Author: David Lux

How different is Google+ from Facebook? It turns out, they’re not that different. A recent eye-tracking study has revealed that users of Facebook and Google+ look at their respective social networks in almost the exact same way. The study, conducted by EyeTrackShop, studied 54 people while they used Facebook and Google+. Users examined the content columns of both social networks’ homepages in the identical manner, and also spent the same amount of time reading each section. The study found that 50 percent of participants fixated — for one second, at approximately five seconds into their…

Bitly, whose mission is to reinvent how people discover and share content on the web, has officially acquired Twitterfeed. Twitterfeed allows bloggers to “feed their blogs to Twitter,” Facebook, and other services using RSS. The acquisition will be used to bring the enhanced sharing functionality of Twitterfeed directly to bitly.com, making it easier to collect, organize, shorten and share links. Currently, Bitly is one of the leading URL shortening services. It was even Twitter’s preferred shortening service until the company decided to develop their own. “For years now, we’ve…

Nissan has become the first automaker to use Quick Response (QR) codes on individual vehicle window stickers across its entire lineup. The campaign will begin on the 2012 Nissan Altima and Sentra, and will be added to each subsequent 2012 model year vehicle. QR code technology being used in Nissan’s “On Vehicle Graphics” campaign is designed to provide a more interactive experience for consumers with web-enabled iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices. Nissan’s North American marketing chief, Jon Brancheau, believes the technology will give consumers more value when they’re shopping…

Since its launch in late June, Google+ has attracted 25 million unique global visitors. That ascent has far outpaced the growth of MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook, prompting many observers to wonder if Google’s new social network will eventually overtake Facebook in popularity. Although the unique visitor count slowed at the end of July, the network’s global adoption of has been steadier. The biggest growth for Google+ has been seen in the United States, followed by India and Canada. “Visitors is technically what ComScore reports,” explained ComScore analyst Andrew Lipsman. “If someone…

Last month, Nissan announced a major milestone, having delivered 4,000 Leaf electric vehicles to customers in the U.S. As a record number of consumers take delivery of the innovative Leaf, Nissan is bringing test drives of the all-electric marvel to 26 cities across the country. Nissan’s “Drive Electric Tour” kicked of late last year, but the automaker recently began the second phase of the tour on July 8 in New York. Currently the Leaf is available in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas, Oregon and Washington, but it will become available in additional markets later this year….

As Congress squabbles over the debt crisis, it has been reported that Apple has more cash in reserve than the United States government. Based on Apple’s quarterly financial report, the tech giant that has spawned the iPad, iPod and the iPhone has $76.4 billion in reserve cash. The Treasury Department is clutching to just $73.7 billion. Apple’s quarterly results come at a time when the U.S. is working to raise the country’s debt ceiling, allowing the government to borrow more money to pay its bills. Despite having plenty of cash on hand, Apple continues to keep its cards close to its chest. Industry…

In the world of cloud storage and file sharing, few companies are growing faster than Dropbox. Since January 2010, the service has grown from 4 million users to more than 25 million users, and more than 200 million files are saved daily. However, YouSendIt wants to go toe-to-toe with Dropbox in a new arena: pricing. YouSendIt is best known as a convenient alternative to email when you have large files to send. However, it will now offer a cloud storage service similar to Drobox’s, but with a low-price unlimited plan. “YouSendIt is how business gets done online,” said Ivan Koon, the company’s…

After downplaying the importance of having an iPad app, images of Facebook’s upcoming iPad app have finally been exposed via TechCrunch. The HTML5-rich app looks nearly complete and could to be ready to launch shortly. For iPad users, this new application promises to be a far easier way to enjoy the social network in lieu of using the full Facebook website. Unlike the Facebook’s iPhone app, the design of the iPad app features a left-side menu system and extensive use of overlay menus, which are commonly found in other apps for Apple’s popular tablet. News of the iPad app’s existence is nothing…

The launch of Google+, Google’s new social network, has gone off without a hitch. After only three weeks, Google+ has pulled in 20 million users according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The report comes just a week after Google Chief Executive Larry Page said that Google+ had more than 10 million users and that they were sharing and receiving more than 1 billion items a day. That’s impressive growth considering Google has made access to the site by invitation only. Google has yet to market the service to the more than one billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail…

Shares of online real estate service Zillow more than doubled in their initial public offering on Wednesday, following the same path as other prominent Internet companies that have recently gone public. Zillow priced its offering at $20 per share on Tuesday night, but demand pushed shares up to $57 upon opening on Wednesday. Shares briefly soared above $60 before settling back to around $38 per share in midday trading. Zillow’s initial public offering follows filings by a slew high-profile Internet companies such as Groupon, LinkedIn, and Zynga. Some of these companies have continued to…