Category: Tech news

YouTube’s ambitions to challenge cable television head-on are getting a big boost tonight: the world’s largest video site is announcing that it’s lined up a slew of new content partners who will be developing shows for the site, covering everything from sports to comedy to music. The news had been rumored for some time, including a report last week in the WSJ.

In a blog post announcing the news, YouTube says its goal with these channels is to “[give] you more reasons to keep coming back again and again”. The post references the so-called “defining channels” born out of cable, like MTV, ESPN, and CNN, and says that the next generation of these will emerge on YouTube.

These channels will start coming online next month (“continuing over the next year”, so some will take a while), and will be available anywhere YouTube is.

There are some big names on the list. But there are still a lot of questions: Will this content really rival the premium production values seen on cable? Will the shows be exclusive to YouTube? And how exactly is YouTube going to tweak the site’s user experience as it looks to shift users from funny cat videos toward these shows (which advertisers will be able to more effectively monetize)?

Here’s a list of content partners that are part of this announcement:

Electus Channel – Pop Culture (name TBD)
PMC PMC Entertainment News
WWE WWE
Young Hollywood Young Hollywood Network
DanceOn DanceOn (Madonna)
Fine Brothers Films MyMusic
Everyday Health, Inc. Everyday Health TV
TakePart™ TakePart™ TV
Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) Spaces
Uncommon Content Partners The Conversation Channel
Demand Media eHow Home
SB Nation SB Nation
Magical Elves and InStyle magazine Little Black Dress
Hearst Magazines Channel – Fashion & Beauty Channel (name TBD)
Emil Rensing International Channel – Auto (name TBD)
My Damn Channel My Damn Channel: Live
Uncommon Content Partners Taste & Access
Red Bull Media House North America Red Bull
Machinima Machinima
Katalyst Thrash Lab (Ashton Kutcher)
Steve Spangler Science The Spangler Effect
New Nation Networks New Nation Networks
Smart Girls at the Party Smart Girls at the Party (Amy Poehler)
Bedrocket Media Ventures and Full Picture Productions Look TV
BermanBraun theLOGE
The Young Turks Town Square
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc. Vigor
Electus NuevOn – Latin Channel (Sofia Vergara)
Clevver Media ClevverStyle
ModernMom.com ModernMom Channel
Brady Haran DeepSkyVideos
IconicTV 123UnoDosTres
The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal
Pharrell Williams i am OTHER
SoulPancake Productions SoulPancake (Rainn Wilson)
Chopra Media/Generate The Chopra Well (Deepak Chopra)
Clevver Media ClevverNews
The Bowery Presents The Bowery Presents
Clevver Media ClevverTeVe
Seedwell American Hipster
Hearst Magazines Car and Driver Television
Alchemy Networks Alchemy Networks
CafeMom CafeMom Studios
Bedrocket Media Ventures Channel – Comedy (name TBD)
Demand Media LIVESTRONG
Bedrocket Media Ventures Channel – Action Sports (name TBD)
FremantleMedia Channel – Pets & Animal (name TBD)
Big Frame BAM
IconicTV myISH
Electus Channel – Food (name TBD)
Soccer United Marketing & Bedrocket KickTV
Lionsgate Lionsgate Fitness Channel
East of Center Productions LLC YOMYOMF
EQAL u look haute!
Philip Defranco Sourcefed
Meredith Corporation and Meredith Video Studios Digs
Vlogbrothers CrashCourse
Walter Latham Digital Walter Latham’s “Kings of Comedy”
Tony Hawk’s production company, 900 Films, Inc. RIDE Channel
JON M. CHU Channel – Dance (name TBD)
Vuguru & POW! Entertainment Stan Lee’s World of Heroes
FAWN by Michelle Phan Fawn
DECA KinCommunity
Source Interlink Media Motor Trend
The Nerdist Channel The Nerdist Channel
Comedy Shaq Network The Comedy Shaq Network (Shaquille O’Neal)
Demand Media eHow Pets & Animals
Brady Haran numberphile
Cooking Up a Story Food Farmer Earth
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report
TED Conferences TEDEducation
Intelligent Television Intelligent Channel
Pitchfork Pitchfork TV
Vlogbrothers SciShow
EYEBOOGIE POP SPOT
Roadside Entertainment/BAC The NOC
Alli Sports Alli Sports
The Onion Onion Broadcasting Company
VICE VICE
Smosh/Alloy Digital Smosh Animation (name TBD)
VICE Noisey
Knights of Good Productions Geek & Sundry
Mondo Media New Animators
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc. Taste
Varsity Pictures Awesomeness
Black Box TV Black Box TV (Anthony Zuicker, founder of CSI)
IGN Entertainment / Shine Group START
@radical.media Channel – Education (name TBD)
Frederator Networks Channel Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover
monotransistor werevertumorro
Thomson Reuters Reuters.com
Slate Slate News Channel
Maker Studios The Maker Music Network
Maker Studios The Moms’ View
Maker Studios Tutele
Noisey VICE
Iconic Life and Times (Jay-Z)

Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff has a knack for taking what is happening on the consumer web and applying it to business. He even spins #OccupyWallStreet as a something businesses should learn from and emulate. He makes his case in the video above, which I shot yesterday in New York with my iPhone (sorry for the bad lighting). His point is that if protesters can use Twitter and Facebook to #OccupyOakland, why can’t companies use the same social tools to organize themselves and motivate their customers?

“Facebook is really eating the Web,” he says, echoing Marc Andreessen’s notion of software eating the world. Benioff points to the fact that people are spending 4 hours a day on the social network. He mentions Disneyland as an example of a brand using Facebook to engage effectively with people after their visit.

But it’s not just Facebook, it’s Twitter too. Airlines like KLM are using Twitter to manage angry customers and reward loyal ones. Check out the video below to see how far KLM went in one marketing experiment to find passengers checking in on Foursquare or Tweeting about their flight and surprising them with a gift. (Notice also the ancient airplanes in the background. Are those DC-10s?). But at least they are up to date with their social marketing.

Benioff is talking his own game a bit, since he is trying to sell enterprises his own social tools with Chatter. But he does truly believe that if companies are ignoring social they are ignoring their customers. “We see it transforming our society,” he says, “we can use it to make our companies stronger. … This is a social revolution in regards to business.”

There are still a number of pain points with existing web conferencing platforms, including having to install software, complicated pricing plans, poor usability, and cluttered interfaces. LiveMinutes is hoping to disrupt this space with its free, simple document-based web conferencing service.

LiveMinutes free web-conferencing service sits between file sharing and web conferencing. You can upload documents (i.e. PowerPoint presentations etc.), and LiveMinutes will give you a link to share with other participants. Participants can join without downloading any software or signing up.

Meeting leaders can start discussing and annotating around documents, and the service also integrates with Skype. And users can get a downloadable report after every meeting.

LiveMinutes launched in alpha a few weeks ago and has already conducted 10,000 sessions for 2,000 users. For anyone who is frustrated with their current web conferencing service, LiveMinutes is worth a try.

Here’s one to file under “completely unexpected” — remember HP’s long-dead TouchPad? Well, apparently it’s got some life it in yet, as Best Buy will be allowing their customers to purchase a 32GB model for $149 so long as they buy an HP computer at the same time.

The deal starts on November 1, and I suspect Best Buy and HP will be hyping it like crazy next week. This whole thing begs a far bigger question though: where the hell are these things coming from?

It’s been a few months since the TouchPad Fire Sale of 2011, so shouldn’t supply channels have dried up already? Even HP’s own employees had to go through the wringer to get their hands on one, and now they’re back in circulation? As it turns out, these leftover TouchPads may be the result of a last minute production run meant to clear supply channels out of end-of-life components. Estimates put the number of TouchPads ready to sell at between 100,000 and 200,000, but it’s unknown whether or not Best Buy will be getting all of them.

I get that it’s probably part of some pre-holiday promotion to drive computer sales, but the whole thing just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I can’t really blame HP and Best Buy for trying to make a few bucks off of a loss leader like the TouchPad, but it seems unfair considering some early bargain-hunters had their orders abruptly cancelled.

For those of you thinking of jumping on the deal and returning the computer later, be warned that your mileage may vary. While I’m sure some stores won’t have any problem tweaking your transaction, others are likely to shut you down as soon as you walk up to customer service.

You wouldn’t expect an event like FPDI, the Flat Panel Display International Exhibition, to be much more than a dry little gathering of circuit benders and substrate wranglers. And that’s kind of what it is. But you would do well to remember that these pixel jockeys are putting together the screens that make things like the iPhone 4 possible. And this year’s expo looks like a bumper crop of technology we’ll be seeing in devices soon.

Tech-On, as usual, is covering the event with gusto, if you want to get this straight from the source. But I’ve highlighted the items most worth paying attention to below. If you like pixels, inquire within.

“Invisible glass”

Yes, you say, glass is already transparent. But if any of our readers are on Apple laptops, they know the sorrow of a highly-reflective display. Ever since laptop makers have gone over to glass (with its superior transmissive qualities), we’ve been plagued by the reflections of lights, windows, and our own hideous faces. Nippon Electric Glass Co (great band name) has produced a solution.

The glass on the left is normal LCD substrate glass, which they say allows 92% of light to pass through, while reflecting around 8%. The glass on the right, which is enhanced with a special anti-reflection film (30 coats of a nanometer-scale thickness on each side), allows 99.5% of light to go through, reflecting only 0.5%. As Tech-On puts it from their first-hand experience, “When I stood in front of the glass substrate, it was difficult to recognize the existence of the substrate. Many other visitors were gazing at the invisible glass with surprised looks on their faces.”

If the increase in thickness isn’t too much and there are no hidden optical effects, this could be a huge improvement for our portable displays.

Flexible E-paper with integrated battery and photovoltaic cells

One of the big draws of e-paper-based e-readers is their long battery life. With moderate use, you might only have to plug in your Kindle once every few weeks. But what if all you had to do was turn it over when you were done and let the sun charge it?

AU Optronics has a prototype that’s different from existing devices in several ways. First of all, it’s flexible — and while we’ve seen flexible devices, few are this thin or simple. Basically it’s just a screen controller, display, and a bunch of photovoltaic cells, and it’s just over a tenth of a millimeter thick. Next, it works without an external power source. That is, like one of those solar-powered calculators we all had, it can function by sunlight alone, which provides the few hundred mW necessary to drive the screen. You’d have to hold it up to the sun to turn the page, though, which might be a little awkward.

At the show, it sat on a rechargeable battery because artificial light isn’t enough to power it. So it’s not like this device is going straight into stores. But it’s a great concept nonetheless.

High-res tablet displays from Samsung

I keep going on about the iPad 3, which I think will have a high-res display — 2048×1536 to be exact. There are naysayers, but I continue to trumpet this idea because I desperately want it to be true. And Samsung is one of the display manufacturers making it happen. But until recently, we’ve mainly seen only non-standard displays approaching that resolution. Small, high-res displays for medical electronics, or Pentile-based displays that won’t have the same brightness or image quality as a traditional 3- or 4-subpixel LCD. But this year at FPDI they’re showing off the real thing.

This 10.1″ display has a resolution of 2560×1600, which is exactly four times as many pixels as today’s “HD” screens, which are for the most part at 1280×800. Unfortunately, they couldn’t even get a perfect panel put together for the exhibition, and you can see the flaws in the display (vertical lines). This means it’s not ready for manufacture, though they’re confident enough to show it in public.

They do show off another display with the same nominal resolution but a lower sub-pixel count – a Pentile display that they say produces a higher effective resolution at the same power cost as lower-power displays. Good for them, but I’m holding out for the tried-and-true method.

MEMS-based transmissive/reflective display

Yesterday I wrote about a new display technology being researched in Taiwan that used micro-electricomechanical systems (MEMS), re-orienting silver-coated zircon crystals to control the wavelength of light reflected. That one wasn’t ready for prime time, though it’s fundamentally different from existing displays — even this new MEMS-based one from Pixtronix.

It’s reminiscent of Pixel Qi’s displays, but I’m actually not sure what the method is that company uses. In this case, MEMS control both luminance and color, and when ambient light is high enough, the backlight can be shut off completely and the screen will work like an e-paper one.

Continuing coverage can be found at Tech-On, which has done all the reporting and images found in this post. I’m only here to point you in their direction.

Perhaps realizing that re-selling other people’s boxed games wasn’t exactly a sustainable business model, GameStop decided a few months back that it was going to try selling devices as well. The iPhone and iPad can be bought there, and your games can be traded in credit for them as well. But what have they been missing, and what have their customers undoubtedly been clamoring for? Android tablets!

Shortly after they announced they’d be inviting Apple into their stores, they announced that they were working with a device maker to bring a GameStop-branded Android tablet out as well. Hardcore gamers trembled with delight. And now their day has come!

All right, I kid. People aren’t actually very excited about this kind of thing. In fact, as one commenter succinctly put it in September, “there’s 2 things that gamers hate the most: tablet games, and gamestop.” And it’s true. The gaming chain has a history of enraging gamers with poor customer service, shady business practices, and generally just not being as good as Steam.

