FS VENTURES

This past monday June 12 Apple released to the world their new mobile operating system, iOS 7. And the reactions have been mixed. Although most have been positive there has been some backlash about the the look. Gone is the bulky life like design that imitates real objects (the notepad for Notes, the bookshelf for iBooks, the green felt in the Game Center, etc.) and in their place a thinner, transparent and flatter aesthetic now defines the iPhone.

The change is not only visual but functional. There is a lot more features this time. Enough features to radically change user interface and ultimately the way apps are developed and experienced. So what do these changes mean?

First there is the new automatic app update. This is a relief for every single developer. There will no longer be a need to support various versions of the apps, a major resource drain. There will just be one version everybody will use. Bugs and fixes will occur much faster and bad reviews will be smaller as fixes occur on the fly.

Then there is the issue of design and backwards compatibility. The apps that need to support iOS 4.3 through iOS 6 will need to adjust to the new functions. They need to evolve visually as well and it will be limiting on both fronts. Will developers have to make different versions for each iOS? That remains to be seen, but one thing is certain all apps will need to be redesign to fit iOS 7.

This is great news for incoming developers and newly created apps. They get to come into a a brand new market. The older apps who will no doubt take time to adjust to the technical aspects will have to face apps that will take full advantage of them. Sure there’s all the flashlights apps will be useless now but, It’s a perfect time to make and develop apps exclusively for iOS 7.

Every once in a while there comes a piece of technology that truly changes society. It can affect the way we talk and interact, and ultimately the way we perceive the world. Will Google Glass be that product? We think so. Recently Florian Seroussi, Labotec’s CEO, got his hands on the amazing device and brought it to the Labotec offices to test it out, and trust us, Google Glass is very cool. Some exciting stuff is on the works and we’ll tell you later the role Labotec will be playing with Google Glass, but for those who are unfamiliar with the device here’s a brief review, through the eyes of Labotec.

The first thing to do is connect Glass with your phone via bluetooth. The next steps are logging in to your personal Gmail account and finding a Wi-Fi hotspot, once that’s done you’re off to the races. You move through the menus by swiping your finger on the side of the glasses and here you can find Google Cards, the settings, and the “ok glass” command screen.

“ok glass” is the magic phrase of Glass. By saying “ok glass” you can command the device to take pictures, google whatever, record a video, get directions, answer a call, and even send a message. The small camera on the device captures pictures and video on an impressive 1080p resolution. You can even have a video conference and let other people see your point of view, literally. It’s pretty incredible stuff. It even allows you to share all the media you gather to Path. Glass also features “screencast” which captures everything the small panel shows. Some might argue that having a small screen in the top right of your glasses might need some getting used to but everyone in the office found it highly intuitive and had no problems adjusting to the new view.

From our experience I think Glass will not replace mobiles. Mostly because it needs a phone to work. So the mobile experience still has years of life. But the difference between checking for your phone in your pockets or in your bag just to take a picture as opposed to the ease of saying, “ok glass, take a picture” is incomparable. Now apply that to texting, possibly no more text related accidents. And following directions will be much safer when Google Maps is embedded into your glasses. So yes Glass will definitely change the mobile experience, but not the mobile itself.

Glass could have a huge impact on our society. Whether it be assisting surgeons, pilots, or teachers the possibilities are endless. But it all depends on the app developers. This is where Glass could really be transformed from a extremely cool looking novelty gadget, into a truly useful tool. We’re more than excited to be among these pioneers that will shape tomorrow’s society.

(Photo: Darell Etherington, TechCrunch)

The International Trade Comission (ITC) has ruled that Apple has infringed on a Samsung patent. The consequences of the ruling: Apple is now facing a halt on all imports and sales in the US of the iPhone 4, iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS as well as the iPad 3G and iPad 2 3G. It should be noted that this will only affect AT&T models that used the 3G technology stated in the Samsung patent.

The import-ban order can be reversed by president Obama but this seldom happens. Apple representatives have stated that they plan to appeal.

This is just another case in the legal battles Samsung and Apple are involved in worldwide.

In a separate patent fight, the US federal court in 2012 ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion for patent infringement of Apple technology. Samsung managed to cut the ruling by half.

Mary Meeker, former securities analyst for Wall Street and partner at the capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has released her annual Internet Trends Report and she has some good news. This year we are sharing more data than ever before, specifically our media and location data. Over 500 million pictures are shared daily over Facebook and Snapchat and they keep growing. This trend, according to Meeker, is been led by the mobile world. Mobile devices make up 15% of all internet traffic, there has never been a better time to be a mobile app developer. Mobile internet traffic has finally surpassed computer traffic in both China and South Korea. Not to mention Facebook’s first quarter of 2013 saw revenue of $1.46 billion, which relied heavily on the 751 million users that accessed the site monthly through mobile phones and tablets. For more information on growing internet trends you can read the full Internet Trends report embedded below.

Labotec wants to wish our community a Happy Memorial Day Weekend. And although this weekend will be a chance to share drinks with friends, go to the beach with family, and enjoy the various events South Florida has to offer; Most of all we want to celebrate the memory of the men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice serving the United States.

While there’s many fun events going down this weekend we suggest technology enthusiasts check the worldwide events that will be celebrating the 10th WordPress Anniversary on the 27th of May. Bloggers, designers, and social media gurus everywhere will be meeting to exchange ideas and drinks, this is an event not to be missed.

We hope you make the best out of the weekend and stay tuned for some exciting changes happening at Labotec. Cheers.

To use Facebook Connect on your app, you will need an App ID (API Key) and App Secret. « How do I find it? » you may ask. Don’t worry, Labotec is here for you ! To obtain your key, follow the following steps :

First, sign in to Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/.

Then, you will have to go to the developer Facebook page at : https://developers.facebook.com/ You will land on the page shown below :

At the top of the page, you will see a sidebar menu. Find « Apps » (framed in red) and click on it. Now « + Create New App » should appear.

Complete the information on the popup window (make sure you do not have a popup blocker),  « continue » to last step and fillup the CAPTCHA.

Congratulations! You now have created a Facebook App. The App ID (API Key) and the App Secret will be shown.

