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AdMob fires back over Apple’s ‘ad-less’ iPhone

To a consumer, Apple’s Safari Reader mode might sound like music to the ears: Browse your favourite blogs, news sites and apps without all the pesky ads chewing up screen space and bandwidth. However, for many websites and developers, ad revenue is the bulk of the way they manage to fund their operations. And for opposing ad-sellers, this new feature for the iPhone 4G, in addition to proposed changes in Apple’s App Store developer terms, present a big problem for their businesses. And with Apple set to debut its iAd service - which is reported to be outwith the reach of the advert-eliminating reader - AdMob, a subsidiary of Google , is crying foul. “Apple proposed new developer terms on Monday that, if enforced as written, would prohibit app developers from using AdMob and Google’s advertising solutions on the iPhone,” said AdMob chief Omar Hamoui in a blog post.

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AdMob fires back over Apple’s ‘ad-less’ iPhone

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Facebook to lose ‘Become a fan’ in favour of ‘Like’ button

Facebook users, prepare for the obligatory anti-Facebook redesign group page invites now: The web company is planning for yet another revamping that will see one of its major features restructured in coming months. According to reports, the social networking site will be closing up the option to ‘Become a Fan’ of various pages - which include companies, entertainment figures and products - in favour of a redesigned and repurposed ‘Like’ button. The announcement concerning the alteration of these features is expected to come at Facebook’s F8 conference Wednesday 21 April in San Francisco. Brand Republic reports that the new ‘Like’ button will still enable Facebook users to connect with their favourite musical groups, actors, television shows, films and charitable causes, but will also allow online publishers to add the button to external websites. “We’ve found that ‘Like’ is more global, easy to understand, and users are already comfortable and familiar with it, making the process of connecting with a Page more consistent with how they already interact with things on Facebook,” a representative of Facebook said. The company maintains that the features offered will remain largely unchanged, even if they are rebranded. “The core functionality of Pages will remain unchanged. Pages will still have distribution into News Feed, and the administrators of those Pages will still be able to call the people connected to their Page, ‘fans’,” the representative said.

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Facebook to lose ‘Become a fan’ in favour of ‘Like’ button

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Yahoo! and Facebook get a little friendlier

Real-time results are proving to have real currency when it comes to our favourite search engines this year, with Bing and Google battling to show they can be up to the minute, every minute. And with news that Yahoo! and Facebook are getting friendlier, it seems that the veteran search engine is following suit

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Yahoo! and Facebook get a little friendlier

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Google allows news publishers to limit free access

Google has introduced limitations on free news content, to allow publishers to restrict the amount of content users can access before paying a subscription charge. The Guardian reports that the decision was announced yesterday by Google’s senior business product manager Josh Cohen

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Google allows news publishers to limit free access

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Google unveils top searches for 2009

Google has unveiled its annual zeitgeist of the year’s top searches, revealing the most popular search trends across 2009 in the UK. According to The Mail Online, Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has been declared the ‘hottest topic’ of the year, as British internet users searched the web for news of the singer’s untimely death in October. The deaths of Jade Goody and Michael Jackson also placed highly in the list of the year’s fastest rising news searches, though the top positions were claimed by swine flu and Britain’s Got Talent phenomenon Susan Boyle, respectively.

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Google unveils top searches for 2009

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YouTube to host full-length television episodes

YouTube fans in the United Kingdom now have the chance to watch their favourite television shows on the internet, as the video sharing site turns its attention to offering full-length programmes to viewers who choose to do most of their television watching online. Now rivalling the BBC’s iPlayer, which has proven to be an immensely popular addition to the broadcaster’s website, YouTube - whose parent company is none other than Mountain View search colossus, Google - has already signed 60 partners to its service, which is available on a new page on the YouTube site. The partners, which include Channel 4, will likely be hoping that the move to the internet will allow them to continue reaping the rewards from advertising

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YouTube to host full-length television episodes