it will cost them and their users will have to begin opening their wallets, BitTorrent style. Or offer a pre and post-roll advertising model for free access. Don’t we have enough advertising in our lives! In the end, YouTube will remain the leading purveyor of home-grown and perhaps professional shorts (although I don’t feel professional shorts should be placed in an environment replete with content that offends mainstream sensibilitities).

Google are requesting a jury for this epic day. Internet users around the world must be posted for this drama as it unfolds. This signifies that the internet is still young and undefined. It is not just technology advances that define it as we can see; it is also special interests. Democracy is for all. Everyone gets their kick at the cat.

Bite by bite, Google is gobbling up Microsoft’s dinner

 

Last week I could not believe that MS announced they were rolling up XP leaving the marketplace with only Vista in new devices. The cries on the blogosphere were deafening. I read again and again, “I am buying an Apple” and comments I won’t repeat based on my own Code of Conduct. I added my 2 cents by stating this opened the door wider for Google. Well the door swung open further today!

Google’s Doc and Spreadsheets (their version of Word and Excel) is out in beta now with a Power Point clone. I can’t wait to see the antics this latest Google assault will wield from Steve Ballmer (behold his response to iphone).

Between Vista, Zune and now this, 2007 may be the annus horribilus.  

War of Words Waging in the Valley

Tim O’Reilly launched a call for Bloggers’ Code of Conduct (COC) to end the vitriol that pervades the blogosphere. For those of you who do not know O’Reilly he is rumored to have launched the term Web 2.0; he also manages substantial interests in technology events and publishing in the Valley.

Many take this COC as censorship but Tim is clear to state that it is to offer the Freedom of Civility. The usual suspects are weighing in, including Danny Sullivan (search engine star), Mike Arrington (tech review star), Robert Scoble (blog star) and Doc Searls (of Cluetrain Manifesto fame). The New York Times has also joined the frey.

My take: It’s about time this conversation begins.

The blogosphere does not have the respect of the big business community and many other web users thanks to its limited lexicon, explitives and often baseless posting and commenting. O’Reilly seeks to make blogs more transparent i.e. no stealth journalism. This should keep the web more honest. In a seven step initial proposal, he also exhorts blog owners to be more vigilant with abusers–and to cease their own abuse. O’Reilly’s idea has been mocked by many; this is symptomatic of the fact that these are the voices usually heard. There are many who support him. It will be very interesting to see this play out. Movies always end in good conquers evil.

WANTED: mashup or wiki STAT !

I simply cannot keep up with the number of brilliant platforms and hosted services I have subscribed to. This is a problem for me; but it is also a problem for them. Here are the several favorites to which I have subscribed and cannot tend to: del.icio.us, LinkedIn, Technorati, Newsgator, Geni,  Adobe Connect, Eyejot and Paypal (I am missing many). And there are temptations to sign-up for more! Along with my commitment to posting in my two blogs, managing programmers for 3 web sites, email and my demanding business–not to mention my personal life–these wonders are dropping off my radar. I need easy access to them on one screen interface–period!

Now I am on the lookout for an app that mashes it all together without any coding on my part–in a secure environment. But can I find the time for this?!

Plexusity makes Top 10 growing WP blogs

Yes! this blog made top 10 twice and made “fastest growing blogs” again, a third time at WP. Thanks readers. I really appreciate your loyalty and your tripping over Plexusity from the bottom of my heart. Perhaps it’s because I enjoy posting. Something to be said for passion!

HOT NEW LAUNCHES April 2007

1. Ballhype.com: It’s a social, collaborative site for sports fans. They can comment on their favorite teams local to national and rate the comments Digg style. This site is totally dedicated to sports fans with no other aim.

 

2. EMI  launches DRM-free music! That means no anti-copying software. Steve Jobs is putting his and Apple’s name and reputation behind the move. The music in question is said to be of higher quality and now available on iTunes.

 

3. YuMe Networks launches first advertising within downloaded videos on BitTorrent entertainment network! On any device! Add to your lexicon,  air-time “pre-roll”, “mid-roll”, “post-roll”, watermark and more on-line.

 

4. DoubleClick announced today that it is launching an ad exchange. It’s like a cross between Sabre (airline booking software) and eBay. Any advertiser will be able to bid for ad space on this interface.

 

5. Google Desktop for Mac. It’s a Universal application which indexes the contents of your hard drive. The image on the right is the new side bar. Reviews are not half bad.

 

6. The Coop: Mozilla adds social networking into Firefox.

 

7. Sansa Connect: A collaboration between Yahoo!, SanDisk and Zing Systems to launch yet another wireless MP3 player this Friday April 13th for $250 US. 

