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New Media News Every Morning

Facebook adds personal Internet TV channel with Pyro.TV

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pyrotv.jpgFacebook users now have the ability to customize their own personal Internet TV viewing experience with Pyro.TV. Vibe Solutions Group announced that its innovative Pyro.TV video channel service has been integrated with the Facebook.

With Pyro.TV, Facebook users can personalize their own channel line-up and share it with others through their Facebook profile. Unlike other online video platforms, content is constantly updated for the most up-to-date videos and no additional download is necessary.

Facebook users get a full-functioning version of Pyro.TV that is completely integrated into their Facebook profile as an application. With Pyro.TV, Facebook users create their own personal Internet TV with custom channel line-up, called My Channels. Facebook users can also display and promote their My Channels through a multi-channel video player, embedded in their Facebook profile.

Originally posted on August 28, 2007 @ 10:35 am

China to unleash virtual cops

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cops.jpgWith the aim of curbing illegal and immoral Internet use, China will be launching its virtual cops onto people’s computer screens, the Associated Press reports.

The virtual male and female officers will give text warnings while moving across the screen by foot, motorcycle or car. Web surfers needing help will be redirected to the Beijing Public Security Ministry. Initially, the virtual cops will patrol only the top portals but will be everywhere by the end of the year.

The program is set to start on September 1.

Originally posted on August 30, 2007 @ 10:53 am

Ancestry.com hits milestone with 275 million profiles and 3 million family trees

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ancestry.jpgAncestry.com announced that more than 275 million individual profiles and more than 3 million family trees have been created on the site since it debuted new tree-building and sharing tools in late July 2006. Users have also attached 30 million family history records and uploaded 2 million photographs.

“The combination of family and social networking with the most comprehensive collection of digitized and indexed family history documents has been a powerful catalyst behind this user-generated surge,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network, parent company of Ancestry.com. “In the past year we’ve seen a remarkable networking effect as people use Ancestry.com to make great discoveries and share their findings with family members.”

This tremendous user-contributed growth has been fueled by two major content releases – the biggest online collection of African American historical documents and the web’s leading compilation of U.S. military records. Site traffic reached and remained at unprecedented levels in a prolific year that also included the announcement of a groundbreaking venture with Sorenson Genomics into the DNA genealogy field. The success was preceded by the 2006 launch of the only complete online U.S. Federal Census Collection and the largest Internet set of U.S. passenger lists.

Originally posted on August 28, 2007 @ 10:58 am

BoingBoing.net announces Boing Boing Gadgets, comments, and redesign

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boingboing.jpgFederated Media Publishing Inc. and the co-editors at Boing Boing, one of the world’s most popular and influential blogs, today announce three new features for the award-winning “directory of wonderful things” at BoingBoing.net: the debut of Gadgets.BoingBoing.net; the return of audience comments; and a major design makeover for Boing Boing.

The redesign and addition of Boing Boing Gadgets comes 7 years and nearly 40,000 posts since the former print magazine BoingBoing, which debuted in 1989, became a blog. In collaboration with FM’s technical team, BB has developed and added an array of new custom community features.

Boing Boing Gadgets will feature a daily stream of reviews on consumer electronics, games, and related geek gear. Led by veteran gadget-blogger Joel Johnson, Gadgets.BoingBoing.net will also include contributions from BoingBoing.net’s four co-editors: Cory Doctorow, Mark Frauenfelder, Xeni Jardin, and David Pescovitz.

Boing Boing also debuts a new system to accommodate reader comments and discussions. “It’s been four years since Boing Boing removed a more primitive comment publishing system,” said Federated Media founder John Battelle. “We’ve worked together to design a new system that makes Boing Boing even more responsive to its community members.”

Visitors to Boing Boing will today also see the first major redesign ever undertaken at the popular site. To rethink the site design, Boing Boing looked to Jemma Hostetler, a designer well-respected in the interactive media worlds for avant garde online experimentation. Hostetler, co-founder of StudioSansNom, focused on updating the typography for improved readability, introducing more intuitive navigation, and rethinking the page format while retaining the clean, white look of classic Boing Boing.

Originally posted on August 29, 2007 @ 10:28 am

Healthcommunities.com, Inc. launches Painchannel.com

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frontpageimage.jpgChronic pain affects more than a quarter of the U.S. population over the age of 20, exceeding the total of Americans affected by cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. To help those dealing with chronic pain effectively work with their pain management team, Healthcommunities.com, Inc. has launched painchannel.com.

Painchannel provides free, up-to-date information and opportunities to share stories and discuss their experiences with one another. The new website offers reliable information about conditions that cause both acute and chronic pain, the treatments used to manage pain, diagnostic techniques, descriptions of pain medications, and a worksheet to help patients work with their pain management team.

“With painchannel, we’re targeting a population that can benefit from both sound medical information and the experience of others who are dealing with pain themselves,” said Stanley J. Swierzewski III, M.D., a practicing physician and the founder of Healthcommunities.com. “Browsers can learn from the physician-monitored content on painchannel, and then read stories of how others have dealt with their pain (or tell their own) in a moderated, edited section of the website called Living with Pain. In addition, browsers can join ongoing discussions in forums addressing specific clinical conditions.”

Originally posted on August 28, 2007 @ 10:17 am