online – Andy Sternberg

Think LinkedIn is Free? You Got Sold!

Andy Sternberg — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:26:51 +0000

It seems every social network overextends its privileges with users once a year if not more. In the past the culprit has most often been Facebook, changing its Terms of Service and upgrading its platform to create just a bit more vulnerability for its users. It’s become an almost humorous pattern of overreaching only to retreat slightly in reaction to inevitable user outrage.

Today LinkedIn pulled a Facebook.

LinkedIn launched its own social ad network, which utilized users images and profile information in advertisements that would be served on the site, presumably to their contacts. LinkedIn really should have seen this coming — a few years back when Facebook did the same thing it experienced a user backlash.

What’s the fuss? Social network users expect the opportunity to select whether their likeness is used for profit. In both Facebook and LinkedIn’s case, users were initially opted in to the ad programs by default.

Now LinkedIn has stepped back just as Facebook did, claiming in an “I’m sorry but we told you so” blog post that the user trust was of utmost importance:

In early June, we announced changes to our privacy policy — including the new ad format’s opt-out policy — ahead of the first small test of these social ads. I also reiterated the same during the launch of social ads, explaining how members could opt-out of sharing their recommendations with their network.

The problem? Had LinkedIn taken a passive approach and introduced the social ad platform by spelling out an easy way for users to opt in to appearing in such ads — even perhaps offering incentive — it would have been fine. But automatically signing users up to appear in ads can be seen as exploitative and aggressive. Having corrected itself by pulling back on using user info and images, LinkedIn might wish to make amends by offering incentives to encourage users to participate in the social ads.

Facebook, by example of its incredible success, is not a normal company and likewise neither is LinkedIn. Both have found great success not without making relatively big mistakes. In March 2006, Mark Zuckerberg turned down a $750 million offer for Facebook insisting the upstart social network was worth $2 billion. In the first half of 2011 alone, Facebook’s valuation has been estimated at $50 billion to $100 billion.

But I digress. No matter what nonsense social networks put in their terms of service, the user will always prevail when it comes to a base level of privacy settings. These networks may be free but only at the price that the services take advantage of and in many cases sell its users. Once opted in to the network (by simply agreeing to the Terms of Service) the rules are always liable to change, most often in the interest of shareholders, and in the case of LinkedIn, with its stock still soaring at nearly 50 percent above its price when it hit the open market 3 months ago, keep an eye out for more creative maneuvers to capitalize on its 120 million user profiles.

There are consumer protections against such behavior, though not so much in America. But LinkedIn’s move this morning may have violated European law.

Photo by alancleaver_2000 used under Creative Commons license.

Opportunity Gap: Does it Exist in Schools Near You?

Andy Sternberg — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:40:07 +0000

Pro Publica has published a database that makes it easy for you to compare your access to quality education and at what cost in an effort to provide insight into the opportunity gap demonstrated by economic difference in the classroom.

The data for L.A.-area school districts indicates that the higher the percentage of students who get free or reduced-price lunches the lower the percentage of students who take at least one AP course. For example, 76 percent of LAUSD students receive free or discounted lunches and 16 percent take at least one AP course. The data flips, however, for Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified: 1 percent get free/reduced priced lunch, and 41 percent take at least one AP course.

Los Angeles Unified School District:

Mirror.me Reflects Your Online Social Identity

Andy Sternberg — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:30:52 +0000

mirror.me is the latest web app to mash up a user’s Twitter data and spit it back in beautiful tag clouds, graphs, and pie charts. My profile is both a flattering and — I’d say — accurate representation of my various foci and communities based on a sampling of my Twitter friends, followers and the content of my tweets.

Mirror.me is a Champaign, IL-based start up and may be the best looking twitter tag cloud mashup since tweetcloud itself. What do you think?

Namesake.com Invites You to Talk About Your Passions

Andy Sternberg — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:30:35 +0000

With Twitter becoming more and more of an echo chamber and LinkedIn lacking in conversation what it offers as a networking tool, it can be difficult to find a place on the web to provoke frank conversation, receive honest feedback, and develop professional relationships for co-creation.

Namesake, a Los Angeles-based startup, is hoping to fill that void. Founded in January 2010 by entrepreneurs Brian Norgard and Dan Gould as a place for professionals and creators to match ideas with opportunities and resources, Namesake.com is still in private beta (to get in now http://nmsk.co/gRsIvp).

