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<title>Haaze.com / jacelynwyl / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Message in a bottle, high-tech style]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=message-in-a-bottle-high-tech-style</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=message-in-a-bottle-high-tech-style</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=message-in-a-bottle-high-tech-style</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Plastiki skipper David de Rothschild prepares to release the bottle into the Pacific Ocean last April. The bottle has a special satellite tag inside that allows it to be tracked on a daily basis.(Credit:The Plastiki Expedition)For nearly a year, a glass bottle has been heading west on the high seas, bringing with it a message of the precariousness of the oceans. And at every step of its long journey, it has told the world where it is. Meet the message in a bottle, high-tech edition.For 17 years, California artist Jay Little has been putting traditional messages in standard bottles and sending them seaward, hoping that they would one day encounter someone and create a new relationship. But for each of more than 200 attempts, it was all analog: Until someone found one of the bottles, Little had no idea where they were or even if they were still afloat.But last year, Little set out to throw some technology at the problem, and in a partnership with David de Rothschild, the skipper of the Plastiki Expedition, a new bottle was tossed into the North Equatorial Current, and it has been phoning home every day since.Little said that with the help of a biologist friend who regularly tracks penguins in the wilds Antarctic, this new bottle was put into the Pacific Ocean complete with a satellite tag that is constantly sending its location and direction to the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Each day, Little gets that information and each afternoon, he uploads it to a Google Map on the Plastiki Web site that shows the public precisely where the bottle is.The bottle, including its satellite tag(Credit:The Plastiki Expedition)As of yesterday, Little said, the bottle--a nine-liter, 20-inch-long glass behemoth complete with the satellite tag, an antenna, and some ballast to keep it upright, was making steady progress west and was just onshore of the Philippine island of Mindanao. Little is offering a $250 bounty for its recovery.Little, who lives in California's Marin County, worked with the crew of the Plastiki, the all-recyclable plastic catamaran skippered by de Rothschild, since both are trying to raise awareness of the ongoing dangers to ocean ecosystems by garbage and other waste polluting the seas. De Rothschild took the bottle with him when the Plastiki launched March 20 from Sausalito, Calif., and last April 24, he launched it while about 840 miles south of Hawaii.Since then, according to the data it's been sending out, we know that the bottle has been heading steadily west, except when it got stuck in a gyre and spent five weeks going in circles between two opposing currents. Eventually, though, the bottle broke free and resumed its westward path, Little said.Little told CNET that it was &quot;appropriate&quot; that the bottle got stuck in the very gyre--complete with huge amounts of garbage--that the crew of the Plastiki had set out to study on its 5,000 mile journey from California to Australia.He explained that while the bottle has gotten to within 2.5 miles of the island of Mindanao, there's still only a 1-in-10 chance of someone finding it. But Little is hoping that by getting the word out that the bottle is approaching land, those odds may increase. &quot;It's the first time I know where my bottle is while it's [moving] around,&quot; he said.If the bottle escapes detection in the next few days, Little said, it could probably keep on sending out data about its location for another year or so, and the bottle itself can probably stay afloat for several more years.Previous bottles he's sent into the oceans have tended to get weighed down by algae, but Little said that he engineered this one to stay tighter in order to protect the satellite tag inside. Still, he said, it wouldn't likely survive a collision with a rock, and if it does go underwater, the mission is probably over.Over the years, Little has put more than 230 bottles into the oceans, and just 22 have been discovered. Each has been stuffed with a two-page, hand-decorated note asking for help with his long-term project to help get the word out about the oceans. He's basically a non-digital guy who realized it was time to give technology a chance.&quot;I've been the anti-tech guy for years, using these bottles,&quot; Little said, &quot;and I finally thought it would be a good change to have a Web-based system to follow it. The bottle itself catches me up on technology. It's definitely harder to watch a bottle than it is to release it and let it go.