Google Invests $200M in Farmville? Is Search Over?
Jul 11th
Can pretend farming save Google?
According to ReadWriteWeb, Google has invested over $100 million and possibly as much as $200 million in Zynga, bringing the total investment in Zynga to somewhere around half a billion dollars. You might not know the name Zynga, but if you spend any time on Facebook, you have probably heard of some of the games they have created, such as Farmville and Mafia Wars. Believe it or not, according to TechCrunch, Zynga’s social games were worth $350 million in revenue in the first half of 2010, with half of that being operating profit.
What Does It Mean?
Those numbers are impressive, but mainly for what they signify. Read the rest of this entry »
AT&T Smothers Mobile Web Before It Grows Up
Jun 3rd
Help! I just want to grow up!
Yesterday, AT&T announced that it was changing its iPhone & iPad data plans. That’s right, the $30/month unlimited data plan on the iPhone & iPad and $15/month 250MB plan on the iPad will no longer be options for people getting new plans or changing their plans effective June 7. In their place, AT&T will offer a 200MB/month plan for $15 and a 2GB/month plan for $25. AT&T defends these changes saying the average customer will save money, since 98% of their users never hit 2GB in a month. Plus they say, for $20/month you can even tether your iPhone and use your data on another computer.
Where to begin? First off, I’m sure that 98% of AT&T’s users never hit 2GB. I rarely do, but I’m not mobile as much as others. But are 98% of AT&T’s smartphone users staying under that 2GB cap? I’m skeptical, but even if they are, I am not subscribing to AT&T as the noble company out to save us money. Read the rest of this entry »
Blippy Breach Puts Credit Cards Numbers on Google
Apr 23rd
I thought that number was between us!
Not too worried about how you share your personal information online? Well, VentureBeat has reported on an incident that should make you rethink your position. Blippy, the purchase sharing social site that I covered in January, has had a security breach. As a result, they exposed the credit card numbers of some of their users to Google search. Initial reports state that only Citibank issued MasterCards were affected.
This is a huge black eye for a company that needed to show that they had rock solid control of user data. I would think twice before I used a service like theirs, especially after a breach like this. I really don’t think knowing what your friends are buying is worth the risk of giving up your credit card information to the whole internet. If you desperately need to tell everyone what you bought, why not just mention it on Facebook or Twitter?
KnowEm: Do You Control Your Name?
Mar 16th
KnowEm: Check, check, check that name!
People constantly talk about how important a name is to a business. They usually follow that declaration up by emphasizing that a good domain name is just as important. What people often forget is how important it is to register the name of your business on all the major social media sites. Now some of you might be saying, “Whoa, there! I’m not interested in putting in the time to maintain a bunch of social media sites. I have my hands full just running my business.”
Fair enough. One day though you might want to use one of those social media sites for your business. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the name already and not have it occupied by some squatter? Read the rest of this entry »
DoGooders DoEvil?
Mar 7th
DoGood? Not so much.
DoGood Headquarters recently released a plugin for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari that replaces ads on websites with “green related initiatives, philanthropic calls for action and health and wellness ideas.” Before I get critical of this new service, because I will, I just want to say that I sympathize with part of what they are trying to do. Almost everyone has a favorite cause that they support and that they wish could raise more money. Doing something on the internet to help those causes raise more money or awareness is a good thing. There is no doubt about that. And it is done at the expense of advertising. Heck, most of us don’t enjoy advertising. So, what’s the problem, right? Read the rest of this entry »
