RIAA’s Newest Enemy: The Social Network
They’ve been railing against peer-to-peer for some time now, and more recently have put the squeeze on webcasters via royalty hikes, but it looks like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has added a new foe to its ever-expanding list: social networkers.
Politics Play In Kentucky Net Bans
State workers in Kentucky’s capitol have been suspended for using the Internet. Not for illegal or questionable activities, but for reading news, doing searches, and shopping.
Google Tweak Decimates Answers.com’s Traffic
A small tweak here . . . and a 28 percent plummet there. Yeah, that’s right – Google adjusted its algorithm, and according to Answers.com itself, traffic to the Answers “information portal” has dropped dramatically as a result.
The Broadband Gap In The U.S.
The U.S. ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Almost Half of Search Queries Are Repeats
Forty percent of all search queries are repeat queries from users trying to find information they have found before, according to a new study. But if there has been a change in search result rankings since the last time the query was entered, it significantly hinders the searcher from re-finding the information they seek.
Google Phone, New Ad Platform
The tech world is buzzing with rumors about a Google phone. The Wall Street Journal ran an article today, quoted at SearchEngineLand, that provides some details of the development process. Apparently, Google is taking a two-pronged approach: developing their own handset, but at the same time opening up the specifications to allow other manufacturers to offer compatible phones. And, unlike Apple’s iPhone, the Google Phone (GPhone?) should be available from multiple wireless companies.
An Open/Controllable Social Network?
Well, I’ve been taking a lot of shots in the past few weeks for always covering the latest shiny social object. You know, first it was Twitter. Then Jaiku. Then Facebook. Pownce. On and on.
GoFish Deal Gets Dynamited
We learned of GoFish’s desire to acquire Bolt Media about six months ago; a lot’s happened in the meantime, and the deal has now been called off. Yet while both sides are being fairly quiet, it looks as if Bolt might have said another phrase to GoFish that begins with “go f—”.
ad:Tech 2007 – Building Relationships through Mobile
This session featured Jack Philbin (President, Vibes Media), Bob Wesley (CEO MobileLime), Dean Macri (Founder/CEO Cielo Group) and Brook Pitts (Senior VP, Marketing Innovation – Bank of America).
What started out as a very dry session turned out to be a very insightful lesson on ways to create conversation and user engagement using the power of mobile. 2 of the most interesting uses of mobile campaigns were mentioned by Bob Weasley and Dean Macri.
PayPal Introduces Pay Later Option
eBay owned PayPal has launched a new payment service called PayPal Pay Later that allows merchants to offer promotional financing.