Google’s Consolidated Privacy Policy Draws Fresh Fire In Europe

google privacyGoogle is facing a privacy policy probe in Europe. Last year it consolidated more than 60 separate product privacy notices into one unified policy. The move drew criticism from European privacy regulators — which last October called for Google to give users more control over their data. Today they said Google had failed to respond to their suggestions and would face fresh action.

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Mobile Commerce On The Rise As Amazon AppStore Tops Nielsen’s List Of Fastest-Growing U.K. Android Apps

images-screenshots-captures-amazon-appstore-logo-21032011_00B4000000001978Google’s Android platform dominates the U.K.’s smartphone landscape — powering 54 per cent of the handsets in use at the end of 2012 (Kantar’s data). But what apps are U.K. Android owners spending increasing amounts of time on? Researcher Nielsen says Android app usage during May to October 2012 flags up growth in mobile shopping and commerce.

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Backed By $1.3M, Social Commerce Startup Getonic Looks Beyond F-Commerce, With ~5,000 SMBs, 15 Corporates Signed Up To Sell

Getonic logoIsraeli startup Getonic, which builds tools for small businesses wanting to sell via social channels such as Facebook, has announced it has raised $1.3 million in total funding. Getonic’s seed backers include thetime, Rutledge Vine Capital, private investor Mortimer Singer, and other unnamed angel investors.

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Amex Launches Pay By Tweet, Turns Purchases Into Adverts

Amex Sync on TwitterAmex has extended its Twitter sync feature to enable customers who have synced their Amex account information with Twitter to also pay for certain products by tweeting purchase hashtags. Amex launched its original Twitter Sync feature last March — to allow customers get discount deals by tweeting offer hashtags. Now the card company has gone a step further by integrating payment into Twitter.

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Video Distribution Startup Rightster Buys Content Marketing Platform Preview Networks To Push Its YouTube Services Across Europe

rightster logoA spot of acquisition news in Europe’s digital video distribution space. Rightster, a U.K. video distribution and monetisation startup has made its first acquisition — buying European content marketing platform and movie trailer distributor, Preview Networks, for an undisclosed sum. Rightster said the acquisition will bolster its global YouTube Multi Channel Network footprint.

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Real-time On-Topic Chat Platform Menshn Closes After Co-Founders’ Working Relationship Sours

menshn logoTwitter-esque real-time chat platform, Menshn, is to close after barely half a year after the co-founders’ working relationship soured. The platform launched back in June, initially aimed at capitalizing on the U.S. election — with its basic premise being to serve people who want to have a real-time online conversation that stays on topic.

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After Its Porn Problem, Twitter-Owned Vine Adds 17+ Age Rating To Video Sharing App

Vine age updateVine, the Twitter-owned video sharing iOS app which lets users knit together snippets of video to create six second loops, has had its user age rating increased to 17+. The increase was bundled in a v1.0.5 app update which requires users to confirm they are “at least 17 years old” before the download begins, and warns of “frequent/intense sexual content or nudity”, among other warnings.

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Pew Study Finds One In Five U.S. Internet Users Has Ditched Facebook, While 27% Of Current Users Plan To Reduce Time In 2013

facebook-logoFacebook is far and away the dominant social networking service in the U.S. — used by two-thirds of online Americans, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. But in a new research report Pew shines a light on a sense of dissatisfaction some Facebookers feel towards the network that has caused them to cut back the amount of time spend on the site or abandon it altogether.

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