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<title>Haaze.com / Massey / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Google confirms it pulled malicious Android apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:10:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-confirms-it-pulled-malicious-android-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[After several days of silence on the issue, Google has confirmed that it removed several malicious apps from its Android Market earlier this week and said that it would remove the apps from users' devices as well.Only devices running an Android version earlier than version 2.2.2 were susceptible to the rogue apps, which took advantage of known vulnerabilities, the Internet giant reported late last night in the Google Mobile blog. The company believes the only information accessed by the apps were the unique codes used to identify the the specific device and the version of Android that it was running.Fifty-eight malicious apps were identified and removed Tuesday but not before they were downloaded to about 260,000 devices. Google said it would use a kill switch to remotely remove the apps from users' devices and push an Android security update to affected users to repair the damage done by the apps. Affected users can expect to receive an e-mail from Android Market support explaining the action, Google said.The developer accounts associated with the apps were suspended and law enforcement officials were contacted, Google said.Earlier this week, a Reddit user discovered that pirated versions of legitimate apps on the Android Market were infected by a Trojan called DroidDream, which uses a root exploit dubbed &quot;rageagainstthecage&quot; to compromise a device, according to a report on enthusiast site Android Police.The malware was described as especially virulent because it apparently not only can capture user and product information from a device but also has the ability to download more code capable of further damage.Google representatives did not immediately respond to a request for further information or comment.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Digital City 117: It's Apple on the brain]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digital-city-117-its-apple-on-the-brain</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digital-city-117-its-apple-on-the-brain</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=digital-city-117-its-apple-on-the-brain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Chrome OS notebook giveaway]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-notebook-giveaway</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-notebook-giveaway</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=chrome-os-notebook-giveaway</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Tweet for a chance to win a Chrome OS Netbook prototype. Five lucky winners will get one!(Credit:Rafe Needleman/CNET) Google's highly anticipated new Chrome operating system won't be here until 2011, but we got our hands on five prototype Chrome OS notebooks courtesy of Google. We are happily giving them away to you, our cherished readers, in our Chrome OS sweepstakes. Important: Unlike our usual Crave giveaways, which you enter by posting a comment, the rules here are different, so please follow the instructions below on how to enter.How do you enter to win this notebook of the future Here are the rules. Please read them carefully:Become a follower of @cnet on Twitter.com. To enter this Sweepstakes, you must be a follower of @cnet on Twitter.com. If you are not currently a follower of @cnet on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/cnet and click on the button in the top-left corner of the page that says &quot;follow&quot;' then Tweet the required phrase and you will receive an entry into the Sweepstakes.Tweet the required phrase. Tweet this phrase (copy and paste): I entered the @cnet ChromeOS Sweepstakes for a chance to win a Chrome OS notebook: http://bit.ly/dOgTmxTweet only once. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you tweet more than once, you will be automatically disqualified.The winner will be chosen randomly. Five winners will receive (1) one Chrome OS notebook with a retail value of $300.If you are chosen, you will be notified via Twitter Direct Message. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.Entries for the Chrome OS Notebook can be submitted until Wednesday, December 22, at noon PT.Sweepstakes ends 11:59:59 a.m. PT on December 22, 2010 (the &quot;Promotion Period&quot;). And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 PM PT on December 22, 2010. See official rules for details. Good luck. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amazon cuts off WikiLeaks]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cuts-off-wikileaks</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cuts-off-wikileaks</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-cuts-off-wikileaks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[WikiLeaks no longer has a home at Amazon.The controversial site, which has roused the ire of the U.S. government for leaking classified information, is no longer being hosted by Amazon's Web servers as of yesterday.WikiLeaks had been tapping into Amazon's EC2, or Elastic Cloud Computing service--including earlier this week. WikiLeaks said yesterday it's now being hosted by servers in Europe, according to Reuters.In response to its expulsion from Amazon, WikiLeaks tweeted two comments:&quot;WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted. Free speech the land of the free--fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe.