Ever hear of Rockmelt? Until the last couple of days, neither have I. It was meant to be a web browser for the social media age. You’ll have until August 31 to enjoy it.
Announced yesterday, Yahoo is acquiring Rockmelt for somewhere around $65 million dollars. Yahoo wants to use Rockmelt’s technologies, and it’s engineers, to better compete against Google and the other major players of the web browsing market. Word is Rockmelt is working ceaselessly on it’s mobile market and Yahoo wants to capitalize. Rockmelt was founded in the Silicon Valley in Nov. 2010 but with little success. Now, with their engineers and Yahoo’s buying power, they hope to create something big and beautiful.
Look, I appreciate what Yahoo is trying to do, but I think Marissa Meyer and her team is doing too much too fast. Since she took the CEO seat last year, Yahoo purchased at least 20 other small startups. The biggest was Tumblr?for a whopping billion?plus dollars. I think that’s too much for one year.?She should just take the purchases she already made and make them better. Once these acquirements get off the ground, then go and look for other companies. I know this is the rush-rush, should have been done yesterday 21st century business world. But?am I being too old fashioned by saying Yahoo should slow their role?
With Google Now, you can get info on everything from flight, nearby attractions, and?even when the next bus or subway is coming.?But now, Google?is making sure you can do even more.
They’re now attempting to get people to watch the news closest to them. They’re testing a local news card. Since Google now can help you find things in your local?area, they’re hoping that holds true in local?current events. But it’s not just about current events. One Google VP gives an account of finding out Miss Mexico visiting his son’s school; he?also?finds out about a stabbing in?his neighborhood.?Before you rush to get this card, please note it’s in?testing phase; they don’t?know when, or if, this is going to be released to the public. Plus, no major tech based corporation has been very successful with trying to conquer local news. Remember the doomed?NBC Every Block?
Can I get the elephant out of the room? I think Google is wasting their time with this local news venture. Google Now is doing very well. You can find out enough about what’s going on in your local world. For example, I found out through Google Now that my train was delayed, saving me a lot of frustration. Plus, I think people still like to stick to their local news affiliates and newspapers for their local stories. Please don’t take that from us! Do you think this Google Now news card is even worth testing?
In the United Kingdom, a local activist campaigned to get Jane Austen on the British 10 pound bill. They say no good deed goes unpunished. This one sure didn’t.
This odyssey started when a woman named Caroline Criado-Perez led the fight to get the late 18th-early 19th century novelist and women’s rights activist on the 10 pound note. Not long after this became official (Austen’s face will be on the bill around 2017), Mrs. Criado-Perez started getting vile tweets. Many of these tweets threatened her with rape. This evil tweets increased to around 50 an hour! But what made it worse was Twitter’s slow response. She reported this abuse on Thursday, but according to her own testimony, it took until Monday to respond. Monday, police made an arrest in the case. Also, this case got so much attention a petition went around. This petition demanded Twitter add a ‘report abuse’ button for all potential cases; it got over 65,000 signatures.
I commend this petition and Caroline Criado-Perez for staying on top of Twitter in this. To their credit, Twitter has answered these cries. They promised to make a ‘report abuse’ button more available to all users. I hope they do this sooner than later. Think of all the bullying cases that have led to suicide?over?Twitter abuse. There have been celebrities like Sherri Shepard targeted by cowards hiding behind Twitter. They don’t have the guts to confront people to their faces with such evil. Shepard also reported this to the police. A more affective ‘report abuse’ button may not eliminate the problem all together, but it’s a start. What do you think can be done to combat such ugliness?
The ESPYS were held July 17. Watching that show makes me think of how close modern technology, especially social media, has bridged the gap between them and everyone else. This is especially true for Twitter. So I looked for the most entertaining tweets of the summer so far.
10 Jose Conseco: “Welcome to Twitter (expletive)…”. Nothing like broadcasting an old rivalry for all the world to see.
9. Metta World Peace: “I’m so happy to be Metta this morning because at 4 am…I turned into the Geico lizard…” I?don’t get it either, but with his colorful Tweets, I had to put World Peace on this list.
