T-Pain Launches Online-Only Record Label
June 9, 2008 — 05:01 PM PDT — by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — — 1 Comment
A few months ago,
Having emerged from the early-’80s Amerindie movement, an assemblage of rock’n'roll bands with a combination of optimism and hardheadedness that mirrored the very best of the open source movement, R.E.M. knows it can’t compete with what’s at the top of the charts. It’s unlikely that fans of the current flavors — Miley Cyrus, Flo Rida, or T-Pain — will be moved by R.E.M.’s music.
The pop and hip-hop communities of artists are just as quickly wising up to modern social media trends as the aging rockers of old, though, and they are all ending up competing on similar playing fields.
Interestingly enough several of the very same public figures have since had very public forays into social media and Internet promotion. Of course Miley Cyrus has been marketing herself on social networks, though not exactly in the ways her handlers would have her do, but T-Pain has taken cues from the Radioheads and REMs and smartly used the broad and diverse platform of the Internet as a promotional vehicle for music distribution.
Today, the number one hit selling artist announced the creation of Nappy Boy Digital, and independent record label for distributing music primarily via the Web. They don’t plan to discriminate, either, with relationships with every major online distributorship either in place or in the works at launch.
“My life and career so far has been about breaking barriers and this label allows me to continue that by delivering hit songs in real time, no red tape, just good music,” said T-Pain. “You’ll hear us in the clubs and on radio too, but you can discover our tracks where people spend most of their time, online. I’m very proud to be out front on an idea like this.”
Obviously T-Pain will be using the label for distribution of his own high-profile collaborations. In addition, he’ll be joined by a bevy of other artists of varying levels of notoriety. Tay Dizm is the frontman artist they seem to be pushing, a South Florida native who’s had appearances on T-Pain records in the past. Also joining the lineup are Jay Lyriq, Sophia Fresh, and Young Ca$h.
Ping This!MyToons Brings High Definition to Online Animation
June 9, 2008 — 04:30 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — — Add a Comment
I saw a commercial for HD sunglasses the other day, which was pretty amusing, but MyToons new HD Animation offering, among the the first for any online animation site, is purposefully entertaining. The “YouTube of Animation” network now has options to view animated content in HD.
Equally as important, animators can distribute their content on MyToons with HDTV quality. Having launched last year, MyToons has emerged as a media-sharing site where artists can upload their animated content and artwork. Such platforms, even for niche audiences, have grown considerably in the past year or so, introducing a bit of a competitive edge amongst these networks.
MyToons is not only appealing to the audience members with improved quality for its content, but to the content creators as well. The HDTV quality capabilities of MyToons also extends to the embeddable clips. You’ll need the Flash version 9.0.124.0 in order to watch content on MyToons.
In terms of competing with other animation media-sharing sites, others like Aniboom have begun to offer new ways to attract viewers and contributers, with new distribution methods such as mobile viewing and partnerships with brands for specialized comic content.
Aside from the new HD offerings, MyToons is also promoting its redesigned site, which features new channels, and its desktop player for more immediate access to animated content available on the site. With growing interest and competition for the niche animated community, a large focus will need to be on control for the content creators, as well as methods for distribution and opportunity for monetization.
20+ Tools For The Best Father’s Day Ever
June 9, 2008 — 03:49 PM PDT — by Sean P. Aune — — 2 Comments
While Mother’s Day might be more about the softer side of life, Father’s Day is all about firing up the grill, or at least giving Dad the tools to do so.
Sure, you can still make your dad something crafty as a gift, but just expect it with a side of red meat. So, grab our 20+ suggestions and get prepped for the best Father’s Day ever this Sunday!
Crafts & Gift Ideas
Dad’s can be world’s harder to buy gifts for then moms, but luckily there are lots of suggestions out there to help ease some of the pain.
FamilyCorner.com - A lengthy list of crafty gifts you can make for the upcoming holiday.
FamilyFun.com - Lots of gifts you can make at home, fun certificates kids can print out for their dads and more.
Gifts.com - A seemingly endless list of suggestions for just about every type of dad you can think of.
Kaboose.com - Has several home craft gift ideas with instructions, a history of the holiday, recipes for meals and more.
MarthaStewart.com - If it’s a holiday celebrated by more than two people, then Martha Stewart probably has some suggestions for you. Has a mixture of homemade gifts and recipe suggestions.
Shopping.AOL.com - Has lots of great resources for gift ideas, but this article in particular has a great list of 10 do’s and don’ts for picking out a gift for dad.
