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Apartment Therapy partners with Federated Media

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Federated Media Publishing (FM) and Apartment Therapy Media, a network of home-oriented social media sites, announced an exclusive partnership.

Founded by author and interior designer, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy is devoted to helping people make their homes beautiful, organized, and healthy. In April 2004, Maxwell, with his brother Oliver Ryan, launched the site which has since become one of the most popular and influential design blogs in the country.

Apartment Therapy Media represents more than 3 million unique readers and 20 million pageviews per month.

Originally posted on June 1, 2009 @ 10:01 am

Meebo delivers new features for increase user engagement

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Meebo has announced a major product update to its social communications technology. With the addition of multi-network IM access, users can now interact across all of the social graphs that matter individually to them, bringing their friends from major social networks, gaming sites, and IM buddy lists directly into Meebo’s partner sites. Users can further engage with this expanded network by seamlessly sharing content via a new and intuitive sharing interface. Content sites interested in increasing the volume of content sharing, but without their own social graph, can use the multi-network IM feature to expand their reach and drive social interactions.

Partners are expected to benefit from increased social engagement and faster growth through sharing features that let users instantly send links to any of their friends.

Originally posted on June 10, 2009 @ 10:47 am

Filed Under: Web

National American University sues porn site over name

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AP reports that the National American University is suing porn site operated by La Touraine Inc. for its use of Naughty American University and the acronym NAU. The lawsuit is seeking to prevent the use of the school’s trademark and financial damages.

National American University was founded in 1941 in Rapid City. It was first known as the National School of Business. It has since then grown to South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas.

Originally posted on May 30, 2009 @ 7:57 am

Filed Under: Web

More than one in four mobile phone users drive while texting

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Vlingo Corporation released results from the second annual Vlingo Consumer Mobile Messaging Habits Report. Despite Driving While Texting (DWT) bans in seven states and the District of Columbia as well as reports of accidents caused by DWT, 26% of mobile phone users continue to text behind the wheel. Drivers in Tennessee are the worst offenders, with the highest percentage of respondents (42%) who admit to DWT, while Arizona has the lowest percentage (18.8%). The Vlingo Report also reveals that text messaging has grown steadily over the past 12 months across all age groups, with nearly 60% of mobile phone users now texting, compared to 54% in 2008.

One in four of all mobile phone users admit to DWT and it occurs in all age groups. Almost 60% of those ages 16 to 19 admit to DWT and 49% of those 20 to 29 admit to DWT. The percentages get smaller for older respondents, but usage remains high with 13% of those in their 50s admitting to doing so.

Among survey respondents there is general consensus that DWT should be legally banned. Slightly more than 83% of respondents think DWT should be illegal, while only 7% think DWT should be legal, and 10% are undecided. However, with more safety precautions such as hands-free solutions that enable consumers to text without typing, 40% of respondents favor making DWT legal. Additionally, nearly 70% would use voice recognition technology while driving instead of typing if they could speak text or email messages and have incoming messages read to them.

Originally posted on May 25, 2009 @ 8:51 am

Over 15 billion minutes of voice delivered in Second Life

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Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, revealed that it has delivered over 15 billion minutes of voice services, demonstrating the rapid growth and broad adoption of VoIP in Second Life. The company also revealed its product roadmap for the remainder of 2009, such as introducing new features that will enhance the Second Life platform and provide unique monetization opportunities. With 700,000 unique users consuming more than a billion minutes a month, voice has become an integral component of the Second Life experience.

Over 50% of Second Life users, a group that includes a broad range of consumers, educators and large enterprises, use voice as part of their everyday inworld experience. In addition to making education, business meetings, simulations, training and casual conversations more meaningful, realistic and fluid, voice is also a key component of Linden Lab’s business model and strategy moving forward. With several key product launches scheduled for the latter half of 2009, Linden Lab expects this rapid adoption to continue while also adding several new revenue streams for the company.

In addition to revealing its roadmap for the rest of the year, Linden Lab is also introducing a new service called AvaLine that enables residents to receive voice calls inworld from an outside number. Greatly extending the reach of the Second Life experience, AvaLine lets friends, customers, colleagues and business associates connect to the Second Life viewer via a landline, cell phone or VoIP application.

Originally posted on May 26, 2009 @ 7:30 am