Warren Buffet’s advice was the best.

Information Source:
[1] Yahoo! Blog: Lemme give you a little advice by Nicki Dugan

A8.com is an online digital music website that started in 2000 in China.  The company is planning to have an IPO on the Hongkong Exchange under HK:0800.  A8 hopes to raise around HKD 217 million ($27.82 million) through the IPO. 

Previous investors in A8 include JAFCO, Intel Capital, TDF Group, IDGVC.  A8 sells ringtones, ringback tones, and IVR music for mobile phone subscribers through China Mobile and China Unicom.  Music on A8 is available through local music labels and user-generated music uploaded by the artists.

Over 50,000 songs have been uploaded to A8.com so far.  The 10,000 artists that have contributed music on A8 receive roughly 15-50% of the revenue generated from their music.  A8’s revenue in 2007 was 286 million yuan ($41.22) and profit was 55 million yuan ($7.92 million).

Information Source:
[1] China Web2.0 Review: Chinese Digital Music Service A8 To Go Public in HongKong

Yesterday Revision3 went offline and Veronica Belmont, former CNET producer and current Tekzilla program host reported “Holy DDOS attacks, Batman! Rev3 is under fire!” on Twitter.  After investigating the reason behind the outage, Jim Louderback (CEO of Revision3) stated that Revision3’s servers were hit with a Denial of Service attack. See the picture below of the Revision3 server.

A denial of service attack is when a server sends tons of requests and packets at one time to another server thus causing the receiving server to give up.
Revision3 uses torrent files to distribute their content.  Torrents allows multiple users to share bandwidth for download or streaming content.  And in this case, the one server that was hit with the DoS attack was Revision3’s BitTorrent server.  The DoS attack assailant was intentionally aiming to take down Revision3’s BitTorrent server.

When tracing the IP address of the assailant that attacked Revision3 servers, Louderback found out that it belonged to MediaDefender.  MediaDefender’s service is to:
“Stop the spread of illegally traded copyrighted material over the internet and peer-to-peer networks.”

However Revision3 trades legal content.  Revision3 may have been wrongfully accused of setting up BitTorrent servers for illegal purposes.  Sony, Universal, the RIAA, and the MPAA have used MediaDefender in the past to prevent illegal files from being traded.

“[Ben] Grodsky [VP of operations at MediaDefender] admits that his computers sent those SYN packets to Revision3, but claims that their servers were each only trying to contact us every three hours. Our own logs show upwards of 8,000 packets a second,” stated Louderback.

Revision3 streams popular web video programs such as The GigaOM Show and Digg Nation.

Information Source & Picture Credit:
[1] Revision3 Blog: Inside the Attack that Crippled Revision3 by Jim Louderback

 

 
CEO of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Jerry Yang and CEO of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Steve Ballmer both spoke at The Wall Street Journal All Things D Conference in Carlsbad, Calif. earlier today.  During Yang’s interview, he was asked several questions revolving around Yahoo!’s plight with the Microsoft bid, Yahoo!’s overall focus, and what is going on with Yahoo!’s shareholders.

“The perception of us being a company under siege is just not accurate,” stated Yang.  Yang stated this in reference to the previous news of Carl Icahn sending a letter to the board suggesting a new board for the company.  Icahn is a major shareholder in the search engine company.

“I know people want to see results,” added Yang. “But I think we’re starting to show Yahoo can be on this path to being a different entity.”

Why did Icahn suggest a new board?  Because Yahoo! passed on the acqusition offer from Microsoft.  Microsoft offered $47 billion, but Yang was looking for roughly $52 billion.  Then Microsoft walked.

“We did not walk away from the proposal — Microsoft did,” Yang stated in reference to the deal. “We were willing to do the deal on the right terms.”

Founder of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch stated that he doubts that his company will do a deal with Yahoo! now because the price would be too high. 

“I think that (Yang) did not want to sell,” stated Murdoch regarding Yahoo!’s turning down the $47 billion offer on a FOX News interview. “He founded this company, he loves it, he loves running at. And, you know, I think he can be criticized and he is being criticized by his shareholders. For letting his emotions stop him (from) taking what was a very, very generous offer.”

During the All Things D conference, Ballmer stated that “We are not rebidding for the company.” And then Ballmer mentioned that “We reserve the right to do so.”

