Friendster is back. In full effect? The social network that helped start online social networking as the mainstream phenomenon we now experience has reportedly raised $20 million, according to The New York Times. Even though Friendster may not make your top five list in the US online social networking market, the stutter-stepping social network had a large push overseas and has managed to become well established in the Asian market, proving that a startup can reinvent itself with audiences outside of the oftentimes more lucrative US.

The $20 million round of funding was led by IDG Ventures, with existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Founders Fund participating in this round. Aside from the new infusion of investment funding, Friendster has also landed former Google regional managing director from South Asia Richard Kimber as its new chief executive. With Kimber’s previous experience in the Asian market, it appears as though Friendster plans on deepening its ties to the demographic that’s sustained its social network for the past couple of years.

Nevertheless, there are other social networks that are continuing to infringe on the global market, launching various localized sites all around the world. That’s not to mention the existing social networks that are developed and launched from within the Asian market. While no details have been released regarding Friendster’s plans for this recent round of funding, it’s clear that a very decisive plan for growing its presence in Asia, which includes hopes for significant revenue, are items that are likely at the top of Friendster’s list.

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Kaltura is an interesting video collaboration and publishing service that we talked about a great deal last year, but despite their relative quiet this year hasn’t been sitting on their hands.

It’s been a little while, so in case you’ve forgotten, Kaltura was the 2007 People’s Choice award winner in the video sharing category of the Open Web Awards, they’re described by some as a “wiki meets YouTube,” allowing for online video collaboration in the creation of online video. They also work heavily as a company on the challenge of monetizing and creating advertising opportunities for authors and publishers.

Today, though, James Lewin over at Podcasting News tips us off that they’ve just released an interactive video plugin for WordPress blogs versioned 2.5 or better. The plug-in not only makes it easier to embed Kaltura videos in blog posts (which is always a pain, whether it’s Kaltura or YouTube), but it also imports a slew of functionality from the Kaltura toolset into the framework of WordPress for easy access.

They boast a few minute, four step installation process and full integration into the WYSIWYG editor.

Brad Hunstable guest hosted Mashable Conversations last year at the Open Web Awards, and had an opportunity to learn a bit more about Kaltura and what they’re doing. It’s a short video that succinctly sheds some light on their goals and the changing face of the tool they offer from entertainment device to actual business tool, and gave a great list of company-style applications for it.

You can grab the interview by playing the embed below, downloading the MP4 or subscribing to the feed.

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Yahoo may seem like it’s in a death spiral, but that has not stopped the developers from doing their work. Today we saw the announcement of the Yahoo! Music API.

The API is a fairly complete offering, giving developers lots of access to various parts of Yahoo’s catalog as well as user recommendations and ratings. As an example of what can be done with the new API, Yahoo points to their music video application on Facebook, which has been up and running since last year.

As a developer, the first question seems to be what data formats are available. Obviously, Yahoo is listening to the developer community because the API offers XML, JSON and RSS formats. There is also extensive API documentation in the API Guide. Most importantly, what does the API give you and what makes it better than the others?

The API is broken into 9 services and the video player API. The video player API allows you to embed the Yahoo! Music Videos Flash Player to quickly play any videos found through the API services.

The only initial concern with the API is that any service calls for ratings or recommendations require the use of BBAuth, a Yahoo-specific authentication mechanism. Otherwise, there is a lot you can do with these services, including:

* Artist Service
* Category Service
* Image Service
* Rating Service
* Release Service
* Station Service
* Track Service
* User Service
* Video Service

Each of the services has several options as well. For example, the Artist Service allows you to retrieve information for a specific artist by ID. There are also services for retrieving the list of popular artists and the artists within a specific category. As expected, several of the services have a search method when you do not know the ID of the item you would like to retrieve.

How does the API compare to other API offerings from Yahoo Music competitors? Imeem has an API that is geared towards how the site is used, allowing you to get information about your playlists, your friends and groups as well as some basic catalog information. Last.fm has an API that has been around for quite some time at AudioScrobbler.net. Most of the Last.fm API pertains to your profile, tags and recent activity. Given that both Imeem and Last.fm have a heavy social component, they are significantly better for finding recommendations from your “friends”. However, given the breadth of the services available, especially for standard catalog information, Yahoo’s API looks like a formidable competitor.

One important addition to all of this is Yahoo’s terms of service. You are limited to 5000 requests per day, which should be fine for a simple mashup as long as you do not get much traffic.

