Faster Forward: December 12, 2010 - December 18, 2010
Users mourn Yahoo's Delicious bookmark service in advance (update: perhaps unnecessarily)
This is bitter news to many socially-minded Web users: Yahoo will apparently close its Delicious bookmark-sharing service. TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis and AllThingsD's Liz Gannes separately reported yesterday that Yahoo plans to shutter the site as part of a consolidation of its Web properties. Their and other stories quote vague statements...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 17, 2010; 11:00 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (8)
Categories:
Search, The Web
Save & Share:
Games meet real life
Tron: Legacy, a sequel to 1982 cult hit Tron, revisits a world where virtual reality is the only reality and you game for your life. While I'm not expecting my own lightcycle quite yet, nearly 30 years after Steven Lisberger's vision hit theaters, we're edging toward a world where work, games and virtual space are closely intertwined. Gamification is a trend to watch, but how can profit and non-profit organizations use it most effectively?
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 17, 2010; 10:50 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (1)
Categories:
Games
Save & Share:
Yahoo cuts Delicious, My Blog Log, AltaVista
Continuing efforts to rebuild, Yahoo has decided to close down several of its products, including the bookmarking service Delicious, AltaVista and My Blog Log. Eric Berlin, founder of My Blog Log leaked a slide from a Yahoo presentation showing other services being "sunset." The image has since been removed,...
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 17, 2010; 10:08 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (1)
Categories:
Search
| Tags:
AltaVista
Save & Share:
Google Chrome innovates to help charities
Using tech to give to charities this holiday season.
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 17, 2010; 10:02 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (0)
Categories:
Games, Gripes
Save & Share:
Online shopping deadlines near, Free Shipping Day arrives
You don't need to panic yet if you haven't finished -- or started -- online shopping for any holiday presents. But you should have "Panic now!" on your calendar in the next day or two. At Amazon, the nation's largest online retailer, Sunday the 19th is your last day to...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 17, 2010; 9:08 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (8)
Categories:
Shopping, Tips
Save & Share:
Google updates Android Maps app, making iPhone maps look even older
The holiday season just got crummier for manufacturers of GPS receivers: Google shipped a major update to its Google Maps application for Android phones that adds limited offline support. For the first time, you don't always need an active network connection. As Google's blog post and press page explain, the...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 16, 2010; 2:43 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (10)
Categories:
Location awareness, Mobile, Shopping
Save & Share:
Google Nexus S review
Google is making another run at selling its own smartphone. The new Nexus S--like its earlier, ill-fated Nexus One--is now on sale direct from Google's site as an unlocked device with a clean, standard Android configuration. But unlike the Nexus One, you can inspect a Nexus S in person before...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 16, 2010; 11:13 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (2)
Categories:
Mobile
Save & Share:
Mac App Store to open Jan. 6
The company's Mac App Store is set to launch on January 6 in 90 countries.
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 16, 2010; 10:20 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (3)
Categories:
Apple
Save & Share:
New iMac and Macbook Pro: Details surface
Component suppliers for the iMac and Macbook Pro told DigiTimes that "Apple plans to launch at least four upgraded MacBook Pros as well as an iMac that features a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market."
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 16, 2010; 9:04 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (11)
Categories:
Apple, Gadgets
Save & Share:
What do you do with your photos and videos?
This weekend's column will assess two software bundles you're likely to find on a new computer: Microsoft's Windows Live Essentials 2011 (free for Windows Vista and 7) and Apple's iLife '11 (free on new Macs, $49 otherwise as long as you run the 10.6 "Snow Leopard" release of OS X). But I need to focus on their most important capabilities. You can help me out here: What are the things you usually do with your pictures and videos? What would you like to do with them, but can't or don't know how to?
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 16, 2010; 2:15 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (23)
Categories:
Pictures, Video
Save & Share:
Backup for a minute: What should Marc Fisher's son have done?
The most talked-about tech story on the Post today wasn't here or on Cecilia Kang's Post Tech. Instead, it's been Marc Fisher's post--alternately amusing and unsettling--about how a thief broke into his house and stole, among other things, his teenage son's computer. And that's when things got worse. As my...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 15, 2010; 1:05 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (13)
Categories:
Privacy, Security, Social media
Save & Share:
Gawker breach fallout: LinkedIn, Amazon reset some users' passwords
Users and companies are trying to sweep up the mess caused by this weekend's breach of roughly 1.3 million reader accounts at Gawker Media. And a few of them are showing some surprising, welcome resourcefulness. LinkedIn, for example, scanned through the archive of usernames, e-mail addresses and passwords posted by...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 15, 2010; 12:08 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (20)
Categories:
Digital culture, Security
Save & Share:
Christmas gift ideas for all kinds of gamers
got a gamer in your life? I do. a great roundup of the best video games for kids this holiday season, but here are some more suggestions for the older game enthusiasts. The Armchair General: The chess-players of the video game world, strategists like to calculate, assemble and conquer. The Civilization franchise from 2K Games turns out consistently great material, and their fifth and latest installment lets users play world leaders ranging from Catherine the Great to George Washington. PC and Mac. The Shooter Fan: This gamer likes to use guns, fight evil and wreak havoc -- preferably with a few buddies. Beloved by frat boys and their ilk everywhere, Activision's Call of Duty franchise released its latest, Call of Duty: Black Ops, last month. The game boasts online multiplayer and Call of Duty: Black Ops, or Blops, opened to huge sales, but it's a great choice if your player missed it. All major consoles, Nintendo DS, and PC. The MMO-Lover: You may not know the term MMORPG (in English: Massively multiplayer online role playing game), but if someone you love plays one, you definitely know about them. These games require time and effort, and World of Warcraft continues its reign at the the top of the MMO market. Lucky for you, oh gift-giver, Blizzard just released a new expansion pack, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm in time for the holidays. The largest expansion yet, this latest add-on introduces two new races, the goblins and the worgens. PC and Mac. The Storyteller: Finally, there are some gamers who just like a good story. With developers thinking more about branching storylines and drama, there are some games that almost make you want to bust out the popcorn. Fallout: New Vegas, from Obsidian Entertainment puts players in an alternate version of Las Vegas, post-nuclear war. Look for the iconic "Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and listen for the golden voice of Mr. Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, who narrates. PS3, XBox 360, PC.
