EricMack

I would also include place-based services like FourSquare and Gowalla. Also keep in mind that different networks attract different types of users. MySpace users tend to be younger and with different interests than Facebook users, for example. This stems from the fact that MySpace was conceived as a way to …

[ATTACH=right]16373[/ATTACH]Lately there's been lots of buzz over how to keep the flood of online content coming and allow the people and companies that create it to eat, too. This led the Center for the Digital Future at USC's Annenberg School to rehash an old meme in its [URL="http://www.digitalcenter.org/pdf/2010_digital_future_final_release.pdf"]annual report[/URL] released …

[ATTACH=right]16696[/ATTACH]Facebook really dislikes that new 'dislike' button that's been popping up across the social network, and you should, too. That's because it could be a fake - a malicious little app that's actually a survey spam scam of the same ilk as that "[URL="http://www.esecurityplanet.com/headlines/article.php/3885881/Facebook-Phishing-Attack-Promises-Free-iPad.htm"]Free iPad event[/URL]" invitation you've likely received …

As goes Google, so goes the rest of the universe -- or at least that's the fear this week after the start up-turned-giant-turned-common verb reported disappointing earnings that sent the Silicon Valley stock over a digital cliff after-hours Thursday. [ATTACH=right]15859[/ATTACH]The company pulled in 1.84 billion dollars for the quarter or …

[ATTACH=right]16954[/ATTACH]What's a billionaire to do when he's not in the spotlight so much anymore and maybe getting a little, well... bored? Sue everyone that people are paying more attention to than you, that's what! Interval Licensing, the company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is suing nearly every big name …

[ATTACH=right]16975[/ATTACH]Lately, we've been feeling rather sorry for Dell's media relations people - they keep having to put out [URL="http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/secure/2010-08-26-response.aspx"]press releases[/URL] about how their employer has purchased data storage company 3Par, only to learn later that it hasn't actually happened. Dell first announced its acquisition of 3Par [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story304779.html"]a couple weeks ago[/URL], …

[ATTACH=right]16190[/ATTACH]At a time when newspapers are having a hard time convincing people to pay for online access to their news, one site is having much better luck getting people to go online and pony up some cash to give directly to journalists who use the donations to then go out …

[ATTACH=right]16650[/ATTACH]In the wake of the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story302388.html"]Wikileaks scandal[/URL], the National Guard has announced new "[URL="http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2010/08/081110-NGB.aspx"]social media guidelines[/URL]" for the nation's citizen soldiers. While a lot of the guidelines are the same sort of common sense, don't-embarrass-your-family's good name restrictions we might place on our teenagers' use of Facebook and MySpace, there's …

[ATTACH=right]16169[/ATTACH]Today on [URL="http://news.google.com"]Google News' Top Stories front page[/URL] you could find plenty of coverage of the ruling allowing the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story299633.html"]"jailbreaking" of iPhones[/URL] as well as some discussion of the soon to be released update of the Android operating system and continued skepticism about Microsoft's upcoming Phone 7. Just above most …

[ATTACH=right]16919[/ATTACH]The good people at Mozilla have read our minds, again. The latest [URL="http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/"]beta version of Firefox 4[/URL], released on Tuesday, has a new tool to help you get out from under that unruly pile of browser tabs. It's called 'Panorama,' a shortcut-accessible drag-and-drop workspace that allows you to move and …

Hey Daniheads, I'm one of the newish Staff Writers here at Daniweb, and I'm working on lining up my calendar for the fall for reporting and interviews on mobile topics. I'm going to be focusing on devices running the Android OS, but I wanted to put it to all you …

[ATTACH=right]17464[/ATTACH]The cool thing about the TechCrunch Disrupt conference is that the biggest names in technology come to mingle with some actual garage operations on a somewhat level playing field. One of the simplest but also brilliant micro-startups there this year was [URL="http://storify.com/"]Storify[/URL], founded by a former AP Bureau chief, it's …

