Facebook, Twitter to Face More Sophisticated Attacks: McAfee

"Social networks will face increasingly sophisticated hacker attacks in 2010 but law enforcement is expected to make strides in fighting cybercrime, according to Web security firm McAfee Labs."

Best and Worst CEO Buzz of 2009

"Fortune commissioned a statistical analysis of blogosphere chatter to discover which chiefs of Fortune 500 companies garnered the most buzz this year, good and bad."

Online Sales Jump 5% To $27B For Holiday Season

"Online sales jumped 5% for the holiday season, according to comScore Inc. (SCOR), which attributed the growth to a continued increase in the number of people shopping online."

How Facebook Dominated in 2009

"To most observers, 2009 marked the year Twitter conquered the world. Yet it wasn’t the only social media company that grew like wildfire. There’s another that grew even more rapidly, adding over 200 million new users and raising $200 million dollars — double that of Twitter’s most recent round."

Cheating on Papers is a Booming Web Business

"According to the Center for Academic Integrity, in the last school year nearly a third of the faculty at its 360 college and high school member institutions reported students downloading term papers, reports or essays written by someone else from online sites known as paper mills."

E-books and Multisensory Experience--What About Reading?

"Is a hybrid book our future? Maybe. 'As discourse moves from printed pages to network screens, the dominant mode will be things that are multi-modal and multilayered,' says Bob Stein, founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book. 'The age of pure linear content is going to pass with the rise of digital network content.'"

E-Book Piracy: The Publishing Industry's Next Epic Saga?

"As e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle continue to rise, so follows the publishing industry's worst nightmare: e-book piracy."

UC San Diego Experts Calculate How Much Information Americans Consume

"Computer Games and TV Account for Bulk of Information Consumed in 2008. U.S. households consumed approximately 3.6 zettabytes of information in 2008, according to the “How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers,” released today by the University of California, San Diego. One zettabyte is 1,000,000,000 trillion bytes, and total bytes consumed last year were the equivalent of the information in thick paperback novels stacked seven feet high over the entire United States, including Alaska."

Yahoo Losing Search Ground to Google, Bing

"Once the world's online search leader, Yahoo's share has sharply declined, putting it in danger of losing its relevance in a market increasingly dominated by Google. Yahoo's search market share in November fell to 17.5% from 18% in October, according to a monthly comScore report released late Wednesday. It's the lowest share ever recorded for Yahoo."

How Students Seek Information in the Digital Age

This is an information literacy report that just was published.

France Slaps Google Over Book-Scanning Plans

"A Paris court ruled that Google is breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books, handing the U.S. Internet giant a $14,300-a-day fine until it rids its search engine of the literary extracts."

Eye on Google

"Three major library associations sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Justice Department asking it to keep a close eye on Google to make sure it does not exploit its position as the owner of the world’s largest digital book database to gouge libraries with exorbitant licensing fees."

When Brands Go Social

"Facebook and Twitter offer businesses both opportunities and challenges around the world: About 60% of users are outside the United States."

Dell's Tweets Bring $6.5M in Sales

"Twitter has proved to be a bit of a gold mine for Dell—the computer maker said promotions over the social-networking site directly resulted in more than $6.5 million in sales this year. The number of subscribers to Dell's Tweets has risen 23% over the last three months, to the point where 1.5 million people—as far-flung as China, Mexico, Japan, and Brazil—now follow along, reports Bloomberg."

Mobile Internet to Dominate Within 5 Years -- Study

"The mobile Internet is growing faster than its desktop counterpart ever did, and more users may go online via mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years, according to a new study by investment firm Morgan Stanley."

Texting More Popular Than Calling in the US, Despite Costs

"The popularity of text messaging is exploding while rates continue to go up. According to data from the US Census Bureau, 110 billion text messages were sent in the US in December of 2008—more than double the 48 billion sent in December of 2007. This is undoubtedly thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones and devices designed specifically to communicate via non-voice means, and yet we are still paying what many consider to be outrageous rates for the privilege of sending a few bytes of data."

Open Access Encyclopedias

". . .a number of academic institutions are quietly trying to do what Britannica and others say can’t be done: build online encyclopedias that are rigorous, scholarly, and free to access."

Brace Yourself for the Real-Time Web

"Google this week launched real-time search, bringing live updates from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and more into a scrolling pane in your Google search results. How will the real-time trend evolve in 2010? Rapidly, no doubt. Why will it sweep the Web? Because it fuels our insatiable info-addiction."

Nook E-Reader Has Potential, but Needs Work

"Now, numerous companies are determined to challenge the Kindle with dedicated, mass-market gadgets for reading digital books and periodicals. The latest, and potentially most important, of these is a contender called the Nook, produced by the giant bookstore chain Barnes & Noble Inc., which started shipping it this week."

Google Launches Dictionary and Translated Web Search

"Amid all the hubbub over Google DNS on Thursday, the search giant also released two more helpful tools to help you get a richer search experience and improve your language skills. Google launched its dictionary project, offering a feature-rich resource that goes beyond simple definitions of words; and its new translated Web search makes it easier to find Web pages written in more than 40 languages."

Microsoft, Google in Battle to Win Over Students

"With the recession taking a bite out of university endowments and public school budgets alike, the competition between Google and Microsoft to convert the nation's colleges, universities and schools to the companies' free e-mail and other IT services that run on the Internet 'cloud' — outsourcing that can save a large university hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — has only grown more fierce. With the two companies fighting to baptize a future generation of computer users with their products, the stakes for both are significant."

Computer Labs Get Rebooted as Lounges

"Most students have their own computers now. But revamped labs can offer specialized technology and serve as gathering places."

Five Top Publishers Plan Rival to Kindle Format

"Five of the nation's largest publishers of newspapers and magazines plan to challenge Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle electronic-book reader with their own digital format that would display in color and work on a variety of devices."

Amazon's Kindle to Get Audible Menus, Bigger Font

"Amazon.com will add two features to the Kindle e-book reader to make the gadget more accessible to blind and vision-impaired users."

3 Ways Facebook Is Improving Online Safety

"Facebook recently has made headlines for the ways in which it is calling attention to the challenges of online safety, particularly with respect to social networks. On Monday, Facebook launched a Safety Advisory Council -- one of a number of ways the social networking site is trying to batten down the hatches and provide a safer online environment."

Google Search Goes Real Time

"In a flurry of major announcements, Google has reinvented the nature and scope of Internet search, a move likely to leave competitors wondering what hit them. Google has added real-time results to its search results pages for desktop computers, iPhone, and Android devices."

Amazon.com Starts Textbook Trade-In Program

"Amazon.com today announced a new textbook trade-in program, which gives students Amazon gift cards if they mail in their used books. The move poses a major challenge to college bookstores, which have long been the main site of book trade-ins for many students."

One-Third of Online IT Support for Students Deals with Login Questions

"A third of all online questions posed online in an IT help desk environment in institutions of higher education deal with password and login information. Those are followed by e-mail, which consumes 26 percent of questions; inquiries about Blackboard or student portals, which encompass another 21 percent; and gaining remote or wireless access, which makes up another 11 percent. General administration questions make up the remaining nine percent."

Ancient Pompeii is on Google's Street View

"The application allows Internet users to view panoramic street-level pictures of more than 100 cities around the world."

No Increase in Brain Tumors Seen From Cell Phones

"Whether cell phones cause brain cancer has been a subject of ongoing debate, but a new study confirms previous evidence suggesting that they don't."

4 Ways Microsoft's Bing Could Challenge Google

"On Dec. 2, Microsoft introduced new features for Bing that included the beta version of the updated Bing Maps, as well as Visual Search integrated with Facebook and Twitter feeds. With a massive marketing campaign over the summer, and an ever-increasing number of new features, Bing's market-share has climbed to 9.6 percent of the U.S. search-engine market, still lagging far behind Google at 70.6 percent."

Facebook Personalities Pretty Accurate

"Facebook profiles actually capture a person's true personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, U.S. http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/12/02/Facebook-personalities-pretty-accurate/UPI-55651259789900/ say."

10 Web Trends to Watch in 2010

"As 2009 draws to a close, the Web's attention turns to the year ahead. What can we expect of the online realm in 2010? While Web innovation is unpredictable, some clear trends are becoming apparent. Expect the following 10 themes to define the Web next year."

