Bebo is not in the social networking spotlight as often as MySpace and Facebook, but it’s doing a darn good job at always breathing down their necks. A couple of weeks ago Bebo launched its API (compatible with Facebook’s application platform), and as Programmable Web’s data shows, the number of Bebo applications has since been growing in a steep curve.

With a little over 900 applications Bebo is still far from Facebook’s 14,000+ apps, but Facebook’s API has been around much longer. If you look at sheer growth, Bebo is growing at about half the rate of Facebook, which is still a very good result if you consider that Facebook’s API has been a stellar success (although some might argue *cough* me *cough* that most, if not all, apps on the platform are completely useless.)

The entire picture will be much clearer when LinkedIn and MySpace’s app platforms go live, but judging by these results, Bebo might not be the last to cross the finish line here.

[graphs courtesy of Programmable Web]

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Twitter dumped Joyent as its hosting provider late yesterday (see our report here) and it was presumed by some that the switch away form Joyent was due to the poor reliability of the service. We later learnt that Twitter had switched to Verio, and this is where the rumor mill gets interesting.

According to one source, the move to Verio wasn’t related to issues with Joyent, but due to a yet to be disclosed investment from Japanese telco NTT, who are also the full owners of Verio. They did not provide the amount of the investment or terms, but they suggested it was finalized at the same time the Digital Garage investment was announced. Apparently it had been a done deal for months prior to that, hence the talk that Twitter had been planning a move away from Joyent for months. The Digital Garage deal was announced January 16, so presuming reasonable preparations before that, 15 days after signing to make the move is a reasonable enough time frame.

There is some sense in the notion that NTT may have been involved along side Digital Garage in taking a strategic investment in Twitter. Although both companies are separate, they often cross paths in Japan, and staff such as Stuart Woodward have worked for both. Twitter’s still strong roots as a mobile offering would also appeal to NTT, particularly as Google tries to break into Japan with Jaiku one of the platforms they may eventually be offering, and Digital Garage is creating a Japanese version, so all the better if NTT gets the mobile version of that exclusively on their phones. NTT does however have a search deal with Google, but no doubt due to the promised financial returns from it as opposed to any greater love for Larry and Sergey.

This is an unconfirmed tip so we’ve put an email into Twitter for comment on this, and if we get a response we’ll add it.

On the reliability side, the move to Verio isn’t going well for Twitter so far with regular down time, delayed messages and related issues in the just over 24 hours since the move was made. As one wag suggested on Twitter, “even www.istwitterdown.com can’t keep up.”

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Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

What it does

What’s for dinner? Simple question, but surprisingly, often difficult to answer. If you’re the frugal type or merely lazy and out of ideas, something like SuperCook could be right up your alley. Essentially, SuperCook is a recipe search engine. How it works: you type in the ingredients you have on hand lying around the kitchen into the My Kitchen section—more ingredients are obviously better; SuperCook will then cook something up for you via its digital algorithms and you’ll have a nice little, tasty recipe ready in minutes. Of course, some of the recipes will require you to make a stop at your local grocery store—but the majority work with whatever you have in the cupboards; also SuperCook lists those need to be bought ingredients clearly, so you don’t have to sift through ten or twenty recipes to find the right one. Results can be filtered by starters, entrees, and desserts too.

In their own words

“Supercook is a new recipe search engine that finds recipes you can make with the ingredients you have at home. To begin, simply start adding ingredients you have. The more ingredients you add, the better the results will be.”

Why it might be a killer

What’s nice about SuperCook is that it actually counts the number of dishes you can make and it tells you what you’ll need right from the start. Other recipe search engines fail to advise you of this. SuperCook has a fresh, uncluttered interface. Common ingredients are auto-filled for you. The site also has a wide range of features besides its search engine—a community, the ability to add notes and send to your cell phone, nutritional info, menus, etc.

Some questions

Can users import recipes? Does SuperCook actually come up with viable recipes? Does it offer substitutions?