[ATTACH=right]17430[/ATTACH]For years now, we've been promised new technologies that would merge the idea of virtual payments with actual brick and mortar retailers, but inevitably we just keep swiping those plastic cards. Meanwhile, the Japanese and others leapfrog ahead, happily waving their phones and other gadgets in front of those cool …

[ATTACH=right]17425[/ATTACH]Swedish start-up [URL="http://saplo.com"]Saplo[/URL] wants to put the entire online world into context to help slice through the deluge of irrelevant information - and they're trying to do it by shifting from syntax-based search to algorithms based on high-profile academic research that understand the semantics underlying all that overwhelming amount of …

Hey Daniheads, I'm one of the newish Staff Writers here at Daniweb, and I'm working on lining up my calendar for the fall for reporting and interviews on mobile/wireless topics. I'm going to be focusing a lot on development for the Android OS, but I wanted to put it to …

Hey Daniheads, I'm one of the newish Staff Writers here at Daniweb, and I'm working on lining up my calendar for the fall for reporting and interviews on social media topics. I wanted to put it to all you forum devotees to see if there are any particular social media …

[ATTACH=right]17013[/ATTACH]It's official - Apple says it will be [URL="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/09/01/financial/f100538D23.DTL"]offering individual TV episodes for download 'rental.'[/URL] While many are already heralding the announcement from yet another much-hyped media event in California as another nail in the coffin of old school television, Daniweb spoke to [URL="http://www.danrayburn.com/"]Dan Rayburn[/URL], a principal analyst at Frost …

[ATTACH=right]16930[/ATTACH]Just weeks after Research in Motion [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story303272.html"]installed servers in Saudi Arabia[/URL] to allow authorities there to monitor Blackberry messaging traffic and avoid being shut down in the Kingdom, an encore of the drama is playing out in India. The Indian government has [URL="http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226700187"]pledged to shut down RIM's encrypted services[/URL] in …

[ATTACH=right]16889[/ATTACH]The Apple rumor mill is in full motion this morning, folks. [URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-24/apple-said-to-be-in-talks-with-fox-for-new-99-cent-tv-show-rental-service.html"]Bloomberg News[/URL] is reporting that two of the world's most powerful cult leaders and their companies are considering a partnership to take network television programs one big step closer to breaking free from the box for good. The rumor …

[ATTACH=right]16824[/ATTACH]Not long ago we [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story306488.html"]reported how Plancast represented the future of social networking[/URL], both literally and figuratively. Over the past month, the plan broadcasting service has continued to grow, even drawing in many [URL="http://plancast.com/WASDted"]Daniweb devotees[/URL]. We tracked down one of Plancast's founders, [URL="http://twitter.com/mhendric"]Mark Hendrickson[/URL], to ask him about how the …

[ATTACH=right]16861[/ATTACH]Manufacturers of mobile devices are gearing up to fight possible legislation that would require phones, tablets and many other wireless products be built with an FM receiver. Half a dozen tech industry associations (CTIA-The Wireless Association®, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Rural Cellular Association, …

[ATTACH=right]16801[/ATTACH]The holiday shopping season has apparently come early to the tech world. First came the big and stupefying news that [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story305645.html"]Intel was purchasing security leader McAfee[/URL] for $7.68 billion earlier, and now the end of the week brings a new flurry of acquisitions from three more industry leaders. [B]Google Likes …

[ATTACH=right]16791[/ATTACH]Looking to build on the success of efforts like [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story305712.html"][I]Cosmopolitan's[/I] Sex Position of the Day app[/URL], Hearst has launched what could be the world's first "app think tank" - or at least the first anchored in the world of traditional print publishing. The "App Lab" is slated to open in …

[ATTACH=right]16750[/ATTACH]Many new iPad addicts out there have certainly had the idea: It would be so great if there were an easy way to mount that thin tablet on your car's dash to use all those apps on the go. Now, one California start-up has announced it's making the dream come …