As expected, you are not allowed to use the API for commercial purposes, but you may contact Yahoo for permission. This is not any different from many other music APIs, so that is no surprise. Oddly enough, there is one item that needs to be highlighted:

You shall not use the Yahoo! Music APIs in a product or service that competes with products or services offered by Yahoo!

I can understand the point of this, but it seems a little heavy handed. If they are afraid of someone having a competing service that is better, make a service that is better than theirs.

Overall, I love the functionality that the Music API is offering. It is very detailed and provides several ways to get information. If I was a mashup developer, I would be concerned about the terms of service because they are not friendly in any way. Given the current state that Yahoo is in, I do not think they would try to shut down a decent service because it competed with theirs. They would not want the PR nightmare that would follow. Hopefully, people will find interesting uses for the API because you do not see APIs this solid every day.

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Facebook has just kicked off this year’s fbFund competition for application developers. First announced last month at the F8 conference, Facebook is now accepting submissions from developers, 25 of which will earn $25,000 grants to further pursue their ventures. From there, the pool will be narrowed to 5 application ideas that will receive $250,000 each.

The unique aspect of fbFund versus traditional fundraising is that the money is a no strings attached grant - almost. According to Facebook, “The Founders Fund and Accel Partners [the VC firms that provide the money for fbFund] will have the right to fund these companies first if more funding is desired, but beyond this, no equity or debt will be associated with any grant made.”

In other words, while you’ll still own 100% of your company after winning the fbFund money, if you want to raise additional capital, fbFund’s backers get first dibs.

Applications are due by August 29th, with winners of the first round announced in late September. Additional details on how to apply and judging criteria are available on the fbFund web site.

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According to numerous reports, Apple has taken down a popular free application called Box Office just days after it removed NetShare, then allowed it back onto the App Store over the weekend, only to take it down once again.

Apple has yet to respond to the takedown, but some are speculating that it could be due to security, while others believe there’s a more egregious reason altogether.

Either way, it has me thinking: what’s going on with the App Store?  Sure, Apple has only removed two applications so far and there’s no indication that the company is unilaterally removing applications for no reason, but doesn’t it beg the question of whether or not the apps available on the service will thrive in this application ecosystem?

If nothing else, Apple may be taking a too hands-on approach to its development.  Why should Apple be the last say in whether or not an app survives?

I know, I know, “it’s Apple’s store.”  So what?  Just because Apple owns the store, it doesn’t mean that it should force developers to be beholden to AT&T and other organizations that have a vested interest in making sure a certain application either survives or dies.

When Steve Jobs first outlined how the App store would work, his entire discussion was underscored by Apple’s perceived belief that developers would have a free hand in developing applications that would benefit the consumer.  But after the past week progressed, I can’t help but wonder if that freedom is severely limited.

Granted, the company did allow NetShare to go back up, but it quietly pulled it again and so far, it hasn’t made its way back.  All the while, Apple may be setting itself up for another unlocking debacle if it doesn’t allow the most compelling applications to thrive in its application ecosystem.

Ironically, this looks quite similar to Facebook’s preferential treatment of applications on its own service.  At F8, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would start utilizing the “Great Apps Program,” which aims to find the best-in-breed applications and give them “greater visibility on Facebook, earlier access to new features, and more feedback from Facebook.”

Some think this will help users distinguish between the good apps and the bad, but I think it’s nothing more than another example of certain developers finding ways to game the system and ensure that quality doesn’t matter if the right partnership is formed.

That’s not to say that either Apple or Facebook will make sweetheart deals with organizations and there’s currently no indication that that will ever happen.  But doesn’t it leave open the possibility of some level of corruption that could hamper the viability of either service?

In other words, why don’t Apple and Facebook stay out of it and let us decide which applications are necessary and those that should have no place on the service?  It’ll solve the main problem that could develop if Apple and Facebook play too big a role with their services: trust.

After all, if we can’t trust the company owning the service, how can we trust the apps?

[Box Office image credit: Gizmodo]

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The Blue Cross, a UK-based pet charity, is hoping to drive some traffic to its new website, allaboutpets, with an Oddcast-powered viral marketing scheme that is sure to get some attention. The Oddcast talking avatars, which can be customized at TalkingPets.org, are being put to use in a campaign that’s quite similar to Elf Yourself, where users can choose a pet avatar or upload an image of their own pet.