If you have any questions, contact us! We are always here to help.

If you haven’t hear yet we released the fourth installation of the KiDSAPP Series, KiDSAPP: Oceania for the iPad and this time we are taking the activities you have come to love into a treasure filled underwater world. What’s more today we are making it free for a limited time so now its the perfect time to join the underwater adventure!

KiDSAPP: Oceania comes with brand new professional illustrations of mermaids, turtles, fishes, and sharks that will help expand your children’s vocabulary with its innovative spelling section. With the spelling section kids will learn to spell words in various languages such as Spanish, French, German, and Italian; they simply tap the image of the word that they wish to learn and the app instantly says the word in the language selected and then spells it!

KiDSAPP: Oceania also comes with 7 interactive puzzles to keep the underwater adventure going, and as always it was developed with the help of Parents and Teachers. So what are you waiting for? Put on your scuba diving gear and join us under the sea!

GET IT HERE!

Happy Mother’s Day! Today take the time to take your mom off to lunch. Buy her what she wants. Listen to her stories. Take the time to enjoy her company. And most importantly make her feel like the best Mother in the world and download Flowerly – Mother’s Day for both iPhone and iPad to give her a beautiful bouquet of virtual flowers she won’t soon forget.

GET IT HERE

Mother’s Day is closing in and we understand how hard it is to find the perfect gift for the woman that gave you the gift of life. They deserve everything in this world and more, and yet they are completely satisfied with glued macaroni art and the words “I love mom” written crudely with crayons. Show your mom you care with our updated Flowerly – Mother’s Day app for both iPad and iPhone and send her a personal message and a virtual bouquet that will make her smile like she first did when she saw your artistic kindergarten endeavors.

GET IT HERE!

More info at: www.flowerlyapp.com
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/flowerlyapp
Follow us on Twitter: @flowerlyapp

The good people over at Educational App Store have given their seal of approval for KiDSAPP: Princess rating our app for fostering both creative and cognitive development.

Head over HERE to read more on what this rating means for you and your children, and also read about some of the inspiration and goals we wanted to achieve with the new KiDSAPP: Princess!

KiDSAPP: Princess out now! GET IT HERE

You can now use Pikchur on Tweetbot 1.2!

If you already use them, simply go to your “Account Settings” > Select Photo & Video Upload and choose Pikchur. 

If not you can download them here!

As always, feel to reach out to info@pickhur.com if ya have any questions or feedback!

~Pikchur Team 

So you want to add Pikchur to your next App? Great!

Our API mimics the ones you already integrated in the past, and all you need to do is

• Change API End point to http://api.pikchur.com/simple/upload
• Add Parameter api_key, to gain access, can be found here http://pikchur.com/api
• Optional: Add Parameter source
• Optional: Add parameter return_format values json or xml (xml is default)

Also, when you have your app, we can add you to our supported apps page! :)

You have two API options.

• 1) Upload, this is your standard method for Twitter clients, you upload to us we post to users synced accounts -except- there one used to authenticate with (in this case twitter, because you already post to it.).
• 2) Upload & Post, this method is used to post to all accounts synced to the user, including there twitter account.

Documentation

upload

This is used if the application wants to post the status message it sent for the authenticated service. For example if you use this with an authentication for “Twitter” we will not post a note to Twitter but the photo will still propagate out to the users remaining synced services (facebook, flickr, etc).

Endpoint XML:    http://api.pikchur.com/simple/upload

Required Parameters: 

• media
  • Binary image/video data
    • The image/video data to be posted.

• username
  • Text Value
    • This is the username for the synced service (default is Twitter). 

• password
  • Text Value
    • This is the password for the synced service (default is Twitter).

    Username/Password OR if using Twitter’s echo oAuth system please include the following headers

• X_VERIFY_CREDENTIALS_AUTHORIZATION
  • HEADER, Should contain the following

          oauth_consumer_key=”YOUR KEY HERE”, 

          oauth_signature_method=”HMAC-SHA1”, 

          oauth_token=”YOUR TOKEN HERE”, 

          oauth_timestamp=”TIMESTAMP”, 

          oauth_nonce=”OAUTH NONCE”, 

          oauth_version=”1.0”, 

          oauth_signature=”SIGNATURE”

• EXAMPLEcurl -v -H ‘X-Verify-Credentials-Authorization:oauth_version=”1.0”, oauth_nonce=”a436ee1ee9437e98ffafa04f39af2a69”, oauth_timestamp=”1274233993”, oauth_consumer_key=”BdkEXpkerXPqJMaiYMN3Q”, oauth_token=”16056271-aVl42OcvOA81cjdBpFy2yaLzmjLiNwSSByMXvh…”, oauth_signature_method=”HMAC-SHA1”, oauth_signature=”LiG5LqZO1Zprc6fJmVci%2FmXIwuk%3D”’ -F ‘api_key=O1kXlYN1SYQG82ZXtvZC0g’ -F ‘media=@/var/test.jpg’ -F ‘message=Hello World!’ http://api.pikchur.com/simple/upload

• api_key
  • Text Value
    • A Pikchur API developer key, which is used to prevent abuse. It can easily be obtained here: http://pikchur.com/api#key

Optional Parameters: 

• message
  • Media Caption

• service
  • Text Value
    • If the service requested for authentication is not Twitter, it can be specified by sending it along with the request. i.e: identi.ca,plurk, etc

• X_AUTH_SERVICE_PROVIDER 
  • HEADER
    • The service to auth with (default is https://api.twitter.com/1/account/verify_credentials.json). 
• source
  • Text Value
    • Request a source id from api[at]Pikchur.com and all photos sent in will say “Via yourApp” and link to your website.

• private
  • Text Value
    • Overrides users media privacy settings for this one upload. Options “YES” for enable privacy “NO” to make media public.

Sample response

<rsp status=”ok”>

    <mediaid>

          abc

    </mediaid>

    <mediaurl>

          http://pk.gd/abc

   </mediaurl>

</rsp>

uploadAndPost

Used to authenticate and post a photo to the user’s Pikchur account, along with a status update to Twitter and any other supported service users have synched.

