Online Opinions One of Most Trusted Forms of Advertising

Nielsen released some interesting findings from a study (pdf) on consumer trust and advertising. The most important takeaway is that consumer opinions posted online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally. Right off the bat, this tells me that:

Shortened URLs Used in 2% of All Spam

If it's a tool that can make life on the web easier, you can pretty much guarantee that it will be abused by spammers. That is why it should come as no surprise that spammers are now abusing URL shortener services. Representatives from Symantec's MessageLabs contacted Webproworld to point out that just in the last couple of days, the presence shortened URLs in spam has…

Video Game Engagement Continues To Increase

Fans of video games are spending increasingly more time playing games, according to a new survey from Nielsen. The survey, "The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession," found since the beginning of the year and through May, gamers are spending an additional one to two hours a week playing games, compared to 2006, when Nielsen started tracking video game data.

Gmail Out of Beta After All These Years

Today is a landmark day for Google. The company has finally announced that Google Apps is no longer in beta. I suspect this is more of a way to increase the adoption of its services, particularly among businesses, than any new accomplishment being met, but it is what it is. No more beta label on Gmail and other products that fall into Google's cloud offerings…