 

8. MailChannels launches a new spam filtering program that slows email by an additional 8 seconds rather than the former 2 seconds. This cuts down on impatient spammers. It can retrofits into any email infrastructure saving corporations a great deal.

Keep posted daily for more hot launches to this month’s awesome beginning!

Another Bubble is here

A new launch late March 2007 named BubbleGuru is all about interrupting the viewer at your web site with a sizeable bubble housing a webcam-produced video of yours truly. If you are a guru indeed it may captivate the viewer. Think demo assistance. Or words from the CEO. The Bubble guys would be wise to show the various usages rather than “good for business”–show me how! Inspire me.

But judging from the quality of most home-grown videos, “BubbleGoof” may be a required brand extension. Indeed, for the casual user this will be fun. For established web sites and blogs……hmmm? Many “gurus” would not be hired as extras anywhere (they tend to be knock-offs of Napoleon Dynamite!) All kidding aside, I would hesitate to annoy with trite content (the bubble can be turned off by the viewer at any time). The Bubble is not to be taken lightly; good content is key.

The bubble follows you as you scroll down–blocking whatever is behind it. Intrusiveness is not where it’s at-but hey, this tool offers an easy turn-off button. Frankly, I would not be surprised if many refreshed their pages just to see it again. Because after all, it is a fresh idea.

On the up side, I think there is too much friction getting videos live at any address. It’s nice that the user is empowered, doesn’t need a programmer and can change the message every day. Really, it’s a bubble-vlog.

Have a look here and see how the bubble looks in action at our tech event site: http://www.bubbleguru.com/flag_page.html?=DKs75MpI&=www.Plexus2007.com

BubbleGuru is in beta like most of The Valley. You can test drive it for free. Kick back one night this week with a glass of Chardonnay and have some fun.

BRAND OF THE WEEK: Kincafe

I just recently posted Geni as the Brand of the Week, a social collaboration platform for the building of a family tree. But Kincafe (a fun relevant name) is Geni on steroids. It is very intuitive as it is very visual, using icons, images, and less text (text is sequential and slow to the brain). But what is great is that it takes collaboration a relevant step further with photo album building, blog, stories, shared between family members and friends.

I began to muse the opportunities that Kincafe could evolve into. The problem with Web 2.0 is that the hosted services are fragmented–and there is only so much time any of us have to spend sitting at a keyboard. And more user IDs and passwords than we can maintain. This is where the battle will be won, aggregated functionality.

So Kincafe could become a substantive “inner circle” network adding features like auto-prompted birthday greetings or birth announcements, videos, audios–as it is Kincafe is a fabulous way to keep in touch and add meaning to “family” or a group of friends.

I’ve heard musings about Kincafe taking longer than Flash based Geni but I think these are small glitches, easy to overcome. The depth of the service is to be noted. My personal preference is the zoom tool at Kincafe rather than the tedious scrolling at Geni–but hey, “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”.

I expect like Geni you can use Kincafe free up to a point. How to monetize this for the founders is a question I am sure I will get an answer to shortly.

Google AdSense complicit in blog post theft?

Apparently I am one of the blessed ones to get this letter from Google AdSense in response to my complaint about abuse of my writings (this is how some pretentious bloggers create content to fool AdSense into paying up). Advertisers should know this practice is rampant.

Hello Marie,

Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged
infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the
text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website:
http://www.copyright.gov/) and other applicable intellectual property
laws. In this case, this means that if we receive proper notice of
infringement, we will forward that notice to the responsible web site
publisher.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the
items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be
liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and
attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when
you in fact do not. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether you have the
right to request removal from our service, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. For example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the
text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html.”

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above. You must identify each page that allegedly
contains infringing material by providing its URL.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law.”

5. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury,
that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the
copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 618-8507, Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints

Regards,
The Google AdSense Team

Until the victim goes through this red tape, the thieves continue. Even though the thief has violated Google AdSense’s terms, there is no sign of action on Google’s part. I will go through the process but c’mon Google–get real! Get human beings on this without delay, not automated responses, robots and inaction in the face of uncontroverted evidence.

I might add that I provided all the evidence already, WHO IS info, images of the theft. Google has enough to proceed. Google must know that this letter frustrates the victims, slows the process and both Google continue to collect from unaware advertisers and the thieves from Google. What a sideshow.