Yahoo Expands Integration With Facebook

"Yahoo Inc will let users of its email, photo-sharing and other online products link their content and activities directly into Facebook, the world's No. 1 Internet social network."

Google Strengthens News Content Walls

"In a nod to the growing debate on free access to news stories on the Web, Google has updated options to help news organizations limit access."

Amazon Says Kindle sales Hit Monthly Record in November

"Amazon.com said on Monday that its Kindle electronic book reader posted its best sales yet in the month of November, as rivals struggle with fulfilling their customer orders."

More Shoppers Use Smartphones to Study, Find, Buy

"Some 19% of Americans will use their mobile devices for shopping this holiday season, according to a Deloitte survey. The number is twice as high for young consumers: 39% of those 18 to 29 say they'll use their phones to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information and research products and prices. One-quarter of all who plan to use their phones to shop say they will make purchases on the devices."

Wikipedia 'Loses' 49,000 Editors

"Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia 'lost' 49,000 of its volunteer editors in the first three months of 2009, University research suggests. The figure compares with a loss of 4,900 over the same period in 2008."

Cloud Storage

"A growing number of companies will automatically sweep your hard drive and keep a copy of the information that is there in the Internet 'cloud.' Many early adopters use Mozy or Carbonite, which allow users unlimited backup space for the cost of a latte each month."

Publishers Forming 'Magazine iTunes'

"Major magazine publishers including Time Inc. and Conde Nast hope to exert some control over digital readership with a joint venture enabling readers to buy copies of the New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and many other mags from a single website, the New York Times reports."

Barnes & Noble Says Nook Reader Is Not Ideal for E-Textbooks

"Barnes & Noble says its Nook e-book device, to be released by the end of the month, was not built with college students in mind."

Twitter Eyes Acquisitions, Sees Making Money in 2010

"Micro-blogging site Twitter is interested in making more acquisitions as it continues to grow in popularity, co-founder Biz Stone said on Tuesday."

Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages

"Wikipedia.org is the fifth-most-popular Web site in the world, with roughly 325 million monthly visitors. But unprecedented numbers of the millions of online volunteers who write, edit and police it are quitting."

Google Previews Chrome Open Source Operating System

"Internet search giant Google has lifted the lid on its operating system, known as Chrome OS. The free and open source system is initially aimed at low-cost netbooks and does away with many of the features of a traditional program. All applications are designed to run in a web browser and all the user's data is stored on Google's servers.
Engineers from the firm said the first computers running the system would be available before the end of 2010."

Wikipedia, iPhone Among Decade's Top 10 Internet Moments

"The launch of Wikipedia, emergence of the iPhone and the election of U.S. President Barack Obama were among the 10 most influential moments on the Internet in the past decade, according to the annual Webby awards."

Cellphone Apps Challenge the Rise of E-Readers

"Many people who want to read electronic books are discovering that they can do so on the smartphones that are already in their pockets — bringing a whole new meaning to 'phone book.' And they like that they can save the $250 to $350 that they would otherwise spend on yet another gadget."

Microsoft Releases SharePoint, Office 2010 Betas

"The beta versions of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 are now available, Microsoft announced Wednesday at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC). The 2010 versions of Visio, Project, and Office Web Apps for business customers are also now live at www.microsoft.com/2010. Windows mobile clients are also available in beta via the Windows Marketplace."

New Web Site Makes Internet Time Traveling Easier

"Time traveling is coming to an Internet browser near you. A new Web site called Memento Web will allow anyone curious about what the Internet used to look like to plug in a date and then browse the World Wide Web as it was on that day."

Google Again Leads US Search Market; Bing Gains In October

"Google Inc. (GOOG) again led the U.S. core search market in October, but Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) bing.com also posted market-share gains, according to market research firm comScore Inc. (SCOR). The search leader had a 65.4% share in October, posting a 4% month-on-month rise to 9.4 million core searches. Microsoft's upstart site had a 9.9% share and handled 8% more searches."

U.S. Supercomputers Lead the World

"The United States earned eight of the top 10 spots on the latest list of the world's fastest supercomputers."

STUDY: Most Fortune 100 Companies Don’t Get Twitter

"In August we reported that a large number of Fortune 100 companies have embraced Twitter, but how well are they actually using it? A study released today (PDF) by Weber Shandwick says the answer is not very well, and that the majority of Fortune 100 companies don’t really get Twitter. Though 73 of 100 companies had at least one registered Twitter account (up from 54 reported in an unrelated study released in August), the majority of them weren’t using Twitter effectively to engage their followers, weren’t tweeting often, and didn’t display any personality in their tweets, according to the study."

Report: Countries Prepping for Cyberwar

"Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a "Cyber Cold War," amassing cyberweapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report to be released on Tuesday by McAfee."

Bandwidth Battle: How Entertainment is Strangling Education on Higher Ed Networks

"According to recent research, more than three-quarters of all bandwidth consumed on campus is actually taken up with applications that fall into the categories of gaming, social networking, media, file sharing, and Web browsing. Peer to peer (P2P) file sharing all by itself takes up a whopping 22 percent of total bandwidth."

Social Networks Could Help Community College Students

"Social-networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter can help community college students become more engaged in their academics, a http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-11-16-ccsse16_ST_N.htm out today finds."

Start-up Claims its DVDs Last 1,000 Years

"Cranberry's DiamonDisc product holds a standard 4.7GB of data, which roughly amounts to 2,000 photos, or 1,200 songs, or three hours of video, but the media is unharmed by heat as high as 176 degrees Fahrenheit, ultraviolet rays or normal material deterioration, according to the company. DiamonDiscs contain no dye layers, adhesive layers or reflective materials that could deteriorate."

Is Cloud Computing a Credible Solution for Education?

Bruce Schneier "spoke at a special session during this year's EduComm conference held back in June. Panelists also included Jeff Keltner, who heads the global initiative for Google Apps for Education, as well as senior executives from AT&T, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco. They discussed the future of information technology in the 'age of the cloud.'"

100 Useful Links For eBook Lovers

"With ebooks, you can read, stream, and listen to lessons, classic literature, poetry and reference books on the Internet or your mobile device. Here are 100 useful links for ebook lovers."

Internet Execs Teach Vatican Web Skills

"Executives from Facebook, Wikipedia and Google are attending a Vatican meeting to brief officials and Catholic bishops about the Internet and digital youth culture. The symposium, which opened Thursday and runs through Sunday, also will address Internet copyright issues and hacking - including testimony from a young Swiss hacker and an Interpol cyber-crime official. The meeting is being hosted by the European bishop's media commission and is designed to delve into questions about what Internet culture means for the church's mission and how the church communicates that mission to others."

Microsoft's Bing Video Search Revamped

"Microsoft has just announced a major revamping of Bing's video search function and a new partnership with Wolfram|Alpha, the free online data mining service."

Google Offers $5 Storage for 10,000 Photos

"Google has offered online storage for two years, but Wednesday it slashed prices drastically to $5 yearly for 20 GB, from $20 for 10 GB. Google says the cost of hard drive storage dropped, enabling it to lower fees."

Windows 7 Could Hasten Touch-Screen Computers

"As part of the company's recent launch of Windows 7, the vastly improved successor to Windows Vista, Microsoft hopes to usher in a new era for touch-based computing."

Second Life Duty Now Required for Penn State's Online Advisers

"Plenty of colleges have a presence in Second Life. Pennsylvania State University is taking that a step further. Academic advisers at the university’s online campus are now required to be available for meetings with students in the virtual world every week, a Penn State official said during last week’s Educause conference here."

Six Social Media Trends for 2010

"So what could social media look like in 2010? In 2010, social media will get even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive. . ."

Virtual businesses: Going to the Office in Second Life

"As recession-minded businesses cut back on travel for employees, online communities such as Second Life are filling the void. More than 1,400 companies and agencies now use Second Life avatars to hold virtual meetings and conduct training."

Bookless Libraries?

"What started as a debate over whether brick-and-mortar libraries would survive much further into the 21st century turned into an existential discussion on the definition of libraries, as a gathering of technologists here at the 2009 Educause Conference pondered the evolution of one of higher education’s oldest institutions."

Five New Technologies That Will Change Everything

"Superfast USB, HTML 5, more will emerge as breakthroughs soon."

