Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

Internet

New alternate-reality game? Or package I should worry about?

Update 1:14 p.m. PDT: This has been edited to reflect some new information about what's in the package and its source.

Usually when I get a UPS package it's some boring book or prospectus. But the Express Envelope that landed on my desk Wednesday certainly got my attention.

Inside were the following things: a sticker with the words "Scientific Anarchy Now" and "Holomove;" a photocopy of a memorandum purportedly from Los Alamos National Lab dated January 30, 1985, regarding the termination of a scientist named Eugene Gough; and lastly, and most disconcertingly, … Read more

Report: Google to release Chinese-English dictionary Thursday

Google is slated to release a robust Chinese-English dictionary featuring 13 dictionaries in collaboration with Kingsoft, a producer of PC-based dictionaries, according to a Chinese blog that I will inadequately translate as "Dances With Google."

The new product will drop Thursday at 2:30 a.m. China time, according to the blog. It will include such things as menu items, which are often perilously mistranslated into English.

h/t Google Blogoscoped.

Checking e-mail at 17,000 feet on Mt. Everest

China Mobile has opened a wireless service center and Internet cafe at an altitude of 17,000 feet at the Everest base camp, making it the world's highest such site, according to People's Daily Online.

According to reports, the Internet cafe is aiming to effectively protect the Olympic torch relay teams' communications needs at Mount Qomolangma in Tibet. China Mobile has built a business office and Internet cafe at an altitude of 5,200 meters at Mount Qomolangma base camp to provide mobile services and Internet services to government officials, mountain climbing members and journalists.

Maybe they'll … Read more

Remembering China's May Fourth Movement: slowing the internet to a crawl

Blogspot has re-disappeared, MSN Messenger is inaccessible from an artsy Beijing cafe, searches for Carrefour are just back from going unanswered, and the spring sky is clear. It's the 89th anniversary of China's May Fourth Movement.

In 1919, student activism took a powerful and still-honored turn for the patriotic in China. On May 4, thousands of students gathered at Tiananmen to protest the Treaty of Versailles and its treatment of previously German-held territory in Shandong Province, which was given to Japan rather than back to China.

Today, students have been at the forefront of recent demonstrations of national … Read more

Study: Our friends are the best product reviewers

It should come as no surprise that a vast majority of us trust our friends' recommendations about products or services, but according to a study, a strong majority also trust the product reviews of anonymous online commenters.

These are some of the findings of a study from the book Groundswell, by Forrester Research analysts Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, highlighted in a post on the book's blog this week.

According to their study, 83 percent of respondents believe in friends' recommendations, a number higher than those who put stock in newspaper, magazine, or TV reviews (75 percent).

More surprising, … Read more

Wikimedia Foundation restructures its board

The Wikimedia Foundation has instituted a restructuring of its board of trustees, in the process adding two "chapter" board seats and formalizing Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales' position as the "community founder" board member.

Valleywag on Wednesday first noted the changes.

First, according to Jan-Bart de Vreede, the board of trustees' vice chairman, the board is expanding from its current 8 seats to a total of 10.

The big change, de Vreede wrote, is the expansion of the board through what he termed "chapter-selected" seats.

"This has been under consideration for a long time, … Read more

Tudou, after facing death by Chinese regulator, pulls in $57 million

Tudou, which had been scolded for insufficient censorship (namely, of porn) and faced either threats or rumors of a government shutdown as recently as last month, is looking a little healthier this week.

China Web 2.0 Review reports:

Tudou, the largest video-sharing Web site in China, finally officially announced its $57 million series D financing at a $150 million valuation, which is the largest round of funding ever for a Chinese Internet company. (This takes) Tudou's total fund-raising to $85 million over the past three years. (In previous rounds of funding), Tudou raised $500,000, $8.5 million, … Read more

Fake Steve Jobs lights up Web 2.0 Expo

SAN FRANCISCO--If there's one person in the world of Web 2.0 technology--or tech in general--who hasn't yet been skewered by the infamous blogger Fake Steve Jobs, get ready: He's coming for you.

In a frenetic keynote address Friday morning at the Web 2.0 Expo here, Fake Steve--otherwise known as Forbes writer Dan Lyons--gave his unique take on the world of technology, the people who drive it, and the future of media.

Fake Steve began his talk with a discussion about the issues related to surviving backlash from audience members at conferences. I was rather pleased … Read more

O'Reilly invites Twitter questions at Web 2.0, doesn't ask them

Update: This story now reflects Tim O'Reilly's mea culpa for not asking audience questions sent in via Twitter.

SAN FRANCISCO--After all the hooplah over interactivity--or lack thereof--during keynote speeches at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in March, I've been thinking a lot about how conferences can incorporate the backchannel.

That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see Tim O'Reilly, who runs O'Reilly Media, which is the co-organizer of the Web 2.0 Expo here, invite the audience for his keynote conversation with Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz to Twitter him questions to ask … Read more