Based in a small office in the Hollywood Hills, Namesake is the third startup for Norgard and Gould, who previously cofounded NewRoo, a content aggregator acquired by News Corp in 2006, and Twitter advertising tool Ad.ly.

As a Namesake user, you can build a profile with a full bio and embedded video, or choose to keep it simple. Users can follow conversations passively, participate, and initiate their own. Conversation activity on the site streams in real time on the main page.

Questions and topics recently active in conversations on the site range from the Peter Thiel-inspired “What is it about the world that you know is true that everyone else doesn’t understand?” to “…here’s my washed, dried Beef round top round steak, what shall I do with it?” and “Anyone got tips for staying active in social media… while still being productive & getting tons of stuff done?”

Namesake also features live chats, one afternoon for example, author and USC Marshall faculty member Dave Logan is leading a conversation on tribal leadership. A live chat earlier that day featured LA-based serial angel investor and BetterWorks founder Paige Craig.

Try Namesake out for yourself — get in while it’s still in beta by visiting http://nmsk.co/gRsIvp.

Originally posted May 26, 2011 at LAist.

Interview: AOL’s Debbie Menin on Branded Content, Online Video and how Social Media Influences Marketing

Andy Sternberg — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:50:00 +0000

I spoke with AOL’s Entertainment Practice Head Debbie Menin at Digital Hollywood Spring 2011 last week at the Ritz in Marina del Rey. We discussed the different ways in which consumers are using social media to inform purchases and decisions and how that in turn is informing the advertising industry. Menin also gave me the lowdown on the latest trends on branded content and how and why consumers share content using social media (based on recent AOL – Nielsen research). Plus, if online video is “the future,” how does Heidi Klum play into AOL’s plans?

This post original appeared at LAist on Tuesday May 10. Please click on the link in the menu bar above to view more of my posts at LAist.com.

Spotify MP3 Downloads: Better than Amazon and iTunes?

Andy Sternberg — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:01:59 +0000

Spotify now offers users various packages for purchasing downloads of the tracks already streamable via the service. A single track goes for $1.29 cents a track but for $50 you can download 100 tracks (that’s 50 cents a pop). The one catch being that all credits expire after 30 days (extendable to 90 days depending on ensuing transactions). Each purchased download can be re-downloaded up to four times.

50 cents is a great deal for the savvy investor, however, many users are sure to get got by simply clicking “Get Album” on, say, the new Beastie Boys’ “Hot Sauce Committee Party Two” and pay $14.28 straight up for the 16 tracks.

The downloads come via 7digital in 320 kbps format.

Alternatively, the digital album goes for $7.99 at Amazon (320 kbps mp3), $10.99 on BeastieBoys.com (in multiple formats including lossless plus a bonus remix), and $14.99 at the iTunes store at 256 kbps AAC (incl. 30 minute Fight For Your Right Revisited video download).

When it comes to this particular release — the choices are so varied it could be a toss up. How would you go about purchasing the MP3 download?

Spotify Update Enables MP3 Downloads, iTunes Integration, Better Android Sync

Andy Sternberg — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:12:00 +0000

click images to embiggenate

Last Friday Spotify rolled out an ambitious software upgrade, making its biggest charge yet in both monetizing its platform and putting the heat on Apple’s iTunes.

Spotify announced the software update on its blog, Twitter, and elsewhere.

The big news: Sweden-based streaming music application Spotify is now selling downloads: $1.29 for one; or purchase 15 downloads for $0.87 each, 40 at $0.63 per, or 100 downloads at $0.50/track. The mp3s are delivered via a partnership with UK-based 7digital.

(Interestingly, it appears that the European and UK pricing for is identical in number — for both premium subscription and downloads — but not in value. In today’s market, $50 dollars has less value than €50 which is worth less than £50. )

Additionally, Spotify’s update enables better syncing across mobile platforms, including the ability to sync with local folders and the iTunes library.

This software update was the culmination of a series of announcements — a mid-April update to the Android app, an update to the Apple iPhone Spotify app and the introduction of iPod syncing capabilities. All of these improvements allowed any of the above devices to sync a user’s chosen playlists (or entire Spotify library) over the internet. Streaming via Spotify mobile is only available to premium subscribers who pay $9.99/month or between £5 and £9.99 in the UK (as it always has been). Spotify also introduced a limit of 10 listening hours of music monthly for its free users last month, in addition to allowing five listens per track.

