Filed under: Internet

Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.

 

Facebook, Skype may link services

Social network giant Facebook Inc. and Internet telephone leader Skype SA are in talks to mesh their communications services more closely together, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday.

Under the partnership, expected to be announced within the next few weeks, Facebook users will be able to sign into Skype through their Facebook Connect accounts. Those users will be able to text message, voice chat and video chat with their Facebook friends from within Skype. Get the full story »

U. of C. law professor stops blogging after outcry

Todd Henderson. (University of Chicago photo)

A law professor at the University of Chicago, where President Barack Obama once taught, is sorry he ever complained about the president’s tax policies.

Todd Henderson last week wrote on a blog about the effect the expiring Bush tax cuts would have on his family. He said his family, whose household income is north of $250,000, could not afford higher taxes. His wife is a doctor at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

“A quick look at our family budget, which I will happily share with the White House, will show him that like many Americans, we are just getting by despite seeming to be rich. We aren’t,” Henderson wrote on the blog “Truth on the Market.” Get the full story »

Few answers at Similac recall Web site, hot line

Abbott Laboratories created a Web site for parents and caregivers to check whether their baby formula was affected by Wednesday’s Similac recall.

But families swamped the site and phone hot line Thursday, only to meet a dead end. The overwhelming surge of traffic resulted in busy lines and site problems, leaving parents frustrated by the company’s lack of response. Get the full story »

FCC vote clears way for ‘Super Wi-Fi’

The Federal Communications Commission is opening up unused airwaves between television stations for wireless broadband networks that will be more powerful and can travel farther than today’s Wi-Fi hotspots.

The five-member FCC voted unanimously Thursday to allow the use of so-called “white spaces” between TV stations to deliver broadband connections that can function like Wi-Fi networks on steroids. Get the full story »

Netflix launches streaming video in Canada

Netflix launched an online video-streaming service in Canada for films and television Wednesday, its first foray outside the United States and a direct threat to established cable companies. Get the full story »

MySpace expects to lose users in redesign

The MySpace redesign set to launch in mid-October may be so jarring that the social networking site could lose members at first. That’s according to Jon Miller, the chief digital officer of MySpace parent company News Corp. Get the full story »

Twitter: Porn pop-up problem fixed

The Twitter homepage on Sept. 3, 2010. Twitter came under attack today as hackers exploited a security flaw to wreak havoc on the microblogging service. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Twitter has fixed a security flaw on its popular social media website after a cyber attack earlier on Tuesday sent some users to Japanese porn websites.

Twitter, which allows users to broadcast short messages of 140 characters or fewer, was flooded with tweets by users who complained on the homepage under such topic headings as ”Twitter got hacked.” Get the full story »

Charity auction to give your Twitter account star power

If you’ve ever wished celebrities such as actress Demi Moore or skateboarder Tony Hawk would follow you on Twitter, now’s your chance — but you’ll have to cough up some cash for the privilege. Get the full story »

Yahoo revamps e-mail, shows new products

Yahoo Inc., aiming to reverse the slide in time that people spend on its Web sites, previewed updates to several advertising and consumer products on Thursday, including a revamp of its e-mail service and additional features in its search engine.

At an event at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving laid out a three-year vision for Yahoo as an “innovative technology company with the largest digital media content and communications business in the world.” Get the full story »

Craigslist says it won’t resume adult services section

A Craigslist official told lawmakers Wednesday that the classified ad website has no plans to resume its adult services section and defended the company’s efforts to stop the sexual exploitation of minors.

But William Clinton Powell also told a House Judiciary Committee panel that people seeking to advertise adult — or sexual — services will now simply migrate to other Internet sites.

Internet Explorer 9 launched

A screen shot of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9.

Microsoft Corp. released the latest version of its Web browser, saying that it would work at faster speeds, deliver better graphics and be less obtrusive to users.

Internet Explorer 9, unlike previous versions and many competing browsers, pushes itself into the background.

“People go to the Web for site, not the browser,” said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager for IE, at a press event in San Francisco. “Today Web sites are boxed in, the box is the browser.” Get the full story »

Update: Chase to pay fees from Web site outage

A screenshot of the error message on Chase.com at 10:38 a.m. CST. (Tribune)

Chase said it continues to work on its spotty-at-best online banking service and said it will refund any fees incurred by customers unable to make online payments during the outage.

Chase’s  online banking Web site was back in service early Wednesday morning after being down for more than a day, but many customers have reported that they are unable to log in after entering their user name and password.

Around 10:30 CST, the site displayed an error message saying it was “temporarily unavailable,” though a few minutes later, it appeared to be back up again. Get the full story »

Twitter redesign adds video, photos, 2 panes

Twitter CEO Evan Williams discusses the new Twitter.com in San Francisco. (Robert Galbraith/Reuters)


A screen shot of new Twitter design. (Twitter)

Microblogging site Twitter, which is now signing up 370,000 new users daily on average, is redesigning its Web site to make it easier for its millions of users to navigate the service and discover new information.

The four-year-old company, which this month reported more than 145 million users, announced on Tuesday new improvements, such as embedded YouTube videos and other content, which is featured in a new two-pane layout. Get the full story »

Judge tosses Tiffany’s suit against eBay

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday dismissed Tiffany & Co.’s 6-year-old lawsuit accusing eBay Inc. of allowing the online sale of counterfeit jewelry bearing its name.

U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan on Monday rejected Tiffany’s false advertising claim against eBay. Get the full story »

Smartphone app placing Peapod orders

Web-based grocer Peapod has launched a free application for smartphones that allows consumers to place orders from their mobile device. Get the full story »