When it comes to the highly competitive world of web hosting, innovation is often a necessity to maintaining the edge. To that end, Rackspace is relaunching its e-mail exchange hosting and application reseller partner program to add tools, training, more program features and structure. The announcement follows updates for Rackspace's managed services and Rackspace Cloud programs to increase the company's presence.

Additionally Rackspace is offering new white-labeled collateral that partners can brand and use for their own marketing campaigns. Resellers automatically have access to monthly sales force training, educational Webinars and materials, and support.

The company, which was described by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2009, has in the past six months introduced several new offerings such as Email Archiving and hosted Microsoft SharePoint, and the company expects to soon add Rackspace Cloud Drive and Server Backup.

Facebook has been working on a location-based service for close to a year, but held off on an announcement until it was completely ready for mainstream adoption, fearing potential privacy concerns.

However, it looks like the time for letting the masses know has finally arrived. The new feature will not only let users share their whereabouts with friends, but also give third-party developers tools to create location-based apps for users.

The hot word is that Facebook mobile users will really benefit from the service addition, with the potential for Facebook software to replace the need for multiple location-based services.

Dozens of smartphone models have come along in recent months attempting to take a stab at Apple's dominance with features such as touchscreen capability, big library of apps, music playing, and zippy performance but electronics giant Sony has come up with a slightly different approach.

Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it is indeed developing a new smartphone capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games to counter the popularity of Apple's iPhone and curtail the rival's push into the portable-gaming market.

The company said its new PlayStation handset will work with Sony's forthcoming online media platform, the company's answer to iTunes, which it plans to launch in the U.S. later this month.

This new smartphone is expected to hit store shelves later this year, but details such as price and certain specifications have yet to be finalized.

The benefits of mobile technology are apparent in nearly all facets of society and if Software Advice's Chris Thorman's prediction proves correct, it could very well change the way real estate transactions are done as well.

Through the combination of geo-fencing, mobile phones and GPS technology, real estate and property management companies capitalize on business that may otherwise slip through the cracks. Imagine if a potential property buyer simply created an alert based on square footage, number of bedrooms, pet friendliness, special amenities, and zip code, to name just a few of the myriad of options available. All they would have to do is carry their phone with them to receive notifications that match their criteria.

While we don't suspect this unique use of mobile marketing will be installed in every real estate and property management office tomorrow, the technology all exists right now to make this happen.

To read more, check out his post on the subject by clicking here.

While we like to think that most smart phone users are involved in checking stock quotes, putting together Powerpoint presentations, and exchanging emails with the "higher ups", a new study concludes that mobile users are doing a whole lot socializing!

comScore, Inc., a company that measures activity in the digital world, released the results to its study on social networking access via mobile browsers.

The study found that 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, up 8.3 points from 22.5 percent one year ago. Access to Facebook via mobile browser grew 112 percent in the past year, while Twitter experienced a 347-percent jump!

In January 2010, 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser. MySpace attracted 11.4 million users (approximately half that of Facebook) while Twitter attracted 4.7 million mobile users in January.

Even more unbelievable is that these figures do not include access of the social networking services by the nearly 6 million mobile phone owners who do so through mobile applications.