In response to the entire media craze with the bid event, Yang compared who got the information accurate to high school relationships.  “It’s like you break up with your girlfriend in high school … it pretty quickly becomes ‘he said, she said,’” stated Yang.

Yang was also questioned about “What is the business of Yahoo?”  Yang stated that the core focus was “home page, mail, search, and mobile.”  Then Yahoo! President, Sue Decker stepped in and emphasized that advertising is a key focus on the business of Yahoo! too. 

Below is a timeline of the Microsoft & Yahoo! events:

June 2007: Former Yahoo! CEO, Terry Semel Resigns, Jerry Yang steps up
July 2007: Yang makes a 100 day plan to get Yahoo! off the ground again
February 1, 2008: Microsoft makes an unsolicited offer to Yahoo! for $44.6 billion
February 9, 2008: Yahoo! passes on Microsoft offer
February 11, 2008: Rumor is that Yahoo! may merge with AOL
February 12, 2008: Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer sends a letter to Yahoo! “Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.”
February 13, 2008: Layoff notices are given at Yahoo! Ryan Kuder Twitters the entire event
April 4, 2008: Rumors begin to appear that Microsoft is deciding to pull the offer
April 5, 2008: Microsoft sends a letter to Yahoo! stating that they may work out a separate deal with shareholders if a decision isn’t made.
April 7, 2008: Yahoo! Announces their AMP! advertising platform and stated that they want more money from Microsoft
April 10, 2008: Rumors appear that News Corp. AOL, and Google all want to arrange deals with Yahoo!
April 12, 2008: Capital Research & Management invests $2 billion more in Yahoo! shares giving them ownership of $6 billion worth of the company
April 30, 2008: Rumor appears Microsoft increases the amount that they’re willing to spend
May 4, 2008: Microsoft walks away from the negotiation table after YahoO! demands too much of a high price for Microsoft
May 4, 2008: Yahoo! responds by saying that through this experience, Yahoo! emerged as a stronger, more focused company
May 7, 2008: Yahoo! & Google become more serious about Google Ads appearing on Yahoo!
May 14, 2008: Major Yahoo! shareholder, Carl Icahn steps in and calls the Yahoo! Board irrational
May 20, 2008: Microsoft makes an offer to buy Yahoo!’s Search Advertising Business for an undisclosed amount
May 23, 2008: Yahoo! Director, Edward Kozel resigns to “spend more time with family”
May 23, 2008: Yahoo! postpones shareholder meeting for the second time
May 28, 2008: Jerry Yang claims company isn’t under siege and Microsoft is no longer interested in buying out the whole company at All Things D conference 

Information Sources:
[1] Associated Press: Yahoo CEO says company is not ‘under siege’ by Allison Hoffman
[2] Reuters: Yahoo says Microsoft no longer keen to merge
[3] TechCrunch: Jerry Yang: “We’re Done” by Michael Arrington

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based, Borders Group Inc. (NYSE:BGP) has been depending on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to power their website over the last seven years.  On March 17 2007, the company announced that that they were planning to sever ties with Amazon and compete directly with them.

“We expect to drive sales and profits with it,” stated Borders spokeswoman, Anne Roman in 2007 when talking about the upcoming website.  “We can mesh the in-store sales with online, which is something we have been missing.”

Although the financial information was undisclosed, Seattle PI estimates that the loss of Border’s could cost Amazon.com $80-$160 million in annual revenue. Amazon.com currently powers the websites for Sears Canada & UK, Target Corp., Benefit Cosmetics, Times, Bebe, Marks & Spencer, Lacoste, Mothercare, and AOL’s Shop@AOL. Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is currently researching the feasibility of buying out Borders. 

Below is the design for the new site:

The new look is very Web 2.0.  The new website uses a Flash-based feature called The Magic Shelf that allows the user to browse up, down, left, and right through a bookshelf.  Border’s website also monitors your book tastes and has a Picked For You feature.

The website also features visual media programs such as live store performances on Borders Live at 01, chefs in the Borders Kitchen, and discussions in the living room with Borders Book Club.  The website also directly connects with Borders Rewards membership coupon cards.

Compared to the old Border’s website, the new version is a lot more creative.  The old version look very identical to Amazon.com itself.  The only problem with the new site is that it struggles with search engine optimization.  The site is ranked 300,000+ on Alexa compared to Amazon.com’s rank 29.  Borders needs search optimization experts to help them so that when someone searches for a book on Google, Borders is up there with Amazon.

