Internet & Media

Facebook and Think Computer have settled a dispute over whether the former actually owns the term "facebook."

Under the settlement announced late Friday, Think has agreed to abandon its efforts to get the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark issued to Facebook in 2006.

The story behind the dispute between Think and Facebook is a long, convoluted one. But according to the joint statement, Think founder Aaron Greenspan attended Harvard with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this decade. In 2003, Think released HouseSystem, a Web-based student portal that included a section called "The … Read more

Update at 6:30 p.m. PDT: Details on the semifinals have been added.

Fans of Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle have been counting down the days to the semifinals of "Britain's Got Talent."

Of course, most of us (yes, I am one of her fans, big time) don't normally try to watch British TV live. After spending a bit of time scouring the Net to figure out how to watch her performance in the semifinals, I found one of her fan sites that pointed to a Justin.tv channel's stream.

On Saturday's show, … Read more

The Golden State Warriors don't play defense--except, perhaps, when it comes to the indefensible.

Please imagine you're a disgruntled Warriors fan. For two seasons, everything seemed to suddenly and strangely go well. After what felt like 20 seasons of desperation, playoffs were reached. No. 1 seeds were defeated.

Then, for reasons that seem all too evident to those who give the Warriors money (disclosure: myself included), there is a handbasket drifting downward from purgatory with a large Warriors logo printed on its side.

Naturally, fans voice their views on various sites. One of which is WarriorsWorld.net. Much … Read more

Why would anyone with eyes, fingers and a pulse bother with Lolcats when they can go to AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com?

Yes, cats do the cutest, silliest things. But nothing compared to some of the examples of extended human exceptionalism on this extraordinary site.

The creation of two Los Angeles writers, Mike Bender and Doug Chernack, AwkwardFamilyPhotos celebrates the sheer nonsense that is the family.

It also may provide new sources of business for those photographers who set up studios in malls and hang pictures in the window that look like the subjects were drugged for the sake of art.

At least … Read more

A judge has ordered Henry McMaster, attorney general of South Carolina, not to file any criminal charges against Craigslist until the related matter is settled in court.

A judge for the U.S. district court in South Carolina on Friday issued a temporary restraining order in the case. Craigslist sought the order after McMaster threatened the service as well as its managers with criminal prosecution.

McMaster has demanded that Craigslist do more to halt prostitution ads from appearing on its site. He said he would instruct his staff to launch a criminal investigation unless the ads were removed. He continued … Read more

One thing is for sure, if a story reported yesterday is accurate, Henry McMaster, the attorney general for South Carolina is no expert at fighting prostitution.

Earlier this month, McMaster threatened Craigslist with criminal prosecution if the online classifieds site, did not do more to remove prostitution ads on its site. But according to a report by The Associated Press, McMaster said Thursday he has "never handled a single such case in more than six years as the state's top prosecutor."

"I don't think this office has handled any prostitution prosecutions ever," McMaster was … Read more

The future of RealDVD, and possibly a consumer's right to create backup copies of their DVDs, now rests in the hands of Marilyn Hall Patel.

On Thursday, the U.S. district judge wrapped up a preliminary injunction hearing in the RealDVD case. Last fall, RealNetworks began selling RealDVD, the software that duplicates DVDs and stores copies to a hard drive. The Motion Picture Association of America, the trade group representing the six largest film studios, filed a lawsuit claiming RealDVD violated copyright law.

In September, Patel placed a temporary restraining order on sales of RealDVD, saying she had serious … Read more

Google crashed the weeklong television "upfronts" Thursday, getting commitments from advertising agencies to place spots on Google TV Ads.

Hollywood Reporter notes this is the first time Google has sold airtime during the upfronts, when advertisers and marketers gather in New York to check out what the television networks--including CBS, publisher of this Web site--have in store for us this fall. (Check out Jimmy Kimmel's hilarious monologue if you haven't yet.)

Google TV Ads allows advertisers to upload an ad to Google and choose where they would like to have it shown through partnerships with several … Read more

This case could either be seen as cute or maddening.

Sarah Quinlan, a New Zealand mom, went to take nap after having made some online bids on toys. When she came back, her 3-year-old had taken over the computer and bought a much more serious toy: a real earth mover for a cool 20,000 New Zealand dollars (about $12,300).

According to Rodney Times, Pipi Quinlan was happily clicking away on the keyboard while her parent was asleep and ended up being the winner of a Kobelco digger, a gigantic earth-moving vehicle.

Sarah had the shock of her life … Read more