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<title>Haaze.com / mariavalo / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook begins testing social-buying program]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-begins-testing-social-buying-program</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-begins-testing-social-buying-program</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-begins-testing-social-buying-program</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Facebook Deals offer for concert tickets in Austin.(Credit:Facebook)Facebook announced this evening it is ready to begin testing its new local deals offering--the social-networking giant's effort to cash in on the feverish interest in social buying.First revealed in March, Facebook Deals offers members local deals they can buy and share them with their friends on the network. The test will launch tomorrow in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco, but may be expanded to include other cities, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said in statement today.Users in the five test cities will be able to learn about offerings through e-mail and notifications, by clicking on the Deals tab on their Facebook home page, and through their News Feed when friends like or buy a deal.Facebook is working with a passel of other deals sites in the venture, including Opentable, Gilt City, Tippr, PopSugar City, Plum District, ReachLocal, Zozi, Home Run, KGB Deals, aDealio, and ViaGoGo. With 500 million members, Facebook brings a sizable user base in its challenge for dominance in the deals market, which brought in $873 million in revenue last year and could bring in $3.93 billion by 2015, according to a projection from consulting firm BIA/Kelsey. Chief among those competitors is Groupon, which has been riding meteoric growth with half-price massages, discounted restaurant meals, and travel bargains. Chicago-based Groupon, with 60 million users and more than 39 million deals sold in its two years in business, is expected to beef up its muscle with an initial public offering later this year. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amazon's free-shipping secret]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazons-free-shipping-secret</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazons-free-shipping-secret</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 04 Dec 2010 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amazons-free-shipping-secret</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A lot of people don&amp;39't know you can share your Amazon Prime membership with up to four household members.(Credit:Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET)For those of you who are planning to do a lot of last-minute online shopping on Amazon.com this year, here's a little tip. If you own or are considering purchasing an Amazon Prime membership ($79 for the year), which enables you to get free two-day shipping on a whole host of items in Amazon's catalog, you can actually share your Prime membership with up to four &quot;household&quot; members. A lot of people don't know about this option because it's buried in the settings menu under &quot;Your Account.&quot; To get there, just click on your &quot;Your Account&quot; (it's a little link in the top-right corner of your screen when you sign into Amazon). Look at the &quot;Settings&quot; section, and find &quot;Manage Prime Membership.&quot; Once you click on that, you'll be able to send invitations to folks you're close to. You just select your relationship, and enter an e-mail address and a birthday of the recipient to send out the invitation.  Of course, some people balk at paying $79 for Amazon Prime, but if you could share the cost with a roommate or just be a generous family member, it starts to look like one of the great bargains, especially if you use Amazon a lot.Anyway, that's my free Amazon shopping tip this holiday season. Hope it helps.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[DeviantArt CEO on painting with a broader brush (Q&A)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deviantart-ceo-on-painting-with-a-broader-brush-qa</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deviantart-ceo-on-painting-with-a-broader-brush-qa</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:10:45 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deviantart-ceo-on-painting-with-a-broader-brush-qa</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 2000, a young entrepreneur named Angelo Sotira co-founded an online community site built around giving artists a place to showcase their work, and art fans a place to discover new talent.Over the years, the site, DeviantArt, has signed up 15 million registered users and today sees about 35 million monthly unique users, according to Sotira. Yet, despite laying claim to being &quot;the largest online social network for artists,&quot; it's likely that most people have never even heard of the site.Angelo Sotira has built DeviantArt into what may be the world&amp;39's-largest social network for artists and fans of art. (Credit:DeviantArt)Now, CEO Sotira has decided to do something about that. He plans on undertaking what could be the site's first major marketing push in an effort to become more mainstream. And though it isn't yet talking about its specific plans, the Hollywood-based company is clearly hoping that not long from now it will be much better known.Of course, just saying you want to be more famous doesn't get you there. But then again, starting from a base of 15 million registered users and a billion page views a month can't hurt. Sotira's previous success as an entrepreneur is also likely to help. As a teenager just out of high school, his underground music and MP3 discussion community,1 Dimension Music, drew the attention