6 posts tagged “yelp”

Apple:

• iPhone 2.2 Firmware was released. MobileCrunch’s review is here.  Excerpted summary of the article: “Safari’s address bar/search … tweaked a bit, apps now request a rating upon deletion, over-the-air podcast downloads …, various video and audio quality tweaks, and assorted bug fixes throughout… Google Maps has been upgraded to include Street View and directions for public transit and walking - if you have an iPhone rather than an iPod Touch…According to early reports, 2.2 for the iPod Touch brings everything but the Google Maps upgrade.”

Facebook:

• The SEC gave Facebook permission to stay a private company, while having over 500 shareholders.  This will allow Facebook to continue to issue options and restricted stock to its current and future employees.
• Facebook launched its verified app program, which requires developers to pay $375 to have their app “verified”
  

Google:

• Google Mobile: John Gruber reports that Google seems to be using an undocumented API for the voice search feature in its recently updated Google Mobile iPhone application.  Normally doing this is against the SDK Guidelines. So, the questions are: Did Google get Apple’s permission to use this API? Did Apple not realize that that Google was using an undocumented API, or did they turn a blind eye to the usage. You can read about the saga on  John Gruber’s post here.  You can see the Google video demo of  the Google Mobile update here.
• YouTube: A researcher is claiming that he’s discovered the key to predicting the success of YouTube videos. TechCruch’s summary is very good:  “Crane claims every time a YouTube video turns into a hit, the development takes the form of an “attention spiral”, a geometric pattern that partly follows physical laws. He discovered that a decrease of popularity with certain videos, for example, can be explained through methods usually utilized in modeling the aftershocks of earthquakes.”
  

Motorola:

• Motorola launched the "MOTODEV Widget Developer Challenge" for it’s mobile Linux platform.
  

MySpace:

• MySpace for RIM’s Blackberry is which launched on Nov 12 has apparently been downloaded more than 400,000 times!  You can get it here.
  

Twitter:

• Check out the real-time results of Guy Kawasaki’s ongoing survey that asks people how much they’d be willing to pay for Twitter.  So far, more than 662 people say they’ll be willing to pay $5 or more a month for Twitter. 1,780 say they won’t pay and would rather Twitter go away than start charging.

Yahoo!

• Jerry Yang stepped down as Yahoo!’s CEO, and Yahoo! Is now on the lookout for a new leader.
  
• Yahoo is rumored to still be thinking about buying AOL.
  

Misc:

• Recent Layoffs:
• Strands and Qik lay off 10 % of their staff.
• Palm Inc. A friend reports that over two thirds of the business development and developer technical support teams were affected 
• Industry News:
• Mobile advertising company AdMob’s latest Mobile Metrics Report just came out. You can download it here.  Highlights of the report include: “The iPhone is now the #1 device worldwide in the AdMob Network with 4.1% share of requests in October. Since AdMob launched its ad units for iPhone sites and applications, iPhone requests have increased from 28 million in July to 236 million in October. This month, we break out iPhone requests by country and region.”
• Appterra, a mobile advertising company just closed a $10.5 Million round of financing and announced that former Yahoo! senior executive David Karnstedt joined its board of directors.
• “Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached almost $5.9 billion for the third quarter of 2008, representing an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2007. While double-digit annual growth continues, the quarter-to-quarter curve remains relatively flat compared to recent past performance.”  Read more here.  This is very good news for the technology industry, which largely monetizes through advertising.  I’ve been concerned that since advertising was one of the first industries to decline in the 2000-2001 dot com fall out that the decline in internet advertising between Q4 07 and now may signal challenging times ahead for the monetization of online properties. This study is a re-assuring sign that Internet advertising is on the rise after a brief decline.
• Videoegg extended its online advertising reach to the iPhone.
• Technology announcements:
• Citysearch overhauls mobile and web sites, maximizing on Yelp's bad press. They also went social by integrating with Facebook Connect in this new beta version of Citysearch.
• SnapTell: This is a new, free iPhone application that gets great reviews from TechCrunch: “take a photo of the cover of any CD, DVD, book, or video game, and the application will automatically identify the product and find ratings and pricing information online.“  It just launched on the iPhone.
• Sony adds social networking to the Playstation in the form of its Home virtual world.
• OpenTable released an iPhone app available in the iTunes store.  
• Xobni, an Outlook plug-in that helps you organize email conversations, contacts and attachments just added integrations with Yahoo Mail, Facebook, Skype, and Hoovers.
• According to a new study, 22% of consumers are unlikely to respond to email social marketing. 12% will click on messages on social sites.
  