Searching for Bookmarks? inSuggest Does the Dirty Work
June 9, 2008 — 03:45 PM PDT — by Alana Taylor — — Add a Comment
The quicker the internet gets, the more information I have to process, and the lazier I become when having to search for things. Sometimes I wish the internet could just understand what I am looking for and offer it to me when I want it. Am I asking for too much? Maybe not.
inSuggest is a service that provides recommendations for pictures and websites based on your likes and interests. Like Matchmine, Fanista, MyTrybe, and Google’s My Library, it attempts to show the most precise recommendations you can find on the internet based on your personal taste and activities.
The changes that inSuggest underwent since the last time we reviewed the site includes a new, intuitive and user-friendly interface as well as a feature called Bookmarks inSuggest.
With Bookmarks inSuggest, you can now sign in with your del.icio.us username and have your online bookmarks analyzed in order to have other bookmarks recommended that match your tastes. There is also a special tag filter function that can search for bookmarks you might like based on tags or keywords.
I am typically the kind of person who is skeptical about these sites that use so-called “algorithms” to guess what I am thinking or what I would like. I question whether or not the service will really figure out my brain or just give me a horoscope-style recommendation that anyone would enjoy. But the reason I don’t worry about inSuggest is because, more often than not, it will continually point me in the right direction.
Just by typing in the URL of a site, inSuggest will quickly formulate a list of links and screenshots that I might like. And, unlike regular search engines, inSuggest guides me towards new and undiscovered territory. I don’t just find what I was looking for but also what I may not have been looking for.
I like inSuggest simply because it works, it’s easy to use, it has a sleek design and it is improving at a fast pace. At this rate, inSuggest will be recommending food, clothes, personal hygiene products and gadgets in no time!
Tickets Now Available for SummerMash Seattle!
June 9, 2008 — 03:17 PM PDT — by Adam Hirsch — — 1 Comment
We’re kicking off the Mashable U.S. Summer Tour in Seattle on July 12th! You’re invited to party with Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and Karen Hartline at The Showbox. We have DJ El Toro playing the jams, food and drink tickets to enjoy and even have a few surprises in store. You won’t want to miss out on the first ever Mashable party in Seattle. Tickets are available here, and the first 20 people to register get in free!
When: July 12th, Saturday, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
Where: Showbox SoDo, 1700 1st Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98134
What else?:DJ El Toro, Light Appetizers, Drink Tickets, Door Prizes and more…
RSVP?: Tickets will be released through Eventbrite, 21+ Only
Socialize: Facebook, MySpace, Meetup and Upcoming
Press Passes: Please inquire through events [at] mashable |dot| com for Press Passes
Local sponsor:
Blue Flavor is a new type of design agency providing best of breed web application design and consulting.’
*There are 2 more “Local Sponsor” positions available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Tour Sponsors*
The Sun(TM) Startup Essentials program is designed to help startup businesses off the ground by providing access to industry-leading systems at deep discounts, free world-class software and web-based training, discounts on partner hosting services, and more.
Yoono’s mission is to make the social web accessible, easy and fun for everyone. Its newly expanded service socializes your browser, helps you manage your digital life and brings the best of the web into one single browser-based application. Today, 1.3 million users are leveraging Yoono.
*There is 1 more entire “Tour Sponsor” available. For more info please contact: Brett and Adam at events [at] mashable |dot| com
Touring Video Partner
Launched in February 2006, Stickam emerged as the first and largest Web site dedicated to live interactive video streaming. Stickam’s cutting edge technology delivers millions of streams each day, reaching over two million registered users. They are continuing on the path of social interactive TV by adding features that nurture its growing community and tech-savvy broadcasters. Whether you are famous for 15 or 150,000, Stickam.com is where you will find your friends and fans. See and be seen at Stickam.com, The Live Community.
Exclusive Ticketing Partner
Eventbrite is the world’s largest self-service online ticketing site. Eventbrite makes it easy for anyone to sell-out an event.”
ZenDesk Simplifies the Help Desk Support System [The Startup Review]
June 9, 2008 — 01:56 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — — 3 Comments
Editor’s Note: If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion in “The Startup Review” series, please see the details here.
STARTUP DETAILS:
Company Name: ZenDesk
20 word description: We have 50 different channels for reporting issues, feature requests and for asking questions. We must consolidate all of this. Right now. Come Zendesk.
CEO’s 100 word description: Any company, which serves more than a handful of customers, needs a help desk in order to handle customer queries and support requests. Old school help desk solutions are expensive, painfully difficult to set up and hard to use. Enter Help Desk 2.0.
Zendesk is a hosted help desk solution which can be set up by anyone overnight. Zendesk combines a professional-grade feature set with a beautifully simple Ajax-based user interface. Zendesk offers monthly plans from US$19 to US$349, and a free plan for the one-man shop. Since its launch Zendesk has attracted about 2,000 customer signups.
