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Like Facebook, Twitter Starts Using Algorithms To Bulk Up Social Graph

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:05:48 -0400

Publisher - TechCrunch
First shared by - RaynerApe
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Last month, we noted that Twitter was testing a You both follow feature, showing users you and another user both follow. That's interesting, but not particularly useful. Today, they've begun to roll out a new Suggestions for You feature which looks at who you follow, and who the people you follow follow, and suggests new people for you to follow. Yes, just like Facebook does. This is very useful.

In fact, this is arguably the most useful social graph feature that Twitter has rolled out yet. A few weeks ago, Twitter rolled out a new name results area for search which was incredibly helpful for finding celebrities or brands on Twitter. But this is better. This is all about finding people you may actually be interested in based on your current social graph, but for whatever reason, haven't connected with yet.

Such a feature would be less interesting if it were only tucked away in the Find People area of the site. But Twitter is actually going to put it front and center too. When you click on other users' profiles, you'll see a Who to follow area in their profile space to show similar users that you might be interested in. And when you follow someone, you'll get other suggestions based on that follow as well.

In terms of how they determine these suggestions, Twitter says:

The algorithms in this feature, built by our user relevance team, suggest people you don't currently follow that you may find interesting. The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow.

[thanks Tyler]

follow twitter feature suggestions based twitter feature suggestions social graph

Displaying and reading the execution plans for a SQL statement

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:15:25 -0400

Publisher - Inside the Oracle Optimizer
First shared by - robdiana
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Shared by robdiana
If you use Oracle and your query is a bit slow, read this. Please read this. Your DBA's will love you for it.

Generating and displaying the execution plan of a SQL statement is a common task for most DBAs, SQL developers, and preformance experts as it provides them information on the performance characteristics of a SQL statement. An execution plan shows the detailed steps necessary to execute a SQL statement. These steps are expressed as a set of database operators that consumes and produces rows. The order of the operators and their implentation is decided by the query optimizer using a combination of query transformations and physical optimization techniques.

While the display is commonly shown in a tabular format, the plan is in fact tree-shaped. For example, consider the following query based on the SH schema (Sales History):


select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
from sales s, products p
where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
group by prod_category;

The tabular representation of this query's plan is:


------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

While the tree-shaped representation of the plan is:


   GROUP BY
      |
     JOIN
 _____|_______
 |            |
ACCESS     ACCESS
(PRODUCTS) (SALES)

When you read a plan tree you should start from the bottom up. In the above example begin by looking at the access operators (or the leaves of the tree). In this case the access operators are implemented using full table scans. The rows produced by these tables scans will be consumed by the join operator. Here the join operator is a hash-join (other alternatives include nested-loop or sort-merge join). Finally the group-by operator implemented here using hash (alternative would be sort) consumes rows produced by the join-opertor.

The execution plan generated for a SQL statement is just one of the many alternative execution plans considered by the query optimizer. The query optimizer selects the execution plan with the lowest cost. Cost is a proxy for performance, the lower is the cost the better is the performance. The cost model used by the query optimizer accounts for the IO, CPU, and network usage in the query.

There are two different methods you can use to look at the execution plan of a SQL statement:

EXPLAIN PLAN command - This displays an execution plan for a SQL statement without actually executing the statement.

V$SQL_PLAN - A dictionary view introduced in Oracle 9i that shows the execution plan for a SQL statement that has been compiled into a cursor in the cursor cache.

Under certain conditions the plan shown when using EXPLAIN PLAN can be different from the plan shown using V$SQL_PLAN. For example, when the SQL statement contains bind variables the plan shown from using EXPLAIN PLAN ignores the bind variable values while the plan shown in V$SQL_PLAN takes the bind variable values into account in the plan generation process.

Displaying an execution plan has been made easier after the introduction of the dbms_xplan package in Oracle 9i and by the enhancements made to it in subsequent releases. This packages provides several PL/SQL procedures to display the plan from different sources:

EXPLAIN PLAN command

V$SQL_PLAN

Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)

SQL Tuning Set (STS)

SQL Plan Baseline (SPM)

The following examples illustrate how to generate and display an execution plan for our original SQL statement using the different functions provided in the dbms_xplan package.

Example 1 Uses the EXPLAIN PLAN command and the dbms_xplan.display function.


SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
 2   select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 3   from sales s, products p
 4   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 5   group by prod_category;

Explained.


SQL> select plan_table_output
 2    from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

The arguments are for dbms_xplan.display are:

plan table name (default 'PLAN_TABLE'),

statement_id (default null),

format (default 'TYPICAL')

More details can be found in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/dbmsxpln.sql.

Example 2 Generating and displaying the execution plan for the last SQL statement executed in a session:


SQL> select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 2   from sales s, products p
 3   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 4   group by prod_category;

no rows selected


SQL> select plan_table_output
 2    from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'basic'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

The arguments used by dbms_xplay.dispay_cursor are:

SQL ID (default null, null means the last SQL statement executed in this session),

child number (default 0),

format (default 'TYPICAL')

The details are in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/dbmsxpln.sql.

Example 3 Displaying the execution plan for any other statement requires the SQL ID to be provided, either directly or indirectly:

Directly:


SQL> select plan_table_output from
 2   table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor('fnrtqw9c233tt',null,'basic'));

Indirectly:


SQL> select plan_table_output
 2   from v$sql s,
 3   table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(s.sql_id,
 4                                  s.child_number, 'basic')) t
 5   where s.sql_text like 'select PROD_CATEGORY%';

Example 4 - Displaying an execution plan corresponding to a SQL Plan Baseline. SQL Plan Baselines have been introduced in Oracle 11g to support the SQL Plan Management feature (SPM). In order to illustrate such a case we need to create a SQL Plan Baseline first.


