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<title>Haaze.com / jurasminnite / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2011 07:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Apple, others sued over privacy (again)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-others-sued-over-privacy-again</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-others-sued-over-privacy-again</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2011 07:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-others-sued-over-privacy-again</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)Apple, along with Pandora Media and The Weather Channel, have been named in a lawsuit alleging that the companies did not disclose the fact that personal data--specifically location--was being shared with third-party advertising networks. The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico by Lymaris Rivera Diaz and picked up by The Loop, closely resembles an existing suit from December. That one targeted the same companies as well as other app makers for being able to trace aniPhone oriPad using the unique device identifier, or UDID, which is akin to a serial number in that it cannot be changed.&quot;Because the UDID is unique to each iPhone and iPad, it is an attractive feature for third-party advertisers looking for a means of reliably tracking a mobile device users' online activities,&quot; the new suit says. &quot;Because the UDID is not alterable or deletable by a iPhone or iPad user, some have referred to the UDID as a 'supercookie.' This description aptly summarizes the desirability of access to the UDID from an advertising perspective.&quot;The suit takes aim specifically at Apple--as the maker of the device and the mechanism for running and installing applications--for not letting users control access to this piece of user information.&quot;Unfortunately, however, unlike with browser cookies, Apple does not provide users any way to delete or restrict access to their devices' UDIDs. Traditional efforts to prevent Internet tracking, such as deleting cookies, have no effect on Apps' access to an iPhone's or iPad's UDID,&quot; it says.Along with basic user information, the suit also highlights location, specifically the database stored on the device that became a target of interest last month. Apple says this information is used as part of a crowd-sourced database of cell towers and Wi-Fi access points, which lets iOS devices determine their location in a more efficient manner. Diaz's complaint focuses on the fact that the location data is stored across backups and between device migrations in an unencrypted format. Apple has since addressed several of those claims as part of a software update that went out to users a week ago and before the suit was filed. Apple has also said that it intends to fully encrypt that database on the device itself in the next major system software update. The lawsuit seeks class action, and names 10 yet-unnamed defendants the suit says will be &quot;specifically identified and named as discovery progresses and their roles in the wrongdoing at issue is revealed.&quot; It also seeks damages, restitution, and an injunction against Apple for collecting any data attached to UDIDs. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Pandora and The Weather Channel declined to comment. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bing's going to the Super Bowl, but not in ad form]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-going-to-the-super-bowl-but-not-in-ad-form</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-going-to-the-super-bowl-but-not-in-ad-form</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bings-going-to-the-super-bowl-but-not-in-ad-form</guid>
<description><![CDATA[As part of this year's Super Bowl, taking place February 6, Microsoft is flexing its marketing muscles. But it's not for a multimillion-dollar TV ad. Instead, the company is waging a ground war in the parking lot, trying to turn users onto Bing with a finale of its own championship series. Since November, Microsoft and the Tailgating Institute of America have been hosting a series of regional tailgating events finals in various parts of the United States. The winners from each of those competitions will face off on February 3, three days before the Super Bowl, to determine who has the best overall tailgating experience. Bing's placement in that event will be large screens with football-related Bing queries, as well as mobile phones with Bing installed around the event so that tailgaters can give it a spin.But don't confuse it with a big tent that people walk into to see other people doing Web searches. In an call with CNET last week about the company's Super Bowl plans, Danielle Tiedt, who is Bing's general manager of marketing, described it as more of a chance for people to understand how Bing can be used in various situations. &quot;It's to do things in context with what they're doing when tailgating,&quot; Tiedt said. &quot;Trivia contests, and showing real-time sports comparisons. There's a fun and interactive experience with that.&quot; During the events, Microsoft has also highlighted other football-specific Bing features like its Instant Answers, Sports Compare, and its ticket-buying Events tool.Tiedt said the football fans, in particular, are a growing user segment for Bing. This has lead to a 17 percent increase in traffic to the search engine from September to November of last year, according to numbers from ComScore. That's compared to a 2 percent increase during the same period for rival Google. What's more, is that these events have provided the company with data that people like the search engine once they've seen it. &quot;When they leave the tailgating session, we're seeing 20-point increases in how likely they are to use Bing,&quot; Tiedt said. &quot;It's been hugely successful.