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Google: The Word of the Decade

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:59:45 +0000

The American Dialect Society (ADS) has named google - the verb - as its Word of the Decade. According to the ADS, the verb google (meaning to "search the Internet") won out over blog, which, according to Grant Barrett, the chair of the ADS's New Word Committee, "just sounds ugly." Tweet was named the top word of the year for 2009. Fail - "a noun or interjection used when something is egregiously unsuccessful" - was 2009's most useful word. Sponsor Definitions: Tweet : noun , a short message sent via the Twitter.com service, and verb, the act of sending such a message. Google : Verb meaning "to search the Internet." Generic form of the trademarked "Google," the world's dominant Internet search engine. Fail : A noun or interjection used when something is egregiously unsuccessful. Usually written as "FAIL!" The ADS's members include linguists, grammarians, etymologists, writers, editors and university students. The ADS was founded in 1889. Twitter and other social networks have clearly captured the imagination of many language societies. Twitter was the top word of in the Global Language Monitor 's survey, and unfriend was the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the year. To represent the 1990s, the ADS picked Web as the top word of the decade. Do You Agree? What do you think? Do you think google deserves to be the one word that represents the last decade? Or is this just another example of how Google is succeeding in its slow takeover of our culture? Discuss

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Google: The Word of the Decade

Yahoo! Brings the Web to Blu-Ray

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:05:50 +0000

Yahoo! announced plans today at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to spread its tentacles deeper into the Internet-connected TV market, inking new deals with TV, media player and processor manufacturers, as well as releasing its widget development kit and signing on with new content partners. When we looked at the rebirth of the Web TV last year, we had one major reservation - would people really buy a new TV just for the widgets? "Probably not," we said. This year, Yahoo! is bringing the Internet into our other devices, so we don't have to. Sponsor Yahoo! is stepping it up in the Internet-connected TV game, which is an area we saw boom at last year's CES. This year we're seeing much of the same . Skype announced its entrance into the Internet-connected TV market on Tuesday, while Samsung announced today that it will offer the Napster widget on its TVs. According to the press release, new deals with MIPS, Sigma Designs and ViewSonic will enable Yahoo! Widgets to be embedded not only in Internet-connected TVs, but in a number of other devices, such as media players, "Blu-ray players, network players, AV receivers, and cable/IPTV set-top boxes." This is a big move because, while we may not want to replace our widescreen TV, we might be in the market for a Blu-ray player. Today's announcement also highlighted deals with a number of new content providers, including Showtime, CNBC, Napster, The Weather Channel and more. But do we really need The Weather Channel widget when we can have just The Weather Channel, itself? Maybe. Maybe not. But the company's release of its widget development kit to the general public might open the doors to some interesting new widgets. Cory Pforzheimer, a spokesperson for Yahoo!, told us earlier today that keeping the WDK private was an issue of working together with TV manufacturers and software developers. "TV manufacturers weren't really used to updating after they sent out their units. There's no such thing as a beta on a TV," he said. "The last thing Samsung wants is calls when someone's Facebook widget doesn't work." The combination of affordability and potential for innovation here could be just enough to bring the Web back to the TV through the side door. Discuss

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Yahoo! Brings the Web to Blu-Ray

Top 50 Social Brands of 2009. Spoiler: You Know All of Them

cgseo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:52:15 +0000

"2009 was the year of Social Media" according to Buzz Study , the blog that keeps tabs on Infegy's Social Radar . They're not speaking from experience, they're speaking from what they've seen in the billions of "blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts" the service has collected over the past two years. While the service normally provides more complex information around a certain brand, as in its tracking of the Domino's Pizza PR disaster this past September , the top 50 list takes an easier approach: how many unique sources mentioned a brand over the past year. So what brand was the talk of the town in 2009? Sponsor Why, Twitter , of course. Google , which had previously held the number one spot, took second prize and Facebook jumped up six spots to round out the top three. While you can take a look at the full list of 50 top brands yourself, Buzz Study had this to say about the results: The list certainly shows that 2009 was the year of Social Media. Twitter moved ahead of Google to take the number 1 spot, while Facebook and MySpace made significant leaps over big brands as well. Most video game related brands were down this year as well, including Sony, Wii, Xbox, and Nintendo. It also appears TV brands all jumped this year including Disney, MTV, Fox, BBC, CNN, ESPN, and ABC. Blackberry, MTV and Starbucks were among the top movers in this years list, with each rising 17, 13 and 12 spots respectively. Canon, Samsung and Intel were the hardest hid on the list, dropping 17, 16 and 13 spots from last year. Discuss

