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It looks like there won't be a browserless version of Windows 7, after all.

Microsoft said late Friday that it won't ship the Windows ...

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MySpace unveiled its new messaging system late on Thursday night--which now lets members use the formerly internal service to e-mail others from an @myspace.com account--and the reactions have been pretty positive. Since it's slowing rolling out in beta over the next few weeks, hands-on reviews are hard to come by, but the design looks pretty good and people seem to agree that it may help reverse some of the site's well-publicized traffic stagnation.

Here are the numbers: MySpace says that nearly a fifth of its traffic is related to the messaging platform, and it has 130 million users worldwide. MySpace Mail can therefore enter the market as the fourth largest e-mail provider in the world and the second biggest in the U.S. It also gives the News Corp.-owned social network a leg up on Facebook, which has eclipsed it in traffic but still has a pretty rudimentary messaging system. (That's apparently going to change, from what everyone's been saying.)

MySpace Mail, in tune with its media-savvy young audience, has made it easier than other e-mail clients to attach music, video, and picture files. Additionally, if you're contacting another MySpace member, an activity feed of that member's recent MySpace goings-on will appear in the right sidebar. Those are features that I wouldn't be surprised to see other e-mail clients start integrating in the future.

But will MySpace Mail shake up the industry? I don't think so.

The question for MySpace is uptake. The majority of its users likely already have other e-mail addresses that they already use, and switching over may be a complicated matter: the hassle of changing address books, not to mention updating e-mail list and account subscriptions, means that people just don't change their addresses very often. And it doesn't have the invite-only allure or the power of a name like Google behind it that Gmail had when it launched in 2004.

Security's also an issue, given how well-publicized MySpace spam and worms have been over the years. The company says it is using "leading anti-spam technology and virus scanning" in the overhauled messaging client.

Originally posted at The Social

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Although Twitter is a tool that helps you connect with others around the world, what if you want to find some "tweeps" that live in your area? It's easier than you might think.

Twitter itself provides location information on profile pages, but that's not enough to help you find some locals. You're not going to sift through every profile to look at the person's location, after all.

That's why you need to check out the following sites and iPhone apps that will help you find folks who live nearby.

Find some locals

Happn.in Instead of simply finding tweeters close to you, Happn.in has you choose your area and see what the "trending" topics are there. So, if nearby users are discussing taxes or a local baseball team, they will be displayed as some of the more popular topics where you live. Under each topic is a listing of the latest tweets from people discussing those items. It's a neat idea, but beware that many towns are not included in the Happn.in listing, so it's a better service for people living in big cities.

Localtweeps Localtweeps asks you to input your ZIP code to add yourself to the service. When you input your ZIP code, it populates (but does not update) your Twitter stream with a tweet that includes your location. Your profile is then added to the Localtweeps directory, allowing people to find you based on where you live.

Because of the way Localtweeps adds users to its directory, you'll find that there aren't as many users as those in other services in this roundup. That said, it tends to be more accurate, since the people who join want to be located. So, although it sacrifices quantity, Localtweeps actually does provide some real quality. It's worth trying out.

Nearby Tweets Nearby Tweets asks you to input your location. It also asks that you choose a search radius to find other local Twitter users. The app uses both the Twitter API and the Google Maps API to ensure it's finding people in the desired area.

Nearby Tweets allows you to input keywords to enhance your search. When you do so, it analyzes all the people in the area first and then finds if any of them are mentioning the term you're searching for. It adds another level to the offering. And it makes it slightly more compelling than some of the other services in this roundup.

Nearby Twitter finds all the folks in your area.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Tweetmondo Tweetmondo helps you find people in your area by inputting your location. From there, it finds others who signed up for the service and input the same location.

Although that function works well, I was upset to see that Tweetmondo automatically updated my Twitter stream with a message telling my followers that I signed up for the site (I deleted it from my stream in seconds after it was updated). I don't mind it giving me the option of updating my stream with that information, but I don't want it updated for me.

With that in mind, Tweetmondo did do a good job of finding people in a given location, but it should be noted that you won't find nearly as many people on this site as on others I tested. And since Tweetmondo automatically updates your stream, consider it a last resort.

Twellowhood Twellowhood displays a map of the U.S. You can click on the state you live in and it will automatically list all the people living in different towns in the respective state.

I was really impressed by Twellowhood's listings. The site listed several people in both small towns and big cities across New York state. The same was true for all the states I checked. When you click the town you want, Twellowhood lists the users by the number of followers they have. You can go to their Twitter profile or follow them from the page.

Twinkle Twinkle is an iPhone app that allows you to tweet with nearby Twinkle users. The app uses the iPhone's GPS functionality to locate you and those in your area.

