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30th
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Super Hero Donors: The Global Fund for Women
Posted by admin under Uncategorized
Did you know that women represent 70% of those living in absolute poverty? That 1 in 3 women will be raped, beaten or violated in the course of their lifetime? Or that maternal mortality is the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age? These are just a few of the unfortunate facts that surround the current state of International human rights concerning women. This week we put the spotlight on the Global Fund for Women, an organization aimed at funding and supporting important ideas, people and non-profit organizations dedicated to the betterment of womankind. To date, the Global Fund for Women has awarded over $58 million to 3,45 women's organizations in 166 countries. You can only imagine how much this seed money has been able to alleviate injustices facing women. Read on as Zeina Zaatari, 34, Program Officer, shares with us info about the organization, important future goals and the people they are looking to connect with as we feature the Global Fund for Women in this week's Non-Profit Spotlight.
Non-Profit
Global Fund for Women
Founded
1987
Website
Name
Zeina Zaatari
Program Officer, Middle East and North Africa
Age
34
Hometown
Sidon [Sayda], South Lebanon, Lebanon
Current residence
San Francisco, California
Education
University of California at Davis
Ph.D. Cultural Anthropology and Feminist Theory
(2003)
University of California at Davis
MA Cultural Anthropology
(1998)
Iowa State University
MA Anthropology
(2007)
American University of Beirut
BA Sociology and Anthropology
(1994)
Work Experience
Global Fund for Women
Program Officer, MENA
July 2004-present
UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia
Consultant
September 2006-March 2007
University of California at Davis
Lecturer
2002-2004
San Francisco State University
Lecturer
2003-2004
University of California at Davis
Teaching Assistant
1997-2002
Arab Forum for Social Science and Health
Program Assistant
2001
Ethnicity
Arab
About the non-profit
The Global Fund for Women is an international network of women and men committed to a world of equality and social justice. We advocate for and defend women's human rights by making grants to support women's groups around the world. We are part of a global women's movement that is rooted in a commitment to justice and an appreciation of the value of women's experience.
The challenges women face vary widely across communities, cultures, religions, traditions and countries. We believe that women should have a full range of choices, and that women themselves know best how to determine their needs and propose solutions for lasting change. The way in which we do our work is as important as what we do. This philosophy is reflected in our flexible, respectful and responsive style of grant-making.
The Global Fund makes grants to seed, strengthen and link women's rights groups based outside the United States working to address human rights issues that include:
Ending Gender-Based Violence and Building Peace
Ensuring Economic and Environmental Justice
Advancing Health and Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Expanding Civic and Political Participation
Increasing Access to Education
Fostering Social Change Philanthropy
What are your day-to-day responsibilities?
As a program officer for the Middle East and North Africa, I am responsible for setting up yearly plans of our work in the region and for managing the portfolio which entails a budget of close to a million dollars on a yearly basis. My day-to-day responsibilities usually include a bit of everything that we need to do to manage the Middle East North Africa portfolio. Generally, this means working with women's rights organizations and activists, dealing with financial and banking institutions in the region and in the US, working with advisers and other such actors, building relationship with sister-organizations and other funders, preparing analysis of groups to fund, aiding development team in fundraising, and contributing to the growth of the organization and the MENA portfolio in particular.
It includes interacting with women's groups on the ground via email, phone, mail and fax and building relationships of trust and mutual respect between GFW and women activists and actors in the MENA region. I also read proposals, follow-up with questions, and review a variety of written and visual material that groups send to us including final and other types of reports as well as newspaper clippings and videos of events. Our volunteer advisers in the region provide us with information on groups, issues, political context, and challenges to women's movements in the region. I work on fostering a strong advisory council of local women's rights activists located in the region who act as our ambassadors to the region. I organize conference calls with other funders to share and exchange grant-making strategies and best practices. I also produce a written analysis of the groups we are proposing to give grants to on a quarterly basis to present to our international board members.
Even though some or many may argue that most of the work is administrative, and perhaps not as exciting, I beg to differ. As there is nothing boring about reading inspiring stories of creative and amazing women who put themselves on the front line everyday to support and defend women's rights and to know that you have in some way contributed to supporting those efforts. And there is nothing boring about reading the creative avenues that women organize, resist, and pave way to newer realities where equality and justice can prosper. In addition, I am able to travel to the most amazing places, interact with progressive and strong women that can easily dispel any myths or stereotypes of the meek and oppressed Arab or Muslim woman. Since one of our main goals is linking between different actors, it is always very exciting to work with organizations who are building a network or who are organizing a conference and be able to contribute to the speakers and the programs thus ensuring a diverse representation and that particular voices that may often be silent in such international convenings actually have the space to speak. Every day, I increase my knowledge of women's rights, women's issues, challenges, successes, changes in laws, practices, policies, etc. of women, but also generally of civil society. It is a very rich and engaging experience on a daily basis.
Most notable milestones
I was initially hired at the Global Fund for Women to establish the Middle East and North Africa program on its own. Very shortly after I arrived, I had to organize an outreach trip to the region for all board members, several staff members and donors. We divided everybody into smaller teams and each team was able to visit one or two countries and eventually we all convened in Cairo, Egypt for the Board Meeting. Collectively we visited Turkey, Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine, and Israel. The seventeen board members from different countries of the world all convened in Egypt after this trip. It was a significant accomplishment of exchange and learning of challenges, local contexts, issues, priorities, and strategies.
