Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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Chinese Government To Police Social Games

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 07:08 AM PST

Happyfarm

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Shanghai-based social market researchers Kai Lukoff and Lucas Englehardt from BloggerInsight, a company spun off from Web2Asia which crowdsources market intelligence through an online expert panel of bloggers.

On the Chinese Internet, "harmony" is a euphemism for censorship. Mafia games were “harmonized” over the Summer, for example, as they "embody antisocial behavior like killing, beating, looting and raping" and "gravely threaten and distort the social order and moral standards, easily putting young people under harmful influence" according to the Ministry of Culture.

Foreshadowing the government's imminent policing of social games, Chinese netizens are now picking—not stealing—crops from their friends' farms.  Five Minutes, the developer of the smash hit Happy Farm (the first SNS farm game), confirmed that the terms had been voluntarily changed in an interview with BloggerInsight.  This comes as the government is "considering specific social gaming laws and regulations, to be enacted as early as next year… to end the chaotic market conditions," according to ChinaNews, which scooped the story on Wednesday last week.

A string of negative press has hit social games in China, which may signal a propaganda campaign by the government to besmirch social games.  Many of the stories are fake, according to industry insiders. Just last month, a doctor's fatal neglect of an infant in critical condition wasblamed on his play of Happy Farm while on duty, though further investigation concluded that he was on a QQ Chinese Chess Game. Happy Farm is also blamed for destroying jobs and relationships.

The Chinese government does not shy from bold action to fight social ills. New regulations were recently enacted to prevent virtual currency inflation. A survey by the National People's Congress classified more than 10 percent of China's youth as "addicted" to the Internet, a serious statement in a nation where boot camps are built to combat Internet dependency.

The Chinese government is exerting control over social networking sites. Since the ethnic clashes in Xinjiang, a combustible Western province, the government has launched The Great Internet Shut-Down, with a focus on social media. Facebook, Twitter, and most Chinese microblogging sites are blocked. Intellectual property violations (rampant) and scam offers (rare) are of tangential concern, if an issue at all.

Social Game Platforms and Developers Beware!

Although the SNS landscape is splintered, the government is determined to maintain control. There is no Facebook, no single dominant social network for all of China: the top 3 are Qzone, Kaixin001, and RenRen (see chart).  When it comes to games, Qzone and Kaixin001 develop everything in-house with games inspired from Facebook, while Renren has a mostly open API so it can tap into outside developers to copy games for them. All have keyword lists and teams responsible for the instant removal of "objectionable" content.

Platforms have borne the responsibility for game regulation until now, but developers may soon become practiced in self-censorship too. The new regulations will likely be similar to those for MMORPGs: a list of "do’s and don’ts" for Chinese social games, according to an industry insider. This could include age ratings or a requirement that social games be suitable for players of all ages.

"Game developers and platforms in China should consider themselves as casino operators or cigarette manufacturers," said Toine Rooijmans, Director of Strategic Operations at Circle Pleasure, "developers design it to be addictive, and the platforms maximize utilization and promotion of addictive content."

Social Game Addiction

Social games are wildly popular in China. Statistics are impossible to come by: user data is available only for RenRen and 51.com, which are far smaller gaming platforms than Qzone and Kaixin001 (which have strict “no comment” policies). BloggerInsight estimates that 27 million daily active users play Happy Farm across all platforms in China, which is about as many as the 29 million daily users who play Zynga's FarmVille on Facebook.

China's social games are similar to those on Facebook: the top 10 social games includes farm, aquarium, pet, and restaurant games.

One notable difference is that Chinese games are more competitive: status and stealing play a larger role.

In Wonder Hospital, the game actions are especially nasty. When visiting a friend's hospital, players can enforce fines, steal patients, throw rubbish, let a dog loose, park a truck to block access, and create “mystery mischief'” indicated by a bomb icon.

The one cooperative option is to send medical experts to assist. That balance could change as the government "integrates" social games into its harmonious society.

Now it appears that even stealing crops is sensitive; Happy Farm game developer Five Minutes wanted to stay ahead of the trend in regulation by changing its language.

The Next Opium War?

Nevertheless, Western social game developers are knocking on the door, with Popcap Games as the first major entrant with Bejeweled Blitz 2 on RenRen on Nov. 23, 2009. The implications of stricter regulation are especially serious for such foreign game developers. For in this war, the Chinese government holds all the power.

As Blizzard's World of Warcraft can attest to, a shrewd political strategy is essential to success in China. Their case is now a convoluted mess of bureaucratic infighting between two Chinese government agencies, the same bureaucrats who will soon regulate social games.

The China market is seductive, but outside game companies should proceed with caution.  Foreign developers would be wise to cultivate political ties and partner with or build a local studio, as Popcap Games did. Also, be sure your games promote “harmonious social values”—Mafia Wars need not apply.

