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<title>Haaze.com / Arvinda / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[AwayFind building better 'urgent' e-mail flag]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=awayfind-building-better-urgent-e-mail-flag</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=awayfind-building-better-urgent-e-mail-flag</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=awayfind-building-better-urgent-e-mail-flag</guid>
<description><![CDATA[AwayFind can punch messages through to you when it decides you need to see them right away.(Credit:AwayFind) MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--AwayFind has been around for a while. It's a clever e-mail helper that will alert you on your mobile if you get an e-mail that's important enough to merit an interruption. But it's based on rules: You tell the service that e-mails from your boss are important but only when they're to you alone, and you'll always get a ping when she drops you a personal note. Unfortunately, managing rules gets old. So AwayFind is adding e-mail reading intelligence and sentiment analysis to its filters. The company is trying to build a system that can figure out which e-mails are important enough to break through to you, without requiring you to set up a filter ahead of time. The first smart filter is coming out soon, AwayFind CEO Jared Goralnick told me today at the 500 Startups Demo Day here. It'll work by watching your online (or Exchange) calendar as well as your e-mail. If you get a message from a person with whom you have a meeting scheduled shortly before the meeting is scheduled to start, AwayFind will forward the message to you, assuming that the e-mail is likely to be about the meeting itself. Coming soon, the company will be layering in sentiment analysis. It'll read your e-mails for you, and alert you when someone writes you in a certain tone or about a certain topic. Say you want to get alerted when a customer e-mails you with a complaint, for example. That might be a hard rule to write for you and me, but if the algorithm can discern &quot;angry,&quot; it could be a very valuable service. I don't care what the social-network punks say, e-mail isn't dead. But it is overwhelming. Anything that can help people tease out the important e-mails from their overflowing inbox is worth a shot. I'm looking forward to trying this one out.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How to transfer your iPad 1 data to iPad 2]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-transfer-your-ipad-1-data-to-ipad-2</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-transfer-your-ipad-1-data-to-ipad-2</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:10:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-to-transfer-your-ipad-1-data-to-ipad-2</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amid unrest, Egypt goes offline (roundup)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amid-unrest-egypt-goes-offline-roundup</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amid-unrest-egypt-goes-offline-roundup</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:10:40 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Politics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amid-unrest-egypt-goes-offline-roundup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Following days of street protests demanding an end to autocratic rule by President Hosni Mubarak, a country of more than 80 million people has found itself almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the world. Here's how the story has unfolded:This still from a CBS News video shows protesters out on the streets of Cairo on the fourth day of demonstrations against the Egyptian government.(Credit:Screenshot by Jonathan Skillings/CNET)Egypt's Internet disconnect reaches 24 hoursIt was a full day ago that Egypt's network links to the rest of the world began to die, and a televised address from the country's president indicates that no end is in sight.(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)January 28, 2011 2:43 p.m. PTGetting news out of an unplugged EgyptAl Jazeera streams Egypt protests while people turn to old-fashioned landlines and faxes to get information in and out of the country.(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)January 28, 2011 11:04 a.m. PTEgypt's Internet goes dark during political unrestIn a stunning turn of events for the 21st-century Internet, a nation of more than 80 million people finds itself almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the world.(Posted in Privacy Inc. by Declan McCullagh)January 28, 2011 10:50 a.m. PTInternet disruptions hit EgyptIt's unclear how widespread the service disruptions are and what is causing them.(Posted in InSecurity Complex by Elinor Mills)January 27, 2011 5:06 p.m. PTFacebook: Egypt hasn't blocked us yetThe social network says traffic from the North African country, where activist protests have led to a crackdown on access to social media, has not experienced any &quot;major changes.&quot;(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)January 26, 2011 10:56 a.m. PTThere's no such thing as 'social media revolution'Or to put it another way: If activists using Twitter go on to topple a government, the real story should be that the government got toppled, not that the revolution was tweeted.(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)January 26, 2011 4:00 a.m. PTWhy Twitter is mum on Egypt blockThe company doesn't want to comment on persistent reports that Twitter.com is inaccessible amid anti-government protests.Perhaps it's still in the dark about what's happening.(Posted in The Social by Caroline McCarthy)January 25, 2011 11:33 a.m. PT.postBody h3, .postBody h4{font-size: 1.2em'margin: 10px 0 0 0 'padding: 0px'font-weight: bold'border-bottom: none'}<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Firefox mobile browser gets new Android interface]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-mobile-browser-gets-new-android-interface</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-mobile-browser-gets-new-android-interface</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=firefox-mobile-browser-gets-new-android-interface</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Firefox for Android beta has a brand-new start screen.