Back in September, GameStop said “We definitely have selected [a tablet manufacturer].” As it turns out, they’ve selected three, if the WSJ’s sources are to be trusted. The “specialized” tablets will be by Asus, Acer, and Samsung. How specialized can they really be if three competing companies are making them? They’ll sell at full price in-store with a set of seven free games, the quality of which I question (Android games haven’t impressed me thus far). Though they do have out of the box support GameStop’s new controller for tablets… which you have to buy separately.

The people who buy Android tablets aren’t gaming fans, they’re Android fans. And the people who go into GameStop aren’t Android fans, they’re gaming fans. And furthermore, they’re not going to buy a tablet at GameStop because they know they can buy it for $100 less on Amazon or Best Buy. And they’re not going to buy it at GameStop because they don’t go to GameStop to spend $500 on a tablet. For that money they could buy a 360, a PS3, and a Wii (check!), with money left for a game or two.

Luckily they’re only rolling this new feature out to a few of their thousands of stores. Unless one of those pilot stores is by you, I don’t think you’ll get the chance to pick up that Galaxy Tab gaming rig you’ve been panting over.

Social and mobile game developer 6waves Lolapps has acquired Beijing-based social gaming company Smartron5. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Smartron5, which is backed by Origo Partners, has been developing social games with deeper game play experiences for Asian and international social networks. Smartron5’s CEO, Gage Galinger will become 6waves Lolapps’ Vice President of Content Development and will head up operations for the company in China.

Galinger previously held gaming positions at Electronic Arts, Enorbus, Microsoft and Blizzard. The Smartron5 team will focused on product development for the local social and mobile market. Around fifty percent of Smartron5′s focus will be on mobile development

The acquisition expands 6waves Lolapps’ presence in the Asian market, adding to its existing Hong Kong and Tokyo offices. The gaming company now has more than 75 employees in Asia, with more than 170 employees worldwide.

As Lolapps CEO Arjun Sethi explained, “Having a presence in China is important to us, especially in developing high-quality, localized games.”

“The Asian market is complex and the Smartron5 team brings western-production values with a deep understanding of how to be successful in China,” said Rex NG, CEO of 6waves Lolapps. “This addition to our team is key to our globalization strategy and will benefit our own game development efforts as well as those of our publishing partners.”

Lolapps and 6Waves merged earlier this year to create a larger network of social gaming applications on Facebook and the web. Lolapps also recently acquired a Flash games creation engine from Sean Cooper Games and hired its creator. And 6Waves Lolapps launched a new $10 million fund to invest in mobile and social game developers.

Editor’s note: Guest contributor Peter D’Amato was recently laid off as a copywriter at daily deals site BuyWithMe, which cut half its staff and is trying to sell itself to Gilt Groupe.  Below is his account of that day.

October 19 was a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and the remaining employees of BuyWithMe poured out cups of whiskey and wine from bottles purchased by the CEO. An untouched bottle of Prosecco sat ignored on another table. The mood was gloomy. The group had already torn through the half dozen boxes of pizza that had been ordered—it had maybe been enough pizza for the fraction of the company that would still be employed at the end of the day, but it was uncomfortably clear that it had not been ordered to feed all of the more than 200 employees waiting to find out if they were being terminated due to BuyWithMe’s failure to “identify sufficient funding to sustain [its] business current employment levels” (as my termination letter so ungrammatically put it).

The suspense on the day of the layoffs was a continuation of a pattern at BuyWithMe. Employees were often kept in the dark about changes affecting the entire livelihood of the company. Most assumed the company was healthy. In September, our new Chief Marketing Officer was talking about Superbowl ads, and shares in the company were meted out to employees. Just three weeks ago, a new copywriter was hired, leaving a job in publishing. Though there were signs that BuyWithMe was not as competitive in the group-buying “deal space” as it would have liked, the company emphasized that it maintained a strong position—claiming the number three position behind Groupon and LivingSocial.

But the scale tipped suddenly two Mondays ago. An email, accidentally delivered to a team of developers instead of the executive team, leaked a spreadsheet with names, titles, and proposed termination dates, as well as individual salaries, of a large number of employees within the company. Rumors gathered momentum in between the leak and the announcement of layoffs, but the company waited an entire day to say anything officially.

The meeting finally took place Tuesday evening, and confirmed that the company lacked the capital to continue paying its staff. Layoffs would be necessary, so the wave of hiring that had brought in new personnel only weeks before was reversed. Terminated employees would not receive severance. During the meeting, an employee asked whether the person responsible for the leaked spreadsheet would be held accountable for the release of sensitive information, but this was answered with a vague “no” (as of Wednesday afternoon, the employee in question was still employed at the company).

