Microsoft Launches Office 365 For Government

Google scored an important win over Microsoft a few weeks ago when it won a $35 million U.S. government contract to bring its cloud-based office solution to the Department of the Interior. Microsoft’s legacy solutions, of course, remain a staple in government offices, but as more and more agencies want to move their productivity and collaboration services to the cloud, Microsoft is running the risk of losing out in this lucrative market. Today, however, the company is launching a new service that should give more of its government customers, which tend to have very strict data security and privacy regulations, the option to move to the cloud. Microsoft’s new Office 365 for Government is, in the company’s own words, “a new multi-tenant service that stores US government data in a segregated community cloud.”
Google touted its ISO 27001 certification for Google Apps for Business last week, which Office 365 for Government also qualifies for. Just like its predecessor, the Business Productivity Online Suite Federal, Microsoft’s new service also supports a plethora of other certifications, including SAS70 Type II, the US Health Insurance Portability, Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the US Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Microsoft also plans to support Criminal Justice Information Security policies soon. The service will soon offer support for IPv6 as well.
The major difference between Microsoft’s enterprise solution and this government cloud is that the government data lives on its own segregated infrastructure. Besides this – and the additional certifications – Microsoft’s government solution includes virtually the same services as the enterprise version, including Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online and Office Professional Plus. Given that Microsoft’s enterprise solution is also now FISMA certified, this new service is mainly meant for agencies that have requirements beyond this certification.

11:05 by Robert dawne · 1

9 Steps for Getting Kickstarter Dollars

These days, more Kickstarter campaigns are achieving success than we can keep track of. The iPhone-friendly Pebble watch earned $7.6 million more than its $100,000 goal. And the Galileo iPhone platform closed its Kickstarter campaign at $702,000, far surpassing its $100,000 goal.
Not to mention, Kickstarter recently reported it has raised $200 million from over 2 million backers.
How does one cash in (literally) on the Kickstarter craze? For starters, it helps to have a unique concept, wicked ambition and one unforgettable pitch. We've read all of Kickstarter's guidelines, FAQs and tips, and have researched testimonials from successful campaign alums to compile a set of tips that will help launch you into the Kickstarter hall of fame.
1. The Scope
Kickstarter projects are just that: projects. And Kickstarter has strict parameters to define a project. It's "something finite with a clear beginning and end." In other words, Kickstarter is not meant to help you earn money to launch a business. Rather, it’s about earning money to complete a finite goal, whether that’s releasing your band’s latest album, completing a book, etc.
Now, if that project just so happens to coincide with the launching of your business, so be it. However, don’t expect to use Kickstarter funds toward anything related to general business–you can use the money towards the development of your project and in paying the necessary people to get your work off the ground. So, set very specific and measurable project goals. Not only will Kickstarter approve your project, but potential backers will have a firmer understanding of what they’re funding.
2. The Timeline
One of the biggest factors to take into account is your project’s timeline. This will dictate how long your Kickstarter campaign should run and how long it will take to deliver the finished product.
You can set a Kickstarter campaign to run anywhere between one and 60 days. Keep in mind, however, that projects lasting 30 days or less have Kickstarter’s highest success rates. A project’s momentum climbs in the beginning and the end, but can lag during a too-long middle time period. Find a happy medium between your timeframe and your audience’s attention span.
A timeline is also important so that you can set mailing dates for your backers’ rewards, another essential piece of the Kickstarter experience. Be sure to give yourself enough time to complete your project once the Kickstarter campaign has been funded; that way, you won’t disappoint your backers with late or rushed rewards.
3. The Money
Once you have a clearly defined project, it should be relatively straightforward to define a funding goal. It’s as simple as putting together a budget.
Take into account the following: production, manufacturing, labor, packaging and shipping costs. Factor in your “salary,” too; if you’re using Kickstarter to help you complete a book, backers are paying for your time. (Just be sure to make that clear in your project description.)
The most important thing to remember is that Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model. If your project doesn’t reach its financial goal within the specified time period, you’ll receive no money. Therefore, don’t set the bar unreasonably high. On the other hand, if you’ve accurately budgeted the project and are fully transparent to potential backers, you should see healthy returns.
4. The Tiers
Hand-in-hand with your budget, you’ll need to determine the proper rewards to return to backers once the project is completed. Rewards are tangible returns for a backer’s money, and can vary widely from project to project. A popular example is rewarding your backers with something made by the project itself, like a copy of a newly recorded album.
Rewards are determined by different funding tiers. Let’s take the CD example: You might estimate that a backer who pledges $20 deserves a copy of the CD. However, if a backer pledges $50, maybe he or she receives a signed copy of the CD. And if he pledges $100, it’s two signed copies plus a concert ticket.
Kickstarter data shows that the most popular pledge is $25, but the average pledge is around $70. Kickstarter also shares that projects with no reward succeed 35% of the time, while projects with a reward less than $20 succeed 54% of the time. Don’t be afraid to vary your pledge tiers widely to accommodate all budgets.
5. The Video
Kickstarter projects with a video component succeed at a significantly higher rate than those without (50 percent vs. 30 percent). So yes, a video is important. According to Kickstarter, this is what makes a killer vid:

