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Social media has changed the way people communicate. Maybe older people complain that it has replaced the good ol’ fashion “tea party”, so to speak. Most people these days own a smartphone, and if they don’t, then they at least have access to the internet. Because of this, the simplest way to contact a friend is to ping them on one of the many social networks they belong to. I remember my introduction to social media. I was about 12 or 13, and America Online was still the primary method used to connect to the internet. I would spend hours playing on bolt.com , a social networking site started by a community of teenagers. It was through that site that I met my first online crush (whom I have never forgotten to this day). Unfortunately, the site only lasted for 13 years before shutting down. It is not uncommon for such a site to loose their standing on the internet. There is always something bigger and better that comes along. In the case of bolt, the next big thing t...

Microsoft's FUSE Labs has released an "experimental research project" called So.cl, which aims to make sharing a natural part of the search process. Rather than trying to replace other social networks, So.cl seeks to improve research and content discovery by organizing information by interest and adding intuitive social sharing elements, such as eye-catching image collages and video playlist parties. But how well does So.cl combine search with social? Setup Currently, the only way to create an account with So.cl is to link to an existing Facebook or Windows Live account. So.cl promises to never post anything to your Facebook wall without permission and we had no experiences that proved otherwise. However, it is nice to have Windows Live authentication for those wanting to keep their Facebook account separate. So.cl does not support image uploading quite yet, so your profile picture is automatically populated based on the connected Facebook or Windows Live a...

With no further ado, we present our 2012 list of the best technology Websites, listed in alphabetical order so that no one can think that we’re playing favorites or making comparative judgments.  AllThingsDigital  – The Wall Street Journal’s tech blog hub continues to provide us with hard-hitting, far-reaching news, opinion and commentary on the tech industry. Anand Tech  - If you’re looking for hardcore analysis of news about hardware, this is the site for you. The site covers CPUs, motherboards, mobile and more. Android-Apps  – Created shortly after Google launched the Android platform, this Android-centric site provides daily news about the Android platform and reviews of Android apps, as well as a growing depot of new and old Android Apps that mirrors the Android Market. Apple Insider  – The site not only gives you Apple-centric news and reviews but also price and buying guides for all Apple-related machines and accessories. ...

Just weeks after Facebook announced it was going to buy Instagram for a cool $1 billion, Zuckerberg and company rolled out a new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch called Facebook Camera . Why, might you ask, did Facebook fork out that cool bil and then turn around and launch a similar application? First off, the Facebook Camera app had been on the drawing board well before the company bought Instagram, suggesting they were planning to compete against the young startup. Secondly, as Christina Warren points out at Mashable, the answer can be found in the rational behind another major acquisition -- for example, when Google bought YouTube, despite Google Video being readily available. "After the release of Facebook Camera, I’m even more convinced that Instagram could be Facebook’s YouTube — in other words, an acquisition that becomes monumentally important to its future, and helps it solve a problem it couldn’t solve on its own," Warren wrote. Similar ...

Microsoft has opened up its So.cl social networking service to the general public. The website is designed to let users share and comment on interesting search results and connect with "like-minded" people. It is targeted at students and had formerly been restricted to invitees at universities and schools in the US. The service integrates with Facebook and is being pitched as an "experiment" rather than a rival to other networks. Microsoft noted that the product was developed by its Fuse Labs unit as a "research project... focused on the future of social experiences and learning." Members are invited to create "collages of content" using the firm's Bing search engine technology and external links which they can then share with others. Users can then identify people who are interested in the same topics, monitor their associates' feeds and take part in "video parties...

As Karthikeyan , (Geekswipe's Mastermind and my best buddy!) was thrown out of adsense for no reason, he was agitated on Google's dark activities . Yesterday, He busted google, copying bings new social search, without the social bar. As his post says: "Back in time, Google kept complaining that Bing copied it and displayed their search results. Now, it seems that the so called giant copies Bing. Google finally reacted to the Bing's  announcement  that it would repaint its search interface socially and make search more easier. But the reaction was absurd that it simply copied Bing's new search. Bing came up with an idea of a three column layout which includes a social bar on the right that displays the info from the user's social networks. This design and idea was so promising that it could give a better search results and make us more comfy in the search. And as Bing released it for few users for a test run, it eventually stole a lot of hearts and started ...

Think back six months. You probably never had heard of a little website called Pinterest. Now it's the third most-visited social-networking site in the United States, according to a report released Thursday by Experian Marketing Services, a digital marketing firm. Pinterest, which lets its users "pin" photos and info from the Internet onto virtual boards, ranks behind only Facebook and Twitter in terms of total visitors, according to the analysis, titled "The 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report." The ranking is based on the total number of U.S. visitors during March and does not include mobile traffic, according to Experian spokeswoman Jennifer Marshall. Last month, Facebook had more than 7 billion total visitors; Twitter had 182 million; and Pinterest had 104 million total visits from people in the United States, according to data sent to CNN by Experian. That ranking puts the newbie site ahead of heavyweights such as Lin...