Refollow is obviously unhappy about this. In the message posted on their website, they remarked that , “Twitter decided to suspend Refollow…for enabling you to follow/unfollow too many people. Apparently that’s not what Twitter’s all about“. They also tweeted that “Twitter has suspended Refollow (via OAuth)…They could have at least returned an email!”

Refollow was a great product because it allowed users to build a large, quality following in just a few days. This has been helpful since Twitter made it a rule that users have 2,000 followers before they can follow over 2,000 accounts. Even when you cross this threshold, it is nearly impossible to continue to follow large numbers of people without clicking a button hundreds of times and scanning individual accounts to see if they’re legit. Refollow made this process extremely easy by allowing you to select large numbers of users you found interesting (e.g. following someone you like), and then curate those users with a series of helpful filters. For example, if I wanted to follow everyone who follows my favorite celebrity, entrepreneur, or investor, but I also want to filter out those users who haven’t tweeted in the last 90 days and/or have small followings (usually spam accounts anyway), I can do it within seconds using Refollow. And since many of those users will follow me back, I can quickly build a large and active following in just a few days.

To be fair, a service like Refollow’s could be abused, so it is understandable why Twitter would respond. But Twitter also wants users to build quality followings, which is very hard to do with Twitter’s native features, so Refollow is somewhat aligned to Twitter’s goals. Even more disturbing, however, is how quickly Twitter cut off the lifeblood of a company built on their platform. When Refollow opened their doors last year, the rules on API usage and follow counts were less evolved than they are now, but Refollow seems to have been treated as if they just started up yesterday and began helping people build massive followings (which, afterall, Ashton Kutcher taught everyone to do in the first place).

The rashness of this decision could also shine some light on how Twitter views certain services & businesses built on their platform. These products are quickly becoming a primary destination to consume the firehose of Twitter data (over even Twitter itself). This trend was the basis for our Seesmic prediction last month. Investors and entrepreneurs who are affiliated with innovative companies like Brizzly should take notice. Refollow was shut down without any major warning. Hopefully, Twitter will soon release a process that helps other companies avoid a similar fate.

Last week, Steve Jobs’ iPad launch highlighted perhaps the greatest manifestation of the company’s legendary reality-distortion field that we have seen to date. Apple and Steve went into the iPad launch with a negative trifecta of no domain name, no issued trademark, and no FCC approval. Despite these deficiencies we all saw the Emperor resplendent in a decadent outfit projected from the incandescent glow of a 10 inch tablet.

I say this while being fully aware of the initial criticisms that have surrounded Apple’s last few paradigm-shattering product launches. There is no doubt in my mind that they have and will overcome all that is in front of them, but like previous product launches, the iPad illustrates yet again Apple’s aggressive corporate practices and their belief in the power of their ability to bend reality to fit their needs. The moniker “Jesus Tablet” has been aptly used to describe the messianic nature of the iPad and perhaps it is well deserved not only for the creation of a compelling consumer-oriented computing device, but also because their corporate maneuverings assume that they really can walk on water. Considering the obstacles that still stand before them, bringing this product to market without a few controversial moves will require a leap of faith.

Do they even own the domain name?

Let’s first consider the domain name, iPad.com, which was issued in 1997 to Martine Bejasa of New Jersey. On January 28th, 2010 – the day after the unveiling of the iPad – there was a change in the WHOIS record. Could Apple be the new owner and Martine the newest Apple millionaire? I hope so, as this domain name predates all trademark filings and would have no problem showing up on page one in Google searches for the rest of its natural life if left independent. The new owner is cryptically named “Enero 6”, or January 6th, which might refer to the date that Steve Jobs and his crew decided that they would begin the fight to call this device the iPad.

Three’s company, especially in Trademark disputes

Next, calling their device the iPad was an interesting choice for Apple considering that the Trademark is disputed by not one, but by two other parties and logic would dictate that there is a high likelihood that they will not be issued the trademark. Since when has logic mattered to Apple? A company called Mag-Tek has been selling keypads in commerce with the iPad name for several years now, but Fujitsu has made progress in splitting the iPad trademark for the use in tablet computing for themselves and convinced the USPTO to reopen the trademark for their use in February of 2003. Their application is pending and they have had a Windows CE tablet available for purchase under that name since 2002.

Fujitsu's iPAD device, which is sold in the United States and other areas.

