StumbleUpon-eBay “Integration” Begins

This is an interesting purchase for eBay. They obviously have plans for it but most of us are in the dark as to just what those plans are. Certainly StumbleUpon is a very popular service and eBay obviously want to tap into that user base. As long as they don’t ruin the service everyone should be happy.

From the article
eBay announced its $75 million acquisition of social discovery service StumbleUpon a few minutes ago, and ads for the service are already popping up on the auction site. The question on everyone’s lips is: what the heck are they going to do with it? We tried to come up with some explanations last month in our post eBay-StumbleUpon: 8 Reasons Why, with possible integrations including a merger with the eBay toolbar, channel hopping for recommended products on eBay, and even integrating StumbleUpon’s social network.

The announcement doesn’t really answer those questions, with the only nod to synergies being “this acquisition will provide eBay with in-depth exposure to a fast-growing community-based service with approximately 2.3 million users”. Nonetheless, eBay’s “integration” of StumbleUpon has already begun
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iPhone to get third party apps

Wow this is progress. A strong indication from Steve Jobs that 3rd party apps will be allowed, eventually. This is great news. While the iPhone looks great and is appealing without 3rd party apps, having the ability to put other apps on will make it even more desirable and popular.

From the article
Just in case you missed Walt Mossberg's sitdown with Steve Jobs earlier today, but in the open Q&A his Jobsness was asked point blank about the openness of the iPhone, and whether users can expect their $600 cellphone to be able to add on third party apps. His reply?

"This is an important tradeoff between security and openness. We want both. ... we'll find a way to let 3rd parties write apps and still preserve security on the iPhone. But until we find that way we can't compromise the security of the phone. ... I've used 3rd party apps... the more you add, the more your phone crashes. No one's perfect, and we'd sure like our phone not to crash once a day. If you can just be a little more patient with us I think everyone can get what they want."
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12 Essential Greasemonkey Hacks for YouTube

As good as YouTube is there are plenty of “features” that it lacks. The ones listed in this article are excellent and will make the YouTube experience even better for you. I’m sure Google will implement some of these on the site one day.

From the article
There’s a killer feature that YouTube lacks, and you’d love to have it, but it’s just not happening? Hold on to your horses; maybe the feature is already available, in the form of a Greasemonkey script. We’ve dug up 12 great ones which you should definitely try out.

If you don’t have Greasemonkey installed yet, here’s a quick rundown. You can get it from this page. You install scripts by simply clicking on ‘install this script’ (if it just loads the script in your Firefox window, then go to Tools - Greasemonkey and click on Install User Script). You can later enable or disable them from the Tools - Greasemonkey - Manage User Scripts. Ok, now that that’s sorted out, let’s get down to business.
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Better than Google? Creator thinks so

I like the sound of this. I can see Google snapping up the technology, for a price of course. Most people have experienced frustration with search results producing less than relevant information and also out of date search results. We should all get in behind plans to make search results better.

From the article
Google is keeping a close eye on a small, suburban Melbourne start-up that claims to be developing a search engine that improves on the world leader.

MyLiveSearch, which plans to go live as a public beta in a few weeks, is the brainchild of self-taught software developer Rob Gabriel.

Mr Gabriel, 35, says his search engine gives better, more relevant results than the search king because it is a truly "live" search.

Google's search engine works by building a vast index of web pages, via automated "spiders" that crawl through billions of web pages a year. However this represents only a fraction of the enormous, sprawling internet, and the index can never be entirely up to date.

Yahoo! search and (despite its name) Microsoft's Live search work the same way.

MyLiveSearch is fundamentally different. It works through a small browser plug-in. The search terms are put through Google, or other indexed search databases, but those results are treated as "starting points" alongside the user's bookmarks and other popular web hubs.
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One Million Zunes (Somehow) Sold

It does seem incredible. Are we sure these numbers are right? A very small market share indeed and pales in comparison to the mighty iPod. I wonder how many of the one million zune consumers are happy with their purchase.

From the article
Talk about a shock over the weekend. Microsoft somehow managed to sell one million Zunes. Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s president of Entertainment and Devices, said that Microsoft had met its goal and that more Zune things will come later this year. I can understand maybe a smaller company getting excited over selling a million devices, but Apple in Q4 of last year alone sold 14 million iPods. Yeah, 14 million people bought iPods. Now those Zunes seem pretty dinky in comparison, eh?
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Five Most Popular Apps on Facebook

I love the new apps available on Facebook. If I was MySpace or any other social networking site I would be worried. Facebook is just going from strength to strength and the new apps are just going to accelerate the growing user base. By the way I’m on Facebook. Search for “Spuds Stuff”.

