Today's Blogs

Google Warns Users Over 'State-Sponsored' Attacks

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:07:46 GMT

Google has taken upon itself to warn people who utilise its Gmail service whenever they suspect that the service has become the target of apparent 'state-sponsored' hacking attacks.

The search engine giant is putting a message that reads "We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer" at the top of the Gmail pages of any users that it believes to be at risk. The message will appear in any browser, so users don't have to worry about using IE, Firefox or Chrome.

Google aren't revealing what information leads them to such conclusions, with Google's vice president of security engineering Eric Grosse commenting "We can't go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors."

He adds "Our detailed analysis -- as well as victim reports -- strongly suggest the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored."

Google's ability to recognise such attacks may stem from their experiences with Chinese hackers around two years ago and it is refreshing that the company apparently intends to utilise this experience to help others.

Google Unveil Cultural Map of Brazilian Surui People

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:50:54 GMT

Google have unveiled the cultural map that has come about as a result of working alongside the indiginous Surui people of Brazil. The map is a digital tool that will enable the Amazon-based tribe share their knowledge of the rainforest and combat illegal logging.

The map is the result of a five-year collaboration between the two groups and was released online for the first time at a business conference held on the sidelines of the UN Rio+20 that was recently held in Brazil.

Google Play to Offer Mobile Apps Developers Opportunity to Reply to Reviews

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:06:56 GMT

Google have announced that they will be developing a new change to the Google Play store that houses Android Apps, stating that they will be providing mobile apps developers with the ability to reply to reviews of their mobile apps.

The ability will only be offered to those mobile apps developers with the 'Top Developer Badge' and is intended to become quite widely available at some point in the future.

The change will allow those developers who believe their mobile app is coming in for undue criticism to respond to the negativity, allowing them to call out commenters and reviewers who are being unduly harsh.

It will also help when it comes to troubleshooting, as it allows a direct line of communication between customer and developer.

Google Reveals Removal of More Than 600 Terrorism Videos From YouTube

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:44:13 GMT

Google has recently unveiled statistics that demonstrate that the company has removed about 640 videos from YouTube that were believed to be promoting terrorism during the second half of 2011. Most of the videos were removed following complaints from the UK's Association of Police Officers.

The figures, amongst others, were contained in the company's latest transparency report, in which they provide information about the requests made by international authorities to remove or hand over certain materials.

Google have also terminated five accounts that were linked to the videos and has also refused many other similar requests to take down content on the grounds of right to free speech. Amongst those refused was apparently Canada's Passport Office. They had requested that a video of a person urinating on his passport and then flushing it down the toilet be removed.

Google's senior policy analyst, Dorothy Chou, commented about the myriad of requests, stating "It's alarming not only because free expression is at risk, but because some of these requests come from countries you might not suspect - Western democracies not typically associated with censorship.

"For example, in the second half of last year, Spanish regulators asked us to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and public figures, including mayors and public prosecutors.

"In Poland, we received a request from the Agency for Enterprise Development to remove links to a site that criticised it.

"We didn't comply with either of these requests."

Apple Pulls Messaging System Beta for New Operating System

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:24:32 GMT

Anybody who has yet to download the Apple Messages beta will now have to wait until the product sees its actual launch date as Apple have pulled the beta in preparation for the full product release in July. The company will also be releasing Mountain Lion, their new OSX, with the Messages system implemented into it so the company must be happy with the beta phase of the program.

The Messages beta for lion was first released back in February and gave Mac users a small taste of what was to come with the release of the new OSX. Messages with replace the iChat mobile app and will integrate with all Apple devices.

There were issues with the beta that Apple will look to address, with one complaint being that users found themselves overwhelmed with notifcations. Others complained that the service appeared stripped down when compared to the previous messaging system.

Google Hires Top Law Firm in Antitrust Case

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:07:54 GMT

Recent reports are stating that Google have hired a top law firm based in Washington DC to help it fend off the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust probe.

Bloomberg has been reporting that the search engine giant have hired Williams & Connolly LLP, which has also represented clients like former US President Bill Clinton.

Google has been facing calls from all directions to alter its privacy and business practices in certain areas, with the FTC carrying out a review in addition to Joaquín Almunia, vice president of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy. However Google doesn't seem willing to change anything, meaning that a battle seems almost inevitable.

The company hasn't provided an official comment on hiring the law firm but, at the D10 conference last week, FTC chairman John Leibowitz confirmed Wilkinson's hiring, but denied the move was any sort of indication as to how the case would be handled. "When you have the opportunity to get someone of Beth's stature and abilities ... you always take her up on it," Leibowitz said.

"It doesn't mean we've decided to bring a case at all," he continued. "It just means that we have very competent counsel that can go toe-to-toe with [Google's] very competent counsel."

Scientists Working on Development of New Search Engine

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:48:10 GMT

Scientists are apparently working on a new search engine that will utilise information from a variety of real world sensors in an effort to deliver even more accurate search results.

Computer scientists at the University of Glasgow are working on the project, which is called "search engine for multimedia environment generated content" (SMART)

The search engine will work differently to traditional search engines as it will match queries with information from cameras and microphones before cross-referencing data with social networks.

As a result users will receive detailed responses to questions such as "what part of the city hosts live music events which my friends have been to recently?" or "how busy is the city centre?".

Dr Iadh Ounis, of the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science, commented "The SMART project will be built upon an open-source search engine technology known as Terrier we have been developing at the university since 2004, and we're pleased to be involved in this innovative research initiative.

"The SMART engine will be able to answer high-level queries by automatically identifying cameras, microphones and other sensors that can contribute to the query, then synthesising results stemming from distributed sources in an intelligent way.

"SMART builds upon the existing concept of 'smart cities', physical spaces which are covered in an array of intelligent sensors which communicate with each other and can be searched for information. The search results sourced from these smart cities can be reused across multiple applications, making the system more effective.

"We expect that SMART will be tested in a real city by 2014."

Google Analytics to Provide Data on Browser Sizes

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:54:58 GMT

Google Analytics, which is well-known amongst SEO companies for providing an array of important data that can be used to adjust SEO campaigns, has implemented a new report tool that provides users with information about the broswer-size of a person who has visited a website.

This data is becoming increasingly important as more people start to utilise mobile devices to access websites, with many people already considering optimising their websites for mobile users.

Google has implemented the feature in an effort to provide information to SEO companies and Analytics users relating to the devices used to access their sites, allowing them to make changes wherever relevant.

The change was announced in a Google Analytics blog post in early June.

Android Seeing 900,000 New Activations Per Day

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:09:18 GMT

Andy Rubin, who is commonly recognised as the father of the Android operating system that is used on many different mobile devices, has recently taken to Twitter to reveal hust how quickly the operating system is growing.

He recently tweeted "No plans to leave Google. Oh, and just for meme completeness - there are over 900,000 android devices activated each day :-)"

That works out to about 324 million activations per year, thus proving just how widespread the Android technology is in smartphones and other mobile devices.

Android remains top of the smartphone pile according to most studies, however its fracticious nature and spread across multiple devices leads to it making less money for Google than iOS does for Apple.

However it does offer much more flexibility when it comes to mobile apps development, making it extremely appealing.

Swiss Court Removes Some Restrictions From Google Street View

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 10:43:41 GMT

A Swiss court has removed some of the restrictions that were levied against Google Street View, granting the company a partial victory in the region. Google had been told that they needed to black out every single face and licence plate that made an appearance in their Street View images for Switzerland.

However this decision has now been overturned, with Google now only required to black out a face or licence plate if a user complains about its visibility. The court also made it clear to Google that they must make it easier to lodge a complaint with them to ensure this process runs as smoothly as possible.

"We're pleased the Swiss court has upheld a key part of our appeal, acknowledging that we have strong privacy controls in Street View, like automatic blurring of faces and license plates," Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, said in a statement. "We're reviewing the court's decision in full and are speaking to the DPA [Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection] as we consider our options."

The original ruling was made in April 2011, with Google being told to go so far as hiding features like skin colour and clothing of people photographed near 'sensitive' areas like courts and hospitals.

Google argued that the rulings were too restrictive and had threatened to pull out of Switzerland altogether.

Google Defends Against Search Engine Manipulation Claims

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:57:36 GMT

Google has come out on the defensive against accusations that the company has been manipulating its search engine results. Some parties have been claiming that Google has given priority to those who pay more in ad payments, however the company has refuted this allegation and told users to go elsewhere if they don't like what the search engine giant is doing.

The company placed a blog posting after a piece in the Wall Street Journal slammed the company, with Nextag CEO Jeffrey Katz claiming that the analytics software it utilises can tell which traffic it receives from Google and can tell "when Google makes changes to its algorithms that effectively punish its competitors," including his company.

"Our data, which we shared with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 21, 2011, shows without a doubt that Google has stacked the deck. And as a result, it has shifted from a true search site into a commerce site -- a commerce site whose search algorithm favors products and services from Google and those from companies able to spend the most on advertising," he adds.

Google was quick to counter the accusations in their blog post, with Senior VP of Engineering Amit Singhal stating that Google's organic search results have never been influenced by payment, stating that its "ads and commercial experiences are clearly labeled and distinct from the unpaid results, and we recently announced new improvements to labeling of shopping results."

Should the accusations prove true this would throw up quite the quandary for search engine optimisation companies.

Google Facing Search Sanctions From Europe's Antitrust Chief

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 14:02:40 GMT

The European antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia has given Google a July 2nd deadline to change their search results and advertising rules, lest they face potential court fines and sanctions.

In a move that will concern SEO companies everywhere, the European head of competition policy has expressed concerns about Google's massive market share when it comes to search engines in Europe. He has even written a letter outlining his concerns about how this dominance essentially amounts to a monopoly.

The search giant is facing battles on all sides, with US and South Korean regulators also threatening to investigate the company for this near monopoly. Google are also facing concerns about their privacy policies in the wake of the Google Street View scandal that has engulfed them in recent months.

In a statement, Google told the Guardian “We operate in over 100 countries around the world, and the internet is disruptive by its nature. It’s understandable that our business should attract scrutiny and sometimes complaints in a few of those countries. We’re always happy to answer questions authorities may have about our business.”

Almunia has also indicated that he would be willing to deal with the company personally rather than take them to court, a move that Google suggests demonstrates that “we’ve have been co-operating with their investigation and that issues can be solved through conversation.”

However there is mounting evidence that the company is likely to face some sanctions, in one form or another, with Whit Andrews, an analyst with the IT research company Gartner “What’s happened is that Google’s popularity and virtually unprecedented success have made it a target. Google doesn’t understand why when it provides a superior product, which it believes it operates transparently – why everybody then seems to want to stop it.”

Google Purchases Meebo in $100 million Deal

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:43:34 GMT

Google's continued efforts to position its Google+ social network as a solid rival to Facebook are continuing as the search engine giant has announced the $100 million purchase of the social sharing site Meebo.

Meebo's primary function is to offer a chat toolbar that makes it easier for users to share social links, but it also utilises adverts within that toolbar. Crucially, Google will be looking to link its existing adwords platform into the toolbar in an effort to drive revenue.

"We are always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect with others across the web, just as they do in real life," a Google spokesperson said.

Google+ has been dogged by speculation that the social network is simply failing to gain the sheer volume of users enjoyed by Facebook, with many also claiming that those signed up to it barely even use the service. The company are hoping to change this with purchases such as that of Meebo. As a side-note, Meebo also offers its users a service via a mobile app, leaving another potential area for Google to capitalise on with the purchase.

Meebo claims to reach more than half of the US population, which makes it an invaluable resource if those figures prove true. The group was formed in 2005 around a policy of allowing users to build their own web experieces around what interests them the most.

Google to Face Further Investigation from Information Commissioner's Office

Thu, 31 May 2012 14:10:07 GMT

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the body in the UK that is responsible for enforcing the Data Protection Act, has announced that it has studied the report compiled by the US Federal Communications Commission in relation to the "snooping" claims that have been plaguing Google ever since it was found that the Street View vans utilised by the company were also picking up personal information from unprotected WiFi networks.

The report casts doubt on Google's claims that it hadn't meant to harvest data, meaning that the ICO may look further into the case after originally accepting the search engine giant's claims.

The FCC said a Google engineer had created the necessary software and “intended to collect, store and review payload data for possible use in other Google projects,” a claim which flies in the face of Google's own protestations that they had no idea that the software could pick up data from unsecured WiFi networks. As many as a quarter of homes are believed to have been affected.

The engineer responsible refused to cooperate with the FCC investigation and was later identified as Marius Milner. Google had claimed that he was acting without the knowledge of superiors, however the FCC investigation found that he had circulated details of the plans.

The ICO drew heavy criticism for its initial ruling and a spokesman for the group recently stated “We are currently studying the FCC report to consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken.

“Google provided our office with a formal undertaking in November 2010 about their future conduct, following their failure in relation to the collection of WiFi data by their Street View cars.

“This included a provision for the ICO to audit Google’s privacy practices. The audit was published in August 2011 and we will be following up on it later this year, to ensure our recommendations have been put in place.”

French Court Supports Google in YouTube Copyright Row

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:39:21 GMT

A French court has added to the confusion over whether or not Google is responsible for directly filtering the content placed on YouTube by ruling that the group doesn't have a legal obligation to remove content before a copyright holder highlights it. The ruling will come as a big blow to the French TV station TF1, which had been seeking damages for violation of its copyrights from the search engine giant.

TF1 had been looking for more than 140 million euros in damages but simply wound up paying Google's legal costs instead.

The decision means that the Google are not responsible for its users uploading copyrighted material in France, however they still have an obligation to remove it once the material has been brought to their attention.

The decision flies in the face of a similar case in Germany, where it was ruled that Google are in fact responsible for the content uploaded and would face hefty fines for any violations. Similar cases are also ongoing in the USA and Italy.

Google Nexus Tablet Tipped for June Release

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:02:40 GMT

Rumours ae flying around that Google are preparing to release their upcoming Nexus tablet, with many claiming that it will also come with the upcoming Android 5.0 Jelly Bean locked and loaded from the get go.

Apparently Google have teamed up with Asus to produce the first Nexus tablets that will have a 7 inch screen, with Techno Buffalo claiming that it will be shown off at next month's Google I/O event.

"We’ve confirmed with a trusted source that Google will indeed unveil the Asus-built Nexus tablet during the conference and, better yet, will give a unit out to each of the developers attending the conference," said Techno Buffalo.

Apparently the Nexus will fall under the $200 price tag, meaning it may well be marketed as a direct competitor to the likes of the Kindle. It will follow on from the Nexus smartphones that utilise Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The reports even suggest the the upcoming Android 5.0 operating system will launch on five devices this summer.

Google Integrates Zagat Reviews into New Google+ Local Service

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:49:12 GMT

Google have revealed that they have linked up with Zagat restaurant reviews to unveil a tool that makes it easier for people on the run to find a restaurant using their smartphones and Google+.

The new Google+ Local service provides users with a host of restaurant reviews from Zagat in addition to the usual Google+ recommendations.

"Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions," wrote Avni Shah, director of Google's Product Management, in a blog post.

"In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever."

Google bought Zagat last September and it had been expected that the company would be looking for a way to integrate Zagat's review services into its own offerings.

"This is all part of the evolution of search being more than just finding things," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at ZK Research. "Today I search, I get a result, then I go to Zagat or Google+ to find reviews. Having them instantly available saves steps and time."

The move should boost Google's search capabilities in addition to providing them with additional local advertising revenue.

Microsoft Requests Google Remove 500,000 Links from Search Engine

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:36:18 GMT

Recent figures released by Google have revealed that Micorsoft requested that the search engine giant remove 500,000 links from its search engine last month, with most of the links redirecting users to pirated versions of Microsoft's software.

Google have been swift to act on the issue, following criticisms that the search engine giant takes too long to remove links after a request has been made. They now claim to take an average of eleven hours to remove a link once a request has been made and found to be valid.

Oddly enough, Microsoft's own Bing search engine apparently still contains a number of the links, leading to worries that the search engine is actually slower at removing requested links given that Microsoft are actually behind Google in removing links that the company itself is requesting be moved.

Google made the announcement via a blog post, stating “Today we’re expanding the Transparency Report with a new section on copyright. Specifically, we’re disclosing the number of requests we get from copyright owners (and the organizations that represent them) to remove Google Search results because they allegedly link to infringing content.

“We’re starting with search because we remove more results in response to copyright removal notices than for any other reason. So we’re providing information about who sends us copyright removal notices, how often, on behalf of which copyright owners and for which websites. As policymakers and Internet users around the world consider the pros and cons of different proposals to address the problem of online copyright infringement, we hope this data will contribute to the discussion.”

Google Apps Gains ISO Security Certification

Thu, 31 May 2012 12:19:37 GMT

Google has announced that their online productivity suite, Google Apps, has received the ISO 27001 security certification. This essentially earmarks the suite as being one of the big players in cloudkeeping and the search engine giant are hoping that it will encourage more mobile apps developers to utilise the service.

Eran Feigenbaum, Google Enterprise's Director of Security released the news on Monday, with the announcement following a recent altercation between Google and Microsoft that saw the two groups arguing over who had received the FISMA certification required to win a business contract from the US government that wound up in Google's hands after initially being awarded to Microsoft.

The certification is just the latest in a line of similar awards for security that the company have been granted, with Google now apparently feeling like their security credentials are second to none. They claim that “...Businesses are beginning to realize that companies like Google can invest in security at a scale that's difficult for many businesses to achieve on their own.”

Apple Gains Control of iphone5.com Domain

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:01:22 GMT

Internet rumours are flying that Apple are set announce further details about the upcoming iPhone 5 after the company managed to secure the rights to the website domain name iPhone5.com.

Many are claiming this to be the clearest indication that an announcement is imminent from the company, with some going as far to claim that they are going to start selling a Steve Jobs inspired iPhone. The tech company managed to get their hands on the domain after a ruling by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. The domain had previously been an Apple fansite, before the company launched a claim for the domain.

The iPhone 5 was expected last year, but Apple elected to release the 4S instead. However, as companies like Samsung and HTC begin to release more complex smartphones many are wondering when Apple will fire their next salvo.

New features tipped to be included in the iPhone 5 are expected to be 4G internet capabilities and a new enhanced four inch screen.

Samsung took over as the world's leading smartphone supplier earlier in the year, however analysts believe that the release of the iPhone 5 would boost Apple back into the top spot.

If nothing else, it's exciting times for mobile apps developers.

New iPhone to Feature Larger Screen?

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:41:14 GMT

It is believed that the latest version of the iPhone will feature a bigger screen than the current version, according to reports that have appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Many are claiming that the screen will measure 4 inches diagonoally, compared to 3.5 on the previous model, with production to begin in June.

Apple have refused to comment thus far but this would mark the first time that the company has changed the size of their smartphone screens if they do go through with the changes. Recent handsets released by the likes of Samsung have utilised much larger screens than the iPhone, leading to the apparent desire to compete on Apple's part.

Rumours have also been circulating that the new iPhone would feature a Liquidmetal case, a product that Apple licensed back in 2010.

Atakan Peker, one of the inventors of the technology, told Business Insider "I expect Apple to use this technology in a breakthrough product. Such product will likely bring an innovative user interface and industrial design together, and will also be very difficult to copy or duplicate with other material technologies."

Samsung and Nokia have used the product in the past, however they have only used it for smaller components. It is believed by some that Apple will look to utilise it to a much heavier degree in the future.

Mr Peker added "Liquidmetal is super strong, scratch and corrosion resistant, resilient and can be precision cast into complex shapes. The benefits will be in the form of strong and aesthetic structural components, such as casing and frames."

Apple and Samsung Moving Closer to Settlement

Tue, 22 May 2012 10:26:15 GMT

It would appear that Samsung and Apple may be moving one step closer to settling the many differences that they have over their tablet computers and other mobile products, with Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook commenting “It's very important that Apple not become the developer for the world. We need people to invent their own stuff.”

Apparently he expressed the same sentiments to Samsung's Choi Gee-Sung during a recent meeting, however it seems to ignore the fact that both companies are accusing the other of stealing ideas. The pair are to meet again today thanks to a set of judge-ordered settlement talks.

More than 50 disputes have arisen between the two companies over the past decade, with Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, stating “I don't know if the parties will settle; this case is just one part of a very complex ecosystem, and putting CEOs in the room together is always a roll of the dice.

“But both parties need to settle the larger war and get on with innovating. Fighting all the patent battles to the end will leave no one the victor.”

Apple seems keen to settle with the Korean tech giant but its unknown if that will happen.

Google Price Comparison Site Causes moneysupermarket.com Stock to Drop

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:39:50 GMT

moneysupermarket.com has taken a hit in the stock market following the announcement that Google are to start operating their own financial price comparison website. The site will be embedded with search results, offering them quicker and more visible penetration right off the bat. This has led to the company likely becoming a credible competitor in the market, which poses problems for moneysupermarket.com and similar sites, with moneysupermarket.com gaining a third of its revenue from visitors who find the website through Google.

“What concerns us most is not the fact that there is another competitor, but that Google... may actively try to divert a number of these visitors to their own site,” the analyst David McCann wrote.

He believes that around two thirds of the company's profits could be under threat after the move by Google and it would appear that stock holders share similar fears. Investors sent the share price of the site down 10.3 to 116.2 in the wake of the news.

It is unknown exactly how Google plan to implement this new feature into their search results, but other price comparison websites are going to have to take note and find ways around whatever Google implement in the near future.

Tories and Google Meet Up Once a Month Since Election

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:21:05 GMT

Recent records have shown that Tory ministers have met with Google executives a total of 23 times since June 2010, meaning that the search engine giant has met up with the UK Government, on average, once per month since the general election was held.

David Cameron has been present at three of those meetings, whilst Chancellor George Osborne has been at a further four. Ed Vaizey and Jeremy Hunt have also been regular attendees and worries are now being raised that Google may be providing the Government with information during the meets.

It certainly appears that the search engine giant and the Government have developed a close working relationship and, even if Google aren't offering information it would seem more than likely that the group is lobbying for its own concerns with the Government.

"At least three senior figures have moved between the Tories and Google in recent years," according to the BBC website.

California Jury Retires to Consider Google vs Oracle Verdict

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:05:06 GMT

It would appear that we are coming close to the end of the ongoing battle between Google and Oracle, as the California jury presiding over the case has retired to consider their verdict on whether or not Google's use of Java within its Google Android mobile phone operating system falls under the guid

Google Releases Chrome Update

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:49:47 GMT

Google released a major update to its Google Chrome web browser on Tuesday last week, with the patch fixing 20 security problems in addition to providing a number of new features, like the tab synching that Imobisoft spoke about in previous blog posts.

Chrome 19, which was updated across all major platforms, saw Google pay security researchers $7,500 a find to hunt down bugs in the previous browser and tell Google about them. Google then acted to eliminate them. The search engine company even classified eight of them as high-risk bugs.

Most of the high risk flaws patched by the new version of Chrome tackle either "out-of-bounds write" or "use-after-free" memory vulnerabilities.

The company has also listed the vulnerabilities that were patched at http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/stable-channel-update.html

In related news, Apple has released a patch for its Quicktime media playing program, fixing 17 issues with it in the process.

Google Chairman Challenges College Graduates to Take Time Away From Screens

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:25:00 GMT

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has spoken to college students recently, speaking to them about the importance of their studies in addition to encouraging them to take time away from computers and smartphones in an effort to appreciate things other than technology.

"Take one hour a day and turn that thing off," Schimdt told the recently graduated students at Boston University. He was attending the graduation after receiving an honorary degree and was speaking in front of an audience that has grown up with the technology produced by his company.

"Take your eyes off that screen and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation, a real conversation," Schmidt said.

Whilst the crux of his speech was focused around the positive aspects of social media and technology, he still made time to tell people to pull themselves away from technology. When speaking of social media he added "a distinctive feature of your new world is that you can be unique while being completely connected."

Schmidt didn't speak about his own company's current policies and business practices, but he made sure to offer the usual sentiments about reaching high and not being scared to fail.

Scottish Schools Website Engulfed in Turmoil After Google Pull Out of Race to Build it

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:42:08 GMT

The development of what is being touted as a world-leading website that is intended to act as a conduit between Scottish schools has been thrown into doubt after Google pulled out of the race to develop its next stage.

A procurement process is currently underway to determine who will be the developer of the next phase of Glow and Google had been one of the frontrunners. Glow is a national intranet site that links students across the Scotland.

Google has landed a shot on the development, claiming that the Scottish Government's procurement process was at odds with Google's own philosophy on how the internet should be used to educate children.

William Florance, Google’s head of enterprise, said “Although a single, common platform for collaboration would be preferable, we feel it is important to provide local authorities with the option of deploying Google ‘Apps for Education’ independently of the national procurement process and on a timescale of our own choosing.”

In essence it would appear that the search engine giant wants more freedom to do what it wants as part of the deal.

However the criticisms may not be entirely unfounded, as the system has come under criticism from teachers who have questioned its educational benefits, whilst IT experts have pointed out that there will be very little time to transfer the existing Glow data to an updated system as the current contract nears its end.

A spokesman for national agency Education Scotland, which is responsible for Glow, said it could not comment during the procurement process.

SEOs Take Note: Google Dominates Search Market in India

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:20:47 GMT

Search engine optimisation companies in India should be looking to take note as a recent market study has indicated that Google are still massively dominating the search market in the country, thanks to a whopping 97% market share.

StatCounter data has shown that Google are still miles ahead of rivals like Bing and Yahoo, with Yahoo especially only achieving a 1% market share by comparison.

Ben Gomes, engineer at Google who leads the company's engineering efforts on search features says, claims that the reason the company has become the go-to company for searching is because they are constantly striving to improve their search algorithms.

Mr Gomes has been working with the search engine giant for over eleven years, working on all aspects of Google search. He comments “When I was a new employee at Google (a decade back), we took about a month to index about 50 million pages. Today, the same amount happens in less than a minute. That’s how evolved the systems are and it continues to get better each day.”

Gomes is now focusing on mobile platforms, an area where SEOs should be looking to focus in the near future as well. He continued “I believe both voice search and image search along with other search innovations rooted in the mobile experience, will emerge steadily in 2012. We are making sure that mobile search experience is as relevant as Google desktop search is.”

He specifically points to the fact that mobile searches are more focused on the location of the user and adds “Location is an important signal we use to surface content from the web. Most common searches from mobile today are for tickets, places to eat etc. When we have the location, we can serve user not only the data he searched but relevant stuff like directions to the place or reviews of the restaurant etc.”

The statements appear to highlight the areas where SEOs need to place focus in the upcoming months, with local searches and mobile optimisation both becoming increasingly important.

Google Chrome to Sync Across Devices

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:58:16 GMT

Workers who utilise Google Chrome as part of their daily routine may be happy to learn that the search engine giant has recently released an update for the browser that makes it easier to sync the tabs that you have open on one device with other devices. such as mobile phones.

Users will need to sign in to their Google accounts to access the feature, which will ensure that all of the tabs that a user has open on their current browser pop up when they open Chrome on another device.

The feature is set to be rolled out over the next few weeks, so some people may not have it available to them just yet, however it should make things a lot easier for people who have to work amongst many different devices as it will cut out the need to copy and paste a host of URLs to different versions of the browser.

The update will also see other facets of Chrome, such as bookmarks, apps, extentions, history and themes, being synced across devices.

Google Android Software Stretches Market Lead

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:46:37 GMT

Google's Android operating system is continuing to dominate the smartphone market, providing even more incentive for mobile apps developers to create software for devices utilising the OS. New models from handset makers lke Samsung and HTC have helped the company stave off increasing pressure from Apple, increasing their market share in the process.

The news has also piled increasing pressure on the Blackberry developers Research In Motion and Nokia, whose own OS is nowhere near the level they would like it to be at.

Research from Kantar WorldPanel demonstrated that Android made large scale gains in a number of larger markets, including; Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, in the first quarter of the year.

Their share in Spain and Italy has more than doubled, whilst they have also managed to achieve 62% market coverage in Germany.

Apple have managed to keep the pace in other markets somewhat, thanks to the iPhone 4S, and it is likely that the company will be able to claw some ground back with the upcoming release of the iPhone 5.

Microsoft's OS, Windows Phone, has also seen some growth following Nokia's decision to adopt it over Symbian, though it still has a less than 5% share in the UK.

Google-backed Wind Farm Project Moves Ahead

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:28:43 GMT

It would appear that Google's efforts to get a $5 billion transmission line created that would connect wind farms on the East Coast of the United States to the mainland have received a boost after the project managed to get past another regulatory barrier. The Google-backed project is looking to have the connection set up by the end of 2017, but red tape has prevented it from being implemented as quickly as some would like.

However the Department of the Interior has announced that there is "no overlapping competitive interest" in the areas that the project have highlighted as the ones in which they would like to build the lines. This means that Google can now go ahead with getting an environmental review created to move the project forward.

This could, potentially, be a big hurdle though, as the review would have to take into account the effects that the line would have on fishing and marine life in addition to a slew of other issues. Legal challenges from local residents could also force delays, with similar projects having faced years worth of setbacks as a result of such battles.

The Atlantic Wind Connection line is intended to transmit up to 6GW of electricity from a wind farm along a pair of 250 mile parallel lines, providing additional electricity to the East Coast network in the process.

"The governors up and down the East Coast are extraordinarily interested in broadening out their energy portfolio with offshore wind," Tommy Beaudreau, the chief of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, told reporters in a teleconference. "We have seen a level of engagement and interest by the governors ... in getting steel in the water."

The Google-backed project still has a way to go but, with any luck, it would appear that it is at least a step closer to completion.

Apple to Buy German TV Maker Loewe

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:01:19 GMT

It would appear that Apple are continuing to make strides in their efforts to develop the smart-TV market as rumours are flying that the company are looking to purchase the high-end German TV manufacturer Loewe.

The company has been widely believed to be developing the technology following the publication of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, in which it was revealed that Jobs believed that he had cracked the next step in the TV market and was ready to start developing technology that would revolutionise the market.

The product is apparently to be called the iTV, a name that will bring the company into a dispute with the UK television company of the same name.

AppleInsider are now claiming that Apple will purchase the German company to get the iTV developed, in a deal believed to be in the region of £70 million.

AppleInsider’s source claims that Loewe "has been advised by its financial advisor to accept the offer and a final decision is scheduled to be announced internally before 18 May 2012."

Apple Shows Off Mobile Apps Before WWDC Conference

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:48:00 GMT

Apple have been whetting appetites in the buildup to the WWDC conference in June by showing off a number of the mobile apps that the company are expecting to be big hitters in the months to come.

The tech giant is believed to be set to unveil the new iOS 6 software at the event, alongside new Siri APIs for mobile applications developers and a revamped App Store that will allow for easier organisation and access to mobile apps.

Apple's senior director of iPhone product marketing, Stan Ng, recently sat down with The Guardian newspaper to provide a little bit more information about what they have in store, with the paper concluding that Apple seem to be making a special effort to compete against Android with its new strategy.

The company also made sure to point out that it has shipped over 365 million iOS devices in addition to selling more than 25 billion copies of the 600,000 mobile apps available in the Apps store.

The tech giant also highlighted a number of games as part of its mobile apps display to the newspaper, with Epic Games' Infinity Blade Dungeons and Namco's Sky Gamblers: Sir Supremacy being given special attention.

Apple Drops 4G Claims From UK Advertising for iPad

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:27:57 GMT

Following a raft of consumer complaints, both in Britain and Australia, Apple has announced that it will be dropping the advertisement of 4G capabilities in all adverts for their iPad in the UK.

The adverts had proven extremely controversial due to the fact that 4G is not even widely available in the UK. To make matters worse, where it is it is available it is mostly unusable with the device as the iPad has been created with US 4G networks in mind.

This has led to a number of advertising watchdogs investigating the company over the claims, with Apple stating that confusion arose due to the differing manners in which mobile operators refer to high-speed mobile technologies.

The iPad is compatible with Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G technology, however that particular version has not appeared anywhere but in the USA at current and, once it arrives in the UK and Europe, it will use different frequencies to the US version. This means that the iPad will still not be able to make use of it in the UK.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated the issue and won assurances from Apple that the advertising would change, assurances which are now being carried out.

Apple Release Flashback Removal Tool

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:08:28 GMT

Apple has finally managed to release a Flashback malware removal tool that can be used by users of OS X 10.5, despite the fact that they had previously stopped all software support for that version of iOS. It would appear that the malware problem has become so severe for users of the older OS that the company has been forced into action after many customers had to go through third parties to remove the malware.

Flashback hit the headlines back in August when around half a million Macs were infected with the malware, which played havoc on their systems. Many had to hunt down tools that automated the removal steps of the virus while Apple scrambled to rectify the issue on the usually security-heavy OS.

Apple did release the Malware Removal Tool, which was a piece of software that would run once, checking for and removing the virus, before deleting itself from the user's system.

However they only made it available to users of OS X 10.7 and 10.6, which left more than 16% of Mac users, running 10.5, in the lurch. Now the company have finally gotten around to catering for them.

Google Reportedly Creating Gaming Hub for Android

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:56:34 GMT

Reports are circulating that Google are looking into developing a dedicated gaming hub for their Android platform, which would make things a lot simpler for mobile applications developers that specialise in games design.

The company are also looking to streamline payments to its Google Play store, making mobile apps much more easily accessible for users. This is all according to an aparent insider who told Business Insider that the company is aiming to make the Google Play games experience more user-friendly whilst also integrating more social interactions.

The success of games like Angry Birds demonstrates that mobile gaming is becoming an increasingly large facet of the market and it is an area where Google are still a way behind Apple. The company are hoping to rectify that somewhat with the new gaming hub and there are likely plenty of mobile apps developers who will be more than happy with the changes that are supposedly set to be made.

The hub will also link to Google+ accounts, allowing gamers to challenge and interact with their friends in a similar way to many Facebook gaming applications.

"Google Play lacks the lineage of Apple's iTunes-based system," says Apple Insider, "which has been the industry standard for mobile app shopping since it launched in 2008 alongside the iPhone 3G. The source did not go into specifics as to what changes were being made to Google Play or when these changes would be implemented."

Google Co-Founder Makes Advances in Parkinson's Disease Research

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:41:11 GMT

The co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin, is apparently making strides in his efforts to find a cure for Parkinson's disease, which is a medical condition that could potentially affect him in the future as his DNA could lead to him developing the affliction himself.

The research produced by the search engine giant has actually encouraged pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer. Inc and GlaxoSmithKline to hunt down a new class of medicines that could slow down the progression of the disease, hopefully to the point where it doesn't affect the sufferer as severely as it currently does after a long period of time.

Brin has been donating large amounts of money to Parkinson's research since 2005, with even more cash escaping his coffers when he found out that he himself has a flawed gene that gives him a 50/50 chance of developing the disease. He has thus far donated an astonishing $132 million to the cause, mostly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

"If I felt it was guaranteed to cure Parkinson's disease, a check for a billion dollars would be the easiest one I have written," he said. "Pretty much everybody in the world has or will have some serious condition. How much is it worth to you to have that condition be potentially curable?"

Current Parkinson's medication focuses on reducing the effects of the symptoms, however Brin has been looking for a way to slow the diseases actual progression and is hoping that the money he donates can help this cause.

Bing Announces Changes to Search Engine

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:20:46 GMT

Microsoft, who are the company behind the Bing search engine, has anounced a raft of changes to the way that results are displayed. The company will be adding information from social networks to their search results in an effort to help users make faster decisions whilst also providing them with as much information as possible.

The new results page will feature a three column layout that incorporates an interactive sidebar that is dedicated to social results from sources such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Quora, LinkedIn, Google+ and Blogger. This flies in the face of a similar implementation used by Google, which only allows users to see social media commentary from its own Google+ network.

Bing explained the blog posts, stating that social media and real-time sharing “presents an unprecedented opportunity to rethink how search should work. Suddenly an index of documents [websites] that does not embrace these changes is insufficient.”

They believe that the new feature will essentially allow users to hear other people's opinions about a site before making their decision to enter it and the company have been careful to not compromise their existing core results by keeping the section seperate from the main results so that it can be used to reinforce them.

It will be interesting to see how SEO companies in Birmingham and elsewhere incorporate these new changes, though it is likely that Google-related search engine changes will still be the focus for many years to come thanks to their massive market domination.

Google Found Guilty of Copyright Infringement in Battle with Oracle

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:58:25 GMT

Despite repeated efforts from Judge Alsup, who has been presiding over the case, the battle between Google and Oracle has ended up in court as an agreement could not be reached between the two companies over an alleged breach of copyright on Google's part.

The news isn't great for Google though, as a panel assigned to the case have taken five days worth of deliberating before turning in a guilty verdict for the search engine giant in the first phase of the case. The company was found guilty of copyright infringement in relation to its copying the "overall structure, sequence and organization" of Oracle's Java language in the Google Android operating system.

The Android developer did receive some good news though, as it was found not guilty of infringing the related documentation.

This is just the first part of the case though, as the jury failed to deliver a verdict on whether or not Google was permitted to use the code under the "fair use" concept, with Google having used this defence to justify the use of Java APIs in Android.

Judge Alsup didn't particularly like this argument and so left the jury with more time to deliberate on the issue, but they have yet to make a decision.

For their part Oracle, who have been seeking $1 billion in damages, welcome the verdict and released a statement commenting "Google knew it needed a licence and … its unauthorised fork of Java in Android shattered Java's write-once-run-anywhere principle."

Google wants a retrial though, with a spokesperson stating "The core issue is whether the APIs are copyrightable, and that's for the court to decide."

Apple to Ditch Google Maps According to Unconfirmed Reports

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:41:41 GMT

It would appear that Apple is finally making headway in its attempts to ditch Google Maps from their iOS, with unconfirmed reports claiming that the tech giant are likely to replace Google's software with their own proprierty mapping software in the next version of their operating system.

9to5Mac refused to reveal their sources but claimed that the new Maps app will be a major feature of iOS 6 and will incorporate a 3D mode that has been built in conjunction with C3 Technologies. The group goes on to say that Apple's system will provide a “cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience.”

C3's technology has been described as "Google Earth on steroids" in the past, so it seems like Apple have the ideal partner for the project and the company have been acquiring mapping companies over the last few years, having purchased C3, Poly9 and Placebase.

It will certainly be interesting to see if these reports are true, especially for mobile apps developers who may look to incorporate the new mapping feature into their mobile applications.

Google to Face Australian Privacy Probe

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:16:53 GMT

It would appear that Google are going to have to face a host of new investigations after the Australian Privacy Commissioner announced that they will be looking into the search engine giant's apparent harvesting of personal information through its Google Street View cars.

The tech giant has already faced a large scale investigation by the American FCC and it now looks like they will have to fight the allegations from multiple fronts. The FCC had found “Google’s Street View cars collected names, addresses, telephone numbers, URLs, passwords, email, text messages, medical records, video and audio files.” Google were also accused of obstructing the investigation, leading to a fine.

Now authorities in Australia, Britain and Germany are looking into the issue themselves and may bring charges against Google based on their own laws.

Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim told The Australian Financial Review that he would be examining the report released by the FCC, stating “The important thing to remember is we did find Google in breach of the Privacy Act for collecting information in the way that they did. Once we’ve had a look at the FCC report we’ll make a decision on whether we need to talk to any other agencies such as the AFP.

“Whether it was a one-off employee doing it in Google or there were several layers of management that were aware and didn’t take appropriate steps at the end of the day it was still a breach.”

Google Leads in Battle for Mobile Web Supremacy

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:53:58 GMT

Recent research has revealed that Google is at the top of the foodchain when it comes to the race for smartphone users, with the company attracting more people than nearest rival Facebook according to the survey.

comScore's report, which was a study of mobile behaviour, found that 93 million of the 97 million Americans with smartphones had accessed a Google website on their smartphone, with Facebook lagging behind with 78 million.

Other big hitters were Yahoo! (66 million) Amazon (44 million) and Wikimedia, which includes the Wikipedia site (39 million).

However internet usage was still far below mobile app usage, with the survey finding an 80/20 split when comparing the amount of time spent on each aspect.

Google Argues Against Author Lawsuit Over Text Snippets

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:40:36 GMT

Google have called on a judge to dimiss a lawsuit that has been filed by an organisation claiming to represent the collective interests of authors who have been affected by the search engine company's scanning of millions of books. Google claims that the group can't represent the owners of the books' copyrights and thus the lawsuit is invalid.

U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan heard arguments pertaining to the motion to have the suit thrown out following the refusal to accept a $125 million settlement between the two sides.

“It would be a terrible burden on the court if each individual author was forced to litigate,” Joanne Zack, a lawyer for the Authors Guild, told the judge. “A class action is superior.”

However Google have responded, claiming “The ultimate question is who owns the rights to display a small excerpt of the work,” Daralyn Durie, a lawyer for Google, told the judge. “Many authors contracted that right away to publishers.”

If the publishers do own the rights, then the group representing the lawyers won't be able to sue. The search engine giant has also claimed that its scanning project, in which they scanned the text of a myriad of books so that they could display snippets of the text in their search engines, doesn't violate copyright and has actually been of economic benefit to the writers involved.

Flashback Trojan Hijacked Google Searches

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:24:42 GMT

Research recently released by the security firm Symantec has claimed that the Flashback Trojan that affected thousands of Apple Mac users pulled in as much as £6,200 per day for its creators by hijacking Google searches. The trojan was on the lookout for specific keywords and, upon detecting them, would instead send users to other websites loaded with spam links and adverts.

500,000 Macs were affected when the virus came to light, with the malware targeting a vulnerability in Java software used by the machines. Apple failed to patch the loophole as quickly as Microsoft, leading to the company being much more widely hit.

Symantec reverse-engineered the code behind the malware to find that it lurked on infected machines until the user searched for certain keyterms, at which point they would be redirected whenever they clicked on an advert relating to the search.

The creators were apparently paid 0.008 cents for every time a user was redirected, leading to massive profits for the people behind the malware.

"Considering the Flashback Trojan measures in the hundreds of thousands, this figure could sharply rise to the order of $10,000 per day," wrote the Symantec researchers when speaking about how similar trojans earn around $450 per day.

Facebook Expecting $95.5 Billion Valuation

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:08:59 GMT

Facebook executives have announced that they expect the company to have a valuation in the region of $95.5 billion when the social networking giant makes its Wall Street debut later in the month. The share sale is one of the most anticipated to come along for years, however the figure is below the $100 billion mark that many were expecting the company to hit.

Facebook has also applied an extremely wide price-range to its shares, leading to a mid-point value that 'only' hits $86 billion, leading to many questioning if the company can achieve everything it is setting out to achieve once it is floated.

“My first impression is, it sounds low,” said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer of Firsthand Funds, which already owns Facebook stock. He believes the figures will increase after a small period of time and claims that the social media company have forecast so low to avoid 'sticker shock'.

Shares will fall anywhere between a $28-35 price range per share, with Jed Williams, analyst at BIA/Kelsey, commenting “You don’t want to price this too high or you might dilute some of the demand, but if you underprice it, you dilute some of the buzz.”

Google Wins Apps Contract from US Department of the Interior

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:50:30 GMT

Google has announced that it has managed to secure an exclusive contract with the US Department of Interior to develop applications for Government workers. The news comes after Microsoft had managed to get the original deal, before it was snatched away by the search engine giant.

"We’re honored that the Department of the Interior has selected Google Apps for Government, and we look forward to working closely with the DoI to give employees new communication tools," a Google spokesman told The Register.

The news comes on the back of a protracted two year battle which saw the tendering process stretch out far beyond original expectations. Microsoft were originally awarded the project before Google sued amidst allegations of bias due to Microsoft's past working ties with the US Government.

A legal examination demonstrated that only the projects that used Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) would be considered, which essentially excluded Google from effectively applying. However there were also concerns raised in regards to Google's lack of Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) clearance, with Microsoft claiming that Google had misled the Government.

All of this battling led to the bidding process being restarted, with Google rolling out as the eventual winners.

"We look forward to providing state-of-the-art communication and collaboration tools, desktop video, document sharing and new messaging technologies to help Interior employees work more effectively with each other and with external partners," said Andrew Jackson, Interior deputy assistant secretary for technology in a statement. "Not only do we get the features we want in a desired security environment, but our workforce will get the cutting edge technology that many of them use in their personal lives."

Google Plus Comments Coming to Google News Articles

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:24:45 GMT

Google has come under criticism from some corners of the internet after it was revealed that the company are going to incorporate comments from their 'Google Plus' social media service into Google News, with user statements being displayed alongside the news items as part of the change.

The move marks the latest attempt to break Facebook's stranglehold on the social media market, with the company aiming to make their news reporting "more vibrant."

However many believe this is just another instance of Google+ being pushed onto users, with Wil Wheaton being one of the most vocal critics. When speaking about the change the actor, who is best known for his roles in Star Trek and The Big Bang Theory, commented "This is just as bad as companies forcing me to "like" something on Facebook before I can view whatever it is they want me to 'like.'

"You get people to enthusiastically use services by making them compelling and awesome and easy to use. You don't get people to enthusiastically use your services by forcing them to.

"In fact, that's probably a great way to ensure that a huge number of people who may have been interested in trying out your service never even look at it."

It remains to be seen how search engine optimisation companies will have to react to the changes, which may see them clamouring for comments from Google+ for any news items that they post.

Engineer Who Create Google Street View Software Named

Tue, 08 May 2012 09:11:25 GMT

The anonymous Google developer who designed the Wi-Fi software that was used by the company to create Street View is anonymous no longer after an American newspaper named him.

Marius Milner was apparently the mind behind the software, which also wound up collecting personal data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks. He is supposed to have developed the NetStumbler program that the tech giant used and he describes his occupation as 'hacker' on his LinkedIn profile.

The company had originally claimed to have not collected any personal information during the Street View mapping sections, before shifting the blame to what they termed a 'rogue engineer', who had written the software in the time alloted him for self-directed projects.

However a subsequent invesigation by the Federal Communications Commission showed this theory to be false, leading to a charge being levelled at Google for obstructing the investigation on course to a ruling that the 'accidental' collection of the personal data didn't breach the US Wiretap Act.

Privacy group EPIC says the FCC report "undercuts the company's prior statements that a rogue engineer was responsible for the payload data collection".

"Instead," the organisation added, "it indicates that Google intentionally intercepted payload data for business purposes and that many supervisors and engineers within the company reviewed the code and the design documents associated with the project."

Iranians Complain About Lack of Name for 'Persian' Gulf on Google Maps

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:56:06 GMT

Complaints have been coming thick and fast from Iran after it was revealed that Google Maps carries no name for the body of water that Iranians call the Persian Gulf. The expanse is also known as the Arabian Gulf and controversy has stirred for many years between Iranians and Arabs, who each wish for their name to be used to label the body of water.

Google have attempted to diplomatically skirt the issue, but it would appear that they can't please everyone. Thus the lack of a name has caused outrage in some areas of Iran. A Google representative claims that the company don't name everything on their Maps service, however when pressed by the BBC the spokesperson couldn't name a similar instance where such a major landmark was left unnamed.

Iranians claim that there is simply no historical precedent that could lead to the body of water being called anything other than the Persian Gulf, whilst a Google search for the phrase "Arabian Gulf" apparently produces a spoof message created by Iranian users.

Mobile App Sales on Google Play Hit 15 Billion Mark

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:42:05 GMT

Hot on the heels of Apple's recent proclamation that they have managed to snag 25 billion mobile app sales, Google has also announced they have reached a milestone of their own as the 15 billionth mobile application has been sold on the Google Play market.

The company hit the milestone on May 7th and now sees its growth actually outpacing Apple's, though total sales are still quite a way behind. This comes on the back of the news that downloads of mobile apps from Apple's App store have declined by 30% during the course of March.

Android is now marked out as the fastest growing mobile platform in the world, with Google Play and all of the mobile apps located on it set to benefit as a result.

Google currently hosts 500,000 mobile apps on their store, with Apple's App Store containing 600,000 whilst Microsoft trail by some distance with 70,000.

Google Continues Development of Driverless Cars

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:41:11 GMT

Google is continuing its efforts to innovate outside of its traditional search engine market following the announcement that the company are moving ever-closer to developing a fully driverless car.

Engineers at the company are looking to make the vehicles commercially viable, with discussions on the costs of insuring it seeming to be one of the major hurdles.

The company has acknowledged that many regulators and insurers will be skittish over a car that doesn't require human intervention to drive, however Anthony Levandowski, product manager for the self-driving car, commented "I think it's time for us to break that cycle and actually bring them to market sooner. I don't think we need to wait 10 years for the next model or body styles to come out to build this technology."

He pulled out some data collected from the company that indicated that Google self-drive cars had clocked up around 200,000 miles between them in testing and added that sensors and software could soon lead to self-drive vehicles being safer than a human driver.

A number of major automakers are pushing for similar things, however it is slightly odd that Google are the most advanced when it comes to such efforts. Whether they will be able to have a product ready for regulators anytime soon remains to be seen however.

Google Expands YouTube Movie Rental Service Into Australia

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:26:19 GMT

Google's attempts to rival the Apple App Store service have been continued after the company announced that it will be rolling out its YouTube-based movie rentals service into Australia. The move follows the release of the service in France.

This will allow Aussies to rent thousands of movies from the company's online database, using either YouTube or the rebranded Google Play, with movies from a vast array of publishers available.

The search giant has recently been movi

Google Sells SketchUp3D to Trimble Navigation

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:08:40 GMT

Google has announced that it will be selling its SketchUp 3D modelling platform to Trimble Navigation in a deal that hasn't been laid out for the public. Trimble, which is a satellite mapping specialist, will likely use the software to continue their works, but the companies will also be working together for the forseeable future at least.

As part of the deal the two companies will collaborate on development of the program's 'Warehouse', which is an online area where users can share and store 3D models developed using the program.

“For those of you in the architecture, engineering and construction industries, the knowledge Trimble will add to the SketchUp effort are obvious,” wrote SketchUp product manager John Bacus on the SketchUp blog.

“Together with our new colleagues at Trimble, we plan to continue making our tools for the building professions as innovative, intuitive and (dare I say) fun to use as we always have.

“Our mission has always been to make 3D modeling tools that anyone can use. The free version of SketchUp is an important part of our world as well, and that isn’t changing in the least.”

Google Engineer Talks Android Update Delays

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:51:22 GMT

A senior engineer at Google, who works as part of the Android development team, has gone on record stating that the delays that many users face in waiting for companies to update their versions of the Android operating system are actually not so bad, especially when it means that a quality product will be released.

Jean-Baptiste Queru made the statement in a recent Google+ post in which he praised Sony for their implementation of the Ice Cream Sandwich update for their Tablet S. He commented “It took Sony only about five months to ship this after I released the code in the Android Open Source Project at the very end of last year,” he said, adding that this is actually “a very reasonable time, since under the hood Ice Cream Sandwich is quite different from Honeycomb (and upgrades from Gingerbread are likely to take longer as those differences are huge)”.

ICE made its official debut last November and has since only found its way onto a couple of non-Google devices. However he acknowledges that there is a delay in getting the OS onto older Google devices and adds “The part that blows my mind is that some variants of the Google-engineered flagship devices still haven't received Ice Cream Sandwich (or are stuck with older versions of Ice Cream Sandwich) because of delays introduced by operator approvals.

“I'm very glad that Google is back in the business of selling phones directly without any middlemen to interfere, and I'll be even happier when I see that program expanded to more countries.”

Google Projections Highlight Google Strategy

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:33:27 GMT

A recently released document, that Google attempted to have blocked, has revealed that the company are apparently projecting that 35% of their profits will arrive from outside their traditional search engine operation in 2013.

The report, which was released back in 2010, claims that three of the company's non-search businesses will be able to pull in £3 billion each. It provides a small insight into the overall strategy being put in place by the company and paints a picture of a group attempting to expand its reach outside of the sector in which it is dominant.

Online commerce and television services were apparently key areas for the company at the time of the document's release, however these sectors appear to have fallen by the wayside somewhat, with Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Herman Leung commenting "Google TV and commerce ambitions look aggressive compared to what we believe they are today."

The document was revealed during the current court proceedings between Google and Oracle, despite the search engine giants efforts to have publication blocked.

Google spokesman Jim Prosser commented that the document does not reflect the company's current thinking, stating "Our industry continues to evolve incredibly fast and so do our aspirations for our various products and services."

Google Scholarship Program Honours Qatar Students

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:19:45 GMT

Google has continued its scholarship program, in which it awards scholarships to the best and brightest in the world of computer science, by granting the award to a pair of Carnegie Mellon students in Qatar.

The awards were handed out as part of the 2012 Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship programme according to the university. The pair, Sidra Alam and Hanan Mohammad Alshikhabobakr, were amongst 40 young women who were handed scholarships throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East as part of the scheme and will receive 7,000 euros in addition to an invite to the Google Scholars' Retreat to be held in Zurich, Switzerland from June 17 to 20.

"We are very proud of Sidra and Hanan, who now join an elite group of young women who have been recognised for their academic performance and potential in computer science and technology," said Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. "This award recognises their excellence at Carnegie Mellon as well as their leadership experience and passion for computer science."

The programme was set up in honour of Anita Borg, who spent her life attempting to change world views on technology and diversity and aims to offer support to the best undergraduate and postgraduate students in the computer sciences and related areas.

Mobile App Developers Decry Google Play as Little More Than a Rebrand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:01:07 GMT

Mobile app developers and analysts alike are claiming that Google's transformation of the Android Market into Google Play is little more than a rebrand with a ton of hype behind it. Google have claimed that the new version of the marketplace will enable it to offer all of its digital content on one platform, however many within the industry believe that it still has a long way to go before it can begin competing with Apple's App Store.

Google Play was launched back in March of this year and is available to both Android users and traditional web users. At the time Kenneth Lui, who helps in the Android developer ecosystem, claimed in a blog post that "We believe that with a strong brand, compelling offerings, and a seamless purchasing and consumption experience, Google Play will drive more traffic and revenue to the entire ecosystem."

However that view isn't being shared by market analysts, with Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum, flat-out claiming that the move was simply a rebranding of an existing product that has been carried out in a vain effort to have the marketplace identified with more than just mobile apps, in a similar manner to the App Store. However he claims that the service is "way behind what others, especially Apple, are offering" and the company needs to do a better job of tying together its various content streams to compete.

Jessica Kwee, research analyst at Canalys, has added that the service still looks set to be used mostly for mobile apps, despite Google's intentions. She pointed towards the Asia-Pacific market, where Google's other services are often not even available to users.

Google Drive to Be Available in Chrome OS

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:43:51 GMT

It appears that Google are going full steam ahead with their implementation of Google Drive, as the new application is to come as standard as part of the upcoming Chrome operating system.

Drive, which is already available for traditional computers and mobile devices, is intended to be a rival to Dropbox and should allow users to share tons of data over the cloud in a way that the company has never offered before.

A recently released blog post from Chrome team member Danielle Drew stated that the system would be put in place for the latest version of the OS (Chrome OS v20.0.1116.0)

According to www.zdnet.co.uk "Google Drive synchronises files across multiple devices and with Google's own servers; a file copied or saved into the folder on a personal computer or uploaded to the Google Drive website is then accessible on other devices. It is tightly integrated with Google Docs, Google's online service for word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets."

Google and PayPal Attack Mobile Payments Collaboration

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:34:08 GMT

Both Google and PayPal are calling for the European Commission to closely examine the proposed joint venture between a host of Britain's mobile phone operators that would see them offer a unified NFC mobile payments system, claiming that such a deal may lead to the market stagnating with no room for further innovation.

The collaboration, which includes the likes of Vodafone and O2, was supposed to be ready in time for the Olympics and would have allowed users to make Near Field Communication payments using their mobile phones. However the EC has highlighted the potential for the venture to be anti-competitive due to the parties involved and has slowed the progress of the system until further investigations can be made.

A number of companies are already in the process of implementing similar systems, with Google Wallet being amongst the most prominent, however the combination of such large market players behind a single venture could lead to opposition quickly being stamped out, especially if they retain control of a key microchip used in the process. Now all of the companies are rushing to release their systems first in an effort to establish a foothold in the mobile payments sector, with Google Wallet expected at some point during this year in Europe.

A spokesman for the companies involved in the collaboration commented “The discussions have been positive and the shareholders in the proposed joint venture remain focused and determined to progress with the project.

“We remain confident that an extended review will conclude that the proposed joint venture is pro-competitive and will provide robust competition to global players. The proposed joint venture will make it easy for companies of all sizes to create brand-new services that will sit in the mobile wallet.”

It will be interesting to see exactly how each company will look to implement their NFC ideas over the coming months, with the likelihood being that each one will offer a mobile app that can be used to enter relevant banking details as needed.

Google Knew of Potential for Street View Data Leaks According to FCC

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:20:06 GMT

A recent report released by the FCC has revealed that Google were apparently aware of the fact that their Street View cars could pick up wireless data from unprotected networks as far back as 2007 but still decided to go ahead with their mapping anyway.

The Google engineer behind the project supposedly warned at least two people, one of whom was a senior manager, about the issue before the cars were sent out. The Federal Communications Commission claims that the engineer informed his colleague that the cars would be able to collect a large amount of data, including emails and text messages.

This flies in the face of a recent report released by Google in which the massive search engine company claims that not one of the five engineers involved in rolling out the project were aware that it could also pick up extraneous data.

The revelation is likely only going to lead to further condemnation from regulators across the planet for the company, who admitted to the data collection back in May 2010. They were fined £15,300 by the FCC for apparently impeding the investigation into the case last month and it now appears that they may face extra sanctions should it be proven that they lied about their awareness levels when it comes to the issue.

"For more than two years, Google's Street View cars collected names, addresses, telephone numbers, URLs, passwords, email, text messages, medical records, video and audio files, and other information from internet users in the United States," the report said.

It continues ""The record also shows that Google's supervision of the Wi-Fi data collection project was minimal ... indeed, it appears that no one at the company carefully reviewed the substance of Engineer Doe's software code or the design document."

Apple Embroiled in Another Patent Dispute

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:33:52 GMT

A company that developed touch-screen technology for video displays back in the 1990s has announced that it will be suing Apple for infringing on its patents. The company claims that the tech giant stole the ideas for their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iPad nano, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.

The patent specifically covers a “touch screen based systems that allow users to manipulate images using gestures, such as selecting an image by touching it, and flicking images off of the screen,” according to a press release that was sent out by Flatworld Interactive.

The complaint also claims that Apple had prior knowledge of the patent but decided to continue selling their products anyway. They are now calling for an injunction to be levied against the company plus an award for damages.

In a press release issued by legal firm Hagens Berman, Steve Berman commented “Reading Flatworld’s patent is like reading the description of gesture recognition features of any of the accused products on Apple’s website. It is clear that Flatworld owns technology that Apple has used to drive billions of dollars in infringing sales.”

Apple have yet to respond.

Google VP Nominated to Board of Walmart

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:18:33 GMT

Walmart has announced the appointment of Google vice President Marissa Mayer to its board of directors as the company looks to further expand its presence in the online world. They are especially looking to her for advice on increasing internet and mobile sales.

Digital expansion has been at the forefront of company policy as they look to compete against retailers like Amazon. Ms Mayer is the vice-president for local and maps at Google and will be the first Walmart board member with a background in the tech industry. She was the first female engineer at the search company as well and has been somewhat of a trailblazer for women in the industry.

“At Walmart, we are focused on giving our millions of customers around the globe ‘anytime anywhere’ access whether it is through a mobile device, online or in a physical store,” said Rob Walton, Walmart chairman, on Monday. “We are on the cusp of a massive transformation in the way people shop in our increasingly connected world. Marissa’s insights and expertise in the technology and consumer areas are valuable assets to Walmart as we move forward.”

The company noted that their online stores were significant contributors to sales, with Michael Duke, Walmart chief executive, adding “In the last quarter, we continued to roll out new multi-channel capabilities to offer the seamless experience between the store and our ecommerce platforms that customers increasingly want. We will continue to invest in the right talent and capabilities to seize the growth in global ecommerce.”

Google Cuts Under-Performing Services

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:53:36 GMT

Google has announced the latest services that it will be sending to the big tech god in the sky, with some of its lesser-known applications set for the chop as the company looks to streamline and only offer services that benefit the company.

A recent post on the group's blog announced that they would be getting rid of Google Sync for Blackberry, with the service due to end on June 1st. The mobile application for the company's Google Talk service is also being shut down.

The Picasa Web Albums Uploader for Mac has also been announced as a casualty, along with the plugin for iPhoto. Additionally the company will be getting rid of the Google Flu Vaccine Finder that was implemented in the US during the H1N1 pandemic, however this service isn't available in the UK and won't effect users here. One Pass, which was a payment platform for online news publishers, has also been gotten rid of. However Google has announced that they are looking for a way to replace this.

Finally Google Related has also felt the cold touch of the Google Grim Reaper.

"Making changes to products or services is hard, but we do need to maintain our focus if we are to do important things that matter in the world," wrote Matthias Schwab, director, Cloud Services, on the blog post.

Attorney General Warns Against Excessive Regulation on the Web

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:37:54 GMT

Attorney general Dominic Grieve has claimed that, although he believes that Google and twitter should be served with privacy injunctions, there is an inherent danger in subjecting the companies to "excessive regulation" as it is not their role to police the internet.

The comments mark his biggest intervention on the issue so far and comes amidst calls from a host of MPs to force the search engine provider and social media sites to take more responsibility for the content that appears on their services.

Grieve commented that the call was common sense but that the tech companies should not shoulder the full responsibility for the issue as they had not been responsible in themselves for breaking injunctions.

He stated "That certainly seems to me an interesting suggestion. The interesting question is seems to me is, if this should be done on a more routine basis, then that seems to have some force. It is very wise; it's a suggestion of ordinary common sense."

He claims the companies have a responsibility to govern content to an extent, but too much regulations will pose a threat to civil liberties.

"If a breach [of a court order] is brought to their attention then they will take action. But they can't act as a policeman on their network; I don't think that's necessarily helpful. They do need to act responsibly and clearly need to abide by the laws of the land," he added in response to a report that had called on him to respond more harshly to such incidents.

Creators of Russia's Top Search Engine Criticise Google

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:23:36 GMT

Ilya Segalovich, who is the co-founder of Russia's largest search engine, Yandex, has shot back at recent comments from Google co-founder Sergey Brin about threats to the open internet by claiming that Google is abusing its own search engine dominance to shut out competitors.

He described the Android platform as a "strange combination of openness and not openness" before stating that the Google Chrome web-browser was anti-competitive.

Segalovich is the chief technology officer at the Russian search engine giant and he has called on Brin to explain Google's semi-open approach in the wake of his recent remarks, claiming that the company needs to look at its own practices before accusing others of threatening the future of the web.

Brin had commented that the open internet was under threat due to a coalition of governments and private companies, going so far as to name-drop Facebook and Apple. Yandex currently dominates the Russian market with a 62% share compared to Google's 25% and was not named, however they have taken offence at the statement all the same.

The group claims that Google are guilty of anti-competitive practices as their Google Chrome web-browser selects the Google search engine as the default when it should be offering a choice between itself and rival search engines.

"Things are definitely going where more and more control is in the hands of platform providers. It's interesting that it's not only mobile, but it's also about browsers," Segalovich said.

"That is a part of the open and closed issue, in my head. If you own the browser, the browser is the platform then the search is yours. It is the same question … it should be addressed to Sergey himself. He should think about it also. It's a little wider than he described it," he concluded.

'Father' of the World Wide Web Encourages Users to Demand Private Information From Google and Others

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:52:55 GMT

Tim Berners-Lee, who many claim to be the 'father' of the world wide web, has called on internet users to demand that giants such as Google and Facebook hand them their personal data in an effort to usher in an era of personalised computing that he believes would have "tremendous potential to help humanity".

The British born professor, who played a pivotal part in developing the world wide web thirty years ago, believes that few people understand the true value of the personal data that companies like Facebook hold after the recent explosion of social media led to an unprecedented amount of personal data being put out in the open.

In an interview with the Guardian, Berners-Lee said "My computer has a great understanding of my state of fitness, of the things I'm eating, of the places I'm at. My phone understands from being in my pocket how much exercise I've been getting and how many stairs I've been walking up and so on."

He believes that such functionalities could be greatly improved if they had access to the personal data that Google and similar companies are stockpiling and he continues "One of the issues of social networking silos is that they have the data and I don't … There are no programmes that I can run on my computer which allow me to use all the data in each of the social networking systems that I use plus all the data in my calendar plus in my running map site, plus the data in my little fitness gadget and so on to really provide an excellent support to me."