Yelp burned a bridge with me this week, and I'm defecting to the Rummble beta.  Rummble is London-based mobile + web 2.0 start-up that provides geographically relevant recommendations and reviews from likeminded people.

My frustration with Yelp started when I got an email from my dentists' office… Earlier this year, I wrote a glowing review of my dentists, a fantastic couple who took over the practice from my former dentist when he retired.  Noticing that mine was the first Yelp review anyone had written of the new practice, I emailed my dentists to thank them for their great work and let them know about my review.  They replied thanking me for my review.  After my latest visit, I got an email from one of my dentists, checking in to make sure that I was happy because they noticed that my positive Yelp review was no longer posted on Yelp.com.  I went online to look, and sure enough, while I could see the review on my page, it didn’t appear in the public view.  There was only one other review listed – also a 5 star positive review.

Bewildered by why my review was removed, I re-posted it again, and it appeared in public view. I then emailed Yelp to ask what happened.  In the note, I explained that I wasn't a spammer, but rather a social media blogger with a positive track record of contributing to online communities.  I received the following response:

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for contacting Yelp about your reviews.

Yelp has a system that automatically determines which reviews show for a given business. Just as your Yahoo or Gmail email account doesn't deliver every email (spam, etc.), we don't show every review. This protects both business owners (by suppressing reviews that may have been written by a malicious competitor, for example) and consumers (by suppressing reviews that may have a definitive bias, having been written by owners or their friends). It's important to note that these reviews are not deleted (they are always shown on the user's public profile) and may reappear on the business-listing page in the future.

I wondered how my review could have been "automatically" removed by Yelp. I am not a spammer.  I have only written a handful of carefully written Yelp reviews, and none of them feature spam-worthy words like "lumberjack", "rolex", or "viagra".  If someone like me (thoughtful reviewer with a track record of social media involvement) was 'automatically' screened out by their system, I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of reviews I was missing out on when I used Yelp to discover new places.  I was also frustrated because I took the time to write a review to help the 'Yelp' community, and yet, no one in the community could see it.   The worst part is that I felt like my relationship with one of my favorite service providers was compromised by Yelp’s "automatic" screening system, when my dentist was left wondering whether I’d removed the review on purpose.

I wanted to keep liking and using Yelp, so I replied asking what would have 'flagged' my reviews to their spam filter.   I asked if was possible to get my review re-instated to Yelp at large.  Here’s their response:

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for taking the time to write us again.

While we can't evaluate individual cases or re-instate specific reviews, we certainly appreciate your feedback and are continually striving to improve the user experience.

We recognize that this explanation may prove frustrating, but we hope you understand that our efforts and actions are geared toward increasing the overall trustworthiness of Yelp as a place for people to share local knowledge.

Thanks again for caring enough to contact us and for trying to make Yelp better for everyone.

I was disappointed by Yelp’s refusal to evaluate individual cases or explain their filtering criteria.  Yelp acknowledged using an unreliable system to screen out ‘spam’.  Yet, they wouldn’t explain how their filtering ‘system’ worked.  At the end of the day, I was more annoyed by Yelp’s explanation than their removal of my review.  

Isn’t the whole point of an online community to allow every user to provide their input and have others flag abuses of the system?!  Wikipedia has a vibrant community and manages to keep its users relatively honest through community policing.

Reading Yelp’s response, I couldn’t help but imagine the customer service agent shrugging her shoulders, sticking out her tongue and making a facetious "I dunno" face.  The image inspired me to do a little research about other’s experiences with Yelp.  So, I Googled “Yelp complaints” to see what came up.  Here are a couple of  interesting articles on the subject:

• On September 19, 2008, CBS 5 reported, “Business Owners Raise More Complaints About Yelp”
• On August 13, 2008, The Register wrote, "Yelp 'Pay to Play' Pitch Makes Shops Scream for Help" claiming, "Over the last year, five San Francisco Bay Area businesses have told The Register that the company has offered to "push bad reviews to the bottom" of their Yelp pages if they paid to advertise on the site."
• In July, 2008, TechCrunch wrote, “Angry Businesses Organize Anti-Yelp Websites. This Is A Sure Sign Of Their Success”:
  

Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said recently in the NY Times, “We put the community first, the consumer second and businesses third.” Their goal is clearly to make businesses need Yelp, but not to expect a lot of help when it comes to disputes. Complain all you want, you’re just proving that you need Yelp more than they need you.