What Happens When Good Robots Go ‘Bad’?

"Household robots could be a means for spying, vandalism and psychological attacks, according to a study presented at the International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing."

Google Providing Better View of Personal Data

"Google is offering a new privacy control that will make it easier for people to see some of the information being collected about them."

Study: Internet Use Won't Cause Social Isolation

"Although technology and the Internet have taken a beating in the past for potentially limiting people's social interaction, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found that the opposite might be true. According to a Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey, which polled 2,512 adults, the dawn of new technology and the Internet has not caused people to withdraw from society. In fact, the study found that 'the extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns that the prevalence of severe isolation has tripled since then.' Pew said that 6 percent of the entire U.S. adult population currently has 'no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be especially significant in their life."

Google Unveils Search Tool for Retail Sites

"Google introduced a new Commerce Search tool for retailers on Wednesday to try to make the online shopping experience easier for consumers as the holidays approach. . . With Commerce Search, shoppers can sort data by "category, price, brand, or any other attribute," Google said. Retailers can also offer special attention for specific products to draw consumer attention. The tool includes built-in spell-check and synonyms to help ensure people find the items they're looking for, regardless of how they spell or identify products."

CEO of the Decade: Steve Jobs

"How's this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley."

The Netflix of Academic Journals Opens Shop

"By opening the largest online rental service for scientific, technical, and research journals, the company Deep Dyve is hoping to do for academic publications what Netflix has done for movies: make them easily accessible and inexpensive for everyone. The Web site has been an academic-journal search engine since 2005 and unveiled its rental program this week. Now anyone can “rent” an article—which means you can view it on your computer without ownership rights or printing capabilities—for as little as 99 cents for 24 hours. Users can also subscribe for monthly passes. Currently the site has 30 million articles from various peer-reviewed journals."

Students Unimpressed with Faculty Use of Ed Tech

"While students and faculty seem to agree on the importance of technology in education, the two groups do not agree on how well it's being implemented. According to new research released Monday, only 38 percent of students indicated that their instructors 'understand technology and fully integrate it into their classes.' Students also rated that lack of understanding as 'the biggest obstacle to classroom technology integration.'"

IT Budgets Take a Hit

"Nearly half of the survey’s 500 respondents — including more than two-thirds of public universities — have pared down their IT budgets in 2009. That figure represents a reversal from 2008, when about half reported budget increases. Only 21 percent put more money into information technology this year. For the first time this decade, financing information technology registered as one of the most pressing concerns among campus technologists."

Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years

"Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media content, delivered over super-fast bandwidth in real time."

The Global Antitrust Battle Over Google's Library

"The case presents a tangle of issues: how to create new markets for old books without shortchanging authors; how to nurture new technology without stifling competition; and how to preserve all that when one company — in this case, Google — is pioneering the revolution and could profit handsomely. One commentator, who supports the original settlement, has called it 'the World Series of antitrust.'"

A New Way of Looking at the World

"An emerging set of tools is making it easier than ever to track and compile all sorts of 'data' and display it in a way that's relatively easy to understand. You can now point your mobile phone at a street and instantly get ratings for restaurants. Or type in your address and find reports of crimes that may have occurred in your neighborhood. It's even possible to track emotions on a national and global scale."

Eight Tech Trends for 2010

"Some of the most innovative, interesting, and, well, strange tech has nothing to do with computing monoliths like Google or Microsoft. And it's just around the corner. Here's our list of the tech trends, products, and innovations that are available today — or coming online shortly — and how they'll affect your life next year."

PCs Shed Pounds and CD Drives, Gain Touch Screens

"Personal computers are changing — and not just because of the recent launch of Windows 7. Visit an electronics store and you might also find laptops are missing a familiar component. You could experiment with new ways of controlling some computers. And you'll see portable PCs slimming down."

E-Readers May Not Solve Publisher Woes Yet

"Publishers hoping to halt a slide in sales with new electronic reading devices will struggle to get consumers to embrace them until the technology improves, experts say."

Internet Believers: Pastors Open Online Churches

"The World Wide Web has become the hottest place to build a church. A growing number of congregations are creating Internet offshoots that go far beyond streaming weekly services. The sites are fully interactive, with a dedicated Internet pastor, live chat in an online 'lobby,' Bible study, one-on-one prayer through IM and communion. (Viewers use their own bread and wine or water from home.) On one site, viewers can click on a tab during worship to accept Christ as their savior. Flamingo Road Church, based in Cooper City, Fla., twice conducted long-distance baptisms through the Internet."

Facebook Spammer Ordered to Pay $711 Million

"A California judge awarded Facebook $711 million in damages against spammer Sanford Wallace for bombarding the Web site with junk messages. . .Wallace, who has also been called the 'Spam King,' accessed Facebook members' accounts without their permission and sent out "phony" Wall posts and messages, the company said."

Web Pioneer Recalls 'Birth of the Internet'

"Kleinrock holds more than a dozen patents and was awarded the National Medal of Science last year by President Bush. In an interview with CNN, the 75-year-old looks back on his achievements and peers into the exciting and sometimes scary future of the Web he helped create."

The Ever-Expanding University of Phoenix

The University of Phoenix "announced that the university's enrollment of degree-seeking students grew to 443,000 as of August 2009, up 22 percent from 362,000 in August 2008. The biggest growth in Phoenix's enrollments, by far, came among students seeking associate degrees, which rose by 37 percent, to 201,200 from 146,500 in 2008."

Software Helps Music Students Collaborate Online With Crystal Clarity

"Music schools have a tradition of bringing in famous musicians to hold master classes with a handful of students, but many of those visits have been cut this year because of tight budgets. Free software developed at the University of Southern California promises to make videoconferencing clear enough to hold such classes remotely over high-speed Internet connections."

Are College E-Mail Addresses on the Way Out?

"If the last four years are any indication, college-student e-mail addresses may soon be a thing of the past. So says a report issued by Educause, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of information technology in higher education. The "Core Data Service Fiscal Year 2008 Summary Report" took information from nearly 930 colleges and universities regarding their IT practices and environments."

School Chooses Kindle

"Library watchers say it could be the first school library, public or private, to forsake ink and paper in favor of e-books. It also represents the first time a school has placed its students' intellectual lives so fully into the hands of a few online publishers and makers of electronic devices. . .Reading David Copperfield in English class? A librarian will gladly download it onto one of 65 Kindle handheld electronic book readers from Amazon.com, which circulate like library books."

The Six "Wow" Features of Windows 7

"A career Web designer, Moreau was an unlikely choice to pull this off. 'I was told that was the point,' he says. In turn, he amassed his own band of architects, artists, and writers who could bring fresh perspectives to Windows 7. We asked Moreau and his team to tell the tales behind six buzzed-about Windows 7 features."

New-Tech E-Books Boosting Old-Book System: Libraries

"So we know that the effects of e-book publishing are likely to be widespread and possibly quite subtle, but here's one that may be a surprise: In the U.K. they're boosting Library membership figures, quite significantly."

Barnes and Noble's Shiny, Share-Friendly 'Nook'

". . .the launch of the Nook, an impressive-looking $260 device that will go head-to-head with Amazon.com's Kindle, currently the most successful product in a small but growing market for e-book readers."

.Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers

"Companies big and small monitor Twitter to find out what their customers like and what they want changed. Twitter does the same. It started two years ago as a bare-bones service, offering little more than the ability to post 140-character messages. Then, it outsourced its idea generation to its users. The company watches how people use the service and which ideas catch on. Then its engineers turn the ideas into new features."

Amazon App Allows Kindle Books on PCs

"Amazon will introduce a free software app next month that will allow Kindle users to read their e-books on their PCs. What's more, the app works for non-Kindle owners: Anyone with an Amazon account will be able to buy the books and download them to their Window-based computers, notes CNET."

TV Viewers Migrate to Web

"More and more Americans are watching television exclusively online and ditching their cable or satellite service. One-quarter of families have tuned in online, and 25% of those viewers have watched a full-length show on a computer—a 67% jump just since 2007."

Report: WHO to Announce Cell Phone, Brain Tumor Link

"A groundbreaking, $30 million study into cell phones has found a link between long term use and brain tumors."