Remember Lycos? One of the earlier leaders in search, it was sold to Spanish firm Terra for more than $12 billion ten years ago. This week [URL="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129246686&ft=1&f=1006"]it sold again[/URL] to an Indian company, for a paltry $36 million. Ouch. That got us wondering how some tech companies seem to go …

[ATTACH=left]16673[/ATTACH]We got the news in our Firefox browsers this week that a beta release of the next version of Microsoft's stodgy Internet Explorer is due out September 15th. In Redmond's classic trying-too-hard style, the launch will come at an invitation-only event in San Francisco, according to [URL="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367787,00.asp"]PC Magazine[/URL]. The invitation …

[ATTACH=right]16607[/ATTACH]Earlier this week, information and telecommunications giants Google and Verizon were nice enough to work out a deal on Net Neutrality, outlined in a "joint policy proposal" for Congress. [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story303180.html"]As we reported[/URL], one of the most controversial parts of the proposal is the suggestion that service providers should be permitted …

[ATTACH=right]16632[/ATTACH]This week, the world's most famous search and everything else company waded into a ballot battle in Google's home state of California. [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20013242-265.html"]At an event held at the company's Mountain View HQ[/URL], Google 'Green Energy Czar' [URL="http://research.google.com/pubs/author3525.html"]Bill Weihl[/URL] and a handful of other green business personalities announced their collective opposition …

[ATTACH=right]16574[/ATTACH] The DARPA geeks are [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story301376.html"]at it again[/URL]. On Friday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced it is developing what it calls an [URL="http://www.darpa.mil/news/2010/UHPCNewsRelease.pdf"]"ExtremeScale" SuperComputing system[/URL]. The project is part of what DARPA refers to as its Ubiquitous High Performance Computing (UHPC) program -- that's Pentagon speak for "badass," …

[ATTACH=right]16534[/ATTACH]Alcohol remains off limits, but it looks like Saudis will still be allowed to feed their Crackberry addiction after all. The Saudi government had said that it would begin blocking Blackberry's instant messaging services on Friday - claiming that by not being allowed to monitor messages, the popular devices and …

[ATTACH=right]16268[/ATTACH]The federal government and almost all these United States are broke, and so they're considering something we've all at least thought about from time to time: making money off the Internet. There's a fight brewing in Washington, D.C. over an attempt to collect sales tax from online purchases... yet again. …

[ATTACH=right]16482[/ATTACH][URL="http://demandmedia.com"]Demand Media[/URL], a name that isn't well-known but tends to stir existential emotions in those who do know the Santa Monica-based content farm and domain services company, confirmed some longstanding gossip and rumor on Friday when it filed for its initial public offering (IPO). Demand operates something called [URL="http://demandstudios.com"]Demand Studios[/URL], …

[ATTACH=right]16367[/ATTACH]The Federal Bureau of Investigations and Wikipedia are going head to head. The great open-source compendium of human knowledge's crime? [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation"]Displaying the FBI seal[/URL]. The bureau sent a [URL="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/20100803-wiki-LetterFromLarson.pdf"]letter to the Wikimedia Foundation[/URL] in July, asking that the seal be taken down from all Wikipedia pages within 14 days and …

[ATTACH=right]16413[/ATTACH]A former sales director with the Taiwan-based Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corporation has entered a plea-bargain in a San Francisco Federal Court related to charges of participating in a global conspiracy to fix the price of thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, according to the [URL="http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press_releases/2010/261080.htm"]Justice Department[/URL]. Under his plea agreement, …

[ATTACH=right]16392[/ATTACH]Just a day after Research in Motion gobbled up all the day's buzz with the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story301696.html"]release of its new OS version 6 and Torch Blackberry[/URL], King Crackberry has been dethroned. Smartphones running Google's Android OS were the top-seller in the US during the second quarter of 2010, accounting for a …

[ATTACH=right]16313[/ATTACH]More smartphones could soon be headed to Kandahar, Baghdad or other hotspots where U.S. Troops can use a little technological assistance - not to be able to Tweet or check for the latest news from their brigade on [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story299599.html"]Wikileaks[/URL] - but for communicating with the locals. DARPA - the Defense …

