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Report: Apple To Announce The iPad 3 The First Week Of March

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Shocking news of the day: Apple is preparing to announce the iPad 3. Crazy news, I know. That announcement, if AllThingsD is to be believed, should come in the first week of March. The next-gen tablet itself is reportedly an upgraded version of the iPad 2, featuring a dual-core CPU and a higher-resolution display. But then again, that’s to be expected. Of course the iPad 3 will have better specs than the year-old iPad 2.

Apple announced the iPad 2 in the same timeframe last year. Steve Jobs made a surprise return from medical leave to deliver the announcement. It was sadly the last Jobsnote. There’s no word who will take the stage and announce the iPad 3, though.

If this rumor doesn’t pan out, it’s still a safe bet that the iPad 3 announcement is right around the corner. Apple generally sends invites out two weeks in advance so the announcement could still happen this month.

Nueva versión de vyou, el sistema de preguntas y respuestas a través de vídeos

2012-02-09T14:06:00Z

Muchas veces es más fácil responder algunas preguntas grabando un breve vídeo que escribiendo un texto, algo que los fundadores de vyou.com tuvieron bien claro cuando lanzaron el sistema hace ya más de un año.

Ahora nos anuncian una nueva versión que permite tener más control sobre las preguntas que nos realizan, así como la posibilidad de aprovechar cuestiones de otros usuarios, usando el contenido ya publicado en la plataforma.

Podemos navegar entre perfiles y realizar preguntas de todo tipo, siendo un buen lugar para encontrar expertos sobre diversos asuntos o para realizar entrevistas.

La página del perfil se ha renovado completamente, teniendo un sistema de estadísticas para ver el número de visitas de nuestras respuestas y las preguntas pendientes en nuestra cuenta.

Podéis probarlo visitando mi perfil en vyou.com/diegopolo

Patrocina WWWhatsnew: Vuelos Baratos

Hospedado en RedCoruna

Waze Lets You Report Traffic With A Wave Of Your Hand

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

If you’re one of the 12 million drivers who use real-time traffic data from Waze, there’s a drawback — the smartphone app depends on users to collect traffic data, but if a driver is stuck in traffic or spots an accident, that’s exactly when they shouldn’t be fiddling with their phone. That’s why the Kleiner Perkins-backed startup developed a new voice interface, which it’s launching today.

Michal Habdank-Kolaczkowski, the company’s director of communications, recently demonstrated the new controls for me. The demo took place in the TechCrunch office, rather than a moving car, but I still think Waze has come up with a pretty elegant solution. Habdank-Kolaczkowski showed off reporting traffic to Waze with just a couple of voice commands — “report traffic”, then, when prompted to choose from different traffic levels, he said, “moderate.”

And when Waze team members say the experience is “hands free,” they mean it. To activate voice control, Habdank-Kolaczkowski didn’t have to touch his phone at all. He just waved his hand in front of the device, a gesture that was detected by the iPhone proximity sensor. (So, okay, technically, you’re using your hand, but in a natural way that shouldn’t interfere with your driving.) You’ll need to have the Waze app on for this to work, but that’s normal procedure anyway — drivers are supposed to leave the app on during the commute, so that’s it’s automatically gathering traffic data as they drive.

Waze VP Community Geographer DiAnn Eisnor says Waze already prevents users from typing when they’re driving and the app is open. Voice controls were an obvious next step, and for a while, the company was hoping that Apple would make Siri voice commands available to third-party app developers. Eisnor said she’s still hopeful, and when if it happens, Waze will happily jump on-board. In the meantime, the company moved forward on its own, building the new interface using open source voice technology.

For now, the voice commands are iPhone-only, and they’re limited to a few key use cases — reporting traffic and asking for directions home or to the office. Eisnor said Waze plans to expand the app’s vocabulary over time, and also bring voice commands to its Android app.

Socialbakers Brings Its Leading European Social Analytics Platform To The U.S.

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

With more companies vying for the attention of customers on social media channels, content producers, marketers and more are always looking for ways to better track the engagement and reach of their social media footprints — across the globe. Socialbakers, a young startup founded in 2009 has emerged as one of the leading social analytics platforms in Europe. Since raising $2 million in September from Earlybird Capital Ventures and breaking into the black, the startup has turned its sights to the U.S., becoming the exclusive analytics partner with Facebook and others to provide social media analytics throughout the presidential campaign.

The company is now officially getting serious about securing a foothold in the states, as it today announced the launch of its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco. To support its arrival on American soil, Socialbakers is also announced a new U.S. leadership team to be based in the Bay Area, which includes veteran technology executive Martin Huml as President and COO and Katrina Wong as VP of Marketing.

Huml, who will lead U.S. operations, has previously served as the company’s chairman, and founded a company which became an exclusive distributor for Apple in central and eastern Europe. He also formerly worked at Credit Suisse before founding San Francisco-based investment consulting firm, Runway Capital. Katrina Wong, who will lead the company’s go-to-market strategy, previously led corporate marketing at Zuora, and worked in marketing at both SAP and Salesforce.com.

The team plans to build on the traction of its social monitoring platform in Europe, which includes a roster of more than 750 customers and 275,000 registered marketing users (with companies like Danone, Vodafone, Samsung, Lufthansa And Peugoet licensing the premium version of its service), on top of the 60 U.S. brands already using its technology.

