Author Archives: Guest Post

Oprah’s New Book Club Selections “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations” Are Free on Kindle

*The works of Charles Dickens and millions of other out-of-copyright works are available on Kindle for free*

SEATTLE, Dec 06, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The 65th Oprah Book Club pick is a Charles Dickens double-header. The selections are “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations,” and Amazon.com today announced that both are available on Kindle for free, along with millions of other out-of-copyright works. These free Kindle books can be read on the bestselling $139 Kindle (www.amazon.com/kindle) with new, high-contrast Pearl e-ink or on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, Android-based devices, PC, and Mac using free Kindle reading apps (www.amazon.com/kindleapps). (more…)

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WHOI Website Will Take Viewers Deep into the Gulf

It may take years before scientists determine the full impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But, utilizing the human-occupied submersible Alvin and the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sentry, researchers are about to investigate—and view first-hand—the possible effects of the spill at the bottom of the Gulf.

And, from Dec. 6-14, the mission will be relayed to the public as it happens on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) Dive and Discover website (https://divediscover.whoi.edu). (more…)

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Microsoft Dynamics Introduces “Cloud CRM for Less” Offer

*Microsoft executive invites Salesforce.com and Oracle customers to consider Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 6, 2010 — Microsoft Corp. today released an Open Letter from Michael Park, corporate vice president, sales, marketing and operations, Microsoft Business Solutions, inviting customers to learn about and evaluate Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. As part of the letter, Microsoft announced the “Cloud CRM for Less” offer for Salesforce.com and Oracle customers. Through this offer, Microsoft will rebate eligible customers up to $200 for each user that makes the switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online between now and June 30, 2011. The offer can be applied for services such as migrating data or customizing the solution to meet unique business needs. More details on the offer can be found at https://www.cloudcrmforless.com.  (more…)

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In Australia, Men Watch Twice the Amount of Online Video as Women

*Australians Watched Nearly 3 Hours of Online Video per Viewer at YouTube.com in October*

Sydney, Australia, December 6 , 2010 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its October 2010 rankings of the top video properties in Australia based on data from its comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that nearly 80 percent of Australia’s Internet population viewed video online in October, with an average viewer watching nearly 8 hours of video during the month. The report also revealed that male online video viewers in Australia spend nearly double the amount of time viewing video compared to women. (more…)

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Amazon Web Services Launches Amazon Route 53, a New DNS Service in the Cloud Enabling Businesses to Direct Internet Traffic to Web Applications

AWS customers can now access a highly available DNS system with pay-as-you-go pricing and no minimum usage commitments

SEATTLE, Dec 06, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced Amazon Route 53, a Domain Name System (DNS) web service giving developers and businesses a highly available and reliable way to route Internet traffic to web applications by translating human readable names into numeric IP addresses. Amazon Route 53 can be used to route end users to multiple AWS services including Amazon EC2, an Amazon Elastic Load Balancer or an Amazon S3 bucket, and to infrastructure outside of AWS. The Amazon Route 53 global network of DNS servers is designed to automatically respond from the optimal network location, resulting in low DNS query latency for end users. (more…)

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Cyber Monday Hangover: U.S. Online Spending Growth Softens After Strong Early Week Performance

*Holiday E-Commerce Spending Growth Slows to 9 Percent for Most Recent Week*

RESTON, VA, December 5, 2010 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 33 days of the November – December 2010 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $16.8 billion has been spent online, marking a 12-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year. The most recent week saw four individual days eclipse $800 million in spending, led by Cyber Monday, which became the heaviest online spending day on record at $1.028 billion. Tuesday, November 30 reached $911 million, making it the third heaviest online spending day on record, while Wednesday ($868 million) and Thursday ($850 million) also reached high levels, although growth rates for the season subsided in the latter half of the week. (more…)

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New Report Summarizes Key Themes in American Doctoral Education

*Summary report, “Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: 2009” is available online*

A new report recently released by the National Science Foundation, titled “Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2009,” presents a statistical overview of the U.S. doctoral education system in snapshots and long-term trends.

It notes the American system of doctoral education is widely considered the world’s best, as evidenced by the large number of international students who choose to pursue a doctorate at U.S. universities. But this status is subject to the many factors that shape U.S. doctoral education. (more…)

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