It seems Twitter, which granted is a neat little application, is out looking to turn that neatness into cash. Download Squad reports that Twitter is trying to raise its first round of venture capital funding, and then wonders if the old standby, getting bought by Google, may not be the answer. As Download Squad says in the article: “Twitter is extremely focused on growing their network of users before making money, and they really don’t have an evident business model as of yet.” There is a universal assumption by those looking to make money on the internet that traffic can always be monetized. I don’t think that’s always the case.
JPEG Enhancer is a free application that promises to help clean up old blotchy photos from your first digital camera.
Martin Gordon does a mini-review of Lifehacker’s Top10 iPhone Applications. He found some usability issues.
Mashable has a feature by feature comparison of 14 personalized homepages. God, I hope social networking isn’t really “the next evolution of the start page concept.” The more I see these start pages try to be average at everything instead of excellent at one thing, the more I think making your own start page is the way to go.
Dave Wallace has created a History of Disability in South Australia website that tells stories of Australians involved with disability issues. Here’s Mike Seyfang’s review.
This guy’s baby book showed up on eBay. Being a second child, I never had much of a baby book. Delaney (our second) has a sparse one. Luke (our third) doesn’t have one at all. We promised ourselves we wouldn’t do that.
@Seth: I agree that marketing by fear in a way that benefits only the marketer is bad. I really don’t like it. But, as you mentioned, CNN and every other news organization do this all day, every day. When all that matters is attention, what better way to get it than to shout danger at every opportunity. It is a corruption of the preservation instinct in the name of a dollar.
Everyone may be gunning for YouTube, but the war is over. All that remains in to see who gets the most scraps.
Techdirt, which has always been at the forefront of the music industry debate, has a must read post about the record stores doing their part to keep the industry screwed up. I used to enjoy going to record stores…back in the 80’s. If I can browse music from my desk, hear clips without having to use waxy communal headphones, click a button and have the CD show up two days later, I don’t need a music store. Particularly if it’s going to take a page from the RIAA’s empty book of logic.
Thomas Hawk on iPhonestock. I don’t know how you can read Thomas and not pull for Zooomr. I guess that means he’s doing he job. I just wish they’d make the sign-in process easier. I signed up back when it first launched, lost my credentials and am caught in OpenID hell.
Donna Bogatin takes a look at iPhonestock too. Justine has a post on the Summer of Phone. Meanwhile Scoble has lost his buzz and noticed that he has a mild headache. But at least he’ll be able to tell his grandchildren he was there, and be telling the truth.
Jeff Balke on mixing his band’s new CD and the loudness problem. I’m not generally in the studio when my songs are recorded (being solely a songwriter at this point), but I have always felt that far too many records are mixed too hot. The video Jeff found is spot on: when there is no quiet, there can be no loud.
Newsome.Org 