Apple may release its much-awaited iPhone 5 in September which will be before Google Nexus 4G which is expected around Thanksgiving this year, but the Cupertino-based company will still face the heat from the "Absolute Monster" among smartphones.
Computerworld - Social networking fatigue: You've got it, and I've got it. Everyone's overwhelmed by the sheer number of social sites the industry keep churning out.
I was already struggling to stay active on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google Buzz, Google Reader and several other social sites.
As new media come online, the old ones never go away. I keep up with email, of course, and publish an email newsletter. I use AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), and Google Talk for quick messaging, and also text on my iPhone like a Dachshund on crack.
I used to blog on Google's Blogger platform, then I switched to Posterous when that was the hot new service, only to leave it for Tumblr when that became Flavor of the Month.
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- Elgan: How Google+ ends social networking fatigue
- Privacy experts praise Google+ rollout so far
- Google: Business version of Google+ is coming
- Hands-on: Facebook Video Calling vs. Google+ Hangout
- Google+ invites re-open to double user base
- Google vs. Facebook by the numbers
- Google dealing with privacy bugs in Google+
- What would you pay for a Google+ invite?
- Google+ invites shut down after 'insane demand'
I won't even try to list all the services I embraced, then quit.
When Google+ came along, I had the same initial reaction as you probably did: "What, another one?"
Then it hit me: Google+ isn't adding to the problem. Google+ can be the solution to social networking fatigue.
Just don't call it a social network
Everybody calls Google+ a "social network." Everyone, that is, except Google.
In the company's announcement, you won't find the phrase anywhere. They instead use another "S" word: "sharing." And "sharing" is just a warm-and-fuzzy way to say "communication."
By not labeling Google+ as a "social network," Google has a point. Google+ is no more a social network than it is any number of other online communications media. Google+ is also an email service, blogging platform, micro-blogging site, news feed, video conferencing system, chat service, location-based social network and more. So why call it a "social network"?
Here's a better question: Why overwhelm yourself with a dozen services when you can consolidate them all into one? For most people, Google+ can replace every single medium of online communication. The benefit is clear: One site, one log-in, one feed is better than many for ending social networking fatigue.
Here's my list of all the social services that Google+ can replace. I'll tell you what you can replace, what you need to know about replacing other media and why you should replace them all.
Social networking
Yes, Google+ is a great replacement for Facebook. (See my column from last week, "Declare independence... from Facebook!")
Google+ is the first email replacement I've ever seen that's actually better than email. Some two years ago, I wrote a column in this space headlined "How to kill email (before it kills you)." Back then, my solution was to force all your communication through Twitter, Facebook and Skype instead of email and thereby get rid of spam, excessive chatter and needless attachments. Don't look now, but Google+ is essentially Twitter, Facebook and Skype, and is a much better replacement for email.
(CNN) -- Betty Ford, the widow of late President Gerald Ford and a co-founder of an eponymous addiction center in California, has died at the age of 93, according to the director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
Ford died Friday evening with family at her bedside, according to a family member.
Elaine Didier, the director of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, museum, confirmed Ford's death to CNN.
No other details were immediately available.
Born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in Chicago, she grew up in Grand Rapids. At the age of 21, she moved to New York City to work as a dancer and model before heading back to the Midwest two years later.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. Employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent.The economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday. And the number of jobs added in May was revised down to 25,000.
The latest report offered stark evidence that the recovery will be painfully slow. It also raised doubts that the economy will rebound in the second half of the year after hitting a spring slump.
Businesses added just 57,000 jobs last month— the fewest in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs. Over the past eight months, federal, state and local governments have cut a combined 238,000 positions.
Stock futures plunged after the report's release.
"June's employment report doesn't have a single redeeming feature," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. "It's awful from start to finish."
Two years after the recession officially ended, companies are adding fewer workers despite record cash stockpiles and healthy profit margins.
Companies have pulled back on hiring after adding an average of 215,000 jobs per month from February through April. The economy typically needs to add 125,000 jobs per month just to keep up with population growth. And at least twice that many jobs are needed to bring down the unemployment rate.
Economists have said that temporary factors have, in part, forced some employers to hold back on adding workers. High gas prices have cut into consumer spending. And supply-chain disruptions stemming from the Japan crisis have slowed U.S. manufacturing production.
In June, hiring was weak in most sectors: Manufacturers added only 6,000 jobs; Education and health care, which added jobs through the recession, was flat; and professional and business services, which include accounting, legal and engineering jobs, grew by only 12,000.
Construction and financial services cut jobs.
The weak economy and slow hiring is causing more people to simply give up looking for work. More than a quarter-million people stopped their job searches in June. That kept the unemployment rate from rising even further. When laid-off workers stop looking for work, they are no longer counted as unemployed.
Including discouraged workers and those working part time, but who would prefer full-time work, the "under-employment" rate jumped from 15.8 percent to 16.2 percent.
Unemployment has topped 8 percent for 29 months, the longest streak since the 1930s. It has never been so high so long after a recession ended. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.
And those who do have jobs are earning less. Average hourly wages declined last month. After-tax incomes, adjusted for inflation, have been flat this year.
The average work week declined to 34.3 hours, from 34.4, which means employers demanded less work from their existing staffs. Usually companies demand more hours from their existing staffs when they are preparing to hire more workers.
Temporary employment fell 12,000. Businesses generally hire more temporary workers before taking on permanent ones.
The number of unemployed workers rose almost 175,000 to 14.1 million, pushing up the unemployment rate.
There are signs that economy could improve in the second half of the year. Gas prices have come down since peaking in early May at a national average of nearly $4 per gallon. Prices averaged $3.59 a gallon nationwide on Friday, according to AAA.
And manufacturing activity expanded in June at a faster pace than the previous month, according to the Institute for Supply Management. That suggests the parts shortage caused by the March 11 earthquake in Japan is beginning to abate.
More jobs are needed to boost incomes and consumer spending, which fuels 70 percent of the economy. Without more hiring, the economy may not be able to accelerate from its current weak pace of growth.
The government said last month that the economy grew only 1.9 percent in the January-March quarter. Analysts are expecting similarly weak growth in April-June quarter.
The economy is expected to grow at a 3.2 percent pace in final six months of the year, according to an Associated Press survey of 38 economists. But the latest report could prompt some economists to revise their forecasts.
Growth must be stronger to significantly lower the unemployment rate. The economy would need to grow 5 percent for a whole year to significantly bring down the unemployment rate. Economic growth of just 3 percent a year would hold the unemployment steady and keep up with population growth.
