Web Business

Last week, rumors that pop star Beyoncé is pregnant began heating up. The week’s rumors were capped off with what seemed to be a confirmation that the diva is expecting her second child. This week, however, Beyoncé’s husband is once again tamping down the rumors, stating that the pregnancy reports are “not true.” A program director for the New York radio station Hot 97 this weekend reported that Jay-Z had personally told him that the rumors are not true. He quotes the would-be father as saying, “It’s not true. The news is worse than blogs.” Neither Jay-Z nor Mrs. Carter herself have commented officially on the pregnancy rumors. Beyoncé is currently promoting her world tour, “The Mrs. Carter Show.” The tour is currently in Europe, and will continue in North America throughout June and July. Though the pregnancy rumors began over some blurry concert photos, the rumors ramped up last week when Beyoncé canceled a scheduled concert in Antwerp, Belgium. The official word was that doctors had sidelined the pop star for “dehydration and exhaustion,” but fans eagerly postulated that the singer was having morning sickness.

On Monday, Yahoo announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the massively popular social blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Like most major Internet acquisitions, the move has proven controversial. Is this acquisition going to be good or bad for Tumblr users? Good or bad for Yahoo? Let us know what you think in the comments. Even before the acquisition was announced formally, a lot of users who got wind of the deal started jumping ship to alternative platforms. WordPress Founder Matt Mullenweg wrote a blog post on Sunday night about a huge spike in imports from Tumblr. “Imports have actually spiked on the rumors even though it’s Sunday: normally we import 400-600 posts an hour from Tumblr, last hour it was over 72,000,” he wrote. He later updated the post to say that some people are reading too much into those numbers, adding, “I don’t think there will be an exodus from Tumblr.” In the comments section, he said, “I don’t think there will be any sort of exodus from Tumblr. For most folks habits overcome internet-outrage. Even if a million people left, that’s just about a week’s worth of signups.” We haven’t seen an update on the number of imports now that the deal has been officially public for a day, but my guess is that it has increased significantly. A petition to “Stop Yahoo! from Buying Tumblr” quickly racked up nearly 169,000 signatures. Of course there is no way that this will actually keep the deal from happening, but it does show that there is a great deal of discontent among users (and you have to think there are many more with a similar attitude who did not bother to sign, or even see the petition). User concerns have ranged from “Yahoo is going to make Tumblr uncool” to “Yahoo is going to clutter up Tumblr with ads” to “Yahoo is going to eliminate porn on Tumblr” among other things. Yahoo and Tumblr have both indicated from the start that they “promise not to screw it up”. Here’s a line straight out of the press release: Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business. David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators. Yahoo says Tumblr will deploy Yahoo’s personalization technology and search infrastructure to “help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love”. This could actually be a good thing for Tumblr, as its current content discovery features could use a great deal of improvement. “Tumblr is redefining creative expression online,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. “On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary. Yahoo is the Internet’s original media network. Tumblr is the Internet’s fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands – established and emerging. And, fundamentally, Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday.” “Our team isn’t changing,” said Tumblr CEO David Karp. “Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission — to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve — certainly isn’t changing. But we’re elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from.” His statements in a blog post were a little more colorful. So, let’s address some of those concerns users have. 1. Will Yahoo make Tumblr uncool? Well, this is obviously subjective. To some, simply being part of a major corporation makes you uncool. It

Kate Hudson has joined the cast of Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded film, “Wish I Was Here”, and not everyone is happy about it. The Kickstarter campaign, which surpassed its $2 million goal in three days, was a highly controversial move on Braff’s part and was the talk of Twitter for a while as moviegoers wondered why they should give up their hard-earned cash to a millionaire actor. Still, he’s continuing to get backers on the crowd-sourcing site, so there are people who want to see this movie get made. According to Kickstarter, the campaign will end on Friday. Braff, who wrote the script with his brother, will direct and star as a 30-something husband and father who is struggling to find his identity. Also announced in the cast lineup are Josh Gad and Mandy Patinkin.