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hot spot coming to AT&T iPhone 4]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-spot-coming-to-att-iphone-4</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-spot-coming-to-att-iphone-4</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hot-spot-coming-to-att-iphone-4</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Though the hot-spot feature appeared on an AT&amp;T iPhone 4 with the beta version of iOS 4.3, the carrier isn't offering service details.After it unveiled the new iPad 2 today in San Francisco, Apple also announced that iOS 4.3, the latest software version for theiPad and GSM iPhones, will be available for download March 11.Compared with iOS 4.2 the update doesn't bring a lot of new features, but it offers alliPhone 4 owners the personal hot-spot feature that debuted on the Verizon iPhone 4. We've expected as much since we saw the beta release of 4.3 in January, and AT&amp;T has yet to confirmed that it will support the feature on its iPhone 4.When CNET first reached out to AT&amp;T to confirm pricing and availability for the feature, spokesman Mark Siegel said that he'd get back to us. As of this afternoon, however, Siegel replied that iPhone users will pay the same $20-per-month fee that the carrier now charges wireless hot-spot users (keep in mind that's in addition to the $25-per month Data Pro plan). Also, iPhone users will be subject to the same 4GB data cap.Updated at 3:16 p.m. PT with AT&amp;T's response.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Five coolest things I saw at Macworld 2011]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=five-coolest-things-i-saw-at-macworld-2011</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=five-coolest-things-i-saw-at-macworld-2011</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:10:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=five-coolest-things-i-saw-at-macworld-2011</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Many would say Macworld has lost some of its luster since Apple decided to pull out of the annual trade show. Indeed, what once took up two entire exhibition halls at the Moscone Center is now reduced to a much smaller show floor. The 2011 exhibitor list also lacked a number of big-name brands that used to be mainstays--Microsoft, Adobe, Canon, and Logitech, just to name a few. Despite that, however, the show was absolutely buzzing with people this year. When I walked the exhibition hall, I was surprised by the sheer number of attendees--I was definitely bumping elbows as I tried to get from booth to booth. Even more surprising was the fact that the show wasn't all about boring accessories and cases--there were also a few innovative gadgets on display, if you cared enough to pay attention. In fact, I saw at least two gadgets that might be on my gift wishlist. Here are five of the coolest things I saw at the show:McTiVia is a wireless router that can show what&amp;39's on your PC&amp;39's screen on your HDTV.(Credit:Nicole Lee/CNET)1. McTiVia -- This tops my list as the most exciting product I saw at Macworld 2011. It's essentially a wireless router that will let you stream all of the content on yourMac or PC to your big-screen TV via Wi-Fi.  It has a very small footprint and has two antenna like most wireless routers--in fact, it also acts as a home wireless access point. No longer do you need an AppleTV, Google TV box, Boxee box, or even a Roku if you think about it (you can just watch Hulu or Netflix in the browser!). You can also use youriPhone or Android phone as a remote for controlling your computer. The downside It's $199.99, which is rather expensive. Also, it has a somewhat unfortunate name--it reminds me of a certain probiotic yogurt brand.The Fling is a game controller for the iPad.(Credit:James Martin/CNET)2. Fling -- Produced by TenOne design, Fling is an analog joystick for theiPad. It consists of two suction cups attached to thumbpads. You can attach them to your iPad, and use them as precise and accurate controllers for a variety of shooting games. You can shoot with one thumbpad, and move around with the other. You can buy a single pad for $20, or a pair for $35.  The iGrill thermometer connects to your iPad or iPhone over Bluetooth. (Credit:James Martin/CNET)3. iGrill -- We saw this at CES 2011, but I still thought it was quite an eye-catcher on the show floor. Simply connect your iPad or iPhone to the iGrill thermometer via Bluetooth, and you can monitor the temperature of your grilled beast from anywhere within 50 feet via the iGrill app. The iGrill is $99.99 retail. LunaTik and TikTok watchbands for the iPod Nano.(Credit:Nicole Lee/CNET)4. TikTok and LunaTik -- You have to love a product with a grassroots funding campaign. The TikTok and LunaTik watchbands are meant to be fitted with an iPod Nano to act as a digital watch. If you think the idea is silly, you must not be one of the 13,512 people who helped fund this project via KickStarter, a funding platform that lets the public chip in as much money as they want.  In fact, Scott Wilson and the Minimal team earned a total of $941,718 by the end of the pledge program. The TikTok has a simple snap-in design, while the LunaTik secures the iPod Nano in a two-piece aluminium case. I saw the product at the show, and I'm impressed that they actually made it. You can preorder the TikTok for $34.95 and the LunaTik for $69.95. Microvision Showwx+ is a pico projector for the iPad and iPhone.(Credit:Nicole Lee/CNET)5. Pico projectors -- There were quite a number of pico projectors at Macworld, but the Microvision Showwx+ caught my eye. You can hook it up to your iPad or iPhone, of course, and the projector itself is almost as small as the phone. It promises to stream video up to 100 inches in image size and 50 percent brighter than its previous model. Unfortunately, they're rather expensive--the Microvision Showwx+ is around $450 each. For more pictures from Macworld 2011, be sure to check out our Scenes from Macworld 2011 gallery. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Browser underdog Opera fights for survival]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=browser-underdog-opera-fights-for-survival</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=browser-underdog-opera-fights-for-survival</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:16 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=browser-underdog-opera-fights-for-survival</guid>
