Stefania Spagnuolo

These days, advertisements are almost everywhere. But there's at least one place they can't be found: on Wikipedia. The website's advertisement-free model surely has generated a great deal of talk, with some praising and others opposing the site's ... refusal to include ads. Recently, discussions have evolved around the sustainability of Wikipedia's ad-less site. Currently, Wikimedia (the non-profit organization running Wikipedia) is funded almost entirely from donations, many of which are small individual donations. Wikimedia has managed to control its expenses in some areas such as labor -- the ... (view more)

Alas, Gmail's day has come! Google has finally decided to nix the "by invitation only" requirement and allow anyone interested in Gmail to sign up for a free account. Google has been phasing out the invitation restriction geographically, beginning ... last week with Europe. This past Wednesday, North America, South America, and Asia all gained restriction-free access to Gmail. (Source: news.com ) Although the nearly three-year-old service is still in beta mode -- signaling that Gmail is still a work in progress -- lifting the invitation restriction is a big step for Google. Keith Coleman, Product ... (view more)

Hundreds of years ago, Shakespeare wrote that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But Microsoft recently discovered that names can in fact be very important, and has changed the name of Windows Live Mail to Windows Live Hotmail. The ... decision to modify the name of Microsoft's new AJAX-enabled webmail system was announced last Thursday in a Windows Live Spaces blog entry posted by Senior Product Manager Richard Sim. (Source: betanews.com ) Sim wrote that during beta testing of the new system, the company "found that many users were extremely loyal to the Hotmail brand and perceived ... (view more)

It hasn't been more than two weeks since Vista shipped, but already Microsoft is talking about its successor. Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft's Windows Core Operating System Division, revealed that the next OS might ... ship in 2009. "You can think roughly two, two-and-a-half years is a reasonable time frame that our partners can depend on and can work with," Fathi said at a conference in San Francisco. "That's a good timeframe for refresh." (Source: hardocp.com ) Although Vista was shipped about two and a half years after Service Pack 2 for Windows XP was ... (view more)

Apple has some bad news if you've been planning on listening to your iTunes on Vista: it may not work. Apple issued an advisory on last Friday explaining that iTunes 7.0.2, when launched on Vista, has been giving users trouble. There have been ... problems with purchased music tracks playing, synching issues, and -- worse of all -- incidences where the iPod corrupts. (Source: betanews.com ) iPods have corrupted when users try to eject the device from a desktop port using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature on Vista. To safely remove the device, it must be undocked using the "Eject iPod" control ... (view more)

When Newsweek's Steven Levy sat down with Bill Gates to discuss the Vista debut, it wasn't long before Apple's television ads were brought up. The ads depict a cool, young "Mac" guy and a not-so-cool "PC" middle-ager, played by author John Hodgman. ... A recent ad showed Hodgman having to undergo surgery to update to Vista. Gates' reaction? Well, he wasn't too impressed. (Source: dailytech.com ) "I don't think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are," Gates says. (Source: msnbc.com ... (view more)

Technology writer Joe Hutsko did what many devoted Mac fans would deem unthinkable: he switched from Mac to Windows at the launch of Vista, and gave the new operating system a shot at earning his loyalties. (Source: osnews.com ) His final decision? ... Well... you're just going to have to read on. ;-) One thing that Hutsko doesn't hesitate to note is Vista's sleek first impression. The start up screen, desktop, icons, and menus all reflect a new sharpness. Even the new font, Segoe UI, impressed Hutsko. The new Aero features are also a nice surprise to the former Mac user. The Flip 3D feature, ... (view more)

The problem with having an encyclopedia to which anyone can add information is just that -- the fact that anyone, including non-credible sources, can add information. ;-) While Wikipedia has become a hit for both typical Internet users and students, ... it has failed to strike a chord with professors. Professors and other educators have developed concern about the reader-produced Wikipedia, noting the inaccuracies found throughout the website. Recently, the history department at Middlebury College in Vermont has decided to take a stronger stand against students using Wikipedia. It voted this ... (view more)

Pranskers beware. Google has made what it says is a "pretty small" change to the way it indexes websites for its search results in an attempt to prevent 'Googlebombing.' (Source: betanews.com ) Googlebombing (also known as linkbombing) is a prank ... where many people link the same keyword to a specific website in order for that website to appear at the top of search results. For example, a search for "miserable failure" would return a website on George W. Bush. (Source: citizen-times.com ) Although there are less than 100 well-known googlebombs, Google has decided to remove these bombs using an ... (view more)

While traditionally known for beer and chocolate, Belgium is now making a name for itself as a strict enforcer of copyright laws. Copiepresse, Belgium's copyright enforcement group, has recently taken a stand against Yahoo. "We sent a formal letter ... to Yahoo [last week], requesting it to remove all links to our newspapers' content," said Margaret Boribon, secretary-general of Copiepresse. She adds that failure to comply will leave Copiepresse no choice but to take Yahoo to court. (Source: latimes.com ) Yahoo, like many other search engines, provides snippets of information and links to news ... (view more)