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A great many open-source projects and companies have started on SourceForge.net. There’s currently about 176,000 registered projects and 1.8 million registered users. Sure, not all of them are active or essential software, but if you want to build an open-source project, it can be a great place to get up and going. You may not go to SourceForge directly very often, but if you download open-source software, it’s often sitting on SourceForge servers.

Continuing in the vein of bringing new technology and functionality to its army of open-source users, today SourceForge is announcing implementation of OpenID. OpenID is an open-source single sign-on technology that allows an individual to jump between online accounts without re-entering a username and password each time. That’s handy. Even better, they’re doing it the right way: They’re starting by accepting OpenID log-ins, not providing them. This follows nicely in the spirit of the open-source community. Many big name companies have declared OpenID support, but often only as Identity Providers. Meaning, they’re happy to extend their user log-ins, but won’t accept OpenIDs created elsewhere. What’s open about that? (Google’s Blogger is a major exception.)

From the SourceForge.net Community Blog: “It’s bringing us back in touch with fresh Web (2.0) technology; as a decentralized open-source standard, it’s a perfect fit for us–it allows us to streamline more user interaction and participation with our site, and hopefully more for the whole OSS community.”

If there’s been one knock against them, it’s that their infrastructure is just average, not the latest-greatest. That may be changing. This past year they’ve added wikis and other functionality that helps with collaboration around projects. There’s also Marketplace, which allows you to buy and sell related products and services.

For more information, go to: http://alexandria.wiki.sourceforge.net/OpenID

In 1999, a scanner software company called Visioneer bought ScanSoft and adopted the name. That seems to be about when current Nuance Chairman and CEO Paul Ricci entered the picture, and that’s when all the fun began.

Last November, I wrote a post titled “Top 10 technology flops.” One of the 10 was speech recognition. Judging by the feedback I got from all over the Web, you’d think I’d said Apple was a flop or Bush was a great president.

Courtesy of dozens of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) over the past 13 years, Nuance now owns much of the speech technology on planet Earth. The company boasts a $3.5 billion market cap on annual sales that will likely top $800 million this fiscal year but, remarkably, has never been profitable. I can see why. Nuance has been so busy acquiring companies it hasn’t had a chance to worry about a little thing like profitability.

The company’s history is a tribute to M&A gluttony. Let’s see if I can get this right. In 1980, Xerox (so many of these stories begin with Xerox) bought inventor Raymond Kurzweil’s optical character recognition (OCR) company and ultimately renamed it ScanSoft.

The fact that the company says little about aggressively driving its technology into the consumer space is telling. That’s simply not its business plan, and I can certainly understand why. The consumer electronics market is highly fragmented with thin margins and high support costs. And if Nuance wishes to avoid that, well, there really isn’t much competition left to twist its arm.

According to my math, the current incarnation of Nuance Communications is actually made up of 42 companies, with a $180 million acquisition of SNAPin Software in the works and an unsolicited offer of $40 million for Zi on the table. Got all that?

ScanSoft went on to acquire about a dozen other companies, including some that were themselves made up of acquired companies.

That said, I don’t really care that American Airlines can recognize my voice responses on the phone. The only speech application that actually benefits me on a day-to-day basis is on my cell phone, and that’s pretty basic stuff.

In late 2001, ScanSoft bought Lernout & Hauspie, a Belgian company that had previously acquired a host of other companies including Berkeley Speech Technologies and Dragon Systems. Amazingly, L&H–the leader in the speech technology field–was bankrupt so ScanSoft got it for a song: $39.5 million.

What I meant, at the time, was that I was disappointed that we’re not rid of all the keyboards, buttons, and remote controls by now. So I did some research and discovered that speech technology is indeed proliferating in some industries: defense, medical, call centers, and rudimentary capability for cell phones, edutainment, and high-end automobiles.

For the most part, we’re still banging away on computer keyboards and drowning in a sea of proprietary consumer electronics devices and remote controls.

I’d say Ricci is a shrewd businessman.

