Bloomberg terminal is just an RSS aggregator

[TC] SkyGrid Launches Free Real Time Financial News Aggregator:

Dump those expensive Bloomberg terminals in the trash, because there’s a brand new financial news product in town. And it’s free. SkyGrid will aggregate all the news about publicly traded companies in a single user interface, and give users a feel for the importance of each news story as well as the overall sentiment of the author.

All this time I thought that the Bloomberg Terminal provided real-time and historical data. But no, it’s just a fancy feed aggregator. The financiers have been so getting ripped off the whole time. Screw custom charting. Let’s just read MarketWatch.

CNET missed the blog boat, devoured by CBS

[TC] Why CBS Bought CNET, And Not The Other Way Around:

CNET announced its sale to CBS, a $16.5 billion company, today for $1.8 billion. In late 1999, though, CNET was a $12 billion company. … So why didn’t CNET continue to grow and ultimately take over a media dinosaur like CBS, instead of the other way around? Perhaps it was because they did deals like buying Webshots for $70 million and then a couple of years later selling Webshots for $40 million. Or perhaps it was because they failed to realize the importance of blogs until 2007.

That’s it. They missed out on the whole blogging phenomenon. They were actually worth $12 billion in 1999. Forget the whole tech bubble. It never happened. It never wiped out most of the industry. CNET was not one of only a few to somehow survive. Had CNET only realized the power of blogs, they would be buying a media powerhouse CBS today.

This explains why Google is so successful. They have BlogSpot! Duh!

Now back to reality. Kids, remember – AOL Time Warner was a freak accident.

Journalism student chooses a news-worthy route

[TC] Twitter Saves Man From Egyptian Justice:

UC Berkeley graduate journalism student James Karl Buck was arrested on April 10 without any charges in Egypt for photographing a demonstration. He used his mobile phone to twitter the message “Arrested” to his 48 followers, who contacted UC Berkeley, the US Embassy and a number of press organizations on his behalf.

The impressive part? People read the message and actually did something instead of resuming their World of Warcraft activities.

Billshrink saved me no money on my phone bill

[TC] Billshrink Launches to Save You Money On Your Phone Bill:

Billshrink, the new startup that aspires to simplify the often painful process of choosing and comparing mobile plans (and eventually other services), has launched in beta. … The site offers an ostensibly impressive feature-set.

Let’s take a step back. There are only four mobile phone operators in the country (AT&T, Spring, T-Mobile, and Verizon). Chances are, only two of them get decent reception in your house anyway. Sure they slowly started launching unlimited plans in the last few months, but other than that their plans have been the same for the last five years and you already know what they are. Thanks Billshrink, you’re really helping us out here.

With all the AJAX they stuffed into their website, it’d be nice to at least see the phones. Nope, that’s not an option.

Coverage map, on the other hand, is an option. Now I can finally see which carriers have blessed me with their coverage. Let’s bring one up:

So who has the worst reception in greater New York City area? Turns out it’s Verizon. Perfect 3-bar coverage from Midtown Manhattan to central New Jersey! Are we just picking random numbers here? Apparently so. I love it when they lie right to my face. Is that how they get their funding?

Majority of Americans not blindly obsessed with Web 2.0

[TC] Majority Of Americans On Google Docs: “What You Talkin Bout Willis?”:

A new survey by NPD has found that the 73% of Americans have never heard of Google Docs and other online office applications … 94% of Americans have never tried a web based productivity suite. To be fair though, the survey was of “600 PC users” so it (possibly) didn’t count Mac users for example, nor really ask enough people to even be a statistically valid survey of computer users. Although some will undoubtedly use the figures as proof that online applications are failing to gain popular acceptance, they do represent an opportunity waiting to happen. … The challenge is to overcome over 25+ years of what people consider to be normal (desktop apps) by proving that the online alternative is ready and capable of being used.

Good morning internet! Here is a wake-up call. Most people don’t worship you.