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Online Publishing Site HubPages Launches Real-Time Content Feeds

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 07:00 AM PST

HubPages, a content community based around topics, is adding a new real-time feature this week: feeds. The site lets anyone create “Hubs” around any type of topic, and divided content into forums, questions and answers.

The new feed makes it more easy to read all components of a particular hub or topic, where you can comment, ask and answer questions and participate in forums. Hubbers (HubPages authors) can earn money by publishing their Hubs and then collecting ad revenue (which is split with HubPages). Paul Edmondson, founder of HubPages, tells me that several thousand new Hubs are created everyday. Edemondson adds that the new feed hopes to make Hubs a “living, breathing piece of content.”

HubPages is also growing, seeing 20 million unique visitors in November and growing 112 percent in traffic over the past year, according to Google Analytics. HubPages faces competition from Squidoo, Mahalo and About.com.

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Website Conversion Facilitator SeeWhy Raises Another $2 Million

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 06:57 AM PST

Andover, MA-based SeeWhy has raised a second round of funding from most of its current shareholders, adding $2 million to the $4.5 million it secured earlier this year. The company plans to add additional investors alongside those investing in this round through 2010.

The startup markets tools that help ecommerce sites and online retailers up their conversion rates by giving them the opportunity to automatically or manually try to make people who were close to purchasing goods or services on their website but left the process before completion, for whatever reason, come back and finish the cycle.

SeeWhy refers to this concept as ‘re-marketing’ or ‘re-conversion’ and claims rapid follow-up of people who drop out of the buying process can increase conversation rates up to 50%. True or not, I think it’s an interesting idea, particularly for vendors who have the resources needed to follow up those guilty of ‘abandonment’ practically in real-time.

The company’s suite of products is named Abandonment Tracker, is entirely SaaS-based, and comes with a free version with a limited feature set so website owners can test the waters before going pro. Companies like Mastercard, Diageo, Radware and eCourier.co.uk are some of SeeWhy’s current customers.

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EU Drops Browser Antitrust Charges Against Microsoft, Won’t Fine

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 03:54 AM PST

The EU said this morning that it is dropping antitrust charges against Microsoft after the software giant agreed to give Windows OS users a choice of up to 12 other Web browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari and Opera.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Microsoft will need to implement a ballot screen that lets users in Europe replace Internet Explorer with another browser, starting March 2010. The deal also means computer manufacturers will now be able to ship PCs in Europe that do not come pre-installed with IE.

If it honors the agreement, Microsoft will avoid further EU fines. Microsoft has already paid €1.68 billion ($2.44 billion) in fines over EU antitrust actions in the past 10 years.

The company did get a warning, though: Microsoft can be fined up to 10 percent of yearly global turnover – without regulators having to prove their case – if the company fails to stick to its legally-binding commitment for the next five years. This commitment will be checked by regulators every other six months, the EU said. The European Union is also able to review the entire deal at the end of 2011.

European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes in a statement said millions of European consumers will benefit from this decision by gaining “free browser choice”, and that it will also spur browser makers “to innovate and offer people better browsers in the future”.

In December 2007, Opera Software urged the European Commission to investigate Microsoft's abuse of its dominant market position and the company's bundling of Internet Explorer with its still dominant Windows operating system. After a two-year investigation, in January 2009, the EU charged Microsoft with monopoly abuse. The anti-trust suit was later joined by Google and Mozilla.

Opera Software was quick to release a statement following the announcement of the settlement. Jon von Tetzchner, Opera’s CEO:

"This is a victory for the future of the Web. This decision is also a celebration of open Web standards, as these shared guidelines are the necessary ingredients for innovation on the Web. Opera has long been at the forefront of Web standards, which ensures that people have equal access to the Web anytime, anywhere and on any device. We see the outcome of the EU's investigation as a testament to our mission."

The European Union estimates that some 100 million computers will likely display the screen by mid-March 2010, and around 30 million new computers will show it over the next five years.

(Image via Komonews)

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Google Continues Offline Ad Campaigns For Chrome In The Netherlands

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 03:11 AM PST

Google is really serious about using offline media to push its Web browser. After running ads for Google Chrome in the UK, it has today started a similar campaign in The Netherlands, too. Like in the UK, we're getting reports on billboards appearing all over the country in combination with digital advertising appearing on Facebook and other sites. Also like in the UK, Google is distributing its message through Metro, a free daily that can be picked up in many public places all over the country. You can access the online version of the newspaper right here, and you'll see the ad when you click through to the Issuu-powered digital edition.


