Internet News

Facebook Graffiti Proves Worthy

Los Angeles Times  |  Feb 3, 08 6:50 PM CST

(Newser) - Most blog posts, Flickr pics, and YouTube vids are junk, a Los Angeles Times blogger laments, but Facebook has drummed up a cyberspace winner called Graffiti. The online painting tool has had more than 8 million users and sparked fine submissions in Dell’s “ReGeneration Contest," which asks artists to "explain what green means to you." More »

Zuckerberg Spills the Beans About Facebook Finances

All Things Digital  |  Feb 1, 08 12:12 PM CST

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg got talkative with the Facebook staff yesterday. The boy CEO shared intimate details of the privately-owned company’s finances to an all-staff meeting with an open phone-in line—“It was really unbelievable,” marveled one. The numbers indicated a fall from break-even grace for the company in 2008, when it will have a negative cash flow of $150 million, reports All Things Digital. More »

Look Who's Trying Out Waterboarding

Wall Street Journal  |  Jan 31, 08 12:38 PM CST

(Newser) - As the debate over waterboarding continues unabated, it has occurred to more than one cocky—or conscientious—young man that anyone can see for himself what it feels like, and whether it constitutes torture. The Wall Street Journal talks to several who've tried it—using friends with no special training. One 26-year-old reports he was shocked at how quickly blind panic overtook him. “It’s almost like the ideal way of torturing someone,” he concludes. “This is torture 2.0.” More »

MySpace to Open Platform to Developers

Associated Press  |  Jan 30, 08 1:00 PM CST

(Newser) - Following the lead of rival Facebook, social networking giant MySpace will launch the MySpace Developer Platform next week, giving programmers deeper access to its site--possibly including the ability to tap into MySpace user data, AP reports. MySpace already informally allows programmers to develop widgets for it, and hopes the new platform will help developers make more money through the site. More »

Sex Convicts May Face Internet Ban

CNET  |  Jan 29, 08 6:45 PM CST

(Newser) - New York's 25,000 convicted sex criminals will be banned from Facebook and MySpace if a bill unveiled today becomes law, CNET reports. Dubbed E-Stop, the legislation requires sex convicts to submit online identities and screen names so participating sites can block them. Those who committed a sex crime over the Internet would have usage controlled by the state's parole board. More »

Fashion Lovers Grow Weary of Waif Look

Newsweek  |  Jan 27, 08 7:16 PM CST

(Newser) - Fashion blogs, "Ugly Betty", and other pop staples are nudging the fashion industry to use more real people as models, Newsweek reports. So are YouTube, reality TV, and a slew of designers who make affordable lines for Target and H&M. "People would like to see somebody up there (on the catwalk) who reflects how people on the street really look," one casting agency topper says. More »

From Clerk to Rogue Trader to Facebook Laughingstock

New York Times  |  Jan 25, 08 11:14 AM CST

(Newser) - You don’t need a fancy education to lose $7.2 billion and become an Internet laughingstock. In the clubby world of French banking, Société Générale traders are usually the Gallic equivalent of Ivy League MBAs, but Jérôme Kerviel, a lowly biz school grad, worked his way up from shy clerk to secretive junior trader, the New York Times reports. Clearly, this man deserves the Nobel Prize for Economics. More »

Tonight May Be Game Over for Scrabulous