Hey TechCrunch, I am not statistician, but 600 people is a good enough sample size. NPD (“the leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information for a wide range of industries”) probably knows a thing or two about this stuff. Not sure I can say the same for you. Let’s not try to blame unsatisfactory results on something.

The challenge is not not overcome what people consider normal, it’s to actually be normal. Maybe people like to be able to insert images or see print preview of the documents. Maybe people like having spreadsheets with real formulas that won’t crap out at 1,000 rows. Maybe people want be able to see the files their friends/colleagues send them in their entire glory. Why use a lightweight alternative when you already have something that is more powerful and reliable on your machine? Am I just banging my head against the wall here?

Michael Arrington purchased magic beans

[TC] Step 1: I Purchased A 23AndMe DNA Test:

Tonight I bit the bullet and bought a DNA test from 23andMe’s new Personal Genome Service. This wasn’t an easy thing to do. Quite frankly I fear what may be disclosed to me after spitting in that plastic cup and sending it off for analysis. … What if this information becomes public? What if I can’t get health care because of the results? Call me a luddite, but this is a whole new class of private information that previous generations didn’t have to deal with. Our laws are waaaaay behind the curve here when it comes to protecting us. … 23andMe has strong security features in place to keep my information fairly secure. But there’s a big hole in the plan – what if I simply send in someone else’s spit? What if it’s someone I’m thinking about marrying? What if someone does that to me? There’s no way to stop people from spending $1,000 and getting a full genetic download of ME, in all my flawed glory.

First of all, no one is forced to do this. Maybe if you are so concerned about this, maybe you shouldn’t spit into the cup. Guess what? The results won’t make your life easier or more fun.

Can we maybe do a little bit of research before writing gibberish? Our laws are not behind the curve (although I know someone who is) and you will not be denied health care (I think he meant health insurance here, but I’ll let that slide). There is the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act of 2007 (GINA) to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment. You can even be all web 2.0 about it and read about it on Wikipedia.

There may be a big hole in the plan, but there is one in your understanding of the test even is. No one is getting a full genetic download of you. 23andMe clearly mentions, “the chip used in our process is the Illumina HumanHap550+ BeadChip, which reads more than 550,000 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) plus a 23andMe custom-designed set that analyzes more than 30,000 additional SNPs”. There are 3 billion base pairs in the human genome. There are over 30 million known SNPs alone and that figure is growing. What you get with 23andMe is just a small fraction of that.

Comments for the post are great as well. Let’s take a look at some.

I will bet you $100 bucks, (e-mail me – I am serious), that a month after you get the results you will wish you had never done this. One can guarantee that there is something wrong with you, or that you have something that is not perfect and if you plan on having children you will say to yourself the whole time – ahh man I am passing this terrible thing on.

This would be a valid point, except that this has been done for years and no one has complained yet. It’s called genetic counseling. For years, couples considering having a baby have been able to get tested for a number of genetic disorders. Some hospitals even have special units dedicated to this type of testing.

Once you know your profile, keep an eye on the advances on gene therapy, which will allow you to change your genetic destiny.

Gene therapy has been around for while. The first human trial was in 1990. It’s still far from perfect, but more importantly has very little to do with the results you get from 23andMe.

you missed out on the leader in the field. http://www.genetree.com/ they were profiled on ABC last night and have dna info on 6 million ancestors. btw they have a facebook and myspace social networking angle too. the cost is also a lot better from $99-$149

They are one of many DNA ancestry testing services and definitely not the leader. However, they offer a completely different service. As stated in their FAQ, “GeneTree offers mitochondrial DNA tests (which examine genetic information passed on by mother to child)”. 23andMe uses nuclear DNA, which provides other insights.

As a biologist who has worked in genetics and genomics for most of my career, I can tell you that the information you get will be interesting and fun to think about- but mostly irrelevant to your actual life. … The human chromosome from your mother and father consists of FAR more than just DNA (and this only looks at a tiny slice of that!). … 23andMe is setting you up for their ‘Proteome’ service that in 2020 will look at your protein expression profile, and combine that with your genetics profile

This is a biologist? Since when is the chromosome more than DNA? Sure it interacts with various proteins, but those are separate entities. When the Human Genome Project refers to the chromosome, they mean just the genetic sequence. I think we can live with their definition. Also, no one is being set up for the “proteome service” because that will never be possible in a do-it-at-home kit. The current service uses DNA, which is shared by all cells. Anyone can spit into a cup. For proteomic studies you need samples from the tissue you are interested in. Try collecting brain or liver cells at home.