So what does the company do, exactly? Socialbakers’ analytics platform measures the effectiveness of social marketing campaigns across the major social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+ through its two flagship products. The first, called “Engagement Analytics,” enables statistical analysis of Facebook worldwide, including Facebook Pages, Places, Facebook apps, developers on Facebook, as well as advertising prices. “Engagement Builder,” by contrast offers benchmarking, competitive reporting, and integrated workflow functionality to enable businesses to track a variety of social media metrics.

Jan Rezab, Socialbakers CEO, tells us that he’s seen a surprising amount of SMBs failing to integrate competitive benchmarking and intelligence into their social media strategies, opting to simply tap into certain streams to monitor keywords. While it’s easy for companies today to hook into a search stream and look at individual profiles themselves, the key is obviously to build a robust set of metrics around those profiles and streams. Volume matters, as he says that companies can no longer assume that their users will engage with their Twitter or Facebook content.

By showing companies what works through an “Engagement Rate,” which not only tracks the low-hanging fruit like the number of fans and likes, but the number of comments, the type of engagement, how many people are picking up particular posts, how they’re sharing it, which pieces of content are going viral — and perhaps most importantly — how these engagement metrics compare to that of their competitors.

Much of the data on the platform Socialbakers offers for free (as most of it is public data that is openly available, just poorly aggregated), a resource used increasingly by marketers. Of course, the company also offers a set of “pro” SaaS tools, for which companies pay between $100 and $1,000 per month depending on the number of fans their pages have attracted.

The team believes that the U.S. is home to a fragmented analytics market, and by quickly scaling its platform over the course of the next year, it can become a player in the space. The CEO said that it plans to double the size of its U.S.-based team over the next two months, in addition to growing the international team to more than 100 employees.

“We want to help all the companies using Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and YouTube, get out of the dark,” the CEO said. While that’s no easy feat, we could definitely use a bigger lightbulb.

For more, check out the company at home here.

Meundies Wants To Send You A New Pair Of Underwear Every Month

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

In the same space as other “get random stuff sent to you” startups (but especially Manpacks) Meundies launches today to bring users high quality underwear choices in a month to month subscription model.

The Meundies onboarding process basically functions like that of Stylemint, where users select the styles and colors they like and the startup provides them with personalized choices, for $16 a month per item in addition to free shipping and returns. Members have the option of skipping a month or putting their membership on pause during the first five days of each month. Members can also cancel their membership at any time without penalty. Yay!

Meundies co-founders Barak Diskin and Jonathan Shokrian view Meundies as a true eCommerce service — cutting out retail middlemen and brand licensing fees in order to save their customers money on basics. According to Diskin, Meundies are 30% cheaper than comparable brands, starting at $16 for a Meundies-branded pair of underwear versus $26 for brands like Calvin Klein or Cosabella.

As part of the Meundies schtick, the company guarantees that their product is the “most comfortable underwear ever”, and it takes great lengths to personally gauge quality control in the American and Turkish factories where it manufactures its product, establish relationships with manufacturers and communicate with customers directly through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest in order to pinpoint exactly what they want.

“It’s a headache to shop in stores for items you aren’t allowed to try on or don’t need to try on because you already know your size,” says Diskin, “We’ve created a membership program for replenishment items like underwear and socks so that you can have them delivered to your door monthly, quarterly, or whenever you want rather than having to run to the store once there are holes in them.”

The founders view their market as $5 billion in universal underwear spend for men and $15 billion for women and only see those numbers as increasing as their scope expands.

Diskin tells me that the eventual goal is to make the highest quality products, producing premium undergarments for people who want easy access to top quality apparel. Eventually the company wants to go long into all sorts of basic clothing items, from leggings to sweats to shirts, etc.

TechCrunch readers can try out Meundies with the code “TECHCRUNCH” in order to get half off their first purchase. Don’tcha wish your tech blog was hot like mine?

Infogr.am Gets HackFwd Backing To Democratize Cool Info-graphics

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

European accelerator HackFwd just announced that Infogr.am from Riga in Latvia as its latest investment. Infogr.am’s product is gunning to be a kind of Adobe Illustrator for online, allowing anyone to create cool info-graphics. The web-based application needs no programming or design skills, and works in the same way that you can snap a photo and share it on your social networks. Users make a statement or an argument graphically and then share it. An infographic can be embedded on a page or shared as a link or an image directly.

Amazon Plays The Price Card In The Battle Against iPads

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Amazon used to be able to sell the Kindle based on its readability in sunlight. That’s a fair comparison to make and the old advertising featured little more than people being happy reading. To wit:

But the commercial above takes a different tack. The old “it works in the sun” line is still is still in there, but I assure you that Amazon is most interested in getting the more expensive and potentially more lucrative Kindle Fires out the door. What do they do? They suggest that the kids can hang out in the shade with their Fires while mom schools an old fool and his iPad. And all three of those devices still cost less than an iPad (or similarly outfitted tablet). Sneaky, sneaky, Amazon.

In fairness, two Fires and a standard Kindle are still cheaper than an iPad, but I suspect the kiddos in that Daiquiri-stained sloth tent would still rather watch videos and play games on a more capable device. But this is Amazon’s version of price-conscious Club Med, and who are we to judge?

