Modern Media Mom » internet

Headlines for April 26th, 2010

[modern media mom] — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:00:28 +0000

High Court to Hear Videogame Case – WSJ.com – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide the constitutionality of a California law that seeks to ban the sale of violent videogames to minors. Two lower courts struck down the law as an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech. California appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that lawmakers should be able to restrict sales of violent videogames to those under 18 just as they can restrict the sale of sexual material to minors. The high court said in a one-line order that it will hear the state's appeal.
South Korean Official’s iPad Causes a Stir – Digits – WSJ – "South Korea’s culture minister, Yu In-chon, strode into a government briefing room Monday for what seemed to be a routine photo-op as his ministry announced a $50 million program to help develop the country’s budding electronic-books industry. But trouble came when Mr. Yu pulled out an Apple iPad, held it up and remarked about how nicely it displays electronic books. The problem is, South Korea’s communications regulators haven’t approved the device for wireless networking in the country."
Sony Announces the Death of the Floppy Disk | Wired.com – "Fully 12 years after the original G3 iMac dropped support for the 3.5-inch floppy disk, Sony has finally decided to stop making them. The reason is a lack of demand. The surprise is that it took so long."
Shopper network blippy fails at credit card security – The Inquirer – "IT'S BEEN a bad few days at the offices of the social shopping network Blippy, with ignorance of how its own security worked resulting in credit card numbers of some members being freely available on Google for three months. The incident is particularly serious as the whole model behind Blippy, created by web entrepreneur Philip Kaplan, is for people to share their credit card purchases with a network of friends and strangers. It might sound strange, but people use this service to locate each other and ‘like’ what each other are buying, Facebook style."
Gizmodo faces visit from cops over ‘found’ iPhone • The Register – "A tech blog that paid five grand to the finder of a prototype iPhone is under police investigation, as it seems buying found property is against the law."
How to Restore Your Privacy on Facebook – Gawker – "Since posting about Facebook's latest privacy rollback, we've received emails asking how users can protect themselves, and for clarification about what happened. Here, then, is a quick guide to locking down the new Facebook."

Headlines for April 22nd, 2010

[modern media mom] — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:00:15 +0000

Dell Lightning, Smoke, Thunder Phones Leak; Tablet, Too – It appears most of Dell's gadget roadmap leaked out Wednesday, as Engadget obtained details of many of the electronics maker's upcoming products.

The blog provided details of four products: the Looking Glass tablet, as well as the Smoke, Thunder, and Lightning phones.
Hulu rumors: $9.95 subscription, but with expanded ads – Hulu's upcoming subscription service has been rumored for so long, it's almost hard to imagine it becoming reality. That may, however, happen as soon as May 24, when the company reportedly plans to begin testing the service.
First HD Images Of The Sun Captured — InformationWeek – NASA's recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory is returning the first, ultra-high resolution images of solar gases and other materials emanating from the sun.
How Facebook Could Organize The Internet -The Atlantic – The idea for such a reorganization has been around for a long time. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, years ago envisioned the next stage in the web's evolution, calling it the Semantic Web. It would, he wrote, "bring structure to the meaningful content of Web pages," enabling computers to understand that content and how it relates to other sites and information across the internet. Change has been slow because standards are hard to set and enforce, but Facebook's scale could accelerate the transformation.
PlayStation 3 to Stream Pro Baseball Live – PCWorld – Mark your calendars baseball buffs, because Sony's bringing Major League Baseball to the PlayStation 3 and you'll be able to sign up for the service by the end of this week. According to the New York Times, Sony and Major League Baseball are joining hands to offer out-of-market baseball games live over the Internet courtesy the PS3. The move comes just a few months after rumors that rival Microsoft was courting ESPN to stream live sporting events on the Xbox 360.

Headlines for April 20th, 2010

[modern media mom] — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:00:39 +0000

