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MySpace introduces ‘data availability’

Marc Chacksfield — 1210340398

It’s always been difficult for the online social butterfly to keep abreast of updating their numerous web profiles. MySpace knows this and that is one of the reasons why the world’s biggest social-networking site, MySpace, has unlocked the data on its site for others to use.

Share and share alike

The ‘data availability’ project means that uploaded photos, friends’ lists and information can now be synched between websites. So, if you update MySpace, the other automatically updates too.

So far it's Yahoo-owned companies that have signed up to the deal, namely Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket and Twitter.

Altogether that makes an impressive 150 million internet users and according to the BBC, this is 85 per cent of the total US internet market. Any site that wants to sign up, however, can.

One notable absentee in all of this is Facebook. Speaking recently to the BBC, MySpace’s COO Amit Kapur had this to say about the site’s absence: “This project is open to any site out there that wants to work with us. We are happy to work with Facebook if they want to join up with our effort.”

Data gatherers

MySpace is the first website of its type to implement this type of data availability. By being the first they now put themselves at the forefront of data gathering; meaning the websites that sign on to the project will get their info from MySpace and not the other way around, something that will be no doubt vital to the website in the future.

Canadian Facebook users clean up

Audley Jarvis — 1210327440

Reports on how naïve and/or careless Facebook social networkers are leaving themselves open to trouble by allowing uncompromising content on their Facebook profile are commonplance. But now more positive news from Canada suggests many Facebook users have wised up and are now policing their Facebook profiles more carefully.

According to a study of 1200 Facebook users, jointly undertaken by Canadian market research firm ZINC Research, just under half of all respondents said they would be happy to let their employer see their Facebook profile.

"The days of getting drunk and getting all your pictures posted online, that's gone," Brian Singh, managing director of ZINC Research told Reuters.

Facebook driving business

Moreover, the authors of the report also claim that Facebook – far from being something employees use to waste valuable company time with – should be considered as an invaluable ally to business, allowing firms to extend their network and reach valuable new business partners.

“Young adults have adopted Facebook as the de facto communication and networking platform,” said Singh. “Companies that grasp this reality and develop a Facebook-related attraction and retention strategy will better connect to their workforce and get the upper hand in business,” said Singh.

The poll also discovered that out of Facebook’s nine million Canadian users, almost nine in 10 Canadians aged between 18 and 34 years old already had a Facebook account, making it by far the most popular social networking site in Canada.

Webbys sling out 12th annual awards

Gareth Beavis — 1210079168

The Webbys, the internet’s answer to the glitz and glamour of the Oscars, were awarded this week, throwing up a few surprise winners.

Nominees for an outstanding web presence went to both established companies such as BMW, Nivea and Apple, as well as newer sites like Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster and Launchball.

The categories included awards from games to food and beverage to political blogs; in fact, nearly every kind of website had a chance at winning an award.

Better than the rest

Each category has two awards: Webby Award winner, chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, and the People’s Voice winner, chosen by the online community.

The advent of social networking has been the buzz on the ‘net over the past two years, and this year’s Webby Award went to the Flock Social Network Browser, which integrates online communities into the web browsing experience.

Facebook was the People’s Voice winner, possibly due to some group being set up to encourage others to vote.

Apple cleaned up in a number of categories, including Best Navigation / Structure to a site, Best Use of Video or Moving Image and Best Visual Design.

However, other sites, again using the internet as a community tool, have also come to the fore. PostSecret.com, a blogging site where people can anonymously send in postcards with their secrets written on, won the award for Cultural / Personal Blog in both categories, and KidsHealth.com, which provides doctor-approved health advice, won both Family / Parenting awards.

Each winner was only allowed five words for a speech, and here are some of the highlights:

Viral Marketing

Monk-e-Mail - Webby: Monkeys are funnier than people.

Reality

Hug Nation - People's Voice: Everybody Squeeze [squeezes self] ... that's from Grandpa.

Sports

Manchester United official website - People's Voice: He gave you David Beckham.

