This Week’s Industry Update

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

AT&T Caps Monthly Broadband Usage For Subscribers

If you get your mobile and traditional DSL access through AT&T, you’ll soon be facing a monthly Internet data allowance. Traditional DSL users have 150 GB to use each month, and U-Verse subscribers have 250 GB to play with before a $10/month charge is incurred that would increase their data access by an additional 50 GB.

AT&T said that around 2% of their users would be affected, mostly from streaming video, downloading movies through bittorrents, and heavy gaming. The company imposed a similar cap on iPhone data usage last summer, and isn’t the first company to charge a fee after a certain amount of Internet use.

The interesting part of this story could be the impact it will have down the road. Think about how little information you utilized on the Internet five years ago. Now imagine what that total might be five years from now.

Source: CNN

Japan Earthquake Causes Apple Product Shortage

In addition to the obviously tragic devastation in Japan, the Japanese earthquake has created a ripple effect on the world’s stock markets and technology industry. Apple is one prominent company that is experiencing a shortage in a considerable amount of Japanese-made parts that go into constructing the iPad 2.

Even Japanese suppliers that were not directly affected by the earthquake are experiencing logistical issues that have prevented Apple from receiving these key components. Some of these parts can be acquired elsewhere, and it’s unclear if this will affect the wait time for receiving a purchased iPad 2.

Source: Yahoo News

The New York Times Unveils New Non-Subscriber Paywall

On March 28, the New York Times will implement a paywall limiting free online article views to 20 per month for non-subscribers. Home delivery subscribers have unlimited access to the New York Times through their smartphones and at-home computers, but non-subscribers will be asked to pay $15, $20, or $35 month packages for after the 20 article cap expires.

Just like their last paywall experiment, time will tell if charging users for news they could find elsewhere will pay off for one of the most recognizable newspapers in American history.

Source: CNN

Facebook ‘Likes’ Make You More Money Than Twitter Tweets

A recent social media marketing experiment from a ticket retail service revealed that companies get more bang for their buck on Facebook than on Twitter.

Eventbrite announced that the average tweet netted about $.80 in ticket sales over the past six months, while a Facebook “Like” pulled in about $1.34. The company’s report was very similar to their October study conducted over a 12-week period.

Source: CNN

Google’s ‘20%’ Policy Devotes Time To Japan

Google allows their engineers to spend 20% of their time, or one day a week, working on projects that interest them away from their daily routine. That time has recently been focused on helping the Japanese relief effort with Google’s Person Finder.

Person Finder allows people to search for and post inquires and information about missing loved ones. The project came together extremely fast, and was also used during the January 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis.

Source: CNN

Local News Is A Big Hit On Mobile Devices

Findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project recently revealed that almost half (47%) of U.S. adults get local news on their smartphone or tablet device. The most popular pieces of information viewed on mobile devices were weather (42%) and local restaurants and businesses (37%).

Source: CNN

Foursquare And Company Attempt To Replicate Groupon’s Business Model

Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt, all location-based social networks, have pooled around $50 million from investors as well as 13 million users. This CNN Money article details some of their plans to launch Groupon-like initiatives in the coming months in the hopes of taking some market share away from the daily deal giant.

Source: CNN

Google Fights Against Counterfeit Ads On AdWords

Google has announced it is actively hunting down AdWords accounts featuring counterfeit goods and services. Google has been working on this issue for some time, and eliminated around 50,000 accounts in the last half of 2010 alone.

The search engine monolith has pledged to follow through on three initiatives to quickly and efficiently shut down these problematic ads for good:

1. Google promises to act on counterfeit complaints within 24 hours

2. Google will improve their AdSense anti-counterfeit reviews

3. Google will offer a new help center page for counterfeit issues

Source: PC Magazine

Google Accelerates AdSense Publishers Loading Time

Web sites that use Google AdSense will no longer load slowly. Google has just announced an update that increases an AdSense site’s loading time without having to change anything on the site.

Source: Google Inside AdWords Blog

Microsoft Kills Zune Music Product Line

Whether people prefer apples on their mp3 player’s back or prefer a narcissistic tint to their player’s brand (the iPhone, get it?), Microsoft’s Zune product line has officially failed. Zune has received significant software upgrades throughout its five year lifespan, but a new version has not been released since 2009.

Source: Crunch Gear

Control Your Phone From Your Wrist Watch

Technology previously seen only from Q Division and on Power Rangers is now at your fingertips (or wrist). Allerta’s inPulse wrist watch allows you to control your smartphone through Bluetooth technology, provided it is within range.

The inPulse has a clear, color display and allows you to operate your device messages, Twitter messages, media player, calendar alerts, and much more. It even is capable of running a PowerPoint presentation.

Source: Building 43

Notable Commentary

Way Better Than That ‘Friday’ Song

Bill Keller Talks About Aggregation And The Current State Of Journalism

Take a look at this interesting article from the executive editor of the New York Times, Bill Keller, that raises a lot of great questions about media in today’s society. Keller does a really good job explaining the current state of journalism, what’s wrong with it, and also how he believes a return to serious journalism may be underway.

Analysis By: Bill Keller, The New York Times

To 301 Redirect Or Not To 301 Redirect? When Rebranding Your Website, That Is The Question

Check out this interesting write up from Inc.com that briefly chronicles two businesses that rebranded themselves on the web. Take a look to see how rebranding can be extremely advantageous on one hand and detrimental on the other.

Analysis By: Issie Lapowski, Inc.

What’s In Your Typography?

This article makes a very important point; as web users, we go to the Internet intending to read. Based on that fact, the piece outlines, in a step by step process, how to make your typography match the intention of your content, look good and be easy to read. Pretty cool!

Analysis By: Harry Roberts, Smashing Magazine

I Bet You Think You Know Everything There Is To Know About Yourself

Take a look at this article that looks at 100 things that you should know about people. It might take you a while to get through all of the articles but I can guarantee that you will learn a great deal about human psychology by the time you do! Also pretty cool!

Analysis By: Susan Wienschenk, What Makes Them Click

Who Doesn’t Know What Angry Birds Is?

The designers of the mobile game mega-hit Angry Birds, Rovio, are hoping that no one will have to ask that question ever again. By gaining investors and partnering with some of the top dogs of the gaming industry, Rovio has some very big plans. Check out this article to find out what they are.

Analysis By: Laurie Segall, CNN Money

Need Some Motivation?

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Analysis By: A Fire Under Every Butt