Topic: Slashdot.org

What Makes a Great Christmas Bonus?

There's a fascinating discussion on Slashdot today: What makes a good Christmas bonus? A start-up owner who managed to turn a profit this year would like to reward his employees with a nice year-end bonus, but wants to know how much ...READ»

Battle Over Blocks

Who would have guessed that the most buzz-generating story of our September issue would be about Lego? We pause from our reflections on September 11 to listen to what some die-hard Lego fans had to say about the company's recent products ... and problems.READ»

What Makes a Great Christmas Bonus? II

Last month, Alison commented on a Slashdot discussion thread about Christmas bonuses. Her entry catalyzed some discussion among FC Readers. I'd like to bring the question up again: What Makes a Great Christmas Bonus? For employees ...READ»

Revenge of the Nerds

Has there ever been a better time to be a techie? These sites are designed to help programmers, Web designers, and other IT professionals get great jobs, find cool projects, and stay in the loop.READ»

Wikileaks Makes Muckraking Easier by Anonymizing and Protecting Sources

Wikileaks is like Wikipedia for sensitive information: a user-populated dossier of classified and leaked stuff, submitted by anonymous sources all over the world. Johnny Law has attempted to shut it down both domestically and abroad, ...READ»

Tech News You Can Use

Parvez Ahmed, a Bangalore, India-based member of the Technology & Computers Company of Friends group, recently shared a list of his favorite technology-related news sites with other members. FC Now readers might find them ...READ»

Targeted Serendipity

Weblogs aren't just glorified pages of links and rambling personal sites; they are an antidote to mass media. According to the author of "The Weblog Handbook," Rebecca Blood, blogs are also bringing creative expression to everyday people when they need it most.READ»

All the News That's Fit to Click

Here's Fast Company's analysis of five popular Web-based news sites.READ»

The Importance of a Faceless Fireman

Scratch any geek, and you're likely to find a kid who grew up learning programming on the Lego "platform."READ»

SXSW: 7th Annual Bloggies

(photo courtesy swirlspice) Adam Pash and Gina Trapani of Lifehacker presenting awards at the 7th Annual Weblog Awards at SXSW. Though many are congratulating Twitter for its win in the blog category of the SXSW 10th Annual Web ...READ»

The Importance of a Faceless Fireman

Scratch any geek, and you're likely to find a kid who grew up learning programming on the Lego "platform."READ»

April Fool's Play

You might have missed it because Google introduced it over the weekend (I know I just got the 411 today), but the April Fool's Day announcement of its new service, Google Romance, was just that -- an April Fool's joke. Google wasn't ...READ»

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Are you interested in sex? Would you say that publicly? One of the things that has proven most problematic for people to experience -- and most interesting to observe -- as we collectively explore social networking online is the ...READ»

Trend$ - Riding the Spirit of the Age

It's 1993. Tom Hays, a family friend, is holding a 6-inch length of white PVC pipe over my dining room table as we sit down for dinner. "I call it the 'Bobbitt Guard!'" he says. Hays had purchased a truckload of pipe, printed out ...READ»

Slack Off

Who says being productive always means being busy? Not high-tech consultant Tom DeMarco. Here's why he's so up on downtime.READ»

In-Book Ads Coming to the Amazon Kindle?

Amazon's just filed a number of patents that point to the inevitable but perhaps undesirable expansion of advertising onto its much-vaunted Kindle e-reader. If it happens, would you tolerate in-book or in-magazine embedded ads? The ...READ»

Finding the A-List Bloggers

Traditional search is broken. It simply does not work for blogs. READ»

Behind the Scenes: Brin Creates First Google Holiday Logo--from Clip Art

The first Google doodle happened late on a Saturday night in 1999. As Marissa Meyer, Google’s chief experience officer remembers it, she was in the office at 3 a.m., trying to finish up some work before leaving on vacation when ...READ»

He Seconds That Emotion

Almost 20 years ago, Scott Fahlman decided that people using computer-based communications needed a way to express emotions. His solution? The now ubiquitous emoticon. Here's why the man who brought the smiley face to the Net is still smiling.READ»

Web 2.0: World Domination Via Collaboration

Attending Web 2.0 Summit here in San Francisco serves a twofold importance for me. First, covering it from the perspective of a journalist/critic. And secondly, as a content provider. With that in mind, like everyone else in media, ...READ»

Algorhythm and Blues

How Pandora's matching service cuts the chaos of digital music.READ»

Technology: Cruxy Presents Suzanne Vega (Virtually)

Tomorrow night, (Friday, July 13th, 7pm EST) Cruxy will host a one-of-a-kind event as Suzanne Vega returns to her avatar form for a special virtual listening party in Second Life. Vega will be celebrating the upcoming release of her ...READ»

Business Transparency

Chris Shipley is executive producer of BlogOn. Lenn Pryor is the director of platform evangelism for Microsoft Corp. Jeff Sandquist works as a technical evangelist for Microsoft. Robert Scoble is an evangelist for Microsoft. Mena ...READ»

Microsoft’s Leader in Web Apps: Meet Dr. Flakenstein

Strange things are going on in the lab of Gary Flake. Flake started Microsoft's Live Labs, a rapid-development Web team that exists outside of any specific product group in the company. His team is looking to bring innovative Web applications to the public (you can thank him for Photosynth). Can he make Microsoft come alive? READ»

• Microsoft Puts Its Head in the Cloud
• Can Alex Bogusky help Microsoft Beat Apple?
• Microsoft's Ad Campaigns: An Overview

Craig's List and Online Community

Craig Newmark launched Craig's List in 1995 to better help people connect through events around San Francisco. The site has since grown into a national community. While the service primarily helps people with everyday challenges -- ...READ»