JJ News Maker: Plans

Showing posts with label Plans. Show all posts

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Is Facebook about to offer email? Reports say it plans a 'Gmail... - San Jose Mercury News

Font ResizeBy Mike Swift

mswift@mercurynews.com

Posted: 11/12/2010 07:31:19 PM PSTUpdated: 11/13/2010 12:21:13 PM PST
Facebook may be on the verge of offering e-mail to the 500 million members of its social-networking site, making it the largest e-mail service on the planet.

More significantly, the offering could lead to a fundamental transformation of e-mail. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft are already scrambling to retool their e-mail services to build them more around people's social connections. Facebook would have a tremendous advantage because it owns a vast trove of data about people's relationships and would find it easier to graft e-mail onto its existing social services such as photo-sharing.

Facebook has invited the media to what appears to be a significant announcement in San Francisco on Monday morning, adding a

prominent hint that the news could involve a new e-mail service -- a press invitation bears a message icon. However, while tech blogs hummed Friday with speculation that Facebook will release "a Gmail killer," the Palo Alto-based company declined to confirm or deny those rumors, and a source with knowledge of the social network's plans said at least part of the speculation was incorrect -- adding even more uncertainty.

If it is announced, a Facebook e-mail service would allow its more than 500 million members to communicate with anyone inside or outside the walls of the social network. If they use it, Facebook would leapfrog the 361 million global users of Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo Mail's 273 million users and Gmail's 193 million

users, according to comScore.

However, a Facebook e-mail service would be most remarkable not for the size of its network, but for how it could use its web of social connections to transform one of the oldest -- and perhaps still the most important -- functions of the Internet.

"There is a huge opportunity for these guys to fundamentally change the nature of e-mail," said Matt Cain, an analyst for the research firm Gartner who expects Facebook to unveil an external e-mail service Monday.

Imagine, Cain said, a Facebook system that could prioritize mail from any external source based on the closeness of your relationship to the sender, or that allows you to easily flip a one-to-one e-mail exchange into a conversation with a group of friends.

Facebook now offers an internal message service that is less functional than most Web-based e-mail, and only allows members to communicate with other Facebook accounts. But Facebook may hope to use a new external e-mail service to capture even more adherents, said Augie Ray, senior analyst for social computing for Forrester Research. Forrester says that while about 90 percent of U.S. adults check e-mail regularly, only 59 percent use social networking tools such as

(PrintExpress PDF Export. - IPA S)Facebook or Twitter.

An e-mail service "makes sense just largely from a reach perspective. Facebook has grown so large that we forget that it still has room for growth," Ray said.

And by adding e-mail to the Internet's most popular photo-sharing service, smartphone location-sharing service and social gaming site, Facebook would make an even stronger claim as a hub of personal communications, placing "Facebook as much into competition with AT&T as it is now with Google," Ray said.

The tech blog TechCrunch first reported in February that Facebook was working on an e-mail service, internally dubbed "Project Titan." And while it is possible that Monday's announcement will be something more modest, both TechCrunch and VentureBeat claimed Friday to have confirmed the e-mail service with anonymous sources.

Google and Yahoo are working to make e-mail more reflective of people's personal connections by adding social-networking features to existing e-mail services. Google had disastrous results when it based its Google Buzz social-networking service on people's Gmail contacts, running into a privacy Waterloo when it automatically imported people into the service. Yahoo, the most popular U.S. e-mail provider, recently launched a new version of Mail that allows users to broadcast their status on both Twitter and Facebook -- just as if they were actually on those sites.

Unhappy with Facebook's unwillingness to let people export their contacts from Facebook into a service like Gmail, Google last week blocked Facebook from allowing users to import their Google contacts directly into the social network.

Gmail is the hot property in e-mail right now, with its global audience up 21 percent during the 12 months ending in September, while Yahoo Mail and Hotmail have both lost share, according to comScore data.

Given Gmail's momentum, a Facebook e-mail service "puts tremendous pressure on Google," Cain said. "Gmail is the place to be, and all of sudden, in one fell swoop, Facebook can enable e-mail for 500 million users, and I would suspect there is a huge overlap."

Contact Mike Swift at 408-271-3648. Follow him at Twitter.com/swiftstories.

Font Resize

Return to Top

View the original article here

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Fresh Off Victories, Republicans Share Their Plans - New York Times

“You know, Republicans doubled the debt when we were in charge and then Democrats are tripling the debt,” he said on “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” on ABC.

