Articles at TECH.BLORGE

SxSWi is off to a rollicking start
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 14, 2010

Say what you will about the annual South by Southwest techie get-together, but you can always say that it is not boring. The opening antics so far prove that the current edition of the show is no different.
Every geek (or geek wannabe) at this year’s edition of South by Southwest has to be tickled to [...]

Netflix contest privacy concerns a stretch?
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 14, 2010

Netflix previously held a contest to help improve its movie recommendation system.  However, this contest drew quite a bit of controversy after it was discovered that it inadvertently revealed private user information to others.
The contest was highly successful in helping the company enhance its categorization and auto movie recommendation system. Netflix’s movie recommendation system [...]

Trouble: iBooks on iPad will read aloud
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 13, 2010

IPad buyers using the new iBooks feature to read e-books will be able to hear the text read aloud thanks to the VoiceOver feature. Which is great. Except that when Amazon tried to introduce the same feature on to the Kindle, there was a big argument over copyright. I sense trouble brewing for Apple.
The Apple [...]

Chatroulette creator interviewed by NYT
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 13, 2010

You know you’ve made it when the New York Times wants to interview you. Then again, I guess you know you’ve made it when the Web site you created is getting 30 million hits a month and is being talked about around the world. Meet Andrey Ternovskiy, the creator of Chatroulette.
Chatroulette works due to its [...]

Rumor: Google prepping for its final pullout of China
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 13, 2010

Google has been threatening for approximately two months that it would pull out of China over censorship and hacking issues, and now it looks as though the company is making the final preparations to do just that.
Google said a few months ago that it was no longer willing to follow Chinese rules over censorship, and that it [...]

BBC sends employees on course to learn how to use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 13, 2010

I don’t know about you but I didn’t have any problem starting an account on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or any of the other inordinate number of social networking sites available on the Web. So why did the BBC feel the need to send its employees on a course teaching them how to do so?
According to [...]

Apple loses ‘i’ product trademark case
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 12, 2010

Expect to see a lot more tech products with ‘i’ in the name, either as a prefix or a suffix, as Apple has lost a trademarks tribunal in which it was trying to stop an Australian firm from using the name DOPi to sell cases and bags for laptops and other Apple products. iFail.
According to [...]

Apple begins taking iPad pre-orders, limits quantities
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 12, 2010

Apple has finally begun taking pre-orders for the long-awaited iPad tablet, but don’t get too excited if you thought you were going to give your entire sales team one.
Last week Apple announced the launch date of the iPad, as well as the date it would begin accepting orders.  Well, the time finally arrived this morning, [...]

Evan Williams hypes up importance of Twitter – money is secondary concern
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 12, 2010

You may be thinking Twitter is just a social networking site that enables people to tweet about their lives on a daily basis. No matter how dull those lives may be. But no, it’s more than that, at least according to Twitter CEO and co-founder Evan Williams.
There’s no doubt that Twitter is a phenomenon. Its [...]

Firefox to get account management capabilities
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 12, 2010

The Mozilla Foundation, the company behind the Firefox Web browser, is taking a very serious look at how it can better help you manage your life on social networking sites.
As the number of social networking sites continues to grow, and in turn, the number of login credentials we need to remember grows with it, Mozilla [...]

Google accused of threatening cyclists with crack or death
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 12, 2010

Google’s new cycling directions tool has earned a poor reception from some users who found the suggested routes highly inappropriate. But the firm is already taking corrections on board and adjusting its offerings.
As we noted earlier this week, the firm added bike directions after sustained pressure from cyclists. The route information is partially based on [...]

Forbes Rich List 2010: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates no longer world’s richest man
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 11, 2010

Forbes Magazine’s Rich List is an annual celebration of the super-wealthy. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is always at or very near the top, and this year’s list sees him only making second place behind Carlos Slim. Other tech personalities also place highly in the list.
Bill Gates is worth an estimated $53 billion. Which is a [...]

Chatroulette Map charts video strangers
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 11, 2010

Chatroulette is a lot of fun. And anonymous. Or is it?
The chances are you’ll have now heard of Chatroulette. You may even have tried it out yourself. And why not? It’s just a bit of fun – random video chat with strangers type fun – after all. However, some people on Chatroulette like doing things [...]

Facebook could sue The Daily Mail newspaper over bogus sex pest claims
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 11, 2010

The Web’s most popular social networking site could be about to go head-to-head with one of the most popular newspapers in Britain. The Daily Mail falsely claimed that a young girl on Facebook was subject to predatory behavior by older men, when in fact it was another social networking site altogether.
The Daily Mail is known [...]

Facebook could sue The Daily Mail newspaper over bogus sex pest claims?
Posted from TECH.BLORGE on March 11, 2010

The Web’s most popular social networking site could be about to go head-to-head with one of the most popular newspapers in Britain. The Daily Mail falsely claimed that a young girl on Facebook was subject to predatory behavior by older men, when in fact it was another social networking site altogether.
The Daily Mail is known [...]