Thursday, March 31, 2011

Mercedes' A-Class E-Cell gets taken for a test drive


Mercedes-Benz's new A-Class E-Cell may be a limited production vehicle, but it is a production vehicle, which likely means that some folks will be interested in how it actually drives. Thankfully, the folks from PluginCars have now managed to take one for a quick spin, and have delivered a few first impressions. The short of it is that while it's a "nice ride," it's apparently not a very powerful one -- in fact, the site says that the car felt "significantly slower" than the Nissan Leaf, which also of course has the advantage of being cheaper and more widely available. The Mercedes does apparently handle much better, though, and while the floor is a bit higher than a normal car, the interior otherwise seems to be top notch. Unfortunately, the test drive wasn't exactly long enough to truly test the car's Tesla-provided batteries, but the site was at least pleased to see the current state of charge conveniently placed right in the middle of the dashboard.

Mercedes' A-Class E-Cell gets taken for a test drive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apogee rolls out Duet 2 pro audio interface for Macs


Recently drop $500 on an Apogee Duet audio interface for your Mac after pondering one for all these years? Then we're afraid we've got a bit of bad news for you, as the company has now finally rolled out a successor to the highly-desirable device. Apparently redesigned from the ground up, the new Duet 2 expectedly ditches FireWire in favor of USB, and packs some "completely redesigned" mic preamps and converters, along with two inputs and four outputs, a pair of configurable touch pads, and even an all new OLED display that replaces the basic LED meters on the original. Of course, the one thing that stays the same is the professional-level price -- look for this one to set you back $595 when it's available next month.

[Thanks, Maxwell]

Apogee rolls out Duet 2 pro audio interface for Macs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top 10 Drug Delivery Technologies 2010 to 2015


Top 10 Drug Delivery Technologies 2010 to 2015


More than 25% of the marketed drugs fail to provide expected commercial returns due to drug distribution and absorption levels within the body (pharmacokinetics) therefore signifying the importance of drug delivery systems. Rapid enhancements in drug discovery technologies have lead to developments in proteomics and genomics and had a greater impact on drug delivery technology market. The changing market trends, with quick cycle of innovations have compelled market participants to clearly understand changing dynamics and focus on emerging technology and enhance market positions in terms of revenues, growth and geographical presence.


STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES


To define and measure drug delivery market and its various sub-segments with respect to types of systems, by mode of drug delivery, by therapeutics and others.
To identify major drivers and restraints of the market
To evaluate comprehensively all drug delivery technologies and benchmark them against various parameters to identify top ten technologies.
To identify and analyze comprehensively market structure with respect to the factors influencing market growth and industry specific challenges.
To analyze trends and forecasts of drug delivery market and its segments
To identify major stakeholders in the market and draw a competitive landscape for market leaders for each of the drug delivery technology market.
To analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders
To strategically analyze micro markets with respect to their individual growth trends, future prospects and contribution to the total market
To understand regulatory framework, design criteria, pricing issues, threat from alternative methods available in the market.
To analyze and forecast revenues of market segments with respect to geographies (North America, Europe, Asia and Rest of the World
To provide comprehensive analysis of top players in the drug delivery technology market.
To effectively scope out and justify evaluation and provide sufficient basis of ranking top ten drug delivery technologies.


SCOPE AND FORMAT


The report intensively evaluates drug delivery technologies with respect to revenues, growth, therapeutic areas, patents registered and industry focus to arrive at top 10 drug delivery technologies. The key drug delivery technologies discussed in the report are:


Oral drug delivery technologies
Injectable drug delivery technologies
Pulmonary drug delivery technologies
Transdermal drug delivery technologies
Other drug delivery technologies


The report also focuses on the emerging drug delivery technologies and mechanisms.