SQL> alter session set optimizer_capture_sql_plan_baselines=true;

Session altered.

SQL> select prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
 2   from sales s, products p
 3   where p.prod_id = s.prod_id
 4   group by prod_category;

no rows selected

If the above statement has been executed more than once, a SQL Plan Baseline will be created for it and you can verified this using the follows query:


SQL> select SQL_HANDLE, PLAN_NAME, ACCEPTED
 2   from dba_sql_plan_baselines
 3   where sql_text like 'select prod_category%';

SQL_HANDLE                     PLAN_NAME                      ACC
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ---
SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772       SYS_SQL_PLAN_31ed7772f2c7a4c2  YES

The execution plan for the SQL Plan Baseline created above can be displayed either directly or indirectly:

Directly

select t.* from
table(dbms_xplan.display_sql_plan_baseline('SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772',
                                           format => 'basic')) t

Indirectly

select t.*
    from (select distinct sql_handle
          from dba_sql_plan_baselines
          where sql_text like 'select prod_category%') pb,
         table(dbms_xplan.display_sql_plan_baseline(pb.sql_handle,
                                                    null,'basic')) t;

The output of either of these two statements is:


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL handle: SYS_SQL_1899bb9331ed7772
SQL text: select prod_category, avg(amount_sold) from sales s, products p
          where p.prod_id = s.prod_id group by prod_category
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan name: SYS_SQL_PLAN_31ed7772f2c7a4c2
Enabled: YES     Fixed: NO      Accepted: YES     Origin: AUTO-CAPTURE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plan hash value: 4073170114

---------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation                 Name               
---------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                             
   1   HASH GROUP BY                               
   2    HASH JOIN                                  
   3     VIEW                   index$_join$_002   
   4      HASH JOIN                                
   5       INDEX FAST FULL SCAN PRODUCTS_PK        
   6       INDEX FAST FULL SCAN PRODUCTS_PROD_CAT_IX
   7     PARTITION RANGE ALL                       
   8      TABLE ACCESS FULL     SALES              
---------------------------------------------------------

Formatting

The format argument is highly customizable and allows you to see as little (high-level) or as much (low-level) details as you need / want in the plan output. The high-level options are:

Basic
The plan includes the operation, options, and the object name (table, index, MV, etc)
Typical
It includes the information shown in BASIC plus additional optimizer-related internal information such as cost, size, cardinality, etc. These information are shown for every operation in the plan and represents what the optimizer thinks is the operation cost, the number of rows produced, etc. It also shows the predicates evaluation by the operation. There are two types of predicates: ACCESS and FILTER. The ACCESS predicates for an index are used to fetch the relevant blocks because they apply to the search columns. The FILTER predicates are evaluated after the blocks have been fetched.
All
It includes the information shown in TYPICAL plus the lists of expressions (columns) produced by every operation, the hint alias and query block names where the operation belongs. The last two pieces of information can be used as arguments to add hints to the statement.

The low-level options allow the inclusion or exclusion of find details, such as predicates and cost.
For example,

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic +predicate +cost'));

-------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name      Cost (%CPU)
-------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                    17  (18)
   1   HASH GROUP BY                      17  (18)
*  2    HASH JOIN                         15   (7)
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS      9   (0)
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL               5   (0)
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES         5   (0)
-------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")

select plan_table_output from
table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'typical -cost -bytes'));

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name      Rows  Time      Pstart Pstop
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT                    4  00:00:01             
   1   HASH GROUP BY                      4  00:00:01             
*  2    HASH JOIN                       960  00:00:01             
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS   766  00:00:01             
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL            960  00:00:01      1     16
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES      960  00:00:01      1     16
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")

Note Section

In addition to the plan, the package displays notes in the NOTE section, such as that dynamic sampling was used during query optimization or that star transformation was applied to the query.
For example, if the table SALES did not have statistics then the optimizer will use dynamic sampling and the plan display will report it as follows (see '+note' detail in the query):

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic +note'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

Note
-----
- dynamic sampling used for this statement

Bind peeking

The query optimizer takes into account the values of bind variable values when generation an execution plan. It does what is generally called bind peeking. See the first post in this blog about the concept of bind peeking and its impact on the plans and the performance of SQL statements.
As stated earlier the plan shown in V$SQL_PLAN takes into account the values of bind variables while the one shown from using EXPLAIN PLAN does not. Starting with 10gR2, the dbms_xplan package allows the display of the bind variable values used to generate a particular cursor/plan. This is done by adding '+peeked_binds' to the format argument when using display_cursor().
This is illustrated with the following example:


variable pcat varchar2(50)
exec :pcat := 'Women'

select PROD_CATEGORY, avg(amount_sold)
from sales s, products p
where p.PROD_ID = s.PROD_ID
and prod_category != :pcat
group by PROD_CATEGORY;

select plan_table_output
from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'basic +PEEKED_BINDS'));

------------------------------------------
 Id   Operation              Name   
------------------------------------------
   0  SELECT STATEMENT              
   1   HASH GROUP BY                
   2    HASH JOIN                   
   3     TABLE ACCESS FULL   PRODUCTS
   4     PARTITION RANGE ALL        
   5      TABLE ACCESS FULL  SALES  
------------------------------------------