(Credit:Mozilla)We have to hand it to Mozilla' their mobile team has recently been hauling out tweaks and updates to its mobile Firefox browser for Android and (two) Nokia Maemo devices.Mozilla unveiled the hotly-anticipated Firefox for Android app (calledFirefox 4 beta) early last month. It was a good first effort, but we balked at the beta software's huge installer, slower performance, and scrolling inefficiencies. We weren't the only ones, and Mozilla has gone to lengths to redesign its app in this second attempt.Android-like interface Although we'll get around to the backend changes, what really stands out is the app's visual overhaul on its default start screen. The design has remained static for so long, since its early days as the Fennec alpha for Nokia's Maemo platform in fact, that we can't help but blink.The app, as viewed on a Droid Incredible Android phone, still retains the &quot;Awesomebar&quot; up top, but now opens with an all-new start page that carries a similar look and feel as other Firefox pages online. There's space to show previously-visited tabs, promoted add-ons, and tabs from your other computers, assuming you use Firefox Sync. The start screen will henceforth be your first browser tab by default, though you can change this in the settings.You'll also notice that pages are now organized differently to provide combined or separate access to your bookmarks, browsing history, and synced computer tabs. Mozilla has also added favicons, small icons that can help you visually identify a URL by a thumbnail representation of its site logo. The multiple search engines (like Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, and Twitter) have moved from the bottom of the interface into the search bar' you'll be able to switch among them after you start typing a query.In addition to all we've mentioned above, the Firefox mobile team has polished up design to make it better fit in to the Android look and feel. That means reshaped toolbar buttons, bubbly popups, and reworked context menus.The new mobile Firefox has an Android-like feel.(Credit:Mozilla)New features A few new features also find their way to the new Firefox for Android (and Maemo as well.) One is being able to resurrect an accidentally closed tab. Swiping left into the tab management gutter in Firefox Mobile will show you a thumbnail of the closed tab overlain with an &quot;undo&quot; button--you can tap that to revitalize the tab.In addition, holding a link or Web page (a long press) will open the context menu, which now lets you share the content using the usual avenues of e-mail, Facebook, text, Twitter, and so on.Smaller installer The front-end additions and enhancements are always welcome, but a pokey Firefox won't make it in the real world. To that end, Firefox 4 beta 2 for mobile has a notably smaller installation size. Mozilla was able to reduce the APK file from roughly 43MB to 17MB, making it 60 percent of its former self. Android users will need to uninstall any previous versions and then reinstall, Mozilla cautions. It took us about eight minutes to download over Verizon's 3G network on our Droid Incredible prior to a speedy installation.Mozilla has also done backend work to make Firefox Mobile load pages faster' Mozilla claims it's close to 25 percent faster on the SunSpider Javascript benchmark than the default Android 2.2 browser. The team also did work on pinch-and-zoom and rendering text.Favicons and content-filtering come to Firefox Mobile.Still needs workPet peeves usually take a few days of heavy use to develop, but there are a few we're noticing right away. We found text- and image-rendering still choppy, especially on CNET's optimized mobile site. Mozilla also also needs to address Firefox Sync on mobile. Signing in through the Settings menu is intuitive enough so long as you remember the security key you used when registering Firefox Sync on your desktop. Recovering that information isn't an option from this Firefox beta version.You can download Firefox 4 beta 2 for Android or Nokia/Maemo' but keep two things in mind. First, as beta software, you're almost guaranteed to run into some sort of instability or unpolished feature. Second, Android users should keep in mind that it only runs on Android 2.0 or later. If you do try it, let us know in the comments what you like or don't like. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[iPad's newest retailers: Verizon, AT&T]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipads-newest-retailers-verizon-att</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipads-newest-retailers-verizon-att</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ipads-newest-retailers-verizon-att</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The iPad(Credit:Apple)Apple'siPad is available through Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;T as of today.Verizon is selling the Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad bundled with a MiFi Mobile Hotspot that lets people connect to the carrier's 3G network on the tablet computer. Verizon is offering the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB iPad models for $629.99, $729.99, and $829.99, respectively. Verizon is also selling the iPad without the MiFi bundle for $499, $599, and $699, depending on the desired capacity.According to Verizon, the carrier is offering four data plans. The cheapest option offers 1GB of monthly data for $20. The prices go up to $35, $50, and $80 per month for 3GB, 5GB, and 10GB of monthly usage, respectively. Verizon said that its plans are month-to-month, so people are not required to sign a contract to access its 3G network.Although AT&amp;T has been the carrier for iPads with 3G access, it hadn't directly sold the tablet computers until today. Unlike Verizon, AT&amp;T is offering the iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G, which means customers won't need an additional device to access 3G. AT&amp;T is offering the iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G for $629, $729, and $829, depending on the customer's desired capacity. AT&amp;T is offering two data plans: a 250MB option for $15 per month and a 2GB plan for $25 per month. Like with Verizon, AT&amp;T customers do not need to sign a contract to access the carrier's 3G network.More significant than the fact that Apple is getting the iPad into more retail stores before the holiday-shopping season is the speculation created by Verizon selling the iPad. For years, people have been speculating about when Verizon will break AT&amp;T's exclusive hold as the iPhone carrier. Verizon actually selling the iPad gives consumers some hope that aniPhone running on Verizon's network isn't so far off.