News and Information Blog 02 2010

Global Internet Use Not Yet Universal

Going online in many countries, including developed ones is far from universal according to a new report by the World Internet Project (WIP).

The report was carried out by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, it found only half of the 10 reporting countries had more than a majority of Internet users.

Both developed and less-developed countries reported relatively low percentages of Internet users, including Mexico (32 percent), Portugal (37%), Cyprus and Colombia (45%), Czech Republic (51%), and Chile (55%).

Only three countries and regions report more than 60 percent of respondents as Internet users: Macao (61%), the United States (78%) and Sweden (80%).

"These findings reinforce that the Internet is not yet part of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe -- even in technologically advanced countries," said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future, which created and manages the World Internet Project.

"And we are seeing large numbers of non-users even in countries with high levels of education and employment, long histories of Internet use, and high percentages of broadband installation."

The report found notable differences between men and women and their use of online technology. In six of the WIP countries, eight percent or more men than women use the Internet (Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Italy, Macao, Mexico). The gender gap is the largest in Mexico (16% more men than women are Internet users) and Colombia (15% more men than women.

In four of the WIP countries, the gap in Internet use between men and women is four percent or less, with the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States reporting only slightly higher percentages of men than women as users.

"Countries that reported an average of five or more years of Internet use found key disparities in access to online technology," said Cole.

"For example, many countries have a long way to go to increase Internet equality among men and women."

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Hotels, eateries await March Madness

Murphy’s Deli & Bar is betting business will get a boost when thousands of college basketball fans flood Providence late this month for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

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Firms Casting a Wide Net for Social Media

New research suggests that as businesses explore social media tools to promote themselves and engage with customers, many are looking beyond the big communities like Facebook and Twitter.

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Marketing Tips: How to Find Copywriters

Andrew Lock reveals a great marketing tool to find copywriters, interviews author Nick Nanton about celebrity branding for entrepreneurs and shares a lesson on tying ads to current events.

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Google Testing a Revamp of the Search Results Page

Update: Danny Sullivan reports that "slight variations" of this design are "live in the wild," and "still being shown to a randomly selected group of people," and that Google doesn't have an expected launch date for a complete roll-out.

Original Article (11/19): Google is testing a new user interface for its search options feature. If you are unfamiliar with the search options feature, it is the link on your search results page that says "show options" and brings up a menu on the left-hand side of the screen providing a number of ways to filter your results.

According to Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land, a "small number" of Google users will see the new interface starting today. The aim of the new interface is to provide users with a cleaner display. Sullivan says that if the testing goes well, Google may roll it out after the New Year. He quotes Google's Marissa Mayer as saying, "We're basically looking at a new look and feel for Google. It's an overall cleaning up of the search engine results page."

Do you think Google's results pages need a new look and feel? Tell us what you think.

Images of this new look and feel look strangely familiar - similar to that of a certain "decision engine." Take a look:

Of course, the Google's search options and Bing have been compared in the past (and other search engines utilize a similar design too for that matter), in terms of the general layout. Their functionalities differ on various levels. It's important to note that this will just be how the search results pages will look, without having to click the search options link to get to it. There has been discussion in the past about how much users actually use Google's search options, simply because the feature is easy to overlook. Such a change would put the options right in your face.

Besides being visually different, the options themselves are different in some areas. For example, a "see also" section has been added, which suggests related queries. There is also a section called "show search tools," which now contains things like the Wonder Wheel, Timeline View, and "more shopping sites."

Google may start messing around with the top navigation on search results pages next year, but the company has acknowledged that it works well right now. It will be interesting to see the change in use of this top navigation if the left-hand options go mainstream.

What do you think of this re-working of Google's search results pages? Do you want to see it go mainstream, or do you like it better how it is right now? Share your thoughts.
Related Articles:
> Google Launches Search Options
> Google Presents New Image Search Options
> Google's Search Options Increase

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Uncertainty forced Lifespan, CNE to part

In an interview, the two CEOs said the lack of a timeline for a decision on their proposed merger left them unable to plan and finally forced them to abandon the effort despite spending millions on it.

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Apple's iTunes Hits 10 Billion Download Mark

Leading online music shop hits another major milestone with the sale of the 10 billionth song, offering one lucky customer a prize for making the right purchase at the right time.

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Business Continuity: Email Backup for SMBs

How long could your business last if you lost your email access and data? We look at a couple of Internet-based email backup and recovery options for different sized small businesses.

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Google Trounces Yahoo, Bing In Mobile Search Report

Although Google's undoubtedly best known for dominating the traditional search market, the company's no slouch when it comes to mobile. New stats from Opera indicate that Google has a huge lead over its closest rival, and that its other well-funded competitor barely enters the equation.

According to the latest Opera State of the Mobile Report, Google's search portal accounts "for more than 9% of all page views on the mobile Web." Obviously, that's impressive.

Moving on, things take a turn for the ho-hum. Yahoo can only claim 4.3 percent of page views, which isn't bad, just kind of embarrassing next to Google's twice-as-large share.

Finally, we arrive at something shameful. To quantify Bing's share, Opera had to consider an extra place to the right of the decimal point. The final number: 0.03 percent, which is one three-hundredth of Google's share.

Google hasn't quite taken over the world, however. Jon von Tetzchner, Opera's cofounder, said in a statement, "While Google performs well globally, we also see several local search engines, such as Yandex in Russia and Ukraine, and Baidu in China, have impressive results in their key markets."

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Film Fest PSA winners announced

The winners of a first-time, one-week competition that challenged teams of filmmakers to write, shoot and edit public service announcements for Big Sisters of Rhode Island and Sensational Child have been announced.

