If you didn’t have the opportunity to catch up on your daily fix of technology bits and bites over the weekend, the TNW Weekend Roundup will bring you quickly up to speed with what happened on Saturday and Sunday, linking you to the most popular and discussed stories here on The Next Web and elsewhere.
Skype Fires Executives, Avoiding Payouts After Microsoft Buyout
Bloomberg reported that Skype is firing senior executives before the Microsoft deal closes, a move that reduces the value of their payout, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The timing of the dismissals means stock options will be worth less than if the executives stayed until the closing of the $8.5 billion deal, the people said. When a company gets bought, compensation is often tied to the purchase price, said Neil Sims, a managing director at Boyden, a search firm. Read More.
Just in time for the election, President Obama to begin Tweeting personally
The Obama campaign is about to get a lot more aggressive in its use of Facebook and Twitter to help bolster the incumbent candidate’s efforts for reelection. One of the most interesting changes to the way that the staff handles the social media updates is that President Barack Obama will begin tweeting (on occasion) from the @BarackObama account personally. Read More.
Google applies for ‘Photovine’ trademark, and possibly has the domain name too
It looks like Google is planning to launch a new web-based social service called ‘Photovine’, according to a recent trademark filing.
As spotted by Fusible, the filing was made on 7 June 2011 and six days later the domain name Photovine.com was acquired from its previous owner by brand protection firm Mark Monitor, possibly acting as an intermediary for Google. Read More.
New York Post Blocks iPad Access Via Safari To Sell Subscriptions
PaidContent reported that the New York Post has started blocking access to its website on the iPad as a way to drive those customers in the direction of the paid NY Post app in the App Store.
Staci Kramer of PaidContent notes that NY Post‘s site works fine through the free alternative browsers Skyfire and Opera Mini. “It is one of the most poorly conceived paywall efforts I’ve come across,” Kramer says. Read More.
Sega says 1.3 million users affected by cyber attack
According to a Reuters report, Japanese video game developer Sega Corp said on Sunday that information belonging to 1.3 million customers has been stolen from its database, the latest in a rash of global cyber attacks against video game companies.
Names, birth dates, e-mail addresses and encrypted passwords of users of Sega Pass online network members had been compromised, Sega said in a statement, though payment data such as credit card numbers was safe. Read More.
Google testing yet another redesign, kills ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’
Google appears to be testing yet another redesign of its search engine, incorporating a new stylish colour scheme but also moving website links to a new position, underneath the title.
The redesign isn’t available to all users, but was spotted and shared on Twitter by David Pierce. It stays close to Google’s current design but now sports a colorful search button and also Voice Search icons in the search box. Read More.
What is the Technological Singularity?
Our very own Joel Falconer takes us on an in-depth look on technological singularity, a term coined by Vernor Vinge, wherein the idea is that when we become capable of creating beings more intelligent than us, it stands to reason that they — or their near-descendants — will be able to create intelligences more intelligent than themselves.
This exponential growth of intelligences would work much like Moore’s Law but have more profound significance. When there are intelligences capable of creating more intelligent beings in rapid succession, we enter an age where technological advances move at a rate we can’t even dream of right now. Read More.
Does HTC have what it takes to be the next Apple?
HTC is a world-renowned phone manufacturing company known for creating quality handsets. The Taiwanese manufacturer can only boast of its superior hardware but when it comes to the operating system, it has been piggybacking on two hot OSes today — Android and Windows Phone 7.
In this sense, HTC is good in one thing — being second place. Content such as video and games are increasingly necessary to stand out in a market full of Android and Windows Phone devices. Question is, can HTC pull it off? Does it have what it takes to follow Apple’s footsteps? Read More.
Should user comments dictate online content?
There’s a wide range of interaction that has, in more recent times, begun to shape the face of how and what online publishers are putting out for the world to see.
In startling contrast to the glancing over that comments often get from readers, publishers toil with them on many different levels. To put it bluntly, the comments system and how it is used can make or break a site and should never be taken lightly.
But then there’s the other side of the story. What happens when publishers take things a bit too far in their efforts? The LA Times ran into this situation just the other day, spawning the thought to me that there were probably even bigger issues at hand when it came to online comments. Read More.
Europe’s Digital Agenda Assembly: A conference fit for a continent’s future?
“Europe gets geeks” seemed to be the core message at the heart of the European Commission’s first ever Digital Agenda Assembly this week. This wide-ranging event was designed to help thrash out information and communication technologies’ role in Europe’s future.
Taking place in the unusual location of a vintage vehicle museum in the centre of Brussels, the two-day event comprised speeches, panel debates and a number of workshop events where attendees had a chance to actively help shape the Europe’s digital policies. Read More.
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