Social networks are almost pervasive. Even if you're not actually on one, it's becoming impossible to avoid hearing of them and often it's the same networks that keep popping up, such as Facebook or MySpace.…
Earlier this afternoon MySpace scrubbed all traces of Project Playlist music widgets from the site, and users are unable to embed any further playlists. The scrub was the result of infringement notices from the major labels, all of which are in litigation with Project Playlist.
The labels, sources say, sent the same takedown notices to Facebook, which has 660,000 users with playlists from Project Playlist. But Facebook has refused to comply with those demands, our sources say.
Facebook for their part are refusing to comment, as is Project Playlist. But our music industry sources are calling Facebook's refusal to comply "irresponsible" and saying that a lawsuit is inevitable if Facebook doesn't remove the application and widgets.
It's the first major label deal for the social music industry's latest enfant terrible, which has been hammered by lawsuits and seen its widgets banned from MySpace.
HSRD writes "Web-savvy moms who breast-feed are irate that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace restrict photos of nursing babies . The disputes reveal how the sites' community policing techniques sometimes struggle to keep up with the booming number and diversity of their members."
Application platforms, broadly defined, are here to stay. Facebook's platform, first launched in 2007, now has tens of thousands of applications. MySpace, which mostly relies on Google's OpenSocial platform, has 4,500 apps available to users, and 211 million applications have been installed. The iPhone, which only launched its App Store in July 2008, has more than 3,000 applications, and they've been downloaded 300 million times.
These application platforms may even become a significant platform for more mainstream PC usage. Android is now being hacked to work on netbooks, and we believe Apple has plans to release a large form factor iPod Touch running their App Store platform. It's not inconceivable that Microsoft would build this type of software distribution mechanism directly into Windows in the future.
But there's a big gaping hole in all existing platforms. None have a direct payments platform to let applications collect micropayments from users.
At the beginning of each year I traditionally publish a list of my favorite startups and products. This is the fourth year I've done this - previous lists: 2006, 2007, 2008.
This is a list of the products I tend to use daily. Some are for work (Wordpress, Delicious, Zoho, etc.), some are for fun (MySpace Music, Hulu, etc), and some are useful for both (Digg, Skype, YouTube, etc.). But I use most of them every day, or nearly every day, and I would not be as productive or happy without all of them.
The list changes a bit from year to year, and is also getting longer (see chart). Just three products have been favorites all four years: TechMeme, Skype, Wordpress. TechMeme continues to be the news aggregator I check multiple times per day to keep up on tech news. Skype is the instant messaging and VoIP platform that I use most often, and Wordpress software powers all of our blogs.
I've added nine new products, including one gadget (which I've left off in the past): Animoto, Friendfeed, Hulu, iPhone 3G, MySpace Music, Pandora (which was on in previous years) Docstoc/Scribd and Yammer.
Last night we released the finalist names for the Crunchies Awards. Vote here for who you think should win. We've set up a site that is pretty self-explanatory, with all of the names of each finalist for every category, along with links to their Websites and Crunchbase profiles where you can learn more about each one before voting. The Crunchies represents the best the Web had to offer in 2008, and you get to help choose who will win. Below is a voter's guide for two of the major categories to get you started.
Best Overall is the big prize. Amazon Web Services makes it as a finalist this year because of the sheer number of startups that are built on top of its cloud computing infrastructure. Facebook won last year, but makes a return as a nominee due to popular demand. Facebook continued to gain massive mainstream adoption in 2008 (with 140 million members now) and launched some major initiatives to extend its social computing platform beyond its site, most notably Facebook Connect (which by itself is a finalist for Best Technology Innovation, going up against Google Friend Connect). But does Facebook deserve to win again?
MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third party widgets, it seems - today they've banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing Project Playlist. But unlike previous 2006 and 2007 blocks of iMeem, Photobucket and many others, this time MySpace is doing it under threat of litigation from the major labels.
We first got word from MySpace users that their Playlist widgets are simply vanishing from their MySpace profiles earlier today. When we contacted MySpace they confirmed the ban, noting that they have received infringement notices from "major music companies":
Much like E, Poken lets you exchange contact details with someone using physical means. But unlike E, Poken is really, really cute.
The USB device comes in four styles: bee, alien, panda and flaming skeleton. Put your Poken's hand up to your buddy's; then when you plug yours into a USB port, your friend's contacts will automatically sync to your Poken account (which then propogates to Facebook, MySpace and other networks). It all works fine as long as everyone you possibly want to trade details with also has a Poken. [Poken via Fire Box]
Beejive's already quite usable Beejive IM iPhone app just got an update to 2.0, adding file transfer and voice messages to its multitude of IM connectivity.
Currently, you can connect to "AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN/Live, Myspace IM, and Yahoo messenger" with Beejive. With 2.0, you can send in-line photos, audio and video files, PDFs and Office docs to anyone you're chatting with, provided the recipient has an IM client from the last 10 years.
