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Plaxo launches new social network, Pulse--and it's a lot like Pownce

As expected, address and calendar organizer Plaxo unveiled on Monday its Pulse social-networking site.

Rumors about Plaxo expanding into social networking have been floating about recently; the company confirmed them to a number of press outlets last week and made some screenshots available in advance.

Now you can play with the beta service yourself. But don't call it a social-networking site; Pulse is really one part microblogging platform and one part RSS (Really Simple Syndication) reader. And despite the fact that such a description sounds nauseatingly Web 2.0 pitchy, this is a service that Plaxo hopes will appeal … Read more

Bright ideas-- Notes from the Emerging Display Technology conference

Yes, occasionally I'll be doing real news here that you won't see elsewhere. Maybe these pieces will earn me some links from other blogs, pushing my Technorati authority score above 5 and catapulting me into the ranks of the million most talked-about blogs. Well, I can hope. (If you do link to this entry, link to the version on my main blog here, or Technorati won't give me credit for it!)

Today I'm covering Emerging Display Technology 2007, an academic conference co-located with Siggraph 2007 this week in San Diego, CA. The research presented here runs the gamut (that's a little display pun there) from display design to… Read more

A flash mob planner with sandwiches: Picnicmob

I've seen a few good flash mobs in my day. San Francisco lends itself to the strange, including the simultaneous zombie mob and Critical Mass bike ride, which was chronicled by CNET's Declan McCullagh a few months ago. But what if you don't feel like riding a bike, or eating brains? Do sandwiches and potato salad sound better? Picnicmob is a new site full of questions like that--30 in fact. Answering them will help the service figure out where to sit you, in a virtual grid of picnic goers in an upcoming mass picnic flash mob, taking … Read more

Recycling the radio waves

Yesterday, the FCC voted to apply new "Open Platform" rules to a chunk of the radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band, which is being vacated by UHF TV stations. CNET published a good summary of the situation here.

The chunk in question is just 22 MHz wide. Although the details of how this spectrum will be used are up to the winner of the eventual FCC auction, here are a couple of points of comparison. (These numbers could be off; I don't have all the technical details of the new band plan, just the summary from … Read more

Virtualization services market $11.7 billion by 2011

It may be virtualization, but we're talking real bucks.

Virtualization services are expected to turn into an $11.7 billion market by 2011, more than double its current level, according to a study released Wednesday by IDC.

Helping propel this market, which last year generated $5.5 billion, is a transition from using virtualization software solely in high-end and mainframe computers to making it available for lower-cost systems running x86 and x64 servers.

Virtualization software allows users to take a single server and load it up with multiple operating systems. And that, in turn, lets users string together low-cost … Read more

Jiwire Wi-Fi Finder (iPhone App)

Want to know where the Wi-Fi is? Check out Jiwire Wi-fi Finder, which lets you use your iPhone to enter your location and then displays a list of Wi-Fi hotspots. Choosing a location from the list brings you to a screen where you can get more information, view the location on Google Maps, or call the location immediately. We especially like the ability to only search Wi-Fi locations for free.

iPhone link: http://iphone.jiwire.com/

Web site link: http://www.jiwire.com/

LinkedIn reportedly jumping on the platform bandwagon

You've probably heard it by now--LinkedIn founder and chairman Reid Hoffman hinted to Dan Farber at our sister site ZDNet that within the next nine months, his site will be opening itself up to developers, Facebook-style. There's not a whole lot else to report now aside from speculation--and the speculation thus far has indeed been rampant.

This is especially interesting, because over the past few months I've seen a few trends: first, a more professional crowd gravitating toward Facebook; and second, that recent college graduates entering the work force haven't pounced on LinkedIn the way … Read more

YouSendIt

Category: Data

YouSendIt is a file-sharing service. It allows receivers to get files by clicking standard URL links. Since YouSendIt stores files on its own servers, you have to upload what you want to share, but then you don't have to leave your PC on to allow people to pick it up. The hosted transfer model isn't as flexible as peer-to-peer sharing, but it is easier to use for both senders and receivers.

In addition to a free service, YouSentIt also offers three premium subscription plans for users who want to send larger files to more users. It … Read more

Apple .Mac

Category: Data

Apple's .Mac service is a yearly subscription-based suite of Web and software services for Mac users. Subscribers get their own online storage, e-mail address, and Web-based e-mail client. They can also publish to their own blog, which can be edited and managed using Apple's iWeb software.

Users of .Mac can build public or private meeting pages using the groups service. Each group gets its own shared file storage, calendar, e-mail, and message board.

The .Mac service is also getting some extra features later this year with Apple's next operating system release. Subscribers will be able … Read more