&quot;and&quot;If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books.&quot;Amazon may have dropped WikiLeaks following inquiries from Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Ind.-Conn.), who is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lieberman's staff contacted Amazon officials on Tuesday asking them to explain the company's relationship with WikiLeaks.In response to Amazon's move to drop WikiLeaks, Lieberman issued a statement that reads in part:&quot;I wish that Amazon had taken this action earlier based on Wikileaks' previous publication of classified material. The company's decision to cut off Wikileaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies Wikileaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material. I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them.&quot;Lieberman added that he plans to further question Amazon about its relationship with WikiLeaks and determine what it and other hosting providers can do to make sure they're not used to &quot;distribute stolen, classified information.&quot;Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNET. WikiLeaks has repeatedly found itself in trouble with the U.S. government over its leaking of sensitive information. But the latest release of classified and in many cases embarrassing documents from the U.S. State Department has prompted calls among some politicians to brand the site a terrorist group, putting it in the same category as al-Qaeda. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those looking to clamp down on the site, saying that &quot;WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.&quot;WikiLeaks has faced other pressures as well. It was hit by hackers since last weekend. The cyberattacks, which included distributed denial of service attacks, were seen as an attempt to take down the site to keep people from reading the latest round of classified disclosures.        Lance Whitney     Full Profile E-mail Lance Whitney   E-mail Lance Whitney If you have a question or comment for Lance Whitney, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats--journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He's a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. Lance is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and he is not an employee of CNET.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nvidia CEO: Lots of Android tablets coming]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nvidia-ceo-lots-of-android-tablets-coming</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nvidia-ceo-lots-of-android-tablets-coming</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nvidia-ceo-lots-of-android-tablets-coming</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Nvidia CEOs Jen-Hsun Huang said a flood of Android tablets are on the way and repeated that they have to be &quot;truly remarkable&quot; in order to compete with theiPad. And traditional notebooks may imperiled by the deluge, according to Huang. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. &amp;39'Tablets are not a fad.&amp;39'Nvidia reported earnings today for its most recent quarter, ending October 31. The Santa Clara, Calif., graphics chip supplier's profit slipped to $84.9 million, or 15 cents per share, from $107.6 million, or 19 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings were up, however, from this year's previous quarter, when the company posted a loss of $141.0 million, or 25 cents per share. Revenue was down to $843.9 million from $903.2 million reported a year ago. After the earnings conference call, I chatted with Huang on the phone. Nvidia's Tegra processor is expected to appear in a number of Android tablets, which he admitted were delayed by a &quot;few months&quot; because Nvidia, Google, and tablet manufacturers want to make sure they get it right out of the gate in order to compete effectively against Apple's iPad. &quot;You can't just do another product,&quot; he said. &quot;Look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It's a tablet that uses a phone operating system on a large display. A tablet is not a large phone.&quot; Tablets coming out early next year are expected to use a future version of Android designed for larger screens. Though Huang said he is sworn to secrecy until Android tablets come out and couldn't give details, he did say that upcoming tablets using its dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor &quot;give you the benefit of higher performance and much, much better multitasking and better graphics.&quot; All of these combined can lead to a different experience than the iPad, Huang said. &quot;There's going to be all kinds of interesting industrial designs,&quot; he said. &quot;And I think the high-level concept is that when you have such an incredibly low-power SOC [system-on-a-chip] then industrial design freedom really grows.