SAI

Why Using Airbnb To Go To The Super Bowl Was The Best Decision I've Ever Made

Tony Manfred — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:29:00 -0500

Airbnb is this thing where people rent out their houses or apartments for short periods of time.

So when BI decided to send me to the Super Bowl long after all the hotel rooms in Indianapolis had been gobbled up, it seemed like a perfect option.

Airbnb is one of those "sexy" start-ups that has raised boatloads of cash. But not everyone has had such a great experience using it. SAI reporter Matt Lynley tried to use the site when he first moved to New York, and it was an utter disaster.

As is the case with sites like Ebay or Craigslist, the quality of your Airbnb experience probably comes down to how lucky you get with the seller. Lynley got burned, and his experience was terrible.

On the other hand, I lucked out, and as a result my travel experience to Indianapolis was more pleasant than I ever could have hoped.

Learning how to navigate the website was simple, and it didn't take me too long to find a place once I got browsing

Like a lot of people, I leave any website that takes me more than 60 seconds to figure out how to use.

But Airbnb was generally simple. The one drawback was that the bolded title of each listing was often misleading (pretty much every one had "INDY" and "SUPER BOWL" it in even if the place was located outside Indianapolis).

But other than that, it was easy to click through and find a place.

Eventually, a settled on a place that cost $200 per night. It seems like a lot, but seeing as some hotel rooms 20 miles away were going for $400+, I'd call it a steal.

My eventual landlord confirmed by purchase after just 16 minutes

I booked my trip on Jan. 23 — less than two weeks before the Super Bowl — so I was stressed out that I wouldn't be able to find a room in Indy.

Luckily, I booked the room at 5:31 p.m., and by 5:47 p.m. my landlord had confirmed my purchase.

Boom! Just like that I was ready to go

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook.

See Also:

Inside The Apple Protest In San Francisco

Boonsri Dickinson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:18:51 -0500

Responding to reports of poor conditions in the Chinese factories that make Apple products, a quarter of a million people signed a petition on Change.org and SumOfUs.org, hoping that the signatures will provoke a reaction from Apple.

Today, Change.org founder Ben Rattray and his team delivered the signatures collected through his platform to the Apple Store in San Francisco.

All 250,000 signatures were delivered to other locations including New York City, Washington DC, London, Sydney, and Bangalore.

Rattray said, "we are most excited by the capacity of an individual. This is Mark Shields, who is an Apple lover. Immediately in response to an article by The New York Times, Shields rapidly organized a quarter of a million people around the world and organized a distributed protest around the world. It's a remarkable demonstration of the capacity of individuals to advance real change."

The next stop is to escalate talks with Apple and allow consumers to directly negotiate with Apple, Rattray said. Many of the concerned consumers hope that the iPhone 5 will be the first ethical iPhone, Rattray added.

Here was the scene in downtown San Francisco as some folks delivered the petitions to the Apple Store.

After a short hello, Rattray and several members from his Change.org team handed over the petitions to Apple employee Larry Verter.

Verter kindly accepted the petitions.

One of the Change.org team members expressed his feelings non-verbally, by dressing up as an iPhone.

Dennis Ring, an Apple customer, stopped by the protest and told us, "I'm here as a consumer to see that the petitions get delivered. To let Tim Cook know they have to change their ways and set the standard for the rest of the industry."

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

17 Gadgets And Games That'll Guarantee You'll Have A Great Valentine's Day

Kamaila Sanders — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:57:05 -0500

This year, skip the jewels and opt for another kind of gift your valentine will love. Give the gift of gadgets.

Still not sure what she'd want? No worries!

We compiled a list of gadgets women will love so much they won't even notice their gift didn't come in a Tiffany's blue box.

The Sims Master Suite expansion pack brings enhanced romance to your Sims

If your valentine loves the Sims, the Sims Master Suite expansion pack is a great gift that will enhance their game.

Sims Master Suite helps to turn their home into something, "stylish and sexy" and amps up the romance among Sims.

The Sims Master Suite is $19.99 and can be purchased at Origin.

A kindle e-reader with Wi-Fi is a great gift for book lovers

The Amazon Kindle e-reader is perfect for the bibliophile you love the most.

One of our favorite features is the fact that you can borrow kindle books from your public library.

The Kindle starts at a reasonable $79.00. You can buy it directly from Amazon.

URBANEARS headphones come in your valentine's favorite color

The URBANEARS headphones are popular for making hip headphones in an array of hot colors for a reasonable price.

Their headphones start at $35.00 and you can browse more colors and styles your valentine will love here.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.

See Also:

The Facebook IPO Could Set Silicon Valley's Real Estate Market On Fire

Matthew Kassel — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:53:37 -0500

Facebook's upcoming IPO will create a lot of new millionaires.

And Silicon Valley's already thriving real estate market is gearing up in anticipation of some expensive home purchases by Facebook's newly monied elite, reports Michael Cooper for The New York Times.

With the help of Facebook, Silicon Valley's hot market is even expected to rub off on some of the fringe towns in the Bay Area that have struggled to recover from a deflated housing bubble.

Jim Carlton reports in The Wall Street Journal that 72 of 102 cities or towns in the area experienced declines in home prices in the fourth quarter, compared with last year. In contrast, Menlo Park, where Facebook is headquartered, saw a 52.7 percent uptick in median home sales prices.

That increase could reverberate further out as Facebook cashes in on its new wealth. Lianne Pinkston, a Bay Area broker, told Carlton that there is reason to be optimistic about this.

DON'T MISS: These Are The 25 Most Generous People In America >

Please follow The Life on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Peter Thiel: Death Is A Problem That Can Be Solved

Kamelia Angelova — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:50:00 -0500

Venture capitalist and billionaire Peter Thiel is financing medical research that would possibly extend the human lifespan to 150 years or more.

