What’s that you say? The current U.S. political climate feels needlessly antagonistic, with cults of personality replacing discussion of actual issues, exacerbated by a media that promotes partisan thinking and personal attacks for profit and ratings? Clearly, you need something to help you relax. Why not take your mind off things with a …
Misc
Walmart-Netflix Settlement to Be Paid Out in Walmart Gift Cards?
Leave it to Walmart to find some kind of silver lining in an expensive settlement to a class action lawsuit. A California court has tentatively approved the corporate giant’s proposal to provide the 40 million Netflix subscribers their agreed upon settlement in the form of gift cards to Walmart’s website, which just happens to house …
Study: 28% of U.S. Adults Use Phones for Directions
If you’re someone who likes to check out locations online, you’re far from alone. A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that more than a quarter of all American adults use mobile or social location-based media of some kind. It’s apparently good to share where you’re at these days.
The most popular …
Presley Estate Sues for Hunka-Hunka Burnin’ Ringtone Royalties
He may have been one of the most successful recording artists in history, but that hasn’t stopped the corporate group responsible for managing Elvis Presley’s assets from filing a new lawsuit claiming that the singer was “unjustly exploited during his lifetime by his record company,” and all because no-one saw things like ringtones or …
Yahoo Rumored to Buy New York Times! Wait, What?
Is Yahoo about to buy the New York Times Company?
The unexpected rumor has appeared online via a three sentence story on Business Insider‘s website, referencing a tweet from Benzinga.com, which claims to bring readers “business news before it’s news.”
(MORE: Yahoo, Facebook Want to Find Out if It’s a ‘Small World’ After All)
If …
Deal or No Deal: Facebook, Yelp Cut Daily Deals Services
Selective shoppers looking to save some money thanks to the Internet, beware: This particular sale may be ending sooner than you’d expect.
In the last week, not only has Facebook discontinued its Facebook Deals service, but Yelp is also rumored to be planning on “scaling back” its own Yelp Deals service, with 50% of the workforce …
How Many People Actually Use Twitter? Good Question
Here’s a shocker for you: Newt Gingrich probably didn’t pad his Twitter follower list with fictitious accounts. And, to make matters weirder, the reason that people thought that he had is the same reason why even Twitter isn’t sure how many users it actually has: inactive users.
Twitter Predicts, Laughs At East Coast Earthquake
For those on the East Coast, yesterday’s earthquake might not have come as a complete surprise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, news of the quake reached Twitter before the quake itself hit certain areas, with the microblogging site seeing messages like “Haha! I was able to read about the earthquake on Twitter right before I felt …
Man Uses Twitter to Get Free Morton’s Steak Dinner Delivered to Airport
If you’ve ever suspected that maybe, just perhaps, you’re not really doing social media right, here’s something that might reinforce that feeling for you: A man got a free steak dinner delivered to him as he disembarked a plane following a long flight, and all because of one cheeky tweet.
Social media consultant Peter Shankman—who …
Facebook Comments Make Websites Smarter, More Polite
Believe it or not, Facebook is making the internet a nicer place to be.
Apparently, the use of Facebook Comments on blogs and websites is resulting in higher quality discussions, as well as the expected increase in traffic. The reason for the new civility? Facebook’s accountability.
Yahoo, Facebook Want to Find Out if It’s a ‘Small World’ After All
Just how small a world is it, after all? A British journalist may have found that you can go from a random tweet to personal information in just nine steps, but now Yahoo! and Facebook are teaming up to find out more with the Small World Experiment.
According to Yahoo! Research, the experiment is “designed to test the hypothesis that …
Twitter Turns Out to Be the Best Financial Advisor Around
Maybe it’s because the financial markets are currently having mild schizophrenic episodes, but the hedge fund that uses Twitter as a guide as to where to invest finished its first month of trading at the end of July, and it not only returned 1.85% in that time, but it also beat the S&P 500 during the same period. In other words: Social …