TechCrunch and Michael Arrington need to do everyone a service and stick to what they does best — hyping tech companies. Propagating misleading medical information is bad journalism (they are pretending to be journalists, right?) and simply irresponsible.

TringMe discovers Flash technology

[TC] TringMe Develops Its Own Flash Phone:

The TringPhone, as it is called, really is more of a technology demonstration than a full-fledged service. TringMe is hoping to license the technology to VOIP providers and help make Web-based telephony as simple as visiting a Web page.

Sure it’s a different technology than DialPad, but is that why it’s featured on TechCrunch? Or is it because they have a widget, which means they’re Web 2.0, which means their stuff is somehow revolutionary? AT&T beware. Now I can make calls from my MySpace profile.

Vidoop thinks I am five years old

[TC] Vidoop Turns OpenID into Pictures that Pay:

An OpenID startup called Vidoop aims to replace your usernames and passwords with a grid of pictures that may contain visual advertisements. … Signing into an OpenID-enabled site with myVidoop, or retrieving all of the passwords in your myVidoop keychain, involves not a username and password, but rather a visual grid of images that fall into particular categories. When you first create a myVidoop account, you pick 3-5 types of images (e.g. birds, skyscrapers, flowers, cars). Then whenever you need to authenticate with myVidoop, you simply type the letters of the images in a randomly generated grid that fall into your chosen categories.

You gotta be kidding me! Is this kindergarten? Does someone actually believe that remembering “3-5 types of images” is easier than one password? And that’s only the premise. Then you’re supposed to sit there and pick out the right images from a grid. Sure that’s simple, but so is reading CAPTCHAs and everyone loves those.

But wait! There’s more! The website operators win big too.

Vidoop will pay partner sites 1/100th of a cent every time someone uses myVidoop to sign into their sites. So, if you are a site owner who has 5,000 logins per day through myVidoop, you’ll get only $15 per month. But if you can persuade 1M of your users to log in with myVidoop every day, you’ll earn $3,000 per month.

For every user logging in, there are many more who checked off the “remember me” button, and even more who rarely visit the website. 1 million daily logins puts you among some of the most popular web destinations out there. For comparison, TechCrunch doesn’t get that many visitors in a month (if compete.com data is even remotely reliable). Any service with millions of users is already probably burning through millions of VC dollars. That $3,000 is going to make a difference?

Another blog declares print media dead

[TC] Print Continues To Decline: PC World Australia To Shut:

The Australian version of the well regarded print magazine PC World is to cease publication in an offline form as off January. … Anecdotal reports would suggest that many US magazines, particularly in tech related fields are experiencing similar readership drops to that of PC World Australia. Whilst there will always be a place (for the foreseeable future anyway) for glossy gossip magazines in Doctor surgeries and hairdressers, the market outside of gossip looks grim. And so it should: where exactly is the appeal, particularly in tech, of reading a magazine that reports on news that is 6-8 weeks old, or sometimes even older than that?… I’m betting that 2008 may well turn out to be the year of the dying print magazine.

Does anyone bother with any fact-checking lately? Anyone? Must we really rely on anecdotal evidence to prove a point that can be backed by real data? Yes, when real data does not agree with your point.

If only there was a way to get the magazine circulation numbers for the last decade or two. Luckily this information is compiled by the Magazine Publishers of America and freely available at the Historical Subscriptions/Single Copy Sales page:

So it appears based on the annual magazine circulation from 1970 to 2006, the last year has been pretty good. 2006 shows the numbers exceeded only in 1999 and 2000.

