The Daily Rumpus
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From Stephen Elliott
The White House releases its plan to create trusted identification systems for the Web.
Apple’s being hit with a class-action lawsuit that alleges its app structure makes it too easy for children to rack up charges in games without realizing they’re spending real money.
...moreAfter all the cool stuff hackers have done with the Kinect for Xbox, I’m excited to see what they’ll come up with when it moves to Windows computers.
The internet’s where the money’s at: Internet advertising revenue has surpassed newspaper advertising for the first time.
...moreA bunch of sites are buzzing about a (rumored) method that can unlock an iPhone without jailbreaking it.
The era of sales tax-free Internet shopping may be coming to an end.
Freelance writers just filed a class-action suit against AOL & the HuffPo.
...moreThe Vatican likes hackers now, because they make things? Who are they, Hannah Arendt? That’s a far cry from the Pope Benedict XVI’s early writings that say (among other things, obviously) that computer users are living in an alternate reality.
...moreGoogle employees testified today that giving private companies, as well as the government, the power to censor search results is an awful idea. Duh. What is Congress thinking?
Ah, hypocrisy. Apple’s new iAd app violates its own app guidelines.
Microsoft and Toyota are teaming up to bring the Web to your car.
...moreThe vote on whether Twitter and other SF tech companies will get their desired tax break to stay in town is today.
Google & Facebook are taking the French government to court over its privacy laws.
The Anonymous hacker group has set its sights on Sony employees.
...moreMicrosoft is gearing up to take an anti-competition complaint against Google to the European Commission. Google’s monopolistic search practices, they’re claiming, prevented the growth of their Bing search engine.
Speaking of Google, how would you like a Google smartphone app that has the ability to search for personal data based on facial recognition?
...moreThe +1 button: Google’s answer to the facebook like button, ‘cept it’ll actually influence your search results.
Drama: Paul Allen talks about the early days of Microsoft in his new memoir … and claims that Bill Gates schemed to take shares from him when he had cancer.
...moreMeme alert: The @BronxZoosCobra is making waves on the internet after a real cobra from the real Bronx Zoo went missing.
MIT has designed an artificial “leaf” that produces energy from sunlight and water.
Tweeting has been deemed not broadcasting and will be allowed in courtrooms… for now.
...moreResearchers have created the first plastic computer processor.
US intelligence agencies are using Google as a tool more and more . . .
And Google Search now supports Cherokee.
The majority of Americans are now on facebook.
This is how NASA photoshops Hubble images of the universe.
...moreNew photo-sharing-location-based-social-media-venture-funded-start-up Color is making waves. While the idea is pretty cool, the $41 million thrown behind it raises more tech bubble questions.
And of course, there are the inevitable parodies…
It looks like the FCC will be paying special attention to the recently announced AT&T and T-Mobile merger.
...moreThe NY Times’ online subscription price is way more than other online subscription services, so why would people pay for it?
Facebook removes around 20,0009 underage people from the site per day.
Apple pulled the “gay cure” app after an online petition was signed by ~140,000 people. Senators want them to pull police evasion apps too.
...moreFirst Amazon took on Netflix with streaming movies, and now it’s going after the Android store with its new Appstore. Oh, and Apple is suing over the name.
There are more questions than answers when it comes to the newly announced AT&T-T-Mobile merger.
...moreApple’s newest tool for convincing people to buy an iPhone? Shame.
Helping blind people navigate their environment is the newest awesome Kinect hack.
The porn industry might soon have its own ICANN-approved domain.
The New York Times officially announced its plan to hide behind a paywall today.
...moreGoogle seems to be inching closer to testing a new smartphone payment system. Goodbye, paper money?
Another likely impact of the Japanese earthquake seems to be rising prices for computer components.
The Obama administration is rolling out an extensive wishlist of changes to intellectual property law.
...moreAOL is planning big layoffs in the wake of their acquisition of the Huffington Post.
Here’s an interesting take on Hollywood’s attachment to old-school artificial scarcity of popular movies.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, has managed to raise $42 million in venture capital.
...moreThe end of cookies? The EU’s new law says websites must now explicitly ask for info from visitors.
Facebook is AOL-ifying the net, aggregating a multitude of functions into one blue & white monolith . . . and that’s a bummer.
...moreSweden is replacing stamps with text messages.
Too much tech use is ruining your sleep.
Google controls 97% of mobile search.
An amazing and terrifying tour of cutting-edge augmented reality tech.
...moreA skinny but charismatic Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2 on Wednesday.
You can get your new device basically everywhere starting next Friday.
AT&T is offering new non-contract, “postpaid” billing for iPad 2 data use.
For those recent iPad purchasers who aren’t tuned in to their product cycle, Apple is offering $100 rebates to match the new, lower price of the first generation machines.
...moreNow that the iPad 2 has been released, bloggers are wondering about what wasn’t included in the update.
Twitter is staying away from the IPO gravy train… for now.
Nintendo joins in on the “death of console video games” rhetoric.
...moreThe iPad 2 announcement came today! And it’s coming in multiple colors from the get go.
Google pulled over fifty programs infected with malware today. Are you infected? Here’s the full list.
An excellent parody Steve Jobs Twitter account has been terminated, presumably at Apple’s request.
...moreThe end of an era: RIP Sidekick smartphones.
The Google cloud failed for 40,000 users yesterday, but their data is backed up on low-tech tapes.
Imagine how cool it would be to do high school physics experiments in space!
...moreAck! Gmail contacts and emails go missing; Google acknowledges software problems.
Rumors about Apple products in new colors really excite tech bloggers.
Jurors tweeting from the jury box and other gaffes: how social media is changing legal ethics.
A Chinese tech firm that wants to acquire US companies is begging the US government to investigate it to prove it’s not just a front for Chinese intelligence.
...moreShould we protect the Internet from “astroturfing” (fake grassroots movements on forums, etc. that are actually run by major companies)?
Technology bests the man (again): Smartphone app gets driver out of speeding ticket.
The Securities Exchange Commission is investigating Twitter and Facebook.
...moreThe new iPhone presence on Verizon’s network might be squeezing out Motorola’s Android devices.
A cool civic application of new technology: New York City will soon be including QR codes on building permits.
Amazon appears to be going head to head with Netflix with its introduction of free streaming video for Amazon Prime subscribers.
...moreYou know the next financial bubble’s really building when people start denying there’s a bubble.
Netflix won’t be working on most Android phones anytime soon.
Google’s taking another crack at social, with a new social search system that draws on your friends’ links and content.
...moreRumors are wafting, nay, zooming around the interwebz about the new iPhone nano.
The US State Dept is now tweeting in Farsi. Iranian revolution, part 2, anyone?
Some contributing bloggers are kinda pissed about the Huffington Post’s recent acquisition for $315 million while they remain unpaid.
...moreKudos to Twitter, the only company to bring secret Wikileaks subpoenas out into the open.
Microsoft is fighting Apple’s attempt to trademark the term “App Store.”
Everybody wants to make a smartphone, including Facebook and PlayStation.
Some research on how constant digital stimulus changes people’s personalities.
...moreThe iPhone arrives on Verizon! But it might not make sense to get one right away…
The Internet’s next big rumor is concerned with a round of impending MySpace layoffs.
Are data-hogging Windows products still surprising to anyone?
Korean director Chan-wook Park’s new movie was shot entirely on an iPhone.
...more