What’s the Next Big Thing after social networking?
This has been a favorite topic of much speculation among tech enthusiasts for many years. I think we are already witnessing a paradigm shift – a move away from simple social sharing towards personalized, relevant content.
The key element of the next big thing is the increasing significance of the Interest Graph to complement the Social Graph. While Facebook, Twitter, and Google are already working on delivering relevant content, a slew of startups are focusing exclusively on it. → Read More
A few weeks ago we hinted at some of the personalization tools that Los Angeles based startup Gravity would be unveiling. Today they’re launching Twinterest – a tool that creates an interest graph – a list of things you probably love – based only on looking at your twitter stream.
Gravity CEO Amit Kapur explained the product in detail in a guest post on TechCrunch today.
To use it go to Twinterest and authorize it to access your Twitter stream. You may find it does a pretty good job of suggesting things you like. Mine includes Virgin America, “slap fight” (no idea), Facebook, American Express (hah), Google Voice, Andy Rubin and Spotify. Also, Daniel Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs. → Read More
Today, we live in a world where we’re constantly overwhelmed by information. There are over 90M tweets per day, 34 hours of YouTube video uploaded every minute, and every Facebook user has an average of 130 friends who are becoming more and more active all the time. We also experience this with content farms flooding search results and with the thousands of articles available everyday on traditional websites like the New York Times and ESPN: of which only a handful appeal to each of our individual interests. → Read More
Gravity, founded by ex-MySpace execs, first launched into private beta last December.
“At a high level Gravity is an evolution on forums,” I wrote when they launched. But the core of what makes Gravity special was the technology to track the Interest Graph: “Gravity has created a new way of thinking about and exploiting conversational data. They call the way they track and predict the relationships between people and things the Interest Graph (a play on Social Graph, a popular way of describing online relationships between people).”
Even though that was less than a year ago, the world has changed dramatically. Twitter opened its data stream to all comers, and Facebook has launched products that focus like a laser on building out their own Interest Graph. As a destination site and service, Gravity had a real problem – getting people to use them at all. → Read More
MySpace’s former GM International Travis Katz left the company shortly after the big executive shakeout in the Spring of 2009.
He spent a few months in Hawaii recharging, and then moved his family to Silicon Valley. Since January he’s been working on a new startup, he says, and he’s teamed up with Ori Zaltzman, the former Chief Architect of Yahoo Boss.
That’s enough of a team to make things really interesting. Particuarly Zaltzman’s deep infrastructure background. → Read More
More bad news for an already bullet-riddled MySpace: three key employees have left the company to join Gravity, a cross-town startup founded by former MySpace COO Amit Kapur, SVP Steve Pearman and SVP Jim Benedetto.
We covered Gravity’s launch in December 2009.
The three MySpacer’s are Chief Software Architect Chris Bissell (we previously reported Bissell’s resignation), Chief Systems Architect Dan Farino and Development Manager Robbie Coleman. → Read More
Back in March 2009 a trio of MySpace execs -COO Amit Kapur, SVP Steve Pearman and SVP Jim Benedetto – left to begin working on a new startup.
In May we learned that the company, then called Blue Rover Labs, had raised $10 million in funding. We also heard a few details about what the startup might be about: <em "The company is supposedly targeting the message board/Internet forum space with technology that aggregates content and serves advertising against it. Real time search (bingo! fundable!) may be part of the business plan as well."
Today the company, now called Gravity, is launching into private beta. At a high level Gravity is an evolution on forums (vBulletin, phpBB, etc.) and groups (Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, etc.) services, which haven’t evolved much over the last decade.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Gravity is available both as a website service at Gravity.com as well as distributed via widgets and an API. They are also offering compelling analytics services for any service that hosts conversations (think broadly – Twitter, FriendFeed, Google Wave, etc.). That service, called Insights, is arguably a startup in itself.
And, finally, Gravity has created a new way of thinking about and exploiting conversational data. They call the way they track and predict the relationships between people and things the Interest Graph (a play on Social Graph, a popular way of describing online relationships between people).
I go into more detail on the products below. And here’s a video I took of the team in their Santa Monica offices yesterday: → Read More
Earlier this year three key MySpace executives jumped ship only two months before the company’s major reorg. Since then they’ve been pretty quiet — we’ve learned that they raised a $10 million funding round led by August Capital and Redpoint Ventures, but aside from that there hasn’t been much to go on. Now, more details are starting to emerge: we know that the company will be called Blue Rover Labs, and we’ve gotten our first glimpse of the homepage.