of super agent Michael Ovitz, who bought the site and brought Sotira to Los Angeles. Having lived in L.A. ever since, Sotira is now 29 and one of the movers and shakers in the online art world. Earlier this week, he sat down with 45 Minutes on IM for a discussion about what DeviantArt is and how he plans on conquering the Internet.Q: Thanks very much for taking some time to talk to me. I appreciate it. Can you start by describing DeviantArt for those who aren't familiar with the siteSotira: Sure. DeviantArt is the world's largest art community where millions of artists come to share their creations to get feedback and connect with peers and mentors, etc. But it's also a hub for art enthusiasts to check out awesome artwork.DeviantArt was described to me as the biggest site no one's heard of. With more than 15 million registered users, how is that possibleSotira: I'd say that's true. If you're in the arts, you've probably heard of us. But the wider world probably hasn't. Which is bizarre. Because we see 35 million unique visitors every month. We've been extremely focused on our community and building it organically--having our most passionate members tell their friends, who are typically artists or sensitive to the arts in some way and so on. We've found that people are selective about who they invite to the network. This is very much our strength, as we've been able to build perhaps the most passionate, emotional, creative community on the Web in this way.Just so we're clear, you're saying 35 million monthly unique usersSotira: There are 35 million monthly uniques and 15 million registered members.I was told that DeviantArt is getting ready to aggressively ramp up its marketing efforts so that the wider public knows you better. Talk a bit about what that would meanSotira: Yes that's true. I think it's time for a broader awareness of the incredible things happening in the &quot;digital city&quot; that is known as &quot;DeviantArt.&quot; Now I also think the way DeviantART.com today functions is incredible for our members, what with the nurturing atmosphere that we've fostered. A wider audience might need a simplified, more direct way to find the art that intrigues them more overtly.How do you plan to create that broader awarenessSotira: One way we've been thinking about approaching broader awareness is through our product. We've been developing some underlying technology for two years to reshape the underpinnings of our search capabilities, and I think once those are fully surfaced, the world will have a &quot;Pandora for art&quot; to help make art as a concept more accessible.Do you have an exampleSotira: Sure. I would say that the world at large doesn't really &quot;know art&quot; or know the art world. It's daunting. If we take an approach where we ask you to type in the name of an artist you know, to find more artists that are like those artists, guess what People don't know what artists they actually like. We prefer the approach where you see pretty artwork, and we use what you click on to continually refine your visual interests. To do this we need to surface a lot of data in to a search engine--billions of rows of data--that can be searched in about 15 milliseconds So the task is big, which is why it has taken us some time. But our engineers are in love with the work, adding the colors of pixels in our artwork in to the database and building algorithms that respond ultimately to a person's tastes.I know that deviant Art isn't a photography site, and Flickr's not an art site, but both seem to have very passionate users. So how would you compare the two sites, and the commitment level of their communitiesSotira: They don't really compare. Our members specifically intend the exact submission they post in to our community. At Flickr, you can &quot;dump&quot; hundreds of photos at a time. Inherently that sets a different tone. Additionally, we accept and encourage submissions from all mediums. Plus we're rather focused on mentoring and the growth and development of our artists, which I think isn't as much the case with Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook Photos, etc.How did you come to start DeviantArt What were you trying to achieveSotira: A popular trend in 1998 to 2000 was to skin applications, like the popular WinAMP MP3 player or Sonique, or other (typically Windows based) applications so that they would look awesome. At the time I was the CEO of an MP3 community known as DMusic.com, and we had launched WinAMP Facelift as a site to facilitate application skinners showcasing their creations. Long story short, a trend naturally arose where artists wanted to post more than just one type of skin, and skins for other skinnable applications, and soon enough for paintings and renderings and even tattoos. So we founded DeviantART as a response to that community.Okay, I have to ask. I read that you brought your mother to the 1998 MP3 Summit in San Diego. How did that go overSotira: Ha ha. Oh, my God, I'm going to be 30 in February and that story still haunts me! It was great. It was the first time in many years my mom and I had traveled somewhere together and certainly the first time we had been to California. So it was a great trip for us. I spoke on my first panel there, which had me completely nerve-racked. But she's a very proud mother and it was and always is wonderful to have her support. So, has she come with you to other professional events more recentlySotira: Of course! But I'm not an unaccompanied minor anymore so I go to a few all by myself these days. Well, all joking aside, I know you've done a number of different kinds of tech start-ups. What would you say is the common element among your different venturesSotira: Identifying trends that are going to lead to somewhere awesome is what I'd like to say. But more realistically I think being passionate about something