Google updates Commerce Search service

Google has updated its Commerce Search tool, allowing online merchants to better customise retail site search services.Commerce Search was launched last year to let merchants use the Google engine for item searches within a site.The company explained that Commerce Search 2.0 adds a 'dashboard' management interface that enables retailers to better manage rankings, special promotions and search filters, and provide auto-complete and spell-check features to in-site searches.Google...

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Mobile phones and social media are 'stealing our manners'

Mobile technologies and social media have led to social skills and manners being worse than ever, according to a survey released by mobile phone comparison site omio.comThose who engage in frequent mobile phone use are becoming ever more impolite. Out of a survey of 1,035 people over half admitted they would happily answer their phone while making a purchase in a shop, 41 per cent while eating at a restaurant and 10 per cent while in a library.Social networking sites are damaging the nation's...

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World Cup Google Doodle drawn by British teenager

The doodle – which spells out the Google name using footballers playing keepy-uppy – will appear on google.co.uk for the whole day. Daniel Joel, 14, from Trowbridge in Wiltshire, beat off stiff competition from 3,000 other children to design a doodle around the theme of "I love football"."At first I had a lot of ideas, and then I thought of the many professional footballers who start on the streets and learn tricks to impress their friends" said Daniel. "I am very excited and surprised...

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WordPress gets an overhaul with 'Thelonious'

         The latest edition of the WordPress open source publishing platform has been released.Dubbed "Thelonious," the WordPress 3.0 release aims to consolidate the task of managing multiple blogs as well as streamline the user interface for site administrators.Among the new features in the update is the merging of the MU and WordPress interfaces, a move which will allow users to manage multiple publications through a single installation.Additionally,...

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Benito Mussolini's diaries

The dictator allegedly gave the diaries, documents and letters to a senior aide just a few days before he was captured and executed by partisans as he tried to flee to Switzerland at the end of the war.The papers - contained in a padlocked, damp-proof zinc suitcase - were reportedly buried in the Spluga Valley, north of Lake Como, near where Mussolini and his lover were caught, killed and strung up from a petrol station.The claim has been made by the son of Guglielmo Della Morte, Mussolini's consul-general...

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Sony and Nintendo have a hard act to follow after Microsoft's E3 event.

Microsoft Xbox 360 briefingWhat a difference a year makes. In 2009, the video games media and fans alike were gobsmacked by Microsoft’s E3 press briefing. In just under an hour they witnessed a phenomenal line-up of games, a groundbreaking hands-free gaming interface, then named Project Natal, and the demonstration of an "emotional AI character" called Milo.The quality of the gaming titles wasn’t too much of a surprise, because the Xbox 360 has boasted a strong catalogue of high quality games...

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LinkedIn - 70 million users worldwide

LinkedIn has revealed that its user base has grown to over 70 million worldwide, four million of whom are based in the UK.The business social networking site said that the number of UK users had shot up in the past nine months by one million, and that one new member joins every second. LinkedIn estimated that a third of all UK professionals are registered on the site.Kevin Eyres, managing director of LinkedIn Europe, suggested that social networking is increasingly important for professionals...

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LinkedIn networking comes to the BlackBerry

LinkedIn for BlackBerry is available now as a free download LinkedIn users will now be able to access key functionality from the social networking site on the go via a new BlackBerry application.The partnership is hardly surprising given that LinkedIn is regarded as the social networking site for professionals, and BlackBerry smartphones are the most widely favoured by business users."With the addition of the application for BlackBerry to our broader suite of mobile applications, LinkedIn...

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AOL 'close to selling Bebo'

AOL is on the verge of selling off Bebo, the social-networking site it acquired for $850 million (£570m) in 2008. According to the Wall Street Journal, AOL will offload the site for around $10 million (£7m) to a group of Californian angel investors, Criterion Capital Partners, that specialises in revitalising underperforming companies.Neither AOL nor Criterion have commented on the reports, though industry experts believe a deal could be reached between the two parties by the end of this week.AOL...

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Apple delivers MobileMe

Apple has posted an update for its MobileMe service.The company has released a new version of its mobile device synching and management software package as well as a new tool to help users locate lost and stolen iPhones.The MobileMe update adds a number of features to the suite's email software. Updates include the addition of SSLsecurity as well as faster performance and better filtering of junk mail.Also updated was the me.com website. The company rolled out a new interface...

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Demon rebrands

Demon claims to offer better value than BTDemon rebrands with network services for SMEs Internet service provider Demon has announced several services aimed at small and medium sized enterprises as part of a rebranding exercise.Demon, part of Cable & Wireless, will now offer a series of assured rate services to businesses, promising a guaranteed minimum connection speed on its ADSL2 services that go up to 20Mbit/s.The assured rates offer minimum guaranteed of speeds of 256Kbps, 512Kbps,...

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Samsung reveals plans for Galaxy Apollo

Samsung has named Orange as the exclusive UK carrier for its new Galaxy Apollo smartphone. The Android-based handset is targeted at younger users, and will offer social networking features. The phone combines data from Twitter, MySpace and Facebook into a single platform called Social Hub.The Social Hub tool also allows users to upload and share media on sites such as YouTube and Picasa. The handset will be pre-loaded with the Orange Wednesday cinema discount application.The smartphone sports...

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US cyber security general plans online rules of engagement

General Alexander spoke of a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilitiesUS cyber security general plans online rules of engagementKeith Alexander discusses cyber war, IPv6 and privacy General Keith Alexander, the commander of US Cyber Command (PDF), has used his first public speech (PDF) to detail his unit's plans in the event of an online attack.Alexander said that US Cyber Command, which was set up to co-ordinate the Department of Defense (DoD) computer systems,...

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Samsung looking to rival Apple ecosystem with Bada

Korean manufacturer has high hopes for new smartphone operating systemSamsung has been detailing how it hopes to extend the popularity of its Bada mobile operating system in an attempt to rival Apple's ecosystem and "change the smartphone market".Justin Hong, Bada platform lead, explained that the platform can be applied to a wider range of devices, including high-end smartphones such as the Samsung Wave, and that the firm is researching the possibility of using it on tablets and TVs.Bada...

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Microsoft eyes enterprise handheld market

Company unveils roadmap to extend Embedded CE brand to businesses Microsoft is gearing up for a major assault on the growing enterprise handheld devices market.The company has announced a new software platform, called Windows Embedded Handheld, that will be introduced to target specialist line-of-business applications with more specific functionality than that offered by consumer devices.The announcement follows the launch of version 7 of Windows Embedded CE at the beginning of this month. It comes...

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Google lashes out at web censorship

      Google's vice president and general counsel told the ACM Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference yesterday that censorship is a "trade barrier" and a " vital economic and trade issue".Kent Walker went on to say that open platforms, open source and transparency are key to ensuring the free flow of information."I believe that censorship of the internet is no less a threat than terrorism," he said.Walker claimed that it was in the interests of transparency, which...

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WEBINARS BIG HIT WITH CUSTOMERS

BULLISH ON DIRECT MAIL More than 200 customers attended direct mail webinars last week sponsored by the Postal Customer Council (PCC) Advisory Council — the first time a webinar has been offered by the organization to PCC members nationwide. During the webinars, participants learned how to launch effective direct mail campaigns.Feedback has been positive, said PCC Advisory Committee Co-Chair Theresa Peterlein. “PCC members are enthusiastic about direct mail and its marketing strengths,” she said....

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