From the article
In my recent post ‘More thoughts on Facebook’s new platform‘, I likened the social network’s new offering as having similar traits to an operating system: embracing third party developers who are given the hooks to build apps that take advantage of a unified UI, and large installed user base.

I concluded by asking where this approach leaves the rest of the social web:

One other thought: where does this leave the ’small pieces, loosely joined’ philosophy of the net? If everybody sets up shop in Facebook, keeping all the action inside the social network site, where does that leave the rest of the web?

In a less flattering analogy, Paul Kedrosky describes the Facebook Platform as the Microsoft Office of social apps.
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Bebo Banned in 2000+ New Zealand Schools

What is it with the banning of social network sites in schools? I think it’s pretty short sighted actually. Banning a site doesn’t make the supposed “problem” go away. There are plenty of ways to get you “fix” on the Internet. Schools really need to educate the kids in how to use the Internet properly and safely.

From the article
Continuing the banning trend across the world, over 2000 schools in New Zealand have taken measures of some sort to ban social networking sites like Bebo, MySpace and YouTube.

Many school administrators and parents have concerns regarding their children’s safety on social networking sites, and are taking controlling measures to restrict access to social networks on school computers. Concerned with the ability to access social networks on computers outside of school grounds, administrators are pushing educational programs for parents and students alike, so as to spread knowledge on how to behave on social networks, and how parents can filter and control access to networks as well.
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Firefox now at 25%

The latest browser market share stats are great for Firefox and must be concerning to Microsoft. The momentum continues to be with Firefox and I believe it’s market share will just keep climbing. Wait until Firefox 3.0!

From the article
Web Browsers
1 Internet Explorer 6.0 49.54%
2 Internet Explorer 7.0 16.82%
3 Firefox 2.0 14.47%
4 Firefox 1.5 9.10%
5 Safari 2.0 1.94%
6 Firefox 1.0 1.25%
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Facebook Welcomes Outside Services

This is a huge leap for Facebook. As long as Facebook doesn’t allow there site to be “graffitied” and “pimped” in the way that MySpace has then this move should prove to be a real winner.

From the article
Facebook is finally opening up to third-party software developers--a move that comes three years after rival MySpace jumped to a staggering lead in social networking largely by throwing the doors open to outside services.

Facebook announced Thursday that the No. 2 social-networking site is allowing software developers to create applications, or "widgets," for Facebook users. MySpace executives may yawn, but Facebook is also going to allow other companies to open retail services and advertise on the site, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a media event here Thursday.

"You can serve ads...or if you don't want to advertise, you can just sell something," Zuckerberg told an audience of journalists and outside developers. "You keep all the revenue."
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Microsoft Offers Amnesty Bin for iPods

This is way too funny. Can you believe it, Microsoft showing a sense of humour. Chalk this one up as a first. As one commenter said, the Zune amnesty bin is on the store shelf. ROFL…

From the article
From the entry way at Zune headquarters, we bring you today's Flickr Find: the iPod Amnesty Bin. Yeah sure, it's probably "art" more than it's a real "amnesty bin"--but it says something that upon seeing this picture my heart skipped a beat. It's like seeing adorable puppies in a pound. I instinctively wanted to grab those poor sweet neglected iPods into my arms and give them a proper home. Someone ought to notify the association for the prevention of iPod cruelty.
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Google Testing AdSense for Videos

It is clear that Google have yet to settle on how they want their ad’s displayed in Video content. I like what they are doing with this latest test. It shows the most promise so far. It certainly gives control to the publisher, which is where it should be.

From the article
Google AdSense has added some new features for video, and its launched a pilot for a small group of publishers to test streaming video ads with their online content. Publishers can control when ads play in the video and choose which ads go with which videos.

This is different from Google’s existing offerings with AdSense in that it offers much more control for publishers looking to further monetize their videos and offer something other than pre- or post-roll ads, or inline ads, which are often difficult to obtain without going through a video hosting service that has already set up relationships with ad distribution networks.

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The 20 Funniest Computer Geek Humor Bits of All Time

Some real classics here. Geek Humor can be so hilarious at times.

From the article
1) Nick Burns - Your Company's Computer Guy

This one is a bit of an oldie, but it is still one of the funniest skits that I have ever seen. He'll fix your computer, then he's gonna make fun of you. Cause he's.. Nick Burns... Your company's computer guy. LOL;) And by the way.... YOU'RE WELCOME!!!
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Vital Tools if Your Life Happens to Revolve Around Your Computer and Your Blog

Many people these days cannot seem to function without there computer and or access to there blog. With such a reliance on them then it’s great to have tools such as those mentioned to help the addicted ones like myself.