Modo Labs Brings A New Mobile Platform To College Campuses

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

I remember my freshman year of college. It was a tiny campus, but I still found myself looking for classes and wandering through a maze-like library for most of the first year I was there. At the time, my phone wasn’t much help to me, but now that smartphones are taking over the market, Modo Labs is ready to help college students spend even more time on fiddling around on their phones.

The company today made the latest version of its Mobile Campus Solution available, which is meant to give Universities the ability to create a mobile platform for their students. The platform will work on mobile web, iOS, and Android, just to make sure no one’s left out.

Students will be able to access Learning Management Systems, course catalogs, schedules, announcements, materials and grades from the courses module. Athletes, sorority girls, and other sports fans will be able to check out scores and game-related information via mobile, while book worms will have access to a library module, offering up locations and various resources.

The platform — built on Kurogo Mobile Optimized Middleware — will have “live update” functionality for on-campus transit, as well as dining information and a photo hub.

As of right now, over 150 universities including Villanova and Boston College are using mobile offerings powered by Kurogo.

German Court Upholds Previous Ruling, Says The Reworked Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N Can Be Sold

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Mark one up for Samsung. After months of legal and PR battles, the South Korean company is finally able to sell and market their iPad clone in Germany. Just don’t call it an iPad clone anymore. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N (pictured left) is slightly different from the iPad — but that’s all that matters.

Samsung released the Galaxy Tab 10.1N late last year. This version features a silver boarder around the screen’s black bezel. The speakers were also relocated in a stereo configuration and now flank the screen. The original GalTab 10.1 was a blatant iPad ripoff. This version at least looks slightly different.

The Dusseldorf Regional Court said there are “clear differences” between the 10.1N and Apple’s iPad, essentially clearing it for retail sale. This ruling shoots down Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction. No doubt Apple’s all-star legal team will fight the decision, but they’re quickly losing support. The reworked 10.1N at least appears to be significantly different from the iPad — at least to the point that any 10.1 slate can look different from another one.

Oracle Buys Talent Management Solutions Company Taleo For $1.9 Billion

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Oracle this morning announced that it is acquiring cloud-based talent management solutions provider Taleo for $46 per share or roughly $1.9 billion, net of Taleo’s cash and debt. Taleo’s solutions basically help organizations attract, motivate and retain human capital, and will service to boost Oracle’s Public Cloud offering.

The transaction is expected to close in the Summer of 2012. Here’s how Oracle pitches the buy:

Together, Oracle and Taleo expect to create a comprehensive cloud offering for organizations to manage their Human Resource operations and employee careers.

The combination is expected to empower employees and managers to effectively manage careers throughout their entire employment, enable organizations to retain talent and optimize costs, and improve the employee experience through faster on boarding and better collaboration with team members via social media.

Until the deal closes, Oracle and Taleo will continue to operate independently. According to Taleo, more than 5,000 organizations use its solutions today.

Its stock price closed at just south of $39 yesterday.

Also see:

SAP Will Buy SuccessFactors For $3.4 Billion

Salesforce Buys Social Performance Platform Rypple; Will Launch ‘Human Capital Management’ Unit Successforce

Tweetbot lanza una nueva versión y finalmente llega al iPad

2012-02-09T14:20:38Z

En el día de hoy ha llegado una nueva versión de Tweetbot, uno de los clientes de Twitter más populares para la plataforma iOS. Y lo hace con la importante novedad de llegar también al iPad, algo que se esperaba desde hace rato, pero sus desarrolladores no han querido traernos una app universal sino que han decidido lanzar dos versiones diferentes, una para iPhone y otra para el tablet de Apple.

Respecto a las mejoras de funcionamiento, Tweetbot nos trae una interafaz renovada, que funciona de manera muy ágil para permitirnos movernos entre sus diferentes secciones con total fluidez, las cuales dicho sea de paso podemos reordenar de la manera que creamos más conveniente para lograr una adaptación total de esta app a nuestro uso.

Por eso, entre otras cosas podemos tener acceso rápido a la información acerca de quienes nos han retwitteado o a un botón que nos ofrece una forma directa de silenciar a algunos usuarios, y contamos con soporte para retwittear, responder o compartir a través de gestos o con un teclado virtual donde las teclas de uso más frecuente como “@” o “#” están bien a nuestro alcance. Además de eso contamos con soporte para cuentas múltiples, para notificaciones push y para la integración de otros servicios como Instapaper, Instagram y Readability.

Es decir que, como vemos, estamos ante una app que ha dado un salto cualitativo importante, por funcionalidad y por el hecho de llegar al iPad, algo que se les hacía necesario para dar la talla frente a la versión oficial de Twitter, que en su última actualización ha mejorado mucho. Ahora ya queda a criterio de los usuarios si utilizar la versión oficial, que es gratuita, o pasarse a una alternativa como Tweetbot que les cuesta 2,99 dólares.

Más información: Tweetbot for iPhone / Tweetbot for iPad

Descarga Tweetbot for iPhone / Tweetbot for iPad

Glam Media Cooks Up Newest Content Vertical With Foodie.com

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Glam Media, one of the largest publishing and advertising networks on the Web, is debuting its newest branded vertical—Foodie.com. As its name indicates, Glam’s newest vertical is aimed at covering all things food, and features a combination of content from food critics, bloggers, chefs, restaurateurs and other “food influentials.”

