Digital Marketing Forum

A new search engine, Wolfram Alpha, has gone into public beta. I say search engine but it's not quite that; it's a new concept that takes a question asked by the user, goes and has a look online and offers a proper answer in return rather than a series of …

The [I]New York Times[/I] is [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1"]reporting[/URL] that the Justice Department is opening an antitrust investigation of Google’s settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book Search service. In 2005, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed suit against Google, claiming that Google’s practice of scanning copyrighted …

A mainstay of situation comedies is when one of the characters plays hooky at work to go do something else -- bowling, watching a ball game, going to the movies -- and gets caught. Never fails. Now there's a new wrinkle for them to try. [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE53N4HH20090424?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=22&sp=true"]Reuters[/URL] is reporting that a …

The Android is about to take the leap from the cell phone to the netbook, and much like the first Android-powered cell phone, the first iteration is a bit of head-shaker. Instead of a dazzling showcase, it's underpowered and small, and although it has some interesting qualities, cost is going …

Craig Newmark, the San Francisco-based founder of the Craigslist want-ad site, is [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/25/craig-newmark-im-not-plan_n_191350.html"]reportedly[/URL] refusing pressure to shut down his site's Erotic Services section in light of an alleged murder where the victim advertised there, according to a story in the Huffington Post. Philip Markoff, a Boston University medical student, is …

Though the swine flu just began hitting the news media on Friday or so, there's already a number of sites and ways to help you keep track of developments (and give you nightmares, frankly, but forewarned is forearmed). 1. A [URL="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=30.977609,-98.789062&spn=53.686525,85.78125&z=4"]Google Map[/URL] of reported swine flu cases. It's not perfect …

If you recall, on April 11, I wrote "[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4227.html"]Linux Store Open for Business: A Fantastic Voyage[/URL]," where I told you that I wanted a Netbook for my anniversary. I also described my fantasy computer store where you select your computer, OS, other options and walk out happy. I had a …

Taser International, which makes electric stun guns, is [URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aR6xHcnBMn9M&refer=us"]suing[/URL] Linden Research Inc., the owner of the [URL="http://secondlife.com/"]Second Life[/URL] virtual environment, for selling unauthorized virtual versions of its product. The trademark infringement case claims that the online sales of virtual products are damaging the company’s reputation and hurting its sales. Second …

It’s no secret that one big key to unlocking the business and consumer technology spending lockbox is easier credit from banks and other lenders. On the surface, the better-than-expected earnings news from big banks like Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase gave a much-needed boost to that theory. …

As you probably have heard, Oracle bought Sun for $7.4 billion today. I'm no Larry Ellison fan, because frankly, I think he's a few cards short of a full deck but I think in the long run, this is good for Sun. Not all of Sun but a lot of …

When Facebook [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23327/1231/1/0/"]changed the terms and conditions[/URL] of use back in February, some 70,000 members complained about a perceived content copyright grab and [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23343/1231/"]forced a rethink[/URL]. At the time, founder Mark Zuckerberg promised that Twitter had "decided to take a new approach" towards developing new terms. Unfortunately that new approach …

Well thank goodness that silliness is all over: Ashton Kutcher is the first user to hit a million followers on Twitter. The actor come TV presenter narrowly beat off the challenge from the frontrunner, the CNN account, not least because of a big publicity drive which included the likes of …

This is going to be important - although some lawyers are saying it's not going to stick outside Sweden. The Pirate Bay people, who aren't so much advocates of Internet file swapping as proud boasters of their activities in it (the clue is in the name), are going to jail. …

The [URL="http://www.twitter.com"]Twitter[/URL] controversy rages on, by the looks of things. In the UK the latest influencer to condemn the micro blogging service is one Matthew Gwyther, who edits Management Today, one of our major management sites. He's written about how useless the service is because, among other things, you can't …

Google stock was up yesterday, down this morning and everyone has an opinion for the yo-yo effect currently frustrating Google investors. At the top of the list of issues is actually a projected issue – Google’s first quarter earnings which come out on Thursday. The sentiment is a downward one …

The Nasdaq is down 43 points this morning, with Google (down $12) and RIMM (down $3) leading the charge down the hill, so to speak. I think we’re seeing the first symptoms of anther false bottom, which sounds incredible after hearing from so many experts on Wall Street that the …