While all this was happening on the East Coast, Nuance spun off from Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in 1994. In 1996, the Menlo Park company deployed its first large-scale, call-center-based commercial speech application.

(Credit:
Nuance)

Still, the next time you get off the phone with an automated call-center that communicates eerily well, only to fumble around with the myriad of keyboards, buttons, and remote controls in your own life, at least you’ll know what name to curse: Nuance Communications.

And now I know why. When it comes to speech technology, one company is holding just about all the cards: Nuance Communications.

As for its business strategy, Nuance seems to have done a good job of focusing its limited resources on the largest vertical markets where it can optimize profit margins. The company’s primary focus is on helping businesses improve efficiency and productivity while reducing costs.

In September 2005, ScanSoft merged with Nuance and the combined company adopted the Nuance Communications name. Since then, Nuance has gobbled up another dozen companies, the largest of which being Dictaphone for $357 million and eScription for $400 million.

The company lists its competitors as AT&T, IBM, and Microsoft. Sounds formidable, but each of these giants competes with Nuance in specific, limited markets. Nuance is far and away the 800-pound gorilla of speech technology.

The following products are available:

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In terms of rumors, this one sounds pretty straightforward and logical, and could really come from anybody who has some basic insight into the gaming industry. But hey, other blogs are posting this item, so we feel obligated to let you in on what’s floating around out there.

(Credit:
Microsoft)

As always, feel free to comment.

(Source: Ars Technica)

On Sale Now: $298.85
View the latest prices for Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite

Ars Technica’s “favorite inside source” is at it again, telling the Web site that Sony is clearing inventory on the $399 80GB PS3 in advance of “dropping the price of hardware and launching the PS3 Slim rumor in the fall.”

According to the mole, which Ars claims has “an outstanding track record,” we should also expect Microsoft to serve up some enticing system/game bundles for the holidays, similar to what we’ve already seen with the Halo 3/Fable 2 bundle.

It’s also clear (if you believe this rumor) that Microsoft intends to keep the pressure on Sony, making sure the PS3 remains in third place behind the
Wii and Xbox 360. The other day I spoke with Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, and he gave me the impression that Microsoft fully expects Sony to drop its price to $299 this year. “Otherwise, it’s going to be very difficult for them to compete,” Greenberg said. “They have to.”

At the same time, Ars’ mole claims the 60GB Xbox 360 Pro ($299) will be replaced by the Xbox 360 Elite ($399), which has a higher-capacity 120GB hard drive. In other words, Microsoft will offer up more hard drive capacity at the $299 price point, which seems to dovetail nicely with its plans to deliver a full assortment of retail game downloads that require more disc space than
Xbox 360 Arcade titles.

Rumor has it the Xbox 360 Elite will take the place of the Pro.

Probably the most important thing to note is that the PS3 Slim rumor is alive and well and we expect it to continue to gain steam as we approach the end of the summer. In the light of Sony’s inability to keep the PSP Go a secret, if the
PS3 Slim is indeed for real, we somehow doubt Sony will be able to keep it completely under wraps.

That message appears to have sunk in with customers. Zappos came in second in a recent National Retail Federation survey regarding customer service, beating out online and offline brands including Amazon, Land’s End, and customer service legend Nordstrom.

Zappos.com's new user interface

“For some things the technical and customer service supporting a sale is very important to the customer. Whereas maybe a GPS device is less dependent upon that and is more dependent upon pricing,” Vaughan said. “Two clicks away at another Web site they may have the devices, but do they have the convenience? And in the end if you have problems and have returns customer service is critical. Price is always an issue and always going to be an issue but it’s not the only issue.”

Sometime in the next few weeks, online shoe seller Zappos.com will launch a new user interface that could soon let consumers buy lipstick and MP3 players along with Birkenstocks and Nikes.

So, is Zappos ready to take on big players like Amazon.com? Hsieh says that’s not the company’s goal, but it’ll certainly be going up against some strong competitors.

