Mediaboss Marketing

The iPhone app links drivers ready to vacate a parking space with those looking for a place to park.

NEW YORK -- Social networking has finally come to the aid of drivers ceaselessly circling in hopes of finding a parking spot on Union Street or North Beach in San Francisco. Here at TechCrunch Disrupt, KurbKarma launched an iPhone app that could take the pain out of parking.

A user ready to vacate a parking spot publishes his or her spot to the app, which it locates on a map and then sends out the availability to the KurbKarma social network. Drivers circling the area can see the spots locally available, and send a request to take a spot. Drivers choose the lucky driver, and earn "KarmaKredits." Those taking the spots pay with the same currency. KurbKarma takes a $1 fee for each parking transaction.

The business opportunity could be significant. According to company co-founder Neha Sampat, San Francisco has about 400,000 parking spots, of which 50,000 are in high demand. The high-demand spots result in about 130 million parking exchanges per year. If KurbKarma attains just a small fraction of the exchanges, it could have a healthy business. The company plans to extend its social network to 25 cities, and claims its could generate $30 million per year in revenue for alleviating parking pain. KurbKarma could also end up with an auction model as drivers compete for spaces as the social network grows in specific locations.

However, KurbKarma will need to move fast in building its social network across the nation and globe, or get acquired by a more mature social network, given that the barrier to entry is low. The company was founded in January 2012 and has raised just $10,000. If the company could integrate with smart parking meters and help drivers avoid the fines, it would alleviate an even bigger pain point.

Go here to read the rest:
KurbKarma makes car parking social

According to a recent poll by the Associated Press and CNBC, 46 percent of respondents think Facebook will fade away as new things come along. Thats an ominous data point for a company whose IPO dominated the news cycle last week, and claims some 900 million worldwide users.

Facebook seems to be infiltrating every facet of our lives. Like buttons appear on every website. Like us on Facebook! shouts at us during TV commercials. And more and more apps rely on Facebook to simply log in. Its starting to feel more than a little oppressive its like were living in a blue-and-white-painted jail cell.

And all this IPO madness is just foul icing on the cake.

So where do you turn when the worlds been stricken with Facebook fever? We rounded up seven apps that could satisfy your social networking needs should Facebook go down the tubes or you just cant take it anymore.

As Facebook fervor dies down, Googles social networking attempt could rise up to the occasion, and dare we say it eventually take its place.

The popularity of Google+ is definitely on the rise. A number of commenters pointed out in our hands-on with Googles redesigned iOS app that they are fervent users of the network, finding it a great source for quality content minus the moronic posts that litter Facebook feeds.

Speaking of the redesign, Google+s updated iPhone app (see photo above) features an attractive, almost post-modern aesthetic and a much-improved user experience. The Android version is set to get a facelift in the near future, too. Google+ is one of the few social networks that has both a robust mobile and web experience, making it a strong contender for those tired of that other social network.

For something a little different, how about a social network based entirely around sharing video? Thats Viddy.

You can take a video using the apps camera, which has adjustable white balance, exposure, and focus settings. You can also grab a video already in your camera roll, and upload it to Viddy. From there, you can go hog-wild with Instagram-like creativity, adding one of a handful of different filters Vintage, Black & White, and Crystal are default options, with more available as free in-app downloads. You can also add music, transitions, and other visual effects.

See the rest here:
7 Social Networking Apps for When Facebook Jumps the Shark

Has your Internet Explorer browser ever crashed while you were cruising the Web? Of course it has. And you've probably then seen a box informing you that an error message was being sent to Microsoft.

Pretty impressive that Microsoft would want to fix the problem by having one of its tech people call you at home.

"We do not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix your computer," Microsoft says. "If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft tech support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls."

Ken Slater, 68, of Long Beach, has been getting these calls about once a week for the last few months.

In each case, the caller claims to be with the Windows Maintenance Department and says an unusually high number of error messages have been coming from Slater's computer.

Slater, a former computer engineer at Hughes Aircraft, told me he knew from the get-go that something was up.

"Microsoft doesn't look at all those error messages it gets," he said. "Maybe they use them to improve their products, but they don't respond individually. It was obvious the callers were up to no good."

Slater's suspicions were confirmed when one of the callers provided instructions for accessing his computer's events log. This is a listing of all alerts and warnings generated by the system. They're all real and they're fairly routine.

It was at this point that Slater hung up. But according to various accounts of the scam available online, the caller will then try to dupe the unwary into believing the events log is evidence of a serious problem, probably a virus infection.

