Yearly Archives: 2009

Fast Feedback (www.fast-feedback.com) is a service for the individual looking to get feedback on just about anything they are working on. Users can be a part of a big or small organization or without affiliation. Feedback can be gained on things like a website, blog, video, product, event or customer and market research. Custom Feedback forms can be created and dropped onto a website, blog, email or social network in minutes. Fast Feedback provides code snippets that will create a button on any site or short URLs for direct access from Twitter or social networks.

“There are a lot of survey tools and form builders available today, but what is missing is a tool that is very fast, flexible, and affordable, if not free. We designed Fast Feedback to fill this need. For example, if someone in a company wants to get feedback on a new website design or the upcoming company outing, they won’t want to spend the time learning sophisticated tools or committing to large monthly fees. They want to take 10-15 minutes, create the feedback form, share with their audience, and view the responses,” said founder John McBreen.

“Similar services such as Kampyle or UserVoice are great for large sites with a lot of users and a lot of responses. But they are impractical and costly for a low volume site or someone who just wants to find out what their friends think about their new blog or YouTube video.”

Fast Feedback goal is to enable the individual contributor to gain feedback from peers, prospects and customers, believing that feedback is invaluable and shouldn’t be difficult or costly to initiate. Fast Feedback provides easy to use tools to create custom feedback forms, share them quickly in various ways, and stores responses in a secure database where customers can view and analyze the information.

Fast Feedback, located in Waltham, MA, is a SaaS offering with a free version and pay plans starting as low as $15 per month. The product is in Public Beta. Find out more or signup at www.fast-feedback.com.

Mplayit, the new mobile app store on Facebook that is transforming the mobile app discovery experience, today announced that the full catalog of over 3,500 BlackBerry applications is now available to its growing audience of consumers and fans on the Facebook platform. Mplayit is now the first cross-platform social app store where consumers can find, try, buy, and share apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Java-powered mobile devices.
“BlackBerry outsells the iPhone month after month, but most BlackBerry users still have a hard time finding great apps,” said Michael Powers, Founder and CEO of Mplayit. “We help them tap into their social network to discover apps they’ll love and recommend to their friends.”
Now with support for BlackBerry and iPhone, the two best-selling smartphone platforms, Mplayit’s audience can share the popular applications that are available on both devices. Mplayit offers BlackBerry users quick search and try-before-you-buy playable previews, all from the web or mobile browser. Users can rate, comment, and recommend individual apps to their social network. Because Mplayit’s catalog is hosted on the Facebook platform, users can easily browse the recommendations and reviews from those that matter most: friends and family that share their interests. In addition, Mplayit’s unique ‘Apptivity’ feed gives users a view of the most played and recommended apps in real time adding a useful and entertaining element to regular lists or rankings.
Mplayit expects to add support for more smartphone platforms in coming months, offering mobile consumers the only one-stop mobile apps megastore for purchasing content for any mobile device.
Mplayit already provides its application discovery platform and analytics to major game publishers like EA Mobile and I-play, as well as major mobile operators like Sprint, Telefonica O2 and more. Mplayit’s technology is also benefitting the burgeoning mobile developer community now looking beyond the Apple platform by providing a suite of analytics tools to help them better understand their audience, optimize their marketing, and stand out in the crowd. Mplayit’s cross-platform approach gives them a single place to focus their social marketing efforts.
“With the iPhone content market becoming ever more crowded and complex, developers are recognising the potential of other smartphone platforms,” said Powers. “We’re knocking down the cross-platform barriers that hold back apps with great viral potential.”
BlackBerry, iPhone, and Java developers interested in featuring their applications are encouraged to contact Mplayit at [email protected] for further details.
About Mplayit
Mplayit is the leading global provider for online playable discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company’s proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is based in Ashburn, Va., and is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit www.mplayit.com or email [email protected]. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter: @Mplayit.
Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

