The Beta News

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

One of my favourite applications, Evernote, released another update today. Besides fixing some minor issues, it features great news for especially Mac-users. The Safari plugin, lets you clip entire web pages to Evernote or a PDF. Evernote now also supports Growl notifications (known from Adium and Gmail Notifier).

FireFox Mac-users will enjoy the updated clipper. The clipping is sent directly to the Evernote client. No more signing in or pop-ups. If you prefer the “old” method you can still use the bookmarklet.

I have Evernote installed on all my supported devices, my PC, MacBook Pro and iPhone. I love how easy I can sync my notes, record an audio note and take advantage of the many Evernote-enabled apps. I used to be a huge fan of Google Notebook, but unfortunately Google doesn’t support that anymore.

What’s your experience with Evernote? Do you use another application to write and sync notes and clippings?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Maybe you’ve seen the latest Star Trek trailer. If you haven’t, you’ve missed one of the best trailers in a long time. I saw it several times and it gives me goosebumps every time I see it.

I blame the goosebumps on the music used in the latest trailer. After seeing the Star Trek Movie trailer a couple of times, I had to find out where the music was from.

So I did a little research and stumbled upon TheTrailerMusicMan on YouTube. I wrote to him and within a short time, he told me the music written by Two Steps From Hell and was called Freedom Fighters.

So far so good. I’ve done some more research and it turns out that one of the composers behind Two Steps From Hell, Thomas J. Bergersen started a blog a few days ago. He wrote this the other day:

There has been a lot of interest in the Freedom Fighters music in the new Star Trek trailer (thanks!) so here’s some more information for you. The executives at Paramount studios ultimately had the final say in what music was used for the trailer. They ended up liking the music so much they wanted exclusive rights to use it (to avoid us from licensing it to other advertisement campaigns). This does however not mean that the music cannot be published on CD, and we’ll likely include the modified version on one of our future public releases.

Make sure you catch the trailer at your local theatre, as the surround sound mixing is EPIC!

Best,

Thomas J. Bergersen

So unfortunately the music from the third Star Trek trailer isn’t available yet.

If you are into music from trailers and what I would call “epic music”, you should definitely check out Two Steps From Hell.

They also wrote the music behind the second Star Trek trailer. That track is called “Down with Enterprise”.

Their albums will become available on iTunes.

Now if you are really really interested in their music you can find their music on YouTube and on their Facebook fan page. A simple Google search will also give you a lot of hits. There are a lot of forums discussing the latest Star Trek trailer and the music in them.

(and just a small hint: If you really want to download “Freedom Fighters”, it’s out there…)

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. A cracking program for iPhone apps has been released. It’s called “Crackulous”. I’m not mentioning it here because I want you to use it. On the contrary. This program can do more damage than good.

Crackulous removes copy protection (Apple calls it FairPlay) from iPhone app. There is nothing new in that. Several sites already offer pirated iPhone apps for free. But with Craculous everybody can remove FairPlay from their iPhone apps and share them with friends, p2p sites (torrents, newsgroups etc.) or sell them.

So what’s wrong in sharing your iPhone apps with your friends? I guess nothing is worng in that?! If only it would stop there. It won’t! The next thing we’ll see will be some kind of distribution program on your iPhone. It’ll be the pirated version of Cydia, which lets you download the pirated version of the app straight to your iPhone. Of course there are always some people who use pirated applications as a demo. “I’ll buy the program after I try it…”. Do you really want to try out a $ 1.99 application before you buy it?

90% of the applications on iTunes are made by people like you and me. (Well if I could develop an iPhone app I would, but you know what I mean.) Independent developers who has worked hard to make a great application for us.

I’m sure most developers aren’t making a living of the apps, so money isn’t my main concern here. I’m more concerned at how Apple will react on this. I’m no big fan of the way Apple locked the iPhone down. I mean it’s simlocked and you are forced to use iTunes to buy apps. I think the fear of piracy caused Apple to keep the iPhone on a leash like this. Apple could have allowed the “unofficial” developers more elbow space. A jailbreaked iPhone is even more powerful than an “official”. I think Apple knew, that if you allow the unofficial developers too much space, you would end up with a problem like this. I’m sure Apple know that they’ve sold even more iPhone because of the unlock and jailbreak possibilities, so they could live with that.

