Silicon Valley Unplugs for Meetings

Access enables rights, but is not a right itself: Vinton G. Cerf

(NEWSER) - With Facebook and Twitter fueling protests across the Arab world, many wonder: Is the Internet a human or civil right? No, declares Google VP Vinton G. Cerf firmly. Courts in various countries have declared it so, but the UN stopped short, calling the Internet "an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights." That's exactly what it is, Cerf writes in the New York Times : "Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself," "a means to an end, not … an end in itself." More»

Rumor mill heats up that company is going public soon

(NEWSER) - Here come the Facebook IPO rumors again. An insider tells Business Insider that employees expect the company to go public soon, possibly next month. "The IPO talk inside Facebook has ramped up the past 6 weeks and Zuckerberg repeatedly has said that it is 'coming,' which he *never* said in the history of Facebook," says the source's email. More»

Heir to the 'sidekick' throne misses the mark

(NEWSER) - If you're a Facebook-addicted, text-loving teenage girl, you might, maybe, like this phone. If not, look elsewhere. Microsoft's Kin isn't a smartphone, but a cell designed for social media. Is it any good?

• Gizmodo calls it "the most seamlessly connected phone on the planet," but doesn't love the look, function or feel. Kin is "the gawky teenage offspring of Windows Phone 7 and the Sidekick," concludes Matt Buchanan.

Single-purpose devices' days are numbered: Manjoo

(NEWSER) - After yesterday's announcement that the iPod Nano now has a video camera, Apple's future direction is clear, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate. Eventually, every iPod will be what Steve Jobs calls a “general-purpose device,” aka a small computer—a music player/phone/camera/web browser/GPS. Sure, Apple still sells dedicated music players. But its runaway hit is the multipurpose iPhone, the App Store is its most popular feature, and "tech is always getting cheaper and smaller," Manjoo observes. More»

'TV was rubbish so I left it ... regards your nighttime burglar'

(NEWSER) - A robber who swiped a family's laptop and iPhone in England this week has returned to haunt them—on Facebook, the Telegraph reports. "I have the laptop, phones OK but a bit scratched itll do," the thief wrote after hacking into the Facebook page of Victoria Richardson, whose West Sussex home was robbed on Thursday. "TV was rubbish so I left it ... regards your nighttime burglar." More»