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HipChat Instant Messaging for Small Business

Quick, efficient online messaging makes everyone more productive. Hipchat’s hosted instant messaging service offers a low-cost, no-hassle IM client for small businesses.

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Google Talk Improves Voice, Video Performance

As you might imagine, conversations tend to be more productive and enjoyable when they’re not interrupted and cut short all the time. Google’s made a smart move, then, by upgrading Google Talk in several respects.

The upgrades actually pertain to one of Google Talk’s most advanced features: the voice and video chat plug-in. As for what they do, users should experience fewer crashes when newer Macs are in the mix and benefit from increased webcam compatibility.

On the Google Talkabout blog, Google also promised increased plug-in stability and “fixes to the infrastructure used to set up and connect your video calls.”

This update would be something of a big deal under any circumstances; the last post on the Google Talkabout blog was made in September of last year, so the search giant’s proven that it hasn’t forgotten about this product.

But here’s a (big) added bonus: Jessan Hutchison-Quillian and Mikael Drugge, who are software engineers, wrote “From users who have chosen to ‘Report quality statistics’ in their chat settings, we can see a substantial increase in call connection rates and a big decrease in the call drop rate (see chart below).”

Google Talk looks to be much more useful now.

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Love Test

Here's a neat little script to figure the "love compatibility" between two people. Just enter their names and hit calculate! We are not responsible for any broken relationships resulting from this script.

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A.T. Cross turns profit in difficult 2009

A.T. Cross Co. announced Wednesday that it made $1.9 million in net income, or 13 cents per share, in 2009, compared with $500,000 the year before.

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New Legislation Aims To Regulate Internet Gambling

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, an advocacy group, said today it supports the introduction of legislation by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) that includes provisions to legalize and regulate Internet gambling under the "Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010.

"With so much media focus on the differences between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, this bipartisan initiative highlights the growing support on both ends of Capitol Hill for replacing the failed prohibition on Internet gambling with a system to regulate the industry, protect consumers and generate billions in new revenue," said Michael Waxman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative.

"We applaud Senators Wyden and Gregg for taking the initiative to address and drive this issue."

Provisions to regulate Internet gambling are similar to those included in the "Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act" introduced last year by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA). Chairman Frank's bill has the support of a group of 65 bipartisan co-sponsors.

A Joint Committee on Taxation analysis found that regulating Internet gambling would generate nearly $42 billion over 10 years for the U.S. Treasury. The analysis is based on the provision of federal license for operators that would allow them to offer online gambling in the U.S., while still prohibiting sports betting.

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Viewfinity Aims to Ease Pain of PC Management

Three new cloud-based services help small businesses handle computer management chores easily and affordably.

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EDC small biz loan fund nearly depleted

The state’s Small Business Loan Fund faces future liquidity issues, according to R.I. Economic Development Corporation Deputy Director J. Michael Saul.

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Google Upgrades DoubleClick Ad Server

Better ad management, distribution and new features are the focus of Google's DoubleClick upgrade.

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How to Save Money on Small Business Technology

Should you upgrade your IT infrastructure, or should you make do for awhile longer? Even the experts are conflicted. Either way, we have tips that can save you money on your small business solutions.

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Tufts Brings YouTube Into The Admissions Process

YouTube's a site that's been used by nonprofit organizations to address serious human rights issues. It's also a site that's been used to exhibit children kicking adults in the crotch. Now, in a move that sort of bridges the gap, Tufts University has started allowing applicants to post clips featuring themselves.

"Lee Coffin, Tufts' dean of admissions, says the clips showcase a creativity and personality that would be hard to convey on paper," according to Tracy Jan. "The idea is part of an effort begun by the university in 2006 to evaluate aspects of applicants' intelligence not reflected in SAT scores and grades."

It's apparently a rather popular idea, too. Around 1,000 applicants made videos, and as you can conclude after watching the example below, many of them had fun, not just sitting in a straight-backed chair and talking at the camera.

At the same time, Tufts hasn't made the videos in any way mandatory (the school received about 15,000 applications all in all), so folks with stage fright aren't penalized. And employees of the admissions office are keeping in mind that not everyone has access to top-notch camera equipment and editing gear.

Tufts is a rather prestigious university; it should be interesting to see if other schools follow its lead.

Collette garners tour recognition

Collette Vacations was chosen as a 2010 Editor’s Pick WAVE award winner in two categories, for “Best Tour Operator, Europe” and “Best Tour Operator, Escorted.”

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Google Wave Finds Fans At Clear Channel

Love it or hate it, Clear Channel Radio is pretty much inescapable; the organization claims to have a weekly audience of 110 million listeners, which represents about one-third of America's population. It could be quite important, then, that some people who work for the omnipresent radio entity have taken a liking to Google Wave.

Dennis Elliott, a Web manager at Clear Channel, in fact reached out to Google with some compliments, and his message wound up being posted on the Google Wave Blog. Elliot began, "Just wanted to tell you guys that we are loving the wave here at Clear Channel Radio in Greensboro NC where we have 5 FM radio stations."

Then here's another key point: "We have just started using it and only have a small number of our staff on it right now, but we plan on expanding it to everyone as soon as possible."

From there, Google Wave could make its way up (and back down) the corporate ladder, coming into use at radio stations all over the country. Or at the least, radio personalities in North Carolina might start discussing it while on the air, causing a lot of their listeners to give the real-time communication tool a shot.

Of course, it would be rather ironic if old-fashioned radio is what helps Google's newfangled means of communication really catch on.

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What if Facebook Added a "Blog" Tab?

Facebook wants to keep users on Facebook. So far, they are doing a pretty good job of that. More and more people are spending more of their online time on Facebook, not to mention, spending more time connected to the web in general (at least partially due to rising use of smartphones).

How much time do you spend on Facebook in a month? A week? Let us know.

