Google Fights Facebook, Microsoft in Social Search!!!

Microsoft and Facebook have temporarily one-upped Google in social search with their new integration but, Google isn't going quietly.

Facebook Oct. 13 agreed to open its data feeds to let Microsoft's Bing search engine index and serve profile information and Liked Results in relevant situations.

The integration goes well beyond what Google has done with its own Social Search functionality, which lacks a large, cohesive network of user data.

The Facebook-Bing deal, then, is a big stepping stone to boosting social advertising, IDC analyst Hadley Reynolds told eWEEK.

"[Bing] can leverage the social info it lacked to keep people on their sites longer, with more exposure to ad inventory and the business it generates."

Google recognizes this as much as any other company. On Google's third-quarter earnings call Oct. 14, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked about how Google will capture signals in social search without accessing to data feeds similar to the deal Bing has struck with Facebook.

Schmidt paused a few seconds and noted that Google is careful about how its signals are assembled, but said there "are ways in which we could do that."

"We also have in development other ways in which people can give us that sort of information that can make it even more personal," Schmidt said.

Schmidt was clearly referring to Google's supposed Google Me project to socialize its search and Web service properties in many layers.

If that sounds like a veiled challenge to Bing and Facebook, it is. Schmidt has made no secret about Google's disdain for one-to-one arrangements where one company cedes data to another but not to the Web at large. He's also intimated he would like access to Facebook's data.

"There is always a concern that large, private collections of the data are not accessible to Web search engines," Schmidt said.

"We've take the position in a religious and business perspective that the world is better off if you take the info you're assemlbing and make it searchable, it provides a larger audience and drives more traffic to your site."

Unfortunately for Google, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is hardly in a rush to release Facebook data to any more search engines at this point.

That puts Google on the outside looking in, Altimer Group analyst Charlene Li told eWEEK.

"This is not a knock-out punch to Google, but it is significant that they are not the leaders in social search - Bing + Facebook are," Li said.

"Although [Bing] don't have the mass and scale to have an impact on Google, the fact that they have already gained ground over the past year is indicative that Google has vulnerabilities."

Another scary prospect for Google about the Facebook-Bing thing: Both Bing officials and Zuckerberg himself noted this new social search functionality is just a first step toward making search more useful, personalized and relevant using searcher's social graphs.

"As more people collect, post, share and add more "likes" and social content, the value of social search will improve," Forrester Research analyst Augie Ray told eWEEK.

Apple's iPad is Selling Faster than iPhone and DVD Player!!!

Sales of Apple iPads are outpacing sales of both iPhones and DVD players, according to an analyst note, and tablet computers are likely to become the country's fourth-largest consumer electronics category, after televisions, smartphones and notebooks. That raises the question of whether competing manufacturers' upcoming tablet offerings will be able to make a dent in Apple's lead.

"The iPad did not seem destined to be a runaway product success straight out of the box," Bernstein Research analyst Colin McGranahan wrote, according to CNBC. "By any account, the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion." The iPad's current sales rate is 4.5 million units per quarter, McGranahan added, predicting that sales of the device will be about $9 billion in 2011.

The question now is whether Apple will be able to maintain that sales momentum with new tablet competitors on the market. The Android-running Samsung Galaxy Tab is scheduled to debut in fall 2010 on four carriers, and both Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion are developing tablets that run proprietary operating systems. In addition, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has promised that Windows-powered tablets will arrive by Christmas.

Those manufacturers may be concerned about the iPad's possible cannibalization of the traditional PC market. That idea gained widespread attention in September, after Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn was paraphrased in The Wall Street Journal as saying the iPad had cannibalized more than 50 percent of the company's laptop sales; Dunn later disclaimed that view, but nonetheless the "cannibal" meme spread across the Web.

While some analysts—notably NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker—have suggested that reports of iPad cannibalization are greatly exaggerated, others assert that the devices are forcing the traditional notebook market in a new direction.

