Category: Archive

Recently during a third-quarter conference call Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, stated that bringing the iPhone to Verizon is a decision that is totally up to Apple. Do you think the iPhone will ever be on Verizon? Tell us what you think.

Last week Google’s Custom Search offering turned 3, and the company launched Custom Search for smartphones. Now Google has launched a couple of additional features for Custom Search, as well as a Custom Search Wikipedia skin.

When a Wikipedia user enables the Custom Search skin, he/she will be able to use Google Custom Search across all Wikipedia articles for a given topic and find relevant pages linked from the Wikipedia page that he/she is currently on. Search results will appear inline at the top of the Wikipedia page.

Online video search engine blinkx has launched blinkx Music, a new tool aimed at helping users find and watch music videos on the Web.

"There are hundreds of thousands of music videos available on the Web today which makes it nearly impossible to navigate and find what you are looking for," said Suranga Chandratillake, CEO and founder, blinkx.  

Yesterday, the surprising news that Facebook and MySpace are negotiating a content-sharing partnership broke, yet that’s not all the latter social network has on its plate.  A fresh report indicates MySpace is also in talks with MSN over some sort of music deal.

Google has developed a plug-in for WordPress that adds the social features of Google Friend Connect to WordPress blogs. The plug-in allows visitors to these blogs to authenticate using any OpenID account, including Google, Yahoo, or AIM and then comment on posts without having to register. When a visitor authenticates, it creates a WordPress account.

Update 2: Facebook announced today that the changes are rolling out. With the new design, you can view stories by News feed (what Facebook deems the most interesting stories in your feed) or Live feed (everything in real-time).

Why they did it:

Amazon.com has introduced "Kindle for PC," a free software application that allows PC users to access Kindle content on their computers.
Users will be able to buy e-books from Amazon without having to own its Kindle e-reader. Previously users had to buy a Kindle or an iPhone or iPod touch to buy e-books from its Kindle store.
The new Kindle for PC download will be available from Amazon next month. Amazon introduced its Kindle for PC software at Windows 7 launch event today in New York City.

Never mind swine flu – it may in fact be time to start watching out for flying oinkers.  Social networking archrivals Facebook and MySpace are discussing the idea of sharing content, according to people at the highest levels of both organizations.

Online town hall meetings with a member of congress has significant and positive impact on a voter’s view of a lawmaker and increases the likelihood that they will become more politically engaged, according to research form the Congressional Management Foundation.

The experimental feature that Marissa Mayer announced last week is becoming available today for everyone to try.  Google Social Search promises to help users "find more relevant public content from your broader social circle."
The premise is simple: people value their acquaintances’ content more than that of random strangers.  So Google Social Search brings content from your social circle to the forefront, perhaps showing a friend’s or coworker’s take on a restaurant rather than (or in addition to) whatever the local newspaper reviewer had to say.