Facebook recently made it a point to show users how to use the social network to keep up with the news. Users can simply become fans of their favorite news organizations' pages (feel free to include ours in your mix), and group them in a "news" list just as they would create a group for friends or co-workers. The bottom line is; spending more time on Facebook getting news headlines is spending more time on Facebook period. There is also talk of Facebook working on its own web email service. Again, more time spent on Facebook.

One way Facebook could capture even more of its users' time, is if it introduced a "blog" tab. Facebook currently has a "notes" tab, and quite a few people do use this. It's a similar concept, but what if it was given more prominence and renamed "blog?" A blog tab might keep Facebook users even longer. First of all, the users blogging with it would obviously be sticking around to write their posts. In addition, their friends and fans would be sticking around longer to read those posts, which would generally be much longer and require more time than the average status update.

Would more people become bloggers?

I suspect that the word "notes" doesn't quite resonate the same as the word blog in the minds of many Facebook users, although for all intents and purposes, the feature operates like a blog. You can post longer-form content for your friends and fans to see, and they can comment on it, while it all remains in tact in one spot for future reference. Not only could the addition of a "blog" tab keep Facebook users around longer, but it could have a significant impact on the Blogosphere. Simply calling it a blog and having it available right from any user's profile page might just inspire.

Is social media killing blogs?

No, but it's hard to say that use of sites like Facebook and Twitter (and now Google Buzz) don't lend to less blog posts being created. If nothing else, it’s simply a time issue. It is easy to push out a quick status update if you have something to say. It's easier than blogging. For longer-form content, blogs are generally the better option, which is one reason they are still alive and well. But if Facebook had a blog tab, the social network could cut into the Blogosphere even more, given its huge userbase, while establishing itself as a go-to place for blogging (another area in which Facebook could compete with Google, I might add. Don't forget that Google owns Blogger).

If Facebook did this, it is very unlikely that all current bloggers would immediately go running there to do their blogging, but Facebook users who may not already be blogging may find the urge to do so when that tab is right in front of their faces. And frankly, I'm confident many current bloggers would go running there. Facebook is a powerful tool for building an audience or expanding upon one.

It works on MySpace. Look at director Eli Roth's blog, for example. He gets a lot of engagement there (although he hasn't updated in several months). Facebook is another animal altogether, and its growth is unprecedented. Just look at Facebook's latest round of stats.

Facebook is frequently adding and changing features, as any user can certainly attest (for better or for worse). It is not hard to imagine them doing something like this. For the record, the company has made no mention of going such a route, to my knowledge. There are currently ways to blog within and around Facebook if you look hard enough, but if Facebook made blogging a focal point, I think it could take off, and perhaps lend to the concept of Facebook as a news source, and even add greatly to the Blogosphere by encouraging more blogging.

Should Facebook Have a blog tab? Would you use it? Share your thoughts.

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Slater Fund plants seeds for job growth

The Slater Technology Fund is working to boost innovative startups despite a 33 percent cut in state funding and other challenges.

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E-mail Marketing: Create a Newsletter in Publisher

Give your small business marketing a boost by making your own custom e-mail newsletter. Helen Bradley shows how easy it is to do in Microsoft Publisher 2003.

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Intel Connects Laptops to HDTVs With WiDi

During CES 2010, WebProNews was introduced to Intel's new Wireless Display technology, also known as the WiDi.
This new device makes connecting laptops to HDTVs much simpler and convenient. Many other laptop to TV connectors require bulky cables and cords, where as the WiDi allows for a wireless connection.

Intel's WiDi requirements:

laptop PC (based on company's Core processor family)

HD graphics

Centrino wireless technology

Along with the following elements, the Netgear Push2TV adapter is essential when delivering signals from the laptop to the TV. This adapter can connect to the TV from HDMI or AV cables.
From your home network, hard disk or wherever browsers will allow you to go on your TV, content such as photos, Internet radio, YouTube and Hulu can easily be shared with others.
Intel’s Wireless Display, sold together with the Netgear Push2TV adapter, is currently available on Best Buy's Blue Lable 2.0 laptops. Prices starting at $899.

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Two R.I. chefs named Beard semifinalists

Two Rhode Islanders – Bruce Tillinghast at New Rivers in Providence and Sai Viswanath of DeWolf Tavern in Bristol – were among 20 semifinalists for “Best Chef: Northeast” in the 2010 James Beard Awards.

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Verizon Ups Internet Speed for Small Business Networking

Verizon has increased the speed of its FiOS Internet and High Speed Internet services, plus added new bundles that make it more attractive to add TV at the workplace.

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Yahoo Opens Data Center, Call Center In Nebraska

Yahoo's been busy in Nebraska. This week, the company announced the opening of both a data center and a call center in the state, and apparently the celebration was a big deal, with Jerry Yang and several high(-ish) ranking politicians all showing up.

Indeed, according to a post on Yodel Anecdotal, Jerry Yang, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, La Vista Mayor Douglas Kindig, Attorney General Jon Bruning, and Nebraska Congressman Lee Terry made appearances. That's not a bad turnout.

As for some more substantial details relating to development, the data center is located in 180,000-square foot building, and the building is located in a small city called La Vista (hence Kindig's involvement). It's expected to employ about 50 people, and without giving away any trade secrets, Yahoo's implied that the data center's rather "green," environmentally speaking.

Not as much is known about the sales and customer support call center - it presumably took less time and money to set up, thereby attracting less attention - but it's located in Omaha, and should help a few people earn paychecks, too.

One possible interpretation of all this activity is that Yahoo's very optimistic about its future even as Microsoft's stepping in to influence the search and advertising side of things.

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PUC cuts Grid rate increase request

Small commercial customers will see their electric bills rise by between 0.2 and 4.1 percent on March 1, according to the latest National Grid filing.

