mozilla

Mozilla’s (intentional) enterprise slow-down

Mozilla has announced that its proposed Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox is a go. The open source outfit will be launching an ESR version of Firefox which will update less frequently for use by enterprises, public institutions and other organisations that centrally manage their Firefox deployments. The release comes in direct response to the criticism Mozilla received over Firefox’s rapid-release development cycle. Corporations and other users had cited concerns that the release schedule didn’t allow enough time for them to certify new releases of the products, as well as concerns that the end-of life policy exposes them to considerable security risk if they remain on older Firefox versions. However, the ESR is an about-face from Mozilla’s position six months ago, when its product director Asa Dotzler said, “Enterprise has never been (and I’ll argue, shouldn’t be) a focus of ours.” But, it now looks like Firefox will, indeed, be making enterprise a focus.

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Mozilla’s (intentional) enterprise slow-down

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Twitter throws the first stone at Search plus Your World

As news about Search plus Your World spread like wildfire through the internet, the web’s biggest microblogger was quick to throw the first stone at Google . It seems Twitter is less than enthused about the proliferation of social search results in the latest Google update – users can now see a mixture of social and global results for search queries, including stories gleaned from Mountain View’s own social network, Google+. Former Google employee and Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray tweeted that it was a “bad day for the internet”, and Twitter followed suit, releasing a formal statement : “Often, [users] want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results. “We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organisation and Twitter users.” As part of Google Realtime Search, Twitter signed an agreement in 2009 with the search titan to carry results gleaned from its microblogging site. When the deal expired this past July, Twitter opted not to renew it, and shortly after, Google announced it had disabled Realtime to explore other options. Google responded to Twitter’s statement , saying: “We’re a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer, and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.” Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

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Twitter throws the first stone at Search plus Your World

mozilla

Google and Mozilla remain friends – and competitors

Recent research said Firefox users have higher IQs, so it appears that Google has made a smart decision to renew its search engine deal with Mozilla. The Mozilla Corporation recently announced it “negotiated a significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement” with Google for the next three years. As a non-profit foundation, Mozilla relies heavily on the income generated by search partnerships. “Under this multi-year agreement, Google Search will continue to be the default search provider for hundreds of millions of Firefox users around the world,” said Gary Kovacs, Mozilla’s chief executive. Alan Eustace, Google’s senior vice president of search, commented: “Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come.” The previous deal between Google and Mozilla, which was set to expire in November, had been signed before Google’s Chrome browser gained a presence in the so-called ‘browser war.’ Analysts heavily speculated Google would back out of the deal, as Chrome’s launch and subsequent growth put it in direct competition with Firefox, all while Google remained financially responsible for Mozilla’s survival. However, Whit Andrews, an analyst for Gartner, said Google’s decisions shouldn’t be all that surprising.

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Google and Mozilla remain friends – and competitors

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Facebook ordered to increase privacy by Irish regulators

Facebook has received a full audit of its systems by Irish regulators and agreed to make more than a dozen privacy improvements within the next six months. The recommendations made by Irish Data Commissioner Billy Hawkes came after an investigation concerning the social network’s use of personal user data launched in October. Facebook houses all its user data and operations outside of the US and Canada in Ireland. Two months ago, regulators launched the investigation after a series of controversies surrounding Facebook user data surfaced, with claims of ‘shadow profiles’ being created for non-members. The regulators found this was not the case, and that Facebook only collects data about non-users for security purposes.

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Facebook ordered to increase privacy by Irish regulators

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Sponsored Stories coming to News Feed near you

Facebook is all about ‘brand’ new features this week – with Sponsored Stories coming to a News Feed near you. The social network giant announced yesterday it will begin rolling out Sponsored Stories in users’ news feeds, coming on the heels of their recent introduction of private Page messaging between brands and consumers . The ads will roll out gradually starting in January, allowing brands to reach users whose friends have liked, commented on or interacted in other ways with the brand’s Facebook Page. “You will only see Sponsored Stories in your news feed about your friends or people you are connected to,” said Facebook spokesperson Annie Ta. “You will never [see] a post from a page you are not a fan of, or from people who are not your friends.” Of course, Facebook is not averse to making changes to its News Feed , whether they’re wanted or not. However, Ta added: “We want to be really thoughtful about this, so we’ll have a lot of rate limits in place. “We hope to show people no more than one Sponsored Story in their News Feed per day and we’ll clearly label the story. They’ll also be of the same size and treatment as other stories in News Feed.” Facebook has yet to determine pricing for the News Feed ads or if they will be purchased as marketplace ads, premium ads or both. Additionally, the company has not disclosed what brands will participate in the initial roll out.

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Sponsored Stories coming to News Feed near you

mozilla

Live Search Available For Firefox Users

On their official blog, Microsoft has announced that due to popular demand, they have integrated the Live Search add-on into Mozilla’s Firefox browser.

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Live Search Available For Firefox Users

mozilla

Yahoo!’s Q4 Earnings Take a Hit but Exceed Expectations

As the new Yahoo! CEO, Carol Bartz’s first quarterly earnings report, which came after only two weeks on the job, reflected the difficulties that Yahoo! struggled through in 2008.

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Yahoo!’s Q4 Earnings Take a Hit but Exceed Expectations

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Obama Briefly Linked to Bush Google Bomb

New U.S. President Barack Obama was briefly the unwitting subject of an un-defused “Google bomb” tied to former President George W. Bush’s troubled legacy.

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Obama Briefly Linked to Bush Google Bomb

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Job Search Sites See Increased Traffic

As the national unemployment rate rose in December from 6.8% to 7.2% to reach the highest level in 26 years, so too did the amount of traffic to job search sites, reports comScore.

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Job Search Sites See Increased Traffic

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Microsoft Releases Dismal Q2 Report

Microsoft’s recent second-quarter financial report was dismal, complete with unprecedented, substantial job cuts, although not as many positions were eliminated as rumored earlier this month.

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Microsoft Releases Dismal Q2 Report

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