<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>All About Gadget &#187; online</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.allaboutgadget.com/tag/online/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com</link>
	<description>All the things about technology</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:35:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Starz to pull content from Netflix as talks fail</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/starz-to-pull-content-from-netflix-as-talks-fail/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/starz-to-pull-content-from-netflix-as-talks-fail/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:01:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[money]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nasdaq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[starz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united-states]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[york]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/starz-to-pull-content-from-netflix-as-talks-fail/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ A screen grab shows the access to Netflix online, as displayed on a television screen, in Encinitas, California July 25, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake By Lisa Richwine and Yinka Adegoke LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK &#124; Thu Sep 1, 2011 8:28pm EDT LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starz Entertainment will pull all of its movies and television shows from Netflix Inc's streaming service early next year, depriving Netflix customers from online viewing of new releases out of two major Hollywood studios. Pay-TV operator Starz, controlled by John Malone's Liberty Media, said on Thursday it had ended talks to renew a deal that expires February 28. After that date, Starz will stop providing its content, which includes exclusive rights to first-run Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co movies, for streaming on Netflix. Shares of Netflix were down 8.7 percent at $213 in after-hours trade, from a close on the Nasdaq of $233.27. Netflix was offering to pay somewhere in the $200 million to $300 million range annually for rights to stream Starz content, a source familiar with the negotiations said. Starz balked at that offer, the source said. Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in June it "wouldn't be shocking" to pay up to $200 million, a figure some analysts had predicted. The original online streaming rights are believed to have been agreed for around $30 million a year four years ago, people familiar with the deal have said. Starz, in a statement, called its decision to end talks with Netflix "a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging" of its content. The news came the same day that an unpopular Netflix price hike of as much as $6 per month took effect. The breakdown with Starz was a surprise because investors had expected the parties to reach a deal, said Brett Harriss, an analyst with Gabelli &#038; Co. "Netflix just effectively raised prices by 60 percent, and a big chunk of their content walked away," Harriss said. Thursday's announcement could open up the possibility that Starz might now court another online streaming provider, such as Amazon.com Inc or Google Inc's Youtube. Starz was not immediately available for further comment. Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said the company was "confident we can take the money we had earmarked for Starz renewal next year and spend it with other content providers to maintain or even improve the Netflix experience." Netflix said Starz movies and shows account for just 8 percent of U.S. subscribers' viewing, and the company had projected that to fall to 5-6 percent by the first quarter of 2012, right when the deal dies. Starz is the exclusive distributor of first-run Sony and Disney movies on pay-TV in the United States under an agreement that allows it to distribute the programing wholesale on multiple platforms, including online streaming. But Netflix -- which has grown faster than partners expected -- triggered a deal clause in the first quarter when it announced it now has more than 22.8 million subscribers in the United States, of which nearly two-thirds were streaming videos, sources told Reuters in June. Under terms of the original contract, the trigger allowed Sony to ask Starz for better financial terms, the sources had said. Sony's content already was removed from the Netflix streaming service while negotiations were underway. Disney movies were accessible. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Robert MacMillan, Matthew Lewis and Carol Bishopric) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/starz-to-pull-content-from-netflix-as-talks-fail/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Alleged LulzSec teenage hacker released on bail (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/alleged-lulzsec-teenage-hacker-released-on-bail-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/alleged-lulzsec-teenage-hacker-released-on-bail-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:36:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[british]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[church]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[london]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scientology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united-states]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/alleged-lulzsec-teenage-hacker-released-on-bail-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ LONDON &#8211; A teenager accused of acting as a spokesman for computer hacking groups that targeted Sony, Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers and a British crime agency was freed on bail Monday as he awaits trial. Jake Davis, who was arrested last week at home on Scotland's remote Shetland Islands by the police e-crime unit, is accused of mounting a cyberattack on Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency and other offenses linked to the Luz Security and Anonymous hacking collectives. The charge relates to a distributed denial of service attack, in which websites are flooded with traffic to make them crash. Prosecutor Rav Chodha said Davis, 18, also was involved in an attack against Sony Corp. in which customers' bank details were accessed, and attacks on a website of Britain's