"There are all these people who say that death is natural, it's just part of life, and I think that nothing can be further from the truth," says Thiel.

Silicon Valley billionaires are pouring money into gene research and modifications, and Sonia Arrison, author of 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, says that recently born babies could be the first generation to live to be 150 years old.

Medical discoveries in recent years have allowed us to grow new organs, to create new body parts with 3-D printing, and Thiel says that the research he's sponsoring is on track to deliver even more breakthroughs to slow down human aging.

Watch the CBS report below.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

How Roku Wants To Beat Apple By Treating Your TV Like A Smartphone

Steve Kovach — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:21:00 -0500

With all the talk surrounding Apple's rumored television set, it's easy to glance over the other companies tackling the so-called "Smart TV" space.

Of all the connected TVs, Blu-Ray players, Google TV boxes, video game consoles, etc., Roku has one of the most popular devices out there.

And they say they're just barely beating Apple in the space, at least in terms of how many boxes they've sold so far in the U.S. (However, we couldn't confirm specific numbers, so take that claim with a grain of salt.)

We had a chance to sit down with Roku's CEO Anthony Wood to get a look at how the company plans to stand out in a space that seems to be getting pretty crowded all of the sudden.

Most importantly, Wood says Roku's goal isn't to convince people to cut the cord from their cable companies and start streaming web content instead. Unlike Boxee, which actively encourages its users to cut the cord, Wood sees Roku as a layer on top of cable that adds more on-demand content via apps like Hulu, Netflix, and Pandora.

Don't Miss: Here's What Happens When You Cut The Cord From Cable For A Week

And cable companies are pretty cool with it, Wood says, despite the fact that Roku's internal stats show about 20% of its users cut back on cable channels and another 20% completely cancel cable. Wood hinted that Roku was in talks with companies to pipe their content through the Roku box, just like Verizon's Fios and Comcast do through the Xbox.

So what about all those TVs that already come with apps like Hulu and Netflix built in? For example, Samsung says its new Smart TVs are "future-proof," meaning all the apps and other web features are built in and will be updated automatically.

Wood says it's likely TV manufacturers like Samsung can't keep that promise. Instead, he sees people itching to upgrade their TVs every two or three years, the same way they upgrade their smartphones. As app developers turn to the living room, it's important for the guys behind boxes like Roku, Boxee, Apple TV, etc. to beef up their hardware to offer more capabilities too.

For example, Roku's current line of Roku 2 boxes have the ability to play games like Angry Birds and display fancy 3D interfaces for apps. The original Roku's hardware can't handle that. Wood sees those kind of jumps in hardware performance happening every few years, which will make people want to upgrade.

At $99 for the maxed-out Roku model, that may be doable. After all, we spend at least $200 when we upgrade our smartphones.

To make it easier to upgrade, Roku plans to launch a new Streaming Stick, which packs all of Roku's features into a device that's just slightly larger than a USB thumb drive. The stick plugs into the back of your TV.

Unfortunately, your TV will need a special kind of HDMI port that can provide power to the Streaming Stick. Most TVs don't have that right now, but Roku does have a deal with Best Buy that will bundle the stick with the store's own line of Insignia TVs. Roku is pushing for the same with other brands too.

Wood's philosophy feels a lot different than what techies and other companies have been talking about when it comes to smart TVs.

Boxee is all about freeing yourself from cable and getting all your content online or for free over the air. If the rumors about the Apple TV turn out to be true, it'll force a change in the way cable providers deliver content to our living room. As some have speculated, the Apple TV could make it possible for you to buy channels a la carte instead of paying the cable company one flat fee for a bunch of stuff you don't want.

Because it all comes down to content, we're not so sure people will be dying to make a hardware upgrade every few years as Wood claims. It's just easier to stick with one box or one connected TV with all those streaming apps built in. As long as they can still get the video they want when they want it, the hardware is almost irrelevant.

Please follow SAI: Media on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Here's Everything You Wanted To Know About Microsoft's Upcoming iPad Killers (MSFT)

Matt Rosoff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:54:00 -0500

Microsoft's Windows chief Steven Sinofsky just put up 8,000+ word blog post on Microsoft's plans for Windows 8 on the low-powered ARM processors that today run the iPad and most other tablets.

This is the most critical part of Windows 8.

Like every version of Windows, Windows 8 will probably dominate the market for traditional notebook PCs and desktop PCs.

But it also has to take on the iPad, which is now outselling desktop PCs and had sales last quarter equal to 17 percent of the traditional PC market.

For Microsoft's hardware partners to make Windows 8 tablets that are competitive with the iPad in terms of battery life, they're probably going to have to use ARM chipsets.

Microsoft first announced that Windows 8 would run on ARM "systems on a chip" from Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments back in January 2011. It was a bit of a shock at the time — Windows has traditionally been sold only for Intel-type (x86 and 64-bit) processors.

But since then, Microsoft hasn't revealed many more details, leaving us to wonder exactly what applications would be available and whether it would ship at the same time as Windows 8 for traditional Intel-based PCs.

Now, we know a lot more. The highlights:

There will be a separate version of Windows called "Windows On ARM," not "Windows 8 for ARM" ... or "Windows 8" anything for that matter. It is not the same as Windows 8 for traditional PCs, but shares a lot of code and components.

It will run a special version of Office. There will be versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for Windows On ARM. The apps will be designed to work on touch screens, will have full document compatibility with traditional versions of Office, and will use a lot less power than their equivalents for regular PCs.