As a recent story on this subject quips, “….Mag-Tek is selling the IPAD under a valid trademark, Fujitsu is selling its iPad with a pending trademark application and Apple has announced (and plans to sell) its own iPad with no trademark at all.” (another story on this here)

Apple needs to convince the USPTO that their iPad is similar to its iPod franchise and that its use of the name iPad will not confuse Mag-Tek’s keypad customers. This is if it can first convince them that Fujitsu is not the rightful owner despite having a pending trademark application on and off since 2003. For skeptics who believe Apple is doomed to failure, one need only take a look at what happened when Apple went up against the rightful trademark owner of the iPhone in 2007. Cisco caved in and agreed to a settlement with Apple that must have been pretty lucrative for them. Apple gets what Apple wants.

And then there’s the FCC

Finally, there is the issue of not having a valid FCC clearance to market or sell the iPad device. This was also the case when Apple introduced the iPhone several years back, but the FCC gave them what they wanted within 30 days and they were good to go. Pundits believe that Apple’s recent moves to allow VOIP services on the iPhone may be a sacrifice to regain the FCC’s good graces after the controversy surrounding their decision to keep Google Talk off the iPhone. Based upon historical precedent- the FCC should rubber stamp their application well before the expected launch date of April 27th.

We shall see how events unfold, but Apple has been here before and Steve Jobs has never been caught naked between the announcement of a new product and its actual launch.

Follow Sanjay on Twitter @crowdgather

Seesmic launched in 2008 as a “video for Twitter” product, but after that approach didn’t gain enough traction they quickly pivoted in 2009 and became a solution to help users aggregate their various social-networking accounts (similar to what Tweetdeck and Brizzly are doing).

What is interesting is that Seesmic has been quietly gaining traction and they are now a company that everyone in the social-networking space should be watching very closely — for three reasons. The first is their recent acquisition of ping.fm. This acquisition not only gives users the ability to update multiple social networks through a single Seesmic application, but also provides Seesmic with a wealth of user data. The second is their significant investment in the mobile space. User acquisition for social networks used to begin at the computer and the mobile app was merely an extension of that experience. That model is slowly shifting, and in the future users will decide which apps to use on other platforms based on what they experience on mobile devices. Finally, there are rumors that as Twitter continues to have uptime-performance issues, applications like Tweetdeck and Seesmic will fill that gap and provide a service that allows users to continue communicating when Twitter is down. This is interesting because if Seesmic adds more infrastructure to their service, they are in a position to rival Twitter as a stand-alone, realtime application.

These trends are still emerging and who really knows whether they will position Seesmic for success anytime soon. Nevertheless, with lots of user data, a growing foothold in the mobile space, and the need for an infrastructure partner, I’d have to wonder whether Google is considering Seesmic as an acquisition target. If that is the case, is Seesmic’s inclusion in the Nexus One Campaign actually Google’s initial pilot for something much, much bigger?

Time will tell, but in the meantime, congrats to the Seesmic team on a great month thus far.

Unique online shopping experiences have been popping up all over the place in this down economy, but for the avid deal shoppers who are looking for the ultimate experience, Bidzilla might be just what they’ve been waiting for. We’ve heard reports that the company, which has been flying under the radar these last few months, is now growing fast and “profitable”.

The surge in timed penny-auction websites over the last year has been nothing short of mesmerizing, and the combination of gaming, urgency, and huge discounts on expensive products have made this a hot space for investors and entrepreneurs. Swoopo has emerged as the #1 player, but not without certain flaws in their bidding model — flaws that Bidzilla claims to have addressed as it now surges forward.

While Bidzilla’s basic auction type is the same one we’ve seen on other sites such as Swoopo, they’ve added other features that make the experience more enjoyable and fair for everyone.

First, they’ve added a rewards program that gives away items for free just for participating, so users can still get the items of their choosing even if they don’t actually win an auction (Swoopo has been criticized for this). The program works by giving credits for bidding, which can be spent on Bidzilla’s rewards store. The more users bid, the higher the reward level, and higher reward levels allow users to earn points faster. Bidzilla also provides a leaderboard that recognizes and gives bonuses to the users who save the most each month.

