Archive for the 'Facebook' Category

Facebook, Google, and China

So far, 2010 has started off with a bang. Google decides to take on Apple in the ultra-smart phone market, while Apple appears on the verge of creating yet another new market for touchscreen tablet PCs. Google says "bite me" to China, after Chinese cyber-attackers target it and three dozen other tech firms. Yahoo [...]

10 years later: What will the tech world look like in 2020?

It’s kind of hard to believe the first decade of the third millennium is almost over. Seems like only yesterday we were pulling out our hair worrying about Y2K; now we worry about whether enough total strangers are following the minutiae of our lives on Twitter and Facebook.
The last ten years have been dominated [...]

Hey Facebook users, scammers have a crush on you

I’ve written a bit lately about how cyber thieves using social media to scam people. It turns out the most egregious scammers are many so-called “legitimate” companies that run deceptive ads on these networks.
TechCrunch has a fascinating series on how advertisers are using social games to trick Facebook and MySpace users into forking [...]

That Facebook friend is really a fake

More headlines today about the seething dark underbelly of the Web creeping up to slime you and your friends.
According to security company AVG, somebody pwned Facebook’s CAPTCHA anti-bot mechanism yesterday, either by cracking the code or (more likely) hiring a team of human drones for a few pennies apiece to decode the squiggly letters. They [...]

Facebook: Get your Vanity Plates here

News that Facebook will be passing out ‘vanity URLs’ this weekend has the blogosphere’s collective boxers in a bunch. Does having your ‘real’ name on your Facebook or Twitter page really matter to anyone with an actual life?

Facing the haters at Facebook

Should Facebook deny Holocaust deniers on its site? Where should the lines be drawn? It’s a question with no easy answer.

Has Twitter replaced sex?

Social media madness has overtaken everyone, from adult stars to our elected officials. Is it time to pt down our keyboards and start talking to each other again?

Meet ‘Garbo’: The anti-social network

Like many people, Randy Hallet is fed up with the Facebooking of the planet. Unlike most, he’s decided to do something about it. The 30-something Webpreneur has created what he calls “the anti-social network.”
Hallet declined to speak by phone, though he did agree to an interview via Twitter. He tweeted:
“I’m fed up with Web 2.0. [...]

Escape from the Twittering masses

I’m thinking maybe this whole social media thing has gone too far. Maybe we don’t really need to know what everyone we’ve ever encountered is doing every single moment of their lives in 140 characters or less. It’s starting to distort our collection notion of reality.
The latest sign of the coming twapocalypse?
Last week David [...]

Happy birthday, Hulu

 
Hulu, the joint video venture between NBC and Fox, turned one year old yesterday. And what a precocious rugrat it’s become.
To celebrate, Hulu announced it’s becoming more social, adding a feature called, appropriately enough, “Friends.” (No word whether Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Ross, et al will be making guest appearances, but don’t hold your breath.) This [...]

Social media? Booming. Social media advertising? Not so much.

Would you prefer the chocolate cinnamon dogshit or the raspberry swirl? In the end, it’s still dogshit.

Twit’s all, folks

When the elite tweet, you know something big has changed. Twitter has become this year’s Web 2.0 darling. Cringely wonders how long the infatuation will last.

Facebook, MySpace, and social (media) diseases

Social media is on the rise, and so are the privacy and security risks. Is it time to dial back on the whole Web 2.0 ‘friend’ thing?

Social media search: A stalker’s paradise?

Don’t look now, but you’re being watched. And now that I’ve signed up for Spokeo.com, I could be the one watching you.

Spokeo is a search engine that uses email addresses to find people across the social Web. Give the site your log-on info for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, or AOL – or just [...]

Facebook: When you care enough to show the very breast

Facebook’s ban on nursing pix is blowing up in its face — more proof that Net censorship invariably leads to trouble. Cringe has more.

Predictions 3.0: The biggest headlines of 2009

Yes, it’s time again for Cringely to go out on a limb and start sawing. Here are his key predictions for the coming year in tech.

Web of the Living Dead

Last week it was I Want Sandy. Yesterday, Pownce. Which Web 2.0 startups will disappear tomorrow? Twitter? Facebook??
Consolidation fever has gripped the valley, and that’s not good.
Last week it was IWantSandy. Yesterday, Pownce. Tomorrow, who knows? The current financial crisis is claiming a passel of Web 2.0 startups whose VC sugar daddies appear [...]

49 and a half reasons to give thanks

What do retired billionaires, supermodels, search engines, supervillains, energy drinks, whacked-out actors and fried breakfast pastries have in common? They’re some of the things I’m thankful for this year.

If I’m conscious, I’m usually complaining about something. But because it’s almost Thanksgiving I’ve decided to list some of the things I’m grateful for, in and [...]

Geek Week: Microsoft wants friends, Verizon+Google ends?

Is Verizon dumping Google? Can Microsoft compete face to face with Facebook? If we can put a man on the moon, why not Joe the Plumber? Cringely has answers to all these silly questions.

Embarrassing Photo #11: Yesterday, Spring Break; Tomorrow, Prison Break

What’s a Halloween costume cost? For college junior Joshua Lipton, it was two years of his life. In October 2006, the Bryant University student was charged with drunk driving after causing a three-car crash that left one Providence woman in critical condition. Two weeks later he showed up for a Halloween party dressed as [...]