Socialtext Gets The Bookings But The Year Ahead Will Be Tough

cgseo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:37:00 +0000

Socialtext is saying it posted record quarter-over-quarter bookings growth in 2009, bolstered by social computing's growing presence in the enterprise. It's important to note that Socialext is reporting record bookings, not record revenues. The company does not disclose its actual revenues. It's hard to to give Socilatext a lot of credit without knowing how its revenues fared. Further, the year ahead may be one of the most challenging for the company as competition is only getting more fierce. Sponsor Socialtext is one of the most established companies in the Enterprise 2.0 space, dating back to 2002 when it got its start as a wiki provider. In recent years, the company has diversified, adding a microblogging platform and collaborative tools such as SocialCalc , its collaborative spreadsheet application. Socialtext said it now has 6,500 customers, compared to 4,000 in 2008. The company also said it set a record for the number of companies that renewed contracts. Jive Software may be one of the biggest competitors for Socialtext. Microsoft will be pushing hard into the enterprise market this year with Sharepoint 2010. Google, Cisco, IBM and a host of new players are also fighting for the same piece of the pie. But, overall, the Soclaltext news is more real proof that social computing did get the attention of the enterprise in 2009, and that the year ahead should be another record year for the overall market. Discuss

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Socialtext Gets The Bookings But The Year Ahead Will Be Tough

The 50 Most-Blogged Albums of 2009, Streaming Free: HypeMachine Zeitgeist Out Now

cgseo — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:29:12 +0000

Hype Machine , the smart, long-running MP3 blog aggregator, has posted its annual collection of the most-blogged-about albums, songs and musical artists of the year . Once again, the project is a pleasure to consume and will unfold throughout the month of January. Top albums 50 through 41 , Mumford and Sons through Monsters of Folk, are available now in full for streaming. The album collection combines weighted rankings - based on submitted top 10 lists from 550 MP3 blogs - with a widget from Grooveshark to listen to the album, and a Creative Commons photo of each band. It's quite nice. The newest addition to the project is unusually low-tech; it's artist renditions of the top 50 musical artists of the year . Sponsor Last year's Zeitgeist combined different technology to present the top albums and is still available as a list . It's not as easy to listen to, though, perhaps because it was powered by Imeem, which MySpace bought and made a tragic mess of last month . This year's Hype Machine Zeitgeist is another example of the awesome potential of free online music combined with smart technology and excellent design. Check it out and be inspired. Is this era the end of the music industry? It sure doesn't need to be. Discuss

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The 50 Most-Blogged Albums of 2009, Streaming Free: HypeMachine Zeitgeist Out Now

2010 New Year’s Resolutions from the RWW Geeks & Friends

cgseo — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:00:57 +0000

Forget losing weight or finding the perfect life partner: All we want to do is make 2010 the biggest geek-out year ever. The ReadWriteWeb crew have collectively planned to take over the world next year by honing our nerd super-powers. From programming in Python to building AI houses, we've resolved to be smarter, more curious, more technical and way geekier than we were last year. Read our resolutions, and definitely let us know what you plan to do to be the best geek you can be in 2010. Sponsor The editor-in-chief himself, Mr. Richard MacManus , is known for his fascination with machine-to-machine communication via the Internet of Things . This year promises to be an interesting one at the MacManus residence if Richard's resolutions hold true. "One of my goals for 2010," he said, "is to experiment with Internet of Things in my own house and life, using tools like Pachube and sensors. We'll see how that goes..." We wish you lots of luck, boss! If all goes well, you'll be a prime candidate for the first episode of Geek Cribs, and we'll all be very, very jealous. Our own ReadWriteStart warrior, Dana Oshiro , is going to be a busy bee this year. "I'm finding that the coolest ideas come out of academic institutions and enthusiast groups before they're ever thought of as business-related products. In 2010 I plan on attending more hackathons,

