Category Archives: Technology

Introducing the All-New Kindle Family: Four New Kindles, Four Amazing Price Points

New latest generation Kindle – world’s bestselling e-reader now lighter, faster, and more affordable than ever – only $79
New “Kindle Touch” with easy-to-use touch screen – only $99
New “Kindle Touch 3G” with free 3G – the top of the line Kindle e-reader – only $149
New “Kindle Fire” – the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games, and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser, vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor – all for only $199

SEATTLE, Sep 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –– Millions of people are already reading on Kindles and Kindle is the bestselling e-reader in the world for four years running. Today, Amazon is excited to introduce an all-new Kindle family: three all-new Kindle e-readers that are smaller, lighter, and more affordable than ever before, and Kindle Firea new class of Kindle that brings the same ease-of-use and deep integration of content that helped Kindle re-invent readingto movies, TV shows, music, magazines, apps, books, games, and more. (more…)

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‘People-Centric’ Windows Phone 7.5 Update Released

*A look at the latest release of Windows Phone, previously code-named “Mango,” with Windows Phone Division president Andy Lees.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Sept. 27, 2011 – Beginning this morning, Windows Phones around the world will start to “ding” with important news: Windows Phone 7.5 is starting to roll out.

The first major release since Windows Phone 7 launched less than a year ago, the 7.5 release offers hundreds of new features and experiences designed to build on the phone’s intuitive, “people-first” foundation – multitasking, more integrated apps, primo mobile Web browsing, and powerful and personalized tools, like integrated social networking and conversation threads, for connecting with the people in our lives. (more…)

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UMD Study Finds Facebook Applications Create More Than 182,000 New U.S. Jobs Worth $12.19B+

College Park, Md. – While the U.S. jobs picture may be bleak, the proliferation of Facebook and mobile technology applications has spawned an entirely new industry dubbed the “App Economy” – that has added at least 182,000 new jobs and contributed more than $12.19 billion in wages and benefits to the U.S. economy this year, according to new research from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Using more aggressive estimates, the Facebook App Economy created a total of 235,644 jobs, adding a value of $15.71 billion to the economy. (more…)

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Bing Home Page Springs to Life With Fall Video

*Bing introduced video to its home page today to celebrate the start of fall, bringing motion to the iconic visuals that have helped differentiate Microsoft’s search engine.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Sept. 23, 2011 – Bing is celebrating the first day of fall with a first for its users: an autumn-hued video on its home page.

Visitors to the U.S. Bing home page today will be greeted by a time lapse video of the sun slowly rising over fall foliage. The video – visible to people using an HTML5-enabled browser – is the first to appear on the Bing home page, where eye-grabbing images have become an iconic part of the search engine’s brand, said Stephanie Horstmanshof, managing editor of Bing. Friday’s video represents the next step in Bing’s efforts to bring people into an experience they can’t get anywhere else. (more…)

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Yahoo! Connects With Facebook: Adds Your Friends as Social Editors of Yahoo! News

*Yahoo! puts friendly faces front and center on Yahoo! News and IntoNow from Yahoo!, for social content discovery and expression on Yahoo! and Facebook*

SAN FRANCISCO, f8 Developer Conference, September 22, 2011 – Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, today announced a new way to discover and connect with the world’s most popular content on both Yahoo! and Facebook. Beginning with Yahoo! News in the U.S., the No. 1 online news destination with more than 80 million unique monthly visitors**, and IntoNow from Yahoo!, the mobile app to discover and discuss TV shows, Yahoo! is putting people’s friends front and center to usher in an innovative way of connecting around content socially. (more…)

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‘Buyer Beware: Advertising May Seduce Your Brain’

Are you wooed by advertising? Of course you are. After all, it’s one thing to go out and buy a new washing machine after the old one exploded, quite another to impulse-buy that 246-inch flat screen TV that just maybe, in hindsight, you didn’t really need.

Advertisers come at you in two ways. There is the just-the-facts type of ad, called “logical persuasion,” or LP (“This car gets 42 miles to the gallon”), and then there is the ad that circumvents conscious awareness, called “non-rational influence,” or NI (a pretty woman, say, draped over a car). (more…)

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Latin America’s Social Networking Market Sees 88 Percent Gain in Engagement in the Past Year

*Increase in Time Spent on Facebook Accounts for 90 Percent of Increase in Total Time Spent Online in Latin America*

comScore Releases Report, “The Rise of Social Networking in Latin America”

Santiago, Chile, September 20, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the report The Rise of Social Networking in Latin America. The report examines the state of Latin America’s dynamic social networking landscape, providing insights into trends at a global, regional and individual market level. The 35-page analysis also reveals how social media has shaped the larger digital environment through its influence on other social web activities and its role in the dissemination of marketing messages.

“Social networking has become an essential part of consumers’ digital lives over the past several years,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president for Latin America. “As it has become more widely adopted throughout the region and across demographic segments, it has redefined the way consumers interact with content and with each other. Social media is also changing the way marketing messages are disseminated and offers a new channel to engage with current and potential customers, which presents a variety of attractive opportunities for brands to effectively integrate social into their digital strategies.” (more…)

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