(If the service requested for authentication is not Twitter, it can be specified by sending it along with the request, such as identi.ca, plurk, etc.)

Please make sure all data sent is formatted as multipart/form-data.

Endpoint XML:    http://api.pikchur.com/simple/uploadAndPost

Required Parameters: 

• username
  • Text Value
    • This is the username for the synced service (default is Twitter). 

• password
  • Text Value
    • This is the password for the synced service (default is Twitter).

• media
  • Binary image/video data
    • The image/video data to be posted.

• api_key
  • Text Value
    • A Pikchur API developer key, which is used to prevent abuse. It can easily be obtained here: http://pikchur.com/api#key

Optional Parameters: 

• message
  • Media Caption / message to post to Twitter or any other service. The URL to the image will be appended to the message

• service
  • Text Value
    • If the service requested for authentication is not Twitter, it can be specified by sending it along with the request. i.e: identi.ca,plurk, etc

• source
  • Text Value
    • Request a source id from api[at]Pikchur.com and all photos sent in will say “Via yourApp” and link to your website.

• private
  • Text Value
    • Overrides users media privacy settings for this one upload. Options “YES” for enable privacy “NO” to make media public.

Sample response

<rsp status=”ok”>

    <mediaid>

          abc

    </mediaid>

    <mediaurl>

          http://pk.gd/abc

   </mediaurl>

</rsp>

So, you want to convert our URL’s to usable source urls of the media?

We gotcha..

Converting URLs

Photo URLS

• http://pk.gd/<media_id>
• http://pikchur.com/<media_id>

    - Thumb (48X48) http://img.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>_t.jpg

    - Small (170XScale) http://img.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>_s.jpg

    - Medium (320XScale) http://img.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>_m.jpg

    - Large (600XScale) http://img.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>_l.jpg

    - Original  http://img.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>_o.jpg (PRO Only)

For example : http://pk.gd/l00    Converts to http://img.pikchur.com/pic_l00_l.jpg

Video URLS

• http://mp.gd/<media_id>
• http://pikchur.com/v/<media_id>

    - Thumb Image (48X48) http://vid.pikchur.com/vid_<media_id>_t.jpg

    - Small  Image  (170XScale) http:// vid .pikchur.com/ vid _<media_id>_s.jpg

    - Medium  Image  (320XScale) http:// vid .pikchur.com/ vid _<media_id>_m.jpg

    - Large  Image  (600XScale) http:// vid .pikchur.com/ vid _<media_id>_l.jpg

    - MP4  http://vid.pikchur.com/pic_<media_id>.mp4

For example : http://mp.gd/aoi    Converts to  http://vid.pikchur.com/vid_aoi.mp4  (Thumbnail @  http://vid.pikchur.com/vid_aoi_t.jpg)

As always feel free to drop us a line if you need help @ Support@Pikchur.com

We recently received a few request with people asking us how it is you go about editing your photos contrast, red eye, rotate or even crop on Pikchur.com

So we decided to write this short 3 step post on how to get started.

Step 1: Login, Go to your photo and click “Edit Photo”

Step 2: Go to the bottom and Click “Edit With Picnik”

Step 3 Begin to edit!

And thats it! 

Hope that helps, as always thanks for choosing Pikchur :)

Sorry for the late post, we sent out word that we support the new echo Auth functionality twitter released but forgot to write a blog post about it. 

For documentation on how to integrate the new support please review our API Docs @ : http://bit.ly/dbWGQe  

Feel free to reach us any time @ API@Pikchur.com for support/feedback.

~The Pikchur Crew

Hey guys, 

As you know Twitter for the iPhone is out, and allows for “custom” photo posting. To Add Pikchur support to your Account simple follow the steps below. 

First Click More

Next Click Settings

Now Click Account & Settings

Select Services

Next Click Image Service

Then Select Custom

And Finally enter this URL

(Custom Photo URL http://api.pikchur.com/twitter)

And thats it, you now have the ability to post directly to Pikchur via Twitter for the iPhone.

As always feel free to reach us anytime, we love to hear from you. 

~The Pikchur Crew

Hey, you can now post images & videos to Pikchur from Twitterrific, how sweet is that!? Here is how you do it:

1) Launch the application and tap on the Compose button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

2) In the window that appears, tap on the camera icon and select “Change Upload Service”.

3) At the bottom of the list that’s displayed, you’ll see “Other…”. Tap that and you see a text field where you can specify the “Media Service URL Endpoint”.

4) Enter “http://api.pikchur.com/twitterrific” and then tap outside the popover window to dismiss it. Done!

That’s it you’re set to use Pikchur in Twitterrific for photos & videos :)

What’s nice is that this media end point supports twitters new echo oAuth functionality so no need to update your settings with the Restful API is shut down. 

Hope you guys like it :) 

-Pikchur

Thanks to @Davidedichillo suggesting we add the end point, and helping us write the how to get Pikchur on the iPad instructions.

Great news, triggers now work within our API as well as our mms/email posting methods. Which means any application that supports Pikchur will now be able to  have a basic trigger system which will override your posting settings on the go! We have plans to include some pretty slick custom triggers really soon, but for now refer to this list of service triggers. 

To override any of the services you are posting to simply include the trigger in the subject of your post in the following format : 


To turn posting OFF for a service: -triggername-
To turn posting ON for a service: +triggername+ 

Twitter( tw )

FourSquare( 4sq )

Flickr( fk )

Tumblr( tr )

Jaiku( jk )

Facebook( fb )

FriendFeed( ff )

Plurk( pl)

Identi.ca( id )

Koornk( ko )

Totspot( ts )

Brightkite( bk )

For example if your account settings are :

• Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr > Enabled
• Brightkite,Identi.ca,Plurk > Disabled 

Lets say you want to not send to twitter but you do want to send to Plurk. 

All you would have to do is in your subject/message is add the following triggers -tw- +pl+

When we recive your request we will override your account settings to match your trigger request and filter out the triggers from your message for that one upload.

We are working on some pretty neat things to be released really soon, so keep an eye out!

~The Pikchur Crew

Pikchur Teams up with @France2TV to launch a contest for a chance to win 2 tickets to the Coupe d’Europe de Rugby 2010.