A lot of companies are attempting to hitch their wagons to a star these days with a long layover in the Clouds. Big companies like [URL="http://www.sun.com"]Sun[/URL], [URL="http://www.ibm.com"]IBM[/URL], [URL="http://www.hp.com"]HP[/URL], [URL="http://www.cisco.com"]Cisco[/URL], [URL="http://www.amazon.com"]Amazon[/URL], [URL="http://www.google.com"]Google[/URL], [URL="http://www.vmware.com"]VMware[/URL] and [URL="http://www.citrix.com"]Citrix[/URL] are making major financial investments in Cloud culture. Are they chasing rainbows or will they find …

In his keynote last Wednesday at AIIM, Andrew Lippman from MIT's Media Lab pointed out that not that long ago we went to work then we went home and watched TV and the two worlds never collided, but toda social networking tools and mobile devices are blurring the lines between …

According to a [URL="http://www.mk-news.co.uk/mknews/displayarticle.asp?id=405050"]report[/URL] in a local UK newspaper, the MK News, it seems that Google Street View is not welcome in the affluent English village of Broughton in Buckinghamshire. Apparently concerned about the potential for criminals intent on breaking into their houses, residents of one street which has already …

It is official, Britain has gone Twitter mad. No really, totally insane in fact. First there was the [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7962912.stm"]story[/URL], which I am assured is not some badly timed April Fool gag, that reveals the government is contemplating adding Twitter skills to the primary school curriculum while at the same time …

The non-technical world is starting to understand the concept of Twitter -- which means that they're starting to try to control it. Courtrooms have [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4148.html"]already begun dealing[/URL] with jurors Googling, Facebooking, and Twittering their way through the case. Now, some courtrooms are starting to set regulations ahead of time. The …

It seems, at long last, that Google has added some semantic thinking into the search mix. Ori Allon, the Technical Lead with the Google Search Quality Team, and Google Snippets Team Engineer Ken Wilder, have [URL="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/two-new-improvements-to-google-results.html"]confirmed[/URL] the roll out of the improvement to Google search. With immediate effect, Google is …

[URL="http://earth.google.com/"]Google Earth[/URL] now supports the use of historical imagery -- back to 1945 in some areas -- that lets users see how certain areas have changed over time. As described by [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_earth"]Wikipedia[/URL], Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and …

Not as though it's ever going to happen, but suppose I were at a party one night and [URL="http://www.businessweek.com/it100/2005/executive/GOOG.htm"]Eric Schmidt[/URL], CEO of Google happened to be there. I would love to corner him and get him a glass of wine or scotch or whatever it is that CEOs at large …

I knew it was going to happen, you knew it was going to happen, [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/19244/53/"]everyone knew[/URL] that Street View would cause a privacy stink when it eventually launched in the UK. Everyone except Google it would appear. Although it is not saying how many images have been removed from the …

This has started earlier than I expected. American readers will be quite used to the idea that in many areas if you go to Google Maps you'll find pictures of the street as well as maps. Personally I think this is a good thing; only two days ago I was …

The digital generation brought up Googling, Wikipediaing, and Twittering their way through their lives is starting to have problems when it turns out they don’t see why they can’t do the same thing when they’re in a courtroom, according to the [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/18juries.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1"]New York Times[/URL]. In a recent case, it was …

On January 9, Google’s stock was at a historic low – at $290 per share – it spiked upward to $380 per share in mid-February before settling in at its current state at $340. Now, that’s a lot of volatility, even in this wild stock market environment. But Google has …

Remember [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3344.html"]last fall[/URL], when people were terrified that pedophiles were using Google Streetview to find parks and schools so they could more readily find their young victims? Apparently a California legislator has been listening to them, or someone like them. Last month, California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-El Cajon, introduced a …

There’s a lot of talk about ‘dead cat” bounces in the financial markets these days. Nobody really knows if the stock market has hit bottom, but last week’s rebound continues into Monday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went on “60 Minutes” and said that the recession could abate if …

One of the major problems with social networks - hey, one of the major problems with any new trend - is that so many people spend so long trying to persuade themselves that they're actually looking at just another version of an existing thing. So if I'd been around when …

There's an interesting article over at [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/161270/social_networks_risks_for_business_security.html"]PCWorld[/URL] this week suggesting that social networking Web sites are putting businesses at risk for security breaches. Author Howard Price says now that it's possible to link personal accounts like Twitter and Facebook to accounts at career-oriented sites like LinkedIn, a single status message …

So Google is going to compete with Skype. If you weren't signed up to the GrandCentral service the company acquired, forget it - as per the info on [URL="http://www.google.com/voice/about"]this link[/URL], the service is only available for existing customers right now. All the same, it's an interesting move. At the moment …