&quot; He made clear during the earnings conference call that his company is working with Google on Android tablets. Huang also touched on why a tablet design is better than a laptop for many applications. &quot;Open your notebook. [Inside] it's got heat pipes, and fans, and heat spreaders, lots of copper. You're going to get rid of all of that,&quot; he said. Generally, this results in lighter products with longer battery life. And what's the fate of notebooks and Netbooks &quot;By being able to connect a wireless keyboard and mouse--the difference between a tablet and notebook is pretty marginal,&quot; he said. &quot;[Tablets] will be quite disruptive to notebooks and entry-level desktops,&quot; he said. Huang also waxed eloquent about tablets during the company's earnings conference call. &quot;Our tablet and phone business is going to ramp. And it's going to ramp hard. The amount of activity in our Tegra business is simply too great right now. Come the beginning the [next] year is when you'll see what we have been so busy working on,&quot; he said. &quot;This isn't a fad. Everybody's building tablets because it's just so important.Car companies are working on tablets, consumer electronics companies are working on tablets, computer companies are working on tablets, and communications companies are working on tablets. The medical industry is working on tablets,&quot; he said during the earnings conference call. &quot;I don't remember in the history of computing [when] a singular device is being worked on by all of the industry.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Republican wins to hurt Obama's clean-energy plans]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=republican-wins-to-hurt-obamas-clean-energy-plans</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=republican-wins-to-hurt-obamas-clean-energy-plans</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=republican-wins-to-hurt-obamas-clean-energy-plans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Big Republican wins in yesterday's election will not only kill chances that the U.S. Congress will pass a broad climate bill during President Barack Obama's first term, but may also hurt his strategy of winning even scaled-back energy legislation.Republicans, who had slammed any attempt to put a price on carbon emissions as an &quot;energy tax,&quot; won control of the House of Representatives and picked up seats in the Senate.Despite predictions by U.S. scientists that 2010 could be the warmest year on record, Obama's hopes of signing a bill any time soon to cut emissions from coal-fired plants, manufacturers, and vehicles have been all but been destroyed.&amp;149' See also:GOP's Whitman, Fiorina lose California electionsLosses in the Congress were countered by wins by Democrats in the governors' races in Massachusetts and California, which may give regional programs to cut emissions a boost.But Obama's hopes to tackle national energy policy bit by bit after the Senate removed climate measures from the energy bill in July may also be threatened by losses in Congress.&quot;It might be tough to get typical energy legislation passed in the next year or two,&quot; said Manik Roy, a government outreach expert at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.Victories by Tea Party-backed Republicans in the Senate such as Marco Rubio in Florida, who questions whether global warming is caused by mankind, and Rand Paul in Kentucky could lead to the risk of deadlock on slimmed-down energy bills.&quot;The central Tea Party message is about reducing government spending, and providing huge subsidies for carbon capture and sequestration or nuclear power in an energy bill is not consistent with that,&quot; Roy said. Technologies that could require subsidies include nuclear power, which has been on the verge of a comeback, and capturing carbon at power plants for burial underground and alternative energy sources like wind and solar which are new.&quot;Any high-cost source is going face greater resistance, including nuclear,&quot; said Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners.In the House, many members lost partially because they had supported climate policy. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from Virginia coal country who came under fire for voting for the chamber's climate bill in 2009, lost to Republican Morgan Griffith. Fellow Virginian Democrat Tom Perriello lost to Republican Robert Hurt.In the Senate, Republicans were on the way to gaining four seats, making it tough for John Kerry, the chief proponent of passing climate change legislation, to get the job done.Majority Leader Harry Reid faced a tough race versus Sharron Angle, the Tea Party-backed candidate who has called global warming a &quot;hoax.