• Tell us who you are.
• Tell us the story behind your project. Where'd you get the idea? What stage is it at now? How are you feeling about it?
• Come out and ask for people's support, explaining why you need it and what you'll do with their money.
• Talk about how awesome your rewards are, using any images you can.
• Explain that if you don't reach your goal, you'll get nothing, and everyone will be sad.
• Thank everyone!

Finally, be sure that your video thumbnail is strategic, inviting and piques the visitor’s curiosity. Consider featuring a prototype or a design element. After all, it’s the first image people will see when they visit your project page.
6. The Project Page
Now that you’ve defined your project’s parameters, it’s time to communicate them to potential backers and supporters. Kickstarter emphasizes the most important thing to remember is to be transparent at all times.
That means clearly defining your project’s scope and how you will achieve your goal. It’s also imperative that you explain precisely how you plan to use backers’ money.
Then, explain why you are the best person, company or group to complete this project. Why is your team qualified? What are your past experiences and accolades? Also, create a sense of urgency and timeliness–why do people need this project right now?
Remember to be concise but thorough. Ask yourself, "What questions would people have about my project before pledging money and support?"
7. The Community
Now that you’re ready to launch your project, it’s time to call on your community. Kickstarter recommends tapping your social media followers, but advises a gentle approach. Don’t spam your friends and goad your followers with self-promotion. Consider several different kinds of outreach so as not to overload one network.
And remember: Your community isn’t enough. Consider drafting a pitch document for media coverage, no matter how small the outlet. And ask for help from your local community so they can share in the success–pass out fliers in local businesses and make nice with your town’s radio DJs.
An often overlooked tactic is to tap your backers’ networks, too. Once a person supports your project, he or she is obviously invested in its completion. So ask backers to share the project among their communities.
8. The Updates
Your backers are the lifeblood of your project. They deserve to be updated frequently and thoroughly, as if they were on the team alongside you.
You may choose to either make updates public, or share them privately to backers. To make them feel invested, consider e-mailing updates that include video and photos of your progress, important milestones and team events.
9. The Rewards
A project’s completion means you need to start mailing backers their rewards. You’ll be able to send backers a survey upon completion of your Kickstarter campaign, in which you can ask them to provide their contact information and other requests (T-shirt size, color preference, mailing address, etc.) Kickstarter offers a spreadsheet tool to help you keep all of this information organized.
Staying organized is key. Many Kickstarter alums share that the most challenging part of the process was meeting the mailing dates for rewards. But the process should be pretty straightforward, as long as you account for every step of the process: collecting surveys, calculating shipping costs based on package weight and backer location, purchasing supplies, printing shipping labels, packaging, transporting and finally mailing your rewards.

08:01 by Robert dawne · 0

How Instagram Took America by Storm [INFOGRAPHIC]

Have you caught Instagram fever?
The flaming hot mobile app and recent $1 billion Facebook acquisition now has more than 40 million users.
This Online Colleges infographic shares some impressive stats behind the viral mobile photography app. Instagram gains one new user every second. One billion photos have been taken with the app — that’s roughly 58 photos uploaded each second.
Instagram’s on track to hit 100 million users — joining the ranks of LinkedIn, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook — two years after its initial iOS launch in October 2010.
The infographic, created by an online university database, focuses on college students’ adoption of the app. It suggests professors and campus professionals use Instagram to foster community through photo contests. It also recommends that students follow professors to learn about their interests outside of the classroom.
How have you seen colleges use Instagram? Do you think students and professors should interact on social networks?

