YouTube, the online video site, marks its fifth year this week. Here are some of the key staging posts in its history.
February 2005: YouTube founders, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim begin work on a video sharing site - they all met at PayPal
April 2005: First video uploaded to YouTube - a video of Jawed at San Diego Zoo
November 2005: YouTube secures first round of funding with Sequoia Capital for $3.5m
December 2005: Official Launch (8m videos watched a day)
February 2006: 15m videos watched a day; 20,000 uploaded a day
May 2006: Mobile video uploads released
July 2006: 65,000 new videos uploaded every day, site passes 100m video views per day
August 2006: YouTube launches first advertising concepts - Participatory Video Ads (PVA) and Brand Channels
Autumn 2006: YouTube signs deal with three major music labels (Sony BMG, Warner, Universal)
October 2006: YouTube partners with first major network (CBS) Begins testing Content Id tool to protect copyrighted material
October 2006: YouTube partners with Audible Magic to create audio identification technology
October 2006: Google acquires YouTube for $1.65bn, says its revenues are “not material”
November 2006: YouTube signs first major sports deal with NHL
January 2007: estimated that YouTube is consuming as much bandwidth as the entire internet did in 2000
March 2007: Viacom, owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, launches $1bn law suit against Google and YouTube for “illegally” showing hit shows. YouTube insists it has followed the rules contained in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
May 2007: First known instance of a Rickroll - prank links that send you to a video of Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give You Up
May 2007: Premier League threatens legal action against YouTube for alleged copyright infringement. Again YouTube says it operates within copyright law.
May 2007: First users offered commercial partnerships with YouTube
May 2007: YouTube and EMI form partnership
January 2008: 10 hours of video uploaded every minute. YouTube bandwidth costs estimated at £1m a day
May 2008: 13 hours of video uploaded every minute. Forbes magazine estimates YouTube revenues at $200m a year
June 2008: YouTube integration into Sony Bravia TV
July 2008: YouTube integration in TiVo
October 2008: 5 hours of footage uploaded every minute
January 2009: President Obama launches channel on YouTube
February 2009: Pope launches channel
May 2009: 20 hours of video uploaded every minute
July 2009: 3D Launch
October 2009: Live-stream of U2 concert
October 2009: Channel 4 agrees YouTube deal to put all its catch-up tv on the site
October 2009: Chad Hurley reveals in a blog that YouTube has exceeded 1billion views per day
December 2009: 5 agrees similar partnership to Channel 4
January 2010: YouTube video rentals launch
March 2010: 24 hours of video uploaded per minute
March 2010: YouTube begins streaming Indian Premier League cricket worldwide
March 31: YouTube launches new, cleaner design to encourage viewers to stay on the site for longer
Sunday 18 April 2010
Friday 16 April 2010
Browsing histories appear online
Users of the Winny filesharing service are thought to be particularly at risk from the Kenzero virus, which originated in Japan.
The Trojan virus is hidden inside some video files of explicit Hentai anime, which are shared across the Winny network. Once an unsuspecting computer user has downloaded the video file to their machine, the virus executes, popping up an installation screen that prompts the computer user to type in personal information.
The virus then takes screengrabs of a user's browsing history, and publishes a list of all the sites they have visited online. A dialog box or email is then sent to the user, demanding a credit card payment of around £10 to remove the list from the internet.
"We've seen the name before in association with the Zeus and Koobface Trojans," Rik Ferguson, a security adviser at Trend Micro, told the BBC. "It is an established criminal gang that is continuously involved in this sort of activity."
Computer users have been advised to ensure their antivirus, firewall and security software is up to date, and that they have downloaded any security patches for their operating system. Users who receive emails or dialog boxes demanding payment to settle alleged copyright infringement or for the removal of browsing histories are advised to ignore the demands, and instead to use an anti-malware scanner to check for suspicious files on their PC.