Homepage: http://france2.pikchur.com/

Timeline: http://france2.pikchur.com/timeline

Media Landing Page: http://france2.pikchur.com/OsK

“Envoyez une photo typée Rugby à rugby@pocarles.com et vous la retrouverez ici http://bit.ly/9YAfuM Les 2 plus RT avant lundi gagnent ! :-)” - @France2TV

In order to win you must have the most Retweets, we look forward to seeing what Piks come in and good luck!

~The Pikchur Crew

We here @ Pikchur have been working really hard on a few things lately. The first is our joint venture with 39llc to develop a Foursquare application that allows you to check-in with multimedia.

It’s called SquarePik.

The application allows people to check-in with a photo or video. In addition, the app will show users all photos and videos dropped at a particular venue. Along with some of the expected features such as, the ability to add locations, search for locations, and view your friend’s last checkins, we hope to provide a supplementary application to the already popular Foursquare iPhone app.

The app is built on top of our new “GeoSocial” API (more on that later) and is available in the iTunes store for just $1.99

Now, our new Geo-Social API is aimed at providing developers of geo social apps such as Foursquare the ability to quickly integrate the following features:

- Multimedia check-ins (Photos & Videos)

- Pull feed of Media Dropped @ a venue

- Pull feed of Thumbnails for a list of venues.

- Allow for multimedia tips (coming soon)

Documentation for our API can be found here : http://groups.google.com/group/pikchur-api/web/geosocial-api-documentation

We also added the following to Pikchur.com:

- Landing pages with Foursquare venue badges:  http://pikchur.com/Muq

- Geo social venue specific timelines: http://pikchur.com/timeline/foursquare*368848

- Nifty venue RSS feeds:  http://pikchur.com/rss/geosocial/foursquare/368848

Well that’s it for now, stay tuned as we improve SquarePik and our Geo social API.

As always, feel free to reach us with your comments, concerns and feed back @ info at pikchur dot com

Thanks,

The Pikchur Crew.

Wether you guys have been naughty or nice this year, doesn’t really matter to us! As thanks for all the support you have given us, we decided to throw a short but sweet holiday contest.

Head over to the contest page, check out the prizes, and start sending in those holiday photos for your chance to win.

To enter this holiday cheer contest all you have to do is send in a photo or video that is holiday related to your Pikchur account with the hashtag #holidays09

We will select a winner based on a few attributes

1. Number of Re-tweets

2. Number of “UNIQUE”  views (not view counter on landing page)

3. How creative the photo or video is.

4. Your entry must be dated after our contest has started (Don’t tag one of your popular photos or videos :-])

Happy holidays :-)

Pikchur

Sorry for the down time, will be right back!

~The Pikchur Team

Hey, you can now post images to Pikchur from Tweetie, how sweet is that!? Here is how you do it:

1. Open Tweetie and go to settings, should be under account.

2. Click on Image service and then go down and click on custom.

3. Enter http://api.pikchur.com/tweetie as the posting url.

That’s it you’re set to use Pikchur in Tweetie for photos :-) If they add a custom url for video posting then you will also be able to post videos to Pikchur via Tweetie.

Happy Friday

-Pikchur

Good evening ladies and gentelman, on this edition of what’s new on Pikchur, we bring you Picnik editing and Retweeting of photos and videos!

We don’t know about you but we have grown to love Picnik’s service, it really makes editing photos a snap. Well, we are proud to announce that we now support full photo editing via picnik. All you have to do is edit any of your images and a nice little “Edit With Picnik” section will appear on the bottom right of the page. Click on it, and edit away! Once you are done, our busy rendering bots will grab your edits and spit out your image to reflect the changes you’ve made.

While doing this update we also decided to jump on the tweetmeme bandwagon and add a Retweet button to all image and video landing pages (Just like the one on the top right of this post). So if you see a nifty image of a kick ass Leprechaun, or a crafty video of a nifty pigeon exercising, you can quickly and easily surface it to your Twitter stream.

Below is a short screen cast of the photo editing features in action. Enjoy

-Pikchur

Hey guys,

As you may or may not know, we moved our servers to a new home today! This means we are going to be a lot more responsive and overall better!

As for the more interesting stuff, we pushed a slew of sweet new updates for you guys. By far the biggest item on the list .. drumb roll… Motion Pikchures! You can now use your mobile device or our website to upload videos! Yeah, you heard us, we now support video in addition to photos! So give it a try, you don’t even to change anything, just send in videos as if you were sending in photos.

As for the complete change log, here it is:

-Video support

-Find  friends on facebook and twitter that are also on pikchur

-Completely revamped profile pages.

Ex: http://pikchur.com/people/jewgonewild or http://pikchur.com/people/Orical

-API upgrades and fixes

-API modified to support videos

-API feed functions revamped

Happy Piking!

Hey again! Another day, another update..This time we are showing Nokia some love and welcoming them to our family of supported services. If you haven’t noticed Nokia Ovi Share is pretty nifty and has very cool media management, so we decided it would be a great addition.

If you don’t have an account you can sign up, it’s quick and easy, once you’re done, head over to Pikchur, log in and sync in your Ovi account!

Important: In order for us to post photos to your Ovi Share page you must add an album called “Pikchur” to your Ovi account. (Excuse my quick ‘photoshopping’)

These are just minor updates for now, but stay tuned, we have a big one coming out reallllly soon.

Hope you guys enjoy!

The Pikchur Crew

Hey guys, hope everyone’s having a good Tuesday. We pushed a small update and added Posterous as a posting service. Now you can add your primary Posterous blog to Pikchur, snap away and your shots will cross post to your Posterous blog!

I leave you with a video of bunliu for inspiration. Happy Piking!

Updated: We are back up and running with Twitter posting, any photos sent in via MMS,mobile,web and 3rd party apps should now be posting to Twitter, happy days ;-)

Hey guys,

We are aware that none of you can log in to Pikchur via twitter basic authentication or OAUTH (Please note that Twitter OAUTH is completly down). It seems that the basic Twitter API is up and running, however our servers seem to have been mistakenly blacklisted from using it.

