As part of Facebook’s open graph launch it is partnering with Microsoft on the launch of  Docs.com, an application that allows users to share and collaboratively edit Office 2010 documents and spreadsheets across the social network. Read More »

My mum is scared of technology. Clammy hands terrified. To the point where she gets a rash when we talk to her about getting a new computer. Anyone would think I was proposing she install a gargoyle with snakes for hair as the new centrepiece in the front room.

When all I want to do is upgrade her noisy, chunky and ugly computer with a new quiet and slim-line ASUS or Dell PC. In other words, swap her outsized, outmoded monstrosity with a sleek addition that is more of an architectural fitting than an eyesore. Read More »

Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled Facebook’s bid to put itself at the centre of the web (with “like” buttons becoming universal symbols) as it goes increasingly social and open. The Facebook CEO unveiled a set of partners, including Microsoft and Yelp, designed to help people to build a more personal social web and connect with Facebook just about wherever they are. Read More »

LinkedIn just got a lot more social, with a number of link-sharing updates that mimic Facebook’s news feed. When LinkedIn users share articles or websites with their peers, a small thumbnail image and excerpt will appear with it, like the Facebook Publisher service that powers Facebook users’ walls. Read More »

The Labour Party has released a number of updates for its Apple iPhone app, iCampaign ahead of the second televised leader debate on Thursday night on Sky News as more than 100,000 download the party’s manifesto online.

The app now allows party canvassers to show the party’s animated ‘Manifesto’ videos to potential voters to easily share campaign and policy information on the doorstep. Read More »

Nielsen and Facebook have put out an interesting study showing that using social media in online ad campaigns can boost ad recall, brand awareness and intent purchase.

Part of it the study appears to suggest is that ads with a social context, which can be things like tweets or endorsements from friends (“social advocacy”) displayed within the ad units, helps bring the ads to life and simply makes them more effectiveness, noticeable, and memorable. Read More »

Google is in talks to pay $1bn for ITA Software, the IT firm that provides the online flight data for Microsoft’s Bing Travel, as well as other travel websites Orbitz, Kayak and CheapTickets.

The acquisition could help Google claw back some of the market share erased by Bing’s travel-search features, which have been a popular draw for users. Online travel sales generated an estimated $88.4bn in sales last year. Read More »

The BBC at the weekend resurrected the Daleks for new Doctor Who Matt Smith. It produced a range of web content online for fans including video clips and an online game.

But as the episode, ‘Victory of the Daleks’, involved an alternative timeline where the mechanised orginal sci-fi bad boys assisted Winston Churchill in the fight against the Nazis in WWII the BBC produced another extra: a rather cool 1940s style wartime poster. Read More »

YouTube is looking for “culture and trends curator” as it readies to launch a pop-culture blog as part of its fifth birthday celebrations in May.

The blog is thought to be one of a number of ideas that the video sharing website is planning to celebrate its five years on the web.

According to a job posting for Google in New York, YouTube seeks a “digital Read More »

The Daily Mail says it has no plans to follow The Times in erecting a paywall on its website, but will experiment with charging for niche and mobile content.

At an investor’s day presentation yesterday Martin Clarke, digital publisher of Mail digital, made it clear that the MailOnline’s website would not begin charging readers and would stay free like The Guardian and others have said they intend to. Read More »