Internet & Media

Husband, father, grandfather, citizen, small businessman, author, former Speaker, candidate for president, and Twitter fraudster? Newt Gingrich is being accused of having more than a million fictitious followers on Twitter.

The provocative blog Gawker has been on an absolute tear over the last few days, accusing Gingrich of using campaign money to hire spam agencies designed to boost Twitter follower counts. The accusations supposedly originate from an anonymous former campaign staffer.

Things got even spicier today, when Gawker cited a new report by New York-based search company PeekYou, which claims to have analyzed every Gingrich follower and to come up … Read more

Good news for U.S. broadband customers: On average major Internet service providers are delivering up to 80 percent of advertised broadband speeds, according to a study by the Federal Communications Commission.

This is a big improvement over 2009 when the FCC noted as part of its preparation for the National Broadband Plan that actual download speeds for broadband service were often about half of what broadband providers advertised as their maximum speeds.

"Most major ISPs are providing service close to what they're advertising," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in prepared remarks at a Best Buy store in Washington, D.C., today, … Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See the bios of Robert Hahn and Peter Passell below.

All right, we'll say it: We love Netflix, the company that has made it so easy to watch any of thousands of movies anywhere, with hardly a moment's forethought. And we're not alone. The company boasts close to 26 million subscribers in the United States and Canada, and it recently announced plans to expand to 43 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But Netflix can't succeed without a lot of help from its partners in the digital supply chain. The company is only as good as the programming it offers. And content owners are apparently inclined to drive a harder bargain these days: Netflix paid a whopping nine times as much for streaming rights in the second quarter of 2011 as it did the same quarter a year earlier.

More relevant here is Netflix's rapid shift from being a supplier of rental DVDs by mail to video-streaming delivery on demand. The company last month separated its DVD-by-mail service from its streaming business by creating a DVD-only subscription and raising the base price for the combined service by nearly 60 percent, a move that raised the ire of many subscribers. … Read more

In the latest twist in the Airbnb saga, the San Francisco woman whose apartment was ransacked and robbed by a guest says the travel marketplace should have had protection measures in place from the very beginning, and her life continues to be an "utter hell."

Airbnb matches people looking for a place to stay with others renting out their own homes or apartments. The victim had said the company did little when she reported the damage to her apartment.

Responding to CEO Brian Chesky's apology over the incident and announcement of revamped policies to protect hosts, the … Read more

Have you witnessed this scene before?

A little boy is with his daddy in Burger King. He is playing with his iPad. The iPad doesn't seem to be responding. So the little boy screams, somewhat ungraciously: "IT'S NOT WORKING AGAIN!!!"

While the little boy continues to behave like a brat, upsetting the other customers, there's a little boy at the next table who is reveling in the blinding speed of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

You really haven't ever seen anything like this? Well, may I therefore present a new Samsung ad for the Galaxy … Read more

Facebook has purchased digital bookmaker Push Pop Press, the companies announced today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Push Pop Press made a name for itself by developing an iOS app version of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's book "Our Choice." The application received widespread praise from critics and earned the company an Apple Design Award earlier this year.

But all that doesn't mean that Facebook will be getting into the digital-publishing business. According to Push Pop Press, Facebook is acquiring the company for its technology, which will be used in some way … Read more

A porn site with a litigious history has won an important early round in its copyright fight against Megaupload, alleged to be one of the Web's largest distributors of pirated films, TV shows, and music.

Last week, a U.S. District Court Judge refused to throw out claims that Megaupload is liable for direct copyright infringement as well as contributory infringement. Perfect 10, a creator and distributor of adult entertainment that has filed several high-profile copyright cases in recent years, also accused Megaupload of vicarious and trademark infringement but the judge tossed those claims.

Perfect 10 alleges that Megaupload … Read more

Travel marketplace Airbnb is making changes to its policies following a recent incident in which a member's apartment was ransacked by a guest.

The company plays matchmaker to people looking for a place to stay on vacation and those renting out their own homes or apartments. Airbnb has grown in popularity, but a recent vandalism and theft highlighted the pitfalls of using such a service.

A woman known only as "EJ" rented out her San Francisco apartment to a guest through Airbnb in June. After her guest left, EJ discovered that her home had been vandalized and … Read more

After a healthy 10-year run, Windows XP may finally be losing its overwhelming grip on computer users.

Though it's still the most heavily used version of the Windows operating system, XP's market share among all operating systems finally dipped just below the 50 percent mark last month, according to stats out today from Net Applications.

The aging OS has gradually been shedding market share a bit each month over the past few years, touching 62 percent a year ago and 51 percent in June before its latest dip in July, according to Net Applications.

At the same time, … Read more