Monday, November 27, 2006

Security from A to Z: Google

CNET News.com: "Phishers, for instance, are using it to get more sophisticated in targeting their victims (a technique that became prominent in 2005, known as 'spear phishing'). In addition, a bit of quality Google time can unearth a surprising amount of data on an individual or company."

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Black Friday, Cyber Monday not as busy as most think

Reuters.com: "NEW YORK (Reuters) - 'Black Friday' conjures up images of crowded malls, long lines and cranky shoppers, but the day after Thanksgiving did not even rank as one of the top five busiest holiday shopping days last year, according to a report released by MasterCard Worldwide on Monday.
The report also found that, contrary to popular belief, there will not be a huge surge in online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving -- which has been called 'Cyber Monday.'
Instead, the report predicts that most people will likely put off their holiday shopping until right before Christmas. "

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Google shares reach $500 and keep going

CNET News.com: "Google investors have a lot to be thankful for, as shares of the search giant reached and exceeded $500 for the first time.
Shares were trading at $507.52 in midday trading on Tuesday, up 2.5 percent for the day and about 20 percent since the beginning of the year.
The stock has risen steadily since mid-October, when Google posted third-quarter profit that nearly doubled from a year earlier.
Analysts say Google is worth its roughly $154 billion market cap because its growth opportunities, mostly based on online advertising, remain huge. The rising stock price would indicate that investors agree. At least one Wall Street analyst has a $600 price target on the stock. "

Calif. court ruling seeks to protect bloggers, Web publishers

CNET News.com: "In a victory for bloggers, newsgroup participants and other Web publishers, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that individual Internet users cannot be held liable for republishing defamatory statements written by others.
The unanimous ruling appears to be the first to make clear that a 1996 law called the Communications Decency Act protects not only providers, but also users of online services who redistribute content. Earlier court rulings had established that Section 230 of that statute shields companies such as AOL and eBay from such liability, provided that they make good faith efforts to restrict access to material that could be considered 'obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable.' "

Yahoo seeks geek credibility

CNET News.com: "Never before have small friends been so important to big companies.
Yahoo, best known as an Internet portal welcoming millions of consumers, is undergoing a transition to appeal to a different audience: software developers.
In September, for the first time, the company hosted a Hack Day, where it invited outside developers to mingle with its engineers and write ad hoc 'mashup' Web applications using Yahoo's online services.
The goal behind Hack Day--and a broader developer outreach effort--is to create a diverse network, or 'ecosystem,' of partners, Yahoo executives said. "

Playing catch-up with Google

CNET News.com: "At Ask.com, Steve Berkowitz didn't have enough resources to take on Google. Now, at Microsoft, he has plenty of money, but still has a lot of work to do.
Berkowitz joined Microsoft in April, where he was given the task of helping build a cohesive ad-funded business around all of Microsoft's disparate online businesses, from MSN to Windows Live.
'I believe Microsoft can change the world,' Berkowitz, senior vice president in the company's online services group, said in a recent interview. 'I don't believe I can change Microsoft. I believe I can help it evolve. "

Yahoo, Newspapers Form Major Alliance

MediaPost Publications : "YAHOO AND A CONSORTIUM OF 176 newspapers nationwide have entered into a far-reaching alliance encompassing classified advertising, content, and search that signals a new level of cooperation between newspapers and their erstwhile Internet rivals.
The first phase of the deal will allow the newspapers' help wanted advertisers to post classifieds on Yahoo HotJobs, while the newspapers' online career sections will be powered by HotJobs. The job sites will be co-branded between Yahoo and local newspapers in 38 states including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Over the long term, the partnership is expected to extend to other types of advertising and content-sharing such as incorporating Yahoo search and mapping into newspapers' sites and distributing newspaper content through Yahoo search, news, and other sections of the portal. "

Monday, November 20, 2006

Paisley Does Dallas Ver. 23 Post on IMEEM

Paisley Does Dallas Ver. 23 Post on IMEEM: " Paisley Does Dallas Ver. 23
Posted in Admin on November 20, 2006 at 7:33 PM

whee... let's try this and see exactly how much control we have over the blog posts.. "


- another one...

New software promises to unlock iPod, iTunes

CNET News.com: "Not even the lure of 1 million songs could separate Stanford University student Rolf Steier from his iPod.
When Stanford partnered with Yahoo to offer students a free subscription to Yahoo Music Unlimited, Steier--like most other people he knew--didn't bother to check it out because his iPod won't let him play songs bought from other online music stores.
'I don't know anybody who used it,' Steier said. 'I don't even remember anyone who considered using it.'
The issue is the same for many music fans because Apple makes content bought from its iTunes online music store available only for its own products, while songs purchased from other online stores typically do not work on the market-dominating iPods. "

Yahoo executive calls for staff cuts, big changes

CNET News.com: "Yahoo needs a dramatic organizational shake-up and cuts in its work force of up to 20 percent, according to an internal memo written last month by Senior Vice President Brad Garlinghouse.
Garlinghouse, a second-tier Yahoo executive who has taken increasing powerful roles in the company since joining 3 1/2 years ago, argues that Yahoo suffers from a lack of consistent leadership, business focus and a 'single cohesive strategy.'"

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Universal Music sues MySpace: just the start

ZDNet.com: "Earlier this afternoon, Universal Music Group sued MySpace for copyright infringement.
The problem seems to be that Universal believes that MySpace facilitates conversion and upload of copyrighted videos and music files of their artists to unauthorized third parties.
No dollar amount on the suit yet, but Universal says that of the 'thousands of links' it says it believes fosters illegal distribution, some could be worth as much as $150,000.
More suits coming for sure.. MySpace, YouTube, everyone."

