EBay has reason to be proud of its apps. In public-facing comments in BusinessWeek and elsewhere, the company has touted its agile, iterative app development, saying that it monitors sales while tweaking its apps to try out new features by trial and error. On June 23, the company took another smart step by acquiring a license to use RedLaser, an iPhone technology that lets the phone’s camera scan barcodes and find those products online. Soon, users will be able to scan anything with a SKU and find it on eBay.

The strategy seems to be working. EBay says it plans to make $1.5 billion this year from mobile commerce, up from $600 million in 2009. But the mobile commerce market is projected to grow by a factor of five by 2015, to $119 billion, which means that some of that growth is just “rising tide.” Those numbers are also not adjusted for attrition from the desktop site.

In the long-term, however, the trends in mobility may ill serve eBay’s purposes. Like arch-competitor Amazon (AMZN), the auction site boomed in the 90s when the purpose of the Web was to connect far-flung parties and initiate trusted transactions. But the purpose of the mobile Web these days is much different: it’s more about exploiting relationships that you have in real life — especially those with people and markets nearby. If there were to be one word to summarize the Web’s greatest utility in the next decade, it would probably be “hyperlocal.” And hyperlocal is something that eBay — perhaps with the exception of eBay Motors — doesn’t have much use for.

Not that the auction giant isn’t trying. Among other things, the company is trying out an augmented reality feature in its Classifieds app, and is also working to list items by location. As I’ve argued before, most people would rather use Craigslist for local buying for a constellation of reasons: no PayPal fees, and the opportunity to inspect goods in person before buying.

But a bigger problem may be that PayPal’s position as industry leader is under threat. The payment system has been greasing the wheels of eBay’s wheels with tremendous success since at least 2002, when it was acquired, and it has grown to 120 million accounts. But PayPal is facing some new and aggressive competitors, and it seems ill-equipped to grow any further. Zong, the only other payment system allowed in the Facebook Credits ecosystem, is one such competitor, and has the benefit of billions of dollars of social gaming commerce at its feet. And MasterCard (MC) has just built out an incredible API for developers that has the potential to dominate not just in-app commerce, but also CRMs, online games, merchant e-commerce web sites, and payroll systems.

That said, the company has been tenaciously pursuing Craigslist, and should it keep up the effort it may only be a matter of time before it finds a winning formula. (Free listings might be a good start.) With the hijacking of Craigslist’s market, eBay could pull in a draft of new users and build adjacent products. Without that market, however, its mobile “growth” may only be cannibalization of its existing user pool.

Institutional money managers, considering an overall allocation to alternative investments, are now routinely including China as a key component of future VC/PE returns. So, whether you are a limited partner already active in China or an institutional investor ready to evaluate this compelling opportunity, the CVCF, Silicon Valley is designed for you. If you are a US venture capitalist with China representation already “on the ground,” or a VC still contemplating the pros and cons of China, CVCF Silicon Valley is the place to network and learn from those in the know. This is your chance to size up the China market, meet the key players, and “learn from the experts” how best to navigate this emerging market. Last year’s US conference in New York was a sell-out, and this year’s conference in Silicon Valley also promises to be a big success. Informed, experienced keynote speakers and panel members will deliver the latest predictions and offer you practical suggestions as you network with other investment professionals also in attendance.

http://www.zero2ipo.com.hk/cvcf/sv2010/default.asp

Time is the single resource in our lives that it’s impossible to make more of. Which is unfortunate, because we waste tons of the stuff — especially at work.

Want to make better use of your time, get more stuff done, and possibly save some extra time for yourself and your family? I won’t promise miracles, but I do have 10 tips for how to save yourself some time throughout the day.

Productivity 501 recently discussed timesavers for office workers, and many of these tips are already things I find that I do around the office.  Others are great tips, because they speak to common traps that sap our efficiency and waste time. Here are the most important time savers — check out Productivity 501 for the whole list:

1. Time your commute. This is like advice I learned many years ago, when I shared a communal shower in college. Leaving for the office just a few minutes earlier or later can have a significant effect on your overall commute time.

2, Know which is faster — the stairs or elevator. If you only do it once a day, perhaps not a big deal. But if you spend a lot of time tromping up and down floors, this can really add up.

3. Don’t skip lunch. Working through lnch is pennywise, pound foolish. You need the break to re-energize.

4. Don’t wait on things. If it takes 5 minutes to boot your PC or 10 minutes for a print job to process, do something else to fill in the gap.

5. Prep for tomorrow. At the end of the day, I always update my to-do list and arrange my desk so it’s ready for my new priorities.

6. Turn off e-mail notifications. You already know my feelings about e-mail: If you can, dedicate some slices of time each day to e-mail, and turn it off in between. If you must check e-mail continuously, though, I think notifications are handy, since you can see what’s coming in without switching to the mail client. This lets you decide to engage or ignore mail at a glance, without leaving the project you’re working on.

