Grooveshark is an application that was reviewed here on Crenk sometime ago. At the time, I didn’t see the relevance of
Grooveshark awarded CNET's Top 100 Webware Award
the application, though it had some good aspects, I just did not feel comfortable with the entire package. It was not long after that post that officials from Grooveshark contacted me for a dialogue encouraging me to take a look at the offerings again, highlighting features I had not really seen the first time around. In the year that I’ve had with Grooveshark, I’m impressed with the continued efforts it’s making to establish itself as a viable music service for users.
CNET was obviously impressed enough to award it the 2009 Webware Winner for Audio and Music. Grooveshark has indeed come a long way and its user base has grown significantly. With this announcement comes features that again make Grooveshark heads above the rest. For starters their partnership with Ping.fm to build Tinysong API, which allows users to take the code and develop webapps that provide access to Groovesharks extensive library of music. It will be interesting to see what developers come up with as we’ve seen with various other online applications, the opening of the API makes it easy for supplementary apps to proliferate the net.
The second feature that was announced deals specifically with the blogging community. Grooveshark has announced that is now has a Wordpress plugin that allows integration into blog posts for users to set up their favorite songs for specific posts. You can set up just one song, or a playlist of songs for your readers on your site. An interesting option, at the very least you could create a small station of songs on your, possibly with a widget.
Grooveshark is definitely expanding its platform and appeal, and it should be interesting to see how much further they go in 2009!
These are the latest applications to be Crenk-ed and added to the Crenk Directory. All applications are FREE to use and their are no trials or purchase requirements. For even more app reviews make sure you subscribe to crenk or follow us on twitter.
(1) Pandora – Pandora is an internet radio company that allows you to create playlists and find new music. Pandora is only available in the USA due to licensing at the moment, but I look forward to them finding a solution for the UK and other countries.
(2) Smugmug – Smugmug is basically a giant online gallery in which users can upload and share their photos, while making them available for purchase and printing.
(3) Filezilla – Filezilla is the best freeware ftp software available in the market today. Filezilla is so simple to use and allows anyone to quickly and easily upload their files straight onto their web server.
These are the latest applications to be Crenk-ed and added to the Crenk Directory. All applications are FREE to use and their are no trials or purchase requirements. For even more app reviews make sure you subscribe to crenk or follow us on twitter.
(1) Digg – Digg is a social media platform in which users submit stories and then other users vote on those stories and the most popular reach the front page.
(2) Tweetdeck – Tweetdeck is an application built on Adobe Air that hooks into the Twitter API to allow users to Twitter straight from their desktop.
(3) Mixx – Mixx is a social media platform that is very similar to Digg, which allows users to upload latest news and then the community votes upon which they believe is the best.
(4) Last.fm – Last.fm is a UK based music service that keeps tracks of what you are listening to online. Last.fm then also suggest music that you might like, while at the same time letting you know other people who also like the same music as you.
In less than a year, Zemanta has made a name for itself in the blogosphere. By becoming the premier add-on to the FireFox browser, bloggers now had access to an amazing set of tools to provide further depth to their posts. With hundreds of thousands of downloads, it seemed like a surefire winner, and there was little doubt that Zemanta has room to expand, but where and when?
Zemanta late last year supported another FireFox add-on called ScribeFire, a simple blogging tool that opened up in your browser without having to log into any other site or leave the page you are on. This allowed for amazingly quick posting to the blog of your choice, but also provided the same depth that you had available to you from within most popular blogging platforms like WordPress, Blogger, and TypePad.
Recently it was announced that Zemanta has made another move towards mass market exposure, it has integrated with Gmail and Yahoo Mail, offering users of those mail clients the ability to attached related articles, pictures, and keywords to their emails that the recipients might need to fully understand the topic. I personally can’t imagine a better mass exposure opportunity than attaching yourself to two of the largest mail clients on the internet today.
Zemanta is a key tool that I recommend all bloggers install, but now with mail enhancements, I’m happy to see them growing. I’ve always been a big supporter of their efforts as it’s nice to see innovative ways to breathe life into a long standing medium like blogging.
It’s apparent that Zemanta will continue to offer what it always has; by offering photo suggestions, article suggestions, and keyword suggestions, as you type, updating every 300 words, there is bound to be another leap into further integration.
Perhaps a jump into an office platform for document and presentation creation, like Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. Only time will tell!
Social Networks have been the method of communication for adults, adolescents, and businesses the world over. Kids have been curious about the many social sites that exist, but none are targeted for the under 12 year old market. Today parents are more worried about who their children talk to since it’s impossible to really know who is on the other end of the conversation. While understandable, there was no real forum for younger children to make their mark on the net until KidZui debuted.
