Author: Sarah Perez

Fennec, the mobile version of the Firefox web browser, is now available in an early build designed for Android handsets thanks to a fan-compiled download posted on an Android developers forum. And by early, we mean unofficial, pre-alpha, device-specific and downright buggy. But for anyone interested in mobile browser developments, this port is an interesting sneak peek into the future of Firefox’s mobile plans.

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Fennec for Droid

German developer Martin Schirr’s version of Fennec is ideal for Droid users because it requires a hardware-based keyboard. Without support for touch input or multi-touch, it won’t work on all flavors of the Google Android mobile operating system.

It’s also a hefty download – 41 MB in size. And it freezes upon first boot. Plus, it’s slow and prone to crashes and bugs. But that’s what pre-alpha means – especially a pre-alpha that wasn’t released by the Mozilla organization itself.

So what can you do with the Android version of Fennec? Well, you can test out its features, like tabbed browsing, tab synchronization between desktop and mobile and browser add-ons. Right now, there aren’t too many add-ons available, but given the stage of development, that’s not surprising.

Fennec: Slow to Launch?

We first heard of Mozilla’s plans to bring Fennec to Android back in June of last year when Google announced a change in how software can run on Android. After the release of a new Android NDK that used C/C++ programming languages – the same as Firefox – Mozilla began to consider the possibilities of bringing the Fennec browser to the Google-branded mobile platform.

In October, Mozilla CEO John Lilly re-confirmed the organization’s plans to build an Android version, while touting its many features like support for “Javascript, CSS, Flash, SVG, video and audio.” It would be “the first mobile browser to support add-ons,” he said.

Now it’s nearly 9 months later and there’s still not a usable version of the browser for Android devices – just pre-alpha builds like this. Should we be concerned? Should Mozilla?

While waiting for a real version of Fennec, the popularity of Webkit-based browsers continues to grow, Opera gains mobile ground (especially on feature phones), and last month, Microsoft announced a new mobile OS launching by year-end, Windows Phone 7 Series. This OS will include an updated version of Internet Explorer Mobile that offers multi-touch gesture support and tabbed browsing, among other features.

Mozilla is expected to release a working build of Fennec around the same time, but depending on the exact launch dates, they may not get to claim “first” anymore – at least among the top web browsers out there. (Third-party apps already deliver tabbed browsing on various mobile devices). That being said, support for Mozilla is still strong. And once functional, it may have a lot more to offer than its competitors.

In the meantime, intrepid Android geeks will be definitely be interested in giving this new fan-compiled Fennec build a look. However, general Android users should probably stay away for now – this version is by no means meant for daily use.

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Are location-based social networks privacy disasters waiting to happen? Or are the supposed “dangers” simply being overhyped by those without a thorough understanding of what these new networks can and cannot do? Today, these questions are the subject of a serious debate among early adopters – the group of people who are first to sign up for and try out the latest technology innovations, testing everything from iPads to mobile apps.

There are currently a number of location-based social networks clamoring for your attention, including earlier contenders like Loopt and Brightkite as well as the later to arrive game-based networks like Foursquare and Gowalla. Even user review site Yelp is getting in on the action. So is Google. And so is Facebook, apparently.

But is sharing your location with your online “friends” asking for trouble?

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Please Rob Me? OK! Says Burglar

Not too long ago, a social experiment called PleaseRobMe launched, displaying the aggregated real-time updates from Foursquare users who used the service’s social sharing feature to broadcast their updates publicly on Twitter. Although that site has since been shuttered, the point they were trying to make still resonates: sharing your physical location with a public network is a dangerous and really dumb idea.

Want more examples? How about the story of the Twitter user who broadcast his vacation only to find his house robbed when he came home. Or more recently, a women’s Facebook status update alerted a burglar that her home was empty and ready to be robbed. (The thief got away with $10,000 in stolen goods).

Social Networks and Privacy

However, the above incidents take place on a somewhat public stage. (The Facebook woman, for instance, had collected around 600 friends – surely not all of them were truly personal contacts?)

The new mobile social networking services allow for a bit more privacy. On these networks, you can control who you “friend” and, in some cases, who can see your exact location. Brightkite, for example, lets you choose to share updates with either just friends or with everyone. Foursquare lets you check in to locations “off the grid,” meaning checking in privately without letting your friends know where they can find you.

Redefining Friend

Unfortunately, the issue with all these networks comes down to how someone defines the word “friend.” Ever since the days of MySpace, it seems the goal has been to accumulate the most friends. This mindset has carried over to many other social networks, including Twitter, the social aggregator FriendFeed and Google Buzz, all of which publicly track and expose how many people follow you, an indication of popularity…and who doesn’t want to be popular?

The truth is, an online friend may or may not be worthy of the same level of trust as someone you know in real life. Sure, they might be – in fact, odds are they are lovely people – but without a history of interaction that extends beyond sharing a few links and comments on Twitter, you can’t possibly know that for sure.

Dangers to Women?

This is the point that Director of Partner Marketing for the Rackspace Cloud Michelle Greer makes on a recent blog post where she explains why she can’t get excited about geolocation. “I’ve had some not so pleasant experiences with someone who felt compelled to tell me that I couldn’t block him from certain circles of my life,” she wrote. “When I’d tweet that people should go to an event, he’d friend everyone involved. He was basically trying to be everywhere I was both online and off and it was very scary.”

Also frightening is the story from out-spoken blogger Harriet Jacobs. She discovered that Google had revealed her location with the launch of its social network, Buzz. It exposed what she believed were private comments on blog posts shared in Google Reader. Those who could now see these details included a group of anonymous strangers (aka “blog readers”) who had sent her threats over the years. Plus, her top emailed contact was none other than an abusive ex-husband. All this because Google mistakenly thought that your email contact list was – in all cases – your true social network. Google has since apologized for the blunder, but the damage was done.

Anecdotally, the fears of being socially stalked have been whispered behind the scenes ever since these mobile social networks launched. While some may claim (perhaps accurately) that these examples of the supposed dangers are fringe cases, the sad truth is that women are stalked and harassed more often than men – it’s just a statistical fact. Most won’t blog about it as publicly as Greer or Jacobs did, though – they simply won’t use a service that discloses their location.

You Can be Smart About This…but Can the Mainstream?

Now, granted, there are ways to maintain some privacy when using services like these, whether you’re worried about stalking, robbery or simply want to be left alone. Social networker extraordinaire Robert Scoble made a few suggestions in the comments of Greer’s blog post. His ideas: lie about your exact location, be more picky about your friends, change your name or check in after you’ve left. These are all tactics that would certainly work well, so now the decision users have to make is should they bother? Some may feel that’s quite a bit effort just to generate a badge collection or get a tip about a restaurant’s best dish. But others will find more compelling reasons to use mobile social networks. At big events, for example, these networks can help you find your friends. You may even save a few bucks on your meal thanks to a mobile coupon received upon check-in – and everyone loves saving money.

Still, if early adopters are still debating these risks and rewards, what will the mainstream think? They’re already terrified of the molesters on MySpace and the boss reading their Facebook status. And many of them are so technically un-savvy that they opted in to letting Facebook share their updates with everyone without even realizing it. Some of them don’t even know when they’re on Facebook or when they’re reading this blog. Are these people capable of using mobile social networks properly in ways that won’t put them at risk? Or will they add friends willy-nilly, broadcast their every move then be stunned when something bad happens?