I waited until noon the next day to learn that my copywriter position was identified in the layoffs. My department was halved, while others were eliminated almost entirely. There was no advanced notice given—terminations were effective end of day—so most of those fired said their goodbyes and walked. The company stated that it would retain 85 employees, but many employees spared the termination resigned. Email accounts were deactivated almost immediately, security cards were collected, and the remaining members of the sales team quickly returned to the floor to contact merchants.

BuyWithMe was and still is a young company. Most copywriters, developers, account managers and sales managers were in their twenties, and for many this was their first job out of college. After a few months of working there, many felt the company failed to deliver on its promise to bridge the connection between small businesses and area customers. Up until the end, the company asserted that BuyWithMe took business from the old guard of traditional media, that we in fact nurtured small businesses better than competitors. But as one account manager put it to me: “We say it’s going to bring in new customers but a lot of the time people want to come in once. And the merchants say, ‘No one’s come back,’ or ‘We didn’t make any money.’ They don’t make any money.”

A few employees felt guilty about their job, one remarked that after the layoff, they wanted to “do something that will benefit other people.” While the company blamed a capital market that had “dried up” for the layoffs, many within the company complained about the aggressive acquisitions made – an old message written on a dry-erase board that read, “You don’t buy Edhance, Edhance buys you,” took on a menacing tone.

Staff reductions is keeping the ship from sinking completely, but the company recently announced there was only enough capital to continue running through October, after which, the remaining staff would be let go and the company shuttered. Gilt is supposedly interested in the company, but no agreement has of yet been reached. Gilt, which owns the upscale deals site Gilt City was rumored to be interested in purchasing BuyWithMe before the layoffs, but those earlier rumblings failed to materialize.  Now it looks like the layoffs may in fact have been in preparation for that sale. It will be interesting to see what treasure Gilt will be able to pull from the wreckage.

Photo credit: Flickr/coconino

Netflix is not only in the movie business, it is also turning into this year’s biggest corporate horror story. Having increased its price by 60% earlier this summer, Netflix has lost 800,000 customers and $12 billion in 90 days – including $2.3 billion in one day earlier this week. So should we feel sorry for founder and CEO Reed Hastings, whose has gone from Silicon Valley hero to corporate goat in just a nightmarish three months?

No, we shouldn’t. According to John Tschohl, the so-called “guru of customer service”, Hastings deserves all the ridicule and criticism that he is now getting. As Tschohl told me when I caught up with him on Skype, Hastings has behaved with supreme arrogance and disregard for the customer. Indeed, Tschohl is so horrified with Hastings’ continued failure to forget the voice of the customer, that he is predicting Netflix will lose another million subscribers and their stock will plummet from its current $83 down to $50.

So what should Netflix have done in response to its big mistake earlier this summer? Tschohl offers four words for responding to crisis in today’s real-time customer-centric economy: Speed, Responsibility, Empowerment, Compensation. He may well be right. Anyone who runs a company needs to learn from the Netflix horror movie. After all, its sequel could easily star you and your company.

Beluga, the slick group messaging app that Facebook acquired back in March, is shutting down. In a post on Beluga’s blog, the company’s original team of three writes that, beginning November 11, you’ll no longer be able to send messages (though you’ll still be able to access old messages until December 15, at which point they’ll all be deleted).

If you’d like to download all of your pods before they get harpooned, you can grab an archive of your account using this tool.

The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Facebook launched a standalone Messenger app in August that included much of the functionality of Beluga (in fact, it was built by the same team), and at the time it said it wasn’t clear what Beglua’s future was. Which didn’t exactly bode well for the service.

Beluga first launched in December 2010, created by ex-Googlers Lucy Zhang, Ben Davenport, and Jon Perlow.

From the company blog post:

We’re excited to announce that we just launched the Facebook Messenger app worldwide in 22 languages! If you haven’t used it yet, we hope you’ll give Messenger a try — it has all the great features of Beluga, and it’s available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry.

…

We’d like to thank you all for being such enthusiastic and loyal users. We’ll continue to use your feedback to improve Messenger and make messaging your friends easier, faster and more fun.

After Netflix signed a deal with The CW Television Network, Hulu is the next online movie platform to announce an agreement with the network. Hulu has just announced a five-year licensing agreement with the CW Network, which is owned by CBS and Warner Brothers, for the rights to stream in-season episodes of The CW’s programming on Hulu Plus’ subscription service and the platform’s free, ad-supported service. Here’s Hulu’s blog post announcing the deal.