There has been virtually no growth since 1990, so the magazine publishers are not doing as well as they should be. However, the Internet has exploded in the same time frame. I am not going to pretend that it has absolutely no effect on the print magazine, but to say that the magazine industry is being slaughtered is simply ludicrous at this point.

I am still waiting for the flying cars they’ve been promising for 50 years.

Alien vs printer

[TC] Do The Right Thing: Save An Alien (and this startup) (Exhibit A):

perhaps Save An Alien, an Israeli Facebook-only startup, can reach their goal of 10 million users in six months. I sure hope they do, anyway. Otherwise a bunch of cute little aliens are going to die. … And if you really like your alien you can buy a tshirt with it on it. I imagine other revenue generating merchandising opportunities may be thought up later, too.

[TC] Epson Joins Sprint: They Suck And Their New Website Is Stupid (Exhibit B):

I’m pretty sure there are some consultants out there who are telling big, clueless companies that the way to engage with their audience is to engage with them on an interactive, emotional level. … now those consultants have conned Epson into doing the same thing on a new site called Epsonality. They ask questions like “You come across a bear in the woods, what do you do?” and “you find $199.99 lying on the ground, what do you do?” and use your answers to somehow determine the right printer for you. All in a sick, highly personalized Flash interface.

Save An Alien is a fairly well-crafted Facebook Ponzi scheme in a class of its own. Most Facebook apps can be classified into two categories: either amateur creations by college kids seeking their five minutes of fame, or promotional vehicles for startups looking to get a few more users and show something at the next investor meeting. Save An Alien is neither. It appears too elaborate to be crafted overnight in a dorm room and yet there is no product or service it is supposed to sell. Well, there are the t-shirts. If they’re selling as well as photo albums at Flickr, maybe they’ll unload a hundred of them. Big money, big money! All Save An Alien has to do is infect 10 million Facebook profiles.

Epsonality is just a corporate quiz site. Answer a few questions and they shove one of Epson’s printers in your face.

By installing the Save An Alien, you hand over all your the info stored in your Facebook profile. Sure, they’re not supposed to keep it, but who is going to enforce that? Epsonality is totally harmless. And now you know Epson makes printers. And if you’re more likely to buy one now. Yes, even if you thought that website was stupid.

I know one more difference between the two. Save An Alien guys will worship Michael Arrington if the site makes it onto TechCrunch. I doubt anyone at Epson even knows who he is.

Have we learned a lesson here today?

Bug.gd solves a non-problem

[TC] Bug.gd: Collaborative Search And Bug Solutions:

The idea is simple enough and addresses a real problem. A user is presented with an error message, they search bug.gd to see if anyone has solved it. If someone has a solution great, if no one found a solution then not so great; however Bug.gd is betting that when they can’t deliver a solution, the user will ultimately find one. Users get a reminder email in 48 hours requesting they post the solution (presuming they found one) so others can benefit from this knowledge, providing a fluid and regularly updated collaborative database of problems and solutions.

Gotta love the tagline: “bug.gd – Humanity’s Only Hope”. No comment necessary.

I have a simple idea. Stop reinventing the wheel. How about using Google to to see if anyone has solved your error? Bug.gd database got seeded with 60,000 entries from Microsoft Knowledge Base? Guess what? Google already crawled those plus millions of other tech help sites.

For some reason I have a feeling bug.gd people may have already realized this. After the user finds no help at bug.gd and ultimately turns to Google, they’ll get spammed in 48 hours and asked to submit the answer they found. If they couldn’t find the answer anywhere, it’ll be a nice reminder of how worthless bug.gd is.

Let’s pretend now that I am a tech savvy user that just came there from TechCrunch. Maybe I am feeling generous and helpful. I’ll just try to answer some unresolved questions. Oh wait. I can’t see those. If you are going to rely solely on user-generated content, at least make it easy to contribute. And I bet some people wouldn’t mind getting some credit as opposed to posting completely anonymously. Is this the police tip line? No snitching?

Here’s my contribution.

