Author: Sarah Perez

Gtriage is a new service that aims to help Gmail users suffering from “information overload” due to an overcrowded inbox – a problem affecting the majority of email users today. The way the service works is that it scans all your email messages and to determine which ones are the most important to you. It then tags those messages “Important” with bright red labels so they don’t get missed.

This sounds brilliant, doesn’t it? The only question now is will it actually work?

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As heavy users of Google’s Gmail ourselves, we’re always excited to find new extensions, upgrades and programs that add additional functionality or integrate with the popular email service. We’ve tried everything from Gmail gadgets for Twitter and Facebook to Gmail plugins like Xoopit to email mashups like Gist. While we’ve generally been excited with all of these programs when they launch, we have to admit that over time we end up returning to our old ways: sorting through busy inboxes filled with a never-ending deluge of email.

And yet again, here comes another program promising a solution to information overload, a nut so tough that no one has truly found the way to crack it yet. Will Gtriage be our savior? Or just another service that doesn’t live up to its potential?

Gtriage: Machine-Learning for your Gmail

The answer comes from Gtriage’s algorithm for measuring importance. The company calls it “powerful machine-learning technology” – they’ve even cutely nicknamed it Buckminster and Blockhead, represented by two cartoon characters. Blockhead learns the universal characteristics that make email important and Buckminister learns what you specifically find to be important.

This dual approach to measuring importance addresses some of the issues found with other systems – they often don’t understand that frequency of communication isn’t the only factor in ranking email. A person you email with regularly may be far less important to you than someone who only emails once in a blue moon. But having a machine figure out which of those “rare” emails should rank highly is tricky. Will Gtriage know?

According to the company’s website, their system learns about you and improves the longer you use it. Once set up, you continue to use your Gmail as you would normally while Gtriage watches your actions and customizes itself to your behavior. The end result, in theory, is an email ranking program that works without any extra effort on your part. What’s more, Gtriage does all this without requiring any extra plugins or apps. It even works on your mobile.

Will Gtriage Solve Info Overload?

If Gtriage works as promised, it could easily be a lifesaver for Gmail users everywhere. So much so that they’ll even pay to use the service – or at least, that’s what the company hopes. They’ve lined up multiple pricing programs to cater to users with more than one Gmail or Google Apps account. However, right now the service is offered free to Gmail users assuming you have an invite code to get in (you can beg for yours on Twitter here).

This system isn’t the sort of service we could immediately review. It will take time for it to get to know us and our inboxes before we can dub it a winner, a failure or something in between. But the promise it holds has us hoping for the best.

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Google Maps has just launched an “experimental” section called Labs where you can find the latest prototypes and test features to try out for use with the company’s online mapping service. As with other Google products, like Gmail for example, the Labs section lets users opt-in to features that – as Google describes it – “aren’t quite ready for primetime.” But some of the features in Gmail will never be mainstreamed into the email service itself – they’re simply fun extras which some people love but others would hate…or simply have no use for.

So will the new Google Maps Labs be the same? Filled mostly with fun but ultimately minor upgrades among a handful of gems? Or will it truly serve as the testing ground where the next major features planned for Google Maps make their debut? We checked it out this morning and found a couple of options worth enabling right now.

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Discovered by Google Blogoscoped, Google Maps Labs launched with nine experimental features. You can access this new section by clicking on the green test tube icon which now appears at the top of Google Maps. In the pop-up window that appears, you can enable or disable the extra features. Currently, the line up includes:

• Drag ‘n’ Zoom: Click the Drag-and-Zoom button, then draw a box on the map to immediately zoom into that place.
• Aerial Imagery: Available for certain areas, aerial imagery “gives you rotatable, high-resolution overhead imagery presented in a new perspective.”
• Back to Beta: This will simply add a “Beta” icon to the Maps logo.
• Where in the World Game: Guess the name of the country from satellite imagery.
• Rotatable Maps: This puts north facing downwards, for instance.
• What’s Around Here?: This will trigger a search for anything (“*”), showing the top places for a given location.
• LatLng Tooltip: Shows the latitude/ longitude of where your cursor is positioned.

Some of the new options clearly fit more in the category of “just for fun” – like the one that adds the “beta” label back to the service’s logo or the “Where in the World” game which lets you guess where you are based on satellite imagery.

Our Favorite New Features

However, a few of the other features are more intriguing. For example, the “Aerial Imagery” feature sounds suspiciously like Bing Maps’ “Bird’s Eye view.” In Bing, Bird’s Eye view lets you see aerial imagery in an angled view. Using four different angles, the perspective is more useful for seeing detail than traditional aerial imagery which looks straight down on the rooftops. In fact, Bing’s unique Bird’s Eye view feature has been one of the service’s key selling points for some time. But now, it sounds as if Google plans to add the same – especially since the Labs description notes “currently imagery is only available in certain areas, but we’re adding more all the time.“

Another interesting option is the “What’s Around Here?” feature. Enabling this experiment adds a second search button next to the search box. When you have a map pulled up on your screen, all you have to do is click that button and thousands of round markers appear on the map denoting places of interest. This is a handy way to explore an area when you don’t necessarily have something in particular that you’re searching for. It’s easy to imagine how a future version of this feature could tap into other Google location-based services like the new Google Buzz or Google Latitude, for example, in order to add layers of social activity to the map, similar to Bing’s Twitter “mapplication.”

The two features described above registered as the stand-out options worth enabling right now, but we’ll definitely be watching the Labs section to see what other options show up later on. Do you have any feature requests you would like to see appear in Labs? If so, let us know in the comments.

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Yesterday, after spending some time with Google’s latest social networking service, Google Buzz, we posted a handful of buzz tips and tricks for those wanting to better manage the buzz, play with its APIs or banish it altogether from their Gmail inbox. 

Today, we’ve come across more even more tips for working with Buzz, including how to add Buzz extensions to your web browser, new ways to subscribe to others’ Buzz, and even ways to update Buzz via email. If you’re becoming a regular Buzz user, then you’ll want to read through this latest collection of tips to take your Buzz skills up another notch.

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First of all, a little known fact: did you know that Google Buzz is supposed to be spelled with a lowercase “b”? This comes from Google engineer Cedric Beust who posted this info to his Buzz yesterday. While that may be true, we’ve noticed that “Buzz” is capitalized in our Gmail inboxes to fit in with the other labels and it’s also capitalized on your own Buzz page and when you see the Buzz tab on someone’s Google profile. Frankly, we prefer it in capitals and until Google cleans up the inconsistencies throughout Gmail and Google Profiles, we’ll think we’ll leave it that way.

Now, onto the tips:

1. Get Buzz Browser Extensions

After only being live for two days, there are already web browser extensions for integrating Buzz into your Firefox or Chrome browser. As a Chrome user myself, I’ve been keeping my eye out for Chrome Buzz extensions – it seemed like Chrome would be the first one to get some sort of add-on. Yesterday, it finally did. In fact, it got two.

The first is the Chrome Buzz extension which adds the Buzz conversation bubble icon to your Chrome browser. When clicked, you can read through all the latest Buzz in the window that displays. Unfortunately though, this is currently a read-only experience. If you want to comment, like, or post new Buzz yourself, you have to head back to your Gmail. However, it’s a good first effort from the developer and worth watching for future updates.

A second Buzz extension for Chrome is called Buzzer. This lets you publish to Buzz from Google Reader. This one actually seems a little redundant since you can add your Google Reader Shared Items to your Google Profile and have them automatically published on Buzz. However, this would be useful if you came across a website that you weren’t subscribed to and still wanted to add it to Buzz. Clicking the button will open up the site’s feed in Reader and allow you to add a note (if desired) before posting the item to Buzz.

