Facebook Like Button Takes Over Sharing Functionality
The Facebook Like button has become a fixture on sites across the web. It has become widely accepted and, with their latest changes, may become even more visible. Instead of being buried in your recent activity, Likes will now publish a full news feed story. This will raise the visibility of Likes within Facebook feeds and should increase referral traffic to sites with the Like button. Check out Inside Facebook for the full breakdown.
26-year Old Making Millions Selling Kindle eBooks
Traditional publishers are afraid and for good reason. Her name is Amanda Hocking and she is the best-selling indie author on the Amazon Kindle store. She sells around 100,000 books a month. Even at prices from .99 to $3 and with Amazon taking a 30% cut, that still amounts to a huge chunk of change for a writer with no publishing deal. Low prices and ease of distribution make for easy sales and impulse buys. Potential millions per month would make anyone want to dust off those old notebooks and fire up that editor.
via SAI
The T-Mobile Sidekick is Dead…Long Live the T-Mobile Sidekick
In a not entirely shocking move, the Danger servers which power the current generation of Sidekick smartphones will be shut down as of May 31st. While this move will render existing Sidekick devices useless, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The device will be reborn with Android as its operating system. This is fitting since the father of Android, Andy Rubin, also co-founded Danger. T-Mobile plans to make it as smooth as possible for existing Sidekick owners to transition to the new devices.
via AllThingsD
Google’s Fight Against Spam Causes Collateral Damage
Wired reports that, while Google’s new ranking algorithm have resulted in better quality search results over all, it has also caused many publishers to rethink their business strategy. Many quality blogs have been lumped in with the content farms with no way to plead their case and no information on what changes they should make. One such site was Cult of Mac, which dropped below sites which reprinted the Mac-oriented site’s content without permission. Cult of Mac has since been restored, but many other sites are still contemplating whether to shut things down.
Google Profiles Redesigned
Google has finally decided to update their profiles with more personal information. This puts them just slightly more in competition with Facebook, offering “10 words that describe you best”, bragging rights, relationship information, structured information about your education and employment, and a scrapbook with your favorite photos. If you don’t like Google Buzz, you can now remove the tab from your Google profile page. Check out mine here.
The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend: Google and Microsoft Join Forces
In an interesting twist, Microsoft and Google have joined forces to protect their best interests. A Texas company called GeoTag Inc. has a geotagging patent that they claim has been used in lawsuits against more than 300 entities. Most of these entities are Microsoft and Google customers and the two tech giants are moving to protect them. Their aim is to invalidate the patent and prevent the Texas company from filing any more lawsuits, saying the original patent was awarded in error since their was prior art at the time.
via FOSS Patents