This is most likely do to the Twitter DDOS attack that occured yesterday. They are probably blacklisting a lot of people in order to get the situation under control.We have contacted Twitter and are waiting for a response back. Hopefullywe can get back up and running ASAP.

These issues also effect posting your photos via the web, MMS, and certain Twitter clients that use our API. Please be patient as we are trying our best to get Twitter authorization and posting back to normal.

Thanks,

The Pikchur Crew.

Hey guys!

Hope everyone is doing great! We wanted to let you know that we just enabled a Content Distribution Network (CDN), which will make everything on the site load a little faster, well a lot faster ;-)

The CDN has various access points, so no matter where you load up Pikchur from you’ll notice an instant boost in speed, and overall responsiveness. The following edge locations are enabled:

United States
•    Ashburn, VA
•    Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
•    Los Angeles, CA
•    Miami, FL
•    Newark, NJ
•    Palo Alto, CA
•    Seattle, WA
•    St. Louis, MO

Europe
•    Amsterdam
•    Dublin
•    Frankfurt
•    London

Asia
•    Hong Kong
•    Tokyo

This is one more step we are taking to ensure you enjoy your experience with us. Feel free to drop us a line with any questions/suggestions you have.

Happy Piking!

~The Pikchur Crew

First let me start by saying I don’t own any Facebook shares. I’m not shorting the stock either but you need to take my word for that.

I felt compelled to write a few lines in response to Martin Varsavsky piece on why he bought FB stock. If I were in a similar position I would certainly do the same. Buy more to average my buying price, or should I say my selling price.

Martin says he believes in a strong FB stock but what he does is precisely shorting FB. Like anyone that can afford to. So here is the strategy laid out. You buy 10.000 shares at $45 for $450.000, stock drops you buy 20.000 additional at $28, stock still slides you buy 20.000 more at $23. So now you have 50.000 shares for $1.47M making your average at $29.4. Much better than $45, no?

Hedge funds, banks, large shareholders are doing exactly the same. What happens next? Well when stock hits $30 they DUMP. Chances to see this stock over $40 in next 12 months are ZERO.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame Martin or others for that. It is exactly how you are supposed to trade.

You, with your 500 shares paid at $42 you keep regretting/hoping/thinking what if. Bottom line, I’m not worried about ‘accredited investors’. Just for thousands of clueless Facebook users who thought they’d hit the jackpot with their savings. Those are doomed.

Google is the father of Android operating system and unlike Apple they decided to stick to making solid software independent from hardware. Android is not a phone but really an advanced computer system to smarten any device with an on and off switch, phones, appliances, car media systems, televisions, watches…All those OS (operating system) implementation are actively being researched in Mountain View facility by remarkable engineers.

Andy Rubin – Mr Android- created the Nexus series. Nexus phones are especially designed to match Android operating system with most adequate hardware. First gPhone was made by HTC, sold exclusively via Google.com under the overblown Nexus One name, fully unlocked. Google managed to piss off everyone in the process: manufacturers (why pick HTC), carriers (why no deal a la Apple) and consumers who expected subsidized phones and live support (not Google’s strongest point).

Bottom line, Nexus One was called a failure. Google was ridiculed and attacked from all sides. A nice welcome from the Telecom industry to Silicon Valley giant.

But Google is too big to fail. Too smart to be impressed. They learned from their mistakes, they poured more gazillions of dollars, invaded every space left open by Apple and Nokia, making Android the dominating platform as we speak. Apple fanboys will argue about revenues, look and feel but it doesn’t really matter. The simple fact that there is an actual argument is a victory for Google.

Second Google Phone Nexus phone was manufactured by Samsung under the name Nexus S. Launch was simultaneous in the US with T-Mobile and UK with Vodafone. All carriers distributed new Nexus phone. It became an immediate success thanks to its amazing Amoled screen, SIP/Voip capabilities, NFC chip, 1Ghz cpu, true multitasking – all those things still absent from iPhone.

While Apple had 3 iterations of their phone since June 2007 with 1st generation (iPhone 2G), 2nd generation (iPhone 3G and 3Gs) and 3rd generation (iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S), Android jumped 7 major upgrades (from Cupcake to Ice Cream Sandwich) since March 2010. Progress of Android is incredible for a large corporation going through extensive Q&A before release.

It brings us to a short review of latest Galaxy Nexus phone. I’m using a GSM version (not the Verizon LTE). Note this GSM is a penta-band which means it operates identically on both AT&T and T-Mobile 3g/4g network. It will provide HSPDA on any GSM network. Amazing.

Phone is running latest ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) 4.0.3, rooted, non branded and factory unlocked.

In hand phone feels large but not thick and holds pretty well. Case is all plastic, not very elegant. Thin sporting a large, vivid 4.65-inch screen.

Face unlock will certainly be standard in smartphones a year from today. It works well, and in case it doesn’t you can use PIN login.

Once unlocked i was amazed by transition speed between screens. Android always struggled at it while 3rd party launchers offered good alternatives. I guess Google looked into those apps and patched their OS on ICS.

Another standout for Nexus and ICS is the notification system. Apple recently introduced notification drawer which often overlaps native applications. On Android each notification can be dismissed with a single swipe to the side or can be batch cleared with a simple touch.

Now diving into built-in apps we discover a brand new stock browser offering realtime sync feature between Nexus and Chrome browser, fullscreen view, “request desktop site” which you can click if  you want to see the full desktop version of a site and incognito mode (browser doesn’t keep browsing history).

A redesigned Gmail app adding an action bar allowing almost any operation, and best of all you can now store up to 30 days of your emails for offline viewing. Very handy during long flights.

Among cool gimmicks, you also find a panorama mode in camera settings, time-lapse video recording, magazine UI mode in gallery and DUC – Data Usage Control to monitor your data usage according to your billing cycle and Android beam which is like Bump app on iPhone but uses NFC technology.

NFC (Near-Field Communications) is a technology that establishes radio communication with each NFC enable device by bringing them into close proximity. Practically NFC can be used in contactless payment systems, you load a virtual card with prepaid credit and you can make payments using your phone. How does it work? Simple, bring your phone near the credit card terminal, a popup appears on your phone prompting for a PIN code. Enter your custom PIN and bing you just made a purchase. You don’t have to show your credit card to teller, no need to put your PIN in front of a waiting line, no phishing, no skimming, no identity theft. You lose your phone, still fine unless you have a post-it glued in the back with your pin-code.