There will be a desktop mode for Office and IE. As we've written before, Windows 8 has a split personality — there's a desktop interface that will work and look a lot like Windows 7, and a new "Metro" interface that is designed for touch. (The "Metro" interface is what Microsoft has demonstrated so far — the big colorful icons and sliding menus are a highlight.) There was speculation that Windows On ARM would run ONLY Metro style apps. That's mostly true, but Office and Internet Explorer will also be available in desktop mode.

It will ship around the same time as regular Windows 8. That is the "collective goal" of Microsoft and its hardware partners.

The hardware and software will be tightly integrated. This makes perfect sense — Microsoft can't compete with the iPad on ease of use unless it creates a similar end-to-end experience. So Microsoft has been working closely with all parts of the hardware chain, from suppliers to PC manufacturers. Also, you won't be able to buy Windows for ARM as a separate operating system to install on your own PC — it will only ship on new machines. Microsoft will update it over the Internet automatically. Sinofsky writes "Delivering WOA PCs is a partnership with PC manufacturers who bring their expertise in manufacturing, system engineering, and industrial design and combine that with the engineering work of ARM partners to develop a complete PC."

You won't power these things off. Windows On ARM PCs will be like other smartphones and tablets — the screen will go dark and it will enter a low-power mode. But you'll probably never turn it off.

There will be ways for developers to write for both platforms at once. This is complicated, and gets into developer-speak, but basically if you're using an abstracted or "high-level" programming language, such as C#, Visual Basic, XAML (all Microsoft-specific) or JavaScript and HTML5 (common Web-standard languages), then you can write one "Metro" style program and have it automatically work on both ARM-based devices and traditional PCs. If you want to write more directly to the hardware using C or C++, you'll have to do some extra work.

It will not be possible to port existing Windows apps to the new platform. It's a total rewrite.

Windows On ARM devices will be clearly labeled. So customers will know that they're buying a device that does not run old Windows apps.

Apps will be available ONLY through Windows directly (built-in) or the Windows Store. Microsoft had already said this would be the case for Metro apps, but it's apparently the case for all Windows On ARM apps — again, very much like Apple does with the iPad and App Store.

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview coming on Feb 29 will not include Windows On ARM. It will only be the x86/64-bit (traditional PC) version. Around the next Windows milestone, Microsoft will release test PCs running Windows On Arm to developers and hardware makers. These are NOT going to look anything like the final product, and will NOT be generally available to the masses.

Microsoft says that Windows On ARM will ship on touch-screen devices other than tablets — convertibles (notebook-to-tablet) seem likely. Likewise, the traditional versions of Windows 8 (x86 and 64-bit) might be available on some tablets.

But by and large, when you see a Windows 8 tablet, it probably will be running Windows On ARM. Especially at launch, which is expected later this year.

There's a ton more technical detail in the blog post, plus a downloadable video (not embeddable here). Read it all here.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

If You Want An Immediate 'No,' Start An Investor Pitch Like This

Alyson Shontell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:54:00 -0500

We conducted a Q&A with billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

He's a judge on ABC's Shark Tank and he is an angel investor, so he has seen a lot of startup pitches.

We asked Cuban about the worst pitch he's ever seen. He replied, "Tons have started, 'I have a great idea, can you help me?' or 'I don't know where to start.' Those are an immediate no."

The best pitches, Cuban says, tell him why the product is different, how it will stay ahead of competition, and how it will give him a return on investment.

Here's the full Q&A.

The next episode of Shark Tank will air on Friday, Feb 10 at 8 PM.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

The Best And Worst Things About Being A Billionaire: A Q&A With Mark Cuban

Alyson Shontell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:35:00 -0500

At our IGNITION conference last fall, Mark Cuban summed up his life in one quip: "Someone has to be the world's luckiest person!"

Cuban certainly could be the world's "luckiest man," but that would discount his incredible savvy as a businessman and investor.

Cuban made his fortune when he sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo in the late '90s. Now he owns the Dallas Mavericks, throws ragers at the Super Bowl, and angel invests in startups.

Cuban is also a judge on ABC's Shark Tank, which just launched its second season (the next episode airs Friday, Feb 10 at 8 PM).

We did a Q&A with the billionaire over email. Here's his advice to startups, his players, and his thoughts about Yahoo.

Business Insider: What does an entrepreneur have to do to catch your eye?

1. Know what areas I invest in. Don't bring me anything outside of tech, media or consumer.
2. Be differentiated
3. Know your industry cold. I'm not going to do the work for you.

How many companies have you invested in; how much do you generally invest?

I don't even know how many...50 plus. Anywhere from $25,000 to $4 million with 90 percent being $250,000 or under.

Does a startup's location matter to you when you invest? Is it still an advantage to have a headquarters in Silicon Valley or NYC?

To me it’s a disadvantage in either. It’s far more expensive and particularly in the Valley there is a level of arrogance that can be distracting.

Worst pitch you've ever heard?

Tons that started "I have a great idea, can you help me?" or “I don't know where to start.” Those are an immediate no.

Best pitch you've ever heard?

People who can tell me why their product is unique and differentiated, by how they will compete and stay ahead and how they will give me a return on my investment from operations.

How should entrepreneurs think about their exit strategies?

They shouldn't. They should focus on building the best possible business. If you are great, people will notice and opportunities will appear. Then you decide if it works for you or not.

You encourage people to angel invest rather than put their money in the stock market. Isn't that insane advice for the general public?

Not if you stick to what you know and can add value to. If you can't add value, don't do it. What's insane is thinking the stock market will always go up and the needs of your life, house, car and medical won't crush your investment approach.

What do you tell your athletes to do with their money?

I tell everyone the same thing. Pay off 100 percent of your debt. Use the transactional value of cash to get an absolute return on your savings (buying something in bulk to save 40 percent on something you know you need is a guaranteed return of 40 percent. You can't get that anywhere in market). And don't invest in things you don’t know.