Meanwhile, Firefox users have an experimental add-on called “Buzz It!” which lets you update your status via Gmail with the link and title of the webpage you’re currently viewing. (Thanks to Orli Yakuel for finding this one.)

2. Hide Your Buzz Contact List from Prying Eyes

As Philipp Lenssen pointed out on Google Blogoscoped, Buzz may not be for everyone…especially those who don’t want to expose their private Gmail contact list to the world at large. The problem with Buzz is once you set it up, those you follow and those following you are shown on your profile page. This isn’t all that different from FriendFeed expect for one important fact: on FriendFeed you picked and chose who your friends were, but your Buzz contacts are added for you automatically based on who you email the most. If that’s not information you want to share, here’s how to turn it off:

1. Sign into your Google account via Gmail (or any other Google service)
2. Go to your Google profile here: http://google.com/profiles/me
3. Click the link at the top-right of the screen that reads “Edit Profile”
4. Here, you’ll see a checkbox that reads “Display the list of people I’m following and people following me.” To make this info private, just uncheck that box.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Save changes” button

3. Update Buzz via Email

One of the nice things about Buzz’s Gmail integration is that it lets you update your Buzz via email. This one’s simple: just send an email to [email protected] using your gmail.com email address. You can even send in attachments!

4. Subscribe to Someone’s Buzz via RSS

As noted by commenter ArpitNext on our previous post and as Skeptic Geek blogged, Google Buzz is RSS-enabled. If you want to subscribe to someone’s Buzz in your feed reader, just go to their Google profile page. Once there, you’ll see the orange RSS icon appear in the browser’s address bar. Click the icon in order to add Buzz to your favorite feed reader.

5. Email, Link to, or Mute a Buzz Post

To do more with a Buzz post, click the drop-down arrow to the far right of any post for a list of other Buzz options. From here, you can email the post, get the post’s permalink, view all Buzz from that person, follow them, or mute the post.

Update! Bonus Tip!

Our own Frederic Lardinois discovered that Google Buzz understands a little bit of the Textile Markup Language. Here are the markups he found that work:

(*)word(*) = bold

(_)word(_) = italics

(-)word(-) = strikethrough

(–) = em-dash

Note: Use those without the ()

That’s all for now – but if you have Buzz tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments below!

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Last night, YouTube added a new filtering mechanism called “Safety Mode” to the popular video sharing website used by millions. This option allows you to filter out the sort of videos you may find offensive, whether that’s those featuring adult content or violence or some other objectionable content. It will even filter out profanity from the YouTube comments.

Using the new setting found at the bottom of any YouTube video page, you can switch Safety Mode on or off. And while parents will certainly be tempted to do so in an attempt to enable parental control mechanisms for the site, they should be warned that even the least tech-savvy youngster can easily shut this new feature in a minute or less.

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Introducing “Safety Mode”

According to a post on Google’s YouTube blog, Safety Mode is enabled via a setting found at the bottom of any video page. To switch it on, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and look for the new option listed directly under the “current location” and “current language” settings. (Note: this is apparently still being rolled out, you may not see it immediately).

If this is the first time you’re accessing the setting, the link will read “Safety Mode is off.” Simply click the link to set Safety Mode on by selecting “on” from the bulleted choices provided. Then click “Save” to close the configuration dialog box.

This will switch on Safety Mode for your current browsing session, but it will not make the change permanent. In order to “lock” in Safety Mode, you’ll first need to sign into your YouTube account with your password and then enable the setting. From that point forward, the option will remain enabled whenever you are logged into your YouTube account.

Designed for Parents

While on the one hand, it’s nice to have an option to keep the more offensive content out of sight, the majority of YouTube users aren’t likely to be offended by the service’s current crop of videos. YouTube already has relatively stringent guidelines to keep pornography, images of drug abuse, graphic violence and other objectionable material from being hosted on their service.

Instead, the YouTube users who are going to be most interested in a content filter like this are parents. Since YouTube is home to a number of kid-friendly videos including everything from the Muppets to the odd, yet strangely addictive YouTube character called “Fred”, the site has remained one of the top destinations on the net for children.

However, the new “Safety Mode” does little to prevent kids from seeing the content parents want to hide. Although once on it does a reasonably good job at filtering YouTube’s vast array of material, it’s only a button-click away from being turned off again. And if you think your kids can’t find the button in need of clicking then you just don’t know kids very well. If anything, today’s youngest generation of Internet users are more tech-savvy than their parents, often having to help mom and dad navigate around the Web, not the other way around.

Yes, It is Meant to be a Parental Control Mechanism

Some may argue that “Safety Mode” isn’t really intended to be a parental control mechanism – it’s just meant to be a handy filter for those of us with more delicate sensibilities. But YouTube’s own demo video states otherwise. “Safety Mode is an opt-in setting that helps screen out potentially objectionable content that you may prefer not to see or don’t want others in your family to stumble across while enjoying YouTube,” says the narrator. Who do you suppose those “others in your family” are? Granddad? Uncle Bob? No. Clearly YouTube is positioning the new setting as an option for parents.

In fact, in April of last year, Google informed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that they had begun work on a new content filter for precisely this purpose. The document (viewable here) states that Google was providing the information to the government agency in response to the proceeding initiated by the Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007, a policy created to examine the blocking technologies available on the Web. In the document, Google states:

YouTube engineers are working on a number of initiatives designed to give users and families greater control to moderate their YouTube experience, including the ability to filter video comments they find inappropriate. This new feature, which is currently being tested in the United States, gives users control to set their own comment preferences by enabling them to choose whether to see all video comments, no comments, or filtered comments.

This seems to show that Safety Mode, first and foremost, was designed to be a sort of parental control mechanism and not just another handy setting. But allowing anyone to click a button to enable or disable the filtering mechanism simply isn’t good enough protection. Even if it’s switched it on for a particular user account, the user can switch it off again just by scrolling to the bottom of the page.

It may have been better if YouTube had introduced special “kid accounts” which forced users on a particular computer to sign in in order to see YouTube videos. Once enabled on a PC, visitors to youtube.com could have been presented with a sign-in box, not the YouTube homepage. The accounts could then be managed by parents who could enable and disable the filter at will. Instead, the “Safety Mode” feature looks as if it’s an attempt to placate the FCC and worried parents while not actually providing a anything the average web-savvy kid couldn’t figure out in 30 seconds flat. So parents, enable the filter if you must, but remember, no technology – and especially not this one – can serve as a replacement for actual parenting.

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Yesterday, Google launched their newest social networking service called Google Buzz.

Hooked right into your Gmail inbox, Buzz uses an algorithm to add friends based on those with who you communicate with the most. Within the newly added “Buzz” section of your Gmail, you and your friends can post status updates as you would on Facebook or Twitter, share links and share photos and videos. You can also integrate other services from around the web with Buzz, including Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube and Google Reader, all automatically updating your Buzz timeline with your latest activity from around the web.

After spending a day with Buzz ourselves, we came across a few tips and tricks worth sharing with you, our readers. Below you’ll find four Buzz hacks, as we’ll call them, which help you do more with Buzz… or less, as the case may be.

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1. For Those Wanting Access to Buzz

Buzz officially launched yesterday, but you may not see it yet in your inbox. According to the google.com/buzz page, the company is “still rolling out Buzz to everyone” so “check back soon.” Unlike with the launch of Gmail and Google Wave, there are no invites to beg for this time. Instead, you’ll just have to be patient and wait. Oh, what’s that? Patience is not a virtue? OK then. Check out these (unconfirmed) hacks that may help. The first is a tip we saw posted on Twitter. According to some, visiting Google Buzz from its mobile site on your phone (go to m.google.com then click on Buzz) will “switch it on” for you.