&quot; Besides the tailgating party, Microsoft is collaborating with ESPN as part of its &quot;I am a World Champion&quot; feature series. This will feature TV segments of quarterbacks that have won various Super Bowl games throughout history. Microsoft's angle there is that, like Bing, these athletes had &quot;decisive moments.&quot; The company will also be doing a live panel with quarterbacks Joe Montana, Doug Williams, and Kurt Warner, all of whom won past Super Bowls, as well as holding a vote on who is the most decisive quarterback in a collaboration with Sports Illustrated. As for why the company's not doing a TV ad, Tiedt said simply that reach and awareness were not a problem for Bing. &quot;We're pretty heavy in marketing all year,&quot; she said. &quot;We're into marketing activities to show the product.&quot; <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Analyst: iPad 2 to sport dual-core chip]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-ipad-2-to-sport-dual-core-chip</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-ipad-2-to-sport-dual-core-chip</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=analyst-ipad-2-to-sport-dual-core-chip</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Will the next iPad have a dual-core chip (Credit:Apple )An analyst's note today claimsApple's iPad 2 will adopt a dual-core chip, which would be a first for the company's consumer line of handheld products. True or not, Apple's iPad will eventually have to make the jump to dual-core to compete with the likes of the upcoming Motorola tablet and RIM PlayBook--both dual-core devices. &quot;Apple is on track to refresh the iPad by March andiPhone by late summer. A key component upgrade across these platforms will be a dual-core processor featuring a pair of 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 cores,&quot; according to a research note released on Thursday by Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman &amp; Renshaw. Using a dual-core processor can result in PC-like multitasking, if the operating system is designed to fully take advantage of both cores. And note that he expects the iPhone to get a dual-core upgrade, too. Kumar also cited an iPad supply-demand equilibrium. &quot;iPad supply has largely satiated demand and Apple can sustain quarterly shipments at around 6 million/quarter. At these levels, Apple would capture about half the forecasted market for 2011,&quot; Kumar wrote. And he also addressed the Verizon iPhone. &quot;iPhone volumes could also be maintained at the 15 million/quarter level through next year. The launch at Verizon could support an incremental 8 million units,&quot; he wrote. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Cr-48 Chrome hardware pilot program: 'Not for the faint of heart']]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-cr-48-chrome-hardware-pilot-program-not-for-the-faint-of-heart</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-cr-48-chrome-hardware-pilot-program-not-for-the-faint-of-heart</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:10:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-cr-48-chrome-hardware-pilot-program-not-for-the-faint-of-heart</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Google Cr-48 laptop. (Credit:Google) Want to get your hands on one of those Chrome OS laptops demoed by Google today at the Chrome OS launch event Admittedly, the first glimpse at a Chrome OS laptop wasn't exactly visually inspiring, but that's because it was a deliberately generic-looking black box for testing and development, not a final retail product targeted to store shelves. But while this system, code-named Cr-48, won't be available on Amazon or in Best Buy, that doesn't mean it'll be impossible to get. Google's Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop Google's Chrome pilot program invites Web surfers to sign up as essentially beta testers for the hardware and software. Heading over to Google's Chrome section, you'll find detailed instructions on how to apply. Google says: The Chrome operating system is a work in progress. We're looking for the right users to try it out and tell us how we can make it better. Each participant in the Pilot program will receive a Cr-48 Chrome notebook' in return, we'll expect you to use it regularly and send us detailed feedback. The application page for the pilot program adds, &quot;The Pilot program is not for the faint of heart. Things might not always work just right.&quot; The program is open to &quot;individuals, businesses, schools, nonprofits, and developers based in the United States,&quot; and &quot;applicants must be at least 18 years of age.&quot;  If you want to apply for the Google Chrome pilot program, start here, but don't get your hopes up, as quantities are limited. We have a limited number of Chrome notebooks to distribute, and we need to ensure that they find good homes. That's where you come in. Everything is still very much a work in progress, and it's users, like you, that often give us our best ideas about what feels clunky or what's missing.  