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NewsSurvey Says: Being Online Makes Men Really Happy

Posted 10/01/08 at 11:29:47 AM by Paul Lilly

Newsflash: The internet can be pretty damned groovy. So much so that Australian men are finding happiness from being online, whether it means fragging with buddies or getting neck-deep in social networking sites. But is the internet gender specific?

According to the "Happiness Index" study, which surveyed over 8,500 Aussies ranging in age from 18 on up to 64, more than half of the male respondents find happiness by surfing the web, whereas only 39 percent of women respondents felt the same way, instead preferring family time.

"This index gives insight into the way we tick, with the results being useful to Australian businesses who want to better communicate with their customers," said Karen Phillips, managing director of The Leading Edge, who conducted the survey.

So what else did the survey reveal? How about that more men (48 percent) than women (40 percent) find happiness between the sheets, or that more women than men prefer reading a book and eating comfort food.

We needed a survey for this?

Comments: 5
TAGS: online, Social Networking, survey

NewsDoes Yahoo Make You Think of Purple?

Posted 09/16/08 at 02:20:14 PM by Paul Lilly

Barney the purple dinosaur became a 90s phenomenon that still airs on television more than a decade later, so naturally the only logical conclusion is to attribute the runaway success to him being purple. Why else would Yahoo put so much effort into a new campaign imploring users to "Start Wearing Purple"?

To be fair, purple has been Yahoo's official color for some time now, though you wouldn't know it by the red colored logo prominently displayed on Yahoo's homepage. The new campaign kicks off with a kooky video that serves as an intro to several purple designated features, including Purple Picks, a daily series of links picked out by Yahoo's editors which "highlight the people, trend, fashion, and companies that exemplify life in the purple lane," and even Purple Merchandise, with everything from Yahoo Pony shoes to a purple Mimobot Code Ninja 1GB USB flash drive.

Is Yahoo on to something here, or is this another example of Web 2.0 having gone wrong? Check it out, hit the jump, and give us your thoughts.

Comments: 3
TAGS: Software, online, Yahoo, search, marketing, purple

NewsGoogle Readying Searchable Newpaper Archives

Posted 09/11/08 at 02:15:33 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Google is currently pursuing an aggressive strategy of continuous, unabated expansion. Most people depend heavily on Google search for their online research, but Google is not resting on its laurels. After adding tools like Google Scholar and Google Book Search, the company is all set to make another welcome addition to the list of its research tools. The company plans to digitize newspaper archives.

It has enlisted the help of newspaper publishers for the digital newspaper archives. “Not only will you be able to search these newspapers, you'll also be able to browse through them exactly as they were printed—photographs, headlines, articles, advertisements and all,” Google’s product manager Punit Soni claimed in a blog entry. Google will initially concern itself with only U.S and Canadian newspapers.

Comments: 1
TAGS: Internet, online, Google, web, newspaper

NewsRemember to Tip Your...Bloggers?

Posted 08/11/08 at 11:37:56 AM by Paul Lilly

You might feel compelled to toss a dollar or two at an amateur musician laying down some groovy riffs on his keyboard while enjoying a night out on the town, but would you feel the same urge to compensate a blogger who mashed out an insightful commentary on his 101-key plank? News media outlet Salon.com thinks so, and the suits behind the idea are so confident in their newest endeavor, they're giving new signees to their Open Salon user-generated content community $10 to start tipping their favorite bloggers.

In order to send or receive tips, users must register with Revolution MoneyExchange, a peer-to-peer payment service that allows for the transfer of money with no fees between account holders.Open Salon members who register for the service will receive a complimentary $10 stipend to start tipping.

"Open Salon eliminates the gatekeepers, "editor-in-chief Joan Walsh said in a statement. "It makes our smart,creative audience full partners in Salon's publishing future."

But what happens when the money runs out - will members still be inclined to tip their favorite bloggers out of their own pocket? That's the question the public beta hopes to answer before it officially launches later this year, right around the same time Maximum PC has promised all of its bloggers a company sponsored sports car and a four week paid vacation on the Hawaiian islands.

