By Evan Ackerman It vaguely amazes me that mail is able to find its way from point a to point b, when it has to pass through points c through z to do so. For all I know, a tribe of pixies lives inside each mailbox and magically teleports my mail where I want it to […]

By Evan Ackerman

It vaguely amazes me that mail is able to find its way from point a to point b, when it has to pass through points c through z to do so. For all I know, a tribe of pixies lives inside each mailbox and magically teleports my mail where I want it to go, over a period of 7-10 business days. If I was the curious type, I could get myself a Micro GPS Mail Logger, which is a letter sized (and bendable!) gadget that will record its position, along with timestamps, to a MicroSD card for you to peruse. For, um, about $700.

I’d be willing to pay that price, perhaps, if I was mailing something extremely valuable (say, my pet snake) and wanted to know where the package was at all times. Unfortunately, you don’t get any of the info until the GPS Mail Logger arrives at its destination and you download it. And, of course, GPS doesn’t work anywhere not under the clear blue sky… You can pretty much bet that when they lose your mail, it’s not going to be anywhere were GPS can find it.

My advice: just get a tracking number and keep your fingers crossed.

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AOL has acquired Fleaflicker, a New Jersey-based fantasy sports site founded by 26 year old Ori Schwartz. We first covered in July 2006. The transaction price isn’t being disclosed. Based on the highly fluctuating traffic to the site and the fact that they only support football (which explains the huge drops in traffic during the off-season), […]

AOL has acquired Fleaflicker, a New Jersey-based fantasy sports site founded by 26 year old Ori Schwartz. We first covered in July 2006.

The transaction price isn’t being disclosed. Based on the highly fluctuating traffic to the site and the fact that they only support football (which explains the huge drops in traffic during the off-season), my guess is this is more of a technology acquisition than the buying of the business operations. Fleaflicker also powers the Washington Post’s Fantasy Football leagues.

AOL runs its own very popular fantasy sports sites for football, baseball, racing and golf, and AOL sports is surging in general (more on that in a follow up post).

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By Evan Ackerman I’ve never flown first class. Not once. I know that if for some reason it ever happens, it’s going to make the rest of my life flying economy that much more depressing. But finally, finally, someone has come up with a seat configuration that looks like it’ll make the whole experience suck not […]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ve never flown first class. Not once. I know that if for some reason it ever happens, it’s going to make the rest of my life flying economy that much more depressing. But finally, finally, someone has come up with a seat configuration that looks like it’ll make the whole experience suck not nearly so much. Designed by Thompson Solutions, Cozy Suite seats are arranged on a diagonal, which somehow allows more seats to be stuffed into the airplane, while also offering numerous advantages to the occupants, including lots more privacy and a place to rest your head. You also get 2 more inches of legroom, an average of 2 more inches of seat width, and best of all, the seat reclines by sliding down and forward, having no effect on the seat behind you, which means I’ll be able to relax a little bit without feeling like a total jerk.

Delta (or DeltaWest or whatever it’s turning into) should begin retrofitting its Boeing 777 and 767 economy classes with Cozy Suites in 2010, which is not soon enough… These seats are better for passengers AND carriers, so let’s all get with the program, shall we?

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The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the antitrust implications of Yahoo’s recent test with Google to run Google ads on about 3 percent of Yahoo’s search results. Reuters is reporting that “some of the government’s concern focused on a telephone call from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry […]

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the antitrust implications of Yahoo’s recent test with Google to run Google ads on about 3 percent of Yahoo’s search results. Reuters is reporting that “some of the government’s concern focused on a telephone call from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang to offer help in thwarting Microsoft’s bid.”

The test was a response to Microsoft’s unsolicited bid for Yahoo. If a deal with Google can goose Yahoo’s profits, the thinking goes, then shareholders may accept that in some combination with another deal (possibly merging with AOL) as a viable alternative to selling to Microsoft. There is still a 60 to 70 percent gap between what Google collects for each search ad and what Yahoo is able to get. So just handing over search advertising to Google would result in a considerable short-term jump in Yahoo’s finances.

But there is an antitrust problem, which Microsoft (no stranger to antitrust law) has been pointing out all along: Google and Yahoo’s combined search market share is about 80 percent. Just the fact that the two companies are talking to each other about combining forces brings up the specter of collusion. Both companies informed the Justice Department of their joint test. And if any deal were to happen, it would likely only be for a portion of Yahoo’s search advertising in an effort to avoid triggering antitrust objections from the government.