Study: Teens prefer texting to talking | Digital Media – CNET News – One third of teens in the U.S. text more than 100 times a day, according to a study released Tuesday by Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Based on a survey and focus groups conducted with teenagers between 12 and 17, Pew found that text messaging is by far the most common way that kids communicate with each other, more than chatting on the phone, e-mailing, using social-networking sites, or talking face to face.
Ford first to seamlessly integrate Pandora into a car stereo – Pandora Internet radio has just about taken over our musical lives, and now Ford has figured out the best way yet to integrate it into a car. Starting with the 2011 Ford Fiesta, if you have an Android or BlackBerry smartphone, you can tightly integrate the beloved Internet music service into your car’s stereo system.
Google Gaia Hack Shows Cloud Isn’t Safe After All – Google’s single sign-on system, formerly called Gaia, was the access point for the Chinese cyber attack that exposed the Gmail accounts of human rights activists.
This password system controls access to Google Apps for millions of users. A user clicked on a link sent to his instant messaging client and was connected to a “poisoned” Web site, permitting intruders to gain access to his (or her) personal computer and then to the computers Google programmers.
Thieves Take Man’s Finger With His IPad – Police were searching for two robbers who nabbed a man’s brand new iPad and part of his pinky finger along with it, KMGH-TV in Denver reported.
The theft occurred last Thursday, just outside the Apple store at the Cherry Creek Mall.
Bill Jordan, 59, was walking out of the store with his new purchase when two men jumped out from behind him and grabbed the bag with the iPad, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
The men struggled, tugging the Apple bag back and forth, when Jordan’s left pinky finger became entangled inside the drawstring of the bag.
One thief yanked the bag one last time and also pulled the flesh off the bone on the man’s pinky finger, Jackson said.
Google Scolded By Privacy Officials — InformationWeek – Data protection officials from ten countries on Tuesday chastised Google CEO Eric Schmidt in an open letter for his company’s handling of the launch of Google Buzz and asked the company to commit to building greater privacy protections into its future services.
Apple gets iPhone back, and yes, it’s real – Wireless- msnbc.com – The editor of gadgets Web site Gizmodo said that the site paid $5,000 for the iPhone believed to be the new device Apple will release in a few months, and that Apple Monday asked for the phone back and received it.

Headlines for January 15th, 2010

[modern media mom] — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:00:03 +0000

Google and Microsoft dig deep for Haiti earthquake appeal – "The tech industry's major players have responded quickly to the crisis in earthquake-stricken Haiti, pledging millions of dollars in aid and services."
Nexus One Price Drops for Some T-Mobile Upgrades – "Google and T-Mobile have changed the Nexus One pricing policy, slashing $100 off the price of the handset for certain existing customers, T-Mobile has confirmed. Eligible upgraders should now be able to get the Nexus One for $279 instead of $379, and Google will give refunds to those who paid the old price."
Skype tells the fcc to require net neutrality – "VOICE OVER IP AND CHAT OUTFIT Skype has been pressing its case in favour of net neutrality to the US Federal Communications Commision (FCC).
Skype, which is based on its own proprietary technology, depends on net neutrality to survive. If the telcos and some ISPs get their way, Skype punters will probably be identified as filesharers and get throttled to within an inch of their lives."
Kodak sues Apple and RIM over iPhone and Blackberry – "Camera maker Kodak has said it will sue Apple and Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of the iPhone and Blackberry, over technology used in their handsets."
Microsoft admits Explorer used in Google China hack – "Microsoft has admitted that its Internet Explorer was a weak link in the recent attacks on Google's systems that originated in China."

Headlines for December 18th, 2009

[modern media mom] — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:00:42 +0000

RIM Wants Cheaper BlackBerry Plans, More Love – "With Verizon's aggressive Droid ad campaign, RIM may not be feeling the love any more.
After all, Verizon pretty much submarined the BlackBerry Storm 2 launch in favor of a pair of Android phones – perhaps as payback for the dog's breakfast that was the BlackBerry Storm 1."
Design Company Bing Sues Microsoft Over Trademark – "A small Missouri company with the word "Bing" in its name has sued Microsoft for branding its search engine with the same word, alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition by the software giant."
Privacy Groups Call on FTC to Investigate Facebook – "Privacy is one of the top concerns for millions of Americans who go online each day. A very large percentage of the millions of Americans who go online end up using social networking site Facebook to keep in touch with friends and coworkers."
Google in talks to buy Yelp – Google is in talks to acquire Yelp Inc, an Internet local search and review provider, according to published reports.
Windows Mobile on Life Support, Drops Behind iPhone – "The iPhone has leapfrogged Windows Mobile to jump into the number two position for smartphone platforms in the United States. That news could be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back for the floundering Windows Mobile operating system."

