Archive for December, 2009

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On-line retailers make $27 billion in holiday sales

By
acoleman
– December 31, 2009Posted in: Industry News

In a year that brought us a number of disappointing economic blows, many were looking to holiday sales to help boost the market.
People Shopping
You may recall that a number of retailers were doing holiday promos earlier, as well as extending specials to help stimulate sales. The effort has paid off. With the holiday shopping season behind us and the numbers in, we can tell you that 2009’s seasonal sales have been good for the economy.

According to comScore, e-commerce sales rose 5 percent, garnering some $27 billion in holiday sales, which is a significant jump from last year’s total of $25.8 billion. The stats were collected for on-line sales between November 1st and December 24th.

A number of factors played a part in these improved numbers but one of the major ones would be the boom in social media and communication. This year, we saw some of the best advertising coming from consumers themselves by Tweeting or providing updates on deals.

Mashable


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Consumer Groups lobby FTC to block Google acquisition of AdMob

By
acoleman
– December 28, 2009Posted in: Industry News

AdMob LogoThe move that Google has made to acquire AdMob has been met with serious disapproval from the consumer group known as the Center for Digital Democracy (or CDD). So much so that they are lobbying the FTC to block Google from acquiring of the mobile ad network.

“Consumers will face higher prices, less innovation and fewer choices. The FTC should conduct the appropriate investigation, block the proposed Google/AdMob deal, and also address the privacy issues.”

The CDD sees the $750 million acquisition as an anti-competitive move on Google’s part. They are also concerned with the vast amount of data Google will have access to with AdMob, and the unfair edge it may give them. Using smartphones as an example the CDD stated that “data about competing smartphone users and applications, gathered through the Google/AdMob advertising network, could give Google information about its competitors that would be advantageous in marketing.”

The argument holds water but does it merit FTC involvement? As Google moves into the smartphone market more and more, new regulations may not be such a bad idea.

Mashable


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DDOS attack takes down Amazon and Wal-Mart

By
acoleman
– December 24, 2009Posted in: Internet Trends

Black Amazon logoIf you were trying to wrap up some last minute Christmas shopping on-line last night, you undoubtedly noticed the issues that a number of sites were having. Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Expedia were all down for a period of time, and the cause was yet another DDOS attack.

A DDOS (or Distributed Denial of Service) attack focusing on DNS services, and can bring down even the largest and most advanced site. The attack hit about 7:45pm Eastern, and a lasted approximately an hour.

Sadly DDOS attacks are becoming a common thing on-line. Over the summer we reported on a massive DDOS attack that brought down Twitter, Facebook, and a number of other major sites for more than a day.

No one is sure who was behind the attack, or what their motivation was. One thing is for sure though, a lot of holiday shopping was seriously hindered because of it.


Mashable


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Yahoo cutting cost at the end of a tough year

By
acoleman
– December 22, 2009Posted in: Industry News, Internet Trends

it's youIt’s been a hard year for Yahoo. With the downturn of the economy the once great Internet Empire has suffered disappointing blow after blow. With cuts and losses Yahoo has seen its revenue drop for the first time since 2001, despite their best efforts.

Yahoo launched a re-branding campaign in September of this year, poring a $100 million into the effort.  Changes to their site and a number of their other entities came from the re-branding but we have yet to see how that will turn the downtrodden company around.

After a year of disappointing developments the company is ending 2009 on a down note. In an effort to cut costs Yahoo will be closing its offices for the holidays. It will mark the first time in the company’s history that it has relieved its 13,200 employees for the holidays. Only a few employees will remain to perform the essential duties.

As said before we have yet to see the benefits of Yahoo’s re-branding. Maybe when the economy rebounds we will see the same for the wounded Yahoo.

Yahoo News

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Yelp backs out of Google Deal

By
acoleman
– December 21, 2009Posted in: Industry News

Yelp CakeIn a deal that was reportedly in the final stages, Google was poised to acquire the popular user generated review site Yelp. Today however Tech Crunch is reporting that the deal (which was in the final stages) has fallen through.

According to Tech Crunch the deal, which was hovering around $550 million in earn outs, was in the later stages when Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman backed out. Google was notified over the weekend that Yelp would not be selling.

Tech Crunch is sighting multiple sources on the failed deal, however the reason is still unclear at this point. The only thing that is being assumed is that another offer was made to pull Yelp away from Google but no one company has really stepped forward. Could Apple or Microsoft have made an offer as well?

Tech Crunch


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Twitter hacked by Iranian Group

By
acoleman
– December 18, 2009Posted in: Internet Trends

Twitter Fail WhaleAs you already know, Twitter suffered an attack last night and the site was hijacked for a number of hours. A group known as the “Iranian Cyber Army” took control of Twitter for a period of time and it was apparent, as their logo and images graced the homepage when users visited.

