Put Your Game Face On And Plant Some Trees With SGN

Social Gaming Network, a startup behind a number of popular social network games, has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to create a Facebook game to raise money for, of all things, planting trees. SGN has created a game called “Space Movers: The Bloom Initiative”, and will donate up to $50,000 of the game’s advertising revenue to the cause. You can check out the app by going here.

The game itself plays almost exactly like Bejeweled, with a few goofy characters and icons that all fit under a vague “nature” theme. And while the gameplay may not be too original, the game has high production values, with a full soundtrack and animations.

The partnership is the latest in a string of unconventional promotions we’ve seen from developers on social networks, who are going to great lengths to increase exposure and help their games “go viral”. Last month Slide partnered with VH1 to to promote its application alongside a marathon of reality shows.

SGN focuses on games that include social interaction, and claims 1.1 million daily active users across Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and hi5, with a reported 54 million application installs. The company has raised some serious cash, with over $20 million in funding and investors including Jeff Bezos. Zynga, its closest competitor, recently closed a $29 million Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, and has raised a total of nearly $40 million.

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

CrunchBase in CrunchBar and Thanks to All Our Sponsors

Thank you to our terrific sponsors, who make TechCrunch possible.

Codefortytwo, the maker of CrashPlanPro and other software

RackSpace, a provider of hosting services

eBuddy, web-services meta instant messenger

Logicworks, a hosting services provider

iDrive, the maker of web-based backup solutions

iNetU, a provider of managed hosting solutions

Geni, the premier web tool for bringing families together

BrightCove, an Internet TV Platform

MediaTemple, TechCrunch’s own hosting provider

SocialText, the maker of social software for businesses and organizations

3Tera, a provider of cloud computing services

CrunchBar

TechCrunch sponsor Conduit has added a CrunchBase search widget to CrunchBar, our customized toolbar with TechCrunch headlines, Twitter feeds, and more. Now you can easily query CrunchBase for data wherever you are on the internet.

We want the CrunchBar to serve your needs, so please leave any suggestions you may have for it in the comments. The person with the best suggestion will win a TechCrunch T-Shirt.

Interested in becoming a TechCrunch sponsor?

See details here or contact Dan Kimerling.

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

Welcome to Web 3.0: Now Your Other Computer is a Data Center

This guest post is written by Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. He has been widely recognized for pioneering innovation with honors such as the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the SDForum Visionary Award, Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year by the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business, and being ranked No. 7 on the Top 100 Most Influential People in IT survey by eWEEK.

For almost ten years now, we have been witnessing a decisive shift from client-server software to software as a service. Google, eBay, and Amazon.com established the value of multi-tenant internet applications in the consumer market, and salesforce.com, Google, and others have been proving that this same multi-tenant model is winning in the enterprise as well.

This shift to Web-based applications has generated two powerful waves so far. Now, we are seeing a third wave—one that we are calling Web 3.0—and it may prove to be the most significant and disruptive yet to the traditional software industry.

While the world doesn’t need another buzzword, I feel that both the emerging generation of entrepreneurs and developers, as well as traditional software ISVs, need to grasp the enormity of Web 3.0 and its potential to create change, disruption, and opportunity. Web 3.0 is about replacing existing software platforms with a new generation of platforms as a service.

To put Web 3.0 into perspective, we need to look at all of the major waves in the history of the Web. They are not defined by distinct periods of time, but are best seen as overlapping waves of adoption.

Continue reading on TechcrunchIT…

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

Shelfari and LibraryThing: Awkward Bookends To AbeBooks-Amazon Deal

Earlier today we reported that Amazon had acquired AbeBooks, an online retailer of rare and used books from independent publishers.

AbeBooks held a major (although not majority) stake in a site called LibraryThing, where the literati can list their favorite books and discuss them. Coincidentally, Amazon has put a reported $1 million into Shelfari, one of LibraryThing’s direct competitors (which also include GoodReads, BookJetty and many others). So it might not be surprising to see Amazon try to join the forces of these two modestly sized startups.

But if the history between LibraryThing and Shelfari is any indication, we’re more likely to see Amazon either place its bets on one and divest its shares in the other, or simply maintain a minority investment in both.

Tim Spalding, the founder of LibraryThing, has publicly denounced Shelfari for using dirty marketing tactics such as astroturfing blogs and spamming inboxes. And he hasn’t minced words or backed down from his charge that Shelfari is a “bad actor”, having repeated Gawker’s description of Shelfari as “basically social networking rapists” and criticized Shelfari’s attempts to fix its invitation system.

While Shelfari has publicly addressed the charges of astroturfing (calling it the “unintended work of an unexperienced but well-meaning intern”) and spamming (the unintended result of “explosive growth” and a poorly designed user interface), it hasn’t used its own corporate blog to lash back at LibraryThing. And since most of this drama occurred nearly a year ago, it’s possible that any bad blood as been surmounted. But factor in the fact that these two startups are based on opposite ends of the country (Shelfari in Seattle, Washington and LibraryThing in Portland, Maine), and it appears unlikely that Amazon’s acquisition of AbeBooks will result in any consolidation of the book-centric social networking space.