--By Claudine Beaumont,16 Apr 2010
The Trojan virus is hidden inside some video files of explicit Hentai anime, which are shared across the Winny network. Once an unsuspecting computer user has downloaded the video file to their machine, the virus executes, popping up an installation screen that prompts the computer user to type in personal information.
The virus then takes screengrabs of a user's browsing history, and publishes a list of all the sites they have visited online. A dialog box or email is then sent to the user, demanding a credit card payment of around £10 to remove the list from the internet.
"We've seen the name before in association with the Zeus and Koobface Trojans," Rik Ferguson, a security adviser at Trend Micro, told the BBC. "It is an established criminal gang that is continuously involved in this sort of activity."
Computer users have been advised to ensure their antivirus, firewall and security software is up to date, and that they have downloaded any security patches for their operating system. Users who receive emails or dialog boxes demanding payment to settle alleged copyright infringement or for the removal of browsing histories are advised to ignore the demands, and instead to use an anti-malware scanner to check for suspicious files on their PC.
--By Claudine Beaumont,16 Apr 2010
Browsing histories appear online
Users of the Winny filesharing service are thought to be particularly at risk from the Kenzero virus, which originated in Japan.
The Trojan virus is hidden inside some video files of explicit Hentai anime, which are shared across the Winny network. Once an unsuspecting computer user has downloaded the video file to their machine, the virus executes, popping up an installation screen that prompts the computer user to type in personal information.
The virus then takes screengrabs of a user's browsing history, and publishes a list of all the sites they have visited online. A dialog box or email is then sent to the user, demanding a credit card payment of around £10 to remove the list from the internet.
"We've seen the name before in association with the Zeus and Koobface Trojans," Rik Ferguson, a security adviser at Trend Micro, told the BBC. "It is an established criminal gang that is continuously involved in this sort of activity."
Computer users have been advised to ensure their antivirus, firewall and security software is up to date, and that they have downloaded any security patches for their operating system. Users who receive emails or dialog boxes demanding payment to settle alleged copyright infringement or for the removal of browsing histories are advised to ignore the demands, and instead to use an anti-malware scanner to check for suspicious files on their PC.
--By Claudine Beaumont,16 Apr 2010
The Trojan virus is hidden inside some video files of explicit Hentai anime, which are shared across the Winny network. Once an unsuspecting computer user has downloaded the video file to their machine, the virus executes, popping up an installation screen that prompts the computer user to type in personal information.
The virus then takes screengrabs of a user's browsing history, and publishes a list of all the sites they have visited online. A dialog box or email is then sent to the user, demanding a credit card payment of around £10 to remove the list from the internet.
"We've seen the name before in association with the Zeus and Koobface Trojans," Rik Ferguson, a security adviser at Trend Micro, told the BBC. "It is an established criminal gang that is continuously involved in this sort of activity."
Computer users have been advised to ensure their antivirus, firewall and security software is up to date, and that they have downloaded any security patches for their operating system. Users who receive emails or dialog boxes demanding payment to settle alleged copyright infringement or for the removal of browsing histories are advised to ignore the demands, and instead to use an anti-malware scanner to check for suspicious files on their PC.
--By Claudine Beaumont,16 Apr 2010
Monday 12 April 2010
Facebook Farm Town game hit by virus
Security experts have advised Farm Town's 9.6 million Facebook players to perform an immediate virus scan on their computers, after it was discovered that the site had been serving up adverts infected with malware.
SlashKey, the company behind Farm Town, warned that some of the adverts appearing around the game contained fake antivirus alerts, and were designed to con players in to believing their computer was infected with a virus. Players would then click on the advert to purchase antivirus software, but the site would trick them out of their credit card details.
Sophos, a computer security company, said that hundreds of Farm Town users had reported problems, but that many other users could unknowingly be affected by the scam.
"Poisoned adverts appear to be trickling onto their PCs from a third-party advertising network," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Players of games like Farm Town are not all geeks, and might easily fall hard and fast for a bogus security warning – straight into the hands of hackers.