Verizon has blocked Google Wallet on CDMA version. My GSM factory unlocked device is working fine with Google Wallet. Only thing wrong with this technology is the non awareness of cashiers. I paid using my phone at local CVS and it created a real drama. They had to call store manager, who then called CVS HQ to find out what this NFC thing was all about.

One important thing to know about Galaxy Nexus is NFC is integrated into the battery. Be very careful when buying an extra or extended battery to use exclusively Samsung batteries. Forget about eBay knockoffs.

Battery life wise I’m holding a full day with standard 1750mAh but arguably I’m not running the LTE version which apparently drains much more power. In case you need more you can upgrade to a second battery or the 2100mAh extended one. An option iPhone users don’t have.

There are few differences between LTE and GSM version. GSM is 10grams lighter and about half a cm thiner. LTE carries 32Gb  while EU version is only 16Gb. LTE stock battery is 1850mAh vs 1750mAh for GSM.

Bottom line Galaxy Nexus is a true innovative device adding much more features than any other phone. Google Voice, Google Talk, Google + and Google Search are so deeply integrated into Android that it’s make usability a bliss.

What Google wants, Google gets and unless Apple pulls a rabbit out the hat quickly…

Most of my non american friends keep asking me how to bypass roaming charges when visiting the US.

Couple of years ago, it was very hard to find decent voice/data prepaid in North America but things have changed. Changed a lot.

Here is a list of Prepaid services I know of (feel free to point out new providers).

H2O (an AT&T MVNO) http://www.h2owirelessnow.com Technology: GSM

You can chose from $40 for unlimited voice/text/MMS to $60 for unlimited voice/text/MMS/data. They are my favorite as they are working in any AT&T locked devices (such as iPhones) and provide 3G/4G on AT&T bandwidth. No ID required. Free SIM. And cherry on the cake, you have $10 of FREE international calls anywhere in the world.

Any H2O Unlimited Plans include FREE $10 Int’l Calling to over 100+ countries. At 3.5cts/min to France that’s over 5 HOURS of free talk time from you cell to France. If you need more you can just add $10 and keep calling the world.

H2O also offers prepaid broadband at 4G speed for $50/month UNLIMITED (yes no cap) no contract nothing.

Pros: AT&T Network, coverage, speed, pricing, Broadband plan

Cons: Very few point of sales, top-up can complicated without a US credit card, hard to find top-up cards, expensive international rates after free $10

Simple Mobile (a T-Mobile MVNO) http://www.mysimplemobile.com/ Technology: GSM

Simple Mobile is a H2O copycat but based on T-Mobile network (US smallest carrier). They are excellent for short visits as they offer a 15 days unlimited voice/text for $25 (no data).

Here is a list of existing Simple Mobile plan:

$25 Unlimited 15 Day Talk & Text
$40 Unlimited Talk, Text & Web
$40 Unlimited Talk, Text & Web + $10 Unlimited ILD
$60 Unlimited Talk, Text & High Speed Web
$60 Unlimited Talk, Text & High Speed Web + $10 Unlimited ILD

Simple Mobile also offers BlackBerry PREPAID plan. Just slide your SIM, sync your device with your BlackBerry ID and you’ve got your own BBM running for free in the US on 4G speed and unlimited international long distance calls.

BLACKBERRY PLANS
$50 Unlimited Blackberry Talk, Text & Web
$50 Unlimited BlackBerry Talk, Text & Web + $10 Unlimited ILD
$60 Unlimited BlackBerry Talk, Text & High Speed Web
$60 Unlimited BlackBerry Talk, Text & High Speed Web + $10 Unlimited ILD

I highly recommend Simple Mobile for their incredible selection of prepaid service. They are innovative in this space, aggressive and there is actually real people handling customer support.

Pros: good customer service, easy top-up, short stay plans, blackberry plans, 4G speed, full website management, lowest international rates I’ve seen in prepaid mobile.

Cons: poor broadband, limited coverage (T-Mobile), their plans can be confusing sometimes.

MetroPCS http://www.metropcs.com/ and Virgin Mobile http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ Technology: CDMA

Personally I don’t like CDMA as I need to use my own phone when travelling. Buying a new phone, transferring contacts, messages, bookmarks, and emails is not an option. But you might want to consider them as an option if all you want is a cheap voice/text plan for your visits in the US. Coverage is really average.

Other solutions:

T-Mobile Prepaid http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/ too many options, they always try to upsell more expensive features.

AT&T Prepaid http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/ same as the above.

According to BusinessWeek China Telecom is preparing a major offensive in prepaid telecom offers. First they are said to start with an MVNO but should soon work on their own infrastructure.

Bottom line there are plenty of options for tourists or business people to use a phone on US soil without spending more than $50 for all-you-can-eat talk, text and web plans. Think about it if you are coming to Las Vegas for CES.

World has changed, business is global and no one wants to travel so conference calls have become a daily protocol.

Unfortunately a conference call can easily turn into a farce. And it happens A LOT.
I just can’t put up with heavy-breathers or “do you hear me better now” crap. So I decided to drop out certain conference calls where a minimum essential politeness is not met.

Based on my experience participants should stick to rules below:

• Be on time.
• State your name when you sign in.
• Don’t call from a mobile phone (if you do- make sure you have great reception, not in motion and no environmental sounds).
• Don’t call in from a noisy place.
• Wait for other party to finish his sentence. Do not interrupt.
• No more than 5 participants.
• Shut off you other phones or computer sound notifications.
• No more than 45min.
• Mute yourself but KEEP listening. No one likes to feel he is left alone on the call.
• Conference call time is not lunch time.

If within first 5 minutes, participants are not ALL on the call, I’d rather re-schedule.

Feel free to share your tip, eager to learn.