For background, Glam’s various publishing verticals have a reach of 200 million unique monthly visitors globally, and is particularly popular amongst female audiences. Glam Media has more than 2,500 publishers organized across multiple vertical categories online including Glam.com for Women, Glam Entertainment for Adults, Brash.com for Men and Bliss.com for health and wellness. Glam also announced the acquisition of Ning in September.

As Glam CEO Samir Arora explains, there’s a large opportunity in providing quality content on recipes, restaurant reviews and tends in one place. And food has been one of the fastest growing ad verticals on Glam’s network of sites (Betty Crocker is an advertiser on Foodie.com).

Foodie features content from 100 food authors such as Inspired Taste, Kitchen Confidante and The Bakery Spot and includes more than 1,000 recipes at launch. Foodie also offers a recipe finder app that allows consumers to find and follow top food editors and chefs, and includes vertical recipe search, along with social integrations with Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, Foodie aims to be a social network for food-lovers to post recipes, photos, review other recipes and more.

As a part of the launch, Foodie is also creating a panel of culinary experts, including acclaimed food critics and celebrity chefs to help drive an authoritative perspective on recipes, restaurants, ingredients and cooking techniques. Among the culinary experts who will be a part of the Foodie community include newest Iron Chef winner, top chef Geoffrey Zakarian and the former New York Times and International Herald Tribune food critic and leading food author, Patricia Wells.

Food seems like a logical next play for Glam considering its focus on lifestyle media and content. There are a plethora of food-focused recipe verticals, such as AllRecipes, Food52, Gojee and many others. Glam hopes to differentiate itself by becoming a one-stop-shop for recipes, reviews, quality content and more. Foodie actually resembles more of an online food magazine, but with more social and interactive features.

Clusterpoint Secures €1m From BaltCap To Scale Its Database For Clouds

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

BaltCap, a leading venture investor in startups in the Baltics region, has signed a €1 million investment in Clusterpoint, an enterprise software startup created by Latvian programmers and backed by seed investors in the UK and Baltics. Clusterpoint has built a database platform designed for cloud computing infrastructure which they claim is highly scalable. They are competing against open source solutions such as MongoDB.

9 herramientas de la red para gestionar nuestra influencia

2012-02-09T14:06:00Z

…Branding a través de la interacción

Bueno parece que ya estamos en disposición de aterrizar un poco el concepto Social Media. A medida que el ciclo de maduración avanza, somos cada vez más conscientes que, consolidar una marca, tener un negocio propio, en definitiva, transformarnos en un referente dentro de nuestro mercado o industria, no puede ni planificarse a corto plazo, ni sustentarse en acciones ajenas al control, la gestión, los aprendizajes y las métricas.

Monitorizar nuestras estrategias es la única forma de gestionar nuestra reputación, prevenir las crisis y evaluar la eficiencia de nuestras acciones. ¿Situamos a las métricas como responsables directas de la obtención de un buen ROI? Sin duda así es.

Además de la métricas tradicionales hoy el SEO se mide en relación a su integración con la acción social, es por lo tanto indispensable que nos sirvamos de los recursos que nos entrega la red, si queremos hacer más eficientes no sólo nuestras acciones, sino la información que obtengamos de ella, de quien depende el crecimiento orgánico de nuestra marca.

Branding, interacción y contenido

Sin duda alguna, estas tres variables consolidan lo que hoy se define como acción social y son las más complejas de medir para las marcas. El retorno de las inversiones realizadas en el Social Media o como parte inherente a una estrategia de branding, siguen siendo hoy confusas, sólo a través del conocimiento y el uso de las herramientas más eficientes nos iremos acercando a la comprensión de la intrínseca relación que existe entre la influencia y el ROI = crecimiento.

- Samepoint Esta herramienta nos permite seguir el hilo de las conversaciones, podemos segmentar por temas o palabras clave. Nos ayuda a obtener información de alto impacto para la puesta en marca de nuestras estrategias.

- Omgili: El poder de las conversaciones es hoy total si centramos la innovación, la creatividad y la formación, en la gestión de la información. Esta herramienta nos permite monitorear cualquier entramado en el que se hable de nuestra marca, mercado o industrial.

- BoardTracker: el uso de las palabras clave para el monitoreo de nuestra marca, sigue siendo una de las fórmulas más eficientes, esta herramienta permite la ubicación de las palabras clave que nos interesan en los distintos canales de interacción.

- Google Groups: Hablar de Google es hablar de visibilidad, viralidad, networking, posicionamiento, crecimiento en definitiva. Las búsquedas que se realizan en los grupos de Google constituyen una fuente de información inagotable para ser utilizada en nuestras acciones SEO, cada vez más humanas y dependientes de la acción social.

- Google Trends: Las búsquedas relacionadas con noticias y tendencias, nos entregan información de gran valor para nuestros planes de consolidación de marca. Esta herramienta es un poderoso aliado del branding.

- Trendpedia: Esta herramienta está pensada para las mentes analíticas, los profesionales SEO acostumbrados a medir el tráfico, la conversión y el impacto, a través de gráficos obtenidos de las búsquedas.

