Enterprise

Hulu Gets 'Lost' With Disney's Equity Stake

BY Chris DannenThu Apr 30, 2009 at 2:40 PM

Walt Disney Company is taking an equity stake in Hulu.com, the Web's third most popular pit stop for video, according to the AP. The site, originally a joint venture between NBC Universal and Fox parent News Corp, will now have ...READ»

FLICKR | Comment

Flickr Lays Off Engineering Talent

BY Chris DannenThu Apr 30, 2009 at 5:17 AM

After posting some ugly first-quarter results last week, Yahoo was due for change. CEO Caol Bartz announced that the company would be cutting around 700 jobs, and the layoffs have begun already. First on the docket: a number ...READ»

MICROSOFT | 5 comments

Could Microsoft Build a Great Phone?

BY Chris DannenWed Apr 29, 2009 at 1:24 PM

Microsoft and Verizon might be conspiring to build an iPhone challenger. The two companies make an inauspicious team: sales of Microsoft's Zune media player, the likely basis for the new device, have been in freefall for months. ...READ»

GLUE | 3 comments

Glue: The Next Marketing Tool for Creatives

BY Chris DannenTue Apr 28, 2009 at 9:53 AM

Glue is a free Firefox add-on that lets you take your social network to every major site you visit. At heart, it's a semantic Web tool: it can "read" and contextualize the content on the sites you visit, and serve up your ...READ»

ZIPCAR | Comment

Can ZipCar Remake Government Fleets?

BY Chris DannenMon Apr 27, 2009 at 6:06 PM

For the last 10 years, ZipCar has succeeded in getting urban drivers to share cars. Now it's trying to get government in on the game. The car-sharing company announced plans on Monday to venture into the public sector with a ...READ»

SWINE FLU | Comment

Where is Swine Flu? [Google Map Mashup]

BY Chris DannenMon Apr 27, 2009 at 2:44 AM

Outbreaks of swine flu have been identified in Mexico, the United States and Europe, according to the World Health Organization. The super-virus--an amalgamation of strains that circulate in pigs, humans and birds--is known as H1N1, ...READ»

SEVEN THINGS | 6 comments

Seven Curious Things Online This Week

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 24, 2009 at 4:43 PM

Torture, sex, killer robots, cheap hacked iPhones and Julia Allison (did we mention torture?). This week was a good one in the Web world. You can now find photos of your friends more easily on Facebook, or find yourself on Facebook endorsing a "friend" you never meant to. Or just watch Christopher Hitchens get pretend-drowned, if you're feeling that semi-violent spring fever. It's all below in FastCompany.com's seven best things this week.READ»

APPLE | Comment

Will Apple Take A Bite Out of the Enterprise Phone Market?

BY Kit EatonFri Apr 24, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Apple products used to be labeled with a "for creative types" banner, but that changed when the iMac, then iPod, and finally iPhone came along. Now Apple is everywhere...except in enterprise IT, at least not in a big way. ...READ»

TWITTER | Comment

Astronaut Will Upstage Ashton Kutcher by Tweeting from Space

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 24, 2009 at 3:15 AM

A mission specialist on the space shuttle Atlantis announced this week that he will use Twitter from space during the shuttle's next mission in May. If you're wondering whether NASA has some kind of built-in tweet software on ...READ»

TWITTER | Comment

Silicon Valley's Wired Race for Governor

BY Chris DannenThu Apr 23, 2009 at 3:16 PM

With Governor Schwarzenegger's approval ratings plummeting and a budget crisis looming, Californians are already looking for their next gubernatorial savior--and Silicon Valley is stocking the till. The Valley used to be the ...READ»

FACEBOOK | Comment

The Failure of the Facebook Vote

BY Chris DannenWed Apr 22, 2009 at 5:14 PM

Recently Facebook outraged its users by changing its terms of service to say that the company owned all the content on its network. Users freaked out; you joined them in the chants of unfairness. Now Facebook is calling your ...READ»

NOKIA | 1 comment

Hackers Paying Thousands for Old Nokia Candybar Phones

BY Chris DannenWed Apr 22, 2009 at 4:31 PM

The Nokia 1100 is a nondescript cell phone first released in 2003. At its peak, the monochrome candybar phone sold for around $150. Now hackers are reportedly paying $32,000 for models built in a particular Nokia factory in Germany. ...READ»

