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New people directory PeekYou claims 50 million profiles

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peek-you.jpgPeekYou, a people search engine, emerged from stealth mode today with the goal of being an open source directory of every individual online. The site seems to be off to a large start, claiming more than 50 million built profiles.

Each individual on PeekYou has their own personalized page and a PeekYou profile that will include bookmarked links to all information available about the target person. The site, as an open source directory, allows users the ability to edit, add or remove information, links, photos, and tags associated with their profile or other PeekYou user’s profiles. In addition, PeekYou provides human created search engine results, reducing nonspecific and incorrect matches.

“People searching is one of the most popular online exercises, but until now it has been a largely inefficient and often confusing experience,” said Michael Hussey, founder of PeekYou. “PeekYou is a true Web 2.0 ‘people search’ – we discover and map where people exist online, almost like writing a biography about your life on the net. In doing so, we are building the ideal engine for individuals to monitor their own online identity.”

Originally posted on July 17, 2007 @ 3:10 pm

Plaxo embraces OpenID, hCard and hCal formats

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plaxo_openid.jpgPlaxo, a “smart address book” service, said today it is endorsing standards for online identity and personal information management, OpenID and microformats. Its recently released beta of Plaxo 3.0 has been updated to support these new standards.

Plaxo, which published an OpenID implementation guide encouraging others to embrace the open standard, said users who have an OpenID can use their OpenID credentials to sign-up for or sign-in to the all-new version of Plaxo. The company also intends to become an OpenID provider, offering members the ability to use the personal information they have with Plaxo to access OpenID-enabled sites.

Plaxo added it has implemented the microformats hCard and hCal as part of the all-new Plaxo 3.0. The new public profiles feature uses the hCard format for contact info, giving users the ability use their profile information with a compatible hCard service. Public or shared calendars, also new features, now display events with hCal formatting, giving users the ability to leverage their calendar in other event-related services that support hCal.

Originally posted on July 18, 2007 @ 1:33 pm

Active.com relaunches with new features

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active-com.jpgActive.com, a popular Web site for those into fitness and sports, relaunched its Web site today with a variety of new features. It currently offers more than 55,000 activity listings in over 80 sports categories.

Active.com, besides a new design, offers an enhanced community area with blogs, wikis and private messages. The site also offers new features and tools such as personal profile pages, sharing of sports-related video clips and photo slideshows, more sports-related content from Active’s team of professional athletes, coaches and experts and better search and directory capabilities.

“Active.com’s media partners and 12 million registered users will greatly benefit from our completely redesigned site,” said Chuck Mitchell, vice president of consumer media of The Active Network. “Not only have we significantly enhanced the site’s most popular features, we’ve incorporated the latest Web 2.0 tools providing new and interesting ways for Active.com users to participate on the site and engage with each other.”

Originally posted on July 17, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

Loomia nets WSJ for personalized news deal

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loomia.jpgLoomia, a provider of article recommendations for media and news Web sites, announced it has scored a deal with The Wall Street Journal Online to use its technology. Financial terms of the deal were not announced.

Recommendations, said Loomia, will appear in a module next to WSJ.com articles, under the header “People Who Read This…Also Read These Stories.” The recommended articles which appear do so because of a user’s past Web site habits, such as what is currently being read or what may have been printed previously. The choices of a reader are matched against other users, generating article suggestions that are more relevant and personalized.

“Our goal is to deliver a more personal experience for our users by seamlessly exposing them to the depth and breadth of content across The Wall Street Journal Online,” said Daniel Bernard, General Manager of WSJ.com. “Our audience is comprised of the most informed and influential users online, and Loomia’s service enables us to connect our users via the articles and interests they have in common. Initial results are quite positive, with Loomia Recommendations driving thousands of incremental pageviews.”

Originally posted on July 16, 2007 @ 2:34 pm

Filed Under: Web

FoxSports, MSN launch 2007 fantasy football site

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fox-fantasy-football.jpgFoxSports on MSN launched its 2007 fantasy football site today. It also unveiled pro football star LaDainian Tomlinson as its spokesperson by offering a chance to win a five-day, four-night trip to San Diego where the winner and a guest will spend part of a day with Tomlinson.

Fox Fantasy Football 2007 gets a new look this season. It continues to remain a free service and offers a a redesigned live draft application and a free draft guide with lots of details. It will also offer real-time scoring, commissioner controls, expert analysis and personalized team pages. Those who register for the fantasy football offering will be automatically entered into the Tomlinson sweepstakes.

“Fox Fantasy Football delivers the most complete fantasy football experience on the Web completely free of charge,” said Larry Tobin, Vice President of Product for FoxSports.com. “Fantasy sports is centered on the connection between fans and athletes, and by teaming up with one of pro football’s great athletes – LaDainian Tomlinson – we’re giving our users the chance to win a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Originally posted on July 16, 2007 @ 1:55 pm