A couple of other more detailed hacks we came across include:

The Google Chrome Hack

(via nyquil.org)

1. Create a shortcut to Google Chrome on your desktop, right-click on it, select Properties, and then paste this after everything in the ‘Target’ field:
   

   – -user-agent=”Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.0.1; en-us; Droid Build/ESD56) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17″

2. Then go to m.google.com and click on Buzz. This will, however, make all pages Chrome loads behave as if you’re browsing them from a Motorola Droid, so it’s advisable to make another desktop shortcut with user-agent=”” to reset everything.

The Firefox Hack

(via Aalaap.blog)

1. Fire up Firefox.
2. Install the “User Agent Switcher” add-on and restart Firefox.
3. Go to Tools > Default User Agent > iPhone 3.0.
4. Visit http://google.com/buzz and start buzzing!
5. Firefox will ask you if you want to share your location with the website. Say yes!
6. When you’re done buzzing, switch back the user agent to default.

Note: since we all have Buzz ourselves, we couldn’t test these hacks for you. Please let us know in the comments if they worked!

2. For the Inbox Purists

One of the complaints about Buzz is that it automatically adds Buzz to your inbox – yes, your actual inbox where you’re already overwhelmed with traditional email messages. This occurs despite the fact that Buzz has its own section in Gmail, accessible via a link on the left. We’re not sure if the Google guys haven’t yet heard of “information overload” or if they just don’t care, but some of us would rather keep our Buzz elsewhere.

Getting Buzz out of your inbox is simple, though, thanks to Gmail’s filtering mechanism. Here’s how to use it.

Remove Buzz from Your Inbox

(via Lifehacker)

1. Click “create a filter” next to the search box at the top.
2. Then, in the Has words text box in the filter tool, enter label:buzz.
3. Click the Next Step button; Gmail will warn you that Filter searches containing label and a few other search operators won’t work, but don’t worry–our testing shows that for Buzz messages, they seem to work just fine, so click OK and move on.
4. Finally, tick the checkbox next to Skip the Inbox (Archive it) and the click the Create Filter button.

3. For the Developers

Since Google launched Buzz APIs along with the Buzz service, developers already have access to the tools needed to syndicate Buzz updates, connect sites to Buzz, and soon, read/write support will be offered, too.

All the info on the APIs is hosted at Google Code and Buzz resources are centralized at code.google.com/apis/buzz.

But for some extra fun, the Yahoo! Developer Network Blog announced they created an Open Table for users of YQL. The table is now live on GitHub: github.com/yql/google/google.buzz.updates.xml. Developers who want to use it in their queries can do so like this:

USE "http://github.com/yql/yql-tables/raw/master/google/google.buzz.updates.xml" AS google.buzz.updates; SELECT * FROM google.buzz.updates WHERE user="nakedtechnologist"

4. For the Buzz “Haters”

Google Buzz not your thing? You can switch it off altogether, if you would like. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of your inbox and look for the link underneath your quota usage informational message. Click “turn off buzz” to be bothered no more.

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Google Wave, the maddeningly confusing yet highly innovative real-time collaboration tool, will become a member of Google’s online office suite Google Apps later this year. The service, still in closed beta, is meant to be a modern-day revamp of email – what email would be if it was invented in 2009 instead of the 1960’s. Yet the interface, a mashup of email, chat, and collaborative document editing, left many early adopters with mixed feelings about the product…at least in its current form. Called “unproductive,” “complex,” and “overwhelming” by the same people who usually embrace new technologies, it seems an odd choice to add the still-developing Wave service to the Google Apps line-up at this time. But Google has confirmed they will do exactly that.

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As mentioned in a blog post late last year, Google is now preparing to roll out Wave to Google Apps customers along with the VoIP service Google Voice and 200 other improvements and updates to their current suite of office tools.

Google Wave: Innovative, Confusing

The technologies at the core of Google Wave are impressive. With an HTML5-enabled interface and real-time protocols for instant interaction, Wave was highly anticipated among tech enthusiasts prior to its launch. However, once beta testers gained access to the redesigned inbox experience delivered by Wave, the results were those of confusion, feelings of being overwhelmed and apparently, eventual abandonment.

That’s not to say Google Wave is a failure. The service is just a little too raw right now for everyday use by a majority of internet users. The problem with Wave stems from its overcrowded inbox of “waves” – threads of conversation updated in real-time. Within a wave, users can have IM-like chats, share and edit documents, and even “replay” a wave to see a history of the changes made. At launch time, anyone using the service could add any other user to a wave – even if that other user had no interest in participating. This led to an inbox filled with waves, only some of which may have been relevant or interesting. In addition, communicating in real-time, while nice for IM, may not be as productive when attempting to share the sort of longer thoughts and instructions typically sent out via email. 

There are ways Wave could be streamlined for better ease-of-use, though. Whitelisting and blacklisting tools could lock down waves to invited participants only and better filtering mechanisms could help high-priority waves rank higher than others. Not all of these tools are available yet in the current version of the product, though, and some may never be.

Google Apps Users to Become Beta Testers?

Google is also investigating how to integrate some of Wave’s features into their other products. According to Google Enterprise President Dave Girouard, the company is “trying to learn and see what sort of use cases evolve from it and how it changes.” Yet even he admitted that Wave is “not nearly at the level of understanding and readiness of the core Google Apps services.”

So why is Google rushing to roll it out this year? The answer may be that Google simply wants a larger test bed to help them generate ideas for improving the service. Although we’ve highlighted several use cases for Wave in the past, a good many people still say they don’t see the need for it. But all the effort and development that went into building a product like Wave isn’t likely something Google wants to abandon so soon.

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Last month, Google received high praise from human rights supporters after threatening to exit the Chinese search market, claiming it was no longer comfortable with censoring search results per government demands. But here it is a month later and Google has made no move to withdrawal its Chinese search operations, with censored results still appearing on Google’s Chinese portal, Google.cn. In addition, the company may now be investing in a Chinese digital media company, as well. According to unconfirmed reports, the Internet giant is said to be a member of a Disney-led consortium looking to invest in a Chinese media and advertising company called Bus Online.

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Google’s decision to exit the Chinese search business was alluded to in their January blog post detailing what appeared to be state-led cyber attacks which hit the Internet giant and other Silicon Valley companies in mid-December. As a result, Google announced it would review the feasibility of its business operations in China. The company claimed it would engage in discussions with the Chinese government to see if there was any way for it to remain in China, but few expected positive results from those discussions.

Because the attacks were focused on gaining access to the email accounts of human rights activists, Google received a lot of praise for taking a stand against the Chinese government, the alleged perpetrators of the hacking attempts. However, only nine days later, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt took a softer tone during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. “We wish to remain in China,” he said. “We like the Chinese people, we like our Chinese employees, we like the business opportunities there.”

Google to Invest in Chinese Media Company

Google does like the businesses there, apparently. It’s a month later and the company seems to be no closer to shutting down their Chinese search operations business than they were back in January. In addition, anonymous sources say Google is planning to invest in China’s largest in-bus digital media and advertising company, an outfit called Bus Online whose revenue was about 314.5 million yuan ($46.07 million) last year. A consortium led by Walt Disney Co. is reportedly in advanced talks with the Chinese company and has plans to buy a 30%-40% stake for more than $100 million in shares, both public and private. Google is said to be among the investors.

This move, if it happens, would lead credence to the argument put forth in January which had cynics claiming that Google’s withdrawal from China had less to do with their so-called “moral high grounds” propped up by the company motto “don’t be evil,” and had more to do with the fact that Google’s Chinese search business simply couldn’t compete with the more popular Chinese engine baidu.com.