8. RGIII:?He Tweeted?how “pleasantly surprised” at how good?The Internship was. Remember that Google movie starting Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn last month? I’m glad someone was pleasantly surprised.
7. Nazem Kardl: This Toronto Maple Leaf center criticized ‘it’ couple Kanye West and Kim Kardashian for?naming their baby North West. “Get a hold of yourself!” Well Nazem, what to?you expect from a?man who thinks he’s God?
6. Johnny Manziel: “…I appreciate all the love and support over the past couple of days.”?He showed love to his supporters after some not so flattering reports of?Johnny Football’s off-the-field activity.
5. Andrew Shaw: “Best feeling ever! Wooooooo!” This Chicago Blackhawk center summed up the feeling of winning the Stanley Cup, NHL’s richest prize.
4. Gosder Cherilus: “How do you survive 27 years of jail…to change a country and the world…Big ups to you Nelson Mandela!” This Indianapolis Colts tackle gave?respect to one of the?greatest civil rights leaders and heroes of our generation.
3. Adam Jones: He literally laughed at Heat fans who left before the infamous Game 6 of the NBA Finals was over, and tried to get back in when the Heat made a comeback. “Hahahahahahaahha! Bandwagon.” Jones has a point. After 2010, there were an awful lot of Miami Heat fans all of a sudden.
2. Chad Johnson: He tweeted about being sentenced to 30 days in jail due to a probation violation. The sentence was triggered by him slapping his lawyer on the butt during proceedings. He closed the tweet with “See you in 30.” He was out in 7.
1. Steve Cishek: His MLB All-Star Game tweet said, “Nothing like Mariano Rivera running out of that pen.” He paid tribute to a retiring future Hall of Famer. He got the whole arena into it and echoed their sentiment. His tweet may have made baseball history.
The owners, stockholders and employees?of Facebook?woke up glowing this morning. Their stocks are up 26%. But perhaps what’s most celebratory is their ad revenue.
Their ad revenue in mobile ads?nearly doubled?in just two quarters, from $373 million in Q1 2013?to $656 million in Q2 2013. Now, their total ad revenue?makes for 41% of all?Facebook revenue. Facebook?CFO David Ebersman credits News Feed ads that give great returns to advertisers. Mobile advertising is fairly new territory for Facebook. Up to last year,?they’ve been so heavily dependent on desktop ads, to the point where they’ve gotten criticized from all sides for it.?Another reason Facebook?mobile ads are growing?is because?Facebook users are growing. ?Daily active users have jumped 27% in the last year; monthly users increased 21% in the last?year (that number is now over a billion). But mobile users have jumped?a whopping 51% in the last year.
A-ha! I think I’m adding two plus two together. This is why they’ve struggled on Wall St. since they’ve got on the NYSE. Now that mobile users are increasing, now they’re investing in mobile?ads. And as annoying as some of these ads can be, it looks like they’re paying off. But will it last? Experts say Facebook stocks could go to and past $38. But will they stay up and increase and run with it after this breakthrough?
I see it all the time, even when going out with family and friends. In the midst of loud music and conversation, someone pulls out their device and either posts or takes a picture on Facebook. I’ve done it myself. Apparently, I’m not the only one.
Announced yesterday, there are now 100 million people who use Facebook on their phone on a monthly basis. They made an interesting statement about developing nations like India, Philippines and Indonesia. According to their own statement, many in nations like these can get the app on?a 20 dollar cell phone. It goes on to say the Facebook app reaches 3,000 different?phones. They can do this by?using less data than most Java apps. They also have Facebook for Every Phone, a program powered by Snaptu, an Israeli based technology company. What Snaptu does is use servers to study how mobile apps work, and use this knowledge to help Facebook get on low end phones.
So that’s how they do it. It’s a good strategy. Many people in developing nations can’t afford the hundred of dollars smartphones and other devices (like iPod Touch). So if Facebook can get their app on cheaper devices, I say more power to them. It makes good business sense. Socially, it can put a damper on things. Can you imagine people in these countries spending dinner hour keeping up with Facebook friends instead of conversing with their own family? Isn’t there enough of that in this country?
