Yearly Archives: 2012

PrivacyTest.com is a website tracking and privacy testing service designed to be used by the average non-technical internet user concerned with his or her privacy or online tracking. PrivacyTest.com allows internet users to anonymously test websites for web beacons, and other tracking mechanisms simply and securely.

Creator Rand Wilson wanted to build a simple, anonymous, free way for unsophisticated internet users to anonymously test a website without having to learn how to read web-server headers, HTML code or install special software or web-browser plugins. “We had two design goals for PrivacyTest.com. It had to be simple and it had to be free,” stated Wilson. “I thought, if my wife or parents could use the website and understand it, then it’s a success.”

PrivacyTest.com is now open for public beta testing and feedback and has already performed over 1,000 website privacy tests. Additional features and user interface updates are planned for rollout over the next 90 days.

Google have announced the introduction of custom themes in Gmail, reports the Official Gmail Blog.

Themes let you personalize your inbox with fun backgrounds, but they’re also practical, helping you easily differentiate between multiple Gmail inboxes (e.g. work and personal). Over the next couple of days Google are rolling out a new Custom themes section with two options, Light and Dark where you can do just that.

Three pay monthly phone customers will be able to enjoy the benefits of the internet on their smartphones whilst holidaying in the EU without the fear of running up a massive bill.

For just a fiver a day, customers can tweet, tag, browse, book, update, upload, search, send, and Google as much as they want without worrying about how much they’re spending.

So, if you’re trying to find that perfect pizzeria, you can just Google it and track it down on a map. If you can’t remember the word for donkey in Spanish, download a translation app. Or, if you really can’t resist finding out what’s going on at work, you can pick up your emails whenever you like and wherever you are. But best of all, you can make everyone back home insanely jealous with loads of gloaty “look where I am right now” type status updates and photos.

Thomas Malleschitz, marketing director at Three said, “We love the mobile internet at Three and we want our customers to enjoy it on holiday as much as they do at home. The Euro Internet Pass gives our customers the freedom to use the internet in the EU without having to think about how many megabytes or gigabytes they are using or where the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot is.

“We’ve been campaigning for lower data roaming rates and welcome the new regulation from Europe. These changes promote competition and allow us to offer our customers a better deal so they no longer have to worry about running up a massive bill when using the internet”.

Exciting news for Google Website Optimizer users that are forced to look for alternative A/B testing and multivariate testing – Convert Insights launches its application Convert Experiments with seamless Google Analytics integration. The company is even offering to migrate existing Google Website Optimizer users with A/B or multivariate tests to migrate to Convert Experiments.

“We are promising a seamless integration with Google Analytics in terms of multivariate testing, conversion and revenue tracking as well as real-time statistics to people that are forced to search alternative products to Google Website Optimizer. It was frustrating to see that June 1st 2012 Google announced the discontinuation of Google Website Optimizer (also know as GWO) and the only alternative solution offered was Google Analytics Content Experiments that has half of the features of Google Website Optimizer. With our team of 5 where each of us is a specialist or developer in conversion optimization it was natural we could extend a hand to users now stuck with expensive enterprise solutions,” says the spokesperson of Convert Insights, the company which was launched in 2009 brought their first A/B testing solution to users in 2010 and received funding from Alta Ventures to improve the lives of millions of online marketers and business owners. He further added that the launch of Convert Experiments is a joint effort by Claudiu Rogoveanu, Jeroen van der Tuin, Stefanie Baeker and Dennis van der Heijden.

The company stands apart from its competitors with their seamless Google Analytics integration, live-stats, multivariate testing, targeting dynamic eCommerce pages and its ability to track revenue and conversion with one line of code on a website, the so called tag-less integration that will make the life of agencies and marketer that use Google Analytics easier and are looking for Google Website Optimizer alternatives.

Convert Insights is reporting of a hundred percent growth every year and has received venture capital in 2011 as a back up for their development. – http://www.convert.com/

Microsoft has announced updates for Skydrive apps for Windows and Mac OS X Lion, on the Windows team blog.

Updates:
“SkyDrive for Windows desktop will power a cool new feature in the upcoming Windows 8 Release Preview, available the first week of June. Right from the Photos app in Windows 8, you can fetch photos stored on your other PCs that have SkyDrive installed – no matter where you are or how many terabytes of photos you have stored on the PC you are accessing. We’ll have more to say about this shortly, so stay tuned.

SkyDrive for OS X Lion no longer shows an app icon in the dock when running. We’ve definitely heard the feedback that it wasn’t necessary.

Your SkyDrive folder now updates more quickly and reliably when changes are made on other devices, including SkyDrive.com.

The limit on the number of total files in the SkyDrive folder created by the apps has been raised from 150,000 to a whopping 10 million! This should unblock some power users from easily adding lots of files to their SkyDrive folder.

We made lots of smaller bug fixes to improve overall reliability.”

