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Nokia profits take a big hit

Having once dominated the global cell phone market, Nokia Corp on Thursday posted a fourth-quarter net loss of €1.07 billion (

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Google launches Public Alerts

Maps just got smarter, as Mountain View announced the launch of Google Public Alerts. Google Maps users will now be able to see relevant ‘Public Alerts’ when using the popular tool, getting warning of weather, public safety and earthquake alerts. “Today marks the launch of a new Google Crisis Response project: Google Public Alerts, a platform designed to bring you relevant emergency alerts when and where you’re searching for them,” Public alerts engineer Steve Hakusa wrote on the Google blog . The tool is designed to alert users to things that might be happening in their area – tornado warnings, for example – and provide information about where and when the disaster might occur, as well as how severe the storm is expected to be and where resources can be found to help. “The Google Crisis Response team works on providing critical emergency information during crises. Our goal is to surface emergency information through the online tools you use everyday, when that information is relevant and useful,” Hakusa said. Users can search directly on Google maps for specific warnings in their area, or alternatively, can go directly to the Public Alerts Page, where users can find a list of current emergency warnings from around the world. Warnings are displayed as hotspots which users can hover over or click to view more information. “We’re learning as we go and we’re working hard to continuously improve the range and relevance of the content you see,” Hakusa said of the newly-launched service

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Google launches Public Alerts

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Social networks Focus on the User

Fed up with being ignored by Google , engineers from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have joined forces to create a new tool that gleans search results from social networks other than Google+. ‘Focus on the User’ uses Google’s algorithms to “determine what social content should appear in the areas where Google+ results are currently hardcoded.” By using the tool, users can see search results from Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, along with LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare, Crunchbase, FriendFeed and several other social networking sites across the web. Instead of automatically being met with Google+ results, users can see the most relevant social media results on any given search. “When you search for ‘cooking’ today, Google decides that renowned chef Jamie Oliver is a relevant social result,” the website said . “That makes sense. But rather than linking to Jamie’s Twitter profile, which is updated daily, Google links to his Google+ profile, which was updated nearly two months ago.” The bookmarklet – dubbed ‘Don’t be Evil’, after Google’s own motto – runs in Chrome, Firefox or Safari and automatically checks for any social profiles associated with a given search term, replacing Google+ profiles.

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Social networks Focus on the User

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Chrome closes in on Firefox

Chrome may soon have the upper hand in the browser wars, as the Mountain View browser closes in on Mozilla’s Firefox. According to Net Applications latest worldwide browser usage measurements, Chrome is only 4 per cent behind Firefox – which dropped in popularity by 2 per cent since January. Stiff competition from both Internet Explorer and Chrome have caused the popular browser’s numbers to flag this year – Firefox numbers slipped 0.4 per cent while Chrome inched forward 0.7 per cent. Firefox and Chrome now account for 22.1 per cent and 18.2 per cent respectively – compared to Internet Explorer which holds a clear lead with more than 50 per cent of the browser market under its belt. “Firefox once was the prime challenger to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which for years languished in the doldrums of software development.

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Chrome closes in on Firefox

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

Google seems to be upping its efforts to steal Groupon’s coupon-clipping crown, as the firm announced it will now be using Google+ data and a new personalisation mechanism to better target deals. According to The Financial Times , Google let slip that it’ll soon be using G+ social signals as well as a new personalisation quiz in a bid to top the daily deals market by better targeting individual consumers and driving uptake. Google will now ask Google Offers subscribers to indicate what kind of deals they would like to receive information about. Group Project Manager at Google Offers Nitin Mangtani wrote on the Google Blog : “There’s a universe of amazing daily deals out there, but it’s hard to find them all in one place – and it’s even harder to discover the ones that really matter to you.” To solve this problem, the firm will use personal and social sharing data extracted from Google+ user profiles to determine what deals might be of interest to individual consumers, and ask users to weigh in on the kinds of deals they’d like to receive.

