Posts tagged Bebo at Download Squad

Posts with tag bebo

Qbox: Music player for songs from social networks

Posted Jun 20th 2008 6:00PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Audio, Internet, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0

Qbox is a search engine/media player combo that lets you find and listen to music available from social networking sites including MySpace, Bebo, and YouTube. The interface is a bit more complicated than it needs to be. If you just download the standalone media player for Windows, you'll be told that you need to sign in if you want to search for music.

Search results are displayed in your default web browser, which is odd because the Qbox media player acts as sort of a stripped down browser for playing web audio and video clips. Don't ask us why it won't display search results.

Now here comes the important part: Qbox is not compatible with Firefox 3. If you conduct a search from the media player or the web site using Firefox 3, you'll get a list of songs. But when you click the play buttons next to those songs, you'll be told that you haven't installed the Qbox media player if you're using Firefox 3. When we logged into the web site with Internet Explorer, everything worked properly. But when we tried to search from songs from the media player interface, the results were again displayed in our default browser, which was Firefox 3. There doesn't seem to be a way to select your prefered browser from within the software.

You can also click on genre tags to browse for songs within the media player itself. Qbox is currently available as a public beta, so it's possible the company could improve the interface and adds Firefox 3 compatibility.

[via AppScout]

AOL completes take-over of Bebo

Posted May 19th 2008 10:00PM by Cory Bohon
Filed under: Internet, Social Software, AOL, web 2.0

AOL completed its acquisition of social networking site Bebo today. You may remember that AOL announced it would buy Bebo for $850 million back in March. According to InformationWeek Bebo will be the center of AOL's new People Network business unit. Heading up this business unit is Joanna Shields who will serve as president. This "People Network" will consist of three AOL services: AIM, ICQ, and now Bebo.

While Bebo is most popular in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand, AOL is hoping grow this upcoming social network in the US. Silicon Alley Insider seems to think AOL will layoff employees working in the AIM/ICQ division due to the restructuring process.

What do you think? Did AOL make a good decision? Do you think this acquisition puts AIM at risk? Be sure to voice your opinion in the comments!

Disclaimer: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. which owns DownloadSquad.

[via InformationWeek]

AOL buys social networking site Bebo for $850 million

Posted Mar 13th 2008 10:00AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, AOL, web 2.0

AOL has picked up social networking site Bebo for a huge wad of cash. While we didn't really see this coming, the move makes a lot of sense. AOL's audiences tend to skew old (you know, except for the fine young folks who read AOL-owned blogs like Download Squad), while Bebo is big with the 13-24 set and has 40 million registered users.

While Bebo doesn't have the name recognition of Facebook or MySpace in the US, it's huge in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand. And it does have a considerable US audience as well. Perhaps most importantly, regular users click on an average of 78 pages per day, showing a high level of user engagement.

[via paidContent]

Is Google playing Microsoft to Facebook's Apple?

Posted Nov 1st 2007 5:30PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: Internet, Google, Social Software, web 2.0

Microsoft became the market leader in operating system deployment largely by making its OS and software available to any hardware maker that wanted to license the technology. Apple, on the other hand, has always insisted the its OS should only run on Apple-labeled computers. So while Microsoft is often slammed for not being "open," the company owes much of what it is to early openness.

And it looks like Microsoft arch rival Google may be playing the same card when it comes to social networking. The company's OpenSocial social networking platform allows third party companies to partner with Google. While Facebook opened up its API earlier this year, allowing third parties to create applications, Google has attracted some major players, including MySpace, Six Apart, and Bebo, LinkedIn, Ning, Friendster, Plaxo, and Hi5. That's sort of the equivalent of getting IBM and HP on your side.

But here's what makes OpenSocial different. You'll notice that some of the big names in there are other social networks. That's because OpenSocial is a platform, not a website. MySpace, Friendster, and other social networks partnering with Google will use OpenSocial APIs, meaning if you develop an application for one site it will function on all the other sites.

In other words, OpenSocial isn't a social networking site. It's a common set of APIs that will be used by social networking sites -- and Google is behind the initiative, which gives them the same kind of status here that Microsoft had in the early days of desktop operating systems. You know, if you think desktop OSes and social networks are comparable, which they're probably not.

eBay looking towards social networks for growth

Posted Mar 1st 2007 5:00PM by Chris Gilmer
Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software

eBay is on the lookout for strategies that attract a younger demographic, and given that the new generation hangs out online, social networks are looking like a viable option for them.

The Wall Street Journal reports that eBay is looking towards the Bebo social network which caters largely towards teenagers. eBay has listed out some thoughts on how this Bebo team up would work: Bebo users would be able to list items they wish to buy or sell, when listed items are clicked on, a list would send the user to eBay.