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ellison claims evidence implicates HP's new CEO]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-claims-evidence-implicates-hps-new-ceo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-claims-evidence-implicates-hps-new-ceo</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 07:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Business &amp; Finance</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ellison-claims-evidence-implicates-hps-new-ceo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said Tuesday he could prove that new Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker was involved in a scheme to steal intellectual property from Oracle when he was the head of German software maker SAP.HP&amp;39's new CEO, Leo Apotheker.(Credit:Dan Farber/CNET)The two companies have been battling each other in court for more than three years over a lawsuit in which Oracle has claimed copyright infringement by SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow, which provided updates and support for Oracle products before SAP shut it down in 2008. SAP has already admitted that employees of its TomorrowNow improperly accessed Oracle's computers and downloaded certain Oracle software code and support information but is balking at Oracle's demand for $1 billion or more in damages. &quot;A major portion of this theft occurred while Mr. Apotheker was CEO of SAP,&quot; Ellison said in a statement that challenged HP to make its new chief executive available as a witness. Ellison said that when he accused Apotheker of overseeing the software theft a few weeks ago, HP Chairman Ray Lane came to Apotheker's defense, penning a letter that said, &quot;'Oracle has been litigating this case for years and has never offered any evidence that Mr. Apotheker was involved.' Well, that's what we are planning to do during the trial that starts next Monday.&quot;&quot;I don't think Ray Lane wants to risk Leo Apotheker testifying under oath as to why he allowed the theft of Oracle property to continue for eight months after he was made sole CEO of SAP,&quot; Ellison said. &quot;I hope I'm wrong, but my guess is that HP's new chairman, Mr. Lane, will keep HP's new CEO, Mr. Apotheker, far, far away from the courthouse until this trial is over.&quot;HP has denied Apotheker had any direct knowledge of the software theft and characterized Ellison's statement as harassment.&quot;Oracle had ample opportunity to question Leo during his sworn deposition in October 2008 and chose not to include him as a trial witness until he was named CEO of HP,&quot; HP said in a statement. &quot;Given Leo's limited knowledge of and role in the matter, Oracle's last-minute effort to require him to appear live at trial is no more than an effort to harass him and interfere with his duties and responsibilities as HP's CEO.&quot;Apotheker was appointed chief executive at HP in September after a 19-year career at the German software maker, including a brief stint as chief executive from 2008 to 2010. He resigned in February amid turmoil over poor earnings.Apotheker took over the job vacated by Mark Hurd, who was forced to resign from HP in the midst of a sexual-harassment accusation and expense-reporting scandal. Ellison lashed out at HP's board of directors over Hurd's departure. Hurd was subsequently named co-president of Oracle and appointed to the company's board of directors.Apotheker is due to start work at his new post Monday--the same day the copyright infringement trial is scheduled to begin. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[TAT co-founder on how technology turns us all into replicants]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tat-co-founder-on-how-technology-turns-us-all-into-replicants</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tat-co-founder-on-how-technology-turns-us-all-into-replicants</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tat-co-founder-on-how-technology-turns-us-all-into-replicants</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hampus Jakobsson is no Luddite. As a co-founder of interface design firm&amp;nbsp'The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), which was acquired last year by RIM, he has worked on some of the most cutting-edge, mobile interface technology. Yet he says that technology, as it exists now, is turning us into replicants by forcing us to interact according to its rules.In the film Blade Runner, a&amp;nbsp'replicant was a biorobotic being which was virtually identical to a human but lacked emotion and empathy. I talked to Jakobsson about the future of interfaces and how they should use &amp;''the human APIs&amp;''.&amp;''We see people and machines interacting in a very dumbed down way&amp;'' he says. Jakobsson complains that 90 percent of the status updates in his Facebook stream are from Foursquare,&amp;nbsp'Runkeeper or Gowalla.&amp;''The interface through which we are talking to each other is GPS coordinates, how many kilometers I have been running and songs shared on Spotify.&amp;nbsp'We are using the APIs of a machine instead of the human APIs like voice and feelings and movement&amp;''.Jakobsson sees a possible future in which our lives become cluttered with ever-fancier screens (see TAT&amp;'s future of screens video below), augmented reality and other machine-driven interfaces. &amp;''It&amp;'s not augmented reality, it&amp;'s dumbed down reality&amp;'' he comments. &amp;''We come from an era where everything is clickable. Now we are saying, everything that is clickable in real life, let&amp;'s put a red tag on it, which is talking technology language.&amp;nbsp'You are forcing people to become robots.&amp;''&amp;nbsp'His alternative is to make interfaces more human and he sees designers as crucial to that process. &amp;''How do we create people to machine to people interfaces which make that interaction natural&amp;''Jakobsson is Swedish and he uses the analogy of cross-country skiing to explain the role of the designer. There is a huge difference between the effort required to ski on virgin snow and on a pre-defined track. The traditional role of the user interface designer was to&amp;nbsp'make tracks that users can follow. While one of the designer&amp;'s jobs should still be &amp;''to create highway tracks&amp;'', Jakobsson would also like to see a process where users are allowed to ski around on a metaphorical open field and the tracks they create can be used by others. He describes this a more heuristic way to create a user interface.Just as importantly, Jakobsson thinks that the designers role is not just to make a product pretty, something he regards as &amp;''lipstick on a pig&amp;'' design. &amp;''Designers should be in the depth of engineering and even before engineering.&amp;'' A large part of the designer&amp;'s task is to identify the specific niches or use cases which a product should address. &amp;''The question is really &amp;8216'Should we build a church or a&amp;nbsp'monastery&amp;' Right now we are building holy places.