The trip log that I liked best is MileBug from Izatt International. This is a nice little app that does a good job of making the process relatively painless. The biggest obstacle to using any app like this is the time required to enter the details for your trip. The simplest measure would be, “Does it take more or less time than it would to write it down on paper?” I think MileBug passes this critical litmus test.

You can track odometer readings for the start and end of each trip, and you can do so for multiple vehicles. MileBug lets you track trips by Business, Destination, and Purpose and set presets for each of those items for quick entry. You can setup reimbursement rates for each business if you need to track rates for the standard federal tax deduction for some trips and a corporate reimbursement that may have another rate for other trips. MileBug will automatically start the next trip from the last known odometer reading to save a little time. I appreciate how the odometer dials roll over, instead of just running from 0 to 9 like in some other apps. It makes it a little simpler to update your mileage when you roll past 9 on one or more of the digits.

To get the data out of MileBug, you can email reports. This sends a table of text with a summary and detailed entries. The email feature integrates with the built-in Mail app on the iPhone which makes it easy to use your address book to make that process easy too.

There are a couple of things that I think could stand improving. Adding a new destination always adds that new entry to your preset list which could become quite long. I chose to use generic entries like “client”, “HQ” and “home” for destinations and used purpose to denote if it was billable or not. Because I wasn’t entering the individual destinations, I just put the details in the “notes” field. There’s also no way to import data back into MileBug if you were to lose it, in say an app update gone bad, or after restoring your iPhone without a backup. I can live without the import, but I have to remember to email the reports regularly.

If you need more detailed records, you might look into Trip Cubby which offers some additional options, but at a much higher price. I particularly like that you can use a keypad to enter odometer readings in Trip Cubby instead of spinning little dials. Still, I prefer MileBug for its simplicity and it works perfectly for my needs.

MileBug is available in the iTunes App Store. The app is priced at $2.99 for a limited time.

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Yesterday Chris and I visited Justine Bateman and her three partners at FM78.tv, a new production company focused exclusively on making content for the web. Armed with revolutionary fever and Bateman’s idea for a show about a family candy company, FM78.tv is currently working to make a top-notch, union-compliant, big-budget television show that’s TV quality but doesn’t live on TV.

The actress, Bateman, most recently of Desperate Housewives but most memorably of Family Ties, is the ringleader of a group that also includes writer and producer Jill Kushner (The Ellen DeGeneres Show), Peter Murrieta (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Alan Sereboff (Snowblind). The four met on the picket line during the recent writers’ strike and developed the Speechless pro-writer online video campaign.

FM78 wants to make one show and do it well. In contrast, Strike.TV, which originated from the same writers’ strike, is aggregating some 45 shows — in many cases only a pilot — with the thought that, because of the established talent creating the shows an audience will find them on the Internet and they will somehow succeed, either in niche or mainstream fashion (see our interview with Strike.TV, also from yesterday). The four founders of FM78, however, explicitly reject the notion that the web is a farm team for TV, and hope to very soon have FM78 be their only job.

From FM78′s manifesto:

At FM78.tv we also recognize that ALL TV and Film distribution will be through the Internet exclusively in short order. We therefore see no sense in wasting time before getting high-quality, professional content online. We have seen user content and we have seen professionals doing user content, but we are focused on bringing the high level of professional entertainment we have been doing our entire careers straight to the Net.

What the two writer-led companies have in common is the overwhelming desire to rid themselves of “notes” from the network executives who traditionally get a say in the creative process. It’s a common theme here in L.A. and pretty much all anyone can talk about.

We met FM78 at Murrieta’s office in Hollywood yesterday and shot the above video of Bateman, Kushner, Murrieta and Sereboff explaining their project and their upcoming show, Candy Inc, which will feature Bateman, Jeff Garlin, Doug Stanhope and more and will be directed by Steve Pink. They’re also working with the folks behind You Suck at Photoshop for viral promotion. Provided FM78 can finance the series through sponsorship, it is to be released in 18 parts early next year.

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New Research Looks at Online Video “Super Sharers;” Sharpe Partners reports that 75 percent of super sharers find ways to skip ads, and video isn’t about creative expression as much as it’s about sharing real life experiences. (MarketWatch)

CNET Gets a Redesign; videos are now embeddable!

MyToons Partners with Vuze; animation community to provide vintage animation channel for the BitTorrent video network. (release)

I-Rights to Distribute Do You Believe Me?; new online series from producers of Sofia’s Diary is about a 17-year old girl with recurring nightmares. (C21Media)

Nielsen: 114.5 Million TV Households for 2008 – 2009 Season; increase of 1.5 percent over last year. (release)

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Verizon Wireless added 1.9 million net customers in the third quarter 2006, up 15.1% from the third quarter 2005, and now the company has a total of 56.7 million customers of which 54.6 million retail (non-wholesale) customers. The revenues for the wireless business were up 18.2% from third quarter 2005.