Twinkle is, theoretically, a self-contained social network allowing you to send messages to nearby users, but you can also update your Twitter and Facebook statuses in a flash, allowing you to tweet with others that are nearby. It's a full-featured app that you don't want to miss.

Twinkle is a social networking app that also lets you find nearby Twitter users.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Twittelator Pro Twittelator Pro provides you with a variety of location-based features to help you find local tweeps. The app lets you post your location on a map for others to see. It also uses the iPhone's GPS to find the location of Twitter users in your area. You can then send them tweets from the app. Twittelator Pro is extremely capable, but there's one catch: it will cost you $4.99 to get it.

TwitterLocal When you start using TwitterLocal, you'll find that it provides a single search box, asking you to input a location. TwitterLocal also asks you to choose the mile radius to search for people in the area. It then delivers the latest tweets written by those around a specific location. It's not the best app in this roundup, but it did do a fine job of finding people close to home.

TwitterLocal finds people in your area with an Adobe AIR app.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 3

1. Twellowhood: With a great interface, Twellowhood is worth trying out.

2. TwitterLocal: TwitterLocal gives you enough options to make it a useful service.

3. Twittelator Pro: Twittelator Pro is the most feature-packed iPhone app in this roundup. It's the tool to use, if you can get over its hefty price tag.

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At about 8 a.m. PDT Friday, Firefox crossed the billion-download threshold--a notably large number for Mozilla's open-source Web browser but one that doesn't tell the whole story.

Firefox fans love their statistical milestones, and Mozilla enjoys fanning the flames by providing plenty of opportunities for self-congratulation. In 2008 was the Firefox Download Day, with more than 8 million downloads in 24 hours. Next came the Firefox 3.5 debut and its download tracker.

And now we have the billion-download figure on the Spread Firefox site. That includes updates people have fetched deliberately, not automatic updates, Mozilla said. To maximize the marketing potential, Mozilla also is touting the 1,000,000,000 + you site.

That site probably could be named better. Firefox director Mike Belztner said in June that Mozilla estimates there are 300 million Firefox users, up from 175 million a year earlier, so don't go thinking there are a billion people using it. Indeed, I find the total user population a much more interesting statistic than downloads.

Firefox has truly achieved real success, eating steadily into Microsoft Internet Explorer's dominant market share to become the second-most used browser. The newest version is downloaded between 40 and 60 times a second worldwide at present.

IE 8 downloads surpass 200 million
But lest Firefox fans get too carried away with their success, there's another number that shows what Mozilla is up against. According to a source familiar with Microsoft's statistics, IE 8 has been downloaded more than 200 million times in the last four months since its release.

That's a fifth of the way to what Firefox achieved since Firefox 1.0 was released nearly five years ago. And Microsoft hasn't even begun pushing IE 8 through update in earnest yet. Microsoft's 200 million statistic doesn't include updates such as bug patches and security fixes.

So let's face it: being installed along with the world's most widely used operating system remains a huge advantage for IE's use, antitrust concerns notwithstanding. Microsoft declined to comment on its download statistics.

So what do all these numbers really show besides browser makers' urges to thump their chests about their popularity? This: the world of browsers is in serious flux.

Next-gen Web en route
That's because after years of near-dormancy after IE crushed Netscape in the 1990s, the browser wars are back in full swing. The growing migration of personal and professional activity to Web applications, the growing adoption of broadband Internet connections, and the growing adoption of truly Web-capable mobile phones are combining to make Web browsers a strategic asset in the computing industry. Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla, Google, Opera Software, and others all want to be the gateway to the world's most vibrant medium, the Internet.

Even the fifth-ranked browser can claim notable success. Opera's desktop browser has been downloaded more than 270 million times from the company's own servers since 2003, and the daily download rate has jumped from 30,000 to 40,000 back then to about 200,000 today, the company said. Throwing Opera Mini for mobile phones into the mix increases the total to about 500 million.

The download rates show that there's a powerful movement afoot to "upgrade the Web," as Mozilla's marketing catchphrase would have it.

It's a gradual change, with plenty of laggards such as corporate users who can't upgrade from IE 6 or cybercafes with locked-down PCs. And there's plenty of turmoil about next-generation Web standards. But the herd is gradually moving to more sophisticated browsers that collectively enable a more sophisticated Web.

Originally posted at News - Business Tech

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If you're itching to try Google Voice, but haven't received one of the coveted private beta invites, a Menlo Park, Calif., company called 3jam is offering an alternative.

This week, 3jam announced an open beta of its new voice forwarding and transcription service that bears a striking resemblance to Google Voice (covered here).

