My Internet Notebook

eBay is challenging all you developers there to develop cool applications using their now free web services API.

The ideas listed by ebay looked pretty interesting:

Category/vertical search (re-mix eBay to help people find things more efficiently)

drag & drop UI components for search results page: Offer eBay user the ability to customize their UI for the features they want to use
item ticker/screensaver for eBay
search for eBay items widget
widgets or gadgets
toolbar-like mini-apps
calendar view of members’ eBay activities
auto-Add to Watch List: Allow members to specify advanced search criteria that automatically adds items to their Watch List
low-priced items portal that allows free listing
search personalization
search for eBay items over IM
seller tool to add streaming video to their listings
taxation invoicing tool for eBay sellers
eBay Motors: Find vehicles locally
eBay Motors: Find similar types of vehicle (search for Accord, also show Camry; search for one minivan, see others with more listings)
eBay Motors: Show vehicles and their corresponding Parts & Accessories in compelling layout
Web mash-up (re-mix eBay with another Web service)

eBay Motors: historical pricing data (e.g. show Kelly Blue Book prices along with listings pricing)
eBay Motors: Show consumer reports or government safety ratings along with vehicle listings
Search across multiple shopping sites (Froogle/Yahoo Shopping/Amazon, etc.)
Multi-platform (integrate eBay with PayPal, Skype, Outlook, GNOME, TiVo, etc.) applications

integrate with POS systems to deliver full inventory tracking for our seller’s online and offline world
VoIP enabled Ask Seller a Question
accounting package plug-ins: Quicken/Quickbooks for eBay sellers
Firefox plug-ins
demographics targeter: sellers can enter in target buyer demographics and receive recommendations on start and end time/auction duration, etc.
Apple Dashboard widget
lister application written on Mozilla in XUL and AJAX
eBay Affiliate Editor Kit Flash Ad module
eBay Alerts enabled on Skype

Well, that’s an easy thing, if you have the high status of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California.

The news media had extensive reports on how Arnold and his supporters financed the trip. The tax-exempt California Protocol Foundation, which is affiliated with California Chamber of Commerce, solicited contributions of up to $50,000 from business donors. Jim Hawley, California director and general counsel of TechNet, a prominent Silicon Valley advocacy group, sent direct email to high-tech companies to ask for donation to the Foundation. Allan Zaremberg, president of the chamber and the Protocol Foundation.

Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger’s press secretary, said that the Protocol Foundation will underwrite most of the trip cost, while business members of the delegation will have to pay for their own expense, which is peanut if you consider that meeting with Chinese state official will coup big returns in the future.

Members of the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth have donated about $665,000 over the past year for economic development efforts such as the Japan and China trade missions, according to Mark Mosher, its executive director.

Do you have ties to anyone mentioned above?

Many non-profit organizations do not have the IT expertise and resources to develop & maintain their ‘business applications’ that are central to their operations. A Salesforce.com or Micrsoft ‘Live’ would be a perfect way to go for them.

Here are some of the features a small to medium sized non-profit would require:

• Web hosting – every organization needs to have a web front
• Accounting – general ledger
• Accounts – Sister non-profit organizations, partners etc.
• Contact management – donors, volunteers, sponsors (personal, corporate), receipients
• Project management – funding projects
• Fund management – donations (cash v.s. non-cash),
• Campaign management – track and manage fund-raising campaigns
• Marketing function – newsletter, etc.
• Analytics – reporting
• Offline, Mobile – sync

And how big of an impact this offering will have? According to Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project, The nonprofit sector is a major economic force in the world.

In the 26 countries for which we have assembled data, nonprofit organizations as of the mid-1990s accounted for: (1) $1.2 trillion in expenditures;
(2) 31 million full-time equivalent workers, or 6.8 percent of the nonagricultural workforce

The Economists magazine (Oct. 29, 2005) has a data filled article on the biggest banks in China and how these banks compare to those of other countries.

While I don’t quite understand many financial terms (e.g. capital-adequacy ratio, in case you are curious) in the article, there are some plain English and numbers that I do understand.

For instance, it cited a Merrill Lynch number saying that in the last eight (8) years, Chinese banks in aggregate lended more than $250 billion to consumers, a growth of 123 (one hundred twenty three!) times in that short eight years. You may have heard of the real estate boom in China, which contributed a large portion of the growth in consumer loans, i.e. mortgage.

The only publicly traded bank of the four largest banks in China, i.e. China Construction Bank, boasts a market capitalization of about $66 billion, following its successful IPO in Hong Kong. This is bigger than American Express and is only about 1/4th of the size of the world’s largest bank, the Citigroup. (Note: a smart investment of $4 billion by BofA before CCB’s IPO has since seen its value doubled.)

The artical also points out that the Chinese banks have a heavy reliance on loan interests for their profit, with only 13% of total revenue coming from commissions and credit card fees. With a failed bond and stock market, and a consumer body loath of carrying credit card debts, where do you find those commissions and fees?

Companies are demoing innovative mobile applications at DEMO Fall 2005:

EasyReach, a Campbell, Calif.-based startup that is jumping into the remote document-retrieval space. Punch a few more buttons and EasyReach users can e-mail retrieved documents to whatever address they choose. In addition, EasyReach enables a user to search multiple desktop PCs on which EasyReach’s software has been installed.

Software created by Orb Networks Inc., based in Emeryville, turns the PC into a personal network server that can stream video files and music to handheld devices. TiVo Anywhere.

Avvenu, a Palo Alto startup founded in 2004 and backed by Motorola Corp., intends to challenge Orb on both fronts, said spokesman David Trescot.

Starting next week, Avvenu will match Orb’s network server functions and soon thereafter will launch a service bringing TiVo to smartphones, said Trescot, whose company is a DEMO alumnus.

Several companies have developed smartphone applications that leverage Global Positioning System technology, which pinpoint locations anywhere on Earth through satellite triangulation.

Last March, MapQuest and Nextel Communications launched the “Find Me” Service, which uses MapQuest’s digital maps, on GPS-enabled mobile phones.

At the DEMO conference, MapQuest is expected to announce a similar service for the BlackBerry.

A rival company, Destinator Technologies Inc., is unveiling software for GPS-enabled smartphones and handhelds that automatically updates a route based on the device user’s location.

The Destinator platform, which has been available in Europe for more than two years, also allows friends and colleagues to spot each other’s locations on a map in relation to their ultimate destination and send directions via instant message.

Destinator also includes a real-time traffic-monitoring feature. Few U.S. companies aggregate traffic information but this is expected to change soon.

“We’re going to automated-live navigation,” said Jeff Kukowski, senior vice president of marketing. “Your printed directions from Yahoo or Google can’t tell you how to get back on route.”

The Destinator software takes the user’s GPS location information and compares it to the planned route. Miss a turn, and the software offers up a revised route.

Adoption of all these new smartphone functions isn’t widespread yet, probably because phone carriers such as Verizon, Cingular and Sprint make it difficult for customers to obtain services the carriers can’t closely control and profit from, analysts say.

But smartphone makers are encouraging software companies to keep developing new applications that can drive sales, says Kevin Burden, program manager of Mobile Devices at research firm IDC.

“The makers are lawyers looking for a nice hook because the phones come at such a premium price tag,” Burden said. “To sell these things, they have to offer more than a phone and e-mail.”

Links:

DEMO conference: http1://http://www.demo.com/demofall/

Orb Networks: http://orb.com/

Destinator Technologies: http://destinatortechnologies.com/opencms/index.html

EasyReach: http://easyreach.com/

Avvenu: http://avvenu.com/