News and reviews of Web Services, including cloud computing and online sites

Review: Bombia Design The Invoice Machine invoicing software

Jeffery Battersby — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:30:00 -0800

Simple to manage and easy to use, The Invoice Machine is a good web-based invoice application for very small businesses.

Google Dashboard gives you a bird's-eye view of your cloud

Jeff Porten — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:12:00 -0800

Moderate and heavy users of Google services will appreciate this master control panel view of their usage.

BlueBeat says Beatles songs are its own creations

Jonathan Seff — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:25:00 -0800

The man behind BlueBeat Website, which is accused of illegally selling MP3 of Beatles tunes (among other artists) says that he's only providing original creations and not infringing on copyright.

Viewfinder aids Flickr searchers

Dan Moren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:52:00 -0800

Connected Flow's new Flickr browser, Viewfinder, makes finding images of particular license types or sizes a snap.

Vendors scrambling to fix bug in Net's security

Robert McMillan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:01:00 -0800

Vendors are now scrambling to patch a critical flaw in the SSL protocol.

Intuit to phase out Quicken Online in favor of Mint.com

Nicholas Bonsack — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:38:00 -0800

Intuit has announced plans to replace its Quicken Online Web service with the recently acquired Mint.com.

Orb for Mac lets you stream your media anywhere

Lex Friedman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:20:00 -0800

A new Mac version of the popular Orb software streams music, photos, and videos to any Internet device, including iPhone

Flickr plants an App Garden

Ramu Nagappan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:03:00 -0800

Photo-sharing site Flickr has launched an App Garden to show off all the third-party software that works with its service.

Review: Memeo Share for iPhone

Lex Friedman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:13:00 -0800

While it suffers from some oversights -- you can't upload multiple photos at once, for example -- this mobile image-sharing app is well-suited for viewing photos that you and your buddies share. You'll need to consider if the accompanying online service meets your needs, though.

Google Voice makes small businesses sound bigger

Tony Bradley — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800

Why is Google Voice worth a look? The free service gives small companies an opportunity to use advanced call management features typically reserved for big budget businesses.

Report: Apple pitching TV subscription service to networks

Dan Moren — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:12:00 -0800

According to reports, Apple is flogging a $30 per month television service to content providers—but will the networks bite?

Report: Hulu will not go pay-only

Dan Moren — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:50:00 -0800

A report in Entertainment Weekly claims that video-streaming site Hulu will not go pay-only, contradicting previous statements by one of the company's corporate owners.

BlueBeat sells Beatles MP3s, permission be damned

Jonathan Seff — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:40:00 -0700

A new Website called BlueBeat has begun selling Beatles MP3 albums. The only problem? The Fab Four haven't licensed their music for download to anyone yet.

Pirate Bay founders threatened with fine if site stays open

Mikael Ricknäs — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:20:00 -0700

File-sharing site The Pirate Bay should be closed, and if it isn't two of the founders have to pay a 500,000 Swedish kronor ($71,500) fine each.

Twitter rolls out Lists feature to most users

Dan Moren — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:08:00 -0700

Twitter began rolling out its new Lists feature, previously in limited beta testing, to most of its userbase this week.

Facebook offers up privacy policy for user review

Sharon Gaudin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:16:00 -0700

Looking to avoid user angst, Facebook unveiled a proposed new privacy policy on Thursday for review by its users.

Lala music streaming app awaiting Apple approval

Dan Moren — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:45:00 -0700

Online music service Lala has submitted its app, which allows you to stream tunes from the service's library, to Apple for approval.

Google launches music search

Aayush Arya — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:13:00 -0700

Google’s newfound music searching capabilities will allow you to preview and purchase tracks right from the first page of search results.

WordPress 2 hits the App Store

Scott McNulty — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:56:00 -0700

WordPress 2 sports a new user interface, better compatibility, and a few new features.

Review: MetaLab Ballpark invoicing software

Jeffery Battersby — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:35:00 -0700

Ballpark is a simple, Web-based estimate and billing application that allows you to manage estimates, bills, and payments from the Web.

Use your own number with some Google Voice features

Jeff Porten — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:29:00 -0700

Google Voice now offers an option to let users take advantage of some of its features with their existing phone numbers.

Google Docs gets Convert, Zip, and Download feature

Carrie-Ann Skinner — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:29:00 -0700

Google is giving users of Docs, its online application suite, the ability to download a number of documents simultaneously.

Brightkite 2.0 brings more privacy, social control

David Chartier — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:35:00 -0700

The location-based social network just launched a major redesign and new features, so it's only right for its iPhone app to follow suit.

eBay-toting iPhone users like to Buy It Now

Scott McNulty — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:01:00 -0700

eBay's free iPhone app has translated into big bucks for the online retail giant.

Outsource your photo scanning projects

Derrick Story — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Scanning all your old photos is a daunting process. Should you use a third-party scanning service can help you migrate old photos from the shoe box to the computer?

