Alchemy Interactive News

AMD sets out its plans for 2013, hints at a possible ARM future

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:09:30 UTC

AMD today laid out its plans for the next couple of years at its Financial Analyst Day. The plans are a mix of familiar and logical extensions of the company's current products, but contained some more surprising elements: specifically, AMD opened the door to future processors that include ARM CPUs.

The underlying themes to AMD's plans are faster iteration—a GPU-like 18-24 months between CPU designs, compared to the current 3 or more years—achieved by moving away from custom designs and depending more heavily on synthesized chip layouts, and lower power usage. This in turn will give AMD more flexibility to integrate CPUs and GPUs—and potentially other co-processors too—into what the company calls APUs (accelerated processing units).

Source:- ars technica

UK culture survey: Brits �blurring lines between brand and consumer

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:58:16 UTC

Brands need to engage on an equal level of interaction with people about wider topics, such as political issues, to meet consumers shifting expectations, according to a new report.

The first insights from a global longitudinal research programme into attitudes of adults around the world, and how they impact the way brands operate, has been revealed by strategic brand and planning consultancy Onesixtyfourth.

Source:- netimperative

The best and brightest from 500 Startups� third demo day

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:55:29 UTC

Dave McClure has very quickly become a major force in Silicon Valley, by making investments in more than 250 companies since launching his 500 Startups fund. In Mountain View, Calif. Wednesday, 32 companies from the third class of the 500 Startups Accelerator program showed off what they’ve been working on to investors and press. And I sat through all the demos so you didn’t have to.

Source:- gigaom

Yahoo display ad sales dip as new CEO takes charge

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:53:21 UTC

Yahoo has posted declines in profit and sales this week, as the struggling internet giant looks to turnaround its fortunes under new Chief Executive Scott Thompson.

Thomson was hired to lead the Internet company through a turnaround effort amid continued cost cutting and stagnant financial performance.

Yahoo said net earnings for the fourth quarter ended in December fell to $295.6 million, or 24 cents a share, from $312 million, or 24 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Net revenue fell 3% to $1.17 billion, Yahoo said.

Source:- netimperative

Twitter beefs up ad security with Dasient buy

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:39:40 UTC

Twitter has acquired Dasient, a web security firm that helps protect ad networks and publishers from malicious ads.

Twitter said in a message that "Dasient is joining the flock!", and referred to Daswani's blog post. Financial details were not disclosed.

Dasient, which describes itself as a cloud-based Web antimalware technology company, introduced in 2010 a service to protect advertisement networks and publishersfrom malicious ads.

"Over the last year, we have been very active in securing the ads and content of the some of the industry's largest ad networks and web sites," Neil Daswani, the company's co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a blog post.

Source:- netimperative

Amazon Web Services Debuts Storage Gateway To Securely Upload Enterprise Data To The Cloud

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:37:45 UTC

After launching distributed database DynamoDB last week, Amazon Web Services is debuting another product—AWS Storage Gateway, which is a service that provides enterprises with a new option to securely upload and backup data to the AWS cloud from on-premises software appliances.

Basically, the Gateway connect san on-premises software appliance with Amazon’s cloud-based storage for a more secure integration between on-premises IT environments and AWS storage infrastructure. Via the Gateway, data is uploaded to AWS, where it is encrypted and stored in the Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). The Gateway provides a solution fir enterprises looking for effective backup and rapid disaster recovery between on-premise applications and the cloud.

And there is no need to re-architect on-premises applications as the AWS Storage Gateway exposes a standard iSCSI interface that works with existing applications, explains Amazon.

Source:- TechCrunch

New Lego social network lets fans show off creations

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:54:01 UTC

Toy-maker Lego has launched a new social network called ReBrick, aimed at fans looking to showcase their work and swap ideas.

ReBrick is currently in an open Beta and serves as a hub for various existing fan-made Lego sites (such as MOCPages, Brickshelf and Brothers Brick) and for creations people post on YouTube and Flickr.

The Lego Group's aim is to provide a go-to site for fans, especially those who are new to the toy, so they can connect with other fans in different online communities.

ReBrick doesn't require users to upload your photos to their site,only that they link photos that they’ve already uploaded elsewhere to the site.

The site is moderated, and other users can rate or comment on each entry.

The Lego Group worked with hundreds of Lego enthusiasts to develop ReBrick, and even consulted fans over the site's name.

ReBrick was launched to a limited audience back in December, but it's now open to general public.