But Yahoo and Google are already skating on thin ice. They have already triggered an investigation. And the focus seems to be on collusion, based on the mere active planning on the part of the two search giants to change the market dynamics by cooperating together against Microsoft. Even if this investigation goes nowhere, Google is being warned here that it is dangerously close to monopoly status in search and that the government will treat it accordingly. Different rules apply to monopolies. Just ask Microsoft.

(Image via dullhunk).

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By David Ponce So, by a wide margin, the above design was chosen by you guys. We’re not actually going to make this shirt, but to be fair to everyone, we’ll give the prizes to the person who did this. I guess we can call it a consolation prize? Whatever it is, congrats […]

By David Ponce

So, by a wide margin, the above design was chosen by you guys. We’re not actually going to make this shirt, but to be fair to everyone, we’ll give the prizes to the person who did this. I guess we can call it a consolation prize? Whatever it is, congrats to you my dear man. I don’t know if you wish to be named, so I won’t, but I’ll be in touch by email.

Meanwhile, the team at Splitreason is hard at work making us a design. We’re all holding our breaths that it’ll be nice, and we’ll let y’alls know soon’s it’s ready.

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By Andrew Liszewski If you’re a cellphone nut who demands all the latest features and advancements in their handset, you’re probably going to pass on the LG Secret. But if you’re a photographer or amateur videographer, the Secret might have one feature that would be hard to pass up. The 5 megapixel camera can record video […]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re a cellphone nut who demands all the latest features and advancements in their handset, you’re probably going to pass on the LG Secret. But if you’re a photographer or amateur videographer, the Secret might have one feature that would be hard to pass up. The 5 megapixel camera can record video directly to the Divx format at speeds of up to 120 frames per second. So it’s the perfect phone if you’re walking home and happen to encounter a Michael Bay-esque action sequence or giant tanker truck explosion.

Other features of the LG secret include a carbon fiber case which is not only strong, but also looks really cool. 100MB of internal memory that can be expanded with a microSD card, Bluetooth, a sliding keypad, FM radio, support for Microsoft Office documents and a Google package for surfing the web, accessing Gmail or watching YouTube videos. It will be available in May starting with a European launch, followed by Asia, South America and then the rest of the world.

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The Facebook developer community is thriving but faces a good deal of uncertainty about its future. That was the general message from a session held at the Web 2.0 Expo today called “The Facebook Platform: Finding Success in the Facebook Economy.” The session started off with a disagreement over how much money developers are actually making […]

The Facebook developer community is thriving but faces a good deal of uncertainty about its future. That was the general message from a session held at the Web 2.0 Expo today called “The Facebook Platform: Finding Success in the Facebook Economy.”

The session started off with a disagreement over how much money developers are actually making through Facebook. Naval Ravikant from Venturehacks estimated that over $100M would be made in 2008, whereas Joyce Park of Renkoo and Matt Sanchez of VideoEgg predicted revenues as low as $10-35M this year.

All panelists agreed, however, that CPM rates on Facebook are miserably low, perhaps averaging 15 cents. Developers have begun experimenting with other sources of revenue, such as the sale of virtual goods and premium services, but advertising still generates more than 80% of the platform’s revenue.

The panelists also agreed that Facebook’s recent moves to block viral distribution channels have made life harder for the developers of low engagement apps such as Slide’s FunWall. These apps suffer most because they depend on Facebook’s viral channels for their adoption, having given users little reason to invite their friends proactively.

In the long run, more engaging apps such as Scrabulous are set to do better not only because they attract more dedicated users, but because they provide better opportunities for direct monetization, even if their CPMs are also quite low. Ravikant made a point to say that travel, dating, book, and game-related apps have the brightest futures whereas “everyone else is kinda screwed”.

Despite the shift away from low engagement apps, the platform will remain the most attractive economically for independent developers. Small teams can crank out applications within days and earn decent paychecks, but large companies only have a handful of opportunities to make worthwhile returns on their investments. Ravikant made a point to discourage multi-million dollar investments in Facebook app developers, citing the difficulties associated with monetizing and maintaining a strong user-base. The sense I got, however, was that independent developers will also face hard times, since traditionally they don’t deploy high engagement apps.