&quot;Even a surprise victory for Democrats in the Senate gave little hope of life for climate legislation. Democrat Joe Manchin won a tight race in coal country West Virginia. But Manchin, the state's governor, aired an ad during the campaign featuring him shooting the cap-and-trade bill with a rifle.In California, Democrat Jerry Brown won the governorship, Fox news projected. He was seen as a stronger supporter of climate and alternative energy than Meg Whitman, who had called for a timeout of the state's ambitious emissions reduction law.In addition, polls showed that California voters would vote against Proposition 23, which would have put a hold on the state's cap-and-trade law until the unemployment rate, now over 12 percent, fell to 5.5 percent for four quarters.Democrat Deval Patrick won the Massachusetts governorship, which calmed worries that the election could hurt the country's only functioning cap-and-trade market, run by 10 states in the Northeast.In addition, Democrat Andrew Cuomo won the governor's race in New York, where the program was founded.&quot;There's a big opportunity for states with governors who understand that clean energy investment can create jobs and spur long-term growth,&quot; said Daniel Weiss, the head of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.Congress, on the other hand, may have to settle with progress on technologies that are not costly, such as renewable energy standards, energy efficiency standards, and a bank that would give loans to developers of solar, wind and geothermal power.&quot;There's a possibility to move forward with relatively little expenditure if the new leadership is willing to cooperate,&quot; Weiss said.Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Android Market tops 100,000 applications]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=android-market-tops-100000-applications</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=android-market-tops-100000-applications</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=android-market-tops-100000-applications</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google reached a significant milestone for its Android mobile operating system today: 100,000 applications are available in the Android Market. The company announced the news in a post to its Android Developer Twitter account, nearly two years to the day since the Android Market formally opened for business. An unofficial estimate of Android applications by AndroLib had pegged the number at 50,000 in April, but it's not clear how accurate that was, as AndroLib currently predicts that 150,000 applications are available in the market. Google is still well behind Apple when it comes to mobile applications, of course, withiPhone,iPod Touch, andiPad owners having access to over 280,000 iOS-based applications at last count. (UPDATED 1:37 p.m PDT - Apple e-mailed in to clarify that on its earnings call last week, CEO Steve Jobs said there are now over 300,000 applications in the App Store.) Still, the milestone is worth noting as Android continues to cement its role as the Apple alternative for developers and consumers. Before Google made the formal announcement The New York Times posted a story noting the milestone and pointing out some of the challenges that remain for Android developers, such as the subtle-yet-important differences between the hundreds of different Android devices on the market as well as payment issues with Google Checkout. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bundle lets money do the talking with its new Restaurant Recommender]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bundle-lets-money-do-the-talking-with-its-new-restaurant-recommender</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bundle-lets-money-do-the-talking-with-its-new-restaurant-recommender</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bundle-lets-money-do-the-talking-with-its-new-restaurant-recommender</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Therea4a4s no shortage of restaurant-review websites on the Web, but New York City startup Bundle is tapping into an even more honest source of opinion &amp;8212' peoplea4a4s wallets.Bundle launched earlier this year as a site where users can compare their spending habits to people like them. Popular personal finance site Mint.com recently released a similar product, MintData, but that data comes from the sitea4a4s 4 million users. Bundle may not have anywhere near that many users, but it says it has financial data from Citibank and other providers, meaning that, effectively, it has data on 20 million users.Still, are massive data sets really what you&amp;'re looking for from a finance site If the initial pitch sounds a little fuzzy, Bundle is launching some new features today that make its value more apparent &amp;8212' starting with the Restaurant Recommender that I mentioned above.Instead of basing its ratings on user votes and reviews, the recommender looks at where people actually eat and how much they actually spend. The idea is that you may go to a restaurant once and give it a five-star review, but you reveal your real preferences when you go to a restaurant again and again, and when you spend a lot of money there.The recommender can tell you which restaurants in your area inspire the most loyalty from others in your income level. And it can tell you what the average spending in those restaurants is really like.On the downside, the Restaurant Recommender is only available in Los Angeles and New York for now, though chief executive Jaidev