Stop The Hate: Daily Deals Aren’t All Bad, And Here’s Why

There's a lot of hate out there these days from the press when it comes to the daily deals industry. I'm looking at you, TechCrunch. Sure, Groupon has become the whale in this industry, but that doesn't mean Groupon constitutes the entire industry. Sure, while Groupon may sometimes structure lousy deals for merchants, it doesn’t mean the entire daily deal business model isn't sustainable or beneficial for small businesses. When done right, the daily deal can actually be very lucrative for everyone involved: Merchants, customers and the daily deal sites themselves. So why should you take my word for it? It's true, I've got my biases.  But so many people have quickly elevated themselves to “experts” on this space that it’s hard to filter truth from the noise. My company, KASA Capital, started Crowd Cut in May 2010. We are now a top player in our markets, generating eight figures of profitable revenues. So, when I talk about the daily deal space, I do so with direct experience. I talk to merchants and customers every day. I have numbers to back my claims. I’m a player in this game, not a self-proclaimed expert who sits on the sidelines.

Stop The Hate: Daily Deals Aren’t All Bad, And Here’s Why

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Twitter To Ecosystem: Seriously, Stop Making Apps

Twitter seems to be doing everything it can to make life miserable for the startups that make the apps you use to access Twitter from your computer and phone.

It's all because Twitter is switching from something called xAuth to oAuth. We'll stay out of the weeds.

Bascially, to get access to a user's direct messages (like any Twitter client needs to) that Twitter client now has to direct users to a Twitter.com Web page, where the user can approve the Twitter client.

It used to be all a user had to do was input their user name and password. This was a much simpler solution.

This will make life harder for third party Twitter apps and the people who want to use them.

Some people think that's the point.

Says one Twitter-ecoystem entreprenuer, "the headline is: Twitter to Ecosystem: Seriously, Stop Making Apps."

Over on Daring Fireball, Jon Gruber is also p/o'd: "I can’t think of any reason why Twitter would force native apps through OAuth other than to create a hurdle that steers users toward Twitter’s own official native clients."

Twitter has been at war with its third-party apps for a year or so now. It just bought one of them – TweetDeck – too keep it out of the hands of Bill Gross, who'd been rolling third-party apps up into a conglomerate.

We warned apps-makers this was coming a year ago, here: Here's Who Just Got Screwed By Twitter

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See Also:

• Smart Money (VCs) Has Stopped Buying Facebook And Twitter On Private Markets, Now It's Just Dumb Money (Rich People)
• Guess Who Is The First Twitter User To Reach 10 Million Followers
• My Weirdly Not-Creepy First Tweetup Experience

Twitter To Ecosystem: Seriously, Stop Making Apps

Backlink: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/OJAqjWwjiLE/twitter-to-ecosystem-seriously-stop-making-apps-2011-5

Update Your iPhone NOW To Stop It From Tracking Your Location

Apple today released iOS 4.3.3 which effectively addresses "Locationgate," a recent scandal where Apple was accused of tracking iPhone users.

Sync your phone with iTunes right now to get it, then turn off "Location Services" in Settings if you want the phone-tracking to end.

Of course, turning off Location Services also kills location awareness in all of your apps, too.

If you don't turn off Location Services, your iPhone will now contain a much smaller database of location data anyway.

Apple claims to have never tracked users, only using the location data to improve call latency and service.

Apple also called certain aspects of location-caching on the iPhone "a bug."

Regardless, Apple decided to give in and make the location database smaller, even though Apple claimed the databases were anonymous and encrypted. The biggest change in this update is that your location data will no longer back up to iTunes whenever you sync your iPhone.

As officially announced by Apple, 4.3.3 (4.2.8 for Verizon iPhones) will include:

• The update will no longer backup location data in iTunes
• The size of the location database will be much smaller, only containing data for the last seven days
• When Location Services are turned off, the iPhone will not record location data, and the location database will be deleted.

Head over to iTunes now to grab the latest software update which addresses some controversial issues.

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See Also:

• HOW TO: Use Cydia's Jailbroken iPhone Store And Get All Those Apps Apple Won't Let You Have
• The Truth About Jailbreaking Your iPhone: The 5 Biggest Drawbacks
• GOOD NEWS: Your iPhone Is Getting An Update To Block Location Tracking Soon

Update Your iPhone NOW To Stop It From Tracking Your Location

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How To Stop Your iPhone From Sharing Your Location With Everyone (AAPL)

It was revealed today that iPhones and iPads have been tracking and storing your location and backing it up to your Mac every time you sync.

That has some privacy nuts nervous, and rightfully so. The location data is stored on your computer and theoretically accessible to malicious apps or anyone else who uses your machine.

