Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - News) today announced financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2005. "Although this is typically a slower season for Internet properties, we had another exceptional quarter," said Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive officer. "Our focus on end users and on quality of information and advertising worldwide continues to work extremely well. We are very pleased with how well this is working at scale." Financial Summary Google reported record revenues of $1.578 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2005, up 96% compared to the third quarter of 2004, and up 14% compared to last quarter. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic acquisition costs, or TAC. This quarter, TAC totaled $530 million, or 34% percent of advertising revenues. We have reported operating income, net incom... (more)

Microsoft-Yahoo! - Microsoft Fails To Make Up Its Mind What To Do Next

Despite meeting yesterday, the Microsoft Board of Directors - according to the Wall St. Journal - has not decided whether its $31 a share offer for Yahoo!, which has fallen in value to $29 a share in line with a fall in Microsoft's own stock value, should be hoisted to $33 a share in an attempt to keep alive Redmond's two-year pursuit of the Silicon Valley based search giant. Steve Ballmer (pictured) was talking about perhaps walking away from the whole deal last week, though not many commentators took it literally. The LA Times reports this morning:"Much of the decision on whether to press forward resides with Ballmer. A growing number of Microsoft executives are urging him to find other ways to bolster the company's online business. Even top executives don't know which path Ballmer will choose, one person said."And the New York Post notes: "Yahoo! has remained firm ... (more)

Windows Azure Mobile Services for Android

Overnight the Windows Azure Mobile Services team released official support for Android. Along with the SDK Microsoft has also written a number of tutorials to help you get started. The best place to start if you’ve never used Windows Azure Mobile Services before is the Getting started with Mobile Services tutorial. After you complete the initial walkthrough, there are a number of options you can look at depending on what your specific needs are: Data Get started with data – Learn how you can use Mobile Services to store and retrieve data from an app. Validate and modify data using server scripts – You can use server scripts to validate and modify data when you are inserting and updating it. This tutorial show you how to define and register server scripts with mobile services and how to modify your app to take advantage of the new behaviors you define through the sc... (more)

Driving in the Cloud

Victor Cruz has actually touched on a few interesting points in his article “Safe Driving in the Cloud: A Black Box for Cars”. The fact is that car companies have lately shifted their focus towards increasing security for passengers and drivers altogether and that is why they came up with the idea of introducing a black box for cars. This might be a bit strange as many people have said, but the reasons to why they came to this decision are actually very solid. For instance, when an aircraft crashes, investigators will eventually be able to retrieve the data that was recorded during flight and analyze what actually went wrong. It’s a measure that has helped with designing safer airplanes and as a result, save people’s lives. Now, getting back to the black box itself, the box is not actually black. It will only be black after the investigators retrieve it from the char... (more)

Top 10 Craziest PR & Social Media Requests

As PR professionals we’ve all been there - a client or colleague enthusiastically asks, “Can you get us on Ellen?” or “How can we make this go viral?” While we’d rather explain that the company makes construction equipment lug nuts and that getting on that show doesn’t even hit the target audience, for some reason we always reply “We’ll definitely work on that!” It’s another classic PR or social media shake my head moment. With this in mind and through the assistance of Help A Reporter Out (HARO), I wanted to document some of the craziest, most absurd requests or assignments PR and social media professionals have received. Here are some of the more interesting responses from our colleagues in the field: 1) My kid does karate…get us a reality show “A client in the healthcare industry said to me ‘My kid does karate, my wife does arts and crafts and I am a doctor. I do... (more)

iGoogle, Google's personalizable

iGoogle, Google's personalizable homepage, enables users to embed widgets know as Google Gadgets. Last week, Google shared the iGoogle pages of celebrities as diverse as Kevin Rose of Digg, Al Gore, ... (more)

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You...Smarter

It is 11 October, 2014. I am writing this in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal at the foot of the majestic Himalayas. The date is only marginally significant - it is now 2 years and seven months since I was successfully operated on for pancreatic cancer - but the location perhaps is more revealing. Kathmandu is a city of life and laughter and matches perfectly the mood of someone who not only has escaped the usual fate of those struck by the deadliest of all the cancers, but has also shaken off the insidious side-effects of chemotherapy, the "planned poisoning" that represents the world's default treatment for malignant tumors. There is a saying about how 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' that many who are undergoing chemo- and/or radiation therapy often hear, or even use themselves, to make light of the unpleasantness of the process and to remind themselves that... (more)

Mobile Expert Interview: VDC's Eric Klein

I had the pleasure to meet and spend time with VDC Research's Senior Analyst for Enterprise Mobility, Eric Klein this week at the SAPPHIRE conference for SAP users.  In this interview we discuss a wide range of enterprise mobility trends and developments.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hRuAsb-Ug&list;=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature;=share ************************************************************************ Kevin BenedictWriter, Speaker, Editor Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work CognizantView my profile on LinkedInLearn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.comFollow me on Twitter @krbenedictBrowse the Mobile Solution DirectoryJoin the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise StrategiesRecommended Strategy Book Code HalosRecommended iPad App ... (more)

In 2014 Big Data Investments Will Account for Nearly $30 Billion - Eventually Accounting for $76 Billion by 2020 End

DALLAS, Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Amid the proliferation of real time data from sources such as mobile devices, web, social media, sensors, log files and transactional applications, Big Data has found a host of vertical market applications, ranging from fraud detection to R&D.; Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140821/138541 "Big Data Market: 2014 – 2020 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies, Industry Verticals & Forecasts" Key Findings: In 2014 Big Data vendors will pocket nearly $30 Billion from hardware, software and professional services revenues Big Data investments are further expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 17% over the next 6 years, eventually accounting for $76 Billion by the end of 2020 The market is ripe for acquisitions of pure-play Big Data startups, as competition heats up between IT incumbents Nearly every large scale IT ven... (more)

G Advertising - Flash or not to flash? That is the question

With SEO (search engine optimization) being such a hot topic in the advertising industry, G Advertising, a Los Angeles Advertising Agency takes a distinctive approach when it comes to the balance of SEO vs. Aesthetics. Everyone has heard that you don’t use flash animation if you want to optimize your website for search engines, but G Advertising highly promotes it. You have less then a second in this world of highly competitive online advertising and remember your competitor’s website is just a click away. Flash animation is a great way to grab your audience by the eyeballs. G Advertising has noticed a tremendous increase in website retention after the flash section of a website has gone online. Obviously you don’t want your entire website to be a flash show, because search engines are unable to crawl through the code of flash animation. However, a... (more)

ZAGG Enters Mobile Application Market

ZAGG Inc. (OTCBB: ZAGG), a leading producer of mobile electronics accessories including the popular invisibleSHIELD™ and award-winning ZAGGaudio™ brands, announces their foray into the fast-growing market for mobile applications. ZAGG’s initial developments include AppSpace.com, an online destination for mobile apps, as well their first app developed and published directly by ZAGG for the iPhone app platform. ZAGG executives announced the development and scheduled July 2009 launch of AppSpace.com during their recent investor conference call. AppSpace.com will provide mobile app users with an industry-first app search engine with a social media component to ease the process of sorting through the exploding number of mobile titles. It will also give developers a platform to promote their apps. “Entering the mobile application world is a strategic expansion for ZAGG, ... (more)