Chartpoppers.com announces an investment report featuring Technology company Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) The investment report on Apple Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:AAPL) should be of particular interest to other Technology companies; Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM). Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)provides Internet services to users, advertisers, publishers, and developers worldwide. The company owns and operates online properties and services, and provides its advertising offerings and access to Internet users through its distribution network of third-party entities, as well as offers marketing services to advertisers and publishers Recent News on Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Yahoo Inc will let users of its email, photo-sharing and other online products link their content and activities directly into Facebook, the world’s No. 1 Internet social network. Yahoo’s support of the Facebook Connect service, which it said it expects to begin in the first half of 2010, represents an important move in Yahoo’s efforts to tap the popularity of social networking and underscores the growing clout of Facebook, which now counts more than 350 million worldwide users. Earlier this year, Yahoo allowed users to preview messages from their Facebook friends directly on the Yahoo homepage, as part of a broad revamping of the Yahoo front page. Wednesday’s announcement takes the integration between Yahoo and Facebook a step further, by automatically pushing activities performed on Yahoo sites, such as photos shared on Yahoo’s Flickr, into the Facebook news feed. Yahoo said it expects that the content that consumers share on Facebook will drive visitors back to Yahoo. To view the Consolidated Investment Analysis on Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Please visit the stock pulse page at www.chartpoppers.com In the report chartpoppers.com covers a recent Financial Summary, Analyst Consensus, Technical Analysis, Comparative Analysis and Insider Trading Activity. The full report is available at www.chartpoppers.com Chartpoppers.com is a market research and investment commentary provider. Chartpoppers.com aims to bring undervalued, up and coming companies into the sight of both experienced and non-experienced investors. We try to help investors, at whatever stage in their careers, to get a grasp on the necessary financial data that they need in order to make a educated investment decision. From our daily trading ideas to a in depth coverage of what’s going on in the markets, we are sure that chartpoppers.com is exactly what you need in order succeed. For More information please visit us at www.chartpoppers.com Chartpoppers.com Disclosure DO NOT BASE ANY INVESTMENT DECISION UPON ANY MATERIALS FOUND ON THIS REPORT. We are not registered as a securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser either with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) or with any state securities regulatory authority. We are neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. ChartPoppers.com nor its affiliates have a beneficial interest in the mentioned company; nor have they received compensation of any kind for any of the companies listed in this communication. The information contained in our report is not an offer to buy or sell securities. We distribute opinions, comments and information free of charge exclusively to individuals who wish to receive them. CHARTPOPPERS.COM Paul Marek 6047245332 [email protected]

This latest KIDO’Z version (v2.0) takes Kids’ Internet to the next level with its introduction of a unique social layer for kids, which boasts the first email system for young kids as well as a secure kid-friendly social networking platform.

In addition to enjoying the existing functionality of browsing safely, watching videos and playing games; kids can now create and send emails and e-cards even before they can read or write, and can safely interact with friends within a safe online environment.

Kids can express their creativity through the KIDO’Z MAIL system, which functions as a drawing board complete with animated backgrounds and stickers.

Each child is given his/her own virtual room, which, in true KIDO’Z style, can be customized according to his/her personal taste. Here, kids can interact with their KIDO’Z FRIENDS, who are pre-approved by parents, and can express themselves and their individuality. Kids can interact by visiting their FRIENDS’ PLACES and by communicating with them through KIDO’Z MAIL.

The new version also introduces the first KIDO’Z Premium Package, KIDO’Z PLUS, which is available at a small monthly fee. KIDO’Z PLUS gives kids access to even more content, creativity and personalization capabilities; and gives parents even more security and control, with access to extra security features as well as to KIDO’Z STATISTICS, which gives parents detailed usage reports of their child’s KIDO’Z usage.

With KIDO’Z version 2.0, kids can learn, explore, play and communicate on the Internet even before they have mastered reading or writing.

KIDO’Z v2.0 is available as a free download at http://www.kidoz.net.

KIDO’Z came out of beta testing with its first official version (v1.0) in May 2009 and has since seen remarkable growth and outstanding usage metrics. With the launch of version 2.0 it is expected that the KIDO’Z Web OS Platform will continue on its tremendous growth path.

“This upgrade is really exciting as it realizes our vision of a kids’ Web OS, providing one safe environment where kids can explore, create, learn, share and communicate even before they know how to read and write and can enjoy all the benefits that the web has to offer” – Gai Havkin, CEO KIDO’Z.