What's the best thing about being a billionaire? The worst?

Everything. Nothing.

Do you think Yahoo made a good choice hiring a technical CEO rather than one from the media business?

Yahoo’s issue is culture. They can't leverage all the amazing assets they have until they get a little ruthless in how they relate to their competitors. They generate huge percent of traffic for other sites and you would never know which sites because that would be impolite. They can't be afraid of using the wrong fork.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Apple Is Now Worth More Than Google And Microsoft Combined (AAPL, MSFT, GOOG)

Jay Yarow — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:24:58 -0500

Apple's stock is hitting new highs during today's trading. It's currently at $494.

That makes its market cap ($460 billion) greater than Google ($198 billion) and Microsoft ($257 billion) combined.

The crazy thing is that Apple is just getting started. It could sell a ton of iPhones, iPads, and even TVs this year. Don't be shocked if it's a $1 trillion company some day.

From Google Finance:

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: Apple's Going To $1,000 A Share! (AAPL)

Henry Blodget — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:09:00 -0500

People thought he was nuts at the time, but two years ago, on this web site, Piper analyst Gene Munster agreed that Apple stock could hit $1,000 a share.

With a new all-time intraday high of $495 a share today, it's already halfway there.

A $1,000 share price, by the way, would make Apple worth almost a nice, cool trillion. And even today, it's already worth more than Microsoft and Google combined.

So it seems a good time to revisit Gene's fearless prediction. Let's go to the videotape...

NOTE: We conducted this interview on January 15, 2010.

A chat with Gene Munster, Senior Research Analyst, Piper Jaffray (Disclosures)

Blodget: Yes, Apple Can Go To $1,000 A Share (6 min)

This is now "the decade of mobile," and Apple can become the global smartphone leader
Yes, Apple can maintain its incredible growth rate, even though it's huge
There's an explosive growth opportunity for Apple as products reach lower price points
The app development platform is definitely favoring Apple
Apple won't crack corporate America, but that's not where the huge mobile money is
Gene cannot put a specific long-term price target on Apple, but it's better positioned than any other hardware company to grow over the next 5 years

And don't miss...

Is Apple Making The Same 1990s Mistake All Over Again? No Way, Says Gene Munster

Produced By: Kamelia Angelova & William Wei

10 Companies With Huge Management Red Flags (HPQ, WFC, CAT)

Kim Bhasin and Melanie Hicken — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:52:00 -0500

Poor corporate governance and questionable accounting practices.

That's what these 10 big companies have in common, according to a list compiled for us by GovernanceMetric's International, an independent research firm that analyzes business risk.

According to GMI, all these companies present a "high level of concern" for both their short and long-term prospects thanks to a variety of risky management issues -- ranging from exorbitant executive compensation to lack of board independence.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Environmental, social and governmental risk:

HP has been plagued by board dysfunction for much of the last decade, marked by a "long string of questionable strategic and personnel decisions" according to GMI.

The company is now on its third CEO in less than two years. These moves have shaken confidence in the company’s leadership and destroyed a ton of shareholder value.

And in 2010, the United States joined German and Russian authorities in investigating whether HP executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to Russian officials to win a contract in Russia.

Accounting risk:

Accounting red flags center on asset and liability issues, as well as the fact that the debt to equity ration increased even further in 2011.

Source: GMI Ratings

Wells Fargo (WFC)

Environmental, social and governmental risk:

GMI cites both board and compensation concerns at Wells Fargo.

Three executive officers receive at least $2 million and CEO John Stumpf’s base salary is in the top 10 highest salaries for reported S&P 500 CEOs so far this year. Stumpf's annual incentive award is not capped, has no pre-determined target and includes qualitative performance objectives.

In relation to board leadership, there are five directors who have served for more than a decade and seven directors who serve on at least three other boards. GMI questions whether they have the time to devote to the Wells Fargo board and be effective.

GMI also noted that the independence of Lead Director Phillip Quigley may be compromised by his long service (17 years) and the employment of his son, Scott Quigley, who is an institutional relationship manager in the company’s Wholesale Banking group.

Accounting risk:

GMI says that accounting risk at Wells Fargo is heightened by an active stream of divestitures, mergers and restructurings.

Source: GMI Ratings

Caterpillar (CAT)

Environmental, social and governmental risk:

Caterpillar has both compensation and board issues, according to the GMI analysis.

Despite his 2010 retirement, former CEO James Owens received summary compensation of $22,545,984 -- nearly four times the median summary compensation for the company's seven other execs. His compensation also includes a grant of restricted stock units that vest after time without any performance-based criteria.

In terms of board management, eight directors have served for at least a decade, including four who are at least 70, which raises succession planning concerns as well as questions of board independence.

Accounting risk:

GMI's accounting red flags are concentrated around the valuation of company assets and liabilities. The company also has lower liquidity and is more leveraged more than its peers. relative to peers and liquidity low. Lower levels of administrative and operating expenses suggest questionable accounting, according to the analysis.

Source: GMI Ratings

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.

See Also:

Facebook's Most Important People

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:39:00 -0500

The two most important people at Facebook are CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.

You already knew that.

Thanks to a movie about his life, Zuckerberg is world famous.

Sandberg is getting that way. She is on track to becoming one of the world's wealthiest self-made women.

But who are the other crucial players at Facebook? Who are the people who the company has to do everything it can to hang onto after its $100 billion IPO?

Bret Taylor is building the Facebook phone

Facebook's various mobile apps are installed on over 400 million phones.

And yet, Facebook doesn't make much money at all from its mobile users.

Worse, Facebook is constantly beholden to the companies that make those phones and the companies that makes the operating systems for those phones. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg publicly complained about this issue at our Ignition conference in December.