The best part is the voice message feature, which you can activate with the microphone icon. The worst part is the price: $16. You do get what you pay for, and Beejive seems to be a pretty fancy IM app. [App Store via TUAW]
MySpace has officially blocked access to embedded widgets from Project Playlist, one of the myriad start-ups that lets members create music playlists and share them with their friends.
This could come across negatively because MySpace runs MySpace Music, a service that competes with Project Playlist. Which is probably why the News Corp.-owned MySpace is making it very clear that they've blocked Project Playlist because of complaints from major music labels.
"MySpace is an open platform that welcomes all developers to build rich and legitimate applications for its global community," a statement from the company read. "We take copyright issues very seriously and our goal is to help developers build a substantial business by creating an environment that respects rights holders and protects their content."
The statement continued: "MySpace has received notices of infringement about Project Playlist at different times from several of the major music companies currently suing Project Playlist. Per our policy of taking very seriously the requests of rights holders to block access to third party sites that are believed to be infringing, we have evaluated the requests of the major music companies and determined that it is in our best interest not to allow Project Playlist widgets on MySpace, and effective immediately, we will no longer be allowing these widgets within the MySpace platform."
Indeed, Warner Music, EMI, and Universal Music Group have ongoing lawsuits against Project Playlist, which recently hired former Facebook chief operating officer Owen Van Natta as its CEO. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), itself going through a major transition as it ends legal action against individual file-sharers and is rumored to be on the verge of budget cuts, also sued Project Playlist this spring.
The labels' complaint against Project Playlist was industry-wide, not restricted to MySpace. But Facebook, meanwhile, hasn't blocked Project Playlist widgets. Whether that's due to Van Natta's Facebook connection (he's also an investor in Project Playlist), or to anything else, is unclear--since litigation is involved, neither party is commenting.
In the digital music industry, 2008 really was the year of the playlist. Streaming music companies took off, and improved social-network sharing features made it easy to swap your favorite music lineups with your friends.
But despite its rampant and well-documented problems, the music industry's muscle has been what's steered the trend. The two highest-profile "mixtape" start-ups, Mixwit and Muxtape, both shut down amid the threat of legal action that their young founders didn't want to handle. Bigger companies like Imeem and iLike, both of which have negotiated with the record labels and struck deals, have fared better--despite a number of rumors that Project Playlist wants to merge with Imeem.
As for MySpace, the labels have all invested in MySpace Music, so it's understandable that the social network would be quick to respond to its concerns.
New European streaming music service Spotify, which TechCrunch UK has been tracking since October, is getting increasingly good reviews. Spotify is a downloadable client for Windows and Mac users that lets you search, browse and stream a deep collection of music. Sadly, it is only available in the UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain and France and you need an invitation to join (InviteShare is actively trading them).
The user experience is beyond even the best web based streaming services like LaLa, MySpace Music and Imeem. It acts like a fully stocked iTunes, with everything hyperlinked to easily find related music. Creating playlists is a snap. There is no way to move music outside of the application, or onto music devices. But it is the best way to legally find and stream music for free that I've seen
I have no invitation and I live in the U.S., but I've been using Spotify all afternoon. There have previously been posts on getting into the service from a banned location once you have an invitation using a proxy server. Today on Digg, though, a commenter left instructions on how to use Spotify without an invitation. I tried it, and it works (for now).
Getting a gadget tattoo doesn't always mean you're sad, lonely person desperately seeking something, anything to cling to, like the Zune Guy.
Natalie "Kommodore" Thompson just loves open source—which is a real cause!—and got an Android tattoo to show her commitment. And, well, look at her.
Even if she does decide open source is the stupid in 10 years, at least all she's got permanently etched onto her wrist is a little green robot with an adorable overbite, not a horribly ugly Mark of the Beast.[MySpace via Engadget via BBG]
Cherple, a new service from San Diego based Globaltel Media, wants to connect the world's 1.5 billion Internet users to the 3.3 billion wireless devices via an instant message-to-SMS platform.
You can use the basic service today, which uses a web interface to chat two way with U.S. mobile phones via SMS. No registration is required. It works much like Google's new Gmail SMS service which launched last month.
At CES, though, the company says they'll launch a downloadable version of the service as well, for both Windows and Mac users. Having a persistent presence on the desktop will make the application much more useful (I hope it also auto-imports and syncs mobile numbers and names from my address book). A Linux version will follow, as well as MySpace and Facebook apps. The company is also white labeling the service.
The Crunchies ceremony and party in San Francisco is just four days away. Who's going to win best startup of 2008? It's up to you. Just make sure you vote by Wednesday (we've extended the voting deadline by two days).
We've got an awesome evening planned. The ceremony kicks off at 7:30 pm, Friday, January 9 at the historic Herbst Theater in San Francisco. Awards will be given out to the winners (yep, those gorilla statues - here's the back story).
Among other surprises at the event, you’ll see the famous Richter Scales make a return performance. We’ve commissioned them to write a special song just for the Crunchies.
Right after the main event is a big party at City Halls Rotunda, from 9 - midnight. MySpace will be showing up with a fancy DJ, and drinks will be flowing.