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 15, 2010; 10:32 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (0)
Categories:
Games
Save & Share:
Nokia delays E7 launch
Nokia announced it will delay rolling out its E7 smartphone, which was to hit stores before the holidays. That's bad news for the Finnish cellphone company, which will miss out on the holiday rush. The launch is now scheduled for early next year. Nokia spokesman Joseph Gallo told eWeek, "To...
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 15, 2010; 9:49 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (0)
Categories:
Gadgets, Shopping
Save & Share:
Mark Zuckerberg: Time's Person of the Year 2010
Time Magazine announced Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year for 2010. Zuckerberg, 26, owns about a quarter of Facebook's shares and is, to quote Time, "a billionaire six times over." He recently pledged to give away $100 million to the Newark, N.J. school system. Zuckerberg joins President Barack Obama, Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and, "You" as those who have been named Time's Person of the Year.
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 15, 2010; 8:24 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (41)
Categories:
Social media
Save & Share:
Playstation Move vs. Kinect sales
There was a lot of buzz over the weekend as news broke that the Microsoft Kinect was outselling the Playstation Move by a ratio of five to one. But the numbers aren't quite so simple. New numbers dropped Friday night showing that in terms of bundled units -- that is, new consoles that come with the motion-gaming accessories -- Microsoft is outselling Sony five to one. Bundled numbers are important. After all, they may show how many consumers are buying consoles as a direct result of the new technology, but they aren't a good indicator of overall sales, since many people who already own consoles are likely to upgrade.
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 14, 2010; 12:45 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (14)
Save & Share:
Mobile DTV gets up to speed (with video)
Some 12 years after it arrived in homes, digital television is ready to go outside them. A mobile variant of DTV technology geared for on-the-go viewing made a quiet debut several weeks ago. So-called MDTV--unlike the portable DTV sets that debuted a few years ago--works even when you're moving. But...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 14, 2010; 11:17 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (1)
Categories:
TV, Weekly video
Save & Share:
Facebook Memes 2010
Ready for another top ten list? Facebook released its "memology" for 2010 on Tuesday morning. (Disclaimer: Washington Post Co. chairman Don Graham sits on Facebook's board of directors.) Parts of the list seem awfully familiar given Google, Twitter and YouTube's summaries for the year -- World Cup, Haiti, iPad and,...
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 14, 2010; 10:10 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (0)
Save & Share:
My Gawker account got compromised. Now what?
As you may have heard, Gawker Media had a little security breach over the weekend. A group calling itself Gnosis cracked the New York firm's servers and downloaded a vast stash of data, including weakly encrypted password records. If you've left a comment at Gawker, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker,...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 13, 2010; 2:40 PM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (13)
Categories:
Digital culture, Recommended reading, Security
Save & Share:
Another top ten: The Twitter year in review
The World Cup is the clear winner of Twitter buzzdom, with three of the top ten trending topics -- FIFA World Cup, Vuvuzela and Pulpo Paul, the late psychic cephalopod who aced his World Cup predictions. (For those like me who don't speak Spanish, pulpo is the Spanish word for octopus.) Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2010 1. Gulf Oil Spill 2. FIFA World Cup 3. Inception 4. Haiti Earthquake 5. Vuvuzela 6. Apple iPad 7. Google Android 8. Justin Bieber 9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows 10. Pulpo Paul
By
Hayley Tsukayama
| December 13, 2010; 9:38 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (2)
Categories:
Digital culture, Social media, The Web
Save & Share:
YouTube releases 2010 top-10 list
The year isn't done, but a site devoted to short-form videos may not have the attention span to wait until Dec. 31 to tally up its most popular clips. YouTube released its top-10 list for 2010 this morning.
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 13, 2010; 7:04 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (5)
Categories:
Digital culture, Video
Save & Share:
PostPoints tip: Things to avoid buying in stores: cables and flash-memory storage
This should be a familiar topic to longtime readers, but it doesn't hurt to offer a reminder this time of year: Physical stores often charge a premium on common electronics accessories. The three I'd like to point out this year are cables--especially the HDMI audio/video cables that link HDTVs and...
By
Rob Pegoraro
| December 13, 2010; 6:21 AM ET |
Permalink |
Comments (4)
Categories:
Tips
Save & Share:
