Darren Straight's Blog

ICT Enthusiast and photographer.

By - Darren Straight

Yahoo! rolls out Upcoming.org 2.0

Great News for all you Upcoming.org fans, today the Yahoo Search Blog announced the release of Upcoming.org 2.0 which includes some additional changes and upgrades to Upcoming, including the integration of Flickr and the transition of Upcoming.org onto the Signle Sign in Yahoo! Local platform. And this time Yahoo! seems to have sweeten the deal with a free offer of a T-shirt.

By - Darren Straight

University of Pennsylvania Adopts Windows Live @ edu

Just noticed a press release from The University of Pennsylvania, stating that they have partnered with Microsoft to adopt the Windows Live @ edu programme to enhance the communications platform it offers to many of its students So from the beginning of the fall semester, students in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School will have the

By - Darren Straight

comScore Releases March 2007 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines.  In March 2007, Google Sites captured 48.3 percent of the U.S. search market, gaining 0.2 share points from the previous month.  Yahoo! Sites maintained its second place ranking with 27.5 percent of U.S. searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (10.9 percent), Ask

By - Darren Straight

New Microsoft data center powers Web services push

In a century-old farming town in central Washington state, Microsoft has built a farm for the Internet age. But rather than corn or cows, this farm teems with computer servers and data storage systems that will serve as the backbone of Microsoft’s effort to combat escalating competition on the Web from Google and others. Microsoft’s new data center in Quincy,

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Statement on Proposed Acquisition of DoubleClick by Google

Microsoft has released the following statement by Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation, on the proposed acquisition of DoubleClick by Google: This proposed acquisition raises serious competition and privacy concerns in that it gives the Google DoubleClick combination unprecedented control in the delivery of online advertising, and access to a huge amount of consumer information by tracking

By - Darren Straight

Microsofts Video HyperLink Technology Showcasing Kohl’s

Here’s some cool news. It looks like Microsoft is now starting to implement its adCenter Labs Video HyperLink Technology with real world clients. The first signs of this come this week as MSN Entertainment shows of Kohl’s department store using the Video HyperLink Technology, which is an interactive video tool which provides more information about objects in a video when you click or even hover on

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Reveals New Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone Software

Microsoft today unveiled Windows Mobile 6, the newest version of its mobile software platform. By improving usability and adding support for Microsoft Office features previously available only on PCs, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 delivers to the small screen a familiar and rich experience that meets the needs of work and life while on the go, all with a single device.

By - Darren Straight

Wikipedia running out of cash this 2007?

It seems that Florence Devourad, chairwoman of the Wikipedia Foundation, has warned the audience this morning at LIFT that they need more funds to keep servers up and running. At this point, Wikipedia has the financial ressources to run its servers for about 3 to 4 months. If we do not find additional funding, it is not impossible that Wikipedia

By - Darren Straight

MySpace UK launches MyMovie MashUp

MySpace has launched MyMovie MashUp in partnership with Vertigo Films a competition to find the best short film director on MySpace. The winner will get to direct a feature film with a budget of over £1 million with the film scheduled for theatrical release in 2008. Entries will be judged by a distinguished panel of filmmakers and actors who will

By - Darren Straight

Microsoft Designertopia 2007

Well I’m now back home after 2 days and 1 night in London as a Microsoft Student Partner attending the Microsoft Designertopia 2007 Design Conference, and I can definitely say that I’m pretty loaded with useful information on things such as WPF and Expression Studio which as quoted by Microsoft, is a suite of tools for creative designers that gives you