To solve these problems, Facebook is actually working on building its own phone and phone operating system.

Bret Taylor, former Facebook CTO, is the guy leading that project.

Chris Cox is Mark Zuckerberg's soulmate, and he embodies Facebook's values.

Chris Cox has had a remarkable career at Facebook.

He led development of the News Feed and then he took over Facebook's Human Resources department, where he crafted the company's guiding principles and turned around a poor recruiting track record.

Because he understands where Zuckerberg wants to take Facebook, he is one of the CEO's most trusted advisors. He is one of handful of his direct reports.

Sam Lessin designs what your Facebook profile looks like

Sam Lessin has Mark Zuckerberg's ear.

The two went to Harvard together and formed a lasting bond.

After that, Lessin founded a startup called Drop.io. It didn't really take off, and Facebook acquired it last year – mostly to employ Lessin.

Zuckerberg immediately put Lessin in charge of one of Facebook's most important pages, the user profile.

In the Fall, the company released "Timeline" a completely redesigned profile.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

See Also:

THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Facebook Has Microsoft As Ally To Take On Google (GOOG)

Heather Leonard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:19:00 -0500

The Google Investor is a daily report from SAI. Sign up here to receive it by email

GOOG Sideways In Mixed Market
Stocks are trading sideways as markets process reports on Greece reaching a debt deal. Shares of GOOG are all over the map as well. Investors continue to look for Android momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets worldwide; Motorola acquisition approval and integration; regaining ground in China; resurgence of Google TV and continued growth of YouTube; expansion of social network Google+; and progress in other newer initiatives (location-based services, mapping, gaming, daily deals, Google Wallet, Google Music, etc.). The stock trades at approximately 11.9x Enterprise Value / EBIT.

Facebook Has Microsoft As Ally To Battle Google (eWeek)
Microsoft is leveraging its minority stake in Facebook in many ways: the search engine bakes the social network’s “Like” button into its results, presents Facebook information on the results page and incorporates initiatives such as Docs.com. Combined, that gives Microsoft and Facebook a search engine, social network and cloud-productivity hub to battle Google’s assets in those areas. Granted, Bing trails Google in search-engine market share, and Docs.com is unlikely to run roughshod over Google Apps. However, Facebook won't have to fight Google entirely alone.

Android OEMs Represent 25% Of The World's Mobile Browsing (Engadget)
Nokia sits atop the world's market when it comes to mobile phone shipments and market share. But as it turns out, the Finnish manufacturer leads the way in terms of mobile web browsing, too. That's according to the latest report from StatCounter, which found that Nokia handsets account for about 40% of the world's mobile browsing, followed by Apple at around 29% and Samsung at 14%. Android OEMs as a whole account for a little under 25% of the world's mobile browsing.

Google / Motorola Could Happen As Early As Next Week (Business Insider)
Google's $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola will be cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice as early as next week. European regulators have also set a deadline of next Monday to decide whether or not to sign off. The authorities are worried that Google might use Motorola's massive patent hoard to block other companies in the mobile space. Earlier today, Google tried to calm those fears by promising it would offer to license those patents before suing. Once the deal closes, the fun begins: seeing whether Google can actually turn Motorola's fading business around.

Motorola Remembers Entry-Level Phones, Launching In U.K. (Pocket-lint)
Motorola kicked off 2012 by announcing the arrival of both the Motorola Defy Mini and Motorola Motoluxe (Gingerbread) handsets. The latter of the two is landing in the U.K. this month. Motorola has been pushing the high-end in Android phones for a while, coaxing early-adopters with LTE marvels like the Droid Razr and the Droid 4, but the Motoluxe shows it hasn't forgotten the entry-level market. Solid and middle-of-the-road is usually the route for affordable devices.

Interactive Marketing And How That Affects Google (Search Engine Watch)
Forrester's Interactive Marketing Forecast for 2011-2016 predicts that 26% of all advertising spend will come from interactive marketing reaching a grand total of $77 billion by 2016, with $33 billion of that coming through search. Although the report states that search will lose some share of the pie from 55% today to 44% of all interactive spend in 2016, it also states that "Marketers refocus their search marketing strategies on 'getting found' by users through any medium — not just search engines." A mixed bag for Google.

Google Chrome Finally Comes To Android (Various via Scoople)
Big news came from Google this week as the company released the very first beta version of its Chrome web browser for Android. Like the mobile versions of Opera and Firefox for Android, browser tabs and favorites from the user's desktop version are synced to the mobile browser, providing a unified experience across platforms. Bookmarks can be ported across smartphones, tabs left open on the desktop can also be synched to the smartphone or tablet and the autocomplete suggestions can be shared.

Google Picking Up Yahoo Search Share (Business Insider)
For the second month in a row, Yahoo lost significant share of U.S. searches, according to ComScore, falling 0.4 points to 14.1%. Google seems to have picked up most of its losses, and is now at 66.2% while Bing has been on a slow but upward trend and stands at 15.2%. Although Bing powers Yahoo's search, Microsoft keeps all the money from search advertising on Bing, while Yahoo takes close to 90% of the ad money from searches on Yahoo. So this is bad news for Yahoo. Also, the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo has done nothing to stop Google.

App Economy Creating Jobs Where There Were None Just A Few Years Ago (TechNet)
A new report from TechNet suggests that the nascent app economy created by Apple (iOS), Google (Android) and Facebook has generated 466,000 jobs in the U.S. economy since 2007. Of those jobs, 311,000 have been generated and another 155,000 jobs have also been indirectly created from the app boom. The figures are estimates and are based on calculations on the existing market for app-related jobs. These figures, however, could represent “jobs not lost” rather than net jobs gained. In any event, good for the economy and good for New York and California which saw the highest percentage of those jobs.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Sean Parker's Next Big Thing Is Chatroulette For Facebook

Matt Lynley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:16:00 -0500

We've long suspected Airtime to be a social video chat website, and we've heard before from industry sources that it's similar to Chatroulette.

