Google buys 1,030 IBM patents to strengthen IP catalog

For Google purchasing patents might just be more cost effective than trying to defend their products in court. They would rather be building than defending.

Amplify’d from www.slashgear.com

Google has confirmed it snapped up a bundle of IBM patents, in a move that is believed to be defensive against the growing number of IP-based lawsuits. The 1,030 patents acquired cover a broad range of technologies, SEO by the Sea reports, including memory and microprocessor chip fabrication/architecture, server and router design, and software programming such as relational databases, object oriented programming and more. Read more at www.slashgear.com

 

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Android is Top Mobile OS, Apple Dominates Manufacturing

This is clearly a two horse race with two winners sitting at the top. Unfortunately, Blackberry will continue to fall further behind.

Amplify’d from www.pcmag.com

Android now has the largest share of the U.S. smartphone market with 39 percent, followed by Apple and iOS with 28 percent. Research in Motion's BlackBerry, meanwhile, is down to 20 percent.

See more at www.pcmag.com

 

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Google Prints a Magazine

Print may be down, but it's not out. I read Think Quarterly online, since I am not one of the select few who actually receives a "Limited Edition" print version from Google. In Google's own words, they "decided to create a limited edition print version that would just go to a small number of clients and partners as a way to capture their imagination." Is there a hidden message here? Is print back in vogue!

Read about it in AdWeek

Google Scrambles to Accelerate Google+ Business Profiles

This was clearly an oversight on their part, but it's not a deal breaker. Companies will be setting up shop on + soon enough.Then they'll discover their second problem – how to get added to circles and stay there. Google + can get noisy if you add really active folks to your circles. The same will hold true for companies/brands. Once Google allows folks to turn streams off for individual profiles – life will be good.

Amplify’d from www.pcworld.com

Demand for Google+ business profiles has reached white-hot intensity, prompting Google+ leader Vic Gundotra to acknowledge the company has been caught off guard, but pledging a fix is being fast-tracked.

Christian Oestlien, a Google+ product manager, wrote that tens of thousands of organizations applied to be in the Google+ business profiles test program, and that Google hopes to allow for the creation of business profiles in the coming months, sooner than originally planned. Read more at www.pcworld.com

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Who is Wendi Deng?

I knew this was going to get good, but no one knew how good. A cream pie and a slap. While Rupert's world is under attack at least one appears true – his wife supports him and is willing to defend him.

Amplify’d from www.cnn.com

It's the slap that's been heard around the world: Wendi Deng Murdoch putting herself between her husband Rupert Murdoch and a protester armed with a shaving cream pie.

Chinese microblogs have gone into overdrive: One slap for Wendi, one knockout blow for the pride of Asian women.

"I used to think Deng only loves Murdoch's money. But her move yesterday was so fast and was kind of instinct... this may actually be true love!" one young woman said. Read more at www.cnn.com

 

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‘Mann v. Ford’ film producer fields questions

For my fellow New Jerseyans, who may have missed this HBO documentary about the Ramapough Indian tribes (life and death) battle against Ford Motor Corp. to cleanup the toxic landfill in their community.



http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/mann-v-ford/index.html#/documentaries/mann-v-ford/synopsis.html

Amplify’d from www.northjersey.com

Viewers of "Mann v. Ford," the HBO documentary detailing an Upper Ringwood community’s battle against Ford Motor Co. and its toxic legacy, should be "outraged’’ and learn more about pollution in their own communities, one of the filmmakers said Tuesday in a live Web chat.

While many issues remain unresolved at the 500-acre Superfund site, the release of the film comes at a critical juncture in determining the final cleanup, which will affect generations to come, filmmaker Maro Chermayeff said the day after the film’s premiere.

In telling their story, the Ramapoughs have set an example that should inspire communities, especially in New Jersey which is home to the most Superfund sites in the nation. Read more at www.northjersey.com

 

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Google Plus: The top 10 missing features

Jason's #1 is dead on. I added Larry Page and his Parasailing photos blew out my stream. You can choose to view a single Circle stream, which helps let you see what your friends are posting, but you should be able to silence a single person.

The big loser for Google + is the "HANG OUT". If you haven't tried it, your not missing a thing. The quality is horrible. No exaggeration its the equivalent of Live streamed video from Afghanistan, possibly worse!

