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Images: Stewart Butterfield's new gaming start-up

Since last March, the Flickr co-founder and three partners have quietly been developing an online social game they hope will appeal to a wide audience. CNET has been there to document the creation of their start-up.


Stewart Butterfield's Tiny Speck team

To build Glitch, the Flickr co-founder put together an impressive team of some of his earliest collaborators on the popular photo-sharing site.


In depth with Tiny Speck's Glitch

The new online social MMO from Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield's Tiny Speck puts players through a wide variety of paces. Quests, egg growing and clouds on a string are just a part of it.


Watching the birth of Flickr co-founder's gaming start-up

Stewart Butterfield and his friends are back at it with a new company. CNET's Daniel Terdiman was given exclusive, behind-the-scenes access as they built it from scratch.


Google launches Nexus One phone support

Customers suffering shipping and technical issues with the new Android phone now have more resources than online support forums.


Did this Metro PCS ad make the tech world cringe?

Cell phone provider Metro PCS' new campaign, featuring two supposed Indian tech experts, is proving a little controversial. The company admits it has received complaints.


iPad pricing: How low can you go, Apple?

It seems odd that Apple execs would even hint at the possibility of an early price cut lest they give folks already on the fence about buying the first iteration of the device more reason to stay there.


Twins learn of teen brother's death on Facebook

Twins logging on to Facebook to read birthday wishes instead discover that people have left RIP posts about their 17-year-old brother. Police hadn't notified the family.


Silicon: It's good for you, especially in beer

Researchers at UC Davis say that silicon, the most common metalloid and a known booster of bone-mineral density, is highly "bioavailable" when consumed in beer.


University worker accused of extorting student file sharers

Security analyst at University of Georgia tasked with catching copyright violators allegedly uses his position to shakedown students.


TweetDeck gets a few tweaks

The latest version of TweetDeck is out, and although it's a minor update it also introduces some useful changes worth noting.


Boeing's next-gen 747 takes first flight

The 747-8 Freighter, whose passenger version is slated to come a year later, is getting tested alongside the 787 Dreamliner in Washington state.


Former Intel exec pleads guilty in Galleon case

A former Intel executive pleads guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud by providing confidential information in the Galleon Group insider-trading case.


Next-generation 747 takes first air (photos)

On Monday, Boeing's 747-8 Freighter took off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., its first flight, and the first for the new 747 program.


Stay home, let Texas Robot attend that meeting

A start-up employee in Indiana telecommutes to work in California by using a robot body stationed at his office. Meet the Texas Robot from Willow Garage.


Microsoft denies Windows 7 battery problem

The software maker says that an error message warning users that their batteries may need replacing appears to be working as intended, despite some complaints.


CNET News Daily Podcast: Blackberry hacked, 4chan blocked, iPad unwanted

On the podcast: Blackberry vulnerabilities, Verizon blocks 4chan sites, the space station gets a new bay window, and more.


Google to make Gmail a little more social

Sources familiar with the company's plans tell CNET that Google is ready to integrate status updates into Gmail in Twitter-like style, with a stream of text and multimedia updates.


EA's game arsenal coming to Facebook?

An exec at the gaming company hinted that its 'Madden NFL' franchise will launch a Facebook version, the first application we've seen of EA's Playfish acquisition to its existing game titles.


Survey: More people looking for help on recycling

Report from Earth911.com shows more people with questions on how and where to recycle in 2009, with PCs, batteries, and TVs topping the list of search queries.


 

IPS's double IT has risks, says commissioner

Doing a good job nevertheless, he controversially adds

Identity commissioner Sir Joseph Pilling has expressed concerns about the Identity and Passport Service's two-stage approach to its core technology.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


China jails porn-monger

Crackdown continues

China's aggressive crackdown on internet smut and dissent continues - yesterday a man was sentenced to 13 years prison for renting a US server for distributing pornographic material…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


New cig peril: Third-hand smoke coats puffers in poison

Deadly 'electronic gaspers' fingered, too

US federal boffins in Berkeley, California say they have discovered yet another deadly hazard associated with smoking. They also raise warnings regarding the perils associated with electronic cigarettes.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Intel's 'Tukwila' Itaniums - hot n' pricey

How much for an upgrade?

Analysis As El Reg duly reported earlier today, Intel took the wraps off its long awaited and many times tweaked "Tukwila" quad-core Itanium 9300 processors for midrange and high-end servers. But let's take a look at the feeds and speeds of the chip itself and how the lineup compared to the prior Itanium 9100 series.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Shopping sites boost customer savvy

And improve legal compliance, says OFT

Internet shoppers are more aware of their rights and more online retailers are complying with consumer protection laws than previously, according to studies by consumer protection regulator the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


OpenOffice is the new David Hasselhoff

Big in Germany. Not so big in Blighty

A new study from German web analytics firm Webmasterpro.de shows that adoption rates of open source productivity software suites swings wildly between different countries.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Delayed Visual Studio 2010 RC due this week

Trimmer fit

The delayed next edition of Microsoft's Visual Studio is due as a release candidate by the end of this week.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


AMD talks energy with 'Llano' cores

Ceepie-geepie cold Fusion

While Intel is talking up its "Westmere" CPUs and their graphics co-processing, which puts a 45 nanometer graphics chip and memory controller inside the same chip package as a two-core Core processor implemented using 32 nanometer processes, rival AMD wants to change the subject to a truly integrated, single-chip CPU/GPU combination - and at the same time make you think about the future, not the present.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Sun's cloud and gaming execs leave Oracle

Kenai reprieved

Oracle's chief Larry Ellison recently promised he'll be hiring more staff than he'll be letting go from Sun Microsystems.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Ex-Intel exec pleads guilty to insider trading

Admits outing Intel earnings, WiMAX plans

Former Intel executive Rajiv Goel has pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy and securities fraud in connection with the Galleon insider trading case. Goel is the tenth person to plead guilty in the case, which the FBI and the US attorney's office in Manhattan call the largest hedge fund inside trading case in US history.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Adobe apologizes for festering Flash crash bug

16 months...and counting

An Adobe product manager has apologized for allowing a potentially serious bug in Flash Player to remain unfixed for more than 16 months.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Conficker outbreak infects Leeds hospital servers

Sicko

Updated Servers on the network of Leeds NHS Trust were struck down by the Conficker worm late last week.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Intel 'Tukwila' born after long and painful labor

Blame it on marketing

Intel officially unveiled its long-delayed Tukwila "mission-critical" server processor today - now dubbed the Itanium 9300 series - providing a few more details about the 2-billion transistor part and giving some color on why it was over three years late.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


SourceForge reverses ban on US foes

U-turn on 'blanket blocking'

Open Source code repository SourceForge.net has pulled a U-turn on a widely unpopular decision to ban users from accessing its website from countries under US trade restrictions.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Oracle issues emergency security patch for WebLogic

'Full disclosure' yields results

Oracle issued an emergency patch for its WebLogic Server almost two weeks after a white-hat hacker disclosed a vulnerability that allows criminals to remotely execute commands on the webserver with no authentication necessary.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


Microsoft tests show no Win 7 battery flaw

Replace battery warnings correct, says Redmond

Microsoft says that extensive testing and conversations with OEMs indicate that Windows 7 is handling notebook batteries exactly as intended - despite user claims that upgrades to the new OS have caused significant degradation to battery life.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Microsoft kills FAST's Linux and Unix search biz

Values your business on Windows

Customers of FAST's Enterprise Search Platform (ESP) on Linux or Unix better develop a taste for Windows or look elsewhere for their enterprise search.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


Linus Torvalds doesn't hate the Googlephone

I like your fork!

Linus Torvalds hates cell phones. But that doesn't include the Googlephone.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


Sweden to prosecute alleged Cisco, NASA hacker

Stakkato's abrupt transfer

The prosecution of a Swedish man charged with breaching the computer networks of NASA and Cisco Systems and making off with sensitive source code will be transferred to Swedish authorities, US federal prosecutors said Monday.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Google (Voice) solves universal translation soonish

Babel fishing for compliments

Google has managed to get some decent press by announcing that, in a few years, it might be able to translate speech - something iPhone owners can already do.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Dell snaps up crashed Exanet

How to turn $70m into $12m

Update Dell is buying failed clustered filer supplier Exanet for $12m.…


iPhone OS 3.1.3 unlock app posted

Dev Team tool tweaked

Owners of unlocked iPhones who want to upgrade to the recently released OS 3.1.3 and want to retain the ability to use whatever Sim meets their needs can now do so. The iPhone Dev Team have released a suitable version of its PwnageTool utility.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Cheeky French hackers hijack Tata website

Now you see it, maintenant... non

Top flight outsourcing firm Tata Consulting Services appeared to have lost control of its website to hackers today, with the domain apparently being touted for sale.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Phoenix recovers barbecued data in Europe

Firey databird has new nest, but is it er, cheep?

European data centres can recover data from data centres blown to smithereens by using Axxana's near-bomb proof Phoenix data recovery system…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


LG eyes golden age of telly with retro CRT set

Valve Doonican

It's the telly Mad Men and Avengers fans will surely be craving: a 14in telly kitted out in true 1960s style.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


El Reg reader assembles own iPad

Click here for an iFul of low-cost DIY project

The fanbois out there whose lives have become a meaningless succession of days to be crossed off the calendar until the release of Apple's paradigm-busting iPad will be delighted to learn that they can fill the void by assembling their very own future of computing.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Half a million PCs can access Schengen's 'secure' database

Big network, big danger

The number of computers with access to the Schengen Information System has doubled to 500,000 thanks to the extension of the EU.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Vodafone tosses out idiot tweeter

No more beavering for you

Vodafone's Twitter-based stupidity on Friday was down to an unguarded terminal, it transpires, and the employee concerned is now kicking his heels at home.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


Eidos confirms Championship Manager Online shutdown

Season's end

Publisher Eidos has confirmed that it has ordered the closure of Championship Manager Online, the web-based version of the long-running popular fantasy football franchise.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


Online Kiwis maybe feeling Oz censor trickledown

People of Walmart now counts as filth, apparently

Australia’s drive to protect its own population from the horrors of the internet may be starting to have knock-on effects on the surfing habits of its neighbour, New Zealand - some websites are no longer accessible in NZ via Aussie ISPs.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Archos posts 'full' Linux distro for Android tablet

Developers only, please

Media player maker Archos has posted a full Linux distro that will run on its Archos 5 machine.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


Bishop Hill: Gonzo science and the Hockey Stick

Torturing the climate numbers until they confess

Interview In 2001 the IPCC published its Third Assessment report prominently featuring a graph that became "the logo of global warming". Previous historical reconstructions didn't show our modern warm climate as particularly anomalous. This was very different, and was hailed as a "call to action". Yet Michael Mann's studies were deeply flawed. Omit one or two proxies, for example, and the scary warming 'spike' disappears. Mann's model could produce hockey stick shapes using random data, such as baseball scores, or red noise. Critics alleged that Mann's choices of data and statistical tools all cooled the Medieval Warm Period, and emphasised late 20th Century warming.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


BAE broke bribery pledge, faked US arms-export applications

'We will become as righteous as we are good value'(!)

Further details have emerged regarding the US Department of Justice case against UK-headquartered arms globocorp BAE Systems. The feds - without argument from BAE - say that the company engaged in a "conspiracy" to violate several US laws in recent years.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


FBI calls for two year retention for ISP data

Origin and destination if you please sir

FBI director Robert Mueller is still keen to get US internet service providers to keep their customers' web logs for up to two years.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


US gives Chinese man 2.5 years over fake Cisco kit

Cisco no-no

A Chinese man has been sentenced to a two and half year stretch in California for flogging counterfeit Cisco parts in the US.…


Asus Eee PC 1005PE

Intel's freshest Atom comes to netbooks

Review Intel launched its latest generation of netbook-centric Atom processors right at the end of 2009. While the following weeks saw plenty of announcements heralding new machines based on the chips, those PCs have only now started to arrive on shop shelves.…


Samsung preps Wacko Jacko movie hard drive

Film pre-loaded on HDD

Wacko Jacko fans, Samsung has the external hard drive for you.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Mandybill is mostly harmless, says MP watchdog

But wants more detail

A committee of MPs has surprisingly said that copyright infringement penalties for internet users proposed in the Digital Economy are justifiable. However, it wants the Government to explain them better, and publish more detail - particularly on the threshold for suspending the accounts of serial infringers.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Leaky anti-virus defences letting malware through

Spanky new scanners no longer cutting it

Even users running up-to-date anti-virus software still get infected with malware, according to stats from an online malware scanning service.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


US scientists get free cloud on-ramp

Microsoft and NSF plugging Azure

Microsoft and the US National Science Foundation have announced an agreement that will provide free access to cloud computing resources for select NSF-funded researchers for the next three years.…

Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing


Sony to demo 'world's first' in-box wireless tech

Component shall speak unto component

Sony has developed a wireless communications technology designed to replace the cabling within gadgets rather than connections between devices.…


Gov tempts young London onto ID database with booze, 'games'

Doesn't sound at all dodgy, does it

London's yoof can now follow in the footsteps of their Mancunian counterparts and sign up for the government's ID card scheme.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Cloud firm wafts out white label ERP for small biz

Seven years work for £30 a head

Salesorder.com is offering a white label version of its online ERP software for resellers to sell on to their customers.…

The power of collaboration within unified communications


French poised to seize Port of Dover

'Outrage' over privatisation plan

A plan to privatise the government-owned Port of Dover has provoked "outrage", not least because the French are front-runners to take control of the facility.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


MySQL handler Jacobs walks out on Oracle

It's a terrific place to work - just not for me

Oracle's open source strategy was looking a little fenced in this morning, after the database giant lost one of its most prominent voices and OpenOffice was snubbed by Ubuntu developers.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


China stomps cybercrook training outfit

Black Hawk taken down

Chinese authorities have closed down a firm that allegedly trained hackers to develop spyware and launch cyberattacks.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Drink beer not fizzy pop for pity's sake, say boffins

Just two+ cans of soft drink a week = DEATH

Splendid news on the health front this week, as it has emerged that drinking beer is good for you - and that soft drinks will kill you.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


Wales auditor arrested over indecent images allegations

Quit job last week

Jeremy Colman, the ex-Auditor General for Wales, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images.…

Offloading malware protection to the cloud


State officials seize InPhase assets in lieu of taxes

The lights are out - and for sale

In a final emphatic demonstration that the money has run out, holographic storage developer InPhase's premises have been seized for non-payment of taxes by the Colorado Department of Revenue.…

Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work


Endeavour en route to ISS

'Brilliant nighttime liftoff'

Endeavour is en route to the ISS following a 'brilliant nighttime liftoff' from the Kennedy Space Center.…

What is your recession sales strategy?