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Delayed Popup

Automatically opens a new popup window a given number of seconds after the page finishes loading. The script can optionally be configured to close the window after a few seconds.

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PleaseRobMe Hits Foursquare Users with a Dose of Reality

Yesterday at about 2pm PleaseRobMe went live. PleaseRobMe is a site set up by a few developers who want to spread awareness about how easy it would be for people to rob your home if you share too much information about yourself online, specifically your location…even more specifically through Foursquare. The site displays a list of messages asking people if they know the whole world has access to their location. All of these are drawn directly from the PleaseRobMe Twitter account.
We asked Boy Van Amstel, one of those developers if they were concerned that followers of PleaseRobMe's Twitter account could actually be interested in robbing people. Van Amstel responded, "With just the information [from] pleaserobme.com it would be almost impossible to do so. However as people share more information about themselves, such as their home address, it might become a possibility. We think it's important to think about that and what it means if you share location information on services like Twitter...it's very easy to get it, even directly from Twitter's search page."

So far, Van Amstel says Foursquare is the only service it watches to determine who is sharing their location with the world. "It's not about the service, it's about the information that's being shared. We think it's important to realize that something you post on Twitter isn't necessarily private. Everybody is able to read it, unless you protect your messages."

One can only assume that FourSquare isn't entirely pleased with the launch of PleaseRobMe. That's the second time the service has had a not-so-positive light cast upon it this week. Earlier in the week, there were reports of Foursquare cheating. This could have an effect on the decisions of businesses to give Foursquare users special offers, a practice that is becoming more commonplace.

Regardless, PleaseRobMe bluntly delivers an important reminder to socially active people that just because they're using the “virtual” world, that doesn't mean it can't potentially have real-world consequences.

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A Guide to Small Business Smartphones

Finding the best smartphones for your business doesn’t have to be a chore. Our handy guide gives you all the information you need to cut through the multitude of models and conquer carrier confusion.

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Napa Valley Grille at ProvPlace closes

Napa Valley Grille, the California winery-themed restaurant at Providence Place, closed its doors on Monday after 10 years in business.

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ChaCha Introduces New Facebook App

Mobile answers service ChaCha has introduced a new Facebook application that allows users to access answers from both ChaCha and their Facebook friends.

The ChaCha Facebook app allows users to ask a question to any of their friends on Facebook and the question is also automatically submitted to ChaCha. ChaCha says it will return an answer from its database of hundreds of millions of answers. Users can also select "add to profile" to get a permanent "Ask ChaCha" prompt on their profile pages.

Facebook users can also select "share" when they submit a question, and it will post to their friends walls. Users receive points for questions they answer and they will receive different titles which are displayed on a leader board.

"We are publishing this initial version of our Facebook application, which gives access to our fun and informative content within the Facebook community, but also encourages Facebook friends to provide answers too," says Scott A. Jones, Chairman and CEO of ChaCha.

"This socially-connected version of ChaCha can be particularly helpful for subjective questions, such as, 'Where's the best Thai restaurant, and what should I order on the menu?'"

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Small Business Software: Easier Invoicing

Freshbooks automates invoicing. Plus, a Web tool that summarizes lengthy documents and a site that gives you the inside scoop on property values.

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R.I. lags U.S. in taking, passing A.P. tests

The number of Rhode Island students taking at least one Advanced Placement test continues to climb, although the share participating and passing remains below the nation’s.

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Google Again Linked To Australian Data Center Plans

The rumor that Google might build a data center in Australia has been circulating for some time; our first report on the subject was written in October of 2008. Now, although construction crews haven't exactly been mobilized, there's at least been a sign that Google hasn't given up on the idea.

Deepak Ramanathan, the head of Google's enterprise marketing arm in the Asia-Pacific region, recently spoke at an event in Sydney. Renai LeMay reported that people representing several Australian corporations expressed an interest in Google Apps while there.

Then here's the more interesting part: according to LeMay, Ramanathan responded by saying that "the search giant was not ruling out an Australian datacentre for services like Gmail, and that discussions were ongoing."

The last time we talked about Google building a data center in Australia (April of last year), the main stumbling block seemed to be the economy. Obviously, it's gotten better (Google's stock, for example, is up about 45 percent since then).

So as more and more Australian organizations go to Google for different services, we may finally reach the tipping point at which the company will see fit to build a data center in that country.

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Textron’s Bell had longest strike of 2009

A six-week strike by Texas workers against Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter division was the longest work stoppage in the United States last year, according to figures released last week by the U.S. Labor Department.

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Driving Traffic with MapQuest and its New Search Engine

Local business search is becoming more of an area of great focus by search providers as time goes on. Google, especially, has been working overtime on providing new features that can help users find local businesses of interest. AOL's MapQuest has been working on improving its own business search functionality, which we talked to the company a little about.

What kind of traffic do you get from MapQuest? Comment here.

MapQuest recently launched a new geosearch engine to power location search, and plans to do more with business listings before the year is over. Businesses should pay attention, as this is another place where users look for information about businesses related to specific places.

"Many of our users search for specific businesses or business categories in order to obtain maps and directions," a spokesperson for MapQuest tells WebProNews. "In addition, many of our users search for types of businesses nearby another location. For example, if a user obtains a map of the hotel where they are staying for a meeting, the user may then search for restaurants nearby. MapQuest’s extensive database of business listings provides consumers with relevant business listings based upon the user’s search query."

"MapQuest also provides consumers with the business name, address, phone, website as well as additional details such as hours of operation, user ratings and reviews, photos and more," she continues. "As a result, businesses benefit from leads several different ways, including people driving to and visiting the physical location, making a phone call or visiting the website."