My recent experience makes me doubt Yelp's assertion that it puts community first.  Until I have a reason to change my mind, I’m boycotting Yelp.  Instead, I’ll be using Rummble, and encouraging others to turn it into a vibrant and unfettered online community that allows users to share geographically relevant recommendations from likeminded people.  One of the coolest parts is that it allows you to get not only local recommendations but national and international recommendations from your network - a useful bonus for frequent travellers.  If you want to join in, add me as a friend on Rummble (username: "socialmedia", email: socialmediablog@gmail.com). 

I'm curious to hear about your experiences with Yelp.  If you're not a Vox member, feel free to email me your comments, and I'll post them manually.

Jeremy Toeman and friends just launched a great Facebook Application called "AppRate Interactive" that lets you rate other Facebook apps.  It's great timing, given my recent post about Facebook's developer platform, and it's just the sort of Yelp-esque community rating system that the Facebook app catalog needs.  Check it out here, and let me know what you think by posting a comment.  If you're not a Vox user but have a comment, email it to me, and I'll post it for you.

Over the past couple of months, I've noticed an unusually large increase in the number of my friends and former colleagues based in the UK that are joining Facebook.  The recent surge in popularity of Facebook among my UK friends has me wondering: What lit a fire under so many people in non-overlapping networks to join Facebook at around the same time?  Is it a fluke, or is the flurry of activity the product of something else?  A particular marketing campaign? Increased mentions in the UK press?  Unusually fast spread via word of mouth?  The announcement of new developer network? 

From the outside, I can't point to a particular cause, but one thing is for sure... Facebook newbies are joining at the right time, as the site continues to get a whole lot cooler thanks to the addition of 3rd party applications to Facebook.com.  The economy of 3rd party Facebook applications is now booming.  Developers are going wild, and as a result, Facebook is becoming a much more interesting place to spend time online.

Opening up the Facebook platform was a GREAT move for several reasons:

1. Creating a 3rd party developer network will bring a whole new segment of users to Facebook - developers and those in their networks.
2. The availability of a larger number of applications gives users more reasons to spend time logged on, which in turn increases Facebook's attractiveness to both users and advertisers.
   
3. It creates an economy upon which a larger number of people can benefit.  With Facebook, 3rd party developers have a place to be creative and market their products to a wide and connected audience, without the financial risk associated with going to market on their own.  Facebook users are closely connected to each other, and as a result, good applications have a much greater chance of succeeding quickly through viral marketing.

Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Palm, and others have been benefiting from their investment in Developer Relations for many years.  In most cases, opening up their platforms to developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) increases interest in the said platform, boosts usage scenarios, and generates buzz among press.  In my experience (managing global partnerships with with Windows Mobile Developers for Palm, Inc. for the Treo 700w and Treo 750v launches), besides users, 3rd party developers are some of the best evangelists a company can get.  They're passionate, fiercely loyal, and incredibly vocal.  When a company invests in Developer Relations/ Partner Alliances, giving developers all of the tools/ documentation/ support they require to innovate and profit from development, the results far outweigh the costs.  In sharp contract, when a company doesn't invest significantly enough in 3rd party developers or invests in a program that lacks direction or doesn't provide developers with the basic tools, information, and sales/ marketing channels they need, the results can be disastrous.

So far, it appears that Facebook is doing a great job providing developers with the tools they need.  And, as a result, the market for 3rd party Facebook applications is booming.  A couple of my friends recently developed a Facebook app and based on their experience, development of a Facebook app is easy.  It's been fun to hear about the success of the application and share it with my friends.  I've also enjoyed browsing the Facebook applications catalog.  I recently added a BBC news feed and an app that let's me track which US states I've visited.  What's great about the catalog is that you can read reviews of apps before installing them, and it's quick and easy to remove apps you don't like.   In the future, I'd love to see a Yelp-style star system of reviewing enabled in future generations of the catalog to users help weed through all the apps before making a selection, but the existing catalog is a great 1st generation starting point.

