Companies in the UK will soon have to ensure content on their websites and social network pages comply with rules set out by The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), or face being ‘named and shamed’ as part of a new initiative. From March next year, the rules covering misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children will apply in full to all online marketing by all sectors, businesses and organisations, regardless of size.

The ASA's current remit online includes ads in paid-for space and sales promotions wherever they appear. The extension now means full advertising regulations will now also apply to parts of the internet that are ‘free of charge’ (unlike paid adverts) charge, such as brands’ own websites and online areas like Twitter and Facebook.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Ad watchdog gets tough on web advertising" »

Google has added a new tool called "Priority Inbox" to its Gmail service, designed to help people wade through their overflowing e-mail inboxes. The feature uses formulas developed by Google engineers to automatically figure out and highlight which incoming messages are likely to be the most important to each Gmail user.

Users who opt to turn on the Priority Inbox will see their messages separated into three categories. "Important and unread" e-mails will be at the top followed by messages that have been previously stamped with a star by an accountholder. Everything else appears at the bottom.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Google debuts ‘priority inbox’ for Gmail to cut through e-mail clutter" »

Amazon is reportedly planning to launch an online TV and movie rental service, and is cureently in talks with major TV and film studios.

According to report in the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has approached media companies including Time Warner. with plans to start an online video subscription service to rival Netflix in the US. The paper quoted three people ‘with knowledge of the talks’. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is broadening the retailer’s digital entertainment services to combat rivals such as Netflix, Hulu LLC and Apple.

Continue reading "Amazon to sell subscription service for online movies?" »

A third of television viewers now watch their favourite programmes online, on computers and mobile phones, according to new research. The joint study by the Radio Times and SeeSaw.com has highlighted changes in the way people now view programmes.

A total of 34 per cent of those questioned said they watched TV shows on the internet while for students the figure was even higher at 56 per cent, meaning more students are viewing programmes on their laptops than on television sets. Only 39 per cent of students said they watched programmes in the traditional way while more than half of those questioned over the age of 65 generation said they had watched a programme online in the past year.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "More than a third of Brits now watching TV online" »

Google has launched a new tool that lets its US-based Gmail users make free calls to one another via the web. The new feature increases the search giant’s competition with Internet phone providers like Skype.

At an event in San Francisco, Google said the new service, which will roll out this week, is free for calls to the U.S. and Canada at least until the end of the year, though there are costs to make international calls to landlines and mobile phones. Google said it hoped to later offer the service to international Gmail users and possibly to businesses.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Google takes on Skype with free web calls" »

The publisher of the complete Oxford English Dictionary says the iconic publication may give up on paper and go completely digital. The Oxford University Press said recently it may not have enough market demand to publish a hardcover version of the third edition of the multi-volume OED.

The Oxford University Press would instead focus on selling subscriptions to the OED's online version.No official publication date is set for the third edition of the OED. Scholars have been working on the text since 1989, but as of June 2010 only entries from "A" to "Rococoesque" have been completed, representing approximately 0.83 letters of the alphabet every year.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Has the Internet killed the Oxford English Dictionary?" »

How we watch, share, discuss and interact with traditional TV in the UK is evolving rapidly in response to the rise of social media, according to the findings of the Social TV Trends Report.The research into the habits of over 2,000 British consumers commissioned by social media agency Diffusion and conducted by YouGov, has found that ‘media stacking’ is becoming the norm as we watch TV with growing viewer demand for more real-time interactive online services accessible via the ‘traditional’ TV set.

From browsing the internet, updating social networks to listening to the radio and using a mobile phone the statistics show that over half (58 per cent) of those surveyed are regularly consuming a least one other type of media while watching a TV. This trend for ‘media stacking’ is most prevalent amongst 18-24 year olds with 76 per cent saying they browse the internet whilst watching TV.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Social media ‘making TV a social experience again’" »

Brits have a wide variety of preferences to marketing formats, depending on their age and location, according to new research, which found that youngsters prefer to buy in-store rather than shop online.

The study, from Experian, found 15-24 year olds are highly receptive to direct mail, while the UK rural population prefer to engage face-to-face. The results challenge existing thinking on consumer preferences and highlight the importance of avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "‘Young online generation’ prefer to buy in store- study " »

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has asked Advertising Code writing bodies CAP and BCAP to review the advertising of broadband speed claims.

Continue reading "ASA to investigate mobile broadband speed advertising" »

Employees are hitting the online shopping aisles during office hours to get away from work pressures, according to research from real-time online shopping tool Invisible Hand. Workers hit a post-lunch slump and as a result head online for some retail therapy, as data shows an 11% increase in the number of online shoppers at 2pm, compared to midday.

2pm isn’t the only time workers whip out their plastic to pass those work hours by, as research shows the largest surge of online shopping during the working week is at 4pm. Figures from Invisible Hand show there is an average 52% increase in online shopping compared to the morning.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "4pm Wednesday ‘is peak-time for workplace shopping’" »

Facebook became the most popular social network in India for the first time in July with 20.9 million visitors, up 179 percent versus year ago, according to new data. More than 33 million Internet users age 15 and older in India visited social networking sites in July, representing 84 percent of the total Internet audience.

India now ranks as the seventh largest market worldwide for social networking, after the U.S., China, Germany, Russian Federation, Brazil and the U.K. The total Indian social networking audience grew 43 percent in the past year, more than tripling the rate of growth of the total Internet audience in India.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Facebook leads social networks in India for first time" »

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned BT's latest TV broadband advertisement, following claims the communications giant was making "unrealistic" claims about the speed of its broadband service. BT's advert showed 'Jane' instantly loading a website and looking through images, while an estate agent was apologising to 'Adam' for the slowness of his connection.

"BT is rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give you a consistently faster broadband throughout the day even at peak times," intoned a voiceover. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) investigated BT's claim that its new 20Mbps service is "consistently faster" than other leading broadband providers following 17 complaints, including challenges from rivals BSkyB, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

Continue reading "ASA bans BT broadband ad for misleading about speed" »

Google is testing out a new ‘streaming search’ feature that displays search results to users as they type. The tool, which is being tested on a small group of users, takes the search giant’s existing autocomplete suggestions one step further.

Google has long provided suggestions while typing in the search box, but this apparently experimental feature was first noticed by a UK search engine optimisation blogger who posted a video of his experience online. Rob Ousbey blogged: "This evening, I spotted that you don't even need to hit the 'Search' button anymore - Google updates the results for you while you're typing."

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Google displays ‘streaming search’ results as users type" »

Channel Five has reversed its decision, made only six weeks ago, to pull out of the UK television industry’s project to allow consumers to see video programmes via the internet. Project Canvas now includes again all the terrestrial broadcasters – the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 remained involved when Channel Five left for financial reasons last month – as well as BT, Carphone Warehouse and the infrastructure owner Arqiva. It is looking for further partners.

The reversal was expected following the purchase of Five by Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell group from RTL, the pan-European broadcaster, earlier this month. “Project Canvas is set to shape the future of broadcasting and open up new and exciting possibilities for viewers,” Mr Desmond said in a statement on Tuesday.

01/09/2010

Continue reading "Five rejoins Project Canvas" »

The pace of Google's acquisitions is astonishing: Jambool, Social Gold and social apps maker Slide all became GOOG, and there's clear interest in visual search firm Like.com - the new frontier in search. Add to that their PayPal integration with Android and its clear Google's focus today is as much about social, apps, and the web on the move as it is about Search.

Facebook matched the pace with the launch of their Q&A service and the bedding in of CEOP, both of which are strategically core. Facebook clocked up record access levels at work here in the UK, moved into top place in India, and no doubt its stickiness will rise even higher as TV networks like the UK's Channel 5 start to embed their top shows into FB's TV on-demand platform. As Google gears up for Social, Facebook is gearing up for Search and Video.

In the mobile space, the acceleration echoes the late 90s' Tipping Point when the web mainstreamed. All brands we spoke with this month now put mobile into the digital plan - even if only at small levels - and media owners are finally seeing mobile as a core platform. Innovation from device manufacturers continued - especially Nokia and Apple - while Blackberry's network came under the long-expected scrutiny by governments across the Middle East and India, no doubt triggering a massive loss of customers along the way.

Read August 2010

Recent editions of Digital Intelligence | Apply for a guest account for Digital Intelligence

Google is all set to hire 200 employees for Google Dublin office, as the search giant looks to expand its location services.

The move will see the creation of a new operations centre in the Republic of Ireland’s capital, where new the employees will work on the group's location-based products such as Google Local and Google Maps. The centre could lead a challenge to Facebook Places, as Google pieces together some sort of social network.

24/08/2010

Continue reading "Google hires 200 Ireland staff to boost location tools" »

In order to help charities and public sector organisations increase their visibility online, the Internet Advertising Bureau – the trade body for digital marketing – has launched a Search Marketing Toolkit to educate the market about how to use search more effectively.

24/08/2010

Continue reading "IAB helps public sector and charities get more out of search marketing" »

The BBC is planning to create a complete online broadcast history of the corporation dating back to its foundation in 1922, as part of its ‘Genome Project’. Starting this process, thousands of back copies of the Radio Times are being studied in a bid to compile a list of every BBC programme broadcast in its 88 years.

The Radio Times was ‘an ideal place to begin’ the BBC Genome project, said manager Helen Papadopoulos. ‘It contains a record of everything we intended to broadcast – even if what actually went on air wasn’t what we planned to show,’ she wrote on a BBC blog. ‘And it is in a structure and format that people recognise, with basic but consistent details for all programmes, along with regional variations.’

24/08/2010

Continue reading "BBC to put 88-year back catalogue online" »

From small companies to global organisations, social media campaigns are playing an increasingly important role in brand marketing and now a Social Media Campaign Hall of Fame table has been published. This list runs down the most succesful. memorable and controversial social media campaigns of all time.

23/08/2010

Continue reading "Top 50 social media campaigns of all time" »

Covent Garden-based creative agency BPL has produced the first crowd sourced advert for Unilever’s Peperami brand. The TV ad which is for the new bite size Peperami Nibblers product line features the Peperami character “Animal” and introduces the Peperami family.

The creative concept was submitted via ideabounty.com by Kevin Baldwin, a London-based copywriter and Rowland Davies, a former agency creative director based in Germany. The ad was managed in the UK and produced and animated by BPL’s South African operation.

23/08/2010

Continue reading "Unilever unveils first ‘crowd-sourced’ Peperami ad" »

Fashion brands have a significantly stronger social media presence than other UK retailers, by actively embracing various platforms for the benefit of both the customer and the business, according to a new survey. Having measured the fundamental rise of ecommerce over the past decade with its eRetail Benchmark study, eDigitalResearch is now monitoring retailer’s social media as part of its benchmark activity, assessing brand’s presence over several different sites and their efforts to engage in two-way dialogue.