10:24 by Robert dawne · 0

What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised

Try to guess America’s most engaging social network. Facebook? Wrong. Twitter? Wrong. Pinterest? Wrong again. According to comScore‘s most recent social networking data, from the month of March, the San Francisco based site Tagged engages users like no other service. It was the only site to finish in the top two in both of comScore’s engagement metrics.
Tagged users visited an average of 18 times each during March according to ComScore, second only to Facebook’s average of 36 visits per vistor. And each time a Tagged user visited the site, he or she stuck around for 12.1 minutes — which trailed only Tumblr (14.7 minutes) and beat out Facebook (10.9 minutes).
Tagged co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng says he’s happy about ComScore’s March data, but that his company has been among America’s most engaging social networks for about a year now. The secret to Tagged’s success? A pivot Tseng and co-founder Johann Schleier-Smith made around the beginning of 2008.
The longtime friends started Tagged in 2004, at the time angling it to be a Facebook-like social network for high schoolers. Eventually, however, Facebook expanded beyond a closed college network and allowed anyone over the age of 12 to join.
“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” Tseng says. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”
As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site’s algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.
Tseng says Tagged’s 10 million core monthly active users form an average of 100 million new connections per month. The site has been profitable since 2008, and over the past year tripled its staff to a current count of more than 170.
With social discovery as a whole seen by many to be a rising tide, Tseng believes Tagged’s success will continue to grow.
“If I look out at the next five or 10 years, I really see social discovery as big as social networking — in some sense I think you can think of social discovery as the engine for social networking,” he says, referencing Dunbar’s number, which theorizes that humans can maintain an average of 150 connections at a time.
“Facebook is the place where you maintain your current 150,” he says. “And Tagged will be the place where you refresh that 150.”
Do you think social discovery is the next big thing? Let us know in the comments.

10:09 by Robert dawne · 0

Yahoo Escalates Patent War With Facebook

Yahoo just took its war of lawsuits with Facebook to the next level, adding two more patent-infringement claims to the 10 it filed for back in March.
The company also accused Facebook of not having a good-faith belief in the counterclaim it filed almost a month ago.
“Today Yahoo! filed additional claims against Facebook in U.S. District Court related to two additional patents on which Facebook infringes,” Yahoo said in an emailed statement.
“As we have stated previously, Yahoo!’s technologies are the foundation of our business that engages over 700 million monthly unique visitors and represent the spirit of innovation upon which Yahoo! is built. We intend to vigorously protect these technologies for our customers and shareholders.”
In the face of the new claims, Facebook was more succinct: “We remain perplexed by Yahoo’s erratic actions,” a Facebook spokesperson said, also in an emailed statement. “We disagree with these latest claims and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously.”
With the “erratic” dig, Facebook seems to be depicting Yahoo as the tech-company equivalent of a crotchety old man. Considering Yahoo specifically calls out Facebook for using recently acquired patents as the basis of its lawsuit — even though some of the patents in Yahoo’s claim were acquired as well — the image may well stick.

A quick recap: Shortly after appointing former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as CEO, Yahoo warned Facebook that the social network was infringing on its intellectual property — specifically, 10 patents that relate to Internet technologies.
It then went ahead and sued Facebook a few weeks later, becoming something of a tech-industry pariah in the process.
Facebook, rather than try to end the suit with a quick settlement, set out to arm itself for a retaliatory strike. The social network quickly acquired many patents from both IBM and Microsoft. Facebook also countersued Yahoo — saying that it, too, was guilty of patent infringement.
The whole affair would be funny if it wasn’t a symptom of a wider, all-out patent war. In the last year we’ve seen Apple, Google, Microsoft and a host of others sue the pants of each other, and a company that barely does anything can claim to hold a patent on the web itself.
So this latest salvo in the Facebook-Yahoo patent war likely won’t be the last. What’s your take on the ongoing dispute? Sound off in the comments.

