Tag: Social Media

Twitter Releases its iPad App with iPad-Specific Features

Twitter has launched its official iPad app. There’s a bit more to this than the standard mobile Twitter app.

"Twitter for iPad takes advantage of the iPad’s fluid touch interface, letting you move lots of information around smoothly and quickly – without needing to open and close windows or click buttons," says Twitter’s Leland Rechis.

When you tap a tweet in this app, it opens a pane, and depending on the content of that tweet, you can open videos, photos, articles, etc.

"When you tap a video link or open a web page with an embedded video, you can play that video inline," explains Rechis. "And, let’s be honest, video is great but sometimes it can take some time to load. The panes in Twitter for iPad let you look through your timeline while a video is loading, and then you can just swipe back to the video when it’s ready to play. You can also pinch on a video to watch it fullscreen."

There is also a gestures feature, which lets you pinch on a tweet to see details fo the author, reply, or retweet. You can put to fingers together and pull down on a tweet to see replies, showing the whole conversation. Now that’s useful.

iPad users can use the app without even signing into Twitter and still see good content. Twitter has hand-picked certain Twitter accounts that you can see in various categories without logging in. You can also search and find breaking news without logging in.

September 2, 2010
Implications of New Gowalla Feature, Facebook Gift Cards

Gowalla has launched a new feature called "highlights" which it describes as "little rewards you can give to places that are important to your life". MG Siegler talks about the potential significance of such a feature.

"Where this gets really interesting is when you bring the social graph into it," he writes. "So, for example, if I check-in near a spot where a friend of mine asked his wife to marry him, I’ll get a message alerting me of that. Or if I’m looking for the best taco place in Austin, Texas, I can visit the Highlight page and see what the masses are voting for. There are a lot of potentially interesting uses for this when it starts to get populated with a lot of data."

As reported, Target is going to start selling Facebook Credits gift cards. SFGate.com has an interesting article about the implications of this, in terms of Facebook securing.

Wired looks at today’s story about a man who took hostages at the Discovery Channel’s headquarters in Maryland, and posted his demands to the web, on his site savetheplanetprotest.com – the text is still available in cached form here.

Apple announced a bunch of new things today. You may have heard. Here’s a summary.

Michael Arrington has an interesting piece about how Google has lost 118 employees to Facebook, and how the company makes counteroffers to those employees receive offers from Facebook.

Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb talks about why Alcatel-Lucent acquiring OpenPlug is big news.

Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider reports that South Korea’s Naver has taken search in-house. Unfortunately for Yahoo (and Microsoft), it has been Yahoo’s biggest search affiliate, according to Blodget.

September 1, 2010
Booyah Utilizes Facebook Places for Standalone App

Booyah, makers of the check-in app/game MyTown, have unveiled a new game today, and it is is the first standalone app to utilize the recently launched Facebook Places API.

"In addition to being the first app built exclusively for Facebook Places, it is the only app that accesses Facebook Search," says Booyah.

"In InCrowd, players create their own customizable avatar, socialize, meet new friends and track popularity when they check-in to their favorite real-life places using their iPhone or iPod touch," the company explains. "InCrowd players gain popularity when others respond using a series of in-game actions, such as hi fives, fist bumps, winks, or posting about a venue. Players can also utilize the always popular Dropkick to take popularity away from a chosen individual. The more a player socializes with others, the more in-game points are rewarded to them for use in upgrading and personalizing their virtual avatar."

The company also points out that it has spent a lot of time working on privacy features. There is an invisible function in the game that lets users hide their locations and check-ins if they wish to do so.

The InCrowd app is free and available in Apple’s App Store.

Booyah recently launched product check-ins as a feature of its MyTown game, which gives businesses new product marketing opportunities.

September 1, 2010
Facebook Goes Back to the University, A New Spin on Online Charities

Facebook has launched a "Universities on Facebook" page to "help students and campus organizations discover how to take full advantage of Facebook’s features to publicize events, distribute content, and foster community and school spirit."

The company has also acquired an interesting search patent for ranking based on click frequency.

With regards to the suit from the guy who claims to own a majority stake in Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s lawyers are quoted as saying, "They filed this remand motion to harass defendants under the pretext of obtaining jurisdictional discovery into Zuckerberg’s private life."

Digg announced its new CEO today – Matt Williams, who has been with Amazon for over a decade. He joins the company as the site is overrun by content from competitor Reddit. Reddit, by the way is showing off its traffic numbers since that takeover.

