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New Media News Every Morning

Calacanis hunts displays and keyboards are getting expensive

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I like to treat myself to an inspiring work area. That’s why my office has a nice red couch, gaming consoles although I don’t review much anymore, great speakers for my computers and stuff like that. I want to feel inspired to do things when I sit down in the morning with my coffee.

I also like to have great tools to save time as well as make it more fun to work. Let’s face it, it’s a lot more fun blogging on a MacBook than it is doing it on a crappy PC from 2001, with a flickering CRT monitor and a yellowish keyboard that should’ve hit the garbage bin years ago. [Read more…]

Originally posted on May 21, 2007 @ 3:27 am

OpenNet: 25 countries blocking Web sites

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block.jpg Studying 40 countries including Palestinian territories, Internet censorship and surveillance group OpenNet Initiative has concluded that at least 25 countries exert extra effort to block Web sites catered to political, social, and pornographic topics. This is a clear indication of Internet’s increasing importance in shaping culture and trends worldwide.

However, the study did not observe the effectiveness of these blocking efforts. Additionally, it did not cover countries like US, Western Europe, North Korea, and Cuba.

Top Countries Blocking Political Sites
China
Iran
Myanmar,
Syria
Tunisia
Vietnam

Top Countries Blocking Porno, Gay, and Lesbian sites
Iran
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Sudan
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen

Conversely, researchers discovered there is no filtering in Russia, Israel, and Palestinian territories notwithstanding the political tension surrounding these countries.

Originally posted on May 18, 2007 @ 10:23 am

Crack down against sex offenders from Myspace

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myspace2.jpgIn light of about 100 criminal incidents (sexual in nature) involving Myspace users, 8 attorneys general requested the popular social networking Web site to turn over the names of registered sex offenders using their site.

Led by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, other states include Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Last December, Myspace has partnered with Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. to identify and remove sex offenders in US from the site.

“MySpace can certainly take its own action to remove those sex offender profiles from their site. They say they are doing that but we want to know … exactly what steps they are taking,” said Cooper.

Originally posted on May 15, 2007 @ 8:38 am

WordPress 2.2 is out, no tagging support

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WordpressWordPress 2.2 is out, the first release in this new faster release schedule that the developers have adapted. It has lost its tagging feature since they wanted to make it better, it’s slated for 2.3 which is due in September.

There’s a lot of fixes in the 2.2 release, 244 closed tickets it appears, and a few new features. Widgets is an integrated part of WordPress now, something I’m not too fond of but fine, I won’t bitch about it. Mac users will be happy to know that the WYSIWYG editor should work in the next version of Safari. Oh joy, right?

Anyway, check out the launch post and grab it if you will. I haven’t updated any of my blogs yet so I don’t know if you should expect trouble, but I haven’t heard anything yet…

By the way, 2.2 is named “Getz” and Matt is treating us with Got That Swing over at his blog. Happy listening.

Originally posted on May 16, 2007 @ 6:46 am

BlogThis: PRWeb offers new social media tool for press releases

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prweb.jpgPRWeb, an online press release distribution newswire and a Vocus company, announced the launch of “BlogThis,” a new social media tool enabling bloggers to easily post and comment on PRWeb press releases in their blogs.

Part of PRWeb’s growing social media toolset, “BlogThis” leverages the growing influence of Web 2.0 technologies to provide additional online visibility for PRWeb press releases. Bloggers can link their PRWeb account to their personal blog, providing a shortcut to post commentary on PRWeb news releases to their blog.

“As blogs and other social media grow in importance to public relations professionals and marketers, PRWeb continues to pioneer new methods to enhance the online visibility of our customers’ press releases,” said Joel Baker, PRWeb’s President and COO. “BlogThis increases the interaction between social media and our customers, facilitating the process for bloggers and increasing the potential coverage for our customers’ press releases within the social media world.”

Originally posted on May 10, 2007 @ 7:44 am