First, Facebook dethroned Google as the most trafficked web site in the United States, and now the social networking community has proven to have an extremely loyal following among news readers, potentially threatening the dominant position held by Google News. So says a recent Hitwise survey. "A few weeks ago when I posted my blog entry about Facebook being the largest news reader, I received a few comments and emails noting that visitors aren't as valuable if they don't come back," said ..
In the wake of the browser choice screen in Europe, Opera Software is reporting a dramatic uptick in browser downloads. The company said more than half the European downloads of Opera 10.50 have come directly from Microsoft's choice screen since early March. Microsoft used to configure Internet Explorer as the default browser for its Windows operating system, but under pressure from the European Commission, it agreed last October to test-market measures to give Europeans an option to download ..
Cybercriminals have been busy this week running scams that target Facebook users, college basketball fans, and celebrity gossip watchers. Security experts are warning about recent attacks with nasty payloads. One widespread attack was a common ploy security researchers call the Facebook Password Reset Scam. The cybercriminals send an e-mail addressed to "user of Facebook" that reads, "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find ..
Apple is tapping into the social arena with plans to launch a social-networking application. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has filed a patent with the U.S. Patent & Trade Office describing a social-network application dubbed iGroups. The application for patent, made available on Thursday, reveals that Apple is working on an ad-hoc social network that would enable users to communicate with one another without using a central access point or mobile-device networks such as Bluetooth's ..
Microsoft released a software update Thursday that eliminates some of the hardware requirements for running Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 PCs. The goal is to make it far easier for small and midsize businesses to migrate to Windows 7 while retaining access to critical legacy applications that are unable to run on machines equipped with Microsoft's latest operating system. Windows 7 Professional users will no longer need to deploy hardware-virtualization technology in order to run their PCs in ..
Yahoo is buying a fantasy sports company co-founded by an MIT graduate whose card-counting skills helped him win millions of dollars in blackjack and spawned a film and a best-selling book. Citizen Sports offers fantasy leagues for sports such as football, soccer and basketball that fans can manage online at social-networking sites and through mobile applications for Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Google Inc.'s Android operating software. With Citizen Sports, Yahoo is looking to boost ..
With more than half its latest devices left on store shelves at the end of the third quarter, things may be getting out of hand for Palm as the manufacturer struggles to hold market share in the rapidly evolving telecom market. The company's projected fourth-quarter earnings will be about half the $300 million projected by Wall Street analysts. After Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein and CFO Doug Jeffries held a conference call with industry analysts to discuss the bad news, the company's shares fell 19 ..
With Apple's iPad scheduled to go on sale on April 3, a new report indicates there may be strong pre-order demand. This could mean the iPad is on the verge of being a breakthrough product for tablet computers. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to unnamed sources, pre-orders have totaled "hundreds of thousands of units," which could also indicate that the iPad will challenge the iPhone's phenomenal debut. However, it's not clear if these reported pre-orders are actual ..
A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday. Austin police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, on Wednesday, charging him with felony breach of computer security. Ramos-Lopez used a former colleague's password to deactivate starters and set off car horns, police said. Several car owners said they had to call tow trucks and were left stranded at work or ..
The Viacom-Google battle over YouTube's alleged copyright infringement has been going on mostly behind the scenes for years. But court documents made public this week shed some light on the unfolding drama. Viacom filed suit against Google in 2007 for allegedly allowing users to upload more than 100,000 videos clips containing copyrighted Viacom content, including parts of shows from MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. The suit, which seeks $1 billion in damages, was filed in the U.S. ..
Seattlepi.com, the online successor to the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, celebrates its first birthday Thursday with music, free cupcakes and cheap beer. For a Web-only publication that launched in the depths of the Great Recession, just sticking around 12 months may be reason enough to party. Seattlepi.com formally launched March 18, 2009, a day after the nearly 146-year-old P-I published its last edition on newsprint, leaving The Seattle Times as the city's only newspaper ..
HTC Corp., the Taiwanese cell phone maker sued by Apple for patent infringement, said Thursday it will defend itself against charges that it lifted iPhone technology. In his first public comment on the suit, HTC chief Peter Chou said the company "disagrees with Apple's actions," though he did not go into specifics. Apple says HTC's phones -- several of which use Google Inc.'s Android mobile operating software -- infringe on 20 of its patents. The patents cover technology like iPhone two-finger ..
The race to provide ultrafast broadband is on. In May, Cleveland will become a test bed for a service, spearheaded by Case Western Reserve University, that lets residents of more than 100 homes download data at about 1 gigabit per second. In February, Google said it plans an ultra-high-speed broadband network covering as many as 500,000 users. "The purpose of this project is to experiment and learn," Google said in a blog introducing the idea. "Network providers are making real progress to ..