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

Over a year after Leica rolled out its action plan to address those buggy M8s fresh off the factory floor, the digicam company is announcing yet another upgrade path, but this time it's not on the house. Apparently, M8 owners that fall deeply in love with their shooter can get their name on a "waiting list," and once their number is called, they get the privilege of shipping their device to Germany where a number of tweaks can be made. Reportedly, each M8 is suitable for upgrading, and aside from getting sent back with a fresh two-year warranty, it can also be fitted with a scratch-resistant LCD monitor cover (um, riveting?) and a new "electronically-controlled metal-blade slotted shutter that offers less noise and vibration." Unfortunately, these changes will supposedly set one back €1,200 ($1,775), but alas, Leica suggests that said payment will make the M8 a "lifetime investment." Right, just like that $9,000 desktop you procured in 1996.

 

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What it does

SetYourRate is a directory for any type of service. The UK based site is implementing a self set auction to the local service industry. Individuals with a service to offer advertise themselves, however buyers set the price. Each provider than battles it out to meet that price. As it's completely user-based, services can run from the general—personal trainer—to the more specific—private Spanish tutor. Each bid contains the service details, cost per hour and messaging. Service providers or sellers may set up a profile, while buyers may fill out a form and state their needs and the price they're willing pay. Service sellers can then browse and bid on those requests. Currently, the service is only available for UK residents. Registration is free.

In their own words

"We witnessed the frustrations people had when they wanted to find a specific Service, for example a local Spanish tutor, personal trainer or cleaner, and the lack of instantly accessible information about the Service.



Starting with this issue we planned our product from scratch with the goal of making the process of finding and advertising Services simpler, more efficient and more effective.



The other reason we created

SetYourRate.com was to simplify and produce a site where ad hoc Services could be found and accessed. We saw this opportunity after looking at our friends and family and instantly saw skill sets which they could effortlessly package and offer as a micro Service. The result is



SetYourRate.com enables anyone to offer freelance Services using just their skill sets and availability."

Why it might be a killer

This is a good idea—service providers can easily offer their skills and buyers can get the right price. The interface is clean and easy to navigate. It's got a professional layout that will attract the right people and it's accessible to everyone.

Some questions

Most of these sellers seem to be amateurs. I doubt the majority would be willing to trust them—the phone book seems a safer bet. Will they integrate a payment platform? Is there anyway to assure that service providers are legit?

Updates


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What it does

Got pictures you need hosting? For free? Pickaloo will do it for you. Pickaloo is a new and free image and photo hosting site. So if you want to share photos with family and friends, try Pickaloo. Like so many other image hosting sites, Pickaloo lets you upload your photos for use on blogs, forums, social networking sites, eBay, and whatever else could use a photo or two. There’s no need to register, in fact it’s not even a choice. Simply upload a photo and you’re set to go. You can choose to keep the image private if you want and you can add search tags for it as well. The site is easy peasy to use with a straightforward UI. There’s also an option to host non-image file sharing for 30 days. So, go ahead, share away.

In their own words

“Pickaloo.com is a free image hosting and photo sharing service to share photo by users who want free image hosting, photo sharing and to share photo. Images hosted here can be used on forums, blogs, on social networking sites such as Myspace, eBay and other auction websites, on classifieds and for other personal use. Share photo with family and friends. We also offer non-image file sharing for up to 30 days. We've built a user friendly interface that allows ease of use”

Why it might be a killer

Pickaloo offers a cute name and a simple and free way to upload your photos and images. It’s no frills design is easy to use and works. There’s really no need for anything more.

Some questions

Do we need yet another photo hosting site? Pickaloo doesn’t offer anything new to the mix. Is there a user base for Pickaloo?

Updates


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While the Associated Press has talked a lot about adapting to a new internet-centric world, there's still very little evidence that it's doing anything different. It's still trying to act like a gatekeeper rather than an enabler. However, it appears that Reuters is actually experimenting with something interesting. It has a new project, called OpenCalais, designed to help any information provider extract useful metadata from written content. In other words, it's an automated system that you can run an article or a blog post through, and it will return useful data in a structured manner. For example, if you wrote an article about Google's earning report, it would note that the article was about Google, that it had to do with an earnings report, and maybe connect some important other points. The idea, then, is that the more useful semantic data that's there, the more useful things that can be done on top of it. For those who believe that better use of semantic data is the key opportunity for newspapers to jump to the internet age, this could represent a very big deal. Of course, there's a very big "if" in that statement. The service actually needs to work well and be useful. It also needs to attract users. There's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem here, as the really useful apps built on top of that data won't come unless the data itself is available. Having Reuters behind the project suggests a strong initial base of content, but it remains to be seen how much adoption can actually be driven through this system. Some of it may depend on how much in the way of resources Reuters has put behind this project to jumpstart it (and whether that commitment continues after Reuter's acquisition by Thomson Financial closes). Either way, it's an experiment worth following, and one a lot more interesting than simply demanding that people pay more money.