10:32 by Robert dawne · 2

Intel Releases Rugged Education Tablet for the Developing World

Intel has launched the latest device in its line of classroom computers: a tablet, Intel studybook.
The Intel studybook is built to be both a rigorous education tool and a sturdy playmate. It comes loaded with Intel’s Learning Series software, including an interactive ereader and LabCam applications. The rugged water and dust-proof design is constructed from a single piece of plastic, with shock absorbers surrounding the screen. It’s also drop tested from 70 centimeters, the height of a child’s desk, onto concrete.
“Students today live in a virtual world and this device can give a valid scientific experience for students in emerging economies, ” says Wayne Grant, director of research and planning for Intel’s Education Market Platforms Group, as he throws the tablet across the table to demonstrate its robustness. “Representations of knowledge are changing. Tools are now based in tablet environments.”
The tablet has a 7-inch screen, 1060 x 600 pixel resolution, and can run either Windows 7 or Android Honeycomb software. Some additional features include front and rear-facing cameras, a microphone, multi-touch LCD screen, light sensor support and mobile learning environment. It runs on an Intel Atom Z650 processor.

Intel doesn’t sell any of its line of classroom PCs, rather it licenses them to original design manufactures throughout the world, in the countries that will be using the devices. It’s then up to the manufacturer to determine the price. Grant cites one Portuguese manufacturer’s estimate to sell the tablets at just under $200.
“The tablet is not prescriptive,” Grant says, “Here’s the tool, go discover the world.”
More than 7 million children in more than 2,000 classrooms in 36 countries around the world currently use Intel classmate PCs.
“An Intel studybook offers students limitless opportunities to enhance their learning experience,” says Kapil Wadhera, general manager of Intel’s Education Market Platform Group. “Expanding the Intel Learning Series portfolio of affordable, purpose-built educational devices brings us closer to our vision of enabling more students and teachers to participate in high quality education.”
To improve the classroom environment, the Intel Learning Series also added Teacher PC criteria for Ultrabook and Notebook systems. The criteria is created with the goal of keeping teachers up to speed with the new tools.
A recent study showed that One Laptop Per Child, another rugged classroom PC innovator, did not increase language and math test scores in the classrooms where laptops were used. This gap, the study found, is due to insufficient teacher training with the new technologies.

16:02 by Robert dawne · 0

Everyone’s Curious About Instagram; Android App Hits 5 Million Downloads

What a week.  As if being purchased for $1 Billion by the most influential social media company in the world wasn’t enough, Instagram has just reached 5 million downloads for the Android version of their photo software — and that’s in 6 days.  We reported when they hit a million earlier this week, and now it looks like they’ve continued their ascent.  Judging by my personal experience, I can see that there is definitely a buzz about Instagram — people are wondering what exactly it is after the Facebook purchase and this may have led to a snowball effect for the app.
As reported first by The Next Web, by studiously watching the Google Play page for the Instagram app, the app has now jumped into the category of “5,000,000 – 10,000,000″ installs where it was previously in the “1,000,000 – 5,000,000″ install range.  I’ve picked up the application myself, and while I still think it’s a close call with Camera ZOOM FX, Instagram’s ability to auto upload and share with others is pretty slick.
Are you using Instagram for Android?

10:32 by Robert dawne · 1

Tumblr Hits 20 Billion Total Posts

Tumblr has hit a major milestone — 20 billion posts — a huge increase from the 12 billion posts figure it reached in November.
“Forgot to make a big deal of this earlier, but Tumblr crossed the 20-billion-post mark Monday night,” said a tweet from the official Tumblr account, with a link to Tumblr’s About page, which sports a counter showing the total number of Tumblr posts.
Currently, the number sits at more than 20 billion posts, 51 million of which were created today. Tumblr currently has more than 49.7 million total blogs and is due to hit the 50 million milestone any day now.
The rapid rise of Tumblr in the past year has been nothing short of amazing. In June 2011, Tumblr announced it had more blogs than WordPress.com — more than 20 million. It took less than nine months for Tumblr to double that number.
For comparison, WordPress powers more than 72 million blogs, about half of which are hosted on WordPress.com.

The simplicity and ease of use of Tumblr on one hand and similarity to microblogging services such as Twitter on the other, have apparently hit the right spot with a large number of users. One thing Tumblr still lacks is a viable business plan — despite significant funding. 

25 Outstanding Kitty-Themed Tumblrs [LOTS OF CATS]

1. Cats. Where They Do Not Belong

 

From the creator: "I decided there is not enough internet space devoted to pictures of cats trying to fit into anything they can, so I have graciously decided to take on this challenge."

We thank you.

2. Contortion Cats!

 

As far as "collections of contorted cats" go, this is particularly fine one.

