(* Source: Michael Arrington *)

Posted by brian tiong at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Vic Gundotra *)

This guest post is written by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering for Google’s mobile and developer products. (Prior to Google, he spent 15 years at Microsoft, most recently as their GM of Platform Evangelism.) Vic credits his now-7-year-old with forecasting the importance of mobile data access, and now carries at least 4 phones at all times. Fortunately, he had two kids before adopting the possibly-prophylactic habit.

Focus on the mobile user, and all else will follow

Simpler data, better browsers, and a smoother experience

Today the mobile industry finds itself in a unique position to do right by its users:

Worldwide phone penetration continues to climb at a break-neck pace, with over 4 billion mobile subscribers at last count.¹ (In comparison, the PC industry is forecasted to see its sharpest unit decline in history.²) Prevailing economic conditions will accelerate this trend, as users consolidate pricey communication services into cost-effective, all-in-one mobile devices.³ And for the first time ever, half of all new connections to the internet will come from a phone in 2009.⁴

Google’s mobile traffic reflects these milestones — having quintupled since 2007⁵ — and it underscores users’ appetite for mobile data services. But as a community of operators, device manufacturers and software providers, we continue to get in their way. In short, and as a general rule, we make it too costly, too unfamiliar, and too difficult to do anything beyond voice calls.

In reply I offer up three suggestions: simpler data plans, better web browsers, and a smoother on-device experience. And in each case I’ll use Google traffic numbers as a proxy for total internet usage and user happiness.

Disclaimer: As a Google employee using internal data to carry the weight of this article, I owe it to the reader to lay bare my economic incentives: the company I work for has a financial interest in the broad and sweeping adoption of the Internet-as-we-know-it. Indeed, more internet users leads to increased web usage, which often leads to more Google searches and downstream ad clicks. I use Google data because it’s what I know best, and because it reinforces my industry-facing remarks, but make no mistake: I’m fundamentally interested in what’s good for the mobile internet. It just so happens that this is also good for Google. With that said, I hope you’ll find value in the words and data that follow.

Flat is the new phat

Consider MetroPCS, a regional carrier in the United States with just over 5 million subscribers on their 2.5G CDMA network. Over the past year, their Google search volume grew over 2.5x more quickly than another global carrier with 10 times as many users, and a 3G network.⁶

Metro’s “secret” is a free month of web access at signup, with the option of flat-rate, unlimited data thereafter.⁷ As a result nearly half of Metro’s subscribers use the web on a regular basis. (It’s also worth mentioning that MetroPCS was recently recognized for excellence in customer satisfaction.⁸)

In contrast, many operators subject users to a labyrinthine set of data options, from pay-as-you-go to daily caps with significant overage charges. Now, can you imagine paying your at-home internet provider for every page load? Or needing to know the size of a website before visiting it? Or managing your monthly download quota across your entire household? It’s simply not practical, and it’s all the same internet, so why do we treat mobile users as second-class citizens? Case and point: my colleague’s January phone bill contained 27 pages of itemized data charges, spelled out in excruciating detail.⁹

Unless we declare flat the new phat — and soon — I fear Occam will do something terrible with his razor.

They want it all, they want it now

Users “get” the web, and they’ve known for over 10 years that the browser is the thing that takes you there. Likewise, more and more of today’s killer applications are the Amazons and Facebooks of the world, not software that you download to a local machine. So it should come as no surprise that mobile users want phones (and browsers) that put a fully-featured internet in their pocket.

For example: the availability of a modern web browser explains why iPhone and Android users — just 13% of the high-end market¹⁰ — represent nearly 50% of Google’s smartphone traffic worldwide.¹¹

Similarly, users of the T-Mobile G1 and its newer WebKit browser search Google 20 times more often than Nokia Series 60 users.¹²

The simple truth is that mobile users have wanted fast and full web access all along. Consider two quick facts about Google search behavior: the “tail” of PC and iPhone queries is significantly longer than that of feature phone queries;

“One web will triumph.”¹⁴ Users want all of it. And they want it now.

Friction is fugly

In the early days of mobile search, customer feedback was clear: “I can’t find Google on my phone.” And in hindsight it makes sense: unintuitive device menus and preference panes mandated 20+ mind-numbing clicks just to locate portal content¹⁵ — nevermind “off net” sites like Google. This Frankenstein’s monster of OEM, carrier, and 3rd party software made it impossible to discover — much less enjoy — mobile data services, and showed a complete disregard for users’ on-device experience.

Thanks to an influx of smarter phones, many mobile users can now reach 3rd party software with a single tap or click. And in Google’s case, this desktop-like experience increases search traffic by many orders of multitude.¹⁶

Why? Because it provides a frictionless onramp to search results. Likewise, and prior to its v5.0 release in February 2009, Google Earth saw more activations on the day of its iPhone launch than any other day in the product’s history. Why? Because the iPhone’s App Store and on-screen layout make it easy to find, try and access mobile data services.

And herein lies the rub: users appreciate well-written software, but ease of use and on-device navigability are critical preconditions for usage. (After all, if you hide a tree in a forest, who cares whether someone hears it fall? Chances are they’ll never find it anyway.) The proliferation of app stores is a positive step in this direction, as are efforts on the part of OEMs to give developers unfettered access to low-level functionality.

We have to surprise and delight users with fast and fluid interfaces. Friction is just fugly.

- Sent from my Android phone, with a WebKit browser and an unlimited data plan

1. ITU, 2009
2. Gartner, 2009
3. comScore, 2008
4. eMarketer, 2008 and 2009
5. Google internal
6. Google internal
7. MetroPCS, 2009
8. J.D. Power, 2008
9. January phone bill, redacted
10. Canalys, 2008
11. Google internal
12. Google internal
13. “Computers and iPhones and Mobile Phones, oh my!”, 2009
14. Opera, 2008
15. http://www.biz-lib.com/products/ZMOMX.html
16. Google internal

Posted by brian tiong at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Erik says...