Symantec Identifies 96 Instances of Malware on Google Play

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:41:44 GMT

The security software manufacturer Symantec has recently released the results of an independent report that indicates that as many as 96 applications currently available on Google Play, formely the Android Market, have been found to contain malware that steals personal and confidential information from users. The issue seems to specifically affect users in Japan, however there is a worry that it could spread further as many of the mobile applications can be downloaded in a range of different countries.

The company has warned that Android users need to be extremely cautious when downloading mobile applications and have stated that any offer that sounds too good to be true likely is and should be avoided altogether.

The security giant has identified 29 applications, belonging to seven developers, that are confirmed as malicious. Each one apparently shares common code, leading to the assumption that the malware is the work of a single person or group.

The malware was originally placed in random mobile apps, including an erotic app, a recipe app and others. However when the developers experienced low download rates they apparenlty switched their focus to a host of apps ending with the term "the Movie". This has seen downloads increase, leading to worries that many phones have since been infected.

Google to Work on Increasing Website Connection Speeds on Mobile Devices

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:29:37 GMT

Google engineering director Arvind Jain has joined the call for websites to load more quickly on mobile devices and has announced that the company are working on a solution that will see sites load twice as quickly on mobile devices. Currently the typical load time in the United States is 9.2 seconds, which some retailers believe is a large enough period to turn off some mobile users that may otherwise have made online purchases.

The world's largest search engine provider is aiming to unlock what could potentially amount to billions of dollars worth of extra income that could be derived from advertising and increased e-commerce potential, with the company reasoning that the time a user spends waiting for a site to load up is time not spent looking at an advert or making a purchase.

The issue isn't purely profit-driven on Google's end though, as everything from small sites to enormous internet companies are having trouble reaching potential customers because of the issue.

“There’s a clear correlation between speed and the success of your online business,” Jain said.

There are a number of factors that come into play to cause a slow loading webpage. Often the availability of a 3G or 4G network plays a part, however in many cases websites are simply not optimised towards mobile devices as they make use of large images and data-intensive effects. Additionally current internet protocols don't fully mesh with mobile browsers, leading to further delays.

Long delays can lead to consumers simply giving up on purchase altogether, with stats suggesting that twice as many users abandon a slow-loading website on their mobiles as do desktop users.

Google has announced that it is now tweaking its mobile browser to remedy the issue somewhat, in addition to rolling out tools that can help website owners optimise their sites towards mobile devices.

Mobile Operators Call for Google to be Taxed More Fervently

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:15:52 GMT

A host of mobile phone operators, including Vodafone and O2, are calling on the European Commission to impose a tax on Google for utilising their infrastructures in an effort to ease the burden on their own companies.

“Google is profiting on the back of our infrastructure without having to make any contribution, but that infrastructure has to be paid for,” a source told The Sunday Telegraph.

“It is getting harder for us to justify that investment ourselves because of the level of regulation which is dragging us down.”

The operators highlighted the forced reduction in mobile termination rates as one of the main regulatory measures brought against it. The rates are the amount charged by each company to connect calls to a rival network. Brussels has ordered the costs see a sharp reduction, putting an enormous dent in the profits of the operators.

In February, Vittorio Colao, chief executive of Vodafone, claimed that the rule could strangle investment within the industry, thus leaving Europe behind competitors such as the United States.

“We have a heaven scenario or a hell scenario. The hell scenario is every year we lose hundreds of millions to mobile termination rates and we reduce our investment. Investment means jobs not just in the telecoms sector, but in the media, entertainment and applications developer sectors,” he said. “We should stop having this continuous intervention on prices and let the industry reinvest the money.”

Ms Kroes responded caustically that she called their “bluff” and had said that she would take the side of the consumer in the issue.

Google Adwords for Video Released in Beta Stage

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:04:16 GMT

Search engine optimisation companies will be interested to hear that Google has announced a host of changes to its AdWords platform that will allow advertisers to highlight videos in addition to text campaigns in an effort to bring TV advertising campaigns into the hands of small and medium-sized businesses the world over.

It is aiming to use the same form of bidding model that the current Adwords uses, only with video advertising that can be targeted based on demographics. They will also reach as many as ten times the amount of users as those who utilise YouTube.

The model will work on a pay-per-click basis, only this time it will be pay-per-view. Additionally you only have to pay in the event that a user watches the entire video ad, providing a means for advertisers to potentially get their message out there before the video run time is up, thus saving themselves some money. However there does appear to be a 30 second limit for the ads, with the charge being implemented should a video exceed this and not conclude.

The videos will display on Youtube and the Google Display Network, with four ad formats including: in-stream, in-search, in-slate and in-display.

Potential users will need to have a pre-existing YouTube account that they can then link up to the new Adwords application. Each new account will be handed a $75 budget to start off with as well.

YouTube Dealt Copyright Blow by German Court

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:45:07 GMT

YouTube's constant battle with copyright holders who have been calling for the video uploading platform to do more to protect them from users uploading videos containing copyrighted materials has turned out in favour of the copyright holders... at least in a German court.

The Hamburg regional court ruled in favour of GEMA, the German rights collection society, on Friday. The lawsuit centred on 12 videos uploaded to the site without the permission of the copyright holders, meaning that YouTube and its parent company, Google, will have to take more action to take down and monitor the videos that infringe its terms and conditions.

Currently the company policy is to remove videos once they have been notified about the infringement, however the court ruled that it must now add a digital fingerprint to all of its videos and also install a word filter to more quickly pick out videos that may infringe copyright based on the titles and descriptions used.

"We reached our primary goal one hundred percent, to have the court confirm that YouTube is fundamentally responsible for videos posted by users," GEMA chairman Harald Heker said in a statement.

"YouTube must implement appropriate measures to protect our repertoire and cannot simply pass on this obligation to the copyright holders," Heker added. "This is an important victory for us."

Google are still able to appeal the decision, however GEMA hope that the move could bring Google back into discussions over licensing rates.

Tech Companies to Face Lawsuit Over Non-Poach Agreement

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:30:07 GMT

A US judge has given the go-ahead for former employees of a host of tech companies to bring forth a lawsuit that accuses them of conspiring not to poach each other's employees in an effort to keep salaries down thanks to a lack of competition.

Apple, Google and Intel were apparently all engaged in the practice, with other companies like Pixar and Adobe also named in the lawsuit.

The district Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, has refused every effort to have the suit thrown out before it reaches court, noting that all six identical bilateral agreements were reached in secrecy by the companies and suggests collusion rather than coincidence.

Koh said the existence of "Do Not Cold Call" agreements that were held by a number of the companies "supports the plausible inference that the agreements were negotiated, reached, and policed at the highest levels" of the companies.

The case was brought forward by five ex-employees of the firms.

Google's Eric Schmidt Awarded Massive Compensation Package After Move to Executive Chairman

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:17:23 GMT

Google's Eric Schmidt was handed an enormous compensation package as part of his move from CEO of the company to becoming its executive chairman. Schmidt received an enormous $100 million sum as part of the deal according to US regulatory filings.

By contrast he had earned $313,219 during his final year as the CEO of the search engine company back in 2010. The position has since been turned over to Google co-founder Larry Page as Schimdt brings a decade-long reign at the top to an end.

Google gave the package to Schmidt in the form of stock and stock options, with a valuation ranging somewhere between $94-100 million depending on whose figures you believe.

His annual salary has now been raised from the token $1 that CEOs of the company earn to a bank-busting $1.25 million per year in his new role as executive chairman.

Google Rival to Dropbox to See Release Next Week

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:02:07 GMT

Rumours have been flying around about the state of the Google Drive application that the search engine giant has recently been touting, with the latest claiming that the Dropbox rival will be coming next week. A host of new details that seem to enforce the viewpoint have come to light and the application itself appears to have been spotted fully installed on a developer's phone, further lending fuel to the fire.

Google Drive will launch with a free option that allows for up to 5GB of files, plus the option to purchase more. Additionally all changes made to files stored within the application will sync amongst everybody using those files and will be easy to add for anybody who already has a Google account.

Android Community has reported getting a glimpse of a developer's phone on which Drive is installed, with a recently released low-resolution video showing the Android Drive logo on the phone featured.

This doesn't mean that the application is ready for launch just yet however and there will be no official word until Google come out with a comment of their own.

Google Founders Reveal Planetary Resources Company

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:46:24 GMT

A number of members of the Google boardroom have joined up with a host of other famous faces in the technical, media and aeronautical industry to launch a company with an aim of scoping outside planets with the hope of finding any that can be used for mining resources that can be utilised back on Earth.

Google co-founder Larry Page has joined up with chairman Eric Schmidt to help form Planetary Resources. They are joined by Google board member K.Ram Shriram, filmmaker James Cameron, former Microsoft main player Charles Simonyi and Ross Perot, Jr.

The group will be officially unveiled tomorrow and has been touted as a "new space venture with a mission to help ensure humanity's prosperity." The company has set up a facebook page and had a web landing page however they have given away few details about the goals of the project.

The project is being run by commercial space exploration experts Peter H. Diamandis, Eric Anderson, former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki and NASA astronaut Tom Jones.

They group has released a press release stating that the company will look to “overlay two critical sectors – space exploration and natural resources – to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP. This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources’.”

SEO Conference Held in Leeds

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:42:55 GMT

An SEO event is to be held in the city of Leeds to take advantage of the cities thriving online marketing sector. ionSearch is to take place later in the month and will feature a range of speakers and presentations relating to the industry.

The event, which will be held on the 18th April, will place a specific focus on SEO and will feature 20 speakers from a range of companies in the sector. Each will discuss their best SEO strategies in an effort to best figure out the direction of the industry.

The headline speaker is Google’s advertising agency relationships manager for search engine giant Google – Matt Bush and attendees will be very interested to heat what he has to say when it comes to achieving rankings in Google.

The event has been organised by the local firm ionSearch, whose managing director Fergus Clawson commented “Leeds has become a hot bed for SEO with a thriving digital community despite the gloomy economic outlook. Yorkshire has seen a 240% increase in the number of SEO-centric jobs becoming available and Clawson added that this is due to "many traditional full-service agencies expanding their in-house marketing teams due to demand."

AOL Sells Patents onto Microsoft

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:31:19 GMT

Microsoft have announced the purchase of more than 800 patents from the former computing giant AOL in a recent auction, spending a billion dollars in the process. The move is the latest that marks out just how valuable a portfolio of relevant patents can be in the ever-changing world of computing.

"There is a fight for market share occurring on multiple fronts - technology, patents, advertising," Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial which covers Microsoft, said.

"Microsoft, more so than others out there, has been (using) its patent portfolio as a way to generate license fees. This should strengthen that."

Microsoft have provided no information on what the patents cover however analysts believe that they revolve around internet technology such as advertising and mapping, which may in turn help the company to go up against Google with a range of lawsuits.

Companies have been slinging lawsuits around for fun in recent years as Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft have all found themselves in battles recently. Google is rumoured to be purchasing Motorola Mobilty Holdings in a $12.5 billion deal solely to get a hold of its patents.

AOL's share price rocketed in value following the announcement to a high that it hasn't seen in over a year.

Man Locates Family Using Google Earth After 25 Years of Separation

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:20:36 GMT

A man who was separated from his family when he was just a five year old boy has managed to track his mother down thanks to Google Earth. Saroo Brierley lost all contact with his family back in 1986 when he fell asleep on a train on which he was working, leading to his being taken to Calcutta more than 700 miles from his home.

The youngster was unable to read or write and did not know the name of his home town and was thus unable to find his way back home. He was forced to beg on the streets before eventually being adopted by a family in Australia.

Saroo had assumed that he would never see his family again, however the advent of Google Earth allowed the young man to navigate through the towns of central India as he looked to trace relevant landmarks from his early childhood.

Specactularly he managed to find his way home through childhood memories and smart use of mathematics.

He commented “It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask, 'Does this match?' And when you say, 'No', you keep on going and going and going.

"I multiplied the time I was on the train, about 14 hours, with the speed of Indian trains and I came up with a rough distance, about 1,200km."

Using this information he soon found the town of Khandwa and he recognised the location due to local landmarks that he remembered.

He added "When I found it, I zoomed down and bang, it just came up. I navigated it all the way from the waterfall where I used to play."

He soon set out to travel to the area, only to discover that his family had moved. However local villagers soon endeavoured to help and he commented "Another person came and then a third person turned up, and that is when I struck gold. He said, 'Just wait here for a second and I shall be back.' And when he did come back after a couple of minutes he said, 'Now I will be taking you to your mother.'"

"I just felt numb and thought, 'Am I hearing what I think I am hearing?'"

Saroo soon met his mother and describes how he couldn't recognise her at first. He concluded "The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had forgotten that age would get the better of her. But the facial structure was still there and I recognised her and I said, 'Yes, you are my mother.'

"She grabbed my hand and took me to her house. She could not say anything to me. I think she was as numb as I was. She had a bit of trouble grasping that her son, after 25 years, had just reappeared like a ghost."

Google Exceeds Wall Street Expectations With First Quarter Profits

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:21:23 GMT

Google has announced earnings that have topped all of the projections from Wall Street as the company continue to explain away the deteriorating pricing of advertising on their Google AdWords service.

The company's first quarter earnings have toppled all expectations, however some investors have expressed concerns over the drop in advert pricing, which is down 12% on the year before. Wall Street first became concerned about the declining prices after a 7% drop in the previous quarter and it seems that prices have continued to drop since then.

However Google claims that the lower prices are a result of the company being more fervent in its efforts to weed out unscrupulous advertisers who offer high bids for questionable products. They have also pointed towards an increase on clicks for paid ads, which have seen a 39% climb from the previous year.

Google reported revenues of $8.14 billion for the first three months of the year, following cost deductions, with earnings per share up to $10.08 compared to $8.08 the previous year.

The company have also claimed that a shifting view towards mobile markets has seen lower prices and fast growth, contributing to the overall dropping of the prices of adverts.

Google Wallet Boosted by Investigations into Rival Services

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:10:27 GMT

Google have seen some good news after the EC announced that it would be carrying out an in-depth investigation into proposals launched by a host of mobile phone companies over their NFC technology.

The investigation will likely delay plans from Vodafone, O2 and others when it comes to their mobile payment systems, however it will also provide a boost o the Google Wallet service that has already been released to the public.

The mobile phone companies had been planning a joint venture that would essentially create a single set of standards that would govern such a payment system, however the EC has announced that it will be looking to investigate the proposals before allowing them to go any further.

The scheme has already met opposition from Google and Three, who were not invited to be a part of the plan. Three have claimed that the plans are tantamount to a joint-selling arrangement.

Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and O2 said that the delay was simply a result of the fact that the technology is still a fresh concept and added that they "remain confident that an extended review will conclude that the proposed joint venture is pro-competitive and will provide robust competition to global players".

The companies had been looking to get the venture off the ground in time for the Olympics to stave off competition from foreign markets, however it appears that they will no longer be able to hit that target.

Google Talk Up Google+ to Sceptical Public

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:46:21 GMT

Google has been heavily promoting their Google+ service ever since its inception as they attempt to push it as a legitimate rival to Facebook and Twitter. However independent data has revealed that most people barely use the service once they have signed up.

Google have fired back through Google+ main man Vic Gundotra, who has pointed towards the fact that the service has 170 million users, of which 80 million have joined since January. However critics have pointed out that the heavy rise this year is likely due to the fact that anybody who signs up to a Google service is now automatically creating a Google+ account as well.

Despite this new policy the company are still lagging behind Facebook's 850 million users and many third party companies are calling on Google to release engagement statistics rather than just flat numbers that they claim prove little. comScore have claimed that the average Google+ user spent just three minutes on the service throughout January, compared to six to seven hours on Facebook.

“We still patiently wait for actual engagement statistics, though we’re not holding our breath,” said the Search Engine Watch blog.

“It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google,” said Mr Gundotra claimed. The company are planning to introduce a Twitter style trending system in addition to utilising a profile picture that looks similar to Facebook's recent Timeline design.

“It accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google,” said Mr Gundotra.

Oracle and Google to do Battle in Courts

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:27:12 GMT

Oracle's claim against Google, which is believed to be one of the largest tech lawsuits in history, is due to go to trial in San Francisco today. Oracle are claiming an astonishing $1 billion in compensation from the search engine giant amidst claims that the Google Android operating system infringes on their property rights relating to the company's Java programming language.

Software engineers have already claimed that a victory for Oracle could see a distressing precedent set in which the development of new softwares is held back by such issues. Java was released back in 1995 and allows software to be run across multiple computer platforms, making it ideal for Android, and it was originally developed by Sun Microsystems before that company was taken over by Oracle in 2009.

A host of software applications and games make use of the programming language, including Google who utilised it to develop their Android OS. However Oracle are now claiming that, by using their intellectual property for the system, the search engine company has undermined any possibility that Java could have licensed the technology to mobile phone makers and thus has deprived them of a healthy profit.

It adds "Because Android exploits Java but is not fully compatible with it, Android represents Sun's, and now Oracle's, nightmare: an incompatible forking of the Java platform, which undermines the fundamental 'write once, run anywhere' premise of Java that is so critical to its value and appeal."

Google's Sergey Brin Warns of Net Freedom Issues

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:07:40 GMT

Google's Sergey Brin has recently conducted an interview with the Guardian newspaper in which he claims that the concepts of openess and universal access to content that were the foundations for the creation of the internet are now under greater threat than ever.

The billionaire warned that there were "very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world.

"I am more worried than I have been in the past. It's scary."

He claims that threat levels are increased by a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication rights across the web in addition to the increased focus of the entertainment industry when it comes to cracking down on piracy. In what is sure to be a controversial statement, he also believes that the rise of Facebook and Apple has created a climate of "walled gardens" in which the software released onto a platform is tightly controlled.

Brin is believed to have been the driving force behind the search engine giant's exit from the Chinese market due to concerns about the freedom of access provided to users in the country. He had previously believed that no country could restrict the use of the internet for too long, however he since claims that he has been proven wrong and commented "I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle."

In addition to governments restricting access, he also pointed the finger towards companies with their own proprietary systems, adding "There's a lot to be lost. For example, all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can't search it."

It will be interesting to see if his comments garner any reaction from any of the tech giants that he has criticised.

Google Facing New Privacy Concerns Over Use of House Numbers as CAPTCHA Codes

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:54:10 GMT

Google are facing YET ANOTHER privacy row after the company began using the blurry image of house numbers captured by its Google Street View service as part of their latest security checks.

The company has been utilising the images as CAPTCHA codes in an effort to block bots from entering services that are intended for humans. However the company has also been accused of exploiting the subsequent data by adding it to its own mapping systems.

A number of privacy campaign groups have called the use of the real house numbers a serious violation and claim that the tactic is “underhand and crude”. Web users are asked to identify the house numbers in a blurry image to gain access to their accounts. The same images are being shown to literally millions of Google account holders the world over.

Estimates place the amount of security checks carried out every day at 200 million and they usually involve typing a random assortment of words or letters into a box to prove that you are human.

Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties at Big Brother Watch, claimed "There is a serious privacy issue with identifying the individual number of people’s homes."

Google Fined Over Street View by FCC

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:42:52 GMT

The FCC in the United States has levied a $25,000 fine against Google after an investigation into the company's collection of wireless network data for their Street View network was impeded by the company.

The Federal Communications Commission stated that Google had collected personal information without permission before proceeding to deliberately not cooperate with the group's investigation into the issue.

Apparently the case related to data collected between 2007 and 2010, in which a car that travelled the streets of the US and Europe taking photos also collected data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks, which occasionally included the content of emails.

The investigation remained unresolved, due in part to a lack of co-operation on the part of the search engine company. One of the key members of the project cited fifth amendment rights in declining to provide information or talk about the issue. The Fifth amendment protects the right to silence in the case where someone is accused of a crime.

"Google refused to identify any employees or produce any emails. The company could not supply compliant declarations without identifying employees it preferred not to identify," said an FCC order dated 13 April. "Misconduct of this nature threatens to compromise the commission's ability to effectively investigate possible violations of the Communications Act and the commission's rules."

For their part, Google has always claimed that the collection of the data was an error.

Yahoo Cuts 2,000 Jobs

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:50:51 GMT

Yahoo, which is one of the larger search engine operators that isn't named Google, has announced that it will be cutting 2,000 jobs as part of a renewed strategy being implemented by new Chief Executive Scott Thompson. He is aiming to transform the fortunes of the company and it is predicted that the move will help to save £236 million every year.

The redundancies make up around about 14% of the 14,100 workers that are currently employed by Yahoo and marks the sixth round of layoffs for the company over four years, with thousands having lost their jobs under three different CEOs.

The previous purges under Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang and his successor, Carol Bartz, boosted earnings however they did little to improve overall revenue which has in turn led to investors expressing increasing frustrations.

The company is now looking to strengthen its position in the mobile computing market as they keep an eye towards the future. The company are also looking to sell more advertsing in an effort to sate investor demands.

Google Searches in Richer Countries Targeted Towards the Future

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:36:31 GMT

A recent study has found that internet users from countries with a higher level of socio-economic health are more likely to use Google to search for information about the future rather than the past. The findings have been published online in Scientific Reports and the researchers who created it are now suggesting that there may be a link between online behaviour, including search trends, and real-world economic conditions.

Co-author Dr Susannah Moat, a research associate in the Department of Mathematics at UCL in the UK, reported finding a striking correlation between the two factors after analysing an array of data from Google searches recorded in 2010.

Moat said in a statement "Our use of this gigantic information resource is generating huge amounts of data on our current interests and concerns. We were interested in whether we could find cross-country differences in basic online search behaviour which could be linked to real world indicators of socio-economic wellbeing, such as per capita GDP."

The group examined data recorded from 45 different countries before calculating a "future orientation index" for each country. They calculated this by comparing searches for the coming year (which in 2010 would have been searches relating to 2011) to searched for the previous year (2009). They then compared this index with a country's per capita GDP to end up with their results.

Google Begins Construction of New Data Centre in Taiwan

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:24:14 GMT

Google are looking to further improve upon the services that they offer in Asia after announcing construction workn on a new £189 million datacentre that will be erected in Changhua County in Taiwan. The group is seeing a large uptake of its services in Asian markets and are thus looking to support that growth as much as they can.

The datacentre will be Google's first to use a "nighttime cooling and thermal energy storage system", meaning that it will be breaking ground for the company. It will also provide 25 full-time jobs upon completion according to an FAQ that the company have released.

"We anticipate this datacentre will evolve into a [cloud-computing technology] hub and will create a supply chain here in Taiwan," Chien Lee-feng, managing director of Google Taiwan, said at a groundbreaking ceremony for the datacentre on Wednesday,"This [datacentre] is just the beginning."

The search engine giant are expecting to complete construction work by the end of 2013.

Trip Advisor Lodges Complaint Against Google

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:11:48 GMT

The holiday reviews site Trip Advisor has lodged a complaint against Google, meaning that it has joined the ever-growing contingent of firms that have gone to the European Commission with complaints about the search engine giant.

Firms such as Expedia have also recently accused the search engine giant of abusing its position at the top of the market to essentially deprive other travel-related companies of business, with EU commissioner Joaquin Almunia stating that a decision over the issue would come soon when it comes to charging Google with anti-competitive practices.

Google denies claims of "anti-competitive and unfair practices", however Trip Advisor have commented "We hope that the commission takes prompt corrective action to ensure a healthy and competitive online environment that will foster innovation across the internet."

In response Google said: "We've been working closely with the commission to explain how our business works since their investigation began. We haven't seen this complaint yet, but will continue to discuss any concerns with the commission, knowing that there's always room for improvement."

The issue has come into full force since the implementation of Google Places, which sees the company offering a service that allows users to review hotels and restaurants, thus putting them into direct competition with Expedia and other similar groups.

Google Maps to Include Live Transport Data From London

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:51:12 GMT

Google has announced that it is going to start adding live Tube information to their Google Maps service in a partnership with Transport for London as the city prepares for the surge in public transport usage during the Olympics.

Writing on the Google Maps blog, Thijs van As, commented that "Ahead of a busy summer in London, we are bringing real time service alerts for the London Underground to Google Maps. We’ll let you know of any disruptions on the Underground that are happening at the time you need them most. To see these alerts, click on a station in a timetable or in the public transport directions results."

Transport for London have also recently made live information about buses available on their website, which has led to a number of mobile apps developers creating apps that aim to take advantage of this. Google have yet to announce whether or not they aim to include any of their work in the service that they will be providing.

According to the Telegraph "The new Tube data will be incorporated into Google Maps online and on mobile phones. Updated every 30 seconds, it will also include details of planned engineering works in its journey planner."

Google has recently updated its overall Maps service to allow for a greater level of information to be provided to users in relation to traffic flow, thus allowing for a more accurate prediction when it comes to route building.

The new feature is available on Google Maps on the web and for Android mobile users in Britain, the US, Canada, France and Australia.

Rosetta Stone vs Google Revived

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:35:39 GMT

A federal appeals court has revived the lawsuit that Rosetta Stone launched against Google in relation to the search engine giant allowing other companies to use their trademarked terms as part of their Google Adwords service.

The move may give rise to a host of other similar trademark lawsuits should Rosetta Stone prove victorious, as Google allows other sites to make use of company trademarks to advertise other products as part of their sponsored links service.

The original lawsuit was filed back in 2009, with Rosetta Stone accusing Google of trademark infringement for allowing other companies to use their trademarked terms to advertise themselves, however a Virginia district court found against the languages company, claiming that customers were unlikely to be confused.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit overturned most of the lower court's ruling, allowing for the case to continue and potentially opening a watershed of similar lawsuits.

"A reasonable trier of fact could find that Google intended to cause confusion in that it acted with the knowledge that confusion was very likely to result from its use of the marks," Chief Judge William Traxler wrote for the three-judge panel.

Unscrupulous companies could purchase top search results under Google Adwords scheme, meaning that software counterfeiters and competitors could use Rosetta Stones own brand to compete against them.

The language-software maker presented deposition testimony of five consumers who attempted to buy bogus Rosetta Stone software after following links that Google provided through the Adwords service.

Google Expands Virtual tours into Art World

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:22:27 GMT

Google has announced an expansion to its Virtual Tours project after it added more than 150 of the world's most famous art galleries and museums to their service. The company will be offering high-resolution displays of masterpieces from the likes of Rembrandt and Botticelli as part of the move, however they haven't yet been able to snag access to the Mona Lisa.

The latest additions that went online this month include the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and Jerusalem's Israel Museum. However the Louvre is resisting inclusion in the scheme, which has been dubbed Art Project. This means that some of the most well-known works in the world will not feature...yet.

Internet browsers can tour galleries from 40 countries as part of the service and the company is seeking a host of extra partners to make it as attractive as possible to users. The scheme will also apparently not generate any revenue, through advertising or any other means.

"Everyone asks me if we have Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa,' " said Amit Sood, who heads the project. "We're talking to people from the Louvre. Maybe they'll be part of the next phase."

The Louvre has thus far refused to comment.

Google and Paramount Enter Into Agreement

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:09:26 GMT

Google and Paramount Pictures have entered into an agreement that will see the film studio provide the search engine company with a licence for hundreds of the films that currently fall under their banner, despite the fact that Google are currently locked in an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit against Viacom, which is Paramount's parent company.

The partnership will see Google add around 500 new titles to their roster of rentable films in the United States and Canada. The company offer the service through YouTube and Google Play and have gained the rights to screen a host of movies both new and old as part of the deal.

Google now has almost 9,000 titles available for rent globally, including the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and France, as they look to further the spread of the company into the film rental market. However Viacom is still challenging Google over the alleged illegal posting of Viacom content on YouTube. The case had originally been dismissed back in 2010 as Google removed the content when alerted of its presence, however Viacom have since appealed that decision, stating that Google should screen all content for violations before it is uploaded.

Apple Overtakes Google and Looks to Keep Growing

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:57:30 GMT

It seems that demand for any and everything that is released by Apple is continuing to grow as the company have overtaken Google to become the world's largest. Some analysts are even predicting that the group may wind up becoming the world's first trillion-dollar company, giving them a worth that eclipses the GDP of a large amount of the world's nations.

This week analyst Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets even predicted that the company will see their share prices rocket to the $1,000 mark within the next twelve months on the back of the Chinese market, whilst others maintain that it will take the company a little longer to hit this milestone.

The group surpassed Google's share prices for the first timeon Thursday and it seems that many are predicting that the only way is up for the group as more and more mobile apps developers are creating products for the company's mobile devices.

Apple's share prices currently stand at $633.38 per share, up from the $341 they were changing hands for at the same time last year.

"Apple fever is spreading like a wildfire around the world," White said in his report and he claims that China and TV will only help the company to grow in the future.

Google CEO Defends Company Privacy Policy

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:44:40 GMT

Google's CEO Larry Page has released a letter explaining the recently implemented privacy policy that the company have put in place in a possible effort to abate the tide of anti-privacy mistrust being levelled at the company in the wake of the policy coming into force.

In the letter Page outlines his vision for the future of the company, claiming that the new policy will allow them to deliver "next-generation search" results in which queries will become less generic as information collected by Google will allow them to tailor their search results to individuals.

He claims that the new policy will make the user experience more streamlined, however privacy groups have still railed against the decision to allow other platforms that fall under the Google microscope to share data amongst each other.

The European Union have also hit out against the policy, with the group claiming that it does not adhere to transparency rules that the EU have in place. However Google have claimed that they believed that the policy was in line with EU law.

In the letter Mr Page defends the policy and states "If you're searching for a particular person, you want the results for that person - not everyone with the same name,.

"These are hard problems to solve without knowing your identity, your interests, or the people you care about."

The letter can be read in full at http://investor.google.com/corporate/2012/ceo-letter.html

Microsoft to Cut Price of Office 365 to Compete with Google Docs

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:52:22 GMT

Microsoft has announced that they will be cutting the price of their Office 365 suite by 20% in a move that many are seeing as a direct response to the increasing popularity of Google Apps, specifically the Google Docs suite. The company is looking to improve its standing in the enterprise market in the face of Google's rise.

Microsoft have claimed that the price cut comes as the price of running the cloud suite has fallen, so they can pass on the savings to their customers. However this seems less likely than the need to compete with Google.

"The price cuts reflect Microsoft's fear of Google," Cain said. "Google Apps for Business has increasing momentum in the enterprise sector, and Microsoft is doing everything they can to prevent further incursions."

Currently Google claims that 4 million people are using their services, whilst Microsoft says that between 3 and 5 million Office 365 user licenses have been sold.

Internet Pioneer Speaks About Potential Future of Google

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:41:37 GMT

Vint Cerf, who is better known amongst technology fans as one of the fathers of the internet thanks to his work in creating and establishing the TCP/IP standard, has claimed that it is not set in stone that Google will forever be the top search engine.

Cerf is a vice-president at the search engine giant and he qualified his statements by saying there appears to be no immediate threat to the company's dominance whilse speaking at the Virgin Media-supported Life Online exhibition for the National Media Museum in Bradford. However he pointed out that there was healthy competition from Bing and others that motivates the company to keep improving.

He said "There's nothing to stop someone from developing better technology than we have and to invent something even more powerful and efficient and effective.

"Which, of course, scares us. And that's good because it means we run as fast as we can to develop better tools for search in order to try to stay ahead of the game."

He also made reference to how the balance of power has shifted from Alta Vista, through to Yahoo and onto Google as the scope of the world wide web has grown and he added "We absolutely know that there could be somebody just like Larry and Sergey [Page and Brin of Google] on some university campus with an idea we don't have that could explode on the scene and take the business away."

Android Store in China Spotted Selling iPhones

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:59:56 GMT

It seems the little-regulated Chinese market has managed to cross another line after an unsanctioned Android store was spotted in the country selling iPhones.

According to the Isidor’s Fugue blog, the shop has popped up in Zuhai City in Guangdong Province, which is the same district in which Apple have been tussling with Proview over the rights to the iPad name.

The store had an official looking logo next to some Chinese text that literally translated to “celebrities smartphone experience store”.

Once inside, shoppers would find an array of iPhone products but little from Google. It is more than likely that both groups will be suing the shop in short order.

Google Has Happier Employees than Facebook According to Glassdoor

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:47:04 GMT

A recent survey conducted by job community site Glassdoor has revealed that Google is the top company to work for when it comes to job satisfaction, with Facebook ending up second place in comparison.

Facebook had previously been deemed the best place to work for the past three years running, with Google only managing 30th place back in 2010. However the search engine giant has clawed its way to 5th in 2011 before topping the most recent list.

The investigation factored in overall job satisfaction, salaries, bonuses and employee concerns.

Glassdoor claimed that Google was leading the way this year, stating "In fact, this is the first time Google has overtaken Facebook in the past four years," says Glassdoor. This year, Google was rated 3.9, beating Facebook's 3.7 rating.

Google Denies Companies Can Get Search Engine Ranking Boost From Top Level Domain Names

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:38:10 GMT

Google's spam expert has come out to personally dispel rumours that companies who purchase top-level domain names from ICANN will automatically be granted a boost in search engine rankings.

Matt Cutts commented that companies "shouldn't register a TLD in the mistaken belief that you'll get some sort of boost in search engine rankings," as a response to a piece written by Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services.

ARI Registry Services is one of a number of domain name companies who are hoping to make a fortune off companies who are looking to run their own branded branded or keyword gTLD.

Kinderis had written "Will a new TLD web address automatically be favoured by Google over a .com equivalent? Quite simply, yes it will."

However this has not been confirmed by any actual evidence and thus is simply speculation based on the fact that Google already looks at keywords in domain names. Google considers TLD in some cases, for example UK users are more likely to return .co.uk results, but they claim that no priority will be given to websites with TLD like .fashion and .insurance.

"Will car.insurance rank higher than carinsurance.com (for example)?" Kinderis had written. "All the evidence suggests the answer is yes, provided that the .insurance namespace builds value and perhaps verification into its space to ensure it is a signpost for good, trusted and authoritative content."

However Cutts responded "Google will attempt to rank new TLDs appropriately, but I don't expect a new TLD to get any kind of initial preference over .com and I wouldn't bet on that happening in the long term either."

"If you want to register an entirely new TLD for other reasons, that's your choice, but you shouldn't register a TLD in the mistaken belief that you'll get some sort of boost in search engine rankings," he added.

Google Accused of Tax Avoidance by MP

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:26:09 GMT

An MP has accused Google of operating what he calls a "magic roundabout" of tax avoidance that has allowed the search engine giant to turn a massive profit into a tax loss, thus allowing them to avoid paying any tax on multi-billion pound profits.

Charlie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, claims that the company has paid no tax at all in Britain and also operates similar tax avoidance schemes in the US and other countries as well. He told MPs that the company earned £2.15 billion in revenue in the UK, with £700 million in profits, and didn't pay a penny in tax.

He said “I am all for the silicon roundabout, but it should not be a magic roundabout, in which going around it twice means not paying any tax or going round it three times, like Google, means turning a massive profit into a tax loss.

“We need a sense of social justice and of corporate social responsibility in the tax system, especially for multinationals that are quartered overseas. Let us take the case of Google.

“We can examine that example because Google’s numbers are publicly available, unlike those of many other companies, and it is unfair to single out Google, as the practice that I am about to describe is widespread.

“It took about £2.15 billion in revenue from the UK in 2010, making an estimated £700 million profit, yet it did not pay any tax."

Apparently Google was able to avoid paying any tax by exploiting a legal loophole that allowed it to route their profits through Ireland, where the main rate of corporation tax is 12.5%.

Mr Elphicke added “It is not as if the company is paying in America either, as the effective tax rate in the United States is 2.4 per cent. As I say, we need to take much further action. We need to know more about what other companies are doing and how much they are paying to the UK.”

Google Rescinds Penalty on Chrome Browser

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:00:41 GMT

It would seem that Google are just as quick to punish themselves for violating the unwritten rules of search engine optimisation as they are unscrupulous sites after they handed a 60-day punishment to their own Google Chrome web browser which has only recently been recinded.

Google imposed the penalty during January after it was revealed that the company had utilised a marketing campaign that paid bloggers to create generic posts that linked to a video touting the company's services.

This led to the company knocking the Page Rank of the browser's download page, www.google.com/chrome, down to 0 from a previous high of 7. The punishment came due to the fact that Google forbids sponsored links.

The page is now back to being a first page result after having been dropped to the fifth page. It is believed that the action caused Chrome to hit it's lowest uptake figures for a long time in January.

Developers Claiming Google Has Advantage in Battle Against Facebook

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:45:35 GMT

Software and mobile apps developers seem to be betting that Google is going to dominate against Facebook when it comes to overall social media dominance. That's at least the opinion that has been gleaned from a survey of 2,173 software developers the world over, who believe that the company's range of online services including Google+, search, Gmail, Android and so on could help to give them an edge.

The survey was conducted by IDC for the mobile platform company Appcelerator and seems to demonstrate that developers see the merging of the mobile and social networking worlds as a huge opportunity. It went so far as to claim that 39% of developers consider the entire Google network to be much more important to their 2012 social strategies than Facebook.

"This translates into a big competitive opportunity for Google-and potential significant risk for Facebook-especially because developers perceive Google as innovating faster than Facebook," said Scott Ellison, VP of Mobile and Connected Consumer Platforms at IDC.

"Add to that, Google itself is clearly gearing up to leverage its network effects, one example being the alteration of its privacy policies to allow sharing of user data across its services."

EU Seeks Answers to Range of Questions from Google

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:31:54 GMT

Data protection authorities are demanding that Google answers a series of questions that were recently levied at it by the EU, with special focus being placed on the search engine giant's new privacy policy.

The company has caught flack from all sides over the policy, which came into effect in March, and France’s National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL), is leading a group of agencies in Europe to investigate the policy. They have written to Google chief executive Larry Page, stating it “deeply regrets that Google did not delay the application of the new policy”. Last month, CNIL had asked Google to postpone implementation because of “legitimate concerns about the protection of the personal data of European citizens”.

CNIL said preliminary findings showed that the new policy failed to comply with the European Data Protection Directive on the information that must be provided to users. Additionally it is concerned about the data that Google is taking from users. It adds that by merging all of its privacy policies, Google was making it impossible to work out which access rights applied to a particular service.

Examples it gave included Google’s ability to display ads on YouTube relating to the user’s activity on an Android phone and guided by its location data.

The group have provided a list of 69 questions to which they are demanding answers.

Google Chrome Briefly Becomes World's Top Browser

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:13:06 GMT

Recent statistical data has indicated that Google Chrome briefly became the most popular web browser during the course of the weekend, marking the first time that Chrome has managed to overtake Internet Explorer.

StatCounter, which compiled the figures, claimed that Chrome took the lead on Sunday last week, only to see a fall back into second place upon the start of the working week. This would indicate that people are choosing the browser for their own private computers, before being forced to use Internet Explorer when using systems controlled by their corporate IT departments.

"While it is only one day, this is a milestone," said Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter's chief executive, said of the three-year old web broswer.

"At weekends, when people are free to choose what browser to use, many of them are selecting Chrome in preference to IE."

Chrome took the lead briefly on March 18th with a 32.7% userbase when compared to IE's 32.5%. However on the Monday the share was 35% to 30% in Microsoft's favour.

Chrome has already managed to knock back Firefox into third place and Cullen adds "Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable."

Google Consider Offering Incentives for Google Wallet Adoption

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:53:22 GMT

Recent reports are claiming that Google is looking to offer network operators a cut of the profits if they are willing to take up the Google Wallet service that the company has been touting for the past few months.

Google Wallet is a new system for making payments using a mobile phone and makes use of Near Field Communication to allow users to pay for goods by simply scanning their phones. It is believed that the company will offer some incentives for operators like Verizon and AT&T in an effort to promote the brand as the leader in NFC, as Google look to establish market dominance in the sector.

The company is looking to allow such companies to make use of a range of advertising opportunities in return. However they will face a roadblock in the fact that many operators already have their own system in place, named ISIS, that offers all of the same benefits.

Google Wallet is currently the trailblazer in the field, however other companies have had the chance to learn from their mistakes as a result. However they are still looking to set themselves up as the market leader.

Google Tops List of Most Trusted Brands in Australia

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:38:44 GMT

A recent survey has found that Australians believe that Google and Apple are amongst the most trustworthy companies in the world, with former leader Qantas dropping significantly in the rankings.

Many of Australia's home-grown brands are on the slide, with more global brands seeming to take their place as a result, according to the most recent Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) report.

''The bar for leadership has risen and the need for innovation is too often sacrificed in the pressured quest for sales,” BAV director Keith Newton said.

''Trust in brands has declined 22 per cent in the last two years with financial services, insurance, retailers and utilities bearing the brunt of consumer anger in response to constant price hikes, confusing offers and lack of customer service.''

He also claims that companies need to be aware that they may be damaging themselves with their "own brand" threats, adding “The leading supermarkets are strong brands, and so are their better ''own label'' offerings.''

''Once their product marketing improves, the brands that have failed to build brand strength will really feel the heat, and those who play close to a commodity game will be hurt even more by the home brand price offerings.’’

Tokyo Court Demands Google Turn Off Auto-Complete Function

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:23:29 GMT

A Tokyo-based court has apparently ordered Google to turn off their auto-complete function within the search engine as it apparently breached one man's privacy. At least this is what his lawyer claims after the man brought forth a case claiming that typing his name into the search engine generated a suggestion linking him to crimes he didn't commit.

Tokyo District Court approved a petition by the man, according to his lawyer Hiroyuki Tomita. Apparently if the user accepts the search result then thousands of new webpages are displayed that imply the man's criminality. The anonymous man claims he has had difficulty finding work as a result, as his reputation is always in question due to the search results.

Auto-complete is a function provided by many search engines that predicts what a user may be looking for and is usually based off what previous users have searched for when entering similar terms. It is likely that the affected man shares a name with an actual criminal for the results to appear as they have.

Google has responded to the man's complaints by saying that since the results are compiled automatically there is no intrusion of privacy, Tomita said.

Google Comes Under Pressure From MPs Over Search Results

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:01:03 GMT

Google has come under pressure from MPs after it was accused of failing to take down offensive content from its search engines in a timely manner. Some politicians are claiming that the company's slow response is a violation of the privacy of those affected.

A committee of MPs is due to bring forth a report this week, with the worst being reserved for Google. One example the group brings up is that of Max Mosley's orgy video, which the former F1 boss has sought to have removed from websites since it was released to the internet following its secret taping by the News of the World back in 2008.

The example is to be used to underpin the general criticism of the search engine giant, as links to the video can still be found by using the company's service. The move will be part of a general effort to see how privacy rulings could be enforced online after the recent furore over Ryan Giggs' superinjunction and its complete failure thanks to Twitter users posting his name.

Daphne Keller, Google's legal director and associate general counsel, claims that eliminating copies of offending material was not easy. "We don't have a mechanism that can find duplicates of pictures or duplicates of text and make them disappear from our web search," she said. "And as a policy matter I don't think that would be a good idea."

MPs are still dubiouos however.

Google Files Patent for Environmental Mobile Ads

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:39:04 GMT

Google has taken another step towards the advertising dominance that it has been searching for after it was announced that the company has recently secured a patent for a mobile phone advertising system that can serve adverts to the user based on their environmental conditions.

The company is claiming that there are no current plans to implement a system, which would likely be prevalent in the mobile apps that are developed for Android devices, however the patent is an indication of their forward-thinking.

It paves the way for mobile phones that are fitted with sensors that can record things like temperature, humidity and similar conditions. This would then trigger relevant adverts.

"Advertisements for air conditioners can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures above a first threshold, while advertisements for winter overcoats can be sent to users located at regions having temperatures below a second threshold," explains the patent document.

Privacy groups are, naturally, not impressed with the idea as Gus Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, stated "Not content with collecting vast amounts of information from your online activities, it seems Google are looking to start exploiting the offline space as well. Patents like this may never come to fruition, but they force us to ask ourselves: how many aspects of our lives will advertisers try to exploit, and where will it end?

"This is an attempt to turn our devices into personal spying devices, just so a company can try to sell you a coat on a cold day."

Google have been keen to protest their innocence however, with a spokesman commenting "We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications."

Google Bringing in More Revenue Than Entire US Newspaper Industry

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:36:07 GMT

A recent study has found that Google is pulling in more revenue than the entire US newspaper industry, in what must be rather worrying news for a medium that many people are already predicting will be dead sooner rather than later.

Newspapers in the United States are pulling in $34 billion in revenue when every single one is combined. Google are pulling in $37.9 billion despite having far fewer employees. Of course the comparison is tempered somewhat by the fact that the US newspaper market only concerns the US, whereas Google is pulling in revenue from all over the world, however it may still be worrying news.

The problem for the newspaper industry is threefold however. Google, of course, makes it much easier to find content. However papers have always relied on subscription revenue, classified ads and display adverts to pull in money. All three are affected by the net, as widely available content drives purchases down. As such advertisers pay less to have their adverts in the papers that are seeing circulation numbers drop. Additionally classified ads can now be placed on a wide variety of sites across the web, often for free. This ranges job adverts, to houses for sale and personals. Newspapers are seeing purchases of these services drop off as the internet in general can offer them much cheaper.

Google to Tweak Search Engine Algorithm to Penalise Over-SEO'd Sites

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:00:13 GMT

The search engine giant Google has announced that it will be tweaking its algorithm in an effort to punish websites that have received "excessive optimisation" from unscrupulous SEO companies.

Tech site SearchEngineLand.com quoted Google's Matt Cutts, who said that the company were looking into ways to penalise websites that have been overly optimised.

"Matt Cutts said the new over optimization penalty will be introduced into the search results in the upcoming month or next few weeks. The purpose is to 'level the playing field.' To give sites that have great content a better shot at ranking above sites that have content that is not as great but do a better job with SEO," it said.

The company are currently on a mission to make GoogleBot smarter in addition to providing more relevant data for searches. Tactics that will be punished innclude placing too many keywords on a single page or exchanging too many links with other websites.

DARPA Chief to Go to Google?

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:50:32 GMT

Reports are claiming that Google has apparently poached the DARPA chief Dr Regina Dugan from her position at the top of one of the most important defence agencies in the US. Apparently she will be joining the company as a top executive after having made a name for herself by becoming the first female director at DARPA.

Wired is claiming that she couldn't resist the offer that Google put on the table and she will be leaving her position at the Pentagon's research arm. However there is no word on what her exact role at the search engine giant will be.

Dr Dugan only joined DARPA in July 2009 as the Pentagon's 19th director of its research projects agency, so she will be leaving after only two and a half years in the job. She already holds multiple patents, including one for an interactive security screening system and another for a visitor control and tracking system, and it is likely this level of inventiveness that attracted Google to her in the first place.

Google Data Centre Uses Bathwater to Cool Servers

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:39:30 GMT

Google's efforts to be as environmentally friendly as possible stretch far and wide, however there are few companies that would use bathwater as part of their green-scheme. However Google are doing just that at their data centre in Douglas County, Georgia as they use water from both toilets and bathtubs to help to cool the servers that are running everyday inside the facility.

Google and other companies that operate such massive data centres are always looking for ways to drive down the maintenance costs in addition to lessening their impact on the environment and now Google have hit upon the idea of reusing the dirty water to make the whole operation more eco-friendly.

Google’s Douglas County facility initially used the same potable water that many homes and businesses in the area had been using. However this soon became impractical as a typical Google data centre can use up hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every day.

“But we soon realised that the water we used didn’t need to be clean enough to drink,” Jim Brown, who is the data centre facilities manager in Georgia, wrote.

Google Flight Adds 500 International Destinations

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:25:23 GMT

Google Flight Search has announced the addition of 500 international destinations to the tool. While the move makes it much mroe versatile, you're only really going to see the benefits if you happen to live in the United States as all journeys must be made from a starting destination in the States.

It can be presumed that the service will be updated at some point in the future to allow for flights from locations outside of the United States, especially as the application has all of the information about these airports as they can all be selected as a 'To' location.

The company themselves have claimed that they are keen to improve and stated that they are "working hard on expanding our global coverage and adding more routes in the future. Our goal is to make booking travel as fast and enjoyable as possible."

Yahoo Files Lawsuit Against Facebook Over Patents

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:16:35 GMT

Yahoo has announced that it will be suing Facebook over a number of patent issues, with the move coming just weeks before the social-networking giant is set to offer up its first public set of stock.

Yahoo said in a US court filing that Facebook had infringed 10 of its patents covering advertising, privacy controls and social networking and had already threatened to sue the company last month. They have called on Facebook to license its patents and are suing because they have yet to do so. For their part Facebook will be fighting the accusations every step of the way and claim to be puzzled by the actions of Yahoo.

"We're disappointed that Yahoo, a long-time business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation," Facebook said.

It is true that the two companies have a fruitful relationship, with Yahoo linking many of its services to Facebook. However, to show the potential vulnerability of Facebook, the social media giant only had 56 US patents protecting its services. Yahoo has more than a thousand.

Some are claiming that the search engine operator may appear desperate for following through with the lawsuit, however they have made money from similar lawsuits in the past.

FBI Serves Google with Warrant Over Locked Phone

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:04:57 GMT

The FBI has demanded that Google hand over the details of a man who has been accused of operating a pimping racket. The US investigations group has served Google with a warrant that demands that the search engine giant unlocks an Android-based phone that belongs to an alleged pimp.

The feds had attempted to acces the phone of Dante Dears, a founding member of the San Diego-based Pimpin' Hoes Daily gang, but had ended up locked out of the device after having no luck with its pattern-screen lock.

Technicians at the FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab in Southern California managed to enter the incorrect pattern so many times that the phone locked up and demanded Dears' Google email address and password.

Experts claim that the FBI could dismantle the phone and extract its contents, however this would be at the risk of losing important data. Thus they have taken the measure of contacting Google.

The search engine giant has been served with a 13-page warrant asking for the details. They commented "Like all law-abiding companies, we comply with valid legal process. Whenever we receive a request we make sure it meets both the letter and spirit of the law before complying."

Ice Cream Sandwich Update to Come to Google Nexus S Users

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:48:36 GMT

It would appear that the long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Google Nexus S will finally be arriving on the handset over the next few weeks, much to the delight of the people who have been waiting for the update.

The company has already carried out a small-scale update for some Nexus S users and had delayed their full rollout so that they could ascertain some opinion about the system before delivering it to all of their customers.

Now it seems that the company is satisfied, meaning that users of the device will be receiving the Android 4.0 update at some point during the next few weeks.

However, having said all of that, the source that provided the information has remained unnamed and it can't really be said how reliable it is.

However Samsung and HTC devices have now received the update so it is looking more than likely that Google produced devices should receive the same in short order.

Google to Cooperate with Investigations Into Alleged Safari Privacy Bypass

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:25:35 GMT

Google has announced that it will cooperate with any and all investigations into allegations that it purposely bypassed the privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser after news reports claimed that the company would be investigated by both US and EU officials over the incident.

A Google spokeswoman declined to confirm any investigations, however she also claimed that the company would cooperate with any and all investigations, should they arise.

"We will, of course, cooperate with any officials who have questions," she added. Referring to the circumvention of privacy settings, the spokeswoman noted, "But it's important to remember that we didn't anticipate this would happen, and we have been removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers."

The US Federal Trade Commission and the French Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, or CNIL, are both looking into the issue, which is just the latest in a host of problems that Google are having in relation to their privacy policies.

IDC Claims Android to Takeover Tablet Market by 2015

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:16:32 GMT

Mobile app developers may be interested to hear that IDC have claimed that devices and tablet computers operating the Google developed Android operating system will take over from Apple by 2015, with the Android powered devices gaining a higher market share as a result.

Currently Apple is the top company in the tablet market, however devices like the Amazon Kindle and a host of new, Android-powered devices have closed the gap. Currently Apple has a 54.7% share compared to 44.6% for Android.

Tom Mainelli, research director for Mobile Connected Devices at IDC commented "As the sole vendor shipping IOS products, Apple will remain dominant in terms of worldwide vendor unit shipments. However, the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google's OS will overtake Apple's in terms of worldwide market share by 2015. We expect IOS to remain the revenue market share leader through the end of our 2016 forecast period and beyond."

However the company are also quick to point out that Google will likely not see their profits from such devices overtake those of Apple, as the company will see the rise on the back of low-priced tablets that will have a wafer-thin margin. Apple, on the other hand, will continue to see profits from their devices.

Google will still be pleased though its business plan around Android hinges on market share, allowing it to push services such as email, navigation and social networking applications, all of which carry advertising. Thus such an increase would mean more people using their devices, thus more people to advertise to.

Android App Developers Criticise Google Over Delayed Payments

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:05:01 GMT

Google has been criticised by mobile applications developers after there was a delay in getting payments from the company for applications that have been placed on the Android Market.

The delays have affected mobile app developers throughout Europe, who have posted a litany of comments on the company's forums to complain about how they have yet to receive their February fees. The money should have arrived with them on 7th March however some have still yet to receive their shares.

Coders receive a 70% share of sales of their app on the Android Market, which has now been renamed the Google Play store.

Six days after the first complaint, a Google employee responded "We're actively investigating this.

"We apologise for this inconvenience. At this time, no action is needed on your part," the developer relations manager added.

There was no news on what had caused the problem and some of those affected have received their payments. However there are still some mobile applications developers who have yet to receive their funds.

Many complained about the difficulty in contacting Google for more information.

"They seem to think no direct contact is a good thing??? Crazy situation but that's how these big corps work and until it hurts their bottom line nothing will change," wrote one developer nicknamed UKAPPS.

Google Unveils GetMo Website for Mobile Web Strategies

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:48:24 GMT

Google is looking to encourage more businesses to place a focus on the mobile web strategy and has launched a new, UK-based scheme called GetMo in an effort to encourage them to become more mobile-oriented.

The GetMo website offers a tool for companies that allows them to see how their current website looks on mobile devices. It also provides a host of tips and tricks for building a more effective mobile website.

The company have launched similar schemes in the United States, such as the GoMo program.

"As the smartphone explosion continues, more consumers are looking to engage with brands by searching for them on their mobile phone. Yet the majority of businesses don't have mobile sites or a mobile strategy for connecting with them," says Google's director of mobile advertising for Europe Ian Carrington.

"Businesses need to get mobile in order to provide a positive user experience for their customers. At the moment, business are not keeping up with consumers."

The company claims that 93% of smartphone users use their phones to access the web every day and businesses need to make efforts to put themselves in a position where they can do something about it.

GetMo also includes a top ten on how to best mobilise your website.

Former Google Executive Lambasts Company Over Ad Focus

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:28:09 GMT

An outgoing Google executive has criticised the company on his way out of the door, claiming that it has become so focused on advertising revenue and competing with Facebook that it has lost the drive towards innovation that made it so successful in the first place.

James Whittaker, who has moved into a position at Microsoft and was the ex-Engineering Director at Google, posted the attack on the company from his blog last week and has also lambasted them for their increased focus on user data and potential violations of user privacy.

"Perhaps Google is right," writes Whittaker, "Perhaps the future lies in learning as much about people’s personal lives as possible.

"The Google I was passionate about was a technology company. The Google I left was an advertising company."

He believes that the arrival of Larry Page as CEO altered the company's focus as the introduction of the Google Plus social network sees the company targeting the same markets as Facebook.

"Google could still put ads in front of more people than Facebook, but Facebook knows so much more about those people. Google took it personally. Larry Page himself assumed command to right this wrong."

The full blog post can be read at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jw_on_tech/archive/2012/03/13/why-i-left-google.aspx

Google Face New Investigations Over Alleged iPhone Privacy Violations

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:14:30 GMT

Google is under investigation by both US and American agencies over accusations that the search engine utilised hidden computer code to violate the privacy settings of iPhone users, tricking the devices into sending data to them.

Specifically the company apparently manipulated the Safari web browser used on devices such as the iPhone and iPad, which was then apparently used to build up advertising profiles on Google account users that allowed the company to provide more targeted adverts.

The company has been facing hostility all year over the changes to its provacy policy and are now under investigation by the EU and America's Federal Trade Commission to see if the 'trick' has violated agreements over openess and privacy.

The company has since stopped using the code, "which sends a blank message to the browser to make it accept 'cookies' which send information to Google."

"We created a temporary communication link between Safari browsers and Google’s servers, so that we could ascertain whether Safari users were also signed into Google," says a spokesperson today. "We will of course cooperate with any officials who have questions. But it's important to remember that we didn't anticipate this would happen, and we have been removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers."

Google to Include Semantic Search Methods into Algorithm

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:59:25 GMT

Google has announced that it will be including semantic search technology into its search engine algorithm in an effort to provide more targeted answers to user queries in the future.

The company will look to provide more facts and direct answers to search queries using the techniques and the change marks the biggest makeover for the search engine since the rewritten Google algorithm was put in place more than a decade ago.

SEO specialists in Birmingham and elsewhere will have been put on notice by the changes, which aim to provide straight answers over weblinks. For factual questions, this would mean simply providing the exact answer to a query. However in the commercial line of things it would appear that such a system would be open to exploitation by those with the resources to simply manipulate and buy their way to the single result shown.

It is hoped that this will not be the case and the system will only be used in cases where there is only one definitive answer for the query, however the possibilities are certainly quite worrying and Google aren't completely clear just how far they intend to take the development.

The changes are expected to be rolled out over the course of the next few months and they claim that the changes will not affect its keyword search system. How true this is still remains to be seen however.

iPad Pre-Orders Outstripping Stock

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:39:19 GMT

To the surprise of almost no-one, it would seem that Apple's upcoming iPad 3 is proving to be extremely popular as customers who are looking to pre-order the device via the Apple website are now being told that they are going to have to wait for three weeks to get their hands on the new tablet computer.

Customers in the US and Canada are being told that pre-orders will begin to ship three days after the device actually goes on sale, with many European countries having to wait even longer.

The release of the iPad 3 marks the first time that Apple has released a device in Britain on the same day as the US launch and the company has restricted sales to two iPads per person. Despite this they are still expecting shortages and will have massive queues outside their Apple stores on Friday.

Google to Offer Video Services to Kansas City Residents

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:26:43 GMT

Google has been granted permission to offer video services to residents within Kansas City, with the company looking to further expand their reach so that they can go head-to-head with cable and satellite companies.

The Missouri Public Service Commission granted Google Fiber Missouri LLC’s request to build a video service network that goes along public rights of way. This means that the search engine provider will now be able to offer a pay-television service that is similar to that offered by cable television.

Google is negotiating to license channels for the service.

The company has now begun laying fiber optic cables in the city that will allow them to provide an internet service that they claim will be 100 times faster than the one that is currently available.

Kids in Birmingham More Likely to Query Google Than Ask Parents

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:14:37 GMT

A recent survey carried out in Birmingham has found that the majority of children will turn to Google before asking their parents if they have a query, with 54% of the 500 children stating that the search engine would be their go-to place if they have a question.

The survey was conducted by Birmingham Science City and asked children aged between 6-15. Only a quarter of children said that they would aske their parents before resorting to the search engine.

Additionally the survey found that almost half of the children had never used a print encyclopedia, while one-in-five have never used a print dictionary.

The survey displays just how important technology now is in our everyday lives.

"With children now growing up in an environment where digital technology is accepted as standard, we wanted to see just how this has affected their approach to research and exploration," the Daily Mail quoted Pam Waddell, Director of Birmingham Science City as saying.

"It's not surprising that with answers at the touch of the button, youngsters often Google questions before asking parents, friends or teachers.

"However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. It shows just how commonplace digital technology is for children today and how comfortable they are with using it.

"Children, no matter what generation they grow up in, have an inquisitive and curious nature, and so the fact they are able to use new technology to explore this is a positive sign for the future."

Google Expands Market Share in the US

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:04:30 GMT

Google's reputation as the search engine that seo companies in Birmingham and elsewhere need to target has been further bolstered by news that the company has further increased its market share in the United States.

Yahoo seems to be slowly fading into obscurity as Bing also continued to increase its market share, however Google is most definitely the search engine of choice in the United States.

The company now has a total market share of 66.4% according to statistics gleaned during February. By contrast Bing has a 15.3% share whilst Yahoo slipped to 13.8%.

According to www.totaltele.com "Americans conducted 17.59 billion core search queries in February, down from 17.8 billion in January. Google again ranked first, with 11.67 billion searches, followed by Microsoft, with 2.68 billion, and Yahoo with 2.43 billion."

U.S. Senator Shines Light on Google and Apple Sharing Policies

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:50:56 GMT

A United States senator is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into both Google and Apple over the fact that both companies currently allow mobile applications on their mobile phone operating systems to access users' photographs without first asking for permission.

Senator Charles Schumer claims that some applications can steal pictures on a user's mobile phone, claiming that the practice is disturbing and potentially unfair. The New York Times has also recently reported on the issue.

"When someone takes a private photo, on a private cell phone, it should remain just that: private," Schumer said in a statement. "Smartphone developers have an obligation to protect the private content of their users and not allow them to be veritable treasure troves of private, personal information that can then be uploaded and distributed without the consumer's consent."

He states that mobile applications go beyond their expected use of they access pictures and other things stored on the smartphones.

In a letter to the FTC he added "However, it is not clear whether or how those terms of service are being enforced and monitored. In fact, the abuses of apps have only come to light as a result of the work of intrepid independent researchers and technologists. As a result, it is users and their privacy who suffer."

For their part Google have released a statement relating to the matter, saying "As phones and tablets have evolved to rely more on built-in, non-removable memory, we're taking another look at this and considering adding a permission for apps to access images. We've always had policies in place to remove any apps on Android Market that improperly access your data."

Apple have yet to comment.

App Store Sells 25 Billion Mobile Applications

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:33:29 GMT

Apple has announced that they have sold 25 billion mobile applications through their App Store, with Chunli Fu of Qingdao in China being the lucky person to download the landmark-setting mobile app. He will receive a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card to spend however he sees fit after downloading the "Where's My Water? Free" mobile app.

The company have been selling tons of mobile applications in recent months, passing the 10 billion mark in January 2011 and 15 billion in July. There are now 550,000 mobile applications in the App Store that can be used across a range of Apple devices that include the iPhone and iPad. The library is ever-growing to cater towards the 315 million users of Apple devices across the plant.

Additionally Apple announced that mobile app developers had received $4 billion in earning for their mobile applications. However the company didn't provide any further breakdown.

"We'd like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services in a statement. "When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users."

Are Google Planning a Siri Rival?

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:24:21 GMT

Rumours abound in the tech industry that Google are looking to create a new voice assistant that will be able to compete with Siri. The company is always looking to compete with Apple in the smartphone market, so the move is no big surprise considering the fact that Apple do not own the copyrights for the voice recognition technology that powers Siri in the first place.

Apparently the company is developing a new system that has been dubbed Assistant and will apparently allow people to complete tasks by voice. If Google's plans come together then the application may even be available to the public by the end of the year.

TechCrunch is also reporting that Google would allow more freedom for mobile apps developers, allowing them to tap into the application so that they can create their own unique mobile applications. The new project has apparently been in gestation for a number of years, however the success of Siri has prompted Google to finally look into bringing it to market.

Assistant would follow a similar model to Siri, allowing users to accomplish specific goals rather than delivering search results. However it may have the advantage in that it could also employ the full range of services offered by Google to provide better suggestions.

Plancake Founder Plans to Include Google in his Future

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 11:05:04 GMT

An entrepeneur from Wood Green has announced that he plans to build his fledgling business up into a giant in the hopes that a conglomerate such as Google will come calling.

Daniele Occhipinti, 30, is currently searching for investment into his Plancake software, which has been created as a central hub for parents and professionals to plan out their daily activities.

The Italian-born businessman commented “I hope to have sold the business to Google in 10 years’ time and I hope to have a lot of money in the bank before then. I think we will attract the attention of big players in the market.”

He has already won an award that resulted in a £1,000 investment into the idea and he commented “People are getting busier and busier so it’s great to help these people. I’m really excited because I really believe in what Plancake does for people, making their life easier.

“I would like to create new software for companies. We are looking for investment to make the other software.”

When speaking about the name, he explained “We were trying to think of a name which suggested that by using our software you’d be more organised and have more time to enjoy the fun things in life, like eating cake!”

Google Steps Up Purchasing of Wind Farms

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:53:41 GMT

Google, which is the search engine of choice when it comes to any seo company's optimisation efforts, has announced that it is looking to step up their use of wind-power after purchasing a host of new wind turbines in an effort to reduce emissions. The company are also making heavy use of solar-based energy solution as they look to reign in the high costs of powering the company.