Friday, November 17, 2006

Yahoo Buys Site for Staging Online Contests

New York Times: "Yahoo is acquiring Bix.com, a site that allows users and advertisers to create, enter into and judge online contests. The deal is an attempt by Yahoo to bolster its offerings in social media, an area where it has struggled to compete with sites like MySpace and YouTube.
The purchase price was not disclosed. The deal is to be announced Friday.
Bix.com, which was founded in January and introduced its service in August, is trying to capitalize on two trends in popular culture: the fascination with TV shows like “American Idol” and the explosion in user-generated online content, especially video.
The site allows anyone to create an online contest in any of a number of categories. Users can then submit their own entries — a video for a lip-sync, karaoke or comedy contest, or a photo for a beauty contest — and vote on which entry deserves to win. The prizes range from a few minutes of Internet fame to cash or merchandise in contests sponsored by advertisers. "

Yahoo Buys Site for Staging Online Contests

New York Times: "Yahoo is acquiring Bix.com, a site that allows users and advertisers to create, enter into and judge online contests. The deal is an attempt by Yahoo to bolster its offerings in social media, an area where it has struggled to compete with sites like MySpace and YouTube.
The purchase price was not disclosed. The deal is to be announced Friday.
Bix.com, which was founded in January and introduced its service in August, is trying to capitalize on two trends in popular culture: the fascination with TV shows like “American Idol” and the explosion in user-generated online content, especially video.
The site allows anyone to create an online contest in any of a number of categories. Users can then submit their own entries — a video for a lip-sync, karaoke or comedy contest, or a photo for a beauty contest — and vote on which entry deserves to win. The prizes range from a few minutes of Internet fame to cash or merchandise in contests sponsored by advertisers. "

Is Google worth its weight in gold?

CNET News.com: "As Google's share price neared $500 Thursday, analysts were unfazed by the fact that the search king's market capitalization is greater than its three biggest Internet rivals combined and about double that of media companies Walt Disney and Time Warner.
Is Google really worth that much? Yes, said several financial analysts, because it's growing faster than rivals and--at least at the moment--there seems to be no bounds for that growth. In fact, they think the Mountain View, Calif., company could be worth a whole lot more."

Thursday, November 16, 2006

AOL Names NBC U's Randy Falco CEO, Chairman

MediaPost Publications: "TIME WARNER HAS HIRED LONGTIME NBC executive Randy Falco to serve as chairman and CEO of AOL. Falco will replace Jonathan Miller, who is leaving the company.
'A key to Time Warner's digital future, AOL is showing early success in transitioning to an advertising-focused business model, and Randy is a first-rate choice to ensure AOL realizes its promise,' Time Warner chairman and CEO Dick Parsons said in a statement. "

Microsoft teams with Sprint on mobile Web service

CNET News.com: "Microsoft and Sprint are launching a combined service that will allow some Sprint customers to use Windows Live Search to look for location-based information from the Web.
Sprint PCS Vision and Sprint Power Vision subscribers can, for instance, type in 'sports' in the search box on their mobile phones and see results for local business listings, maps and ads, as well as Sprint ring tones and wallpaper with 'sports' in the title. "

For Sony, the PS3 is about more than gaming

CNET News.com: "For a company with almost $64 billion in annual sales, Sony has an awful lot at stake with the launch of its latest game console, the PlayStation 3.
No doubt, there will be lines of hard-core gamers waiting outside retailers across the country late Thursday night, and all expectations are that every PS3 available will be sold before Christmas. That certainly would be good news for Sony, a company that could use a dose of holiday cheer. "

Comedy Central tweaks video platform

CNET News.com: "With uncertainty looming over its presence on YouTube, Comedy Central is refining its broadband video strategy.
The network is launching a revamped version of its online programming platform, MotherLoad, this month with a new syndicated video player at its heart, the network said Wednesday.
MotherLoad will be integrated deeper into Comedy-Central.com while offering a syndication capability allowing users to grab and embed their favorite clips for posting on their own Web pages. The new video player is part of a makeover of the channel's Web site.
The site also will use a Flash video format and is designed to be more user-compatible on Macs and older PCs and for users with pop-up blockers. "

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft adopt same Web index tool

CNET News.com: "Search engine rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are teaming up to make it easier for Web site owners to make sure their sites get included in the Web indexes, the companies are expected to announce Thursday.
The companies are adopting Google's Sitemaps protocol, available since June 2005, which enables Web site owners to manually feed their pages to Google and to check whether their sites have been crawled. Web site owners have had to follow similar processes at each of the other major search engines separately.
Now Web site owners will be able to go to one place for alerting all three major search engines to their Web pages, something they have been requesting for some time, said Tim Mayer, director of product management at Yahoo Search. "

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Google to create 500 jobs in Dublin expansion

CNET News.com: "Internet search engine company Google said on Wednesday it was expanding operations at its European headquarters in Dublin with the creation of more than 500 new jobs. The expansion, which will increase the company's Dublin work force to 1,300 people, would allow it to meet the increasingly diverse needs of its growing number of customers in over 35 countries, Google said in a statement."

