Archive for August, 2009

Only eight years after its initial launch, online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia has reached three million English language articles. The piece that tipped them over the edge, a short piece about little known Norwegian film actress named Beate Eriksen, hit the site yesterday and took them to the magic number.

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Social networking site, Facebook has begun testing a pared down version of its full website for use in countries with unreliable access to high speed broadband. The service, known as Facebook Lite, is being piloted in India and will allow users access to the core elements of the network like photos, status updates and the wall. The fast loading version of the site is said to have a very ‘clean’ look, somewhat reminiscent of the original Facebook site.

According to a statement from Facebook, ‘We are currently testing Facebook Lite in countries where we are seeing lots of new users for the first time and are looking to start off with a more simple experience.’

However, it has been suggested by some that Facebook Lite is, in part at least, a reaction to the proliferation of Twitter over the last few months. The theory being that a simplified Facebook would occupy practically the same space as the hugely popular social network and, thanks to the brand loyalty that Facebook has built up over the years, might therefore stand a chance of competing.

it is also thought that this new version would appeal to the reasonably large number of Facebook users who dislike the more advanced functionalities like Facebook apps.

A new browser specifically designed for safe searching has been launched in Russia and is provoking a lot of negative feedback on forums, blogs, etc. The ‘Gogul’ browser is designed as a tool to allow children search the internet without being exposed to harmful content. Nothing particularly controversial or even unusual about that, the issues concern the scope of sites that are allowable.

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A facebook post from a disgruntled worker known only as Lyndsey has led to her being dismissed from her job. The post, entitled ‘OMG I hate my job’ was doing the rounds all last week and even made it as far as the blogging site Digg, where it has reached an even bigger audience.

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The US government is currently testing an FOE (Feed Over Email) system intended to bypass the nationally sponsored web screening systems that governments of some restrictive regimes are currently trying to implement. The idea being to stop these governments curbing access to the wealth of information provided online.

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On Thursday Li Yizhong, China’s Industry and Information Technology Minister announced that the Chinese government was changing its position on the online censorship of computers in China. The Chinese authorities had been insisting on a new law that would require all computer manufacturers to install the censorship package, ‘Green Dam Youth Escort’ on all machines before they were sold in China. Those plans have now been shelved.

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According to a blog post written by a Unix-literate Palm Pre user, the resurgent manufacturer could be collecting data on their users without permission. Joey Hess told technology blog, ‘The Reg’ that after ‘rooting’ his pre so that he could see all the files in the OS he noticed log files indicating that the system was uploading files and information about his usage of the phone.

According to Hess, the information palm is harvesting includes fairly basic information like what apps you are using, how long you’re using them for, when those apps crash. However, somewhat more troublingly, the system is also uploading GPS information about where phone users are at any given time, a situation about which Hess seemed very worried indeed, “It seems both unnecessary and a large privacy risk.”

In response, Palm had this to say…

“Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience. For instance, when location based services are used, we collect their information to give them relevant local results in Google Maps. We appreciate the trust that users give us with their information, and have no intention to violate that trust.”

It would appear that the British military is having some trouble making up its mind on the subject of social networking. Only a couple of months after the Sun and other publications reported that the top brass had banned facebook and other social media platforms at all military bases, it has emerged today that not only are they now allowing use of social networking sites, they are actually encouraging personnel to use them.

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Ever since micro blogging site, Twitter, really took off this year it seems that practically all brands, businesses and celebrities have been trying their best to outdo one another when it comes to finding new ways to exploit the vast numbers the site attracts. However, I don’t think that anyone really expected an age old institution like the Royal opera House to come up with probably the most innovative use of the site yet.

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As any media student learns early on, Australian news magnate, Rupert Murdoch has been one of the most the most fundamental influences on how we view and use information over the last 20 + years. His revolutionary, and often deeply unpopular, innovations have forced the newspaper and television industries to evolve, often in the face of fierce opposition, and it looks like he’s at it again, with a plan to charge for online news content.

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The debate surrounding the political ramifications of Twitter intensified last week when allegations that Russian hackers had launched a coordinated denial of service attack on Twitter and other social networking sites in order to silence a pro Georgian blogger came to light.

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The turbulent life of whoever decides what does and doesn’t get onto the App Store is continuing apace, with news that their approvals policy has once again caused outrage amongst developers and the media, though not for the usual reasons…

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Evan Williams, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, has pronounced London the Twitter capital of the world in an interview with BBC1’s Newsnight. The Microblogging site has become an international cause célèbre recently, though Williams claims that the site has been particularly popular in the UK with London emerging as the epicentre of this ‘Explosion’ in use of the site.

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