From the article
I've been introduced to two very helpful tools; one for the health of your computer, and the other for the health of your blog. YourTechOnline and BlogBackupOnline are services that let you manage and care for some pretty important aspects of life--my life at least. It revolves around my laptop and my blogs. So when I found ways to remotely care for these two major parts of my life, I was pretty thankful.
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Internal Investigation on Fake Apple Email

I’m not surprised. I’m sure when they find who the guilty party is they will be given a very public flogging and sent to Microsoft as there punishment. In all seriousness though initial impact of the “fake” email showed just what damage can be done.

From the article
In the wake of the fake iPhone and Leopard delay rumor that hit the web on May 16th, there's been a number of stories and claims regarding the events.

Engadget posted their sequence of events, which involved the fake email sent through an internal Apple distribution list to employees indicating that the iPhone and Leopard would be delayed. A couple of hours later, Apple sent out a followup memo stating that the previous memo was fake.
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MySpace Still King of the Networks

Despite the negative press that MySpace seems to generate these numbers are proof that it is still king of the castle in terms of social networking sites. There must be something good about MySpace to remain so strong in the face of an ever increasing number of competitors.

From the article
MySpace remains king of the social networking category, according to Hitwise, taking in 79.7% of visits to sites in this category ofr the Month of April, 2007.

Facebook is second, with 11.47% of visits, and Bebo comes in third with 1.28% of visits. MySpace’s traffic has increased 70%. Facebook’s increase in traffic is largely due to their opening up of its site for anyone, instead of its previous limitations to those with college and high school email addresses, allowing its traffic to grow 106%. And to illustrate how influential MySpace is for the entire social networking ecosystem, nearly 25% of clicks to the 19 other top social networking sites came directly from MySpace. This also highlights the fact that many people have more than one social networking persona.
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Apple TV Ripped to Shreds

Not the most glowing review I have ever read of Apple TV. Not having used the product I can’t agree or disagree either way. I’m sure the team at Apple are not impressed to be getting this criticism from a respected tech site.

From the article
"The revolution will be televised". So says Apple, in its overly hyperbolic fashion about its latest product, the Apple TV. With the Apple TV, the company is trying to stamp its name on digital video the way that it has digital music. If Apple is expecting to start a revolution in the same way that the iPod did, it needs to make it a hell of a lot better than this.

Design
For anyone familiar with the Mac mini or the Airport Extreme there will be no surprises as to the shape of the Apple TV. In fact, when the Airport Extreme first arrived we initially mistook it for the Apple TV. It's roughly 20cm by 20cm and 3cm in height. It's an amalgam of plastic and metal with a rubberized base. Build quality, as you'd expect from Apple, is exceptional

The Apple TV also ships with the old faithful Apple remote with its iPod-style navigation and Menu button. Unlike the PlayStation 3 it's still infrared, so you can program it into your universal remote for convenience's sake.
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One Firefox Toolbar to Rule Them All

I like what this person has done. Firefox can get a little unwieldy with so many get add-ons and customizable this and that’s. Anything that organises all this a lot better and generally makes life easier has to be a good thing. Thumbs up from me.

From the article
If you’re like me, the first thing you started doing when you downloaded the Firefox browser was start customizing the look and feel to suit yourself.

Since then I have continually made changes, added new extensions and improvements that I thought would improve my productivity.

A goal early on was putting everything that I used into one toolbar so to maximize screen space.
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13-year-old CEO, highlight of TiECON

Just goes to show that you are never too young to run your own company. Imagine working for a 13 year old. Oh wait I feel like I already do. Seriously though this is pretty impressive for such a young age. I’m sure he will go onto to great things.

From the article
TiECON 2007, the big technology conference in Santa Clara, Calif., kicked off yesterday.

The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,” the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.

The conference featured keynote presentations from the likes of Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com), Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) and Tim O’Reilly (Web 2.0 thinker), but the young Samar better represented the theme of this year’s conference: “The New Face of Entrepreneurship.”
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Lara Croft Mannequin Results In Police Raid And Arrest

LOL. This is really funny. Another example of how stupid law enforcement can be at times.