Last night we received a very vague picture of what caused the incident, as Twitter stated “Twitter’s DNS records were temporarily compromised tonight.” Today however, we have a more clear idea of what exactly happened.

Twitter stated “Last night, DNS settings for the Twitter web site were hijacked. From 9:46pm to 11pm PST, approximately 80% of Traffic to Twitter.com was redirected to other web sites.”

Twitter has suffered a number of stability issues before but never any as bad as this. For a site of its size to be so susceptible to a complete hijacking is almost laughable. The site is getting a good amount of criticism right now for the incident but whether or not that will motivate change remains to be seen.


Twitter Blog


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PC shipments perk up for Third Quarter

By
acoleman
– December 17, 2009Posted in: Industry News

HP LaptopAfter three straight quarters of decline, PC shipments are showing some signs of improvement for the Third Quarter. According to a report from the IDC PC tracker, PCs rose some 2.3 percent from where they were this same time last year.

The growth has been attributed to the back to school sales, with a 33.5 percent growth in Laptop shipments. Desktops however, did not show the same improvement as their numbers continue to decline.

PC shipments are expecting to show 1.3 percent growth for 2009, and it is being predicted that shipments will rise 10.3 percent in 2010. Total shipments are expected to hit 291.4 million for 2009, and 321.4 million in 2010. An increase from 2008, which only saw 287.6 million units.

Loren Loverde, program director of IDC Worldwide Trackers stated “The speed of market stabilization and growth in key segments reflect the essential role of personal computing today.”

CNET


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Apple patents mobile device to control your computer

By
acoleman
– December 16, 2009Posted in: Gadgets, Industry News

Apple LogoYesterday a unique granted patent was published by the USPTO , which was filed on behalf of Apple. The patent was for a mobile device that would give you the ability to control your home computer from anywhere, and the device is speculated to be a future iPhone.

The patent info:
“A controlling device (e.g., a telephony device) can remotely control various tasks associated with a controlled device (e.g., a personal computer), including the navigation of user interfaces associated with applications or an operating system associated with the controlled device. A task can be controlled at the controlled device by mapping user input received at the controlling device to control commands suitable for execution at the controlled device.”

Although there are a number of apps that already allow you to control your computer from your iPhone, the new device is said to have the feature built in.

As you already know the smartphone market has expanded quite a bit this year with the release of the Palm Pre and the Motorola Droid. The Droid smartphone has become the first real competitor to the iPhone drawing a good size following. Could this new device be a response to the Droid? Would an iPhone with the ability to control your home computer be a feature you would be interested in? Let us know what you think.

Mashable


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Google unveils its own URL shortener

By
acoleman
– December 14, 2009Posted in: Industry News, Internet Trends

Google DoodleWith the boom of micro-blogs such as Twitter, URL shorteners are becoming a hot commodity. For some time now we have only had a select few shorteneres to choose from but it seems the rest of the Internet is finally getting with the program.

Along with the news of Facebooks URL shortener, Google has announced their own URL shortener goo.gl. Sadly the shortener is not a stand alone service and is only available within the Google Toolbar, and FeedBurner. Google did say that they may make the shortener available to everyone if “the service proves useful.”

“We think people who use the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner will benefit from a shortener that is easily accessible — making it faster and easier to share, post and email links.”

You can try out the goo.gl shortener right now at Google Toolbar, and FeedBurner. Once you have taken it for a spin let us know what you think of it.

Google Blog


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Mozilla director urging followers to switch from Google to Bing

By
acoleman
– December 11, 2009Posted in: Industry News, Internet Trends

mozilla FirefoxAs the Internet becomes more and more open, the debate over privacy has become paramount. Some of the major players in the Internet landscape have made their stance clear in their policies and statements. One of them Facebook, with their controversial privacy changes,which we talked about yesterday.

Today the privacy debate took a new turn with the statements of Google’s Eric Schmidt, and the backlash that has come from it. Eric Schmidt has expressed Google’s desire to have a more open policy when it comes to privacy, and it has drawn a severe reaction from Mozilla’s Director of Community Development Asa Dotzler.

Schmidt stated that “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”

In a reaction to Schmidt’s statement, Dotzler provided a link in which you can switch your Firefox search from Google to Bing. He then stated that “Yes, Bing does have a better privacy policy than Google.”

The significance of Dotzler’s actions is massive, as Google has been Firefox’s major search engine for years. One of Mozilla’s big guys urging followers to switch to Bing, is a major shift in loyalty and could be the precursor to a search switch for Firefox. Time will tell.

MozillaZine


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