Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Lexar rolls out 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB ExpressCard SSDs

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

We already knew that Lexar had an 8GB ExpressCard SSD up its sleeve, but it seems that the company just can't get enough of that high-speed solid state storage, today announcing 4GB and 16GB cards in addition to officially announcing the 8GB model. From the looks of it, both the 4GB and 8GB models will give a peak data transfer speed of 250 MB/s (we assume the 16GB will be the same as well), with all three coming bundled with Lexar's auto-backup software, and each ready for use with Vista's ReadyBoost feature. While the whole lot of them are supposedly shipping now, there only appears to be pricing details available for the 4GB and 8GB models, with them setting you back $130 and $200, respectively.

Kodak - Winds of Change (humor)

Digg Surrenders to Mob

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

To say what happened today on Digg was a “user revolt” is an understatement. The Digg team deleted a story that linked to the decryption key for HD DVDs after receiving a take down demand and all hell broke loose. More stories appeared and were deleted, and users posting the stories were suspended.

That just got the Digg community fired up, and soon the entire Digg home page was filled with stories containing the decryption key. The users had taken control of the site, and unless Digg went into wholesale deletion mode and suspended a large portion of their users, there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop it.

Digg CEO Jay Adelson responded on the Digg blog earlier this afternoon but it was clear he did not yet understand the chaos that was coming. The post only added fuel to the fire. Just now, co-founder Kevin Rose posted yet again on the Digg blog, effectively capitulating to the mob’s demands: He says

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Until today, it seems, even Digg didn’t fully understand the power of its community to determine what is “news.” I think the community made their point crystal clear.

Vive La Revolution.

Getty goes multimedia, acquires smaller firm

Stock-art seller branches into video and multimedia, acquires PunchStock for more imagery.

By Stephen Shankland Stock photo seller Getty Images launched a new division Monday for selling licenses to footage and multimedia content, then on Tuesday announced the latest in a series of acquisitions, PunchStock.

Leading the multimedia group is Craig Peters, who joined Getty through its acquisition last week of MediaVast and its subsidiary WireImage, which licenses video content. Peters was senior vice president of new media at MediaVast.

PunchStock, based in Madison, Wis., adds a third stock image unit to the company, supplementing Getty's core business and the newer iStockphoto acquired in 2006. PunchStock offers simpler licensing and search, Getty said.

Getty has been reshaping its business through recent acquisitions. In March, Getty acquired Scoopt, a site that sells amateur photos to the news media. "Citizen journalism is 2,000 years old," Getty CEO Jonathan Klein said in an interview earlier this week, arguing that amateurs can supplement professional coverage and that Getty can assure media outlets using that content that its provenance is sound.

Getty announced the PunchStock acquisition along with its financial results for the quarter ended March 31. The Seattle-based company's revenue increased 6 percent to $213 million compared with the year earlier, and net income was $38 million, or 63 cents per share.

The company also announced it's restating financial results from 1998 through the first half of 2006 to deal with errors in its stock-based compensation. To correct the situation, the company expects to take a noncash charge of $28 million to $32 million, 95 percent of which involves finances in 2002 and earlier years.

A special committee investigating the stock situation concluded in April that the evidence "did not establish any intentional wrongdoing by current employees, officers or directors of the company, and the special committee continues to have confidence in the integrity of current management."

(thanks, Owen)

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

10x Revenues

from A VC by Fred

Companies don't really sell for multiples of revenue, but the math is easy so everyone does it.

I've read that Doubleclick sold for 10x their revenue of $300mm.

And that Right Media sold for 12x their annual revenue of $70mm.

Please correct me if I am wrong on these numbers as I am just relaying what I've heard and don't have access to the financials of privately held companies.

I believe that ultimately price needs to be factored as a function of EBITDA - earnings power. It could be the present value of future cash flows, it could be a mutiple of current EBITDA, it could even be a multiple of the cash flow that a buyer believes it can get by merging the asset into its business.

So when I see online advertising assets trading at north of 10x revenues, it makes me think that it's the latter factor at work.

I've heard that AOL monetized their acquistion of Advertising.com buy running all of their unsold inventory through Ad.com and that they got a tremendous return on investment from doing that.

