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The VentureBeat site today: So what happened was... We switched to a new web host, and due to a number of technical issues, the changeover was not especially smooth. In fact, if you were either trying to read our site or our RSS feeds, you probably didn't see any of the many posts we were publishing throughout the day. The good news is that everything is in order now. So we'll see you tomorrow, same time, same place. Thanks for bearing with us.
Microsoft launches a promising service to help you avoid traffic jams -- The company's online and mobile mapping service, maps.live.com, is launching a new feature that doesn't just show you traffic problems on highways and major streets (which Dash Navigation and other companies can already do). The service also shows you what's happening on side streets, meaning that you can see if your plan to take an obscure shortcut around highway traffic is actually worth the effort. It uses software algorithms that model traffic behavior on all-sized streets in cities around the country. It can calculate the traffic generated on side streets by other highway drivers trying to find shortcuts, as well as other factors, like weather, time of day, and major local events. More here. Brazilian government pressures Google to police its users -- Google's social network, Orkut, has been a hit in Brazil. So much so, that some users have been using the site to distribute child porn, hate-speech and other inflammatory material. The Brazilian government has been trying to get Google to crack down on its wayward users. Google at first resisted, citing the free speech laws that protect it in the US. But now, Google says that it will introduce specialized filters to identify abuses, and track users for up to six months -- and turn lawbreakers into the Brazilian government. The FCC begins program to send text message disaster alerts to citizens -- Since so many people carry cell phones and send text messages to each other, this is welcome news -- as long as ill-doers don't hack the system and send out false alerts. Blockbuster working on set-top box for streaming movies to TV sets -- The product, which the company hasn't confirmed, would be connected to Movielink, according to The Hollywood reporter. Movielink lets you watch licensed films on your computer, and was purchased by Blockbuster last year. Report: Google forced DoubleClick employees to sign non-compete clauses, then fired them -- The agreement stipulated that DoubleClickers must not work with any competitor for a year, meaning those who were fired now have to look for work outside of the ad industry. Valleywag has a copy of the clause's text, here. Three years on, Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom turns out to just be a "promotion," after all -- The site was originally launched in 2005 to help promote the company's 50th anniversary. It proved popular enough that it was kept running. Until now. After having started other virtual worlds like Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean Online -- and after having shelled out hundreds of millions for virtual world Club Penguin -- Disney clearly would rather funnel its VMK users to these properties. But serious VMK users are not happy.