Mobile Social Network Mozat Makes Waves In Asia, Raises Funding

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 02:29 AM PST

Mozat, the mobile social networking platform formerly known as Morange, is making strides in Asia and the Middle East. The eponymous company behind the app has just announced that it has surpassed 10 million registered users, predominantly based in those regions.

The startup has also disclosed that it raised a Series A funding round led by JAFCO Asia earlier this year, although it didn’t disclose the size of the investment.

Mozat is in the mobile social networking business, and markets free J2ME and Symbian clients, a Windows Mobile and an Android app. The company currently doesn’t offer custom apps for iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm WebOS devices (yet), but we should note Mozat targets consumers in regions where those are not nearly as popular as in most Western countries.

Mozat is similar to apps like eBuddy and Nimbuzz, as it enables users to connect and communicate with friends on MSN, YAHOO, ICQ and AOL using a single application. It also boasts other tools like email, chat, photo sharing apps and games, which it distributes through a custom ‘Application Center’ which functions much like Apple’s App Store or the Android Market.

Mozat’s main objective for 2010 is to sign up more mobile operators and ISPs in Asia and the Middle East in order to increase their foothold as the carriers in those regions prepare to roll out more powerful networks in the near future.

Mozat was founded in Singapore back in 2003 by a group of Ph.D. scholars and professors of the National University of Singapore.

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Create A Custom Notebook, Featuring Your Tweets. Seriously.

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 01:19 AM PST

Boondoggle, a Belgian interactive agency, has cooked up a deliciously useless product called TweetNotebook that basically lets you create a physical notebook that features a random set of your Twitter messages.

No joke.

Here’s how it works: you go to the website, enter any username (make sure the owner’s tweet aren’t protected) and let the app browse through the account owner’s 320 latest tweets and automatically select some to populate the bottom sections of your notebook pages.

While you wait for the tweets to get selected, you can enter a custom message on the cover of your notebook (max. 140 characters, of course). Once the app is done selecting, you’ll get to preview your custom 320-page notebook, tweets included, before you order. You have three color choices: white and turquoise, black and turquoise or plain white.

The cost of the überpersonalized notebook is €12 (or $12), not including the shipping costs, which obviously differ from location to location.

I wish there was an option to select your tweets manually, or have them fetched from the Favstar.fm site, although that would create unwelcome copyright issues.

All in all, @TweetNotebook is a fun concept, which reminds me of Nick Douglas’ book Twitter Wit (which I enjoyed reading).

Now let’s see if they can get some traction on Twitter.

Update: also check out Tweetbookz and Tweetbook.in.

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Worth Remembering: Evernote App Hits Android Market (Screenshots)

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 11:57 PM PST

Digital memory aid and note taking service Evernote already has mobile applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry, among others, but so far it wasn’t part of the now more than 20,000 applications for the Android platform. Expect that to change real soon, because we hear the startup is making the app available in the Android Market in the next few hours.

(Update: it should be available now)

Evernote says the development of the app, which will be offered for free, took months to complete.

Evernote for Android allows users to create text notes, take photos and record audio. They’re also able to attach files to notes, although free subscribers are only able to add PDF, text, audio or image files. Premium subscribers – who fork over $5 per month (or $45 per year) for the service – can attach any file they like, as long as the total note size is under 25MB.

Any note users create in the desktop or web versions of Evernote will be instantly accessible from their Android phones thanks to the app’s native synchronization capabilities, and a note browsing feature enables users to browse and search through all of their notes. Evernote for Android is also able to capture a user’s location whenever he or she creates a note, and enables them to find notes based on proximity to their current location.

The Mountain View-based company, backed by $25.5 million in VC funding and gaining traction fast, promises more updates to the app will be pushed in the coming months.

You’ll to have to exercise a bit more patience before its app hits the Android Market, but here are some screenshots to whet your appetite:

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Bar-code Scanning RedLaser iPhone App reaches 750K downloads, over $1M in revenue

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 10:57 PM PST

Yep, it’s still happening. You can still become a millionaire on the iPhone without a marketing budget and a brand name. Occipital, the company behind RedLaser [iTunes Link], has struck gold with its barcode-scanning iPhone app. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s much harder to be an indie developer on the iPhone these days.

The App Store is riddled with brands and much of the Top 50 selling apps are backed by marketing/PR budgets or legacy users (meaning they’ve been on the store since the beginning, and have an install base that can boost future app sales via cross-promotion). In fact, almost every developer I talk to nowadays says the App Store has become increasingly difficult, and that it would be “impossible to get noticed” if you just stuck your app in the store. Well, if you create a good enough product on the App Store, people will come, and they came to buy RedLaser – in droves.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

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Zynga Takes $180 Million Venture Round From DST, Others (Cue Russian Mafia Jokes)

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 10:38 PM PST

Zynga, one of the stars of the Scamville drama, has raised a big round of funding – $180 million. Digital Sky Technologies, Tiger Global, Institutional Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz all participated in the round. The company has now raised $219 million in total.