But the most recent website update basically confirms it, with a big fat Facebook Connect button sitting in the middle of the site.

Here's how the new description reads:

Airtime is a live social video company founded by Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, the creators of the original Napster. Investors include Founders Fund, Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, SV Angel, Yuri Milner, Ashton Kutcher, will.i.am, Scott Braun, and Michael Arrington.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Nokia Says There Is No "Plan B," It's All About Windows Phone (MSFT)

Heather Leonard — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:15:53 -0500

The Microsoft Investor is a daily report from SAI. Sign up here to receive it by email.

MSFT Sideways With Market
Stocks are seesawing today on reports of Greece reaching a debt deal. Shares of MSFT are currently off as the rest of tech is recovering. Upcoming catalysts include Windows 8, Windows Server 8, Office 15 and Windows Phone 8; expansion in the smartphone market with primary hardware partner Nokia; strides in cloud computing; profitability in the online business, including integration of Skype; and continued evolution of Kinect and next generation Xbox. The stock currently trades at 8.2x Enterprise Value / TTM Free Cash Flow.

Nokia's Putting All Its Eggs In The Microsoft Basket (SlashGear)
Nokia may be putting all of its weight into Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, according to the company's European manager, Victor Saeijs. The executive told the Swedish news outlet Dagens Industri that the handset maker's Windows Phone investments must prove successful, as there is no back-up plan. He says, "Plan B is that Plan A is to succeed." Lumia handsets are some of the best-selling smartphones in Sweden, though performance in the U.S. market remains to be seen.

Guess Who Leads The World In Mobile Web Browsing? (Engadget)
Nokia sits atop the world's market when it comes to mobile phone shipments and market share. But as it turns out, the Finnish manufacturer leads the way in terms of mobile web browsing, too. That's according to the latest report from StatCounter, which found that Nokia handsets account for about 40% of the world's mobile browsing, followed by Apple at around 29% and Samsung at 14%. Nokia's global dominance is due to high penetration in emerging markets like India.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview To Be Released At The End Of The Month (ZDNet)
Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows 8 release for public testing will likely be unveiled at a press event in Barcelona on February 29, occurring at the same time as the Mobile World Congress. Originally referred to as the Windows 8 Beta, the release will instead be called the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. That gives one a pretty good idea as to the target audience. The word Beta now generally means something is not finished with bugs and fixes. Microsoft is positioning this as more of a preview of what's to come.

Microsoft Readies Windows 8 For App Store Games (The Verge)
Microsoft is preparing a line up of games for the Windows 8 operating system that consumers will be able to purchase on the upcoming Windows Store. The games will be part of a new app-like experience for Windows users, making it easier to download apps for a Windows PC. Microsoft will take 30% of the proceeds, the same percentage taken by Facebook and Apple. But Microsoft will reduce its take to 20% after an app reaches $25,000 in sales. The preview version of the store is expected in late February (likely the same event as above).

The Post-PC Era Is Upon Us (Various via Scoople)
There’s been a debate lately as to whether the iPad can fit into the so-called PC category. Or is there room for a third category in the middle of a smartphone and a PC. Given the copious amounts of data released last week detailing the rise of the tablet and smartphones outpacing PC sales, there has been much debate about what the post-PC era is, when it will arrive, or whether it's already here. We likely crossed the imaginary line from the "PC" era to the "post-PC" era at the end of 2011.

Microsoft Adds Another OEM To The Game, LG Launching Windows Phone (PocketNow)
LG is planning to introduce a mid-range Windows Phone. An image of the device has surfaced and it’s reportedly the same handset as the LG Fantasy that was revealed in a leaked roadmap in December. The smartphone is expected to sport a 4-inch super-bright NOVA display, 1GHz Snapdragon single-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, front-facing VGA camera, and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 720p video capture. The device will likely be unveiled at Mobile World Congress later this month.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

CHART OF THE DAY: What If Apple Transferred $1 Billion In Profits To Foxconn Workers? (AAPL)

Jay Yarow — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:15:03 -0500

We saw this chart from Nic Musolino at ninety9, via Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism. It shows what would happen if Apple were to transfer $1 billion in profits to all Foxconn employees.

As you can see, the average wage of a Foxconn worker would double, while Apple's profits would barely be affected.

Why would Apple want to do this? Smith argues that when Henry Ford raised wages for Ford's assembly line workers it led to other manufacturers having to raise wages to keep up. That ended up creating a lot of wealth around the country, which led to more people being able to afford cars.

In theory, Apple could take a very small short term profit hit to accelerate the development of China's iPad/iPhone buying middle class.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

The Teaser Image For Tesla's Model X SUV Contains A Hidden Message

Travis Okulski — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:13:00 -0500

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has just released this concept sketch of the brand new Model X SUV on his Twitter.

Though the image is very dark, we see a front end that is very reminiscent of the Model S sedan that is currently on the way to production.

It also appears that the rumored "falcon doors" will be making it to the real version of the car.

According to Autoblog, the car is also expected to be "quicker than a Porsche 911 and roomier than an Audi Q7."

We also used Photoshop to try and get a better look since we were so curious. Tesla seem to have figured out that we would be doing just that:

The Model X will officially be revealed at 8 PM PST tonight at Tesla's office in California. I guess we will see then just how sweet the fruit really is.