From the article
If you thought Shaquille O'Neal raiding the wrong house for child porn was bizarre, how about this next story? Engadget points us to the story of a group of armed police who burst into a house after seeing the silhouette of a life-sized Lara Croft mannequin. Yes, the Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Apparently, the guy in question had bought the mannequin and was trying to sell it on eBay. His "mistake" was leaving it too close to a window. The guy had called the cops -- but to report some "nuisance calls," which resulted in the police sending someone around to see what was going on. It was then that they spotted the mannequin and thought it was a real person holding a real gun. Now, you'd think that once they realized their mistake they would sheepishly go away -- but instead, they arrested the guy for a "suspected firearm offense."
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Experts Now Say JFK Bullet Analysis Was Wrong

This is one case that I don’t think will ever be put to rest. The conspiracy theories surrounding it over the years have just been astounding and they will continue for a long time yet. One thing is for sure, I don’t think we will ever know the full truth.

From the article
In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.
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Microsoft Says Your Phone is Your Next PC

If Microsoft says so then it must be right. While I disagree with Microsoft on a number of things in this case they might just be right (to a point). There is certainly a push to pack more and more into mobile phones and to be able to do more and more with them. Will they replace the PC, No. Will you be able to do some PC stuff on your mobile, yes.

From the article
While the PDA has existed as a sort of mini-PC for years, Microsoft said it would encourage phone manufacturers to formalize the transition of the phone to a mobile PC through a research initiative called "Fone+".
While the PDA has existed as a sort of mini-PC for years, Microsoft said it would encourage phone manufacturers to formalize the transition of the phone to a mobile PC.

Microsoft Research chief Craig Mundie said that Microsoft has a research project called "Fone+" that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television.

For Microsoft, the challenge is extending the PC platform into new applications and form factors. For many years, the WinHEC confeerence here has served as the underlying foundation for hardware initiatives for the Tablet PC and the more recent UMPC, both of which have struggled. Microsoft's penetration into the smartphone market, however, has been more successful.
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Google 2.0: Google Universal Search

I will be watching this with interest as will the bulk of the Internets users. Any change to Google search results affects just about everyone. Hopefully these changes will enable better results to be shown and of course make finding relevant information a lot easier.

From the article
Google is undertaking the most radical change to its search results ever, introducing a "Universal Search" system that will blend listings from its news, video, images, local and book search engines among those it gathers from crawling web pages.

The new system officially rolls out today for anyone using Google.com and searching in English. Not everyone will see it at first, but over the course of the next several days, Universal Search should be more, well, universal. A new navigational interface has also been unveiled for Google and is covered more in the companion piece to this article, Google's New Navigational Links: An Illustrated Guide.

The move potentially should be a huge boon for searchers, while search marketers who have paid attention to the importance of specialized or vertical search will see new opportunities.
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Plenty Of Space At MySpace News

This article hits the nail on the head. I really don’t think MySpace users are interested in reading the news while they are at MySpace. They are there for other reasons such as the music and there friends. I’m sure MySpace users actually want to escape the “real world” news so they won’t go looking for it while at MySpace. I can see MySpace news dieing eventually.

From the article
The success of Digg has prompted a lot of copycat attempts, such as the revamped Netscape, which took a lot of flack at the time the site was launched. Since then, however, the model has been replicated so many times that nobody even bother to notice. Last month, MySpace launched its own Digg clone in the hopes that its users would be interested in social news the same way they're interested in social networking. Turns out, things don't translate so well. As Mike Arrington points out, MySpace News is a bit of a ghost town, as stories can rise to the top with just one or two votes. Although the site is young, it seems that MySpace users are much more interested in discovering bands and people to date than they are discussing the news.

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Here come Virtual World Intranets… Seriously

There is definitely a move towards getting your business involved in virtual type worlds. I have heard of business having virtual meetings but this who virtual intranet is taking it even further. Being a virtual world addict I think this is fantastic. The technology is really exciting and sure it is new and buggy but it will only get better.

From the article
Online worlds on the Internet? That’s so last month ago. Judging by recent initiatives from Sun and IBM, the latest trend is a corporate-controlled, business-centric virtual world architected for internal use only– call it the intranet metaverse. In Sun’s case, it’s MPK20, a “a virtual 3D environment in which employees can accomplish their real work, share documents, and meet with colleagues using natural voice communication.”

The idea is to bring remote workers in Sun’s worldwide offices together into a single embodied space, “where the spacial layout of the 3D world coupled with the immersive audio provides strong cognitive cues that enhance collaboration.” (Via 3pointD, where blogger Mark Wallace has worthwhile commentary.) In IBM’s case, it’s a rough-and-ready 3D environment created by their Innovate Quick team, using the Torque graphics engine from Garage Games.

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100 Invites To Spock Beta Available Right Now

Have you been Spocked! I guess we do need a new and better people search engine. It can be difficult finding information on someone in Google, especially if they are John Smith. This new search site does sound very promising.