There are differentiating factors, though. Google Voice for instance, gives you a single central number that all your other numbers forward to--cell phone, work line, home phone, and VoIP. It employs call screening and machine-facilitated visual voice mail transcription. Using it, you can block calls, record custom greetings, and interact with SMS. You can't port your number yet, but Google hopes to offer this convenience in the future.

Google Voice is a free service that is only available in the U.S., and only then to those with invites. Previous GrandCentral users also got an automatic in, since they had joined the service before Google snatched it up.

Start-up 3jam, on the other hand, gives you the option of choosing one or more phone numbers. It, too, routes calls to VoIP, including Skype (Windows | Mac) and IM voice services such as Yahoo Messenger with Voice (Windows | Mac). Like Google's product, you can manage texts and visual voice mail messages online. Unlike Google Voice, you can preserve your original phone number by porting it over to 3jam's service. 3jam also supports voice-to-text machine transcription and SMS routing. It's a premium service and is available internationally in an open beta.

3jam has arrived at its similar competing service from a background in group text messaging. As such, it has not yet incorporated some of Google Voice's more advanced voice features, like call screening, call blocking, and listening in. It does, however, convert text messages to e-mail copy, allowing you to receive and respond to SMS messages via e-mail.

With its provision of multiple phone numbers, 3jam hopes to leverage its SMS strength by offering users the ability to text groups of people at one of those permanent group numbers--the intramural sports team, book club, fund-raising committee, and so on.

Pricing and carrier details

Whether you port your current mobile number to 3jam or get a brand-new number, 3jam is an after-market add-on service you purchase alongside your mobile and landline plan. When you port your number, your carrier will bestow a new one that you'll keep on record, but won't pass out to family or friends. Instead, they'll dial the old number (now the 3jam number) to ring you simultaneously on all lines.

3jam beta costs $4.99 with a 12-month subscription, but price is indirectly proportional to commitment. A three-month bundle costs $5.99, and you'll pay $8.99 for one month. The charge won't include texting rates, which 3jam will tack on for $5 to $20 per month.

3jam does not replace your mobile data plan.

How does it all stack up? 3jam may find it difficult to compete against the free Google Voice when Google's service opens up to all, especially if it's lacking some of Google Voice's more sophisticated screening and blocking tricks. However, its global availability, offer to keep your beloved cell phone number, and support for multiple lines will make it more attractive to some, at least until Google Voice begins operating on a global scale.

Originally posted at The Download Blog

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Earlier this month, over 3500 of you responded to our survey asking you to help us prioritize some of the media features that had been suggested for the 2.9 release. While the exact features for 2.9 have not been hammered out yet, as we continue to match up developers with features, we wanted to share the survey results and let you know what we’re thinking in terms of approach.

First, the results. The first question, and the only one that was mandatory, asked what single media feature you would choose to include in version 2.9. The top vote-getter was standalone editable photo albums (as opposed to the current per-post gallery) at 17.5%, followed closely by easier embeds for videos and other third-party content at 16.5%. Next came basic image editing (such as rotating, cropping and resizing) at 13.7%, and post thumbnails (image teasers for posts featured on the home page) at 12.9%. The rest of the features each took less than ten percent of the vote. The full list came in like this:

The second question was optional (3406 people answered it), and asked you to rate each feature on a scale going from top priority down to definitely not for implementation priority. Results here were in line with the results from the first question, with most features rated as nice to have more often than anything else. The features that scored the highest in question 1 were more likely to have earned higher votes in the Top Priority column, but no feature was ranked as a Top Priority more often than it was ranked as a Nice to Have (though Media Albums, Easier Embeds and Post Thumbnails came close). The complete tabulations are shown in the chart below.

Question three was getting at the same thing, but in a more granular fashion, asking you to rank the eleven features in order of priority to you. As only one feature could be assigned to each position, this prevented people from assigning the same priority to multiple features, and we wondered if it would alter the results. Though some features got more recognition in this question, the overall rankings were still in line with the results from question 1. Here are the exact votes per feature/per position:

The fourth question asked for your preferences regarding including new media features in core, bundling them as plugins with the core download, or developing them as plugins but not bundling them with the core download. This vote was more interesting to watch. As the notice for the voting went first to the development community, then to the user community, it was possible to see a shift in the voting. Earlier in the voting cycle, there were more votes for bundling ‘core plugins’ for the advanced media features, while later votes skewed heavily toward just putting the features in core. This vote shows, I think, one of the differences between developer and user perspectives. While developers are heavily interested in keeping the core code lean and relying on plugins for advanced functionality, many users would prefer features they want to be included in core rather than being a separate plugin. The final tally on this question was 56.2% for including features in core, 38.1% for bundled plugins, and 5.7% for non-bundled plugins. The actual numbers:

Clearly this issue deserves more discussion, and the concept of how we move toward a system of canonical plugins and/or core “packages” intended for different use cases (CMS, photoblog, portfolio, etc) will be a big topic in the months ahead.