MapQuest might not be the first thing businesses think of in terms of driving traffic, but it is an option that should perhaps not be ignored. According to the latest data from Compete, MapQuest.com gets nearly 40 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. By comparison, Bing only gets over 50 million according to the same data set.

Benefits of the new MapQuest search engine include more accurate, relevant results based upon the user's query, according to the company. A feedback link is also provided, where users may submit comments and feedback related to their search experience.

"We also have nearly 1 million City Search listings that provide a wealth of information and has the ability to drive traffic to the business web site," the spokesperon says. "Businesses can offer very helpful information including menus, coupons, and more on their CitySearch listing. Businesses should contact CitySearch to become part of the information feed."

MapQuest obtains business listing information from multiple data sources. Businesses may report business listing changes such as additions, edits and deletions. They can change phone and FAX, business name, location address, city, state, and ZIP code, contact information, primary line of business and web site information.

MapQuest has 16+ million "Points of Interest", with the majority being businesses through its InfoUSA database."At MapQuest, we're consistently looking at ways to enhance our data for users," she says. "We will be offering ways to work directly with us for a business listing later this year."

The company would not get specific about what its plans are, but regardless of the rise in popularity of Maps from places like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, MapQuest is still worth recognizing, and may provide additional traffic.

Do you consider MapQuest an important part of your strategy? Let us know.

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Internet Plays Vital Role For Auto Dealers

Auto dealers say the Internet has provided them with the highest return on investment (ROI) over the last five years, according to a new survey from Autobytel.

The majority (96%) of dealers predict the Internet will play a larger role in their marketing in the next five years. Internet leads continue to play a critical role, with 93 percent of dealers reporting that new and used third-party leads are an important part of their marketing mix.

One hundred percent of deal respondents reported their Internet strategies helped them through these challenging times, with the majority (79.5%) reporting the Internet has been their highest ROI. In contrast, traditional media (TV, newspapers and radio) only ranked first for 7.5 percent, 6.5 percent, and 2.5 percent of dealers respectively.

Dealers said being able to reach customers beyond their immediate market is a key advantage of the Internet, as well as the fact it is more cost-efficient and targeted medium than traditional media like TV & radio.

Ninety-three percent of dealers have increased their Internet marketing budgets in the last five years, with more than half (56%) boosting their Internet budgets by 50 percent or more.

Third-party leads continue to provide benefit to dealers for the following reasons, according to 93% of those surveyed:

Having control over what I spend/how many leads I’m guaranteed to get’

‘Because so many consumers use 3rd-party research websites I’m able to capture ready-to-buy car shoppers’

‘They’re cost-efficient and measurable’

‘They enable me to expand my reach across Web’

Marketing Tips: How to Track Direct Mailings on the Web

Plus, Andrew Lock offers a small business marketing lesson on solution selling and an interview with business success coach, Marc Accetta on the value of edutainment.

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Holiday Season Saw Slight e-Commerce Rebound

Capping off a year of flat growth, holiday online shopping showed modest improvement over disastrous 2008 season, according to new data from Web metrics firm comScore.

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Google Buzz's Rocky Start May Lead to Gmail-Free Version

There's no question that Google Buzz has been the topic of the week. Google took the tech and social media industries by storm as it launched its new social media product.

Already, Buzz has shown a great deal of potential, but it has also created more than a few problems and concerns. Privacy has been the key concern. The most heavily publicized and perhaps most illustrative example of this can be found in this story from a woman who was automatically connected with her abusive ex-husband. Her post begins...

I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.

There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other "most frequent" contacts.

You know who my third most frequent contact is?

My abusive ex-husband...

Google is evidently reconsidering its strategy for Buzz. Google is rolling out additional privacy adjustments to Buzz, reportedly in response to this woman's post. People you block in Buzz still show up as following you in Google Reader and there has been no ability to block people from Google Reader, but Google is working on changing both of these. Google has issued a statement to this effect.Meanwhile, Danny Sullivan reports that Google is considering a version of Buzz that would be independent from Gmail:

“It’s clear that interest in Buzz may extend beyond the current Gmail base, and we’re open to serving that community,” said Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Product Marketing, when I spoke to him about some Buzz issues at the TED Conference.

Horowitz stressed that Google would still offer a version of Buzz within Gmail, in addition to any independent version.

“We think that Buzz within Gmail is a great experience, and we’ll keep offering that as well,” Horowitz said.

Google Buzz may have gotten off to kind of a rocky start in some aspects, but many others have paid the service plenty of praise. Google said as it was announced that it was only the first version, and they were counting on user feedback to help them improve it. At least they appear to be making good on that.

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Quality Institute gets $11M from ARRA

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Quality Institute has been awarded more than $11 million in federal stimulus grants to support the development of a statewide health information exchange and to set up …

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A Guide to Small Business Color Laser Printers

Confused by all the options when it comes to choosing a small business printer? This handy guide provides everything you need to buy a color laser printer that suits both your needs and your budget.

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New Chrome For Mac Beta Boasts Extensions

It doesn't really help anyone that Chrome for Mac isn't on a level with the regular version of Chrome; Mac fans must feel neglected, and Google's missing out on a lot of potential users. The gap between versions narrowed today, though, as a new Chrome for Mac beta with extensions and a few other upgrades was released.

Bookmark sync is one of the fresh Chrome for Mac features - a big benefit for people who own multiple computers or sometimes work from home. It can handle bookmark transfers involving Windows and Linux, too, so it's of no concern if some random laptop or company computer runs on a different operating system.

Otherwise, Mark Mentovai, a software engineer, wrote on the Google Chrome Blog, "We also added bookmark and cookie managers in a way that feels completely at home on the Mac. For technically-oriented users, our new Task Manager will help you keep tabs on all of your tabs."

