Welcome

Welcome to another edition of the Prompt newsletter.

This week, the BBC’s iPlayer causes trouble, social networking enters the third dimension, and a potentially fascinating investigation into spam is launched. Plus, Facebook gets sued, Flickr does video, and bubble wrap enjoys a surge in popularity. How long before that bubble bursts?

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, why not take a look at our blog?

Hazel Butters, CEO - Prompt Communications

Technology News

Facebook to Settle with ConnectU

By Zachariah N. Hofer-Shall

Have you heard of the dating and social networking site ConnectU? Well almost no one had until it turned up in the news for a lawsuit against Facebook.

ConnectU’s founders sued Zuckerberg for stealing their idea and code for the social network, while they were schoolmates at Harvard in 2003. Allegedly, Zuckerberg was paid to help produce source code for a college dating site; he then abandoned the project and created his own network: Facebook, which has recently been valued at $15B. The Harvard students who paid Zuckerberg went on to create the practically valueless ConnectU site. The ConnectU founders argued that the simplistic design to Facebook is all-too similar to the original code for their dating site and that Zuckerberg had to have stolen it.

Well now, according to the New York Times, Facebook will settle out of court with “rival” social network ConnectU in an undisclosed agreement. The timing of the settlement is ideal for both parties, as Facebook continues to gain in popularity and has hinted at a possible IPO in the next year, and ConncetU is running low on money to pay more legal fees.

But regardless of the code’s origin, it’s easy to see who has come out on top of this mess: today Facebook has around 70 million members and averages above 31 million visitors per month while ConnectU currently gets just around 3,000 visitors per month.

The BBC and ISPs scuffle over iPlayer

By Duncan Heaney

Internet Service Providers in Britain are growing concerned about the extra strain the BBC’s iPlayer is putting on their networks. BBC News reports that a row has erupted between the broadcasting corporation and ISPs over who should pay the extra costs incurred by the on-demand TV service.

The ISPs' argument is that their networks are beginning to creak under the strain of iPlayer’s traffic and they need desperately to be upgraded to cope. According to regulator Ofcom, the cost of upgrading these networks will come to approximately £830 million, and the ISPs believe that the BBC should foot some of that bill.

The BBC believes that the iPlayer is attracting new people online, and thus benefits the broadband suppliers. A spokesman stated that the BBC paying for upgrades would seem a “bit odd”.

The back and forth argument has been getting increasingly heated. ISPs warned that they may have to ask consumers to pay a ‘BBC tax’, and the BBC stated that if content providers were charged, it may have to “indicate on their sites which ISPs their content works best on (and which to avoid)." Both comments were accused by the opposing side of being “inflammatory”.

As of the 11th April, the fight has not been resolved. As a regular user of BBC iPlayer, it’s one I’m going to watch very closely.

Apprentice UK quote of the week

“In life there are two types of people. There are winners and the second one…I can’t say it and I won’t say it.”

The word is ‘loser’, as the fired Ian Stringer learned this week.

US Media News

By Tarryn Morley

US

The Wall Street Journal has transformed the editorial process and structure of its news desk. The news desk will be divided into two parts. One will handle general and economic news from the US and around the world, while the other will focus on corporate and business news. Both will serve the print and online editions of the WSJ. As part of the reorganisation, Matt Murray, currently national editor, will become general news editor. In his new role, Murray will continue to lead the integration of our online and print news desks. Elyse Tanouye has been appointed corporate news editor. She is currently chief of the WSJ’s health and science bureau.

Stephen Williams left his role as consumer electronics staff writer at Newsday. Technology staff writer Shawna Van Ness will now be responsible for technology coverage and the Cool-2-use section, previously managed by Williams. Cool-2-use covers leading technology companies and their latest products to keep readers informed of technology news, gadgets and consumer electronics.

George Ou has resigned from his role as technical director and blogger at ZDNet and TechRepublic because of corporate restructuring. No replacement has been announced.

UK Media News

By Tarryn Morley

UK

The Financial Times was named newspaper of the year at the British Press Awards this week. The FT also won two other awards. The Sun won four awards, more than any other paper, including two individual prizes for defence editor Tom Newton Dunn and two for its Help for Heroes campaign. The Guardian won three awards, including the best newspaper website award and the digital journalist of the year award for Sean Smith. The Sunday Mirror picked up two awards, including the young journalist of the year award for Kate Mansey. Andrew Gilligan, an investigative reporter at the London Evening Standard, was named journalist of the year.

Incisive Media has promoted Sarah Hills from junior reporter to news editor at Insurance Age. In her new role, she will be focusing on increasing the magazine’s online presence while working on the monthly magazine. Hills plans to launch breaking news alerts and weekly live video news round-ups, which will be available on the website.