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Video platform provider Brightcove just announced the launch of a new tool for website publishers called the “Brightcove Experience Framework for HTML5.” The framework allows the company’s 1,300 customers create HTML5-compatible websites for delivering video content to Apple mobile devices, including the upcoming slate computer known as the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch.

There has been a lot of debate about the move to HTML5 for Web video support, an area previously dominated by Adobe Flash and its accompanying Web browser plugin. Some publishers claim making the switch is a burden while others, most notably Apple CEO Steve Jobs, say the move is “trivial.” The truth, says Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire, is that “it depends.” For some publishers using homegrown video solutions, building a new HTML5 website is indeed hard work, but for customers using platform solutions (like his, of course), the transition is much easier.

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Flash and HTML5 Will Coexist, Says Allaire

“Transition” might be the wrong word for describing the launch of HTML5-enabled websites like those said to be coming from NPR, the Wall St. Journal, and apparently, CBS. Companies aren’t just creating a new HTML5 website and discarding the older version – they’re creating a second website to complement the first. And both websites will run side-by-side for years, says Allaire. He, of anyone, should know. Now the CEO and founder of Brightcove, Allaire’s background includes a stint at Macromedia as the company’s CTO prior to its acquisition by Adobe. While there, he actually helped build the original Flash platform.

Brightcove Aims to Close Gap Between Flash, HTML5 Feature Sets

The device driving the adoption of the upcoming Web standard known as HTML5, the core markup language used to create the pages of the World Wide Web, is the Apple iPad. Like its smaller mobile siblings, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad won’t support the Adobe Flash plugin.

Flash has long been a staple on the Web for things like video content, online ads and even casual games, but for various technological and political reasons, Apple does not support it on its mobile devices. According to Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, this isn’t an issue, since creating websites using HTML5 technology is “trivial.” To some extent, that’s an accurate statement. Allaire confirms that at its most basic form, preparing a video and putting it on a webpage using HTML5 is not a difficult process.

The problem is that video publishers have come to expect more than just a simple video player like that what’s offered via HTML5 in its current state. They’re used to options like branded players, analytics, social media integrations, advanced player controls and other currently Flash-only options supported by Adobe’s technology. Brightcove, however, aims to catch up with Adobe’s feature set over the course of the year. At launch time, its HTML5 video player will support basic playback, auto device detection and H.264 encoding. In three months, more features will be added including “robust templates” to replace the basic ones available now, viewership reporting, advertising and more. And by the close of 2010, the company will offer publishers complete analytics, advertising and engagement features.

However, even when HTML5 video players reach a place where they’re on par with what Adobe Flash can do, it will be years before publishers can discard their Flash-based websites. According to Allaire, the issue is that the percentage of Web browsers that support HTML5 is “tiny,” and those that do so haven’t yet settled on one video codec as the default. Until there’s uniformity in the implementation of HTML5 video, publishers who need to reach 100% of their Web audience will offer multiple versions of their websites, dependent on what device, browser and operating system is in use by their website visitors.

The HTML5 Transition: A Burden on Publishers?

There is a lot of debate as to the burden created by the transition to HTML5 by media publishers. Some argue that the move is not difficult, time-consuming or expensive – and anyone claiming otherwise is spreading “FUD,” (aka “fear, uncertainty and doubt”), a term used by tech geeks to deride these types of complaints as being non-substantive. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs, reportedly trivialized publishers’ concerns using, in fact, that very word (“trivial”) ) when demonstrating the iPad to Wall St. Journal staff earlier this year.

On the flip side, others, including a number of media publishers who recently complained to Silicon Alley gossip and news site Gawker, say the argument has merit.

Where does Brightcove, then, stand on this issue? Allaire says that it depends on the video platform the Web publishers in question currently use. If they’re on Brightcove or a similar platform solution, creating sites with HTML5 video content is a “publish once” process. However, those who have developed homegrown video publishing systems over the years will face more challenges. Lest you think this group includes just small-time players, Allaire rattled off a number of big names who do just that, including Disney, ABC, CBS, Yahoo and MSN.

HTML5 Solutions Abound

Allaire can’t say how many of the company’s 1,300 customers are planning their own iPad-ready sites since the tool was only made available to its publishers today. (Time and the NYT were the only publishers involved in the pre-release tests.) However, he can confirm that there is high demand from the company’s customers, even saying that “almost all of the consumer-facing brands,” specifically news magazines and TV brands, wanted a tool like this in order to create iPad-ready sites.

Brightcove isn’t the only company to meet this growing need, either. Competitor Ooyala beat Brightcove to the punch in terms of being the first to announce iPad integration with its video platform, but Allaire said he can’t compare their offering to his because the announcement on their end was “too vague.” Outside of video platform solutions, projects like Jilion’s Sublime Video will also allow publishers to create HTML5 video experiences while falling back to Flash for unsupported Web browsers. However, this solution doesn’t – as least for now – offer all the features Brightcove says it will have in place by year-end.

When the iPad launches April 3, there will undoubtedly be a number of HTML5-ready websites ready for the new computing platform. But those that don’t offer the same won’t be in any immediate trouble for their decision (except for perhaps receiving a bit of bad press). Although the iPad is expected to land in the hands of a solid million or so users by the end of the first quarter, that pales in comparison to the 500 million broadband PC users who visit sites on a desktop-based Web. That being said, there’s no doubt that Apple’s choice to forgo Flash will impact the Web and the Web publishing industry for years to come.

Disclosure: The New York Times syndicates ReadWriteWeb content.

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Noted iPhone hacker George Hotz is teasing the web with a video that displays a new jailbreak for all iPhone and iPod Touch models, and maybe even the iPad, too, he says. This supposedly improved process (there’s no code to examine yet) aims to solve a problem that came into play when updated devices like the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3.0 were released. The issue? After performing the jailbreak on these newer devices, if you ever needed to reboot the phone, it had to be connected to your computer and the software that performed the hack would have to be re-run. No more, says Hotz.

While it’s great to see such a notable improvement on the horizon, there’s one big question that it brings to mind: who’s going to jailbreak an iPad? And why?

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Why People Jailbreak

Jailbreaking is a term that refers to a type of hack which opens up the mobile device to allow for the installation of unapproved third-party programs. It has become well known over the years as a method which provides access to pirated iPhone applications – versions of paid applications available for free download from special programs that can be installed on a jailbroken device. However, that’s not the only reason that people jailbreak their iPhones and iPod Touches.

The main reason, many would argue, is not for free apps but for more apps – the kinds Apple doesn’t approve of. Thanks to a highly-regulated iTunes App Store and the restrictions it imposes on developers, some of the best applications are available outside Apple’s domain. Want to turn your iPhone into a modem providing Internet access to your laptop (aka “tethering”)? Want to download YouTube videos for offline viewing? Want to tweak hidden settings on your phone? Transfer files with Bluetooth? Enable Flash? Skin the phone with a custom theme and icons? Run apps in the background? Filter phone calls? The list goes on and on.

