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Interactive game mixes classic novels with Web 2.0 mashups

The alternate-reality game genre has a new friend, and a new format, thanks to Penguin Books, the famous British publishing house.

On Tuesday, Penguin and startup Six to Start launched their new ARG, We Tell Stories, a new-style game that its creators say is a hybrid of traditional story-telling, Web 2.0-style mashups, interactive games and classic novels.

We Tell Stories is actually a seven-part adventure, said Jeremy Ettinghausen, the digital publisher for Penguin. It will begin with six weekly installments, each of which is based on a classic novel--and written by a different Penguin author--and which tasks participants with … Read more

Will Google's Summer of Code result in (even) better Adium?

Google just announced its mentoring organizations for its 2008 Summer of Code. I was really happy to see that the open-source Mac instant messaging client, Adium, was selected as one of the mentoring organizations.

Looking at the list of ideas Adium has for its incoming student developers, however, I'm a little bummed by the lack of ambition. Or, rather, creativity.

On tap? Adding the ability to remote control a Mac through Adium (similar to Apple's iChat) and video conferencing support (similar to Apple's iChat), plus improving group chat capabilities. These are nice to haves, but they're simply replications of proprietary products. The reason I use Adium instead of iChat is for all the other things that Adium does better than iChat (customizability being the top reason).… Read more

What is the world's defining software company for the 21st Century?

Which company did you think of when you read that title? My guess is that you didn't think of Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, or...Red Hat, though Red Hat claims this mission as its own. Why? Red Hat has taken as its mission the mantle of leadership into software's future, but it is not the company we most associate with the future. Who gets that honor?

Apple and/or Google.

I spent some time this morning discussing this with a friend who who runs IT for part of Google's European operations out of its London office. He has a hugely interesting background, having spent a few years at Red Hat before joining Google in 2007. He left Red Hat on great terms and continues to be an admirer of his former employer.

Yet it is his former employer. Why? And why have Greg Stein, Guido Von Rossum, and other prominent open-source developers and advocates joined up with Google?

It's not about the money. Most have made plenty of money elsewhere.

Instead, I believe it has everything to do with the customer which, not coincidentally, is almost certainly the reason that Google (and Apple) get credit for defining the 21st-century software experience, rather than Red Hat (or any other enterprise software company).

Let me explain.… Read more

Google's DoubleClick gets in on the ad widget act

Google says "gadgets" and DoubleClick says "widgets."

Semantics is probably the last thing on Google's mind right now as it starts integrating DoubleClick and its online ad technologies into its business. But it's something they'll have to figure out, nonetheless.

Google's new DoubleClick business, a recent acquisition following U.S. and European regulator scrutiny, announced on Monday that it is adding rich media widget ads to the repertoire of online advertising types it serves up to customers.

Widget ads aim to be interactive and clever enough to entice Web surfers to grab … Read more

YouTube ban only erodes China's image

Protests break out in some nation around the globe and one of the first things a media-shy government does--just after sending in riot police--is pull the plug on YouTube.

The latest example is China's handling of protests in Tibet. The Chinese government has blocked access to YouTube in that country after scores of clips showing violence between police and protesters were posted to the site, according to hundreds of reports found on Google News.

Scores of other media outlets have been blocked or partially blacked out in China, including broadcasts of CNN, the BBC World, and Google News. But … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 682: The murder of CableCard

EPISODE 682

Web creator rejects net tracking http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm

BT confesses lies over secret Phorm experiments http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/17/bt_phorm_lies/

Yahoo Buzz is a game-changer for social media http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ yahoo_buzz_is_a_game_changer.php

Google says Microsoft’s Yahoo buy might hurt Internet http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/ idUSPEK15292020080317

Flickr Video beta due in April http://www.news.com/8301-13953_3-9895044-80.html

Firefox 3 goes on a diet, eats less memory than IE and Opera http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080317-firefox-3-goes-on-a-diet-eats-less-memory-than-ie-and-opera.html

LimeWire digital music … Read more

Google: We didn't help the NSA (or did we?)

Google is now the first of the major search engines and e-mail providers to make a firm statement on the issue of the National Security Agency's wholesale surveillance of Internet content.

Google has stated it didn't help the NSA search your e-mails. More specifically the company denies participating in the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program. But the company's carefully worded denial might not be enough to reassure savvy readers.

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed the true extent of the NSA's surveillance system:

"According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors … Read more

Schmidt: Microhoo would hurt the Net

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Google doesn't want Microsoft to acquire Yahoo.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that his company "would be concerned by any kind of acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft," according to a Reuters story published Monday.

Without citing specifics, Schmidt said his observation is based the "things that (Microsoft) has done that have been so difficult for everyone."

He added: "We would hope that anything they did would be consistent with the openness of the Internet, but I … Read more

Use Google Docs to share, manage your NCAA basketball pool

For the next three weeks, office workers across the country will have visions of buzzer-beaters dancing in their heads.

It's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament time, and that means brackets will be zipping through e-mail systems in organizations large and small. There are dozens of sites that let you make your tournament choices online, whether to test your basketball-prediction acumen against the masses, or to recruit friends and coworkers in a private pool.

You can even use Google's Basketball Bracket Battle gadget to place your choices on your iGoogle page. After you select the "Create a bracket … Read more