A site called Endorse for a Cause was launched today. It’s described as "a new and easy way to make a difference." This video describes how it works:

Samsung has gathered developers to work on its Smart TV product. The company is holding a Developer Day in San Jose.

According to Engadget, Archos has unleashed five different Android Froyo tablets. They explore these (with videos).

Yedda is being renamed AOL Answers. AOLanswers.com is live. AOL has also acquired Rally Up, according to TechCrunch.

Bloomberg reports that former HP CEO Mark Hurd is leaving the News Corp.’s Board of Directors. He will reportedly no longer serve following the company’s October 15 meeting.

August 31, 2010
NYTimes.com Adds Facebook Connection

The New York Times has introduced a “Log in With Facebook” feature, which allows users to link their NYTimes.com and Facebook accounts and share content with others.

Log in With Facebook is an opt-in feature. To view personalized content, users connect their Facebook and NYTimes.com accounts, which allows them to share articles from NYTimes.com with their Facebook friends on the site and on the social network.

The NYTimes.com home page and article pages will highlight the most popular Times content within Facebook and the user’s network of friends – including comments and recommendations. NYTimes.com users who choose not to connect their accounts will see an aggregate of the most popular Times content within Facebook.

“Log In With Facebook is the next step in our commitment to the social element of our business – further allowing our readers to share and connect around our content," said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com.

"With this feature, we are delivering a more engaging, personalized experience on NYTimes.com, and our readers can expect more on this front in the coming months."

August 31, 2010
Craigslist CEO Goes Off on CNN’s Amber Lyon

Craiglist CEO Jim Buckmaster wrote a feisty blog post aimed at CNN’s Amber Lyon. It begins:

I see you’ve now gotten around to requesting an interview with me or a company spokesperson, 90 days after you ambushed our namesake and founder, Craig Newmark, following his May 20th talk on veteran’s affairs and other issues unrelated to craigslist, at a conference in Washington.

You knew Craig was not in management or a company spokesperson, but setting CNN’s ethical code aside, you sidestepped company channels in favor of ambushing our semi-retired founder, complete with a misleading "set up" for your surprise questions. Now that CNN has aired your highly misleading piece dozens of times, mischaracterizing your stunt as a serious interview on this subject, and you’ve updated your "bio" to showcase this rare jewel of investigative journalism, you’re ready to try actually interviewing the company itself on this subject.

According to a New York Times piece, most people still decline to use location services. The article says these services (like Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, etc.) are mainly being used by "young, technically adept urbanites." They cite Forrester Research data, claiming that 4% of Americans have tried location-based services, and 1% use them weekly.

Microsoft’s Hotmail now supports push email, calendar, and contacts with Exchange ActiveSync. Microsoft’s Aviraj Ajgekar calls this "another milestone fore Windows Live Services."

Google showed off some of the products of its "Googley Art Wall" contest, which asked its product management teams to design their own walls:

AOL’s MapQuest launched some new updates to its recent relaunch. These include a "pick your language" features, embedded maps, and "send to GPS".

Twitter announced Site Streams, a new feature on its Streaming API, which lets services receive real-time updates for a large number of users. It streams events like direct messages, mentions, follows, favorites, tweets, retweets, profile changes, and list changes.

Samsung announced that it has sold over a million Samsung Galaxy S smartphones in the U.S. in 45 days.

August 30, 2010
YouTube Gives Advertisers New Video Exclusion Options

YouTube has announced new video and channel exclusions for advertisers, so they can pick specific videos and channel URLs that they don’t want their ads to appear with.

"Here’s an example: let’s say you run a vegan bakery," explains Baljeet Singh. "You want to strike a balance between good exposure for your baked goods online, while staying true to your company values in offering items free of animal or dairy-products. Now you can indicate which videos are not the best fit for your audience. Since your customers are probably not watching ‘Homewrecker Hot Dog’, you can provide this video exclusion under the "Networks" tab."

"Similarly, you might run a keyword-targeted campaign on bakery-related keywords, and exclude whole channels that you don’t feel suit your audience," adds Singh. "So if FoodNetworkTV has videos centered mostly around cooking meat dishes, you have the controls to prevent ads from showing on that channel."

