What Company Is Offering:
Trusted Opinion is a free online community for sharing ratings and recommendations between trusted individuals, and visually looks a lot like Amazon’s interface.
How It Works:
Instead of going the route of many other online media sellers and reviewers where reviews are aggregated and averaged across the whole user base, Trusted Opinion weights the opinions of people in one’s social network highest, and gradually diminishes the weight of others’ opinions as the degrees of separation increase.
There are plenty of ad hoc ways to work this into other platforms - iLike and the famous Facebook Questions application come to mind - but this is the first application with this unique take on media ratings .
According To Mashable:
Trusted Opinion is set to announce $1.3 million in first round venture capital Wednesday, but the source of the funding is undisclosed Since the official launch of its beta site in February 2007, the company is reported to have had over 350,000 registered members and approximately 3,000 new members added each day.
Proceeds from the funding are supposed to “accelerate Trusted Opinion’s impressive growth.”
More at:http://www.trustedopinion.com/
Via-Mash
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Google Taking Nielsen Data
Determined to sell more television ads, Internet search leader Google Inc. is sharpening its focus on the medium with demographic data from the influential Nielsen Co.
Under an agreement to be announced Wednesday, Google will pay Nielsen an undisclosed amount to obtain detailed information about the kinds of people who watch specific TV shows.
The breakdown, drawn from Nielsen's rating service, typically provides viewers' ages, gender, marital status and other personal data that help advertisers choose the audience most likely to be interested in their product or service.
New York-based Nielsen has been selling demographic data to television stations and advertisers for years.
Google's access to the information is significant because it gives the Mountain View-based company more tools to draw upon as it tries to target television ads as effectively as it has done on the Internet.
Because it processes more than 1 billion search requests per day, Google hasn't needed as much outside help to learn about the interests of its Internet users.
'This is another indication that Google is very serious about selling more ads in the mainstream media,' said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media, which helps advertisers buy television ads.
Since May, Google has been delivering television ads for about 14 million subscribers to EchoStar Communication Corp.'s Dish network and Astound Broadband cable service.
The set-top boxes used by EchoStar and Astound enabled Google to track when commercials were watched and for how long. By drawing on Nielsen's data, Google will now have information on what kinds of viewers are watching the commercial.
'This was a missing piece of puzzle for us,' said Keval Desai, Google's director of product management for TV ads.
Desai said Google is 'thrilled' with its progress so far in TV advertising but declined to provide any financial specifics.
Even as it expands its ad platform into TV, radio and print, Google continues to make most of its money from text-based ad links posted next to search results and other online content.
Google's formula has been so profitable that it now has a market value of about $210 billion, second only to Microsoft Corp. in the high-tech industry.
The Google alliance appeals to Nielsen because the rating firm is trying to develop new measurement techniques and extend its reach into more digital media, such as iPods and mobile phones.
'The relationship with Google...is a prime example of the ways Nielsen is embracing new technologies, platforms and relationships worldwide to serve clients more completely,' Nielsen Chairman David Calhoun said in a statement.
Via-ASP
Under an agreement to be announced Wednesday, Google will pay Nielsen an undisclosed amount to obtain detailed information about the kinds of people who watch specific TV shows.
The breakdown, drawn from Nielsen's rating service, typically provides viewers' ages, gender, marital status and other personal data that help advertisers choose the audience most likely to be interested in their product or service.
New York-based Nielsen has been selling demographic data to television stations and advertisers for years.
Google's access to the information is significant because it gives the Mountain View-based company more tools to draw upon as it tries to target television ads as effectively as it has done on the Internet.
Because it processes more than 1 billion search requests per day, Google hasn't needed as much outside help to learn about the interests of its Internet users.
'This is another indication that Google is very serious about selling more ads in the mainstream media,' said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media, which helps advertisers buy television ads.
Since May, Google has been delivering television ads for about 14 million subscribers to EchoStar Communication Corp.'s Dish network and Astound Broadband cable service.
The set-top boxes used by EchoStar and Astound enabled Google to track when commercials were watched and for how long. By drawing on Nielsen's data, Google will now have information on what kinds of viewers are watching the commercial.
'This was a missing piece of puzzle for us,' said Keval Desai, Google's director of product management for TV ads.
Desai said Google is 'thrilled' with its progress so far in TV advertising but declined to provide any financial specifics.
Even as it expands its ad platform into TV, radio and print, Google continues to make most of its money from text-based ad links posted next to search results and other online content.
