WebProNews

Time to Install Service Packs!

I just spent the entire day distracted by Windows Vista Service Pack 1, namely not getting any real work done while my computer was busy installing it. You should install SP1, too, just be aware of the time it might take.

Shoppers Spending More Time Researching Online

Online shoppers researched product information 11 percent and 27 percent more on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday respectively than they did on Cyber Monday, according to research from WebCollage.

The Great Social Retailing Invention

Social networking is so popular online that it’s spilling into the physical world - at actual stores. Called social retailing, the concept debuted at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) show last January 2007. Recently, the concept, by IconNicholson was selected by Time Magazine as One of the Best Inventions of 2007.

Google Chart API Released

Google released a chart generator service they are calling the Google Chart API. Usage is quite straightforward: you link to an image in the form of a parameterized URL, e.g. (line break added)

Guess What: People Run Wikipedia

It’s been awhile since we had any Wikipedia controversy, so maybe it’s about time for a pile-on — you know, something about how Jimmy Wales doesn’t care about quality, or how he runs the “open source” encyclopedia as his own personal fiefdom, or how people run around using strange technical terms that no one outside the Wikipedia cabal can understand (okay, that last one is totally true). This time it’s the revelation of a top-secret… wait for it… mailing list only for insiders! According to a breathless piece in The Register:

Positive Face Time Equals Good Branding

The more I dig, the more I’m convinced that a big part of a brand’s success is the quality of its customer touch points, specifically, the face to face ones. Consider this overwhelming evidence: The more emotion there is in an experience, the more vividly we remember it. It’s known as imprinting. So if we have very positive or very negative experiences, we remember them longer and more completely.

Bonnie Brown On Massaging Google Geeks

Bonnie Brown was working as massage therapist at Google from 1999 to 2004. Before that, she ran a private school for 10 years. Now, Bonnie is traveling and also wrote a book called Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google. I met up with her on Google Talk (the transcript below has spellchecking and punctuation added).

It's Time To Fan Facebook's Potential

Facebook Fan pages present another way to promote one's website and benefit from their presence in search engines.

Microsoft JPEG XR Approved As New Image Standard

Joint Photographic Experts Group, which owns the JPEG standard, has voted to make Microsoft’s HD Photo their new standard, under the name JPEG XR.

Old Media, Time To Find The Missing Link

There is an inherent competitiveness within the media industry, and any given entity goes about its business as though parallel organizations don’t exist – and throwing the competition a hyperlink is tantamount to endorsement. After all, if you sell shoes, you wouldn't willingly direct customers to another shoe store, would you?