Archive for November, 2009

For the last eight or so years Wikipedia has been a shining example of the positive side of the internet, not only due to its commitment to educating the world population for free but also as one of the best web 2.0 case studies imaginable. The site showed us exactly what is possible when people get user generated content right, spawning thousands of imitators in the process.

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GCHQ, the organisation which collates the UK’s intelligence data, has launched a recruitment campaign on Xbox Live to target what it calls ‘quick thinking 18 to 34 year-olds’. Through its use of banners, video clips and static advertisements, the campaign highlights some of the key roles within GCHQ that it hopes will appeal to gamers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that mainly consists of IT and technical roles.

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Since the release of Chrome OS earlier this week, Google have begun heavily promoting their new product to the masses. The key, some would say only, point they’re making thus far is that Chrome OS is a ‘seven second wonder’, i.e., it boots in 7 seconds or less which, as any PC owner will tell you is one hell of a selling point. To be fair to PC operating systems like Windows, it’s not exactly a fair test, seeing as Chrome OS is really just a very fancy web browser, in that all applications etc., are web based, and therefore contained within the ‘cloud’ and not taking up space on your PC.

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No one would be surprised to learn of delight at Microsoft related to the news that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, are thinking of removing their content, which includes some of the world’s most popular newspapers and television channels, from Google. There is famously no love lost between the companies. However, few commentators would have expected Microsoft to wade in, in quite the style they are thought to be contemplating.

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In an interview with the BBC, Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone has expanded on his plans to offer Twitter commercial accounts. The commercial accounts will apparently offer an ‘additional layer of access’ which allows you to learn a little more about your Twitter account, as well as some kind of analytics package to help you leverage the social network in the best possible way to maximise the effectiveness of your social networking activities.

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YouTube’s landmark TV deal with channel 4 has started bearing fruit. The channel signed a three year deal to provide full length shows on YouTube earlier this year and the new section of YouTube, entitled ‘shows’ is set to go live today. The section will include nearly 5’000 videos, 4’000 of which will be full-length programmes.

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According to a recent poll conducted by YouGov, the UK’s Twitter users are overwhelmingly London based and err towards the Liberal, or left wing political persuasion. They also, perhaps unsurprisingly, tend to be young, with 46 per cent of those surveyed, under the age of thirty-five.

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James Harding, the Editor in chief of the Times newspaper, has revealed that his publication’s online arm, Times Online will begin charging for access to content in Spring 2010. According to Harding the prospective payment model will include two different methods of payment, a 24 hour pass, and a subscription model. Details are still sketchy but the one day pass is expected to cost about as much as a copy of the print edition which currently stands at 90p.

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Google has purchased an Internet Phone company called gizmo5 with a view to integrating the service with the embryonic Google Voice. The sale took place for an undisclosed sum and was described on the Google blog thus, “Gizmo5’s engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience.”

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Google has purchased an Internet Phone company called gizmo5 with a view to integrating the service with the embryonic Google Voice. The sale took place for an undisclosed sum and was described on the Google blog thus, “Gizmo5’s engineers will be joining the Google Voice team to continue improving the Google Voice and Gizmo5 experience.”

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In typical style Rupert Murdoch has poured petrol on the free vs paid news content debate – a conversation that that was already pretty fiery to be honest – by claiming that he is fully prepared to remove all NewsCorp content from Google possibly even ‘within months’. The comments were elaborated on in a statement from Jonathon Miller, NewsCorp’s Chief Digital Officer…

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Simplicity computing has released a brand new computer called SimplicITy. The computer is intended to serve as a greatly simplified way for the elderly to start using computers and do the main things that they need to online without any unnecessary complications. The OS is Linux based and has a touch screen interface with only six buttons that cover core tasks such as emails, videos etc.

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Okay, so this is kind of a big one. The Washington Post has it from what they call ‘a reliable source’ that the Google Chrome OS will be ready to go live within a week. If true, it’ll be very interesting to see the uptake, particularly since Windows 7 has only just hit the shelves and many companies and individuals are still nervous about upgrading, preferring to stick with the devil they know in Windows XP or Vista. The Google OS free download may be a feasible alternative.

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The debate surrounding the relative SEO benefits or hindrances of Java script for SEO rages on with the news that the Guardian website has dropped all JavaScript on its comments board. Apparently the decision was taken, at least partly in order to enhance its search engine performance. So, will this help?

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