Now take a look at this insane concept car >

Please follow Getting There on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Facebook Millionaire Artist David Choe Draws Graffiti On Barbara Walters

Kamelia Angelova — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:57:40 -0500

Artist David Choe made a gamble when he chose to be paid in stock rather than in cash for adorning the wall of Facebook's offices with his graffiti in the company's early days.

Two years before, Choe was in a Japanese prison for three months for hitting a security guard. He has also done jail time for cashing fraudulent checks and stealing, but he was never really preoccupied with money, he says in an interview with Barbara Walters.

The 35-year-old artist is now worth more than $200 million as Facebook is moving forward to become public later this year.

Watch below Choe drawing graffiti over Walters' white shirt. ["How much am I worth?" Walters asks after.]

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Klout Has Access To A Ton Of Its Users' Data — Here's What It's Doing With It

Matt Lynley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:38:00 -0500

Facebook has a profile for you. Twitter has a profile of you. Google+ has a profile of you, too.

Klout, a "measure of your influence" on the Internet, has access to all of them. Klout users connect all those accounts to the site and whittle it all down to a score.

What do you get out of it?

Well, bragging rights, for one. There's constant bickering, even in the Business Insider office, over whose Klout score is higher.

But you also get perks — which is the main purpose of your Klout score. The whole service is designed to connect "influencers" with brands and give those brands a way to spread the message organically.

Still, it's a lot of information. What is Klout doing with it?

We sat down with Tim Mahlman, chief revenue officer of the company, to find out exactly what's going on. Here's what we learned:

Klout actually isn't selling that data. It doesn't sell access to your profile to advertisers or brands, even though it has a very complete picture of you.

But Klout is leaving the door open to trying new revenue models. Mahlman didn't immediately strike down the idea of selling access to that data, but said the company intends to "keep the user first."

The only thing brands have access to is the influencer's Klout score. They don't even have access to the topics he or she is influential about. Klout is the gatekeeper here — you can only get introductions through the company.

Klout is really interested in Pinterest. You can already connect with Twitter, Google+ and a bunch of other social networks, but it's interested in connecting with social networks that are growing lightning fast, Mahlman said.

And here's the full interview:

BUSINESS INSIDER: The first question I have to ask, I guess: is your Klout score really a measure of how much less influential you are than Justin Bieber on the Internet?

TIM MAHLMAN: Yeah, haha. Yep. For us, our vision is that everyone has clout. The beauty of it is that we actually have a vehicle with social media to be able to ingest that and be able to reward people with a score of their influence. For the first time, you now have the ability to explicitly highlight to someone what their true influence is — whether it's a Justin Bieber or that mom of three in middle America. We're trying to build a business that enables us to highlight that to people.

BI: I can see how that's important for businesses, they want to pinpoint the influencers. Why is it important for the mom of three?

TM: One, it's to recognize them for who they are, it's an identifier that they can hold onto. When that mom is walking down the street, everyone else doesn't recognize her, but when she's online she's really influential when it comes to deodorant or detergent. This allows us to recognize that and pull in that data for our algorithm and recognize who she is — and equate a score to that.

Our goal is to be able to introduce that woman to these brands and for them to have a relationship with these brands. Not from an advertising perspective, but from a pure customer relationship management perspective that says, P&G, meet middle America mom who's influential when it comes to detergent. You two guys should meet. That's the goal.

BI: You guys are already tied in with Salesforce on the CRM front. Are you guys planning any future integrations like that? Maybe a Zoho or some other CRM?

TM: That's actually something we're really excited about, not only the integration with Radian6 via Salesforce, but the vision is to have Klout be a part of every day life. We want more of those partnerships. We ran with a financial services company over the holidays, they introduced their members to Klout over email, and if they opted in their credit card would award them with more points based off their Klout score. I thought that was brilliant, it gave users a platform to amplify how exciting it was to have this card, and gave the brands a way to interact with them. We look at that as a true social commerce and continue to keep iterating on.

BI: How does the whole perk system fit into this vision? I know you guys have big partnership programs for revenue, but the perks seem like a consumer approach.

TM: The idea behind it is the same way brands buy search — we ask them to give us three to five words. I can find topics and find the most influential people in those topics and introduce those brands to the influencers. The same way Larry Page built page rank, we're trying to build people ranking. You can then introduce your products — maybe a month or so before they go live — to them and allow those influencers to amplify the message in ways that marketers have had a difficult time of trying to do. T

I really emphasize the term relationship, we aren't trying to hard sell a brand. When we introduce a user to that particular brand, there's no guarantee the influencers will be an advocate for that brand. But they should meet those people regardless of sentiment.

BI: What do you do to insulate your users from, maybe the word corrupt is too strong, but have a wall between the brands like P&G and influencers? How do you keep them from sticking their hands in a little too far? Is that something you want to protect against?

TM: In the early stages, brands looked at social media as a way to find celebrities and professional bloggers to get their products in their hands. They still do that strategy, we want to stay away from it. We're always the buffer between the brand and the influencers. Any time we identify an influencer for a perk, we're the ones who reach out to them, not the brands. We deliver it to the user, then the user has the ability to opt in to be part of that perks program.

Even through receiving the product, we stipulate in our code of conduct that the user is not obligated to write about it. It's completely up to them if they speak about it, all we do is offer the introduction. By creating the buffer, we feel that's a more genuine, trusted environment. When we roll out the perks, we have our own customized boxes in our own Klout tangerine color. We want to make people feel like it isn't paid, that they are getting in and there's no obligation and it's simply because they get Klout.

BI: So what kind of access to Klout profiles do you give advertisers? You have this profile of the mommy blogger, how much does, say, P&G know about the mommy blogger?

TM: We wouldn't even introduce P&G to the mommy blogger. We want to make sure who we introduce these influencers to are not professionals. We want to find John Smith from Des Moines, those are the people we really want to reach. They are the true celebrities, it's just brands.

