SEO Werkt!

Many online services will lower their subscription prices as soon as you hit the cancel button on their web site—no negotiation required. We’re curious which services you’ve run into that do this. More »

Time is precious and every minute and second that can be saved is worth it. I discovered something today that will help me be more efficient with my time. What is it? It is the bitly extension addition to my Google Chrome toolbar. With this tool you can shorten, share and track links with your bitly account, right from your browser!  Check out the nifty screenshot I made (using Jing) to show you how I use it. To add this tool, go here. 

Other benefits:

* Preview metrics and page titles for bitly and bitly Pro links before you click them.
* Receive instant notifications about your trending bitly links.
* Shorten links on Twitter.com with a single click.

Web Marketing Related Posts:

1. Google Tools – Organize Your Inbox!
2. HootSuite and Ping.fm Integration = Awesomeness!
3. Tuesday Twitter Tools Breakdown

Google may have run out of love for the Nexus One as far as Ice Cream Sandwich is concerned, but that doesn’t mean the legions of loyal Android developers have. An intrepid dev named TexasIce on the XDA forums has managed to get an early build of CyanogenMod 9 up and running on Google’s first Nexus device, and it looks mighty impressive for a work-in-progress.

Most of the basics seem to run without a hitch: text input and phone dialing work with a minimum of lag, as does web browsing and poking around in the Android Market. Nearly all of Ice Cream Sandwich’s functionality is present and accounted for, though it isn’t all sunshine and roses. Neither the camera nor USB mass storage work yet, and the lack of hardware acceleration means the build has a tendency to chug when it comes to some of Ice Cream Sandwich’s more impressive animations.

Fortunately, TexasIce is working to address the ROM’s issues at a respectable clip: the project only went live a few days ago, and already the 9th alpha build went online earlier today.

It’s certainly a work in progress, but I’ve got high hopes for a smooth ride by the time a stable CM9 release sees the light of day. If I may indulge in a little bit of nostalgia, CyanogenMod was one of the first custom ROMs I ever flashed onto a device, and it made my G1 run like butter. Nexus One users who want to join in the fun now can head over to the thread in question, but newbies (as always) should proceed with caution.

HP’s new chief executive Meg Whitman told journalists Apple was doing “a great job” and that her company’s once much smaller rival could likely pass HP to become the world’s leading PC maker next year.

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale. More »

Apple is reportedly set to add music to iTunes across Latin America, with a rumored Dec. 8 launch date expected to expand available content past apps and eBooks.

Return of the Diaspora: After a Taste of the Valley, New York Techies are Coming Home – Adrianne Jeffries via Betabeat:

Jeffries profiles a number of young entrepreneurs who have returned to NYC after a brief tour of Silicon Alley.

Adrianne Jeffries via Betabeat

Whatever the reason, a passel of companies have recently boomeranged back to the city after a season on the far shore. The longtime tech mantra of ‘go West, young founder” is being revised for the simple reason that New York’s tech scene is up-and-coming, more social and more fun. Recent Y Combinator grads Codecademy, The Fridge, MessageParty, Hirehive and Tutorspree all moved back the New York within the past 18 months. Sam Rosen, plucked from Flatiron’s General Assembly for the Mountain View accelerator 500 Startups by superangel Dave McClure, returned after the program ended.  “My friends in New York City—one would be in marketing, my good friend was a producer at MTV, other friends are lawyers. Whereas in the Valley you go to the party and everyone is in tech,” he told Betabeat in January. “It’s not like I’m tired of talking about my company, but it’s all we talk about.” Josh Weinstein, founder of the Facebook competitor CollegeOnly who later pivoted to interactive web television with a startup called YouAre.TV, ventured out to the Valley to work with a cofounder and be closer to investor Peter Thiel. In September, he returned—mostly because the cofounder bailed on him, but partly because he felt “isolated,” he said.

And in that last case, maybe because Josh Weinstein discovered the Thiel is barking at the moon nuts, too, and not just the insularity of the monoculture tech world in San Francisco.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web…

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New “Save To Foursquare” Button Reaches Into The Real World Publishers and developers: are you ready for another button (or buttons I should say)?…



Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

eBay is trying to prevent a new law that would require sales tax for online purchases.

Currently, online shoppers only pay sales tax on items purchased from a seller in the same state.

But a new proposed law, the Marketplace Equity Act of 2011 (or the Marketplace Fairness Act in the Senate), would allows states to collect sales tax from any buyer “without regard to the location of the seller.”

The tax would be waived for “small sellers,” which the bill defines as sellers with revenues less than $1 million annually.

The act has bipartisan support and is currently sponsored by 15 members of the House of Representatives.

“The nation’s retailers—both big and small—deserve to compete on a level playing field, and our bill provides the framework by which states can have the authority to compel remote sellers on the Internet to remit taxes due on purchases made online,” said Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) in a statement.

“The exemption for small E-tailers will ensure that online start ups and small sellers will not face the same compliance requirements that are easily adopted by large online retailers.”

Overstock will join eBay tomorrow at a congressional committee hearing to oppose the act. Amazon.com, however, supports the act.

eBay general counsel Todd Cohen told Cnet the company would support a sales tax bill with a much broader exception for small sellers. He also gave data that showed a year-over-year decline in small online retail businesses (those with less than $10 million in annual revenue) even as entities such as Amazon.com and established real-world retailers with an online presence grew.

The act is also supported by Sears Holdings, which includes Sears, Kmart and Lands End. A spokesperson for Sears stated, “This bill will level the sales tax collection playing field for all retailers… Although many customers don’t realize it, under current law, they have an obligation to pay taxes on all purchases. Most retailers calculate and collect the tax at the point of sale, as required by law. However, online-only merchants currently do not have to collect the tax broadly, leaving the customer with the responsibility of saving receipts and filing and paying use taxes for those purchases on their state income tax returns. This bill closes a loophole that has given a significant and unfair competitive advantage to a handful of online-only retailers, while hurting those that create jobs and invest in local communities.”

Filed under: VentureBeat