According to Google, the specs for the Cr-48 are as follows: 12.1-inch displayFull-size keyboardOversize clickable touchpadWorld-mode 3G802.11n Wi-FiEight-plus hours of useEight-plus days of standbyWebcamSSD hard drive        Dan Ackerman     Full Profile E-mail Dan Ackerman   E-mail Dan Ackerman If you have a question or comment for Dan Ackerman, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       New York native Dan Ackerman (follow him on Twitter), a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and his most recent album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Opera goes to 11 with an extensions API]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=opera-goes-to-11-with-an-extensions-api</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=opera-goes-to-11-with-an-extensions-api</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:10:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=opera-goes-to-11-with-an-extensions-api</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Opera may be getting most of its attention these days from its mobile browsers, but that doesn't mean that the company is ignoring its desktop browser. The first beta for Opera 11 introduces a long-missing extensions API in a lightweight profile similar to those that run on WebKit-powered browsers like Chrome andSafari. New features in first Opera 11 beta Available for Windows and Mac, Opera 11 beta 1 debuts other minor but useful changes. The most noticeable of these is tab stacks, a tab grouping mechanism similar in concept to Firefox's Panorama but completely based in the tab bar. To use it, drag one tab on top of another. The bottom tab will disappear and an arrow will appear to the right of the tab. Click it and the tabs in the stack will slide out to one side. To break up a stack, drag a tab off the stack. Mouse over the stack to see previews for all the tabs in the stack.Another tweak made to tabs is that when you pin a tab, it will automatically jump to the left side of the tab bar. The personal bar has been replaced by a bookmarks bar, both pulling the browser into parity with the competition and making bookmarks accessible with one click.Plug-ins such as Adobe Flash can now be set to load on-demand, via a checkbox under the Content section in Preferences. This will allows pages to load content faster and minimize somewhat third-party plug-in based exploits, and was impressively smooth in its implementation. Opera&amp;39's extension network will look and feel familiar to anybody who&amp;39's used extensions in the WebKit-based Chrome and Safari.(Credit:Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Opera claims the tweak can improve performance up to 30 percent, and that the browser's performance in general has been improved. Opera says that Opera 11 beta 1 is 15 percent to 20 percent faster than Opera 10.63 on Linux, and that the browser size on disk has been reduced by almost one-third.Opera's security badge system marking sites as verified safe has received an overhaul, too. Click on the gray &quot;Web&quot; globe icon to the left of the URL bar to check a site's status. Getting information returned was quick with some sites and slow to stalled with others in the beta. Other color-coded badges include yellow for &quot;secure&quot; and green for &quot;trusted.&quot; Opera's take on the feature is interesting because it provides quick links for reporting a site as fraud or malware. When browsing with Opera Turbo on, the badge will display estimated data savings.Finally, the mouse gestures tutorial has been given a visual refresh, making it easier to learn them. Opera's extensions gallery has 131 extensions at the time of writing, which sounds tiny except for the fact that extension support has been available only in a limited alpha release for the past month and appear to be mostly sourced from Opera internal development team. Now that the feature is ready for a wider release with the beta, expect the number of user-contributed add-ons to jump. Tab stacks group your tabs using drag-and-drop, and are visible via mouse-over previews, so they feel like an extension of your current tab navigating habits.(Credit:Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Much like the WebKit-based add-on network, Opera's extensions install as buttons to the right of the search bar and auto-update. While they might seem to some users to be in conflict with the browser's existing widget network, Opera spokesman Thomas Ford says that's not the case. &quot;Widgets are stand-alone Web-based applications. They are meant to showcase the browser as an application platform. To that end, widgets work across PCs, phones, TVs and other environments. Extensions are really there to let you tweak and customize your browser experience.&quot;An Opera 11 beta has not yet been made available for Linux users. Linux users who want to experience the new features can download the regularly updated Opera 11 alpha snapshot.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook unveils e-mail, the sequel]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-unveils-e-mail-the-sequel</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-unveils-e-mail-the-sequel</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-unveils-e-mail-the-sequel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces the company&amp;39's new &amp;34'seamless messaging&amp;34' product this morning at a San Francisco hotel.(Credit:Rafe Needleman/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--&quot;We don't think that a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail,&quot; Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a press conference this morning as it unveiled a hotly anticipated revamp of its messaging system that many pundits had characterized as a &quot;Gmail killer.&quot;But unveiling an e-mail product wouldn't take into account all the other means of digital communication that have sprung up and are now used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, the young executive insisted. He says he was inspired by conversations with high schoolers who insisted to him that they use text messaging and Facebook messages in lieu of e-mail because &quot;it's too slow&quot; and &quot;too formal.&quot;So Facebook has debuted a sweeping messaging system--in the works for 15 months, according to Zuckerberg--that pulls in multiple channels of communication from across Facebook as well as other platforms, allowing for faster, shorter, and more real-time forms of messaging as well as Facebook's existing messaging service and chat client. Facebook messaging and chat are used by 350 million of Facebook's 500 million-plus active users around the world, and with 4 billion messages sent per day.Andrew Bosworth, the engineer who spearheaded Facebook&amp;39's new messaging system, speaks at today&amp;39's product unveiling.(Credit:Screenshot by CNET)&quot;It's not e-mail. It handles e-mail in addition to Facebook messages, and Facebook IM, and other IM and SMS and all the other different ways that you want to communicate,&quot; Zuckerberg said. &quot;It's true, people are going to be able to have Facebook.com e-mail addresses, but it's not e-mail.&quot;The product offers &quot;seamless messaging&quot; across different forms of communication--Facebook messages, e-mails, instant messages from a variety of clients, and text messages--aggregated conversation histories between any two given Facebook users, and a &quot;social in-box&quot; to prioritize messages that matter. This last feature is much like the Gmail &quot;priority in-box&quot; that Google has been testing out over the past few months.&quot;People should share however they want to share,&quot; said Andrew Bosworth, the Facebook engineer who spearheaded the project. &quot;If you want to send me an e-mail and I want to get it on Facebook, that'll work. If you want to chat with me and I want to get it on Facebook Messages, that'll work too.&quot; There is, at this point, no voice chat, but Zuckerberg said that option may come into play depending on demand for it.The &quot;social in-box&quot; will weigh priority of messages based on conversation histories and which contacts are likely to get ongoing responses, filtering out spam as well. Facebook members will also have the option of only receiving messages at their Facebook.com addresses, which are based on the Facebook user names that were first introduced earlier this year.The Facebook messaging overhaul caps off a season of perpetual product releases and revamps from Facebook, from Facebook Places in August to the Groups overhaul this fall. But this one will be slower to percolate into the Facebook user base: invitation-only for now, it will be rolling out over the next few months.While Facebook claims this isn't meant to kill e-mail clients, it's clear that e-mail providers are noticing. AOL, for one, pushed out a preview of its e-mail overhaul this weekend. Google, meanwhile, has been making one attempt after another to use Gmail and Gchat users' networks of contacts as the basis for next-generation messaging products, but it hasn't had much luck: Google Buzz was poorly received, and the more experimental Google Wave was shut down altogether after a few months.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Yahoo plans 10 percent layoff in product unit]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-plans-10-percent-layoff-in-product-unit</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-plans-10-percent-layoff-in-product-unit</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:10:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=yahoo-plans-10-percent-layoff-in-product-unit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Yahoo is indeed preparing to lay off employees, in a reduction in force that will be done in December.But the layoffs, first reported in TechCrunch at 20 percent, will be closer to 10 percent and be almost completely centered on the product organization under Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, sources close to the situation said.That would mean layoffs of about 650, since that part of Yahoo has about 6,500 employees.Yahoo, in fact, just put out a statement saying the 20 percent figure was &quot;inaccurate.&quot; Said the company in a statement: &quot;Yahoo is always evaluating expenses to align with the company's financial goals. However, a 20 percent reduction in Yahoo's workforce across the board is misleading and inaccurate.&quot;Well, kind of, because it is a big layoff, nonetheless.In addition, sources said, the layoffs might result in the outsourcing of some functions at the company.Even at a lower figure, the move will surely be yet another blow to morale at the much-buffeted Silicon Valley Internet giant. Just this week, for example, Google gave its employees a 10 percent pay raise and $1,000. Facebook, similarly, is showering benefits on its workers.Along with a spate of executive departures, Yahoo is under scrutiny by Wall Street, as well as the subject of much takeover speculation. This has put Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz under even more pressure to show results after almost two years as top manager. Known as an executive who knows how to cut costs, she has yet to prove that she can grow the Yahoo business with new innovations.Yahoo has just more than 14,000 employees. It has undergone many layoffs, but only once in a major way under Bartz.Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Steve Wozniak wishes he had a dual AT&038'T-Verizon iPhone (video interview)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-wozniak-wishes-he-had-a-dual-at038t-verizon-iphone-video-interview</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-wozniak-wishes-he-had-a-dual-at038t-verizon-iphone-video-interview</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=steve-wozniak-wishes-he-had-a-dual-at038t-verizon-iphone-video-interview</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak definitely wants a Verizon iPhone.We caught up with him today at the press event for the Computer History  Museum&amp;'s Revolution Exhibit, which opens Thursday in Mountain View,  Calif., and asked him what he thought of the upcoming device, which was officially announced this morning.He&amp;'s a big gadget fan and said he thinks that Verizon is the best cell phone network in the United States. He said he&amp;'s excited about the Verizon iPhone&amp;'s mobile hot spot capability, since the connectivity saves him on occasion.Wozniak is a fan of choice. He said he doesn&amp;'t like the fact that Android phones have had the Verizon network all to themselves. He also can&amp;'t wait to get the 4G LTE version at some point in the future and would love to have a phone that could access two different networks.Check out the video of the ever-talkative Woz.Next Story: Foursquare explains itself better to businesses and brands Previous Story: Myspace: Wea4a4re cutting staff by 47 percent, but our redesign is greatPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: iPhone, Verizon iPhoneCompanies: Apple, Computer History MuseumPeople: Steve Wozniak          Tags: iPhone, Verizon iPhoneCompanies: Apple, Computer History MuseumPeople: Steve WozniakDean 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[Reward Level: Fill Out This Signup Form For A Free $5 Gift Card (And Watch Conversions&nbsp'Spike)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reward-level-fill-out-this-signup-form-for-a-free-5-gift-card-and-watch-conversionsnbspspike</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reward-level-fill-out-this-signup-form-for-a-free-5-gift-card-and-watch-conversionsnbspspike</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=reward-level-fill-out-this-signup-form-for-a-free-5-gift-card-and-watch-conversionsnbspspike</guid>
<description><![CDATA[During your time online, you&amp;'ve filled out dozens a4&quot; probably even hundreds a4&quot; of forms of all shapes and sizes, covering everything from usernames to billing information. Unfortunately, nobody actually enjoys filling out these forms, which can lead to serious conversion problems for web apps: new users will often happily wander around a site to learn about a new widget, but as soon as you ask them for their email address or credit card information, most of the time they&amp;'ll shrug their shoulders and head back to FarmVille.That&amp;'s a big problem, and it&amp;'s one that Reward Level, a new startup launching today, may have a solution for: it&amp;'s incentivizing users to fill out forms by offering them hot deals as a reward. It sounds simple, but that&amp;'s exactly why it might actually work.The startup is the latest from entrepreneur Noah Kagan, whose other projects include Kickflip, Gambit, and most recently, AppSumo a4&quot; a deals site for premium applications and web software. Reward Level, he says, is a bit like a distributed version of AppSumo.Here&amp;'s how it works: publishers that want to get more of their users to finish completing a form (be it their user registration form or something else) head to Reward Level and grab a couple snippets of JavaScript, which they then embed on their sites.From then on, when a new user arrives at that form, they&amp;'ll see a deal associated with it a4&quot; these deals will vary, but include things like free gift cards, or discounts on premium accounts at another site. Finish completing the form, and Reward Level will send an email with the discount code or whatever other information is needed to redeem the reward.That&amp;'s it, at least as far as the publishers and users are concerned. Kagan says that initial results have been promising. Over the last several months the servicea4shas been in testing with twenty publishers, and it&amp;'s displayed nearly 100,000 reward offers so far. He says that publishers have seen conversion rates increase &amp;''as high as 20.1%&amp;'', though obviously this probably isn&amp;'t the norm.So where are these rewards coming from Reward Level is offering a self-serve platform that will let companies sign up to offer rewards. These rewards are then syndicated to Reward Level&amp;'s publisher sites a4&quot; an algorithm is used to determine which rewards are best suited for each publisher, and companies can create a blacklist to ensure they won&amp;'t appear next to their competitors.Reward Level is free for publishers, but it charges companies offering rewards for each conversion (which is defined as a user who clicks the redemption link Reward Level sends upon completing a form). Reward Level charges $5 per conversion, but if the company offering the reward is also a publisher with Reward Level&amp;'s widget installed, they only have to pay $2.50 per conversion.I like this idea a lot, but there are a couple issues Reward Level may have to deal with. First, users may simply fill out forms with dummy data in order to get access to the &amp;8216'good&amp;' deals (Kagan says that the service hasn&amp;'t run into this yet, but that it will deal with it accordingly if and when it does).Reward Level also has to make sure it can offer attractive rewards for products that users will recognize by name (it doesn&amp;'t do much good if users are getting offered 30% off on something they&amp;'ve never heard of). Right now it sounds like the site is focusing on building out its distribution footprint, which will hopefully help it attract high-quality rewards. For starters it seems to have some good ones though, including $5 Amazon gift cards.