So that may be the play for Yahoo! with the Right Media acquisition. And thus a multiple of current revenue or even cash flow is largely irrrelevant.

But even so, these are large numbers being paid and as a part owner of three online ad networks (TACODA, FeedBurner, and TargetSpot), I am thrilled to see these trades print.

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Tesla scales back range targets

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Transportation

While we doubt it'll be enough to get any of the lucky few first customers to cancel their orders, those planning a long haul trip in their shiny new Tesla Roadster may find themselves slightly disappointed when they finally get the keys, as the company's pulling back a bit on its promised 250 mile range on a single charge. Apparently, testing the car on an EPA-compliant dynamometer proved to be a bit more taxing than their initial estimates, forcing them to reconsider their boasting. While Tesla's not quite ready to get specific with the new numbers, it says it'll still come in at greater than 200 miles, which would still peg it well above other, less stylish electric vehicles. Now, if they'd only find an excuse to scale back the price.

Monday, April 30, 2007

Lexar's 8GB ExpressCard SSD sneaks on the scene

from Engadget by Darren Murph

Filed under: Storage

While Lexar does a fine job competing in the flash memory arena, it appears that the outfit is giving it a go in the solid state disc realm as well. According a marginally descriptive product page, Lexar is offering up an 8GB ExpressCard SSD, which should go nicely above that 120GB PCMCIA NAND drive as you attempt to cram more storage into peripheral slots than inside your laptop's casing. Moreover, the device features a peak data transfer rate of 250Mbps, and while it doesn't appear to be available for shipment just yet, it'll run you a penny under $200 when it formally launches.

Hip-IP's Mobigater Pro routes Skype calls to your mobile

Posted Apr 21st 2007 1:07PM by Darren Murph Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

Routing calls every which way has been going on forever (well, almost), and Hip-IP's Mobigater Pro doesn't differ a whole lot from other Skype-to-cellphone channelers that we've seen in the past. Essentially, the device seamlessly "transfers your Skype calls to your mobile phone without the use of SkypeOut credits," as it connects to your mobile via an internal SIM card. As predicted, it interfaces with your PC via plain ole USB, and users can not only ensure that they never miss an incoming Skype call, but they can phone up other Skype users around the globe just by using minutes from their mobile plan. The device can even redirect calls to five different handsets, but considering the £185.99 ($373) pricetag required for such a luxury, only the heaviest of yappers need apply. Click on through for a shot of the rear. [Via Wired]

MIT researchers tout "practical" holographic video

from Engadget by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

A team of researchers at MIT seem to think they've finally come up with a way to make holographic video a bit more practical for everyday use, touting the new system they've developed as a possible display for PCs and video game consoles, Technology Review reports. According to the researchers, the display will be small enough to fit in an entertainment center when finished, boast a resolution as good as a standard analog television, and only cost a "couple of hundred dollars." Much of that increased practicality comes from the fact that this latest version, dubbed the Mark III, simply relies on a standard graphics processor instead of specialized hardware. The researchers also managed to streamline some of the other optical hardware, which they say made the previous incarnations as big as a dining-room table. It apparently still has a few drawbacks, however, with it currently only able to display monochromatic holograms in a space about the size of a Rubik's Cube. They insist that's only a temporary problem though, and promise that the next model will be comparable in size to a desktop monitor and boast a full range of color. No word if there'll also be a port of everybody's favorite quasi-holographic arcade game, Time Traveler, to go along with it, but we can hope.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Convert Long, Complicated Web Addresses Into Small URLs

from Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal

create short tiny url

Here's a quick review of the most popular URL redirection servicesto help you pick the right one for your job. TinyURL.com - This is a name synonymous with URL redirection with maximum number of users. You can drag their bookmarklet in your browser and create short URLs in a single click. The advantage is that users can preview the web address embedded in TinyURL before visiting the actual website. With Preview, Without Preview urlTea.com - A relatively new but promising URL shortening service. It allows you to describe or annotate the destination website in the short URL itself. For instance, http://urltea.com/g20 is the same as http://urltea.com/g20?my_site but the latter makes more sense to the visitor. And you can also use Google Talk or Yahoo! Messenger to create short URLs through a buddy called teabot@urltea.com. short website address