INTENDED AUDIENCES


Drug delivery technology – manufacturers, suppliers and dealers
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies
Healthcare providers
Potential investors in the drug delivery technology market


INFORMATION SOURCES


Each of the section will provide market data, market drivers, trends and opportunities, top-selling products, key players, and competitive outlook. This report will also provide market tables for various geographic regions covering sub segments and micro markets. In addition the report also provides 40 companies. Key market developments will be sourced from the top companies that are profiled. Secondary research will progress through both paid and unpaid sources. We will conduct primary research to provide in-depth understanding of the market.



MarketsandMarkets is a research and consulting firm that publishes 120 market research reports per year. MarketsandMarkets announce to have Top 10 Drug Delivery Technologies Market Research Report in its store. Browse all our market research reports at MarketsandMarkets.com



Article from articlesbase.com






In this day and age, all the beautifully tragic and emotional romantic situations from the past are a lot more difficult to come by. Lost loves, missed opportunities, lovers’ quests…are all taking on new shapes and forms. This new series of skits might give you an idea of what we mean. PRODUCED, WRITTEN, DIRECTED, EDITED Wong Fu Productions (Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, Philip Wang) STARRING Wesley Chan Rachel W Philip Wang Music by George Shaw georgeshawmusic.com “Coffee Shop Meet” Closing theme by David Choi http Girls! Get your “Tech Ruins Romance” Tshirt here! areyouaniceguy.com Special Thanks: Cha for Tea Behind the Scenes and Outtakes wongfuproductions.com ‘Stupid Cupid’ TSHIRTS and MORE! areyouaniceguy.com areyouaniceguy.com SUBSCRIBE! youtube.com OFFICIAL wongfuproductions.com FACEBOOK http TWITTER twitter.com STORE Get your Nice Guy/Girl Tshirts and Awkward Turtles areyouaniceguy.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

BlackBerry Touch / Monaco gets manhandled, said to get official in May


Our interest in the BlackBerry Touch (codename Monaco) was piqued when we first caught wind of the device, and we had a feeling it'd be making its way into the wild ever since one showed up in Verizon red around mid-Feburary. Now, BGR has managed to procure an unreleased prototype, and we've gotta say that we like what we're seeing. According to the pub, it should get official at BlackBerry World in May, and it'll run OS 6.1 underneath that 800 x 480-pixel screen. The new BB6 is said to use a BlackBerry ID in place of a PIN for certain key functions -- a necessary move for non-BB platforms rumored to be getting BBM (a historically PIN-based service). BGR also claims it won't be getting the Storm nomenclature, so we apologize in advance to the SurePress fanboys. Either way, we've got an inkling that we'll be hearing more as we get closer to May, but unfortunately our dreams of a super AMOLED-equipped Torch running stock Android with a BBM app will just remain figments of our imagination.

BlackBerry Touch / Monaco gets manhandled, said to get official in May originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Images leak out of Pentax NC mirrorless camera system, makes us long for summertime


At this point, we're guessing that it's just a matter of time before the likes of Pentax and Nikon toss their hat into the ever-expanding mirrorless camera ring, and at least for the former, it looks as if that could come sooner rather than later. If the (predictably grainy) image above is to be believed, the NC-1 is dangerously close to being ready for primetime, and according to leaked materials, it'll be the world's smallest mirrorless camera when it gets official in May / June. Purportedly, we'll find a 14 megapixel sensor and a pair of lenses to choose from -- an 8.5mm f/1.9 prime lens as well as a 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 standard zoom. Crazier still, the NC system could be followed by a larger system in the summer, with that fellow sporting an APS-C sized sensor and compatibility with K-mount lenses. 'Course, we'd invite you to chase all of this with a dash of salt for now, but you can bet we'll be scrounging for more.

[Thanks, Andrea]

Images leak out of Pentax NC mirrorless camera system, makes us long for summertime originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own


Time Warner Cable was the first party to blink in the battle with programmers over its new live TV streaming TWCable TV iPad app, removing channels from Viacom, Fox and Discovery. The company's official statement indicates its merely choosing to focus on the "enlightened programmers" who support its cause and that it will provide replacement channels (maybe BBC America, since it's in all the screenshots) ASAP, possibly as soon as tomorrow. Expect the legal fight to continue to heat up between Time Warner, which believes it has obtained all the rights necessary to provide these channels on any screen in a customer's home, and the programmers, that think it hasn't.