  Empty List  

Feb. 9, 1870: Feds Get on Top of the Weather

President Grant signs the law creating what will become the Weather Bureau and eventually the National Weather Service.



Macworld Expo 2010 Caters to Apple Fans — Without Apple

The Macworld trade show goes on without Steve Jobs. But will it live another year?



Video Gallery: Lightning Reveals Its Power in Slow Motion

Ultrahigh-speed video reveals six lightning strokes in startling slo-mo.



Stormy Weather Cannot Defeat Re-Engineered Umbrella

Saving up for a rainy day? Consider using some of that cash on an umbrella from Blunt. This reinforced dome will hold up to gusts short of hurricane force.



Storyboard: Chris Anderson on Long Tail of Stuff

Advances in product design and prototyping signal the start of a new industrial revolution, Wired's top editor argues in his latest cover story. Anderson and Wired Executive Editor Thomas Goetz discuss the implications of these radical changes in this week's Storyboard podcast.



Feb. 9, 1969:Boeing 747 Makes First Flight

The world's first jumbo jet, Boeing's 747, shows that it's ready for service.



Audio: DIY Recordings of Awakening Sun

A backyard radio astronomer and artist in New Mexico has captured sound recordings of the newly noisy sun showering the Earth with particles.



JooJoo Tablet Faces Uphill Battle Against iPad

Apple's iPad could sound the death knell for JooJoo, a tablet from an an unknown Singapore-based startup that was once the talk of gadget blogs.



Jurors Told to Stop Tweeting

The federal judiciary is being told to instruct jurors not to tweet, Facebook or perform online research for cases they are involved in. The developments follow a rash of twittering, facebooking and internet researching by federal jurors — some of which have led to mistrials.



Google Making Gmail Into a Communications Hub

Google is set to turn Gmail into a communications dashboard with rolling status updates. It's a bid to keep up with Facebook and make Gmail the place users turn to when they want to send messages, no matter what the medium.



Boeing's Biggest Bird Leaves the Nest

The Boeing 747-8 made it's inaugural flight, more than a year behind schedule.



Electric Cars, and Chargers, Poised to Flood Israel

Shai Agassi brokers a deal to electrify one-third of the country's fleet within 5 years.



Farewell to Sci-Fi Writer William Tenn

William Tenn, one of science fiction's most imaginative writers, has passed. Tenn created vivid scenarios of mind-blowing alien worlds in novels and stories that illuminated emotional, political and ethic issues of good old humanity. And as a teacher, he inspired other aspiring writers. Including this one.



Artist Creates Paintings From Floppy Disks

British artist Nick Gentry is using floppy disk drives to created mixed-media portraits.



First Chevrolet Volt Rolls Off the Line Nov. 1

GM's date with destiny is set, but there's still no word on what the electric car will cost.



After 100 Years, Are The Boy Scouts Still Relevant?

February 8 marks the centennial of Boy Scouts in America. At a time when shows like 'Man Vs Wild' and 'Survivorman' are experiencing immense popularity, wouldn’t it make sense that they'd see a surge in enrollment? But Boy Scouts, in many ways, are a struggling organization with membership plummeting annually.



Rewiring Haiti: Patience Wears Thin in Port-au-Prince

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — With the disaster-relief phase ending, the streets of Port-au-Prince are now crowded with the white SUVs of international aid and development agencies shuttling purposefully around town. But while the focus may have shifted to rebuilding Haiti, rising unrest over aid and food distribution could sideline efforts to begin reconstruction in earnest.



10 Ways to a Geeky Girl's Heart

If you’re a geeky guy looking to romance a geeky girl, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been with her forever or if she’s a new interest; realize that conventional romantic overtures won’t always work. Think outside the box. Here's some help.



Google's Super Bowl Ad: A Romance in Search

Google debuted a Super Bowl ad Sunday. The ad tells the story of a romance helped along by a series of Google searches conducted by (one is left to imagine) a young man whose simple plan to study abroad in Paris ends with his need to know how to assemble a crib.



Review: Daddy-Daughter Killing Sprees Power 'BioShock 2'

By building on the original's creepy setting and tweaking the troubling relationship between Big Daddies and Little Sisters, this sequel becomes a worthy successor to a groundbreaking game.



Missile Silo Confessions: Living on the Edge of Armageddon

A renovated missile silo in the middle of the Arizona desert is a reminder of more chaotic times. Ex-crew members share their stories as we take a tour.



How Movies Activate Your Neural G-Spot

Scott Brown considers the pros and cons of MindSign Neuromarketing's plans to create the "neurocinema," the real-time monitoring of the brain's reaction to movies.



Feb. 8, 1865: Mendel Reads Genetics' Founding Paper

An Austrian monk is anything but pea-shy when he explains the principles of heredity.



Ad-Network Vets Try to Clean Up Their Act

Do you wonder where those ads for work at home, teeth whitening and so on are coming from, and why they appear on otherwise respectable websites? The answer is complicated, but becoming less so.



A Would-Be Spy's Buried Treasure and Uncrackable Code

Former Air Force sergeant Brian Regan buried stolen government secrets and encrypted the coordinates, hoping to sell the stash to the highest bidder. Then he had to crack his own code.



21st-Century Shooters Are No Country for Old Men

Can aging gamers compete with twitchy teens on today's increasingly complicated virtual battlefields? War is extra hellish when you're too old, or too busy, to fight off the adolescent hordes in games like MAG and Modern Warfare 2.



Apple iPad's Tiny SIM Is Just There to Mess With You

Evidence suggests that Apple's decision to use a smaller-than-usual micro SIM card in the iPad was motivated by business reasons, not a lack of space. The company is likely trying to prevent iPhone customers from using the same SIM cards in their iPads.



Ultra-Precise Quantum-Logic Clock Puts Old Atomic Clock to Shame

Scientists create an atomic clock that uses quantum logic to be precise within one second in 3.7 billion years.



Authors Guild: 'To RIAA or Not to RIAA'

The Authors Guild says it supports the proposed Google Books settlement to avoid the same mistakes the Recording Industry of America made in its litigation campaign against music pirates. Namely: if you can't beat piracy, you might as well as join it.



'The People vs. George Lucas' Is Really a Twisted Love Letter

Star Wars fans unload on the creator of their beloved franchise in the crowdsourced film, which makes its world premiere in March at the South by Southwest film festival. Writer and director Alexandre O. Philippe talks about weeding through thousands of submissions from passionate fans to concoct his "participatory documentary."



 

Improving Education Through Social Gaming

A piece up at Mashable explores how some schools and universities are finding success at integrating social gaming into their education curriculum. Various game-related programs are getting assistance these days from sources like the government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "For the less well-to-do educator, the Federation of American Scientists has developed a first-person shooter-inspired cellular biology curriculum. Gamers explore the fully-interactive 3D world of an ill patient and assist the immune system in fighting back a bacterial infection. Dr. Melanie Ann Stegman has been evaluating the educational impacts of the game and is optimistic about her preliminary findings. 'The amount of detail about proteins, chemical signals and gene regulation that these 15-year-olds were devouring was amazing. Their questions were insightful. I felt like I was having a discussion with scientist colleagues,' said Stegman. Perhaps more importantly, the video game excites students about science. Motivating more youngsters to adopt a science-related career track has became a major education initiative of the Obama administration. So desperate to find a solution that motivates students to become scientists, the government has even enlisted Darpa, the Department of Defense’s 'mad scientist' research organization, to figure out a solution."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Google Reduces Its Nexus One Termination Fee

CWmike writes "The only smartphone Linus Torvalds doesn't hate is that much less unlikable now that Google has quietly chopped $200 off its early termination fee on the Nexus One. Customers who cancel the service had been on the hook for $550, including a $350 Google cancellation charge. Google has reduced their fee to $150 — but users are still liable for a $200 ETF from T-Mobile. Users have a 14-day grace period during which they do not have to pay either charge, although they may be hit with a restocking fee. The $350 total fee matches one of the highest in the industry, charged by Verizon. Google did not announce the change but simply altered its online terms-of-service document." The price cut could add momentum to a phone that, by one reckoning, costs only $49 unlocked.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Game Development In a Post-Agile World

An anonymous reader writes "Many games developers have been pursuing agile development, and we are now beginning to witness the debris and chaos it has caused. While there have been some successes, there have also been many casualties. As the industry at large is moving away from the phantasmagoria of Agile, Gwaredd Mountain, Technical Director at Climax Studios, looks at Post-Agile and what this might mean for the games industry."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



IBM Releases Power7 Processor

Dan Jones writes "As discussed here last year, IBM has made good on its promise to release the Power7 processor (and servers) in the first half of 2010. The Power7 processor adds more cores and improved multithreading capabilities to boost the performance of servers requiring high up-time, according to Big Blue. Power7 chips will run between 3.0GHz and 4.14GHz and will come with four, six, or eight cores. The chips are being made using the 45-nm process technology. New Power7 servers (up to 64 cores for now) are said to deliver twice the performance of older Power6 systems, but are four times more energy efficient. Power7 servers will run AIX and Linux." And reader shmG notes Intel's release of a new Itanium server processor after two years of delays. The Power7 specs would seem to put the new Intel chip in the shade.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Oracle Drops Sun's Commitment To Accessibility

An anonymous reader writes "What I feared has come true: after buying Sun, Oracle had a look at its accessibility group and made big cuts in it by firing the most important contributors to the Linux accessibility tools. This is a very sad day for disabled people, as it means we do not really have full-time developers any more." The coverage in OSTATIC has a few more details, including the caution: "This just shows that all too few companies are sponsoring a11y work. If one company laying off a couple of developers spells trouble for the project, then there were problems before that happened" (thanks to reader dave c-b for pointing this out).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Virtualizing a Supercomputer

bridges writes "The V3VEE project has announced the release of version 1.2 of the Palacios virtual machine monitor following the successful testing of Palacios on 4096 nodes of the Sandia Red Storm supercomputer, the 17th-fastest in the world. The added overhead of virtualization is often a show-stopper, but the researchers observed less than 5% overhead for two real, communication-intensive applications running in a virtual machine on Red Storm. Palacios 1.2 supports virtualization of both desktop x86 hardware and Cray XT supercomputers using either AMD SVM or Intel VT hardware virtualization extensions, and is an active open source OS research platform supporting projects at multiple institutions. Palacios is being jointly developed by researchers at Northwestern University, the University of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs." The ACM's writeup has more details of the work at Sandia.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Study Says OOXML Unsuitable For Norwegian Government

angry tapir writes "Microsoft's XML-based office document format, OOXML, does not meet the requirements for governmental use, according to a new report published by the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI). The agency wants to start a debate over the report as part of its work on standards in the Norwegian government. (As we discussed a week ago, Denmark has already decided to choose ODF over OOXML.)"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Virus-Detecting "Lab On a Chip" Developed At BYU

natharward writes "A new development in nano-level diagnostic tests has been applied as a lab on a chip that successfully screened viruses entirely by their size. The chip's traps are size-specific, which means even tiny concentrations of viruses or other particles won't escape detection. For medicine, this development is promising for future lab diagnostics that could detect viruses before symptoms kick in and damage begins, well ahead of when traditional lab tests are able to catch them. Aaron Hawkins, the BYU professor leading the work, says his team is now gearing up to make chips with multiple, progressively smaller slots, so that a single sample can be used to screen for particles of varying sizes. One could fairly simply determine which proteins or viruses are present based on which walls have particles stacked against them. After this is developed, Hawkins says, 'If we decided to make these things in high volume, I think within a year it could be ready.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Google Shooting For Smartphone Universal Translator

nikki4 writes to tell us that in giving some major improvement tweaks to its existing voice recognition tool for the Smartphone, Google is aiming for new translator software that will provide instant translation of foreign languages. "The company has already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which is being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents. So far it covers 52 languages, adding Haitian Creole last week. Google also has a voice recognition system that enables phone users to conduct web searches by speaking commands into their phones rather than typing them in. Now it is working on combining the two technologies to produce software capable of understanding a caller’s voice and translating it into a synthetic equivalent in a foreign language."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



New Material Transforms Car Bodies Into Batteries

MikeChino writes "As battery manufacturers race to produce more efficient lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, some scientists are looking to make the cars themselves a power source. Researchers are currently developing a new auto body material that can store and release electrical energy like a battery. Once perfected, scientists hope the substance will replace standard car bodies, making vehicles up to 15 percent lighter and significantly extending the range of electric vehicles."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Verizon Blocking 4chan

An anonymous reader writes "According to 4chan's owner and administrator 'moot,' Verizon has explicitly blocked all traffic on their network from boards.4chan.org, where all of 4chan's boards are located. Moot explains that only traffic to and from port 80 is being dropped and they were able to confirm that it was intentional. 4chan's downtime for Verizon users has been in effect for at least 72 hours since Saturday, February 7."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



A Reflection On Sun Executive Payouts For Failure

With the Oracle/Sun merger finally completing at the end of January, one former Sun worker has taken the time to reflect a bit on the extravagant compensation and golden parachutes that the former executives at Sun are receiving for failing at their jobs. "I think it's fair to say that, for all the miscues that eventually led to its demise, the company created many products and technologies of value along the way, enough so that Oracle thought it was worth it to acquire them and try to keep them going. However, I think that it's equally fair to conclude that, after years of running losses, including about $2 billion in fiscal 2009, so that a buyout was necessary to avoid looming bankruptcy, Sun's executives did nothing to deserve lavish rewards, by any conceivable meaning of the word 'deserve.' But what actually happened is by now a familiar story. [...] And here's a prediction that I feel quite certain of: if, against expectations and my hopes, Ellison drops the ball and things start going south for Oracle, it's the employees who will suffer for it, and he'll be doing just fine."