National Health Service and sites belonging to the Murdoch-owned Sun and Times newspapers. Davis used the online nickname Topiary and acted as a spokesman for the two hacker groups, police said. During the appearance at London's City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. Davis spoke only to confirm his name and personal details. Judge Howard Riddle ordered him released on bail until a court appearance Aug. 30. He is not allowed to use the Internet and must wear an electronic tag, observe an overnight curfew and live at his mother's home in central England. LulzSec shot to prominence in May with attacks on U.S. broadcaster PBS, whose website it defaced by posting a bogus story claiming that the late rapper Tupac Shakur had been discovered alive in New Zealand. The group is a spin-off of Anonymous, an amorphous collection of Internet enthusiasts, pranksters and activists whose targets have included the Church of Scientology, the music industry, and financial companies such as Visa and MasterCard. Davis' arrest is one of a spate by law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United States trying to put a stop to Anonymous and its offshoots. Last month the FBI, British and Dutch officials carried out 21 arrests, many of them related to the group's attacks on Internet payment provider PayPal Inc., which has been targeted over its refusal to process donations to WikiLeaks. Last month another British teenager, 19-year-old Ryan Cleary, was charged with attacks on the Serious Organized Crime Agency and various British music sites. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/alleged-lulzsec-teenage-hacker-released-on-bail-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Online real estate listings website Zillow increased the price ...</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/online-real-estate-listings-website-zillow-increased-the-price/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/online-real-estate-listings-website-zillow-increased-the-price/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:24:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Photo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[increased-the-price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[its-initial]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[listings-website]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public-offering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[real-estate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[zillow]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/online-real-estate-listings-website-zillow-increased-the-price/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ (Zillow) - Online real estate listings website Zillow increased the price of its initial public offering, valuing the company at up to $500 million.(Zillow) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/online-real-estate-listings-website-zillow-increased-the-price/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Challenge to Groupon&#039;s model with trio of deals (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/challenge-to-groupons-model-with-trio-of-deals-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/challenge-to-groupons-model-with-trio-of-deals-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:35:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cambridge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[italian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philadelphia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[summer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yahoo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/challenge-to-groupons-model-with-trio-of-deals-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; Groupon's online coupons save people cash, but they're not always great deals for merchants. Some businesses complain that bargain hunters rarely return after scoring a cheap meal or massage. A new site called LevelUp believes it has a way for restaurants, nail salons and other local businesses to keep people coming back. To drum up repeat business, the company offers consumers a series of three deals, each better than the one before. Online deal sites abound, but LevelUp hopes to stand out by giving people an initial offer that's on par with competitors' &#8212; and following that up with even better deals. After three visits, LevelUp figures that customers will be familiar with the merchant enough to return, even without discounts. It's still too early to say whether enough consumers will be willing to pay full price_ a key factor that will determine whether LevelUp becomes a serious threat to Groupon or remains one of hundreds of wannabes. Groupon created a new marketing phenomenon catering to people's hunger for bargains. It offers the chance to purchase discounts targeted to a person's city and preferences. For example, someone might pay $20 for a $40 gift certificate to a spa, restaurant, car wash or yoga studio. The Chicago-based company's upcoming initial public offering of stock is expected to be in high demand, even though it lost $413 million last year on revenue of $713 million. The harsh reality of the online coupon business is that the concept of offering customers deep discounts is easy to replicate. All you need is a sales team to craft deals with merchants, and an email service for blasting those offers to people who sign up on a website. But rivals have difficulty breaking through because market leader Groupon already has 83 million people subscribing to its daily offers by email, and second-place LivingSocial has 39 million. By contrast, LevelUp has just 100,000 subscribers. Small businesses often prefer to partner with a service that can reach more potential customers, even though LevelUp is trying to sweeten the deal for merchants by taking no commission on the first of the three offers. Others are trying to distinguish themselves by targeting niche audiences, such as nerds or moms, or people with specific interests, such as fitness or food. Facebook is testing a deals program of its own in five U.S. cities, trying to rival Groupon by tapping Facebook's base of 750 million users worldwide. Google has one, too, rolled out first in Portland, Ore. LevelUp comes from the folks behind Scvngr (pronounced "scavenger"), a mobile-gaming startup in Cambridge, Mass., created by 22-year-old Princeton dropout Seth Priebatsch. LevelUp, whose name is gamer-speak for the act of rising to a higher status in a video game, launched in Boston and Philadelphia in March. It plans to expand this summer to major markets such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago, the home turf of market leader Groupon. Most of the businesses it works with are local, but deals have included larger brands, such as Levi's. Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst who covers online shopping, says LevelUp will have trouble competing not just because of its size. If LevelUp proves successful, competitors may apply the company's multiple deal model to their own sites. Mulpuru believes Groupon in particular could simply copy LevelUp's idea. In May, it did something similar by offering a half-off card for eight sandwiches at sub chain Quizno's. But in the tech sphere, it's not unheard of for a tiny newcomer to best an early leader: Google surpassed Web search pioneers AltaVista and Yahoo, and Facebook triumphed over social networking site Myspace (which had itself trounced Friendster). Much of Priebatsch's confidence comes from his insistence that the current online coupon model, where sites take a big cut of the revenue from each deal, is unsustainable. Groupon, for instance, takes up to half the price of the coupon, so if an Italian restaurant is offering $50 worth of food for $25, the merchant gets just $12.50. That's a source of many complaints from merchants. They benefit only when a Groupon customer brings lots of friends who pay full price or comes back later to shop without the discount. LevelUp is trying to persuade skeptical merchants to offer great deals by taking none of the revenue in the first round. After that, LevelUp takes 25 percent. Priebatsch believes that merchants will be more likely to offer bargains that can be used for repeat visits. The setup also gives LevelUp an incentive to encourage repeat visits because it makes no money otherwise. "If we can't get customers to level up, we're not doing anything of value," Priebatsch says. Boston-based burrito chain Boloco offered $10 worth of food for $5 in the first level, $25 worth of food for $10 in the second and $45 worth of food for $15 in the third. Customers can use one level before buying the next. Sara Steele-Rogers, who leads Boloco's social media and marketing efforts, says that a month after the promotion ended, the chain saw strong sales growth. It's hard to tell, but the increase may have been due largely to people redeeming their LevelUp vouchers: Of the customers who bought the first deal, 30 percent also bought the second and 26 percent of those who bought the second deal purchased the third, too. Still, she says, "in terms of encouraging repeat business, that's awesome." Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/challenge-to-groupons-model-with-trio-of-deals-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>APNewsBreak: Visa again blocks funds for WikiLeaks (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apnewsbreak-visa-again-blocks-funds-for-wikileaks-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apnewsbreak-visa-again-blocks-funds-for-wikileaks-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[briefly-accepted]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chief-executive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[julian-assange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apnewsbreak-visa-again-blocks-funds-for-wikileaks-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ LONDON &#8211; Visa said Friday it has closed a donation channel to WikiLeaks after a payment processor briefly accepted money transfers to the anti-secrecy site. Visa and MasterCard were two of several financial and Internet service companies that severed ties to WikiLeaks following its disclosure of thousands of confidential U.S. documents. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims the 7-month-long blockade has cost his online group millions. But on Thursday both companies appeared to abruptly change course when WikiLeaks' payment processor, DataCell ehf, announced that donations to the site were again being processed. That appears to have been an accident, at least as far as Visa Europe Ltd. was concerned. In an email to The Associated Press, the company said that one of its financial partners had "briefly accepted payments on a merchant site linked to WikiLeaks." "As soon as this came to our attention, action was taken with the suspension of Visa payment acceptance to the site remaining in place," the company said. It's unclear how many payments were accepted, or even if they were fully processed. DataCell Chief Executive Andreas Fink confirmed to the AP that credit card payments appeared to have halted, but said he couldn't know for sure why. He added that he wouldn't know how many payments had been successfully made to WikiLeaks until technical staff examined the logs. MasterCard did not return emails and phone calls seeking comment. ___ Online: DataCell: http://www.datacell.com/ Raphael G. Satter can be reached at: http://twitter.com/razhael Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apnewsbreak-visa-again-blocks-funds-for-wikileaks-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Zynga files for IPO of up to $1 billion</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/zynga-files-for-ipo-of-up-to-1-billion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/zynga-files-for-ipo-of-up-to-1-billion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:42:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clare-baldwin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jennifer-saba]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social-networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[york]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/zynga-files-for-ipo-of-up-to-1-billion/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ The CityVille hometown game in an image courtesy of Zynga. Credit: Reuters/Handout By Jennifer Saba and Clare Baldwin NEW YORK &#124; Fri Jul 1, 2011 2:25pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online game company Zynga Inc filed for an initial public offering hoping to raise up to $1 billion, the latest hot Internet startup to tap investor interest in Internet social media companies. The company, which makes popular games that people play on the Facebook social network, did not say how many shares it was planning to sell or give an expected price range, according