Total advertising revenues (both print and online) declined 16.6 percent to $37.85 billion, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America.  That is $7.5 billion less than in 2007.  Print advertising alone declined 17.7.  Classifieds were down 29.7 percent. And even online advertising was down 1.8 percent to $3.1 billion.

Newspapers are shuttering their print editions, laying off staff, or closing entirely as a result of this severe contraction in revenues brought on by the double whammy of economic recession and competition from the Web. Drilling down into the fourth quarter numbers, total advertising dollars shrank 19.74 percent, making it the tenth straight quarter in which revenues have declined, and the sixth straight quarter in which the rate of decline has been accelerating:

3Q07: -7.4%
4Q07: -10.3%
1Q08: -12.85%
2Q08: -15.11% 3
3Q08: -18.11%
4Q08: -19.74%

The rate of decline in online revenues also seems to be accelerating.  .Online revenues were $778 million, which was 8 percent lower than the year before.   The year-over-year decline was also greater than the 3 percent decline in the third quarter and the 2.4 percent decline in the second quarter (which was the first quarter when online ad revenues for the newspaper industry went down).

(Photo by Scott Glovsky).

The table below shows both online and total (print and online) advertising revenues for the newspaper industry for each quarter of last year.  The “total” column below includes both online and print revenues

And here are figures for annual newspaper advertising revenues for the past five years.  The newspaper industry is still huge, but the print portion is just getting decimated. Meanwhile online revenues still account for less than 10 percent of the total (8.3 percent, to be exact), and even those are facing challenges.

Posted by brian tiong at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don’t place ads—build brands.

Posted by brian tiong at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Robin Wauters *)

Robin says...

A study commissioned by NeoEdge Mountain View, CA-based casual gaming advertising network, says (surprise, surprise) that video advertising within online games is more effective than TV advertising. Preliminary results of the study, which will conclude at the end of this month, seem to indicate online gaming audiences are more inclined to remember and positively percieve brands who experiment with pre, mid and post-roll video advertisements inside Web-based games.

Of course, studies ordered by commercial companies with a clear stake in the subject of the research like this one always need to be taken with a grain of salt, but the results are interesting nonetheless, and deserve a closer look. After all, major companies like Google and Sony are eyeing in-game advertising revenues in a big way, and for good reason: depending on which research organization you trust, spending on in-game advertising is supposed to grow to between $732 million and $1.8 billion by 2010, although I personally believe the current economic climate might prevent spending to reach even the more conservative prediction by the end of next year.

For more context: some say in-game advertising will ruin the video game industry altogether, others believe standards will spur industry growth, and a recent article on our sister site Crunchgear (based on another study) suggested gamers don’t have a problem with in-game advertising at all.

Anyway, going back to NeoEdge’s study, which was conducted in conjunction with research agency Frank Magid Associates, this is how they came to their conclusions:

The research goal was to determine both the value of online video advertising inside of casual games and the most efficient use of video advertising in casual games. In partnership with advertiser Zappos.com, casual game players across the NeoEdge Network were intercepted with a survey request after game play. Consumers saw one of ten different online video advertising scenarios, which varied number of ads seen, frequency of ads and additional ad products. Over 2,000 consumers participated in the research study and over 1 million ad impressions were used to conduct the comprehensive research.

According to Vicki Cohen, Executive Vice-President at Frank Magid Associates, the preliminary results show a 5x increase in unaided brand awareness over TV advertising where a game included a Zappos.com ad. Other key findings according to the release: over 80% correctly linked Zappos.com as the advertiser who “allowed them to play the game for free” (who knew gamers were such a grateful lot?), while 56% had a more favorable impression of Zappos.com because of their trade-off of watching an ad for free game play.

I am skeptical that the reported uplift in percentages and absolute numbers can be generalized across all in-game advertising and more extensive research would be welcome for backing up the statement, although I am inclined to believe the notion that in-game advertising is generally more effective than TV advertising.

Then again, which form of digital advertising isn’t?

Posted by brian tiong at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Roi Carthy *)

If there is one feature on Facebook which delivers “social utility” magic even to the most average of users, it’s Photos. In fact the feature is so popular that by Facebook’s own account 1 billion photos are uploaded every month—a staggering number that makes it the largest photo site on the Web. However, as with all good things, there are also drawbacks, and in this case discovery is high on the list. While Facebook makes it super easy to discover photos in which you were tagged, there is no chance that every one of those billion photos are tagged each month. And that leaves a big opportunity.

Let me put it another way: How many photos of you are there on Facebook that you’re completely unaware of? Israeli-based Face.com will help you find them with ‘Photo Finder,’ a Facebook app that uses facial recognition to help members locate untagged photos of themselves and their friends. We have 200 special access invites available to TechCrunch readers who will be granted first access to the app, as well as preference on the waiting list. Get your invite here.

Once installed, the app will begin scanning you and your friends’ photo albums, a process that requires a bit of time to complete, but the welcome screen will immediately display photos that were ‘Auto Tagged’. Users can either accept, decline or identify the correct individual themselves. The only users that have veto power to alter or decline a tag are the person who uploaded the photo and the person tagged.

Facial recognition technology is taking off. Competing technology can be found in both Apple’s iPhoto and Google’s Picasa, but those are limited to searching only your personal collection of photos (although iPhoto lets you upload them with the tags to Facebook). With Photo Finder, you are not limited to your own photo collection. Users can search manually for photos of friends or browse for recently tagged ones. Users can also track specific users by flagging them for the “Watch List”. Photo Finder will prompt hits via Facebook’s ‘Notification’ window.

