happy

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

Microsoft helps the feds bring down a large e-mail spam outfit.

The New York Times announces its pricing structure for access to digital editions.

Microsoft launches a mobile app to help men be cool.

The FCC may not allow cell phone boosters.

Samsung launches 3D video on demand in Korea.

Of the 2,200 people who filed 250,000 mood status updates through the iPhone app called Track Your Happiness, those who were at their happiest were two things: highly focused and having sex. In fact, they rated their emotion level an average score of 90 on a scale of 1 to 100.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, sex turned out to produce the highest rating of any activity recorded, according to research published in Science by Harvard psychologists.

Whether they actually rated their mood mid-coitus or waited until after remains unknown, which is a shame, because it would be interesting to know … Read more

OAKLAND, Calif.--Everyone knows that Google is the richest Internet company of our time. But Google doesn't think people know enough about the impact its services have on the broader economy.

In an effort to shine a brighter light on its economic contributions, Google held a series of press conferences around the country Tuesday highlighting the impact that AdWords, AdSense, and Google nonprofit grants have on the small business community. The events accompanied the release of a report claiming that Google advertisers generated $54 billion in U.S. economic activity during 2009, and that doesn't even count the … Read more

To counterbalance the stories we regularly see about how the Internet makes us antisocial misanthropists, here is one that shows just the opposite: the Internet brings happiness. Well duh! CNET readers already knew that!

All joking aside, there is something to be said about information and happiness. Ignorance is hardly bliss when ignorance means not having access to research, news, entertainment, and one another. The popular belief seems to be that modern advancements do not make us happy but perhaps that is too technologically deterministic. 

In The Wealth of Networks, Yochai Benkler writes that "technological determinism is false.&… Read more

Finding portable speakers for your iPod or other MP3 player isn't much of a challenge. Manufacturers have made speakers ranging from the pocketable to the boomboxy in terms of size and design. However, if you want a tiny speaker with an MP3 player built right in, look no further than the X-Mini Happy, an itty-bitty portable music player with an all-in-one design. This little unit retails for about $100 and offers solid sound quality and an impressive array of features. If you're in the market for a simple way to share tunes on the go, this product is … Read more

You don't have to be drunk to act like an idiot. We prove that week in and week out. But it certainly doesn't hurt, either! If you're going to be a drunk idiot this St. Patties Day, you will want to check out this very special episode of Gadgettes.

Wine-Drinking Women May Gain Less Weight

Happy Hour watch lets you focus on what’s important

Happy Harvester allows you to extract data from Web pages for use in other programs. There are two primary views: Source Preview and Browser Preview. Type a URL into the Base URL window, and the Source Preview shows the code for the Web page; the Browser Preview shows how the Web page displays in a browser.

Happy Harvester's interface is basic but functional. There's a useful Help file that explains how to use the program's main features and extras. The documentation touts the program's ability to pull source code from Web pages that you can then … Read more

Facebook is even more omniscient than you thought: it can now chart the world's collective hopes and dreams and highs and lows--sort of, at least.

The company's data team on Monday launched a trippy new application called the "Gross National Happiness Index." Taking a similar format to its "Lexicon" trend-tracking product, the "GNH" currently displays a graph of data tabulated over the course of the past few years to track the "happiness" of Facebook users based on words picked up in their status messages.

The GNH is currently restricted to … Read more

I really like Photojojo, and its new collection of photography projects and DIY ideas for cameras is definitely worth checking out, but I don't know that I feel the same about the Happy Helmet Camera Mount.

For $20 ($36 for two), you, or someone you'd like to make fun of, can strap a tripod mount through the vents of a helmet. Press record on your camera and start riding, skating, taking punches.

The only downside I can think of (other than the pointing and staring) is that compact cameras generally do a poor job of handling wind noise … Read more