From the article
Spock, the new people search engine, has been getting a lot of buzz the last few weeks. We posted an overview and screen shots last month and I recently moderated a panel that included them, Wink and ZoomInfo (notes are here). but the founders have been very careful to limit beta testers to just a handful of people. Starting today they are beginning to open up a bit in preparation for a summer launch.
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How to Be a Star in a YouTube World

Creating a buzz about your online prescence is what it is all about. Once word gets out about something cool that you have done then it’s just spreads like wildfire in todays connected world. Before you know it you are a hit. Have you become a YouTube star?

From the article
There are millions of people trying to get noticed on the Web, with everything from blogs to podcasts to videos. So with the huge glut of material out there, how do amateurs get attention -- let alone become bona fide online stars?

How, for instance, did an Arizona woman giving grammar advice get to be one of the most popular podcasts on iTunes? And how do independent video series like "Ask a Ninja" or "LonelyGirl15" draw hundreds of thousands of online viewers for each episode?

It turns out that success in the new-media world depends on a lot of the same things as in the old-media universe. Just as in Hollywood, becoming a hit takes talent, effort, timing and some luck. Sex appeal is just as valuable online as off. And getting noticed by the "mainstream" press also helps build buzz.
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Monday is Wiretap the Internet Day

Scary! Our right to privacy is being eroded all the time. While I personally have nothing to hide I don’t see why authorities should be allowed to invade ones privacy like this. It’s getting too much like big brother and it’s time society stood up and said “hey we have a right to some privacy”.

From the article
May 14th is the official deadline for internet service providers to modify their networks, and meet the FBI and FCC's new regulations. The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requires that everyone from cable services to Universities give them access, within certain parameters, to the usage habits of customers.
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Google Gadgets in Your Search Results

The is a nice development. Google have been making some neat little changes lately such as iGoogle and now this. I’m all for being able to have more relevant results and I’m sure you are too.

From the article
Google Subscribed Links are a way to build your own OneBox results, by defining direct answers for a list of queries. For example, you could check the status of a flight or find a book if you know the ISBN by entering a simple query.

Now the subscribed links can have a richer interface by including Google gadgets. You can't add inline gadgets or built-in gadgets like the preview of Gmail's inbox, but the good news is that your gadget can access the query and display something relevant.
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Odd iPod Patent Shows Dual Screens, Rear Touchscreen

This is quite an intriguing idea and an interesting solution to the problem of trying to make small screens into touch screens. I’m not sure how well it would work in practice so would love to get my hands on one to give it a try. Is any of this relevant anyway as surely the iPhone will eventually make the iPod obsolete.

From the article
The Interweb is all a’flutter about an odd iPod patent filed by Apple that describes a device with screens on both the front and the back of the player. An amalgam of Sprint’s UpStage and the iPhone, this patent describes an interface in which a rear touchscreen accepts input and reflects that input on the front screen. Confused yet?

It works like this. Because a Nano-sized device would be too small to allow for a real front touch interface, the rear touchscreen would sense your finger position and show a cursor where your finger or thumb would be on the front screen. This frees up front real estate and could potentially allow for an onscreen keyboard and other goodies. Possible? Yes. Will it happen soon? Probably not.
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Google PageRank Drops for Major Websites

A high PageRank is always what sites strive for so the fact that some major ones have seen a decrease will be very upsetting for them. Since these major sites no longer have a PageRank of 10 then I wonder now if anyone can actually achieve a PageRank of 10. I’m sure they are on Google’s back over this.

From the article
While Browsing the internet today I noticed that Apple.com’s PageRank dropped from 10 to 9. Intrigued, i dug more into the Top PageRank Websites and found out that many PR10 websites have dropped to PR9:

Theese PageRank drops are probably due to recent Infrastructure Updates on the Google Search Engine PageRank.
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Jesus Has the Answers (Or At Least 20 Of Them)

How tacky is this. I’m sure we will see a lot of people upset by this. Sometimes you really have to wonder if companies actually think about what it is they are making and whether they should make it.

From the article
As a good Christian, I try to avoid playing with the Dark Forces of the Universe. Ouiji board? No thanks. Tarot cards? Not my thing. Magic 8-ball? I don’t think so. But what do I do when I need to divine my future? What crutch do I have to turn to when I can’t make decisions and think for myself?

