That wasn’t supposed to happen: IE usage share steady since choice screen

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews The window of opportunity may be closing for the first test of government mandated fairness and equal choice among Web browsers, with neutral results. There are a number of studies recently that say computer users in general have a tendency to automatically distrust...

March 10th, 2010 | Policy & Law, Security | Read More

Microsoft’s Browser Ballot Gives Alternative Browsers a Boost

As part of a regulatory requirement imposed by the European Union, Microsoft has implemented a browser ballot for European Windows users, and as expected, the ballot has given rise to alternative browsers. According to Mozilla, more than 50,000 people had downloaded Firefox as a direct result of the...

March 9th, 2010 | Software | Read More

China denies it’s in any talks with Google, wonders why

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews After a Reuters report on Friday cited China’s Industry and Information Minister, Li Yizhong, as having told an indeterminate parliamentary body that the government was in talks with Google over its claims of having been hacked in early February by a Chinese malicious...

March 9th, 2010 | Security | Read More

Twitter Races Past 10 Billion Tweets

Well that didn’t take very long. In just under four years time, Twitter bolted past 10 billion tweets, serving up its 10 billionth message last week. So what did the milestone message say and who posted it? Nobody knows, as it belongs to a protected user. Visible or not, the message underscores...

March 9th, 2010 | Software | Read More

Twitter Opens Data "Firehose" Up to Developers

In a blog post on Monday, Twitter announced it has opened up its full data feed of all public tweets (otherwise known as a “Firehose”) to seven new startups, and would like to partner up with even more. “We are thrilled to announce that Ellerdale, Collecta, Kosmix, Scoopler, twazzup,...

March 3rd, 2010 | Software | Read More

Microsoft’s antitrust retort: Just what is it accusing Google of doing?

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews There may not be a real investigation of Google’s business practices from the European Commission, at least not yet. But judging from the waves of hyperbole emanating from the usual suspects, along with a few new entrants, in the wake of the EC’s admission...

February 27th, 2010 | Policy & Law | Read More

Google’s big Italian adventure

By Carmi Levy, Betanews That sound you heard coming from the general direction of Italy earlier this week was the sound the Internet makes when it becomes just a little bit less free. When an Italian court convicted three senior Google executives for breach of privacy, sentencing them yesterday to a...

February 26th, 2010 | Policy & Law | Read More