"Rather than SlashKey simply asking its players to report offending adverts when they appear, the company should disable third-party Farm Town adverts until the problem is fixed. Doing anything less is surely showing a careless disregard for the safety of its players," he said.
"Until the makers of Farm Town resolve the problem of malicious adverts, my advice to its fans would be to stop playing the game and ensure that their computer is properly defended with up-to-date security software."
Cluley said that so-called "scareware" attacks were on the increase. Hackers and fraudsters have been buoyed by the success of previous campaigns, and have found consumers can be easily tricked in to clicking on legitimate-looking links.
SlashKey, the company behind Farm Town, warned that some of the adverts appearing around the game contained fake antivirus alerts, and were designed to con players in to believing their computer was infected with a virus. Players would then click on the advert to purchase antivirus software, but the site would trick them out of their credit card details.
Sophos, a computer security company, said that hundreds of Farm Town users had reported problems, but that many other users could unknowingly be affected by the scam.
"Poisoned adverts appear to be trickling onto their PCs from a third-party advertising network," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Players of games like Farm Town are not all geeks, and might easily fall hard and fast for a bogus security warning – straight into the hands of hackers.
"Rather than SlashKey simply asking its players to report offending adverts when they appear, the company should disable third-party Farm Town adverts until the problem is fixed. Doing anything less is surely showing a careless disregard for the safety of its players," he said.
"Until the makers of Farm Town resolve the problem of malicious adverts, my advice to its fans would be to stop playing the game and ensure that their computer is properly defended with up-to-date security software."
Cluley said that so-called "scareware" attacks were on the increase. Hackers and fraudsters have been buoyed by the success of previous campaigns, and have found consumers can be easily tricked in to clicking on legitimate-looking links.
Sunday 11 April 2010
Boy runs up £900 Farmville debt
He also raided his own savings to drum up £288 to maintain his virtual farming empire on Farmville, a game that is played through the Facebook social networking site.
The youngster borrowed his mother's credit card to spend a further £625 on virtual coins and other goods to help increase his yield of moneymaking virtual crops.
A 12-year-old boy ran up more than £900 in debt when he stole his mother's credit card to make in-game purchases in Farmville
But his spending was quickly noticed by his mother, who noticed mysterious transactions on her account and cancelled her card. Facebook has terminated the youngster's account.
But the family has been told by Zynga, creator of Farmville, and Facebook, which hosts the game, that the money will not be refunded, because the youngster lives at the address to which the card is registered. Her credit card company said it would be able to refund the cash if she reported her son to the police.
"He would be cautioned and I have been told that this caution would stay with him," the mother told the Guardian. "Obviously, the idea of a stupid farm simulation jeopardising his future earnings is not something I want to consider."
Farmville has an estimated 80 million players worldwide, with around 30 million people logging on every day to tend to their virtual farms and nurture crops.
The youngster borrowed his mother's credit card to spend a further £625 on virtual coins and other goods to help increase his yield of moneymaking virtual crops.
But his spending was quickly noticed by his mother, who noticed mysterious transactions on her account and cancelled her card. Facebook has terminated the youngster's account.
But the family has been told by Zynga, creator of Farmville, and Facebook, which hosts the game, that the money will not be refunded, because the youngster lives at the address to which the card is registered. Her credit card company said it would be able to refund the cash if she reported her son to the police.
"He would be cautioned and I have been told that this caution would stay with him," the mother told the Guardian. "Obviously, the idea of a stupid farm simulation jeopardising his future earnings is not something I want to consider."
Farmville has an estimated 80 million players worldwide, with around 30 million people logging on every day to tend to their virtual farms and nurture crops.
Saturday 10 April 2010
Google buyout of AdMob faces legal challenge
US regulators are poised to block Google’s proposed acquisition of the mobile advertising company AdMob. The decision would restrict the search giant’s intention to extend its dominance of the internet advertising market.