The caller then offers an easy fix. You're instructed to go to a specific website Fixonclick123.com crops up frequently where software can be downloaded that will kill the virus and save your computer.

See more here:
Microsoft making house calls? No, it's a scam

BAD NAUHEIM, GERMANY--(Marketwire -05/21/12)- Joomla, one of the world's most popular content management systems (CMS) used for everything from websites to blogs to Intranets, today announced the winners of the third annual Joomla Open Source Creative and Artistic Recognition Awards (J!OSCAR). The Joomla community, consisting of thousands of developers, voted on and handed out the awards at the 2012 J and Beyond Conference held May 18-20 2012 at the Dolce Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Germany. The J and Beyond Conference is the Joomla community's largest international conference.

The 2012 winners are:

"The J!OSCAR Awards are given to the very best talent in the Joomla community and we are proud to recognize more than a dozen companies and people this year," said Victor Drover, who oversaw this year's J!OSCAR awards and is part of the Joomla Events team. "Without their contribution, Joomla wouldn't be able to grow like it has."

A complete list of the winners can be found at http://jandbeyond.org/news-and-updates/290-2012-j-oscar-winners.html.

About Joomla! Joomla is one of the world's most popular open source content management systems (CMS). With 2.8 percent of the Web running on Joomla, it is used for everything from small personal websites and blogs to some of the largest enterprise, highest trafficked websites and Intranets including those operated by Citibank, eBay, General Electric, Harvard University, Ikea, McDonald's, Sony, many large nations and more. Due to its power and elegance, the most inexperienced user to the most seasoned web developer can use it. Since its inception in 2005, Joomla has been 100 percent community owned and operated. The Joomla community is a true collaboration of thousands of open source developers and millions of everyday users who account for its software being downloaded more than 31 million times to date. For more information, visit http://www.joomla.org.

See original here:
Winners Named for Joomla! Open Source Creative and Artistic Recognition Awards

By JOSEPH WHITE

May 22, 2012

WASHINGTON Brian McNamee finally got to name names in front of the jury. Andy Pettitte. Chuck Knoblauch. Mike Stanton. Roger Clemens' accuser also apologized for the medical condition that caused him to take frequent breaks. He came across as a sympathy figure in the final moments of some 26 hours on the stand, a small counterweight to three days of brutal cross-examination.

The government's case got a needed boost as it hit the homestretch Monday in the sixth week of the perjury trial that will determine whether Clemens lied to Congress in 2008 when the 11-time All-Star pitcher denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

McNamee, Clemens' former strength coach, is the only person to claim firsthand knowledge of Clemens using steroids and human growth hormone, and his integrity and credibility were attacked relentlessly last week by Clemens' lawyer. The government embarked on a rehabilitation job with its key witness during follow-up questioning Monday, then moved on to a beer expert who put a date on the infamous Miller Lite can that became a key piece of evidence and a witness who placed Clemens at a pool party at Jose Canseco's house in 1998.

Lawyers indicated to the judge that the government might wrap up its case this week, even though Tuesday will be a day off because of a conflict with U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton's schedule. Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin then said he would need seven or eight working days to present the defense's case. Both sides are working to finish before June 8, when further conflicts with Walton's schedule could cause the trial to go on recess for a month.

Before Monday, McNamee had not been allowed to say that he provided former Clemens teammates Pettitte and Knoblauch with human growth hormone, or that he helped ex-Clemens teammate Mike Stanton obtain HGH from drug dealer Kirk Radomski. The judge had ruled that such information could prejudice the jury against Clemens.

But Hardin's grueling cross-examination tipped the balance in the other direction, prosecutors argued. Hardin suggested before the jury last week that McNamee had solely or primarily targeted Clemens, and that no one had been charged in connection with McNamee's accusations, raising the issue of McNamee's credibility.

Walton therefore ruled that McNamee could name Knoblauch and Stanton as receiving HGH in 2001 when they were with the New York Yankees, and Pettitte in 2002 when he was with the Yankees. The judge instructed the jury that the names could only be used to help establish McNamee's "credibility as a witness" and cannot be used to "infer Mr. Clemens' guilt."

The government took full advantage, with prosecutor Daniel Butler using all three names repeatedly. McNamee said he was present when all three players used their HGH. Pettitte already has testified that he used HGH in 2002, so now the jury knows that McNamee was the source.

See the article here:
McNamee gets final word after 26 hours on witness stand