To rein in annual deficits and cut that debt, he said he would reduce the federal work force and its wages by 10 percent and freeze hiring. He said an average federal worker earns $120,000 in wages and benefits a year, twice what an average worker in the private sector earns.

Congress, he said, should also consider raising the age of eligibility for retirement benefits under Social Security and apportioning those benefits on the basis of a means test. The military budget, he said, should not be spared and such cuts might require an earlier withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The Tea Party is about the debt,” he said. “It is concerned and worried that we’re inheriting or passing along this debt to our kids and our grandkids.”

Asked whether the Tea Party was “co-optable,” by the culture of Washington, Mr. Paul replied, “actually the Tea Party is co-opting Washington.”

“We’re proud, we’re strong, we’re loud and we’re going to co-opt,” he said, “And in fact I think we’re already shaping the debate.”

In the wake of the Republicans’ decisive showing in the midterm elections, in which the party won control of the House by capturing 60 seats and gained six seats in the Senate, Republicans dominated most of the Sunday television news programs.

Despite post-election talk of working with President Obama, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, took a hard line on one of the most pressing issues facing the government — whether to extend tax cuts put into effect during the Bush administration for those earning more than $250,000.

Mr. McConnell said rejecting an extension would amount to tax increases in the middle of a recession and would raise taxes on “750,000 of our most productive small businesses,” whose payrolls support 25 percent of the American work force.

“Small business is the biggest job generator in America,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Nevertheless, he said, Republican leaders are “happy to talk to the president about that and all the other issues that he has on his mind.” He did not rule out a temporary extension of the tax cuts for perhaps two years or so.

“We’re willing to start talking about getting an extension of some kind so that taxes don’t go up on anybody,” Mr. McConnell said.

Addressing the Obama health care plan, he said his preference was to repeal or replace it, but falling short of that he would consider ways of blocking financing for agencies like the Internal Revenue Service that are charged with enforcing the health care law. Mr. McConnell said the Republicans had “a commitment to the American people to keep this awful 2,700-page monstrosity that took over one-sixth of our economy from going into effect.”

In an interview broadcast Sunday night on “60 Minutes” on CBS, Mr. Obama blamed the tone and rhetoric he adopted with his opponents for disappointing Americans. The president signaled, however, that he was ready “to have a serious conversation” with Republicans on issues including the Bush-era tax cuts.

Mr. McConnell, in his “Face the Nation” appearance, said the major issues for many Americans were the level of federal spending, the debt and the health care law. The voters, he said, “wanted to have a midcourse correction.”

“I think he’s a good salesman,” Mr. McConnell said of the president. “I think his problem was not his sales job. It was the product.”

View the original article here

Monday, December 6, 2010

UK's Cameron To Reveal Plans For Tech City In East London - Wall Street Journal

UK's Cameron To Reveal Plans For Tech City In East London - WSJ.com More BigCharts Virtual Stock Exchange WSJ Asia WSJ Europe WSJ Portuguese WSJ Spanish WSJ Chinese WSJ Japanese WSJ Radio Financial News WSJ Lifestyle Brands WSJwine SEARCH Friday, August 20, 2010 As of 12:13 PM EDT |

The Wall Street Journal Business Welcome, Logout My Account My Journal Help Message Center ( new)
U.S. Edition Home ? More

WSJ.com is available in the following editions and languages:

U.S. Asia India China Japan Europe Americas en Español em Português Register for FREE Register for FREE Thank you for registering.

We sent an email to:

Please click on the link inside the email to complete your registration

Please register to gain free access to WSJ tools.

An account already exists for the email address entered.

Forgot your username or password?

This service is temporary unavailable due to system maintenance. Please try again later.

The username entered is already associated with
another account. Please enter a different username

The email address you have entered is already in use.
Please re-enter the email address.

First Name Last Name Email (your email address will be your login)Confirm Email Create a Password Confirm Password Company Size (Optional) Please make a selection 1-99 100-499500-9991,000-2,4992,500-4,9995,000-9,99910,000-14,99915,000-24,99925,000+Not Applicable

From time to time, we will send you e-mail announcements on new features and special offers from The Wall Street Journal Online.

Create a profile for me in the Journal Community

Why Register?

As a registered user of The Wall Street Journal Online, you will be able to:

Setup and manage your portfolio

Personalize your own news page

Receive and manage newsletters

Keep me logged in. Forgot your password?