Amplify’d from www.zdnet.com

After just two weeks in closed beta, it already has 10 million users. Still, it’s far from perfect. I’ve put together my list of the top 10 things Google needs to fix or add in Google+. Take a look at the list and then jump into the discussion and argue with me by adding the fixes that you think deserve more attention in Google+. Read more at www.zdnet.com

 

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Reader’s Digest for Sale: A Colorful History

It will be interesting to see who steps in and how much they will offer up for the Digest. If BusinessWeek is the measuring stick, I may need to scrap up a few nickels and put in an early bid. Having visited Readers Digest during the good old days - I have fond memories of its sprawling campus and the wonderful hallways lined with Artwork.

Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

The company behind America’s favorite pocket-sized publication, Reader’s Digest, is for sale, about a year after it crawled out of bankruptcy protection. And that means the storied magazine may change ownership for the third time in the past five years, after it had been under the watch of the founding Wallace family for most of the company’s 89-year history.

At its peak three decades ago, Reader’s Digest sold roughly 18 million copies a month

An investment group led by private-equity firm Ripplewood Holdings agreed to buy Reader’s Digest in 2006 in a $1.6 billion deal

— weighed down by far too much debt in part brought on by the Ripplewood deal– the private equity firm’s entire investment was worthless. Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

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Women's World Cup final breaks Twitter record

If you want to gauge the popularity of ( or anything) women's soccer look no further than Twitter.

Amplify’d from www.usatoday.com

Twitter says the finish of the Women's World Cup final between Japan and the United States broke the record for tweets per second.

The exciting climax drew 7,196 tweets per second.

The previous record of 6,939 was set just after midnight in Japan on New Year's Day. Other spikes include Osama bin Laden's death (5,106 per second) and the Super Bowl in February (4,064). Read more at www.usatoday.com

 

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Google News Badges

This Google product must have been designed by a third grade teacher. How do I know that? You get Gold stars for reading!

Amplify’d from www.google.com

The U.S. Edition of Google News now lets you collect private, sharable badges for your favorite topics. The more articles you read on Google News, the more your badges level up: you can reach Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and finally Ultimate. Keep your badges to yourself, or show them off to your friends.

Badges will level up faster if you read a few relevant articles every day, rather than trying to read everything at once. Read more at www.google.com

 

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Google: What do you love?

Not sure how this fits into our daily digital lives, but it has a cool name!

Amplify’d from www.theinquirer.net

INTERNET GIANT Google has launched a universal amalgamated search engine called What Do You Love?

The web site www.wdyl.com allows users to search for things they're interested in, such as hobbies, foods or films, and provides several streams of content on the topic from Google's various search engines. Read more at www.theinquirer.net

 

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Google Primes Mobile Netflix Alternative

This should pave the way for Android consumers to shed other service providers.

Amplify’d from www.thestreet.com

Google's(GOOG_) upcoming Android Market revamp promises more mobile media services like movie rentals and book downloads, one of which is a little more timely than others.

The Net search giant says the new Android Market will offer movies starting at $2 for instant viewing or for downloads to watch offline. Read more at www.thestreet.com

 

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News Corp.’s Lost $7 Billion Shows Investor Concern Over Hacking Fallout

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp continues to slip as the phone hacking probe widens. With billions on the line - will Murdoch press forward with the BSkyB deal or will he retreat in the face of mounting losses.

Amplify’d from www.bloomberg.com

News Corp. (NWS)’s loss of $7 billion in market value over four trading days shows investor concerns that a probe into alleged phone hacking by journalists at one London newspaper could have a broader impact on the company.

Murdoch’s New York-based media company tumbled 4.6 percent to A$15.19 in Sydney today. The stock lost $1.27, or 7.6 percent, to $15.48 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday, the biggest drop since April 2009 Read more at www.bloomberg.com

 

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$140 Google eBooks reader, iriver Story HD, hits stores July 17

The price point for e-readers should be near $99 by now. By Christmas, we should see $50 e-readers.

