Archive for May, 2008
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
This week new UK-based book social network BookRabbit sets out with a slightly different take on socialising online around books. BookRabbit is aimed at the ‘heavy’ book buyer (someone who buys more than four books a year).
People will find books they’ll like through their social network, but interestingly they will be able to tag up pictures of their bookshelves with a Flash-based application which lets them explore visually instead of via text. A little like Last.FM’s Audio Scrobbler software or Songkick’s artist profiler, BookRabbit’s “Automatic Bookcase” technology scans uploaded photos of bookcases against the ISBN database to populate a user’s profile and allow them to share tastes more easily. Initially the classifications will be monitored and regulated by BookRabbit, with the aim of reaching a ’self monitoring’ Wiki model in due course.
Lastly, it will aim at the long tail of independent book retailers and allow users to buy direct through these small traders or via BookRabbit. This generates business for the 2,700 IBRs in the UK. BookRabbit will also aim at these book enthusiasts by aiming at the ‘head of the tail’ with cheaper prices for the first 100,000 titles on Amazon.
Additional features on the BookRabbit website includes video interviews with 1,000 authors, book reviews and recommendations by publishers and authors, the ability to buy all books in a series and a sort of wiki interface for customers to add and edit new or missing books directly to the catalogue.
BookRabbit has also teamed up with ICUE to allow consumers to preview and buy the latest books on their mobiles. ICUE provides the first chapter of books directly to the mobile phones of consumers who have interacted with poster advertising. So you text ‘geri’ to 64888 to read an extract from Geri Halliwell’s new book Ugenia Lavender - assuming you’d want to.
BookRabbit has a good interface and I see no reason why it won’t have a fighting chance as a niche social network.
Over in Los Angeles, Goodreads, a social network focused on book lovers, managed to get to 650,000 registered users, near profitability and even a found of financing in their first year since launch. And LibraryThing was partially acquired in 2006 year by ABEbooks. Then there is Amazon-backed Shelfari and others. In the UK there is also StoryCode which launched way back in 2005 but hasn’t been heard of much since.
BookRabbit is trying to crack the main problem with book sites: they don’t passively monitor what you are reading. All you need to do with Last.FM is listen to music, but how can BookRabbit know what you are reading at any one time without you laboriously uploading a picture of your book-case?
Perhaps their software is one answer but I can’t help think there needs to be a lot more mobile phone aspects to this, not just the deal with ICUE. Hash Twitter-tagging of “#reading” perhaps.
Originally
from TechCrunch UK
by
reBlogged
on May 19, 2008, 5:44PM
MinuteBox does not box clever
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
MinuteBox is a new site which bills itself as a market place for people to buy and sell short snippets of advice. It’s a full-on social network with all the usual features as well as in-built video chat. You put up your problem, “experts” bid on your request, users choose their advisor and buy their advice for as little at 50 pence per hour minute. It even has a billing and rating systems (which didn’t work for me I might add).
At least that’s the theory. In reality I think this site has about a snowflake’s chance in the white hot cauldron of a collapsing star, and it’ll probably be overwhelmed by porn merchants faster than you can say “charge for online video.” Assuming they find it.
Luckily there is a silver lining. It’s great frame for a site that might work, where the business model was rather more focused. At least the relatively light-weight RecommendBox has an angle (recommendations). MinuteBox is about as targeted as a jam sandwich. It reminds me of Horses Mouth, but even there they have never gone so far as to say their mentors could ever charge for their “wisdomocracy” (excuse me while I puke).
But founder Josh Liu appears to be young and cleary smart (recent MBA from Imperial college) so I think someone should snap him and his site up ASAP and set it to work on some other problem that’s a bit easier to address than solving the entire world’s problems a minute at a time. Sorry Josh - have another go mate.
UPDATE: I’m happy to acknowledge that there may be more to this that meets the eye, though I personally remain sceptical. Buyers can set their price higher than 50p per hour (or anything) so in theory there is a market mechanism to make this site work. Josh tells me there are other sites in this space include LivePerson, BitWine, and Wengo. BitWine recently started going to partners while Wengo is going for a pay-per-call expert network. I think I am just more of a fan of mobile “find an answer to this problem” than I am of online, because online people tend to search more often than consult experts.
