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CenterNetworks

CenterNetworks


CN Community Discussion With Pandora Founder Tim WestergrenYesterday

pandoraToday I had a chance to speak with Chief Strategy Officer and Founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren. Rather than conduct a normal interview, I asked ya'all for questions that you wanted answers to regarding Pandora. Almost all of your questions were answered and I think we even grabbed a scoop! If you like this style, let me know and we can get more founders and executives to stop by CN and answer your raw questions.

Baratunde Thurston and Goktug Oguz want to know why Pandora isn't available outside the U.S.

Tim explained that it's all contingent on royalties and license issues. He said that licensing is a "real mess" both inside and outside the U.S. They are eager to get the service going worldwide and are working hard to do what they can.

Someone asked about how Pandora plans to generate revenue from the iPhone application.

Tim said that iPhone monetization will come from a combination of audio and visual advertising and will launch before the end of 2008.

Rob Diana and Bassam Islam had questions about the Blackberry client regarding availability and why there is a

Viddler Vidgets Are Video WidgetsYesterday

viddlerCentral Pennsylvania-based video hosting service Viddler has announced the launch of Vidgets today. Vidgets are widgets using videos hosted by Viddler. Viddler describes Vidgets as, "With Vidgets you can create lists of videos using any Viddler username, a tag on Viddler, a combination of the two, featured videos, popular videos here on Viddler."

Creating a Vidget is pretty easy although the code doesn't show up until you hit preview which is in another colum - bit odd on the usability. Below is a Vidget I made by searching for iPhone videos featuring iJustine. It's a "list" Vidget - there are also playlist and reel Vidgets.

What would be interesting to know is if the vidgets are automatically updated as new content that matches your selections is added to Viddler. Also it would be great if you could order the videos as you prefer. For example, I may want the video placed in the 3rd position to actually show up first. Would give the Vidget more of a storyline.

Considering that the Vidget code combines HTML and the Flash Viddler player, they are missing a golden opportunity for some heavy search engine optimization! Why not slap a simple "This Vidget Built By Viddler" or "XYZ Vidget

Pinch Media Partners With JumpTap on iPhone Application AdvertisingYesterday

pinch mediaNY-based Pinch Media is announcing the launch of Pinch Advertising today. Pinch Advertising is a partnership between Pinch Media and JumpTap. Pinch Media has iPhone applications and JumpTap has mobile advertising solutions. The Pinch Media blog has more information on how iPhone developers can signup for this new advertising program.

From their announcement:

Pinch Media is now working with JumpTap, a comprehensive provider of advertising solutions for the mobile Internet. I’ve talked a lot with the members of JumpTap’s executive team, and they get it - they understand the iPhone environment is special, the user experience is critical, and we’re a developer-centric business. I’m thrilled that JumpTap’s experienced sales team is going to be finding the best ads for Pinch Media’s network of applications. I’m also thrilled that they’re selling in-application advertising alongside their web advertising, because it means they can potentially combine the two into a single advertising buy. I was up nights trying to think of ways that we could help the most iPhone developers, including iPhone developers who are just starting out and don’t have a lot of application traff

12seconds -- The Video Twitter (invites)Yesterday

12secondsThey call themselves the "Video Twitter" -- their name is 12seconds. The idea is that you can create video from your computer or mobile in 12 seconds and upload it to their site and share it with your friends. VentureBeat and NewTeeVee were able to get into the private alpha version last month.

Today 12seconds moves into public alpha (which still requires an invite??). Some of the new features launching today include a friend search, the ability to send your 12seconds videos to Twitter and a "channel" function which will play videos back-to-back.

Many will compare 12seconds to Seesmic but there really is no comparison. Seesmic is a video message board while 12seconds hopes to be a quick hit and share platform.

I spoke with co-founder David Speiser who explained that the team is bootstrapping it currently but they are looking to raise funding. The founders even bartered items from their homes to help get things the developers were looking for. We also spoke about the fail whale and Speiser noted that they have spent time researching why T

Should Facebook Have Selected More Non-Valley Companies For Their Facebook Connect Launch Partners?Yesterday

Facebook ConnectOne of the major pieces of the keynote address provided by Mark Zuckerberg yesterday was around how huge Facebook is internationally and how Facebook appreciates all of the various language versions that have been created. In fact he said that most of the growth in membership comes from their international versions.

Yet when we look at the initial launch partners for Facebook Connect, 6 of the 24 are from outside California and only one is from outside the U.S. Four of the launch partners are from IAC and three are part of CBS. Here's a list of the intial Facebook Connect launch partners and their headquarters location. Marc Bernegger also notes that only one company is non-U.S.

  • facebookconnect.pngABC TV _ Los Angeles
  • Amiando - Munich, Germany
  • CBS - New York
  • Citysearch - NYC - Part of IAC
  • CNET - Silicon Valley - Part of CBS
  • CollegeHumor - NYC - Part of IAC
  • Digg - Silicon Valley
  • Disney - Lo