If you're interested in developing a Facebook app, check out Softwaredeveloper.com, who just published a very useful article for developers called "How To Develop a Hit Facebook App: 29 Essential Tools and Tutorials."

I know, I know, this blog is meant to be about social media and social networking, but I couldn't resist writing about another piece of new technology that I know well - the Treo 750, one of the newest GSM Windows Mobile phones on the market.  On January 5th, Palm, Inc. announced the launch of the Treo 750 on Cingular.  This is the second major release from Palm in the last couple of months.

I've been using the Treo 750 as my primary phone for the past seven months (I was a business development, developer relations, and marketing consultant at Palm, Inc., so I got early access to the device**).  The Treo 750v has the same hardware as the Treo 750 but the two devices are branded differently because they're on different carriers (Treo 750v on Vodafone, Treo 750 on Cingular).  Despite having spent significant time working at Palm, I believe that the following review unbiased and fair.  In my opinion, as a power-user of mobile phones, the Treo 750v is the best smartphone on the market, but as with every product, there is always room for improvement.

Before I review the Treo 750, I feel compelled to point out something that many consumers don't realize - There are two current versions of the Windows Mobile 5 Operating System (OS).  There are important differences between these two versions, and most consumers don't know the differences. Here's an overview, which I hope will help:

• "Windows Mobile 5 - Pocket PC Phone Edition"
• Used by all Windows Mobile-based Treos (Treo 750, Treo 750v, Treo 700w, Treo 700wx) and phones from other OEMs.
• Comes with mobile versions of all Microsoft Office applications (Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile)
  
• Touch Screen Enabled.  Users can use a stylus, touching the phone's screen to navigate through the user interface and make menu selections.  With some phones, including the Treo 750, it is also possible to navigate through most of the user interface using 5-way button navigation and soft-keys
• Phones using this operating system are often more sophisticated than the phones that use "Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition". They typically have larger screens/form factor and increased computing capacity.
  
• "Windows Mobile 5 - Smartphone Edition"
• Used by Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack, T-Mobile Dash/ HTC Excalibur and other slim-style phones.
• The name of this OS is a bit of a misnomer because plenty of phones that use other OSes - including Pocket PC Phone Edition are marketed by OEMs and mobile operators as "Smartphones".  The Treo 750 is considered a Smartphone by Palm, as is the Treo 680, which runs on the PalmOS.
  
• Not as feature-rich as "Pocket PC Phone Edition":
• No Microsoft Office Mobile, so no viewing/editing of documents.
  
• No Touch Screen capability.  Users must use 5-way navigation and soft keys to navigate through the user interface.

I think that Pocket PC Phone Edition is the easier of the two Windows Mobile 5 OSes to use - especially because of the touch screen capability. This puts the Treo 750 at a distinct advantage over competitors like the Moto Q that use "Smartphone Edition".

And now, the Treo 750 review...

The Treo 750 on Cingular costs $399 with a 2 year contract.  If the thought of paying that much for a mobile phone makes your heart race, it may help to know that the Treo 750 is not your average mobile phone. Think of it as a hand held computer and phone - all in one.  Having used the phone extensively, I feel it is well worth the price - especially if you're a power-user of mobile phones.  If you're not interested in getting 3G data speeds or having the Treo ease of use with the benefits of Windows Mobile, you may want to check out the Treo 680 (a lower-end GSM Treo,  that uses the Palm OS - recently released on Cingular and also available "unlocked").

Out of the box, the Treo 750v works very well with PCs.  Using MissingSync by Mark/Space (sold separately), the Treo 750 also works great with Macs as well.  The Treo 750 is easy to navigate if you're familiar with using a PC, but don't worry if you use a Mac.  You'll figure it out quickly.  I use a Mac and found Windows Mobile easy to use with a little practice.

Overall, the Treo 750 rocks.  My favorite parts include:

• It integrates easily and almost seamlesly with Microsoft-based PCs and back-end systems.
• It is fast - very fast.  It downloads data quickly on 3G networks, making email and web browsing a breeze. 
  
• It includes MSFP, so it is push-email enabled.  It is easy to check e-mail - both corporate/ work email (Push or Pull) and consumer email like Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo (POP3 or IMAP).  Blackberry Connect (sold separately) is also supported on Vodafone, though I noticed it has not been released on Cingular.  I use gmail's mobile web-based email and find it exceptionally easy to use on the Treo750.
  