And yet, while these hacks have great appeal to users of the small mobile devices, some of them will no longer be necessary on the iPad, Apple’s upcoming slate computer whose launch is days away.

Why Jailbreak the iPad?

The ability to tether your iPhone to your laptop is one of the most popular reasons why people people jailbreak. However, on the iPad, you either have Wi-Fi only or you have 3G built in. Would you really need to tether your iPad to your notebook computer? Probably not. If you’re carrying the iPad around, you probably left the notebook at home.

Another favorite among jailbreakers is an application called Winterboard. This theming app lets you redesign your iPhone’s UI from icons to the background and even the battery icon and the “side to unlock” bar itself. On the iPad, though, users can now use any image as the iPad’s background image instead of just on the lock screen as is done on the iPhone. While the iPad feature is obviously still much more limited in functionality, it will likely placate some of those who feel the need for just a tad more customization than is available on the iPhone itself.

Similarly, many of the jailbreaking apps that let you perform or tweak phone-related functions will no longer be necessary since the iPad is not a phone. Same goes for the camera apps – the iPad doesn’t have one of those either. And Flash? Well, more and more sites are adopting HTML5 technology and with this, videos can be rendered plug-in free, just in time for iPad web surfers to enjoy.

So although there may end up being plenty of reasons to jailbreak the iPad, there will be – at least at launch time – far fewer reasons than on the iPad’s sister devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch. But we wouldn’t be surprised to see an ecosystem of rejected but still incredible and useful apps spring up over time. If there’s ever an unfilled niche the iPad doesn’t address, there will almost certainly be “an app for that.” You just might not be able to get it at the iTunes Store.

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Wikipedia, the online user-created encyclopedia and the number six website on the Internet today, is about to get a makeover. And it’s a big one. According to a blog post from the Wikimedia Foundation User Experience team detailing the changes, the upcoming Wikipedia redesign, due to launch April 5, aims to make the site easier to navigate, easier to search and, perhaps most importantly, easier to edit.

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Easier is Better

The upcoming design, code-named “Vector,” has been in use over the past six months by a group of 500,000 beta testers. Included in the update are changes like simplified navigation, a relocated search box, clutter reduction and even an updated Wikipedia logo. Also, all English Wikipedia users will soon be able to create PDFs and printed books from Wikipedia articles, a service previously available only to logged-in users.

However, the most interesting change is how Wikipedia is making the page edit functions easier. A new toolbar will be provided which lets editors more easily insert links and tables, and an included cheatsheet will help users access the most commonly used functions.

These editing changes launching next month are only the beginning, notes Naoko Komura on the Wikimedia blog. Later this year, the site will see even more radical revamps to the editing process. This includes the following:

• Reducing the amount of wiki code users see in the edit system and making it possible to change data in tables and information boxes through simple forms.
• Cleaning up the edit page itself, to use more understandable language and get rid of confusing clutter.
• Providing a new outline tool to navigate a long article while you’re editing it.

Wikipedia Needs More Editors

Now the question is whether or not these changes will encourage more people to actually edit the online encyclopedia because, surprisingly, few users actually do.

Wikipedia is often heralded as a shining example of how there’s power in the “wisdom of the crowds,” a phrase that implies how a diverse collection of individuals can be more accurate than individuals or even experts. However, the dirty little secret about the supposedly “crowd-edited” online encyclopedia is that, even though anyone and everyone can edit it, few do so. In fact, only 1% of Wikipedia users are responsible for half of the site’s edits. Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, has even been quoted as saying that the site is really written by a community, "a dedicated group of a few hundred volunteers."

Given these statistics, it’s no surprise that Wikipedia wants to make some changes. Recent reports point to slowed growth, a downward trend that may be partly to blame on the increasingly complex editing process, according to some experts.

Dr. Ed H Chi, a scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center in California, told the Telegraph that the site had become a "more exclusive place", where only a handful of the most experienced editors were responsible for editing and maintaining the site.

In other words, Wikipedia became a site that wasn’t representing the “wisdom of the crowds” anymore, but the “wisdom of an elite group.” That in, turn, may have caused the slowdown. Over the past several years, the number of new articles per day has dropped from 2,200 in July of 2007 to 1,300 today.

Is It Too Late? Or Just in Time?

By simplifying the editing process, Wikipedia could potentially reverse this trend -  at least, that’s likely what they’re hoping will occur. According to the Q&A on the changes, the organization is aware of these very issues:

When knowledgeable people cannot participate in editing Wikipedia because they find it too confusing or difficult to edit articles, it is a serious problem that undermines the potential quality, breadth and depth of the content that we can offer to you […] When it was first developed, the software running Wikipedia was considered reasonably user-friendly. By today’s standards, it is not as streamlined nor user-friendly as other software.

But has the organization waited too long? Have mainstream Internet users already given up on being a part of the editing process and are now happy just to read? We’ll know soon enough. Rollouts begin in April, starting first with media repository Wikimedia Commons and then followed by Wikipedia itself later that month.

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CBS.com is apparently adding itself to the lineup of big-name media properties scrambling to get their websites ready for the upcoming Apple iPad, due out on April 3. Recently, both the Wall St. Journal and NPR.org confirmed that they were revamping their sites using HTML5 markup language, the upcoming Web standard that supports video playback without a Web browser plugin. The reason for the overhauls? Apple does not support Adobe’s Flash technology on their mobile devices, a lineup that also includes iPhones and iPod Touches. That means that CBS.com’s Flash-based streaming video wouldn’t play on Apple’s new slate computers – devices expected to land in the hands of anywhere from 1 to 6 million customers this year, depending on which analyst predictions you go by.

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CBS iPad Tests Spotted in the Wild

A blogger at TheOtherMacBlog, Colum ODwyer, spotted what appeared to be HTML5 video tests late last night when two odd clips appeared on the CBS.com homepage. Screenshots were snagged showing accompanying text that read “iPad – test – dan config.” (Oops, Dan, it looks like you pushed the wrong button!)

Another blogger from MacRumors, Arnold Kim, then followed up on this news by delving into the CSS of the CBS.com website itself to discover multiple references to HTML5, the technology that would be needed for viewing videos like these on the iPad. Kim also loaded up the CBS.com website using the iPad SDK Simulator, a tool provided to developers testing iPad applications. Since he was coming from a device which would appear to CBS’s servers as an iPad, he was shown a different version of the site. Here, videos displayed with accompanying text that again read “iPad – test – dan config.”

Without a doubt this is hard evidence that CBS is at least testing HTML5 technology with the iPad in mind. Whether or not CBS’s website will actually be iPad-ready by April 3 is unknown at this time. We have a call into CBS.com and will update this story with their comment when they phone back.Update: CBS will neither confirm or deny their iPad plans. A CBS spokesperson said the company “is constantly putting our content on a variety of platforms,” and is “ready to test any idea that brings that content to the widest possible audience.”

iPad Owners Want Their Free TV

The iPad is clearly meant to be a more of media consumption device than media creation device. Without a hardware-based keyboard (it’s sold separately) or camera, consumers buying the iPad are expected to use it more for reading books and magazines, watching video and playing games than for creating media like videos, photos or even long-form text. For media publishers, the launch of the iPad means more pressure to convert their websites, either whole or in part, to HTML5. Although Flash is used for more than just video, publishers – and most notably sites featuring streaming video news reports or entertainment offerings like online TV shows – will be among the most heavily affected by the iPad’s lack of Flash support.