Headlines for December 16th, 2009

[modern media mom] — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:00:14 +0000

Google Doodle poisoned by scareware slingers – "Scareware slingers have begun hiding links to rogue anti-virus sites behind Google Doodle.
The development leaves surfers who click on Google's picture of the day at risk of being exposed to sites that run fake security scans, before strong-arming users into buying worthless software in order to clean-up non-existent security risks"
Apple seen in ‘pole position’ to control mobile Internet computing – "The platform of the iPhone, iPod touch and iTunes has seen the fastest rate of adoption of any new technology in history, a new study has concluded."
Teen runs up dad’s cell bill to nearly $22,000 – "A 13-year-old teen was probably in hot water with his father after running up a cell phone bill of nearly $22,000. Ted Estarija said he was expecting his bill to be higher this month after adding his son to his plan, but wasn't expecting a bill of $21,917 in data usage charges. The Hayward man said his Verizon Wireless bill soared after his son apparently downloaded about 1.4 million kilobytes of data last month."
Twitter’s Top Trending Topics of 2009 – "Did you know that Twitter users are a bunch of Super Bowl cheering, American Idol watching, Google Wave using music lovers? That's according to Twitter's top trending topics list for 2009, anyway. Twitter recently released the list, which details the topics that people were talking about this year, in messages of 140 characters or less, of course."
McDonalds to Offer Free Wi-Fi in 2010 – "In January of 2010, the 11,000 McDonald's restaurants in the United States and some in Canada with Wi-Fi service (another 3,000 locations don't have it) will stop charging customers to get access to the Internet using wireless devices. What used to cost $2.95 for two hours will now come free."
Microsoft Releases Bing App for iPhone – "If you've been clamoring for a Bing app for iPhone, you've now got your wish. An official Bing app has been approved in the Apple App Store and can be downloaded now. Microsoft had previously released a decently performing Bing app for Windows Mobile, but no other mobile platforms."
2nd UPDATE: US FTC Sues Intel Alleging Anticompetitive Conduct – "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued Intel Corp. (INTC) on Wednesday, alleging the chip maker engaged in a decade-long campaign to stifle competition and strengthen its dominant position in the microchip market.
The FTC alleged that Intel coerced the world's largest computer manufacturers, including Dell Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), not to buy rival computer chips."

Headlines for December 9th, 2009 through December 10th, 2009

[modern media mom] — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:00:21 +0000

Feds Go Global To Fight Cybercrime Overseas" – Concerned about the rise in this type of sophisticated computer attack from abroad, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service are beefing up their international cybercrime enforcement, sending agents who specialize in the threats overseas to specifically deal with digital perils."
Study: You’ll wolf down 34GB of data today – "A study released Wednesday from the University of California, San Diego, reports that the average American consumes a whopping 34GB of data and 100,000 words of information per day."
Amazon Disc+ on Demand: Buy a DVD, watch it instantly – "With Amazon’s Disc+ on Demand, when you buy a DVD or Blu-ray movie, you will be able to stream it instantly via Amazon On Demand. Pretty awesome huh?"
Facebook’s New Privacy Settings: 5 Things You Should Know – "The new settings are supposed to make it easier and simpler to control your information, but the changes are drawing a mix of criticism and praise from privacy watchdogs such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)."
AT&T’s Data Crackdown: I’m Calling a Bluff – "AT&T is huffing and puffing about limiting the data consumption of smartphone users and educating them on the meaning of a megabyte. Yet we know nothing about the carrier's actual plans."
Magazine Publishers Take On The Internet – "Some of the nation's largest magazine publishers have joined forces to launch a digital initiative they hope will restore their appeal—and profits—in the Internet age.
Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp, and Time Inc. said they plan to jointly develop a common software standard that will be used as the basis for delivering highly interactive versions of their products to a range of digital devices, such as e-readers, smartphones and laptops."

Headlines for December 3rd, 2009

[modern media mom] — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:00:32 +0000

Google Earth explores climate risks to California – "Google Inc. launched a new feature in its Google Earth Web site Wednesday designed to let Californians see the risks of climate change."
Google allows publishers to limit free content – "Google Inc. is allowing publishers of paid content to limit the number of free news articles accessed by people using its Internet search engine, a concession to an increasingly disgruntled media industry."
Obama science advisers grilled over hacked e-mails – "House Republicans pointed to controversial e-mails leaked from climate scientists and said it was evidence of corruption. Top administration scientists looking at the same thing found no such sign, saying it doesn't change the fact that the world is warming."
Apple predicted to offer 300,000 iPhone apps, tablet in 2010 – "Research firm IDC believes the iPhone App Store will reach the 300,000 landmark in 2010, and more than 1 billion total mobile devices will access the Internet. The company has also offered its predictions on the Apple tablet."
Twitter, Amiando, Obopay, And Playfish Are Named Technology Pioneers By The World Economic Forum – "Every year the World Economic Forum picks a couple dozen or so up-and-coming technology startups from around the world and dubs them Technology Pioneers. In the past, Technology Pioneers have included Google and Mozilla. Last year, Mint, Etsy, and Brightcove joined the club."
It’s Google Friend Connect vs. Facebook Connect – "Just hours after Yahoo announced a planned implementation of Facebook Connect on its network of sites, Google announced that you can now use your Twitter credentials to register on Google Friend Connect sites. Friend Connect and Facebook Connect are both a means to quickly register for a site or service that requires a login, and it's likely no coincidence they announced competing deals on the same day. This could end up being a hard fought battle, because there's one major reason one-stop online identity is becoming important as we enter 2010, and that reason is paywalls."
AT&T and Verizon agree to dismiss ad campaign lawsuits – "After AT&T agreed to drop a suit against Verizon for its "There's a map for that" ad campaign yesterday, Verizon also dropped a suit, filed in July, against AT&T's "more bars in more places" campaign, the Associated Press reports."