- SocialMention: Sin duda alguna el mejor buscador social que existe. Esta herramienta posee una función específica que nos permite conocer las tendencias que se imponen en tiempo real, información que puede ser utilizada en nuestras estrategias a corto plazo y tenida en cuenta para los planes de acción más extendidos en el tiempo.

- SocialMeter: Las clasificaciones siempre nos entregan un gran volumen de información. Esta herramienta nos permite hacer un seguimiento exhaustivo de nuestras plataformas sociales así como incluir a nuestro sitio Web en la comparativa de los más relevantes, mejor posicionados y más influyentes.

- HowSociable: finalmente, estamos ante una herramienta de clasificación de la visibilidad social. Es de gran relevancia para ir adecuando nuestra estrategia de branding, personal o de empresa, a la información obtenida en ella. Muestra cómo estamos considerados dentro del entramado social así como el grado de influencia que generan nuestras acciones.

9 herramientas que hacen más eficientes nuestras acciones, consolidando nuestro branding, gracias a los recursos que nos entrega la red. ¿Y vosotros, conocéis alguna más que resulte interesante?

Sigue las noticias por twitter.com/wwwhatsnew, Facebook.com/wwwhatsnew o Google Plus.

Crea tu sitio web con “1, 2, 3… ¡inventa tu web!” de Hostalia

2012-02-09T14:20:39Z

Si todavía no tienes tu web, es porque no quieres. Tanto si quieres tener tu espacio personal en internet como si tienes una empresa, existen maneras muy rápidas, sencillas y económicas de estar localizable online con tu propia página web. “1, 2, 3… ¡inventa tu web!” de Hostalia es un servicio de creación de webs que tú mismo puedes gestionar, ahorrándote intermediarios y consiguiendo los resultados que tú quieres. Para hacerlo, no necesitas tener conocimientos de programación ni nada parecido, ni si quiera tienes que preocuparte por el alojamiento web, ya que este servicio lo tiene todo incluido.

Con “1, 2, 3… ¡inventa tu web!” de Hostalia, tienes web en unos minutos

Como su nombre indica, en tan solo 3 senzillos pasos puedes tener tu web online en pocos minutos. Lo primero que tienes que hacer es seleccionar el aspecto que va a tener tu página web. Puedes elegir la tuya de entre una serie de plantillas clasificadas por sectores, de manera que tu página seguirá el estilo de tu negocio o del tipo de información que quieras publicar en ella. Seguidamente puedes elegir el color. Si ya tienes una imagen corporativa, puedes fácilmente utilizar tus colores de empresa en la web. Si es algo personal, puedes elegir el color base de tu página de entre una amplia paleta.

El último paso es el de la edición de los contenidos. No necesitas saber programación para introducir textos e imágenes en “1, 2, 3… ¡inventa tu web!” de Hostalia. Verás que hay un gestor de contenidos muy sencillo e intuitivo para que puedas escribir, modificar o eliminar texto. Podrás hacer lo mismo con tus imágenes.

Lo más interesantes de este servicio de Hostalia es su precio. Desde sólo 4,90 euros al mes podemos tener presencia en internet sin preocupaciones, rápidamente y de manera muy sencilla, como ya has visto. Existen otras versiones de este servicio, como el de Web avanzada, que tiene un precio de 9,90 euros mensuales o la Web Plus, de 19,90 euros al mes. Además, en Hostalia tienes una serie de módulos que también puedes ir añadiendo a tu página web para hacerla crecer a tu ritmo y según tus necesidades.

El resultado de las webs de “1, 2, 3… ¡inventa tu web!” de Hostalia son excelentes. El diseño atractivo y la total compatibilidad con los navegadores del mercado hacen que tu reputación en la red aumente. Además, estas páginas incluyen una versión de la plantilla compatible con los navegadores de tablets y smartphones, para que todo el mundo pueda conectarse a tu sitio web desde cualquier parte y con cualquier dispositivo sin perderse ni un detalle.

Sitio Oficial de Inventa tu web

Soluto ahora analiza y optimiza el inicio de Windows desde la web

2012-02-09T14:20:39Z

Habrá que ver que sucede cuando Windows 8 salga a escena, pero mientras tanto en Windows el inicio sigue siendo uno de los temas a solucionar o a mejorar cuando nuestro sistema ya tiene instaladas unas cuantas aplicaciones. Así conocimos a Oolauncher, AutoStart Explorer o Process Explorer, y hoy nos toca hablar de un veterano como Soluto.

Anteriormente disponible en la forma de una aplicación de escritorio, Soluto se ha renovado y ahora funciona como un servicio web, de modo que ya no será necesario realizar ninguna descarga para poder optimizar el inicio de Windows de uno o varios ordenadores.

Para comenzar habrá que dirigirse al sitio web de Soluto y crearse una cuenta, algo que podemos hacer en forma gratuita, y luego añadir uno o varios ordenadores que son los que luego administraremos a través de este servicio. Así, cada vez que iniciemos sesión veremos un listado de todas las aplicaciones instaladas en cada ordenador, con la opción de actualizarlas si es que hay una versión más reciente que la que tengamos instalada.

Además, Soluto analiza el inicio de Windows y determina el uso de recursos que cada aplicación realiza, además de indicarnos cuales de estas pueden ser eliminadas sin riesgo alguno (Safe to remove from boot), cuales pueden ser eliminadas pero bajo nuestra responsabilidad (Potentially removable) y cuales son necesarias y no pueden ser eliminadas (Required), en todos los casos ofreciéndonos una breve descripción de la aplicación, la tarea que realiza y una recomendación (pausarla, demorarla).