Source:- netimperative

Thin Film and the creation of the stupid web

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:44:11 UTC

Thin Film Electronics ASA, a company that prints memory and logic circuits onto plastic films, has signed partnerships with three companies to create a cheap, disposable temperature sensor. The idea is to replace the current color-based sensors with accurate information that can retain history on the item it’s tracking and be sold for 20-40 cents each.

Their existence might be called the beginning of the stupid web — where every object –from individual vaccines to packages of ground beef — will have some modicum of intelligence but won’t be connected. This may not sound too exciting, but it’s the first step to a truly connected sensor web and what I like to think of as the web that talks back.

Source:- gigaom

Google doubles Plus membership with brute-force signup process

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:12:41 UTC

Google CEO Larry Page trotted out an impressive statistic during last week's quarterly earnings call: Google+ now has 90 million users, double what it had three months ago. Even better, 60 percent of those users are engaged daily, and 80 percent weekly.

But those users aren't necessarily engaging with Google+. Any action taken during a logged-in Google session—whether it be searching the Internet, checking Gmail or using Google Docs—counts as engagement under the statistic Page used. Google has refused requests from journalists and interested bystanders to reveal exactly what percentage of those 90 million signed-up Google+ users actually view Plus content each day, week or month. Instead, Google is arguing that it doesn't matter: Google+ is so integrated into the overall experience that what matters is the number of users interacting with any Google site. Combined with other steps Google has taken to integrate Plus into search results and other Google properties, the message is clear: Eventually, Google Plus will just be there whether you want it or not.

Source:- ars technica

Internet protest wins: US puts SOPA and PIPA piracy bills on hold

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:11:16 UTC

The much-criticised Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act have both been officially postponed, following high-profile protests from a number of websites including Wikipedia and Google.

The head of the US House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith, says that they have taken the critic's concerns on SOPA "seriously" and will put the legislative bill on hold "until there is wider agreement on a solution."

Source:- netimperative

Infographic: The history of 'disruptive innovations' in B2B marketing

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:09:50 UTC

From the first tradeshows to the birth of smartphones, there have been many innovations that profoundly influenced the way businesses reach, engage and educate buyers. This infographic from Eloqua and creative agency JESS3 spotlights 26 disruptive innovations that have re-shaped B2B marketing, tying them to specific milestones.

The research has been used to promote the firm’s latest product — Eloqua Engage for iPad — a product in which four "disruptions" (email, tablets, marketing automation and revenue performance management) converge.

“Looking through The History of Disruptive Innovations in B2B Marketing infographic, it’s exciting to see just how far our industry has come,” said Paul Teshima, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Eloqua. “But it’s also clear sales and marketing professionals need an innovation that ties many of these disruptive forces together. Eloqua Engage for the iPad does just that by deliver sales and marketing the unfettered ability to target buyers easily, quickly and on the fly.”

Source:- netimperative

Infographic: Linux lovers love big data

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:59:02 UTC

For anyone thinking the big data trend is a flash in the pan, some new evidence to the contrary. A hefty 75 percent of IT pros and developers responding to a new Linux Foundation survey have their eye firmly on this big data phenomenon.

More than three-quarters of the 428 respondents “expressed concern” about big data and nearly 72 percent (unsurprisingly) said they will use Linux to support big data applications. The respondents, while biased towards Linux — this is the Linux Foundation after all – do not work in a vacuum. A respectable 35.9 percent said they plan to use Windows to meet their big data needs.

The survey queried IT/IS people and developers in organizations with $500 million or more in annual revenue and 500 or more employees. Just less than half (41.6 percent) of the respondents are based in the U.S. or Canada

Source:- gigaom

Foursquare debuts personalised search engine �Explore�

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:28:07 UTC

Foursquare is rolling out its own search engine, called Explore, as the location-based social network looks to expand its audience.

The firm descibed Explore as a product to add “an ‘interesting’ layer to the whole world, tailored just for you.”

In a statement, the firm explained how the search engine would be tailored to each user:

“Most real-world searches are one-size fits all. You search for pizza, and it gives you the same list of pizza places, whether you like deep dish or thin crust, whether you want a slice or a sit-down meal, or whether your friends would love it or hate it. But not with foursquare Explore, because you are your friends’ (along with 1,500,000,000 more from the foursquare community) help us personalize our recommendations for you. Ever you time you check in, we get better at finding places you’ll like.”

Source:- netimperative

SOPA Resistance Day begins at Ars

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:25:15 UTC

Today is SOPA Resistance Day at Ars. Sites across the 'Net, from reddit to the Internet Archive, from Wikipedia to Google, are protesting the excesses of the Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA remains a flawed bill that treats piracy as an existential threat to the US economy and to a sacred class of rightsholders—and in doing so loses all perspective on appropriate remedies. The discussion is absolutely unbalanced.

Many sites have chosen to go dark (i.e., offline) today, a stance we respect—but it's not the right path for us. Ars Technica has, for 14 years, tried to be an information resource, and the most appropriate response from Ars is to provide even more information on the legislation, how you can fight it, and what's really at stake.

Source:- ars technica

Yowie brings video chat, media sharing to Facebook

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:24:43 UTC

Online video chat provider Yowie is hoping to boost its social presence, with a Facebook app that will let individual users talk to one another while sharing interesting videos. The app, which competes with Google Hangouts and Chill, seeks to differentiate itself by ranking users based on the videos they share and their behavior in chat rooms.

Yowie allows users to connect to their application through Facebook and invite friends to video chat and to share media from sites like YouTube. Once logged in, users can broadcast from their webcams and then search and add media to be viewed as part of a shared playlist. They can invite friends directly through Facebook, or share with social networks such as Twitter and Google+.

Source:- gigaom

Promotional email campaigns reach record high in 2011

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:23:08 UTC

The average number of promotional email campaigns by top retailers in the US hit an all-time high during 2011, rising 16% on the previous year, according to new research.

The study, from email solutions provider Responsys found that Retailers sent their subscribers nearly 15 email campaigns a month on average.

"Retailers sent each of their subscribers 177 promotional email campaigns on average last year, up 16% from 2010," said Chad White, Research Director at Responsys, who tracks the email marketing activity of more than 100 of the top retailers on the Retail Email Blog. "Since 2008, the average number of promotional email campaigns sent by the top retailers to each of their subscribers has risen 51%."

Heather Blank, Vice President of Strategic Services at Responsys, added, "More flash and daily deal promotions, as well as more retailers sending same-day reminder campaigns for large promotions, were key contributors to the rise in email marketing volume."

Source:- netimperative

Wikipedia to join reddit in SOPA blackout Wednesday

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:54:27 UTC

Seeking to "send Washington a BIG message," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has announced that the English version of Wikipedia will go dark on Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, anti-piracy bills now being considered by Congress.

"Student warning!" Wales tweeted on Monday. "Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!"

He said the blackout, which is expected to last 24 hours, was a decision of the Wikipedia community.

source: ars technica

Google could face privacy probe after launching social search results

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:11:57 UTC

The head of a consumer online privacy watchdog says US regulators should look into Google's new personalised search to see whether there are antitrust or privacy issues.

"Google is an entrenched player trying to fight off its challenger Facebook by using its market dominance in a separate sector," Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), told the Los Angeles Times. "I think that should trouble people."

Rotenberg also said the personalised results will make personal data of users on Google+ more accessible, which may raise privacy concerns.

He said he is considering filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking the agency to investigate the Google search update. "We believe this is something that the FTC needs to look at," he said.

Source:- netimperative

Social Q&A platform Beepl goes live

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:10:53 UTC

Beepl opened its social question-and-answer site to the public Monday, with the hopes of challenging Quora and similar startups by finding the right specialists to answer user questions. It does that with technology that matches up users with the queries that they’re most interested in and most qualified to answer.

Users can sign in to Beepl with their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, linking the new service to their social graphs. Once a user has logged in, Beepl scans their social media profiles to create an interest graph. The company uses semantic technology, natural language processing and machine learning to build its network of subject matter experts and to deliver relevant questions to them.

Source:- gigaom

Facebook debuts �listen with� button to make music more social

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:10:05 UTC

Facebook debuted a new “listen with” feature on Thursday that lets groups of people listen to the same song at the same time via the social network’s music service.

Facebook product designer Alexandre Roche explained the new feature in a company blog post:

"This feature lets you listen along with any of your friends who are currently listening to music. You can also listen together in a group while one of your friends plays DJ."

It works like this: Friends who are listening to music via any one of the available music services on Facebook will have a music note next to their names on the Facebook chat sidebar. The “listen with” button will appear when you hover over a name that has a music note next to it. Once you click that button, you will hear the exact same thing that your friend is hearing at that time.

Source:- gigaom