Americans Willing to Scan Thumbprints, Eyes for Cybersecurity

"Mark_Cohnx-large Americans are willing to have their thumbprints and eyeballs scanned to keep cybercriminals from stealing their sensitive data, according to survey results released this week. Of the 583 respondents polled by tech consulting firm Unisys and Leiberman Research, 93% said they would be interested in using fingerprinting to secure their data; 58% said they would be willing to provide biometric data to merchants and financial institutions to verify their identity."

ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009

"The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009 is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 studies. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2009 survey of 30,616 freshmen and seniors at 103 four-year institutions and students at 12 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 62 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2009 study also includes a special focus on student ownership and use of Internet-capable handheld devices."

Study: US Gov't Cybersecurity Spending to Grow Significantly

"U.S. government spending on cybersecurity will grow at a compound rate of 8.1 percent a year between 2009 and 2014, outpacing general IT spending, according to the government analyst firm Input."

Heavy Duty Video Gamers Have Less Focus

"High-volume action video game players -- those who play about 40 hours a week -- had more difficulty keeping focused on longer tasks, U.S. researchers say."

A Virtual Clinic to Treat the Stresses of War

"Many veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder, but only one-third get medical help. One researcher has built a healing center for veterans in a virtual world, where she hopes they will be more comfortable seeking care."

Twitter Becomes Mutual Friend of Google, Microsoft

"Twitter Inc. is selling the rights to mine its communications hotbed to both Internet search leader Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in dueling deals that underscore the growing importance of being able to show what's on people's minds at any given moment."

Twitter Users Getting Younger

"Consider. . .that the median age of a Facebook user is now 33, despite the social-networking site's roots as a college hangout, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The median age for Twitter is 31. And while Facebook's audience is aging, Twitterers are getting younger. Internet tracker comScore Inc. found that 18- to 24-year-olds made up 18 percent of unique visitors to Twitter in September, compared with 11 percent a year earlier. Meanwhile, kids ages 12 to 17 accounted for 12 percent of Twitter visitors last month, about double the proportion of a year earlier."

UCLA Study: The Internet Is Altering Our Brains

"Adults with little Internet experience show changes in their brain activity after just one week online, a new study finds."

Fake Security Software in Millions of Computers: Symantec

"Tens of millions of U.S. computers are loaded with scam security software that their owners may have paid for but which only makes the machines more vulnerable, according to a new Symantec report on cybercrime."

Barnes & Noble Expected to Unveil E-Reader

"Barnes & Noble Inc. is expected to unveil an electronic-book reader to compete with Amazon.com's Kindle in the still-small arena where some see book-selling's future playing out. The New York Times reported that the reader, to be announced Tuesday in New York, will be called the "Nook" and sell for $259."

Facebook, Twitter Users Beware: Crooks are a Mouse Click Away

"If you're on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking site, you could be the next victim. That's because more cyberthieves are targeting increasingly popular social networking sites that provide a gold mine of personal information, according to the FBI. Since 2006, nearly 3,200 account hijacking cases have been reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance."

How Skype Is Changing the Job Interview

"Get ready for a closeup: your next job interview might be on webcam. Looking to save time and money, companies are turning to video-chat software as a cheap, low-hassle way to vet job candidates. That means a growing number of people looking for work are meeting their prospective new bosses not at the office but in the comfort of their own home."

Internet Archive's BookServer could 'dominate' Amazon

"An initiative in the works from the nonprofit Internet Archive to centralize the electronic distribution of commercially viable books could upend the publishing industry and declaw Amazon.com, an industry analyst said. On Monday, the Internet Archive, which among other things has been working for some time to digitize countless numbers of public domain texts, showed the first public look at its BookServer project, an initiative its dubs, 'The future of books.'"

Web Surfing Can Help Slow Dementia

"Surfing the Internet can slow or even reverse the mental decay that leads to dementia, according to a new study. UCLA researchers scanned the brains of 24 men and women aged 55 to 78 and discovered that surfing the web was more stimulating than reading, with the effects lasting long after they’d logged off."

New York Times to Cut 100 Newsroom Jobs

"The New York Times plans to cut 100 newsroom jobs by the end of the year through buyouts and might resort to layoffs as it reels from the advertising revenue drop that is imperiling U.S. newspapers."

Welcome to the University of iTunes

"Hundreds of universities, and a growing number of business schools, are making recordings of lectures, seminars and conferences available to the general public via Web sites such as iTunes and YouTube."

A Year Later, a Texas University Says Giving Students iPhones Is an Academic Success

"Abilene Christian University says handing out iPhones to its entire first-year class in 2008 has improved interaction between students and faculty members. That students use the devices so much for academic purposes, the university says, proves that the move was not just a way to get the Texas institution noticed—though it certainly doesn't mind grabbing headlines. In a report as shiny and user-friendly as the iPhone itself, the university provides page after page of evidence that it says demonstrates that the iPhone program works."

After Vista, Windows 7 is a Giant Leap for Microsoft

"What you'll notice is that Windows 7 is snappier than its predecessor, more polished, and simpler to navigate. Screens are less cluttered. It has better search. . ."

The Future of College May be Virtual

"Bricks-and-mortar universities should prepare for a jolt as high (and still rising) costs push students online."

College Technology 'Catching up' with Students

"Today's college classrooms are high-tech marvels, with overhead projectors and grease pencils replaced by document cameras, handheld clickers and interactive white boards. 'A lot of this is us catching up with the students and what they're bringing to us,' says Michael Reuter, 42, director of technology operations at Central Michigan."

A New Competitor to OCLC for Bibliographic Services

"Will budget-conscious libraries embrace a lower-cost alternative for their bibliographic services?"

A Library to Last Forever

An article by Sergey Brin, co-founder and technology president of Google. He argues for the value of the Google Book Search.

Internet Access Now a Legal Right in Finland

"In Finland, broadband access isn’t a privilege, it’s a right. The Ministry of Transport and Communications has pushed through a law requiring telecom companies to offer speeds of at least 1 megabit per second to all of the country’s 5.3 million citizens."

Open Access to Research Is Inevitable, Libraries Are Told

"Public access to research is 'inevitable,' but it will be a slog to get to it. That was the takeaway message of a panel on the role libraries can play in supporting current and future public-access moves. The panel was part of the program at the membership meeting of the Association of Research Libraries, held here yesterday and today."

U.S. Broadband Study Says "Open Access" Fosters Competition

"Open access policies have helped other leading industrialized nations develop more competitive broadband markets by lowering entry barriers, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The study, commissioned by the FCC, examines global broadband plans and practices and comes as the agency is devising a plan aimed at increasing broadband usage in rural and urban areas of the United States."

Google Unveils New e-Book Service

"Google is launching a new service for booksellers next year called Google Editions, which will let readers buy books and read them anywhere on gadgets ranging from cell phones to possibly e-book devices."

100 Ways to Use Twitter In Your Library

"Twitter is a free social networking and communication tool that lets you send short messages of up to 140 characters to your group of friends via the Twitter website, SMS, other Twitter clients, email, or IM. . .Here are 100 tips that can help you effectively use Twitter in your libraries."

Libraries of the Future

"The university library of the future will be sparsely staffed, highly decentralized, and have a physical plant consisting of little more than special collections and study areas. That's what Daniel Greenstein, vice provost for academic planning and programs at the University of California System, told a room full of university librarians Wednesday at Baruch College of City University of New York, where the higher education technology group Ithika held a meeting to discuss 'sustainable scholarship.'"

After Losing Users in Catalogs, Libraries Find Better Search Software

"In the open-source world, at least 10 academic libraries have turned to VuFind, which originated at Villanova. Virginia's Blacklight, with Stanford University as a development partner, is in a beta phase. And Rochester's eXtensible Catalog, or XC, backed by $1.2-million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will be rolled out in the spring. The shift from commercial products to open-source ones is about more than money, though. Bess Sadler, chief architect of the online library environment at the University of Virginia, sees the open-source Blacklight project as a "shift of power," as she wrote recently in the journal Library Hi Tech."

