Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category
5 apps get you tweeting from the desktop
September 30th, 2009 | 
Author: What’s better than posting tweets from Twitter.com? Just about everything.
Third-party Twitter apps are typically more powerful, crammed with managerial features that get you quickly viewing, sorting, replying to messages, and retweeting in a click or tap. They automatically shorten URLs to fit Twitter’s character limit, and help you post pictures through other services, like TwitPic and yfrog. Most of these desktop apps manage multiple Twitter accounts, are customizable, and are more attractive than Twitter online. They also tend to succeed in posting your tweets during times when Twitter’s site famously fails.
Convinced yet? Good. We’ve rounded up five desktop applications that help you post tweets and retweets to Twitter. Four run on the Adobe AIR runtime environment (Windows | Mac | Linux), which you need to download before you install the Twitter apps. But enough of the technical details–get tweeting!
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10363810-12.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Communication, Internet, social networking, Twitter | 
Tags: apps, Communication, Internet, social networking, Twitter | 
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Global broadband connections on the rise
One in five households worldwide will be wired up to the Internet by year’s end, according to new estimates from Gartner.
The number of households with fixed broadband connections is expected to reach 422 million across the globe this year, a jump of 10.5 percent over 382 million in 2008, the analyst firm said Friday. This number will further swell to an estimated 580 million by 2013.
Over the next four years, global broadband services revenue will also help offset declining voice revenue and account for 40 percent of the consumer fixed voice, Internet, and broadband services market worldwide, which is estimated to be worth $347 billion.
At the end of 2008, 21 countries had broadband connections in at least 50 percent of homes, Gartner reported. The disparity in broadband adoption was significant in Asia, where the region was home to both the world’s highest penetration of 86 percent in South Korea and the lowest at 1 percent in Indonesia.
Asian households, according to Gartner, will remain among the world’s most connected over the next four years. Broadband penetration for South Korea is forecast to reach 93 percent in 2013, while Hong Kong and Singapore will see 80 percent and 78 percent, respectively, of their households wired up to the Web.
Outside of the region, the Netherlands, Canada, and Denmark are expected to boast high broadband penetration rates of 88 percent, 81 percent and 78 percent, respectively.
In terms of growth, however, Brazil, Russia, India, and China will account for nearly half, or 47 percent, of the increase in consumer broadband connections over the next several years, Gartner said. China, alone, is expected to contribute 31 percent toward the total worldwide increase.
According to Gartner, fiber-based services will grow steadily over the next few years, with FTTH (fiber-to-the-home), FTTP (fiber-to-the-premises) and Ethernet connections accounting for about 20 percent of the global consumer broadband market by 2013.
Much of the growth will take place in developed markets such as Japan, South Korea and the United States. An exception to this is China, which is expected to account for the most number of new FTTH/FTTP/Ethernet connections, Gartner noted.
DSL connections, on the other hand, will remain the major contributor to worldwide household broadband connections. Traditional DSL access is expected to drop a few percentage points to just under 60 percent of all connections by 2013. DSL connections will see a 98 million increase within four years, led mostly by growth in emerging markets, according to Gartner.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10361744-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in broadband, Communication, Internet |
Tags: broadband, communications, Internet |
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Twitter confirms new round of funding
Yes, Twitter’s mega-cash infusion is real. CEO Evan Williams confirmed on the company blog Friday that Twitter has raised a new round of investment from Insight Venture Partners, T. Rowe Price, and existing investors Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital and Benchmark Capital.
Williams says it’s “a significant round.” He didn’t say just how close it was to the roughly $100 million that the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Nor did he say whether this values Twitter at $1 billion.
“It was important to us that we find investment partners who share our vision for building a company of enduring value,” Williams wrote in the blog post. “Twitter’s journey has just begun and we are committed to building the best product, technology, and company possible. I’m proud of the team we’ve built so far and I’m confident in the future we’ll build together.”
Before the end of the year, Twitter is expected to start rolling out paid corporate accounts to businesses who see use the service for marketing, promotion, and customer service.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10361763-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
BlackBerry sales and profit disappoint
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said Thursday it sold fewer BlackBerry phones than analysts had expected, and the company’s quarterly earnings were hurt by a legal settlement.
The company said earnings fell 4 percent in the second fiscal quarter due in large part to charges associated with a legal settlement.
For the quarter that ended August 29, the company said it earned $475.6 million, or 83 cents a share, compared to profits of $495.5 million, or 86 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.
Revenue rose to $3.53 billion from $2.58 billion a year earlier.
Analysts had expected earnings of $1 a share on revenue of $3.62 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Even though sales were strong and revenue was up, RIM reported it shipped slightly fewer devices than what analysts had expected. The company said it shipped about 8.3 million BlackBerry devices during the quarter, adding about 3.8 million new subscribers. Analysts had expected the company to add about 4 million new subscribers on shipments between 8.5 million and 8.6 million.
But what really hurt the company was a charge of $112.8 million related to the settlement of a patent dispute with Visto Corp. Excluding this charge, RIM said it would have earned $588.4 million, or $1.03 per share for the quarter.
RIM said it expects revenue between $3.6 billion and $3.85 billion for the third fiscal quarter that ends November 28. And the company expects earnings per share to be in the neighborhood of between $1 and $1.08.
Analysts expect RIM to introduce a new version of its touch-screen Storm later this year on Verizon Wireless’s network. This devices is supposed to compete head to head with Apple’s iPhone. But RIM has other competitors in the touch-screen arena as it approaches he holiday season. There are also other devices, such as the Palm Pre and handsets from HTC and Motorola that use the Google Android software.
Source :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10361155-266.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Posted in Blackberry, cell phone, Communication, Internet, Tech |
Tags: Blackberry, cell phone, smart phone |
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Another $100 million for Twitter?
That business plan had better be close on the horizon, because according to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter has some new investors on board: Mutual fund T. Rowe Price, Insight Venture Partners, and a handful of others have reportedly pumped $100 million into the microblogging phenomenon.
TechCrunch reported last week that Twitter was putting together a round of funding at around a $1 billion valuation. But that report suggested that the company would do so by raising about $50 million–half of what it actually has, per the WSJ, in a deal expected to close Thursday.
Twitter still doesn’t make significant revenue. But its founders have said that paid corporate accounts, in the form of a sort of “analytics dashboard,” are imminent. Advertising isn’t out of the question either, despite what some of the company’s executives have said in the past.
The company’s initial round of Series B funding last year valued it at about $80 million, but soon added to the round in a deal that upped the valuation well into the hundreds of millions.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10360818-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
