Imagine the odds: No sooner did Facebook swing open the doors to its fire sale of vanity URLs than a geeky frat party ensued, as members reserved prankish, clever and lewd names instead of maybe the digital alias their friends (and mothers) might have hoped for.

Mashable reports that 500,000 people got processed within 15 minutes of launch, which is impressive service, especially since there are virtually no reports of anything going wrong technically.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

A small number of super-geeky obsessives is abuzz over the upcoming launch of Facebook Usernames, an exciting new feature that will let you put some parts of your name into a web address.

Since its announcement yesterday, there’s been a lot of excited discussion of the feature, but in a dashes.com exclusive I can exclusively report this exclusive look at the future of the feature.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

June 8, 2009 sees the 20th anniversary of the public launch of an electronic news publishing company I built named ClariNet. It seems odd to think of just 20 years as distant history, but the story of the internet is so accelerated that the world has changed in such a short time.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

A few hours before the global launch of Nokia’s (NOK) latest high-end phone, the company gave a sneak peek at the gadget to a dozen bloggers and journalists gathered at its swank Midtown Manhattan concept store. With an elegant touchscreen that slid open to reveal a full keyboard, the device evoked lust in even the iPhone disciples present. So when can we get it in the U.S.? The company’s answer: “Globally, sometime in the first half of 2009.” The U.S. launch will come after that. No carrier has been announced. In other words, just about never.

Read the rest of this post

It’s time for a roundup of the Street’s views on Apple’s (AAPL) launch yesterday of the new “zippy” iPhone 3G. The most surprising news was the price tag: at $199, the phone will be half the price of the comparable model of the first edition of the phone. The good news is that this should drive more units, maybe a LOT more units.

The stumbling blocks are the fact that basically no phones will be sold between now and the launch of 3G on July 11, and the fact that the company will no longer get an ongoing slice of carrier service revenues. Still, in general it seems like the right move if Apple wants to make the iPhone a mainstream device. Here’s a run down on some of this morning’s Street commentary on the news:

Read the rest of this post