The Week in Review

Woot is Cheeky in its Letter to AP

After releasing a humorous press release announcing its $110 million sale to Amazon, the guys at Woot are at it again with a letter to the AP, requesting that they buy the day’s two-pack deal on headphones instead of paying them their rightful $17.50 for the use of its content. (TechCrunch)

10 Reasons Why the PC Will Remain

The growing demand for PCs, the hype surrounding the iPad and the stiffness of mobile devices are just some of the 10 reasons why PCs are here to stay. (InfoWorld)

Gmail to Get Display Ads?

Google may be eyeing display ad opportunities on YouTube, Google Finance, Google Maps, Google Books and Gmail. With display advertising at a “tipping point,” Google may have to expand its display ad footprint on these properties if it wants to catch up to the likes of Facebook. (AdAge.com)

Chrome Ready for Games

Chrome OS, which is set to launch later this year, is getting more and more ready to be played with – via games. The browser is getting orientation capabilities that other major browsers have lacked. This will be key for the gaming capabilities and app potential of the OS. (ReadWriteWeb)

The World of Black Hat SEO

Here is an overview of the nuts and bolts of black hat SEO and the gray area between that dark realm and the world of white hat SEO. Rather than being something utterly punishable, “businesses need to decide fro themselves whether it’s worth the risk.” (SmartCompany)

A Preview of Firefox 4

It looks more like Google Chrome, but there are a host of other changes that might not be so visible to the naked eye. Firefox 4, which is now in its first beta, also features a subtle-yet-important CSS security change, along with the ability to search for open tabs from the smart location bar. (CNET)

Facebook and the Semantic Web

RDFa is enabling the likes of Facebook, Google and Best Buy to dive into the semantic Web. For Facebook, its Open Graph strategy is a big part of this. It allows each Web page to become an “object” in the social graph, though there are limitations. (ReadWriteWeb)

Affiliate Marketing’s Bad Reputation

Despite a number of big online retailers making waves in affiliate marketing, the space still suffers from a bad reputation. This is partly because of malpractice in the industry’s past, as well as the rapid pace of change in the sector. Affiliate marketing is in dire need of a “consolidated voice” that can go out and explain what it does and why it’s so great. (Econsultancy)

10 Ways Entrepreneurs Burn Money

If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s wise to avoid things like custom logos, fancy offices, consultants and thinking that your product or service is what sells, among other ways to waste money. (Business Insider)

Diaspora is Making Progress

Diaspora, the open Facebook alternative that got so much attention a couple months ago, may have faded back behind the curtains again, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t done anything. Real-time messaging, an encryption layer and plugins are all on the schedule this summer. (TechCrunch)

How Google Failed Me

Google tells us that producing great content is the key to getting links. This writer tried to stick to that mantra but found it fell far short. While content does indeed matter, there’s obviously much more work to do if you want to build a network of valuable links. (Graywolf’s SEO Blog)

Facebook’s Brand Bounced Back in June

According to YouGov, Facebook drastically improved its brand in the last two weeks of June, after suffering from bad press earlier in the month. (CNET)

Google and Verticals

Google’s purchase of ITA Software, a travel search technology provider, shows that the search giant is looking to bolster the specificity of its search tools. It’s likely that Google will continue this foray, and that it could step on Bing’s toes. Real estate might be Google’s next target. (paidcontent.org)

USA.gov Chooses Bing

The U.S. General Services Administration revamped its website and has chosen Bing as its search provider. The site offers a wealth of easier-to-access information and even has mobile apps for download. (WebProNews)

Recommendations and the Future of Location-Based Services

Location-based services are fueled by ego, which is engaging and sometimes helpful, but falls short of tapping into the full potential of LBS. Apps like Trapster and AllStays are leading the way by pairing background location and real-time data and user preference. (ReadWriteWeb)

Post-Vacation E-Mail Campaign Checklist

Go ahead and enjoy your summer break – just keep in mind that there’s probably a few things you can do to improve and clean up your e-mail marketing tactics. Here’s a quick checklist to help you, covering the opt-in/welcome process, design/usability, content, deliverability/list hygiene, segmentation/personalization, automation and optimization/measurement. (MediaPost)

Groupon: Savior of Newspapers?

Not quite, but with Groupon’s partnership with McClatchy, there’s a hopeful sign that newspaper publishers aren’t as dull as they used to be. (paidContent.org)

Post to WordPress by Voice

For those of you who use WordPress as your CMS, you now have the option of calling in your blog posts. (WordPress.com)

Twitter Do’s and Don’ts

Do avoid stream of consciousnesses. Don’t link your Twitter account to your Facebook account if you tweet more than 10 times a day. These are just some of the etiquette tips for tweeting. (CNET)

Five Ways to Acquire E-Mail Subscribers

Places to convince customers and prospects to opt into your e-mail campaigns are all around you. Direct mail, mobile, experiential marketing, catalogs and packaging promotional inserts are among them. E-commerce companies have many ways to do this, including transactional e-mails, live chats and social networks. Here’s a summer project idea: figure out the area that you’re not using enough. (ClickZ)

Google Boosts Pay for Gay and Lesbian Employees

The search giant is adding yet another benefit for its employees – gay and lesbian ones, that is. Google will pay for the costs gay and lesbian workers incur when acquiring domestic partner health benefits, to compensate them for the extra tax that heterosexual couples don’t have to pay. While this isn’t anything new, it could spur more of the same in Silicon Valley. (NYTimes.com)

Usage-Based Pricing: Fair Way to Go for Mobile Data Usage?

There’s a huge disparity between the heaviest smart-phone users and their counterparts, according to Nielsen. The top 6 percent of smart-phone users consume half of all mobile data. In view of these staggering figures, a usage-based pricing scheme might be the most fair way to go. The company also notes that smart-phone users need more education and that more than a third of smart-phone users don’t have data plans. (Nielsen)

PPC Tips for Small-Business Owners

Small-business owners looking to get a handle of PPC campaigns should learn about time/day parting, negative keywords and geo-targeting, among other topics. (Search Engine Journal)

How Google Works

Here’s a complex, thorough visual walkthrough of the life of a Google query. By the time you’ve finished reading this, a ton of queries have already been processed. (PPC Blog)

May Mobile Metrics Report

According to AdMob’s latest report, smart phones are growing rapidly, accounting for 46 percent of ad requests in May, compared to just 22 percent in the same month last year. Android continues to gain on iOS, though the iPhone remains the top smart phone, by far. The report includes many other pieces of data, including that the top five iPad countries are the U.S., Japan, U.K., China and Canada. (AdMob)

Chatroulette Isn’t Dead Yet

Hitwise claims that Chatroulette’s traffic has risen 50 percent in the last five weeks, putting to rest murmurs that the site had lost its luster. This doesn’t change the site’s penis problem. (VentureBeat)

China vs. Google – Again

China is partially blocking Google, according to Google. This may have something to do with Google’s decision to stop redirecting Chinese users to servers in Hong Kong. (NYTimes.com)