social networking
Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses
Foursquare, a location-based social network, is rolling out new tools that will give businesses more information about their customers and allow them to target special offers.
Facebook’s News Feed Patent Lock – Vaguely Menacing?
Facebook last week won the right to call the news feed its very own. Patent 7,699,123 was issued by the U.S. Patent Office last Tuesday to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and seven other Facebook executives. It’s described as a method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment.
Location-Aware Social Nets: Lights On, Nobody Home
Last week, Dutch group Forthehack launched PleaseRobMe, a site meant to expose the danger of location-based social networks such as Foursquare, BrightKite, Gowalla, and Google Buzz. Basically, PleaseRobMe says that every time someone posts his location in a location-based social network, that person is publicly announcing that he is not home, which could be taken to mean, no one is home.
Bilton on ABC: Facebook, Farmville and Foursquare
Diane Sawyer of ABC interviews the Bits blogger Nick Bilton.
A Visual Tool to Track Olympic Tweets
NBC and Stamen Design have created a visual tool to help Olympic fans follow the Twitter traffic about their favorite sports and athletes.
Bits Scan: Inside Google, the Future of Gaming and Data Breaches
Our Tuesday morning roundup of technology news also includes a look at the continuing digital divide and more on Apple’s decision to remove sex-related iPhone applications from the App Store.
Buzz’s Latest Tweaks Make for Some Awkward Social Interactions
Last week, Google Gmail customers saw a promised round of software changes whose purpose was to make Google Buzz users more aware of their privacy options, and to give them a more obvious way to back out of Buzz. These changes came a mere nine days after the social networking product’s rollout as an element of Gmail, although some have already claimed personal damage and have already begun legal action.
Outlook Takes Timid Step Into Social Networking
Microsoft has forged deals with LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook to connect their networks through its popular email and personal information manager, Outlook. The company introduced Outlook Social Connector when it rolled out a beta of Microsoft Office 2010 last November. The OSC connects emails, contact information and networking sites within the Outlook application.
Google Alters Buzz to Tackle Privacy Flaws
Google is making important changes to Buzz to address criticism from users and privacy advocates.
Google’s New Social Scene-Stealer
A few weeks ago, I was hearing rumors about Facebook opening a new email service. Looks like Google beat them to the punch, though, because Gmail just opened up a new Facebook service. Maybe not technically — Facebook plays absolutely no role in “Buzz,” which is what Google named its creation. Buzz just seems to feature some of the same social networking capabilities as Facebook.
Google’s New Buzz: Not Exactly Light Years Ahead
Innovation was certainly on display at this week’s Google Buzz press conference, but there was only one moment that truly registered an 9.5 on my personal Coolness Quotient meter. That was during the mobile segment of the demonstration. Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra spoke into his Android phone, and the magic of Google Voice allowed him to post his “buzz.”
Google Tries to Get Some Good Buzz
A new social-network aggregator, Google Buzz, begins its rollout this week.