Searching for the perfect video search engine

MarketWatch: "SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- As the online video world explodes with everything from amateur snippets to full-length features, new search engines are crawling, tagging and organizing the visual data.
The goal: To find the most relevant video, and not just any video.
Clearly, we're at a point when watching video online has become an intriguing, amusing and entertaining experience. Seven years ago, when I started doing videos that were streamed on the Web, it was painful for me to watch the 15 frames per second and the endless buffering. Today, it's less painful and certainly bearable.
By 2007, consumers won't just want bearable video, however. They'll want organized video. Heretofore, it's been about making video available and easy to watch. Tomorrow, it'll be about making it easy for people to find what they want amid the explosion of video content going online. "

Google's $200 Million Legal Reserve Underscores YouTube Worries

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc.'s decision to establish a reserve of more than $200 million for possible lawsuits against YouTube underscores the company's concern over the use of copyrighted clips at the video-sharing Web site.
Google, the most-used Internet search engine, said yesterday it set aside 12.5 percent of the shares issued to buy YouTube for one year to ``secure certain indemnification obligations.''
The company is trying to protect itself against lawsuits over copyrighted material on YouTube, a Web site where people watch everything from fountains made with Diet Coke and Mentos to dancing men on treadmills. YouTube is removing clips of shows including NBC Universal's ``The Office'' and creating software that lets media companies pull unauthorized videos or share in advertising sales. "

Yahoo and Vodafone team on mobile ads

CNET News.com: "Yahoo will be the exclusive provider of display ads on mobile devices in the United Kingdom for Vodafone, the companies said on Tuesday. The ads will start appearing in the first half of next year. Customers who agree to accept targeted ads will be able to save on Vodafone services, according to a news release."

Yahoo's Semel: Internet ad potential underestimated

CNET News.com: "The growth potential of Internet advertising has been underestimated because the predictions did not include advertising on video, social media or mobiles, Terry Semel, CEO of Yahoo, said Tuesday.
In a speech in London, Semel said predictions for online advertising had covered only graphical and search advertising. "

Politicians embrace 'cybersecurity' month, but why?

CNET News.com: "The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday took the bold step of enhancing America's cybersecurity by approving a resolution in support of 'National Cyber Security Awareness Month.'
The resolution, which passed by voice vote, claims the month 'will provide an opportunity to educate the people of the United States about computer security: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives supports the goals and ideals of National Cyber Security Awareness Month.' "

Reuters Invests In Blog Syndication Firm - 11/15/2006

MediaPost Publications: "REUTERS THIS WEEK WILL BEGIN offering publishers news and commentary from almost 3,000 blogs, via a new partnership with social media firm Pluck. Reuters also invested $7 million in the company, which runs the BlogBurst syndication service.
'Pluck represents the next evolution in finding interesting information sources for our clients,' said Reuters President Chris Ahearn. 'The mainstream media can embrace the fact that a variety of blogs out there have compelling information that people can read.'
BlogBurst, the syndication service run by Pluck, includes some 2,800 partner blogs on topics ranging from travel to technology and style to politics. BlogBurst pays authors when their blogs are syndicated by publishers. Pluck's other publisher clients include The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the Austin American-Statesman. "

Mark Cuban courts YouTube foe

CNET News.com: "Mark Cuban, one of YouTube's most outspoken critics, has expressed interest in buying a news organization that has filed a lawsuit against the video-sharing company.
The company Cuban is eyeing is the Los Angeles News Service, a relatively small television news operation based in Los Angeles. The company's owner is Robert Tur, a famed helicopter pilot and journalist, who alleged in a lawsuit filed last July that YouTube encouraged users to violate copyright law. Tur filed suit after finding that someone had posted some of his footage, including images from the 1992 Los Angeles riots, on YouTube without his permission.
Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and co-founder of HDNet, the first TV network to broadcast exclusively in high definition. So why does a fledgling network need to buy a small news organization that produces video which can easily be leased? "

NBC official is expected to join AOL

CNET News.com: "Randy Falco, the president of the NBC Universal Television Group, is in talks to leave his position as the No. 2 executive at the television group to take a senior operating role at AOL, Time Warner's Internet subsidiary, according to executives briefed on the move. "

Text message spam could spell trouble for text-based ads

CNET News.com: "For Jeffrey Paul, his cell phone was the last bastion of communication solitude in a world overrun with telemarketing, junk mail and e-mail spam. But now, even his cell phone isn't safe from unwanted solicitations.
The 40-year-old sales executive from Los Angeles said he uses text messaging sporadically to contact friends, so he was extremely annoyed when he started getting text messages offering him a deal to buy or rent a time-share from Webuyresorts.com.
Even though the unwanted messages were costing Paul 10 cents a pop, he said he wasn't as annoyed about the cost, because he had only received a few of these messages. Instead, he was concerned that his cell phone would soon be hijacked by marketers, including his own cell phone provider, contacting him with unwanted advertisements."

'Second Life' faces threat to its virtual economy

CNET News.com: "Groups of Second Life content creators were gathering digitally Tuesday to protest the dissemination of a program they worry could badly damage the virtual world's nascent economy.
The controversy gathered steam Monday when Linden Lab, which publishes Second Life, posted a blog alerting residents of the virtual world to the existence of a program or bot called CopyBot, which allows a user to copy any object in Second Life. That includes goods such as clothing that users purchase for their in-world avatars, and even the virtual PCs that computer giant Dell announced Tuesday it was going to sell in the digital world. "

Dell sets up 'Second Life' shop, offers PCs to residents

CNET News.com: "The company on Tuesday formally kicked off its entry into Second Life, the virtual world created by Linden Lab, with a press conference to open Dell Island, its in-world location. Dell plans to sell virtual PCs to Second Life residents, but it will also allow them to order new PCs for their first lives, all the better to run the demanding Second Life application. "

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Blog Pimpin - Blog Maverick

Blog Pimpin - Blog Maverick: "Blogs, uhh, good God, what are they good for.....(sung to the tune of the song War)...

Has anyone noticed lately that more blogs posts are about other blogs, which are writing about whats being reported in other blogs than about something original from the author ?