Hacker Crack Down Could Help

The reality of the situation may be a bit more murky than a simple case of “good” versus “evil,” though. Of course Google couldn’t sit idly by as the Chinese government directed attacks on its infrastructure, but it also would be bad business to ignore the massive potential of the Chinese Internet market.

Yesterday, new reports from Chinaview.cn stated that the Chinese government had shut down the nation’s largest website responsible for training hackers. The implication of this news – and especially its timing, given the actual shut down occurred in November – is that the Chinese government wants to appear as if they’re “playing nice” with regards to Western interests. That move may be precisely the sort of thing Google needs in order to maintain an appearance of concern regarding the cyber attack situation while also not making a regrettable, revenue-impacting business decision by ceasing Chinese operations altogether. The only question now is whether or not the public will forgive Google for doing so.

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What important web browsing feature is sorely missing from mobile Safari, the iPhone’s built-in browser? If you’re like us, you probably said the ability to search for text within a web page. We’re accustomed to using this feature in the grown-up web browsers on our desktop and laptop machines, but sadly, it’s lacking when we switch over to the mini-browser built into our mobile phone.

Until now, that is. In yet another case of “there’s an app for that,” there is, in fact, a new iPhone application that adds the “find within a page” feature to the iPhone browser. And it’s well worth the 99 cent fee to finally have this function at our disposal again.

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Find in Page for iPhone

The application “Find in Page” (iTunes URL) released last month in the iTunes App Store is essentially a browser bookmarklet that adds an extra feature to mobile Safari. Not only does “Find in Page” locate all instances of a word within the displayed web page upon launch, it also counts them, highlights them and lets you move from once instance to the next (and back again) by tapping arrow buttons. Of course, there are other free bookmarklets out there that provide similar functionality, but this one feels very much like a part of mobile Safari itself. It feels built-in.

The key differentiating factor that makes this pseudo plugin stand out from the rest is the semi-transparent toolbar that appears at the bottom of the screen once the bookmarklet is activated. From here, you can access the arrow buttons, word count information and you can pull up the search window again if you want to edit your current search or start a new one. Also, if you perform multiple searches, you can do so without having to reload the page – a definite time-saver. Finally, an “X” button closes the toolbar when you’re finished.

Although this small application may not sound as exciting as some revolutionary new feed reader or a brand-new interface for Facebook, it’s arguably going to be one of the most useful applications you’ve ever installed on your iPhone. For that reason, we think it’s well worth the 99 cents the developer is charging for the app. We’ve certainly paid far more for applications we’ve used much less than this. However, for those of you who balk at paying anything for apps, especially for ones that are essentially just a bit of code, you’ll be happy to know that a free “lite” version of this tool will be coming mid-month. Stay tuned the App Store for its release. Otherwise, you can grab the paid version here.

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A new survey from Retrevo finds that consumers’ interest in the Apple iPad died down after they heard what the new tablet PC actually had to offer. According to the company, “not only did Apple fail to convince new buyers, it may have lost many potential buyers who now say they don’t think they need an Apple tablet computer.” Ouch!

While it’s true that the poll results do support these findings, they contradict what tech analysts have been saying about the device’s potential. With sales expectations that range anywhere from one million to six million units over the course of this year, the iPad is predicted to do quite well. So is the survey wrong? Or is it the analysts?

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iPad Reality Disappoints?

The Apple iPad has the dubious glory of being one of the most over-hyped, hotly anticipated tech products of the year. Rumors surrounding the device prior to its launch had the tablet computer offering everything from OLED to multiple cameras to an innovative multi-touch enabled back. The reality was a much simpler device that looked more like a big iPod than the revolutionary product so many had built up in their minds.

But will this let-down in expectations actually lead to fewer sales? If you believe the Retrevo survey, that could easily be the case. The percentage of consumers who had heard about the iPad but were not interested in buying one jumped from 26% prior to Apple’s announcement to 52% afterwards. Also, people who claim they don’t need an iPad went from 49% to 61%. That certainly sounds like bad news for Apple, doesn’t it?

Survey Says: Marketing Stunt!

Well not so fast. Let’s keep in mind that Retrevo likes to put out these sorts of link-baiting surveys from time to time. For example, a prior survey found that iPhone owners were materialistic and fickle people. (Who couldn’t write about that?) We probably should just ignore these publicity stunts…err…surveys, but this one was begging to be shot down…or shored up, we suppose. After all, their survey phrases questions in a way that almost guarantees a negative response. Case in point: “do you need an iPad?” No one really needs an iPad. Not surprisingly, many people said “no.” We need water, food, shelter, and clothing. Once our basic needs are met, we then focus on obtaining other “needs” like a job, a car, an education, etc. The iPad, however, is something we want. We already have a computer. Maybe even a computer, a netbook and an iPod or iPhone. We can’t in all honesty say we need an iPad. It may seem like a simple turn of phrase, but when crafting survey questions, word choice is important.

Will You Buy an iPad?

So instead of going by Retrevo’s findings, we’ll ask you instead. Will you buy the iPad? Will you rush right out and get one as soon as it hits store shelves? Or will you wait patiently for iPad 2.0? Or are you not interested at all? Now’s your chance to weigh in and prove Retrevo’s numbers wrong…or right, as the case may be. Just answer the question in the poll below:

Discuss

After being saturated with blog posts from every blogger, tech pundit and average Joe about Apple’s newest entry into the tablet PC game, the iPad, we finally decided to seek out the opinions of those who know best (well, sometimes, that is): the tech analysts. Numerous sites have quoted from this analyst or that and a few have even done round-ups of their own, but we never found a comprehensive resource providing all the analyst opinions in one post. So we made our own.

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Below, we’ve combined all the analysts’ statements and estimates into one massive read. And after going through everything that’s been said, we discovered that the collective opinion of the analyst industry is that Apple has a definite winner on their hands.

The iPad Will Sell

• Yair Reiner, Oppenheimer: 1.1 million units in FY10 and 4M units in FY11
• Scott Craig, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch: He forecasts Apple to ship 1.25 million units in FY 2010 and 3.75 million in FY 2011.
• Keith Bachman, BMO Capital: He projects 2.5 million iPad units in FY 2010 and 5.5 million units in FY 2011.
• Ben Reitzes, Barclays Capital:  Forecasts iPad sales of 2.9 million in FY 2010 and 7.3 million in FY ’11.
• Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: 2010 sales of 3-4 million units, expects 2011 to be the break out year, with 8 million units
• David Bailey, Goldman Sachs: 6 million iPad units in 2010
• Katy Huberty, Morgan Stanley: CY2010 unit forecast 6 million; CY 2011 forecast is 9 million units

When the Apps Arrive, iPad Will Impress the Doubters

Wolf said the iPad is “another winner” from Apple but people won’t realize its potential until developers create iPad apps. “The iPad is not a revolutionary product. But it has the potential to become one once the creative juices of content providers are unleashed…The $500 starting price point is low enough to attract a sizable portion of the early adopter crowd, consisting of iPhone and iPod owners…Our best guess at this time is the Apple could sell four million iPads in its initial year on the market, which translates into at least $2 billion of revenue” (Source: AppleInsider & AllThingsD)

“We suspect initial sales will be strong (this is Apple, and there are many enthusiasts), and then simmer down a bit after a few months. The ultimate success of a new product category will be the unique apps developed for this device, and with the SDK just going out today, it is hard to know how impressive they will be. However, the good news is that aside from maybe modest iPod Touch cannibalization, we doubt that the iPad will cannibalize any revenues from the massive margin pools within the iPhone and Mac product categories.” (Source AllThingsD)