Jesus is the answer, friends. Working much like a magic 8-ball, the Answer Me Jesus! is a talisman that doesn’t just give you a physical image of God in the form of Man to adore, but also gives you answers to your prayers in the form of a free-floating 20-sided die (reclaimed from Pagan D&D, no doubt).
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Google preparing to police web

There is no doubt the viruses and other nasties on the net are of real concern. I think it’s a good thing if Google can do what they can to block these or at least alert if a site may be harmful. The only concern would be them flagging sites as harmful when in fact they are not. There would need to be an easy way to get your site unflagged if it was flagged in error.

From the article
Increasingly worried by the use of conventional web sites to distribute the viruses that turn innocent PCs into botnet "zombies," Google appears to be readying a plan to police the web. If the plan goes forward, Google will use new software to automatically identify compromised web pages in its database and label them as "potentially harmful" in its search results. Because being labeled as suspicious by Google could devastate a site's traffic, the move would raise the security stakes for site owners dramatically.

Google security specialist Niels Provos tells New Scientist, "The firewall is dead." He's referring to a shift in the way botnet infections are spread - and it's this shift that's making Google particularly nervous. Botnet viruses used to be distributed mainly through email attachments or computer worms, both of which could be blocked by firewalls or sniffed out by antivirus software. Over the past year, however, the operators of botnets have shifted to using regular web sites to distribute their malware.
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Yahoo Closing their Auctions Service

This is a shame. eBay have proven to be just to dominant but it always good to have some competitors out there especially ones owned and run by someone as big as Yahoo. Maybe someone else will step into this space to keep eBay on their toes.

From the article
Yahoo will be closing down Yahoo Auctions next month, on June 16, 2007, in the U.S. and Canada (but not Asia).

As eBay has proven its dominance in the online auctioning market, Yahoo is streamlining its focus onto areas of their company that are going strong, while dropping those that are faltering. Yahoo states that they will continue to provide sellers, bidders and buyers with customer care and a limited feature set through October 29, 2007. The last day to list an item is June 3, 2007, and the last day to bid or buy is June 16, 2007.
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You're a Nobody Unless Your Name Googles Well

This article is right on the money. Google can make or break you so it pays to think about how well you are doing in Google personally or how high your web site is ranking. Take time to research how Google indexes and ranks it’s search results.

From the article
Before Abigail Garvey got married in 2000, anyone could easily Google her. Then she swapped her maiden name for her husband's last name, Wilson, and dropped out of sight.

In Web-search results for her new name, links to Ms. Wilson's epidemiology research papers became lost among all manner of other Abigail Wilsons, ranging from 1980s newspaper wedding announcements for various Abigail Wilsons to genealogy records listing Abigail Wilsons born in the 1600s and 1700s. When Ms. Wilson applied for a new job, interviewers questioned the publications she listed on her résumé because they weren't finding the publications in online searches, Ms. Wilson says. (See Google results for Abigail Garvey and Abigail Wilson.)
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Pandora Required To Halt International Streams

I think it is a tragedy what is happening to Internet radio stations. The greed of the record labels is incredible. I really hope it backfires on them. Once again they fail to see that supporting Internet radio stations rather than sending them broke would actually benefit them more.

From the article
Internet radio stations aren’t having the best of times at the moment. They continue to be astonished at the Copyright Royalty Board’s (Part of the US Library of Congress) decision to hike up the playback fees asked of them just as the medium is starting to catch on as a viable alternative to the FM and AM transmission methods.

One of the most popular venues for streaming audio, Pandora, has been among the parties who’ve voiced the loudest protests against the CRB’s planned rate hike (Originally scheduled to take effect May 15th, the new date for the upshift is July 15th), and has now had its days of bad news compounded by the fact that it is now required to bar non-US-based listeners from accessing its custom radio station engine “because of licensing restraints.”
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Facebook Music To Be Announced This Month

I’m sure there is substance to this rumour. Having music has become a “must have” off all really successful social network sites. Just look at MySpace. There is no doubt that music on Facebook will be huge. Having recently got a Facebook account myself I am excited by this news.

From the article
According to my closely connected sources, Facebook will be announcing an online music service May 21st. I had thought of utilizing Facebook’s API to add a music feature but that won’t be necessary. Facebook is also lining up various undisclosed partners prior to their launch. I’m amazed that it took them this long, but this will be huge. Myspace music has already been a huge success launching bands such as the Arctic Monkeys into stardom. Now with the growing popularity of Facebook and the college heavy demographics of the site, this could prove to be a massive entry into the music market. Also, given Facebook’s tendency to perfect each of the features on their site (their photo sharing service has become one of the biggest on the net) this will most likely be a pretty slick feature. I haven’t been able to get a Facebook representative to comment on this, but maybe Mike Arrington can do a little digging and give us the full scoop.
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AOL's Embarassing Password Woes

Oops! AOL can’t seem to turn a trick these days. They are always in the news for the wrong reasons. This time though this is quite a major blunder. Will AOL one day be gone for good. Keep up this sort of thing and they just might.

