Posts filed under 'Hot off the Press'
It’s a product four years in the making: Google Suggest debuted on Tuesday to help users formulate queries and get better results.Google began developing the search-suggestion product in 2004. The feature started as a “20-percent project” (a Google philosophy that allows employees to spend one day a week working on something not in the regular job description). But now, the tool has expanded and is included on Google Labs, the Google Toolbar, the Firefox search box, Google Maps and Web Search for select countries, the iPhone and BlackBerry, YouTube, and now Google.com.
Google Suggest is officially available by default on the Google.com home page. Over the next week, the company plans to roll out the tool so that more and more searchers will start seeing a list of query suggestions when they start typing into the search box.
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
August 28th, 2008
Microsoft 
on Monday revealed some new privacy features for Internet Explorer 8, the next version of its market-leading Web browser. The features address the concerns of consumers and privacy advocates, who called the plans a positive step.The new features will let users control their history, cookies and other information that IE8 stores. Other features aim to help users control how their browsing history is shared by Web sites. By default, IE8 browses the Web the same way IE7 does.
“Having privacy native in the browser as opposed to just an extension is something we’ve been advocating for a long time from all the browser manufacturers,” said Ari Schwartz, deputy director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Incorporating all of these privacy features at once is a major step forward. Safari has some built-in privacy and Firefox has extensions. Native privacy is better.”
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August 27th, 2008
In a move to set itself apart from the flood of Bluetooth headsets on the market, BlueAnt Wireless on Tuesday introduced the BlueAnt V1 headset.The BlueAnt V1 is the only fully voice-controlled Bluetooth headset. The headset is powered by Sensory Inc.’s BlueGenie Voice Interface and BlueAnt’s voice-isolation technology. The headset aims to change the way consumers interact with technology by providing a new spin on hands-free calling. The device retails for $130.
“The intuitive voice interface not only appeals to technology power users, but also first-time Bluetooth headset users looking for a simple yet effective hands-free solution,” said Taisen Maddern, BlueAnt’s CEO.
Click here to read the rest of this story on Newsfactor.
August 27th, 2008
In a move to cash in on the back-to-school mobile phone-buying sprees, Verizon Wireless on Monday launched a new phone dubbed “Blitz.”Verizon Wireless is billing the phone as a device designed for the heaviest of texters. Loosely translated, that means tweens, or preteens.
The Blitz comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a dedicated My Messaging key. The tween-friendly phone also offers a 2.2-inch screen for browsing the Web or checking e-mail.
Also important to the youth demographic, the Blitz is a music player. Verizon’s latest product comes equipped with an MP3 player that can access the Verizon V CAST Music with Rhapsody service.
“The nice part about technology, as with most things, is that mature platforms fragment,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile research for Jupitermedia. “So we have these youth-optimized devices that we really have never seen just a few years ago.”
August 26th, 2008
For business professionals who can’t stand to waste a minute, Intuit is delivering the ability to do accounting on a smartphone. On Monday, Intuit announced integration for both the iPhone and Blackberry with QuickBooks Online, a Web-based business accounting application.Intuit is billing the integration as a means to give small-business owners more freedom to manage their business anywhere, anytime — with or without a computer — in what it calls an early version Web-based mobile application.
“A growing number of small businesses are looking to mobile technology to run their business,” said Rick Jensen, senior vice president of Intuit’s Small Business Division. “Our goal with these new mobile services is to give QuickBooks Online users the edge they need to compete and manage their busy lives by keeping tabs on their business even when they are out of the office.”
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August 26th, 2008
Apple’s iPhone partners may be working overtime to enhance the phone maker’s image.Poland Orange, Poland’s largest mobile operator, has launched a pre-iPhone 3G marketing campaign that is paying dozens of actors to stand in line to buy one of the new devices, according to a Reuters report. And Orange isn’t trying to hide it, either.
“We have these fake queues in front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone,” a spokesman told Reuters. The wire service reported no queues at T-Mobile’s Era stores, which will also began selling iPhone 3Gs on Friday.
The Orange spokesperson told the Associated Press that “the aim was to ‘warm up’ the atmosphere around the launch of the iPhone.”
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August 23rd, 2008
Microsoft will pay comedian Jerry Seinfeld $10 million to advertise its Windows Vista operating system. In all, the campaign, which includes a series of ads featuring Seinfeld and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, will cost $300 million.Based on the theme “Windows Not Walls,” the series aims to shed a more favorable light on Windows Vista. Launched by Microsoft’s new ad agency, Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the campaign is set to debut Sept. 4 and will be one of Microsoft’s largest ad blitzes. Crispin is credited with turning around Burger King’s image.
But will it work? That depends on whom you ask. Some public-relations pros think it’s a slam dunk. Others say it’s all in the execution. Still others say Seinfeld won’t reach the right demographic.
August 22nd, 2008
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