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27 Dec 2011 20:35

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Tech: Would Obama veto SOPA? An online debate builds among techies

  • claim AllThingsD’s Arik Hesseldahl claimed in an article Monday that Obama would be likely to veto the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act because the president “likes the internet” and that a decision in favor of SOPA would strongly go against the president’s longstanding net neutrality policy.
  • rebuttal However, TechDirt blogger Mike Masnick, who knows a thing or two about online copyright issues, says that Obama would likely sign it due to his need for election-year money from Hollywood — unless the bill becomes toxic to the touch, which Masnick says hasn’t happened yet. So, who’s right?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2011 18:57

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Tech: Tweet drama: Company sues former employee over Twitter followers

  • $340k the amount the tech company PhoneDog sued a former employee for after he held onto a Twitter account post-employment
  • 17k the number of followers Noah Kravitz built up; after he left the job, he promised to continue tweeting about the company
  • $2.50 the cost per follower per month the company sued Kravitz for after the fact; they claimed he was holding onto a customer list source
  • » A precedent-setting case? For many startups, Twitter followers are starting to become the lingua franca of customer service. So, it’s fascinating to see how cases like this could set an example as things go forward. “This will establish precedent in the online world, as it relates to ownership of social media accounts,” noted NYC intellectual property lawyer Henry J. Cittone. “We’ve actually been waiting to see such a case as many of our clients are concerned about the ownership of social media accounts vis-á-vis their branding.” Which way should the courts decide in this case, anyway?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Dec 2011 18:23

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Tech: Stratfor hacking: Anonymous leaks private subscriber list, credit card numbers

  • claim According to officials tied to the Anonymous collective, the group released a list of over 100,000 “private clients” of the secretive Stratfor security group, including credit information. Ironically, Anonymous claims the data was not encrypted. Victims who have spoken out about the hacking on Facebook have reportedly gotten targeted a second time.
  • rebuttal However, the company itself disputes Anonymous’ description of the information leaked, stating that “the disclosure was merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications.” The company emphasized they had no further business relationship with the clients on the list. The situation could prove a major embarrassment for the firm. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Dec 2011 20:12

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Tech: GoDaddy’s calling departing major customers, begging them to stay

  • I think that the backlash against their support was a lot more swift and severe than they’d anticipated. Their initially glib ‘lol, whatever’ response was replaced by ‘oh god, please stop punching us in the quarterly financial report!’ real fast.
  • Mashable chief architect Chris Heald • Discussing how he received a call from GoDaddy regarding his decision to move 50+ domains to a different service in a boycott of their now-reversed stance on SOPA. Apparently he wasn’t alone. So the real question, then, is whether it’s too late for GoDaddy to get all those customers back. Based on the fact that Heald isn’t budging, and the fact that they called two days before Christmas, signs aren’t looking good for the company. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Dec 2011 08:59

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Tech: Scientists used math on Twitter to tell us we’re sad… which makes us even sadder.

  • Happiness is trending downward. Great.  After studying the Twitter accounts of 63 million users for 33 months, science tells us that we’re not using as many happiness keywords. Users seem to reach their peak happiness on and around holidays and the weekends; happiness “plummets” on Mondays and Tuesdays. All in all, people shouldn’t be using Twitter as their go-to source of human emotions; do they even count Sockington?  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Dec 2011 23:20

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Tech: GoDaddy faces all-out boycott over stated SOPA support

  • Why they support SOPA GoDaddy has been one of the more vocal supporters of SOPA, as a statement they submitted to the House of Representatives makes clear: “As much as some would like to paint a bleak picture, this debate is not about Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley. This debate is about preserving, protecting, and creating American jobs and protecting American consumers from the dangers that they face on-line.”
  • Prone to controversy GoDaddy doesn’t exactly have the most pristine reputation among tech companies (what with its scantily-clad commercials and elephant-hunting CEO), but it hasn’t hurt their service in the past. Why? Quick — name another company that sells domains off the top of your head. Most people probably can’t. That’s what might hurt this boycott amongst mainstream users.
  • An uphill battle? GoDaddy users face a very similar situation to PayPal or Craigslist or Internet Explorer— no matter how controversial, user-unfriendly, or outdated the service may get, the market leader is seated pretty firmly due to years of market recognition and popularity, and it’ll take a lot to shake them. GoDaddy’s offered annoyed users a good reason to move elsewhere, however. But how many will there be? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Dec 2011 00:53

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Tech: Clothing with a twist: Smartphones could gain a couple wearable friends

  • Years ago, researchers envisioned these tiny computers transmitting information to the Internet. It wasn’t what we envisioned, but it happened. It’s called the smartphone.
  • Yael Maguire, a visiting scientist at M.I.T. and Harvard • On the advancement of phone technologies in more wearable directions. Secret projects led by Google and Apple could allow users to carry around lightweight, connected devices that fit in with what you’re already wearing — think a bracelet-style iPod with the ability to talk to Siri whenever you want.  All of this is possible thanks to the invention of the smartphone, which is kind of a wearable computer already. We bet these toys will work perfectly with mock turtlenecks.  source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Dec 2011 10:14

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Tech: Sprint, amid controversy, plans to shut off Carrier IQ software

  • 26 million number of phones Sprint had sold that used Carrier IQ’s software, the company revealed Thursday
  • zero number of phones that will have the feature enabled from here on out, the company said Friday source
  • » Killing a major headache: With public scrutiny going against them, Sprint, the largest user of Carrier IQ, has decided that the public relations cost was too much, according to a statement released Friday: “We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected. At Sprint, we work hard to earn the trust of our customers and believe this course of action is in the best interest of our business and customers.” Really, though, the problem is that they enabled it in the first place.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Dec 2011 11:58

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Tech: A poorly-tended farm? Zynga IPO flops in first day of trading

  • Yet another reason we wish the internet was the real world. Remember when Facebook announced that it might, maybe, potentially, could see itself having an IPO in 2012? Well, Zynga, perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the Facebook ecosystem, has beaten them to the punch. The popular social gaming company’s shares are now available for the public to purchase. The “Farmville” company’s stock, listed as “ZNGA” and priced at $10 a share by the company, hasn’t had a particularly good morning, falling below its IPO price at one point. Currently, it sits at just over $10. Will the stock begin to lean in Groupon’s downward direction, or will it aim for Facebook status? source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Dec 2011 10:11

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Tech: Hallelujah: Microsoft will automatically upgrade Internet Explorer

  • before Internet Explorer was a bit of an anger-inducing product for Web developers because users would be slow to upgrade their browsers, leading to large numbers of users on IE6 and IE7 years after those browsers were out-of-date. Despite Chrome and Firefox having automatic upgrade options, for years, Microsoft resisted. Developers cried.
  • now In a major change in policy, Microsoft will automatically update browsers for home users — to IE8 for Windows XP users and IE9 for Vista and Windows 7 users. They won’t die entirely, though — corporate IT users can block the upgrades, and there will be opt-out mechanisms. But maybe this might be the death knell to IE6? God, let’s hope so. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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