TechCrunch » Jeff Widman

Techrigy Hits 1 Billion Conversations–Think Google Alerts On Steroids

Jeff Widman — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:09:10 +0000

When I first began working on TechCrunch, I immediately looked for a tool to alert me whenever people wrote about CrunchBase online. After demo'ing several products, I landed on SM2 by Techrigy. Techrigy announced last week that their index of online conversations just broke the 1 billion mark. And two days ago, they announced real-time alerts, fixing my biggest complaint with the service--results previously took a day or two to appear. Like most website analytics packages, these conversation monitoring tools face a delicate balance between simple interface and powerful statistics. Much like a scientific calculator is very powerful, but a little confusing. More after the jump.

SEO At the Enterprise Level–A Major Flop

Jeff Widman — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:14:27 +0000

When I hear SEO, I think of brilliant quantitative guys shut-up in an apartment somewhere running A/B split tests and writing link-bait. Search Engine Optimization is the way companies make it easy for customers to find their website using Google. Because search engines don't publish their algorithms, SEO is a reverse-engineering guessing-game. The very nature of SEO--unknown, constantly changing, and unethical spam tactics--seems diametrically opposed to enterprise culture. So I interviewed Stephan Spencer, president and founder of Netconcepts. (Major clients include Cabela's, HSN, AOL, SuperPages.com, Zappos, and Discovery Channel, among others.) What's your experience with large enterprise and SEO?

When it comes to SEO, enterprise companies don't seem to care or are clueless or both.

CrunchBoard Jobs: TechCrunch Remote Intern, Director of Marketing, VP Mobile Ad Sales, CTO

Jeff Widman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:18:11 +0000

Update: TechCrunch is looking for 4 remote interns–5+ hours per week.

While this week saw fewer new jobs on CrunchBoard, companies are still adding jobs in New York, Silicon Valley, Boston, Philadelphia, and telecommute.

(Here at TechCrunch, we’re looking for a Rails Developer.)

New jobs on CrunchBoard:

Software Engineer
Yelp – San Francisco, CA

Vice President Online & Mobile Ad Sales
MocoSpace – Boston, MA

Director of Product Management
Stealth Project – San Francisco, CA

Director of Marketing
Xpree - Redwood City, CA

CTO/Lead Developer
NowHound – New York City or Telecommute

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

When IBM Beats Facebook And Twitter: Discover Relevant People Within Your Network

Jeff Widman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:15:20 +0000

When twitter recently added a "Suggested Friends" feature, I was more than a little disappointed. Unlike Facebook's "People You May Know" feature, no explanation is provided for why these people were suggested. In an enterprise setting, the most valuable people are the connectors: "The people who know which people know what", according to Alan Lepofsky. The larger the organization, the more likely someone else is working on the same problem. And the less likely you'll find them. While touring IBM's Innovation lab at Lotusphere last week, I was surprised to see IBM is also tackling this problem with their "Social Networks & Discovery" project (SaND for short). And it looked FAR better than anything I've seen previously. (Screenshots after the jump.)

Sync Your Gmail Contacts, Calendar With iPhone & Windows Mobile

Jeff Widman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:28:16 +0000

Last August, I upgraded from a simple flip phone to a HTC Touch. Immediately I began looking for a way to avoid manually entering my Gmail contacts into the phone. After several hours of fruitless searching, I stumbled on NuevaSync--a free service that sync'd both my Gmail contacts and my Google Calendar. Thankfully, they also support Google Apps accounts.

New Napera Beta: Get A Free 24-port Gigabit Network Switch

Jeff Widman — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:21:28 +0000

Napera, a recent Seattle-based startup, is looking for 100 IT and Network Managers for a closed beta test of their new 24-port gigabit network switch. Details after the jump. Napera is testing a relatively new concept--targeted security software subscriptions installed onto the network hardware. These security subscriptions recognize that different industries face different threat profiles--for example, the health industry versus the financial services industry. Each industry is also willing to pay for different levels of security. CEO Todd Hooper explained it to me:

A good analogy is the trial antivirus software that is bundled with computer. Imagine if networking hardware came with bundled security features you could activate for a trial and subscribe to remotely, rather than being a new single function box you had to buy just for this purpose.

CrunchBoard Jobs: Widget Developer, SEO Specialist, Python Developer, More…

Jeff Widman — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:10:57 +0000

Despite the continuous stream of layoffs, CrunchBoard this week has the most diverse job listings I’ve seen yet. There’s both a range of job types–from marketing to technical–and a wide variety of job locations, from New York to Dallas to San Francisco to Portland, OR.