Peeked Binds (identified by position):
--------------------------------------

1 - :PCAT (VARCHAR2(30), CSID=2): 'Women'

plan sql table prod id plan table prod select statement access hash display sales products join dbms execution operation query xplan group name category null shown example basic cost bind cursor optimizer partition information range output rows used baseline default values displaying format oracle index predicates handle variable text baselines level session produced tree operators different package typical details sql plan table access dbms xplan plan table execution plan prod category xplan display sql statement hash join select prod table dbms partition range hash group select statement select plan operation name explain plan plan baseline null basic amount sold category avg avg amount query optimizer table output sys sql sql handle display cursor plan shown plan baselines display plan table null variable values bind variable sql text plan name null null peeked binds xplan package table outputfrom outputfrom table dynamic sampling prod category% rows produced bind peeking pcat varchar2 sql 1899bb9331ed7772 dba sql scan products handle plan predicate information information identified information shown level options display sql index fast format argument fromtable dbms sql example tree shaped execution plans default null products pwhere plan takes plan command access operators bind variables format default default typical join operator statement executed cursor null dbmsxpln sql admin dbmsxpln oracle home home rdbms rdbms admin child number dbms xplan display select plan table table dbms xplan sql plan baseline avg amount sold select prod category plan table output plan table null sql plan baselines xplan display cursor display plan table xplan display plan bind variable values select prod category% outputfrom table dbms plan table outputfrom dbms xplan package table null basic table outputfrom table predicate information identified sql handle plan handle plan name fromtable dbms xplan oracle home rdbms format default typical sql plan takes explain plan command home rdbms admin rdbms admin dbmsxpln cursor null null display cursor null sql statement executed null null basic

Apple starts patenting mobile app ideas (Staska/Unwired View)

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:50:22 -0400

Publisher - Techmeme
First shared by - mattg
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Staska / Unwired View:
Apple starts patenting mobile app ideas By now most of must us have heard about the problems U.S. patent system is facing. With software and business model patents, patent trolls and lawsuits, and patented things like one-click buying online. Well, if Apple has it's way, things are about to get much worse.

apple staska unwired view ideas staska unwired unwired view app ideas mobile app starts patenting patenting mobile apple starts staska unwired view starts patenting mobile apple starts patenting

Facebook Has No Plans to Continue fbFund

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:31:22 -0400

Publisher - Inside Facebook
First shared by - JesseStay
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Facebook's in-house business incubator and mini financier, fbFund, appears to be mothballed. After two years of funding companies building on Facebook's developer platform, the program's success has been dwarfed by the massive new social gaming market, and by the growing ecosystem of marketing service companies around its performance advertising and Page products.

After noticing that the company has been completely quiet about fbFund plans so far this year, we asked it about its plans. At this time we have no plans for future iterations of the program, a company spokesperson tells us, but we will keep you posted as soon as we have anything new to share. The company also says that it will continue to support innovation from the startup community through initiatives like the developer garage program.

The fbFund, administered by Facebook venture investors Accel Partners and Founders Fund, gave small amounts of grants (in year one) and investments (in year two) to chosen companies, along with mentoring help. It backed a number of companies that have been acquired, or are still around today, including Wildfire, NutshellMail, and Kontagent.

But now, everyone is moving on notably, Dave McClure, the Founders Fund angel investor who ran the fbFund program last year, has just raised his own new fund, called 500 Startups. I'm iterating on the concept, he said, referring to the large number of smaller investments, plus mentoring, that he'll provide companies.

companies fbfund year program facebook companies fbfund year program plans facebook founders fund

iGoogle now replacing the Start Page

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:15:39 -0400

Publisher - Google Apps update alerts
First shared by - TimYonkers
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The Start Page is being automatically be converted to iGoogle. The Start Page gadgets your users have configured will be migrated to iGoogle pages, after which users can modify their iGoogle gadgets, tabs and themes. Your Start Page web address will automatically redirect your users to iGoogle.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education and Partner Editions

Languages included:
All languages supported by the Start Page

How to access what's new:
To reach iGoogle, visit http://partnerpage.google.com/yourdomain.com. Be sure to replace "yourdomain.com" with your actual domain name.

Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

igoogle start users languages automatically igoogle page start start page

Craig Mod's incredible postmortem of raising money with Kickstarter

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:01:06 -0400

Publisher - Waxy.org Links
First shared by - ScottS
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gorgeously designed article with plenty of solid data

designed gorgeously plenty solid data

Elegant.ly Finding a Designer for Your Startup

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:45:31 -0400

Publisher - ReadWriteWeb
First shared by - robdiana
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The design and user experience of a site is often a make or break experience. Users, company hires and investors are heavily swayed not only by how neat a site looks, but how well thought out it is. Simply put, if your site is bad on the experience or design front, it makes it look like your team can't execute, which is about the worst thing you can say about a startup.

Finding the right people to do this is incredibly hard. Agencies generally are way out of the startup budget and can have stifling timelines, freelancers are not full time or necessarily committed to your product and hiring full time is a very lengthy process. One of the most core competencies to a startup is an industry-wide bottle neck.

Sponsor

Andrew Hyde is a startup enthusiast out of Boulder, Colorado. He has founded five companies, including a freelancer marketplace and Startup Weekend.

"Finding quality user experience and design is a problem almost every startup I've ever talked to has had," says Natty Zola, founder of travel journal site EverLater.com. "The position is part artist, psychologist, team therapist and designer. Someone that is both creative and analytical. It is a very rare."

