Here's the latest action:
Hewlett-Packard has a case of the Mondays -- The company, which just released a web camera that supposedly track people's faces (always keeping them centered on screen), got slammed today when a buyer posted a video claiming that the product doesn't recognize African American faces. HP says it is reviewing the complaint, but has only offered the explanation that "insufficient foreground lighting" is to blame. Here's the video:
Yelp smacks down Google merger talks -- The directory of local businesses and ratings has reportedly walked out of acquisition talks with the search engine, probably looking for a higher price -- even though Google bumped up its recent offer by 50 percent over its initial $500 million bid.
Etsy founder returns as CEO -- The web-based marketplace for hand-made crafts is getting a new chief executive, founder Rob Kalin, following he resignation of Maria Thomas, who grew the site from a very young startup into a social community based around handmade items.
Facebook's privacy changes incite backlash -- The social network recently tweaked its privacy controls in hopes of making it easier for its users to protect and share their information with the right people. But the switch has prompted ten privacy organizations to band together in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission, claiming that it has led to privacy violations.
YouTube gets in on the link-shortening craze -- The massive video sharing site is following in the footsteps of link-shortening services like bit.ly and ow.ly, hoping to make it easier for users to share links to videos with others. Now you can go to http://youtu.be, enter a longer URL, and generate a shorter link that also makes it clear that it points to a YouTube video.
Twitpics out the Nexus OneSeveral photos posted to the web via Twitter now show the highly-anticipated phone being removed from its original packaging, opened up and activated. Google has been fairly militant about keeping this kind of footage off the internet, but it looks like these tweets squeaked by.
Google touts the virtues of open systems -- Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president for product management at the search giant, published an editorial on Google's Public Policy Blog today, arguing that open approaches to the internet "lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable and competitive ecosystem for businesses."
Facebook reports on 2009's most popular memes -- The social network published results from its so-called "Memology" study, gathering data on the most used memes, words and phrases in Facebook status updates. Interesting results include the frequency of "FML," "Swine Flu," and "Twitter."
Disney, CBS eye Apple TV opportunities -- The media companies have expressed interest in making their content available via Apple's revamped TV product, which would charge a flat subscription fee for access to a variety of programming. In exchange, Apple would give them a generous cut of each subscription fee.
NES emulator makes it into the App Store -- While Apple has denied video game emulators in the past, a new application called Nescaline that runs NES roms downloaded from the web somehow slipped by. Though many predict that it will be taken down almost immediately (maybe even by the time this is posted).