In addition, after working for two years on the MENA program, looking back at the increase in the number of organizations and proposals that we were able to provide support to, it was a significant milestone to watch the impact and relationship grow. Another important milestone was my participation in the Nobel Women's Initiative first international conference on Women Redefining Peace: the Middle East and Beyond, where I talked on a panel about power and its impact particularly in relation to funding trends and policies in the region. However, I was also able to help with suggestions of activists from the region that we have come to work with and to see them and watch them engaged in dialogue, standing tall and speaking on behalf of their communities made me feel honored to be in their company and in the company of the five Nobel Laureates present Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan, Shirin Ebadi, Jodi Williams, and Wangari Mathai. Their humbleness and serious engagement made me realize ever more closely the importance of the work that we are all collectively in the women's movements of the trying to do.
As an organization, the GFW reached a major milestone with our Investing in Women campaign that raised 20 million dollars for women’s rights, to be divided equally between a 10 million dollar endowment and a fund to be spent over a three to five year period to ensure the sustainability of women's groups in a world that is increasingly more hostile to civil society, equality and justice with the encroachment of economic globalization, militarization and war, and religious fundamentalisms.
What's the niche?
Several things make our work unique and most of these are embedded in our values as an organization. For one, we provide general support grants which can be used by a group to cover operating expenses (including rent, staff time, etc...) and/or to cover program and project cost. We trust our grantees to make those decisions on their own and do not place any such restrictions on our funding. There are very few funding agencies that give any money for operating expenses.
Another thing is our flexibility and reflexivity. For example, we accept proposals from groups in any language and in any shape or format (including handwritten if needed) and we work with groups where they at. Some may be well-seasoned in the funding world and know how to prepare proposal and budgets, and some may be relatively new in a village somewhere with very little access to internet or computers. We are reflexive as we are in a process of continuous learning from our large network of grantees, advisers, and donors. We listen carefully to what are the issues and challenges outlined by groups on the ground and we do our best to respond accordingly.
Another unique quality is our ability to reach really grassroots level organizations and collectives in our seeding program. We are one of the few funders that provide small grants to relatively new groups that do not have a long list of other funders to vouch for and recommend and thus we are often a group’s first funder. Many groups are able to use the grant we gave and our name to leverage it and apply to larger funders.
What's the biggest challenge?
The challenges are many in the work that we do. I will name few of the bigger ones. One is the large volume that the organization receives as a whole, an indication of the fact that out of international funding and aid (particularly in the US, but also globally) very little goes to women’s rights. It is a lot easier to get funds to "help" or "save" children or even to "save" women, but when talking about women’s rights and women activists themselves setting their own agendas, the dollar amounts dwindle.
As a foundation that raises all the money it gives away, we are burdened by this process doubly as we raise our own funds and as we try to leverage more funds for women’s rights globally by advocating for large foundations to support women’s rights. The increase militarization and war in the world globally and in the MENA region in particularly is a challenge to our work. Not only are women affected differently during wars and conflict, but often the ability to hold on to earlier accomplishments in the women’s movement are quickly lost.
As in the case of Iraq with a transformation from a secular system that provided women with many rights, even when not yet totally equal, to a system government by religious law and tribal patriarchal leaders; in addition of course to the violence by all involved parties (occupation forces, para-military groups and contractors, local army, local militias, and within the home). Another challenge for the MENA region is the fact that our organization is based in the US. The US’ foreign policy, including a long an continued support to Israel, the current occupation of Iraq, and the support to autocratic and oppressive regimes in the MENA, makes trust and relationship building more difficult. Groups often have concerns regarding agendas and funding sources; which we are always happy to answer with clarity, but nonetheless it does pose a challenge that we have to address.
What's in store for the future?
The MENA program finished recently its three year initiative where grant-making was increased in terms of dollar amounts and in terms of grants and groups. The initiative allowed us to do concerted outreach to countries we have not had a chance previously to give grants to. Today, we give grants in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, and Israel. We work with advisers and with grantees locally. We have embarked on another three year initiative that aims to solidify and deepen the work that has already take place over the past three years.
It also aims to expand into other countries with strategic grant-making such as in the Gulf for example. We aim to support local and nascent women’s funds and other initiatives for regional collaboration. In addition, we are working with other donors to increase grant-making with a social justice in the region. As a whole for the organization, we are currently going through a strategic planning process to determine exactly this question. This will reflect on our growth and our role in the movement.
How did you get started with this work?
I have been involved in women's rights as far back as I can remember. I did research on women's activism in South Lebanon for my dissertation research as just one example of my involvement with the issues. I grew up under conditions of war and saw a lot of injustice around me. I was particularly aware of how women organized to transform this injustice. Later on in college, I realized how little does the Western world and in particular the US academic, media, political, and popular world reflect, in its writing, research, development and aid programs, media, and political discourse, this strength and power.
So, I started acting in teaching, writing and organizing. However, more specifically, I came to the funding world more recently when I joined the Global Fund for Women. Having been at the receiving end of the process, and having researched women's groups at the receiving end as well, I felt I had a unique perspective and an opportunity to change the funding world. When I found the Global Fund for Women, I realized that there is a funding world out there, albeit small, that already has encompassed most of my values in its processes and mission. The rest is history as they say…
Best way to keep a competitive edge
I know everyone loves competition, particularly in this new world order. However I prefer to always think of collaboration rather than competitiveness. Specialization and a clear vision, I think, are key for both collaboration and competition. It is important that one knows their ‘identity’ as an organization, which it is well-defined and articulated to the world and to the staff and board. It is also important to occupy a particular niche (using market language), to know what you are doing and excel at it. These will make the lines of collaboration along with the objectives clearer and thus more tenable.
Guiding principle in life
Trust my instincts and think social justice and equality.
Yardstick of success
On the personal level, I think it is the ability and degree of impact one can make in individual people's lives, and if one is lucky in a community of lives.
In the work that I do at the moment, it is also about impact but not necessarily one of quantity but of quality; witnessing the links that you helped foster lead to new connections, campaigns and coalitions is a clearly distinct impact.
Goal yet to be achieved
On the professional level in the near future, I would like to truly link women's groups in the region together and with sister groups in other parts of the world and I would like to see more funders focus giving on women's rights and social justice. Another goal is to see more individual giving from the "diaspora"/immigrant and communities of color to support our efforts in supporting women's rights.
Best practical advice
Listen, learn many languages, respect, and be accountable.
Supportive words from a family member or friend on your venture
A friend of mine recently told me: "You are in the perfect position politically and socially. You are able to survive living in the US by working on a daily basis in a women's foundation whose politics is great and you are able to see the amazing work of many women in the region you identify with and are inspired by."
Mentor?
I do not believe in allocating this status to one or two or even more named individuals. I think we meet during our lifetime so many people that mentor us in so many different ways. People of all ages, races, classes, sexual orientation, backgrounds that walk into our lives and teach us something about the world and thus about ourselves.
What motivated you to get started?
Several things including a desire to act as a bridge. Our president often says that the program officers act as a bridge between many worlds, cultures, languages, beliefs. We are constantly in a process of translation, whether talking with donors, or grantees, or human rights activists, or journalists. We occupy, at least two worlds, sometimes that which we came from (which may and in of itself be multiple worlds) and the one we live in the US and work in.
Another motivation was the disenchantment with the academic sector having been teaching there for years and years and a desire to do something more tangible.
Like best about what you do?
I think I mentioned it before. On a day when the news is terrible, and I am constantly checking the news website at work, listening to the radio, making sure loved ones are safe and okay in Lebanon and elsewhere; on these days when the world just seems to much to handle and the violence is escalating, I get to read writings of a young group or a seasoned feminist of their work and their ideas to change the world and I feel that truly "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.: (Arundhati Roy).
Like least about what you do?
Not being able to give enough of time and money. Additionally, of course, the power play of money and north/south relationship that I have to manage and walk through can sometimes get very tricky.
What have you learned during this work that suprised you?
I have learned that there are worlds within worlds and each field has its own demons and politics. It is something you know from the outside but you learn more clearly when you are in a daily practice. I have also learned that one learns from the least suspecting places. I learned that one, or more specifically rich ones, can be active or socially responsible via money.
What other movements are you involved in or interested in?
I am involved in Arab and Arab American issues and civil rights in the United States, anti-war work, Palestine struggle work, immigrant rights work, social justice movements in all of its manifestations in the race/gender/class struggles and of course gender and sexuality in the US as well.
At age 10, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I barely had a memory of age ten, as when I was nine Israel invaded my city and I lost part of my memory. Part of me remembers few things that I wanted to do, but I have no idea when I thought of each. At one point I wanted to be a journalist and another I wanted to be a dancer, and yet another a ship captain.
What was your first job?
Secretary.
Biggest pastime outside of work
Reading, hanging out with friends. I love going on wine tasting trips. I also like camping and hiking, but I have not done as much of those lately.
Person most interested in meeting?
This is hard, most of those that I want to meet are actually dead, like Edward Said, Antonio Gramsci, Frantz Fanon, June Jordan Queen Hatshepsut (Pharaoh), Zanubia (Queen of Tadmur in Tunis), and Alissar (of Tyre in Lebanon) because I have a ton of questions I would like to ask them about the world, their choices, and how they came to be so perceptive either as leaders or as writers.
Among the living, I think I would love to meet Arundhati Roy, Fatima Mernissi, and Ahdaf Soueif.
Leader in business most interested in meeting?
Not sure there is anyone that has caught my attention yet.
Three interesting facts about yourself
- I read a book in Arabic and one in English at the same time.
- I love dancing, I think it nurtures my soul.
- I dream of writing poetry.
Three characteristics that describe you
- Passionate
- Stubborn
- Assertive
Three greatest passions
- Palestine
- Poetry
- Women's Rights
Favorite book
Among those I read recently:
Novels:
"The Map of Love" by Ahdaf Soueif
"I, the Divine" by Rabih Alamuddine
"The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf" by Mohja Kahf
"Sharon and my Mother-in-law" by Souad Amiri
My all time favorite Arab writer is Abdelrahman Munif and I love his five-volume series "Cities of Salt."
Books:
"The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon
"Bin Laden, Islam and America's New 'War on Terror'" by As'ad Abu-Khalil
"Thinking Class: Sketches from a Cultural Worker" by Joanna Kadi
"Western Representation of the Muslim Women" by Mohja Kahf
I can add a lot more, but I will stop here!
Favorite travel destination
Everywhere I haven't been yet.
Plus out of the places I visited: Ireland, Morocco, Algeria, Cairo, Damascus.
Favorite food
Arabic food, Thai, Sushi.
Who would you like to be contacted by?