Religion and Spirituality

What Is Enlightenment? - People's Voice: Get enlightened, or die trying.

EMI in legal bid to stop MP3 files being stored online

Audley Jarvis — 1209037500

Another day, and yet another astonishing display of arrogance by one of the major record labels. This time it’s the turn of EMI, who are taking the MP3 storage/backup site MP3tunes to court claiming that their storage site infringes copyright.

EMI might have half a leg to stand on if it weren’t for the fact that MP3tunes is an online lockup facility whereby users can only access their own music lockers. Other than exchanging passwords there’s no way that users can freely swap their files with other users.

In fact, so tenuous is EMI’s claim that in March a judge threw EMI’s demand that MP3tunes hand over the content of it users’ lockers out of court. On that occasion MP3tunes argued, quite rightly, that EMI’s demand was an invasion of their clients’ privacy. Thankfully, the judge agreed.

Precedent

Hopefully, the frankly ridiculous attempt by EMI to get MP3tunes shut down will end in similar humiliation for the label. Otherwise a dangerous precedent will have been set.

If a major label is allowed to close down any site it feels users might be storing ‘copyrighted’ material – regardless of access controls – then large chunks of the internet as we know it could also be deemed in breach of copyright and therefore illegal.

And all this from a company who’s recent change of CEO appeared to promise a fresh approach to tackling the same tired old issues that have been dogging the recording industry for so long now. Oh well, it appears that normal service has been resumed all too soon.

Gloves are off in eBay and craigslist legal spat

Tech Staff — 1208966519

Relations between craigslist and eBay nosedived yesterday as the world's number one internet auction site took the world's number one online public noticeboard to court claiming it was trying to illegally reduce its share in the company.

In 2004 eBay negotiated a 28.4 per cent stake in craigslist from an outgoing executive. Since then the two companies have been comparatively amiable, albeit unlikely, partners as eBay points out in its submission to Delaware’s Court of Chancery:

"Since negotiating our investment with craigslist's board in 2004, we have acted openly and in good faith as a minority shareholder."

eBay's allegations

However, eBay now alleges that in January of this year craigslist’s directors – founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster – took "unilateral" steps to "unfairly dilute" eBay’s stake by "more than 10 per cent".

"The recent actions by the craigslist directors have disadvantaged eBay and its investment in craigslist," said eBay’s senior vice president, Mike Jacobson.

"We are asking the Delaware court to rescind these recent actions in order to protect eBay's stockholders and preserve our investment," he added.

Unfortunately there’s no way of knowing exactly what it is that Newmark and Buckmaster are alleged to have done. The complaint has been delivered to the court under seal due to confidentiality restrictions.

craiglist's response

That hasn’t prevented craigslist from responding though, with an article on the official blog claiming the company is "surprised and disappointed by eBay’s unfounded allegations". It claims the allegations were made without any prior dialogue with craigslist’s directors.

Not only does craigslist deny the accusation that eBay’s stake has been unfairly diluted, it also points the finger straight back, questioning the auction giant’s motives for bringing the complaint.

"eBay has absolutely no reason to feel threatened – unless a hostile takeover of craigslist, or the sale of eBay's stake in craigslist to an unfriendly party, is their ultimate goal," a statement read.

Sony steps up online war with Apple and Microsoft

Adam Hartley — 1208946457

Sony bought up digital media company Gracenote Inc for around $260 million (£130m) this week, which effectively means the company now owns the software that allows applications such as Apple’s iTunes to read the information from compact discs.

Founded in 1998, Gracenote’s CD identification technology has become the industry standard. The full significance of this week’s Sony deal will not be seen till later this year.

"Gracenote is a global leader in technology and services for digital media identification, enrichment, and recommendation, and these capabilities will be essential to the next wave of innovation in content, services, and consumer electronics," said Tim Schaaff, SCA senior vice president, Software (formerly VP of Interactive Media at Apple).