Lawyers at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are likely to recommend that the Government halt the deal on anti-trust grounds. There are concerns that Google would use AdMob, the leading supplier of adverts that run on smartphones and other mobile devices, to gain a controlling position in a crucial new technology sector.
Reports indicated that the commission had assembled an internal litigation team to prepare for a challenge to the deal. “The staff believes there is a significant competitive problem and they are prepared to make a recommendation to sue,” a source told Reuters.
The move comes as Google, which generated 97 per cent of its $23.7 billion revenue last year from advertising, faces a growing list of investigations in the US and Europe on issues of competitiveness.
Regulators have been reviewing the AdMob deal for months. Google announced the proposed acquisition in November and said in December that it had received a second request for information from the FTC.
Google is betting that the acquisition will enable it to make healthy profits from mobile users, thanks to the rise of smartphones that can browse the web.
AdMob is the world’s biggest mobile advertising platform. The company claims to serve more than 8.5 billion mobile banner and text adverts per month across thousands of mobile websites and applications in more than 160 countries.
Google said that the acquisition would enhance its expertise and technology in the sector. Its Android operating system for mobile phones is used by many smartphone makers and it has launched its own Nexus One handset.
Senator Herb Kohl, the chairman of the anti-trust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this week sent a letter to the FTC urging “close scrutiny” of the deal.
“This acquisition, if consummated, would combine Google, with a dominant share of internet search and internet search advertising ... with AdMob, the leading provider of advertising to mobile devices commonly known as ‘smartphones’,” he wrote.
Google argues that there are more than a dozen mobile-advertising networks that provide healthy competition. “While we’re continuing to work with the FTC, there is overwhelming evidence that mobile advertising will remain competitive after this deal closes,” a spokesman said.
In February the European Commission launched a preliminary anti-trust inquiry into Google after three companies complained that the US giant’s dominant search engine penalised potential competitors and kept advertising prices artificially high.
--Mike Harvey
Lawyers at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are likely to recommend that the Government halt the deal on anti-trust grounds. There are concerns that Google would use AdMob, the leading supplier of adverts that run on smartphones and other mobile devices, to gain a controlling position in a crucial new technology sector.
Reports indicated that the commission had assembled an internal litigation team to prepare for a challenge to the deal. “The staff believes there is a significant competitive problem and they are prepared to make a recommendation to sue,” a source told Reuters.
The move comes as Google, which generated 97 per cent of its $23.7 billion revenue last year from advertising, faces a growing list of investigations in the US and Europe on issues of competitiveness.
Regulators have been reviewing the AdMob deal for months. Google announced the proposed acquisition in November and said in December that it had received a second request for information from the FTC.
Google is betting that the acquisition will enable it to make healthy profits from mobile users, thanks to the rise of smartphones that can browse the web.
AdMob is the world’s biggest mobile advertising platform. The company claims to serve more than 8.5 billion mobile banner and text adverts per month across thousands of mobile websites and applications in more than 160 countries.
Google said that the acquisition would enhance its expertise and technology in the sector. Its Android operating system for mobile phones is used by many smartphone makers and it has launched its own Nexus One handset.
Senator Herb Kohl, the chairman of the anti-trust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this week sent a letter to the FTC urging “close scrutiny” of the deal.
“This acquisition, if consummated, would combine Google, with a dominant share of internet search and internet search advertising ... with AdMob, the leading provider of advertising to mobile devices commonly known as ‘smartphones’,” he wrote.
Google argues that there are more than a dozen mobile-advertising networks that provide healthy competition. “While we’re continuing to work with the FTC, there is overwhelming evidence that mobile advertising will remain competitive after this deal closes,” a spokesman said.
In February the European Commission launched a preliminary anti-trust inquiry into Google after three companies complained that the US giant’s dominant search engine penalised potential competitors and kept advertising prices artificially high.
--Mike Harvey
Friday 9 April 2010
How to become the net’s biggest draw
1984: Mark Zuckerberg is born in White Plains, New York.
2004: In February, Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm. The site is for students with Harvard email addresses only, but by March it has added Stanford, Columbia and Yale. By December Facebook has 1m users.
2005: Facebook raises $12.7m from Accel Partners. It adds high schools and international school networks. By December it has 5.5m users.
2006: Facebook raises $27.5m from Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and others. Facebook Mobile is launched. By the end of the year it has 12m users.
2007: Facebook opens a virtual gift shop and advertising becomes a growing part of the business. Developers are invited to make applications for the site. In October Microsoft pays $240m for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, valuing the company at $15 billion. Microsoft squeezes out Google to do the deal. User numbers pass 50m.
2008: Facebook passes the 100m mark. It opens Spanish and French sites and a translation service for 21 languages. The US presidential debates are co-sponsored by ABC News and Facebook.
2009: Even Facebook isn’t immune to the stock market rout. Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian group, makes a $200m investment that values the company at $10 billion. However, the number of users continues to soar — to more than 350m by the end of the year — and Facebook makes its first profit.
2010: For the week ending March 13, Hitwise says Facebook.com passed Google.com, making it the biggest draw on the net for the whole week for the first time in its history. The company now accounts for 17% of the time people spend online in Britain and America, according to Nielsen. User numbers have passed 400m. Profits are thought to be $1 billion a year. Speculation mounts that Facebook will start looking to raise more money from a stock market float.
2004: In February, Zuckerberg and co-founders Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin launch Facebook from their Harvard dorm. The site is for students with Harvard email addresses only, but by March it has added Stanford, Columbia and Yale. By December Facebook has 1m users.
2005: Facebook raises $12.7m from Accel Partners. It adds high schools and international school networks. By December it has 5.5m users.
2006: Facebook raises $27.5m from Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital Partners and others. Facebook Mobile is launched. By the end of the year it has 12m users.
2007: Facebook opens a virtual gift shop and advertising becomes a growing part of the business. Developers are invited to make applications for the site. In October Microsoft pays $240m for a 1.6% stake in Facebook, valuing the company at $15 billion. Microsoft squeezes out Google to do the deal. User numbers pass 50m.
2008: Facebook passes the 100m mark. It opens Spanish and French sites and a translation service for 21 languages. The US presidential debates are co-sponsored by ABC News and Facebook.
2009: Even Facebook isn’t immune to the stock market rout. Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian group, makes a $200m investment that values the company at $10 billion. However, the number of users continues to soar — to more than 350m by the end of the year — and Facebook makes its first profit.
2010: For the week ending March 13, Hitwise says Facebook.com passed Google.com, making it the biggest draw on the net for the whole week for the first time in its history. The company now accounts for 17% of the time people spend online in Britain and America, according to Nielsen. User numbers have passed 400m. Profits are thought to be $1 billion a year. Speculation mounts that Facebook will start looking to raise more money from a stock market float.
One-third of Brits prefer catching up with family online
Look who’s talking - or not. Nearly a third of Brits use cell phones, e-mail and social networking sites like Facebook to communicate with their loved ones, rather than actually sitting down to converse, according to a study reported in the Daily Mail.
One in five people surveyed say they keep track of their family by checking Facebook and MySpace, and 30% of the participants believe their relatives know more about their life because of social media and digital technology.
The study of 3,000 people, commissioned by the makers of Flip MinoHD camcorder, revealed that the average Brit engages in just six face-to-face conversations with other family members per week.
More than 1 in 10 say they don’t ever have meaningful face-to-face talks with their relatives. They turn to Twitter to talk to family members, leaving an average of two posts weekly for their kin, the study reports. They also make half a dozen phone calls each week to family members to catch up.
"It seems people are now more likely to send an e-mail to a relative filling them in on their daily activities, or even leave a post on their Facebook wall," said Gareth Jones, UK and Ireland region manager for Flip Video at Cisco. "Modern technology has made it easier than ever to keep in touch with our friends and family."