Over the weekend the response was mixed, however, at some point on Sunday, Spotify’s servers apparently went on the fritz. And the varied tone of user comments on Spotify’s Friday Facebook post shifted to concern. Music could be streamed, but nothing could be downloaded — and syncing was working intermittently.

This screenshot was taken before offline syncing with mobile devices stopped functioning, apparently due to issues with the aforementioned “license server.”

UPDATE: As of Monday 5/9, syncing is now working and the error message above is on longer appearing. However, the desktop interface is not recognizing the device as it did on Saturday (see image below).

The latest Spotify software update introduced this handy syncing interface (PC36100 is the codename for my HTC EVO Android smartphone).

Spotify has yet to comment on any issues in spite of the appearance of disconcerting server warnings including the ominous “We are having problems with the license server. Please try again later. (Error 21)” message that occurred repeatedly on Android devices.*

It does appear that something remains on the fritz as I was unable to download any tracks earlier, instead receiving the message Having purchased 15 downloads for $12.99 (which breaks down to $10.82 plus 20% tax [VAT]) I was anxious to download at least one track. After unsuccessfully clicking the download icon next to several tracks in the Spotify interface only to receive the message “The track you were trying to get is unavailable,” I finally succeeded with “Little Pink Plastic Bags” from Gorillaz 2011 “The Fall” album. As promised, I received a 320 kbps mp3 file in my local directory.

As Monday breaks across the pond I hope to hear something from Spotify. We’re coming to expect only bad news when Internet-based applications and services suffer server setbacks and outages and users are left hanging out to dry (see Sony Playstation).

*UPDATE: I’ve been notified via Twitter that it’s “looking into it right now and will update once we have some more info. Thanks for the notification.”

Assuming everything is resolved there may no longer be any need whatsoever for a Spotify user to open iTunes. Ever. Again.

With over 10 million users in seven countries — Finland, France, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (1 million paying subscribers) Spotify is still not available in the U.S.in spite of its arrival seeming imminent since soon after its launch two years ago.

Interview: Ooyala’s Chris Wong on Trends in Online Video and Advertising

Andy Sternberg — Sun, 08 May 2011 01:15:15 +0000

Digital Hollywood took over the Ritz at Marina del Rey for its Spring 2011 conference, a nice change of scenery for the hundreds of studio execs, advertising and entertainment execs, online video creatives, technologists, SAG members and agents in attendance. (Members of the Dallas Mavericks, who could be spotted in and around the pool area, apparently enjoyed their stay as well).

Between absorbing the latest trends as discussed by multiple panels we managed to interview a few executives from top online media companies.

In the video below, Ooyala’s Vice President of Biz Dev, Chris Wong, explains the importance of streaming video solutions providers, why most companies require DRM (digital rights management) to control copyright, and ponders the meteoric rise of Netflix and the potential impact of its competitors.

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Click here to view on YouTube.

My Phone Knows Everything About Me and I’m Cool With That

Andy Sternberg — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:00:12 +0000

Andrew Hyde gets around. The iPhone Tracker app confirms this.

Andrew Hyde sold all of his worldly possessions last August and began a trip around the world. He makes no secret of this — its detailed on his website. We’re well aware that personal information becomes vulnerable whenever we agree to the terms of service of yet another fun geo-location mobile app as it typically utilizes information from the phone’s positioning to track real-time location. But this week, geodata geek and author Pete Warden released an open-source iPhone application that exploits a file in iPhone 4 (or iPad 3G) containing all recorded geographic data in the phone’s history.

The information is available without a password to anyone with access to a laptop that the iPhone in question has synced with, notes Hyde. iPhones and iPads on iOS 4 record approximate the data based on the devices distance from the cell tower it is connected to at any given time. Is this something to worry about? Not really. Unless you’re a criminal with a bullshit alibi — data from cellphones and other mobile devices have been used by authorities for years.

Thanks to a California Supreme Court decision in January, no warrant is required for authorities in our state to search cell phones or mobile devices of arrestees.

But for some, the fact that Apple is aggregating all historical geo-tracking info in one file on it’s latest iOS 4 firmware (named consolidated.db) is reason enough to freak out. Concerned ~~comedian~~ Senator Al Franken fired off nine questions in a letter to Steve Jobs. Says Franken:

According to the researchers, this file contains consumers’ latitude and longitude for every day they used an iPhone or 3G iPad running the iOS 4 operating system — sometimes logging their precise geo-location up to 100 times a day.

We’re concerned about our privacy. In fact 58 percent of women and 52 percent of men are concerned with privacy issues in regard to geolocation and mobile check-in apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, according to a Nielsen study published Thursday.

