Navify lets you see what Wikipedians are reading
Wikipedia is all about words words words. The big arguments at the user-edited encyclopedia are always about the wording of articles — and even a casual user can see that the articles emphasize written over audio or visual content. For those who think that’s a problem, a new web site called Navify wants to deliver a richer Wikipedia experience, with more focus on images, videos and comments. And it just added a continuously-updated list of… Continue Reading
SOMA’s return, Google’s smokescreen and copying, iTunes flatlining?
Roundup of the latest tech action in Silicon Valley:
Young start-ups pouring into the South of Market (SOMA) area in San Francisco. Deja-vu? — The region’s real estate prices are lower, at least where large companies like Looksmart are able to sublet expensive buildings to new copycat video sites like Cuts. With the territory comes late-night sleepovers, punching bags and yoga. See story in WSJ. Deja-vu, the same thing happened during boom #1.
Yahoo’s assumptions on Facebook — Techcrunch… Continue Reading
iLike makes move on music, video and now mobile media: Buys Fotodunk
[Update: The Fotodunk purchase price was $120,000. Our previous guess of between $1 and $5 million stemmed from a confidential discussion that turns out to have been misinformed. Apologies]
You’ve been hearing a lot about iLike lately, and they have more coming.
It’s a fresh a way of seeing a list of the music your friends are listening to, and to get recommendations on independent artists based on your tastes (we wrote about it here).
VentureBeat has been… Continue Reading
Hacker to license code that unlocks iTunes restrictions
Hacker Jon Lech Johansen, who became known for cracking the copy-protection technology in DVDs, now claims to have unlocked the playback restrictions of Apple iPod and iTunes music products and plans to license his code to others. There’s a summary of his plans by the Associated Press.
He says he is on solid legal ground.
Today, songs purchased from Apple’s online iTunes Music Store can’t be played on portable devices made by other companies. Songs purchased from… Continue Reading