to a U.S. government filing on Friday. A source previously told Reuters that Zynga's IPO could raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion and could value the company at $15 billion to $20 billion. "I think it's going to be an exciting IPO," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "It's unique. It's one of a kind. The growth is amazing." Zynga is the company behind FarmVille and Mafia Wars. It is the top game publisher on Facebook. While its games are free, its revenue comes mainly from selling virtual items such as tractors and weapons that people use in the games. In the three months ended March 31, Zynga's common stockholders broke even on revenue of $235.4 million compared to $101 million for the same quarter in 2010. During the same period, Zynga reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $112.3 million, up 20 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. "At 232 million monthly actively users and (revenue of) $235 million, that is $1 per monthly active user per quarter, which is impressive," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. Zynga offers an alternative to investors beyond traditional videogame companies, which have seen their share prices erode in recent years. Zynga's games, which do not require hardware and are played mainly on Facebook, have been eating into the $60.4 billion global video game industry, which consists largely of action or sports games played on consoles and TV sets. Consider gaming stalwarts Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard Inc. Sterne Agee analyst Bhatia estimates that EA is trading 11 times its enterprise value to EBITDA during the last four quarters, while Activision is trading at 6 times. Zynga is trading at 34 times an estimated $15 billion valuation. And yet, Zynga could fall prey to the same factors besetting traditional video game publishers, including pressure to churn out hits to prevent fickle players from moving on to the next trendy game. Zynga has expanded rapidly through small acquisitions at the rate of about one a month in the last year. THE FACEBOOK EFFECT Zynga's dependence on Facebook is seen as a benefit --investors are piling into social media companies such as LinkedIn and Groupon -- and a risk. The company warned that it generates nearly all of its revenue and players through the world's No. 1 social networking site. "Any deterioration in our relationship with Facebook would harm our business and adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock," according to the filing. Last year, for example, the gaming company came close to declaring war over a change in Facebook's policy involving credits. Facebook wanted to take a 30 percent cut in transactions involving its credits -- the currency Zynga players use to buy virtual goods. Bing Gordon, a video game veteran, Zynga board member and partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield &#038; Buyers, described the standoff during the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in May as a Silicon Valley version of the Cuban Missile crisis where Zynga was at one point prepared to walk away from Facebook. "Facebook would love to lessen its dependence on Zynga, but it's not going to shoot Zynga," said Wedbush's Pachter. "Zynga is reason to come back to Facebook every day." The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different. Underwriters are being led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin, Jennifer Saba and Liana B. Baker ; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Gunna Dickson and Robert MacMillan ) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/zynga-files-for-ipo-of-up-to-1-billion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google targets Facebook with new social service</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-targets-facebook-with-new-social-service/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-targets-facebook-with-new-social-service/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:35:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[engagement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[network]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social-networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-targets-facebook-with-new-social-service/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ 1 / 2 The Google Plus social network. Credit: Reuters/Google By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:27pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc is making its boldest move to take on Facebook in the fast-growing social networking market and to maintain its dominance on the Web. Google, which has been frustrated by a string of failed attempts to crack the social networking market, introduced a full-fledged social network on Tuesday dubbed Google+. It is the company's biggest foray into social networking since co-founder Larry Page took over as chief executive in April. Page has made social networking a top priority at the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, whose position as the main gateway to online information could be at risk as people spend more time on sites like Facebook and Twitter. "They had the luxury of making mistakes in the past with their social initiatives. They don't really have that luxury now," said Ray Valdes, an analyst at research firm Gartner, referring to Google. "Companies that are successful with the social web will get the page views, they'll get the engagement and they'll eventually get the advertising dollars that are so important to Google," he said. Google+, now available for testing, is structured in remarkably similar fashion to Facebook, with profile pictures and newsfeeds forming a central core. However, a user's friends or contacts are grouped into very specific circles of their choosing, versus the common pool of friends typical on Facebook. ( here ) Enticing consumers to join another social networking service will not be easy, said Rory Maher, an analyst with Hudson Square Research. "They're going to have an uphill battle due to Facebook's network effects," said Maher, citing the 700 million users that some research firms say are currently on Facebook's service. "The more users they (Facebook) get, the harder it gets for Google to steal those," he said. But he added that Google's popularity in Web search and email could help it gain a following. To set its service apart from Facebook, Google is betting on what it