&amp;'' he explains. In other words, most technology products, and mobile phones in particular, address too broad an audience and set of uses.&amp;''I think we will see much more of people having text and talk phones, in a sense. Simplifying but not dumbing down.&amp;'' he says. &amp;''The problem today is that there are really just two phone categories: a smartphone with bells and whistles and no battery life or an old phone like a Nokia series 40&amp;8243'.Every handset manufacturer is finding it hard to escape the trap of building an iPhone copy. Jakobsson&amp;nbsp'cites INQ mobile as an exception to this trend. INQ makes phones designed for specific niches like social networking. &amp;''Let&amp;'s build this phone which has built-in Spotify and built-in Facebook. It doesn&amp;'t even look like an iPhone. I think INQ is going to be really&amp;nbsp'successful&amp;'' he says.I asked Jakobsson for some examples of user interface technologies he likes. &amp;''I like gesture interfaces because that&amp;'s a very human approach. Gestures are very much more tactile.&amp;'' But he also thinks that more natural interfaces introduce new problems. &amp;''The minute you do direct manipulation, for example using touch, it needs to be perfectly responsive. We are getting into the concept of the uncanny valley (when robots look and act almost, but not quite, like humans and actual humans are repulsed) for interfaces when you add physics engines, gestures, etc. because we are manipulating human to human interactions. When they are ten percent off, it&amp;'s just going to feel weird.&amp;''He&amp;'s also not a big fan of haptics.&amp;nbsp'&amp;''Haptics for me is like voice recognition. It&amp;'s the best idea in the world but it just doesn&amp;'t work. In 5 to 10 years they will both work.&amp;'' The ideal for Jakobsson&amp;nbsp'is that technology starts to disappear. &amp;''The device you are holding in your hand will become thinner and thinner, not physically necessarily, but conceptually. You are going to think that you are not even holding a device.&amp;''Next Story: A $679M deal: CSR and Zoran merge to create consumer chip powerhouse Previous Story: Can you fire someone for disparaging your company on FacebookPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: designer, gesture-recognition, haptics, mobile, UI, user interfaceCompanies: RIM, TAT, The astonishing TribePeople: Hampus Jakobsson          Tags: designer, gesture-recognition, haptics, mobile, UI, user interfaceCompanies: RIM, TAT, The astonishing TribePeople: Hampus JakobssonCiara 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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<title><![CDATA[Deals &038' More: Five9 raises $8.6M to handle customer calls in the cloud, CWR Mobility grabs $1.5M for mobile CRM]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-five9-raises-8-6m-to-handle-customer-calls-in-the-cloud-cwr-mobility-grabs-1-5m-for-mobile-crm</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-five9-raises-8-6m-to-handle-customer-calls-in-the-cloud-cwr-mobility-grabs-1-5m-for-mobile-crm</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=deals-038-more-five9-raises-8-6m-to-handle-customer-calls-in-the-cloud-cwr-mobility-grabs-1-5m-for-mobile-crm</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Today&amp;'s funding announcements include two companies focused on the customers:Five9 brings in $8.6M for its virtual call centers: The company has raised funding led by Adams Street Partners for its cloud-based call center software. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company says it processes more than one billion phone calls per year and has raised more than $37M in funding to date.CWR Mobility gets $1.5M for cell phone CRM: The provider of mobile solutions to theMicrosoft Dynamics CRM tool has raised asecond round of funding led byHENQ Invest. Thecompany, whose name means &amp;''Crawl Walk Run&amp;'' in reference to the steps needed to build a business, has offices in Washington and the Netherlands and has customer relationship management solutions for Apple, RIM and Windows phones.vMobo raises nearly $700K for SMS-based marketing: The Fremont, Calif.-based startup has raised funding for its &amp;''interactive direct marketing&amp;'' application, according to a filing with the SEC. Currently operating in India and the UAE, vMobo has plans to enter the Indonesian market next with its text message-based app.ShopNation grabs $720K to help fashion lovers shop till they drop: The San Francisco-based startup has raised $720K of an expected $1.4M in equity funding, according to a filing with the SEC. ShopNation&amp;'s web site, currently in beta, aggregates retailer product data. After searching for clothing and accessories by brand or price, shoppers get directed to popular retail web sites to make a purchase.Previous Story: How should startups pay their attorneyPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'                         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[Spotify CEO: Still no date on U.S. launch]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-ceo-still-no-date-on-u-s--launch</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-ceo-still-no-date-on-u-s--launch</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spotify-ceo-still-no-date-on-u-s--launch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Daniel Ek, CEO and cofounder of online music-streaming service Spotify, has 750,000 paying subscribers, up from 320,000 in March. It now has more subscribers than any other similar service in the world, he said.What he doesn&amp;'t have: A firm date on when the European startup will launch in the U.S.Spotify had previously said it planned to launch by the third quarter of 2010. Then it said it would launch by the end of this year. In an interview at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference, AllThingsD media reporter Peter Kafka pointed out that it&amp;'s December 7, and pressed Ek on whether the company would stick to the 2010 plan. (That&amp;'s Kafka, left, interviewing Ek, right, in the photo above.)&amp;''I won&amp;'t commit to a specific date,&amp;'' said Ek. &amp;''It just takes time&amp;'' to negotiate contracts, he said at a later point in the interview.His cause likely has not been helped by the involvement of early Napster employee Sean Parker, now an investor in Spotify through the Founders Fund venture-capital firm. Parker recently said that Spotify would &amp;''finish what [Napster] started&amp;'' in pushing the music industry to provide its wares online.Spotify&amp;'s subscribers in Europe, where it succeeded in obtaining rights from record labels to stream music at economically favorable rates, pay 10 euros (US$13) a month for unlimited access to Spotify&amp;'s library. But users can also stream a limited number of hours of music a month for free.