TechCrunch Disrupt 2013: Choister, Maxthon, Robert Scoble On Google Glass

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TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 is today, and I’m already totally exhausted. Part of the reason is that I got six hours of sleep. Another reason is that there’s the usual array of overwhelming companies to learn about. And the other reason is that it’s hot outside, thus tacking up the temperature a bit in here, and … Read more

GoSmart Launches New GoSmart Freedom Stylus

GoSmart, the leading maker of Stylus devices, has a new product press release that is posted here, below. I expect to see them at CES Las Vegas. And on that note, Zennie62 blog has been credentialed to cover the 2013 International CES from January 8th to the 12th. GoSmart, Inc. www.justgosmart.com announced today the “GoSmart … Read more

PeopleBrowsr v. Twitter: Twitter Lost This Round, And Should Have

PeopleBrowsr, the company behind such products as Kred, is fighting for its life after Twitter, it’s main source of data that drives its business, suddenly (sighting the end of a one-year contract) elected to do an about face and try to turn off access to its “firehose” of tweet-based information that PeopleBrowsr spent $1 million … Read more

Heloed Griot Becomes YouTube Partner

Heloed Griot, or Dwayne, started on YouTube six years ago, but just recently really ramped-up his activity. Now, he’s a YouTube Partner, and can make money from the traffic his videos generate. Welcome to the club! Dwayne and I just ran into each other Thursday at San Francisco’s Westfield Village Shopping Center. He spotted me … Read more

Examiner.com Responds, Pays Moneys Owed To Zennie62

After some pressure, the Examiner.com did respond to my concern over having not been paid for blog work, and said it would send what was accrued. UPDATE: EXAMINER.COM RESPONDS, WILL PAY ZENNIE62 They said that they did not have the right email adress for me, even as I did install the correct one some time … Read more

Examiner.com Fails To Pay Bloggers, Takes Money; Come To Zennie62.com

If you’re thinking about blogging at Examiner.com, the local-news-focused series of websites that calls writers in various subject areas “Examiners,” think twice. You may not get paid for your work. UPDATE: EXAMINER.COM RESPONDS, WILL PAY ZENNIE62 This blogger’s normal place of content creation is here at Zennie62.com. But I have posted at The Examiner strictly … Read more

YouTube Working To Help Existing YouTube Creators

Just a quick follow up to the last post featuring Shiva Rajaraman, Director, Product Management at Google YouTube. Shiva reports that YouTube is working on expanding the current active system of funding partners via the YouTube Creator program. The idea is to give more “deserving partners” about $10,000 to jump-start their channel. Rajaraman reports that … Read more

Play 2012 Digital Media Conference Today

The >play 2012 Digital Media Conference is today at the UC Berkeley Haas Business School, and it promises to be an excellent presentation. The event is entirely student-run, and concerns the latest developments in digital media and social media (really, the same) with respect to mobile devices and video. And on the note of video, … Read more

Reddit Founder Steve Huffman At Web 2.0 Party, 2007 (Video)

It was 2007 and I was invited to a party for Reddit, thanks to Cathy Brooks, currently of Other Than That Studios, and then working with Loc Lemur on the Le Web series in Paris. But this was in San Francisco, and a party held at Galaxy bar during the then-hot annual Web 2.0 Summit, … Read more

The Growth Of Social Media

The Growth of Social Media is considered one of the most amazing developments of the 21st Century, if not the most incredible one. Consider that in 2004, just eight years ago, there was no Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blip.tv, or any of the social media platforms we use today, and blogs were just becoming known – … Read more

Social Media: 66 Percent Use It To Post Political Ideology

Social Media has exploded, no doubt, but Pew Research gives us a great idea of just how much it’s become a part of our daily lives. According to its newly released study called Social Media and Political Engagement, 60 percent of adults uses social media, and of that, 66 percent use it to express political … Read more

“BMVEntertainment” Uses YouTube To File False Copyright Claims

If you’re a YouTube Partner, or even just a person uploading a video to YouTube, you may find yourself the victim of firms like the so-called “BMVEntertainment.” This blogger did, but is fighting back. “BMVEntertainment” just today filed a copyright claim against my video called “Cleveland RTA Bus Driver Hits Girl, Gets Suspended.” This one: … Read more

Michael Brutsch Is Violentacrez, The Underage Girl Photo Troll On Reddit

Gawker’s Adrian Chen’s outed a man considered one of the most insidious trolls on the Internet. His name’s Violentacrez, and is really Michael Brutsch. Mr. Michael Brutsch, according to his real profile, lives in Arlington, TX, has an extensive programming background, and currently works for First Cash Financial Services as an application developer. There, he … Read more

SF CITI: SF Tech Comes Together For A Better San Francisco; Can SF Afford It?

Can technology make a better San Francisco? Well-known tech leaders who live in San Francisco (last time I checked) think so. To so this, they’ve come together with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee to form SFCITI. SFCITI is described as “Leveraging the collective power of the tech sector as a force for civic action in … Read more

New Blackberry L-Series iPhone Clone Leaked

The new Blackberry L-Series SmartPhone was leaked via a demonstration at BB10 demo. According to WIRED, the person in the video was making the intro of the new product in Mexico while cameras by Hola Telcel were running. What’s interesting about the L-Series is that it looks nothing like any other Blackberry this blogger has … Read more

The Role Of Blogs In Social Media

For some reason, many new to Social Media act as though blogs don’t exist. While the number of blogs has not diminished, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that the vast majority of people who “do” social media, don’t have a blog of their own or contribute to a blog. (As an aside, … Read more

TechCrunch Disrupt SF: Livebolt Wins Hack, But Judges Blow

Congrats to Livebolt, The TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon winner. The original plan for this blogger didn’t include TechCrunch Disrupt SF because of family obligations after the Democratic National Convention. But all of that took even greater importance after my Mother and Stepfather were robbed at gunpoint last Wednesday Night in Chicago. So, here is where this … Read more

How Fortune 500 Companies Use Top Social Media Platforms

There’s a cool infographic by the web development firm Go-Gulf.com that shows the patterns of use of the top social media platforms. Note that I highlighted top social media platforms because there’s a tendency for some to refer to Facebook and Twitter as if they were the entire Social Media landscape. That’s wrong. There are … Read more

Are these Apple iPhone 5 photos over at Nowhereelse.fr?

A number of American tech bloggers have pointed to the French blog Nowhereelse.fr, as having true photos of the Apple iPhone 5. But it’s obvious some bloggers over here in the USA failed to read the translated version of what was written at Nowhereelse.fr by Steve Hemmerstoffer. It’s is presented in a careful away, as … Read more

Zennie Abraham to host Tonya Hall Radio Show, talk Social Media, Sep 5th

Zennie Abraham, known as Zennie62, was invited to host the Tonya Hall Radio Show on KRCN Radio Colorado Network in Denver Boulder and Fort Collins on Wednesday, September 5th, at 11 AM EST – 8 AM PST. And since this blogger was credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention, the show will be produced from … Read more

President Obama on Reddit live chatting now

President Barack Obama, as this is being written, is participating in what’s called an “Ask me anything,” chat via Reddit, the Internet link forum that calls itself “The Front Page Of The Internet.” And the result is a heavily overloaded Reddit. This is so because the note “reddit is under heavy load right now, sorry. … Read more

Tech News: Offbeatr is Crowdfunding for Adult Community Tech Projects

Say you have an idea for a tech startup, but because its an app for risque photos, or a website comparing the legs of women in your dorm, Kickstarter kicked you out? Well, now, you have a place to go: Offbeatr. Offbeatr.com Offbeatr, a site started by the Walnut, California-based ExtraLunchMoney.com, is a place where … Read more

Le Web London 2012 Live: Robert Scoble Talks The Public Life

(YouTube Livestream embed isn’t always reliable.) At Le Web, Tech Blogger Robert Scoble talks about the advantages of a ‘public life’ or so called because he shares a lot of what he does online – as do I. He posts photos of when he was drunk at a party, for example, calling this going over … Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook: Forbes’ Victoria Murphy Called Him “Unlikely Successor” In 2004

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple Founder and CEO Steve Jobs’ pick to replace him prior to his passing (both shown above), can look back and laugh at Victoria Murphy (now Victoria Murphy Barrett) an Associate Editor with Forbes Magazine to this day, who, in 2004 let loose with a character assassination that basically said he … Read more

Pownce V. Twitter – Remembering An Old Social Media Battle

Pownce V. Twitter. What’s Pownce you ask? What’s fun about 2012 and the emergence of Social Media as both a term and an industry (remember when “New Media” was the preferred term about three years ago?) is the assumed permanence of some platforms and because so many people have entered the space that are in … Read more

TechCrunch Traffic Up 36 Percent Due To Facebook IPO News

Don’t look now, but TechCrunch – the blog founded by Michael Arrington, who in 2010 then sold it to the Tim Armstrong and Arriana Huffington-ran AOL, and the same Huffington who Michael recently called a “touchy psychopath” for her then-heavy-handed role at the tech blog, chasing off Arrington, and bloggers Sarah Lacy, Paul Carr, and … Read more

PicPlz, Instagram Competitor, Shutting Down “Permanently” July 3rd

PicPlz, the San Francisco-and-Seattle-based mobile photo-sharing platform founded by Dalton Caldwell, who is now founder of Mixed Media Labs, and this blogger is on (along with a number of others including Instagram) just sent an email an hour ago announcing that it was shutting down “permanently” July 3rd 2012. Here’s the email: Hi zennie, picplz … Read more

Martin Lewis Sells MoneySavingExpert.com Website For £87 Million Or $133 Million

Martin Lewis Sells MoneySavingExpert.com For £87 Million? If you’re reading this and in America, you’re wondering first, who is Martin Lewis, second why is his website worth £87 Million, and third, what does that convert to in American dollars? Well, Martin Lewis is an Englishman who’s work on the area of personal finance is such … Read more

TechCrunch Disrupt: Michael Arrington Forgets AngelGate At Bin 38

Is TechCrunch Founder Michael Arrington losing his memory? Earlier today, this blogger noted the drop in buzz for TechCrunch Disrupt New York, and pointed as the reason, in part, the absence of Michael Arrington’s direct control over the proceedings, and particularly his genius for making up news stories that created attention, and just happened to … Read more

Tap Tank: Life Goal Monitoring Platform Getting Mobile App

Tap Tank is a New York City-based company started by Alisha Outridge, who I met along with her business partner Yael Tamar, at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2011. The three of us have kept in touch both personally and professionally, so Alisha looked me up via Twitter last weekend when she was in San Francisco, … Read more

TechCrunch Disrupt New York: First Kinda Post – Michael Arrington Disrupt Lacks Buzz

TechCrunch Disrupt is into its third day of activities in New York City, and while this blogger’s not there for the second year (I’ll opt for San Francisco because I’ve jumped times zones 15 times this year already), I follow it via online accounts. In searching for “TechCrunch” on Google Search, it was not hard … Read more

Facebook Must Fix The Faulty Friending Algorithm

Facebook’s friend algorithm is poorly designed, and to a degree that this blogger finds consistently annoying. Really, it’s not just the algorithm that tells you that you’re “friending” people you don’t know, when you do know them, it’s the very website which prompts you to ‘friend’ the same people the system then says you don’t … Read more

Social Media Ad Trust And TV Activity Trust Now Common Measure

“Social Media Ad Trust Grows; Old Media Ad Trust Shrinks?” That’s right. According to a number of sources, as more and more people go online trust in social media ads, generally presented in the framework of frank conversations about the companies and people they’re about, are more trusted than their print and television counterparts. Moreover, … Read more

Twitter For Small Business: Fitting Square Peg In Round Hole

Twitter. I love it, and combined with Tout it’s a powerful tool. But Twitter’s one main issue has been revenue generation. The problem is Twitter’s basic design is not, for all practical purposes, revenue-generation-friendly. I’m not going to explain why that is, just that it is. But give credit to Twitter for trying to fit … Read more

Tango Video Calling Growth Focus Of BBC Laura Locke

Tango is not just a dance, but an app that allows you to make video calls via your cell phone. It’s Face Time for those who don’t have an Apple iPhone, even though you can download it for your iPhone. Here’s the video: Tango’s simplicity, coupled with the desire of millions to share their faces … Read more