DST, which has invested $300 million in Facebook this year, led the round. As with Facebook, some of DST’s investment will be used to buy shares directly from employees.

The NYTimes notes that one of DST’s major shareholders, Alisher Usmanov, spent six years in an Uzbek jail for fraud and embezzlement in the 1980s. Usmanov says he was jailed for political reasons, and Zynga investor Kleiner Perkins says there’s no problem with DST.

That won’t stop people making cracks about the Russian Mafia investing in Mafia Wars, one of Zynga’s popular social games, though.

Zynga is clearly on a roll, and some people have speculated that their revenue may be greater than Facebook’s. One thing is clear, Facebook and Zynga are very, very close. Zynga is Facebook’s largest advertiser, say multiple sources. And they now share DST as a major shareholder. And Marc Andreessen, now a Zynga investor, sits on Facebook’s board of directors.

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Friendster Valued At Just $26.4 Million In Sale

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 09:31 PM PST

We’ve got more details on the Friendster acquisition announced last week. Rumors were floating that the buyer, MOL Global, paid as much as $100 million for Friendster. The real price, we’ve confirmed from multiple sources, was under $30 million. Just a few months ago, based on comparable valuations from Bebo, LinkedIn and Facebook (and taking into account Friendster’s largely Asian audience), Friendster was worth between $98 million and $273 million.

The total purchase price paid was $39.5 million. But lots of stuff was deducted, totalling $13 million and change:

  • $3.7 million in secured debt
  • $2.5 million in cash in Friendster’s bank account
  • $2.1 million paid to Friendster CEO Richard Kimber
  • $1.4 million to other Frienster executives
  • $3.4 million to Morgan Stanley and other third parties (lawyers, escrow agents, etc.)

The total to shareholders after the deductions? About $26.4 million. And $3.8 million of that is being put into escrow.

Some shareholders are surprised at the deal. It was just a little over a year ago that Friendster had $20 million in the bank on a fresh venture capital round. That’s when Kimber took over as CEO. Not only is the company worth little more than the money they had in the bank back then, but traffic has dropped from 34 million monthly uniques to just 18 million. Despite that, Kimber got a $2.1 million bonus.

Of course the real tragedy with Friendster is that they spurned Google’s $30 million buyout offer back in 2003. That was before Google went public, and the shares they would have received would be worth far, far more today. In fact, even if they got Google stock at the IPO price, a year later, those shares would be worth around $180 million today.

And here’s something that’s even worse – one source tells us that Friendster turned down a $150 million buyout offer last year, before Kimber was hired.

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kaChing Raises $7.5 Million To Turn Mutual Funds On Their Heads

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 09:02 PM PST

kaChing, a new financial startup that’s looking to rethink the way people invest, has closed a $7.5 million funding round led by DAG Ventures. The company had previously raised $3 million from Silicon Valley notables including Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz (Andreessen Horowitz); Kevin Compton and Doug Mackenzie (KPCB); Dave Beirne and Bruce Dunlevie (Benchmark); Jeff Jordan (OpenTable) and Mike Volpi (Index Ventures).

At a high level, kaChing is looking to bring some transparency to the mutual fund industry. CEO Andy Rachleff explains that it’s nearly impossible to do much analysis on how a mutual fund is performing — they only disclose the positions they hold at the very end of the quarter. You don’t know what kind of trades they executed during the quarter, and they can sell off their bad holdings just before the end the quarter so that you’d never know they had them. kaChing turns this model on its head.

It invites top traders to publicly share all of their trades, revealing information that until now was only revealed to the likes of Ivy League institutions. Rachleff says the top traders benefit because they can accept many amateur investors as clients with very little extra work on their part. And everyone else benefits because they gain access to this data.

Here’s how it works: kaChing has gathered a dozen top investors, many of them professionals, which it has certified to be “Geniuses”. Anyone who comes to the site is free to look at the full trading history of these Geniuses, free of charge. If you like what you see, you can sign up for kaChing and create a brokerage account through its partner, Interactive Brokers (a well established and publically traded brokerage firm). Deposit some money (the minimum is $3,000) and you’re set. From then on, the site will automatically execute trades for you to exactly mirror the Genius you’ve signed up for.

Geniuses make money through fees that average around 1.25% annually (kaChing takes a 25% cut). You’re free to stop following a Genius at any time, and the site will automatically notify you if it it detects that a Genius is changing their investment strategy or has been underperforming.

To determine who warrants this Genius status, kaChing looks at their past performance, including records of trades of the last few years. The site currently includes some accomplished amateurs as Geniuses, but will skew heavily towards giving that status to professional traders in the next few months. Up until now the process has been manual (hence only a dozen Geniuses), but the company will soon automate it.