The facial recognition technology was developed from scratch by the Face.com team over a year and half. It was designed from the ground up as a low-cost platform to meet two specific requirements: The first is recognition of “Faces in the Wild”. This applies to everyday photos that suffer from such issues as low resolution or bad lighting, or where faces are obscured with sunglasses, for example. The second requirement is to have the technology be scalable. In this respect Face.com claims to be able to perform facial recognition on all one billion photos currently uploaded into Facebook every single month using only a few machines.

Photo Finder scans the photos of users and all their friends, along with “other albums in your wider network where there’s a high likelihood of your (or friends’) appearances.” To understand the sheer volume of backend work required, consider the following statistics: The first 150 users in Face.com’s system required 20 million photos to be scanned, resulting in 30,000 identified faces. My personal installation of the app required it to scan 79,449 photos which resulted in 11,933 tags of myself and my friends. Photo Finder will then go back and re-scan the albums after its initial scan to identify newly added photos.

The social tagging feature within Facebook Photos gives Face.com a major boost because it can use those tags to train its system. It is important to note that Photo Finder does not add or alter Facebook’s own photo tags. Tagging that occurs through the app is stored in metadata accessible through the Photo Finder app alone. Also noteworthy is the fact that from a privacy perspective Photo Finder piggy-backs on the users’ Facebook settings and does not alter them in any way. Also, none of the photos are stored on Face.com’s servers. These only perform the heavy lifting required for the facial recognition and the storing of tags added through the app.

Even though this is an Alpha version of the app and there are occasional bugs, it works remarkably well. I was quite surprised that it was able to correctly identify individuals in side shots, backgrounds, or in extremely poorly lit photos. It all depends on the amount of photos available, but as a rule of thumb the Face.com team aims for 90% accuracy. It seems that they have some real technology on their hands as evidenced by their scoring first place in the “Labeled Faces in the Wild” experiment conducted by the University of Massachusetts’ Computer Vision Laboratory (Face.com are identified as ‘Hybrid descriptor-based’ in the linked paper).

It’s clear that Photo Finder was designed for mainstream viral appeal and I must admit that I found the app to be VERY addictive, spending at least ten minutes tagging people every time I played with the app over the course of the past two weeks. I have a hunch that once made publicly available the app is going to be incredibly popular on Facebook.

Posted by brian tiong at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: John Biggs *)

It’s hard to find a good stuff reader. Twhirl and Tweetdeck are good for Twitter and every other social networking whatever service has its own Air app, but there’s no one place you can put all your stuff in a readable and usable way. Enter Skimmer, a stuff reader by Fallon, an ad agency in Minneapolis. Presumably named after the great comedian and talk-show host Johnny Carson, Fallon has decided to brighten up its front walk with a unique Air application that brings Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, and Facebook to one place.

Why is an ad agency creating a Twitter app? Had you ever heard of Fallon before this? Didn’t think so. Moving on. [Folks have pointed out they did the BMW films and a few other campaigns. Feel free to ask some people on the street who they are, though, and I believe you'll be quite surprised.]

The folks at Fallon who showed me the service described it as a feed reader for designers. Fallon’s precious art department wanted to use the services we peons use every day but the application design was too muddled and messy. Their solution? Roll their own system using the latest in user interface design techniques taken from the catwalks of Paris.

The application, available on Fallon’s website, is still pretty wonky. It crashed a few times for me on OS X and there are still some issues in posting Tweets. The real differentiator, however, is the way Skimmer shows Flickr photos, videos, and avatars. The photos and videos appear in-line whenever your Flickr freunden post new pics or your YouTube favorites churn out another video. The system also allows you to add large, hi-resolution avatars to your account so other Skimmer users can see the true you and not some 50×50 pixel representation.

There are three screen modes - full, widget, and regular. The fullscreen mode is for crazy people who want their readers to take up the entire screen, the mid-sized is just about right, and the widget turns the reader into something more like Twhirl.

If I were a high school chemistry teacher I’d write “Good ideas but needs work” on the top of Skimmer and hand it back with a B-. The app needs some technical polish - in terms of usability it’s already pretty slick - but if you’re looking for something to bring a few of your services into one fairly attractive app then give Skimmer a try. It can only get better.

Posted by brian tiong at 05:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Michael Arrington *)

What was a bad situation in November 2008 is starting to turn outright ugly - Facebook is now well over twice the size of MySpace, according to recent worldwide Comscore data. And what’s worse, MySpace is losing audience while Facebook absolutely hockey sticks: MySpace lost 2% of users in just one month, while Facebook grew by nearly 40 million members in February alone. MySpace currently has 124 million monthly unique visitors, compared to Facebook’s 276 million.

That’s a 16.6% growth rate at Facebook in one month. This simply doesn’t happen with sites that already have hundreds of millions of users. It was less than a year ago that MySpace and Facebook were the same size.

Comscore says more than 1 in 4 people with Internet access visited Facebook last month. They’re sixth overall in terms of top sites in terms of unique users, and third (after Google, Microsoft and Yahoo) in overall page views.

MySpace continues to see executive departures, and it isn’t clear that founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson will be staying on after their contracts terminate later this year. We expect more defections by the summer, and a possible reorganization of parent entity Fox Interactive Media.

Posted by brian tiong at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Serkan Toto *)

The number of apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch is nearing the 30,000 mark but hardly any application takes advantage of the network effects that lie within the Apple ecosystem. Most developers simply ignore the fact that all iPhones and iPod Touches are interconnected globally and roll out stand-alone applications. This is one of the major reasons why the vast majority of fun apps lack stickiness and are easily forgotten after a few quick bursts.

