TalkingApes

Thoughts on the new CNN.com Beta

If you haven’t seen it already, you can check out CNN.com’s new Beta site here. It’s a new look for the news site, which looks like a “Cheap-ass blog” according to my friend Donavon. I kind of like what they are trying to do, but there is too much wasted space for my taste.

I like the tech page shown in this thumbnail; more specifically the usage of the photo going across the top. I don’t like that the header goes all the way across and the body doesn’t. It just doesn’t match with the rest of the site. It does have some more personalization features, like local news and weather integration. There’s also a hot topics string of links under the top navigation with the top keywords people have been looking for recently.

IMO, they should have went with a layout like FanNation.com or SI.com, which are very clean but use space wisely. Still, it’s not as bad as USAToday.com’s latest redesign, which many have labelled as a disaster.

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State of the media report

As a member of the “media” (so to speak) I think we all need to understand what is going on in the news industy; where it is going, who is doing what and what we need to do to keep up with it. Here are a few articles I found this evening while doing some research:

Open Source Newsroom — http://zero.newassignment.net/ (interesting experiment)

Newspapers brought financial woes upon themselves, says Craigslist boss –
http://www.out-law.com/page-7800

The Great Media Industry Schism — (good read)
http://publishing2.com/2007/02/25/the-great-media-industry-schism/

Gannett’s New Lease On News –
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_09/b4023023.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Indy Media Organizations and Their Web 2.0 Tools –
http://newassignment.net/blog/steve_anderson/feb2007/27/indy_media_organ

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Another MySpace killer? Virb.com could make a strong run

People are enamored with MySpace.com because it’s a behemoth. The fact is, though, that customizing it is hard, it has limited functionality and it’s owned by FOX (who will undoubtedly commercialize it and take away all the aspects of the site that people like presently).

Enter Virb.com.

Virb is like myspace in that you create an account, blog, upload videos, pictures, etc and connect with your friends. When setting up your profile page, however, they take away all the guesswork by giving either a WYSIWYG interface to change your layout, colors, etc. OR a custom place dedicated for you to input your HTML code to change your layout. They even give you a list of labels to include in your template, so for example, if you want to place a module of your top friends and 5 additional random friends in a div below your blog posts, all you need to do is put in $VIRB_topFriends(+5 Random) and it does that for you. They provide a list of available codes so you don’t have to guess.

If you are a Mr. (or Mrs.) Smartypants, you can even create your own module for inclusion in your pages.

It seems to do everything you’d want MySpace to do, and then some. It seems to be a little stronger in the customization category than Ning.com, which does have some features that I like better than Virb, like the Forum and the RSS integration. However both are more interesting, visually appealing and more user-friendly than MySpace.com.

List of Features from Virb.com:

Follow VIRB° as it continues to grow and new features are added. We’ve got a lot of stuff in the works and of course we can’t tell you EVERYTHING that’s coming, but here’s a glimpse of current and upcoming VIRB° features.

New Stuff

Invite Multiple Friends to a Group Much needed, grow your groups! (3/08)

Embed Your Virb Videos Offsite Widescreen video wherever you want to put it. (3/05)

Coming Soon

Blog Import via RSS feed will save you hours of Copy/Paste.

Expanded Features for Groups …after all Virb is about interaction.

Saving Multiple Profile Styles/Layouts …that last customization was really cool, you might want to use it again.

Not-as-new Stuff

Flickr Photo Feed means that using more than one photo sharing site doesn’t have to be twice as much work.

Multiple Taglines rotated randomly because we know you’ve got more wit than just one line.

Embedding of Approved Media gives you the ability to embed media from trusted sources, starting with Google, YouTube, Vimeo and Odeo.

Top Friends allows you to keep your best friends stuck on your profile… and you can rotate other friends into additional slots randomly.

Save Blog Drafts, then publish them when you’re ready.

Comment Categorization makes it easy to see who’s commented on your profile or media.

Basic Layout Editor gives you the ability to rearrange modules through a drag-and-drop interface.

Batch Edit for Friends allows you to update filters for many friends in one screen.

Announcement Filtering allows you to receive announcements from chosen friends only.

Recent Activity Filtering allows you to be notified of profile updates from chosen friends only.

Tailored Linking between Orgs and Members connects people to the organizations and projects that they’re a part of.

Gradient Removal on Virb Bar increases the flexibility of profile customization. (advanced CSS users only)

Lights Out Button darkens the page while you watch a video.

Remove Customization Button helps you get around messy or ugly profile customization.

Wide-screen Video player adjusts to the dimensions of videos that are uploaded.

VirbTunes for iTunes Tracking shows your friends what music you’ve been listening to and helps you find music.

Recent Activity lets you know when your friends have added new photos, videos or blogs.

Announcements are a quick way of getting a message to all of your friends.

Basic Style Editor is for anyone who isn’t a CSS pro. We like to make things easy!

