The Federal Trade Commission has joined an effort to warn consumers about deceptive online marketing related to free trial offers that require people to cancel or opt-out of a recurring charge for future products or services.
Firefox 3.5 Currently Most Popular Browser in the World
According to data from StatCounter, Mozilla’s web browser Firefox 3.5 is now the world’s most popular browser. It has just surpassed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7, which has beend steadily declining.
For December 20, StatCounter has IE 7 at 21.2% market share, and Firefox 3.5 at 21.93%. Microsoft’s IE 8 is closing in though. Its share has been steadily increasing, presumably making up for most of the lost IE 7 share, and has approached 20.33%.
Google in Talks to Acquire Yelp: What We Know
Google may be in discussions to acquire local business review platform Yelp for $500 million.
The Internet, Science, and Climate Data: Jon Stewart Weighs In
Quote from Jon Stewart of Comedy Central: "Poor Al Gore, global warming completely debunked by the very Internet you invented".
Stewart continued, "It’s nothing, he was just using a trick .. to hide the decline. It’s just scientist speak for using a standard statistical technique recalibrating data in order to … trick you … into not knowing about … the decline.
Wolfram Alpha Open to Other Bing-Like Conversations
As I’ve noted in the past, Wolfram Alpha, the much-hyped search computation engine that was supposed to be the future of search hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. As of November, Compete data indicates it was receiving under 300 thousand unique visitors in the US. To put that into perspective, Ask.com had over 41 million.
Opera Turbo Sees 60% User Growth in One Month
Opera announced that five million people are using Opera Turbo, its compression technology, which is present in both Opera 10 and Opera Mobile. Opera Turbo reduces the size of Web pages by up to 80%, according to the company, dramatically improving browsing speeds over slow networks and saving money on "pay as you go" connections.
Google Maps Learns To Acknowledge Landmarks
A good drive can be one of life’s most enjoyable experiences. But a bad one is, of course, no fun at all, and poor directions are often responsible for making things take a turn for the worse. So Google appears to be overhauling the way in which it tells people to get from one point to another.
November Showed Significant Growth for Android
AdMob, which is in the process of being acquired by Google (regulators are still eyeing the deal), has released its Novemeber Mobile Metrics report. The themes for this one are that the Launch of new devices drove Android growth and the rise of smartphones resulted in a sharp increase in WiFi usage.
Google Joins the IPSO Alliance
Google has joined the IPSO Alliance, which is a group of technology companies aimed at promoting the Internet Protocol for "smart object communications." The idea is that items ranging from appliances to cars, and even factories, can communicate as individuals do on the web.
A New Google Answers Site on the Way?
Some Google users have had a mysterious link appear in their accounts when they visit Google’s product page. The link is for "Google Guru", and is accompanied by the text, "Ask questions and get answers from online users." Its icon is a question mark.
If it is showing up for you, it is located between Groups and Knol on Google’s "More Google Products" page: