|
|
|
|
|
|
- FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP)-- A bystander was fatally shot by a police officer in a shootout with a suspect, authorities said Wednesday. Olivia Stewart 41, was in the parking lot of an apartment complex a block away when she was caught in the crossfire between police and a man with a sawed-off shotgun... |
|
|
|
- Price: $319.95; Rating: 4. |
|
|
|
- Price: $338.10; Rating: 4. |
|
|
|
- Price: $341.15; Rating: 3. |
|
|
|
- Price: $349.00; Rating: 0 |
|
|
Home Depot (Jan 04 2007 23:59 GMT) - Price: $349.99; Rating: 3. |
|
|
|
- Despite the contention that more Internet usage equals less time in front of the television, CBS has found more online connectivity equals more engagement with lucrative primetime broadcasts.CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves will be a keynote speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next Tuesday. Some research conducted at CBS may provide a brighter paragraph or two for the executive who has been pushing the venerable network onto the cutting edge of digital media. He's already scheduled to talk about how media companies like CBS will work with all this new technology and interactivity people have embraced. Being talked at was the modus operandi of the 20th Century. |
|
|
|
- As an e-commerce journalist, my inbox is flooded with press releases. I choose, maybe, two percent of them to cover. That's a generous estimate. Why so few? Sometimes it's because of a plate already full, or an irrelevant or uninteresting topic (so-and-so promoted to VP of something or other). |
|
|
|
- A firestorm of negativity has surrounded Google in recent weeks concerning the company's practice of advertising its own services as "tips" in SERP pages queried by users. At least for today, the company has put that practice on hold.It seems that when the blogosphere speaks, Google listens (for the most part). Michael Arrington at TechCrunch was the first to spot the news this afternoon. After a public outcry and allegations that Google had embraced the Dark Side of the Force (who would have ever made that outlandish statement? |
|
|
|
- YouTube cannot seem to stay away from controversy. From being sued and threatened both domestically and globally over copyright issues to the latest scandal south of the border. This new trouble involves a video of a Brazilian model and her boyfriend "befriending" one another on a beach and in the water.Daniela Cicarelli, a model and ex-wife of soccer star Ronaldo, sued YouTube after a video of her having sex with her boyfriend in the water was posted on the site. A Brazilian court has ordered YouTube to be shut down until the video is removed from the site. |
|
|
|
- A new GPS manufacturer is the first to add an in-car local search engine to its features, and the umpteenth millionth company to issue a rotten press release. But let's stick to the good news. Dash Navigation's soon-to-be-released GPS device will feature Yahoo! Local search.Dash says it is the first GPS manufacturer to offer a local search function on its product. |
|
|
|
- You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows and you sure don't have to count circulation figures and ad pages to know that internet has been a disasterous paradigm buster for newspapers in particular and print journalism in general.Last week's fire sale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was only the latest ominous cloud of smoke to rise over the dead wood pile. From New York to Los Angeles and most stops in between, circulation figures are down and print advertising revenue-especially bread and butter local classified income-has plunged as more and more people turn to the web to find houses and jobs and basic services. Most of the problems faced by newspapers today are the natural products of plain old greed. For many years, newspapers were dominated by founding families and their progeny-the Ochs Sulzbergers, the Chandlers, the descendants of Clarence Barron, the McCormicks in Chicago, the Binghams in Kentucky, the Grahams in Washington. |
|
|
|
- Rich Skrenta's analysis of Google's winner take all positioning in search and advertising is a highly recommended read.He helps value the start page and assumes that low switching costs enabled them to build a defensible brand. Zero switching costs lead to a winner-take-all market for the leader. Even a modest initial lead will snowball until majority market share is reached and maintained. This is because, faced with a choice between two products, in the absence of switching costs users will choose the better one, even if it is only slightly better. |
|
|
|
- It seems that every time Microsoft releases an update to its Internet Explorer browser, there's a zero-day exploit waiting to be taken advantage of by hackers and identity thieves the world over.If you think I'm exaggerating, I have a little something to share with you. An article in the Washington Post confirms the suspicions that many throughout the blogosphere have had for some time now. Data shows that IE was vulnerable to malicious attacks for over three quarters of the 2006 calendar year. Brian Krebs elaborates: |
|
|
|
- Yesterday I had the chance to do a podcast interview for Tom Parish which he just posted on his Talking Portraits website.The topic was initially about Social Media Optimization, but more specifically about the role of marketing with social media in the enterprise and some good discussion about common questions that people are asking about the role of social media in this world. A few topics we cover in the interview are: 1. How is social media different from online forums and other longstanding discussion based sites? |
|
|
|
- Google in early 2006 promised they'll "be making significant and growing investments in China", with their self-censored Google China search engine being "a necessary first step". Following up on their promise, Google now announced a partnership with China Mobile in a (buzzword bingo-enabled) press release. Basically, Google will power the search engine for China Mobile's WAP portal "Monternet" to find content like "sports and entertainment news, ringtones, games, images, videos and novels." I'm not sure if Google brings along their infamous censorship module, too. E. |
|
|
|
- A few days ago, 901am.com got the scoop that Blogsmith was going to be released to the public early in 2007. It's aimed at taking on blogging sites like Wordpress.com, Blogger and TypePad. Details are still sketchy, but Blogsmith already has a good start. |
|
|
|
