Internet

If you rarely use social networking sites or share links with friends, there's some great news. You might just see fewer advertisements thanks to a new plan from Yahoo. The company has filed a patent covering a system by which advertisers can pay ... extra to reach users with a high "social authority". (Source: uspto.gov ) A social authority ranking would be based on several factors, including a person's use of sites like Facebook and Twitter. The number of friends or followers the person has on these sites would also be considered. Advertisers Looking For Social Network Chatterboxes Through the ... (view more)

Researchers at the organization where the world wide web was first created have a good idea about what was on the first-ever web page. But now they've taken another step closer to finding the oldest surviving version of that page. The web was ... created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee while working at CERN, the physics research centre that currently houses the Large Hadron Collider. While the Internet (a global "network of networks") existed before Berners-Lee, there was no easy way to navigate to a particular document on a particular machine. Berners-Lee developed the idea of the web using hypertext ... (view more)

U.S. authorities say a website that allowed users to convert money into virtual currency was a front for money laundering operations. The Liberty Reserve site was shut down amid claims it helped criminals 'clean' more than $6 billion dollars. The ... site, which is based in Costa Rica, billed itself as an easy way to transfer money to people, regardless of their location. Unlike PayPal, Liberty Reserve didn't process direct payments between people. Instead, users could convert their cash into either 'Liberty Reserve Dollars' or 'Liberty Reserve Euros,' which were tied to the value of the real- ... (view more)

Facebook says it will review the way it vets hateful and offensive content. The social networking site will also force people who post offensive material to reveal their identity. The move follows an open letter by dozens of groups aiming to ... challenge sexism and abuse against women. These groups argued that Facebook was wrong to allow organizations to post images that make light of violence against women. According to the letter, Facebook has repeatedly failed to remove such content. The letter insists that this is particularly shocking because the site regularly removes harmless images of ... (view more)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken control of two bank accounts belonging to a company that exchanged US dollars for the 'Bitcoin' virtual currency. The department claims the accounts had not been properly registered with financial ... regulators. Bitcoin is not issued by any real-world financial institution. Instead, each unit of currency is represented by a unique piece of code generated by an algorithm. Whenever somebody makes a payment using Bitcoins, the details of the transaction are shared using a peer-to-peer network, similar to they way some users share music and video ... (view more)

Facebook has banned an application that allowed users take a one in six chance of destroying their account. However, critics say the social networking site hasn't established any clear rules about such apps. The application has the eye-catching name ... "Social Roulette." Inspired by the deadly pistol game Russian Roulette, it involves the player spinning a virtual revolver cylinder with one of the six chambers loaded -- in this case, with a Facebook logo rather than a bullet. App Deletes Facebook Account Info The resulting death isn't physical but virtual: if the odds are not in your favor, the ... (view more)

Facebook has a new solution for people who are having trouble accessing their accounts: if you sign up for the site's 'Trusted Contacts' feature, you can log in with a little help from your friends. The system is designed for people who've forgotten ... their password and is an alternative to existing security measures that involve answering questions and awaiting a confirmation email. Using the feature you can designate between three and five people from your Facebook friends list as Trusted Contacts. If and when you are unable to access your account and trigger the feature, Facebook will send a ... (view more)

Facebook has posted a staggering revenue increase for the first quarter of 2013. Helping the firm rake in the cash: the successful implementation of mobile applications and advertisements. According to reports, Facebook's total revenue jumped to ... almost $1.5 billion for the quarter ending March 31, 2013. That's an increase of almost 40 per cent from the same period last year, when revenue was just over $1 billion. Advertising Drives Revenue Growth The company says that its advertising revenue accounted for $1.25 billion of that total sum. This means the firm's ad work represents 85 per cent of ... (view more)

Twenty years ago this week the World Wide Web's technology became publicly available. To mark the event, the first-ever website has been recreated and republished. The web began at CERN, a research facility for particle physics in Switzerland. In ... recent years it has become well known for housing the Large Hadron Collider instrument used to hunt down the Higgs Boson, a previously undetected particle that could help explain how the universe works. Back in 1989 Tim Berners-Lee, one of the people working at CERN, came up with the idea of the web as a way to make it easier for researchers to share ... (view more)

Amazon plans to broadcast pilot episodes for 14 new television shows, with viewers deciding which programs deserve to become a full-length series. The pilots will air free-of-charge on Amazon.com in the United States. In the United Kingdom, viewers ... can watch the content on 'Lovefilm'. Although you'll need to register an account to see the shows, you won't need to have a paid subscription to Amazon Prime or Lovefilm to watch these episodes. Although Amazon will be asking for feedback, it isn't simply having a "winner takes all" vote to decide a winner. Instead, it will look at responses and ... (view more)