NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » Networking

Twitter Rejects Takeover Offer From Facebook

Nerd Grind — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:59:08 +0000

Social networking site, twitter.com rejected a $500 million takeover offer from another social networking giant Facebook.com yesterday. The offer was $100 million in cash and the rest in stock. According to Kara Swisher, Twitter rejected the offer because:

"-Facebook’s real valuation made the amount to only $150 million

-Twitter’s investors wanted cash

-Twitter has a secret plan to be announced next year for revenue"

The real question is: What does twitter have in store? Sure, Facebook may have inflated their numbers a little, but hey, times are tough and $500 million is still half a billion!

Adult social networking site Zivity lays off 1/3 of staff

Nerd Grind — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:11:11 +0000

Zivity, aka "Myspace for porn addicts", has recently laid off a full 1/3rd of it’s staff. Who says the sex industry is recession proof? Wait, has anyone ever said that? It’s not as if the site employs thousands of people though. They cut back from 22 employees to 14.

The adult social networking site describes itself as a "community-powered showcase of female beauty.” This means you make a profile and then use it to gawk at girls when you should be getting something productive done. So, almost exactly like Myspace/Facebook then.

All doesn’t look bleak for the site though. They’ve secured 8 million in capitol and they recently hired Napster’s Jordan Ritter as their CTO. The site is still in private beta, however. Look for it to go public in the first quarter of 2009.

Belkin’s N1 Vision Router – So Sexy it Should Wear Clothes

Nerd Grind — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:34:43 +0000

Belkin’s been making some nice gear lately, and this beauty joins the best of it. The N1 Vision wireless router supports 802.11n draft 2.0, as well as /b and /g (but no /a), but its the LCD that shows network performance that tickles my fancy. It can display overall network performance, as well as utilization by host. Nifty. Pricing? Heck, who cares about pricing?

PageFlakes Blizzard

Nerd Grind — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:04:50 +0000

PageFlakes has unleashed its Blizzard release of new features involving social networking and customizable themes on pages.

Now there are â€œthemeableâ€ public pages and members can create their own Pagecasts – USA Today, Rolling Stone, CNN, WashingtonPost, Newsweek Interactive, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Slate, AOL, Die Welt, Bild and others.

Like widgets? Pageflakes has a ton (like 236,997 of them!) and new users will like the auto-customization that lets them create their own page quickly based on a few questions.

Microsoft Utilizes It’s “Software Plus Services” strategy

Nerd Grind — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:57:28 +0000

Microsoft attempts to expand into the Internet to give a fully rounded system to its customers. The company will offer online services including e-mail and Web search under its Windows Live brand, as well test versions of two new free services: Windows Live Folders and Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a new version of the photo application found on Microsoft’s two most recent operating systems, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It simplifies how people can share photos on their Windows Live Spaces site, Microsoft’s social networking platform.

The sharing feature of Microsoft’s new Photo Gallery is similar to how users can publish pictures from Apple Inc.’s iPhoto application to the company’s .Mac online service.

Microsoft’s effort might pay off in the next few months, but if it seriously expects to compete head-to-head with the likes of Google and Yahoo, then Microsoft might just find the whole experience a bit lacking.

Build Your Own Gaming System

Nerd Grind — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:17:32 +0000

The HYDRA Game Development Kit is brought to you by the crew at XGameStation. It comes with all the parts, and instructions to create what is essentially, a bootleg computer system. When completed, it can play many different types of interface devices, including NTSC/PAL video, VGA video, PS/2 ports and networking. NTSC and VGA formats are displayed with up to 256 color variations.

The HYDRA has an 86 color palette and can generate almost any kind of tiled, bitmapped, or sprite based displays. In short, you will be able to play games like this…

…and whatever the hell this is.

Most importantly, you will not need your PC in order to write programs. With a classic version of BASIC, programs can be written directly on the HYDRA. This kit does cost a pretty penny ($199.95), and the graphics might seem a bit dated to some, based on pictures, but there is a certain sentimental value which I’m sure builders will enjoy. And you’ll feel mighty accomplished knowing you have the ability to create a console from (almost) scratch. And truly, that is what is most important.

Rock Hard ….Fingers?

Nerd Grind — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:45:14 +0000

P-ISM : A Pen-style Personal Networking Gadget Package, basically its a Palm Pilot in a pen. It has some pretty neat features though: a pen-style cellular phone with a handwriting data input function, virtual keyboard, a very small projector, camera scanner, and personal ID key with cashless pass function.

The best part of them all is that they are all connected with one another through short-range wireless technology. The whole set is also connected to the Internet through the cellular phone function. This personal gadget in a minimalistic pen style "enables the ultimate ubiquitous computing".

Personally, I wouldn’t buy it, but what i think has real promise is the keyboard, although my fingers would get super tough from typing on the hard floor or table all day, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Fingers of steel? I’ll take it!

Until next time…

Now That’s Wireless

Nerd Grind — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:43:53 +0000

Ermanno Pietrosemoli, president of a networking school in Venezuela, has set a new record for the longest communication link with Wi-Fi…a whopping 238 miles.

Together with Intel tech (which has created a way to electrically steer the signal, which in turn increases bandwidth) and MacGuyver techniques with LinkSys hardware, Pietrosemoli sent an 802.11 signal between two mountains in the Venezuelan Andes.
News.com

Home Automation

Nerd Grind — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:54:04 +0000

Control4, provider of IP-based home control and entertainment systems, today unveiled the Control4Â® Home Controller HC-300.

This $699 device offers up a multitude of serial, infrared, and video sensing ports, is compatible with standards-based communication technology including Ethernet, WiFi, and ZigBee mesh networking, and can dictate multi-room music, smart lighting, advanced temperature control, and security.

"The Home Controller HC-300 sits at the core of our value proposition of delivering transformative and affordable home automation and control,â€ said Will West, Chief Executive Officer of Control4. â€œWe are pleased to roll out a major evolution of this foundational and best selling Control4 product line. We have designed the Home Controller HC-300 to not only be elegant but also to maximize the digital home experience across the board from high definition screen graphics to optimized processing and expansion capabilities.â€

In addition to managing the home theater, the Home Controller HC-300 is capable of controlling multi-room music, smart lighting, advanced temperature control, security, and many other home automation sub-systems.

The HC-300 is expected to ship in July.
source: Businesswire

Internet Preserves Dying Languages

Nerd Grind — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:23:26 +0000

Endangered languages like Welsh, Navajo and Breton have regained speakers and popularity in their communities and are now even considered "cool". Welsh language expert David Crystal said the Internet could change the inevitable extinction of about half of the world’s 6,500 languages.

"The Internet offers endangered languages a chance to have a public voice in a way that would not have been possible before."
"It doesn’t matter how much activism you engage in on behalf of a language if you don’t attract the teenagers, the parents of the next generation of children," Crystal, who was raised speaking English and Welsh, told Reuters.

Languages at risk of extinction are appearing on blogs, instant messaging, chat rooms, video site www.youtube.com and social networking site www.myspace.com.

According to Crystal, there are 50-60 languages in the world which have one last speaker, and around 2,000 have never been written.

Money is needed for this project and this is a particular problem for African and indigenous South American languages, where resources are low and governments favor dominant languages Spanish, French and English. Native American languages, especially Navajo, are more fortunate as they have many virtual communities on the Internet and are funded by the casinos the Navajos run.
source: Reuters

NerdGrind - How-to Computer Help - Tutorials - Tech and Gadget News » Networking

Twitter Rejects Takeover Offer From Facebook

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