Google Changes Its Rank Algorithm In Response To DecorMyEyes Story

photo © 2007 Yahoo! Blog | more info(via: Wylio)Over Thanksgiving weekend a New York Times story, “A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web” clued a lot of people in to some of the drawbacks of Google PageRank. Negative attention online and complaint links from customer service sites like Get Satisfaction can actually be a benefit to business as in the problematic case of online retailer DecorMyEyes.

The Times piece followed DecorMyEyes customer Clarabelle Rodriguez as she suffered online and offline harassment from DecorMyEyes founder Vitaly Borker, all in the name of improving his Google search rankings. While I saw that DecorMyEyes had dropped in the Google rankings for eyewear related searches like “La Font”directly after the piece went out, it was only a matter of time before Google did something official.

From the Google blog:

“We were horrified to read about Ms. Rodriguez’s dreadful experience. Even though our initial analysis pointed to this being an edge case and not a widespread problem in our search results, we immediately convened a team that looked carefully at the issue. That team developed an initial algorithmic solution, implemented it, and the solution is already live. I am here to tell you that being bad is, and hopefully will always be, bad for business in Google’s search results.”

The Good Old Days

Stream of consciousness you say? Trying to find something on what used to be called the Internet is now officially a full time job. It’s not so much that various media strategies and hardware devices have carved things up into a tangle. It’s that what passes for interesting has been shorn of a reliable index in the move toward social filtering. We’re not there yet, the message seems to be. Is there a there there we are going to get to? Not clear.

Navigating Apple TV and its various peeks into the presumed future has been a valuable waste of time. For $100 plus an HDMI cable I get to sample various media dead ends including NetFlix, iTunes rental, buy, and streaming options, YouTube, and other stuff I can’t remember right now. In the past, I would have spent more time testing the work arounds for adding podcasts and ripped music to broaden the choices, but something about the device suggests we’re in such a rapid shakeout it might be easier to wait.

Want An iPod Nano Watch? So Does Everyone. Idea Poised To Be New Kickstarter King

We’ve talked a lot about Diaspora, the open-source Facebook-alternative, in recent months. One of the reasons for that is the massive success they had raising money on the crowdsourced fund-raising site, Kickstarter. The project raised over $200,000 from nearly 6,500 backers in just 39 days. Now a new project has already blown that tally out of the water: an iPod nano-based multi-touch wristwatch.

Scott Wilson, the founder of Chicago-based product and design studio, MINIMAL, set out with an idea: to create two watch enclosures for Apple’s latest iPod nano. He wanted the TikTok to be a low-end model ($35) and the LunaTik to be high-end ($70). So he put his project on Kickstarter with a goal of raising $15,000. So how is he doing?

News: Apple iOS 4.2 now available

One major update that many Apple fans have been looking forward to – iOS version 4.2 update is now available for download via iTunes. Not only does it give a number of new notable features to the Apple iPad, the new iOS 4.2 is also available for iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4.

My favourite feature of all in the new update will of course be multitasking for the iPad, others worth mentioning include AirPrint, AirPlay, Game Center, Unified Inbox and folders.

Apple’s Next Big Strategic Opportunity Could Be Mobile Payments

When an analyst asked Steve Jobs during Apple’slast earnings call what he plans to do with Apple’s $50 billion in cash, he replied that he wants to keep Apple’s “powder dry” in case “one or more strategic opportunities . . . come along.” Speculation started immediately about who Apple could buy with all that cash: Facebook, Sony, Adobe?

But Apple never makes huge acquisitions. It tends to make smaller talent and technology acquisitions instead.

Apple’s rumored interest in mobile payments startup BOKU would fall into that pattern. The fact that it is in M&A discussions with BOKU doesn’t mean a deal is going to happen, but it does mean that Apple is very interested in mobile payments.

Whether it builds or buys, or does a little bit of both, mobile payments could be a huge opportunity for Apple within the next few years.

Twitter Added 30 Million Users In The Past Two Months

In a New York Times profile on Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, the company revealed a few interesting stats showing the growth trajectory of the network. Twitter now has 175 million registered users, which is up from 145 million users in September. That means the startup added around 30 million users in just under two months. And Twitter has added 70 million users since April.

This is impressive growth considering that Twitter had a total of 58 million users in 2009 (and 503,000 users three years ago). That’s a 200 percent increase from 2009 to 2010 in terms of users. And the year isn’t over—it’s conceivable that at the rate Twitter is growing, the company could be ringing in the New Year with 200 million users. So what’s contributing to this massive growth?