From the article
"AOL.com users may think they have up to sixteen characters to use as a password, but they'd be wrong, thanks to this security artifact detailed by The Washington Post's Security Fix blog: "Well, it turns out that when someone signs up for an AOL.com account, the user appears to be allowed to enter up to a 16-character password. AOL's system, however, doesn't read past the first eight characters." This means that a user who uses "password123" or any other obvious eight-character password with random numbers on the end is in effect using just that lame eight-character password."

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8 Awesome Firefox Plugins for Twitter

Some pretty cool stuff here for those of us that are fans of both Twitter and Firefox. Personally I love Firefox and am also a fan of Twitter. My problem with Twitter is I don’t have enough time to keep posting everything I am doing. Does anyone care anyway?

From the article
Months after the initial Twitter boom, it’s still strong and kicking. A day rarely goes by that we don’t notice some new Twitter tool in the wild. The ideal place for Twitter-related tools is the web browser, which is apparent from the quick-rising number of Firefox plugins. We’ve found eight; you let us know if there are more!

1. Twitbin

The latest plugin in this bunch is very new, and we’ve covered it here on Mashable. Twitbin can be used to send and receive messages from Twitter, it’s a sidebar (which, unfortunately, means it’s occupying the space where most users like to keep their bookmarks) and it looks quite nice.
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English Premier League To Sue YouTube

What is the Premier Leagues problem. It's not like people are uploading entire matches. These big organisations just don't seem to get it. By having your clip on YouTube you are actually going to attract more viewers not lose business. Leave YouTube alone!

From the article
We reported previously that the English Premier League, the football/soccer body in England, was riled about YouTube’s use of unauthorized clips. Now it’s going to the courts: the Premier League, along with sheet music publisher Bourne Co., has filed a class action suit against YouTube, adding more legal woes to the $1 billion suit brought by Viacom.

Soccer is big business: the Premier League took £2.7 billion (US $5.4 billion) for the TV, radio and internet rights to live games and highlights over the next three years. It’s the most lucrative football league in the world, with games shown in 204 countries worldwide. The action has been filed in a New York federal court.

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What Google Needs

I am a Google fan like many of us. I am all for products being improved though and as this article says, not even Google is perfect. Some great ideas on what Google need to improve.

From the article
Google has some insanely useful applications, the top of their field in many cases — and by mastering these tools, you can become a productivity ninja. But these apps — Gmail, Gcal, Google Reader, Google Docs, et al — they aren’t perfect.

Don’t get me wrong — I love these apps. They are awesome, and I couldn’t bring myself to use anything else. But although they’ve come out with some minor upgrades recently, Google has been a little slow in upgrading their great apps with much-needed features. Perhaps they just need a little nudge.

Well here it is. Google, here are just a few of the features you need to add, pronto.

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Facebook is Not For Sale!

While that may be what is being said publicly ‘m sure it’s not really the case. Everybody has there price and I’m sure the Facebook owners are no different. The question is, just what is Facebook worth.

From the article
“Facebook is not for sale,” said Jim Breyer flatly. I had called the Accel Partners hotshot venture capitalist, who is on the board of the social-networking site and a big investor, to ask about a variety of rumblings I had been hearing of late about the big Net company’s acquisition plans.

Facebook is an obvious candidate for such purchases, having been a company of interest to many, including Yahoo, Viacom’s MTV unit and many others. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, was almost sold to Yahoo for $1 billion, until those talks collapsed last year. Since then, its growth has spiked even more, as the company has rolled out more features and also opened the service up to other members beyond the college set. It now has 21 million active users, up from 6.5 million a year ago.

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Virtual World Revenues, $6 Billion by 2012

There is no doubt that the influence of Virtual Worlds is growing. More and more people are sitting up and taking notice of them. I have spent some time recently in Second Life. While it still has a long way to go I can see the huge potential it has.

From the article
“I can let you be the first person we tell that we forecast the worldwide MMOG market going from $2.2 billion in 2006 to $5.9 billion in 2012,” he e-mails me.These figures are part of an upcoming DFC report, and they are bullish in the extreme. For proportion’s sake, bear in mind that the entire computer/videogame industry is currently a $7.4 billion business.

