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Ever thought of accessing your facebook friends’ updates, updating your status on facebook and sharing content on facebook via your yahoo inbox? Well, all these ideas would soon turn into reality with the introduction of Yahoo Plus which would soon allow the Yahoo users to connect to Facebook and twitter from the inbox of new Yahoo Plus. The initiative follows the failure of Yahoo Meme, an application similar to twitter.

So what does it have in store for Yahoo? Yahoo gets channel to publicize and share its content via channels like facebook and twitter & also invariably improves the average time spent by the users on the portal; consequentially greater advertising revenues. The development is in line with Yahoo’s strategy of competing on content in collaboration with a competitive technology. The recent strategy of Yahoo is a deviant from its older strategy of competing on the basis of content and thereby Yahoo lost sight of improving its technology. Result: Users of Yahoo never experienced a change in the way they used Yahoo till a few years ago when Yahoo introduced New Yahoo.

The focus on technology is further strengthened by its collaboration with Microsoft on the technology front to fight the behemoth Google. The decision to collaborate has been working in favor of Yahoo and in all probability the step to join hands with facebook and twitter seems to reap good results in future.

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Whopping Statistics – “400 million active users, 500 billion minutes per month, 25 billion pieces of content shared per month” – define the universal social networking site www.facebook.com (aka FB). Similar astronomical figures also represent other networking sites and platforms like Orkut, Twitter & MySpace. Social networking portals like Facebook and Twitter have been successful in casting their spell of lure on teenagers and adults in USA, with its users sharing personal details and social reputation to the extent unprecedented ever before. Even, the founder of CEO of twitter was amazed to observe the extent of sharing twitter users have habituated to.

Running the risk of compromising on the privacy levels and of tarnishing social reputation has turned a group of FB users skeptic and precarious of using facebook. The risk turns higher for the career-making group (18-29 age group) as recruiters are constantly using social networking sites and google search in order to cross check the candidate they are hiring. So next time you share your opinions, photos and experiences on these platforms, withhold yourself and post. As contents shared by you may non-intently present a social reputation and identity contradicting your actual personality & identity; consequentially the magical potion of lure may turn insidious.

Whopping Statistics – “400 million active users, 500 billion minutes per month, 25 billion pieces of content shared per month” – define the universal social networking site www.facebook.com (aka FB). Similar astronomical figures also represent other networking sites and platforms like Orkut, Twitter & MySpace. Social networking portals like Facebook and Twitter have been successful in casting their spell of lure on teenagers and adults in USA, with its users sharing personal details and social reputation to the extent unprecedented ever before. Even, the founder of CEO of twitter was amazed to observe the extent of sharing twitter users have habituated to.
Running the risk of compromising on the privacy levels and of tarnishing social reputation has turned a group of FB users skeptic and precarious of using facebook. The risk turns higher for the career-making group (18-29 age group) as recruiters are constantly using social networking sites and google search in order to cross check the candidate they are hiring. So next time you share your opinions, photos and experiences on these platforms, withhold yourself and post. As contents shared by you may non-intently present a social reputation and identity contradicting your actual personality & identity; consequentially the magical potion of lure may turn insidious.

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Chevrolet or Chevy. Anything. Who cares after all? Wait, GM does. General Motors, the company which owns the brand Chevrolet, recently circulated an internal memorandum asking its employees to refer the brand as “Chevrolet” and not “Chevy” which is a very popular nickname for the brand. But as the public reacted quite strongly to this latest development, GM had to come out with an explanation stating that it still valued the nickname “Chevy” for Chevrolet and that the memorandum reflected Chevrolet’s strategy as it expanded internationally.

What’s strange is that Chevrolet’s top officers have been constantly using the name “Chevy” while talking of the brand. When asked to comment on the memo circulated by GM, a top GM official called it “a bit of fun” and expressed confidence that things will be as they used to be.

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As we draw close to the first death anniversary of the ‘Thriller’ star, preparations are on in full throttle to celebrate and honour the legend by his family, friends and fans.

MJ, 50 died of cardiac arrest last year on June 25th, just a few days before he was to stage a comeback concert.