<description><![CDATA[OSLO, Norway--Opera Software, the scrappy Norwegian browser maker, today faces arguably the biggest competitive threats of its 15-year history.CEO Lars Boilesen must lead Opera amid serious competitive challenges.(Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET)The first challenges are on personal computers. Right after Google's Chrome burst onto the scene two years ago, Opera slipped from fourth to fifth place in browser usage worldwide. And longtime archrival Microsoft is no longer the punching bag of the browser market' its forthcoming IE9 is a serious attempt to match rivals in performance and support for new Web standards.Second, in Opera's other domain, Apple'siPhone and now Google's Android are rewriting the mobile browsing rules. Their browsers are adapted for phones more like miniature desktop computers than the small-screened, candy bar-shape models that prevailed when Opera's mobile browsing business began.And yet the Oslo underdog has adapted to crises before and appears to be adapting to the present changes as well.In a series of interviews at its headquarters here, Opera executives showed they suffer no illusions about the competition. They also made a credible case that Opera, while not about to dethrone its bigger rivals, will continue to defend its turf with a profitable business.A new mobile strategyOne cornerstone of its confidence comes from a major shift in its mobile strategy in response to a dark, unprofitable patch in the second half of 2009. Opera shifted its alliance efforts from phone companies to the powerful network operators who see their future threatened by the new generation of smartphones and services.Revenue from mobile network operators is growing--and a growing fraction of Opera&amp;39's business. Here it's shown in Norwegian Kroner.(Credit:Opera)&quot;We're taking bigger bets on operators because they need us more than bigger handset operators,&quot; said CEO Lars Boilesen. Phone makers' expansion into operating systems, applications, and app stores threaten to demote carriers to mere &quot;dumb pipes,&quot; but Opera's software can help maintain those carriers' customer relationships.And so far, the shift is paying off for the browser company. For one thing, Opera has more engineers to devote to the core products--Opera Mini and Opera Mobile--because the company is delivering the same branded browser to carrier partners rather than variations of an unbranded browser to phone makers. For another, the carriers pay recurring fees based on active users, not the one-time, up-front payment of phone makers.The result: revenue from operators has increased to $9 million in the second quarter of 2010, up from about $7.1 million two quarters earlier.Revenue from Opera's desktop browser, which runs on Windows,Mac OS X, and Linux and comes with a money-making search box leading to Google or other search engines, helped prop up the finances during the mobile transition. And a newer business--browsers on Net-connected TVs and set-top boxes--also is increasing. Overall, the company's second-quarter net income was a $3.3 million--less than a rounding error at its competitors but enough profit to keep the company in its niche.Opera co-founder Jon S. von Tetzchner(Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET)A 15-year OperaOpera was founded June 22, 1995, though its roots extend to a research project begun in 1994 at Telenor, Norway's largest telecommunications company. It remains in the same Oslo building that's housed it for years, even as its neighbors--search company Fast Search and Transfer, developer toolmaker Troll Tech, and videoconfercing specialist Tandberg--sold to Microsoft, Nokia, and Cisco Systems, respectively.It's very far from the U.S. software industry--geographically and culturally. Even with fierce competition from overseas rivals, several Opera employees took pride in a work-life balance at odds with the Silicon Valley ethos.And yet it's not only eked out a living, persisting as browser efforts from IBM, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, and Netscape fell by the wayside, it's actually won a measure of influence.Opera helped keep the fires of Web development burning during the dark years when Microsoft's Internet Explorer grew dormant after winning the browser wars of the 1990s and when standards groups were fruitlessly focused on dead-end XHTML technology. It won a band of loyal users who help to promote the browser, eagerly pointing out that innovations such as tabbed browsing, a built-in search box, Web page thumbnails on the new-tab page originated at Opera. It's secured some helpful geographic strongholds such as Russia. And itsmobile browser products top the market even as the headlines go to Apple. Partly through its standards-group work, Opera punches above its weight in the industry. Its independent support can help new technology such as Google's WebM for video streaming or Mozilla's Web Open Font Format get off the ground, for example. And its chief technology officer, H&amp;229'kon Wium Lie, worked with Web founder Tim Berners-Lee and founded the Web formatting technology called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) that's