MySpace status updates land in Google's real-time search

MySpace, which has been trying to keep up in the real-time space, has started pushing its status updates into Google’s real-time search results. Google users will now see MySpace updates cascading down the page along with tweets whenever the search engine responds with a real-time search box.

Even as it experiences a management shake-up with CEO Owen Van Natta suddenly leaving last week, the social network has been trying to stay relevant by opening up … Continue Reading

Verizon and Skype partner for 3G-enabled Skype mobile

Not too long after Apple dropped its VoIP restrictions on the iPhone, we reported that Skype was eagerly working on a 3G-enabled version of its iPhone application. Now we’ve learned that Verizon and Skype have teamed up for a 3G-enabled version of Skype mobile on several of its smartphones as well.

Verizon smartphone customers will now be able to make unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls, as well as SkypeOut calls to any phone number using Skype’s reduced … Continue Reading

Better quality creates opening for third-party game controllers

Third party game controllers have never had a good reputation. But conditions are ripe for newcomers and indies to break into this once roped-off section of the multibillion-dollar video game accessory market.

The good thing about this development is that accessory makers such as Nyko and Razer are beating the console makers to market with cool new designs.

That’s a big turnabout. Ask any gamer what they think about third-party video game controllers, and the … Continue Reading

Zong's credit-card based mobile payments system is growing fast

Mobile payments company Zong said its new online mobile payments platform has grown dramatically in the last couple of months.

The Zong+ platform, launched in October, lets people use their mobile phone numbers to pay for virtual goods and other items in games and social networks. But the twist is that, rather than going through mobile carriers who charge big fees, Zong fulfills the transaction by charging the purchase to your credit card. So the … Continue Reading

Analysts: How Nokia lost the USA

This post is a follow-up to Monday’s “Why can’t Nokia sell phones to Americans?”

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile gadget maker, sells as many phones as its next four competitors combined. Nearly 2 of every 5 mobile phones bought last year were Nokias. Yet the Nokia brand is almost invisible in the United States.

After I wrote about it on Monday for the opening of the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, Spain, … Continue Reading

RIM announces new BlackBerry web browser, 'SuperApps', BES Express server

Today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion made several announcements that showed the company isn’t ready to give up its smartphone dominance in the US just yet.

RIM announced a new WebKit-based web browser that would compete directly with iPhone’s mobile Safari and Android’s web browser (both also use WebKit). Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis emphasized network efficiency in his keynote, and said that the new BlackBerry browser would make efficiency … Continue Reading

HootSuite upgrades platform, joins crowded social tracking and managing space

Social networking navigation platform HootSuite announced today that it has again decided to expand the functionality of its service to accommodate the growing popularity of social networking by tracking as well as managing social specific campaigns.

HootSuite started as just a navigation tool for Twitter, but quickly spread to additional social networking platforms like Facebook. The company recently announced the addition of LinkedIn and scheduling status updates to be pushed to various social platforms using … Continue Reading

Indie-only music site likeZEBRA aims to make music profitable

likeZEBRA is a new music site that only carries artists not signed by one of the major labels. Unlike MySpace Music, Coldplay isn’t around to steal Sound of Sulfur‘s potential fans’ attention spans. It’s hardly an original idea — think dmusic, WeAreListening, or LaunchYourMusic.com — but my take is that sooner or later, one of these sites will figure out how to make it work.

Company spokesman Braven Greenelsh sent me an email last week … Continue Reading

FastPencil lets thought leaders publish books without the hassle of writing them

Self-publishing site FastPencil has launched a new program aimed at helping aspiring thought leaders publish the books in their heads.

It’s been years since Amazon began allowing authors to sell their self-published books. Wired magazine sage Kevin Kelly did it and wrote about it in February 2005.

But as a professional writer since 1996, I know that what most aspiring thought leaders need to make their dream book a success isn’t a publisher. It’s a … Continue Reading

HP brings corporate compliance tools up to speed with social media

Hewlett-Packard recently announced the latest revision of the HP TRIM information management software today, HP TRIM 7. Version 7, says HP, will “help organizations better manage all of their business information, including Web 2.0 content developed in Microsoft SharePoint.”

TRIM is an information management tool for large companies. It lets them store every single piece of data related to a specific business transaction — say, a stock options purchase — as a single record in … Continue Reading

Will we get the real story of Steve Jobs' life in new biography?

Steve Jobs is reportedly cooperating on a biographical book about himself, according to the New York Times.

The book is being written by Walter Isaacson, former managing editor in chief of Time magazine, according to anonymous sources in the Times piece. That’s a very interesting choice for a biographer, considering that Isaacson isn’t a technology writer or Silicon Valley insider. Isaacson is currently chief executive and president of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit education and … Continue Reading

RGM Alliance quietly becomes a huge premium ad network on the web

Chances are you haven’t heard of RGM Group or its RGM Alliance division. But the company runs the Internet’s largest premium advertising network that reaches 67 million users each month. That’s more users than the combined audience of the web sites of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes.com, and Conde Naste Digital.

The Venice, Calif.-based company is announcing today that its RGM Alliance ad network has built a huge audience by serving … Continue Reading

Urban Airship raises $1.1M to provide infrastructure for mobile apps

Urban Airship, a company that helps developers build mobile applications by providing services like push notifications and in-app purchases, has raised $1.1 million in funding, led by True Ventures with participation from Founders Co-op.

The Portland, Ore. company isn’t the only one offering these kinds of services for app development — Push.io is another — but it says it was the first to actually deliver on those promises. In fact, Urban Airship says that Tapulous … Continue Reading

Android tablets resurface at the Mobile World Congress

Apple is getting all the attention right now for its shiny new tablet device the iPad, but Google and its partners may be about to steal the spotlight. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, VentureBeat’s Matthaus Krzykowski had the chance to play with a tablet device using Google’s Android operating system, and he’s super-impressed.

What Matthaus saw was an application built on Adobe’s AIR technology running on top of Android. It was an … Continue Reading

Why can't Nokia sell phones to Americans?

Update: Analysts respond in a separate post.

Nokia is the world’s biggest mobile gadget maker, period. More people around the world pack a Nokia phone than the company’s next three competitors combined. Nokia’s brand is rated as one of the top names in the world, not far behind Google and Coke.

But here in the States, I had trouble finding a Nokia phone I could buy this past week. None of the company’s best models … Continue Reading

Google Buzz flies high, but won't kill Twitter or Facebook

With Google Buzz, Google has launched yet another product to compete in the social networking arena. It’s just one week new, and already Buzz has a significant user base and poses a viable threat to several existing players.

Google, like Microsoft, keeps trying. In the social networking space, it has made several attempts to become more relevant: Orkut, though fairly popular in Brazil and India, never really took off in the US and became more … Continue Reading

Wind power on the rise, thanks mostly to China

Wind power generation increased by 31 percent around the world last year, now totaling 157.9 gigawatts, according to a new report from the Global Wind Energy Council. The country with the biggest individual increase: China, which saw more than 100 percent growth in wind power capacity over the last year, accounting for more than a third of the new turbines installed.

The news is not only good for the environment, but also the global economy. … Continue Reading

Layar lands $3.4M, deal with major handset maker

Augmented reality startup Layar is having a pretty good day. Not only did the Dutch company raise $3.4 million in a first round of venture funding — it announced that it has sealed a distribution deal with a major, yet to be identified handset maker.

Layar’s application turns your smartphone into a viewfinder, using its camera, and then layers data and information on top of whatever you happen to be looking at. For example, if … Continue Reading