Internet

In a strange reversal from two summers ago, last week young Syrians sought 'refuge' in neighboring Lebanon. The alleged reason for this exodus? Facebook. In a move to further restrict free speech and political activism in the country Bashar Assad's ... government shut down access to the fast-growing social network. (Source: globeandmail.com ) Advocate Dania al-sharif told Reuters last week that, "Facebook helped further civil society in Syria and form civic groups outside government control. This is why it has been banned." (Source: reuters.com ) Officials were apparently concerned that Israel ... (view more)

Zoho has updated their online word processor Zoho Writer, allowing multiple users to work on the same document whether online or off. For example, a person in New York can now edit a document that was originally created in Paris without having to ... constantly exchange email attachments. All changes that were made offline can later be synched automatically when an Internet connection is found. (Source: tailrank.com ) Although it may seem like a relatively simple upgrade, the new offline feature is ideal for those who constantly find themselves on airplanes, trains, or other areas without ... (view more)

The group behind the regulation of website addresses is planning the first step to a multi-lingual Internet. The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is working to allow top level domains to be registered in languages ... which do not use the Latin alphabet. This is the set of 26 letters, also known as the Roman alphabet, used in languages such as English, French of German. The top level domain is the part of the website address which identifies the type of site (such as .COM or .NET) or the country of origin (such as .CA for Canada). ICANN have launched the project by ... (view more)

Marvel Publishing unveiled Digital Comics Unlimited on Tuesday, a subscriber-based program intended to put its vast collection of superhero stories online. The company dipped its toe into the digital waters by releasing 2,500 past issues featuring ... some of its most famous characters, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and the Hulk. As an incentive, Marvel is currently offering 250 free samples on its website, with subscriptions to the entire catalog available for $9.99 a month, or $59.88 a year. (Source: nytimes.com ) The digitization is meant to attract a target ... (view more)

American broadcast heavy NBC recently launched the beta of a new direct-download initiative, NBC Direct , which offers many of the channel's new hits for free download. While functional and attractive, it doesn't hold up to the competition: NBC. The ... catch, in addition to the randomly-placed ads, is that it doesn't make sense when compared to the near-identical NBC Universal web app, Hulu , not to mention other "options". Unlike Hulu, which offers streaming episodes at any time, NBC Direct offers the ability to download episodes directly to your machine (which you can stream during download), ... (view more)

What's a bigger waste of time: Facebook or MySpace? According to one web security company, name recognition could be a problem for the latter. In the world of social networking, MySpace is the reigning royalty. Founded in August, 2003 and based out ... of sunny California, the site celebrated its hundred millionth account creation in August of 2006. Some 300 staff work out of its Beverly Hills headquarters. That kind of established name may not be so positive for MySpace when it comes to web filtering. In a survey released last week, security firm Barracuda Networks Inc. found that 44% of ... (view more)

Storage space? Meet the grim reaper. Nobody cares about you any more. In a move that will no doubt delight amateur filmmakers, content rippers, and people who love filming their cats doing wacky things, YouTube announced this past Wednesday that it ... has increased it's upload limit from 100MB to an impressive 1GB. (Source: Readwriteweb.com ) With the thousands of hours of content already on the site at only 100MB per file, there's no telling how large the company's storage capacity must be now that files can go up to 1GB. While it is unclear if the increase in file size will translate to an ... (view more)

The kids are are raging about two websites these days, with both boasting enough addictive content to distract them from homework, chores, and life in general. As popular as the two may be, Facebook and YouTube may be headed in very different ... directions. In past weeks, it's been announced that Facebook will be infused with Microsoft money and all-new mobile features from BlackBerry developer Research in Motion. That's good news for the social networking site that is creeping up fast on MySpace. The news hasn't been so hot for YouTube, which was recently sued for its rather natural display of ... (view more)

Last week, Microsoft proudly announced it was the new papa of the web's hippest and most powerful young site, Facebook. Now, even as they battle it out in other spheres, it appears both the Redmond-based company and Waterloo firm Research in Motion ... will be major contributors in shaping Facebook's future. Elsewhere in the tech world, Microsoft and Research in Motion, or RIM, are at each other's throats. Microsoft is currently unveiling its own server-based tool for managing Windows Mobile devices, dubbed "System Center Mobile Device Manager". It should provide direct competition for RIM's ... (view more)

As if social networking site Facebook wasn't already enough of a titan on the web, it's about to become even more powerful. Why? Because the Redmond gods have just injected it with $240 million bucks. That's right, Microsoft recently purchased a ... minority stake in Facebook, which accepted the bid over another from search engine giant Google. The deal with Microsoft will lead to an expansion of social networking services (as if Facebook didn't already have enough), and, sigh, more advertising. For those of you who have yet to dabble in Facebook -- and that number continues to dwindle every day ... (view more)