Otro aspecto interesante de Soluto es el de analizar todo lo referido a Internet, como los navegadores que tengamos instalados o los varios plugins que son requeridos para la web, como es el caso de Flash, Silverlight o Java entre otros, y en todos los casos también recibiremos infomación acerca de la tarea que cada uno realiza junto con un dato interesante como el de saber cuantos usuarios de Soluto han desactivado cada plugin, o cuantos utilizan el mismo navegador web que nosotros.

Sitio Web: Soluto

Live from Riga – TechCrunch Baltics meetup #TCBaltics

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

We’re running the first ever TechCrunch Baltics meetup today with a mini-conference and pitch contest in the lovely city of Riga, Latvia. The Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are tiny countries, but punch above their weight in terms of their technical prowess. Estonia in particular was made famous as being the base from which Skype was developed, and now the rest of the region is coming alive with startups and accelerators. You can find the agenda here. Up to 8 selected Baltic startups will pitch to a jury and audience that includes many key investors in the region and beyond. We also have a dedicated twitter account @TCBaltics and the hashtag is #TCBaltics. Check out the live stream on this post:

WeNowBuddy

2012-02-09T17:07:04Z

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Google podría abrir una tienda física en Dublin

2012-02-09T13:19:13Z

Con su cadena de establecimientos, Apple demostró que no es ninguna locura la idea de que las compañías tecnológicas dispongan de sus propias tiendas para vender directamente al cliente final. Microsoft ya siguió sus pasos hace tiempo, y aunque se trate de un sector diferente, la posible tienda de Amazon en Seattle también nos recuerda ese caso. La próxima en unirse al negocio, por increíble que parezca, podría ser Google.

Según ha revelado Bloomberg, la compañía podría estar planteándose abrir su primera tienda física en Dublín, donde se sitúa su sede central europea. La información desvelada es bastante concreta, y habla de un pequeño establecimiento de 123 metros cuadrados en su propio bloque de oficinas, donde en principio se vendería merchandising de la empresa, como el que se encuentra en la web Google Store.

La empresa americana no ha negado los rumores, pero asegura que la decisión aún no está tomada. En principio parece algo bastante modesto y puntual, pero quizás sea un primer paso para una línea de comercios mayor donde se ofrezcan productos de la compañía a ejemplo de Apple y Microsoft.

Vía | Bloomberg
En Genbeta | ¿Está Amazon pensando en abrir una tienda física?

6 herramientas para gestionar trabajos en grupo, especialmente educativos

2012-02-09T14:06:01Z

Si gestionar un proyecto personal es difícil, coordinar varias mentes para que trabajen tal maquinaria de reloj eleva los obstáculos exponencialmente. La idea es superar tales inconvenientes y en la red encontramos decenas de servicios desarrollados para facilitarnos el cumplimiento a cabalidad de plazos y metas grupales. Aquí están 6 de los más llamativos ejemplos junto a un agradecimiento especial a FreeTech4Teachers por proveer el listado.

Pegby

Compuesto por un tablero donde iremos colgando tareas, en forma de notas, en algunas de sus tres columnas según corresponda: «Pendientes», «En progreso» y «Hechas». La administración de las tareas se basa en el arrastrar y soltar tanto para desplazar cada nota como para apilarlas por categorías. También pueden asignarse a cada miembro del equipo.

TeamBox

Mucho más completo teniendo en su haber herramientas como el calendario, diagramas de Gantt, gestión de documentos, organización de tareas, un manojo de funciones de comunicación (empezando por el chat y los perfiles) y creación de wikis. Es Open Source, aunque su versión gratuita permite el trabajo simultáneo hasta de 5 usuarios.

Enter the Group

Enfocado a proyectos de educación virtual facilitando avanzadas funcionalidades de calendario, gestión de tareas, alertas y manejo de documentos. También es destacable su amplio componente social y la posibilidad de hacer público en la red, el avance en cada proyecto. Para empezar a utilizarlo bastan las credenciales de Twitter o Facebook.

Wedoist

Archivos, tareas y un toque de red social que simplifica las relaciones entre los integrantes del grupo, eso y su minimalista interfaz que goza de un intuitivo manejo. Se integra muy bien a los servicios de Google -empezando con su extensión para Chrome-, posee clientes de escritorio y aplicaciones para Android e iOS (aunque los últimos funcionan más con la aplicación personal, ToDoist).

Trello

Otro con un brillante aspecto -con cierto parecido a los ya conocidos clientes de redes sociales- permitiendo una sencilla distribución de tareas, organización de miembros a realizarlas, la posibilidad de compartir material multimedia, notificaciones, y todo trabajando a través de un sistema de tarjetas que se pulsan y arrastran a través de un gran escritorio virtual con columnas de categorías. Cuentan con app para iOS y dicen estar trabajando en su par para Android.

Wiggio

Trae calendario, creación de eventos, grupos y subgrupos, listas de tareas, encuestas, gestión de reuniones, perfiles y funciones de plataforma social tan importantes como las de comunicación instantánea (email, SMS, chat, videoconferencias). Muy útil para grupos de trabajo con muchos integrantes y donde es más que relevante una clasificación informativa de alto nivel, aunque va de maravilla también hasta para proyectos personales.

