information

Just a couple of weeks after Chinese censors lambasted the social network Sina Weibo for "rumor" mongering, the Twitter-like service announced plans to establish a "user contract" by the end of this month. This comes shortly after the uberpopular site also promised to fight against rumors on the Internet.

According to tech news site The Next Web, which got its hands on the contract and translated it, there are several points that look like they could impede the free flow of information.

It seems as if, for Sina Weibo, the point of the contract is to … Read more

Even casual Facebook users can quickly accumulate a library of photos, videos, and posts reflecting the noteworthy and mundane moments in the lives of family and friends.

Facebook lets you download much of this information and recently enhanced its download archive to include IP addresses used by the account, relationship information, and other categories of personal data.

The download-tool update is being rolled out gradually. (When I downloaded a Facebook profile this weekend the added categories of information weren't included.) To use the profile downloader, sign into your Facebook account and click the down arrow next to the Home … Read more

Facebook is expanding a feature called Download Your Information, which lets you view an archive of all the posts, photos, and other content you've shared over the years.

Now in addition to your own content, the feature will let you peek at other types of information, including previous names you've used, friend requests, and even IP addresses from which you've logged in. Launching today, the expanded Download Your Information archive will roll out gradually to all Facebook users, so you may not see the full scope of data available just yet.

The social network is also promising … Read more

The country's top Internet service providers, along with major film and recorded music companies, announced that they have hired the person who will oversee their joint antipiracy efforts, scheduled to begin this summer.

Earlier today, CNET reported that Jill Lesser, who is currently managing director of the Glover Park Group, a lobbying and public policy firm, was the leading candidate to run the Center for Copyright Information (CCI), the organization that will help support the antipiracy program known as graduated response.

The ISPs and entertainment companies confirmed that Lesser has been appointed executive director of CCI. They also said … Read more

Some 50,000 credit and debit cardholders may have their information exposed following a security breach at Global Payments, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The full extent of the breach is still unknown, the Journal reported today, and it's unclear whether fraudulent charges on cardholders have been racked up yet.

Global Payments later released a statement saying the breach didn't involve its merchants or their customers. The company said it had determined early this month that card data may have been accessed, and alerted law enforcement.

"It is reassuring that our security processes detected an intrusion,&… Read more

A 5.5 earthquake in Sumatra, a flood in Hawaii, an explosion in the Congo--and that's just the last 9 hours.

Trouble strikes when you least expect it. All you can do is prepare for it. These four iPhone apps get you ready to respond to whatever emergency situation you may face.

Put emergency contact and medical information on the iPhone lock screen The iPhone equivalent of a Med-Alert bracelet is the $1.99 Emergency Aid app that puts potentially life-saving information in your iPhone lock screen and/or your wallpaper: allergies or other medical alerts, the medications you … Read more

If Ford engineers had their way, Santa Claus would be delivering packages to all the good girls and boys on Christmas Eve in a Ford sleigh concept.

The muscle car-inspired, bright-red, concept sleigh is powered by a 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine and boasts 125 horsepower, with 170Nm peak torque (with 200Nm overboost)--giving it the highest power density of any Ford production engine to date.

Ford engineers apparently presented the concept sleigh design to Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with its environmental and cost-saving advantages.

Each Christmas Eve, Jolly Old St. Nick reportedly circumnavigates the globe--124,421,727 miles--in a … Read more

WHOIS is a protocol that lets users query databases to find out the ownership information behind Web domains. WhoIs is a simple program that lets users perform this task, though we're not sure what the point of the program is when you can get the same information from any number of Web sites. If you do want a program dedicated to WHOIS queries, though, we suppose that WhoIs is a decent choice.

The program's interface is quite plain, and not entirely intuitive. A text box lets users enter the domain they want to search for, and we liked … Read more

Spoiler alert: this is a blog post about world peace.

I've been spinning some cycles lately looking for free data. Why? Here's my thesis: As our use of the cloud evolves, we will come to understand that, to do powerful computational things, we not only don't need to own massive amounts of IT infrastructure, we don't even have to own the data. The cloud will offer us both. Think of it as big free data.

At the dawn of modern computing history, one needed millions of dollars to buy big iron to do serious computational things. … Read more