2 Much Kittehs on teh Interwebs; 1-Day Ban Planned

Blogs report conflicting information on 'Google Circles'

(NEWSER) - Google will soon launch a social network, blogs are saying, and it may be called Google Circles. The tech blog The Next Web first reported the news Friday, noting that the product would launch at Google’s I/O conference in May; ReadWriteWeb followed with an assertion that the new service would be announced at South By Southwest. Google knocked down the latter claim, but refused to “comment on rumor and speculation” about the service itself, the Telegraph reports. More»

Racy pics, suicide threats get would-be cops dumped

(NEWSER) - Law enforcement agencies are probing potential recruits’ digital lives for information that might make them unfit for the job, USA Today reports. More than a third of police agencies look into applicants’ social media presence, says a new report conducted for police executives. Reviewing postings to sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, some agencies require applicants’ online passwords, or want to see their text-messaging and email records. More»

Esquire : Sites that were before their time

(NEWSER) - Everything old is new again, especially on the Web. Some of today's tech darlings owe a lot to websites of years past. Here are some of Esquire's 15 favorite, and mostly kaput, Web 1.0 pioneers:

1. Dodgeball (2000) "A location-based social network for mobile devices, and the Internet's gift to stalkers," says Esquire. Today's Foursquare was co-created by one of its founders.

Lamb frolics in empty house, and hearts melt

(NEWSER) - Think a lamb running from room to room in an empty house is a scene from a dream or a Japanese horror film? Wrong. According to The Frisky , the video above is "maybe the cutest baby animal video ever." We hope Bea, "who’s as playful as a puppy," actually gets some time outside. Though those 2 rooms seem to give her much satisfaction. More»

This is what happened to Japan after WWII, and it's terrible

(NEWSER) - There is an epidemic of cuteness in the country, Jim Windolf writes, symptomatic of our national desire to be loved and taken care of after 8 years of George W. Bush and a much-diminished standing in the world. The signs are everywhere: giggling babies, LOLcats, cupcakes, “cutegasms,” the Mini-Cooper. It started in post-war Japan—still the "cute capital of the world"—but America is catching up. So fast, Windolf writes, that the surfeit of cuteness is “almost enough to make you nostalgic for Dick Cheney.” More»