--BY Rosemary Black
The study of 3,000 people, commissioned by the makers of Flip MinoHD camcorder, revealed that the average Brit engages in just six face-to-face conversations with other family members per week.
More than 1 in 10 say they don’t ever have meaningful face-to-face talks with their relatives. They turn to Twitter to talk to family members, leaving an average of two posts weekly for their kin, the study reports. They also make half a dozen phone calls each week to family members to catch up.
"It seems people are now more likely to send an e-mail to a relative filling them in on their daily activities, or even leave a post on their Facebook wall," said Gareth Jones, UK and Ireland region manager for Flip Video at Cisco. "Modern technology has made it easier than ever to keep in touch with our friends and family."
--BY Rosemary Black
Thursday 8 April 2010
Five reasons it all went wrong for Bebo
So, Bebo's up for sale or closure, just two years after its $850m acquisition by AOL. What went wrong?
1. MONEY
It doesn't make any. "Social networking sites all have this problem," says Nate Elliott, principal analyst with Forrester Research. "They cannot figure out how to make money. Even Facebook claims only to break even." Social networking sites encourage users to post images, video, music and more, all of which costs money to host on servers. The hope is that sheer volume of users will prove appealing to advertisers, which has not proved to be the case (see below).
2. USER DISTRIBUTION
On the face of it, Bebo is still a popular site. It is particularly strong in Europe, with over 1 million active users in Ireland and 6 million users in the UK. It has only 10 million users in the United States, however, compared with Facebook's 100 million. This uneven distribution of users makes Bebo's rivals more useful as a way of keeping in touch with people around the world.
3. PARENTAL CONCERN AND USER EXPERIENCE
Bebo was designed to appeal to 13- to 24-year-olds by its founder Michael Birch, which created its own problems. As tales of paedophile internet stalking created panic in the media, parents became reluctant to allow their offspring unfettered access to the site. In addition, one of the most frequent complaints from Bebo users was the amount of dubious spam e-mail and messages they received.
4. ADVERTISING
In common with other social networking sites, Bebo failed to attract advertisers, who are reluctant to associate themselves with user-generated content. Advertisers prefer to pay to create their own microsites to build relationships with their audience, and will look to get the most bang for their buck, which - again - is not available via Bebo, owing to uneven global penetration.
5. IT BELONGS TO 'THE MAN'
Many internet users - particularly those of Bebo age - like to think of themselves as being free of the offline corporate society. Cultivating an independent, free-thinking image is an essential ingredient for internet success, as evidenced by the success of Google and the problems Microsoft has faced in making inroads online. Part of the reason for Facebook's phenomenal success is its perceived independence. When a corporate giant such as AOL takes over, it can, for many users, act as a deterrent, an uncomfortable reminder of the corporate nature of the modern world they are trying to escape online.
--By Nigel Kendall,April 07, 2010
Twitter 'could build its own client'
Fred Wilson, a major investor in Twitter, wrote a blog post that made reference to the demise of General Computer, a company that made hard drives for Apple computers, but which "faded away" when Apple started building hard drives in to its computers.
He said that many developers building third-party clients for Twitter risked falling in to the same trap.
"Much of the early work on the Twitter platform has been filling holes in the Twitter product," he wrote.
"It is the kind of work General Computer was doing...Some of the most popular third-party services on Twitter are like that. Mobile clients come to mind. Photo-sharing services come to mind. URL shorteners come to mind. Search comes to mind. Twitter really should have had all that when it launched, or it should have built those services right in to the Twitter experience."
He said that developers should shift their focus away from building services such as mobile clients and address shorteners, and should instead concentrate on social gaming, enterprise, discovery and analytics.
"That's what I'd like to challenge entrepreneurs and developers out there to focus on," he wrote. "I think the time for filling the holes in the Twitter service has come and gone. It was a great period for Twitter and its third-party developers. I believe we are entering a new phase now.
