Jon Swartz wrote a long article in USA Today this morning about the phenomenon of the real-time web. The article blames "the real-time web" for declining test scores in school, anti-social addictions, short attention spans and texting-while-driving. Swartz smooshes YouTube, social networks, online banking, location-aware search and social media marketing all under the same umbrella of doom.
We'd like to highlight Swartz's work as our Real-Time Web Article of the Day because it's a great example of the same old Fear of the Internet getting a new name. As a result, USA Today readers lose an opportunity to understand an important new wave of change and opportunity.
Social networking travel site Dopplr has apparently been acquired by Nokia for somewhere between $15-22 million dollars. A year ago ReadWriteWeb named Dopplr one of the Top 10 International Products of 2008 and it looks like the community's social features have garnered significant interest from investors. According to TechCrunch, just as the company was about to close an additional funding round, Nokia moved in for the acquisition.
Today at the DEMOfall 09 conference, CallSpark announced a new technology for mobile phone users. The application is a dynamic address book that lets you search for people across multiple accounts and social networks as well as in the popular CRM system, Salesforce, Whitepages, Yellowpages, and Yelp. But CallSpark isn't simply a useful address book service, it also lets you view real-time information about whoever you're calling. For people, that includes the most recent social networking updates from Facebook and Twitter, while for business listings, there's even more interactive content available thanks to customizable listings called "RingPages."
It's often hard to tell the marketing experts from the impostors. Being a thought leader isn't about knowing the best buzzwords and having a PowerPoint ready to deploy, it's about being among the first to execute a great idea. Google and The Wharton School have teamed up to provide users with 100 marketing-related videos on how to build community and customer bases in the digital landscape. The Fast.Forward. Channel shows communications professionals how they can evolve to cut through the noise and spam, and build loyal audiences with tech savvy people like us.
Today at the DEMOfall 09 conference, Digitrad announced a new consumer voice service called OrganIP. Although the odd name conjures up ideas of a medical or musical application, we think that perhaps it's supposed to be a play on the word "organize." (Well...maybe.) Names aside, what this new application does is intriguing. It connects you with your social networking friends via your mobile phone or web browser, allowing you to place calls even if you don't know your friend's phone number. In addition, you can use the app to send voicemails or even voice-to-text messages and all you need to know is a person's name.
80Legs is a web crawling and online content analysis service which first impressed us back in April at the Web 2.0 Expo. At that time, the company was launching into a private beta, but today at the DEMOfall 09 conference, they're going live. In the time that has passed since their initial debut, the company has been working on scaling out the performance and power of their service while also preparing to launch a new feature which should appeal to both developers and non-developers alike: an "app store." This feature allows 80Legs users to write applications that run on top of the 80Legs service and gives them the ability to share those apps with others.
A lot of Twitter users are currently getting this direct message: "rofl this you on here?" and a URL. It's the latest in a series of phishing scams that have been making the rounds on Twitter lately. The link in this message will take you to a Twitter login page that looks almost like the real thing but is actually just a way for the phishers to harvest your login credentials. Once the scammers have access to your account, they will send out more of these messages to your friends.
From the same company that delivered BountyStorms, the crowdsourced Q&A service, now comes GuruStorms, a new twist on the brainstorming concept which connects you with subject-matter experts instead of with the general public. Making its debut at this week's DEMOfall 09 conference, the new site lets anyone post a question along with a monetary "reward" for answers. Then all you have to do is wait for the experts to weigh in. And don't worry - unlike on Twitter, where anyone can call themselves an "expert," this site offers the real deal. Before any of the gurus can join, they're carefully vetted to make sure they're legit. So whether you need a geologist, a data analyst, or anyone else, GuruStorms plans to have you covered.
IRex officially launched its new eReader today. As we reported last month, the iRex DR800SG will feature an 8.1-inch touchscreen with stylus navigation, and have wireless connectivity over Verizon's network. The device, which will retail for $399, will be closely linked to Barnes & Nobles' eBook store and users will be able to buy books from there over the wireless connection. Best Buy will carry these devices in its stores and will set aside space in its stores to showcase eReaders from iRex, Sony, and other eReader manufacturers.
Real-time search engine OneRiot launched the OneRiot Developer Network this morning. The care and attention it's paying to partnering with outsiders seeking to leverage its unique offerings could help the company stand out in a very crowded market.
OneRiot says it already sees a large majority of its 40 million searches performed each month occur off-site via partners, but now the VC-backed company has put one of its co-founders in charge of taking the developer program to the next level.