And as for the extensions mentioned earlier, integration is complete, with all 2,200 (or so) extensions available in Chrome's extensions gallery available to Chrome for Mac users.

At this rate, it's hard to imagine there's much more to be done before a non-beta version of Chrome for Mac debuts.

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Carcieri to release auto tax payments

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri decided to release more than $33 million in auto tax payments to cities and towns Thursday, giving up on part of his plan to close a $219 million hole in this year’s state budget.

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Crab Race

Places your bets on your favorite colored crab in a virtual crab race. Each crab has different odds and has different payouts. Good luck!

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eBay 'Garden' Promises Better Search, Feedback

New search feature lets users compare auction and Buy It Now listings side-by-side, refine their searches with fewer clicks and get a comprehensive view of an item's name, price and format.

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7 Basic Windows PC Maintenance Tips

You don’t need a doctorate in computer science to keep your Windows PC running smoothly. Follow these seven simple PC maintenance tips to happier, more productive computing.

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BBC Journalists Commanded To Use Social Media

Journalists who work for one of the most respected news organizations in the world will be making greater use of social media from now on. Peter Horrocks, the BBC's director of global news, has more or less ordered his reporters to become comfortable with sites like Twitter.

As reported by Mercedes Bunz, Horrocks stated in an internal BBC publication, "This isn't just a kind of fad from someone who's an enthusiast of technology. I'm afraid you're not doing your job if you can't do those things. It's not discretionary."

Horrocks then continued, "If you don't like it, if you think that level of change or that different way of working isn't right for me, then go and do something else, because it's going to happen. You're not going to be able to stop it."

Don't be surprised if BBC articles start quoting people who answered questions via Facebook, then. Or it's possible that important announcements made on Twitter will be incorporated into headlines. Neither of which is at all a bad thing, as long as the BBC's fact-checking remains up to snuff.

There is one detail that makes Horrocks's command a bit ironic, though. Almost exactly one year ago, Horrocks used Twitter to discuss some promotions with a colleague. The problem was, his messages were public instead of private, so unsuccessful applicants didn't receive any sort of proper notice. Other media organizations had a fair amount of fun at his expense.

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Luxembourg is another Covidien home

It turns out Covidien’s subsidiaries are all owned by Covidien International Finance S.A., a separate company headquartered in Luxembourg. At left, the tiny nation’s town hall.

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Planning a Small Business Windows 7 Migration

Small business owners need to balance their short-term economic concerns with the long-term benefits of the system improvements in Windows 7. Here’s the plan.

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MySpace Tests Audio Ads With TargetSpot

For most people, listening to music online is terribly convenient, and the occasional audio ad shouldn't represent a deal breaker. MySpace may be making a smart move, then, as it's begun testing 30-second ads with help from an Internet radio advertising company called TargetSpot.

The end result isn't too different from what fans of Yahoo Music or Pandora - or even regular radio listeners - are already used to. MySpace members just have to tolerate a short ad, and then they're free to continue on their figurative way, listening to a number of songs before getting stuck with another commercial.

That number of songs is quite large, too, with MySpace allowing people to progress through a playlist of 100 tunes between ads. So even if MySpace becomes less generous in the future (and it probably will), the social network should have plenty of wiggle room before people begin to grow resentful.

A MySpace representative confirmed to David Kaplan, "We're testing some new ad products and the response from our users has been positive."

The representative then encouraged more folks to weigh in, continuing, "As always, we're interested in hearing feedback from our community and the advertising community as we roll out new functionality that creates the right balance between user experience and commerce."
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> Yahoo Music Gets Former Universal Exec As New Chief
> 15 Million People Have MySpace Mail Accounts
> MySpace Integrates Facebook Connect Into Website

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Gallogly to run Administration, Revenue

Rosemary Booth Gallogly, left, the first woman ever to serve as Rhode Island’s state budget officer, will succeed Gary S. Sasse as director of the R.I. Departments of Administration and Revenue on March 1.

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Welcome to Small Business Tech Daily Newsletter

Like our shiny new Web design? We’ve also expanded our daily newsletter, and it comes loaded with even more information to help you make the best tech decisions for your company.

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Facebook Pulling Microsoft Banner Ads

The companies' exclusive ad partnership may have fallen short of promise, but Microsoft touts expanded search relationship with the popular social site.

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Google Lowers Controversial Nexus One Fee

Update 2: Google has now reportedly lowered the $350 fee to $150, and launched a support line for the phone at 888-48-NEXUS.

Update: The FCC has sent letters regarding early termination fees to Google, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. In its letter to Google, it says:

...where new options may subject consumers to substantial ETFs, potentially from more than one entity, the Commission has a special interest in ensuring that consumers have a clear and complete understanding of the rates, terms, and conditions on which the communications services are being offered and the rationale for those rates, terms, and conditions. The combination of ETFs from Google and T-Mobile for the Nexus One is also unique among the four major national carriers. Consumers have been surprised by this policy and by its financial impact. Please let us know your rationale(s) for these combined fees, and whether you have coordinated or will coordinate on these fees and on the disclosure of their combined effect.

Original Article: Google made big waves in the mobile industry early in the year, and the effects of those waves are being felt quite hard by some users. The Nexus One's release has gotten off to kind of a rocky start.

The issues plaguing customers of the much-anticipated Google phone have been widely publicized. Most of the gripes have dealt with Google's customer service (or lack thereof) for the device, and trouble with 3G connections. More recently, however, complaints of outrageous early termination fees have popped up.

The trouble for users is that if they got the Nexus One with a two-year contract from T-Mobile, they end up having to pay about $550 to terminate early. The thing is, they have to pay T-Mobile's regular fee, but they also have to pay Google a fee. Needless to say, that has caught some people off guard.

