That’s it – I’ve HAD it. For years now, I’ve paid one telecoms service provider after another for my mobile phone, month in, month out. And you know what? In all these years, I’ve never ONCE received any return on investment for this!! Can you believe it??!! I’ve been a good customer, paid on time, and have never once received a single penny back from these communications charlatans. I’m cancelling my contract – there’s simply no ROI to be had from my mobile phone. Read More »

In a report of global and US PC sales released by UK research company Gartner, growth of netbook sales slowed significantly in the second quarter of 2010, the same period that Apple’s ‘magical and revolutionary’ touch-screen device dropped from the skies. Read More »

Social media has created a huge buzz in recent years and many consider it the future of marketing. While there’s no doubt that its popularity has altered the media landscape, a recent report* found that 37% of companies avoid social media because they don’t know enough about it. While there’s enough potential for email marketers to curry favour among these detractors, specialist providers recognise the benefit of integrating email and social media, and are leveraging the opportunity to bridge customer understanding of social media platforms. Read More »

Fans of UK 80s-style synth duo Monarchy can access an exclusive track using an iPhone’s image-recognition technology, ahead of the single’s official release on 30 August, thanks to a deal with music streaming website Spotify. Read More »

The words ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ have become synonymous with social networking in the UK, but what about in other parts of the world? For social media marketers wanting to take their strategies international, it’s a case of having to think outside the Facebook and Twitter box. Read More »

Children’s favourite Walt Disney Studios has become the first brand to take advantage of Twitter’s new feed, @EarlyBird. This feature provides participants with exclusive ‘time-bound’ deals, sneak previews and events. It partners with select advertisers to re-tweet offers they have crafted only for the Twitter community. Partners determine the terms of the offer – such as the availability, amount and price.

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Goldacre: asked for correction

She may be Britain’s pre-emininent turd critiquer but Gillian McKeith: not so good at social media.

McKeith has for a long time been criticised by Bad Science columnist Dr Ben Goldacre – you can see on his website the number of times he has written pieces criticising her qualifications and health claims, dating back to 2004. Read More »

Search engine giant Google has announced that soon all YouTube users will need a Google account in order to upload videos to the site. While newcomers to YouTube are already required to do so, Google intends to phase-out the earlier system.

Google bosses have stressed that the move does not mean that users need to switch over to Gmail, Google’s  email service, and it won’t impact on YouTube usernames.

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Baidu is the biggest search engine in China

After the dramatic twists and turns of the past few months, the Chinese government have decided to hand Google back its internet content provider (ICP) licence. In return, Google have promised to abide to China’s censorship regulations, and to stop automatically redirecting from Google.ch to Google.com.hk (where the censorship laws don’t apply)  as they have been doing since March this year. Read More »

UPDATE - This morning Facebook appeared reluctant to take down a widely condemned Facebook page set-up in support of the murderer Raoul Moat, but this afternoon that page with its 37,000 plus members has disappeared from the social networking site.  However, another page also in support of Moat remains. Read More »