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What it does

SOASTA develops apps and hardware for automating web load testing. Their two main products include the SOASTA sBox and Concerto. The sBox is a hardware appliance which supports all common testing types: performance, functional, web UI and Ajax. sBox contains everything you need to build load tests for any web app. It's priced at $2000 a month for 2000 users. Concerto is a browser based UI which lets you test anywhere, anytime. It comprises a single integrated testing environment. It comes with an immersive visual testing environment with a drag and drop interface. SOASTA also provides consulting services to assist you in managing SOASTA projects, delivering turnkey web testing solutions, and converting existing tests to work with Concerto.

In their own words

"At SOASTA we strive to make professional Web testing available to organizations of all sizes worldwide at an affordable price. As you continue to rely on the Web to provide the customer experience, high quality application performance is not just an expectation, it's a requirement. So, we've taken our SOASTA Concerto Web testing application, combined it with a dedicated hardware environment, and created the sBox Load Testing Appliance to help you better understand and plan for the capacity and performance of your Web applications. One box gives you all the essentials for creating and running high volume load tests within minutes . . . 24x7x365. Just plug it in, turn it on, and you're ready to test."

Why it might be a killer

SOASTA provides a professional and elegant all in one tool for automated load testing. It's affordable and easy to use.

Some questions

How efficient is their customer support? What's the refund policy?

Updates


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What it does

Party planners listen up, Purple Trail wants to change the way you party (and plan). The newly launched party planning site puts Adobe Air and Ruby on Rails to great use. It has a bevy of innovative features that bring it a notch above the usual event planning sites. Among these features are event access anywhere, any time from your mobile, invite tracking and management, hundreds of invite designs and themes to personalize your invite, a rich desktop application, and consensus building tools (so you never have to worry about having to get a group of people to agree on getting together through a massive chain mail mess or what have you). PurpleTrail just makes party planning easy.

In their own words

“The act of sending invitations has come a long way since the days of horse carried mail. We now communicate regularly with emails and instant messages. We have always enjoyed exchanging stories, sharing food, entertaining each other and celebrating festive occasions. But when it comes to organizing the simplest of get-togethers like a weekend movie or dinner outing, it can become an agonizing affair. Just getting everyone on the same page with the time and place can bring your plans to a screeching halt.”

Why it might be a killer

PurpleTrail is a good innovative site that covers all your event planning needs. It has no ads and lets you choose from 100s of themes for invites and emails. There’s plenty of organizational and feedback team; overall it’s a very thorough site.

Some questions

Can PurpleTrail compete with the established sites? How will it respond to the growing number of invitation sites popping up?

Updates


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What it does

U5Me is a chat tool that enables customers to get in contact with your service reps in real-time. Your personal chat button or hyperlink can be set up anywhere on the internet—users can get in touch with you after reading your articles, messages, blog, auction site, etc. Users get their own URL: htt://yourname.u5me.com. Chat histories, customer information, and contact details can be easily stored in convenient folders so you can instantly send out data later on. File transfers and canned messages are also available. It's compatible with the most popular web browsers. A free edition is available. Paid versions start at $5 a month.

In their own words

"U5Me is a simple movable chat tool that enables your internet users to communicate with your personnel in real-time. Internet users to your website or posts simply click a U5Me button and are connected with you. They can also input your own U5Me URL in the browsers to open the chat window and chat with you. You can also initiate chat invitations to valuable visitors. U5Me Pro can identify valuable visitors and make chat survey to manage your forums, blogs or questions from your internet users."

Why it might be a killer

This is a useful tool for those looking to promote their business or service. It's easy to set up, it's affordable and it's convenient.

Some questions

Will more features be added? How easy is it to use for less technically savvy types.

Updates


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