Google's formula has been so profitable that it now has a market value of about $210 billion, second only to Microsoft Corp. in the high-tech industry.
The Google alliance appeals to Nielsen because the rating firm is trying to develop new measurement techniques and extend its reach into more digital media, such as iPods and mobile phones.
'The relationship with Google...is a prime example of the ways Nielsen is embracing new technologies, platforms and relationships worldwide to serve clients more completely,' Nielsen Chairman David Calhoun said in a statement.
Via-ASP
Bluestreak Technology have secured US$20 million dollars in Series D financing for its "MachBlue" platform for mobile phones and digital television
What Company is Offering:
Bluestreak Technology, a start-up based in Montrea.The MachBlue platform gives network operators and OEMs the ability to create rich-media user experiences on various devices. Bluestreak Technology is a technology partner with such industry leaders as STMicroelectronics, ACCESS, Orange, KPN, Videotron, Time Warner Cable, Thomson, NDS and OpenTV.
How Much They Got From VCs:
They have secured US$20 million dollars in Series D financing for its "MachBlue" platform for mobile phones and digital television.France's Iris Capital, a new investor, led the round, which also includes internal investors Solidarity Fund QFL, BDC Venture Capital and First Capital Group along with new investor Tomorrow Group from Korea.
More at:http://www.bluestreaktech.com/
Bluestreak Technology, a start-up based in Montrea.The MachBlue platform gives network operators and OEMs the ability to create rich-media user experiences on various devices. Bluestreak Technology is a technology partner with such industry leaders as STMicroelectronics, ACCESS, Orange, KPN, Videotron, Time Warner Cable, Thomson, NDS and OpenTV.
How Much They Got From VCs:
They have secured US$20 million dollars in Series D financing for its "MachBlue" platform for mobile phones and digital television.France's Iris Capital, a new investor, led the round, which also includes internal investors Solidarity Fund QFL, BDC Venture Capital and First Capital Group along with new investor Tomorrow Group from Korea.
More at:http://www.bluestreaktech.com/
EmailBrain has powerful newsletter management features that enable you to easily manage your brand image
What Company is offering:
EmailBrain has powerful newsletter management features that enable you to easily manage your brand image. EmailBrain includes a full suite of tools within the template library for on-line content creation and on-line content storage.
How It Works:
Emailbrain will help you optimize your campaign by giving you the development and tracking tools to make it succeed. Features include WYSIWYG editing, a template library, online image and document hosting, foreign language capabilities, whitelisting status, tracking analytics, and hosted online report archive among others. There are several editions available (corporate, standard and reseller) depending on your needs. EmailBrain works with a range of industries including artists, non-profits, political campaigns, and law firms. There’s a free trial version available. Regular pricing starts at $9.95 a month (for 2,000 sends) and goes as high as about $800 a month (400,000 sends).
More at:http://emailbrain.com/eb/index.shtml
EmailBrain has powerful newsletter management features that enable you to easily manage your brand image. EmailBrain includes a full suite of tools within the template library for on-line content creation and on-line content storage.
How It Works:
Emailbrain will help you optimize your campaign by giving you the development and tracking tools to make it succeed. Features include WYSIWYG editing, a template library, online image and document hosting, foreign language capabilities, whitelisting status, tracking analytics, and hosted online report archive among others. There are several editions available (corporate, standard and reseller) depending on your needs. EmailBrain works with a range of industries including artists, non-profits, political campaigns, and law firms. There’s a free trial version available. Regular pricing starts at $9.95 a month (for 2,000 sends) and goes as high as about $800 a month (400,000 sends).
More at:http://emailbrain.com/eb/index.shtml
Instantbird is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client
What Company is Offering:
Instantbird is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client. Using it, you can connect to all your different IM accounts.
It uses the Mozilla rendering engine to display IMs, and the Pidgin libpurple to connect to the different networks.
Instantbird is a free and open source software. So you are free to use, distribute and modify it.
How It Works:
Users can use the app to connect with other popular chat services such as MSN, ICQ, and AIM, without causing any disruption to any of their previous clients. Based on Mozilla technologies and Pidgin, InstantBird is a fairly light download at around 13 megs, requiring100MB of free disk space for Windows user. The app is available for Mac and Linux as well, although it’s known to be twitchy operating with Ubuntu. Downloading InstantBird runs quickly with a highspeed internet connection, and connecting with all your frequented chat apps should be a breeze.