Assessing some 72 UK retail sites by looking at volume of followers alongside active interaction between the brand and consumer, the research found that fashion retailers are encouraging a larger degree of cross-communication through well-established Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. Topshop and River Island claimed the top two spots, recording a large number of followers and higher levels of customer engagement. ASOS came in third, with New Look and Next completing the top five.

23/08/2010

Continue reading "Fashion retailers claim social media branding top spots" »

Marketers are still in a muddle when it comes to social media with almost one fifth thinking Twitter founder Biz Stone is a business publication, according to a recent survey conducted by Emailvision at the Online Marketing Show. When asked to clarify who or what Biz Stone is only 11 per cent identified him correctly as the founder of social networking site Twitter.

Other popular answers included a type of mineral and an indie band front man.Other areas leaving marketers flummoxed were the UK websites that attract the most users. As many as 92 per cent of respondents failed to identify Facebook as having the highest user figures.

23/04/2010

Continue reading "Most marketers don’t know who Biz Stone is- survey" »

Facebook's 500 million-plus users will soon be able to track friends' whereabouts across the US. The new "Places" feature begins rolling out on Wednesday to some users and goes across the US within weeks. The tool help users share where they are, figure out who is in the vicinity, and check out happenings and services within the same locale.

The feature will put the social network in competition with the increasingly popular location services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, which allow consumers to use their mobile phones to keep track of their friends whereabouts and earn rewards for frequenting brick-and-mortar businesses, have caught on among technology aficionados. Facebook and Yahoo both unsuccessfully sought to acquire Foursquare earlier this year, according to media reports.

20/08/2010

Continue reading "Facebook takes on Foursquare with ‘Places’ app" »

Britons spend almost half their waking hours watching TV or on the internet, with the rise of smartphones causing a dramatic rise in digital media consumption, according to new research. The study, from communications watchdog Ofcom, indicates that consumers often multi-task while consuming media, with the average person fitting an average of eight hours and 48 minutes of media into just over seven hours each day.

Ofcom puts this down to rising smartphone ownership and the falling cost of mobile contracts and bundles. Around a quarter of the waking day is spent on the internet on social networking sites, while about three hours and 45 minutes are spent watching TV.

20/08/2010

Continue reading "Brits spend half their time online or watching TV" »

Google is testing a universal search feature that will let users search their e-mail, presentations, spreadsheets and documents.Google Apps Search is a new Gmail Labs feature that "extends search with Google Docs and Sites results," according to the feature's description.

When activated, the "Search Mail" button changes to "Search Mail and Docs” with results displaying the 20 most recent e-mails, alongside the 20 related Google Docs or Sites as well. These are displayed below the Gmail search results. In addition to universal search functionality, Apps Search also includes a second feature: "Did you mean?" search suggestions. Whenever queries contain typos, Google will provide a suggestion for the search it believes the user meant to perform.

20/08/2010

Continue reading "Google tests universal search for Gmail, Docs and Sites" »

The affiliate marketing sector will drive an estimated £4.62bn in UK online retail sales during 2010, according to a report published this week by Econsultancy. The Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide 2010, the most comprehensive report available on the UK’s digital performance marketing industry, estimates that the sector grew by 8% in 2009 and will expand by a further 12% in 2010.

According to the report, the sector was worth £4.13 billion last year, when an estimated £245 million was paid in commissions and fees to affiliates and networks. In line with the sector’s overall growth, the value of commission and fees will increase to £275 million for 2010, according to the report.

20/08/2010

Continue reading "UK affiliate marketing sector to drive £4.62bn in online retail sales during 2010" »

Google's share of U.S. Internet searches was essentially flat at 71.4% in the four weeks ended Aug. 1 from a month earlier, according to new research. Among the top four categories, Bing notched strong growth across the board from a year ago, while Google's searches grew for automotive, shopping and travel, but fell 4% for health.

Yahoo's searches declined for all four categories, HitwiseExperian Hitwise reports that Yahoo and Microsoft's Bing received market share of about 14.4% and 9.9%, respectively. Those figures were also little changed from the prior month. IAC/InteractiveCorp.'s Ask.com received a 2.3% share of all U.S. searches, up about 6% from the prior month.

20/08/2010

Continue reading "Google retains US Internet search share in July " »

Too few retailers have a solid mobile presence today, however, 41% plan to have a transactional mobile site or application in place within the next year, according to new research. The study, from the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME), the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), indicates that while mobile commerce is still very much at the consideration stage, the majority of retailers surveyed expect mobile commerce to be part of their main strategy within the next 12 months.

eDigital Research, commissioned by AIME, the IAB and the IMRG surveyed 140 marketing professionals from the retail, advertising and mobile service provider sectors in the UK to understand attitudes, behaviours and perceived challenges to mobile commerce. Over half (59%) of the senior-level representatives from UK retail brands that took part expected their mobile revenues to increase over the next 12 months, and 94% saw it as a real opportunity for their business.

19/08/2010

Continue reading "Shoppers ‘moving faster than retailers towards mobile web’" »

Google has released the latest voice based control applications for Android-based smartphones. The voice based action program aid users to direct commands to their smartphones and thus enables to write texts, e-mails and even find road directions. The application works with 12 commands including calling, texting, browsing and GPS navigating.

19/08/2010

Continue reading "Google debuts voice search for Android phones" »

Visits to the websites of The Times and The Sunday Times have dropped by 1.2 million since May 2010, according to new data.The statistics, from ComScore, indicate that the websites of The Times and The Sunday Times dropped from 2.79 million in May 2010 to 1.61 million in July 2010.

News International launched its separate Thetimes.co.uk and Thesundaytimes.co.uk websites on 25 May. It made registration compulsory and began redirecting users from the old site on 15 June and started charging for access to both sites on 2 July.

18/08/2010

Continue reading "Times loses 1.2 million online readers after paywall" »

A number of high profile companies, including Disney and Warner Brothers, are being sued in the US for using a company that allegedly tracks the online activity of web users illegally.The complaint, filed last week in California, alleges that Disney, Warner Bros. Records, Ustream and others have installed illegal codes on millions of computers with the purpose of tracking the online activity of their owners.

The defendants are Clearspring Technologies, the company developing Flash-based technologies and its customers, which include Walt Disney Internet Group, Demand Media, Project Playlist, Soapnet, SodaHead, Ustream and Warner Bros. Records.

18/08/2010

Continue reading "Disney and Warner Bros accused of ‘spying on web users’" »

AOL is to launch an additional 500 websites under its ‘Patch’ brand this year, part of a broader effort to remake itself as a destination for users seeking maps, reviews, and other local content. AOL has launched 100 of these local sites so far and plans to spend more than $50 million to initiate hundreds more this year.

The company, which is trying to move past its roots as a dial-up Internet service provider, AOL is eyeing $20 billion of local online advertising dollars. The move, announced on Tuesday, is part of the company's turnaround strategy conceived when it spun off from Time Warner Inc after a disastrous 10-year marriage.

18/08/2010

Continue reading "AOL targets classified ad dollars with launch of 500 local sites " »

Facebook has reportedly bought semantic search platform Chai Labs, as the social network looks to boost its search capabilities. According to a report from Kara Swisher at Boomtown, Facebook has bought the US firm for around $10m.

Swisher said the acquisition is more focused on acquiring talent, which would certainly fall in line with past Facebook acquisitions. Chai Labs is described as a “technology platform enables publishers to easily customize and launch scalable, search-friendly sites in several verticals. We seamlessly complement our partners’ editorial teams, and some of our most compelling implementations have occurred when editors and journalists have worked side-by-side with our platform.”

17/08/2010

Continue reading "Facebook buys semantic search platform Chai Labs- report" »

Google is reportedly set to buy Like.com, a visual search and e-commerce firm, for more than $100m. Reuters quoted a report in Techcrunch saying that Google wants to experiment with a new kind of search technology that appears to be getting traction. Like.com, which was founded by Munjal Shah and Burak Gokturk in August 2004, raised nearly $50m and started applying computer vision and learning technology to online fashion purchases.

17/08/2010

Continue reading "Google to buy visual search firm Like.com for over $100m?" »

Online retailers should not rely on search to drive business, with the latest quarterly survey from IMRG and The British Population Survey showing that the use of social media has increased fourfold in the last two years.

The IMRG/BPS Internet Access and Online Shopping in Britain report for the second quarter of 2010 shows that internet users visiting social networking and blogging sites have grown to 48.9%, a four-fold increase over the same period in 2008. While overall access to the internet continues to increase – more than half of the UK population now goes online at least once a day – the number using the internet for online search is not increasing at the same rate, falling by 0.5% during the first half of 2010 from 73.7% to 73.2%.

Continue reading "Social media catching search in terms of visits" »

Google has been in talks with PayPal about using the popular online payment system with its Android smartphone software. The talks between the search giant and the eBay-owned firm include utilising PayPal's mobile technology to collect payments for applications via Android smartphones.

Currently, Android smartphones offer Google checkout as a payment method. However, to appeal to a larger customer base, PayPal may be another option.Several websites offer PayPal as a checkout option, and adding it to Android smartphones would allow users who do not use Google checkout to pay for their applications.

16/08/2010

Continue reading "Google to integrate PayPal into Android phones?" »

The global audience to Twitter.com has doubled in the past year, as the Latin American audience grows fourfold, according to new research.The study, from comScore, found that in June, nearly 93 million Internet users visited Twitter.com, an increase of 109 percent from the previous year, as the social networking site achieved strong gains across all global regions.

Indonesia reported the highest penetration, with 20.8 percent of Internet users in the country visiting Twitter.com that month, followed by Brazil and Venezuela, with Venezuela’s growth fueled in large part by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s decision to join Twitter in late April.

13/08/2010

Continue reading "Global Twitter usage: Indonesia, Brazil and Venezuela lead surge as audience doubles in a year" »

New research from the Internet Advertising Bureau – the trade association for digital marketing – suggests that email marketers should look to Amazon, Tesco and Marks and Spencer for inspiration when planning their email campaigns.

Around a quarter of consumers cited one or more of the three big brands as those they’d ‘most like to hear from’ via email, citing easy navigation and simplicity as the biggest draw in emails from marketers. The IAB – in partnership with its email council and iCD Research – asked a nationally representative sample of 1000 people their attitudes towards email marketing, levels of usage and preferred layout, to inform the email marketing strategies of UK brands.

