Stories by Jeff Bertolucci

Google Nexus One: A successful flop

Has any smartphone had a more unusual marketing campaign than the Nexus One? Google's touchscreen Android handset debuted in January to mostly favorable reviews.

Twitter tweets to enter Library of Congress

Who would've thought that 140-character musings could be so culturally significant? First Google announces that it will index billions of Twitter posts into a searchable database, and now the venerable Library of Congress say it plans to preserve the entire archive of public tweets. Twitter's official blog made the announcement today.

Will Twitter ads tweak tweeters?

Now that Twitter has begun to display ads--pardon me, Promoted Tweets--in users' search results, the big question is how millions of loyal Twitter fans will respond. Reaction on the micro-blogging site has been muted thus far--more questions than commentary, actually--and it's apparent that most users haven't seen the new ads yet.

Google, Viacom Sling Mud in YouTube Court Fight

If you love an old-fashioned courtroom battle with a new media twist, the Google vs. Viacom copyright-infringement case makes for great entertainment. This lengthy (and particularly pissy) quarrel, which dates back to 2007, centers on Viacom's claim that Google's YouTube video-sharing site allowed users to upload more than 100,000 video clips from Viacom-owned networks and movie studios, including BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures. Viacom's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks $1 billion in damages.

Will you pay for online news? Pew study says "no"

The average U.S. consumer loves to read news online, but only one in five is willing to pay for it. And if your favorite news site suddenly erects a pay wall that requires subscription or pay-per-article fees, more than four of five of you would simply get your news elsewhere.

Twitter adds location-sharing

Twitter users can now add their current location to their tweets. The micro-blogging service on Thursday activated an optional new feature that appends geographical information to your posts.

Web connectivity a bigger deal for HDTV than 3D

Is 3D television the next big thing in consumer tech? Splashy, flashy, and (virtually) in your face, 3D TV is getting a mega-promotional boost by its backers, including Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony, all of whom hope you'll be so bowled over by 3D's visual splendor that you won't mind paying a few thousand bucks for the 3D-at-home experience.

Bing gains again -- should Google worry?

Microsoft's Bing search engine may still be a bit player in the lucrative online search business dominated by Google, but it's slowly and steadily gaining users.

YouTube Offers Auto-Captioning to All Users

YouTube is opening up its auto-caption feature to everybody, a move that benefits not only deaf users, but also people who watch videos in really noisy places, like airport terminals. And since the tool will be able to translate captions into your choice of 50 languages, it should be handy for viewing YouTube clips from around the world. For now, however, auto-captioning works only with videos in English.

After 10 billion songs, what's iTunes' encore?

Apple's iTunes Store reached a major milestone this week when it delivered its 10 billionth song, an event that highlights the great success of Cupertino's digital-download service.

YouTube to filter sex, violence, foul language

YouTube today introduced a new content filter that helps users screen out offensive content, such as news videos with graphic violence, or sexually suggestive clips that don't exceed the service's Community Guidelines. The optional filter, named Safety Mode, also hides all text comments by default.

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