Internet and Online Business

About 553 days ago Apps | Blogging and Social Media | Business Software

New Web App Seeks to Make All Your Browsing Social

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If Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all old hat to you and you’re looking for a different social experience, you might want in on a new Web app now in alpha testing. StormDriver acts as an interactive overlay for the entire Web. With the goal of making the whole Internet “one great social platform,” it lets you see who else is on the same web site as you, where people came from and where they are going. It also analyzes your browsing habits and content tastes and uses this information to provide content recommendations that get more accurate the more you use the system. READ MORE »

About 553 days ago Apps | Business Software | Innovation | Internet and Online Business

Google Buys Contextual Browsing Start-up

apture

Google has acquired Apture, a start-up that brings instantaneous search to content on the web. Apture developed Apture Highlights, a browser extension that aims to plug what it calls the “search leak,” which occurs when  a user is reading content, wants more information about a keyword or phrase and then opens another browser tab to search for the information on Google, Bing or Yahoo.  For content publishers this isn’t ideal—it means the user has disengaged and left the page. Apture Highlights enables you to highlight any word or phrase on a page and instantly bring up in a window search results from more than 60 sources including YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, Google and more for extra context around content. READ MORE »

About 553 days ago Apps | Business Software | E-Commerce | Internet and Online Business | Location-based services

eBay App Lets People Buy from Brick-and-Mortar Stores

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This holiday shopping season eBay will be making it extra easy for people to find the items they’re looking for via the latest version of its RedLaser mobile app, which enables users to search for prices on all kinds of items by either scanning a bar code or QR code or typing in the product’s name. Previously the app has shown the price for an item at both online and local brick-and-mortar retailers, but now RedLaser users can also see a selection of local retailers that have the item in stock and that allow for purchasing it through the mobile app. Shoppers can now complete a transaction using PayPal and pick up the purchased item later at the store. READ MORE »

About 555 days ago Blogging and Social Media | Business Software | Internet and Online Business

6 Ways SMBs Can Benefit from LinkedIn

Courtesy: Mashable

Since more than 100 million people are on LinkedIn, chances are, you’re one of them. But are you using it as much as you should be, or in the right ways? Lisa Barone, co-founder of Outspoken Media, contributed a column to Small Business Trends in which she suggested six ways SMBs can benefit from LinkedIn: READ MORE »

About 555 days ago Internet and Online Business

Pandora: Half of U.S. Pays Nothing for Music

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Pandora’s CTO Tom Conrad just revealed a surprising bit of news: Each year, more than half of the U.S. pays nothing for music. Zip. Zero…you get the picture. Pandora wants to change that. READ MORE »

About 556 days ago Internet and Online Business

Zynga to Employees: Give Back Shares

zynga

Over the past few months Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has asked some employees to return shares they received instead of high salaries. Turn over that equity, or be fired, Pincus and other Zynga executives told those employees. This move comes as Zynga prepares for an upcoming IPO, which could bring a valuation of close to $20 billion and make shareholders wealthy. READ MORE »

About 556 days ago Blogging and Social Media | Internet and Online Business | Smartphones and PDAs

Venmo Gets Integrated Voice Payments Via Apple

siri-assistant

Despite a recent hiccup, Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is helping to open up a whole new world in mobile payments. Social payments start-up Venmo is taking full advantage of Siri’s capabilities with say-to-pay functionality. READ MORE »

About 557 days ago Blogging and Social Media | Internet and Online Business

Delicious Buys Competitor After Criticism

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When Delicious decided to get a makeover, the online criticism was swift and cutting. Australian start-up Trunk.ly might have been the most vocal in it’s fault-finding—and it seems to have paid off. Delicious’ parent company AVOS has announced that it is buying the company. READ MORE »

About 557 days ago Blogging and Social Media | Internet and Online Business | Managing Technology | Online Marketing

The Difference Between Google and Facebook

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What’s the difference between Google and Facebook? Google focuses on algorithms, Facebook focuses on people. So says Sheryl Sandberg, formerly vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, and now Facebook’s COO. READ MORE »

About 557 days ago E-Commerce | Internet and Online Business | Managing Technology | Online Marketing

Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL Join Forces on Search Advertising

Yahoo-AOL-Microsoft-Deal

If you can’t beat ‘em, gang up on ‘em! That seems to be the logic behind the new agreement among Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL to sell advertising via each others’ portals. The idea is that the agreement will increase the reach of each company by allowing advertisers to buy all three in a one-stop-shopping arrangement. READ MORE »