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2010 New Year's Resolutions from the RWW Geeks & Friends

Twitter Trends in 2009: A Retrospective

cgseo — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:23:59 +0000

Although the daily trends on Twitter over the past year have often been silly or even obscene , hindsight has proven to be much more interesting. WhatTheTrend has compiled a great overview of Twitter hashtags and trending topics. Their Twitter Zeitgeist 2009 gives us food for thought as we move into a new, hopefully less gaming-prone era of examining and measuring what real users are really talking about on the social web. Now, let's talk about Twilight and Michael Jackson. Or, in the choose-your-own-adventure model of blog posts, you can skip to the part where we talk about tech-related trending topics instead. Sponsor One of the most notable uses of any social network to date was the role of Twitter in the Iranian election/debacle/bloodbath. The U.S. State Department even made a call when Twitter was scheduled for maintenance downtime during the pursuant protests because the messaging service had proven so vital to the democratic process in that country. The worldwide buzz - and the sudden surge of green-tinted user icons and locations changed to "Tehran" - make #iranelection the number one Twitter trend of 2009. In an interesting convergence between mainstream Internet use and high-tech geekery that only Google could engineer, Wave appears in the number four spot for top Twitter trends. And we have a pretty good idea that Twitter users' out-and-out begging for an invite provided the bulk of that talk. As our loyal readers know, the ReadWriteWeb team is divided on whether Wave is a win or a fail so far, but there's no doubt that this tech launch was one of the hottest this year. In a stunning and welcome upset, #musicmonday pulled ahead of #followfriday, besting the well-known but spam-heavy hashtag by four places (Monday landed in the second position, Friday in the sixth). Is Follow Friday, a charming concept created with the most harmless intentions by our dear friend Micah Baldwin , simply a trend that has seen its day? Or is there something about taste-making and multimedia content curation that draws users to simply participate more? Also, there are the films. New Moon, the second in the Twilight franchise, earned a number five spot in the rankings. We are grateful that our sole experience of these tweets are a brilliant collection of snarks from professional lampooner, newly minted TV pretty boy and TheOnion.com web editor Baratunde Thurston. Also-rans are Paranormal Activity, a horror flick that turned a $15,000 budget into around $80 million in box office receipts, and the latest Harry Potter movie. Finally, as a longtime Trekkie, I am happy to report that the new Star Trek film beat out Bruno by around 20 places in these rankings. Both the Palm Pre and BlackBerry were mentioned in the top 100 trends, and one of our top ten international apps , Spotify, earned a number 63 spot on the list for consistent chatter and news throughout the year. Bing and Google Voice each earned a spot lower on the list, coming in at 81 and 100 respectively. Finally, to nod graciously in the direction of our good-natured rivals at Mashable , their Open Web Awards were the 27th most talked-about thing on Twitter this year. For a topic that didn't appear until mid-October (and for a topic generated by a tech blog, no less), this is a great measure of success for which Pete Cashmore and his team are to be congratulated. To get the full list, send an email to the folks at WhatTheTrend . Discuss

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Twitter Trends in 2009: A Retrospective