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Turns Out You Actually Can Be Bored To Death

A study conducted by researchers at University College London shows that boredom can kill you. The researchers found that people who reported feeling a great deal of boredom were 37 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the study. Martin Shipley, who co-wrote the report said, "The findings on heart disease show there was sufficient evidence to say there is a link with boredom."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Cacti 0.8 Network Monitoring

GJdeBoer writes "The book is aimed at people who are managing a network and would like to get insight into the performance of that network. It covers the installation and configuration of the Cacti application. In the preface the book states that it's not necessary to be a Linux Guru to use the book and that exactly is the case. The book builds up your knowledge about Cacti and the necessary steps to configure it for your network, and it teaches you about Net-SNMP and RRDTool, the building blocks of Cacti." Read on for the rest of GJdeBoer's review.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



What Are the Best Valentine's Day Stunts?

With the oh-so-dreaded Hallmark holiday on the horizon we are flooded with tips and tricks (mostly designed to sell us things our mates cannot live without) of how to please/capture/sedate the ones we care for. One writer even suggests ways to capture the interest of a geeky girl. That said, what are some of the crazier romantically inspired, geeky V-day stunts or activities that you or someone you know has executed to terrible success or failure?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



 

Mimio Studio 6 debuts for Mac and Linux systems

Mimio has announced that its Studio 6 software is now available for both Mac and Linux systems. The program is designed for the teaching industry, providing tools for creating interactive lesson content such as recordable dry-erase whiteboard notes that can be saved for later use. Teachers can also use drag-and-drop input to create animated presentations with video, audio, or Flash files. The interface also offers controls to play, pause or rewind the presentations....


Nikon reveals two wide-angle SLR lenses

Nikon tonight had its second round of camera news in as many weeks with two new lenses for both its DX- and FX-mount DSLRs. The 24mm f1.4G ED provides an even wider angle than many of Nikon's other primes and has an extremely wide aperture that both takes in a large amount of light and focuses quickly. It lacks image stabilization but uses Nikon's extra-low dispersion optics to minimize chromatic effects....


Bunkspeed SHOT to integrate iray rendering technology

Bunkspeed has announced that its upcoming SHOT software will integrate Iray rendering technology developed by Mental Images. The new system will allow the software to process renders using a combination of CPU and GPU resources, including NVIDIA's CUDA-equipped graphics cards. Offloading the rendering tasks to various components is said to significantly reduce processing times....


Best Buy clearing current MacBook Pros from inventory?

A possibly last-minute slip hints that Apple may be close to updating the MacBook Pro line. One Best Buy employee notes that all MacBook Pro models have been deleted from the company's inventory system, preventing them from ordering new models. The systems can still be found but are listed as "deleted."...


ZoomMediaPlus intros new SD card reader for iPhone

ZoomMediaPlus has introduced the ZoomIt memory card reader for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new dock-connecting accessory works with the companyís ZoomIt application that provides access to content stored on SD cards. Support is offered for all file types recognized by iPhone OS 3.0, ranging from photos and videos to PowerPoint documents. The accessory allows users to upload all stored media for use at a later time, or share files with other users via e-mail, Facebook or Flickr....


Google to hold special event Tuesday

Google tonight confirmed talk of a significant product update by sending an invitation to a special event on Tuesday at the company's Mountain View, California campus. The company is short on details but promises "some new product innovations" at the gathering....


Apple survey gauges developers' satisfaction with App Store

Apple is reportedly distributing a survey to iPhone developers, with a variety of questions covering the App Store program. Respondents are asked to rate their level of satisfaction in different areas such as enrollment, feedback, app submission, the review process, and the length of time it takes to get updates onto the App Store....


Netflix may offer 1080p streaming, 5.1 surround [U]

(Updated with Netflix commentary) Netflix will try to claim an edge in its media service by offering streaming full HD, a rumor maintains this afternoon. The company will supposedly roll out 1080p streams with 5.1-channel surround sound at some point later this year. It currently offers 720p to just a handful of devices, most notably the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 but also Roku's Internet Player....


AT&T Navigator 1.5i brings night mode, speed limit alerts

AT&T has released an update to its iPhone navigation app, AT&T Navigator. Version 1.5i offers an improved interface which now includes a speed limit display, with visual and audio alerts to notify the user when the limit is exceeded. A new option in the Recent Places menu allows users to easily navigate back to the origin of their last trip, while a "Shake-to-Go" feature automatically sets the route to go home when the iPhone is shaken....


Google drops Nexus One early cancel fee to $150

Google on Monday quietly dropped the cost of the controversial Equipment Recovery Fee for the Nexus One to $150. The company's updated Terms of Sale now list a price less than half the $350 it had charged originally. The fee still takes effect within 120 days and stacks on top of T-Mobile's own $200 early termination fee....


Corsair adds Nova and Reactor SSD series

Still better known for its power supplies and memory, Corsair has recently introduced two new lines of solid state drives, naming them Nova and Reactor. The 2.5-inch Nova drives are available in 64 and 128GB capacities, while the Reactor can be had in 60 and 120GB versions. The Reactors are faster, with a 128MB cache and read speeds of 250MBps as well as 110MBps write speeds for the 60GB model. The 120GB Reactor musters respective 250Mbps and 170MBps speeds. Reactors also have a mini USB interface in addition to the SATA 3.0Gbps connection....


Briefly: LG phone syncing, free iPhone development tool

nova media has released a new sync application for the Mac, FoneSync for LG phones. The utility syncs Address Book and iCal information with a variety of LG devices. Support is currently present for just the HB620T, KF750 and KU990, but more models should be added in the future. In hopes of speeding up the the process a free tool has been released that checks if a phone can be added. FoneSync for LG phones is available online for $20, and requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6.1, plus a Bluetooth-enabled Mac....


Wisair outs Wireless USB display dock for MacBooks

Wisair on Monday introduced a Wireless USB DisplayDock Set, allowing users to wirelessly connect their MacBooks to a desktop-like setup that include a monitor, speakers, a keyboard and mouse. The device connects to a USB port on any MacBook with Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard. Wisair claims there are no delays in sending the keyboard or mouse commands due to the nature of the ultra wideband radio....


iPhone 3.1.3 causing battery, playlist problems?

The iPhone 3.1.3 firmware has introduced problems for some people even as it has fixed them for others, say complaints on Apple's support forums. Most critical is an issue with battery life, which can suddenly become erratic. A phone's battery meter may potentially swing wildly, for instance going from 25 to 7 to 10 percent, then jumping back up to 24 percent....


Holiday sees iPhone steal some BlackBerry market share

Apple has clawed back US smartphone market share from RIM's BlackBerry this past holiday, comScore found in a new study. Between September and December, the iPhone's share grew over a percent to 25.3 percent while the BlackBerry dropped by nearly an identical amount to 41.6 percent....


RealPlayer SP beta converts videos for cellphones, iPods

RealNetworks on Monday released a beta version of its RealPlayer SP software for Mac. The utility, which builds upon the features of RealPlayer 11, provides tools for downloading and converting videos into formats compatible with a variety of cellphones and other devices such as iPods and Apple TV. Users can download online videos, from sites such as YouTube, and convert the content or share links via Facebook, Twitter or MySpace....


Presented By:


Parts leak hints at taller 2010 iPhone

Apple's fourth-generation iPhone could mark the first significant change in the screen area if a part obtained by repair outfit iResQ is evidence. What's claimed to be the front glass is about a quarter-inch taller than the existing platform and may have a slightly different screen as a result. It also appears to move the proximity sensor to above the top speaker and glues the touchscreen layer to the LCD where the iPhone 3G and 3GS are separate....


Amazon hiring to add LCDs, Wi-Fi to Kindles

Amazon has hinted at a significant change in the philosophy behind its Kindle readers with job listings at its hardware design group Lab126. One, for a Hardware Display Manager, asks for a veteran recruit with experience in the LCD market and suggests Amazon might move away from e-paper displays. It has normally used companies like E Ink (now owned by PVI) exclusively for its e-book readers....


PwnageTool 3.1.5 adds iPhone 3.1.3 support

The unofficial iPhone Dev Team has released PwnageTool 3.1.5, an updated version of its jailbreaking tool for iPhones and iPod touches. As is normal with Apple firmware, the official iPhone 3.1.3 distribution undoes any jailbreaking or unlocking if installed on top of hacked v3.1.2 code. The PwnageTool update allows some devices to retain their hacks while gaining the advantages of the new firmware....


InFocus puts out wireless projector adapter for MacBooks

InFocus on Monday announced that its DisplayLink Wireless system for connecting notebooks to projectors without wires now has support for the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air notebooks and not just Windows, as before. The USB device relies on Ultra Wide Band (UWB) wireless technology from Wisair and can pass through HD video content as well as audio. Mac users will also now have the ability to control the projectors connected using the InFocus DisplayLink Wireless unit....


Apple execs ready to drop iPad pricing based on demand

Apple has already acknowledged a willingness to drop iPad pricing, says Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope. Shope notes that he recently met with Apple executives, who explained that iPad pricing could well change should the tablet not attract as many buyers as Apple is hoping for. While a 16GB, Wi-Fi-only iPad is initially set to cost $499, prices will range as high as $829 for a 64GB model with 3G. The first iPads go on sale in March....


Google developing voice translation for phones

Google on Sunday revealed that it could be the first to enable voice-to-voice translation for phones. Using the existing text conversion and voice recognition its search and from Android, the company is developing a system that could recognize a spoken foreign language and recite it back in the user's native tongue. It would sort speech into segments and would analyze both the pattern of speech as well as Google's own translation history to construct a better interpretation....


Future Firefox releases to lose Tiger support

It is almost certain that future versions of Firefox, following the recent v3.6 release, will not be compatible with Mac OS X Tiger, suggests Mozilla engineer Josh Aas. The company is now at a point where it must decide to include or exclude Tiger compatibility, and the latter perspective has gained favor. "We would like to take advantage of more modern technologies on Mac OS X and 10.4 support has been a hindrance," says Aas....


Broadcom puts out low-energy HSPA chips

Broadcom today unveiled 3G chips that promise both less expensive smartphones as well as longer-lived 3G for others. As a complete processor, the BCM21553 provides a modern ARM11 chip and 7.2Mbps HSPA, including the 5.8Mbps upload speeds, but in a much more efficient, smaller 65 nanometer process. The hardware has one of Broadcoms's most advanced graphics cores and can render OpenGL ES 2.0 3D as well as process 8-megapixel photos....


PA Semi not responsible for Apple A4 chip?

Despite popular belief, the A4 processor in the iPad was not designed by people from PA Semi, a "very trusted" VentureBeat source claims. Apple bought the chip design firm in April of last year, and in June it was acknowledged by Steve Jobs that the aim was to produce chips for iPhone and iPod devices. The iPad has been described in the media and by analysts as an oversized iPod touch....


Nook to reach Barnes & Noble shops this Wednesday

Barnes & Noble today said that the Nook will at last reach its retail shops. While it has had demo units in stores since launch in the fall, the bookseller now says it expects most locations to have units directly available to buy on Wednesday the 10th. Officials didn't say what kind of quantities they would expect....


New Canon PowerShots include 14MP, 14X SX210 IS

As part of its PMA 2010 introductions today, Canon has brought out four new PowerShots that include two particularly advanced models. The SX210 IS is tailored to advanced users and carries an extremely long-range 14X (28-392mm equivalent) lens and a 14-megapixel sensor. It similarly touts a pop-up flash, records 720p video and supports the newer SDXC card format....


BenQ reveals 22-inch LCD monitors with 10,000,000:1 DCR

BenQ has launched a line of LCD monitors that include the first with a 10,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. The new "V" series includes nine models, ranging in size from 18.5 to 24.0 inches. The first to hit the market will be the V2200 models, 21.5-inch diagonal, 1080p monitors with 5ms response time and a 160-degree viewing angle. BenQ claims they will have the extreme contrast but also that they will be the slimmest available in the market, measuring just 0.59in (15mm) thick....


Presented By:


New Mac OS X 10.6.3 build targets QuickTime, OpenGL

Over the weekend, Apple began seeding a new test build of Mac OS X 10.6.3, developer sources say. Labeled 10D548, the build is said to be little different than 10D538, with similar emphasis on improving the security, compatibility and reliability of QuickTime X, as well as the performance of the Logic audio editing suite. Tweaks are also said to improve compatibility with printers, and apps based on the OpenGL rendering platform....