says is a better approach to privacy -- a hot-button issue that has burned Facebook, as well as Google, in the past. Central to Google+ are the "circles" of friends and acquaintances. Users can organize contacts into different customized circles -- family members, coworkers, college friends -- and share photos, videos or other information only within those groups. "In the online world there's this 'share box' and you type into it and you have no idea who is going to get that, or where it's going to land, or how it's going to embarrass you six months from now," said Google Vice President of Product Management Bradley Horowitz. "For us, privacy isn't buried six panels deep," he added. Facebook, which has been criticized for its confusing privacy controls, introduced a feature last year that lets users create smaller groups of friends. Google, without mentioning Facebook by name, said other social networking services' attempts to create groups have been "bolt-on" efforts that do not work as well. Facebook, in an emailed statement, said "we're in the early days of making the Web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere." Google+ started rolling out to a limited number of users on Tuesday in what the company is calling a field trial. Only those invited to join will initially be able to use the service. Google did not say when it would be more widely available. Google, which generated roughly $29 billion in revenue in 2010, said the new service does not currently feature advertising. LEARNING FROM BUZZ Google's stock has been pressured by concerns about rising spending within the company and increasing regulatory scrutiny -- not to mention its struggles with social networking. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, among others, is currently reviewing its business practices. Its shares are down almost 20 percent this year after underperforming the market in 2010. To create Google+, the company went back to the drawing board in the wake of several notable failures, including Google Wave and Google Buzz, a microblogging service whose launch was marred by privacy snafus. "We learned a lot in Buzz, and one of the things we learned is that there's a real market opportunity for a product that addresses people's concerns around privacy and how their information is shared," said Horowitz. Google drew more than 1 billion visitors worldwide to its websites in May, more than any other company, according to Web analytics firm comScore. But people are spending more time on Facebook: The average U.S. visitor spent 375 minutes per month on Facebook in May, compared with 231 minutes for Google. Google+ seems designed to make its online properties a pervasive part of the daily online experience, rather than being spots where Web surfers occasionally check in to search for a website or check email. As with Facebook's service, Google Plus has a central Web page that displays an ever-updating stream of the comments, photos and links being shared by friends and contacts. A toolbar across the top of most of Google's sites -- such as its main search page, its Gmail site and its Maps site -- allows users to access their personalized data feed. They can then contribute their own information to the stream. The company has combined the Facebook and Twitter models of social networking in Google+: A person can have friends in their network with whom they share information and they can also follow certain people, say a movie critic, as occurs on Twitter. Google+ will also offer a special video chat feature, in which up to 10 people can jump on a conference call. And Google will automatically store photos taken on cell phones on its Internet servers, allowing a Google+ user to access the photos from any computer and share them. When asked whether he expected people to switch from Facebook to Google+, Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra said people may decide to use both. "People today use multiple tools. I think what we're offering here offers some very distinct advantages around some basic needs," he said. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by John Wallace, Gerald E. McCormick and Phil Berlowitz) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-targets-facebook-with-new-social-service/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google unveils latest social networking feat (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-unveils-latest-social-networking-feat-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-unveils-latest-social-networking-feat-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:35:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[game]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[starbucks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yahoo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[york]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-unveils-latest-social-networking-feat-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK &#8211; Online search leader Google Inc. is taking yet another stab at social networking, as it tries to go up against Facebook in this wildly popular and lucrative segment of the Internet. This time the project is called Google+ and it aims to make online sharing more like real life. "We think people communicate in very rich ways," said Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google. "The online tools we have to choose from give us very rigid services." Other social networking tools make selective sharing within small groups difficult. They don't allow for the nuances that people are used to in offline communication and because they call so many acquaintances "friends," said Gundotra in a blog post announcing the service. Many Facebook users, for instance, find it difficult to limit their status updates to small groups of people so that their coworkers aren't exposed to party photos or their parents aren't privy to flirtatious posts on their "wall." Though Facebook has tried to address this with a much-hyped "Groups" feature, it's not clear how many people use it. Gundotra's criticism seems aimed squarely at Facebook, the world's largest online social network. Facebook has become synonymous with online sharing since its founding seven years ago. In a prepared statement, Facebook said only that "we're in the early days of making the web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere." Google, which dominates Internet search with a firm hold on two-thirds of the