From what I heard from Rachleff and founder Daniel Carroll, it seems like kaChing has quite a bit of promise. But this is still an unproven system, and I would advise readers to be very cautious before they decide to revamp their entire investment strategy without testing the waters first.

Other startups in this space include Covestor. Unlike kaChing, which has a screening process, for better or for worse Covester allows you to follow ‘normal’ users.

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ThePort Raises $500k More for Business Social Networks

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 08:30 PM PST

ThePort Network has raised $500k from existing investors in an extension of its Series B round. ThePort provides businesses with social network and social media services. A couple years ago we covered ThePort as part of a broader look at ways to build your own social network, which included a detailed look at a number of players in the space here.

American City Business Journals led a $4.1M Series B in ThePort in December 2008 and has not looked back. Over the last year recurring revenue has grown 90% topping $2M. The company’s products target associations, media companies and nonprofits and have found success in the government sector. Major clients include the American Diabetes Association, the American Bar Association, the American Lung Association, the Sierra Club and as CEO Bob Cramer diplomatically put it, “a major political party”.

The company plans on using the new funding to grow its sales and marketing efforts. ThePort has read the tea leaves and as part of that push ThePort plans to open an office in Washington DC in 2010. The company also hopes to reach profitability next year.

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Microsoft Recruits Student Bloggers With Free Software And Trips To Conferences

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 08:00 PM PST

We’ve confirmed with Microsoft that the tech giant has launched a new program, called Student Insiders, to enlist college students to blog about Microsoft products. In return, the Microsoft “Student Insider” will be able to attend Microsoft conferences, such as Microsoft’s developer conference, PDC, and others and then write about their experiences and the products. The student will get all expenses paid to attend conferences as well as receive free training on Microsoft products. Student Insiders are expected to cover 15 events or topics a year, with at least “500 engagements per event/topic.”

It appears that Microsoft will try to recruit students with “established blogs” to write about a wide variety of Microsoft products. The advertisement we received focused on getting students to review Microsoft’s Expression Studio, a design and development software.

This program is different than Microsoft’s Student Partners program, which is a program student evangelists of Microsoft products. Microsoft also launched a program, called DreamSpark, last year that gave students free developer software. Google has a similar program to the Student Partners program, called Google Student Ambassadors.

Microsoft is seeking a knowledgeable, charismatic, and motivated student to become a Student Insider to blog about the new Expression Studio.

Microsoft is a multinational computer technology corporation specializing in the development and manufacturing of software for computing devices. Microsoft Expression Studio opens up a new world of creative possibility. Its professional design tools give you the freedom to make your vision real—whether you're designing for standards-based Web sites, rich desktop experiences, or Silverlight.

The purpose of this position is to introduce the world to Microsoft's Expression Studio by a person who is most likely to understand the full range of its capabilities: you. You will use your existing blog to discuss various tips, tricks and advantages with the Expression Studio. In addition to being trained on the software by the experts at Microsoft, you will get to attend high-profile technology conferences, such as MIX10: March 15-17th, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Key responsibilities:
· Using your existing blog to blog about Microsoft Expression Studio
· Attending exclusive technology conferences as a representative of Microsoft, such as the MIX10 conference, March 15 – 17 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas
· Acting as a peer influencer to introduce people to the benefits of Microsoft's products
Amazing benefits:
· Entrance into exclusive and high profile technology conferences with all expenses paid
· Training by industry experts
· Invaluable resume building experience
· The title of Student Insider, denoting knowledge and expertise in technology
· Additional products and incentives
What you need to know:
· There is only one Student Insider position for the Expression Studio campaign
· The campaign will kick-off as soon in just a few short weeks
· Student Insiders are expected to cover 15 events/topics a year (selected by Microsoft) with at least 500 engagements per event/topic

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Bing Goes The iPhone. Still Great For Porn.

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 07:52 PM PST

IMG_0838Since the dawn of Bing, it’s been exceptionally good at one thing: Finding porn. Its new iPhone app, which launched tonight in the App Store, is no different.

By default, the app has a Safe Search setting of “Moderate.” Searching for “porn” this way yields several promising results. However, with just two clicks, any kids can turn off safe search and off they go! The porn results are nothing, if not impressive.

I love this for two reasons: 1) The app is rated 4+, yet it’s super simple to gain access to hardcore porn in a few clicks. This continues to highlight Apple’s hypocrisy when it comes to the App Store. Apps that allow you to lift up Asian schoolgirl’s outfits are just fine. Apps that make satirical references to public figures are banned. And now, apps that gives you hardcore porn at your fingertips are rated 4+. Sure, this content in on the web, and not in the app itself, but to a viewer, what’s the difference? 2) Bing continues to be a great resource for porn.