Far be it for me to be a cynic, but it sure seems like more blogs are being written with the goal of getting traffic than with the goal of saying something original. Its almost as if bloggers are the new rappers with Blog Pimpin and Blogwars becoming analogous to Rap Wars. "

- read about where Mark Cuban thinks he has figured out BlogPimpin and the knuckleheads that try and explain it.. FYI... Mark... YOU JUST GOT BLOG PIMPED!

Mobile phones that track your buddies

CNET News.com: "For two hours Tuesday, New York's always-noisy Times Square could become one of the easiest spots in the world to find a friend.
Boost Mobile, a so-called mobile virtual-network operator owned by Sprint Nextel, will offer a two-hour demonstration of buddy-tracking technology created by a start-up called Loopt. The start-up, founded by two Stanford University graduates while they were still students, is the latest to offer a mobile-tracking system that enables people to do things like get a bead on friends' whereabouts.
It certainly won't be the last. For nearly a decade, technology visionaries have talked of a day when people would be able to use their cell phones to get directions, track their friends, keep tabs on their kids or simply find the nearest coffee shop. Now those services are finally starting to take trickle into the marketplace.
'The most common text message that people send is, 'Where are you?'' said Mark Jacobstein, executive vice president of corporate development for Loopt, which is partnering with mobile operators to offer a mix of social networking and so-called location-based services. 'So the ability to automate that becomes a really valuable service.'"

Linus Torvalds officially a hero

CNET News.com: "He's a hero to millions of coders all over the world. And now he's got written proof.
Time magazine's European edition has named Linus Torvalds in its '60 Years of Heroes' tribute. The magazine listed the Linux creator in the 'Rebels & Leaders' category, alongside icons including Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
The magazine cited the creation of Linux, as well as his part in pushing and developing the open-source movement.
'Today, 15 years later, Linux powers everything from supercomputers to mobile phones around the world, and Torvalds has achieved fame as the godfather of the open-source movement, in which software code is shared and developed in a collaborative effort rather than being kept locked up by a single owner,' the magazine said."

Technique - Marketing for Technology Companies

Technique - Marketing for Technology Companies

Why Blog?
By Steve Plunkett

A business blog is a valuable, multi-function tool for communicating with customers and employees. Blogs are the newsletters that never go away. They are a great way to post the latest information on the Web about your newest product or service. They provide a platform from which your employees, customers, partners and prospects can share information, data and opinions. And once these moderated discussions are posted, they can be “set in digital stone” for the world to read in perpetuity.

Oftentimes, I hear the question, “Why do I need a blog? I already have a website.”

For starters, a blog complements your website. It does not replace it. A corporate blog is a great way to direct traffic to your company’s site. This helps you to get sales leads from informed customers, provided, of course, that you have posted compelling information on your company’s blog.

Also, a blog lets you communicate faster, more flexibly and less formally than you would through other media. On your website, if you are sounding your own horn about your neatest, latest, greatest product, it’s called a press release. But if you’re blogging, you’re telling a story, complete with personal observations and pictures. You are guiding potential customers along the path of why you think your product is so neat, how it surpasses others in the market and, through a “comments” function, answering questions about your company and its products.

Of course, your readers will understand that your blogs are not completely objective – after all, it’s your company you’re blogging about. On the other hand, your readers also understand that your blog is a personal message to them, not an expensive, varnished piece of communications produced painstakingly over several months by your ad agency. In other words, your readers perceive a measure of earnest communications that just can’t be achieved through traditional media.

To create a successful blog, you need to start with a strategy. You need to plan. And you need to commit to updating your blog at least twice a week. That may seem like a lot, but don’t you have enough going on at your company to write about twice a week? Even if it’s a project that is going to take six months to complete, talk about it. Explain how you do “X” better than your competitors.

Simply put, tell your story. Keep your brand in mind. Plug your key selling points. Direct readers to your website. Be active and responsive. And start selling more.

Selling more. Is there a better reason to blog?

NetCoalition files complaint over NYSE data fee hikes

CNET News.com: "NetCoalition, a technology advocacy group, plans to file a petition to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding fees charged by stock exchanges to provide real-time market data.
The Washington-based public-policy coalition, whose trustees include Bloomberg, Google, Yahoo and News.com publisher CNET Networks, has voiced opposition to recent fee increases that the SEC has authorized for the New York Stock Exchange's Archipelago electronic market. "

IE 7 comes a-knocking--eventually

CNET News.com: "Microsoft is telling people that Internet Explorer 7 is a 'high priority' update, but the company is taking longer than some expected to push the new Web browser out.
The software maker said it doesn't plan to push the browser update out alongside the security patches slated for Tuesday. Instead, the browser update is being trickled out to hundreds of millions of users over a three-month period.
Everyone who uses an English language version of Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Automatic Updates enabled should receive a notice to upgrade to IE 7 by the end of January, said Gary Schare, Microsoft's director of IE product management. That notice will pop up on people's screens, tagging the new browser as a high-priority download. "

Google introduces customized home pages for groups

CNET News.com: "Google on Monday introduced the first upgrade to its business software line, offering organizations a way to give individual employees or group members a personalized home page.
The new personalized home page feature for organizations functions as a central access point for Google Apps--short for applications--a set of Web-based business software aimed at small-business users, which Google introduced in August.
The Google Apps start page is a stripped-down version of the central overview that office workers see in Outlook from Microsoft or Lotus Notes from IBM. All three offer links to e-mail, calendar and other features. "

Google CEO sees free cell phones, funded by ads

CNET News.com: "Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt sees a future where mobile phones are free to consumers who accept watching targeted forms of advertising.
Schmidt said Saturday that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as eight to 10 hours a day talking, texting and using the Web on these devices, advertising becomes a viable form of subsidy.
'Your mobile phone should be free,' Schmidt told Reuters. 'It just makes sense that subsidies should increase' as advertising rises on mobile phones. "