It’s a Great Casual Gaming Device

Pachter thinks the tablet will appeal to the casual gaming community. “I think the early offerings on the tablet will be a lot closer to iPod Touch/iPhone style games, and then probably morph into DS kind of games and then ultimately will morph into PSP quality games. The core audience is probably more of a casual game audience than a hardcore audience. So the one device I think will suffer from the introduction on the games side is the DS. And you’re going to see a lot of cross-fertilization of games between the iPod Touch, iPhone and the tablet, so I actually see the iPod Touch benefiting from that.” (Source: TGDaily.com)

Divnich thinks the iPad won’t appeal to serious gamers. “The iPad has limited functionality and limited controls and will not be taken seriously as a gaming platform from the industry…all publishers will support the iPad, as they do with the iPhone, but I do not expect any publisher to realize a significant amount of revenue from the iPhone/iPad platforms, which means that their iPhone games will have play a supporting role to an overall brand…EA doesn’t expect Sims 3 for the iPhone to be a cash cow; however, they do expect that consumers enjoy the iPhone version and then purchase the PC or console branded Sims games.” (Source: TGDaily.com)

But We’re Surprised there’s no Verizon Deal

“The choice to leave out Verizon was a surprise, given that AT&T has faced complaints from consumers that its network is overloaded by the iPhone…AT&T is going to need to make some sort of statement or some sort of acknowledgement that they’re up to the test of supporting this.” (Source: Business Week)

The choice of AT&T is probably due to GSM, the cellular tech used in large markets outside the U.S. including Europe. “If you can pick one device that you can ship everywhere, you’re going to bring down your manufacturing costs, you’re going to bring down your shipping costs. Verizon is going to be at a disadvantage.” Larsen predicts the iPad may generate $100 million in earnings a year for AT&T. (Source: Business Week)

The iPad is Just a Big iPod Touch?

McQuivey thinks the iPad could be a miss. “The iPad is a grown-up iPod Touch. Apple has taken the safe route of offering its existing customers an option that goes beyond today’s iPod Touch in size and capability, but it has not offered a new category of devices that tackles the five-six hours of media we each consume every day. With no integrated social media for sharing photos, recommending books and sharing home video, the iPad misses a big piece of what makes media so powerful. As it stands, a quick, well-structured response from Amazon in the next version of Kindle could easily be a contender here.” (Source: AdWeek)

“Originally we were estimating sales of 2m units in the first calendar year at a price point of $600-$800. With the actual $499/$629 price point, we believe Apple will sell 3m-4m units in the first 12 months….After using the iPad, we believe it will cannibalize iPod touch sales, but not Mac sales. The gadget is a premium mobile device, not a computer; as such, we see some iPod touch buyers stepping up to the iPad, but consumers looking for an affordable portable computer will likely stick with the MacBook lineup.” (Source AllThingsD)

“Looks essentially like a super-sized iPod Touch…Investors are extrapolating that unit estimates could be materially higher than expected given the $499 base price. The flip side is that the low price point together with overlapping features does increase the risk of cannibalization of iPod touch sales.” (Source: Barrons)

Analysts are Generally Impressed

“With iPad, Apple creates a revolutionary e-reading, browsing, media, gaming experience. Newspapers, Web pages, books ‘come alive’ with video, animation, color and fullscreen touch.” And as for the mixed reaction in the tech community? “Not everyone initially liked the Ten Commandments either — but they endured.” Although he did find the lack of a camera, multitasking and no Verizon option disappointing, he said the simplicity of the device is its greatest strength. He forecast first-year sales of 5 million, adding 30 cents earnings per share to AAPL stock with an average iPad selling price of $600. (Source: AppleInsider)

Wu thinks the Wi-Fi only version will be the best seller because of the $130 premium for the 3G version. After hands on time with the device, he was impressed. “We see iPad as a new product category that is superior as a shared device in a group setting (such as a living room or meeting) or as an ultra-portable computer. Sure, there could be some cannibalization, but it doesn’t quite replicate the functionality or form factor of either device.” (Source: AppleInsider)

“Longer term, the iPad offers the potential to redefine the boundaries between print and video, turning formerly passive media into active ones, and in the process making what are currently low bandwidth applications (say, reading a newspaper) become much more bandwidth intensive (e.g. by embedding video rather than still pictures).” (Source AllThingsD)

“iPad is not for everyone, and the first-generation product is sure to have its critics given the prelaunch buzz. In our view, the iPad is a smart, nimble device for heavy content users-Apple’s core customer. iPad is a hybrid of sorts, marrying select benefits of the smartphone and notebook. We expect the market to be small at first, but the gamer and education verticals should construct a meaningful growth ramp longer term.” (Source AllThingsD)

“It finally gives the right form to leisurely functions long trapped, like the Frog Prince, in the body of a late-20th century office productivity tool.” (What?) However, Reiner estimates iPad sales at only 1.1 million in fiscal 2010. (Source: CNN Money)

“In terms of features & services, we believe today’s launch was largely in line with expectations. However, the pricing is much more attractive than expected and clearly shows Apple desires mass market appeal. Even accounting for potential cannibalization of other products, we believe iPad adds at least $1.00 in EPS power quickly & $20 plus in value to Apple’s shares. He forecasts iPad sales of 2.9 million in FY 2010 and 7.3 million in FY ’11. (Source: Barrons)

“The two big surprises to us were the price points at the low end ($499 for a 16GB model) and the attractive monthly wireless plans with AT&T ($15: 250 MB data transfer; $30: unlimited), with no associated contract. We believe the lower price points & data plans likely increases the mass market appeal for the iPad (vs. prior expectations).” (Source: Barrons)

Discuss

Is blogging for old people? Apparently so. Well, at least according to a new study from Pew Internet Project, that is. Today’s youngest generation of online users are no longer interested in consuming long-form content like blogs, says the research. Instead, communication among teens tends to involve brief bursts of information, like a Facebook status update or a text message. Pew’s findings state that only 14% of tweens and teens ages 12 to 17 now report that they blog, down from 25% only four years ago. They’re also less interested in commenting on their friends’ blogs, too, with only 52% reporting doing so, down from over three-quarters back in 2006.

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Social Networks Preferred to Blogging

In the new report, findings show that 73% of wired teens now use social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, a big jump from the 55% who did so back in 2006. Young adults (18-29), too, choose social networking sites as a preferred method of communication. Among this group, 72% report using these sites. Meanwhile, only 40% of those 30 and older do the same.

But blogging? Passé, says the report. The medium once used for sharing either news and/or personal thoughts and feelings is no longer popular among teens. The why is simple: Facebook. With the ability to update your status on social networking sites, the need to communicate using long-form mechanisms like sentences and – ugh! – paragraphs is no longer necessary. Instead of summarizing a day’s events via blog post for example, a teen may simply update Facebook multiple times throughout the day with the details as to what’s happening in their life at the moment.

These shorter bursts of content, much like the ever-popular text messages sent between friends on cell phones, are easier-to-consume mini bits of information. They take only seconds to read, not minutes. And commenting on them takes only moments as well. Considering the hundreds of online friends people tend to accumulate on these social networking sites, those time savings really add up.

Why the Decline in Blogging?

Although it’s obvious that the popularity of Facebook and its ilk have taken away from the teens’ desire to blog, Pew doesn’t go so far as to speculate why that is. One theory worth considering is that today’s teens are overloaded with information and simply don’t have the time to read long blog posts. They’re already too busy keeping up with texts, multiple social networking sites, email, instant messages, and phone calls – practically drowning in communication tools, it seems. And when there’s too much to consume, the easiest things to drop out of the mix would be those that take the most time: blogging, reading blogs, and commenting on blogs.

