Facebook Gives Users More Control
Facebook unveiled a series of new tools on Wednesday, most notably the “Groups” feature, which allows users to create small sub-groups within the site. Groups are closed by default and act as a space for group members to share documents, photos and messages. Facebook will also now allow users the ability to export their data from the site.
Foursquare Growing Rapidly
The mobile check-in site Foursquare has experienced several outages this week due to overloaded servers. The server overload could be attributed to the fact that Foursquare is experiencing extremely rapid growth. Foursquare has over 3 million users and has grown from 100 million check-ins to 200 million check-ins in just two months.
Tablets Eating Laptop Sales
The laptop market is showing a slower rate of growth than expected as demand for tablets, like the Apple iPad, continues to rise. NPD Group estimates that laptop sales in the U.S. will increase by 12.3% this year, compared to the 30% growth last year. In contrast, sales for the Apple iPad have more than doubled initial estimates are expected to reach 20 million by next year.
Google Takes On Microsoft in Schools
Google is offering a free version of its email and other web-based applications to New York State schools. Google Apps for education will provide students and teachers free access to gmail, word-processing, collaboration and calendar apps. Google will also train teachers on how to use the applications. This is an effective way for Google to compete with Microsoft’s Office suite which costs anywhere from $16-$60 per computer seat.
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