Next, the company has made changes to the Auto Bidder that makes it completely fair to those who use it. On Swoopo, “BidButler” has been famously criticized for overbidding and driving up prices through so-called BidButler “duels”. A duel occurs whenever two users activate Swoopo’s BidButler tool in the same auction. The result is that the two BidButlers instantly place all of their bids until one of the two reaches a stopping criteria. Since other users cannot contribute any bids during that time, the users with BidButlers carry all the weight of bringing the price up when there is a duel. Bidzilla has completely eliminated this situation with their “Auto Bidder”, which is designed to act like a human. It selects a time randomly (below 10 seconds) every time a bid is placed. Then if the timer hits its time before a bid is placed, it will bid. This way a user who activates Auto Bidder is not forced to bid every single time another bid is made, even if other users have Auto Bidder on as well. Just like a human, most of the time the Auto Bidder will not bid, but rather allow others to bid up the price (thus conserving bids and not draining all of them in a matter of seconds).

Finally, Bidzilla has created an in-auction chat and the ability to take notes on other players. These features contribute to the amount of strategy that goes into bidding because they allow you to get to know the other users and learn their behavior. Users who can really figure out what strategies other bidders are using, can use that information to save tons of bids and therefore be very successful.

This is all on top of a really innovative website design with multi-window capability within a single browser page and customizable features that make the user experience much better.

The company still considers itself to be in a learning phase, and they’re soliciting lots of feedback from users. If you have any good suggestions, be sure to post them in the comments below. One of the co-founders will be reviewing these and potentially offering free bidding credits to anyone who is especially helpful.

If there’s one thing that is more surprising than the opportunities this competition creates, it is the initial lukewarm response from the developers who would ultimately benefit the most from it. MySpace has opened up a tremendous amount of data and realtime APIs , there are tens-of-millions of users involved, and the amount of investment in infrastructure from MySpace and their partners is significant. But since the initial December 9th announcement at LeWeb, there hasn’t been much said about it within the blogosphere and among the developer community.

Although there’s a lot to get excited about, the lack of attention among developers is somewhat understandable. The economy is leading many development shops to scale back and devote resources to one or two platforms. And with mobile, Twitter, and Facebook generating most of the hype (and funding), decision makers tend to take a “wait and see” approach to new platform opportunities. The nature of MySpace’s user base is also unique when compared to other social networks, and besides a couple social-gaming companies (e.g. Zynga, Playdom, et al) there aren’t many clear models for engaging MySpace users en masse. And to be fair, the competition is only now getting started after the holidays, and COO Mike Jones indicated on December 23rd via Twitter that the company had already begun to see submissions trickle in (although company sources tell us they haven’t yet seen a deluge of new applications, but this will likely change).

But developers we’ve spoken to are nevertheless slow to respond to this opportunity, and this reluctance is misguided for three reasons. First, there are the numbers. In the example of MySpace vs. Twitter, MySpace’s userbase is still 2-3 times larger than Twitter’s in the US. That means more potential engagement (and revenue) for applications built at this stage, which could also have huge possibilities for applications that socialize content beyond the MySpace website. Second, there’s the opportunity for substantial revenue. MySpace’s user data is still of great interest to record labels, movie studios, and blue-chip brand advertisers, all of whom might be willing to pay a little more than the .99 cent application du jour that most developers are building for iTunes. Lastly, there is simply less competition on MySpace’s platform at this time, giving early entrants a huge competitive advantage if their application catches on.

With more users, more revenue potential, and less competition, this blue ocean of an opportunity might very well be one of the best bets of the year. Developers who might have at first discounted this MySpace’s platform should take a second look and consider the opportunities.

As the competition progresses, let us know if you or anyone you know has entered the competition with an innovative idea and we’ll be sure to follow up.

Update: Here are the contest details (released this morning) via that MySpace developer blog.

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You can explore the application here and download the screensaver here.

This isn’t the first realtime view into MySpace to hit the market recently. Earlier this week, Collecta released a realtime search application dedicated exclusively to MySpace’s stream data.

With Story Something, parents create personalized bedtime stories for their children by first selecting a story type from among a range of categories (age, topic type, gender) and then entering names for the characters so that children can enjoy the story as if it were their own. The idea is that kids will enjoy the stories so much that parents will be willing to pay a nominal monthly-subscription fee to continue with the service. Story Something has commissioned 50+ unique stories from over 20 authors. Each story comes complete with its own artwork.