About KIDO’Z

KIDO’Z is a Web OS (Operating System) intended for children between the ages of 2-8yrs. KIDO’Z creates a personal protected Internet space with a collection of special tools that enable children, for the first time, to carry out everything that adults do on the Internet; but simply and intuitively, and without needing to know how to read or write. Parents remain in control through the password-protected Parental Control Account, where they can add content, block content, adjust account settings and more. The KIDO’Z usage metrics indicate an outstanding level of engagement and with the new version (v2) and its additional interactive tools and content, it is expected that the level of engagement as well as the user base will continue on its tremendous growth path.

KIDO’Z is available in 17 languages with content added in over 30 languages, making it a truly global solution. KIDO’Z is PC, Mac and Linux compatible and is available as a free download from http://www.kidoz.net.

KIDO’Z is developed by KIDO’Z Ltd, a Tel-Aviv based company managed by parents and top industry professionals.

I Spot a Story (ISAS), a new social news aggregator, has launched in beta. ISAS brings you the best stories from around the web and provides users with a unique place to participate in the news cycle by contributing additional angles and commentary to any story.

ISAS features the top trending and most discussed stories on the web. It differs from other social news aggregators/link-sharing sites by having human editors assess whether clips are actually funny or interesting and complement the site’s aggregation algorithm. ISAS provides users with the ability to add their take on any story, by either embedding a video, uploading an image, adding an eye-witness account or just linking to another website. This allows every side of the news to be heard and provides a 360-degree view of any story.
For example, when covering the recent anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, ISAS combined news segments from CNN and MSNBC, user-generated YouTube clips and a humorous celebrity story from MTV, to provide readers with a distinctive range of perspectives and points of view in a single place. (http://bit.ly/86ZhmS)
iSpotaStory.com fuses the web-news experience with the personal interaction of a social networking site. Any visitor can view all the content on the site without registering, and users are encouraged to connect with other “Spotters” to enrich their web-news experience.
Though ISAS covers a wide range of topics, it focuses on viral videos, entertainment, technology, sports and off-beat stories – the news that is most discussed, and most appeals to, web junkies and internet news hounds.
There are so many news sites on the web, but getting the best stories covered from the most angles is hard to find in one place…until now.
To experience ISAS first hand, please log on to http://www.ispotastory.com

Open-Xchange, the leading provider of open source groupware, today announced enhancements that vastly simplify the aggregation of e-mail and contact information — personal and business — giving users access to their data anywhere, anytime and with any device.

To improve ease-of use, the latest enhancements introduce a wizard that eases the setup for new and existing Open-Xchange users. The wizard configures the subscriptions of external mail accounts from Google, GMX, Web.de and many others, along with social and business networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and others, as well as the push synchronization of mobile phones.

“Open-Xchange creates a data hub that gives end users control over their data,” said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. “Using open and standardized data formats provides users and organizations with the freedom and security to use social web services for the benefit of their business, without many of the lock-in dangers inherent in such social web services.”

Additional new features include:

Open-Xchange is used by more than 15 million users worldwide as hosted and on-premise business-class e-mail and groupware. On-premise customers can update their installations immediately with the new version of Open-Xchange 6.14; Software as a Service customers will benefit from the new features as soon as their provider updates their accounts.

Anyone can try the latest Open-Xchange improvements for free at a special preview website, http://ox.io.

A detailed description of all new features of Open-Xchange can be seen at http://software.open-xchange.com/OX6/doc/feature_overview_6_14_20091105.pdf.

About Open-Xchange Open-Xchange is the innovator of scalable and integrated open source e-mail and collaboration solutions for enterprises, academic institutions, and government authorities. The company provides on-premise versions called Open-Xchange Server Edition and Open-Xchange Appliance Edition, along with Open-Xchange Hosting Edition, which enables web hosting companies to provide an easy-to-use and feature-rich application delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). The Open-Xchange Hosting Edition is architected to integrate into a hosting provider’s existing infrastructure, such as authentication, provisioning, billing, and e-mail storage and does not require that these systems be replaced.

Open-Xchange AG is a privately-held company headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany with offices in Olpe, Germany and Tarrytown, N.Y. For more information, visit www.open-xchange.com.

It’s no surprise that the way we communicate with people is changing. Some call it the Communication Revolution and it’s characterised largely by the use of Web 2.0 technology and websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, otherwise known as Social Networking & Media.??