Last year Google gained almost a third of their energy from renewable power sources, up from 19% in 2010. The majority of this came from the use of wind farms however the main chunk of their investment is still going towards solar power. The search engine giant has invested $622 million dollars so far in solar power.

Despite this, wind power is still 50% cheaper and the company are increasingly turning towards wind to power the company, which consumes an astonishing 2.26 million megawatt-hours of electricity a year.

“Wind energy is the lowest-cost form of renewable energy available now in the U.S.,” says Matt Kaplan, associate director of IHS Emerging Energy Research. “In general, wind has become a much more mature form of renewable energy and it’s now seen as almost a mainstream power generation in the U.S. That wasn’t the case three to four years ago. The industry has made a lot of strides.”

Google May Pay Apple $1 Billion to Make Them Default Search Engine on Apple Products

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:35:20 GMT

It would appear that, despite the ongoing legal battles between Google and Apple, the two companies are still willing to occasionally do business. Recent reports are claiming that Google is now attempting to convince Apple to make the Google search engine the default search browser in all of their products. For the privilege, Google are offering to hand the tech giant an astonishing $1 billion (Approx £640 million).

If successful the move would see Google become the default search engine for Apple Macs, iPhones and iPads, thus helping to further cement their dominance within the search engine market.

The rumours follow on from reports that Apple are going to be moving away from using Google Maps as they look to implement their own mapping software.

However, despite the fee, it is believed that Google would stand to generate a healthy profit if the deal was put in place.

“Google generated ~$1.3bn in gross search revenue through default search placement on Apple devices,” Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter said. “In other words, this $1.3bn of search revenue ($335m net search revenue) in 2011 is at risk if Apple moves away from Google. $335m represented ~1% of net Google.com search revenue. Notably, mobile/Apple revenue is among its fastest growing revenue drivers.”

Google Chairman Talks About Visions for the Future

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:23:04 GMT

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt made an appearance at the recent CeBit tech fair, which opened on Monday last week in Germany. During his speech he outlined his personal vision for the future and talked about how many of the plot devices and gadgets that were dreamed up by Sci-Fi writers are now possible as a result of the hard work of the people involved in the tech industry.

He commented "Think back to 'Star Trek', or my favourite the 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Much of what those writers imagined is now possible.

"Translating .. voice recognition, electronic books. The people who predict that intelligent robots, virtual reality or self-driving cars will soon be commonplace are right.

"Governments will be able to spot the economic makings of a crisis before they happen and doctors will be able to accurately predict the outbreak of disease before anyone feels it."

It all sounds very optimistic and the speech melded in well with an exhibition that also partially celebrated Germany's strongest ever year within the technical market. The fair featured 4,200 exhibitions from companies spread across 70 countries.

The fair focused mostly on the rise of cloud computing and the recent debates about user privacy that have ironically been brought to the forefront as a result of Google's own recent privacy policy changes.

Google May Unveil New iPad Rival in May

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:12:55 GMT

Rumours are circulating that Google are looking to unveil a new rival to Apple's iPad, with the company apparently set to team up with tablet computer maker Asus to reveal a new device that would be smaller and cheaper than Apple's iPad.

Apparently the tablet computer will sell for £130 and will come with a seven-inch screen according to a recently leaked report. Whilst some are claiming this is a response to the rcent announcement of the iPad, it seems more likely that the device will be set to compete with the Kindle Fire that has been released by Amazon.

The company already offers a range of similarly developed smartphone, which were created in collaboration with Samsung, and they now seem set to employ the same tactics for an entrance into the tablet market.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt reportedly said, "In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality."

As for Apple, they are also rumoured to be working on an iPad Mini in an effort to compete with the Kindle, however there are few details relating to this.

Google Attempt to Reassure Users Over Privacy Policy Issues

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:58:06 GMT

Google have taken steps to allay the fears that many users have been expressing over the company's new privacy policy, claiming that the policy will make it much easier for the company to provide better services and users need not worry about any ulterior motives.

The company claim they are sticking to their "Don't be evil" policy, with Vic Gundotra stating "If we do things that are evil, with one click you can leave Google. If we break the users' trust, we can lose to competitors very quickly."

Gundotra is the man behind the Google+ social media website, which is part of Google's overall plans to bring their services under a single umbrella. This has led to the company revising their privacy policy, meaning that they are collecting more data than ever before on users. Privacy groups have expressed concerns over the new policy and some are even claiming that it may not be legal.

Under the policy, which went into effect on March 1, Google doesn't collect any more information about users than it did before. But all of that data, from tools like Gmail, Google search, YouTube and Android mobile devices, is now compiled into a single profile of each user's habits.

Gundotra is quick to claim that there is nothing shady afoot however and adds "There are some things Google could have done better. If we could build a common notion of your identity and your relationships, we thought, we could make Google better." when talking about the recent changes to services.

Google 'Threatening' Developers to Start Using Google Payment System in Mobile Apps

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:45:29 GMT

As Google looks to start promoting Google Wallet, which is the company's latest foray into the mobile payments market, it has emerged that the company have begun to place pressure on mobile apps developers to start incorporating the payment gateway into their apps rather than using those provided by a third party, such as PayPal.

The company's Terms and Conditions state that mobile app developers must start routing payments through Google, allowing the company to start taking a larger chunk of the payments for themselves.

Reuters recently reported that the company had started sending out threatening emails, stating that they would remove mobile apps from the Android Market if developers didn't alter the mobile payments gateways that they were using to Google's first party system. This will lead to Google taking 30% of money sent through the payment system, with many of the third parties not taking a penny.

However the condition was placed in the T&Cs for the Android Marketplace, but it is believed that Google have only started to rigorously enforce it now that they finally have a payment method in place to force users to utilise.

The terms even states: "All fees received by Developers for Products distributed via the Market must be processed by the Market's Payment Processor."

It would seem that a number of mobile applications developers are going to have to alter their apps to prepare for the impending crackdown as a result.

New Survey Shows Google is Still the Search Engine to Target for SEO

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:34:10 GMT

A survey that was recently held in the United States has demonstrated that Google is still, by far, the most popular search engine in the country. The survey will only serve to further bolster the opinion of many search engine optimisation technicians that Google is still the main engine to target for any company that is looking to improve its web prsence.

The report, which was compiled by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, found that 83% of Americans use Google as their search engine of choice. By comparison, a measly 6% reported that they use Yahoo as their primary search engine, with 6% being spread across other search engines. A further 5% claimed to have no preference one way or the other.

If accurate the report's findings suggest that Google has even more market-dominance that had previously been believed in the US market. The company's stock has improved vastly since 2004, when a similar survey from Pew found that 47% of those questioned used the serach engine as their primary tool, compared to 26% for Yahoo.

In further goodness for the company, the survey also found that customer satisfaction was quite high, with 91% claiming that they almost always find the info they are searching for using Google. A further 73% claimed the results they get are usually accurate and trustworthy.

Google Apps Customers Finding it Increasingly Difficult to Delete/Reactivate Domains

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:38:45 GMT

A recent glitch seems to be occuring in Google's Google Apps service. Customers are finding it increasingly difficult to delete and reactivate their domains after Google themselves deactivated an automated mechanism that is intended to perform these tasks in January.

The requests have since started piling up, which means that App admins now have a host of problems due to issues such as not having access to user email accounts.

Google has had to resort to a manual process to handle the issue and has asked adminstrators to place theie requests in a speciall created forum thread, where they will be dealt with as quickly as possible.

A Google offical named Ricky had posted a message in the forum thread stating that "because of a related issue last week, we have temporarily disabled the domain deletion mechanism."

He claimed there would be an update when Google had deleted the requested directories, however this has no yet appeared.

A Google spokeswoman said the Apps team is "aware and actively working on" the problem and expects to have it solved "in a matter of days."

Google Executive Hints at Introduction of Android 5

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:24:55 GMT

Rumours abound that Google are looking to update the Android operating system that is used on a wide variety of mobile devices, which may mean that mobile apps developers will need to adapt to the changes. While no solid information is available, a Google executive has hinted that Android 5.0 is coming, with some speculating that the new version of the OS will be available as early as summer.

However less enthusiastic commentators are claiming a fall release is looking more likely judging from comments made by Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of engineering for mobile at Google.

He stated "After Android 4 comes 5, and we haven't announced the timing yet, which we're still sorting out. There's a lot of engineering work behind it still, and there's also just the question of how to time it.

"In general, the Android release cadence is one major release a year with some maintenance releases that are substantial still." That statement would suggest a fall 2012 time frame for the release of Android 5.0, given that Android 4.0 was released last November."

However he did his bit to stir the pot, adding "Having said that, we're flexible. The [timing of releases] is not what drives us, but what does is innovation and offering users a great experience."

French Man to Sue Google Over Street View Image

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:57:27 GMT

A French man is to sue Google after the company's Street View cameras caught him urinating in his garden. The pictures were then posted online as part of the Street View service, with the man still fully visible.

The villager claims that his neighbours recognised the images, which have made him the laughing stock of his village.

The picture was taken of the unsuspecting man back in 2010, when he thought that he had been hidden from view by a closed gate. However he was caught out by the Street View cameras, which are attached to the tops of cars.

His lawyer Jean-Nokl Bouillaud commented "My client was caught in the privacy of his own home with the gate closed.

"But he discovered the image while looking at images of his own house, and then realised other people in the village had seen the picture too."

Changes Made to Google Privacy Policy May Breach EU Law

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:29:09 GMT

An EU justice commissioner has claimed that recent changes that Google have made to their privacy policy may actually be in breach of European law. The comments come after a number of groups objected to the new policy, which Google claims is perfectly valid.

Viviane Reding told the BBC that authorities found that "transparency rules have not been applied".

The main feature of the policy change is that Google can now use provate data collected from one Google service across its entire ranger of services, which could mean that search data is used to influence adverts and results that appear on YouTube, Gmail or Blogger.

Google released a statement claiming "We are confident that our new simple, clear and transparent privacy policy respects all European data protection laws and principles."

They claim that the new privacy policy will allow them to tailor search results more effectively in addition to offering superior advertising to users. It went ahead with the changes despite warnings from the EU.

The policy has combined more than 60 services currently offered under the Google banner.

Google Adjudged to Have No Hand in Internet Graffiti

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:14:21 GMT

A recent court ruling has all but protected the Google search engine from English defamation laws after it was ruled that the company has no say in the content that ends up as part of its search results. Mr Justice Eady has upheld the claim that the search engine is a "platform provider" and thus has no authorisation over the content that appears on the search engine.

"It is no doubt often true that the owner of a wall which has been festooned, overnight, with defamatory graffiti could acquire scaffolding and have it all deleted with whitewash", said the judge.

But he added: "That is not necessarily to say, however, that the unfortunate owner must, unless and until this has been accomplished, be classified as a publisher."

The decision will be particularly hard on former Conservative Party hopeful Payam Tamiz, who had attempted to sue Google over a blog that had labelled him as a thief and drug dealer with no justification.

He will now face £20,000 in lawyer's bills as his defamation case is all but destroyed by the verdict. Mr Tamiz had reacted after eight comments were made about him on a blog posted on Google's Blogger.com platform.

Whilst the posts were considered to be abover "mere vulgar abuse", the search engine could not take responsibility for the blog post or comments.

DRAM Maker Elpida Memory Files for Bankruptcy

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:51:58 GMT

Elpida Memory, which is one of the world's largest manufacturers of DRAM, has announced that it will be filing for bankruptcy in a Tokyo court after it built up debts of more than $5.5 billion throughout March of last year.

The company claims that it will be unable to recoup massive investments that were made to increase production capacity five years ago, with the increase in supply within the DRAM market meaning that the demand for their products has not been at the level that they expected. Additional factors, such as the economic downturn and flooding in Thailand have also contributed to the issues faced by the company.

It is currently unknown if the company will continue in any capacity after the bankruptcy declaration with market vendor DRAMeXchange claiming in a recent note that "DRAM market share will be even more unbalanced, dominated by makers with leading technology. The DRAM market will be one step closer to an oligopolistic state, thereby leaving PC OEMs with less buying power.

The price for more common DRAM chips has recently fallen to just half of what it was a year ago.

Microsoft to Expand Data Centre in Dublin

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:38:26 GMT

Microsoft has announced that it will be responding to an increasing demand for cloud computing services by expanding its data centre in Dublin. The company is gearing up for the launch of Windows 8 and is making all of the necessary expansions to do so.

A statement from the IT giant has revealed that the company is planning to spend £82 million on building a new extenstion to the existing centre, which should also lead to a number of jobs being created in the area.

The company has claimed that they will need to hire a further 50 to 70 people in an effort to manage the facility and the company is currently investigating ways that it can offer support for services that include Office 365, Windows Live, Xbox Live, Bing and the Windows Azure platform.

"We are experiencing increased momentum where organisations are starting to really embrace the full potential of cloud computing to help them transform their business," commented chief technology officer Stephen McGibbon.

US Group to Offer Computing and IT Training in Lansing

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:23:20 GMT

A new initiative has been launched in the US town of Lansing, which currently has a unemployment rate of 6.9% despite having over 200 positions available in the computing industry. The scheme will aim to provide computing education to residents in an effort to bring more of them into work within the industry, especially as occupations in computing and mathematics are likely to grow by more than 10% by 2016.

The Capital Area IT Council and the Ingham Intermediate School District have teamed up to provide certification to students, teaching them technical and employability skills that it is hoped will be invaluable. Students will have the opportunity to earn high school credit and the scheme will also partner with local career centres.

The initiative will also work closely with IT groups in the area, with the eventual goal being to help as many high school students as possible attain some level of experience within the industry in addition to exposing them to IT companies in the region. With any luck the scheme will produce the next generation of software developers in the area.

IT Firms Combine to Develop Helix Nebula - The Science Cloud

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:06:41 GMT

A host of international IT and computing firms have collaborated to create a cloud computing system that will be utilised by European science researchers. The system, which will be named Helix Nebula - The Science Cloud, will be used by researchers throughout Europe to provide cloud-based support for scientific discoveries.

A number of players in the industry, including Capgemini, SAP and Atos have teamed up with firms that include CloudSigma, Interoute, Logica, and Telfonica, have partnered to create the cloud. The aim is to provide a support system that is dedicated to researchers.

Some of the leading scientific institutions in Europe have already signed on to utilise the cloud, with CERN, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the European Space Agency all waiting and willing to use the new cloud-based system. The system will undergo a two-year pilot program after having been recently announced.

Campaign Calls for New Teaching Infrastructure to Benefit Computing Students

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:55:44 GMT

A group has called on UK educators to install a brand new teaching infrastructure in an effort to further support the teaching of computing in schools, as many people claim that the industry is struggling to recruit people with the necessary qualifications due to poor or out-dated standards of teaching.

A number of leading education and computing industry groups have formed a coalition and signed a letter addressed to George Osborne that calls for teachers to receive more computer training in the hopes that the web developers and software developers of the future.

The call has been organised by Next Gen Skills, who also add that teachers will require support if such curriculum changes were to occur and the government is currently consulting on a new, flexible system that will place more focus on computer science and programming.

The letter calls on the chancellor "To support the development of a new computer science and information and communications technology teaching infrastructure... so the UK can truly take advantage of the curriculum reforms proposed in January this year by the secretary of state for education."

Backers of the scheme include UKIE, the British Computer Society and NMI.

Mobile Device Development Company Announces New Country Manager

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:40:19 GMT

Motion Computing, which is one of the world's leading providers of tablet PCs and other mobile technologies that use the services of mobile app developers in Birmingham and across the world, has announced the appointment of a new country manager for the United Kingdom. Ian Davies will take over the role and will be responsible for the development of the UK market as Motion Computing looks to expand into fields like healthcare, retail, field service and construction.

Mr Davies has recently worked in the same role for computer manufacturer LXE and it is hoped that he can use more than a decade of working in the mobile computing industry to his advantage.

Motion themselves have made their reputation by creating industry leading tablet computers and they have developed technologies that have been used throughout the UK.

Nigel Owens, SVP and general manager of Motion commented "Motion is furthering its commitment to the UK market as we see a lot of opportunity throughout the channel and across various vertical markets. We are very excited about combining Ian's extensive experience with the deep industry knowledge of our UK channel partners."

"Ian will be instrumental in cementing and enhancing the Motion brand in the UK, as we capitalise on opportunities and extend our reach into new markets."

IBM Moving Closer to Building Quantum Computer

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:23:47 GMT

IBM has announced that its team of experts and developers are getting closer than ever to actually constructing a quantum computer. They are working so diligently that some people actually believe that the technology may be available sooner than though, with Mark Ketchen, manager of the physics of information group at IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center in the US, claiming it could arrive "within our lifetime."

Theoretically a quantum computer would be able to complete processes faster than any computer yet invented, however so far no company has managed to produce a physical, working model. However IBM researchers are making slow steps towards the technology, having recently developed a method for reducing the errors that occur during computation using quantum bit technology.

The evidence was produced at the recent meeting of the American Physical Society in Boston, leaving the majority impressed.

Mr Ketchen commented "People have said, maybe it's 50 years away, it's a dream, maybe it'll happen sometime.

"Now I'm thinking like it's 15 or a little more. It's within reach."

Raspberry Pi Launched to Help Young Programmers

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:14:00 GMT

A new computer that is barely bigger than a credit card has gone on sale, with the sole intention of helping to ease children into the world of computer programming in an effort to improve upon the computing education that they currently receive.

The Raspberry Pi is a bare-bones, low-cost computer that has been created by volunteers from academic institutions and the technical industry in the UK. The computer is essentially a motherboard with an ethernet port, two usb ports, a HDMI port and a slot for an SD card.

The machine has already drawn plenty of interest and many within the industry are hoping that it will encourage students to consider a career in coding in the future.

"It has been six years in the making; the number of things that had to go right for this to happen is enormous. I couldn't be more pleased," said Eben Upton of the Raspberry Pi Foundation which is based in Cambridge.

The demand for the device has led to it selling out its intial production run almost as soon as it went on sale, with the Leeds-based Premier Farnell website crashing under the weight of heavy traffic as people looked to purchase the device.

In a recent speech Michael Gove praised the device, claiming initiatives such as this will be important in the educational future of UK students. He commented "Initiatives like the Raspberry Pi scheme will give children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of programming.

"This is a great example of the cutting edge of education technology happening right here in the UK."

Potato Industry to Welcome New Computing Technology

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:58:54 GMT

The potato industry is soon to benefit from the technological advancements of the computer industry as a recent software developed by programmers at the University of Lincoln will enable the industry to improve its quality checking.

The university has developed a new machine vision system, which was recently unveiled to potato farmers at the Crop Protection in Northern Britain conference. They are touting the software as the next step to ensuring that the potato industry receives the quality control standards needed for a multi-billion pound industry.

The system will be able to identify blemishes and diseases within potatoes, thus allowing them to be separated from the crop and discarded, rather than going into circulation. The system is also able to learn the difference and appearance of specific defects with the input of an expert.

Director of the Centre for Vision and Robotics Research at the University of Lincoln, Dr. Tom Duckett, commented "The graphical user interface was developed to allow the software to be used by quality control experts from the industry.

"The system can be trained to recognise different defect types and will analyse potatoes in near-real-time."

Computer Industry Body Forms at Embedded World

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:47:40 GMT

The Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) has been formed at the recent Embedded World forum and will consist of a number of names within the computing industry, including: Advantech, Congatec, Data Modul, Kontron, MSC, and SECO.

The group will hold their first meeting at the beginning of the month and they will be forming the first working groups for the Computer-on-Module specifications Qseven in addition to further module specifications.

The group released a press statement saying "Under our roof, further groups are welcome to develop specifications.

Kontron's SGET spokesman Dirk Finstel added "The goal of the founding members of the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies is to create a new, powerful, worldwide committee for embedded computer specifications which will operate at greater speed and with far less bureaucracy than comparable organisations. To achieve this, the SGET has, amongst other things, set out simplified rules and shorter objection periods, so that specifications can be passed much faster".

Congatec SGET spokesman Christian Eder concluded "The fast pace of technological progress in the embedded market necessitates cooperation even between competing companies. That, however, can only work, if we follow overall regulations. A committee with the ability to act fast enables us to jointly and instantly react to market demands. This is why we very much welcome the founding of the new consortium."

IT Sligo and Citrix Announced IT Education Partnership

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:10:26 GMT

The Irish Minister for Jobs and Skills, Ruairi Quinn TD, has announced that the Irish higher education institution, IT Sligo, will be teaming up with Citrix Academy Network to offer students an additional educationcal partnership. The partnership's main aim is to provide all of the participants with a set of advanced skills beyond what they are learning as part of their course. The aim is to provide them with the tools to pursue a career in the IT industry as it expands into virtualisation and cloud computing.

IT Sligo is the first higher education institution in Ireland to join the network and 25 students have already started a course as part of the partnership. An additional 55 students are expected to join the course by the end of the year.

The course will provide participants with an official accreditation that they could place on their CVs when looking for jobs, proving that what they have learnt in theory can be put into practice when in the workplace.

IT Sligo is anticipating that more than 100 students will complete the modules this year.

The course will be available as a standalone course from September 2012 onwards.

Adobe to Release New Photoshop Mobile Application

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:59:00 GMT

Adobe Systems have announced that they will be releasing a new mobile application that will provide iPad users with a bare-bones version of their popular Photoshop editing software, with the eventual aim being to release a more comprehensive version of the software in the future. The companies appear to be furthering their reconciliation efforts after clashing in the past over Adobe's Flash technology.

The mobile application will be named Photoshop Touch and will include features that allow users to apply photo effects for printed pages and websites in addition to allowing them to combine images. The software has already been available on the Android OS for a while, and will now sell for $9.99 on the App Store.

The group is looking to further its operations beyond the personal computing market, with an increasing number of products being brought to the mobile market. Their announcement of the Apple version of the application is intended to mark the beginning of the Mobile World Congress, scheduled to run through March 1 in Barcelona.

Google Announce Faster Chromebook on the Way

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:47:45 GMT

Google has announced that it will be releasing a new batch of Chromebooks that will have an increased speed when compared to the much-maligned latest version. The devices have gotten off to a slow start in more than one sense of the word, with users criticising the slow performance, user experience and operating system upon getting their hands on the devices.

All in all it seems the general consensus is that the mobile devices are a little bit rough around the edges, however Google are claiming that they have addressed all of these issues The second generation of Google Chromebooks will reportedly have addressed many of these problems once it is released, though this will do little to assuage those who invested in the original.

The company's senior vice president of Chrome, Sundar Pichai, claimed in a recent interview with CNET that all of these issues and more will be addressed with the latest iteration. He claimed "We will improve on the dimensions of speed, simplicity, and security."

The company are also claiming that the operating system's intrinsic link with the Google Chrome web browser means that the user experience is constantly being improved upon, so they claim this will be enough to ensure improvements as time goes by.

ZTE and Nvidia Announced Innovative New Smartphone

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:30:13 GMT

The Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE has announced that its partnership with Nvidia has produced a new smartphone that they claim is amongst the most creative in the industry. The group have announced the release of the ZTE Mimosa X, which will feature its own wireless modem and an Nvidia system-on-a-chip.

“The ZTE Mimosa X sets a milestone for the mobile computing industry,” Nvidia’s Michael Rayfield said in a statement.

He adds “The Mimosa X marks the first time NVIDIA technology powers all the major processors in a single smartphone, and also the first time a premium mobile computing experience is coming to the mainstream smartphone market."

The smartphone is powered by the dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC and the Nvidia Icera 450 HSPA+ wireless modem, with the dual operation making it unique amongst the current crop of mobile devices if the company is to be believed.

The phone will likely have superior graphics that will allow it to run any number of mobile applications, thanks to the involvement of Nvidia.

The phone is set to be unveiled at the upcoming Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain this coming February 27 to March 1.

Business Park to Create New IT Jobs in Staffordshire

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:17:06 GMT

Software Development Industry

"So we're looking harder at getting people right out of university, investing in training programmes, hiring people from other industries and investing in them with the right training and development programmes."

The company further expands that many of their applications come from recruits who have a food IT degree, but lack the knowledge of cloud computing and core systems that would be required to work for the company.

YouGov Moves Large Scale Data Centres to UK

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:37:40 GMT

YouGov has announced that they expect to make a saving of £100,000 in company operations after moving their main data centre from Germany to the United Kingdom.

The market research form completed the large-scale data migration by usiing a back-up and replication tool to transfer the German infrastructure that was based in Berlin across to a new data centre in London.

Nicholas Carter, director of global systems operations at YouGov, claims that the main reason for the move was that the company wishes to increase their capacity. He believes that they would have been unable to do this in Germany, hence the move.

"We had the required skill-set within the IT team in London, so we decided to move our data centre there," he explained.

Blue Chip Technology to Increase Computer Board Production

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:21:48 GMT

Blue Chip Technology, which is one of the UK's leading manufacturers of computer motherboards, has announced that they have turned over an impressive £2 million solely in new projects during the course of last year. The gain has forced the company to increase production on their computer boards to meet the increase in demand and they have also recruited a number of leading industry personnel in an effort to further the improvement and release a batch of new products to keep up with the demands of their clients.

The company is already positioned as one of Europe's industry leaders when it comes to the manufacture and development of both embedded and industrial level computers, with a range of specialised products for industries such as the automobile, medical and energy sectors.

"Things are going very well for Blue Chip at this time," said Barry Husbands, Managing Director of Blue Chip Technology Ltd. "Indeed, we are already at our half-year target for 2012, which is quite remarkable. Existing customers have increased their orders, whilst our new ARM and Intel Atom based board designs are showing a lot of future potential. "

Food Manufacturing Industry Increasingly Turning to Tablet Computers and Mobile Devices

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:07:01 GMT

The food manufacturing industry is increasingly turning towards mobile computing in an effort to reduce the amount of paperwork needed, thus ensuring that the industry will require a host of mobile applications in the near future as it looks to take advantage of the various technologies offered by smartphones and tablet computers, like the iPad.

Mobile computers especially are useful in allowing manufacturers to monitor, manage and control their food production lines as they can be used in a host of different environmental conditions and don't create the mass of paperwork that more traditional methods would produce.

The equipment would also meet a host of other requirements, such as;

Ability to easily clean and disinfect the mobile device so that it doesn't contaminate the food.
Ability to withstand both hot and cold temperatures. This includes operation in areas where frozen and cooked food are stored/manufactured.
The ability to scan barcodes and other labelling.

This are all things that a customised set of mobile devices could provide, with mobile development companies like Imobisoft also able to provide the software needed to ensure a smooth transition from a paper-based system.

The Green Grid Welcomes New Memberships

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:49:34 GMT

After an increasing tide of demand from many within the IT industry The Green Grid, which is one of the industry's leading lights when it comes to advocating the advancement of resource efficiency in data centres and business computing ecosystems, has announced that it will begin accepting individual membership requests from people who aren't affiliated with the group.

The group is also offering the membership opportunity at a reduced rate in addition to no longer requiring the affiliation. Allowing individuals to attain membership is a big step for the company, which had previously only reserved the opportunity for companies, organisations and associations.

However they will now allow individuals to register for an annual fee of $400, allowing them to access a host of members-only content that had previously been unavailable to them. The membership includes an annual subscription to the company's forums, which they claim holds a $250 value in itself.

"The Green Grid recognizes that there is a growing population of consultants, analysts and professionals who are as passionate about IT resource efficiency as we are, but do not always have the resources to become members on their own," said Jack Pouchet, Emerson representative and Board member, The Green Grid. "Not only will this new membership model give these interested individuals access to many of the benefits that come with membership, but it will allow The Green Grid to broaden its base of input and incorporate more perspective and expertise into our ongoing efforts to promote resource efficient IT."

Report Slams Cloud Computing Policies of Brazil, China and India

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 09:40:36 GMT

A report from the US-based Business Software Alliance has claimed that policies put in place by the Indian, Brazilian and Chinese decision makers are threatening the overall future of cloud computing. However the report was also quick to chide more developed countries, such as Germany, in a report that seemed focused on the negatives of the industry.

The BSA represents a host of industry heavyweights, such as Microsoft. Their report ranked countries on a scale between 1 and 100, with Brazil landing at the bottom of the list of 24. The BSA claims that the country has serious problems in the areas of free trade, data privacy and cybercrime that could all lead to issues as cloud computing gains more popularity. They were granted an overall score of 35.1.

India and China scored 50.0 and 47.5 respectively, despite the fact that both countries have a burgeoning software development and computing industry. India, in fact, has the world's largest software development industry after the United States.

The reports main purpose, according to Robert Holleyman who is the president of the BSA, was to rally the international "technology community around the need for greater harmonization of laws so a truly global cloud can come about."

He adds that without greater coordination of policies in these countries, and others like them, "...the cloud could be chopped into little pieces," which would reduce the efficiency in which data could be transferred between countries.

Companies in MENA Increase Digital Budgets by More Than 50%

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:12:33 GMT

A recent report has highlighted that many companies in the Middle East and North Africe (MENA) areas are looking further into digital marketing in an effort to increase their growth, with figures showing that 58% of marketers will be increasing their digital budgets in 2012.

Econsultancy’s second annual State of Digital Marketing in MENA report looks at the current and potential future use of marketing channels in the Middle East and North Africe, with the survey being based of a survey of more than 400 B2B marketers in the region. The report claims that companies are also currently spending about 27% of their budget on digital marketing.

Econsultancy’s Research Manager, Aliya Zaidi, commented “It’s an exciting time to be an online marketer, as the research shows more companies are ploughing investment into digital in 2012. More companies are focused on how to measure return-on-investment, which is a natural sign of the industry’s rapid development.

“Marketers are becoming more realistic about the challenges associated with measuring value from digital marketing and are better at understanding where the gaps are.

“The report also found that a lack of local talent is holding back some companies from making the most out of digital. There’s huge demand for Arabic copywriters in this region, and companies need to address the skills gap by investing in further digital education and training.”

Google Adds Flight Information to Mobile SERP Results

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:56:44 GMT

Google has recently posted on its Inside Search blog that it will be including the flight information as part of their mobile SERPs, in order to provide users with a more efficient method of booking air travel.

Users will be able to enter a specific flight path into Google and the search engine will display a host of available tickets directly on the SERP, which will appear just above the organic search results. The move may have an effect on many page one results that had previously been attained, meaning that some companies may need to look into their SEO strategies to determine how best to work with the new processes.

According to www.brafton.com "Users can click the links and land on a page where they can browse all flights from specific airlines. Moreover, results can be sorted by takeoff time, flight duration, arrival time, airline and the flight path."

The feature is essentially a mobile version of Flight Search, a tool that was launched by Google back in September.

Mobile Searches Playing Larger Part in Current Market

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:31:38 GMT

Google has recently announced that it is beginning to develop an extremely strong understanding of how users access and utilise their services. This in turn means that having a mobile-accessible website is going to begin to play an ever larger role in how a website ranks in the Google search engine, as more and more users take to accessing websites using their mobile devices.

Recent statistics are also displaying that mobile devices, like smartphones and tablet computers, are eating aware at the percentage of searches that had previously been dominated by desktop computers and laptops.

Specifically statistics from the travel industry seem to indicate and increasing amount of people are using mobile devices to research potential holidays. Google is the largest source of traffic for such companies and the data shows that 28% of all travel related queries in the UK came from mobile devices in 2011. This number is only likely to increase during the course of 2012 and it may be something that we start to see in other industries as well, meaning that having a website that is compatible with such devices is more important than ever.

Australian SEO Company Accuses Former Employees of Establishing Rival Business While Still Employed

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:12:48 GMT

An SEO company in Melbourne has announced that it will be taking a pair of its former employees to court amidst allegations that the workers set up a rival company when still under their employ.

Websyte Corporation is claiming that the pair created the rival business using an idea that Websyte had themselves come up with before entasking them to begin building the business. The company had given the employees responsibility for developing the back-end of the business, however they apparenlty simply took the idea and ran with it themselves, creating a conflict of interest in the process.

The company is also claiming tha Lachlan Alexander and Shane McGrath used company software to do this and even promoted the business through a directory business that is operated by Websyte.

They claim that the pair used the software to set up a printer cartridge business before supposedly taking steps "to remove obvious visual clues that the respondents' websites were being run on the applicant's software, with the intention of concealing their activities from the applicant".

The company have also produced evidence of communications between the pair, with one such email from McGrath telling Alexander "I reckon when you can... change the interface to no say website eCommerce login... cause that can be one of the only things out there that could get us".

The case is scheduled to return to court on March 5.

How Does the Google +1 Button Effect SEO

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:51:59 GMT

A Facebook group has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records, thanks to the interest shown by over a million users in one of its posts on the social networking site.

The post was made by US woman Tracey Hodgson to have a short at the world record for most comments on October 30 last year.

“A new record has been set for the most comments on a single Facebook item after a post about the game Frontierville became the first to receive over a million responses,” Guinness said on its website.

“As of the 31 January, 1,001,552, comments had been made in response to a post on 30 October 2011 by Tracey Hodgson (UK), on the Facebook page "Ffgpioneers",” it added.

Tracey was quoted as having said that her interest in Frontierville began after her daughter “started playing it using my Facebook account"

"I began to play myself, and then got involved in helping with the game's community groups as an administrator," she said.

Woman arrested for ‘selling fake Facebook stock’

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:08:46 GMT

Authortities in the United States have arrested a woman for allegedly trying to profit from Facebook’s decision to go public by selling fake stock in the social networking site.

Hailing from Oshkosh, Wisconsin , Marianne Oleson’s alleged fraud came to the fore after several people complained that she sold them fake Facebook stock over four m

Facebook, Google join internet giants in fight against phishing

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:51:45 GMT

Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are among 15 major internet companies who have joined hands in the fight against fishing and spam mails.

AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail , Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, PayPal , American Greetings, Facebook, LinkedIn, Agari, Cloudmark, eCert, Return Path and Trusted Domain Project under a working group called DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) have come up with a policy to combat the threats of phishing and spam.

“ (DMARC) draws upon a history of private industry collaboration with 18 months of dedicated work, to outline an enhanced vision for email authentication that can scale up to today's Internet needs," the working group said .

"Email phishing defrauds millions of people and companies every year, resulting in a loss of consumer confidence in email and the Internet as a whole," a top member of DMARC.org said.

"Industry cooperation - combined with technology and consumer education - is crucial to fight phishing," he added.

Facebook pictures cost worker compensation claim

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:35:40 GMT

Posting pictures of himself , partying and drinking, on social networking sites Facebook and Myspace has cost an injured worker in Arkansas a compensation claim.

Zackery Clement suffered a hernia in March of 2009 during an accident at work.

Although he was compensated for medical expenses and reportedly received temporary total-disability benefits for more than a year, Clement was seeking an extension of benefits following three surgeries resulting from his injury , according to media reports.

But the Arkansas Court of Appeals treated as evidence pictures on Facebook and Myspace, showing Clement "drinking and partying", submitted by his former employer and insurance company , turning down Clement’s appeal for an extension of the benefits.

Even as Celement’s counsel reportedly argued that the photos were unrelated to medical treatment since having a hernia wouldn't prevent someone from drinking, the Judge David Glover said the photos questioned Clement's credibility.

"We find no abuse of discretion in the allowance of the photographs," he said.

Facebook pictures cost worker compensation claim

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:27:43 GMT

Posting pictures of himself , partying and drinking, on social networking sites Facebook and Myspace has cost an injured worker in Arkansas a compensation claim.

Clement suffered a hernia in March of 2009 when a refrigerator fell on him at work
Although he was compensated for medical expenses and reportedly received temporary total-disability benefits for more than a year, Clement was seeking an extension of benefits following three surgeries resulting from his injury , according to media reports.

"We find no abuse of discretion in the allowance of the photographs," he said.

Google to do country specific filtering for blogs

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:09:37 GMT

Following in the footsteps of micro-blogging site Twitter, Google has announced plans to make content on its blogger platform available according to the local rules of each country.

The rules will be applicable in many countries such as India, Brazil, Honduras, and Germany, the internet giant said.

This will means Google will be able to restrict content in individual countries , in case there are requests by the local legal authority. The move will not require blocking worldwide access to a blog. It means, for example, that if a blog breaks an Australian law, Google can now block it in Australia but leave it up in the rest of the world, the company said.

"It will allow us to continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law," Google said.

Facebook reunites twins, after 29 years of separation

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:03:23 GMT

Facebook has helped reunite two Indonesian- born sisters after nearly 30 years.

Emilie Falk and Lin Backman, non-identical twins, were separated just weeks after their birth when two Swedish couples adopted them from an Indonesian orphanage in 1983.

Ironically, the two were living just 25 miles apart from each other in southern Sweden, for decades .

Lin initially ignored a message she received on the social networking site from a woman claiming to be her sister.

Finally, when curiosity got the better of her, she asked her adoptive mother if there was any chance of the message being true.

She was told that the when she was being taken to Sweden from the orphanage , the taxi driver asked the Backman’s about the “other girl( Emilie)”, prompting the Swedish couple to note down the twins’ Indonesian names.

Lin responded to the Facebook message , expressing interest in meeting the sender.

Following several meeting, Emilie and Lin decided to go for a DNA test , which confirmed what they had thought at their first meetings: they were twin sisters.

Few ‘like’ Facebook’s Timeline feature: Poll

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:32:08 GMT

Few people using Facebook are impressed by the Timeline feature on the social networking site , a poll by opinion website SodaHead has revealed.

70 percent of respondents said they disliked the Timeline feature , urging Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg , to “lose it( Timeline)."

Only 20 percent of people polled by the SodaHead said they liked the Timeline while 10 percent said they didn’t use Facebook at all.

Those who polled against the new changes includes an equal 77 percent of men and women.

Compared to countries like India and Brazil, where 32 percent respondents approved the Timeline, only 23 percent in the United States said they were fine with the new feature.

The Timeline feature which is likely to become a mandatory upgrade for Facebook users will reveal the entire history of wall posts and other activities of users on the social networking site.

Facebook users in India double in 2011

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:02:25 GMT

The number of people using Facebook in India have more than doubled in the past one year.

"We have achieved varying levels of penetration within the population of Internet users in different countries," the popular social networking site has said, while noting that its penetration rate in India was estimated to be 20-30 per cent.

"We experienced growth across different geographies, with users in Brazil and India representing a key source of growth," it added.

"... we had 46 million MAUs in India as of December 31, 2011, an increase of 132 per cent from the prior year," Facebook said, noting that growth in the US was 16 per cent and 268 per cent in Brazil for the same period.

Facebook said it would "continue to focus on growing our user base across all geographies, including relatively less-penetrated, large markets such as Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, and South Korea."

"We compete broadly with Google's social networking offerings, including Google+, and also with other, largely regional, social networks that have strong positions in particular countries, including Cyworld in Korea, Mixi in Japan, Orkut in Brazil and India..."

Graffiti artists becomes millionaire, courtesy Facebook

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:55:24 GMT

In a rags to riches story, David Choe, a graffiti artist who painted the walls of Facebook offices in California in 2005, has become an overnight millionaire .

The popular social networking site gave Choe an option between cash and the company’s shares equivalent to it. Choe chose the latter. Now, seven years later, Choe ‘s shares are said to be worth more than 200 million dollars after Facebook went public on February 1 and filed for the largest ever initial public offering( IPO ). The company hopes to raise 5-10 billion dollars.

Initially, Choe, according to the New York Times, is said to have thought of his decision to bet on Facebook as “ridiculous and pointless.”

Facebook to particpate in Data Privacy Day

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:22:16 GMT

The Facebook security team will particpate in the Data Privacy Day, being sponsored in the US by the National Cyber Security Alliance, on January 26.

The Data Privacy Day 2012 will be featuring Julie Brill, Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission and two expert panels, Facebook said. "Our own Chief Privacy Officer for Policy Erin Egan will participate in a panel titled “Privacy & Security: Best Practices in Action,” which will incorporate questions from the Facebo

Indian court to hear Google, Facebook pleas next month

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:04:52 GMT

A court in India has deferred the hearing on petitions of Google India and Facebook India challenging a trial court's order to prosecute them for allegedly hosting objectionable content.

"The matter is likely to be taken up on February 2 or February 3,” said Justice Suresh Kait of the Delhi High Court.

Google India and Facebook India pleaded that controlling content with billions of people accessing the websites was "impossible".

The Indian governmen

Facebook asked to close down fake page of Indian educational body

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:55:02 GMT

The Cental Board of School Education has asked Facebook to close down a page impersonating as the official page of the main governing body of education in India.

Media reports said that students were being doled out advices on the fake web page called 'CBSE'

"Thousands of students are under the impression that all that information is coming officially from the central board," a media report said.

"We have written to Facebook officials and have a

Indonesian man held for 'atheist declaration' on Facebook

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:30:57 GMT

A man has been arrested in Indonesia after he declared himself an atheist on Facebook.

30-year-old Alexander An, a civil servant, is facing jail for blasphemy after being attacked by an angry mob on Wednesday in his hometown in Pulau Punjung, West Sumatra province.

Alexander, who wrote "God doesn't exist" on his Facebook page, is reportedly said to have been beaten by dozens of locals who barged into his office following a heated debate on the soc

Facebook 'No. 1 in Brazil', ousts Orkut

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:01:13 GMT

Surpassing Google's Orkut, Facebook has become the most visited social networking site in Brazil

Compared to Orkut's 34.4 million visitors, Facebook saw 36.1 million visitors in December, according to figures released by an analytics firm.

The figures indicate rapid growth for Facebook, a 192% year-on-year rise in visitors, Comscore's Alex Banks said.

"Facebook adoption had traditionally lagged in the market. That has all changed in the pas

Decision on Google's Motorola takeover on Feb 13: EU

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:52:10 GMT

EU regulators will decide on February 13 whether to clear Google's takeover of US handset maker Motorola Mobility.

The decision comes after Google came forward with new documents to support its case,

Last month, the EU executive had suspended the previous January 10 deadline while waiting for certain documents from Google.

Google, the world number 1 Internet search engine wants to buy Motorola Mobility to boost its patent portfolio and compete better

Google to shut down Picnik, modify other services

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:43:03 GMT

Google has decided to shut down Picnik, Google Message Continuity and Needlebase and also announced to make changes to some other services.

"We're retiring the service on April 19, 2012, so the Picnik team can continue creating photo-editing magic across Google products," according to Dave Girouard, vice president of product management for Google.

The company is also discontinuing Google Message Continuity, its service for backing up Microsoft Exchange emails

Google 'best company to work for', says Fortune

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:36:10 GMT

Fortune has ranked internet giant Google as the 'best company to work for' among a list of 100.

Google climbed three spots in the list and was ranked No. 1 in the magazine’s 2012 ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list.

“Everything was up at Google last year — revenue, profits, share price, paid search clicks, hiring — and so, too, was employee love,” the magazine said.

According to Fortune, Google employees rave abo

Facebook post helps in saving life of woman

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:42:30 GMT

A Facebook post helped in saving lives of a Utah woman and her 17-month-old-son after they were held hostage in their own home for five days.

According to police, the woman hid in a closet with a laptop from which she posted a cry for help, saying she and her child would be "dead by morning" if some help didn’t reach her.

A friend was prompted by the post to contact the police in this matter, which dispatched to the woman's home to check in on her.

Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Jon Arnold said: "Facebook was her only outlet that she had at the home. It just happened that she was able to use it."

As a consequence, police on Saturday arrested and detained 33-year-old Troy Reed Critchfield while they investigated charges of aggravated kidnapping, forcible sodomy, aggravated assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty, among other things.

According to reports, the culprit forcibly held her and her son in her home, where he repeatedly hit, choked, and sexually abused her for nearly a week. The victim, further added, that said Critchfield took her cell phone and another phone in the house that belonged to a disabled child, and that he refused to let her feed her dog.

Facebook made responsible for divorces

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:28:13 GMT

A law firm has revealed that social networking site Facebook has been blamed for one third of divorces across the globe.

Law firm Divorce-Online has revealed that in divorce cases the social network is increasingly being used as a source of evidence.

According to the firm,over the past two years, the firm said it has seen a 50 percent jump in the number of "behaviour-based" divorce petitions that contained the word "Facebook".

During the past one year, the name of the website was mentioned by at least 33 percent of the 5,000 petitions filed with the firm

Mark Keenan, managing director of Divorce-Online said: "Facebook has become the primary method for communicating with friends for many people. People contact ex-partners and the messages start as innocent, but lead to trouble. If someone wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex then it's the easiest place to do it."

Company sues worker over Twitter followers

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:18:38 GMT

A former worker was recently sued by an internet company after alleging that he costed the company thousands of dollars in lost business when he took 17,000 Twitter followers with him when he left the firm.

Noah Kravitz, a writer who worked for the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, company PhoneDog LLC, from 2006 until last year is facing a lawsuit from his former employers. Attorneys for the website, which reviews mobile devices like phones and tablets, said Kravitz owes them $340,000, according to the attorneys for the website.

According to the company, when Kravitz resigned, he changed his Twitter name from PhoneDog_Noah to noahkravitz, and kept his 17,000 followers. The company maintains that the followers should be treated like a customer list, and therefore PhoneDog's property.

$2.50 per follower per month for eight months, or a total of $340,000 is claimed by PhoneDog from Kravitz.

Facebook used by substantial populations in countries

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:07:52 GMT

With more than 800 million active users, social networking site Facebook has become the most dominant social networking site in the world.

In a December said market analyst firm Pingdom said: “Facebook currently has more than 800 million active users. With a world population having just passed the 7 billion barrier, that would mean that around 11% of people on Earth are on Facebook.

Although, US is touted as the country with the largest number of Facebook users in the world, it also has a much bigger population than many other Facebook-using countries.

By comparing a country’s population with the number of reported Facebook users in the region, Pingdom set out to discover how popular the social network was in countries with a population of more than 500,000.

Pingdom said: “We took SocialBaker’s data on how many Facebook users there are in countries around the world, data on Internet users from the World Bank, and population data from Wikipedia.”

According to the figures revealed, most popular country is Cyprus, where 69% of the entire country is using Facebook.

Hong Kong is second with 53 percent of the population and is followed by Chile (52%), Singapore (51%), Norway (51%), Denmark (51%), the United States (50%), Canada (49%), the UK (49%) and Sweden (48%).

Facebook among others summoned by court

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:51:35 GMT

21 websites, which include Facebook, Google, Orkut and YouTube among others, were summoned by a Delhi court for facing trail on charges of criminal conspiracy among others, for "selling, publicly exhibiting and...(circulating) obscene, lascivious content".

The summoning came just three days after a civil court ordered some social networking websites to remove content that might offend religious sentiments.

The matter was taken into consideration after a private criminal complaint which compelled metropolitan magistrate Sudesh Kumar to direct the Centre to take "immediate appropriate steps" and file a report in the court by January 13. Secretaries of the IT, home and law ministries received copies of the order.

The accused companies were summoned by the court on Friday to "face trial under Section 292, 293 and 120B IPC" for alleged sale of obscene objects and criminal conspiracy.

Privacy concern for Facebook users

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:56:30 GMT

According to the revelations of a new survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Privacy Authorities forum, privacy on social networking sites is a big concern for most people.

Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim said: "Most people like to talk and share information about themselves, but the survey shows people are concerned about whether they can control who sees their information,"

"Many people try to restrict access to their information, but one-third of respondents told us they weren't sure how to use their privacy settings.This suggests social networking sites aren't making it as easy as they should for people to understand how to choose who sees the information they post,” she said.

She further added that Constant changes to privacy settings don't help.

Mr Pilgrim released the results of the online survey at an APPA event in Melbourne last week.

Getting more than 10,000 respondents, the survey was conducted in four languages by privacy commissioners locally and in New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea and Mexico.

Concerned about their personal information, nearly 68 per cent said they would stop using a site that used information in unexpected ways.

Facebook postings land police dispatcher in jail

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:44:40 GMT

Recently, on the basis of alleged harassment charges, a police dispatcher was arrested for posting text messages and photos between her husband and a female police officer on her Facebook page.

Late Tuesday, dispatcher Laura De Leon turned herself into Brownsville police where she was charged with one count of online harassment and one count of phone harassment.

After being arraigned on both counts by Municipal Judge Ben Neece, she was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.

She was among the two police department employees placed on administrative leave last month for employee misconduct. The other employee was her husband Dalberto “Louie” De Leon, a Brownsville police officer.

The two had been suspended for personnel matters.

According to a dated Oct. 31, the Brownsville police report states that the charges are levied by Nancy Alanis, who is also a police officer for the city of Brownsville, and also married.

Furthermore, according to a police narrative, Alanis stated that besides harassment on phone, Laura De Leon also posted several pictures of her, and the text messages exchanged between Alanis and Dalberto De Leon, on Facebook without her consent.

$366 million in new construction move by Facebook

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:34:48 GMT

According to an impact study, the planned relocation of Facebook to Menlo Park, Calif, can result in $366 million in construction expenditure in San Mateo County

According to study commissioned by the company it is estimated that the relocation plan of the social networking giant can result in 366 million in new temporary construction spending in the surrounding county.

Economic research firm Brion & Associates said in a study of the impact that the construction budget is $250 million, and the project may generate $116 million in additional activity and it may also mean 2,441 temporary construction jobs.

Joanne Brion, founder of Brion & Associates, said: “The potential is there to change and diversify the nature of Menlo Park’s economy,” she said. “Employees may leave Facebook and set up their own companies. VCs could be attracted to the area. Facebook will need goods and services as they grow.”

Rs 70 lakh package to IIT-Kanpur student offered by Facebook

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:26:42 GMT

In a new move, an IIT student in the ongoing campus placements, at Kanpur, was offered about Rs 70 lakh per annum package by Facebook, the social networking giant.

IIT-K registrar Sanjeev Kashelkar said: "M Tech (computer science and engineering) student Siddharth Agrawal has been offered the package (near about Rs 70 lakh),"

Without disclosing the amount, the registrar said that Facebook has offered high packages to other students as well but the one offered to Agrawal is the highest so far.

A similar package to an IIT-Kharagpur student was offered by Facebook, last week.

Facebook to comply with government orders

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:19:44 GMT

On Tuesday, it was announced by Facebook that it will pay due consideration to the concerns of Indian government regarding the minimization of abusive content online, and it will remove any content violating its terms.

In a statement Facebook said: "We will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service."

On Tuesday, the information and telecoms minister Kapil Sibal said that many leading Internet companies including Facebook and Google were instructed by the Indian government that they need to remove 'offensive content' from their services, , but he insisted the request was not censorship.

Furthermore, Sibal said that the government did not believe in censorship, but the internet companies needed to evolve a mechanism to remove 'offensive' content.

Music licensing management strategy of Google

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:11:45 GMT

Improvement and innovation have always been the focus of Google. Keeping up with this trend, a post on the YouTube blog disclosed that Google has bought RightsFlow, a start-up based in New York to manage its music licensing. The move is aimed at increasing the company’s productivity. Music rights of songwriters, recording artists, record labels, distributors and online music services will be managed by the assistance of RightsFlow.

Complex issues of licensing and royalty payment management are the main areas of focus for RightsFlow . The blog also said that smart copyright management is essential for online video service as it helps songwriters and performers to be compensated appropriately and also allows using those works in newer ways. A team that will manage all the licensing issues for YouTube will be now brought onboard by the acquisition of RightsFlow. A move, estimated to bring more music on You Tube.

Google Chrome with mini ninjas coming soon

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:04:55 GMT

Even though browser gaming in not a new concept ,but the visual extravagance which is lacking at most times, is being planned for a change by Square Enix by launching Mini Ninjas for Google Chrome, next year.

Mini Ninjas which was released in September 2009, was a cute-ish action RPG, where players took control of a Mini Ninja who had to put an end to an Evil Samurai Warlord hell bent on transforming docile animals into mindless samurai warriors. IO Interactive, the same company behind the Hitman and the Kane and Lynch series were the hands behind the manufacturing of the game. Although, certainty can’t be expressed whether IO will be working on the browser version as well, but sometime this month, things should become clearer as the game’s all set to hit an open beta.

More than four million have installed Guardian's Facebook app

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:03:46 GMT

As per the figures released by Guardian, the company’s Facebook app, which was launched in September, has been installed by more than 4 million users and has driven up daily page impressions by almost 1m.

The app is generating almost 1m extra page impressions per day as per the statement from Guardian News & Media. If figures from the latest ABC internet figures are to be believedguardian.co.uk recorded 3.2 million daily browsers, up by 12.23%, for October.

The young audience is also looking up to it as the data has revealed that 56.7% of the app's users are 24 or under, and 16.7% are 17 and under.

"As well as increasing traffic, the app is making our journalism visible to new audiences. Over half of the app's users are 24 and under – traditionally a very hard-to-reach demographic for news organisations. The Facebook app is one of a number of successful launches by the Guardian in recent months as our 'digital first' strategy gains momentum. We're delighted with the results," said Andrew Miller, chief executive officer of Guardian Media Group, which owns GNM.

Facebook IPO estimated to reach billions

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:40:11 GMT

The young audience is also looking up to it as the data has revealed that 56.7% of the app's users are 24 or under, and 16.7% are 17 and under.

Free websites by Google for small businesses

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:22:12 GMT

Offering of free websites to small businesses in Rajasthan was announced by Google India.

A seminar highlighting the utility of internet medium in improving businesses was held by the company.

Besides, in order for advertisers to find new markets overseas, the business owners were enlightened about Google's new free online tool 'Google Global Market Finder'.

Nitin Bawankule, Head of Online Sales, Google India, said: "Rajasthan is a key market for us as search queries in google for businesses like travel and tourism, handicrafts, jewellery of the state have gone multiple times higher in the last three years."

He further added that they are offering free websites for those small and medium businesses in Rajasthan who do not have websites, enabling them to get a free, easy-to-build website and web hosting for one year.

Firefox overtaken by Chrome

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:12:17 GMT

According to web analytics firm StatCounter, Google Inc’s Chrome internet browser for the first time overtook Firefox and in on its way to reduce the gap between Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer.

Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter chief executive, said: "We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally."

Chrome saw its market share roughly doubling from a year ago to 25.7 per cent,in November, while Internet Explorer's share dropped to 40.6 per cent from 48.2 per cent.

Fall of 25.2 per cent from 31.2 per cent, globally, was witnessed in the market share of Firefox.

Chief privacy officer appointed by Facebook

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:04:33 GMT

After overhauling its privacy policy after being forced by a US regulator, two new corporate privacy officer jobs have been created by Facebook.

The pressure recently brought by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who ruled that that the company had lied to its 800million users for the past five years made Facebook to comply.

The FTC ruled that Facebook's serious violations included allowing other companies access to users' personal information - even after they deleted their accounts.

Allegations have been pointed out that Facebook had been 'unfair and deceptive' and broke the law.

Responding to these allegations, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Erin Egan, who recently joined the company from law firm Covington and Burling, will become Chief Privacy Officer (Policy), while Chief Privacy Counsel Michael Richter will become Chief Privacy Officer (Products).

Admitting that the company has made some 'high-profile mistakes', Zuckerberg maintained that it had a good general record on privacy.

Status update character limit increased by Facebook

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:53:44 GMT

In an apparent effort to race ahead of its rivals, Facebook has introduced new features to users' profiles and now another update is in the offering. The social networking giant has now increased the limit of Facebook status updates to “more than 60,000 characters.”

"In September, we increased the character limit on status updates to 5,000 characters. Today, we're announcing that you can now write posts with more than 60,000 characters,” said Facebook’s Journalist Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik.

In this regard, update of up to 63,206 characters can be posted by the users.

While the initial limit was restricted to 160 characters, new updates through the years has now has stepped up the limit to 63,206 characters.

Galaxy Nexus volume bug in U.K. acknowledged by Google

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:18:19 GMT

Acknowledgement regarding the Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphones, using the newest version of Andriod OS, can spontaneously drop volume in the U.K., has been made by Google.

In a statement Google said: "We are aware of the volume issue and have developed a fix. We will update devices as soon as possible."

The bug causes volume on smartphones with Android 4.0--aka Ice Cream Sandwich--to drop spontaneously. The 900MHz 2G frequency, which is used by U.K. carriers O2 and Vodafone, initially appears the cause behind the issue. Nexus owners on Orange, T-Mobile, or Three won't be affected, as these networks use a different frequency, suggests evidence.

Last week, the Galaxy Nexus launched in Europe, although, no U.S. launch date has been released yet.

Facebook posts spark communal riots in Rajasthan

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:10:20 GMT

Objectionable comments against a religion on social-networking site Facebook resulted in fresh communal violence in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur town as members of a community pelted stones at shops and vehicles and clashed with police.

The troubled area was clamped with prohibitory orders as the violence resulted in injury to six persons, including policemen.

The violent clashes were in continuation of last night's tension in Udaipur over the comments on Facebook with members of the community holding demonstration in Mukherjee Chowk area near Masjid Chudigaran and burning tyres.

In Dungarpur, the protestors took a silent rally which turned violent when a youth on motorcycle entered the crowd.

The people participating in the rally beat up the youth and pelted stones at shops and vehicles.

The events turned violent and police had to resort to force to quell the protestors.

According to police, the comments, posted from a fake account, have been removed and investigations are on to nab the culprit.

Small businesses opt for Facebook

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:53:02 GMT

Social media marketing has been adopted by many small businesses and with Facebook a name to reckon with, it is no surprise that it tops the choice of these businesses.

Facebook was the most commonly used social media tactic by small businesses in connecting with their customers and stood only next to email, revealed a research from email marketing software firm Constant Contact.

83% of the small businesses that perceived social media marketing as effective said that Facebook was at least moderately so and by comparison, 46% said the same of Twitter.

Even though social media seems a favorite with small businesses, the choice lags when it comes to mobile. Overall, 72% of respondents to the Constant Contact survey said they had not incorporated mobile into any business function.

Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus coming to India

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:12:54 GMT

On Thursday, in New Delhi, while launching the Galaxy Note smartphone, Samsung said that they are planning to bring the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in India by the end of the year.

“The Google flagship phone’s “tentative launch will be this year and not next,” said Ranjit Yadav, Country Head – Mobile & IT Business at Samsung India.

The users were allowed to register for updates about the availability of the phone in the country, by the official Galaxy Nexus page for India.

The Galaxy Nexus which was announced in October features a large 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels and comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. This will be the first handset to come pre-installed with the latest Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings a plethora of changes to the popular smartphone OS.

Indian-controlled Kashmir visited by Google

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:01:22 GMT

On Thursday, an eight-member team from search engine giant-Google visited Indian-controlled Kashmir and interacted with young entrepreneurs, information technology aspirants and students.

In order to understand the strategy needed for making the region a hub of online businesses ,the visiting team held the interactive session with the young people at an international convocation centre in Srinagar, the region's summer capital.

"We are here to understand how Google owned technology can be made accessible to clients online,"said Debu Pukayastha, Principal New Business Development, Google, adding "we are not here to invest but we are here to learn how we can create and build businesses."

During the visit, interaction with local companies is scheduled for helping them in using Google technology in making their businesses successful.

"We are holding an interactive sessions to inform developers and entrepreneurs on Google product and technology," said Pukayastha.

Google integrates YouTube in Google+

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:53:40 GMT

Google has eased the sharing of videos from YouTube, its video website, for the users of its social network, Google+.

Through a small YouTube icon appearing on the top right of every Google+ page, users can access videos. A video search via the icon, which slides out into a search box when clicked, results in a playlist of related videos housed in a pop-up video window. This playlist can be posted to a Google+ user page and shared with the user’s various networks, called ‘circles’ in Google+ parlance.

The update, which has been in the works even before the Google’s private July launch, is a big boost in the social network arena for the search giant, as it stands to benefit by serving more videos from its YouTube property and Google+ users can be spend more time on the social network with the added incentive.

Gabourey Sidibe calls her Twitter account fake

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:44:07 GMT

Oscar nominee, actress Gabourey Sidibe has told fans that the twitter account under her name is fake and belongs to an impostor.

The actress further said that she doesn’t use the micro-blogging site and the messages are sent by the user who pretends her identity.

“Isn’t that crazy? I’m not on Twitter, I’m like a loser, I’m still doing Myspace,” quoted the actress on Contactmusic.

While talking about the impostor she said that it is strange because the impostor is really positive believing her to be positive but the fact is otherwise.

Furthermore, the actress said that her mom and she had actually begun to like the person behind the bogus account.

The fake Sidibe was described by her as ‘uplifting and nice’.

Warning of attacks by Kenya on Twitter

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:30:14 GMT

On Twitter, a warning was issued by Kenya's military spokesman to the residents of 10 towns in Somalia, including the port city of Kismayu, the central town of Baidoa and Afgoye near Mogadishu, about an imminent military attack.

On his Twitter account Major Emmanuel Chirchir, the Kenyan military spokesman, said that residents of Baidoa, Baadheere, Baydhabo, Dinsur, Afgoye, Bwale, Barawe, Jilib, Kismayo and Afmadow that their towns can come under military action.

Chirchir said that anyone with relatives and friends in the towns should be advised accordingly.

Advising civilians to stay away from al-Shabab camps or being used as conduits for weapons, the Kenyan military said that it will attack 10 Somali towns where the presence of al-Shabab is suspected.

Trail of Oracle, Google patent postponed

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:14:23 GMT

Delay has occurred in the patent and copyright dispute between Oracle and Google and it won't go to trial on Oct. 31 as initially scheduled, according to the judge overseeing the case.

In this regard Judge William Alsup issued an order canceling the Oct. 31 jury-trial start date as well as a pretrial conference set for Oct. 24, on Wednesday. "Dates for the final pretrial conference and trial will be re-set in due course," he wrote.

A scheduling conflict at the court due to a large criminal trial that started earlier this week is the reason for the cancellation.

It appears that the companies have been busy preparing for the trial to start. On Tuesday, they filed a lengthy list of exhibits to be presented during the trial.

Charging Google with infringing on patents and copyrights in Dalvik, Oracle filed the suit last year. Oracle acquired Java patents along with its purchase of Sun early last year. On the other hand, Google denies wrongdoing.

Alliance of Facebook and Labor Department for online job search project

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:08:03 GMT

With the objective of assisting the unemployed to find jobs, an effort will be started today by Facebook Inc., and the U.S. Labor Department.

The undertaking, called the Social Jobs Partnership, will feature a Facebook page with resources for job seekers and employers at www.facebook.com/socialjobs. Besides, a way will be developed for job postings to be delivered free using Facebook after the company studies how job seekers and recruiters use social media.

Marne Levine, vice president of global public policy at Facebook, said: “Facebook is about connecting people so that they can share what’s important to them, and that is the driving force behind the Social Jobs Partnership.”

The Labor Department alliance with Facebook is designed to help lower U.S. unemployment, which has remained at 9 percent or higher since April.

First Facebook post by Medvedev

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:56:43 GMT

To garner support as he leads Russia’s ruling party into elections, President Dmitry Medvedev has joined Facebook.

His spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters today in the Kremlin that Medvedev, who posts regular updates on Twitter Inc. and the LiveJournal blogging site, may also join VKontakte, a Russian social network.

For discussing national events as well as his own initiatives Medvedev will use Facebook, the spokeswoman added.

“This is to attract a broader spectrum of people,” Timakova said. “The president has never hidden his interest in modern means of communication, in social networks.”

Yesterday, Medvedev made his first post on Facebook. More than two years ago an unidentified fan created his account before being taken over by the Kremlin’s press service. The page had about 250,000 subscribers prior to the post.

Brothers face charges over Facebook abuse

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:48:57 GMT

The Victorian-first move in which two brothers were charged for the creation of a Facebook page used to humiliate teens has been heralded as a significant step in the war on cyber abuse.

Evidence against two Bendigo brothers who allegedly set up a page where youths as young as 13 were rated after sexual encounters, is being prepared by police.

Police have interviewed the men, aged 24 and 21, and are set to lay charges for using an "online information service to publish, transmit or make available for transmission objectionable material".

According to legal experts, the move is significant and should pave way for more cases involving social networking sites as debate continued about what behaviour pushed legal and social boundaries.

The case was investigated by police after one of the victims, a teenage girl, produced a screen grab of a post.

It is believed the 24-year-old told police he set the site up as a joke.

After about three days, Facebook closed down the web page by which time police had contacted its administrators.

Susan McLean, leading cyber safety expert praised police for pursuing the case.

"Hopefully, it will send a very clear message that people can't get involved in this stuff, and if they do there are consequences," she said.