The golden case study for excelling design and user experience in a startup is Mint.com. The lead designer of the project was Jason Putorti (who is now at Bessemer) has had quite a bit to say about the importance and process of making these hires. In reaction to this problem, he launched elegant.ly, which aims to match startups and designers.

"Elegant.ly is a network of creatives who believe in designing with empathy, elegance, and emotion to create a better user experience for new products and services."

The site is very light right now but features a beautiful integration of LinkedIn's API. Designers are currently matched to leads on startups by the staff of elegant.ly on a one-by-one basis, although a more robust site is being built out to automate the process. You can look for work in visual design, UX design/wireframes, icon design, identity design/illustration, motion design, Web development, experience/product Strategy or user research.

Discuss

design startup experience site user design startup experience site user elegant user experience

News Corp. Explores Forming Paid Content Unit Aimed At Tablets

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:40:10 -0400

Publisher - paidContent
First shared by - chrisbrogan
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It looks like News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). accelerating its plans for how best to make use of its last month's acquisition of the Skiff e-reading platform and the stake it took in the Steve Brill/Gordon Crovitz paid content start-up Journalism Online. The company is considering whether to create a dedicated news unit that would provide content specifically for tablets, the FT reports, citing unidentified sources and a report on CNBC.

A decision from News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch on proceeding with the tablet initiative could come in the fall. The initial idea is to have a news organization that would create original content for a paid subscription app that tablet users would download. The plan calls for the hiring of additional reporters and editors, as well as making use of staffers at existing properties such as The New York Post and Dow Jones. The unit would not use stories slated for the other publications and there would be no other relation to existing print products, however.

In addition to figuring out what to do with the Skiff platform, which was owned by Hearst, News Corp. is also involved in digital storefront Next Issue Media, a joint venture of other major media companies including Hearst, Time (NYSE: TWX), Conde Nast and Meredith.

The subscription app is one of many concepts that News Corp. is pursuing in the digital paid content realm. Another one, the premium news aggregator product dubbed Project Alesia is expected to be unveiled sometime at the end of the year.

Related

news corp content paid subscription news corp content paid news corp paid content subscription app

Putting Chips to Work for Sharing Pedal Power

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:20:38 -0400

Publisher - GigaOM
First shared by - chrisbrogan
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At their genesis, bike-sharing networks were low on tech and heavy on grassroots, cooperative spirit. But the programs and systems rolling out today for tracking and distributing up to thousands of bicycles in cities from Milan to San Antonio are of another generation one built upon mobile access to the real-time web and GPS chips.

Armed with these IT tools, new and evolving bike-sharing networks fit into the larger trends of smarter digital and networked transportation systems, innovation around providing mobility as a service, and moves by unconventional players (from non-profits to advertising giants to health insurance firms to new startups) to assume new roles in the transportation sector.

Public entities are getting into the act, too, with Montreal's BIXI system being deployed in cities in the U.S. and the UK, while federal and state governments are providing seed money and ongoing funds for some programs. The hope is that the right combination of technology, pricing and convenience will help integrate bicycles into the larger transportation system at mass scale (right up there with buses, trains, ferries and taxi cabs, for example) and spur the growth of some new businesses in the process.

On Friday, the world's largest bike share network will launch in London, with 6,000 bikes at 400 stations. It's an illustration of what technologies like text messaging, smartphones with GPS, and the real-time web are ultimately driving in the bike-sharing market: a shift in scale, as infrastructure costs come down, and growing convenience attracts a broader market.

As it becomes increasingly common for consumers to have web access on the go and operators can use sensors and real-time communication to flag available docks and bikes barriers to adoption are falling away. It's just plain easier to find a station and a bike that's ready to roll. And with GPS chips that can locate you, a bike, or a parking spot, operators have a tool for tackling the bane of bike sharing networks of yore: theft.

A similar shift can be seen on the automotive side of the mobility as a service market. Whereas car sharing providers have had networks at the city or regional scale for years, often using a nonprofit model, Zipcar has built up a national footprint and begun to extend its reach overseas over the last decade. While the company which filed in June for a $75 million IPO has never turned a profit, its revenues reached $131.2 million last year, up from just $13.7 million in 2005.

Zipcar, which has also grown through acquisitions, developed its fleet technology with a plan to scale it. The company's vehicles carry some essential hardware, including a black box device (a custom circuit board, processor and modem) fitted to a vehicle windshield that allows users to unlock the car they've reserved, and also lets Zipcar remotely monitor vehicles. It's a relatively streamlined customization process, compared with competing systems that require installation of keypads in the dash, for example, or a hands-free calling setup. In fact, Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith has told us that the ideal vehicle for car sharing would be modeled after smartphones, with an open platform that would allow Zipcar to roll new cars into its fleet with little more than a software download.

Zipcar's grand vision is for a subscriber who lives near its Cambridge, Mass. headquarters, for example, to rent a car in a Barcelona or London Zipcar fleet just as easily as in their home network. Might we eventually be able to rent a bike just as easily in any city around the world, with the swipe of a smartcard or by sending a text message? The race is on to find out, as a growing number of operators seek to replicate their systems in other cities.

We put together a cheat sheet on 10 bike sharing networks to watch earlier this year. But the pace of growth in these programs called for an update, so we revamped our guide to show how bike-sharing networks are putting technology to work, who's paying how much, and what you might expect to find in your own city sometime soon. There are dozens more that we couldn't include on our list (tell us about em in the comments section), but here's 20 places to watch as the latest generation of bike sharing systems put chips to work for pedal power.