According to my Google toolbar, Borders’ website doesn’t appear to have a PageRank either.  This could directly affect their traffic.  Google should give them a PageRank boost.

Information Sources:
[1] Seattle Pi: Borders shelving Amazon alliance by Craig Harris
[2] MLive.com: Barnes & Nobles puts together team to look at buying rival Ann Arbor-based Borders by Stefanie Murray

Web enthusiasts today have a tendecy to use multiple chat software and use many different social networks.  Shoutoo aims to patch the disconnect between the large number of social networks and messaging services.

Shoutoo.com allows users to send a shout to all of your friends on Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce friends at once.  Another feature Shoutoo has is that videos can be embedded from YouTube, Vimeo, UStream.TV, Animoto, Jumpcut, and Eyespot across Shoutoo profile pages.  When friends/family send you a message through Jaiku, Twitter, and Pownce, it gets added into your Shoutoo page.

Users are also able to share their iTunes purchase list on their pages.  If friends like your music, they can click “Buy Now” on your profile page.

Shoutoo.com also works seamlessly on the iPhone.

Information Source:
[1] MMD Newswire.com: Shoutoo.com is the Great New Way to Get Connected with Friends and Family Online

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI[/youtube]

I spotted Numa Numa, Diet Coke & Mentos, crazy beaver, GI Joe parody, guy takes a picture of himself for 365 days, Chris Crocker, All you base belong to us, Miss South Carolina, Soulja Boy, Evolution of Dance, Chocolate Rain guy, Kevin Federline, Daft Hands, and Peanut Butter Jelly time.  Spot any that I missed?

Weezer’s label is MCA Music, Inc./Geffen.

There has been many instances where the media was duped by bloggers and marketers.  Between Engadget, YouTube users, and Internet marketers, false information has been known to spread across the Internet and on TV.

Engadget wrote an article that said the iPhone and Apple’s operating system would be delayed and this caused Apple’s market cap to temporarily drop by $4 billion.  The creators of YouTube user, LonelyGirl15 duped YouTube users into thinking that the videos generated on that site were about a teenage girl named Bree, but her name is actually Jessica Rose.  And today, Wired discovered that Lyndon Antcliff lied about a story that made it on the frontpage of Digg and spread across the media.

Lyndon Antcliff wrote up a fake story about an anoymous 13 year old boy in Texas that stole his dad’s credit card, went on a $30,000 shopping spree, and ordered hookers to a hotel only for the purpose of playing Halo on XBox.  Antcliff also mentioned in the article that the kid convinced the hookers that he was a circus midget in case of being suspected that the kid was too young.

This information made it onto FOX News and the anchor argued that the prostitute should have been arrested, even though the prositute never actually existed. 

“The thing is, I tried to make it as ridiculous as possible so it would be obvious that it would be fake,” stated Antcliff.  Now all publications that carry the story have parody disclaimers.  Antcliff’s story received roughly 6,000 trackbacks.

“It’s been a lesson in the power of social media and the power of people suspending their disbelief. [Traditional news organizations] are always banging about how inaccurate blogs are, but in this case, it was the opposite,” added Antcliff.

“Bringing Flektor’s unique Web-based tools to MySpace will enable users to make their profile even more unique than they already are,” stated Clint Brauer, VP of Marketing for Flektor. “The glitter text, slideshow creator and polling feature applications were developed by Flektor as another means of self-expression and we are thrilled to share them with MySpace users.”

Flektor, the profile enhancement tool built around MySpace profiles and is owned by Fox Interactive Media/News Corp. announced recently that they will be lauching several easy to setup applications called MySpace Apps.  These tools include Pimpin’ MySpace Slideshows, Truth Polls, and Glitter Text.  MySpace Developer Platform is powering the applications.

The widgets created through Flektor does not require users to import images or create separate Flektor accounts.  By using MySpace’s Developer Platform, Flektor is able to connect their own widgets to an individual’s MySpace user direct account.

Flektor applications will have safe access to a user’s friend list, interests, photos & photo albums, video, status, and moods.  Flektor was started in 2006 and is based in Culver City, Calif.  The company was acquired by News Corp./FOX Interactive Media in May 2007. 