German IT group to be joined by Facebook

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:37:54 GMT

With the prevalent concerns among its more-than 20 million German users over the social media giant's data privacy and security policies, Facebook says it is will join Germany's leading IT association.

On Wednesday, vice president Elliot Schrage held talks in Berlin with the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media â€” also known as Bitkom, says Facebook.

However, there needs to be a formal approval for its application to join.

Following complaints that it fails to comply with strict German privacy laws, it was agreed by the social media giant last month for more self-regulation concerning data privacy and young users in Germany.

The commitment to Germany is taken very seriously by Facebook which aims to work toward improved regulation and self-regulation, said Schrage in a statement.

ex-Googler eyed for board by Twitter

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:28:29 GMT

According to reports, in order to bolster its board's business credentials and diversity, Twitter is looking for a director and among the candidates is a former Google Inc executive.

Although in its early stages, the search has drawn names like Mariam Naficy, chief executive officer of paper goods company Minted.com, and Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, chief executive officer at fashion retail site Joyus and the former president of Google's Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations.

The hunt was launched by Twitter last month after the company's board parted ways with directors Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, both of whom were among the microblog's earliest investors.

Facebook abuser sentenced

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:20:58 GMT

Jail sentence of eight months has been awarded to a man who posted sectarian comments on a Facebook page called "Neil Lennon Should be Banned".

Earlier this year, Stephen Birrell, 28, from Glasgow, admitted posting the religiously prejudiced abuse on the social network.

According to Sheriff Bill Totten, the accused person has committed a hate crime which is beyond tolerance for "the right thinking people of Glasgow and Scotland".

He further said that he wanted to send a clear message to deter others form crimes like these.

The postings made derogatory references to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and also included remarks about Catholicism.

He also posted abuse directed at the Pope.

"I am satisfied that the nature of this offence, and in particular your previous record, means that I require to impose a prison sentence on you.I do want to make clear today that in selecting a prison sentence I also have in mind that the court should be sending out a clear message to deter others who might be tempted to behave in this way," sheriff Totten told Birrell while passing the sentence.

He also told Birrell that there was "no place in our modern society" for the use of the internet to spread or support abuse or to target people.

Furthermore, the accused was banned from attending all regulated football matches in the UK for five years.

Privacy not a concern for frequent Facebook users

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:12:07 GMT

According to a new poll by USA Today and Gallup, even among the prevailing atmosphere where security concerns are raised with Facebook’s sharing of information online, most users aren't very worried.

The survey which was conducted with more than 2,000 adults revealed that privacy was a concern for 26 percent of respondents who use Facebook daily as compared with 35 percent for weekly Facebook users and 39 percent for people who use Facebook less often.

The revelation implies that the more use of Facebook is equivalent to less concerns regarding privacy on the social network.

Facebook has recently included some changes that allow users to reveal more about themselves: "Timelines" are a new form of profile that chronicle users' entire lives through photos, status updates and apps, and the "Open Graph" is a way for Facebook apps to automatically publish your activity, including the songs users are listening to, the places they're going and the articles they're reading.

The survey revealed further 87 percent of respondents who use Facebook daily have noticed the new features, compared with 34 percent for respondents who use the site less than once a week.

56 percent of respondents disliked the new features, and 36 percent showed approval.

A virtual superhero created on Facebook

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:04:53 GMT

A cult following has resulted for an opera-loving, cage-fighter-in-training after stories and pictures were posted on Facebook of the muscular mystery man whose peculiarity is shirtless walks through Milwaukee.

Curiosity about the focused man he'd see speed walk past his workplace every day rose so much in Tim Panicucci, 35, that he started the fan page about a year ago. Helped by his hairy resemblance to the comic book character Wolverine and his shark-like movements on the streets of Milwaukee, Panicucci and his friends chose the nickname the Milverine.

More than 2,700 fans from Milwaukee were garnered by the photo-filled Facebook page and with the number growing and growing by additions from other places .

John Hamann is the actual name of the Milverine and the 48-year-old construction worker who lives with his mother says he doesn't mind the attention. Although he is not much into computer usage, he learned of the Facebook page recently when someone stopped him.

"It just kind of amuses me, you know? That's all I can think about it," he said. "Somebody wants to take a picture and I say, 'OK.' You know, it's over with, you know."

Usually he walks shirtless when it is warm and he's trying to keep his weight down to become a cage fighter. He loves opera because of the strong voices.

He said he has intervened several times when he's seen people being attacked, but he doesn't compare himself to fictional superheroes like Wolverine.

Inexpensive manual link building service offered by SEO Deutschland

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:53:46 GMT

Announcement about the launch of affordable complete link building services in the market was recently made by Seo Deutschland. Keeping in consideration the businesses and demand of all sizes, the company introduced the latest plans.

In Germany Seo Deutschland, a company that offers affordable marketing and link-building to boost the web reputation of businesses is best acknowledged as the preferred web services. Link building, article/press release writing and distribution, social bookmark submissions, rss distribution, video creation and marketing, press release and brand recognition are some of the services that the company offers.

Apart from Germany, Seo Deutschland is a well-known solutions provider in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and several European countries also.

All-inclusive business model is the specialty of Seo Deutschland. The policy is indicative of this all inclusiveness with the consideration that majority businesses online are small, and medium-sized. The pricing policy is kept budget friendly, Whether it is for services that needs regular commitment or work in large quantities.

Inexpensive manual link building service offered by SEO Deutschland

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:53:46 GMT

Apart from Germany, Seo Deutschland is a well-known solutions provider in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and several European countries also.

Wall Street protests assisted by Facebook, Twitter

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:45:37 GMT

Highlighting the power of social media in spite of scant major media coverage, Facebook and Twitter are being used for organizing by Occupy Wall Street.

The protestors find it convenient to communicate with one another and draw new participants by using social media, as well as mobile e-mail, video, and texting. Besides, updates regarding location changes, strategies, and potential dangers can be sent instantly.

The other peculiarity shared by social media is that long before major media outlets arrive, photos and videos of police responding to protesters, and other compelling clips, are shared and circulated instantly.

The social media tools like Facebook etc., were utilized with astounding success in the uprisings in Middle East countries, earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Occupy Wall Street protests are spreading to smaller cities throughout the U.S. Hartford, Connecticut and Knoxville, Tenn., among others, are planning solidarity marches with new technology, as mainstream media's coverage continues to falter.

Twitter flooded with comments on Apple founder's death

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:35:40 GMT

It was a landslide of comments as Twitter was flooded users to mourn Steve Jobs' death.

Using a medium that was made popular on the iPhones and iPads that Jobs created, the users utilized Twitter to pay homage to the co-founder of Apple. "RIP Steve Jobs" was the top trending topic in New York and San Francisco, shortly after the news of death of the technology entrepreneur.

However, the deluge of comments proved too much for Twitter to cope with. With the said situation, many Twitter users reported seeing the so-called "Fail Whale," an image of a sperm whale which is displayed when Twitter has more messages than it can handle.

"You know that somebody important has died when you keep getting the FailWhale...It's the new measure of somebody's influence," tweeted Mike Shaw, who goes by the name @zax2000 on Twitter.

Celebrities were also among those who expressed their tribute on Job’s death.

"Steve lived the California Dream every day of his life and he changed the world and inspired all of us," wrote Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former governor of California.

Ashton Kutcher, the actor, said: "We have all surfed on the wake of Steve Jobs ship. Now we must learn to sail, but we will never forget our skipper".

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey wrote simply: "Thank you, Steve."

Twitter diplomacy in Latin America urged by US senator

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:09:28 GMT

According to a new U.S. report obtained by Reuters, in order to promote its agenda in Latin America and help newly wired citizens cement political gains, the United States needs aggressive utilization of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Although, Latin countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua still sought to curb economic and political freedoms, the other countries needed help buttressing emerging civil society groups, said Senator Richard Lugar.

Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that just like playing a central role in Arab uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East, social media can play a pivotal role in Latin America.

In the preface to the report, Lugar said: "Latin America does have the advantage of more mobile phone subscriptions, Internet users, broadband access, and secure Internet servers than the Middle East."

Twitter diplomacy in Latin America urged by US senator

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:09:04 GMT

Although, latin countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua still sought to curb economic and political freedoms, the other countries needed help buttressing emerging civil society groups, said Senator Richard Lugar.

Lost wedding ring sought by widow on Facebook

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:55:22 GMT

To locate a priceless piece of jewelery, the widow of a Navy Seal who was killed in Afghanistan has pinned hopes on instant digital communications.

In the hope of finding her late husband's silver wedding band which she lost Oct.1, Kimberly Vaughn turned to Facebook.

On Aug 6, along with 30 U.S. personnel, her husband, Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class (SEAL) Aaron Vaughn, was killed by insurgents in Afghanistan.

It is said that somewhere between Super 8 hotel in Deer Park, Texas, and her US Airways flights to Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, she lost her wedding band.

According to her Facebook page, the lost ring is in silver with a flat edge and brushed finish and although, it has got "Kimberly" engraved on it, it may not be visible as it is worn out for long.

Vaughn says that she is thankful for all the support she has garnered so far in her campaign on Facebook.

Dalai Lama debacle finds expression on Twitter

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:39:31 GMT

On Wednesday, social networking site Twitter was used as premise to express their opinion and disappointment over the cancelled Dalai Lama visit by prominent SA celebrities, media personalities and politicians.

"Ban the Dalai Lama, ban reporter Deon de Lange from parliament. Ban, ban, ban. Who do you think you are - Ban ki Moon [United Nations secretary general]?” said Journalist Max du Preez.

"Just had breakfast with senior Western diplomat. Says no doubt SA could have allowed Dalai Lama with only few grumbles from Beijing," expressed the same journalist earlier.

Because of not getting visa on time, the charismatic exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was compelled to cancel his trip on Tuesday. He was planning to attend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday.

Reacting to the government’s failure in granting the Tibetan leader a visa, Tutu said South Africans would pray for the downfall of the ANC.

Supporting Tutu, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille tweeted: "Pray by all means -- and vote!"

“We will pray for your downfall.' Turning-point has just arrived. Ndebele, Tutu, Tutu, Ntsebeza...", posted City Press editor Ferial Haffajee.

Many opinions were expressed in this regard on Twitter.

Football tweets broaden horizons of Twitter usage

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:19:06 GMT

According to the US researchers Twitter can prove a barometer of what is happening during important events.

Tweets were monitored by engineers of Texas Rice University during US National Football League games.

The tweets seemed to indicate within seconds when touchdowns, interceptions and other match action happened.

These services can be utilized for a wide range of scenarios like political debates, power cuts, reflections on society etc.

The tweets made during football matches in 2010 were monitored and analyzed by SportSense. Professor Lin Zhong worked in collaboration with engineers from the Betaworks group of the Motorola Mobility Applied Research Centre for this undertaking.

"We chose football because touchdowns, interceptions and other events in the game cause a lot of excitement and lead a lot of people to tweet," he said.

"We found that a careful examination of the tweets could tell us what was happening in the game," he added.

Within 20 seconds, the software was able to register big events of them happening, often before sports sites such as ESPN had acknowledged them.

Cut estimated in the Twitter sales

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:41:20 GMT

EMarketer Inc., has estimated Twitter Inc’s advertising revenue to reach $139.5 million this year, which is below the earlier estimation of $150 million because the microblogging website has been slow to roll out some services.

The report of the research firm stated that Twitter hasn’t yet added expected advertising products such as a “self-serve” platform that lets customers set up their own ads. However, EMarketer still gave the chances that ad revenue may more than triple in 2011, and sales will rise more than expected in later years. By 2013Global ad revenue is predicted to reach almost $400 million.

Earlier this month, Twitter said it surpassed 100 million active users, and is aiming to drive revenue by wooing advertisers and leveraging its membership base, which includes celebrities, politicians and journalists. The company in July said it would begin highlighting advertisers’ promotional messages, called “promoted tweets,” in some user feeds.

Twitter tweets users' emotional states revealed by study

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:35:56 GMT

A new study on Twitter messages has revealed that most people in the world feel upbeat in the morning before becoming grumpier later in the day.

In the course of its findings the study examined the contents of more than 500 million tweets sent in 84 countries over two years, and found that people wake up happy but become grumpier as the day wears on and rebound in the evening, with a peak right before bedtime.

Published in the journal Science, the study, also showed that people are happier from December to late June, when days gradually lengthen in the Northern Hemisphere.

Twitter account cancelled by Yingluck after hacker attack

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:38:50 GMT

According to officials, after hackers manipulated the twitter account of Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, it was terminated.

The 29,000 followers of Yingluck's twitter account may have surprise written on their faces as they will witness the blank page on the account now, with almost all previous tweets deleted.

According to the Information and Communications Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap, Yingluch had made up her mind to stop using twitter and would from now on only contact the netizens via her Facebook page.

After hacking Yingluck's personal twitter account @PouYingluck on Sunday, the hackers posted messages that defamed the the government and premier.

The police investigation is on and the culprits behind the crime have been indentified, according to Anudith.

Google bypassed by Amazon tablet software

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:25:43 GMT

According to an anaslyst, even though Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire tablet uses Google Inc's software it, however, bypasses Google's project to extend its clout in Internet search and advertising into tablets and phones

According to an announcement by Amazon, the sale of the tablet will commence from November 15 for $199. The tablet is based upon the Google Inc's Android operating system, used by most tablets that are trying to compete with Apple Inc's iPad.

However, all the Google applications that ride on the Android kernel, including the Web browser, Gmail, application market place and mapping application have been removed by Amazon. Instead, is providing its own applications instead, like a "Silk" browser that sends traffic through Amazon's data centers to optimize it for tablets.

Google is the most attractive employer

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:03:22 GMT

Beating Apple and a host of non- tech companies, Google has topped the choice as the most preferable company to work with, in a survey.

The findings of the survey conducted by employer branding firm Universum, reveal that more people would like to work for the Mountain View company than any other.

In the process of finding the results, the survey, split between those looking for a career in the business sector and those looking for a career in the engineering sector, found that more than 160,000 job seekers from the world’s 12 biggest economies questioned in the survey preferred Google as the world’s most attractive employer for the third consecutive year.

“The talent market for business career seekers is being dominated by the professional services firms, known for being great places to launch a career, and by companies that offer a new working culture in a dynamic environment,” said Lovisa Öhnell, head of research and consulting at Universum about the findings of the survey.

Twitter plans new office in Ireland

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:03:02 GMT

The Irish Industrial Development Agency announced in a tweet that an international office is planned at Dublin by Twitter, the San Francisco-based micro-blogging website.

The message by the agency said: "Ireland is trending. Twitter to establish international office in Dublin."

By this move, Twitter joins a band of high-profile technology and computer multinationals with bases in Ireland, including Citigroup, Facebook , Google and Microsoft.

Ireland offers 12.5-percent rate of corporation tax, one of the lowest in Europe and this is the reason why foreign companies are attracted to it.

The move is a part of the expansion operation outside the US planned by Twitter, which already has its offices outside Tokyo and London.

The decision has been appreciated in Ireland.

Data centers in Asia to be built by Google

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:49:20 GMT

As it is giving tough competition to its rivals with surge in the number of its membership, Google announced that with a cost of $200 million it will build three data centres in Asia.

According to the firm, the venue for these centres remains Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong on a total of 22.6 hectares (56 acres) of land. The firm has data centres in the US and Europe but lacks one in Asia.

In order to improve the firm’s service to customers in the region, computer and telecom systems with high security and backup power supplies will be housed by the centres.

The firm faces stiff competition in Asia, where the world’s largest internet population resides. The challenge gets stronger as IT competiveness is on the rise in Asia.

Surge in the membership of Google+

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:28:48 GMT

Since it allowed anyone to join it, social network Google (GOOG) + has attracted an unprecedented traffic surge. Now, with all the attention it has garnered the only thing that remains to be tested in its case is the sustainability.

The surge of traffic was 1,269 percent for the week after Google's decision to open up membership to the 3-month-old site, according to Internet metrics company Experian Hitwise . Astonishingly, just one day- 21 Sept – was enough for it to become the third most popular social networking site. On the way, it surpassed Twitter and trailed only Facebook and Youtube

Meanwhile, Paul Allen, the Ancestry.com founder who has become an unofficial statistician for Google+, estimates the number of people worldwide who have joined at about 50 million, with the social network adding about 2 million members a day.

Nearly 50million people have joined Google+ and the membership gets added by 2 million per day, said Paul Allen, the Ancestry.com founder who has become an unofficial statistician for the social network.

However, these estimates were not commented upon by Google.

Claims of tracking logged out users denied by Facebook

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:10:50 GMT

Facebook has denied allegations that it tracks it users when they are logged out, saying it only uses tracking cookies to personalize content and to make the social networking site more secure.

Allegations that it tracks its users when they are logged out has been have been refuted by social networking site Facebook, which said that in order to make the site more secure and to personalize the content it only utilizes tracking cookies.

Claims were made by an Australian technologist, Nik Cubrilovic that rather than deleting its tracking cookies when the user is logged out, the site only modifies them while maintaining account information and other unique tokens that can be used to identify its users.

The claims by the Australian technologist were refuted by Facebook engineer, Gregg Stefancik who said that the company alters, but does not delete cookies when users log out.
The engineer further added that it was only a safety measure and the company does not use the cookies to track users or sell their personal information.

The logged-out cookies are used to identify spammers and phishers, detect when an unauthorised person is trying to access a user's account, help users regain access to an account when it's been hacked and disable registration for underage users who try to re-register with a different birthdate, said the social networking giant.

Art of joke telling murdered by Facebook, Twitter

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:18:11 GMT

The art of joke telling is getting diminished by technology, reveals a new study.

The time-honoured tradition where schoolchildren, work colleagues or friends would ask each other 'have you heard the one about,’ has been replaced by technology in the shape of emails, social networking sites and internet video clips.

The extent of the influence of high-tech humour can be gauged by the fact that that one in three adults does not know a single gag, while 18 per cent know only one.

The poll of 2,000 people by Costa Coffee revealed that nearly half of the participants would like to be able to tell more jokes but can never remember the punchline.

According to the findings of the study, 13 per cent of the respondents prefer to share funny anecdotes via email and one in twenty likes to tell jokes via social networking sites.

Furthermore, the researchers found that one quarter that said funny clips on the Internet are more likely to amuse them than old-fashioned jokes.

Twitter and Facebook associate to link users

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:38:57 GMT

In order to help its users in directly channeling their profile to a linked Twitter account, Facebook is working on a corresponding feature.

The move is unique given the fact that, at present, Facebook pages that are specifically meant for bands, businesses, and celebrities and other public personalities are the only means by which the Facebook users can connect to Twitter.

While no specific date has been given, Facebook has said linking will be introduced soon.

The forthcoming connection to Twitter was highlighted before the people as Facebook unveiled its "subscription" system that works in a similar fashion to Twitter's "follower" feature.

Facebook page subscribers will automatically be informed when its subscriber publishes his/her 'public update'.

The dynamic of Facebook will be changed by this new feature which before now has been about sharing updates with users deemed to be their "friends".

The public activities of almost any of Facebook’s 600 million users will be available by subscribing to the feature.

The changes are deemed as response by Facebook to the success of the Google + social network that makes it easier to send updates to other places.

Lack of evidence crashes the first ‘Facebook trail’

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:27:33 GMT

Lack of evidence crashes the first ‘Facebook trail’

There has been collapse of the case against a man accused of inciting a political uprising on Facebook , say Defense attorneys in Zimbabwe.

On Wednesday, citing that investigators failed to retrieve the message as evidence, Attorney Lizwe Jamela said the court threw out the subversion charge.

The accused 39 year old businessman was acquitted from the allegation of of posting a message on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Facebook which urged him to lead North Africa-style protests in Zimbabwe.

Before his acquittal, the businessman spent a month in jail in May.

Staying in power for more than 30 years, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been striving to constraint the public debate about the Arab Spring that toppled other longtime rulers on the continent.

German local bargain website acquired by Google

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:10:21 GMT

In its efforts to expand its local deals program to users outside the United States, Google has bought German local bargain website DailyDeal, the company said in a statement.

Responding to an AFP inquiry a Google spokeswoman said in an email response that as more and more people go online to find the latest, most relevant deals, they are exploring new ways to help consumers get the best local deals out there.

The spokesman further added that DailyDeal team has an incredible track record in this space and the company is looking for a fruitful association with them.

Uncle Pai doodled by Google

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:56:03 GMT

Paying homage to the man behind India’s largest-selling comic book series, Amar Chitra Katha, Google chose to honour the late Anant Pai, fondly known as Uncle Pai, with a tribute doodle on its home page on his 82nd birth anniversary.

With Google’s logo running across the two panels in the background and aptly, depicting a comic strip, the first panel of the doodle showed a young Pai seated at his desk, while the second had him standing next to a book shelf with some of his comic books.

Following a heart attack, the veteran passed away earlier this year, leaving behind his legacy of numerous memorable characters, such as Suppandi, Tantri the Mantri and Shikari Shambu, which are popular comic characters in India.

Stressing on the Indian mythology he launched the famous comic series Amar Chitra Katha in 1967.

EMarketer estimates double revenue for Facebook

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:45:30 GMT

According to research firm EMarketer Inc., $4.27 billion in revenue this year will be generated by Facebook Inc., which is more than double the $2 billion made in 2010.

This year, advertising will fetch the company $3.8 billion, which is up by 104 percent from $1.86 billion in 2010, estimated the research firm in an e-mailed statement. Besides, it is estimated that the company should make $470 million from Facebook Credits, a virtual- currency program that lets users buy items in games, which is more than triple the $140 million it made last year.

Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at EMarketer, said in a statement that Facebook’s revenue streams will continue to diversify, with ads representing a decreasing proportion of total revenue while other sources such as Facebook Credits will grow.

The company, EMarketer said in the statement that Facebook, while competing with rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc., is looking to benefit from its more than 750 million users, by trying to draw more ad dollars and spending on its service for online attention and t is expected to become the top seller of display advertising in the U.S. this year, surpassing Yahoo, which was No. 1 in 2010.

Facebook and Google met by German minister on US tech tour

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:30:42 GMT

While on a visit to the US, German Consumer Protection Minster Ilse Aigner has met with Facebook managers. However, as Aigner couldn't be persuaded to reestablish her Facebook account , there will be no online discussions.

Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner, after deleting her Facebook profile over a year ago and more recently warning her colleagues in the German cabinet to remove the "Like" button from their websites, met with Facebook's spokesperson for global policy, Marne Levine, on Tuesday.

The discussions were described as “open and constructive" by the minister, while emphasizing that Facebook and other social networks' popularity mean they have an important role to play when it comes to data protection.

The modus operandi of the company in dealing with the users' data needs a change, she added.

She further added that her responsibility as consumer protection minister is to fight for the users and as far as privacy of the data is concerned, she sees a lot of question marks when it comes to Facebook.

Besides, representatives from Google and Microsoft as well as consumer protection groups met Aigner, but the details of those discussions were not made public.

2.3 lakh jobs worth $15 billion created by Facebook apps

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:16:10 GMT

A new study has revealed that, besides being platform of connecting with friends and acquaintances, social networking website Facebook, also seems to be helping create lakhs of jobs.

More than two lakh jobs this year alone in the US with salaries totalling more than $15 billion could have been created by the enormous increase in the Facebook-related applications, revealed the study by the University of Maryland's Robert H Smith School of Business.

The study stated that up to 235,644 new jobs have been created by the Facebook applications and contributed an estimated up to $15.71 billion in wages and other benefits to the US economy.

This year, the study pegged the minimum number of such jobs at 1, 82,000, with at least $12.19 billion worth salaries and benefits in software companies making the applications for Facebook Platform and other sectors associated with such activities.

Stressing that more than 53,000 new jobs have been created in software companies alone, this new phenomenon has been termed as 'App Economy’, by the study. Everything from productivity tools to popular games like 'Farmville' that users interact with on Facebook, is included in these Apps.

Smith's Center for Digital Innovation, Technology, and Strategy co-director Il-Horn Hann said that their findings confirm that social media platforms have created a thriving new industry and as Facebook and other platforms grow, they will continue to see job growth and the ripple effects of these advances in the US economy.

Job creation has been the result of business in the app economy at businesses that supply app developers, and in sectors that reap the benefits of increased household spending by app developers.

About 2,000 people are employed by Facebook, which boasts around 750 million users who install 20 million apps each day.

“Tweet” trademark battle for Twitter

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:06:29 GMT

In its battle to win trademark registration of the term “tweet,” Twitter is suing one of its third-party developers.

An online advertising service, Twittad, filed its trademark application for “Let Your Ad Meet Tweets,” in 2008. Twitter, in a lawsuit filed last week, asked a California court to cancel that trademark, claiming the phrase “unfairly exploits the widespread association by the consuming public of the mark TWEET with Twitter, and threatens to block Twitter from its registration and legitimate uses of its own mark.”

Twitter owns trademarks for terms like “retweet” and “cotweet,” but not “tweet.” Several third-party developers registered the trademark first, and for years Twitter has been arguing that it is the rightful owner of the term.

The lawsuit is Twitter’s latest battle move as it tries to manage tenuous relationships with developers who have claimed important trademarks or cultivated a wealth of Twitter users through unique tools, like the Tweetie iPhone app or the TweetDeck message organizer. Twitter acquired both of those companies, but continues to negotiate with others that rely on its platform for their business.

In its complaint against Twittad, Twitter claims that it made “numerous attempts to resolve the dispute amicably” before filing the lawsuit. It has since suspended Twittad’s Twitter account.

On the same day Twitter filed the lawsuit, it also announced reaching the milestone of 100m active users on its site.

Facebook posts by two cops draw complaint from San Jose councilman

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:13:18 GMT

San Jose City Councilman Pete Constant, highlighting a growing and sometimes controversial nexus between police and social media, has made a complaint to city officials that two San Jose command police officers flamed him on Facebook.

A former San Jose police officer, Constant, would not identify the officers. Nor would the department.

According to reports, the two officers are Lt. Rob Millard, who works in patrol, and Lt. Rick Weger, head of the department's Internal Affairs unit.

The two objectionable posts were made in late April, said the councilman.

Weger's post referred to the published account of a meeting in which Constant summoned a police officer to make sure a disruptive speaker left the podium: "Who is going to come running when he fires 200 cops? Maybe Constant would need a SJPD body guard if he would just tell the truth."

Millard's Facebook post said of Constant's behavior: "Once a coward and a thief, always a coward and a thief."

The posts were shown by Constant to City Manager Debra Figone and Police Chief Chris Moore. They expressed "concern," Constant said. But he said he is not aware if anything was done about the complaint.

"Your job as a command officer to is to build morale, not to tear down morale," Constant said, referring to the two officers. Both officers declined to comment.

The San Jose Police Department has a general policy that says officers may post on Facebook and other social networking sites but warns they should not use it in a way that would constitute "conduct unbecoming of an officer."

One of the examples the policy warns against is posting anything that would harm the reputation of the department, the city or its employees.

Legal experts say it's permissible to limit some online free speech rights of public employees, but others warn the limitations can easily go too far.

"There is a legitimate interest in maintaining order and not undermining the department," said ACLU staff lawyer Linda Lye. "But maintaining an effective administration is not to be used as a pretext to censor unpopular speech in political issues, such as questioning the competence of elected officials."

Google's Chrome is No. 2 internet browser in Taiwan

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:51:41 GMT

After its launch three years ago, Google Inc.'s Chrome browser has overtaken Mozilla's Firefox as the second-largest browser in Taiwan the Internet search engine said Monday.

The web-based Chrome browser, released in September 2008, accounted for 15.1 percent of the local market in July this year, surpassing the 14.22 percent of the open-source Firefox for the first time, Google said in a statement, citing statistics compiled by web analytics firm StatCounter.

In August, the figure further rose to 15.53 percent while Firefox lost more ground to 13.35 percent, the statistics show. Last year in August, Google's Chrome had only 5.99 percent behind Firefox's 11.3 percent in Taiwan.

However, Chrome remains a distant contender to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which took the top spot with a 67.42 percent share of the local market.

Chrome's share, in terms of the global market, increased to 23.16 percent in August from 10.76 percent a year earlier, marking the fastest growth among the top five browsers, StatCounter said.

During the past two years, as the global number of users of Chrome has increased from 70 million to 160 million the company launched Chrome-based notebook computers, or Chromebooks, in the middle of June.

The two Chromebooks, branded by Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan's Acer Inc., are being sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and South Korea.

Ohio antitrust case victory for Google

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:30:05 GMT

In a small Ohio antitrust case that many observers view as part of a legal proxy war with archrival Microsoft Corp, Google Inc. scored a victory.

An Ohio state court, on Wednesday, dismissed a private antitrust case brought by local Internet company myTriggers.com Inc. against Google. In its ruling, the court said the company had failed to provide evidence to substantiate its allegation that it had been boycotted by Google.

The myTriggers case attracted broad attention because the tiny company was being represented by Microsoft's chief outside antitrust counsel, Charles "Rick" Rule.

In filing a private antitrust suit against Google, Mr. Rule and his firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, represented another small Internet company: Tradecomet.com LLC. In July, a New York appeals court rejected that company's appeal against a ruling dismissing its case, saying it should have been filed in Google's home district in California instead.

In a bid to get access to Google's internal documents through legal discovery, Google has long suspected that Microsoft was helping orchestrate these small, private suits.

In March 2010, a Google spokesman told The Wall Street Journal, "It's become clear that our competitors are scouring court dockets around the world looking for complaints against Google into which they can inject themselves, learn more about our business practices, and use that information to develop a broader antitrust complaint against us."

Microsoft has repeatedly denied being behind the suits. TradeComet and myTriggers also said their claims against Google were unconnected to Microsoft.

Google’s App Engine price Increase disgusts developers

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:19:06 GMT

An increase in the price of its App Engine was decided by Google. In the second half of September, it would lose its preview status and the company will release a tool that would let present users calculate how much they need to pay according to the service’s new pricing setup. The new pricing is an effort to turn App Engine into a sustainable business.

This news was not received well by the developers with some of them are looking for alternatives for their applications. But there are others who pointed out that moving would be expensive because of the service’s unique design.

Some are questioning the App Engine’s long-term health. It features unique APIs and a data model that’s not found in other platforms. Developers using the App Engine are at the mercy of Google. Now coders realize the disadvantages of the service, which are the pricing and the lock-in argument against it.

In the spring of 2008, Google App Engine was rolled out as a beta product. IT offered third-party developers a way to run apps using Google’s distributed back-end infrastructure. After three years of testing, it will now go out of its preview stage.

The service will still have a free version of the service for developers that can keep their usage under a certain limit but it would be lower. Larger apps are charged according to the amount of time the virtual instance is running instead of CPU time.

Google Exec stole Android, claims Apple

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:09:06 GMT

Andy Rubin, Google's senior vice president and the man responsible for the Android operating system, is accused by Apple of pinching the idea when he worked as a low-level engineer at Apple in the early 1990s, U.S. media are reporting.

According to U.S. Internet media Business Insider, on Friday (local time), Rubin was in a position to see Apple's patent for a new operating system, which he later developed into Android and took to Google, the company is claiming.

Apple is believed to have made the allegation in a paper it handed to the International Trade Commission in the United States when it filed a suit against Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC in March 2010.

Until now, it was thought that Rubin started planning the Android OS when he worked at General Magic in the mid-1990s. But Apple is arguing it is no mere coincidence that this took place after he worked for Steve Jobs from 1989 to 1992.

Hijacking led by Facebook security flaw

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:58:44 GMT

Just like general users, corporate who have set up their Facebook pages too need to cautious, as according to IT security  firm Sophos, it is quite easy to hack Facebook 'Page' due to a loop hole in the social network's settings.

As their Facebook page stands for their brand, this can be especially dangerous for businesses.

Once the creator of the page appoints someone as an administrator to their Page, that person can then remove the admin privileges of the creator of the Page, According to Sophos .

Here, while the onus is on Facebook Page creators to be careful about who they grant admin access to, it is possible for newly appointed administrators to hijack the Page, removing the original creator's admin rights -- effectively taking permanent control of the Page.

Facebook's own help pages state that "the original creator of the Page may never be removed by other Page admins", however a video from Sophos proves that this is not the case.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said : "There are two issues here. Even if a trusted friend or colleague is working as an administrator on a Facebook Page, it is possible that their account may be compromised, giving the bad guys a chance to hijack the Facebook Page you've created. The other possibility is that the Page founder grants a stranger admin rights to the Page.”

“While this might not sound like the best idea, there are several services, such as Fiverr, where you can find plenty of people offering to help you to maximise the success of your Facebook Page, " he added.

"If you give a cut-price 'social media expert' admin rights to your Facebook Page, you really only have yourself to blame if you're ousted," continued Cluley. "However, the question is - why can't Facebook do what its help pages say it will do - either block attempts to remove the original admin, or send a request to the original admin asking if they agree to be removed from their administrator role. That would surely help prevent hijacks like this taking place."

15% of Facebook videos are likejacking attacks, finds Symantec

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:41:53 GMT

On the social network, Facebook scams have always been a problem and just like email spam, no matter what improvements the company makes, scammers and spammers always find a new way to cause problems. Security company Symantec recently set out to analyze like jacking attacks on Facebook.

On August 2, using a sample of 3.5 million posts with videos Symantec found that up to 15 percent of unique posts were identified as likejacking attacks. Of course this number is skewed because most posts on Facebook aren’t videos, but it still gives a general idea of what Palo Alto needs to do in order to compete with YouTube.

For those who don’t know, likejacking is a play on the term clickjacking, which means asking a victim to click something while a different action is taken behind the scenes. Likejacking specifically refers to a victim clicking on something only to have some piece of content Liked, without their knowledge, in the background. This typically occurs with a fake video player window overlayed with a hidden iframe; actually clicking on it anywhere submits a Like, promoting the scam in question to your Facebook friends.

Because of the content posted to your Wall, Likejacking can be embarrassing. It can also be annoying because of how quickly a given scam can go viral. Worst of all though, they can be used by scammers to infect PCs with malware or steal online account information.

Facebook ads more likely to be clicked by women

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:09:18 GMT

Older users are more likely to click on a Facebook ad while younger users tend to click the Like button instead, found a new study. Facebook ad clickers are also more likely to be women.

As an advertising medium, interest around Facebook is exploding, arguably because the site’s user base is still rapidly growing: 750 million users and counting. Of course, not all these users react to advertising the same way, according to a new research study by Sociasl Code, which calls itself a Facebook-focused agency.

To get a better understanding of how age and gender affect click-through rates (CTR) and Facebook Like rates on the social network, the research examined over 4 million data points across over 50 clients from a wide variety of industries. The results show that older Facebook users have a higher CTR while younger Facebook users tend to click the ad’s Like button instead. Aside from being older, Facebook ad clickers are more likely to be women.

The study found that while age has a strong positive effect on whether a user will click, it oftentimes has the opposite effect on the likelihood of the user Liking a given Page:

·         50+ year-old users, the oldest segment in the study, are 28.2 percent more likely to click through and 9 percent less likely to like than 18-29 year-old users, the youngest group observed.

·         Versus the rest of the younger population on Facebook, 50+ users see a 22.6 percent higher CTR and a 8.4 percent lower Like rate.

Age, when broken down by gender, has a much more pronounced effect on CTR for women than it does for men, whereas for men there is a stronger effect on the Like rate than for women:

·         Men are 2.2 percent more likely to like an ad than women are.

·         Overall, women are 11 percent more likely to click on an ad.

·         For women, CTR is 31.2 percent higher for the 50+ age group versus 18-29 year olds, while men only see a 16.2 percent difference between the age groups.

·         Versus all age groups, 50+ women’s CTR is 22 percent higher versus a 16.4 percent difference for men.

·         The oldest male segment has an 11.7 percent lower like rate than the youngest segment and a 9.5 percent lower like rate versus all age groups. Women only see a 7.2 percent and 7.9 percent difference, respectively.

Facebook account of Pink hacked

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:02:48 GMT

Pink has now been added to the constantly growing list of celebrities who have been targeted by hackers.

Recently, the 31-year-old 'So What' singer launched a rant on those who broke into her Facebook account and targeted her personal photos.

Contactmusic quoted her as tweeting: "To all the people I don't know hacking into my private pictures on Facebook, please stop. Have some respect for privacy."

"It's my own fault for posting a picture. I should know better. Anyways, there are way more important things in the world than my Facebook page," she later added.

Higher PPI compensation hits Santander profits

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:09:58 GMT

Hit by needing to allocate £731m for compensating customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), Santander UK has seen its half-year profits more than halve.

Its pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June was £549m, down from £1.2bn a year earlier.

The £731m figure is an increase on the £548m Santander UK said last month that it had put aside to cover PPI claims.

PPI compensation is paid by Most of the UK's largest banks .

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside £3.2bn, followed by Barclays (£1bn), Royal Bank of Scotland (£850m) and HSBC (£269m).

Santander UK is the British arm of Spanish lender Banco Santander.

In 2004, it bought Abbey National, Bradford & Bingley in 2008, and Alliance & Leicester in 2010.

PPI is supposed to cover loan repayments if someone becomes ill or loses their job. But it has emerged that many of the policies were mis-sold, either because people were not aware they were paying for the insurance or because they would not be covered.

The banking industry lost its High Court challenge to new rules on the sale of PPI, in April.

Among other things, the rules require sellers of PPI polices to review all their past sales to see if their customers have a claim for mis-selling, whether or not they have actually complained.

Compensation sought by residents after toxic smoke causes illness

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 14:04:19 GMT

After toxic smoke from a blaze at a recycling plant caused them illness, residents of Orsett in Essex are seeking compensation.

In July, the fire took place at the Rio recycling plant. A pile of woodchips was on fire and due to its size (600ft wide by 80ft deep) it was burning for a total of five weeks. Firefighters were reluctant to spray water on to the woodchip, for fear of contaminating water supplies

In total 40,000 tonnes of woodchip was allowed to burn, letting smoke bellow onto the homes of local residents. It is suspected that chipboard and MDF were also burnt, although there has been no confirmation as to what type of recycled wood made up the woodchips   . Exposure to the smoke left some residents feeling ill.

Now, a group of residents who were made ill by the smoke are reportedly seeking compensation  from Thurrock Council and the owners of the recycling plant. They allege that they were given no health warnings about the smoke from the plant.

Worker suffers fatal personal injuries after being run over by fork lift truck

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:58:04 GMT

After one of its employees was fatally injured in an accident at work when he was run over by a fork lift truck that had been heavily overloaded, a food company have been fined .

In June 2009 George Hardie, 60, was walking through the work yard to drop some paperwork off at an office on the other side of the site, when he was hit by a fork lift truck carrying to large containers to be washed, driven by a colleague.

The risks were assessed by the Health and Safety Executive and it was found that the driver’s visibility was impaired by the containers that had been stacked on top of one another.

As he approached the wash that he felt the truck go over something, at which point he stopped got out of the vehicle and found Mr Hardie trapped underneath, said the driver.

The company did not have any management of site traffic or supervision for pedestrians of the site and also the risks of moving containers had not properly been assessed, found the investigation that was carried out by the HSE . Vion Foods Scotland Ltd was fined £100,000 for breaching the health and safety at work act.

Fertiliser company fined for personal injury at work

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:44:13 GMT

After one of its workers suffered serious injuries when a 600kg bag of fertiliser fell on him , a fertiliser firm based in the north east of England has been fined.

The accident occurred when the Fertiliser Solutions Ltd worker, Robert Dearlove, aged 32 was helping a team tidy up a spillage after some bags of fertiliser fell from a stack in the Middlesbrough based warehouse.

The team was working close to the remaining stack, and noticed that the bags on the third layer were leaning precariously to one side. Robert proceeded to hook the last of the bags that had fallen up to the forklift truck and turned around so his back was facing the stack.

According to reports, one of the remaining bags fell and hit Robert on his back forcing him to the ground, where he hit his head and causing him serious back injuries, a fractured thigh and ligament damage to his leg.

Since 2008, Mr Dearlove has not been able to return to work and had to spend three weeks in hospital, due to the accident at work.

For the accident at work, the north east fertiliser firm, were fined £10,500 and made to pay £12,411.45 in legal costs after the Health and Safety Executives investigation found the firm had breached the Health and Safety at work act and the management of health and safety at work act.

Brain injury at hands of Columbia Heights police claimed by man

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:36:52 GMT

Brandon Skinner needs round-the-clock care for a brain injury that he claims came at the hands of an overly aggressive Columbia Heights police sergeant early this month.

In his report on the incident, Sgt. Matt Markham, said that Skinner was drunk and belligerent, and that when a cuffed Skinner tried to grab Markham's hands, the sergeant pulled him to the ground, with Skinner's head striking the street and knocking him unconscious.

The police reports are disputed by Skinner's version. He said that Markham, nearly twice his weight, picked him up and body-slammed him, causing the head trauma. Police waited at least 15 minutes before calling an ambulance, said Skinner's fiancée, Jennifer Seelig. Toxicology tests at the hospital showed no drugs or alcohol in his system, the couple said.

Skinner, 27, was in a coma for nearly a day, and doctors will have to wait six months to know the extent of his brain damage.

The couple, who planned to be married this month, has filed a complaint with the police department, and the department is investigating. Chief Scott Nadeau wouldn't comment on the case, as is standard with a pending inquiry, but he said Markham has no disciplinary history and is one of his best supervisors.

His department takes excessive force complaints seriously and has called Seelig and Skinner to get their statements, said Nadeau.

Markham will remain on duty during the investigation. The sergeant, a member of the department since 1998, had one complaint filed against him, but it wasn't sustained, Nadeau said.

Woman receives injury compensation after near fatal fall overseas

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:29:11 GMT

After falling down an open manhole whilst on holiday with friends in Turkey, a lady from Southend has received a six figure personal injury compensation payout.

Forty nine year old Michelle Dragon, from Southend was on holiday with friends in Turkey. As she was walking back to her room after spending the day by the swimming pool, she fell down an open manhole that had been left uncovered by workers at the hotel she was staying in.

She fell 12 foot and suffered injuries that will affect her throughout her life, which included an open break of her right leg and a head wound which needed a lot of stitches as it was 8 centimetres long.

In order for the doctors to fuse her shattered bone together,Michelle need a bone graft from her hip. Now she can only walk with the aid of crutches.

According to reports, Goldtrail holidays, went bust in 2010 but admitted liability for the accident and Miss Dragon was given a six figure personal injury compensation claim payout.

Woman wins compensation claim after imprisoned in hospital for two years

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:19:47 GMT

After a district nurse failed to identify an infection, a Newcastle woman has been awarded half a million pounds in medical negligence compensation.

Angela Banks, 46, from Heaton, in Newcastle, had to endure thirty months of treatment at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, after an infection, which started in a pressure sore spread to her thigh and pelvis.

The infection spread so deeply that surgeons were forced to remove a section of Angela’s bone and further medical complications resulted in her lengthy hospital stay.

Angela who has had to rely on a wheelchair all of her life, after being born with spina bifida, described her two and a half years in hospital as ‘soul destroying’ and ‘worse than being in prison’.

Following an out of court settlement, after the NHS North of Tyne admitted liability, Miss Banks was awarded £500,000 in damages.

A NHS spokesperson stated that lessons had been learned from the incident and apologised for the poor standard of nursing Angela received.

Angela, who is a qualified professional dog trainer, said that the compensation awarded would help her regain her independence by providing the specialised equipment and support she now requires.

Golf club fined after work injury

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:11:29 GMT

A golf club in Warwickshire has been fined, after a green-keeper’s hand was mangled in an industrial ball washing machine.

The green-keeper, believed to be of Hungarian origin, was attempting to unblock the machine when it suddenly started up, dragging his hand into the rotating mechanism, according to the reports.

In the accident at the Warwickshire Golf & Country Club, at Leek Wootton, in Warwick, the employee partially severed his index finger and suffered serious injury to both his middle and ring fingers,.

After admitting a breach of Health and Safety regulations, his employers Club Company (UK) Ltd, who operate the golf club, were fined £13,500 at Leamington Magistrates Court.

They were also ordered to pay £5,000 in accident at work compensation  to the injured green-keeper, as well as a total of £8,000 in court costs.

Speaking after the court hearing, a spokesperson from Warwick District Council’s environment department stated that the accident had been totally preventable had the golf club maintained a safe system of working.

For pleading guilty to the charge early on in the proceedings and for co-operating fully with the council’s investigations, Club Company (UK) Ltd, were given credit in court.

Dressage rider makes compensation claim for ruined career

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:01:45 GMT

After a car accident ruined his career and ended his Olympic hopes, a talented British dressage rider is making an accident compensation claim for a minimum of £300,000.

Sonnar Murray-Brown, 23, from Chichester, in Sussex, was a front seat passenger in a Renault Clio being driven by his former friend Lee Harris, also twenty three, when it was involved in a head on collision with another vehicle.

Following the accident, Mr. Murray-Brown, who was tipped as a potential British team member, endured an eight hour operation as surgeons battled to repair his badly crushed legs.

Unfortunately Mr. Murray-Brown is not expected to be able to return to his favourite sport at the top level and his plans to become a trainer are now also in jeopardy.

Sonnar is now pursuing a car accident compensation claim against Mr. Harris, claiming that his former friend drove too fast and lost control of his vehicle, effectively causing the collision.

Issued by his solicitors, a High Court writ states that the claimant who was a talented rider with excellent career prospects prior to the collision, has now lost the prospect of breeding horses and running his own specialised dressage company.

Following the accident Mr. Harris of Blandford Forum, in Dorset, was charged with driving without due care and attention, according to the contents of the writ.

Schools pay out £500k in compensation claims

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:54:04 GMT

In new figures that show pupils have claimed more than half-a-million pounds for injuries suffered, the compensation culture in Northern Ireland's schools has been revealed.

In the periods 2008-09 and 2010-11, a total of £578,120 in compensation has been paid out to schoolchildren by education boards in Northern Ireland.

After a door was closed on his thumb in 2009-10, one six-year-old boy was given £70,000 in compensation . Compensation of £62,500 was paid out to a 14-year-old pupil the year before after he was hurt while climbing to retrieve a football.

And a boy who suffered head injuries after being hit by a car at his primary school in 2009-10 received compensation of £50,000.

For creating a compensation culture here, teachers' unions have blamed television advertising.

The staggering figures have been revealed through a series of Freedom of Information requests submitted to Northern Ireland's education and library boards.

In comparison, over a similar three-year period from 2007-2010, five councils in the south of Wales - covering an area about half the size of Northern Ireland's pupil population - paid only £44,999 in compensation.

The Southern Education and Library Board (SELB) made almost half of all compensation payouts here, at a total of £245,059 across 12 claims between 2008 and 2011.

Over the past three years, a total of £129,250 was paid out by the North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) in 17 claims. An eight-year-old boy received a £25,000 payout after he fell in the school playground in 2008-09 and suffered a large lesion on his knee.

A nine-year-old girl got £8,000 after she tripped and broke her arm, while a girl of 11 received £1,500 for fracturing her nose after being hit by a door, among the successful compensation claims in the past year.

Over the past three years in 10 claims against the South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB), compensation totalling £107,000 was paid out. A male primary school pupil received the area's largest single claim of £50,000 in 2009-10 for sustaining head injuries after being hit by a car.

And a boy attending a special school in the area received compensation of £5,000 after he broke his wrist while playing a game of football. Belfast Education and Library Board dished out £65,276 to schoolchildren across 12 compensation claims. This figure is more than three times the amount of compensation given out to schoolchildren in Cardiff between 2007 and 2010, which caters for a similar number of pupils.

The lowest amount of compensation was given out by the Western Education and Library Board (WELB), at a total of £31,534 over the past three years.

The level of compensation increased by more than 62% from £12,034 in 2008-09 to £19,500 in 2009-10.

No compensation, however, was given out by the education authority in the past year. The WELB refused to disclose information on specific payouts.

Electrician to claim personal injury compensation

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:34:56 GMT

A claim for personal injury compensation is to be made by a Yorkshire electrician, who almost lost his life after being inflated like a balloon by a high pressure air hose.

Gareth Durrant, 26, from Hull, in East Yorkshire, was employed by static caravan manufacturers Willerby Holiday Homes, of Hedon Road in Hull, when a high pressure air hose somehow penetrated his body from the rear.

On the firm’s production line, Mr. Durrant was working alongside two colleagues when he suddenly felt the blast of pressurised air, which entered his body and caused a six inch tear to his bowel and also caused severe intestinal damage.

Since the accident, Mr. Durrant, has not been able to return to work and is now pursuing a claim for accident at work compensation  from his employers.

Mr. Durrant stated that he wanted people to be aware of the risks involved with high pressure air lines, which can carry air at a pressure of 300 pounds per square inch, warning that they should not be ‘messed around with’.

While, Willerby Caravans refused to comment on the incident, the matter is now being investigated by the governments Health and Safety Executive.

Google expanding Wash. operations

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:46:02 GMT

With a new office in Bothell that could accommodate up to 840 workers, Google is expanding its Washington state operations.

In Kirkland and Seattle, the Mountain View, Calif., company already has 850 employees. The Seattle Times reports that Google is now planning to renovate a two-story building in a Bothell office park.

Like other Silicon Valley companies, the online search giant has boosted its presence in Puget Sound in hopes of luring talent from Microsoft and Amazon. Google has said 2011 will be the biggest hiring year in the company's history.

Employment in the information sector across the state this summer reached its highest level on record, shows data from the state Employment Security Department. In June, there were about 142,300 jobs in the information sector and computer-systems design, most of them in the Seattle area.

In July, Facebook, Twitter saw record numbers of U.S. visitors

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:40:28 GMT

Facebook and Twitter both saw record traffic in terms of U.S. unique visitors in the month. In July, Facebook saw a whopping 162 million unique visitors, compared to 160.8 million unique vistors in June, and 157.2 million uniques in May.

In its five year history, Twitter also posted record traffic; with 32.8 million unique U.S. visitors in July, up from 30.6 million unique visitors in June, and 27 million unique vistors in May. The steady increase in traffic is a big deal for Twitter, which splits traffic between its own mobile clients and the many third-party clients that are used to access the network.

LinkedIn, dipped slightly in terms of unique U.S. visitors in July, seeing 32.5 million unique visitors in the month compared to 33.9 million unique visitors in June. MySpace continued to bleed traffic, with 32.8 million unique visitors in July (tied with Twitter), down from 33 million in June.

Facebook’s U.S. traffic is five-fold to Twitter visitors. Twitter isn’t ‘killing’ Facebook, or vice versa, as Twitter is still growing in terms of traffic.

But with Google+ steadily gaining users, it should be interesting to see if the search giant’s social network will reach Twitter’s traffic. Already there are signs that Google+ traffic is slowing, but it’s still early and that could change.

Verification badges to profiles added by Google+

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:31:35 GMT

Google, in another effort against fake profiles, has started rolling out a new feature for members of its upcoming social network Google+ — verification badges.

The feature will initially be rolled out to celebrities, public figures and people who had been added to many Google+ circles, said Google's Wen-Ai Yu.

"We’re starting to roll out verification badges on profiles so you can be sure the person you’re adding to a circle is who they claim to be ... For now, we’re focused on verifying public figures, celebrities, and people who have been added to a large number of Circles, but we’re working on expanding this to more folks," she said in a blog post.

Many Google+ members want to make sure the celebrities and public figures they would add to their circles are who they claim to be, she noted.

The new feature can be seen as a gray checkmark next to the Google+ member's name.

Google permitted to operate controversial Street View in Israel

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:20:02 GMT

On Sunday, the Law, Information and Technology Authority at the Justice Ministry allowed Google to operate its “Street View” service in public places throughout Israel.

The authority permitted the technology giant to use special portable cameras in public space that can fully survey its surroundings at a 360-degree-angle. It also allowed the pictures taken by Google to be directly uploaded to its Google Maps service; however, the authority mandated that Google protect the privacy of its users.

On several conditions, the authority granted Google the right to run Street View in Israel: The first is that Google would obligate Google Israel to accept Israeli legal ruling so that all civil proceedings would be conducted in Israel. Google also agreed to give the authority the right to file criminal proceedings against it in Israel if necessary.

After it was discovered that the service both publicized images that included people’s faces and license plates and collected personal information when they mapped out wireless networks, Google Street View has come under harsh criticism from several states. As a result, governments demanded that Google blur people’s faces, and in several places is Europe citizens blocked off streets and prevented cameras from being brought into their neighborhoods.

When it allowed Google to operate the service, the Justice Ministry took Israelis’ privacy into consideration demanding that when the site shows pictures it give the public a mechanism that would allow them to request that faces, license plates and homes be blurred after they are uploaded in the event that they aren’t blurred automatically by the system.

In addition to this, Google is to publish a full explanation of the service, civilian’s rights, and the route the cameras will take when photographing the public.

Google said that it is “happy that the Law, Information and Technology Authority at the Justice Ministry has allowed the operation of Street View in Israel, and we hope to provide an update about our plans in the near future.”


Fight to be Facebook friends with students by Missouri teachers

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:11:38 GMT

On Friday, the Missouri State Teachers Association ( MSTA) filed a lawsuit challenging a new law. MSTA is specifically asking the Circuit Court of Cole County to determine the constitutionality of the law’s social media portion.

Also known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, Senate Bill 54, aims to fight inappropriate contact between students and teachers, including protecting children from sexual misconduct by their educators. It is named after a Missouri public school student who was repeatedly molested by a teacher several decades ago.

The new law is broad enough to prohibit teachers from communicating privately with students over the Internet, and inhibits educators’ ability to converse with students via text messaging and social networks. it means teachers and students can’t be Facebook friends.

MSTA argues the law infringes on educators’ first amendment rights of free speech, association, and religion. The group is asking the court to keep that section of law from being implemented until the constitutionality can be determined.

Gail McCray, MSTA Legal Counsel, said in a statement: “Many of our members are concerned about the unintended consequences of this law, including their ability to monitor their own children’s online activities. It’s vague and more importantly, we believe it violates the constitutional rights of educators.”

“Plaintiffs have used and are using non-work-related social networking sites as an important avenue for contact with students, both during emergencies and for everyday educational issues, such as when a student has difficulty with a classroom assignment or identifying bullying,” the lawsuit states. “Senate Bill 54 makes it unlawful for Plaintiffs who are also parents of a child in the school district to communicate with her student/child via a non-work-related social networking site if there could be exclusive access.”

State Governor Jay Nixon signed Senate Bill 54, last month, which goes into effect on August 28, 2011 in the state of Missouri. The new law bans direct social networking contact between teachers and students in the hopes of setting more distinct boundaries on the relationships between the two.

Teachers will still be able to have a Facebook Page for interacting with students on a slightly more personal level, as long it’s still work-related. It’s the actual friending, messaging, and whatever other direct connection you can make on a social network that will not be allowed.

It’s still not clear how Missouri plans to implement the law, whether social networks will be asked play a part in the enforcement, nor if the state be allowed access to Facebook accounts, personal computers, and/or ISP records. It is, however, obvious that the language used to describe the law is too general and overreaching, at least according to many of the state’s teachers.

Research says Google+ not mainstream yet

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:01:15 GMT

Social media traffic analysis firm SocMetrics has said that Google+, the social network of internet giant Google, is yet to become a mainstream platform.

SocMetrics during its study, concentrated on the mothers who, it believes, are key influencers for the growth of a social network. The traffic analysis firm believes the mothers have not taken up the new social network Google+ in a big way.

On the contrary, a recent report of Experian Hitwise, which studied 10 million online users, said that the new social network from Google was headed into the mainstream.

While SocMetrics studied social media mentions on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube as well as Digg, Reddit and Disqus, Hitwise instead studied the actual traffic on the social networks for its research. There were about one million conversations detected by the study per day, out of which few thousand conversations were about Facebook or Google+.

It also found mostly people form industry such as technology or marketing were more talking about Google+ whereas in the mainstream conversations which included sports or style - Google+ presence was less. The study says the moms are more active on Twitter or Facebook compared to Google+ - their engagement on Google+ is about 30 to 50 per cent less, says the SocMetrics study.

"While the initial buzz is waning, Google+ still has a great opportunity ahead. It has enough attention, even with some mainstream groups like moms, photographers, book authors that are giving it a chance. Google needs to move quickly to capitalize on this window, though, before it continues waning. As the adage goes, "you only get one chance to make a first impression". This is even more true in the age of social media," concludes the SocMetrics study.

Danger alert on Facebook

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:56:08 GMT

A former fighter pilot who quit the air force after an injury has hit back at the “dangerous precedent” Team Anna has set.

On Friday, Shashank Shukla ,raising his voice against the cacophony at Ramlila Maidan, where the crowds have been swelling since the Gandhian launched his fast for his group’s version of the Lokpal bill, wrote on Facebook :

“Anna Hazare is NOT India.”

The cyber entry has come at a time an international website, which helped sustain recent mass movements in countries such as Syria, Libya, Canada and Brazil, has involved itself in the Hazare campaign.

Shukla’s page, says while “the issue is correct, the methods being employed by Anna ji of undermining (the) authority of parliamentary democracy sets a very dangerous precedent” because the methods could be exploited by others.

Hate messages started pouring in the moment the 32-year-old put up the page on the social networking site. So far, the page — the only visible one till now against the 73-year-old activist — had got just 26 supporters against hundreds of hate messages to Shukla’s homepage.

“But there has to be another voice,” said the young man who is planning a “counter-sit-in” on Thursday near the Maidan.

With him will be his wife Pooja, a student at IIM Calcutta.

“Even if I am beaten up, I am going to sit on a chair on August 25 close to the Maidan to express my view,” he said.

When Hazare first came on the national scene, Shukla was a firm supporter as he felt a shake-up was needed to tackle the malaise of corruption. As the days went by, however, his opinion changed.

Shukla, who quit a cushy job with IT major Infosys to return home from America to teach street children as part of the Teach for India campaign said: “If this does not stop now, it will be dangerous.”

Security guide for teens, parents, teachers published by Facebook

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:46:45 GMT

To help teach them about the best ways to protect their privacy and safety on the internet, Facebook published a 20 page security guide for teens, parents, and teachers on its website titled” A guide to Facebook security”, on Friday .

Security experts Linda McCarthy Keith Watson, and Denise Weldon-Siviy, a teacher and editor worked together to write the security guide, which covers topics like choosing the best password to make your Facebook account secure, using the website’s advances security features like one time passwords, HTTPS encryption, and log-in notifications; taking back control of a hacked account, realizing when one is dealing with an imposter, and recognizing and avoiding phishing and other, similar scams.

Linda McCarthy has over 20 years experience in the IT security sector and has worked as Senior Director of Internet Safety at Symantec. Mr. Watson is an IT researcher at Purdue University.

The authors write in the guide’s introduction that it is intended to help you the Facebook member “Own Your Own Space” and….”to understand what Facebook is doing to make the site safe and secure and to take the actions that are needed in this digital world to protect yourself and your account.”

Spanish campaign to singe Google's beard

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:53:02 GMT

A Spanish campaign for the right to be forgotten is gathering momentum.

Now,more than 90 cases of people who want information deleted from the web, have the backing of their government and it has ordered Google to stop indexing information about 90 citizens who filed formal complaints with its data protection agency.

The case is in court now, and apparently is being closely watched by the EU which is keen to see how much control its citizens will have over information they posted, or which was posted about them, on the web.

The European Union's justice commissioner, Viviane Reding,said that it was wrong that individuals have no say over their data once it has been launched into cyberspace.

However, the privacy thing is set to cause a spat between the US and the EU. The US has its belief that you have the right to publish the truth, whereas the EU believes that people have the right to privacy.

European law balances the freedom of speech and the right to know against a person's right to privacy or dignity. It is all based on the way that information was collected and used against individuals under dictators like Franco and Hitler.

The US has yet to tell its government to sling its hook when it comes to the ability of people and governments to attack other people and beliefs using the "free press".

Google said that if the Spanish succeed in their beard singeing, it would have a have a profound, chilling effect on free expression without protecting people's privacy.

'Facebook fatigue' forcing decline in users of social network

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:40:55 GMT

Experts claim that Privacy concerns, "fatigue", general boredom and the rapid rise of alternatives are to be blamed for a global exodus from Facebook.

There are signs that its impressive growth rate -- an average of more than 100 million new users a year -- may be slowing down.

Social media expert of Queensland University of Technology, Peter Black, said Australians were likely to start deleting or deactivating their profiles in growing numbers.

"If Facebook hasn't already peaked in Australia, it will soon," News.com.au quoted him as saying.

"That term 'Facebook fatigue' is right."

Facebook's ability to attract new users has noticeably declined around the world.

In May, more than 100,000 people reportedly deactivated their account in the UK, with an estimated six million users pulling the plug in the US.

Dr Sean Rintel, University of Queensland digital communications expert also pointed to interest in Google+, which has attracted some 25 million users within the space of less than two months, many of whom were poached from Facebook.

'Facebook fatigue' forcing decline in users of social network

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:40:55 GMT

Experts claim that Privacy concerns, "fatigue", general boredom and the rapid rise of alternatives are to be blamed for a global exodus from Facebook.

There are signs that its impressive growth rate -- an average of more than 100 million new users a year -- may be slowing down.

Social media expert of Queensland University of Technology, Peter Black, said Australians were likely to start deleting or deactivating their profiles in growing numbers.

"If Facebook hasn't already peaked in Australia, it will soon," News.com.au quoted him as saying.

"That term 'Facebook fatigue' is right."

Facebook's ability to attract new users has noticeably declined around the world.

In May, more than 100,000 people reportedly deactivated their account in the UK, with an estimated six million users pulling the plug in the US.

Dr Sean Rintel, University of Queensland digital communications expert also pointed to interest in Google+, which has attracted some 25 million users within the space of less than two months, many of whom were poached from Facebook.

Google’s attempt to offer competition to Facebook misses target

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:30:30 GMT

Google has scored a huge blow against its archenemy with its new social network.

Yes, Google+ delivers features and functionality that Microsoft's Bing search engine can't touch.

Google+ is supposed to be a Facebook-killer?

At least not now. While Google+ brings some welcome new features to the social-networking space, there's no great innovation that would make you want to use it as your primary online identity, or that Facebook couldn't emulate if it chose to.

Launched about a month ago, Google+, is officially a beta, or test, service; to join, you need an invitation from someone who's already a user. Judging from the evidence, invites aren't very hard to come by: Less than three weeks after launch, Chief Executive Officer Larry Page announced that the service had already signed up 10 million members.

Considering that Facebook is up around three-quarters of a billion, Google+ has a long way to go before your friends are as likely to be hanging out there as they are on the competition.

Google’s attempt to offer competition to Facebook misses target

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:30:30 GMT

Google has scored a huge blow against its archenemy with its new social network.

Yes, Google+ delivers features and functionality that Microsoft's Bing search engine can't touch.

Google+ is supposed to be a Facebook-killer?

At least not now. While Google+ brings some welcome new features to the social-networking space, there's no great innovation that would make you want to use it as your primary online identity, or that Facebook couldn't emulate if it chose to.

Launched about a month ago, Google+, is officially a beta, or test, service; to join, you need an invitation from someone who's already a user. Judging from the evidence, invites aren't very hard to come by: Less than three weeks after launch, Chief Executive Officer Larry Page announced that the service had already signed up 10 million members.

Considering that Facebook is up around three-quarters of a billion, Google+ has a long way to go before your friends are as likely to be hanging out there as they are on the competition.

Accused's Facebook posting after hotel couple slaughtered

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:20:38 GMT

"I would like to wake up from that nightmare" wrote a man accused of butchering two of his work colleagues, on Facebook the day they died.

The bodies of Tibor Vass and Alice Adams were found in the blood-spattered staff quarters of a posh hotel.

The pair, both 20, had suffered multiple stab wounds.

The accused Attila Ban, 31, was later arrested in hospital with slash wounds to his neck and wrists.

Ban was said to have grown close to fellow Hungarian Vass while they worked together as receptionists at the Radisson Edwardian near Heathrow Airport.

But Vass is thought to have become increasingly friendly with Alice after she started working at the hotel.

At 7.53am last Wednesday, the day of the double killings Ban posted the message that he wished to "wake up from that nightmare”.

Friends desperately sent messages asking if he was OK but he never replied. Colleagues said neither Ban, Tibor nor Adams turned up for work at 7am.

After the two bodies were discovered, police were called to staff quarters in a semi-detached house nearby in Harlington, West London, at 3.15pm. A knife had been discarded at the scene. An earlier post on Ban's Facebook page mentioned visiting a gay club in London's Soho.