Another idea we haven’t seen mentioned anywhere yet is that it’s possible teens weren’t ever really into blogging to begin with. In Pew’s study, they count the blogs found within social networking sites along with what we would typically consider a blog – standalone websites like this one, The Huffington Post, Perez Hilton, Dooce, etc. However, Facebook and many other social networking sites don’t really have a blogging feature, but MySpace does. Coincidentally, MySpace’s popularity has been on the decline for years now. As MySpace visits dropped off, so did the usage of its “blogs.” In other words, if Pew counted MySpace blogs when asking teens if they commented on or wrote blogs themselves, there’s going to be a drop-off.

Blogging, in and of itself, may or may not appeal to teens. It’s hard to know considering how the survey questions were worded. If Facebook had a similar “blogs” feature as MySpace, the study may have read quite differently: “teen blogging soars!” To really determine how popular blogging is as an online activity, it may have been better to differentiate between the standalone sites and the long-form updates found within a social network. Failure to do so confuses the issue and leaves us without the answers a detailed study like this aims to deliver.

Discuss

Gladinet, a desktop software program aimed at connecting users to their online storage, is fast becoming the go-to program for Windows users looking to map desktop drives to their favorite web services. Already, users of the software have been able to add network drives that connect to Amazon’s S3, Box.net, and Windows Live SkyDrive, among others. Additionally, the program makes cloud to cloud backup and migration between services as easy as drag-and-drop.

Today, the company is announcing the addition of Google Storage, a service nicknamed “GDrive” among Internet users, to its lineup of supported options.

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Accessing Google Storage from your Desktop

Although Gladinet previously supported Google Docs, Google’s online office suite, they did not yet provide an option to connect to Google Storage. This additional online storage space is provided to Google users who need more gigabytes than is provided for free via Google’s programs. Specifically, Google Storage is shared between Gmail, Picasa Web Albums, and Google Docs. Affordably priced starting at $5.00 for an extra 20 GB per year and going up to 1 TB and beyond, Google Storage users have access to some of the most reasonably priced cloud storage available on the net today. And with the recent change to Google Docs, which now allows any file type to be uploaded, the storage space is more valuable than ever.

With the additional support now provided by Gladinet, you can drag-and-drop your files from your desktop to Google Storage using Windows Explorer. Once installed, the software allows you to map a virtual drive in Explorer to your online sites and services.

Why Bring the Cloud to the Desktop?

While some may scoff at such a hybrid approach to cloud computing – after all, the whole purpose of the cloud is to move away from desktop-based software – Gladinet is an incredibly valuable tool for both transitioning to the cloud and for managing cloud-to-cloud backups.

For those of us who have collected multiple gigabytes of files over the years, using the various cloud services’ own uploading tools can be tedious at times, even painful, especially when attempting the initial upload to a new service. With Gladinet, though, you can upload everything you own with just a few clicks. That makes the final move from desktop to cloud much easier for those ready to make the change for good. Additionally, since multiple services are supported, Gladinet lets you backup your online files from one cloud storage provider to another. For example, you can backup your Google Docs to Amazon S3, EMC Atmos, Box.net, Windows Live SkyDrive, among others. Gladinet even allows you to automate this cloud-to-cloud copying procedure.

The backup feature and its related automation procedures are only available in the paid editions of the software. However, the basic drive mapping abilities are supported in the free version of the program which runs on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 2003 computers only.

Discuss

Buying and selling tickets is another business that’s slowly being migrated over to our mobile devices. Whether it’s a movie ticket, concert ticket, plane ticket, or something else, there are a number of companies now offering digital alternatives to the tree-killing paper printouts of days past. In a new study by Juniper Research, analysts predict that the market for mobile ticketing will reach 15 billion delivered tickets by the year 2014.

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According to Juniper, a little over 2 billion tickets were sold this past year. That makes the forecast of 15 billion by 2014 a notable jump which points to consumers’ ever-increasing desire to perform business transactions like mobile ticket purchases using their mobile phones and other handheld devices.

Mobile ticketing initiatives benefit both parties, the ticket issuer and the purchaser. Consumers win because a digitized ticket accessible via their handheld is a convenience. (Just think: how many times have you left the house without your tickets, having to turn around and retrieve them or miss the event altogether?) For ticket sellers, not having to deal with the cost of printing tickets can provide a huge savings.

Yet despite the multi-billion increases year-over-year, this market still has a way to go. “Although 15 billion sounds large,” notes the report’s author Howard Wilcox, “it is in fact it a small percentage of total tickets issued — there is plenty of scope for innovative solutions to penetrate this market.” Wilcox sees the next steps for the mobile ticketing industry as encompassing more widespread purchasing via mobile phones and NFC-based ticketing.

Mobile Ticketing in the Real World

Over on online marketing site MarketingVOX, they’ve detailed several real-world examples of mobile ticketing including Southwest Airlines’ iPhone app which allows for mobile ticket purchases, the upcoming NBA All-Star Game in Dallas which is offering special tickets to T-Mobile Android phone owners, AMC movie theaters’ pilot program for mobile movie tickets, and MovieTickets.com’s paperless ticket test in Chicago.

What’s interesting about the U.S.-based initiatives detailed above is what early stages so many are in. Even though 42% of Americans now own a smartphone, companies are just beginning to tap into that demographic with their newly launched mobile ticketing pilot programs and marketing initiatives.

Another interesting detail from the report is the finding that Western Europe will become the leading region in mobile ticketing by 2014 based on the number of tickets sold. That has them overtaking the current mobile ticket leader, the Far East and China region. In the Asian countries, the use of NFC phones has made mobile ticketing much easier to implement. As NFC phone models make their way to other areas of the globe, the opportunities for mobile ticketing increase accordingly.

Discuss

Switzerland-base development and design firm Jilion recently launched a site demonstrating their latest project, SublimeVideo, an HTML5-based video player. Although not publicly available as of yet, this sleek, fast, and plug-in free video player shows off the potential of the upcoming web standard HTML5.

If you’ve been wondering what the future of web video looks like, look no further than here.

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Last month, big name social video sharing sites YouTube and Vimeo each announced the debut of HTML5-based videos. In YouTube’s case, the new players are only available via their test site “TestTube” while interested Vimeo users must opt-in to the beta test by clicking links below each video.

As exciting as both announcements were, neither project holds a candle to what SublimeVideo currently offers. The HTML5-based videos on both sites still feel slow – not exactly demonstrating the internet revolution promised by this new web standard. In addition, neither company is yet offering full-screen HTML5 videos.

However, SublimeVideo does full-screen videos and a lot more, too. Behind its attractive user interface much thoughtful design accompanies the HTML5 code powering their new player.

In the SublimeVideo demo, you can already maximize the video to full-screen (if you’re using a WebKit nightly build) and it also offers other features like live-resizing when resizing the browser window, well-designed controls on a draggable plane, a keyboard shortcut (spacebar) to play and pause the video, effects like zoom-in and out transitions, and, of course – thanks to HTML5 – you can jump into the video at any point and have it play without wait for it to buffer.

According to the project’s homepage, the SublimeVideo team is working on additional features that will arrive in the public release, said to be “coming soon.” These include volume controls, IE support by falling back to Flash, and Firefox support. (At the moment, the player only works in Google Chrome, Safari, and IE with Chrome Frame installed.) Oh and it will work in mobile Safari, too.

More than any other technology demo currently out there, SublimeVideo showcases the future of web video in all its speedy, sleek, and plugin-free glory.

For more information on the software and the company’s plans, you can follow their Twitter account here: twitter.com/Jilion. And for more great HTML5 demos, check out our previous post on the subject here.

