Apple iTunes’ Ping launched Wednesday night to a flurry of chatter  lauding it as a MySpace killer , only to land Thursday morning amid criticism and a  nasty break-up with Facebook . Now that the dust is beginning to settle, let’s take a look at what Ping is, as well as what it could have been. Om claimed that Ping is the future of social commerce , but its sole focus on purchases and its presence behind a walled garden may hinder... 

As expected , Facebook has started integrating social activity from around the web into the search results on its site, by showing how many people “liked” or shared a specific news story or blog post, as shown in the screenshot below (first noticed by All Facebook ). The results are powered by the social-graph plugins embedded in hundreds of thousands of websites, which Facebook launched earlier this year at its F8 conference. The... 

One of the most fun areas of any tradeshow is the startup pavilion: a place where smaller companies can rent a kiosk. So I wandered through the pavilion at VMworld and discovered plenty of interesting startups attacking the hot market segments today. Here are some.  Read More →

Mobile use of Twitter has climbed by more than 60 percent since April, when the company introduced its official iPhone client, Twitter CEO Ev Williams said in a status update posted to the company’s blog . The Twitter founder also said that the microblogging service has 145 million registered users, up almost 40 percent from the number it had four months ago. Williams said that 16 percent of all new users to Twitter start using the service... 

The folks at Twitter took their time releasing an app for the iPad, but it was time well spent. Having used more Twitter apps than I can count on multiple platforms, this iPad version is better than any of them for following the Twitterverse.  Read More →

Twitter is launching the first native app it’s built from scratch tonight, Twitter for iPad. Aimed at fostering content consumption, the app is designed for new users and power users alike. The iPad app indicates the direction all Twitter-designed apps will be heading, said Leland Rechis, Twitter’s mobile product manager, in an interview at Twitter headquarters on Wednesday. “It’s not about timelines, it’s …  Read More →

After extracting a deal from Research In Motion that appears to give state authorities the ability to monitor messages sent over the company’s BlackBerry network — similar to a deal that RIM agreed to with the government of Saudi Arabia — the Indian government has suggested that it may go after both Google and Skype in an attempt to get similar kinds of security concessions. India’s threat means that this is no longer... 

For the first time in a long time, an Apple press event will be live-streamed to the public. Tomorrow Apple.com will host a stream of the rumored and expected announcements of a new iPod Touch, iTunes rentals, and an overhaul of the Apple TV.  Read More →

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is actively watching app stores for apps that it deems fill a medical purpose with an eye toward regulating them, according to an attorney specializing in health care issues. Developers should be aware that apps may warrant FDA approval.  Read More →

A few days ago, Hilary Mason, a data-mining engineer at N.Y.-based, URL shortening service, Bit.ly,  made news for her attempts at creating a smarter email inbox that kept the important and urgent messages ahead of what are messages of less importance. Some of us eager for Ms. Mason’s creation might have a near-term solution to handling the backbreaking load of email, thanks to Google and the engineers behind the Gmail team. The company today... 

Oracle’s decision to sue Google for patent and copyright infringement over some of the Java code in Google’s Android OS has promoted the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant to boycott this year’s JavaONE conference. JavaONE is the premier event for Java developers, and for years has been a must attend show for folks involved in the Java ecosystem. Joshua Bloch, who works for Google’s open source programs office, announced the boycott... 

We present last hot deal of hot summer 2010 – Solaris and Golden Lotus calling cards on sale. Solaris calling card Solaris calling card can be used variety people: businessman, students, baby sitters, travelers – for call to the US and any other country from overseas destinations and many others. With Solaris you can make  Read More →

Google has had its share of social media flops , and many smart analysts think the search giant just doesn’t have “social” in its nature. As I discuss in my column at GigaOM Pro, Google needs to play in social, because search and advertising must tap into the data generated by social media activities to improve relevance and targeting. The company announced its real-time search last week, with its focus on Twitter and Facebook content,... 

Still wondering if cloud computing is the real deal, if it will find its way to a data center near you? Whether they’re buying, building or buddying up, vendors are surrounding their core competencies with everything they’ll need to compete in an increasingly integrated IT market.  Read More →

Apple is stepping up its battle against iPhone jailbreakers with an updated version of its mobile operating system and the pursuit of a patent. But in all likelihood, the folks in Cupertino are pouring resources into a battle they shouldn’t be fighting at all.  Read More →