Microsoft flags Gmail as a virus

CNET News.com: "Gmail's popularity may be viral, but the e-mail software is not a virus--despite a Microsoft alert.
From late last week until Sunday night, the Windows Live OneCare security software incorrectly flagged the Google e-mail service as a threat. A warning popped up when OneCare users opened the Gmail Web site, telling them that their systems were infected with a virus called 'BAT/BWG.A.'
'This was a limited false positive issue with our antivirus protection,' a Microsoft representative said Monday. 'After we became aware of the issue, we released a new antivirus signature that resolved the issue for our customers on Sunday evening.' "

Monday, November 13, 2006

Why Yahoo Won't Face Google In Traditional Media

MediaPost Publications: "WITH GOOGLE ANNOUNCING THAT IT'S launching both a newspaper advertising program and contextual radio ads, I'm left wondering if Yahoo will ever follow suit, rolling out a traditional media arm of its own. For now, obviously, Yahoo in traditional media is out of the question. Yahoo's facing tough times after poor Q3 performance, and it's not in a position to extend its reach as dramatically as Google has. But that doesn't mean traditional will be out of the question forever, and it's a worthwhile question to ask. "

Why Yahoo Won't Face Google In Traditional Media

MediaPost Publications: "WITH GOOGLE ANNOUNCING THAT IT'S launching both a newspaper advertising program and contextual radio ads, I'm left wondering if Yahoo will ever follow suit, rolling out a traditional media arm of its own. For now, obviously, Yahoo in traditional media is out of the question. Yahoo's facing tough times after poor Q3 performance, and it's not in a position to extend its reach as dramatically as Google has. But that doesn't mean traditional will be out of the question forever, and it's a worthwhile question to ask. "

In Tokyo, PS3 launch cures few of fever

CNET News.com: "TOKYO--For the hearty souls willing to brave the chill of a November night in Tokyo, it didn't take more than a few minutes past midnight to know if a PlayStation 3 would be theirs--those lucky gamers were handed a numbered ticket which guaranteed them a unit.
Then it was just a matter of waiting out the hours until stores in Tokyo's Shinjuku and Akihabara neighborhoods opened their shutters.
But for the general masses that woke up at more reasonable hours Saturday, the best option was to secure a raffle ticket and hope that Lady Luck would be on their side upon their return to the store for the raffle. "

Hotmail's replacement is going Dutch

CNET News.com: "Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende may get booted out of office in national elections this month, but he can lay claim to being the first person in the world to get an authorized fresh Windows Live Mail account, Microsoft said on Friday.
Although the Redmond, Wash.-based company moved the Hotmail successor out of beta Thursday in The Netherlands, Microsoft won't have the final version in the United States and elsewhere until next year, later than it had planned.
The Netherlands has almost 16.5 million residents, a third of whom have a Hotmail account, according to Richard Sim, product planner for Windows Live Mail. Windows Live Mail is replacing Hotmail.
About 10,000 Netherlands residents signed up for accounts within hours of the launch, he said. "

Google faces legal challenges over video copyright

CNET News.com: "Google's video service faces at least one copyright infringement lawsuit, the company confirmed on Friday, and the Web search leader faces a separate subpoena tied to the service.
Copyright infringement has become a hot topic as pirated video from TV, films and music videos has proliferated across the Web. Google runs its own service known as Google Video and last month agreed to buy video site YouTube for $1.65 billion."

Personalizing Google Apps for Your Domain

CNET News.com: "Google on Monday added a 'start page' feature to its Google Apps for Your Domain package of Web applications, which it launched in August. The start page will serve as a central access point for the applications that come bundled in the package, including things like e-mail, news, weather, map and calendar, product manager Mike Horowitz said. Google Apps for Your Domain allows corporations and organizations to offer those applications to employees and others for free, in essence outsourcing the infrastructure, maintenance and other costs to Google. "

With IE 7, green means go for legit sites

CNET News.com: "Starting early next year, the address bar in Internet Explorer 7 will turn green when surfing to a legitimate Web site--but only in some cases, not all.
The colored address bar is designed to be a sign that a specific site can be trusted, giving people the green light to carry out transactions there. It is a weapon in the fight against phishing scams, which use fraudulent Web sites. "

Game on: PS3, Wii finally hitting stores

CNET News.com: "After 18 months of hype, the three-party, next-generation video game console war is finally upon us.
For longer than many would care to remember, the video game industry has been all but consumed with speculation about which of the three new consoles--Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 or Nintendo's Wii--would become top dog."

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Southwest Airlines Blog

I was looking for the video of that southwest airlines "coins" commercial about the drive thru.
Southwest Airlines Blog » Blog Archive » Maybe it’s all in the attitude?: "Nuts about Southwest is all about our Employees, Customers, airplanes, and airports. We really are Nuts about Southwest and we hope that our Readers will share that passion by posting their own comments."

Friday, November 10, 2006

Google says speed is king

CNET News.com: "SAN FRANCISCO--YouTube succeeded where Google Video didn't because users were able to see their videos posted immediately, Google executive Marissa Mayer said at the Web 2.0 Summit here on Thursday.
'YouTube let people see the video right away,' Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience, said during a short talk. 'That's why it did so well.'
By contrast, people posting to Google Video had to wait anywhere from two to four days for the video to be vetted and posted for public consumption, Mayer said.
Google announced that it was acquiring YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock last month. "

Democrats seize control of House, Senate

CNET News.com: "Democrats seized control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Tuesday, capping a historic election year marked by heavy use of the Internet for activism, outreach and fundraising.
But control of the U.S. Senate remained a tossup as of Wednesday morning, with the results hanging on a pair of races in Virginia and Montana that showed the major party contenders within a hair's breadth of one another.
In Virginia, Democrat Jim Webb claimed 49.55 percent of the vote, just 7,304 more votes than Republican George Allen, according to the state's unofficial results. At 10 a.m. PST, the Associated Press reported that its survey of Montana counties showed there was no way Sen. Conrad Burns, the Republican incumbent, could surpass Democratic challenger Jon Tester's lead of about 3,000 votes. "

Election 2006: Who predicted this?

