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Video Content Farms: Howcast
Written by Richard MacManus / July 29, 2010 11:01 PM / 0 Comments

Content farms have been in the spotlight over the past year. They're companies that generate hundreds or thousands of new pieces of content on a daily basis. Much of their traffic comes from Google search, so the aim of content farms is to rake in the money with online advertising. Demand Media has been the most ambitious of these companies, but even the big portals are doing it nowadays. Yahoo! recently acquired Associated Content and AOL launched an initiative earlier this year disingeniously called Seed.

In our content farms coverage so far, we've focused mostly on textual content farms. But video may well be the next frontier. A startup called Howcast specializes in mass production of video content.

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What E.T., Facebook and Social Currencies Have in Common with the Cloud
Written by Alex Williams / July 30, 2010 1:04 AM / 0 Comments

etimage.jpegThere is this concept of virtual currency in the cloud that we explored back in May. It came from IBM and its use of tokens as a virtual currency for customers to use software in the cloud.

The concept draws on the fundamental belief communities work in a social manner. Each member of the community participates through the exchange of currency that has a specific unit of value.


3 Promising Digital Business Card Solutions
Written by John Paul Titlow / July 29, 2010 10:15 PM / 3 Comments

business-cards-blue.jpgAs our professional lives increasingly happen in the cloud and on the go, one decidedly old school aspect of networking that remains prevalent is the paper-based business card. Dozens of Web and mobile apps have attempted to recreate the business card for a digital world, some more effectively than others. Here are three that look promising.


A Sensor In Every Chicken: Cisco Bets on the Internet of Things
Written by Adrianne Jeffries / July 29, 2010 9:32 PM / 2 Comments

chickens.bmpA few months ago we wrote about how big-name companies are starting to talk about the Internet of Things - a term for the network formed by real-world objects connected to the Internet - indicating that the idea is picking up speed.

Today Chief Futurist for Cisco Systems Dave Evans appeared on the company's netcast, Talk2Cisco, to answer questions about the next 50 years and beyond via email and Twitter. Turns out one of the world's biggest technology companies is betting the Internet of Things is going to be big.


Google Places API Could Do For Check-ins What Google Maps Did For Maps
Written by Marshall Kirkpatrick / July 29, 2010 6:28 PM / 4 Comments

Google has begun opening up access to a new Application Programming Interface (API) called the Places API. Developers building apps that include a "check in at this place" feature can use the Places API to search across all the places users might check in for basic information like business name, address, phone number and other descriptive information. That information will be editable by the businesses listed and no caching of data is allowed, so apps will have to ping Places regularly for real-time data.

Making this data as free and easy to use as Google Maps is today could create a foundation for new location-savvy apps to bloom throughout the mobile web, with far less overhead than such apps have to wrestle with today in order to provide a rich user experience. One catch? All these apps will have to be integrated with Google's Adsense.


Fallout From Financial Reform Bill May Hamper Angel Investing
Written by Audrey Watters / July 29, 2010 5:01 PM / 4 Comments

bank_july10.jpgThroughout the spring, we covered the financial reform legislation as it wound its way through committee and Congress. The final version - Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act - was signed into effect by President Obama on July 21. And while some of the provisions that were most troubling in earlier versions were axed before the final bill was passed, there is still a sense that the repercussions from the legislation might dampen investment, particularly at the early stage and particularly from angel investors.


Death Threats Against Iranian Atheist Blogger: This Week in Online Tyranny
Written by Curt Hopkins / July 29, 2010 4:00 PM / 2 Comments

censorship.jpgDeath threats aimed at Iranian atheist blogger, Fariboz Shamshiri.

"One electronic threat was that someone would 'cut his throat.' In another message they wrote 'the death is coming to you soon soon.' He says he still doesn't know who send these messages (they're all anonymous), but he suspects -- based on past experience -- range from Basij militia, Revolutionary Guards Corps Cyber Affairs Division and/or some mullahs or students of seminary schools."

His main blog is Rotten Gods and he is the editor of Stop Torturing Us. Iran's lucky to have him. And seriously. Maybe he'll have to explain himself before G-d, but he sure as hell shouldn't have to do so before a mob of sloe-eyed nitwits.


Forget Technical Terms - Whoever Gets the Most Developers Wins...Period
Written by Alex Williams / July 29, 2010 3:15 PM / 1 Comments

WordleRWWCloud.jpgIn a recent survey by Evans Data, Google gets accolades for its public cloud. IBM gets top marks from developers for its private cloud.

But what do developers want the most? They want the cloud to be simple to use. They want it to be as as easy to get your data in as easy it is to get the data out. And they want it to be secure.

Evans Data survey took a look at the whole gamut of issues related to cloud computing in an annual survey, and its conclusions focus on the dichotomies between private and public clouds.


Google Says It "Overestimated" Complete Block of Web Search in China [UPDATED]
Written by Adrianne Jeffries / July 29, 2010 3:07 PM / 1 Comments

googlelogo6.jpgA Google Web site that monitors access in China is reporting that Google Web search, which was fully or mostly accessible yesterday in mainland China is being completely blocked. But the company is now saying that service is fine.

The company's stock had slipped nearly 2% in after-hours trading as of 6 p.m. EST.


The Truth About Legacy Technology
Written by Curt Hopkins / July 29, 2010 3:00 PM / 6 Comments

pantheon.jpgWe labor under two major misperceptions about technology: Technology from one point in time is better than one further in the past and anything new displaces what came before. When we actively think about these ideas, we may dismiss them. But it's my contention that these are in fact our unconscious, default positions. (These notions would no doubt be scoffed at by medieval Europeans who spent years desperately dreaming of copping a squat inside like the Romans did. But they are operant in the here-and-now.)

As people who live in and among the very latest of technology, I think it's a necessary corrective to examine how we use legacy technologies. So, I asked the most first-adopty people I could find, my fellow ReadWriteWeb staffers. What "old fashioned" technology did they employ every day? Some of them did not respond, as they were immersed in a virtual reality safari or traveling in time. But here's some backtalk from those who did.


e-Reader Price War Could Slow - Sony Hints It Won't Play That Game
Written by Adrianne Jeffries / July 29, 2010 2:19 PM / 6 Comments

sony reader.JPGWe posted yesterday about the price war that's currently raging between Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Sony, makers of some of the top-selling e-readers in the U.S.

Today a public relations representative sent us a statement on behalf of Sony that suggests the company may be pulling out of the race to the bottom.


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