now one of the hottest areas of Web design. Opera CTO H&amp;229'kon Wium Lie(Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET) Perhaps surprisingly, the company now employs 700 people, and 80 percent of them are engineers. The vast majority of people don't use Opera's products, but those who do now number more than 140 million.Those engineers are working on cramming features into Opera. Its new version 11 for desktop machines, though still in alpha testing, will be an important test as Opera adds extensions to customize the browser and match rivals' hardware acceleration, according to Lars Erik Bolstad, vice president of core technology. Those programmers also are building hardware acceleration into Opera Mini and Mobile so, for example, pinch-to-zoom and scrolling work smoothly on capable phones Real threatsThe competitive threats are real, though. Even as Opera hangs on to its slice of browser market, three of its competitors--Apple, Google, and Microsoft--are tech giants with powerful global brands and tremendous financial resources. The fourth, Mozilla, rose from the ashes of Netscape with Firefox. It, not Opera, is the independent browser that grew to the top alternative to the browser built into Windows.All these competitors are pouring development funds into their browsers as the market takes on new importance. The increasing power of Web applications such as Google Docs and Facebook means customers spend ever more time working and living within the frame of a browser window. Chrome continued its growth October 2010, but Opera has languished with largely unchanged share of worldwide browser usage.(Credit:data from Net Applications' chart by Stephen Shankland/CNET) And Opera isn't at the top of Web developers' priority lists. Web standards mean compatibility isn't as hard as it once was, but it's still a huge problem. The deluge of new technologies, some essentially trial versions of what might become standards, make it worse.&quot;I always feel Opera is the Rodney Dangerfield of browsers. They get no respect,&quot; said Brad Neuberg, who's worked on many Web projects at Google including Google Docs and Gears before striking off to begin a start-up trying to capitalize on HTML5 and related Web technologies.&quot;There's a clunkiness to it,&quot; Neuberg added. &quot;The technical underpinnings are amazing,&quot; but Opera needs a user experience experts to &quot;make it feel like a joy to use.&quot;On the mobile side, development is on fire with the new generation of smartphones. Even though native applications are a dominant means of tapping into network services on iOS and Android devices, mobile browsing use also is growing at a healthy rate.  Opera desktop revenue, fueled by revenue-sharing deals with companies such as Google, has been increasing.(Credit:Opera) Notably, iOS's Safari and Android's built-in browser are both based on the same open-source engine, WebKit. As notably, so is the browser in Hewlett-Packard's WebOS for Palm phones, Samsung's Bada mobile operating system, and the browser coming to new BlackBerry devices. WebKit has proven a unifying, empowering force in mobile browsing.Indeed, it was WebKit that whacked Opera's unbranded browser business. Mobile choices Opera sees room for others--hardly a surprise given that about 70 percent of its revenue comes from mobile compared with about 30 percent for its desktop browser. It's adapting its two browsers--Mini and Mobile--to keep its business humming despite the smartphone market upheaval. First, a primer on what separates the two. Opera Mini, the company's first mobile browser, is geared for wimpier hardware. To handle pages on a Web steadily growing more complicated, Mini uses Opera servers to read the Web pages, boil them down into a compressed state, then send them to the display vessel that is Mini. It makes money for Opera when the company customizes it to put carrier-preferred shortcuts on the &quot;speed dial&quot; quick-launch page--for example a Vodafone offer for two free weeks of Internet access in Egypt--and can share in resulting revenue.Opera Mobile, in contrast, is a full-fledged browser based on the same engine that runs on the desktop version of Opera. That means it works on interactive Web applications where Opera Mini often struggles or fails. It's available on Nokia's Symbian operating system, among other areas, and tomorrow is set to arrive in beta form on Android.  Opera Chief Development Officer Christen Krogh(Credit:Stephen Shankland/CNET) The Android product will bring the revenue-sharing business model of the desktop browser to new mobile users, said Christen Krogh, Opera's chief development officer. &quot;We want because we think the consumer monetization model we're helping bring about on mobile is going to be really lucrative,&quot; Krogh said. Opera came out ahead when in 2005 it moved from charging for the Opera desktop browser itself to getting a fraction of online transactions such as clicking on search ads that its browser helped facilitate.&quot;We think that model is going to be really lucrative in mobile,&quot; Krogh said.Like Opera for the desktop, Opera Mobile got a turbo mode that can use the Opera servers for a speed boost when networks are strained.&quot;We are living in a bubble,&quot; in first-world countries with disposable income and fast networks, said Jon S. von Tetzchner, Opera's co-founder and until the end of last year chief executive. Opera's browsers are designed to reach the rest of the world as well, and that is where a huge amount of growth for Internet services is taking place.And while the smartphone revolution is real, he said, so is the growth of lesser models. Moore's Law, broadly speaking, has enabled powerful hardware in high-end smartphones, but that's not the only change it's brought to the mobile market.