Google's Video Chat Service

Google has launched its own video chat service for Android smartphones to compete with the Facetime application on the iPhone. And unlike the Apple software, the video chat update to Google Talk works over 3G as well as WiFi networks. It uses the front-mounted cameras on high-end Android handsets.

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Smartphone User Study

This video presents key findings from "The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers," a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm.

Just Add Audio

According to NPR’s internal usage data covering January 1 through mid-April, users who request audio — maybe a station stream, a national newscast, or NPR Music content — view twice as many pages as those who only read the apps’ content. Kinsey Wilson, NPR’s general manager of digital media (says) “We made a conscious decision to position our (written) news coverage prominently in our mobile applications because we wanted people to think of us as a comprehensive and up to the minute source of news, not simply a source of radio listening.”

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Measuring and Improving Accuracy in Journalism

Professional journalism is supposed to be “factual,” “accurate,” or just plain true. Is it? The last big study of mainstream reporting accuracy found errors (defined below) in 59% of 4,800 stories across 14 metro newspapers. This level of inaccuracy — where about one in every two articles contains an error — has persisted for as long as news accuracy has been studied, over seven decades now.

Read more here (a post by Jonathan Stray ( interactive technology editor for the Associated Press)

Facebook Investors Look for Exits

A group of Facebook shareholders is seeking to offload $1 billion worth of shares on the secondary market, a sale that would value the company at more than $70 billion, according to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation. It would represent one of the largest transactions of Facebook shares to date and points to a growing wariness among early-stage investors and employees who fear Facebook's growth cannot keep pace with its market valuation.

Facebook, the world's No. 1 Internet social network, earned $355 million in net income in the first nine months of 2010 on revenue of $1.2 billion.

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Big Newspaper Chains Still Hurting

Newspapers are suffering continuing declines in the first quarter, scuttling any hopes that the medium might enjoy a comeback. While industry-wide figures aren't yet available, first quarter results from major publishers, including the New York Times Co., Gannett, and McClatchy, give little reason for optimism.

Read more at Media Daily News