• Mobile web browsing is easy and quick.  You can do a Google search from the "Today" screen (that's what the main screen is called on Windows Mobile phones).  Most websites render very well... including popular social networking and web 2.0 sites like: Yelp. The only improvement I'd like to see on web browsing is the incorporation of Adobe FlashLite (as seen in the Nokia E60 and E62), as flash-based websites like YouTube don't render on the device.
• There is no external antenna like the earlier Treo 700w, Treo 700wx, Treo 700p, Treo 650, and Treo 600, and it is slimmer and lighter than these other models.
  
• Lots of memory - more than any other Treo.
• It is stable
  
• It is durable - I've dropped it... a lot. It takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. By far the most durable Treo design thus far.
  
• Mini-SD expansion slot supports up to 2GB cards.
  
• Streaming music and videos on-line using Windows Media Player
  
• Dial by name, number or picture. You can set up speed dials on your Today screen.  I've got pictures of five friends on my Today screen, and when I tap a particular picture, it automatically dials the preferred number I've set up for that friend.
• The ability to use the Treo 750 as a modem with a PC.
  
• There is a TON of third-party software available (make sure to ensure that the software you buy supports Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC edition and screen independence/ is compatable with a 240x240 screen). 
  
• The following sites are great sources for software Astraware (especially for games), Palm's Software Connection (Palm's store), Handango, Motricity, Mark/Space (sells Mac synchronization software and other popular titles), and Handmark. 
  
• I enjoy the following software on my Treo 750** (It is important to note that data rates may apply.  Make sure you chose a data plan with your carrier if you plan to purchase any software that accesses content wirelessly. I pay "all you can eat" data plan from Cingular that allows me to download as much data as I want on a monthly location for a fixed price.):
  
• Astraware -  mobile games
  
• ScanR Whiteboards - Take pictures of a white board using your Treo in lieu of taking notes at your next meeting. Use the ScanR Whiteboards application for Treo 750 to send any whiteboard picture to ScanR's image servers, which will cleanse that image, remove vectoring, glare, etc. and send it out in .pdf format to whomever you designate.
  
• Windows Live for Mobile (Live.com, Live Search, and Live Messenger) - So many great tools to try. Get traffic, directions, restaurant recommendations, IM with friends, create a custom mobile web page with gadgets, and more.
  
• Tube 2 maps and Rough Guides (travel guides) from VisualIT - Make sure you know where you're going with the latest transport and city maps and guide books on your mobile phone
  
• Vox for Windows Mobile - Blog on the go
  
• MobiTV - Watch streaming TV from your treo. Available through Cingular.
  
• TeleNav- GPS mapping from the Treo 750... no need to mess around swapping and loading miniSD cards or suffer through outdated maps. Telenav gives you a GPS puck which communicates with your Treo via Bluetooth and downloads maps over the wireless networks as you drive. So, your maps are always up-to-date.
  

There are a few downsides with the Treo 750, but given the upsides (and when compared to the competition), they're fairly minor:

• Certain parts of Windows Mobile 5 are frustrating - namely small, fidgety things, which are easier on PalmOS devices (like cutting/pasting items between calendar, contacts, the internet, tasks and email). 
• I don't like the way that call waiting and voice mail notification work.  When you're on a call and call waiting informs you of another call, the phone vibrates/buzzes very loudly while the ringer switch is on "silent."   If the ringer switch is on, the phone dings very loudly. Either way, the caller on the other end can hear what's the noise, which is irritating.  If you chose to ignore the call waiting by pressing the "ignore call" button and the ignored caller leaves a voice mail message, a similar loud ding or buzz can be heard when the message arrives - even if you're still on the original call.  It is frustrating to ignore a call when you're busy only to be interrupted for a second time when a voice mail is left.
• No FlashLite: Flash websites don't render on the Treo 750.  I'd like to see FlashLite included in Rom like it is on the Nokia E62.
• No Wi-Fi.
• No built-in GPS.
  
• A 1.3 Megapicsel camera. If the Treo 750v had a 2.0 Megapicsel camera or higher, it could be used as a document scanner, business card scanner, and Fax machine using ScanR.
  

