The niche community embraces the best of web 2.0’s collaborative power; allowing its members to bring together all the essential knowledge around online marketing. Gooruze members not only contribute news, articles and answers but also help rank their value.

Ten (10) industry “thought leaders” were selected as Founding Gooruze to help set the tone for the community and highlight the variety of online marketing disciplines covered on the site. Included in the group are Andy Beal, Brian Solis, Matt McGee, Matt Dickman, PPC Kid, Malcolm Auld, BJ Cook, Duncan Riley, Mark Loveridge and Drayton Bird.

The notable feature of Gooruze is the member ranking system. Using a “top secret” algorithm, members are ranked based on their activity levels and their contributions. Anyone can surpass their “OM idols” in the rankings by being an active member. (NOTE: Gooruze Member Rankings algorithm - is SPAM proof).

If you’re an online marketer, a business owner dabbling in the online space, or your just curious - Gooruze has the potential to be that one stop destination for digital, interactive marketing information and advice.

If the initial buzz is anything to go by (check out the Activity Page) - online marketers are already embracing its value! Joining up is well worth your time.

disclaimer: I’m one of the marketing team for www.gooruze.com

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As they state on the website - it’s an easy way to upload, edit (mash-up) and share videos online for free. There’s no shortage of photo and video sharing communities and services online, but it’s JumpCut’s editing tools and collaborative functionality that caught my attention.

They’ve taken the often daunting task (for the non video savvy) of editing image slideshows and videos and made it extremely simple and the outputs are impressive.

All you need to do is upload your various forms of media (photos, video, audio), and using a simple AJAX-ified video timeline, and easy drop in effects, transitions and titles - voila - you have a quasi professional looking production (i don’t think Steven Spielberg is worried just yet).

One of the best parts of JumpCut is the community remixing collaboration. If you’re feeling like getting creative, you can actually mash-up and re-edit other members videos and images - adding your flair to their work.

Here’s a couple of slideshows i created the other day for PodCamp Perth and ineedhits. Both took no more than a couple of hours each (i get easily distracted with bells and whistles).

As you can see, they are fairly decent looking and engaging productions (no thanks to my creative abilities).The one function i’d love to see added is the ability to download videos/slideshows in a video friendly format (mpeg, avi etc) for sharing outside of JumpCut. That said, it does provide the ability to share your efforts with various social networks and new media distribution channels (blogs, social bookmarking services et al.) as well as the usual embed function for websites.

JumpCut is definitely an online video service worth exploring, whether your looking for a fun video/photo editing service or a way to make professional promo videos and slideshows.

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The speculation started after a survey was circulated to students of Arizona State University. According to Google Operating System, where i first found the story: rene-lemerle.gooruze.com

Arizona State University’s students have the opportunity to test a new product “that will be publicly launched later this year”. The invitation page mentions that the product is developed by “a major Internet company” and there are hints that the application is related to social networking, 3D modeling and video games.

While the questionaire doesn’t actually mention Google, several factors suggest Google is behind the new product testing.

Firstly, the questionaire asked if students had a Gmail account. Secondly, Arizona State University has a strong tie with Google, being one of the first to test Google Apps and using Google tools extensively including Google Maps, Google Search Appliances and Google Have an office on campus.

If these rumors prove true, it’s yet another significant by Google to penetrate the growing social media playing field. With Google Earth and Google Maps providing the ideal virtual world (more realistic than its competitors) for a 3D social network, even Virtual World detractors will be curious about the possibities.

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I’m lucky enough to be a part of the organizing team for the inaugural PodCamp Perth, which will take place on the 27-28 October 2007 at Central Tafe in Perth.

For those not familiar with PodCamp, it’s an FREE “unconference” aimed at connecting people interested in blogging, podcasting, social media and networks, video on the net, and newmedia. An environment were people with a common interest and curiosity for new media come together to learn, share, and develop.

Unconference details are:

WHEN: October 27 & 28
WHERE: Central TAFE (140 Royal St, East Perth WA 6004)
COST: Podcamp is free to attend
REGISTER: at thePodcamp Perth wiki

While it all might sound a bit techie, it’s actually a far less intimidating event. It presents in a very freeform, casual format so that self confessed experts and absolute newbies can rub shoulders and discuss and debate new media ideas and developments in an informal way.

In case you’re wondering - PodCamp isn’t only for bloggers, podcasters, developers and alike. Everyone’s welcome and it’s a great place for people curious about new media to come and learn, whether for personal or business purposes.

The call is out for people interested in giving a presentation, so pop down to the PodCamp Perth wiki and add yourself to the list.

With under a month left before kick-off… make hast and register now!

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Admittedly, trying to find which social networks fit a niche, or tap into the right target market, is a challenge with traditional search engines like Google or Yahoo! Even more social orientated search services serve up a plethora of irrelevant results - so the premise of digFoot is promising.

The service is not just for marketers like me trying to wade through the quagmire of social networks… for those general netizens looking for the right online community to call home, digFoot promises an equally useful service.

The service is still in its infancy, only launched in Aug 2007, but is building up a database of useful resources. Currently there are 1338 social networks in the database (as of today), which are gathered through a combination of trawling the web and community submissions (edited of course).

What i’d love to see is the service extend beyond just being able to search for social networks. Imagine being able to search the content stored on them (for those not walled in - pay attention Facebook). When I first saw the site’s slogan ” Digital Footprint Tracker for Social Networks v1.1″ - i thought they had finally done it…but alas - not yet. Perhaps version 2 will be when they drop their trump card (hint for developers). The team describe the plans in the “about us” section:

“What I thought could be neat would be to have some kind of central place where all the social networks could be found and then use that as a starting point for branching out into other networks looking for those long lost friends and business connections.

