Social networking

BP's battered brand draws consumer opposition

U.S. consumers are venting frustration over the BP oil spill, demonstrating at gas stations and corporate offices, drumming up support on Facebook, and waging a mock public relations campaign on Twitter.

But their opposition to BP's handling of the crisis has yet to achieve critical mass, and any attempt to dissuade customers from fueling their cars with BP is likely to hurt the small business owners who run the stations with little or no effect on the British oil giant's revenues.

Most Americans--7 out of 10--say BP has done a poor or only fair job in handling … Read more

Police use Twitter to track killer's rampage

Police in Cumbria in the U.K. have been using Twitter to give updates to citizens on a gunman's shooting spree.

According to the Telegraph, which first reported on the news, Cumbria police tweeted a message at 1 p.m. local time on Wednesday alerting citizens that a gunman was on the loose in the town of Whitehaven. It also included a link to a statement written by law enforcement discussing the issue.

Cumbria police continued to use Twitter to update followers on what was happening. By the time the whole ordeal was over, police announced on their Twitter … Read more

Social networking heats up on browsing phones

People with Web-browsing phones are spending a lot more of their minutes accessing social networks these days, according to a new study from ComScore.

The study, released Wednesday, pegs social networking as the fastest growing activity among people with smartphones and other advanced phones that offer Web browsing, which are also known as feature phones.

Among the 69.6 million phone users who tapped mobile apps over the three-month period ending in April, 14.5 million of them accessed social networks--a 240 percent jump from the same period in 2009.

Among the nearly 73 million who used mobile browsers, 30 … Read more

Zynga scores Challenge Games

Zynga, the online gaming powerhouse, has acquired Austin, Texas-based Challenge Games.

The social game start-up will be renamed Zynga Austin and will focus on product development.

Backed by Sequoia Capital and Globespan Capital Partners, Challenge focuses on virtual goods games, such as Warstorm.

Zynga did not reveal the terms of the deal.

The San Francisco-based Zynga has been on a bit of a deal tear of late, inking partnership agreements with both Yahoo and Facebook recently.

Zuckerberg in the hot seat at D8

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's approach to privacy, saying it makes sense for users to have a mix of information: some that's shared narrowly and some that should be made broadly available.

"There have been misperceptions that we are trying to make all the information public," Zuckerberg said, speaking at the D: All Things Digital conference here. That said, for social networks to link people to one another, some information must necessarily be public, he said. "There's some serendipity that can only happen if you are sharing," … Read more

Google Maps walking-suit attorney: It was dark

It was a cold, dark night. Well, actually, it was a cold, dark morning.

This, it seems, will form a part of the claim that Lauren Rosenberg is offering against a the driver of a car that hit her while she walked along a highway and Google, whose walking directions she was following.

Should you not yet have cast your minds toward offering a verdict in this lovely case, Rosenberg is claiming that Google's walking directions should have been rather better than to send her along a highway that had no path--and that she is thus entitled to at … Read more

Japanese Copperfield proves iPad is magic

"People laugh at me because I describe the iPad as magical," said Steve Jobs at the D: All Things Digital conference Tuesday evening.

The truth is that many people were skeptical about the magic part. But then they got to see a Japanese magician called Shinya do all of Jobs' heavy lifting.

In this elevating performance, all shot on a busy Japanese street that just happens to enjoy an Apple store, Shinya doesn't so much pull a rabbit out of a hat, as pull cheese out of an iPad. As well as pouring milk into one.

The … Read more

Woman, hit by car, sues Google for faulty directions

Why trust the machines when you can trust your own eyes, your own brain, your own basic sense of survival?

This philosophical question comes to mind after reading the tragic tale of a woman, her eyes, her brain, her BlackBerry, and her Google Maps.

According to an exhaustive analysis presented by Search Engine Land, Lauren Rosenberg decided to take a walk in Park City, Utah, on January 19, 2009.

I will try and ignore just how fundamentally un-American this act was in order to focus on some of the ensuing action.

Rosenberg fingered her trusted BlackBerry and asked it to … Read more

Bangladesh quashes Facebook over prophet images

Bangladesh has joined Pakistan in blocking access to Facebook, citing a page on the social-networking site that called on people to draw images of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, the Associated Press reported.

Bangladesh's chief telecommunications regulator, Zia Ahmed, told the news agency that the government had asked local Internet service providers to temporarily block Facebook pending removal of a page publicizing "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."

The page was created after the producers of animated TV series "South Park" said that the Comedy Central network had censored an episode of the show that satirized religious prohibition … Read more

M.I.A. puts reporter's phone number on Twitter

M.I.A., the Carrie Bradshaw of the Planet Subversive, seems to be a little upset.

The rapper acceded to an interview with The New York Times and was not best pleased with the results. So she tweeted: "CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE, ill b taking calls all day bitches ;)"

Personally, I was not aware that The New York Times was printing a special edition that included only the truth. However, I admit I have omitted the first part of her tweet. You see, M.I.A. decided … Read more