Click by Click, Libraries and Readers Wade Into Digital Lending

"About 5,400 public libraries now offer e-books, as well as digitally downloadable audio books. The collections are still tiny compared with print troves. The New York Public Library, for example, has about 18,300 e-book titles, compared with 860,500 in circulating print titles, and purchases of digital books represent less than 1 percent of the library’s overall acquisition budget. But circulation is expanding quickly. The number of checkouts has grown to more than 1 million so far this year from 607,275 in all of 2007, according to OverDrive, a large provider of e-books to public libraries. NetLibrary, another provider of e-books to about 5,000 public libraries and a division of OCLC, a nonprofit library service organization, has seen circulation of e-books and digital audio books rise 21 percent over the past year."

Could Google Wave Replace Course-Management Systems?

"Google argues that its new Google Wave system could replace e-mail by blending instant messaging, wikis, and image and document sharing into one seamless communication interface. But some college professors and administrators are more excited about Wave's potential to be a course-management-system killer."

Microsoft's Free Antivirus Software Actually Works!

"AV-Test.org ran it through a bevy of tests and found the freebie performed admirably. In its first outing, it nabbed all 3,700 viruses, Trojans, and worms that testers threw at it. Then they loosed it on a computer already infected with 545,344 malware samples, and it scrubbed 98.4% of them. It’s relatively efficient, too."

The Boom in New E-Readers

"Amazon is about to be attacked by a squadron of would-be Kindle killers being brought to market by some of the biggest names in consumer electronics and publishing. To complicate the increasingly competitive landscape even further, Apple and, according to rumor, Microsoft are working on tablet computers that could prove to be handy e-readers but with more functions and features, such as video display capability and full web browsers."

College Technology 'Catching up' with Students

"Today's college classrooms are high-tech marvels, with overhead projectors and grease pencils replaced by document cameras, handheld clickers and interactive white boards."

The Online Competition to Save Newspapers

"When beleaguered executives from top newspaper companies met at a Chicago airport hotel in late May, they decided they needed a savior — that is, a tech company to help them figure out ways to make money online. Letters inviting solutions went out to 10 companies, and in July the responses discreetly rolled in."

Amazon's Kindle e-Reader to go International

"Amazon said it would begin selling an international version of its popular e-reader that will work in more than 100 countries on October 19."

Innovations in Online Translation Services

Facebook and Google have "released a number of updates to their translation services in recent weeks."

PBS and NPR Add to Trove of Free Online Lectures

"PBS and NPR are now posting taped interviews and videos of lectures by academics, adding to the growing number of free lectures online."

Nielsen Hooks Up With Facebook for Ad Effectiveness

"Nielsen has struck a global, multiyear partnership with Facebook that begins with hundreds of studies this year to explore the effectiveness of advertising on the online social network. Nielsen will design and execute the studies while data collection and consumer privacy will be handled by Facebook, which claims 300 million users."

FCC Proposes New Open Internet Rules

"U.S. phone companies may be forced to open their wireless networks to rival Internet services like Skype and Google Voice under a proposal brought out by the top telecom regulator to safeguard so-called Internet neutrality. The proposal, if adopted, would be a victory for consumer advocates and big Internet companies like Google Inc at the expense of telecom operators like AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications and Sprint Nextel Corp."

Google Working to Revise Digital Books Settlement

"The news out of this is that there are frantic negotiations going on in
back rooms right now, said James Grimmelmann, an associate professor at
the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School, which
raised antitrust and other objections to the settlement. The parties are
scared enough to be talking seriously about changes, with each other and
the government. The government is being the stern parent making them do
it."

Justice Department Tells Court to Reject the Google Books Settlement

"The U.S. Department of Justice late Friday urged the court overseeing Google's book search settlement with authors and publishers to reject the settlement in its current form, although it strongly hinted that the parties are flexible on certain provisions."

Justice Department Tells court to reject the Google books settlement

Google Deal Set to Reincarnate Digital Books

"Google Inc. is giving 2 million books in its digital library a chance to be reincarnated as paperbacks."

Next: An Internet Revolution in Higher Education

"Web technology is poised to shake universities, the way it rocked newspapers and the music industry—with convenient, cheaper alternatives."

eBay, Verizon Top Privacy Survey

"Results are in for the most-trusted American companies for privacy practices, and most of the top-10 has a decidedly tech flavor. eBay, Verizon, IBM and Yahoo led the calvacade of 'most trusted' consumer brands for their privacy policies - such as access to account information and data sharing practices - according to the fifth annual TRUSTe/Ponemon Institute survey. Facebook and Intuit were also in the top 10. Conspicuously absent was Google."

Microsoft, Google Expand Search-Engine Tools

New products are "evidence that the search engine market, once dominated by simple rectangular search bars and the lists of Web pages that follow, is diversifying. People who once were happy with a one-search-fits-all model are finding exceptions, and a number of niche search products are trying to respond to these increasingly diverse needs."

Facebook Nearly as Large as U.S. Population

"Facebook's user base is nearly as large as the U.S. population and, for the first time, the site has turned a profit."

Google Updates Browser, Plans to Gain Share

"Google Inc has rolled out a new version of its Chrome Web browser and a version of the Mac browser for mainstream users will be available within months, as the company moves to double Chrome's market share."

Top 5 Web Trends of 2009

"This week ReadWriteWeb is running a series of posts analyzing the 5 biggest Web trends of 2009. So far we've explored these trends: Structured Data, The Real-Time Web, Personalization, Mobile Web / Augmented Reality. The fifth and final part of our series is about the Internet of Things"

Tech Giants Offer Ideas on Charging Readers Online

"Some of the world's most prominent technology companies are offering suggestions to publishers on how they can charge readers for news online. IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Google Inc. — a company some newspapers blame for helping dig their financial hole — responded to a request by the Newspaper Association of America for proposals on ways to easily charge for news on the Web."

Top US Copyright Cop Opposes Google Book Deal

"The nation's top copyright official has joined the mounting opposition to a class-action settlement that would give Google Inc. the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books."

Europe's Heated Reaction to Google Books

"As the scope of Google's plans to digitise millions of books gradually becomes clear, European publishers, booksellers and authors are up in arms about copyright, data privacy and censorship issues."

Amazon Returns Deleted Kindle Books

"Yesterday Amazon e-mailed customers affected by the mass deletion and offered them a free, and no doubt properly licensed, copy of any book they lost, or the option of a check for $30."

New Protection System to Anticipate PC Invaders

"In a step that should help make the Internet safer for consumers, anti-virus giant Symantec on Wednesday will introduce a protection system designed to anticipate new malicious programs that try to sneak onto your computer. For decades, anti-virus protection has worked by reacting to new malicious programs. Researchers scramble to identify bad code, then create and distribute filters for it. But cybercriminals have gotten so fast at evading the latest filters that protection often comes too late."

People Would Rather Lose Wallet Than Cellphone

"Cellphone feels like a part of your body? A global survey has found that most people can't live without their mobiles, never leave home without them and, if given a choice, would rather lose their wallet."

Study: Bing better than Google in Canada

"Hitwise search analyst Heather Hopkins has uncovered evidence affirming that Microsoft's new Bing search engine may be substantially more effective than Google at getting high quality search results -- at least for Canadians. Hopkins has compiled data that shows Canadians using Bing find the results they were looking for 78.7% of the time compared to a 67.6% percent success rate using Google."

Google Users Search More, Very Loyal: ComScore

"Search market leader Google Inc holds greater loyalty among its users, who conduct more searches a month than those on Yahoo! and Microsoft, new data issued on Friday showed, posing a challenge for the new team of rivals to Google."

Viewers Hunger for Web and TV at Same Time: Study

"U.S. television viewers are increasingly turning on the Web, tuning into television and not missing a beat on either, as simultaneous TV and Internet use continues to rise, research firm Nielsen said on Wednesday."

Study Finds Prime Time on the Internet Is 11 P.M.

"According to a study, North Americans have been staying up late to do their Internet surfing this summer, so late that the peak usage for the whole day has been at 11 p.m. Eastern time. That appears to be a shift from previous years, when most Internet activity was in the daytime."

More Big Businesses Hire Professional Tweeters

"Multinational corporations, such as Ford Motor Co. and Coca-Cola Co., are beginning to use social media to increase positive sentiment, build customer rapport and correct misinformation, says Adam Brown, Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based director of social media."

New Sony Vaio PCs Will Include Google Web Browser

"Google Chrome, languishing in the browser wars, will get a substantial boost thanks to a deal with Sony—which is shipping new Vaio PCs with Chrome pre-installed. Google is also talking to other computer manufacturers, the FT reports, as it attempts to weaken the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which commands 68% of the field. Google Chrome, despite good reviews from techies, has only a 2% share after a year."