With this in mind, Michelle Fischer of Creative Leadership, and Linda Parkinson-Hardman of Grow a Better Business, invite you to contribute to their research into the trends that are taking place within the context of Social Media and Recruitment. by completing the following questionnaire at Survey Monkey before Friday 18th December.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9m00FDmhA781rOYugN7hnw_3d_3d??

You’ll be asked questions about Your business use of Social Media, and particularly when recruiting new staff.

The questionnaire is completely anonymous, although you’ll need to leave your name if you’d like to receive a copy of the White Paper and be eligible to win the thank you prize of a bottle of France’s Finest Champagne. This will be given to a lucky participant chosen at random at the end of the research project. The interim report will be out before Christmas.

If you’ve any questions about any element of this research, please get in touch with Michelle at Creative Leadership on 01202 853647 or Linda Parkinson-Hardman on 01305 755607

Verizon Wireless and iSkoot, a leading provider of mobile Web services, today announced the availability of Social Beat, the free social media application that allows Verizon Wireless customers nationwide to simplify their mobile social networking with a single app.

Running on the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G network, Social Beat makes it easy for Verizon Wireless customers to stay fully connected to popular social media sites, including Facebook®, MySpace™ and Twitter®. Social Beat also displays more than 50 customer-selected feeds from the hottest names in news, sports and entertainment sources, which can be viewed in one central location. Customers can easily view and manage their social networks through live feeds and real-time notifications.

‘Social Beat fits well with what Verizon Wireless customers crave – easy access to all of their social media network sites in a single app,’ said Jennifer Byrne, director of business development for Verizon Wireless. ‘iSkoot’s app is available on many of our feature phones and offers an intuitive, easy on-ramp for our customers as they bring their social networking communities into their handsets.’

When customers sign in to Social Beat, they can easily view friends’ activity, news feeds, status updates and new photos. Customers can even post new status messages and tweets, send comments and messages, and receive updates from their personalized news section through a single stream on their mobile phone in real time.

‘Social networking is the fastest growing sector in mobile, and together with Verizon Wireless, we are able to offer a simple but powerful app that allows consumers to easily stay connected to their social media network even while they are on the go,’ said Mark Jacobstein, chief executive officer of iSkoot. ‘Because our solutions do the heavy lifting in the cloud and deliver communications to a single platform, service providers can bring social networking and news feeds to almost any mobile device they offer regardless of the technology.’

Social Beat is available now to Verizon Wireless customers as a free download on more than 20 feature phones, including the LG enV™, enV2™, enV3™, the LG Chocolate™, and Chocolate™ 3, as well as many other popular Verizon Wireless handsets. Customers can download Social Beat from their wireless phones by selecting Get Going in the Media Center/Get It Now®, by texting SOCIAL to APPS (2777) or by visiting the online media store at http://www.mediastore.verizonwireless.com or http://bit.ly/socialbeat

ASOS.com, the UK’s leading online fashion store, has launched ASOSreviews.com, an exciting Twitter-powered feedback and reviews micro-site. The site follows ASOS.com’s hugely successful launch of ASOS Life, an online community that facilitates interaction and conversation between the brand and its consumers.
James Hart, eCommerce Director at ASOS.com, said ‘ASOSreviews.com is a great way for us to keep in touch with and be open about the real-time feelings of our customers. Its bright, visual nature gives us nowhere to hide and I’ll be making it not only visible to our customers but to all of our colleagues at ASOS HQ as well. It’s also a great feedback tool and the great thing is that the loop is already closed as our customer care team already monitor and respond to tweets directed at us 24/7. We are excited about the launch of the site and have some interesting plans for its future development.’
ASOSreviews.com aggregates and displays positive and negative tweets about the brand, and encourages users to tweet their opinion about their ASOS.com experience. The site also visualises the overall sentiment of the brand and displays an interesting word cloud overview of what people are saying.
Charles Dalton-Moore, Managing Director of thruSITES, the social media development firm that built the site, said ‘ASOSreviews.com is designed to give a snapshot of customer sentiment on ASOS.com whilst encouraging ASOS.com’s online community to engage with and talk about the brand. We very much admire ASOS.com’s boldness in launching the site and taking the leading social media approach of any fashion retailer. Many other companies out there have yet to wake up to the reality of social media and should take ASOS.com’s example of learning from and engaging with their online community.’
About thruSITES
thruSITES is a London-based strategic web design and development agency specialising in community sites and social networks, plus social media apps and widgets for a range of networks. thruSITES works with large multinationals and government organisations, directly and via top marketing agencies, as well as smaller clients and web entrepreneurs. http://www.thrusites.com
About ASOS.com
Established in June 2000, asos.com is the UK’s largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer. With over 25,000 branded and own label products available, and 1000 new lines added each week, asos.com is rapidly becoming the market leader in the UK online fashion world. Aimed primarily at fashion forward 16-34 year olds, asos.com attracts over 5.6 million unique visitors a month and has 2.7 million registered users. http://www.asos.com