On Saturday, Ban appeared at West London Magistrates' Court charged with double murder. He is being held in custody to appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow.

Experts say Facebook crimes on the rise

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:07:34 GMT

Cyber experts have warned that Facebook crimes such as scams, bullying, phishing and many other forms of illegal activities, are soaring and are getting more sophisticated.

Rarer cybercrimes on Facebook involve the installation of malicious software or ‘malware' on computers so credit card information can be easily stolen.

The crimes are not limited to just scams and phishing, claim experts. There are sexual predators who use this forum, and even robberies have been reported when users post the GPS location to inform others about their whereabouts when out of town.

Experts are studying why these crimes are happening at such a rapid rate.

According to Paul Zak, a professor at Claremont College in southern California, scammers prey on Facebook because they don't know their victims, the report said. “It is easier to hurt someone when you're not seeing them in person.”

“Neuroscience research shows that moral violations are less likely when interactions are personal because people empathise with those they meet in person. In the online world, people are just a number,” he added.

According to communication specialist at BitDefender, Ioana Jelea, the social scam industry is thriving because scam creators are taking legitimate Facebook functionalities and persuading people to click on links. Ms. Jelea also argued that it's not just users' trust in the platform that puts them at risk, but also their insufficient familiarity with Facebook's security and privacy settings.

News of pregnant Hilary Duff makes Twitter feel old

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:54:18 GMT

Announcing that she is pregnant with her first child, Hilary Duff celebrated her first anniversary with husband Mike Comrie . Obviously, people have sent plenty of congratulations. However, there is a large group of people who feel old hearing the former Disney star's happy news.

"Just heard that Hillary duff is pregnant. That definitely just made me feel 90," tweets commented. Many others agreed saying that the news made them feel as if their childhoods are over.

Then there were those who do not believe that the star who played Lizzy McGuire could be pregnant. "WHAT? Hillary Duff is preggers?! She's still the little 16 year old Disney star to me. This is so bizarre," another tweet said. Indeed it is quite strange to watch some of these young women grow up so quickly. It does truly seem they should stay young forever, but of course, they cannot.

Egypt blogger quizzed for comments against army

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:43:23 GMT

According to reports, leading Egyptian blogger Asmaa Mahfouz has been questioned for allegedly defaming the military on Facebook, the official Mena news agency reports.

She was briefly detained by military prosecutors and later released on a bail of $3,356 (£2,062).

One of the leaders of the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Ms Mahfouz, is suspected of calling for assassination attacks against the military and judicial bodies.

Her lawyer denies the accusations.

According to Mena, Ms Mahfouz wrote on Facebook: "If justice is not achieved and the justice system fails us, no-one should feel upset or surprised if armed gangs emerge to carry out assassinations.

"As long as there is no law and there is no justice, anything can happen, and nobody should be upset."

Maj Gen Mahmud Morsi, the head of the military judicial authority, said the blogger had overstepped the limits of free speech by insulting the military, the AFP news agency reports.

He added that there would be "no tolerance to insults directed at the armed forces".

Mena said Ms Mahfouz was released on bail until a date is was set for her trial before a military tribunal.

However, Ms Mahfouz's lawyer denied the accusations.

Hossam Issa told the AFP news agency: "What Asmaa wrote on Facebook is not a call to violence... She was only expressing her fears and that is not a crime".

The comments attributed to Ms Mahfouz on the other social network Twitter were not her own and that someone had hacked into her account, the lawyer added.

Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took power after the mass street protests that forced President Mubarak to resign in February.

Zuckerberg's sister to set up on her own social media

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:45:14 GMT

Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is generating headlines of her own - after six years working faithfully in her younger brother's shadow as Facebook's director of market development, she is standing to set up an independent social media.

Silicon Valley tech bloggers are rubbing their hands at the prospect of some sibling rivalry to follow on from the multiple lawsuits that the younger Zuckerberg - he's 27, she's 29 - has endured over the parentage of his wildly popular website.

More perplexed tech watchers wonder what Randi hopes to achieve that she hasn't in one of the world's most rapidly expanding companies.

Without doing anything to damage the Facebook brand, she appears to have decided to have fun with her money and her instantly recognisable last name to branch out on her own.

"I'm proud of what I've done here… but I know I'll be able to do just as much, or more, for Facebook once I'm on the outside," she wrote in her resignation letter. She said her goal was "to launch my own innovative programming and work with media firms," adding: "Facebook will clearly be a central element in all my projects."

A Google book deal in France after much ado

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:37:47 GMT

Google has had a sour relationship with France. Its politicians have denounced the U.S. Internet giant as a cultural imperialist; its publishers have called it a copyright cheat.

However, France is suddenly the only country in the world in which Google has managed to achieve a longstanding business goal. A few days ago Google signed an agreement with the publisher Hachette Livre under which tens of thousands of French-language books will be pulled out of ink-on-paper purgatory and provided with a digital afterlife.

Last year, Hachette and Google reached a preliminary deal but it was overshadowed by a far broader agreement between Google and U.S. authors and publishers that would have settled longstanding litigation. Like the deal with Hachette, the U.S. agreement involved books that were out of print but still protected by copyright, a category that accounts for the vast majority of the world’s books.

However, last winter, a U.S. judge, Denny Chin, rejected the American settlement, and talks have stalled since. Meanwhile, with a final agreement in place in France, Google says it intends to start selling e-book versions of the Hachette titles by the end of the year, when it introduces a French version of its digital bookstore, Google Editions.

Google’s problems with French publishers don’t end with the deal with Hachette, which is part of the media conglomerate Lagardère . At least three of them, Albin Michel, Flammarion and Gallimard, are pursuing lawsuits against the company, saying it illegally scanned their books. Another publisher, La Martinière, previously won a similar court case against Google.

Yet Hachette, the biggest French publisher, with about one-quarter of the French market and Google, said they hoped their deal could serve as a model for a broader rapprochement.

Simon Morrison, copyright policy and communications manager at Google in London, said : “We would love to implement similar arrangements with other French publishers, and it’s something that we have in mind as we talk to other partners.”

Hachette said it would make digital copies of scanned books available to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and other libraries, “thus contributing to the advancement of French culture,” as the company put it in a statement.

Between the French accord and the U.S. proposal that Judge Chin rejected, there are several key differences. One is that Hachette retains control of which books can be scanned and sold by Google, just as it does with copyrighted works that remain in print. Under the U.S. proposal, Google would have been free to digitize any out-of-print books, unless the copyright holders expressly opted out of the settlement.

Last month, in a hearing in New York Judge Chin asked representatives of Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild whether it might be possible to negotiate a so-called opt-in agreement — in other words, along the lines of the Hachette deal. According to news reports of the hearing, both sides were noncommittal.

Until now, Google has steadfastly resisted switching to an opt-in system in the U.S. talks. Doing so would be a big setback for a company that says its mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Some authors or publishers would opt out. So-called orphan works, those whose copyright holders cannot be clearly identified or tracked down, might never make it into the digital future.

Google backs Bletchley Park restoration fund

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:19:32 GMT

In the UK, Google is now putting its controversial Google Street View service to a better use by opting to fund the restoration work on the historic site Bletchley Park.

According to reports, Google has initiated a new campaign by sending out a tricycle to the Bletchley Park which renders 360 degree imagery of the historical site. For pioneering computing and for the wartime code breaking, Bletchley Park holds a lot of historic importance.

The site has a number of huts that are reported to be in a poor condition. These huts served as centers for deciphering and breaking vital German codes during the war. Google’s Philanthropic arm now intends to allocate funds and restore the site.

Google, previously, also bought a batch of papers by the computing pioneer Alan Turing and described his work as heroic. They also issued the following statement; “It was probably the most inspiring and uplifting achievement in scientific technology over the last hundred years.”

UK residents, who have been feeling betrayed by the firm for using their Street View service to collect unsolicited data, which they claim was done unknowingly, it may prove to be a great move by the technology giant to regain the trust .

Fans mourning Alexisonfire on Facebook

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:11:49 GMT

Over the weekend, comments filled nostalgia, fond wishes and recrimination stacked atop each other on the Facebook page of famed Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, after its lead singer revealed that the band has broken up.

On Friday, George Pettit posted a note on the band’s official website that guitarist/songwriter Dallas Green had told bandmates a year ago that he would be leaving to attend his career as the frontman of City and Colour; the band considered replacing him, but then lead guitaristWade MacNeil said he, too, was out. “So we all took a good hard swallow and decided to end it so it would never get old and ugly.”

The St. Catharines band, also including bassist Chris Steele and drummer Jordan Hastings, ends its run with four albums and two Juno nominations under its belt and — to gauge by the comments on Facebook — fans left heartbroken everywhere from Australia to the Netherlands.

Patch more important than Google

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:56:28 GMT

An industry publication said that Patch is more important that Google, Fox and even AOL -- Patch's parent company.

The network of nearly 900 hyper-local news websites that includes Temecula Patch ranked fifth on a list of the 100 most important online publications.

Because of its intense news focus, the article reads, Patch is important. "Patch now rivals much, maybe most, of local newspaper and TV coverage," the article published by MediaPost.com states.

The list put Patch just above AOL, Patch's parent company, though two places below the Huffington Post, which is also owned by AOL.

First place was taken by Facebook , the New York times took second, followed by the Huffington Post and Netflix.

Below Patch was AOL in sixth, Google in seventh, the Wall Street Journal in eighth, Fox News in ninth and CNN.com in 10th.

Standalone online dictionary discontinued by Google

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:51:08 GMT

On Monday, Google Inc. said that it has decided to end its standalone online dictionary service as it has recently included a dictionary tool in its search engine.

A Google spokesman said: "Because the dictionary tool offers the same functionality as Google Dictionary, we've decided to discontinue dictionary.google.com. For your definition needs, you can type your query into the web search and use the dictionary tool located in the left-hand panel of the results page, or you can type 'define' and the word directly into the search box."

Since Aug. 5, users trying to look up words on Google Dictionary have been seeing a message reading, "Google Dictionary is no longer available. You can use Google web search to find definitions or Google Translate for your translation needs."

Many local and foreign netizens have said they are dissatisfied with the move, which was not announced in advance, and have complained that the alternatives are less convenient and of a lower quality.

On Google Taiwan's Help Forum, many of the 240 comments called for the reinstatement of Google Dictionary. The new dictionary tool provides less information than the old version did, some people complained.

In Taiwan, Google Dictionary was seen as a very handy tool among English learners and students according to the netizens who posted responses to the new tool.

CUTS wants Facebook to be investigated by CCI

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:25:56 GMT

CUTS International, consumer right activist, has urged competition watchdog CCI to investigate potential misuse of dominant position by social networking site Facebook.

Regarding Facebook Inc and its newly introduced payment system ‘Facebook Credits’, which could be spent across various games or applications on the popular website, CUTS has written to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

“Facebook can potentially engage in anti-competitive and unfair business practices in the market for virtual goods purchased in social games through its Facebook Credit terms in India and therefore its activities in this regard need to be investigated by the CCI,” CUTS said in a statement.

In July, Facebook launched ‘Facebook Credits’ in India. According to the new contractual arrangements, game developers using the Facebook platform must exclusively utilise Facebook Credits in the operation of their games; must agree not to charge lower prices to consumers outside of Facebook, and must pay a 30 per cent service fee for all Facebook Credit purchases.

Facebook page infected by porn

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:40:04 GMT

For years, John Taylor had a Facebook page but it took only seconds for it to turn into a forum of hardcore porn.

According to reports, the internet developer from Noosaville has become the latest in a string of victims of malware sweeping the social network that posts graphic images and videos on users' walls.

Mr Taylor said: "Obviously I blocked the person who posted the content and reported it to Facebook straight away.”

"I put a quick search into Facebook to see if this was a widespread thing or not and I was astonished that 5000 pages were infected with this stuff across Facebook's network.

"Some Australian users haven't even noticed the porn is on their site."

Making it easy to avoid content filters and parental controls, the graphic images are embedded within the Facebook site.

Facebook users should alter their notification settings so they get an email every time something is added to their "wall", say experts.

Facebook rival Google+, which has attracted more than 20 million users since its launch late in June, has been praised for its 18+ age limit.

Facebook users have to be only 13 to join.

However, QUT social media expert Axel Bruns said it wasn't clear yet whether Google+ had security pitfalls similar to Facebook's.

"Some of the problems around Facebook involve the apps where users enter their information and then that information is used without permission to push things on to your Facebook page," Professor Bruns said.

"Google+ doesn't have apps as such but sooner or later will introduce them.

"It will take some time for Google+ to settle and for us to fully realise what it is and what it does."

Underage users could still access Google+ by pretending to be over 18, said Prof Bruns .

Last month, attorneys-general from across Australia met in Adelaide to examine whether parents should be given the legal right to access their children's Facebook pages.

A recent survey revealed more than half of Australian mums set up an account to keep an eye on their children.

Two held by Malaysia police over 'Facebook murder'

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:30:28 GMT

On Tuesday, Malaysian police said they have detained two people on suspicion of bludgeoning a man to death after he reportedly posted negative remarks about a girl he had "friended" on Facebook.

"The two men are in a police lock-up. They are being investigated for murder," a senior police said.

On Friday, Mohamad Amran Romli, 21, died in hospital shortly after sustaining severe head injuries in an attack by two men believed to be brothers of the girl, the Malay language daily Berita Harian said.

The two men beat Amran with motorcycle crash helmets during the attack in an alley behind a supermarket in Kulim town in Kedah state, it said.

Amran had befriended the girl through Facebook, which is extremely popular in the mostly Muslim country along with other social networking and microblogging sites, local police chief Ghuzlan Saleh was quoted as saying .

However, their online relationship eventually and the victim allegedly posted disparaging comments about the girl and her family, after their online relationship "turned sour".

"She then complained to her brothers who sought to resolve the dispute with Amran. They met behind a supermarket but an altercation broke out and the victim was hit on the head with crash helmets," the police chief was quoted as saying.

"It will take about two weeks before they are charged in court after a report is submitted to public prosecutors," the senior police official said.

Last year, a study by global research firm TNS showed Malaysians to be the most popular people on the Internet, with an average of 233 friends in their social networks compared with 68 in China and just 29 in Japan.

Newt Gingrich accused of 'buying' followers on Twitter

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:22:58 GMT

In an attempt to make himself seem more in touch with the grassroots, former employee of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has accused him of buying followers on the Twitter website.

The Republican used a number of agencies that create inactive or dummy accounts which were made to "follow" his Twitter account, claimed the employee.

He told the Gawker website that only ten per cent of Mr Gingrich's 1.3 million followers were "real sentient people who happen to like New Gingrich".

Most of his followers have odd usernames and no profile photos, suggesting they were mass generated.

However, Mr Gingrich acquired most of his following when he was on Twitter's "Suggested User List", experts in the field pointed out.

New Twitter users, at that time, were recommended accounts to follow selected by Twitter employees. The list has been dropped and account recommendations are now made by computer. But the SUL is known to have pushed others listed into the millions, such as Al Gore and Senator John McCain, who has 1.7 million followers.

Newt Gingrich accused of 'buying' followers on Twitter

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:22:58 GMT

In an attempt to make himself seem more in touch with the grassroots, former employee of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has accused him of buying followers on the Twitter website.

The Republican used a number of agencies that create inactive or dummy accounts which were made to "follow" his Twitter account, claimed the employee.

He told the Gawker website that only ten per cent of Mr Gingrich's 1.3 million followers were "real sentient people who happen to like New Gingrich".

Most of his followers have odd usernames and no profile photos, suggesting they were mass generated.

However, Mr Gingrich acquired most of his following when he was on Twitter's "Suggested User List", experts in the field pointed out.

New Twitter users, at that time, were recommended accounts to follow selected by Twitter employees. The list has been dropped and account recommendations are now made by computer. But the SUL is known to have pushed others listed into the millions, such as Al Gore and Senator John McCain, who has 1.7 million followers.

Report finds that Google is not power hungry

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:12:51 GMT

According to a recent report, Google might appear to be power hungry, but it only accounts for one per cent of electricity used by data centres worldwide.

This is the first time that Google has released specific details about its total data centre electricity use. According to Jon Koomey, the report's author and a consulting professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Stanford University, Google "gave me an upper bound, not an exact number, but something is better than nothing".

Even better for Google, because despite the fact that the internet search and advertising firm is a heavy user of computer servers only 0.01 per cent of global electricity consumption is attributable to it.

This result is in part a function of the higher infrastructure efficiency of Google's facilities compared to in-house data centres, which is consistent with the efficiencies of other cloud computing installations, the report says. However it also "reflects lower electricity use per server for Google's highly optimised servers," the report said.

Power consumption from global data centres doubled in the first five years of the new millennium, and was forecast to double again by 2010.

However, consumption rose by only 56 per cent, representing 1.1 to 1.5 per cent of global electricity consumption, and power use in the US rose just 36 per cent. At least in this report, Google has shown itself to have been blameless for excessive energy use in its data centres.

Twitter valued at $8.4 billion

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:07:10 GMT

Twitter Inc. said it received a "significant" round of funding led by Digital Sky Technologies, a Russia-based venture firm that has invested in other social-networking companies that have enjoyed surging valuations.

In the long-anticipated announcement on Monday, San Francisco-based Twitter, which has more than 600 employees, didn't disclose how much money it raised.

However, a report said that Twitter raised $800 million in an investment round that valued the micro-blogging service at $8.4 billion after the deal. Like a growing number of investments in fast-growing Internet start-ups, the financing round will be partly used to buy out existing shareholders, said the person.

The report claimed that half of the investment will go to Twitter, while the other $400 million will be used to buy the shares of existing holders.

Twitter can find a way to generate large revenues and profits from its vast and growing user base, much like Facebook Inc. is doing, investors are betting.

Research firm eMarketer says that the company has been ramping up its bid to become an online-advertising powerhouse, though it is currently on course to generate $150 million in ad revenue this year.

Twitter's new funding round is the latest sign of the growing investor hunger for social-media companies, which obtain information about people's personal interests that advertisers crave.

Dutch, Indonesian added to Twitter language mix

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:00:11 GMT

Adding Dutch and Indonesian to the mix, Twitter has announced its first crowd-sourced translations. For those of you keeping count, this means Twitter now officially exists in 11 different languages.

using Twitter’ s translation center, which was introduced this year, Dutch and Indonesian are the first languages to be translated. The translation center asks Twitter users -- all volunteers -- to help translate Twitter's interface into various languages. Once the basic support pages are translated, a select group of the "most active" translators are invited to work with Twitter to "maintain localized versions of the service."

Twitter boasts that its translation center has 200,000 translators, and that the localization process for Dutch and Indonesian took just one month from the first call for involvement to its announcement. Filipino and Malay are the next languages that Twitter plans to translate.

Twitter battle started by Miley Cyrus' tattoo

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:49:00 GMT

Miley Cyrus showed off her tattoo that supported the gay community, and as a result, her fans engaged in a Twitter battle on the singer’s page.

On Friday, the singer tweeted a picture of her tattoo and also wrote, “All love is equal."

Cyrus, however, received a negative response from one of her Twitter fans, @MileyCyrusLuver’s, according to reports. The fan tweeted to the singer to “look up Leviticus, 1 Corinthians” and “read both chapters and tell [her] where God says homosexuality, incest, and polygamy is ok?"

Cyrus retorted: “Where does it say in the bible to judge others? Oh right. It doesn't. GOD is the only judge honey. 'GOD is love.”

Popwatch reports that other Miley Cyrus fans began to tweet negative comments on @MileyCyrusLuver’s page. In fact, some fans even tweeted death threats. Rushing to her fan’s defense, the singer quickly tweeted, “Dude everyone lay off @MileyCyrusLuver Love u! Everyone is entitled 2 opinions! ‘if u don’t stand 4 something you’ll fall for anything.”

Second most popular UK browser is Google Chrome

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:41:47 GMT

In the UK, Google Chrome has beaten the competition to become the second most popular internet browser, second only to Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The browser captured 22 per cent of users in the UK, beating Firefox in third place and truly trumping Safari with it's 9 per cent share in the UK user base, according to web metrics from Statcounter.

Microsoft, with the browser catching up fast, will surely be looking to find new ways at making their browser more appealing because while still in the top spot, this is in part down to the fact that Internet Explorer comes pre-installed on almost all the computers sold in this country.

Boasting super-quick browsing and a minimal footprint on your hard drive Chrome is the first product by Google to be advertised on British TV, showing off a querky but interesting take on how a browser operates.

Google Shopper iPhone app

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:50:05 GMT

At local restaurants and other businesses, iPhone owners who use the Google Shopper app to find their favorite products can now hunt for special deals.

Google Shopper 1.5, updated last week, now sports a tab at the bottom called Offers. Tapping on Offers brings up a list of special Google Offers being promoted by local merchants eager for your business. Tapping on each deal or offer then displays the business name, location, details of the deal, and its expiration date.

You can save each deal, in which case it appears in your My Offers section. You can then redeem the offer by bringing your mobile device to the different restaurants and other businesses and showing them the offer screen.

Google said in a blog published yesterday that its Google Offers  are currently available in Portland, Ore., the San Francisco Bay Area, and New York, with other cities to follow.

Google Shopper is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Via Facebook, veterans plan D.C. protest

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:43:56 GMT

To protect veterans’ compensation and benefits from being targeted for cuts in the debt-crisis negotiations, the nation’s largest organization representing disabled veterans and their families is organizing a “virtual march on Washington’’ on Facebook .

The online protest, comes as veterans groups express increasing anger that veterans are being used in a game of brinkmanship.

Barry A. Jesinoski, executive director of the Washington headquarters of Disabled American Veterans, protest sponsor, said : “The uncertainty over what actions our government might take is causing unnecessary and harmful anxiety in the American public at large and veterans and their families specifically.’’

Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, echoing comments from President Obama, warned this month that payments for veterans benefits could halt if there is no deal to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans have called such comments scare tactics.

“What we’ve heard is that if the debt limit isn’t raised, the government may not have enough money to pay its obligations, including veterans benefits checks,’’ said Garry Augustine, the DAV’s national service director. “Whether it’s accurate or not we’re not sure, but it makes people nervous when they hear it.’’

According to the DAV, thousands of virtual marchers have registered for the online protest. To record and post personal videos discussing their benefits and to e-mail elected officials, veterans and supporters will be encouraged, via Facebook and on several veterans groups’ websites.

From Google news Antisec’s Paypal campaign is missing

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:37:59 GMT

The ongoing Antisec Operation Paypal news is not appearing at Google News, despite trending at Twitter and winning headlines in the Inquirer.

It's almost as though it is being rejected from the top ranking news pages for some mysterious reason.

It is well known that Google and Paypal do not get on, so its unlikely that the former is sticking up for the latter, particularly as they have fallen out over mobile payments involving at least one lawsuit, but Google and the US government do get on, we hear.

The US government, for those sleeping at the back, partly funded Google's startup through the CIA venture capital arm Inqtel, as it also did Facebook, by the way, but it does not like Anonymous and probably cares even less for Lulzsec. A combination of those two likely has it reaching for its revolver and its internet kill switch. But this is all speculation, of course.

Facebook may replace phone banks

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:31:14 GMT

Consumers are changing how they look for information, and that could force Nissan North America to move operators out of phone banks and onto the Internet.

Erich Marx, Nissan's director of marketing communications, responsible for social media, said : "Currently, our social media staff can handle the volume of questions and problems that are showing up on Web sites."

But he believes the number of people asking questions on Nissan's Facebook page or venting about a complaint could double over the next year. "We will need to rethink the staffing that we have."

That could imply shifting some employees out of Nissan's traditional consumer affairs operations, including its multiple toll-free call centers, so they can monitor sites such as Facebook and the Web pages for Nissan's individual nameplates. No changes have been proposed yet.

In Taiwan market, no plans to sell Google Chromebook

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:26:33 GMT

On July 27, Google Inc. said that the company has no plans to sell Chromebooks in Taiwan or Asia, despite the web-centric laptops having remained bestsellers on Amazon.com for seven weeks.

Chromebook is a new kind of computer not typical notebooks. With a Chromebook you won’t wait minutes for your computer to boot and browser to start. You’ll be reading your email in seconds. Automatic updates of the software on your Chromebook will get faster over time. Your apps, games, photos, music, movies and documents will be accessible wherever you are and you won't need to worry about losing your computer or forgetting to back up files.

On a single charge, Chromebooks will last a day, so you don’t need to carry a power cord everywhere. And with optional 3G, just like your phone, you’ll have the web when you need it.

With many layers of security built in there is no anti-virus software to buy and maintain for Chromebooks. Even more importantly, you won't spend hours fighting your computer to set it up and keep it up to date.

The Chromebooks are being sold in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Taiwan is not included in the marketing regions.

Google senior product manager Vincent Wu said, "We don't have any plans to sell the devices in the Asia-Pacific in the next few months, as we want to test mature markets in the United States and Europe first." "But we can talk if Acer want to sell Chromebooks in Taiwan," he added.

Phenomenal following on Twitter for Dalai Lama

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:20:53 GMT

On microblogging site Twitter, more than two million people across the globe religiously follow him giving Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama an unprecedented reach.

As he disseminates his teachings, speaks on various issues concerning his people and even reaches out to the Chinese people, the Dalai Lama has outstripped the following of many icons of cinema and sports.

"To control negative physical and verbal actions, it is necessary to get at their root, the mind, and tame it," is a spiritual lesson from him on Twitter.

As on 1.40 p.m. Monday, the Dalai Lama's Twitter account @DalaiLama had 2,075,807 followers, having added over 6,000 followers since 7 p.m. Sunday.

Next in following is cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (sachin_rt), being followed by 1,239,638 people, and in the third place, was Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra (1,209, 115).

According to a post on the Dalai Lama's official website, he began tweeting soon after his meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House (in February last year). During his US visit, the Tibetan spiritual leader met Twitter founder Evan Williams, who suggested he use the medium too.

Google + may be real rival for Facebook

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:13:27 GMT

Comparing Facebook and Google was like comparing apples to oranges, up until a few weeks ago .

John Wirtz, assistant professor of public relations at Texas Tech University said that even though both their revenues depend almost entirely on advertisement, both giants did it in a different way

About a month ago, Google entered the world of social networking for the third time with a site called Google + (Google Plus).

Google + has 20 million users, since its birth on June 28, which makes it the fastest growing social network ever, said Brian Solis, a principal analyst at Altimeter group, a business research and consulting group based in San Mateo, Calif., and author of “Engage,” a guide for businesses to use the Internet.

It took Facebook a little more than three years to reach the 20-million mark. So with such a great start some have already called Google + the “Facebook Killer,” while others think it is too early to know, those who watch social media have said.

To run Venezuela from hospital bed Hugo Chávez uses Twitter

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:07:08 GMT

Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president, is using Twitter as a tool to govern remotely while he undergoes cancer treatment in Cuba.

In more than 40 messages this week on his account, he has approved money for a Caracas rubbish collection project, praised plans for a new park and cheered on the national football team.

About his chemotherapy, Chávez hasn't mentioned anything directly but has alluded to his hospital stay, as he did in one tweet to a supporter on Tuesday: "We're moving along here, brother! With God and the Virgin!"

Most of his messages have had the tone of a patriotic father figure connecting with his public. Chávez boasts more than 1.8 million followers, and his messages also regularly pop up on the screen on state television in Venezuela.

Celebrities to mourn Amy Winehouse death on Twitter

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:03:16 GMT

In regards to the sudden death of singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, who was found dead at her London home on Saturday, celebrities are taking to their Twitter to pay their respects and express their grief.

The cause of death is still unknown for the Grammy Award winning artist, only 27-years-old at the time.

For many, her death may possibly be the result of her long-term battle with substance abuse, having also struggled previously with manic depression and eating disorders.

Kelly Osbourne, who had previously helped the late singer check into a drug addiction treatment facility in 2008, according to The Associated Press, tweeted her disbelief.

“I can’t even breath right now i’m crying so hard I just lost 1 of my best friends. i love you forever Amy and will never forget the real you!”

Other stars took the time to tweet their respects as well, including Rihanna, Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, and Kate Moss.

Rihanna: “I am genuinely heartbroken about this,” and “Dear God have mercy!!! I am SICK about this right now!”

Jessica Alba: “So sad about Amy Winehouse- she was so talented. Really tragic.”

Ashton Kutcher: “I nevr know wht 2 post after paying respect 2 sum1 who died. Just seems lk anything funny is inappropriate. mayB I’ll just go C Harry Potter.”

His wife, Demi Moore also tweeted: “Truly sad news about Amy Winehouse. My heart goes out to her family. May her troubled soul find peace.”

Fellow Brits Kate Moss and Lily Allen shared, “R.I.P. Amy Winehouse, So upset, my heart goes out to her, sad to see such talent vanish from the world.”

Google "Places" drops outside customer reviews

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:49:08 GMT

Google Inc has removed excerpts of customer reviews from sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor from Google Places, its competing online service aimed at helping consumers search for local businesses.

On Thursday, the move, announced in Google's official blog follows the disclosure of a U.S. antitrust investigation last month.

The federal probe concerns whether Google, which dominates U.S. and global markets for search engine advertising, abuses its market power by favoring its own services over those of rivals in online searches and through other practices.

The investigation got no mention on the blog post.

In the blog post, Avni Shah, Google's director of product management, said: "Based on careful thought about the future direction of Place pages, and feedback we've heard over the past few months, review snippets from other web sources have now been removed from Place pages."

Google said it added a function for Google users to write their own reviews at the top of its Place web pages.

It said the search pages' rating and review counts would only include reviews written by Google users, although the company would continue to list links to other review sites.

Google's "Places" offerings of local ratings and reviews, originally called Hotpot, were introduced last fall.

In Google patent lawsuit, Oracle to question Larry Page

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:40:05 GMT

Google co-founder Larry Page will be questioned by Oracle under terms set by a US judge presiding over a patent suit pitting the business software titan against the Internet giant.

Oracle can depose Page "for a maximum of two hours, excluding breaks" regarding the value of Android and whether Google intentionally infringed on patents at issue, Judge Donna Ryu said in a written decision on Thursday.

"(Page) reportedly made the decision to acquire Android Inc., and thereby develop and launch the platform that Oracle now contends infringes its patents and copyrights," Oracle lawyers argued in their request to the court.

"Oracle believes that Mr. Page's testimony will likely be relevant with respect to a number of other key issues in this case as well, including the value of the infringement to Google," the letter continued.

In the case, Google has asked to depose its chief executive, Larry Ellison.

Google's Android software is accused by Oracle of infringing on Java computer programming language patents held by Oracle stemming from its recent purchase of Java inventor Sun Microsystems.

Google has denied the patent infringement claims and said it believes mobile phone makers and other users of its open-source Android operating system are entitled to use the Java technology in dispute.

With half of $800 million in funding, Twitter is said to buy employee stock

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:28:51 GMT

Twitter Inc., in funding, is close to raising $800 million and will use half the money to buy back shares from its employees and backers, according to reports.

Digital Sky Technologies lead the investment, completed in the next two weeks, which values Twitter at $8 billion, according to reports.

Through private investors, Twitter’s staff of about 600 workers will get the chance to capitalize on their shares rather than having to wait for an initial public offering. The company has remained on the sidelines during this year’s resurgence in IPOs.

Since December, Twitter’s worth has more than doubled when it received a $200 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that gave it a $3.7 billion valuation. In 2009, it was pegged at about $1 billion a person familiar with the matter said at the time. SharesPost Inc., an exchange for shares of closely held companies, has assessed Twitter’s current worth at $7 billion.

Investors are enticed by the popularity of Twitter’s service, which lets users share 140-character messages. Its members include celebrities, executives and President Barack Obama, who together send more than 200 million messages a day. The company is working to make money from those users by selling advertising.

1 million PCs hit by search hijack, warns Google.

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:46:17 GMT

As many as one million Windows PCs appear to be infected by browser redirection malware that is sending searches through proxy servers in order to generate traffic, A quick-witted Google engineer has uncovered with evidence.

In one form or another, this type of attack has been around for years, but the scale of what Google engineer Damian Menscher chanced upon from a single family of malware is still unusual in its scale.

Menscher, while performing routine maintenance on a data center, noticed unusual traffic still arriving at the servers from unusual addresses. Calling in help from security experts, it was discovered that the requests were coming from a large clutch of PCs infected by proxy redirection malware.

Now, Google has added a layer of detection that picks up on the redirection attack and gives its victims a search page message 'Your computer appears to be infected' if traffic through the proxies is noticed.

"We hope that by taking steps to notify users whose traffic is coming through these proxies, we can help them update their antivirus software and remove the infections," Google said in an official blog.

The symptoms of this type of attack are easy to spot although not always easy for a user to clean up. When making Google searches, users are sent to any one of a variety of unrelated sites for porn, malware, fake anti-virus, or cloned products.

Despite privacy concerns Google buys facial recognition firm

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:15:14 GMT

Google has gone out and bought itself a facial recognition software company by the name of PittPatt, even after publicly declaring on several occasions that it had no interest in facial recognition.

Pittsburgh based PittPatt, which emerged from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, has all the algorithms needed to identify your little punum , and is even able to track the motion of faces on video.

A notice on the PittPatt site said: “At Google, computer vision technology is already at the core of many existing products (such as Image Search, YouTube, Picasa, and Goggles), so it’s a natural fit to join Google and bring the benefits of our research and technology to a wider audience.”

“We will continue to tap the potential of computer vision in applications that range from simple photo organization to complex video and mobile applications,” the statement went on.

It thought PittPatt’s “research and technology can benefit our users in many ways,” though whether those ways invade people’s privacy or not remains to be seen, said Google.

Facebook helps save life of young child

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:07:47 GMT

On Facebook, a mother’s pictures of her feverish four-year-old son allowed his rare and life-threatening illness, Kawasaki disease, to be identified, and ultimately saved his life.

Kawasaki disease can affect all ethnic groups and involves inflammation of the blood vessels in the arteries, especially the coronary arteries.

Initially detected with a fever and bloodshot eyes, the inflammation caused by the disease can cause an aneurism, which can lead to a heart attack, even in young children, that can cause death.

There is no specific test to indicate Kawasaki disease; pediatricians usually diagnose it based on the presence of all the symptoms involved.

After being diagnosed as strep, Deborah Copaken Kogan’s son Leo’s condition had not improved and Kogan posted another picture of the swelling that begun in Leo’s eyes and chin.

Kogan received a phone call from a former neighbor who had viewed the photos of Leo on Facebook, after many comments and questions from friends on Facebook.

The mother of a Kawasaki disease patient apologized for butting in, but insisted Kogan take Leo to the hospital at once. The Facebook user possibly saved Leo’s life with her phone call. Kogan took Leo to the hospital to learn that he did indeed have Kawasaki disease.

Leo Kogan, as a result of Kawasaki disease, suffered from liver disease that will increase his chances of heart attack later in life, but as of today he is at least feeling much better.

Film premiere at Facebook’s FlickLaunch

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:47:49 GMT

FlickLaunch, the first independent-movie distribution platform built on Facebook will premiere Horror thriller "The Perfect House” as its inaugural film.

On October 1, the film, a haunted-house anthology that tells three separate stories using different horror-film techniques, will debut on FlickLaunch as a seven-day, $5 rental accessible through its Facebook page.

On Friday, the debut was announced by FlickLaunch and by the makers of "The Perfect House," which stars Monique Parent, Felissa Rose and Will Robertson and is directed by Kris Hulbert and Randy Kent.

FlickLaunch was designed to be a simple platform that independent filmmakers can use to upload and stream their films quickly and easily, receiving up to 70 percent of the revenue. The films can be viewed full-screen directly on Facebook, and stopped, paused and resumed within the rental period.

The cast and crew of "The Perfect House," prior to the FlickLaunch debut, will take the film on a 30-day tour around the country, which will be documented on its Facebook page and official website.

FlickLaunch has also finished work on an iPad app, and is working on apps for the iPhone and Android.

'Facebook, Twitter breaking marriages'

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:16:41 GMT

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have been held responsible for extramarital affairs leading to the breakdown of marriages.

And the Malacca state government in a bid to "prevent broken marriages” is planning to have a counselling session for married couples.

Woman lands in court after Facebook mouse murder

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:44:17 GMT

Later this week, a young woman who allegedly filmed herself hacking off a mouse's head and then posted the footage on Facebook will front court.

Over the gruesome footage, which shows the mouse taking 40 seconds to die, the 23-year-old has been charged with animal cruelty, the RSPCA said.

She allegedly used a steak knife to cut off the mouse's head, filming the incident and later uploading it onto Facebook using an alias.

On Friday, the woman, from Caboolture north of Brisbane, will face the Caboolture Magistrates Court.

Facebook searched by US coppers

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:41:18 GMT

According to a report at Reuters, US police are being granted warrants to search user accounts on Facebook, .

Law enforcement agencies are obtaining search warrants and entering user accounts without the individuals' knowledge or consent, the news agency reports.

At least two dozen search warrants have been awarded, it explained, and the majority of these asked for what was called a "laundry list of personal data". This, Reuters learned, includes messages, status updates, friend requests, videos and photos, and, interestingly, "rejected friend requests".

Reuters suggested that Facebook makes the process easy by offering investigators a user's "Neoprint" and "Photoprint", which it said was a very detailed dump of information. Reuters said that the information was not available to users themselves, although this appears to be sitting at its offices waiting for anyone that asks for it.

The number of searches seems to be rising, and the article reports that eleven warrants have been granted since the start of this year, more than double the number that were seen in 2010.

Facebook grilled on privacy by Nordic countries

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:36:55 GMT

In Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland data protection agencies have quizzed social network giant Facebook on its management of users’ private information.

“This is a common action to obtain better knowledge of how personal information is handled by the world’s largest social network,” the Swedish Data Inspection Board’s chief attorney Hans-Olof Lindblom explained in a statement.

Last week on behalf of authorities in all four countries,Norway’s data protection agency had sent Facebook a list of 45 questions, the statement said.

They include queries on the consequences of clicking the “like” button to comment on posted items, and the sharing of data that can help determine a user’s name and address with third parties.

The autorities also asked Facebook to explain what it does with photos uploaded to the site, shared items on users’ “walls,” and account holders’ stated religious and sexual preferences.

Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, was instructed by the Norwegian Data Protection Agency that it had until the end of August to answer each question as accurately as possible, but in no more than 3-4 sentences.

“We have for a long time had a good dialogue with Facebook’s headquarters,” Bjoern Erik Thon of the Norwegian authority said in a statement.

“Despite the fact that Facebook is continuously working on improving information to its members, it is unclear what information Facebook collects and how this is used and passed on,” he said.

Gateway for Facebook, PaaS introduced by MicroStrategy

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:32:07 GMT

A provider of business intelligence (BI) software, MicroStrategy, is introducing Gateway for Facebook, a new cloud-based service that can interconnect enterprise IT environments and enterprise applications with the Facebook social graph. The company also announced the general availability of MicroStrategy Cloud, a cloud-based platform-as-a-service (PaaS).

Facebook social graph data structure is converted into a relational data structure by the Gateway for Facebook ,making it instantly suitable for enterprise applications like CRM, marketing, service, sales, loyalty, and mobile applications, said the company.

The company futher added that the new service offers bidirectional data flow so that social intelligence from Facebook can be added to enterprise applications, and enterprise applications can interact back with the social network.

Companies can leverage the two-way communication to inject social intelligence into enterprise applications and transform them into "friendly" applications.

Among the key features of Gateway are: rich data query; high efficiency query algorithms; real-time data response; and scalability.

MicroStrategy Cloud is a cloud-based service to enable rapid, cost-effective development of business intelligence, mobile and social apps.

The company said that the service leverages hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data and scaling to hundreds of thousands of users.

Google's Schmidt to testify

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 08:19:27 GMT

Eric Schmidt, Google's Chairman, has agreed to testify before the Senate antitrust subcommittee in September to answer questions about the company's growing dominance of the Internet.

Because of a many different probes looking into its business practices, the search giant was reluctant to have any senior executives testify.

Senators on the panel, just last month, warned they would use their subpoena power to compel one to appear.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the subcommittee, on Friday, said the company had complied with their demand, the Wall Street Journal reported.

No date has been set for the hearing, though the Senator's office expects it to take place in September.

"Senator Kohl expressed a strong desire to have our executive chairman appear in front of the subcommittee and we're happy to accommodate."

The company has denied acting unlawfully to stifle competitors. It has said its growing success will inevitably attract scrutiny from regulators, as well as complaints from disgruntled competitors.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission launched a broad, formal antitrust investigation of Google. The European Commission is also investigating whether the company has violated European competition laws.

The US Justice Department at the same time, is conducting a criminal investigation into whether Google knowingly profited from rogue online pharmacies. It's also conducting an antitrust review of Google's recent purchase of Internet advertising company Admeld for around $400 million.

In India, Facebook plans to hire public policy expert

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:53:20 GMT

Facebook, the world's largest social network, amid growing privacy concerns across the world, including India, plans to hire a public policy expert in India. Facebook, with nearly 25 million active users in India, lags behind Google, which counts nearly 60 million users in the country.

As these Internet giants seek to expand their base in India's lucrative Internet market, they face challenges of regulatory hurdles, misinterpreted features and lack of awareness among government departments. Bangalore, last month asked Google to stop collecting images for its Street View service on security concerns.

Facebook, in a job posting, said the new head of public policy to be based in Delhi, will "actively promote of the uses of Facebook with policymakers and influencers in both electoral and governing bodies." The need for internet companies to engage with the government and even lobby, comes in wake of the amendment of the Indian IT act of 2008 - a tool with which the government regulates content on the internet.

On Thursday, when contacted by ET officials at the public relations agency handling Facebook's communications in India said none of the company officials were available for a comment. Companies in possession of third party data have come under the scanner as the government has drafted regulations for companies dealing, handling or processing sensitive personal data on April 11, 2011.

The social networking behemoth which has close to four crore users in India is keen on hiring someone who can be a bridge between the government and the company. The practice of having a public policy head is not new. Google has had a policy team in place since 2006 which has ties with the government to influence policy making.

There were 282 item removal requests of which 199 were for YouTube alone where 100 items were for defamation and 53 were for privacy and security, states the Google's latest transparency report released for India. Google either partially or fully complied with 22% of the requests filed in 2010.

Facebook, email access in Phylicia Barnes case sought by FBI

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:19:50 GMT

As part of a child pornography and sexual exploitation of children investigation, Federal authorities are seeking access to multiple e-mail and Facebook accounts, including some bearing the name of slain North Carolina teen Phylicia Barnes.

Last week, applications for search warrants filed in May by an FBI special agent were unsealed, but related affidavits remain sealed.

State police, who are leading the investigation into Barnes’ death, declined to comment. The FBI is involved in the case through the Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force and so is Special Agent Jaquelyn Dougher, who filed the application, said Special Agent Kelly Bell. She could not say whether any of the accounts listed in the applications were linked to Barnes or if the applications were granted.

On Dec. 28 the 16-year-old from Monroe, N.C., vanished while visiting her older half-siblings in Baltimore and her body was found nearly four months later in the Susquehanna River, an hour’s drive from the apartment where she was last seen. Barnes’ death was ruled a homicide, but police have not released the cause. There have been no arrests in the case.

The applications seek access to three e-mail accounts that include Barnes’ first name and a Facebook account in her name and linked to accounts in her relatives’ names. The reports claim that they also seek access to four accounts that appear to be associated with men with Baltimore ties.

Unwanted Olympics tickets shared at Facebook page

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:12:46 GMT

Without having to pay inflated prices to touts, a ticket sharing website has been launched to get fans into the London Olympics.

Sports lovers can use TicketCollective’s Facebook page to tell pals what spare tickets they have available for next year’s Games – then get together for events.

It aims to stop touts profiting by selling tickets at extortionate prices.

TicketCollective is not a ticket reselling or swapping site and is free, so it is not affected by the Games’s strict rules.

Andrew Mobbs, managing director, said: “We think ticket touts make it more difficult for people to attend events with their family and friends by pushing prices up to unreasonable levels.

“So we want to offer a service that is healthy for the ticketing ecosystem where event organisers get paid, fraud is reduced and each and every event is a success in the minds of those attending because lifelong memories are created when we do things with family and friends.

“TicketCollective uses your Facebook network to quickly help people find friends to go with or tickets to use. No fraud, no rip-off and no unused tickets.”

London 2012 chairman Seb Coe hailed the phenomenal demand for tickets and pleaded with International Olympic Committee members to return any unwanted ones to Britain.

Lord Coe said: “1.9 million people applied for 22 million tickets, we have 6.6 million to distribute.

“We have sold out in 23 out of 26 sports. We promised full venues and affordable prices. There has been disappointment, with that level of demand.

“My message is, ‘If you have tickets you have not sold please send them to us’. I know people who would like them.”

“We are thrilled by the success of the sale of tickets. It’s something unheard of and proves the great love of sport,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said while praising the progress made by London 2012.

Facebook is being outsmarted

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:05:43 GMT

A leading media intelligence company in the Middle East has said that Facebook's popularity could well be waning with the entry of new social networking sites and a sharp drop in the number of its users.

In a statement, Mediastow said: “According to Facebook's data service, the social networking site lost 6 million users in the US last month, dropping from 155.2 million to 149.4 million. That is the first time numbers have dropped in more than a year in the country.”

“It also lost 1.52 million users in Canada, dropping to 16.6 million an 8 per cent drop and 100,000 each in the UK, Norway and Russia. Facebook could fade away in 10-15 years,” it said.

Mohamed Elzubeir, Founder and Managing Director of Mediastow said: “When it comes to the Internet, everything is cyclical. The fate of MySpace demonstrates how a strong player can quickly fade into oblivion. Looking further back, Geocities represents another similar example.”

In late 1994, GeoCities was originally founded as Beverly Hills Internet. Ten years after Yahoo bought it, the company announced that it would shut down the United States GeoCities service on October 26, 2009. There were at least 38 million user-built pages on GeoCities before it was shut down, Elzubeir pointed.

“Currently, there is already a debate on whether Facebook is bleeding users from its launch countries in North America. While it is possible to blame seasonality or even saturation, I believe there are other more important factors at play here,” he added.

After US antitrust complaint Facebook dev rules tweaked

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:00:38 GMT

Following an antitrust complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, Facebook has updated its developer terms of service.

The company now lets Facebook-game developers charge a lower price for virtual goods when their game runs on other platforms, such as MySpace, Yahoo!, or another website. Facebook's terms of service previously required that the same prices be charged on competing platforms.

The earlier rules were anti-competitive, according to the consumer watchdog known as Consumer Watchdog. Facebook is the largest social network on the planet with an audience of 750 million.

On June 28, Consumer Watchdog complained to the FTC and the terms of service were updated three days later. According to Consumer Watchdog, Facebook was violating section 1 and section 2 of the Sherman act, and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

In the 1990s, It was the Sherman Act that 19 US states and the Department of Justice threw at Microsoft claiming it had abused its dominant position in PC operating systems to restrain competition in browsers. Microsoft is now an investor in Facebook and a search partner.

Facebook's terms of service change has failed to satisfy Consumer Watchdog, which has also asked that the FTC prevent Facebook from forcing developers into using its "Credits" currency system as the sole means of paying for virtual goods and services across the platform. Consumer Watchdog is peeved that Facebook charges developers a 30-per-cent service fee for using Credits.

"Facebook Credits will make it far more difficult, if not cost prohibitive, for smaller game developers to compete inside the Facebook platform against larger developers. The effect of these terms is to create a barrier to competition between social game developers, and between potential competitors to Facebook-social networks or websites operating as a platform for games," the complaint reads.

Also, the group wants the US regulator to probe the five year agreement signed in May 2010 between Facebook and Zynga, maker of agri-crowd-pleaser Farmville, and other similar agreements between Facebook and game developers.

Before the deal over the Credits setup, Facebook and Zynga had been at loggerheads.

Terms of the agreement were not revealed, but Facebook said that Zynga  would expand the use of Credits to more titles. Zynga had been talking about setting up its own portal for its online games. Zynga claims more than 270 million monthly active gamers on Facebook, so creating its own site could have seen Zynga take significant traffic away from Zuckerberg.

Consumer Watchdog director John Simpson responding to Facebook's rules tweak, said in a statement that the social-network giant continued to use its monopoly position to maintain an onerous burden on developers that would be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

"Facebook tweaked its terms when its worst policies were highlighted; now there is nothing to stop them from changing them when the heat's off. We call on the FTC to formally block Facebook's predatory policies," Simpson said.

Despite Facebook-Skype deal, Google outlook good

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:41:41 GMT

According to Ben Rogoff, fund manager at Polar Capital Partners,Google is continuing to hold its own despite Facebook and Skype's video chat integration.

Rogoff said in an interview: "If you look at the share that social media is having in terms of behavior and so on, it`s really not coming at the expense of Google. It`s coming at the expense of Yahoo and AOL and some of the other legacy properties."

He adds that Microsoft and other incumbent technology companies face challenges in remaining pertinent and refreshing their brands.

"It was a high-ticket price for what they [Microsoft] paid for, but Skype is a transaction that will put Microsoft back in the forefront of IT buyers` minds," Rogoff said referring to Microsoft's deal to acquire Skype.

Despite it all, "Google is continuing to hold its own, which is very positive indeed," Rogoff added.

He urges tech investors to "look beyond" short-term thinking:

"I genuinely think it`s one of the poorest, laziest approaches to investing in our space... So you have to sit there and model what this business will look like in two or three years."

Buffett shies away from Facebook

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:36:14 GMT

Warren E. Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, long reticent of technology companies, has no plans to take the plunge into the social networking space even while investors are salivating over the Web’s hottest start-ups.

“It’s not my game,” he said in an interview with DealBook at the Allen & Company conference here. “The world is changing, and I’m lagging behind.”

He is not exactly sure what to make of the multibillion-dollar valuations of Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn and the like, said Mr. Buffett .

“A few of them will be worth enormous amounts,” he said. But “I don’t know which ones.”

The most successful ones, he added, will figure “out something that somebody wants that they don’t know they want now.”

And what about Facebook, the world’s largest social network, which is said to be preparing a public offering that would value the company at more than $100 billion?

“I’m the last guy to ask about that,” Mr. Buffett said.

At 80, the Oracle from Omaha says he’s pretty comfortable sticking with his long-held strategy.

Although fellow attendee, the chairman of IAC, Barry Diller, told reporters Thursday morning that current valuations are “wildly overpriced,” Mr. Buffett said he was optimistic about his ability to find great investments in this market.

“We’re looking for ones that aren’t crazy,” Mr. Buffett said. “Most companies I don’t know how to value, there’s a few that I think I know how to value and every now and then one of those are a price number that falls within my valuation range.”

Family life overtaken by Facebook, emails

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:27:53 GMT

A new study has claimed that e mails and social networking websites like Facebook are disrupting family life.

Family life is being disrupted as parents and kids are overwhelmed by the huge volumes of emails and social messaging updates they are handling each day, researchers at Cambridge University have found.

One in three Britons is now desperate to cut down our use of Twitter and Facebook as well as emails as a result, a newspaper reported.

Surprisingly, the study, based on a survey, also found children as well as adults preferred to communicate face to face. More than half of all families said a "technology-free" time is important and a third of parents said technology had disrupted family life.

38 per cent of respondents amongst children aged 10 to 18, who have grown up with new technology, admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the volume of messages. And, similar numbers of adults felt the same way.

The study also discovered that 43 per cent of children and 33 per cent of adults are taking steps to reduce their reliance on messaging, text and networking. Both groups now preferred interacting face-to-face rather than through the internet or by mobile phone.

A painful loss for Google

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:06:43 GMT

In a stalking horse bid, Google offered $900 million for Nortel's remaining patent portfolio. A consortium of Google enemies, however, placed the successful bid of $4.5 billion.

Thanks to the patent-sue-me-sue-you frenzy in the wireless industry, Nortel squeezed a substantial amount of cash out of its 6000 patents. Relating to the areas of wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, optical, voice, internet, service provider, and semiconductors, the portfolio may have little value as an asset the perspective of active innovation, but it is said to carry tremendous value as a defense in potential lawsuits.

Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony consist the winning consortium. What makes this sale so special is the fact that those are companies that already have a substantial patent portfolio, while Google has not and it is generally seen as a problem for Android. Whether we like it or not, the U.S. and this industry in particular is a patent and legal system mess. Fraudulent lawsuits are surfacing frequently and threaten to slow or halt innovation.

Google, which originally made it sound like it had to simply buy the portfolio to be able to "innovate", is now out of the loop again and there are questions just how dangerous this game is and how likely it is that Android can be shut down by lawsuits. Google, at the very least, will need to be more open about its strategy to defend especially Android developers and handset manufacturers against lawsuits.

Arabic becoming the Facebook language

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 06:00:32 GMT

Arabic, it’s expected that within a year, will overtake English to become the most popular Facebook language in the region.

Use of the Arabic Facebook interface has skyrocketed to reach some 10 million users today, since it was launched in 2009. At the moment, they represent ab

Facebook taken back to court

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:37:08 GMT

After opting not take their California case to the US Supreme Court, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are attacking Facebook on a new legal front.

Accusing Facebook of duping them in a deal they made in a lawsuit charging that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea, the twin brothers and fellow ConnectU founder Divya Narendra revealed plans to rev up litigation in Massachusetts.

On Thursday, lawyers for the Winklevosses notified a federal court in Boston that they wouldn't appeal a failed California case to the Supreme Court, clearing the way to proceed in a separate lawsuit idling in Massachusetts.

The filing indicated that the Winklevosses intend to commence a "discovery" process aimed at uncovering whether Facebook suppressed evidence while negotiating a settlement with the ConnectU founders.

"These are old and baseless allegations that have been considered and rejected previously by the courts," Facebook attorney Neel Chatterjee said in a statement.

The twins have argued that Facebook held back information about the estimated value of the California-based social networking firm while reaching a $65 million settlement with the brothers.

The twins inked a settlement two years ago that got them $20 million in cash and $45 million worth of stock valued at $36 per share.

The value of that yet-to-be-issued stock has skyrocketed along with Facebook's estimated market value.

On the grounds that Zuckerberg suckered them during settlement talks by not revealing Facebook internally valued the stock at $9, The brothers challenged the settlement, which was supposed to be confidential .

The lower figure would have resulted in the Winklevoss twins getting many more shares.
Lawyers filed legal paperwork on Wednesday saying that the twin brothers will not ask the top court in the nation to overturn a decision the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals made siding with Facebook.

In May, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid by the identical twin brothers to have a full panel of 11 judges second guess a ruling made by a three-justice panel.

The three-judge panel said that litigation in the case "must come to an end" and threw out the bid by the Winklevosses to review the settlement.

Google’s first Android 4.0 phone

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:25:45 GMT

For its first Android 4.0 phone, potentially called the Nexus Prime, Google may be sticking with Nexus S manufacturer Samsung.

BGR has dug up new info saying that the Nexus Prime’s screen will be branded “Super AMOLED HD,” which sounds like a follow-up to Samsung’s current Super AMOLED screen technology. That leads BGR to believe Samsung will be building the phone.

Google’s next Nexus phone is rumored to be a 4G LTE powerhouse. The phone’s display is said to run at a 720p (1280 by 768) resolution, which means that it will like sport a large screen (around 4.3-inches) and it will be extremely sharp like Apple’s Retina Display on the iPhone 4. The Nexus Prime, like the Nexus S and Nexus One before it, will be Google’s flagship device for its newest version of Android, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich.

Later this year, Google may be breaking with tradition for the release of Android 4.0. The company may also be working with manufacturers to launch other Android 4.0 smartphones and tablets around the time of the Nexus Prime’s launch. So unlike the Nexus S, which for the longest time was the only phone running Android 2.3, Google may have several updated devices to choose from this holiday season.

Over Twitter comments Kuwait arrests duo

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:00:08 GMT

For criticizing Gulf Arab ruling families on social media site Twitter, Kuwait will put two citizens on trial.

Nasser Abul, was arrested for posting criticisms of the ruling families in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and Lawrence al-Rashidi posted defamatory comments of Kuwait's emir.

Both would remain in detention for two more weeks before a hearing is scheduled, where they will likely face charges of harming the Gulf Arab state's interests and defaming the country's ruler after being arrested earlier in June.

To debate, organize and share information in Bahrain, where the kingdom's rulers crushed a protest movement in March, Democracy activists have used social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Bahrain called in troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to enforce its crackdown.

Bahrain questioned a rights activist in April for publishing an image which appeared to show signs of torture on a man who died in detention during the unrest.

It is not clear if the case will be brought to court.

Facebook for Android updated to new version

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:54:21 GMT

Facebook is the most widely used social network in the world. This means that all platforms have to take special care of the social networking application The Android version of the application has now been updated to version 1.6. This update will bring along some improvements in the news feed, support for Facebook pages, and the ability to add videos to your Facebook profile.

No political ideology for Google

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:43:40 GMT

Eric Schmidt, Google chief, has said the web giant has no interest in encouraging particular political change.

However, the company believes more information and transparency leads to better governments, the executive chairman said.

He was speaking at a Google-sponsored summit against violent extremism in Dublin, which has brought together former religious fundamentalists, guerrillas, gangsters, neo-Nazis and paramilitaries to work out how to defeat extremism.

Mr Schmidt criticised the cynicism he has experienced "over and over again" about tackling the issue, adding society only moves on when it tries something new.

"It's time for us as a society to take charge on these things," he said.

"Phenomena begin, phenomena end. They do, in fact, and new problems emerge. Let's work on some new problems, fix the old problems."

There was no political ideology at the heart of Google's operations but it was happy to act as an enabler of information, said Mr Schmidt .

"We have a particular view that more information, more transparency, produces more better and more responsive societies and governments," he said.

He said it was "a little uncomfortable" at times championing free speech because it can lead to speech people don't like, but he added the company will only censor very few things, like specific death threats.

He said the company, because of this, was always concerned about Google employees in some countries which did not have a strong record on transparency and freedom of speech.

After threat made on Facebook guard faces probe

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:39:24 GMT

In response to a Herald story raising questions over Rugby World Cup security a security guard who issued a threat on Facebook faces an investigation by his employer.

A posting from the guard on the social networking website said: "The guard that spoke to the media ... shut your mouth! Or it will be shut for you!"

The posting was linked to the Herald story reporting complaints from staff of Darien Rush Security, which included not being paid.

The claims are disputed by the company.

About training and licensing of security staff, the workers' union, Unite, has also expressed concerns.

To manage security outside Eden Park and other facilities during the Cup, Darien Rush Security has a contract with the Auckland Council.

It is also contracted by Eden Park to provide security within the stadium.

The guard who posted on Facebook was one of its workers, the firm said.

Jason Brott, chief operating officer said yesterday the man had been spoken to and had removed the posting from Facebook.

"This was a personal comment and absolutely did not reflect the views of Darien Rush Security. [The firm] does not support this type of behaviour."

Facebook urged for expansion of operations

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:33:37 GMT

On Thursday, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy invited Facebook to expand its presence to Tier-II cities in the State and assured full support of the government for its growth.

To mark the completion of one year of successful operations, the Chief Minister participated in a function organised at the Facebook India office. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, minister for IT & Communication, was also present. Facebook has its presence only in Hyderabad in India, besides Palo Alto, Dublin and Australia, according to a press release here.

In India, Facebook has more than 600 million active users and more than 25 million. It has more than 100 employees here and has a number of positions currently open in Hyderabad, ranging from user operations to sales operations to finance and recruiting. Facebook is currently available seven local languages — Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam and Nepali.

In Android patent battle Oracle seeking billions from Google

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:54:48 GMT

Oracle is seeking as much as $6.1 billion in patent and copyright infringement damages from Google as the companies continue their intellectual property fight over the Android mobile operating system.

Android "directly copied" elements of the Java programming language, acquired by Oracle in April 2009, when it purchased rival Sun Microsystems for about $7.4 billion, alleges Oracle . According to an Oracle filing released Friday, its damages total "in the billions of dollars," an estimate based on "both accepted methodology and a wealth of concrete evidence."

A June 6 letter from Google attorneys to U.S. District Judge William Alsup states that Oracle's damages expert contends Google would owe Oracle between $1.4 billion and $6.1 billion in damages if it is found liable for infringement. Google representation calls the projection "a breathtaking figure that is out of proportion to any meaningful measure of the intellectual property at issue," adding that even the low end of the range "is over 10 times the amount that Sun Microsystems Inc. made each year for the entirety of its Java licensing program and 20 times what Sun made for Java-based mobile licensing."

Google argues the damages expert's testimony should be disregarded, claiming the projection inflated Android licensing royalty rates that Google may owe. Google said in an email statement: "Oracle's ‘methodology' for calculating damages is based on fundamental legal errors and improperly inflates their estimates."

Oracle's original complaint, filed in August 2010, supplied few details about the alleged infringement, but an amended complaint filed in October includes specific examples of code attached as exhibits. The complaint states that "approximately one-third of Android's Application Programmer Interface (API) packages" are "derivative of Oracle's copyrighted Java API packages" and related documents.

Facebook to take no 1 position

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:04:16 GMT

Facebook’s banner ad business will top $2 billion this year, making the company the biggest player in the category, predicts eMarketer .

Facebook’s U.S. display ad revenues will hit $2.19 billion this year, an 80.9% jump over 2010, the researecher predicts. Such revenues grew in the triple digits in 2009 and are projected to increase 31.3% from 2011 to 2012, according to eMarketer’s estimates.

Meanwhile, eMarketer predicts Google’s display ad business will grow 34.4% this year, making the company a strong number three player in the category, next to Facebook and Yahoo.

The researcher’s prediction comes after another projection earlier this month that display ad revenues will overtake search in 2015.

Google and Apple beaten by Infosys, Tata Brands

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:58:33 GMT

According to a recent report by a London-based company, Infosys Technologies Ltd. and the Tata Group have topped a list of India's leading corporate brands, far ahead of global giants such as Apple Inc.

Bagging seven of the top 10 positions, Indian companies did well in the survey, very different from the U.K., where only four local companies made it to the best 10 list in a simil

To bolster Google TV with useful features, Google buys up SageTV

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:51:22 GMT

A company that makes products with streaming and media center-type services, SageTV, announced on Saturday that it had been acquired by Google. Google is speculated to want SageTV for its DVR and Slingbox-like capabilities for possible integration with Google TV and Google's cloud services.

For a couple of years now, SageTV's products have filled a niche as just-works media extenders allowing customers to serve media over LAN, stream YouTube videos, and stream from PVRs running SageTV's DVR software to a home theater setup.

Now that Google has scooped it up, there are a number of SageTV's services Google might be after. Rakesh Agrawal, SnapStream Media founder, speculates that Google bought SageTV in order to add native DVR capabilities to Google TV. But Google TV can already integrate with and automate existing DVRs, leading GigaOM to counter that making DVRs that run Google TV software would be redundant.

Instead, Google is more likely to focus on the Slingbox-like abilities of the SageTV platform, which can "place-shift" both live and stored video content from a DVR or PC to either a local or remote playback location. With that type of software installed on PCs and Google TVs, customers could watch video stored on their computers or DVRs connected to a Google TV on any other Google TV-enabled device in the world.

Google told to pull out Street View cars

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:47:24 GMT

After an objection from the city police, just three weeks after Google's Street View cars started driving around Bangalore, the company has grounded the fleet. According to Google, it received a letter from the Commissioner of Police Bangalore asking it to stop the cars. The cars were taking pictures and mapping streets of Bangalore. The data was supposed to be used for Google's Street View service.

A Google spokesperson said: "We can confirm that we have received a letter from the commissioner of police regarding Street View. We are currently reviewing it and have stopped our cars until we have a chance to answer any questions or concerns the police have."

According to Google, it received the letter last week. Sources said the commissioner has asked the search engine giant to stop photographing streets of Bangalore. The commissioner has also called Google officials for further discussions on the matter. Google claims it took permission from the traffic department of Bangalore police, before Street View cars started operating.

The police have reservations regarding legality of Google's Street View in India, According to MediaNama. An anonymous source reportedly told the website that the police acted because there were several restrictions on photography by foreigners or foreign firms in India.

Putting it under the ambit of foreign direct investment policy that governs investment and participation by foreign companies in Indian media, the police also reportedly consider Street View and the data presented through it as a form of new media.

Beyond mobile Google's Android ambitions

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:01:03 GMT

Google’s top mobile-phone executive, Andy Rubin, likes to talk about everything being "Android-ized." Android has become the top smartphone operating system in the United States, but Google's ambitions for it go well beyond tablet computers and smartphones, even beyond the mobile Web.