 

3. The Kitten Covers

 

You'll get nothing but whiskers and win by following The Kitten Covers.

4. Dream Cats

 

With images of "girls and cats, cats in soft focus, cats on film and dream cats" you're sure to find something Pin-worthy here.

5. GIF Cat

 

A GIF-based blog slaving to "make the internet a better place."

6. Writers and Kitties

 

"Where literature has whiskers and pointy ears." You'll find plenty of vintage pics of literary types and their feline friends.

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7. Cats in Clothes

 

There are no surprises here. Just cats. In clothes.

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8. Garfield Minus Garfield

 

"Dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle," Garfield Minus Garfield is surreal and funny.

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9. F*** Yeah Kitties

 

Simply celebrating cats.

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10. C$shcats

 

Cats plus piles and piles of cash make for strangely compelling viewing.

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11. Review of My Cat

 

This blog contains reader "reviews" of their cats, rating them on appearance, sociability, usefulness, huggability and a final, overall grade.

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12. Cat Watching You Have Sex

 

"You've always pretended they weren't watching you get it on. You've always been wrong."

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13. Worldy Cats

 

Cats from all corners of the globe feature on this feline-themed travelogue.

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14. Cats That Look Like Ron Swanson

 

Even if you don't know who Ron Swanson is, you should get some laughs here.

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15. Barely Feral

 

Barely Feral says it answers the question "what if there was a porn site designed by cats for cats?"

It's an X-rated answer, so adult-only click-throughs, please.

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16. I ♥ Cat Gifs

 

"All cat GIFs, all the time."

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17. Stoned Cats

 

Drugs are bad. If you're not convinced, check out what they have reduced these poor animals to.

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18. Cats in Front of Macs

 

This blog shares the "pain" of cats getting in the way of your laptop/iPad/iMac, etc.

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19. Aw Yeah Pudgy Kitties

 

If you like a cat with a bit of meat on its bones, this blog is for you.

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20. Celebrity Pussy

 

As "your premier source for celebrities with cats," Celebrity Pussy is both a fabulous online image library and we to like imagine, a constant source of disappointment from, ahem, certain Google users

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21. CAT SCIENTISTS OF THE 1960S

 

Lest we forget the important work done by cat scientists during the Sixties.

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22. F*** Yeah Cats

 

More cats.

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23. We Are the 99 Purrcent

 

The Tumblr home of the occu-paw movement.

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24. Cats in Ties

 

There's a joke somewhere about "The Long Tail," but we'll just say this is splendidly niche.

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25. The Cat Scan

 

Finally, our favorite cat-themed Tumblr is the glorious The Cat Scan.

It is probably responsible for a large percentage of cat scratches in recent years as kitty-owners try and persuade their recalcitrant pets to sit still on a humming, flashing box of evil long enough to be scanned.

Those that succeed -- we salute you!

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09:20 by Robert dawne · 0

Facebook Pages Race To Adopt Timeline, 8M Of 37M+ Upgraded In 10 Days

On March 30th, Facebook will forcibly migrate all Pages onto the Timeline redesign, but Facebook tells me it only took 10 days for 8 million of the more than 37 million Pages that have been set up to opt into the change. The stats are a sign of success that show the added features are ones admins want, considering tons of Facebook Pages get set up and forgotten about.
However, it will take a while to see whether Timeline actually helps Pages market more effectively. So far the most popular Pages that have switched haven’t seen growth rates increase. With more to look at, the Like button might be overshadowed.
Reach Generator which launched at the Facebook Marketing Conference and allows Pages to pay a fixed fee to guarantee distribution of their content to over 75% of their fans is picking up customers. Dr. Pepper reached 83% of its 8 million U.S. fans over a 28-day period, had a 140% increase in people talking about it on Facebook, and saw an 80% increase in engagement. Ford plans to buy logout page ads where big photos of their cars can be featured, which wouldn’t fit in Facebook’s tiny traditional sidebar ads.
Typically when Facebook launches redesigns they’re met with fear and apprehension. But Timeline’s big flashy cover banner seems to be pretty for Page admins to resist. There are some concerns about the removed ability to set a custom promotional app as a default landing page, but those are offset by eagerness for pinned posts, bigger photos, and more presentation flexibility.