The rollout of the user interface, and the expansion into categories including small electronics and cookware, highlight the core of the company’s mind-set: find out what the customer wants, and find the best way to deliver it.

“When you redefine who you are it’s critical that you make the connection with the customer,” said Ted Vaughan, a partner in the retail and consumer product practice at consulting service DO Seidman. “What’s going to distinguish them from other companies where (they’re not as well-known), especially as they move into other areas?”

“Customers will say, ‘I wish you would start an airline.’ Well, we’re not going to do that. But if they say, ‘I wish you would sell this because I just had a horrible experience somewhere else,’ we’ll look into it,” Hsieh said. “We’re experimenting with a lot of other categories. That’s how we got into sunglasses. We’re taking the same approach–not going out and buying 10 warehouses full of pots and pans, just trying it out.”

The privately held company reported an operating profit in 2007, and “we exceeded (our goal) a little bit,” Hsieh said. In fact, things are going so well that the company recently told its 1,600 employees they would each receive a bonus equal to 10 percent of their 2007 salary.

And as Zappos tries to distinguish itself through its customer-service mantra, it’s had to cut back a bit on bargains. The main Zappos store recently changed its policy regarding price guarantees and free overnight shipping. To that end, the company recently acquired 6PM.com from eBags.com, and has designated the 6PM brand as its home for bargains.

Meanwhile, Zappos is facing challenges on its home turf. Big names like Gap and Amazon have jumped into the online shoe sale business with their Piperlime and Endless stores, respectively.

Zappos' current look

The company’s two warehouses in Kentucky hold around 4 million items, but at just under a million square feet, Hsieh says Zappos has plenty of room to grow. And that’s just what he’s planning on; by the end of 2008 the company hopes to be selling footwear, apparel, sunglasses, watches, bags, bedding/linens, cosmetics, luggage, and electronics, according to his blog.

According to Jupiter’s data, consumers on average purchased items from 4.1 categories online in 2001, out of a possible 32. By 2007, that number had grown to just 4.7.

Zappos is hoping the service that keeps customers coming back will have them looking at new categories. On any given day, 75 percent of orders are repeat customers, Hsieh said. The free shipping and customer service department stand in for advertising as well; Zappos does relatively little traditional advertising, spending about 85 percent of its marketing budget on online buys. Besides print ads in magazines, Zappos’ offline buys include ads in airport security trays where passengers place their shoes.

“Frankly I’m kind of surprised that what we put on sells, how our customers find it,” Hsieh said. “The new site is built for easier navigation and searching, with multiple categories in mind.”

“Long term, our plan is to not have any sale items on Zappos,” Hsieh said. “We want it to be more of a premium brand for customers who value service over anything else.”

“The closest analogy to a brand we might use as a model is Virgin. They’re involved in CDs and airlines and whatever, but the Virgin brand is about being cool and hip,” Hsieh said. “For us it’s about the very best customer service. Hopefully, 10 years from now people won’t even realize we started out selling shoes online.”

Zappos prides itself on attention to customer service–an 800 number is plastered on every page, along with notes promoting the company’s 24/7 customer service line and 365-day return policy. So far, this approach has been working: Zappos, which launched in 1999, had gross sales of $840 million in 2007, up from $1.6 million in 2000. As of the beginning of April, the company had a customer base of 7.7 million people.

The company is preparing to do a soft launch of the new, cleaner look to around 1,000 customers before deciding on a formal rollout plan, CEO Tony Hsieh said.

(Credit:
Zappos.com)

“Getting a customer to buy from different categories from you is difficult,” said Patty Freeman Evans, an analyst at Jupiter Research. “We’ve talked to a lot of retailers about that. What we’ve also seen…is that over time consumers have not increased number of categories across online shopping.”

One challenge will be convincing customers who are happy to buy shoes from Zappos that they should also turn to the company for other items.

(Credit:
Zappos.com)

Adding to the confusion, CNET itself bears some of the blame.