Now Google says Android can also become the first mass-market bridge between the virtual world and the physical world, allowing smartphone apps to control light bulbs, home appliances, and even medical devices. Google announced a program called Android@Home, a system that will allow Android phones and tablets to turn on household lights, activate speakers in a wireless stereo system, or analyze the calories burned on a gym exercise bike, at its annual I/O developer conference last month. The first Android@Home products are LED light bulbs embedded with technology that can be controlled by an Android device. Built by a Florida company called Lighting Science Group, they will go on sale by December.

But their ambition goes beyond turning a smartphone into a universal remote that could switch on the kitchen coffeemaker from your upstairs bedroom, say Android's executives .

Post traffic offenders on Facebook, to appear in court

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:44:41 GMT

Nine days after the Chandigarh police launched its Facebook page, a directive asking the users to be ready to depose for the evidence before the court for uploading picture or video of traffic violation has acted as a dampener. However, maintain that only those will be asked to depose where the court asks for the same, the police maintain.

Inspector General of Police Pradeep Kumar Srivastava said: “Every one who posts pictures or videos of violation on the Facebook will not be asked to appear before the court. But if the court wants any one’s personal appearance, the user has to be ready for that.”

The users can keep their identities secret for posting the traffic violation pictures, he further added.

“If any user wants that his or her identity should not be made public on the Facebook page while uploading a video or a picture of traffic violation, the user should make a request about the same to the Chandigarh police,” he said, adding the procedure is also being followed by Delhi traffic police that is successfully running the page.

Google Confirms Plans to Buy Admeld

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:41:24 GMT

To increase its offerings of ad-management tools, Google Inc. (GOOG) confirmed it plans to acquire the online-advertising firm Admeld.

The Wall Street Journal, last Thursday, reported Google was in talks to buy Admeld for about $400 million, as the technology giant continues to invest outside its main search-advertising business.

In its Monday blog posting, Google didn't confirm financial terms of the deal.

New York-based Admeld, known as a supply-side platform company, helps large websites sell advertising, which would help Google obtain ad inventory from some of the top publishers of online content, including Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI, TRI.T) and News Corp.'s (NWSA, NWS) Fox News and New York Post sites. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal and this newswire.

In 2010, Google generated nearly $30 billion revenue, the vast majority of which came from selling ads on its search engine.

Shares were recently trading down 0.8% at $505.33. Over the past year, the stock has risen 3.4%.

For efficient functioning, UP department to use Facebook

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:37:36 GMT

Uttar Pradesh food and civil supplies department, with a view to ensure greater transparency and better interaction, will be using social networking site Facebook to improve the department's functioning.

Food Commissioner Santosh Yadav said: "Each regional food controller have been asked to open a separate Facebook page on which they will be required to update their status, information about completed works and problems faced by them."

Yadav said he has also suggested food inspectors to use the online platform to remain in touch with fellow inspectors and seek their help if needed.

So that they could remain in contact with the department and interact with their colleagues at the click of a mouse, the department will also be providing data cards to food controllers.

Every Thursday, the Food Commissioner also plans to hold a department review on Facebook once the system starts in all the offices, sources said.

The department has asked those who do not know how to use computers to learn operate them.

On Thursday Twitter's 'Super 8' Promo Grosses $1 Million

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:36:04 GMT

On Thursday, Paramount Pictures raked in $1 million in ticket receipts and priceless media attention through a Twitter-promoted sneak preview of J.J. Abrams' and Steven Spielberg's sci-fi thriller, "Super 8"—and all for the price of $120,000?

Paramount and Twitter, to promote the movie, which officially hit theaters on Friday, teamed up to offer a day-early sneak preview to Twitter users who tweeted with the designated #Super8Secret hashtag.

Paramount paid to make #Super8Secret a "Promoted Trend," putting the hashtag under the top 10 trends listed on users' Twitter homepages. Paramount also debuted the Super 8 trailer on Twitter.

According to report, about 10,000 across the country attended the sneak preview. On Friday, Twitter boasted that the Hollywood promotion, its biggest movie tieup ever, earned Paramount $1 million on Thursday alone. It's a dent compared to the $12.2 million the movie grossed on Friday, opening day, but a worthy investment considering how much Paramount reportedly paid to promote the sneak preview.

Twitter charges $120,000 per day for a Promoted Tweet, up from $25,000-$30,000 last year when the feature first started, According to ClicZ, Twitter also requires advertisers to spend at least $15,000 over three months on bid-based Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets.

An exec said at a conference in April Twitter has more than 200 million users worldwide. More than 70 percent of its traffic actually comes from outside the U.S., and roughly 25 percent come from Japan.

Google May Be Buying AdMeld for $400M

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:34:13 GMT

Google is in the process of purchasing Admeld, which sells display advertising for large Websites owned by Thomson Reuters and Discovery Communications, and News Corp.'s Fox News and New York Post sites.

The buy, which Tech crunch first reported and claimed was worth $400 million, has not been confirmed by Google.

For search ads, Google has more or less locked up the market, where it has 90 percent-plus of text-based ads paired with search results. However, the company's plot of display ads—graphical ads with glimmer and sparkle that sometimes irk users—is much less.

Google's U.S. display ad revenue share grew to 14.7 percent in the first quarter of 2011 from 13.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, passing Yahoo for the first time, said IDC.

Google's vice president of display advertising, Neal Mohan, said engagement rates across all display ads will increase by 50 percent as "ads become less cluttered, more relevant, more engaging and more attractive."

Adding AdMeld would help Google grab ad inventory from leading online content publishers for its DoubleClick Ad Exchange marketplace, providing quite a weapon for Google in its battle against Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and other rivals.

Such a deal, however, would surely attract the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, which have scrutinized Google recently for its large acquisition bids.

Google staff highest paid workers

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 18:48:21 GMT

Google's 26,000 employees earn a median salary of $141,000 (£86,800) a year, compared to the UK private sector average of £21,500, a survey revealed on Friday.

Google, which gives its entire staff free gourmet meals, massages and numerous other perks not found in most offices, pays its staff 23% more than workers are paid for similar roles at rival technology companies, according to the PayScale survey. Google gave all its employees a $ 1000 tax- free bonus and 10% pay raise  to stop staff defecting to rivals, such as Facebook, in January.

The report also found that Facebook has the youngest staff in the technology, with an average age of 26 – a year younger than chief executive Mark Zukerberg.

Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale, said: "Not only do many of the large tech companies pay their typical employees well into the six figures – not surprising given the large number of well-paid engineers on staff – they also pay a premium of as much as 23% above typical pay for the same kind of employees working at 'normal' companies."

Woman in Twitter firing wants name clearance

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:02:30 GMT

The woman who was fired over a Twitter post by a regional economic development agency has hired an attorney and has asked the agency to clear her name.

Former media specialist for the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., Vanessa Williams, was given termination papers last weekend after she mentioned the agency's summer work hours policy on its official Twitter feed last Friday.

Phil Mitman, LVEDC president, said in an interview with The Morning Call this week that the termination was based partly on the brief Twitter message, which read: "We start summer hours today. That means most of the staff leave at noon, many to hit the links. Do you observe summer hours? What do you do?"

It showed bad judgment and was not in keeping with the agency's mission of promoting the Lehigh Valley as a business location, he said.

Facebook swarmed by traffic violation pics

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:17:56 GMT

Internet users have started uploading pictures of traffic violations, a day after the Chandigarh Traffic Police launched its Facebook page. Chandigarh Police already claim to have initiated inquiries into two complaints posted on the page.

Vijay Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) said: “We have started inquiries in two cases where a Facebook user has complained about the laxity of traffic policemen.”

“We are getting interesting feedback and it will help us manage traffic better.”

On Friday, the Facebook page named ‘Chandigarh Traffic Police’ was launched by Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, Inspector General of Police, Chandigarh. So far, the page has over 400 members.

Users have also started uploading pictures of traffic violations on the Facebook page.

The police believe that the Facebook page will also help tighten the noose around those who violate traffic rules.

Social networking trawler PostRank grabbed by Google

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:41:31 GMT

Analytics firm which claims to make sense from the likes of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, PostRank, has been bought by Google .

In order to help sites and companies better engage their audience, and check on how the opposition is doing, PostRank looks at the top 20 social sites .

Its product already integrates with Google's own Analytics but presumably this integration will improve. Many companies are struggling with social networking marketing, and finding numbers to justify that investment.

From its current offices in Ontario, PostRank will move to Google's Mountain View headquarters.

PostRank said it was excited at the move because Google both understands the importance of the data it collects and has the reach to spread it to millions of users.

In 2007, PostRank was launched. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Facebook Call Prompts Protest Marches

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:37:19 GMT

To protest China's recent actions in disputed territories in the South China Sea, Young Vietnamese, spurred by calls on Facebook and other social media, marched through Hanoi.

A crowd of mostly Vietnamese college students holding signs that read “Stop Chinese Invasion of Vietnam Lands” and singing the national anthem, demonstrated on Hanoi’s streets yesterday after police blocked their path to t

Online ad company bought by Twitter

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:51:22 GMT

AdGrok, a company whose software is designed to simplify the creation and management of campaigns using Google's AdWords search advertising service, has been acquired by Twitter.

AdGrok has stopped accepting new customers, as of tuesday. It will shut down its AdWords management business and wipe out its servers by June 30, focusing entirely on enhancing Twitter's online advertising technology.

the company wrote in a blog post : "On June 30th, we will also unlink all customers from the AdGrok Google accounts and securely delete our databases. Performance data and campaign structures from AdGrok customers will not be shared with Twitter."

Based in San Francisco, AdGrok was founded last year and was backed financially by early-stage investment company Y Combinator.

The AdGrok technology will likely find its way into Twitter's Promoted Tweets ad service, which is similar in concept to Google's AdWords.

Twitter in the past year, having become the preferred microblogging vehicle for individuals, celebrities and businesses, has been trying to boost its revenue and create a self-sustaining business that is in proportion to the tool's popularity.

Twitter, Google move to replicate Facebook's 'Like' button

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:36:18 GMT

To replicate Facebook's 'Like' button, Twitter and Google have reportedly launched separate buttons allowing web surfers to endorse search results and advertisements.

The move would reportedly make it faster and easier for Twitter to track the daily thoughts of famous people on its short-messaging service.

The Daily Mail reports that the new shortcut is being provided by a Twitter 'Follow' button that can be placed on websites to highlight celebrities, athletes, reporters and other people who tweet their thoughts and share other information.

Over 50 websites have reportedly agreed to use the new feature so far, including AOL, Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated and TV Guide.

Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga, are among famous people using the feature.

The news came on the same day that Google was expected to expand its own recommendation button, called '+1', to other websites.

+1 was first launched in March next to search results for just two percent of English-language results in the U.S.Google, however, has now invited third-party websites to add the button, placing it in more direct competition with Facebook's 'Like' button, the paper said.

21-year old management student inspired by Facebook builds his own social networking website Socheer

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:41:06 GMT

A 21 year old management student inspired by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is on an ambitious mission to build his own social network. Rahul Khanna, a student from Mumbai, has teamed up with some of his college mates and is on his way to launch a new social networking website which will try to "fill in the gap left by existing networks."

"To be honest I was inspired by Facebook. One day when we were accessing Facebook during the exam time and nothing fruitful came out..thats when I felt why don't we fill in the gap and try to take social networking to a new level," says Khanna.

About three months back, the social networking site, socheers.com, was launched in beta mode (testing phase). Khanna has registered a self funded company, Socheers Infotech Private Limited, along with seven others and is planning to officially launch the site in about two months from now.

Khanna who heads marketing and strategy for the company claims the site already has more than 18,000 registered users. Khanna's site went through an incident which is strikingly similar to Facebook which managed to overwhelm the Harvard University server when it was first launched.

"After we went live, word spread fast. The shared server we rented in Australia could not cope with the incoming traffic and had to shut down all the sites hosted on the server. We are now moving to a dedicated server in Nasik," he said.

A student of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) university, Khanna said: "We have not done any promotions so far. First, we want to concentrate on the user interface and features.Besides the regular social media features like the status update and sharing, the site has features like the "jukebox" which allows you discover music your friends like and regional language chat. It also lets you upload and share documents and post videos. Soon a new feature which has to do with women and fashion will also be added to the site. This will be a compelling reason to be on socheers.com.”

ASCI launches page on Facebook, Twitter

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:29:17 GMT

Encouraging youths to speak out against questionable campaigns through its Facebook and Twitter accounts, errant advertisers could face more heat from industry watchdog ASCI, which has jumped on the social networking bandwagon.

The Advertising Standards Council of India  (ASCI), within a month of making its debut on Facebook and Twitter has already received ten times more complaints against advertisements than the earlier average of 15-20 complaints from individuals and industry against 12 advertisements in a month.

ASCI General Secretary Allan Collaco told PTI: "By being on the social networking sites, ASCI is targeting the youth who are very active on such platforms to come up and register comments or complaints against advertisements and thus help in regulating the industry."

Facebook page for students launched by Delhi University

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:11:05 GMT

Giving them another avenue to sort out their questions, raise their grievances and offer suggestions, Delhi University today launched its Facebook page for students.

Officials of the University at the first Open Day at the South campus, were bombarded by a series of questions by curious students and concerned parents as they sought to clear their doubts about the new admission norms and other details and nuances of several courses.

Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh said at the institution's social networking profile, a link to which is available on the University's website, he will himself try to answer several of the queries posted by students.

The Vice Chancellor speaking to aspirants, also advised them to opt for the subjects they actually have aptitude for rather than running after market trends. "We are today launching our Facebook page, a dedicated email id is also in place. I'll do my best to personally answer several queries," he said.

The University officials said they are also making available the option of e-open days whereby presentations will be posted on the University website. Dean Students' Welfare J M Khurana said:"We are also launching e-open days and e-brochures. This will help local students as they will not have to move around the city in the heat and also outstation students who can avail of the information benefits from their own cities."

Lewd picture on Twitter not of Tory candidate

Mon, 30 May 2011 19:14:33 GMT

The communications director for the provincial Tories told the Star that the lewd photo of a penis that was posted on rookie PC candidate George Lepp’s Twitter account on Sunday was not of his own “family jewels.”

The photo was taken by Lepp’s BlackBerry when it was on camera mode in his front pant pocket, the Sun article reported. The information was attributed to Tory communications director Alan Sakach.

“This is ridiculous. That wasn’t actually what I said. This is obviously a misquote,” Sakach told theStar. “I have no idea how the photo was taken.”

Saturday as he was leaving the party conference, Lepp was pickpocketed outside the Dixon Rd. convention centr, Sakach said. Lepp’s son noticed the “very unusual Tweet” on Sunday and removed it immediately, Sakach said.

“I know he was pickpocketed and somebody posted a link to a pornographic photo,” Sakach said. “Obviously it had nothing to do with George. It’s something he is very upset about.”

At Niagara-on-the-Lake farmer and businessman, Lepp is the PC candidate for Niagara Falls in the 2011 provincial election.

Emulator Dev's account killed by Google from Android market

Mon, 30 May 2011 19:04:28 GMT

Freely available emulators for older gaming consoles are one thing that gamers love about the Android. Yongzh is the one responsible for developing NES, SNES, N64 and whole bunch of other emulators.

When it comes to killing accounts and disabling apps from its apps market, Google has been more conservative than some of the other app stores. It should come as a surprise to many that Google has disabled Yongzh’s account on the Android market and all the apps. It’s very likely that one of the large game console developers might have complained about the developer to Google, although, there seems to be no explanation given. While many consider emulators themselves to be legal, it’s the downloading of ROMs and playing them that’s considered illegal. In the past, Sony has been known to file lawsuits against emulator developers, but has lost those cases.

For Dia Mirza Twitter 'Open Book'

Mon, 30 May 2011 18:52:01 GMT

Avid followers of Dia Mirza on twitter by now must have known her inside out. A fact, that our newly turned producer of tinsel town, the gorgeous Dia claimed in the recent media interaction.

“I was very reluctant about joining the micro-blogging site initially but my uncle convinced me to give it a shot. I must say that I’m very transparent about myself on it, thus, I rightfully claim that whosoever has been in touch with me since day one knows me completely by now,” elaborated Dia.

She further adds, “In fact, Twitter has been a great platform for me to do social work. And I’m glad that I joined after being so adamant about not opening an account on it,” she added further.

Looks like, Dia’s inclination towards Twitter is calling for a big time promotions of her home productions ‘Love, Break up and Zindagi’ on it.

Google Street View in India

Sat, 28 May 2011 17:58:08 GMT

On Thursday, Google launched its “Street View”project in India, aiming to collect panoramic images of the vast country ranging from its palaces to its slums.

In the southern city of Bangalore, a technology hub where many Internet firms are based, the 360-degree photographic mapping service, which is already in operation in more than 25 countries, began gathering data.

Since its launch in the United States in 2007, Street View has proved hugely popular,but it has also run into trouble with several governments concerned about privacy.

Google India chief Vinay Goel told reporters in Bangalore that Street View is designed to comply with all local laws including those related to security and privacy in India.

He said the programme, which allows computer users to simulate walking down streets and around corners, would be useful for “urban development planners, law enforcement agencies, house-hunters, and travellers”.

The company said that detailed images of Bangalore, which are being collected by special cameras mounted on cars and tricycles, would be made accessible once the data had been processed.

Earlier this month, Google said that it would appeal against a Swiss ruling ordering it to ensure that all people and cars pictured on Street View were unrecognisable.

“We have got permission from Bangalore police, and are in touch with state and central governments,” a Google spokeswoman told AFP. “We want to map the entire city, but anyone can complain if they are unhappy about coverage.”

“In India too, we are planning to collect images of important monuments and tourist spots after getting necessary sanction from the authorities,” Goel said.

US lawsuit declared fraud by Facebook

Sat, 28 May 2011 17:51:43 GMT

Lawyers for Facebook are calling a man's federal lawsuit claiming part ownership of the company ''a fraud on the court''.

Lawyers for Facebook, in their latest legal response, have accused Paul Ceglia of doctoring a 2003 contract that he says proves he bought into the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's idea for the site when Mr Zuckerberg was at university.

The response filed in the US District Court in Buffalo said that Mr Ceglia ''has now come out of the woodwork seeking billions in damages''.

Mr Ceglia's lawsuit relies on a two-page ''work for hire'' contract.

He and Mr Zuckerberg signed the contract after Mr Zuckerberg responded to his help-wanted ad for work on a street-mapping database he was creating, says Mr Ceglia .

Mr Ceglia paid Mr Zuckerberg $US1000 to develop software for the street-mapping project and gave him another $US1000 after Mr Zuckerberg told him about his Facebook idea, with the condition Mr Ceglia would get half if it took off, according to the lawsuit.

The company said the document was a fake. ''To be clear, Zuckerberg did not sign the purported agreement … which is a 'cut-and-paste' job fraudulently manufactured by the plaintiff for this lawsuit,'' the filing said.

TweetDeck acquired by Twitter for $40 million news

Sat, 28 May 2011 17:45:34 GMT

On 25May, the acquisition of London-based startup TweetDeck by Twitter has increased the following of the micro-blogging site.

For the past week, rumors of a TweetDeck takeover by Twitter had been doing the rounds on the internet, but on 25May, the service announced, appropriately enough, via Twitter that it had been acquired by the microblogging site.

With Twitter reportedly paying around $40 million for TweetDeck, the acquisition comes following the end of a bidding war with UberMedia, owners of Twitter applications such as UberSocial.

Users can organise the feeds of brands, celebrities and people they follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media accounts with TweetDeck. According to estimates, 13 per cent of all tweets are sent from TweetDeck.

According to data from www.fanpagelist.com, the acquisition has led to around 2000 social media fans to adding the service on Twitter over the past week, which makes the brand, the seventh most followed, in terms of daily fans, this week.

The brand has experienced a 2.85 per cent growth in terms of weekly fans, much above the average of 1.62 per cent for most brands, according to data from social media monitoring site www.famecount.com.

Spotify makes Facebook symphonic

Sat, 28 May 2011 17:38:57 GMT

A new update that is scheduled to get integrated on its platform In the coming weeks is being currently tested by Facebook. In partnership with Spotify, a popular digital music service; Facebook is almost as close to launching its own music sharing experience on its platform for its users.

The service will allow Facebook users to listen to music from Spotify’s exhaustive music collection, as also share and listen to their favorite ones with their friends. For the Facebook space Spotify services aren’t new. Spotify lets users import their Facebook friends onto their app, and share music into their news feed. The service, as mentioned earlier, is being tested and is poised to go live, soon. In only those parts which have licensed access to Spotify's services, the service will be made available soon.

Tsotsobe sacked Essex by after Twitter outburst

Sat, 28 May 2011 17:31:50 GMT

Essex county team sacked the South African speedster Lonwabo Tsotsobe , after the bowler described his stint at the club as "the worst two months" of his life on social networking site Twitter.

"I've never felt like this ever. This is the worst two months of my life. And you know when you start regretting yourself it ain't good. It's just impossible to work in this environment," tweeted the 27-year-old.

The left-hander, who joined Essex last month, had a poor run of form bagging just five wickets at an average of 77.60 in three four-day County Championship matches.

English privacy law rethink forced by Twitter

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:41:46 GMT

In England, Twitter is forcing the UK government to re-examine privacy laws.

The rethink comes after a granted a private injuction, meaning that English newspapers could not legally publish the name of a professional soccer player who allegedly had an affair, despite thousands of people who have reported the name on the social-networking site.

Prime Minister David Cameron has called the situation "unsustainable".

Against Twitter and "persons unknown" – the tweeters who had repeated his name, the footballer issued legal proceedings. Because English courts have no jurisdiction over the US-based company, the action is unlikely to succeed. "There are real challenges to bringing an action against Twitter," says Dominic Crossley, a partner at a London law firm who specializes in privacy law.

The ease and speed at which information spreads on Twitter makes it a significant threat to injunctions, although, the player's name has also been published on blogs and Wikipedia. Users can retweet other's messages to their followers with a single click, rapidly distributing them.

The clash between law and technology coincides with the publication last week of a judicial report on the use of injunctions and superinjunctions, in which the press cannot even report the existence of an injunction. The report was commissioned in April 2010 but makes no recommendation on enforcing injunctions on sites like Twitter. "I do think there is a need for this issue to be looked at," says Crossley.

"I think the government and Parliament have got to take some time out, have a proper look at this, have a think about what we can do, but I'm not sure there is going to be a simple answer," Cameron said.

The footballer was later named in the House of Commons as Manchester United player Ryan Giggs. Member of Parliament John Hemming identified the player using parliamentary privilege.

Team of foreign ambassadors created by Facebook

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:31:52 GMT

The planet's most popular social network has made steps to expand its international presence and break down the few remaining borders left in global social media.

Facebook is currently "creating its own foreign service, hiring a network of ambassadors from India to Ireland to represent the Palo Alto-based social network with foreign governments and cultures," the San Jose Mercury News reports.

With everything from monitoring local political organizing developments happening via Facebook, to acting as a camera-ready talking head when more traditional media outlets like television inevitably call, these new ambassadors will have their hands full. These "International Directors of Policy" will be stationed in regions such as the Middle East, Western and Central Europe, and Scandanavia among others and will serve as the company's primary contact with foreign governments and politicians.

Facebook spokesperson Debbie Frost speaking to the Mercury News, called the initiative "the right investment" for the company to make at this time. "It's important that we have a presence, so people can have a direct line into Facebook. You limit the scope for misunderstandings," Frost said.

Microsoft help taken by Facebook to fight child pornography

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:25:30 GMT

Facebook, in a bid to drive paedophiles away from its service, has announced introduction of a new technology that will automatically trawl photos posted by users for child abuse.

The popular social networking site has now partnered with Microsoft and will implement its PhotoDNA technology, designed to identify and remove images that exploit or endanger children.

The PhotoDNA technology, run by the Na

Kids under 13 welcomed on the site by Facebook founder

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:07:02 GMT

To permit children under 13 to join, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said recently that he is willing to alter the site's regulations.

Zuckerberg, speaking before the NewSchools Summit in California, acknowledged that the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act regulates what information websites can gather on children under age 13. He's determined to change this, reported International Business Times.

"That will be a fight we take on at some point," Zuckerberg reportedly said. "My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age." The site hasn't yet begun to figure out how kids would use the site at such an age, though he assured those present that the company would take a lot of precautions to make sure that younger kids are safe.

Eye-opening studies reveal a giant population of underage users already on Facebook. The number of U.S. parents who would allow children 10-12 years old to have a Facebook account has doubled in a year, according to an online survey of about 1,000 adults by Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project.

In the poll, seventeen percent of U.S. parents questioned said they had no problem with a pre-teen child using a social media site, compared to just eight percent a year ago. And 11 percent of parents admitted to using social media sites on behalf of a young child or infant.

And despite the company's official prohibition, as many as 7.5 million kids under the age of 13 are using the social-networking service, -- 5 million under the age of 10, according to a survey released last week by Consumer Reports.

Jeff Fox, technology editor at Consumer Reports, told FoxNews.com that Facebook recognizes that kids should not use the service and prohibits access to those under 13. But the age verification system is weak.

Acknowledging that it was relatively easy for children to work around the age restrictions, Facebook released an official statement about the Consumer Reports survey.

Fake Facebook page of Michael Eavis removed

Mon, 23 May 2011 19:48:18 GMT

A fake page purporting to be that of Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis has been taken down by Facebook.

After Mr Eavis said he was unhappy that somebody was pretending to be him, the page, which had photographs and personal information, was removed.

"It's nothing whatsoever to do with me. The stuff that they're saying - whether it's true or not - is not the point," he said.

Because it violated its terms and conditions it was taken down, said Facebook.

The page contained various status updates and had personal information such as where Mr Eavis lives and what school he went to.

Although he had not seen it, he wanted it removed and had asked his solicitor to look into it, said Mr Eavis .

"I don't know what they're saying about me - whether it's accurate or if they're friendly or foe.

"It's just made-up gossipy stuff and it's kind of a comic strip.

"Maybe it's harmless fun, I don't really know, but it's better it not be there.

"It's probably part of the course and you have to live with these things as long as it's not malicious and nasty."

"Whilst we can't comment on individual cases, users and content on Facebook can be removed for a variety of reasons including using bullying others, using fake details or posting content which contains nudity," said a spokeswoman for Facebook.

To location data abuse event Apple and Google invited

Thu, 19 May 2011 06:53:43 GMT

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of United States has asked Apple and Google to attend its location tracking forum.

The FCC made the request for the geolocation data harvesters Apple and Google to join its location tracking forum, which will be held in June. To discuss the abuse of location tracking this is the first time the FCC has held a forum and the FCC is calling the event a "public education forum" about the pitfalls and benefits of location based tracking, according to Reuters.

Location based tracking does have benefits, an unnamed Reuters source at the FCC said. However, it is wary that users and digital rights organisations aren't kept in the loop on how personal data is collected and what happens to it once companies have collected it.

The FCC said in a statement that while the use of location data has spurred innovation, the FCC's National Broadband Plan recognizes that consumer apprehension about privacy can also act as a barrier to the adoption and utilization of broadband and mobile devices.

Both companies Apple and Google have been in the media spotlight for accidentally harvesting personal data on their respective hardware and software, and were invited to the forum.

Shiny toy vendor Apple has a location data 'bug' in IOS such that its Iphone was recording punters WiFi data. Google's Android OS was collecting location data and the company was globally reprimanded for sucking up personal data in its Streetview cars from unencrypted WiFi networks.

The FCC move comes as both the US and the EU are cracking down on data abuse by technology companies.

With Second Phase Of Facebook Integration Bing Gets Social

Thu, 19 May 2011 06:44:06 GMT

On Monday Microsoft announced that Bing is hoping to separate itself from competitors such as Google and Yahoo by modifying its search engines with data mined from Facebook "likes".

Microsoft is now making a bigger effort to create highly relevant results while the search engine first began integrating Facebook data last year. Certain results could be prioritized on Bing based on whethe

Google to rent out Chrome laptops for $20 a month

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:34:43 GMT

This time, with the education sector, Google is making a major push for its cloud-based Chrome laptops.

A Google senior executive, in an interview with Forbes, said that the company will begin leasing out the computers to students at $20 a month. But Google isn’t solely targeting students, and it is likely that the company’s real aim for the rental program is the enterprise sector.

“Small and medium-sized businesses are banging on our doors to get something like this,” the executive told Forbes.

The news echoes previous rumors that Google would start a Chrome rental program within the coming months. The computers, manufactured by both Samsung and Acer, are expected to retail for $500, far below that of most other laptops. Google is expected to announce the device’s June release date later today.

Next Google, Intel in India not wanted by Obama

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:31:49 GMT

President Barack Obama, making a strong pitch for his immigration reforms, has said that he does not want the next corporate giants like Google and Intel to be created in India and China, which are giving stiff competition to American firms.

"We don't want the next Intel or Google to be created in China or India. We want those companies and jobs to take root in America," Obama said, as he made a case for bringing 11 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows and putting them on a path to citizenship.

Obama, arguing that immigration was fundamental to his country's economic well-being, said that the US could not afford to train future entrepreneurs at US colleges, and then send them home to compete with American firms.

"Look at Intel and Google and Yahoo and eBay - these are great American companies that have created countless jobs and helped us lead the world in high-tech industries. Everyone was founded by an immigrant."

In an apparent play for vital Hispanic votes in his 2012 re-election bid, Obama said Republicans would seek to block his drive for immigration reform.

To rival Facebook Google to launch +1

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:24:18 GMT

According to Google's development team, Google's counterpart to the Facebook Like Button is all set to make its debut "in the coming weeks.

In San Francisco, the company gave the attendees at its Google I/O developer conference a sneak peek into its Google +1 button. Similar to Facebook's Like Button or the Twitter Tweet button, it provides a way for website visitors to endorse and share an article or web page.

"Installation for most people will be done by using a simple code generator that allows setting of size, whether to include a count and other options," according to a report on Searchengineland.com.

The buttons will reportedly be available in several different shapes and sizes with and without counters. Users can create one of these +1 buttons from a simple form where they can generate the embed code.

Google's +1 button is said to come with a suite of analytics that look similar to the Google Analytics dashboard.

Swiss Street View shutdown threatened by Google

Wed, 11 May 2011 17:15:55 GMT

Unless Switzerland’s supreme court overturns a ruling requiring an absolute guarantee of anonymity for people captured on the popular Street View service, Google is threatening to wipe photographs of streets and houses in the country from its online maps.

To complaints it is violating people's privacy, shutting down Street View in an entire country would be the Internet search giant's most severe response yet.

California-based company, The Mountain View, said on Wednesday that it will ask the Swiss Federal Tribunal to throw out a lower court decision that obliged it to ensure all faces and vehicle license plates are blurred before uploading pictures to the Street View service. Street Views allows map users to click on virtually any spot in a city to zoom into a series of street-level pictures taken by cars mounted with 360-degree cameras.

Last month, the ruling by the Federal Administrative Court in Bern — following a complaint from the country's privacy watchdog — also ordered Google to obscure identifying features such as skin color and clothing from people photographed in the vicinity of "sensitive establishments," such as women's shelters, retirement homes, prisons, schools, courts and hospitals.

Peter Fleischer Google's global privacy counsel said that demands made by the administrative court are unrealistic and would force them to withdraw the service from Switzerland.

If Google fails at the higher court and goes through with its threat, it would be the first time that the company has permanently switched off Street View anywhere in the world, though it has faced privacy concerns in many of the 27 countries where the service is available.

Below the Minimum Age7.5 Million Facebook Users

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:55:03 GMT

7.5 million profiles on the site are operated by users younger than 13 years old, the minimum age to have a Facebook account, according to a new survey.

According to a survey by Consumer Reports, a large majority of these kids on Facebook are under 10, and their parents don't monitor their activity on the site, which leaves them open to threats like cyber bullying or sexual predators.

Consumer Reports' technology editor Jeff Fox said that despite Facebook's age requirements, many kids are using the site that shouldn't be and what's even more troubling was the finding from their survey that indicated that a majority of parents of kids 10 and under seemed largely unconcerned by their children's use of the site.

Admitting that it's aware of the problem, Facebook ,earlier this year said it removes about 20,000 profiles every day many of which belong to users that are younger than 13.

Consumer Reports says 20 million are under the age of 18, out of 500 million Facebook users worldwide. Absent any manner of actually verifying a user's age, kids younger than 13 can simply join the site by providing a false birthday.

New highly optimised (SEO) business directory to be launched

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:48:04 GMT

Next week, a brand new highly optimized online business directory specializing in listings for hire and rental companies is due to be launched in the UK.

www.anythingforfire.co.uk offers users based across the UK access to one of the largest databases of approved and reliable hire companies covering every imaginable service and product.

So for your new company, if you need to hire a fully SEO website or maybe computer or IT equipment for your new office, or if you’re looking for marquee hire for an upcoming event, or if you need to rent a house, or hire a dog walker, you’ll find every hire service you could possibly need on Anything for Hire.

State of the art search engine optimization techniques are featured by online business listings to ensure all of the company listings rank highly on organic search results for all major search engines. The listings also feature superb graphics and high quality images for a glossy and professional overall effect.

The database is updated daily with new services and products so you’ll receive up to the minute rental company information via the new online portal. Brand new hire companies, and long running established hire firms as well as specialist hire businesses, can all be found one place courtesy of Anything for Hire.

Anything for Hire will go live online from next week. The easy to use website allows users the chance to search for a desired company via product or location so it’s never been easier to secure a hire service, regardless of your requirements or location.

HTC Facebook phones

Tue, 10 May 2011 19:35:21 GMT

A phone with a dedicated Facebook button is to arrive by June 26, the UK branch of Amazon has revealed.

Back in February, the phones were first revealed and will fulfil their promise of a Q2 launch in Europe with launch events planned for Austria and Switzerland in July. While the Salsa finds itself with a typical HTC form factor the ChaCha offers more unusual design with a slightly tilted screen above a full QWERTY keyboard. A key feature of both is the distinctive Facebook button at the bottom.

A 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, 512MB of RAM and run Android 2.3 is a feature of both the devices. Also included in each handset is a 5mp rear-facing camera and VGA front facing camera for video calling. The main difference between the two is the size of screen, the ChaCha has a 2.6" screen and the Salsa a 3.4" display. The Facebook button will allow for instant and easy sharing of content with photos and website links posted to the social networking site simply by pressing it.

This year, not only are the ChaCha and Salsa similarly spec'd to each other but to INQ's Facebook phones which were also revealed earlier. The INQ phone also feature 600MHz processors and come in 2.6" and 3.5" variants.

The price tags of the phones definitely don't fall into the budget category. Both seem to fall under the same slightly overpriced curse as HTC's Flyer tablet with the ChaCha costing £249.99 ($408) and the Salsa £319.99 ($523) which seems a bit much for the below average specs. Hopefully when the phones reach carriers subsidies will help to make the devices more reasonable offerings.

1.4 version of Google Goggles released

Tue, 10 May 2011 19:14:06 GMT

Back in the month of January, Google released its upgraded Goggles 1.3 version for Android devices.

The official Google Mobile blog highlights that the company has now rolled out the latest 1.4 version. Optimized search history, the capability to recommend improved results in case Google cannot precisely match the user’s image or the result quality is mediocre and, advanced business card recognition are rendered by this new solution.

Users can simply tap ‘Can you suggest a better result?’ on the results page, in order to send a suggestion to Google. Further, they can choose the appropriate part of the image and submit a tag. Tags will be utilized to enhance recognition in object categories where Goggles provides desired results. Business card recognition is swift and easy-to-use. Besides, Goggles now recognizes the information as a contact, thereby making it simpler to include users’ contact list.

Searching Goggles results, creating personal notes on particular results and effortlessly sharing results with friends, the revived search history functionalities enable users this facility. When a personal note is included in a Goggles result, the note will intuitively appear in the search history. Additionally, notes allow users to flawlessly manage their search history. Users can also include a personalized message while sharing their results with friends.

Google Goggles 1.4 version can now be downloaded on Android 1.6 devices and above.

Facebook Deemed an Accurate Personality Test for Employers

Tue, 10 May 2011 18:02:16 GMT

Facebook profiles can reveal almost everything an employer might want to know about an applicant's personality within 10% accuracy of a standard personality test, a new study conducted at the University of Maryland found .

About 300 Facebook users were surveyed by researchers for information that is readily available on the social networking site, including favorite activities, movies, television shows, music, books and political stance, as well as the "About Me" and "blurb" sections. They then asked each user to take a personality test that measured the "big five" behavioral traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.

People who tested as extroverts had more friends on the social site, but sparse networks — meaning that their friends were less likely to know each other, researchers found. The study also showed that women are more conscientious, agreeable and neurotic than men.

According to researcher Jennifer Golbeck, revealing a person's personality is important to determine how well they'll get along with others – whether at work or in life.

"If we can better understand people's relationships with one another, who they will trust online, potentially we can understand who they should interact with," Golbeck told Discovery News.

Google’s Cloud-Based Applications for Indiamart.Com

Tue, 10 May 2011 17:31:44 GMT

Across its 75 offices in the country, more than 4,000 employees of Indiamart. com have shifted to Google’s cloud based applications for business which is web-based collection of messaging and collaboration applications.

The CEO of Indiamart. com, Dinesh Agarwal, said that new technologies have always been proactively adopted by the company for seamless business operations. Indiamart. com is a B2B marketplace which provides the common platform for the buyers and sellers for trading.

The companies have shown considerable interest in applications other than Microsoft Office and are continuously looking for alternatives, a Forrester Research study indicates. The Google apps for business have helped Indimart. com to provide common e-mail platform for its employees.

The Google apps for business includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Word Processor, spreadsheets, presentation, Google Calendar, integrated IM, Google Docs and website creation tools. Pradeep Agarwal, Google Enterprise Country Head in India, said that Indiamart. com had setup an example for other organizations and had demonstrated that cloud-based Google Apps can help them to connect to their employees, customers and business partners.

By adding new features and trying to advance Web standards, Google is working to make apps more capable, but still Web-based Office alternatives lag behind Office’s abilities

Tie-up with Skype eyed by Facebook, Google

Sat, 07 May 2011 17:59:34 GMT

Two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters that Facebook and Google Inc. are separately considering a tie-up with Skype after the Web video conferencing service delayed its initial public offering.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, has taken part in internal discussions about buying Skype, according to one of the sources. Another source said Facebook had reached out to the Luxembourg-based company about forming a joint venture.

Google has also held early talks for a joint venture with Skype, the second source said.

The first source said that a Skype deal could be valued at $3 billion to $4 billion. Skype's IPO is expected to raise about $1 billion, several other sources said.

The discussions are in early stages, and it is not clear which option the companies favour, the first two sources said.

Although for the second half of 2011,an IPO is still in the cards, Skype remains in discussions with other companies, two of the sources said. If it goes through, a Skype IPO would be one of the most hotly anticipated debuts by a United States technology company this year.

Securing Skype as a partner would expand Facebook's user base, help it grow in international markets where Skype is popular, and give its half-billion users another reason to remain active and connected to its online community.

Analysts say a tie-up between Facebook and Skype would make more sense than one with Google, which already has a similar service: Google Voice.

Skype and Google declined to comment. Facebook was not immediately available to comment. The information is not public and the sources declined to be named.

Decline in freelance writing jobs after Google algorithm change

Sat, 07 May 2011 17:55:13 GMT

According to Freelancer.com, the Google algorithm change which meant to optimize search quality by targeting writing mills has wreaked havoc on the freelance writing job market.

As most freelance writers will tell you entry level writing jobs for freelancers do not pay well. $5 for a 350 blog post is a common offer by a potential client. Many freelance writers make very little and now they may be fighting harder for jobs that pay far less than minimum wage. Freelancer.com reports that job offers for freelance writers looking to submit or rewrite content is significantly down. The decrease is due to major hit taken by the top employers for entry level jobs after Google changed its search algorithm.

Latest move by Google to increase search engine effectiveness has put content websites, often called writing mills, writing sweatshops, and content farms in the crosshairs. These websites typically employ many writers who are paid low wages to produce what critics say is low-value content that is optimized more for search engines than for quality.

Demand Media who originally reported that the Google algorithm change did not affect them is One of the most successful content farms. Now, Demand Media says traffic to its eHow website has dropped as a result of Google algorithm changes.

Recent search engine algorithm changes have negatively impacted search driven traffic to some of our websites, including eHow.com, resulting in moderately lower year-to-date page view growth for the company’s owned and operated Content & Media properties compared to page view growth rates before the algorithm changes.

Complaints for new Google service with Sprint

Sat, 07 May 2011 17:49:20 GMT

New customer complaints increased with the integration of a much-lauded Google service into Sprint Nextel phones, although the carrier says the problems are rare.

Rather than offering the new convenience they expected some customers have complained that swapping their Google Voice numbers into their wireless Sprint phones has created hassles. Sprint would not say how many people are using Google Voice but stressed Friday that just a few were having problems.

Google Voice lets people choose their numbers and have calls to a single number ring on multiple phones. It can route calls to the same number to different phones depending on the day of the week or time of day. Most importantly, it means people need give out just a single number to be reached anywhere. Google Voice has also been prominent in the marketing of Google’s Nexus S highspeed 4G phone. It goes on sale Sunday.

Sprint was the first company to let customers substitute their Google Voice numbers for their Sprint-assigned phone numbers relatively simply and free.

The tech-centric blog Engadget contends it’s not been so simple. First Thursday, the blog reported that it heard a “hoard” of complaints from customers. Sprint spokeswoman Jenny Walsh said some customers could not switch their phones to Google Voice because they were using government or corporate phones that blocked the service.

However, others were paying for their own wireless service but got corporate discounts through their employers. Some, but not all, of those were improperly blocked from Google Voice integration, Walsh said.

In 90 percent of divorce cases Facebook used

Sun, 01 May 2011 07:38:54 GMT

A says Facebook and social media are used in 90 percent of her divorce cases, says a St. Petersburg attorney.

"You get a little bit of everything that happens on Facebook," said Carin Constantine.

"Everything from clients coming in with pictures of the opposing party doing a keg stand with high schoolers... to teenagers drinking alcohol served by a parent... to a picture of a husband at a nightclub dancing with a babysitter."

Facebook is cited in one in five divorces in the United States, a recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found. Also, more than 80 percent of divorce lawyers reported a rising number of people are using social media to engage in affairs.

"There are times when my paralegal and I sit in this office and laugh because people are stupid. They put things out there on the internet that can last forever," Constantine said.

Divorce attorneys are becoming internet gurus because websites like Yahoo and Google cache images as soon as they're put online, Constantine says she can find pictures from Facebook accounts that have been deactivated.

She simply goes to www.images.google.com, types in the person's name and searches through every single page of returns.

"Those pictures are still accessible by us, and we can still print them and we can still use them as evidence in your divorce case," Constantine said. And that printed piece of paper can be attached to a motion within the hour.

Aside from deactivating your Facebook account, the best advice is asking friends and family not to post any pictures of you online, even if they don't tag you.

"The problem is, if you've got 400 friends, I assure you one of those friends [doesn't] have all the privacy settings correct," she explained.

And she, along with thousands of other lawyers, can find it.

Gaming market dominated by Apple and Google

Sun, 01 May 2011 07:22:37 GMT

Thanks to cell phone users, Apple and Google have 34 percent of the portable gaming market, according to a report from the mobile analytics firm Flurry.

Junior finance and marketing major Cori Rosen said that it makes sense from a finance perspective because they're creating a whole new market, considering that people are buying more cell phones and getting rid of landlines. Therefore, more people have cell phones and will buy games.

Last month, at the Game Developers Conference, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that smart phone games were hurting the industry with low-quality, low-cost games.

Nintendo has said to CNN that it isn't interested in making a phone right now.

Sony is even coming out with a phone, the Xperia Play, which is a phone that also has PlayStation controls. Xperia Play hit shelves in Europe, Hong Kong, and Taiwan early this month and will be in the U.S. soon.

"I think it's cool. I like games on my phone, especially when I'm in class and bored. It keeps me very entertained," said Rosen.

Between 2009 and 2010 Flurry estimates that Nintendo's share in the US portable gaming market fell 13 percent, leaving it at 57 percent overall. PSP fell two points to 11 percent.

Facebook users cross 25 million mark in India

Sun, 01 May 2011 07:16:16 GMT

On Thrusday, Facebook said that in India it has crossed the 25-million base mark.

"Facebook currently has 25 million users in India," said David Fischer, vice president advertising and global operations, Facebook at an interactive advertising and digital marketing exibition, Ad-tech here.

Leaving behind other social networking sites such as Orkut and Twitter, Facebook has almost become the most popular for active interent users in the recent past in India.

"We are also looking forward to building strong relationship with India's strong network of developers and entrepreneurs who are increasingly harnessing Facebook to create unique sharing experiences on the social web," said the company.

Including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Delhi Traffic Police and bollywood perfectionist Aamir Khan, the 25-million and growing Facebook users in India range from business people and students to public figures and institutions.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi, from January, has also started using Facebook for users to post problems for immediate action on areas like sanitation and garbage cleaning.

India has over 100 million users. Though the figure is hardly 10 percent of the total Indian population of 1.21 billion, it still puts India at the number three position in the world largest internet users list.

In India Google Applications to Get Paid

Sun, 01 May 2011 07:07:27 GMT

It has now been revealed that Google applications for the use of business purposes are soon going to get paid, a move amidst a lot of changes seen around in internet community. This shall start on the 10th of May, 2010, in India.

Businesses which have more than 10 users in the country will be affected by the move. The web-based tools that are available for the aid of the people are soon going to cost money. There are many options available on the Google services such as document editing, calendar management, Google Calendar, email and so on.

There are more than three million people who avail this every single day and for this reason, they have decided to be able to earn a little profit out of it. The business users of Google shall now be asked to pay for more than 10 email-accounts they have on Google.

The website has not yet announced the change, but an e-mail message sent by the Google Apps Team reads: “We recently announced upcoming changes to the maximum number of users for Google Apps. As of May 10, any organization that signs up for a new account will be required to use the paid Google Apps for Business product in order to create more than 10 users”.

Less generous Google Apps Standard Edition

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:31:28 GMT

The organization-level offering of branded, Google Apps, integrated groupware that includes Gmail and Google Docs, comes in several flavors. Many businesses (millions, in fact) use the free version, which, while lacking some of the advanced features of the paid, educational, and non-profit versions, is an incredibly powerful suite of cloud-based applications that can provide everything a small business needs to communicate and collaborate. “Small businesses” are getting a lot smaller by Google’s definition, as of May 10th, though.

Town of York again misplaced by Google

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:28:52 GMT

A Google problem thought to be solved is back, YORK, Maine.

Google Web and a Google Maps search for York often turn up results for Kennebunkport and Sanford, according to two local inn owners who said the Internet mistake is hurting their businesses. owner of the Morning Glory Inn on Seabury Road, Bill Alstrom, said the numbers of tourists who are not booking because they can’t find the inn online is hard to measure.

"A lot of our guests are returning guests," Alstrom said. "I can tell you the amount of Web traffic I’m getting is down, which is unusual for this time of year. Usually the phone starts to ring heavily now."

Facebook saves life of man

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:26:51 GMT

Facebook literally saved his life, claims an Ottawa man.
Huw Williams will be forever grateful to the social networking site, which he says helped him get a bone marrow transplant to treat his leukemia.
He got the transplant from 23-year-old Mike Hogman of B-C, who signed up with the stem cell donor registry after seeing a link to it on Facebook.

Degree of chaos at Google

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:23:38 GMT

Steven Levy, author of "In the Plex", At CBS Interactive San Francisco headquarters, discusses the notion that Google runs with a degree of chaos.

But Levy says there's also a cohesiveness at the company, which, at its core, he believes is a combination of things, including a technology company, an artificial intelligence company, and an Internet company.

Direct Groupon competitor launched by Google

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:49:18 GMT

Google Offers, is another service that Google has added to its growing list of things that it offers.

The service is a direct competitor for Groupon, which was ridiculed earlier this year for the poor taste in super bowl commercials, but it also put them on the map of coupons and offers.

Can Google Offer really offer anything new to the table with an already growing number of sites offering similar or the same thing (such as Living Social ect.)?

Just months ago Google tried to buy Groupon for $6 billion. Groupon declined the offer and is preparing to launch an IPO at about $15 billion.

Since Google couldn’t buy them, it appears that creating their own service is one way of trying to beat them at their own game.

Can Google succeed? Or will Groupon or even LivingSocial, who already have an established customer base, will they still continue to succeed with the giant that is Google?

9 MILLION ‘BELIEBERS’ ON TWITTER REACHED BY JUSTIN BIEBER

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:43:49 GMT

Justin Bieber‘s popularity is increasing day by day . The world-famous teenage popstar reached 9 million Twitter followers this week, surpassing Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Rihanna — and is now hot on the heels of Lady Gaga, who has 9.5 million tweeting fans.

The Biebs

Facebook push eyed by tobacco firms

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:38:54 GMT

To promote their products if New Zealand introduces new anti-smoking legislation tobacco companies are looking at Facebook and YouTube.

And a paper from Ministry of Health deputy director-general Margie Apa has warned that one of the risks of a pending ban on visible tobacco displays would be "adverse reaction by convenience retailer lobby groups". The groups have close ties with tobacco companies.

Instant fines for retailers who sell ciga

Wayne Rooney quickly builds up 80,000 followers after joining Twitter

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:32:45 GMT

After joining Twitter yesterday Wayne Rooney didn’t take too long to rack up80, 000 followers.

The Man Utd and England star opened his account after his club’s 1-0 win over Everton yesterday with the misspelled tweet: “just started so bare with me” – rather than “bear with me”. Rooney’s first tweet was intended for his teammate Rio Ferdinand, saying: “Hi Rio d

Total compensation fall in 2010 seen by Google senior vice presidents

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:34:09 GMT

In 2010, a year in which the Internet search giant's share price fell 4%, Google Inc.'s (GOOG) team of senior vice presidents saw their total compensation decline.

According to a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Google's executive triumverate of then-Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin once again received salaries of $1 for the year.

Bonuses of $1,785 each were received by the trio, while Schmidt also received $311,433 for personal security and the personal use of chartered aircraft.

Senior vice presidents Patrick Pichette, the company's chief financial officer, Nikesh Arora and Alan Estace all saw their total compensation decline slightly despite the company exceeding performance goals of its executive compensation plan, the document said.

Google said its 24% growth in revenue to $29.32 billion and 25% increase in operating income to $10.38 billion topped targets by 17% and 20% respectively.

In total compensation in 2010 Pichette received $22.6 million, down from $24.7 million the previous year. The company's chief business officer, Arora, received $22.6 million in 2010, down from $26.3 million, while the company's chief engineer, Eustace, received $12 million last year, down from $15.2 million. Shona Brown, senior vice president for business operations, received $16.3 million. Her compensation for 2009 was not provided.

The packages included salaries, bonuses, stock and option awards as well as non-equity incentive plan compensation.

Earlier this month Schmidt took a new role as executive chairman to make room for Page to return as CEO. The company has previously said it would give Schmidt a $100 million equity award and an annual base salary of $1.25 million.

A maximum bonus for 2011 of $6 million will be received by Schmidt, now . Schmidt currently owns over 9 million shares of Google, with a market value of roughly $4.8 billion.

Accidentally, Facebook resets email notifications

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:24:54 GMT

Yesterday Facebook accidentally reset email notifications for some users. The social network lets users pick and choose what event on Facebook results in an email sent to their inbox (there are now 73 notification options to choose from). Most are turned on, by default, and users often choose to turn some of them off. The reset turned them all back on, unfortunately.

The glitch got a lot of attention and was posted on the Known Issues on Facebook webpage:

Email notifications: Some people are suddenly receiving email notifications for settings they had turned off, and the checkboxes are now checked. We are currently working on a solution to this problem.

According to Facebook the issue has since been fixed. “Yesterday evening, we discovered a bug that caused a small number of people to start receiving notifications they had previously turned off,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “We have since resolved the issue and apologize for any inconvenience.”

However, if you’re still seeing the problem, you’ll have to manually update your email notification settings on Facebook. To do so, click on the Account menu in the top right corner, select Account Settings, and then choose Notifications.

Twitter plans to snap up Tweetdeck with $50 million bid

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:20:31 GMT

In a move aimed at stemming competition micro- blogging site Twitter is in advanced negotiations to buy out UK-based Tweetdeck for $50 million.

Tweetdeck has over 10 per cent market share in of tweets.

UberMedia’s bid of $30 million for Tweetdeck was bettered by Twitter, hoping that the purchase would help it strengthen its hold over the social media market.

The growth of Tweetdeck, which recently launched TweetDck Web Beta is also a concern for Twitter. This is a web-based version similar to Twitter and is available on all browsers and doesn’t require a download.

For other bidders who want a slice of Tweetdeck to grow their market share there is a strong possibility that the gate will be open.

Twitter last year, acquired Tweetie, the most popular iPhone application. It renamed it ‘Twitter for iPhone’ and made it free.

The nation invited by Obama to a town-hall event at Facebook

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:06:02 GMT

During the town hall meeting he plans to hold at the Facebook headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday, President Barack Obama has asked Americans to take a break from “friending” and “defriending” on Facebook for a little while.

The president invited “folks from across the country” to tune into the town hall meeting on the economy, in a YouTube invite posted Sunday. The town hall will be live-streamed starting at 1:45 p.m.

President Obama said he will discuss his vision for reducing the deficit. Americans can participate in the town hall, submitting questions to the White House Facebook page. The president will be campaigning for his 2012 presidency and the Democratic Party, along with the Facebook town hall.

Egypt investments urged by Google official

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 08:05:22 GMT

The Google Inc executive who helped spark the Egyptian revolt invited Americans to visit Egypt and urged the world on Friday to invest there to ensure the country's econ-omic success.

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wael Gonim said that countries and corporations can help turn Egypt around. Failure to do so would send the wrong message to dictators, he said.

"There are definitely risks," said Gonim, who anonymously launched a Facebook page that helped trigger the protests said that there are definitely risks in investments in Egypt, but the world has to realise that this should not go wrong and the Egyptian revolution should not go wrong."

Gonim, who was in Washington for talks with the IMF and the World Bank, also said that tourists are returning to Egypt.

17% rise in online ads netted by Google

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 08:00:31 GMT

In the January-March quarter of 2011, Buoyed by a rise in its online advertising revenue, Google Inc has registered 17% growth in net profit to $2.3 billion. In the year-ago period, the company had a net profit of $1.96 billion, Google said in a statement.

Google's revenue rose by 27% to $8.58 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, 2011 from $6.77 billion in the year ago period. Revenue generated by paid clicks on its search ads, which include clicks related to ads served on Google's sites and the sites of its partners has been attributed the cause of this surge in quarter earnings.

"We had a great quarter with 27% year-over-year revenue growth," Google CFO Patrick Pichette said.

"These results demonstrate the value of search and search ads to our users and customers, as well as the extraordinary potential of areas like display and mobile. It is clear that our past investments have been crucial to our success today, which is why we continue to invest for the long term," Pichette added.

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $5.88 billion in the first quarter of 2011 representing a 32% increase over first quarter 2010 revenues of $4.44 billion.

However, reducing its operating margin by four points to 33%, higher marketing expenses along with the increased labour costs pushed Google's operating expenses by 54%.

It hired more than 1,900 people in the first quarter, taking the total to 26,316 employees worldwide, according to the search engine. The hiring was as part of a plan to add 6,000 employees this year. The company said that aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on its sites and the sites of its partners, climbed 18% over the first quarter of 2010. In addition, Google's partner sites posted revenues, through AdSense programs, of $2.43 billion, or 28$ of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2011. This indicates a 19% rise from first quarter 2010 network revenues of $2.04 billion.

To make your computers sorry Tel Aviv University and Google team up

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:10:15 GMT

Lead by Blavatnik School of Computer Science's Prof. Yishay Mansour, and funded by Google, a new venture initiative by Tel Aviv University researchers is aiming to change the way computers prepare for the future by making them take a good hard look into the past.

The TAU researchers say that they could better prepare for future tasks, minimizing the element of "regret," by providing computers with the ability to learn from past failures and unwanted results. "We are able to change and influence the decision-making of computers in real-time," Prof. Mansour said.

"Compared to human beings, help systems can much more quickly process all the available information to estimate the future as events unfold — whether it's a bidding war on an online auction site, a sudden spike of traffic to a media website, or demand for an online product," Prof. Mansour added.

U.S. internet giant Google stepped in to fund the project in the hopes that it would be able to use the research "to improve its own online technologies and businesses, such as its AdWords and Adsense advertising platforms," According to a TAU press release.

Prof. Mansour, referring to the possible online benefits of the computers' newfound foresight, said that if "the servers and routing systems of the Internet could see and evaluate all the relevant variables in advance, they could more efficiently prioritize server resource requests, load documents and route visitors to an Internet site, for instance."

The algorithm in development would, the TAU statement added, adapt to the situation at hand. Since Internet users, people, are not predictable, the algorithm in effect can study and "learn" as it is running. After the task is finished, the results are, as Mansour says, "almost as if you knew all the variables in advance."

Lions' Ndamukong Suh takes aim at Twitter record

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:01:41 GMT

Another entry in the record books is the goal of the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year .

Ndamukong Suh, Lions DT ,who was the only rookie to garner All Pro honors last season, will try to break the record for a "Tweetup" on Saturday. A Tweetup is a gathering of people -- often meeting for the first time -- who are connected via their Twitter accounts.

The Ford Motor Company holds the attendance mark for a Tweetup, with 1,149 people at a 2009 gathering in Los Angeles, according to Guinnessworldrecords.com.

Suh plans to break the record with the help of fans from his alma mater, Nebraska, before the Cornhuskers' annual spring game, even reaching out to famous Nebraska natives such as tennis star Andy Roddick and comedian Larry the Cable Guy, asking them to take part if they're attending the game.

Telling his fans he wants to "crush" the record, Suh, who has almost 73,000 followers on Twitter, also posted a video about the event.

Over Facebook sex posts boy pleads guilty

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:43:40 GMT

In encouraging two girls to perform sex acts on a webcam and then posting them on Facebook a 16-year-old Perth boy has pleaded guilty in court.

The teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty in the Perth Children's Court on Thursday to several child exploitation charges from September 1, 2010 to March 18, 2011.

Encouraging a child over the age of 13 and under the age of 16 to do an indecent act, attempting to procure a child aged over 13 and under 16 to do an indecent act and distributing child exploitation material namely a digital file are some of the charges he is facing.

The boy created a Facebook account and pressured the girls to expose themselves and perform sex acts on a webcam which he then posted on Facebook for their friends to see, police allege.

The boy's bail was renewed and a psychiatric examination was ordered.

He will be sentenced on May 16.

Zuckerberg lands at Ore. Facebook data center

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:31:48 GMT

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO made a surprise appearance Friday night in Prineville, Ore., at a community party for the grand opening of his company's new data center.

Building the data center "is a massive step up for us from the leased space that we've been operating out of before," he told a crowd of about three hundred people.

Earlier in the day, KTVZ says other Facebook officials joined state and local leaders for the official opening.

The custom-built data center uses 38 percent less energy to do the same work as the company's existing facilities, says Facebook.

For Internet services such as Facebook, servers inside data centers are the backbone. They store and transmit billions of status updates, links and photos used by the social networking site's members.

10 years given to mom for playing on Facebook as baby drowned

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:26:15 GMT

On Friday, a Colorado woman who admitted her 13 month-old son drowned in the bathtub while she played on Facebook was sentenced to 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Jennifer Finch, spokeswoman for the Weld County District Attorney's Office, said in a written statement that Shannon Johnson, 34, was also ordered by a judge to serve five years of mandatory parole upon her release from prison.

In March Johnson pleaded guilty to felony child abuse resulting in the death of her son, Joseph.

Last September she called 911 from her home in Fort Lupton, Colorado, when she found the toddler slumped over in the bathwater making "gurgling" sounds, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Johnson under questioning by investigators admitted she put her son in the bathtub and went into another room to play Facebook game "Cafe World," police said. The boy was alone for 10 minutes, she told them.

Joseph was airlifted to a Denver hospital, where medical personnel could not revive him.

She often left her son unattended in the bath, because as an "independent" child he liked to be left alone, and that she did not want him to be "a mama's boy," Johnson told police.

Malicious Download Warnings to Chrome added by Google

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:36:47 GMT

Plans to incorporate warnings about malicious downloads into its Chrome browser were announced by Google, this week.

Google said “Chrome already has a "Safe Browsing" mode and has done a lot of good for the Web," but there is still plenty of harmful content floating around on the Internet.

Google with this update, said it will go after downloads that "use social engineering to entice users to download and run the malicious content," like sites hosting free downloads that actually do things like display spam ads, perform click fraud, or steal passwords.

Moheeb Abu Rajab with the Google Security Team wrote in a blog post that the new feature will be integrated with Google Chrome and will display a warning if a user attempts to download a suspected malicious executable file and in this case a warning will inform that the file appears malicious giving the option to discard or save.

Google will display the warning to determine if a download is questionable for any download URL that appears on the latest list of malicious Web sites published by the Safe Browsing API.

"The new feature follows the same privacy policy currently in use by the Safe Browsing feature. For example, this feature does not enable Google to determine the URLs you are visiting," Rajab wrote.

The feature will first be tested with a small subset of users on the Chrome development release channel, but Google said it hopes to make it available to everyone in the next stable release of Google Chrome.

Google released a stable version of chrome 10 in early March that included a 66 percent improvement in JavaScript performance via its V8 benchmark and extended Google's sandboxing technology to the integrated Flash Player in Chrome.

Twitter Trails …

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:35:47 GMT

A rolling armchair discussion of Ryan Tubridy and The Late Late Show has become something of a Friday night staple on Twitter, the social media platform.

Hundreds of tweeters under the hashtag #latelate, , with a beer or glass of wine in one hand and a smart phone in the other, exchange live views on Tubridy's choice of guests, his manner and choice of questions.

Comments are made on every second of the show. The adding of the hashtag at t

Thousands rally online on Facebook

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:35:00 GMT

Pledging their support for the septuagenarian Gandhian, cyberspace was abuzz with thousands joining in as Anna Hazare’s fast-unto-death entered its fourth day. While the list of online supporters in the city swelled by about 200, more than 60,000 people joined the India Against Corruption (IAC) national page, taking the tally to 1.66 lakh supporters.

Friday saw numerous people from the city not just pledging their support virtually, but also planning and announcing rallies and protest marches in their localities. RBS Bir, for instance, posted on the Mumbai Facebook page: “Many of us will be at Bandra (W) station. Let us have large numbers coming there with candles at 7 pm.”

“Am at Chembur Ambedkar Garden candle vigil @ 7 pm tonite. Be there if you can,” wrote Shreyas Doshi.

Wanting to spread the word while the city was rushing back home, many announced protests at railway stations across the city. Neil Dixit posted: “TODAY: At 7 pm we will stand at our respective railway stations in Mumbai with a candle and spread the revolution through our spirit and pamphlets. Join us at the Railway Station near you!”

However, there were some, who displayed annoyance at Indian cricketers and at the Indian Premier League (IPL), which began on Friday, for not declaring support for Hazare. Mohan Iyer wrote: “Its so sad that the cricketers whu won the world cup and were put on the pedestal by the indian people arent even symbolically supporting the cause... do they deserve the support that they got when they needed it...”

Twitter dragnet on WikiLeaks supporters defended by Feds

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:33:42 GMT

On Friday, federal prosecutors defended their attempts to access the Twitter records of three WikiLeaks supporters, arguing their claims that the dragnet violates their constitutional rights should be rejected.

Prosecutors said in a 19-page filing in federal court that a ruling issued last month should be upheld despite the claims by WikiLeaks supporters Jacob Appelbaum, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, and Rop Gonggrijp that it violates their right to free speech. The filing came in an ongoing criminal investigation into Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blower website.

The March 11 order approved the government's request for IP addresses the supporters used to access Twitter between November 2009 and last December and the email addresses they gave when registering with the micro-blogging website. There were no constitutional violations because the information sought didn't involve the content of any of the Twitter subscribers' communications, said US Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan. Federal prosecutors agreed.

“The subscribers' claim that Twitter's non-content records are subject to heightened protections under the First Amendment is baseless,” they wrote.