CNET News.com: "In the days before the closely watched contest for control of Congress, untold numbers of bloggers were predicting Tuesday's outcome.
Some spoke out in hopes of winning a lunch bet at a co-worker's expense. Others registered their picks with the Drudge Retort--a parody of the Drudge Report--in hopes of landing an iPod Nano.
But how did these predictions jibe with reality? An informal survey of some of the more prominent political blogs--and a slew of lesser-known ones culled from Technorati searches--found one visible theme: rampant optimism among both Democratic and Republican devotees. "

Linksys, Yahoo team on Net cordless phone

CNET News.com: "Linksys and Yahoo have joined forces to sell a cordless phone that is specially designed for use with Yahoo's Internet phone service.
The Linksys Dual-Mode Cordless Phone for Yahoo Messenger with Voice (CIT310) lets users make free PC-to-PC calls using Yahoo's voice over Internet Protocol service. Users can also use their Yahoo Phone Out accounts and Yahoo Phone In accounts to make and receive calls. "

Yahoo to embed instant messaging in e-mail

CNET News.com: "SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo is planning to embed instant messaging into its Web-based e-mail program within the next few months so that people can have live chats in Yahoo Mail, even if they don't have an instant-messaging application installed, a Yahoo executive announced on Thursday.
Brad Garlinghouse, vice president of communications, communities and front doors at Yahoo, gave a technology preview at the Web 2.0 Summit here of a new feature planned for Yahoo Mail that seamlessly integrates instant messaging. "

Microsoft sees gamers online as key to growth

CNET News.com: "Microsoft's ability to convert occasional players of online video games into regular gamers is key to growth for the next-generation Xbox 360 console, a company executive said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a conference a day after the software giant announced the debut of a video download service for its Xbox Live online service that will make some television shows and movies available in high-definition video by November 22.
'The real growth here is getting to that moderate gamer. We need to bring them to the box,' Peter Moore, vice president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division which oversees Xbox, told investors at the BMO Capital Markets conference in New York. "

Baidu and eBay to collaborate in China

CNET News.com: "Chinese Internet search company Baidu and eBay's EachNet, an e-commerce company in China, said on Wednesday that they had reached a collaboration deal.
Under the agreement, Baidu will promote PayPal Beibao, eBay's PayPal service in China, and will become the exclusive provider of text-based search advertising on EachNet. Baidu and EachNet also plan to develop a co-branded toolbar. "

Verizon nearing content deal with YouTube?

CNET News.com: "Verizon Communications, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, is in advanced talks with YouTube to bring the Web site's videos to cell phones and television sets, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
A deal may give Verizon a marketing edge over its rivals in the wireless and cable industries, furthering the company's efforts to expand into Internet and entertainment services, the Journal reported. "

Google steps up investment in radio industry

CNET News.com: "Web search leader Google is hiring scores of radio sales people and is spending heavily in a bid to expand its position in the $20 billion radio industry.
Google spokesman Michael Mayzel said this week that the company will begin a public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of the year. Advertisers will be able to go online and sign up for targeted radio ads using the same AdWords system they use to buy Web search ads. "

Google wants data in the cloud, not on the desktop

CNET News.com: "SAN FRANCISCO--Google is targeting the neo-network computer, not Microsoft, with all the Web-based applications it is releasing, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said at the Web 2.0 Summit here Tuesday.
Contrary to popular perception, applications such as Google's Docs & Spreadsheets are not designed to compete directly with Microsoft's desktop Office applications and suite, he said in a session dubbed 'a conversation.' "

Google denies rumor of YouTube legal reserve

CNET News.com: "Google CEO Eric Schmidt denied a widely circulated rumor that his company had set aside $500 million to settle copyright claims by media companies as part of its deal to acquire video-sharing site YouTube.
Speaking to more than 500 Internet industry insiders at the Web 2.0 Summit, Schmidt said Tuesday that an anonymous blog post asserting that YouTube has reserved $500 million for legal claims, out of the $1.65 billion takeover price, was 'not true.'"

AOL acquires financial news search company

CNET News.com: "AOL announced Wednesday that it has snapped up search technology company Relegence, which specializes in finding financial news and information.
Relegence, a subscription-based service, aims to deliver relevant information to users' desktops as soon as it's published, regardless of the medium used. The notification and delivery technology draws from such sources as local and international newswires, television and cable networks, regulatory filings, Internet bulletin boards and Web sites and is designed to be integrated with internal streaming content. "

Google accidentally sends out e-mail worm

CNET News.com: "Google on Tuesday inadvertently sent the Kama Sutra e-mail worm to the 50,000 subscribers of a Google Video e-mail group.
Three messages were posted Tuesday evening to an e-mail list that sends out alerts about additions to the Google Video blog. 'Some of these posts may have contained a virus called W32/Kapser.A@mm--a mass-mailing worm,' Google said in a note on its Web site apologizing for the incident. "

'Skypecasts' coming to your blog soon

CNET News.com: "SAN FRANCISCO--Internet telephony provider Skype plans to offer bloggers and others the ability to hold audio chats in the next version of its Net telephone product, co-founder Niklas Zennström said Tuesday night at the Web 2.0 Summit here.
The next version of Skype will enable people to post a link on a blog or Web site that will take people to a public chat room when clicked on, he said during a question-and-answer session during dinner. "

Can he turn Dell into a cool brand?