"[Twitter] is a large company now with the resources to service the ecosystem in ways it never could before...it's time for Twitter and its developer ecosystem to work together to create entirely new things that will shape the internet in the coming years. I'm excited to see it happen."
Wilson has not expanded on the points made in his blog, and has refused to comment on whether Twitter will be introducing its own desktop clients, plugins and services that until now have traditionally been provided by third parties.
But a source close to one third-party developer told Business Insider that Twitter would almost certainly launch some of its own rival products. "Twitter is going to do mobile apps and URLs," the source said. "Bit.ly, TwitPic and Tweetie are now considered 'core' to the platform. They will either be bought or competed with."
Twitter was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
--By Claudine Beaumont, 08 Apr 2010
"Much of the early work on the Twitter platform has been filling holes in the Twitter product," he wrote.
"It is the kind of work General Computer was doing...Some of the most popular third-party services on Twitter are like that. Mobile clients come to mind. Photo-sharing services come to mind. URL shorteners come to mind. Search comes to mind. Twitter really should have had all that when it launched, or it should have built those services right in to the Twitter experience."
He said that developers should shift their focus away from building services such as mobile clients and address shorteners, and should instead concentrate on social gaming, enterprise, discovery and analytics.
"That's what I'd like to challenge entrepreneurs and developers out there to focus on," he wrote. "I think the time for filling the holes in the Twitter service has come and gone. It was a great period for Twitter and its third-party developers. I believe we are entering a new phase now.
"[Twitter] is a large company now with the resources to service the ecosystem in ways it never could before...it's time for Twitter and its developer ecosystem to work together to create entirely new things that will shape the internet in the coming years. I'm excited to see it happen."
Wilson has not expanded on the points made in his blog, and has refused to comment on whether Twitter will be introducing its own desktop clients, plugins and services that until now have traditionally been provided by third parties.
But a source close to one third-party developer told Business Insider that Twitter would almost certainly launch some of its own rival products. "Twitter is going to do mobile apps and URLs," the source said. "Bit.ly, TwitPic and Tweetie are now considered 'core' to the platform. They will either be bought or competed with."
Twitter was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
--By Claudine Beaumont, 08 Apr 2010
Wednesday 7 April 2010
Samsung launching all-in-one PCs
Samsung is launching a new range of all-in-one computers, its first foray in to the desktop computing market. The U250 and U200, which will go on sale in May through PC World, run Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7 Home Premium.
Samsung has not yet announced full pricing details for the two computers, but the U250 is thought to feature a 23in touch-screen monitor which supports full high definition. The U200 will boast a slightly smaller display, and will be HD-ready, capable of playing content at 720p.
The monitors can be wall-mounted or stood on a desktop, and the touch-screen interface is said to be ideally suited to photo-editing, gaming and watching movies.
"I don't think the Samsung touch-screens will be huge, but it will certainly appeal to a section of the market," Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at Gartner told PC Pro. "Desktops have never disappeared, they've just been take over in the mid-price sector by notebooks and netbooks...but it's become one of those devices which are a central part of a multi-PC household."
All-in-one PCs have become increasingly popular in recent years, as manufacturers seek new ways to make the traditional desktop computer smaller and more compact, and better suited to use in a communal family setting.
Samsung has not yet announced full pricing details for the two computers, but the U250 is thought to feature a 23in touch-screen monitor which supports full high definition. The U200 will boast a slightly smaller display, and will be HD-ready, capable of playing content at 720p.
The monitors can be wall-mounted or stood on a desktop, and the touch-screen interface is said to be ideally suited to photo-editing, gaming and watching movies.
"I don't think the Samsung touch-screens will be huge, but it will certainly appeal to a section of the market," Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst at Gartner told PC Pro. "Desktops have never disappeared, they've just been take over in the mid-price sector by notebooks and netbooks...but it's become one of those devices which are a central part of a multi-PC household."