No more Windows XP to be preinstalled on new computers? Read more: No more Windows XP to be preinstalled on new computers?

It seems that Microsoft is trying to put an end to Windows XP with Windows 7, and October 22 is an important date for all PC manufacturers and XP users all over the world. According to Microsoft, starting from October 22, no PC manufacturers will be able to preinstallWindows XP on their new machines. Microsoft really wants to put an end on Windows XP and enforce Windows 7 as the dominant operating system.

Yep, Apple Killed The CD Today

Stop. Take a deep breath. Before my headline gets you all worked up, consider what I’m saying here. The CD and other optical discs, like DVDs and Blu-rays, are obviously going to live on for a while as a way to transport media. But make no mistake that today, with two unveilings, Apple has effectively sealed the fate of the optical disc in the computer industry. Soon, it will go the way of the floppy disk.

Free As A Bird: Initial Thoughts After A Day With The New MacBook Air

I’ve done it. I’ve worn the battery completely down on one of the new MacBook Airs. As such, I thought I’d post some initial thoughts about the machine. This isn’t a huge all-encompassing review — I haven’t even used it outside of my apartment yet — but rather my initial thoughts for those of you thinking about rushing out to buy one.

Battle of the Boxes: Apple TV vs. Western Digital and Seagate

Getting content from your computer to your television is hardly a new idea, but now that Apple has taken up the cause, everyone seems to want to get into the game.

Nokia C5-03: Latest touchscreen phone from C5 series Read more: Nokia C5-03: Latest touchscreen phone from C5 series | GadgetLite - Latest gadgets an

We’ve already seen Nokia phones from the C5 series, and it seems that the Finnish phonemaker is working on a new phone for the C5 series that will be named C5-03.

Unlike previous models, C5-00 and C5-01, the new C5-03 won’t have a number pad, instead, it will be a full touchscreen phone and it will only have Call, Home and End Call buttons. Besides 3.2-inch touchscreen, this phone comes with five megapixel camera.

Stealth Android Enterprise Startup 3LM’s $1.5 Million Seed Round And 3 Laws Of Mobility

Most of the apps being developed for Android phones are consumer apps. Yet enterprise apps could be much more lucrative. One startup focusing on enterprise apps for Android is 3LM, a company so stealth that it’s Website is nothing more than a Google Sites landing page with nothing on it but the words “Coming Soon.” The top search result for 3LM links to this question on Quora, which remained unanswered until now.

I’ve been digging around, and found out a little bit about 3LM. It raised a $1.5 million seed round in July from Accel Partners and other investors. The company was founded by Tom Moss and Gaurav Mathur, both ex-Googlers who used to work on the Android team. Moss was in charge of business development for Android, striking many of the deals with handset manufacturers and carriers. Guarav was on the Android engineering team.

Steve Jobs: “The iPad Is Clearly Going To Affect Notebook Computers”

There has been some debate in recent weeks whether or not the tablet industry has been or will be affecting the sales of notebook computers. Perhaps you recall Best Buy’s CEO saying this was happening recently — thensaying he didn’t mean to say that. Or something. Well, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was much more clear today on Apple’s Q4 earnings call. “The iPad is clearly going to affect notebook computers,” Jobs said.

Seeing as the iPad is practically the entire tablet industry right now, it shouldn’t be hugely surprising that Jobs is so bullish. But remember that Apple is still very much in the computer business — especially the notebook computer business. But this past quarter represented the first quarter in which iPad sales overtook Mac sales (4.19 million versus 3.89 million). And remember, this is only the second quarter the iPad has been on sale (and it actually almost beat the Mac in its first quarter). “I think the iPad proves it’s not a question of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’,” Jobs continued.

Apple Q4: $20B Revenue, $4B Profits, 3.89M Macs, 14.1M iPhones, 4.19M iPads — All New Records

You don’t need to look any further than Apple’sstock price over the past several months to know that they’re on a roll. A year ago, the stock price was at about $190 a share. Today, it closed at $317.93 a share — an all-time high. In fact, they’ve hit several all-time highs this month alone. Their market cap is quickly approach $300 billion. And now the company has just announced their Q4 earnings. And once again — boom. But a boom with a couple caveats.

Just as with last quarter, Apple easily beat the earnings estimates. The company posted $20.34 billion in revenue and $4.31 billion in profit — both new records for Apple. EPS was $4.64 (Wall Street consensus had been $4.06 and Apple’s guidance had been $3.44). A year ago, Apple posted revenue of $12.21 billion with a profit of $2.53 billion ($2.77 EPS). All that said, gross margin did drop a bit, to 36.9 percent down from 41.8 percent a year ago.