Last fall, former NFL star Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson plead no contest to misdemeanor domestic battery after allegedly head-butting his wife just one month after their wedding. Johnson received one year of probation for the charge, and was cut by the Miami Dolphins. Now, Johnson is back in court after violating the terms of his parole. According to a TMZ report, Johnson did not check in with his probation officer for two straight months and failed to show that he was enrolled in a domestic violence education class. A warrant for Johnson’s arrest was issued by Broward County last Thursday. In a video of Johnson’s courtroom appearance, the 35-year-old wide receiver described his behavior as a “total misunderstanding” between himself and his probation officer. The judge, however, took issue with the pace at which Johnson was completing his domestic violence classes, saying that he should have been done with them in March. Johnson’s bail has been set at $1,000. Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. Chad Johnson ARRESTED — Hot Judge Rips NFL Star

Internet service providers are pretty awful. It seems that most Americans agree if a recent survey is to be believed. The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its report for 2013. This year is particularly interesting as ISPs have been rated for the first time. How did they do? The survey shows that Vierzon FiOS, the company’s fiber-based wired broadband service, has a satisfaction rating of 71. From there, the scores keep getting lower and lower until it bottoms out with Comcast at a 62. What about the other major ISPs like Time Warner Cable and ATT? Time Warner came away with a 63 while ATT scored a bit higher with a 65. The average aggregated score among all ISPs was 65. To put this all into perspective, ISPs were one of four industries to have an average score below 70. The others were the airline, subscription telephone and social media industries. It’s really kind of sad when ISPs are lumped in with an industry that has been the subject of bad standup comedy for decades. So, why do consumers hate their ISPs so much? The ASCI lists the usual suspects – reliability, speed and highly monthly costs. It doesn’t help that many are also unsatisfied with the current monopolies or duopolies held by many ISPs preventing them from switching to somebody else. There is hope, however, and that hope is Google Fiber. The ASCI says that services like Google Fiber may eventually shift ISPs to offering faster service for lower costs. It’s probably not going to happen anytime soon, but I can dream, right? [h/t: BGR]

As the battle to win the ears of a streaming music-hungry consumer base heats up, Pandora has just launched a new channel that lets you listen to new albums before they’re official released. It’s called Pandora Premieres, and the company says it’s a new way to discover music on the site. Pandora Premieres lets users stream entire albums from both established and emerging artists for free. You can stream any track at any time, as many times as you like until the album is officially released. Pandora says that they will offer a new selection of upcoming albums each week, and some will come with additional exclusive content such as video interviews. “Pandora Premieres is also a new and unique vehicle for artists, both established and emerging, to reach and expand their audience. Seeing the impact of Pandora on the careers of working musicians continues to be one of the most gratifying parts of this experience,” says Pandora’s Tim Westergren. The service is kicking off today with John Fogerty’s new album Wrote of Song for Everyone and Laura Marling’s Once I was an Eagle. You can stream these albums, on-demand, for a week. It’s unclear at this point what kind of albums Pandora will offer with Premieres. If they end up offering pre-streams of high-profile artists, it could be a great addition to the Pandora service. You can check it out here.

