• Are Tablets Cable's Savior?
    Perhaps more than any industry, cable subscribers seem to adapting well to the rise of tablets. So suggests GigaOm, and it's got the data to back it up. During its earnings call this week, Time Warner Cable said its iPad app was downloaded 360,000 times during its first month of availability. Cablevision recently said it saw 50,000 downloads in the first five days of app availability, and when contacted by GigaOm, Comcast said its Xfinity TV app has already been downloaded over 1.5 million times since its launch in November. "It's worth considering that the iPad is a …
  • Google Sued For Collecting Location Data
    Apple isn't the only company with problems stemming from the unauthorized collection of consumers' location data. Two Michigan women are suing Google over location data collected by Android devices, which, as CNet points out, comes a week after Apple was named in a lawsuit citing privacy violations with the iPhone logging similar data. First reported by the Detroit News, the $50 million lawsuit against Google seeks to stop Google from selling phones with software that can track a user's location. Seeking class action status for the suit, the plaintiffs' lawyer, Steven Budaj, argues in the complaint that the …
  • Apple Out-Profits Microsoft
    While Microsoft just reported strong sales and profits for the third quarter, some analysts took note of the fact that, for the first time in 20 years, the software maker achieved a smaller quarterly profit than Apple. Microsoft's "Net income was $5.23 billion, eclipsed by the $5.99 billion reported by Apple last quarter," notes Bloomberg Businessweek. What's more, consumer PC shipments dropped 8% in the quarter, and Netbooks fell 40%, which Microsoft CFO Peter Klein blamed partially on the rise of tablet computers like the iPad. Indeed, "You have to live underneath a rock not to know that …
  • Twitter Tests Text Ads
    Twitter has begun serving third-party text ads on its Webpage, in the right-hand column, below the "trends" section, reports Mashable. The microblogging platform previously used this space to display links to its own services, as well as Twitter-related third-party tools and services, but now it's showing ads that direct users to sites like ABC News and NFL.com. "Interestingly enough ... Twitter does not use the 'nofollow' tag or disclose the fact that these are ads at all, except by defining them under the CSS class 'promo,' which is visible only if you look at the HTML code," Mashable …
  • Updates Added To Google Talk
     Giving consumers one less reason to buy Apple, Google is rolling out an update to Nexus S devices that adds voice and video chat to Google Talk, which is included as part of the core set of Google apps that come pre-installed on many Android devices. As TechCrunch notes, the "functionality has never been included with stock builds of Android ... the way Apple's FaceTime has been integrated into iOS."  "For Android users who have developed an inferiority complex watching their iPhone-wielding comrades indulging in the joys of video chatting -- your time has come," announced
  • Apple Buys iCloud.com
    Likely readying the launch of its online music storage service, Apple has reportedly bought the domain named iCloud.com. "My source, who is familiar with the company, says that [desktop-as-a-service company] Xcerion has sold the domain to Apple for about $4.5 million," reports GigaOm's Om Malik. "This is most certainly a possibility," TechCrunch writes of the report. "Last week, we also received a tip that Apple purchased iCloud.com." Whatever its name, "Apple is clearly plotting to launch a cloud-based media storage and online music streaming service in the foreseeable future," TechCrunch adds. "Apple is rushing to launch …
  • Pepsi Machines Get Semi-Social
    Combining two of today's hottest marketing trends, digital out-of-home and social, Pepsi is testing a vending machine that lets consumers send free soda to friends. With PepsiCo's Social Vending Machine, users select a beverage and enter the recipient's name, mobile number and personalized text message with a code redeemable at another vending machine. "Consumers can personalize the message with a short video recorded by the machine," explains Mashable. Says Mikel Durham, chief innovation officer at PepsiCo Foodservice: "The new machine 'extends our consumers' social networks beyond the confines of their own devices and transforms a static, transaction-oriented experience into …
  • Has Facebook Peaked?
    On the secondary market, some Facebook shareholders are seeking to unload $1 billion worth of shares at a valuation of $70 billion. So says Reuters, citing five sources. Staggering though the valuation may seem, it's actually an indication to some that Facebook's growth isn't limitless. If the deal comes to pass, "It would represent one of the largest transactions of Facebook shares to date and points to a growing wariness among early-stage investors and employees who fear Facebook's growth cannot keep pace with its market valuation," Reuters writes. "The sellers have lowered their price after previously trying to …
  • YouTube Founders Save Delicious
    Saving a beloved Web service from the dustbin of history, YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen has reportedly agreed to buy Delicious. Last fall, word got out that Yahoo was planning on "sunsetting" the bookmarking service, which many interpreted to mean killing. Yahoo later clarified that its intention was to find a new home for Delicious, but the service's future remained uncertain. Now, Hurley and Chen are acquiring Delicious for an undisclosed sum and founding a new company, AVOS. "A blog post on the Delicious site reassures users that the transition from Yahoo to AVOS will be …
  • Data: Android On Track To Out-App Apple
    Google's Android is on track to surpass all mobile operating systems -- including Apple's iOS -- in total application offerings. "If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications, followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad and Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store," according to market research firm Distimo. "The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows …
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