Web sites that share blogs, bookmarks and photos exploded in popularity in 2005, but in recent weeks a number of major outages left users stranded and frustrated.

The new breed of Web site includes blogging services such as TypePad, the photo site Flickr, the shared bookmark site del.icio.us and many others. They are sometimes known collectively as Web 2.0: hosted online, relying heavily on users submissions, and frequently updated and tweaked by their owners.

Their growth in the last year has been huge. Flickr and del.icio.us were high-profile acquisitions for Internet giant Yahoo, and there are now at least 20 million blogs in existence, according to some estimates, with tens of thousands being added every day.

But the surge in Web-based applications has not come without some serious hiccups as several notable services have crashed.

Rapid growth and increased demand places services under pressure, given the market we are in and the need for reliable services the following article reviews the situation as it stands at the moment…Read more courtesy of reuters.com

Intel Corp. is launching a new corporate and brand identity that will include a reworked company logo, a change in its ubiquitous Intel Inside stickers and a shift away from the Pentium name for its microprocessors.

The changes, which will be formally announced Tuesday, come as the worlds largest chip maker tries to market itself less as a chip outfit and more as a provider of platforms, such as its Centrino technology for notebook computers or its upcoming Viiv for entertainment PCs.

This evolution will allow Intel to be better recognized for our contributions, establish a stronger emotional connection with our audiences and strengthen our overall position in the marketplace, said Eric Kim, Intels chief marketing officer.

In one move, the company is removing the familiar dropped e from its logo, which has been little changed since the company was founded in 1968 by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. And like the recently revamped AT&T Inc. logo, the letters that make up Intel appear in lower case.

Continue reading courtesy of ap.org

Women are now as likely to use the Internet as men - about two-thirds of both genders - yet a new study shows that gaps remain in what each sex does online.

American men who go online are more likely than women to check the weather, the news, sports, political and financial information, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported Wednesday. They are also more likely to use the Internet to download music and software and to take a class.

Online women, meanwhile, are bigger users of e-mail, and they are also more likely to go online for religious information and support for health or personal problems.

For men, its just, Give me the facts, said Deborah Fallows, who wrote the report based on six years of Pew surveys. For women, its Lets talk about this. Are you worried about this problem? Its keeping in touch and connecting with people in a richer way.

If you market anything online then this survey holds some interesting data that may change the way in which you target your business.
An interesting read courtesy of ap.org

Its too easy to sit in your own cave and let the world go by, eh? said Ray Sutton, the 73-year-old Oldest Living Blogger and a retired electrician who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. It keeps the old head working a little bit so you are not just sitting there gawking at TV.

Forget shuffleboard, needlepoint, and bingo. Web logs, more often the domain of alienated adolescents and middle-age pundits, are gaining a foothold as a new leisure-time option for senior citizens.
Theres Dads Tomato Garden Journal, Dogwalk Musings, and, of course, the Oldest Living Blogger.

Web logs, or blogs, are online journals where people write about anything and everything that interests them. Blogs tend to be topical, and typically offer links to other Web sites, photos and opportunities for readers to comment.

Bloggers say their hobby keeps them up on current events, lets them befriend strangers around the globe and gives them a voice in a society often deaf to the wisdom of the elderly.

Apart from the pleasure and interest that Blogs provide for the elderly some have gone on to realise the business potential in what they are doing, Good on them I say.

Read more courtesy of newsfactor.com

It was Easter Sunday, and Patricia Santangelo was in church with her kids when she says the music recording industry peeked into her computer and decided to take her to court.

Santangelo says she has never downloaded a single song on her computer, but the industry didnt see it that way. The woman from Wappingers Falls is among the more than 16,000 people who have been sued for allegedly pirating music through file-sharing computer networks.

I assumed that when I explained to them who I was and that I wasnt a computer downloader, it would just go away, she said in an interview. I didnt really understand what it all meant. But they just kept insisting on a financial settlement.

The industry is demanding thousands of dollars to settle the case, but Santangelo, unlike the 3,700 defendants who have already settled, says she will stand on principle and fight the lawsuit.

Now here is a story worth following… What do you think courtesy of cnn.com