Although this partnership has been announced as early as July this year, it is only now that Facebook has finally integrated the Live Search service onto its website. While I fail to see how this may enrich users’ social networking experience, the collaboration is obviously a big deal for Microsoft, with Facebook now the biggest social network in the world and quickly catching up to MySpace in the US.
Starting today, Facebook users typing in the search bar on Facebook will notice that a drop-down menu appears with a new option to “search the Web.” Results will appear on a new Facebook page, with advertisements placed on the right of the screen.
Live Search usage is likely to increase and media buyers will get added inventory to serve up ads within the social network – which of course means more revenue for Microsoft. In its current form, however, the deal probably won’t do much to help the Live Search brand, seeing that there’s virtually indication that you are using Microsoft’s search engine besides a tiny “Advanced search on Live.com” text link on the results page.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/31980-facebook-starts-offering-microsofts-live-search.html
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
Google prepares RSS feeds for search
If you've made use of the Internet for more than a few years, you know how quickly things can change. That change applies well to search engines, where a term searched for a month or even a week ago would not return the same results it does today. How does one keep track of updates to a particular search query? Until recently, the only way was to perform another search. Google is looking to offer another way to do it: searchable RSS feeds.
Today it has been confirmed that Google will be soon offering the ability to use an RSS feed for a particular search term, letting you be notified as soon as new pages or new results pop up. That could be very useful for things that change often – such as current events and company news.
It won't apply at first to things like a Google Image search, and Google hasn't mentioned when these RSS search feeds will be available. I would definitely like to give these a try once they are ready.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/31995-google-prepares-rss-feeds-for-search.html
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Today it has been confirmed that Google will be soon offering the ability to use an RSS feed for a particular search term, letting you be notified as soon as new pages or new results pop up. That could be very useful for things that change often – such as current events and company news.
It won't apply at first to things like a Google Image search, and Google hasn't mentioned when these RSS search feeds will be available. I would definitely like to give these a try once they are ready.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/31995-google-prepares-rss-feeds-for-search.html
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Google suffers another Gmail outage
Earlier this week Google announced it had detected a problem that prevented Gmail users from accessing their accounts. Although Google said the bug affected only “a small number of users,” that was little comfort for Google Apps administrators who were fielding angry complaints from business users who actually pay for Google's email system.
The outage lasted about 30 hours and has since been fixed, but the company offered no explanation as to what caused the problem nor as to why it took them so long to repair. This is just the latest in a series of incidents that have affected Gmail, following a similar problem in August and a couple of lengthy outages back in 2006, which understandably has raised some questions among IT professionals about the efficacy of using SaaS solutions as a foundation for business communications.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32104-google-suffers-another-gmail-outage.html
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The outage lasted about 30 hours and has since been fixed, but the company offered no explanation as to what caused the problem nor as to why it took them so long to repair. This is just the latest in a series of incidents that have affected Gmail, following a similar problem in August and a couple of lengthy outages back in 2006, which understandably has raised some questions among IT professionals about the efficacy of using SaaS solutions as a foundation for business communications.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32104-google-suffers-another-gmail-outage.html
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Microsoft denies renewed interest in Yahoo
Microsoft is scrambling to quell a new round of speculation after chief executive Steve Ballmer told attendees at a tech research conference in Orlando that a deal with Yahoo “makes sense for their shareholders and ours.” As you might expect, the mere mention of possible talks between the two companies sent Yahoo’s stock price up to $13 from their recent low of $11.50.