CONGRESS | Comment

Congress Seeks "Kill Switch" For Internet

BY Chris DannenWed Apr 22, 2009 at 4:14 PM

Congress is considering legislation that could give the President power to shut down large swaths of domestic Internet traffic, should he perceive a threat to national security. The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 would give the government ...READ»

MICROSOFT | Comment

Leaked Zune Images Point to 3rd-and Possibly Fake-Device in Microsoft's Lineup

BY Chris DannenTue Apr 21, 2009 at 3:05 AM

Microsoft may have another new audio player up its sleeve: The Zune "3rd," as it's being dubbed. The tip came in the form of a supposed advertising image, seen below, courtesy of Gizmodo. News of this Zune, which appears ...READ»

BOOST | 2 comments

Thanks, Recession! Cell Plans to Get Cheaper

BY Chris DannenTue Apr 21, 2009 at 2:36 AM

Perhaps the only shot that Mobile carriers will have at growth in 2009 will be to cheapen their plans. It never used to be this way, according to the AP; it was once the carrier with the slickest phones and the most capacious ...READ»

JSF | Comment

Hackers Rob Pentagon of F-35 Fighter Design Data

BY Chris DannenTue Apr 21, 2009 at 2:31 AM

Hackers have stolen terabytes of data about the design and electronics inside the Defense Department's Joint Strike Fighter program, The Wall Street Journal reported last night. The $300 billion jet is the most expensive program in ...READ»

MOBILE BROADBAND | 3 comments

Woe Am I, Without Mobile Broadband

BY Chris DannenSun Apr 19, 2009 at 10:49 AM

As I write this, my computer's Wi-Fi antenna mopes among the pay-per-hour networks inside La Guardia Airport, wondering why it costs $8 to access the Internet for the short period before my flight. While it wanders, I fume. It ...READ»

SEVEN THINGS | 44 comments

The Seven Coolest Things Online This Week

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 5:32 PM

Sure, you're sick of Twitter, Bush, and bad news about the economy. But this topics still gin up some entertaining news--so check out the related stories that bubbled to the top of the social Web this week. FastCompany.com's best of ...READ»

OPRAH | 3 comments

Oprah Hearts Twitter. So What?

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 11:10 AM

Oprah is now officially on Twitter. The Chicago talk show host completed her first tweet just this morning, and is devoting a block of time in her broadcast today to discussing the microblogging site. "HI TWITTERS. THANK ...READ»

NOKIA | Comment

Has the Cell Phone Market Hit Bottom Yet? Nokia and Sony Ericsson See Staggering Sales Drops

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Nokia reported staggering losses in sales and profits for Q1 this week, including a 90% drop in net profit. The news came alongside similarly dim reports from Sony Ericsson, which reported that it lost nearly half its sales in the ...READ»

BESTBUY | 3 comments

BestBuy Considers Launching Netflix Competitor

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 10:27 AM

BestBuy is considering launching a digital movie service that will roll out this summer, in cooperation with CinemaNow, the company that built a similar system for Blockbuster. The idea: the retailer could sell its Insignia Blu-ray ...READ»

GOOGLE | 3 comments

Google's Cost Cutting Pays off with Rise in Profits

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 10:05 AM

Google surprised analysts this morning with a 9% increase in profit in the first quarter of 2009. The good news is likely a product of Google's aggressive cost-cutting measures, which ranged from axing unprofitable programs to ...READ»

PIRATE BAY | Comment

Four Convicted in Pirate Bay Trial

BY Chris DannenFri Apr 17, 2009 at 9:42 AM

The music industry won a major victory against copyright infringement today with the conviction of the four men behind the Pirate Bay, a file-swapping service with over 20 million members. The men were sentenced in a Swedish court ...READ»

LENOVO | Comment

Lenovo to Release 3G Netbook

BY Chris DannenThu Apr 16, 2009 at 3:05 AM

A Lenovo netbook with a nine-inch screen is making its way through FCC approval as we speak, according to several blogs. And unless Lenovo is populating a seriously redundant product line, this one probably has a new trick up its ...READ»

MAC OS X | Comment

Mac OS X Update Imminent

BY Chris DannenThu Apr 16, 2009 at 3:04 AM

Apple has seeded two--maybe three--versions of its latest update to OS X Leopard this week, suggesting that the Mac-maker is getting ready to shove the update out its door as soon as next week. Developers received a recent ...READ»

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