U.S. market, has been experimenting with different social tools since late 2009 with limited success. "Buzz" was one major mishap. The product was a social network attached to Google's popular Gmail service, and it wound up exposing email contacts that users did not want to share. Google eventually agreed to submit to independent audits of its privacy controls every other year for the next two decades as part of a Federal Trade Commission settlement. Google shut down another attempt at online sharing, Google Wave, last August after unveiling it with much fanfare in 2009. The service, which let users chat, share files and collaborate on documents in real time, didn't gain enough fans. More than a year in the works, the project Google unveiled Tuesday lets users share things with smaller groups of people through a feature called "Circles." This means only college buddies, say, or your favorite co-workers can see the photos, links our updates that you post. Another feature called "Sparks" aims to make it easier to find online content you care about, be it news about surfing or barbecue recipes. You can then share this with friends who might be interested in it. In an online video, Google calls it "nerding out" and exploring a subject together. There's also a group messaging service called "Huddle" and a feature that lets users instantly upload photos that they take with mobile phones. The photos are stored in a private photo album on Google's remote servers, and users can access them and share them as they see fit. Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li has high hopes for the friend grouping feature. She said that her biggest pet peeve with Facebook is its existing friend management tools. She noted that millions of people already use Google to share things with others via email, and Google+ looks like a natural extension of this type of sharing, making it more functional and organized. "I think Facebook is going to have to up its game," she said. Google+ is undergoing what the company calls a "field trial," so it's accessible by invitation only and not yet available to the public. The company declined to say when it'll be more widely available. Lou Kerner, a social media analyst with Wedbush Securities, believes the game is over in the competition to become the world's global social network. With 700 million users, Facebook has won, he said. There's a lot more to the social Web than just creating a successful social network, though, and Kerner thinks that with Google+ the search leader is trying to make its existing product offerings more social. "I don't think they're seeing this as a direct competitor to Facebook," he said. Google+ does have its skeptics. "People have their social circles on Facebook," said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst with research firm eMarketer. "Asking them to create another social circle is challenging." And Google is still best known for its flagship service, online search. "The whole idea of a Google social network...they've been throwing stuff against the wall for several years and so forth nothing has stuck." Going to Google to be social, she added, is like "going to Starbucks for the muffins. Or, for that matter, going to Facebook for search." __ AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz in San Francisco contributed to this story. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-unveils-latest-social-networking-feat-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>FTC to issue subpoenas in Google antitrust probe (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ftc-to-issue-subpoenas-in-google-antitrust-probe-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ftc-to-issue-subpoenas-in-google-antitrust-probe-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 2011 06:19:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[companies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[european]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[federal-trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[french]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social-networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[street]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ftc-to-issue-subpoenas-in-google-antitrust-probe-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ WASHINGTON &#8211; A published report says federal regulators are preparing to issue subpoenas to Google and other companies as authorities gather information for a broad antitrust probe into the Internet search leader's business practices. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission will issue subpoenas "within days," which would signal that it has opened a formal investigation. The FTC is looking into whether Google abuses its dominance of Internet search to extend its influence into other lucrative online markets, such as mapping, comparison shopping and travel. Rivals complain that Google Inc., which handles two out of every three Internet searches in the U.S., manipulates its results to steer users to its own sites and services and bury links to competitors. Google and the Federal Trade Commission refused to comment Thursday. The European Commission and the Texas attorney general have already opened investigations into whether Google uses its enormous clout as a major gateway to the Internet to stifle competition online. The EU launched its investigation after competitors &#8212; U.K.-based price comparison site Foundem, French legal search engine ejustice.fr and Microsoft-owned shopping site Ciao &#8212; complained that their services were being buried in Google search results. The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, too, is examining whether Google gives its own services favorable treatment in search results and is seeking to have either Google Chairman Eric Schmidt or Chief Executive Larry Page testify before the panel. Google's rivals welcomed the news of an FTC probe, for which the agency has been laying the groundwork for months. In a statement, FairSearch.org, a coalition of Internet travel companies including Expedia, Hotwire and Kayak, said, "Google's practices are deserving of full-scale investigations by U.S. antitrust authorities." "Google engages in anti-competitive behavior across many vertical categories of search that harms consumers by restricting the ability of other companies to compete to put the best products and services in front of Internet users, who should be allowed to pick winners and losers online, not Google," the group said. Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer who represents companies competing with Google in other online markets, stressed that any antitrust probe needs take a broad look not only at Google's so-called "organic" search results &#8212; which are ranked based on relevance &#8212; but also at the so-called "sponsored" results that advertisers pay for. He noted that these, too, tend to place Google's own services on the top. In addition, because Google powers search functionality on many other Web sites, antitrust officials need to look at organic and sponsored search results on those sites as well, Reback said. Although the FTC investigation would be the broadest federal inquiry into Google so far, the company is already in the crosshairs of U.S. regulators. In April, the FTC announced a landmark agreement with Google to settle charges that it deceived users and violated its own privacy policy when it launched a social networking service called Buzz last year. The settlement requires Google to adopt a comprehensive privacy program and submit to independent audits of that program every other year for the next 20 years. Also in April, Justice Department officials extracted significant concessions from Google _many backed by the FairSearch coalition &#8212; in exchange for government approval to purchase airfare tracker ITA Software. ITA was the latest in a series of big acquisitions by the search giant. Other big purchases include the 2007 acquisition of Internet advertising network DoubleClick and last year's purchase of mobile ad service AdMob, both of which were approved by the FTC without any conditions. But to proceed with the ITA purchase, Google had to agree to accept ongoing federal monitoring to ensure it does not engage in anticompetitive behavior, which could include manipulation of search results. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ftc-to-issue-subpoenas-in-google-antitrust-probe-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Not only .coms as Internet body throws open domain names</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:34:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[editing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[japanese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ A woman uses a computer in the lounge area of the 27th Chaos Communication Congress (27C3) in Berlin in this December 27, 2010 file photo. Credit: Reuters/Thomas Peter By Raju Gopalakrishnan SINGAPORE &#124; Mon Jun 20, 2011 6:31am EDT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - good.food, learnto.salsa, glossy.lipstick -- people and companies will be able to set up a website with almost any address by the end of next year if they have a legitimate claim to the domain name and can pay a hefty fee. The Internet body that oversees domain names voted on Monday to end restricting them to suffixes like .com or .gov and will receive applications for new names from January 12 next year with the first approvals likely by the end of 2012. And they can be in any characters -- Cyrillic, Kanji or Devanagari for instance, for users of Russian, Japanese and Hindi. "It's the biggest change I think we have seen on the Internet," Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), told reporters. "We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration." The new gTLD, or generic top-level domain, program was approved by 13 votes to one with two abstentions by the board of ICANN at a meeting in Singapore. The sole opposition came from a member who felt that more time was needed to hold discussions with government and others parties, ICANN officials said. The new names could infringe on social and religious sensitivities, for instance if someone wanted to set up a .nazi domain, said Dengate Thrush. And people who have invested in securing lucrative .com domains will find the value of the holdings diluted by the new rules, he added. Thrashing out the rules and overcoming objections has taken years, ICANN officials said. For instance, while the new steep charges of $185,000 to apply for a domain name could deter cyber-squatters, companies with well known trademarks worry that they may have to contend with series of copycat names like coke.paris or google.zambia. ICANN hopes to weed these out in an intensive approval process that will take months, at the least, and also involve governments and other agencies. "I think we've crossed the Rubicon," said Antony van Couvering, CEO of Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. "We were expecting it to happen some time in 2009," he said, adding that the change was also delayed by governments wanting to handle trademark issues in their own countries. "The process has been so lengthy that some people who wanted to do it are now either broke or disgusted." COMPANIES Experts say corporations should be among the first to register, resulting in domain names ending in brands like .toyota, .apple or .coke. The move is seen as a big opportunity for brands to gain more control over their online presence and send visitors more directly to parts of their sites -- and a danger for those who fail to take advantage. Japanese electronics giant Canon, for instance, has already said it plans to apply for rights to use domain names ending with .canon. Besides the $185,000 to apply, individuals or organisations will have to show a legitimate claim to the name they are buying. ICANN is taking on hundreds of consultants to whom it will outsource the job of adjudicating claims. Today, just 22 gTLDs exist -- .com, .org and .info are a few examples -- plus about 250 country-level domains like .uk or .cn. After the change, several hundred new gTLDs are expected to come into existence. As well as big brands, organisations such as cities or other communities are expected to apply. GTLDs such as .nyc, .london or .food could provide opportunities for many smaller businesses to grab names no longer available at the .com level -- like bicycles.london or indian.food. "It's the next expansion of the Internet, it's the future of the Internet," said Kieren McCarthy, the CEO of .Nxt,Inc, a San Francisco-based company which covers Internet policy and governance issues. "I think our kids will think that we were crazy to always talk about .coms." (Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan in LONDON; Editing by Ron Popeski ) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