The question to be asked is, “Is Google complicit in the theft by getting revenue on stolen property?” Yes, especially when they are made aware. Their lawyers are way to busy fighting Viacom on their claims (which by the way I think is flimsy compared to this one); but the theft of bloggers’ content to extract dollars from Google AdSense is much more widepread.

“Don’t be evil” is Google’s mantra. We’ll see.

Read my earlier post about the theft.

YouTube must return fire to Viacom

Indeed copyright law imparts a great deal of rights to creators and Viacom will cause perspiration to YouTubers and the entire web community. Will the $billion claim dropped on Google Monday (Reuters) change content sharing on the web? The final verdict will set a dearly needed precedent for those who abuse on the web. As one who has had her posts ripped by opportunists I can relate.

But! let’s be honest the entire entertainment industry knew their content was being shared for a long time. Surely Viacom was no exception.  Getting evidence of this will be important. Perhaps they did not realize how the digital age and a connected world community would change the way they do business. They were either asleep at wheel, or planned to launch an enormous law suit as a new source of revenue. It Viacom tolerated use of their properties over the years (the numbers being quoted in the media range from 100,000 to 160,000 clips for over a billion views) and were in contact with YouTube and its assigns (Google) and made no objection at the time, this is a “constructive trust ” in law. Note, that Google removed the content when asked. That South Park clip of Tom Cruise in the closet is now gone. It took me under a day to send a Cease and Desist demand to the thief who took my content. Why so long, Viacom?

Now Viacom is putting a value on losses comparing their negative growth vs YouTube’s growth, co-incidental with the use of their materials? This is a real long shot. And it certainly is not $1 billion dollars (that sounds like $1 a clip–a far cry from what they would make in TV advertising revenue for this exposure)–a newsworthy amount surely pulled out of their lawyers’ hat. After all, an $850,000 suit would not make as juicy a headline. Viacom’s website is certainly well detailed and poised to receive the incremental traffic from the publicity. In fact, they claim increased traffic; but I assure the resulting publicity in this action is the catalyst– not clips removed. The lawyers arguing for this will be loathe to ignore the publicity effect.

There is no doubt that many of us in technology have an affection for the Google and YouTube brands–both underdogs who redefined the way the world becomes informed and entertained. But my cooler brain prevails. I also have an affection for productions by Paramount (a Viacom subsidiary).

With all due respect to YouTube I don’t believe viewers are by nature inclined to watch long, small template/browser based videos often low quality for hours on end. YouTube is invariably the domain of shorts. And certainly an ideal place to promote one’s creative properties. YouTube must bring into its defense team an excellent valuator that can put a value on the promotion it has imparted gratis to Viacom. Viacom have allowed this to endure for years and benefitted from this. YouTube is not necessarily on the defensive here. I’m just sayin’…..

Yes there is the thorny issue of creative works but how complicit is Viacom in YouTube airing their material. Check the phone records, emails, visits to YouTube, conversations. How long did Viacom folks know before they asked YouTube to remove them? The burden is on the copyright owner to pursue.

I’m just saying again….

Fighting content theft aggressively

I simply hate it when a squatter copies my posts and paste them to a free WP template replete with AdSense ads–or anywhere else! Too many are pulling the wool over Google’s robotic eyes.  

One splogger pasted my post to four different blogs that are irrelevant, just in the past few days–blogs that are mindless junk. Having my post and name there is an embarassement!

Imagine how easy it is for a nubile programmer to download WP open source platform, set-up a pile of URLs with a registrar that offers free URLs like Tucows, troll the internet for content to steal, all so he can make AdSense dollars. This is a violation of Google AdSense terms–I have reported it to Google. This is a violation of his ISP agreement– I have reported it to his ISP. It is a violation of Automattic, WP‘s creators– I have reported to both. I have given this thief a chance to act and remove my content first. I was received with vitriol all through the day and denials–even though I have the complete WHOIS record sent to me by a WP related programmer and screen shots of 4 of his “blogs”.

A lot of bloggers are fed up with characters like this and they need to be prosecuted. It is plagiarism in a civil action; but i suspect it is also a theft in the criminal code. EULA must be inclusive of this. Copyright law must be enforced. It is a creation that belongs to me. This poor sod may be the poster boy for what I and the throngs have endured. His response takes away my guilt and fuels my cause.

What’s most damaging to the splogger is that he spent the whole day denying and then tried to mitigate his right to use my content by ripping Automattic’s TOS for justification. Little does he realize that the rights published are for themselves and do not extend to anyone else.

I quote a programmer who assisted me: “He’s completely off his rocker.”

