Category: Web 2.0
Could “Books” be the new Facebook?
You know when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorses a technology then it is time to sit up and pay attention. Media reports suggest that Zuck has gone on the record talking about his enthusiasm for "Books". Books are essentially a medium through which ideas can be stored and shared. Each individual book, which is usually…
Could Twitter cause a recession? The Bank of England turn to social media monitoring.
The Bank of England's chief economist has announced that the bank will be monitoring social networks, to better understand the state of the economy. According to Sky News, Andy Haldane has been tasked with using "unconventional sources" of data to make economic predications. The thinking is that by monitoring, say, how many people are searching…
Twitter is getting native video functionality
Okay, so maybe we got ahead of ourselves last October, but it really does seem now that Twitter's video product should be launching soon. According to The Drum, users will be able to upload videos of up to ten minutes in length - and it will support MP4 and MOV uploads. Only paid up Twitter…
Here’s why web pages still load so slowly even though our connections are getting faster
Ever wondered why sometimes it feels like the web is stuck in 1998? Even though we have super-fast fibre optic broadband, pages still don't load instantly and we still have to watch stuff gradually appear... so why? It turns out that websites are getting bloated. According to some fascinating research by The Whir, in only…
India blocks 32 popular websites – including Vimeo, Daily Motion and GitHub
Worrying news from India today as it has emerged that the government there has ordered Internet Service Providers to block 32 major websites - ostensibly because of the threat from ISIS (or ISIL, or Islamic State). Insane! Govt orders blocking of 32 websites including @internetarchive @vimeo @github @pastebin #censorship #FoEx pic.twitter.com/F75ngSGohJ— Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh_prakash) December…
Is Microsoft working on an entirely new web browser, codename “Spartan”?
Microsoft is working on an entirely new web browser, which will be more light-weight, support extensions and feel similar to Chrome or Firefox, apparently. According to ZDNet, the development of the browser - codenamed "Spartan" - is completely separate to the teams currently working on future versions of Internet Explorer. Windows 10 on desktop is…
Want to find a bus timetable over the festive season? Arriva may have just come up with the worst website user journey in all of recorded history.
When running a public service, one of the most important aspects of what you do is helping users find the information they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. It is this design principle that has inexplicably led to the British government becoming world leaders in making websites. GOV.UK, run by the Government Digital Service…
Web-based WhatsApp: Coming soon?
Could the developers of WhatsApp be working on a web based version that will run in a web browser? That's what some hidden code suggests. According to Cool Smartphone, some coders on code-sharing website Github have been tearing apart the latest Android release of the popular messaging app, and have spotted some interesting references. Note…
Dropbox introduces improved collaborative functionality
Dropbox is great for if you want to share files with colleagues, but what if you both want to work on it at the same time? The company has a new solution for just that. The developments are part of what the company has dubbed "Project Harmony", and introduces a "Dropbox Badge" which hovers over…
YouTube adds automatic GIF creation tool to share options
Ever feel like the internet has gone full circle? After living through the 90s and early 2000s when high quality videos on the internet were just a distant dream, even though we can now stream in 4K, the whole world has gone GIF crazy again. Pandering to this trend, YouTube has added an intriguing new…