In this case, CBS.com hosts a large library of videos in both standard format and HD. There are short clips as well as full length TV shows, all of which are offered for free to site visitors and are supported by in-stream ads that generate modest revenue for the broadcaster. Although you can find some of the company’s content indexed on Hulu, the joint venture between NBC, Fox, ABC and others, clicking through on the links there redirects you over to CBS.com’s own website. CBS also has a shaky relationship with Apple’s iTunes, keeping popular shows like Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist either out of the store altogether or offering only limited seasons. (Neither appear to be available now.) In other words, if you want to watch CBS video from your computer, CBS.com is the most reliable place to find it. In that case, the company needs to get its website working on the iPad soon, or it will lose out on an audience that will potentially number in the millions by year-end.

Image credits: Videos, TheOtherMacBlog; CSI, MacRumors

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Jolicloud, one of the original standouts in the field of cloud-based operating systems, has just released their new Chrome-based web application platform as promised earlier this month. The company’s operating system now features 600+ web apps, a faster browsing experience and HTML5 support, notes a company blog post. The switch in back-end platforms from Mozilla prism to Chrome is an interesting one, too, especially considering that Google’s upcoming Google Chrome OS for netbooks will soon launch, supposedly with manufacturer partnerships in tow. Will Jolicloud’s open source efforts at delivering an alternative end up being just as successful? Or will they become the also-ran of the forthcoming cloud computing landscape?

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Jolicloud has always been an intriguing company to watch. Long before Google publicly announced its netbook-ready operating system, Google Chrome OS, Jolicloud had already envisioned a future where computers run apps over the internet instead of programs stored on a local hard drive. The company was launched in 2009 by Tariq Krim, a founder at Netvibes, the also ahead-of-its-time maker of online dashboards (a site, incidentally, also just now coming into its own thanks to the advent of the real-time web). The Jolicloud OS promises to take computing to the “cloud,” the catch-all term meaning, in this case, a transition from installable applications to web services.

With its simple interface, Jolicloud lets you run a web browser and use applications like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Skype, Boxee, Meebo, Dropbox and hundreds of others from one webtop-type interface. Unfortunately, so will Google Chrome OS – when it launches, that is. And unlike Jolicloud, Chrome OS will have the power of the Google brand behind it, not to mention the marketing power of a company so profitable that it’s literally creating new services just to have more places to advertise on the net.

So where does that leave Jolicloud?

Jolicloud to Benefit from Google Backlash?

If anything Jolicloud could potentially benefit from the recent “Google backlash,” most recently seen when the search giant flubbed then apologized for the launch of its real-time content aggregation service, Buzz, within Gmail. Turned on by default, the company exposed people’s private social network contained in their inbox to the wider world. Journalists covering the news were not happy, to say the least, as their top-secret sources were exposed to those savvy enough to search through their friend lists.

Despite this misstep, which may or may not be soon forgiven given the ephemeral nature of the Internet’s pundits and their cause du jour, Google does make available several features that allow its customers to protect their privacy. For example, the company recently introduced a way that web surfers can opt out of tracking via Google Analytics. It also recently launched a web dashboard late last year in response to users’ growing concerns about how the company handles the vast amount of data stored by its services. Although this dashboard is a convenient way to manage your various Google accounts and settings, it has the unintended effect of reminding you just how many facets of your life Google has wormed its way into. (If you haven’t yet, log into www.google.com/dashboard for a real eye-opener).

In Jolicloud’s case, these privacy concerns could work in its favor. Like Chrome OS, it’s also built on the same open source project that then became Google’s web OS, but Jolicloud has the benefit of…well…not being Google. Right or wrong, some may be wary of the Internet giant as of late, just as they have been of other larger-than-life companies in the past, including, most notably Microsoft and IBM. For these folks, Jolicloud may seem like a way to enjoy netbook-based cloud computing without entirely giving themselves over to yet another Google-branded service.

But Jolicloud’s real success won’t be dependent on “feelings” like these – it will depend on what partnerships the company makes with hardware manufacturers. Talks may be underway, but nothing has been officially announced yet. Ultimately, it’s consumers who will decide if Jolicloud netbooks are worth using – or if Google Chrome OS-based netbooks are, for that matter. But until the companies launch their respective offerings on machines available for sale, there’s no way of knowing how well or poorly either will truly fare.

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Google is touting a new feature for their mobile VoIP application, Google Voice: instant notification of new SMS text messages and voicemails. You may have thought an app meant to replace your phone’s functions would already be doing that, but in reality, Google Voice delayed notifications for 15 minutes by default. You could change this to 5 minutes or force a refresh manually, but many don’t bother tweaking settings or obsessively refreshing just to see if they have new messages. Now that’s no longer necessary – messages are delivered almost immediately.

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According to news posted on the Google Voice blog, the new notification feature called “Inbox Synchronization” will notify your Android-powered device (sorry, iPhone users!) of new messages “within seconds” of receiving them. That’s not exactly real-time, but close enough – at least now your text messaging friends won’t think you’re ignoring them.

Unfortunately, this feature isn’t being switched on automatically – Google Voice users will have to make the adjustments themselves. To enable it, you’ll need to open the Google Voice settings on your phone and touch Refresh and notification. Doing so will automatically disable SMS forwarding to your phone, too, so you won’t receive duplicate notifications.

Also included in the update is a new pop-up bar that appears when you tap a contact’s photo. From here, you can quickly respond via voicemail, email or IM.

Google Voice: Not There Yet?

Despite this obviously welcome advance for the Google Voice app on Android handsets, some are still questioning why the service hasn’t been better integrated with the mobile operating system itself. Only days ago, tech guru and founder of O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly, posted on Google’s new service, Buzz: “What’s with Google Voice as a second-class citizen on Android?”

He cites a few examples of improvements that he believes should be made specifically regarding the app’s voicemail feature. “There’s no link to [voicemail] from the phone app, even if it’s installed, so you have to use the old-fashioned voice mail, or else check it in a separate application,” he notes. “Phone numbers that are left in messages are not clickable dial links when the message is transcribed.”

Soon after, dozens of commenters chimed in, some with their own gripes, mentioning issues with transcriptions and making calls. However, more were actually sticking up for the service than complaining.

Anecdotally, we’ve heard stories from Google Voice users who’ve complained about minor issues that, on their own, don’t seem like “make it or break it” bugs. But they can be irksome enough that some of these users aren’t making a full transition from phone-based calls, texts and voicemail over to the VoIP application. That may change in the future as Google pushes out more updates and bug fixes…at least we hope it will.

In the meantime, at least some people are having fun with the service’s issues. For example, over on the Facebook page ****GoogleVoiceSaid, mimicked after the Twitter account with a similar name, users share the worst (and funniest) translations Google Voice has created. An example post: “This is or you need the hello. Yeah for hello hello at.” Sounds like voice recognition still has a ways to go.