"Sony sees tremendous growth potential in developing Gracenote as a separately run business unit, and by broadly embracing Gracenote’s platforms, Sony expects to significantly enhance and accelerate its own digital content, service, and device initiatives."

iTunes affected?

Sony’s press release informs us that "Gracenote’s existing business will continue to operate separately" but the immediate question, for Apple fans, is how might this affect Apple’s iTunes?

What's the deal between Apple and Gracenote? Will Sony now be in a position to charge them more for using Gracenote?

"Apple does not comment on commercial relationships of this nature," we were promptly informed by an Apple spokesperson when we posed this question to them earlier.

MacFormat’s Chris Phin assures TechRadar that: "As far as regular users are concerned, this is unlikely to have any tangible effect.

"Unless Sony decides to get very churlish – and there may be a business argument for that – it still allows Gracenote as a wholly-owned subsidiary to grant access to its database to Apple for iTunes. Slot a CD into your PC or Mac, and iTunes will still grab the track names."

Major online assault

"Sony is getting set to roll out a major assault on Apple's domination of the download content market and Microsoft's Xbox live service," claims Smarthouse’s David Richards.

Richards adds: "They are also set to introduce a significantly upgraded PS3 with new software that allows users to access games movies and music and push them to other devices over a wireless network."

Home delays

Speaking about the recent delay of PS3 Home, the online service central to the future of Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation strategy, SCE president Kazuo Hirai has recently admitted that: Sony "understand[s] that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today."

"Our overarching objective is to provide users with new gaming experiences that are available only on PlayStation Home. Spending more time on the development and on the Closed Beta testing reaffirms our commitment to bringing a quality service, maintaining the PlayStation tradition."

Biohazard bassist in BitTorrent rant

Tech Staff — 1208865165

In the grand tradition of gobby, self-absorbed D-list celebs, Evan Seinfeld (you know, the former bassist with 1990s thrash band Biohazard) has threatened to "kick the shit" out of anyone he ever catches downloading his music or movies through BitTorrent or P2P sites.

Although Biohazard disbanded in the mid-90s, Seinfeld, who had a bit-part in HBO prison drama Oz, is now married to the admittedly rather gorgeous pornstar Tera Patrick with whom he runs a porn empire, even performing in some films under the pseudonym ‘Spyder Jonez’.

Stealing

However, Seinfeld’s apparently free-spirited and liberal approach to life doesn’t quite extend into the world of P2P and BitTorrent file-sharing. The bassist-turned-swordsman recently told Metal Edge magazine:

"Downloading free music is stealing. There’s no other way about it… That’s the way the band makes a living. If you like that band, you shouldn’t download their music for free because it can make the band go out of business," Seinfeld said.

When asked about how BitTorrent and P2P sites affected his adult movie business, Seinfeld was even more upfront with his views:

Scumbags

"Do people wake up in the morning, look into the mirror, and say, ‘I steal other people’s shit all day?’ If so, you should know that you are a scumbag and if I catch you I will kick the shit out of you."

It seems that in his haste to come over all Chuck Norris, Seinfeld appears to have overlooked the fact that while file-sharing remains a civil offence punishable by hefty fines, beating file-sharers to a bloody pulp with the heel of your boots is a much more serious criminal offence punishable by several years in choky.

As our cousins from across the pond might say ‘what a schmuck!’.

Craigslist 'assassin wanted' advertiser pleads guilty

Audley Jarvis — 1208787250

A woman in the US who advertised on Craigslist for a "silent assassin" to "eradicate" her lover’s wife has pleaded guilty in a Michigan court.

Anne Marie Linscott, aged 49, faces up to 30 years imprisonment on a range of charges including intent to commit murder.

The case came to the attention of the police when three California residents got in contact with Ms Linscott in response to her advert for a "freelance" position.

Eradicate

Two of the respondents, who entered into an email dialogue with Ms Linscott, were reportedly given the name and address of Ms Linscott’s rival and offered $5,000 to "eradicate" her.

