Akismet (an anti spam service from Automattic) has just released another update to their plugin which is mostly composed of bug and cosmetic fixes.

However the team is hinting at an future update for WordPress fans that has been long overdue by approximately 3 years.

The Akismet plugin for WordPress isn’t the only thing we’ve been working on recently. We have a treat for Akismet users that will go live next week.

What is it you ask? I’ll give you a hint. It is an update to a feature that has stayed more or less the same since late 2008. I think you’ll really like it. Now, no more hints, you’ll just have to wait until next week when it goes live :-) (Official Akismet Blog)

So what is Akismet releasing next week? While this author would love for the team to release an auto update feature for their plugin (similar to VaultPress), they probably have something else in mind for WordPress lovers everywhere.

The team unfortunately is being tight lipped about the update, although if any one has knowledge about what they think Akismet will unveil next week, feel free to share with the rest of us in the comment section below.

News has begun to surface that Social Media darling Twitter may soon be packing up their San Francisco offices and heading to the old Walmart headquarters in Brisbane, California.

The San Francisco Business Times has revealed that the 200,000 square feet of space offered by the old Walmart headquarters would allow Twitter to more easily expand their operations, while left over land could be used for future expansion.

Expansion concerns is a big issue facing Twitter after they nearly tripled their working staff over the last 12 months, now sitting at nearly 350 employees.

Company spokesperson Carolyn Penner explained why the company was looking to leave the city they grew up in:

“Based on our current growth trajectory, we can’t stay on the two floors that we currently have,” while adding “So, at some point we’re going to have to look at other options.”

San Francisco city officials don’t want to see the company move and it looks like Twitter may receive some nice tax incentives and other perks to stay.

read more

When social buying website Groupon turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, it was a shock to many industry insiders who thought the offer was generous, but now The New York Times’ DealBook blog is reporting that the company is ready to “push ahead with plans for an initial public offering, a debut that could value the company at $15 billion or more.”

The announcement of a potential IPO comes just one week after we reported that the company raised $950 million in venture capital from various firms and expanded their reach from one to 35 countries with 500 new markets in 2010 alone, while increasing site use by 2,500% and bringing in more than 60,000 unique businesses to their marketing fold.

With talks of a “company bubble” surrounding some analysts thoughts, DealBook is reporting that Groupon is trying to raise their IPO when the goings good: read more

It’s official, News Corp., the parent company to Myspace has announced that they will attempt to sell off the one-time social media darling sometime in the next year.

It was predicted that a sale may be imminent when yesterday Myspace announced that 47% of their global work staff (approx. 500 employees) had been laid off.

Myspace CEO Mike Jones has announced that the company will attempt to sell the failing company before it’s too late to salvage.

If a sale doesn’t occur, Myspace’s Rosabel Tao tells Bloomberg:

“News Corp. is assessing a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger and a spinout [sic]. The process has just started.”

The sale has become a more crucial strategy for News Corp. who has been forced to sign a new search revenue deal with Google that offers no guaranteed revenue from searches. Previously MySpace was guaranteed $900 million in search revenue. read more

It was only a matter of time before some of the big wig ad execs on Madison Avenue began to realize that the future of Social Media could give them the outlet they need to stay relevant, that’s what happened this week with social media firm Big Fuel announcing that founder Avi Savar would hand over the reigns of his company to a new CEO, Jon Bond.

Bond is a founder of Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners and he has come on board so Savar can focus more of his time on growing the agency, while driving the company’s creative vision.

The announcement of Bond as CEO comes at the same time as an announcement that Big Fuel will now handle all of General Motors’ social media marketing, adding to their client list that already includes Colgate-Palmolive, Budweiser, Fisher-Price and McDonald’s among others.

Bond is no stranger to the world of marketing at KB (which he left in early 2010) he worked with clients that include BMW, Target, Delta and Wendy’s. He left his founding company after MDC Partners bought a controlling interest in the firm last year.

Adding to speculation that the company is ready to branch out quickly, they have garnered the services of The Jordan Edminston Group who will help them enter new markets both domestically and abroad. read more

It looks like PadPressed will be facing some competition as one of their rivals is not only embracing the iPad, but offering WordPress bloggers a less expensive price.

WPtouch Pro^TM has gained worldwide attention providing unique, rich and beautiful mobile experiences for website visitors on touch-based smart phones.

With WPtouch Pro 2.1, that great experience has been redefined and brought to the iPad^TM, with a user-interface tailored for the iPad experience. [...]

Since WPtouch Pro on iPad is a part of WPtouch Pro 2.1 (starting at only $39), you get incredible value, great features, product support & future upgrades— all at an extremely competitive, affordable price. (Official BraveNewCode Blog) read more

How’s this for leveraging Twitter for financial gains, rapper 50 Cent this week turned his 30 million shares of a penny stock into $8.7 million by urging his 3.8 million Twitter followers to invest in the company.

The company, known as H&H sells TV Goods and currently carries Sleek By 50, 50 Cents own brand of sunglasses which have also earned him equity in the organization.

Through Fifty’s urging the company’s stock jumped from 10 cents to 39 cents on Monday, closing at 41 cents on Tuesday.

According to the New York Post:

50 Cent “received 30 million shares of H&H in a private placement last October, including a series of warrants granting him the opportunity to cash in as the stock rises: at 15 cents, 25 cents or — no kidding — 50 cents.”

The superstar rapper Tweeted, then later removed the following Tweet:

“HNHI is the stock symbol for TVG, Sleek by 50 is one of the 15 products this year. If you get in technically I work for you. BIG MONEY.” read more

After redesigning their profile pages in an attempt to reinvent themselves, Myspace has just announced that they are laying almost half of their workforce.

Today Myspace is implementing a significant organizational restructuring that will result in a 47 percent staff reduction across all divisions globally and impact about 500 employees.  With our recent relaunch as an entertainment destination for Gen Y, we introduced a much tighter focus, a significantly streamlined product and an updated technology platform.

In international, Myspace, Inc. will be entering into strategic local partnerships in the UK, Germany and Australia to manage advertising sales and content. (paidContent) read more

Gotta love the team at Groupon, first they turn down multi-billion dollar offers, including one buyout attempt of more than $6 billion from Google, then they title their press release “Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars.”

The $950 million dollar payday comes from a huge list of backers. According to ReadWriteWeb those backers include:

“Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor.”

read more

As a blogger you can bet your cotton socks you read a variety of blogs. Yep, you read all the ones at the top of their niche, you read all the ones near the top of their niche and you read some smaller ones that you found on Twitter and were charmed by them. As a blogger you read a lot.

You always know when you are reading something original though. Always. It’s the post that makes you go “oooh” and makes you think for that moment or two longer than usual. It’s the post that makes you feel special, it makes you feel as if it was wrote just for you. So how do you feel about reading content that other people have wrote about elsewhere?  If you follow say Chris Brogan’s blog, how do you feel about reading someone else’s take on what he wrote about? Don’t get me wrong here, I am not saying it’s wrong to riff off of other bloggers. Far from it. What I am saying is it’s wrong when you are not adding any value, anything unique or anything extraordinary.

If you do this, stop it right now. Your readers will know. They read all the top level blogs, and whilst it’s not outright copying it is bland, boring and mediocre. It’s not the original, it’s something lesser than the original. read more