We would like to be contacted by individuals or groups interested in giving financially to support women's rights in the MENA region. We also would like to be contacted by donor foundations that are already giving in the region that would like to exchange and learn. We would like to be contacted by local (in the MENA) grassroots women's groups interested in building a relationship with the GFW.
Want to get in touch with Zeina Zaatari?
It's not enough to just read about what young, driven, and forward-thinking individuals are doing out there. It's important to connect with them! Go ahead and send our profilee a quick email to say hello! If you have a question, want to give kudos, or just want to drop them a line - we encourage you to reach out!
Credits
Interview by Nadia Abou-Karr
Introduction by Sumaya Kazi
Edited by Valerie Enriquez
30th
TV Guide’s Upcoming Video Search Filtering Tool
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
TV Guide will launch an online search service this week, which will offer filtering tools for finding television shows on the Internet. This isn’t entirely different from its existing service.
Launched in beta over the summer, TV Guide’s search service will soon be live for anyone. Staying in line with its dedication to television content providers, search results will provide links to the content owners’ own websites, and then to other professional content that’s been created as associated programming for the show. Think “Behind the Scenes” and late night interviews with the cast. In addition, user-generated content will get its place to shine on TV Guide as well, if it’s popular (worthy) enough to be noted.
This editor-controlled web filter is somewhat narrow in its approach, but that’s not surprising considering the source. There’s few other directions in which a publication like TV Guide could go in the online sector. When it comes to finding content that comes straight from the source, the sure-fire quality of content you’ll find through TV Guide is its biggest benefit. The meme approach to related content is helpful as well, and will largely appeal to the mature demographics that may not want to deal with the online culture of user-generated video content.
Other online video filters include the Daily Reel and WeShow. Other networks that are getting in on this game include Comcast’s buddy.tv and Echo Communications’ Sling Media, while similar tools include evoke.tv and tv.com.
[via Hollywood Reporter]
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30th
Factoid of the Week: The Young Debt Dilemma
Posted by admin under Uncategorized
- Nearly two-third of twenty-somethings carry debt.
- Nearly half have stopped paying a debt forcing them to get sent to a collection agency.
- Total debt is up 10% - an average of $16,120 as compared with five years earlier.
- Student loan balances rose 16% to an average of $14,379.
- Debt has forced some young people to change their career plans. Of those surveyed by USATODAY, 22% say they've taken a job they otherwise wouldn't have because they needed more money to pay off student debt.
- 29% have put off pursuing higher education because they already have too much debt. 26% have put off buying a home. 11% have put off marrying and 14% have put off having children.
- 19% have moved back home to live with their parents to put off costs.
30th
Techmeme Launching Leaderboard; World Likely to Keep Turning
Posted by Marshall Kirkpatrick under Uncategorized
TechCrunch has the scoop on a big new feature launching tomorrow evening at the tech-blog meme aggregator Techmeme (minus buzz words, it's a news tracking site). The new Techmeme leaderboard will list the top 100 blogs that have appeared as headline links on Techmeme over the past 30 days. The page will be at http://techmeme.com/lb, which is currently password protected. In a preview image, posted below, TechCrunch was the top blog on Techmeme last month and Read/WriteWeb was #6.
We're in great company on that list, and it looks better than the Technorati 100, where we're now at #22 - but this Techmeme leaderboard will face some criticism as well. I love Techmeme, I've checked it multiple times an hour since it launched in 2005, but below are my thoughts on this leaderboard.
Who's on Techmeme?
Many people wrongly believe that the blogs that appear on Techmeme are hand picked by site creator Gabe Rivera. In fact, after an initial seeding of the index when the site launched in 2005, Rivera only touches the content on the site to fix problems that arise. Blogs are added to the Techmeme index, more or less, by being linked-to by other blogs that are already indexed by Techmeme. It's not a perfect system, but it's not nearly as closed as many critics allege.
That said, it is a black box. No one knows for sure how the stories are selected and ranked on Techmeme. That's both a strength and a weakness. No black box ranking system will ever serve all ranking needs in any industry.
Techmeme vs. Technorati
Michael Arrington said tonight that the new leaderboard means that blog search engine Technorati no longer has a leg to stand on, because the Technorati 100 was the company's last important differentiating feature.
I disagree. This Techmeme leaderboard cannot replace Technorati. Even if the Technorati 100, the list of the most linked-to blogs on the web, does suffer from spam as Michael Arrington asserts - the solution is simple. Just as Ask.com displays blogsearch results only from blogs that have a certain number of subscribers in the company's feed reader, Bloglines, so too Technorati can find a simple way to vet the quality of the links it's counting.
More importantly, Technorati offers a topical blog index that's useful outside of the limited subject matter covered by Techmeme and its off-shoots Memeorandum, WeSmirch and BallBug. Want to know who the most linked-to blogs about real estate are? About knitting? Technorati offers a valuable, if very imperfect, answer to questions like that. Just visit a URL like http://www.technorati.com/blogs/knitting
Techmeme and industry leadership
An appearance on Techmeme will drive many bloggers' traffic through the roof. For a big news blog, though, showing up on Techmeme isn't about traffic. Read/WriteWeb gets more traffic than Techmeme, for example, but not nearly as much as Digg. Digg is a traffic driver. Techmeme is about link-respect from blogging peers.