Audi today released the final social media video installment documenting behind-the-scenes considerations that shaped its entries in this year’s Los Angeles Design Challenge, a competition associated with the upcoming L.A. Auto Show involving Southern California automotive studios.
As part of the design process, the Audi design team leveraged social media as an interactive forum through which to solicit consumer insights. Using the Audi Facebook page as a central hub, the team was able to engage Audi fans – and regular Facebook users alike – in a variety of ways, including discussion threads, polls and feedback on photos and videos. This resulted in an active conversation between the Audi designers and the consumers they were targeting.
With its nearly 400,000 fans, the Audi Facebook audience is composed of passionate brand enthusiasts who have a mutual affinity for automobiles. They yielded feedback for the design team that proved uniquely thoughtful. Additionally, the broader Facebook community was welcome to participate as well, increasing the potential input. Collectively, Facebook participants played a key role in shaping the design and functionality of the Audi models submitted for the competition.
Case in point: the prevalence of communications tools in the final Audi designs. When engaging with Facebook users for input on the topic of connectivity, the Audi Design Team received overwhelming demand to stay in touch with users’ digital worlds – even behind the wheel. Taking this insight to heart, the design team developed a driving experience that, while solitary, enabled seamless communication through a host of channels including messaging and social networking integration via mobile broadband.
In fact, a large number of design elements in the final products can be credited to Facebook users.
“Often, we’d encounter decisions in which both options had merit from a design perspective,” said Jae Min, Chief Designer, Design Center, California. “In those instances, it was especially useful to field input from the Facebook users. After reviewing the feedback, we would eventually notice a consensus formed among the community which shaped our final designs.”
The theme of this year’s competition, titled “YouthMobile 2030,” asked design teams to envision automobiles appealing to young people of the future. Many major automakers participate in this annual competition that challenges their respective California design studios to push the limits of their expertise and imagination.
The Audi Design Team developed two complementary models meeting these criteria: the accessible Audi eOra and the aspirational Audi eSpira. Both cars function as extensions of one’s body and its senses. Using next generation vehicle control logic, they take even the smallest body movements and gestures of the driver into consideration to provide an unsurpassed command of the drive. The sportier eOra has a smaller footprint has unmatched agility.
Participating Facebook fans said having a stake in the design of these groundbreaking vehicles was empowering and rewarding. While engagement through social media is nothing new, transcending the virtual world to create something tangible is more novel for brands.
“It was really nice to see that Audi cared enough to listen,” said Joe Zamani an active member of the Audi community on Facebook who participated in the regular Design Challenge queries on the page. “The fact that they felt our opinions were worth taking to heart was encouraging. It shows what a valuable resource social media can be when ideas are turned into something real.”
The Los Angeles Design Challenge results will be revealed on December 3, 2009 during the L.A. Auto Show.
The latest Audi web video captures the final stretch of the Los Angeles Design Challenge and the Audi design team’s creation process. Audi partnered with entertainment and marketing production agency Trailer Park to create the video.
To view the latest Audi L.A. Design Challenge web video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w98a4qLZAE
To visit the Audi Facebook Page, go to: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=115498098436 – /audi?ref=ts
ABOUT AUDI
Audi of America Inc. and its 270 dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. The Audi lineup is one of the freshest in the industry with 23 models, including 12 models launched during model years 2008 and 2009. Audi is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. In selling one million vehicles worldwide in 2008, AUDI AG recorded its 13th consecutive record year for sales growth. Visit www.audiusa.com or www.audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.