By Kristin Samuelson | Expedia dot…cha-ching? If you booked a hotel room through Expedia.com or by phone between Jan. 10, 2001, through June 11, 2008, and paid a “Tax Recovery Charge” and a “Service Fee,” chances are you are entitled to a share of a $123 million settlement involving the travel-booking website Expedia.
Get the full story: The Problem Solver.
Filed under: Internet
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Consumers to benefit from Expedia.com settlement
Amazon.com is No. 1 in healthiest retailer survey
From Bloomberg | Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest online merchant, won the top spot in an annual survey of the healthiest U.S. and Canadian retailers for a second year in a row as more shoppers make purchases online.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Google’s changed home page sparks confusion
Dow Jones Newswires | Google Inc.’s website sparked some confusion and a brief backlash
Thursday as Internet users discovered a temporary switch on its home
page to bold, colorful background photos from its traditional white,
uncluttered design.
The Internet giant, which launched a new feature last week that allows
Google account holders to choose their own background for its search
engine, sought to demonstrate the feature by pre-loading selected photos
when people went to the website.
Google homepage offers background images
Associated Press | If Google’s famously sparse home page is too
plain for you, the company is giving you some more options. A bold
color photo of sand dunes replaced the white background to Google’s
search box Thursday. You can replace the desert scene with an image of
your own or others available from Google. Or you can stick with the
classic format.
BP pressure leads Twitter to label satirical account
From Geekosystem.com | The parody Twitter account @BPGlobalPR has changed its biography on its page, after BP requested that Twitter enforce its policy on parody/impersonation. The satirical account’s bio now reads, “We are not associated with Beyond Petroleum, the company that has been destroying the Gulf of Mexico for 51 days.” Get the full story: geekosystem.com.
Oprah.com moves from Harpo to OWN
From Broadcasting Cable | Government regulators granted permission for the Web property Oprah.com to be transferred from Harpo Productions to Oprah Winfry’s new cable venture OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.
Get the full story: broadcastingcable.com
Google jolts Internet search with rollout of Caffeine
McClatchy-Tribune News | Internet giant Google is putting some buzz into its search results, announcing on its official blog late Tuesday that it has completed its new Caffeine search index.
“Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for Web searches than our last index, and it’s the largest collection of Web content we’ve offered,” Carrie Grimes, a Google software engineer, said in the post.
Orbitz CFO Marsha Williams to retire
By Julie Johnsson| Marsha Williams, 59, plans to retire by years’ end as chief financial
officer at Orbitz Worldwide Inc., the global online travel company
announced Tuesday.
Williams joined Orbitz in 2007 as it prepared to go public, spinning out
from parent company Travelport. As Orbitz restructured amid a rocky
travel market over the past 18 months, she led efforts to trim $45
million in operating and capital costs and to attract new capital to
shore up its capital structure, said Barney Harford, president and CEO
of Orbitz Worldwide.
Williams held key financial positions at many iconic Chicago companies
over a 37-year-career that began with First National Bank of Chicago,
where she worked from 1973 to 1988. She served as treasurer of Amoco
Corp., which she left in 1998; chief administrative officer at Crate and
Barrel until 2002, and executive vice-president and chief financial
officer at Equity Office Properties Trust.
E*Trade says it will spend more on marketing
Dow Jones Newswires | E*Trade Financial Corp Chief Executive Steven Freiberg said Thursday the
online brokerage expects to increase its marketing expenses over time.
Microsoft hopeful IE9 browser will give it edge
Reuters | Microsoft Corp could regain the edge over rivals
Google Inc and Mozilla Firefox with its new Web browser due to be
launched next year, the head of Microsoft Internet Explorer said.
Ryan Gavin said in an interview Microsoft was generating a high level
of interest in Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) from the external software
developers who are key to its success, thanks to new capabilities and a
new, more open approach towards such third parties.
Google questioned on home Wi-Fi breaches
Dow Jones Newswires | A U.S. Congressional committee has sent a
letter to Google Inc. seeking details on how the Internet search
giant’s Street View cars accidentally collected private data from
unsecured wireless networks.
The May 26 letter from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
contains a list of 12 questions aimed at clarifying the scope of
Google’s data collection and what the company has done with the
personal data it gathered.
A Google employee plots streets on a camera-equipped tricycle for Google’s Street View Maps. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)
May 26, 2010 at 5:32 p.m.
Comments Off
Filed under: Computers, Internet, Policy, Politics, Privacy issues Businesses could use U.S. cyber monitoring system
Associated Press | A top Pentagon official says a government computer security system that can thwart cyber attacks should be extended to private businesses.
Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III says discussions are in the very early stages to allow the government to extend technology from the Einstein 2 and Einstein 3 computer defense programs to private firms.
The idea raises a myriad of legal, policy and privacy questions, including how it would work and what information would be shared between the government and businesses.
Facebook to simplify privacy controls
Associated Press | Facebook is simplifying its privacy controls amid growing unrest from
many of its users. Protesters have been organizing campaigns to quit
Facebook and privacy groups have complained to regulators after
Facebook announced new features last month, including “instant
personalization” that tailors other websites to users’ Facebook
profiles.
“A lot of people are upset with us,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday at the company’s Palo Alto,
Calif., headquarters.
Google: $3.2 billion impact on Illinois businesses
By Wailin Wong
| Google generated $3.2 billion for Illinois businesses in 2009, the
search engine said Tuesday as part of a nationwide announcement about
the company’s impact on state economies.
The publication of the “Google’s Economic Impact” report marks the first
time the company has released this kind of data. Google calculated its
figures by estimating the profits businesses derive from advertising though the
search engine.
Wal-Mart to start selling iPhone 3GS for $97
By Kristin Samuelson
| It looks like Wal-Mart’s big, yellow smiley face is continuing to roll back its prices. Starting today, Wal-Mart is dropping the price of the brand new entry-level, 16-gigabyte iPhone 3GS to $97 with a new two-year contract. The new price is $100 cheaper than its previous price.
Get the full story: The Problem Solver.