The content will be available later this year. Programming includes nine series on The CW’s Fall 2011 schedule, including new series “Ringer,” “Hart of Dixie” and “The Secret Circle,” as well as “The Vampire Diaries,” “Gossip Girl,” “Supernatural,” “Nikita,” “90210” and “America’s Next Top Model.” Hulu says this deal makes it the only online subscription service to carry in-season episodes of The CW’s drama and reality series.

“The CW programming is a great example of the kind of in-season content we want to make available on our service – high-quality, engaging, serialized shows that fans passionately love,” said Andy Forssell, SVP of Content for Hulu. “Making these shows available on Hulu and Hulu Plus will allow new and existing fans to get their fix of The CW’s great shows anytime and anywhere.”

The five most recent episodes of each show will be available to Hulu Plus subscribers the next day after broadcast. Users of the freeservice will be able to watch five episodes of current season programming eight days after airing on The CW.

“Our new arrangement with Hulu only affirms the incredible value of The CW’s series, as well as amplifying the immense power of the broadcast network model,” said Mark Pedowitz, President, The CW. “As we increase the amount of year round original programming on The CW, this deal provides our shows with greater exposure on a new platform, helping build even more awareness that will drive viewers back to the network and its affiliates. We see this as a win for everyone involved, the network, the stations, Hulu and ultimately, the viewers.”

Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that Netflix, Warner Brothers and CBS announced a $1 billion deal that gave the streaming media company the rights to stream CW shows for the next eight years.

Hulu adds that with this deal, the platform will offer current season episodes from 5 of the 6 broadcast networks (ABC, The CW, FOX, NBC, and Univision) before the end of the year. Hulu just announced the Univision deal a few weeks ago. Other content providers include A&E, Bravo, Comedy Central, E Entertainment, FX, History, MTV, Spike and USA network.

Hulu was reportedly shopping itself around for an acquisition, and got offers from Google, Dish Networks, and Amazon.

Since last spring we’ve been tracking the progress of Socialcam, the ‘Instagram for Video’ that spun off from Justin.tv. The app, which is available for iOS and Android, hit the 2 million download milestone at the beginning of the month, and to mark the occasion it launched a new feature that made the ‘Instagram’ comparison even more apt: filters. Yes, you can now overlay your videos with an array of effects (the top two are 70′s and Electronica).

As it turns out, people really like filters on their videos. A lot. Socialcam CEO Michael Seibel tells me that in the two weeks since launching filters, Socialcam had 350,000 downloads, an 84% increase in daily app opens, 69% increase in daily video viewers, and 50% boost in video creation (that’s huge). And there’s little question that filters were a huge driver of this: 45% of videos currently being shared on Socialcam are using them.

Seibel says that filters have been a huge success for Socialcam because it makes it easier for users to feel like they’ve filmed something worth sharing. Photo filters (e.g. on Instagram) accomplish the same thing, where filters turn the mundane into something vaguely artsy, or even cool. And Seibel thinks this trend is magnified with video.

Oh, and he also noted the biggest new use case for Socialcam: the folks at Occupy Wall Street.

Mobile app monetization and distribution network W3i is announcing the results of its tests to determine whether or not an iPhone’s MAC address can serve as a replacement to the UDID (the unique device identifier), which Apple is phasing out as a way for developers to track an app’s users.

According to W3i, developers can and should begin tracking the iPhone’s MAC address as a UDID alternative, as it has successfully seen Apple approve its own application where this is the case. Unfortunately, this advice is arguably premature. Apple may let slip a single app, but if a large number of iOS developers began doing the same (tracking the MAC addresses, that is), Apple may certainly change its position on the matter.

For background, in August, Erick reported how Apple sneaked a major change into iOS5: it was deprecating developer access to the UDID. The UDID, an alphanumeric string unique to each Apple device, has been used by mobile ad networks, game networks, analytics providers, developers and app testing systems like TestFlight. In some cases, developers used the UDID to verify whether users were accessing their app from a new device or as a way to track users across apps.

Since that change was revealed, companies have been scrambling to come up with workarounds. OpenFeint announced its UDID replacement OFUID. AppsFire proposed an open source solution called OpenUDID. And now W3i is suggesting developers use the iPhone’s MAC address – specifically the MAC address of the device’s Wi-Fi network interface.

The MAC address, also a unique identifier, is used for communications on a physical network segment. What W3i wanted to determine was whether or not that address could be reliably captured across multiple device types and with different configurations (e.g., airplane mode, Wi-Fi off or on, not in range, etc.)