All-in-one PCs have become increasingly popular in recent years, as manufacturers seek new ways to make the traditional desktop computer smaller and more compact, and better suited to use in a communal family setting.
Sunday 4 April 2010
Admit it Facebook, Twitter is cooler
The day Zuckerberg finally granted us access I stayed up all night uploading all my personal information and flicking through photos of everyone I'd ever fancied. It's embarrassing to admit, but that spring day really did have a profound impact on university life. The student newspaper ran a double-page spread on Facebook for three straight weeks and a friend even missed a final-year exam because she was so enthralled.
Then, I checked Facebook every day, probably every hour. Now I only log on once a week to store photos. That makes me a drain on Facebook's profits, as the cost of digital storage is arguably its biggest expense.
Facebook is in danger of dropping out of public consciousness for two reasons. One, the site has annoyed some users by changing its privacy settings for the benefit of advertisers. Two, competition has emerged.
Just as Facebook's arrival ended the ascendancy of MySpace and Bebo, Twitter, the microblogging service, is killing Facebook. I have Twitter on my work PC, my laptop and two mobile phones. I check my Twitterfeed on the bus, at home, on the golf course and in the pub.
While Twitter refuses to divulge how many people have signed up, Biz Stone, its co-founder, said earlier this month that registrations increased by 1,500pc last year and 4bn "Tweets" were posted in the first three months of 2010. Internal documents obtained by TechCrunch show the site is aiming to sign up 1bn users by 2013 when it hopes to be raking in profits of $111m on revenue of $1.54bn (£1.01bn). Twitter will celebrate its seventh birthday in 2013. Facebook, which claims 400m users, turns seven next year.
I believe Mr Zuckerberg may have missed the boat. In 2007, Microsoft bought a 1.6pc stake in Facebook that valued his Harvard dorm-room creation at $15bn. Facebook once was the wunderkind of the tech world, with takeover offers flying in from all sides. But Zuckerberg held out. Last year, Facebook was valued at $10bn when Russia's Digital Sky Technologies bought a near-2pc stake for $200m.
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world's largest advertising group, has questioned whether social networking sites are suitable for advertisers because they are "less commercial phenomena, they are more personal phenomena". Oh, if only Zuckerberg had taken the cash while we all still believed the hype.
--By Rupert Neate
Then, I checked Facebook every day, probably every hour. Now I only log on once a week to store photos. That makes me a drain on Facebook's profits, as the cost of digital storage is arguably its biggest expense.
Facebook is in danger of dropping out of public consciousness for two reasons. One, the site has annoyed some users by changing its privacy settings for the benefit of advertisers. Two, competition has emerged.
Just as Facebook's arrival ended the ascendancy of MySpace and Bebo, Twitter, the microblogging service, is killing Facebook. I have Twitter on my work PC, my laptop and two mobile phones. I check my Twitterfeed on the bus, at home, on the golf course and in the pub.
While Twitter refuses to divulge how many people have signed up, Biz Stone, its co-founder, said earlier this month that registrations increased by 1,500pc last year and 4bn "Tweets" were posted in the first three months of 2010. Internal documents obtained by TechCrunch show the site is aiming to sign up 1bn users by 2013 when it hopes to be raking in profits of $111m on revenue of $1.54bn (£1.01bn). Twitter will celebrate its seventh birthday in 2013. Facebook, which claims 400m users, turns seven next year.
I believe Mr Zuckerberg may have missed the boat. In 2007, Microsoft bought a 1.6pc stake in Facebook that valued his Harvard dorm-room creation at $15bn. Facebook once was the wunderkind of the tech world, with takeover offers flying in from all sides. But Zuckerberg held out. Last year, Facebook was valued at $10bn when Russia's Digital Sky Technologies bought a near-2pc stake for $200m.
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world's largest advertising group, has questioned whether social networking sites are suitable for advertisers because they are "less commercial phenomena, they are more personal phenomena". Oh, if only Zuckerberg had taken the cash while we all still believed the hype.
--By Rupert Neate
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