But a Tokyo-based start-up called Genkii is building a unique app that has the potential to not only let a few iPhone users connect with each other, but thousands of them - at the same time or asynchronously. Sparkle is poised to become the first virtual world for the iPhone. What’s more, it’s being developed completely from scratch, exclusively as an MMO for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

The first iteration of Sparkle, a text communication app called Sparkle IM, actually went on sale yesterday (App Store link) and costs $4.99. Sparkle IM basically brings Second Life communication to your iPhone, connecting you to Second Life (and OpenSim) grids. Users can send and receive IMs, chat, send teleport requests etc. on the go through their Second Life and OpenSim accounts.

This video shows how Sparkle IM works:

But for the average iPhone user, Sparkle 3D will be much more interesting. Once finalized, Genkii says users will get a full-fledged virtual world in 3D (the company has a track record in virtual worlds development). Sparkle 3D will have its own economy, customizable personal spaces and avatars, social networking functions, virtual goods, games, streaming audio support, etc.

Have a look at some early Sparkle 3D screens and avatar designs below.

CEO Ken Brady says the company is looking at ways to integrate Sparkle 3D with other significant platforms such as PlayStation Home and plans to support these platforms in the near future. This means that users from fixed-web virtual worlds and MMORPGS can connect with Sparkle 3D users without having to own an iPhone or iPod Touch. The app will also be available in a number of languages right from the start.

Another obvious option to expand the virtual world is to make Sparkle 3D available for browser clients, Android phones or video game machines like Nintendo’s Wii. Brady says this would be an important step in growing Sparkle and a viable option due to the way the technology is built, but right now, the focus is on developing a virtual world for the estimated 40 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners out there.

The viral potential for a mobile virtual world optimized for the Apple ecosystem could be as big as the potential for continuous monetization: sales of avatar accessories, virtual apartments (utilizing iPhone 3.0’s new subscription option), sales of in-game items, music downloads, branded spaces and conventional ads come to mind.

Currently, Genkii is completely self-funded and has been bootstrapping for over a year. The company is now actively seeking angel investment to accelerate development of Sparkle 3D. We will stay tuned.

Posted by brian tiong at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mike says...

It’s no secret how bad most of the analytics firms are at gathering statistically relevant data about Internet traffic. All of them, Quantcast, Comscore, Hitwise, Compete, Alexa, etc., are flawed in various ways and to various degrees.

But today’s blog post by Hitwise shows just how bad their data really is. They say that Craigslist is now the top searched term on the Internet, taking that honor from MySpace. Facebook is third.

But the real data is out there for the taking. Google Trends shows Google search data, and since Google commands such a large lead in search in most countries, presumably the data is accurate. Google trends shows exactly the opposite data as Hitwise - Facebook is by far the most queried term, followed by MySpace and then Craigslist.

I’m putting my money on Google when it comes to accurate search trends. And if I were Hitwise, I’d make very sure my search data conformed to whatever Google was saying.

Posted by brian tiong at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by brian tiong at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Erik Schonfeld *)

Erik says...

There are plenty of ways to monitor the buzz of any given topic in the blogosphere, on Twitter, or across social networks. There is Artiklz, Trendpedia, Trackur, Brandseye, Radian6, Attentio, Buzzcapture and Chatterguard, to name a few.. Now Omgili, a search engine that focuses on forums, discussion boards, newsgroups, and Q&A sites, has just added a new buzztracker called Omgili Stream. It searches the same set of discussion sites on the Web and returns results based on how recently they appeared.

Results are not ranked by anything other than chronology, which produces an undifferentiated set of results. What I really want to know is what are the most important or influential discussions going on about any given topic. Fortunately, Omgili Stream allows you to filter results by minimum number of replies, language, and where the search term appears (in the title, topic, or replies). Another filter opens up a column with Twitter search results on the left. A unified view might be preferable, but that might then be dominated by the Twitter results. Omgili’s strength is in searching through discussion boards, forms, and the like. It sifts through 7 million such posts a day.

Omgili’s greatest strength (its focus on deep discussion sites), is also its greatest weakness. It completely ignores blog comments, for instance, where a huge chunk of discussion on the Web takes place. That is a huge oversight, in my opinion. Although, there are other sites where you can search across only blog comments, such as Backtype or Artiklz. And then what about public discussions on Facebook and other social networks?

Omgili is geared towards marketers who want to keep track of what people are saying about their products, companies and brands. Yet it returns results from only one portion of the Web. So if you are a marketer, you might want to bookmark it (consumers might be more likely to talk about product defects or other problems on a discussion board or Q&A site where they are looking for assistance from other users). But it only addresses a portion of the discuss-o-sphere.

As far as it goes, it does a decent job. One of the more helpful features of Omgili is the ability to create a buzz chart for any set of topics. Below is one comparing “IE8″ to “Gmail” and “Flip Video.”

Posted by brian tiong at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: eMarketer *)

(* Source: Brian Solis *)

Depending on which numbers you source or believe, all reports agree that the blogosphere continues to expand globally.

As the leading blog directory and search engine, Technorati maintains a coveted Authority Index which is considered amongst bloggers as the benchmark for measuring their rank and selling their position within the blogosphere. (At least until recently). Authority in the index is defined as the number of blogs linking to a website within the last six months. The higher the number, the greater the level of Authority a blog earns.

However, a disruptive trend is already at play. While blogs are increasing in quantity, their authority–as currently measured by Technorati–is collectively losing influence. For instance, just last November, Technorati counted 32,493 links towards gadget blog Engadget’s “authority.” Today, it counts half that amount (16,326). Even TechCrunch’s link authority as measured by Technorati is down by several thousand links, yet its relative position in the overall ranking (No. 3) hasn’t moved.

In its annual state of the blogosphere last year, Technorati revealed that it had indexed 133 million blog records since 2002. In March 2008, Universal McCann published a report that indicated 184 million blogs worldwide were created, with 346 million people reading blogs globally.

