Media

Apple: 'Do Not Disturb' will remain disturbed until January 7

You might have been one of those who noticed over the New Year that your iPhone 5 wasn't disturbing you.

This was quite some time after it was supposed to disturb you.

And quite some time, even, after Apple had released an ad that celebrated this fine feature.

I would like to disturb you with some news.

Apple support has posted a notice that admits there might be a little problem.

Somehow, the Do Not Disturb function is staying on, even when people thought they had programmed it only for a certain period of time. (For those who don'… Read more

Google's Eric Schmidt to meet Kim Jong-Un?

Wouldn't you like to be a wall on the flight?

Can you imagine what Google's Eric Schmidt will be muttering to other members of a U.S. delegation that is reportedly going to Pyongyang, North Korea for a little diplomatic pying-pyong?

According to the Associated Press, this trip might even happen in the next few weeks, with former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson also in the party.

Naturally, details of this alleged trip are being kept very close to official chests. But one can surely hope for nothing more than a meeting between Schmidt and North Korean … Read more

8:52 p.m. tonight: Your best chance this year of an online date

You know I care about you, don't you?

Sometimes it might not seem it because I make jokes about your favorite brand, religion, or Justin Bieber. But I want you to be happy. I don't like the thought of you sitting all alone in front of your computer, wishing that somebody would just put their arms around you and tell you they love you.

So I need you to know that tonight's the night when your life is most likely to change -- at least if you're single, or merely in a miserable relationship that's heading for hell's flaming gates.

Tonight at 8:52 p.m. is your best chance to get an online date -- yes, all year. … Read more

New Apple ad a bit disturbing, as touted feature reportedly has New Year's hiccups

Last update: January 2 at 11:13 a.m. PT

However walled your garden, rodents still pad around, cockroaches still shuffle.

One can only, therefore, feel sympathy for Apple's new ad for the iPhone 5.

It features the mysterious and wonderful Williams sisters. They are in a dream. They are playing the dreamy Jeff Daniels at ping-pong.

And yet the ad also features the phone's "Do Not Disturb" feature, which users can switch on to silence in-coming calls, alerts, and notifications, or set up to perform such silencing during a preordained period of time. And who … Read more

Stephen Hawking sucks opera singer into black hole (in an ad)

Once you're famous, you get inundated with offers to appear in ads.

But which ones to choose? Should you peddle soap or Siri? Should you declare your love for Buick, while secretly pootling around in your Mercedes?

Stephen Hawking made an interesting choice to advertise auto insurance -- Go Compare's online auto-insurance comparison service, to be precise.… Read more

Library Web sites see boost in mobile traffic

Mobile is key for any organization that wants to capture the attention of Americans -- even for an institution that seems as antiquated as the public library system.

The number of Americans using mobile devices to access library Web sites has more than doubled in the last three years, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

Based on a survey of 2,300 people in October and November, Pew determined that 13 percent of Americans ages 16 and older go to a library Web site using a mobile device. That's substantially more than the meager number of … Read more

Distorted Facebook message saves woman's life

Fleur Costello of Leatherhead, England, is the Facebook Queen. At least that's what her friends call her. The 40-year-old is always on the site.

She was online recently when she felt dizzy and was falling unconscious. Soon she was on the floor, partially paralyzed.

There was no phone within reach, so she grabbed at the sheets of her bed and clawed her laptop back toward her. Her Facebook page was still open.

Desperately, she wrote this message to her husband: "help faintef cannoi get up uhrlp gurt h4ead."

It so happens that her husband, Karl Equi, "can't stand" Facebook. But he'd been trying to call her. So, as he told the Sun, he decided to look at Facebook for once. His wife is the Facebook Queen after all.

He saw the message, which was supposed to read: "Help, fainted, cannot get up, help, hurt head."… Read more

Spotify's 2012 dominated by Gotye, Rihanna

Spotify has rounded up its 2012, and revealed that Gotye, Rihanna, and David Guetta had huge years on its service.

According to Spotify, the most popular track this year was Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" both in the U.S. and worldwide. Fun's "We Are Young" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" rounded out the top three most popular songs in the U.S. this year.

Spotify then turned its attention to artists, and discovered that Rihanna was the most popular female artist this year. David Guetta took … Read more

Predicting the most unlikely tech events that will happen in 2013

The other day I was lying on the beach when an older, bronzed man came and lay down next to me.

He made some groaning noises and chatted on his flip phone. He was Iggy Pop.

This, in itself was unusual. However, at the very moment he was there I was reading a book called "Paris, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down," by Rosencrans Baldwin. It's the story of an American writer who moves to Paris with his wife to write silly ads for Louis Vuitton.

I happened to be on page 167, where … Read more