Canon bows Rebel T2i with 18MP sensor, 1080p 30 video

Canon this morning launched a slew of camera updates headlined by the Rebel T2i. The successor to Canon's entry DSLR shoots at the same 18 megapixels as the EOS 7D and also inherits its video recording features: it now shoots at a full 30 frames per second at 1080p (versus 20 for the T1i) and has manual exposure control, autofocusing and selectable frame rates. It can shoot as high as 60 frames per second at 720p and has a unique pseudo-telephoto mode that zooms in 7X when recording standard definition video....


Samsung "super AMOLED" to show with new phone this month?

Samsung's integrated touchscreen AMOLED could come attached to a new phone and herald a major change in displays, the company said Monday. The 3.3-inch, 800x480 "Super AMOLED" screen should be unveiled with a new device at next week's Mobile World Congress. It's not known how soon the phone would ship....


Nokia retools factory, cuts jobs to focus on smartphones

Nokia today said it would completely change the role of a key plant in Salo, Finland to boost its position in the smartphone arena. The factor will be entirely focused on building "high-value smartphones," with Europe as the priority. Nokia expects the changes to result not just in a better mix of hardware but a quicker turnaround in making the smartphones themselves....


Microsoft tries cutting Zune HD prices to fight rivals

Microsoft in the past few days has quietly cut prices on the Zune HD through an at least temporary promo. The touchscreen media player now costs $190 for a 16GB model at Amazon, or $32 less than the original price; the 32GB model has dropped by a similar amount to $250....


Google to run Super Bowl ad? [U2: confirmed]

(Updated with post-Super Bowl confirmation) Google may have a high-profile Super Bowl ad tomorrow, based on a hint from its chief executive Eric Schmidt. He asks Twitter followers this afternoon to pay special attention to ads in the third quarter of the football game and is teasing that it will be a rarity for the company. An observer commented that "hell has indeed frozen over," according to Schmidt....


Windows Phone 7 to drop multitasking?

Microsoft may consciously limit Windows Phone 7 in its attempt to compete against Apple, a leak sent out today claims. Echoing some previous reports, a source says WP7 will have a Zune-like interface at many levels but goes on to say this will extend to the underlying framework as well. It would drop multitasking and instead pause apps, using an iPhone-like push notification system to handle new updates....


MacBook Pro with Core i7 tested; old models low on stock?

A newly discovered Geekbench test appears to have confirmed the upcoming launch of MacBook Pros running Intel's Arrandale platform. The system carries the same MacBookPro 6,1 identifier as seen in a pre-release Mac OS X 10.6.2 build and is listed as running a 2.66GHz Core i7-620M with 4GB of RAM. The processor is Intel's fastest dual-core processor and would be Apple's logical choice for a mid- to high-end MacBook Pro....


Amazon restores Macmillan books

Amazon today confirmed that it has put back Macmillan's titles on both the Kindle store and in its regular store. The move follows after Amazon agreed to raise prices on e-books last weekend as the result of a three-day standoff. Amazon had unsuccessfully tried to withdraw books as a negotiating tactic to keep prices at $10....


3 Austria to subsidize iPad, bundle 3G modems?

The Austrian division of cellular carrier 3 has unusually claimed that it will subsidize Apple's iPad as soon as possible. National chief Berthold Thoma says his company will be the first to bundle the tablet and will simply use the same strategy it does for notebook data bundles to encourage customers. Those who buy an iPad will get a generic 333 euro ($456) credit if they agree to a two-year data plan worth about 29 euros ($41) per month....


iPad missing high-priority features for healthcare use?

The healthcare industry has shown strong interest in tablet computers, however the iPad may be missing several important features requested by physicians, according to a Software Advice survey. Over half of respondents claimed they were very likely or somewhat likely to purchase a tablet sometime in the coming year....


Intel "Sandy Bridge" graphics to be twice as fast?

Intel has reportedly told its corporate customers that the Sandy Bridge CPUs with integrated graphics processors due for release at the end of the year will have vastly improved performance. While the chipmaker quotes a doubling of performance, it does not define what it compares it to, though it is most likely the existing Nehalem CPUs. Intel is otherwise being cryptic about the chips' performance, saying only that the chips have advanced media and graphics capabilities....


Logitech's SqueezeBox Touch delayed yet again?

The release of the promised Logitech SqueezeBox Touch has again been delayed, according to a Thursday post by a Slim Devices developer on the official Logitech forum board. The last delay promised the touch media server would arrive this month, and Logitech is still keeping mum about why the device has been delayed. Forum members speculate Logitech ran into major software or hardware problems....


Samsung may ship transparent AMOLED notebook in next year

Samsung could be the first to introduce a production notebook with a transparent display, Samsung America's digital imaging VP Reid Sullivan has revealed. After showing a 14-inch see-through AMOLED screen at CES this year, the Korean company now says that testing suggests the PC could be in shops within the next 12 months. Sullivan expects that "all" Samsung's AV hardware could use the technology soon....


Panelfly, Sugarcube plan updated comic book app for iPad

Panelfly and Sugarcube are working together on an iPad version of their comic book app, a preview reveals. The current software makes it possible to buy and read comic books on an iPhone or iPod touch. While functional, it is based on a 3.5-inch screen size, making it difficult to see much detail....


Graphite 8 SP2 adds support for large-format printers

Ashlar-Vellum on Friday released Service Pack 2 for its Graphite 8 software for 2D and 3D wireframe drafting. The update adds support for several large-format printers, along with higher printing resolutions. Users can now access the company's tutorial content directly from the Graphite interface, while a variety of minor bug fixes and enhancements have also been included....


Presented By:


Steve Jobs also seen visiting Time on Friday

Following visits to newspapers, Apple chief Steve Jobs has been seen on Friday visiting the offices of Time Inc. The New York City visit is believed to have involved showing the iPad both to the Time publisher's chief executive Ann Moore as well as to a small number of magazine editors. What deals were discussed, if any, isn't known....


Adobe CTO promises better Mac performance in Flash 10.1

Macs will perform substantially better when running Flash Player 10.1, promises Adobe's chief technical officer, Kevin Lynch. The executive claims that Flash 10 now runs at "almost exactly" the same level of CPU usage on Mac and Windows systems, where previously the Mac suffered significantly. The v10.1 update is set to use CoreAnimation, which Lynch suggests could make Macs faster than Windows in some cases....


Sling: iPhone SlingPlayer for 3G had no help from AT&T

Sling Media on Friday corrected AT&T's position on the clearance to ship a 3G-capable SlingPlayer for iPhone. While AT&T characterized the remote TV streaming app as "optimized," the Slingbox creator company's John Santoro told Ars Technica that Sling "didn't change anything" in its 3G code, or enter discussions, to satisfy AT&T's demands. The app has always had dynamic bitrate changes to match available bandwidth....


 

Google Lowers Controversial Nexus One Fee

Update 2: Google has now reportedly lowered the $350 fee to $150, and launched a support line for the phone at 888-48-NEXUS.

Update:
The FCC has sent letters regarding early termination fees to Google, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. In its letter to Google, it says:

...where new options may subject consumers to substantial ETFs, potentially from more than one entity, the Commission has a special interest in ensuring that consumers have a clear and complete understanding of the rates, terms, and conditions on which the communications services are being offered and the rationale for those rates, terms, and conditions. The combination of ETFs from Google and T-Mobile for the Nexus One is also unique among the four major national carriers. Consumers have been surprised by this policy and by its financial impact. Please let us know your rationale(s) for these combined fees, and whether you have coordinated or will coordinate on these fees and on the disclosure of their combined effect.

Original Article: Google made big waves in the mobile industry early in the year, and the effects of those waves are being felt quite hard by some users. The Nexus One's release has gotten off to kind of a rocky start.

Google Nexus OneThe issues plaguing customers of the much-anticipated Google phone have been widely publicized. Most of the gripes have dealt with Google's customer service (or lack thereof) for the device, and trouble with 3G connections. More recently, however, complaints of outrageous early termination fees have popped up.

The trouble for users is that if they got the Nexus One with a two-year contract from T-Mobile, they end up having to pay about $550 to terminate early. The thing is, they have to pay T-Mobile's regular fee, but they also have to pay Google a fee. Needless to say, that has caught some people off guard.

Google's fee is a $350 "Equipment Recovery Fee". It applies to customers who cancel their contracts within the first 120 days.

According to Niraj Sheth
with the Wall Street Journal's Digits Blog, "A Google spokeswoman said in a statement that the fee is "a way for the company to recoup the subsidy it gives to contract customers."

"'This is standard practice for third-party resellers of T-Mobile and other operators,' she said. A T-Mobile spokesman said that the carrier’s early termination fee is standard for its customers on contract."

While the combination of the aforementioned problems may not bode well for Google's reputation in the mobile industry at the moment, the good news for the company is that they are projected to come out on top in the smartphone race eventually. Crunchgear says Google and Android will "own the smartphone market" eventually. Time will tell if that is an accurate depiction of things to come, but for now, people just seem upset.


Related Articles:

> Google Unveils Nexus One "Super Phone"

> Nexus One Sales Of 5-6 Million Units Forecast

> Google Tries to Carve Out its Place in Mobile


Online Video Views are Not "Lost" on ABC.com

Last Tuesday, the season premiere of the hit television show "Lost" aired, and not only was it watched by over 12 million people, but it drove record online viewing at ABC.com the next day, with over 580,000 episode starts on the site. That's over 34% more than last season's premiere. ABC shared some details with us.

When asked why they think this particular episode of Lost had such an impact on online views compared with other episodes and other shows, a representative for ABC told WebProNews, "Lost has been a top performer in terms of online viewing since we began making episodes available online several years ago. Fans of the show tend to be very tech-savvy and also tend to watch episodes more than once.  They also frequently go online to review specific scenes."

On Tuesday, leading up to the airing of the show, ABC.com saw over 1.8 million unique visitors and delivered over 7.4 million page views, a 5% and 43% increase, respectively over the previous year’s premiere date, based on data from Omniture. Visitors to ABC.com logged more than 2.2 million video views of "Lost"-related short-form content on Tuesday, an increase of over 32% compared to last season.

Lost

ABC gives viewers more than just the videos though. This season, ABC.com offers interactive, community-driven features including user-created Top 5 lists which allow fans to arrange, rank and share their personalized lists of show-related favorites; and Episode Commentary where fans can access commentaries created by series' insiders, and create and share their own for each episode. 

The site will also soon unveil a Fan Art Wall, an interactive area for fans to upload, view and rate "Lost"-themed art created by fellow fans, and also give fans the opportunity to participate in a promo contest, providing users a "mash-up" tool to create and share their own "Lost" promos with a winning promo to be featured on-air.

There has been some talk about just how well TV shows will perform online in the future as Nielsen makes data available about the viewing of commercials that run in particular shows, whether they are viewed on TV or online. This could lead to online TV shows getting more ad-heavy.

"ABC.com's full episode player features interactive video advertising," ABC tell us. "Lost episodes currently feature a single national sponsor. They have 4 30-second spots which can't be skipped; additionally the local ABC affiliates sell one local spot per episode."

We won't be able to compare Lost episodes from this season with episodes after the Nielsen stuff goes down, because this is the final season of the show, but it is going to be quite interesting to see how advertising on popular shows changes, if it does in fact do so.


Spanish Telecom May Seek To Charge Search Engines

The CEO of Spanish telecom company Telefonica might soon try to obtain some money from Google and its rivals.  Cesar Alierta said today that search engines' popularity creates something of a burden for his organization, and that he'd like Telefonica to share in their profits.

Google LogoAs reported by John W. Daly, Alierta told Spanish newspaper El Pais, "Search engines use our network, without paying anything for it."  Installation, maintenance, and customer service costs are among the things for which he'd like to be compensated.

Considering that Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are sure to ignore (or perhaps laugh off) this idea, it's necessary to consider where Alierta will go from here.  Lawsuits always seem to represent an option, of course, or Telefonica could try to employ some traffic shaping techniques (which might well outrage consumers and cause the search engines to file their own suits).

Or - we're not trying to sensationalize anything - the whole issue could get dropped if Alierta finds that his proposal doesn't have any traction.  Daly wrote, "El Pais reports Alierta is the first CEO of a carrier to openly declare he wants to send bills to content providers."

So far, neither side's hinted at making another move.

Related Articles:

> Cambodia Lambastes Google Over Border Portrayal

> Justice Department Objects To Google Books Settlement

> How Many Spiders Does Google Have?



TuneWiki Lands Investment From Motorola

Social media music player TuneWiki has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Motorola Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Motorola.

Other new investors of TuneWiki include Intellect Capital Ventures, a venture fund initiative of TeliaSonera, HillsVen Capital, and Novel TMT. TuneWiki's previous venture capital investor, Benchmark Israel, also participated in the round.

Rani-Cohen "Teaming up with a global company like Motorola is very exciting for us," said Rani Cohen, CEO of TuneWiki.

"We are passionate about connecting people through music, and having our applications running in many countries with different languages will allow our users to explore the world of music and better understand its meaning as part of a vibrant and engaged community."

TuneWiki said it will use the investment to expand and improve its product offerings fro mobile platforms and the Internet. The company says it plans to focus on new features found in recently released smartphones, including stronger CPUs, larger displays and high-resolution screens. TuneWiki said it will also continue to focus on the use of song lyrics in new ways that connect music fans with new products, including an upcoming mobile game.

"Music is rapidly emerging as a key feature for smartphones, and TuneWiki is changing the experience of listening to music from a solitary experience to a social one," said Reese Schroeder, managing director of Motorola Ventures.

