News for Friday, 30 June 2006

Today comes new updates for Apple application.

With iTunes 6, you can preview, buy, and download music videos, short films, and hit TV programs on the iTunes Music Store, and sync your music and purchased videos with iPod to enjoy on the go.
iTunes 6.0.5 allows you to sync your Nike + iPod workout data to nikeplus.com, where you can easily track your progress, set training goals, challenge others, and much more. Visit the Nike Sport Music area on the iTunes Music Store to download workout mixes, Athlete Inspiration playlists, Nike podcasts, and more.
Note: After purchasing music from the iTunes Music Store with iTunes 6 or later, you also need to upgrade your other computers that purchase music from the iTunes Music Store to the latest version of iTunes.

About iPod Updater 2006-06-28
iPod Updater 2006-06-28 includes:
-New iPod Software 1.1.2 for iPod
-New iPod Software 1.2 for iPod nano
-New iPod Software 1.1.4 for iPod shuffle
iPod Updater 2006-06-28 contains the same software versions as iPod Updater 2006-03-23 for all other iPod models.
To learn how to use your iPod with step-by-step instructions and easy-to-follow movies, see the iPod tutorials at http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/howto/.
Click Learn More in each tutorial to see more great tips and instructions.
And be sure to check out iPod 101, our fun, free series of online courses that'll teach you everything about using iPod, iTunes, and the iTunes Music Store.
For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/.

The main source of financial income for Google is coming from AdWords, allowing merchants to get their ads display specifically depending on keywords.
In the past AdWords has been the subject of legal action against Google, and as an example, Apple has won its action and could prevent its trademarks to be used by other than itself.
Today, it is the world leader of luxury products, LVMH, to win its action again Google. The French Appeal Court has declared Google "guilty" of counterfeiting, unfair competition and illegal advertising"; in addition Google will have to pay 375000 Euros to LVMH.
The reason of LVMH's action? When searching the web with “LVMH” or related brand names keywords owned by the company on Google search engine, most of the results returned were corresponding to websites selling counterfeited LVMH products, clones or copies..
In the future Google might have to remove all brand names from its search database... and should maybe do it quickly, before having to deal with dozens of legal action and to pay millions of dollars to settle down conflicts.

Google does not stop its expansion into the internet space, after services linked to its search engine, then Google Earth, Gmail and other applications, now comes CheckOut

checkout process that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure for Google users. Google Checkout offers an easy and trusted checkout option that enables shoppers to purchase from participating stores with a single Google login. It also works with Google's search advertising program, AdWords, to help merchants acquire new customers and process all or a portion of their Checkout sales for free.

One could see CheckOut as a ”PayPal killer”; but some analysts think that CheckOut is only the first step of a major initiative by Google to compete with eBay (reminder: Paypal is own by eBay, as Skype).
But one should not forget as stated by Google itself, CheckOut is using AdWords:

Google Checkout helps merchants streamline the checkout process and also works with Google's advertising program, AdWords, so merchants can attract more customers and increase sales. The Google Checkout icon on AdWords advertisements makes it easier for shoppers to find Google Checkout stores when they search. Once shoppers buy with Google Checkout, AdWords advertisers can also process all or a portion of their sales for free. For every $1 merchants spend on AdWords, they can process $10 in sales through Google Checkout at no charge.

And AdWords has recently been the basis of many justice actions against Google as we will develop it later today...
CheckOut is currently only working in USA.
PR: Google Checkout Opens for Business

About 3 years after the last version of Yahoo Messenger Mac (2.5.3), one could have thought that the project was dead...
Not at all, Yahoo has just launched Yahoo! Messenger 3.0 in beta version!
What is new?

- Entirely new user interface written in Cocoa designed specifically for the Mac OS X operating system
- Yahoo! Avatars and Display Images
- Custom stealth settings
- Webcam support, compatible across PCs and Macs
- Custom Status messages, including links to music tracks
- Animated sign-in, sign-out, and contact list
- All new sound effects
- Visual notifications with support for the Growl global notification system
- Alerts for Yahoo! Calendar, Mail and Personals
- Coming soon: In the future, support for interoperability with Windows Live ™ (MSN) Messenger

It looks impressive and might be the first AIM to provide a true interoperability between Mac and PC users: Yahoo! Messenger Mac from Yahoo! website