To be fair, Google’s iPhone app also allows you to search for porn. But, 1) It’s not as easy to search for just images with the Google app (image search is a plus for the Bing app) 2) the results are much less hardcore, and 3) It’s much less obvious as to how to turn off the safe search settings.

All that said, the Bing app is actually quite nice. The voice search feature (just like Google’s on the iPhone) works quite well. The app also features the standard Bing daily images complete with hover-over factoids. It also has a nice overlay on the main screen to easily search for Movies, Maps, Businesses, News, Direction, and yes Images. Find the app in the App Store here. It’s a free download.

Both images below taken on a search for “porn” with safe search turned off. As you can see, Bing returns many more great results. Badda Bing.

IMG_0843 IMG_0842

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My Virtual Head Would Look Great On Your Virtual Body! Gizmoz Merges With Daz 3D

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 07:45 PM PST

Since Israeli startup Gizmoz launched three years ago, people have used its technology to create millions of 3D-realistic avatar heads from photos of themselves. But what good is a head without a body? Gizmoz found a body—lots of them, actually—in a Utah-based company called Daz 3D. The two companies are merging. Existing investors, led by Benchmark Capital, Highway 12 Ventures, and Columbia Capital, are put in an additional $5.3 million into the new, yet-to-be-named company. Previously, Gizmoz raised a total of $12.8 million, most recently $6.5 million in March, 2008 from the venture arm of Docomo, which also participated in the latest round. Daz 3D raised $4 million back in June, 2007, and targeted creative professionals as customers.

Daz 3D co-founder Dan Farr will become the CEO and Gizmoz founder Eyal Gever wil be president. The company will be headquartered in Utah. Daz 3D offers a free virtual studio for professional designers to create virtual bodies for video games, movies, and illustrations, whereas Gizmoz is more of a consumer play which helps people turn their photos into fun, 3D avatars.

The idea behind combining the two companies is to tackle a new market altogether: the burgeoning virtual goods economy in virtual worlds, social networks, and online video games. Except that instead of swords, armor, and clothing, the virtual goods the company will be selling the avatars themselves. “The fundamental consumption of digital goods is around characters,” says Gever. “They have the best looking bodies and we can generate any face. We can sell it to anyone out there.”

His plan is to partner with virtual worlds, games, and other online platforms to provide a complete 3D modeling engine for characters and avatars, and charge players for the ability to create realistic characters with their own faces. Good thing that trafficking in heads and bodies is a perfectly acceptable activity online.

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Facebook Suggests You Lie, Break Its Own Terms Of Service To Keep Your Privacy

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 06:13 PM PST

Here’s a new one. As Facebook continues to grapple with the negative press over its privacy overhaul, it’s now suggesting a new way to protect your personal information: lie about it. At least, that’s what Barry Schnitt, Facebook’s Director of Corporate Communications and Public Policy, told the Wall Street Journal in an article this evening. From the story:

Facebook also made public formerly private info such as profile pictures, gender, current city and the friends list. (Mr. Schnitt suggests that users are free to lie about their hometown or take down their profile picture to protect their privacy; in response to users’ complaints, the friends list can now be restricted to be viewed only by friends).

Of course, this directly violates Facebook’s own Terms of Service, which stipulate that users may not provide false information.

Registration and Account Security
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.

Update: I reached out to Facebook, and Schnitt has clarified his position:

I think WSJ is paraphrasing. What I said is profile picture and current city are optional. You don't have to include a profile picture or you can include a picture of your dog or anything you like. Similarly, you don't have to indicate your current city or you can indicate that your current city is "Atlantis", "Valhalla" or, again, anything you like. We hope people will use accurate information if they are comfortable doing so because that information helps them to be found by their friends, which is part of the point of joining the site.

Facebook has always been heavily reliant on its users being honest, and it has thrived because of it. It was among the first social networks to mandate the use of real names rather than aliases, which has made it easier to find friends and also forces users to take more responsibility for their actions. If Facebook is actually going to start suggesting falsifying or removing information as a means to maintain privacy, then it’s making a serious mistake.

I’ve made no secret of my dislike for Facebook’s privacy overhaul. And while there have been plenty of articles questioning Facebook’s motivations, I think we’ve yet to really see the true backlash begin. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

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SearchTrends Shows What’s Hot In The Search World On The iPhone

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 06:00 PM PST

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Have you ever wondered what people are searching for right now on Google, Yahoo! or Bing? If you’ve ever been to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, then you’ll know what I’m talking about, but what if you want to see all the trends on the go? SearchTrends for the iPhone is here to help. SearchTrends displays real-time search trends for Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Twitter, and lets you search on these terms from right within the app.