Throwing more gasoline on the fire is word from Cablevision that its new iPad app with TV and video on-demand access was supposed to be out already and is merely waiting Apple's approval before it launches. According to the Wall Street Journal it will go forward launching the Optimum Link -- formerly PC to TV Media Relay -- product that brings video from their PC to the TV tomorrow. Check out the list of pulled channels after the break or on Time Warner's blog, we'll let you know when or if anything changes.

Continue reading Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own

Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceTWCable Untangled  | Email this | Comments

Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own


Time Warner Cable was the first party to blink in the battle with programmers over its new live TV streaming TWCable TV iPad app, removing channels from Viacom, Fox and Discovery. The company's official statement indicates its merely choosing to focus on the "enlightened programmers" who support its cause and that it will provide replacement channels (maybe BBC America, since it's in all the screenshots) ASAP, possibly as soon as tomorrow. Expect the legal fight to continue to heat up between Time Warner, which believes it has obtained all the rights necessary to provide these channels on any screen in a customer's home, and the programmers, that think it hasn't.

Throwing more gasoline on the fire is word from Cablevision that its new iPad app with TV and video on-demand access was supposed to be out already and is merely awaiting Apple's approval before it launches. According to the Wall Street Journal it will go forward launching the Optimum Link -- formerly PC to TV Media Relay -- product that brings video from their PC to the TV tomorrow. Check out the list of pulled channels after the break or on Time Warner's blog, we'll let you know when or if anything changes.

Continue reading Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own

Time Warner removes channels from iPad app while Cablevision prepares one of its own originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them


Intel cares about you. It cares that your data is safe and secure in a sturdy storage silo of the solid state variety. In order to enlighten you on the dangers that old and dusty magnetic hard drives pose, it has kindly fashioned out a short film detailing graphically the fate of your 1s and 0s when they're kept on an HDD that suffers an unexpected impact. It's atmospheric, thrilling stuff, which we dare not spoil for you here. We'll just say it ends on a pretty hilarious note and point you to the video below.

Continue reading Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them

Intel posts a short film about SSDs and the folly of not using them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Improves Mobile Search Results For Stocks

We seem to have by and large gotten past the period in which investors lived in constant fear of crashes; people no longer use terms like “double dip” and “depression” on an everyday basis.  There will never come a time when investors won’t want quick access to financial info, though, and so Google’s made some changes to its mobile search results that should meet with their approval.


English-speaking folks with Android devices (running at least Android 2.1) or iPhones are the targets here.  There aren’t any hoops to jump through or tricks beyond that; users just have to search for a stock symbol to get started.


Next, a post on the Google Mobile Blog explained, “The first thing you’ll see is an interactive graph shown on a card – you can switch views to different date ranges by tapping on the buttons below the graph.”


Then the post continued, “If you swipe the card from right to left, you’ll get the latest financial news for the company.”



Finally, it stated, “Swipe again for a market overview, and if you’re logged in to your Google account and have created a Google Finance portfolio, a further swipe will show a summary of your stock portfolio.”


That’s a smart series of readouts to provide.  We imagine this upgrade might cause some confusion every now and then when people were just looking up acronyms, but those problems should be far outweighed by the upgrade’s usefulness to investors.


Now just cross your fingers that the average individual doesn’t find it necessary to look up falling stock prices too often.

GoDaddy Elephant Slaughter Draws Massive Backlash

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons may need a lesson in online reputation management. Lesson 1: Don’t kill elephants. Lesson 2: If you do kill an elephant, don’t post a video about it on the web. 3: If you do kill an elephant and post a video about it on the web, and then tweet it out to 33,000 followers. Really lesson 1 solves them all, but now he’s learning the hard way as the controversy has taken the web by storm.