7. Don’t sit all day. Get up, walk around. Even working while standing for short periods of time can reinvigorate you and make you work more efficiently.

8., Batch your tasks. Arrange your workday so you can tackle high-concentration or high-priority tasks together.

Dreamwalk uses GPS technology to show users where prizes, or “treasure,” is waiting to be discovered. If you decide you want to don your pirate hat and go in search of said treasure, you can use your iPhone as the treasure map and claim a prize of your own. A first of its kind, Dreamwalk has the potential to revolutionize mobile marketing while giving bargain hunters and freebie lovers a whole new experience.

If you’re wondering where the prizes come from, they are supplied by the various participating businesses. The current estimate of available prizes is a couple of thousand across the US, ranging from free fries and coffee to video cameras and a Nintendo Wii. Still in its early stages, developers at Dreamwalk Pty. Ltd. are setting the stage for more and more businesses to get involved and grow the number of available prizes.

This particular feat shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish given that businesses can quickly upload prizes to Dreamwalk’s global map through the Dreamwalk website, and offering something for nothing is a great way to get customers in the door.

So if businesses can get mobile marketing out of the deal, what do Dreamwalk users get? To start with, the app is free so there’s no cost to try it. After that, you can get free stuff. If you live in a large metro area, you’re in luck as that seems to be where the bulk of freebies waiting to be found and claimed are located. Seems New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC residents have the best shot at finding real treasure, right now. In the midwest, Indianapolis has a few prizes on the map, as well as Cleveland, but pickings are pretty slim – at least for now.

There are three different ways to collect prizes, but they require real world hunting. There are instant prizes, collector stamps, and full blown treasure hunts. Instant prizes are exactly that – instant. Users move to the location on the map marked by a star and claim the prize. It is then automatically transferred to your “prize bag,” an on screen icon that you tap for instructions to instantly redeem your prize. These prizes tend to be smaller in nature, like food and cologne samples.

Collector stamps and treasure hunts require a bit more hunting, as users travel about to various locations to collect letter stamps that spell out words or gather clues to the treasure’s final location. Granted, you’d need some time on your hands to accomplish this, but a Mini Camcorder or Nintendo Wii aren’t a bad trade for goofing off for a day. Once located and claimed, prizes can be redeemed in-store, by email, or digital download depending on the prize.

If Dreamwalk takes off and the company is able to grow its user base and business participants, there could be a great deal of win-win going on for everyone. Businesses can market themselves to mobile users who live in or are visiting their area, and Dreamwalk treasurer hunters can grab the occasional cup of coffee or cheeseburger for free while having a little fun with their GPS. Guess a few lucky people could snag a cool gadget or two, also.

Dreamwalk has a simple interface with a thorough FAQ and help page for more information. You can’t claim a prize just because it shows up on the map – you have to actually go to its location – so those in smaller cities and towns or less densely populated areas would have to travel quite a distance to find even their first treasure. But as previously stated, it’s early yet and with luck, the map will soon be littered with stars in all areas. In the mean time, Dreamwalk is a free app and there’s no harm in keeping an eye out for prizes in your area.

• content designed specifically for the touch screen experience
• easy navigation methods, including an innovative zoomed-out “Browse Mode”
• the ability to browse image slideshows
• embedded 360 degree object viewers
• support for video and audio content
• the ability to rotate content using device accelerometer functionality

What’s the right way to manage a project like that? I’ve got some logical, yet nontraditional advice for how to organize our team.

In the current issue of Inc, Joel Spolsky contends that organizationally, we have a tendency to over communicate. Specifically, by adding nonessential participants to projects, meetings and e-mail conversations, we dramatically slow down the overall process.

Worse, there’s a tendency to throw people at problems — if a project is running late, we add extra “resources” to it — you know, project management speak for people. And while Microsoft Project will eagerly reduce the time a project takes in proportion to every human being you add, the reality is that the resulting web of communication is a huge tax that makes the most productive members of a project less efficient, and can further delay the project.

My favorite part of the article shows mathematically how this web of communication can get out of hand very quickly: Iif you have n people on your team, there are (n²-n)/2 connections among them. This chart demonstrates how this can suck the life out of your project:

People Connections

1           0

2          1

3          3

4          6

5          10

6          15

7          21

8          28

9          36

10        45

What does that mean? It definitely suggests that smaller, sleeker teams work more efficiently, and you should really think hard about the explicit value of each person you throw on the CC line of any e-mail.

Of the total paying accounts, 21,800 or 28.2% were from www.Youshang.com, an e-commerce platform under Kingdee International Software Group Co., Ltd. (SEHK: 0268). Youshang.com ranked first in the SaaS market in the quarter.