That’s a good thing. Be concerned and be cautious. Be protective of personal and private information. Password protect or encrypt your backups/syncs. But don’t get carried away by such simple excuses for media outlets to fuel panic with horror film-esque headlines such as the one above.

I’m an Android user. And when people compare Google’s abuse of user’s location information to that of Apple’s, I call shenanigans. Case in point, anytime I choose to enable location data via phone data, I receive the warning below.

I want my advertisements to be based on where I am and what I’m interested in. And I’m not afraid to share that with my phone.

If you care to dive deeper into the discussion, please do in the comments below, or check out the blogstorm on the issue indexed at Techmeme.

Part os this post was syndicated from LAist.com, where I am Associate Editor. A direct link to my LAist.com post index is at the top of my blog. The original post was titled Your iPhone Knows What You Did Last Summer, Or At Least Where You Were and was published on April 21, 2011 at 1:40 p.m.

SXSW 2011 Highlights

Andy Sternberg — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:48:33 +0000

In an eleventh-hour decision, I cashed in some American AAdvantage miles and caught a flight to Austin for spring break — or more specifically, the 25th annual South by Southwest Conference. With all of the networking opportunities, free food, drink, music and friends – some of whom i only see once a year or so – i’m glad i took advantage and visited the great city of Austin. It was a whirlwind four days but the photos and video below provide some flavor.

See my photos from past years at SXSW

The trip began with an amazing takeoff directly into the fading sun over the Pacific. This would be the last time the sun set before Daylight Savings time kicked in. Got in to Austin and met up with Jory, provider of a fine crash pad for the duration of my stay. Then began a serious of meetups, events, and parties: All Hat III, which was a priceless opportunity to visit with many of the folks I most admire in the interactive space who happen to share a passion and commitment to do-gooding.

Here’s a photo Geoff Livingston took of his partners at Zoetica Media. I was standing right next to them. No really. You won’t see me in any of my photos posted here (and I’m not sure who hijacked my camera and interviewed Jonathan Grubb of RVIPLounge – see at bottom). But as always happens, the aftermath of SXSW will carry on to Facebook and Twitter and into another season of opportunity and new connections.

I created a truly ridiculous agenda of all things I RSVP’d for or intended to go to. It’s included at the bottom of this post to give you a taste of just how extensively big corporations and smaller startups catered to SXSW Interactive attendees this year.

Among the highlights was the CNN Grill, which took over a restaurant two blocks from the convention center and turned it into a CNN Disneyland with free food and drink service throughout the afternoon and late night for industry folk and others lucky enough to have a pass.

That’s Percy von Lipinski in the video above. I was seated at his table on my first visit to #CNNGrill soon after he was presented with an award for CNN iReporter Original Reporting Award and naturally, had to stick my flip cam in his face.

I did not have a SXSW Interactive badge this year as I had in the past since I failed to apply as press by the deadline. I thought, maybe I could take a year off (ha!). But the other special badges, VIP treatment, and access I was offered for taking such menial steps as RSVP-ing via Eventbrite more than made up for it.

CNN — they must be made of money — ensured that everyone would be happy with their grill (at other times known as MAX’s Wine Dive). Everything on the prepared-to-order menu (food and drink) was gratis and there was WiFi and two power strips at every table. But even the service and hosts were gracious — imported from NYC via Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group — and there were live performances throughout the day. I showed up at the perfect time (according to my particular tastes) and caught a 40 minute or so acoustic set from Wisconsin-based awesomeband Locksley, and then a set from The Civil Wars (see video above), who barely managed to get away from me and onto the next before I could – natch – stick my flip cam in their faces. The CNN Grill was apparently first conceived for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. But man, what good buzz they built by hosting the mad swarms of geeks and mediaites at SXSW.

Video from the RVIPLounge below. I recommend checking out this one as well — from the inside (same night).

Click “show earlier events” and scroll up to view my March 13-17 agenda. Click on any event to expand details

That’s all I’ve got time for now with extra special thanks for making things happen to theMIX agency, SMC, Wine Library product and crew, The Force Agency (of which I’m now a card-carrying part of), Gowalla & Foursquare (I adore both equally but in comparison to the SXSW deluge of use checking in now feels relatively pointless), Nicole and all the great Summit Series rockers at dinner at Lambert’s. And as always, thank you Google for helping me to never get lost and for Android. Now I’m getting sentimental. Where’s my award already?