Social networking

Instagram one month later: No hint of lingering troubles

New information from Web analytics firm Experian Hitwise suggests Instagram has recovered nicely from a seemingly disastrous privacy policy uproar last month.

For the 15 days since December 18, Instagram.com received more than 41.7 million total U.S. visits, an increase of 18 percent compared with the 15 days prior to the controversial proposed policy changes. The data was provided to CNET by Experian Marketing Services on request.

"The holidays see a spike in traffic as people are sharing more pictures than perhaps normal," Experian Marketing Services spokesman Matt Tatham told CNET, adding that the data … Read more

Congress speaks, tech investors party -- like it's 2013

Well, it took long enough.

But after finally clinching a (literally) last-minute deal to break a weeks-long deadlock over the so-called fiscal cliff, tech investors had a field day on the first day of trading for 2013.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed up more than 3 percent on the day, led by the usual roster of big names with Google finishing at $723.25, up 2.24 percent and Apple gaining almost 3 percent to close at $548.07. Facebook, which for much of the spring and summer had been a neglected stock, continued its recent climb, finishing up … Read more

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

Facebook conquers Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, and Vietnam

Facebook continues to make progress in its colonization of planet Earth. With more than 1 billion active users, Facebook is the leading social network in 127 countries, according to Alexa data compiled by Italian social media strategist Vincenzo Cosenza.

Much of the recent growth has come from higher penetration in Asia. In recent months, Facebook has become the leading social network in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, and Vietnam, according to Cosenza's research. China and Iran remain impenetrable to Facebook, and V Kontakte and Odnoklassniki continue to dominate Russian countries.

Read: Zuckerberg mobilizes Facebook for 5 billion users and the Internet of things… 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

Reddit's visitors skyrocket in 2012 with 37 billion page views

Whether readers want to learn the complexities of how the Mars Curiosity rover was able to enter the Red Planet's atmosphere or just see photos of cats being weird, they can go to Reddit. The social news site announced today its end-of-year stats and it appears that users are frequenting the site at an ever-increasing rate.

Reddit revealed that in 2012 it received 37 billion page views, 400 million unique visitors, and 30 million posts -- not bad for one of the most simple Web sites on the Internet.

The site's user population has skyrocketed since its inception. … Read more