Amplify’d from arstechnica.com

Google has announced its plans to launch a Google eBooks-optimized e-reader on July 17. Called the iriver Story HD, the e-book reader is designed to give users easy access to the 3 million free titles Google holds in addition to a few hundred thousand paid titles, with a price and design that is very similar to Amazon's Kindle. Read more at arstechnica.com

 

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Rupert Murdoch to Shut Down News of the World after UK Hacking Scandal

Rupert Murdoch is set to arrive in the U.K. on Sunday to oversee News Corp's response to the phone hacking allegations. He has already made the decision to shut down the popular weekly publication, with a circulation of 2.6 million. This Sunday's issue will be its last. Over 200 jobs will be lost.
This scandal is also jeopardizing News Corp's attempt to take control of BSkyB, the U.K.'s largest satellite broadcaster.

Video: News Of the World Scandal

Rupert Murdoch shuts News of the World

The floodgate of criminal accusations continues to flow against Rupert's News of the World and threatens his BSkyB deal, and his entire media empire. I fully expect Rupert to weather the storm, but with a considerable amount damage along the way.

Amplify’d from www.sfgate.com

Facing a tide of outrage over rampant phone-hacking, Rupert Murdoch jettisoned the notorious News of the World tabloid in an effort to protect his media empire, but the dramatic step may prove insufficient to contain the growing scandal or secure his bid to expand an already-huge presence in Britain.

Murdoch is struggling to ensure that toxic fallout does not infect other parts of News Corp., a media giant with holdings from Asia to the United States, including the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. Read more at www.sfgate.com

 

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Google vs. Facebook by the numbers

Facebook and Google are constantly being compared across the social stream, but the numbers are the true tale of the tape. Not much of a surprise, Google is bigger with more product offerings. As Mari points out, in a post-IPO world Facebook may take on new dimensions.

Amplify’d from www.computerworld.com

As the two Internet heavyweights are poised to battle it out in the social networking arena, how do the companies stack up? A look at some data.

Google has a clear edge globally, according to ComScore Data Mine: Google reached a billion unique visitors worldwide in May, while Facebook rang in at 713.6 million.

Facebook had a huge lead in time spent per person: more than 6 hours vs. an hour and 20 minutes.

According to one estimate reported by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook had $1.86 billion in ad revenue last year and should top $4 billion this year. Google reported $29.3 billion in overall revenues last year (not just from ads). Read more at www.computerworld.com

 

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Going Green - Top Companies Using Renewable Power

A good look at a few companies who are taking an active role in reducing their total power consumption by leveraging renewable energy sources. I was pleased to see the names of companies who's services and products I use.

Amplify’d from www.reuters.com

Wind energy technology provider Vestas has released a report mentioning the top 20 firms around the world in terms of consumption of renewable energy-based electricity in 2010. The top five companies are Kohl's Corporation, Whole Foods Inc., Toronto-Dominion Bank, Swiss Reinsurance Limited and Nordea Bank AB. Other prominent companies using renewable energy-based electricity are Adobe Systems Inc., News Corp, Deutsche Bank AG, Starbucks, Metlife, Nokia, Allianz and Johnson & Johnson. Read more at www.reuters.com

 

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Eight iPad 2 contenders that can force Apple to release iPad 3

Admittedly, I have been shopping for an inexpensive non-Apple tablet to play with.

My Friend Dmitri is going to let check out his Acer. In his opinion even with all of its additional features (HDMI, size,OS & Cost-- he paid $350) he prefers his iPad. I will let you know what I think.

Amplify’d from www.ibtimes.com

Some of the major tablets that could make Apple nervous are: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom, RIM PlayBook, HTC Flyer, HP TouchPad, Cisco Cius, LG G-Slate, and Acer Iconia Tab A500. The tablets come in different form factors sporting display sizes like 8.9-inch, 10.1-inch and 7-inch.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that in order to counter the heat from other tablet makers, Apple will introduce another iPad within this year with higher display resolution, camera with flash, Quad-Core processor, iOS 5 and retina display. Read more at www.ibtimes.com

 

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Zynga files for IPO of up to $1 billion

Is it time to start worrying about the next internet bubble?

Amplify’d from www.chicagotribune.com

Zynga filed paperwork for an initial public offering on Friday, the latest in a series of hot social media companies to seek capital in the U.S. public markets.

A source previously told Reuters that Zynga's IPO could raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion and could value the company at $15 billion to $20 billion. Read more at www.chicagotribune.com

 

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