This fierce competition reinforces how important it is for Verizon to offer a near-flawless TV experience. Verizon’s executives knew that getting that experience right would be key, and that getting it right meant making sure there was enough bandwidth on the network to deliver several streams of high-definition video at once. It also meant ensuring the service was reliable and met customers’ expectations.

A Verizon commercial implies CNET reviewed the Fios TV service, but we did not.

I appreciate Verizon’s concession, and I realize that these things happen all the time. I just wanted to set the record straight and let you know that our experts never called Verizon Fios TV “near-flawless” as the result of any critical evaluation.

In Verizon’s defense, it followed standard procedure. I spoke with Bobbi Henson, the company’s media relations director, and she said that in preparation for running the ad, Verizon contacted CNET’s permissions department and asked for a license to use the quote and CNET’s logo for one year. Verizon received permission to use the words, but the ad execution did not get reviewed. As a result, the problem with the phrase being taken out of context was not caught.

Verizon is aware that CNET feels the quote was taken out of context, and Verizon has agreed to shorten what was formerly a year-long license. The ads will no longer appear after May 15, 2008. And CNET is taking steps to tighten up its ad-review process.

Here’s the all-important context: a series of Fios TV spots running in the New York metropolitan area and possibly elsewhere uses a couple of words clipped from a June 21, 2007, CNET News.com piece on Verizon’s Fios service. The commercial flashes a quote on the screen that says “near-flawless” along with the CNET logo, while a voiceover proclaims: “Your HDTV doesn’t want cable. Give it Verizon Fios, for picture quality the experts call ‘near-flawless.’” Another, more-recent ad is also running with a slightly expanded logo-backed quote that reads: “A near-flawless TV experience.” Check out the video, which CNET uploaded to YouTube, for the original spot.

Verizon is running an ad implying that CNET gave its Fios TV service’s picture quality a positive review, calling it “near-flawless.” The reality is that a CNET Networks property did use that phrasing in a news story, not a review, and the words are taken out of context.

Those words did appear on a News.com story (News.com and CNET Reviews are sister sites published by CNET Networks). But the context of the original News.com piece, titled “Verizon’s fiber-optic payoff,” reads quite differently from how Verizon is using it:

Nowhere does the News.com article give any opinion, implied or overt, about Fios TV’s actual picture quality. And CNET Reviews has not evaluated Fios TV.

Sometimes the same joke works with one person and falls flat with another. Sometimes, though, the joke just isn’t funny at all.

First lady Michelle Obama

(Credit: CC Mike Baird/Flickr)

Perhaps, though, it is less easily forgotten when it is made on Facebook. What is said on Facebook stays on Facebook. Often for quite some time.

You see, according to a report by WIS10 TV in Columbia, S.C., Rusty DePass, a prominent Republican Party activist, happened to see a Facebook post by an aide to state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

There is, as far as I am aware, no reason to believe that DePass attempted, in the vanity URL race on Saturday, to bag Facebook.com/socialmediahalfwit.

DePass also reportedly suggested that it was the first lady who initially made the comment about everyone being descended from apes. However, media organizations have tried to find these comments, without–at the time of writing–any success.

WIS10 said that DePass’ comment had been removed from Facebook, as had his Facebook page.

One might have thought that, having written these words, he might have attempted to make a swift correction. However, it appears to have taken a blogger, Will Folks, to obtain a screen capture of the comment for an apology to be forthcoming.

DePass, once a state Senate candidate, responded to the post with these words: “I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors - probably harmless.”

Only then did DePass issue an apology: “I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone. The comment was clearly in jest.”

Jokes are funny things.

The post described an escape by a gorilla on Friday from the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia.

There’s jest. And then there’s clear jest.

Once his FITSNews.com site raised the issue, it was taken up by other media outlets.

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble appears to have seen no clear jest at all. He told WIS10: “You know, I think the comment is inappropriate. It’s a racist comment.”

That can be forgotten when it’s made in the company of friends over a gin, a tonic, and a country club bar.

The TV station reported that it had received confirmation from DePass that he had, indeed, been speaking of the first lady, Michelle Obama.

