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Posts Tagged ‘Counterpart’

Researchers shows off self-contained, 9mm solar power system

Continue reading Researchers shows off self-contained, 9mm solar power system

Researchers shows off self-contained, 9mm solar power system originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How the iPad is Changing Interaction Design

Applications that looked amazing on larger multi-touch experiences like Microsoft Surface may have a more affordable consumer-facing counterpart. While the iPad has been widely criticized, many startups are thrilled by its possibilities. In mid-November we featured Paris-based Pearltrees as a new design interface for remapping web information. We spoke to CEO Patrice Lamothe to hear his thoughts on the release of the iPad.

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Pearltrees is a new way of organizing information where users create mindmap-style visualizations of their favorite websites and web-based media. Each “pearl” or media node can have multiple branches and depending on how you want to arrange your pearls, you can drag and drop them to any branch point to suit your needs. Rather than scrolling through a linear hierarchy of bookmarks, users can delve into different branches of a pearltree. Naturally, this type of data visualization lends itself to the touch capabilities of the iPad.

Says Lamothe, “The idea of physically touching and moving items on a screen is in the DNA of Pearltrees. We won’t need to change much to the interaction design to make it suitable for the iPad.”

Nevertheless, while Lamothe sees the potential in the tablet’s touch interface, the fact that the device does not currently support Flash is a problem for the CEO. While many argue that Apple’s omission of Flash support is in favor of HTML 5, there’s no denying that lack of Flash would hinder the consumer experience. The plethora of pre-existing Flash apps and sites are inaccessible save for Adobe’s workarounds.

Says Lamothe, “I believe tablets can open up an entirely new field, something I would call ‘casual browsing’. It’s a really simple way to get information, browse the Web, enjoy content, play games and communicate with friends. It’s something you will do at home, in cafes, during your holidays – basically when you have a bit of leisure time. To be the perfect casual browser, the IPad would need a more open architecture, Flash, a camera and a few other features…In any case, it’s an exciting new way to enjoy the Web.”

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Content Farms: Why Media, Blogs & Google Should Be Worried

I’ve been writing a lot about so-called ‘content farms’ in recent months – companies like Demand Media and Answers.com which create thousands of pieces of content per day and are making a big impact on the Web. Both of those two companies are now firmly inside the top 20 Web properties in the U.S., on a par with the likes of Apple and AOL.

Big media, blogs and Google are all beginning to take notice.

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Chris Ahearn, President of Media at Thomson Reuters, recently published an article on how journalism can survive in the Internet age. TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington also riffs on this theme, mentioning AOL’s "Toyota Strategy of building thousand of niche content sites via the work of cast-offs from old media" and quoting a Wired piece on Demand Media from October.

I started my analysis of Demand Media in this August post. I wrote then that Demand Media operates based on a simple formula for success on the Web: create a ton of niche, mostly uninspired content targeted to search engines, then make it viral through social software and make lots of money through ads. Demand Media has been heavily funded to carry out that mission, to the tune of $355 million. In short, it’s a well-funded, well-oiled page view generating machine.

In November I explored more about how Demand Media produces 4,000 pieces of content a day, based on an interview I did with the founders in September. I followed up by asking: is ad-driven content crossing a line?

Low Quality, High Impact

The bottom line is that the quality of content produced by these ‘content farms’ is dubious, which has an impact on both publishers and readers.

Last week I analyzed the way wikiHow produces its content – its users do all of the writing and editing for free, via a Wikipedia-like platform. There was evidence that wikiHow’s model is producing better content than its Demand Media counterpart for how-to articles, eHow. More worrying though is that Demand Media is producing thousands of these types of articles a day.

So is the Web becoming awash with low-quality content produced by content farms like Demand Media, Answers.com and now AOL? Yes it is.

From my analysis of Demand Media and similar sites, such content is very generic and lacks depth. While I wouldn’t go as far as wikiHow founder Jack Herrick and say that it "lacks soul," it certainly lacks passion and often also lacks knowledge of the topic at hand. Arrington’s analogy with fast food is apt – it is content produced quickly and made to order.

Can Quality Survive?

Given the impact that content farms are having right now, how can producers of ‘quality’ content survive?

Chris Ahearn from Thomson Reuters claims that journalism will "do more than survive the Internet Age, it will thrive." Ahearn notes that Reuters makes the "vast majority of its revenues" from subscription-based business models targeted to "vertical and niche markets." Plus Reuters, he says, provides "valuable services – not just content."