YouTube also suggests using the feature to keep ads from appearing on videos they deem inappropriate for the audience or ones that aren’t performing in terms of click-through rate or conversions.

This is only the latest of some advertising features YouTube has been rolling out recently. Last week, the company announced a new feature that lets advertisers age-restrict videos.

August 30, 2010
The Top Ten U.S. Web Properties

comScore released its monthly Media Metrix top 50 revealing the top 50 U.S. web properties. Here are the top ten:

1. Google sites
2. Yahoo Sites
3. Microsoft sites
4. Facebook.com
5. AOL
6. Glam Media
7. Ask Network (IAC perhaps?)
8. Turner Network
9. Fox Interactive Media
10. Amazon Sites

Google has acquired Angstro, a social startup that is said to be key to the company’s social strategy going forward. More on this here.

SCVNGR, which reportedly raised $4 million from Google Ventures in December, has now launched support for Facebook Places. As Jason Kincaid notes, the company has had a big week with a partnership with AT&T and the release of its secret social mechanics playdeck.

Speaking of location-based games, Foursquare has tweaked its apps. The Foursquare team writes, "When you’re getting close to winning a Mayorship (within 10 check-ins), you’ll now see how far away you are from ousting the current Mayor. You’ll see the count in the post check-in screen when you check into a place. Take it for a test drive tonight and see if it fires up the flames of competitiveness for you!"

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has decided to sue most of the Internet – 11 prominent companies at least. These include Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, eBay, and Netflix. TechCrunch obtained statements from Facebook and Google regarding the suit. Both indicate the suit is without merit. Surprise.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook alleging that the company is misappropriating the names and pictures of minors for profit. Here’s the press release on that.

August 27, 2010
Baskin-Robbins Launches Free Ice Cream Campaign On Facebook

Baskin-Robbins has launched a new campaign for its Facebook fans to get free scoops of ice cream.

Baskin-Robbins Facebook fans can sign up for “Group Scoop” on Facebook and start their own group or joins someone else’s. Once the number of people in a “Group Scoop” reaches 31, the organizer and all 30 other members will receive a coupon for a free 2.5 oz scoop of ice cream or a 3 oz swirl of soft serve.

"Group Scoop is a fun way for our fans to enjoy a free scoop of Baskin-Robbins ice cream with their Facebook friends, even if they are miles apart," said David Nagel, Baskin-Robbins Director of Brand Excitement.

"Groups of 31 Facebook Fans will be able to enjoy a scoop of their favorite flavor, on us.”

Group Scoop coupon recipients can print out their one-time coupon and present it at any participating Baskin-Robbins for their free scoop. They are not required to present their coupons together to take part in the promotion.

August 27, 2010
Older Adults Embracing Twitter And Social Media

Social networking use among Internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Social networking use among Internet users ages 50-64 grew by 88 percent over the past year, from 25 percent in April 2009 to 47 percent in May of 2010. During the same period, use among those 65 and older grew 100 percent from 13 to 26 percent. By comparison, social networking use among users ages 18-29 grew by 13 percent from 76 percent to 86 percent.

“Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users,” explains Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist for the

Pew

Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and author of the report.

“Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications.”

The use of social platforms like Twitter has also grown among those ages 50-64. One in ten Internet users 50 and older now say they user Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.

Other highlights from the report include:

*Just 5% of users ages 50-64 had used Twitter or another status update service in 2009, and 11% now say they use these tools.

*On a typical day, 6% of online adults ages 50-64make Twitter a part of their routine, up from the 1% who did so in 2009.

*Among adults ages 65 and older, 13% log on to social networking sites on a typical day, compared with just 4% who did so in 2009.

“Social media has the potential to bridge generational gaps. There are few other spaces—online or offline—where tweens, teens, sandwich generation members, grandparents, friends and neighbors regularly intersect and communicate across the same network,” said Madden.

August 27, 2010
Inside the Google Phonebooth, Apple Refuses to Show “Green” Rank

Today seems to be redesign day. Digg began rolling out its new redesign to all users (follow us here). MySpace introduced a redesign to profiles. In addition to these, UStream unveiled its own redesign with changes to the homepage as well as the dashboard.

Guardian reports that Apple has refused to allow its iPhone to be included in the UK’s green ranking system, which gives phones a rating of zero to five based on their environmental footprint.