Originally
from TechCrunch UK
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 12:53AM
BBC’s Sound Index is good, but we won’t get the data
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
The BBC’s SoundIndex, currently in beta, lists the top 1,000 artists based on discussions crawled from Bebo, Last.fm, Google Groups, iTunes, MySpace and YouTube. The top five bands according to SoundIndex right now are Coldplay, Rihanna, The Ting Tings, Duffy and Mariah Carey, but the index is refreshed every six hours and you can also drill down to more long tail content by creating a profile. Here are the Top Ten artists for a 27-39 year old male who likes Electronica and Indie music, with Ladytron topping that particular chart.
The more blog mentions, comments, plays, downloads and profile views an artist or track has, the higher up the Sound Index they are. So, the Sound Index is a music buzz index controlled entirely by the public. You can also limit it to one source like Last.fm. It’s similar to Songkick’s “Battle Of The Bands,” but Songkick uses different data, so the results are different again.
The muscle behind this is IBM’s Semantic Super Computing and the UK’s NovaRising and the project was devised by BBC Switch, BBC’s new teen service delivering content to 12 to 17-year-olds across multiple platforms, TV, Radio 1 and online.
So what what needs to happen now is that the BBC needs to release some of this data, perhaps on a platform, so that UK startups like Songkick can incorporate it into their service. But I guess they are safe - the commercial partners may not like that - so the BBC proves once more why Google was not built here. Trebles all round!
Originally
from TechCrunch UK
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 10:18AM
Barcelona! TechCrunch meetup and Euro Tour Part Deux
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
I’m trying to get around Europe this summer to meet startups. Tomorrow I am at Startup2.eu, a new competition for European tech startups. I’ll be on the jury during the day and in the evening we’re throwing a TechCrunch meetup on the cool terrace bar of local boutique hotel Granados 83. There are a growing number of startups in Barcelona, attracted by the lifestyle and the more reasonable office rents, as well as an international talent pool. If you would like to sponsor the event, and be promoted on TechCrunch as a sponsor, then please contact me ASAP.
To come along you need to register for a free ticket so we know how many people are coming. All the information you need is here.
And I’m delighted to say we have two key sponsors already, listed below. (Nuroa has been very helpful booking the venue):
nuroa is a property search engine operates in Spain and Germany. Users can find property ads from disparate websites in one location, where they can also review supplemental information such as video guides, relevant background information on neighborhoods, real estate blogs, etc. It’s run by migoa (Goa Internet Services), a Barcelona-based start-up founded by Gary Stewart and Oriol Blasco. Current angel investors include Albert Armengol (founder of eConozco, a Spanish business networking site later acquired by Xing), Dennis Bemmann (co-founder of StudiVZ, Germany’s largest social networking site, which was sold to Holtzbrinck Ventures for upwards of €50 million) and Didac Giribets (a local Catalan investor). The Company is in the process of closing its Series A round. Migoa has been consistently regarded as one of Europe’s most innovative companies in conferences such as Innovate Europe, Red Herring and Essential Web. The team’s 18 employees hail from 11 different countries.
Highgrowth Partners is an independent financial company that invests in innovative companies with growth potential and offers them support, advice and guidance. Founded in 2001, the Barcelona-based company seeks to invest between €0,3 and €3 million per portfolio company. Past investments include Archivel Farma, Baolab Microsystems, Futurlink, NTR Global, Solostocks and VozTelecom. Complementing the company’s venture capital activity, Highgrowth also places its experience in finance at the disposal of its clients, providing advice on key matters such as the purchase and sale of companies, feasibility studies for investment projects, diagnoses of the most suitable financial structures, design and management of financing schemes for investment projects.
Originally
from TechCrunch UK
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 1:32PM
Pitch yourself and get to Being Digital
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Update: TCUK readers can get tickets at the reduced price of £250 with this link.
