Google has bestowed a new feature upon its AdWords users, which relies on Google Gears -- a browser plug-in that lets them download Web-based data to their local hard drive so they can work offline. The feature is named Browser Local Storage, and it basically helps them work faster with their AdWords campaigns, according to Search Engine Land. "Instead of loading the data off Google's servers each time you click on a section in the AdWords console, Google will load the data off your local computer." Google adds: "Each time you access AdWords, your data loads directly …

YouTube's first attempt to charge for full-length feature films was no blockbuster, according to initial projections. For ten days last month, the video-sharing site offered up five independent films from the Sundance Film Festival, which received a combined 2,684 views. At $3.99 per rental, YouTube netted $10,709.16, The Times' Bits blog calculates. "Those are not numbers that should have executives at Netflix, Apple's iTunes or Amazon's video on demand worried." YouTube, for its part, couldn't be happier with the results. "It definitely exceeded our expectations given all the barriers," Chris Dale, a YouTube spokesman, tells Bits. "The …

Leading some to question Twitter's fate, a new study by RJMetrics shows that the site's adoption and usage rates may be slowing. The survey -- which involved downloading 2 million tweets from about 50,000 users over several months late last year -- found that by year-end Twitter had just over 75 million user accounts. The monthly rate of new user accounts, meanwhile, peaked in July, and is currently running at around 6.2 million new accounts per month. Of note, this rate is about 20% below July's peak rate. Similarly, a recent report from HubSpot found that Twitter …

It looks like Facebook poses an even greater threat than wasted man-hours to businesses. A new report from security firm Sophos found a 70% jump in spam and malware attacks via social networking sites last year, with Facebook leading the way. Among 500 companies, the Sophos report found that over 50% were spammed through a social-networking site, and that 36% were affected by malware. "The danger to businesses from social-networking malware is especially high," notes CNet. "Most of the companies surveyed expressed concern that the actions of their employees on a site …

Inspired by a bleak performance report from The National Venture Capital Association, GigaOm's Stacey Higginbotham proposes a new strategy for startup companies. One solution for "perking up" returns is a smaller industry and smaller funds placing smaller amounts of money into startups. Going even further, Higginbotham says: "Maybe the ideal technology startup doesn't need venture capital ... Maybe it can be bootstrapped or backed by angels ... Maybe the ideal technology startup isn't really about making it big through an initial public offering." Moreover, if the new tech startup myth doesn't require a venture capital funding, then …

Microsoft is at work connecting the digital and physical world using bar code scanners accessible to anyone with a cell phone camera. Over the past year, Microsoft "tags" have appeared in magazines and newspapers, but can also be placed on business cards, products, and even large outdoor signs. "It's the hyperlink in the physical world," Marja Koopmans, marketing leader for Microsoft's start-up accelerator unit," tell CNet. Tags can link to anything from a Web page to an online brochure or electronic business card. Golf Digest, for one, uses tags to link directly to YouTube videos that can be viewed …

Google and the Associated Press have agreed to allow Google News to keep using AP content. Yet, according to Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan, "Whether this is a long-term agreement replacing the one that expired last month is unclear." Yahoo, meanwhile, has also struck a deal with the AP. "We have a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that permits us to host its content on Google properties such as Google News," Google says. However, "Right now we are not adding new hosted content from the AP," it adds. Back in 2006, the two companies signed a …

According to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, the network has more than doubled in size to 350 million registered users in the last year. By this summer, at its present growth rate, well over half of all Web users will visit Facebook each month. Still more striking, half of all registered users -- or 175 million consumers -- still log in to Facebook every day, according to Sandberg. Yet, Sandberg says her biggest regret over her last two years with the company has been not moving fast enough. One obstacle standing in the way of world domination is …

The Business Insider has published a letter from someone claiming to a UK DoubleClick client, in which they suggest that -- post-Google acquisition -- the display ad company has become a shell of its former self. "My company is a large UK customer of DFA and Dart search," the client writes. "We have seen Google cull large parts of account management and billing at DoubleClick ... The atmosphere at DoubleClick in these functions is bleak and service to the clients is woeful." Further on, the anonymous client writes: "I have also seen the roadmaps for DFA, DFP …

The iPad, it turns out, isn't the only threat to Amazon's reign as digital book publishing king. Over the weekend, the bookseller and Kindle maker fought and lost a price-related power struggle with publisher Macmillan. "Until now, Amazon has set e-book prices itself, with $9.99 as the default for new releases and best sellers," writes The Times. "Amazon's goal has been strategic: it aims to establish a low price for e-books that will have the ancillary benefit of helping it sell more Kindle devices." Likewise, The Seattle Times writes: "Amazon wants …