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Xbox Live bloodied by flawed airing of UFC bout

Xbox Live had a hard time handling the Octagon.

Last month, Microsoft updated its Xbox Live service, giving it a face-lift and adding a heavy dose of live programming to the mix. To promote the updates, the company gave away 30,000 coupon codes to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship's UFC 141 match, featuring the comeback of mixed-martial-arts star Brock Lesnar.

But like Lesnar, who lasted 146 seconds, Microsoft was bloodied by the match. According to Bitmob, the Xbox Live app for the UFC wouldn't load for some. For others, it routinely crashed or reset to an earlier point … Read more

The Internet makes you happy

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