I was out of the country for much of 2009, so it wasn’t until I spent two months back in San Francisco that I noticed a big change in the Web community. Babies. I’m not talking about whiny Millennials coming out of college and demanding venture capital for their iPhone app. I’m talking...

Facebook has acquired its third company, Malaysian startup Octazen Solutions . Facebook says this is largely a talent acquisition, according to GigaOm . Octazen has a slightly different story on their home page, saying Facebook acquired “most of the company’s assets and to employ those assets...

As we noted this morning, Google isn’t wasting any time in responding to user criticism about Buzz.  Now they’ve rolled out another set of changes to further address Buzz’s privacy issues. The biggest change involves the automatic follow system: it’s now being switched to a...

By Chris Scott Barr Over the last week or so, there has been some talk about Facebook launching a “Gmail killer” webmail feature. Various sites covered this and described how Facebook was looking to replace Gmail (and any other webmail client) with their new service. To be quite honest, I haven’t...

By Chris Scott Barr Over the last week or so, there has been some talk about Facebook launching a “Gmail killer” webmail feature. Various sites covered this and described how Facebook was looking to replace Gmail (and any other webmail client) with their new service. To be quite honest, I haven’t...

The concept of “checking-in” has become popular in the location space. But as the concept gains popularity through the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla there’s no reason it can’t be extended beyond location. A new iPhone sports app, FanPulse , takes the idea of checking-in to...

With more than 140,000 apps on the iPhone alone, there is a real need for services which help you find the best apps. Apple’s iTunes ratings and genius recommendations only go so far. One startup attacking this problem is French-Israeli AppsFire , which just raised its first angel round. AppsFire...

With more than 140,000 apps on the iPhone alone, there is a real need for services which help you find the best apps. Apple’s iTunes ratings and genius recommendations only go so far. One startup attacking this problem is French-Israeli AppsFire , which just raised its first angel round. AppsFire...

Like bad beer, cracker jacks, and drunken fans getting hammered in the parking lot, smack-talking and sports-betting are staples of American sports. And that’s why Bema Studios created Smackdaddy, a free iPhone app [ iTunes link ] that allows you to both bet on games (currently just NFL, NHL and...

Social bookmarking service Delicious is kicking the year off with a few enhancements to its service and interface. Delicious, which has made Michael’s favorite products list for the past three years, allows you to store, access and share your bookmarks and links from around the web. The service...

One common complaint about Digg is that you have to visit the site to actually digg anything. Well, unless you use the Digg toolbar, which caused a bit of  controversy when it launched last year. But last month, Digg announced a new API that made it so developers could finally create apps that would...

What do we know about Gaspar Llamazares ? For a start, we know he’s a Spanish politician, a former Communist party member and leader of the leftist coalition Izquierda Unida. We know he has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Havana. We know he once attacked the Pope for his stance...