Adobe To Resume ?Dev Work? On Flash-to-iPhone Tool
Hot on the heels of Apple's decision to increase, ever so slightly, the opportunities for devs to use different frameworks for iPhone app creation, Adobe announced that its resuming work on its Flash-to-iPhone system for Flash Professional CS5. Here is the relevant quote:

Apple?s announcement today that it has lifted restrictions on its third-party developer guidelines has direct implications for Adobe?s Packager for iPhone, a feature in the Flash Professional CS5 authoring tool. This feature was created to enable Flash developers to quickly and easily deliver applications for iOS devices. The feature is available for developers to use today in Flash Professional CS5, and we will now resume development work on this feature for future releases.

Mobile Video Streaming Service Qik Has 3.5M Users, Projects 75M Installs In Next Year
We've been tracking the progress of Qik, a service that lets you broadcast movies from your mobile phone directly to the web, for years now. But until now we haven't been able to get an especially accurate grasp of just how well the service has been doing. Today, that's changing: Qik is releasing some user stats, for what cofounder Bhaskar Roy says is the first time. Roy says that Qik curently has 3.5 million users, and is adding nearly 500,000 users each month. The application's userbase has grown sixfold in the last year, and Roy expects that growth to continue. Much of it will stem from the fact that Qik is included as a default application on millions of devices, including the HTC EVO 4G and Nokia N97. Roy says based on current and upcoming partnerships, Qik will be preloaded on a whopping 75 million devices in the next year.

For-Profit Automattic Gives WordPress Trademark To Non-Profit Foundation
"It?s not often you see a for-profit company donate one of their most valuable core assets and give up control," Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg writes today in a post announcing that the WordPress trademark has been transfered from his company to the WordPress Foundation. "This is a really big deal," he continues. What this means is that the key ingredient behind Automattic is now in the hands of the organization in charge of "promoting and ensuring access to WordPress and related open source projects in perpetuity." So why do this? Mullenweg says it has been his goal since the beginning to blend a non-profit business, a for-profit one, and not-just-for-profit one under one banner. Now that he feels each of those aspects is stable enough, he wants that main banner, WordPress, to be "protected" as a "beacon for open source freedom."

Fingers Crossed: Google Voice May Be Returning To The App Store
On July 28 2009, a pair of iPhone applications that offered support for Google Voice were unceremoniously, and without warning, removed from Apple's App Store. We then learned that Apple had blocked the official Google Voice application as well, which eventually led to an FCC inquiry. A year later, Google Voice was still missing from the App Store. Now it looks like there may be a glimmer of hope for getting Google Voice on your iPhone. This morning Apple released guidelines explicitly spelling out for the first time what it would reject from the App Store. Sean Kovacs, the developer of third party Google Voice application GV Mobile (which was removed from the App Store over a year ago), read through each of the 100+ rules, and he concluded that his app didn't seem to violate any of them.

Ex-MySpace Execs Quietly Building New Startup Called Namesake
One good thing to come out of MySpace's slow demise: a bunch of former employees are creating startups left and right, mostly in Los Angeles and helping to grow the startup ecosystem there. We're tracking Gravity, Mindjolt, Gogobot and Beachmint. And we're adding one more to the list. Namesake was founded by Dan Gould and Brian Norgard. The site is still in private beta and it's not 100% clear what it will be. From the about page:

Students To Be Subject To Week-Long Social Media ?Detox? Experiment
The Provost of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Eric Darr, has decided to perform what will certainly be an unpopular experiment on the students at his school. Following some chin-stroking related to the nature of social media and its relevance to etc. etc., Mr. Darr decided it would be interesting to block all use of social websites and applications on school networks for a full week. The school is far from technophobic; in fact, like most modern universities, it is extremely well-wired, and a huge amount of collaboration and communication takes place online. So in addition to blocking Facebook, AIM, Twitter, and Myspace, HUST will also be blocking its internal networks and tools. There's a lot to like about this experiment, and a lot to discuss.

