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Twitter to launch premium accounts this year

A pay-for Twitter package offering corporates verified streams and an analytics... more

AnnieMole
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Google's Chrome OS revealed -- with video!

Google had a low-key event today to preview Chrome OS, its new operating system based on Linux and the Chrome browser. Things are still pretty early -- it's not even in beta yet, let alone on shipping products -- but that's the first official screen shot right there, and the big features are all roughed out. The entire system is web-based and runs in the Chrome browser -- right down to USB drive contents, which show up in a browser tab, and the notepad, which actually creates a Google Docs document. Web apps are launched from a persistent apps panel, which includes Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and Hulu, among others, and background apps like Google Talk can be minimized to "panels" that dock to the bottom of the screen. Local storage is just used to speed up the system -- everything actually lives in the cloud, so all it takes to swap or borrow machines is a login, and you're good to go. Google also said it's "very committed" to Flash, and that it's looking to hardware accelerate whatever code it can -- although Google didn't have a solid answer to give when asked about Silverlight. Overall, Google was upfront in saying that Chrome OS is focused on very clear use cases for people who primarily use the web, and that it's not trying to do everything: "If you're a lawyer, editing contracts back and forth, this will not be the right machine for you."

As far as going to market, Google's not talking details until the targeted launch at the end of next year, but Chrome OS won't run on just anything -- there'll be specific reference hardware. For example, Chrome OS won't work with standard hard drives, just SSDs, but Google is supporting both x86 and ARM CPUs. That also means you won't be able to just download Chrome OS and go, you'll have to buy a Chrome OS device approved by Google. Interesting move, for sure -- but since the entire OS is totally open-source as of today, we're sure it'll be hacked onto all kinds of hardware soon enough. (And for the record, the demo was run on an off-the-shelf Eee PC.) Check Google's intro videos after the break!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/googles-chrome-os-revealed/Google had a low-key event today to preview Chrome OS, its new operating system based... more

lordsbassman
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Kirstie Alley Attacks Conan O'Brien! (Video)

Kirstie Alley is using her Twitter account as many celebs do to defend themselves and... more

MacKenzieFox
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Coco Knows How To Use Twitter

Coco just brightened up my day by posting these great pictures over on her Twitter... more

celebrityg
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Twitter to scrap controversial suggested user list

Social-media site Twitter plans to scrap its hand-picked list of "suggested users" to... more

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The Decade, in 7 Minutes

Newsweek has boiled down the the first decade of this millennium into a seven minute... more

Manatee_man
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The Stupid Virus

When a lab-monkey declares that President Obama wasn't born in America, he becomes... more

Super_Josh
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Did Obama smuggle a little democracy into China?

I was watching Obama's town hall meeting with students in Shanghai last night. As he wrapped up his prepared remarks, stepped away from the podium, and began to explain the format of the town hall portion I realized that this might be absolutely foreign to many of these students. Here is a country's President, a very famous and powerful man, asking them to raise their hands and ask him a question. Whatever they asked him, he'd answer. We obviously take this sort of thing for granted - heck our most recent town halls seem to have devolved into purely shouting at our elected officials. But I couldn't shake the feeling that Obama, who was not joined on stage by any major Chinese official, had smuggled a little democracy into the PRC.

[Video is featured. This video of his introducing the concept is from CNN and their anchor, predictably, talks all over him, but you can hear the second half. If anyone can find a clean video - I'll replace this one with it.]

He also, and this was the headlining remark, asserted the American position that it's okay for everyone to use Twitter.

"President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China on Monday to stop censoring Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism...."I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama told students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."

If the President's goal was to sneak a little democracy into the People's Republic, it seems to have not reached too many citizens. The event was not broadcast nationally - only on local Shanghai stations - and the live feed from the White House web site was reportedly choppy and hard to watch in China.

FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/16/did-obama-smuggle-a-little-democracy-into-china/

SOURCES: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-holds-town-hall-chinese-students-introduces-us/story?id=9091246&page=2
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091116/ap_on_bi_ge/obama
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/11/15/live-blogging-obamas-shanghai-town-hall/I was watching Obama's town hall meeting with students in Shanghai last night. As he... more