Seattle group MoveRed.org targets youth voters with video series
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Aug 18, 08 3:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Online activism has long been a strength of the Democratic party, but a group of young Republicans is taking its message to the Internet in an attempt to sway younger voters, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. MoveRed.org is attempting to make up lost ground for the GOP online by targeting young voters with its own YouTube series.
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PRODUCT REVIEW
Flock lets you see Facebook and email feeds while reading
Wall Street Journal Aug 7, 08 3:45 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The web browser Flock is designed to ease multitasking for highly active web users, and it mostly succeeds, writes Walter S. Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal . Billed as “the social Web browser,” Flock gives users a sidebar with feeds for email, and social networking, photo, video, or news sites. The sidebar is always visible next to the page in the main browser window.
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Even CEO Zuckerberg reportedly selling still-private options at bargain prices
BusinessWeek Aug 6, 08 1:22 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Though the stake bought by Microsoft last fall pegged Facebook’s value at $15 billion, a rush of stock sales by insiders at the still-private company shows they think it’s worth much less, BusinessWeek reports. Even Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of the social-networking giant, reportedly has sold some shares, and trouble could be looming in Silicon Valley.
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Remodeled Facebook app seeks to get around copyright issues
Silicon Alley Insider Jul 31, 08 2:53 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The creators of Scrabulous are determined: Just 2 days after Hasbro forced Facebook to ditch their wildly popular online Scrabble impersonator, Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla have introduced Wordscraper, Silicon Alley Insider reports. The new game looks less like Scrabble than Scrabulous and offers a few rule changes, but it may yet provoke another takedown order.
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Britain concerned about spate of knife violence
ABC News Jul 30, 08 12:07 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A surge in knife crime has shaken Britain, ABC News reports. Twelve people—six of them teenagers—were stabbed to death in a single week this month. Public concern has caused Facebook to yank a third-party application where users could send each other "virtual stabs," and Nike has taken its Air Stab shoes off the market.
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'Barackbook'
highlights candidate's
controversial 'friends'
Wired Jul 30, 08 1:00 CDT
(Newser)
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The GOP is lampooning Barack Obama's popular Facebook page with something it calls Barackbook. The fake Facebook clone features a frowning Obama whose status reads "hoping to settle on an Iraq policy before November," Wired reports. In addition, the imaginary FriendFeed highlights controversial figures associated with the candidate, including former Weather Underground member William Ayers and corrupt landlord Tony Rezko.
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Popular Scrabble clone unable to withstand legal pressure
PC Magazine Jul 29, 08 10:52 CDT
(Newser)
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Facebook took down the wildly popular ‘Scrabulous’ this morning, PC Magazine reports, following a legal attack against the game's creators by the rights holders of Scrabble. The site finally folded to pressure after receiving a takedown notice from Hasbro, as well as Mattel, which owns international rights to the original Scrabble.
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Game maker says unsanctioned online version must go
ABC News Jul 24, 08 9:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The makers of Scrabble say Scrabulous must go. Hasbro today sued the creators of the online knockoff, which is wildly popular on Facebook, and warned the social networking site to dtich the game, ABC News reports. No word yet on whether that will happen. Hasbro recently released its own online version of Scrabble, also available on Facebook, in conjunction with Electronic Arts.
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Social networking websites are busy places—especially in the summer months
bizreport Jul 24, 08 11:30 CDT
(Newser)
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Facebook may be No. 2 in the social networking industry, but its 40% growth from June 2007 to the same month this year is closing the gap between it and market leader MySpace. MySpace—which has 72% of the market—showed negative growth in visits for the year, says BizReport. Facebok users spend an average 21 minutes on site, MySpace a full half hour.
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NEW RELEASE
Social network cuts down clutter, adds 'Publisher' feature
CNET Jul 21, 08 6:28 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Facebook has launched a redesign with subtle new features that improve usability, Rafe Needleman writes in Webware. The revamped site eliminates a lot of the clutter caused by its 16-month-old applications platform, and spotlights the most important aspect of Facebook—the Wall—pushing it to the front and making it easier to read.
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Profiles, photos can haunt defendants,
help prosecutors
Associated Press Jul 20, 08 7:13 PM CDT
(AP)
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Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet photos of defendants to cast doubt on their character during sentencing hearings and argue for harsher punishment, reports the AP. In one Rhode Island case, Facebook photos helped lead to a 2-year prison sentence.
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Facebook's official Scrabble application could oust popular game
TechCrunch Jul 8, 08 4:27 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Facebook users anticipating a goodbye to the site’s popular unofficial Scrabble game may finally see it happen when an official one comes out later this month. Hasbro and Electronic Arts are preparing the alternative to Scrabulous, which Hasbro says infringes on its copyrights. “We are keeping our legal options open,” a Hasbro rep told TechCrunch regarding its on-again, off-again battle against the hugely popular rogue version.
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'Good corporate citizens' send blogs, photos, videos to the trashbin
Associated Press Jul 7, 08 6:52 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A variety of websites are deleting postings that could offend, and with full legal protection—sparking debate about whether free speech exists online. Case in point: an image of a young smoker posted on Yahoo's photo service. It was cut for promoting underage smoking, but the photographer calls it a comment on Romanian street life. "I never thought of it as a photo of a smoking kid," he said.
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Schools shut down tradition as online networks take over
Economist Jul 5, 08 5:59 CDT
(Newser)
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The next generation of college graduates will have to rely on MySpace and Facebook to recall the good times and look up old friends, for the era of the yearbook is drawing to a close. With hardbound copies costing up to $75, the Economist cites Purdue University and nearby DePauw as two colleges that have canned the tradition; others have cut print runs dramatically.
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