Meetro working to relive the 90s

[TC] Meetro Working to Make Forum Creation Dead Simple:

We’ve been informed that Meetro – provider of a location-based instant messaging service – is working on a stealth project that aims to make forum setup, customization, and moderation as easy as blogging with Blogger. The project, codenamed “Makaha”, has been in development since the beginning of this year. While many forums require users to find their own hosting and install software, Makaha will enable users to create and personalize forums through a point-and-click interface. Forums will have their own subdomains at the Makaha website just as blogs have their own subdomains at Blogger.

OMG!!1! Free forums for everybody! Totally disruptive! Watch out Google.

Discussion boards are all the rage these days. If only there was an easier way to get one going. Thanks Meetro for making my life so much easier. Oh wait. I forgot. We already went through this in 1998. Want a free easy-to-set-up forum? There are hundreds of them out there.

There is at least one problem with forums to keep in mind. You need a sizable community for them to be remotely useful. If you can deliver that, you are capable of finding hosting and installing software.

Also, you gotta love that one of the best things about this service is the subdomain promise. I thought that stopped being revolutionary before TechCrunch was around.

College.com: another failed Facebook clone

[TC] College.com: Returning To Facebook’s Roots:

Largely the expansion has paid off for the Facebook, with the site’s growth rate hastening after each change. However, the changes have left some users wistful for a time when Facebook was a place just for college students. College.com plans to serve those users.

It’s a funny way of returning to Facebook’s roots. The registration is open to anyone, with or without a .edu email, meaning that there is no way to restrict this to college students. This was one of the changes that Facebook implemented. On College.com, anyone can join any college network. Facebook was initially only available at a few select schools and has always used your email address to validate college affiliation. There are also dating compatibility tests, flash cards, professor ratings, and a variety of other features. Part of Facebook’s initial appeal was its clean interface and a limited feature set. Unlike, you know, MySpace.

So really this is not returning to Facebook’s roots at all. It’s just another botched attempt to capitalize on the college student market that Facebook has conquered long ago.

People search business just got overhyped

[TC] People Search Business Just Got More Complicated As Facebook Enters Market:

Facebook just announced that they are now allowing public searches of their users by people without Facebook accounts. … To the extent any one service such as Facebook (or LinkedIn, etc.) gather lots of centralized information about a large group of people and then make it available for general search, these people search engines become much less important. If these startups were public entities, their market valuations would dip today.

So now anyone can find out if John Smith has a Facebook account without signing up. Revolutionary! To actually view anything besides a thumbnail, though, you still need to get an account. Back to square one. I guess nothing really changed after all.

Perhaps it’s just an SEO trick. From their blog entry:

In a few weeks, we will allow these Public Search listings (depending on users’ individual privacy settings) to be found by search engines like Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, etc.

Seems like an easy way to add millions of additional pages to Google’s index. More pages in the index lead to more hits lead to higher advertising revenue. This is something that others have been taking advantage of already. Rapleaf, for example, has been crawling social networks and making that data publlic for a while now.

Like sands through the hour glass, TechCrunch discovers an ancient Facebook rumor

[TC] Like Sands Through The Hour Glass, Another Person Is Claiming To Have Founded Facebook:

The New York Times has discovered a new claimant for the title of founder of Facebook. Aaron Greenspan, a Harvard classmate of Mark Zuckerberg claims that he created the original college social networking system, before either Facebook or ConnectU were founded. Mr. Greenspan is said to have established a web service that he called houseSYSTEM in 2003, 6 months prior to Facebook launching.

It’s not especially surprising that the mainstream media has only discovered this now, but I thought TechCrunch is supposed to be on top of all this social networking stuff. Aaron Greenspan posted an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg back in September 2006 in which he made his claims:

Remember that web site you signed up for at Harvard two days before we met in January, 2004, called houseSYSTEM – the one I made with the Universal Face Book that pre-dated your site by four months? (You left it out of your speech at Stanford, which is why I ask.)

Well, it was posted on an obscure web site, so maybe no one noticed. No, wait. The letter was discussed on Slashdot, WebProNews, and a bunch of minor blogs. Crap.