That's a fine thing to measure in 30 day increments, but it's also important to acknowledge that not all blogs are equal in Techmeme. It is a black box, but it certainly appears that some big blogs carry a whole lot more weight than others. If my personal blog links to some one else's blog post, that post will not be shot onto Techmeme. If TechCrunch, Engadget or Read/WriteWeb link to some one's blog post, the journey for that blog post to make it to Techmeme is going to be a whole lot shorter.
The threshold for some blogs to make it onto Techmeme is much lower than it is for most others. That means that this metric of headline leadership over 30 days may be a self-perpetuating matter. You were on Techmeme a lot because you're on Techmeme a lot. Arrington says the list will change frequently because of the 30 day intervals - but we'll see. The Technorati 100 only counts inbound links from the past 6 months, but when the top of the top changes on that list it's big, big news. That list doesn't change very much and I'll be interested to see how much the Techmeme leaderboard changes.
What about the rest of the world?
Other questions that should be asked include the following:
What does this mean for the rest of the world outside of the US? Techmeme is barely a global phenomenon; it crawls to near halt outside of the blogging hours of the United States. The Technorati 100, on the other hand, includes scores of blogs that aren't even written in English - but have massive readership.
A list based on reciprocal links isn't a complete list. Gender and other biases, different blogging subcultures and any number of other factors make a Techmeme-type leaderboard inevitably limited in its scope. I think Gabe Rivera acknowledges that. When I asked him just what he aimed to do with the leaderboard, he said:
Well, it's designed primarily to identify Techmeme's most frequent sources, a much-requested feature. Techmeme focuses on the tech industry, so indeed, you won't be able to pit GigaOM vs. Perez Hilton using the Techmeme leaderboard. I betting that's OK with Techmeme readers.
I also asked him how the leaderboard could compete with Mahalo and he admitted that there was no stopping Mahalo, but that's another story.
That's just fine, there's not too much harm in the limits of the site's scope - though another standard of leadership that's dominated by white men in the US is not really what the world needs, in my opinion. We'll still aim to climb higher and higher on the Techmeme leaderboard - but there's plenty of room for other standards of measurement in leadership, in as much as that's even necessary.
30th
Findory Closing its Doors November 1st
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
In January of this year, Findory founder Greg Linden published a blog post indicating the slow death of personalized search tool Findory. Launched in January of 2004, the personalized search tool looked to apply an Amazon-like recommendation feature for users in order to help you find content you’d otherwise miss.
So with the intention of spending more time on his own health and family, Linden’s Findory had enough gas left to let it run on autopilot through most of this year. So now that the year is coming to a close, Findory will be shut down on November 1, 2007. It’s sad to see a good product go, but it’s comforting to know that its creation influenced the emergence of new companies, as well as improvements for larger companies like AOL.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that personalized search and recommendation tools are here to stay. From video search widgets to social bookmarking networks like thoof and bloglines, we all benefit from personalized search tools. WiseNut is another search tool that has been laid to rest.
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30th
LookSmart Trashes WiseNut
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
LookSmart, the online advertising company, is apparantly scaling down, as its Wisenut search service has been trashed. What started out as a promising acquisition some years ago for powering LookSmart search, has turned into a neglected piece of the LookSmart suite.
Over the past few days, WiseNut has been slowly replaced by options to learn more about LookSmart’s other products and resources, emphasizing LookSmart’s full circle as a re-purposed network for content-rich websites for niche communities, and other technology that lends a hand towards social search, like Furl. As part of its continued improvement, especially on the search end, LookSmart has found better ways to power search, like through blinkx.
[via search engine journal]
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30th
Adobe Acquires Virtual Ubiquity - Enters Web Office Fray
Posted by Josh Catone under Uncategorized
Adobe has acquired Waltham, Mass.-based Virtual Ubiquity for an undisclosed sum, and in doing so has officially entered the web office fray. Virtual Ubiquity are the creators of Buzzword, an online, collaborative word processing application powered by Adobe's Flex framework. It runs cross-browser in the Flash player and just might be the best word processor on the web.
That sounds like hyperbole, but after playing around with Buzzword for the past couple of days, I'm nearly ready to trade in Microsoft Word -- nearly. I've been long hesitant to trade in my faithful Microsoft Office suite for Zoho, ThinkFree, or Google offerings, but Buzzword addresses a number of my niggling concerns and even manages to do some things far better than Microsoft does.
With this acquisition, Adobe appears to be announcing their intentions to go head-to-head with Google and Microsoft in the coming office wars. Microsoft has long held the dominant position when it comes to office software, but that may be about to change due to the increasingly more usable nature of the growing field of web office applications. And because of a planned Adobe Integrated Runtime version of Buzzword, Adobe has designs on the desktop, too.
Buzzword
I admittedly had not used Buzzword until this past week, though some commenters called me to task for not including it in the 10 Must Have Online Office Apps post -- and they were right. In terms of user experience, Buzzword trumps Google Docs easily.
As I said, Buzzword is built on Adobe's Flex framework and runs in the browser using the Flash player (it requires version 9, which as Emily Chang pointed out in August may limit corporate adoption). The interface is slick and seems reminiscent of recent Adobe imaging applications, such as Lightroom (at least to my untrained eye).
The first screen that greets users upon logging in is a file browser. Files can be sorted alphabetically, by author, by last viewed or changed, by your permissions (more on that later), or by size. Sort by size is an interesting feature because Buzzword sorts by number of pages rather than file size, which is a much more helpful visual tool.