Simple strategy, but will it work? If the items are attractive enough to that demographic it should. eBay has also recently looked into MySpace possibilities that would work in a similar way, and currently have a partnership with Facebook. The Facebook partnership allows users to search for used textbooks in an eBay sponsored store on the social network.

eBay's average user hovers between 35-44.

[via PaidContent]

Bebo overtakes MySpace in the UK

Posted Aug 9th 2006 10:55AM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Yesterday I mentioned that media giant Viacom is rumored to be courting social networking site Bebo for a possible acquisition. Now comes news that Bebo has overtaken MySpace in the UK with the help of its new music service Bebo Bands. For the week ending August 5, Bebo was the most-visited social networking site in the UK, according to Hitwise. Hitwise says Bebo users also stay on the site longer--on average about 29 minutes compared to 26.5 on MySpace. Mashable has more details.

Viacom sets its sights on Bebo

Posted Aug 8th 2006 1:30PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Web services, Social Software

What do you do when you're a huge media conglomerate and the huge media conglomerate across the street owns the biggest social networking site in town? You buy the next biggest social networking site in town, of course! Okay, so Bebo isn't actually the second-biggest social networking site in the U.S. (that would be Facebook, according to Hitwise), but it's pretty darn huge, and in a move mirroring News Corp.'s acquisition of MySpace, Viacom is considering a Bebo buyout. Last year Viacom lost to News Corp. in the $580 million bidding war for MySpace, and according to the Financial Times, "Viacom has approached Bebo but its plans are at a very early stage." Bebo reportedly turned down a recent offer from U.K. telecom conglomerate BT Group to the tune of $550 million.

Bebo turns down Facebook-scale acquisition

Posted Jul 11th 2006 12:25PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Web services, Social Software

According to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, social networking site Bebo, which claims 25 million registered users and a large user base in the U.K., recently turned down a $550 million acquisition offer from U.K. telecom conglomerate BT Group. Compare to MySpace, which sold to News Corp. for $500 million last summer, and Facebook which turned down a reported $750 million. Bebo appears to be taking a gamble similar to Facebook's, reportedly asking for more than a billion dollars from potential suitors. Facebook, of course, did not win that particular gamble, as no offers of anywhere near that magnitude have come its way since then, but nevertheless the site doesn't seem any worse for it.

Five social networking sites to look out for

Posted Jun 16th 2006 12:15PM by Jordan Running
Filed under: Web services

Reading a lot of articles about social networking, one gets the impression that the consensus is that MySpace is peaking. MySpace will ever die, I think, but whether it will be the destination it is now in five years seems doubtful. Right now no other site holds a candle to its critical mass, but that doesn't mean everyone else is resting on their laurels. Blogger Fred Stutzman has written an interesting article called Social Networking: Five Sites You Need to Know, in which he examines five of the most promising, but low-profile, contenders for MySpace's throne. On his list are Cyworld, with 90% penetration among South Korean youth, Bebo, which has 20 million registered users and is especially popular in the U.K., Hi5 with 40 million users and a strong presence in India, Faceparty, a long-established U.K. brand with 6 million users and an interesting monetization scheme, and XuQa, a service with just 1 million users aimed at the college set, which Stutzman describes as "purposefully racy, full of game-like features-an anti-Facebook." He concludes with some sound observations about social networking trends. If you're interested in social networking but as sick of MySpace as I am, it's worth a read.

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Brad Linder	134	17
2	Joey Celis	47	0
3	Jay Hathaway	46	14
4	Drew Olanoff	34	37
5	Christina Warren	15	4
6	Kristin Shoemaker	14	11
7	Lee Mathews	12	12
8	Danny Mendez	7	3
9	Nancy Messieh	6	0
10	Emily Price	5	0
11	Alan Silcott	4	7
12	Todd Ritter	4	0
13	Ian Dumych	3	1
14	Jason Clarke	3	0
15	Adam Maras	3	1
16	Dolores Parker	2	6
17	Patrick Beeson	2	5
18	Nik Fletcher	2	0
19	Gordon Finlayson	2	0
20	Victor Agreda, Jr.	1	2

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Qbox: Music player for songs from social networks

AOL completes take-over of Bebo

AOL buys social networking site Bebo for $850 million

Is Google playing Microsoft to Facebook's Apple?

eBay looking towards social networks for growth

Bebo overtakes MySpace in the UK

Viacom sets its sights on Bebo

Bebo turns down Facebook-scale acquisition

Five social networking sites to look out for

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