Job Seekers in Need of Computers Flock to Libraries

"Libraries across the USA are filling up with people waiting to get online to fill out applications, write résumés or look for job openings, a national study by the American Library Association shows."

Are Social Networks Making Students More Narcissistic?

"College students say social networking makes them more narcissistic, a national survey reports today — and they also believe their generation is the most narcissistic of all."

Twitter Being Used to Deliver Medical News

"Twitter, the social networking tool, is emerging as a potentially valuable tool of real-time, healthcare information and medical alerts, U.S. researchers say."

Holy Tweet: Twitter Site Offers Visitors Direct Line to God

"An Israeli university student has opened a Twitter site where visitors can tweet private prayers to be placed in the crevices of Jerusalem's Western Wall, a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty."

Nearly Half of Employers Screen Social Media Profiles

"A recent survey found that 45% of human-resource departments search the social-media profiles of prospective employees, with another 11% planning to institutionalize a social-networking screen in the near future. And recruiters don’t always like what they see: 35% had disqualified an applicant over objectionable content."

Forecast: Cost Cutting Will Drive Open Source Growth

"Expenditures by enterprises on open source software jumped 34 percent last year, and spending in 2009 is on pace to increase at least another 24 percent, according to a forecast released last week by IT market researcher IDC."

7 Textbook Publishers Move to Electronic Format

"Several textbook publishers have recently joined the ranks of publishers offering their works in electronic format. Last week, seven, including Elsevier Science and Technology, SAGE, and Taylor & Francis signed on to offer their higher education textbooks through CourseSmart's eTextbooks service."

Study on Twitter

"Just how effective is communication on Twitter? About 40 percent of Tweets are actually useless babble, but if you want to get your messages noticed, might want to log on early in the week, according to data released Wednesday."

Judge Orders Microsoft to Stop Selling Word

"A federal district court judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word in the U.S. — and the tiny company behind the lawsuit is digging in for a David vs. Goliath showdown."

Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-books

"On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins. Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied."

Microsoft to Launch Office on Nokia Phones, Says Report

"Microsoft is expected to launch mobile version of its Office suite software for select model Nokia phones today, a person with knowledge of the agreement told the New York Times."

Google Caffeine Gets Two Thumbs Up

"Google's new "Caffeine" search platform is drawing rave reviews from testers who say it yields more results, with better accuracy, than the company's existing search page. The positive feedback could help Google maintain its lead over rival Microsoft, which recently unveiled a number of new search initiatives of its own."

'Facebook Lite' Gets Public Debut

"Facebook Lite appears to be a cut-down version of Facebook and is aimed at countries where broadband is limited. The site is currently on trial in India and it is thought there are plans to extend this to China and Russia."

Neilson Research: Teens Don't Tweet

“'Teens Don't Tweet; Twitter's Growth Not Fueled By Youth,' the Nielsen Company reported in a finding. . .Nielsen based its claim on data from a panel of 250,000 U.S. Internet users. People under 25 make up 'nearly one quarter of the active U.S. Internet universe,' but in June of 2009 that age bracket accounted for just 16 percent of Twitter.com Web-site users, the market-research firm reported."

Web-Savvy Transforming American Higher Education

"Today, 'open content' is the biggest front of innovation in higher education. The movement that started at MIT has spread to more than 200 institutions in 32 countries that have posted courses online at the OpenCourseWare Consortium. But, as Wiley points out, there's still a big gap between viewing such resources as a homework aid and building a recognized, accredited degree out of a bunch of podcasts and YouTube videos. 'Why is it that my kid can't take robotics at Carnegie Mellon, linear algebra at MIT, law at Stanford? And why can't we put 130 of those together and make it a degree?' Wiley asks. 'There are all these kinds of innovations waiting to happen. A sufficient infrastructure of freely available content is step one in a much longer endgame that transforms everything we know about higher education.'"

Google Allows Public to Test Improved Search Engine

Google's "new engine, available at a separate address, looks the same as the current one but ranks results differently, which could affect businesses who rely on Google results to drive traffic. In a blog posting late Monday, Google Inc. says the new engine, code-named "Caffeine," will be faster, more accurate and more comprehensive."

Sony Unveils Two New E-readers, One With a Touchscreen

"Sony announced two new e-readers on Tuesday, a full-featured touchscreen edition and a smaller, portable e-reader that costs $100 less than Amazon's popular Kindle."

New Open-Access Monograph Series Announced

"Open Humanities Press (OHP) is joining the University of Michigan Library's Scholarly Publishing Office (SPO) to create five new open-access monograph series with a focus on critical and cultural theory. 'All of the books will be freely available in full-text, digital editions and as reasonably priced paperbacks,' according to a statement released today, and they will be subject to 'the highest standards of editorial vetting and peer review.' The series include New Metaphysics, Critial Climate Change, Global Conversations, Unidentified Theoretical Objects, and Liquid Books, a series in which readers are invited 'to annotate, tag, edit, add to, remix, reformat, reversion, reinvent, and reuse, the material.'"

As eBook Readers Heat Up, Standardization Will Be Critical

"Ultimately, the success or failure of the eBook and eBook reader market is going to depend on establishing a standard format. If the industry can establish a diverse, device-agnostic marketplace then consumers can embrace the technology with some degree of confidence that their investment won’t become obsolete and suffer an ironic fate as a glorified paper-weight."

New Software Can Delete Emails Permanently

"Email is inherently insecure, because it has a long shelf-life—even deleted messages can be stored infinitely on the email service of the sender or recipient. Now a team of scientists is poised to unveil software later this month to make them disappear for keeps, reports the Economist. “Vanish” uses the ephemeral nature of P2P networks to render messages unreadable after a set amount of time. Essentially, they self-destruct."

Web Site Tracking Online Censorship Worldwide

Herdict.org is "a new Harvard-based Web site that tracks online censorship" all over the world. The article on it is located here.

New Sony e-book reader $100 cheaper than Kindle

"Electronic books are often mentioned in the same breath as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle digital reader. Now e-book rival Sony Corp. is determined to recapture consumers' attention with a smaller reader that's also $100 cheaper."

Microsoft's Bing Gains Another 1 Percent of U.S. Search

"Microsoft increased its share of the U.S. Internet search market by another 1 percentage point in July, taking its combined share with new search partner Yahoo to 20.36 percent, according to data released on Monday."

Poll: Adults Prefer Face Time to Facebook

"Nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults prefer dealing with people face-to-face, not through high-tech ways, a market research survey indicated Monday."

Yahoo Comes Full Circle With Retreat From Search

"Yahoo Inc. invested billions of dollars in its Internet search engine during the past six years before realizing it made more sense to entrust the job to an outsider — hearkening back to a conclusion the company's co-founders reached shortly after they started their Web directory in the mid-1990s."

Firefox Hits 1 Billion Downloads

"The popular Firefox browser from Mozilla has just past its billionth download."

Third-Party Ads Give Facebook an 'Image' Problem

"An untold number of Facebook's more than 200 million users have been feverishly forwarding instructions in the past week on how to opt out of being the social networking Web site's corporate pitchman, following warnings that third-party advertisers were creating advertisements with users' profile photos without permission."

Web Use Flattens As Behaviors Change

"The amount of time people spend online has not increased since last year, according to a report released by Forrester on Monday. Perhaps more interesting, however, is the reason for the trend: people's online behavior has changed. . .The report, titled 'Consumer Behavior Online: A 2009 Deep Dive,' shows that overall time spent on the Internet has remained at 12 hours per week. This bucks the trend from 2004 to 2007, when Internet use grew significantly."

Berkeley Gets Grants to Develop Open-Source Software for Online Lectures

"The University of California at Berkeley is moving forward with its plan to create open-source software that would let colleges around the world easily post lectures from their most popular professors."

Sony Plugs Google's Library Into E-Readers

"Sony Corp said on Wednesday it has made available over 1 million public domain books on its electronic readers via Google Inc's Books project, which digitizes classic titles not protected by copyright. . .Sony said the addition of Google's library gives it the largest, most comprehensive array of electronic books available in the market."