GoDaddy is no stranger to controversy. That’s for sure. This is a whole new kind of controversy though. The following video says it all (warning: it’s graphic):



The video begins with the text, “Of everything I do this is the most rewarding. This video shows one typical night and day.”


“Damage is extensive. Unless elephant are stopped entire crop may be lost,” the captions in the video say. “When crops are lost subsistence farmers risk starvation.”


“Bob Parsons fires first,” they later proclaim. “Bob Parsons fires again. Both shots hit home. “One bull is killed. The rest stampede out of the field unhurt.”


Then it goes to a series of still photos of Parsons posing proudly with the dead elephant. “Early the next morning hungry villagers butcher the elephant,” it then reads, before cutting to footage of the villagers butchering the animal while AC/DC plays over it. Some villagers wear GoDaddy hats.


He even tweeted it. Brilliant.




Just back from hunting problem elephant in Zimbabwe. Here’s my vacation video. Enjoy. http://x.co/TxZ5 17 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto



The video currently has over 20,000 views, with many more sure to come. You can wade through pages of comments here. Many people say they will be pulling their sites from GoDaddy. Even PETA was using GoDaddy, and is obviously putting a stop to that. PETA, points out that Parsons has also killed a leopard, pointing to the following video:



PETA added:


It has been well established that elephants are capable of experiencing emotions, including joy, anger, grief, and sympathy. They play with each other and can reason and use tools; they have exceptional memories and form enduring bonds with other elephants. They work together and comfort and protect each other. Elephant offspring stay with their mothers for many years—males for up to 15 years and females for their entire lives. Killing a single elephant can devastate a family, and their mourning ritual over the death of a family member rivals any that we humans have developed.


Parsons is hiding behind the lame claim that killing elephants helps farmers in Africa whose crops are damaged by the animals. In fact, there are ample effective and nonlethal methods to deter elephants from crops, including using chili-infused string and beehives on poles to create low-cost “fences.” Instead of coming up with flimsy excuses for killing these highly intelligent and social animals, Parsons should use his wealth to fund humane solutions to human/elephant conflicts.


Oh yeah, and lesson 4: don’t post videos of leopard killing to the web. And lesson 5: Issue a company press release following the uproar. So far there hasn’t been one posted to the GoDaddy news center since 03/23.




Just posted new video blog: Alligators nipping at your ass? How to hang in there & enjoy the ride. http://x.co/UCKi 4 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto



Is this guy the real Mr. Burns?


Update: Parsons has been talking since this article originally ran.

UberSocial Direct Messages Publicly Visible

Twitter has announced that Direct Messages of 140 characters and longer sent via UberSocial and Twidroyd are currently visible to the public.




DMs longer than 140 chars sent via “d username” on UberSocial for Blackberry/iPhone & Twidroyd are currently visible publicly. [1/2] 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto



They are currently working on a fix.




We’re working w/the dev to bring the apps into compliance w/our privacy policies; meanwhile, please be aware of this vulnerability. [2/2] 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto



In February, Twitter suspended UberTwitter and Twidroyd but later reinstated the two apps.

Hercules re-invents the netbook again, launches 10-inch Linux- and A8-powered eCAFE

Hercules re-invents the netbook again, launches 10-inch Linux- and A8-powered eCAFE

It's perhaps a little too early to be feeling all retro-nostalgic for the netbook, with much of the industry moving on up to your notbooks and your tablets and such, so we'll just say that Hercules is still kickin' it old school by launching its eCAFE netbooks. There are two models, the Slim HD and EX HD, the former tipping the scales at 1.9lbs and measuring only .8-inches thick, while the EX model is a bit heftier at 2.5lbs and 1.1-inches, managing 13 hours of "real use" battery life. Both are said to smoothly play 720p video on their 10-inch, 1024 x 600 displays or export it over HDMI, running a custom flavor of Linux and powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 processor. Hercules says this "sets a new standard" in netbooks, but 8 or 16GB of flash storage and 512MB of RAM sounds all too familiar to us, and if that cramped, recessed keyboard is the future we're quite happy to stick in the present, thanks.