Shergill said Bundle will be adding a third city in the next 30 to 45 days.The Move-O-Matic, meanwhile, will help you figure out the financial impact of moving to a new city. You can enter the city or zipcode of wherever youa4a4re thinking about moving, then based on your income, the site tells you how much youa4a4re likely to spend on rent, food, and more.Bundle is backed by Citi, Microsoft, and Morningstar.Previous Story: Yahoo may ax 650 jobs tomorrow (report)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Move-O-Matic, personal finance, recommendations, Restaurant RecommenderCompanies: Bundle, CitiPeople: Jaidev Shergill          Tags: Move-O-Matic, personal finance, recommendations, Restaurant RecommenderCompanies: Bundle, CitiPeople: Jaidev ShergillAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Seven Principles You Need to Know to Build a Great Social&nbsp'Product]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-seven-principles-you-need-to-know-to-build-a-great-socialnbspproduct</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-seven-principles-you-need-to-know-to-build-a-great-socialnbspproduct</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-seven-principles-you-need-to-know-to-build-a-great-socialnbspproduct</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Social products are an interesting bird. For even the most experienced product designer, social products prove an elusive lover. While there are many obvious truths in social products, there are also alot of ways to design them poorly. Especially when you are deep in the moment making pixel-level decisions trying to remember whata4a4s important, things may not be so clear. The only magic Ia4a4ve found in designing compelling social products that have the best shot at breaking through the noise and capturing peoplea4a4s time and money is in being extremely clear on how your social product meets a few key design principles. 1. Design your product to matter in a world of infinite supply. In 2010, people are inundated with an overwhelming number of people, applications, requests, alerts, relationships, and demands on their time. You love your product. The benefits of it are totally obvious to you. However, if you and every member of your team cana4a4t crisply articulate what emotional benefit someone will get from spending 15 minutes on your social product that they cana4a4t get on Facebook, LinkedIN, or Twitter, youa4a4ve got work to do. This isna4a4t touchy feely stuff. Neither I nor the prospective people who may use your social product care about your features, your game mechanics, or how amazing your application will be when there are millions of people on it. Ia4a4m selfish with my time and youa4a4ve got seconds to hook me in with something new. And Ia4a4m not alone. To successfully use the fleeting moments you have, you need to orchestrate everything under your control to work together seamlessly under a single brand with a single reason for existence. Make it emotional. If your team cana4a4t tie back every decision they are making to the emotion you want people to feel when they are using your social product, then your reason for existence isna4a4t strong enough to serve its role, which is to guide your team and the product decisions you are making. 2. Be the best in the world at one thing. To put an even finer point on the focus required of any social upstart, you need to be best in the world at one thing. For Lululemon, theya4a4ve built a $450 million annual revenue business by focusing on the black yoga pant. For Twitter, ita4a4s the 140 character message. For Facebook, it is connecting you to the people you already know. Everything these companies do ties back to a specific thing they are going to be best in the world at doing. Ita4a4s not always obvious upfront what should be your best in the world focus and enshrining the wrong thing can be a problem. However, it is much worse to build a social product without guiding principles. When you are focused on the one thing your social product is going to do better than everyone else, all you need to launch is your one thing and no more.Ask yourself and every member of your team what you are best in the world at every week. Even better, define it, agree on it, print it out, blow it up, and put it on the wall. This should be the filter by which everyone is making product decisions.   3. Seek out uniqueness. Todaya4a4s social platforms and applications are fantastic at meeting peoplea4a4s need to belong. But equally important &amp;8211' especially in a world of infinite supply &amp;8211' is what makes us feel different and special. People want scarcity. People want exclusivity. This doesna4a4t mean your social product should be limited to a niche. Frontierville was built for mass appeal &amp;8211' so that I could play with ALL of my friends &amp;8211' but it still finds ways to bring uniqueness into its social experience via neighbors, customization of your plot, and collections. When people talk about exclusivity and scarcity these days, discussions of game mechanics are never far behind. I love game mechanics as much as the next person. However, if you are implementing game mechanics in the exact same way as everyone else, youa4a4ve