Twitter

Report: State Dept. urged Twitter to reschedule maintenance

When Twitter rescheduled some planned downtime in order to stay accessible for Iranian users in the midst of political upheaval, it was at the request of the U.S. State Department, according to CNN.

This should not be taken to mean that the U.S. is attempting to get involved at this point, CNN added. The State Department is working with multiple social-networking and communication services to ensure that conversation and information channels stay active.

"By necessity, the U.S. is staying hands-off of the election drama playing out in Iran, and officials say they are not providing messages … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 998: Dot communism

Chinese filtering software has been criticized for having holes. The solution? Fix it. How communist. We also give you a hack for getting free tethering on the iPhone and we bemoan the fate of MySpace.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 998

Opera Unite aims to reinvent the Web http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2009/06/hi-my-name-is-opera-and-ill-be-your-server-today.html

http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/opera-unite/

AT&T won’t charge extra for MMS on iPhone http://www.applethoughts.com/news/show/94126/at-t-not-planning-on-charging-for-mms.html

…And here’s how … Read more

Twitterverse working to confuse Iranian censors

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a reader who had seen my story about Twitter users slamming CNN for its initial absence on the post-Iranian election protests, urging me to remove an image in the story.

The rationale? The image was of Twitter results and included users' account IDs, and the reader was worried that the Iranian government might seek out and punish any users who were employing Twitter for potentially subversive purposes.

We decided not to remove the image, in part because it had been up for more than 24 hours, and also because we suspected that the Iranian … Read more

Less is more. The tweet(ed) revolution.

Looking at the many positive responses it received, Pico Iyer’s recent NY Times blog post on "The Joy of Less" appears to have struck a chord:

"But at some point, I decided that, for me at least, happiness arose out of all I didn’t want or need, not all I did. And it seemed quite useful to take a clear, hard look at what really led to peace of mind or absorption (the closest I’ve come to understanding happiness). Not having a car gives me volumes not to think or worry about, and makes … Read more

Twitter downtime gets delayed for Iranian election news

Twitter's host NTT America is postponing the downtime that was scheduled to take place late Monday night in light of all of the Twitter activity surrounding the presidential elections in Iran.

A post by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone on Twitter's blog says that the maintenance will instead take place on Tuesday from 2 to 3 p.m. PST, which will be in the early morning (1:30 a.m.) for Iranian users. Stone went on to say: "Our partners are taking a huge risk not just for Twitter but also the other services they support worldwide--we commend … Read more

Twitter from your Commodore 64

I use Twitter. A lot. Twitterfon is likely the most-used app on my iPhone. I have a Twitter widget in my MacBook's dashboard. And Twitter itself is one of my browser's home tabs. I make sure I've got a Twitter client of some sort on all of my devices.

Now, thankfully, I can tweet from my Commodore 64 using the adorable app called Breadbox 64 (yes, guys can say "adorable"). Of course, your Commodore needs an Internet connection, but as developer Johan Van den Brande points out, it's all very doable. In a post on his site, … Read more

Twitter features that I'd pay for

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has suggested that "Twitter's a success for us when people stop talking about it," perhaps particularly its business model (or lack thereof). Unfortunately, either it's a success and I didn't get the memo, or it still has room to improve.

Assuming the latter, here are a few things that I'd gladly pay to have added to the Twitter service.

The ability to lock in my user name. Facebook just launched personalized namespaces, but added the unnecessary drama of name-squatting. I was early enough to Twitter (and Facebook) that I got … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 997: Texas Ranger Panda

Vic the Texas Rancher pilot wrote in, but somehow in the twisted mind of Molly Wood his name became Texas Ranger Panda. And now she can't stop laughing at the cute ranger panda writing in about HD makeup. Which Natali thinks is a conspiracy. We also review the DTV transition and help you get a contract-free iPhone.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 997

The day after the U.S. DTV transition http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10264369-94.html

When’s your country switching? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/us-declares-victory-as-dtv-transition-goes-rather-smoothly.ars… Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: Iranian protests hit social networks

Following the controversial results of Iran's presidential elections, citizens turned to Twitter, Facebook, and other social-networking means to circumvent a government media clampdown and get supporters out to rallies. CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman has more.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Iran protesters using tech to skirt curbs

iPhone 3G S begins shipping to customers

Microsoft: No iPhone reimbursements for workers

Apple still wants to get Psystar into court

The day after the DTV transition

Does Microsoft's Bing have Google running scared?

Facebook username land grab: Yawn

NASA hopes for Wednesday shuttle launch