Hercules re-invents the netbook again, launches 10-inch Linux- and A8-powered eCAFE originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Native Instruments rolls out Traktor 2, Maschine 1.6 update


There isn't any hardware that will make you a better (or hell, a good) DJ, although we always seem to forget this whenever we see one of Native Instruments' invariably mind-blowing product demos. If you're a DMC-level DJ, it certainly looks like the newly available Traktor 2 will suit all of your needs nicely. If you're not? Well, you can always enjoy DJ Craze going wild on the video after the break (be advised, however, that the F-bomb drops about a gazillion times on the thing, so this might not be safe for your workplace). And while we're at it, if you own NI's Maschine, the 1.6 software that we first got a look at in early February is available: launch the NI Service Center app to upgrade.

Continue reading Native Instruments rolls out Traktor 2, Maschine 1.6 update

Native Instruments rolls out Traktor 2, Maschine 1.6 update originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DirecTV, Comcast, Vudu could start offering 'premium VOD' $30 movie rentals in April


Despite the questionable appeal of watching movies two months after they come out in theaters for $30 a pop, The Hollywood Reporter reports Warner Bros., Sony, Fox and Universal are going ahead with their premium video on-demand scheme. According to the always helpful unnamed insiders, DirecTV will be launch the service nationally at the end of April, with Walmart-backed Vudu and a regional launch by Comcast soon after. Company Town mentions movies like The Adjustment Bureau, Paul, or Just Go With It could be among launch titles. There's no word on DRM although apparently Paramount has taken a pass specifically due to piracy concerns -- theater owners aren't happy either -- so we'll just wait and see if the quality of scene rips suddenly make a jump by this time next month. Either way, expect some new variation of Gregor and his lap giraffe to make an appearance soon.

DirecTV, Comcast, Vudu could start offering 'premium VOD' $30 movie rentals in April originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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+1 Button From Google The Next Ranking Signal

Google has unveiled Google +1, at least a significant part of the “social layer” the company has referenced repeatedly over the last several months. We’ve speculated on such a layer numerous times, and now we have something major to go on.


In a nutshell, Google’s social strategy just got a lot closer to Facebook’s social strategy. Facebook made huge waves when it launched its Open Graph and social plugins (including the Like Button). Now, nearly a year later, Google is apparently trying to duplicate that.


Can Google duplicate Facebook’s success with the “like” button? Tell us what you think.


The video above shows what Google +1 is all about. It’s about putting a little “+1″ button all over the web, in search results, and in ads. It’s not quite as catchy or as call-to-action-y as “like”, which makes me think that right out of the box, this will not get clicked nearly as much as Facebook’s iconic button. Maybe I’m wrong. What do you think?


+1′s are public. Google may show them to any signed-in user who has a social connection to one. Users can choose not to have them displayed publicly on their Google Profile, however.


Does the +1 Button Make the Google Buzz Button Obsolete?


It seems like a fair question, but Google doesn’t think so. We’ll see if web users agree. The company’s official stance on that is, “Buzz button[s] are used for starting conversations about interesting web content (‘Hey guys, what do you think about this news story?’). +1 buttons recommend web content to people in the context of search results (‘Peng +1′d this page’), and +1′s from social connections can help improve the relevance of the results you see in Google Search. Soon, you’ll be able to use the +1 button, or the Buzz button, or both—pick what’s right for your content.”


It seems somewhat counter-intuitive. We’ll see how many publishers want to display two different Google buttons. Facebook offers a “like” button with the option to comment. Why not combine them?


Big News for Search


Of course Google puts a major search spin on +1, indicating that it’s all about making search results more relevant (this could be achieved with Facebook likes, if the company politics weren’t in the way). To recommend something, all you have to do is click +1 on a webpage or ad you find useful. These +1’s will then start appearing in Google’s search results.