Related Articles:

Motorola Offers Baidu Search To China Mobile Users

> Motorola Slates 20-30 Android Phones For 2010 Release

> More Than Half Of Holiday Shoppers Relied On Cell Phones

 


Reasons to Have a Facebook Page and Ways to Make it Better

I don't have to tell you that Facebook can be a tremendous source of web traffic. There's a good chance that most of the people you know are on it, and the ones who aren't may be eventually. The social network is consuming more and more of people's time, and thanks to mobile devices, it is always accessible. If you don't have a Facebook Page, you may be missing out on not only traffic to your site, but a chance to engage with customers and ultimately help your brand's reputation.

One of our blog partners, Jay Baer, of Convince&Convert wrote a great piece about why you need Facebook for your company. He highlights "11 things you need to know." These things include how Facebook has 350 Million global users and counting (100 million in the U.S.), and how the average Facebook user spends 55 minutes per day on Facebook. Nearly 80,000 sites use Facebook Connect.


Editor’s note: If you have a blog related to online business, search, or social media, and are interested in becoming one of our blog partners, you may submit here.


He also notes that the Facebook Fan Box is becoming more pervasive, the average Facebook user has 130 friends and fans 2 pages per month. His statements are backed up by various reports and studies.

Jay BaerPerhaps you have a Facebook Page, but it's not performing how you'd like. You feel it's a waste of time. "If your Facebook fan page is a bit of a ghost town, you're not alone. A fantastic study by Sysomos of 600,000 Facebook fan pages shows that only 4% of pages have 10,000 or more fans – and only .76% have 100,000 or more," says Baer. "That’s why it is so critical to focus your Facebook strategy on activating the fans you have, not just collecting fans like baseball cards."

"The Sysomos study also found very little correlation between how frequently the Facebook page admin posted to the wall, and total number of fans. However – and this is important – there is a strong correlation between amount of other content (notes, links, photos, videos) and number of fans," he says. "Thus, if you want to grow your Facebook fan base, it is imperative that you move beyond simple Wall posts and add photos, videos, links and other content."

Another one of our blog Partners, Dave Taylor, offers some tips from Patrick O'Keefe, author of the book Managing Online Forums, on making a Facebook page more interesting. Among these are:

- Participate and make it routine
- Ask questions
- Host events on your page
- Highlight contributions from others
- Go beyond just text
- Integrate your other online presences
- Take it easy with apps, boxes, etc.
- Run offline events, if you can

One thing you want to do is pay attention to your Facebook analytics. Pay attention to stats. Pay attention to changes Facebook makes in this area. For example, recently it was discovered that some admins were starting to see impression counts for each post, as well as the number of likes and comments for each impression. Like Baer says, test content types to see what works best.

Does your Facebook Page drive traffic to your site? Does it engage customers? Discuss your strategy.

 

Related Articles:

> Content Can Now Go Viral More Easily With Facebook

> Pingdom Names Facebook "Most Engaging Social Network"

> Facebook Can Drive More Traffic Than Google


Facebook Version Of "Madden" Game In The Works

The most popular video game franchise of all time is heading to Facebook.  The end result probably won't boast the lifelike graphics and complicated controls to which longtime fans have become accustomed, but Peter Moore, the president of EA Sports, has promised that some sort of "Madden NFL" tie-in will occur.

"You'll see us on Facebook going forward," he said in an interview with Bloomberg.  Unfortunately without giving too many more particulars.

Still, it's possible to speculate about a couple of details.  Moore said, "We have to make 'Madden' more accessible," so the final product will probably be less of a faithful reproduction of the Xbox and PS3 versions than an appeal to people who like Facebook's mafia- and zombie-related games.

Also, since this move presumably comes as a result of EA's acquisition of Playfish, it might even be safe to guess that the Facebook version of Madden will bear some resemblance to Playfish's games (which include Pet Society and Restaurant City) in terms of look and feel.

One last prediction: since about 63 million copies of Madden games have been sold over the years (according to NPD Group, which Bloomberg contacted), whatever debuts on Facebook is almost sure to get a big following.

Related Articles:

> Super Bowl Viewers Spend Game Time On The Web

> More Than Just A Redesign Going On With Facebook This Week

> Will Publishers Let Facebook Become The Web's Biggest News Source?



Is Google Launching a Competitor for Facebook/Twitter?

Google is rumored to be working on a Facebook/Twitter-like feature for Gmail. According to the Wall Street Journal, who cites "people familiar with the matter", the feature, which would "make it easier and faster" to share status updates may launch as soon as this week.

As I've written about a number of times, Google is really one big social network with a bunch of features, and integration is the key to harnessing that social power. A product like this could be just the ticket, because according to these same sources, it would integrate content shared through YouTube and Picasa. Who knows what else could be worked in?

Gmail Status Updates Gmail currently has status updates of a sort. In the chat section, it has a menu of your contacts who also use Google, and shows their current status of they have one set. You can set one easily at any time.

Google has not yet responded to requests for comments, but if we learn more, we will keep you updated.

If Gmail offers its own Facebook/Twitter-style timeline, would you use it? Should Facebook and Twitter be worried? Share your thoughts.
 

Related Articles:

Google Luring More Account Users with New News Feature?

Is Google Bad at Social Media or Really, Really Good at it?

Is Gmail Google's Real Social Network?


Android Market Share Growing By Leaps And Bounds

In many ways, the last traces of the 2009 holiday season have disappeared - you won't find many decorations up, presents out, or leftovers refrigerated (we hope).  comScore's just released a report concerning the mobile market, though, and the stats are well worth examining.

comScore's report covers the changes that occurred between September and December of last year.  During that time, RIM stayed on top in terms of smartphone platforms, but it lost a little bit of ground.  Apple, meanwhile, gained a similar amount, and so the gap between the two was effectively narrowed by a couple of percentage points.

Sadly (for them), Microsoft and Palm also wound up losers.  Then - and this is arguably the most interesting part - Google made quite a leap.

Looked at one way, Google's improvement of 2.7 percentage points is the biggest change comScore recorded during the September-to-December timeframe.  Which is impressive enough.  Yet looked at another, Google more than doubled its market share over the course of three months.

That's quite a growth rate for Android.  If it keeps up the pace for another three months, it'll pass Palm by.  And from there, it could be just a year or so away from catching up with Microsoft.

These statistics will definitely bear watching in the months ahead, even if they're a little slow to be published.

Related Articles:

> Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Up 72%

> Motorola Making Another Direct-From-Google Phone

> Google Voice Makes Way To iPhone, Palm WebOS


2010: The Year of the Display Ad for Google?

This could be the year of the display ad. That's not to say that display ads aren't prevalent every year, but Google has only been involved with that for a little while, and if analysts' projections are accurate, this will be the year that Google's display ad business tops $1 billion in sales.

Last summer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggested that display ads would be Google's next big billion-dollar business. According to BusinessWeek, a Barclays Capital analyst says display ads will account for about 4% of Google's total sales in 2010. This would be a 40% increase from their contribution in 2009. BW's Douglas MacMillan reports:

Sales of video and banner ads on YouTube, the world's most popular video site, are expected by analysts at Barclays to contribute the bulk of Google's display revenue this year, about $700 million. And with DoubleClick, Google acquired a technology that handles the placement of display ads on sites across the Web. "Display is now a key business for us," says Susan Wojcicki, Google's vice-president of product management and one of the company's earliest employees.

Neal Mohan, the executive in charge of Google's display business, says Google will draw on its strength in search-related advertising to expand in display. It became the leader in search by using algorithms to help it know which ads to place where. "Our goal is to bring the science of search to the art of display," Mohan says.


Advertisers will probably not be shy about getting on board with that. "Research has shown that exposure to both search and display ads from the same advertiser results in a 22 percent increase for conversion rates over search alone," Rich Kahn, CEO of display ad provider eZanga told WebProNews last year.

Back in November, Google announced its acquisition of Teracent, a provider of "intelligent dynamic display advertising". It provides machine-learning algorithms, which can create customized display ads based on thousands of different creative elements.

Teracent ad

Google says the one on the right was created with Teracent's technology.

"Teracent's technology can pick and choose from literally thousands of creative elements of a display ad in real-time — tweaking images, products, messages or colors," Google said. "These elements can be optimized depending on factors like geographic location, language, the content of the website, the time of day or the past performance of different ads."

Before that announcement, Google launched a tool to measure the impact of display ad campaigns across the Google Content Network called Campaign Insights, which Google says can give reliable data about how a campaign has raised brand awareness or active user interest in a particular product or service. Google has also repeatedly added new templates  for advertisers to use when constructing their creative.
 

Related Articles:

Does Size Matter in Display Advertising?

Google Launches New Display Ad Measurement Tool

Google Launches New Templates for Display Ads



[WATCH] Super Bowl 2010 Commercials

Super Bowl XLIV had numerous memorable moments: the onside kick, the missed field goal, the Garçon drop, and the truly horrendous half-time show to name a few. But, for many viewers Super Bowl commercials leave the same lasting impact as the game itself, as they should with a price tag of $3.01 million per 30 seconds.

This year we saw a plethora of the same companies advertising: Budwesier, Bud Light, Coke, Go Daddy, Doritos, Monster.com, Snickers… etc. Last night we wrote about a newcomer to the Super Bowl advertising scene, Google. One company that normally would’ve been in that list, Pepsi, decided to forgo a Super Bowl commercial this year and focus their advertising budget on Social Media.

In case you missed any of the commercials, you can view them below. Be sure to leave a comment telling us which one was your favorite. (Please note: I've omitted movie trailers and TV show commercials)

Monster.com Fiddling Beaver Ad


CareerBuilder "Casual Friday" Ad


Google: Parisian Love Ad


Focus on the Family "Tim Tebow" Ad


Late Show Ad (featuring Letterman, Oprah and Leno)


McDonalds "Horse" Ad (featuring Lebron James & Dwight Howard)


FLO TV: My Generation Ad


VIZIO Ad (featuring Beyonce)


Emerald Nuts "Awesomer" Ad


Motorola Ad (featuring Megan Fox)


GoDaddy Ad (featuring Danica Patrick)


GoDaddy "News" Ad


Boost Mobile Ad


Cars.com Timothy Richman Ad


VW "PunchDub" Ad


Intel "Lunch Room" Ad


Coca-Cola Simpsons Ad


Coke "Sleepwalker" Ad


Skechers Shape-ups Ad


Doritos "House Rules" Ad


Doritos "Casket" Ad


Doritos "Anti-Bark Collar"


Doritos "Tim's Locker" Ad


Michelob Ultra "Little Bumps" Ad


Snickers "Betty White" Ad


Hyundai Sonata Ad


Hyundai Sonata "Brett Favre" Ad


Budweiser "Clydesdale Fence" Ad


Budweiser "Human Bridge" Ad


Budweiser "Select 55 Ice Bottle" Ad


Bud Light "Asteroid" Ad


Bud Light "House" Ad


Bud Light "Lost Parody" Ad


Denny's "Chicken Birthday" Ad


Denny's "Chicken Warning" Ad


Homeaway (featuring the Griswalds)


Dr. Pepper Cherry "Little Kiss" Ad

So which Super Bowl commercial was your favorite? Let us know.


Super Bowl Ad Tweets Determine Brand Effectiveness

As WebProNews reported, Mullen and Radian6 partnered to launch BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl event that allowed users to see near real-time ratings of the Super Bowls commercials. The two companies have now released the results.

They determined that Doritos was the most effective brand to advertise during the Super Bowl, and that Budweiser Select55 was the least effective. The results were determined from 98,656 Tweets collected. The results from BrandBowl2010 were as follows:

The Top Ten Most Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Doritos
2. Google
3. Focus On Family
4. Snickers
5. Budweiser
6. Bud Light
7. Hyundai
8. Kia
9. GoDaddy
10. Coca-Cola

The Five Least Effective Brands on BrandBowl2010

1. Diamond Foods’ – Pop Secret
2. Honda
3. Teleflora
4. Michelob Ultra
5. Budweiser Select55

The top brands were judged on volume of tweets, and after the top three, the firms say there was a sharp drop-off. "Doritos won the title by virtue of dominating the sheer volume of tweets," the firms say. "That was enough to keep them ahead of Google, which had a higher percentage of positive tweets."

BrandBowl

The BrandBowl site provided an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that takes into consideration both volume of tweets and sentiment (positive or negative).
 

Related Articles:

> [WATCH] Super Bowl 2010 Commercials

> Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial

> View Twitter Reaction Of Super Bowl Ads


Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Up 72%

Worldwide mobile data bandwidth usage increased by 72 percent in the second half of 2009, according to a new report by Allot Communications.

Applications such as YouTube and Skype are driving this continued momentum in mobile broadband growth. APAC leads the growth with 86%; EMEA posted 70% growth and the Americas 59%.

The report found video to be the single most influential factor driving the need for increased mobile network capacity. P2P remains the biggest cause of cell congestion in the top five percent of cells, mobile broadband networks are still facing the same issues as fix networks-- growing bandwidth demands, congestion, as well as finding ways to improve the user experience and to lessen the negative impact of a few subscribers on the network.

Mobile-Apps

Highlights from the report include:

 

  •     HTTP streaming continues to be the fastest growing application with a 99% increase; its global mobile broadband share grew by 50% between Q2 and Q4, 2009.
  •    YouTube accounted for 10% of global bandwidth during Q3 and Q4, 2009.
  •    FaceBook experienced tremendous growth of 180% during the second half of 2009.
  •    Skype is the undisputed VoIP traffic market leader, accounting for 77% of the global VoIP bandwidth; VoIP and IM applications have increased significantly by almost 47%.
  •    HTTP downloads grew by 73%, and have become a feasible alternative for massive file sharing.
  •    P2P is the single largest factor leading to cell congestion which accounts for 34% of bandwidth  utilization in the top 5% of cells.
     

