space

Report: MySpace to launch news feeds very soon

Reuters reported on Monday afternoon that social-networking site MySpace.com plans to launch a "news feed" feature in the near future.

The statement was made by Peter Levinsohn, president of MySpace parent company (and News Corp. division) Fox Interactive Media, at the Reuters Media Summit on Monday. "The concept of a news feed is something we are very focused on, and we'll be well down the path in the next 30 to 45 days," Levinsohn said at the summit.

The news feed, which provides a user with updates from the people on his or her … Read more

Volkswagen plans four new bases for cars

Volkswagen has four new car architectures planned as part of its revamp, according to reports.

In mid-November Volkswagen announced it would be investing 28.9 billion euros in its automotive division over the next three years. The company said the changes would focus on completely new vehicles as well "successor models and derivatives" for all of its product classes. The investment will include new powertrain technologies and updates to manufacturing plants.

Today it's been reported this will entail the introduction of four completely new base architectures from which Volkswagen will build its new models and updates, according … Read more

MySpace Hypertargeting vs Facebook Beacon: Which one is creepier?

I hardly ever click on banner ads, but today I was beaten into submission by the NY Times to find out more about MySpace Hypertargeting. I still can't figure out why the banner kept showing up for me...my only guess is because I read the technology section.

Hypertargeting appears to correlate data from profiles (in real-time) so that advertisers can most effectively target ads. On the surface this is not that different from Google Search advertising. But Google is far less intrusive (for now) than MySpace or Facebook which usurp data you never signed up to disclose.

From … Read more

Time to end the digital 'arms race' of parental spying?

I caught CNET Editor at Large Brian Cooley on the CBS Evening News report last night, "The Secret Lives of Teens." In the second installment of this three-parter, which featured a tug-of-war between a daughter and her mother concerned about her risky online behavior, Cooley observed that, "This is just the return of the Cold War, with different players. Instead of the U.S. and Russia, it's Mom and Dad versus Joey and Bill." Cooley talked about parental control technology but added that, "In the end, this points back to the parenting relationship, and it moves away from technology when you really have to make a difference in their lives...you cannot rely on software."

I agree with Cooley's conclusion. Online safety for teens is a complex issue that cannot be covered in one blog post, but the CBS Evening News series gave me a lot of food for thought. They posed the question, is parental spying on teen Internet use an "invasion of privacy or smart parenting?" and I wish the CBS series had given more consideration to the possibility that digital spying is a misguided parenting practice.… Read more

Degrees of friendship: Facebook, email, texting, IM, phone...

A friend of mine related something very interesting to me the other day. We were discussing the relative value of social networking (Facebook, specifically) over email or "more traditional" ways to connect, given Slashdot's post that "email is for old people."

That struck me as wrong since the 12-18-year olds that I know (and I actually know quite a few since I'm involved in several neighborhood youth groups) may not spend most of their communication in email, but they certainly don't spend it in Facebook or MySpace, either. They take a blended approach, just as I do, and communicate with friends according to how close they are:… Read more

Is MySpace the new Whiskey A Go Go?

Could John Hammond have discovered Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, or Bruce Springsteen by scrolling through MySpace pages?

The Babe Ruth of talent scouts, Hammond made Artists & Repertoire guys famous. These music-label reps have a storied history of haunting backwater honkey tonks, nightclubs, and dive bars in a quest for hot new acts. In the future, some may be asked to forget the clubs and restrict their searches to the Web.

Private-equity firm Terra Firma, the company that acquired record company EMI in May, is now trying to attract investors by floating a plan that includes drastic cost cuts at … Read more

Vibe and MySpace team up for online rap battle

Can the combined power of Vibe magazine, MySpace, and KickApps' social multimedia platform uncover the next great MC? That's the plan, and they're all hoping three is the magic number.

Vibe Verses 3, an online rap battle that lets aspiring MCs upload videos of themselves spitting rhymes, launches today.

The viral contest, promoted on both Vibe.com and MySpace, is using KickApps video widgets to let rappers and their fans embed the clips in MySpace profiles and other Web pages.

Participants in the contest select from one of 23 beats, then make a video of themselves performing their … Read more

Photos: VW Space Up Blue

Volkswagen is getting as much mileage as it can from its Up! concept microvan. After appearances at both the Frankfurt and Tokyo auto shows in recent months, the model made another appearance at this year's Los Angeles show in the form of the Space Up Blue concept. In contrast to the previous variants, the four-door Space Up Blue came with some drive-train details: it is powered by an energy network of a lithium-ion battery pack, a high-temperature hydrogen fuel cell, and a solar panel. Check out our slide show of the blue sky Blue here.

VW Space Up concept takes hydrogen

Volkswagen introduced the Space Up to the U.S. press at the 2007 LA Auto Show on Wednesday.

With its U.S. debut, Volkswagen has offered a little more information on the Space Up concept car, which was unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo auto show in October.

The hybrid concept vehicle, which would run on a combination of compressed hydrogen fuel and lithium-ion batteries, would have a top speed of about 75 mph.

Its batteries could be recharged from common electrical outlets. On electrical battery power alone, the Space Up could travel about 155 miles, and on a full tank … Read more