MacBook Air Apparent: I Have Never Used My Computer’s Optical Drive

There’s this weird slit in the side of my MacBook Pro. It almost seems like a credit card swipe, or a receipt dispenser, or an air vent, or something. Oh wait. That’s an optical drive. You’ll forgive me if I wasn’t sure. You see, I’ve never used the thing.

Puma Phone gets reviewed

A good few months ago, we learnt the news that Puma had teamed up with Sagem to design a fashion logo branded phone which would not only be simply baring a brand on the surface but in fact have unique, useful and practical functionality within.

Many brands, most notable Prada (the first brand that comes to my mind) and D&G have been successful at picking gadget fans’ pockets by labelling existing phones with their badge yet underneath the expensive pricetag, the glamorous phone bares nothing more than what you would see in any old phone.

Will OS X 10.7 “Lion” Be The King Of The Apple Jungle, The Last Of Its Kind, Or Both?

As you’re well aware by now, this morning, Apple sent out invites to an event taking place in one week at their headquarters in Cupertino, CA. The invite reads, “Back to the Mac.” and asks those invited to “Come see what’s new for the Mac on October 20, including a sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X.” But the most interesting thing about the invite has to be the picture. It’s an Apple logo cut out a sheet of metal that has been slightly turned to reveal what’s behind the sheet: a lion.

Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7 won’t quite give you the same gaming experience

You love your Xbox 360. You love to score and break records on your Xbox 360. And, you love to be a Microsoft guy throughout. For Xbox fans, the amalgamation of Xbox Live with Windows Phone 7 is something that you should put your hands together for, however do be informed that Xbox live for Windows Phone 7 will stand no where close to the real Xbox 360 experience.

Cherrypal launches new CherryPad America Android 2.1 tablet

If you’re looking for a tablet, you’ll be pleased to hear that Cherrypal has announced a new tablet named CherryPad America, another to add to your list of potential selections. According to the manufacturer, CherryPad America uses a Samsung ARM11 800MHz processor ((CPU + GPU + DSP, OpenGL 2.0) and it will feature a seven inch display with 800×480 pixel resolution.

Besides a seven-inch touchscreen display, CherryPad America has built-in gravity sensors and support for WiFi. This tablet comes equipped with 2GB NAND flash memory, but if you need more storage space, you can pop in a microSD card.

Firefox 4 beta released for Android and Nokia N900 Read more: Firefox 4 beta released for Android and Nokia N900 | GadgetLite - Latest gadgets and te

If you’re a Firefox user on your PC or Mac, and you have an Android phone, you’ll no doubt have felt left out as its so far been unavailable on Android devices. But now, Mozilla have released beta version of their Firefox 4 browser for both Android and Maemo and it looks decent. Personally, features that I use most frequently are included, such as Pinch and zoom (not available for the Nokia unfortunately), tabs, location awareness and password manager.

Hacked version of Skype app for Android OS enables 3G for US users Read more: Hacked version of Skype app for Android OS enables 3G for US users | Ga

Yahoo Messenger app for iPhone hits version 2.0 Read more: Yahoo Messenger app for iPhone hits version 2.0 | GadgetLite - Latest gadgets and technolo

10 Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries Read more: 10 Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries | GadgetLite - Latest gadgets and technology ne

“We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience – one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.”

On average, around 60 cellphone operators will have the chance to wet their hands with a Windows Phone 7 smartphone in around 30 countries in 2010 itself. The first wave of operators will include Telstra, SingTel, SFR, Orange, O2, Movistar, Deutsche Telekom AG, América Móvil, TELUS, Vodafone, T-Mobile USA and AT&T of course.

Attention Walmart shoppers: It's going to be an iPad Christmas

With displays in BestBuy, Target and now Walmart, Apple is going for the holiday gift market

Walmart (WMT) confirmed late Monday what the rumor sites had been reporting since Friday: starting Oct. 15, it will begin selling iPads on a schedule that would put Apple's (AAPL) tablet computer in 2,300 Walmart stores by mid-November -- just in time for the holiday gift-buying season.

When you add Walmart to the 221 U.S. Apple Stores, 1,093 BestBuy (BBY) outlets and 1,743 Target (TGT) stores carrying the device, that brings to more than 5,300 the number of places Americans can buy a loved one the gift of an iPad this year (hint, hint).

The devices can also be ordered online through Amazon (AMZN)', but there they are selling -- inexplicably -- for anywhere from $75 to $88 above list price. NOTE: These are prices set by third-party vendors, not Amazon itself.