In any case, Spalding has publicly asserted that LibraryThing will continue to operate as an independent entity, sending only anonymized user data back to AbeBooks. When reached for comment, he did say that he was open to selling the same type of data to Amazon, but he insisted that he would never sell “core user data” to Amazon and that he really doubts anyone “will propose marriage” between his company and Shelfari.

Josh Hug, co-founder and CEO of Shelfari’s parent company Tastemakers, said he had no specific comments about the AbeBooks-Amazon deal, but he did say that “Amazon has been a very supportive investor and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them.”

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

Suddenly, AOL Loves Lifestreaming; Buys Socialthing!

AOL is getting into the lifestreaming business. Like Friendfeed or Facebook’s News feeds, it recently launched AIM BuddyUpdates, which lets AIM users keep up with what their instant-messaging buddies are doing on social services such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Digg. To beef up its lifestreaming capabilities, we have been able to confirm that it has also bought Socialthing!, a FriendFeed competitor that is still in private beta.

We don’t know the price, but it was likely a small purchase. Socialthing! came out of Colorado-based incubator TechStars. Once you sign up to track friends activities on Socialthing!, it keeps automatically adding new friends for the services you choose to monitor. (See our review).

Despite all the turmoil and uncertainty about its future, AOL is trying to keep up with the times. It is embracing feeds, lifestreaming and even playing nice with other IM services such as Meebo and eBuddy. Maybe it is finally realizing that there is a bigger world out there than AOL.

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

We Know How Many Kindles Amazon Has Sold: 240,000

Ever since Amazon launched the Kindle last November, we’ve been wondering about just how successful it’s been. The electronic book initially sold out and supplies have been tight. The Kindle is such a small part of Amazon’s overall business that the company does not break out how many it’s sold. But we found out anyway: 240,000 Kindles have been shipped since November, according to a source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers.

Doing a little back of the envelope math, that brings total sales of the device so far to between $86 million and $96 million (the price of the device was reduced to $360 from $400 last May). Then add the amounts spent on digital books, newspapers, and blogs purchased to read on the device, and you get a business that has easily brought in above $100 million so far. (Each $25 worth of digital reading material purchased per Kindle, add $6 million in total revenues).

These numbers gel with what Wall Street analysts have been predicting. And if a new Kindle comes out targeted at the textbook/school market, sales could ramp up higher.

Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., predicts that Amazon is on track to sell 500,000 to 750,000 more Kindles over the next four quarters (including this one). He estimates that Kindle owners will buy an additional $120 to $150 worth of books and other content for each device, bringing the total revenues over that time period to somewhere between $225 million and $355 million. Based on that, he values the Kindle as a $1 billion business for Amazon.

Back in May, Citi analyst Mark Mahaney was estimating that total sales of Kindle’s this year would only reach 189,000. That number may have already been surpassed (depending on how many of the 240,000 units Amazon sold before January). His estimate called for 467,000 units to be shipped next year, and 2.2 million in 2010, resulting in total revenues going from $60 million in 2008 to $741 million in 2010. It might be time for him to revise those numbers upward. (Below is his model from May):

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

Time Warner Nixes Jonathan Miller’s Appointment To Yahoo Board. Pokes Potential AOL Buyer In the Eye.

The Yahoo shareholder meeting is going on right now, but already not everything is going according to plan. Yahoo was able to avoid a showdown today with activist investor Carl Icahn by agreeing to open up three board seats. Icahn is taking one, and the board will vote for the other two members. Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller was added to the list of candidates at the request of Yahoo, and was considered a shoo-in for one of the two other available seats. Not anymore.

At the 11th hour last night, Time Warner decided to object to Miller’s appointment to the board, according to three sources, including a former AOL executive close to Miller. Without Time Warner’s blessing, Miller cannot serve on Yahoo’s board since he is still under a non-compete agreement with AOL.

Why Time Warner would decide to do this is unclear. Before Yahoo and Carl Icahn publicly disclosed Miler’s name as an addition to the slate of people Yahoo’s board will choose from to fill the extra seats, Time Warner gave the green light to Miller’s inclusion. Now the strategy has changed, and last night Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes reneged on his earlier approval in a phone call to Miller. It gave no reason for the about-face. (Former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi is now a favorite to take one of the two available board seats).

When Jerry Yang found out about this he was “fucking livid,” says a source. Miller was someone Yang felt he could work with on the board and lean on for advice, given Miller’s past experience running AOL. Miller was someone Icahn was happy with as well.

So Time Warner just pissed off one of two possible buyers for AOL. Time Warner management has been obsessed with trying to sell off AOL, and the only two realistic buyers are Yahoo and Microsoft. “It is the entire AOL strategy,” says the former AOL executive. Now,Time Warner is angering a potential bidder for AOL, and effectively giving Microsoft more leverage to give a lowball offer. Institutional shareholders, many of whom own large chunks of both Yahoo and Time Warner, won’t be too happy about that.