Tickets are available here until they are sold out. See you there!
Don't expect big layoffs at MySpace parent company Fox Interactive Media any time soon. In an email to all staff on Friday, Fox Interactive chief Peter Levinsohn says that 2009 will be an "even rockier economic climate" and takes steps to reduce costs. Chief among the changes - the end of the free lunch program for all employees (the French would riot over such an outrage).
Levinsohn also says he has avoided a hiring freeze. But if you are a contractor or temporary employee, watch your back and steal those office supplies now. Shortly after returning from the holidays you may find yourself being walked out of the building.
The memo also details the successes of FIM companies over the year (MySpace, IGN, Rotten Tomatoes, Photobucket, Fox Sports, etc.).
The full memo is below:
As you know, we've been hearing some mind-blowing Zii hype lately. If this latest rumor has any weight to it, among earth-shattering revelations unearthed in Creative's booth at CES will be a Zii-powered Zen. Of course, screenshots like these can be faked all too easily -- but really, why would anyone bother? What we have here is something that resembles previous Zen interfaces, formatted landscape rather than portrait, with what appears to be a widescreen display. Really, guys? Is this what passes for "revolutionary" these days? Call us jaded, but it's rather hard for us to believe that any PMP would have the power to "better lives beyond our imagination." Unless, of course, you're talking about the MySpace MP3 player. We so want one of those.[Thanks, Oscar M.]
The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them no severance, we're told.
The company's product managers and engineers were laid off, leaving only a handful of finance and operations workers — which speaks to a website to be left on life support. Matt Berardo, a Yahoo executive hired on last summer, is also believed to be gone.
The company's Moscow-based management has told employees it blames the "global economic downturn" — the kind of pat excuse every boss is giving for layoffs, even when mismanagement or a bad business plan is really to blame. The brutal, abrupt cuts suggest something different: That Sup founder Andrew Paulson (above), who paid an estimated $30 million for LiveJournal a little over a year ago, has realized his expensive mistake in buying at the top of the bubble. Someone familiar with the company tells us Paulson lost the CEO job last summer to Annelies van den Belt, a former News Corp. executive, and was given the meaningless title of chairman; he's essentially out of the company now.
Executives at Six Apart, the blog-software company which sold LiveJournal to Sup, are happily counting the money in its bank. And they should consider themselves lucky that Vox, the LiveJournal knockoff it started, hasn't been more popular. At this point, having a larger social network in the portfolio would be a drag on the company's value.
LiveJournal, founded by engineer Brad Fitzpatrick in 1999, predated most blogging services and social networks, and anticipated many of their features. (Some of Fitzpatrick's software is vital to the operation of Facebook and other large sites today.) But Fitzpatrick never figured out how to turn it into a business. Instead, he sold it to Six Apart, which didn't have much more luck.
The weakest in the herd are always the first to fall. Facebook and MySpace, so far, have resisted layoffs. A host of also-ran social networks — Hi5, MyYearbook, and other obscurities — could be next. It's only a matter of time before investors reach the same apparent conclusion as Paulson: that there's a lot of fuss in running a social network, but not that much money.
It looks like embattled music service Project Playlist has someone other than Facebook in their corner. This morning, after remaining silent all weekend over the MySpace ban, they are announcing a much-needed agreement with Sony BMG to give users direct (and legal) access to that library.
Sony was never part of the litigation by the big labels that was filed on April 28, 2008, choosing instead to pursue negotiations. Warner Music, EMI and Universal, the three other big music labels, remain hostile to Project Playlist. And until all the labels have given the company a green light (and the litigation is settled), it's unlikely MySpace will un-ban them.
Courtney Love, our favorite rock star/experimental meta-blogger, clearly on an all-night blogging bender, warns that if we're expecting a happy Christmas story from her, then "think again..."
"this holiday season, It's all about self-acceptance and in your case the acceptance of your own homosexuality."
Basically—from what we can deduce—she's mad at Rob Jr., son of prominent lawyer Rob Kardashian (who "who represented a cold blooded murderer [O.J. Simpson] and made lots and lots of money," she helpfully adds) allegedly punched her gay employee in the face outside a nightclub because said employee was gay.
Earlier this afternoon 
At the beginning of each year I traditionally publish a list of my favorite startups and products. This is the fourth year I've done this - previous lists: 
Last night we 
MySpace is getting back into the business of blocking third party widgets, it seems - today they've banned embedded music widgets from the fast growing 
Much like 
Beejive's already quite usable Beejive IM 
New European streaming music service 
Getting a gadget tattoo doesn't always mean you're sad, lonely person desperately seeking something, anything to cling to, like the 
The 
Don't expect big layoffs at MySpace parent company Fox Interactive Media any time soon. In an email to all staff on Friday, Fox Interactive chief 
The bubble in social networking has burst, decisively. LiveJournal, the San Francisco-based arm of Sup, a Russian Internet startup, has cut about 20 of 28 employees — and offered them 
