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Global online hotel provider Booking.com has forged a distribution agreement with Hilton Hotels Corporation. Under the new agreement, Hilton’s worldwide portfolio of hotels will be available directly on Booking.com and via their network of over 4,500 distribution partners. Hilton properties will have access to Booking.com’s customer base of over 30 million unique visitors each month.
Booking.com is part of Priceline.com.
Originally posted on February 18, 2009 @ 10:40 am
The Nielsen Company reported that viewing of video on television, Internet and mobile devices continues to increase and has reached new heights. In its fourth quarter “A2/M2 Three Screen Report,” Nielsen reported that the average American watches more than 151 hours of TV per month, an all-time high. Meanwhile, Americans who watch video over the Internet consume another 3 hours of online video per month and those who use mobile video watch nearly 4 hours per month on mobile phones and other devices.
Nielsen also reported that digital video recorded (DVR) and other timeshifted television is watched at double the pace as video online at 7 hours, 11 minutes per month. Yet in a potential indicator of how audiences could timeshift in the future, young adults (age 18-24) watch video on the Internet and on a DVR at the same rate or about 5 hours per month.
The TV and Internet figures are calculated using Nielsen’s National TV and Internet panels which are measured electronically and reported on a regular basis. The Mobile phone figures are collected by Nielsen via a quarterly survey, and give a firsthand look at how early adopters report their usage of mobile video.
Originally posted on February 21, 2009 @ 7:25 am
Urban Interns has launched to connect small business owners and busy professionals with those seeking part-time, flexible work. This unique marketplace will make employers more efficient in these challenging economic times, and will also provide a resource for students and other job-seekers to find flexible work opportunities.
In an uncertain economic environment, small business owners and busy professionals are looking to streamline costs and increase productivity. Urban Interns was designed to give them access to a pool of labor which can provide an extra set of hands on a flexible basis. At the same time, for job-seekers such as students and college graduates who may be looking for work in non-traditional places, Urban Interns is creating a new way to plug into the small business community.
“Urban Interns functions like a job board, but better,” said co-founder Lauren Porat. “With our targeted focus, proprietary database and search tools, we’ve created a new way to find part-time help. Plus, its simple design is easy for both employers and candidates to use.”
Originally posted on February 18, 2009 @ 10:59 am
Online quizzes and quiz technology company Pangea Media grew rapidly in 2008. Users took more than 60 million quizzes and unique visitors reached 8 million per month. In addition, users created 200,000 quizzes and posted millions of quizzes and badges to their profiles, blogs and personal web pages.
Pangea Media operates a network of more than 50 websites, including Quibblo.com, QuizRocket.com, MovieNachos.com, Funnies.com and MyCareerQuizzes.com, across a range of verticals and content areas. In September 2008, Pangea expanded its reach by purchasing the Laugh Network.
Pangea Media’s sites average a combined 100 million page views per month.
Originally posted on February 20, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Skype and Nokia forged a partnership that will bring the Skype experience to the Nokia range of mobile computers. Under the terms of the cooperation, Skype will be integrated into Nokia devices, starting with the Nokia Nseries. The Nokia N97 flagship device will be the first to incorporate the Skype experience in the 3rd quarter of 2009.
The Skype experience will be part of the address book of the Nokia N97, enabling presence – seeing when Skype contacts are online – as well as instant messaging. Nokia N97 owners around the world will also be able to use 3G and WLAN to easily make and receive free Skype-to-Skype voice calls, in addition to low-cost Skype calls to landlines and mobile devices.
“With more than 400 million Skype users worldwide, the integration of Skype on Nokia Nseries mobile computers is a significant step in bringing converged Internet experiences from the desktop to the world’s most advanced mobile computer,†said Jose-Luis Martinez, Vice President, Nokia Nseries.
Originally posted on February 17, 2009 @ 11:06 am