So why do I believe that blog authority is losing its authority? 

 Read more here

Posted by brian tiong at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Sean P Aune *)

Sean says...

Deciding to become a freelance worker can be a scary proposition. Sure there is an allure to picking what projects you work on, but it can also be stressful not knowing where your next paycheck will come from. Luckily there are numerous resources out there that not only help you find more work, but also loads of tools to help you do your job more efficiently with a professional edge.

We’ve gathered over 85 tools and job sites for a variety of freelancers and web workers. While a lot of these items are focused on web design elements such as photography, programming and writing, we made sure to include something for everyone.

Have more resources to recommend? Tell us about them in the comments.

Work Tools

It’s important for freelance workers to be as organized as possible. After all, it’s up to you to track your time, individual projects, create your own invoices, and more. There are tons of great tools to simplify this for you. For example, GetHarvest.com can help you keep track of your time spent on projects in differing locations, and Zoho Invoices can help you create professional looking invoices to send to clients.

Adobe AIR Apps

AgileTracker - Allows you to keep track of time spent on projects by client, and if you are using AgileAgenda, you can sync them with each other.

Google Calendar Invoice Creator - Allows you to use Google Calendar as a way to keep track of your hours and then import that data into this app to automatically generate invoices.

Klok - Klok allows you to easily keep track of your time spent on multiple projects. You can easily start and stop tracking by just clicking a button for each project. You’re able to generate multiple reports based off of this information.

Ora Time and Expense - Ora allows you to track expenses, keep a list of your tasks, run a timer on your tasks and more.

Sundial - Keeps track of time spent on multiple projects & clients and allows you to generate reports based on any time period.

Timeloc - Offers multiple features such as running several clients with different billing rates per account, setting different timing intervals, audible alerts and much more.

Vertabase Timer - You can track time on projects for various clients and then export that data to other systems so you can generate reports and invoices.

Invoicing

BillMyClients.com - Has import & export capabilities, allows you to save invoices locally at any time, HTML customization for better branding, recurring invoicing, PayPal integration and other features.

Blinksale.com - Create invoices from their templates, or you can use your own CSS to custom design one of your own.  Also allows you to import clients from Basecamp, create tags for better organization, set up recurring invoices and more.

CannyBill.com - CannyBill can help you accept credit cards, export data to QuickBooks, automate invoicing and late payment notices and a host of other tools.

CitrusBill.com - You can automate late payment notices as well as customize the look and feel of your invoices while managing all of your payments.

CurdBee.com - A simple and straightforward invoicing solution that also integrates with PayPal and Google Checkout.

Endeve.com - Endeve allows you to customize invoices, import clients from Outlook, track which clients owe you money and a whole lot more.

Fluttervoice.co.uk - A UK-based invoicing service that allows you to generate new invoices and keep track of your payments.  Your clients can also login to see all of their invoices with you at a glance.

FreeAgentCentral.com - Helps you to invoice your clients, keep track of billing, prepare your taxes, and more.  Focused on freelancers in the UK.

FreshBooks.com - FreshBooks allows you to automate late payment reminders, track your time and expenses, customize the look of your tools for a full branded experience and more.

GoToBilling.com - Get paid from an emailed invoice, keep track of your clients, use marketing tools to gain new ones and more.

InLattice.net - Give your clients web access to their invoices and receive confirmation that your customer has viewed an invoice. InLattice integrates with major online payment systems and other tools.

InvoiceJournal.com - InvoiceJournal allows you to send invoices for free via email or print them out to be sent by snail mail.  Also allows you to use multiple currencies.

InvoiceMachine.com - Customize your invoices with logos and colors, use their built-in timer to track your billable hours, create PDFs of your invoices and more.

InvoicePlace.com - InvoicePlace lets you send invoices, track all payments, generate reports, export to Word & Excel and more.

Invoicera.com - Invoicera offers you several time saving features such as automatic repeating invoices for frequent clients, integration with multiple payment gateways, printing, management and more.

InvoicesMadeEasy.com - This service allows you to email or physically mail invoices yourself, or you can pay as little as a $1.00 each to have them mail invoices for you.  Offers all of the usual features to boot.

Invotrak.com - Allows you to track your time sheets, generate invoices, see who has paid you, generate various reports to see how you are performing and more.

LiteAccounting.com - Create invoices you can send via email, save them as PDFs, set up recurring invoices, and more features.

SimplyBill.com - Save your invoices as PDFs, create quotes for work that you can later convert to invoices, get alerted when an invoice is overdue and numerous other features.

SimplyInvoices.com - SimplyInvoices integrates with the Basecamp API to give you full integration with your account and allow for easy invoicing based on your Basecamp activities.

Winkbill.com - Set up recurring billing, export invoices as PDFs, accept payments via PayPal, multiple templates to choose from and more features.

Zoho Invoices - The popular Zoho online office suite has an invoicing feature that can be used for free for a few invoices a month, but you’ll have to pay if you have numerous payment requests to make.  Allows you to import and export data, set up templates, set up recurring billing and more.

Time Tracking

GetHarvest.com - Harvest offers pricing plans from free to premium, but offers an amazing array of platform integrations such as iPhone, Basecamp, Beanstalk, a WordPress plugin and more.  Offers both time tracking and invoicing.

MyClientSpot.com - Helps you keep track of your billable hours, staying organized, tracking leads and numerous other features.

Tickspot.com - Allows you to keep track of your time spent on a project and even see how close you are to using up your client’s allotted budget.  Also offers a free iPhone application.

Time59.com - Keep track of your time and expenses and generate invoices that you can send to your clients.

TimeIQ.com - Keep track of your billable hours. Allows for exporting of data, generating reports at your own specified intervals, and several more features.