13/08/2010

Continue reading "Top email marketing brands: Amazon, Tesco and M&S lead the way" »

More than 200 Facebook users have reported suspicious behaviour online since the launch of an anti-abuse application last month, according to new figures. Investigators saw more than a seven-fold increase in the number of reports from the social networking site since the launch of the safety button aimed at protecting children from bullying, suspected grooming and other abuse.

A total of 211 people used the site's ClickCEOP button to report abuse since July 12, compared with just 28 users who reported abuse through the site in the month before its launch. In all, Facebook users downloaded the application more than 55,000 times in its first month, leading to more than 20,000 people getting regular online safety updates and more than 5,000 accessing help, advice and support, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre said.

13/08/2010

Continue reading "Facebook's CEOP abuse button 'a success'" »

MediaMind Technologies, the digital advertising company, formerly known as Eyeblaster, has filed an initial prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission to take the company public.

The Company's shares will begin trading on August 11, 2010 on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol "MDMD." According to the company's August 4 regulatory filing, MediaMind intends to offer 5 million shares at $15 and will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol MDMD. The company anticipates raising approximately $73 million in the offering.

12/08/2010

Continue reading "MediaMind expects to raise $73m after going public" »

Accessing and downloading content from Facebook and YouTube while at work still accounts for more corporate web activity and bandwidth usage than from any other sites, according to new figures from managed security company, Network Box.

Just over seven per cent of all hits from business networks are to Facebook, with Google the second most popular at four per cent. In the dataset used, Facebook clocked up 98 million more hits (totalling 1,008,046,041) in the second quarter of 2010 than it did in the first (which saw 909.710,076 hits), a rise of 10.8% in the quarter.

12/08/2010

Continue reading "More than one billion Facebook hits ‘from people at work’" »

Internet firms Facebook and AOL are discussing a strategic alliance aimed at boosting their online advertisement business, according to a news report.The New York Post cited three separate sources saying the the two companies have been talking for several months about a partnership that would allow Facebook to tap AOL in selling online advertisements. One possibility for AOL is being named a "preferred media partner" to Facebook, a source told the Post.

12/08/2010

Continue reading " Facebook and AOL planning online ad alliance?" »

Channel Five has made a deal with Facebook that means its TV-on-demand platform, 'Demand Five', will be embedded into the social-networking site.The deal will see Channel Five become the first broadcaster to show television programmes through Facebook, and apparently it will be launching in the next ten days.

Demand Five will show programmes that have been previously broadcast on Channel Five, including CSI: Miami, Home & Away, and Neighbours. Over 26 million people in the UK use Facebook, and so will have access to this TV-on-demand platform.

12/08/2010

Continue reading "Channel Five broadcasts TV shows on Facebook" »

Google has reportedly acquired Jambool and Social Gold in a move to add expertise to is rumoured forthcoming new social network. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Monday, Google has purchased San Francisco-based Jambool, along with its online payment system Social Gold, for $70 million.

Although neither company has commented on the news, technology news website Tech Crunch has cited multiple anonymous sources who have confirmed the acquisition. Jambool was founded by former Amazon employees Vikas Gupta and Reza Hussein in 2006, and Social Gold was launched in 2008.

11/08/2010

Continue reading "Google Acquires Jambool And Social Gold" »

People in China watch half as much television each day as Americans, but they are more likely to catch video on computer or mobile phones, according to new research. The study, from Nielsen, looked into the technology habits of some 27,000 online consumers in 55 countries in March.

Mobile video viewing is much more common in Asian and Pacific countries than it is in the United States or Europe. The Chinese are 51 percent more likely to watch mobile video than people elsewhere in the world, while Americans are 55 percent less likely, the study said.

10/08/2010

Continue reading "Online video: TV still king in US, Asians rely on mobile video" »

Over two in five (42.6 percent) of Brits are now shopping online at least once per week and the average shopper is now spending £71 per month on online goods, according to new research.

The report announced by eCommera, a provider of ecommerce trading solutions, adds weight to the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index showing growth for the British online retail market is continuing to climb.

Continue reading "2 in 5 Brits ‘shop online at least once a week’" »

Google has bought social widget maker Slide, for a reported $180m, as the search giant looks to expand into the lucrative apps market. The deal gives Google a team of developers with extensive social networking experience.

A person familiar with the situation said the deal was valued at about $180 million, similar to the price tag reported by technology blog TechCrunch on Wednesday. In announcing the takeover Friday, Google engineering director David Glazer said the company would be "investing even more to make Google services socially aware" and expand the social-networking capabilities further across the Web, according to a post on the company's official blog.

10/08/2010

Continue reading "Google buys social app maker Slide for $180m" »

Property website Rightmove has introduced an innovative new search tool to its website. Draw-a-Search allows people to sketch out their own search shape on a Google Map and perform property searches on that specific area.

The tool works by connecting a series of points together to form a shape covering the exact area that the home-hunter would like to search in. These shapes can then be saved to receive property alerts when relevant homes in that area become available, and even be shared with others on Facebook and Twitter.

09/08/2010

Continue reading "Rightmove lets users ‘draw-a-search’ to find properties" »

Software giant Microsoft has said it is "evaluating its options" after Yahoo! Japan announced it is to move away from a deal with the firm and instead work with Google. As part of the new agreement, Yahoo! Japan will be able to utilise Google's search capabilities but the announcement of the deal came after Yahoo! Japan had already spoken about a potential team-up with Microsoft.

Should the deal go ahead, it would give Google almost total control over all of Japan's search engine services and Microsoft may now try and block the agreement citing reasons to do with competitive fairness.

07/08/2010

Continue reading "Microsoft 'may object' to Yahoo! Japan deal" »

Facebook has simplified its privacy controls for users who access the social networking using the Apple iPhone and other mobile devices. The changes give mobile users the same privacy settings previously available to those accessing the site via desktop browsers.

The new 'Custom' privacy options enable users to select in fine detail which aspects of their profile are made available to whom - including control over applications and features such as 'instant customisation', which enable third-party partner web sites to harvest user information in order to create customised home pages or offer content and deals based on the user's interests.

06/08/2010

Continue reading "Facebook updates mobile privacy controls" »

Google Inc. will end development of its Wave service, which lets users share images and documents, because customers were slow to adopt the technology. Google launched the real-time web collaboration tool at its annual I/O developer conference last year.

The company acknowledged that despite huge internal excitement over the possibilities offered by Wave, the tool did not catch on with users. “Google Wave set a high bar for what was possible in a web browser,” wrote Urs Hölzle, senior vice president of operations at Google in a blog post.

06/08/2010

Continue reading "Google Wave to close down following lack of demand" »

Research In Motion has agreed to allow Indian security agencies to monitor its BlackBerry services after the government raised concerns over the smartphones' messaging technology. The news follows the United Arab Emirates' threats to cut off BlackBerry services as authorities could not access encrypted data. RIM later pledged to satisfy both the needs of customers and governments.

The Economic Times newspaper reports that RIM has offered to share with Indian security agencies its technical codes for corporate email services, open up access to all consumer emails within 15 days and also develop tools in six to eight months to allow monitoring of chats, the paper said, citing internal government documents.

04/08/2010

Continue reading "Blackberry opens its traffic to government monitoring " »

Games have overtaken e-mail as Americans' number two online time killer for the first time, according to new research, with social networking coming top of the list. The study, from Nielsen Online, found that of the nearly 24 hours of time that Americans on average spent online during the month of June, 23 percent was on social networks and blogs. That is up from 16 percent in the same month a year earlier.

By far the most visited social network was Facebook, which recently celebrated reaching half a billion active users worldwide. The site commanded 85 percent of the time Americans spent on social networks. Games, meanwhile, accounted for more than 10 percent of Internet users' total time online in June, up from 9 percent last year. E-mail, on the other hand, counts for just 8 percent of Americans' Internet time, down from nearly 12 percent last June.

04/08/2010

Continue reading "Games overtake email as second top online time killer- US study " »

Virgin Media has lodged a complaint with Ofcom, aimed at halting the BBC-backed video-on-demand service Project Canvas. The cable giant says the project, which is developing common standards for net TV in the UK, is anti-competitive. BT, Channel 4 and ITV are partners alongside the BBC.

It was given the green light in May, when the Office of Fair Trading ruled it was not a merger, but Virgin Media said it could destroy the online TV market. It said the collaboration between the three most prominent public service broadcasters would "significantly and irreparably harm" the TV sector. Describing it as the "national health glasses" of the TV world, Virgin said it would stifle innovation.

04/08/2010

Continue reading "Virgin Media files complaint about ‘anti-competitive’ Project Canvas" »

Saudia Arabia and The United Arab Emirates are both banning some of BlackBerry internet-based functions over 'security issues'. BlackBerry owners in two Gulf states will soon have their handsets' functions restricted under a ban imposed by the countries' governments.

People in the the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will not be able to send emails, access the internet or send instant messages to each other, whereas Saudi Arabians will be banned from using the BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry instant-messaging service. There are around 500,000 BlackBerry owners in the UAE, and 400,000 in Saudi Arabia.

03/08/2010

Continue reading "Gulf nations ban BlackBerry web functions over ‘security issues’ " »

Facebook has introduced Facebook Questions, a beta product that lets users pose questions to the social network's community. The new service introduced Wednesday appears as an "Ask Question" button at the top of users' homepages.

The feature is initially available only to a limited number of people, but the site plans to roll it out to everyone as quickly as possible, depending on users' feedback. The idea behind the service is to let people tap Facebook's 500 million users to get answers to questions about any topic, from music and restaurants to where to learn to play the piano and the best surfing spots in Costa Rica.

01/08/2010

Continue reading "Facebook takes on Google with Q&A service " »

Yahoo Japan has signed a deal to use Google for its search engine and search ad delivery system- sparking condemnation from its global search partner Microsoft. Yahoo Japan will continue to manage its own search page and search service. Yahoo Japan will also continue to run its advertising marketplace independent of Google.

Microsoft condemned the deal and said it would result in Google gaining nearly complete control over search and search advertising in Japan through contract, not organic growth. The announcement comes one year after Yahoo and Microsoft announced a 10-year search deal under which Microsoft will power Yahoo's search site while Yahoo will manage the sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers.

28/07/2010

Continue reading "Microsoft outcry as Yahoo Japan picks Google as search partner " »

Ask.com has launched a new site focused on Q&A-based queries, with results based on user generated answers to questions. The move comes as the fourth biggest search engine looks to gain lost ground on rivals Google, Yahoo and MSN’s Bing.

Rather than relying solely on the Web, the updated Ask.com combines real user interaction with standard Internet search to help users find info. The new site actually harks back to the company’s initial question orieanted focus, which it had back when it launched in 1996. This time, however, the power of the people is a core part of the equation.