The Jackson Family Foundation will be holding a memorial event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on June 26. Titled ‘Forever Michael’ this event will feature various performances in the honour of the late pop star. Voice Plate Production, the organisers of the event said that the idea behind the event is to bring together Jackson’s family members, fans, supporters and the community in order to pay homage to his legacy. This event will be open to the general public and tickets for the same could be brought at VoicePlate.com for $500 for VIP tickets and $250 for general admission.

Apart from this MJ’s younger brother Randy Jackson has made arrangements with the officials at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California to enable MJ’s fans to pay a visit to their pop icons grave, though only from a distance. Fans from across the globe are expected to arrive in California to take advantage of this arrangement. Plans for this are expected to be finalised by this weekend.

This is going to prove a tough job for the Forest Lawn officials, as fans who were deprived of being there at the time of burial of the pop star are now making statements like ‘nothing can stop us from being there on 25th.’

Well we hope all celebrations end as celebrations and not a riot, considering the amount of people who would turn up to pay the respects.

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The officials at the oil giant British Petroleum (BP) cannot stop wishing these days- How would their life be if the April 20 disaster had never happened? For what started with an explosion aboard a drilling rig and triggered a massive oil spill has snowballed into one of the worst environmental tragedies ever. The cost of the clean up for BP has already reached $1.3 billion and is increasing rapidly by every passing day. Not only this the regulators in the US are doing their bit to ensure that BP assume even greater liabilities and that BP is forced to suspend any payment of dividend to its shareholders until the full cost of liability is paid.

In this time of crisis, it is easy to point fingers on BP placing the entire responsibility on the company. But what are the lessons in store for the future?

First and foremost, the drilling companies must be given a regulatory approval only when it is evident that they are using the most safe practices for drilling and are also investing a considerable amount of resources into developing even safer practices.

Secondly, a company must present some effective measures with the regulators in case something goes terribly wrong.

Also, the companies need to watch their responses when reacting to something as tragic as this so as not to hurt the sentiments of those affected by it. (BP Chief Tony Hayward called the leak “a very tiny one”).

Last but not the least, its high time that we look beyond our adventurous operations to find fossil fuels and look for cleaner sources of energy.

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No, not the animal. It’s a ‘beer’ and not a ‘bear’. In Venezuela, a Polar Beer has been for long considered to be a part of its traditions, of its customs. It may not last long though.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused Polar and its owner Lorenzo Mendoza of rushing up food prices by hoarding products. “I am not nationalise Polar, Mendoza, so be careful”, is what he said while levelling the allegations. Polar is the biggest Beer producer in Venezuela and also the largest private company in Venezuela after Chavez’s nationalisation drive.

Its important to mention here that post nationalisation, Venezuelan economy has only been performing poorer and that there was a contraction of 5.8% in the first quarter of this year. Looking at these statistics, its prudent enough to advice Mr. Chavez to think of steering the Venezuelan economy towards growth and stop blaming the private sector. And he must remember that people in Venezuela love their Polar Beer.

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This year at NFL’s biggest game, the Super Bowl, Automakers are joining the fight for the ultimate advertising portfolio. In what is estimated to be a run in millions of dollars for advertising times in mere seconds, GM is surprisingly returning into the fight after a gap of two years in which manufacturers like Hyundai and Kia have successfully taken advantage of its absence. GM has famously spent around $80.5 Million on advertising at the Super Bowl over 15 times but decided to step aside during the past two years. Now, in what could be expected as a $2.8-3Million deal for a slot of around 30 seconds, GM is in the race for maximum publicity with Hyundai, Kia and Audi as last confirmed. However, it is not yet known as how many brands of the four existing brands under its umbrella, Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick, shall be up on the advertisements. Competition is tough though with Hyundai already planning 3 slots this time, trumping the last year’s record of two. Now it’s up to the air time at Super Bowl 2011 to see how GM is going to make a presence.

