Microsoft’s TownSquare internal social network provides employees with feeds and updates about their colleagues

At the request of its SharePoint and Office product development teams, Microsoft ’s Office Labs operation has created and is testing a prototype of an internal social network that can provide employees with feeds and updates about their colleagues.

Chris Pratley, general manager of Office Labs , is slated to disclose details of the prototype — called TownSquare — Thursday at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston. He spoke to Computerworld about the project, which was launched in January and has already been used by about 8,000 Microsoft employees.

With a layout that is strikingly similar to Facebook.com’s (in which Microsoft invested $240 million in October 2007), TownSquare is fueled by enterprise news feeds that use Web services to query SharePoint for public information, such as promotions and company anniversaries, about an employee.

TownSquare also notifies users when a document or file is modified. Users can customize their feeds and monitor who is receiving information about them.

In early January, Pratley’s group told 100 Microsoft employees about the network. Since then, 8,000 employees who learned of TownSquare by word of mouth have visited the network at least once, Pratley noted. About 700 use it daily.

Some Microsoft customers, which he declined to name, are testing the TownSquare network for use in their companies.

Office Labs works as a sort of advance development team that tests technology concepts suggested by employees and, as in this case, development teams. Pratley stressed that TownSquare is not a product, but a platform to test the technology concepts. By hammering out the various likes and dislikes of its users before releasing a product, “We’re trying to get version three goodness into a first release,” he added.

“We have instrumentation ?so we know which things people use,” Pratley noted. “We share that with the client teams we work with. They take the knowledge about usage so they don’t make so many mistakes in product design.”

Many third party vendors have targeted SharePoint as the core data source for information to feed their enterprise social networking and other Enterprise 2.0 applications. Several have announced upgrades to their products or new integration with SharePoint this week at the conference.

Anecdotal evidence has shown that employees like the TownSquare tool, Pratley noted. Employees especially appreciate being able to monitor the creation and editing of documents by colleagues, he added. One employee used the network to find a sponsor within Microsoft to fund her trip to the Enterprise 2.0 Conference.

“That is the kind of information that spreads through an enterprise social network,” he said. “By posting it out there, the people interested can pick up on it, and other people can ignore it. It’s a way to keep in touch in a social way with people you work with.”

Like Facebook , TownSquare also includes a photos of users and allows them to note when they are away from their workstations, such as at a meeting or in the cafeteria for coffee.

While some employees have expressed initial surprise at all the information that Microsoft has about them in its intranet, once people see the type of information that is included in the feeds about them, “they see it’s pretty safe stuff and say okay,” Pratley said.

By Heather Havenstein, Computerworld

Pakistan says it has lifted a ban on YouTube, after the website removed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, adding that an earlier worldwide outage sparked by its actions was unintentional.

Telecommunications officials said that the popular website was up and running again in the conservative Muslim nation after YouTube removed “highly profane and sacrilegious footage” that was offensive to Islam.

“We have issued instructions to all internet service providers that YouTube should be unblocked as the specific content has been removed by the website,” Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) spokesman Khurram Mehran said.

(more…)

eSnips made the worst move this week. Now the users who upload the music have to approve each and every file that whether they want to share it with public for downloading or not.

The uploaders are really pisst off now. They have to go through pages and approve each and every file individually.

After this change, eSnip will lose alot of users. Due to the change in their policy many websites which were linked with eSnip will fall and will get a great lose. Just like www.walkblue.com which was searching through the hosted music. I guess its time to say bye bye to esnip now.

Here is what eSnips blog has to say :

Musicians and singers – listen up!

Partly as a response to your requests, and partly because some signed artists have opened eSnips profiles and asked to prevent downloads of their work, we’ve decided to give you more control as to who gets to download your audio files.  Our new audio-only tool allows you to determine, for each file, if it can be downloaded or only listened to from the site.

Up to now, audio files could be downloaded only when you were signed in.  As of today, users who upload or already have a MP3 or WMA audio file in their folders can decide if it can be downloaded or not. 