Twitter Redesign Focuses on Search

Twitter.com unveiled a new design for its homepage today that brings search functionality to Twitts and non-Twitts alike. The new homepage design features a prominent search field that can be accessed without logging in to Twitter. Public tweets that match your query are cleanly rendered below the search area.

Microsoft and Yahoo: Search Partners

"Microsoft and Yahoo reached a long-awaited partnership Wednesday in a bid to challenge Google's dominance in online search. Under the 10-year deal, Yahoo.com and Bing.com will maintain their own branding but search results on Yahoo.com will say 'powered by Bing.' Yahoo, in turn, will be responsible for attracting premium advertisers."

AdViews: A Digital Archive of Vintage Television Commercials

"Now, more than 1,500 historic TV commercials from the Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History in the Duke University Special Collections Library are available on iTunes U in a collection called "AdViews," viewable at library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adviews. The first 1,500 digitized television commercials, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, are part of the Hartman Center's D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency archive. It includes 12,000 commercials total, some produced as recently as the late 1980s. Duke Libraries plans to make the remaining commercials available by the end of 2009."

Niche Social Sites Seek Growth Under Facebook's Shadow

"What do you do when you're a small online social network trying to compete against a behemoth like Facebook? The answer may be to try to carve out a separate path by becoming a niche website for a specific audience base that advertisers, hopefully, want to target."

Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm' Deleted From Kindles

"Users of Amazon.com's e-reader device were surprised and unsettled over the past day to receive notice that George Orwell works they had purchased, including '1984' and 'Animal Farm,' had been removed from their Kindle and their money refunded. It was conspiracy time on the Internet. Big Brother's revenge? Pressure from the publisher? No, says an Amazon spokesman — the deletion of pirated copies that had been posted to the Kindle store."

Yahoo Set to Unveil New Homepage

"Yahoo Inc said it plans to introduce a major overhaul of its Internet home page on Tuesday, as the company strives to make itself more relevant to Web surfers and create new ways to sell advertising."

Barnes & Noble Unveils Online Bookstore to Compete Directly With Amazon

"Top U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble (BKS) announced Monday the launch of the world's largest online bookstore, with over 700,000 titles that can be read on a range of platforms from Apple's iPhone to personal computers. Sounding a challenge to online retailer Amazon, the company said its selection would grow to over 1 million titles within the next year and include every available e-book from every book publisher."

Students May Not Be as Software-Savvy as They Think, Study Says

"When it comes to basic computer applications, even members of the millennial generation may not know as much as they think they do. A study by North Carolina Central University found that most students overestimated their skill levels when they were asked how they perceived their ability to complete certain tasks and then tested on those tasks."

Translation Resources on the Web

This is a very helpful article from C&RL News, June 2009, Vol. 70, No. 6. It was posted on Resource Shelf.

New AASL Site: Best Websites for Teaching and Learning

"The Best Websites for Teaching and Learning honors websites, tools, and resources of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st-Century Learner."

New Online: Research and Statistics on Libraries and Librarianship in 2008

"This report on library research and statistics will focus again this year on four
key topics: library usage, the library work force, digital repositories and their
impact on libraries, and general research methods used by the profession."

WorldWideScience.org Adds New Tools

"This free online science gateway to global databases now offers clustering of results by publication and author, as well as by topic and date. This enhancement allows you to quickly narrow a results list from the databases of approximately 60 countries to the research you are seeking."

Yahoo Search Pad

"Search Pad is a note-taking application that automatically tracks and organizes sites you find on Yahoo! Search to help you complete important tasks such as buying a car or planning a trip."

Bing & Twitter Mesh With BingTweets

"BingTweets enables you to see deeper, real-time information about the hottest topics on Twitter by fusing Bing search results with the latest tweets."

Digital -- and Financially Viable

"Scholars increasingly rely on digital resources, but who will pay for them? A new report released today by Ithaka -- an organization that promotes scholarly digitization -- aims to critically assess the sustainability of business models for non-profit digitization."

With new Google Voice, 1 Number Rings All Your Phones

"Google Voice is Google's attempt to remake how we think of the phone. It lets you use one new phone number to tie together your various numbers: cellphone, home phone, business line. Friends call your Google number, and all the other phones ring — you choose which one to answer. Voice mail flows to all of the phones, along with a free transcription by Google."

Microsoft Releases 'Trident' Software to Help Scientists Organize Research

A new data-management tool unveiled today by Microsoft Research at its annual Faculty Summit will be available to colleges and universities free. Project Trident: A Scientific Workflow Workbench is designed to help scientists in data-intensive fields such as medical research, astronomy, environmental science, and oceanography make sense of data more quickly in real time, using a better visual interface.

New Study Shows Decrease in Illegal Music Downloading

"While many colleges across the country have begun thinking of new ways to prevent students' pirating of music files, a new study out of England suggests that colleges may have less download activity to police. Survey results released Monday by the British research companies Music Ally and the Leading Question show that more people are listening to music online legally instead of downloading it illegally."

The Next Open Source Movement

"Last week, in a move that could lead to a shake-up of the industry, Colorado State University and San Joaquin Delta College both went live with the first large-scale installations of full financial systems produced by the Kuali Foundation, a consortium of colleges that have pooled resources to create open source systems that could compete with corporate offerings. The University of Arizona is well on its way to following, as is Michigan State University. Cornell University is planning for a likely conversion. Indiana University has been involved from the beginning and has tested many modules, which are expected to expand. The University of British Columbia is also expected to be using Kuali soon."

Texas A&M Takes an Active Approach to Social Media Marketing

"Multitudes of potential students are found online these days--tweeting, blogging, MySpacing, and Facebooking--but marketing to these prospects in their native environments isn't as simple and straightforward as it might seem at first. Diane McDonald, associate director of marketing at Texas A&M University, explained that reaching these prospects via social media takes more than a static institutional Facebook page; it takes an active approach to engage them."

Nielsen: Kids Spending More Time Online

"Young kids are getting online at a faster rate than their parents and older siblings. A new study from Nielsen Online found that nearly 16 million U.S. children ages 2 to 11 were online in May. They made up about 9.5 percent of Internet users."

Digital Textbooks Call for New Business Models

"When it comes to curriculum materials like textbooks, practice exercises, instructional videos,
and online simulations, our universities ask students to pay for them again and again, year after year. . ."

Microsoft Warns of Serious Computer Security Hole

"Microsoft warned users Monday about yet another serious security flaw related to its Internet Explorer browser for which there is no fix."

Amazon drops Kindle 2 price to $299

"Attention, e-book fans -- Amazon just lowered the price of the Kindle 2 to $299. The e-book reader used to be $359."

Study Says Facebook Attracting Older Users

"A new study by online marketing firm iStrategyLabs says people ages 35 to 54 now make up the biggest group using Facebook, accounting for 28.2% of all U.S. users."

Google takes on Windows with Chrome OS

"Google is jumping into Microsoft Windows territory -- and threatening to change the way personal computers work -- with its own version of a computer operating system."

Better search for the Twitter age

"Search engines are cropping up to sift through constantly updated sites like Twitter, Flickr, and blogs, but they still have a long way to go."

A Digital Age Victim: The Phone Directory

"The digital age may soon lay waste to another victim of modernization: The telephone directory, which is no longer in demand in many U.S. homes. The Missouri Public Service Commission is conducting hearings on the idea of relieving AT&T of the mandate to deliver the White Pages to every customer."

Google vs. Bing: Bing Holds its Own in Search-Off

"Google's is the search box affixed near the top of the Web browsers I use. And way more often than not, Google delivers the thorough search results I'm seeking and does so with expediency: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But give Microsoft props. Bing, launched about a month ago, is really impressive, in another league compared with the Live Search engine it replaces. Bing bests Google on aesthetics. The Google home page is clean and sparse with the familiar Google Search button and links at the top for images, video, maps, news, shopping, Gmail and more."

$4 Billion to be Released Soon for Broadband

"The U.S. government will soon release $4 billion in loans and grants aimed at expanding broadband access across the United States, officials said on Wednesday. The funds are part of a $7.2 billion program to build an affordable high-speed Internet structure in rural areas. The project is being pushed by President Barack Obama seeking to shore up the U.S. economy with job creation in the telecommunications sector."