"We expect tablets to continue to pressure PCs as more vendors launch products (e.g., Dell Streak and Samsung Tab) and Apple expands its iPad distribution," Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty wrote in a research note, as quoted by Fortune Magazine Sept. 17. "Tablet cannibalization," she reportedly wrote, is a significant factor in U.S. notebook sales' 4 percent year-over-year decline in 2010. That sales data came from the NPD Group, although Baker suggested a decline in low-end notebook shipments was natural after "atmospheric" sales in 2009.

Whether or not cannibalization is actually occurring, other tablet manufacturers have a potentially long road ahead with regard to matching the iPad's total sales. In order to preserve something of a first-mover advantage, Apple is rumored to be developing a second-generation iPad, perhaps with a dual-camera configuration for video conferencing. As far back as August, sources such as Digitimes Research have also predicted a 7-inch iPad due to hit the market either later in 2010 or the first quarter of 2011.

Microsoft to Launch Windows 7 Smartphone!!!

Just days before tech giant Microsoft is set to launch its first Windows 7-enabled smartphone, the company has been rocked by a scathing report from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs which says the company's fortunes are unlikely to improve until it builds a foothold in the booming tablet and smartphone markets.
The report, by analyst Sarah Friar, pushed Microsoft shares down 2% in overnight trade to $US23.83, and have now fallen 23% since April. By contrast, Microsoft's great rival Apple has seen its stock rise 6% in the same period. Friar sighted a number of concerns about Microsoft's future, and warned these were "not just a this-year issue".

Top of the list are concerns that the PC refresh cycle – that is, the cycle during which consumers trade up to new computers – has become more elongated, with evidence also suggesting that many consumers are now turning to tablets rather than notebooks and laptops.

And unfortunately for Microsoft, it simply doesn't have a competitor in the tablet space. "We believe that top-line momentum and hence investor sentiment on Microsoft's core Windows and Office franchises is unlikely to improve until the company gains a firmer foothold in the growing migration to mobile devices – both smartphones and tablets," Friar wrote. "We don't see this happening this year, as Apple's iPad and iPhone plus Google's Android operating system are well established."

While Friar acknowledged the company was set to launch a Windows 7 smartphone (an event in conjunction with carrier AT&T will be held on October 11), Friar argues the entrenched positions of Apple, Google and Blackberry mean that for "Microsoft to gain credibility in mobile, we believe the company will need to see immediate success". On rumours that Microsoft is preparing to launch a Windows 7-powered tablet computer, Friar was dismissive. "We do not believe a Windows 7 tablet built on an Intel processor is currently able to compete."

Friar also suggested the company should boost its dividend to try to get a bit of spark in the share price, and also floated the idea of spinning off the company's Xbox gaming business. The key, Friar argues, is that the tech giant must do something. "We believe the intrinsic value of shares cannot be unlocked if the status quo remains."

"Microsoft gives up on Live Spaces"

Microsoft executives have decided not to allow any space for free bloggers. The software giants appears to lose hope from the services that they have provided for such a long time now. They think that they are not making much revenue from the space they provide their users for blogging.

Over 7 million users of Microsoft and over 30 million visitors will be directed to wordpress.com from march, next year. Which means the authority to puts ads and monetize them will be going to wordpress.com. This seems to be the decline of the software giant on the other hand Apple is going big day by day. The dominance of Microsoft is seemed to be suffering big time, as this news break through the internet.

Microsoft Unveils Final Version of "Internet Explorer IE9"

Just a couple of hours ago Microsoft corporation has unveiled the latest and final version of internet explorer or better known as IE9. It has full compatibility with the latest web code HTML5. This browser let's the user save the most visited site at a click distance at windows task bar. Windows latest operating system (Windows 7) is more likely to support it's features effectively.

Internet explorer were thought to be the giant until its dominance was put into the test when Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome take their part to break its monopoly. Internet explorer is still thought to be the biggest name in the browser world. But let's see whether Microsoft has over come its past drawbacks i.e. Slow surfing speed and lots of updates (which eventually effect the speed to slow down).Beta version is available now for download. :)

For more information visit : http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100915-711679.html