If you have ever taken a cab in New York City, chances are you have seen advertisements for Bid on the City, a real estate service that lets you bid on high-end commercial and residential properties in New York City. If the owner accepts your bid on a property, which is typically worth hundreds...
On Wednesday, an Italian court convicted three Google execs on criminal charges for hosting a video on Google Video–which showed a teenager, allegedly with Down’s Syndrome, being bullied by other kids. The video was not posted by Google and when it received a notification from Italian police, it took it down. But Google still...
An Italian court in Milan has just convicted three Google executives of criminal charges. The court found them liable for an online video that they did not appear it, film, or have any role in posting, and which the company promptly removed when complaints about it were raised. The Italian court, however, still held...
Anyone who uses Facebook or Twitter is probably familiar with Bit.ly or TinyURL.com–Web services that shortens lengthy Web addresses to fit within limited character counts. These truncated URLs don’t make it clear what page the link redirects to, but most people have gotten used to that fact; users happily click a shortened URL without...
“More science, less fiction” is the message from the scientific community to Hollywood, even as the sci-fi film Avatar continues to rake in cash at the box office. Physics professor Sidney Perkowitz took to the stage at last week’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to encourage more science in...
It is one the most spectacular images that I have seen in a long time. Google Earth has just released hi-res images of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group–which sounds like a mouthful but is probably the most awesome place ever. This is where old decommissioned aircraft from the US military go to...
There have been many days when we have worried why we need to be constantly updated via Twitter of people’s terribly uninteresting lives. It’s either “Wow, what a great day,” or a link to some goobaliciously nonsensical crap that they find interesting. Dude, take a hint! We don’t want yet another update of your...
In 2008, writer Nicholas Carr worried in The Atlantic that the search engine Google and the easy availability of information on the internet is making our brains lazy–and rendering humans stupid. He wrote that the net was destroying his capacity for concentration and contemplation, adding, “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea...
It’s quite literally the battle of the titans. Facebook vs Google and the race seems to be getting edgier. January data released on compete.com now shows that the social networking site Facebook had a whopping 134 unique visitors in January. Fb seems to be galloping ahead, collecting not just eyeballs but also engaging its...
There was a time when having a pooch brought simple chores like taking the dog on regular walks, brushing its coat, and occasionally throwing a stick or prying a slipper loose from its clenched jaws. But these days, having a dog can bring strange new responsibilities–like signing the pup up to Twitter.