28/07/2010

Continue reading "Ask revamps search with community-based answers " »

Google is in talks with makers of popular online games in an effort to develop a social-networking service to compete with Facebook, according to a report. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google has been in discussions with top developers to offer their games on a new service it is building, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those developers include Playdom, Electronic Arts' Playfish and Zynga Game Network, a company in which Google recently invested. It is unclear when Google may launch the new gaming offering. The plans aren't finalised, but people briefed on the matter told the WSJ that the games would be part of a broader social-networking initiative that is under development by the search giant.

28/07/2010

Continue reading "Google woos social gaming firms to take on Facebook " »

Ofcom's latest UK Broadband Speeds study has found that UK ISPs regularly overstate their broadband speeds and only rarely give consumers the speeds they advertise.

Although the average fixed-line residential broadband speed has risen by over 25% during the last year (from 4.1Mbit/s to 5.2Mbit/s) web users subscribing to faster services are not getting what they paid for.

27/07/2010

Continue reading "Ofcom: ISPs not giving consumers the broadband speeds they pay for " »

The Welsh village of Crumlin in Caerphilly is the latest trial site for a new means of delivering broadband services. Virgin Media is working in conjunction with power company Surf Telecoms to provide fibre optic broadband services via electricity poles.

27/07/2010

Continue reading "Virgin Media trials broadband delivery through electricity poles" »

UK sales of Android phones have more than tripled since the start of 2010, with one in 10 new contract handsets now running Google's mobile OS.

Figures from GfK show that Android's share of the UK's mobile contract market rose from 3% to 13.2% from Q1-Q2 this year.

27/07/2010

Continue reading "Android phone sales up 350% this year in UK " »

Online whistleblowing site Wikileaks has published over 75,000 documents containing classified information about the current war in Afghanistan. The documents cover the period from 2004-2009 and reveal a number of inconsistencies with official reports which have emanated from the White House and the US military.

Wikileaks posted the documents yesterday and also leaked them directly to the Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel, all of which have run stories based on their contents.

26/07/2010

Continue reading "Wikileaks publishes thousands of documents from war in Afghanistan " »

The latest annual Consumers & Convergence global survey from KPMG has found that UK internet users are the least keen to pay for online content.

The study found that 81% of UK internet users would prefer to go elsewhere for content if a frequently used site began to charge. KPMG polled 5,627 respondents from 22 countries and discovered that 43% of people worldwide are willing to pay for access to frequently-used online content. In contrast, only 19% of those in the UK are willing to pay.

26/07/2010

Continue reading "British least likely to pay for online content according to new survey " »

British viewers who watch TV programmes through their computers and who do not own television sets may be made to pay the licence fee as early as next year.

Currently viewers do not have to pay the licence fee if they only watch TV programmes through a computer.

26/07/2010

Continue reading "Government hints at plans for internet TV licence fee " »

The latest financial results from Amazon show that second-quarter profit grew to $207m (£135m) from $142m (£92.3) last year - a 45% increase.

While total revenues rose 41% to $6.6bn (£4.29bn), operating expenses also jumped 40%, leading to Amazon's stock price tumbling 13% as market analysts voiced their concerns. Revenues were up 46% in North America to $3.6bn (£2.34bn), and 35% to $3bn (£1.95bn) in the rest of the world.

23/07/2010

Continue reading "Amazon profits up 45% though shares fall " »

Google's image search is now receiving over 1bn page views each day.

The search engine now has over 10bn pictures in its archive, which first launched in 2001 with only 250m.

23/07/2010

Continue reading "Google images attracts over 1bn page views per day" »

Microsoft has reported profits of $4.52bn (£2.96bn) for the last quarter, a 48% year-on-year increase.

According to the firm, profits were boosted by sales of its latest Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft has now sold 175m Windows 7 licences since its launch last year.

23/07/2010

Continue reading "Microsoft profits leap 48% with help from Windows 7 " »

New data from ComScore shows that MySpace's UK audience fell 49% during the last year. Unique user numbers were down from 6.5m in May 2009 to only 3.3m in May of this year.

The decline of the social networking giant has been rapid despite the launch of MySpace Music last December.

22/07/2010

Continue reading "Facebook breaks 1/2bn user barrier; MySpace tumbles " »

PayPal saw its revenues rise 22% from last year.

Profits at eBay were up 26% to reach $412.2m, from $327m in 2010. Almost 60% of eBay's Marketplace revenues came from outside the US.

22/07/2010

Continue reading "PayPal helps eBay to strong revenues" »

The number of mobile requests for the BBC's iPlayer service grew by 1m in June, reaching a new high of 7m monthly requests.

Mobile traffic was boosted by iPlayer access on the Apple iPad, which already accounts for 10% of all requests from portable devices.

22/07/2010

Continue reading "BBC iPlayer receives 7m mobile requests during June " »

Apple has posted higher than expected third quarter figures, reporting a 78% increase in revenues to $3.25bn (£2.1bn) from $1.83bn in 2009.

Revenues also grew significantly, rising 61% to reach a new high of $15.7bn (£10.28bn) during the quarter.

22/07/2010

Continue reading "Apple profits beat expectations to rise 78%" »

Marketers should consider weather patterns when executing email marketing campaigns, according to new research. The research, from Pure360 analysed open and click through rates on over 7 million emails, promoting a variety of different products and services to assess the impact of weather on the success of email marketing as we approach the summer.

21/07/2010

Continue reading "Sunny weather 'can double effectiveness of email campaigns' " »

Two thirds of small business owners support the coalition government's decision to scrap the regional elements of advisory service Business Link, a poll of over 500 people by BusinessZone.co.uk reveals.

According to the survey of 516 entrepreneurs, 61% said the axing of the system which supports SMEs in England is a good decision compared to 39% who believed it is a bad move.

21/07/2010

Continue reading "Entrepreneurs back Business Link’s demise " »

As network operators and vendors increasingly deploy their own dedicated app stores, a new Juniper Research report has found that the annual number of consumer-oriented handset downloads is expected to rise from less than 2.6 billion in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015.

According to the Mobile App Stores report, players across the mobile value chain are seeking to emulate Apple’s success with the App Store by launching own-brand storefronts, such as ‘Mobile Market’ from China Unicom, ‘Airtel App Central’ from Bharti and the ‘Apps & Games Shop’ on Vodafone 360.

21/07/2010

Continue reading "Mobile app downloads ‘to reach 25bn by 2015’ " »

Time per person for top 10 parent companies, global, May 10.

Global audience reach for top 10 parent companies, May 10.

Location-based social network Foursquare is reportedly in talks with major companies in the search space, including giants such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Foursquare's co-founder Dennis Crowley said the talks could lets people search for local information provided by Foursquare on major search engines.

“Our data generates hugely interesting trends which would enrich search,” Crowley said.

“We can anonymise data and use it to show venues which are trending at that moment. Twitter helped the world and the search engines know what people are talking about. Foursquare would allow people to search for the types of place people are going to – and where is trending – not what.”

20/07/2010

Continue reading "Foursquare ‘in talks with top search engines’ " »

Facebook is to launch an online campaign to celebrate reaching 500 million global users, meaning one in every twelve people in the world now has a Facebook account. The company is expected to officially announce the half-billion milestone next week.

According to reports, Facebook plans to mark the achievement by launching "Facebook Stories". Facebook Stories will consist of user-submitted accounts, describing how Facebook has changed their lives. Users will be able to tell others how the platform has helped them change their lives by gaining a job or getting back in touch with long-lost friends.

20/07/2010

Continue reading "One twelfth of global population now has a Facebook account " »

Internet giant Google posted a 24 per cent rise in its second quarter profit to $1.84 billion, on the back of an overall recovery in demand for online advertising. The company had registered a profit of $1.48 billion in the second quarter of 2009. Google also saw its revenue grow by 24 per cent to $6.82 billion in the second quarter of this year, against $ 5.52 billion in the year-ago period, it said in a statement .

“Solid growth in our core business and very strong growth in our emerging businesses drove 24 per cent revenue growth year-over-year,” Google CEO Mr Eric Schmidt said. The Internet search giant’s revenue from outside the US totalled $3.53 billion, accounting for 52 per cent of the total revenue in the second quarter.

19/07/2010

Continue reading "Search ads boost Google's profit by 24% " »

Providing universal access to broadband speeds of a minimum of 2Mbps will take until 2015, three years longer than Labour had predicted, the government said last week. Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Hunt said the previous government had not provided enough money to cover the true cost. He said the government wanted to minimise the amount of public money invested in the network and to leverage it with private investment.

Matt Agar, commercial head of Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), said that despite the record deficit, currently around £1.4tr, the government was putting £200m towards the pilot and high speed networks. The government expected the private sector to provide most of the required capital, as it had in Korea, currently the world leader in broadband

19/07/2010

Continue reading "Universal broadband delayed until 2015 " »

The Old Spice channel became the most viewed on YouTube last week, after the men's grooming brand recorded more than 5.2 million views for its viral marketing videos in less than three days. The brand's Twitter followers grew from 3,000 to 48,000 during this period.

"Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter, or maybe the Old Spice man shows up @OldSpice," the company tweeted on Tuesday. The brand uploaded about 185 videos of one minute duration on Tuesday and Wednesday last week to YouTube, in which the Old Spice model Isaiah Mustafa responded to questions from the Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit communities.

19/07/2010

Continue reading "Old Spice viral ads break records with 5.2m YouTube views " »

The Times has lost two-thirds of its online audience since the introduction of its paywall earlier this month, beating the paper’s own expectations, according to new data. Data from Experian Hitwise, which monitors Internet traffic, found visits to The Times's website had fallen to 33 percent of the levels seen before readers were asked to register and pay for access.

The Murdoch-owned paper is likely to take the data as favourable considering traffic had been expected to drop by as much as 90 percent. However, the shorter drop may have been softened by an introductory offer for customers, which gave them a month’s access to the site for just £1.

19/07/2010

Continue reading "Better than expected? Times loses 66% of online readers after paywall " »

Facebook is set to launch a virtual currency, called "Facebook Credits" in September, letting users trade virtual and physical goods throught the social network. Facebook Credits will become the default online currency for the company, and will use a similar syatem to that offered by eBays online payments firm PayPal.

Currently in a test phase, Facebook Credits is likely to be rolled out to all users and developers in September. Credits will be aimed at virtual goods such as games, initially, but will eventually let consumers buy physical goods as well. The virtual currency is likely to provide big opportunities for consumer brands to offer transactions on Facebook and throughout the web using Facebook Connect.

19/07/2010

Continue reading "Facebook to launch PayPal-style 'Credits' in September " »

Time per person for top 10 parent companies, US, May 10

US audience reach for top 10 parent companies, May 10.