Network	Who's Involved	How It Works	Scale & Timeline	What It Costs
Barclays Cycle Hire, (London, England)	System developed by Montreal's BIXI. City transportation authority (Transport for London) runs it. Sponsored by Barclays.	Users can pick up/drop off bikes unlimited number of times during rental period. For first month, users must pre-register at tfl.com and pay 3 for a smartcard. Later anyone will be able to unlock bikes with debit/credit card.	Scheduled to launch Jul. 30, 2010 with 6K bikes at 400 stations.	Installation/operation costs expected to total 140M over six years. Subscription options include 45/year, 5/week or 1/day access. Usage fees apply after first 30 mins ( 1 up to 1 hour, 4 up to 90 mins, 6 up to 2 hours) the UK Independent reports. 150 late return fee (15 min grace period if docking station's full).
B-cycle (Denver, Colorado)	B-cycle (made up of health insurance firm Humana, Trek Bicycle and ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky) designed the system. Non-profit Denver Bike Sharing owns/operates.	Users can sign up for membership online or at a kiosk. Access card required to unlock bikes, which can be returned to any other station around the city.	Launched Apr. 2010 with 500 bikes at 50 stations.	$40/year for students. $65/year membership (unlimited). $55/year per employee for corporations. Free first 30 mins, with rate increasing from $1.10 for each additional half-hour.
Bicincitta (Italy, Spain)	System provided by Comunicare. Networks operated in partnership with city councils, in some cases with advertiser support.	Swipe card unlocks bike from columnar stand. Bikes can be returned to any available stand. Users can view bike availability in real time by logging in at bicinitta.com.	Launched 2004. Nearly 5,500 stands installed to date.	Varies by city. Free in some cities, about 80 cents per hour, sometimes with an annual membership fee, in others.
Bicing (Barcelona, Spain)	City works with Clear Channel Outdoor's SmartBike to manage. Funding provided through fees collected for cars parked in city center. Orlians Engineering and Prototyping developed the original SmartBike system; Antwerp-based Creacom BVPA wrote the specifications; XLN-t designed the hardware.	Swipe card to unlock, keep for up to two hours, return to any open dock.	Launched 2007. Currently 400 stations, 6K bikes.	24 euros to register. 30 eurocents per 30 mins. after first half hour.
BikeMi (Milan, Italy)	Clear Channel Outdoor's SmartBike.	Sign up for membership/access card online. Availability of bikes at different stations can be checked online.	Launched Nov. 2008. Currently 103 stations, 1,200 bikes.	36 annual, 6 weekly or 2.5 daily subscription, plus usage fees (0.50 per 30 mins. after first half hour, 2 per 30 mins after 2 hours).
BIXI (Montreal, Canada)	Operated by BIXI, Montreal's Public Bike System Company.	Subscriptions sold via web or phone. Day pass available at solar-powered, wi-fi enabled kiosks. Portable stations can be relocated based on demand, removed during winter. Bike availability updated in real-time, accessible via web, iPhone or other mobile device.	Launched in 2009 with 3K bikes. Now has 5K bikes at 400 stations.	$78 season pass (May-November, depending on weather), $28/month, $5/day. Usage fees charged after 30 mins. Max 24-hour rental. Montreal invested some $13M to develop and start the program.
BIXI Toronto (Toronto, Canada)	Operated by Montreal's BIXI. Sponsor TBA.	Plan calls for users to swipe a credit card or pass.	10-year program starting May 2011. 1K bikes at 80 sites.	City to guarantee $4.8M 10-year loan. Expected to cost $1.3M/year to run. Subscriptions go for $30/month or $80/year, plus usage fees after 30 mins.
Bizi (Zaragoza, Spain)	Clear Channel Outdoor's SmartBike.	Sign up for membership/access card online. Availability of bikes at different stationscan be checked online.	Launched 2008 with 300 bikes at 30 stations. Currently 100 stations, 1K bikes.	25 annual subscription or 5 for 3 days. Usage fees 0.50 per 30 mins after first half hour. 3 per hour after 2 hour max.
Capital Bikeshare (Washington, D.C.)	Montreal/Public Bike System Company's BIXI system to be operated by Alta Bicycle Share Company.	Solar-powered docks will use wireless technology to allow for easy installation and adjustments.	Expected to launch Sep. 2010 with 1,100 bikes at 114 stations (100 in D.C., 14 in Arlington).	Annual, weekly and daily membership rates TBA.
Chicago B-cycle (Chicago, Illinois)	System designed by B-Cycle.	Users can sign up for membership online or at a kiosk. Access card required to unlock bikes, which can be returned to any other station around the city.	Launching Jul. 30, 2010 with 100 bikes at six stations.	Membership fees are reportedly $35 for 30 days, $45 for 60 days or $55 for 90 days, or $10 for 1-day access. $2.50 for each 30 mins. after first half hour.
Cyclocity Toyama (Toyama City, Japan)	Backed by city government. Run by Cyclocity, a subsidiary of French ad agency JCDecaux. Sponsored by Unilever. Zenexity Company developed AllBikesnow iPhone app with JCDecaux for the Cyclocity system.	Bikes can be returned to any station in the city, placed every 300-500 meters in central Toyama. JCDecaux's AllBikesnow iPhone app provides real-tie info on bike and docking station availability, and directions to stations.	Launched Mar. 2010 with 150 bikes at 15 stations.	City reportedly invested 150M yen. Annual subscription costs 700 yen/month. Week-long pass costs 1,000 yen. First 30 mins free.