&amp;''Most people in the world do not pay for music today,&amp;'' said Ek, pointing to countries like China. &amp;''The music industry should be worth a lot more&amp;'' than the $15 billion it is today, implying that if it embraced services like Spotify, it would increase its value.&amp;''There&amp;'s no reason why music can&amp;'t be more popular than photos online,&amp;'' said Ek.If that&amp;'s his argument, it&amp;'s taking longer than expected to win the labels over to his point of view.Next Story: Salesforce launching Chatter.com, an enterprise-style Facebook, early next year Previous Story: Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas wants his fans to hear his music in real time with the cloudPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: online music, streaming musicCompanies: spotifyPeople: daniel ek, Sean parker          Tags: online music, streaming musicCompanies: spotifyPeople: daniel ek, Sean parkerOwen Thomas is the executive editor of 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[Report: Windows Mobile was for work, Windows Phone 7 is for fun]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-windows-mobile-was-for-work-windows-phone-7-is-for-fun</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-windows-mobile-was-for-work-windows-phone-7-is-for-fun</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=report-windows-mobile-was-for-work-windows-phone-7-is-for-fun</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft seems to have a new mantra: When all else fails, shoot for a bigger audience.All of Microsoft&amp;'s top-downloaded paid applications for its newest Windows Phone 7 mobile devices are games a4&quot; much like other mobile operating systems a4&quot; compared to just one for its older Windows Mobile operating system, according to a report by Distimo.Microsoft is running a pretty well-known and reliable play to reclaim its share in the mobile operating system space.More than half of Microsoft&amp;'s applications on its Windows Phone 7 operating system are now less than $2, compared to less than 40 percent of apps on its old Windows Mobile operating system. That&amp;'s in line with other app stores. Its app store has grown to around 3,000 applications in just over a month. That&amp;'s compared to only 1,350 applications available for Windows Mobile after the operating system has been out for a year.It&amp;'s a marked shift in Microsoft&amp;'s strategy, since its presence in the enterprise mobile operating system space has diminished. Windows Phone 7 finally brought Microsofta4a4s mobile operating systems into an age that is dominated by apps. The phone is geared much more toward typical consumers, like the iPhone and many phones running on Google&amp;'s Android operating system.A lot of Microsoft&amp;'s refocus may have to do with Research in Motion (RIM)&amp;'s presence as a smartphone maker of choice for the enterprise. RIM currently dominates the enterprise mobile phone market with around 46 million customers. Apple is alsocharging into the enterprise space. Both of these operating systems are, in their own ways, superior to the classic Windows Mobile operating system.That leaves little room for operating systems that are late to the party. Windows Phone 7 came out about a month ago and has since scrambled to catch up with the rest of the smartphone market. The mobile operating system has already picked up 15,000 developers in a short period of time and is growing quickly. But Apple and RIM already have the jump on Windows Phone 7. They&amp;'ve been playing in a market dominated by apps for a few years now.That isn&amp;'t to say Microsoft can&amp;'t reclaim its presence in the enterprise space. Microsoft is able to integrate its incredibly popular Office applications pretty seamlessly into a mobile interface. The closest thing to that on other app operating systems is Documents to Go by DataViz. But that company was acquired by Research in Motion, which quicklykilled support for the WebOS mobile operating system a4&quot; so the future of that application on competing platforms is unclear.So there&amp;'s a lot of potential for Windows Phone 7 in the enterprise space as well as the general consumer space.Previous Story: Whata4a4s Twittera4a4s big vision Twitter CEO says hea4a4s figuring it outPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, applications, Blackberry, BlackBerry OS, enterprise, iOS, iPhone, iPhone operating system, Microsoft Office, Office, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7Companies: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, RIM          Tags: Android, applications, Blackberry, BlackBerry OS, enterprise, iOS, iPhone, iPhone operating system, Microsoft Office, Office, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7Companies: Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, RIMMatthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.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[Can (and Should) OpenTable Be&nbsp'Disrupted]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-and-should-opentable-benbspdisrupted</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-and-should-opentable-benbspdisrupted</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=can-and-should-opentable-benbspdisrupted</guid>
<description><![CDATA[I&amp;'ve had a checkered relationship with OpenTable. Initially, I loved it as a user, then was let down as the service evolved. For instance I found the eat-at-100-restaurants-and-get-a-measly-$20-check rewards system slightly better than a punch in the face and was annoyed that restaurants still required me to call to verify a reservation. If I had time to make a phone call, I wouldn&amp;'t have used OpenTable. Duh.I&amp;'ve vocally accused the site of tailoring its service too much to the restaurants&amp;' needs&amp;8211' who after all pay the bills&amp;8211' and ignoring a better customer experience. (Once a customer service rep for OpenTable actuallya4stold me they only cared if the restaurants were happy.) Then, the company addressed a lot of my issues, for instance offering easy ways to get larger numbers of dining points, and the CEO Jeff Jordan and I sat down and hashed it out in a video interview and I came away more impressed with him and the company&amp;'s management generally.Lately, a diner like me isn&amp;'t the one doing the bitching&amp;8211'it&amp;'s restaurants. Something strange has been happening in San Francisco, which is OpenTable&amp;'s home market and oldest market. I dismissed it all for a while as purely anecdotal: The half-dozen or so new hot restaurants in my neighborhood that didn&amp;'t use OpenTable, the scattered emails from restauranteurs asking my opinion on whether the service was worth the money, based on how vocal I&amp;'d been about it in the past. Then yesterday we got this in the TechCrunch Tip jar: A reasonably-articulated, scathing rebuke of why a local restauranteur named Mark Pastore doesn&amp;'t use OpenTable, and how he thinks the service&amp;'s success has robbed restaurants of their most valuable asset, the relationship with diners, and charged way too much for thea4sprivilege. Even if he&amp;'s a lone squeaky wheel, it&amp;'s worth a read if you&amp;'re a regular OpenTable diner, investor or would-be competitor.At the core of his argument is the belief that OpenTable&amp;'s $1.5 billion market capitalization isn&amp;'t a result of creating that much value for the market as a whole' it&amp;'s largely taken it from thousands of mom and pop restaurants. Pastore did a survey of his friends who were also restaurant owners and only one said that he felt OpenTable actually increased the value of his business. Tellingly, most of the others use it and don&amp;'t plan on quitting&amp;8211' but not because they love the service, because they are terrified of disrupting how diners are accustomed to making reservations. It turns out OpenTable is an astoundingly sticky business. It&amp;'s billed as a modern pay-only-as-long-as-you-love-it cloud subscription business, but Pastore&amp;'s description sounds like what most on-premise enterprise software customers would say. (Paging Ben Horowitz&amp;8230') This puts a whole new spin on why OpenTable was growing as restaurants over all were losing money.The most devastating blow is Pastore&amp;'s economic break down of what OpenTable costs restaurants:&amp;''The access fees can be substantial, particularly for restaurants operating on thin margins. One independent study estimates that OpenTablea4a4s fees (comprised of startup fees, fixed monthly fees, and per-person reservation fees) translate to a cost of roughly $10.40 for each a4Aincrementala4 4-top booked through OpenTable.com. To put that in perspective, consider that the average profit margin, before taxes, for a U.S. restaurant is roughly 5%. This means that a table of 4 spending $200 on dinner would generate a $10 profit. In this example, all of that profit would then go to OpenTable fees for having delivered the reservation, leaving the restaurant with nothing other than the hope that that customer would come back (and hopefully book by telephone the next time).&amp;''Most restaurants suck up the cost to have the competitive edge of easy bookings. But with so many restaurants all using the same system&amp;8211' is it really much of a competitive edge or is it just table stakes Pastore cites one 3.5 star restaurant in San Francisco where the owner has spent years paying OpenTable substantially more than he pays himself for 80-plus hour workweeks. When the economics are that lopsided, one would have to start wondering exactly how many diners wouldn&amp;'t book directly on a restaurant&amp;'s site if that were the only option.Here&amp;'s the stunning thing this post made me realize for the first time: Unlike most large Web companies that built their businesses on cutting costs out of an industry and eliminating middlemen, OpenTable has managed to do the exact opposite. It has created a new middleman. So is there room for this new middleman to be disruptedIt&amp;'s not going to be easy, as Pastore&amp;'s own survey shows. Restaurants are terrified of getting rid of OpenTable and sending diners to another restaurant that still uses the site. And this is a hard, pounding-the-pavement business to build. It took OpenTable a decade to get to any kind of critical mass and it still provides software for less than 15,000 restaurants network-wide.But there are ways to disrupt some of what has made OpenTable powerful. As Pastore argues and I&amp;'ve seen increasingly in San Francisco, a lot of new restaurants try their own online booking systems first. Theya4smimica4sthe convenience that OpenTable proved customers want, while keeping control of the relationship with the diner. It&amp;'s similar to what you saw in the travel industry: Early online travel agents proved people wanted convenience to book online and airline and hotel companies didn&amp;'t want the headache of building a site. But increasingly, they&amp;'ve all been trying to send customers to their own sites, either directly or through an aggregator like Kayak.There&amp;'s also clearly a role that Yelp, FourSquare and Groupon could play as spoilers. As a diner, I usually go to OpenTable to browse what restaurants in a given neighborhood have availability. It&amp;'s less for the transaction of making a reservation itself. There&amp;'s definitely some overlap when it comes to on-the-spot browsing with Yelp&amp;'s mobile app, and there&amp;'s no reason FourSquare couldn&amp;'t use geotagging to push a list of restaurants witha4savailabilitya4sto you. (Yelp&amp;'s past partnership with OpenTable doesn&amp;'t necessarily preclude something like this.)a4sIf they don&amp;'t provide the back-end software, they will never have the same inventory that OpenTable has. But so what They won&amp;'t charge restaurants as much either. That might be compelling enough.Likewise, I wouldn&amp;'t be surprised to see some restaurants experiment with using Groupon to drive diners to them instead of paying OpenTable&amp;'s monthly fee. They get someone to come in the door once with a hefty discount, but it&amp;'s a one-time expense. You could even see Facebook Pages playing a role here. In general, the iPads, iPhones and Android platforms give would-be competitors powerful new tools to challenge OpenTable, which players like UrbanSpoon are counting on. Designing an app from the ground up to take advantage of how far the local game has come with location-aware smartphones is a world away from OpenTable&amp;'s DNA as a circa-2000 Web and back-end software company.And really, all these players would have to do is erode OpenTable&amp;'s ability to sign new customers to have an impact. This earnings report was good, but the company&amp;'s shares have jumped a staggeringa4s230% since its IPO 18 months ago, trading at a price-to-earnings ratio eight times higher than the Standard &amp;amp' Poors index. Bloomberg reports that short sells are increasing and some analysts call it the most overvalued stock in the sector.When you&amp;'re priced beyond perfection, it doesn&amp;'t take much to stumble. Maybe OpenTable should listen to the squeaky wheels out there once again.CrunchBase InformationOpenTableInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[One-of-a-kind