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Michael Phelps Has One Million Facebook FansAugust 19th, 2008 at 11:36 amSource:Mashable! Need your software tested for functionality, usability, and durability by a global supply chain of assessors? A company by the name of uTest, based in Ashland, Massachusetts, is today announcing the general availability of its network of service specialists for the software developer arena. The network is intended to offer a controlled, pseudo real-world trial of a particular application and present a quality feedback report, complete with bugs discovered and the like. It calls its worldwide list of specialists the uTester Community, and so far it is has claimed companies such as Xobni, Move Networks, GoAnimate, Synthasite, RepairPal, and others as customers. Perhaps the most outstanding benefit of uTest’s international asset base is its on-demand character, allowing customers the convenience of accessing the powers that be out in the cloud when needed. For Internet companies managing a busy release/upgrade schedule, this can naturally be a major benefit for keeping the process expedient and maintaining a level of consistency in terms of the product they ultimately deliver to users. Since its start, the network that uTest now manages has grown to become quite far-reaching, consisting of 8,300 people in over 130 countries. The company states rather proudly its recruitment of roughly 10% of the estimated global professional testing pool to its force. It makes note of the availability of a variety of skill sets among its ranks - novice to expert - to ensure that customers with budgets big and small can all exercise the services uTest provides. Also, costly, long-term contracts aren’t required. Customers can either pay for annual subscriptions to tap the uTest Community, or on demand only when necessary. The company’s pay-for-performance and pay-per-bug mantra, which spans all available payment models, keeps costs directly in line with what uTest is able to pinpoint as vulnerable and needing attention, rather than simply issuing a blanket fee irrespective of the particular job. All in all, a boon to the developer world whose numbers of users increasingly necessitate superb quality assurance, yet who’s budgets may not leave ample room for big spending on a thorough pre-launch review. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:uTest Next Steps: Facebook App Quality Assurance
Yahoo announced today that Buzz is now open to the public and anyone who wants to submit stories is free to do so. Prior to this, only a handful of publishers were allowed to post stories as Yahoo tried to get the kinks out. But now that Yahoo Buzz is officially ready for business, It’s an apropos time to discuss whether or not this site will have an impact on Digg, the de facto leader in this space. And although some would claim that Digg isn’t really a competitor to Buzz because the latter is somewhat controlled by human intervention, I think it absolutely is a competitor and one that could have a major impact on Digg’s value in prospective acquisitions. Since April, when traffic reached its peak, Digg’s numbers have been slumping. Granted, they’re not slumping too much and the site is still performing extremely well, but it is down nonetheless. And although the reason for that could be practically anything, I think Digg slowly lost its appeal when it stopped becoming a tech-savvy haven and tried to expand into areas that its tech-influenced crowd didn’t care about.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week and a half (and probably even if you have), you’ve undoubtedly heard the name Michael Phelps many, many times. The record setting swimmer from the US not only won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, but is perhaps (and waaay more importantly) the longest running “trending topic” on Twitter search. And today the 23-year-old from Baltimore has yet another accomplishment to add to his social media resume: one million Facebook fans! With a little prodding from the social network (the site has been congratulating him and directing US users towards his fan page - see below), Phelps is now second only to Barack Obama in fans, and is quickly approaching 50,000 wall posts too. Beyond the Fan Page, Phelps actually uses Facebook, and alluded to the sudden surge he was seeing in friend requests in an interview with NBC’s Bob Costas over the weekend. How long will Phelps mania last? According to Google trends (which only updated thru Sunday), news references for the athlete have finally leveled off, but given Phelps is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week and the Olympic closing ceremonies still await, expect him to swim right past Obama and become the most popular Facebook user of all-time. —Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:7 Lessons Olympians Can Teach Internet EntrepreneursDell to Dell: Hey Bro, Here’s $155 MillionPhucktard Fred Phelps Hates Tim Russert, Too.Former eGroups CEO Dies in Panamanian Plane CrashJangl Calls the Whole Thing Off; JaJah Reaps the BenefitsMediaWeek: MySpace Only Makes $17 Million YearlyPeter Gabriel Throws in More Cash to Keep We7 Rockin’
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