Related Articles:

> Best Buy Now Installing Google Mobile Apps On Smartphones

> Google Launches Analytics for Mobile Apps

> Usage of Mobile Web and Apps Doubles in 2 Years



Google May Invest In Chinese Media/Ad Firm

A little less than a month ago, Google announced that it might shut down Google.cn and its offices in China.  The search giant may not be giving up on the country entirely, however, as a new report has indicated that it's part of a group attempting to invest in a large Chinese media and advertising company.

Google LogoAccording to George Chen and Melanie Lee, Disney is leading a consortium that includes Google, and said consortium would like to buy a 30 or 40 percent stake in Bus Media for about $100 million.  Negotiations are supposed to be in progress right now.

Such an investment could be a smart move, considering that notable entities like CCB International, China Renaissance Capital Investment, IDG, and the Yangtze Fund have all put some money behind Bus Media.

Bus Media apparently enjoys the support of China's government, too, as it's "the exclusive partner of state broadcaster CCTV and the official Xinhua news agency for in-bus media content and advertising."

But that brings us back to the touchy issue of Google, China, and censorship.  Whether Google's changing its attitude or has found some solution that complements its moral stand remains to be seen.

Related Articles:

> Google Partners With NSA On Cyber Attack Analysis

> China Won't Stand In The Way Of Google's Android Business

> Bill Gates Sides With Ballmer, MSFT On China


eBay Launches Series of Seller Events

eBay is starting a new series of events to help small businesses and part-time eBay sellers "accelerate their businesses" on eBay, which has 90 million active users. The series is called eBay: On Location, and has dates set for Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose.

"eBay sellers are creative entrepreneurs who understand that eBay’s global reach and dynamic marketplace offer the ideal setting to start and build a business online," says eBay Marketplaces President Lorrie Norrington. "We invite our sellers to eBay: On Location to connect with each other and to take the next step in making their eBay businesses even more successful."

eBay On LocationThe goal of the series of events appears to be to let sellers network with one another and share ideas for maintaining a successful eBay business. There are also courses on "top seller secrets", productivity to boost sales and reduce costs, and utilizing social media to drive sales.

"eBay sellers have become savvier about how to use eBay in ingenious ways," says Jim Griffith, eBay senior manager, Seller Strategy and Dean of Education. "eBay: On Location is a great way for the seller community to come together and share those strategies—and learn something new from experts."

They are only letting in 500 people per event, and registration is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. It costs $45 to get in.


Related Articles:

> eBay to Make Changes to Seller Fees

> eBay Fined $2.6 Million Over LVMH Sales

> eBay Previews Possible Geotargeting Feature For Sellers


Google Sets Target For Real-Time Translator Phones

If you think about it, it'd be slightly inaccurate to say that phones let people all over the world communicate with each other; current tech just transmits sounds, not their significance.  But Google's looking to knock down language barriers with devices that will perform translations on the fly.

Google LogoThis isn't some poorly sourced rumor or random conspiracy theory.  Chris Gourlay interviewed Franz Och, Google's head of translation services, and Och said, "We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years' time."

Incredible as that might seem, the building blocks are already in place.  Android allows users to perform searches by just saying terms out loud.  Google Translate deals in 52 languages at the moment.  Google only needs to integrate everything in order to be in business.  Maybe.

The sentence "I am going to eat lunch at 12:30" becomes "I'm going to lunch at 12:30" after Google Translate takes it from English to Spanish and back.  That's enough of a difference to create confusion (suppose someone's trying to distinguish between stuffing his face and stepping out to run errands), and it's not like Spanish is a rare dialect or the original phrase represents a curveball.

Toss in imperfect speech recognition, and it's hard to imagine anyone trying to conduct important business or even chat for fun.

Nonetheless, it should be very interesting to see how this project works out for Google.

Related Articles:

> Google Analytics, Chromium Receive Language Upgrades

> Google Announces Unicode Progress

> Google Launches New Transliteration Tool



Barnes & Noble Nook Now In Stock Online

Barnes & Noble said today its nook e-reader is now in stock online and will be rolling out in the majority of its stores by mid-week.

Barnes & Noble sold out of nook stock online over the holidays due to high demand, which exceeded the bookseller's expectations. Since then the company has ramped up production and is shipping stock to most of its stores this week. Customers can visit the Barnes & Noble nook In-Store Locator to find local stores with the device in-stock.

nook-e-reader

"nook is the perfect Valentine's Day gift for anyone who loves reading. Demand for nook continues to be very high, and we're pleased our customers will be able to try and buy nook in our stores and online and enjoy it in time for the holiday," said William J. Lynch, President of Barnes & Noble.com.

"In Barnes & Noble stores, nook owners will enjoy exciting nook-only content from their favorite authors and other valuable offers, along with fast and free in-store Wi-Fi, which nook customers have been accessing in droves over the last few weeks."
 

 

Related Articles:

>Barnes & Noble Says No Nook For Holidays

> Consumer Interest In E-Readers Mixed

> Sony Can't Guarantee E-Reader Holiday Shipments

 


Online TV Shows May Get More Ad-Heavy

For the most part, online video has been much less ad-heavy than television programming. It is this very fact that has likely been a large part of the medium's popularity. Things may be changing, however.

According to Advertising Age, Nielsen is planning on making data available about the viewing of commercials that run in particular shows , whether they are viewed on TV or online. The data would start being available in September, and the publication says it will become the basis for ad negotiations next February.

"But here's the catch: For Nielsen to be able to provide the commercial rating, shows seen online will have to have the same group of commercials that run on TV," says AdAge's Brian Steinberg. "If this system were adopted en masse -- and it's not clear that it would be -- online viewing might be crammed just as full of commercials as the more traditional TV-watching experience."

"Indeed, viewing programs on Hulu, the online video site owned by NBC Universal, News Corp. and Walt Disney, means encountering significantly fewer ads than one would see watching TV. And Disney's ABC.com has met with some success by running ABC shows with just a few ads, often from a single advertiser," he adds. "But many TV executives say these methods don't bring much, if any, profit -- and therefore cannot continue."

Online video has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last several years. In December, 178 million Americans watched 33 billion videos online, according to data from comScore. About 40% of that was at Google sites (like YouTube). The second largest amount of market share went to Hulu, at just 3%.

Online Videos in December

YouTube isn't necessarily the place people go to watch full episodes of television shows. Hulu is. If videos at sites like Hulu become more ad-heavy, the market share gap could just increase even greater. It could also have an impact on both paid TV show downloads and piracy.
 

Related Articles:

> Google To Get More Interactive With Mobile Video Ads

> IAB Releases Ad Unit Guidelines Updates

> YouTube Videos In Adsense Could Drive Clicks


Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial

With millions watching, Google ran their first Super Bowl Commercial entitled "Parisian Love". If it looks familiar, that's because it's one of their "Search Stories" ads which was uploaded to YouTube back in November. You can check it out below...

What did you think of the commercial? Tell us.


Did you think you'd ever see a Google Super Bowl Commercial? Let us know.

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, tweeted yesterday..."Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over.")"

Well, it appears as though Hell has frozen over.



View Twitter Reaction Of Super Bowl Ads

Mullen and Radian6 have partnered to launch BrandBowl2010, a Twitter/Super Bowl event that combines tweeting, ad reviews and a number of rankings that will allow users to see near real-time ratings of the TV commercials airing during the game.

Users can log on to BrandBowl2010 using their Twitter ID, tweet directly from the page, view tweets using the hashtag #brandbowl and see how other Twitter users are rating Super Bowl commercials.

BrandBowl

The site will provide an overall ranking of the brands advertising on the game based on a composite score that includes both volume of tweets and positive or negative feedback. The Top 10 most popular brands will be featured on the site, with second tier brands displayed in a sub-section called the Locker Room.

"The ads have always been as big a part of the game as the game itself," said Edward Boches, Mullen's chief social media officer.

"And with the emergence of social media and platforms like Twitter, everyone wants to talk about them the moment they run. This should be a lot of fun for anyone who loves ads, Twitter and data."

 

Related Articles:

> Go Daddy Back In The News For Super Bowl Ads

> Pepsi To Skip Super Bowl For Social Media

> Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online

 


Google Suggests Competitors for Local Business Searches

Google is offering suggestions for "nearby places you might like" on Google Maps when you look up a place that you do like. So if you like a particular bakery, you might be presented with other places within the same vicinity that Google thinks you might also be interested in trying.

"When you live in New York City, everyone has an opinion on where to eat," says Tammy Stern of the Google Maps team. "And usually, telling someone a place you love will lead to a long conversation of a string of other places you should try. For example, one of the more interesting restaurants I've eaten at in NYC was recommended to me by someone who knew I loved a different restaurant by the same owner. And, when I told a friend I was heading to the Lower East Side to get some yummy knishes for lunch, he told me to make sure I checked out the famous Guss' Pickles right around the corner and that I might consider picking up some smoked fish at Russ & Daughters down the street."

Nearby places you might like

"You'll notice that we do not limit these suggestions to places sharing any specific characteristic; instead, we use a broad set of signals to come up with what are hopefully the most interesting suggestions," says Stern. "We're still working on refining these signals, so bear with us if your serendipitous discovery of a new place is even more unexpected than you'd anticipated."

This feature could have both positive and negative effects on local businesses. On the one hand, it could give established customers ideas to go to your competitors. On the other hand, you could be the competitor and benefit from that.

The suggestions are just the latest feature in a recent slew of local business-related features from Google. The company is clearly focusing a great deal on this aspect of search.
 

Related Articles:

Businesses Benefit as Customers Share Current Locations

Google Makes it Harder to Hide from a Bad Reputation

Google Tailors Mobile Search Suggestions to Location


Super Bowl Viewers Spend Game Time on the Web

Last year, 12% of Super Bowl viewers used the Internet while watching the game according to data from Nielsen. Those that used the web spent an average of 24 minutes online during the game. It would not be at all surprising if those numbers increased significnatly this year.

"Nielsen found that simultaneous users were most engaged in general interest, e-mail, and online social networks," the firm says. "Sports sites, which might be more directly associated with the game itself, were visited by 18% of simultaneous users."

Super Bowl Web Usage

According to Nielsen, about a quarter of simultaneous users spent time during the game using Facebook at an average of 15 minutes. Google and Yahoo Mail also received significant use during game time.

Super Bowl Web Usage

The game takes place this evening of course. Will you be watching? Will you be watching and using the web? How do yo plan on using the web during the Super Bowl?

Related Articles:

> GoDaddy Back in the News for Super Bowl Ads

> Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online

> Pepsi To Skip Super Bowl For Social Media



Is Google Bad at Social Media or Really, Really Good at it?

Google often takes a lot of flack for not being incredibly successful with its social media efforts. Most recently, Caroline McCarthy and Tom Krazit tackled this subject in a CNET article claiming that "Google struggles with social skills." I would not go so far as to say that I completely disagree with them. They make plenty of factual points that are simply undeniable. Orkut hasn't set the world afire. Jaiku and Dodgeball didn't work out. YouTube was pretty much established by the time Google bought it, and even since it has not been the financial success many would have assumes it would be, despite its enormous popularity.

Is it that Google doesn't do well with social media or is it that Google is doing better at it than most people even consider. First, you have to ask yourself: what is a social network anyway? What is social media? Is it Facebook? MySpace? Twitter? Is it a network of connected people? Google Profile users can look at their "social circles" and quickly realize that Google has them connected to people.

If you look at the definitions for social media, you get things like "content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies," "a category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content." I think Google has done pretty well at indexing and monetizing user-generated content (that is if user means user of Google, which essentially makes the majority of all content user-generated).

When you compare Google to Facebook, wouldn't it be fairer to break down Google by its various offerings? Wouldn't it be fairer to compare Google itself to Facebook? You can say, well, Google Friend Connect isn't as successful as Facebook. Jaiku wasn't as successful as Facebook. Wouldn't it make more sense to chalk each of these offerings within Google as features of the broader Google network, for all intents and pruposes?

Most of Google's products require one account. You log in to your Google account and there are a lot of different things you are able to do, and it's all because of that one account. You can email people, chat, write documents and spreadsheets, use webmaster tools, etc., etc., etc. Is Google not just a social network with a lot more features than most others (not to mention what many would consider to be a better search tool than most other social networks)?

Google Products

Is Google's "failure" at social media due to not having a proper Twitter-like stream (which Facebook essentially took and ran with by the way)? Maybe Google doesn't have the best feature in every social media category, but I think they've pretty much taken the cake in some categories, and last I checked, Google is pretty successful.

I write this not as some kind of Google fanboy, but each day, I see Google launching new products and features, finding new things for users to do, and particularly for those who have a Google account. A lot of what you can do with various Google products requires you to be logged in. A lot of it is very social (profiles, social search, real-time search, document sharing, Google reader sharing and commenting, emailing, chatting, Google latitude...just to name a few). Maybe we should consider the sum of all users across all of the company’s products to determine just how successful it is at this so-called “social media”. Google makes money. Crazy money.  I wonder how many people have Google accounts.

Note: For the record, I understand that nobody's saying Google itself isn't succesful.

Is Google really not good at social media? I'll ask again, what is social media really? We tend to put these labels on things, but I don't think it's so black and white.
 

Related Articles:

Google Luring More Account Users with New News Feature?

Integration - The Key to Google as a Social Network

Is Gmail Google's Real Social Network?


Cambodia Lambastes Google Over Border Portrayal

The governments of France, Germany, and Italy are all arguably annoyed with Google.  China's not thrilled with the search giant, either.  And now, because of the way in which Google's portrayed a disputed border, Cambodia's quite mad at it.

According to Reuters, Svay Sitha, the secretary of state of Cambodia's Council of Ministers, wrote a letter to Google complaining about its interpretation of the area where Cambodia and Thailand touch.

