Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

In a study carried out by Nielsen Media Research, it has been concluded that Google is the number one website in the U.S. The number two spot is taken by Facebook, followed by others, such as Yahoo!, MSN, YouTube and Microsoft in that order. There are some interesting facts to consider. The study was completed between January and October, this year. The ranking displayed based on the number of average unique visitors that accessed each site. Google took a lead of roughly 11 percent in terms of these numbers, over Facebook. The data was collected based on computers used in offices and homes. Some 153.4 million visitors from the U.S accessed Google. on an average per month.

Although this was a study done by Nielsen in the U.S, similar patterns are expected for other countries around the world, including India. The use of Google is obvious, whereas Facebook is a major phenomenon these days. Microblogging services like, Twitter didn’t not figure in that list - sites like Wikipedia, Apple and Ask.com did. The study shows without a doubt, the dominance of Google on the web and these numbers reported don’t even include international traffic.

Source : Facebook second most accessed site, behind Google in the US

IBM is now 100 years old

Yep, the three-lettered computing corporation is celebrating its centennial anniversary this week. Big Blue officially hit the triple digits on Thursday; it was way back in June of 1911 that the company entered the world, bare-bottomed and red-faced (no wonder people paid attention).

IBM wasn't technically IBM in the beginning, though. The company initially incorporated as C-T-R, short for Computing-Tabulating-Recording. According to IBM's website, the original C-T-R had 1,300 employees and sold everything from "commercial scales and industrial time recorders to meat and cheese slicers."

Oh yes -- you read that correctly. Mock the odd combo if you must, but let me say this: If any modern tech company sold computers and cheese slicers in the same store, I'd be there every damn day saying "Swiss cheese and PCs, please." And you know you would, too.

But enough dairy dreaming; we're talking about IBM here. The IBM name actually came along in 1924, when the company decided it had grown and expanded too much (and probably sold far too many cheese slicers) to stick with the silly ol' C-T-R moniker. No amount of CPR could save C-T-R; the overly dashed name was dead, and International Business Machines was born.

Not many tech companies can claim a hundred year history -- heck, most other tech giants look like toddlers in comparison. Facebook is a mere 7 years old this year; Google is discovering the joys of manhood as it turns 13; and Apple and Microsoft are striding through their mid-30s. Converted into tech years, by my estimation, IBM is actually almost 4,976 years old.

Source : IBM is now 100 years old

Microsoft Launching Google Docs Competitor, Office 365

Google took the lead ages ago by providing a free Office suite replacement on the web. Microsoft followed suit and it has been working on a web-based office suite called Office 365. It’s been in beta for a long time and it’s finally time to be launched. According to Neowin, the suite is all set to launch sometime this month. 

According to a Tweet post by Jon Roskill from Microsoft, the date set for the launch this year on the 28th of June. He also states there are some 100,000 customers on beta. The beta first launched in late 2010 to limited users after which it was made available as a public beta in April, this year. Those who register for the beta will also get an additional month of free access to the service. The Office 365 suite will include Exchange, SharePoint, Lync (which isn’t available to Mac users) and Office Web Apps 2010. To compete with Google’s mostly free Docs service. Microsoft also has a free version available for non-business or enterprise users. Docs.com is one of them. For business users, the schemes for Office 365 start from $10 a month to $27 a month.

Source : Microsoft Launching Google Docs Competitor, Office 365

Angry Birds Comes to Windows - No Browser Required

Rovio's quest to bring its über-popular Angry Birds to every computing platform known to humankind shows no signs of letting up.

Just three weeks ago, a browser-based beta version of the game debuted in Google's Chrome Web Store. And Roku yesterday announced plans to bring three versions of Angry Birds to its video-streaming set-top boxes this summer.

Well, it appears the Birds have migrated to Windows PCs too, and no browser is necessary. Rovio is selling two flavors of Angry Birds--the original and Rio versions--for Windows. Each is $4.95, or you can download a free demo version to check it out.

The games run on Windows XP SP2 or a newer version of Microsoft's OS. Rovio plans to release a third Windows edition, Angry Birds Seasons, sometime in the future, but hasn't announced an exact date.

Angry Birds debuted as an Apple iPhone app in December 2009. Users have downloaded the game more than 200 million times, Rovio says.

With Angry Birds flying everywhere, I wonder which platform they'll invade next. And will these avian dive-bombers have staying power, or become the next Guitar Hero?

 

Source : Angry Birds Comes to Windows - No Browser Required

Mango Update to be Called Windows Phone 7.5

It looks like Windows Phone 7 users (unlike some other smartphone users) will not have to succumb to some fruit name after all! There are some rumours doing the rounds that latest Windows Phone 7 firmware upgrade, initially called as only ‘Mango’, will actually be called Windows Phone 7.5.

On the Microsoft Partner Network site, the Spotlight section clearly said “Preview the New Windows Phone OS 7.5”. However, if you check the site now it’ll say “Preview the Next Version of Windows Phone”.

 According to sources, Microsoft has gone round and round, trying to fix a name for their Operating System. The first name was Windows Mobile with the version number succeeding it. It later moved on to Windows Phone, followed by “Windows Phone 7 Series” and finally what we see is Windows Phone 7. In comparison to that, Windows Phone 7.5 came relatively quick!

Honestly, it definitely sounds a lot better than calling it as ‘Mango’.  Let’s hope that’s the name that Microsoft will be sticking to and there won’t be any further hiccups.

Source : Mango Update to be Called Windows Phone 7.5

Nokia’s App Store and Ovi Maps to Come to Windows Phone 7

That Nokia and Microsoft have cracked a deal is stale news, really. One obvious reason being Nokia smartphones running a better OS, it looks like the Finnish company will be retaining a few of their current applications on the new Windows Phone 7-based smartphones as well.

Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO has said that the Ovi Maps app will be integrated to the Windows Phone 7 operating system which means future Nokia smartphones will be having a pre-loaded Ovi Maps app. Another addition will be a Nokia branded application store which apparently “combines the Windows Marketplace back-end with the convenience of operator-billing from Nokia”.

Some good news for Windows Phone developers is that the registration fee which is something around $99 (approx Rs. 4,400) will be waived for the first year for all published Nokia developers. Finally, speaking about the deal with Microsoft, Elop feels that the tie-up can bring payments worth “billions of dollars” over the next five years.

That’s quite a bit of positivity for the Espoo company which was initially struggling with their outdated OS problems. However, Elop is not willing to drift away from the Symbian scenario either, as we can clearly see through the Anna update that they brought for their smartphones.

Source : Nokia’s App Store and Ovi Maps to Come to Windows Phone 7