So where does that leave us regarding features coming down the road? When the vote closed, the results were discussed in the #wordpress-dev IRC chat to divvy up feature development.

The top-voted feature, standalone photo albums, is being worked on as a Google Summer of Code project by Rudolf Lai, under the mentorship of WordPress Lead Developer Mark Jaquith. The “pencils down” date for GSOC is in less than two weeks, at which point we’ll be assessing the state of Rudolf’s project. Hopefully, we’ll be able to incorporate it with 2.9 development, do some testing, amend the code and/or UI as needed, and have this launch with the 2.9 release (in core or as plugin TBD). Undoubtedly, additional functionality will be contributed by core contributors who have also been working on media plugins.

Easier embeds, the second most popular feature, is being looked at in a couple of ways. One, more shortcodes for third-party services. Work on this has already begun. In addition, Viper007Bond, of Viper’s Video Quicktags plugin fame, has taken on the task of working on a way to improve the embed experience in core. We’re not sure quite how this will work yet, but stay tuned.

Adding some basic editing functions like 90-degree rotation, cropping and resizing was considered an obvious winner in the dev chat, and as several plugins handle this functionality, we’re hopeful it will be included soon.

Post thumbnails are being handled by Mark Jaquith, who has created this functionality before, with an assist from Scribu, who has a similar plugin in the repository.

Lower ranked features aren’t off the radar, but may take lower priority than some other (non-media) features we have in the works. One of my favorite 2.9 features is in trunk now, and changes the way we delete content. Goodbye, annoying popup asking me if I’m sure I want to delete a comment/post/etc. Hello, fast and quiet removal into a trash can, from which the content can be retrieved if it was deleted by accident. Think Gmail style. We’re also hoping to work on improving page management, though that has a number of technical issues that may cause it to be a 3.0 feature instead.

As always, you can keep track of development progress in a number of ways:
1. Keep track of Trac. Contribute a patch, test a patch, just read through tickets if you have some time to kill, whatever. There are over 500 tickets against the 2.9 milestone currently. Patches and testing can help us get that number down.

2. Follow Trac commits on Twitter. Don’t want to get involved in the nitty gritty, just want to see what’s getting committed? Follow wpdevel on Twitter and you’ll get core commit updates in your stream.

3. See what’s on the dev agenda. Each week for the IRC dev chat, there’s an agenda, created based on developer suggestions posted at wpdevel.wordpress.com. This blog also contains discussions about specific development issues.

4. Join the dev chat. The day changed this week, to accommodate European schedules. Chats are now held for one hour each week on Thursday at 21:00 UTC. That’s 5pm NYC, 2pm in California, etc. Chats are in the #wordpress-dev room at irc.freenode.com.

5. Watch this blog. If you’re not a developer and prefer to stick to major announcements, the occasional survey to help decide a feature, and security notices, just keep doing what you’re doing. Reading this blog will get you all of these things.

Thanks again for your help in prioritizing features for version 2.9, hopefully coming toward the end of the year to a server near you!

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A 17-year-old from Michigan has filed a lawsuit against e-commerce powerhouse Amazon after it deleted a book he had purchased for his Kindle device.

The high school student, Justin D. Gawronski, filed suit in a Seattle court along with California resident Antoine J. Bruguier, and they are seeking class action status.

Amazon forcibly (and ironically) recalled copies of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" earlier this month after it was revealed that they were unauthorized. Justin Gawronski's complaint alleges that he was reading "1984" as summer reading for an advanced-placement class and had to turn in "reflections" on each hundred pages. With the loss of the digital book, Gawronski claims his page count was thrown off and his notes were "rendered useless because they no longer referenced the relevant parts of the book."

Amazon has declined to comment on the lawsuit, which appears was first reported late Thursday by The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog.

While buyers received refunds for the recalled copies of the Orwell books, the fact that no advance notice was given threw many customers off and created an uproar against Amazon. The lawsuit, for one, alleges that Amazon did not make it clear enough to customers that remote book deletions were a possibility. It also alleges, as do critics, that the company violated its own terms of use.

"The power to delete your books, movies, and music remotely is a power no one should have," the lawsuit quoted Slate's Farhad Manjoo as saying in an opinion piece following the book deletions.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put out a public apology shortly after the fiasco unfolded, but it's not clear how the company's policies will (or won't) change in the future.