Buzzword uses a system of slidable "pleats" for menu navigation, which means no digging through loads of nested menus to find a feature. Everything is presented visually on screen in each pleat. The system is reminiscent of the ribbon menus in Microsoft Word 2007. Stylistically, they are a bit different (the ribbons are better suited to the larger number of features that Word has), but functionally they accomplish the same goal.
I can honestly say that Buzzword is the first online word processor that I have used that made me forget I was using an online word processor. Much of the reason that I have not yet made the jump to Zoho or Google Docs is that I just think Word does things better, but Buzzword feels very comfortable to me, coming from Word. Buzzword actually beats Word in some areas. One feature that I used very often as a freelance editor was track changes. While Buzzword doesn't have a track changes feature, it does have comments, and anyone who has left comments on a Word document knows that it can quickly become a confusing spiderweb of lines and margin bubbles. Buzzword cleverly avoids all that confusion by ditching the connecting lines, instead dimming the background and highlighting the related text when viewing a comment. It is these little touches that I think makes Buzzword so special.
Buzzword certainly isn't as full featured as desktop competitors, but it nails the basics with a certain panache. It also adds some features that its desktop brethren can't, such as document sharing. Every document in Buzzword can be shared under any of three permissions levels: co-author (allowed to edit), reviewer (can read and comment), and reader (can read only). Buzzword keeps track of every version of the document and can roll back to previous version with a single click.
Conclusion
That Adobe has acquired Virtual Ubiquity is a major development on the web office front. Until now Buzzword had mostly been flying under the radar, but with Adobe's backing it should be pushed into the mainstream a lot faster. Of all the online word processors I have tried, it is easily the most enjoyable to use and the first that I think could seriously give Microsoft a run for its money, especially given that Adobe and Virtual Ubiquity plan an offline AIR-based version of the app that would automatically sync up changes you make to any documents with your online storage space.
The question now becomes: is Adobe planning a larger push into the web office space?
Note: Josh Catone is at the Adobe MAX 2007 conference in Chicago, September 30 - October 3, courtesy of Adobe.
30th
Adobe Unleashes Media Player to the Public
Posted by Josh Catone under Uncategorized
Adobe will today release to the public for the first time their Adobe Media Player on the Adobe Labs site. It will be released as a public beta, with a final version scheduled for the first half of next year. We first covered AMP when it was announced in April at the National Association of Broadcasters Conference.
Somewhat similar to the Veoh player, AMP is an AIR application that will allow users to watch Flash video content from the web online or offline. Unlike Veoh, however, AMP does not scrape content from the web, but instead is seeded by content publishers. Adobe will even offer co-branded versions of the player to publishers who can use it to monetize their content via advertising.
In that vein, Adobe has also announced a round of content providers for the beta release, including CBS, Yahoo! Video, PBS and a number of "long tail" web video creators, such as Blip.tv, MotionBox, and MyToons.
"Adobe Media Player enables us to work with content publishers and offer them innovative ways to create, deliver, and monetize high-quality video experiences that are supported both by streaming and download. By collaborating with these media and entertainment industry giants, we will be able to provide viewers an extensive catalog of their favorite shows for viewing at their convenience," promised Jim Guerard, vice president for Dynamic Media at Adobe in a press release.
AMP allows users to subscribe to online video content via RSS, so that your favorite videos are delivered to you and easier to find. For publishers, Adobe provides sophisticated analytics, monetization and branding options, and content protection. The cross-platform AMP player is free, and will be focused on free, ad-supported content for this beta release.
Note: Josh Catone is at the Adobe MAX 2007 conference in Chicago, September 30 - October 3, courtesy of Adobe.
30th
Adobe Announces Document Sharing Service
Posted by Josh Catone under Uncategorized
Adobe today announced Adobe Share, an online document sharing service. Users will be able to get 1GB of free storage space to share and store documents in their own secure space on the web site.
The service is simple to use and offers some nifty features, including a gorgeous online file viewer. To share a document users simply upload or choose from their library, enter email addresses of those they want to share the document with, make any notes, set file permissions (i.e., do you want users to be able to download a document or just view it?) and then share. Before documents are shared, the Share service performs a virus scan and creates a thumbnail in the background.
When a user receives a shared file, he or she will be directed to an online page where the document will be presented in a awesome Flash-based file viewer. The viewer allows users to zoom in on the document and pan around it. It generally preserves the quality of the document as you zoom in and out. Users are then directed to log in or create an account if they want to download the document.
In a move that may signal an eventual intention to compete with online document repositories like Scribd, Adobe Share documents can be embedded on blogs via a Flash widget. The widget is resizable, meaning that it can fit into any web page design. Adobe Share also has a full set of REST APIs that allow outside developers to create applications and services that piggy back on the site. I was shown a demo of an AIR app that allowed users to access their Share files outside of the web browser.
Adobe is targeting small businesses and students with this product, and will release paid upgrades for it in time. The 1GB free version is full featured, however. A preview of Adobe Share will be available today on the Adobe Labs site.
Note: Josh Catone is at the Adobe MAX 2007 conference in Chicago, September 30 - October 3, courtesy of Adobe.
30th
What Does the Valley Have to Say About Its Own Future?
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
The San Francisco Chronicle has done a piece featuring a few notables from Silicon Valley, as a way of celebrating the 50th birthday of the Valley, and offering an opportunity to reflect on the changes that have taken place since then. Each person quoted enlightens us on their greatest hopes and fears for the Valley. Most of these hopes revolve around the preservation of the Valley through a continued effort to pursue innovation, avoiding a complacent nature, and encouraging collaboration.