Brands also probably didn’t want to get left behind by competitors, leading roughly 1 million Pages per day to migrate to Timeline in first days after its launch. Now they’re likely taking the time to go back, hide irrelevant or weak posts, and add milestone moments to their story. 2 weeks after launch and 2 more before the forced migration, Facebook tells me a “significant percentage” of Pages have switched. In its S-1 Facebook noted that 37 million Pages had been set up as of December 31, 2011.
While the long-tail of Pages are actively migrating to Timeline, Facebook’s most popular Pages have been conservative with their adoption. Only 8 of the top 20 Pages have migrated, and none of those have seen their rate of new fans increase significantly according to Inside Network’s PageData tracking service. In fact, some are seeing slower growth, possibly because users have to re-learn where the Like button is.

06:13 by Robert dawne · 0

IDC: Apple’s iPad Rules Tablet Sales Today But Android Makers Will Overtake It By 2016

With news of Apple’s new iPad selling out its first run due to overwhelming demand, 2012 is off to a galloping start for the tablet market; and because of that IDC is upping its forecasts for how many “media” tablets will be shipped this year. The analysts predict that the number will top 106.1 million units, up from their previous forecast of 87.7 million units, due in part to strong demand for that new iPad, but also a number of other devices at a range of price points.
Indeed, while Apple will continue to be the single biggest tablet maker on the market, Android, collectively, will continue to hold its own against it, with some notable devices like the Amazon Kindle Fire doing particularly well. But it will not be until 2016 — four years from now — that IDC thinks that Android shipments will outnumber those of iOS.
Even though the Kindle Fire was available only in the U.S. in Q4, IDC says that the $199 device accounted for 16.8 percent of all tablet shipments in Q4 2011, or some 4.7 million units, making it the largest “Android” vendor. Samsung, despite its multiple Android tablets, was bumped down to second-biggest Android maker with a 5.8 percent share of the market. Barnes & Noble and Pandigital, the other top Android tablet makers, both saw their shares of shipments slide. The tablets to watch, it seems, are those that combine low price with high content promise.
None of that was a match for Apple, however, which accounted for 54.7 percent of all shipments in Q4, or 15.4 million units. While that was a rise of 110 percent over the year before, that still did not outpace the overall growth of the tablet market, which IDC says grew by 155 percent between the two quarters. Overall, Android tablets accounted for 44.6 percent of all sales, while RIM’s PlayBook slipped down to 0.7 percent from 1.1 percent a year before.
A couple of things worth noting about IDC’s numbers, taken from its quarterly tablet and e-reader tracker:
Although many predict that e-readers will eventually die a death blow dealt by tablets, for the moment their fortunes look okay. They grew less than half as well as tablets did — up by 64.3 percent between Q4 2011 and 2011 — but they are still on the rise, with e-reader makers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo in total shipping 10.7 million units in the quarter.
IDC gives no weight to Microsoft and its new, tablet-friendly Window 8 platform in its “media tablet” forecasts. As we saw last month, there are a number of devices being built on the OS, and if you believe all the reports, there will be more coming from the likes of Nokia to add to that. These are not expected to start shipping in earnest until much later this year. In its forecast, “others” apart from iOS and Android account for only a tiny sliver of overall shipments — and, by default, sales.
And that’s the other point always worth remembering about shipments. This tends to be the metric tracked most closely by analysts, because they get their numbers from device makers but also the channels that receive and distribute them; the shipment numbers are based on estimated demand. Ultimately, though, sometimes these shipments are out of sync with how a product actually gets bought — although analysts usually say that in the long run those corrections are accounted for with fewer shipments in subsequent quarters.

06:01 by Robert dawne · 0

Eyeing An IPO, Kayak 2011 Revenue Up 32 Percent To $225M; Net Income Up 21 Percent

Travel search giant Kayak just posted new revenue numbers for the fourth quarter and full year 2011 in a new S-1 filing with the SEC. As we heard last September, Kayak put its IPO plans on hold until market conditions improve. Now that the markets are more stabilized, it should be interesting to see when Kayak makes the push to become a public company. For the year, Kayak generated $224.5 million of revenues, up 32 percent from 2010.
Net income for the year was $9.7 million, up 21 percent from 2010′s net income of $8 million For the fourth quarter, Kayak saw a 27 percent increase in quarterly revenue, posting $53.9 million in Q4 2011 sales. In contrast, revenue grew 28 percent in the third quarter.
But the company says that typically its highest revenue quarters are the second and third quarters.
Kayak says it finished 2011 with 899 million user queries processes for travel information, representing growth of 42 percent from 2010. For 2011, Kayak had 7 million downloads, up over 70 percent from 2010.
Despite the IPO being on hold, Kayak has been consistently trying to improve its core product and add additional functionality. The company has been heads down on product development and improving customer experience over the past few months, as the company battles with Google in the travel search space.
In December, Kayak redesigned its iPad app and consolidated the app with its iPhone cousin. The company’s website most recently got a big UI upgrade, creating a more universal and comprehensive consumer experience across all Kayak platforms: web, mobile web and apps. And the search engine just debuted direct booking for flights.