The followers were www.wecoo.com and www.eabax.com. And next came www.800app.com, Xtools, and www.mainone.com, with a less than 10% market share, separately. In particular, Salesforce.com only captured a 1.7% slice.

Besides, the nation’s management-type SaaS market is predicted to grow rapidly in the near future, and it will hit CNY 720 million by 2011, with a 76.27% compound annual growth rate, said Analysys International.

Now, some Chinese small- and medium-sized companies have begun accepting SaaS, so, we should be optimistic about the future, said an Analysys International analyst.

Private equity firms buy companies under an unusual arrangement – they force the companies to take on huge debt obligations to finance, in essence, their own purchases. The buyout kings then pay themselves huge fees for running these companies, well before it is determined whether they ran them well or into the ground. A Davos study shows that once in control, private equity firms cut more jobs than competitors. And according to a University of Chicago study for the years 1980 to 2001, investors in private equity firms also lose, receiving returns that fell short of the broad market averages.

Consider the private equity buyout that took place under the direction of Bain Capital and Stephen Pagliuca – that of Dade Behring, an Illinois lab equipment manufacturing firm that was bought by Bain and was ultimately left with about $450 million in debt. What happened after its purchase?

While lab-equipment manufacturers typically allocate 10-to-15 percent of sales to research and development, under Bain, Dade spent nearly half, 6 to 7 percent – $61.7 million in 1997 and $88.2 million in 1998. The anemic R&D spending fit the pattern of recent private-equity excesses – first because Dade Behring needed money to pay off the debt Bain had loaded it down with, and second, because Bain lacked the proper incentives to build a company it planned to exit within five years.

Like clockwork, nearly five years after its initial investment, Bain was practicing its exit dance, changing the employee benefits package for many workers from a defined-benefit pension plan, in which employees were entitled to about 75 percent of the average of their combined salary in their last three working years, to a cash-balance plan, saving the company perhaps $10 million to $40 million from the conversion. The same month Dade used the projections of that very savings as part of the basis to borrow $421 million, $365 million of which it turned around and used to buy back some of Bain and co-investor Goldman Sachs Capital Partners’ shares.

The Standard & Poor’s rating agency believed the company with the added debt would be unable to pay its interest if it faced adverse business conditions.

With added debt, new areas had to be cut. Dade’s Miami office, which had 850 employees in 1999, consolidated operations with a similar division in Germany. Pagliuca told the Globe that job cuts were necessary to improve Dade’s performance. But by then it didn’t matter how many divisions were consolidated or workers fired. Nothing could save the company from its crushing debt load. Finally, the decline in the value of the euro, which Dade was too cash-strapped to hedge against, caused the company to collapse. It filed for bankruptcy in August 2002.

Dade’s creditors took over the business, and Bain lost all its shares. But, Bain and Goldman – after putting down only $85 million to buy Dade and receiving the $365 million distribution, made out like bandits – a $280 million profit. Later, the Globe reported, creditors alleging these gains were “illegal dividends” got the private equity firms and other entities to pay them back $68 million of the $365 million.

Did this company have to be treated this way? Was it making a bad product? Was it at the end of its productivity? After the bankruptcy, creditors agreed to cut the company’s debt by more than half in exchange for company shares. They saw that if Dade focused on growth and not on juggling its debt load, it had the potential to be a strong business. Dade began pumping money into R&D – more than 8 percent of revenue in 2003, 2004, and 2005. By 2006, Dade’s sales had risen 40 percent. The next year, Siemens bought the company for $6.7 billion, five times more than its value at the time of the bankruptcy.

Pagliuca said recently that the Kennedy ads showing the bitterness of laid-off workers were unfair because they distorted the entirety of Romney’s body of work. An examination of Bain’s record, and Pagliuca has been a key member of Bain since its early days, shows that Bain made big profits out of six formerly healthy companies it helped drive into bankruptcy (Stage Stores, Ampad, GS Technologies, Details, KB Toys, and Dade). During the credit boom from 2005 to 2007, Bain bought 22 businesses. Moody’s Credit Rating Service in November said 10 of those companies, including Clear Channel Communications and Guitar Center, are either distressed or in default, 45 percent of the total.

I am not a resident of Massachusetts and take no side in this campaign. But I agree with Pagliuca that the entirety of a man’s work be available to voters before they throw the lever.

SupportSpace, founded in 2006, aims to help expand their remote tech service by offering a SaaS (software as a service) platform for the management, marketing and delivery of remote services and a network of virtual experts.

To get tech support using SupportSpace, you choose a service or an online expert, then connect to the expert and watch your problem being resolved on your screen in real-time.

According to SupportSpace Co-Founder and CEO Yair Grindlinger, SupportSpace will use the funds to enhance its infrastructure, expand its team, and acquire new partners.