Twitter launched its much anticipated “Sponsored Tweets” model on Tuesday. Will their plans to monetize work?

Twitter is shying away from the word “ads”, as their sponsorship model will be based on tweets that resonate well with tweeps (meaning, only retweeted or replied to tweets will be republished in the sponsored spots). Interested to see how successful their model is, for both twitter AND advertisers!

Read the full WIRED Magazine article HERE.

This means that Google has positioned itself directly against Apple. Not only is Google trying to solve the problem of Theora on mobile devices, the company is also giving a major vote of confidence regarding the patent issue. If Theorarm manages to deliver, H264 supporters (like Apple) will no longer be able to claim that mobile devices aren’t ready for Theora.

Interested? Read more:

http://www.osnews.com/story/23135/Google_Puts_Weight_Behind_Theora_on_Mobile

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/04/10/google-backs-theora-for-mobile-devices-in-the-html5-video-codec/

http://www.theora.org/

This move comes at somewhat of a surprise given how important customer feedback is in the product development cycle – iPhone AppStore review quality is mediocre at best, and there really is no other way to optimize how applications are used to improve quality (something Apple has previouslytouted). If this is enforced, it will leave a gaping opportunity for Android developers to listen to their customers, improve application quality, and bring the Android ecosystem on par with the AppStore in terms of content quality, quantity, and diversity.

Read More: http://erickerr.com/iphone-agreement-thirdparty

Palm needs to start courting developers again. They have a state of the art mobile operating system, a very open API, an excellent set of tools and terms of use that don’t dictate how apps can be developed. All of that makes for a fun development environment.

Palm hasn’t sold as many devices as apple or android so they won’t attract as many developers who are writing apps for profit, but what they will attract are hackers and tinkerers and creative types who like to push and poke and see what happens when they do xyz. I think that in itself will attract higher quality apps and that will be key: quality not quantity.

As a user, would I really care that your platform has 150000 apps and mine has only 2200? No. As long as the major apps are there (which they are for webOS) it doesn’t really matter.

Palm should stop trying to be Apple and start being Palm again

Higher unemployment means it’s cheaper to attract and retain top talent. Office rents are lower, which lessens overhead, and suppliers can be squeezed. Management is freed from a steady parade of analysis calls and reporter interviews to focus singularly on their customers, core products and revenue generation. Investment money is used more efficiently; there’s much more of emphasis on operating lean and mean.

Read More:  http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/10/why-a-bad-economy-is-the-best-time-to-start-a-business/

Here are some suggestions for how the Entrepreneur University / Startup Ninja School would work:

• There’s no accreditation — you’re on your own, startup ninja
• You don’t get a degree when you graduate — instead, you get a business (that you’ve created) and a network of like-minded EU graduates, who will help you succeed
• You’re required to pay for your own degree — no federal loans — go scrape the money together from friends, family, investors (in your future business), or convince the school to give you a scholarship.  Get used to fundraising — it’s hard, and you may as well learn about it early on.
• You can graduate whenever you want.
• There’s no set curriculum — you pick and choose the classes you need
• The faculty’s fluid — all teachers have in-practice experience (or are currently running their own business(es)
• The school gets a equity stake in your business
• No need for a career placement office
• No need for grades — fail all you want now, and likely fail later — most exams are actual work-related projects
• Plenty of guest speakers, but we try to avoid pundits — they have to be able to describe how they put their ideas into practice somewhere, and relatively recently

This sounds extremely close to YCombinator, TechStars, and the like, right?  But I’m thinking something that’s much more nationwide/worldwide, with a mission that isn’t just limited to tech entrepreneurs, but for would-be business creators of all kinds.

Would like to hear your thoughts on this.

First on the list is Game Center, an apple managed social gaming network promising to be “Xbox live for the iPhone”, with features such as friend discovery, player matching, leader boards, and achievements. In the wake of this, one wonders how existing networks like OpenFeint and Plus+ will fair in the new, vastly altered, landscape. Emails issued from existing networks such as these sound optimistic and appreciative of the announcement, but this seems to me a brave front and an effort to phase out with grace. I personally hope that the developers of OF and the like weather the storm well.

iAds, an integrated advertising network for the iPhone OS, was another massive announcement. There is no denying that some element of this is a power play against Google, who has thus far dominated the search and advertising spheres…a counterstrike for the Android’s encroachments on Apple’s mobile territory perhaps. Google’s ability to reprise is hampered due to current legal issues regarding its acquisition of mobile advertiser adMob, a fact of which Apple is no doubt aware.

The announcement of iAds also included some more interesting information; Ads must be created the way Apple wants, in HTML5 (read as NOT flash). This in itself could be seen as a jab against Adobe, but it pales in comparison to the uppercut that accompanies it: iPhone apps created via the soon-to-be-released Adobe CS5 will NOT be accepted onto the app store! This is a crushing, tirade inducing, blow to Adobe, who has no doubt wasted a great deal of resources on a now obsolete key feature of CS5.

As in a game of risk, it is often unwise to provoke multiple powerful opponents simultaneously unless you are absolutely sure you can defeat them immediately…but it appears that Apple may have waited until just the right moment to strike. I admit this is the sort of Evil Empire move that frightens me to some degree, but yet I can not deny its tactical grace.

So there it is, the war is coming: who will stand, and who will fall? I await your comments.

Read more: http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/iphone_agreement_bans_flash_compiler

Sounds great, apart from one problem….it uses SMS.

Know more: http://www.mobileinc.co.uk/2009/12/why-location-based-couponingadvertising-wont-work-in-its-current-form/

What in actuality is not supported is the ability for third-party applications to multitask. That is, the system enforces a policy whereby once an application leaves the foreground, it terminates. In some ways, this makes sense. The iPad and iPhone user interfaces are single window, single document. Not allowing for background applications probably works out for a whole lot of use cases.

Apple says they do not support multitasking because it is a hamper to stability and a drain on battery life. That clearly isn’t true—the iPad has plenty of processing power and battery capacity. Rumor is that Apple is going to add multitasking in a future OS release. This rumor likely is true.

Read along:

http://blog.rlove.org/2010/04/why-ipad-and-iphone-dont-support.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+rlove+(Robert+Love)&utm_content=Google+Reader