Toggl.com - Toogl allows you to manually keep track of your time or use their timer.  They also offer both an online version or a Windows-based download that you can use on your desktop.

Miscellaneous Tools

Bizzvo.com - Allows you to import contacts, keep to-do lists, take notes, log phone calls with clients, create invoices and more.

Cashboard -A Basecamp compatible tool that allows you to use Mac OSX, Windows and iPhone applications to update your customers on projects, send invoices, accept payments and more.

CreativeProOffice.com - CreativePro Office allows you to manage your clients, projects, tasks, invoicing and more all in one easy web application.

FreelanceSwitch.com Rates Calculator - Have no clue what you should be charging for your hourly rate as a freelancer?  This rates calculator asks you a series of questions about your working situation, how much you want to make and so on, and then gives you a suggestion of how much to charge per hour.

Homecourtx.com - Gives you a customer management system as well as the ability to pass files back and forth and invoice.

SimplifyThis.com - SimplifyThis is both an appointment book for keeping track of your meetings, and any of those that might be billable, as well as a full invoicing service with payment gateway integrations.

Job Listings & Opportunities

So you’ve got the tools to do your job, but do you have the work to do?  Photographers have tons of places like iStockphoto where they can open an account and sell their images with little to no hassle.  For writers there are places such as Helium.com, where you can write any time you’d like, on any subject. While places like FreelanceWriting.com will help you find steadier work.  And if you’re a programmer, there are sites like GetAFreelancer.com, where it seems people will always need workers for more highly technical jobs.

Freelance Photography

123rf.com - 123 Royalty Free pays you a 50% commission on downloaded images, and also allows you to earn money for referring subscribers and new photographers alike.

BigStockPhoto.com - BigStockPhoto pays you between $.50 and $3.00 per download for your photos, and even higher for special requests.

Dreamstime.com - Photographers can place their images here for a sale and receive between 50% and 80% commission.

Fotolia.com - Commissions range from 33% to 64% depending on your exclusivity and your ranking based on the total number of downloads you’ve sold.

FreelancePhotoJobs.com - Find all sorts of freelance photography jobs for magazines, weddings, websites and more.

ImageCatalog.com - Depending on licensing, ImageCatalog pays photographers anywhere from $.40 to $40.00 per download.

iStockphoto - Photographers can earn from 20 - 40% commissions on each photo they sell through this royalty free site.  (Disclosure: Mashable has a partnership with iStockphoto)

PhotoStockPlus.com - You can earn commissions up to 85% with a 3.25% processing fee for both photos you sell as well as products you put your images on such as mugs and other products.

Shutterstock.com - Shutterstock pays a flat rate of $.25 a download and increases it to $.30 per download when you hit $500 in a pay period.  You can also earn commissions for referring others to the service.

Freelance Programmers & Web Designers

DesignQuote.net - Potential clients with design and graphic art work post jobs that freelancers can browse through and post bids on to win contracts.

FreelanceAuction.com - Allows you to bid on listed jobs for all aspects of programming and design.  Numerous listings for Web coding and design work such as logos.

GetAFreelancer.com - Focused on a wide selection of computer related work from basic site design to developing full sites for Joomla, OsCommerce, WordPress and more.

LimeExchange.com - Offers jobs that freelancers can bid on, and then you can continue to use the service to check in with one another throughout the lifespan of the project.

oDesk.com - A marketplace for freelancers to meet up with clients and look for work.  Clients can leave ratings and reviews for any freelancers they hire to help them get future work.

ozLance.com.au - Focused on Australia, ozLance has listings for Web development, content writing, audio/visual work and more.

Project4Hire.com - Contractors post technical programming or blogging jobs they have available and freelancers bid for the work.

RentACoder.com - Has thousands of open coding projects and a newsletter you can subscribe to so that you receive daily notifications of new projects as they come available.

ScriptLance.com - ScriptLance focuses heavily on programming assignments, but also features some listings for blog content creation.

SearchWebJobs.com - A job site focused on Web related jobs with a section dedicated to freelance engagements that indicate if you must live near the office or if you can work from anywhere.

Freelance Writers

BloggerJobs.biz - Numerous blogging jobs from all different styles of blogs that range from freelance to full-time.

FreelancePortfolios.com -A resource allowing writers to set up portfolios to show off their work and skills to potential employers.  Also has some job listings for people looking for work.

FreelanceWriting.com - FreelanceWriting.com features a mixture of articles and resources to help people break into freelance writing, and also offers some job listings and links to other resources.

Helium.com - While not so much freelance writing as writing “on spec,” you are free to write articles on any subject and then you can earn revenue from a portion of their advertising sales related to your articles.

Jobs.ProBlogger.net - A jobs board over at the well known ProBlogger for freelance and full-time bloggers looking for work.

JournalismJobs.com - Features job listings for blogs, newspapers, magazines, newswires and other forms of print and online media.

Online-Writing-Jobs.com - Offers all sorts of freelance writing job listings for magazines, reviews, resume writing, blogs and more.

Suite101.com - Freelance writers of all stripes can write articles on just about any subject of their choice and get paid a share of the advertising for the entire life of the article.

WritersWeekly.com - A weekly ezine dedicated to freelance writing that features articles and some listings for jobs.

WritingBids.com - A site that allows various online and offline publishers to post writing gigs that freelancers can bid on in an attempt to win.

WritingCareer.com - Features listings of freelance writing jobs as well as guides and advice for aspiring writers.

Miscellaneous Freelancers

AllFreelanceWork.com - AllFreelanceWork offers a support community as well as a jobs board for people looking for work in web design, sales, marketing and more.

Amazon Mechanical Turk - Run by Amazon.com, Mechanical Turk offers all sorts of quick freelance work from simple things such as doing searches for Creative Commons licensed photography to writing full articles for web sites.

