Google employees seem, once again, to have pushed the limits of its "Do no evil" corporate mantra. According to Wired magazine, high-ranking members of OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open source mapping project that allows "to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth”,claim that “user accounts attached to a range of Google internet addresses in India have been maliciously tampering with its data". Google, meanwhile, claims the people behind the accounts were contractors using machines ...

Wikipedia’s decision to black its site out in protest against SOPA has generally been greeted with enthusiastic support from around the web. The truth is, whether or not you admit it, some of us are feeling a little lost without the world’s most popular tool for settling bar fights and deep intellectual rants -- "the Sun is a star", for instance. That’s why we showed you how to get around the blackout. The Twitterverse has, however, come up with its ...

In 2011 "Social Search" became a hot topic as Google introduced "Realtime Search" via the Twitter “firehose” and Bing began to index Facebook. In July, Twitter didn’t renew its deal with Google and Realtime Search was no longer offered. In the past week Google came under fire for including "your world" in their iconic search results and analysts began speaking about antitrust investigations. While analysts discuss the social search race in terms of adoption, partnerships and the invaluable data gleaned from ...

A number of high profile websites are going dark in protest of America’s proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and Protect IP Act (PIPA) currently going through congress. A number of web giants including Wikipedia, Reddit, Google, and WordPress are, to some degree at least, going dark in protest of the controversial bill. The protests themselves have become a globally trending topic on Twitter. Were SOPA to pass, it would see any website deemed guilty of hosting copyrighted content having ...

Perhaps I have stumbled upon the first ever recorded conception on Twitter... Before the advent of social media sites like Facebook, sex was the biggest industry on the internet. Porn sites have been plying their trade online for years and there have been many embarrassing situations where a worm or virus has loaded itself onto a PC only to repeatedly offer up porn hoping you’ll find something you like and hand over your credit card details. Say what you will, but ...

Fighting online piracy is important, but SOPA/PIPA is not the way to do it. SOPA and PIPA undermine the existing laws that enabled the Web to blossom and permeate the lives of people across the world. Millions depend on it for work, but many more depend on it for information. In protest today -- January the 18th -- major sites across the Internet are “going dark” for 24 hours. Sites like Wikipedia, BoingBoing, WordPress and TwitPic are disabling all or part ...

It takes large organisations weeks, or even months, to grasp the power of social media. In the case of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), it took 100 years. Of course, Twitter wasn't around when Africa's oldest liberation movement started, but during the ANC’s Centenary Celebrations the party showed that even it can mean business online. By now, it's no secret that opposition leader Helen Zille is the most engaging South African politician online after recently breaking ...

The old news: brands are realising the power and necessity of social media. The new news: brands are starting to get creative with the social media space. Some recent examples of brands getting inventive with social media include Toyota and the 2012 Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament. Let’s explore these. Toyota’s new campaign is completely social. It has teamed up with Gadget and Slick and, using Facebook as a driving platform (excuse the pun), it's offering consumers the opportunity to ...

It feels like RIM’s current range of products is dwarfed by the melodrama of a flailing company desperately trying to reinvent itself. Pundits are looking ahead to RIM’s first OS 10 device, the “London”, hailing it is as the smartphone maker from Ontario's final chance at redemption. Meanwhile, oblivious consumers, especially in RIM's stalwart EMEA regions, continue to walk into carrier outlets and ask for the BlackBerry brand. If they want the best RIM has to offer, a sales representative will ...

India is making headlines with a new online game called "Angry Brides", which highlights the problem of illegal dowry demands for women. The Facebook game, which was created by online matchmaker shaadi.com and inspired by the hugely popular "Angry Birds" game, has attracted more than 270 000 fans on Facebook. The game allows players to attack prospective grooms seeking a dowry with a variety of weapons, from a brick-red stiletto to a broomstick. The player is presented with three grooms -- ...