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Fliptop, a new content subscription service, is one of several companies presenting at this week’s DEMO conference in Palm Springs. Among a large group of startups, this was one of the first to catch my eye, making me think “wow, I need that!” In short, what Fliptop offers is a simple way to subscribe to a website’s content. But unlike traditional RSS feeds, which just offer a direct feed which must be added to an RSS reader like Google Reader or FeedDemon, Fliptop’s service provides more features, like the option to filter content by keyword, follow only select topics or categories and the ability to receive email digests of the just content you’re interested in.

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For Web Publishers

The Fliptop service is available in two formats – one designed for website publishers and another designed for web surfers. The first provides an embeddable button that publishers can add to their site. When clicked, this button prompts the user as to which topics they want to follow. A sports site could set it up so fans could just check boxes next to their favorite team names, for instance. Another option below the checkboxes lets you further refine the content you choose by keyword filters. So, here on ReadWriteWeb.com, for example, you could follow news about “mobile, real-time web, apple” etc. (Keywords are separated by commas).

After picking your options, you click “Next” and then choose how you want to be alerted – either via a traditional RSS feed or by email, Twitter, Facebook, or SMS text. If choosing the email option, you can even configure how often you want to be alerted – once per day, once a week or immediately.

For Consumers

However, you don’t have to rely on publishers to begin using Fliptop before you can try it. A browser bookmarklet is available which lets you drag-and-drop a Fliptop button to your web browser’s bookmarks. Click the new “Subscribe” button it creates when you’re on any page that has an RSS feed (look for the orange icon in the address bar of your browser). When clicked, you can configure how you want to follow that site. At the moment, your only options here are email or RSS.

The service is simple, incredibly easy to use and useful for anyone who feels overwhelmed by their news feeds. (Gadget blog readers, rejoice! This product is perfect for you!).

The only downside to the service as it stands right now is that it requires you to fill out CAPTCHAs when signing up. These spam blocking tools force you to type in the blurry words you see into a text box before confirming your subscription. And if requesting an email subscription, you then have to click yet another confirmation sent to you via email to assure Fliptop that you really did want to subscribe. We appreciate that the company is looking out for us, but two confirmations is at least one too many for what should be a speedier service, in our opinion.

Will Fliptop Make Website Subscriptions More Mainstream?

The real question now is whether something like Fliptop will encourage more people to follow a website’s content via an automated mechanism, be it a customized, filtered RSS feed or an email digest. The idea of subscribing to a website directly via an RSS feed is one that, for whatever reason, never quite caught on with the general public. However, those same folks probably use RSS without even knowing it – like when they follow their favorite blog on Facebook, for example. The updates they track there are, in most cases, automated via RSS technology.

Fliptop could potentially reach these same sort of non-technical users too, thanks to its simple terminology (publisher buttons say “follow” not “subscribe”), a clean layout and easily understandable filtering options. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if any web publishers pick this up and place it on their site.

Discuss

A new service from AwayFind lets you ignore your inbox without worrying that you’re going to miss an important message. It’s one of those ideas that seems so obvious, you’re left wondering “why didn’t someone think of this already?”

With the new service and its optional web browser plugin, you’re able to configure alerts for critical, “can’t miss” email messages and can choose to have those alerts sent to you via instant message, Twitter, SMS text message or even a phone call.

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AwayFind 2.0

The new service, dubbed AwayFind Orchant, is an expansion of AwayFind’s core product, an email alerts service that helps you deal with the very real-world problem of information overload. With the original product, AwayFind 1.0 (previous coverage), people who email you are directed to your AwayFind contact page where they can fill out a brief form describing the nature of their emergency. Those who do so will be rewarded by having their message actually reach you, either via text message or via an email to another inbox, even though you’re away from your primary email account at the time.

However, that auto-responder, while nice to have, put the burden on those contacting you to make sure their message was read. It also allows any person to reach you, even if you don’t consider the message urgent or important. (Case in point: you would be surprised how many PR professionals decided to use the AwayFind service to pitch me “urgent” news about some startup!)

With the new service, you are back in control. You designate which emails are important. This configuration takes place during the setup process where you specify filters similar to those you already use to sort messages into folders or labels in your inbox. With these filters in place, you’re telling AwayFind how to identify which messages are important to you. For example, you could filter for any message from your boss, messages containing the word “urgent” in the subject, messages sent to a specific email address, messages sent to your project team from the team leader, etc.

You can then specify what actions AwayFind should take in order to alert you. You can choose to be contacted via IM (AIM, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk are supported), Twitter, another email address, a SMS text message or a voice phone call. You can also configure other options, like which auto-responder template to send when a message matches a specific filter. You can even specify if there is someone who shouldn’t get your auto-response while everyone else does – perfect for playing hooky without the boss catching wind!

Web Browser Plugin Brings Filtering to the Inbox Itself

All of this configuration is done from AwayFind’s online service but you can also configure settings from the place where you spend the most time: your inbox. This is where the Firefox plugin comes into play. After installation of the plugin, a small arrow appears next to a contact’s name in an email message. When clicked, you’re provided with options so that you can set up a filter for that sender instantly, including how you want to be notified (Twitter, IM, phone, etc.).

Requirements and Future Plans

At the moment, the new service supports Gmail and Google Apps accounts, all IMAP accounts (think me.com, mac.com, aim.com, etc.), Hosted Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010 accounts (assuming Exchange Web Services is supported, which is usually the case), and in the near future, full Yahoo support will arrive. The web browser plugin only works in Firefox right now but a Chrome plugin is just weeks away. Plans for an Outlook plugin are in the works, too.

Also, in the case of Gmail/Google Apps, the plugin uses oAuth which means that it doesn’t need to request your password. However, for the other connections you’ll need to provide your password plus your account settings where applicable.

This service is currently in private beta, but we have 500 invitations to give away. Just click here to sign up.

Discuss

Last week, a video of online magazine VIVmag’s iPad app made the rounds on the web. Featured in The New York Times as a taste of digital reading’s future, this extraordinary, interactive video-infused ‘zine was beautiful to watch, but left many others questioning if the expense of creating tablet-ready content like this was actually feasible. For some, that answer – surprisingly – may be yes. According to Jeanniey Mullen, CMO of the magazine’s distributor, Zinio, the cost was not as expensive as you may think – it was “not even $100,000,” she said. But $100 grand to create one copy of an online magazine? That’s far beyond the reach of many micro-publishers. And yet, for them too, the iPad introduces the possibility of reaching a wider audience than ever before.

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According to the Times article, the VIVmag iPad version will continue to feature interactive content and video in every issue. For them, it’s less of a problem to do so than it would be for other publishers. Although the costs of hiring models, filming against a greenscreen and editing video may seem exorbitant, VIVmag was already an “all digital” magazine from the start. Creating their digital content costs approximately the same as creating a normal print magazine – they just employ different people to do the digital version of the analog jobs. Much of the magazine is templated, too, allowing the company to reuse the same basic structures to display new content in later issues.

VIVmag received quite a bit of press – almost as much as Wired did for their so-called “iPad app.” But Wired’s app isn’t iPad-ready just yet. Built with Adobe AIR technology, the app won’t run on the iPad in its current state due to Apple’s policies. Still, both of these high-end creations demonstrate the potential for all-digital magazines on the new form factor of the tablet PC. However, incredible tablet-based magazines like these won’t be limited to publishers with big budgets.

