Clint Boulton

Facebook took steps to make its platform more useful for programmers and users Dec. 12 by offering to let other social sites license the Facebook Platform’s methods and tags. Now, not only can developers build applications that will work on Facebook, but developers can make these Facebook applications available on other sites with minimal coding. […]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Google will soon add blogs as a new feature in its Universal Search results, marking the first new genre since the company launched the initiative May 16. Starting this week or next, queries on the leading search engine will return links to blogs alongside the images, news, books, local maps and video, Marissa […]

As the No. 4 search engine, Ask.com may not have anywhere near the market share of Google, Yahoo or MSN, but it’s determined to best its competitors in another crucial way: privacy. The division of IAC/InterActiveCorp Dec. 11 turned on AskEraser, a privacy control that dumps information about users’ search queries within a few hours. […]

Plaxo is mashing up its Pulse social network with Microsoft Outlook, allowing users to get a grip on their friends’ online activities on Pulse directly from their e-mail clients. Launched Dec. 11, the refreshed Plaxo Toolbar for Microsoft Outlook, which synchronizes users’ Plaxo address book to their Microsoft Outlook address book, now allows users to […]

Here are some hopes (some of them high) with regard to Google I’m wishing for as we speed toward the New Year. These are in no special order of importance. 1) A Google phone in 2008, based on Android and including total Apps functionality and GPS instead of My Location. I will buy it. 2) […]

Seattle’s Wetpaint is getting a fresh coat. The consumer wiki company is trying a new tack, offering its social computing platform to businesses so they can turn around and offer it to their consumers. The new hosted service, Just Add Wetpaint, will be launched Dec. 10 to help companies let their consumers connect via wikis, […]

On the plus side, Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3, version identifier 9.0.115.0 was made available for Linux at the same time as Mac and Windows versions. It’s nice to see Linux not being treated as the little brother who only gets the older, hand-me down programs by a major software vendor. An even bigger […]

LinkedIn became the latest social site to open up its platform to let programmers write applications for the popular professional networking service. LinkedIn, which boasts more than 17 million users, launched the Intelligent Application Platform and a redesigned home page Dec. 10, positioning itself for a new growth spurt. The developer environment is a departure […]

Google is getting a new competitor. Widget maker Clearspring Technologies on Dec. 10 said it plans to launch an ad network to help its more than 70 media publishing customers make money from their content. Geared for social networks, start pages and blogs, the Widget Ad Network serves ads within publishers’ widgets, which are mini […]

Social networks don’t get better as they get bigger. They get better based on their quality, a measure Plaxo believes it possesses and aims to exploit in its Pulse network. For social networks, you have to throw out Metcalfe’s law, which states that the value of a telecommunications network grows proportional to the number of […]