Right now, it looks like there isn't a way to stop your iPhone from recording this information or backing it up to your computer. In the meantime, your best bet is to encrypt your sync to make it harder for people or apps to access your location data.

Here's how to do it:

• Plug in your iPhone or iPad into your Mac's USB port and launch iTunes.

• Select your device under "Devices" in iTunes.

• Scroll down to the bottom of the summary page and check the box next to "Encrypt iPhone backup."

• Choose a password that will be used to access your phone's backups

Check out the screenshot below to see what it looks like:

Don't Miss: How To Transfer iPhone Photos To Your Computer Over Wifi

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See Also:

• How To Make Calls From Your iPhone Without Blowing Your Minutes
• The Untethered Jailbreak For iOS 4.3.2 Is Ready Now
• Sony's New iPad App Lets You Stream Hundreds Of Popular Movies And TV Shows

How To Stop Your iPhone From Sharing Your Location With Everyone (AAPL)

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Comment on You Can Stop the Social Media Hype by chris

Social media is not a medium, it's a media otherwise it would be called social medium. TV, Radio and Print are mediums for the same reason that the internet is a medium - the commonality is that media can be created and transmitted across physical platforms. Social media is just that - a media that is social which is transmitted across the internet - which is the real medium that you are likely referring to.

Comment on You Can Stop the Social Media Hype by chris

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/collaboration/you-can-stop-the-social-media-hype/#comment-581135

Comment on Broadcasters Block Google TV But Can’t Stop the Future by Michael

The broadcast networks may be getting billions today from the TV providers, but that gravy train is headed for a head-on collision. It has caused cable and satellite pricing to go up so much, people are saying "screw it", and dumping the entire subscription. Newspapers use to be an empire, too. Have you seen the Hearst Castle? Now look at them. Look at the record industry. If the TV content providers don't get the eyeballs any way they can, and SOON, there may not be any left.

Comment on Broadcasters Block Google TV But Can’t Stop the Future by Michael

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/video/broadcasters-block-google-tv-but-cant-stop-the-future-2/#comment-572537

Comment on Memo to Newspapers: Stop Thinking Like a Portal by Jon

The real winner here is RussiaToday, their version of the video is going on 5 million views as of me posting this.

Comment on Memo to Newspapers: Stop Thinking Like a Portal by Jon

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/07/newspaper-video-ted-williams/#comment-572053

Comment on Memo to Newspapers: Stop Thinking Like a Portal by Alan Soon

It's amazing how so many newspapers are still trying to create scarcity with their content. My rant on this issue (and what Dispatch should have done) are in my blog post here: http://thenowledge.com/2011/01/08/the-golden-voice-guy-and-the-lesson-of-content-scarcity-on-the-web/

Comment on Memo to Newspapers: Stop Thinking Like a Portal by Alan Soon

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/2011/01/07/newspaper-video-ted-williams/#comment-571707

Comment on How to Stop the iPad Magazine Download Slide by Tim

iPad Magazines are like the iPad- all hype, no substance, quickly gets boring

Comment on How to Stop the iPad Magazine Download Slide by Tim

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/how-to-stop-the-ipad-magazine-download-slide/#comment-563870

Stop Web Ads From Tracking Users? Dream On

The Federal Trade Commission has suggested the need for a new do-not-track list that would allow users to opt out of being tracked online.

The proposal lends weight to the Do Not Track project created by a group of Stanford researchers earlier this month. Although some Web browsers like Internet Explorer have features to help users remain invisible as they travel from site to site, technology is an imperfect solution.

Jonathan Mayer, a Fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, explains that blocking software requires constant vigilance on the part of Web users and the folks who maintain blacklists of banned sites, and that it blocks otherwise useful third-party tools. Instead, Do Not Track proposes that browser makers add features to let users signal to Web sites that they don't want to be tracked. Web sites would then honor the request. The technology to do so is quite simple, and Mozilla is already considering it for Firefox.

But the business barriers will be almost impossible to overcome. Web sites who depend on user tracking for advertising dollars aren't going to opt out voluntarily. That means a law is required, like the one that created the Do Not Call registry. Even the FTC admitted that it's powerless to implement its recommendation without legislation from Congress. And you can bet that big Internet advertising companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft will lobby hard against any such rules.

Technical solutions like InPrivate Filtering in IE and TrackerBlock aren't perfect, but they're available today. If you're concerned about the information being gathered as you surf the Web, use these tools now and hope that Congress eventually passes stricter privacy laws.

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See Also:

• How To Stop Creepy Ads From Following You From Site To Site
• Google Settles Over Buzz, Will Establish $8.5 Million Fund To Promote Privacy Education
• Parents Aren't Worried About Facebook Privacy, Partly Because They Don't Understand It

Stop Web Ads From Tracking Users? Dream On

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