Archive for October 18th, 2007
MySpace and Facebook are duking it out at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week. Analysts said MySpace is making some smart moves and that Facebook has undeniable momentum. Others are speculating that Facebook’s recent traffic dip speaks of its demise. In the meantime, both companies are planning for the future.MySpace is following the footsteps of Facebook in some areas. This week, MySpace announced plans to open its platform to outside developers to keep up with its fast-growth competitor, something Facebook did earlier this summer. MySpace also announced a VoIP 
deal with Skype that lets its members talk to one another for free. Late last month, MySpace launched a version of its social-networking platform for mobile phones.
For its part, Facebook is answering with plans to double its workforce from 300 to about 700 in the year ahead. The company said it wants to make member profile data portable so users can move it to other online services. Facebook might even develop its own advertising platform. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to offer any specific timelines on these initiatives or how it would get the cash to do it.
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October 18th, 2007
When Yahoo reported its second quarter earnings in July, cofounder and CEO Jerry Yang said the company’s management was focused on doing everything it could to strengthen the business, capture long-term growth opportunities, and create increased value for shareholders.With third-quarter earnings to be released on Tuesday, financial reporters are waiting for the official word on Yahoo’s progress over the past three months. Yahoo’s second quarter saw revenue growth, profitability, and strong free cash flow, but the company still isn’t competing head to head with Google on most fronts.
Yahoo made plenty of moves in the third quarter, including revamping Yahoo Mail, striking new strategic partnerships, making acquisitions, remodeling its search engine, and adding new newspapers to its consortium. It’s the consortium that’s in the spotlight on the eve of Yahoo’s latest earnings report.
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October 18th, 2007
Google is offering new details about YouTube copyright-protection initiatives first leaked to the media in February. Dubbed YouTube Video Identification, Google’s new beta technology, released Monday, aims to help content owners identify pirated videos that community members upload to the site.This type of technology is the online world’s answer to demands on the part of content owners to protect copyrights in the wake of rampant illegal uploads. MySpace, for example, is licensing technology from Audible Magic to screen videos that social networkers upload to the site.
“Video Identification is the next step in a long list of content policies and tools that we have provided copyright owners so that they can more easily identify their content and manage how it is made available on YouTube,” YouTube Product Manager David King wrote in the company’s blog on Monday.
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October 18th, 2007
A Greenpeace report could spark yet another lawsuit against Apple. On Monday, The Center for Environmental Health gave Apple 60 days notice that it might file suit against it after tests Greenpeace commissioned revealed several hazardous chemicals in both the external and internal components of the iPhone.According to a Greenpeace report entitled “Missed Call: The iPhone’s Hazardous Chemicals,” the iPhone contains several dangerous chemicals, including phthalates in the vinyl plastic earphone wiring at levels that are prohibited in young children’s toys in San Francisco and in the European Union.
This is the third time that Greenpeace has tested an Apple product since 2006. Similar analyses of a MacBook Pro and an iPod Nano revealed the presence of phthalates and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
However, the latest study marks Greenpeace’s first test of an Apple product since CEO Steve Jobs made a public commitment in May to make a “Greener Apple.” Apple specifically pledged to phase out all polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics and BFRs by the end of 2008.
Apple did not respond to requests seeking comment on the potential suit or the Greenpeace allegations.
October 18th, 2007
With the eMetrics Summit underway in Washington, D.C., Google took advantage of the captive audience of industry analysts and Web analytics gurus from Fortune 500 companies to announce changes to its platform.On Tuesday, Google introduced new features to Google Analytics, including site search reporting and event tracking, and an updated version of Urchin software. The company said the enhanced features make Web 2.0 information more accessible and comprehensible, and will help users better understand visitor behavior.
“Google continues to expand the capabilities of its analytics solution with integrated search analytics and event tracking, while enabling measurement of multiple Web properties through tagless link tracking,” said John Lovett, senior analyst for site technologies and operations at Jupiter Research, from the eMetrics Summit.
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October 18th, 2007
Corporations and consumers who crave more storage on their PCs can rest assured that hard drive makers are working to push well beyond the terabyte barrier. Hitachi claims it has developed the world’s smallest read-head technology, and expects its breakthrough to quadruple current storage capacity limits to four terabytes for desktop hard drives and one terabyte for notebook drives.A terabyte of storage space is equivalent to about one million books, 250,000 digital songs, or 250 hours of high-definition video.
“Hitachi continues to invest in deep research for the advancement of hard disk drives as we believe there is no other technology capable of providing the hard drive’s high-capacity, low-cost value for the foreseeable future,” Hiroaki Odawara, research director for Hitachi’s Storage Technology Research Center, said in a statement.
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October 18th, 2007