Want to work as a social media planner in Philadelphia?
Or a product manager at Newsweek Digital in New York?
Or maybe in the online marketing manager with a SEO focus at Match.com in Dallas?

(Here at TechCrunch, we’re looking for a Rails Developer.)

Some other jobs currently on CrunchBoard:

Software Engineer
Yelp – San Francisco, CA

CTO/Lead Programmer to oversee Facebook/MySpace Game Development
O Negative Media – Los Angeles, CA

Python Developer (Freelance)
Stealth Project – Telecommute or New York, NY

Social Media/Widget Developer
Tarot.com - Portland, OR

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Browser-Based File Manager Allows Create, Edit & Save Microsoft Office Files Directly To The Server

Jeff Widman — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:33:58 +0000

IT Hit just launched the Beta version of their web-based file manager. Certainly the ability to create, edit, and save Microsoft Office Documents on the server--without downloading the file or any plugins--is the most immediately useful feature. Unfortuntely, the Microsoft Office integration requires Internet Explorer; however, I successfully used the IE-Tab Firefox extension to edit a Powerpoint deck within Firefox. Try it yourself at the demo site--no registration required.

CrunchBoard Jobs: Bed & Breakfast Software Engineer, CTO, Program Manager, Web Architect

Jeff Widman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:59:53 +0000

Want to work as the software engineer for BedandBreakfast.com? Or a healthcare CTO? Or as a Software Development Engineer for the Windows Live Social Network?

Jobs are available in Seattle, New York, Austin, San Francisco, or Mountain View, CA.

(Here at TechCrunch, we’re looking for a Rails Developer.)

Some other jobs currently on CrunchBoard:

Senior Web Developer
Cake Financial – San Francisco, CA

Director of Business Development
Confidential – San Francisco, CA

Unique Digital Music Initiative Seeks Ruby on Rails, Hadoop, Web UI & Graphic Design Rockstars
EMI Music- San Francisco, CA

Senior Mobile Client Engineer and UI Expert
iSkoot- San Francisco, CA

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Is Enterprise RSS Dead? Newsgator CEO: “Who cares?”

Jeff Widman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:43:10 +0000

Enterprise RSS promised to be far more than just Google Reader on steroids. On Monday, Marshall Kirkpatrick claimed enterprise RSS is dead--citing Newsgator's continued infusion of cash as evidence the market is dead. Brad Feld responded with his thoughts on why enterprise RSS is alive. Yesterday, I spoke with JB Holston, Newsgator's CEO, and asked him for his thoughts.

Salesforce.com Launches The Service Cloud, A Customer Service SaaS Application

Jeff Widman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:03:16 +0000

These days, when I have technical question, I reach for Google long before customer service.
What if customer service could reach for Google? Salesforce.com just launched a new customer service application called Service Cloud. The new application, built on a SaaS model, tries to capture the crowdsourced pools of knowledge floating across the internet and use them for commercial customer service. Traditional on-premise contact center technology is disconnected from the experts and knowledge found in the cloud. Yet so many customer service questions are already answered online in forums, Facebook, Google, Amazon, or others. And even more answers are sitting on your personal Instant Messaging history, e-mail history, or corporate intranet. The Service Cloud includes plugins to each of these environments.

70,000% Increase In Beta Testing For Upcoming Microsoft Exchange Release

Jeff Widman — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:29:25 +0000

A little over three years ago, Ray Ozzie wrote his famous memo re-focusing Microsoft from software to services. We started seeing results of that memo last October, when Microsoft announced Windows Azure. The SaaS emphasis is also hitting mainstream products like Microsoft Exchange. This morning Steve Gillmor and I talked with Rajesh Jha, the VP of Development overseeing Microsoft Exchange, about the upcoming release of Exchange 14.

Another Enterprise Tool Shifts to the Cloud: Pirelli Broadband Group Adopts SaaS Capacity Management

Jeff Widman — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:04:31 +0000

Pirelli Broadband Solutions, the broadband arm of the Pirelli Group, announced they adopted Neptuny’s Caplan SaaS. Capacity management has long been the domain of large enterprises; it wasn't cost effective for smaller companies. The cost to implement a capacity management system was higher than the cost savings from optimizing capacity. Neptuny claims the new SaaS version of their Capacity Management software uses the benefits of the cloud to make capacity management accessible to small-medium enterprises. More after the jump.

LogRhythm Joins Effort to Secure Online Payments–Increases Focus On Log Security

Jeff Widman — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:15:19 +0000

LogRhythm just joined the Payment Card Industry Security Council (PCI) with the goal of making log info more secure. While the PCI group is focused on payment security--it was founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc.--the addition of LogRhythm will extend the focus toward making logs across all organizations more secure.