Sigue las noticias por twitter.com/wwwhatsnew, Facebook.com/wwwhatsnew o Google Plus.

Google+ actualiza su versión para Android, aunque falta la optimización para tablets

2012-02-09T14:20:39Z

Google ha lanzado una nueva versión de su aplicación de Google+ para Android, la cual marca a las claras que el camino elegido por la compañía en estos tiempos es el de reforzar al máximo la integración entre su red social, su plataforma móvil y su navegador web, trilogía que junto al buscador le aseguran una presencia casi líder en el mundo web, donde tan sólo Facebook y Apple pueden pensar en competir con este gigante.

Esta actualización trae varias mejoras de funcionamiento que le dan un funcionamento todavía más fluído, pero además ahora el feed de fotos de nuestros círculos se desliza en forma indefinida, y al hacer actualización de página la aplicación permanece en el lugar en que estábamos en vez de subir automáticamente al principio del feed.

Más allá de estas mejoras, Google+ para Android también añade la sección de “Lo más interesante en Google+”, como así también ahora podemos ver quien ha hecho +1 en un comentario o en una publicación. Como vemos, son varias mejoras las que llegan de una vez, convirtiendo a esta app en una de un funcionamiento muy completo pero por desgracia sigue faltando algo que ya hemos pedido en el pasado, que es la optimización para tablets, por lo que los usuarios de estos dispositivos sentirán las mejoras de funcionamento pero seguirán sin poder aprovechar al máximo posible el mayor espacio de sus pantallas.

Google+ para Android es compatible con todas las versiones de esta plataforma móvil, y ya puede descargarse desde Android Market.

La empresa francesa Dassault Systèmes compra Netvibes

2012-02-09T13:19:13Z

La idea de escritorio online que Netvibes propuso en el año 2005 fue bastante interesante, y en algunos aspectos podríamos decir que incluso adelantada a su tiempo, pero con el paso de los años la propuesta se ha visto superada y ha quedado relegada a un plano secundario para el usuario medio de Internet. Donde sí han fortalecido su papel es en la oferta de servicios al sector profesional, algo que parece haber atraído a la empresa francesa Dassault Systèmes.

Hoy se ha anunciado que dicha compañía, que se presenta como un líder en el sector del 3D y el PLM con cientos de miles de clientes en todo el mundo, ha adquirido Netvibes por una cantidad de dinero que no se ha hecho pública. Según los vendedores, este movimiento les ayudará a seguir en su objetivo de convertir sus productos en un componente esencial para las empresas en Internet.

Para los usuarios actuales, en teoría, la adquisición no tendrá más consecuencias, pues Netvibes conservará su marca y la versión gratuita de su producto, que se completa con modelos de pago. Por lo demás, la nota de prensa oficial no concreta mucho más sobre el futuro del proyecto, así que ya veremos cómo le acaba influyendo con el paso del tiempo.

Vía | Netvibes blog

Montblanc Takes Google To Court To Obtain Identity Of, And Sue, Counterfeit Advertisers

2012-02-09T14:30:54Z

Google has been going to great lengths to keep advertisers who sell counterfeit goods online out of its AdWords program, but as far as Montblanc, the Germany-based maker of ‘writing instruments’, watches, jewelry and whatnot, is concerned, they ought to be doing more. Montblanc-Simplo GmbH, as the holding is called, is taking Google to court in an effort to obtain the identity of a certain – or more – persistent counterfeit goods seller(s).

TechCrunch has obtained the court documents, which make for an interesting read.

Montblanc says it has received numerous complaints from customers who’ve been misled by keyword ads that appeared on Google.co.uk. According to the complaint, many were tricked into purchasing counterfeit Montblanc products from websites that were specifically designed to look like official Montblanc communication channels.

The luxury goods company subsequently turned to Google UK in an effort to identify the advertisers, who were bidding on keywords like ‘montblanc pens’, but according to the complaint, the search giant’s UK office has consistently said that they simply don’t have access to that kind of information, directing Montblanc instead to the U.S. mothership.

From the court docs:

Montblanc has attempted to determine the identity of the Advertisers through numerous alternative means, with no success. Because the identity of the Advertisers is in the exclusive possession of Google, and Montblanc has no other source from which to obtain the requested information, Montblanc has no choice but to file this Complaint in Equity for a Bill of Discovery in order to enforce its trademark rights.

Once Montblanc has identified the Advertisers through this Bill of Discovery against Google, it intends to file a lawsuit to enforce its trademark rights against the identified Advertisers. Without the requested information, however, Montblanc does not know who the Advertisers are and therefore does not know whom it needs to sue to enforce its trademark rights.

As Montblanc points out in its complaint, it has been using the ‘montblanc’ mark for a wide range of products since its founding in 1906, making it one of the world’s well-known trademarks.

Understandably, the company asserts that the sale of counterfeit goods, bearing the ‘montblanc’ trademarks, has caused it “significant reputational and financial harm”.

For the record, Montblanc acknowledges that Google UK has been responsive to its complaints in discussions dating back to September 2011, and that the search company repeatedly told them that they “removed the offending ads and taking action against the Advertisers”.