10 Things You Need for Your Social Media Road Trip

cgseo — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:44:50 +0000

Ever since two friends and I staged a two-week jaunt around the Midwest to attend a great new conference earlier this year, I've been more and more aware of a growing trend: the social media road trip. While on the road this year, I've come upon long-term social media road warriors such as Mark Simonds of the Twitter Road Trip , brand ambassadors such as Sara Lopez and conference-hoppers such as Dave Delaney . I think we've all heard about Tara Hunt's widely publicized karaoke/book promo tour . There's even a SxSWi session about the phenomenon this spring. For folks intent on packing up the hardware and hitting the road, here are ten tips for success. Sponsor These road trips are great for making new connections with interesting people and forming mutually beneficial relationships, as my RoadTwip gang did in Nashville . They're great for finally meeting up with longtime (or not so longtime) online friends in real life, as we did in Toledo . They can give a person some perspective on tech " scenes ," especially in terms of engendering respect for non-Silicon Valley communities. Even better, it's great for brands, as our friend Sara Lopez has learned this year while tripping around for soymilk company 8th Continent. Ford recognized the public's fascination with road trip-related media with its highly successful Fiesta campaign this year, which involved mini-trips and missions documented on YouTube. These trips capture a great audience, both regionally with one-on-one interactions in communities and internationally as curious and amused Internet users stumble upon and share related content. More on that later. As promised, here are ten must-haves for planning and executing a successful social media road trip. 1. Get sponsorship. Remember the part where I told you that social media road trips are great for brands? These days, brands are often more than willing to help a geek out with gas money, hardware, goods and services in exchange for a little light plugging now and then. If there's a good fit between your trip and a brand, from soft drinks to software , don't hesitate to ask for a partnership. 2. Plan for WiFi. This might be your biggest challenge. Whether you're using Bluetooth, a MiFi device, a USB-connected wireless modem or simply tethering to your mobile phone, make sure your preferred method works and that you have a backup. We also recommend downloading WeFi in case your plans fail and you need to find emergency coffee house WiFi in a strange place. 3. Have a mission and destination. One great piece of advice my road team got from NorthStar Manifesto founder Duke Stump was to define our purpose before our itinerary. Another important part of these trips can be a geographical highlight, such as a conference, a hometown or a tech hub. It'll solidify your position and help you focus your content. 4. Meet everyone and go everywhere. Part of the excitement of a social media road trip is accepting unexpected invitations and discovering friends in strangers. Entering into situations with an open mind is the best way to use your trip as a learning experience. While on the road, I met up with just about everyone I could, and I got to see amazing new hardware, apps, innovators and entrepreneurs as a result. 5. Plan for power. Power is up there with WiFi as one of the primary pain points of being on the road. We recommend packing extra battery units and chargers (you lose them at home, and you'll most certainly lose them on the road). Definitely invest in a 12V adapter so you can charge devices while mobile, but know that one adapter may only charge a certain number or type of device. E.g., mine can handle a laptop, an iPod, and a curling iron, but on two laptops, it blows a fuse. And yes, you'll want to pick up a pack of fuses for your 12V adapter, too. More tech and media tips coming right up on page two. 6. Deviate from your plan, map and schedule. Some of the best moments of my own social media road trips were completely unplanned. Get curious, pull over now and then, make a few extra stops and definitely get in touch with new people. Although it's vital to have a timeline for your travels, don't forget to smell the roses; great opportunities will present themselves when you allow for serendipity. 7. Make content creation your job. The biggest difference between a social media road trip and a non-geek vacation is the work you'll put into creating and publishing content. You'll be pumping out pics, videos, tweets, blog posts, live video chats and every kind of app update imaginable while you're on the road. You need to do this well and consistently. Make sure you've got the hardware and software for the job, and since your time on the road is limited, prioritize posting content over lame stuff like eating and sleeping, which isn't really bloggable, anyhow. (Just kidding - but you know what we mean.) 8. Make sure your network works. This section isn't (only) an AT&T slam. Almost any network can let a user down in the uninhabited wilds of Iowa. If you're traveling with buddies, it can help to have a diverse representation of networks in case one person's cell reception fails in a critical moment. Also, not all WiFi devices will work all over the country; for example, Cricket's wireless Internet connection devices only work in certain major metro areas. Check with your provider to make sure your network is going to be reliable for your entire route. 9. Plan for mobile site and server maintenance. If you are the kind of geek who runs one or several websites or your own servers, you'll want to keep an eye on your babies while away from home. For this item, it's all about the SSH . Get a client that jives with your mobile , and as with every other tech solution we've recommended so far, test it before you drive off into the sunset. 10. Use an aggregator to push mobile updates all over the place. Whether you're using a service like PixelPipe or something more like FriendFeed , you're going to want your content to get all over the tubes without your having to duplicate your efforts. Test out some solutions for one-click, cross-site publishing of pics, posts and videos, and be sure it'll be quick and simple from your mobile device. Those are the words of wisdom I can offer right now, and probably what I'll be sharing at SxSW in a few months. If you've got more helpful hints from your own journeys, please let us know in the comments! As an eleventh bonus tip, be prepared for failure . Your car will get a flat tire, you'll argue with your road buddies, you'll miss a meetup due to weather or oversleeping - things will go horrifically wrong. And in the end, it'll be just fine anyhow. Discuss

