dan tynan on Sep 18 2012 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Facebook, ITworld, Web 2.0
Ok, I admit: The question that serves as the headline for this post seems on the surface a bit absurd, if not downright crazy. Any day now Facebook is likely to announce its 1 billionth member, giving it a population more than three times that of the United States. And it has barely scratched the [...]
dan tynan on Jun 14 2012 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Facebook
The rumor that Samsung building its own Facebook killer social network has been circulating on the InterWebs – or at least it was, until Samsung shot it down early this morning. It started with a Korea Times article published two days ago about a Samsung product called “Family Story” that was allegedly referred to within [...]
dan tynan on May 16 2012 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Facebook, Privacy
I love Facebook. I also hate it. And sometimes I’m indifferent, but not often. As the big IPO day looms closer, lots of folks are taking a second look at this thing that started out as kind of a goofy diversion for college kids and has grown into the beast with 900 million heads. For [...]
dan tynan on Mar 15 2011 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Facebook, Infoworld, Web 2.0
Don’t look now, but there’s a new social network coming. No, it’s not Google Circles, no matter what the Read Write Web blog says. And it’s coming from the people you’d least expect. 4chan. Yes, that’s right — the purveyors of the most insidious (and some of the most grotesque) memes on the InterWebs – [...]
dan tynan on Jan 03 2011 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Facebook
It seems Facebook, the social network personally endorsed by God, is now worth more than eBay, Yahoo, and Time Warner — all without selling a single share to Joe or Jane Public. The reason: Wall Street uber-bank Goldman Sachs, which just pumped another $450 million in venture capital into Facebook, leading to a valuation estimated [...]
dan tynan on Jan 01 2011 | Filed under: Facebook, Google, ITworld, TY4NS, Web 2.0, yahoo
As I write this there are but a few hours left of 2010, which I believe will be remembered as the year Facebook became the dominant force on the InterWebs, supplanting even mighty Google in its reach and depth. What will happen in 2011? Beats me. But that won’t stop me from offering up some [...]
dan tynan on Dec 29 2010 | Filed under: Apple, Cringley, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, iPhone, Microsoft, Steve Jobs
As 2010 draws to a close, that can only mean one thing: Bloggers conjuring up predictions lists so they can take a few days off around the holidays. Here in Cringeville things are much the same, but with one key difference: unlike other prognosticators, I’m totally unencumbered by facts. That tends to make my accuracy [...]
dan tynan on Dec 26 2010 | Filed under: Facebook, Google, ITworld, Twit or Tweet, TY4NS
I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve been suffering a failure to communicate — and it comes from having too many ways to do it. Tweets. Facebook updates. Emails to six different accounts. Skype chats. Google voice. Text messages. Sometimes I even manage to talk to people. But mostly the efforts of the world [...]
dan tynan on Dec 22 2010 | Filed under: Apple, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, iPhone, Microsoft, National insecurity, yahoo
It’s been quite a year. And in what has become a tradition here in Cringeville, it’s time to honor the most malicious, obnoxious, offensive, or nonsensical behavior in technology. This year’s winners include captains of industry, titans of technology, sultans of sweat, and a number of other people desperately in need of a clue. Among [...]
dan tynan on Nov 30 2010 | Filed under: Facebook, ITworld
I know, I know: Some out there will say merely using Facebook is a mistake. This blog post isn’t for you — feel free to move along to the comment forums on OldGuysWhoSmellLikeAsparagus.com. As for the rest of you, take heed. I’m using Facebook as the primary example here, but the many of the same [...]
dan tynan on Oct 04 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Culture Crash, Facebook, Infoworld, Reviews
You may have been too busy having a life this weekend to notice but, the number one movie in the nation right now is the tale of an uber-nerd. The Social Network, David Fincher’s much-hyped film about the origins of Facebook, hit theaters this weekend to rave reviews (though if you spend most of your [...]
dan tynan on Sep 20 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Gadgets, Google, Infoworld, iPhone
God I love the InterWebs. Years from now, scholars dissecting the complete disintegration of journalism in the 21st centure will look back at us and say, what the frak? The example du jour: The Facebook Phone rumors, which were sparked this past weekend by TechCrunch and continue to burn. If you believe what you read [...]
dan tynan on Sep 17 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Culture Crash, Da Web, Facebook, Faux News, Twit or Tweet
The problem with the Internet these days? In a word: socialism. No not that faux Obama socialism certain people like to rail against (because they’ve got to be PO’d about something). I’m talking about the real scourge of the net: social media. Now, I use social media and I (mostly) like social media. I use [...]
dan tynan on Jul 22 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Facebook, ITworld, Privacy, TY4NS
As I noted earlier this week, Facebook just crested 500 million members, and it’s been pulling out all the stops to draw attention to that fact. Mark Zuckerberg is making the TV rounds, talking to Diane Sawyer on ABC last night. Rumors swirl that a cartoon version of Zuckerberg may even appear on "The Simpsons" [...]
dan tynan on May 07 2010 | Filed under: Facebook, ITworld, TY4NS
When you’re a social network with tens of millions of users and you’ve got the attention of the US Congress, that’s almost never a good thing. And so it goes with Facebook and its naked attempt to become the central repository of consumer preferences on the Web (see "What’s to like about Facebook’s ‘Like’ Button?"). [...]
dan tynan on Mar 19 2010 | Filed under: censorship, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, Microsoft, National insecurity, politics, Privacy, Web 2.0
Privacy is all over the news these days, including social networks, where it seems the Feds like to play.
dan tynan on Jan 18 2010 | Filed under: (anti) social media, censorship, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Google, Infoworld, National insecurity, politics, Privacy
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 chimes [...]
dan tynan on Dec 31 2009 | Filed under: (anti) social media, amazon, Apple, Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Future Tech, Google, Infoworld, Microsoft, Twit or Tweet, Web 2.0, youtube
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 [...]
dan tynan on Nov 02 2009 | Filed under: Cringley, Da Web, Facebook, Infoworld, Web 2.0
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 over [...]
dan tynan on Oct 02 2009 | Filed under: (anti) social media, Cringley, Facebook, Infoworld, Twit or Tweet
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. [...]