Information Source:
[1] Business Wire: Flektor to Launch Glitter Text, Slideshow Creator and Poll Applications on MySpace

“We are thrilled to close this significant round of financing,” stated Shawn Hardin, CEO of Flock. “Following the tremendous market response to Flock’s commercial release, this new funding will enable us to continue our browser innovation – making engagement and participation across social networks and the Web as effortless as consumption.”

Flock is an open source social networking browser built around other open source layout engines.  Flock was created using Javascript, DOM, XUL, and XPCOM.  Yesterday Flock announced that they have raised $15 million in Series D funding.  The funding was provided by Fidelity Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, Catamount Ventures, and Shasta Ventures. 

With the new round of funding, Flock plans to expand business for R&D, marketing, and expansion.  Flock stated that this round of funding was higher than prior investments and that revenue has risen 400% since Jan. 2008.  And Flock’s user base increased by 250% since Jan. 2008.

Information Source:
[1] Flock Press Release

Earlier this week, a crazy Hungarian student threw 3 eggs at Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer.  The student believed that Microsoft was involved in a Hungarian government tender that would lock out competition.  It turns out Microsoft was not involved with this. 

What was Ballmer thinking about after the eggs were fired?  “I thought it was a joke… maybe some prank, some theatre from the university. Then I heard a sound — Boom! And I looked at the board behind me, and I said ‘uh oh, I have a problem’,” stated Ballmer during a keynote session in Europe.  “I thought, ‘I have to keep this suit clean’ so I ducked under the table because I was worried, egg doesn’t clean off very easily.”

After the student threw the eggs and missed each time, Ballmer came out from hiding behind the podium and continued his speech after saying “It was a friendly disruption.  That broke my train of thought.”

“Oh, he waved to me on the way out, and I waved back,” recounted Ballmer at a later keynote.

Infomation Source:
[1] Reuters: Microsoft’s Ballmer finds eggs don’t suit him

 
Yesterday Yahoo! decided to postpone a shareholder meeting.  The postponement is most likely because the company needs more time to negotiate a sale to Microsoft, prepare for defense, and work with Carl Icahn to settle down with deciding a new company Board.

The original date set for the shareholder meeting was July 3, but now it is set for later in July.  And this is the second time that Yahoo! postponed the meeting.

Here is a quick summary of what happened with Yahoo! and Microsoft and Icahn.  Going forward, this timeline will be attached with the saga between Yahoo!, Icahn, and Microsoft.

June 2007: Former Yahoo! CEO, Terry Semel Resigns, Jerry Yang steps up
July 2007: Yang makes a 100 day plan to get Yahoo! off the ground again
February 1, 2008: Microsoft makes an unsolicited offer to Yahoo! for $44.6 billion
February 9, 2008: Yahoo! passes on Microsoft offer
February 11, 2008: Rumor is that Yahoo! may merge with AOL
February 12, 2008: Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer sends a letter to Yahoo! “Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!’s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.”
February 13, 2008: Layoff notices are given at Yahoo! Ryan Kuder Twitters the entire event
April 4, 2008: Rumors begin to appear that Microsoft is deciding to pull the offer
April 5, 2008: Microsoft sends a letter to Yahoo! stating that they may work out a separate deal with shareholders if a decision isn’t made.
April 7, 2008: Yahoo! Announces their AMP! advertising platform and stated that they want more money from Microsoft
April 10, 2008: Rumors appear that News Corp. AOL, and Google all want to arrange deals with Yahoo!
April 12, 2008: Capital Research & Management invests $2 billion more in Yahoo! shares giving them ownership of $6 billion worth of the company
April 30, 2008: Rumor appears Microsoft increases the amount that they’re willing to spend
May 4, 2008: Microsoft walks away from the negotiation table after YahoO! demands too much of a high price for Microsoft
May 4, 2008: Yahoo! responds by saying that through this experience, Yahoo! emerged as a stronger, more focused company
May 7, 2008: Yahoo! & Google become more serious about Google Ads appearing on Yahoo!
May 14, 2008: Major Yahoo! shareholder, Carl Icahn steps in and calls the Yahoo! Board irrational
May 20, 2008: Microsoft makes an offer to buy Yahoo!’s Search Advertising Business for an undisclosed amount
May 23, 2008: Yahoo! Director, Edward Kozel resigns to “spend more time with family”
May 23, 2008: Yahoo! postpones shareholder meeting for the second time

TechCrunch and Mashable are probably the two strongest names in technology news blogging today.  Both companies serve as a benchmark for many rising star technology blogs such as Pulse 2.0.  Everyday I read both blogs.  The best part of both blogs was that they each had their own style, niche & strategy that propelled them to where they are today.  But today something is happening.

