Technology News

Technology

Google Web Search Partially Blocked in China

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

Google Inc. confirmed Wednesday that a search engine feature had been partially blocked in China on the same day that its license to offer Internet services there was due to expire.

At issue is the suggest tool, which automatically recommends search queries based on the first few letters a user types. Suggestion technologies are popular in China. The blockage was noted on a Google Web page that tracks the availability of its services in mainland China. Other services remain fully ...

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Technology

Amazon Lures Authors with 70% Royalty Deal, and HTML5

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

When money talks, people tend to listen. In a bid to lure authors, Amazon.com on Wednesday said it would give writers 70% of the revenue, minus expenses, from their digital books sales on Amazon's Kindle store.

In addition, Amazon said it is giving authors the ability to sell their Kindle digital books on their own websites, using an Internet standard called HMTL5.

The two announcements are designed to attract authors who have not yet found a traditional publisher. In this ...

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Technology

Me, Myself and iPhone

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

Smile. At least that was the conclusion of a recent study by OkCupid.com, the popular dating site for 20-somethings.

To determine which factors made a photo more attractive, the staff tabulated the number of interested responses to thousands of pictures, then broke down their characteristics.

The findings were intriguing, to say the least. Women responded more often to pictures in which the man is looking off camera, not into it. Men were more likely to respond to pictures ...

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Feds Crack Down on Internet Movie Pirates, Score Bust

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

Adding some swashbuckling to its tough talk on fighting piracy, the federal government Wednesday seized several websites that were offering downloads of pirated movies such as “Toy Story 3" and “Iron Man 2" within hours of their release in theaters.

Federal authorities announced that they had seized domain names from nine websites engaged in the “criminal theft of American movies and television." The websites include TVShack.net, PlanetMoviez.com and ThePirateCity.org and Ninjavideo.net. The sites combined drew 6.7 million visitors a month, ...

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Antenna Engineers, Apple Wants You to Help with iPhone Reception

Source: Michael Ricci
July 1, 2010

This may be the right way to hold the iPhone 4, according to Apple. Are you an unemployed antenna engineer who specializes in wireless mobile devices? Apple Inc. might have a job for you.

The company, which is under fire for reception problems with its newest iPhone model and its iPad tablet computer, has posted three openings on its website for jobs described as “Antenna Engineer-iPad/iPhone." The posts are dated June 23, the day before the launch of the ...

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Mike King: 5 Social Media and Online Marketing Tips

Source: HypeBot
July 1, 2010

Mike King (@atomzooey), Director of Marketing at Berkleemusic and teacher of Online Music Marketing with Topspin, sentin this informative post:

1. Social media is a tool which amplifies existing efforts. These are not my words (I think it's from Jeff Jarvis?), but it rings true to me. Folks talk about the importance of access and context, but without engaging content (be it amazing music, video, contests, information, humor, or other) social media outlets won't do much for ...

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YouTube: HTML5 Video is No Match for Flash

Source: All About Jazz
June 30, 2010

YouTube has some bad news for those of you hoping the site would soon ditch Flash in favor of HTML5 video tags: It isnt going to happen any time soon.

Thats message from the YouTube developer blog which cites half-a-dozen areas where Flash trumps HTML5 and explains why the tag does not currently meet all the needs of a site like YouTube. The emerging HTML5 standard, which is quickly being adopted by browser manufacturers and developers, offers native video-playback and ...

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9 Things You Need to Know About the Internet

Source: HypeBot
June 30, 2010

John Naughton, a professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University, has published a brilliant overview of everything you ever need to know about the internet in the Guardian. In his essay, he goes over nine of the big ideas that are central to understanding this massive technological force:

Take the long view The web isn't the net Disruption is a feature, not a bug Think ecology, not economics Complexity is the new reality The network ...

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