Mashable’s Take: ZenDesk is a help desk management tool, with a consumer-facing front end for users and an administrative back end that allows you to manage support-related projects. There are a number of similar tools out there, but ZenDesk hopes to stand apart from the crowd with its rather fluid management system, which enables you to organize projects according to your needs and preferences, avoiding the rigid categorization found with most help desk services.
The idea with such fluid organization is that navigating the actual help desk application will be faster and more intuitive, making projects easier to search, run and track. This is achieved with optimized use of tagging and search capabilities, so stringent categorization isn’t needed. That’s not to say that categorization is completely absent, but preloaded tag dictionaries and searchability across more fields makes ZenDesk easier to use for a broader range of people.
With a consumer-facing product, ZenDesk is also likened a bit to a Salesforce-like system, though in reality such direct comparisons aren’t the case. I did wonder if there would be any integration of ZenDesk with CRM systems like Salesforce, as the two systems go hand-in-hand more than they compete.
While this doesn’t explicitly seem to be part of the picture, ZenDesk does offer an API as part of its service, so any integration with your business’ existing systems could be developed. Meanwhile, task-management tools like Huddle have begun to integrate help-desk features as well. A service such as ZenDesk also seems primed for integration with some of the business-oriented VoIP services that are picking up traction, including Ribbit and Jajah.
Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials
TypePad Announces Native iPhone 3G Application
June 9, 2008 — 12:56 PM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — — 1 Comment
The iPhone 3G release has been a long time coming, and now that it’s finally here, we’re going to be seeing a lot of development around the device. Once again, the iPhone will help cultivate the developer community and create a micro-economy of services optimized for use on the new 3G device.
TypePad has created a native application soon to be available as a free download through the Apple Store, and this blogging application will enable users to create and publish blog entries from their iPhone. The TypePad Native Application was demoed earlier today during Apple’s keynote at WWDC, and takes advantage of some of the iPhone’s other included applications, such as the Photo Gallery, where users can include images they’ve saved to, or taken with the device.
TypePad has long been interested in creating mobile applications, with a release for smart phones nearly two years ago, and an optimized version for the first generation iPhone last year. Nevertheless, Six Apart says that it hopes to make blogging mainstream with its Native iPhone application, which appears to be taking advantage of the iPhone’s dominant place in the market.
Yahoo to Shareholders: We Want Your Vote!
June 9, 2008 — 11:39 AM PDT — by Adam Ostrow — — 1 Comment
Yahoo’s annual meeting isn’t until August 1st, but the company isn’t wasting any time in launching a campaign to keep its board from being replaced by Carl Icahn’s henchmen. The company has sent a letter to shareholders urging them to re-elect the current board of directors. Jerry Yang and Roy Bostock’s main argument:
“Mr. Icahn’s only plan for Yahoo!, if his slate is elected, is to hope that Microsoft — which withdrew its acquisition proposal more than a month ago and has since publicly reaffirmed that it is not now interested in a full acquisition — can be persuaded to come back to the table and agree to acquire our company. But this is not a strategy.
In our opinion, Mr. Icahn and his slate are not the right individuals to guide Yahoo! as a standalone company.”
Of course, Carl Ichan’s sole interest isn’t in selling Yahoo to Microsoft or executing Yang and Bostock’s growth plan – it’s in selling his tens of millions of shares at a price well above that at which he purchased them. Meanwhile, Yahoo will have to remain on the defensive, convincing shareholders that continuing to execute its own strategy is a more profitable option that yielding to Icahn and/or Microsoft.
The full letter is embedded here:
Mashable Prediction Center: Will Carl Ichan’s proxy fight to replace Yahoo’s Board succeed?
Wine Library TV Moving to Revision3
June 9, 2008 — 10:07 AM PDT — by Stan Schroeder — — 4 Comments
Revision3 scores yet another deal, this time with Wine Library TV, hosted by Internet demi-celeb and wine connoisseur extraordinaire, Gary Vaynerchuk. The show tries to “break down the barriers, stereotypes, and misconceptions that otherwise prevent people from exploring and enjoying the exciting and rewarding world of wine.” I’m more of a beer guy, myself, but I’ll take what I can get.
Gary is happy to be introducing ze secrets of wine loving to a new audience. “I’m looking forward to taking Wine Library TV to the next level with Revision3,” he said, adding “The show already has a large following through my Web site, but with Revision3’s broad reach and vision for program packaging, I will be able to get in front of an enormous untapped audience.”
Wine Library TV already has over 60,000 viewers per day, which must mean that this weird, sour liquid they call wine is not too bad. If the original show is too long for you, maybe the shortened versions of Wine Library TV that’ll air on Revision3 will better suit you. Bottoms up!