Notice something in the arrows above?  Both companies used almost the same exact article title.  They’re killing each other’s originality.  Let me get into this later.  Right now I’ll tell you about the previous strategies versus the present of Mashable and TechCrunch.

Mashable’s Perceived Previous Strategy
When Mashable first started, Pete Cashmore focused solely on writing about MySpace and other social networks.  One of Cashmore’s first articles that became instantly popular was, “If You Don’t Have A MySpace, You’re a Lametard.“ 

It was a unique approach to blogging, but it worked.  Like many other entrepreneurs, Cashmore never graduated college, but he found his groove and it worked for him.  When Cashmore offered Pulse 2.0 to write for Mashable in 2006 and we said no, it was because we wanted to see how much P2 would grow.  There was mutual respect in doing that and Cashmore is a great guy. Since then P2 worked with Mashable to promote the Open Web Awards.

Mashable’s Perceived Current Strategy
Mass blog post production.  Now Mashable writes about everything happening on the Internet.  They have slipped away from their core focus from strictly social network news.  For example, one of their last articles was: ABC Launching Upgraded Video Player For Fall Season.  This has nothing to do with social networking news. 

TechCrunch’s Perceived Previous Strategy
When TechCrunch first started growing, Arrington was writing a smaller number of articles per day, but he made sure that it focused on only web start-ups and it was higher in quality.  I looked at Techcrunch’s archives from February 2006 and noticed that Michael Arrington only wrote about 61 articles that month.  All of those articles focused on startups.  When you thought of any kind of web startups, you thought of TechCrunch. 

TechCrunch’s Perceived Current Strategy:
Mass blog post production.  Within the last 22 days, TechCrunch has published over 113 articles about everything happenng on the Internet.  In the rare instances where TechCrunch writes about a startup today, it gets mixed in with tons of information that other blogs and publications have already written.  TechCrunch is shifting away from their core competency.

Consequence:
The above screen shots are the results of what happens when you attempt to be something that you are not.  You try to replicate a model to the point where you beging to think exactly the same as the other. 

Pulse 2.0 Strategy
Given the constructive criticism I’m giving to both Mashable and TechCrunch, you may ask what makes Pulse 2.0 unique from the other tech blogs?  Pulse 2.0 focuses on news, startups, social networks, funding, and whatever we feel like adding.  If I see a funny video clip created by 1938 Media, I’ll post it.  If Shan can prove that 6 volt batteries do not contain 4 AA batteries in it, he’ll publish that.  Pulse 2.0 is a thinktank. 

If you have any feedback for our current business model, I’d be happy to hear about it.

On April 19, I wrote about how Farecast was acquired by Microsoft for $115 million.  Ever since then, Microsoft has been working on integrating Farecast into the Live platform.  Demos of Live Search Farecast are now starting to appear on the Internet.

Currently the site is down, but I did find a few screen shots of the site from LiveSide.net.  The screen shots are below:

Live Search Farecast will help you predict when the best time to buy flights are so that you can find the best discount.  This is very helpful because if you ask any skilled pilot what part of the aviation industry they do not understand, they’ll say ticket prices.

Below is a video of Satya Nadella, Senior VP of Search, Portal, and Advertising demoing the product:

Video: Farecast DEMO by Satya Nadella at Advance08

“Our users have asked for a mobile site that makes staying in touch with friends while on the go even easier. We’ve taken our most popular core social networking features and made them easy to use via mobile devices at m.friendster.com.”
-David Jones, VP of Global Marketing at Friendster

Friendster has officially launched a mobile version of their web site.  This a much-needed addition in order to keep up with the Joneses.  The Joneses include Facebook Mobile, Google Mobile, and MySpace Mobile.

Through the mobile version of Friendster, users can check out check messages, review friend requests, post shoutouts to friends, browse through photos, browse user profiles, search for users, add posts bulletins.

Friendster is the biggest social network with 50 million users and about 34 million uniques per month in Asia alone.  Friendster has 70 million members worldwide.  How many of them are active?  Who knows?  I lost interest after about a year.

Below is a gallery of the mobile version of the site: