Google Maps Comes In Out of the Cold

In a logical next step - Google brings us indoor maps of places where you can and do get lost. Earlier this week, a U.K. company named FootPath was being bashed by consumers for gather their shopping habits via captured mobile data at malls - With its upgraded indoor maps - Google can gather the same information with the users knowledge by offer instant Ads (savings coupons and the like) for stores at a given location.

Amplify’d from www.businessweek.com

Google's next frontier in digital mapping will span the world's shopping malls and airports.

An upgrade of Google's mobile mapping service released Tuesday includes directions within stores, malls, airports and transit centers in the U.S. and Japan.

For now, Google's indoor maps can only be viewed on smartphones and tablet computers that run on the company's Android software. That's still a potentially huge audience because more than 550,000 Android-powered devices are activated each day

"It's like we have taken the map that you see on a kiosk at a store or mall and put it on your phone," said Steve Lee, a product management director for Google.

The indoor directions include two retailers known for their labyrinth stores -- Home Depot and Ikea. Macy's and Bloomingdales also have shared the floor plans of a few of their biggest stores. Read more at www.businessweek.com

 

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Facebook said to plan record-size IPO

So what does this mean for Mark Zuckerberg - It means that he would be worth $24 Billion, according to the WSJ. He would climb the list of the wealthiest Americans. Based on the Forbes 400, Mark would take over the number 7 spot from George Soros. But fortunes are made to be lost - just ask Groupon chief Andrew Mason, who has watched his net worth swan dive in recent days.

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com

Facebook Inc. is considering raising about $10 billion in an initial public offering that would value the world’s largest social-networking site at more than $100 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said

Facebook’s valuation is currently pegged at $66.6 billion by SharesPost Inc., which handles trading of privately held companies. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier yesterday that Facebook was considering the $10 billion IPO with a valuation of more than $100 billion. The company aims to go public between April and June, the Journal said.

“Groupon has lost a lot of steam and I believe bankers are saying, ‘The market is still hot so let’s do it right now,’” he said. Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

 

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Zynga's Quick Rise May Bring about Its Demise

With its IPO looming, Zynga could be facing a talent drain, because of its work culture. The IPO, should be Zynga's high-point, but might end up being its low-point, as employees cash out the door. At this point, money becomes less of a bargaining chip.
 Free Zynga Games

Amplify’d from dealbook.nytimes.com

In dozens of e-mails to a companywide list, frustrated workers complained about the long hours and stressful deadline periods. The quarterly staff survey solicited 1,600 responses, with plenty of criticism, including one person who said he planned to cash out and leave after the initial public offering.

But that culture, which has been at the root of Zynga’s success, could become a serious liability, warn several former senior employees who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals.

“Zynga should be an example of entrepreneurship at its best,” said Roger McNamee, a co-founder of the venture capital firm Elevation Partners. “Instead it’s going to be a Harvard Business School case study on founder overreach — this will be a cautionary tale.”

“We’ve learned that when companies treat talent as a commodity, the consequences are severe,” said Ms. Toledano of Electronic Arts. “It takes years to repair a reputation.” Read more at dealbook.nytimes.com

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Google kills off seven more products

Sometimes you need to scrap an idea that misses the mark – While this may seem like a failure on Google's part – it's not. It's just time to move on to the next "big" idea. And I really didn't like wave anyway!

Amplify’d from www.bbc.co.uk

The out-of-season "spring clean" brings an end to services including Google Wave, Knoll and Google Gears.

"We're in the process of shutting a number of products which haven't had the impact we'd hoped for, integrating others as features into our broader product efforts, and ending several which have shown us a different path forward," said Urs Holzle, Google's vice president of operations.

Any company with the resources and number of brains that Google has will have ideas, only some of which will fly.

Something may displace Facebook but I'm not sure it is likely to be Google+ Read more at www.bbc.co.uk

 

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Adobe's new pricing plan doesn't sit well with customers

Adobe has clearly hit a rough patch and it hasn't helped itself with its new pricing plan. And now its longtime supporters are speaking out against them. In the quote of the day - Doug Evans says that he is looking at QuarkXPress as a replacement (at least for InDesign) to adobe's offering. Adobe may take a lesson from the world of databases - where open source databases now dominate. The lesson - your customers will find alternatives --

Amplify’d from news.cnet.com

It's time for Photoshop customers to think carefully about how to pay for the software, because Adobe Systems is curtailing upgrade deals to steer people toward a new $600-per-year subscription for a wide range of its products.

Adobe--a software powerhouse going through a rough patch with layoffs and with Web standards hurting its Flash business--is making a big bet on subscriptions for its Creative Suite (CS) products. Some customers, though, aren't happy about the change.

Adobe announced the new upgrade and subscription pricing earlier this month--but the issue started ringing alarm bells for many only yesterday when one authority--Scott Kelby, president of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals--objected in an open letter to Adobe.

Doug Evans said

but have sought out alternatives for the Adobe offerings as we prioritize our upgrade paths," including Phase One's Capture One and QuarkXPress. Read more at news.cnet.com

 

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Less than 6-degrees separate you from Kevin Bacon

The internet has made a growing world much smaller with the help of Facebook and LinkedIn. And this research only confirms what we all suspected. But the important thing to remember is Kevin Bacon and if you are reading my blog --you are now on 1 degree separated from Kevin Bacon. Kevin got his hair cut next to me for years at Astor Place. Your world just got smaller!

Amplify’d from www.slashgear.com

Back in August, I mentioned that Facebook and Yahoo had been testing the six degrees therefore where we are all supposed to be connected to each other by no more than six other people. This is commonly known as the six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Scientists at Facebook and the University of Milan have now reported that there are actually less than six people separating us all. Read more at www.slashgear.com

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Rumor: iPad 3 will be thicker than iPad 2

If this rumor turns out to be true - it will be a departure from the way Steve Jobs did things - Thicker is not better and Steve would have sent a FAT iPad back to the drawing board until it was right! Let's hope they get it right.

Amplify’d from www.tgdaily.com

The next iteration of Apple's iPad tablet will lose some of its sexiness in favor of a higher-resolution display.

There are rumors that the iPad 3 will have a nearly unparalleled resolution of 2048 x 1536, which is double that of the iPad 2.

That will force the device to be 0.7mm thicker than the super slim iPad 2. Surely for any Apple fan, though, that won't be a deterrent for owning what will be the highest-resolution tablet on the market. Read more at www.tgdaily.com

 

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