Trying to Be Something You?re Not: Works for Drag Queens, not for Google
Contrary to popular opinion, the reason Yahoo?s metrics have been stagnant and its stock has lost half its value in the last two-and-a-half years isn?t because Google did search better than Yahoo. It?s because Yahoo turned its back on what it did well: Building the first online mass media content superstore. In doing so, it let the younger, sexier, faster-growing Google define what Yahoo wasn?t. It?s precisely the mistake that Jeff Bezos and Amazon didn?t make when eBay was the ecommerce, monkeys-could-run-this-train darling. Yahoo was never going to win at search, just like Amazon never would have won at auctions. It wasn?t in the company?s DNA. Which brings us to the point of this post: Google needs to stop trying to be Facebook and focus on extending and investing in what makes Google successful: The Algorithm.

Ebyline: Why Is This A Business? (TCTV)
Earlier this week, Erick wrote about Ebyline - a new site, founded by some former LA Times-ers that promised to make it easier for talented freelance journalists to get gigs with legitimate publications. Or to put it another way, if Associated Content makes you want to kill yourself, Ebyline is the site for you. But will editors actually use it? We invited Giga Om founder Om Malik to join us in the studio for this week's 'Why Is This News' to tell us whether he'll be finding his next crop of writers from amongst Ebyline's vetted and verified ranks. Spoiler alert: no. Video below.

Facebook Tweaks The Like Button: Like Things In Apps, Link To Pages, And Show Box Counts
Ever since Facebook rolled out their Like button in April, it has been spreading over the web like wild fire. Since then, they've been tweaking it a bit here and there to improve the layout and functionality. Today brings more improvements. As they note on their Developer Blog, the new Like button gains three things: the ability to like items within apps, the ability to link the Like button to Pages, and a new option to have a "box count" layout for the button that shows the number of likes above it.

Blippy Founder: 40% Of Shared Purchases Are iTunes, But Ping?s No Threat (TCTV)
Over the weekend Philip Kaplan, co-founder of social purchasing site Blippy tweeted out a link to Steve Jobs demoing iTunes Ping, with the added sly comment "Looks like Blippy." Curious about what Jobs' movement into the social sharing space means for Blippy, we brought Kaplan into the TCTV studio and grilled him on what exactly Jobs did or did not copy, how often iTunes purchases were shared on Blippy, and whether or not the concept of social shopping has hit mainstream.

Thou Shalt Not Chatroulette Or Russian Roulette: The Best Of The App Store Rules
This morning, Apple finally released a set of guidelines to iOS developers -- a move which should go a long way in making the process seem less arbitrary. We've already posted the basics of what you need to know -- those are, the high-level rules written in refreshingly non-corporate speak ("we don't need anymore Fart apps" and "if you run to the press and trash us, it never helps"). But I've also gone over all the individual sections with the more specific rules, and found a number of interesting ones worth pointing out. Behold: the best of the App Store rules. (As Apple notes, this is a "living document" subject to change at any time.):

Don?t Blame Media, Blame the Media-Audience Infinite Loop
I?ve spent two days listening to and reading near-constant coverage of the wacko who's planning to burn Korans in Gainsville, Florida, and increasingly the stories have been about whether or not all the press attention has been irresponsible. Whether constantly covering the outrage has made it a global one, versus something that only his fifty parishioners would have known about. If the events put American soldiers in danger?that?s a pretty real issue. The media has long wrestled with how much it should give the public what it wants versus what it thinks the public needs, and it became more pronounced as the readership of stories became immediately measurable and comparable. Mad about Lindsey Lohan?s jail time being covered by serious news outlets? Groaning at another TechCrunch post about the iPhone? Well, then stop reading, watching, and commenting on them. Like a kid throwing a tantrum, the easiest way to get media you don?t like or think is irresponsible to go away is to stop paying attention. If a blog posts in a forest and no one is there to comment does it really exist? Not according to most bloggers.

Ping Gets Its Own ?The Social Network? Parody
From the very same Internet that brought you The Twitter Movie, The YouTube Movie, The Auction Site Movie and The Other Social Network Movie comes today's Ping parody: Another Social Network Movie. Something tells me that people are just going to keep making these parodies of David Fincher's The Social Network until they run out of websites. Can't wait to see what people come up with for Orkut. While this trailer primarily focuses on the travails of the Ping user interface,  you can help but sympathize as the beleaguered  user checks for iTunes updates, dramatically agrees to the 36 page terms of service, restarts their computer, gets their login denied, tries to upload a photo, ends up following Keith Urban, etc ...