Discuss

Officially, Google won’t confirm any solid plans to release a tablet device when their new netbook-ready operating system, Chrome OS, debuts later this year. However, documentation appearing recently on the Chromium project website, the home of the open source code on top of which Chrome is built, shows that a tablet PC is a form factor the Internet giant is definitely considering. Assuming such a device was ever to launch, it would pit Google’s vision for the future of mobile computing up against that of Apple’s iPad, the highly-anticipated multi-touch tablet launched late last month to mixed reviews.

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While both the Apple slate and the possible Google Chrome tablet tout sleek and shiny elegance on the outside, the two computing devices could not be more different on the inside. And when it comes time to buy, consumers will have to make a choice: what sort of tablet is the future of computing? Apple’s locked-down and closed ecosystem of apps running on proprietary hardware or Google’s browser-based OS that’s as open as the web itself?

Concepts for the Google Tablet

Before we get ahead of ourselves here, it’s important to clarify one thing: these mockups and design schematics do not confirm the existence of a Google tablet computer. Posted to the official Chromium site by Google Chrome designer, Glen Murphy, they only represent concepts Google may be considering for their new operating system.

That being said, it wouldn’t be a surprise if one or more of the upcoming “Google computers” were in the shape of a slate. Considering the buzz Apple’s iPad has generated, Google won’t have to sell the idea of tablet computing to the general public. They’ll just have to convince consumers that their tablet is the better alternative.

Still, because nothing is officially confirmed, the arguments below are hypothetical in nature, pitting the iPad against a possible Google tablet computer.

Why Buy Google’s “iPad?”

So how will Google convince the buying public to choose their tablet over the iPad? Two things immediately come to mind. The first, of course, is price. Although the low-end of the iPad line is a reasonable $499, models with additional storage or 3G connections make the iPad much pricier – pushing $800 for the high-end devices. Google, meanwhile, can sell their OS on a number of form factors via a number of hardware partners (HTC is rumored as being the initial Google tablet partner). That will allow Google to price some models competitively with Apple’s iPad, if not beat iPad prices entirely.

More importantly, though, Google’s tablet will have one major advantage over Apple’s iPad: it will have an open application platform.

The only problem is getting consumers to understand what being open means…and care. Where Apple’s iPad will be restricted to running approved applications from the iTunes App Store – a business model that has raised flags when Apple’s app overlords blocked popular, rival apps from their store (most notably, Google Voice) – the model has proved incredibly successful for the Cupertino-based company. The iPhone OS is the most popular smartphone OS in the world with Google’s mobile Android OS trailing further behind. Although Google’s mobile offering is far more open, consumers have – so far – voted with their wallets, choosing Apple’s restrictive “we’ll think for you” mobile OS and accompanying ecosystem over Google’s “do what you want” alternative.

Although that concept may work when it comes to our mobiles, tablet computing may find consumers…well…thinking differently.

Apple’s Vision Includes the Web

A tablet computer is more like a netbook than a mobile phone and when people use a netbook, they expect to be able to use – you guessed it – the net. But this is where Apple’s vision may fail – at least for now. For whatever reason, Apple doesn’t allow for Flash content on their iPad. Some say this has to do with the CPU-hungry runtime that negatively affects PC performance while eating away at precious battery life, others claim that Flash simply isn’t an “elegant” enough solution for Apple, and still others claim that it has to do with personal rivalries between the two companies. But no matter what the real truth is, consumers won’t care. Once they find out that video websites like YouTube don’t work on the iPad, news sites like CNN lack video, and the TV portal Hulu is beyond reach, the iPad will, in their eyes, just NOT work.

Meanwhile, Google’s Chrome OS will. It will provide access to the real web…and all its buggy code. And while that might degrade the battery’s performance on a Chrome PC, consumers won’t care so much because they’ll be able to finally watch that new episode of “30 Rock.”

But What about HTML5?

None of this is to say that supporting Flash will or won’t be the final “make it or break it” decision when it comes to the selection of a new tablet PC. Ultimately, Flash will likely be phased out as the new web standard HTML5 is slowly phased in. With HTML5, videos will play smoothly, with no web plugin required. Already, YouTube is testing an HTML5 site, for example.

Still, Apple’s decision to veto Flash represents a philosophical difference between the two companies – Google would never intentionally “break” the web. But Apple has a vision for their devices, and if they don’t like how something is built, it won’t run on their hardware. Flash may only be the first casualty in this war. This means any future company developing new web standards or software will either have to work with Apple – as Microsoft did with their Silverlight runtime – or deal with the potential consequences of losing access to millions of mobile users.

Eventually, these differences will have consumers choosing between two “big brother” type figures: the one that watches your activities everywhere on the web and the one that wants to control what the web even is.

Discuss

Are you goofing off on Facebook at work? As it turns out, this sort of “time theft” may be no longer be your company’s top concern when it comes to social networking in the workplace. According to a new study from security firm Sophos, the real problem with social networks – and most of all Facebook – is the security risk they pose to organizations.

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After polling over 500 firms, Sophos reveals that 60% of those surveyed felt that Facebook was the biggest risk to their company’s security. Following Facebook was MySpace (18%), Twitter (17%), then LinkedIn (4%). These numbers don’t necessarily speak to the safety measures (or lack thereof) put in place by the social networks themselves, but rather highlights how much Facebook dominates our social interactions online. With 350 million users, Facebook’s status as the world’s largest social network has more to do with its ranking on this report than any of the security threats found on its site.

The report notes collected findings from Cisco Web appliances – popular security devices used in a number of corporations worldwide – that help to prove Facebook’s popularity among business users today. Out of all website visits tracked by Cisco in 2009, 2% were to social networks. And out of that 2%, 1.35% were to Facebook alone.

The Risks

But what is it about Facebook that makes it a threat?

• Malware & Spam: While companies still cite productivity losses as a major concern (one-third block Facebook precisely for this reason), malware is increasingly considered the primary reason for blocking the site in the workplace. Since April of 2009, there has been a 70% increase in the number of companies reporting spam and malware attacks via social networking sites. Specifically, more than half reported spam via social networks and over one third reported malware. The report mentions how threats like the Koobface worm, the Mikeyy Mooney worms and others have made social network sites much more dangerous places than before.
• Employee Behavior: However, it’s not just the malware and spam that makes the networks dangerous, it’s how users behave when they encounter these risks. Of the firms surveyed, 72% believe that users’ behavior could endanger security, up from 66% in April of last year. In other words, firms don’t believe that their users are very Web-savvy, tending to fall victim to these sorts of threats and scams.
• Data Loss: Another danger of social networking sites is how users tend to over-share private information with others, not realizing how public that data may actually become. A great example of this faux pas was exhibited last summer when the wife of the UK’s MI6 chief blew his cover by posting revealing details online. On a smaller scale, Facebook users may unknowingly reveal more details about a business’s own private data, deals, or other insider-only knowledge than they should. Facebook’s recent privacy changes only exacerbate this problem.

What Can Businesses Do?

Unfortunately for those in charge of enforcing corporate security, simply blocking Facebook and other social networks via URL is not a realistic solution anymore. The networks are often a large part of a company’s marketing and sales strategies, notes Sophos, meaning they cannot be blocked outright. Instead, companies are encouraged to use a unified approach for mitigating threats that combines data monitoring, malware protection and granular access for their employees.

Although it’s not noted in the Sophos report, there is no security measure in place today that can keep employees off social networks for good. Business users whose company restricts the use of these sites are nothing if not ingenious when it comes to finding a workaround. Anecdotally, we’ve heard reports of employees discovering that Facebook was still accessible via the mobile site or via SSL (https://) even when the main URL was blocked. Additionally, numerous employees have downloaded mobile apps on their unrestricted Blackberry handhelds or simply access the site on their personal mobile phones. And for the highly determined social networkers, there are always the Facebook proxies.