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

Google seems to be upping its efforts to steal Groupon’s coupon-clipping crown, as the firm announced it will now be using Google+ data and a new personalisation mechanism to better target deals. According to The Financial Times , Google let slip that it’ll soon be using G+ social signals as well as a new personalisation quiz in a bid to top the daily deals market by better targeting individual consumers and driving uptake. Google will now ask Google Offers subscribers to indicate what kind of deals they would like to receive information about. Group Project Manager at Google Offers Nitin Mangtani wrote on the Google Blog : “There’s a universe of amazing daily deals out there, but it’s hard to find them all in one place – and it’s even harder to discover the ones that really matter to you.” To solve this problem, the firm will use personal and social sharing data extracted from Google+ user profiles to determine what deals might be of interest to individual consumers, and ask users to weigh in on the kinds of deals they’d like to receive. Mantingi wrote: “We’re also introducing a personalisation quiz to help you find just the deal you want, all in one place.” The move has been labelled game-changing by Opus analyst Greg Sterling. Sterling explained that Google’s plans to utilise social data and user engagement platforms should help the company displace Groupon as a daily deals market leader, as the coupon clippers currently only track user purchases in an attempt to gauge individual interests. BIA Kelsey analyst Jed Williams added that increased personalisation could help alleviate the ‘deal fatigue’ felt my consumers who feel their inboxes are clogged with coupon-clipping, money-saving spam

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

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Facebook ‘now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem’

eBay announced yesterday at Innovate, its developer conference, it will integrate Facebook’s Open Graph 2.0 into its global commerce systems to create social shopping experiences. These systems will be part of X.commerce , a new business unit that also includes PayPal and Magento. “Facebook is now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem,” X.commerce’s vice president and general manager Matthew Mengerink said. This is significant because it allows Facebook access to eBay’s 25 million sellers and 97 million users, who make an estimated $60 billion worth of transactions on its site annually. “Technology is changing the way consumers shop, and eBay Inc.’s integration with Facebook will make shopping social for consumers and retailers worldwide,” Mengerink said in a statement. “Retailers and developers need a technology-driven global commerce partner to help them engage and connect with consumers anytime, anywhere.

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Facebook ‘now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem’

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Google takes real-time search (and Eric Schmidt) to Google+

Google may have looked as though it was already firing on all social cylinders with the launch of Facebook-rival Google+, it’s +1 button and an improved Google+ app for mobile. But Mountain View’s taking its social initiative even further by bring real-time search (and former boss man Eric Schmidt) to Google+. According to CNet.com, Eric Schmidt joined Google+ just as the firm added real-time search to the social network, which gives users the functionality to watch a live feed of Google+ activity around a searched-for subject. The update also integrates Twitter-like hashtags to make it easier for users to search for interesting content feeds. In an official Google blog post, Vic Gundotra, the senior vice president of Google+, explained that users would now benefit from real-time search and improved hashtag support, which should allow them to better follow breaking news, sporting events and similar interest items on Google+. Even though the development has widely been tipped as a natural progression (search is Google’s core business after all) and an extension of Google’s September social search updates , some tech pundits have speculated that the move has been designed to specifically hurt both Facebook and Twitter. It could be a prescient dig at the social duo, especially as Facebook streamed its first football match this year and as Twitter established itself as a go-to breaking-news source following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden

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Google takes real-time search (and Eric Schmidt) to Google+

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Twitter ads to launch in Blighty this October

Twitter ads look likely to launch in Blighty this October, as the microbloggers chirped that they’re now finalising brand partners for promoted tweets, trends and accounts on both sides of the pond. According to Brand Republic , Twitter’s high-flyers have accelerated negotiations with UK media agencies in a move that could see UK-specific ads go live in just a few short weeks. Twitter earlier stepped up its pace by relocating Tony Wang from San Francisco to the UK, where he has set up shop as general manager for Twitter UK. The firm is thought to be offering bundled deals consisting of paid-for opportunities across promoted tweets, promoted trends and promoted accounts – all for a rather chirpy six-figure minimum spend. While Twitter’s top branches have been decidedly tight-lipped on details, it’s rumoured that ads could soon be rolled out on a regional basis as well as on a national basis. Twitter’s newest ad packages are expected to make heavy use of influence analysis, as the firm recently snapped up social media analysts BackType , who previously offered a paid-for-premium service measuring the volume and migration of brand-related tweets through Twitter. The firm’s microbloggers seem to be morphing into social-savvy mad men at a breakneck speed, with promoted tweets now automatically topping user timelines stateside . Previously, promoted tweets had only appeared when users searched for related keywords. Twitter’s ad activity will no doubt ruffle feathers at Mountain View, particularly as Google and Twitter are thought to be on bad terms after Google unexpectedly ended fire hose data steaming talks after a spat regarding ad revenue and data licensing, leaving Twitter to seek new license terms with Bing.

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Twitter ads to launch in Blighty this October