Eric Schmidt of Google is quoted as wanting to strive for unconventional ways to solve problems, and notes the company’s partnership with NASA as doing just that. Tim O’Reilly, on the other hand, would like to see more resources going towards balancing the gap for the housing market, calling the Valley a hothouse flower that’s fragile in the real world. It’s always interesting to see an introspective look at a unique ecosystem like the Valley.
While there are pockets of innovation cropping up all over the world, the Valley is still recognized as the hub for resources and established institutions. It’s because of the Valley that we do have the capabilities of collaborating across the globe. Reading through these quotes from Valley royalty, it’s easy to see the appreciation for this level of collaboration, while also recognizing the desire to hold onto the very ethos that enabled it to flourish in the first place.
[via sf gate]
Recommended: MySpace News - MySpace Launching News Site
30th
Pronto’s Latest Public Beta Launches at Adobe MAX
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
CommuniGate’s Pronto! is launching the latest version of its desktop email application at Adobe MAX event in Chicago. This application from Pronto is now available in public beta for users to test out. Pronto’s new version runs on Adobe AIR, and can be accessed both online and offline.
Your chat, IM, and email appear in one window, which also allows you to easily pull up your calendar, address book, feeds, media, blogs, and more. So for offline creation of email messages, etc., Pronto will automatically detect if a network is available, and will then send messages that have been waiting in queue. While all of your information can be accessed from this one window, different applications, such as chat and Calendar, can be opened in new windows as well. Files can be added and attached with simple drag’n'drop capabilities.
As Pronto is looking to be a single access point for pretty much everything you need to do, it supports plug-ins for third party applications and mashups that can be rolled into Pronto’s new release. One of the best things about this level of potential integration for other applications is that it allows users to better utilize applications, as their email inbox is a primary point of access for much of what they do online. Many applications that nicely integrate with calendar and email applications offer a level of ease for users that I find beneficial.
Recommended: MySpace MP3 Player at Mashcodes!
30th
Techmeme Leaderboard To Launch, Attacking Technorati’s Last Stronghold
Posted by Michael Arrington under Uncategorized
Blog search engine Technorati’s founding CEO is gone, its traffic party has ended and its core search functionality is under long term fire from competitors like Google Blog Search, Ask.com and Sphere (among others). Constant strategic shifts haven’t helped much either.
But Technorati still has one stronghold left - it controls the definitive, editorially unbiased list of top blogs. The list is based on unique incoming blog links over the previous six months. More links = a higher position on the list. To get a top 100 spot, a blog currently needs about 3,700 unique links.
But links from other blogs may no longer be the best indicator of the popularity of a blog, particularly today when blog links can be obtained by simply opening up the checkbook and paying. Also, Technorati clearly counts spam and other blogs, which can have a significant impact on rankings.
That’s a statement that will be hotly debated. But tomorrow bloggers will have a new top 100 list to aim for - the Techmeme Leaderboard.
The list will be created based on the blogs that created the most headlines on Techmeme over the previous thirty days (so it will change frequently).
TechMeme has become the definitive site for tech blogging news, and its sister sites Memeorandum (political news), WeSmirch (celebrity gossip) and BallBug (baseball news) hold a similar esteem in their markets. It’s about time founder Gabe Rivera started to release some of the great statistical data he’s been collecting since launching the original site in 2005.
To be exact, top blogs will be ranked on presence - “the percentage of headline space a source occupies over the 30-day period.” Discussion links are not taken into consideration - only full headlines are counted.
I think this is a much better way of ranking the very top blogs than the Technorati approach. Technorati has deep flaws, for reasons stated above. Techmeme, by contrast, has zero spam and tends to mirror what the tech blogosphere is writing about perfectly.
I am somewhat biased, however, as TechCrunch is currently in the no. 1 spot, whereas Technorati only ranks it no. 4. Also, our sister site CrunchGear is ranked no. 28 on the Techmeme Leaderboard list.
Look for this sometime tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll see leaderboards for the other Techmeme sites soon, too. Until then, check out the screen shot above, which only includes the top 30 blogs. Click for a larger view.
So what do you think is the better way of ranking blogs - Technorati or Techmeme’s approach? Or do you have a better idea? (don’t tell us, just build it)
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
30th
Adobe Raises The Stakes For Web Documents With Buzzword and Share
Posted by Erick Schonfeld under Uncategorized
The list of companies offering free, Web-based word processors just got longer. Today, Adobe is entering the Webtop game (watch out, Microsoft Office) with its announcement that it will purchase Boston-based startup Virtual Ubiquity, the company behind Buzzword. Terms were not disclosed, but Adobe had previously invested in the startup through its $100 million venture fund. Adobe’s new browser-based word processor (Buzzword is currently in open beta) joins a crowded field that already includes Google Docs, Zoho Writer, Glide Write, ajaxWrite, ThinkFree, and . . . well, you get the picture.
But all that competition is not deterring Adobe. “The current Web 2.0 apps leave a lot to be desired,” sniffs Adobe product manager Erik Larson. “They do not live up to desktop apps.” Neither yet does Buzzword. But it does take several new steps toward closing that gap. Built on Adobe’s Flex development platform (which takes advantage of the ubiquitous Flash player), it’s fonts and typography easily match the fidelity of Microsoft Word. (Altough you don’t get as wide a choice of fonts right now in the beta, Adobe should be able to fix that). An Adobe AIR version that will operate offline is also in the works for sometime next year. (Google Docs will have similar offline capabilities when it is integrated with Google Gears, while Zoho has already done so).
