The FDA Targets Websites Over Drug Sales
The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on 136 websites it says were selling illegal or misbranded drugs to U.S. consumers.
The FDA says none of the websites are for pharmacies in the United States or Canada.
The agency has sent 22 warning letters to the operators of these websites and notified Internet service providers and domain name registrars that the websites were selling products that violated U.S. law.
Google Improves Google News on More Mobile Devices
Google has announced a new Google News for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre users. The company already offers one for other devices like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and S60, although they say more improvements to those versions will be coming soon, as well.
Today’s new version includes a new Google News homepage, which shows more stories, sources, and images, but keeps the same basic look and feel.
(Private) Facebook Shares Up 42% In Four Months
Some time ago, Mark Zuckerberg began allowing Facebook employees to make a quick buck by selling their shares through private channels (as opposed to waiting for Facebook to hit the Nasdaq or Dow). Since then, many have done exactly that. The interesting thing is that the price of Facebook’s stock has risen a whole lot in recent months.
Google Finally Shows Off Chrome OS
Everybody has been waiting to see a glimpse of Google’s upcoming Chrome OS – that is Google’s new operating system. Those who attended an event at the company’s headquarters today had a chance to view a demo in person, and many more details than previously available are now out on the OS.
Google has now opened up the code for Chrome OS, so developers can get in there and see what it’s really all about. For all of the non-developer types, Google has provided the following short video, which sums up what Chrome OS is as a concept.
80% of Consumers Would Not Pay For Content
As you’ve more than likely heard by now, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in an interview last week talked about the possibility of blocking search engines from indexing News Corp. publications’ content. While this may or may not actually happen, it is one of the latest (and biggest) examples of a publisher taking the position of search engines hurting them rather than helping them.
Paid Twitter Accounts To Debut This Year, Says Stone
Corporate Twitter accounts are still on the way, and should be introduced by the end of this year, according to cofounder Biz Stone. Stone chatted a little more about these accounts – along with the company’s problematic growth rate – while on a NESTA panel in London.
Murdoch On Blocking Search Engines: “I Think We Will”
There’s a chance that the content produced by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and a number of other important organizations will soon become impossible to find using Google. Rupert Murdoch indicated in a recent interview that News Corp. may block search engines.
Yahoo Showing Tweets for News Results
Yahoo Search is now including a new Twitter feature in search results for select topics that are in the news. For example, if you search for "health care reform," or "obama," you will get a section for news results, which contains tabs for news, photos, videos, and Twitter.
The results look something like this:
New Network Gives Smaller Online Publishers Free Legal Help
The Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) has launched the Online Media Legal Network (OLMLN) that will offer free legal advice to online journalists and bloggers.
5 Less Obvious Online Reputation Management Issues
There are a lot of elements to online reputation management. Really, depending on how far you want to take it, the elements are basically limitless. Any web property out there that gives people a voice caters to potential reputation smearing.
There have been entire books written about online reputation management, and countless articles, but I just wanted to take the time to point out five things to keep track of that you may not have considered (or maybe you have…if so, good thinking).