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ConsumerSearch.com helps shoppers best bets this holiday season

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ConsumerSearch.com launched a complete redesign that will further help value-conscious shoppers by making it easier to access the reviews and analysis the site has amassed on a wide range of products and services.

ConsumerSearch.com, owned by The About Group, collects the best editorial and user-generated product reviews, analyzes their picks and recommends what to buy in over 340 product categories, from MP3 players to snow blowers. With more than 35 percent of U.S. consumers across all income levels expecting to spend less money this holiday season, according to a September 2008 study by The Nielsen Company, shoppers will rely on credible product research more than ever.

Rather than having to visit multiple review sites to see what experts and users think of a particular product, ConsumerSearch.com saves shoppers time and effort by analyzing those findings and then making its own product recommendations.

Originally posted on November 20, 2008 @ 4:51 pm

Filed Under: Web

Gamescampus.com, MLB Advanced Media to launch free online baseball game

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Game publisher GamesCampus has signed an online interactive licensing agreement with MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, granting it the right to incorporate official Major League Baseball league and club marks and logos, MLB ballpark images and more in its upcoming micro-transaction based online baseball game, MLB Dugout Heroes. It will be a free PC-based baseball game, expected to be available in North America for the 2009 baseball season.

The multi-year agreement gives GamesCampus the rights to all current and historical Major League teams, ballparks, All-Star teams and jewel events such as the home run derby. GamesCampus will also have rights to the official 2009 Major League Baseball regular season game schedule, enabling fans to simulate real seasons through actual game and series matchups.

Fans can expect a casual online baseball experience with a three–dimensional, cartoon-rendered graphic style and easy to pick up and play mouse-only controls. The game will offer four different modes of play for fans to choose from: tutorial, practice, single player and multi-player. Fans will be able to experience the fun of strategically managing a Major League Baseball club by forming a team, fostering its players and making all of the base-running, batting and pitching decisions – providing true interaction with on-the-field baseball play. With realistic character motions and unique verbal exchanges occurring between pitchers, batters, and color commentary, MLB Dugout Heroes will offer a truly unique and engrossing baseball game play experience – free of charge.

Originally posted on November 18, 2008 @ 12:58 am

As if we still do not know, iPhone is now the top device worldwide

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AdMob announced that iPhone is now the #1 device worldwide, displacing Motorola RAZR, and in a regional feature focus highlighted traffic from Latin America and the Caribbean has more than doubled in the last year in the October 2008 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report. The iPhone experienced strong traffic worldwide to become the #1 device, with 37 percent of requests coming from outside of the US.

The iPhone experienced particularly explosive growth across AdMob’s network after the company launched its unique ad units for iPhone sites and applications in July 2008. There are currently more than 400 applications and sites in the AdMob’s iPhone Network. In October 2008, AdMob reached more than four million unique iPhones, approximately 30 percent of the devices in the market.*

Other highlights from the October 2008 report:

· 17 percent of iPhone requests came from Western Europe and 8 percent from Asia. Top markets worldwide include the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland.

· In the US the iPhone is the #2 device behind the Motorola RAZR and in the UK it is the #3 device, behind the Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K800i.

· Traffic from Latin America and the Caribbean doubled in the past 12 months to 109 million requests in October 2008. The fastest growing countries in the region include Puerto Rico, Guyana, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Mexico.

· Motorola, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson all have more than 20 percent market share in Latin America and are leaders in different markets. The Motorola RAZR is the top device in the market, followed by the iPhone.

· Worldwide requests grew 13.8 percent month over month to 5.8 billion. US requests grew 7.9 percent to 2.2 billion and UK requests grew 16.0 percent.

· Sony Ericsson passed Motorola to become the #2 handset manufacturer worldwide. Apple jumped ahead of LG and RIM to become the #5 handset manufacturer worldwide.

· The top 10 devices worldwide, in order, are the Apple iPhone, Motorola RAZR V3, Nokia N70, Motorola KRZR K1c, Motorola W385, Nokia 6300, Nokia 3110c, Nokia N73, Motorola Z6m, and RIM BlackBerry 8300.

The full October 2008 report with additional details and all previous reports are available for free download.

Originally posted on November 18, 2008 @ 11:30 pm

OVGuide.com launches Viewser Choice Award

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OVGuide.com has launched its second annual Viewser Choice Award contest to identify the top online video sites of 2008.

Nominations open today for individuals to enter their favorite Web video destinations. Consumers can manually submit sites on OVGuide.com, or find and click on the Viewser Choice Award badge located on an online destination. One site will receive the Viewser Choice Award, which the popular vote will solely determine, and an esteemed panel of judges will decide upon the top sites in each of OVGuide.com’s 26 categories.

    The panel consists of:

  • Chad Cooper, editorial content and marketing director, OVGuide.com
  • Chris Denson, marketing and events director, American Film Institute Digital Content Lab
  • Eric Griffith, senior writer, PC Magazine
  • Kyle Monson, senior editor, PC Magazine
  • Andrew Wallenstein, deputy editor, The Hollywood Reporter
  • Daisy Whitney, new media reporter, TelevisionWeek; host and creator, ‘New Media Minute’ Webcast

    • Several sites were honored last year, including Break.com, JibJab, Funny or Die and Veoh. To enter a site for consideration, please visit www.ovguide.com/awards, or alternatively, look for the OVGuide.com Viewser Choice Award badge on various online video destinations. Voting closes on Monday, December 15, 2008 and OVGuide.com will announce the winners on Monday, December 22, 2008.

    Originally posted on November 17, 2008 @ 9:22 pm

Piria launches Rombla to bridge gap between web designers and clients

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Piria, Inc. announced the launch of Rombla, the online “no programming” site builder that enables designers to create fully editable websites using simple visual editing tools and then share them with their clients to edit and maintain. By making it easy for clients to keep their sites up to date, designers can focus on higher-margin design work rather than ongoing maintenance, marking a new chapter in web design.

Designers can also share their designs with the Rombla community to showcase their talents and attract new clients. Business owners select a design and customize it themselves or collaborate with a designer using Rombla to make major changes and additions.

Through the innovative use of the Adobe Flex3 Framework, Rombla gives designers control over every element of every page, including style, layout, and content, without forcing them to write a line of code. And Rombla provides true WYSIWYG editing that’s powerful enough to meet the needs of designers and yet easy enough for their clients to use.

Rombla offers a rich design environment by tightly integrating with online design tools such as Adobe Kuler color palettes, content sources such as Flickr, YouTube, and Google Maps, and utilities such as PayPal for shopping and payment. For example, within Rombla a designer can find content online and drag and drop it onto any page. In addition, Rombla includes a robust content management system that makes it easy to create forms and view data.

Originally posted on November 17, 2008 @ 7:58 pm

Filed Under: Web