The Social

You'd think it would've drawn crowds.

TechCrunch founder and controversial Valley 2.0 icon Michael Arrington was making a rare appearance in New York, moderating a panel at the DigitalLife trade show on Thursday night. And the panel in question, called "The Disruptors," included a few of the start-up world's hottest names: Napster, Plaxo, and Facebook veteran Sean Parker (currently of the Founders Fund); Oovoo CEO Philippe Schwartz; SpinVox co-founder Daniel Doulton; IGA Worldwide CEO Justin Townsend; and Ooma founder Andrew Frame. Considering the resurgence of tech culture and startup spirit in New York in … Read more

Onetime social-networking leader Friendster has announced a new feature called "Fan Profiles," which is essentially a way for celebrities, bands, companies, nonprofit organizations and other entities to self-promote.

Among "early adopters" of the new feature are Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, comedian Dane Cook, and pop-punk band Fall Out Boy, all of which now have "fan profiles" on the social network.

The formal announcement was made at a press lunch at the DigitalLife consumer technology trade show in New York on Thursday.

It's an ambitious move for the struggling social network, but one … Read more

Some social media junkies might find this one akin to the Web 2.0 equivalent of a flying pig, whereas others see it as a logical move for LinkedIn in a social media market that's increasingly competitive. The business networking site just announced that it now allows its members to upload a photograph to accompany their profiles.

To the outsider, it sounds trivial. But the lack of photos was one way that the strictly-business LinkedIn differentiated itself from more casual social networking brethren like Facebook and MySpace, which permit their users to create extensive picture galleries. With the lack … Read more

The first of the Webcast presidential dialogues put together by MySpace and MTV will debut on Thursday, September 27, with an appearance by former Democratic Sen. John Edwards as he meets with students at the University of New Hampshire.

The dialogue takes place at noon Eastern time.

Those in attendance at the event in Durham, New Hampshire, will be able to ask questions in person, but online observers will be able to submit questions through the MySpaceIM instant-messaging client as well as through MTV.com and e-mail. Viewer reactions will be tracked by a Flektor widget--Flektor, as you may remember, … Read more

It goes without saying that in addition to a stellar reputation for academic innovation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is renowned for its geeky pranks. The best-known of these was perhaps the time when students decorated the campus' Great Dome to look like Star Wars robot R2D2 in celebration of the legendary film series' first prequel in 1999.

But Star Wars prequels are so last decade. These days, it's all about the much-hyped Xbox 360 title Halo 3. And why prank your own campus when you can pull a fast one on those snotty Crimsons next door?

Consequently, MIT pranksters … Read more

Blog network Sugar Publishing, which operates a popular array of pastel-hued women's lifestyle and entertainment titles, has agreed to acquire social shopping start-up ShopStyle.com for an undisclosed amount.

ShopStyle, which competes with sites like ThisNext and StyleHive, aims to make it easier to search multiple retail sites at once and lets members create personal "look books" and network with other digital shopaholics.

In addition, the San Francisco-based blog network has officially changed its name from Sugar Publishing to Sugar Inc. "to better reflect its growing reach and expansion over the past year." Presumably, that'… Read more

On Tuesday night at an event space across the street from the Jacob Javits Convention Center, DigitalLife convention parent company Ziff Davis Media held its press kickoff event, but it might as well have been a Guitar Hero III party.

Members of the media could obtain their semi-coveted credentials; New York City technology commissioner Paul Cosgrave gave a brief talk officially designating September 24 to 30 as "Digital Technology Week"; and a set of "Hot Five" featured products--Trend Micro's Internet Security Pro, electronic music company M-Audio, the HD DVD Alliance, the Ford Sync voice-activated … Read more

Nobody was expecting billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban to be a runaway surprise on the ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, but he naturally managed to raise a few eyebrows on his Tuesday night dancing debut. For one, the opening credits featured the Dallas Mavericks owner and HDNet guru shouting "I am a lean, mean dancing machine!" And paired with scantily-clad Australian dancer Kym Johnson, the 49-year-old entrepreneur wiggled his hips, snapped his fingers, lip-synched, and (naturally) let his tongue hang out.

Cuban did indeed "churn the butter" as he'd promised his blog readers. He … Read more

Have you set your DVR yet? I sure have. On Tuesday night we'll see the ballroom dancing debut of Dallas Mavericks owner and tech entrepreneur extraordinaire Mark Cuban as he leaps onto the stage of the corny ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars, which pairs celebrities of various calibers with professional dance partners and then pits the couples against one another.

Cuban, always the subtle one, is encouraging his blog readers to dial in and vote for him and his curvy blond dance partner, Kym. "I'm up against all the pretty boys, athletes and entertainers tonight,&… Read more