Doing what it believes to be its civic duty, Google is now directing those who inquire about suicide to a toll-free number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The information, which will be highlighted by a red phone, will take precedence over all other search results, along with any advertisements. Guidance on suicide prevention was suggested internally, reports The New York Times. Dr. Roni Zeiger, chief health strategist for Google, tells the paper that this is only the second time Google has added such guidance on troubling search terms. A few months ago, the search engine began …

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey makes the contrarian argument that the iPad actually strengthens Amazon's position. Why? First and foremost, Amazon is the first name e-books, which -- along with the digital downloads themselves -- includes a "decade's worth of reviews, comments and community connections." As a result, as McQuivey recently told the Wall Street Journal: "If you're an iPad buyer, chances are about 90% that you're also a book buyer on Amazon ... Amazon has your credit card on file, they know what you like ... That relationship is the key to selling books." That said, McQuivey goes …

While its long-term prospects remain an open question, the device that many expect to revolutionize content consumption is off to a nice start. As of midnight Saturday, Apple says it sold over 300,000 iPads, including pre-order deliveries, retail sales, and deliveries to channel partners. By paidContent's estimate, "That represents a minimum of $150 million in first-day sales, using the lowest-end model, and considerably more given the mix of sales." Not wasting any time, new iPad owners downloaded over 1 million apps by Saturday night, and more than 250,000 e-books through …

ESPN3.com is expected to debut Sunday night, reports paidContent. First up will be the Yankees-Red Sox season opener, which will be accompanied by various enhancements. The channel mixes programming found on the various ESPN cable nets along with games and events that can only be seen via the broadband net. "But whatever the name it's still available in the U.S. primarily to the 50 million or so subscribers whose ISPs have a licensing deal with ESPN," paidContent notes. "That's because unlike 99.9 percent of broadband sites, the broadband network formerly known ESPN360.com works like a cable channel." …

If Marvel Comics' app for the iPad is any indication, competition among those competing for consumers' attention on the new device will be fierce. BoingBoing gets hands-on with the app, which was produced with Comixology. "I like it,' writes BoingBoing reviewer Xeni Jardin. "Scrolling is intuitive, brisk, and elegant ... I'm amazed at how smooth .... The store interface makes sense to anyone familiar with iTunes and App store ... Flipping and reading, one luminous full-color page at a time, I do not miss paper." The apps lets uses "finger-flip" through pages, one-by-one, while a scroll bar at …

Not surprisingly, researchers are now comparing the spread of gossip on social networking sites like Facebook to that of a contagious virus. Furthermore, mathematicians have developed an equation that describes Internet rumours' ability to spread worldwide in just hours. The scientists at Rome's La Sapienza University created their equation in an effort to measure the Web's power to spread indiscretion. "It shows just how fast news -- and gossip -- travels these days," research team leader Alessandro Panconesi tells the U.K.'s Mail Online. "It's like influenza." Meanwhile, Professor Panconesi said he's already demonstrated his method's reliability, thanks …

Two researchers at HP Labs have discovered that Twitter "mentions" predict a movie's box office performance better than the Hollywood Stock Exchange -- what Fast Company calls "the most accurate method currently in use." Researchers Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman began by monitoring movie mentions in 2.9 million tweets from 1.2 million users over three months. These included 24 movies in all, ranging from Avatar to Twilight: New Moon. To predict first weekend performance, they built a computer model, which factored in two variables: the rate of tweets around the release date and the number of theaters …

Despite strong pre-order numbers, image problems could prevent iPad sales from scaling, reports The New York Times. Jon Byron, a 54-year-old banker from Connecticut, tells the paper that he doesn't need anymore devices, and that, to him, the iPad equals feature redundancy. "Many consumers do not understand the device's purpose, who would want to pay $500 or more for it and why anyone would need another gadget on top of a computer and smartphone." "Technophiles" -- the demographic most likely pre-ordering the iPad -- only makeup 16% of the total potential market for the device, according to …

At the expense of Google's Android -- and even the iPhone -- the iPad is refocusing the energies of developers everywhere, according to new data from app analytics firm Flurry. Prior to the release of iPad's software development kit, 78% of new app projects were for the iPhone, and 18% went on Android devices, according to Flurry. Since the SDK launch, Android's share has fallen to just 10%, and the iPhone's has fallen to 67%, while the iPad has garnered a remarkable 22% of the new app start market. "That's already resulted …

"If you use Foursquare, you are an annoying jackass." So says Gawker, which -- without providing any hard evidence to support its claim -- does suggest that the location-based social network is facing some cultural resistance. Gawker -- arguably an authority among cultural and media elites -- writes off Foursquare as a "fad," and, "just another narcissistic assault on decent society by urban-dwelling iPhone users." In its defense, at one point or another, similar criticisms were all directed towards blogging, tweeting, and Facebook updates. More than just annoying behavior, however, Gawker argues that Foursquare will …