Social networking

Rush Limbaugh: iPad great tool in fighting global warming 'hoax'

If you're 13 years old, live in Wilmington, Ind., and it's cold outside, it surely makes you wonder about this global warming thing.

How can there be global warming when your personal globe is freezing?

How can you find out whether all this scientific mumbo-jumbo is just a giant gumbo of mumbling nonsense?

You do it the old-fashioned way: You go to the library.

Once you've found the evidence, you call Rush Limbaugh and tell him. This is extreme wisdom, as Limbaugh has -- at least in the past -- been very skillful at raising issues and … Read more

Zynga CEO to earn $1 as other execs chase big bonuses

Zynga's chief executive will be paid $1 this year, the social game developer said as it revealed a new compensation plan designed to cut costs but retain top executives.

Mark Pincus requested the board lower his annual salary to $1, Zynga noted yesterday in a regulatory filing, and he won't receive any cash bonus or equity awards this year. By comparison, Pincus was paid a salary of $300,000 in 2011 and his overall compensation that year totaled $1.68 million. Zynga hasn't yet revealed salaries for 2012.

Zynga has been struggling since it went public at the end of 2011. … Read more

Man allegedly double-texts, knee-steers -- with kid in back

I am bracing myself for a knee-jerk reaction here.

For this is the story of a man who is said to have taken multi-tasking to an entirely exalted level.

The scene, as painted by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office in Alabama, is that 19-year-old Dandre Moore drove a car while texting.

Actually, the police say he steered the car while texting with both hands.

So how did he steer the car? Well, police say that he used his knees and told them he'd been doing so since he was 15.

As the Alabama Press Register directs the story from earlier this week, … Read more

Microsoft Monocles? Redmond to make its own Google Glass?

The world is moving very quickly.

And where it's moving very quickly to is a place where we'll all look quite ridiculous and talk seemingly to ourselves as we walk down the street.

This is the heaven envisioned by Google, with its fascinating Google Glass. Yes, the glasses that make people look like no one's idea of a dinner date on the subway.

Many questions have emerged since these glasses invaded the public gaze. "Should one ban people wearing them while driving?" was one question. "How will Newt Gingrich look when wearing them?" … Read more

Facebook wrestles Google for control of your phone

Facebook doesn't want anything to come between you and your friends, not even Google or Android.

Facebook today unveiled a new downloadable user interface that takes over your smartphone's home screen, lock screen, and wallpaper. Instead of the regular Android features, you're treated to a slideshow of updates, photos, and shared links.

Facebook wants to take direct control of its user base, and it's going about it in a smart way. Home, which will be available for download on April 12 on select Android phones, isn't a new phone or operating system, or even a … Read more

Facebook Home: Bold experiment or extreme bloatware?

Hard-core Facebook devotees may find Home to be the smartphone experience they've been looking for.

For everyone else, Facebook's new Android skin may be little better than bloatware (although, to be fair, it's not forced on people). In particular, Android purists will want to stay clear.

Facebook took a major step today toward staking its claim in the mobile field with Home, which is a family of apps wrapped up in a custom user interface. It's an ambitious step, and likely a smart one, given that the alternative would have been the boneheaded move of building … Read more

NFL star tweets North Korea should bomb New England

North Korea appears currently to be banging the (conun)drum for world instability.

Its apparent enmity to all things American has recently been pierced by such luminaries as Google's Eric Schmidt and the slightly noodly Dennis Rodman.

You might be tickled or troubled by the fact that today, North Korea's Twitter and Flickr accounts were mercilessly invaded by Anonymous.

My emotions, on the other hand, have been moved by the fact that an NFL star is encouraging Kim Jong-un's missiles to be targeted at New England.

There is no known additional antipathy on behalf of North Korea'… Read more

Facebook touts Home's benefits for developers

Facebook launched Home to put a user's friends at the center of the phone. But for developers, it means a new way to help people discover their apps and reengage with existing users, the company said.

Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download the user interface in the Google Play store, and that links would be found in its Facebook and messenger apps. Facebook said that there would be monthly updates to add features and broader availability, and it also will expand … Read more

Facebook's Zuckerberg: Home is actually good for Android

Facebook's new Home family of apps might seem like a threat to Google, but Facebook says that actually the opposite is true.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, speaking during an event today in Menlo Park, Calif., said that "this is really good for Android."

"Most app developers put most of their efforts on iPhones," he said. "In a way this can start to bring some of these high quality experiences to Android and that could be good for Android."

He added that while there are not yet ads on Home, there will be, … Read more