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Google Docs editing finally comes to mobile browsers a4a4a4sbut how useful is it]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-docs-editing-finally-comes-to-mobile-browsers-âÂ€Ââ but-how-useful-is-it</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-docs-editing-finally-comes-to-mobile-browsers-âÂ€Ââ but-how-useful-is-it</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-docs-editing-finally-comes-to-mobile-browsers-âÂ€Ââ but-how-useful-is-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Dear Google: If you keep this up, I won&amp;'t have any more excuses to be unproductive on my phone in transit.Google announced today that Google Docs users can now edit their files in mobile browsers on iPhones and devices running Google&amp;'s Android operating system.Google Docs users could already access their files and view them. They can now select a new edit function and add or remove information as they see fit. The functionality extends to Google&amp;'s Spreadsheets, a cloud-based version of Microsoft&amp;'s Excel, as well as its word document editor.The mobile document editor is certainly useful. It allows people to edit their Google-hosted documents from anywhere. In theory. In practice, editing documents on a mobile device can be a real challenge. There&amp;'s the small screen to begin with, and the keyboard takes up most of the screen on most phones. Editing spreadsheets is particularly unwieldy, as the user interface changes to show very large text boxes.Google Docs is already a strong player that offers a free collaboration service for businesses that have multiple employees strewn across the country. While one member of a team edits a document, other members can see the changes in real-time. Yammer and Salesforce&amp;'s Chatter, two other huge players in the business collaboration space, already have mobile applications. With Google Docs already behaving as a collaboration service, the next logical step was to take it mobile.Google doesna4a4t provide details about how Docs is doing, but itsays the app has a4Atens of millions of users.a4 And Google Apps, the bundle of business tools that includes Docs, has signed up 2 million companies with more than 25 million users total.Microsoft also recently brought all of itsOffice applications online in response to Googlea4a4s increasingly popular web document applications.The alternative Microsoft offered before release of its Office 365 suite was paying for its Sharepoint program, a file-sharing and collaboration tool that integrates with its Office suite. But with collaboration providers like Yammer and Google becoming increasingly popular, Microsoft has been forced to move its services into the cloud to compete.Next Story: Lessons for innovators from building a Rube Goldberg machine Previous Story: Anobit raises $32M for flash memory that&amp;'s harder, better, faster, strongerPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Chatter, collaboration, enterprise, Google Docs, Office 365Companies: Google, Microsoft, salesforce, Yammer          Tags: Chatter, collaboration, enterprise, Google Docs, Office 365Companies: Google, Microsoft, salesforce, YammerVentureBeat 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[Hulu CEO lukewarm on ad-free version]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-ceo-lukewarm-on-ad-free-version</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-ceo-lukewarm-on-ad-free-version</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hulu-ceo-lukewarm-on-ad-free-version</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar has said in the past that the online video site is considering a premium service thata4a4s completely ad-free, but today at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco, he didna4a4t seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea.The company has already been testing its Hulu Plus subscription service, which provides users with more content and allows them to watch Hulu on mobile devices like the iPhone &amp;8212' but it doesna4a4t eliminate ads. When GigaOma4a4s Om Malik asked whether Hulu is considering a more expensive subscription service that does do away with ads, Kilar said he isna4a4t ruling it out, but he added that the audience for that kind of service isna4a4t as large as Malik might think.a4AThere is nothing that prevents us from presenting an ad-free version of Hulu Plus,a4 Kilar said. a4AIta4a4s just the economics.a4In other words, Hulu could set a price where an ad-free model would make sense, but when the company asked its users whether they wanted to pay a certain price and skip the ads or pay a lower price thata4a4s possible due to advertising, the latter option appeals to a4Athe vast majority,a4 he said.In fact, the main focus of Kilara4a4s keynote speech was on how Hulu can improve the advertising environment. Even though subscriptions and other revenue sources are important, advertising is still the biggest way companies make money from premium content right now, Kilar said. As the world moves towards Hulua4a4s vision that viewers will be able to