World » More

Loading… U.S. » More

U.S. » More

Loading… New York » More

New York » More

Loading… Business » More

Business » More

Loading… Markets » More

Markets » More

Loading… Tech » More

Tech » More

Loading… Personal Finance » More

Personal Finance » More

Loading… Life & Culture » More

Life & Culture » More

Loading… Opinion » More

Opinion » More

Loading… Careers » More

Careers » More

Loading… Real Estate » More

Real Estate » More

Loading… Small Business » More

Small Business » More

Loading… Asia Europe Earnings Economy Health Law Autos Management Media & Marketing Energy

More Industries

Accounting Advertising Airlines Banking Chemicals Computer Hardware Computer Software Consumer Products Defense & Aerospace Broadcasting & Entertainment Financial Services & Insurance Food & Tobacco Hospitality Industrial Goods & Services Media Agencies Paper & Forest Products Pharmaceutical & Biotech Real Estate Retail Semiconductors Transportation

Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visitwww.djreprints.com

See a sample reprint in PDF format.Order a reprint of this article now The Wall Street Journal

NOVEMBER 3, 2010, 8:01 P.M. ETUK's Cameron To Reveal Plans For Tech City In East London Article Commentsmore in Business »

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday will announce plans to create a new technology city in London's East End and to launch a review of intellectual property laws in a bid to encourage U.S.-style innovation.

In a speech to high-tech businesses and entrepreneurs, Cameron is expected to name technology heavyweights like Google Inc. (GOOG), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Facebook as long-term investors in an area that runs from the Olympic Park being developed for the 2012 ...

Printer Friendly

Order Reprints Share:

facebook

Twitter

Digg

StumbleUpon

Viadeo

Orkut

Yahoo! Buzz

Fark

del.icio.us

MySpace

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit

www.djreprints.com

Back To Back To MSN Money Homepage MSN Money Investing Most Popular Read Emailed Video Commented Searches1.Obama Is Dealt a Tough Hand2.Opinion: Jim DeMint: Welcome, Senate Conservatives3.Fed to Buy $600 Billion of Treasurys4.Opinion: The Four-Year Majority5.Obama Takes Blame After GOP Windfall1.Opinion: Jim DeMint: Welcome, Senate Conservatives2.Opinion: The Four-Year Majority3.Opinion: Jenkins: The GOP Can Outsmart ObamaCare4.Opinion: Dorothy Rabinowitz: Why Obama Is No Roosevelt 5.GM Tax Break to Last Years1.AM Report: Top Three Election Night Surprises2.Opinion Journal: A Four-Year Majority3.Track Your Kids--With a Drone?4.Carl Paladino's Concession Speech5.News Hub: The Fed's New Voyage -- QE21.Obama Takes Blame for Losses, Reaches Out to GOP549 comments2.Opinion: Why Obama Is No Roosevelt513 comments3.Opinion: The Four-Year Majority268 comments4.Opinion: Welcome, Senate Conservatives262 comments5.Pressure Builds on Obama to Shake Up Inner Circle250 comments 1. Facebook 2. economy 3. Apple 4. Mad Men 5. China Most Read Articles Feed Most Emailed Feed Most Popular Video Feed Most Commented Feed Most Popular Feeds Editors' Picks

Let the Yankees Fly Their Freak Flag

Pondering Paladino's Next Move

George Bush Vs. Kanye West, Round Two

Why Washington?s Tax on the Rich Failed

Microsoft's Kinect Pressured to Connect

Londoners Target Sidewalk Slowpokes

With a Country Twang

Drones Prepare to Fly Into Daily Life

Four-Square Reformer

Democrats Prepare Party Inside Paladino's Headquarters

jean balloon 1634 Recommendations

Peter Venetoklis 1147 Recommendations

Jack Davidson 1137 Recommendations

Jared Potter 911 Recommendations

Matilda Anders 757 Recommendations More in BusinessCanada Slaps Down BHP's Potash Bid U.S. Car Sales Climbed in October IMF: Banks May Struggle With New Rules Freddie Reports $2.5 Billion Loss Profit Gains Continue as Costs Percolate

null Email Newsletters and Alerts

The latest news and analysis delivered to your in-box. Check the boxes below to sign up.

WSJ.com Email Features Real Time Economics Newsletter News AlertSubmit The email address null is already associated with another account. Please enter a different email address:

Enter Your Email

Sign UpNew! To sign up for Keyword or Symbol Alerts click here.To view or change all of your email settings, visit the Email Setup Center.

Thank you !
You will receive in your inbox.

To view or change all of your email settings, visit the Email Setup Center. null Email Newsletters and Alerts