I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get in on the phone management service [URL="http://www.grandcentral.com/"]Grand Central[/URL] when it was still in beta. [URL="http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/"]Google announced[/URL] late last night that its relaunching the service as Google Voice and is available to current customers as a private beta. I, …

Stephen Wolfram is a British physicist perhaps best known for his work in creating the computational software Mathematica. That could all soon be forgotten if his Wolfram Alpha computational data engine proves to be the Google killer that some are suggesting. After all, it claims to be able to answer …

When Google released Chrome last Fall, I wrote that it represented a [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3092.html"]direct attack on Microsoft and Apple[/URL]. This week, my colleague [URL="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=334716"]Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes in ComputerWorld[/URL] that Android could be coming to a Netbook near you by the end of this year. If this reports turns out to …

A recent study shows that, while the consumption of online pornography doesn't vary a lot between states, the states with the highest rates are the ones that are more conservative and religious. [URL="http://people.hbs.edu/bedelman/papers/redlightstates.pdf"]The study[/URL], by Benjamin Edelman, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, controls for the amount …

There are ways of marketing yourself using social media and there are ways of not doing so. One of the ways of not doing so is by making a complete fool of yourself and then allowing the fact to get out. Take the marketing company in [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7914415.stm"]this story[/URL]. That's Ivell …

[I]This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall. ~Led Zeppelin, The Rain Song. [/I] It's been quite a couple of weeks for Google. First there was the mistake that caused the entire Internet to be [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/31/google-flags-whole-internet-as-malware/"]flagged as malware[/URL]. Next came the great …

...I didn't get any email outage at all through my [URL="http://www.google.com/a"]Google Apps[/URL] account. Call me old-fashined but when you sign up for something like that you deserve to be included if everyone else gets a complete service failure. I can only assume this is because, remiss of me though it …

The great Gmail outage, which as far as I can tell lasted a couple of hours over night in the US has prompted some nasty articles such as this one from [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/24/trouble-in-the-clouds-gmail-turns-into-gfail/"]TechCrunch[/URL] where they derisively refer to Gmail as Gfail. Let's grow up, people. Software fails all the time and …

It is about time, but Twitter has now announced that it is rolling out a real time search function for users. Unfortunately the 'Search and Trends' feature is currently only available for a "limited set of accounts" [URL="http://blog.twitter.com/2009/02/testing-more-integrated-search.html"]according to[/URL] Twitter founder Biz Stone who adds that most people "will not …

The usual image of a stalker is some creepy bloke obsessed by some TV star, following them around and making unwanted advances. When it comes to the online realm, however, it would appear that we might have to redraw that stereotype. New [URL="http://www.yasni.co.uk"]research[/URL] has revealed that while 50 percent of …

Apparently the 30th edition of the Collins English Dictionary will be seen, in fact as far as Bebo users are concerned it could even be fiend. Whether it is piff or naff is something only you can decide, and should you happen not to be a teenage Bebo user the …

The tabloid newspapers are full of it, some here in the UK even have the [URL="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2255989.ece"]Google Ocean image[/URL] on the front page. Hardly surprising when you consider that it would appear the Google mapping app has discovered the mythical underwater city of Atlantis. The image, taken from the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3919.html"]recently launched[/URL] …

Well, thank goodness for that. A couple has failed to sue Google for infringing their privacy by - wait for it - including their house in its Street View function on Maps. It is of course (in my view) ludicrous to state that anything visible in public can't be included …

When Facebook changed its [URL="http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever"]terms of service[/URL] on Monday, it caused an immediate uproar, and when people screamed loudly enough, Facebook backed down. What this shows me is that although Facebook is a free service, it exists and is successful because we make it so. The millions of people who …

BlackBerry smartphones get love from Google and iPhone gets love from, well, everybody. Most companies that develop mobile apps worry about these two user bases before any other, leaving other mobile phone users out in the cold. According to an announcement out of the [URL="http://reviews.cnet.com/gsma-world-congress/"]GSMA Mobile World Congress[/URL] in Barcelona, …

Some slivers of sunshine amidst the economic clouds today. First, retail sales are up for the first time in six months, perhaps signaling that consumers aren’t as bearish on the economy as President Obama appears to be. I like the President and certainly wish him success, but his mantra of …

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been booted from Twitter after the social networking service said an account set up in his name was by an impersonator. The account, @OHHDL -- for The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama -- launched over the weekend and gained more than 20,000 …