To allow visitors to download your files in public or group folders click “edit details” next to the file.  The “edit details” link is available only in the “List” “Details” or “One by One” folder views.  On the bottom of the file edit page, you will see the text below.  By checking this box your file will be available for download.  If you don’t check it, the file will only be available for listening only.  By default, files are not available for download.  You’ll need to do this for every audio file you want to enable for download, and for every new audio file you upload.  

When you change a folder from private to either group or public, files will not be available for download unless you purposely enable it.

WalkBlue.com

Yesterday I came across a very new unique type of website. They call itself A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE. WalkBlue.com is a little different from all the other music websites. They are providing music in wma and mp3 format. You can simply search any kind of song in any language. Music from all around the world is available and is freely available to download. You can either listen to the tracks online or you can even download them.

Site: www.WalkBlue.com

16 gigabyte phone-music player hybrid will retail for $499

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple Inc. updated its iPhone and iPod Touch lineup Tuesday, doubling the memory and setting a new premium price for its high-end models.

The latest iPhone features 16 gigabytes of memory and retails for $499. The previously released 8 GB version of the hybrid cell phone, multimedia player and wireless Internet device costs $399.

(more…)

IFPI complains The music industry has said that while it has started making money from music downloading, more than 90 percent of downloaded music is illegal.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, said record companies’ revenue from digital music sales rose 40 per cent to US$2.9 billion over the past year. This growth is not covering losses from collapse of international CD sales, the music industry’s global trade body said.

CD sales fell 11 percent between 2005 and 2006, and were likely to drop further in 2007. Unfortunately, the music industry has been known to inflate the impact of music piracy to almost comedic proportions to plead its cause.

aXXo’s Pirated Movies Used to Promote the iMac

The DVD ripper aXXo is without a doubt one of the most popular DVD-rippers. Even though he hasn’t been active since November 2007, his rips are still widely used, even by commercial outlets such as the John Lewis store. They must have thought, “Why use a real DVD if we can use a pirated movie for free?�

The aXXo rip was shown on an iMac displayed on an Apple stand at a John Lewis store. A member of the Hexus forums discovered this remarkable promotional material, and writes: “So I was in my local John Lewis store a week or so back, and I was checking out their new little Apple mac area, which had lots of Macs on display, with some desks setup and other accessories. They also had some wall mounted iMacs. Imagine my surprise when getting closer to one of them to see ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ - ripped by Axxo playing.�

Using a ripped DVD is bit odd because this is certainly not the best promotional material. Regular DVDs or free HD-content looks much better on an iMac monitor. One thing is clear though, aXXo’s presence has now moved beyond the Internet, and for him it must be flattering to see that commercial outlets appreciate his work. Perhaps this might motivate him to return? The last official aXXo torrent was uploaded November 11, after that it has been awfully quiet. There were rumors that he got caught, others said he had an accident. However, the official statement is that he decided to take a break.

John Lewis was not available for comment, the MPAA probably wont appreciate it that much, but they have our support.

[Via Hexus.net]

All of the major television manufacturers have announced new television sets with wireless HDMI. Although all are using proprietary standards, the benefit is the same: a reduction of cables and the freedom to put set-top boxes and HD players anywhere you like.

LG’s LG71 televisions will have a built-in wireless receiver, and a separate transmitter to send the signal. The system will use 802.11n to transmit the picture. Toshiba announced a similar range of new sets based on its technology.

Sony’s answer is the DMeX connector for its Bravia TVs. One of the modules available will be the Bravia Wireless Link. This will come with a plug-in receiver for the television and a transmitter with four HDMI ports. The system will be able to transmit a signal over 200m.

The battle was also on for the highest contrast ratios in LCD televisions. Toshiba talked about its new LED backlight technology, which will put 1,152 LEDs in 96 zones on a television.

“We can turn LED zones off in black areas and on in light areas,” said Scott Ramirez, vice president of marketing for Toshiba’s TV group. “This gives a contrast ratio of 100,000:1.”

Not to be outdone, Sony showed off its Organic LED (OLED) TV, which is currently available in the US . This set has an incredible contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The bad news is that this technology is only available in an 11in TV.