The only problem is that they keep coming back, and Montblanc is getting desperate.

From an earlier Google blog post, describing the game of cat and mouse:

AdWords is just a conduit between advertisers and consumers and we can’t know whether any particular item out of the millions advertised is counterfeit or not.

Of course, we do more than simply respond to brand owners’ removal requests. We use their feedback to help us tune a set of sophisticated automated tools, which analyse thousands of signals along every step of the advertising process and help prevent bad ads from ever seeing the light of day. We devote significant engineering and machine resources in order to prevent violations of ads policies, including counterfeiting.

In fact, we invested over $60 million last year alone, and, in the last 6 months of 2010, more than 95% of accounts removed for counterfeits came down based on our own detection efforts. No system is perfect, but brand owner feedback has helped us improve over time – as our system gets more data about ads it has misclassified before, it gets better at counteracting new ways that bad guys try to cloak their behaviour.

While our systems get better over time, counterfeiting remains a complex challenge, and we keep investing in anti-counterfeiting measures. After all, a Google user duped by a fake is far less likely to click on another Google ad in the future. Ads for counterfeits aren’t just bad for the real brand holder – they’re bad for users who can end up unknowingly buying sub-standard products, and they’re bad for Google too.

This makes sense; Google has nothing to gain from counterfeit advertisers in the long term.

In Montblanc’s view, however, Google should be more actively helping them determine the identity of counterfeit advertisers by handing over the contact and financial details they store – due to the nature of the AdWords program – so that the company can name them as defendants in litigation.

We’ll be following this case with eagle eyes.

(Photo courtesy of Luigi Crespo Photography on Flickr)

The ultimate Academy Awards movie trivia quizzes

2012-02-09T17:07:04Z

Movie Awards Trivia is a movie application for your iPad and iPhone that celebrates all things film and suchlike. Given that we are in the middle of movie award season at the moment with many award ceremonies happening leading up to the Academy Awards, here is a movie trivia app that'll keep you amused for hours and potentially make you the king of the movie buffs in your house or amongst your friends This movie app is a treat for movie lovers, movie buffs,'Oscars' fans as well as the casual fan of movies so there is something for everyone here. The app tests your movie trivia and Academy Award knowledge in a uniquely fun and image filled way and comes with a whopping 1000 multiple choice questions along with 100 spectacular slide-shows and 4000 images of nominees and winners for Acting Best Picture Awards. Multiple choice questions are good for everyone and, even if you know just a little it enables you to guess and get several answers right, score points and build up your knowledge. If you are stuck on a question you can test your friends' movie trivia knowledge by sharing the question on Facebook. Filters allow you to chose questions grouped by decades, actors or actresses. A feature of over 100 unique slide-shows allows images to be viewed by decade or specific year, providing hours of enjoyment and reminiscing. Lookout for the dazzling and classic vintage movie picture collection too There are squillions of awards shows on between January and March each year so it's movies,movies, movies at this time of the year. Movie Awards Trivia is a fun multiple choice movie knowledge app with multiple images to help you get your questions answered correctly so you really don't have to be a major movie buff to play it. It certainly looks the goods with a classic movie image-filled interface and it's brilliantly easy to play with. You can even test your friends' knowledge by sharing questions through your Facebook account. So when you are planning your Academy Awards party and want to add something extra this year you might want to add Movie Awards Trivia to the entertainment.

The thesaurus of entrepreneurial information

2012-02-09T17:07:04Z

WebToTheRescue is a free set of online business solution tools that encourage the entrepreneurial spirit in users of all ages. It was developed in response to the financial crash of 2008 and provides many valuable resources for the budding entrepreneur who is looking to start up a new business. The developers realized that, after the economic downturn, there were an awful lot of talented but disenfranchised people out there that didn't have a job anymore. WebToTheRescue has developed from those simple beginnings into a major source of entrepreneurial information on the Internet. WebToTheRescue is a free, comprehensive and easy to use online resource to help people launch and grow a business or non-profit venture. It helps entrepreneurs of any age and background realize their entrepreneurial potential. WebToTheRescue is designed to help those with an instinct for self-reliance. The site is meticulously researched and organized enabling users to learn on their own, to research how to launch and grow a venture and to end their unemployment or underemployment. It is packed with valuable links to resources which are largely free and otherwise low cost. For those already in business, the resources featured can help the you reach the next stage of growth. The difference between this and similar business solutions applications is that it provides valuable information that will be of benefit to everyone from the first time amateur right through to the seasoned professional wanting to freshen up their knowledge. It organizes many of the most valuable resources for entrepreneurs into one easy to use site that makes it easy for you to find what you need when you need it. The many resource topics listed were selected from thousands that were considered and new resources are added regularly so the content is always up to date. The intention of the site is to help people of all ages no matter what their professional and educational levels to create successful new ventures so that they can become financially self-sufficient. WebToTheRescue is almost philanthropic in nature which is a very commendable and valuable thing in these tricky economic times. The difference between success and failure can quite easily come down to the amount of information at your disposal and this business tool for the entrepreneur has that in spades. Here we have a completely free, helpful, educational and time saving resource where you dont even need to create a user profile or even provide your email address. WebToTheRescue really does seem to be the "go to" resource when you are looking to start something new or get your business out of the financial rut.