Advanced HTML/CSS Editing for those of you are the CSS Pros. We like to make things flexible too!

Albums for Photos & Videos to keep things nice and organized.

Relationship Tags for Friends is an easy way to organize your college buddies or work friends… and to cross-reference them if you like.

Batch Edit for Photos simply saves you time keeping your photos organized.

Personal Music Player allows you to create a playlist of your favorite musicians on Virb.

Profile Music Player is another way to let your friends know what you’re listening to and adds a little audio to your profile.

Upcoming Shows lets you know which of your favorite musicians are playing in your area.

Module Nicknames show your creativity by letting you name your modules whatever you like.

Unlimited Personality Tag Sections let you go nuts tagging yourself… unrestricted.

Custom Modules are in case you want to put something in your profile that doesn’t fit anywhere else.

Privacy Settings are important to keeping you safe and surrounded by friends.

I have 14 friend invites left for Virb. Presently you don’t need them, but in the event that you do in the future, if you are interested in obtaining one, just reply to this post and I’ll send you one. You can check out the very basic profile I created HERE. I will be refining and investigating its features for the next few days, at least.

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Web 2.0 sites that make the internet super-awesome, part 2

A few months ago, we posted “6 sites that make the net super awesome”. I’d post a link to it… but it’s gone. Vanished. Deleteified.

But I’m back, pimping a few other sites that I think make the internet super awesome.

Project360.com is a web collaboration and management tool that is similar to Basecamp, except Project360 looks better, has more functions, is cheaper and more useful. Want to download a spreadsheet of what everyone in your group is working on or has worked on? no problem. Project360 has you covered. It saves a lot of time, and can save your neck if someone drops the ball. Price – $35.00/month for 35 projects and unlimited users.

If you can’t get enough weather, (and if you don’t watch local tv which has the weather on every 5 minutes it seems), then you can get your own accuweather widget to place on your own blog from NetWeather.com. Is this super-awesome? Not really, it’s more along the lines of “pretty cool”… but still, I wanted to mention it because it is useful on football gamedays when you need to know if it’s going to rain, snow, etc and you need to know who to bench/start on your fantasy team, or how you should dress to attend the game.

Back to the Super-Awesome with SNAP, the web site previewer that is absolutely a cinch to add to your site and is extremely useful. SNAP previews sites in a little popupwindow on hover. Test it out (you probably have already) by hovering over a link on this blog.

If you’re a blogger or have a website, they you must be using FeedBurner.com to manage your RSS Feeds. If not, you might want to check it out. FeedBurner will take any feed and fix it up with all kinds of enhancements.

If you want to see the future of the internet and personalized information, check out Spotback.com. You create an account, tell it what you like “sports, technology, etc.” and what you don’t like, then you rate articles based on how interesting you think it is, and presto, you have a personalized news site that learns what you like.

Once again, one of my favorite sites, the site I recommend to someone at least once a week is FeedDigest.com (who isn’t accepting new applications at the moment). It will take feeds, or a couple feeds, put them together and allow you to create acustomizable output for you to use elsewhere. It is extremely easy to use, and you don’t have to know any coding to place its javascript on your site.

Meebo.com is a site I use every day. Everyone wants to talk to their friends online, but sometimes you either can’t due to corporate restrictions or don’t want to load 4-5 different messaging programs on your computer. Meebo is your solution because it allows you to connect to all of the chat networks like Yahoo!, AIM and MSN.

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Advertising Age – Local TV Goes Mobile

Advertising Age – Digital – Local TV Goes Mobile
Internet Broadcasting, which creates websites and sells ads for 79 local TV stations, has forged a venture to get news and weather onto the so-called third screen. The Minneapolis-based company has signed a deal with Crisp Wireless to deliver content to phones and other wireless devices. Internet Broadcasting, itself owned by three major station group owners — Hearst-Argyll, Post Newsweek and McGraw Hill Cos. — will deliver local fare such as weather radar images and sports headlines and scores.

How are other companies, (like Media General for example), going to compete with this when their sites are so far behind already? The Mobile frontier is the next great format, especially with the iPhone and devices like it on the horizon. Still, many media companies haven’t even embraced RSS, Blogging (done the right way) or even dynamic content across all affiliates.

Bravo to Internet Broadcasting for realizing what people actually want and doing something about it.

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Live like a King in “Asia”, get a 50K signup bonus, and more! Really?

Techcrunch.com has an ad on the site today promising a 50K signup bonus (After the 6 month probation period) for Web Developers and Designers willing to move to “Asia”.

The site, located at http://207.218.248.46/ promises to:

“Provide you with a private flat, fully furnished, 007 style with all the latest gadgets you need. Peace of mind with your own chef, housekeeping, driver and security. Their team works and lives on the top floors of a state-of-the-art skyscraper”.

The DNS resolves to EV1servers.net out of Houston, Texas – http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=207.218.248.46

So where exactly in Asia is this? Probably not Japan or South Korea. It would more than likely state that it was one of those places if it were. Where else has state-of-the-art skyscrapers? Singapore does… as does China. Hong Kong maybe?