has been the common element, and then connecting with others who are also passionate, which ultimately leads to me doing the thing I do, which is identifying opportunity and motivating result. So geek first, until the natural entrepreneuring does what it does.We're almost out of time, so just a couple more questions. First: do you have aniPad, and if so, what do you think of it as an artistic toolSotira: I hug my iPad every morning before I go to work. It stays at home, it's my home slice. And I love using Muro, our HTML5 drawing application, on it. And I also enjoy using ArtRage on it for layer and element blending. The iPad needs some more horsepower before it can really be a device for this. But tablets certainly will be important to artists moving forward, both for creation and for display and showcase.This weekend in San Francisco, there's an art show called Future/Canvas that's featuring only art made on iPads. What's your take on something like thatSotira: An iPad Art show Awesome. I want to go.Last question, and it's a 45 Minutes on IM standard. Interviews on instant message are great for many reasons, including that it gives me a perfect transcript, and because it allows my guests to be particularly thoughtful and articulate. But IM is also great because it allows for multitasking. So, tell me, what else were you doing while we were doing this interviewSotira: Eating a Turkey sandwich and doodling with my Pentel color brush.Well, thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I appreciate it. Sotira: Hey, thanks so much.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Yuri Milner On What It Takes For Digital Sky To&nbsp'Invest]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yuri-milner-on-what-it-takes-for-digital-sky-tonbspinvest</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yuri-milner-on-what-it-takes-for-digital-sky-tonbspinvest</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yuri-milner-on-what-it-takes-for-digital-sky-tonbspinvest</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Thus far the Russian powerhouse Digital Sky Technologies has invested in only 3 companies: Facebook, Zynga, Groupon. Between this and the fact that its subsidiary Mail.ru had a a4s$876 million IPO back in October, the Moscow-based investment firm has seen a pretty exciting 18 months. While not saying much about anything else, Milner shared some of his investment parameters while on stage while talking about what it takes to capture DST&amp;'s interest, and money.Milner&amp;'s primary criteria was that a company be: a) late stageb) have billion dollar plus valuationc) in social internet spaced) anywhere in the worldWhile admittedly vague, Milner went on to state that there are maybe 25-30 companies which fit the above and are still not public.a4s&amp;''Twitter is on the list by definition,&amp;'' he said.While DST&amp;'s investments are all late stage, the company&amp;'s stockhold of shares is split into 80% secondary 20% primary, secondary meaning that it buys shares from employees that want to get liquidity before an IPO or acquisition. Perhaps the only other revealing thing about the talk was the fact that Milner liked the Social Network, because it isa4sabout what he holds to be a new trend of mathematical genius and computing power dominating the global agenda.a4AWhen you have 2 billion connected people and pretty powerful machines processing all this information, by definition you will see mathematicians having impact.&amp;''You can read more on Milner&amp;'s theories about how math and Facebook will take over the world here.CrunchBase InformationDigital Sky TechnologiesInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Is Silicon Valley in a new bubble (poll)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-silicon-valley-in-a-new-bubble-poll</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-silicon-valley-in-a-new-bubble-poll</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=is-silicon-valley-in-a-new-bubble-poll</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The New York Times ran a page one story today about how Silicon Valley appears to be in the midst of a new bubble, driven by the enthusiasm that venture capitalists and angels have for social networking and mobile apps businesses.It cited the recent reports about how Twitter&amp;'s value has been pegged at $4 billion in its rumored round of investment. The story also pointed to the more than $5 million valuation of Zynga, the creator of social games such as FarmVille on Facebook. And it pointed to Google&amp;'s willingness to pay $6 billion for Groupon, which was valued at $1.35 billion only eight months ago. Groupon evidently rejected the offer on Friday because it believes it is worth more.Other signs, the newspaper said: A new pack of startups are coming in behind: Yammer raised $25 million' Tumblr raised $30 million' GroupMe raised $9 million' and Path raised $2.5 million. Those deals are causing some bearish investors to shake their heads.The topic of a reinflating bubble has become a popular one at recent events such as the Web 2.0 Summit before Thanksgiving. There, John Doerr, managing director at VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, said he believes we are in the midst of another tech boom driven by the vast changes in society caused by social networking and mobile technology. Bing Gordon, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said that the firm hired Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker as part of an attempt to stay on top of the coming internet boom.Fred Wilson, who was quoted in the New York Times story, wants to throw cold water on the froth. A partner at Union Square Ventures, Wilson had the foresight to invest in Twitter when Kleiner Perkins made the mistake of failing to do so (forcing Kleiner to try to invest now