Magazine with Music Downloads and More

Take, for example, Digital Americana, an interactive literary and culture magazine made especially for the tablet experience. Like VIVmag, Digital Americana will also mix in video with their other content. In fact, they’ll offer articles, graphics, videos and music plus extra, downloadable content included in the per issue price.

Part of the magazine’s content lineup for their first issue will include exclusive author interviews, a featured musician with playable music tracks, a filmmaker interview and their award-winning short, a featured animator with exclusive commentary, a playable cartoon, five pieces of chosen fiction-reading from American writers and “bonus extras.”

From the interactive table of contents, accessible from anywhere in the magazine, you can navigate through the available sections. A quick layout view lets you hop from page to page and you can choose to scan the magazine in landscape mode, too, if desired.

Not Just a Magazine, a Tool Too

The online designer community, Mobile Love, is also turning their niche resource into an iPad “magazine” app. Not only will their iPad app include video alongside the magazine’s text, it will offer an included iPhone wireframing tool, which can be used to create iPhone applications. After designing an app, there’s a button at the top which will allow the designers to request a quote from a developer if they want to have their application built. (You can see this in action in the video demo here.)

Blogs Become Mags

Video-enabled, highly interactive magazines aren’t the only types of new magazine experiences coming to the iPad, either. Another developer has the idea of turning your favorite web blogs into your own, custom digital creations. Called “Blogazine,” this new iPad app will let you virtually flip through blog articles in chronological order.

The concept is easy to grasp – blogs become magazines. From a centrally located button, you can tap to change from one blog to another. Another feature lets you quickly share an article on Facebook or Twitter. The app will soon arrive for the iPhone too, but it’s on the iPad where it will really shine.

Can’t Build Your Own iPad App? Zinio Does It for You

For publishers big and small who, for whatever reason, can’t or don’t want to build their own iPad or tablet application in-house, digital magazine distributor Zinio will be introducing an iPad application which provides readers with easy access to digital subscriptions and an online “newsstand.” The company, which has been around for a decade now, got started by offering magazine reader software for desktop computers. Now that the mobile revolution has taken hold, Zinio has expanded their offerings to include subscription and reading experiences for magazine customers which are accessible no matter what device you use: Mac, PC, iPhone, web or mobile web and soon, iPad, plus – who knows? – maybe one day Kindle, too. Zinio’s goal is to make it simple for publishers to get their content out there on any form factor, screen size or platform.

To get an idea of what these iPad mags could look like, check out National Geographic’s latest issue: “Water: Our Thirsty World.” According to the NatGeo website, this edition features the “complete content from the print edition, plus extra photo galleries, rollover graphics that animate features like maps and time lines, video profiles of photographers who contributed to the issue, and other interactive features.” When the iPad launches, it will also have the same interactive content as is available now in this digital edition, explains Mullen.

Another Zinio partner preparing for the iPad is Sporting News, a multimedia company catering to sports fans. Their newly announced iPad app will have interactive full scoreboards, stats, rotating image galleries, sports video highlights from CineSport and guest columns from athletes, coaches and industry executives. Other benefits of the iPad platform include search, bookmarking, clipping and social sharing to sites like Facebook and Twitter.

iPad: Magazines Transformed?

While these iPad magazine demos are exciting to look at, there’s one big question hanging over everyone’s head: can the iPad save the flailing magazine industry? For companies like Zinio, the hope is to encourage advertisers to buy across multiple magazines based on categories, instead of just sticking with the most popular print titles. Kia recently did just this and placed their TV ad in 45 copies of Zinio’s digital mags. This cross-platform digital buy was the equivalent of one print buy in a physical magazine. But this makes us wonder: will this be enough income for digital publishers to thrive? It’s too soon to tell, but in the meantime, we’re about to discover a whole new way of reading.

Discuss

As one of ReadWriteWeb’s iPhone users, I’m always looking for new applications to try out. Some get downloaded for a day and then deleted right away, others slowly inch their way closer to my homescreen. Even rarer are the ones that become actively used on a regular basis. Occasionally, we like to share our findings regarding our favorite new apps. (See, for example, last month’s list here). Although I can’t guarantee that all of the ones on the list below will become favorites forever, they piqued my interest enough to get a coveted spot on my iPhone this month. Let us know what you think about their potential for long-lasting success.

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1. Miso

I’ve been playing with Miso off and on for a week or so. Dubbed a “Foursquare-Like App for Homebodies” by yours truly, this app lets you “check-in” to the TV shows and movies you’re watching and earn badges. While I like the idea, I’ve found that the app suffers from the lack of an easy way to find and follow other users. That leaves us TV-watching “stay-at-home” folks feeling a little too isolated when already taking part in a rather non-social, non-interactive activity. However, if the app can improve the ability to find and follow other like-minded entertainment consumers, there’s potential for a fun “niche use” type of app here. (Review: Miso: A Foursquare-Like App for Homebodies)

2. MediaServer

MediaServer seems so promising, but I’ve had trouble getting all aspects of it to work properly. The app is designed to be an easy way to view your iPhone media on your TV set by way of a Media Center-type hardware device (XMBC, Boxee, etc.) or game console (PS3, XBox 360). And it is easy to use. You install the app, launch it, and boom!, your media console sees your iPhone – no configuration required. As far as viewing user-created videos or photos, the app excels. But streaming music or video? Not so much. Due to varying degrees of DRM applied to the files themselves and codec support on the hardware device, playing media on your TV is harder than it should be. (I tried with the Xbox in my tests.) Whether it’s the app that’s to blame or the hardware, I can’t tell. However, MediaServer did become a great way to do iPhone photo slideshows on the TV and that alone is keeping it on my phone for now. Hopefully the rest will be improved in time.

3. Sticky Bits

The RWW bloggers who attended the recent SXSW festival have come back raving about the barcode-scanning Stickybits app (iTunes link). The app, which debuted at the conference, goes hand-in-hand with the online service that lets you either print your own barcodes or buy pre-made stickers which you can then associate with real-world objects. Using the Stickybits iPhone application, anyone encountering these stickers in the wild can scan them to discover whatever data theyv’e been associated with. Will Stickybits actually stick around though? It’s too soon to tell, but it sure is fun to play with in the meantime. (Review: Stickbits: Portal to Another Dimension or Graffiti for Nerds?)