GetGlue Brings Social Recommendations Goodness To The iPad; Lands Deal With Fox
GetGlue, a social browsing assistant that shows ratings and recommendations of movies, books, restaurants, stocks, and more on the web, has been on a roll lately when it comes to the startup's mobile strategy. In less than three months, GetGlue has launched a mobile website, an Android app and an iPhone app. Today, GetGlue is completing the package with an iPad app and a new deal with Fox. Similar to GetGlue's other mobile offers, the iPad app allows users can to check-in to their favorite shows, music, movies and books, and see what their friends are enjoying in real-time. With each check-in, users earn points and stickers from GetGlue and other major brands. The app also allows users to rate their favorite shows, movies, music and books and receive personalized suggestions.

NumberFire Gets Scientific About Fantasy Football Picks
Football season is upon us and that means many of you are making your fantasy football picks. While ESPN, Yahoo and others provide data and statistics on players to help you make decisions, numberFire is hoping to be an additional useful resource for fantasy football picks. Originally presented from the TechCrunch Disrupt DemoPit, numberFire is an application that applies quantitative analysis and statistical reasoning to the world of fantasy football. Not only does numberFire have recommendations of pics, but the site also provides contextual data supporting each decision.

Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN, Part 4: Is Silicon Valley Getting Disrupted? (TCTV)
Ding, ding! It's round four of our Super Angel v. VC SMACKDOWN. Both of our pugilist Davids live and work in Silicon Valley. Given that today's topic is about whether or not the heft of East Coast Super Angels like Josh Kopelman, Chris Dixon and Fred Wilson is pulling the center of early stage funding gravity away from famed Sand Hill Road, you'd think it'd be nothing but agreement. "Oh, no, Silicon Valley is still the center of the universe." But you'd be wrong.

The New App Store Guidelines: What You Need To Know
For the first time ever, after 250,000 apps have been developed, Apple finally decided to release some guidelines for developers to help them understand the app review process. The document is not only informative, but also entertaining to read. In general, for an app to make it through the somewhat opaque-until-now App approval process it needs to be a serious app ("We don't need any more Fart apps"), it can't crash or have bugs, it can't be a beta or "practice" app that "looks like it was cobbled together in a few days," and can't "cross the line" in terms of being offensive. Oh, and when Apple rejects your app, if "you run to the press and trash us," that will count against you. The whole document is about keeping developers in line, but at least it is done with humor. Apps that contain objectionable material or pornography will be rejected, as will any apps which try to go around the App Store for payments or purchases, or have "interfaces that mimic any iPod interface." Also, don't try to use any of the "location-based APIs for automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other devices." All of this, of course, is subject to change. Apple also acknowledges that it is being stricter with apps than with songs or books in iTunes, which some might say is hypocritical. But here is how Apple responds, along with some high-level principles (the full guidelines are embedded below).

The Chevy Volt Is GM?s Knight In Gleaming Chrome And White Plastic
One thing is clear to me now: GM gets it. Government Motors now understands the importance of cutting edge technology. They understand rapid development processes. But most importantly, the once largest auto maker understands the future. If only they had "gotten it" back at the turn of the century, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in now. I recently spent some time at a couple GM facilities where in between various PowerPoint presentations mainly about OnStar and the Volt, I was shown several labs and testing areas. All this was neat and about what you would expect: motion simulators, virtual testing, all housed in cold cement buildings. But it was the overall message that instilled hope in me that the automaker born in my hometown of Flint is actually on the right path. After the grand tour with several fellow journalists we were escorted to a pair of early production Chevy Volts. This is where it all came together. Love it or hate it, the Chevy Volt saved GM and you can't even buy it yet. Let me explain.

With 3.7 Billion Messages Under Its Belt, GOGII?s textPlus Launches Picture Messaging & Face Texts
At first glance, the stats from free text messaging startup GOGII and its textPlus application sound like they're too big by an order of magnitude: 3.7 billion messages sent since June 2009. 8.5 million downloads. 23 million phone numbers in the network. But they're real, and they're a big business. Today the company is launching two new features that make the textPlus experience even richer, with support for sending images and a nifty new feature called 'Face Text'. The first feature is self-explanatory: you can attach images to your outbound text messages and send them for free. The second feature, called Face Text, is related, but it comes with a twist. Upon activating the feature, textPlus will take a photo using your phone's front-facing camera whenever you hit the send button, allowing you to quickly attach facial expressions whenever you send a message (think of it as emoticons meeting the photo booth ? see the screenshot above).