CrunchBoard Jobs: Manage Products, Write Code in Toronto, New York, or California

Jeff Widman — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:04:46 +0000

Want to work an IT Product Manager? Maybe an MySQL Database Administrator, or Senior Client Server Engineer?

Jobs are available in Toronto, New York, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, or Seattle.

(Here at TechCrunch, we’re looking for a Rails Developer.)

Some other jobs currently on CrunchBoard:

Director of Product Management
Patch Media – New York, NY

Senior Ruby on Rails Programmer
HealthLeap – New York, NY

Web Designer/XHTML/CSS/Ninja
Filemobile – Toronto, Canada

Business Development Lead
GoodGuide – San Francisco, CA

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

CrunchBoard: Work as a community manager, managing editor, or freelance developer (from anywhere)

Jeff Widman — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:03:02 +0000

Want to work as the community manager of a fully-funded company that hasn’t launched yet? Or an “Information Repository Specialist“? Maybe work as a managing editor at CBS Interactive?

(Here at TechCrunch, we’re still looking for a Rails Developer.)

Some other jobs currently on CrunchBoard:

Ruby Web Ninja
BorderStylo – Hollywood, CA

Product Manager for FunSpace
Slide – San Francisco, CA

Lead Warehouse Engineer
TripAdvisor – Newton, MA

Freelance Web App & Social Media Developer (PHP or RoR, JS/AJAX)
Vested Ventures, Inc – Work from anywhere (they’re in Buffalo, NY)

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well. (In response to Lucio–who commented on last week’s post–Sorry, no Australian job board… yet.)

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Companies hiring on CrunchBoard: Digg, Dictionary.com, CBS, Hulu, and TechCrunch

Jeff Widman — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:45:27 +0000

Despite layoff season, companies around the US continue to hire–including New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Indiana. (Here at TechCrunch, we need a Rails Developer to add some fancy new features to CrunchBase.)

Some of the jobs currently on CrunchBoard:

Senior Marketing Manager
Digg – San Francisco, CA

Art Director
DCI Group – Washington DC

Senior Product Manager
Dictionary.com – Oakland, CA

Senior Developer
Synacor – Buffalo, NY

Wanted, Dead or Alive! Superstar Rails Developer
Cerego Japan – Tokyo, JP

International readers can check out our British and French job boards as well.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Two free tickets to Lotusphere–is IBM’s Lotus Notes Out of Touch With Web 2.0 World?

Jeff Widman — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:45:50 +0000

Next month is the annual Lotusphere conference. IBM is giving two free tickets to TC readers--leave a comment saying why you'd like to go to Lotusphere, and we'll pick the winners by Monday morning. (Note: Passes cover conference registration only, not travel/hotel.) Few pieces of software are as polarizing as Lotus Notes. When my last job forced me to use Notes, I found the interface clunky, the graphics Win 95'esqe, and the workflow architecture non-intuitive. Granted, I was using Version 6.5 (Notes is now on Release 8), but even so I found it frustratingly unproductive. And I'm clearly not alone. Which leaves me wondering--has IBM's Lotus Notes lost touch with the user-centric web 2.0 world? To answer these questions, I interviewed Kevin Cavanaugh, IBM's VP in charge of the Notes/Domino group. Also joining us was Ed Brill, IBM's Director of Messaging and Collaboration.

Will This Economy Finally Push the Toyota Way Into Software Development?

Jeff Widman — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:33:31 +0000

On Friday, I interviewed Ryan Martens, CTO & founder of Rally Software, about agile development. (Rally offers Agile lifecycle managment products and is a key player in the online Agile development community.) Agile has its roots in the Toyota way and lean manufacturing. But only now is it starting to hit mainstream knowledge management process–like software development. Wikipedia calls it “Agile Software Development.” Certainly, moving to Agile isn’t pain free–there is risk involved–but companies that take the risk consistently report strong results, including those listed on the banner above. (Expect it to be flavor of the week if you apply it like the flavor of the week.)

Aravo Raises $7 Million Series D Following World’s Largest Single SAAS Deployment

Jeff Widman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:08:45 +0000

Despite the economic downturn, companies that solve real problems are still successfully raising money. Aravo, a SAAS supplier information management tool, announced today that they closed $7 million in Series D funding. Currently, Aravo claims their GE installation is the largest single SAAS deployment. "We are now managing over 500,000 suppliers and their data in Aravo, and have just gone live in six languages," said Gary Reiner, CIO of GE.