Apple can’t  have people distributing unlicensed iPhone apps. If pirated versions of EA Games’ Monopoly surfaces on too many sites, they will pressure Apple into doing something about it. This could mean the end of Cydia and all the great programs there. Swirly MMS has given us MMS on iPhone, Snapture let us take better photos, SBSettings let’s me control my shortcuts and Cycorder let’s me record videos. Cydia could now be the pirate’s extended arm and dig their own grave.

Would you use a pirated version of iPhone apps? Do you have any on your iPhone now?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you run a blog or a website you probably know what a robots.txt file is, so you can skip the next line. It’s a small text file that tells search engine what to include and not to include in their indexing of your site.

As you might have noticed or read www.whitehouse.gov has been given an Obama make-over. The changes has aren’t just graphical and textual. Perhaps as a comparison to the previous government, the new robots.txt is a bit more welcoming.

This is Obama’s robots.txt:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /includes/

Yes that’s it!

Now compare it to George W. Bush’s 2400 line robots.txt (I won’t post it all)

1. User-agent:     *
2. Disallow:       /cgi-bin
3. Disallow:       /search
4. Disallow:       /query.html
5. Disallow:       /omb/search
6. Disallow:       /omb/query.html
7. Disallow:       /expectmore/search
8. Disallow:       /expectmore/query.html
9. Disallow:       /results/search
10. Disallow:       /results/query.html
11. Disallow:       /earmarks/search
12. Disallow:       /earmarks/query.html
13. Disallow:       /help
14. Disallow:       /360pics/text
15. Disallow:       /911/911day/text
16. Disallow:       /911/heroes/text
17. Disallow:       /911/messages/text
18. Disallow:       /911/patriotism/text
19. Disallow:       /911/patriotism2/text

Let’s hope Obama keeps it this way. It’s a good start. So American…please don’t screw this up

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Macworld 2009 is starting today. The rumours about what will be launched at the expo have been around since Macworld 2008. The biggest rumour is always about Steve Jobs’ health. I hope (like I hope for everybody else), that he is doing good and in perfect health. Besides that it’s really not my concern.

Besides Steve’s health there are more much more interesting rumours, will we see a red iPhone? A new AppleTV? Or perhaps a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro with now removeable battery (yes, that very convenient when you have to erhmmm…well, the battery won’t fall out if you drop the MacBook).

Of course, at some point we’ll probably see a iTablet or some kind of tablet Mac as several tech blogs suggest.

I know a lot of hardcore fans are ready to spend money on a new Apple thingy. I would never do that of course….never ever (my wife reads this blog too).

Which Apple product are you hoping for?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I hope everybody had a great christmas (or holiday). I’m still enjoying mine.

With new year’s eve tomorrow I wanted to thank eveyone for your loyalty and patronage.

Have a great new year and I’ll see you in 2009.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This just in: European Xing has bought American Socialmedian!

I’m so proud. It doesn’t happen very often that a European company buys an American. This will definitely help the European social network, Xing expand their business in Europe and the rest of the world.

To Jason Goldberg: Welcome to Europe. I think you’ll find Hamburg a plesant surprise. Remember to go to AOL Arena and see some German soccer (football). They have a great atmosphere there.

The official press release:

I am thrilled to announce that socialmedian is being acquired by XING of Hamburg, Germany.

This is great news for socialmedian’s members as XING is committed to growing and developing socialmedian both as a standalone service as well launching integrated socialmedian services on XING, one of the leading online business networks in the world.

The entire socialmedian team will be joining XING as part of the acquisition.  I will be relocating to Hamburg, where I will lead up a major new initiative for XING, the XING Application Platform.  In this new role, in addition to strengthening and enhancing the socialmedian service, I will also be responsible for managing global partnerships for application developers and content providers to connect with the XING network.

This is an awesome development for socialmedian.

socialmedian delivers the news, filtered by your network.  XING is one of the leading global online networks and is rapidly growing around the world with nearly 7 million members, up from 4.8 million in 2007.  Together, socialmedian & XING will connect people with the people, information, and resources they need to get their jobs done, follow their interests, and pursue their passions.

More details immediately below.

• Here’s a link to the official press release
• Here’s a link to XING’s blog post by XING CEO Lars Hinrichs announcing the deal.

XING AG purchases socialmedian Inc.