CNET News.com: "Dell's John Medica has worked on two very opposite sides of the PC industry.
In his early days as an engineer and executive at Apple Computer, he played an integral role in the development of the Macintosh II and the PowerBook. Now, as Dell's senior vice president in charge of product design, Medica is overseeing Dell's attempt to shed its image among consumers as a stodgy supplier of no-frills business PCs to a hip, edgy company attuned to the tech-savvy buyer. In other words, the 'Appleization' of Dell.
Upon his arrival at Dell in 1993, Medica built up another area in which Dell had little prior experience: the notebook business. He's now charged with finding new ways to make Dell's PCs stand out in a boring gray-and-black commoditized world that, ironically, it helped create. At the same time, Dell is rebuilding its relationships with consumers following an awful year in which it launched the largest recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry and admitted its service and support capabilities needed work."

Can he turn Dell into a cool brand?

CNET News.com: "Dell's John Medica has worked on two very opposite sides of the PC industry.
In his early days as an engineer and executive at Apple Computer, he played an integral role in the development of the Macintosh II and the PowerBook. Now, as Dell's senior vice president in charge of product design, Medica is overseeing Dell's attempt to shed its image among consumers as a stodgy supplier of no-frills business PCs to a hip, edgy company attuned to the tech-savvy buyer. In other words, the 'Appleization' of Dell.
Upon his arrival at Dell in 1993, Medica built up another area in which Dell had little prior experience: the notebook business. He's now charged with finding new ways to make Dell's PCs stand out in a boring gray-and-black commoditized world that, ironically, it helped create. At the same time, Dell is rebuilding its relationships with consumers following an awful year in which it launched the largest recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry and admitted its service and support capabilities needed work."

Yahoo testing image ads on mobile phones

CNET News.com: "Yahoo is to begin delivering graphical ads to mobile phones as part of a test of how it can extend corporate brand marketing on the Web into the wireless market, the company said Monday.
The Internet media company said it will start an initial public evaluation later this week in the United States of slimmed-down banner ads and similar advertising to the small, but growing number of users of Yahoo's Mobile Web service.
'The challenge is that because cell phone screens have limited real estate, ads have to more relevant,' said Julie Ask, an analyst with JupiterResearch. 'There is an extra burden' compared with ads delivered to computer users on the Web. "

Google-YouTube merger clears antitrust review

CNET News.com: "Google received the green light Friday from antitrust regulators reviewing its $1.65 billion acquisition of video-sharing site YouTube. The Federal Trade Commission listed the transaction on its list of deals that received an early termination notice, which means the FTC and Department of Justice have completed their review of the proposed merger and decided not to take further action. "

AOL, Microsoft seek indie-rock cred

CNET News.com: "AOL and Microsoft are wooing indie-rock fans to help solidify their digital music strategies.
Corporations seeking indie cred are nothing new. But both bids come at critical times for the technology giants.
AOL, in the midst of shifting from an Internet service provider model to an advertising-driven business, aims to expand its audience at the margins by stretching beyond the pop crowd with new programming aimed at hipsters.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is trying to make inroads with its new Zune digital media player by winning over the same group of tastemakers that first embraced Apple Computer's iPod. "

Ask.com becoming the search engine that could

CNET News.com: "The butler is dead, the name has been tweaked, but executives at Ask.com would like to remind the world that they are still very much in business.
In fact, they're actually doing pretty well these days.
'We certainly are the underdog. We're certainly living in a Google world,' Ask.com Chief Executive Jim Lanzone said. 'But Ask is anything but small compared to the rest of the Web. We're the fourth-ranked search engine and one of the top 10 Web properties.'
Just this week, the portal Lycos announced that it had chosen Ask.com to replace Microsoft for its natural search listings and Google for sponsored listings. "

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Democrats Set Sights on Drug Ads and Media Ownership

Advertising Age: "WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- With Democrats on the verge of gaining control of the U.S. Senate along with the House, marketing issues could get far more attention from Congress.
A Democratic-dominated Congress is likely to take aim at a number of marketing issues.

Drugs and food
Marketing groups believe a Senate switch would immediately put under the microscope prescription-drug and children's food advertising. Prescription-drug advertising has been one focus of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and the senator has co-sponsored legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on advertising a drug after its approval. Mr. Kennedy has also criticized the Food and Drug Administration for not giving direct-to-consumer drug ads sufficient scrutiny, and he would become chairman of the Senate Health Committee in a Democratic Senate. "

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

TSA: Permitted and Prohibited Items

TSA: Permitted and Prohibited Items: "On Tuesday, September 26, TSA adjusted the ban on liquids, gels, and aerosols.
Air travelers may now carry liquids, gels and aerosols in their carry-on bag when going through security checkpoints.
With certain exceptions for prescription and over-the-counter medicines, baby formula and breast milk, and other essential liquids, gels, and aerosols, the following rules apply to all liquids, gels, and aerosols you want to carry through a security checkpoint."

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

My Kind Of Candidate - AdPulp

My Kind Of Candidate - AdPulp: "'Ron Kind even spent your tax dollars to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia.'"