When a user searches, while signed in, their search result snippets may be annotated with the names of their connections who have “+1′d” (that’s already more annoying to type than “liked”) the page. When none of the user’s connections have +1′d a page, the snippet may display the aggregate number of +1′s the page has received.


“Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible. But relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages. That’s why we recently started to include more information from people you know—stuff they’ve shared on Twitter, Flickr and other sites—in Google search results,” says project manager Rob Spiro. “Today we’re taking that a step further, enabling you to share recommendations with the world right in Google’s search results.”


“Say, for example, you’re planning a winter trip to Tahoe, Calif,” he adds. “When you do a search, you may now see a +1 from your slalom-skiing aunt next to the result for a lodge in the area. Or if you’re looking for a new pasta recipe, we’ll show you +1′s from your culinary genius college roommate. And even if none of your friends are baristas or caffeine addicts, we may still show you how many people across the web have +1’d your local coffee shop.”


If you’d rather see results from your friends who are most likely already using Facebook and talking about this stuff organically, you might want to check out Wajam, which adds this directly into your Google results via a browser extension. Greplin also has a browser extension now.


Google says it uses “many signals” to identify the most useful recommendations, such as people you are connected to through Google (contacts, people in your Google Talk chat list, people you follow in Google Reader and Buzz). Google also says it may start using other signals like Twitter connections. You can always look at you “social circle” on Google’s Dashboard to see who you’re actually connected to.


Obviously a Google account is required for +1. In fact, a Google Profile is also required (I’ve speculated that this will essentially become Google’s version of Facebook’s Wall, if they ever get all of their services tied together in an effective way, which may still happen with a toolbar). On the Google Profile, you’ll see all of the +1s you’ve clicked (again, kind of like “likes” on the Facebook Wall). Here’s what it looks like on the Google Profile page (with a new tab for +1′s):


Google Plus One From the Profile


“We think sharing on the web can be even better–that people might share more recommendations, more often, if they knew their advice would be used to help their friends and contacts right when they’re searching for relevant topics on Google,” says Google’s David Byttow, software engineer for the +1 button.


“We expect that these personalized annotations will help sites stand out by showing users which search results are personally relevant to them,” he says. “As a result, +1’s could increase both the quality and quantity of traffic to the sites people care about.”


+1′s the Next Ranking Signal


+1s will become a search ranking factor. Byttow says Google will “start to look at +1′s as one of the many signals we use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, including social signals from other services. For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality over time.”


They’ll have to approach this delicately. We’ve talked about like-buying for Facebook in the past. With Google, you have a whole other beast.


In a FAQ, Google says, “Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query.”


Google also says it is working on ways to provide webmasters with more data about the impact of +1 on their site’s performance in search. The company says it doesn’t share personal info about people who have +1′d you pages, but it may provide aggregate demographic info about your +1 audience in the future (such as a certain percentage of your audience being from a certain geographic location).


Join the conversation about Google +1 with us on Facebook:






WebProNewsGoogle Takes on the Facebook Like Button





The +1 Button and AdWords


The button won’t only affect organic search results. It will appear in AdWords ads as well. “We expect that personalized annotations will help users know when your ads and organic search results are relevant to them, increasing the chances that they’ll end up on your site,” says Dan Friedman of Google’s Inside AdWords Crew. “You don’t have to make adjustments to your advertising strategy based on +1 buttons, and the way we calculate Quality Score isn’t changing (though +1s will be one of many signals we use to calculate organic search ranking). Think of +1 buttons as an enhancement that can help already successful search campaigns perform even better.”


It’s worth noting that clicks on the +1 button don’t count as a paid click, according to what Google told Danny Sullivan.


The button does not affect AdSense ad units on publishers’ sites.


More for Businesses


Google also announced that it is bringing both the +1 button and the Google Profile to Google Apps. I’m guessing that this will roughly translate into Google’s version of the Facebook Page.