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10 Things You Need for Your Social Media Road Trip

8 Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2009, 2010

cgseo — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:00:00 +0000

At the beginning of this year, analyst firm Gartner released a report that highlights eight up-and-coming mobile technologies which they predict will impact the mobile industry over the course of the next two years. According to Nick Jones, vice president and analyst at the firm, the technologies they've identified will evolve quickly and will likely pose issues that will have to be addressed by short term strategies. Sponsor Editor's note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we'll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year - and ahead to what next year holds - we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It's not just a best-of list, it's also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb! The eight technologies identified include the following: Bluetooth 3.0 This is one of the no-brainers on the list. The Bluetooth 3.0 specification will be released this year and devices will start to hit the shelves by 2010. At this point, it's expected that the 3.0 spec will include faster speeds, reportedly transferring files at 480 megabits per second in close proximity and 100 megabits per second at 10 meters. It will also feature an ultra-low-power mode that Gartner predicts will enable new peripherals, sensors, and applications, such as health monitoring. The technology will be backwards compatible, allowing old devices to communicate with new ones, so there's no reason for it not take off in the upcoming years. Mobile User Interfaces + Mobile Web/Widgets Mobile user interfaces and mobile web/widgets were listed separately, accounting for two items on the list, but we think they can be lumped together. They all point to how mobile computing is rapidly becoming a new platform for everything from consumer mobile apps to B2E (business-to-employee) and B2C (business-to-customer). (Gartner did not include B2B on their list.) Modern day smartphones like the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, the upcoming Pre, and others deliver better interfaces for browsing the web, thus making it accessible to more people. Widget-like applications, including those that replicate thin client technology, will become more common especially in B2C strategies. Yet the mobile web still has challenges ahead. For example, there are no standards for browser access to handset services like the camera or GPS, the report notes. Location Awareness Location sensing, powered by GPS as well as Wi-Fi and triangulation, opens up new possibilities for mobile social networking and presence applications. Technology's earliest adopters are already familiar with social networks like Brightkite and Loopt which let you reveal your location to a network of friends. But we're still on the tip of this iceberg. Take for example, the iPhone IM client Palringo , they're just now adding location services to their application. This allows users to see how far away their contacts are, introducing a whole new dimension to mobile communication. Over the next year or two, this sort of technology is expected to become more commonplace, but it will also raise questions about privacy. Will you want your network of online friends and acquaintances to really know your exact location? Will turning off location awareness signal that you're up to something sneaky ( so asks the suspicious wife, husband, boss, etc.) ? As a society, we will have to answer these questions and more in the near future. Near Field Communication (NFC) NFC is a technology that provides a way for consumers to use their mobile phones for making payments, among other things. It's something that has taken off in many countries worldwide, but certainly not all, and definitely not in the United States just yet. Unfortunately, Gartner predicts that the move towards mobile payment systems will still not occur this year or the next in mature markets like the U.S. and Western Europe. Instead, NFC is more likely to take off in emerging markets. Other uses of the technology, such as the ability to transfer photos from phone to digital photo frames, will also remain elusive to more developed markets. 802.11n & Cellular Broadband 802.11n, a specification for wireless local area networks (WLANs), initially gave us pause. Although not ratified as an official standard yet, the technology is already commonplace. However, until it "goes gold" so to speak, it won't really infiltrate the mobile world. Even the ubiquitous iPhone only supports 802.11 b/g at the moment.