As you may have heard, Google unveiled a new feature in Gmail today that allows users to make and receive phone calls. In addition to this, Google will be setting up phone booths on college campuses and in airports. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land shares a video looking at the inside of the phone booth and talking to the product marketing manager about it:

According to PaidContent, Alibaba has acquired eBay auction management provider Auctiva. It recently acquired a similar service in Vendio.

Nick Bilton at the New York Times has an interesting profile of a startup called Stipple, which aims to tag the web’s images. It lets publishers add tags to parts of an image with info about its contents and related links. Launch partners include Six Apart, Jive Records and E.W. Scripps.

Ian Sheer at the Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece about online coupons and how they’re getting smarter. "Among the new approaches: computer programs to better target consumers with personalized deals and staff on the ground to help merchants," he writes.

ReadWriteWeb points to a video of Apple SVP of software engineering, Bertrand Serlet, who talks about using Apple’s private APIs.

According to Guardian, Facebook is now being valued at over $33 billion as investors try to secure a stake in it. Facebook shares are changing hands for up to $76 each, the publication reports. Still, it doesn’t look like there will be an IPO anytime soon.

Ad firm Specificmedia is being sued amid accusations that it is re-creating deleted cookies, according to Wired’s Epicenter.

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at the WSJ reports that Amazon has lost a big e-book deal with literary agent Andrew Wylie. This comes as the company also announced that its new Kindles are selling faster than any previous models.

August 25, 2010
Will Bit.ly Make Email Better?

While some have all but written email’s obituary, it continues to become clearer that email is not going away. Facebook infamously implied that it was on the way out, yet has done nothing to lend any legitimacy to this.

Google sought to change email forever with the launch of Google Wave. A few weeks ago, the company announced that Wave was being shut down (though some of the technology behind it will likely resurface in other products).

Nobody has ever said that email is perfect. That would simply be false. There is room for improvement, and it looks like Bit.ly (or at least one of its staff members) of all companies may be the next to take on the challenge.

The New York Times ran an article about Bit.ly lead scientist Hilary Mason and her customized email classification system that she has set up for her own personal inbox. It sounds pretty useful, and could appeal to a lot of potential users. The NYT’s Nick Bilton writes:

Ms. Mason has built layers on top of her Gmail account that follow a series of rules to correctly prioritize which e-mails she should read first. She calls the program the E-Mail Classifier and has given this little contraption the job of constantly reorganizing her messages like a magician shuffling a deck of cards.

…

For example, the E-mail Classifier determines if you have e-mailed with Ms. Mason before. If you have, your message is pushed higher up a queue of other new messages. If you both correspond on a regular basis, you travel higher still.

Sender and subject line information are important parts to the algorithm the program uses.

This may or may not be a big release from Bit.ly, but the article says Mason hopes to release the code this fall, so others can use it.

What this really represents to me is that while social media has its value, it is no replacement for email. Here we have a company that is very much based in the social media world, finding ways to enhance their own email experience, as opposed to replacing it.

August 23, 2010
Man Spreads Homelessness Awareness on YouTube

Saturday was Invisible People.tv day at YouTube. InvisiblePeople.tv is a site/project that utilizes social media tools like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace to spread awareness about the growing homelessness problem.

The channel was featured on YouTube’s home page over the weekend, and YouTube discussed it in a company blog post, speaking with Founder Mark Horvath.

"We’re always inspired by the people who use YouTube as a way to document how the other half lives, and Mark Horvath is a great example," writes YouTube Nonprofits & Activism Manager Ramya Raghavan. "As the founder of Invisible People. tv, a project that encourages homeless people across the United States to tell their stories on YouTube, he has sparked a discussion on the site about poverty and hunger. Mark’s videos are a raw and real depiction of what it’s like to live in a tent city, under an overpass, or within a cardboard box."

Hovrath has collected hundreds of interviews with homeless people around the world, and the InvisiblePeople.tv YouTube channel has many of them available to view.

The purpose, the channel says, is to make the invisible visible. "I hope these people and their stories connect with you and don’t let go," Horvath says. "I hope their conversations with me will start a conversation in your circle of friends."

The channel is the #44 most subscribed to nonprofit on YouTube.

August 23, 2010
LinkedIn Updates iPhone App

LinkedIn has announced the launch of LinkedIn for iPhone version 3.2, which the company says makes it easier to stay up to date and find important changes happening in your professional network.

The app comes with some changes to how LinkedIn displays profile updates from connections. You can see more info about what changed from All Updates or Profiles.