"(The map) is devoid of truth and reality, and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious," Sitha said.  "We therefore request that you withdraw the already disseminated, very wrong and not internationally recognised map and replace it.

Google probably won't just swap in Cambodia's favorite map and call it a day, of course; that would upset Thailand.  This isn't the first time Google's been caught up in a border dispute, though (China and India have involved it before, and so have India and Pakistan), meaning it's possible to guess how this will play out.

The odds essentially favor Google coming up with three maps.  One will be for users in Cambodia, another will be for users in Thailand, and the last will be for everyone else.  The first two will show borders favoring their respective countries, while the third will use dotted lines to illustrate the dispute.

Related Articles:

> Google Launches 2 New Mobile Features For Maps

> Personalized Suggestions On Google Maps Introduced

> Google's Place Pages Just Got More Useful


Ways to Get Fresh Links to Old Content for Better Search Rankings

You may have gotten some good links in the past, but don't count on them helping you forever. Old links go stale in the eyes of Google.

Do you still get links to old content? Tell us why you think that is.

Google's Matt Cutts responded to a user-submitted question asking if Google removes PageRank coming from links on pages that no longer exist (for example, GeoCities pages that have been shut down). The answer to this question is unsurprisingly yes, but Cutts makes a statement within his response that may not be so obvious to everybody.

"In order to prevent things from becoming stale, we tend to use the current link graph, rather than a link graph of all of time," he says. (Emphasis added)

Now, this isn't exactly news, and to the seasoned search professional, probably not much of a revelation. However, to the average business owner looking to improve search engine performance (and not necessarily adapting to the ever-changing ways of SEO), it could be something that really hasn't resonated. Businesses have always been told about the power of links, but even if you got a lot of significant links a year or two ago, that doesn't mean your content will continue to perform well based on that.  WebProNews has discussed the value of "link velocity" and Google's need for freshness in the past:

Link velocity refers to the speed at which new links to a webpage are formed, and by this term we may gain some new and vital insight. Historically, great bursts of new links to a specific page has been considered a red flag, the quickest way to identify a spammer trying to manipulate the results by creating the appearance of user trust. This led to Google’s famous assaults on link farms and paid link directories.

But the Web has changed, become more of a live Web than a static document Web. We have the advent of social bookmarking, embedded videos, links, buttons, and badges, social networks, real-time networks like Twitter and Friendfeed. Certainly the age of a website is still an indication of success and trustworthiness, but in an environment of live, real time updating, the age of a link as well as the slowing velocity of incoming links may be indicators of stale content in a world that values freshness.


Do you think link freshness should play a role in search engine rankings? Let us know.


So how do you keep getting "fresh" links?


If you want fresh links, there are a number of things you can do. For one, keep putting out content. Write content that has staying power. You can link to your old content when appropriate. Always promote the sharing of your content. Include buttons to make it easy for people to share your content on their social network of choice. You may want to make sure your old content is presented in the same template as your new content so it has the same sharing features. People still may find their way to that old content, and they may want to share it if encouraged.

Go back over old content, and look for stuff that is still relevant. You can update stories with new posts adding a fresher take, linking to the original. Encourage readers to follow the link and read the original article, which they may then link to themselves.

Leave commenting on for ongoing discussion. This can keep an old post relevant. Just because you wrote an article a year ago, does not mean that people will still not add to it, and sometimes people will link to articles based on comments that are left.

Share old posts through social networks if they are still about relevant topics. You don't want to just start flooding your Twitter account with tweets to all of your old content, but if you have an older article that is relevant to a current discussion, you may share it, as your take on the subject. A follower who has not seen it before, or perhaps has forgotten about it, may find it worth linking to themselves. Can you think of other ways to get more link value out of old content? 

Do you get fresh links for old content? Why do you think that is? Share your thoughts.

 

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Yahoo Mobile Blog Launches

Yahoo may be doing a lot more in terms of mobile before long.  Or at least telling us more about its current cell phone-related efforts.  Either way, it launched the Yahoo Mobile Blog this week for the sake of keeping everyone up to date.

Irv Henderson, who's Yahoo's Vice President of Global Mobile Products, wrote the introductory blog post, and explained, "You can expect to learn about new product launches and enhancements, quick tips and tricks, our take on market trends, and predictions for where we see the market is heading."

Henderson also hinted, "So what's to come in 2010?  Three developments will play a key role in shaping the mobile industry: Powerful browsers, the OS as a launching pad, and local content."

It should be interesting to see where Yahoo comes into that list.  "Local content" seems like the best bet, but at the same time, Henderson's reference to browsers and operating systems makes it more likely that the company has irons in those fires.  Execs tend not to admit that they're ignoring two-thirds of a major growth opportunity, after all.

We'll see what happens.  Hopefully Yahoo won't wait too long between blog posts.

Related Articles:

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178 Million Americans Watched 33 Billion Online Videos in a Month

Research firm comScore has just released data about the U.S. online video market from December. Americans reportedly watched 33.2 billion videos online during that month. 178 million users watched video online.

Google sites ranked at the top of the list by a significant margin, just like usual. Hulu was next in line with about a 12 million video difference. Google sites accounted for nearly 40% of the market share, with Hulu accounting for 3%. Here's the top ten:

Online Videos in December

*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.

According to comScore, users watched an average of 187 videos per viewer in December. That works out to be roughly 6 a day.

"Google Sites attracted 135.8 million unique viewers during the month (97.5 videos per viewer), followed by Yahoo Sites with 59.8 million viewers (9.0 videos per viewer) and Fox Interactive Media with 56.8 million viewers (9.7 videos per viewer)," comScore says. "The average Hulu viewer watched 22.9 videos during the month, representing another all-time high for the property."

The top video ad networks in terms of their actual reach delivered were: Tremor Media Video Network with 30.5% penetration of online video viewers, BrightRoll Video Network with 21.7%, and BBE with 21.2%.

86.5% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. 134.4 million viewers watched over 13 billion videos on YouTube.com (97.1 videos per viewer). 44.9 million viewers watched 423.3 million videos on MySpace Sites (9.4 videos per viewer). The average Hulu viewer watched 22.9 videos, totaling 2.2 hours of videos per viewer. The duration of the average online video was 4.1 minutes.
 

Related Articles:

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> IAB Releases Ad Unit Guidelines Updates

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AT&T Launches FamilyMap For iPhone

AT&T has introduced its FamilyMap App for the iPhone, which allows users to track the location of family members.

Users can download the FamilyMap the App Store on iPhone or at iTunes. Users can track tow phones on an account for $9.99 a month or up to five phone for $14.99 per month. The FamilyMap App can also be used on most other AT&T smartphones. Previously the app was only available via a desktop.

FamilyMap

Features of the FamilyMap App include:

 

  •  Interactive Map: View whereabouts within an interactive map, including surrounding landmarks such as schools and parks; and, toggle between satellite and interactive street maps.
  •  Personalize: Assign a name and photo to each device within an account, and label frequently visited locations such as "Bobby's house" and "School."
  • Schedule Checks: Use the app to see if a family member is on schedule. Parents can schedule and receive text and email alerts.
  • My Places: Set up and view a list of landmarks within the app. Users can display the landmark on the map, edit the landmark's details, and remove or add landmarks.

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More Than Just a Redesign Going on with Facebook This Week

It's been a pretty big week for Facebook. Not only is there a lot of talk about Facebook's potential for becoming the top news source on the web, but the company celebrated its sixth birthday, is passing the 400 million user mark, and began rolling out some new design changes. In addition, the company is said to be rewriting its messaging feature and preparing to launch a webmail product, but first things first.

The Birthday and 400 Million Users

Mark Zuckerberg Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed it in a blog post last night. "Today we're celebrating our sixth birthday, and this week there will be 400 million people on Facebook. Just one year ago we served less than half as many people, and thanks to you we've made great progress over the last year towards making the world more open and connected."

"Facebook began six years ago today as a product that my roommates and I built to help people around us connect easily, share information and understand one another better." he added. "We hoped Facebook would improve people's lives in important ways. So it's rewarding to see that as Facebook has grown, people around the world are using the service to share information about events big and small and to stay connected to everyone they care about."

Facebook hosted a celebration and announced some releases at the Facebook headquarters last night. This was followed by a hackathon where Facebook staff stayed up all night coding and building new ideas for products.

Do you like the direction Facebook's gone in for the past six years? Let us know.

Design Changes

Facebook announced some new changes to the design of its homepage. Users can find their newest notifications, requests, and messages in the top menu. When a user receives a notification, they will see a red bubble appear in the left-hand corner by the search bar. When the icon is clicked, a drop-down menu appears with the most recent notifications. The Home/Profile links are in the top-right corner with the Account menu, which includes privacy settings and the log out link.

Facebook Notifications

The menu on the left-hand side of the screen has been completely reworked. "The left menu has been organized to make it easier for you to communicate with and discover content from your friends. You can now access your messages and other core features all in one place, to the left of your News Feed," says Facebook's Jing Chen. "With the Photos dashboard you can browse recent photos of your friends, and the Events dashboard lists your upcoming events along with events your friends are attending. The Friends dashboard will help you find friends, see which of your friends have recently updated their profiles and filter your News Feed by Friend Lists you may have already created."

Facebook Left Menu

Chat has also been made more prominent with a list of online friends displayed on the left. The new apps and games dashboards, which have been discussed lately, can be accessed from the menu as well. The dashboards feature personalized updates from the apps, and they have launched with new privacy settings.

The changes are still rolling out, so it's possible that you do not have them yet, but you will soon enough.

What do you think about Facebook's design changes? Good Move or bad? Tell us what you think.


The Webmail Product

Michael Arrington is reporting that a "source with knowledge of the product" says Facebook is launching a webmail product. If MySpace can do it, surely Facebook can too. It's being referred to right now as "Project Titan", although the name will likely change.

Facebook's messages as they stand right now, lend to email notifications. When you check your email, you find that someone has sent you a message on Facebook. If Facebook gets you using its own email service, it's cutting out the middle man, and that means...you guessed it - more time spent on Facebook.

Would you use Facebook for email if they offered a full webmail product? Tell us why or why not.

Facebook As the Web's Top News Source?

I've already written on this topic this week, but basically, the more time people spend on Facebook, the more convenient they may find it to simply get their news feeds there. If Facebook enters the email game, that's only going to get people using Facebook that much more, and even open up yet another way for them to get their news on Facebook, through email newsletters and news alerts.

Do you see people increasingly getting their news on Facebook?
Share you thoughts.


Update: 
Microsoft has announced some changes to its partnership with Facebook. Facebook will now be taking over its own display advertising, and will get a more feature-rich version of Bing search for its web search.

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Microsoft and Facebook Adjust Their Partnership

Microsoft and Facebook have "enhanced" their partnership with each other. The two companies will soon be providing Facebook users with what Microsoft refers to as a "more complete search experience". They will be providing full access to Bing features in Facebook. In addition, the Bing and Facebook connection will be extended globally.

Facebook will be taking over full responsibility for selling its own display ads, although Microsoft will continue to provide search ads. "Given the kinds of advertisements that make sense within a product as unique as Facebook, it just made more sense for them to take the lead on this part of their advertising strategy," says Bing General Manager Jon Tinter.

"Bing will continue to exclusively power the web search results on Facebook," he adds. "This change will also enable Microsoft to continue its focus on driving strong performing campaigns across our own social media and communications tools, including Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail, and via rich content environments across MSN and Xbox Live."

Bing search on Facebook

"Going deeper in web search experiences with Facebook, in addition to the collaboration we announced last October about bringing public data from Facebook's API into the search experience, will enable us to do great things together for our customers," he says.

The product of this enhanced relationship between the two companies will start being felt among users in the coming weeks and months. It will be interesting to see if Yahoo advertising gets involved if the Microsoft-Yahoo deal ever sees the light of day.


Related Articles:
 

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Vote For Your Favorite Super Bowl Ads Online

Brand consulting and advertising firm Hanon McKendry is holding it second annual online Super Bowl ad poll.

Viewers of the game will be able to visit superadbowl.com at the end of the first quarter to cast their vote for their favorite commercial. As votes are casts, the results will be compiled immediately and posted so fans will be able to see how their favorites compare to others.

"Super Bowl advertising is big entertainment, and everyone wants to voice their opinion," said Bill McKendry, founder and chief creative officer at Hanon McKendry.  "We wanted to give average viewers a place to weigh in, in real time, on the ads they think hit the mark."

Super-Bowl

According to a Harris Interactive poll over 57 percent of U.S. adults plan to watch Super Bowl XLIV as much for the commercials as for the game. Among those who watch commercials, 35 percent say they are more likely to visit an advertiser's website after seeing a Super Bowl ad. In addition, 48 percent of online adults who watch the ads say they are at least somewhat likely to discuss them on social networking sites.

Visitors to the site will be able to cast their votes for one favorite commercial from each quarter. Voting will open at the end of the first quarter and remain open through February 9.

"As more and more Super Bowl advertisers maximize interactive opportunities, viewers are getting in the game and watching with their laptops by their sides," said Pete Brand, co-founder of Mindscape at Hanon McKendry, Hanon McKendry's interactive division. 

"Superadbowl.com gives those interactive viewers a place to go, immediately, and be part of the action."
 

 

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Google Experiments with Different Google News Design

Some people have spotted a new design for Google News, which is part of a limited test experiment Google is running. A Google employee posted the following message in the Google News Help Forum:

At Google, we run anywhere from 50 to 200 experiments at any given time on our websites all over the world. Right now, we are running a small test of a new Google News homepage design. More information about how Google runs experiments can be found at:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/search-experiments-large-and-small.html

We'd love to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you think at:

http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/request.py?contact_type=report_news&source=redesign

Regards,

Google NewsThe Google News Team


At this point, there don't seem to be any screenshots of this design floating around, so maybe someone that is actually seeing the different version will post one eventually. There are descriptions out there, however.

