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Ziibii: iPhone RSS with a twist

It isn't so much the technology behind Zumobi's free app Ziibii that refreshes RSS on the iPhone and iPod touch as it is its presentation. Ziibii, which means 'river' in Algonquin*, extends the metaphor to depict posts from your various RSS feeds as rafts floating along a stream of information.

Watching posts float by is fun concept--for a few minutes at least--and one that's heightened by the fact that stories, photos, and friends' status updates appear in random order as a round-up of all your RSS subscriptions.

Ziibii's feed flexibility is good, but not great. Twitter, … Read more

TweetValue estimates your Twitter profile's worth

I was pointed toward a new Twitter ranking tool by Louis Gray. The tool of the day is TweetValue.

Following the controversy surrounding Twitterank, TweetValue assigns a dollar value to your Twitter profile. While the site does not disclose how this value is calculated, it does give a message that reads, "The value is calculated with a Ph.D. algorithm that is based on the public information available on your Twitter profile."

Call me skeptical, but it isn't really apparent that the figures are based on any actual factual valuation of Twitter profiles. Rather, it appears to … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 852: Tempest in a Twitter teapot

Turns out a lot of people are all too happy to hand over their password to some unknown Web site just to find out if they're popular. Oh, people. When will you learn? Also, Microsoft Live gets a purpose, Valleywag loses its teeth, the BlackBerry Storm gets a release date, and we're all going to become (a) elves in the Wrath of the Lich King or (b) total buffsters on the new EA Sports Active Wii game. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 852

BlackBerry Storm gets release date http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/11/13/verizon-announces-blackberry-storm-release-date-november-21st-199/Read more

Nanocontent convergence: Twitter meets live blogging in CoveritLive

Webware's favorite live blogging tool, CoveritLive, is getting a new tool for its authors: the capability to update a live blog via Twitter.

It's a simple, if slightly crude, implementation: when a live blog producer is setting up coverage, he or she can tell the system to monitor specific Twitter accounts and post the Tweets in the live blog window. As a Twitter and a CoveritLive user, I'd prefer a bit more control, such as the capability to tell CiL to take filtered Twitter feeds (using #hashtags, perhaps), but this is a good start.

What I like … Read more

The 404 225: Where we're not impressed by digital camera gift cards

On today's show, Wilson and Jeff hate on Target's gift card that doubles as a disposable digital camera (I still think it's cool), Sarah Palin is offered an exclusive adult movie deal, and last but not least, we mourn the end of an era: As of today, there will be no more porn in the workplace.

It's sad but true, according to our CNET News team, a forensic team in Utah is putting together a software program that can analyze and detect adult images on your monitor. The days of simply clearing your cache and browsing history to hide your surfing tracks are over! OK, I'm totally joking, the bigger question to ask here is who looks at porn at work!? You'll have to listen to the show to get our full opinion, but I'd really like to know what kind of person feels the need to check out porn at work. Who are you, David Duchovny? Get back to work!

EPISODE 225 Download today's podcast Read more

No rest for the Web's election-weary

SAN FRANCISCO--There wasn't much time for Current Media, the cable news network co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, to recover from last week's election and its marathon live broadcast, infused with content from Digg, Twitter, and countless video bloggers.

On Friday, Gore was giving the final address of the Web 2.0 Summit, a few blocks to the west of Current's offices, at the Palace Hotel, and plenty of advertising and marketing types were in town for the occasion.

Since it's a media company partially dependent on ad and sponsorship revenues, Current seized the opportunity, … Read more

11 Twitter business models: Vote for the best

I am tired of hearing Twitter CEO Evan Williams give the same old song and dance about his company's revenue strategy.

"It's a valuable service," he says, "I don't think it's going to be hard to monetize." So what's the holdup? I worry about Twitter's business because I want to see the company and the product thrive.

Twitter's delay in implementing a revenue strategy makes me jittery. I would pay for it if I could. But at this point, I don't believe that the Team Twitter actually has … Read more

Oh, dear, here come the 'Facebook to buy Twitter' rumors

SAN FRANCISCO--John Battelle, CEO of Federated Media, decided to have a little bit of speculative fun onstage Thursday with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the Web 2.0 Summit. It's the sort of "speculative fun" that could give tech bloggers a gossip-overload headache for weeks to come: Battelle decided to throw some fuel on the "Facebook might buy Twitter" fire. Which, as far as I can tell, is a relatively new addition to the rumor-roasting pit.

"Is Twitter just a feature of Facebook?" Battelle prodded. Facebook, after all, has its own "status&… Read more

Twitter's Evan Williams: Making money through corporate accounts?

SAN FRANCISCO--In a panel at the Web 2.0 Summit, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams wouldn't concretely answer one of Silicon Valley's biggest unanswered questions: how the company plans to make money.

But he gave some strong indications. Hint: it's not advertising.

He spoke obliquely of a possible business model that we've heard whispers about before, corporate accounts for businesses that want to use Twitter. Twitter is a communication channel, he said, and what it can do is "charge the people who want to use that communication channel commercially."

He named companies like … Read more

The 404 221: Where Randall Bennett makes his holographic debut

OMG, WTF, LMAO, and a million other Internet expletives for our new leader, Mr. Barack Obama. Even Jeff, The Lone Hater, can't seem to contain his excitement over the election results. Former 404 host Randall Bennett also joins us via completely useless hologram to share in the excitement and recap the events. Hats off to you, Mr. President. Please give us a call if you're ever in the Gramercy, N.Y. area, we'll see if we can pencil you into the show.

Even though all of us are out of breath and stricken with sore throats from a night of "Whoos!" and "F**K You Tennessee," we still manage to drag ourselves into the studio this morning to celebrate our country's triumphant return to common sense. It's like waking up from an awful nightmare that somehow managed to last eight grueling years. Our special guest on the show today is Randall Bennett, former host of The 404, who helps us weigh on the presidential election, the cheerful optimism resonating from the streets of New York, Twitter's flawless victory in the face of 13562834791 simultaneous tweets, and perhaps most hilarious--the AMAZING CNN HOLOGRAMS! Because when you've got money coming out of your ears and split screens just aren't enough, count on CNN to be the face of American frivolity. USA! USA! USA!

EPISODE 221 Download today's podcast Read more