You can also tap on your connection’s name from a profile update to go to the top of their profile, or tap a section to jump to it. The app will also now inform you when your connections add a Twitter account, change their address or phone number, or add their birthday.

"One of the most commonly used features in our current iPhone app is viewing who you have in common with another LinkedIn member," says LinkedIn’s Chad Whitney. "It’s a great way to build out your own network, and it’s also useful when you’re meeting someone new and need to know more about them to help start the conversation."

"You can now see how many people you have in common right from the main profile screen," says Whitney. "We’ve also created a single view that lets you quickly switch between viewing who you have in common and viewing their full connections list."

Finally, the app is optimized for the iPhone’s Retina Display, featuring new icons and images.

Whitney says LinkedIn will have some "great things" coming in October and November that the company is excited about.

August 21, 2010
YouTube Marks The Fifth Anniversary Of Hurricane Katrina

YouTube is inviting Gulf Coast residents to submit videos sharing their reflections on Hurricane Katrina to mark the fifth anniversary of the disaster.

“The YouTube Blog offers more details. In 9 days we will commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a collection of videos on the YouTube homepage created by New Orleans area residents.”

“In partnership with ABC 26 (WGNO), a local television station in New Orleans, we invite Gulf Coast region residents to reflect on the five years since Katrina and submit videos using YouTube Direct on ABC 26’s website. A selection of videos will also be featured on abc26.com, ABC 26’s YouTube channel, and broadcast on ABC 26.”

August 20, 2010
AT&T Yellowpages Gets New Homepage

AT&T has introduced a new redesign of its Yellowpages.com homepage with an emphasis on image-based layout.

AT&T is rebranding its homepage as YP.com with tagline "Click Less. Live More." YP.com is focused on helping users "eat, play, and live" locally.

"We want to give today’s user more access to content that allows them to explore and stay locally connected," said David Krantz, president and CEO at AT&T Interactive.

"Our new YP brand represents a local search experience that consumers rely on to navigate their daily lives – whether it be by online, mobile or TV. Changing the front door to YP.com, which has evolved from our well-known Yellowpages.com brand, puts a face to our core product and brand mission."

The YP.com homepage now features local news headlines, weather, coupons, ways to share businesses and events via social networks and mobile devices.

AT&T says YP.com attracted over 36 million monthly unique visitors before its rebranding and its apps have been downloaded on over 40 million mobile phones.

August 20, 2010
StumbleUpon Comes to the iPhone and Android

StumbleUpon has finally released its mobile apps for the iPhone and Android.

"Think about all those times when your’e riding the bus, sitting at the airport gate, or waiting for friends, playing with the same mobile apps again and again," says StumbleUpon’s mobile apps team. "Now you can have the perfect boredom-buster: with StumbleUpon for the iPhone and Android, the best of the web is, literally, at your fingertips."

"Following the success of our iPad app, we’re excited to extend the stumbling experience to iPhone and Android device users, letting people explore the best of the web at any time no matter where they are," said Garrett Camp, founder and CEO. "Downloading the app is easy and once logged-in, users can discover great online content that’s tailored to their preferences."

Users can thumb-up or thumb-down sites from the phone, just like from the desktop. You can also narrow down the "stumbling" to a particular category or site such as or YouTube.

You can also use the app to share content with other users through Facebook, Twitter, or email.

August 20, 2010
Vevo Launches iPhone And iPod Touch App

Music video site Vevo has launched a free app for iPhone and iPod touch users.

The Vevo App offers access to 20,000 videos from more than 7,000 artists. Users have the ability to create and save custom playlists for on demand playback, view what videos are being watched in their area using location services/GPS and share videos with friends via Twitter, Facebook and email.

In addition to the mobile app, Vevo has also launched an original series called "Ask:Reply!" which features artists answering questions from fans submitted via Vevo on Twitter and Facebook. The first segment of Ask:Reply! features Ke$ha and is available exclusively in the new app.

Vevo said it is also working on launching an app for iPad, Android and other mobile platforms to be released soon. The Vevo App is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada but the company is working on launching in other countries pending rights agreements.

August 18, 2010
More Employers Using Social Media To Promote Their Companies

More than one-third (35%) of employers in the U.S. use social media to promote their company, according to a new CareerBuilder survey.