Being Digital is a conference on Jun 10 which will look at seven digital themes as well as running a startup competition with yours truly. Tickets cost £325 each but TechCrunch UK has one delegate ticket to give away to the best video comment left below this post.
It might be funny, clever, inspiring, cynical, you name it. Perhaps you’d like to comment on a recent TechCrunch story? Or lambast me? You decide.
But if you can’t come up with anything but still want to bring your startup to the event, then I have 1 (one) free demo place (£895 full value) going as well.
But you’re also going to also have to leave a video comment. Am I evil? Maybe. But it will be good practice for the video pitches they plan to run at the event. (Judges decision is final, etc)
For those of you with money (and keeping your dignity intact) there is a discount offer of a £500 price to demo companies if you quote “TCUKDEMO” when you apply. The demo area is sponsored by Sun who I think have some goodies for the winner.
Lastly, following a huge debate about the lack of women speakers at the event (typical quote: “Looks like a great event but was it really only possible to get 2 women speakers out of a total of 36? “), I am informed that the organisers are “working hard to ensure a more gender balanced programme” and “would be very happy to hear from TCUK readers with suggestions.”
So there you have it.
Originally
from TechCrunch UK
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 4:47PM
MTMini: Even Cheaper Multi-Touch
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Now that everyone is on the multi-touch bandwagon new systems are popping up all over. Seth Sandler’s solution is fairly ingenious. It uses a piece of paper and a camera to create a camera-based multi-touch interface. All you need is a box, a webcam, and some graph paper and he even includes the demo and application source code.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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from TechCrunch
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 9:00AM
Netflix Roku: Free Is Such A Beautiful Word
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Netflix made a big splash today with their announcement of a $100 set top box, built by a California startup called Roku, that streams free movies (for Netflix subscribers) to the living room.
Good for them. Instead of wading into a losing battle over cheap downloads and rentals (see Vudu, BlockBuster, AppleTV, Google, etc., which charge for each movie), they jump right to free. They know what the consumer wants.
Of course, the service isn’t really free. Users have to buy the $100 box, and continue to keep a Netflix subscription active ($18/month). There are 10,000 movies available on on the box, which is significantly less than the 100,000 or so titles on Netflix’s DVD mailing service (and it’s old titles, not new releases). But it’s also an order of magnitude more titles than are currently available on demand via Comcast, my cable provider. And just like Comcast and the other cable guys adopted Tivo’s DVR functionality into their boxes before Tivo could do much damage, look for them to eventually copy Netflix, too, and offer a much wider variety of on demand content.
Netflix is taking a big financial hit with this service, which originally launched via PC viewing only and has since expanded. Last year they said they were putting $40 million/year towards licensing and overhead costs.
But really, what choice do they have? BlockBuster is gnawing away at one side of their business (physical DVDs), while online services (and don’t forget BitTorrent) come at them from the other end. And now the cable companies will be focused on them, too.
It’s a wonder Netflix continues to flourish in such a hyper competitive market. They now have over 8 million subscribers, 21% more than a year ago, and 32% gross margins on their core business. Those margins have decreased somewhat, what subscriber acquisition costs have also dropped from $47 to just $30 per new member. But as long as they continue to give consumers what they want, they’re at least in the game.
Look for more devices with Netflix built in, including one from LG, later this year.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Originally
from TechCrunch
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 9:14AM
I Am Failing To Get Excited About Napster’s 6 Million Songs
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Napster just announced that they are now selling their entire catalog of 6 million songs for $0.99/each, no DRM. And for some reason I’m having trouble getting excited about it (CNET, however, has more than enough excitement for both of us, saying “This is a huge day for digital music.” Whatever.)
The fact is that Napster is still unprofitable and still makes most of its revenue from all-you-can-eat subscription sales. Both AOL and Yahoo bailed out of this business, since consumers don’t seem to like it and the labels take all the revenues. Ian Rogers explained why that business sucks last year, right before he bailed out of Yahoo.