You can then enter text that the pet avatar will speak aloud or choose from a pre-recorded speech. From there, you can customize the talking animal with background scenes and accessories (i.e. cowboy hat and gold chain–bling!), and send your avatar off to friends, via email.

As with all Oddcast talking avatars, any images uploaded must meet specific criteria for being able to fit into the avatar template for speech purposes, so this particular feature can be somewhat limiting in the grand scheme of things. And as far as sharing goes, there are no direct embed options, but there is the option of sharing your creation on your Facebook profile.

Soon, there will be a slightly different sharing option for MySpace users, who will have the capability of typing messages into the TalkingPets application and having them converted into talking pet avatars, which is more directly interactive to end users.

For allaboutpets’ intents and purposes, it will also feature a talking pet avatar on its site, as well as an exclusive AOL ad that will feature a talking pet avatar that reads the current news headlines in real time. The hope is to attract pet owners to the new allaboutpets website, where pet owners can interact with each other and gain access to relevant information pertaining to their pets.

Charades is a fun little trivia game that doesn’t require any boards, small pieces that children can choke on, or complicated instructions that resemble your new car guide. This game can be played any time and anywhere with just about any group of people, thanks to its nearly universal trivia appeal, and “anywhere” now includes the Web. A new site called youCharades has turned the game of charades into a Web-based community where users can partake in the guessing aspect of charades or the acting part–or both.

There are youCharades actors that have already populated the site with a good amount of trivia for you to guess, and each correct answer gets you 10 points. To make things more exciting, there are also challenges and youCharades will also keep track of your winning streaks, in case you’d like additional parameters for topping the leaderboards. If you’d like to upload your own charades content, you can do so from your computer or directly from your webcam.

Given the focus of youCharades on sometimes impromptu games, the webcam integration is a great feature for the site and its members. Each user has their own profile, so keeping track of the games they’ve played, challenges they’ve taken, and videos they’ve uploaded is easy. There’s also private messaging and ratings for uploaded content, though there doesn’t appear to be any friending or following options for individual users.

One feature I like is the embeddable capabilities of a charades category, which means that anyone can play a game of charades wherever the video is posted across the Web. Once they’ve correctly guessed a round (or have given up) they can continue on to the next. This continual play feature is great for the widget, as it’s more engaging than a single round of charades (and that should make it more appealing for advertisement, should youCharades layer that in). Seeing as youCharades already has webcam integration, I think it may be fun to have live games on the web (similar to the format used by WooMe), once this community gains some traction.

Let’s face it: Social media has become one of the hot buzzwords in tech circles. It used to be Web 2.0 and social networking, but now we have moved on to a broader term that encompasses not only social networking, but blogs, podcasts, user-generated content, social bookmarking, microblogging, and lifestreams. The rise of all these forms of new media has also created demand for people who can help companies position and market themselves within this new realm.

Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research has been compiling a list of people who hold social media jobs. The list is nowhere near comprehensive, but the company hiring social media marketers, community managers, strategists, specialists, and consultants is impressive. Microsoft, IBM, Intel, GM, Cisco, AMD, Nationwide, MTV, and Google are only the beginning of this list. Companies big and small are hiring people at a rapid pace for social media roles.

But a year or three from now, will companies still be hiring for these positions? Should you be adding to your credentials so you can market yourself as a social media expert? Are social media jobs a fad or are they here to stay?

To answer that question, you really to have ask a different question: What’s the point of a social media job? Read the job description for any social media job listing and you’ll come across evangelist, community, marketing, engagement, and viral quite often. The jargon, though, can be summed up in two words: retention and growth.

Companies generally have one overarching goal: to increase profits. And anyone can tell you that keeping current customers (or users) and adding new ones is directly related to that single goal. These two things, keeping current users happy and adding new users, are the purposes of social media jobs.

And that’s why these jobs are here to stay.

Social media allows people to spread their message to hundreds, if not thousands, of friends, followers, and strangers. Some companies can only dream of that kind of reach, while others pay millions in advertising for the same effect. Digg allows a website to emerge from obscurity to prominence and Twitter allows a company to respond to customer complaints quickly (I’ve had personal experience with Comcast’s Twitter account).

As more social media tools pop up and current ones expand, the need to respond and promote to a growing online community will only grow. Companies that simply ignore the blogs and social media risk huge public debacles and lost revenue (just ask Sony how bad it can get).

