rankings

New third-party data suggests that changes made to Apple's App Store ranking algorithm last week were based not on how often users run applications, but how they are categorized within the directory itself.

That claim comes from Fiksu, a company that provides a "mobile app user acquisition platform," giving developers a way to gain visibility on Apple's App Store and the Android Marketplace. According to the company's data, which includes individual app rankings from the past year, Apple made a change just after midnight on April 14 to weigh some application categories more heavily than … Read more

Reports surfaced earlier today claim that Apple has changed its ranking algorithms for the App Store, shifting how applications make it to the top of the heap where they are more likely to pick up sales due to the extra visibility.

The change, which was picked up on by third-party analytics providers like Flurry last week and passed on to blog Inside Mobile Apps, is said to add other factors to an application's placement in the top sections of the App Store, besides raw download numbers alone.

Citing several applications that made dramatic jumps without a major update--including Facebook, … Read more

In a decidedly different outcome from recent Consumer Reports findings regarding Apple products, the iPad 2 has topped the Consumer Reports charts for tablet computer devices, handily defeating all the new iPad competitors.

Despite a wide array of highly touted and heavily marketed iPad rivals, including Motorola's Xoom and others from Samsung, Archos, Dell, and HP, Apple reigns supreme in the Consumer Reports rankings. Citing quality and (perhaps surprisingly for Apple) price, the independent nonprofit magazine gives iPad 2 top marks. The magazine said in a statement today:

Google recently updated its algorithm to take down Web sites that use SEO to game search results and up their ranking, but spam still dominates results. Search for something like "how to lose weight" and a flurry of content farms will appear.

Content farms simply hire low-paid freelancers to write articles about every topic in existence, allowing their Web sites to rank high in Google search results. The result? Unqualified, haphazardly written posts that can bury more reputable sources and delay the time it takes to get the answers you're looking for.

In response to these content farms, you can now permanently block Web sites from search results. Make use of this tip (in the video below)--Google is likely noting users' blocks to identify Web sites it should manually lower the ranking of.

… Read more

In its latest Guide to Greener Electronics, released today, Greenpeace points to some significant changes among computer makers in keeping it clean.

Apple's ranking, for example, has dropped, from fifth place to ninth. More than a year ago, Apple was ranked the highest among computer makers, being the company that used the fewest toxic substances in making its products.

Apple's drop in the ratings, however, doesn't mean the company has been lacking in staying clean and green; but more because it didn't provide the public enough information about its future toxic chemical phase-out plans and the … Read more

An important aspect of search engine optimization is figuring out what words people are likely to type into a search engine to try to find your Web site, and to then make sure that your Web site contains those words. CuteRank Free Edition is an easy way to see how your keywords are performing in the top search engines. Although the program won't show you which keywords people are actually using to get to your site, it will tell you how effective your chosen keywords are.

Using CuteRank is simple: just enter your Web site's address and then … Read more

Search engine optimization tools help Web site administrators attract visitors through a high ranking on major search engines like Google and Bing. Link-Assistant's SEO SpyGlass Enterprise is a powerful backlink checker that analyzes top-ranked sites to learn what makes them successful; in effect, the program legitimately "spies" on sites to copy their methods and uncover the high-quality links that drive keyword searches to their sites. The program uses that and other data to create a highly focused Web site optimization strategy in 30 minutes or less, claiming to save time over doing it all manually, step-by-step, as … Read more

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday that Los Angeles has more Energy Star-rated buildings than any other city in the U.S.

The news came as part of the EPA's release of a report ranking the top 25 U.S. cities by the number of Energy Star-labeled buildings within its borders. (PDF)

Los Angeles, notorious for its smog problem, remains in first place since last year with 293 Energy Star-labeled buildings, followed by Washington, D.C. (204), San Francisco (173), Denver (136), Chicago (134), Houston (133), Lakeland, Fla. (120), Dallas-Fort Worth (113), Atlanta (102), and New York (90).… Read more

If you've ever done a real-time search on Twitter or Google News, you might have noticed that it takes some work to get to the details of a developing story or topic at large. Beyond headlines and short summaries, there can be chunks of information that don't surface without a full read. Factery Labs, which in November launched an API for pulling out such facts from all over the Web, has a new product that's trying to change that.

The new tool, which the company is calling a "real-time fact engine" gives users several tabs … Read more