
<?phpxml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
>
<channel>
<title>Haaze.com / reednett89 / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Tiny Darth Vader stars in VW 'Star Wars' ad]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tiny-darth-vader-stars-in-vw-star-wars-ad</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tiny-darth-vader-stars-in-vw-star-wars-ad</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:11:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>reednett89</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=tiny-darth-vader-stars-in-vw-star-wars-ad</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If you're a &quot;Star Wars&quot; fan--and who's not--you'll want to be one of the first to check out the new Volkwagen ad that's expected to air during this Sunday's Super Bowl.Thanks to the great mommy blog Tiny Iron Fists, I found the just-posted-on-You Tube ad today. Featuring a pint-size Darth Vader--actually a suburban kid in a Darth Vader suit who is fruitlessly trying to get &quot;the Force&quot; to work for him--the spot at first makes no sense as a VW ad.But with the twist, it all becomes clear, and makes you laugh too. And given the high-level negotiations that must have taken place in order to mix in the original &quot;Imperial March&quot; music and a Darth Vader outfit, you know that VW and Lucasfilm (and Deutsch LA, the agency that created the spot) worked hard to make sure there was a real payoff to the ad.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Google algorithm change tackles content copying]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-algorithm-change-tackles-content-copying</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-algorithm-change-tackles-content-copying</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 29 Jan 2011 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>reednett89</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=google-algorithm-change-tackles-content-copying</guid>
<description><![CDATA[In a blog post last week, Matt Cutts, head of Google's Webspam team, wrote about the progress the team has made in reducing the amount of spam in search engine results. In that post, he hinted at some changes in the works to push spam levels lower, including one that affects sites that copy content from other sites, as well as those that have low levels of original content.Clearly, there's a blurry line there--or a &quot;slippery slope,&quot; as Larry Dignan referred to it in his own post that waved some red flags over how the quality of a site would be judged.On Friday, Cutts posted an update to last week's post on his own blog, announcing that one specific change to the algorithm was approved at the team's weekly meeting and that it was launched earlier this week. In his post, Cutts explains:This was a pretty targeted launch: slightly over 2 percent of queries change in some way, but less than half a percent of search results change enough that someone might really notice. The net effect is that searchers are more likely to see the sites that wrote the original content rather than a site that scraped or copied the original site's content.When you're a search engine that processes billions of searches, small percentages equal big numbers--so, for Google, this is still a pretty significant change.Read more of &quot;Google algorithm change tackles content copying&quot; at ZDNet's Googling Google.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
</item>

<item>
<title><![CDATA[Layar Player lets others embed augmented reality in iPhone apps]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=layar-player-lets-others-embed-augmented-reality-in-iphone-apps</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=layar-player-lets-others-embed-augmented-reality-in-iphone-apps</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>reednett89</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=layar-player-lets-others-embed-augmented-reality-in-iphone-apps</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Augmented reality company Layar said today that it has launched a new augmented reality player that can be embedded for free in iPhone applications.The new Layar Player from the Amsterdam-based company came out of beta testing today and is available for agencies, brands and developers to embed into their own iPhone apps. Those apps can be used by the 1.4 million active users on the Layar platform. That&amp;'s in addition to iPhone users who have downloaded the apps that access the Layar Player.By creating a platform for augmented reality, the company will advance the cause of the technology a lot faster than if it tried to do all of the apps by itself.Augmented reality offerings like Layar can add layers of data and information on top of what you&amp;'re pointing your smatphone&amp;'s camera at. So, for example, if you turn your smartphone&amp;'s camera towards a store or a landmark, Layar could overlay a store review from Yelp or details about the landmark right on your viewfinder. If you point your phone at a restaurant, the app could show you what you could eat for dinner. If you point at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, you could see a view of what the Berlin Wall would have looked like from that view in the past.Today, three Layar Player apps are launching on the iPhone:* Snowboard Hero (Fishlabs and Muzar) &amp;8212' an augmented reality game sponsored by Microsoft&amp;'s Bing that lets players earn points by approaching areas where they can pick up virtual coins* Layar Trade &amp;8212' an app that lets people view recent projects from local builders* VerbeterdeBuurt &amp;8212' an app that lets neighbors post suggestions for improving public spaces.&amp;''This is about the democratization of augmented reality,&amp;'' said Layar co-founder Maarten Lehs-Fitzgerald, who spoke this week at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich.Layar promises more features later this year to make augmented reality even more pervasive. The Snowboard Hero app lets users collect extra credits in a game using augmented reality, where you point your camera at the landscape and can see virtual coins embedded in locations. If you walk to the locations, you can collect the credits. The goal is to collect as many credits as you can within five minutes.The VerbeterdeBuurt app, created by TAB Worldmedia and The Saints in the Netherlands, lets Dutch citizens report disturbances within their neighborhoods or submit ideas for improvements. Trade Vision by AYR Communications lets people see the work of local building contractors before hiring them. Available in the United Kingdom, the app shows what contractors have built in a local area.Layar is already available on Bada and Android phones. Lehs-Fitzgerald said cool uses of Layar include visualizing buildings that are proposed but haven&amp;'t yet been built, such as the Markthall in Rotterdam. He said Layar is talking with makers of mobile chip sets so it will be much easier to embed augmented reality functionality in smartphones in the future. Some 1,600 Layar apps have been built already.The Layar Player requires developers to embed a simple line of code so they can add augmented reality to their iPhone apps. The player can then &amp;''play&amp;'' your published layer in the iPhone app. Then the user can play the app without having to have a Layar Reality Browser app already installed on the smartphone.As we noted before, Layar was one of the earliest companies to venture into augmented  reality. It is available on Googlea4a4s Android mobile operating system, as well as the iPhone operating system iOS. Layar announced plans to launch on Symbian,  the operating system that powers most phones manufactured by Nokia,  last year. Yelp and Urbanspoon, two other apps that help discover new  restaurants, also have some form of augmented reality built-in.Unlike Yelp and Urbanspoon, Layar is more like a springboard that  brings in developers to figure out just what to do with the technology. Layarlaunched a store for special layers of information and graphics that you can superimpose on the world around you through your cell  phone. Publishers can create and sell special augmented reality layers  that tag places with information like real estate listings or  restaurants.Layar has raised more than $18.6 million to date in two rounds of funding from Intel Capital. Rivals include Junaio, Wikitude, Nokia and others. The company has scores of employees and was founded in June, 2009. Check out the videos below of the Layar technology in action.Next Story: Eric Schmidt&amp;'s talk on age of &amp;''augmented humanity&amp;'' at DLD (video) Previous Story: DreamIt chooses Mark Wachen to lead New York acceleratorPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Google Android, iPhone, Layar Player, SymbianCompanies: layar, Urban Spoon, YelpPeople: Maarten Lehs-Fitzgerald          Tags: Google Android, iPhone, Layar Player, SymbianCompanies: layar, Urban Spoon, YelpPeople: Maarten Lehs-FitzgeraldDean 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. 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>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
