Just a few weeks ago, we reported that FriendFeed had released a new beta version of its site to test a new design for the popular lifestreaming service. Today, FriendFeed released a significant update to this design, which adds some much needed enhancements to the user interface. Specifically, the navigation of the FriendFeed beta site has now been switched to the left, and the post form can no longer be confused with the search form.
As more and more users awaken to the fact that their every step on the net can be traced, browser developers have started to incorporate private browsing modes into their products. Google Chrome has an 'Incognito' mode, Safari has 'Private Browsing,' the latest beta of Internet Explorer 8 features 'InPrivate Browsing,' and, according to an update on the Firefox wiki, Firefox 3.1 will feature a 'Private Browsing Mode.' Of course, these browsers can't hide any of your activity on the net itself, but at least when you are on a shared computer, these privacy modes let you conceal your online activity from fellow users.
You are not the center of the universe, especially on the internet. That's the lesson that even the biggest web brands are learning fast, and we expect to see widespread cultural changes occur right along side their learning.
One week after we wrote about the leaked screenshots that have since been confirmed as the forthcoming home page design of AOL.com, where 3rd party content and functionality is now welcome to come on in through the front door, now Yahoo! is telling the press that its home page will soon be home to far more content from outside the Yahoo! network than ever before. The era of the walled garden is over.
Not too long ago, there were some grumblings about the state of the tech blogosphere and the industry in general. By spending so much time reading Techmeme, Twitter, FriendFeed, and the like it's easy to get the impression that some of the most influential people in our industry today were less interested in the technology they were reviewing than they were in making a name for themselves as some sort of navel-gazing superstar. Not only that, the apps that people were fawning over were often not the kind of apps that had mainstream appeal or were solving real problems. It was as if the whole crowd was shouting at each other, trying to be heard over the noise and patting each other on the back for being so hip with all our shiny, social media-flavored toys.
Was this what the tech industry had come to, I wondered? No, that was just what the tech blogosphere had come to. This year's DEMO conference proved to me that technology innovation is still alive and well.
Today, Apple released the 'major' firmware update for the iPhone Steve Jobs announced earlier this week and which had already been available for the iPod touch since Tuesday. According to Apple, this update will fix the connectivity and battery life issues a lot of users had with their phones. Apple also released a fix for iTunes 8 after users reported repeated system crashes on their Windows machines after upgrading to the latest version.
As early adopters and technology enthusiasts, we're known for signing up for every new service presented to us. Due to the sheer number of web sites out there, most of us have devised a system for remembering all those passwords: we make them all the same. (Nod sheepishly if this is you). This system, although easy, is dangerously insecure. A hacker would only need to comprise your password one time in order to gain access to all your accounts. But what alternatives do we have?
We track hundreds of web apps here on ReadWriteWeb. Some, like YouTube and last.fm, become our favorites and prosper. But others sadly close down, or whither away due to not many people using them, or suddenly stop working for one reason or another (the bills are too high, the RIAA gets on their back, the developer doesn't have time, or a myriad of other reasons). Here is a list of 10 web apps that are no more, that we at ReadWriteWeb miss and wish were still operational.
Are you the only person at work who likes to read blogs? Is it your job to sell things to people who would probably throw you out of their offices if you said the word "twitter?" Are you trying to reach audiences who've never visited a social networking website because they've heard those sites are used by no one but virus peddlers, sex fiends and 14 year old losers?
Sometimes it feels like social media is just not relevant to the people you're trying to reach. That's a common dilemma, but we believe it doesn't have to be that way. In this post we discuss five strategies for using social media to reach people who don't use social media, and we've listed specific tools you can use to do it.
For travelers, mobile applications that allow you to search for local places can be a pain to deal with. You constantly have to go back into the app to update your location. Sometimes it's easy to forget to do this, which can make your local search process become tedious and frustrating. Today, Google has announced their way of making local search a lot easier. Google's Local search homepage will now feature a new technology known as "My Location".
In June, we reported that Google had signed a deal with the creator of Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane. Under this deal, Google was going to syndicate a series of 50 short cartoon by MacFalrlane through AdSense and the Google Content network. Now, the first series of these cartoons is available on YouTube. This first wave of videos is sponsored by fast food chain Burger King, though we assume that other parts of the series will feature different sponsors.
