Top Stories
Google Launches Google Art
In an unusual mashup of technology and culture, Google publicly launched the Google Art Project last week. The project uses Google Street View technology to capture works of art, and gives viewers the opportunity to see art from 17 world class museums. The quality of the content is astounding; works of art are viewable at extremely high resolutions, allowing people to see details at a brush stroke level. So next time you browse the MoMA during your lunch break, thank the staff of the Google Art Project.
LinkedIn Updates Skillset
LinkedIn has been on a roll lately, launching new products left and right and filing for an IPO within the last two weeks. Now, it looks to expand its roster of capabilities with the addition of LinkedIn Skills. The product will allow users to add professional skills to their profile, as well as comb through their connections and networks to see the data on which skills are related to a particular person or company. “Key people” will even be a feature, helping serve as a way to find and poach people that are on their A game (well, as far as their skill sets go).
Kenneth Cole Fails to Understand Social
Remember last year when Habitat caught flak for using an Iranian election hashtag to spam furniture? Looks like Kenneth Cole should have taken a lesson from the unfortunate intern, as the designer label found themselves in a lot of trouble last week after usurping a hashtag (#Cairo) to promote their spring line. The tweet quickly made the rounds after it was exposed, and even inspired a fake Twitter account, Kenneth Cole Global PR.
Killer Stats
1. Online retail spending reaches a new record in Q4 of 2010.
2. Facebook is now seven years old (and has almost 600 million users).
3. Mobile marketing to increase 59% in 2011.
4. 40% of people willing to travel up to an hour for 50% discount.
5. New Webtrendz study pegs the value of a Facebook fan at roughly $1.