&quot;Instead of something twice as powerful, you're actually seeing a more reasonable price,&quot; von Tetzchner said. &quot;They cut the cost instead.&quot; Such lower-cost handsets are often the staples in areas such as India where mobile phones, not PCs, are the dominant way people tap into the Net.  Opera is working on Opera Mobile, its full-fledged mobile browser, for Android devices, with public beta release set for Tuesday.(Credit:Opera) Turbo time&quot;When CPUs get faster, we want to do hardware acceleration as much as the next guy, but we also want to do the harder optimization--what do you do when the device is almost crawling&quot; von Tetzchner said. &quot;From a programmer challenge point of view, that's a much harder problem.&quot;And it's still relevant in the rich part of the world, where network connections often are overtaxed even where high-speed networks have arrived. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile can also cut data usage for the large number of people without unlimited data plans.The service is widely used' Opera just opened a new data center in Iceland to support 20 million Opera Mini users in Europe, Africa, and Asia. It's not easy to run at scale, as browser maker Skyfire showed when its new browser application for streaming Flash to the iPhone overwhelmed its servers.Carriers like it the turbo service because it gives them precise visibility into statistics such as how people use the Net, for example letting them gauge how likely people are to need more lucrative higher-end data subscription plans.&quot;We give them precise analytics of Opera users on the network,&quot; Boilesen said. Opera opened new operations at the Thor Data Center in Iceland to service Opera Mini users.(Credit:Opera) Also, through a 2010 acquisition of Californian mobile ad network AdMarvel, Opera has the ability to feed ads efficiently into the billions of Web pages it delivers through its servers. It's not a lot of revenue today, but Opera expects growth.But Opera still needs to work on its turbo mode, Boilesen said--starting with visibility.&quot;We have not really successfully launched turbo,&quot; he said. &quot;We don't need to relaunch it, but we need to get people to try turbo on phones.&quot;In the big picture, being a gateway to tens of millions of people's usage of the Web is indeed a powerful position. The company just needs to figure the best way to accommodate Web applications, avoid abuses of its privileged role, and extract money from the role most effectively.&quot;I think it's interesting times for Opera,&quot; Boilesen said. &quot;We have something nobody else has.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Reports: Amazon to buy Diapers.com]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-amazon-to-buy-diapers-com</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-amazon-to-buy-diapers-com</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reports-amazon-to-buy-diapers-com</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Amazon.com is expected to announce tomorrow the acquisition of the parent company of Diapers.com, according to media reports.The deal for privately held Quidsi, which also operates personal care products site Soap.com, is worth about $540 million, according to reports by Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. Quidsi co-founders Marc Lore and Vinnie Bharara will remain with Amazon under multi-year contracts, according to the reports.The online retailer will pay $500 million in cash and assume $45 million in debt, according to a report today by the Journal. The price tag for the New Jersey-based parent company is about $200 million higher than its valuation following its latest round of venture funding, according to the Journal.Representatives for Amazon and Quidsi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Quidsi announced in April it had closed a $20 million round of mezzanine financing led by Pinnacle Ventures, which followed $30 million in financing led by New Enterprise Associates in 2009. The deal would be Amazon's largest since it acquired shoe retailer Zappos in 2009 for about $850 million.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[DEMO 2011: Start chatting with customers with Workface]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-2011-start-chatting-with-customers-with-workface</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-2011-start-chatting-with-customers-with-workface</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-2011-start-chatting-with-customers-with-workface</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Workface is one of 53 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2011 event taking place this week in Palm Desert, Calif. After our selection, the companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.Workface, which provides an online service that helps companies interact with their customers with text- and video-chat services, is launching today at the DEMO Spring 2011 conference.Workface gives employees at a company additional ways to interact with their customers. The software adds a toolbar to websites that shows how many sales associates are available and lets customers interact with them directly by chatting with