According to a Forrester study, sales for E-Books are predicted to reach around $1 billion by the end of this year. It is also thought that by the end of 2015 the demand for them will triple. Although only 7 percent of adults are currently using E-Books, these consumers are the ones who typically read the most and therefore buy the most books or spend the most on them.

E-Books offer a great alternative for those who want to get a book online with out having to go to stores like Barnes and Noble or Borders.  These predictions also say the industry will be changed forever as more people will most likely continue to get Kindle or other e-reader products.

If there weren’t enough search engines to try and keep up with, there is now one more to try out- BLEKKO. Digitaltrends.com is reporting that this new search engine is certainly unique compared to the others out there. Do you ever search for something on Google and a bunch of unrelated/unimportant websites appear in your search results? I know I have and now this new search engine is promising that this sort of thing is not going to happen when you perform your searches. Using “slashtags” is what is being said will differentiate Blekko from the other search engine’s search results. These slashtags will help to improve results in the initial search categories: health, colleges, autos, personal finance, lyrics, recipes and hotels. For example, you should be able to search amongst the millions of websites and be able to pull up sites that are not spam or unrelated websites. Blekko is currently in beta mode, but try it out. Looks like something totally different than Google!

Google is once again predicting what items will be flying off the shelves this Holiday season. Even though it may be too early for many shoppers, those who are ahead of the game can get the merchandise before it sells out. By looking at consistently searched items by people on the Google website, the retailing team is able to determine which toys or other products will be in high demand. Last year, Google was able to predict the high sales of the “Zhu Zhu Pets” toys among children.
This year, Google has a new set of products that are already being highly searched for on the internet.

For lower-prices items:

-”Otterbox” iphone covers
-Collectible Japanese “Iwako” erasers.
-Silly Bandz

Pricier items:
-3D TVs
-Flip camcorder
-Wooden training bikes called “Balance Bikes”

Toys:
-Sing-a-Ma-Jigs
-Nurf Stampede

The internet has been buzzing today about Google’s new home page and how the logo has changed. The previous logo has gone from the solid colored “Google” font to moving colorful dots that scatter through out the screen when the mouse goes by it.
Many people are speculating if the new logo has to do with Google’s 12th Birthday, new innovations, or if it’s just an entertaining change for the site.

This morning, a Google spokesperson stated,

“Today’s doodle is fun, fast, and interactive, just the way we think search should be,”.

Last time Google received this much attention for their homepage was back in May when it was turned into a playable Pac-Man game for the game’s anniversary. This page was so popular it was reported to have used 4.8 million hours of productivity from those who used it.

One way or another, Google is once again  receiving attention for simply changing their home page look.

Have you ever browsed in the world of online shopping then noticed you kept seeing that pair of pants you just couldn’t commit to buying appears on multiple sites thereafter?  Many of us have and probably don’t even flinch at this type of advertising but more and more branded companies are getting involved with retargeting campaigns.

A retargeting campaign is simply when a website places a cookie on the users computer to track their buying or lack of buying habits so the advertiser can serve more relevant ads to the consumer.

In many instances this is a great way to “remind” the consumer of something they were recently interested in but possibly didn’t have the time to complete a transaction. In other cases ad retargeting can become an embarrassing nuisance, as it did for one consumer. Ms. Matlin was recently hounded by ads for dieting services she has previously used online, “ they are still following me around, and it makes me feel fat”.

Retargeting is not showing any signs of slowing down, but where do we draw the line when invading consumer’s privacy?

Although there has been some controversy over the new iphone, Apple isn’t going to stop pushing out their products. Apple has new merchandise to offer their users, and many are already excited about the new options.
Starting at $69.00, Apple users will be able to purchase a trackpad that is designed to give the MacBook Pro touchpad experience. Also coming out next month is the new Apple Mac Pros desktop with quad-core and 6-core intel Xeon processors. These desktops will be selling a $2,499. The new iMac is going to be available starting at $1,999. Another product that will be available to consumers from Apple is a 27″ LED cinema display screen for $999 that is compatible with other Apple products. Many businesses such as Leadpile use Apple products and are anxious to continue use of the brand.

Microsoft is stepping up to the plate and creating a market for their new phone, the Microsoft Windows 7 Phone.

Although the last attempt to compete with the iphone failed when creating the KIN phone, senior vice president of mobile Andy Lee says,

“…We’re back with something very different and innovative.”.

The new Microsoft phone will feature a Find My Phone service that offers people a way to look on their computer and trace where their phone is if it becomes lost. It will also have a companion site for storing photos, contacts, etc.

As part of a plan for publicity, they will be distributing the new phone to their 87,000 workers for Microsoft. The new phone is set to launch around October or for the Holiday season. Leadpile

For the first time, electronic books for Amazon’s Kindle has outnumbers sales for hardcover books consecutively for the past 3 months. The Kindle which has been on the market for 33 months has been selling an average of 143 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books. This number recently jumped to 180 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books sold on Amazon.com.

Consumers who do not own a Kindle can enjoy Kindle books on many other devices such as laptops, ipohnes, ipads, Blackberries and Android phones.

This study does not include paperback book sales but it’s amazing how technology plays such a large role in such a simple pleasure.

Many of us can’t wait to put our next Twitter update, Facebook status change, or access our email outside/inside of work. However, with this accessibility to our personal internet “pleasures”, IT managers are looking at potential problems with how our nation’s employees are creating “issues” with the company’s security. Does accessing our Facebook accounts and other social media put the company you are working for at jeopardy of bugs and viruses? Its seems the answer is yes.
Internetnews.com is reporting, “The security implications of these devices cannot be overstated. Between bugs in the operating system software for smartphones to complex phishing and malware scams birthed and proliferated on Facebook and Twitter, CIOs are constantly playing catch up as employees continue to bring more and more devices and risk into the enterprise. ”

So how does our IT departments manage all of their employees desire to “stay connected”? Sounds like a new project our IT managers might want to consider because it does not seem that this sort of thing is going to go away anytime soon.

Believe it or not the increase in smartphones has also impacted the online gaming market. Emarketer is predicting the revenues for mobile gaming are going to see a 19% increase this year, versus last year. With the accessability of gaming sites and also the creation of mobile apps, many individuals AND application designers have made the move into this online industry. The free apps available to consumers will probably see more success, but the eventual move to more paid downloadable apps could see more joining the bandwagon (because there might be more perks with a paid application versus the free applications). So with more and more starting to utilize gaming sites, does this mean potential regulations of the industry like it is with casinos and such?

Looks like we all have yet another reason to get “addicted” to our phones!

If you have been losing sleep over the thought that your cell phone may give you brain-cancer, you may rest a little bit easier( although your not completely off the hook yet) as the research is so far inconclusive.

There have been questions regarding if using a cell phone for more than 30 minutes each day could increase the risks of developing these cancers due to the radiation. A 10-year survey of almost 13,000 participants found most cell phone use did not increase the risk of meningioma or glioma two forms of cancer. The authors of the research report have stated that further investigation is needed before they can with certainty conclude there is no link between cell phone radiation and brain cancer. Changes in uses of the mobile devices and many factors including handsfree devices and having the cell phones close while not making calls (pocket, or night stand next to bed) were not included in the study and still need to be examined.

The cell phone industry contributed almost a quarter of the $24 million required to fund the study.

For those of us who spend hours a day on our cell phones, we can take comfort in the fact that so far nothing has been proven to be harmful to our health, only to our wallets!

It seems that there is some controversy going on with the recent news that a potential Apple iPhone prototype was stolen from a California bar. The controversy started when photos of the stolen iPhone supposidly ended up on a blog. The question is, how exactly did this happen… Who forked over the recovered phone to this blogger? Should the blogger be protected to not have to disclose his source of how the lost phone ended up in his hands, or is he protected to not have to disclose his source?
NPR points out that the individual that got the phone turned over to him for a reported $5000 is now under investigation, but the question is….. should he be required to release his anonymous “source” of where the phone came from, or is he protected by the same rights as California journalists are? Your call!