Nicholas Kolakowski

Yahoo issued more tools for Yahoo Search BOSS, two days after Google rolled out additional features for its Google App Engine in a high-profile announcement. BOSS, which stands for Build Your Own Search Service, allows developers to design their own search products via an open-search Web services platform. In February 2009, Yahoo opened access to […]

Facebook now has 200 million users, giving the social-networking site a “population” even larger than nations such as Russia. “Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, wrote in an April 8 corporate blog posting, “but we’ve always known that in order for Facebook to help people […]

Microsoft looks like it will offer users of its upcoming Windows 7 the option to downgrade to Windows XP, which remains popular among both enterprise and general users, according to some reports that have begun to spring up around the Web. While no definite date has been given yet, the final version of Windows 7 […]

Google celebrated the one-year anniversary of the beta release of its Google App Engine platform on April 7 by rolling out additional features, as well as giving developers a first look at the platform’s new Java support. The Google Campfire One event, which the search-engine giant promotes on its Web site as a chance for […]

Former Microsoft Executive Charles Simonyi successfully touched down in Kazakhstan on April 8 after a second trip to the International Space Station, making him the first “space tourist” to complete two successful orbital jaunts. Simonyi spent 13 days in orbit, and paid $35 million for the privilege. His first trip, in April 2007, cost roughly […]

Oracle made several announcements on April 7 centered on products designed to interact with Google Apps, including Oracle Gadget Wizard for Google Apps with support for Google SDC. Google marked the first birthday of the Google App Engine cloud computing solution at its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, offering newly added Java support for the Google […]

With potentially its existence on the line, Palm released new specs for its Palm Pre smartphone, the device it hopes will help it reclaim market share from the Apple iPhone and Research In Motion‘s Blackberry devices. The Pre itself will be released later in 2009, according to the company. Analysts have suggested that anything less […]

Salesforce.com introduced on April 7 a free application for its customers to access the Salesforce CRM via their iPhone, BlackBerry or Windows Mobile-equipped device. Mobile Lite will be available to customers who have either Salesforce CRM Professional Edition, Enterprise Edition or Unlimited Edition; those with the Professional or Enterprise editions will be able to upgrade […]

Google claims to not be in the Associated Press’ crosshairs over the news agency’s edict about online content, thanks to a previous deal struck between the two companies. In an April 6 statement, the Associated Press said it will take measures to protect its news content “from misappropriation online” by tracking Web-based content to determine […]

Google has introduced a new aspect of search that allows users to get local results by inputting nonspecific keywords. For example, typing “restaurant” from a Midtown office in New York City will result in a list of eateries within a few blocks. “How do we guess your location? In most cases, we match your IP […]