Until few months ago, “no” was not in my vocabulary. Shortest word to write and yet hardest word to say.
I grew up thinking no was the most awkward, guilt inducing, nerve racking, embarrassing word in the language.
Society evolves around yes or hope and when a no comes around it must be accompanied by weak excuses and rationalizations.
“No” is offensive when said in an unassertive or aggressive manner. That’s how we all use it, faking sorry feelings or exploding because too much is too much.

And when we force ourselves to say yes instead of no we feel pitiful adding more anger to our lives.

At 42 I discovered the power of no. The decisive no that doesn’t need explanation, direct and simple.

The no that saves so much time at the end of the day and makes your yes so much valuable.
No to a bunch of small things we keep in the air because we fear hurting feelings.
And I will accept your no over a million of “yes but” that will never happen. You don’t lose friends over a no, you lose them over a wrong yes.

I made so many mistakes by not saying no. Mistakes costing friends and monies.
Please people, accept my apologies for not saying NO when I wanted needed to.

Bottom line, no has changed my life in the best possible way.

“Tone is the hardest part of saying no.”  — Jonathan Price

Everywhere I go, everywhere I read, eat, train or work, Wikileaks is the center of most conversation.

The world is divided in those who believe Wikileaks is a public service aiming for more transparency and those who believe Wikileaks is a dangerous anarchist movement.

I support the latter and will explain why.

Liberty, democracy, journalism vs privacy, diplomacy, and equilibrium.

Unfortunately it’s not that simple. Let’s rewind time. Wikileaks stole classified information from US Intelligence by hacking into access-restricted computers or calling for US employees to steal files. This action by itself is definitely a crime. And no one can contest that so far.

I find it amazing some seem surprised US is running a diplomatic ballet. They do LIKE ALL OTHER COUNTRIES ON THIS PLANET.

It would be childish to think other democracies are not using the exact same modus operandi.  Collecting and reporting info is the oldest form of Intelligence countries have put together way back in the days of Romans, Egyptians and Greeks.

Wikileaks targets specifically the United States of America.

Why? I think we should legitimately ask ourselves this question.

In a quest for ‘open transparency’ wouldn’t it be fair to get classified cables from all the parties involved?

But Wikileaks is obviously not interested in stealing German, Russian, Chinese or Iranian classified information. In fact Wikileaks has never unveiled any ‘secrets’ about any other country but US.

Their tweets are clearly showing their motivation:

Actually the whole stream is anti-American. How pleasant for the free world…

Like other terrorists, Wikileaks is relying on US infrastructure to relay their heinous message- Amazon, Paypal, EyeDNS. Here comes Dumb and Dumber screaming for boycott against those companies who stopped providing support to Wikileaks. Pathetic…

“Obama and Clinton must resign”. Maybe they should; but not for any of those ‘embarrassing’ cables. Just because they failed to protect sensitive information from going public.

Martin Varsavsky wrote a short piece on how Wikileaks has taught us a lesson. If it’s private – keep it private. I cannot agree more. Countries will increase their level of security and the whole Wikileaks plan for transparency goes flushed down the drain. Bravo.

What’s Wikileaks next target? Take a wild guess? Bank of America. Yes, another stolen hard-drive (thank God it’s not an iPhone- Jobs would have sent Apple Police) from a high ranked executive-which violates, corporate and personal privacy, bank secrecy and 100’s of common laws. Oh, and yet another American symbol. But that is for the greater good argues the hypocrite humanitarian.

No one was hurt.

Julian Assange claims no one was hurt in the process. Is this his perspective? Your perspective? Or the perspective of thousands of diplomats, ambassadors and consuls around the planet being “invited” to provide explanations and apologies?

If I post a picture of you naked it won’t kill you. It won’t hurt me either but will it hurt you?

All other countries are picking whatever they need from Wikileaks to serve their local political careers.

Segolene Royal likes the way Sarkozy is painted by US diplomats.

Antonio Di Pietro enjoys every word describing Silvio Berlusconi.

Netanyahu likes to read embarrassing cables regarding Ehud Barak for a reason.

Censorship of the uncensored documents.

Only a small portion of documents has been published. Why not all? What is the logic of sorting messages when you claim transparency? Is Wikileaks releasing documents in filtered manners? Is there a negotiation behind the scenes on the release of those documents?

We know absolutely nothing about Wikileaks, their founders and the organization. And yet, every frustrated anti-American is ready to embrace their cause to Satanize a great country.

Here in America, we have this thing called the First Amendment, which allows people to express what they think in political and social speech.

It doesn’t mean you can steal classified information, publish it, and then hide yourself behind a convenient Amendment of a Constitution you are not part of.

You should know US administration is the only one to declassify Diplomatic Cables on regular basis as stated in The Freedom Of Information Act [PDF] . You can also find the archives online here from Georges Washington University.

Time will tell if Wikileaks intentions are nobles or not. But I strongly believe Wikileaks is conveniently irresponsible and damaging to the World.

Let’s hear your opinion.

Yesterday I was driving to Kennedy Space Center near Orlando. I say “near Orlando” because if you use a GPS forget finding Nasa Visitor Center on your map using Orlando as a city. So I thought checking their address on Google would help me set-up my GPS – unfortunately they give you directions but no address.

GPS wants an address starting with a Zip code or City and Street name.

Digging a bit further – I found out Kennedy Space Center is located in Orsino Florida.

Hurray!! Ooops. Nope, Orsino doesn’t come up on my GPS.

Annoyed but not desperate I followed the driving instructions from their website and…we made it.

But driving back home, I had an eureka moment.

What if our GPS could use an extra simple trivial entry mode?

Hmmm, the idea is appealing but the infrastructure to build something like this is ridiculous. Just think about indexing millions of places around the globe and assigning a unique ID. Impossible.

I’m still thinking, brainstorming while everyone is deeply asleep in the car…I needed to keep my neurons alert to resist diving in a coma myself.

Bang! Why not use Foursquare? Each venue is clearly marked with a unique ID. Each ID fits a description and best of all it offer tips, specials and nearby points of interest.

Man this is too simple. Way too simple. Imagine your email signature now:

Florian Seroussi
@florianseroussi
LABOTEC Inc.
Venue: 250674

Now just plug 250674 on Google maps, car GPS, TomTom, NavTeq, VZ Navigator or any tracking device and there you are, on your way to our office.

