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10 Aug 2009 20:42

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Biz, Tech: FriendFeed and Facebook more than friends, feeling each other up

friendfeedfacebook0810
  • What Facebook gets Interesting technology that they can use in future redesigns and upgrades, and – well, let’s not kid ourselves, this is the main reason – access to some really, really bright minds. The founders of FriendFeed are responsible for helping to create Google services you use every single day, like Google Maps and GMail. They’re worth it. source
  • What Facebook gets Interesting technology that they can use in future redesigns and upgrades, and – well, let’s not kid ourselves, this is the main reason – access to some really, really bright minds. The founders of FriendFeed are responsible for helping to create Google services you use every single day, like Google Maps and GMail. They’re worth it.
  • What FriendFeed gets Exposure. FriendFeed’s root idea – the combining of social streams into a single feed – is a good idea that didn’t have the PR manpower of Twitter or Facebook. Facebook could push the service really hard. Or this could go down like Geocities and Facebook could drive it into the ground. We’re betting the latter. source
  • What Facebook gets Interesting technology that they can use in future redesigns and upgrades, and – well, let’s not kid ourselves, this is the main reason – access to some really, really bright minds. The founders of FriendFeed are responsible for helping to create Google services you use every single day, like Google Maps and GMail. They’re worth it.
  • What FriendFeed gets Exposure. FriendFeed’s root idea – the combining of social streams into a single feed – is a good idea that didn’t have the PR manpower of Twitter or Facebook. Facebook could push the service really hard. Or this could go down like Geocities and Facebook could drive it into the ground. We’re betting the latter.
  • Our feeling This merger makes a lot of sense. Facebook has been mimicking FriendFeed’s best features for ages, even moreso since the last redesign. And we’ve had a link to our FriendFeed on the site for months to basically no response – which tells us that unless you’re Robert Scoble (or know who Robert Scoble is), you don’t use it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2009 22:11

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Tech: tr.im gets whiny, shuts down their URL shortener, blames Twitter

  • What is the point? With bit.ly the Twitter default, and with us having no inside connection to Twitter, tr.im will lose over the the long-run no matter how good it may or may not be at this moment, or in the future.
  • A message posted on the tr.im blog • Saying that despite the site’s popularity, they don’t feel like the service will succeed and they’re going to shut it down. The post attacks other targets besides Twitter and bit.ly – including TweetMeme. They feel that they can’t sell the statistical information because everyone else has it. Nobody wanted to buy the service. And it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Twitter is now gonna be a graveyard of useless shortened links. Great. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2009 20:19

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Culture, Tech: Mac Killer: Ice-T goes gangsta on an old Powerbook

  • Ice-T says it wasn’t personal, nor does he have anything against old Macs. But the screen was busted, so he had to kill it. His tool of choice? A claw hammer. His workbench? A trash can. He’s still reading from the book of Iceberg Slim, we see.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Aug 2009 11:51

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Tech, World: The fight for saving the environment goes top-level domain

  • .eco if you were an eco group, you’d want this, too source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Aug 2009 18:16

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Tech: Beyond Firefox, Safari and Chrome: Web browsers worth using

You’re a loner, Dottie, a rebel. As a result, you use a Web browser out of the mainstream. CNet checks them out. Their thought? It’s no contest. Opera wins. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Aug 2009 17:29

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Biz, Tech: Reuters exec: Please link to us and let us steal AP’s thunder!

  • I believe in the link economy. Please feel free to link to our stories — it adds value to all producers of content. I believe you should play fair and encourage your readers to read-around to what others are producing if you use it and find it interesting.
  • Thomson Reuters President of Media Chris Ahearn • Providing a breath of fresh air in the whole journalism-linking debate, which AP stoked the fires of over the last few weeks and Rupert Murdoch may continue to light up down the road. Ahern’s attitude towards the situation is a total breath of fresh air and makes us optimistic that some wire services totally get this new media thing. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

07 Aug 2009 17:17

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Tech: Artificial Intelligence powers up again, shoots fireballs at goombas

  • It’s a-him, mario! If you’re like us, you feel that the Super Mario Bros. games are a pinnacle of human achievement – challenging games that still hold up to this day. We think all resources should go to building a better Mario, though. While Big Blue was neat, screw chess. We want computers that kick butt at Mario. source
  • It’s a-him, mario! If you’re like us, you feel that the Super Mario Bros. games are a pinnacle of human achievement – challenging games that still hold up to this day. We think all resources should go to building a better Mario, though. While Big Blue was neat, screw chess. We want computers that kick butt at Mario.
  • The AI challenge Smart people agree with us apparently, because the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society is holding a competition where they plan on giving out a $500 prize to the designer of the most capable artificially intelligent Mario bot. Which could be transferred to other games eventually. source
  • It’s a-him, mario! If you’re like us, you feel that the Super Mario Bros. games are a pinnacle of human achievement – challenging games that still hold up to this day. We think all resources should go to building a better Mario, though. While Big Blue was neat, screw chess. We want computers that kick butt at Mario.
  • The AI challenge Smart people agree with us apparently, because the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society is holding a competition where they plan on giving out a $500 prize to the designer of the most capable artificially intelligent Mario bot. Which could be transferred to other games eventually.
  • You should play this Obviously, you’re human and aren’t a better Mario, but you can still play the game the competition’s based on – the awesome, completely randomized Java-based game Infinite Mario Bros. We know we couldn’t stop playing, and we suck at video games worse than we do at dating! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Aug 2009 16:37

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Biz, Tech: Are you an out-of-work journalist? Come a-knockin’ on AOL’s door

  • 1,500 journos hired by AOL in the last year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Aug 2009 12:31

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Tech, World: To silence ONE GUY, Russia had to take down Twitter

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  • The lack of logic and high level of selfishness here (on Russia’s part) is atrocious. Russian authorities tried to silence Cyxymu, a.k.a. “George,” for his stance on the Georgia conflict. (The timing was political.) But instead, Russia tried to shut down every major social network, causing the guy they wanted to silence to have an even bigger voice. Genius, Russia. Just genius.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

06 Aug 2009 21:46

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Tech: Why was Twitter down so long due to the DDOS attack?

  • It’s unusual to see an attack on a site lasting that long. Generally there are procedures in place in case of such an attack, but unfortunately Twitter has a long history of security-related issues and this really shows that they are not very mature in this area yet.
  • Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Stefan Tanase • About the attack, which nailed a number of other big social media sites besides Twitter (Facebook, YouTube and LiveJournal) but only gave Twitter sustained fits and starts. Why did it happen in the first place? One researcher, Bill Woodcock, suggests that social networking got caught between the Russia/Georgia conflict: “One side put up propaganda, the other side figured this out and is attacking them.”  • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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