Gary Vaynerchuk with Mashable Founder Pete Cashmore
YouTube’s “Sell Your Own Ads” Strategy: Desperation or the Future of Advertising?
June 9, 2008 — 08:48 AM PDT — by Adam Ostrow — — 6 Comments
Google has added an interesting twist to their monetization strategy for YouTube: allow content producers to sell their own advertising. According to AdAge:
“That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos and display units on the page that hosts the video player. The revenue is split between the content creator and YouTube, just as it would be if YouTube sold the ads.”
To-date, YouTube has been a bit of a conundrum for content producers – enjoying the site’s enormous audience came with the cost of not having control over monetizing their videos. 
YouTube has now eliminated that conundrum, and in turn, allows content producers to maximize both their audience and revenue.
While the move may seem like a response to the constant criticism over the lack of money YouTube is pulling in for Google, I think it highlights a broader trend in online advertising. In the same way that Facebook has allowed application developers to control advertising on their pages, YouTube is now allowing their content producers to control ads on their videos.
The benefit of doing so is two-fold: YouTube gets more high-quality content from producers who were previously holding out for better monetization, and they also get tens of thousands of new ad salespeople at zero cost. It could also be a boon to ad agencies that represent high-end content producers that can now add tens of millions of YouTube impressions to the inventory they’re already selling.
Meanwhile, as AdAge points out, YouTube is still just a tiny fraction of Google’s overall revenue – estimated around 1% this year. While critics may call the “sell it yourself” model desperate, I think it’s a smart experiment by YouTube, and one that they can afford to try given their huge market share dominance and the safety of being under the Google umbrella.
RockYou Raises $35 Million to Keep Up in Widget Arms Race
June 9, 2008 — 05:03 AM PDT — by Adam Ostrow — — 6 Comments
Last month’s news that RockYou had raised $1M from DCM in “interim funding” seemed a bit odd in light of some of the other huge financings we’ve seen of late in the widget and social networking application space. Today, the picture becomes a whole lot clearer, as we’ve learned that RockYou has in fact closed its own massive funding deal: a $35 million Series C round, led by DCM.
RockYou is using the funding as an opportunity to share some numbers from its network, which ranges from Facebook applications like Super Wall to MySpace apps like Graffiti. In total, RockYou says its network now reaches 87.5 million people each month, who in turn generate 2.7 billion page views. 
The company also points out that it’s not just a Facebook app developer: more than 10 million applications have now been installed on the relatively new MySpace, hi5, and Orkut platforms.
With the funding, RockYou now turns its attention to monetizing all of those eyeballs. The company already has its own ad network on Facebook, and plans to expand its online advertising options with several new services over the coming months. RockYou did not elaborate on those plans, but engagement-based advertising seems likely given other developments we’ve seen recently from companies like Meebo and VideoEgg.
The big round also gives RockYou one of the deepest warchests in its market, where we’ve already seen a host of other companies raise big money this year. RockYou’s chief rival Slide raised $50M in January, Gigya added $9.5 to its arsenal in March, and Clearspring picked up $18M last month.
While investors clearly remain bullish on social networking platforms and applications, some recent developments show that users may not be. US-based traffic at both MySpace and Facebook declined in April, while our readers have hinted at serious application fatigue in polls we’ve posted here on Mashable. Facebook is actually re-designing its user profiles to reduce the clutter that the application platform has created.
That said, now that the land grab is mostly over, it would appear that the money is now flowing into the companies with massive scale like RockYou and Slide, who are now shifting their focus to making money. Over the weekend, Slide actually indicated that they would no longer be launching new Facebook applications, but rather focusing on improving the quality of the one’s they already have. Beyond that, we’ll likely see further consolidation in the space, with smaller developers with successful applications being scooped up by the top players looking to maintain their dominant market share.
http://www.rockyou.com/
RockYou is a leading provider of applications and widgets on the web. RockYou widgets include photo slideshows, glitter text, customized Facebook applications and voicemail accessories that are simple...More»
RockYou is a leading provider of applications and widgets on the web. RockYou widgets include photo slideshows, glitter text, customized Facebook applications and voicemail accessories that are simple to use and enable people to frequently refresh their online style. Founded in 2006, RockYou has over 35 million users, serving over 180 million widget views per day in more than 200 countries. RockYou applications are customized for easy integration across all social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, Tagged and hi5. RockYou's cost-effective, results-focused advertising platform is the largest Ad Network on Facebook and the most dynamic method for rapidly acquiring Facebook application users. New applications can reach over 100k users in 24 hours, spanning a suite of applications across multiple publishing partners.«Less
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