“This is not an HTML editor,” points out Rick Treitman, Virtual Ubiquity’s CEO and a former exec at Lotus. “It is the first paginating editor that lives on the web. It is laying out the page and figuring out line breaks.” Buzzword also lets you insert tables and images, see every historical revision of a document, and share it with others. You can invite others to read it, to leave comments, or to edit the document. And, yes, it does have spell-check.
Buzzword’s drawbacks are that it is still slower than a full-fledged desktop application (not so much when typing, but when doing things like cutting and pasting); it doesn’t support hyperlinks (unconscionable for a Web-based app, though this is on Treitman’s to-do list); and there is no easy way to export a document to a blog or other Web publishing system other than cut-and-paste.
Soon, though, Buzzword will be integrated with another Adobe service launched in limited beta today called Adobe Share. This is a file-sharing app that is geared towards document sharing. You get one gigabyte of storage free and you can embed a Flash preview of your documents into any Web page, from which anyone can download and print a PDF (think Scribd or DocStoc on steroids).
The worlds of the desktop and the Web are becoming more interchangeable every day. Now, if only Adobe could figure out how to turn those documents into actual Web pages, we wouldn’t have to mess with workarounds like embedded documents.
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
30th
Bay And Bessemer Add $25 Million In Monetary Muscle Behind Force.com
Posted by Nick Gonzalez under Uncategorized
Bay Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners have teamed up with Salesforce to invest $25 million in businesses building on the recently announced Force.com application platform over the next three years. Investments will be around $500,000 each (some convertible notes). However, others may go as high as $2 million depending on the company’s stage and needs. The investments are a boon to the evolving Force platform and sure to lessen the appeal for a host of other database-driven application platforms.
The partnership will provide Bay and Bessemer early leads to new companies and Saleforce’s assistance during due dillegence. Bay and Bessemer were attracted to the platform due to Salesforce’s existing 35,000 customer base and 50,000 developers. Force.com already has 350 partners with 725 applications as well.
Bay looks to be taking the lead in the program and will be leveraging their significant experience SaaS investments. They have already invested in many Appexchange integrated companies (Xactly, Eloqua, Cornerstone, eProject) and are looking to get in earlier this time around. Notably, Bay has also invested in Facebook’s platform by setting aside funds for 50 investments (they’ve closed three).
The investment program has been underway over the past couple of months. Bay has been looking at 12 deals and already committed to one. The deals are judged on a case by case basis. Although, they will be looking for fully developed products, with strong metrics (revenue, customer stickiness).
The Force.com venture program is being led by Neil Sadaranganey and Salil Deshpande from Bay Parntners and Byron Deeter from Bessember Venture Partners. Companies interesting in learning more about the program can send inquires to saas@baypartners.com.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
30th
Adobe’s New Media Player Launches with Several Partners
Posted by Kristen Nicole under Uncategorized
Adobe announces at the MAX event in Chicago that it has teamed up with quite a few major content publishers, who will be using the Adobe Mdia Player for distribution purposes. CBS, PBS, Yahoo Video, Meredith Corporation, Blip.tv, Fora.tv, Motionbox, MyToons and StimTV are the content publishers that are going to be distributing video content online with the new media player. It’s built on AIR, and can play and enable downloads for videos both online and offline. It’s available immediately, and can be downloaded here.
The new player really looks to aid in the race to take Internet TV to the next level. Some of its new features include a subscription option for automatic delivery of content and improved distribution and tracking capabilities. There are also more ways to monetize and brand content, including dynamic advertising and player customization. It’s a given that some pretty serious content protection services are included in the new release of the Adobe Media Player.
From metrics to copyright protection, distribution, advertising and download options, Adobe’s becoming a one-stop shop for pushing branded content and making money all the while. We’re seeing this pattern with many of the larger distribution companies, such as Widgetbox and Silverlight, as these inclusive features make them more competitive and appealing to publishers, content creators, site owners and end users.
Recommended: Piczo Layouts at Mashcodes!
30th
Bitgravity Officially Launches The Content Delivery Network Than Everyone’s Been Talking About
Posted by Michael Arrington under Uncategorized
Burlingame based BitGravity officially launches their website and content delivery network (CDN) this evening, although the company has been busy working with nearly fifty existing customers for months to work through any last minute issues. We first covered the company when one of its employees sent a live video stream from his car (using BitGravity) during a drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
They are focused on delivering high volume rich media (streaming video and audio files) and large software downloads with a near zero buffer time and very low lag time.
Their flagship customer is Revision3, which has a number of popular high definition video shows (such as Diggnation and The GigaOm Show) that a lot of people watch right when a new show becomes available. Given how well those shows tend to stream, it’s the best endorsement BitGravity can get. An example GigaOm Show episode (recorded during the TechCrunch40 conference) is embedded below.
CEO Perry Wu says the company has a lot more planned in the near future. They say they’ll be working specifically with big networks to stream live events and other popular content, and to look for bandwidth-heavy streams that include, for example, 360 degree views of concerts and sporting events.
The company has raised a seed round of capital but will not yet disclose investors or the size of the round.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
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