So Napster is making their big push into DRM-free sales, a market dominated by iTunes and increasingly Amazon. And…cough…BitTorrent. The days of paying for recorded music are nearly over. And there’s nothing Napster can do to change that.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Originally
from TechCrunch
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 9:49AM
Zuora Aims To Be Salesforce for Online Billing; Benioff Agrees
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Zuora, the SaaS startup run by industry veterans from Salesforce and Webex, and backed by the face of SaaS himself, Marc Benioff, is launching its online billing solution today.
As Erick explained in March, Zuora aims to alleviate the need for online businesses to develop their own billing systems, especially to handle recurring payments like those associated with subscriptions.
Its so-called “Z-Billing Platform” that goes live today handles four main billing-related areas: customer accounts and subscriptions, product catalogs, billing operations, and order management. The whole offering is provided a la Salesforce as an on-demand solution. Online businesses just need to configure their Zuora accounts, import data from their old billing systems, and plug in their sites through a set of APIs. Customers who buy items or subscribe to services on their sites will then get handled by Zuora, which tracks orders, invoices and payments.
Naturally, Zuora has opted for a utility-like pricing model. The company will take 2% of all invoiced amounts, with that percentage increasing decreasing as payments get bigger and eventually getting capped completely for particularly expensive items.
The startup has already signed up six clients, three of which have implemented the system, but only one of which has been disclosed: Coremetrics, which provides Omniture-like web analytics. CEO Tien Tzuo says that Coremetrics demonstrates the capabilities of Zuora’s billing system particularly well because it requires 27 different pricing models, each of which must be handled appropriately.
Since the founders of Zuora come from a SaaS background, you can expect them to partner initially with other SaaS companies. However, the platform is not limited to this category; it potentially can be implemented for a wide range of services from music streaming to online dating.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Originally
from TechCrunch
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 11:00AM
Barcelona Meetup (TechCrunch Euro Tour)
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008In my ongoing tour of Europe, tomorrow I am attending Startup2.eu, a new competition for European tech startups. I’ll be on the jury during the day (as will TechCrunch France’s Ouriel Ohayon), and then in the evening we’re throwing a TechCrunch meetup on the cool terrace bar of local boutique hotel Granados 83. The event will be informal networking for technology startups. I will obviously be available to talk about TechCrunch and make contacts for our future editorial coverage. If you would like to sponsor the event, and be promoted on TechCrunch as a sponsor, then please contact me ASAP.
To come along you need to register for a free ticket so we know how many people are coming. All the information you need is here.
And I’m delighted to say we have two key sponsors already, listed below. (Nuroa has been very helpful booking the venue):
nuroa is a property search engine operates in Spain and Germany. Users can find property ads from disparate websites in one location, where they can also review supplemental information such as video guides, relevant background information on neighborhoods, real estate blogs, etc. It’s run by migoa (Goa Internet Services), a Barcelona-based start-up founded by Gary Stewart and Oriol Blasco. Current angel investors include Albert Armengol (founder of eConozco, a Spanish business networking site later acquired by Xing), Dennis Bemmann (co-founder of StudiVZ, Germany’s largest social networking site, which was sold to Holtzbrinck Ventures for upwards of €50 million) and Didac Giribets (a local Catalan investor). The Company is in the process of closing its Series A round. Migoa has been consistently regarded as one of Europe’s most innovative companies in conferences such as Innovate Europe, Red Herring and Essential Web. The team’s 18 employees hail from 11 different countries.
Highgrowth Partners is an independent financial company that invests in innovative companies with growth potential and offers them support, advice and guidance. Founded in 2001, the Barcelona-based company seeks to invest between €0,3 and €3 million per portfolio company. Past investments include Archivel Farma, Baolab Microsystems, Futurlink, NTR Global, Solostocks and VozTelecom. Complementing the company’s venture capital activity, Highgrowth also places its experience in finance at the disposal of its clients, providing advice on key matters such as the purchase and sale of companies, feasibility studies for investment projects, diagnoses of the most suitable financial structures, design and management of financing schemes for investment projects.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Originally
from TechCrunch
by
reBlogged
on May 20, 2008, 12:50PM