SearchTrends is a great new way to stay up-to-date on popular search terms, news and events. Instead of relying on news sources, you’re keying off of what people around the world are talking about in real time.

I will say though, the UI isn’t the best. It basically only shows text, which can get boring at times. But when you’re looking at what Search Trends is showing, the data is very interesting as well as how each search engine has completely different results. (Screenshot below)

Currently, on Google the top search term is “787 first flight video” while Yahoo! is showing “Elin Nordegren” and Bing with “Tara Reid.”

In the future, I’d like to see graphs and different types of analytical data in the app comparing the three search engines side-by-side, just so you don’t have to go through each panel to see what’s going on.

SearchTrends is available for free on the App Store today. [iTunes link]

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Behold: The Nexus One Boots Up (Video)

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 05:41 PM PST

nexusonneThe leaks continue to hit the web about the Nexus One, aka “The Google Phone.” Here’s the latest: The booting up of the device on video. Enjoy.

Also, here’s apparently the official logo.

[thanks Alberto]

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LinkedIn Furthers Expansion In India With Local Office And Media Partnerships

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 03:30 PM PST

Professional social network LinkedIn has been seeing a significant amount of growth internationally, 3.4 million members in India, out of 55 million members globally. That’s more than its members in the U.K., which just hit 3 million users. Today, LinkedIn is opening an office in Mumbai India, to set up shop in the area where it’s growing like gangbusters. In October, LinkedIn’s network’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, said in the post that half of LinkedIn’s membership is international, with India seeing the fastest rate of adoption of the network.

Nayan Patel, LinkedIn’s current director of strategic partnerships will be the new director of operations at LinkedIn India. Hari V. Krishnan, country manager of LinkedIn India said in a statement that the new office will focus on forming strategic partnerships with media organizations and other distribution channels. The new outpost will also work to gain more users and promote the use of the platform by third-party developers.

The professional social network has already formed a partnership with Indian media company Network18 that will integrate of business and finance content from its business news channel LinkedIn. UGC from LinkedIn will also be cross-posted to CNBC-TV18, a business news channel in India.

LinkedIn has has a big year. Founder Reid Hoffman recently changed the guard at the company, with Weiner taking the helm as CEO in June. While LinkedIn is a strong IPO candidate, Hoffman recently told us that he’s not in any rush to go public. The company was valued at around $1 billion in its last round of financing in 2008, and has been profitable for the past years. And last week, Hoffman told Reuters that the company plans to pursue an IPO at some point, but not any time soon.

The network also added a number of new features including Twitter integration, and released its API.

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Iran, Google Wave, And Michael Jackson Dominated Twitter This Year

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 03:16 PM PST

iran-flagTwitter has just released a collection of the top trending topics on the service for 2009. For the list, they’ve broken it down into: New Events, People, Movies, TV Shows, Sports, Technology, and Hash Tags.

In the post on the matter, Twitter’s chief scientist, Abdur Chowdhury, notes the number of ways that the Iranian election situation showed up on the lists. “#iranelection” was the number one News Event term with “Iran” coming in fourth, and “Tehran” coming in fifth. In Hash Tags, “#iranelection” was number two overall. Obviously, the service is pointing this out to illustrate Twitter’s important role in the crisis, but most of the rest of the lists are populated by popular, but much less significant, fare.

For example, “Michael Jackson” dominated the People list. Following his death, Twitter, and many other services on the web were brought to their knees as people turned to the web for information. “Harry Potter” topped Movies, while “American Idol” topped TV Shows. The “Super Bowl” topped Sports.

Technology was slightly interesting, as “Google Wave” was the top term for 2009. Ever since the service was first revealed over the summer, it’s been on the Trending Topics list pretty much constantly as people have been both talking about it and looking for invites. It’s interesting that most people still don’t seem to understand (or understand how they’ll use) the service, but apparently they love talking about it. Something else interesting is that “Snow Leopard,” Apple’s new version operating system beat out “Windows 7,” Microsoft’s new operating system.

But the most interesting things on the technology list may be what’s missing. “Facebook” is nowhere to be found in the top 10. That seems pretty hard to believe — might Twitter have scrubbed its rival (which later this week will allow for publishing to Twitter) from the results? Also interesting is that “iPhone” does not appear in the top 10, but “Palm Pre” does. And what is “Google Latitude” doing on there? I haven’t heard anyone talk about that in real life, let alone on Twitter. Maybe I’m following the wrong people. Or maybe they’re following me — and tweeting about it.

The Hash Tags list is also worth looking at. It seems there is no way Twitter could have published this list without some level of scrubbing since all the hash tags listed are actually appropriate. Twitter recently talked about the need to curate the Trending Topics area of the site, and it’s clear they remove certain things that they consider to be spam.