Video Publishing Platform Ooyala Raises $22 Million, Prepares For Major Asian Expansion
Advertisers are not the only ones plowing money into the online video space with gusto, you can add large, international investors to that growing list. This morning, Ooyala announced a $22 million Series D round, led by the CID Group (Shanghai-based venture capital firm) and ITOCHU Technology Ventures (venture unit of the Tokyo-based ITOCHU). The round, which includes previous investors like Sierra Ventures and Rembrandt Venture Partners, puts the video publishing platform at $42 million raised since its 2007 launch. And according to CEO Jay Fulcher, the company is not done. In order to accommodate robust demand (the latest round was over-subscribed), Ooyala will take on additional investors later this year in a second closing. Impressive numbers but it's not just about the money. For Ooyala, saddling up with CID and ITOCHU also represents a highly strategic move, as the company tries to expand its footprint in Asia. "It was a conscious point on our part to chose investors who had great ecosystems to leverage throughout Asia," Fulcher told TechCrunch. "We are doubling down in Asia."

Google Breathes A Sigh Of Relief After Reading Apple?s New Developer Agreement
This morning's somewhat vague statement by Apple on updates to it's developer agreement brought a flurry of questions. Did Apple just allow Flash-powered Apps into the App ecosystem? Will third-party anlaytics companies like Flurry still be blocked? And one important question?did Apple rescind its terms that effectively prevented ad networks that are owned by a device or OS manufacturer (ie Google's AdMob) from serving ads on iOS devices? According to MediaMemo, it looks like Apple did, in fact change its terms to include non-independent ad networks, such as AdMob, in being able to serve ads on iPhones and iPads. And Google has just released a statement on its Mobile Ads Blog addressing Apple's apparent inclusion of AdMob: "Apple?s new terms will keep in-app advertising on the iPhone open to many different mobile ad competitors and enable advertising solutions that operate across a wide range of platforms."

The French Entrepreneurs? Fund ISAI Invests in Second-Hand Louis Vuitton
In April, we announced that French startup fund, ISAI, officially launched with some 24 million euros. The "French entrepreneurs fund" brings together some of the 60 hottest names in French tech, including PriceMinister's founder Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet and the former Editor of TechCrunch France, Ouriel Ohayon. The fund announced a first investment in June, putting 1.25 million euros into the France-based, European carpooling platform, Covoiturage.fr - and has just announced a second investment in InstantLuxe, a marketplace for certified authentic luxury goods. InstantLuxe was founded in 2009 and allows individuals and professionals to buy and sell high-end, second-hand goods from brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Bulgari, etc. All items sold on the site are delivered with a certificate of authenticity after being inspected by a network of experts. The site sells everything from jewelry to leather goods to accessories - plus, users searching for a particular item can request it for free.

Fantastisch! Glam Media Adds German Men?s Property Fantastic Zero To Its Wardrobe
Glam Media is flexing its M&A muscle overseas. Today, it is acquiring German men's Web property Fantastic Zero from the digital division of German media giant Holtzbrinck and European marketing agency Publigroupe. Fantastic Zero is a collection of 50 male oriented sites with a reach of 5.5 million unique visitor a month in Germany, and 10 million overall. The acquisition price is not being disclosed, but it is a decent sized acquisition for Glam, which started in the U.S. as a collection of female-oriented sites and a larger ad network. Glam is already the the sixth largest Web property in the U.S.

Flirtomatic Reaches 3m Users, Outflirts Match And eHarmony In U.S. Mobile
Mobile social network Flirtomatic (?the world?s number one flirting company?) today announced somewhat of a milestone: It's passed the 3 million global user mark and, perhaps more noteworthy, recently surpassed 1 million users in the U.S. Furthermore, citing a study by the mobile media measurement firm Ground Truth, the London-based company says that over the summer, Flirtomatic accounted for 65% of the season?s audience for mobile dating in the US (I didn't know dating sites had seasons), out flirting traditional players such as eHarmony and match.com. That's impressive although it also speaks volumes to the vulnerability of said players, many of whom charge for access as well as an additional premium for mobile.