The BBC has updated its news website, with a new layout, extra video features and tools that let readers link stories to Facebook and Twitter. The broadcaster said it had used ideas submitted from the public in order to research the redesign.

The redesigned BBC News website, features integration with sites such as Facebook and Twitter, making it easier to share stories with friends. The main menu has moved to the top of the page and there is more emphasis on the stories the BBC considers to be the most important. There are more video stories and the new video player is bigger, with improved playback quality.

15/07/2010

Continue reading "BBC news website links to Facebook and Twitter " »

Facebook has finally launched its much-anticipated 'panic button' on its site, as the social networking giant looks to increase protection of its young users. The ‘ClickCEOP’ button lets Facebook users (especially those aged between 13 and 17) report suspicious online behaviour and access internet safety advice with the launch of the new application.

They can report any abuse to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and Facebook. Access to the ClickCEOP button will be provided via an application that users can add or bookmark so that it appears on their homepage as not only a constant source of help and reassurance for them but also as a strong visual signal to their friends, family and others that they are in control online.

13/07/2010

Continue reading "Facebook finally launches panic button for kids’ safety " »

The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of Google in a decision that could have wide-reaching implications for online advertising. Judges have confirmed that using other companies' names as online advertising keywords is not an infringement of European trademark law. This news will be a major boost to Google’s revenue-generating Adwords service.

The decision follows a long-running battle between Google and trademark owners. The case involved temporary cabin maker Portakabin and its competitor Primakabin. Primakabin chose the keywords ‘portakabin’, ‘portacabin’, ‘portokabin’ and ‘portocabin’ as its search terms for Google Adwords.

13/07/2010

Continue reading "Google wins landmark Adwords copyright case " »

The Chinese authorities have renewed Google’s license to operate a website in the country, averting a potential shutdown of its flagship search page in the world's biggest Internet market.

Google said last week that it would stop automatically rerouting users to its uncensored Hong Kong-based search page, explaining that Beijing had indicated it would not renew its Internet Content Provider (ICP) license if it continued to do so. That had prompted speculation that China might use the opportunity to shut down Google's China search page, which would have been a blow to its other business in the country.

12/07/10

Continue reading "Google gets lifeline in China: Govt. renews license " »

Downing Street and Facebook have launched a landmark initiative aimed at making public spending more effective.‘The Spending Challenge’ initiative marks the largest public engagement project ever launched by the British Government, and saw Prime Minister David Cameron meet Mark Zuckerberg via webconference to discuss its implementation.

The initiative marks the first step in the government’s commitment to creating an open and honest dialogue with the 26 million British citizens who actively use Facebook by calling on them to submit their feedback on the policies that will directly affect them in this year’s public spending budget. The Spending Challenge will initially launch on the Democracy UK Facebook Page by linking Facebook users to microsites specially tailored to focus on key issues open for discussion and debate among the voting public.

12/07/2010

Continue reading "When Cameron met Zuckerburg: Govt. asks Facebook users for spending cut advice" »

YouTube has launched Leanback, a new service aimed at the living room offering full screen, HD videos optimised for big screen TV viewing. Still in public beta, Leanback automatically starts playing content feeds based on a user’s preferences, and accesses social networking for users plugged in via Facebook.

Instead of having to use a mouse, users can skip content and navigate the entire interface using four arrow keys and the enter key. Users will need a YouTube account to watch Leanback, with the video "feed" is based on videos that the user has liked, unliked and added to their favourites. Unlike the original YouTube site, there are no visible comments, with the service operating more like a YouTube TV channel.

09/07/2010

Continue reading "YouTube recreates TV experience with ‘Leanback’ feature " »

Twitter has launched an advertising feature for morning people, dubbed Earlybird, letting advertisers offer users exclusive deals on products and events. In a blog post, the company officially announced EarlyBird, which aims to inform users of special promotions that are unique to Twitter and the account. Advertisers who pay Twitter to distribute the offers via @Earlybird will determine the availability and pricing.

The offers will be time sensitive, so fast action will be needed from users to grab a bargain before they’re gone. Bargain hunters can also spread the word by retweeting deals. None of the selected advertisers have yet been named, but Twitter offers more details here. Despite getting a $160m boost in venture capital funding earlier this year, and being worth an estimated $1bn, Twitter is still on the hunt for sustainable revenue sources to support the company.

08/07/2010

Continue reading "Twitter turns to affiliate marketing: offers daily deals via ‘Earlybird’ launch " »

Facebook has added a new facial recognition feature, as the social network looks for new ways to streamline its photo tagging process. The facial recognition feature, added last week, will identifiy that a face is present in an uploaded photo, asking the user "Whose face is this?"

According to Facebook, the feature is in limited testing, so you may not see it yet, but this and more will be coming for all soon. The software does not go so far as automatically tagging a recognized face, but this could be a potential feature in the future. This in turn could spark privacy concerns.

05/07/2010

Continue reading "Facebook adds facial recognition tool " »

Times readers now have to pay a pound a day or two pounds a week to access content. The websites of News International newspapers, the Times and the Sunday Times, have started charging for their content from 2 July.

Users who register for long-term use of the sites can pay a promotional price of one pound for the first 30 days, while subscribers to the newspapers' print editions can automatically access the newspapers online. The two titles are the first of four News International titles in the UK to move to an online-pay model. Chief executive of News International Rebekah Brooks said the new sites will feature award-winning journalism and give readers exclusive content and interactivity. The publisher said the Times iPad edition, which costs £9.99 a month, would continue to be charged separately.

05/07/2010

The BBC Trust has rejected the BBC's plans to close the digital radio station 6 Music, but has backed proposals to shake up news provision on BBC local radio and cut 25 per cent of the funding for the BBC website. The Trust, which is the ruling body of the BBC, has also backed the case for closing the Asian Network digital radio station.

The rulings come from a published response today to the Strategic Review put forward by director general Mark Thompson in March. It is part of a process which will detail the corporation's plans for the rest of the current BBC charter period, which runs until 2016.

05/07/2010

Continue reading "BBC Trust saves 6 Music, cuts online budget by 25% " »

The weekend saw the milestone of the five billionth global mobile phone connection, according to new data.

Analyst group The Mobile World said that this landmark has been achieved through rapid expansion in the thriving Indian and Chinese markets, and the instances of people in North America and Western Europe owning two or more devices.

The group found that Q1 2010 saw net additions of 168m, taking the total to 4.82 billion, and the Q2 gain is likely to have surpassed this figure, with China and India adding 50m in April and May alone.

These two markets are the world's largest, and they accounted for almost 28% of the global total at the end of Q1, but their contribution to the net quarterly gain in connections was double this at 56%. In absolute terms, the two markets added 94m in the three months ending 31st March 2010.

05/07/2010

Continue reading "5 billionth mobile phone gets connected " »

Facebook has tweaked its privacy policy to ensure third party app developers to specify to users what personal information they will access and use. The move forms part of the social networking giants efforts to appease critics of its privacy practices. The changes will apply to all third-party applications and games that a user installs on their profile.

Under the new system, a user will be presented with the permissions box every time they install a new application or first log in to an external website with their Facebook account. For example, JustGiving requests to access basic information, send the user emails, post updates to their wall and access profile information such as likes, music, and favourite TV shows. Meanwhile, on the app Fifa Superstars, Playfish now asks to access the users friend lists in order to create a social and interactive game.

02/07/2010

Continue reading "Facebook forces app makers to seek permission for user data " »

Foursquare has raised $20 million in a second round of funding, ending speculation that the location-based firm would accept a bid approach from Yahoo. The company has chosen to take the additional venture capital money rather than pursue takeover talks with internet giant Yahoo, which is believed to have made an informal approach.

Carol Bartz, chief executive of Yahoo!, in an interview with The Telegraph, strongly hinted she wished to buy the popular start-up, which lets you ‘check-in’ to bars and restaurants’, with a supposed price tag of $80m (£53m). The funding was led by Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Foursquare's original investors, Union Square Ventures and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. The new cash boost puts the value of the firm at an estimated $95m.

01/07/2010

Continue reading "Foursquare rejects Yahoo bid for $20m funding boost " »

Trade body Internet Advertising Sales Houses (IASH) has announced an investigation into the use of real-time “Content Safe” services, to help advertisers ensure their messages are not shown next to inappropriate content on the web. The use of these real-time content-screening services will be complementary to the established IASH Code of Conduct, which prohibits the use of barred content such as hate, indecent or obscene sites.

‘Content Safe’ or ‘Content Verification’ services can provide an additional layer of protection for advertisers online, and reflect the IASH mission to protect brands from appearing next to inappropriate content. They involve the analysis of URLs and web content to detect inappropriate content to ensure that brands can minimise any risk associated with where their adverts appear online. Brands can choose certain terms, semantics or websites on an ongoing basis to reduce the risk of their ads being placed inappropriately.

01/07/2010

Continue reading "IASH developing new tech to stop ads showing on dodgy websites " »

The UK internet audience rose by 1.9 million over the last year, with people over the age of 50 accounting for more than half of new users. UK web surfers expanded by 5% to 38.8 million in May, compared with 36.9 million in the same month last year, according to UKOM, a division of market research company Nielsen that measures internet usage.

An additional 1 million people aged 50 or over are now online, representing 53% of that growth. Most of those new users (722,000) were men and 15% (284,000) were women. The next largest group were women aged 21-34, who accounted for 272,000, followed by teenage girls. An additional 231,000 females between the ages of 12 and 20 now have access to the internet.

01/07/2010

Continue reading "UK web audience increased by 1.9m during 2009 " »

TV is set to rebound as the medium of choice for UK advertisers, reclaiming the top spot from the Web in terms of ad spend growth, according to new research. The latest AA/Warc Expenditure Report found that TV will be the main driver of UK advertising expenditure growth for 2010, with revenues to increase by an estimated 9.1% across the year. The report provides a measure of UK advertising activity – encompassing print, TV, digital, cinema and out of home – and expects TV to outperform online, which should grow by 7.7%.

It also predicts overall market growth of 3.3% in 2010, up from the previous forecast of 2.3%. Total ad spend is now expected to reach £14.98bn in 2010, an increase of £0.5bn from 2009. Following six consecutive quarters of decline, UK ad spend grew by 3.4% in Q1 2010, much faster than expected.

01/07/2010

Continue reading "TV to reclaim top ad spend slot from Web in 2010- report " »

Reports that Google is working on a Facebook competitor called "Google Me" have been confirmed by Facebook's former CTO, Adam D'Angelo in a blog post.

D'Angelo's confirmation that Google Me is a "real project" and "not a rumor" comes after Digg founder Kevin Rose tweeted that a "very credible source" had revealed that Google was going to "launch facebook [sic] competitor very soon" called "Google Me."In the blog post on Quora, a Q&A website, D'Angelo lists what he has "pieced together from some reliable sources”.

30/06/2010

Continue reading "Facebook killer ‘Google Me’ confirmed by ex-CTO " »

Google is to stop automatically redirecting users of its Google.cn site to its Hong Kong page, in a bid to secure renewal of the company's China service license. The move comes after the Chinese government said the company would lose its mainland Internet license, which expires Wednesday, if the tactic continued.

Chief legal officer David Drummond said in a blog posting that Google had already started taking a small percentage of users to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk, and would soon stop all redirecting.

29/06/2010

Continue reading "Google forced to stop redirecting China users to Hong Kong site " »

A new ‘state of the nation’ survey from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) shows that search advertising is still not fully integrated into the marketing mix, with 99% of UK advertisers believing there is a greater opportunity to link it with the rest of their communications activity.

The ‘IAB Search Marketing Barometer 2010’ found that search is still largely confined to specialists, with 60% of brands stating that those outside the wider digital team did not have a strong enough appreciation of how search can build a business. The study also revealed that only around a third of brands (37%) think that their corporate website fulfils their marketing objectives, leaving much room for improvement after consumers have clicked-through.

29/06/2010

Continue reading "IAB advertiser survey: Search still not part of the marketing mix " »

Project Canvas, the online TV project involving BBC, ITV, BT, Five, Channel 4 and TalkTalk given approval from the BBC Trust, providing the project sticks to certain agreements. The news follows the go-ahead by the Office of Fair Trading last month.

Concerning a partnership between BBC, ITV, BT, Five, Channel 4 and TalkTalk the BBC Trust gave its approval after extensive consultation. It will now review the BBC's involvement in Project Canvas twelve months after it's launched to consumers.

28/06/2010

Continue reading "Project Canvas gets green light from BBC Trust " »

The Times has seen its market share halve since introducing required registration for its online content, according to the latest Hitwise data. Robin Goad, Research Director, Hitwise UK takes a closer look at Rupert Murdoch’s latest web gamble…

Following months of speculation, News International has finally erected a paywall around the Times newspaper website. After a couple of weeks running two sites, (www.timesonline.co.uk and www.thetimes.co.uk) in parallel, visitors to the former site are now automatically redirected to the latter.

Since last Tuesday, users have had to register to read content on the Times website (as well the separate Sunday Times site). However, they don't yet have to pay: during the trial period, which is expected to last until the end of the month, simply having registered is enough to access the content behind the paywall.

25/06/2010

Continue reading "Times loses market share after online paywall and registration- research " »

Microsoft has updtated its new Bing search engine with Bing a bespoke ‘Bing Entertainment’ search category. The category lets users search for films, TV and games. You should be able to watch a show, listen to online music, or play a game with a few clicks."Music searches will also return lyrics and will also – in the US- return playable streams from 5m songs licensed through Microsoft's Zune service. Users can play a full stream once, and thereafter for 30 seconds.

Hailing the improvements, senior Microsoft VP Yusuf Mehdi said: "We are trying to remove all of those hurdles that block you from enjoying [entertainment content]. You should be able to watch a show, listen to online music, or play a game with a few clicks."

25/06/2010

In a landmark ruling, a judge has rejected a $1bn lawsuit brought by Viacom accusing Google of allowing copyrighted material on its YouTube service without permission. The US movie and television giant sued Google and YouTube for a billion dollars in March 2007, arguing that they condoned pirated video clips at the website to boost its popularity.

The lawsuit was merged with a similar complaint being pursued by the English Premier League, which said football clips were also routinely posted on YouTube without authorization. Viacom's suit charged that YouTube was a willing accomplicee to "massive copyright infringement" and sought more than one billion dollars in damages.

24/06/2010

Continue reading "YouTube wins Viacom copyright case " »

The Apple iPhone 4 goes on sale today, with Tesco claiming to offer the cheapest prices for in the UK, selling the 16GB version of the smartphone for £19 on the £45-per-month tariff.

Tesco Mobile just announced its price plans yesterday and is one of six operators offering the iPhone 4 handset for sale including Vodafone, O3, Orange and T-Mobile and Three who have both have 'iPhone 4 coming soon' notices on their websites with no pricing revealed as of yet.

Those wishing to purchase the iPhone 4 without the contract will be paying UK£479 for the handset at Tesco Mobile, which is just a pound cheaper than Orange.

24/06/2010

Continue reading "iPhone 4: new pricing plans in UK " »

SapientNitro has developed the world’s first ‘smile-activated’ vending machine for Unilever, rewarding grins with free ice cream. The machine works with an “attractor screen” immerses a passerby into the world of augmented reality. Once drawn closer to the machine, the person is prompted for a big smile and the ‘smile-o-meter’ measures his or her grin.

A photo is then taken and with permission uploaded onto Facebook. The consumer can pick out his or her free ice cream by using the touch-screen interface on the vending machine. 3G technology then enables uploading and sharing of smiles via social media with the user’s permission

23/06/2010

Continue reading "Unilever launches ‘smile-activated’ ice cream vending machine " »

Two Way Media has created an interactive TV application for BetfairTV, allowing users to place bets on current and upcoming football matches. The app runs on Samsung connected TV’s, and launches to coincide with the World Cup.

The application, developed by Two Way Media’s in house team, receives data live from Betfair’s Football Exchange where the markets and odds are constantly updated in line with the action on the pitch. Viewers can bet on individual matches or on the result of a whole competition; they can choose to bet on the winner, correct score, next goal or half time result. The application is part of a suite of games being developed by Two Way Media for Betfair.

23/06/2010

Continue reading "Betfair debuts Samsung TV betting app " »

Google is reportedly developing a music download service to launch later this year, by a "cloud"-based subscription service in 2011. Dow Jones Newswires cites people familiar with the Internet giant's discussions with the music industry, saying the service will be tied to its search services.

Google hasn't made any specific proposals yet, but the nature of discussions with music companies suggest the Internet giant is likely to roll out its music services in two phases, said people who have been briefed on the talks. The launch of Google's download music store is still months away, the Dow Jones sources said.

22/06/2010

Continue reading "Google to take on iTunes with music download service- report " »

Car maker Ford has launched FordOnline.co.uk, a new car buying website that lets shoppers buy cars over the web, via email or telephone transactions. The site is run by Ford retail, and was set up as a response to growing demand for wanting to buy a car without going to a dealership.

FordOnline.co.uk said it has found that a large proportion of internet shoppers, nearly 40% (37%) in fact, are prepared to purchase vehicles without a test drive. This allows FordOnline.co.uk to grow fast as it removes one of the final barriers to online selling of vehicles, the company claims.

22/06/2010

Continue reading "Ford launches car shopping site " »

Facebook reportedly generated revenue of $800m in 2009, more than double the previous year, fueliing speculation that the social network may be close to a flotation. Reuters reports that the company also earned a solid net profit, in the tens of millions of dollars last year, citing a sources familiar with the situation.

However, the firm has refused to commit to an IPO in the near future, despite its success aqnd a growing queue of eager investors.The 2009 results are significantly higher than some of the figures that Facebook had suggested earlier in 2009, as well as analysts' estimates that have appeared in various media reports. Last July, Facebook board member Marc Andreessen told Reuters the company was on track to surpass $500 million in annual revenue for 2009.

21/06/2010

Continue reading "Facebook 2009 revenues ‘doubled to $800m’ " »

AOL has sold Bebo to privately owned investment firm for an undisclosed sum, just two years after buying the social networking site. Criterion Capital Partners, a private investment firm, announced that it had bought the business, but did not disclosure the amount paid.

However, analysts suspect it to be just a fraction of the price of $850m (then £417m) paid by AOL in 2008. Bloomberg BusinessWeek quotes 'a person familiar with the deal' as saying Criterion payed less than $10 million to buy Bebo from AOL. Teen-focussed Bebo has struggled to compete against social networking rivals such as Facebook and Twitter.

Continue reading "AOL sells Bebo 'for just $10m' " »

Twitter is testing a new ‘Promoted Trends’ tool with Pixars upcoming new movie Toy Story 3, as the micro-blogging site seeks new ways to turn its popularity into cash. Twitter already allows advertisers to insert messages into users’ streams through a program called Promoted Tweets, is also exploring the idea of selling its trending feature, which highlights topics popular with its users.

The tool lets advertisers insert their own trend to display on users’ home pages, which is highlighted in yellow to alert users that the topic is promoted, not organic. Users who click on the link are lead to a search results page on Twitter to see what people are saying about the film.

18/06/2010

Continue reading "Twitter tests ‘Promoted Trends’ with Toy Story 3 " »

Twitter experienced 1.87 per cent downtime between 1 June and 15 June 2010 – representing a total of six hours and 44 minutes – compared with just 0.18 per cent for the whole of May, according to new research.The study, from website monitoring and load testing specialist, Site Confidence, found the micro-blogging site experienced two hours and 20 minutes of downtime on 16 June 2010 alone.

This represented its poorest day for availability since the beginning of June. Twitter also experienced one hour and 41 minutes of downtime on 9 June and one hour and nine minutes on 14 June. The company admitted on its official blog yesterday that “from a site stability and service outage perspective, it's been Twitter's worst month since last October”, pointing to downtime as a result of complex systems improvements as the cause of its recent poor performance.

17/06/2010

Continue reading "Revenge of the Fail Whale: Twitter down nearly 2% of month so far " »

Google UK has expanded into the UK property market by adding additional property search functionality to Google Maps. The service is being run in partnership with a number of estate agents, alongside Zoopla and Trinity Mirror. Tools which allow for detailed search for property went live yesterday on Google Maps.

Google said that rather than competing with estate agents, it’s intention is to generate income from advertising which will be displayed around the property results pages. However, a notable absesnse from its list of partners is Rightmove, the current UK market leader in property portals and search.

17/06/2010

Continue reading "Google takes on Rightmove, enters UK property market " »

Orange has revealed its iPhone 4 tarifffs, with the 16GB device only free on a 24 month, £75 contract. The device will cost £29 on a £45 per month, 24 month contract. It will cost £89 on a £40 deal, £119 on a £35 contract, and £169 on a £30 per month deal. For £30, customers will get just 150 minutes and 250 texts. 18 month deals start at £229 for the £35 per month tie in.
The phone can be bought on the network’s prepay animal tariffs for £480. Meanwhile, the 3GS is available for free on a £35 per month contract.

Meanwhile, Tesco Mobile has confirmed it will join the major networks in selling the iPhone 4 from 24 June. The supermarket giant, which runs on the O2 network, inked a deal to sell the iPhone 3GS just before Christmas 2009.

