Google posts

For the last few months, I have been asked on and off why I didn’t have a TECHi presence on Google+. There are many reasons: our focus on our Facebook page, our ever-growing Twitter presence, the lack of tools that integrate directly with Google+, and, of course, time (or lack thereof) all played a role. It’s not that we haven’t paid attention to Google+; on the contrary, we’ve been very active on it through our author accounts and through encouraging people to share on the social network. Now, the reasons to get on outweigh the reasons to stay off. Google+ is not only growing, but its importance from…

It seems we have seen the last of Google Places. As of May 30, Goggle+ Local has resulted in the replacement of Google Places.  Approximately 80 million Google Place pages all over the world have been automatically converted into 80 million Google+ Local pages. Google+ Local, which is integrated with free Zagat reviews, offers users the ability to rate their favorite businesses via social media. Replacing the star rating of Google+ with the 30 point Zagat rating is believed to encourage users to participate more often with business owned Google+ pages. With Google Places out of the picture,…

Few businessmen are pushing the boundaries of technology further than that of Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page. Where Steve Jobs was able to streamline and successfully market, Page innovates. After meeting fellow co-founder Sergey Brin whilst earning his doctorate degree (at Stanford!) in 1996, Page helped create an algorithm that would launch the most successful search engine on the web and turn it into an empire of innovation, trailblazing technology in almost every field. But having recently faced lawsuits from Apple, Microsoft and Oracle, and with Facebook beginning to take aim…

Anyone who owns a smartphone, be it a sleek Apple iPhone or a fully customizable Android device, knows that mobile applications are what brings the “cool” factor to these devices. From small applications that tell the weather or current stock prices, to highly addictive gaming experiences which can suck up hours of your social life, apps are all the rage with smartphone users. This app experience is not just a passing fad, but has become a powerful revenue generating machine for Apple and Google with app downloads crossing the 25 billion and 10 billion mark for these companies, respectively….

Quick, what’s your Twitter handle? What’s your Facebook profile URL? What’s you Google+ address? You were probably able to answer the first two questions. The third one is a mystery to nearly everyone. Sure, it’s easy to find you, particularly if you have a not-so-common name. Just search for their name on Google and if they have an account it should be prominently displayed, assuming they’re using it regularly. Internally, all you really need is their name and a rough idea of what they look like to find them. Too hard. We should be able to tell people where to go. We should be able to put it on a business…

It only takes 140-characters or less to send a Tweet and it takes under 1,000 employees to operate the company according to research done by social media firm Social Jumpstart. In fact, Disney’s Club Penguin, a social network for kids, has more employees. LinkedIn has nearly 1,800 employees and Facebook has over 3,000. Comparing the different leaders in social media, it’s easy to see which niches take the most effort. Social news site Reddit, for example, has 11 employees servicing “The Front Page of the Internet”, a site that can send hundreds of thousands of unique visitors in hours to a picture…

Kevin Rose has always been known as an “ideas guy”. His ventures haven’t always paid off as well as they could have with Revision3, Pownce, and Milk all selling for less than many would have thought and with Digg dropping out of prominence in the social news arena, but he’s tasted success with all of them at one point or another. Google is banking on that by moving him to Google Ventures after trying him out on the Google+ team for a short stint. Rose has had success in picking winners with a portfolio that has include Twitter, path, OMGPOP, and Foursquare. Three-year-old Google Ventures claims to have…

Both Google and Facebook receive hundreds of millions of visits every month, but how do they compare as companies? The stats surprised us. Take a look at this infographic that breaks down Google, Inc. and Facebook, Inc. down to their revenue, employees, company acquisitions, and more. Via: Boostlikes.com …

Very few people would miss the answer to the question, “What’s the most valuable tech brand in the world?” Sure, some might say Google, Microsoft, or IBM, but most are familiar with Apple’s domination. It holds true in a recent study as part of WPP’s Millward Brown annual study of “BrandZ” that documents the most valuable global brands. Of note is that nearly half of the brands in the top 100 list fell this year, something that hasn’t happened since the worldwide recession of 2009. You can download the infographic below as a PDF or view it online thanks to Connecticut Ford. Via: BrandZ Related articles…

Incessant gossip surrounding iPad/iPhone releases and future features is the only thing more persistent in the tech rumor mill than the mythical Facebook phone. It’s coming, then it dies, then it’s in production, then it was never even considered; the information coming out of Menlo Park (and Palo Alto when they were there) as well as reliable sources do more flip flops about the Facebook phone than most politicians. Most. Now, it appears that the rumors may have some real weight to them. The project which was reported scrapped last year may have been up and running the whole time. Code-named…