13:17 by Robert dawne · 0

Games Bring in the Most Revenue for Sohu in the 4th Quarter

Despite government crackdowns on social media users, social games continue to grow in China.  Sohu’s (NASDAQ: SOHU) fourth quarter financial results are in, and the largest share of the company’s revenue came from games, which brought in $123 million and showed an increase of 34 percent year-over-year and 6 percent quarter-over-quarter.
Sohu.com, Inc. is the parent company of the Chinese language online media destination www.sohu.com; the interactive search engine www.sogou.com; the games information portal www.17173.com; the real estate website www.focus.cn; the online alumni website www.chinaren.com; the wireless value-added services provider www.goodfeel.com.cn; the online mapping service provider www.go2map.com; and the developer and operator of online games at www.changyou.com/en/.
The company’s business model is based on brand advertising, sponsored search services, online games, and wireless value-added services like downloadable ringtones. Overall revenues are at an all-time high of $246 million, representing a 42 percent increase over the fourth quarter last year.
In May 2011 Sohu’s subsidiary Changyou bought the majority stake in the online gaming company Shenzhen 7Road Technology Co. for $32.76 million. Changyou’s games include the martial arts game “Tian Long Ba Bu” and a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called “Duke of Mount Deer” for hard-core gamers. In December, Sohu sold its 17173 website to Changyou for $162.5 million and will provide tech support and advertising for around $30 million.
Said Dr. Charles Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Sohu.com Inc., “For online game business, in 2011 Changyou achieved healthy growth in its MMO game portfolio and diversified into other fast growing areas such as Web-based games. In 2012, with our leading game information portal 17173.com under its leadership, Changyou will jumpstart a platform-based initiative.”
Next quarter, revenue for 17173 is expected to be between  $7 million and $8 million – a $4 million to $5 million drop from last quarter. Co-president and CFO Carol Yu explained that the first quarter of the year is always a slow season for online gaming advertising, and that new game launches have been affected by the early arrival of the Chinese New Year holiday.
NASDAQ.com has a good analysis of Sohu’s net income, which dropped despite the increase in revenue. To read the transcript of the earnings call, click here.
Image by sevenke via Shutterstock.

12:44 by Robert dawne · 0

Want to Print Facebook? Better Get 11.5 Billion Sheets of Paper [INFOGRAPHIC]

Printing a year’s worth of Facebook statuses would be equivalent to printing more than 500 million Oxford English Dictionaries, a new survey found.
Sure, it would be a waste of paper, but a UK online cartridge retailer thought it would be interesting to find out how much paper would be needed to print a year’s worth of Facebook statuses if the website’s 800 million users updated once per day. The answer — 11.5 billion sheets.
Of course, there are a few stipulations for cramming the statuses onto paper — each of the estimated 292 billion status updates would be an average of two lines, which is equivalent to 584 billion total lines; the statuses would be printed on 8.3-by-11.7 inch paper in size 11 point Arial font.
The print job would be expensive — the ink alone would cost about $194.5 million or 147.2 million euros. To compare, England could build two more of the London Eye with that amount of money. It would take 573 million hours to read every Facebook status posted in a year, which is how long it would take to fly around the globe 8.5 million times, according to Cartridge Save, the online ink cartridge retailer who compiled the facts.
The UK company surveyed 2,102 UK Facebook users by email to calculate numbers for the infographic. Of those surveyed, the average UK Facebook user spends 32 minutes per day reading on Facebook, and 62% of respondents write one status about two lines in length per day.
How much paper and ink do you think was used when people sent snail mail on a daily basis to communicate with family and friends years ago?

 Infographic created by Cartridge Save

06:44 by Robert dawne · 0