- it's voting day.. vote against negative politcal campaign ads

Monday, November 06, 2006

Gold : Gold Bullion Coins Prices

Gold : Gold Bullion Coins - American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins : Gold Coin Prices - Buy Gold Bulllion Coins : Gold Bullion Trading, Gold Bullion Prices and Gold Bullion Bars: "American Gold Eagle

YearSizePurityTotal WeightDiameterRetail Price
2006 1 oz.9166 Fine Gold1.0909 troy oz 32.70 mm$665.20
2006 1/2 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.5454 troy oz 27.0 mm$349.80
2006 1/4 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.2727 troy oz 22.00 mm$179.60
2006 1/10 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.1091 troy oz 16.50 mm$76.30
1 oz.9166 Fine Gold1.0909 troy oz 32.70 mm$652.60
1/2 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.5455 troy oz 27.00 mm$348.30
1/4 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.2727 troy oz 22.00 mm$178.80
1/10 oz.9166 Fine Gold0.1091 troy oz 16.50 mm$75.60 "

Wikipedia used to spread malicious code

Tech News on ZDNet: "A Wikipedia page has been used by hackers in an attempt to spread malicious code.
The entry for the MSBlast worm in the German version of the popular online encyclopedia was altered to include false information about a new version of the Lovesan/MSBlast worm, with links to a supposed fix, according to Sophos. The fix was actually a piece of malicious code, the antivirus vendor said in a notice published Friday.
It's not clear how long the vandalized page was live, but the editors of Wikipedia.de moved quickly to delete the links once they were discovered. "

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Kerry's '72 Army Comments Mirror Latest

My Way News : "WASHINGTON (AP) - During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to 'the perpetuation of war crimes.'
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who turned against the war, made the observations in answers to a 1972 candidate questionnaire from a Massachusetts peace group.
After Kerry caused a firestorm this week with what he termed a botched campaign joke that Republicans said insulted current soldiers, The Associated Press was alerted to the historical comments by a former law enforcement official who monitored 1970s anti-war activities
Kerry apologized Wednesday for the 2006 campaign trail gaffe that some took as suggesting U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq were undereducated. He contended the remark was aimed at Bush, not the soldiers.
In 1972, as he ran for the House, he was less apologetic in his comments about the merits of a volunteer army. He declared in the questionnaire that he opposed the draft but considered a volunteer army 'a greater anathema.'
'I am convinced a volunteer army would be an army of the poor and the black and the brown,' Kerry wrote. 'We must not repeat the travesty of the inequities present during Vietnam. I also fear having a professional army that views the perpetuation of war crimes as simply 'doing its job.'"

- i don't really like doing political stuff but am I the only one sick of this jerk?
John Kerry, please just go away... you don't represent me or anyone else.. go away!

Google Mail goes mobile. RSS too.

CNET News.com: "Google is very smart about mobile devices. On a PDA or cell phone, the Google search experience has been, for quite a while, very different than it is on a full-size screen. Google even parses Web pages it links to and tries to repackage them in a mobile-friendly way. (To force the Google mobile version, go to www.google.com/m.)
Gmail, though, has not been a great experience on mobile devices. But on Thursday Google released a mobile Java Gmail application for cell phones that makes using your Gmail account much easier. The new app--which will be preloaded onto some new Sprint phones, or available for download for anyone else who has a Java-capable phone here--is a very good mobile version of the Gmail Web app. The app gives Gmail its own custom menu system, which is much easier to navigate than a Web-based app would be on a cell phone. Gmail's message threading also shows up clearly, and the site displays attachments (like photos, Word documents) in the app. One snag: In my tests on the phone Google sent me to try the product, links to documents on Google Docs and Spreadsheets did not work. Oops. (A new WAP version of the reader is available too, which I have not tried.) "

Yahoo Food asks: What are you hungry for next?

CNET News.com: "Yahoo is going into the food business.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said Wednesday it was offering Yahoo users thousands of recipes, advice from regional celebrity chefs, video cooking guides and easy-to-use Web tools to help cooks answer the daily question: What's for dinner?
The Web media giant is looking to create a new lifestyle business in a category that, while well-established in Internet terms, is largely fragmented among food industry players and niche recipe sites, with few big independent media players. "

Google launches new mobile Gmail

CNET News.com: "Google launched on Thursday a version of Gmail for mobile devices that lets U.S. users do in two clicks what previously took them 10 or more.
Gmail for Mobile Devices is a free, downloadable Java application that will work on any Java-enabled mobile phone, of which there are about 300 in the United States, said Tony Hsieh, product manager for Google Mobile.
The software improves on a version of Gmail released nearly a year ago that lets people access their e-mail through a mobile Web browser. Once the new Java application is installed on a phone, a person can quickly launch Gmail instead of having to open a mobile browser and wait for it to load before signing in, Hsieh said. "

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Podcast: The U.N. vs. the U.S.--it's getting testy

CNET News.com: "CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh is in Greece, where he reports on the escalating war of words over who should run the Internet and the limits of free speech in cyberspace.
Google is enlisting bug hunters to the cause. CNET News.com's security reporter Joris Evers explains why.
And if you didn't place a bid on that choice piece of cyber real estate yet, it's gonna cost even more today. CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman on the escalating cost of owning real estate in the virtual world."

Google goes wild for wikis

CNET News.com: "On Tuesday, JotSpot, which provides a hosted service mainly to corporate customers for building wikis, announced that it had been acquired by Google. Executives aren't saying how much Google spent on the 3-year-old company, but they were, not surprisingly, eager to say how well the two company's online offerings dovetail.
'We watched them acquire Writely and launch Google Groups, Google Spreadsheets and Google Apps for Your Domain. It was pretty apparent that Google shared our vision for how groups of people can create, manage and share information online,' JotSpot co-founder and CEO Joe Kraus wrote in a blog announcing the deal. JotSpot's product is a platform for building wiki-based applications that in some cases aren't all that different from Google's existing Web applications. For example, the company has an online spreadsheet and calendar that multiple people can edit. "