them or viewing profiles. The software also gives companies some analytical tools to figure out which strategies for interacting with customers are working.The company also has mobile-chat applications that lets employees chat with potential customers through a mobile device. The application is available for Apple devices and phones running on BlackBerry and Android mobile operating systems. Sales associates can also start video chats from their mobile devices if they have a front-facing camera, similar to Apple&amp;'s consumer-oriented FaceTime application.Customer support for the service is hands-off as well, since the service is run on remote servers a4&quot; or cloud-based servers. The software costs $25 per user per month, and any technical woes are handled by Workface. So companies interested in the software don&amp;'t have to hire additional IT professionals to handle any software woes that crop up.Workface has raised $1.9 million to date from the founders, angel investors and Arthur Ventures. The Minneapolis, Minn.-based company was founded in 2007 and has 5 full-time employees, as well as some contract workers. The company is led by Leif Larson, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin&amp;'s business school. He was formerly the CEO of Kiosk.Next Story: DEMO: Zugara engages online shoppers with dress-up visualization Previous Story: DEMO: Embria delivers &amp;8216'big brother&amp;' view for corporate ITPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, Blackberry, chat, cloud computing, customer acquisition, customer interaction, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011, iPad, iPhone, video chatCompanies: Workface          Tags: Android, Blackberry, chat, cloud computing, customer acquisition, customer interaction, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011, iPad, iPhone, video chatCompanies: WorkfaceMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat 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[Yahoo snaps up Aussie group-buying site Spreets for $40M]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-snaps-up-aussie-group-buying-site-spreets-for-40m</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-snaps-up-aussie-group-buying-site-spreets-for-40m</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-snaps-up-aussie-group-buying-site-spreets-for-40m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Yahoo7, the Australian subsidiary of search giant Yahoo, has jumped into the group-buying fray and snapped up Aussie deal site Spreets for $40 million, the companies said today.Spreets is just one of dozens of Australian group-buying companies, which usually feature a deal of the day for members who are offered deals and vouchers at local merchants at discounted prices.Yahoo7, which is a partnership between Yahoo and Australiaa4a4s Channel 7, had clearly been keeping an eye on the companya4a4s booming growth. Founded only a year ago by Dean McEvoy and Justus Hammer, it now claims 500,000 members and broke even in less than 12 months.The group-buying sector was recently assessed as being worth $100 million annually, making it a tempting target for companies looking to diversify into new and hip revenue stream.Indeed, investors interested in grabbing a piece of the white-hot social buying market have been throwing money into the sector for months now, as shopping recommendation siteShopSocially announced $1.1 million in first round financing, and Spanish coupon siteGroupalia locked down a4s5 million in its second institutional round of funding.The industry grabbed headlines earlier this year when well-known deal site Groupon famously snubbed a $6 billion buyout offer from Google. It will reportedly instead plan an IPO that values the company at $9 billion or more.Todaya4a4s deal is part of a larger trend in investments in startup social media sites that focus on spreading the word about shopping deals.These sites include a4Afriend meet-upa4 forums like SocialMedia, or companies likeGroupon that specialize in finding discount deals on everything from luxury brands to restaurant coupons.The Yahoo7 joint venture, formed in 2006, acquired Australian travel site Totaltravel.com in 2009.Next Story: Verizon&amp;'s first iPhone ad plays up suspense factor (video) Previous Story: HP shuffles board, gives seats to Meg Whitman and Patricia RussoPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Companies: channel7, Google, Groupalia, Groupon, Livingsocial, livingsocially, spreets, totaltravel, Yahoo, yahoo7          Companies: channel7, Google, Groupalia, Groupon, Livingsocial, livingsocially, spreets, totaltravel, Yahoo, yahoo7Riley McDermid is a contributing reporter to VentureBeat. She was previously the online editor at institutional investing and trading forum Markets Media, which she joined in 2008 from Dow Jones/MarketWatch in New York. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, the Associated Press, Portfolio Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Barrona4a4s. She has won awards from the American Society of Business Publishers and Editors, the Magazine Association of the Southeast, the Mississippi Press Association and the Atlanta Press Club, and was a finalist for the Pacemaker Prize for excellence in news reporting. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat 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[Amazon turns on Kindle ebook lending]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-turns-on-kindle-ebook-lending</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-turns-on-kindle-ebook-lending</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazon-turns-on-kindle-ebook-lending</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As promised back in October, Amazon has just introduced the ability to lend Kindle ebooks, opening up a world of opportunity for Kindle users.The feature, which is clearly aped from the rival Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader, lets Kindle users lend ebooks for a 14-day period. Obviously, while the book is lent out, the original owner won&amp;'t be able to read it. Amazon also says that it&amp;'s up to the book publisher or rights holder to determine eligible titles for lending &amp;8212' a limitation shared by the Nook.I argued previously that the addition of book lending is a big deal for Amazon, as it makes the Kindle an unbeatable competitor against the original Nook. But shortly after I wrote that, Barnes and Noble introduced the Nook Color, a device that straddles the line between ebook reader and Android tablet. I still think Amazon&amp;'s third-generation Kindle is a much better choice than the Nook, but the addition of the Nook Color proves that Barnes and Noble isn&amp;'t willing to go down without a fight.Lending Kindle ebooks seems simple enough. You can loan a book via the &amp;''Manage Your Kindle&amp;'' section of your Amazon account settings. Or, even easier, you can just click the &amp;''Loan this book&amp;'' link from the product page of an ebook you&amp;'ve already purchased. Amazon gives recipients seven days to claim loaned ebooks. I tested out the process by loaning Suzanne Collins&amp;'s popular novel &amp;''The Hunger Games&amp;'' to a friend and everything went smoothly.Loan recipients can return a book early via their &amp;''Manage Your Kindle&amp;'' interface, and those loaning the books can keep an eye on the status of the loan there as well. Another technicality: Amazon says that loans can only be initiated by US customers at the moment, and international borrowers won&amp;'t be able to accept the loan if the ebook isn&amp;'t available in their country.Missing at this point is the ability to loan books directly from Kindle devices or apps, instead of just being limited to loaning via the web. I suspect that will arrive eventually.Front photo via Mike McCuneNext Story: Groupon&amp;'s non-IPO raises $500 million, with $450 million to go Previous Story: On the GreenBeat: Molycorp stock rises on rare earth scarcity, Verizon launches smart home pilotPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: ebooks, kindle, Nook, Nook ColorCompanies: Amazon, Barnes And Noble          Tags: ebooks, kindle, Nook, Nook ColorCompanies: Amazon, Barnes And NobleDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.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[Are enterprise sales headed for a free-fall this holiday season]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=are-enterprise-sales-headed-for-a-free-fall-this-holiday-season</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=are-enterprise-sales-headed-for-a-free-fall-this-holiday-season</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=are-enterprise-sales-headed-for-a-free-fall-this-holiday-season</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Somewhere in the stock market&amp;'s noise today, there&amp;'s a very clear signal: enterprise hardware sales are in trouble.Despite upbeat forecasts from Intel and Nvidia for the fourth quarter this year, a forecast from enterprise giant Cisco for this holiday season paints a terrifying picture that could signal the end of the business-tech comeback.Cisco announced yesterday that it was lowering its outlook for the fourth quarter this year as sales of computer networking and teleconferencing equipment to the U.S. government and other large institutions fell more than expected. That ignited a broad selloff in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index that has continued today (though inflation fears in China certainly haven&amp;'t helped).Cisco&amp;'s announcement took the wind out of the sails of an apparent rebound in the technology a4&quot; and particularly the enterprise a4&quot; sector. Intel&amp;'s earnings for the third quarter beat expectations of analysts, thanks to solid demand from corporate customers. Intel, the largest chipmaker in the world, is largely seen as abellwetherfor the rest of the tech industry a4&quot; so when Intel is doing well, it&amp;'s likely that the rest of the industry is doing well.Intel raised its dividend payouts by 15 percent today a4&quot; a signal that the company is expecting a strong holiday season and can free up some of its cash for its shareholders. But that&amp;'s probably a result of strong demand for consumer electronics.Intel is making a strong play in the consumer space with its Atom chips and the AppUp store, which will compete with Apple&amp;'s App Store and the Android marketplace. Add to that an upbeat outlook from Nvidia, which expects to stuff its graphics chips in just about every mobile device possible a4&quot; including tablets and phones.The result is a very clear signal that the consumer electronic space is going to be a strong point for sales this holiday season (as it often is). But nowhere in that equation is enterprise sales, and whether there&amp;'s any hope for companies like Cisco to ride the consumer-driven tech rebound.Cisco is also betting on the consumer space with a living-room teleconferencing device, the Cisco Umi. But even then, the device is going to cost consumers a whopping $600 and an extra $25 a month. There are also a number of cheaper alternatives like Microsoft&amp;'s Kinect motion controller that can also serve as a teleconferencing device.So is this the end of the enterprise tech comeback Investors seem to think so. Cisco&amp;'s shares tanked after the announcement yesterday, and have fallen 18 percent to $20.07 today. That&amp;'s a 52-week low for one of the largest providers of technology for corporations.We&amp;'ll have to wait to see how the fourth quarter goes for big-business sellers like Salesforce.com and Cisco to know for sure what the final damage is.