GigaOM » the Los Angeles Times

Zite adds LA Times, Chicago Tribune, others to its publishers program

Laura Hazard Owen — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:00:56 +0000

Personalized reading app Zite is adding more publishers to its three-month-old ZitePublisher program. The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hearst’s Harper’s Bazaar, the International Business Times, Entrepreneur magazine, Macworld and PC World magazines, and tech blogs TechHive and Cult of Mac are joining the program and will have their own sections within Zite.

Zite was already working with CNN (its parent company), Fox Sports, the Huffington Post, Daily Beast, Bleacher Report, HLNtv, Motley Fool, The Next Web and VentureBeat.

Zite publisher partners share their “best-of” content in their own sections of Zite’s app, which is available for iPad, iPhone and Android. Like the rest of the content delivered through Zite, partner publishers’ content is subject to an algorithm that delivers personalized stories to users based on their likes and dislikes.

Publishers don’t pay Zite to be included in the program. “We believe there is adequate value being created for both parties in the terms of the agreement,” a company spokeswoman said.

Zite’s competitors are also entering into more partnerships with publishers, though their business models work in different ways. The New York Times is now making its content available to paying subscribers through Flipboard as part of its “NYT Everywhere” program, with Flipboard’s revenue derived from advertising. Pulse partnered with the Wall Street Journal to offer content subscriptions through its app and is sharing the subscription revenue.

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When DIY plans meet reality: Zaarly unveils “Anywhere” API

Eliza Kern — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:00:35 +0000

Decided you want to turn your Ikea shelves into a hip, modern coffee table, but don’t own a drill? Determined to have farmhouse-style lighting in your kitchen made from canning jars, but don’t want to mess with electical wiring? DIY home decorating and recipe sites are totally hip right now, but sometimes the ideas posted can be a little too ambitious for the average chef or crafter.

With startup Zaarly’s new “Zaarly Anywhere” API, available Tuesday and already in use on several sites, users who find a photo of a cake they want for a child’s birthday or an article about a home improvement project can post the inspirational article or photo directly from the third-party site to Zaarly. The site then connects with a local chef or handyman who can turn the inspirational photo into an actual product for purchase.

Zaarly is a mobile-focused startup that allows users to post a request for almost anything and find a marketplace of individuals willing to perform that task or create that object for a stated price.

Zaarly has partnered with Everyday Health, The Fancy, the Los Angeles Times ”Home” section, Cookstr, IKEA Hackers, Remodelaholic and Simplified Building for the initial roll-out of the API, although any site that wants to add the function can go through Zaarly to add a button on their site.

At its public launch in May 2011, Zaarly looked similar to startups like TaskRabbit, where a user can request a task like grocery shopping to be performed by another user, but this API could move Zaarly more toward the creative space occupied by sites like Etsy.

In October, the startup closed $14.1 million in series A funding co-led by Kleiner Perkins and added former eBay CEO and current Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman to its board of directors.

Zaarly charges a 9.5 percent transaction fee for all credit card transactions through the site, and while users can pay in cash, credit card payments are required if a user wants to build up positive personal reviews. CEO Bo Fishback said it functions similarly to AirBnB, in which a user builds up positive peer ratings to grow his or her community standing. Fishback said that about 400,000 individuals have created accounts so far, and the site has seen more than $30 million in requests.

Below is an example of a site using the Zaarly API, which pre-populates a Zaarly post for photos or ideas listed on participating sites:

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What’s up with Google and biomass power?

Katie Fehrenbacher — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:46:29 +0000

Out of all of Google’s close to $1 billion in clean power projects, turning biomass into energy seems like the least relevant technology to Google’s core business. But Google has made a few small investments into biofuels and biomass to energy projects including a venture investment into CoolPlanetBiofuels earlier this year, and one I learned about this week: a project that turns waste from hog farms into electricity in North Carolina.

The article about the hog waste project, which was published in the Los Angeles Times, says Google invested part of the $1.2 million it cost to build the project that uses bacteria to digest hog poop, burn methane to produce electricity and convert ammonia into nitrogen for fertilizer. Duke University and the farmer Loyd Bryant were the other financiers of the system.

The article notes Google has a data center nearby, and Google will earn carbon offset credits from the system. Like some of Google’s other clean power micro investments, the project could be a way for Google to investigate ways to tap into distributed power in local regions, for either its data centers or offices. (There’s no indication this one in North Carolina will be powering anything Google related).

Remember Google was the first customer for Bloom Energy’s fuel cell, which can use biofuel, as well as natural gas and biogas, to produce electricity. Google used the Bloom Energy fuel cells to provide power in a data center test lab. Distributed energy production could be a way for Google to manage and control power costs.

Back when Google invested in CoolPlanetBiofuels, Google Ventures’ Managing Partner, Bill Maris, told me this:

As a company, Google is interested in reducing all aspects of its environmental footprint. As a firm, Google Ventures is interested in contributing to this effort both on Google’s behalf and for the benefit of positive global impact. While petroleum does not constitute a large percentage of Google’s emission profile, we are enthusiastic about supporting technologies that can help us economically reduce our carbon footprint while simultaneously contributing to our domestic energy security.

How do you think Google could use biomass and biofuel projects for its business?

Image courtesy of eutrofication&hypoxia.

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