The design has been described as focusing on a single category of news at a time. The user has to click on a different category to view that, as opposed to the current design where many categories are featured on the home page and arranged according to the user's preference.  It doesn't seem like the feedback of those who have used the different Google News design has been pretty positive. (Hat Tip: Barry Schwartz)

Google recently did add a feature to the mainstream version of Google News, which allows users to star news clusters, so they can follow up with them later.

Would you prefer Google News to focus on a single news category at a time? Share your thoughts.
 

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Justice Department Objects To Google Books Settlement

The amended Google Books settlement agreement (ASA) has not impressed the U.S. Department of Justice.  A statement the organization issued late yesterday praised the idea of making rare books widely available, but also maintained that there are a number of problems with the proposed deal.

The DOJ said, "Under the ASA as proposed, Google would remain the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats.  Google also would have the exclusive ability to exploit unclaimed works (including so-called 'orphan works') without risk of liability.  The ASA's pricing mechanisms, though in some respects much improved, also continue to raise antitrust concerns."

As a result, the DOJ doesn't want the current deal to go forward.  The organization concluded, "At this time, in the view of the United States, the public interest would best be served by direction from the Court encouraging the continuation of settlement discussions between the parties and, if the Court so chooses, guidance as to those aspects of the ASA that need to be addressed."

So it looks like Google will have to go back to the figurative drawing board again.  Enough groups have objected to the amended settlement agreement to make the situation almost comical, and with the DOJ on their side, it's hard to imagine Judge Denny Chin won't acknowledge their concerns.

Judge Chin, representing the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, should get the chance to voice his opinion at a hearing on February 18th.

Related Articles:

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Three More Groups Rally Against Google Books Settlement


Google Lets AdSense Publishers Donate Earnings to Haiti Relief

Google has launched an AdSense feature that lets AdSense publishers donate their earnings to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.

"We're currently accepting donations from AdSense publishers with an unpaid account balance through January 31, 2010," says Google's Elizabeth Ferdon. "To see what your unpaid account balance is, please visit the 'Payment History' page within your account. Your January earnings will post in the next few days, so feel free to refer to your 'Advanced Reports' page for an earnings estimate until those are finalized."

AdSense Donations

AdSense Donations

Publishers can donate either a portion or all of their unpaid balances as of the end of January. "As you may expect, there are certain restrictions to donating, and all our normal policies still apply -- so even if you're donating, please don't ask others to click on your ads in order to increase your earnings," says Ferdon.

Google will not process donation requests from publishers whose request to donate more than their unpaid balance through January 31, or if they are subject to tax-withholding, their account has been disabled for invalid activity or other violations of terms and conditions, or if their accounts display the messages: "please submit your tax information", "please enter your PIN", or "please verify your phone number".

Partners in Health is the organization that will receive the donations. They will go to proivde medical aid.


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NASA Connects Twitter Users To Space Shuttle Crew

NASA is inviting the public to send questions for its astronauts via Twitter during the space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station.

Astronaut Mike Massimino will take questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, February 11. Massimino will be a spacecraft communicator, at NASA's Mission Control in Huston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for launch February 7.

NASA-Twitter

At 2:24 a.m. CST on February 11, Massimino will host the event with the crew from his console in Mission Control. He will ask the astronauts as many submitted and live questions as possible during the 20-minute time period. The shuttle will be docked to the station during the live question and answer session. The event with Endeavour's crew will be broadcast live online and NASA Television.

The public can start tweeting questions for the Endeavour's crew today to Massimino's Twitter account, @Astro_Mike, or add the hashtag  #askastro to their tweets.

The time and day of the Twitter session are subject to change due to mission priorities.
 

 

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MySpace, Chief Product Officer May Part Ways

A high-ranking MySpace executive might be ready to depart, according to a new report.  Rumor has it that Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn, who's been with the company for less than a year, is making his way towards the exit.

This story appears to deserve some heavy disclaimers; since it began to spread, Hirschhorn wrote on his MySpace page, "i love fiction," and classified his mood as "amused."

He also linked to a clip of Philip Seymour Hoffman lecturing about gossip (as Father Flynn in the movie Doubt) from both his MySpace and Twitter accounts.

Still, more than a few people have indicated that the exec is parting ways with MySpace.  Jason Kincaid, who's generally quite reliable, reported last night, "Jason Hirschhorn will soon be leaving the company, we've heard from multiple sources."

Perhaps it's just a later conjecture - "the real problem may have been a lack of chemistry between Hirschhorn and his fellow executives" - to which Hirschhorn objects.

Anyway, there's no word on exactly when Hirschhorn could leave MySpace, or who will replace him as Chief Product Officer (a position reporting to CEO Owen Van Natta) if he does.

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Online TV Still Few People's First Choice

This week's big TV event was unquestionably the season premiere of "Lost"; lots of people have, over the course of the previous five or so years, become huge fans of the show.  But new stats imply that very few of them sat in front of computer monitors on Wednesday, rather than televisions on Tuesday, in order to watch the two-hour episode.

Nielsen took a look at why people watch online TV, and the leading reason doesn't have much to do with convenience or fewer commercials.  Instead, 54 percent of people simply watch TV online because they forgot to catch an episode as it aired.  And the next-most common reason, with 47 percent of people citing it, is similar: because they missed a large number of episodes.

It's not until you get down to the least popular reasons ("Another member of my household watches another program at the same time," "I watch TV programming online when I am at work," and "I watch TV programming online when I travel") that online TV sort of distinguishes itself.  Otherwise, it appears to act as more of a memory aid (or way to avoid buying DVDs) than anything. 

The details relating to how people watch TV online also make the activity look like less than an integral part of everyday life.  Jon Gibs, Nielsen's Vice President for Insights, Online and Cross Media, noted, "When we go online to watch TV shows, that activity dominates that particular online session," and "the viewing of TV shows online proves to be a rather solitary activity."

This all makes for less than fantastic news for Hulu and YouTube.  Of course, we have to note that neither site is exactly starving for page views, regardless of people's reasons for visiting them.

Related Articles:

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House Passes Cybersecurity Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act by a vote of 422 to 5.

The bill is aimed at improving cybersecurity within the federal government as well as the public and private sectors by helping to develop a skilled cybersecurity workforce along with coordinating and prioritizing federal research and development.

The bill also seeks to improve the transfer of cyber security technologies to the marketplace and promote cybersecurity education for the public.

Bart-Gordon "The Internet does not stop at our borders; the consequences of poor cybersecurity measures can greatly impact our national security and economy," said bill cosponsor and Science and Technology Committee Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).

"Improving cybersecurity will require a collaborative effort both domestically and internationally. H.R. 4061 accomplishes this by coordinating U.S. representation in the development of international cybersecurity technical standards and best practices and by creating a strategic vision for federal cybersecurity R&D."

The bill reauthorizes a number of National Science Foundation cyber security programs, providing $396 million in research grants over the next four years and offering $94 million in cyber security scholarships.

The bill would also require the Administration to conduct an assessment of cybersecurity workforce needs across federal agencies. In addition the bill requires the Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy Director to put together a university task force to find new models for putting in place collaborative R&D.

"H.R. 4061 is a good bipartisan bill that strengthens public-private partnerships, ensures an overall vision for the federal cybersecurity R&D portfolio, trains the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, and improves cybersecurity technical standards," added Gordon.

> Spam Is Getting More Malicious

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>Security A Concern For Online Holiday Shoppers

 


Google Launches Log Search for the Cloud

Google just introduced message log search for Postini, its group of cloud security and archiving services.

"When messages pass through the Postini service, header and transaction data about these messages is stored in a log," explains Gopal Shah of Google Postini team Previously, admins only had access to this data through customer support. With the Message Log Search feature, email administrators can now easily run searches on these logs and drill down to the details about how specific messages were processed."

Administrators can look at things like whether messages were delivered, quarantined, archived, or encrypted.

"Say an admin was checking the delivery status of all inbound emails from Matthew Smith," says Shah. "Message Log Search returns results which include who received the message, date/time, disposition, and more."

Log Search

Log Search

The feature has been available in beta testing, and Shah says customers have found it useful for things like tracking errant emails, figuring out why certain people didn't get messages, proactively searching for "problem senders", etc.

Log search is now available through the Postini service administration console, and in Google Apps Preimier Edition.


Related Articles:

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Will Publishers Let Facebook Become the Web's Biggest News Source?

I have a question for you. Where do you get the majority of your online news? Is it from a feed reader? Is it from Twitter? Is it from Google News? Yahoo News? Do you spend your time simply checking specific news publications? There is talk that Facebook could become the number one place online for people to get their news.

Here's one for discussion. Facebook users can set up a news list, which will aggregate stories from different news sources who publish their stories to their Facebook pages. All a user has to do is be a fan of that page. Would this be any different than other news aggregators linking to stories? If a news source is willingly putting up a Facebook page with its stories, wouldn't that be the exact opposite of the argument against aggregators using content? Facebook serves its own ads too. Both the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press have Facebook pages (hopefully they don't mind me linking to them).

Wall Street Journal Facebook Page

Associated Press Facebook Page

Sure, these publications have control over just what content actually appears on these pages. It's a bit different than Google or another news aggregator simply crawling the content, but how different is it really? The publications also have the power to block the aggregators. Is there a double standard?

Regardless of that debate, users are increasingly flocking to Facebook to get their news (news is also one of the most popular reasons for using Twitter by the way). The reason Facebook could be the biggest news source is that it has a massive user base - way bigger than Twitter's, and for all intents and purposes, it operates the same way when it comes to news (albeit, with room for more text in each update).

According to research from competitive intelligence agency Experian Hiwise, 3.52% of upstream visits to News and Media websites came from Facebook last week (that's compared to 1.39% from Google News.

Hitwise - Facebook News

"Facebook was the #4 source of visits to News and Media sites last week, after Google, Yahoo! and msn. News and Media is the #11 downstream industry after Facebook, receiving 3.69% of the social networking site's traffic," says Experian Hitwise's Heather Hopkins. "To offer a comparison, 6% of downstream traffic from Facebook went to Shopping and Classifieds last week and 6% to Business and Finance and 15% went to Entertainment websites (YouTube in particular)."

"Facebook could be a major disruptor to the News and Media category," she adds. "And with the Wall Street Journal already publishing content to Facebook, perhaps the social network can avoid the run-ins that Google has suffered recently with Rupert Murdoch."

Lately Facebook has been encouraging users to set up news lists. They want to be your news source. "You can even create a 'News' list to filter news-oriented Pages into one view on your News Feed," noted Facebook's Malorie Lucich on the company blog. "Simply add relevant Pages to the list, just as you would with a friends list. The next time you sign on to Facebook, you can click the 'News' filter to see stories from all of the news outlets of which you've become a fan."

News list on Facebook

"In addition to reading news on Facebook, you can share news with your friends on external sites with Facebook Connect," says Lurich. "Outlets like The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, USA Today and countless blogs have become more social by adding Facebook Connect to their websites and iPhone applications. You can sign in with your Facebook login to see what articles your friends are reading and comment on articles with your authentic identity."

Facebook has a huge advantage for being the go-to place for news. Everybody is already there, and they're spending more and more time there checking their feeds, messing with apps, sharing their own updates, etc. If their news-news (Facebook refers to highlights from friend updates as the "news feed") is right in their feed, they're going to see articles frequently and get their news there almost inadvertently at times. Plus, if they set up an actual news list like Facebook wants them to, it's only a click away, and suddenly the average user gets to enjoy the same kind of functionality that users of RSS feed readers have been enjoying for years (they never quite made it to the mainstream did they?).

Do you use Facebook to get news? Can you see it becoming the most widely used platform for online news? 
 

Related Articles:

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AOL Vet Returns from Google to Lead Media/Studios Division

AOL has named David Eun as its new President of AOL Media and Studios. Until 2006, Eun was Vice President, Operations for the Media & Communications Group at Time Warner, where he helped oversee AOL. During that time, he contributed to providing operational oversight and development of new businesses in digital distribution and broadband content.

After that, he worked at Google as Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, where he managed global content partnerships with Google and YouTube. He is replacing Bill Wilson, who has been with AOL for nine years.

David Eun"David brings an impressive breadth of media experience to AOL at an exciting juncture for the company as we focus on scaling our content platforms, production and partnerships to offer quality, original content that will engage consumers and bring them – and their friends – back to our properties time and again," said AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. "I'm delighted to welcome him back to AOL as we continue to pursue our strategy and mission in digital content and journalism."

"Bill Wilson has been a driving force for content at AOL and under his leadership the quantity and quality of our premium branded and niche offerings have expanded significantly. On behalf of AOL, I want to thank Bill for the energy and dedication he has brought to the role. Bill has been an outstanding leader at AOL," Armstrong added.

AOL has of course taken up a new strategy since its new found independence from Time Warner took hold. A big part of that strategy is content, and AOL will likely be looking into further partnerships in that area.

"AOL has a unique opportunity to bring together its core strengths in the key areas of content and journalism, distribution, and advertising to engage its users, partners and advertisers in a way very few companies can. These three elements will be fundamental to success as the media and technology industries evolve and converge," Eun said. "And after nearly 15 years of seeing this convergence approach, I couldn’t be more excited to be returning to AOL to help Tim and his team capture that great promise."

Eun will report directly to Armstrong and will be based out of New York.

Related Articles:

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Tim Armstrong Weighing Search Deal With Microsoft


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