[Original photo: daveonflickr]Next Story: Free-to-play games creep closer to killing monthly subscriptions Previous Story: Are fleet sales the future of electric cars GE will take 25,000, pleasePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: consumer electronics, enterprise hardware, software, stocksCompanies: Apple, Cisco, Google, Intel, Nvidia          Tags: consumer electronics, enterprise hardware, software, stocksCompanies: Apple, Cisco, Google, Intel, NvidiaVentureBeat 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[Japan&'s DeNA claims it makes 30 times more per user than Facebook, 15 times versus Zynga]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=japanrsquos-dena-claims-it-makes-30-times-more-per-user-than-facebook-15-times-versus-zynga</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=japanrsquos-dena-claims-it-makes-30-times-more-per-user-than-facebook-15-times-versus-zynga</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=japanrsquos-dena-claims-it-makes-30-times-more-per-user-than-facebook-15-times-versus-zynga</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Japan&amp;'s DeNA announced its earnings today and it revealed some interesting comparisons.Revenue for the quarter was $336 million, up 216 percent from its fiscal second quarter a year ago. That puts it on pace to hit $1.25 billion by year&amp;'s end, largely from revenue from virtual goods for its social mobile games.But the real whopper is this claim: The company says its average revenue per user is 30 times what Facebook gets from its user and 15 times what Zynga gets in revenue from its users. That&amp;'s pretty astonishing, since both Facebook and Zynga are widely admired for their ability to snag lots of users with their social software and then make money from them through various tactics.DeNA, headed by chief executive Tomoko Namba, is trying to move to the international stage in order to compete head-on with Facebook and Zynga. The company runs its Mobage-town social mobile portal in Japan. But it recently agreed to acquire iPhone game publisher Ngmoco for $403 million as part of a bid to become global.Operating income in the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $168.7 million, up 342 percent from last year. The numbers show that Japan&amp;'s mobile users are light years ahead of Western users in embracing the virtual goods free-to-play model. With such games, users play for free and pay small amounts of real money for virtual goods inside games.Previous Story: Social Game Universe launches cross-promotion tool on Facebook (exclusive)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Mobage-TownCompanies: DeNA, Facebook, Ngmoco, ZyngaPeople: Tomoko Namba          Tags: Mobage-TownCompanies: DeNA, Facebook, Ngmoco, ZyngaPeople: Tomoko NambaDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.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[ChoiceVendor Founder Yan-David Erlich Leaves LinkedIn After Two&nbsp'Months]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=choicevendor-founder-yan-david-erlich-leaves-linkedin-after-twonbspmonths</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=choicevendor-founder-yan-david-erlich-leaves-linkedin-after-twonbspmonths</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jacelynwyl</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=choicevendor-founder-yan-david-erlich-leaves-linkedin-after-twonbspmonths</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We&amp;'ve just learned that ChoiceVendor founder and CEO Yan-David Erlich has left LinkedIn, just under two months after his startup was acquired by the professional social network. Erlich was a formerly a product manager at Google,  Battery Ventures EIR and founder of Mogad/Social.IM.He sold the latter to iSkoot before he founded ChoiceVendor, which he then sold to LinkedIn for an undisclosed amount rumored to be in the $5 million rage.Sources say that Erlich, who must be walking away from a large amount of equity, is leaving the company for personal reasons. We&amp;'ve also heard that LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner is not particularly thrilled about this latest development  &amp;8212' Weiner himself admitted that ChoiceVendor was primarily a talent acquisition on LinkedIn&amp;'s part.ChoiceVendor provided realtime ratings and reviews for B2B service providers before it was folded into LinkedIn on September 23rd. In addition to former Google product manager Erlich, the company hired ChoiceVendor co-founder and former Googler Rama Ranganath, who will be staying on staff.Update: LinkedIn representative Mario Sundar tells TechCrunch,&amp;''We support Yan-David&amp;'s decision to leave for personal reasons and wish him all the best.&amp;''CrunchBase InformationYan-David ErlichChoiceVendorLinkedInInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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