Ecobici (Mexico City, Mexico)	Operated by Clear Channel Outdoor Mexico, supported by city government.	Registration required online or at the Ecobici office to get an RFID swipe card, which unlocks the bike.	Launched in Feb. 2010 with 1,100 bikes at 85 stations (only 50 stations fully functional). According to The Bike-sharing Blog, plans call for expansion to 6K bikes.	300 pesos/year subscription. 200 peso refundable each rental session. First 30 min. free, then 10 pesos up to 1 hour, 35 pesos per hour after that. City's goal is to get 24K subscribers in first year.
Hourbike (UK and Ireland)	Operated by Hourbike. Equipment produced by Czech Republic-based Homeport. Branded for each city.	Users key in a ticket number or swipe a smartcard and PIN to unlock bike. Real time availability can be checked online. GPRS technology and cellular networks used to track who's using the system at a given time.	Launched in 2006. Largest city program is in Blackpool, with 400 bikes.	Charges vary by location. In Blackpool, membership for an individual or family costs 10. Usage fees 1 per hour after first 30 mins.
Nice Ride Minneapolis (Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota)	System developed and installed by Montreal's BIXI, which will also manage customer service. Backed by Blue Cross, Bike Walk Twin Cities, city government. Non-profit Nice Ride Minnesota running the program. Ads will be sold for individual stations.	Full-time crews shuttling around in small electric vehicles will clean/ maintain the fleet. Tourists can sign up for day use via kiosk/credit card reader at station. Solar-powered kiosks can be removed in winter. Day pass sold at kiosk. Subscriptions sold via web or phone.	Launched Jun. 2010 with 1K bikes at 80 stations.	Bike Walk Twin Cities allocated $1.75M in federal funds. City will provide $350K. Additional $1M will come from tobacco settlement funds through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. $60/year subscription for unlimited number of rentals April-November.
SmartBike (Washington, D.C.)	Clear Channel Outdoor runs SmartBike for district. Revenue from fees and subscriptions goes to DOT. Clear Channel gets exclusive ad rights at bus shelters.	Sign up for membership/access card online. Availability of bikes at different stations can be checked online. 3-hour max rental period.	Launched in 2008 with 100 bikes at 10 stations.	Individual subscriptions cost $40/year.
OV-fiets (Netherlands)	Pro Rail in collaboration with Dutch national train company Nederlands Spoorwegen, Fietserbond cyclists union and public authorities, subsidized by Dutch government.	Staffed facilities mostly at train stations, with fully automated bike dispensers starting to be installed at some locations, according to Bikeoff.org, with access via smartcard. Dutch bank account required.	Pilot project launched 2002. 3,000 bikes and electric scooters at 185 stations. 600K rides booked each year.	9.5 annual membership, plus usage fees of 2.85/20 hours for up to 60 hours.
OYBike (UK, France, Chicago)	OYBike system operated (and financially supported) by partner Veolia Transport.	Bike stands have specialized keyboard and LCD display. Users log in with swipe card or call OYBike from a registered mobile phone to release bike. Bike can be returned to any rental station. iPhone app called myCycle shows bike/docking station availability in two cities.	Nice, France network (dubbed Velobleu) launched July 2009 and now has 1,200 bikes at 175 stations. 15-year contract with city of Nice is for total of 1,750 bikes.	5 flat 1-day access fee, or 5/week or 18/year subscription plus usage fees starting after first 30 mins. 0.50 for 30-60 mins, 1 up to 2 hours, increasing to 5 for 4+ hours. 24 hour max. Optional theft insurance.
San Antonio Bike Share (San Antonio, Texas)	System designed by B-Cycle. Bike World will operate and maintain system, with oversight by nonprofit San San Antonio Bike Share. Seed money from DOE and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stimulus funds.	Users can sign up for membership online or at a kiosk. Access card required to unlock bikes, which can be returned to any other station around the city. Bikes will be outfitted with chips to track mileage, calories burned and carbon offsets.	In Jun. 2010 city approved initial launch of 140 bikes at 14 stations.	TBA, but similar Denver B-Cycle rates range from $40-65/year, plus usage fees after 30 mins.
Velib (Paris, France)	Operated by French advertising firm JCDecaux in exchange for advertising rights to 1,600 outdoor displays. City gets subscription/user fees. AllBikesnow iPhone app by Zenexity.	Swipe credit card to unlock bike from electronic docking station. Fleet of transport vehicles redistributes bikes. Mobile access via AllBikesnow iPhone app.	Launched in 2007 with 20K bikes at 1,450 stations. AllBikesnow iPhone app launched Mar. 2010.	JCDecaux reportedly invested $140M to set up the system and collects 80M euros/year from ad space. As of late 2009, JCDecaux paid $5.5M/year to Paris. Including start-up maintenance costs, bikes cost $3,500 apiece, NYT reports.
Velo'v (Lyon & Villeurbanne, France)	JCDecaux's Cyclocity system, operated in conjunction with city.	Swipe card activates terminal for user to enter access code. User selects bike from list on touch screen, has 45 seconds to retrieve it. Bikes can be returned to any available docking station, where bike beeps and flashes lights once properly locked.	Launched in 2005. Currently 4K bikes at 340 stations. AllBikesnow iPhone app launched Mar. 2010.	1/day or 3/week registration, plus usage fees: first 30 mins. free, 1 for next hour, 2 each hour thereafter. Discounts for long-term subscribers and public transit pass holders.