Originally posted at The Social

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Privacy advocates aren't pleased with Google Web History, which records the sites you visit, searches you make, images and videos you view, and even sites you haven't been to but may like. When you create a Google account, the option to use Web History is checked by default. Opting out doesn't mean Google doesn't collect the information, just that you don't have such easy access to it.

It feels like I've been using Gmail for five or six years, but I found my Web history begins in January 2007, according to Google. The entries since that time are far from a complete log of all my searches and surfing; apparently, events are recorded only while you're logged into your Google account.

To open your Web history, sign into your account, click My Account in the top-right corner of the main Google screen, and choose Web History under My products. The default view is All History. Your other view options include Web, Images, News, Videos, Maps, Blogs, and even the Sponsored Links you were served up, just in case you missed them the first time.

I was ready to find all sorts of embarrassing information about myself in the logs, but they were really kinda boring, which probably indicates their accuracy. I did find several entries that didn't belong—obviously, someone borrowed my PC while I was logged into my Google account. To remove unwanted items in your history, click Remove items in the left pane, check the entry or entries you wish to excise, and click Remove.

To surf without being tracked, click the left pane's Pause button. (Frankly, I'm inclined to sign off the account altogether.) When you're ready to go back on the record, click Resume.

One of my favorite Web History features is Trends, which shows your top 10 queries, sites, and clicks over the past seven days, month, year, or all recorded. I had fun trying to figure out why I did almost three times more searching last April than I did the previous October, or why I've never searched at 2 a.m. A real shocker for me was that I search more often on Sundays than I do on Fridays. I would've never guessed that one.

Maybe I should have qualms about anybody keeping such close tabs on me, but the fact is, most or all of this information is tracked whether or not I sign up for the service, unless I use an anonymizing service or product. About a year ago, I described how to customize the history settings in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and all browsers let you wipe your Web history clean, but these settings don't affect Google's servers.

Google's privacy policy offers a link to DoubleClick's opt-out cookie, but the best solution is to disable cookies altogether. Doing so cripples many of the Web's most useful features, in my book. So I'll just keep my surfing semipublic and hope Google doesn't suffer the security breach of all time.

Originally posted at Workers' Edge

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Privacy advocates aren't pleased with Google Web History, which records the sites you visit, searches you make, images and videos you view, and even sites you haven't been to but may like. When you create a Google account, the option to use Web History is checked by default. Opting out doesn't mean Google doesn't collect the information, just that you don't have such easy access to it.

It feels like I've been using Gmail for five or six years, but I found my Web history begins in January 2007, according to Google. The entries since that time are far from a complete log of all my searches and surfing; apparently, events are recorded only while you're logged into your Google account.

To open your Web history, sign into your account, click My Account in the top-right corner of the main Google screen, and choose Web History under My products. The default view is All History. Your other view options include Web, Images, News, Videos, Maps, Blogs, and even the Sponsored Links you were served up, just in case you missed them the first time.

I was ready to find all sorts of embarrassing information about myself in the logs, but they were really kinda boring, which probably indicates their accuracy. I did find several entries that didn't belong—obviously, someone borrowed my PC while I was logged into my Google account. To remove unwanted items in your history, click Remove items in the left pane, check the entry or entries you wish to excise, and click Remove.

To surf without being tracked, click the left pane's Pause button. (Frankly, I'm inclined to sign off the account altogether.) When you're ready to go back on the record, click Resume.

One of my favorite Web History features is Trends, which shows your top 10 queries, sites, and clicks over the past seven days, month, year, or all recorded. I had fun trying to figure out why I did almost three times more searching last April than I did the previous October, or why I've never searched at 2 a.m. A real shocker for me was that I search more often on Sundays than I do on Fridays. I would've never guessed that one.

Maybe I should have qualms about anybody keeping such close tabs on me, but the fact is, most or all of this information is tracked whether or not I sign up for the service, unless I use an anonymizing service or product. About a year ago, I described how to customize the history settings in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and all browsers let you wipe your Web history clean, but these settings don't affect Google's servers.

Google's privacy policy offers a link to DoubleClick's opt-out cookie, but the best solution is to disable cookies altogether. Doing so cripples many of the Web's most useful features, in my book. So I'll just keep my surfing semipublic and hope Google doesn't suffer the security breach of all time.

Originally posted at Workers' Edge

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REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft said on Friday that it will charge $149 for the family pack version of Windows 7, which allows users to upgrade up to three PCs to the Home Premium edition of the operating system.

The software maker had previously said it would offer the family pack, ...

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