Social media may have been credited with driving a lot of the uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East recently, and now it may be the best way to keep track of what’s happening in each of them. Al Jazeera has launched a Twitter dashboard that tallies daily the number of tweets about political developments in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and …
Showdown: Chrome (Beta) vs. Firefox 4.0
With new versions scheduled to be released for these two popular web browsers, many of us are rethinking where our loyalties lie. Should we go with the Google Chrome (Beta) or Mozilla Firefox 4.0? Is it worth the upgrade, or is it time to try something new? Here’s a list of the new and upgraded features to make your decision …
Advertisers Watch You Watch TV to Better Sell You Products
Apparently, it’s no longer in stereotype Russia that television watches you. Ever searching for new and better ways to target commercials at the right audiences, television companies and advertisers have managed to create a new way of making sure that you see – or fast-forward through – exactly the kinds of commercials that appeal to you …
Apple Cutting Physical Products to Make Shelf Space?
The Loop is reporting that sources have apparently told them about Apple’s plan to cut 32 game titles and certain hardware devices such as printers, scanners and some hard drives, to make more room in Apple’s retail stores for the new in-store personalized setup services that started in January 2011.
Before you start freaking out at …
Creepy, Brilliant Short Story Remix Is a Video of Tattoos
The original incarnation of Shelley Jackson’s short story “Skin” was written in 2003 to be published on the bodies of 2095 volunteers–in the form of tattoos, one word per person, in black ink. (“As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will have died,” Jackson writes. “The author will make every effort to …
Two More Everlasting Lenovo Laptops Board the Workaholic Pain Train
We all had a good laugh a couple of weeks ago when Lenovo and HP announced laptops that were capable of eclipsing 30 hours of battery life on a single charge. Think of all the overworked office drones slumped over in their $49.99 task chairs after a 30-hour mail merge marathon!
Hilarious stuff, to be sure. But Lenovo won’t quit. It …
Tests Show Verizon iPhone Isn’t Up to Speed
When it comes to download speeds, a series of independent tests claim that the Verizon iPhone can’t compare to its AT&T counterpart.
Wired reports that on average, AT&Ts 3G network is twice as fast as Verizon’s. Still, while AT&T had the advantage in terms of download speed, Wired’s Brian Chen says that there were times when it …
Free Indie MP3 Site ‘Epitonic’ Relaunches
Back in 1999, Epitonic was one of the first major sites to offer free MP3s as a way to sample up-and-coming artists’ work. It went into mothballs in the mid-2000s, but more recently co-founder (and Atombombpocketknife singer/guitarist) Justin Sinkovich has been working on reactivating the site, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign. …
Android’s Hidden Music Backup Feature Harmonizes with Google
Well, well, well. Looks like we have some more fuel for the ages-old Google Music rumors. An enterprising developer shoehorned the new Motorola Xoom Android tablet’s music application onto his plain old Android smartphone and went he went into the phone’s settings menu, he was surprised to find a feature labeled “Sync Music” sandwiched …
London Buses to Accept Tap-to-Pay Bank Cards for the Olympics
If you’re planning to visit London for the Olympic Games next year, you need to register now to book your tickets. But don’t worry about tickets for the famous London Underground transport system, because you might already have one in your wallet.
Banks are already rolling out next-generation contactless bank cards, which can be used …
Facebook Teams Up with Samaritans to Prevent Suicide
Facebook is stepping in to help users who post messages suggesting they want to hurt themselves. The social network has partnered up with with U.K.-based Samaritans, a group focused on suicide prevention, in order to make it easer to notify professionals if someone is showing worrisome behavior.
“Through the popularity of Facebook, we …
Rumor Round-Up: Wii 2 and the Next Xbox
It’s no big revelation that the successors to the current generations of PlayStation, Wii and Xbox are in development. The graphical and processing functionality of the present-day consoles will max out eventually and no platform holder wants to be the laggard in a tech arms race. Recent rumors offer up some tantalizing hints as to when …