On Twitter, Only Some Airlines Soar
Attention, passengers: This is your airline Twittering.
Yeah, like everybody else. But in the cramped, bandwidth-starved confines of airport concourses and airplanes, Twitter -- available not just on Web-connected cellphones (http://m.twitter.com) but even on those that handle only text messaging -- can help airlines and passengers talk to each other.
As a result, some airlines can't seem to shut up on the popular site, which allows users to publish short updates to the Web. Others, however, haven't printed their Twitter boarding passes just yet.
Is Twitter Worth a Billion Bucks?
Twitter's home crowd can be pretty tough. When reports emerged on Sept. 24 that the microblogging service was close to securing $100 million in funding that valued the company at $1 billion, flurries of 140-character jeers flooded the service. "Nutty valuation," wrote @Nicklippis. "I've seen this movie before," twittered @ericclovesbacon. "It starred eToys.com and ended in fail."
True, a billion dollars for a company with virtually no revenue recalls the excesses of the dot-com era. The logic behind Twitter's valuation comes straight from the very same school. It views Twitter less as a single company than as the base for a whole realm of communication and data. "It is an increasingly important platform for business and consumers," says Seth Levine, managing director of Foundry Group.
Rising Rightroots and Declining Netroots Now at Parity (or Better)
Lost in the hubbub about the tea parties, the health care town hall protests, Joe Wilson, and the ACORN sting is the outcome of a long-simmering meta debate about the vibrancy of the grassroots right and its capacity to organize online. Along with a slew of other bad political indicators, the perception that the GOP might be stuck in a permanent Luddite rut reached its peak with the election of Obama and the role the Internet played in his victory.
Nearly a year later, not only have things turned around, but they've done so faster than anyone could have dreamed or imagined in those post-election doldrums.
Working Moms are the Mobile Power Users in the US
Perhaps upsetting stereotypes about the male early adopter and big spender in the realm of technology, a new study shows working moms are some of the U.S.’s highest spenders on cell phone services.
The average cell phone bill for a working mom is $94, which is 21% higher than that of the average mobile user. Additionally, working moms are 42% more likely to download content to their phone than the average cell phone user.
