Internet

A major software problem may have significantly limited the number of people able to purchase Facebook stock when it first became publicly available on Friday, May 18, 2012. Nasdaq has assumed total responsibility for the fiasco and says it will ... offer compensation to those negatively affected by it. By some estimates, the payouts could total as much as $13 million. Nasdaq officials had planned carefully for the huge amount of trading that was expected when Facebook stock "went live". The combination of the number of shares put up for sale and the asking price made it the third-biggest stock ... (view more)

Just as its shares are hitting the stock market for the very first time, Facebook has been hit with a massive $15 billion lawsuit. The suit was recently filed in California by law firm Stewarts Law US. It's a class action suit that pools a total of ... 21 different suits from across the United States, and involves the way the company, newly valued at more than $100 billion, tracks its members after they've logged out of their accounts. Federal, State Privacy Acts Allegedly Violated The $15 billion request for damages and penalties is based on provisions in the federal Wiretap Act which say that ... (view more)

For many people, one of the greatest Facebook features is the ability to post status updates for the entire world to see. Unfortunately, in a matter of seconds these personal updates often get bumped down in favor of newer ones, without anyone ... having enough time to read them. However, those behind the popular social network are toying with the idea of allowing certain postings to take precedence over others, for a fee. The new and aptly named 'Highlight' option (available to those willing to shell out a few extra bucks) guarantees that more friends and family will have time to see a status ... (view more)

An upcoming revamp of Microsoft's search engine Bing will allow users to pose queries on Facebook. It's the first visible partnership of its type between the two Internet companies. The new tools will come in the form of a separate sidebar. As long ... as users are signed in to Facebook (meaning they must have an account), the sidebar will be active each time a Bing search is made. Bing, Facebook Coordinate Search Results Once users have typed in their query, the sidebar will come up with a list of Facebook friends that Bing believes may be able to help out. For example, if users search on a ... (view more)

Facebook has unveiled a plan that it hopes will encourage people to register as organ donors. It's an important move, because less than half of all American adults are currently signed up as organ donors, leaving a shortage of organs for ... transplants. At the moment, the most common way to formally consent to organ donation is to register when applying for a driver's license. A doctor quoted by the New York Times said this wasn't the best situation for everyone, however, because drawing the connection between driving an automobile and donating organs makes for an eerie feeling. (Source: nytimes ... (view more)

These days there are fewer and fewer people who say they don't regularly use the world wide web. According to a new report from Pew, which frequently studies the evolving relationship between people and technology, in 1995 about one in ten adult ... Americans used the web. Today, the ratio is closer to 4 in 5. (Source: eweek.com ) Nevertheless, nearly everyone knows someone, somewhere, who outright refuses to go online. The new study reveals that a large chunk of those 'no-Net' people stay away because they simply have no interest in using the Internet. Bored With Online Technology According to ... (view more)

A man who wants to launch an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that puts privacy first has raised more than $40,000 in a single day. However, he says it will take at least $1 million before the company can get off the ground. The project, known as the ... Calyx Institute, was stimulated by a 2004 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) request for an ISP to provide information about its customers, accompanied by an order not to reveal that such a demand had been made. Nicholas Merrill was running that ISP, and he was stunned by the request. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ... (view more)

Facebook has launched a new tool that allows its users to compare how much electricity they consume and compare the number with their Facebook friends. The idea is to give millions of people some added incentive to cut down on their wasted ... electricity. The free application allows users to link their Facebook memberships to their power company accounts. As long as they give permission, they'll automatically have their total monthly power consumption published on their Facebook pages. The new tool will then rank each user against all their friends with the power-counting app installed. This ... (view more)

Imagine you could walk into any bar, cafe or club and immediately identify which women were single, learn their names, and instantly send them a message via smartphone. For many of us, that might seem a dream come true. But a surprising number of ... people find the idea at least a little creepy. No Hacking Required To Uncover Personal Data Perhaps the most surprising thing about the new "Girls Around You" tool is that it doesn't involve any hacking, snooping, or other illegal behavior. The software works entirely by mining information that women have made publicly available, although ... (view more)

Mozilla has unveiled the first version of a new browser specially tailored to work with Microsoft's upcoming operating system (OS), Windows 8. The new edition of Firefox utilizes the Metro interface, which is expected to become a central element of ... the new Windows 8 user experience. The Metro feature is primarily designed for effective use of touchscreen devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and any PCs that incorporate a touchscreen display. The Metro interface is most notable for displaying information in special "tiles" that can easily be moved around on the screen and ... (view more)