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HTML5 developers appMobi want to bring the definitive jQuery framework to mobile developers. Dubbed jQ.Mobi, appMobi is releasing the new HTML5 framework to the open source community today, promising that it is faster and more lightweight than existing options and will give mobile Web developers the user interface and programming functions they have been looking for.

French Internet research company Miratech has published research on how users interact with media presented in a physical newspaper versus an iPad. Miratech used eye-tracking technology to determine how users approached each medium and tested their memories to see if there was a difference in information retention.

Newspaper readers finished articles slightly quicker than iPad readers, who were more likely to skim content than to read it fully. Newspaper readers also had better retention, with 90% remembering what they read on paper compared to 70% of users of the iPad. See some of their videos after the jump.

Google just launched a revamped interface for Gmail and a major upgrade to the Gmail Contacts application. The updated Gmail interface now features three separate links for Mail, Contacts and Tasks at the top of the left sidebar, while the "compose mail" and "add contact" buttons have moved underneath these links. The Gmail Contacts application, which is the focal point of today's update, now offers users the ability to sort contacts by last name and to create custom labels for phone numbers and other fields that turn the application into a lightweight CRM solution.

Bing now knows a lot more about cars and will also give a select group of users the option to compare the performance of different sports teams. Microsoft just announced these updates at the Search Engine Strategies event in New York. The new comparison answers for sports will be rolled out to only about 5% of Bing's users at first. In addition, Microsoft will also begin to roll out some minor design changes to a small group of users today that will better highlight Bing's assets like weather and travel search.

FriendFeed opened up a new beta today that introduces a completely revamped real-time user interface, as well as a number of interesting new features, including direct messages, the ability to share posts more selectively, better searches and filters, as well as a number of other smaller changes that make the new user interface very different from its predecessor.

FriendFeed has regularly made changes to its UI, but this new design is clearly the biggest change yet.

When Facebook updated its users' homepages last week, we already wondered how users would react to these changes. After all, when Facebook introduced the news feed in 2006, its users were anything but happy about this change. Now, a new application is quickly spreading on Facebook that allows users to vote on the new design. This application is not endorsed by Facebook, but the current vote totals are quite interesting: 43,000 users liked the new layout, while almost 700,000 users said that they did not like it.

Whether you call it "social networking," "social media," or "online collaboration" depends on your point of view. In business, the term tends to be "online collaboration," which suggests complex jobs getting done more efficiently by teams of people wherever they are located. The productivity gains - which are substantial, albeit often hard to measure - have drawn lots of companies into the market. As the market matures, we will see consolidation. And we're interested in seeing what form this consolidation will take.