Report: Worst May Be Over for U.S. Tech Market

"As bad as the technology market fared in the first quarter of this year, the worst may be over, at least in the United States, Forest Research said in a report Tuesday. The research firm nonetheless revised its forecast for 2009. It now expects the U.S. technology market to shrink by 5% this year. In March, Forrester had predicted a smaller 3% decline in spending on technology products and services."

"Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, impresses users—but not enough to make them switch from Google, TechCrunch reports. Asked to rate Bing’s feature

"Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine, impresses users—but not enough to make them switch from Google, TechCrunch reports. Asked to rate Bing’s features, users in a study by the Catalyst Group thought Bing beat Google in almost every category, including visual design, organization, and filtering options. The exception was search result relevance, in which they found Google and Bing to be equal. Nonetheless, two-thirds of the users said they wouldn’t switch because of their familiarity with Google."

More Families Pull The Plug On Their Home Phone

"Government research shows that more and more households are getting rid of their land line. And for the first time, cell-phone-only homes outnumber those with just land lines."

MySpace to Cut Two-Thirds of Global Work

"MySpace, the social networking website owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said on Tuesday it plans to cut about two-thirds of its international workforce and close at least four of its offices outside the United States. The proposed restructuring plan would reduce MySpace's international staff to about 150 people from 450, the company said in a statement."

ThisMoment is the Newest Social Networking Debutante

"Vince Broady insists his new site, Thismoment.com, isn’t just another way for you to share videos and pictures with friends, and find out about their likes and dislikes. The site, which debuts today after six months in a private beta, is a place to create “moments,” similar to what you might do on Facebook or Twitter, but also making use of the various media all over the Net."

Report: The College of 2020 - Students (Executive Summary)

This is the executive summary of a report from the Chronicle of Higher Education research division. The actual report costs $75, but I was able to send this executive summary at no cost.

Beta of Free Microsoft Antivirus Suite to be Released Tuesday

"Microsoft is putting consumer antivirus makers on notice Tuesday, when it will release the beta of its Microsoft Security Essentials, a new anti-malware suite. Unlike its predecessor, Live OneCare suite, a subscription service which is being phased out, the new software will be offered for free to consumers."

British Library Publishes Online Archive of 19th-Century Newspapers

"Over two million pages of 19th and early 20th century newspapers go online today, part of the vast British Library collection. . .Searches are free, but users can pay to download information."

Google Set to Add Microblog Search

"Evidence suggests that Google will soon introduce a 'MicroBlogsearch' feature, indexing and searching Twitter and its imitators, Ars Technica reports. Google-watchers noticed a reference to the new feature hidden in Google’s translation service. Unlike Twitter’s own search, which seeks out any and all tweets containing the search terms and displays them chronologically, Google will seek to rank the links by relevance."

Twitter Delays Downtime to Aid Iran Protesters

"Twitter has pushed back work that would have taken the site offline to avoid disrupting the flow of information from Iran, Computer World reports. The site, which has proven to be a vital link between Iranian protesters and the rest of the world, will now be offline 2 to 3 pm Pacific time for essential maintenance. . . "

How MySpace Lost Its Crown

"MySpace was overtaken by Facebook for the first time last month and without some serious innovation, Rupert Murdoch's big buy may end up joining Friendster in the ranks of the also-rans, Dawn Chmielewski and David Sarno write in the Los Angeles Times. The world of social networking moves at an unforgiving pace, the two note, and MySpace has been playing catch-up instead of leading, as its own initiatives tanked."

Koogle: A Search Engine for Orthodox Jews

Koogle is "a Hebrew-language search engine that filters out non-kosher content and appears to meet Orthodox standards."

Broadband Adoption and Prices Increase, Pew Survey Finds

"Pew's annual Home Broadband Adoption Survey released today shows that 63% of Americans now have broadband Internet connections in their homes, up from the 55% in last year's survey. One of the big drivers has been an increasing number of subscribers to premium broadband services. The survey found that 34% of users reported subscribing to premium services in 2009, up from 29% in 2008. By contrast, the percentage of broadband subscribers who used basic services held about steady at 53%."

Microsoft Search Still Growing with Bing: comScore

"Microsoft Corp's share of Internet searches continued to grow for a second week after the introduction of its new search engine Bing, industry tracker comScore Inc said on Wednesday. ComScore said Microsoft's share of search result pages in the United States rose to 12.1 percent for the period of June 8-12, up from 11.3 percent in the June 1-5 period, and up from 9.1 percent in the work week prior to Bing's introduction."

Opera Unite Attempts to Reinvent the Web

Opera today launched a nifty new service that allows anyone to use the Opera browser as a server to host rich content. Whether the free service -- called Opera Unite -- helps the Oslo, Norway-based browser maker grab market share from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Chrome remains to be seen.

Facebook Tests New Search Feature

"At last, Facebook is beginning to test an expanded search feature that will plumb more than just member profiles and start dipping into content. The test is beginning with only a tiny fraction of folks on the social networking service, though, so it's unlikely you'll see the new features any time soon. . ."

Librarians Fighting Google's Book Deal

"'This is a monumental settlement that's at stake, and for the government to show this kind of attention is heartening,' says Lee Van Orsdel, dean of university libraries at Grand Valley State University. 'The increased scrutiny on the part of the DOJ tells us that our concerns are resonating far beyond the library community,' concurs Corey Williams, associate director in the office of government relations at the American Library Association."

Family Time Eroding in U.S. as Internet Use Soars

"Whether it's around the dinner table or just in front of the TV, U.S. families say they are spending less time together. The decline in family time coincides with a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks, though a new study stopped just short of assigning blame. The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California is reporting this week that 28% of Americans it interviewed last year said they have been spending less time with members of their households. That's nearly triple the 11% who said that in 2006."

Google's Move Into E-books Could Be Explosive

"E-books may have been a niche technology so far, but Google Inc.'s entry into the market could burst the online business wide open."

Podcast: How Google Book Search Affects Academe

"Depending on whom you ask, Google’s Book Search book-scanning project lays the foundation for a universal, digitized library or creates a dangerous monopoly on information. The Chronicle sat down with Adam Smith, director of product management at Google, to talk about Book Search, the proposed settlement in the authors-and-publishers lawsuit against it, what it means for academic authors and researchers and so-called orphan works, and fears of a Google monopoly. Listen to a podcast of the conversation."

Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers

"The rise of online media has helped raise a new generation of college students who write far more, and in more-diverse forms, than their predecessors did. But the implications of the shift are hotly debated, both for the future of students' writing and for the college curriculum. . .A new generation of longitudinal studies, which track large numbers of students over several years, is attempting to settle this argument. The 'Stanford Study of Writing,' a five-year study of the writing lives of Stanford students — including Mr. Otuteye — is probably the most extensive to date. . ."

Time on Social Networks Almost Doubles in a Year

". . .the latest figures showing the number of minutes spent on social networking sites in the United States has almost doubled over the past year."

Colleges Consider Using Blogs Instead of Blackboard

"Mr. Groom is an instructional technologist at the University of Mary Washington, and he was the keynote speaker at an event here on how to better run CUNY's online classrooms. The meeting's focus was an idea that is catching on at a handful of colleges and universities around the country: Instead of using a course-management system to distribute materials and run class discussions, why not use free blogging software — the same kind that popular gadflies use for entertainment sites?"

U.S. Military Using Facebook, Twitter

"The U.S. military in Afghanistan is launching a Facebook page, a YouTube site and feeds on Twitter as part of a new communications effort to reach readers who get their information on the Internet rather than in newspapers, officials said Monday."

Google's Move Into E-books Could Be Explosive

"E-books may have been a niche technology so far, but Google Inc.'s entry into the market could burst the online business wide open."

Newspaper Execs Meet to Discuss Internet Options

"About two dozen newspaper industry executives huddled Thursday to explore how they might be able to boost profits from their online operations as revenue from their print editions collapses. The meeting at a Chicago hotel is the latest indication that many newspapers intend to become more aggressive about protecting their Internet content and, in some cases, charging Web surfers to read the material. By changing the way they do business online, newspaper publishers are hoping they can stop the financial hemorrhaging that already has resulted in massive layoffs, huge losses and at least seven filings for bankruptcy protection since December."

Texting May Be Taking a Toll on Teenagers

"Spurred by the unlimited texting plans offered by carriers like AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the Nielsen Company — almost 80 messages a day, more than double the average of a year earlier."