Today seems to be redesign day. Digg began rolling out its new redesign to all users (follow us here). MySpace introduced a redesign to profiles. In addition to these, UStream unveiled its own redesign with changes to the homepage as well as the dashboard.
Guardian reports that Apple has refused to allow its iPhone to be included in the UK’s green ranking system, which gives phones a rating of zero to five based on their environmental footprint.
As you may have heard, Google unveiled a new feature in Gmail today that allows users to make and receive phone calls. In addition to this, Google will be setting up phone booths on college campuses and in airports. Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land shares a video looking at the inside of the phone booth and talking to the product marketing manager about it:
According to PaidContent, Alibaba has acquired eBay auction management provider Auctiva. It recently acquired a similar service in Vendio.
Nick Bilton at the New York Times has an interesting profile of a startup called Stipple, which aims to tag the web’s images. It lets publishers add tags to parts of an image with info about its contents and related links. Launch partners include Six Apart, Jive Records and E.W. Scripps.
Ian Sheer at the Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece about online coupons and how they’re getting smarter. "Among the new approaches: computer programs to better target consumers with personalized deals and staff on the ground to help merchants," he writes.
ReadWriteWeb points to a video of Apple SVP of software engineering, Bertrand Serlet, who talks about using Apple’s private APIs.
According to Guardian, Facebook is now being valued at over $33 billion as investors try to secure a stake in it. Facebook shares are changing hands for up to $76 each, the publication reports. Still, it doesn’t look like there will be an IPO anytime soon.
Ad firm Specificmedia is being sued amid accusations that it is re-creating deleted cookies, according to Wired’s Epicenter.
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at the WSJ reports that Amazon has lost a big e-book deal with literary agent Andrew Wylie. This comes as the company also announced that its new Kindles are selling faster than any previous models.