Even if the title changes, the role of the social media marketer or manager is not going anywhere. Building community, reaching out to potential customers, building stronger relationships, creating buzz - they are fundamental goals to every company. So long as people use social media to share their thoughts and their complaints, the need for people to fill social media jobs will continue to grow.

And the companies that fill those roles now will be ahead of the game.

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Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

STARTUP DETAILS:

Company Name: CarOcean

20 word description: CarOcean - find best offer from “car ocean.”

CEO’s Pitch: A service that offers search and access to advertisements from the most popular auto sites in one place. Our highest priority has been ease of search and filtering existing ads. We’ve also put a lot of effort into increasing the speed of the search engine and the site itself.

We have made every effort to keep our advertisement database up to date, but sometimes some are out of date. To help control this issue, every advertisement has a frame with options. We’ve tried to keep the user interface as clean and simple as possible and would appreciate any comments you have on it. To contact us use the form here.We will do our best to improve the quality of the CarOcean service and will post each new functionality on our main page.

Mashable’s Take: CarOcean is a new UK-based classifieds search engine with a focus on the automobile trade. So far it’s aggregating classifieds and automobile sales advertisements from AutoTrader, eBay and Auto Exchange & Mart, providing users with a broader glance at available cars that are for sale. Upon entering a search query, you can sort your results based on various criteria (i.e. mileage, size, power) further narrow down the results by clicking on various filters like color, year, price and registration date.

All of these filters are actualely expandable, so there are additional filter options for each main category. For instance, the color filter can be narrowed further for a specific color like beige, red, etc. Such filters can be very helpful when it comes to finding the car you’re looking for, and heavy filter options for a niche search engine like CarOcean are possible given its focus on the automobile industry. As maintaining such a dynamic database can be quite overwhelming, CarOcean leaves some of the work to its end users, offering interactive reporting features so that things like expired advertisements can be marked by users.

One thing that may be particularly helpful for CarOcean users would be member accounts that allow users to bookmark and save listings, or even an entire search. While adding member accounts may be a large undertaking for a niche search engine like CarOcean, the site already offers URLs for any given search, which can be shared with friends. It wouldn’t be too far of a leap to offer RSS options to follow a given search as well. Another useful next step for CarOcean could also be recommendations based on user activity, similar to Oodle, which provides its third-party data for informing end users which prices are average (or otherwise), and more.

Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials

Mobile TV just doesn’t seem to die.  For years now, I’ve heard from countless companies that they’re going to provide the “real” Mobile TV experience that will totally change the way we enjoy television.  All the while, I’ve laughed to myself wondering if these companies will ever realize that time has already passed them by.

To prove my point, yet another Mobile TV solution has died. According to published reports in Germany, an effort by Mobile 3.0 to offer Mobile TV services was pushed aside due to its desire to support paid TV and work over DVB-H.

Didn’t Mobile 3.0 get the memo?  Mobile TV is dead in the water.

Let’s figure out why it’s dead, shall we?

First off, the Slingbox has made it abundantly clear to all of us that Mobile TV doesn’t really make much sense.  If I can watch all of my home programming no matter where I am, for free, with the help of an Internet connection and laptop, which is almost always with me, why would I pay for, or even use, a Mobile TV solution?

Oh, and what about Hulu and the rest of these video services that allow me to watch practically any show I want?  Sure, it may not be the same feeling, considering I’m streaming or buying the show after it has already aired, and it requires that same broadband connection, but who cares?  At least I’m getting something out of it from a reputable source instead of paying more for something I barely want to watch.

And perhaps that’s where the biggest issue comes along for Mobile TV: no one wants to pay.  More often than not, Mobile TV services will say that you’ll need to pay to use it.  Why would I want to do that?  You mean to tell me that in order to watch your crappy programming, I’ll need to pay a set fee for use of the service, on top of the fee I pay to have Internet access?  Sorry, but that doesn’t seem quite right to me.

I should also point out that most of these Mobile TV services seem to forget that battery concerns are real, user interfaces really do matter, and more often than not, we don’t really want to watch TV on a junky little cell phone screen.

More companies will undoubtedly crop up and claim to have the solution to making more people use Mobile TV, but none will work.

We don’t want Mobile TV because it doesn’t make any sense.  And because it doesn’t make any sense, it’s failing – miserably.

[Image credit: Wowbagger (attribution)]

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