short website address

SnipURL.com - With SnipURL, you can choose your own web address with some meaningful text instead of using random addresses generated by tinyurl.com. This will help visitors get an idea of what they are about to click. It is possible to modify the underlying URL without changing the existing SnipURL address. Best of all, SnipURL can generate private URLs that can only be accessed after providing a password. Shorl.com - This may well be the favorite URL redirect service for bloggers and website owners since it provides usage statistics of your short URLs (i.e., Number of Hits). When a user clicks a URL created by shorl.com, he is shown the web address of the destination for few seconds before the actual redirection. Now that's an intelligent design since users can opt-out even after clicking the short URL. Nothing deceptive about it. Final Thoughts - Shorl.com gives control in the hands of the user and automatically increases the level of trust. SnipURL gives you click through stats and more control over URL text so that makes it my favorite URL shortening service. [I personally use these services for sharing hyperlinks in my newspaper columns that are published in the Hindustan Times and Financial Express.]

© 2007 Digital Inspiration

ScratchYourself: Viral Sweepstakes That Brands Could Love

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

A new service called ScratchYourself came to our attention today. It’s a fairly simple Flash application that lets users upload an image and build a lottery-style scratch card from it. During the beta period people have a chance to win some very limited cash prizes that total $90 or so per day across all winners.

Once a scratch card has been created, users can email it to friends or embed it on their site. I created a quick scratch card with our logo and have embedded it below.

What interests me more than the front end, which would easily be duplicated, is the business model and payments infrastructure they’ve put in place. Users have an incentive to create and embed these on their blogs, MySpace page, etc.: if you create a scratchcard and someone wins a prize, you get the same prize as the creator of the card. Prizes are awarded, at the winner’s choice, via paypal, mailed check or amazon gift certificate.

The company’s business model is to attract advertisers to sponsor prizes (cash, products, coupons). If ScratchYourself turns out to be trustworthy and can circumnavigate the rather complicated federal and state regulations governing sweepstakes, brands could be attracted to this. You get a good long look at the image underneath the scratch area, which is more than can be said for most banner advertising. And publishers will like the ability to win the same prizes as their readers.

Shycast and Bix (acquired by Yahoo) are also experimenting with brand based contests, albeit through video (and Shycast is also a social network).

Akamai Releases FoxTorrent 1.0 - Firefox BitTorrent Add-on

from TechCrunch by Michael Arrington

Red Swoosh (acquired by Akamai for $15 million earlier this month) released v1.0 of FoxTorrent today. This is a fully functional BitTorrent client for Firefox that works cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) and has a very cool additional feature - the ability to stream files as they are downloading.

This is no Azureus (my BitTorrent client of choice), but it does the job and saves time by allowing you to manage torrents directly from the browser. I tested it on a few (non-copyright infringing, of course) files and it worked great on the standard BitTorrent functionality. Streaming just didn’t work, although with the way the BitTorrent protocol breaks files into pieces and reconstructs them in a non linear way means you may have to wait until the file is mostly complete to even begin streaming. I’ll try it again once the files are nearly complete.

Audiobaba.com - An Acoustic Similarity Search Engine

from KillerStartups.com - published startups by rakohn

Audiobaba is a new kind of music search engine. You type in a song you like, and they give you a list of similar songs by other artists. You can listen to the sample of those songs, and if you like them, you can purchase them at Amazon or iTunes. The selection of songs they return is based on the acoustic structure of the selected. If what they returned doesn't sound similar to you, you can give it the thumbs down, helping their system to more closely match songs to each other that are more relevant. If you like a song in particular, you can add it to your bookmarks, or favorites. It's an interesting new way to find new music. They also offer their API to developers, sharing their new search technology. In their own words: "Audiobaba is a next-generation music search and recommendation engine. We realize that unless you know the name of the song you want, searching for music has so far been a pretty pathetic undertaking. Because there really is no better way to describe a song than "da da dee da da da", rather than using text to search for music, Audiobaba searches for music by fingerprinting the acoustic and impossible to articulate qualities of every song in its database and searches through them acoustically. We then further refine and personalize results as we receive feedback from our valued users."

ScratchYourself: Flower Power

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