Different social media sites provide a different benefit for users. Having a well rounded approach to your use of these networks is key to properly utilizing them, which means targeting each with a specific approach. You have to optimize content, making sure it is shareable based on each demographic that you will be aiming for on each site. The new kid on the block is still Pinterest, and many people are confused about how to use it. Luckily, optimizing content is as easy as focusing on improving photo quality. Here is a step-by-step guide on optimizing images for Pinterest. Step One: Make Sure The Images Are Yours Now, don't get me wrong, repinning images from around the web is (usually) acceptable with proper credit. Pinning from within the site is also a good way to gain followers by using content already there. But the bulk of the images you provide on Pinterest for a professional account should be your own. This will give you the best shot at having an image go viral, which is what we should all be aiming for. Here are some ideas for you to creat your own viral images: HOW TO: Quote Using Text-to-Image Tools HOW TO: Re-package Your Content into a Viral Image Step Two: Slap On a Watermark Hey, guess what? People steal photos from Pinterest, all the time. This isn't usually malicious, or anything. But it can be hard to tell if the original photo came from the link it is anchored to, or if it has been reuploaded and used. Since most people are innocently doing this, you will want to make it easy for them to see who the picture belongs to. Put a simple watermark at the bottom of all of the images you upload onto Pinterest, giving yourself credit. This could be the link to your website, or just a quick copyright notice with your name. People can still remove it/cut it out. But if they are going to those lengths they are probably going to need to be dealt with legally anyway. Read: How to Watermark Your Images and PDF Files for Brand Awareness and Copyright Protection Step Three: Properly Name Your Files Each photo you upload is going to be titled according to the file name: YOUR FILE NAME => PIN TITLE Even though you change it on Pinterest and add a description, that initial file name is what will be used for searches. So if you have a file named DC75883768273_041, it isn't likely to get a lot of search traffic. Ditto for any images that have real file names, but aren't named properly to reflect what is in the image. Make sure every file has a clear, concise description of what is in the picture. If it is an infographic about optimizing images for Pinterest, for example, it would be titled "Pinterest_Image_Optimization_Infographic.jpg". Step Four: Add The Title To The Image When someone repins your image, they can change the description to anything they want. They can even change it to something like "LOL worst image ever WFTBBQ!". So if you have an image that isn't really clear in context, the description you upload it with won't really matter in the slightest. Only some of the users who put it on their boards will bother keeping it intact. A simple way to get around this is to actually add text to the image itself to describe what is in the picture or link it goes to. If you have an image of a piece of carpet with a stain, but it represents a larger article on using natural ingredients for household cleaning, you might want to overlay text that says "10 All Natural Ingredients For Cleaning". It will catch the eye, immediately convey the context of the image and keep it clear what it is about no matter what the description says. Step Five: Don't Forget Twitter One of my favorite tips for optimizing Pinterest images is the inclusion of Twitter hashtags in the image data. I try to provide it in two places, when possible. The first is in the description of the image, but this can still be erased, as stated before. The second place is in the image text I include,

It seems fantastical that the Earth could simply open up and swallow whatever is above it. However, sinkholes are a real danger, and just over the past few months sinkholes have taken cars, ponds, and people. This week, a man in East Rutherford New Jersey was pulled into a sinkhole that opened beneath him during work. According to a New Jersey Star-Ledger report, the man was driving a forklift in a food products storage warehouse when the sinkhole swallowed both him and the forklift whole. The sinkhole, which opened right under a loading dock, was estimated to be 40 by 40 feet. The man was, luckily, rescued and escaped with only minor injuries. The warehouse has been evacuated and building officials are now trying to figure out what caused the sinkhole. A Florida man earlier this year was not quite as lucky as the warehouse worker. In April a sinkhole swallowed a man named Jeffrey Bush. The man was reportedly lounging in his bedroom when the entire room collapsed from under him. Bush and all of the room’s furniture were buried, and he did not survive.

A Brooklyn woman says she bit into her McDonald’s chicken sandwich one day in 2010 only to taste a piece of glass–which she says was bigger than a penny–and that it has ruined her singing voice. Jaqueline Simpson says she was a soprano for a gospel group and can no longer hit the notes she used to be able to. She also says her speaking voice was affected and is suing the company for an undisclosed amount. “Now when I sing, I have a hoarse, rattly voice,” she told the New York Post. “I still sing alto, but I can’t sing soprano like I used to.” McDonald’s has had no comment on the matter, but they are in litigation with several other people all over the world, including a Brazil organization that claimed the restaurant was advertising unhealthy food to children and a woman and her 4-year old grandchild, who claim the child received second-degree burns after touching a hot cup.

The situation is still fluid outside the Oklahoma City area, after a massive tornado ripped through the town of Moore leaving a path of destruction that rivals any storm in recent memory. As of Tuesday morning, reports indicate that dozens of people are dead, including some children. Crews are just beginning the daunting task of searching through the rubble. It’s hard to find many uplifting stories in a tragedy like this – at least this early on. Later we’ll hear reports of heroism and self-sacrifice. Today comes this story of a woman and her dog. While conducting an interview with CBS, an elderly woman found her lost dog buried under the rubble. “I never lost consciousness,” says Barbara Garcia. “and I hollered for my little dog…and he didn’t answer, and he didn’t come. So I know he’s in here somewhere.” About a minute later, the reporter notices the dog just a few feet from where they are conducting the interview. Truly incredible.