kids' clothes, locally made from reclaimed discards - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=one-of-a-kind-kids-clothes-locally-made-from-reclaimed-discards---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=one-of-a-kind-kids-clothes-locally-made-from-reclaimed-discards---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Style &amp; Leisure</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=one-of-a-kind-kids-clothes-locally-made-from-reclaimed-discards---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Much the way Green Thing''s SAVED project reclaims unwanted t-shirts and upgrades them with some signature stitchery for sale to new owners, so UK-based Re-jigged turns unwearable castoffs into bespoke, one-of-a-kind children''s clothing.Run from a farm in rural Herefordshire, Re-jigged collects adult clothes that are no longer suitable for resale at local charities due to holes, worn areas and other problems. A partnership with EnviroAbility helps the firm source, wash, sort and arrange the clothing and then cut it up accordingly. Re-jigged then locally recrafts the usable portions of those well-loved garments by hand into beautiful new ones using contrasting colours and fabrics and embellishments including distinctive appliques, buttons and ribbons. Garments can be handmade to a customer''s specific requirements, even using the customer''s own fabric, if desired. A design-your-own offering, meanwhile, guides the customer step by step through the process of designing a unique tank top for kids. Prices begin at GBP 25 for a tank top from Re-jigged''s classic range. For every garment Re-jigged sells, it donates GBP 1 to a local charity or school.Combining eco-minded upcycling, design-your-own capabilities and (still) made here appeal, Re-jigged has tapped into more than one of today''s key trends. Crafty minipreneurs around the globe: be inspired! (Related: Luxe upcycling: from cashmere sweaters to (very) soft toys a4&quot; Waste to accessories, with a charitable twist a4&quot; Festival jackets and bags, made from abandoned tents a4&quot; Charity shop invites designers to upcycle donated clothing a4&quot; Leather jackets remade into designer bags a4&quot; More upcycling: sweaters into scarves.)Website: www.re-jigged.co.ukContact: carol@re-jigged.co.ukSpotted by: The Business Factory<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How Chinaa4a4s Entrepreneurs Are Helping It&nbsp'Win]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-chinarsquos-entrepreneurs-are-helping-itnbspwin</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-chinarsquos-entrepreneurs-are-helping-itnbspwin</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-chinarsquos-entrepreneurs-are-helping-itnbspwin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Bob Compton and I finally have something to agree about.The Washington, D.C.a4&quot;based venture capitalist produced a provocative documentary, 2 Million Minutes, which tracked six studentsa4&quot;two each in the U.S., India, and Chinaa4&quot;during their senior year of high school. It showed the Indian and Chinese students slogging to learn mathematics and science, and the Americans partying and playing video games. Bob concluded that the Indians and Chinese will eat our childrena4a4s lunch since they are better educated. I was featured in the documentary and agreed that Indian and Chinese children do indeed work much harder than American children' that they are brought up to believe that education is everything and will make the difference between success and starvation' and that most of their childhood is spent memorizing books on advanced subjects. I argued, however, that things aren&amp;'t nearly as dire for U.S. competitiveness as they might appear to be in the documentary. My teama4a4s research into global engineering education showed that more than 95% of Indians and Chinese do not receive a good education, and even those that do receive one take much longer to develop crucial real-world skills than do Americans. Yes, U.S. teens work part-time, socialize, and party. But the independence and social skills they develop give them a big advantage when they join the workforce. They learn to experiment, challenge norms, and take risks. They innovate from the get-go. As I explained in this article, India has succeeded at building an innovation and R&amp;amp'D capability despite its weak education system: its private industry reeducates its engineering graduates. Chinese industry doesna4a4t have equivalent workforce-development practices, so the country lags in R&amp;amp'D outsourcing and innovation. China has achieved marvels by upgrading its infrastructure' uplifting hundreds of millions out of poverty' and building world-class universities and state-of-the-art research facilities. But its state enterprisesa4&quot;which dominate industrya4&quot;are still bureaucratic, corrupt, and run autocratically by Communist Party members. Multinationals hype the R&amp;amp'D they are performing in China, but in reality, the majority of the work they do there is the localization of their technologies, not the design of innovative new products. And, despite the impressive numbers, the papers published by Chinese academics and the patents filed by its researchers are not worth the paper they are printed ona4&quot;they are mostly plagiarized or irrelevant. But things are rapidly changing in China. Its people are becoming highly entrepreneurial. And, as Sarah Lacy has written, some are beginning to go beyond copying western technologies' they are beginning to innovate. Compton documented the entrepreneurship trend accurately in a new film, titled Win In China: China&amp;'s Entrepreneurial Explosion. This shows Chinaa4a4s rapid transition to a capitalist economya4&quot;with its entrepreneurs leading the charge.I witnessed the same trends during my trip to Beijing this week. I went there to teach a class hosted by UC-Berkeleya4a4s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (at which I am a lecturer). I taught about 50 students and met dozens of local tech entrepreneurs. The students were no different from those I teach at UC-Berkeley and Duke: equally intelligent, open minded, innovative, and motivated to change the world. The entrepreneurs were also surprisingly like the entrepreneurs I meet in Silicon Valleya4&quot;ambitious, fearless, and determined to build world-class companies. One big difference I noted from what Ia4a4ve witnessed during my previous trips to China, over the past 5 years, is that they are more accepting of failure and readily admit that they have been copying American technologies: anything they read about on TechCrunch. But