“Your organization will need to be set up to use additional Google applications to get Google Profiles when it’s available, so this is a great time for administrators to start the transition if they haven’t already!” says Google Apps Product Manager Gaurav Jain. “Google Profiles is an important companion to +1’’s, but your profile is also a place for you to manage your online identity.”


“Once it’s ready, Google Profiles can be turned on by your organization’s administrator,” adds Jain. “You might choose to use a Google Profile if you’re a freelance writer, personal accountant or hairstylist, for instance, and you want to create your professional presence on the web to interact with potential clients and colleagues. Your profile will be public, so anyone on the web will be able to view it and your profile and +1′s will show up in search results.”


Google also says it will be providing admin options to keep profiles and +1′s for Google Apps users private within an organization.


Google is “slowly” rolling out +1s, beginning with English on Google.com. More languages will be added in time. If you’re dying to start using the buttons, however, they will soon let users opt-in via an experimental search site. If you want to know when buttons are available for your site, you can sign up to get notified here. You can sign up to get notified when Profiles are ready for Google Apps here.



Is the +1 a good idea? Tell us what you think.

Google’s Page Speed Online Launched

Over at the Google Webmaster Central blog, they’ve announced “Page Speed Online,” which allows users to check out the performance of any page on the internet, at any time.  Users will receive a page performance score calculated out of 100 and will be given prioritized suggestions upon which to improve.


When you run a test for a particular page, you will receive a score.



That score will be accompanied on the left hand side by suggestions for improving the page.
Google ranks these suggestions either high, medium or low priority.  The high priority suggestions are the ones that will give you the most improvement for the most minimal effort.  The medium priority suggestion will not give you as much improvement and may require much more work.  The low priority suggestions are to be concerned with only when you take care of the higher priority ones.



As you can see above, on the bottom right of where you see the number score, there is an option for a mobile analysis.  Google has added support for mobile pages to this new tool:


Due to the relatively limited CPU capabilities of mobile devices, the high round-trip times of mobile networks, and rapid growth of mobile usage, understanding and optimizing for mobile performance is even more critical than for the desktop.


The mobile recommendations are tuned for the unique characteristics of mobile devices, and contain several best practices that go beyond the recommendations for desktop browsers, in order to create a faster mobile experience. New mobile-targeted best practices include eliminating uncacheable landing page redirects and reducing the amount of JavaScript parsed during the page load, two common issues that slow down mobile pages today.


Google also notes that Page Speed Online is powered in the same way as many Chrome and Firefox extensions as well as webpagetest.org.

Google Cloud Print Printers Available From HP

About a year ago, Google introduced preliminary designs for Google Cloud Print. Today, Google and HP announced that all HP ePrint-enabled printers are now Cloud Print-friendly.


Google Cloud Print can actually be used with any printer, but the new printers are “Google Cloud Print Ready,” which makes for a more “seamless” experience, according to Google.


“Imagine printing an important email from your Chrome notebook on your train ride to work, then finding the completed printout in the printer tray when you reach the office. Or printing your airline boarding pass from your smartphone to your home printer, so you can grab the printout on your way out the door,” says Google software engineer Abhijit Kalamkar. “Today, we are one big step closer to this vision.”


HP Google Cloud Print-ready printers


“Simply associate your printers with a Google Account—preexisting or new—to start printing,” says HP. “You can add your HP ePrint-enabled printer (HP Photosmart, HP Officejet, HP Officejet Pro, HP LaserJet Pro) to your Google Account with the printer’s unique email address. When you’re ready to print, simply select from the list of printers associated with your account.”


“You can send a print job to the printer you’ve chosen when you want—whether the printer is in front of you, in another room or across the country,” the company adds. “And you’ll have virtually the same experience as if you were physically connected to the printer. Print your favorite vacation photo to the closest printer to you for quick-and-easy sharing. Or, send your business presentation to the printer at your desk.”


Earlier this year, Google launched Cloud print for mobile documents and Gmail for Mobile. It also works with Chrome OS notebooks.