More at:http://www.instantbird.com/
Instantbird is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client. Using it, you can connect to all your different IM accounts.
It uses the Mozilla rendering engine to display IMs, and the Pidgin libpurple to connect to the different networks.
Instantbird is a free and open source software. So you are free to use, distribute and modify it.
How It Works:
Users can use the app to connect with other popular chat services such as MSN, ICQ, and AIM, without causing any disruption to any of their previous clients. Based on Mozilla technologies and Pidgin, InstantBird is a fairly light download at around 13 megs, requiring100MB of free disk space for Windows user. The app is available for Mac and Linux as well, although it’s known to be twitchy operating with Ubuntu. Downloading InstantBird runs quickly with a highspeed internet connection, and connecting with all your frequented chat apps should be a breeze.
More at:http://www.instantbird.com/
BrightRoll has secured $5 million in Series B funding
What Company is Offering:
BrightRoll helps leading agencies, representing brands such as Walmart, Hewlett-Packard and Sony Pictures, launch and scale video campaigns across the industry's leading publishers. The one-year-old start-up will use the capital to continue to grow its agency and publisher relationships, as well as accelerate product development.
How Much They Got From VCs:
The world's largest video advertising network, announced today that it has secured $5 million in Series B funding from Adams Street Capital, KPG Ventures and, existing investor, TRUE Ventures. This brings the company's total venture funding to $6M since it launched in July 2006.
What VCs Says:
"We increased our investment in BrightRoll because the company is the emerging leader in a revolutionary category," said Jon Callaghan, a partner at TRUE Ventures. "This is my third time working with the founders, Tod Sacerdoti and Dru Nelson, and I could not be more ecstatic about the team they are building."
BrightRoll can execute video campaigns across more than 50% of the top 100 online media properties in the United States. The average BrightRoll video campaign reaches over 50 million unique users over a six week period. A video advertising innovator, BrightRoll is built entirely on proprietary video ad serving, targeting and optimization technology.
More at:http://www.brightroll.com/
BrightRoll helps leading agencies, representing brands such as Walmart, Hewlett-Packard and Sony Pictures, launch and scale video campaigns across the industry's leading publishers. The one-year-old start-up will use the capital to continue to grow its agency and publisher relationships, as well as accelerate product development.
How Much They Got From VCs:
The world's largest video advertising network, announced today that it has secured $5 million in Series B funding from Adams Street Capital, KPG Ventures and, existing investor, TRUE Ventures. This brings the company's total venture funding to $6M since it launched in July 2006.
What VCs Says:
"We increased our investment in BrightRoll because the company is the emerging leader in a revolutionary category," said Jon Callaghan, a partner at TRUE Ventures. "This is my third time working with the founders, Tod Sacerdoti and Dru Nelson, and I could not be more ecstatic about the team they are building."
BrightRoll can execute video campaigns across more than 50% of the top 100 online media properties in the United States. The average BrightRoll video campaign reaches over 50 million unique users over a six week period. A video advertising innovator, BrightRoll is built entirely on proprietary video ad serving, targeting and optimization technology.
More at:http://www.brightroll.com/
MeVu With New Tagging Features
What Company is offering:
MeVu, the site that offers you a profile page for displaying all your web links to various social networks, has added some new features and upgrades.
Additional Features:
Aside from the obligatory bug fixes, there’s also now a secure contact form for enabling others to send an email without seeing your contact information. A new free-form About Me field has also been added, along with a new Location field.
You can set your own meta tags for your profile page in order to make yourself show up in more search engines, and your title, description and keywords are all part of the new meta tag option. Another important addition is the RSS feed subscription options for site visitors to keep up with your ever-changing profile, and internal search has also been improved.
The changes made for better SEO and feed options are probably the most important modifications here, considering the aim of MeVu to provide you with a central site for dispersing visitors to other sites where you have a presence. This is the primary consideration for aggregation tools of this nature–they work best when people actually find them first, during a web search. And there’s a lot to compete with to this end, from other social networks, bookmarking sites, etc.
More at:http://www.mevu.com/
MeVu, the site that offers you a profile page for displaying all your web links to various social networks, has added some new features and upgrades.
Additional Features:
Aside from the obligatory bug fixes, there’s also now a secure contact form for enabling others to send an email without seeing your contact information. A new free-form About Me field has also been added, along with a new Location field.