watch whatever they want wherever they want, brand advertisers will be able to deliver ads that are much more targeted to the interests of their audiences.Kilar outlined some of the ways Hulu is experimenting with new advertising models. They include some methods that Hulu has announced already, such as the ability to choose from multiple ads and to choose to watch a longer ad at the beginning of a show if that means the rest of the program is ad-free.And there are some methods that Kilar talked about publicly for the first time. When you finish a show, Hulu now uses an algorithm to recommend other shows that you will probably like. Kilar said 10 percent of users who get show recommendations end up either watching that show right away or at least bookmarking the show page to watch later. Another new feature allows viewers to opt-out of the ad theya4a4re watching at the moment and choose another one. The first advertiser doesna4a4t have to pay anything, and the second advertiser pays a higher fee than normal, since theya4a4re getting engagement from the viewer.Research firm Nielsen found that after viewers saw an ad on Hulu, 45 percent remembered the brand and 55 percent remembered the message, compared to 29 percent and 22 percent, respectively, for regular primetime TV programming.Malik also questioned Kilar about the a4Acord-cuttinga4 phenomenon, where services like Hulu and Netflix are seen as replacements for normal television. Kilar responded that both Hulu and, from what hea4a4s heard, Netflix were a4Aconsciously designed to be different and not a substitute for paid TV services in the living room.a4 For example, neither Hulu nor Netflix offers anything that can replace the live sports or news experiences.So Kilar argued that cord-cutting discussions are premature, although we will probably see a4Aserious changes in terms of the distribution landscapea4 over the next few years.Earlier in his talk, Kilar also offered some numbers about Hulu&amp;'s audience and revenue.Next Story: Borrego Solar lands $36 million in project financing Previous Story: How to maximize the value of your organizationa4a4s IP investmentPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: ad free, Hulu Plus, NewTeeVee Live, online advertisingCompanies: HuluPeople: Jason Kilar          Tags: ad free, Hulu Plus, NewTeeVee Live, online advertisingCompanies: HuluPeople: Jason KilarAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[T-Mobile taps Qik to power mobile video chat service on MyTouch 4G]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-taps-qik-to-power-mobile-video-chat-service-on-mytouch-4g</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-taps-qik-to-power-mobile-video-chat-service-on-mytouch-4g</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jurasminnite</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=t-mobile-taps-qik-to-power-mobile-video-chat-service-on-mytouch-4g</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Before there was (Apple&amp;'s video-calling app) FaceTime, there was Qik. Now T-Mobile and the video chat company are teaming up to bring integrated video chat to the upcoming MyTouch 4G Android smartphone.Qik&amp;'s service &amp;8212' which lets users stream live video to the web from their phones and video chat with other Qik users &amp;8212' has been around for some time. But now the company truly has a chance to shine thanks to the proliferation of front-facing cameras for video conferencing. The popular Evo 4G was the first Android phone to include a front-facing camera and had Qik&amp;'s application built-in.Not-so-creatively dubbed &amp;''T-Mobile Video Chat powered by Qik&amp;'', the service takes video chat to the next level for Android phones by integrating it directly into the MyTouch 4G. In addition to letting users easily perform two-way video calls, it will also be able to take advantage of the native Android address book, detect the availability of contacts for video chat, and even let users leave video messages.It&amp;'s unclear if users will need to sign up for Qik&amp;'s service in order to perform video calls. We&amp;'ve dropped a line to the company and will update when we hear back. (Update: Qik tells us that users will have to sign up for an account to use T-Mobile&amp;'s service.)Just like Apple&amp;'s seamless integration of FaceTime video chat on the iPhone 4, it&amp;'s important for video chat to be integrated directly with Android phones. The small barrier of launching a third-party application and signing up for its service is enough to keep mainstream users away. With FaceTime, iPhone 4 users only need to hit a button to start a video call &amp;8212' hopefully the process will be as simple for MyTouch 4G users.T-Mobile&amp;'s video chat service also bests FaceTime in a few ways: There&amp;'s currently no way to easily tell if an iPhone contact is available for video calls, and FaceTime doesn&amp;'t allow for video messages. And since T-Mobile&amp;'s offering is based on Qik&amp;'s service, MyTouch 4G users could potentially chat with Qik users on other platforms.Via Boy Genius ReportNext Story: SurveyMonkey bucks the trend, picks up $100M in debt financing Previous Story: Europe and China see lowest venture deal counts on recordPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, FaceTime, myTouch, MyTouch 4G, T-Mobile Video Chat, video chatCompanies: Qik, T Mobile          Tags: Android, FaceTime, myTouch, MyTouch 4G, T-Mobile Video Chat, video chatCompanies: Qik, T MobileDevindra 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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