There is a program that catches sploggers in advance, Sentinel by iwerx. I may be a candidate. But in the meantime, I will follow through this process and await Google AdSense’s, WP’s, Automattic’s and his ISP’s (DouglasFast in Oregon) actions.

One honest programmer removed the plug-in he created which the splogger ripped from his site enabling him to troll and steal this way. That is admirable. Now I await further action from the bigger players.

The next move is to call law enforcement in Oregon. And starting a file at Jones, Jones and Jones. I am not fooling around anymore.

We can no longer ignore issues of enrichment at someone else’s expense. Just last night my son told me he noted 30 million downloads of the movie 300 at a pirate site. Creatives are being abused everywhere every second.

Fair warning to those who copy my content without prior written consent, I will be like a dog on a bone.

Here is an awesome blog by Lorelle at WordPress to help victims take immediate action against plagiarists and sploggers. And yet another great post by Brad.

BRAND OF THE WEEK: Geni

This hosted app in beta is something everyone can use. More than a tech innovation, Geni is about every human being’s need for meaning and yearning for immortality. It is a user-generated, hosted genealogy application. It operates somewhat like LinkedIn where you invite family members into the community and in turn they do same. The net result should be a detailed at-a-glance picture of family history.

The application gives you a chance to set-up your immediate genealogy for free. After setting-up my children, sisters and brothers, parents, grandparents and aunts/uncles, I am going to have to pull out the VISA card. After setting-up approx. a dozen members, Geni advised me that I used up 30%. Immediately, Geni sent me an email with my temp password.

The app is intuitive in that girls are pink, boys are blue. And an on-screen scroll tool allows you to move around and add to your family tree visually. And I did not have to go in and set a password!–this in itself is a task no one likes when they are just testing the waters. Again intuitive.

What’s nice about this is that family can participate in adding their information about the tree. What I don’t like is that aging members are not on the web–and much of the knowledge is lost to the dearly departed. But hey, family will have to dig (no pun). Geni is to genealogy what Flickr is to family photo albums-live. Perhaps one day Geni will link to databases to help us add that knowledge. It would also be nice if we could skip generations adding ancestors which we happen to know about while we fill in the gaps with family Members. Perhaps Geni will become so robust that it could fill in the blanks. Why not ask for the moon? But one thing is for sure, I’d like to be able to print the tree on a large poster once we have it as complete as possible. Makes a great Xmas present. Add that to the Flickr photo album.

Geni was founded by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay, and Tribe; so, we can expect this application will just get better and endure. Right now its fun, worthwhile and I’m getting drawn in!

HOT NEW LAUNCHES March 2007

A number of developments in web 2.0 and gadgetry keep the market hopping. HOT NEW LAUNCHES will be published each month featuring innovations from start-ups and behemoths. It is a live list that will grow through the month so you can have a quick picture of what’s fresh in the marketplace.

1. Google launching a mobile phone – a Blackberry like device with a C++ core. Google did start a partnership with Samsung in January; so there is collaboration here. Lots of chatter here and chattering teeth from the competition. Idea rating: 3 1/2 stars

2. My.Netscape - the next generation of Netscape’s personalized home page in beta (there’s nothing at this link today-keep checking). The chatter in the market is hopeful on this one. Idea rating: 2 1/2 stars

3. Adobe Creative Suite 3.0 – due out March 27. Idea rating: TBA

 

4. Geni on-line family tree building already into its second round of financing with Charles River Ventures value at $100 mm. I simply love this hosted app. I am in! Idea rating: 3 1/2 stars

 

5- Skype Prime Beta a Skype to Skype 1-900 style i.e. paid by the caller to experts at the posted fee per minute. This is about a brand so visionary that it sees beyond its appliance. Linked in has a similar service but I do not believe for mobile and for larger fees. Idea rating: 4 stars

 

6- Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G1 Sonys’ first wireless digicam which will send images over wi-fi networks. Standard resolution 480 X 640 at 30 frames per sec. Memory card able to hold 8 GB. No touch screen on this one. Idea rating: 3 1/2

Business now “gets” social networks

Reuters CEO, Tom Glocer, announced today it is launching its own version of MySpace for financial markets later this year. Analysts, fund managers and traders will be able to visit this on-line collaborative community (by subscription) and share research.

Social communities are a huge opportunity for publishers and broadcasters or for that matter, producers of intelligent content. This does not preclude any industry or theme. Who will own these communities (the media call them “channels”)  five years from now?

Yahoo! is moving quickly in this direction with its 100 media brands using mashup platforms.

