Net Makes Star of MIT Eccentric

Tim Berners-Lee blasts those chipping away at its 'egalitarian principles'

(NEWSER) - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British engineer credited with inventing the World Wide Web, has a message for us: Social networking sites, app developers, and other entities, if left unchecked, will ruin his creation—which now belongs to all of us. "The web evolved into a powerful, ubiquitous tool because it was built on egalitarian principles," he writes in Scientific American , but "some of its most successful inhabitants have begun to chip away at its principles." His complaints:

• Social networking sites: They are "walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web," making each site "a closed silo of content, and one that does not give you full control over your information in it."
• Smartphone apps: "It is better to build a Web app that will also run on smartphone browsers," rather than a "closed" smartphone app, he writes, adding that he is especially wary of the iTunes store, which is not an "open marketplace."

At least five sites can help

(NEWSER) - Sure, you can listen to the hundreds of gigs of music you have on your computer—but why limit yourself? Mashable lists the top Web sites and applications to help you really utilize your audio library:

• Last.fm: One of the Web’s most popular music social networks, the site’s best feature is Scrobbler, which analyzes your listening habits and gives you recommendations based on your own tastes.

Site asks questions, then makes recommendations

(NEWSER) - A new website is ready to answer your queries, but it wants to get to know you first. Hunch.com, created by MIT scientists, asks a series of questions before making a recommendation—say, which car to buy, where to go on vacation, what campy movie to watch. It offers 2,400 decision topics, 14,000 follow-up questions, and more than 50,000 results, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More»

Download Working on a Dream on iTunes, Boss' official site

(AP) - Bruce Springsteen's new single can be downloaded free of charge—for one day. Springsteen is offering free downloads of Working on a Dream on iTunes and his official Web site. The track will have a fee attached on iTunes from tomorrow through Dec. 9. More»

(NEWSER) - Britney Spears is returning fire on the paparazzi by mocking them on her website, the BBC reports. The singer plans to post a "paparazzie award" every week along with a video of a bumbling photog. The first clip shows a pap falling over, camera in hand, over the caption: "This photographer eats some dirt while trying to get a shot of Britney." More»