Broadband is where the company showed better than expected results. Analysts expected Verizon to add about 130,000 FiOS customers, the company added about 147,000 in the third quarter. Some analysts expected 55,000 video customers, VZ added 63,000.

The total broadband net additions however were softwareer than what analysts had expected: 448,000 versus 500,000+ forecast. Another proof that the DSL market is seriously slowing down. All these gains were not enough to offset the problems in traditional voice and other businesses. Wireline revenues were down 4.7% for the quarter.

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The company has been in business since 2004, and is finally getting ready to announce its first beta, perhaps as early as the first week of November. On Monday, October 30th, the company is going to announce that it has received a $5.5 million in Series A financing from Menlo Ventures.

We met with Jeff Black, the chief executive and the founder of the company over the weekend, and he gave us a demo of the service, which is essentially a “virtual number” on your mobile phone. The service needs a tiny application that is downloaded onto your phone and becomes your virtual mobile number, which can make and receive phone calls.

Here is how it works: the service gives you a TalkPlus number that you can pass around freely. The service connects to a TalkPlus server over the data network, and allows you to authenticate your number. All out bound calls from your phone can be made via any of the two phone numbers you have – your cell phone, or this virtual number.

Outbound and inbound calls use the voice channel, and connect to the PSTN network. There is no voice quality degradation, typically a problem with mobile VoIP offerings. Those who are receiving your call can only see your virtual phone ID.

When they want to return your phone call, they can hit call and the call is returned to the virtual number. When they hit send, the call is then routed to the TalkPlus softswitch and then onto your mobile phone. The original cell phone number can stay anonymous, if you so desire, a feature that can come in handy if you are looking for love online or in the bars.

No surprise, TalkPlus is about to hook-up with one of the top five dating sites on the Internet. The service will be free while in beta, but will cost about $10 a month and will come with a slew of features. TalkPlus will share the revenues with its partners, Black told us.

The new service has shades of Jangl, Grand Central, iotum, and several other Voice 2.0 companies. We find the concept intriguing, and once we get our hands on the beta software (which currently runs on most regular phones, but not smart phones,) we will bring you a review. We will look at their business model at that point as well.

What we do love about the service – ability to add a second phone number to your mobile phone. A few European carriers tried to do that with dual SIMs, but to have a work and personal number on the same handset – that alone is a reason to check out TalkPlus.

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While in France, Neuf Cegetel, the third largest broadband provider in France behind France Telecom and Free went public last week, with stock showing continued strength. The company is valued at around five billion euros. The company has also acquired AOL’s access business in France.

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The news announcement also brought to the forefront issues Skype has had with its mobile clients, or lack there of. Despite promising a Symbian client for a while, the company is yet to deliver on its promises. We know that there are issues that need to be resolved before mobile Skype clients become common place.

Of course, Nitzan Shaer who won’t be losing sleep over it. Skype’s Director of Mobile Devices has left the company for parts unknown. He is the latest pre-eBay Skyper to get out of dodge. Stephanie Bouchet, who used to handle marketing at Skype is gone as well. About a dozen original Skypers have left the company. Looks like eBay-ification of Skype is happening much faster than we originally thought. It would be interesting to see how this shakes out.

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1. Zillow is falsely representing to the public that its on-line valuations are within ten percent of the home
   selling price.
2. Zillow has a less than 30 % accuracy rate when offering the valuations for public consumption.
3. Zillow.com’s over and under valuations are causing substantial injury to consumers nationwide when they consider selling their home, using their home equity or buying or refinancing property.

I think the crux of the problem is this point from the complaint.

NCRC further contends that the general public is unaware that AVMs are exempt from Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), and that the “average” consumer who relies upon information on the www.Zillow.com internet site mistakenly believes that he or she is receiving a valuation equivalent to one conducted by a valuation professional.

In other words, a lot of appraisal professionals can get dis intermediated by Zillow and their ilk, and that’s cause many a lot of sleepless nights. The classic old vs. new debate. On the other side of the debate, we are pretty sure the VCs who have pumped in $57 million into the company must be having an unpleasant weekend.

Frink makes a good point when he writes:

We say in many places on the site (and next to the Zestimate on every home details page) that Zillow is not an appraisal, but a free research tool for consumers. We’ve also tried to be really transparent since we launched about Zestimate accuracy.

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