GeekSugar

A Brief History of Twitter

GeekSugar — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:02:02 -0700

It's hard to believe that the hot social networking site Twitter - which allows users to post mini "micro-blog" updates - has been around for over three years. That's right, Twitter was founded in March 2006 by Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey, and Evan Williams, and was unknown to many until the 2008 presidential election - which catapulted it to tech stardom. For the past seven months, Twitter has gone from nay to yay, and here are some of the reasons why! Source and Source

View Slideshow ›

Google Goes All Out For its Tenth Birthday!

GeekSugar — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:07:16 -0700

I can never seem to get enough Google goodness, so when I discovered that it was Google's tenth birthday this month and that they set up a fun educational website for this special occasion, I was all over it! Learn trivia tidbits about the company - like what the most popular Google.com search query was in 1999, or when Klingon became one of Google's supported languages - you can find all of these fun facts on their site. You can also check out a really neat time line that showcases all of the Google milestones from the past ten years!

Is It Wrong To Look At Your Partner’s Web History?

GeekSugar — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 14:34:57 -0800

My boyfriend recently came into the living room and interrupted one of my wild crossword puzzle tangents asking me a much dreaded question: Do you still read your ex’s blog?
While the answer is yes, (who doesn’t? or wouldn’t?) I felt trapped. I hadn’t told any of our leaky-lipped friends I’d been keeping up on my ex’s new job and relationship via his painfully descriptive blog so visions of a hidden camera system and night goggles filled my head.

How had my boyfriend learned of my online sleuthing? He’d trolled through the browser history in search of a wet-suit manufacturer he’d found a week before and in his quest, "checked out" my recent page history. So, is it wrong or right?

Geek Tip: Get Your Google History

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:00:54 -0700

I used to think I visited 1,000 websites a day. Now I know that number is more like a bagillion. Last week, Google released a feature that allows you to keep track of your slice of the web with Web History, a new feature for Google Account users that makes it easy to view and search across the pages you've visited. It is easy as pie to access and allows you the ability to revisit sites you saw earlier and retrace your steps on the web. For an ADD blogger like myself, it's heaven.

Web History lets you look back in time, revisit the sites you've browsed, and search over the full text of pages you've seen. It's your slice of the web, at your fingertips.

How does Web History work? All you need is a Google Account and the Google Toolbar with PageRank enabled. The Toolbar, as part of your browser, helps us associate the pages you visit with your Google Account. If you're currently a Search History user, you'll notice that we've renamed Search History to Web History to reflect this new functionality.

You can sign up for Web History through your Google account.

What's the Greatest Moment in Web History?

GeekSugar — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:00:59 -0700

PC World recently published an entertaining and thoughtful piece on the 16 Greatest Moments in Web History. It includes The Drudge Report breaking the Monica Lewinsky story, the introduction of webcams, MySpace and even my favorite, Craigslist. Rounding out the top three items on the list are: "When Sergey met Larry," in reference to Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page's first meeting at Stanford University; "Day one of irrational exuberance," in reference to the day Netscape's IPO created the dot-com frenzy - in 1995 the company's shares zoomed from $28 to $75 before settling back down to $58 at the session's close; And of course, "World wide wonder," in reference to December 25, 1990, or the day the Web came online. It may be a chicken or egg question, but what do you think is the most important day in web history?

Has Google Latitude Gone Too Far?

GeekSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:06:15 -0800

I have mixed feelings about location-based services like Google Latitude, which pinpoints and shares your location in real time, or Foursquare, the application allowing you to "check in" and share your location with friends. Granted, there are privacy settings, but the whole tracking-in-real-time thing creeps me out a bit.

Now it seems Latitude got a little bit creepier. According to a Google blog post, your location history will now be saved to access it later. Useful for remembering where you were last weekend, or for finding that cool restaurant whose name you forgot to jot down; scary for anyone worried about potential stalkers.

I'm not a big user of these services, so I can't decide how I feel about the new feature. What do you think? Is Latitude saving too much information, or is it just another enhancement to their service?

The Webby Awards Name Top Internet Moments of the Decade

GeekSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:10:28 -0800

The 2000s were an important decade for the Internet. It was a platform for endless amounts of innovation, a ton of new ideas and content, and it brought lots of change. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to whittle down all of the important things that have happened into a list of only 10. Thankfully popular awards organization the Webby Awards took the initiative to do it themselves and released a list of the Top 10 Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade.

Among them: Craigslist's nationwide expansion in 2000, music-sharing site Napster's shutdown in 2001, Facebook opening to non-college students in 2006, and the Iranian election protests (a.k.a. "The Twitter Revolution") earlier this year. The list is pretty comprehensive, though I think they should add "the launch of GeekSugar" in 2006! The full list includes some major high-profile announcements as well as some that set the stage for further development and change.

David-Michel Davies, the executive director of the Webby Awards told CNN:

"Maybe in twenty years we'll look back and some of these might change. Something might become more important. I think history and time always gives you more insight into what moments or sites or companies shaped the landscape."

Indeed! It's fun to look back at the moments that shaped Internet history over the past decade, and exciting to think of what's to come in the next 10 years.

Tech Dating 101: Do You Save Messages From Your Date?

GeekSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:02:00 -0800

One of the benefits of of digital technology is that every email, text, and voicemail is easily saved, stored, and relived. It's helpful when you're dating someone - I think it's both fun and cute to reread old messages. (Though I suppose this can get dicey when trying to cut your ex out of your digital life, but that's a topic for another day). When it's good - it's great!

I hadn't thought too much about it until a recently engaged friend unearthed a years-long log of emails and text messages, starting with the first email her now-fiance sent the morning after they met. My other friends and I teased her at first, but then realized that reading through her saved emails was almost like reading a book of the history of their relationship. Plus, it's fun to look back one month, six months, or even a year into the past to see what was going on, even if they're mundane messages about what movie to catch or what to make for dinner that night.

To find out why I think it's helpful to save old messages, just read more.

Besides its historical significance, saving messages from someone you're dating is also helpful when you're starting a new relationship. Who hasn't sat with their girlfriends and gadgets and analyzed a string of text messages from a new guy or potential date? (See also my advice on decoding postdate texts and instant messages).

Do you save these bits of communication when you're starting a new relationship? What about when you're in an established one? And do you ever go back to reread them? I've started doing it, and I must admit, looking back on emails or text messages from a few months before is both nostalgic and sweet.

Do you have a Love 2.0 questioned you want answered? Join the Tech Dating 101 because we understand that love and dating are stressful and the Internet and social networking sites can just make things worse. You never know, your question could be featured on GeekSugar! Here's a detailed guide to posting questions or posts to groups if you are new to the PopSugar Community.

Do You Know Microsoft History?

GeekSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:47:37 -0700

Whether you rock a Mac or a PC, you gotta admit Microsoft's history is beyond legendary in the geek world. Test your trivia knowledge of the tech and computing giant responsible for Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.

Take the quiz

Website of the Day: This Day in Tech

GeekSugar — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:30:07 -0700

If you ever want to brush up on your tech-history knowledge, I suggest adding Wired's This Day in Tech website to your RSS reader. Each day, This Day in Tech posts technological advancements that happened from the 18th century until today. From subject areas, including transportation, physics, inventions, computers and IT, engineering, communication, business, and medicine, the site is guaranteed to enlighten you on all the movers and shakers that helped shape and develop tech as we know it today.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the GeekSugar homepage!