Google's fee is a $350 "Equipment Recovery Fee". It applies to customers who cancel their contracts within the first 120 days.

According to Niraj Sheth with the Wall Street Journal's Digits Blog, "A Google spokeswoman said in a statement that the fee is "a way for the company to recoup the subsidy it gives to contract customers."

"'This is standard practice for third-party resellers of T-Mobile and other operators,' she said. A T-Mobile spokesman said that the carrier’s early termination fee is standard for its customers on contract."

While the combination of the aforementioned problems may not bode well for Google's reputation in the mobile industry at the moment, the good news for the company is that they are projected to come out on top in the smartphone race eventually. Crunchgear says Google and Android will "own the smartphone market" eventually. Time will tell if that is an accurate depiction of things to come, but for now, people just seem upset.

Related Articles:
> Google Unveils Nexus One "Super Phone"
> Nexus One Sales Of 5-6 Million Units Forecast
> Google Tries to Carve Out its Place in Mobile

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BCBSRI Direct Pay increase authorized

Health Insurance Commissioner Christopher F. Koller has authorized Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island to raise its Direct Pay rates by an average of about 7 percent, effective April 1.

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Google Runs First Super Bowl Commercial

With millions watching, Google ran their first Super Bowl Commercial entitled "Parisian Love". If it looks familiar, that's because it's one of their "Search Stories" ads which was uploaded to YouTube back in November. You can check it out below...

What did you think of the commercial? Tell us.

Did you think you'd ever see a Google Super Bowl Commercial? Let us know.

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, tweeted yesterday..."Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over.")"

Well, it appears as though Hell has frozen over.

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Cambodia Lambastes Google Over Border Portrayal

The governments of France, Germany, and Italy are all arguably annoyed with Google. China's not thrilled with the search giant, either. And now, because of the way in which Google's portrayed a disputed border, Cambodia's quite mad at it.

According to Reuters, Svay Sitha, the secretary of state of Cambodia's Council of Ministers, wrote a letter to Google complaining about its interpretation of the area where Cambodia and Thailand touch.

"(The map) is devoid of truth and reality, and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious," Sitha said. "We therefore request that you withdraw the already disseminated, very wrong and not internationally recognised map and replace it.

Google probably won't just swap in Cambodia's favorite map and call it a day, of course; that would upset Thailand. This isn't the first time Google's been caught up in a border dispute, though (China and India have involved it before, and so have India and Pakistan), meaning it's possible to guess how this will play out.

The odds essentially favor Google coming up with three maps. One will be for users in Cambodia, another will be for users in Thailand, and the last will be for everyone else. The first two will show borders favoring their respective countries, while the third will use dotted lines to illustrate the dispute.
Related Articles:
> Google Launches 2 New Mobile Features For Maps
> Personalized Suggestions On Google Maps Introduced
> Google's Place Pages Just Got More Useful

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Marketing Tips: Google and Duplicate Content

Does Google penalize you for blasting videos to multiple sites? Plus, a source for all those gift cards you’ll never use and tips on the psychology of reciprocity.

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Why Red Hat Had to Pull the Plug on Exchange

When Red Hat launched its Red Hat Exchange three years ago, the idea was to provide a market for its partners to sell open source solutions. But things didn't go as well as planned.

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Yahoo Mobile Blog Launches

Yahoo may be doing a lot more in terms of mobile before long. Or at least telling us more about its current cell phone-related efforts. Either way, it launched the Yahoo Mobile Blog this week for the sake of keeping everyone up to date.

Irv Henderson, who's Yahoo's Vice President of Global Mobile Products, wrote the introductory blog post, and explained, "You can expect to learn about new product launches and enhancements, quick tips and tricks, our take on market trends, and predictions for where we see the market is heading."

Henderson also hinted, "So what's to come in 2010? Three developments will play a key role in shaping the mobile industry: Powerful browsers, the OS as a launching pad, and local content."

It should be interesting to see where Yahoo comes into that list. "Local content" seems like the best bet, but at the same time, Henderson's reference to browsers and operating systems makes it more likely that the company has irons in those fires. Execs tend not to admit that they're ignoring two-thirds of a major growth opportunity, after all.

We'll see what happens. Hopefully Yahoo won't wait too long between blog posts.
Related Articles:
> Firefox Finally Goes Mobile
> Consumers Expected To Spend $6.2 Billion On Mobile Apps In 2010
> Will Apple And Google Have Some Real Smartphone Competition?

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Citizens’ $39 overdraft fee is most in U.S.

Citizens Bank hits its customers with the highest overdraft fee charged by any of the nation’s 15 largest banks, a new study has found.

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Intel Introduces Core vPro Family, Aims to Woo SMBs

Four years and four generations into the vPro technology, Intel offers a slew of new enhancements, many of which are designed to help small businesses better handle PC security and management.

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Online TV Still Few People's First Choice

This week's big TV event was unquestionably the season premiere of "Lost"; lots of people have, over the course of the previous five or so years, become huge fans of the show. But new stats imply that very few of them sat in front of computer monitors on Wednesday, rather than televisions on Tuesday, in order to watch the two-hour episode.

Nielsen took a look at why people watch online TV, and the leading reason doesn't have much to do with convenience or fewer commercials. Instead, 54 percent of people simply watch TV online because they forgot to catch an episode as it aired. And the next-most common reason, with 47 percent of people citing it, is similar: because they missed a large number of episodes.

It's not until you get down to the least popular reasons ("Another member of my household watches another program at the same time," "I watch TV programming online when I am at work," and "I watch TV programming online when I travel") that online TV sort of distinguishes itself. Otherwise, it appears to act as more of a memory aid (or way to avoid buying DVDs) than anything.

