Internet & Media

More than 900 kilometers from Stockholm, at the edge of Arctic Circle, Facebook's latest data center is churning through status updates, messages, photos, ads, and other output from among the company's 1.1 billion worldwide users, most of whom are outside the U.S.

The 290,000 square-foot facility in Lulea, Sweden, also known as the Node Pole, takes advantage of the abundance of water and cool climate to go more green. It relies on the relatively cheap hydro-electric energy available to power its servers and the icy Nordic air to keep them cool.

In addition, the Lulea … Read more

Facebook has added support for hashtags, fixing a broken link that prevented its 1.11 billion members from associating themselves with celeb gossip, breaking news, and popular memes.

"Starting today, hashtags will be clickable on Facebook. Similar to other services like Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or Pinterest, hashtags on Facebook allow you to add context to a post or indicate that it is part of a larger discussion," the company wrote in a blog post Wednesday announcing the update. "When you click on a hashtag in Facebook, you'll see a feed of what other people and Pages … Read more

Five months after launching the new Myspace to the public, Justin Timberlake and friends are making their social service for creatives, artists, and their fans available on the iPhone, perhaps where it was meant to be all along.

In 2011, Specific Media co-founders Chris and Tim Vanderhook and their music-mogul pal Justin Timberlake acquired what was left of the forgotten social network for $35 million. Since then, a Los Angeles team has set about rebuilding Myspace into a destination people actually want to visit -- not for traditional social networking per se, but for streaming music and connecting to everything … Read more

JLo's new mobile venture has launched its first retail outlet.

Set up as a Verizon Wireless premium retailer, Viva Movil by Jennifer Lopez launched its initial store on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, the company announced Wednesday. Designed to attract customers from the Hispanic community, the store will sell smartphones and tablets from Apple, Samsung, BlackBerry, Motorola, LG, Nokia, and other vendors, all running on Verizon's network. Also on tap will be fashion cases from Jennifer Lopez and accessories from Samsung, BlackBerry, Otterbox, and Harman Kardon.

The store's staffers are bilingual, allowing them to speak with customers in … Read more

Dear readers, I hadn't thought to mention this before, but I am the next F. Scott, Fitzgerald, Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway. There's more than a soupcon of Hunter S. Thompson here too.

There's also a touch of Walt Whitman, and I do have my John Updike and Arthur Miller moments. The latter I call Miller Time.

I apologize for such sudden immodesty, but I have been inspired by the great producer, rapper, fashion icon, and Kardashian-impregnator Kanye West.

He, you see, believes he's the next Steve Jobs.

You might think this is a temporary aberration, … Read more

To discourage media companies from proliferating Web-based entertainment, pay-TV operators such as Time Warner Cable are using tactics like offering higher payments or threatening to drop programming, according to a report by Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources.

Such goading is meant to keep programming out of the hands of digital entertainment services that companies like Intel and Apple are pursuing.

As cable companies negotiate distribution agreements with content providers, a chief interest is keeping as much hold on exclusive content as they can. That gatekeeper status has long been a cable company strategy to keep customers and fend off digital competition. … Read more

Newly unveiled by Apple, the 2013 13-inch MacBook Air has received the teardown treatment from the folks at iFixit, who gave out low ratings on the ability to repair and upgrade the laptop.

At its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple revealed several enhancements to its 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air ultrabooks, including a faster solid-state drive, an upgrade to Intel's fourth-generation core processor, increased battery life, and support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

On the outside, the new MacBook Air is virtually the same as its predecessor. But a peek at the innards of the 13-inch version uncovered the new tech. … Read more

Bummed out because the Xbox One requires an Internet connection? Microsoft has some advice for you: stick with an Xbox 360.

In an interview with Spike TV at the E3 show Tuesday, Xbox executive Don Mattrick responded to the complaints about the Xbox One's demand for an Internet connection. Mattrick described the $499 Xbox One, coming in November, as "a future-proof choice," saying that a console designed to be used online offers certain advantages, such as the ability to link games and entertainment.

And for those people without Internet access?

"Fortunately we have a product for … Read more

Microsoft's Bing carved out a 17.4 percent slice of the U.S. search engine market in May, according to the latest ComScore data provided by investment firm Macquarie Capital.

An investors note released today by Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter revealed that Bing's share in May rose only 0.10 percentage points from April. But that slow but steady rise showed an ongoing gain that's held relatively firm for the past three years.

Still, Google remains the search engine champ, well ahead of the other contestants. Its May market share showed an increase of 0.20 points … Read more