• Transaction enables a  technological jump on integrating business news into Europe’s leading business network
• Socialmedian CEO Jason Goldberg joins XING in Hamburg, Germany in the newly created position of Vice President XING Applications Platform
• The company will launch integrated products in 2009

Hamburg / New York, December 19, 2008. The publicly listed XING AG (O1BC / ISIN DE000XNG888) announces today it has purchased New York-based socialmedian Inc., a leading innovator in the social news industry. The socialmedian solution enables people to get the news filtered by their social networks.  Socialmedian debuted in 2008 and has rapidly grown a highly engaged user-base.  Socialmedian is thus a natural fit with XING, a leading global online social network for professionals. Socialmedian’s founder and CEO, Jason Goldberg, will join XING in Hamburg, Germany in the newly created position of Vice President XING Applications Platform.

“XING is a uniquely active and innovative platform in business networking, offering real value for its members on a global scale. Combining XING with socialmedian’s next generation social news technology offers great potential to deliver highly engaging content and services to business professionals worldwide,” said Jason Goldberg. In the new role of VP XING Applications Platform, Goldberg will be responsible for managing global partnerships for application developers and content providers to connect with the XING network.

Success in business depends on access to the right information at the right time. The rise of the Internet has increased both the speed of information and the sheer volume of data. In addition to traditional media companies, social media such as blogs, tweets, videos and other user-generated websites now provide daily news, leading to a veritable flood of information. Time-strapped professionals are left to parse through numerous news sources for relevant information and sort, organize, and share stories on their own. socialmedian does this for you, gathering information from about 19,000 sources, including social services such as Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Google Reader, FriendFeed, the international blogosphere, and industry and online media sources, and then filtering your news through your social networking contacts. Thus enabling people to get the news they need to know for their jobs, their interests, and their passions through the people in their networks.

Over 6.5 million business professionals, managers, and experts use XING to keep track of information and updates in their professional network. Working with socialmedian, XING plans to launch several new innovations, including offering XING members custom filtered news.  “We want to offer our members the greatest value in their networks, and this includes having the relevant news at their fingertips. Now we have the technology necessary to do so. We’re also excited to have someone like Jason working with us to develop the XING ecosystem of partnerships with leading companies around the world,” said Lars Hinrichs, CEO and founder of XING AG.

XING will continue to grow and enhance socialmedian as a standalone service. There will be no interruption for socialmedian users.

About socialmedian:
Socialmedian delivers the news, filtered by your network. socialmedian’s mission is to help people discover the news and information they need to succeed at their jobs, pursue their passions and stay informed about the world around them.  Since launching in August, socialmedian users have created more than 2500 topical news networks, ranging from iPhone to campaign 2008 to the global financial crisis, aggregating newsfeeds and user feeds from more than 19.000 sources with 800 new stories added every minute. The NY-based company was founded by former Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg and is currently backed by Washingtonpost. Newsweek Interactive and leading angel investors including Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman and Allen Morgan of the Mayfield Fund. For more information, please visit www.socialmedian.com.

About XING
XING is the leading network for business contacts in Europe. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover professional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools. With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, XING AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals. By focusing on the target group ‘business people worldwide’, the company is able to offer tailored features, thereby making networking and contact management simpler. Besides Headquarters in Hamburg, XING AG is also represented with offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Beijing.
XING. Powering Relationships.

Again congratulations Xing!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

It’s always difficult to predict things, especially the future, and even more the future of the internet.

That was also my first thought when I read report from Pew Research Center, The future of the Internet III. The third report is just released and this one is based on a survey of, how the internet will be in 2020. They’ve asked 1,196 people.

If you feel like chewing through the 138 pages The future of the Internet III report you are more than welcome to.

If you are a bit lazy, I’ve collected the important conclusions below:

1. The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
2. The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
3. Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
4. Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing arms race, with the crackers who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
5. The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
6. Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

The list is a strange combination of tech predictions and predictions of more sociological and political future scenarios.

Most discussions are often centered around tech predictions and seldom about future political scenarios. Is the technological progress also progress for mankind?

Those that have a cell phone and a laptop often works more and longer. You are always connected, so wouldn’t you fear that we would crash at some point if we keep this up?

Read paragraph #2 again please.

Will the technological progress in the next decade also create a better world when it comes to personal integrity, social tolerance and forgiveness?

What do you think?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!