For those of you who are considering getting a GSM Treo but aren't sure which one to buy - the Treo 750 or the Treo 680 (recently released as well),  the following may help you compare features**:

• Price
• Treo 750 - Starts at $399 in the US with a 2 year subscription to Cingular. (on Vodafone in the UK from free to £212.77. Pricing on Vodafone outside the UK varies by country/ Vodafone operating company.)
  

• Treo 680 - Starting at $199 (with a 2 year subscription to Cingular).

• Size
• Treo 750 - 4.44" H x 2.3" W x 0.8" D. Weight = 5.4 ounces
  

• Treo 680 - 4.4" H x 2.3" W x 0.8" D.  Weight = 5.5 ounces

• Speed
• Treo 750 - 3G Phone: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS.  It is able to take advantage of 3rd generation mobile network speeds where available, resulting in faster downloads of data

• Treo 680 - 2.5 Generation phone. It is not capable of achieving 3G UMTS speeds from 3G networks. It downloads data at slower speeds than a 3G phone like the Treo 750.
  

• Processor
• Treo 750 - 300MHz Samsung processor
• Treo 680 - Intel® PXA270 312 MHz processor
• Operating System
• Treo 750 - Uses Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition 5.2.  This is a multi-threaded operating system. (Note: Palm Inc's Treo comparison website says that it uses Windows Mobile 5.0, but the Treo 750 actually uses 5.2, which allows for push email).
  

• Treo 680 uses the Palm OS (5.4.9) and is a single-thredded operating system, which means with few exceptions, users cannot multitask with applications.  Users must close down one application before starting another.

• Memory
• Treo 750 - 128MB / 60MB persistent user storage
  
• Treo 680 - 64MB non-volatile flash memory available for user storage
• Expansion Slot
• Treo 750 -  miniSD card slot
• Treo 680 - MultiMediaCard, SD, and SD I/O cards 

• Camera

• Treo 750 - 1.3 megapixel with 2x digital zoom. Automatic light balance. Integrated self-portrait mirror. Video capture support.
• Treo 680 - Has a less-sophisticated camera than the Treo 750  - a VGA camera with 2x digital zoom.
• Email: Push vs. Pull ("Push email" means that when an email arrives at the server it is automatically pushed down to the phone.  With "Pull email," a users must 'ask' the server whether email has arrived. Email doesn't automatically "push" to the phone when it reaches the server. Users can do this manually or set up alerts for the phone to check with the server after the desired number of minutes or hours have passed.)
  
• Treo 750 - Windows Mobile 5.2 (with MSFP) included: push-email comes standard for those accessing email systems that use Microsoft Exchange Servers on the back end.  This means that unlike RIM, which charges users a monthly service fee to get "push" email and requires their eterprise customers to purchase a separate Blackberry server to get 'push' email on their Blackberry mobiel phones, Treo 750 users who work at companies that have a Microsoft Exchange Server can get 'push' email for free with no additional hardware costs.  Those users who do not have a Microsoft Exchange Server on their back-end can still 'pull' down email or check it over the web using Internet Explorer Mobile.
  
• Treo 680 - Without purchasing additional 3rd party software (like Good, Visto, etc.), users must "pull" down email from their network or check email using the Blazer browser. 
  
• Network Availability
  
• Treo 750 on Cingular
  
• Treo 680 - Available locked or unlocked to the Cingular Network.  When you buy the unlocked version, you pay more because the cost of the phone is unsubsidized.  When you buy the version that is locked to Cingular's network, Cingular subsidizes the cost of the phone because you must also sign up for a service contract.
• Battery & Talk Time
  

• Treo 750 - Removable 1200 mAH Lithium-ion battery. Talk time: up to 4 hours. Standby time: Up to 250 hours. Data preserved by persistent file system.
• Treo 680 - Removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Talk time: up to 4 hours. Standby time: up to 300 hours.

• Screen Resolution

• Treo 750 - 240 x 240 color TFT touchscreen
  
• Treo 680 - 320 x 320 pixel TFT touchscreen

• Accessories
  

• Treo 750 - Includes stereo headset
  
• Treo 680 - No headset
  

• Colors
• Treo 750 - only available in 1 color (depending on carrier)
• Treo 680 - available in 4 colors
  
• Comparison of primary in-box software: *may vary depending on carrier. List shown includes some trial versions.
• Similar software: Treo 750 (WM) vs. Treo 680 (POS):
  