“In terms of overall growth,” Cole continues, “the market in both North America and Europe is expected to triple.” Furthermore, over $2.3 billion of that revenue is expected to come from advertising and digital distribution of virtual items/characters etc, not subscriptions.” This would be quite a reversal, for most Western MMOs still rely on a monthly subscription model.

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IE8 Hinted at Mix'07, Browser Wars are Back?

I think the browser wars are going to be with us for quite a while. I read something yesterday about Firefox 3.0 ( i think in July 07). I am firmly in the Firefox camp these days but it pays to know what others have on offer.

From the article
MIX has come and gone and Silverlight hogged all the spotlight at the conference, but the sleuths at Ars Technica pieced together what we should expect from IE8. Does anyone really care because I sure don’t. My feeling is that Microsoft isn’t proactive enough to seek out flaws or patch holes until they’re exploited, which leaves everyone vulnerable to whatever the Interwebs has lurking in the dark.

Rumor has it that IE8 will be out in about 18 months, which is definitely up for debate.

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The iPod generation in stitches

I came across this article. Wasn't quite what I was expecting to read. Have we gone full circle. I thought sewing was just about extinct. Who knew it would make a comeback.

From the article
After eight years of hard work and perseverance, Salma Khan landed a job at one of the country's top accounting firms. But as the soon-to-be college graduate finished up her academic career this past semester, she realized she needed a creative outlet – something to occupy her time other than just numbers and net assets.

That's why every couple of weeks Ms. Khan gets together with an instructor at the Stitch Lounge here, where she is learning the finer points of straight seams and buttonholes. Khan is taking up sewing. "My creative side had been put on hold, so before I started my career, I wanted a hobby," says the 26-year-old, who just finished her first project – a green and pink dress made from a pattern she altered to include cap sleeves and pockets.

Khan is part of a growing trend among young people – yuppies, Gen. Xers, Millennials – who are rediscovering a domestic art once identified more with their grandmothers. Indeed, not since the 1950s has sewing been so "in."

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Webby Awards Winners Announced

As expected the YouTube creators have been honoured with an award. Good on them it is totally deserved. Thanks in large to their creation video on the net has really taken off and it’s great. There are some other interesting winners in the list as well.

From the article
The winners of the annual Webby Awards have been announced today, celebrating individuals and companies making strides in our digital and Internet culture.

The awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. There will be two ceremonies this year, the first being the debut of the Webby Film & Video Awards on June 4th, and the 11th Annual Webby Awards on June 5th, both in New York City and hosted by Rob Corddry from The Winner and The Daily Show. See initial write up here.

Among the honorees are David Bowie for BowieNet and UltraStar, his digital media company, eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman on behalf of the eBay community, and the co-founders of YouTube Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. Also being awarded at the Webby Film & Video Awards for Best Actor and Actress are “Ninja” from Ask Ninja, and Jessica Lee Rose from lonelygirl15, NBC’s The Office webisodes, and eepybird.com for their viral video of the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment.

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eBuddy Lets You Access Your IM from Anything

Everything is going mobile these days. I love to see developments like this. Soon you won’t really need a computer just your mobile.

From the article
While there are software apps that will already let you use multiple IM programs, the Dutch have now made it possible to chat from virtually any computer or mobile device. eBuddy provides Web and mobile instant messaging services, enabling you to chat with your MSN, Yahoo and AIM contacts without actually having to download or install any software.

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Facebook Kills Arab!

Sorry the title is a little misleading. Facebook have shut down a group not physically killed an Arab. It is a shame though to see yet another site bowing to pressure from a Government.

From the article
The governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab regimes have complained to Facebook about the group "Arab LBTG" (Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Gay) saying it goes against Islamic code of conduct. They threatened to ban Facebook if their countries' users still had access to it. After Facebook received the complaints, they contacted the group's owner and demanded that the group be closed. After the owner refused, Facebook then closed the group themselves.
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Social News & Bookmarking Mistakes

An excellent list of common mistakes. There is no doubt that social bookmarking is not understood by all. I have seen many make some of the mistakes that this article lists. It’s like anything in life. Learn and understand something first before you use it.

From the article
Listen. Can you hear it? All the buzz about social media marketing? What you might not know is that with all that sound there’s an awful lot of noise. That difficulty manifests itself in the form of basic misconceptions, blunders and flat out mistakes when trying to participate and market with social news and bookmarking sites.

Here are a few common and basic social media news and bookmarking mistakes to watch out for:

1. Submitting press releases to social news sites. This is social media suicide, but there are marketers and PR practitioners out there endorsing the submission of press releases to social news as if it’s the same thing as submitting press releases to news search engines. It’s not the same thing at all.
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