Alert Blog Reviews

Would the last person to leave Yahoo, please turn off all the lights? You may think I’m mocking the gradual decline of the tech company, but I’m not. Not this time. Apparently, in a measure of frugality, Yahoo is sending home all but its most essential employees for the Christmas break. According to AP : It’s the first time that Yahoo has required most of its 13,200 employees to use vacation time or unpaid leave during the holidays. Only employees performing essential duties will be working from Dec. 25 through Jan. 1. You can expect more spam in your search results, viagra offers in your Yahoo mail, and porn on Flickr during this time. OK, maybe not that last one.

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Yahoo’s Employees Home for the Holidays

Digital creative agency Collective has unveiled their ‘Naughty or nNce’ Twitter-driven app, featuring their very own Collective Santa . Users can find out whether they’ve made it onto Santa’s Naughty or Nice List before discovering what they deserve in return. Visitors enter their Twitter username to wake Santa from his snooze. They can then watch as Santa checks their tweets for various naughty or nice key words while he boogies to the music. Once the results are in, Santa responds by telling the user if they are naughty or nice and what they deserve this Christmas (anything from a “ruddy good talking to” to “a little donkey”). If the user has been naughty, they’ll be encouraged to add some Christmas cheer to their tweets and try again. Results are shared on Collective Santa’s Twitter page and can also be shared on the user’s Twitter or other social networking pages. The user can also choose to add a new naughty or nice profile picture to show all their followers. Greg Doone, managing director of Collective, comments: “It’s great to see Santa embracing new technologies like Twitter, and we’re delighted to have helped him make his naughty and nice list this year. By the way, is there any chance I could have an iPhone 3Gs please?” Look for @CollectiveSanta on Twitter. © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . Spread Christmas Cheer with ‘Naughty or Nice’ Twitter App

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Spread Christmas Cheer with ‘Naughty or Nice’ Twitter App

While Apple is making waves about the latest and greatest gadgets they are rolling out to the waiting public Google has made a little announcement of its own: It’s a phone! The word on TheStreet.com is that Google is planning on entering the hardware arena with the new Android offerings. It seems as if the expansion / experimentation of Google isn’t likely to end any time soon is it? Beore we go any further just remember that this a rumor so that has to be taken into consideration. RIght after you forget that fact though you can say whatever you want. In what is likely to be seen as disruptive to the wireless status quo, Google is working with a smartphone manufacturer to have a Google-branded phone available this year through retailers and not through telcos, according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has talked to Google’s design partners about the plan. It is likely that this rumor will set off a firestorm of pundit poison toward Google and their apparent desire to have everyone’s cake and eat it all as well as belch on the rest of us. I say so what? As long as Google is ready to put something on the market that is competitive and it’s not a hack job (which is unlikely but always possible) then bring it on! TheStreet.com continues If talk of the Google phone plan is true, the entrance of an unlocked, low-cost, Web-friendly touchscreen device will probably undercut other Android phone efforts by players like Motorola, Samsung and Dell. Motorola’s entire turnaround strategy is based on the Android operating system. The company is expected to announce a ultra-thin Droid phone at Verizon next month. Both Verizon and Motorola expect the Sholes/Droid phone to be a significant challenger to Apple’s iPhone. So at this point this is just talk so caveat readertor (I know that is not a real phrase but saying “Let the reader beware was kinda boring). Makes sense though that Google would take this direction. It doesn’t come without its risks though. First, Google would be taking aim at the phone service providers like Verizon that have worked on getting the Android system to the point that ads now appear every 5 seconds during any sporting event. But Google has never been shy about making sure search is still king of the hill If Google goes through with the plan, it would point to how eager the Internet ad giant is to get Android in as many hands as possible so it can extend its search business beyond desktop computers to mobile devices. Going around phone companies to reach consumers is a bold move, but Google no doubt sees the wireless Internet market as a land-grab race with Apple, Nokia and Microsoft So let’s just remember that this is one of those rumors that was started by an analyst who has an inside track to someone but also has an agenda to make a name for him or herself. So if there is no Google Android phone in your stocking for Christmas don’t be disappointed. It’ll happen soon enough. It’s Google, remember?

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Google to Offer Branded Android Phone?