• Google Chrome Adds "Do Not Track" Support
    For developers, Google is finally adding support for the Do Not Track privacy setting to its Chrome browser. “Do Not Track -- which aims to help users opt out of being tracked across Web sites for the purposes of targeted advertising -- is contentious and still somewhat theoretical,” AllThingsD reports. For instance, some critics say the setting has the potential of giving consumers a false sense of security. “But since Chrome is close to becoming the world’s most-used browser, if it’s not already, its support for DNT is pretty important.” 
  • Apple Shutters Ping
    Apple’s fated social network is now officially scheduled for shutdown at the end of the month. “After making hints about its future back in May, Apple has announced plans to shut down Ping as of September 30th,” The Next Web reports. “Ping was announced to great fanfare, but the feature never quite took off,” writes PCWorld. “You don’t need hindsight to figure out why Ping didn’t work,” reasons AllThingsD. “The most obvious problem with the service was that it didn’t sync up with the world’s most popular social network. “But now Facebook and Apple have worked …
  • Google Touts Android Amid iPhone 5 Buzz
    On the eve of Apple’s latest iPhone launch, Google wanted everyone to know how well its Android mobile operating system is faring. "Today is a big day for Android,” Hugo Bara, Android's director of product management, announced in a Tuesday blog post. “500 million devices activated globally, and over 1.3 million added every single day.” “I see @arubin tweeting Android stats again,” MG Siegler tweets. “Must be an iPhone event tomorrow.” Yes, the boast is “clearly meant to deflect attention from Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement,” VentureBeat concurs -- adding that, in fact, “those figures show …
  • YouTube Debuts New iPhone App
    This summer, news broke that Apple was dropping YouTube from its list of built-in iPhone apps. Firing back, YouTube on Tuesday debuted its own -- new and improved -- iPhone app. “Though YouTube lost its prominent place on the iPhone’s home screen, it gained something arguably more important: the ability to show mobile ads,” The New York Times’ Bits blog writes. Indeed, “Because the new app is built in-house by YouTube, it is no longer subject to Apple-enforced restrictions, meaning ads are now fair game,” AppleInsider explains. “For Google, this means it can now earn some serious coin …
  • Designer Puts Google Glasses On Catwalk
    Oh, the crazy things they make models wear. In a cross-promotional, buzz-building stunt, models walking in Diane von Furstenberg’s fall runway show wore Google Glass on Sunday, while the designer’s team has been testing the “smart glasses” for the last week.  What are the critics saying? “Google glasses look dumb enough that you might expect to get beaten up for wearing them,” according to Gizmodo. “But they've now made an appearance at New York Fashion Week and... they still look dorky, even on super models.” “Honestly, everything at Fashion Week is so weird and heavily sponsored anyway that this …
  • Apple Considers Debuting Online Radio
    Taking on Pandora and other ad-supported music streaming services, Apple is reportedly in talks to license music for a radio service of its own. “Several online music services … have recently added Pandora-like custom radio features,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “But Apple's outsize presence in online-music sales and massive installed base … could make it a much more serious threat.” Also, while most such services operate under limited licenses that restrict what they can do with the music, “Apple is seeking direct licenses with record labels that would give the company more flexibility in using music,” reports
  • HootSuite Buys Seesmic
    With consolidation in mind, enterprise social media platform HootSuite is buying (another) social media platform Seesmic. “The companies are not disclosing the price, but we have been told it will be based on how well HootSuite manages to convert Seesmic users on to its own product,” TechCrunch reports. Remarkably, “HootSuite and Seesmic were founded around the same time in 2008, though it took a year for Seesmic to move into its social network marketing platform development,” WebProNews writes. “HootSuite focuses heavily on marketing its services to its business clients, which it says includes 79 of the Fortune 100 …
  • Facebook Tries To Appease Investors
    Facebook this week took measures to appease investors and spark demand for its beleaguered stock.  To rein in supply, the company canceled its secondary stock offering, and announced it will use cash instead to pay for taxes on its restricted stock units. What’s more, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed not to sell his stocks over the next year, while board members Marc Andreessen and Don Graham promised to hold onto their shares for the foreseeable future.   “While that does not mean other insiders won’t sell as hundreds of millions of additional shares become free trading in the months ahead, investors …
  • Nokia Tries Again With Streaming Music Service
    Hoping the second times’s a charm, Nokia is taking another crack at the streaming music space. “And this time, it’s completely ad-free and no cost,” GigaOm writes. “Lumia 710 and 900 device owners can grab it now from the Windows Phone Marketplace to start streaming or customizing their playlists; even when offline.” “With a US-based team of ‘musicologists’ running the show… users will have access to more than 150 playlists that span all major genres as part of an all-you-can-eat pro bono offering,” according to Engadget. “It's Pandora without the ads,” as Gizmodo puts …
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