[ATTACH=right]16305[/ATTACH]No more shortcuts for hackers - that's the word from Microsoft, which plans to release a patch today that the company says will fix a security loophole. The issue is tied to the way the Windows OS handles shortcuts, or .lnk files, or as Microsoft explains it in the [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2286198.mspx"]official …

[ATTACH=right]16243[/ATTACH]Foursquare is so hung up on where we are now or where we've been... Never fear, [URL="http://plancast.com"]Plancast[/URL] is here to fill the void in the location-based future social networking space. Actually, it's much cooler than that, and it's beginning to pick up steam. As its name infers, Plancast is all …

[ATTACH=right]16222[/ATTACH]A new Facebook feature is gearing up to waste more of your time very soon. Facebook Questions has been launched in a limited beta test, naturally begging the important question, "What the Heck is Facebook Questions?" We looked to the [URL="http://blog.facebook.com/"]Facebook blog[/URL] for answers: [QUOTE]Facebook Questions helps you tap into …

[ATTACH=right]16103[/ATTACH]The past few years, there hasn't been much great news for the airlines to report in those periodical newsletters they send out to their frequent fliers -- unless you count fees for everything, fewer flights and higher fares as good news. But lately, an awful lot of airlines have been …

[ATTACH=right]16135[/ATTACH]A day after Wikileaks dropped one of the biggest leaked bombshells on the U.S. government, perhaps since the Pentagon Papers, typing wikileaks.org into a browser is likely to get you nothing more than a blank browser window. The somewhat mysterious collective site released over 91,000 secret reports related to the …

[ATTACH=right]16067[/ATTACH]As if carpal tunnel, driving while texting and the possibility that your cell phone might be seeding a tumor in your brain weren't enough, meet another new ailment of the information age -- [URL="http://text-neck.com"]Text Neck[/URL]. The phrase was coined by Florida chiropractor, exercise physiologist and entrepreneur Dean Fishman, who tells …

By now you may have seen those little mini solar-powered phone and gadget chargers for sale for about 50 bucks or so, giving you juice whenever and wherever you need it... well, so long as it's not cloudy, and there's no trees or flagpoles in your way, and you've got …

[ATTACH=right]15946[/ATTACH]Just as we were finally getting to know all the ins and outs of Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7 is getting ready to drop - ain't that just like Microsoft? According to the guys [URL="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366631,00.asp"]at PC Magazine[/URL], who recently got some hands-on time with the new platform, we've wasted …

More of us could be taking Linux with us wherever we go in the coming years - that according to a [URL="http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/Mobile_Devices_Research_Service"]pair of reports from ABI research[/URL] that predict a big chunk of both smartphones and non-smartphone mobile devices will be Linux-based by 2015. [ATTACH=right]15931[/ATTACH]"The number of Linux-oriented initiatives recently …

Gentlemen, your suspicions have been confirmed - your lady/girlfriend/wife [I]is[/I] addicted to Facebook. [ATTACH=right]15821[/ATTACH]That's the finding in a new survey of 18-to-34-year-old ladies by Oxygen Media (think Oprah). It found that over a third of the 1600 women polled - 39% to be exact - describe themselves as "addicted" to …

[ATTACH=right]15786[/ATTACH]At Microsoft's [URL="http://www.digitalwpc.com/"]Worldwide Partner Conference[/URL] in Washington, D.C. this week, the digital diplodocus will announce its lumbering movement into the cloud along with an appeal for its partners to hold hands and make the leap as well. For those partners that are still a little hesitant to make the jump, …

[ATTACH=RIGHT]15743[/ATTACH]Months after its release, with over 3 million units already sold, Apple's iPad was still eliciting excitement among consumers of all ages during a recent visit to an Apple store in West Nyack, NY. Such a high-level of consumer engagement combined with Apple's notorious reputation for tightly controlled user environments …