Using its proprietary app, AppAllStar, which was submitted and approved on October 5th, W3i collected 78,662 MAC addresses from 10/5 to 10/22, representing 100% of the installs across iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices. The app was also resubmitted during that time (on Oct. 1oth) to correct some non-test related errors. In both cases, the company says it placed the code at a very high level while also naming the classes appropriately.

W3i, however, did find that 33 devices had a duplicated MAC address, which W3i thinks may indicate either jailbroken or knock-off devices. A subset of those had spoofed UDIDs as well. The data on where the duplicates were located is interesting. China and the Netherlands each had 9 duplicates, Italy had 5, Spain 3, Saudi Arabia 2, and Singapore, the U.S., Australia, Czech Republic and India each had 1.

Based on these findings, W3i is now recommending that developers begin collecting and storing Wi-Fi MAC addresses with the associated UDID and modify the application logic to use both UDID and the Wi-Fi MAC address.

Of course, all this advice may be worthless in the long run. A test involving a single application is by no means definitive proof that this is something Apple would allow on a larger scale. After all, considering that the removal of developer access to the UDID was intended to better respect user privacy, simply allowing developers to switch to a second unique ID would violate the spirit of Apple’s decision, if not the actual terms.

The first thing you’ll notice about Vivo’s Barefoot Ultra running shoes is the perforated upper. It’s made of molded ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), a soft and flexible material that’s resistant to both the abuses of running and potential damage from the elements.

But the shoes really stand out thanks to their resemblance to one of the last decade’s greatest eyesores: Crocs. Unlike Crocs, however, these can be worn in public without embarrassment or shame.

The Vivo Barefoot Ultras are true minimalist running shoes. They aim to give you an experience that’s as close as possible to running in bare feet. There are other shoes feeding this craze, like Vibram’s famous FiveFingers toe-shoes and Merrell’s Barefoot runners. As any fan of barefoot running knows, some of the design choices made by these shoe manufacturers are dubious, as they apply radical technologies and materials in their attempt to lighten the load or arrive at their minimalist goals.

But Vivo’s Croc-like vibe has a great advantage — the hexagonal, honeycomb-shaped perforations allow the shoe to drain instantly in wet conditions, making them practically amphibious.

The sole has the same honeycomb design, but in the form of nubs that provide traction. Keeping with the theme, the interior liner snaps into the heel with a honeycomb-shaped tab.

The shoes can be worn three ways: The upper and plug-in tongue can be worn with socks like a traditional running shoe, the removable liner can be used in place of socks for a “barefoot” run, or the cage-like upper can be worn on its own.

The last scenario is most useful on the beach — when I competed in the Big Kahuna triathlon in Santa Cruz, California, I debated leaving the uppers at the swim finish so I could use them to run to the transition area a quarter of a mile away.

No matter which configuration you choose, they’re astonishingly light. With the upper and liner assembled, the shoe weighs only four and a half ounces (the uppers alone weigh about three ounces) in a women’s size 8.5.

The 6mm sole provides zero drop, meaning you’ll experience that heavy feeling of landing flat-footed while you’re adjusting from regular running shoes or a transitional pair. The sock liner — a combination of nylon, airprene and neoprene — is about 2mm thick. Combined with the EVA cage, this provides a more comfortable sole than other minimal shoes, where every pebble is felt in a The Princess and the Pea sort of way. The Vivos have what could be described as a slightly springy feel, which I happened to like, but I realize the purists of the barefoot running community may not appreciate it.

I have narrow feet, and the upper has a rather wide cut, so adding the liners gave a nice, snug feeling to the fit. But the liner also caused my feet to get unpleasantly hot while running. One of the big reasons they typically make wetsuits out of neoprene is because it retains body heat in cold salt water. As to whether you’d prefer the extra insulation or not, that’s a matter of individual preference. And luckily, the shoe is configurable enough that you can swap out the liner for something better suited to your running conditions. But if you like the liners, you may want to stock up on your anti-fungal cream.

Both the men’s and women’s versions of the Vivo Barefoot Ultras come in five different color choices. Alas, mine are white, so they have been retired until next Memorial Day.

WIRED Amphibious, lightweight and comfortable. Vegan. Configurable design matches multiple running styles. 6mm-thick, zero-drop sole gives a barefoot feel with a slight spring to each step. Great for the beach. Adjustable locking cord system replaces traditional laces (for the better). The company says its polymer-heavy shoes are produced sustainably and ethically, from locally sourced materials.

TIRED Liners trap heat in and don’t breathe well. Like other barely-there shoes, sizing is fickle. They look like Crocs — there’s no nice way to say this.

