Student No Longer Faces Expulsion for “Facebook Study Group”

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
You may recall that Chris Avenir, a first-year chemical engineering student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, faced expulsion after it came to light that he had created a Facebook-based chemistry study group.
The study group, called “Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solutions,” after a campus-based engineering study group called “The Dungeon,” attracted the attention of [...]

Security Firm Trend Micro a Victim of Latest iFrame Attacks

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
Nothing is so humorous as when the web site of a security vendor gets hacked. OK, OK, it was hilarious when the RIAA site was hacked, too. And I’ll admit: it’s probably not as funny if it’s your security vendor.
Earlier this week a massive attack on websites via iFrame was [...]

Denver Airport Censors Its Free Wi-Fi Network

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
I suppose you could say that since it’s their wi-fi network, and since it’s free, they can do whatever they want with it. But some of the sites that Denver International Airport is choosing to block are not what I would consider racy.
It should be noted that Denver International Airport is the [...]

Microsoft Opens “Office Live Workspace” to the Public

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
I first wrote about Office Live Workspace when pre-registration opened in early October. At the time it was a very limited beta open to select few registered participants, but as of late Monday it was opened up to the general public.
Go to the Office Live Workspace site to sign up.
Still in [...]

JotSpot Returns as “Google Sites”

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
JotSpot was acquired by Google in October 2006, and since then it’s basically disappeared. Last night, however, Google added a new service to Google Apps: Google Sites, incorporating the JotSpot tech, though it looks nothing like the original product.
The original JotSpot site described their product as:
JotSpot’s wiki allows you to create [...]

Netscape Gets a One Month Stay of Execution

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
In late December AOL indicated it would end support for Netscape on February 1st, but it’s now extended that date to March 1st. If you check the announcement blurb at the top of their webpage, you’ll see it’s changed to March 1st, although the informational post still says February 1st.
There [...]

Digg Alters the Definition of “Popular”

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Most people know how Digg works. You submit a story, and based on how many people vote it up or down, it will hopefully be moved from “upcoming” to “popular.” Until now it’s been based on sheer numbers, but last night Digg founder Kevin Rose unveiled a new algorithm [...]

RIAA Website Wiped Clean by Hackers

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s a weekend, and a holiday weekend to boot, so the site might stay this way for some time. Someone apparently used SQL injection to wipe, and we do mean wipe, the website of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) clean of content. (In case they’ve fixed the [...]

Google’s Blogger Joins the OpenID Parade

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Not to be outdone by Yahoo!, Google has announced the ability to use your Blogger URLs as an OpenID URL at any site that allows OpenID 1.1 authentication.
Yahoo announced on Thursday the ability (at the end of January) to use Yahoo! user IDs for OpenID logins, so this doesn’t go quite [...]

Happy Seventh Birthday, Wikipedia!

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Too bad it’s today, January 15th. Today being the day of Steve Jobs’ keynote at Macworld, this is going to get missed by many. But not by me: Happy Seventh Birthday Wikipedia (all right, I’ll admit it: they emailed me about it).
Yep, Wikipedia was founded on January 15, 2001.
In [...]

Amazon.com Quietly Opens Software Download Service

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Amazon.com has launched a software download section in their software store. While the product selection is small - meaning, limited to TurboTax products - the fact that they built a software downloader application means that this is not the end of the story.
Install the downloader (in the sidebar on [...]

Is this the Zune Phone? (Dream On)

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
OK - so it isn’t, but after all the ugly iPhone imitations, this is the first concept design that actually looks appealing. We hereby take quick a break from reality to bring you the following idea. A forum member on ZuneScene named Teccom747 dreamed up this concept phone. His specs:
The Zune 3 is [...]

End of an Era: Netscape Browser Development to Cease

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It’s a sad day and the end of an era. Development is to cease on the Netscape browser, which at one time held the largest market share of all browsers, and was the first browser to gain mass popularity.
However, it had been evident for a while that this move was [...]

IE Gets “Nag-Less” with “Click to Activate” ActiveX Removal Preview

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As I indicated earlier, with the settlement between Microsoft and Eolas Technology, Microsoft is finally going to be able to remove that “Click to activate and use this control” message you see on some websites with ActiveX controls.
In fact, in early November Microsoft indicated a trial called the “Internet Explorer [...]

Need a Good Holiday Gift? “Reserve a Spot in Heaven” for a Friend!

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Afraid you won’t make it into Heaven? Now you can buy your way in (although I’m sure some have tried this already). This website, ReserveASpotinHeaven.com, says it will guarantee you a spot in Heaven, or your money back.
I’m assuming not that many have noticed this site as there’s no [...]

Color Me Happy: Gmail Adds Colored Labels

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Since I learned of / experienced the slowdowns and issues in the newer version of Gmail (2.0), I switched back to the older version (as you can do in the user interface). This, however, may give me a reason to switch yet again.
Gmail has added colored labels. Now, instead [...]

My Yahoo! Adds Facebook Module … but Where’s Yahoo!’s Own Mash?

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Facebook is one of the uber-social networking sites, and acknowledging its popularity, My Yahoo! has created a Facebook module that you can add to your page. As the My Yahoo! Product Manager Joseph said in a blog post,
As an avid Facebook user, I’m happy to tell you that My Yahoo! [...]

Google Maps Adds Terrain View

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
If you had checked out Google Maps yesterday, you’d have seen added something new: Terrain View. Check the above image, or go here to play with it in the SF Bay Area.
But where’s Hybrid View? It’s still there, but hidden. Click on the Satellite View button, and you’ll get [...]

China’s Online Users More Prone to Addiction; No!

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
In a study that produced a result that some would say “Duh!” to, China’s Internet users are much more dependent on the Web than U.S. users. However, it’s about more than just gaming.
A survey of more than 2,100 Internet users aged 16 to 25 years old in both countries [...]

Library of Alexandria to Host Wikipedia’s Annual Conference in 2008

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
How appropriate! The Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the world. In the summer of 2008 it will play host to the Wikimania conference.
The 2008 Wikimania event will be the Wikimedia Foundation’s fourth annual conference. The event brings together international contributors from various [...]