Internet Topic Center

Internet news, in-depth analysis, trends and more

Lyft gears up for international expansion on anniversary

Lyft, the ridesharing service known for its fleet of pink mustache-festooned cars, is eyeing international expansion supported by its biggest funding round yet.
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Adobe continues social push, acquires mobile app agency

Adobe has acquired Thumb Labs, a small mobile app agency, as part of its broader push to give its new cloud-enabled software offerings a more social flavor.

French police end missing persons searches, suggest using Facebook instead

The latest victim of disruption by Internet technologies is a veteran of World War I: the missing persons search.

Penguin settles with U.S. states in e-book price-fixing lawsuit

Penguin has settled with U.S. states in an e-book price-fixing lawsuit, leaving only Apple now in the fray.

Twitter aims to become safer with two-step sign-in

Twitter, in a much-needed move to keep its users safer from cyberattacks, is introducing a more secure login process.

Chinese rival bolsters search engine against Baidu with Alibaba partnership

China's Baidu has long dominated the country's search market. But a local rival to the company is bolstering its own search services with the help of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

Teens growing cool on Facebook but warming to Twitter, Pew study finds

Some teens are growing tired of the excessive sharing and "drama" on Facebook and more are turning to sites like Twitter and Instagram to express themselves, according to a new study.

Yahoo returns to list of most valuable brands

Yahoo again ranks as one of the world's 100 most valuable brands.

Google trumpets small speed boost to Chrome 27

Google today upgraded Chrome to version 27, touting it as 5% faster as it patched 13 vulnerabilities.

Researchers find critical vulnerabilities in popular game engines

Security researchers found serious vulnerabilities in the engines of several popular first-person shooter video games that could allow attackers to compromise their online servers and the computers of players accessing them.

Saving Google Maps destinations lowers risk of travel errors

Saving a destination in Google Maps makes it easier to navigate to and also lessens the chance for error when entering or trying to remember an address.

Google's next act: Diversify and conquer

Center stage at this year's Google I/O was a company honing its vision for a future beyond search

Everyone must work together for a better Internet

As officials prepare to gather for the ITU's big, global forum on the Internet, a plea for open minds, understanding and cooperation.

Lifelogging gets real

As privacy-invading technologies and location-aware applications become commonplace and accepted (and they will), and more products like Saga, Memoto and Glass become pervasive, the idea of lifelogging will become more appealing.

What to expect at SAP's Sapphire

SAP's Sapphire conference kicks off next week in Orlando, setting the stage for the company to sell customers on its visions for cloud-based applications, in-memory computing and mobility.

6 Tips to Build Your Social Media Strategy

With so many social media options, how do you pick the best one(s)? IT executives and social media experts share their top six tips for selecting the social media platforms that will provide the greatest return on your investment of time and resources.

How to Add Video, Images to Your LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn's newest feature lets you showcase your professional achievements by uploading presentations, documents, images and video to your profile. Here are step-by-step instructions for improving your LinkedIn brand.

Mobile Players Offer a Mix of Messages in TV Ads

Apple, Samsung and Microsoft take divergent paths to selling their smartphones via TV commercials. The winning approach: Focus on your own unique features, and resist potshots at the competition.

Internet taxes: Is the inevitable about to happen?

Some things never happen the way that us pundits expect. Back on Independence Day in 1999 I wrote this about government taxing the purchase of goods over the Internet: "I fully believe in the ingenuity of the government when it comes to imposing taxes. We will be paying these taxes soon." Well, "soon" has not happened yet, but maybe it is getting closer.

Designing your digital legacy

We lead rich virtual lives on social networking sites like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. So what happens when real life catches up, and our flesh-and-blood bodies succumb to mortality? For our virtual selves, at least, some concrete answers are available--ways to settle our digital affairs after death, while minimizing hassle and heartache for loved ones.