Headlines for November 25th, 2009

[modern media mom] — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:03:08 +0000

AT&T and Verizon ads duel on airwaves and in court – "What would the holidays be without bickering between siblings? AT&T and Verizon are swamping TV with ads attacking facets of each other's wireless networks. While the ads stick fairly close to the truth, there's a lot they don't say."
FCC chairman: Broadband access should be universal – "Making broadband Internet access universally available is this century's version of building highways or extending railroads coast-to-coast, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday."
Man marries video game character – "As you begin to contemplate your Thanksgiving meal, your family gathered around you, your loved ones embracing you, please be thankful you are not Sal9000.
Sal appears to be a man with very idiosyncratic needs, which he has attempted to satiate by marrying his favorite video game character."
Apple’s iPhone to be sold by largest U.K. retailer, Tesco – "Tesco, the largest chain of stores in the U.K., announced Wednesday it will soon sell Apple's iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS for use through the O2 network.
Tesco Mobile, the retailer's mobile virtual network operator, will "shortly introduce" the iPhone at Tesco Phone Shops in the U.K. The handset will also be available online through Tesco Direct."
Google Tweaks Apps For iPhone, Android – "It was in April that Google had announced the new versions of Gmail App for the iPhone and Android based devices. Seven months down the lane, Google has made subtle changes to a host of its Mobile Apps that should enhance the overall user experience
."
Major Magazine Publishers Coming to iPhone, BlackBerry – "Rival publishers including Time, Condé Nast and Hearst are expected to team-up to offer a range of best-selling high-profile magazines on the iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile platforms."

Headlines for November 18th, 2009

[modern media mom] — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:00:33 +0000

Feds Mull Rules, Fees to Spur Net Access – "Federal regulators are considering whether the government should take greater control of the Internet and ask consumers to pay higher phone charges in order to provide all Americans with cheaper access to broadband Internet service."
Microsoft Bing Investments Starting to Pay Off In Market Share Gains – "Microsoft's Bing search engine continues to make incremental gains in search share, with new numbers bringing Bing's share closer to double digits."
Word of The Year: Should It Be Unfriend Or Defriend? – "But the decision by the dictionary sparked some debate on Facebook as well as other social networks, such as Twitter, as to whether or not the word of 2009 should be "defriend."
Reactions on Twitter were mixed, ranging from the benign to the more impassioned."
How Microsoft Blew It With Windows Mobile – "Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the PC market with a 90 percent market-share stronghold, but when it comes to smartphones, Microsoft is getting beat up worse than a mustachioed villain in a Jackie Chan movie.
Windows Mobile has lost nearly a third of its smartphone market share since 2008, research firm Gartner reports. Windows Mobile had 11 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2008, according to Gartner, and last quarter Windows Mobile’s market share plummeted to 7.9 percent."
Casio Unveils ‘Toughest’ Digital Camera – "Casio introduced Wednesday what it is calling "the world's toughest camera" in the Exilim G EX-G1.
The digital camera was said to have been developed with "endurance engineering as its cornerstone."
Casio’s Exilim G EX-G1 ($300 suggested retail) is said to be the world’s toughest camera.
Casio’s Exilim G EX-G1 ($300 suggested retail) is said to be the world’s toughest camera.

The EX-G1, which will ship in December at $300 suggested retail, is the first in the company's new Exilim G camera line and features a 0.78-inch (19.9-mm) slim-line, low-profile, stainless-steel frame design."
Google to pop Chrome OS cherry tomorrow? – "Google plans to steal some attention away from Microsoft’s annual developer shindig by unveiling more details about its Chrome OS tomorrow."