got a problem. It goes back to the issue of infinite supply. If there is an infinite supply of points, badges, and levels because they exist on every single social product out there, the minute you use them without being thoughtful, you are losing your shot at exclusivity and scarcity. A better approach is to figure out what makes people feel unique and special on your service independent of any specific game tactic. Then, selectively cherry pick the features that reinforce your emotional reason for existence for people. For uniqueness to work, you have to lead, not follow.4. Focus on your most important interaction until you have it right. Once you have the critical features defined, there is typically one interaction that is clearly the most important to get right. Ita4a4s the interaction that if you get right means someone comes back and, if you dona4a4t get it right, you cana4a4t realize your full potential. Take this interaction and be maniacal about it. For Twitter, this is the Twitter stream. For Polyvore, this is the set page. For Facebook, this is the news feed. For YouTube, ita4a4s the video page. For Dailybooth, ita4a4s the live feed page. Ita4a4s the interaction where your magic happens, so give it the care and feeding needed to make it a star. 5. Choose your words carefully. The earlier you are as a social product, the more your word choice should be different and distinct from everything else out there. Early on is the time to have something important and different to say. In fact, all the great brands of the past 30 years have started out appealing to the passionate and rebellious first. Virgin Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Apple The 1984 commercial. Nike The subculture of intense runners sporting moustaches. Facebook A few still remember the original Scarface logo.There are things to copy from other services and there are things to make uniquely your own in social products.  Layouts Do your best but pay attention to what is already working. Colors Hard to be original here, but blue is pretty played out. Icons  A toss up. Terminology Own it. Your word choice is the primary place for you to have a point-of-view and present not only what you want your brand to emotionally mean to the people using it but the kinds of relationships you want people to have as a result of using your social product. 6. Create a party, not a museum. Great social products are clean, simple, and fast. The successful ones have little design flare, so that the people, photos, videos, text, and comments are front and center. The more design you add from colors to treatments, non-web-fonts, and graphics, the less your social application will feel like a party and the more it will feel like a museum. Or a magazine. Neither are a great goal. You want your social product to feel like it is a living and breathing party, not expensive furniture youa4a4re not supposed to sit on. 7. Develop relationships, not features. Today, we have multiple personalities and different types of relationships with people in the real and virtual worlds. If you are going to design a new social product, ita4a4s not enough to just offer a feature, like photos, videos, or events. You need to look at how the relationships on your social product will be important and different from the relationships you and others have already on Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter. Most people will say that Facebook Connect handle the whole a4Apeoplea4 thing for any new social product. I would argue that Facebook Connect is a start but if you cana4a4t quickly show someone a new relationship dynamic or similar people in your social product in a way that is unique to your application, the value of people interacting in your new product will accrue back to Facebook and not you.For example, Ia4a4ve found that on most new social applications I join I have the same 10 Facebook friends &amp;8211' typically my most prolific friends on Facebook already &amp;8211' on this new service too. In most cases, because these new social applications are just an extension of the things Ia4a4m already following them do on Facebook, such as sharing photos, events, lists, and videos, I dona4a4t have a reason to come back to this new application a second time.For a new social product, you need to think about how your social product expands, deepens, and changes the relationships people have today online and in the real world. This isna4a4t easy to achieve. The best example of a social product doing this well is Quora. Originally seeded with Facebooka4a4s social graph, it has quickly differentiated itself by showing you people you may care about because of their thoughtful commentary, experience, and expertise displayed on topics that are important to you. It takes alot for people to care about new people in the context of a new social product. Spending your time and energy on what constitutes similarity or what new relationships you want people to have as a result of your application is time worth spent. As I think about whata4a4s going to be created, discovered, invented, and re-imagined with social software in the next six months let alone the next five years, I cana4a4t help but be excited. These principles