Patrick Goss has been appointed news editor at Future Publishing’s TechRadar. Goss was previously technology editor at MSN, where he launched MSN’s Tech and Gadget site in 2007.

Tech Totals

By Zachariah N. Hofer-Shall

28%
Percentage of people who think social networks should only be allowed for adults over 18

49%
Percentage of 8-17 year olds who have created at least one social profile online (pdf warning)

53%
Of children who claim their parents regulate social networking profiles

Flickr to become a video star?

By Dave Wilby

On Wednesday, Flickr officially introduced video, the biggest enhancement to the popular photo hosting and sharing service since it launched in 2004. Fee-paying Pro members will be able to upload 150MB video clips lasting up to 90 seconds that will be viewable to all permitted Flickr contacts (or the wider public) - even those who use the service for free.

Webware.com reported that although the 90 second restriction was a surprising tactic, elegant features such as the ability to automatically scale any clip, including high-definition captures, could win over fans through sheer usability alone.

The move is an obvious attempt by Flickr to feed the need of digital camera and camera phone owners who will seamlessly share the little video clips they capture on these devices in the exactly same way they currently show off their snaps. As with photo content, videos will be playable within Flickr’s thumb-nailed content stream or clicked to bring up higher quality, scaled up versions. It’s a sure-fire winner, and inevitably file size and length limits will expand with adoption.

A new dimension for social networking

By Dave Wilby

It was inevitable really – an upstart start-up from Menlo Park has bitten the bullet and taken up the challenge of creating the next big social networking phenomenon by stealing the stickiest elements of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo et al and throwing them all into 3D.

According to this week’s NewScientist, start-up Vivaty will encourage members to fill personal virtual rooms with the photos, videos and networking tools currently found in their Web 2.0 personal web pages. Vivaty users will then be able to hang out with friends as 3D avatars, chatting, flirting or playing music, games and YouTube videos on virtual entertainment centres. Will it take off? Well why not - much stranger things have made start-ups billions.

Hands up if you received spam today in your inbox

By Ellie Turner

Spam is an everyday nuisance. Luckily, most of us have common sense and know how to see the difference between a genuine email and spam, hitting the delete button within seconds.

But now a group of ‘spam guinea pigs’ is going to be given a new laptop and £250, and have their common sense temporarily erased, in order to see what would happen if they sign up to every scheme or ‘free amazing offer’ they come across.

This is the itinerary that the volunteers must stick to:

Week 1: Sign up for any ‘free amazing offer’ they come across.

Week 2: Agree to all free music downloads they see.

Week 3: Sign up to all get-rich-quick-schemes

Week 4: Purchase any drugs from online pharmacy adverts

Dubbed, ‘Super Spam Me’, people want to see what would happen if they leave their computers helpless against the dangers that lurk in cyberspace. This is all to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first spam email ever sent, by a Californian electronics firm in 1978.

Tune back in a month’s time to discover the results.

Our prediction? Not good.

Bubble wrap craze sweeps Japan

By Duncan Heaney

What is it about bubble wrap that makes bursting all those little air-filled bubbles so satisfying? Whatever the reason, the appeal of popping the bubbles has not passed Japanese toy makers by.

The Times has brought our attention to “Eternal Poppety-Pop”, a new toy that is proving hugely popular in its native Japan. Possibly the most pointless, yet somehow awesome, toy we’ve ever seen, the Eternal Poppety-Pop is a key ring sized game that allows users to burst little plastic bubbles, which are then replenished immediately. Apparently, every few hundred times, the ‘pop’ of the bubble is replaced by an alternative noise, such as “a klaxon, a sensual female moan, or a raspberry of flatulence”. Blimey!

The invention, along with heart-shaped bubble rap, extra loud bubble wrap and scented bubble wrap, comes from the Poppety-Pop Culture Laboratory, the world’s first (and so far only) bubble wrap think tank.

But Kawakami Industries, the company behind Eternal Poppety-pop, is not stopping there. It has released a CD of bubble wrap songs (yes, songs about bubble wrap), and has teamed up with Namco Bandai to release a Nintendo Wii version of the product.

Let’s hope the Eternal Poppety-Pop hits the US and UK soon.

Website of the Week

With Dave Wilby

Bennett Robot Works

Scrap metal artist and retro sci-fi freak Gordon Bennett creates miniature robots out of a mixture of new components and old electronic and mechanical ephemera found in flea markets, rubbish dumps and attics.

Once lovingly brought to life in homage to Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy’s 40s and 50s visions of the modern age, each ‘bot goes up for sale at the Bennett Robot Works website. Browse the extensive galleries of 14” – 25” sculptures for yourself, then decide which of these unique metallic marvels deserves a new home on your desk at an adoption fee of just $750 - $6000.

We hope you find the Prompt Communications newsletter an interesting read. For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your technology PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you.