Google is determined that its social offering Google+ will be able to go toe-to-toe with social networking titan Facebook.According to Google executives, the California-based internet giant’s products will be increasingly woven into the fast-growing Google+ social networking platform. This, the executives said, would make joining the network irresistible."We are in an enviable position that we have people who come to Google," Vic Gundotra, vice president in charge of Google+, said at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco."We ...

The New York Times reportedly added more than 40 000 digital subscribers in the third financial quarter of 2011. Although advertising revenue continued to decline.The New York Times Co. reported a net profit of US$15.7-billion in the quarter which ended in September. This compared favourably with a loss of US$4.3-million in the same quarter last year.Revenue at the printing giant declined 3.1% to US$537.2-million.In addition to its New York Times flagship offering, Times Co. owns the Boston ...

A consortium of companies led by Microsoft is assembling a fund to purchase the ailing Yahoo!, the Wall Street Journal reported after speaking with “people familiar with the matter”.Reported partners in this deal with Microsoft include private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Silver Lake investor, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Silver Lake also recently invested in China's Alibaba in which Yahoo! has a 40% stake.People familiar with the matter also said that in addition to Microsoft’s consortium looking at ...

Technology moves at a breakneck pace, with the digital camera seemingly being left behind to lap up the sloppy-seconds of digital innovations. New startup Lytro is hoping to change all that by “focusing” its efforts on creating a camera which lets people snap shots, adding in the focus later.Eight years of hard work has led innovator Ren Ng to the release of his product. His idea of “Shoot now, focus later” will be pushed to the extreme as eager buyers ...

A strategic technology is defined as a technology that can have a significant impact on a company. It may be an existing technology that has matured or become suitable for a wider range of uses. It may also be an emerging technology that offers a strategic business advantage for early adopters or with potential for significant market disruption in the next five years.Here are 10 top strategic technologies you need to keep your eye on:Media Tablets. Users can ...

Much has been made about BlackBerry being backed into a corner. Its device sales are "falling" (not so, it has 20-million more users today than a year ago), there are "no apps" for the platform (yet it's the second most profitable app store), and BBM or BlackBerry Messenger is fast-becoming "irrelevant".Apple’s iMessage baked into iOS will "kill" BBM. Or, so say the headlines. Except it won’t.Today, BBM has more than 50-million active users (it had 28-million just a year ...

I guess I'm getting tired of reading about nebulous stuff happening in the cloud, so I'm spending a bit more time checking out what the hardware hackers are up to, simply because you actually get to see something tangible in action. Today, I discovered Romo -- the smartphone robot.The Romo is a robotic hardware base that interfaces directly with any smartphone that runs either iOS or Android. In order to use it, you plug your phone into the robotic ...

If buzzwords like "360 degree feedback" and "anonymised responses" rev your engine, then FeedbackRocket.com will fuel the fire inside of you.FeedbackRocket is anonymous employee-to-employer feedback technology, used simply and effectively to communicate issues to relevant managers at work. Or as Dr. Gavin Symanowitz, the founder of FeedbackRocket puts it, "It enables important work-place conversations that would never happen face-to-face. It opens up the lines of communication between managers and employees in a powerful new way".Launched in June 2011, this self-funded ...

By 2015 companies will generate 50% of their online business via their social presence and mobile applications. This bold claim comes from prominent research company, Gartner.Retailers in the e-commerce sector will begin to offer new context-aware, mobile-based application capabilities that can be accessed via a browser or installed as an application on a phone. This will happen as the number of mobile phones overtakes PCs and as people use mobile browsers and applications as the main points of interaction.Gartner ...

Ratcheting up its increasingly stern line with Beijing on trade issues, Washington has added concerns about China's infamous Great Firewall saying that it may be hurting US companies' access to Chinese consumers.This concern, amongst others, was put forth in a letter by US Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Michael Punke to his Chinese compatriot."Some companies based outside of China have faced challenges offering their services to Chinese customers when their websites are blocked by China's national firewall," Punke ...