17/06/2010

Continue reading "Orange unveils iPhone 4 tariffs, Tesco added to stockists " »

Digital ad technology provider Eyeblaster is rebranding its entire company under the name of its flagship product, MediaMind. Effective immediately, the company will operate under its new brand at all offices worldwide.

The name change follows the introduction of the MediaMind platform and its adoption as a primary marketing vehicle by hundreds of advertisers and agencies worldwide. With this new name, the company has evolved to embrace the full cycle of intelligent advertising, providing a cross-channel solution for optimizing media opportunities and creative messages.

16/06/2010

Continue reading "Eyeblaster rebrands as MediaMind" »

Apple UK has unveiled pricing details for a SIM-free iPhone 4 direct from its Apple Store and online, with prices starting from £499. The web pages on Apple's site that displayed the prices are now unavailable, possibly owing to the high demand from Apple fans, but the details have been widely reported this morning.

The 16GB model will cost £499, while the 32GB model will cost £599. Unlike previous models, the iPhone 4 will function only with a micro-SIM, so customers purchasing the phone directly from Apple will have to buy a new SIM card.

16/06/2010

Continue reading "Apple leak reveals iPhone 4 prices for UK customers " »

Home shopping retailer N Brown has bought online lingerie, underwear and swimwear Figleaves for £11.5m. Internet pioneer Figleaves was founded back in 1998, and is forecast to generate a turnover of £23m for the year to June 2010.

It sells more than 100 brands, has over 1.2m visitors to its website each month, and delivers to over 100 countries including the US. N Brown, which is best known for its plus-size and value brands Simply Be, Jacamo and Marisota, says the deal will consolidate its position as the UK's number one online lingerie retailer.

16/06/2010

Continue reading "N Brown buys lingerie website Figleaves for £11.5m " »

The Chinese government has unveiled plans to give 45% of the population internet access over the next five years, up from the current 30%. But it vowed no relaxation of stringent internet controls.

The Chinese government whitepaper praised the Internet for improving access to information and giving citizens a way to better oversee the behavior government officials, but reaffirmed the need for policies aimed at controlling access to online content. Titled "China's Internet situation", the whitepaper was published by China's State Council Information Office.

A copy of the document (in Chinese) was posted online by portal Sohu.com. The whitepaper praises the Internet, calling it "one of the great scientific inventions of the 20th century" and noting the positive impact it's had on economics, politics, culture, and society.

09/06/2010

Continue reading "China grants more web access to citizens…but keeps censorship rules " »

Virgin Media plans to launch its first full internet-connected TV service in partnership with Tivo by the end of the year. The service will bring the web to the TV screen, in the form of apps, and will offer a search service similar to Google.

There will also be apps such as Spotify pre-loaded onto the service, too – so people can listen to their music, while browsing the TV menu. As yet, however, there is no detail on Tivo pricing, a specific launch date, beyond “later this year” or information on how Virgin’s existing 3.7 million customers will be able to upgrade their set-top boxes.

15/06/2010

Continue reading "Virgin Media plans full web TV service by year end " »

Tomorrow sees the launch of AOL’s new music platform as the portal joins the battle for online music provision. ‘Cambio’ is billed as following the MTV model of music video content, aimed at the 13-24 year old age group. Early indications are that the service will be ad-funded, aiming to push AOL’s video ad revenues and create new inventory at a time when this target audience is being drawn into YouTube and online TV networks. Alongside daily and weekly video programming there will be further content, and localisation is expected.

14/06/2010

Continue reading "AOL gears up for online music battleground " »

Google has come under criticism after introducing a background image on the search engine's homepage to promote its new customization features. The new look, featuring images from a number of established photographers, will run until the end of this week.

However, the move has left many users frustrated by the lack of a 'delete' button. The Official Google Blog announced the feature, stating that they would be publishing 'inspirational' pictures on the background of Google.co.uk for the next 24 hours, to highlight the new feature.

11/06/2010

Continue reading "Google faces backlash for homepage images " »

Spotify has launched its music service on TVs across Sweden and Finland this week, in partnership with Nordic telecommunications giant TeliaSonera. Spotify is making the music app available to TeliaSonera’s 120,000 digital TV customers.

The TV app will be available to TeliaSonera customers who have subscribed to the Spotify Premium service, giving them access to a streamlined version of the music application that can be used to access Spotify playlists on the TV screen via the TeliaSonera remote control. Last year Spotify launched its mobile app on the iPhone, Android and Symbian smartphone platforms.

11/06/2010

Continue reading "Spotify debuts TV service in Nordics " »

British Petroleum (BP) has purchased Google and Yahoo search terms in order to influence consumers’ views on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Matthew Whiteway at Greenlight, takes a closer look at BP’s latest attempt at damage limitation as the slick spreads…

BP is clearly trying to protect its brand image following the catastrophe of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, turning to paid search in an attempt to present a more compassionate image. With the company buying top position in paid search, it hopes to drive users to its corporate response page which attempts to paint a more positive picture of the BP brand.

Excluding the paid search listing in the results page, 95% of the listings are very negative. A search in Google for “BP Oil Spill” presents the user with a number of listings that are being very cynical of BP, including YouTube clips of the impact the disaster has had on the local area and its wildlife.

11/06/2010

Continue reading "BP buys Google ‘oil spill’ keywords- a slick PR stunt?" »

Facebook has launched improved analytics for websites, applications, and pages, helping website owners get further insights into how users interact with their Facebook-related content.

The new Insights dashboard acts as a single source for all Facebook analytics:

- Websites: Fully-integrated sites and those that use social plugins, or add a non-integrated domain in one easy step

- Applications: Including canvas, mobile, device, and desktop applications

- Facebook Pages: Including Pages created on Facebook.com and those that are part of the Open Graph protocol

For example, site owners can now view analytics around specific stories liked on their website, or how many users commented on posts made on the page. To protect users’ privacy this data is anonymized aggregate data and does not include personally identifiable information. The Insights dashboard contains more data than before, as well as new visualization tools, including the ability to view full screen, print, and save graphs.

10/06/2010

Continue reading "Facebook boosts analytics for web publishers " »

Trinity Mirror Group is changing its existing advertising model on Mirror.co.uk and Mirrorfootball.co.uk through a partnership with Imagini. Trinity Mirror is moving from simply selling impressions to what it claims is a far more sophisticated system which will effectively allow them to 'sell audiences', using the online profiling specialists patented VisualDNA technology.

Imagini’s VisualDNA works by inviting internet users on a site to take part in a free online personality test via text links and display ads. The results are used to create highly detailed profiles with around 100 tags for each user based on their responses to questions revealing core demographic, location, lifestyle, attitudinal and motivational personality traits and specific brand preference data.

10/06/2010

Continue reading "Mirror focuses on ‘audiences rather than impressions’ in online ad overhaul " »

Social networks now receive more UK Internet visits than search engines, with Facebook leading the move towards a more community-driven web, according to new research. The study, from Experian Hitwise, reveals that during May, social networks accounted for 11.88% of UK Internet visits and search engines accounted for 11.33%. May was the first ever month that social networks have been more popular than search engines in the UK.

"Social networks are a key part of the online landscape in the UK, and their popularity continues to grow," commented Robin Goad, Research Director for Experian Hitwise. "Although social networks and search engines perform different functions, they both act as gateways to the wider Internet. This data perfectly illustrates the key role that social media now plays in so much online behavior."

Continue reading "Social networks ‘now more popular than search engines in the UK’ " »

Companies are finally investing in analysts and developing better strategies to get the most from their business performance and analytics tools, according to research published by Econsultancy and Lynchpin. Spending on internal staff now commands more than half (53%) of web analytics budget, up from 42% last year. Technology spending now accounts for less than a third (30%) of companies’ web analytics budgets, down from 38% last year and 45% in 2008. Spending on consulting and services makes up approximately 17% of budget.

The survey-based research also found that almost half (48%) of companies surveyed are planning to increase the number of employees they have dedicated to web data analysis. Only a fifth (22%) of companies do not have any employees dedicated to web analytics. Last year nearly half of companies (46%) were without any dedicated web analysts. The third annual Online Measurement and Strategy Report, published by Econsultancy in association with analytics consultancy Lynchpin, is based on a survey of more than 600 companies and agencies carried out in March and April 2010.

09/06/2010

Continue reading "UK firms investing more in people to make sense of web analytics " »

Apple’s new iPhone 4 will be the first smartphone to run the company's iAd mobile ad network, with 17 advertisers already lined up to target app users on the move. During his keynote, Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, announced that Apple's iAd mobile advertising network for the iPhone and iPad would debut July 1 with 17 advertisers. The service – which will offer advertising inside mobile apps, initially on the iPhone and iPod Touch – promises to combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of internet advertising.

Jobs said the advertisers had committed to spend $60 million in advertising in the second half of the year, which represents half of the total U.S. mobile ad spend forecasted by JP Morgan for that time period, according to Apple. Brands appearing on the network will include AT&T, Best Buy, Campbell Soup Co., Chanel, Citi, DirecTV, GEICO, GE, JCPenney, Liberty Mutual Group, Nissan, Sears, State Farm, Target, Turner Broadcasting System, Unilever and The Walt Disney Studios.

Continue reading "New iPhone ad platform gets $60m in pre-bookings " »

Apple has unveiled the latest version of its iPhone handset, with enhanced video call functions being the key new feature. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs introduced the new iPhone 4 at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday. Other features of the new phone include two cameras with an inbuilt flash, updated battery, improved screen resolution and a motion-sensing gyroscope for game usage.

The phone is set to launch in the UK on 24th June. Orange, Vodafone and O2 will carry the handset in the UK, although local pricing has not yet been announced. In the US, the device's cost will start from $199 (£138) on a two-year contract through operator AT&T. The phone’s new ‘FaceTime’ videoconferencing application was the standout enhancement on the market leading smartphone device, and may pressure wireless carriers to provide more bandwidth.

08/06/2010

Continue reading "New iPhone: Video calls, two cameras and clearer images " »

Facebook users now have the option of streaming their updates to websites operated by Yahoo! ad the companies both look to boost their audience reach. Facebook and Yahoo! are letting users link accounts at the world's leading social networking service and the pioneering online enterprise that is re-inventing itself after being eclipsed by Google in online search. The deal will see people who connect Yahoo! and Facebook to see their Facebook newsfeeds on Yahoo! pages and share content from Yahoo! properties to Facebook.

"More and more, people rely on social networks to share and discover information that matters to them," said Yahoo! senior director of social platforms and developer network Cody Simms. "We are bringing all of these elements together to give people one simple, trusted place to share information and connect."

