In a blog post today, Google announced the availability of its Google+ Pages where business can add their own content and build a fan base.

Facebook and Twitter has had business accounts for a very long time now, so Google is definitely behind in terms of market share.

Google+ Pages will also intertwine in Google Search results providing additional exposure to your Google+ Business Page.



"For businesses and brands, Google+ pages help you connect with the customers and fans who love you. Not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term. They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you'll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello." the blog post stated.

"People search on Google billions of times a day, and very often, they're looking for businesses and brands. Today's launch of Google+ Pages can help people transform their queries into meaningful connections, so we're rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search. The first is by including Google+ pages in search results, and the second is a new feature called Direct Connect."

"Maybe you're watching a movie trailer, or you just heard that your favorite band is coming to town. In both cases you want to connect with them right now, and Direct Connect makes it easyeven automatic. Just go to Google and search for [+], followed by the page you're interested in (like +Angry Birds). We'll take you to their Google+ page, and if you want, well add them to your circles."

Google+ Pages aren't available for all yet, but soon you will be able to create page for your business.

Netflix announced today of its plans to separate its dvd-by-mail service from its online movie streaming service. Qwikster, will soon service dvd-by-mail subscribers and Netflix will continue its name for online movie streaming services.

Customers will have to login to separate web sites to access the two services in addition to being billed separately.

Whether or not if customers will like logging into separate sites, is yet to be seen but Netflix believes by separating the two services will help Netflix better grow both of the services.

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Facebook is currently working on a new music streaming service which is supposedly launching on September 22nd, 2011 according to sources familiar with new plans.

Like how most Facebook gaming apps work, Facebook would not actually be hosting the music content but instead it would be hosted by third party developers and partners.

It has also come to our attention that Spotify along with Rdio and MOG made be some of the services offered at the launch later in September.

It's not known how these services will integrate directly with Facebook but it could be something similar to Google Music.

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In the last day if you have noticed the Internet a bit speedier you can thank a "Global Internet Speedup" initiative being fronted by Google, OpenDNS, and several content delivery networks (CDNs). The global internet speedup initiative will speed up your downloads and also domain name resolution from names like techtribune.com to IP.

Previously, most content delivery networks serve content to you based on the location of your DNS servers but those DNS servers are not always close to your location. For example, if you live in NYC but use DNS servers from D.C. then when you hit Amazon.com all of the images and other things served by a CDN could get downloaded from a server in D.C.

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Facebook started a bounty program 21 days ago that is aimed at encouraging security researches, hackers, and crackers a like to provide security bugs to Facebook and not make them publicly available.

The minimum that you can receive for providing a bug is $500 USD but Facebook will pay up to $5,000 for the most serious bugs found. This $5,000 limit has actually already been paid once to a security researcher.

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Hackers have gained access to and made publicly available a digital SSL certificate for any Google website.

This means that anyone with this certificate could perform a "man-in-the-middle" attack to target Gmail users, Google Plus users, or any other users using Google's online services.

If a hacker is going to steal a certificate, this is definitely the one to get since its considered a wildcard certificate - good for any .Google.com domain. All a hacker has to do is present a fake web site which looks like Google, by poising of DNS or other means, and then present the stolen certificate. Because the certificate is legitimate for any .Google.com domain the users would have no warning at all that anything is amiss. Then the attacker could easily steal your login credentials gaining access to all of your Google services.

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Anonymous, in an indirect way is helping corporate America - something you wouldn't expect from such an anti-corporate America hacking group like theirs. How so? Well, the Anonymous group has made the "Guy Fawkes" masks from the 1980's comic book a prized possession by many hackers and the mask has became the symbol of the AntiSec organization.

The mask was previously made famous in the 1980s comic book but most recently made famous again in the United States by the movie "V For Vendetta". The masks rights are owned by Time Warner and Rubie's Costume in New York for example are selling out of them completely.

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You may have read in the news in the last couple of days that Facebook managed to hit 1 trillion page views in a month, which is by no means an easy task. If any site could do that, it would probably be Facebook - right? Well, not exactly.
 
All of the news we heard yesterday about being the first site to hit a trillion page views is false, or not accurate to say the least. Doubleclick, an advertising company, had shown off its AdPlanner report which placed Facebook at 1 trillion page view during June. Why this isn't accurate is because Doubleclick is utilizing cookie tracking technology and these cookies are not reliable.

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Today Microsoft shows us the new file management features in Windows 8 and quite frankly, some features that Windows 7 should have had. The first feature which they show off is the ability to make two file transfers (copy and paste / drag-and-drop) to a folder with pictures. Of course this is something we've been able to do for a very long time in Windows but what we haven't been able to do is pause a transfer mid-stream.

For example, like in the video shown he states his friend is waiting for a transfer to complete from a portable drive or usb stick. However, you also have another large transfer going at the same time. Instead of waiting longer for both to finish, you can pause your transfer and keep the usb drive transfer going to speed up the completion time.

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In 2009 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an investigation against Google over pharmaceutical ads which Google knowingly knew were illegal when they allowed them to be run. Today, Google is paying $500 million to the FDA to settle the investigation against the company.

The advertisements in question were ads selling prescriptions to the United States from other countries, which is generally illegal since they are no FDA-approved usually. Google apparently still allowed these type of ads from 2003 (when they knew the ads were illegal) until 2009 when the investigation began. After the investigate began, only then did Google begin restricting ads from other countries and only allowing ads from "certified pharmacies".

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Out with the old and in with the new - in this case it happens to be the CEO at Apple. Steve Jobs announced today of his resignation as the CEO for Apple and the board of directors have named Tim Cook as the replacement CEO.

What do we know about Timothy Cook? Well, we know that he has filled in for ex-CEO Steve Jobs while he was away on medical leave and we also know he's been with the company for over a decade. Tim joined Apple in March 1998 and served as COO from 2004 until today when he was appointed CEO.

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In an abrupt letter to the apple Board of Directors today, Steve Jobs has officially resigned as the CEO of Apple. Below is a copy of the letter sent to the board of directors from Steve Jobs:

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I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apples CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

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Facebook announced today it has partnered with Miramax Films to bring $3 on demand movies on its social networking web site. The new launch offers 20 U.S.A titles to choose from costing $3 or 30 Facebook credits.

Once rented, consumers have 30 days to begin watching the movie and 48 hours to complete a movie once it has been started. Movie titles available include "Chicago", "Good Will Hunting", and the "Kill Bill" series.

Facebook users can access the movies from their Facebook, TV, smartphone, or Google TV as part of the Miramax eXperience.

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In a recent YouTube video, hacker group Anonymous vows to destroy social networking giant, Facebook. The "planned" attack is scheduled to start on November 5th, 2011 but since when does Anonymous announce of such plans before they proceed with them? Most blackhat hackers never announce "when" or "whom" they will be going after, Anonymous until this day has been no different. This makes the video less legitimate and possibly not created by the same Anonymous collective.

"Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your privacy settings and deleting your account is impossible. Even if you delete your account, all your information stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time" the robotic voice on the video stated.

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After its release not even a month ago, Spotify has already obtained more the 1.4 million users in the United States with roughly 12% of them or 175,000, paying for a subscription. With its recently launched success in the United States, Spotify's overall company valuation has reached $1.1 billion USD.

Spotify already has a reported 1.6 million paying users from a 10.6 million user base in Europe. Subscriptions start at $4.99 per month for ad-free unlimited streaming and $10 a month to have Spotify on-the-go.

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