Consumer content

Developers who use Amazon's cloud-based Web services should now have an easier way to send out messages to their users.

A new messaging feature called Amazon Simple Notification Service will let developers with Amazon Web Services accounts push out notifications to subscribers from their cloud-based applications, the company said Wednesday. Currently in beta, Amazon SNS will offer developers a Web-based interface in which they can create different topics of interest, subscribe people to those topics, and then automatically send out messages to subscribers via e-mail, HTTP, or other means.

Developers can use Amazon SNS to update subscribers on the … Read more

Who better to show people how to handle information in the digital era than a former Google chief information officer?

Douglas Merrill, Google's CIO until leaving in 2008 to steer EMI Music's digital unit, is raising his profile again a year after leaving the record label. He's written a book that he says can help people improve their cognitive skills and he's also founded a new start-up.

Merrill is the co-author of "Getting Organized in the Google Era," a book that offers advice to people who wish to improve their memories and sharpen their … Read more

Don't worry, everyone. The Scrabble you know and love isn't changing.

When I read this morning that starting this July, the Scrabble rules will change to allow the use of proper nouns, I had to check today's date to make sure it wasn't somehow still April Fools' Day.

But no, according to every calendar I could find, today is April 6, and so the story from the BBC seemed to have been the real deal. In that story, a Mattel spokesperson is quoted as saying the rule change, which is expected to be introduced in a … Read more

The ailing Rhapsody music service that Viacom and RealNetworks failed to revive starts going it alone this month. The newly independent company will partner with a major music label this time around as well as slash monthly music prices from $15 to $10.

In February, Viacom and Real announced they would spin off the jointly run music subscription service and that they would sell a minority share while each held on to 47 percent of the company's stock. On Monday, Rhapsody said that Universal Music Group, the largest of the top four recording companies, has acquired a stake of … Read more

It's more than a little ironic that the new "Glo" Web site--a highly stylized women's lifestyle destination that MSN just debuted after midnight today in partnership with Hollywood's BermanBraun and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.--will likely be one of the online media sites that shine best on the new Apple iPad.

Even though it was conceived before the tablet was even announced and currently uses Apple-barred Adobe Flash in its headline rendering (soon to be adjusted), Glo is actually more aimed at upending the notion of what makes a good women-focused Web site.

With … Read more

Yelp's stated goal is to connect people with local businesses, but persistent concerns over the reliability of its user reviews have prompted the company to take steps to make them more transparent.

Yelp announced two major changes to its reviews in its official blog on Monday. First, the company will now let anyone see reviews that were previously hidden by its automated filter. Second, Yelp is getting rid of the "Favorite Review" option that it sold to advertisers. Both features have been the object of criticism in regards to the legitimacy of its user reviews.

The company … Read more

A video of teenagers using a brand new iPad for batting practice is white-hot on YouTube.

The video, which as of early Monday morning had more than 257,400 views, is sort of a send up of the traditional "stress tests" that reviewers sometimes do on gadgets. The teens bought the brand-new device at a Best Buy store and went out to the parking lot to film their demolition. First, they dropped the device on the cement. Then, out came the aluminum baseball bat.

"Batter up, bro," says one teen. "Give it a swing." … Read more

NEW YORK--Greg Packer's dedication to Apple is under scrutiny.

Packer may be best known to the Apple community for waiting more than 100 hours in front of Apple's Fifth Avenue store in 2007 to ensure he would be first to buy the iPhone. On Thursday evening, he was out there again. With lawn chair and duffel bag in tow, he was amid his latest marathon line-standing campaign to be first to own the iPad.

And unless the poor guy keels over from exhaustion, sometime after 9 a.m. EDT on Saturday, when iPads are due to go on sale, … Read more

Numerous big-name app developers are announcing titles for the iPad, and Apple has made its much-advertised iBooks application available in the iTunes App Store. The application will allow iPad owners to access and organize thousands of e-book titles. While it will be running on the iPhone OS, according to the system requirements it will only be available for iPad devices.

This is Apple's version of Amazon's "Kindle for iPhone" application that was released a short while ago for the iPhone and also recently announced for iPad. iBooks will include a complementary illustrated version of "Winnie … Read more