You can set your own meta tags for your profile page in order to make yourself show up in more search engines, and your title, description and keywords are all part of the new meta tag option. Another important addition is the RSS feed subscription options for site visitors to keep up with your ever-changing profile, and internal search has also been improved.
The changes made for better SEO and feed options are probably the most important modifications here, considering the aim of MeVu to provide you with a central site for dispersing visitors to other sites where you have a presence. This is the primary consideration for aggregation tools of this nature–they work best when people actually find them first, during a web search. And there’s a lot to compete with to this end, from other social networks, bookmarking sites, etc.
More at:http://www.mevu.com/
CapaZoo is a new social network that’s encouraging users to participate on the site by offering them money
What Company is offering:
CapaZoo is a new social network that’s encouraging users to participate on the site by offering them money. Well, you can get tipped for your awesomeness, and then cash out after certain point.
How it Works:
There are a few different types of accounts you can create: business, athlete, individual, arts, or charity. All but business profiles are free (a business account will run you about $35 per year). Once you set up your profile, you can start customizing it and adding media. Businesses will have advertising options throughout the network. You can get tipped for your media, as well as for your profile. So the goal here is to get as much content on the site in order to incur more tips.
You can’t hand them out for free, however. You start out with 25 zoops (CapaZoo’s currency) and go from there. If you’d like to tip someone, you select how many zoops you’ll give them. If you’d like to add zoops to your account, you can pay $10 for 10,000. Likewise, earning 10,000 zoops means you can get $10 on your credit card. You can’t actually cash out, though, unless you’ve upgraded your account. And that will cost you $25 or $35 per year, depending on what type of account you’d like (privileged or VIP).
Why Is It Different:
CapaZoo is finding ways to make money, and hoping it’s enough to get you to heavily participate in the site. Need more of a push? CapaZoo also has retail partners that offer discounts for users. For instance, you can get 15% off of your next Hertz car rental. This is all part of the CapaZoo Savings Program, which will calculate how much money you’ve saved through its discount offers. Again, you’ll need to upgrade your account to take part in the Savings Program. I think I’ll hold out for the CapaZoo credit card with rewards points I can earn with every purchase.
Who Is Backing Them:
CapaZoo is based in Canada and has reportedly raised over $25 million in private capital, without the aid of venture capital funding.
More at:http://www.capazoo.com/
CapaZoo is a new social network that’s encouraging users to participate on the site by offering them money. Well, you can get tipped for your awesomeness, and then cash out after certain point.
How it Works:
There are a few different types of accounts you can create: business, athlete, individual, arts, or charity. All but business profiles are free (a business account will run you about $35 per year). Once you set up your profile, you can start customizing it and adding media. Businesses will have advertising options throughout the network. You can get tipped for your media, as well as for your profile. So the goal here is to get as much content on the site in order to incur more tips.
You can’t hand them out for free, however. You start out with 25 zoops (CapaZoo’s currency) and go from there. If you’d like to tip someone, you select how many zoops you’ll give them. If you’d like to add zoops to your account, you can pay $10 for 10,000. Likewise, earning 10,000 zoops means you can get $10 on your credit card. You can’t actually cash out, though, unless you’ve upgraded your account. And that will cost you $25 or $35 per year, depending on what type of account you’d like (privileged or VIP).
Why Is It Different:
CapaZoo is finding ways to make money, and hoping it’s enough to get you to heavily participate in the site. Need more of a push? CapaZoo also has retail partners that offer discounts for users. For instance, you can get 15% off of your next Hertz car rental. This is all part of the CapaZoo Savings Program, which will calculate how much money you’ve saved through its discount offers. Again, you’ll need to upgrade your account to take part in the Savings Program. I think I’ll hold out for the CapaZoo credit card with rewards points I can earn with every purchase.
Who Is Backing Them:
CapaZoo is based in Canada and has reportedly raised over $25 million in private capital, without the aid of venture capital funding.
More at:http://www.capazoo.com/
Zimbra is open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration
What Company is offering:
Zimbra is open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration - email, group calendaring, contacts, and web document management and authoring
Zimbra provides open standards and a platform for developers, its tools can be integrated with some services that a lot of institutions already have established.
Why Is It Useful:
Considering the huge switching costs of a university with a communications system to support its current and past students, faculty and staff, signing on a new service like Zimbra is a big deal. It looks like Yahoo should be pretty satisfied with its acquisition of Zimbra.