What started as a pay service quickly changed to a free model, and since then they have had a lot of success attracting the 3-12 year old demographic. Recently KidZui has changed a lot of the functionality of their site, and have introduced some new tools to make the site fun for parents working with their kids. Parents are encouraged to participate on the site with their kids so that everyone is in the know as to what the child is looking at and sharing online.
KidZui offers limited profiles that offer superficial details about the user, the site offers no real two way communication to prevent those looking to lure children, and tabs where users can share the sites they’ve visited, approved videos, and even a section for homework help. Status can be set by the user, but instead of typing there is a menu of premade options that can be chosen from. Again, this introduction is to get the child used to the idea of larger social networks, but still maintain a safe environment for kids to enjoy their time online.
If you’ve got kids, I recommend you check out KidZui and get your kids prepared for the future of communication!
The trend continues, the economy continues it’s downward spiral, could this be the social media bubble that the online community has been expecting for years?
Just yesterday Hi5, a social network amongst of myriad of offerings, laid off as many as 15% of its staff. While it’s been labeled as restructuring, it’s no doubt that hard economic times are forcing companies across the board to tighten their budgets.
Advertisers are feeling the pinch too. It’s a trickle down effect and because companies are being cautious, advertising is taking a nose dive as well. Adbrite, one of the top 5 online advertising networks, is laying off more than 40% of it’s current staff. This is a huge number, and will send many seeking other ventures, but the market is going to make it tough for them to find fertile ground to grow.
As I sit here reading article after article, I think this is an opportunity for social media to grow, and perhaps force individuals to think even further outside the box. Shakeup after shakeup is sure to make investors and supporters wary, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, of that I am sure.
Update:
Just now on Twitter it has been reported by @samhouston that Pandora is releasing approximately 14% of its workforce. This has been confirmed by TechCrunch here.
Here at Crenk we have seen immense growth in September and we hope to keep this running for the remainder of the year! All of this wouldn’t have been possible without our great Sponsors.
Adphilia – Adphilia is our ad serving partner and controls all related advertising activities for Crenk. They have been providing us with a very high level of CPM advertising for many months now.
Blogrovr – Blogrovr is a plugin everyone should use. It works out what type of blogs you like reading and then delivers related content to you via a sidebar.
Markup4u – Markup4u provides some of the best coding services in the business. They can have a design turned around for you in a matter of hours. However, best of all their customer service is amazing.
RouteNote – RouteNote is a brand new music licensing and distribution company that is growth at a huge rate. RouteNote provides unsigned artists from all over the world the ability to get their music onto the world largest online music stores and web 2.0 companies.
Invotrak – Invotrak is all about making your life easier. With their easy invoicing tool, there is no need to use any other service!
At Crenk we are always looking for more business partnerships and sponsors to help us grow our site and services. If you are interested in any information, please dont hesitate to contact us on, tips at crenk.com.
Imeem is a music social network like no other. Currently, Imeem is the most popular music community in the world and its growth has really been amazing in the last year. Imeem allows artists and users to both have their own profiles and communicated in a social enviroment.
Artists on Imeem can have their own profiles while at the same time make money from their streams on the site. Thus, each time someone listens to an artists tracks the artist receives some royalties, these royalties are based on a percentage of advertising revenues.
Users are able to check out songs from their favourite artists while fill out the basics of a social networking profile. Additional features include mail, creating playlists and more.
Imeem is a great platform that is definitely on the rise, especially in the USA. Look out for more and more changes that im sure they will be bringing to the service in the coming month. The only downside is the quality of advertising on their site! Due to Imeem paying royalties, they must try to each as much advertising revenue as possible for their artists, and in doing so their quality seems to be very poor and lack creativity.
Ladies and Gentleman, it’s hard to watch, I know. I warn you, it’s painful. If some of you come away with your mouth open and an empty look on your face after all is said and done, you’re not alone.
In what was supposed to be the biggest coup in Microsoft news recently, their acquisition of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was supposed to herald the beginning of the end of those “vicious” Apple ads that have gained so much popularity. For almost two years Microsoft allowed Apple to take the offensive and for almost two years Apple planned to gain some ground in term of market share. Well it worked, and while Apple now sits at approx. 20% of consumer market, Microsoft has been blasted for their release of Vista, making most users stick toXP for the time being.
Well Microsoft decided enough was enough and planned to counter Apple’s negative ads and re-build their brand, but most importantly the trust of the consumer.
Please watch this video, the first commercial in what is sure to be a long line of painful, shake your head and cry attempts to fire back at apple.
Is this really the best Microsoft could do? I’m not even sure I understand the commercial. And the Spanish speakers was a little awkward. Was that their attempt to gain market share with our Spanish speaking brethren? I’m confused and you should be too.
