Author: Stuart Dredge
Analysis: What is Bebo's Open Media initiative, and why does it matter?
We missed this earlier in the week, but it’s worth covering in depth. Bebo has announced its Open Media initiative, which it describes rather grandly as “a new vision for social media and entertainment”. Translation: they’re partnering with lots of broadcasters to distribute their video via Bebo’s social network.
Will webmail services be the next social networks?
The New York Times’ Bits blog has an interesting piece about Google and Yahoo’s plans to turn their webmail services (Gmail and Yahoo Mail respectively) into fully fledged social networks.
LogiCity: the edugame that's a greener spin on Sim City
The planet is going to the dogs, and judging by the apocalyptic predictions on Look East last week, Norfolk will be the first to be submerged when the floods come. If it helps Norwich City stay clear of relegation, I'm all for it. But climate change isn't an excuse for silly football jokes, kids. It's a serious business.
The Bluetooth skateboard that's controlled by your mobile phone
Bluetooth is a pretty useful technology, right? It lets you talk hands-free (and wires-free, for that matter), as well as being pretty good for transferring data and sending silly alerts to random strangers on the train. If you do that sort of thing, obviously.
Call the cops! Thieves are loose in Habbo Hotel…
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are real thieves going about their nefarious business within virtual worlds. It’s inevitable once people start spending real money on virtual items for their avatar or room. If those items can be stolen, then there’ll surely be people trying to steal them. Such is the case in Habbo Hotel, where a group of Dutch teenagers has been accused of nicking more than 4,000 Euros worth of virtual furniture from other users.
Bebo adds live video through deal with Ustream.tv
Bebo’s been busy this week, first announcing its Open Media initiative (more of which later today), and now revealing a partnership with lifecasting startup Ustream.tv. The latter is one of the companies letting web users stream live footage of themselves as online TV channels.
LG unveils 52-inch LCD TV… with Wi-Fi!
News just in from the connected HDTV frontier (yes, it does exist): LG’s new 52LG71 telly combines 52-inch LCD 1080p goodness with blazing fast 802.11n Wi-Fi.
MIT unveils stackable City Cars concept for future transport
MIT has been showing off its latest futuristic concept: an electric two-passenger vehicle called the City Car, which can ‘stack’ together with other City Cars to form a more socially responsible way of getting around town.
Bowbie spotlights the best web games (i.e. say goodbye to your job)
Really, you may as well tell your boss to chuck you out now, with the minimum of fuss. Why? Well, online Flash games are a notoriously addictive way to fritter away your working hours, yet the thing that stops most of us from being sacked is that there’s too many of them to choose from. It’s hard to find the good ones, so we end up getting some work done after all.
Imagine if Friendster had bought Facebook…
You might laugh at the thought, but apparently Friendster (remember them?) could have snapped up Facebook for a pittance a few years ago, when it was just another struggling startup. At least, that’s what Bebo co-founder Jim Scheinman says – and since he used to work at Friendster too, he should know.
