Google today made its own contribution to solving the PC to TV problem with the release of Google Media Server. The Windows-only software works in conjunction with Google’s desktop search application - Google Desktop - to locate various media (photos, music and video) stored on your PC and make it available for streaming over a home network to any UPnP compatible or DLNA ‘certified’ device, such as a PlayStation 3.
Finding the right apartment to live in can be a daunting and time consuming task. Introin tries to make this process easier by creating a platform where prospective renters can communicate with current residents. Current residents can earn referral bonuses from their rental complex when they convince a prospective renter to move to their complex. Introit also gives renters the opportunity to advertise their own apartments for subleasing.
Researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz have built a test extension called WikiTrust that evaluates every word on Wikipedia and highlights text that was added by authors with a less than stellar reputation.
The research is only live on a cached copy of Wikipedia right now, but it targets what's possibly the biggest need Wikipedia has as it tries to grow into greater mainstream use - trust in an open system.
Although nearly everyone today has a cell phone, mobile marketing is still very much in its infancy and marketers are struggling with how best to use the mobile platform to influence consumers. So far, it seems they have not been that effective if you look at the numbers: only 6.9% of adults surveyed said that video on mobile phones influenced them to purchase electronics; 6.4% said text messaging did the same. However, when you turn your eyes to what those numbers look like for the younger crowd, an entirely different picture emerges.
Signal Patterns, makers of scientific-based social web apps, have just released a Facebook app whose goal is to help you find new friends based on an in-depth personality assessment algorithm. This app matches people based on their unique personality traits - not just "rough" personality types. If that sounds a lot like some dating web sites you've heard of...well, you're right. Signal Patters is essentially offering eHarmony for Facebook except instead of love connections, they hope to offer you a better way to find friends. The question is, is that something we need?
iYomu was a social network designed for adults, that launched in August 2007 with a splashy $1 million competition. Less than a year later, the company has closed its doors. Turns out adults didn't want a separate social network after all, or at least not iYomu's one. In this post we explore why this New Zealand startup failed. It wasn't just because of a lack of US funds, the lame excuse given by one of its co-founders. Execution was poor and there were design issues.
The technologists behind large companies are always fascinating. Unlike entrepreneurs, who often code their vision into software, CTOs channel their vision through the engineers working for them. CTOs of modern media companies are measured on their ability to bring innovation to the market quickly. This installment of People in Tech features a unique technologist. Mike Dunn (LinkedIn, Twitter) was instrumental in bringing Dell computers online, was part of Time Warner during its merger with AOL, and is now leading media giant Hearst Corporation.
Venturebeat reports that Microsoft might be close to acquiring the San Francisco based semantic search engine Powerset for about $100 Million. No announcement has been made yet by either party. We contacted Microsoft, but did not get an answer beyond "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation." We will update this post once we receive more information.
Rumors about Microsoft's interest in Powerset had been swirling around the Valley since last month, when Dan Farber first brought up the possibility in a post on CNet.
Recently, we've seen a couple of our favorite web apps go open source. The code for FF To Go, the popular mobile client for FriendFeed developed by RSSMeme creator Benjamin Golub, is now available under the MIT license and Snackr, the RSS AIR app we adore has posted their source code on Google Code. Is this the start of a new trend for niche web apps? And what does this mean for the future of their development?
Social networking site MySpace is releasing a set of APIs later today that will allow developers to implement protocols for exchanging and synchronizing user profiles between their own applications and MySpace profiles. Users can share their basic profile information, as well as their MySpace photos, videos, and friend list.
As we reported earlier, MySpace has signed up a number of high profile partners for this launch: Yahoo, Twitter, eBay and Photobucket.