at a much higher valuation). He said in a debate with Doerr at the Web 2.0 Summit that we&amp;'re in the midst of a bubble. Angel investor Chris Sacca was also quoted in the Times as saying he has put a freeze on investments until startup valuations come down.But the paper notes this is not a stock market bubble, since none of the companies mentioned have gone public. They&amp;'re raising big rounds from venture capitalists. Then they raise even larger secondary rounds from big private equity investors such as DST. Those investments allow them to keep growing their businesses without going public. And the outcome for many of these companies is to be acquired by the likes of Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Google, or Apple. Those companies are sitting on mountains of cash. If the stock market crashes, those acquirers will be hurt as will the valuations of startups, but the acquisitions will probably continue.Another difference is that in the age of Web 2.0, web-based companies are able to amass audiences very quickly &amp;8212' Zynga has more than 215 million monthly active users for its games even though it is just shy of four years old &amp;8212' and become profitable early on. By contrast, startups such as Pets.com in the frothy days of the dotcom bubble had no chance of making money. Angel investors are feeling the heat because they are getting priced out of a lot of early-stage deals as venture capitalists try harder to find &amp;''the next Facebook&amp;'' earlier.Which side of the fence are you on The bears may eventually be right. But they may also miss out on a lot of money-making in the meantime if they sit on the sidelines of this latest gold rush. Please take our poll and comment on why you voted the way you did.Online Surveys &amp;8211' Zoomerang.comNext Story: WikiLeaks documents lay bare vast hacking attempts by Chinese leaders Previous Story: Week in review: Amazon takes down WikileaksPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: boom, bubble, dotcomCompanies: Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Groupon, Intel, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Mary Meeker, Microsoft, Twitter, Union Square Ventures, Yammer, ZyngaPeople: Chris Sacca, Fred Wilson, John Doerr, Mary Meeker          Tags: boom, bubble, dotcomCompanies: Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Groupon, Intel, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp;amp' Byers, Mary Meeker, Microsoft, Twitter, Union Square Ventures, Yammer, ZyngaPeople: Chris Sacca, Fred Wilson, John Doerr, Mary MeekerDean 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[Anti sleep pilot keeps you awake at the wheel]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anti-sleep-pilot-keeps-you-awake-at-the-wheel</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anti-sleep-pilot-keeps-you-awake-at-the-wheel</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>mariavalo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=anti-sleep-pilot-keeps-you-awake-at-the-wheel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ASP Technology just launched its Anti Sleep Pilot  iPhone and iPad application to help prevent fatigue-related driving accidents. The app calculates a your fatigue level in real-time, maintains your alertness via reaction tests, and alerts your when it is time to take a rest break.Founder Troels Palshof fell asleep at the wheel in 2007 (soon after the arrival of his first child) and narrowly avoided a crash. Not being able to find a product that could prevent a similar accident, he decided to create his own.Swedish research shows that 20 percent of all traffic accidents and 40 percent of all accidents involving a single vehicle are fatigue-related. The company spent three years working with leading sleep researchers to develop algorithms able to identify driver fatigue. It embedded these in an Anti Sleep Pilothardware device that went on sale last year. The device is mounted on your vehicle&amp;'s dashboard and lets you know when you need to take a break.The app provides much the same functionality as the hardware device. ASP has identified a total of 26 factors in determining driving fatigue level. These parameters fit into three broad categories: static risk factors like age, current fatigue levels like hours awake, and drive-specific data such as the time of day.Users take an initial test to define their risk profile based on factors like age and health data. You set your fatigue status when you start a drive, e.g. moderately tired, or take a more detailed test.A bar on the app shows your current fatigue level and sets an alarm when you must stop and take a rest. The application is also integrated with Google Maps in order to give drivers an overview of their driving range before their next break.There are also reaction tests that require you to periodically push a button in the screen to ensure that you are alert. The software records your reaction times and includes this in its calculation of your fatigue level.ASP Technology was founded in Copenhagen in 2006 and is privately funded.Next Story: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop vows to beat Android Previous Story: Further demystifying the VC term sheetPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: app, drive, fatigue, mobile, sleepCompanies: ASP technologies          Tags: app, drive, fatigue, mobile, sleepCompanies: ASP technologiesCiara Byrne is a full time techie and part-time writer. She has worked as a software developer, team lead, engineering manager and mobile standards expert. Ciara is based in Amsterdam and her interests include creative companies, useful technology, torture by piano and cycling in high heels. Follow her on Twitter at @deciara.  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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