With as long as Twitter has been with us, it’s amazing that we’ve not seen a monetizing model sooner. Well…it was bound to happen, and it’s here. Twitter can now display ads, and users can get paid for it with Twittad .
As you look at your account, think to yourself, “I’ve got followers, why shouldn’t I make money for being so popular.” If that’s your train of thought, this little addition to Twitter is right up your alley. Having full control of the ad space, you set the price on the space you are looking to sell andTwittad will match with the advertisers in their database.
Where does the ad go?
Good question, simple answer. The advertisement will sit in the upper left hand column of your Twitter homepage. That big empty space can be used more effectively now by placing an ad that will interest your followers. That’s it, it’s that simple. While some may have feared that the advertisement would have been plastered across your background, or cover the page with flashing, twirling, and otherwise annoying attention grabbers, the simple fact is that the ad will remain unobtrusive.
For the Twitter User
So the first question is obvious, how do I become a part of Twittad? Allowing Twittad to pair you with the appropriate advertiser and marketing promotions can be lucrative and here’s how. You start off with submitting your page to Twittad for advertisers to purchase (remember you set the price). Once the price is agreed upon select the duration for which you’d like the ad to appear on your page. Now you wait, it can be long or short, but the advertiser must contact you once they are interested. You ultimately have the choice to accept or deny the advertisers offer. If you deny, wait for another offer. If you accept, then simply upload the ad to the design of your template and then notify the advertiser that you are ready to go.
You basically get paid for every hour you serve the advertisement to your followers, and a virtual account will keep track of your earnings. Once the duration of the advertisement has come to an end the virtual account releases the “real” funds to your account. So no worries, you don’t get paid in Monopoly money.
For the Advertiser
Being a part of Twittad is just as easy for the advertiser. All advertisers are able to browse what the users are willing to share and for how much. This gives the advertisers a chance to find the right candidate for their brand and hopefully gain some exposure on the popular micro-blogging site.
Advertisers start off by creating their advertisement using guidelines set by Twittad and following their examples. Once the ad is designed you browse the user database to find the right candidate for your product. You select the “Buy Now” and await their denial or acceptance. Denied? Keep looking. If you are accepted you simply connect and pay via Pay Pal, and if the user removes the ad prior to the agreed upon time, you are credited for the loss. Ultimately the tracking that is provided for the advertisers will alert them if agreements are broken and the advertiser is free to leave negative feedback in such cases.
Twittad receives 5% of the total paid out price as their fee for using their services.
Is This Viable?
I ask myself this question ever since I hear about Twittad. Is this a viable solution to make money on Twitter? Well, sure it can’t hurt to make a little money. The site itself shows how much individuals are making based on duration and follower count. But ultimately, how many people actually travel to your homepage on Twitter? The only time I can think of is when they choose to follow you, but otherwise with all theAPI’s out there, Twitter users are hardly ever on the actual site itself. Perhaps it won’t be long until these web apps we use are filled with advertising. If there’s a way to market, leave to the advertisers to find it.
I still cant believe it is August already. Here at Crenk the site and its readership has been growing very fast. We seem to have some of the most influencing people in the industry already reading our site on a daily basis. In terms of traffic we have doubled month on month and we are looking to continue this growth.
Thanks to our Sponsors and Partners for August
Adify: One of the best advertising networks I have ever worked with.
Invotrak – Invotrak is an easy-to-use online invoice and timesheet tracking system specifically designed for freelancers and small-business owners. Using invotrak, you and your employees record time entries as work is completed. Then, bundle these time entries into an invoice and send it to your client. Invotrak will automatically keep track of when it was issued, when it’s due, and alert you (and optionally your client) of overdue invoices. Using invotrak will help you save time and make sure you collect the money you’re owed. You can get started with a free account, and optionally upgrade should you need to.
Google to launch a web browser today to 100 countries, and it will be named Google Chrome. There is a lot of buzz already about this new product and Im sure you have probably already read about it on Techcrunch, AllthingsD, Sizlopedia and more.All of this was just a rumour until it was confirmed by theOfficialGoogle Blog.
For a long time now there have only really been 3 key players in the online browser market, IE, Firefox and Safari (MACs). I’m very interested to use this product today and see how it compares to all these other browsers.
For a long time also Google has been funding Mozilla by paying to have their search engine as default in the browser, so if Google Chrome becomes popular and out grows Firefox, will they still pay top dollar to be the default search in Firefox?
These are the latest applications to be Crenk-ed and added to the Crenk Directory. All applications are FREE to use and their are no trials or purchase requirements. For even more app reviews make sure you 
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