- Google's added a nifty little tool to Google Reader that allows you to view stats on your RSS reading trends.I'm not quite sure how this information is going to help me - other than prove I am addicted to blog reading - but it's somewhat fun to examine. What would be cool is to see this data across the entire Google Reader user base (anonymous of course). It would be interesting to see when others do their reading. Anyway, seeing as Darren and Matt have both shared details of their reading habits, here are some of mine. |
|
|
|
- A court in Brazil has just ordered the shut down of Google's YouTube for failing to remove a celebrity sex video from the site.Daniela Cicarelli, a model and ex-wife of soccer great Ronaldo, sued YouTube after a video of her apparently having sex in shallow water on a beach with her boyfriend was posted to the site.While Google may not have to obey the ruling - as they are a U.S. based company - the search engine has already shown they'll bend to the ruling of foreign courts, so it will be interesting to see how they handle this one. |
|
|
|
- Oscar makes his annual appearance in late February, and the latest service from Ask.com wants to get you to the cinema to catch some celluloid masterpieces before the Oscar pools begin at work.Let's face it, Snakes on a Plane isn't going to capture the Best Picture statuette this year. Life just isn't fair sometimes. That should not dissuade the avid moviegoer from hitting the local cinemaplex for some big screen entertainment. |
|
|
|
- Something entitled "The Sausage Manifesto" harkens to memory surreal Kids In The Hall sketches - kissing the sausage box; a scratchy-throated table-pounding old Canadian with a one-track disgustingly syrupy mind - but that's not what it is. The Sausage Manifesto is a marching order written in the chilly twilight of a Chicago morning: a writ demanding that search engines do more about click fraud.The author, Jeffrey Rohrs, called it a "Jerry Maguire" moment, springing from bed at 4 a. |
|
|
|
- Too often a business assumes that IP based solutions are the best choice to satisfy their communication requirements.Particulalrly with convergence issues. But....don't get caught making a hasty decision. There are viable options... |
|
|
|
- Amazon.com has launched a new Web site that will focus solely on shoes and handbags. The name of the site is Endless.com and will offer 250 brands and 15,000 styles. The site also boasts that it will offer free overnight shipping on all items. |
|
|
|
- Last month, Yahoo and IBM announced a Yahoo optimized version of OmniFind, an enterprise search utility. Less than three weeks later, Google is now offering up new features found within its own business search utility.No shortage of news out of the Googleplex today, as the worldwide leader in search announces updates to the Google Search Appliance. It seems that the company is taking my advice, starting off 2007 with a clear focus on improving its already dominant position with the realm of search. How does the Google Search Appliance work? |
|
|
|
- Google has a lot of fans, and has made friends with any number of businesses. Now the company has befriended the state of Pennsylvania. The "Google Earth geospatial image browser" is set to launch "on the official tourism website of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, VisitPA.com.""The Commonwealth . |
|
|
|
- Soon, I'm facing a new project where the need for up-to-date currency exchanges is crucial.This is not the first time I've done this, but I wanted to make a reusable, self-maintainable class so I don't have to do it again. The European Central Bank (ECB) provides the currency exchange rates on a daily basis in XML format, so all there needs to be done, is to wrap the XML file into a generic dictionary for easy use. With that in mind, here are the rules of the Currency class:Use XML file from ECB Update the currencies daily Must still function if the ECB has downtime Must be self maintained Must be plug 'n play. |
|
|
|
- There was a great post by Andy Beal about Five Secret Strategies to Add $1M in Revenue to your Interactive Marketing Agency in 2007.Rand later supplements this with some great additional suggestions on how to grow your business. I really like what these guys have put out there, but I like to break things down a bit differently. So here are my "5 Principles for SEO Success". These principles apply to any business, but my discussion will expand the notion into the world of SEO. |
|
|
|
- While browsing Google Labs, I noticed new Firefox extensions.Well, not all that new: I guess it's been a while since I looked in here because Blogger Web Comments is a year old, but I never noticed it before. Here's the basic idea: you download and install the extension, restart Firefox, and now there's a new icon down in the bottom right corner of your browser. |
|
|
|
- With customer attention span becoming shorter and shorter, e-commerce businesses and small online entrepreneurs alike are looking for creative and innovative ways to capture their audience more than ever.Several businesses are starting to turn to multimedia audio and video marketing for several reasons. I realized the power of multimedia marketing several years ago while producing marketing videos for different cruise line companies that still hold true today more than ever. Finding a way to entertain customers while subliminally slipping in the benefits is a great way for people to feel like they're not being sold to. Who likes to be sold to anyways? |
|
|
|
- Social networking is a bandwagon; the number of companies that haven't taken a shot at it is decreasing on what seems like a daily basis. But in its newest incarnation, social networking may have become a reliable and fuel-saving bandwagon: Toyota has gotten on board with a redesigned site for the owners of hybrid vehicles.The concept sounds a little iffy. |
|
|
|
- World Digital Media Group, L.L.C., (WDMG) today announced a partnership with LYCOS, Inc. to become the first music content provider for its newly launched proprietary entertainment platform Lycos Cinema. |
|
|
|
- Djurgårdens Patric "Bengan" Hörnqvist tvekar inte en sekund. - Vi ska bara ha det där bronset. Det vore otroligt skönt att få komma hem med en medalj, säger han. |
|
|
|
- `The Pentagon plans no action as a result of a newly released FBI report on detainee abuse at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, a spokesman said today, asserting there is nothing new in the report. “The idea that this is new is misguided and misleading,” said Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman. “ |
|