According to the respondents Ms Linscott attempted to remove all doubt about the sincerity of the offer by sending an email with the message: "this IS a serious proposition".

Both respondents immediately contacted the police, prompting the investigation and Ms Linscott’s court appearance. Sentencing has yet to take place.

Does 'Dunbar Number' apply to Facebook?

Tech Staff — 1208783281

According to the British evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, the average human has the capacity to maintain a maximum social network of 150 individuals. This figure of 150 has since become known as Dunbar’s Number. But does Dunbar’s Number still apply to our online social networking patterns?

Blogger Gord Hotchkiss is of the belief that we may have outgrown the upper limit of 150. His argument is that the internet has not only removed the geographical barriers to forming networks, but also redefined the way we create and maintain these networks.

Hyper-connective social animals

No longer, he argues, are humans motivated to form social groups primarily by base survival instincts, but rather by a desire to share experience or common interests. We have moved from being simple hunter-gathers and evolved into hyper-connective social animals.

However, there are limits to this, and Hotchkiss refers to these common traits as Human Hardware. The easiest way to conceptualise this is that it’s that most basic, primordial wiring that helps to define the human condition – the unseen element within us all that allows us to differentiate someone who’s friendly from someone who’s hostile.

It’s this inescapable, built-in Human Hardware, Hotchkiss claims, where the desire for face-to-face communication and trust originates from. Without these elements any relationship, whether online or ‘in real life’, is really more of an acquaintanceship than a friendship and thus exempt from any Dunbar’s Number calculations.

Psychological pontificating

So, what’s the end result of all this psychological pontificating? Are we, as internet-era, hyper-connective humans really able to build and maintain social groupings of over 150 individuals, or does the hard-wiring of our sub-conscious limit us to a maximum number not beyond that?

More importantly, does it really matter? The thing that strikes us as being absent from all this talk of ‘quantity’ is the far more important notion of ‘quality’. Does it really matter whether or not we are able to maintain ever larger social networks, when at the first sign of trouble we invariably run towards the same dozen or half-dozen people we feel closest to anyway? We rather think not.

Pirate Bay launches its own blog site

Tech Staff — 1208535489

The owners of under-fire Swedish torrent site, The Pirate Bay, have taken time out from their busy schedule of court appearances to announce the creation of an all-new Pirate Bay-hosted blog site called BayWords.

Speaking on the front page of BayWords the site’s creators have promised that people who want to post and share their thoughts with the global community will be able to do so without fear of censorship or of having their blog closed down for going off-message.

“Many blogs are being shut down for uncomfortable thoughts and ideas. We will not do that. Our goal is to protect freedom of speech and your thoughts. As long as you don’t break any Swedish laws in your blog, we will defend it,” the front-page welcome message defiantly declares.

Ad-funded

Reading further it appears that the new site intends to fund itself though advertising. The site’s administrators even offer a cheeky up-front apology to members for this, promising to keep it to a minimum.

Although very much in the early stages of evolution, the site promises to add all the standard blog trimmings, including comments and private domain support as well as access to CAPTCHA anti-bot technology.

BayWords is powered by the same software that underpins WordPress it also appears that support will be offered for any users looking to import archived posts from other blog sites, including WordPress itself.

Robbing masses

Although it’s too early to tell how successful the new venture will be, it’s reasonable to assume that it’ll be a popular option with the entertainment industry-robbing masses. The bigger question, perhaps, is whether it signals the start of a shift away from torrent searches to more ‘legitimate’ services.

In other Pirate Bay-related news the site's co-founder, Peter Sunde, has claimed in his blog that one of the police officers tasked with investigating The Pirate Bay has since gone on to find gainful employment with Warner Brothers.

Mockingly, Sunde volunteers his own services to the IT branch of the Swedish police, claiming (not unrealistically) that he probably knows a great deal more about computer networking than they do.

Regardless of where you might stand on the issue of file-sharing and piracy you have to admire Sunde’s barefaced cheek.