Google Aims to Make Finding Music Easier
Google began rolling out its new music search feature late yesterday. The feature enables search results with links to audio previews of songs provided by MySpace (which just acquired iLike) or Lala, when a user searches for music-related queries like the name of a song, artist, or album. The results also include links to purchase full songs.
Hitwise Weighs Potential Impact Of Google Music
Rumor has it that a new Google Music service will launch today, and the excitement is almost palpable as the announcement window provided by normal business hours narrows. Or not. Anyway, Hitwise took a look at Google’s relationship with music sites.
Pandora Tunes In To Facebook, Twitter
An extremely popular Internet radio service has finally acknowledged two of the top social media sites. Thanks to a new feature, Pandora users can now easily spread the word (or note, as it were) about good music to their Facebook friends and Twitter contacts.
Yahoo Provides Homepage Overhaul Stats
The current top article on Yahoo’s homepage may be about a former NBA player’s "sad turnaround," but the story of the homepage’s recent overhaul is a happy one, according to Tapan Bhat. Bhat shared some impressive statistics at Yahoo’s Analyst Day Meeting.
YouTube Launches Promoted Videos In Australia, Japan
YouTube’s Promoted Videos program has spread again. In addition to Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S., promoted videos are now available in Australia and Japan.
If you’re not familiar with the Promoted Videos program, the following video does a pretty good job of explaining its purpose (odd motorcycle accident metaphor aside):
Picking Your Online Reputation Battles
Part of managing your online reputation involves your strategy for handling the negative commentary that you acquire. If you write articles on the Internet, use Facebook, Twitter, or other social media outlets, or simply have a prodcut that people talk about, there is a very good chance you will encounter comments somewhere on the web that are less than favorable.
Beware the Emails of Halloween
Symantec’s MessageLabs released its Intelligence Report for the month of October, and it reveals the that the spammers behind the biggest botnets – Cutwail, Rustock and Donbot – are using the upcoming major holidays and world events as the themes for their the latest spam runs. This is not particularly surprising news, but it is news that people should be aware of nevertheless.
Disney Rolls Out iPhone App
The app features Disney content including characters, music, video and games. Disney says content in the app will be updated regularly with the latest news and entertainment from the company.
The new Disney App offers a "Click2Life" feature, which works by allowing iPhone users to take pictures of images from Disney.com that will come to life within the app and turn into a 3D image.
L.A. Approves $7.25 Million Google Apps Contract
The City of Angels has shown a great deal of faith in Google. Late yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a $7.25 million contract that’ll have all branches of the city’s government adopting Google Apps over the next eight or so months.
Amazon and Walmart Engage in Price War Over Holiday Book Shoppers
Amazon and Walmart have been engaged in an online price war over holiday sales of bargain books. The whole thing began when Walmart announced that it would let customers preorder 10 of the most highly anticipated upcoming books for as little as $10 each. In a matter of hours, Amazon matched the price for all of the same books. Walmart then dropped the price to $9. Then Amazon did the same.