Under the US Stored Communications Act, the information demand was made in a confidential filing in December. That the secrecy of the motion violated their Fourth Amendment right protecting them from unreasonable searches and seizures was argued by Twitter users. The government later agreed to make public most of the court documents filed in their demand, but withheld revealing one document that Buchanan said would reveal “sensitive nonpublic facts, including the identity of targets and witnesses.”

Protest to dump trash at Boehner's residence cancelled by Facebook users

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:32:42 GMT

In Washington, D.C. a group of Facebook users have cancelled a protest planned for Saturday to dump their trash outside of House Speaker John Boehner's residence after Congress struck a budget deal averting a government shutdown.

Jonah Goodman and Nolan Treadway, democratic activists, who were angry that a shutdown would have halted trash collection in Washington, had organized the protest.

"We want to thank the 8,700+ of you who joined our demands in the last 48 hours to fight for basic democratic principles of semi-self governance," they wrote. Moments ago, a very orange Speaker of the House just announced that he caved into some of our demands. This is Victory Accomplished. Ok not really but, since the shutdown has been averted, Saturday's event is CANCELED."

At Boehner's residence Saturday More than 5,600 people had committed to dumping their trash. The organizers said their protest wasn't over a budget not getting passed in Congress, but rather the lack of control that DC's loca government has over its own affairs, which would be made painfully clear during a work stoppage.

The nation's capital runs mostly on federal money and is treated as a federal agency, and a shutdown would have brought basic services like trash collection to a grinding halt.

"Fortunately, our mayor can exempt our police, firefighters and teachers but most of the rest of our local government will shut down because members of Congress won't give us autonomy to budget and spend our own money," they wrote "We are protesting at Speaker Boehner's house because he has the power to put bills on the floor of the House he controls to fix this."

Goodman identifies himself as the lead designer for the Democratic National Committee's website until December and Treadway says he is the political and logistics director for the liberal group Netroots Nation.

They asked Boehner to support three bills pending in the House that would give D.C. more control over its budget.

When in Washington, Boehner resides on Capitol Hill, but his spokesman Michael Steel responded Friday that protesters would have to travel farther.

"The speaker's house is in Ohio," he told FoxNews.com.

Google's Street View breaks privacy rules says court

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:19:44 GMT

Google is breaching citizens' right to privacy with its Street View service and should take greater steps to obscure people caught by its cameras, A Swiss court has ruled according to court documents published on Monday.

On March 30, the Federal Administrative Court made the ruling following complaints from Switzerland's data protection commissioner, Hanspeter Thuer.

Google's business interests did not outweigh the rights of the individuals over their own image, according to the views of the court. Consequently, the court ordered the Internet giant to implement further measures to ensure anonymity before publishing faces and number plates captured in Switzerland on Street View, which came online there in August 2009.

To obscure people's faces and vehicle number plates Google currently uses automatic blurring technology and says that it is 99 percent effective. Via a link on Street View Swiss citizens can also request additional blurring of an image.

The court said in its ruling that Google must manually obscure or blur identifying features rather than relying exclusively on the automated technology, particularly in the vicinity of "sensitive establishments" such as women's shelters, retirement homes, prisons, schools, courts and hospitals.

The company was considering its options to appeal, said Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel .

"We are very disappointed because Street View has proved to be very useful to millions of people as well as businesses and tourist organisations," Fleischer said. "More than one in four of the Swiss population has used it since the service launched in Switzerland."

Other privacy concerns over Street View have been raised in various European countries like France and Germany.

Facebook and Hollywood

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:48:17 GMT

According to one of the social network's primary investors, Facebook could well become a major force in Hollywood movie distribution.

Hoping that Facebook will become an increasingly important movie distribution force in the near future , Venture capital firm Accel Investing is Facebook's second-largest shareholder after founder Mark Zuckerberg - and is currently directing a significant amount of capital into certain Hollywood studios.

A cool $40 million investment in Legendary Pictures was dropped recently by Accel, the producer behind recent box-office favourites such as The Dark Knight.

With The Dark Knight already available for US viewers to watch via Zuckerberg's website - for a fee, Warner Bros is already trialling movie rentals using Facebook .

Accel exec Jim Breyer clearly thinks (and hopes) that Facebook will become an increasingly valuable distribution system for content producers in the near future, recently explaining to All Things Digital:

"We believe there are a number of extraordinary opportunities that sit at the intersection of content and social networking platforms like Facebook," hoping that Facebook will be able to provide Tinseltown with "multichannel distribution capabilities for video content beyond classic theatrical and television release."

The Facebook investor added that at the heart of what Facebook is trying to do is enable outstanding content and application developers to develop breakthrough video and media applications.

iPhone Apps Using Facebook found by Apptitude

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:32:51 GMT

A new iPhone app that taps Facebook to pack your iPhone with new apps has been released by the creators of the music discovery app Hitmaker. Apptitude, from Noisetoys, joins app-discoverers Explor and Chomp to deliver recommendations based upon your friends' posts and "likes" on Facebook, reports TechCrunch .

Apptitude also incorporates Facebook Connect as a means of measuring what's hot in Apple's App Store and is not just about peeking at your friends' Facebook posts. Creator Shalin Mantri told TechCrunch that he hopes to eventually use data to create a better way of finding relevant apps. In v.1.1—expected sometime this week—he plans a Facebook-fueled recommendations list based on the apps that are trending in your social graph.

To see what apps your friends are using, find out what apps are most popular amongst your inner circle, and to share you personal favorites is the premise of the Apptitude.

There’s a scroll bar of your Facebook friends ranked by the quantity of apps they're using after you open Apptitude and log onto Facebook. Clicking on profiles lets you swipe through apps and from here, you can view stats, including how many of your friends use a particular app and how many of them have "liked" it. If you see something you like, there's an option to get it from the app through a "Download Now" button. You can declare your favorite apps through the "Share" button.

Apptitude is available now for free in the App Store for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running OS 3.0 or higher.

Another controversy hits Facebook

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:03:41 GMT

Another controversy, an Indian update this time, got added to the Facebook's long list of controversial groups.

An FIR against the social networking site was filed by Social activist Nutan Thakur and it's users under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000, in Meerut. The FIR is concerned with a particular hate group that depicts Hindu gods on the film poster of 3 Idiots. The group is one of many that target Hinduism and Islam. Other hate groups include We Hate Gandhi, the ID of the latter group has now been blocked, following a complaint by Thakur.

Facebook were asked previously, to shut down groups that promoted child pornography, paedophilia, genocide and racism. Facebook watchdogs have included British Prime Minister David Cameron, who lobbied for a tribute page to Northumberland killer Raoul Moat to be deleted.

Twitter datacentre migration hit by problems

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:08:06 GMT

Datacenter in Utah bespoke that Microblogging service Twitter's datacenter migration has been plagued by difficulties, due to structural problems at its new.

According to sources who spoke to Rueters, on 21 March, the site, which announced that it had completed a major datacentre migration, was forced to change datacentre plans, mid-flight, due to a botched datacentre,.

"A new, custom-built facility in Utah meant to house computers that power the popular messaging service by the end of 2010 has been plagued with everything from leaky roofs to insufficient power capacity," Reuters said.

Twitter may have alluded to the problems throughout its 'Great Migration' blogpost on 21 March, if the sources are true. At the time, Twitter described a two stage migration, where Twitter services were moved out of its primary datacentre and into a second staging datacentre, before moving to a third datacentre as the service's "final nesting ground".

It moved services out of its first and second datacenters, once it had touched down in the third facility. "This essentially required us to move much of Twitter two times," according to the post.

Twitter moved from a co-location facility it had been renting from hosting provider NTT America, into its bespoke Utah facility, but due to the problems migrated to a third datacentre owned by co-location company Raging Wire, according to Rueters.

As it has signed a four year leasing contract, Twitter still has the use of its Utah facility. But, according to a Twitter source who spoke to Reuters, "nobody wants to put any part of the site that's mission critical in Salt Lake City... that would be a huge battle royale inside the company if they were told they had to.

Departure confirmed by Twitter’s Evan Williams

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:19:58 GMT

On Tuesday Twitter's Evan Williams confirmed that he will scale back his role at the micro-blogging company and pursue other, unnamed ventures.

Williams wrote on his personal blog that he is still involved, but it is no longer his fulltime job and he will remain on the Twitter board of directors and pledged to meet frequently with the company's staff "to help in any way he can."

As for the future, Williams said he was "not ready" to talk about where he's going, but he did say it was "time to pick up a whiteboard marker and think fresh."

"There are other problems/opportunities in the world that need attention, and there are other individuals I'd love to get the opportunity to work with and learn from," he wrote. "Details to come."

Williams stepped down as Twitter's CEO in October and said at the time that he would focus on product strategy, but reports soon emerged that Williams was no longer involved in the day-to-day goings on at the company.

"It will be bigger and better. I have the utmost confidence that, like Blogger, Twitter will grow an order of magnitude more (even though that's a much taller order, given its size already). The momentum is just incredibly strong, critical mass has been reached, and the dark days of imminent technical meltdown are over." Williams said of Twitter.

MTV airs and posts The Diary of Facebook

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:27:48 GMT

A behind-the-scenes episode of “MTV Diaries” aired earlier this week on television with the title “The Diary of Facebook.”

The programme focused exclusively on the career side of Facebook and gave an inside look into the environment of working at the company, while also painting the social network in a very positive light with the caption “You think you know Facebook, but you have no idea.”

The recruiting video documents the average day of a few Facebook employees during a “hackathon.” for a quickly growing Internet company looking to expand its workforce it’s a very interesting marketing campaign attempt.

The whole episode is also available online at mtv.com. It is split into four parts.

Search in Iraq and Tunisia localized by Google

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:21:15 GMT

On Thursday, Google began providing searches and results localized for Internet users in Iraq and Tunisia.

Bringing to 184 the number of domains it operates worldwide, Google added google.iq in Iraq and google.tn in Tunisia, in order to provide locally relevant results for queries to people depending on where they are.

Google searches previously in Iraq or Tunisia were routed through domains in different countries.

According to Google Middle East and Africa product manager Abdel-Karim Mardini , Tunisia and Iraq domains allow searchs in Arabic as well as other languages used in regions, such as Kurdish in Iraq and French in Tunisia.

"Local domains are a first step towards making the Web more accessible and relevant for people around the world and are also an integral part of our vision to make all of our products available in the world's top 40 most spoken languages covering 99 percent of Internet users worldwide," Mardini said in a blog post.

Facebook Posts suspend teacher

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:15:58 GMT

A first-grade teacher in Paterson, New Jersey, has been suspended for posting a status update on her Facebook page that implied she felt like a warden overseeing future criminals.

Parents of the teacher's students weren't too happy about their children being called "future criminals” and the teacher (whose name hasn't been released) was suspended with pay after a "significant number" of parents complained.

According to The New York Times, this comment particularly hit home because the Paterson school district has "long been one of New Jersey's most troubled school systems."

Theodore Best, school board president said the teacher was suspended not for her indiscreet Facebook status update, but because "the incident created serious problems at the school that impeded the functioning of the building."

"You can't simply fire someone for what they have on a Facebook page; but if that spills over and affects the classroom then you can take action," Best said.

Meanwhile, over in Chicago, a computer lab teacher at Overton Elementary School has been reprimanded for posting photos of a 7-year-old girl on Facebook and mocking her hairstyle.

Just dial to complain on MCD Facebook

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:01:28 GMT

To register a complaint about over flowing dhalaos in their areas, Delhi-ites, from Saturday will not have to log on to Facebook. All one has to do is make a call to the MCD helpline number, 011-46485270, to file one's compliant and this will automatically be put on the social networking site.

Complaints can also be registered by people regarding dirty public toilets maintained over phone. For this, MCD has roped in Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer at IIT-Delhi. It has developed a voice application through which any mobile user can post their complaints on MCD Facebook page.

MCD commissioner K S Mehra said that the message will be recorded and then automatically get posted on the MCD Facebook page and a complaint number will then be generated and messaged to the complainant along with other details. Once the complaint is redressed, another message would be sent.

The number will be active from Saturday.

New phone by Google to double as credit card

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 06:00:36 GMT

A mobile phone that doubles as a wallet has been masterminded by web giant Google.

The customers, Instead of holding up checkout queues by rifling through their purses to find the right card, they will simply swipe the phone past an electronic reader to pay. According to the Daily Mail, the experts claim it is a safer method of payment than magnetic strip credit cards.

To develop the mobile payment system specifically for the Android phone Google has teamed up with Citigroup and MasterCard. They have also consulted VeriFone Systems, which makes credit card readers for cash registers. So that retailers and businesses can more efficiently target consumers with discounts and advertisements the phone will also store shopping habits and trends.

According to Wall Street Journal, Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees. Initially, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to pay for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones, it said.

According to experts it is safer method of payment than the traditional credit card.

Nick Holland, a mobile-transactions analyst at Yankee Group said that because it's contact-less there's a perception people can grab it from thin air, but it's actually a more sophisticated technology than credit cards with a magnetic stripe, making it more difficult to steal a consumer's payment information.

World’s Top SEO Firms for 2011

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:43:29 GMT

To search engine optimization than most companies WebiMax has a different approach developing a core process that put in place that enables the customers to see significant improvements in their natural search engine rankings.

A comprehensive, strategic process WebiMax SEO satisfies the core principles that search engines look for when ranking a website. WebiMax process is as follows: An ethical approach to Search Engine Optimization, a proper site structure that is conducive to search engine indexing, strong, relevant content that is frequently updated and enhanced, and a comprehensive and targeted link building campaign.

WebiMax founded in 2008 by serial web entrepreneur Kenneth C. Wisnefski, has rapidly grown to become a profitable organization that serves over 250 clients both domestically and internationally. The staff of highly skilled experts from respective fields, in which WebiMax operates, has taken a small start-up to an internationally recognized brand that has received multiple rankings and distinctions including from TopSeos.com, the independent authority on internet marketing vendors.

To promote Internet Explorer 9 Microsoft partners with 29 websites in India

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:41:59 GMT

Microsoft India has partnered with 29 of the most popular websites in India to vie for a larger share of the browser market.

Launching its latest browser Internet Explorer 9, the company has partnered with websites like the group buying website SnapDeal, e-commerce site Flipkart, online booking site BookMyShow, Photovault, ESPNCricinfo, Kotak Bank, PhotoVault, Naukri, Rediff SongBuzz, Reliance Global Call, Sameer Belvalkar's FrozenFrames.com, Sify, and Zapak Games.

Microsoft has globally partnered with over 250 top websites and global brands that have created new experiences to show off the capabilities of Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft India unveiled the new browser at TechEd India 2011, an annual IT conference organised by Microsoft India.

The launch of Internet Explorer 9 came at a time when the race to capture browser markets share is heating up. With an increasing number of devices going online every day the browser market is becoming increasingly competitive. When all versions of browsers are taken together, Internet Explorer leads the pack with 45% market share, according to reports.

Yahoo! takes on Google, social networking sites

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 07:39:34 GMT

Yahoo! once a favourite with Indian Internet users, seems to be in a reload phase to win back the lost ground and take competition from Google and social networking sites head on.

The mail, search and news portal has lined up Search Direct for release in the second half of this year. The service, which targets Google's prompt-based search, will provide answers based on the user needs.

Mr Prabhakar Raghavan, Chief Scientist and Senior Vice-President and Head of Yahoo! Labs, said that users do not come to a search engine with just search strings and expect some useful information.

One will get prompts like in Google search.But the similarity ends there. “You will get answers as categories as you begin to key in the search string. You can directly go to the category,” he said.

Taking part in the 20th World Wide Web Conference, Mr Prabhakar said Yahoo! registered 30 million users a month in India and 74 per cent of all the net users in the country. With the user base growing, the company is planning to replicate a survey it conducted in the US to measure effectiveness (of Web content, including advertisements).

Claiming it registers 100 crore clicks every day in its homepage in India, the company said its Content Optimisation tool would allow users to see content based on their preferences.

The hybrid model picks trends based on the patterns in ‘clicks' and gives editors tools to pick relevant content.

The tool, which at present is offered to English users, would be expanded soon to its regional content, which was not so dynamic.

Allegations over obstruction of Google's Gmail service dismissed by China

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:07:11 GMT

China has refuted allegations by Google that Bejing is hampering access to its email service and termed them as “unacceptable”. The internet provider has alleged that government blocks were responsible for technical problems using Gmail in china.

Amid a tightening of internet controls that has made it increasingly difficult to use several popular virtual private networks, the problems arose. VPNs allow people to access material hosted overseas even if it is blocked by the Chinese government.

Sparked by anonymous online calls for a "jasmine revolution" akin to the recent uprisings in the Middle East the new restrictions appear to be part of a security clampdown. Although, those messages were posted on an overseas website, scores of Chinese activists and dissidents have been questioned, harassed and in some cases detained by the authorities for weeks.

"Relating to Google, there is no [technical] issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail," a Google spokesman told the Guardian this week.

Users have reported frequent problems with basic tasks such as sending and searching emails or opening their address books.

Dismissing these allegations Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, told a regular news conference: "This is an unacceptable accusation." She declined to comment further. The ministry of commerce and ministry of industry and information technology did not respond to faxed questions.

Young workers want to work for Google, Apple

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:05:32 GMT

In a study released on the firms young professionals most want to work with Tech companies make a strong showing

Employer-branding company Universum found that Google topped the list of most-desired employers.

Apple and Walt Disney Co. were next in line. Amazon.com was the fifth-most-desirable employer. According to the survey which polled 10,000 college graduates with one to eight years of professional experience Microsoft came in seventh place.

Those tech firms were surrounded mostly by government agencies. The Department of State was the fourth-most-desired employer, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation came in sixth. The Central Intelligence Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration took the eighth and ninth places, respectively. Teach For America, an organization that places young college graduates in rural and urban schools to teach for two years, came in tenth place.

Lady Gaga interviewed at Google headquarters.

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:03:38 GMT

On Tuesday, Singer Lady Gaga stopped by Google headquarters to answer questions from fans and announce her directorial debut.

Gaga, took to the Google stage in Mountain View and announced that she will direct her next video, which will be for the song, "Judas." Her next album, "Born This Way," is expected in May.

Google said in a statement that the superstar wowed a crowd in a venue that was (literally) packed to the rafters with adoring Googlers (Google employees). Googlers went Gaga, channeling their inner little monsters and donning everything from her signature bow-tie hairbuns to Mother Monster costumes and filling our Charlie's Cafe to the max.

The interview with Gaga was conducted by Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of consumer products. The artist answered questions submitted on YouTube and via Twitter; Google said the response was "overwhelming," with Little Monsters (Gaga's name for her fans) - submitting more than 54,000 videos and 220,000 votes.

In October, Gaga became the first person to have her videos reach 1 billion views on YouTube.

Challenge to Google's Android Market by Amazon Appstore

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:02:18 GMT

Offering free and paid applications based on the open-source operating system, Amazon.com on March 22 opened its Amazon Appstore for android, albeit with some features that differentiate it from Google's competing Android Market.

The Amazon Appstore will let users test applications they're interested in on a simulated Android phone, while the Android Market lets users download free and paid applications. Customers access the application simulation through their computer using a mouse. The company calls this feature Test Drive.

This is a clever feature distinction from Google's Android Market as with Test Drive, consumers can decide if they like the application before bothering to download it.

The main criticism against the Market is that it doesn't make it easy for users to find applications to download. the Market did not have any other feature to help users slog their way through 150,000 applications, despite the presence of a search bar.

By contrast, Test Drive will help mobile-applications consumers sift through the 3,800 applications in the Amazon Appstore. This is particularly important for paid applications so users don't spend money without being certain they're going to like what they purchase.

Another perk to bring users into the Appstore is being offered by Amazon.com. The company partnered with Rovio Mobile to launch Angry Birds Rio for Android exclusively in its Appstore, allowing customers to download it for free for a limited time. The company will also exclusively launch ad-free versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons.

Moreover, the Appstore will offer customers a paid application for free every day. Customers can buy applications in the Appstore in two ways. Users may buy applications through their computer's Web browser, or through an Amazon Appstore application they may download to their Android phones or tablets.

Two years jail for virtual Facebook thief

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:00:21 GMT

Two year jail sentence has been awarded to a British hacker who funded his gambling addiction by stealing and reselling online gaming chips from Zynga.

The accused, Ashley Mitchell, 29, from Paignton, Devon, was sent down last week after earlier pleading guilty to five charges of hacking and theft at Exeter Crown Court. To steal virtual gaming chips with a face value of $400bn and transferring them into fake Facebook profiles under his control Mitchell exploited shortcomings in the security of Zynga's website.

Publisher of popular social networking games including FarmVille and Texas HoldEm Poker on Facebook, Zynga, would have charged £7.4m in real cash for the sale of the stolen 400 billion gaming credits.

Netting £53,000, Mitchell resold around a third of these stolen chips largely in order to fund his £1,000-a-day gambling habit, according to reports. In sentencing, Judge Philip Wassall said the attack had relied on "considerable expertise".

In August 2009, when it first detected the fraud, Zynga initially suspected an inside job. However an investigation revealed that an external hacker had infiltrated its systems and posed as two employees in order to pull off this heist.

By piggy-backing onto the unsecured internet connections of his neighbours, who initially became suspects in the case, Mitchell had attempted to cover his tracks. However on one occasion he used his own Facebook profile during an attack into Zynga systems, leaving a trail of digital breadcrumbs that eventually led police to identify him as a suspect, according to reports.

Man charged with polygamy after his wedding photos on Facebook

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:58:49 GMT

Polygamy charges are being faced by an American citizen after his first wife saw wedding photos of his with another woman on social networking site Facebook.

The accused, Richard Barton Jr., 34, of Grand Rapids was arrested by Michigan State Police after the wife he left in Rhode Island saw the photos, according to CBS affiliate WWMT.

"I let love get in the way," CBS News quoted the Grand Rapids Press as reporting Barton as saying outside a Walker, Mich., home where he is staying with friends.

Barton, who is free from jail on a personal bond, declined to comment further but admitted that he made a mistake.

According to his first wife they had met online in 2003 and he moved to Rhode Island so they could be together.

After marrying in 2004, the woman said Barton didn't return from work one day and she discovered he had been arrested as a parole absconder from Michigan.

The report said that Barton, who had been convicted of home invasion in 2000, fled Rhode Island after his release from prison.

After he married the Grand Rapids woman in July 2010 he now faces felony charges of polygamy, which carries a penalty of four years in prison and/or a 5,000-dollar fine.

20K Accounts pulled by Facebook per day

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:42:21 GMT

According to Facebook about 20,000 profiles from the site are removed per day for various infractions, including users who are underage.

On Monday, to discuss Internet-related security issues, Facebook chief privacy advisor Mozelle Thompson appeared before the Australian Parliament's cyber safety committee. Representatives from Microsoft and Yahoo were also on the panel.

Thompson's appearance made headlines when he was quoted as saying that Facebook "removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage."

Facebook in a statement said those 20,000 removals cover a variety of policy violations, including spam, inappropriate content, and underage use. Facebook users must be at least 13 years old.

The company said that they take safety very seriously and we were pleased to participate in a hearing in Australia to talk about their safety policies, practices and systems and they explained in the hearing, these efforts include removing numerous accounts everyday for activities including spamming, posting inappropriate content, and violating age restrictions.

Proactive efforts that actually prevent fake or under age accounts from being created are not included in the20, 000 number, Facebook said.

Mobile masses eyed by Facebook with Snaptu acquisition

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:38:19 GMT

Dominant social network Facebook, with its sights on the mobile mass market, recently purchased an Israeli startup, Snaptu, which enables people to use smartphone-like applications on simpler “feature” phones.

According to analyst firm Ovum, Snaptu develops applications that make Web services available on feature phones, which are the true mass market phone category and therefore exactly where Facebook wants to be.

Ovum principal analyst Eden Zoller said that Feature phones are less highly specified and priced than smartphones like the iPhone and are therefore particularly important for users in emerging markets, where in many countries mobile penetration is greater than fixed.

Zoller further added that feature phones will dominate consumer access to the Internet and their experience of web services and this is a high growth opportunity and Facebook is making sure it is in a good position to exploit it.

Earlier this year, Snaptu developed a Facebook for feature phones application and it is now available on 2,500 different devices.“Facebook must like the results, judging by the $60-$70 million it is widely reported to be paying for the Israeli developer, and clearly sees Snaptu’s technology as a means of extending its reach to a wider base of feature phone users," Zoller observed.

Google and Yelp Collide Over Use of Customer Reviews

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:03:28 GMT

After complaints from Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman about the manner in which Google utilises the sites reviews for its Google Places results were made public recently, Google have felt the need to respond to the criticism through their Vice-President of search products, Marissa Mayer.

Speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, Mayer commented that "We actually send a lot of traffic to Yelp and Trip Adviser and other review sites."

She said that Google had not issued an ultimatum but that the search giant has "one core index for all our locations". She added "It is very difficult to take them out of one index and not another because those indices are actually the same."

It is not known how Stoppelman will react as the indication is that to remove Yelp from the Google Places algorithm would result in the company being removed from general search engine results as well.

SEO in Birmingham on lookout as Google Hunts Down Sites Using Paid Links

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:29:30 GMT

SEO Birmingham companies may have to re-evaluate some of their SEO techniques after it emerged that Google are to place a renewed focus on their algorithms in an attempt to track down websites that utilise paid links to raise themselves up in the rankings.

The company may even strip down their algorithm to its very basics, with Google's Matt Cutts noting that the company may previously place too much emphasis on keyword volume at this point in time.

As such, SEO strategies may evolve to take this into consideration, especially if paid links form part of an online marketing plan.

"If Google changes the weight of this component of its algorithm, you can be sure that publishers who have built on top of exact match domains will watch anxiously to see if they're negatively impacted," Mr Robles stated.

Google Workers to Devote Time to Building Technology to Help Japan

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:06:49 GMT

Google has long been known to grant its workers 20% of their time to work on engineering products that are of interest to them and it appears that many in the company are going to turn their attentions towards creating technology that will help to deal with the disaster in Japan.

"A lot of 20-percent time is being spent on Japan," Google spokesman Jamie Yood told AFP on Thursday.

"There is definitely a group of people in our Tokyo office spending a lot more than 20 percent of their time on this, and that is supported by Google."

Google has already established a multi-lingual crisis response page that provides resources for people trying to get in touch with loved ones.

"Like the rest of the world, we've been transfixed by the images and news coming out of the northeastern part of Japan over the past six days," Google product manager Nobu Makida said in a blog post on Thursday.

"Googlers in Japan and elsewhere around the world have been working around the clock to try and help improve the flow of information."

Google Speeds Up Web Page Load Times

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:49:04 GMT

Google has announced that it has tweaked is Adsense advertising platform in an attempt to make contextual adverts load up quicker in the background and thus improve the delivery speed of a web page as a whole.

The changes are part of what Google is describing as an ongoing effort to improve page loading speeds.

"Over the past few days we've been rolling out a new and improved version of show_ads.js, the piece of JavaScript used by more than two million publishers to put AdSense advertisements on their web pages," said Michael Kleber from Google's Ads Latency team.

"The new show_ads is small and fast, built so that your browser can turn its attention back to its main task – working on the rest of the web page – as soon as possible."

Kleber believes the change will affect billions of web pages, continuing "There's a substantial speed advantage: many things happening inside an iframe don't block the web browser's other work.

"On the real-world sites we tested, the latency overhead from our ads is basically gone. Page load times with the new asynchronous AdSense implementation are statistically indistinguishable from load times for the same pages with no ads at all."

Google Accused of Violating Linux Licence

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:20:06 GMT

An article written by a patent and copyright lawyer has claimed that Google's Android mobile phone operating system has lifted vast swathes of free Linux code and has presented it as its own proprietary software.

The article, written by Edward J. Naughton, claims the Bionic Library used in Android phones was created using Linux software code that shouldn't have been used by application developers in the first place. Google is accused of lifting the code, which is available under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), and cleaning it to the point where it claims that it is no longer protected by the GPLv2 licence.

"At a minimum, Google has taken a significant gamble. While that may be fine for Google, because it knows about and understands the risks, many Android developers and device manufacturers are taking that same risk unknowingly," Naughton said.

Google to Improve Google Docs Commenting

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:00:15 GMT

Google have announced that they will be improving the commenting features that they have placed in Google docs, allowing new features like integrated email correspondence.

The software has previously had quite a basic commenting feature for its files, however the company is now allowing commentors to not only assume ownership of the comments but also to integrate email notification of their comments into the documents. This means that users can add comments to a document simply by replying to an email relating to the document.

Nick Cooper, a software engineer at Google claims that the "next generation commenting system" has been in use internally at Google for months. Cooper continues "The combination of added structure and intuitive email integration have really given life to the discussions that surround our documents, and we're excited for this new feature to do the same for you."

Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust helped by leading SEO Agency Impact Media with the recent

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:54:07 GMT

It is important as an NHS Trust, that the local residents have 24 hour access to the Birmingham Community Healthcare website. For those looking to access services or search for healthcare jobs in the region, this informational hub provides a vital resource. Therefore ensuring that the functionality and visibility of the website wasn’t impaired during a recent re-launch was essential.

Birmingham Community Healthcare enlisted the help of Impact Media to make sure the transition between sites was a success. to review the site and recommend areas where it could be strengthened to improve the chances of improving rankings within Google, the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Agency worked with the Trust.

Impact Media were able to ensure that the changeover was as smooth as possible by working with the original Birmingham Community Healthcare site prior to the update. With everything in place on site they were able to target local phrases that would help local patients and healthcare workers find the site – both before and after the re-launch.

“As an NHS Trust it is vital that we maintain continuous visibility online. Local residents rely on the site to find out about the services we provide across the region. Therefore we needed to be sure that the re-launch of the site wouldn’t impact this accessibility,” said David Disley-Jones, Communications Manager for Birmingham Community Healthcare explaining why he chose Impact Media to manage the re-launch.

“Impact Media were recommended to us by another healthcare website that had used their SEO services previously. Their efforts have ensured that we have held our positions for most key terms whilst making gains elsewhere. The re-launch has been successfully completed now and we’re more than happy with the continued performance of the site.”

Birmingham Community Healthcare provides community and specialist healthcare services in the city of Birmingham and to the wider West Midlands region. It is the largest community healthcare provider in England, employing approximately 5,000 staff.

Google's New Anti-Spam Measures May Unfairly Affect SEO in Birmingham and Elsewhere

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:39:07 GMT

Google has been upping its struggle against low quality and spam based websites in recent months, culminating in the company eventually resorting to having the users of its search engine services do the job for them.

Users of the company's Chrome browser are given the option to block websites in the Google search results in a single click. The general premise is that if a web user finds a low quality site, they can inform Google by blocking it, with enough blockages potentially leading to a ban.

However it could possibly have a side effect on websites handled by SEO technicians in Birmingham and elsewhere, as less scrupulous organisations could purposefully black-mark good websites in an attempt to have Google drop them down the rankings. It remains to be seen just what effect these new changes will have.

Twitter Head Plays Down Purchase Rumours

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:27:27 GMT

Dick Costolo claims that talk of either Google or Facebook acquiring Twitter is premature as the company has no intention to sell, even for a rumoured $10 billion.

He said "Twitter needs to be super-simple and it needs to be always present, it needs to be like water in my home. Instantly useful. Always present, I don't need to relearn how to use it in the shower after using it in the kitchen," during a recent keynote speech.

He also highlighted the need to cater to the mobile market, as he revealed stats that around 40% of tweets now came from mobile devices.

He continues "We want deep smartphone integration and stronger text messaging integration. It has to just work the same way everywhere it is used."

Analysts, though impressed by the speech, felt it was lacking in detail. Eden Zoller, a principal analyst at Ovum, commented "Twitter quoted figures on healthy growth and use, which is good but not surprising. What it didn't provide was concrete details on was how effective its nascent businesses are proving to be in driving revenues - lots of case studies of cool brands using Twitter but no hard line on the margins this brings to Twitter."

Google Head Talks Up Smartphone Future

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:14:16 GMT

Google's chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt has recently spoken about the importance of mobile phones and how smart phones are the way of the future when it comes to mobile technology.

Schimdt comments that "pretty soon, in a year or two, with the phones many of you have already and the tablets, you will never forget anything. Starting soon it will be possible to remember the hotels you went to, the pictures you took, the friends you met, because computer memories last forever."

He also claims that Google is not being affected by the rise of facebook advertising, stating that the company's main rival is still Microsoft. he said "We've seen no evidence that advertising on Facebook is hurting our advertising in any way. Facebook is additive [to Google's business]. Microsoft is a core competitor and likely to remain our main rival for a long time."

He points to Nokia's recent decision to tie-up with Microsoft rather than use Google's Android software for their new phones as proof of this, stating "We would like them to adopt Android in the future," Schmidt said. "We're sorry that they made a different choice. We certainly tried [to persuade them]."

Yell Aims to Restructure Local Search to Compete Against Google

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:03:12 GMT

Yell has announced that it is to restructure its website to focus on local search in a bid to combat services like Google and GrouponYellow Pages. The company's revenues have been falling as the internet has become more ubiquitous and the print industry has started to fall.

The company is also looking to avoid a potential breach of banking covenants with the move, which comes after the company's shares dropped by 10% to less than 9p per share. This is the lowest since the company was listed on the stock exchange in July 2003.

Yell chief executive Michael Pocock, a former executive at Cisco, has outlined the key strategy that the company will follow in this process.

He says "Is it too late? No way. There is a lot of opportunity for us to keep the position we have enjoyed for years in print. We have to become relevant in digital media. We are moving, we just have to have a more robust, well thought through strategic plan."

Pocock said Google, which dominates the online classified ads market, doesn't have "half of what we have" in the local search market. "Look at Groupon, Google, Yahoo ... none of them have outside sales forces."

Google Search Engine Honours Earnest Shackleton

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:06:38 GMT

Yesterday Google changed its popular banner to honour Ernest Shackleton, prompting users of the search engine and SEO specialists alike to ask...who?

For those not in the know, Earnest Shackleton was born in 1874 and is amongst the most famous polar explorers of all time. After initial failure when he was sent home from Captain Scott's Discovery Expedition through illness, Shackleton embarked on a trip of his own in 1914.

He and his crew of 56 men set sail for Antarctica with the goal of becoming the first team to cross from sea to sea, via the South Pole however his ship, The Endurance, became wedged in ice. Astonishingly, despite 500 days without any outside help, Shackleton managed to save every one of his ships men, making him one of the most notable explorers of recent times.

So now all you SEO in Birmingham specialists know. Made a nice change from the soppy Valentine's banner.

Stats Show One Third of Computer Users Affected by Virus Last Year

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:34:12 GMT

Recent statistics released by the Statistical Office of the European Communities has revealed that around 31% of people in the EU were affected by a computer virus during 2010.

These statistics have arisen despite the fact that 84% of internet users have implemented some form of anti-virus software to protect against such threats.

Another 14% of web users also had parental guidelines and web filtering software installed in the EU, with 5% having experience of children accessing inappropriate materials on a home computer.

Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the EC for the Digital Agenda, comments "It is hard for parents to ensure their children are always safe online, especially as youngsters now access the Internet not just from PCs, but also via smart phones and games consoles. This places greater responsibility on the ICT industry to provide products and services that protect and empower children online.

"We have worked productively with social networks and mobile operators. Now we call on the whole chain of ICT industry to work together to do more to safeguard children online."

Computer Charity Appealing for Increased Donations of PC Monitors

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:26:29 GMT

The computer charity Computer Aid has been calling on the computing community to donate PC monitors for use in schools and hospitals in developing countries after claiming that there was a "critical shortage" of monitors in the countries.

Computer Aid is claiming that it is receiving only 30% of the 2,500 TFT (thin film transistor) and CRT PC monitors a month that it needs to meet the demand of schools, hospitals and charities in impoverished and developing areas in Africa and Latin America.

David Barker, CEO of Computer Aid claims "Hundreds of schools in Chile are waiting to receive computers and, while we currently have over 4,000 refurbished base units ready and waiting to go, we don't have the monitors to match them with."

He believes that organisations are using their old monitors for a longer period of time. He continues "While this is definitely a good thing as it means that companies are extending the life of their IT equipment, it has resulted in a critical shortage in donated screens to Computer Aid.

"Rather than recycling your ICT and especially your monitors, please consider donating your equipment to Computer Aid so that we can send your unwanted PCs to those who need them the most."

Computer Games Firm to Create Jobs in Dundee

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:14:08 GMT

A new computer games firm in Dundee is set to create 150 new jobs in the area, but the effect has been culled in some respects by the loss of 140 at the Department for International Development's office in East Kilbride.

Outplay Entertainment has established a new office in the area and will produce games for use on mobile phones, social networks like facebook and other internet platforms.

There is no shortage of developers in the industry after the closure of Dundee based video games developers Realtime Worlds with the loss of 200 jobs.

First Minister Alex Salmond said the move was testament to the Scottish gaming industry's skills and infrastructure.

He commented "Outplay Entertainment's decision to establish a Dundee headquarters reinforces Scotland's reputation as an attractive and competitive location for the future of the video games market.

"Over the last decade the games industry has evolved into one of the largest grossing entertainment industries in the world and Scotland has demonstrated that it has the talent, infrastructure and skills todeliver success in this fast-growing sector."

First Official Jeopardy Match Between Computer and Human Players ends in Draw

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:07:45 GMT

The recent contest between two champion Jeopardy players and a computer designed with the sole intention of defeating them has ended in a draw. The contest, which is the first of three, was pre-recorded but the results had been kept secret until the broadcast.

The machine, named Watson, faced off against champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. It used remarkably complex computer A.I. to square off against the men and, despite a couple of blunders, pulled off a great showing.

Amongst its small amount of blunders was a claim that grasshoppers eat "kosher" and goodbye in Russian is "cholesterol".

Ken Jennings commented on the contest, stating "Occasionally the curtain will part, and you'll see that what it's doing under the hood is not as sophisticated as what the human brain can do.

"It's nerve-wracking because you know a computer can't get intimidated. A human player might get frustrated. Watson has no ego, no consciousness."

On stage, "there's a big Watson logo in the center of the floor," Jennings said. "The crowd is full of IBM employees cheering for human blood. It was an away game for the human race. It was gladiatorial."

MPs Demand iPads to Cut Down on Printing Costs

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:58:06 GMT

MPs are beginning to demand that the taxpayers buy them each an Apple iPad, claiming that the tablet computers would help cut down printing costs and the pure mass of paper used by MPs every year.

Around 12 backbenchers are to trial the devices, which can cost up to £700, in addition to getting a free computer every year and computer repair services. The eventual plan will be to provide the tablet computers to all 650 MPs.

MPs are demanding the taxpayer buy them each an Apple iPad, arguing that the gadgets will help to cut down on the cost of printing documents.

Details of the plan come as it emerged that MPs and peers have been supplied with 7,000 new personal computers and laptops over the last 5 years.

A committee source commented "It is so environmentally friendly. I would imagine it will pay for itself in three or four months because we wouldn't be printing out great wodges of paper."

Google and Facebook May look into Buying Twitter

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:31:27 GMT

Search engine giants Google and social media behemoths facebook are both said to be in talks over the possible purchase of Twitter, which also ranks as one of the most popular social media sites on the web.

The Wall Street Journal claims that executives at both companies have been engaged in low-level discussions with Twitter for months over a possible purchase but, at this moment in time, the discussions remain at a low level.

Twitter is being valued at anywhere between the £5 billion and £7.5 billion mark and would be a big buy for either company, especially as the social media website increases in popularity.

If Facebook were to purchase the company it would mark the first major acquisition by the company since its inception.

Google Receives Record Amount of Job Applications

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:17:24 GMT

Google has announced that it has received a record 75,000 job applications in little over a week after it announced plans to hire around 6,000 people over the coming year.

The search engine company beat its own record of 63,750, which was set back in May 2007 after a similar round of hirings.

The company has continued rapid expansion, hiring 4,500 last year and 6,300 in 2007. This latest batch of hirings only confirms that the company is continuing to cement its position as the largest search engine provider in the world.

Alan Eustace, SVP of engineering and research at Google, said in a blog post "[2011] will be our biggest hiring year in company history. We’re looking for top talent- across the board and around the globe - and we’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science."

Google Claims it Wants to Avoid Legal Battle with EU

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:53:41 GMT

Google has claimed that it wishes to avoid entering a long legal battle with the EU and its regulators, who are currently investigating its market dominance.

The chief executive of the company, Eric Schmidt, commented "We certainly want to avoid that. I think it is in our interests and I would hope in their interests to a do a quick analysis of concerns that have been raised by competitors, hopefully they are minor or they are not correct.

"We'll find out and make sure we are operating well within the law and the spirit of the law."

Brussels launched their investigation into Google in November after complaints from a number of European rivals about its dominance.

A previous EU investigation into software giant Microsoft snowballed into a 10-year legal battle in which the company paid 1.68 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in fines.

Google May Soon Announce Upgrade of Android Operating System

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:38:46 GMT

Google appear likely to announce a new version of their Android operating system, which is currently used in a number of different smartphones. Reports are suggesting an update in April is imminent, despite the fact that the last version has only been with us since Christmas.

Version 2.4 will likely integrate new features from Google's tablet computers and will possibly merge Version 2.3 with Honeycomb, Google's specialised operating system for tablet computers.

Reports appear to suggest that a new version of Android, 2.4, will be necessary to allow smartphones to take advantage of features that will be important to Honeycomb. This makes it appear even more likely that Google will be looking to integrate it into a new version of Android as soon as possible.

Software developers are also hoping that upgrading the version will cut down on the coding that they have to do to get apps working on both smartphones and tablets.

New York Times Accuses Huffington Post of Using SEO to Manipulate Readers

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:26:42 GMT

The New York Times has reported that 35% of the Huffington Posts hits in January came via search engines. While this would usually not be a remarkable statistic, the NYT has gone on to accuse the Huffington Post of purposefully targetting SEO through their news stories, giving priority to those that have high keyword usage.

They argue that the Huffington Post managed to increase its net worth using these tactics, increasing both readership and advertising revenue, at the expense of quality journalism.

They also claim the amount of hits from search engines, like Google, is remarkable as CNN only achieves around 20% of hits from search engines. This, of course, ignores the fact that CNN has a much higher brand awareness that the Huffington Post and, as such, will be able to draw in far higher volumes of direct traffic.

Web Designers Claim They are "Disappointed" Crime Website Crashed on First Day

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:21:41 GMT

The bosses at the firm which was responsible for creating the police force's new crime mapping website have stated that they are "disappointed" that the website crashed on the day that it was launched, but are delighted at the level of demand for the product.

The web designers, who were reportedly paid £300,000 for designing the website for the Home Office, revealed that at one point the site got 18 million hits per hour. The site allows users to enter a street name or password and discover how many crimes have happened in the local area.

David Moore, director at the company based in Lower Brown Street, said he had been pleased with its popularity but disappointed that millions of people were unable to access it.

He claims "We just had not anticipated the kind of volumes of traffic. We were eventually able to put up extra servers to handle the demand."

The site now appears to be back in order and working well.

Large Firms Now Looking to Web Designers

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:55:46 GMT

The demand for design workers from major technological corporations has risen in recent years, with huge companies like Microsoft, Cognizant, HCL and Wipro all looking at design graduates to become web designers.

The companies are all looking to boost the aesthetic appeal of their websites, products and services, with some estimates claiming that large scale technology firms are expected to contain 20-25% more web designers and other design experts over the next couple of years.

The move comes as c-commerce becomes more and more widely used, with larger firms finding that it is as crucial to have an attractive website as it is to have a functional one. This is the same across the board, with presentations over the web also becoming more important.

Rough estimates claim there are around 5,000 to 7,000 designers working in IT.

Company Pays $100,000 for Domain Name due to SEO Advantages

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:59:23 GMT

The Australian daily deals website Zoupon has paid more than $100,000 for the Deals.com.au domain in the hopes that such a highly demanded domain name will reap massive benefits for the company's SEO.

The purchase comes as the company begins to face even more competition from the group buying industry, which all tend to use variations of the phrase "daily deals" to attract business.

Jeremy Same, Zoupon managing director, says the company was willing to pay the price due to the SEO benefits.

"We think it's a valuable domain name and we think it's going to help elevate us in people's eyes, and they'll go for the deals. When people are searching for deals on Google, hopefully this means they will find us."

Same says that the entire website will be placed under the Deals.com.au banner, with the Zoupon name set to be retired next week.

He continues "Basically, Zoupon will continue to be live until Monday, after which time traffic will be redirected. The new site will be live from Monday, and the first deal to come out from Deals.com.au will happen then.

"It's the same service, we're just changing the name. But we think this will elevate us to match the big boys in the market.

"SEO is the major reason, but in terms of our branding there is no better way to describe the industry that we are in other than 'deals'".

Study Shows Organic Search Results Favoured Over PPC

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:50:34 GMT

A recent report has declared that paid seach spending is set to rise over the coming year. However it also notes that companies should take note that consumers spend more time looking for organic results, rather than paid ones.

The survey, conducted by User Centric, aimed to see if internet users went with organic results or PPC adverts when searching for different products. The study found that 100% of users peruse organic results, but the increased importance of PPC was also displayed as the majority also checked these results as well.

The study also found that Google adverts get more attention than Bing adverts. According to the study consumers who consider paid ads spend nine-tenths of a second looking at paid search ads on the top of Google result pages, while they spend just seven-tenths of a second looking at paid ads on the top of Bing pages.

However consumers spend nearly 15 seconds perusing organic results, showing that organic results gained through good SEO is still preferable. However a successful e-marketing campaign will consider all facets.

Google Instant Service Does Not Affect SEO According to Expert

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:40:19 GMT

A leading SEO expert claims that Google Instant has not changed SEO in the slightest and that Google has in fact not changed its alogorithm to implement the service.

Jake Hird commented that the new Google Instant service, which debuted in September 2010 and essentially acts as a search before you type service, has had no effect on how pages are ranked within the Google search engine.

He claims the traditional SEO fundamentals are still as important as they always were, stating "You're still looking at things like your content, your specific keywords, link building, that kind of stuff."

He claims that Instant was designed for a better user experience rather than to affect SEO, with the service intended to save around two seconds per search.

St Albans Teenager Arrested on Computer Hacking Charge

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:10:11 GMT

A teenager was arrested in St Albans last week on suspicion of computer hacking in connection to the attacks perpetrated recently in support of WikiLeaks.

The 19 year olds house was raided by Metrolpolitan Police on the 27th of January, where he was arrested alongside four others under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The Met Police say the arrests are in relation to recent and ongoing "distributed denial of service" attacks (DDoS) by an online group calling themselves 'Anonymous'.

An ongoing investigation into Anonymous is being undertaken after the group launched a number of denial of service attacks.

Two Men Charged with Stealing Hospital Computer Equipment

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:50:29 GMT

Two men are to be charged by police over the theft of computer equipment from a hospital in Falkirk over Christmas. The men stole four laptops, four hard drives, eight computer towers and seven computer monitors in the raid.

The computer equipment was likely stolen between the 24th and 26th of December and was reported missing from an administration block of the hospital on the 27th of December.

The two men will appear in court next month.

MPs Criticise Tax Calculating Computer SoftwareSystem at IRS

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:23:42 GMT

A committee of MPs have criticised the IRS for the botched implementation of a tax-calculating system that was intended to streamline the calculation of taces after it was discovered that the system has claimed £3 billion more than it should from workers for income tax.

"The flawed implementation of the NPS [National insurance and PAYE Services system] in 2009-10 has resulted in lasting and costly losses to Revenue & Customs and caused unacceptable un\certainty and inconvenience to the taxpayer," the public accounts committee concluded in a report published today.

Before the system was used, tax information was spread across 12 different databases that did not communicate with one another. The new system has been hit with constant delays and still has a backlog of 18 million cases, stretching back to 2009. Estimated underpayments and overpayments total £1.4bn and £3bn respectively.

The software has been installed by a software development partnership called Aspire, which contained members of Capgemini, Fujitsu and Accenture.

Daily Mail Gets Scared About Children Using Computers

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:54:12 GMT

A scaremongering report by the Daily Mail newspaper has revealed that children spend an average of four and a half hours each day in front of TV screens and computer monitors. It suggests that chilldren spend 1 hour and 50 minutes online each day and 2 hours and 40 minutes in front of the television.

The report, by the Childwise charity, also claims that children spend more time in front of the TV each day than they do exercising in a week. It is also apparently worrying that 97% of 11 to 16 year olds own a mobile phone, as though children being on the cutting edge of recent technological developments is in any way a new thing.

The report continues its attempt to frighten parents by crying about how teenage girls are interested in celebrity magazines like Heat and OK! while claiming that teenagers now learn about sex by watching pornography on mobile phones, quite ignoring sex educations lessons held in all schools.

Dr Emma Bond was responsible for the scaremongering propoganda. She said adults "need to take our heads out of the sand" about what is happening to young, impressionable children.

She continues "The research shows how children are using mobile phones in obtaining sexual material, developing their sexual identities and in their intimate relationships with each other."

Website Designers Announce New Website Development Tool

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:02:48 GMT

A new website design tool that is due to be launched by Microsoft may have an unexpected benefit for web developers in Birmingham and the free tool looks to make the process of developing a website easier.

WebMatrix has been created specifically to help website developers create, customise and publish their website on the internet.

S Somasegar, senior vice-president of the developer division at Microsoft, said: "Our web platform offers a complete ecosystem of products, partners and technologies all aimed at helping developers succeed on the web.

"Every day, more people are looking to build, publish and manage a website and now, with WebMatrix, we provide developers of all skill levels with a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use solution to get their sites online."

Website Developers to Create Marathon Website in 26.2 Hours

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:47:31 GMT

A challenge has been sent out to website developers in Jersey who will look to develop and launch a brand new website for the Jersey Marathon. The catch is the website has to be completed in just 26.2 hours, the same amount of time, in hours, as the marathon is miles long.

A number of website developers and website designers will be locked into a studio from 10am on January 27th in a bid to create the website in time.

Helen Baker, Jersey marathon race director, claims that this is the groups third website, stating "It is part of the evolution and growing up of our little marathon, it is not a baby any more and we're trying to reach out to more people."

One of the website developers involved in the project also spoke up, with Damon Eastwood claiming "It is perfectly achievable in the time but we would not normally be doing the hours back to back. There will be a core team that will do the duration of two or three of us with others coming in and out to do different elements."

Union Leader Reacts Angrily to Loss of Website Jobs at BBC

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:34:19 GMT

A group of Union leaders have reacted with anger over the £34 million in cuts that the BBC will be cutting from their website budget over the next two years.

The cuts will affect many website developers and SEO specialists, with the NUJ claiming that strike action may be considered.

National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear claims that the cuts demonstrate "the BBC’s contempt for hard-working staff" and that "the NUJ will not stand idly by if members are forced out of their jobs."

It appears that around 200 BBC staff will be affected due to the number of unfilled vacancies coupled with the company letting temporary staff go.

A number of BBC websites, including their antiques site and a cooking website, will be on the chopping block.

Bing Cracking Down on Unwanted Affiliates

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:15:26 GMT

Bing has removed a number of companies from its affiliate program who were attempting to force the recipients of free plugins to download the Bing toolbar and make the search engine their default browser. This is a noble move from Bing, as they will likely lose a few thousand pounds of revenue per year, as well as losing a chance to cut into Google's massive market share.

Google had also tipped Bing off about the website that sparked off this storm, marking a rare occasion of the two competitors working together. Both companies have a fair trade policy in which they refrain from conducting such activities. However a number of other small search engines do not have such policies in place.

Car Rental Website Top Performer in SEO Market

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:10:16 GMT

A leading SEO company have reported on their findings for an Independent Car Hire sector search, claiming that carrentals.co.uk has topped the search rankings for SEO and social media, with the company attaining 53% of the 763,000 car rental search terms checked in the study.

They also had the highest Social Media Popularity Index rating and the site itself has achieved 6% more visibility online than it had this time last year as it looks to further expand its online presence.

Managing director Gareth Robinson says "The latest Greenlight report highlights our online expertise, with our approach to search engine optimisation, positioning us at the forefront of the car hire sector and allowing us to continually reach new audiences. Over the last year we have incorporated an enhanced social media marketing strategy, offering new and existing customers a quick and easy way of interacting with us, and this investment is now achieving demonstrable results.

"Securing our position as the most visible online car hire website reflects the success of our online strategy, and we will continue to develop and refine this over the coming months. Social media, in particular, is a rapidly growing area and we’re excited to be leading the way for the car hire sector in such an important field."

Bosses at Scottish Council Slammed for Expensive Computer System

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:59:49 GMT

The bosses at Aberdeen City Council have come under heavy criticism after it emerged that they spent £165,000 on a computer system that came with no instructions.

The council is accused of wasting money at a time when they should be looking to cut costs, and will likely face further computer repair issues with the computers in the future.

However at the moment the council still can't get the transport based computer system to work properly after four years, meaning they still can't plan the most effective routes for buses and council vehicles.

Unite union leader Tommy Campbell said "This is absolutely disgraceful. Some senior officer or manager should be held to account."

PhD Student Works on Mind Reading Computer

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:49:41 GMT

A PhD student is continuing to conduct research into a mind reading computer that will be able to identify computer game player's emotions during a game.

Tom Christy is pioneering a revolutionary new style of computer game in which players must control their emotions as well as their characters to be able to move onwards.

He also believes the computer could be used for other applications, like military training.

According to BBC News "The plan is to combine brain wave information collected from a single electrode that sits on the forehead as part of a headset with data such as the wearer's heart rate. The information will then be sent to a group of programmes that analyses the data independently."

Christy said "It will combine already existing biometric detection devices into a lightweight portable system that will be able to perceive and indicate a person's mood and level of stress and anxiety."

London 2012 Olympic Computer Centre Revealed

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:34:02 GMT

Lord Coe has revealed what will essentially act as the nerve centre for the London 2012 Olympics when he opened the computer centre that will house all of the computers used to run the games.

More than 200,000 hours of testing has been put into the computers at the Technology Lab to ensure that they are ready for the Games in July.

Testing included guarding against a total system failure to ensuring correct results are recorded to the millisecond.

Lord Coe praised the centre, stating "When an athlete crosses the line in an Olympic or Paralympic Games, they don’t want to wait to see their time flash up on the screen, they want to see it straight away. Similarly commentators and those viewing at home want to see the result instantaneously.

"The technology for London 2012 - like the athletes - is in full training for the Games and there are no second chances. We are, in essence, running and testing a virtual Olympic Games here. The 200,000 hours of testing will make the difference between a good Games and a great Games."

Oxford University Gets Closer to Quantum Computer

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:21:11 GMT

A team of researchers at Oxford University have managed to generate an enormous 10 billion entangled bits in silicon, thus taking a very big step towards the development of a real world quanutum computer.

According to zdnet.co.uk "The researchers cooled a piece of phosphorus-doped silicon to within one degree of absolute zero and applied a magnetic field. This process lined up the spins of one electron per phosphorus atom. Then the scientists used carefully timed radio pulses to nudge the nuclei and electrons into an entangled state. Across the silicon crystal, this produced billions of entangled pairs."

Stephanie Simmons, a researcher on the project, claims that quantum computers start to match up to normal computers at a few dozen qubits. Her team are working to skip these low stages and go for a system with 10 billion qubits.

Each qubit is both a 1 and a 0 at the same time, thus providing the single qubit with the ability to perform two calculations at the same time. A two-qubit computer can perform four calculations: three gives you eight, four gives you 16 and so on, exponentially.

Simmons sais "Currently this is a set up with many, many copies of a fully functional two-qubit quantum computer. The major advantage of doing it this way is that computation is very fast, and there is no averaging to get the result out. But it is just a step on the way to our goal."

Lush Shoppers Fall Victim to Computer Hacker

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:03:17 GMT

Lush have revealed that a computer hacker has cracked their website and may now have the details of thousands of customers.

The company have urged everybody that made orders via their website between October 4th and January 20th to contact their banks as their card details may have been compromised.

New visitors to the website have been told to make their orders over the phone. Lush said "Our website has been the victim of hackers. 24 hour security monitoring has shown us that we are still being targeted and there are continuing attempts to re-enter. We refuse to put our customers at risk of another entry - so have decided to completely retire this version of our website."

A temporary site has been set up.

Addressing the hacker Lush said "If you are reading this, our web team would like to say that your talents are formidable. We would like to offer you a job - were it not for the fact that your morals are clearly not compatible with ours or our customers."

Student Web Designer Wins Praise for Website Opposing Comic Sans Font

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:06:20 GMT

A Graphic Design student in Portsmouth has won almost universal acclaim after he made a website design that is solely dedicated to railing against the constant misuse of the Comic Sans font style.

Matt Dempsey created the website comicsanscriminal.com as little more than a joke to vent his anger about the constant use of the near ubiquitous font. However within minutes of the website going live, he was already being praised by fellow web designer, bloggers and SEOP specialists the world over.

The web designers website became a trending topic on Twitter soon after, with over 10,000 users tweeting about the website.

Matt described the instant success as "a bit insane".

American Car Company Relies Solely on SEO for Business

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:39:32 GMT

A US organisation is claiming that it relies solely on SEO services to bring in business, removing the need for print marketing in the process. And they claim they have never performed better.

Executive Limousine's chief executive, Douglas Schwartz, was recently featured in the New York Times when he made the decision to pledge all of his company's advertising budget onto pay per click and SEO services.

The paper reports that "As a result, 85 percent of Executive Limousine's business comes from the internet."

He also uses social media sites, like facebook and Twitter, to place localised PPC adverts. He claims to have spent thousands on his SEO crusade thus far, however it seems to be paying off for him.

topseos.com Claim Info Cubic Japan is top for SEO in Japan

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:26:56 GMT

topseos.com, an independent website that is considered an authority on all search vendors, has announced that Info Cubic Japan is the best SEO company in Japan for January 2011.

An independent research team reviewd each applicant in an attempt to determing the best SEO company in Japan, with Info Cubic standing out in a field of thousands.

The review was conducted and examined the following SEO standards;

Search Engine Optimisation

Pay Per Click Management

Link Building

Web Analytics

Landing Page Optimisation

The SEO company currently serves 500 businesses across Japan, providing invaluable SEO services for all of them. It also provide website development and website design for the Japanese market.

Web Hosting Companies May Look to Offer SEO Birmingham Services in Future

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:10:28 GMT

A web hosting company called TurnKey Internet has announced that it will be moving into offering SEO Birmingham services in addition to providing an SEO based web hosting solution.

This may mark a surge of web hosting companies looking to jump on the SEO bandwagon as clients look to improve their search engine listings and visibility in a never-ending attempt to increase traffic.

The announcement itself followed TurnKey's purchase of hosting provider HostPC.

"Optimizing your website for search engines starts with your web hosting service," Adam Wills, president and CEO of TurnKey Internet said in a statement. "We provide the web professional with the ability to diversify websites across many unique network IP addresses from one central, easy-to-use control panel. With just a few clicks, our clients can dramatically increase traffic and, ultimately, sales, to help their companies grow."

SEO Expert Offers Social Media Advice to SEO Birmingham Firms and Others

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 11:57:24 GMT

A leading expert in the field of SEO has claimed that companies that attempt to make use of social media in their SEO campaigns must be careful to do it right, lest they fail to attract the right audience to their website.

Gareth Owen, writing in the Search Engine Watch, has claimed that its is much better practice to ensure the quality of your social media posts, rather than simply going for pure quantity.

He suggests, for example, that having fewer fans who hold higher authority is better than having many fans who aren't relevant to the company you are attempting to promote.

He also believes closely monitoring page rankings can give businesses new insights into how effective their various media strategies are. He concludes that "it's quality and not necessarily quantity that will win the day with social SEO", Mr Owen adds that creating quality content and links remain an important part of SEO campaigns.

IBM Super Computer Beats Expert Jeopardy Players

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:08:45 GMT

In a follow up to a story we previously reported, the IBM super computer that was due to play two Jeopardy champions had defeated the duo in a trial session before the televised show.

The computer, named 'Watson' beat Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a trial demonstration, with the actual competition due to air on February.

The computer came first with a total of $4,400, with Ken following up with $3,400 and Brad bringing up the rear with $1,200.

"We are at a very special moment in time," Dr John Kelly, IBM SVP and the director of IBM Research told Wired. "We are at a moment where computers and computer technology now have approached humans. We have created a computer system that has the ability to understand natural human language, which is a very difficult thing for computers to do."

Computer Repair Issue Costs Dixons £15 Million Over Xmas

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:00:13 GMT

A computer repair issue has caused gadget and electrical retailer Dixons to lose around £15 million in sales over the Christmas period.

The company, which owns Currys, PC World and Dixons, had failed to properly prepare for the onslaught of customers who would be coming to their website on Boxing Day. The computer issue led to the ste crashing and being inaccessible over the next two days.

This was added to money lost because shoppers couldn't get to stores in the big freeze.

A COMPUTER blunder saw gadget giant Dixons lose £15million of sales on the busiest days of the year.

Retail analyst Matt Piner, from the consultancy service Verdict, commented "These issues put Dixons’ recent progress into context and with the electricals market continuing to become even more competitive, it faces a long and difficult road ahead."

Nurse Denies Showing Obscene Image on Computer in Coventry

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:52:12 GMT

A nurse in Coventry has denied using his computer to show two female colleagues and obscene image, claiming there was nothing offensive about the image and that he had accessed it by accident.

Dennis Griffiths, aged 32, caused one of his colleagues to be "shocked" by the inappropriate image, whereas a second colleague had to go into counselling after seeing it as it made her "sick to her stomach".

Mr Griffiths denies that there was anything wrong with the image one the computer in coventry and, as a result, he denies accessing an obscene and/or indecent image on a trust computer within the ward where he worked.

Company Offer Cheap PC for Under £100

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:44:37 GMT

A new company, named Remploy, is offering cash strapped computer users the opportunity to buy a halfway decent PC for only a fraction of the cost of a computer in the shops.

The computer, which will cost £98, includes a P4 2.6GHz processor with 512MB RAM, a 40GB hard drive, Windows XP, a CD ROM, keyboard, mouse and a 17-inch LCD monitor.

Remploy are also promising users some form of Office package to go along with the computer. All in all its a good deal, but you have to imagine such a cheap computer would have some computer repair issues.

Working EDSAC Replica Computer to be Built

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:18:38 GMT

The Computer Conservation Society have announced that they will be building and installing a working replica of the EDSAC computer at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park.

The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was the first serial electronic calculator and is widely regarded as the first commercial "computer". It was used well into the 1950's and paved the way for what would later become personal computers.

The EDSAC was launched on 6th May 1949 as an update on the Colossus Mark 1. An interactive online version of the machine is available at The University of Warwick website.

Pay Per Click Marketing Expected to be Successful in 2011

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:23:32 GMT

Pay Per Click marketing has been an important tool in the SEO specialist's arsenal for quite some time, and the success of the process is expected to continue throughout 2011 as SEO practices become more ubiquitous.

Norma Flatman, in a commentary for online news hournal Sure Start, explains why pay per click ranks highly on many SEO specialists lists of tactics, claiming "It continues to produce leads to the website for those that utilise it."

This is shown by newer means of marketing, such as facebook and video advertising sites, also beginning to subscribe to the pay per click business model.

Ms Flatman goes on to point out that good marketing "can be the difference between success and failure", and businesses should utilise all means at their disposal.

41% of Business Don't Use SEO in Birmingham of Elsewhere

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:10:25 GMT

A recent study has revealed that 41% of businesses don't take advantage of specialised SEO services, thus failing to optimise their position within search engines.

Fasthosts study has revealed that;

One in four companies believe SEO would be too costly.

11% claim past attempts at SEO have failed, thus putting them off.

Only 28% of small companies fully understand their website numbers.

27% have never used online methods to interact with their customers.

Only 23% use social media to further sales and interact with customers.

41% don't have an email contact form on their website.

20% believe that under-investment in online marketing will have a negative effect on their business.

Only 14% make a point of replying to online reviews.

"For many small firms, battling for online visibility can be a real stress and seem too daunting a challenge to take on. However, every business owner should know that there are now low-cost, point-and-click solutions for both improving search engine positions and understanding how their website is being used." said Steve Holford, marketing director at Fasthosts.

Google Analytics Banned in Germany in Shot to SEO Specialists Everywhere

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:53:21 GMT

In a move that comes as a shock to SEO specialists in Birmingham, the German government have banned Google Analytics. This is a shot to SEO specialists everywhere as they now wait with baited breath to see if any other governments plan to introduce similar measures.

The German government claim that allowing Google Analytics to track IP addresses is a violation of privacy after talks with the search engine giant collapsed this week after over a year of back and forth.

From now on, those in Germany who use Google Analytics could face a large fine, marking another blow for company's attempting to offer SEO services.

For those who don't know, the Google Analytics service is used by SEO Birmingham and other SEO specialists to track data relevant to website traffic, including the amount of visitors to a site and how long they spend on the site. It does this by tracking IP addresses, which the German authorities have taken umbrage with.

SEO Software Company Receive Funding From Paris

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:41:44 GMT

SEO software and search analytics company Searchmetrics have received funding of $6.75m from Iris Capital and a host of other current investors. This brings the company's total money raised up to the $11m mark.

Searchmetrics continues its international expansion while still aiming to provide tools that are useful for SEO in Birmingham and across the world. Their newest financing partners join Holtzbrinck Digital and Neuhaus Partners.

The investment deal, which was signed at the end of December, is still pending approval from German anti-trust authorities.

SEO Birmingham and General UK SEO Market See Improvement

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:12:30 GMT

Web Pro News is reporting that the SEO in Birmingham and the UK market has seen double-digit growth throughout the year 2010, with many experts believing the trend will continue as more and more website owners begin to see the benefits in SEO conversion.

The UK SEO market is currently valued at around £446 million, a 16% increase over the £376 million estimate of 2009. This bucks the trend of struggling or slowly increasing business sectors in the wake of the economic crisis, with the figures being impressive even if the economy were strong.

Econsultancy research analysts Jake Hird believes that demand for SEO services is likely to continue growing as corporations look for a way to get one over on the competition. He says "The SEO market continues to flourish, as it is a proven and highly effective method of delivering return on investment by successfully driving traffic and increasing sales."

Imobisoft offers top quality SEO Birmingham services and can help your website reach the first page of Google using a team of dedicated SEO experts.

Police Arrest Suspected ETA Computer Repair and Programming Expert

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:36:23 GMT

Police have arrested a computer repair and programming expert who was believed to have been working for the Basque seperatist group ETA, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.

The computer programmer was arrested in France on Tuesday and is accused of playing a key role in the group by designing computer codes used by operatives to communicate in secret.

The Ministry claims that police had been on the trail of the programmer for months, with authorities also arresting his girlfriend on suspicion of aiding the ETA.

Police are also currently investigating if the computer expert helped Colombian FARC rebels with computer repair issues, but there is no confirmed link between the groups as of this writing.

Computer History Museum to Unveil New Exhibition

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:18:43 GMT

The Computer History Museum at Mountain View in the Silicon Valley have announced that they will be revealing a new exhibition, entitled "R:Evolution" very soon.

The exhibition is slated to cost around $19 million and will focus on the first 2,000 years of computing, with over 100,000 artifacts spread across 19 seperate galleries.

Each section will be devoted to a different area of computing, with topics including video games, mainframes, logic and more. A number of donors, including Bill Gates, have enabled the exhibition making it the "leading institution in the field."

The Computer History Museum has been in existence for around 30 years and this is the largets exhibition it has ever put on.

iGate Corporation Purchase Increased Stake in Patni Computer Systems Ltd

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:03:52 GMT

IT services market bigwigs iGate Corporation, who are based in the US, have purchased a 63% stake in Patni Computer Systems in a deal believed to be in the region of $1.22billion.

The new entity will look to become a major player in providing IT services and will average revenues around the $1 billion mark.

“It has been our stated intent to scale revenues, customers, and expand our vertical capability. We believe that the combination will help customers get better service, access to more service lines and deeper pools of expertise,” iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy said in a statement.

The firm has now risen to be one of the top 10 IT companies in India, with a view to global expansion in the future.

1 Million Crimes Not On Crime Database

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:09:22 GMT

In a shocking lapse of computer maintenance issues, it has been revealed via a report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) that the police force's failure to record crimes has led to up to one million crimes not being recorded on the computer system.

The report from HMIC found that 1.2 million records are still to be entered onto the PNC out of 5.2 million pre 1995 conviction records being converted from microfiche.

The HMIC also claims that the fee of £100 per microfiche being charged to police forces has led to a certain amount of reluctance, leading to "profound implications" for public safety.

The report claims "The inescapable conclusion is that police forces are not updating records with 'fiche-based convictions because the charge is considered to be excessive."

Study Claims Sitting at Computer Too Long Can Kill

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:02:46 GMT

A recent study has claimed that spending four hours or more a day in front of a computer or television can be linked to premature death through heart attacks or other cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers from University College London in the UK studied 4,500 Scottish people aged 35 or over, finsing that participants who spent more than four hours a day in front of a computer were twice as likely to suffer heart disease.

The study also claims that "serial sitters" were 50% more likely to die of all causes in what appears as much to be scare mongering than anything else.

Bing Use SEO to Discover Most Popular New Year Resolution

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:24:23 GMT

Bing has been becoming increasingly more prevelent in the search engine world, rising as a black sheep to competitor to Google and increasing its market share to the point where it now matches Yahoo.

The company have also added a new tool that will allow webmaster to monitor their link building performance. All of this has enabled the company to tempt away some of the market and made it a force to be reckoned with in the process.

Now Microsoft are using their technology for slightly irreverent means, showing they have a slightly more fun side to them. The company recently released a blog post to give users some idea of popular search terms by comparing search figures from January 2010 to those in November and December 2009 to find what the most popular new year resolutions of last year were.

Its all light hearted fun but seo specialists can't ignore data like this, especially if it reveals that somebody they are doing work for may potentially be able to compete for one of these terms come the dawn of the new year.

Intel Debut New Processor at CES

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:11:18 GMT

The CES electronics exposition is under way in Las Vegas and Intel are already causing waves with the introduction of a brand new set of processors that it is claiming are the next generation in computer processing.

The new dual-core processors, nicknamed "Sandy Bridge" by the company, was highlighted by a simple presentation which simply informed attendees that the new 17 Sandy Bridge processor is 62% faster than the i7 chip shown last year at completing a set of video tasks.
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E-Commerce Website Sales Up in 2010 Holiday Season

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:56:40 GMT

According to data released by MasterCard, online spending on e-commerce based websites rose by 17.6% in December 2010 when compared to the same period in December 2009. This represents one of the strongest growth rates ever seen in the industry.

The online shopping spree surged late in the holiday season, with strong sales being recorded across most sectors of retail. Some showed slight weaknesses, which was attributed to discounts rather than lack of online shopp

Web Topping TV as Primary News Source

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:39:35 GMT

A recent study has found that Americans are increasingly relying on the internet as their primary source of news, with young people especially relying on the net ahead of mainstream television.

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 41% of Americans claim that the internet is their primary source for news. In a pool of 1,500 people who were surveyed, 66% said that television was still their primary news source, a drop from the 70% who said so in 2009 and the 74% who said so in 2007.

Newspapers have also been on the decline as a source of news for Americans and 2010 marked the first year that the web surpassed TV amongst people under the age of 30.

In that particular age band, 65% claimed that the internet was their main source of information, versus 52% who said TV

(Percentages may add up to more than 100% as participants could provide two answers for the question.)

Rise in Demand for Internet Connected Televisions

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:19:37 GMT

According to data released by the NPD Group, internet-connected televisions are becoming more and more popular, leading to website developers in Birmingham having to consider them when working out cross-browser functionality.

The increased popularity could improve multichannel marketing initiatives that use both TV and online elements. The group reports internet-enabled TVs saw a 38% increase in sales in 2010 when compared to 2009. Of those who purchased a net enabled TV, 45% say they used it to regularly surf the web from their TV.

"Manufacturers are underselling the internet features of connected TVs," said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at The NPD Group. "Broadband features unlock worlds of on-demand content; manufacturers should provide the key by integrating Wi-Fi."

Web companies are already taking advantage of the rise of internet-enabled televisions, with services such as Google TV becoming available on a number of devices and being set for rollout across the globe later in 2011.

Samsung Develop New Computer Memory Module

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:01:09 GMT

Samsung have announced that they have developed a new type of computer memory module that reads and writes data at twice the speed of previous devices of a similar nature.

The DDR4 dynamic random access memory (DRAM) module will be released in 2012 and will feature a raft of improvements over current DDR3 and DDR2 technology.

The company claim they are the first in the industry to develop working DDR4 technology, which also reduces power consumption by half.

It transfers data at a rate of 2.133 gigabits per second at 1.2 volts, compared with DDR3 DRAM models, which transfer data at a speed of 1.6 Gbps at 1.35V or 1.5V.

View Sonic Corporation Unveil New Tablet Computer

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:42:20 GMT

View Sonic Coporation are to unveil their brand new tablet computer that will also act as a phone and support next-generation wireless connections.

The hybrid will be unveiled at an electronics industry trade show next week, with the device rumoured to be capable of making phone calls and running the Android operating system.

GMail Hacker Charged with Identity Theft

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:22:18 GMT

A husband has been charged with identity theft after allegedly hacking into his wife's webmail account when he suspected her of having an affair.

Leon Walker, aged 33, had suspected his wife was having an affair with her ex-husband when he committed the crime. He then broke into her account using a shared computer to confirm his suspicions.

Clara Walker had been embroiled in a custody battle with her first husband and had been seeing her second husband behind her third husband's back. Walker sent the emails onto Clara's first husband to help him as part of his custody battle for his son.

Clara eventually filed for divorce from Walker, with whom she had another child, and he was arrested and questioned for offences relating to Michigan's anti-hacking laws.

Cambridge University Develop Emotion Reading Computers

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:05:59 GMT

Cambridge University have announced that they will be developing computers that can track a person's emotions by detecting facial movements and speech patterns with the team, headed by Prof Peter Robinson, hoping the software could improve interactions between humans and computers.

He comments "We’re building emotionally intelligent computers, ones that can read my mind and know how I feel Computers are really good at understanding what someone is typing or even saying. But they need to understand not just what I’m saying, but how I’m saying it."

The researches are working closely with Cambridge University's Autism Research Centre, whose insights into autistic people's difficulty in understanding emotions is also being utilised to address the same problems in computers.

Read more: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/computer-software-can-detect-peoples-emotions/1006674.article#ixzz1A4SRpONf

Companies Looking to Create New Computer Chips to Compete With Tablet Computers

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:01:22 GMT

A number of semiconductor companies, including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, are competing to create a new line of computer chips that will aim to bring better video and superior battery life to PC in an attempt to have them hold of the threats to sales provided by tablet computers and smart phones.

Both companies have will unveil new chip designs at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in an attempt to make traditional PCs more competitive in today's market. The focus will be on making them superior for graphics intensive tasks and playing video.

The improvements, however, aren't exactly visible to everybody meaning that they may not help as tablet PCs begin to erode traditional PC sales.

Sunderland Web Developer Creates First 3D Website

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:04:48 GMT

A web developer from Sunderland has claimed to have launched the world's very first 3D website. However potential browsers will need a 3D TV, glasses and a browser that you can run through your TV screen.

The site can be found at  http://www.stereoscopic-3d.co.uk.

Stereografix founder Saif Chaudhry told the nebusiness.co.uk: "I don't think many people are even thinking this far ahead, and we've got a prototype already. It's not every day you can say you're first with something where the internet is concerned.

"I think there needs to be a lot more 3D TVs and computer monitors out there before it becomes mainstream, but peoplearen'tjust going to go out and buy these things unless they've got something to show on them."

High Speed Internet Considered Most Important Technology for Internet Users

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:15:26 GMT

A recent poll conducted by Zogby has discovered that 28% of those asked consider broadband internet to be the sole technology that they can't live without, backing its claims to be the single technology that has had the highest impact on people in the last ten years.

Email came second in the study with 18%, while facebook managed to score around 3%, though it proved fairly popular among 18-24 year olds, with 15% claiming they couldn't live without it.

Specifically looking at technologies that have had the greatest impact on society over the past 10 years, 24 percent named high-speed Internet, followed closely by Facebook at 22 percent. Google came in third at 10 percent.

The results showed some variation as women and adults under 55 classed facebook as having the most impact in the last decade, while adults between 35 and 54 were split evenly between the two.

Venezuelan Politicians to Impose Restrictions on the Internet

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:03:44 GMT

Venezuela's political top brass have imposed new broadcast regulations on the internet, preventing some types of online messages in a move that is being seen by some as a threat to freedom of speech.

The National Assembly approved revisions to the Social Responsibility Law, extending previously existing broadcast rules to the internet. It prevents messages and images that "disrespect public authorities", ''incite or promote hatred" or crimes, or could create "anxiety in the citizenry or alter public order".

It also rules that elctronic media must find way to implement the new procedures as soon as possible or else face being punished with fines.

The measure also changes the duration of broadcast licences from 20 to 15 years and provides the government with the power to pull the licence from any broadcaster that is found to have violated the new laws more than once.

The new laws will be a definite threat to the country's anti-Chavez television station Globovision, which already has six cases pending against it.

US FCC to Formally Approve New Rules on How Internet Users Access Content

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:52:16 GMT

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is on course to approve a set of controversial new protocols that will govern how internet users gain access to content provided on sites such as YouTube and Skype.

The new rules would essentially create two levels of internet access, one for regular fixed broadband connections and another for wireless and mobile internet providers.

The new laws will prevent fixed line internet providers from blocking content and online services from rival companies and will also be prevented from providing preferential treatment to paying clients.

The new framework will also allow for mobile ISPs to charge for providing more efficient delivery of content to American homes, while also allowing wireless services to block access to content provided it isn't content provided by their competitors.

Analysts Estimate that More Will Shop Online than go to Church This Year

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 11:37:10 GMT

Estimates are indicating that around 4.8 million people will purchase something online on Christmas day. The figures compare to an estimated 4.5 million who will attend an Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist or Pentecostal church service on Christmas Day.

The number is a 9% increase from the same period last year and will mark the first time that more people have shopped on Christmas day than worshipped.

It also displays the obsolescence of the Sunday Trading Laws in today's society as access to the internet through an array of devices has made shopping quicker and more convenient.

U.S. Air Force Ban Staff From Accessing Media Sites

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:35:33 GMT

The US Air Force have announced that they have banned military personnel from accessing media websites via US Air Force channels, specifically those websites that published documents exposed by WikiLeaks.

The list of 25 websites includes the Ney York Times, the Guardian and France's Le Monde. Personnel will be me with a message that reads "ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored."

The staff can still view the websites from home however, making the decision almost pointless in the eyes of many.

Oracle Head Slates HP

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:39:04 GMT

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has slated his former compatriots at HP after the company showed a surge in software sales and profits. He has renewed his vow to go after Hewlett Packard and IBM in the market for high-end computer hardwares and softwares.

Ellison claimed that HPs servers were "slow and expensive", adding "That makes HP extremely vulnerable to market share losses in the coming year."

Oracle has beaten analyst estimates by reporting a $1.9bn profit from $8.6bn in sales, making it one of the world's largest commercial software companies.

"We're not interested in the low-margin, commodity end of the server business," claimed Ellison when talking about combining Sun hardware with Oracle software.

Online Sales of Computers Buoyed by iPad Demand

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:56:49 GMT

Online sales of computers and related items have soared in the past year by 25% due to a massive demand for e-readers, including Apple's iPad.

An amazing $27.46bn has been spent online in the first 47 days of the Christmas holiday period, with computer hardware the most popular category to spend on.

The report claims "Purchases of handheld devices (such as Apple iPads and e-readers) and laptop computers drove much of the growth."

Strangely, the sale of books and magazines online rose by 21 percent year-on-year despite the demand for e-readers and computer software, excluding PC games, rising 16 percent.

Eating at a Computer May Lead to Poor Diet

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:47:19 GMT

Research conducted by the University of Bristol has found that eating in front of a computer screen can affect a person’s appetite, leading to them eating a poor diet of foods.

Researchers split a group into two halves, with one of the new groups playing a computer game while eating. They found that the group playing the game were more distracted from their food, resulting in them feeling less full and having a desire to snack throughout the day.

The research features in January’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

When asked to name the food items they had consumed, those playing the game had difficulty remembering.

Yahoo Search Engine Company to Lay Off 5% of Work Force

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:36:07 GMT

Yahoo have announced that, due to the company's poor performance this year, they are planning a round of lay-offs. They plan to cut their workforce of 14,100 by 5%, making this the company's fourth set of redundancies and lay-offs in 3 years.

The downsizing is set to happen in the company's products division, centred in the USA. The division has already been restructured in recent years and now looks as though it will absorb the majority of the cuts.

Yahoo's revenue grew by 2% to $4.8bn in the first nine months of 2010. Compared to Google, whose revenue grew by 23% and garnered the company a total of $21bn for the year, this is seen as unsatisfactory. The emergence of facebook is seen as another worry for the formerly dominant search engine operator.

Kaspersky Lab and Tencent Sign Partnership

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:12:06 GMT

Kaspersky Lab, who are a leading developer of anti-virus solutions, threat management and secure content have announced that they will be teaming up with Tencent, China's foremost Internet Service Provider, to implement Kaspersky's mobile Anti-Virus technology into Tencent's QQ Security Expert.

The companies are both looking to raise user awareness in relation to the need for smartphone protection and are now developing technologies to combat the risk of hackers and malware causing devestation on the more advanced mobile devices.

The new concern comes thanks to the massive strides made in mobile technology over the last few years, with devices now rivalling the power of older computers also bringing along their own problems. SMS spam, mobile viruses, spyware and other other assorted malwares are beginning to become a problem for mobile users, especially in China where the technology is really beginning to catch on. The partnership should help protect against this by providing a mobile application that can act as an anti-virus and block attacks before they happen.

eBay Heading for Clash with Korean Search Engine Company

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:55:13 GMT

Auction and e-commerce website eBay may be building itself up for a showdown with NHN, the Korean internet industry top dog with both competing for a share of the country's massive online shopping potential. On top of that, mobile phone operator SK Telecom have thrown their hat into the ring.

Currently eBay are cemented as the market leader in the e-commerce sector for Koreans, owning a 90% market share thanks to their purchase of Auction (www.auction.co.kr) and Gmarket (www.gmarket.com).

However NHN, which owns more than 70% of the country's search market through www.naver .com is attempting to establish its own e-commerce platform in the country, and it looking to leverage it onto eBay in the process.

Chinese Internet Companies Looking to Transform Chinese Video Industry

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:29:33 GMT

A number of major Chinese websites have been looking to transform the country's video-programming industry by making films themselves in an attempt to break a governmental monopoly on the industry.

Video sites such as Tudou.com, Ku6.com and Youku are amongst the sites making new shows, with some portals also getting in on the action.

Senior Vice President of Youku, Wei Ming, says "With the development of video websites, abundant capital has poured into the industry. It's a natural commercial activity for these sites to spend money producing their own programs. Other countries with a mature Internet industry have already set a good example that we are learning from."

Irish Look For Implementation of Fair Use Internet Law

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:15:45 GMT

TJ McIntyre has criticised the Irish laws used to govern the internet, claiming they are out of date and archaic. He believes that a new set of laws should be introduced that is more in line with the USA's fair use doctrine.

He gave a speech recently announcing his support for a review of European and Irish copyright law, stating "It is time to review our copyright legislation, and examine the balance between the rights holder and the consumer, to ensure that our innovative companies operating in the digital environment are not disadvantaged against competitors."

He argues that the American fair use principle has been successful in encouraging internet innovation as it permits the use of portions of copyrighted work as long as the economic use of the work is not undermined. A similar system in Ireland and Europe is now desirable.

13th ISPA Awards Announced

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:59:46 GMT

The UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) have announced that the 13th annual ISPA awards will go ahead on 7th July 2011 and have opened registration for the event, which will be held at the Lancaster London Hotel.

ISP companies have until 4th February 2011 to register their intent to enter the competition, with categories including the following;

Best Consumer Fixed Broadband ISP

Best Mobile Broadband

Best Managed Service

Best over the Top TV

Internet Safety and Security Award

Nicholas Lansman, ISPA Secretary General, said "As the voice of the internet industry for the last 15 year ISPA has seen the industry develop and since 1999 we have hosted the ISPA Awards to mirror that success. 2011 is the 13th annual awards and, as in previous years, we expect to see that the innovation and passion for providing quality services is as strong as ever."

Heart and Sole Conference to Bring Web Professionals Together

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:44:39 GMT

A new conference for web professionals to discuss the burning issues in the web industry, such as new web development standards and search engine optimisation techniques, has been established in Chichester by Tom Kentall and Alex Stanhope, two web industry professionals who have been in the industry for years.

The concept is to bring people together for a day of networking, training and overall social interaction, with attendance being split between those currently working within the industry and those who are looking to get into it.

The inaugural event will be held on January 28th at Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and will feature guest speakers, and awards ceremony and a range of social activities.

The group then plan to arrange a meeting every six months or so, making the conference a twice annual event for web professionals.

US Urges Internet Based Companies Develop Privacy Rules

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:28:20 GMT

The Commerce Department in the US has issued a report urging internet based companies, such as Google and Facebook, to work with consumer groups in an effort to develop new pribvacy policies for web users.

If they don't the companies may end up facing regulations. The move has been welcomed by the big internet industries, however consumer-protection advocates believe that the policy would leave the companies with too much of a role in policing themselves.

The call was for those in the web industry to write voluntary codes of conduct to protect the privacy of web users. These codes would then be used by the Federal Trade Commission. However many believe that it is up to the department to develop rules independently, to ensure complete honesty and integrity in any policy put into place.

Yell Employees Submit Thousands of Reviews to Yell Owned Trusted Places Website

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:32:35 GMT

Yellow Pages publisher Yell have been caught out bossting the content of their new social media website Trusted Places by having staff enter reviews onto the website to bolster its position and importance amongst review websites.

Staff at Yell's Reading HQ were offered bonuses, including an iPad and Amazon Vouchers, to create reviews for the website, resulting in 6,700 reviews being written in a month.

This equates to 12.5% of all of the reviews currently on the website, however the company deny any wrong doing, claiming "We view our people as ambassadors, and it’s essential that they use and understand our products and services. All our people are consumers in their own right and perfectly entitled to an objective, genuine opinion."

Computer Hackers Attack Swedish Governmental Website

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:20:03 GMT

A group of computer hackers have attacked a Swedish governmental website, forcing it to go offline for several hours due to the denial of service attack.

The attack appears to be from the same group that have been showing support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and certainly seems to follow the same pattern as a spate of attacks carried out by a group calling themselves Anonymous.

Swedish MP Goran Lindblad says "Well it's of course a criminal act on the same level as when the Russians blocked the Estonian websites for political reasons. This is just about the same and it's not acceptable."

Hackers Strike Dutch Police After Arrest of Teenager

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 16:03:07 GMT

A number of websites belonging to Dutch computer crime police forces and a group of prosecutors have all been attacked a day after the arrest of a 16 year old boy in relation to denial of service attacks carried out in support of WikiLeaks.

A spokesperson for the Netherlands National Police Service confirmed that the police website and that belonging to the National Prosecutor's Office were offline for much of Friday due to the attack.

Janus didn't connect the website downtime to the WikiLeaks attacks, but it seems likely given the amount of attacks currently ongoing.

Access to Amazon Blocked Temporarily by Hackers

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:45:44 GMT

Hackers believed to be reacting to the attempted extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange managed to block access to the Amazon website as a response to the company refusing to host the WikiLeaks website on their servers.

Hackers managed to block the British, Italian and German versions of the site and the hackers, who many believe to be art of the group calling themselves Anonymous, may carry out more attacks on firms that stopped providing services to WikiLeaks.

Servers are now back in use and neither Amazon or Anonymous have released any form of statement.

US Create Supercomputer Using 1,760 PS3 Computer Game Consoles

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:47:59 GMT

The US Air Force has utilised the Sony PlayStation 3 console to create a brand new supercomputer, trasnforming the video games console into a computer suitable to perform military tasks.

The new supercomputer has been nicknamed the Condor and was created in a bid to develop a cost effective and green alternative to conventional technology.

The Condor was created using 1,760 PS3 processors in a cluster, with additional technology used to create a computer which is approximately 50,000 times faster than the average laptop. It is believed to be the 34th most powerful supercomputer in the world.

IBM Computer to Compete on US TV Show Jeopardy

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:37:02 GMT

A computer is to take on two celebrated contestants on US television show Jeopardy!

The computer, developed by IBM and named Watson, is all set to take on former competitors Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in the first ever man vs machine episode of the trivia program, playing two matches over three consecutive days.

Jennings and Rutter are the show's two most successful contestants and will face off against the computer, with the winner getting $1m, runner-up getting $300,000 and third place contestant getting $200,000. Rutter and Jennings will each donate 50% of the winnings to charity, whereas IBM will donate all of their winnings.

HP to Create 105 Jobs in Ireland

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:06:35 GMT

Hewlett Packard have announced that they intend to create 105 new jobs at its offices in Ballybrit. The jobs are all aimed at graduates up to PhD level and are generally focused on enterprise data architecture and software engineering.

Between 50 and 70 of the positions will be filled immediately, while IT graduates will be able to battle it out for the remaining jobs.

Enterprise Minister Batt O'Keeffe said that that "HP has chosen Galway for these highly strategic and knowledge-based roles in a move that reinforces our global reputation for high-end research and development activity. The investment shows that we can compete for highly skilled jobs in the information technology sector as we forge ahead with efforts to make Ireland Europe's innovation hub."

Parliamentary Researcher May Have Used MPs Computer for Espionage

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:24:59 GMT

A parliamentary researcher who was accused of espionage on behalf of Russia and currently faces deportation was apparently given full control of the office computer of the MP for who she worked.

Ekaterina Zatuliveter, who assisted Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, had also been the subject of a complaint when she tried to read files on a computer hard drive.

Zatuliveter was taken into custody on Thursday of last week, with MI5 stating that her presence was not "conducive to national security" and she is currently believed to be the first Russian spy to have been caught in Parliament since the Cold War.

Other interns have alleged that Hancock had a "flirty and intimate" relationship with Zatuliveter.

Commeting on Zatuliveter using his email address and office computer, Hancock stated "Of course I was. I didn't use the address at all. I had my own private address that she didn't use. Other members of my staff in Portsmouth also access my parliamentary emails. I don't use the computers – I just occasionally look at the internet. When I need to use it, I have to call up the computer people in the house for the password. I don't think she used my email address to do anything behind my back."

Teenager Arrested for Call of Duty Cyber Attack

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:10:21 GMT

A teenager has been arrested for a cyber attack that he operated while playing an online version of popular computer game Call of Duty.

The boy, aged 17, has been released on police bail but has to report to a police station in Manchester next month after he issued a "denial of service" attack that prevented large numbers of people from playing the game online.

Developers of the video game, Activision, contacted police in September after recognising the attacks were coming from a UK source, with the teenager eventually arrested under the Computer Misuse Act.

Google Purchase Phonetic Arts

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:52:03 GMT

Google have expanded their portfolio with the acquisition of Phonetic Arts, a speech synthesis company that Google aims to work in tandem with to make automated devices that read computer text less like a robot and more like a human.

The search engine giant claims to be looking for more ways to increase the usability of its services and, according to the Phonetic Arts website, the company goal of the speech giant is "deliver technology that generates natural expressive speech, allowing computer games to say any sentence in any type of voice."

Google aim to incorporate the technology into a Google Apps device that will be able to comunicate with users via speech rather than through a text output. It is believe that Google Translate may be the first service to reap the benefits, with the current robotic read outs being replaced by the more human sounding voices.

Google manager Mike Cohen also commented that the company are "...excited about the technology, and while we don't have plans to share yet, we're confident that together we'll move a little faster towards that Star Trek future".

Acer Unveil Brand New Computer

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:40:15 GMT

Acer have revealed the latest version of their Revo range of small form factor computers. The Revo 100, which doesn't use an Intel Atom processor as its predecessors did, is instead powered by a dual core AMD Athlon II Neo.

The computer, which will be subject to the same computer repair issues as any other but is aimed at a slightly more upmarket section of computer buyers, has a black finish and can be positioned both horizontally and vertically.

Basic specifications are as follows;

Dual Core AMD Athlon II Neo Processor

4GB Ram

nVidia Chip Set

750GB Hard Disk

64 Bit Windows 7 as Standard.

The computer's most interesting feature, however, is the RevoPad. This touch sensitive keyboard can double as a remote control and touch pad. It also slots into the computer when not in use.

Computer Hackers Arrested for Breaking into Pop Stars Computers

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:27:28 GMT

A pair of German computer hackers have been arrested and are currently under investigation for a string of computer hacking attempts that targetted well known celebrities. Amongst the pop stars who suffered computer repair issues and data leaks were Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Kei$ha and Kelly Clarkson, with at least one of the stars also suffering a blackmail attempt after the hackers acquired a sexually compromising of them.

The pair are believed to have made around £8,000 from the activities, in which they also downloaded music from the stars before the songs were released.

A lawyer for the younger of the duo claimed "Definitely my client made some mistakes and he has already told police. However, I'm convinced that he is not that big blackmailer that everybody is trying to depict him as now - that's way over the top."

If convicted the pair could face up to five years in prison or face a large fine.

China Arrests Over 400 Hackers in Wake of WikiLeaks Scandal

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:12:10 GMT

The Chinese government have acted swiftly in arresting 460 hackers, as well as closing a number of hacker training websites, after the WikiLeaks revelations that the Chinese government ordered a hacking attack on the Google search engine back in December 2009.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security commented "The current situation of our crackdown is still very grim and the number of hacker attacks and sabotage activities in China are still high."

The action is being seen by many as a response to the accusations that were levelled at the country in the leaked documents, with the hacking attack on Google being described as a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google".

China have refused to comment on the leaked documents and the government claim the arrests were of people who had made domestic hacking attacks, causing computer repair and laptop repair issues throughout the country.

Computer Review Called For in Wake of WikiLeaks Website Issues

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 09:59:44 GMT

In the wake of the recent WikiLeaks scandal, in which Julian Assange's website revealed a huge amount of secret documentation excahnged between various countries including Britain and the US, David Cameron's national security advisor has called for a review of Governmental computer systems to ensure that another leak such as this doesn't occur again.

Sir Peter Ricketts has asked for all governmental departments to provide assurances that their computer security is adequate and up-to-date, with the comments coming after the UK government publically condemned the leaking of the locations of several facilities that WikiLeaks consider vital for national security.

During questions to the Home Secretary in the Commons, Teresa May was asked "I wonder whether you would agree with me that this issue is even more important today because the recent activities of WikiLeaks has shown the need to strengthen cyber security measures in the UK?"

May responded, highlighting the need for increased computer and website security, stating "On the issue of WikiLeaks, the Prime Minister's national security adviser has written to all departments to ask them to look again at their information security and to provide him with the assurance about the level of that information security.

"You make a wider point about cyber security. This Government recognises the importance about dealing with the issues around cyber security and cyber crime and that's why both were focused on in the National Strategic Defence and Security review and the National Security Strategy and £650 million is being made available over the next four years to develop a National Cyber Security Programme."

Leading SEO Engineer Talks About SEO Language

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 10:33:27 GMT

A leading SEO engineer has commented on the language that businesses must use to succeed when it comes to search engine optimisation. Paul Burani, writing for Search Engine Watch, claims that using the language of consumers reaps huge SEO benefits and allows for more potential customers to find the website.

He stresses that SEO success boild down to anticipating the language people will use when searching for your website. This includes potential keywords that they may search for when looking for the services that you offer.

"The next wave of winners in the search game will be the ones who find efficient ways to marry raw data from consumer research with sound campaign design and management methodology," said Mr Burani.

Chinese Company to Launch Chinese Version of Facebook

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:29:44 GMT

A Chinese web development company and social media expert have announced that they will be developing their own version of social media phenonmenon facebook for use in China.

Tencent have launched the website development project, named QZone, and currently have it placed in a website testing phase. The tool plans to mirror many of the social media services offered by facebook, while also working within the confines of the country's censors.

Tencent already have experience with web development and internet technology. They developed an instant messaging service that is used by over 600 million people.

Website Design in Canada Allows Patients to Check Waiting Times

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:10:46 GMT

A website had been developed in Canada that enables patients to check up on the waiting times they will face at various hospitals for surgical procedures in an attempt to provide real-time information about the workload currently being faced by Canadian surgeons.

The website has been developed with hopes of enhancing the patient's user experience by informing patients which doctors in their local area have the longest waiting lists and who is currently available.

The website design includes a search engine which allow patients to search for specific doctors and areas.

Symbian Mobile Development Operating System to be Shut Down

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:37:59 GMT

The foundation who were responsible for the development of the Symbian mobile phone operating platform, which has become one of the most popular operating systems for use in mobile application development, have announced that they will be shutting down their website and removing the code for the OS from the web.

The company was taken over almost completely by Nokia in 2008, with initial visions of making the platform more open source and easily accessible. However the company have now announced that they will be taking over development of the platform and will no longer make it open source.

The Symbian Foundation website included information for developers and an ideas forum for potential mobile applications developers.

WikiLeaks Website Removed From Amazon Servers

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:21:25 GMT

The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has been dealth a blow after political pressure from the US and other nations led to Amazon pulling the plug on its hosting of the website. The company announced it was cutting WikiLeaks from its servers only hours after being contacted by Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate's committee on homeland security.

WikiLeaks has insisted that this is a breach of freedom of speech, expressing disappointment with the decision on twitter by stating if Amazon is "so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books."

There are now questions about the websites future, if it will still exist or if website developers will give it a re-design in future when new hosting is found.

Highland Council Website Brought Down by Water Leak

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:56:32 GMT

A water leak caused by a burst pipe has led to the Highland Council's website being temporarily shut down. All of the council's services, including website services providing information about the distruption caused by heavy snow, have been shut down as the leak is fixed.

The building which hosts the websites servers became partially flooded as a result of the leak, and a council spokesperson apologised for any inconvenience caused by the lack of website services. The spoeksperson continued "This is a major incident and it is not possible at this stage to estimate when these services will be restored. The council sincerely apologises for the loss of internet access at this time and will restore the service as soon as possible."

The council's website developers may need to do some extra work to ensure that the services go back to optimum quality.

New Website Developed to Help Smokers

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:49:31 GMT

A new website has been developed to provide smokers with extra information to help improve their lifestyles and attempt to quit smoking.

The website has been developed to provide information about e-cigarettes, which apparently provide a nicotine hit without causing as much harm as cigarettes.

The website itself essentially acts as a static website which simply provides links to other website offering the products, as well as providing information on them.

Website Developers to Alter Telegraph Website into a Charging Website

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:23:23 GMT

The Telegraph newspaper appear to be on the verge of hiring website developers to make alterations to their website so that they can charge users for accessing their content.

It emerged recently that the paper's parent company, Telegraph Media Group (TMG) have been putting plans in place to place some of its content into a pay per view system in 2011, however a spokesperson for the company batted away the rumours, stating "Absolutely no decisions have been made on the introduction of a paid-content model. Like all publishers, TMG continually evaluates the developments in the digital sector."

However insiders believe the plans have been in place for some time and an analyst from Screen Digest said "Newspaper companies are faced with declining traditional circulation and the online advertising just isn't making up the difference. It is leading publishers to examine a series of other models, most notably paywalls."

Computer Hacker Who Broke Into Student Accounts is Fined

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:59:01 GMT

A computer hacker has been fined £21,000 after he broke into the email accounts of hundreds of students, taking financial details and committing fraud in some cases.

Daniel Woo, from Bulgaria, admitted posing as a student of the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury to commit the attacks. He was also given a 36 week suspended sentence under the Misuse of Computers Act.

His scam was eventually uncovered when he was caught installing password-capturing software by computer staff who were examining network problems, with investigators findig that Woo had been posing as a student to gain access to the university's computer room.

Woo has also been banned from entering any university, college or place of higher education for a year without police consent.

Fewer Computers Sold as Interest in Tablet Computers Rises

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:49:08 GMT

PC manufacturers have been left shocked that tablet computers, such as Apple's iPad, have begun eating into the sales of computers. Research firm Gartner have slashed their forecast for the amount of computers to be sold this year from 363.5m to 352.4m.

They claim the reason for the drop was the ever growing rise in interest for tablet computers that exploded when Apple released their iPad. The company also believe that the trend will continue in the long term, with Research Director Ranjit Atwal claiming "Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10% of PC units by 2014," he said, adding that the new forecasts reflect "expectations of weaker consumer demand, due in no small part to growing user interest in media tablets such as the iPad."

Rise in Computer Viruses and Malware Linked to Money

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:26:08 GMT

According to a security expert, money is the main cause of the rise in malware and computer viruses in the last year as criminals are increasingly turning towards cyber crime in an attempt to scam money from unsuspecting computer users.

Seniot Technology Consultant at Sophos, Graham Cluley, has stated that the criminals use the malware to obtain credit card details, usernames and passwords from their victims before using the details to get money from their accounts.

He also claims that computer repair issues are on the up as his company is registering 60,000 brand new malware viruses every single day, meaning a new malware is released every single second.

Cluley said "It's designed to break into your bank account, to steal your identity, your credit card information, your passwords. Businesses tend to be better protected than home users, because they have more to lose and will have experts in the team. As we put more data on computers there is a bigger treasure trove for criminals to try to steal from."

Figures Show Three Quarters of UK Homes Have Computers

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:16:12 GMT

Three quarters of homes in the UK now have a computer, according to figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics. In addition to this, 71% of homes also have an internet connection, a 5% rise on the same figures last year.

There is a rich/poor divide however, with 98% of of the wealthiest 10% of homes owning a computer, whereas only 38% of the poorest 10& of homes own one.

Connection to the internet was lowest amongst homes in Northern Ireland, peaking at 57%, while the South East and London was the highest with a 72% connection rate. Mobile phone ownership was also spread, with 49% of people in Wales owning one in comparison to 85% of people in the West Midlands and South West.

British Computing Pioneer Maurice Wilkes Dies Aged 96

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:14:12 GMT

British computer genius Maurice Wilkes has passed away at the age of 96. The computing pioneer, who was the head of Cambridge University's computer lab from 1945 until 1980, had recently published his memoirs and had been working as a computing consultant for a number of top universities.

Wilkes developed the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) in 1949, which inspired J Lyons' Leo. The Leo became one of the first computers to be sold commercially and opened the way for later computer products to be sold. The EDSAC could carry out 650 instructions per second.

Talking about th erelease of the EDSAC, Wilkes had mused "We had to fight a number of major battles in order to get radio engineering along with the rapidly developing subject of electronics, dubbed in the IEE light current electrical engineering, properly recognised as an activity in its own right. I remember that we had some difficulty in organising a conference because the power engineers’ ways of doing things were not our ways. A minor source of irritation was that all IEE published papers were expected to start with a lengthy statement of earlier practice, something difficult to do when there was no earlier practice."

Google Accused of Tampering With Search Results to Benefit Itself

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:33:51 GMT

Google may have been caught out in its pledge to deliver unbiased search results after recent research claimed that the company artificially inflates its own search engine rankings to ensure that its website and services rank top, despite other websites attracting more traffic or having better SEO.

The revelation comes from an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, Ben Edelman, who claims that he used a comma test search tool to determine the real results generated by Google's search algorithm and the results that it actually returned to find that Google manipulated the results to place it's own services at the top of the rankings.

This is despite the fact that Google claim to offer completely fair and untampered search engine results. Tellingly, when pressed to comment the company have not denied tampering with the rankings.

Talk Talk to Implement Internet Snooping Plan

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:46:48 GMT

Broadband ISP TalkTalk has announced that it intends to proceed with plans to launch a new anti-malware security system that will track internet users activity anonymously, returning the URLs that they visit to allow the company to decide which ones need to be flagged.

They will start trials with a small amount of customers within the next couple of weeks but the company have been testing it since July, when some TalkTalk users noticed their internet usage was being monitored without their consent.

TalkTalk Technology's Managing Director, Clive Dorsman, said "As we’ve outlined before, we want to deploy some new free internet security technology to help make the internet safer for our customers. These days homes have so many devices hooked up to the web, working across multiple platforms, that keeping them all secure is harder than ever. Our plan is to provide an additional level of security at a network level – in other words stopping the bad stuff before it gets into your home in the first place.

"We’ve had lots of feedback on this topic in recent months. We would like you to know that we have welcomed the chance to review this feedback, and have had some useful discussions with the relevant public bodies. We now expect to be able to commence trials for a limited number of customers who have agreed to test our anti-malware system in the next few weeks."

EU to Launch British Based Website Designed to Espouse EU Benefits

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:35:39 GMT

The European Commission have announced that they will be implementing a new website design in an effort to persuade Brits that theh EU can be beneficial to them and aims to display exactly how.

The website, which will be titled 'The EU - What's In It For Me" claims to deliver a "no-nonsense guide to wat the EU delivers" and contains sections on working, travelling, the environment and fighting crime.

The website is being implemented to combat the statistic that only 36% of Britons believe the UK had benefited from EU membership.

Internet Users Express Dismay Over Google and Facebook Being Given Access to Users From NHS Site

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:17:20 GMT

Privacy campaigners have expressed dismay over the NHS allowing social media sites, such as Facebook, and search engines, such as Google, to track users on one of its websites after the NHS integrated the NHS Choices website in Facebook Connect, allowing users to "like" the site.

Online privacy firm Garlik has expressed opposition to this, claiming the decision was "ill judged or ill informed".

Mischa Tuffield also expresses dismay that the site utilises analytics data provided by Google, however the bulk of the criticism is pointed towards social network sites, with Tuffield writing "What right has the NHS to share any information about the browsing of NHS Choices with Facebook? The Like button is engineered such that even if it is not clicked, it still passes information about the user to Facebook, even if they are not logged into Facebook at the time of the visit."

Law Firm in the Docks for Internet Anti-Piracy Measures

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:00:03 GMT

A major law firm has put itself in trouble by prosecuting internet users for filesharing despite having no real evidence against them according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

Davenport Lyons sent out thousands of threats to people, threatening to take them to court for copyright infringement unless they paid around £500 in damages immediately. They chose their victims by matching BitTorrent downloads with relevant IP addresses before attaining names and addresses of the users from their ISP.

They now stand accused of deliberately ignoring concerns raised about the viability of their evidence, with the SRA stating "Each of the respondents knew that in conducting generic campaigns against those identified as IP holders whose IP numeric had been used for downloading or uploading of material that they might in such generic campaigns be targeting people innocent of any copyright breach.

"An IP address does not however necessarily lead to a conclusion that the ISP account holder has infringed copyright or authorised another person to infringe copyright. There were other factual possibilities known to [Gore and Miller] such as unauthorised access or a change in IP address after a 24-hour gap following modem switch off follow or other such occurence."

Daily Mail Reports Government Want to Make Range of Services Available via Internet Only

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:31:32 GMT

The Daily Mail has reported that the government are looking to make a number of government services, such as obtaining driving licences, passports, student loans, pension credit and disability benefit, accessible only via the internet.

Moving from paper based claims will potentially save the government millions, if not billions, per year but critics have highlighted that such an internet heavy system discriminates against pensioners and the 27% of British households that don't have the internet.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said "Online services are better for consumers and better for government, making services available in a convenient 24/7 format and reducing the costs of transactions."

Social Media May Lead to End of the Jury System

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:08:09 GMT

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, has claimed that use of Twitter, Facebook and even Google may lead to the end of the UK's jury based system as jurors are using social media and search engines to research information about the people being tried in the court cases.

He said "We cannot stop people tweeting, but if jurors look at such material, the risks to the fairness of the trial will be very serious. To allow court-based tweeting is likely to increase the potential for prejudicial material regarding a defendant or a witness to become available on the internet.

"We welcome advances in technology, provided that we are its masters and it is our tool and servant."

Judge was responding to comments made by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Macdonald, who claims that courts have all but given up on trying to stop jurors from accessing social media and search engine sites. He had previously told the Guardian newspaper "I don't think juries should be 'allowed' to do online research. But I do think we need to assume this will occasionally happen and that it should not invalidate a trial."

Ed Vaizey Tells Telegraph That he Wants an Open Internet

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:58:16 GMT

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey has responded to allegations that his plans for allowing ISPs to charge more for popular content will led to an end for net neutrality by stating that his overarching aim is for an "open internet".

He told the Daily Telegraph “My first and overriding priority is an open internet where consumers have access to all legal content,” he said. “Should the internet develop in a way that was detrimental to consumer interests we would seek to intervene.”

He believes new powers granted to communications regulator OFCOM will ensure that companies don't abuse these privileges and thus prevent anti-competitiveness measures from being broken.

UK Digital Champion Calls for Merging of Government Websites

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 15:48:55 GMT

Martha Lane Fox, the current UK Digital Champion and the founder of lastminute.com, has released a report in which she calls on the government to develop a single website through which all of its current internet activities can be based through.

The website would essentially act as a hub through which users could access information that is currently stored across 750 "top level" websites, thus making the entire government web service much more efficient.

Ms Lane Fox was asked by the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude to review the Government's current directgov website to find places where a website developer could make improvements to the online service. She concluded that pulling all of the websites into one, with the format direct.gov.uk/<department name> for each section, would be the way to go.

She stated "Ultimately it makes sense to the user of all Government services to reside under a single brand. The user should not have to navigate the departmental structure of Government before finding the service or content that they need."

The plans come as the coalition government looks to slash spending on their website presence from £560m to around £200m.

Dell May Have Hidden Computer Repair Issues From Users

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:53:01 GMT

The emergence of recent court documents has revealed that Dell may have made efforts to hide computer repair issues from its users, despite continuing to sell the affected machines. The New York Times scoured hundreds of documents related to the lawsuit brought against Dell by Advanced Internet tecnologies to find out the information. The lawsuit itself was eventually settled but it is still a little unsettling to know that Dell knew about the computer repair issues.

The lawsuit dates back to 2007, when Advanced Internet Technologies made their initial accusations against Dell in relation to then covering up computer repair issues in its desktops. The lawsuit was settled in September 2010, with a federal judge unsealing the documents this past Thursday to reveal there was much more going on behind the scenes.

Dell Announced Convertible Computer That Acts as Laptop and Tablet

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:38:01 GMT

Dell have announced the introduction of a new laptop and tablet computer hybrid name the Inspiron Duo. The new computer can be converted between the two at any time, providing a good mix of style and functionality in the process.

The computer sports a flip-hinge design to allow users to utilise it as a tablet, access the functionality of a keyboard, and the convenience of a dock, with a press release stating computer users can "switch seamlessly from touch to type to dock mode in seconds."

It has the following features;

10.1 Inch HD Touch Display

Chiclet Keyboard

Web-Cam

Wi-Fi

Bluetooth and 4G Support

First Apple Computer Sells for £133,250 at Auction

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:26:04 GMT

The first computer ever designed by Apple has been sold at auction for a staggering £133,250. The Apple I, which is literally thousands of times slower than current Apple products like the iPad, was sold at Christie's alongside its original packaging and a letter from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The machine, of which only 200 were ever built, was launched in 1976 and at the time was the only computer in the world with a fully assembled motherboard that made it ready to use straight from the box as long as the user had a case, keyboard, power supply and display.

The computer was discontinued in 1977 and sold at $666.66 on release (approximately $2594 today).

Computer Generated Trading to be Investigated by Government

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:15:08 GMT

The Treasury have announced they will complete a full investigation into computer generated trading of financial products in an effort to better understand the risks involved in using computers and the internet to conduct high risk trading operations.

The research and investigation is to be headed up by the government office for science and will be named The Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets project.

"If Britain is to continue to be a global hub for financial services, we need to preserve our competitiveness," claims Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the Treasury, announcing the project on Tuesday.

Source: Financial Times

Computer Hacker Spies on Computer Users via Webcams

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:05:55 GMT

A computer hacker has been jailed for 18 months after using his computer skills to hack into people's home webcams so that he could spy on them.

Matthew Anderson, aged 33, achieved the feat by sending out around 50 million spam emails which contained an attachment that unwitting individuals would then click on. He caught out around 200,000 people with the tactic, essentially placing their computers under his control, allowing him to go through personal files and even to remotely switch on webcams to spy on computer users.

He was caught after a four year police operation in which it was found he had stored dozens of clips and pictures of people in their own homes, amongst them being a clip of a girl bursting into tears when Anderson took control of her computer and began changing words on the screen.

He has been jailed for 18 months for the crime.

Internet Explorer 9 Enters Beta Testing and Gains Positive Feedback

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:41:37 GMT

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 has entered into the public beta stages of testing and has surprised many industry analysts, leading to widespread praise from all across the board.

It will also feature full HTML support and well as welcoming some open standards over proprietary standards, leading to a positive buzz around the software that some are claiming is "hard to believe."

Amongst those singing IE9's praises are Asa Dotzler, who has co-ordinated several Mozilla projects in the past. He claims "I'm a huge fan of IE 9. I predicted many months ago that it was going to be a killer release for Web standards and that's definitely happening."

25% of Teachers Believe the Internet Will Make Textbooks Obsolete

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:27:34 GMT

A recent survey of 600 primary and secondary school teachers has found that more than a quarter of them believe that the rise of the internet will soon make standard textbooks obsolete as more learning is done online.

The majority now also agree that IT and computers are becoming more important than traditional teaching methods. This includes things like interactive whiteboards and computers becoming more prevelant in the classroom.

20% also believe that access to a computer and the internet at home are absolutly vital to enable a pupil to complete their homework, while around 61% said it was at least "desirable."

BBC Have Announced Development of Software to Combat ISP Downgrades

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:34:11 GMT

The BBC have announced that they will be engaging in a little bit of software development of their own that will alert broadband users if their Internet Service Providers are downgrading the quality of their iPlayers and other related BBC internet software.

The BBC's head of future media and technology, Erik Huggers, claims the software would only be used when necessary, but many are seeing it as a direct affront to recent announcements about the end of net neutrality.

He believes that the company's weight should prevent service providers from demanding a fee from them and that it is "highly unlikely" that they would agree to pay ISP for full download speeds.

Facebook Creator Wants to Simplify Email

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:09:08 GMT

Facebook have expanded on their announcement that they intend to incorporate email into their online platform after initial confusion of XEO Mark Zuckerberg's comments that current email systems were too confusing.

Facebook aim to reinvent email, claiming the current system is too slow and stodgy, with Zuckerberg claiming that students don't feel the current system is responsive enough and that using email addresses, subject lines, CC and BCC fields were all too much effort.

When addressing the comments he said "What they meant was it's too formal. We went into this looking not to build an e-mail product, but what would be a modern messaging system if we started from scratch."

It is unknown at this point how the changes would affect SEO in Birmingham.

China Telecom Corp Accused of Hijacking Internet Traffic

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:35:04 GMT

A US Government report has accused China Telecom Corp of hijacking website and internet traffic after the company wrongly diverted international Web data.

The company have strenuously denied any wrong doing, with the Beijing based carrier stating in an email "The spokesman of China Telecom Corporation Ltd. denied any hijack of Internet traffic."

The corporation sent erroneous internet traffic instructions that briefly forced 15% of global web traffic to be diverted through servers in China according to the report. The incident lasted for about 18 minutes in April 8th and affected a large amount of important US Governmental and Military sites as well as Yahoo and Microsoft.

However it is a worrying development and will likely cause tensions in the relationship between the US and China.

Google VP Warns Website Addresses Are Running Out

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:23:56 GMT

Vint Cerf, a computer scientist credited as being one of the "godfathers of the internet" and currently operating as vice-president of Google has warned that the UK could run out of new web addresses in just over a year unless a modern protocol called IPv6 is implemented.

Cerf warned that the current batch of IP addresses is fast running out due to the system still being based around the IPv4, which allows for a total of 4.3 billion addresses, which will all have run out by 2012.

He claims the IPv6 system is ready to go and could provided users with the option of 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses. As you are likely to agree, this is quite the step up.

Kent Judged to Have Slowest Internet Speed in UK

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 13:08:44 GMT

A recent report has shown that people living in rural areas are having to put up with slow broadband speeds, with speeds so slow in some areas that it can take up to 45 minutes to download an album.

Top10.com found that Farningham, a small village in Kent, has the slowest internet speeds in the UK, with an average download speed of 1.30Mb meaning it would take up to 12 hours to download a film from the web.

The results were based on 100,000 speed tests taken across the UK between August and October and generally concluded that broadband speeds in rural areas lag behind those in urban areas.

This is becoming less and less acceptable and in a modern age where many users can achieve download speeds of more than 20Mb.

Royal Engagement Causes Flurry of Web Activity

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:56:10 GMT

The enagagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton has led to a flurry of internet activity as computer users head over to Google and other search engines to find the latest news about the royal engagement.

Rogue SEO specialists have also been looking to take advantage of the event, as previously reported, however the general consensus is overwhelmingly positive. The internet was quickly flooded with news and web searches the minute that the engagement was announced on Tuesday.

Google have already reported that "Prince William engagement ring" and "Kate Middleton engagement ring" were amongst their top search terms on Tuesday and it looks set to continue in this fashion over the coming weeks.

Culture Minister Backs Plans to Scrap New Neutrality

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:16:49 GMT

UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has announced his support for an end to net neutrality, claiming that he would support and allow measures for the implementation of a "two-speed" internet that would force websites generating large volumes of traffic to pay ISPs to ensure that their website still runs at optimum speed.

Vaizey said that ministers would adopt a "light touch" approach to the regulation, but has already been criticised by many who believe that the end of net neutrality could lead to an end of freedom of expression on the internet as websites are forced to pay simply to be usable.

ISPs have long been pushing for something along these lines and the new developments would allow for them to limit download speeds for websites that refuse to pay them a fee.

Vaizey defended the move by stating "A lightly regulated internet is good for business, good for the conomy and good for people."

SEO in Birmingham Not Affected by SEO Poisoners

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:01:05 GMT

Luckily SEO in Birmingham and elsewhere is yet to be affected by the newest practice of SEO poisoning, in which virus creators make false websites and use black hat SEO tactics to have the quickly rise up Google rankings before infecting any computer that clicks on the link.

The practice has come to the limelight recently after the news of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton was sprung upon by malicious coders and hackers as the perfect way to trick unsuspecting users into clicking onto a website.

SEO poisoning is becoming more prevelant, with Ryan Waters of Websense claiming "This is a growing trend. Bad guys target the hot news of the moment and take advantage of people’s tendency to trust Google."

Could Computer Games Help PTSD?

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:50:34 GMT

A recent study from Oxford University has produced evidence that playing computer games, specifically Tetris, could help sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) reduce the amount of flashbacks.

The study looked at how sufferers reacted when they were shown video of violent imagery followed immediately by playing a word based game, Tetris and no game at all. It discovered that those who played the computer game had no flashbacks at all, whereas flashbacks remained for the word based game.

This led researchers to conclude that it wasn't about the distraction of enjoyment of Tetris, as the word game provided the same but actually led to more flashbacks.

The researcher, Dr. Emily Holmes, claimed "We think it works because it's competing with resources with the same kind of visual memory that would otherwise make a visual flashback."

The group have previously conducted a similar study to discover the effect of playing the computer game after watching a violent film with real injury or death which produced similar results.

Symantec Warn of Increased Email Attacks in the Run Up to G20 Summit

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:40:28 GMT

Global computer security firm Symantec have claimed that the number of e-mail attacks being carried out in the run up to this week's meeting of the G20 leaders in South Korea increased by a large margin.

They believe that criminals were attempting to use the summit to get at unsuspecting targets, exploiting the newsworthy occasion to triple their efforts to attack target's computers.

Martin Lee, who is a senior software engineer at the firm, believes the attackers specifically targeted those in the business and governmental sectors who may be trying to keep abreast of what is happening at the summit.

He said "The idea being is to try and catch the target unawares or just to peek their interest, so that they'll think, 'Oh, hang on, what is this? Why I am getting this special e-mail? Perhaps there is something in here which is really interesting, which I could use to my advantage for my career or for my business.'"

Internet Users Warned About Cold Calling Anti-Virus Sellers

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:07:10 GMT

A number of groups, including a campaign group known as Get Safe Online, are calling on internet users to remain vigilant about people cold-calling them and offering to fix viruses for them. The groups will offer to fix any viruses a user's PC may have before installing a malicious software that goes on to steal their personal information.

The group said a quarter of the people it questioned has received similar phone calls, with many suspected to have originated from organised crime gangs. Some estimates claim the groups may employ up to 400 people and set up call centres to target internet users.

Similarly, internet users are also being warned to be wary of pop-ups that offer virus checks after Google reported that it had discovered massive amounts of fake anti-virus software being distributed, again with the intent of stealing personal information.

Computer Problem May Delay Introduction of Universal Benefit

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:57:09 GMT

There are rumours floating around that the IT programme and related computer system that is to handle the new "universal credit" system introduced by the Conservative government is facing problems that may cause a delay to the implementation of the program.

The radical reforms to the welfare system, which have been introduced by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, are set to pool all current welfares into a single system from 2013 onwards. The proposal would replace some existing benefits, such as Jobseeker's Allowance, and is aimed at ensuring people who return to employment will be better off than when they are on benefits.

The new system, and related IT programme, will be administered by HM Revenue and Customs but already seems to be undergoing some software development issues.

Original Apple Computer May Make More Than $150,000 at Auction

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:47:02 GMT

It has been revealed that the first Apple computer, named the Apple-I, is to go on auction at Christie's. The auction house have even posted an estimate of $160,300 to $240,450 on the machine, making it about the equivalent of buying half a warehouse full of MacBooks.

The machine orignally went on sale in 1976 and featured 4KB of memore and a fully functioning circuit board. Creator Steve Wozniak originally wished to charge $777.77 got the machine before partner Steve Jobs convinced him to lower it to $666.66.

The Apple-I for auction is not completely as it was on release though, as it has a number of additions according to csmonitor.com, including A 6502 microprocessor, labeled R6502P R6502-11 8145, printed circuit board with 4 rows A-D and columns 1-18, three capacitors, heatsink, cassette board connector, 8K bytes of RAM, keyboard interface, firmware in PROMS, low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits, video terminal, breadboard area with slightly later connector, with later soldering, wires and electrical tape to reverse, printed to obverse Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976.

The price may seem a little bit on the heavy side however, so it will be interesting to see how this computer does at auction.

Government Launches Website to Allow Constituents to Keep Track of Policies

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:45:24 GMT

David Cameron has announced the government's brand new website, which is aimed at providing constant progress reports on the policies being carried out at any one time.

The website will act as a central hub for all governmental departments to create 'business plans' and couple them with timetables of when they hope to achieve the policies they outline.

The Prime Minister claims that it is a "complete revolution in how government operates" and will do away with the target culture of the previous government by creating long term, trackable goals.

Blackberry Creators to Bring Tablet Computer to Market

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:32:35 GMT

Reserach in Motion, the creators of the Blackberry smartphone, have announced their plans to compete with the iPad by launching a tablet computer in the North American market that will retail for less than $500.

The device, named the Blackberry Playbook, will be in direct competition with the iPad in the same way the Blackberry phone is in competition with the iPhone. Its announcement signals the arrival of one of the largest players in the smartphone market into the tablet computer world.

The company were also quick to stress the differences between their product and the iPad, claiming that its ability to run Adobe Flash technology makes it the superior choice to the iPad.

US Hacker Jailed After Attacking Bill O'Reilly's Website

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:23:38 GMT

A former student at Ohio's University of Akron has been sentenced to two years in prison after using university computers to launch a series of attacks on websites, crippling their operations. He also stole credit card information and made numerous attempts to shut down the university network.

In addition to all of this, he launched computer attacks on a number of high profile US Republicans, including Bill O' Reilly and Ann Coulter. Mitchell L. Frost, aged 23, was ordered to pay $40,000 to O'Reilly as well as $10,000 to the university for his crimes, in addition to the jail time.

According to court documents, Frost used to systems to "Launch cyber-attacks against numerous computer systems and websites." When confronted by a suspicious computer engineer at the university he "denied any knowledge of the activities and indicated he was working for the FBI."

The University Police then notified the Secret Service and eventually proved Frost's guilt as "Computer logs clearly reflected that (Frost) was involved in the programming and distribution of malicious computer code, attacking and compromising remote computer systems."

Classical Pianist Loses Between $6-20m to Phony Laptop Repairs Group in Scam

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:13:21 GMT

Roger Davidson, a classical pianist and composer, has emerged as the victim of a years-long extortion scheme carried out by a computer repair man and his girlfriend. The composer was slowly arapped into the scheme after initially bringing his laptop into the computer repairs shop to get it clenased of a virus.

The computer repairs specialist managed to convince the pianist that he was the victim of a very sophisticated piece of malware that was controlled by a group in Honduras. They also managed to convince him that he and his family were in danger from Polish priests who were trying to topple the US government.

The scam lasted for around six years before the pair, who claimed to be working for the CIA, were eventually found out. They had begun the extortion bid after realising the extent of the composer's wealth, using the threats to his family to ensure that he would pay up. They also claimed that the malware infecting Davidson's computer had spread into the computers of the computer repair shop. Finally they claimed that they had tracked it to a harddrive in Honduras before taking the plot to the next level.

According to www.wired.com "Bedi [The Repair Man] claimed his uncle had uncovered a plot, perpetrated by Polish priests associated with Opus Dei, to harm Davidson and his family. Opus Dei, of course, gained public acclaim for its imagined role in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code novel, which was published in 2004. Bedi claimed he was helping the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency thwart Opus Dei’s efforts to infiltrate the U.S. government.

Luckily the pair were eventually caught.

Royal Navy Website Hacked

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:58:52 GMT

The Royal Navyu's website was shut down for a period a couple of days ago after a hacker managed to crack the website and hack into its databases.

The hacker, believed to be of Romanian descent, is known as TinKode and claims to be a security enthusiast. He made a post on his blog claiming to have broken the security measures around the website on Friday night.

Ironically the breach comes mere days after the Government pledged to make stopping cyber terrorism a priority. Lukcily it appears the hacker did no damage to the website and was simply doing it for the sake of doing it, however it does expose the possibility that others may break into the website in the future.

Increased Focus on Google Places Leads to Change in Tactics for SEO in Birmingham

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:44:30 GMT

A recent change in the priority that Google places on their Google Places listings has led to SEO in Birmingham and other areas being affected. Whereas previously Google Places listings were kept seperate from the general search engine rankings, Google is now placing a higher priority on their local listings for local businesses, meaning that a combination of good SEO in Birmingham and other local areas, coupled with a good Google Places listing are now required to ensure high search engine placement.

Imobisoft is the premier web design company in Birmingham. We complement this with superb SEO in Birmingham and the UK services.

Samsung to Release First Computer Tab in Taiwan

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:42:55 GMT

Samsung have announced that they will be the first company to officially bring a tablet computer to the Taiwanese market as it aims to launch its Galaxy computer tab in mid-November.

The Galaxy tab has a seven inch screen and runs on an Android 2.2 operating system. Samsung will go into partnership with Chungwa Telecom, according to a statement made by the company on Monday. The group intend for smart phones and tablet computers to account for 40-50% of the company's purchases in 2011.

Taiwanese shoppers currently have access to the Apple iPad, but only if they wish to go through unofficial vending channels or importers. Samsung are set to be the first to officially launch a tablet computer in the country.

Big Brother Watch Criticises Government's New e-Privacy Directive Changes

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:38:01 GMT

The Big Brother Watch organisation has spoken out against plans by the government to change the e-privacy directive, stating further invasions into computer users privacy in the online world as the reason that the changes shouldn't go through.

Director Alex Deane has already criticised the government for the way they handled the Google Wi-Fi data sharing issue, and he also believes that the introduction of this change to the e-policy directive will only further hinder web user's privacy.

His response comes after Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Ed Vaizey announced he was planning a range of new approaches to how privacy is managed online, including encouraging ISPs and websites to censor material in response to public complaints. He wishes to couple this with a service that allows customers to ask for mateial that is inaccurate or infringes their privacy to be taken down.

Vaizey was posed the following question in relation to the changes by a Conservative MP: "The ability not to have cookies exists on just about everybody's computer, but how many people understand it? It is a different proposition to have to say, "Yes, I want to be marketed at; I want people to know my preferences."

He replied "There is certainly a strong argument that the consumer should not only be able to opt in, but know about their right to do so. We are implementing changes to the e-privacy directive that strengthen privacy regulations in the online world, as part of our implementation of the European framework on electronic communications. We are consulting on those proposals, which could lead to changes to the privacy and electronic communications regulations and strengthen the Information Commissioner's enforcement powers."