Related articles on GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Mobility on Demand Takes Aim at Transport Networks' Last Mile

Electric Vehicles Give Mobility as a Service a Jumpstart

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Why Personal Branding Is So Misunderstood

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:20:11 -0400

Publisher - Influential Marketing
First shared by - chrisbrogan
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Personal branding has a branding problem. If most people in business today were asked to describe someone who had a personal brand, the first image that often comes to mind is of the often-ridiculed "social media guru" persona - someone who talks endlessly about social media and is well known online for it, but has little real experience at anything beyond talking about themselves. Others might think of someone with a big personality who has used social media expertly to amplify their success. Earlier today a journalist for CNN/Fortune ignited this debate about the value (or lack of value) in a personal brand through an article that featured Scott Monty from Ford*.

In the piece, Scott was portrayed as someone whose "personal brand doesn't take a back seat to anyone else's -- not even that of Ford Motor Co., his employer." Many commenters have already jumped on the article throughout the day to defend Scott as a great guy and not the "sanctimonious self-serving asshat" as one commenter felt he was portrayed as in the article. This is not the first time that a debate about personal branding has erupted pitting the believers against the skeptics, and it likely won't be the last.

Is personal branding becoming a catchphrase to describe those who are using social media as a drip pan for their overflowing egos or is it just misunderstood? As someone who has spent considerable time building a personal brand while working at a large company, this is a question I have struggled with before and I believe it comes through to three main assumptions (some truth and some fiction):

The FICTION About Personal Branding

Personal branding is about ego instead of reputation. Ego is a dirty word, which carries with it the notion of a misbehaved, arrogant, generally pompous individual. The truth is, we all have egos - but a good personal brand is all about reputation. When you have one, people know something about you before you walk in the door. Hardly anyone would argue that your reputation is important, but somehow the label of "personal brand" became disconnected from that.
Personal brands are only grown at the expense of corporate brands. A main point from the Forbes piece seemed to be that if Scott Monty was growing his personal brand, then he was not doing everything he could be doing for Ford. Yet when we look at successful sales people or executives who post record sales or perform well and move on to bigger and higher paying jobs ... generally they are not lambasted for building their own reputation while successfully contributing to the company they work for. Personal brands are the same.
Only certain types of individuals have personal brands. When it comes to discussions of personal branding, there are certain types of individuals that you might point to as having strong personal brands - when the truth is that we all have personal brands. In an age where our virtual identity extends beyond just who we are in person and also encapsulates our profile on LinkedIn or the networks we join on Facebook - each of us has a digital reputation and that equates to a personal brand. Already, this personal brand impacts how people are searching for jobs and is likely to extend further to more parts of business as well.

The TRUTH About Personal Branding

Many personal brands START egotistical. As I have shared in blog posts before, it is much easier to be egotistical than to be open online. In fact, the place where most people start when using social media tools is on the more egotistical side, just talking about themselves. It is not a sign of raging arrogance, but of initial naivety. When you are not used to "engaging" online, it is easier to just talk about yourself. Eventually, the good personal brands get past this and become something more robust.
High profile tension between personal brands and companies will continue. There have already been several stories of individuals who built a personal brand and had difficulty remaining in their corporate positions and this will continue. To attribute this only to a phenomena that happens for personal branding, however, would be a mistake. There are situations every day where people outgrow roles at companies and move one, for many reasons. Growing a personal brand will continue to be one of these reasons, but should not be singled out.
Personal branding matters because PEOPLE matter. I have been vocal for several years now about the premise that people make decisions to buy from a company or talk about it based on the personal relationship they have with individuals who work there as much as the association they have with the product. If you have every recommended a product that you didn't buy to someone who needed it, you know this well. Companies with personality succeed because they create a deep emotional connection with customers, and personality comes from individuals. If the faceless company is dying, as I believe it is in every industry, then more and more companies will need to hire people with strong personal brands and this tension between the individual and the company will be even more present in business.

The solution, in my opinion, is not to single out and vilify the people who are visibly working to balance personal brands with their employers', but instead to treat them as examples of a future in the business world that is rapidly approaching for us all.

*Disclaimer - Ford is a client of Ogilvy (my employer) and Scott is a personal friend of mine. This post was in no way solicited by either and represents only my honest opinion about personal branding.

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A Peek Inside the M&A Playbooks of Technology's Top Acquirers

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:25:27 -0400

Publisher - GigaOM
First shared by - robdiana
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Last night a group of M&A gurus from the corporate development teams at top tech acquirers Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco, Facebook and Twitter gathered to share insights into their business with a group of startups at a fancy-pants Los Altos Hills, Calif. mansion. Though Facebook and Google might have been the most notable active acquirers lately, everyone on the panel said they are out shopping. They each have a bit of a different style, and a bit of a different target startup. Below are the most notable bits from each participant:

The ridonkulous Kelly Porter Mansion, where the event was held

Googles Amin Zoufonoun said that he looks at three types of acquisitions: a proven product and team, an uncertain big bet, or market and tech leadership (like YouTube and DoubleClick). He said recent acquisitions by Google and other companies like Apple point to the fact that mobile is not a core part of the DNA of many tech giants. As for advice, he warned startups that they always underestimate how long it takes to close an acquisition; for Google, deals usually take three to four months. As for areas he's interested in, Zoufonoun said he thinks music is overhyped (an interesting comment given Google is reportedly looking to make a play in this space), and mobile user interfaces are underhyped.