Ahearn also implies that syndication technologies, like Reuters’ semantic analysis platform Open Calais, will lead to a new kind of "B2B content network" – where content creators and publishers can easily collaborate and make money together.

Google Needs to Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

In my view both writers and readers of content will need to work harder to get quality content. I know I’d rather read an article by The Economist on any given topic, than one generated by Demand Media. But we, as readers, need more help from Google and the other search engines.

Right now ‘quantity’ still rules on the Web, ‘quality’ is hard to find. Perhaps that’s why Reuters is betting on the subscription model – it hopes that consumers will just subscribe to quality content, thereby removing the need to search for it. I think there’s something to that, which if true implies that Google will become less relevant in the future. Should Google be worried about that? Yes; and they are.

I can only hope that Google and other search engines find betters ways to surface quality content, for its own sake as well as ours. Because right now Google is being infiltrated on a vast scale by content farms.

If you thought it was bad enough that many professional blogs pump out 30 posts a day, often regurgitations of press releases or quick write-ups of "news" such as Twitter being down for a few minutes (note the irony of that tweet), this new type of Google gaming is on a far bigger scale.

What Demand Media, Answers.com and AOL are doing is having a much greater impact on the quality and findability of content on the Web.

See also:

• Demand Media Is a Page View Generating Machine – And it’s Working
• Answers.com: 31 Million Copied and Pasted Web Pages Can’t Go Wrong
• The Age of Mega Content Sites – Answers.com and Demand Media
• How Demand Media Produces 4,000 Pieces of Content a Day
• Ad-Driven Content – Is it Crossing The Line?

Photo credit: ~Darin~

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Mimo debuts 7-inch iMo Pivot Touch monitor

Mimo debuts 7-inch iMo Pivot Touch monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Need For Speed Shift’ 250GB PS3 box art spied

We saw that new gray 250GB standalone PS3 Slim box the other day, and now we’ve got a shiny press shot of this Europe-bound Need For Speed Shift bundle, which will apparently retail for €350 — only €50 more than its non-bundled 120GB counterpart. We’d heard tell of it before from deep within the bowels of the retail establishment, and it was named in Sony’s original 250GB press release, but we hope Sony has a bit more to say about its much-rumored lineup of bundles for Europe before they spill all over store shelves on some vague, undetermined date.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Filed under: Gaming

‘Need For Speed Shift’ 250GB PS3 box art spied originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leaked BlackBerry Atlas gives Curve 8900 its CDMA counterpart?

Gemini had its Aries, and now it seems Javeline (a.k.a. the Curve 8900) has found its own CDMA equivalent in the BlackBerry Atlas. (Isn’t a shame that RIM’s device codenames are so often catchier than their final designation? But we digress.) A new BlackBerry has hit the internet in grainy photograph form, and according to Salomondrin with additional notes from Crackberry, the pictured leak (it’s the one on the left) boasts CDMA bands, WiFi, and a 8900 series keyboard. Mum’s the word, officially and otherwise, on pretty much any other details, but hopefully RIM won’t keep us waiting too long.

[Via Crackberry]

Filed under: Cellphones

Leaked BlackBerry Atlas gives Curve 8900 its CDMA counterpart? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s Samsung Omnia II pictured, drops cubic d-pad

We know that Verizon’s version of the Windows Mobile-based Omnia II superphone is incoming, and by all accounts, we would’ve figured on it looking more or less like its global counterpart — but those tinkerers over at Big Red apparently can’t leave well enough alone, because the phone that’s appeared on Samsung USA’s site actually looks a bit different. The most notable change is the move away from the original model’s distinctive cubic d-pad, though the replacement — a shield design in the same vein as the B900 for South Korea — really doesn’t look any more user-friendly. Otherwise, there’s not much to see here, but there’s a brief mention of a relatively generous 1500mAh battery which should come in handy for spending hours on end using those YouTube, WeatherBug, and Facebook TouchWiz widgets you’ve got installed, eh?

[Thanks, Austin]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon’s Samsung Omnia II pictured, drops cubic d-pad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Twist given a proper photo shoot, priced $100 for Verizon

Not that there was any doubt, but Nokia’s gone official with its Verizon-bound 7705 Twist, just shy of one month after its KIRF counterpart hit the market. Espoo’s released a handful of glamor shots to celebrate, and although the hardware is still crazy enough to thoroughly pique our interests, all the airbrushing in the world won’t break that UI from its “mid-nineties dumbphone” shackles. Price is less than what we previously heard, $99.99 with two-year contract thanks to a $50 mail-in rebate.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia Twist given a proper photo shoot, priced $100 for Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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