The details relating to how people watch TV online also make the activity look like less than an integral part of everyday life. Jon Gibs, Nielsen's Vice President for Insights, Online and Cross Media, noted, "When we go online to watch TV shows, that activity dominates that particular online session," and "the viewing of TV shows online proves to be a rather solitary activity."

This all makes for less than fantastic news for Hulu and YouTube. Of course, we have to note that neither site is exactly starving for page views, regardless of people's reasons for visiting them.
Related Articles:
> DivX Rolls Out Online TV Platform At CES
> More People Watching Online TV
> DVR Users Fans Of Online Television

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RBS Citizens loses $600M as loans sour

Citizens Financial Group Inc.’s largest division lost $600 million in 2009 as it charged off more than $2 billion in bad loans and set aside more money for future defaults.

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Monster Announces HotJobs Acquisition

Yesterday and this morning, reports indicated that Yahoo wasn't having much luck selling its small business unit and HotJobs. HotJobs has, however, found a new home. This afternoon, Monster announced that it's agreed to acquire the property for $225 million, and Monster's reached a traffic agreement with Yahoo, too.

The agreement will see Monster provide career- and job-related content on Yahoo's homepages in the U.S. and Canada for three years. Monster's also getting the opportunity to negotiate similar agreements with other Yahoo properties worldwide.

Then, according to a press release, there may be "performance based annual payments calculated by clicks and expressions of interest, subject to annual floors and ceilings." (No further details were given on this front.)

Anyway, Hilary Schneider, Yahoo's Executive Vice President, explained the sale by stating, "The transaction with Monster enables us to continue to provide an important service to our users through the traffic agreement. Yahoo! remains focused on its core businesses and delivering exceptional experiences to users, partners and advertisers."

Yahoo and Monster expect to complete the acquisition (and subsequently start the three-year traffic agreement) during the third quarter of this year.
Related Articles:
> Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Gets Approval Deadline In Europe
> Yahoo Possibly Interested In Yelp
> VMware's Acquisition Of Zimbra Made Official

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Buzzwords

JavaScript takes a word you provide and puts it into a complex sentence.

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McAfee Targets SMBs With 'Quick' Services

The security software company's new offering will provide lifecycle service support for small and mid-sized businesses.

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R.I. sees some NECAP gains

PROVIDENCE – Making good effort, but needs to show improvement. Those were the comments issued by state officials in response to the report card for Rhode Island schools from the fall 2009 NECAP tests.

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Amazon Yields to Macmillan in Kindle Standoff

After briefly yanking the mega-publisher's e-books from its library, Amazon has reluctantly capitulated to Macmillan's pricing demands.

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HP Goes Zero Percent on IT Financing

Program targets SMBs with IT products and services with lease-to-buy option.

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URI prof’s company may rent campus lab

The R.I. State Properties Committee is scheduled Tuesday to discuss leasing space in URI’s Ranger Hall, left, to a company founded by Dr. Abraham Kovoor, an assistant professor of pharmacy at URI.

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eBay to Make Changes to Seller Fees

eBay announced that starting March 30, it will be "lowering the cost of selling for sellers of all sizes," a notion that is heavily disputed. The company claims it will introduce its lowest insertion fees ever, and that may be true for the lowest-priced auctions, but many are claiming prices are higher. Just read through the comments of this article to get a feel for what is being discussed.

Note: Some edits have been made to this article, but it has always said that the price change represents an increase for some sellers (now bolded below).

Here are the new options for sellers, as described in eBay's announcement:

Option 1: "eBay Everyday" Standard Rates

- List up to 100 items a month Auction-style free—no Insertion Fees—when you start your Auction-style listing under $1.

- Get new, lower Insertion Fees for all other start prices.

- Either way, pay one easy Final Value Fee of 9% of the winning bid—and never more than $50—pay only if your item sells.

- List in Fixed Price for 50¢ with Final Value Fees mostly the same as today

Option 2: eBay Stores Subscription Packages

- List in Fixed Price with full search exposure for as low as 3¢ Insertion Fees with Final Value Fees for the most part the same as today

- Get FREE pictures

- Get deeply discounted fees on Auction-style listings

eBay says option one is ideal for those who sell occasionally, while option two is better for most sellers with 50 or more listings a month.

eBay's price change does represent a price increase for sellers who don't have a store. This is brought up in an interview (though supplied by eBay itself) with eBay VP of Buyer and Seller Experience Dinesh Lathi. His response is below (there is more to the interview, which can be viewed here):

When asked about why eBay will now only offer zero insertion fees for auctions starting under $1, as opposed to 5 item listings for free at any start price, Lathi says it is because eBay feels like the under $1 price is where the auction format works best.

Not everything from eBay's announcement is targeted at sellers. For buyers, the company is launching a new buyer protection program, which they see as a way to bring in more buyers and keep them on eBay. There is another series of videos discussing this aspect of the announcement with eBay Senior Director of Resolutions Lynda Talgo here. When asked whether or not the program could be perceived as eBay favoring the buyer over the seller, she says:

Another key component of eBay's announcement is what the company refers to as a boost to seller efficiency. For example, sellers of auto parts will be able to create a single listing with a complete list of compatible vehicles, which will save the seller on insertion fees and time. Sellers will be able to list multiple variations of a product in one fixed price listing in "many more" categories.

More details that reflect upcoming eBay changes can be found in this interview, this interview, the 2010 Spring Seller Update overview, and this announcement itself. In addition, there will be a webinar Thursday, and more details announced on the announcement board.

What do you think of eBay's upcoming changes? Discuss here.

Related Articles:
> eBay Declares Mobile Success For Holiday Season
> eBay Fined $2.6 Million Over LVMH Sales
> eBay Previews Possible Geotargeting Feature For Sellers

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