The consensus from the panel was that Facebook needs to continue building a strong infrastructure for its developers. Park even suggested that Facebook roll back some of its restrictions on viral distribution since they were hurting growth of many legitimate applications (the distribution mechanisms were the main reason developers came to the platform in the first place).

She also wants Facebook to enforce its policies more clearly and fairly, since there are currently too many incentives to cheat. None of the panelists, however, were concerned that Facebook itself would trample many 3rd party apps with its own feature additions, since Facebook has the mindset of a platform provider, not an app developer.

Ravikant particularly looked forward to Facebook providing a good micro-payment system since it will spur innovation in monetization strategies, which could in turn inform how Facebook itself does business. Providing developers with better ways to make money is perhaps the most important thing Facebook can do now, especially if it continues to restrict how quickly its applications can grow.

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Mobile application service provider Lightpole has introduced a beta version of software that expands on its application’s geolocation capabilities using Yahoo’s Fire Eagle. Lightpole provides businesses with a way to distribute content to mobile phone users, mostly regarding information related to points of interest (POIs). Fire Eagle, which launched last month, is Yahoo’s geo-information […]

Mobile application service provider Lightpole has introduced a beta version of software that expands on its application’s geolocation capabilities using Yahoo’s Fire Eagle.

Lightpole provides businesses with a way to distribute content to mobile phone users, mostly regarding information related to points of interest (POIs). Fire Eagle, which launched last month, is Yahoo’s geo-information platform, which allows users to update their current location from other applications through an API. Locations can be set by a number of devices, including computers and cell phones (through GPS and services like SkyHook). Lightpole, one of the first developers to integrate Fire Eagle, uses this location information to find a list of POIs in the proximity. These POIs are then downloaded to the Lightpole application, where users can browse for information including business hours and phone numbers.

Lightpole’s white label application can also be used by external sites to facilitate mobile access to their databases. For example, the bar locator MappyHour has partnered with Lightpole to provide automatic lookup of local watering holes based on a user’s location. Other features in the release include support for geo-tagged RSS feeds and the capability for users to add and alter POI information in the company’s database from their phones.

Lightpole was founded in January 2007. The company received $2 Million in Series A funding from Alloy Ventures and Stanford University in Febuary 2008. Competitors in this space include Google Local and uLocate.

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By Andrew Liszewski These Spoon Scales are the perfect tool if your favorite recipe or less-than-legal means of employment requires extremely precise measurements. The spoon can weigh amounts ranging from 0.1 to 300g, and is accurate to 1/10th of a gram. It uses a built-in LCD to display the current weight which can be switched to […]

By Andrew Liszewski

These Spoon Scales are the perfect tool if your favorite recipe or less-than-legal means of employment requires extremely precise measurements. The spoon can weigh amounts ranging from 0.1 to 300g, and is accurate to 1/10th of a gram. It uses a built-in LCD to display the current weight which can be switched to show ounces instead of grams at the push of a button. While the scoop itself is made of ABS plastic, the spoon’s handle is actually made from stainless steel giving it that classy, professional kitchen appearance.

You can get it from Pro-idee for about $35.

[ Spoon Scales ] VIA [ Gadget Review ]

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The online writing community Helium recently ended its 100 day reward-a-thon, during which contributors were rewarded with small bonuses for each article they submitted. Helium serves as both a directory and marketplace for user generated articles. Writers can earn revenue based on the quality and popularity of each article they submit, though typical […]

The online writing community Helium recently ended its 100 day reward-a-thon, during which contributors were rewarded with small bonuses for each article they submitted.

Helium serves as both a directory and marketplace for user generated articles. Writers can earn revenue based on the quality and popularity of each article they submit, though typical payouts tend to be quite small. The reward-a-thon augmented each writer’s pay by $1-3 per article, depending on the quality of the author. In the end, the site says that over 1,000 Helium members earned rewards during the period (only a couple dozen made over $600).

The reward-a-thon was not without some controversy, however. The site employs a complex rating system for each writer, and those that weren’t ranked highly enough were knocked into a lower paybracket or out of the reward-a-thon altogether. An author’s “quality” is determined both by how well their articles are judged, and by how good they are at rating articles written by other contributors. Much of this system relies on the opinions of others, making it difficult for a contributor to maintain a high ranking.

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