Yahoo! is aiming to make its popular properties Web email, news, sports and Flickr the hub of peoples online activities, boosting traffic and ad cash as a result.

07/06/2010

Continue reading "Yahoo adds Facebook updates to websites" »

Detailed information about public spending over the last two years was published on Friday as part of a new government drive for greater transparency. The Treasury said it had taken an "unprecedented step" by publishing data from the Combined Online Information System (COINS) for 2008-09 and 2009-10, describing it as "the most detailed UK public expenditure data ever released".

COINS is one of a stack of government databases which Cameron has pledged to make available to the public in an attempt to make the government more accountable. The Central Office of Information spent £540m on marketing in the year to the end of March 2009, which included £211m on traditional advertising and £40m on digital, according to the COI's annual report.

07/06/2010

Continue reading "Government lays adspend details bare in new transparency drive " »

Facebook says its advertisers have more than quadrupled since the start of 2009 as marketers aim to get their products before a growing global audience. In an interview with Bloomberg, Facebook's vice-president of global sales Mike Murphy Murphy said: "We're very well positioned as people come out of this current economic situation. What we've become is absolutely core to marketing campaigns."

The world’s largest social-networking site, which has been opening offices around the world to serve ad clients, doubled the number of salespeople last year from 2008, according to an e-mailed statement. The company didn’t disclose the number of advertisers or salespeople.

04/06/2010

Continue reading "Facebook advertisers ‘quadruple’ within a year " »

Online display advertising spend in the UK declined by 5% in 2009, despite the overall online adspend rising 4.6 on the back of strong investment in search ads, according to new figures from IAB Europe.

The report indicates that it wasn't just the UK that experienced declining online display advertising figures - France declined by 6% and Sweden by 5%.

Compiled by Screen Digest, the research covers 23 markets ranging from the mature markets of the Nordics and Western Europe to the emerging markets in Eastern and Southern Europe.

04/06/2010

Continue reading "UK search ads continue to rise… but display ads fall 5% " »

Google is testing a new tool that integrates Twitter feeds into display ads on its popular AdWords system, according to a news report.ClickZ’s Douglas Quenqua reports that the online media giant has invited a few advertisers to test a new display-ad integration with Twitter.

The layout displays the iconic Twitter bird is in the left-hand corner with the advertiser's latest tweet featured in a box centered in the unit Clickz reports. The ad lets users follow the advertiser on Twitter and will initially appear on sites in the Google content network, the report says. Google has declined to comment on the program.

To read the full report, click here.

04/06/2010

Microsoft has revamped the homepage for MSN UK, which will start integrating Facebook and Twitter on its main page. The changes will be the first major adjustment since September 2007 and are intended to simplify the website's design to reduce download time.

A large high-profile spot on the main page will also have the new MSN Video Player, offering online TV service. "The new homepage is much lighter, much whiter, much shorter [in overall length], much smaller", said Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN UK at Microsoft. With the social networking additions, site visitors can access and update their accounts directly from the main page, intending to create a centralized home for UK internet users.

03/06/2010

Continue reading "MSN revamps UK homepage with links to Facebook and Twitter " »

Yahoo! is expanding its social networking features available to its 280m email users- but the online media giant is keen to avoid the mistakes made by rival Google’s Buzz earlier this year. The move marks the company’s largest social networking push to date by significantly ramping up social features on Yahoo! Mail with its social media service Yahoo! Updates.

The company plans to let users share comments, pictures and news articles with those in their address books, as well as see updates from contacts on third-party sites such as Facebook. Yahoo! Updates launched nearly two years ago to let people stream updates about their lives, thoughts or activities at its free Web services such as email and instant messaging.

03/06/2010

Continue reading "Yahoo! avoids mistakes of Google Buzz- woos email users for social media push " »

Internet Advertising Sales Houses (IASH) – the council established to police the activities of ad networks in the UK - has voted in a newly elected Steering Committee to come into effect from 1st June 2010. The Steering Committee serves to provide leadership and direction to the IASH Council and facilitate the effective working of the group ensuring it remains committed to brand safety and technical developments in the market.

The newly elected members of the Steering Committee – as voted for by all 26 members of the council - are Harvey Sarjant – Addvantage Media, Brandon Keenon – AOL Advertising, George Odysseous – Tribal Fusion, Gareth Stapp – Yahoo DR and Andrew Goode - Clickbrokers. The evolving structure reflects the maturation of the group, making it more akin to other industry trade bodies such as the IPA and IAB.

03/06/2010

Continue reading "IASH elects new steering committee " »

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) says it plans to spend $1bn (£686m) and shed a further 9,000 jobs over three years as it creates fully-automated commercial data centres. HP, the world's largest technology company by sales, says the job cuts will be the result of productivity gains and automation. The cuts come on top of 6,700 job cuts made last year.

HP added that it would replace about 6,000 of the jobs that were lost, adding that the changes to the workforce would be made over time and would vary by country. The firm said it would record a $1bn financial cost charge in the course of its 2013 financial year. "As a result of productivity gains and automation, HP expects to eliminate roughly 9,000 positions over a multi-year period to reinvest for further growth and to increase shareholder value," it said. It said the shake-up would make it annual gross savings of about $1bn and net savings "after reinvestment in a range between $500m and $700m".

02/06/2010

Continue reading "Hewlett-Packard to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide " »

Google is reportedly phasing out the use of Microsoft's operating system amongst its staff due to security concerns. According to a report in The Financial Times, the search giant has already begun to migrate its systems to the Mac OS platform.

The paper cites several Google employees, who stated the move away from Microsoft began in earnest in January after Google's Chinese operations were hacked, and could mean the end of Windows at Google. "Many people have been moved away from [Windows] PCs, mostly towards Mac OS, following the China hacking attacks," an employee was quoted as saying. ew hires can use Apple Macs or PCs running the the Linux operating system, and getting a new Windows machine requires high-up approval, said another employee. Another said much of the move has to do with Google's forthcoming competing operating system, Chrome OS.

01/06/2010

Continue reading "Google bans staff from using Windows amid security worries- report " »

Producers of The Hurt Locker are suing 5,000 people who allegedly downloaded copies of the Oscar-winning film from the internet in the latest attempt to fight digital piracy. In one of the largest lawsuits filed against individuals, Voltage Pictures is suing 5,000 internet users who downloaded the film illegally.

While Voltage currently only has the IP numbers of the targeted individuals, they’re working with ISPs to identify the pirates, who will be sent letters demanding that they pay $1,500 (£1000). If the $1,500 isn’t paid, Voltage plans to take the downloader to court at ten times the amount (up to $150,000). Voltage seems particularly keen on collecting their money, as the film has won numerous awards, yet only earned less than $17 million at the box office.

01/06/2010

Continue reading "Hurt Locker pirates face £1,000 fines in web crackdown" »

Apple has sold more than two million iPads since its launch almost two months ago. After becoming available in the US on April 3, the much-hyped tablet device took just 28 days to pass 1m sales, which was around half the time it took the iPhone. The firm began its Asia and Europe launch of the much-hyped tablet computer last Friday. It will be made available in nine more countries in July, with additional markets to be added later in the year.

There had already been a month's delay in the launch in the UK after supplies were diverted to the U.S. to meet unprecedented demand there. "Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. Thousands of people queued overnight on May 27 at Apple's flagship London store on Regent Street to be the first to purchase the iPad on Friday morning.

01/06/2010

Continue reading "Apple sells 2 million iPads in just two months " »

ITV has unveiled its World Cup coverage plans, include matches streamed live online and a ‘dual screen ‘platform that lets viewers chat and watch replays and stats simultaneously. ITV said the dual screen tool will be based on its popular multimedia coverage of the general election campaign.

The initiative, called ITV Live, will allow viewers with laptops to customise ITV.com with a range of interactive elements from a chat service – which can link to Facebook – to polls, quizzes and statistics on teams and players. ITV.com will also be simulcasting matches, with live match streaming and a range of action replays from multiple camera angles. Meanwhile, Apple iPhone owners will be able to download a free ITV World Cup app which will have news, match highlights and a TV guide as well as a links to a live mobile streaming service. ITV will also be running podcasts.

01/06/2010

Continue reading "ITV to stream England World Cup matches online- with dual screens " »

Facebook has unveiled a range of new privacy, as the social network responds to user comments and concerns about privacy. Protesters had been organising boycotts over accusations the site made it too easy for criminals and stalkers to see personal information because privacy settings were too complex.

But the site - the most popular social networking site in the world with 500 million members - has backtracked and pledged to simplify settings. Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg officially announced the changes in a blog post. Privacy options will be slashed from nearly 50 to fewer than 15. One measure will mean no one will be able to get at a member's details without their explicit permission, and there will also be less information in its user listings.

01/06/2010

Continue reading "Facebook unveils privacy changes ahead of user boycotts " »

See a list of older Digital Intelligence »

For access to earlier editions of Digital Intelligence you will need your client passwords. Digests and thematic reports are also available along with our market sector analysis on topics such as online advertising spend.

Keeping on top of the latest research and trends is still a huge challenge. That's where Digital Intelligence can come in - every month I trawl through hundreds of websites, magazines and research newswires to bring you this retrospective review of the industry's growth and the evolution of marketing. Let us take some of the strain and make your email that little bit faster to sift through. And if we've missed something you'd like to know more about, then just email me right back.

Sign me up!

If you'd like Digital Intelligence delivered to your desktop - or those of your colleagues - then email the editor, Danny Meadows-Klue for details about how to make it happen. We normally get new subscribers up and running within two weeks.

Email the editor

Send us your news

In the Digital Intelligence publication we focus on research data, industry trends and key steps in the development of the digital networked society. If your company is generating news that could contribute to this then why not get in touch? Email Research@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com.

Research partnerships

If you are from a research company and would like to regularly contribute to Digital Intelligence, then why not get in touch? We work with a number of leading providers to help spread news about the growth of online, mobile, iTV and other digital markets in Europe and North America.

Series editor: Danny Meadows-Klue

Many Digital Intelligence readers have invited us in to deliver training and development workshops based on the content. There are now more than 100 Digital Training Academy courses covering everything from blogging and social networks to in-game advertising and European media trends. Our editor and the trainers here at Digital can help your firm learn about what this means for your business and how you can apply the knowledge to get the most from the digital networked economy.

Senior researcher: Ben Le Foe

Ben moved into online in 1999 as a channel producer for AOL. His work began with the creation of content and quickly expanded to include the development and nurturing of communities in a pioneering publishing model we now know more familiarly as 'Web 2.0'. Ben joined Digital in 2001 and has been researching and writing for Digital Intelligence ever since.