Well, that was the initial idea that I started sketching out on my notepad and that later morphed into what you are looking at today - version 1.0 of Digfoot.com - which was launched in August 2007 and still is under hefty development so expect frequent improvements and updates.”

As with all databases, it will become more useful as the index grows (currently a few standard searches still present no result) - but worth keeping an eye on this one - it could be a real gem!

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The USB 3.0 initiative will untilize fibre optics alongside the existing copper wires allowing it to transfer at rates of upto 5Gbps - now that’s some a serious transfer rate. (more…)

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Flock Inc. describe their browser which is due for full release later this year:

“Flock is a consumer Internet business which has developed a free, next generation web browser. The web, and the way people engage online, has evolved dramatically over the past decade. But web browsers - the application that fundamentally enables online experiences and services across ones’ connected life - have not kept pace.

Flock is focused on fundamentally evolving the browser, bringing a refreshing new approach to how people use and participate on the web and simplifying social and web-based applications by bringing them one step closer to the user and integrating them directly into the browser.”

The browser enriches the internet surfing experience, and for those of us who regularly use various social media service, the simple drag n drop functionality makes for easy capture, collaboration and sharing.

If you’re bored with your Internet Explorer or Firefox experience and looking for an exciting and refreshing internet browser - download your free copy of Flock and experience the future of web browsing.

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Scriblink does away with many of the bells and whistles to offer an easy to use and very effective live online whiteboard workspace. It’s a real case of the “simple things in life are often the best”.

The whiteboard allows users to draw, design, type, scribble in real time allowing fellow users to view and share their own thoughts, ideas and concepts in a common space. Scribelink also provides a simple IM style chat facility and access to a teleconferencing service. New users can be invited to participate through URL sharing and email - no elaborate sign-ups or hassles.

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Zoho has been quietly (relatively) developing an extensive range of online business productivity solutions, which offer people an alternative to high priced computer bound software like Microsoft Office. The majority of applications are available for free from www.zoho.com, with a new Pro offering due for release for a small premium (currently in private beta).

Zoho offers 12 applications and 4 utilities which cover the needs of most personal users and core business applications. The suite includes these core productivity applications:

• Zoho Writer - word processor
• Zoho Sheet - spreadsheet application
  
• Zoho Show - presentation solution
• Zoho Meeting - web conferencing
  
• Zoho Notebook - online note taking
  
• Zoho Planner - personal and business organizer
  

The business edition of the service will be available for US$40 per user per year and will include access to exclusive applications like Zoho CRM and have none of the limitations which apply to the Zoho Personal offering.

There are also a range of plug-ins that help users integrate with other applications (i.e. MS Office), work offline and increase the usability of the suite with APIs and widget development capabilities. With a strong development history and what seems like solid plans for the future (which include an education version of the productivity suite), they’re worth giving the “once over”.

While Zoho doesn’t carry the hefty budgets of their primary competitors such as Google and Microsoft, their dedication to collaborative and easy to use online business applications has already earned them over 300,000 users. This is a company focused on a single core business model, rather than trying to be a jack of every trade.

The applications come minus some of the bells and whistles we’ve become accustomed to in our offline business software, but as the push towards online productivity gains momentum; a strong, stable and functional range of programs such as these will become essential for the modern business operator.

For a preview of its capabilities - check out their recent presentation at Demo 2007

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First things first - i am a huge fan of Adobe Flash - it’s been the only universal basis for a rich web experience for years. But i’m all for some healthy competition to drive things forward and welcome the official launch of Microsoft Silverlight.

Microsoft Silverlight, for those not familar with the new development environment, is a new platform that provides a basis to create graphical and event driven web applications, similar to the ones that Adobe Flash allows. It’s key selling point is that it provides desktop functionality online.

For those less techie types like me - put simply, it makes for a more interactive and intuitive web experience than ever before. One of the first applications released using the Silverlight platform is the Tafiti search service which i blogged about recently. Some other apps worth checking out are the Microsoft Popfly (Microsoft’s Mashup application - think Yahoo! Tubes) and when it’s launched - Livestation (an interactive Live TV/Video concept).

One of the best parts of the Silverlight platform is the lightness (file size, not weight) and speed of the web applications it creates. Download speeds and file sizes have been the key inhibiting factors to faster Rich Internet Application development. With the power and speed of Silverlight - coupled with the rapid adoption of broadband - the web experience as we know it is destined to explode.

Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie summed up Microsoft’s vision and plans with the Silverlight release:

“Our expectations for compelling, immersive experiences on the Web are increasing daily…With today’s release of Silverlight 1.0, we’re making it possible for developers and designers to deliver to individuals the kind of high-def experiences they crave by integrating data and services in rich and unique ways. Silverlight will further accelerate the growth in rich interactive applications by giving developers and designers new options for delivering great experiences that span the Web, PC, phone and other devices.”

Silverlight provides cross browser support on Windows, MacOS and suprisingly (but commendably so) on Linux thanks to a partnership with Novell. This will keep developers from all backgrounds happy and more importantly for Microsoft will encourage quicker adoption of the environment

What can I say - high definition rich interactive media that’s fast to download and captivating - it’s a digital marketers dream. Developers - start your engines!!!

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