“Pollsters are saying the youth vote will decide this election,” contributor Alvin Chang, a senior at New York University, wrote on Youth Vote ‘08 Wednesday.

UWire, an aggregator of student-generated content, on Wednesday launched its election blog Youth Vote ‘08.

Disclosure: CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.

“There are a tremendous number of first-time voters who will be crucial in this election, and Youth Vote ‘08 will provide direct insight into the issues they are facing along with their mindset,” Ben French, vice president and general manager of UWIRE, said in a press release.

In partnership with CBS News and Washingtonpost.com, UWIRE has selected 50 young journalists–including columnists, editorial cartoonists, photographers and news reporters–to cover the presidential election from the perspective of young voters.

See you in Austin!

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I wouldn’t be surprised if the economic recession took a back burner at SXSWi. At a more buttoned-up conference like the Web 2.0 Expo, which is happening later this month in San Francisco, I imagine it’ll be front and center. But SXSWi is full of innovators and dreamers, and the what’s-next focus may mean that many speakers and panelists opt to simply accept the fact that budgets are tight and times are hard, and instead target the future. Whether that comes across as hardy optimism or just out-of-touch, well, we’ll have to see.

The breakout Web app at SXSWi 2008 was arguably Sched.org, which one of the founders of music blog aggregator The Hype Machine created as a way to let conference-goers organize their agendas. But its event-centric focus meant that it didn’t catch on the way Twitter did in 2007. I’m pretty sure we won’t see another Twitter-like breakout this year, and I think most veteran SXSWi-goers would agree. That was a case of the perfect time and the perfect place, and two years later it’s still the dot-com du jour. You don’t see something like that every year.

That said, we may see some moderate SXSWi stars: Loopt, Brightkite, Whrrl, and FourSquare are all going to be gunning for the top spot in location-based social networking at a conference where finding out where everyone goes after-hours is crucial.

Expect a lot of talk about the future of media and entertainment. Newspapers are dying, Twitter’s all over the news as a form of media consumption, and the digital TV and movie wars are raging like 300. You’ll be hearing more from me on this one.

This is part four of a four-part series. Here are part one (the launches), part two (the panels), and part three (the parties).

So there are just a few hours left before I have to head to the airport and hop a flight to Austin for this year’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival, and I wanted to take up just one more blog post to talk about what the week’s big trends are going to be. Remember last year when everyone kept asking, “So what’s this year’s Twitter?” and then it didn’t happen? Yeah. It won’t happen this year, either.

MTI has signed on a partners to develop GPS devices and digital cameras that use its fuel cells.

The development could lead to external chargers, snap-on attachments or devices with the Mobion fuel cell embedded in them, the companies said.

The two companies said they will develop digital devices that use MTI Micro’s Mobion fuel cells, which use liquid methanol cartridges as a fuel.

Dr. James Y. Yu, president of NeoSolar, showing off his company's Wibrain ultra mobile PC and the Mobion chip.

Other consumer electronics manufacturers, including Sharp, are also developing direct methanol to fuel cell chargers.

Rather drawing on tanks of hydrogen to make electricity in a fuel cell, MTI Micro’s Mobion uses methanol. The advantage is that it’s a liquid fuel that can be easily transported and store, say backers. The byproduct of using the fuel is water and carbon dioxide, in relatively small amounts.

(Credit:
NeoSolar)

MTI Micro and Korean manufacturer NeoSolar said on Thursday they will build prototype ultra-mobile PCs powered by fuel cells.

Fuel cells are being developed for a wide range of applications, from back-up electricity in buildings and data centers to transportation.

Walt Disney is eyeing acquisitions, but AOL is not one of them, according to the Associated Press.

Regarding reports that Yahoo is looking to partner with another company to thwart a takeover bid from Microsoft, Iger said: “We watch these things from afar.”

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger, speaking at a media conference on Wednesday, said the company is interested in purchasing other companies, but not Time Warner’s AOL.

Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes has said his company would consider selling off or spinning out AOL.