Archive for February, 2008

EFF Sues DOJ Over Google

Leslie Poston

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is suing the DOJ (Department of Justice) over its contact with Google, Inc. via a DOJ employee who now works for Google. The Department of Justice employee, Jane Horvath, was sympathetic with Google's privacy concerns while the Internet giant was fighting a subpoena requesting search engine data.
The initial request [...]

FaceBook Adding Music With iTunes

Leslie Poston

FaceBook has entered the music fray, adding music functionality complete with links to iTunes. The new music section is set to compete with rival social network MySpace's already well established section for musicians. The addition of music purchase capability is an intriguing twist that could give FaceBook an edge, at least temporarily.
Much like [...]

CampusBug: Good Concept, Buggy Execution

Leslie Poston

CampusBug is dedicated to a concept they call social learning. Their goal is to make education a community experience much like FaceBook and MySpace, but with actual hands on help with homework, classes and hands on learning.
The concept intrigued me, and I eagerly went to the site to check it out. That was on Monday, [...]

Germany and Internet Privacy Revisited

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Last year, German's Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the German Ministry of the Interior began looking at Web 2.0 platforms as a way to inform the public about criminal suspects and ask for assistance in solving crimes and apprehending suspects. A commenter on the article noted that plans were underway to allow the German [...]

Hippie 2.0: Social Activism and Web 2.0

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

While many of the Baby Boomers have traded protests for portfolios, there is another generation utilizing the latest and greatest in Web 2.0 technology to really affect change, and it's not just the microfinance lending companies like Kiva and FINCA.
Last year alone, $3 billion (USD) was invested in clean tech, in a total of 221 [...]

How 2.0 Are You Not?

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

Odds are if you are reading this blog, you are already using at least one, and probably many more, Web 2.0 apps. But I've seen several things over the past week that make me question how well people can stay "off the grid," maintaining even a partial online anonymity.
I've stated before that I'm a fairly [...]

Can Google Help The Homeless?

Michael Garrett

In a world where google has now become a verb, and where someone would have to be living under a rock not to have heard of the search giant, does Google actually know what it takes to aid the homeless?
In an announcement earlier today, Google revealed their plan to provide every single homeless person in [...]

Electronic Arts Takes Their Social Games To Social Networking. Sort Of.

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

With all the hype about social gaming lately, there has been a gaping hole in the player roster; companies like Zynga seem to be everywhere, but the Web 1.0 companies like PopCap and Pogo have been visibly absent. Electronic Arts, however, is creeping onto social networks, with an under-the-radar release Monday of a Facebook application, [...]

Pakistan Took Down YouTube. And It Will Probably Happen Again.

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira

The news popped up on Twitter almost immediately; YouTube was down. After the Amazon S3 outage earlier this month, I'm sure everyone was wondering if YouTube was to blame or Google themselves had gone down. We now know what happened; in Pakistan's attempt to block the video-sharing site due to what it considered to [...]

Blogged Wants To Help You Find Better Blogs

Michael Garrett

As a newly launched directory of blogs, Blogged.com is aiming to not only provide visitors with links to thousands of interesting blogs, but to be a “blog discovery and exploration tool supported by a network that connects bloggers with readers.” Having just publicly launched two days ago (February 25, 2008) the database of more than [...]