shine a light on the first few feet in front of us, but, with every new social product success there will be new ones. As Alan Kay timelessly put it, a4Athe best way to predict the future is to invent it.a4 I, for one, cana4a4t wait to see whata4a4s next. Gina Bianchini is the founder of Ning, the leading online platform for the worlda4a4s organizers, activists and influencers to create their own social experiences with over 80 million unique users each month.CrunchBase InformationGina BianchiniInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Foursquare, Gowalla, Instagram: Mobile photos are everywhere]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-gowalla-instagram-mobile-photos-are-everywhere</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-gowalla-instagram-mobile-photos-are-everywhere</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=foursquare-gowalla-instagram-mobile-photos-are-everywhere</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ita4a4s been a big week for numbers about photos. Yesterday, location-based service Foursquare launched the latest version of its app with support for photo-sharing, and chief executive Dennis Crowley said later in the day that the service was already approaching one photo uploaded per second. Competitor Gowalla said today that its users have posted 1 million photos. And mobile photo app Instagram also said it has hit 1 million users.My first thought upon seeing those numbers: Damn, thata4a4s a lot of photo-sharing. Instagram in particular seems to be growing super-fast. The service only launched two months ago &amp;8212' in comparison, Gowalla still hasna4a4t hit the 1 million user mark (at least, according to the latest numbers Ia4a4ve seen), Foursquare took more than a year, and Twitter took two years.My second thought: Gowalla better get moving on deals with other photo services ASAP. As TechCruncha4a4s MG Siegler notes, a lot of Foursquarea4a4s fast pickup on photos probably comes from partnerships with Foodspotting, Instagram, and PicPlz. Meanwhile, services like Instagram and PicPlz pride themselves on integrating with lots of other services.At this point, with all these integrations already in place, none of these apps can try to differentiate by &amp;''owning&amp;'' your photos. Unless you&amp;'ve got a massive user base like Facebook, the name of the game is making it as easy as possible for users to share photos on whatever site they want &amp;8212' that&amp;'s probably what investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark Capital are betting on.I think the folks behind Gowalla know this too, since theya4a4ve already demonstrated an open-minded approach to integrating their check-ins with Foursquare and Facebook Places. On the photo integration front, however, Foursquare got there first.Next Story: Amazon&amp;'s Kindle sales to surpass 8M this year Previous Story: TextPlus approved for new social group texting appPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: mobile photos, photo sharingCompanies: Foursquare, Gowalla, Instagram          Tags: mobile photos, photo sharingCompanies: Foursquare, Gowalla, InstagramAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rental service for kids' video games - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rental-service-for-kids-video-games---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rental-service-for-kids-video-games---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rental-service-for-kids-video-games---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Given the remarkable speed with which children can tire of their toys, it''s not too surprising that we''ve seen toy rental services emerge in both the US anda4&quot;more recentlya4&quot;France. Since the very same phenomenon tends to occur with video games, it makes perfect sense to see a brand-new startup that focuses exclusively on that category of entertainment.Like both Babyplays and Dim Dom, California-based SmartyRents uses the Netflix model to help parents keep their children aged 9 months to 10 years old challenged and entertained. The effort was launched just last week by two former teachers, which is why it also focuses on games with an educational bent. Included in its inventory, for example, are top games from LeapFroga4&quot;including Little Leaps, Clickstart, Leapster and Didja4&quot;and from Vtech, including V.Smile Baby, V.Smile, V.Motion and V.Flash. Parents begin by signing up and choosing from among four rental packages, depending on how many games they''d like to have at one time. Monthly pricing ranges from USD 9.99 for one game at a time to USD 24.99 for four games at once. They then choose the games they''d like to start off witha4&quot;the site even lets them search by the educational skills emphasizeda4&quot;and their selections get sent to their door along with a prepaid mailing envelope to use to return them. Games can be kept for as long as children enjoy them. Sending a game back prompts the next game on the family''s list to be sent' alternatively, those that are too hard to part with can be purchased for the site''s listed a4ALove ita4 price.Whether it''s toys or college textbooks, baby clothes, designer dresses or cellphones, freedom