Google Instant Hits Mac Chromium, Exits Labs On Windows — Full Chrome Feature Soon

A month ago, when Google unveiled Instant, their new search-as-you-type feature, I thought it sounded great except for one little thing: I don’t use google.com that often to search anymore. That doesn’t mean I don’t use Google — I do — I just use it in Chrome’s Omnibox (the URL/Search box that’s baked into the browser). And I’m hardly alone there. When asked when Instant would be making it to browsers search boxes, Google stated that it would come “in the next few months“. Luckily for Chrome, that’s happening much quicker.

PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications(Exam 70-583)

Exam 70-583: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications About this Exam This exam is a professional level exam for candidates who are seeking to prove their skills and knowledge in designing and developing applications that will be hosted on the Windows Azure platform.

SEC Filing Suggests Zynga Paid At Least $6.3 Million For Bonfire Studios

According to a form D SEC filing submitted today by Zynga, it appears that the gaming giant paid at least $6.3 million forrecently acquired video game developer Bonfire Studios. We reached out to Zynga and they would not comment on the filing, which indicated that the company sold over $6 million in stock.

Zynga’s been on a buying spree over the past few months but we rarely get glimpses of how much Zynga pays for its acquisitions as the company is usually tight-lipped about how much it spends on each studio. And there could have been additional cash involved, which would not be disclosed in this filing. Earlier this year, another filing indicated that the company paid at least $20.5 millionfor Austin gaming studio Challenge Games.

Kleiner Perkins Harvests Over $100 Million From Ngmoco Acquisition

It’s a good day for ngmoco, which was justacquired by Japan’s DeNA for up to $400 million. But it’s also a good day for ngmoco’s first investor, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In one deal they’ve completely paid off theircontroversial first iFund, a $100 million fund to spur iPhone app development.

Kleiner invested just a little over $10 million of the $45 million that ngmoco raised in total. And since Kleiner was in first at a low valuation, they own a big chunk of the company – more than 25%. That means, with the earnout, Kleiner stands to take more than $100 million off the table in the acquisition. Even without the earnout, Kleiner will take more than $75 million in the deal.

“I believed in CEO Neil Young since I saw him bring Ultima Online to market at EA in the 90s,” said Kleiner partner and ngmoco board member Bing Gordon. “He’s been a more capable first time CEO than I imagined was possible.”

Posterous iPhone App Will Make You Finally Get A Posterous

At least it did me. Touted by co-founderSachin Agarwal as a one stop shop for all your sharing needs, the Posterous app (now available in the App store) is extremely intuitive to use, and you don’t even need a Posterous to use it to start uploading photos, video and text, which, if you’ve enabled the Posterous “Autopost” feature will also post to your Facebook, Twitter as well as 26 other social sites including Flickr, YouTube, WordPress, Vimeo and Tumblr.

While you might be experiencing iPhone share fatigue (Instagram, Twitter, Tumblrette, WordPress and many others allow you to upload content directly from your phone) Posterous has always modeled itself on providing its pretty fanatical userbase with ease of use, the original idea of the service being that you could send an email to post@posterous.com and get a blog back, to which you the could send any other subsequent posts to post@sitename.posterous.com.

The Posterous mobile app takes off on this basic “no need to log in” philosophy, but supports geolocational tags, category tags and various levels of editing and privacy. And despite being buggy at points (one of my test posts posted twice, which was confusing), it’s pretty impressive how much you can actually do from the app (for example I set up my whole Posterous account) as opposed to WordPress, which has the effect of making you feel immobilized when blogging on the go because it does not allow you to upload media other than photos and lacks social sharing functions.

Apple Patents Anti-Sexting Device

Today the US Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent Apple filed in 2008, which, get this, prevents users from sending or receiving “objectionable” text messages. The patent’s official title? “Text-based communication control for personal communication device” which actually doesn’t use the pretty ridiculous noun/verb “Sexting,” but come on, we all know what they mean.

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Google Files Motion To Dismiss Oracle’s Suit Against Android

Last month, Oracle decided to sueGoogle over its Android mobile operating system, alleging that Google had infringed on seven Java patents related to the OS and its Dalvik virtual machine. Oracle, of course, acquired the relevant Java patents when it bought Sun Microsystems last year, and now it’s eager to cash in on the Android phenomenon. Google initially responded to the claim by calling it a “baseless lawsuit“, and it’s just filed an answer and counterclaims with the court, including a motion to dismiss the suit entirely.