most of them talked about using their experience to build new generations of products directed at the Chinese market. They had no interest in building products for the West. They were also a lot more confident and mature than earlier generations.So Bob and I completely agree on the significance of the Chinese entrepreneurial revolution.a4s And we dona4a4t disagree any more about what our children have to worry about: when it comes to global competitiveness, the Chinese (and the Indians) will eat our childrena4a4s lunch. More innovation is good, no matter where it happens, but America is going to face tough competition from the rising powers in the East. We had better encourage our kids to improve their skills, learn about global markets, and prepare for a time when they will be copying Chinese and Indian technologies.P.S. The week of November 15 is Global Entrepreneurship Week. Started by Kauffman Foundation to encourage the type of game-changing entrepreneurship that China has witnessed, this has grown into a global movement which involves 10 million people in 100 countries with 40,000 events. I encourage you to get involved.Editora4a4s note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is  an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at  UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and  Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research  Commercialization at Duke University. You can follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa and find his research at www.wadhwa.com.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Moving Beyond Electric Motorcycles, Mission Motors Becomes EV Tech&nbsp'Supplier]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=moving-beyond-electric-motorcycles-mission-motors-becomes-ev-technbspsupplier</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=moving-beyond-electric-motorcycles-mission-motors-becomes-ev-technbspsupplier</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=moving-beyond-electric-motorcycles-mission-motors-becomes-ev-technbspsupplier</guid>
<description><![CDATA[San Francisco-based Mission Motors has gained some recognition in the Valley for its flagship electric motorcycle, the Mission One Superbike. The sleek vehicle, which features a lithium ion battery park, can reach speeds of 150 mph and go for 150 miles on a single charge. The problem is, it&amp;'s not quite ready for prime time.Despite earlier promises for a Q4 2010 release and then a Q2 2011 release, production has been marred by delays and there is now no clear visibility on a delivery date for consumers. Given the recent setbacks, Mission Motors is wisely diversifying its business beyond the Mission One.On Tuesday, the startup unveiled a new unit: Mission Electric Vehicle Technology, or MissionEVT. MissionEVT will suppy vehicle manufacturers (from motorcycles to cars to trucks) with electric vehicle technology, including &amp;''energy storage systems, drive systems and software intelligence,&amp;'' the company said in a statement. In addition, MissionEVT will also offer integration services for their clients, such as electric drive expertise and test facilities.&amp;''Our company will be able to expand into new markets, bringing the advances we have made in EV technology to multiple vehicle platforms and manufacturers,&amp;'' CEO Jit Bhattacharya said in a statement. &amp;''This creates a tremendous high-volume opportunity for Mission&amp;'s powertrain technology, while solving a critical need for vehicle manufacturers trying to keep pace with the rapid electrification of vehicles.&amp;''The powertrain technology offered by MissionEVT is based on the research and development for Mission One. According to Bhattacharya, this development process yielded several core building blocksa4&quot; in areas like battery storage and softwarea4&quot; which can now be molded applied to other vehicle types.CrunchBase InformationMission MotorsInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Amex&'s Ad Agency Asks Us To Remove Post, Threatens Future&nbsp'Business]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amexrsquos-ad-agency-asks-us-to-remove-post-threatens-futurenbspbusiness</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amexrsquos-ad-agency-asks-us-to-remove-post-threatens-futurenbspbusiness</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arvinda</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=amexrsquos-ad-agency-asks-us-to-remove-post-threatens-futurenbspbusiness</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An advertising agency that represents American Express took issue with my post yesterday complaining about my failed efforts to get a simple credit card. In the post, titled Damnit Amex, Give Me A Credit Card, I complained about the difficulty of someone in my particular demographic to get credit, and noted the usefulness of Credit Karma, a startup that gives people immediate access to their credit report.Some users actually saw an ad for the Amex ZYNC card next to the post. In an email to our sales team, the agency said &amp;''We found this on your site today, obviously not a good thing for AMEX or for ZYNC branding.&amp;'' I disagree. But let&amp;'s continue. They added &amp;''Are you able to take this down from your site  If so, please do as ASAP.&amp;''Nope. The sales team doesn&amp;'t have the authority or the ability to remove content from the site. And the punchline:&amp;''If you are not able to monitor this more closely, we unfortunately will not be able to run with TechCrunch in the future.&amp;''Ok. Let&amp;'s step back for a minute. First of all, the agency in question should understand that the post was a significant net positive for American Express. Sure, I was complaining. But I also put American Express&amp;' brand squarely in the center of things. There were a variety of credit cards that I was unable to get, but the Amex Starwood card was the one I wanted. I wanted it, and I couldn&amp;'t get it. Who doesn&amp;'t get how great that is for AmexNeolithic marketing morons who can&amp;'t think outside of a box, that&amp;'s who. The same kind of person that not only gets upset that their client is the center of attention, but then actually threatens to pull business if we don&amp;'t get our editorial in line with their agenda. This isn&amp;'t the Wall Street Journal, you know. We don&amp;'t like being told by others what we can and cannot write.Despite the fact that we will certainly never do business with this agency again after this post, I won&amp;'t name them. Perhaps they can still save themselves and, someday, thank me.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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