by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said Friday that the online encyclopedia aspires to be a higher-quality source of information but added that mainstream publications could learn from its disclaimers and community features.
“Our goal is to make Wikipedia as high-quality as possible. Britannica or better quality is the goal,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the ad:tech conference in New York.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
News Corp.’s digital chief said Thursday that the company’s social-networking property MySpace is going in a different direction than rival Facebook, based on how its members socialize and share interests.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Peek, a New York mobile start-up, has begun selling TwitterPeek, a new device for posting and reading Twitter updates.
TwitterPeek became available on Amazon and Peek’s Web site Tuesday. Its $100 price includes a full keyboard, always-on tweet delivery and nationwide Internet coverage, plus six months of service.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
One of the frequently heard complaints about iPhone applications is that with more than 85,000 options, finding good ones can be tricky and time-consuming. Could the answer be yet another app?
Envio Networks on Tuesday is launching Chorus, a free app that shows users the ones their friends are trying out and suggests ones that might interest them. The Andover, Mass.-based company, which has received funding from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, specializes in social-networking technology and saw the Apple device as a good showcase for what it can do.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The creators of “iDon’t Care,” a video spoofing Motorola and Verizon Wireless’s “iDon’t” ad, said some of their detractors are missing the point.
Three Boston-area ad-agency staffers developed “iDon’t Care.” They said they aren’t affiliated with Apple or any of the other companies involved in the original campaigns–they are, however, iPhone and Mac loyalists, said Jon, one of the video’s editors.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
The latest possible reason that Northwest Flight 188 overshot its destination by more than 100 miles is that the pilots were distracted by their laptop PCs, The Journal reported Monday.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
A U.S. District Judge dismissed a lawsuit against Facebook by Power.com Thursday, the latest move in a back-and-forth legal battle between the two social-media services.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Music-download service 7digital faces plenty of skepticism since its U.S. launch two weeks ago.
According to Ben Drury, its co-founder and chief executive, many of the questions–how do you compete with iTunes, how do you stand out amid a sea of music services–are valid ones.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
A month ahead of its release, Susan Boyle’s album has more advance orders on Amazon.com than any CD in the retailer’s history, it said.
The Sony album, titled “I Dreamed a Dream,” goes on sale on Nov. 23. Ms. Boyle sang the song by the same name on “Britain’s Got Talent,” and the video of her unexpectedly strong performance made her a world-wide phenomenon after it landed on video-sharing sites like YouTube.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
It’s early in the school year, but according to RateMyProfessors.com, students are already weighing in on the brains (and beauty) of their teachers.
The site lets college students rate their professors on such traits as easiness, helpfulness, clarity and “hotness,” and its popularity has prompted a slew of news articles quoting teachers maligned or flattered by their anonymous reviews.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Meghan McCain, a Daily Beast columnist and daughter of Sen. John McCain, apologized late Wednesday after posting a photo of herself on Twitter that stirred up some criticism and plenty of retweets.
The photo shows Ms. McCain in a tanktop, holding a copy of Andy Warhol’s biography, and her accompanying tweet referred to her “’spontaneous’ night in.”
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
See what the power of the Internet can do?
Tracy Morgan joined Twitter Thursday afternoon in response to a brief campaign designed to encourage the “30 Rock” star to share his off-color updates with fans.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Phishing attacks that affected customers of Microsoft’s Hotmail Monday have compromised more than 30,000 email accounts, including those of Gmail, Yahoo Mail and other services.
Microsoft blamed phishing, in which cybercriminals try to trick consumers into revealing personal information through fraudulent emails, for a list of Hotmail account passwords that appeared online.
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