“If you are the SS Titanic of AOL, you have to be friends with everybody,” says the befuddled former AOL exec. What is ironic is that if anyone could have made a Yahoo-AOL deal work it would have been Miller.

So does Time Warner think that it can make Yahoo less attractive to Microsoft, and AOL more attractive, by keeping Miller off the board? Or can Jeff Bewkes simply not stand the thought of Miller (whom he removed as CEO of AOL in favor of his own guy) becoming the CEO of a merged Yahoo-AOL down the road? That might make Bewkes’ earlier decision look stupid, especially given AOL’s poor performance since the switch. In business, it’s always personal.

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

iPhone Tethering Returns To Apple’s App Store

You can now grab Nullriver’s NetShare app, which lets you browse the web from your computer using your iPhone’s data connection , from this direct link. You’ll probably want to grab it quickly, as Apple may well pull it down again. Note: You need to use the direct link, the app isn’t showing up in search results.

Last night Apple posted the application to its App Store, but quickly pulled it down after only around 20 minutes. The application lets users of both the original (EDGE) and 3G iPhones browse the internet on the go wherever their cellular network has coverage.

Many phones with high speed data plans can already tether, but most carriers charge users steep fees for the service (AT&T typically charges around $30 per month). Such plans have never been available for iPhone users, and while users with jailbroken (hacked) iPhones have been able to tether for some time, it violates AT&T’s terms of service.

NetShare, which offers tethering for a one time price of $10, likely has AT&T up in arms, as it totally undermines their ability to collect fees on the service. Apple has a lengthy review process (or at least a long wait time) for each app, but it appears that this one may have somehow slipped through the cracks.

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

US Lawmakers Look to Permaban Cell Phones In-flight

From MobileCrunch:

US Lawmakers are sick of people sitting on airplanes, talking about all sorts of private matters while waiting for the plane to taxi. After a round of story-telling on conversations they’ve overheard in the past, the House of Representatives has voted to upgrade the FAA’s ban on in-flight cell phone usage to “Permanent” status.

On one hand, I’ve felt their pain: a few plane trips ago, a girl three seats from me was proudly divulging how sick she’d been a week prior. I’ll spare you the nitty-gritty, but it involved poop and pants. On the other, it’s not everyone’s fault that a few people can’t remember to not talk about poop in public. Taking their cell phones away isn’t going to make them any more courteous.

Read more…

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

Amazon To Acquire AbeBooks, And With It A Stake In LibraryThing

Amazon has acquired twelve year old Canadian company Abebooks (formerly the Advanced Book Exchange), the companies just announced. AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books focusing on used, rare and out of print titles for sale by independent booksellers - it currently has 110 million books for sale from 13,500 sellers.

The company has been around since 1996 and fills a niche for Amazon in hard-to-find or out-of-print books. Rather than hold its own inventory, it acts as a digital marketplace for established booksellers.

AbeBooks also owns 40 percent of LibraryThing (a social app for keeping track of your books and finding other like-minded book lovers). Whereas Amazon is an investor in Shelfari. Now Amazon will own a piece of both of those competing startups.

AbeBooks CEO Dr. Hannes Blum sent an email out to its booksellers today talking about the acquisition, saying the company would continue to operate as a stand-alone business. The email is below; the press release is here.

Dear Booksellers,

AbeBooks has reached an agreement to be acquired by Amazon.com, Inc. This is a major landmark in the 12-year history of AbeBooks.

AbeBooks will continue to operate as a stand-alone business with all aspects of AbeBooks’ bookseller and customer experience remaining intact. AbeBooks’ headquarters will remain in Victoria, BC, Canada, and our European offices will remain in Dusseldorf, Germany. We will continue to support both our international marketplaces and our domestic marketplace here in Canada. I will continue to lead AbeBooks.

We expect this change to allow AbeBooks to expand its offerings and introduce new features and services to enhance the book buying and selling experience. Amazon is committed to further developing the AbeBooks brand and building upon the success of the past 12 years. This is not the first time AbeBooks has changed hands since being launched in 1996. Hubert Burda Media, a German media company, took a majority shareholding in 2003.

The bookselling community has been a vital component in our success, and we are grateful for your continuing support. We will be happy to answer questions about our new ownership and what the future holds. A bookseller Roundtable will be held on Thursday August 7th at 2:30pm PDT/9:30pm GMT/7:30am AU where I and the Director of Sales & Account Management, Shaun Jamieson, will answer any questions you might have. In addition, the ‘Ask AbeBooks a question’ folder will continue to be available for ongoing questions from the seller community.

We realize this is important news for our community, and we are confident that this acquisition will greatly benefit AbeBooks’ sellers and provide us with many opportunities for future growth.

For more details please see the official release posted today.

Regards,

Dr. Hannes Blum
President and CEO
AbeBooks

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

Next Page »