A back-and-forth battle is brewing between Internet search giant Google and media giant Viacom. Both companies are taking aggressive legal shots against each other after Viacom filed a copyright claim against Google's YouTube service. Google has fired back, saying Viacom illegally uploaded videos to YouTube, according to documents filed with U.S. District Court in New York. In 2007, Viacom took action against YouTube, alleging the company infringed on its television network, including MTV, ..
In a possible sign of the sea change that social networking has brought to the Internet, new industry data show that U.S. visits to Facebook last week exceeded, for the first time, those to the former top site, Google. While the difference was relatively small for the week ending March 13 -- 7.07 percent of all visits for Facebook, compared to 7.03 percent for Google -- the trend could point to the growing strength of the social Internet. This compares to a year ago, when Facebook visits were ..
Mobile applications are one of the fastest-growing segments of the high-tech economy, with some analysts estimating an $11 billion industry by 2014. A report by the Yankee Group projects that U.S. consumers this year will spend $1.6 billion downloading apps that make mobile devices more fun or useful. But Americans and Canadians are paying a premium for that luxury. A study released Wednesday found that, on average, users in the U.S. and Canada pay more than five times more for apps than users ..
Amazon.com introduced a free software package Thursday that gives Mac computer users access to the online retailer's Kindle e-book store in more than 100 countries. Called Kindle for Mac, the beta e-reader completes Amazon's goal of offering consumers access to e-books and other digital content across a wide spectrum of electronic devices. Kindle books can now be read on dedicated Kindle and Kindle DX devices, BlackBerry handsets, and PCs, as well as Apple's Mac, iPhone and iPod touch, Amazon ..
Almost every worker has done it: gotten in a little Facebook updating, personal e-mailing, YouTube watching and friend calling while on the clock. Such indiscretions often went undetected by company management everywhere but the most secure and highly proprietary companies or governmental agencies. Not anymore. Firms have become sharp-eyed, keenly eared watchdogs as they try to squeeze every penny's worth of their employees' salaries and to ensure they have the most professional and ..
Nokia is the global cell-phone leader, with sales of 329 million units in 2009. Yet when it comes to feature-packed smartphones in some markets, including the U.S., analysts say Nokia is under threat from rivals Apple, Research In Motion, and Google. Case in point: Nokia's "Comes With Music" service, which adds music to the purchase price of a handset, was introduced in 2007 just as Apple's music-playing iPhone was gaining momentum. "Comes With Music" has failed to attract large numbers of ..
Even as congressional Democrats discuss an opt-out provision for national health-care reform -- a move that undercuts the basic premise of President Obama's proposal, that real efficiencies can only be created when everyone is insured -- private interests are taking aim at the administration's proposal to impose a national broadband tax. Part of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski's far-reaching broadband plan -- which calls for broadband penetration rates in excess of ..
Telegraph.co.uk Pope Benedict accused of ignoring .. - Telegraph NOT long after a portly, jovial priest in the German industrial city of Essen was accused of sexually abusing three boys in 1979, he was offered a new home in Munich by Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.
The Malaysian Insider Election For MCA Presidency Is .. - Themalaysianinside KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said the election for the MCA presidency was not a contest of personalities.
AsiaOne Singaporean girl dreams of becoming .. - Asiaone A Singaporean girl has revealed she has ambitions of becoming a millionaire within a year by asking her fellow citizens to donate 10-cents each.
Boston Globe Wal-Mart pushing store remodeling in area - Boston Wal-Mart Stores Inc. isn't planning to add any stores in Central Ohio this year, but a third of its area stores will sport updated looks and layouts by the end of 2010.
MSN Singapore SUTD holds its first student admission .. - Sg By Saifulbahri Ismail Posted: 20 March 2010 2313 hrs SINGAPORE : The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) held its first student admission exercise on Saturday.
Laredo Sun Quarter of UK kids try hacking - Laredosun Most of the hacking -- 27 percent -- was done from the children's bedrooms, but 22 percent was done in Internet cafes, 21 percent was done in the school ...
The Hindu Microsoft speeds up app development with .. - Beta Microsoft hopes that its foray into mobile phones will give it a significant share in the mobile data segment, which is estimated to grow at an annual ...
BBC News Tracking down the elusive Knysna elephants - Bbc There has not been a confirmed sighting of an elephant in the Knysna forests of South Africa for decades, after they were hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s.
Malaysia Star Common myths about suicide - Thestar Reality: People who talk about suicide are usually in a lot of emotional or physical pain and are trying to reach out for help. According to suicidologist Dr Adnan Omar, 80% of those who kill themselves give out warning signs of their suicidal ...
Cat-calling men give all men a bad name? - Yahoo Reuters - Men who harass women with cat calls and sexual comments are actually harming their whole gender, a study has found.