“We’re also continuing to release enhancements to the Google Cloud Print service,” says  Kalamkar. “We’ve released a Mac version of the Google Cloud Print connector for non-cloud printers in the Chrome beta channel. And over the next few days we’ll be enabling printer sharing for current Google Cloud Print users, so your family, friends and colleagues can print their documents from anywhere to anywhere.”


The first Chrome OS devices for consumers are expected to ship in the middle of the year.

Google Launches Iraqi, Tunisian Domains

Citizens of Iraq and Tunisia who are lucky enough to have Internet connections may now find it easier to conduct Web searches.  Today, Google announced the launch of the local search domains google.iq and google.tn for the two countries.


This is in many ways an interesting development.  For starters, it’s almost impossible not to think about the political and military turmoil in both countries (and in Tunisia in particular) and what effects Google’s move might have.


Perhaps the company’s trying to show its commitment to the free flow of information, hoping it can help locals make better decisions.  Or the timing could be coincidental, part of Google’s regularly scheduled efforts to reach more potential users.



Either way, the move does represent a milestone of sorts in terms of growth.  A post on the Google Arabia Blog noted, “This recent launch brings the number of local Google search domains worldwide to 184 with 15 domains in Arab countries.”


The post also pointed out, “Up until recently, users in Iraq and Tunisia had to visit other domains in order to use the search user interface in their language of choice.  With this launch, the new domains will enable users to access Google search in local languages like Arabic and Kurdish in Iraq and Arabic and French in Tunisia.  Eventually, this will lead to access to more locally-relevant content.”


Additional local search domains are supposed to launch this year, too, so keep an eye out for them.  Hat tip goes to Ahmad Al-Shagra.

PlayStation One games appear in Android Market, predictably restricted to Xperia Play (update)


If there was one thing that bothered us most about the Xperia Play, it was the dearth of original PlayStation games we could, you know, play on it. That's getting a shot in the arm tonight with the introduction of five PS One titles to the Android Market: Syphon Filter, MediEvil, Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, and Jumping Flash. Each is priced at £3.99 in the UK, with the first two games on the list also being available in five languages. That pricing translates to $6.38 when the games are accessed from the US, but we imagine the final pricing may differ once the Xperia Play lands stateside. And yes, the Xperia Play will be your only way to access these for now (R800i is its codename), leaving the rest of us Android PS One lovers with a bunch of games to envy and one less emulator to enjoy. The Android giveth, and the Android taketh away.

Update: Sony Ericsson wants you to know that since the Xperia Play is, in fact, an Android handset, it won't be restricted to just those five PS One games -- it will also feature quite a few titles that you can also find on the Android Market and even a few temporary exclusives like Backstab and Dungeon Defenders Second Wave. Still, it's a little light on actual PlayStation gaming... See the full list in the press release after the break.

Continue reading PlayStation One games appear in Android Market, predictably restricted to Xperia Play (update)

PlayStation One games appear in Android Market, predictably restricted to Xperia Play (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Arrive review


Though it was teased late last year -- on the same day that HTC announced its very first Windows Phone 7 devices, in fact -- the company's QWERTY-packing 7 Pro has taken its sweet time to make it to American airwaves; in the process, it's gone through a name change and picked up the first big platform update from Microsoft. The phone we now know as the Arrive is finally available from Sprint, becoming the first Windows Phone 7 device available on a CDMA network. These days, it's pretty unusual for an HTC handset -- or a handset on any American carrier, really, regardless of manufacturer -- to take this long to make it to subscribers' hands after announcement, but in this case, Sprint's hands were tied: Microsoft simply didn't support CDMA initially, which explains why both AT&T and T-Mobile have been enjoying a selection of models from Samsung, LG, Dell, and HTC alike while Sprint and Verizon have been patiently twiddling their thumbs.

The CDMA dry spell's over, though; the Arrive marks just the first of what should be several Redmond-powered phones over the course of 2011. Is it a fitting first effort? And how does it fare against the GSM models that beat it to market? Read on.

Continue reading HTC Arrive review

HTC Arrive review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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