Category: Web 2.0
Student faces academic misconduct charges for running Facebook study group
It seems the powers that be are taking quite a dim view of the Internet, because it’s so darn powerful and can bring so many people, and so much information, together.
What Chris Avenir, a first-year student at Ryerson University, though was an innocent online group to help students to improve their understanding of physics, has been branded as outright cheating.
He now faces charges of academic misconduct for allowing 146 of his classmates to seek help on homework (sorry, assignment) questions worth 10% of their overall mark — one count for setting up the group, and one for each other student who joined in. Wow, just think what would’ve happened if the group had gone global (mind you, this is physics we’re talking about, not beach volleyball)
Google and Microsoft may be ready for fight over Digg sale
Digg, the user-generated news site, may be close to being sold off to the highest bidder. According to TechCrunch, a source very close to the alleged deal, four companies are interested in buying Digg, including Microsoft and Google.
Remember the face-off (ahem) between the two giants over Facebook? We could be set to see a similar battle — that is, if the other two “media/news companies” aren’t successful.
Opinion: Is it time for YouTube to be regulated?
Jonathan Weinberg writes… Regulation? On the web? You must be thinking I’ve swallowed some happy pills to make a statement like that. After all, the whole premise of the Internet has always been find anything you want, anywhere – hasn’t it?
But while it’s near on impossible to bring in blanket rules and laws to cover the whole of cyberspace, I do think it is time some sites were forced to put their hands up and take much more responsibility for their actions – and that starts with YouTube.
A poll out today found YouTube is the most popular user-generated site in the UK after attracting 10.4 million people in January. That is a 56 per cent increase in traffic compared to 2007 and just shows the reach it has.
The success of the video-sharing site has been phenomenal. Such fast growth over the years undoubtedly causes problems and makes it difficult for any company to keep up with the demands of hosting such a vast wealth of moving images…
Microsoft launches Office Live Workspace beta worldwide
Yesterday, Microsoft launched their web-based extension of their Office suite, which will allow users to access and share documents online.
Almost any Internet-connected computer can be used to access Office documents, with the ability to save over one thousand documents online. Users can then view and comment on documents, create simple web lists and notes, and share documents in real time using Microsoft SharedView.
Send your MMS photos to one place, and one place only: NowThen
NowThen has been in operation for a few months now, however today they’re showing off a lick of paint and some brand new features. You could say they’ve just gone up a notch or two on the ‘beta’ ladder.
On paper, it looks like a photo-sharing website, although I’m here to tell you it’s much more than that. I had the opportunity to meet up with the site’s founders last week, who explained it’s a way of staying connected with your phone contacts, as well…
Facebook offers German version
Facebook has announced that it has launched a version of the site fully translated into German. Thanks to around two thousand German-speaking users on Facebook who chose to be part of the translation effort, the whole site was transformed in under two weeks.
Matt Cohler, VP of Product Management, said that there were currently over a million active users in German-speaking countries. “We look forward to making it even easier for them to connect and share information with family and friends,” he said.
RealNetworks may buy Scrabulous, legal online Scrabble-esque gameplay for all
Scrabulous is definitely popular, as a recent Facebook petition testifies, so anything which brings hope to its survival has to be a good thing.
GigaOm speculates that such a deal would be great for RealNetworks, as it could give them a foot in the door of casual gaming on Facebook. Although Facebook users may not really care who saves Scrabulous, so long as they can still play it, they may well win a few fans along the way.
know-who.com – social networking comes to recruitment
A new website/social network is offering a unique way of recruiting people – you propose them and get paid for your efforts.
YouTube announces live video will be offered by end of 2008
In the video above (courtesy of the lovely Sarah Meyers from Pop17), the rumour about YouTube offering live video is confirmed, by none other than YouTube co-founder Steve Chen himself.
Chen claims it will happen in “2008. We’ll do it this year” and that “live video is just something that we’ve always wanted to do, we’ve never had the resources to do it correctly, but now with Google, we hope to actually do it this year.”
With YouTube to offer live video later in the year, that puts a lot of pressure on live-streaming platforms, such as Justin.TV, Ustream…
Snoop Dogg twizzles his nizzle on Twitter
Imagine the problems Snoop Dogg would have if his keyboard’s ‘z’ key packed up. He’d be stuck! Thankfully, it’s not happened yet, and Snoop is proving his Web 2.0 credentials by launching his very own Twitter feed.