The day the Web sites died: Yahoo shutters GeoCities

Network World Staff — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:26:00 -0700

Yahoo killed off its GeoCities Web hosting service, once one of the most popular sites on the Web.

Eight steps to Internet unpopularity

Christopher Breen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:45:00 -0700

Want to be loathed on the Web? These eight techniques will get you started.

Net neutrality could lead to broadband changes for businesses

Tim Greene — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0700

Net neutrality could lead to inexpensive, high-quality broadband services for businesses.

Mozilla releases Raindrop, a prototype messaging tool

Jeremy Kirk — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:35:00 -0700

Mozilla has launched a software project designed to let people manage better the ever more voluminous stream of messages coming Web services into their e-mail.

News Corp. exec suggests Hulu may begin charging in 2010

Dan Moren — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:27:00 -0700

Speaking at a online media event, a News Corp. executive suggested that online streaming site Hulu may begin charging for content in 2010.

Botnets contributing more than ever to click fraud

Jeremy Kirk — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0700

A company that tracks click fraud says more traffic than ever is coming from botnets.

McCain introduces bill to block FCC's net neutrality rules

Grant Gross — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:31:00 -0700

New legislation from Senator McCain would stop the FCC from making net neutrality rules.

FCC takes first step toward net neutrality rules

Grant Gross — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:41:00 -0700

The FCC voted Thursday to begin a rulemaking process on net neutrality.

Survey: Americans don’t trust cloud to store personal data

Tim Green — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:30:00 -0700

A majority of Americans worry that storing their confidential data on remote servers could lead to identity theft, according to a twice-yearly survey by network security consulting firm Unisys.

MacMiniColo.net looks at the Mac mini server

Jeff Porten — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:35:00 -0700

The new Mac mini server configuration gets the hairy eyeball from the folks at MacMiniColo.net, the experts in Mac mini co-location.

Microsoft strikes search deals with Twitter, Facebook

Juan Carlos Perez — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:29:00 -0700

Microsoft reached a deal with Twitter and Facebook that allows its Bing search engine to index public posts from the social media sites.

Reports: Google to launch music service and phone

Daniel Ionescu — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:43:00 -0700

Will Google gunning to become the next Apple? Google is reportedly set to unveil its own music service and is also working with a smartphone manufacturer on an...

Virgin America and Google team up for free in-flight Wi-Fi

Jeff Porten — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:25:00 -0700

This holiday season, enjoy free Wi-Fi access on all Virgin America flights, courtesy of Google, who's footing the bill.

When to use Twitter instead of e-mail

Joe Kissell — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:15:00 -0700

Twitter versus e-mail? From evading junk mail filters to serving as a quick group messaging service, sometimes Twitter works best.

Analysis: AT&T, Google Voice spat heats up

Grant Gross — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:36:00 -0700

A spat between AT&T and Google could create a distraction to the FCC's net neutrality rules proceeding.

AT&T accused of 'astroturfing' on net neutrality

Grant Gross — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:51:00 -0700

AT&T asked its employees to contact the FCC in opposition to net neutrality rules.

Ballmer: Sidekick outage 'not good'

John Fontana — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:56:00 -0700

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, stating the obvious for emphasis, called the Sidekick outage "not good," but said he thinks all data will be recovered. And he added that Microsoft needs to be more forthcoming in explaining to enterprise customers why a similar situation won't occur with the company's online services.

iTunes launches new Twitter accounts

Dan Moren — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:46:00 -0700

The iTunes Store has created a quartet of new Twitter accounts to keep social networking users abreast of the latest developments in music, podcasts, movies, and TV.

Review: Birdbrain for iPhone

Beau Colburn — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:09:00 -0700

When it comes to viewing stats on who's following you on the Twitter microblogging service, Birdbrain is in a class by itself.

Google tweaks Voice to keep voice mail out of search results

Juan Carlos Perez — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:32:00 -0700

Google has tweaked its Voice service so that voice mail transcripts don't get indexed by search engines.

Study: U.S. broadband in middle of pack

Jeff Porten — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:55:00 -0700

An FCC-commissioned report by the Berkman Center takes a look at global broadband statistics.

Pirate Bay appeals postponed until next year

Mikael Ricknäs — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:17:00 -0700

The Pirate Bay trial in the Swedish Svea Court of Appeals have been postponed until next year, the court said on Monday.

Wolfram Alpha launches $50 iPhone app

Lex Friedman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:41:00 -0700

Wolfram Alpha, the "computational knowledge engine" that graphs and charts results for all kinds of plaintext queries, unveils a fancy, pricey app.

Protect your privacy on Facebook and Twitter

Tony Bradley — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Sure, you've heard the horror stories about people getting fired because of something they said on Facebook and Twitter. But do you know how to make sure that doesn't happen to you?

Google Editions embraces universal e-book format

Ian Paul — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Google will launch an e-book store that won't be device-specific, allowing for e-books bought through Google Editions to be read on a far greater number of e-book readers.