Author: David Ludlow in Las Vegas

Napster goes back to MP3s

Napster, the brand that dragged the entire world kicking and screaming into the digital music revolution and then became a casualty of RIAA litigation, will soon be returning to its roots in the DRM-free music world. The P2P-turned-legit subscription service announced this morning that it will begin selling unprotected copies of its entire catalog in MP3 format beginning in the second quarter of 2008. Users of the service will be able to buy individual DRM-free tracks and albums, but Napster’s subscription service will remain unchanged. The company hailed the announcement as the first subscription service “featuring major label content� to announce plans to sell unprotected MP3s.

Of course, since the conversion won’t be happening for another few months, the company was very short on details. This morning’s statement revealed only that users of Napster’s online service and its mobile subscription service, Napster and Napster To Go, would be able to buy the MP3 files and use them on any number of devices that support the ubiquitous format. The announcement didn’t mention pricing, although it’s not unreasonable to expect that it will be similar to current track pricing.

Another big omission in the announcement was a list of which major labels will offer DRM-free tracks via Napster. EMI, Universal, and Warner Music Group have already begun selling DRM-free music through other outlets, and Sony BMG is rumored to be joining the party very soon. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve all signed on with Napster yet, and Napster CEO Chris Gorog admitted to the Wall Street Journal that the company is still finalizing agreements with “at least some� of the four.

Speaking of Sony BMG, the music label confirmed today that it is, indeed, planning to dip its toes into DRM-free waters, albeit via carefully-controlled experimentation. The label told USA Today that it will begin selling gift cards in select brick-and-mortar stores on January 15 for $12.99 that will be redeemable at its planned online music store, MusicPass. Through the “Platinum MusicPass� part of the service customers will be able to select from 37 albums available without DRM. Sony’s move isn’t exactly the nail in the coffin for DRM just yet (especially since users will have to go to a B&M store first before going back home to get the DRM-free content, which seems oddly backwards), but it’s only a matter of time before Sony BMG drops its experiment and joins the rest of the Big Four in a more straightforward way.

As for Napster, the move to DRM-free sales is the latest in a long line of attempts to gain a larger share of the digital music market, after trying a number of other initiatives. The service has remained one of the most popular when it comes to online music subscriptions, but is still battling against larger stores—namely, the market-leading iTunes Store. From that perspective, it comes as no surprise that going DRM-free has been popular among music retailers—iTunes still only offers DRM-free tracks from EMI artists and some independent labels. A different and wider mix of DRM-free artists could give an edge to an iTunes alternative, and that’s what Napster is going for.

“The ubiquity and cross-platform compatibility of MP3s should create a more level playing field for music services and hardware providers and result in greater ease of use and broader adoption of digital music,� Gorog said in a statement. Translation: Down with Apple!

by Arstechnica

Reference: Napster was a file sharing service that paved the way for decentralized P2P file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, iMesh, Morpheus, and BearShare, which are now used for many of the same reasons and can download music, pictures, and other files. The popularity and repercussions of the first Napster have made it a legendary icon in the computer and entertainment fields.

Napster’s brand and logo continue to be used by a pay service, having been acquired by Roxio.

 

Toshiba HD DVD sales hit 1 Million in North America

In 2007, Japan’s Toshiba Corporation sold 1 million HD DVD digital video recorders in North America, according to Toshiba executives speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Only two days after Warner Bros studio announced the decision to exclusively support the rival Blu-ray format, the company’s spokespeople had a tough presentation to deliver. Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing for digital audio and video at Toshiba America Consumer Products, noted that HD DVD players represented 49.3% of the players for high definition discs sold as of December 22, quoting figures from market research firm NPD.

However, the figures don’t include sales of Sony Corporation’s PlayStation 3 game console, which plays Blu-ray discs. Like I said back in October, even though I don’t want it to believe it, the PS3 is the key to Blu-ray winning the HD format war. Blu-ray has consistently beaten HD DVD in the number of discs sold. Two major U.S. studios now support HD DVD, compared to the five supporting Sony’s Blu-ray disc. Warner is the last studio to put out movies in both formats, but will stop publishing HD DVDs in May. “It’s difficult for me to read the comments of the pundits that HD is dead. We’ve been declared dead before,” said Sally.

Posted by Emil Protalinski