Twenty-five percent of these employers are using social media to connect with customers and find new business, while others are using it to recruit and research potential employees (21%), or improve their employment brands (13%).

"As communication via social media becomes increasingly pervasive, organizations are harnessing these sites to help achieve a variety of business goals," said Jason Ferrara, vice president of corporate marketing for CareerBuilder.

"Social media allows organizations to communicate in ways that didn’t exist ten years ago, promoting their services and brands while also supplementing their recruitment strategy."

Businesses of all sizes and types use social media to promote their companies. Twenty-nine percent of organizations with 500 or fewer employees use social media, followed by 38 percent of companies with 501 to 1,000 employees and 44 percent of companies with more than 1,000 workers. Breaking it down by industry, leisure and hospitality led with 57 percent using social media to promote their business, followed by IT, (48%), retail (43%) and sales (41%).

When it comes to managing social media, 43 percent of employers have their marketing departments take care of their social media strategy, followed by public relations (26%) and human resources (19%). Twenty-five percent of employers have 1-3 people communication for their organization, while 7 percent have 4-5 people handle the work. Eleven percent have six or more people communicate for their company via social media and fifty-seven percent said they did not know.

Workers who come across company pages on social media sites shared what they would most like to see, including:

*Job listings-35%

*Q&A or fast facts about the organization-26%

*Information about career paths within the organization-23%

August 18, 2010
TV Guide Launches iPad App

TV Guide has introduced its free TV Guide App for iPad, sponsored by Showtime and featuring social TV listings, entertainment news, and its fall TV preview coverage.

The TV Guide App for iPad features share buttons for Facebook and Twitter allowing users to share what TV shows they plan to watch via their social networks.

"Our iPad app makes it easier than ever for entertainment fans to share what they’re watching – and when it’s on – with their friends," said Christy Tanner, General Manager, TV Guide Digital.

Showtime will be the first network to run a full-length episode on the TVGuide.com iPad app with their new show, "The Big C," starring Laura Linney. The full episode is featured within the fall preview section of the app, along with interviews and preview videos for new and returning shows.

The TV Guide app also will allow users to keep lists of their favorite TV channels and shows on their iPad. Users can browse listings by time to see what’s on now or up to 14 days in advance, or can search by show name, cast member, episode title and episode or program description. The app also features breaking entertainment news, a day-by-day primetime schedule, photo galleries and original videos from TVGuide.com.

August 17, 2010
Chad Ochocinco Wants to Get Rid of Farmville

Fast Company has an interview with none other than Chad Ochocinco, receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals who makes as much of an impact on online pop culture as he does on the football field (perhaps more so). He wants to get rid of Farmville.

ComputerWorld reports on a new Apple hire, Benjamin Vigier. The hiring, CW blogger Jonny Evan says, confirms that the iPhone 5 will be the "iWallet".

There’s an interesting piece at MacWorld about how smartphones are on the verge of becoming more powerful as chip makers ready dual-core chips for them. Agam Shah with IDG News Service writes, "Phone makers haven’t officially announced plans to put dual-core chips in smartphones, but the chip makers are getting ready. Qualcomm has already shipped its first dual-core processor, the MSM8660, and is due to start sampling a faster dual-core chip, the QSD8672, later this year. Texas Instruments is scheduled to ship a dual-core chip, the OMAP4430, later this year, and it could reach devices early next year."

Google has a noteworthy post about video sitemaps and understanding location tags at the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Owen Thomas of VentureBeat in a NYT piece reports that Facebook’s Monica Keller, an open standards advocate has left the company for SocialCast. Thomas notes this is a blow to Facebook’s reputation for technological openness.

Best Buy has reportedly sent a Wisconsin Priest a cease-and-desist letter for driving around a car looking like the company’s "Geek Squad" vehicles, that says "God Squad". (via Slashdot)

According to Andy Greenberg at Forbes, a single hack infected five million individual websites. He speaks of an incident revealed in which a collection of sites invisibly attempted to download malware to users’ PCs as a result of a widget compromised by hackers.

A man named Philip Markoff, who was facing murder charges related to Craigslist, has apparently killed himself, CNN reports.

Market research firm Interpret shared findings from a study, indicating that there is little correlation between filesharing and consumers cutting back on spending. "The good news for content creators and providers is that the struggling economy does not appear to have increased filesharing," said Interpret CEO Michael Dowling.

August 16, 2010