• Google, Dell Rumored To Launch Mobile Phone
    First WiMax, now the Gphone: Indeed, the hot rumor of the day is that Google and Dell are planning a mobile phone that will be unveiled during next month's 3GSMS telecom conference in Barcelona. Last year, there were widespread rumors that Google was building a "Gphone" to rival Apple's "iPhone," although the company later quashed those rumors with the introduction of Android, a Linux-based mobile operating system. Google said its goal, rather than entering the handset business, was to put Android, with its suite of free ad-supported services on phones, which would help subsidize the cost for consumers. …
  • UK Universities Start Anti-Facebook Movement
    A new anti-Facebook movement is spreading across the UK. Known as the "Facebook refusenicks," the network of students are founding chapters at universities across Britain. The group's chief complaint is that Facebook compromises user privacy in gathering user data and selling it to advertisers. Of course, "refusenicks" often find themselves out of the loop when it comes to student events, as most promoters have turned exclusively to Facebook to get the word out about parties, clubs, etc. "I felt like a complete stranger," said one of the group's members after her first week at school. "I had to …
  • Social Networking Use Shows Steady Declines
    After peaking in October 2007 with 71.9 million users, MySpace's unique audience trailed off to 68.9 million in November and stayed that way in December. However, member engagement dropped off an alarming 8.5 percent from November to December, the biggest month-to-month drop of 2007 for MySpace. For the full year, engagement fell 24 percent. The problem isn't specific to MySpace, either, as comScore shows that time spent on Bebo has been cut in half in the past four months, while Friendster has plummeted 75 percent over the same period. Even Facebook, despite doubling its year over year audience …
  • Yahoo's Panama Loses Search Revenue Share
    The positive effect of Project Panama, Yahoo's year-old search advertising system, is on the decline, according to a new report from SearchIgnite and RBC Capital Markets. After exhibiting year-over-year growth in the third quarter of 2007, Yahoo's share of search revenue slipped by about 1 percent in the fourth quarter. Google, meanwhile, saw its share climb by one percent over the same period. According to the SearchIgnite data, market share shifted very little among the top three search engines throughout the year, which is interesting considering that search spending increased by 27 percent from 2006. This was partly driven …
  • Google Guys To Stay 16 Years or More
    Prior to the company's 2004 IPO, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt made a pact that would keep them at Google for at least 20 years, according to spokesman Jon Murchinson. Good news for shareholders: that means that Page, Brin and Schmidt have another 16 years at the helm of the world's most popular and powerful Internet company. Sandeep Aggarwal, analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., says the pact was "very, very positive," as "this tells me that the opportunities for Google are immense, and that they've just cracked the surface." Despite the …
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  • MySpace Platform To Launch Next Week
    MySpace on Tuesday announced that its new developer platform will go live on Feb. 5. Amit Kapur, the company's new chief operating officer says it addresses many of the early growing pains suffered by rival Facebook, including privacy, monetization and data ownership. Kapur says that avoiding the spam issues that have plagued rivals like Facebook will be a "top priority," as will be the overall user experience--so don't expect anything like Facebook Beacon to be part of the MySpace Platform. He adds that MySpace plans to help developers monetize their applications instead of leaving them to accrue …
  • Yahoo Tests "Lifecasting" Service
    Yahoo's ship may be sinking, but the flagging Web giant has one very cool new trick up its sleeve: Yahoo Live, a new "social broadcasting" video service. Startups like Ustream.tv and Justin.tv offer similar "lifecasting" services, as the new form is known, but Yahoo is the first major Web company to toy with the new space. On Tuesday the company announced that it was launching an internal testing phase for the new service. The notice from Yahoo's intranet Backyard reads as follows: "Yahoo! Live is social TV, where you're the star! Create your own social broadcasting experience. Start …
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