Internet

Imagine logging onto your Facebook page from a mobile phone and discovering that you have been given full access to someone else's account. That is exactly what happened to a woman from Georgia and her two daughters. For a short period of time, the ... Internet seemed to lose track of which people controlled which accounts. While details on the event remain sketchy, experts say the issue was the result of a routing problem. User Name and Password Bypassed Cadence Sawyer suspected something was wrong after she had typed Facebook.com into her Nokia smartphone. Her account seemed to open without the ... (view more)

The CEO of Facebook has sparked a new debate by claiming the site's users no longer see privacy as a priority. Mark Zuckerberg says recent changes that make more user data public by default represent the site reflecting a "social norm." Speaking at ... an awards ceremony in San Francisco organized by the TechCrunch blog, Zuckerberg said, "In the last five or six years, blogging has taken off in a huge way. People have really gotten comfortable sharing more information and different kinds but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that's evolved over time ... (view more)

Facebook, one of the world's largest social networking sites, is reportedly being blamed for an increasing number of divorces. 1 in 5 Divorce Petitions Cite Facebook According to The UK Telegraph, lawyers claim that Facebook, which is designed to ... connect old friends, is cited in almost one in five online divorce petitions because it and other social networking sites like it tempt people cheat on their spouses. Mark Keenan, Managing Director of Divorce-Online was surprised to see that so many petitions contained references to Facebook. Some divorces have occurred because suspicious spouses ... (view more)

Got to get your fix for a Big Mac but can't stop writing that report? Then you'll be happy to know that fast food goliath McDonald's will soon be unveiling free WiFi Internet access at about 80 per cent of its U.S. locations. Thanks to a new pact ... signed with AT ... (view more)

A government contest whereby participants were requested to spot ten weather balloons at once has been won by the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But MIT took the prize thanks to the help of a network of ordinary Internet users ... recruited under an intricate cash reward system. The content was launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the same group which developed a network commonly acknowledged as the forerunner of the Internet. The idea of the contest was to see how people would use online networking to solve a problem too big for any one individual. ... (view more)

The dust has settled after another Black Friday and Cyber Monday , and already statistics are suggesting they've both been very successful for retailers. However, it seems online sellers have benefitted the most this year, with Amazon.com and ... Wal-Mart leading the pack. As the first nation-wide holiday within striking distance of the Christmas season, Black Friday has become renowned for big sales and big lineups at malls and big box retail stores (making it more or less infamous with consumers more prone to frustration). However, over the last few years more and more shoppers have been ... (view more)

Next to Black Friday and Boxing Day, Cyber Monday (today in the US and Canada) is considered one of the most popular shopping days each year. However, while Black Friday and Boxing Day usually mean long lines and zero parking at the local mall, ... Cyber Monday is all about shopping for loved ones online, and this year it could bring the highest sales ever. Cyber Monday to Bring 100M Shoppers According to a recent estimate from industry analyst Shop.org, nearly one hundred million shoppers are expected to make their way onto the web today in order to find the cheapest merchandise from the comfort ... (view more)

Tired of watching grainy videos on the ideal time-waster, YouTube? Then you'll be happy to hear that the Google-owned video-sharing site will soon be releasing content in gorgeous high-resolution 1080p. YouTube announced over the weekend that, ... starting soon, users will be able to upload any video for viewing in 1080p, generally considered the highest resolution and thus best picture quality available today. The site has even posted a 1080p test video in case you're curious about how good high-def videos will actually look. Nothin' Beats 1080p YouTube first made high-definition video available ... (view more)

The body that controls the way website addresses work plans to allow non-English characters to be used in domain names. The move follows increasing demand for the change, thanks to the rapid growth of Internet use in largely non-English-speaking ... countries, like China. At the moment, the only characters allowed in domain names are those in the Latin alphabet; that is to say, those used in languages such as English, French and German. Those who use languages based on other alphabets, such as Russian or Chinese, must use special software that lets them type on keyboards (with their own alphabets ... (view more)

Many Facebook users who've been signed off over the weekend will be surprised this Monday morning by a homepage makeover, including revised status updates and a revamped News Feed. Unfortunately, most users are cringing, rather than celebrating the ... changes. The News Feed has been updated so that posts and status updates with plenty of comments -- often in the form of "likes" (sadly, there's no "dislike" option) -- will get priority when the site's algorithm decides which updates to display on your home page. It means that those comments creating the biggest buzz amongst your friends won't ... (view more)