BI: But what kind of a profile do brands get?

TM: Nothing. Brands get nothing, it's completely obfuscated. All you need to know is these are the set of influencers you want to reach, we recommend who they are, and we identify it through specific topics as to justification why they receive it. Other than that, no data gets passed to the brands for them to have the ability to have any further relationship with them, it always has to get funneled through Klout.

That's not just protecting our database but also adhering to our own codes of conduct for how we want our data to be used between our advertising brands and the influencer. The minute we start overstepping those bounds, we'll have lost trust with our community and we don't have the value we've been trying to build for years.

BI: You guys have access to all those profiles — Facebook and Google and Twitter. Users are opening their entire social lives to you. That seems powerful — what do you guys use that for?

TM: The only way the advertisers are working with us now is when we introduce perks. The other way companies use it is through our API and our analytics, and even then we are very strict on what data gets passed to them. In fact, to date, we don't actually pass topics, we only pass the score. That also allows us to control exactly how our data is being used.

It's pretty much from lessons learned from companies in the past that stepped over the line. Yes, we need to build revenue models to sustain our business and continue to grow it, but Joe's (Fernandez, CEO of Klout) vision is to make sure when he and I discuss how we're going to strategically build that out, is we take the user and the influencer first, and that becomes the catalyst of how we then build relationships with brands. We really think that social and leveraging Klout should be a relationship, it should not be pushing.

BI: So you guys don't give out any marketing data as a source of revenue?

TM: Nope, the only thing we do from a marketing data perspective is what we put in our blog and any of the case studies we build with our brand advertisers. We create sheets on how an ad campaign performed — how many influencers were reached, how many pieces of content were created and how many people were reached, how many impressions there were. That could iterate as we mature the business, but for now we feel there's no need to go down that path. As far as we're concerned, the user comes first, and everything we do from a decision standpoint starts there.

We hope that it gets to the point that you're checking the score for a good reason. The phone is something we're heavily invested in, mobile is something you're gonna see from us shortly. We want to have perks be tied to our mobile app so it's not just waiting for that box to show up, you have Klout part of your every day life. When you go to a restaurant you get preferred table seating, when you're boarding an airplane you board with the premiere people. When you check into that hotel you get an upgrade, it's about who you are and we're introducing you to that brand for them to curate that relationship.

BI: Any platforms you guys have your eye on?

TM: We have partnerships with fourteen different social networks, we're gonna keep building it. I believe in diversification, in order for us to be the standard for influence and be that measurement tool, we're evaluating the content being written across all social graphs. Although you do have the mass scale within those major three — Facebook, Twitter, Google+ — I would say don't discount any company growing at lightning speed like Pinterest. That's a company we'd love to have a partnership with. Moreover, there's a point where Klout will start to look beyond just social, the concept is still there.

There are also those uniques in the online world that aren't on social media, or they might be but they aren't engaged. They do engage in other properties. For example, what if a news organization know that this person has influence so when they write a comment on a particular article, and pushes their comment to the top. If I see the top comment comes from someone who has a Klout score of 60, that's relevant to me. Give recognition to that influencer and give me quality content to read beyond what that article is written about. Those are the things we want to iterate on.

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

SAI

Why Using Airbnb To Go To The Super Bowl Was The Best Decision I've Ever Made

Learning how to navigate the website was simple, and it didn't take me too long to find a place once I got browsing

Eventually, a settled on a place that cost $200 per night. It seems like a lot, but seeing as some hotel rooms 20 miles away were going for $400+, I'd call it a steal.

My eventual landlord confirmed by purchase after just 16 minutes

Inside The Apple Protest In San Francisco

17 Gadgets And Games That'll Guarantee You'll Have A Great Valentine's Day

The Sims Master Suite expansion pack brings enhanced romance to your Sims

A kindle e-reader with Wi-Fi is a great gift for book lovers

URBANEARS headphones come in your valentine's favorite color

The Facebook IPO Could Set Silicon Valley's Real Estate Market On Fire

DON'T MISS: These Are The 25 Most Generous People In America >

Peter Thiel: Death Is A Problem That Can Be Solved

How Roku Wants To Beat Apple By Treating Your TV Like A Smartphone

Here's Everything You Wanted To Know About Microsoft's Upcoming iPad Killers (MSFT)

If You Want An Immediate 'No,' Start An Investor Pitch Like This

The Best And Worst Things About Being A Billionaire: A Q&A With Mark Cuban

Apple Is Now Worth More Than Google And Microsoft Combined (AAPL, MSFT, GOOG)

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST: Apple's Going To $1,000 A Share! (AAPL)

More Video: Click HERE >

10 Companies With Huge Management Red Flags (HPQ, WFC, CAT)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)

Wells Fargo (WFC)

Caterpillar (CAT)

Facebook's Most Important People

Bret Taylor is building the Facebook phone

Chris Cox is Mark Zuckerberg's soulmate, and he embodies Facebook's values.

Sam Lessin designs what your Facebook profile looks like

THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: Facebook Has Microsoft As Ally To Take On Google (GOOG)

Sean Parker's Next Big Thing Is Chatroulette For Facebook

THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Nokia Says There Is No "Plan B," It's All About Windows Phone (MSFT)

CHART OF THE DAY: What If Apple Transferred $1 Billion In Profits To Foxconn Workers? (AAPL)

The Teaser Image For Tesla's Model X SUV Contains A Hidden Message

Now take a look at this insane concept car >

Facebook Millionaire Artist David Choe Draws Graffiti On Barbara Walters

Klout Has Access To A Ton Of Its Users' Data — Here's What It's Doing With It