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Reddit Users Band Together For Largest Secret Santa Ever

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 02:42 PM PST

It’s easy to look at sites like Reddit, Digg, or any other substantially large web community, and view their aggregate userbase with a certain level of disdain —  anonymity has the nasty habit of turning reasonable people into world-class jerks. But sometimes we come across stories that reaffirm that there are honest, kind people behind many of these avatars. One such case happened this holiday season on Reddit, where thousands of users have banded together to create what may have been the largest Secret Santa program of all time. And they managed to pull it off.

Reddit user Antonio Cangiano has written a long blog post detailing the program, and it’s really quite heartwarming. The whole thing started when a handful of Redditors decided amongst themselves that a Secret Santa program would be fun. User Dan McComas put together a site called Redditgifts to organize it, with a few restrictions in place to help cut down on trolls (you couldn’t join with a brand new account). After a registration period, the site automatically matched up users as Secret Santas, sharing address information so that they could send each other gifts but little in the way of personal information.

Over 4500 people signed up, and they shipped a total of 5,000 gifts (you could exchange more than one gift if you wanted). The vast majority of the users came through with their shipments, with only a few hundred stragglers. And even with those procrastinators, Cangiano writes that Reddit has far surpassed the former record holder for largest Secret Santa ever.

All in all, users spent more than $160,000 on the gifts and shipping fees.

Now that users are starting to receive their gifts, they’re uploading them to a special Gift Gallery. Most of the recipients seem to be quite pleased with their gifts, and the bulk of the gifts clearly had some thought put into them. Some Santas even cyberstalked their match to get something they’d love. Really, this is just awesome.

For another example of goodnatured geekdom, check out Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity which helps distribute books, video games, and toys to kids in childrens’ hospitals. The charity has raised over $5 million since its inception in 2003.

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The iPhone And The Droid Face Off.. In Song

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 02:41 PM PST

You know whats nerdier than contrasting the merits of the iPhone versus those of the Motorola Droid (twice)? Pitting the two phones against each other in a sound effect remix battle. You know what’s even nerdier than that? Absolutely nothing.

The folks over at Indaba Music have challenged their users to strive for that pinnacle of nerddom in an all out remix competition they’re calling Phone Wars. The results are… surprisingly pleasing.

Read the rest of this entry at MobileCrunch >>

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Golden Gifts: Gowalla Steps Up Its Game For The Holidays

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 01:29 PM PST

Screen shot 2009-12-15 at 1.27.07 PMAs Foursquare has shown so far, gaming elements are an intriguing part of location-based services. And more recently, Gowalla has started moving more towards that space as well. And just in time for the holidays, they have a new game that can earn users presents.

During what is calls “The 10 And A Half Days of Christmas (Because 12 Days Were Too Predictable),” Gowalla is giving away gifts to users who do one of two things: 1) Follow Gowalla on Twitter and tweet in 140 characters or less about why they should receive a prize. 2) Use Gowalla to check-in to venues around your city to attempt to find one of the “Golden Gifts.” The latter makes perfect use of Gowalla’s virtual goods system that has users picking up, dropping, and swapping items. If you check-in at a place and find one of these Golden Gifts, you will see a button below that reads, “Open Open Open!,” and clicking on that will get you the prize.

So what can you win? Gowalla is giving away 100 Gowalla-branded orange iPod nanos, 200 $10 iTunes gift cards, and 300 Gowalla t-shirts. If you enter the game by tweeting, you’ll be vying for the iPod nano. Gowalla will be giving one of those away each day between now and Christmas. The Golden Gift items can contain any of the prizes. It’s important to note that to find these prizes you must be using the latest version of Gowalla (1.3) on an iPhone.

Just last week, Gowalla closed a new $8.4 million round of funding that put its valuation near $30 million. This virtual good element to the game is expected to be the way the service eventually makes money. The idea is that you check-in to a certain place, receive a virtual item, and you can then trade that in for a real-life good which Gowalla would partner with venues to offer.

Another player in this space, Loopt, also recently unveiled a holiday-themed scavenger hunt game.

Screen shot 2009-12-15 at 1.26.41 PM

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Exclusive Video: Hands-on With Swype For Android

Posted: 15 Dec 2009 12:27 PM PST

I’ve been pretty pumped about Swype’s ultra-speedy alternative typing solution for touchscreen devices ever since it first debuted at TechCrunch50 2008. My excitement only grew when it finally made its way to a handset, the Omnia II, just last month – but as I’m not the biggest fan of the OS that powers that device, my thumbs were left twiddling until an Android port was released.

Earlier this morning, I got my hands-on a pre-release copy of just that: Swype for Android. So how is it? In a word: Great. If you want more than that, you’ll have to dive behind the jump for a hands-on impressions and video.

Read the rest of this post at MobileCrunch >>

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