4. Siri

Although not brand-new, the Siri app which debuted in February on the iPhone is rapidly becoming one of our all-time favorites and therefore has to make this list again. If you have not installed Siri yet, do so now! Built with artificial intelligence technology, Siri functions as a personal assistant which can provide information on a variety of topics from weather to movie listings to restaurants, events and more. You can either type into the app’s search box or speak your query to get started. And the more you use it, the smarter it gets. The voice recognition works well, too, although it never understood “Alice in Wonderland movie” no matter how many times I said it. (Maybe it already knew I wouldn’t like that movie?) We’ll give it a pass there, though – voice recognition is a tough nut to crack. Still, the intelligence of this app will soon have you relocating the apps it replaces (movie listing apps, restaurant finders, etc.) to back screens of the iPhone. (Review: Siri: Your Personal Assistant for the Mobile Web)

5. Tweeb

Obsessed with ego-tracking your Twitter stats or tasked with managing a corporate account of some kind? Then Tweeb’s new Twitter analytics tracker (iTunes link) is a handy app to have. For $1.99, you get access to real-time, on-demand statistics including tweet counts, follower counts, retweets, mentions and clickthroughs on your tweeted links. You can also use the app to tweet, manage your friends, block or unblock users, view Twitter profiles, view your following lists and manage multiple Twitter accounts. The data is presented in clean, easy-to-read layouts and there is even a history section so you can measure your growing influence over time. Well worth a couple of bucks if you access this data on a regular basis!

6. Buzzie

The first app to access Google Buzz natively is pretty great, but I’ll admit that I’m more likely to switch over to Buzz from Google Reader’s mobile website than launch a standalone app. If the iPhone had app multitasking though, that would be a different story. Still, Buzzie has a few standout features – photo-sharing and photo browsing, most notably. It also feels “a lot snappier” than Google Buzz’s web app, noted Frederic earlier this month during his demo. (Review: Buzzie: The First Native Mobile App for Google Buzz)

7. SpringPad

Part of Springpad’s service, this Evernote competitor functions as a mobile note-taking and reminder app. Similar to Evernote’s offering, you can write a note or snap a photo to remember something (which is then added to your online account), but it also introduces barcode-scanning as another way to “remember” an item. You can use the app to access all your saved data, too – handy for accessing shopping lists, recipes and restaurants you want to try while you’re out and about. (Review: Springpad Takes on Evernote with Semantic Technology, Barcode Scanner)

Honorable Mentions

Other apps getting demoed on our iPhones include the following:

• Brizzly for Twitter: Will we leave Tweetie 2 for this new Twitter iPhone app? It could happen!
• Feathers: Want to have a little fun with your tweets? Feathers lets you decorate them with symbols, icons or even post them upside-down.
• Notifio: Just launched, this app tries to bring Android-style notifications to one central place on the iPhone, but it’s dependent on others to use its API to do so. If successful, it could be amazing…but that remains to be seen.

You can see all the apps on my iPhone courtesy of AppsFire here.

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A group of researchers have proven something we already expected to be the case: your Twitter follower count is somewhat of a meaningless metric when it comes to determining influence. To reach this conclusion, the researchers examined the Twitter accounts of over 54 million active users, out of some 80 million accounts crawled by their servers. They then went on to measure various statistics about these accounts, including audience size, retweet influence and mention influence. The conclusion? Those with the largest number of followers may be “popular” Twitterers, but that’s not necessarily related to their influence. High follower counts don’t always mean someone is being retweeted or mentioned in any meaningful ways.

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The findings from this research project have been published in an research paper available here on the project’s homepage.

How the Data Was Analyzed

The data the researchers had access to is astounding: 54,981,152 user accounts, 1,963,263,821 social (follow) links and 1,755,925,520 tweets. In order to collect this massive store of data, the researchers contacted Twitter and asked permission to crawl Twitter’s service. Twitter granted them access and white-listed the IP address range for the 58 servers that were used in the data collection. In total, the crawler was able to scan 80 million Twitter accounts during the month of August 2009. Only 54+ million of those accounts were actually in-use at the time, which, in and of itself, is an interesting finding about how many people create a Twitter account and then abandon it. Only 8% of the active accounts were set to private, so they were ignored during the data analysis. The researchers also used the Twitter API to gather additional information about a user’s social links and tweets.

The study focused on the largest part of the Twitter network – the “single disproportionately large connected component,” notes the paper, that contained 94.8% of users and 99% of all links and tweets. Within that large network of “in-use” accounts, the researchers further narrowed down the data to focus on the “active users.” These users where those who had more than 10 tweets and had a valid screen name that could be retweeted by others. (Interesting – it’s possible to have an account and not a screen name?) That left “only” 6,189,636 active users out of the initial 80 million to examine.

To measure the influence of these 6+ million users, the researchers looked at how the entire set of the 52 million users interacted with these active users.

The Three Measures of Influence

After examining the data, the researchers found that the most followed individuals spanned a wide variety of public figures and news sources and included accounts like CNN, New York Times, Barack Obama, Shaquille O’Neal, Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears and others. However, the most retweeted users tended to be content aggregation services like TwitterTips, TweetMeme, and, interestingly enough, they counted the tech blog Mashable as an aggregation service, too. Other heavily retweeted users included Guy Kawasaki, the humor site The Onion and again, The New York Times. Meanwhile, those users with the most “mentions” – not a direct retweet including the original content of someone else’s tweet, but just a casual mention of their name – were celebs.

These three measures of influence – followers, retweets and mentions – has surprisingly little overlap when looking at the top influentials. The top 20 lists from these three categories only had two users in common: Ashton Kutcher and Puff Daddy.

The researchers also examined the ability of Twitter users to influence others. They determined that the most influential users hold significant influence over a variety of topics, as opposed to being experts in just one area.

Examining the 233 “All-Time Influentials”

Out of the 6 million active Twitter users, the researchers picked the top 100 users in each of the three categories. Due to the overlap, there were only 233 distinct users on these lists. These were dubbed the “all-time influentials.” Some of these accounts belonged to news organizations or celebs, but others were just regular users. Regarding that last group – it appears that those users who limit their tweets to a single topic are the most likely to increase their influence scores.

In the end, what the researchers found was that follower count alone is not necessarily a worthy measure of determining influence. Other factors come into play as well. Although some heavily-followed accounts are also mentioned and retweeted a lot, just looking at audience size doesn’t reveal an account’s ability to influence and impact the Twitter universe.

According to the project’s homepage, the researchers are hoping to make the data they collected available to the community at large. Before doing so, they will discuss it with Twitter in order to determine that their data sharing plan agrees with the company’s policy. They plan to have an update on this situation – possibly the data itself – by May 2010.

Discuss

Sears Holdings Corp. just announced they posted thousands of jobs on Twitter via the Twitter-based job board service, TweetMyJOBS.com. The parent company of retail stores like Sears and Kmart and home to brands like Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Lands’ End, Jaclyn Smith, Joe Boxer, Apostrophe and Covington, Sears Holdings posted over 500,000 job openings last year via traditional recruiting channels like job search sites and newspapers. Now those same jobs will be on Twitter, too. Says Lance Brolin, Director, Talent & Human Capital Services Operations for Sears Holdings, of the decision to engage on Twitter, “we’re quickly realizing that we needed to broaden our employment marketing to include social media.”

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According to Gary Zukowski, president and founder of TweetMyJOBS, this partnership makes Sears one of the largest brands to embrace mobile recruiting. Although Twitter is the platform used for the service, the primary function of TweetMyJOBS is to connect job seekers with jobs via text messages sent to their cell phones.

How TweetMyJOBS Works

The TweetMyJOBS service lets job seekers receive instant notifications on their phone when new jobs are posted online via the popular micro-messaging service Twitter. The company aggregates the Twitter-based job postings from over 7000 companies and maintains over 8250 specific job channels within those companies, all of which are searchable via their website.