from the bonds of ownership is increasingly the way to transumers'' hearts. SmartyRents, however, currently serves only the US' one to emulate for kids and parents in other countriesWebsite: www.smartyrents.comContact: www.smartyrents.com/contact.phpSpotted by: Susanna Haynie<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[BigStar brings porn to the iPhone, but for how long]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigstar-brings-porn-to-the-iphone-but-for-how-long</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigstar-brings-porn-to-the-iphone-but-for-how-long</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Massey</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bigstar-brings-porn-to-the-iphone-but-for-how-long</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Updated with comment from BigStarLooks like Steve Jobs hasna4a4t been entirely successful in his campaign to keep porn off the iPhone.Therea4a4s a new application called BigStar Movies You Demand that allows users to watch a wide (if rather random) selection of movies on their iPhone and iPad app for the super-low price of $4.99 a month after a 30-day free trial. But herea4a4s the really eye-catching thing about it: It includes pornographic movies.If you go to the BigStar.tv site, youa4a4ll see that it highlights plenty of non-pornographic content, but once you scroll down to the a4Amost watcheda4 section it&amp;'s dominated by titles like Bad Ass Bitches and Anna Nicole Smith Exposed. That seems like it would be a problem for Apple, given chief executive Steve Jobsa4a4 statement that the iPad provides a4Afreedom from porna4. When I asked BigStar about it, a spokesperson responded:As far as adult content is concerned, they are not available via the app &amp;8211' the $4.99 subscription doesn&amp;'t include it &amp;8212' but those films can be accessed and played via the web HTML 5 video player and Safari on both the iPhone and iPad.  It&amp;'s not ideal &amp;8212' and maybe not worth mentioning &amp;8212' but that&amp;'s how one can work around it.Makes sense, I guess. But then I downloaded the app (I had to confirm that I was 18 to do so), and there was Anna Nicole Smith again, still exposed. I didn&amp;'t watch enough to say exactly how explicit the movies were (and Ia4a4m sure that will prompt at least one a4Athata4a4s not porn!a4 comment), but I watched enough to know that, yes, there is female nudity, and, yes, you will see boobs.To be clear, I think the anti-porn policy, like many things about the App Store approval process, is silly, and I have no problem with what BigStar is doing. (And since they told me the adult stuff had been removed, I assume it&amp;'s a weird oversight.) I just think it&amp;'s interesting that some of this stuff is still slipping by Apple. Of course, Apple will eventually catch on and remove the app, unless BigStar figures out a way to get rid of the porn first. In the meantime, you can download it here.And hey, once the porn is gone, the app still offers streaming movies, plus social recommendation features, for $4.99 a month. The service works on Android, Google TV, webOS devices, the Roku device, and more.BigStar is self-funded and based in Miami.Update: As I predicted, some of our commenters have argued that the movies aren&amp;'t porn &amp;8212' one of them points out that the two movies I&amp;'ve mentioned are rated R. But I think they meet the definition of softcore pornography, and that Apple has booted apps for less explicit content in the past. There&amp;'s a reason why the Playboy app doesn&amp;'t have any nudity. And there&amp;'s a reason why BigStar said the content had been removed from the app.And BigStar has responded too:We suppose that a4Aporna4 is in the eye of the beholder, but the definition so salaciously used in todaya4a4s VentureBeat article a4ABigStar brings porn to the iPhone, but for how longa4 is so loose (any nudity, including flashes of a naked breast) that at least one-third of the current films in suburban multiplexes would have to be labeled porn.  The MPAA is pretty clear that it considers porn NC-17.  All of the films you mentioned in your article are rated R.  Compare this to Netflix, which offers a4ATeenage Catgirls in Heata4 (NR), &amp;''Caligula&amp;'' (NR) and a4ALast Tango in Parisa4 (NC-17) or even to Hulu+, which offers the extremely bare-breasted a4ARed Shoes Diariesa4 and other late-night fare.  While we appreciate the attention in BigStara4a4s offerings, we believe ita4a4s not fair to call any of our offerings porn a4&quot; unless you also classify the late-night fare of Netflix, Hulu, HBO/Cinemax and many other vendors as being in the same camp.  As such, we are in full compliance with Applea4a4s terms of service.Next Story: Debunking the 3 biggest recruiting myths Previous Story: Gowalla 3 plays nice with Foursquare and Facebook PlacesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: beware the porn, streaming moviesCompanies: Apple, BigStarPeople: Anna Nicole Smith, Steve Jobs          Tags: beware the porn, streaming moviesCompanies: Apple, BigStarPeople: Anna Nicole Smith, Steve JobsAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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