Equilibrium is...dis-Equilibrium

Email overload? Try Priority Inbox!

Google has evolved Gmail's filter to address our daily problems of email overload and extended it to not only classify outright spam, but also to help users separate those mails that isn't outright junk but isn't very important (i.e. bologna, or "bacn") from the important stuff. Today, Google introduced Priority Inbox (in beta) - an experimental new way of taking on information overload in Gmail. "In a way, Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules." Read the complete article on The Official Google Blog>> 

It (web) is our territory, now!

• "I think it's safe to say the web is not the domain of just the geeks anymore - we all live here." - Jason Santa Maria
• A new study found out that older adults nearly double social media presence. http://bit.ly/ajahQT

via Twitter 1 2

A new study from Pew Internet found that between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking site usage grew 88% among Internet users aged 55-64, and the 65 and older group's social networking presence grew 100% in the same time frame. Read the full article here>>

Yahoo! and Microsoft (Bing) Search Alliance changes the search market and, of course, for good reasons!

The Yahoo! Search and Bing alliance is rapidly taking momentum. One of the most significant developments in the search marketing industry recently has been the formation of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, which promises to bring together the Yahoo! Search and Bing networks to provide advertisers with greater scale and faster innovation. The alliance is getting closer to Bing being the 2nd in the search engine market share.

As per Nielsen's March 2010 statistics, Google ranks first with 65.7% market share, Yahoo! is second with 13.4% and Bing third with 12.2% which makes a combined market share of 25.6%.

As of October 2010, Bing is Yahoo! Search, which means that Microsoft market share jumps from 12.2% to 25.6% and Yahoo! stops spending in search related items.

Dragon Search now available for medical professionals

Here's something that will be welcomed by the health community. Nuance Communications has released a free, medical version of Dragon Search called Dragon Medical that lets mobile physicians and other health workers search a variety of medical publications on their iPhone or iPad by just speaking search phrases.

Information on drug interactions, latest medical news and diagnoses are available from the app, as well as a search though Google. The original Dragon Search allows general information lookup using several search engines. Nuance is now moving toward more specialized apps for professionals.

The app is free for a limited period, and Nuance intends to take out more apps for health workers, including a version of Dragon Dictation so patient notes and other information can be turned into text and saved. You can watch a video of the app in action here>>

WebEden Launches First Website Building Facebook Application

WebEden, an independently run, London based, web Software Company, this week announced the launch of their very first Facebook Application. The app – called the WebEden Website Builder - makes it possible for anyone to build a website from within Facebook.

As of now, anyone looking to build a website has had to leave Facebook and find a website building service. The new app keeps users within the Facebook environment, and still lets them get on with their website building. MD Ken Builder said today: 

"Last year we set up a Facebook Page, and it has been a popular place for us to interact with our customers. We help them with support issues and get feedback about the websites they're building. Customers also share news about our website building service on Facebook. The problem, we realized, was that if anyone wanted to actually build a website, they were required to leave Facebook and come to our website. Thanks to our Facebook App they no longer need to leave, but can build a website right there within Facebook."

The Application uses a mixture of iFrames and FBML to deliver a seamless website building experience. Anyone looking to use the app can find it on the WebEden Facebook page or find it directly at http://apps.facebook.com/webeden 

Google Wave comes to an end?

But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects...

via googleblog.blogspot.com

PayPal will stop electronic withdrawal of funds for Indian users

PayPal seems to be having a tough time in the World's second largest (No.1 is Ireland) software outsourcing destination. In accordance with regulatory instructions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), starting from July 29, 2010 onwards, Electronic withdrawal of funds from Payal accounts will be stopped. The only way left is to request for a cheque withdrawal of funds from the PayPal account. In order to help its India users deal with this change and until further notice, PayPal will refund the US$5 cheque withdrawal fee to the users for cheque withdrawals made on July 29, 2010 onwards.

There is significant uproar over this issue as checks are cumbersome to manage and typically take close to a month to get cleared at Indian Banks. This incident is the second time this year that Paypal has had hiccups with its Indian operations. Earlier this year, PayPal stopped allowing Personal Payments to be sent to and from India citing differences with the RBI.

Yahoo! & Microsoft Search Alliance - Advertisement

"Now the talking heads on cable news will have something else to complain about. ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has given initial approval for a .xxx top-level domain."

via crunchgear.com

Content Marketing: Definitions of Curation & Context

We know creating unique contents is more important than any online marketing and advertising strategies for a web-based organization. Consumers are intelligent peoples. They crave more for contents than products.

Lee Odden says, "Companies are realizing the value in 'brands as publishers' and are making real commitments to the creation of content in their online marketing mix. It's no longer enough to provide fundamental features and benefits information about products and services to succeed competitively online. Consumers and of course, business buyers, seek additional information, resources and others to connect with on the topics of interest to them. Some companies choose a pure creation strategy and find it to be a formidable undertaking, especially creating unique and valuable content over a long period of time. Within the field of content marketing, curation is becoming a popular topic of discussion. Blending a mix of new content with the filtering and management of other useful information streams is a productive and manageable solution for providing prospective customers a steady stream of high quality and relevant content. Pure creation is demanding. Pure automation doesn't engage. Content curation can provide the best of both." Read more here>>