My biggest questions are, “Is this a scam?”, and if so, “Why would TechCrunch perpetuate a scam?”.

It’s got to be legit, because it’s a prominent ad on TechCrunch.com, which to this point has been very reputable. I don’t think they’d lead us astray.

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Expanse CMS System

Expanse +++ dream. create. do.

Expanse is the new CMS System created by Nate Cavanaugh & Jason Morrison aimed at giving designers more control over their blogs and portfolios.

Expanse lets you upload your artwork and photos, create thumbnails, add press events and your latest news, as well as allowing people to interact with you and keep up to date on your work.

It enables you to create and manage a website without being bogged down in the details.

Some of the notable features:

• easy 3 step install
• automatically crop and resize your thumbnails
• drag and drop reordering of your items
• sell your items through paypal
• easy integration with your current site
• add multiple items to your portfolio in an instant
• add additional images to each item you post
• have multiple users help manage your content
• easily add unlimited multiple categories
• easy content formatting
• post into the future
• add custom fields to your entries
• manage your site’s themes with a click
• super simple (yet powerful) template system
• rss feeds, commenting, smilies and more…

all for $29. Seems like a steal. Check out the Demo here.

technorati tags: expanse, cms, content-management, designers,

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MediaShift: Newspaper Sites Hot to Blog, Cool to Podcasts

Newspaper companies are feeling the shift hard, as people go from reading print newspapers to getting their news and classified ads on the Internet.

MediaShift . NewspaperShift::Newspaper Sites Hot to Blog, Cool to Podcasts | PBS

MediaShift by Mark Glaser has quickly become one of my favorite blogs. In this particular post, here are his main points in the cited article:

- Blogging is all the rage.

Out of the Top 100 newspaper sites, 80 of them have blogs. Of those 80
sites with blogs, 67 sites (or 83%) let readers comment on the blogs.



- Podcasting is still a province of larger papers.

Unlike blogs, podcasts are employed by a minority of Top 100 newspaper sites — 31 of them.



- Video offerings are widespread.

61 newspaper sites of the Top 100 offer video on their sites, which is a pretty strong number.



- Newspaper sites offer RSS — but not with full text or ads.

Out of the Top 100, 76 sites have RSS feeds and almost all of them offer feeds for particular sections of the site.



- Forced registration is losing steam.

Only 23 of the Top 100 newspaper sites require people to register in order to read articles.



- Editors are not hip to reader comments on stories or bookmarking.

Only 19 sites allow readers to comment below each article, and only 7
sites offer either internal or external bookmarking features.

technorati tags:mediashift, newspapers, podcasting, media, blogging

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Myspace.com losing ground to YouTube.com

One of my favorite new-ish sites, YouTube.com, is quickly gaining ground on one of my not-so-favorite sites, MySpace.com.

YouTube has established itself at the top of the league of the new generation of community websites by becoming even more popular than MySpace, according to research.The video sharing site has taken a 3.9% share of global internet visits a day compared with 3.35% for MySpace, according to internet analysis company Alexa

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | YouTube overtakes MySpace

According to Nielsen/NetRatings, YouTube’s American user base grew by 297% in the first half of the year.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | YouTube overtakes MySpace

YouTube’s reach – the number of users per million that visit a particular site – has increased by 155% in the past three months.In contrast, MySpace’s growth appears to have slowed, increasing by just 9% in the same period.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | YouTube overtakes MySpace

However, there is a LOT of crap on YouTube.com, including psuedo-porn, japanese (or otherwise Asian) cartoons and general “Hey look at me for no reason” video. One of the big draws also is people putting copyrighted stuff like movie trailers or leaked snippits on there and you viewing it before it is deleted. It’s almost like a web “happening” — (in the art world, are performances, events, or situations meant to be considered as art — wikipedia ).

I am hoping it will evolve into like an online, on-demand TV station with quality shows (ask a ninja, rocketboom, homestarrunner, etc) aggregated there.

technorati tags: myspace.com, youtube.com, video, traffic,

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» YouTube, Digg, MySpace: How much is a non-paying user worth?

» YouTube, Digg, MySpace: How much is a non-paying user worth? | Digital Micro-Markets | ZDNet.com

So, how much is a non-paying MySpace user worth?Using very rounded numbers, here is a “quick and dirty” analysis:

MySpace 2005 acquisition price: $580 million

MySpace 2006 “friends” user base: 100 million

MySpace 2006 ad revenues: $200 million

MySpace acquisition price reflects an approximate multiple of $5-$6 per “friend.”

MySpace is currently generating approximately $2 in revenue per “friend.”

The MySpace effort to grow ad revenues since its acquisition by News Corp. last year provides would be bidders for Digg, YouTube…a valuable reference for measuring the financial potential of a large, non-paying base of young Internet users.

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