Read more at: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2012/05/30/updates-to-the-skydrive-apps-for-windows-and-mac.aspx

Google has been publishing Transparency Reports for some time now,detailing things like government requests to remove content from search results or requests for users’ information to be removed. From today you can see the number of removal requests it receives from companies over copyright and piracy concerns. “Each request names specific URLs to be removed, and we list the domain portions of URLs requested to be removed under targeted domains.”

So far over 1,246,713 URLs have been requested to be removed and over 24,129 domains, since 2011.

Microsoft has asked Google to remove more than 500,000 links from its index in the last month, figures show. The vast majority of the links in question were ones which took people to sites connecting to pirated Microsoft software.

The British Phonographic Institute, which represents record labels, asked for most links, 160,000, to be removed.

In July 2011, the point at which its statistics start, Google was getting requests to remove 129,063 links per week. In May 2012 this figure had risen to 284,850. In the past month, more than 1.2 million links on 24,000 separate sites were removed. Requests to de-list links came from 1,296 separate copyright holders.

Google said it granted about 97% of requests to remove links and it usually took about 11 hours for any request to have an effect on search results.

Read more: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/

Sidecar (www.sidecar.me) is a new mobile app that brings Smart Calling to smartphones. Smart Calling allows people to share live See What I See video, brilliant photos, contact information, and locations, all while they talk. The Sidecar app is free to use and download from Apple’s App Store (http://itunes.com/apps/sidecarme) or Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.sidecar&hl=en).

In addition, people can call anyone in the U.S. or Canada for free, even if the recipient of the call is not a Sidecar user. When the call ends, the recipient will receive a text message inviting them to join Sidecar.

“Until now, voice calling has sat in a silo by itself. People who wanted to do more than talk had to toggle back and forth between voice calls and whatever else they wanted to share with the person they were calling,” said Rob Williams, chief executive officer of Sidecar. “Sidecar tears down these barriers and lets people easily share live video, location, photos, and contacts while they talk. The result is a more fun, engaging, and expressive conversation.”

With Sidecar, people can call and share:
– See What I See Video: Sidecar users can share amazing real-time videos of what’s happening around them.
– Photos: Sidecar users can snap brilliant pictures, or share photos from their phone’s library, instantly with other Sidecar users.
– Locations: Sidecar lets users look at an interactive map, see where they are in relation to the person they’re calling, and share locations to meet up.
– Contact Information: Sidecar lets users pass along and integrate contacts from their phone’s address book.
– Whisper Text: Send a private text message to another Sidecar user during a call, and keep the conversation going when it’s hard to talk.

And, the price is unbeatable:
– Sidecar users can call anywhere in the world for free: As long as both parties are using the Sidecar app, users can talk as long as they like for free.
– Sidecar users can call anyone in the U.S. or Canada for free over Wi-Fi: The person you’re calling doesn’t need to have the app. When you call, they’ll receive a text message telling them how to download Sidecar so next time you can use Sidecar’s exclusive Smart Calling features.

“There has been tremendous innovation in smartphones in every area except the basic phone call,” said Rob Glaser, chairman and co-founder of Sidecar. “Over 800 million people around the world have smartphones; the time is right to re-imagine what a phone call can be. That’s the mission of Sidecar.”

How People Can Use Sidecar

Here are some examples of how people can use Sidecar today:
– The Scouting Party – When you find that perfect party or nightspot, Sidecar makes it easy to report back to your friends and get them to join you. Just put yourself at the center of the fun and turn on video sharing. Seeing is believing, and nothing makes it easier to see what’s happening than Sidecar. When your friends are ready to rally, just share your location and Sidecar will lead them right to you.
– The Handyman – Your new apartment is great, but you just can’t figure out how to get that pipe under the sink to stop leaking. No problem. Just call Dad on Sidecar and flip on video sharing. He can see what you see – and even what you missed – like that loose washer you forgot to tighten. Missing a part? You can snap and share a picture, so Dad can stop at the hardware store before he visits next weekend.
– The Shopping Trip – Since your best friend moved, it’s been hard to stay connected. She’s in New York and you’re in San Francisco, but today you’re both going shopping. Turn on video sharing and you can show her what you see while walking through your favorite store. You can turn on Whisper mode, so she can give you her honest opinion without others hearing. Being able to hear what she thinks, even though you’re thousands of miles apart, makes you feel more connected than ever.

Sidecar Pricing & Availability

For iPhone, iPod Touch and Android users, Sidecar is free to download in Apple’s App Store (http://itunes.com/apps/sidecarme) or Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.sidecar&hl=en). Calls to other Sidecar users are free anywhere in the world. Calls to regular phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada are free over Wi-Fi. Standard carrier data charges will apply when the app is used over 3G / 4G.

Company Background

Sidecar is based in San Francisco and Seattle. Launched as SocialEyes in 2011, the company pivoted to Sidecar in response to the rapid adoption of smartphones and the opportunity to create a better calling experience. Sidecar founders, Rob Williams, Rob Glaser and Jeff McLeman all share extensive backgrounds in mobile, communications and consumer products. Sidecar is backed by Ignition Partners, The Webb Investment Network, Rob Glaser and other prominent individual investors.