The real solution to the social networking security problem is to embrace sites instead of blocking them. Rather than being overly restrictive, companies would do better to make social networking policies a part of their corporate policy and procedure manuals, spelling out what is and is not acceptable within their organization. Left up to users, it’s clear that for some, it’s anything goes…and that’s a danger most companies cannot afford.

Discuss

After Facebook’s recent privacy settings “adjustment,” the social network is now reporting that 35% users who had never before engaged with their privacy settings took the initiative to do so instead of accepting the updated suggestions put before them by the social network. To Facebook, this number is a very, very good thing. Although nowhere near a majority of users, this engagement rate is much higher than industry averages. Plus, as Facebook’s director of public policy Tim Sparapani points out, “35% of 350 million users is an extraordinary number.”

But should Facebook really be proud here? What about the other 65% of users who blindly accepted the defaults?

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According to an article in Baynewser, Sparapani said that a typical engagement rate for users interacting with their settings is 5% to 10%. This information came out during a recent roundtable discussion organized by the Federal Trade Commission. The panel’s focus was technology and privacy. However, Facebook wouldn’t reveal what the number was prior to December’s appearance of the “privacy changes” dialog box splashed across the tops of Facebook homepages. This dialog box, something Facebook called its “transition tool,” was where the company explained the changes and asked its users to either accept the new recommended settings or make their own adjustments. It was the tool that thrust the once-private posts from millions of users into the light, making status updates public along with friend lists and Facebook page subscriptions. It was the tool that made Facebook function a lot more like rival Twitter, a social network for public sharing.

Flipping around the PR spin on this event, what we’re learning through Sparapani’s reveal is that the vast majority of Facebook users accepted the new defaults and then moved on with their life. However large Facebook’s network may be, however many millions 35% represents, however bigger a figure that is than the industry average, most would agree that it’s not a number worth bragging about… especially when most users have been duped into over-sharing content that they think is private.

Is 35% Worth Bragging About?

This raises the question, is Facebook truly proud of this change? Surely Facebook doesn’t think that the other 65% actually wanted their status updates public by default? There are plenty of indications that’s not the case. Outside of the numerous finger-wagging reports by tech industry pundits, analysts and commentators, these changes have come to the attention of the general public in ways that few other esoteric reports regarding social networking settings ever have before. For example, Internet users have been emailing around (warning, shameless plug ahead) this article detailing Facebook privacy settings so much that it landed on NYT’s most emailed list for days on end as the number one story. (It’s still there now, just further down).

If users weren’t generally outraged over these changes, there probably wouldn’t be a petition to sign nor would the FTC be receiving complaints about the matter.

Interestingly enough, it’s worth noting that users aren’t angry enough to actually abandon the social network – at least not in any significant numbers. They’re just mad. That speaks greatly to how deeply entrenched Facebook has now become as a part of our everyday communication infrastructure. The company can essentially bait-and-switch its millions of users, promising a private place for online socialization, then turn around and open up its network to the Web at large, and they get away with it. Afterwards, the company gets to pat itself on the back that 35% of its users were smart enough to not fall for its tricks. Facebook, in our opinion this isn’t something you should brag about. It’s not a move worthy of praise.

Update! Facebook sent the following clarification regarding the 35%: “The 35% is actually 35% plus all the percent of others who had already adjusted and who, therefore, got their old settings.”

Discuss

A regional development firm in the U.K. is the first to announce a development fund for the Apple iPad, offering up to £40,000 ($64,500) for iPad application ideas. The introduction of this fund comes less than twenty-four hours after Apple’s chief exec Steve Jobs demoed the the company’s highly anticipated touchscreen tablet computer on stage at an event in San Francisco. Although this fund is limited to developers in the U.K., there’s little doubt that this firm will soon be one of many offering similar incentives to developers in order to encourage the creation of an entirely new ecosystem of applications tailored specifically for this unique handheld device.

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According the statement released by NFM, the fund will aid developers throughout the process of building an iPad application from “sketches to finished product.” More importantly, the company is looking to fund development efforts that are not just mere ports of iPhone applications, but rather take advantage of the new features the iPad has to offer. Notes the company, the apps should “do stuff better than it would be done on an iPhone, and differently from the way it would be done on a laptop or desktop machine.” What “stuff” is that exactly? That’s for developers to decide.

In order to qualify, apps also must have the potential to generate revenue, be ready to launch by summer 2010, be developed by teams where at least 70% of the talent is within the North East region where NFM is located, and not replicate the functionality of apps already designed for the iPad. That last stipulation was likely made because it could lead to the app’s rejection from the iTunes App Store, as has been the case in the past with iPhone apps such as Google Voice, a VoIP application for making calls and receiving voicemail.

NFM also says that the development team requesting funding should have an investment of money from a private investor, either an equity firm or the company’s own resources. Applications NFM selects for funding will receive anywhere from £1,000 to £10,000, depending on the app’s potential as NFM sees it.

The iPad is set to launch worldwide in March, at least in the Wi-Fi version. 3G versions outside the U.S. will take a bit longer with no solid dates available at this time.

So far, reactions to the iPad have been decidedly mixed among the tech press. Some have claimed the device is the future of computing while others state the iPad is a failure. Nevertheless, analysts are predicting Apple will sell 1 to 5 million iPads in its first year.

Developers, too, will be itching to create new applications for the device – at least according to Joe Hewitt, the man behind the iPhone version of Facebook. His application, which many say is an even better way to use the social network than the website itself, is a testament to how new platforms can enhance and transform applications from the boring Web 1.0 world of desktop computing to the Web 3.0 world of mobile devices. The iPad will only push this trend even further. Says Hewitt, “if you’re a developer and you’re not thinking about how your app could work better on the iPad and its descendants, you deserve to get left behind.”

U.K. firms looking to be the forerunners in iPad development can fill out the application for funding here.

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Here at ReadWriteWeb, we’re big fans of the Chrome web browser. Most of the bloggers here have made the switch, abandoning Firefox and Safari for the new, speedy WebKit-based browser from Google. And with the addition of extensions, we’ve found even more reasons to love it – over 1500 of them, actually. We each have our favorites of course, but recently, we came across one we just had to share with our readers: The ReadWriteWeb News Notifier!

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The ReadWriteWeb News Notifier isn’t an official creation from anyone here on the ReadWriteWeb team, but is the work of a development company called idio, the creators of a digital publishing platform technology. (Incidentally, if they did this looking for blog coverage, we have to hand it to them – that was genius!)

Like any other Google Chrome extension, all you have to do is click the blue “Install” button to add the button to your Chrome web browser. Once installed, the RWW extension alerts you when new articles are published on our website very much like how the Google Mail Checker Plus extension alerts you to new mail in your inbox – by displaying an unread count next to the icon. When you click the button, the article list will appear featuring the headline, the first couple of sentences, and social sharing buttons for posting to Digg, Facebook, and Twitter using bit.ly-shortened URLs.

If that’s all the extension did, those features alone would make it worthy of praise, but it goes even further. You can also customize the button to only display notifications from the areas of the website you’re interested in. So for example, if you want to receive alerts when there are new posts on the business-friendly ReadWriteEnterprise and ReadWriteCloud but not the more consumer-focused ReadWriteWeb itself, you could check those two boxes and uncheck the rest.

Finally, an included search box at the top lets you sift through the ReadWriteWeb archives for older posts using our site’s own custom search engine.

The ReadWriteWeb News Notifier checks for updates every 60 seconds, so you’ll never miss out on the news. Although we didn’t design this extension ourselves, we couldn’t have done a better job if we tried. A big thanks goes out to the guys over at idio – we love our extension. Every website should get one of these!

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