However, it’s the job matching service that makes TweetMyJOBS worth using for those in need of work. Instead of having to follow potentially hundreds of Twitter accounts belonging to companies, the service will match a Twitter user’s interests with the available jobs posted to Twitter. Users can also specify a particular geographic region where they prefer to work. They can even use the service to post their resume to Twitter. When a job seeker and a job listing match up, the user is alerted via a text message sent to their phone via Twitter.

For job posters, there are fees involved for adding listings just like there are with any other job board. At present, it costs $4000 to list 500 jobs and $8000 for unlimited job postings. Single posts are $1.99. In return, companies are able to directly connect with qualified candidates while also tracking the clicks on the jobs they list.

Sears Holdings: 7000 Jobs Now, Hundreds of Thousands to Come

At launch time, Sears Holdings has posted 7000 jobs to TweetMyJOBS. The lineup includes everything from cashiers to vice presidents, a company representative tells us. And this is just the beginning. Over the course of the year, the company will continue adding all their available jobs to the service. Since, as noted above, the company posts hundreds of thousands of jobs per year, they will soon have thousands more to post to TweetMyJOBS.

In today’s tough, competitive hiring market, a service like this can give motivated job seekers an edge. Since it allows for instant notification when a job is made available online, users of TweetMyJOBS can be among the first to apply to available positions. They can also rest assured that the jobs sourced are from reputable companies assures Rich Trombetta, TweetMyJOBS co-founder. Unlike on many job boards today, filled with questionable get-rich-quick schemes, work from home offers and other spam, only legitimate jobs are made available on his service. "We are very careful about the types of jobs we list on the site," Trombetta recently told the Chicago Tribune. “We eliminate the spam.”

Interested job seekers can sign up for the service here at TweetMyJOBS.com.

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As of today, Zillow’s online real estate marketplace application is now available on phones running the Google Android mobile operating system. The new Android app is similar to the previously launched iPhone version but includes a couple of additional features like voice search and the incorporation of Google Street View images.

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The company hopes to expand on the success of their iPhone application – an app downloaded nearly one million times – with the launch of their mobile app for the rapidly growing Android user base. Like its predecessor, Zillow’s mobile app provides “Zestimate” home values, home details and historical data on 95 million homes in the U.S. Users can browse through listing information, including photos and home details, and then call or email the associated real estate agent right from within the application. There are also filtering mechanisms that allow users to search for homes by price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms as well as listing type (for sale, for rent, etc.)

Android Users Get Extra Features

With the new app, Android users benefit from their phone’s technology in order to access a few additional features. For instance, with the new Google Street View option, users are able to see curbside photos of all the homes in a particular neighborhood, whether or not they’re for sale or rent. This is a great benefit for mobile home shoppers who want to know more about the neighborhood where a particular house is located. Is it on a busy street? Are the other houses nearby in good repair? Does it have sidewalks? And so on.

Another unique feature for Android users is voice search. Users can speak the address, neighborhood or city into the mobile application and be taken there on the map.

The Zillow app works whether you’re searching for new homes from your living room or whether you’re driving around looking at houses. If the latter, Zillow taps into the phone’s GPS to place your location on a map and show you the nearby home data.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to be a potential homeowner to take advantage of Zillow. In mid-December, the company added rental listings to their online and mobile services, a savvy business decision in a down economy where many are now choosing to rent until the market stabilizes.

Get It Now

You can see the Android application in action over here on YouTube or you can download in now for free via www.zillow.com/android. If you have neither an iPhone or Android phone, you can alternately access Zillow.com via its mobile site at Zillow Mobile.

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Blockbuster is bringing its OnDemand service to both Windows Mobile and Google Android phones, starting March 24th with the launch of the T-Mobile HTC HD2 smartphone. On that device, Blockbuster customers will be able to download and watch new releases directly on their mobile phones while also gaining access to queue management and movie locator tools similar to those found in Blockbuster’s iPhone application.

The company has also confirmed that they’re working on an Android app, which is likely to launch on the “select Motorola phones” Blockbuster previously hinted at when they partnered with the handset manufacturer last summer. Motorola is the maker of several popular Android-powered handsets including the Droid, Backflip, Devour, Cliq and Cliq XT, but Blockbuster won’t yet confirm which of these will be able to utilize the new mobile service.

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Focused on Mobile

Although Blockbuster’s annual report to the SEC hints at the company’s financial troubles – troubles exacerbated by competitors like Netflix and the pop-up video rental kiosks from Redbox – the company has clearly not given up its will to compete. With offerings already available for PCs, Samsung Blu-ray players, Samsung TV sets and Tivos, Blockbuster’s strategy going forward is attacking the mobile front with full force. In the works is an updated iPhone application, an Android application (apparently for the Motorola phones, although the company won’t directly confirm this), the Windows Mobile application for the HD2 and the expectation that more carriers and manufacturers will want to partner with them once they see what the company’s mobile apps can do.

Blockbuster vs Netflix: New Releases vs. Back Catalog

Where Blockbuster differs from Netflix is in its desire to forgo “streaming” in favor of downloads when it comes to their on demand options. Unlike Netflix’s desktop streaming service and newly announced Silverlight-powered app for Windows Phone 7 Series devices, Blockbuster’s OnDemand service for both desktop and mobile actually downloads content to whatever hardware it runs on. According to Scott Levine, Blockbuster’s VP of Digital, it’s not that the company is against streaming per se – it’s just that streaming over 3G is more of a challenge.

Instead of dealing with the network connectivity issues brought on by overloaded wireless carriers or relegating themselves to putting out a limited “Wi-Fi only” type of application, the company’s free mobile apps will actually download the movie a customer rents or purchases to the handset and protect it using DRM (digital rights management) technology.

This solution allows Blockbuster to serve new releases to their mobile customers as opposed to the “back catalog” content which is what, for the most part, Netflix’s streaming service currently provides, says Levine.

No Downloads on Apple Devices, but Working On Other Solutions

However, the technology Blockbuster uses now to serve its movies to mobile devices limits what the company can offer to iPhone, iPod Touch and soon, iPad users. This is due to the fact that Apple restricts apps from saving movies to the device’s hard drive, Levine explains. When asked if they had plans to work around these restrictions in order to launch an iPhone/iPad app, he would only say that the company was “exploring different options” and that they would “love to be there.”

For now though, iPhone owners who use Blockbuster’s mail service can manage their account with the mobile application which will soon be updated with more features. In the new release, there will be improved remote control options for queue management plus tools that help you determine Blu-ray store inventory, games store availability and the availability status for movies in your Blockbuster queue.

More Details on Devices

T-Mobile has just launched the site for the new HTC HD2 smartphone which lists the Blockbuster service among its many features. The status of which Motorola phones will include the new mobile app is still unknown but Motorola’s Android lineup includes several devices running different versions of the Android OS. Both the Backflip, Cliq and Cliq XT come with Android 1.5, but only the Blackflip is upgradeable to 2.1, according to Motorola’s website. The Devour runs Android 1.6 and the Droid runs 2.0. However, Verizon is pushing out the 2.1 update to the Motorola Droid starting this Thursday. 

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