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One of the surprises of the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the MINI Countryman is about to hit the showrooms this fall as reports confirmed. This small yet chunky little SUV is also expected to feature a 7 seater variant later on in the timeline of its production with plans for a differed variant also on the cards. The countryman follows on the lines of the chic and cute Clubman as part of MINI’s efforts to break its image of small car maker. BMW is really trying to take this brand into the skies. Its an undisputable fact that the MINI is incredibly famous around the world in the markets that it retails. So, it’s actually a tempting attempt to find out how the countryman shall do, once it begins to drive off showroom floors. Also on the MINI bandwagon of soon-to-be variants are the Coupe and Roadster variants, two more surprises that the manufacturer showed last year. The Coupe in its show car avatar had the 211 BHP engine from the JCW variant. But company sources stated that we’ll have to wait for 6 months after the Countryman’s release for the Coupe and atleast a year then for the Roadster. Looks like MINI’s holding all ropes tight and secure in its attempt to rendering the brand the much needed versatile image. The long time intervals definitely state extensive market researches and testing and analysis before each car is readied for consumers. Expect some really good cars then. While I’m eagerly waiting for somebody to remake The Italian Job with MINI Coupes this time!

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A spider version of Ferrari’s amazing 458 Italia has been expected right from the moment they pulled the covers of the coupe. Who would after all want to miss listening to the live music of the 4.5L V8 on a nice bright sunny day as you hit the nearest boulevard? But surprisingly, rumours are strife that this time the spider might have a metal roof instead of the regular cloth one. Team Speed, the enthusiasts’ site claims that they have information from some Maranello sources about Ferrari considering a folding hard-top on the spider version of the Italia. Ferrari’s expertise in being pretty advanced when it comes to converting F1 and other high level technologies into road cars is well known but this definitely seems to be a very bold step. Making a car with a hard top means added weight bonus to the already less rigid structure of a convertible car. So, Ferrari seems to be taking up the bold task of making a car, both as exclusive, convenient and practical as a hard-top convertible and as sporty and outright feelsome to confidently carry the 458 tagline. They have followed the same path with the California although the Cali was always lauded as the ‘softer’ Fezza. Yet reviewers never said the Cali was soft. So this might be an indication of things to come. However, experts doubt the design efficacy and expense of a hard-top that could easily fit into the bay between the 458’s cabin and the huge 4.5L V8. Also confusion is rife about the effect this could have on the sales of a car which pretty much falls into the same legion, the California, which shall then lose its exclusivity. Don’t make your guesses already! Coz, anything can happen at Maranello!

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South Africa famous for its diamonds, wild life safaris and nature’s green cover is all set to get more greener with FIFA World Cup 2010. Nike has designed environment friendly jerseys for the participating teams of FIFA World Cup 2010. Soon the soccer lovers would watch their favorite players sporting jerseys manufactured by recycling plastic bottles.

Nike’s decision to contribute to the “Go Green” cause is very much in line with the present days’ tactics of “Glamorizing the Go Green Cause”. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and environment conscious groups have roped in celebrities to aid the cause and thereby the “Go Green” cause has been brushed with “Glamour Quotient” continuously. Result: Coining of the term “Green Celebrities”. Some of the Green Celebrities from Hollywood include Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton.

Would “Glamorizing” the cause really yield results? Answer is a partial NO.

Though celebrities and agencies have been contributing their bit to the cause, a major deterrent is the non-committal stands of nations like America, Australia, India etc. Non-Ratification of Kyoto Protocol by America and recent dead lock at United Nations Climate Change Summit is raising questions on the effectiveness of “Go Green” initiatives of the likes of Nike. Until, the enforcing agencies and nations take up a committal stand, the cause would still be in limbo.

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Newsxonline.com

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Yahoo joins hands with Facebook & Twitter: Birth of Yahoo Plus

Social Networking Profiles can sometimes be Insidious

Chevy or Chevrolet. What’s in a name?

Remembering and honouring, Michael Jackson, the King of Pop on his First Death anniversary

An Oil Spill that may rewrite history, and the future

In Venezuela, Polar Beer is in danger

The Super Bowl 2011! GM returns to advertising!

New MINI Coupe and Roadster out by 2012! The Countryman comes now!

Ferrari 458 Italia Spider! Will this fezza be a hard top?

Going Green is a Buzzword

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