/blog en caitlin.abber@kikin.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-11T15:52:58+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/opting-in-to-advertising/ http://kikin.com/blog/opting-in-to-advertising/#When:15:52:58Z Last week Ari Rosenberg, a weekly columnist for MediaPost, published an article that I found very interesting.  In  “Online Advertising Recall", he speaks of the ills of the ad industry, focusing on pinpoint targeting initiatives where we over promise and under-deliver for marketers and consumers alike.   I found his overtures around business practices, privacy, consent and “better” advertising refreshing and welcomed.  I have spent the last 5 years working at or with companies using anonymous consumer data to improve the ability for marketers to deliver advertising messages in support of their campaign objectives.   I have found that the publishers and third-party advertising networks and technology vendors have always been missing one critical component---the consumer’s explicit consent.  Now many will argue that the publisher gets this consent thanks to their terms of service and the simple visitation to the their web site.  But I disagree. This is like saying that the moment I walk into The GAP to browse their jean selection they have the right to take my picture, body scan me and record every jean I picked up logging the size, sku and color and then using Google to analyze my photo and link it to my Gmail account and begin sending me direct mail about jeans and related accessories.   And that doesn’t sound anonymous to me! In the wide majority of cases these companies are not doing anything malicious or illegal but the consumer is bothered by the amount of information shared/captured -- or worse yet completely unaware.  At kikin, we want the consumer to be part of the conversation and explicitly participate through opting-in to our experiences. And more importantly, we want the consumer to engage and comment on how their information is being used, making recommendations, customizing their settings and having immediate visibility into the associated data.  To be fully transparent, we are at the early stage of providing complete visibility to consumers, but already today we are leading the way with a clear opt-in and consent mechanism. Privacy and content preferences are easily managed and our terms of service/privacy policy clearly state what and how we are using information to improve our service and marketing programs.  If you have questions about privacy or the benefits of opt-in we would be happy to discuss them with you!        -Larry Allen, Monetization 2010-03-11T15:52:58+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/and-i-would-like-64-bit-support-with-that/ http://kikin.com/blog/and-i-would-like-64-bit-support-with-that/#When:16:04:27Z When Apple decided to completely block Input Managers for 64-bit applications in Snow Leopard, they broke compatibility with most Safari extensions out there. In theory, an Input Manager allows users to enter characters from a repertoire vastly larger than the number of keys on a keyboard. However, because Input Managers are loaded into every program, they quickly became one of the simplest and most widely used ways to create extensions for applications that don’t provide proper extension mechanisms such as Safari and Mail. Popular extensions that utilize the Input Manager mechanism include Cooliris, Inquisitor, 1Password (up to version 2.9) and, of course, kikin. However, Input Managers may also be used for malicious purposes, as demonstrated by the Leap-A proof-of-concept malware in early 2006, and even badly programmed, albeit well-intentioned Input Managers, can compromise the stability of the Mac OSX system. It is then only logical that Apple decided to restrict Input Managers in Mac OSX 10.5 (Leopard) so they required the user’s explicit consent to install, and when they saw the opportunity to completely drop support for Input Managers in 64-bit applications in Snow Leopard, they took it. But where does this leave Safari extensions such as kikin? The widely accepted solution is to ask users to run Safari in 32-bits, allowing Input Managers to work as in Leopard. Why should users have to choose between having Safari extensions and enjoying the advertised speed gains and other advantages of 64-bit Safari? Fortunately, it didn’t take long before developers figured out an alternative to Input Managers and started to create extensions that worked with 64-bit Cocoa applications in Snow Leopard -- among these extensions is SIMBL. SIMBL, short for SIMple Bundle loader, is an application enhancement loader for Mac OSX developed by Mike Solomon under the terms of the GPL. As simple the name may be, SIMBL is actually the best friend and savior of application extension developers in Mac OSX, because it takes away the difficult task of loading the extension into the target application. Extension developers only need to provide the name and version of the applications they support, and SIMBL takes care of the rest. Not surprisingly, SIMBL was implemented as an Input Manager until version 0.8.2. The latest SIMBL, however, fully supports Snow Leopard 64-bit Cocoa applications such as Safari using Open Scripting Architecture