8 Things Every Geek Needs to Do Before 2010

cgseo — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:14:30 +0000

It's one thing to have resolutions for the new year. I, for example, plan to lose weight, learn Python and design the perfect handbag. But since nothing satisfies like the quick achievement of a short-term goal, here are eight things every good nerd needs to to before the ball drops later this week. These tasks comprise a quick to-do list that will leave you feeling competent and prepared for the decade that approaches. Also, you can play the condescension chip and start chiding friends who haven't checked off these items yet. Sponsor 1. Edit your privacy settings and friendships. Facebook's maelstrom-causing privacy changes have given quite a few of us a head-scratching good time trying to figure out just how much of our private lives are to be made public. Before the new year begins, take a look at your settings on sites such as Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, LiveJournal and any other places you might be sharing personal content to make sure what you display is consistent with the public image you want to project. As more recruiters and employers hit the web in search of info on individuals, it's becoming ever more important to monitor and control our own identities. If you look back to the origin dates of some of your accounts, you might be surprised at what you thought was appropriate to share online in 2005. Also, while considering what's private and public, take time to evaluate what a "friend," "contact" or "follower" means to you and what types of information you share with different groups. 2. Change your passwords. Safety first, friends. Social web security threats in 2009 were sweeping and surprised more than a few users with spam DMs, hacked accounts and malware of all kinds. Check out the password management tools recommended by a recently high-profile hacker (scroll to the last few paragraphs); for free or cheap, they'll help you generate strong, random passwords and manage them from your computer. 3. Own your name. I've conducted many a web search on many a professional geek this year, and I've been disappointed by how few of us have staked a meaningful claim to our online identities. If you haven't already, buy a URL - preferably one that relates to the name you use professionally - and make friends with Google. If you don't show up in the first results when you search for your name, get a crash course in SEO and ask friends to link to you. It's good for your social life and your career if you seize the opportunity to tell the searching world about yourself rather than relegating that responsibility to LinkedIn, Facebook or some weirdo with the same name as you. 4. Prune your feeds. When going through your RSS feeds, do you find yourself impatiently scrolling more than you're intently skimming? Is your list of unread items becoming unmanagable? The end of the year is a perfect time to get rid of the content you're not reading and group the stuff you are. Take some time this week to organize, delete and add feeds, thereby optimizing your feed-reading experience. Try tools such as NetNewsWire's "dinosaurs" and "least attenion" features that weed out unread or dormant feeds, and consider implementing tools such as Lazyfeed or Guzzle.it that can bring relevant results from fresh sources. And make sure the feeds you own are easy for others to find, too. 5. Find a better mobile. If you don't have a smartphone already, chances are you'll desperately need one next year. And if you already have one, think long and hard about whether you're happy with your service, network and interface. While you might not be able to run out and buy your dream device before 2010 rolls around, visit a few retailers, read some reviews and have your eye on a good mobile to purchase next year. Mobile tech keeps on booming, and you'll want to ensure a frustration-free year as new apps and OSes roll out. 6. Update copyright notices on your website. Here's a simple, obvious and necessary reminder. Does your website currently claim a copyright year of 2007? While it doesn't put you on the foul side of the law, it does look a bit silly as we head into a new decade. The Next Web has a good bit of dynamic code for site owners. 7. Revisit your blog. That poor, neglected old beast might be long overdue for a design facelift, a blogroll refresh or even just a few new posts. While you're at it, why not set automatic reminders to periodically bug you about posting in the new year? On a more mission-critical note, you'll also want to make sure you're using the most updated version of your CMS; not doing so can can lead to problems from broken plugins to getting hacked . And while you're at it, the year's end might also be a good time to consider switching up your CMS service altogether. 8. Back up your data. Hacks and hardware failures happen. Before 2010, make sure as much of your data as possible is protected. From calendars and contacts to blog posts and work projects, more and more of us are relying on networks of servers and startups to keep us running. So, now might be a good time to download and back up files of LinkedIn contacts and WordPress posts - anything that's valuable to you and portable. Think of it this way: You - or at least parts of you - live in the Internet. If the Internet caught on fire, what would you grab to carry with you out of the blaze? We hope this list helps you all get a few housekeeping items squared away in time for a great New Year's Eve filled with peace of mind and a smug sense of superiority over your fellow nerds. If you can think of any must-do year-end tasks, please let us know in the comments! Discuss

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8 Things Every Geek Needs to Do Before 2010