The New York State Office for Technology has launched Empire 2.0, a social media networking initiative with the goal of promoting government participation, increase collaboration and to improve the state’s ability to share information with social media users.
The Empire 2.0 strategy is a roadmap for state agencies to use Web 2.0, new media and social collaborative tools and technologies to improve communications and services while being more transparent and open.
Facebook Moves Further Into Twitter Territory
Facebook is now offering its users the ability to receive their friends’ status updates via text message on their phones. If you click on the "subscribe via SMS" link below your friends’ profile pics, you get their latest updates this way.
Twitter is Being Anti-Social
I have had my ups and downs with Twitter to be sure. In my line of work however, Twitter has become one of those things that you really can’t ignore, so I’m good with it. I like the Tweeting. I consider myself a fan. As such, I try to spread the good word about Twitter to my non-Twittering friends and associates.
iPhone 3G S Coming: Businesses Pay Attention
AT&T announced today that it will begin offering the Apple iPhone 3G S on June 19th. People will be able to preorder them starting today at 5pm ET.
"iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, and we’re extremely proud to offer it to our customers on the nation’s fastest 3G network," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "We’re also pleased to offer these innovative phones and plans at incredible values, including free Wi-Fi access at nearly 20,000 hot spots." Pricing is as follows:
Why PayPal is Holding Onto Some eBay Sellers’ Money
PayPal requires reserves for a percentage of sellers. That percentage is less than 1% according to the company. PayPal likens the reserves to a security deposit to cover future chargebacks and reversals.
Since PayPal began this practice, they have had a lot of questions about it from sellers, and hoping to clear up some confusion, Bill Clark, an analyst with PayPal’s risk team offered the following explanation on the PayPal Blog:
Google Promoting Gmail Voice and Video Chat
Update: Google has mysteriously added a little promotion to its homepage for "new" gmail voice and video chat. This original article is from November, so unless I’m missing something, it’s not exactly a new featue. I guess they just want to give it some attention. I haven’t seen any new Google blog posts about it or anything:
An Interesting Spin on Definition Search
A new dictionary site called Wordnik was launched today, although even the creators had to settle for the "dictionary" description for lack of a better word. I would call it some kind of a definition search engine. It was founded by lexicographer Erin McKean.
Report: Bing Replaces Yahoo as Number 2
Research reported by StatCounter says that Microsoft’s new Bing search engine has taken over Yahoo for the second place slot in search market share. Clearly, it’s getting a lot of attention since it just launched, so let’s keep this in context.
ESPN The Magazine To Charge For Online Access
ESPN The Magazine has begun charging for access to its online content.
The magazine announced on its website that its online version, ESPNTheMag.com was merging with the ESPN Insider service, which is available for $6.95 a month, or $39.95 a year for premium sports content.
The Tech World Mourns the Loss of a Google Advisor
Update: Google has posted more about Rajeev on the Google Research Blog.
Original Article: Rajeev Motwani, an angel investor and Stanford professor, who served as something of a mentor to the Google co-founders as they were getting Google off the ground, was found dead in a swimming pool on Friday from an apparent drowning.