The opportunity for a business like this to scale has some investors interested, but the jury is out as to how users (and children) will respond. Its an incredibly unique idea though, and the amount of commissioned story content introduces a nice barrier to entry. I’m sure there are many people watching this launch very closely. The next beg step for the company will be around user acquisition & retention, as well as some innovation around story distribution (e.g. hardcover print?, kindle, iphone).

I checked out the beta this evening and was impressed. A minor criticism I’d have is that the user experience of the website leaves a little to be desired. Creating, personalizing, and exporting a story is a rather simple process, but their selection of background/link colors, and use of content and hierarchy made the experience a little difficult. It was also a bit buggy, for example, when using firefox the global nav lettering is white against a light-blue background. In addition, recommendation features, which will be just as important for this company as it was for Netflix, are not easily located. And when I finally read my story, the names of my characters are constantly highlighted in orange which actually keeps me from enjoying the uniquely personalized experience.

But these are easy issues to fix, and the site is still in beta afterall. The stories are engaging and the artwork is fantastic. The fact that I can personalize a unique bedtime story for a child with just a few clicks is something I’ve never done before on the internet. Most importantly, this company has found a way for technology to enable quality time between parents and their children, and for that reason I hope this company is tremendously successful.

For the everyday-ecommerce layman, cache = cash. Or, for the technically inclined, cache operates as a temporary storage area where frequently accessed data can be stored for faster access. Once the data is stored in the cache, it can be used in the future by accessing the cached copy rather than re-fetching or recomputing the original data. It basically reduces redundant steps and only focuses on processing information that is unique to a page.

Roy Rubin, Magento’s CEO, announced on Twitter that users of Magento Enterprise 1.7 who use the upgraded caching module can deliver page-refresh times in under .03 seconds. That is very fast. The upgrade is extremely important for the next evolution in ecommerce, where it is becoming clear that more rich media in the shopping experience yields higher conversion rates. But rich media also affects site speed, ergo the need for the caching module. This upgrade will also be especially useful for merchants who have several users on their site at one time.

Kudos to Magento’s forward thinking on this. Its one of the reasons I chose to work for them.

Virgin Charter was anticipated to disrupt what was at the time a multi-billion dollar industry by selling off “empty leg” flights, which are often available when a private jet makes a voyage back to its home airport after delivering passengers to their destination. The company unfortunately had a great model at the wrong time, as it has become the latest casualty of an economy gone awry since 2008. Even the largest player in the space, Warren Buffett’s NetJets reported a 43% drop in revenue in Q2 of this year. The fact that Virgin Charter has lasted for this long is a testament to company’s efficient management of its operations, marketing, and technology.

And speaking of that efficient management, it is unknown what CEO Brian Pope will do next. Pope became CEO of Virgin Charter this summer after Founding CEO Scott Duffy resigned in July. Pope was originally CMO, and was later promoted to COO, all within two years according to his LinkedIn profile. Its a shame that a company with the right model, team, brand, and backing had such a sad end, all because of factors beyond their control.

We plan to reach out to Pope, other executives, and investors in the days ahead to get a sense of what else was at play in the company’s last days. In the meantime, to get a sense of the excitement surrounding Virgin Charter, here are a few pictures from their website launch party in March 2008.

Cutting Cake

Richard enjoying, um, cake

Sir Richard Branson announces launch of Virgin Charter, Virgin Angels in background

Subtly showing our new look

Lloyd getting a massage

Sir Richard Branson adjusts Rex Lee's tie

Virgin Angels, Rex Lee, Sir Richard Branson-piece of cake

This brings Rubicon’s total venture funding to $45MM, a sizable amount of capital raised amidst the global economic downturn. This latest round of funding will likely be used for additional acquisitions by the Rubicon Project to enhance targeting, relevancy and distribution for ad networks & publishers.

Just last week, the Rubicon Project acquired behavioral-targeting firm Others Online. The Others Online acquisition enables the Rubicon Project to add a layer of behavioral targeting between publishers and ad networks, placing Rubicon at the cutting edge of a shift from contextual targeting to one based on actual user behavior. This makes the Rubicon Project a serious player in terms of both the targeting AND distribution.

And it is that combination, along with Rubicon’s effective model of solving pain for both publishers & networks, that likely led Google to enter this market last month. We predicted at the time that this is actually a very good thing for the Rubicon Project.