Robert Andrews

Yahoo! APIs 'could reduce peanut butter effect'

Gifting its underlying infrastructure to web users could help focus a flailing Yahoo!, according to one of the portal's lead developers.

According to an internal memo, aimed at counteracting its listing fortunes but leaked this weekend, company senior vice president Brad Garlinghouse likened the search giant's one-stop shop approach to "peanut butter" - "a thin layer of investment spread across everything we do and thus we focus on nothing in particular".

by Robert Andrews 21 November 2006 18:23pm 0 comments

Pink is the new black, search stats say

Pink technologies for girl gadget lovers are set to be hot-ticket gift items this Christmas, dominating a growing number of consumers' web searches for the colour.

Online marketing tracker Hitwise UK found mobile phones, games machines and handheld consoles were amongst the most searched-for pink products in November, with the pink version of LG's newly colourful range of Chocolate phones leading the pack.

by Robert Andrews 21 November 2006 12:22pm 0 comments

Mobile video entrant aims to rock US vote

First-time voters at next week's US mid-term elections are being urged to become election observers for the day by posting video from poll scenes to the web using mobile phones.

With over 500 seats being contested across the country, youth social action movement YouthNoise has partnered with new video sharing website Veeker to solicit "veeks", or "video peeks", via email over MMS from polling stations, rallies, protests and parties.

by Robert Andrews 03 November 2006 17:11pm 0 comments

Greenpeace delivers campaign message by moblog

Greenpeace protesters gave web users a bird's eye view of their latest online communications campaign when they used a moblog to capture an effort to shut down a power station in Oxfordshire.

Environmental campaigners stopped the flow of coal into the facility at Didcot before dawn on Thursday, then scaled a 600ft chimney in protest against the use of coal-fired stations.

by Robert Andrews 03 November 2006 17:11pm 0 comments

Utube sues YouTube, seeking pay-out

An American tubes and pipes manufacturer whose website is registered at utube.com is suing YouTube after being deluged with traffic from millions of users mistakenly seeking the video sharing network.

Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment Corporation said the cost of hosting utube.com had skyrocketed in the last couple of months thanks to the word-of-mouth popularity of youtube.com.

by Robert Andrews 02 November 2006 11:36am 0 comments

Google's noun-sense falls on deaf ears

Tough guidelines issued by Google to those who persist in using the company's name as a verb have provoked an angry reaction from users.

The search giant first got riled by the passing of its brand into common lexicon back in 2003, when it issued Word Spy proprietor Paul McFedries with a cease-and-desist letter commanding his removal of the word "google" from his site.

by Robert Andrews 30 October 2006 10:30am 0 comments

Digg "turns down" Murdoch's takeover offer

Social news bookmarking web start-up Digg has reportedly been in acquisition talks with several suitors - but instead opted to continue operating independently for now.

The San Francisco-based site, started by former TechTV host Kevin Rose and cohort Jay Adelson, has been talking with "a number of companies, including News Corp., according to multiple sources close to the negotiations", TechCrunch reports.

by Robert Andrews 25 October 2006 10:50am 0 comments

ITV swells crew to chase online ads

ITV has hired three new online sales managers in a bid to add some digital lustre to its flagging fortunes.

The struggling broadcaster reportedly appoined Rob Hicks, Alexis James and Fiona Stedman to a team led by online sales controller Vanessa Kent, who took to her newly created post in July.

by Robert Andrews 25 October 2006 11:00am 0 comments

BT launches free remote backup service

BT has entered the online data storage market with an offering that gives crash-conscious consumers up to 20Gb of remote backup space for documents, media and other files.

by Robert Andrews 23 October 2006 17:33pm 3 comments

Tube could be giant viral music network

London Underground commuters would interact using mobile phones and station-side wireless hubs under a project aiming to turn the tube transport system into a city-wide song-swapping network.

by Robert Andrews 23 October 2006 17:27pm 0 comments