The closer the winter holidays are, the more things we need to do on weekends, and reading the news is usually not among them. For you, spending weekends offline, we put together the most interesting reads from and beyond The Next Web in one convenient post.
In the news
- Minteye wants to put an end to the CAPTCHA as we know it, introducing a “no-type solution”, which utilizes a slider that tasks users to straighten out a contorted image.
- With just 35% of parents looking to automatically block porn, the UK has rejected plans to bar access.
- Rovio has launched Angry Birds Star Wars beta on Facebook, though has not yet told its 22.6 million fans.
- Twitter has started rolling out the option to download all your tweets.
- As Facebook joins the NASDAQ-100, both RIM and Netflix are dropped, together with 8 other companies.
- Apple sets new China record as iPhone 5 sales top 2 million in opening weekend.
- Christmas demand sees US hit new 5-day Web shopping record of $6.9 billion, according to ComScore’s report.
Good reads from our authors
- The Internet is changing education, but are the old institutions ready for it?
- Fake Twitter followers: An easy game, but not worth the risk
- Google’s sync changes are going to screw Gmail users on Windows Phone
- Founders must both fear and embrace failure to succeed
- End users are the new CIO: How Andreessen Horowitz, Box, Github, others view the enterprise in 2013
- The art and science of valuing websites
- The new activism: How geektivism is changing the world
- 13 must-have features for your next mobile app
- How Taiwan is bridging the digital divide
- The beginner’s guide to YouTube Analytics
Interesting stories from beyond The Next Web
- Op-ed—A plea to Google: Protect our e-mail privacy [ArsTechnica]
- Apple takes investors on a wild ride [Los Angeles Times]
- Buffeted by the Web, but Now Riding It [The New York Times]
- A GigaOM conversation with Sprint’s Dan Hesse on five harrowing years as CEO [GigaOM]
- Facebook’s Future Rests on Lessons From Wal-Mart Campaign [Wall Street Journal]
- Eric Schmidt and Stephen Colbert on Everything From Politics to Google Play (Video) [All Things D]
- “Gun” “Control” [TechCrunch]
Image credit: Randy A38 / Flickr.
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