BizReef.com - Contractors post their jobs and freelancers bid on the work in a number of fields such as graphic design, marketing, photography and more.

ContractedWork.com - Businesses needing work done post their projects and then freelancers can bid for the work.  Has a heavy concentration on web site related work, but does also have listings for other fields.

Elance.com -A well known freelancing website with just about every type of job you can think of from high end coding projects to engineering, finance, copy writing and a lot more.  Freelancers can set up profile pages listing all of their skills and what services they offer.

FreelanceJobs.org - Freelancers can set up a profile explaining their background while employers can post jobs for computer workers, Web designers, writers, translators and many more fields.

FreelanceWar.com - Listings for editors, writers, web designers, journalists, copywriters and pretty much everything else you can think of.

Freelancers Union - In addition to providing excellent resources for freelancers, the Freelancers Union offers a “Gigs” section.

GoFreelance.com - Has job listings for writers, sales, photography, marketing and several other fields.

Guru.com - Freelance work in every field including things such as fashion, broadcasting, illustration, Web design and more.

iFreelance.com - Site for freelancers and employers looking to connect for numerous types of freelance work such as writing, design work, Web programming and more.

ProZ.com - Focused on translators and translation services, ProZ also offers message boards for freelance translators to talk about issues concerning their business.

Skillance.com - Enter what your skills are, set up a profile, and let contractors search for the people that best fit their project.

Sologig.com - Listings of freelance consulting jobs from around the United States in numerous fields such as aerospace, sales, legal and numerous other fields.

TheFreelanceNation.com - This site pulls together listings from 119 different freelance job boards with listings for legal work, web design, photographers, PR and many, many more fields.

Vois - This virtual outsourcing site allows users to find a wide range of projects from simple logo design to full websites, SEO help, and more. In addition to finding projects, you can collaborate with clients on the site.

Posted by brian tiong at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Cameron Chapman *)

Cameron says...

Last year we featured over 100 web applications to organize every aspect of your life, from your belongings to your social calendar, and more. Since then, many have been significantly improved and lots of new apps have been released.

From basic to do lists to event planning, fitness, educational organizers, and more, here are 100 new applications to get you even more organized.

Have a favorite? Tell us more about it in the comments.

Organize Your Stuff

LivingSocial - Organize your interests (restaurants, video games, books, TV shows, etc.) and share them with others.

eMove.com - Online tools to help you move.

BookBump - Complete book organization, including in-depth management tools, instant bibliographies, and organized book lists.

GuruLib - Home library organization application.

allmythings - Secure home inventory software that offers both free and paid plans.

WhatYah! - Organize and create complete lists of your movies, games and TV shows and share them with your friends.

TuneUp - Automatically cleans up and fixes your music collection, relabeling files, finding missing cover art, and even notifying you of upcoming concerts based on your collection.

PutPlace - Organize, store and backup all your digital stuff in one place.

Closet Assistant - A complete wardrobe management application that even includes an events calendar, so you know what events you need to dress for on a given day, and can plan accordingly.

Booktagger - Keep track of all your books, discover new books to read based on recommendations, keep lists of books, and even start an online book club.

Organize Your Shopping

No More Notebooks - Manage your shopping wish lists, research and compare prices, and recommend items to friends.

Rearden Personal Assistant - Online application that helps you book and organize services from trusted suppliers.

Wishlistr - Create customized wish lists that you can organize based on event or other criteria.

iStorez - Create your own personal mall to simplify your shopping.

Organize With Lists

blist - Create shareable online lists for managing every part of your life, from projects to finances to gifts.

vitalist - Getting Things Done list organization and management application.

do it, do it, done! - A simple to do list creator and manager.

Listphile - Community-powered list and database site.

Whimber - Online creator of printable to-do lists.

Wipee List - Free, easy-to-use online task management.

SimplyChecklists.com - Pre-made checklists in a variety of categories to get you organized.

iDo - To-do list for Getting Things Done (GTD).

checkser - A wiki of existing checklists that also allows you to create your own.

Doomi - Super simple to do list manager.

NowDoThis - Incredibly simple to-do list manager that only shows you one task at a time.

Listaculous - GTD list application.

Listas - Shareable list creation from Microsoft.

Organize Your Information

Hordit - Online file and information storage and organization that offers free unlimited storage for your PDFs, spreadsheets, documents, YouTube links, scanned images and more.

NutshellMail - This app organizes and consolidates all your email accounts, plus all your social networking accounts.

Shoeboxed - Receipt organization app that also organizes your business cards.

Joodo.com - Organization app for your photos, videos, friends and more that also offers media sharing and tools to find new content.

LaterThis - Save and organize websites you’d like to revisit later when you have more time.

Luminotes - A personal wiki for gathering and organizing your notes and information.

Zenbe - Integrated email and calendar that also manages your attachments and allows you to share items with others.

Pageonce - Organize all of your online accounts in one place and get alerts for payment due dates, financial transactions, cell phone minutes, and more.

Clipperz - Password organization app that also helps you organize and track any of your sensitive data (PINs, IDs, SSNs, etc.).

Feedoor - Feed management app that lets you merge, manage, and do more with your RSS feeds.

chi.mp - An online life management application.

Scrobbld - eBay and PayPal order and payment management.

Evernote - Capture and organize information from your mobile device, laptop, or any other device or platform that’s convenient.

fluxiom - Enterprise digital content management.

springpad - Online notebooks to organize everything in your life.

Zootool - Online organizer for your images, documents, videos and links.

Second Brain - Complete organization of your social media, files and bookmarks.

Picporta - An automatic photo management app.

Zettels - An online personal organizer.

Voyage - RSS feed organizer.

The Alphabetizer - Free app to put any list in alphabetical order.

Pocket - Organization for all of your bookmarks that includes sharing.

Users-Edge - Organize your data and information using a variety of pre-made templates.

Ziggs - Organize your online brand and image all in one place.

Agglom - Organize your links in sets and lists to create multimedia pages, rss feeds, slideshows and more.

Eluma - Keep all your online stuff - web sites, podcasts, blogs, RSS feeds, etc. - organized in one place.

Organize Your School Life

Notely.net - A complete student organization suite that includes schedule, calendar, note-taking, and more.

zotero - A Firefox extension that helps you keep your research sources organized.

NoteStar - Organize your research paper notes.

Utilium - Organize learning materials for your students and lower their course material costs.

iProcrastinate Mobile for iPhone - A free homework and task management application.

Schoolhouse 2 - A Mac homework manager that includes tasks, notes and file attachments.

Organize Events, Teams & Trips

Wigadoo - Plan outings with friends (whether a night out on the town or a ski trip in Aspen) and organize everyone’s finances to make your trip happen.

WedSnap - An entire suite of wedding planning tools.

MeetingPuzzle - Helps arrange meetings based on convenient times for everyone involved.

Socializr - A free and complete online invitation, party planning and event sharing app.

Bistrola - Coordinate your get-togethers while keeping everyone happy and without alienating or bullying your attendees.

Crusher - Create and send invitations to events or parties and keep track of RSVPs and other information.

Event Wax - Event planning that includes an event website, payment processing (through PayPal), searchable and sortable attendee list, and more.

Goovite - Event invitation creator that doesn’t require registration.

SimpleSeating - Online seating chart creator that offers free and paid plans.

Eventbrite - Online commercial event planning for ticketed events.

Mobaganda - Easy to use party and event planning app that doesn’t require a registration or login.

MyPunchbowl - Online party planning and invitation organizer.

Pingg - Create your own invitations to email or print, and then track RSVPs, reminders, and more.

Presdo - Fast and easy planning for events, parties, and other gatherings.

GoodInvitation.com - Create free event invitations and manage your event plans.

anyvite - Create free invitations that can be viewed on a computer or through mobile, IM, or SMS tools. Also includes an after-event site where photos, videos and comments can be posted.

fluidTables - Create seating charts for weddings or other events and then create a PDF to share with friends and family.

prohmote - Promote your event without having to register or login.

PurpleTrail - Ad-free invitations and complete event planning with mobile access.

Zoji - Event planning that includes invitations, instant messaging, photo sharing, blogs, and more.

GoPlanit - Research and plan trips with your friends and get recommendations for things to do and see.

anywr - Contact management with built-in event organization.

center’d - Event planning that includes special planning tools, including ready-made plans.

MyInvites - Free online invitations and event planning.

Triporama - Free group trip planning.

TripCart - Online road trip planning.

Amiando - Event websites that include online registration, billing and ticketing, and more.

funpiper - Personalized event planning that includes SMS invitations and messaging.

Congregar - Event planning that includes tools to help find the best date.

I’m In - Free group trip planning.

DOPPLR - Organization tools for frequent travelers.

TournEase - Free golf tournament planning app.

Moreganize - Free event organization tools, including polls, surveys and to-do lists.

RosterBot - Free team event management app.

evite - Free online invitations and party ideas.

bestpartyever - Complete online party planning and tips.

Organize Everything Else

Chandler - Complete organizer for notes, to-dos, events, and more.

TabUp - Collaborative organization for your daily activities and more.

VIP 4.0 - Book and magazine layout organization and planning tool.

Ucareer.net - A career management app to assist in your job searches.

ProfileFly - Organize and promote all of your online identities.

RustyBudget - Online blog organization and management tool.

Gyminee - Track your workouts and what you eat, be held accountable, and get motivated, all for free.

Calorie King - Diet and weight loss tools to keep you on track and organized.

Zefty - Online allowance management for your kids.

Google Health - Complete health records management from Google that also includes information on potential medication interactions, different conditions and even lets you search for hospitals and doctors.

Posted by brian tiong at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Scott Lachut *)

It’s no secret that social media is a driving force in the way big businesses are marketing themselves to consumers. These networking tools create open channels of communication between companies and customers, giving a face to formerly impersonal corporations through employee blogs, Twitter updates and playful Facebook applications. Customers are able to engage with the brands they buy in meaningful ways never before thought possible (or allowable) by sharing their experiences in a variety of ways ranging from feedback and innovations to photos and video.

But simply saying your business uses this methodology doesn’t guarantee instantaneous success. The demographic that is reached in this manner represent a savvy audience of users that value authentic interaction and thoughtful use of these technologies or they’ll choose to opt out of the loop. With that in mind, Samir Balwani, blogger and social media marketer, has assembled an insightful list of ten big brands that are effectively using web 2.0 tools, along with the lessons to be learned from each example. We have included the abbreviated list below:

1. Blendtec on YouTube
2. Burger King’s “Whopper Sacrifice”
3. Starbucks asks customers for their ideas
4. Sun Microsytems CEO blog
5. IBM employee blogs
6. Zappos on Twitter
7. Comcast on Twitter
8. Ford’s Public Relations
9. Graco on Flickr
10. Dell’s multi-platform approach

Mashable: Presenting: 10 of the Smartest Big Brands in Social Media

Posted by brian tiong at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

(* Source: Lee Ryan *)

Lee says...

"It’s possibly even easier to ignore the digital world in parts of Asia, but all of us are researchers though for different companies or freelancing. I don’t think we can continue to research and advise clients on brand communications as if it was 1999. I also don’t think it’s good for our industry to be at the back of the queue when it comes to experimenting, trying new stuff, and being prepared to have a view. I don’t know what the future of advertising is going to be, but i’m certain that there is a significant shift going on"

 

 

Posted by brian tiong at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)