The service should shine by its simplicity, be global, accurate (something Foursquare might need to work on a bit) and reliable (no whale fail kinda).

I’m sure some of you will comment that this can be done using phone numbers in some GPS. True – but reality is:

• Not every business publicize their phone number
• Less and less people have a land line
• Phone numbers rarely match the physical address
• Privacy concerns? Unsolicited phone calls?

Anyway, far from the Groupon-coupon-discount-lbs bs, I think Foursquare should definitely explore this opportunity to offer car manufacturers a solid and inexpensive alternative to complex existing entry mode on navigation systems.

If not Foursquare, then maybe a reckless entrepreneur ready to build a layer on top of the existing location based service? Facebook places? What do you think?

I was lucky to be seated on the perfect side of the plane with my point and shoot camera within reach. The image is a bit shaky, backlight disturbing for a couple of minutes but overall, a great view over NYC.

Few minutes of post-editing on iMovie (yes- I’m learning) and below the result.

In case you live under a rock, a short recap of “the lost iPhone” saga.

6 months ago Gawker Media admitted that it paid $5,000 to get their hands on a prototype of a fourth-generation iPhone for its gadget blog, Gizmodo. Seller of the device told the editors of Gizmodo and other technology blogs that he “found” it unattended in a bar.

I’m not trying to debate if buying a lost or stolen phone is legal or not. This is for the big guys. My opinion on the subject is that as long as Gizmodo did not pay to get the phone stolen in the first place, it sounds legitimate to publish the info (although I think it’s wrong). In comparison Techcrunch did post stolen Twitter documents aka Twittergate [documents stolen from Twitter’s servers- not lost, or found. Stolen…and the thief is actually behind bars in France for hacking.] and I was shocked. Maybe my expectations for TechCrunch ethics are higher than for Gizmodo.

There was a before April 2010 and an after. Gizmodo was the underdog gadget blog, TechCrunch the REAL valley mag (no reference to Valleywag – a Gawker zine) and Mashable the gossip tech people magazine.

What happened next? Gizmodo boomed with 4M unique (up to 5M in April, more than TechCrunch and Mashable altogether).

Gizmodo got more publicity for this stunt then any PR could dream of.

Mainstream media started leaking the info on national networks and traffic picked up almost instantly.

Oddly they didn’t ‘take’ any customers readers from their competitors; on the contrary they brought nearly 3 Million fresh souls into the game.

Was it worth it? Hell yeah. And for everyone! Do I approve? No, but I’ve proven wrong many times.

Now that 6 months have passed I see no downside for Gizmodo.

Apple screwed this one up pretty badly. Losing a prototype in a bar was epic. Denying and covering up the mess was like pouring oil on fire. Finally sending the Feds after Gizmodo made Jason Chen look like Robin Hood and Steve Jobs an arrogant little rich kid going after his lost toy. Last but not least, Gizmodo is banned to any Apple event. No biggie there.

Don’t they have teams full of damage control experts in Cupertino? PR moguls?

Apple is a marketing raw model for tens of thousands of entrepreneurs. Where did it go wrong? Why such a drama?

A simple “Yes this is one prototype of a phone we might or might not decide to launch. It’s just that – a prototype. We would appreciate a prompt return of the device in our lab.” would have sufficed to kill the story.

Was the all thing staged to get more publicity?

Obviously a phone was lost and Apple’s execs were all over the case. But Jobs is smart enough to make the best of any given situation- so yes, it’s possible that they played it all along to get more coverage for the launch of the iPhone 4.

Arrington said he would have not paid for the phone. Not so sure he’d say that again today.

TechCrunch is by far my favorite source of information. I can’t read Gizmodo – too inquireresq- and Mashable is full of buttons and boxes which makes the content completely unattractive.

I’m glad Mike sold TechCrunch to AOL. Hope they make good use of his baby.

So, do you think it’s legit to pay for exclusivity?

A year ago I would have been harsh on a new Windows Phone OS. I was harsh in this post.

In April 2010 I saw a very early stage Windows Phone 7 prototype and I said to myself “the whole idea sounded bad, now it looks terrible”.

Microsoft challenge was to start from a blank page. Forget Windows Mobile, WinCE and even Windows to re-create a different user experience based on what was learned from iPhone and Android.

The very first device Microsoft handed out to me for testing purposes was a huge brick, barely functional. My partner Pierre-Olivier Carles needed a phone for a few days and I decided to let him try ‘the phone of the future”. Let’s keep it nice and just say he wasn’t convinced

In the meantime, Apple and Google were upgrading and updating their OS considerably adding speech to text, turn by turn navigation, better applications, new features…I was even more perplex on Microsoft’s strategy.

I was wrong. Wrong to under-estimate the power of a world leader in Operating Systems, best software company of all times.

Few days ago as part of our Device Agreement we received a pre-production unit which has nothing to do with anything you have seen before. It’s snappy, reactive, user friendly, reliable, well presented and integrates the best of Microsoft.

I’m not sure if Microsoft will grab the smartphone market. But they did a wonderful job in a short period of time under huge competitive pressure.

95% or so of computer owners are using Windows, 99.99% of all users are using Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), and 90% of the enterprise world is running Exchange mail server. Well if you are one of those users, this phone is for you.

Native integration of Office Suite makes DataWiz/DocumentsToGo looking almost ridiculous. Outlook native integration with Exchange will ease the life of millions of users.

Admittedly I’m not one of those. But let’s not ignore the vast majority of users because we live in a bubble where Apple rules.

Apple and Google have almost zero experience in gaming unlike Microsoft Xbox solid success. WP7 fully uses Xbox Live so players can stay connected to their favorite games. Gaming + Enterprise might be the winning combination.

I’m not sure how much money Microsoft is investing to conquer the phone segment but last Thursday I was face to face with Steve Ballmer and I felt an incredible energy around Windows Phone 7. It’s not a side project – with all the risks attached. Microsoft will use all of its influence to convince manufacturers, distributors, publishers, and users that Windows Phone 7 is a winner.

I have a feeling that Microsoft is going after Google and too bad if Apple is on the way.

Below a short video of a pre-production unit. What do you think?