Redditors turn on prankster David Thorne

David Thorne’s apology to Reddit, posted on his website, which redirects users to a Rick Astley video. Source: Supplied HE once credited it for the success of his pranks. Now troublemaker David Thorne has fallen foul of the community that championed him. “The fastest and easiest way to feed anything, true or stupid, to the world wide web machine is through Reddit,” David Thorne once told news.com.au of the social news website where users post links and then vote them ...

Submited at Saturday, November 13th, 2010 at 12:00 am by Gillan

Google Maps prompts border dispute – again

In 2002, Spain sent its military to remove Moroccan soldiers from the islet, and the territory has been hotly contested by the two countries ever since. // Picture: AP Source: AP Perejil Island, as seen on Google Maps at time of writing. // Picture courtesy of Google Maps Source: Supplied < Prev  of 2 Next > GOOGLE stated Thursday its mapping service goofed twice by attributing a disputed islet off the coast of North Africa first to Morocco, and then to ...

Submited at Friday, November 12th, 2010 at 12:00 am by chuck

Ustream stops broadcast after live suicide

A JAPANESE man committed suicide live on the world wide web after heated exchanges with on-line users daring him to die. A 24-year-old man in the northern city of Sendai was found dead on Tuesday morning in his apartment by local police, who received reports from web users, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported. The man, who lived alone, had been on extended sick leave from his job since August and had posted complaints about his work, another daily, Sankei Shimbun, ...

Submited at Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am by ethan

Changing your name to escape Facebook?

A survey has found some people would think about changing their name to escape their digital footprint. Picture: AFP Source: AFP WHEN Eric Schmidt stated the children of the future would change their names to escape on-line evidence of a wild youth, people did not take him seriously. As it turns out, the Google chief executive may have been on the money. A new survey of more than 1000 Australians has found that 8 per cent would think about changing ...

Submited at Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 at 1:00 am by hilman

Microsoft boss sells shares worth $1.3bn

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer. Picture by AP Source: AP MICROSOFT chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold 49.3 million shares in the company worth about $US1.33 billion. Ballmer, 54, confirmed in a statement he is “selling some of his holdings of Microsoft stock to gain financial diversification and to assist in tax planning before the end of the calendar year”. He stressed that the move should not be seen as a lack of confidence in the software giant and he ...

Submited at Monday, November 8th, 2010 at 12:00 am by robert

Single mum must pay $1.5m for 24 songs

A US jury has ordered a Minnesota woman to pay $1.5 million for illegally downloading 24 songs in a high-profile digital piracy case. Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mom of four, was found liable by a jury this day of copyright infringement for using KaZaA peer-to-peer file-sharing network to download the songs over the internet. She was ordered to pay $62,500 for each of the 24 songs, a total of $1.5 million. The verdict was the third in the long-running case ...

Submited at Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 12:00 am by admin

MySpace traffic going the wrong direction

A screenshot showing a TV show profile page in MySpace’s major new redesign, October 2010. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied GLOBAL media company News Corporation put Myspace on notice today, saying the losses at the ailing social network were not sustainable. “We’ve been clear that Myspace is a problem,” News Corp chief operating officer Chase Carey stated during a conference call with analysts. “The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable,” he said.

Submited at Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am by ethan

Gibson reinvents electric guitar – again

An employee from Gibson riffs on a “Gibson Firebird X”. /AFP Source: news.com.au Gibson on Thursday unveiled a new guitar with built-in effects, controls and tuner that the legendary guitar maker stated amounts to a revolution in the music industry. After smashing a traditional electric guitar on the stage of New York’s Hard Rock Cafe concert hall, Gibson boss Henry Juszkiewicz unveiled the red sunburst Firebird X to a crowd of fans and musicians. “This is new, this is different, ...

Submited at Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 12:00 am by jessica

Astronauts want ship to rear-end asteroids

COUNTRIES around the world must team up to help prevent an asteroid, or giant speeding rock, from slamming into Earth, scientists and former astronauts said. NASA has tracked almost 7000 near-Earth objects that are larger than several feet across. Of those, 1157 are considered “potentially dangerous asteroids”. “We cannot escape the conclusion that one could happen tomorrow,” former NASA astronaut Thomas D. Jones stated of a possible asteroid strike. “If it happens in the wrong place, it can be deadly.

Submited at Monday, November 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am by chuck

Net users targetted by cybersex scams

A NEW world wide web scam has hit France where web users in chat rooms are seduced into stripping and simulating sex acts in front of a webcam before being told to pay up or face porn charges. French police said  that they had received about 50 complaints from men and women concerning the scam which they believe represents a little fraction of those affected by the potentially humiliating sting. The victim receives a request to be someone’s “contact” after ...

Submited at Sunday, October 31st, 2010 at 12:00 am by chuck