Google has unveiled their latest web app. It’s called Google Sidewiki and makes it easy to “Contribute helpful information to any webpage”. We’re not quite so sure. If you have the Google Toolbar installed on your browser, Sidewiki allows you to open a side-panel, add your comments about the page, and read the comments of others.
In a Utopian Internet (Utopernet?) the world’s most predominant experts on all subjects would be browsing websites dropping off clairvoyant nuggets of wisdom like Greek oracles. In reality, letting anyone add to any web page does not equate to instant insight. We’re all…

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Apple has approved the first two iPhone apps dedicated to the careers of popular (or, ahem, so we’re told) porn stars.Developed by GrindHouse Mobile and the stars, the two apps mark the first time that Apple has allowed the porn industry into the store in such an obvious way.(Credit: GrindHouse Mobile)While these apps may be more in-your-face than some of the apps showing bikini-clad women that are already on the App Store, the content of these apps is relatively tame. They appear to show no more than suggestive photos–the same as the apps that preceded them.In other words, there is…

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If a report from TheStreet.com has it right, Verizon won’t be picking up the Palm Pre after all. Showcased at this year’s CES, Palm’s flagship phone garnered quite the following, and was praised as a potential iPhone killer. Just prior to its official debut on Sprint’s network in June, Verizon said it would offer the smartphone within six months.Sprint replied by saying it held exclusive rights to the Pre through 2009, which left most with the impression that the handset would be available via Verizon in January 2010. Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein recently fueled that anticipation when he said the…

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Jolicloud is a new Linux based operating system aimed at netbooks. The developers were nice enough to let us get our hands on their closed development version of the new OS. This distribution is built off of Ubuntu Netbook Remix(9.04 Jaunty Jackalope). At first glance it looks like nothing more than Ubuntu with a new skin, but the difference is deeper. Jolicloud added an App Store type program that offers installation of web applications along with traditional desktop apps. Using Mozilla Prism, web based applications like Facebook, Gmail, and Wikipedia are installed, get their own icon in the launcher,…

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Facebook posted an image earlier today and quickly removed a shot of three upcoming prototype applications via a soon to be added, Facebook Prototypes category in the application directory. The three applications include “Desktop Notifications” which many other blogs have extensively covered, and two applications never covered previously: similar posts and enhanced event emails.

The first application: “similar posts” will most likely let you track which feed stories are similar to one that you are currently viewing. The second applications “Enhanced Event Emails” includes “an iCal file as an attachment to your Event Invitation emails”, letting people put the event…

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Last week we wrote about Facebook’s new tagging functionality but as of this afternoon the feature finally went live. While the functionality is no different than initially described, many users are finding that this transforms the overall user experience. There are also many objects on Facebook which still can’t be tagged with applications and pages such as photos. You also can’t include tags within Facebook messages but I’d expect more robust tagging functionality to be added over the coming weeks and months.

So does this new functionality eliminate the need for Twitter? No, but it most definitely helps users to…

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The photo tagging phenomenon has officially jumped the shark on Facebook with the All my Friends! application which lets you instantly tag your friends in pre-made images. It’s not exactly a new concept but for some reason this iteration of the application has been extremely successful having attracted over 5 million users so far and growing daily.

The application could actually be a useful service but the way that ads are currently posted within the application makes us think that this app was simply developed to attract millions of users and generate a quick buck. I’ve written about these multi-user…

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Reports say dozens more have been injured. The free flour was being handed out in a poor, congested neighbourhood of the city by a private group as part of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Pakistani TV showed distraught relatives arriving at a hospital where the injured had been taken. “The deaths were caused by suffocation and the stampede in one of the most congested localities of Khori Garden,” said Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmad, reports AFP news agency. President’s shock He said the man distributing the free flour had been detained because he had not given police prior notice.…

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