Social Networking

In what is quickly shaping up as the David versus Goliath fight to watch, four students from NYU’s Courant Institute are looking to take on social networking behemoth Facebook with Diaspora – a distributed, open source social network. They aim to address the privacy concerns that has put Facebook under fire by giving users complete control of their details and content and who they share it with. Through the use of a personal web server called a Diaspora “seed”, users will be able to securely share information, pictures, video and more.  Read More

Microsoft is preparing the launch of an all-new Windows Live Messenger as part of its Wave 4 version of Windows Live. The range of new features will appeal to the modern online generation and are a significant step up over previous versions.  Read More

Keeping up to date with our ever increasing digital presence in the networked sociosphere can be the very definition of multi-tasking. Three new EasyNote laptops from Packard Bell have been designed to help, having a dedicated social networking feature which brings together all the various sites into one useful interface. Other features include the latest Intel Core processors, up to 640GB of storage and either NVIDIA or ATI discreet graphics processors.  Read More

As well as all featuring QWERTY keyboards, Nokia looks set to be focusing on improving messaging and social networking tools with the launch of three new handsets – the Nokia C3, C6 and E5. It’s made a big push on improved connectivity with a broad range of features across the board including scope to view Facebook feeds directly on the cell phone home screen, access to Ovi Mail and Chat and (in the Nokia E5’s case) improved access to business mail. With prices ranging from $122 to $298 these three new handsets will be released into the market separately in the second and third quarters of 2010.  Read More

Microsoft says its new KIN Windows phone has been designed specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives – and let’s face it, who isn’t? The software giant has partnered with Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sharp to deliver the product exclusively to the US (Verizon Wireless), Germany, Italy, Spain the UK (Vodafone). KIN melds a handset, online services and the PC with new experiences called the Loop, Spot and Studio. There are two models – KIN ONE and KINE TWO, both with touch screens and slide out keyboards.  Read More

More and more people these days are turning to online dating to find the love of their life. Practically everyone knows a couple who met via online dating, but conversely everyone has heard a dating disaster tale, and for every happy couple there are lots of hilarious, embarrassing or expensive tales of dating hell. Weopia could be the answer to all that; a virtual dating experience that allows you to take a romantic boat ride, watch the sunset and talk in real time to a prospective date while you sit at home in your pyjamas...  Read More

You’re not fooling anyone with that “123456” password of yours. “Password” isn’t much better, and sorry ladies, but “princess” is also no good. These are among the findings in a report released by Imperva, a data security firm that analyzed 32 million passwords recently exposed in the Rockyou.com breach. Not only did they identify the most common, and thus easily-guessable passwords, but they also suggested some effective methods for creating secure ones.  Read More

In the English speaking world, the free blogging platforms that stand out from the crowd are Google's Blogger and Wordpress.com. While those services are also popular in Japan, a particularly strong homegrown contender is Ameba.jp., which is now looking to tap into a global audience by launching as a Facebook app. More than just a blog platform, Ameba is unique in the way it has socialized blogs via a virtual online community - Ameba Pigg. Yes, it's an odd name... But it is Japan after all.  Read More

Ahhh, social network status updates. How would we know what breathtakingly exciting (or mind-numbingly boring) activities our friends and family are up to from one moment to the next without them? And if you sometimes find it’s a chore just reading these missives, spare a thought for those people writing them. But soon, by combining networking and messaging platforms with emerging ambient intelligence systems that use sensors and smart objects to create awareness of users’ whereabouts and activities, such status updates and other social information could be generated automatically.  Read More