Comments: 2
TAGS: windows, Software, online, blogger, tip

NewsSurvey Says: New Yorkers the Most Addicted to Email

Posted 08/07/08 at 12:21:51 PM by Paul Lilly

Brett Favre going to the Jets has given New Yorkers plenty to chatter about, and according to AOL's fourth annual email survey, many of them might be doing it through email. Either that or they're working really, really hard. The survey shows that 62 percent of people check their work email accounts on weekends, and of all the respondents who took the survey, 55 percent of New Yorkers said they are addicted to email communication. By comparison, the national average sits at 46 percent.

"As technology continues to advance, we begin to rely upon it more and more," email productivity expert Marsha Egan said in a statement. "The constant connectivity offered by email and PDA products has people logging on so frequently that they don't have time to do anything else."

Lest anyone dispute that the internet is serious business and email addiction is a real problem, New Yorkers are being offered help to cut the digital chain. Egan, CEO of EganEmailSolutions.com and author of the eBook 12 Steps to Curing Your E-Mail E-ddiction (clever!) has offered to let New Yorkers and residents from other high addiction rate cities join her 12-step program this month for half off.

Are you an email addict?

Comments: 2
TAGS: Software, Internet, online, email, new york, survey

NewsGoogle Counts Over 1 Trillion Unique URLs

Posted 07/27/08 at 01:30:01 PM by Justin Kerr

In a shocking discovery this week, Google has announced the detection of more than one trillion unique URLs on the web. To put these staggering numbers in contrast, the web has been growing at a pace of several billion pages per day. And with the proposed launch of new domains, this trend shows no signs of slowing. With never a marketing opportunity missed, Google used the announcement to remind users as to the efficiency of its search index. “We don't index every one of those trillion pages -- many of them are similar to each other, or represent auto-generated content similar to the calendar example that isn't very useful to searchers. But we're proud to have the most comprehensive index of any search engine, and our goal always has been to index all the world's data.” Google’s announcement was a rare glimpse into the size of its index. In years past it was fashionable for search competitors to boast about the size of their database vs. the competition. But with more than one trillion unique pages available, index envy seems to be somewhat of a moot point these days. Either way one thing is clear, that’s alot of time to waste.

Comments: 0
TAGS: online, Google, Search Engines, Market Share

NewsGateway to Stop Selling PCs Online, Moves to Indirect Sales

Posted 07/26/08 at 01:51:59 AM by Paul Lilly

Call it an end of an era or a move that was long overdue, but no matter how you label it, Gateway will soon stop selling PCs through its website. Instead, the company will transition to a 100 percent indirect sales model focusing exclusively on brick and mortar stores, e-tailers, and channel partners.

Gateway had struggled in previous years to compete with Dell and other OEMs, but their fortunes looked to change after Acer acquired the company last year for $710 million. The acquisition turned Acer into the world's third-largest PC vendor overnight, while also giving both companies a boost in the North American market.

In a press release, Gateway claims the change in its business model will "deliver significant cost savings, ultimately resulting in an improved value proposition for consumers." Exactly how much the company thinks it will save wasn't disclosed, nor was the amount of job cuts that would result from the shift away from online sales.

Comments: 2
TAGS: pc, online, hardware, Gateway, OEM, rigs, pre-built

NewsShapeways Introduces Private Beta for New Online 3D Printing Service, 250 Maximum PC Readers Invited! (First Come, First Served)

Posted 07/22/08 at 02:05:06 PM by Paul Lilly

We still have a ways to go before being able to print out an entire PC's worth of components ordered through Newegg, but imagine taking that killer motherboard layout you've been brewing in your head and printing out a 3D mockup. Then the only question is do you send your design to your favorite motherboard maker, or start up your own company and show the competition what a real enthusiast's layout is supposed to look like? Forget about Fatal1ty, and slap your own forum nick on your custom mobo!

Sound farfetched? It is, but only because of the high costs associated with 3D printing. Looking to break that barrier is Netherlands-based Shapeways, an ambitious startup who hopes to help you transform your 3D modeling designs from software creations into hard printouts, all without breaking the bank. After submitting your object, Shapeways decides whether or not it can be produced and provides a real-time cost estimate, which the company claims usually runs between $50-$150.

It's all part of Shapeways' private beta for a new online consumer co-creation community and do-it-yourself 3D printing service. The site beta has just gone live, but the only way you'll get to try it out is with an invite. That's no problem for Maximum PC readers, as we've secured 250 exclusive invitations!

Hit the jump to learn more about Shapeways' 3D printing service and to snatch your invite. But hurry, they're first come, first served!