Why It is In News Again:
Zimbra has landed more than a few deals, with some 200 educational institutions in 15 different countries for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, making it a pretty far-reaching host of applications. That puts the suite in the hands of about 33,000 students, faculty and staff, 600,000 mailboxes.
More at:http://www.zimbra.com/
Zimbra is open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration - email, group calendaring, contacts, and web document management and authoring
Zimbra provides open standards and a platform for developers, its tools can be integrated with some services that a lot of institutions already have established.
Why Is It Useful:
Considering the huge switching costs of a university with a communications system to support its current and past students, faculty and staff, signing on a new service like Zimbra is a big deal. It looks like Yahoo should be pretty satisfied with its acquisition of Zimbra.
Why It is In News Again:
Zimbra has landed more than a few deals, with some 200 educational institutions in 15 different countries for the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, making it a pretty far-reaching host of applications. That puts the suite in the hands of about 33,000 students, faculty and staff, 600,000 mailboxes.
More at:http://www.zimbra.com/
Jango is a new music social search and discovery site
What Company is Offering:
Jango is a new music social search and discovery site.
How It Works:
Jango will automatically start building your playlist from this initial setting, and you vote (smilies or frowns) which songs you like. You can also add individual artists. Similar to SeeqPod and MOG, you’ll also get additional information for each artist, like album art, more songs, videos, etc. Additionally, there is a link for you to purchase each song from iTunes or Amazon.
Jango is also a social network, you can check out other user profiles, send them shoutouts and private messages, bookmark them, and listen to their own stations. The player will also show what other users are listening to a station, so there’s a bit of socialization occurring around each playlist, similar to MxPlay and Yoinkd. Jango appears to be quite a mesh of several music playlist creation and networking sites out there, and there doesn’t seem to be any stand-out features, like Mixaloo’s playlist gifting option, that make Jango particularly better than others in the market.
More at:http://jango.com/
Jango is a new music social search and discovery site.
How It Works:
Jango will automatically start building your playlist from this initial setting, and you vote (smilies or frowns) which songs you like. You can also add individual artists. Similar to SeeqPod and MOG, you’ll also get additional information for each artist, like album art, more songs, videos, etc. Additionally, there is a link for you to purchase each song from iTunes or Amazon.
Jango is also a social network, you can check out other user profiles, send them shoutouts and private messages, bookmark them, and listen to their own stations. The player will also show what other users are listening to a station, so there’s a bit of socialization occurring around each playlist, similar to MxPlay and Yoinkd. Jango appears to be quite a mesh of several music playlist creation and networking sites out there, and there doesn’t seem to be any stand-out features, like Mixaloo’s playlist gifting option, that make Jango particularly better than others in the market.
More at:http://jango.com/
ShredOrDie
What Company is Offering:
ShredOrDie is a new video network from the makers of FunnyOrDie. ShredOrDie features video content about xtreme sports, and Hawk has already lined up a series of interviews, and there are clips with folks like Lance Armstrong, Sean White, Christian Slater and Ryan Sheckler.
How It Works:
With FunnyOrDie facing its own troubles, this new site looks to be a way to help build on the initial momentum that Will Ferrell launched the comic video site some time ago. Ferrell already leveraged his celebrity Rolodex in order to get additional premium content on the site, and the same tactic is being used for ShredOrDie. The expansion of the FunnyOrDie network, which is making good use of its funding and now spawning off various verticals to capture a wider audience, may or may not work. So we’ll see how viewers take to ShredOrDie.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the site is aiming at the skater and biker crowd. There will also be user-generated content included on ShredOrDie.
More at:http://www.shredordie.com/
ShredOrDie is a new video network from the makers of FunnyOrDie. ShredOrDie features video content about xtreme sports, and Hawk has already lined up a series of interviews, and there are clips with folks like Lance Armstrong, Sean White, Christian Slater and Ryan Sheckler.
How It Works:
With FunnyOrDie facing its own troubles, this new site looks to be a way to help build on the initial momentum that Will Ferrell launched the comic video site some time ago. Ferrell already leveraged his celebrity Rolodex in order to get additional premium content on the site, and the same tactic is being used for ShredOrDie. The expansion of the FunnyOrDie network, which is making good use of its funding and now spawning off various verticals to capture a wider audience, may or may not work. So we’ll see how viewers take to ShredOrDie.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the site is aiming at the skater and biker crowd. There will also be user-generated content included on ShredOrDie.
More at:http://www.shredordie.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