• Similar but different Clocks and Alarm Clocks
• Similar but different integration between Outlook Calendar and Contacts on a PC and the calendar and contacts software on Treos. (In my opinion, Windows Mobile offers better calendar integration than PalmOS, but the features are very similar).
• Similar but different Calculators
• Similar but different search capability
• Similar but different Solitaire game
• Similar but different voice command capabilities
• Similar but different Word document, Native PDF, Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation capabilities:
•  Microsoft Office Mobile Suite and also Picsel PDF viewer (WM) vs. Documents To Go® 8.0 (POS)
• Syncing with PC:
• ActiveSync® (WM) vs. HotSync® Manager (POS)
• Internet Browser:
• Internet Explorer Mobile (WM) vs. Blazer® Web Browser (POS)
• Electronic Book Reading Capability
• eReader vs. eBook Reader
• Remote File Access
• Handmark Express
• The ability to listen to cached or streaming digital music: Windows Mobile Media Player vs. PocketTunes™
• SMS / MMS Messaging with chat view
• Audible®
• Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
• Xpress Mail

• Software features available on Treo 750 not available on Treo 680:

• Games:
• Bubble Breaker
• Dynomite!™ by Astraware
• Similarity to Windows PC Operating Systems and seamless integration with many Microsoft back-end systems.
  

• Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile (The Treo 680 offers similar features, but in my opinion, the integration isn't as seamless to Outlook on the PC as with the Treo 750)
  

•  Email
  
• Calendar
  
• Contacts
  
• Tasks
  
• Notes
• Good Mobile Messaging stub application
• Pocket MSN
• Windows Media Player Mobile (allows users to play audio and video)
  
• Outlook 2002 for desktop
• Spritesoft backup and restore
  

• Software features available on Treo 680 not available on Treo 750
• Game: Bejeweled 1.0 by Astraware
  
• Pictures and Videos
• Tasks (similar to 750 but syncs to different program on Palm Desktop on PC)
  
• VersaMail®*
• Voice Memo
• Traffic for Treo™ smartphones (Microsoft offers a similar program via Microsoft Life Search Beta)

Do you own a Treo 750 or have thoughts/feedback on this review? If so, post a comment. If you are a non VOXer, feel free to email your comments to me, and I'll post them manually: socialmediablog@gmail.com.

**Note: I am not, nor have I ever been a Palm employee (I was an independent contractor). The facts contained in this blog are in the public domain.  The views expressed in this blog are my own opinions and are not endorsed by Palm, Inc., Microsoft, Cingular, or Vodafone.  While I attempted to verify the accuracy of product specifications prior to writing this blog, I cannot guarantee ongoing accuracy of this information.  Before purchasing a mobile phone, software, or wireless plan, confirm all specifications and product compatibility with the provider/ seller.  Please consult your mobile operator and  your mobile contract/user agreement before downloading 3rd party software to your phone to confirm that the software you use is permissible on your network and to confirm the cost of data charges.  Data charges may apply when using certain in-box and 3rd party software. Data speeds and related charges will vary, depending on your carrier and service plan. Consult your wireless carrier to pick the wireless data and voice plan that is right for you.

Last week, San Francisco-based start-up Activeweave launched an exciting new product called Stickis.  At first glance, Stickis looks like any other web overlay and annotation tool (i.e. Google Notebook, Trailfire, Fleck, Diigo, etc.), but dig a little deeper and you’ll see that Stickis does more.  If it reaches critical mass, Stickis could revolutionize the way that people interact with the web and each other.  Unlike popular social networking sites like MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIn, Cyworld, etc., which require users to interact with each other within the confines of a specific website, Stickis allows users to interact with people in their network anytime and anywhere on the web.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with web overlay, traditional annotation tools have been around for a while.  These tools are browser plug-ins that let you stick virtual Post-It-esque “notes” on websites.  One of the first and most notorious of these web overlay services was the now defunct “Third Voice,” which many likened to “web graffiti”.  One of the problems with Third Voice was that it lacked privacy features, which critics argued, exposed everyone with Third Voice’s plug-in to potentially lewd and libelous commentary. In 2001, reporting on the backlash to this criticism, Wired reported:

Third Voice couldn't generate enough advertising revenue to raise consumers' awareness of its free service, and it couldn't generate enough consumer awareness to raise the advertising revenue it needed to stay in business.