Ciscos Derek Idemoto talked up the value of post-acquisition integration. His company has been incredibly acquisitive, with 140 deals in the last 20-odd years. Idemoto bragged that 75 percent of acquired employees are still at Cisco after four years. He said he thinks video is underhyped, and that he's particularly interested in data. The most, and most relevant data might win, he explained.

Yahoos Taylor Barada, who joined the company a year ago, declared of the original Internet giant, We're back in the game. He said he thinks content discovery is underhyped, and personal measurement tools are an interesting, under-the-radar opportunity. He invited startups to come talk to him as his job's nature is to float across Yahoo's complex business. We like meetings with no real agenda, he said. We're a bit of a service arm to connect teams at Yahoo.

Facebooks Mike Brown (as might be expected!) talked up his company's inclination towards talent acquisitions of small companies that haven't raised much funding. Often entrepreneurs filled with chili powder and vinegar are the best hires as compared to trying to get them to apply for a job through the front door, said Brown. Most interesting, Brown talked about Facebook's particular preference to pay cash (and stock options) instead of stock for companies it acquires. Facebook needs to keep its number of common shareholders under 500 or risk having to file financial statements to the SEC. Brown told startups that their transactions could be more difficult if they have a large number of investors. We can't issue stock in those cases because we can't take on that number of new shareholders, he said. (That's an interesting contrast to the current trend of young startups taking early rounds from large syndicates of angel and sometimes VC investors.)

Microsofts Fritz Lanman said even though his team hasn't done a ton of deals recently, It's not like I've been on holiday for the past year. But he admitted that in a company worth $250 billion, the big value is in the core franchises usually not startup acquisitions. There's a natural ebb and flow between strategy and execution, he said. He encouraged startups to form relationships early and not to oversell themselves. We're a little bit smarter than we look. It shouldn't take us that many meetings to figure out what you're doing.

Twitters Jessica Verrilli said her company is still at an early stage, so she looks at deals that may be very core to its business. Sometimes the best talent happens to be working on something related to Twitter, she said and hiring is right now one of the company's top priorities. Twitter usually offers a combination of stock and cash in its deals. One area she's actively looking at is relevance and discovery, Verilli said.

Moderator Mike Marquez of Code Advisors also asked the participants for a moment of role-playing to say what startups the people sitting next to them should buy. One of most interesting responses was Lanman telling Brown that Facebook should buy Foursquare and Zynga. It's insane that Facebook lets Foursquare exists, he said. Facebook should be so much further in mobile. Local direct marketing is the next $100 to $200 billion opportunity. Meanwhile, Idemoto told Zoufonoun that Google should look into buying content companies as well as Nielsen for its data.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req'd):

Google Buys a Heap of Trouble With Ad Platform Purchase

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PlacePop Looks To Give Any Business Its Own Rewards Program, Raises $1.4M

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:00:34 -0400

Publisher - TechCrunch
First shared by - robdiana
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It's no secret that loyalty programs like those hole-punch cards that give you a free Slurpee every ten visits are a great, cheap way to keep customers coming back to your business. Thing is, running these programs isn't always as easy as it seems, especially if a business wants to do something more complex than the basic buy ten get one free. PlacePop is a new startup looking to make these loyalty programs accessible to any business: the startup has built a self-serve platform based around its new iPhone application which companies can use to distribute virtual, custom-branded loyalty cards.

Today, the company is launching at our Social Currency CrunchUp, and it's also announcing that it has closed a $1.4 million round of funding. Participants in the round include Affinity Labs Founder Chris Michel, Bebo Founder Michael Birch, and James Currier and Stan Chudnovsky, both of whom cofounded Ooga Labs.

At a high level, PlacePop is pretty simple for the end-user: you fire up the iPhone app, swipe until you find the appropriate virtual rewards card, and check-in at the venue you're visiting. And the startup says that a business can get its loyalty program up and running in five minutes.

PlacePop isn't the first startup to try to tackle rewards, and it faces the same chicken-and-egg issue that its competitors have: you need businesses to actually offer rewards to get users hooked, and businesses aren't going to bother if the service doesn't have any users to begin with. PlacePop is taking a few steps to deal with this (and help differentiate the startup): first, it offers a number of other social features, like sharing photos of the places you're checking into so the app has some utility regardless of if a business is offering a deal or reward. And second, it's letting you earning rewards points toward venue on Earth, even before a business joins PlacePop.

That may sound a little counter-intuitive, but PlacePop is hoping that it will lead to a sort of community-led guerrilla campaign where users urge their favorite businesses to join PlacePop. CEO Kent Lindstrom explains that users can start checking-in at their favorite restaurants and other venues, and when venue owners visit PlacePop and see that they already have traction on the service, they can claim their profile. I'm not entirely convinced this will work (it's going to get tough to convince users to check in based on the possibility that a venue may one day start offering rewards), but it's an interesting tactic.

So why would a restaurant want to use PlacePop instead of a service that is already starting to get traction, like Foursquare? Linstrom gave a few reasons: first, PlacePop allows venues to customize and create their own branding for their virtual card. Second, the platform will allow venues to custom tailor how they want to reward program to work for example, a business could opt to build their own Groupon-style program, where a special deal was activated if 50 people redeemed a coupon.

PlacePop obviously has its work cut out for it. Foursquare and other location-based services are looking to add deals and rewards as a layer on top of their applications, allowing for a more passive approach to earning rewards. Other startups in this space include We Reward, which lets you earn cash for your checkins.

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