Communities are truly real estate on the web. The location is in the mind of the user though. Location! Location! Location! The curb appeal must be good i.e. the content. “Fixer-uppers” and “charming” communities just won’t do. They must be robust, rich and provide a real value.

It’s not about corporate web sites so much as it is about communities anymore. Through them businesses will prosper. A true sign the web is out of bubbledom.

MARIE’S PICKS: Top Technology Innovators 2007

The following innovators from the stalwart behemoths to the bootstraped entrepreneurs are worthy of praise–they are changing our future. I am confident I’ve forgotten a few. Sadly, I am not omniscient. It is a live list that I will expand in the same updated post daily, weekly. Your suggestions are welcome. These ideas are actionable, useful and often border on genius. All are worthy of praise whether they make it to the finish line or not. So they are NOT PRIORITIZED. It is a democratic list. Their innovations are recent 2006 and 2007–some are so fundamental yet “new” that I ignored their birth date.

Listed as: Brand Name, Corporation, (description)

1. iphone by Apple (the most robust phone device yet)
2. Qode by Neomedia (Mobile Phone Bar Code Scanner)
3. Zink by same (portable inkless printer for digital devices)
4. Eyejot by same (video sharing thourgh email)
5. PayPerPost by same (Paid consumer blog network for advertisers)
6. Joost formerly Venice Project (richer alternative to YouTube)
7. Lotus Connections  byIBM (Collaboration software)
8. LinkedIn by same (Answers/Experts Low cost procurement of soft expertise)
9. Yah00! 100 brands  by Yahoo! (Media Channels for advertisers)
10. ejamming by same (voip for musicians)
11. Apollo by Adobe (web apps to the desktop)
12. Mobio Networks  by same (mobile mashup platform)
13. Scram by Ceelox (embeds encrypted messages behind images)
14. Sentinel by Iwerx (catches blog content pirates)
15. D’Fusion by Total Immersion (inserts 3D into live video images)
16. Advanced Photonics (No name yet) by Alps Electric / CAPE (holographic image from mobile devices)
17. BitTorrent by same (bandwidth enabling video distribution like no other)
18. Orb Networks by same (allows users to view and create videos on their mobile devices)
19. Sundance Global Short Film Project /Robert Redford (creating short content for mobile devices)
20. Sitemaps by Google, Yahoo and Microsoft (new search protocol by stie maps)
21. Wibree by Nokia (radio technology dual core chip uses so little energy for smallest devices like a watch)
22. Tagworld by same (social network with all-in-one capabilities)
23. RDF and OWL – Semantic Web by Tim Berners-Lee (application-free framework and language that allows data interchange)
24. Videoegg by same (simplifies video capture)
25. iUpload by same (blogging platform that requires no programmer)
26. Xensource by same (moves mutliple virtual servers without friction)
27. Scrybe by same (robust and elegant productivity tool driven by a calendar-perhaps the best)
28. Geni by same (great hosted genealogy app )

I like Sentinel — it sniffs out sploggers

I was pretty miffed not long ago when a splogger jimmied my posts (several to boot)  without any credit to me nor permission. WP’s stats allowed me track this unsavoury character–you should read the forum about splogging at WP. To a certain extent I can relate to Viacom since I felt the same sense of violation. I did not lose dollars per say BUT someone enriched themselves at my expense. And frankly to have my content placed in these junk-sites is an embarrassement.

It is theft in the purest sense to seemingly create value from stolen content.

Blogwerx offers tracking software, Sentinel, that will catch the thieves redhanded. I like it. Hopefully it will be fast and remove the content from the thieves’ blogs. Blogwerx say they offer a fast scanning algorithm. The basic solution is free–worth a try.

With those caught red-handed Sentinel sends a DMCA warning and after three strikes are black-listed. But I’m still not clear on how it blocks sploggers before the get-go.

But I like it.

The joust is on between YouTube and Joost

Today (February 20), Viacom cut a deal with Joost to carry some of its properties (not Paramount Pictures or Colbert yet) with the proviso that Viacom receive 2/3 of the ad revenue.

I wrote about The Venice Project on December 21st, declared today as the covert name for Joost. Frankly, you can’t say too much for secrecy in the valley–it can be key to success.

Joost is re-launched by two founders of voip star Skype (now owned by eBay) and much maligned pirate video service, Kazaa, respectively.

The videos will be managed from desktops providing a richer viewing experience than the pixelated, crowded YouTube browser experienced. There was a place for this player and Joost has just made a home run! Just feast your eyes on the thumbnails above–these are full screen experiences. But it is still in beta phase.

Internet TV is coming into focus with Joost; hosted video and “streaming video” are fading.