Web overlay/annotation tools have come a long way since the missteps of Third Voice.  Since then, the web has seen significant technological advances – especially in the areas of privacy management, web search/organizing content, and social networking.   Stickis incorporates several advanced features in these areas into a product that not only free but highly functional, innovative, and easy to use.

One thing that makes Stickis different than its competitors is the way that the service is structured.  Stickis is organized around “channels,” which are groups of Stickis notes published by a particular user.  Anyone can set up a channel – a private individual, a blogger, an organization, a website, or a company.  (Yelp and OpenTable San Francisco are two of the first companies  to have Stickis channels.)  Users can subscribe to new channels or unsubscribe from their existing channels at any time.  Similarly, “channel” owners control the privacy of their content and are able to ensure which of their Stickis notes are shared with which of their subscribers.

Here’s how Stickis works today:

• Register at Stickis.com.
•  Pick a nickname/ username
  
•  Enter your email address
•  Select the channels you’d like to subscribe to
•  If you'd like to publish a channel, pick a name (mine is Socialmedia.vox.com)
  
•  Set-up your privacy settings
• You choose whether you want to make your Stickis channel public or private.  If you decide to make your channel public, you have control over which of your subscribers can see specific posts.  You can organize your subscribers into groups- limiting which of your Stickis are seen by which of your subscribers.  This is done by creating what Stickis calls “antisocial tags” http://www.stickis.com/settings/tags/
• Upon signing up, a small plug-in is downloaded to your computer and installed when you re-start your browser.  This plug-in does NOT contain spy ware and can be turned on or off anytime with the touch of a button, which appears in your browser’s toolbar.
• When Stickis is “on”, anytime you go to new web page, a small, unobtrusive icon appears in the bottom right hand corner of your browser window.  This button displays the number of Stickis notes that your subscribed “channels” have written about that web page.
  

  Corner-button

• Unlike other annotation programs, Stickis notes are easily ignored if you don’t want to see them. 
• If you want to open the Stickis notes on a page, simply click on the button in the lower right side of your browser, and a “tray” containing a summary of each Stickis note appears (listed in reverse chronological order).

• To get a closer look at a specific Stickis note, click on its summary in the “tray” and voila- the entire Stickis note appears as an overlay over the page you’re on.
•  If you want to add to a Stickis note or reply to someone else’s Stickis note, just press the compose button on the “tray” or in your browser’s toolbar, and start writing.
  

  Compose
• You can drag or drop URLs, Pictures, Icons, etc. into your Stickis notes.You can add ‘tags’ to each of your Stickis notes, facilitating easy searching. Similarly, you can add ‘antisocial tags’ to specific posts to ensure that only certain people see those posts.
• You can also customize the look and feel of your Stickis notes so that they reflect your personal style.
•  You can set up alerts that notify you when:
• Your favorite channel posts a new Stickis note.  
• Someone writes a Stickis note on a topic that interests you (e.g. notification when specific ‘tags’ are used).
• To see step-by-step instructions of how to work with Stickis, click here.
  

It’s easy to imagine the different ways Stickis could be marketed…

• Individuals: Share your most / least favorite sites with your friends, family, the public, etc.
• Fans: Talk with fellow fans about all of the latest on-line gossip.  Meet friends who are going to up-coming shows.
• Bloggers: Enhance your reader’s experience by cross-referencing websites that you’ve commented on.
• Blog readers: See what your favorite bloggers are saying about the sites you’ve visited.
• Marketers/ PR people (for products, bands, actors, etc.): Stickis is a great way to engage with the users who want to hear from you.  Create your own channel and share exclusive information with your prospective and existing customers.  Host contests, on-line scavenger hunts, and more.
• Teachers: Create different channels for each of the classes that you teach.  Share relevant websites / on-line content with your students and encourage them to engage in discussions with each other about what they see on-line.
• Politicians:  Reach out to your constituents and tell them what you think about what’s happening on-line.  Engage your staff in a confidential discussion about how to address leaks, negative comments/ allegations that appear on the web.
  

Stickis has the potential to become a leading social networking tool.  To succeed in this capacity, it must continue to evolve.  Activeweave’s CEO, Marc Meyer, agrees:

Today we’re very much emphasizing the annotation features and the ability to discover stuff. In the near future, we’ll be improving  people’s ability to connect more closely to their communities.

To read my blog anywhere on the web, add this blog to your Stickis Network.

To read another review on Stickis, check out TechCrunch.