eXtension (OSAX). Although at kikin we originally considered developing our Safari extension using SIMBL, we wanted to keep the overhead to a minimum. When SIMBL started supporting Snow Leopard, however, it became a clear choice for us. Furthermore, SIMBL’s GPL license does not conflict with the kikin licensing terms because SIMBL does not link the bundles it loads into applications. Overall, it was a winning solution. Of course, recompiling kikin for Safari in 64-bits and changing a couple of lines of code to support SIMBL was not really all of it. The OSAX-based SIMBL is not able to load extensions into an application as fast as the Input Manager-based version did, so Safari may be all done loading the user’s homepage before kikin becomes active. There was also need for a kikin plugin installer that bundled SIMBL and removed our old Input Manager.  Albeit these issues, we are now pleased to announce our new kikin plugin for Safari, fully compatible with Safari in Leopard and Snow Leopard in all its bit modalities! -Delfin Rojas, Senior Software Engineer 2010-03-10T16:04:27+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-word-cloud/ http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-word-cloud/#When:21:50:07Z 2010-03-09T21:50:07+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-employee-experience-kikin-saved-me-10/ http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-employee-experience-kikin-saved-me-10/#When:21:05:36Z kikin employees are always impressed with how kikin enhances not only their web experiences, but their entire lives. Here is a great example: "A few months ago I was looking for a new Xbox game, Batman Arkham  Asylum.  As always, I stopped by ign.com to read about the game and to check their review.    In my kikin Personal Browser, I noticed people were chatting about the game on Twitter.  I thought their opinions would help, and they did.  Everyone, including IGN, were saying great things about this game.  I was ready to buy.  Just then, I saw a new tweet about the best online deals for this game.  I clicked and saw a promo from Best Buy with a $10 off coupon.  I bought the game that day from Best Buy and kikin saved me $10!" -Greg, Product Manager 2010-03-08T21:05:36+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-video/ http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-video/#When:15:13:32Z kikin is the best way to get more video, no matter where you are on the web. it only takes a minute to see how you can discover, view, learn, and share with kikin. 2010-03-05T15:13:32+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-events/ http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-events/#When:19:19:06Z Take a minute to watch how kikin enhances your social life through informative content, networking, trip planning, restaurant reviews, and sharing! 2010-03-01T19:19:06+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-music/ http://kikin.com/blog/a-kikin-minute-get-more-music/#When:15:43:36Z It only takes a minute to see how kikin enhances your online experience. With kikin, you get more sound, information, social networking, videos, and purchasing options -- all curated for you. kikin is great for learning about your favorite artists on Wikipedia, listening to their music on iTunes, reading what your friends say on Facebook and Twitter, and shopping for albums on Amazon while simultaneously watching videos on Youtube. It's user-centricity at its best!     2010-02-19T15:43:36+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-is-a-spark-of-genius/ http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-is-a-spark-of-genius/#When:21:06:44Z This week, kikin was featured on Mashable’s Spark of Genius series! Noting both convenience and context, the Mashable article focuses on how useful and precise kikin is when it comes to bringing you the relevant content you want: “What we like is that if you connect your Facebook or Twitter account, you can see not only public comments from those services, but just comments from your friends that are related to the topic in question. Context is key, and we like that you can focus that context.” We’d like to thank Mashable for featuring us in the series. We are proud to be the pioneers of user-centricity! 2010-02-15T21:06:44+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-cro-larry-allen-featured-on-business-insider/ http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-cro-larry-allen-featured-on-business-insider/#When:15:24:05Z Larry Allen, our Chief Revenue Officer, was featured on BusinessInsiders' "How To Get A Great Job Right Now In Today's Awful Economy"series. After sharing an idea with a friend about a moreaudience-driven web experience,  Larry was introduced to kikin CEOCarlos Bhola. "Within my first 10 minutes of meeting with [him] weimmediately realized we had a passion for user-centric experiences" says Larry. You can read the entire article here.   2010-02-11T15:24:05+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/i-use-kikin-to-shop-online-video/ http://kikin.com/blog/i-use-kikin-to-shop-online-video/#When:17:17:50Z Check out this video guide showing how kikin improves, upgrades, and personalizes your "My Web Always With Me" shopping experience.  2010-02-09T17:17:50+00:00