But within an hour of the news, Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw issued a statement to retract Ballmer’s comments saying Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo. All in all, Ballmer should probably be relieved he withdrew from the deal six months ago, given the way the market has turned amid a slowing economy and how Yahoo’s shares have lost more than half their value. If the companies did eventually return to the negotiating table, however, Microsoft might be able to score a much better deal than the $33 per share it was offering.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32105-microsoft-denies-renewed-interest-in-yahoo.html
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But within an hour of the news, Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw issued a statement to retract Ballmer’s comments saying Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo. All in all, Ballmer should probably be relieved he withdrew from the deal six months ago, given the way the market has turned amid a slowing economy and how Yahoo’s shares have lost more than half their value. If the companies did eventually return to the negotiating table, however, Microsoft might be able to score a much better deal than the $33 per share it was offering.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32105-microsoft-denies-renewed-interest-in-yahoo.html
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Yahoo cancels Vista-only version of YIM
No matter how hard Microsoft tries to push developers to be excited about Vista, the overwhelming number of XP installs in the world makes it a losing fight to try and develop exclusively for the newer OS. One company who was an early advocate for Vista development, Yahoo, is taking one of their biggest profile programs off the market.
Yahoo has decided to discontinue the development and release of the Vista-optimized Yahoo Messenger Client, instead returning to a one-size-fits-all client that is compatible with various versions of the OS. Yahoo claims the change is to improve efficiency in development and make the program more consistent, and it's very easy to see why – developing two separate code bases side by side for two different platforms can lead to all sorts of compatibility problems.
Yahoo isn't disabling the Vista client's access to the YIM network, but has encouraged anyone using the Vista client to install the standard version.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32206-yahoo-cancels-vistaonly-version-of-yim.html
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Yahoo has decided to discontinue the development and release of the Vista-optimized Yahoo Messenger Client, instead returning to a one-size-fits-all client that is compatible with various versions of the OS. Yahoo claims the change is to improve efficiency in development and make the program more consistent, and it's very easy to see why – developing two separate code bases side by side for two different platforms can lead to all sorts of compatibility problems.
Yahoo isn't disabling the Vista client's access to the YIM network, but has encouraged anyone using the Vista client to install the standard version.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32206-yahoo-cancels-vistaonly-version-of-yim.html
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Thursday, October 23, 2008
Google adds "sales channel" feature to YouTube
Google has faced numerous challenges since it acquired YouTube. The foremost of which was a financial one: YouTube is losing Google money, and at an astounding rate, with some estimating Google was spending up to $1 million per day.
The company set out to change that earlier in the year, fighting off lawsuits from companies like Viacom. Most recently, YouTube has had a new section introduced in the guise of a sales channel. The “sales channel” will place buttons underneath YouTube videos that are links to purchase something related (we'd assume) to the video in question. The actual sales come from third parties – like Amazon or iTunes – and Google gets a commission for a completed sale.
It's not mentioned if the sales channel will stick specifically to an opt-in basis. After all, many people who upload videos to YouTube don't necessarily want their videos being associated with a product.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/31964-google-adds-sales-channel-feature-to-youtube.html
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The company set out to change that earlier in the year, fighting off lawsuits from companies like Viacom. Most recently, YouTube has had a new section introduced in the guise of a sales channel. The “sales channel” will place buttons underneath YouTube videos that are links to purchase something related (we'd assume) to the video in question. The actual sales come from third parties – like Amazon or iTunes – and Google gets a commission for a completed sale.
It's not mentioned if the sales channel will stick specifically to an opt-in basis. After all, many people who upload videos to YouTube don't necessarily want their videos being associated with a product.
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/31964-google-adds-sales-channel-feature-to-youtube.html
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Adobe launches Flash Player 10
Adobe today officially released the tenth version of its ubiquitous Flash player plug-in, bringing new “expressive features” for developers and a performance boost for users. The new version offers a number of improvements such as native support for 3D, a new text rendering engine, and integration with Adobe's Pixel Bender technology.
The company has also included a system where the stream will automatically adapt to bandwidth conditions, allowing for smoother video and audio playback. Adobe Labs has assembled several demos showing off the new features on its website, which you can check out here. Flash Player 10 is available now on all platforms, including Linux.
Official Release: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32057-adobe-launches-flash-player-10-.html
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The company has also included a system where the stream will automatically adapt to bandwidth conditions, allowing for smoother video and audio playback. Adobe Labs has assembled several demos showing off the new features on its website, which you can check out here. Flash Player 10 is available now on all platforms, including Linux.
Official Release: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/
Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/32057-adobe-launches-flash-player-10-.html
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