Photo by Sara Peschel/Wired

I arrived for my first visit to San Francisco with the idea of getting myself a bike to explore the city. Voilà — one chat with the product reviews editor later, and my butt’s planted on the mighty comfy Urbana.

I live in Shanghai, where cycling is a way of life, and I’m Italian, so cycling is in my blood. My background is mostly in mountain biking, so I’m used to fat tires and fat frames. But not, I’ll admit, on a commuter bike.

The Urbana is as beefy and sturdy as a football player. It’s got a step-through frame and lacks a horizontal top tube, à la “a girl’s bike” — friendlier to the women of yesteryear who rode bikes in their long and ample skirts. The lack of rigidity that comes with this age-old design is mitigated here. The big tubes and quality welds keep the ride steady and comfortable. At the bottom of the “U” shape are two reinforcement plates. They’re welded to the sides of the tubes where they act to reduce stress on the frame and stiffen things up around the bottom bracket.

The Urbana is spec’d for year-round versatility: disc brakes, fender eyelets, custom-made fat tires, a rear rack for panniers or cargo baskets, and a low-maintenance and clean Gates belt drive attached to a Shimano Nexus 8-speed internally geared hub. Even with all the hardware, it doesn’t lose that je ne sais quoi, that (dare I say European?) grace that makes it look OK even when the rider is a gentle, middle-aged worker bee.

To put it another way, even with the beefiness, the Urbana is not the most masculine bike around. But even if the design doesn’t scream “kick ass,” the ride quality is still excellent. The low-pressure, 2.6-inch semi-slick Sidewalk “Nid de poule” tires digest knee-deep potholes, torn-up bike lanes, construction zones and curbs without worry. They also have some extra reinforcement, with an anti-flat layer under the tread and two layers of rubber around the sidewalls. These are custom tires, and every Urbana ships with them.

Something about the bike compels people to ask, “And how much would this cost?” The usual answer, upon hearing that it sports a hefty $1,800 price tag, is: “Woah! That thing?” We’re conditioned to think of fancy racing bikes costing that much, but not commuters. Still, it’s unfair to dismiss the Urbana on pricing. It’s not a toy; it’s a quality ride, and quality isn’t cheap.

As the doorman in my building said: “It doesn’t look fast.” And it doesn’t, I’ll give him that. Much like a longboard or a low rider, it’s built for comfort, cruising and coasting, not for moving you between here and there as fast as possible.

The vertical riding position (especially for yours truly, whose small frame had me positioning the seat post only a tiny bit out of the seat tube) doesn’t help in the speed department. You catch wind like a spinnaker. But the weight of the frame and the mass of the wheels affords one very pleasant consequence: lots of momentum.

Another feature that’s positively surprising for this bike is the silence of its ride. Nothing rattles or crunches. The addition of the carbon belt drive in lieu of a chain contributes to the machine’s stealthiness. Our tester didn’t have the newer Gates CenterTrack system, but Urbana offers that as an option.

Something to note about the drivetrain: The rear dropout system is removable and different modules can be swapped in, so you can fit it with a single-speed freewheel, a cassette and derailleur, other internal gear hubs (even a NuVinci), or other belt drives without altering the frame. If your dropout of choice gets chewed up, you can plop in a new one without altering the frame.

I rode the bike to work every day for about two and a half weeks, and I was very pleased with the sturdiness and comfort. But I had to pull it up a short flight of stairs every day, and given the bulk and weight, that was something I definitely didn’t look forward to.

Sure, it took a bit of swearing to get the Urbana moving when the light turned green at intersections, but once I reached cruising speed, “fuel consumption” felt comparatively lessened. The disc brakes were super-responsive, and the 8-speed hub made the infamously hilly San Francisco if not pleasant, at least negotiable.

According to the company’s website, to build an Urbana, you “take a little bit of Amsterdam and add some North Shore.” That’s pretty accurate. It’s a great utility bike and it’s laid back. But considering the look of the thing, I’d add a pinch of “Los Angeles soccer mom” to the mix.

WIRED Comfortable, sturdy ride. Commuter-friendly trim. There’s one frame size, but with enough adjustability to fit most riders. RNR rack holds 120 pounds and handles a variety of bags. Choose one of 12 colors, from stately black to bright orange and acid green.

TIRED Heavy (just under 40 pounds). Pricey ($1,800 as tested). Goofy looking. Extra-wide, 2.6-inch tires offer too much rolling resistance and don’t always fit into bike racks. No built-in lights; you have to provide your own.