Earlier this afternoon each of the team members tweeted out a link to Blue Rover Labs at approximately the same time, with no explanation given. The page is quite sparse, with little on it other than a list of the current staff. The three MySpace execs, Amit Kapur (former MySpace COO), Steve Pearman (former MySpace SVP Product Strategy) and Jim Benedetto (former MySpace VP Technology) have apparently brought on Kunal Anand, a former MySpace Senior Technical Lead (and later, Grockit Engineer) as a fourth member. → Read More
Remember when MySpace lost three key execs before the whole chaotic reorganization? They announced their departure in March. And we’ve now confirmed that they are closing a substantial round of funding, even before they’ve picked a final name for the company.
The company, whatever it will be called, was founded by Amit Kapur (MySpace COO), Steve Pearman (MySpace SVP Product Strategy) and Jim Benedetto (MySpace VP Technology). The company is now backed by August Capital and Redpoint Ventures, who jointly funded a roughly $10 million venture round. David Hornik from August and Geoff Yang from Redpoint have joined the board of directors.
What do we know so far about the company? Not a whole lot except that Redpoint and August are rumored to be “very excited” about it. The company is supposedly targeting the message board/Internet forum space with technology that aggregates content and serves advertising against it. Real time search (bingo! fundable!) may be part of the business plan as well. → Read More
This just breaking: Three executives at MySpace are leaving the company to form their own startup, led by COO Amit Kapur (pictured here). He will be joined by senior VP of technology Jim Benedetto and and senior VP of product strategy Steve Pearman. They have internally announced their departures, we have been able to confirm with the company.
MySpace is well into its monetization phase, and is facing increasing competition from Facebook, which is larger worldwide than MySpace and may soon overtake it in the U.S. as well. The growth and the big rewards that go with growth, may now be easier to find elsewhere. Kapur, Benedetto, and Pearman are voting with their feet.
Possible successors to Kapur for the COO post include Adam Bain (a FIM hotshot who heads up the Fox Audience Network), Jeff Berman (head of sales and marketing for MySpace), and Travis Katz (head of MySpace international). External candidates, assuming they’d want the job, might be departing Yahoo Mobile exec Marco Boerries, former Yahoo SVP Brad Garlinghouse, Playlist CEO Owen Van Natta (who at one point was considering the MySpace Music CEO position), or Benchmark’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence Dave Goldberg.
Below is the memo just sent out by MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe: → Read More
T-Mobile said the Samsung Gravity would show up on Nov. 17th and, sure enough, it has arrived. While the Gravity might not have the same pull as some of the bigger, less wallet-friendly QWERTY handsets on the market, at $49.99 (on a 2-year contract) it’s a decent pick for anyone looking to wear down their thumbs without wearing down their savings. Read the rest at MobileCrunch >> → Read More
It’s not every day that a tech blogger gets to write about women’s underwear, at least not on the tech blog, but here I am, and it’s no longer April Fool’s. What advancement in Bra-tech has such significance to warrant a post on this blog, you ask? Why the backless bra, of course! Looking like a pair of slings joined in the middle, the backless bra is just that. It’s made for classy ladies who want to keep their support but still want to wear backless halter tops and dresses. Sounds reasonable, but it’s the talk of the town in Underwearville, USA. The bra was originally aired on American Inventor, and now Maidenform is selling a version for $25. See you in the club, backless bra. Or, rather, not! Aha! → Read More
[photopress:gravia_w_person_cutout_bw_400.jpg,full,center] You can take your solar power and scrub it. Solar power is great if you live in, I dunno, daylightistan (aka Los Angeles), but for those of us up here in the Northwest, it’s not practical. But we have gravity, and this lovely gravity-powered lamp will work just fine. Invented by student Clay Moulton, the lamp is primed, then slowly falls down towards the ground. The falling weight spins a rotor that generates electricity which is translated to a cool, green light. The lamp could last for up to 200 years and needs no external power to run, and has won awards for its green initiative, and it looks good, too. Lamp Lit by Gravity Wins Greener Gadget Award [PSEN] → Read More
I’ll be saving up for the office chair version whenever it comes out but for those of you looking to really kick back after a long day of widget transconfiguration (or whatever it is you do), here’s the “The Lounger” by British company Hoverit Ltd. Defying gravity with the use of repelling magnetic forces in both the bed and base this contemporary lounger is comfortable, practical and stylish. Permanent magnets can also help back, muscular problems and headaches, so our furniture not only looks good – it may make you feel good too. The sensation that you feel as you lay back and close your eyes is totally different, like floating on a cloud. Price available upon request, which means it’s probably more than $100. Way more. Also, no padding? Float away your stress on our unique suspended lounger [Hoverit.co.uk] via Pocket Lint → Read More
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